Going Beyond Freedom (cont'd)

My brother, my sister, if you want to journey toward fulfillment in your life you're going to have to get your blood out of the way. I don't mean you'll be utility flowcharts we would babe, all the while I'm preaching. No, I just mean you're being UT Gordon negative conjunction nor negative perspective on what God wants to do in your life hello and welcome to this Wednesday. Addition of Destin for victory wherever you are, however, you may be listening with your online on radio or on your mobile device. Always glad to have you with us today. Pastor Paul Sheppard takes us to a familiar Old Testament story, one in which some of the Israelites begin to romanticize the past become fearful of an uncertain future. If you sometimes do on your own past and think of it as the good old days were maybe even the best day shall ever have. Pastor Paul stands ready to convince you that God has plans for you plans. It will give you a future and a whole but first you may have to get your objections and your conjunctions out of the way. Stay with us here are visit Pastor Paul.net any time to listen to Destin for victory on demand. You can also listen or download the podcasting Google podcast or wherever you get this analysis join Pastor Paul for today's Destin for victory message.

Going beyond freedom, my brothers, my sister that I hope you never allow yourself to get a place where you begin to believe that what God has ahead of you is not as good as what you have behind you. They were not going to experience God's best, because when Moses sent out 12 spies as I tell you what you want to check out where God promised us to go were going to send 12 spies let them go and tell us about it and they'll come back and report now Moses I'm sure thought well hopefully when the spies get back you will confirm that the land is just as good as God said it was and then the focus will be ready to go. He should've understood that they been showing you all along all their hearts are not interested in moving forward. They were only interested in getting out of bondage, but they didn't understand that freedom is overrated when you don't know why, so you know the story. 12 spies went over into the promised land. Check things out. If you want to read it. Go to numbers chapter 13 and I will walk you through it. In the interest of time you read numbers chapter 13 when you get a chance, let me just paraphrase it for you. 12 spies, one from each tribe go over and check out the promised land. When they get back and report to Moses and to the people of Israel.

There were two reports 10 of them had one report that was very negative. Only two of them had a report that was positive.

The tenant came back and said yes the land over there is great. It is wonderful. Just like God said it was land flowing with milk and honey bee fruit over there is rich we brought back by grace. It took two men the Kelly one vine of graves. This is really nice.

Then they said, but let me tell you my brother, my sister, if you want to journey toward fulfillment in your life you gonna have to get your butt out of the way.

I don't mean your BU TT don't charge me would babe, all the while I'm preaching. No, I just mean you're being UT Gordon negative conjunction nor negative perspective on what God wants to do in your life. Think about it.

They just said yeah land is rich. There then they said, but in the begin the highlight things.

God never told them to worry about. They said, but the cities are fortified and the people who were there are large and powerful, and they said we even saw all some Giants over there and then the report went on, compared to those Giants will look like grasshoppers? How did they know how they looked to the people and I gimme a minute.

Beautiful today would you tell us what we look like to you, but that goes to show you when your heart is negative when your perspective is something other than what God has given you to focus on. It is easy for you to project your fears and project your doubt and the project your unbelief on to other people and onto the circumstances. I can learn a lot from that first generation that came out of bondage we can learn that your perspective can prevent you from fulfillment. Even though God has freed you so I want you to think about your life. You saved thank God.

Now my question is what are you going do with that gift of salvation do with the rest of your days on earth. We know that because you say when you die you going to heaven. Guaranteed. No question about it. I'm safe to be absent from the body one day is going to be present with the Lord.

Instant reward when I close my eyes here on earth. Praise God for that.

But until you die, what evil do I go spend the rest of your life in mediocrity.

Are you go spend the rest of your life being satisfied with what you've already done all you want to spend your life being okay with the norm just sort of treading water. Not really going anywhere.

Not really doing anything spend the rest of your life playing it safe, spend the rest of your life just barely making it.

I will tell you some if you're willing to do that.

That's probably what you're going to do you know where I got that from. From these people and number 13 when they got that negative report. Their hearts gravitated toward the negativity.

Now the two spies that had a positive report were Joshua and Caleb.

Caleb sounds the people said no don't listen to these 10 guys. The fact of the matter is we should go right now into fulfillment why God freed us so we can experience fulfillment. We need to go right now and possess the land. Then the negative. Backup not only for them, they crazy the listener them, they'll get you killed, and God himself stepped in when you get into numbers chapter 14 Lucy God step in and when God stepped in and he said tell you what telescope having a business meeting down in the wilderness that the meeting is adjourned because I made up their minds for them.

God said since their hearts gravitated toward the negativity.

