You're in Training, Part 5 (cont'd)

You mad that he hasn't answered your prayers. He hasn't given you the car you want and the house you want and the job you want.

You got the nerve to have an attitude with a commanding officer you have never committed to. And God says, this season of your life is designed to get you to sir, yes sir. Hello, thanks for being here for today's Destin for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, Senior Pastor at Destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California. I'm sure you have high hopes and dreams, and I'm sure you have desires, and God invites you to express those things to him. But when all is said and done, what he's trying to help you do is to get to a place in your spiritual journey in which you can say, as Christ did, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Today's message is coming your way next. Stay with us here or visit pastorpaul.net where you can listen to any recent Destin for Victory message on demand.

That's pastorpaul.net. And here is Pastor Paul with today's Destin for Victory message, You're in Training. God says, this season of your life is designed to get you to sir, yes sir.

It's what Jesus did in the garden, Matthew 26 39. He said, it says going a little farther. He fell on his face, prayed my father, if it's possible, may this cup be taken from me, yet, not as I will, but as you will. You got to get to the yet. Yeah, Lord, here's what I want. Sorry, you can tell God what you want.

That's cool. When you get through, you better say however, nevertheless, this really isn't about what I want. This is about what you will, what you command. That's why Jesus has commended. That's why you read what is said in Philippians. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him because he humbled himself and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God has highly exalted him. See, we want to be highly exalted and we haven't died to death.

We did looking for promotion. Listen, just talk about TV preaching. If you bother watching it, you better have a boatload of discernment. There is more junk on Christian TV.

It is horrible. Nobody talking about suffering and denying yourself and saying God, not my will, thine be done. Nobody talking about fighting the fight of faith, being a soldier and enduring hardship. They're not talking about hardship.

They're talking about hanging out and being a big shot. And if you feed on that junk is going to take you farther away from where God needs you to be, which is sir. Yes, sir. Yes, God prospers. Yes, God bless blesses. Yes, God favors. I believe all of that in its context. But if you don't have the context, you missed the whole point. And the context is I'm yielded to him and to his purpose, and I'm doing his will first.

And then I wait to see how he's going to bless me. You got to adjust your attitude. Number three, watch your words. You can't speak any old way to a commanding officer, even in their presence. It's just there's certain decorum. There is a certain carriage that goes along with being a soldier, and they are disciplined in speech. You know why they're disciplined in speech?

Because our speech has a lot to do with what's in our hearts. And so they teach you you have to speak right because we've been training you and through the course of the training, we've been developing a certain attitude in you. A soldier has a certain mindset in him or her. They know that that winning is the most important thing. We've got to be victorious. And there's a strategy to being victorious as a soldier.

And so you have to be very disciplined. And you and I have to learn to speak better. I want to call you as a child of God to improve what you say. Some of you all bellyache, bellyache, bellyache.

That's all we hear you do is complain about everything that's going wrong in your life. And I'm saying that's not the language of a soldier. Even when a soldier has to face a challenge, there's a discipline that is spoken about victory.

Paul modeled that in second Corinthians four, I did a whole series on this verses eight nine whole message on this. When we talked about the God of the comma, Paul said we are hard pressed on every side comma, here comes the soldier in him, but not crushed. I'm not I'm not going to sentence with hard pressed on every side. That's not the way a soldier talks.

Oh, man, it's the worst battle ever. Comma, but we gonna win it. Paul said we hard pressed on every side but not crushed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. We are persecuted, but not abandoned.

We are struck down, but not destroyed. What's he doing? He's showing us that's the way that's the way a soldier looks at the situation. The soldier speaks properly. They not only watch their words in terms of making sure their profession is positive and determined. They watch their words in terms of shutting up when they're supposed to. One of the things that I read that they were telling these little young wannabe recruits, you speak when spoken to by your officer.

You don't just go bust up in the office saying, yo, man, I was thinking about some things I want to talk to you. You speak when you're spoken to. You got to learn when to be silent. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes chapter three, verse seven, there's a time to be silent and a time to speak. Some of you all the season you're in right now of your spiritual discipline is God is giving you grace to shut up. And you are having to learn to take it. Now, for some of you all, that's a whole process because shut up just isn't in your genes.

Come on, let's be honest. Some of you all just don't have it. You just got that fight in you. You just got that response in you.

You await one, wait, hold up about everything in your life. Feisty. I've seen them. I've been to a puppy mill different times. We've had dogs and, you know, they'll grab some of the puppies. And one of the things they do to kind of show you what their temperament is like is they'll grab one and put it on his stomach, put it on his back.

And some of them just feisty, just struggling to get back. I'm not getting on my back. And they'll show you this one's kind of alpha. This one, this one has that. I'm going to run things, put them on the back, jump back up. There's another one.

You put them on their back and they're like, cool. You all good? I'm good.

Everything cool? You all right? They say, if you're looking for an aggressive dog, that's not your dog. That dog needs to be led. But listen, let me tell you something. In spiritual things, God will not make a leader out of you in any area, make you a leader on your job, make you a more authoritative person in your community, in your home. He won't give you responsibility to help disciple other people until you have learned to be an excellent follower, which means you got to learn how to shut up even though you got a lot to say.

