In Need of a Super-Sized Blessing, Part 2 (cont'd)

From this moment on in your life, God is the only one who gets to define you. He's the only one who gets to speak about who you are.

That's where you gotta be now. Some of y'all gotta stop just wearing the label somebody gave you. The difference between who you are and who you are in Christ on today's Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd.

Thanks for stopping by. Well, many of us have let ourselves be defined by someone or something else, our past, another person, maybe even the devil himself. But whatever or whoever it is, Pastor Paul wants to remind you that God is the one who created you.

God is the one who saved you and God is the one who defined you. Stay right here or visit pastorpaul.net to listen anytime on demand. That's pastorpaul.net.

You can also podcast at Apple Podcasts or wherever you get yours. Now, here's Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message in need of a super-sized blessing. Jesus said this is a time for you to shake off your victim mentality once and for all. Some of you all, if I let you, you could tell this long story about everybody who's disappointed you. And it's time for you to pick up the needle off of that record because they aren't dictating your future.

It's not about them at this stage in life. They're disappointing you. Some of you all are mad at one person because they keep on, keep on, keep on disappointing you.

Let me tell you something. If somebody keeps disappointing you, do you know why that is? It's because you failed to believe who they are the first time.

She didn't get it out the word, but Maya Angelou got this one right when she said, when people show you who they are, believe them the first time. Because if you don't believe them the first time, they're going to show you again. And they're going to show you again. And they're going to show you again. And after a while, you're feeling like a victim, but let me just love you enough to tell you the truth.

You're not a victim at this point. You're a volunteer. Because you keep putting yourself in the position for them to show you how much they can disappoint you. Once they show you, believe them first time. Got it. I see who you are.

Now, let me qualify that. Anybody can disappoint you. That's a feature of being human. We can't always come through for one another.

We don't even always come through for ourselves. But you can tell a person whose heart's right because when they disappoint you, they own it, they apologize, they do all they can to make up and heal the hurt and mitigate the damage, and then they work hard to ensure that they can be more trustworthy in your life. But the other brand of folk, the one of whom I'm speaking, are folk who disappoint you and really don't care. Their attitude is, get over it. And you're mad at them.

When you pack an attitude with somebody who doesn't have one with you, they left you with all the junk. They disappointed you and don't care. And now you're disappointed and you care a lot.

God's saying, Oh, no, no, no, we got to flip this around. You got to quit caring about folk who no longer care about you. Why does it matter what they think?

Why does it matter what they did? God said, I'm not tying your future to what they did. I'm ready to bless you.

So would you get your eyes on me and get your faith kicked in so that I can get you out of where you are and deliver you the way I've destined you to be. And so it's time for you to get your mind off people in pools. You have enemies, but so does everybody else. When they show you they're an enemy, believe them. Quit giving them proximity.

Put some distance, put some boundaries, put some borders. No, you can't come here. No, you cannot enter my space. No, you're not going to get in my head. No, I'm not emailing with you. No, you can't have my number. No, that doesn't sound like Jesus is.

No sloppy agape here. If you're trying to hurt me, I'm not going to let that happen. I'm going to get away from you and if I can't get away from you and get the opportunity, I'm going to beat you down. There's no sign you love folk that you let them just wear you out.

No, no, no, no. I'm not going to put myself in harm's way. The Sermon on the Mount had nothing to do with self-defense. That had to do with humiliation. So if they slap you on one side, turn the cheek. What you're showing them is I'm too big to be defined by your slap.

He's talking about people who are living under occupation and oppression. They didn't have any legal right. So if a Roman was to slap one of the Jews, they couldn't have any legal recourse. The Roman's trying to humiliate you. Jesus taught them be bigger. Give them a shot at the other side too. It's not about harm. It's about humiliation. But if somebody's trying to harm you, believe them and take yourself out of harm's way and position yourself to go on with your life and be blessed.

And that means you've got to put some people out of your inner circle. Nehemiah was on the wall when Sambalad and Tobiah were trying to plot to kill him. He's doing a good work. He's doing a work God assigned him to do. And he's up on the wall. Here comes Sambalad and Tobiah.

We're having an important meeting over in the next town and we need you to come down and go over with us. And it was a plot to assassinate him. Nehemiah did what you need to learn to do. He didn't even bother. He didn't even meet him at the gate.

