Hello and welcome to another great day here on Destined for Victory, where we feature the teaching ministry of Pastor Paul Shepherd. We'll kick off today's message here in just a moment. First, we'd like to bring in our Executive Director Alicia Greer to tell you about a special gift for all those who support the ministry today. It's one that goes along with today's message. Our latest booklet, "A Miracle in the Midst of Madness." Alicia, what can you tell us about this great resource?
I really love reading the booklets each month because I really find them to be edifying and timely, and I believe many of you do as well. And this month, the booklet is based on a story that I really find fascinating in the Bible, and not just a story, but a story progression, because Pastor Paul bases this teaching on the progression of. The feeding of the five thousand, going into Jesus walking on the water, and that is a story progression that I have found really fascinating in my walk. When I read that section of scripture, especially what happens right after the feeding of the five thousand, and I've read it in different gospel accounts, man, it's really this theme of Jesus is doing miracles, and then there's testing miracles and testing, and I always can. Glean so much when I read that with the Holy Spirit in Scripture, and where my dad takes this series, it really highlights a similar point about how Jesus kind of tests our maturity after these amazing breakthroughs.
But he goes somewhere so different, and I just love how different teachers of the Word like can dig into Scripture and find different revelation for us to glean from.
So this month. I hope you will enjoy the booklet that we're offering. It's called "A Miracle in the Midst of Madness," and I believe that you will be blessed. Thank you so much for all of your support. We're so grateful to you.
All right, thank you, Alicia. Again, the book that is called "A Miracle in the Midst of Madness," and it's our thank you gift this month. When you make a generous donation to Destin for Victory, give by phone by calling eight five five three three nine five five zero zero eight five five. Three three nine five five zero zero, or visit PastorPaul dot net to make a safe and secure donation online. Or, as always, you can mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box seventeen sixty seven, Fremont, California nine four five three eight.
When you are in the storm and you look to get something back from God, and you are not getting anything, here is what I want you to know: even though He's not speaking to you, He is speaking to the Father about you. Jesus is praying. If you've ever wondered how Jesus is spending His time, the Book of Hebrews leaves no room for doubt. He is seated at the right hand of the Father, praying that you and I will persevere. On today's "Destined for Victory" with Pastor Paul Shepherd, we've got a great word of encouragement for you.
God is not silent, and your prayers are not going unanswered. Jesus is not only praying for you; he's preparing you for what's next. Our message is called "A Miracle in the Midst of Madness," and here's Pastor Paul Shepherd. What do you do when you go to pray and you get nothing back? Here's what I want you to see in the text.
I want you to see what's happening. The multitude is prospering. They've been healed. They've been delivered. They've been fed.
They've been dismissed. They're going home happy, burping, excited. I'm gonna come hear Jesus again when He come around. Hope He feeding that day too. They're prospering.
Multitude prospering. Jesus praying. Disciples paddling for their lives. Not getting anywhere. The storm is buffeting them.
They're not going forward, not going back. They are paddling for survival. They're just trying to ride out these crazy waves, this crazy wind. They can't get anywhere. You ever been paddling and getting nowhere?
Working hard but getting nowhere, pressing on but getting nowhere. That's where they are. They're just trying to survive. You say, Pastor, where you get paddling from? Have you ever seen first-century ships in pictures?
There are no steamboats in the first century, and even if they had a sail, that's only for good weather. When you're in a storm, you don't want to sail anywhere around you. You got to ride out a storm, and these folks are paddling for their lives, just trying to stay on the surface of the lake, and Jesus. Is praying. Here's what I want you to know: when you are in the storm and you look to get something back from God and you're not getting anything, here's what I want you to know: even though He's not speaking to you, He is speaking to the Father about you.
Jesus is praying now. I cannot say because the text doesn't say that while he was on the mountainside, he was at that moment including them on his prayer agenda. I sort of suspect he did, but even if he did not, and I'm not going to read into the text what is not there, even if he didn't pray for them on this occasion, we know by Jesus' prayer patterns. If you've ever studied the prayer patterns of Jesus in the New Testament Gospels, what You will discover is Jesus often prayed for his followers. There are sometimes when you see it very specifically.