Got to learn how to sit in the meeting and listen to folk. And everything in you is saying, are you out of your mind? And sometimes the Lord will just have you sitting there and say, don't say anything because he's teaching you. It's really not about this. This meeting isn't about them.

It's about you. Don't say, oh, it happens to me quite a bit. And just sit there and say, because God's training you. Watch your words. Some of you are losing the battle severely over your mouth. You say everything that comes to your mind.

You need to talk more to God than the people and let God do what he's doing in your life. Number four, narrow your focus. Set your priorities, adjust your attitude, watch your words.

Number four, narrow your focus. What do I mean by that? They teach recruits that you're not going to get through boot camp looking ahead to officers training. You got to get through boot camp, they say, one day at a time.

Guess what? They got that from the word. The Bible calls us to live one day at a time. James said in his epistle, don't go around saying, yeah, next week I'm going to do this and then next month I'm going to, and next year I'm going to do that. He said, you got to have the attitude if it's the Lord's will. You got to learn to live in daily doses. That's God's plan.

One day at a time. Lamentations 3, 22 and 23. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

They are new what? Every morning. Great is our faithfulness. See, we love talking about the faithfulness part. You got to get, before that, God's given you love and compassion and the ability to make it in daily doses.

Every morning it gets renewed. And that's what results in you experiencing the faithfulness of God. Y'all shop at Costco, that's fine for your house. You can't, there is no spiritual Costco. You can't go get a value pack of grace.

You can't get, God's not going to give you, man, I got grace for the whole year. No, you don't. You don't know what tomorrow's going to bring. I said, you don't know what tomorrow's going to bring. You can be riding well one day, one phone call can shake your life. One ride in the car, one being in a wrong place at a wrong time.

Change your life forever. You don't have grace for the future, you don't know what the future holds. You have grace for today if you tap into it. Give us this day, Jesus said, our daily bread, Matthew 6-11. Give us this day, as part of the prayer he taught us to pray. Give us this day, our daily bread. Some of y'all asking God, Lord, give me today about three months worth of bread.

And the bread represents not just physical food, but everything you need to nourish your soul and get you through a season of your life is not coming in value packs. It's coming in daily doses. Pastor Paul Shepherd will be right back with the second half of today's Destined for Victory message, You're in Training. Listen to the broadcast on demand at pastorpaul.net. That's pastorpaul.net where you'll find a host of great resources in our online store.

You can also listen on your mobile device by downloading our free Destined for Victory mobile app. Search Destined for Victory in the app store and listen to Pastor Paul wherever you go. And stay with us after today's message when Pastor joins me from his studio in California. But first, let's get back to the rest of today's message.

Once again, here's Pastor Paul. That's why I've told you over the years, when you're up late at night saying, God, I can't make it, you just ran out of that day's grace. That's all. Go to bed. Go to bed. That's when you walk out, announce to the whole family, I'm out of here, I'm out. Even if you're not sleepy yet.

Sleep got nothing to do with it sometimes. I just need to get away from everybody because anything I have to say the rest of this night. Oh, I wish I had some witnesses up in here.

There comes that time where you say, trust me on this. You don't want to hear anything I got to say the rest of this night. Oh, but you need to stay up some get ready. Come on.

And that's a y'all enjoy it. Not even sleepy, but I'm going in the room. I'm gonna talk to Jesus. I'm a read the word.

I'm a chill out till I fall off the sleep so I can wake up and get my daily dose of mercy and grace. Get up in the morning. Hello. The only got a day's work. Don't push me too early. Say something for the afternoon, something for the evening.

Give us this day, our daily bread, you need grace for every new day for every new season. I tell you often, you know, the people you live with your spouse, you who are married your spouse in the person you you said I do too. They've been changing for better, maybe for worse.

They've been changing, they've been developing. They got different focuses and priorities know that you got to say Lord, give me the grace for who I'm married to today. Some of y'all know you really got to wake up and discern Okay, now who this cause of life just shifts you Your wife is a bad person is just shift your kids are just shifting. Give me this. Give me grace for this one today. You need grace for your boss you need grace for your co workers. Give me today Lord one day at a time. That's why you think you can stay spiritual and not pray and not read the word you fooling yourself. I don't have time for devotion. You don't have time not to have devotion. Do like me for you got the bed just reach over. I reach over grab my iPhone go right to the daily reading still laying in bed, land in bed still dark, but the iPhone lights up.

Reading for today. Lord speak to me out of this encourage me out of this. Help me to find a resolve here. Then you pray, talk to God. Before you get out the bed start talking to people you better talk to God.

Talk to people first it's not gonna go well some days. Number five finally, help your buddy. Help your buddy. A young recruit is taught as a soldier, you are never to think in loan terms. We function as a company, a troop. We collectively are soldiers, they are taught, you never leave anyone behind. You don't leave them behind. You don't say well they hurt hope they make it out. If one suffers we all suffer.