God sent him to let all" who are negative, almost folk who don't understand that freedom is only as valuable as the fulfillment it can lead you to since they don't understand that I'm a little more dire. Right here in this wilderness brothers and sisters. If you want to be mediocre for the rest of your life.

You can be. God will give you permission to just live life as it comes.

But if you have the spirit of Joshua and Caleb and if you have the spirit of Pastor Paul Solomon you were saying. I don't want to just tread water for the rest of my life. I don't want to just be an average Joe or Josephine, your sisters, I don't want to be just something ordinary run-of-the-mill person I want to experience God's best for the rest of my life.

Even if you had some difficult time some challenging times you have some major mistakes and mess ups in your life and all that you still got some more living to do and who knows what the last of your days could very well be the best of your days depending on your perspective, so I want to relaunch this series by just getting you to think why am I free what I want to do with this gift of spiritual freedom. I call salvation blesses you to see 10 more. 20 more fun anymore. Some of your younger quote. Some of you may have 40 more years, unless the Lord comes before them more here.

16 more years. Whatever time you have remaining. Should the Lord Terry, what do you want to do with that time. If you want to live an ordinary life. You can if people want what God has for them. He will cram it down their throats. He'll do just like you did with this first generation that Moses let out all V-chip.

He let him die in the wilderness, not because he wasn't powerful enough to take him, but because their hearts gravitated more toward negative things than toward fulfillment.

My brothers, my sisters, listen to your pastor, God has great things in store for you and it's up to you as to whether you experience coming up next.

The rest of today's message. Going beyond freedom with pastor Paul Sheppard, senior pastor, destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California.

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I invite you to do it today you love what you see there, including the ability to listen to all of Pastor Paul's recent messages on demand plus a host of great resources that are online store, including books and more MP3 messages from Pastor Paul Pastor Paul.net is a great place to learn more about the ministry and all the great things friends like you are doing through your prayers and financial support you can also watch selected video clips by subscribing to pastor Paul on YouTube for links to all the social media visit Pastor Paul.net dream in your heart will be afraid to attempt God wants to take you to a place of fulfillment. But to get there you're willing participation is required is Pastor Paul with the rest of today's destined for victory message. Going beyond freedom. If you die in mediocrity. Don't blame it on God as well.

Having never fulfilled the dreams that were in your heart.

Don't blame it on God.

If you leave this world never having even attempted to do great things. Don't blame it on God. God wants to bless you. He wants to give you the gift of freedom which is a means toward an end and what's the end he wants to take you to a place called fulfillment. So in these common messages.

I'm going to be talking to you about the journey toward fulfillment and let me just give you the very first point on the journey toward fulfillment. The journey requires passion Joshua and Caleb when they saw the negativity of the 10 and when I saw how the hearts of the people gravitated toward negativity. They tried their best, they said no don't listen to this negative perspective, we should go right now and then they said things like we are well able to take over that land. Why, because God said it was ours but everything that will enable because they thought they were physically stronger than the Giants or anything like that.

They base that solely on the belief that God didn't bring us out of Egypt. God didn't deliver us from Pharaoh in order that I have Giants kill us God to get rid of Pharaoh. He certainly is not intimidated by Giants. They had passion to move forward first thing I want to say to you that if you want to have your own personal journey toward fulfillment in your life you need to have passion, don't be a person who settles for mediocrity for the rest of your life. Don't be a person for whom average is okay I have a little book in my library and here's the title and enemy called average. I want to encourage you if you want to journey toward fulfillment. Decide right here right now. Average is my enemy. I don't plan to spend the rest of my life being average. How do I go beyond the ordinary and moved toward the extraordinary. I have passion for that journey where you go is the product of where you decide to go and that's true in every area of your life. I remember as a young person.

In fact, I was ending junior high I was getting ready to go into ninth grade and I remember saying to myself, you know what I want to go to a good college at the time my dad pastored a relatively small church he did not have a great income. They were good to him, but it wasn't a significant amount of money.

Certainly he was not the kind of a black kid where he could even dream of sending his kids to college on his died so I knew that if I want to go to a good college which I said to myself I want to do. I was going to have to get scholarships. I said to myself as I entered the ninth grade. I'm going to get good grades all four years, nine, 10, 11 and 12 so that I can get some good scholarships and go to college and won't have to worry about the money that was our goal I set in the summer leading into my ninth grade school year.

I want to get good grades. You know what happened. I got always in ninth grade. Why because I'm smart. Well, I am smart, but no, that's not why I got straight A's because I decided to get good grades. I love running track and I love playing basketball and I did those things as 1/9 grader, but I didn't allow them or any other pursuits to obscure my goal of getting good grades. I ended up getting straight A's in ninth grade.