He stayed up on the wall. He said, huh? We're having a meeting and we need you in the meeting. We've got to take you to this meeting.

It's really, really important. Come on down. Nehemiah said, I'm doing a good work and I'm not coming down.

That's what you got to learn to do. Quit giving them a shot at you. No, I'm not coming. I don't care what you say.

I'm not coming. I'm not putting myself in proximity to people who have proven to me that they are my enemy. There is nothing Christian about putting yourself in harm's way. When you have to face persecution, God will give you grace to do it. When you don't have to face it, get out of harm's way. And so we have to get rid of our victim mentality.

Stop putting ourselves in a position where folks can mess over us and we are left with all the attitude. The people who've been messing over you don't even care. And now here you are stuck caring, crying and wallowing in it all the time and can't sleep. They're snoring every night.

They don't care how you feel. So why are you sitting up here caring? God's saying, get your mind on me. Get your eyes fixed on me. I am the author and finisher of your faith and it is your faith that's going to get you to victory.

It is not their cooperation. It's your faith that's going to get you to victory. So J. Best shows us that he's determined to no longer let his past dictate his future. He also shows us that he will no longer be who someone else said he was. What's the original problem? The original problem is his mama named him causes pain. And he's carried that label well into adulthood and all the baggage that goes with it.

I'm one who causes pain. Every time somebody called his name, they were reminded and he was reminded that he caused pain. But at this point, this crisis point, this turning point where he cries out to the Lord, he said, oh, that you will bless me indeed.

Oh, that you'll bless me and supersize it. What he's saying is, God, I am no longer going to be who my mama said I am. You need to determine that God is the only one who gets to define you. From this moment on in your life, God is the only one who gets to define you. He's the only one who gets to speak about who you are and you agree with him.

Everybody else is subject to examination. That's where you gotta be now. Some of y'all gotta stop just wearing the label somebody gave you. Alcoholic. Does God call you that?

If God has deliverance for you, if God has healing for you, if God wants to set you free from that bondage, stop calling yourself what God does not call you. I am not an alcoholic. I am not drug addicted. I am not perpetually angry. I am not perpetually bitter. I am not promiscuous. I am not a liar. I am not a thief. I am not proud and stubborn.

I am not unreliable. I am now who God said I am. I'm now getting all my definitions from the word and it's surprising when you look in the word, it's surprising what it calls you. It calls you a child of God. It calls you a son of God. It calls you an heir with God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. It says you are the head and not the tail. You are above and not beneath. It says that you are provided for. It says that you are more than a conqueror.

When you look at the word, it calls you the exact opposite of what a whole lot of people have labeled you to be and you gotta stop taking labels. It's time for you to become one who examines everything. Don't take delivery of every package just because it shows up at your door.

Come on now. Just think of that. When UPS Fed Ex shows up, here's a package. At our houses, we typically don't think much of it. We just sign and take it then open it up and see what it is but in your life, you gotta quit doing that.

About your psyche, about your identity, you gotta stop doing that. When the enemy of your soul shows up or somebody else with their fleshly agenda shows up and tries to give you a package containing a label they want you to own, don't even hold it. Don't even put it in your hands till you know what it is.

When they show up, say, here, delivery for you. Just keep your hands away. They say, here, take this.

No, no, no, no. Where'd this come from? Hands back.

Where'd this come from? Here, take this. It's heavy.

Well, I didn't hear you. You picked it up. If it's heavy, you put it down.

I don't have to pick it up because it's heavy to you. I want to know where it came from and if I'm not familiar with the address, return to sender because everything coming from heaven, God labeled it. I got a Bible address.

I can go right to it. I know where it came from. Well, this came from Romans 831. I'll take that. If God before me, who can be against me? I'll take that. The Romans 828, I'll take that.

Romans 828, all things working together, I'll take that but I'm not taking junk. I don't know who sent that. You don't get to define me. If you get to define me, you get to control me. That's what y'all have to learn.

You who are single, you got to learn that in your relationship before you get married. Don't let somebody control you with their attitude, with their words. You make me sick. I don't make God sick. So you're going to have to talk to God. I'm not making him sick. I'm the apple of his eye according to the word and even when God convicts me, he does convict me when I'm wrong but he doesn't call me names. He convicts me out of love. Even his rebuke is redemptive. Your rebuke is just shaming so you're out of sync with God. I suggest you go pray. Because you're not going to push up on me and treat me any old kind of way and I accept it.

