Unrecognizable, Part 4

Hello and welcome to this Tuesday edition of Destined for Victory. In just a few moments, Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message unrecognizable. But before we get to that, Pastor has joined me to talk about a gift that goes hand in hand with the theme of today's message. I'm glad to have a testimony, but God specializes in taking the tough times and turning them into something good, doesn't he? Tell us about this offer, this booklet that you've written.

Absolutely. Jabez is a guy who, as I mentioned in times past, you only have two verses in the entire Bible that tell you about the guy. Two verses. Yet, those two verses teach us a lot if we read between the lines and just let the Lord cause us to get the truth, the revelation, if you will. Yeah, these are not just words on a page, are they? God wants us to know this.

That's right. And here's a guy who started, I mean, talk about starting out behind the eight ball. His mama named him after the pain of childbirth. Like, what in the world was she thinking when she and her husband gave this boy the name causes pain? And yet, that's what happened, and he had to live all of his early life. He had to go to school, first day of school, and the teacher is calling names, and she said, Carl Spain, where are you? Carl Spain, raise your hand. You know what I mean?

This is ridiculous. But the fact is, God helped this boy grow up and understand I may not be able to change what they labeled me, but I can change whether I continue to live up to the label. And so this booklet is my way of helping people understand you might not like where you are, you might not like what you've had to go through, but God can help you to be an overcomer.

And at the end of the day, we are told in those two verses, this young man became more honorable than all of his brothers who were not so named. And so we've got to learn that God can get you from where you are to a much, much better place if you just walk with him. This booklet will encourage people and give them some practical handles on how to do just that. Well, again, the booklet is called Turning Your Test into a Testimony, and it is our gift to you this month by request for your generous gift to Destin for Victory. 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, California 94538.

Again, the address is Destin for Victory, box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. Don't try to answer questions you don't have the answer for. Here's what you do. You affirm what you do know. I do know that his grace is sufficient. I do know that his peace will pass understanding. I do know that if I put my hope and trust in him, I'm going to come out all right.

Consider these words from Philippians chapter 4 verse 8. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. On today's Destin for Victory, Pastor Paul Shepherd encourages us to dwell on the goodness of God, his peace, his provision, his promises, believing that he will lead us to ultimate victory.

Now, here's Pastor Paul Shepherd once again with today's Destin for Victory message, unrecognizable. You got to avoid despair. Do not let despair get a hold of you. Despair will drive you in the wrong direction. Don't get to the place where you're starting to question what you used to know.

If it was true then, it's true now. Don't let your circumstances make you question what you already know. There are sometimes you don't know what's going on.

You don't know why God is allowing it. In Joseph's case, he could have said, I don't know why I've been in jail for years and years and years and I didn't even do anything. Don't try to answer questions you don't have the answer for. Don't pretend like you know what you don't know.

Here's what you do. You affirm what you do know. I do know that while I'm in a place where I don't want to be, the Lord is here with me. I do know that his grace is sufficient. I do know that his peace will pass understanding.

I do know that if I put my hope and trust in him, I'm going to come out all right. And some of y'all got to talk to yourself. Sometimes look yourself in the mirror. I know there are people who say you really shouldn't talk to yourself. You know that's not healthy. I think it's very healthy. I think sometimes I'm the best person to talk to.

Come on somebody. You have been through some where you say I don't want to talk to nobody but me. And go look right in the mirror. Look at yourself and say you know one thing and tell yourself what you already know. Look at yourself and say I know the Lord will make a way somehow. I know the Lord is going to bring me out of this mess.

I know that when this is over folk aren't going to recognize who I am. And so Joseph warded off despair and two years after the cup bearer forgot about him, Pharaoh has a dream. And when Pharaoh had to dream, the cup bearer remembered I know somebody who can interpret your dream.

Well he called for him. Joseph is now out of prison, been a felon for years. And now this felon is standing in the throne room of Pharaoh interpreting a dream. And it's marvelous to know that when God is ready to execute his purpose circumstances really have nothing to do with it. Now Joseph's highest dream, no doubt for the years he was in prison, his most fresh dream, the one that was closest to his mind was to get out of jail.

He had no idea that getting out of jail would be nothing compared to what was about to happen to him. And I want to let you know some of you all are thinking too small about your future. You just, oh if I can just get a job, you thinking too small.

If I can just finally see my way clear, you thinking too small. Sometimes you got to realize that when you're being placed in a position you don't want to be in, it's a setup. That's why you got to be careful to do God's will in the days of small beginnings because you have no idea what you're being set up for. This dude is standing there interpreting a dream and he gives not only the interpretation of the dream which meant there are going to be seven years of extreme abundance followed by seven years of extreme poverty in Egypt.

He not only gave him the interpretation but he said Pharaoh, here's what you need to do. You need to find someone who has great wisdom and the ability to organize and to oversee this massive project and they need to help you to store up in the years of plenty so that you can be prepared for the years of want. I want to challenge you by the way to learn that approach in your own life. I'm learning now this is, that's the way we ought to live our lives. Don't consume everything God gives you now on now. Realize some of us for now and some of us for later.

