You're in Training, Part 2

I want to help us understand that God is not going to graduate people who are ready and so if you mess around and create a wilderness experience in your own life here to tell you guys going to teach you, even in your wilderness.

In many ways the Christian life is like high school some graduate right on time and others may get held back hello and welcome to this Thursday edition of Destin for victory with pastor Paul Sheppard, senior pastor at destiny Christian Fellowship in Fremont, California God is a patient teacher. If we fail a test to go over the material again to make sure we understand it may take longer to get to the next level. That way, but at least we'll be ready for it when we get there faster. Paul joins us shortly with an encouraging reminder that God will do everything he can to make sure you graduate first. He has some things to teach. As always, feel free to stop by Pastor Paul.net any time to hear today's message or any recent Destin for victory message on demand.

That's Pastor Paul.net. Let's join him.

Now she shares today's Destin for victory message you're in training.is not need you to do everything right in order to teach you. He can teach you even through experiences that were in his will for your life. Just like you don't want them in the wilderness he wanted them in Canaan bank chose the wilderness because a murmuring complaint in the nonbelief. But God said that's all right your my children will be in the wilderness or in the promised land so you know this. I'm going to teach you something understand God doesn't meet conditions to be perfect in order to teach you. You can make a mask and I'll teach you in the mess.

It happens in our nation. A lot of times people are trying to figure out whether something was God's will save God for us, but we chose him things in life.

God's will, nor God's call but it doesn't mean God is not in charge and means he will use things even when they're not his will, or his phone. I can use it as discipline. Back in 2001 when 911 Took Pl. just compelled to get up and say this is God's judgment on America was one of those.

I got up and said judgment is not judgment. You know what happened because those people who masterminded this set of crimes were people out against the will of God. God says the chosen hatred. They chose to believe that it was somehow their job to destroy people in another country that was not God's will. But God said all that was in my judgment, got up and said God was going for America. We would've expressed a lot more than the destruction of three buildings and 3000+ lives lost.

As tragic as that was, this was not the judgment of God. God is after America not getting away with so I got up and respectfully disagreed with many national voices that were say this is the judgment of God. I said no is not his will that this happened is not his judgment but he is using it as a national altar call 911.

Went to church in America then had gone in decades, preacher friend, you better be ready to pray for something you can pretend all you need to be prepared to preach this on a whole lot of hope that your church and show no people were flooding in the churches all over the country. One of the newspapers said our church to see what I will go say and I saw it in the paper the next day and they would tell them highlight they went about four different churches in the region. I was was one of them and they would write down what I see and what have you and the cameraman was dead taken pictures cameraman got safe while he left the building. This sort. When he got his job when he got through doing his work had always been to them.

Stop and they were packing up, he came as always, if you permit it to somebody pray with me because I need the Lord's absolutely brother we pray with him and he left the building say this and God will let you stuff in your life is not God's fault but he will use it, even when you even when you made some mistakes even when you made some wrong turn when you think God still know how to discipline you know what I want to do is make sure you understand what the Bible is talking about when we talk about the movements of God in our lives to look at this passage in Deuteronomy 8 verse two and I want you to see the movement of God, even when Israel was out of sync. They were in the wilderness verse two says remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these 40 years. What you may God let them want them in the wilderness, that's true, but they were his children, so we let him anyway. God led them even though they were hardhearted and murmured and complained God was responsible for what was going on in their development. He led them all away.

What else does it say God that he humbled them and he tested them. I want you to know that in your life, you can expect at times that you, God will humble you and test you. Sometimes God will make sure that you realize you need him. Sometimes some of us can handle prosperity to well at a certain level in our lives. So until you learn how to to appreciate God and to respect him and revere him no matter what.

Sometimes he will you he will test you in order to know what's in your heart, whether or not you keep his commands. Sometimes that's the working of God in your life.

Look at the next verse, verse three of Deuteronomy 8. He calls them to hunger and then fed them with Manna in order to teach him that Mandeville live by bread alone, but every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

God calls them the hunger sometimes strips away some of the things that you used to be able to count all sometimes God will help you to experience a certain amount of a basement so that you realize I need you, Lord, and he's trying to teach you not only do you need me to feed you physically, but you need every word that proceeds out of my mouth because the real test is you'll know you're growing when you learn to pray, even when you're not in desperate need some folk you can know where they are in the growth of the only pre-911 prayers that you was about a euro praise 911. Pray goings-on they pray is when in trouble they dial spiritual 911 and you expect to have in the hallway say heaven what your emergency.

