How Much Can One Meal Cost?

Have you ever paid too much for what you got in return? Not alone, in just a few moments, Pastor Paul Shepherd takes us to a familiar Old Testament story as he shares his Destined for Victory message, How Much Can One Meal Cost? Before we get started though, he's been kind enough to join us from a studio in California, so I'm pleased to welcome Pastor Paul. Pastor, here we are in a brand new year, so much focus is on setting goals and losing weight and exercising more, coming up with just the right new year's resolutions. Certainly not bad things, but let's talk a bit about what you're feeling the perspective is that we as believers in Jesus should have as we begin this new year. Yeah, I think it is great to set goals. You know, these turn of a new year, that's a great reset time.

It's kind of a built-in reset button, refocus button. It gives us the opportunity to say, okay, take a deep breath and think about where you've been. More importantly, about where you want to go from here. And let's make some practical plans to get it done. It's a good thing.

I don't fight anybody who's making great goals. And don't get bent out of shape when you set a resolution and you've already broken it by January 13th. Just don't get back to me at the end of January.

Don't even bother getting upset about it. When it comes to weight loss, I definitely need to do that. And man, when this pandemic hit, it so shook me that it just took me off that focus.

And I hear my friends say, oh man, I lost X number of pounds during the pandemic. I said, don't worry. I found them and picked them up.

So you found them, you might've lost them, but I got them covered. So don't worry about it. But the reality is setting goals is good. But at the end of the day, I think what we've got to do is keep the main thing, the main thing. And for me, at least that means I am determined to get stronger. I am determined to get better. I am determined that I am going to have progress in my life.

Setbacks happen, but progress toward the things that are really important. The goals I've been given in scripture is what I'm focused on. I want to encourage our listeners as we move toward and as we move into 2022, let's keep the main thing, the main thing, and let God take us to deeper depths and higher heights in our relationship with him. That's what it's all about, isn't it, Pastor? Drawing closer to Jesus day by day so that we can be conformed more and more into his image. Well, a brand new year deserves a brand new resource, and we have one for you today. When you send a generous gift to Destined for Victory, we'll gladly send you by request, Pastor Paul Shepherd's DVD message, Influencers for Christ. Did you know that less than half of all Americans identify themselves as members of a church, a synagogue, a mosque, or any other religious organization? That may sound discouraging, but Pastor Paul believes it should actually excite us.

He'll tell you why in his DVD message, Influencers for Christ. It's our gift to you for your generous donation to Destined for Victory. So please 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, California 94538.

Again, the address, Destined for Victory, Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. You got to deal with how you feel. You got to look at it. How are you feeling really? Are you weary?

Are you famished? Are you jealous? Are you feeling insecure? Doesn't matter what people think you are, sometimes you can act confident and inwardly you're very insecure. If you are feeling weary or jealous or famished for one thing or another, Pastor Paul Shepherd wants to encourage you today.

Deal with how you feel, because if you don't, your feelings just might govern your decisions, often to your detriment. On today's Destined for Victory, a familiar Old Testament story that will remind you just how dangerous it is to make decisions based solely on your emotional condition. Here's Pastor Paul with today's Destined for Victory message, How Much Can One Meal Cost? Now, if you haven't been with us, of course, my purpose in this series has been to help believers, especially singles, identify and avoid some what I'm calling common pitfalls that can derail our success and well-being. I want to help you live your best life in Christ.

That's what I'm trying to do here. And so far, we've covered four pitfalls to be avoided. Number one, believing that God has promised a spouse to every single person who wants to be married. We covered that. Number two, believing that you will neither be happy nor experience personal fulfillment unless you marry. We talked about that.

That's a lie from the pit. You ought to plan to be your own CEO, chief enjoyment officer, regardless of whether you get married. Pitfall number three, to avoid believing that you don't really need strong relationships and accountability. And I talked in the last message about the importance of having people in your life that God himself uses to help you live a high quality life. And then, pitfall number four was dating without evaluating. That's especially for the singles.

Don't just date, evaluate. I covered a lot of good stuff in those messages. I can't repeat it because I got to get on to pitfall number five, but I hope it's blessing you.

Now, let's look at the fifth pitfall that I'm encouraging you to avoid. And it is this, selling out for stew. Selling out for stew. Pastor, what in the world do you mean selling out for stew? Glad you asked.

And I'm about to answer that question. Go with me to Genesis chapter 25 and begin your reading with me at verse 27. Genesis 25, if you're new to the Bible, just start at the beginning.

Genesis 25 beginning at verse 27. So Esau and Jacob grew. These are twin boys.

They grew. And Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a wild man dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Let me pause right there and tell you that your family isn't the first dysfunctional family. Did you see what we just read? Daddy loved one twin boy, mama loved the other twin boy.