Then when in the temporary. I said well that's about 25% of the journey, but now I got a second year of high school. I need to get good grades again. And guess what I got straight A's in 10th grade. Why because I decided I needed good grades in order to get scholarships to grade always love of grades still running track still playing basketball still enjoying life as a teenager, but not allowing it to obscure my ultimate goal, ultimate goal, I gotta get good grades like go to college just what 11th grade got straight A's because I decided average will think about your grades in school average was when I was in school menses. I said no Cesar, don't get me the scholarship I need and so I got A's entering my senior year and I said well I'm three quarters of the way. But I got another year and understand that I had to take some some college prep courses I've been taking some along the way, my last year of high school. They said you will have to beef up your college prep courses and your advanced courses and all that and so I signed up for those and I dug in. Okay, I gotta get this done and it was not easy, but my goal was, you know what I've made straight A's all three years so far. High school not only assembling for B's and C's now let's go for it and I ended up getting all A's. All four years of high school I got straight A's, my friends, that all you smart well I love that was smart enough to know that one to go to college and college. My daddy couldn't pay for soul. I did what I had to do. I'll never forget when I got my final report card. I would to a large public high school in Philadelphia in the 70s that schools no longer exist. It's been closed down. But when I graduated in 1975 there were more than 800 students in the senior class at that high school when I got my last report card of my 12 grade. I remember I can see it now written on the report card with a red sharpie kind of instrument that was the number 2÷ and under. It was 800 and I believe it was 833. That's how many seniors there were and I finished number two in a class of over 800 seniors remedy this.

I was so mad I was so mad that there was somebody who had beaten me in terms of grade point average and got number one and I was number two back when I went to my I think was my 10th reunion of high school I saw her I had seen her earlier affect us all. At the end of the of the senior year found out she was the one who was the valedictorian and all that and thereby was singing her praises. I would congratulate her and at all, but she didn't know I had a little bit of attitude, while I congratulated her. But the bottom line is she deserved it, and we remained friends. Reality is I succeeded, not because I was brilliant, not because all he just got that kind of brain no, it came because I have a passion to excel.

When you have a passion to do in your life right now.

What is it that floats your boat that rings your bell. It may not be in existence now, but it is often thought it is something in your imagination. Whether it is you being an entrepreneur whether it is you starting some new emphasis in your career. I don't know but you know what is that you're passionate about right now in your life. Remember what Jesus said. Jesus said, a good person out of the good treasure in his or her heart brings forth good things. What's in your heart that you need to bring forth and you have passion in your heart for that because I want to close by telling you you're not going to get to a place of excellence with the mindset of mediocrity. You're only going to get to a place of excellence when you allow that passion to grip you in every conceivable way.

Some of us need to make up in our minds.

During this time when culvert 19 has enveloped the world and people are trying to figure out what is life going to be like after this we all know what we should know one thing, however, God brings us out of this. I'm coming out not just to go back to business as usual I'm coming out to do what I've never done to believe for what I've never believed for to experience what I've never experienced. I want to see God do exceeding abundantly above everything that I've asked or even is that your heart's desire. If it is, I pray that God's going to help you bring it to pass a man. Thanks so much for joining us for today's destined for victory message.

Going beyond freedom well in a year like 2020 was so much chaos and confusion. It can be easy to lose sight of our primary mission. We may shift our focus to social issues, political issues or the pandemic itself. None of these are bad in moderation, but our primary focus should be worshiping God, enjoying the gift of his salvation and sharing that gift with others in his DVD message refocus. That's exactly what Pastor Paul encourages you to do.

He put the sermon together to help you work to the challenges that have been born out of this pandemic and some of the frustrations that we've all experienced as you follow along. To give you three practical steps as to how you need to address the events of this year and move ahead to 2021 with your faith intact, knowing that God is moving you ever closer to your destiny in Christ again this DVD message is called refocus and it's our gift to you by request for your most generous gift to Destin for victory in December. Call 855-339-5500 to give over the phone or mail your gift to Destin for victory PO Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. You can also make a safe and secure donation from our website. Pastor Paul.net thanks in advance for helping keep Destin for victory on the air, both now and in the years to come. Sometimes we all his past achievement. You missed that. I gotta say it again.

Sometimes the only awful element is past achievement. Sometimes when he sent back and kick back and say well done pretty good to this part of my life. Well, pretty good is not going to get you if you do. I wanted so Paul said, you need to let go of what's behind you that's next time. In Pastor Paul Shepard's message moving on with passion. Until then, remember he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory