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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffers and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Parents, grandparents, here today, how's your situational awareness about the spiritual condition of your children and your grandchildren? Are you aware of the temptations that are coming into their life? God wants us to be aware of the world in which we live so that we can know what we should do.
Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffers. You and I are surrounded by situations that threaten to destroy us. But we can never be prepared to face the threats around us until we truly understand the situation we find ourselves in. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr.
Robert Jeffers explains why gaining situational awareness is key to surviving and thriving in hostile situations. But first let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks David and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. In recent years it seems that we've witnessed more firestorms than ever with horrific scenes coming from the Middle East. and cultural issues dividing the country we love.
We need to amplify our prayers for America's leadership as they navigate uncertain times. But these issues are not isolated. On some level, all of us find ourselves captured in life-threatening situations, or at least predicaments that send waves of fear running through our veins. For that reason, we're conducting one of the most important and timely studies in our ministry's history. It's called Courageous, 10 Strategies for Thriving in a Hostile World.
And in this study and in my best-selling book called Courageous, I'm giving you 10 strategies for overcoming whatever threatens you. God doesn't want you to be sidelined by fear. He has so much more for you. At the close of today's program, we'll give more details.
So be ready to jot down our contact information and request a hardbound copy of my book, Courageous. It comes with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory.
Okay, let's get started with the next survival tip in our new series. I've titled today's message, Survival Tip Number 2, Gain Situational Awareness. In our series titled Courageous, We're looking at 10 survival tips, if you will, to not just survive, but thrive in the hostile environment in which we live right now. The second. Is the one that we're going to look at today, and that is gain situational awareness.
How aware are you? of the testing situations you find yourself in. How aware are you of what is really happening around you? You say, Well, Pastor, that's a stupid question. I know what's happening around me.
Do you? We've got to have situational awareness, and for that, we need. Wisdom.
Now, wisdom seems to be in short supply today, doesn't it? Never have we lived in a culture before when there was such a shortage of wisdom. I mean, we can't even figure out. what a man is and what a woman is, and who is either one. I mean, this gender fluidity is everywhere.
That's the culture in which we live.
Well, how do we gain situational awareness and know exactly what is happening around us? It begins with knowing what time it is. Knowing what time it is, you say, well, it's about time for lunch, Pastor. That's not what I'm talking about. Turn over to 2 Timothy 3, verse 1.
Paul warned his protege Timothy about the coming moral and spiritual decline in the world. And this single insight is like a flashing caution sign for all of us. Look at 2 Timothy 3, verse 1. But realize this: that in the last days, difficult times will come.
Now, I want you to notice two phrases in this verse that are key to gaining situational awareness, to knowing what time we're living in. First of all, the phrase, the last days. In the last days, Now, you may be thinking, well, people have been claiming it's the last day since the time of Christ. Pastor, are you saying we are living in the last days? Most definitely.
We are in the last days. The second phrase to notice here is the word difficult. He says, know this, that in the last days, difficult time will come. What Paul is saying is, in these last days, before the Lord returns, it's going to be a time without any moral restraints. Isn't that a great description of the age in which we're living right now?
We need to gain situational awareness. Let me give you a great illustration of this. Perhaps you've seen me talking about these pro-life bills that are coming from various states challenging the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade law that has been in effect for 50 years and the Casey law since 1992.
Now, why are all of these pro-life bills springing up right now? Is that by accident? No, it's not by accident at all. It is carefully planned out just as it should be. There were people, dedicated Christian men and women, who put their finger in the air and sensed that this was the perfect time to change that abominable practice of abortion.
We can save the precious lives of these innocent children who are being slaughtered on the sacrifice of convenience. That's because it's time for God's people to stand up right now and to do something and to speak out to protect the lives that God has created.
Now, that's what I mean. We've got to understand the situation in which we're in so that we can know what we should do. Parents, grandparents here today, how's your situational awareness? about the spiritual condition of your children and your grandchildren. Are you aware of the temptations that are coming into their life?
Are you aware of what you can do to help strengthen and encourage them? Husbands and wives here today. Do you have a situational awareness of the condition of your marriage? Where are the weak spots? Where are the points that Satan could gain a foothold in your marriage and destroy your home?
Pastors who are watching or listening to this message. Are you aware of the spiritual condition of your church? Today we have our High school graduates here, you're getting ready to enter the next phase of your life. Do you have situational awareness of the world that you're getting ready to enter as a college student? God wants us to be aware of the world in which we live so that we can know what we should do.
Well, you say, how do I gain that situational awareness? One word. Wisdom.
Wisdom is necessary for situational awareness.
Now, I didn't say graduates knowledge. Many of you are going to college, and you're going to have your brains filled with knowledge, but that's not wisdom. Knowledge is just knowing a certain amount of facts. Wisdom, and I'm going to give you two definitions of wisdom today. The first definition of wisdom.
is the ability to see life from God's point of view. Wisdom is looking at life, your life and the world from God's perspective. How do you gain that kind of wisdom? First of all, it begins by having the proper attitude.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wrote in Proverbs 9:10, The fear of the Lord. Is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. There is no wisdom apart from a belief that God exists. That he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Hebrews 11, 6.
Secondly, Actively search for wisdom. If you're going to gain the wisdom necessary for situational awareness, you have to actively search for wisdom. Proverbs 2 verses 4 to 5. Again, Solomon wrote, if you seek her, that is wisdom, as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will discern the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. You say, Well, Pastor, how do you actually go about searching for wisdom?