Dysfunctional. So yours isn't the first. And you can live your best life in Christ despite them crazy people that raised you. All right, let's keep on going. Now look at verse 29. Now Jacob cooked a stew and Esau came in from the field and he was weary. And Esau said to Jacob, please feed me with that same red stew for I am weary. Therefore, his name was called Edom. But Jacob said, sell me your birthright as of this day. We'll pause right there.

Now, do you see what just happened? You got two boys who have two different temperaments. One is a hunter, loves the outdoors, and that's what gives him joy. His brother, Jacob, isn't trying to do the outdoors.

He's home. He's more mild-mannered by temperament and he's more like his mother and Esau is more like his daddy. No problem so far. The only problem so far we've seen is that the other boys are we've seen is that the parents have picked a favorite.

You can have characteristics that you relate to more in one child than another, but you have no business just flat out loving one better than you love the other. But here's what I want you to notice. So there's no problem really until Esau comes in and sees that Jacob is cooking a stew and because Esau is weary, he says, please give me some stew.

And you just saw Jacob say in verse 31, well, sell me your birthright as of this day. I want to talk you through three guidelines based on this text to help you avoid the pitfall of selling out for stew. Pitfall number one or guideline number one to keep you from falling into this pit. Get in touch with how you feel. Pastor, help me not fall into some avoidable pitfall. I will.

Number one, I need you to get in touch with how you feel. I am surprised at how many people do not pay attention to what's going on inside of them as they live their lives. There are a lot of people who are just living, but they're not paying attention to what's going on inside. And it's extremely important that we get in touch with ourselves.

Why? Because what's going on inside is going to manifest on the outside. You live your life inwardly before you live your life outwardly in the same way that any building, if you've ever admired any building, you got to understand that building has two creations. The first was in the mind of the designer, the architect, and then they drew it out, mapped it out, planned it, did all of the work necessary. First it had an inner creation.

Then eventually the builders went to work excavating, tearing up the ground, getting ready, laying the foundation and all the rest of the stuff. And your life is similar. The inside determines the outside. So you've got to get in touch with how you feel. How does that relate to this text? You see it. Esau came in from a hunting trip, famished, weary, exhausted. He's out there doing what he loves, but he came in weary. And you need to know when you're weary because when you are in touch with your feelings, you can then make sure you make the right decisions and you avoid the wrong decisions. So I want you to look at yourself right now. Sitting there looking at me right now, I want you to take an inward look. I want you to have introspection right now.

Turn your eyeballs inward. Let's look at what's going on inside of you. How are you feeling really? Not your church. How are you feeling blessed and highly favored?

I ain't trying to do that. How are you feeling really? Are you tired right now? Are you exhausted physically right now? Or are you exhausted emotionally right now? You do know you can have gotten good sleep, but wake up still weary, not so much physically, but emotionally, psychologically.

You can be famished. You can be over it. You ever woke up already over it? You got to deal with how you feel.

You got to look at it. How are you feeling really? Are you weary?

Are you famished? Are you jealous? Is there somebody you're feeling jealous toward? Are you envious? Jealousy and envy are two different things. Jealous is I feel possessive of something that I want to believe is mine and mine exclusively. Am I feeling jealous? Or am I feeling envious? Envious is I don't have a sense of ownership.

I don't have it, whatever it is, a person, a place, or a thing, but I covet it, and envy makes me want to pursue it at whatever cost. Am I insecure? Are you feeling insecure?

Doesn't matter what people think you are. Sometimes you can act confident, and inwardly you're very insecure. In fact, often I notice people, when they're overconfident, it is often masking insecurity, and they're hoping you don't really notice. Are you distrusting? Some of you have been hurt by people, and as a result, it's hard for you to trust. God sends somebody good to be a friend, to be a partner, to help you in a trying time, and they're busy trying to help you, and you are busy making it hard for them because you're reacting to something that happened before them, so when they show up, they are reaping somebody else's harvest. Are you distrusting?

Here's a question. Ask yourself, are you angry? I don't care that you're grinning. Are you angry? Are you PO'd?

They're talking about physical feelings. Are you hungry? When you're hungry, you need to stop and eat. Get yourself some nutrition, some nourishment, and have you ever been hungry and angry? We call that hangry. Hangry. I'm hungry, and I'm already angry, so get out of my way. Leave me alone. Let me get something to eat. Let me get my head together, my emotions together.

You run into a hangry person, you might have a real problem on your hands. Say amen whenever you can. Don't go away. We're only about halfway through today's Destined for Victory message with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor of Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. If you love listening to Pastor Paul, we know you'll want to subscribe to YouTube to watch some of his best video clips. For more details on all of our social media, be sure to visit pastorpaul.net.

That's pastorpaul.net, and there you'll find a variety of resources at our online store. Now, here's Pastor Paul with the rest of today's message, How Much Can One Meal Cost? Are you vengeful? Do you feel like getting somebody back? I know God said, vengeance is mine. I will repay. I want to tell God, no, no, I got this.

You ever felt that way? I know it's not holy. I didn't ask you what you're holy.