Some of us for you, some of us for others. So don't consume it all upon yourself. Learn to set aside financially. Learn to set aside emotionally. Learn to set aside in every way. Learn to have enough margin where you can be prepared for something unexpected.

Don't keep burning the candle at both ends. That's not going to serve the purpose of God in your life. Learn to have margin and so he said you need to set aside 20%. And he gave him this word of wisdom. Pharaoh looked at him and said well you're telling me to find someone who has the wisdom to oversee this.

He said but I'm seeing that there's no one in my kingdom as wise as you. And Pharaoh then appoints Joseph, a non-Egyptian ex-felon, just got out of jail for attempted rape. A non-Egyptian ex-felon, he made him second in command in the whole country. Now Joseph is in charge of everybody except Pharaoh himself. Everybody, all of them. Potiphar, Potiphar's wife.

Come on. In charge of the jailer. In charge of all these folk. Because it was the purpose of God. Remember nothing and no one can withstand the purpose of God for your life.

Stop sweating the people, it's not about them. They can't withstand the purpose of God. Now I want you to notice that the setup for Joseph's dream which is gonna be fulfilled was him fulfilling somebody else's dream. Pharaoh's dream is there's gonna be plenty followed by want so we need to be prepared. Joseph now becomes in charge of helping fulfill that dream so that the Pharaoh can know his nation's gonna go on even in a time of famine. And I point that out to say this to you.

God will never bless you to fulfill the dream he gave you till he blesses you to fulfill the dream he gave somebody else. It's important because we come from a very self-centered, self-focused generation. It's not y'all's fault. You were raised in a generation that thought me, me, me, me, me. And I'm telling you in the kingdom it's not about you. And so in the kingdom you have to learn that the way to be promoted is to be a servant. So some of you need to quit dreaming of operating and get good at cooperating. Because God will take care of your operation, that's his calling on you, whatever he's gonna have you doing.

He'll have you operating but you need to be preparing by cooperating. If you don't cooperate you'll never operate properly. You ever had a half-baked, overbearing, getting on everybody's nerves, supervisor or manager? Somebody who you know they weren't a good follower because they stink as a leader. I can't stand it when you see a leader who obviously didn't learn what they needed to learn prior to getting to that position. They don't know how to treat people, they don't know how to respect people, they don't know how to motivate people, they don't know how to correct people in a redemptive way. All they know how to do is bark and flaunt their power and act ignorant. Ignant, ignorant, that's the way they act. I know that's not a word but that's still the way some folk act.

Ignant. And you, because when you get where God's taking you, you're supposed to represent him and his kingdom, you can't afford to be a half-baked person who operates. You gotta hone the skill by being an excellent cooperator. You do not lead well until you first follow well.

You gotta first learn to be submitted before you can be one who leads others. And so he's about to execute Pharaoh's dream and in so doing he's been given prominence. And his dream, remember his dream way back when he was 17, his dream was that one day my brothers are gonna come and bow to me. In fact, my whole family, the second dream said, is gonna come and bow to me one day.

So he's gonna see that dream fulfilled but in the context of fulfilling somebody else's dream first. I wanna make sure you understand not to overlook your season. Some of y'all are so busy looking at, boy when I get where I'm going, yeah but where are you now? And how well are you doing what's right there in front of you now? Because that is tied to your purpose. Now I wanna wrap up this series by talking about two other aspects of his development.

Not only did he become focused but number two, he became forgetful. Look at Genesis 41 and look with me at verses 50 through 52. They'll put them up on the screen for you if you don't have a Bible. Genesis 41 verses 50 through 52.

Here's what they tell us. Before the years of famine came, so Joseph is now in the business of executing this dream. God blesses them and they are currently, when you get to this passage, the nation of Egypt is currently still in the time of plenty.

I mean grain all over the place. Abundance unreal. And before the years of famine came, while they're still in the seven years of abundance, Joseph got married and two children were born to him, two sons. Look at verse 51. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh and said it is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household.

Now before we get to 52, which tells you about the second son, I wanna tell you about this first son because he represents the second stage of development. Joseph became focused but secondly he became forgetful. What did he forget? We're told in the naming of this boy, he said I forgot all my trouble and all my father's household.

What in the world does that mean? How do you forget being betrayed at the highest possible level? Your own flesh and blood takes you, first throws you in a pit, thinks they'll leave you for dead. Then God causes them to think differently and say no, no need of shedding innocent blood.

Here are some merchants coming down the road. Let's pull him out of here, out of this pit and let's sell him so that we make a little money. He'll be sent somewhere, God knows where, become a slave in some other country.

We'll never have to see this boy again and so that's what they did. His own brothers sold him into slavery. How do you forget all of the trouble that they caused you? How do you forget all the trouble you had in Egypt? He said I forget all my trouble and my father's household. So he said I forgot not only what happened when I was in Canaan with my brothers, I forgot what happened to me that had me in jail the past several years.