If one gets out we all get out. Well he got killed you pick him up. You don't leave his body to be desecrated by the enemy, you pick him up, even if he's gone. You honor the fact that he fought side by side with you.

Maybe he's gone so you could be alive. You pick him up and you take him with you. And the wounded you certainly don't leave behind.

You pick him up you help him. Jesus said Peter the reason why I'm letting you go through this worst humiliation of your life is so that after you are converted you will know how to strengthen your brothers. That's what Luke 22 32 says.

You can go through the worst night of your life and you're going to be thoroughly ashamed of yourself. And you're not even going to know for sure because he didn't understand the depths of God's love he had never tested them before. And he didn't know before the end of this night you're going to wonder if I still want you to be a disciple. And the Bible says as Jesus was going to the cross, Peter followed a far off. He had just shown by publicly denying Jesus he didn't have the power to be identified with him. But his heart made him follow a far off. He was weak. He had fallen and failed miserably, but his heart was I want to be with Jesus. And he wondered if that was the end.

Oh, but when Jesus was raised that Sunday morning. He said, go tell my disciples and Peter to meet me in Galilee. He called him by name for two reasons. I believe number one so that Peter would know Jesus wants you. And so that the other disciples would know Jesus wants him. Because some of the disciples say, Peter, no, I heard what he did.

But a soldier scoops him up. And since the church didn't know what God's plan was, God said, I'm going to show them myself. So seven weeks after the resurrection, the day of Pentecost is about to hit. God said, I need somebody to preach in Aramaic in Jerusalem. After they see all these other folks speaking in foreign languages.

I need somebody to stand up and speak the native tongue. Who shall I pick of all these faithful one hundred and twenty in the upper room? God said, oh, I know I'm going to use Peter.

And the same one who had failed miserably seven weeks earlier is standing up saying, this is that which is spoken by the Prophet Joel. To dare leave your brother or sister behind because they had a rough season, rough time in their life, going through some changes. Pick up your brother, pick up your sister. If you got to rebuke him, rebuke him.

But let it be redemptive. Don't you dare throw away somebody who has a heart for God, who keeps on coming back no matter what the devil throws at him, who says, I got to get this right. I got to get where God wants me to go. Somebody needs your encouragement.

You've got to learn to strengthen your brothers. The last thing I'll say is be encouraged if you're in a training season, because training doesn't last always. Training after training comes promotion. After training comes graduation. You do hit that place where you experience all that God was prepping you for. The way it's put in our text is all the suffering and the training is not pleasant.

It's painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest. So you've got a harvest coming.

That's why you've got to work so hard now. You've got a harvest coming. You've got some blessings stored up for you. God said, I'm ready to release them into your life, but you've got to pass your tests.

I came to tell somebody, your harvest is on the way. But you've got to get these lessons down. Set your priorities. Adjust your attitude. Watch your words. Narrow your focus.

Help your buddy. And do it until you see God take you into a new season where you'll take all of these disciplines and you'll use them for his glory. Thanks so much for being here for today's Destined for Victory message.

You're in training. Look for any of Pastor Paul's recent messages online on demand at pastorpaul.net. Well, I'm pleased to welcome Pastor Paul, who joins me now from his studio. Pastor, we often hear from people who've been blessed by the ministry. Every time I hear one of those testimonies, I feel blessed myself and humbled, really, that I get to play a small part in that. Talk about the importance of encouragement and the role it plays in all of our lives.

Often when we have our worship services and I have people pray, we usually link hands so that they're praying for the person to the left and the right. And as I end the prayer from a pastoral standpoint, I say to people, I want you to know that when you pray for your neighbor, you're inspired because when he answers your neighbor's prayer, he's in the neighborhood and he's going to bless you. And so we need to be encouraged that as we minister to other people, God is going to see to it that our needs are met.

So encouragement is important to give and to receive. Well, we're always looking for new testimonies to share with our listeners. So if you've been blessed by the Destined for Victory broadcast, we'd love to hear from you. From the pastorpaul.net homepage, click on Contact Us and tell us your story. Again, the web address is pastorpaul.net. These testimonies of how God is working in the lives of our listeners only happen through the faithful prayer and financial support of friends like you. So keep in mind that for your generous gift today, we'll send you, by request, a copy of Pastor Paul Shepherd's booklet, Creating a Relational Legacy.

Now, if that title sounds familiar, that's because it's the same title as the messages you heard earlier this month. Pastor Paul and his wife, Meredith, shared a three-part message about building and maintaining godly relationships. This booklet is a great companion guide to these messages, and today we'd like to share it with you. That's Creating a Relational Legacy, our gift to you for your generous donation to Destined for Victory.

And today is the final day of this special offer, so contact us right away. 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, Destined for Victory, P.O.

Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. Sometimes we're guilty of trying to claim promises or claim blessings or claim a return from God when we haven't made the proper investment. And the thing that I realize is that with God, it's much the same as even with financial institutions, in as much as there are certain yields, there are certain returns that you only get when you make the right deposit. That's tomorrow when Pastor Paul Shepherd shares his message, Substantial Penalty for Early Withdrawal. Until then remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.