Be honest. And are you feeling vengeful? Because, you know, God won't force you to let him fight the battle.

If you decide you want to fight it, he'll let you do it. But if you want to really experience victory, you got to get in touch. Lord, I'm feeling vengeful.

Now, help me to obey your directive to leave this to you. And so you've got to get in touch with how you feel. Are you lonely? Are you lonely? Are you feeling lonely? Yeah, you can be blessed and highly favored and lonely too. I'm blessed. I'm highly favored. I'm tired being by myself. Are you lonely?

Get in touch with that. Are you fearful? Sometimes bravado is just masking fear. It's something how we often are displaying what is not the reality. So you got to learn to understand the inner workings. We who are in the people business, therapists and pastors, and those of us who have trained how to counsel people and what have you, we have had to learn to deal that when you see this, look for that. Because very often, there is a thing behind the thing.

There is a thing under the thing. For instance, anger is often hurt demanding justice. When people are angry, one of the strong possibilities, it's not in every case, but in many cases, when you see anger, you're seeing hurt that is demanding justice. And so you've got to learn to get in touch with what's going on inside of me and what is the thing behind the thing. Ask yourself enough why questions to get to the core. If you keep asking why, you'll get there. If you can't get there by yourself, that's why God wants to give you the strong relationships I talked about in the last message. Because none of us will grow effectively if we don't allow other people to help us. You can't have lifelong conversations only with yourself. If you talk to yourself only, you are your only consultant, guaranteed to mess up many times. And so you need to get in touch with your real feelings.

Get in touch with how you feel. Very important, saints. Now, church folk, we're not good at that. Church, we often try to get people to pray everything away, to sing everything away, to rejoice everything away. Prayer is extremely important. Singing is extremely important as an expression of worship and praising God, all of that extremely important. Pastors not putting that down at all.

I'm just saying there are some other elements of growth that have to be executed. And one is you got to learn how to not only get in touch with yourself by yourself, but when you can't get all the way to the bottom, let the other people in your life help you see what maybe you don't see. Be like Jesus who one day looked at his disciples and said, who do men say that I am?

Got some answers. Then he said, now, who do you say that I am? You got to learn to do that about your life. Don't just assume that you are your reputation.

The problem with some of y'all is you believe your press releases. You are not as special as your press release. You are not as wonderful as you look on paper. You have jacked up-tedness in areas of your life. I realize that's not a word. I got degrees, everything. I realize that's not a word, but it works.

You got jacked up-tedness going on in various areas of your life. And if you don't know you do, that's because you haven't asked the right people who are committed to telling you the truth. Well, I said in that message about relationships, you have to give people that permission. You have to let them know, look, your job is to help me get from earth to glory. Now I know we're going because of grace.

Everybody who rise in heaven, it will be because of grace. I'm just saying the journey is smoother and easier when you do life with other people who are committed to helping you not make critical errors on the journey. You've got to let people help you get in touch with how you feel.

And it's extremely important. In the worst season of my life, I met with some brothers who were working with me to restore me and walk through. And one person, I consulted with one bishop and he looked at me and the first question he asked me was, how angry are you? And I thought, what a question. How angry am I?

But it was a good question because I needed to get in touch with how angry I was. Some of you have to get in touch with some stuff and don't try to sing over it. Don't try to confess over it.

I know we want to keep positive confessions in our mouth. I get all that. I preach faith for you. I get it.

Sometime you need to, after I confess what I'm believing for, I got to start with acknowledging where I am. I've told you many times when you call somebody, say, I'm trying to get to your house, but I've never been. This is what we did back before GPS. GPS, we got it made now.

We just put it in and followed the direction. But back in the, y'all remember the days, old folk, y'all remember the days before GPS? Before you had a smartphone, just could get you anywhere and you'd call up the person, I'm trying to come to your barbecue, but I've never been there.

What's the first thing they're going to ask you back then? Where are you? I can't tell you how to get here until I know where you're starting from. Well, that's the way life is for all of us. And if God's going to get you where he destined you to be, he wants to help you get in touch with, well, what's your starting point? And don't try to confess over your starting point too prematurely. You are going to a good place, but you're starting in a lousy place.

You are going to end up all right, but you right now are not in a good place at all. Identify, get in touch with how you feel. And the second point is identify your current felt needs. Identify your current felt needs. I want to get in touch with how I feel, but I also want to identify now, what do I feel that I need based on where I am in my life right now? That's all the time we have for today. For more information about Destined for Victory, or how you can receive a copy of Pastor Paul Shepherd's DVD message, Influencers for Christ, visit pastorpaul.net.

That's pastorpaul.net. You've got to learn to identify what do you need, because your felt needs are not always your actual needs. So identify the felt need, and then see if you can, with some real thoughtfulness, go from here's what I feel like I need, here's what I actually need. And that's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepherd's message, How Much Can One Meal Cost? Until then remember, he who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.