Not going to happen. Jesus went all the way to the cross to redeem me, to set me free, to make me the person God wanted me to be. He went all the way there and I'm not going to let you circumvent what he's doing by taking the label you're trying to impose on me. So it's time you make up in your mind. I'm not accepting unless I know where the package came from.

Just put it back in your little brown truck and drive on on. You're listening to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. The second half of today's message comes your way next so stay tuned. If you want to listen to Destined for Victory wherever you go be sure to download our free mobile app. The app allows you to select from any of Pastor Paul's recent messages.

You can order some great resources from our online store. You can even take notes from the daily messages right on your mobile device and they'll be waiting for you the next time you stop by. Search Destined for Victory in the app store and download our free mobile app today. Now for more on the life of J Bez and how it applies to your life in Christ.

Let's join Pastor Paul as he wraps up today's Destined for Victory message in need of a super-sized blessing. That's what you got to do. J Bez said I'm not wearing this anymore. I'm not going to be causing pain for the rest of my life.

I'm done. I don't cause pain so I'm not going to wear it. You had a problem when you were giving birth to me. It wasn't my fault that you had pain and you tried to label me with that for the rest of my life.

I'm not accepting that. One time I caused pain. Now I'm going on to higher things.

I'm going to live a better life. That's what you got to learn to do. Some of you got to get rid of it forever. Get rid of labels.

Get rid of victim mentality. Get rid of letting the past dictate and decide I'm going where God wants to take me. I'll begin to introduce my comments on the next phrase and then we'll pick it up in the closing message of the series. Notice that he said, Lord, bless me indeed. Bless me and supersize it. He said, and enlarge my territory.

Large my territory. J Bez is saying, Lord, part of this super-sized blessing I'm asking you for is that you will give me broader boundaries and borders to work in in my life. I want to go on to bigger and better things. I want to experience more than I've ever experienced. I want to have more opportunities. I want to have more privileges. I want to have more responsibilities. God, give me something significant to wrap my life around. Give me something so big that it has to take you to help me fulfill it. I don't want to live a small, predictable life.

I don't want to always see my same old corner of the world. God, let me break out of the box and break out of the mold. I want to experience what I've never experienced before and so God, I'm asking you to enlarge my territory. And I want to tell somebody that I know you're not used to praying that way because it feels real selfish to you and in general, we can't live lives where all of our prayer life is selfish but I declare to you, there comes a season, there comes a crisis point and many of us are there right now where it's time for you to stop interceding for everybody all the time and say, you know what? Right now, I'm praying about me. Because if I can get into a better place, I'll be able to help even more people. If I can get into a better place, I can do more for God.

So God bless me and enlarge my territory. In his book, The Prayer of Jabez, Bruce Wilkinson says this about this part of the prayer. He says, Jabez looked at his circumstances and concluded, surely I was born for more than this. And let me tell you something, that's what you have to say. Look at your life right now.

Surely you were born for more than what you're doing right now. Surely God's got bigger plans than what's going on right now. Surely he's got something else in mind than what you've already seen. And so it's time for some of us to ask for more territory.

What does that mean, passing practical terms? He's asking for more influence. He's asking for more access. He's asking for more favor. He's asking for the ability to get out and do some more things.

It's probably going to involve needing more money. He wants to be able to stretch out and do big things for God. He doesn't want to just stop wearing the label, cause his pain. He wants to start wearing the label, I'm a blessing to many. So he says, I need larger territory God.

I want you to assign me a lot that's really huge so that I can reach out and do more things for you. What would you do if money weren't an issue? What would you do for God? What would you do to glorify his name? What would you do to be a blessing to others in his name if money weren't standing in your way? What would you do if you had enough favor, if folk would say yes to you about your proposals? What would you do if God gave you access to people you wouldn't normally have access to? What would you do if God gives you influence so that when you speak it moves people and causes them to be responsive to what you're saying? What would you do if you could go to folks with resources and make the case for what you need and they say, I believe I need to partner with you in that?