For instance, in John 17, he prayed that high priestly prayer, and he said, "I'm praying for these, and I'm about to leave into the world." And he prayed extensively for his disciples. He also prayed the night before he chose his twelve disciples. He went into prayer, knowing that he was going to select these people, and he prayed and talked to his heavenly Father about those he should select.
So we know he prayed on the front end. We know he prayed before he left this earth. We also know from Luke twenty-two that he prayed for them the night before he was betrayed. He had prayed for them. Here's what I'm referencing.
He said to Peter, "Remember the night that he was betrayed." And Peter was bragging about how, if everybody leaves you, I'm gonna be there with you. And he says, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked for permission in heaven." To shake you up, to violently shake up your life, sift you as wheat, which in his time was a violent process. But then watch what Jesus said. He said, "But I prayed for you." And when he said, "I prayed for you," he used the plural term in the Greek, meaning "I prayed for you and all of the other disciples." He said, "And I prayed that your faith." Doesn't fail. Peter's standing there bragging.
That's why Jesus is telling him, "You're about to go through hell." Peter's telling him, "I'm, I'm be there with you." Now these other folks they're gonna forsake you, but you know I'm your boy. You know you my dog. Jesus, we gonna go down together. And Jesus wanted to show him, "You're about to have a miserable failure." You're going to commit the worst sin possible, which is to deny that Jesus is your Savior. He said you're going to deny even knowing me.
You're going to have a power failure at the worst time. He said three times you're going to fail, and one of them going to be humiliating because it's going to be a little girl who says that's one of his followers. And you gonna cuss in front of a little girl? Bible says he swore. He wasn't taken out of oath swearing; it was the other kind of swearing.
He swore. He didn't know him. In the hood, they'd say he punked out. You ever had a miserable failure? Just when you thought you were going to be strong and do right, but here's what Jesus was telling him: I see the failure.
You don't see it. I already see it, and I've prayed you through it before it ever happens to you. Here's the word you need to leave this message, knowing when you're trying to get a word from God in the middle of your storm, and He's saying nothing. He has already prayed for you. He prayed for you.
For you went in. He prayed for you by name. The Bible says Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us. Jesus has prayed for you. And when you're going through it, and you're trying to hear from Him, He's not talking to you, but He's talking to the Father about you.
Jesus was praying. And whether he prayed for them while he was on the mountain side or not, he had already stored up prayers on their behalf. I want to let you know God's got you covered. You're in the storm and you're not feeling great, and you're not getting a new fresh word. But He's got you covered.
You don't have to hear something to know it. He's got you. He has already prayed for you. You're paddling for your life, but Jesus has prayed for you. You don't have to sense him.
You don't have to feel him. You can know. Not only is he here, but he knew this was coming, and he has prayed that this storm wouldn't take you out.
Now the storm is crazy. We are told that these people can't make any progress because this storm is battering them. It is pummeling them. They are going through it. I mean, imagine being on this ship and just going up and down and being knocked all over the place.
Listen, I've been on a cruise ship. My wife and I were on a cruise at the tail end of Katrina. We were coming back to the port in Florida the day that Katrina was coming, and we were coming from the Gulf side, which is where Katrina went into the Gulf of Mexico, and then it slammed into New Orleans. And so it had passed, but the tail was still out there, and we ran into her tail. Let me tell you something: it is no fun thing to be on a ship.
In the middle of a storm, they made everybody get off the deck. They made the crew get off the deck. The wind was blowing. The rain was going sideways. It was crazy.
And we're sitting in the cabin, holding on and looking.
Now this was a great big cruise ship. Imagine being on a much smaller vessel that could house a couple of dozen people, obviously, but we're not talking about some major cruise ship. They're out there feeling every bump, every wave, being knocked around. Wind is blowing and howling, and these folk are scared. And they aren't sure, in terms of their feelings, that they're gonna make it.
But you gotta understand something: you are not gonna be taken out by the storm. Oh, sometimes it feels like I don't know. Anybody ever been to that place? I don't know if I'm gonna make it through this.
