Lessons from the Pasture, Part 3 (cont'd)

If you're waiting on God to take you to the next level, consider this. He might be waiting for you. Hello and welcome to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. Thanks for making this part of your day. Coming your way next, Pastor Paul returns to the story of David in his message, Lessons from the Pasture.

But first, he joins me now from his studio in California. Well, Pastor, June is a month we honor our fathers, and before we get to your message today, I thought it might be great for our listeners to hear what you learned from your dad. What would you say is the most important lesson you learned from your father?

Absolutely. Thanks for bringing that up, Wayne. My dad meant so much to me. I was blessed to be raised by a man who got saved in his teens. He had a godly mother who raised him and his siblings, and she ended up having 10 children, nine of whom survived, and she raised them in church. She had a man who didn't get saved until he was in his 80s.

Is that right? But she learned how to let her light shine, and she raised my dad. She told him later, when I was pregnant with you, I laid my hands on my belly, and I said, Lord, I want you to make a preacher out of this one.

And he was the only preacher of the nine siblings that she had. And he preached the gospel faithfully, raised his five children in the church, along with, of course, my mom, and I love the legacy, and I think of him often. He died in 2008 as an 81-year-old man, but he was such a blessing to not only to me, but to thousands of people as he shared the gospel. And I thank God this month in particular for the legacy of a godly father. Such a great reminder, Pastor Paul. Humility precedes almost every good thing God longs to give us, including our salvation in Jesus Christ.

Thanks for that great word of encouragement. Speaking of fathers and the wisdom we gain from them, this month we have two very special gifts to share with you, yours for your best gift of $25 or more to Destin for Victory. The first is Pastor Paul's book, Why God Created Dads, an insightful and inspirational look at the subject of fatherhood through the lens of scripture. The second is the audio CD about Pastor Paul's father titled A Tribute to My Dad, a message delivered by Pastor Paul following the death of his father.

Men and women alike will be inspired by these timely resources. That's Why God Created Dads and A Tribute to My Dad are gifts to you this month for your best donation of $25 or more to Destin for Victory. So call 855-339-5500 or visit pastorpaul.net to make a safe and secure donation online. You can also mail your gift to Destin for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538.

Again, that address is Destin for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. Some of you, God wants to take you somewhere you can't handle yet. If he gives you responsibility, if he gives you an increase in your vocation, if he gives you something that would be palatable to the flesh, you aren't ready to handle it because it will turn into pride and destroy you. Well God wants to promote you but he won't do it until he's prepared you. You see this in the life of David who waited 13 years to become king. You also see it in the life of Christ who was tempted for 40 days in the wilderness before he could begin his ministry. Today on Destin for Victory, Pastor Paul shares more on the life of David as well as the temptation of Christ.

So now to share his message, Lessons from the Pasture, here's Pastor Paul Sheppard. God's job is not to make you happy. God's job is to teach you how to find your peace and your joy in him. Delight yourself in him.

That's the prerequisite, that's the foundation. And then he can afford to give you the desires of your heart. If God blessed some of us right now with what we want, it wouldn't be a blessing, it would be a curse. You don't pray now.

You certainly wouldn't pray if you got what you're longing to get. You don't love people now. You certainly won't love them when you had the chance to move out further away from them. You don't drive them in your little raggedy car now.

You certainly won't drive them if he gives you your dream vehicle because you'd be like, huh, you're not getting in my car. So God says, I'm not in the business of giving you the desires of your heart until you're in the business of delighting yourself in me. And he said, I'm here to teach you that you don't live by bread alone, you live by what comes out of my mouth.

Your clothes did not wear out, your feet did not swell during these 40 years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord God disciplines you. See, we often think discipline only has to do with the correction of error, that's part of discipline. But discipline, look at the root of the word, it means structured learning. Systematic learning, it doesn't have exclusively to do with disobedience.

Discipline is God teaching you how to live your life, teaching you how to prioritize his kingdom, teaching you how to be satisfied with just him before you get the desires of your heart. And the Lord will teach you through wilderness seasons lessons that you must learn. And he goes on to say, observe the commands of the Lord your God walking in his way and revering him, for the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, some good things are ahead of you.

See, that's what we want to see. Okay, so there is a good land coming. A land with streams and pools of water, springs flowing in the valleys, hills, a land with wheat and barley, vine and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey. A land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing. A land where the rocks are ironed, you can dig copper out of the hills.

Somebody said, that's what I'm talking about. But now listen to it, when you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful not to forget the Lord your God. He can't bless you right now until you've delighted in him, until your heart is resolute on worshipping him in the bad times. You're not going to worship him in the good times unless you first learn the discipline of worshipping him apart from the way you feel. You're not ready to be blessed if you can't praise God in bad times. You're not ready to be blessed if you can't say, Lord I thank you just for my life, my health, my strength. You're not ready to worship God when you're going through a season of physical challenge or illness and the doctor's giving you a negative report. If you still can't say, well Lord I'm going to hold on to you, I'm going to believe you, I'm going to worship you anyhow. You're not ready to receive his blessing, his provision. If you can't praise God when they give you a pink slip, you won't praise him when you get the job. So God says, I got some things you got to learn in the wilderness.