But this text says God will let you go through some things so that you can understand not only meet him in desperate times need him every day of my life. Not only do I need him every day, but the right of every hour of every day you need to learn to play all the time.

The Bible calls it, pray without ceasing.

You need to learn to play when you get up in the morning.I don't know what's ahead of me today but I'm trusting you. My life is hidden with Christ in God.

A more you lead me today. Go ahead of me today I'm generating a job you know what idea would Lord you help me today to talk to you driving your car will always be talking on the phone always be listening to music. Every now and then turn the music off… I Lord let me talk to you. You have to learn to do that to learn that you need every word that proceeds out of his mouth and so he teaches you along the way. Verses four and five of Deuteronomy 8 says your calls and wear out your feet didn't swell during the 40 years meeting God even when you create a wilderness experience for yourself.

God says I will make sure that it doesn't kill you. I love that about God that God won't let your wilderness experiences define you.

He will keep you why because he was going take them to Canaan. Now the first generation didn't get to go.

They died in the wilderness.

But God was preparing their children to go over and experience the promise land and he said I did let your feet swell.

I did let your clothes wear out because God won't let hard times kill you, I came to let you know child of God, you who are believers understand God's tough times kill you stay with us the second half of Pastor Paul Shepard's message is coming right up.

We want to thank all of you who support destined for victory with your prayers and financial support, gifts that help Pastor Paul share the joy the gospel with the growing audience destined for victory is supported entirely by friends like you. So please prayerfully consider making a donation to destined for victory today. Give online safely and securely from our website. Pastor Paul.net or give us a call at 855-339-5500 and the numbers 855-339-5500. God always finishes what he starts.

And that includes the work he's doing in you are going through a season of waiting. Today a season of suffering for comfort in the fact that God is not finished writing your story. The rest of today's destined for victory message or in training starts once again, there's Pastor Paul as a child got them all can make it. Yes, you can if you can make it because he said I will get your way. I'm taking you so you quit all that God is not impressed.

I used to pray about all of us have been there if you have been that people live in you'll get there. I settled on another day. Guess what, you go to sleep and you wake up and you take it.

But God make sure that his grace is sufficient. Why does he do that because verse five of Deuteronomy says no in your heart that is a man disciplines his son so the Lord your God disciplines you is what I need you to understand I need you to understand the concept of the discipline of God and in our lives so we go to our text in Hebrews 12. The first phrase is indoor hardness as discipline God is treating US sons indoor hardness as discipline God is treating you as sons. What is discipline from a biblical standpoint, what is the truth.

God wants us to learn in this passage. What is discipline you need to know that or else you'll miss this entire Revelation. Let me give you the biblical definition for this word translated here in NIV as discipline and some translations you see the word chastening the Lord chastening his children. What does that word translated chastening or discipline mean, here's the definition shut this down to discipline or to chase him from a biblical standpoint means to train to instruct, to equip to mold or took calls learning give it to you again to discipline or to chasten means to train to instruct, to equip to mold and because learning let's unpack that what that tells you is that the Bible says here in door. The hard things are going through in your life because God is going to use those hard things to train you to instruct you to equip you, to mold you and the cause you to learn. Don't think that you need good times and wonderful experiences in order to get where God is taking you, God can get you there even when the path leads you through difficult things cozies up to something. What this tells you is that this concept of discipline is a process. It's not an now if you grew up in the world like I grew up in.

A lot of times we grew up thinking discipline means punishment for misbehavior. A lot of us just assume that discipline means punishment for misbehavior because we most often heard the word discipline as it related to apparent when a child when I made the middle he spoke in the seniors to help me with today's visit, the young folk are listening out the taken note. But there's not a lot from their personal experience that they're going to build or relate to. So they want to learn to take it from us that we grew up in an America where we often associate it would discipline with punishment because we heard that a lot. We got discipline and admit his mom or that he got with him, but I need you to understand that from a biblical standpoint. The concept is much broader than punishment. It has to do with instruction and training and equipping and molding and causing you to learn. Now that process may involve punishment when there is misbehavior, but the process is far broader than punishment. In other words, the idea is you're going to learn throughout your experience. Now this is important to know because discipline means God has a process going on in your life and everything you go through God is going to make sure to use it in a way that results in you growing and developing and maturing so that you are prepared for what he has ahead of you. Now there are three ways that I want you to understand this concept because today's generation can understand it much in the way that it spoken of here in Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 talks about God treating us as sons. And then it asked the question for what son is not disciplined by his father see Mrs. harkening back to a time in ancient cultures. When the dad had the primary responsibility to shape the child into what the child was destined to be an ancient culture.