So you got to be honest to get this message. That I know some of y'all. I've never been there. I've always known. I was gonna be there.
Shut up! Shut up! I want to talk to some folk. I don't need you and your super spiritual self right now. I want to talk to some folk in a boat saying, "My goodness, I'm not sure I'm gonna get through this." It's the almost factor.
You almost give up. You almost cash in your faith. You almost say, "What's the use?" You almost say, "This is it." You almost say, "I can't take any more." And what you discover is because Jesus already knew you were going through it, and He had already said, "You're going to the other side." That although you feel the way you feel, while you aren't sure what's going on, God is holding on to you, saying, "You're not going to go under. You are not gonna die in the storm. You are not going to give up your faith.
Your faith will not fail you. Although you can't find me, I'm holding on to you." Oh, I love it that God holds on to me, when I'm not even sure I can hold on to Him. He's holding on to me. He won't let you go. The devil and the storm can do their best.
Cause you know the devil takes advantage of every storm, and he's always telling you, "Why don't you just go ahead and give up? No need. You still going to church, still confessing Jesus. When when you going through all of this craziness, you just need to give up. Or if you've been having trouble with somebody, he just tell you just need to shoot somebody and get it over with.
Just going and take them out of here. Take matters into your own hands. Listen, the devil is a liar. God is holding on to you. Lord, I don't know if I can get through this.
You're not hearing from him, but the fact is, he's in charge, and you feel like you're almost going under. But he's in charge. You got to understand, our God is in charge. He's not trying to be. In charge.
Listen, listen, listen. Make sure you understand the difference between Bible and Star Wars theology. In Star Wars, you know, you had the Force, and the Force had two sides. There's the good side of the Force, and then there's the dark side of the Force. And in Star Wars, you have this epic struggle, and the good is trying to triumph over the bad.
On the good, you know, you have Obi Wan Kenobi and all of that. Those good folk over there, Luke Skywalker, and all those folk over there, Yoda with his ugly self. He over there. And Hallelujah! He ugly, but he had power.
Oh, don't front! That boy had some power. See, I'm talking about the first three Star Wars. See, y'all getting all these new ones, new next chapter, episode, and all that stuff. I didn't watch that.
That stuff didn't have any anointing on it at all. The anointed ones are the first three. Come on, from back in my day, those were the anointed ones. Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. Oh, that's where the oil was.
That's where the anointing was. That's where Leia had her hair all curled up and. That's where we learned the Jedi mind trick. Remember that? Luke had to learn the Jedi mind trick, where you just project a new truth onto somebody and mess their mind up.
Some of y'all trying to do folk like that right now. They know who you are and what you did, and you just look at them say, "I didn't do that." And if they dumb enough, they say, "No, no, it wasn't you. It wasn't you." Oh, but we learned some good stuff. That's good entertainment, but separated from your Bible, because this is no epic struggle between good and evil. The devil is a created being.
When he was created, he was in harmony with the will of God, but somewhere he got full of himself, and got some angels to join him, and they all got in rebellion against the Almighty. And Jesus told his disciples one day, "I beheld Satan," because he wanted to make sure they weren't scared of the devil. He said, "Look, I beheld him falling from heaven. Him and all them raggedy angels that tried to rebel with him got kicked right out of heaven. The devil is defeated.
This is no epic struggle.
So when he's coming against you, he had to go through God." To get permission to even buffet you the way you're being buffeted, and you got to understand you're not going under because God is in control. And you say, "Oh, I don't know if I can make it through this." And there are times your feelings are like that. I don't know. Oh, this is the worst ever. When you get to feel like that, you got to know His grace is sufficient.
He's holding on to you. You're not hearing from Him. You're not getting a new word, but He's holding on to you. He's got you. You're being buffeted, but he's got you.
Feel like you can't take it, but he's got you. Yeah, that one those days you're up late and now, oh God, I can't take it. This is it. I this it. I really can't take it.
Then you go to sleep and you wake up and you're taking it. And you go through the next day. Oh, this is it, God! I ain't playing. I ain't playing.