I've forgotten Mrs. Potiphar's stuff. How in the world can he say he forgot all his trouble in his father's household? I'm glad you asked.

Here's why. Having arrived at his God-given destination, he has no need to stay focused on how he got there. He's at the destination.

He's where God said he was gonna be. When you get where God said you're gonna be, there's no point in looking back at how you got there. Let me illustrate it this way. Sometimes when you fly, you get a nonstop flight to your destination. Other times, the airline says well, we can get you there, but you're gonna have to fly through some other city or two before you get to your destination. Those are called layovers. So you fly from your original point of travel to a place you're not going to end up in, but it is necessary to get there so you can catch the flight that's gonna get you where you're supposed to go.

If you travel enough, after a while you get used to layovers. It's no big deal that I'm not where I'm supposed to be. Yesterday I flew from Durham, Raleigh-Durham Airport to Dallas, Texas. I wasn't going to Dallas.

I was coming to San Francisco International Airport, but this particular airline did not have a nonstop from Durham, Raleigh-Durham to San Francisco, but they said given the time of day you need to leave. Reverend, if you want to leave early in the day, I said I can't leave early in the day. I'll still be at my conference. I can only leave after 3 p.m. All right, we got a 3.45.

Put me on that. So now that's gonna take you through Dallas. That's a nonissue for me. I fly all the time. Layovers are not a problem. I just need to make sure I have enough time for a realistic connection. Just make sure, just don't give me some stupid layover, because you know some of these large airports, like say Dallas, if you ever flown into Dallas, Fort Worth, you sometimes you get, you fly into terminal A and your connecting flight is in terminal D. And you got to go upstairs, get the little monorail train, and take stops till it gets you to gate D. Then you run down the escalator and find your number gate.

And so some of the airlines really don't care about anything but getting your money, and they'll give you some real crazy, all right, now your next flight leave in 20 minutes. So I've learned, I'm an experienced traveler, and I've learned to check out, do I have enough time to get done in the layover what I need to get done to go from my arrival gate to my departure gate? As long as I got enough time, that's fine. Sometimes you will know who travel, that your layover is long.

Long. Now I work, you know, I work the system. I've traveled most of my life. I work the system. I don't, that's why I don't let, I've never let even my assistants make my airline arrangements for me.

Till I can teach them the system, I do it myself. Because then again, the airlines don't care. And sometimes the airline will put you in a hotel, will put you in a layover for four hours. Well, bra man don't want to be sitting up in no airport for four hours going nowhere.

So I work the system. I check all the, and I find if I can't do nonstop, I find a way to get a reasonable layover. Well, in life sometimes God's taking you somewhere, but where you find yourself now is nothing like where he's taking you. And you sitting there saying, what in the world is this?

I came with a word for you. You're in a layover. You're not where God's taking you. And you don't even have to understand why you had to go there first. Just know that God is still going to get you to the destination from whatever layover city you're in now. And your layovers don't have to become an issue. Once I got to San Francisco, it didn't matter that I was in Dallas.

I'm home now. Familiarity now. This is the place of destiny. My bag will be here. My wife will be outside. We're going to drive home.

I'm home now. There was nothing to see, nothing to do, nothing to relax about in Dallas. In Dallas, I just sat down and waited. And listen, some of you are in a layover trying to make sense of it.

You don't have to make any sense of it. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage.

He will strengthen your heart. Time is coming when they will announce your next city. And line you up and put you on the next plane and it'll get you where God's taken you. Don't worry about the people in the layover city. There are non factors. They have nothing to do because when you get where you're going, there'll be nowhere around.

There was a rude agent in Dallas. Doesn't matter. I'm not going to see her again in life. I'm going where I'm going. And he forgot because there was no need for him to hold on to that junk. And I'm here to tell somebody you're in a pit right now, but that's not where you're going to end up. You're in a prison right now for a long time for something you didn't do, but that's not where you're going to end up. He had to end up in the palace because that was the place of destiny. And wherever your destiny is, my brother, my sister, that's where God's going to take you. God has never been hindered by anything or anybody.

And your folks and your circumstances won't be the first. So no need to sing in your sad song because it's about a layover. It's not about a destination. Some layovers are longer than others, but God knows exactly how long yours should be. Your trials are part of his plan to conform you to the image of his son, Jesus Christ, in whom you are destined for victory. That's all the time we have for today. Visit pastorpaul.net for more information about Destined for Victory or the special thank you gift we have reserved for you as you generously support us this month.

That's pastorpaul.net. I'm here to tell somebody God wants to show you off, so you got to get rid of that attitude. He can't show you off with bitterness. He can't show you off with resentment. He can't show you off with unresolved anger.

He can't show you off with vengeance in your heart. That's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, Unrecognizable. Until then remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory. God bless you.