Your mother you, but your father trained you and so we can relate much of modern culture because today ideally their shared parenting and all of that, but there's not a whole lot of sense in today's culture of the dad having a primary responsibility of shaping and molding and equipping and all that that this long since gone away, even when we had little vestiges of it decades ago that has quickly evaporated.

There was a show on television when I was a boy called father knows best component you all heads know about father knows best put some on the day titled father knows best what Stanley that folk would rise up right away just to talk about father knows best. We can relate to it in today's world there so much no equality in the sense of coparenting and all that and there's nothing wrong with that. The Bible is not against the concept of the mother played a significant role is just telling you that in ancient culture. The primary responsibility didn't lie with the mother. The primary responsibility in ancient culture would reside with the daddy daddy was the one to tell you who you were and how you were to be mama was a nurturer and all that but daddy was the one who told you who you were. Because you don't carry his name and his family tray into the next generation.

And he wasn't about to let you carry his legacy and you cannot be mature and know what's going on in the world.

So when you get that concept. You have to understand that because today's world we instantly get added to each of my father knows best what no in biblical times. That was dad's responsibility. So, since you can't get the revelation much due to the world in which we live.

I want to give it to you from three other paradigms.

The first is I will talk to you about this concept of discipline. Being a process from the paradigm of school. Let's start with school now school as it used to be in our world and our day as young people I'm talking to middle-aged and seniors now young folk just listen in when we went to school. School wasn't just about getting an academic education.

When we went to school at school.

They saw it as their responsibility to help shape you into a young man and a young woman in today's world. You do good to get education, but in the world in which we grew up we went to school where the teachers took your development as a person as part of their responsibility. They were linking arms so to speak with your family and they were saying wherever mom and dad need a little help.

We are here to help me. We went to school I went to school where they would teach you the importance of proper behavior that you know in today's world you go to the schools.

I pray for you were teachers and what have you today because it negates some of the students in your plans, but forget tell them how to dress.

What does look like, how to speak look at with Joe business and the system will support more little support.

The teacher trying to make him behave.

Not so in our day.

I went to elementary schools where when they lined you up in the morning you lined up on a line in the schoolyard. Come on, come on over here. Joel got a walk with me through this. They lined us up on this bus on up there whenever you like.

And everybody went to bed. This plan was for your one class and they wouldn't even think about you and tell everybody out there was a man and quiet all come. Thank you for that help you walk with me all the way through here never heard this in their life and quiet. I remember the teachers just walking the line just walking the line that they might say good morning, how are you gonna talk you heard and when it got nice and quietly dissuaded when I got nice and quiet. Then they escorted us as elementary children into the building up to our room where we went and sat in our preassigned seat, not where you felt like sitting today preassigned seat that showed best handle name card owning preassigned seat use sat there and waited for the instruction of the wind because they were grooming you they were just teaching you that makes they would teach you how to be a young man, Jesus told us to go and make disciples of all nations that mean sharing the gospel with them. But it also means helping new believers grow in their faith. That's Pastor Paul Shepard's mission here at destined for victory. You can take part in this mission with Pastor Paul and all of us at destined for victory, but becoming a partner for as little as $20 a month in light of some severe challenges these past two years or so people are eager to hear about the hope we have in Christ, and many are getting that message to the destined for victory broadcast. Please prayerfully consider joining Pastor Paul and his mission to share the light of the gospel to all people, even to those who have grown comfortable in the dark is our way of saying thanks for your partnership will send you if you think you gifts, including what a pastor. Paul's most popular CDs. The best of let my people smile, call 855-339-5500 I know more about how to become a destined for victory partner or mail your gift letting us know you wish to become a partner or addresses destined for victory PO Box 1767, Fremont, CA 94538. You can also become a partner from our website. Pastor Paul.net.you can become a partner, but would like to send a generous gift to the ministry today would love to share with you a gift of her own is Pastor Paul Shepard's booklet creating a relational legacy that's creating a relational legacy. Our gift to you this month by request for your generous donation to destined for victory. Some of you been asking me to bless you to bring you out of a certain crisis and gases. I'm not bringing you out because you're not ready. I will only bring you out when I taught you everything that you need to learn that's tomorrow in Pastor Paul Shepard's message you're in training until then, remember he who began a good work and you will bring it to completion in Christ, you are destined for victory