This is really it. Oh, I can't take another twenty-four hours. I ain't playing with you. This is really it. And you get it through that day and that night.
You crying and and boo-hooing and yeah. I can't. This is it. This is really it now. And you go to sleep.
And you wake up. And you taking it.
So when I observed that in my life and others over the years, I said, "Whenever people come to me now, say, Pastor, this is it. I'm really on the verge. This is it. I can't take another thing." I say, "Go to sleep." I got a word from the Lord for you. Go to sleep.
His grace is sufficient. He gonna get you through because he is the master of your destiny. He's the one who said you're going to the other side. You can't die now. You're not on the other side yet.
So you're gonna make it. Gonna make it through. Elijah knows what that's like. Remember Elijah in First Kings. He had a wonderful experience one day calling down fire.
Remember, defying the false prophets of Baal. And after he showed who the true God was, and he had those false prophets killed, and they were all under the control of Jezebel, and Jezebel didn't like it a little bit.
So one day, this man's dripping with anointing, calling down fire, getting false prophets killed. I mean, he was so arrogant under the anointing. He was mocking Baal. He said, "Y'all going call on Baal? He must not hear you.
Call louder. Must be on vacation." Oh, he was downright cocky under the anointing. When that anointing hits you, there's nothing you can't do. But the next day, when he got word that Jezebel had put a contract out on him, that's a bad girl. She said, "Tell Elijah, I'm gonna kill him." Now you know when you put a contract out on somebody, you don't want them to know.
You just want the assassin to walk up on them, blow them out, bam. This girl so bad, she said, "Ah, tell him that I'm gonna get him." And Elijah, anointed one day, next day he believes her. He walked out next day. "Was he gonna kill me?" He told his servants, "Stay here. I won't go by myself.
Stay here." You know why he wanted to be alone? Because when you want to have yourself a show enough pity party, you don't need.
Some happy, encouraging helper. You don't need somebody speaking truth to you when you want to have you a show enough pity party. That's when you don't want them prayer warriors, them encouragers around, them folk who always speaking faith and all of that. You don't want to be confused with the facts when you want to have a pity party. That's where Elijah was.
He want to be by himself. He don't want him a little happy, helping the Lord's gonna get you through this. Don't worry about it, the Lord, Lord gonna do it.
So he walks by himself. Bible says he goes a day's journey. Says, Lord, this is it. Take me out. I'm I'm done.
I'm the only one left. I'm tired of this. This prophet stuff and all is cracked up to be. Just take me out of here. I'm gonna go to sleep, Lord.
Don't let me wake up on this side. Let me wake up in your presence. He was serious. You ever been serious, Lord? This is it.
I'm through. Just forget it. They know where the insurance papers are. Let's let's just just get me out of here. Elijah went to sleep.
Woke up. Looked over. He had prayed to die. Woke up disappointed that God had answered that prayer. And he looked over and he saw that while he prayed for what he wanted, God responded by giving him what he needed.
What he needed was strength, because there was more journey ahead. God wasn't finished with him yet, and he was going to get through this storm. Jezebel wasn't going to take him out, and he just needed strength for the journey.
So the Lord hooked him up. He looked over and he saw bread being cooked on hot coals and water. God had hooked the brother up. He said, "Eat, because you need the strength of this, because there's more ahead of you." You know, God has a long history of performing miracles in the midst of madness, of bringing calm in the midst of chaos, of turning grief into grace. Be encouraged today by these words from the Apostle Paul.
The God of Peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. To find out more about destined for victory's mission and purpose, or about the special gift reserved for you when you give generously today, please come see us at PastorPaul dot net. That's PastorPaul dot net. Jesus doesn't delay.
Responses for some of the reasons that some of us think. I want to dispel some myths in this message. I want to make sure you don't have the wrong idea of why sometimes the Lord allows you to be in the thick of it, and He isn't showing up with a quick deliverance. And that's next time as we continue our message of miracle in the midst of madness. I hope you'll join us.
But until then, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. In Christ, you are destined for victory.