I'm driving you into a wilderness, there's some stuff in the wilderness. And so in the case of Jesus, he's anointed, Spirit of God has come upon him. And the Lord drives him into the wilderness and he fasts and prays for 40 days. The Bible says afterwards he's hungry and the devil shows up and puts him through three temptations. Which parallel what John talks about in his first epistle, 1 John chapter 2, where there's a verse that says, You've got to love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, they are not of the Father but they are of the world.

And it's interesting that Jesus was tempted in those three areas. Lust of the flesh, after he's hungry, Satan walks up to him and says, You're hungry, why don't you take these stones right here, command them to be made bread, go on and eat. Break your fast. The problem wasn't eating, when you break a fast, you're supposed to eat.

When the fast is over, that's the thing to do. The problem isn't the eating, the problem is who's creating the menu. The fact that you have cravings in your heart, you have longings and desires in your heart is not evil. The question is, how are you going to have them fulfilled? Your cravings, your desires aren't in and of themselves evil.

But what you do about their fulfillment, determines whether or not it is appropriate. And Jesus said, he quoted what we just read. He said to the devil, no, I don't live by bread alone. I live by every word that comes out of my father's mouth. The father didn't tell me to take these stones and make them into bread so he planned to feed me somewhere else.

That's what some of us have to learn when the devil floats something by you. To satisfy a craving in your life right now. You've got to say, no, this isn't God's plan for taking care of this need in my life.

Well, you know, I have a sexual drive. I'm a natural human being, you know, pastor. And I'm single and the Lord hasn't given me a husband or a wife.

And so, you know, what am I supposed to do when I go to the gym and I see other folk and they start talking to me or I go to the job and I meet somebody. What am I supposed to do? You're supposed to do what Jesus did. He said, no, this isn't God's provision for me. You're not God's provision for me.

You don't know Jesus. You're not loving him. You're not doing his will. You're not serving him.

You're not living the life that pleases him. You can't be the blessing. When God blesses you, it won't be something you got to dust off and scrape off and beg to come to church with you. That's not a blessing. Over the years as a pastor, I've been amazed at what folk have tried to make into a blessing.

Drag something in here. I look at it. That can't be a blessing. God doesn't hate you. The only way God gave that to you, you'd have to hate your guts.

That's not a blessing. Come in here. Don't even know how to stand. Don't know how to dress.

Don't know. Come up to me. How you doing, Father?

I'm not a father. Y'all think I said this stuff to make you laugh. I'm telling you what happens. I'm telling you what happens and I just look at the member.

You know, sometimes the guy will walk away or something like that. Are you on crack? Do we need to get you in one of the support ministries? You hooked on something and we don't know about it? What's the matter with you?

Dragging that in here, hoping it's a blessing. God knows what he plans to fulfill you. And Jesus said, no, no, I'm not eating at your request. I'm eating when the father instructs me.

I'll eat where he wants, when he wants, what he wants. In temptation, he takes him, shows him the kingdoms of the world. Says, I'll give these to you and the glory of them if you'll bow down and worship me.

Lust of the eyes. Jesus passes that test. By quoting scripture again. The Lord says thou shalt worship him only. Serve him exclusively. So he defeats the lust of the flesh with the word.

He defeats the lust of the eyes with the word. Then Satan takes him up at the pinnacle of the temple and says. Since you're the son of God.

Why don't you cast yourself down? And now that the devil knows this is a sword fight, so the Bible is the sword of the Spirit. So since he said, oh, this is a sword fight.

You keep whipping out your sword every time I tell you to do something. So the devil said, I can play that game too. Do you know the devil knows the Bible too? He said, why don't you cast yourself down for it is written. He will keep his angels.

Lest you dash your foot against the stone. Tried to sell him a false promise that if you do something out of the will of God, God will protect you anyhow. Jesus said, it is also written. See, that's what you got to know your Bible enough to say it is also written. Some of you all, the devil flowed a half a scripture by you.

You say you got a point there. Don't go away. We're only about halfway through today's Destin for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepherd, who is senior pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. If you love what you hear on Destin for Victory every day, we know you'll enjoy some of Pastor Paul's best video clips. Subscribe to Pastor Paul on YouTube. For more details, be sure to visit pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net where you can find links to all of his social media. Has God hit the pause button in your life today?

It could mean he's gotten you in a season of preparation so that at the right time, he can take you into a period of promotion. Here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, Lessons from the Pasture. That's where some of you all are right now. That's why you need to get in the Word till the Word gets in you. Because I've heard folks quote all kind of weak, pitiful scriptures out of context trying to justify something.

Well, you know, Pastor, even the Bible said the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. But I'm here to tell you, it is all so written. You haven't read enough. You read just enough to get yourself in trouble.

That's all you read. You have to learn that the word of God has a formula for your victory. And so there are lessons to be learned in the wilderness. And God's not ready to launch you yet. You're not ready for greatness yet. You're not ready to be in the center of his will yet in terms of activity and serving and helping and all of that.