What would you do? And the answers that are coming up in your mind, if it glorifies God and gives him the praise and if it blesses other people in his name, those things are the kinds of things you need to start asking God to do. Quit praying little prayers because you just might get them answered. Why not, if you're praying to a miracle working God, why not ask for him to work a miracle? If you're praying to the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, why not ask him for a few of those hills and the cattle that's on them? Some of you all are thinking, well, I don't necessarily qualify for all of that. J Bez could have said, cause after all I have caused pain and I don't have the best reputation in the world.

So, you know, no, no, no, no. J Bez is ignoring all of that. He's got his eyes now on God. And he's saying God can get a lot of glory because when he gets through using me and blessing me and enlarging my territory, anybody who looks at that will say, now that had to be God. You know where that boy came from? That had to be God. Do you know God loves taking somebody who is least likely to succeed, least likely to do anything significant and blessing them for his glory. He'll get a whole lot of glory out of you.

Some of us have got to stop being self-conscious. Well, I don't really qualify like the other people who are blessed. Name me anybody who's blessed and let me tell you something about them.

They don't qualify either. God is not out looking to reward everybody who's got a stellar past and a wonderful resume and your track record is squeaky clean and all that. He's looking for folk who are saying, I can't help where I've been. I've repented for all my errors. I'm sorry, Lord. If I have failed you in some ways, I haven't been a tither. I haven't sold faithfully, diligently into the kingdom, but I'm going to still ask you for more right now, Lord, because if you give it to me from this day moving forward, I'm going to give you a tithe of everything you give me and I'm going to honor you and bless you and I am going to move forward. I'm not going to tether myself to my past.

I'm not going to add up my track record and see if I think I qualify. I'm just going to say, God bless me, supersize it and enlarge my territory. And I want to tell you as I wrap this up, I'll bring this series to a conclusion in the next message, but I want to tell you if you'll dare to pray big prayers and dare to dream big dreams and dare to answer the question, what would you do if money, if influence, if favor was not standing in your way? If you'll dare to do it, God could very well do for you what he did for Jabez.

It says in the Lord granted his request. I've decided at this stage in my life, I'd rather ask God for everything I want than to sit around wondering if he would give it to me. I'm just going for it.

I'm just telling you all where the pastor is. I'm asking for everything I want, whatever I want. If I want it, Daddy, can I please?

Come on, you all know how we did growing up. Can I please have that? You all remember that when we went to the toy store, Ma, can I get this? Even if the answer was no, that didn't keep me from asking. Well, she said no the last nine times.

I might get lucky. It might be a day she's breaking down. And the Bible says, Jesus said, if we being evil know how to give good things to our children, how much more would a Heavenly Father do for us? You know, one of the best parts about becoming a Christian is that we are no longer dead in our sin. We are alive in Christ. That means we are defined by our Father in heaven, not our failures on earth. As the Apostle Paul wrote, the old things have passed away.

Behold, all things have become new. Thanks for being with us for this Monday edition of Destined for Victory and Pastor Paul Shepherd's message in need of a super-sized blessing. Listen to any of Pastor Paul's recent messages on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net. We're almost out of time, but before we go, I want to thank you for all you're doing to help Pastor Paul share the love of Jesus through the Destined for Victory broadcast. Your prayers and gifts have helped us grow into a worldwide ministry, one that can be heard in more than 400 radio stations and all over the world at pastorpaul.net.

But we don't want to live in what lies behind. Taking our cue from Philippians 3.13, we want to press on towards our high calling in Christ, and we'd love to have you join us by keeping us in your prayers and offering financial support when you can. In appreciation of your generous gift today, Pastor Paul will send you his booklet, Turning Your Test into a Testimony. You know, the trials and challenges we go through are the very things that help us grow.

Our mistakes, our past pain are uniquely designed to bring us closer to Jesus and make us better able to minister to those who may be going through the same things. In this booklet from Pastor Paul, he shows you how your mess can become a message and how your test can become a testimony. That's Turning Your Test into a Testimony, our gift to you this month by request for your generous donation to Destined 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 Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538.

Again, our address is Destined for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. If you're going to pray the prayer of Jabez, and I encourage you to do it, do it understanding that Jabez wasn't saying, Lord, what I want you to do is just make me healthy, wealthy, sexy, and wise. Amen.

It wasn't about stuff. He said, I want to be honorable. That's tomorrow when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, Keys to Receiving More from God. Until then, remember, he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are Destined for Victory. .