You're not ready for that. Because there are lessons to be learned in this season of unfulfillment, this season of desolation, this season where you're looking around saying, what in the world am I doing here? Especially with the anointing resting on me.

I remember well the years in Philadelphia. In fact, the Lord gave me a word back in 1980 through a missionary, Viola Brazil. She got up to minister at our church. And she read her scripture and gave her title. And then she said, you know, the Lord's telling me to do something. It's unusual, but I better obey God before I try to preach.

And then she said, Paul Sheppard, come here. I was over by the organ because in that season, 1980, I was my daddy's organist. I wasn't in vocational ministry. I knew there was a call of God on my life. I had finally stopped running from it.

But I certainly didn't think it was going to be pastoral, didn't want it to be pastoral. And so I was playing the organ in my daddy's church and here this woman is calling me up saying the Lord wants to say something to me. And I'm walking up there thinking, what have I done? I was walking up there thinking, what was my latest sin that I'm about to be read. I'm about to be read in front of my whole church. And I stood up there and she said, the Lord told me to tell you there's an enlargement coming into your life. God is going to enlarge your ministry in an amazing way. And she said, now there are going to be times when you say, Lord, when will this happen?

So you don't be intimidated by other people's successes. God knows what he's going to do in your life. Wait on him. Be like Abraham, she said. Stagger not at the promise of God.

Though it tarry, wait for it, for it will come to pass. In 1980, in 1982, I became the associate pastor of my home church in Philadelphia. And for the next seven years, there were many times when I saw my other friends and colleagues call the ministry, going out and serving and pastoring and what have you. And I'm home in my home church trying to impress folk who knew me all my life. And you know, in case you don't know, people who have known you all your life are not that impressed. See, you can show up across the country and everybody think you're wonderful.

They don't know. God said, I'm not sending you across the country till you prove yourself among people who know you. Until you serve them well, until they say, this is a son of this house and we see God's hand on him. God refused to send me out unproven. So he made me go visit the sick and take care of folks and pamper little spiritual babies who ought to be grown by now. And he made me treat folk right who were disrespecting me because I had that hometown prophet syndrome. You know, Jesus said, a prophet's not without honor except in his hometown.

Because the hometown, they said, that's just Paul, what you talking about? And the Lord said, be faithful, prove yourself, love these people, serve these people, learn how to be a shepherd of my sheep. And for seven years, I said, Lord, when is this going to happen? When are you going to send me out? I'm anointed. Folk would come to me.

You got to watch people who are trying to push you out before your season. People come to me and say, you know what? You need to start your own church. Your father's on the other side of his prime and you need to just go and start your own church.

And I said, get thee behind me, Satan. Because God knows what he's up to in my life and I got to wait on him. And let me tell you, some of you are in a waiting season, whether it's in your job, in your family situation, your vocation. You're waiting on your finances to change. You're waiting on some major change to happen in your life.

And God is saying, no, there are some lessons right now that you must learn before I bring you into another season. And I want to get somebody to say, Lord, I'm going to wait on you. I'd rather move now. I'd rather be fulfilled now.

I'd rather be happy now. But God, I'm going to wait on you because I believe that your timing is all important. David was anointed and he took that power of God and went back to sheep.

What does sheep need with power? But God knows what he's up to. God wants to know, can you handle the anointing? Can you handle the calling?

See, some folk can't handle the call. That's why when you see the prerequisite for a bishop, when Paul writes in 1 Timothy chapter 3, and he says, if a person wants to be an overseer in the house of God, he said, make sure it is not a new convert. He said, because a novice, a new convert, can handle that level of responsibility, they would get lifted up in pride.

And that principle applies not only to people in vocational ministry, it applies to a lot of us. Some of you, God wants to take you somewhere you can't handle yet. If he gives you responsibility, if he gives you a name, if he gives you a reputation, if he gives you increase in your vocation, if he gives you something that would be palatable to the flesh, you aren't ready to handle it because it will turn into pride and destroy you. So God says, I have to teach you some things in the wilderness. My daddy taught me, the Lord is going to take you up slow so when you get to the top, you won't be dizzy.

And I learned, I saw it come to pass in my life. God doesn't zip people up. I'm scared of folk who zipped up. I'm scared of folk who are a boss and was never a good follower. You ever had a boss who never followed anybody? They will drive you insane. Want everybody to obey them, follow their orders, follow their directives, and they never knew how to do the same when they were where you are. I'm scared of that. I told you, middle management people trying to get somewhere and don't know how to pay their dues, just gunning for folk at the top, scared to death of them.

People at the top, they know how to handle it if they got there right. If God hasn't promoted you, he's not done preparing you. He wants you to be spiritually mature enough to handle that higher calling without thinking too highly of yourself. Thanks so much for joining us for today's message, Lessons from the Pasture. To find out more about the Destined for Victory ministry or the special gifts we have, as a thank you for your best gift this month, visit our website, pastorpaul.net.

That's pastorpaul.net. I've come to tell you that God wants to use you and he has given some gifts to you, but it is up to you to give God a return on his investment. He gives us natural and spiritual potential, abilities, endowments. We then must take them and develop them. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Lessons from the Pasture. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.