Well, first of all, you have to look for it. Look for waste them. There's a lot of places to look for wisdom. You know, um The depository of wisdom is found in the book of Proverbs. In the book of Proverbs, you have not only Examples of wise people, what wise people do, but Solomon talks about what the fool does.
That's the biggest contrast in the book of Proverbs: the wise and the fool. Graduates here today, if I could give you the best piece of advice I could give you today, it would be this. Read a chapter of Proverbs every day. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs. There are 30 or 31 days in most months.
Read the chapter of Proverbs that corresponds with that day. I've done this for years.
Now, reading Proverbs, you'll never find how to get into heaven in the next life, but you'll find out how to live wisely in this life. God's word is the depository of wisdom. Secondly, listen to those who are wise. If you want to be wise, listen, surround yourself by people who are wise.
Solomon said, son, listen to the instructions of your father and the teaching of your mother. If we want to be wise, we have to listen to wise people. You know, I think about Psalm 1. I think in the King James it says, How blessed, how happy are those who do not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. I like the way the Living Bible says it better.
O, the joys of those who do not follow evil men's advice. who do not hang around with sinners. scoffing at the things of God. You know, students, all of us here today. We need to be careful that we hang around wise people.
who fear God. Who were awestruck by the holiness of God. Instead of people who scoff at the things of God, do you know people, even people here in the church? who are scoffers. Everything to them is a joke.
Nothing is really sacred. They're scoffing, they're finding fault with, they're making fun of things that happen in God's house or with God's people. They're cynical. They're just cynical about everything, always questioning other people and their motives. You know, I don't know about you, but I have a hard enough time keeping a right attitude without surrounding myself with people like that.
When you get around a scoffer, somebody who makes fun, makes light of holy things, run as far from that person as you possibly can. That's what Psalm 1 is saying. If you want to be wise and be successful, don't hang around with scoffers. Surround yourself with godly people. Thirdly, to search for wisdom, ask for wisdom.
James 1:5 says, If any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives generously to all, and it will be given to him. If you want to gain situational awareness, you have to search for wisdom. That means looking for wisdom, listening to those who are wise, and asking for wisdom. Third. Take action.
Take action. If you're going to gain situational awareness, you need to take action once you find wisdom. Remember, I said there are two definitions for wisdom. One is seeing life from God's point of view. But here's the second definition of wisdom.
A skill to live your life according to God's plan. Did you know that's exactly what the word wisdom, hakma, in the Old Testament means? It was a skill. In Exodus 28, verse 3, it says, There were a group of Israelites whom God Endowed with wisdom so that they could weave the garments made for Aaron the high priest. There were very specific requirements for the garment that the high priest would wear because it was symbolic foreshadowing of Jesus Christ Himself.
The weaver couldn't kind of get close to following the pattern. He had to follow it precisely or be struck dead.
So they were given the Power of wisdom to follow God's pattern precisely. And that's really what wisdom is. It's the ability to know and follow God's plan. for your marriage. For your finances, for your friendships, for every area of your life.
That means wisdom isn't something we just accumulate, it's something we act on. Daniel 11, 32 says, the people who know their God will display strength and will. Take action. If we're going to Live wisely in this world. We've got to have situational awareness, and that comes from the gift of wisdom.
But you know what? Wisdom isn't something we just gain once for all and then never have to worry about it. We never completely arrive in our gaining of situational awareness. We have to keep gaining awareness because we are in a never-ending struggle with the enemy.
So how do we maintain every day a situational awareness of what's happening to us and in the world around us? Paul gives us a real simple formula in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. 1 Thessalonians 5, here's a deep thought, comes after 1 Thessalonians 4, in which Paul describes the rapture of the church. But then in chapter 5, he talks about the tribulation that will come. And he said, But you already know all of this.
You already know all of this, he says in verses 1 through 5. But look at 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 6. He says, so then. Let us not sleep as others do. But let us be alert and sober.
In this simple verse, we find three short commands about how to maintain situational awareness in this challenging world in which we live. First of all, he says, stay awake. Stay awake. Literally, let us not sleep. And he's not saying, you know, don't ever go to bed.
He's saying don't sleepwalk through life. Go through life. Awake. Alert, stay awake as to what is happening around you. Don't sleep.
Stay awake. I remember when I was in high school. My good friend David Dunlap, who's probably back there somewhere today. when we were in high school. David took me to a magic shop that used to be right across the street from the church here.
Remember Jeffrey's magic shop right across the street? David took me over there and introduced me to the greatest little invention. It was a little vial of perfume called stink perfume. It looked like real perfume, but you opened it up, and it was the most foul-smelling stuff you could imagine. And so we would go to parties, and we would have our little secret thing of stink perfume and open it up, and people would run for the exits.
You know, it was terrible, terrible.
Well, one night, I had come home from a date with Amy, and Tim and I shared a bathroom. And he just annoyed the heck out of me by always leaving my door locked, forgetting to unlock my door.
So I'd have to walk around the other way and so forth. And one night, I jiggled the door, it was locked again. And I was just so ticked off. I'm going to admit it to you, I lost it. And I got my vial of stink perfume.
And I crept around to his bedroom, and he was sound asleep. And I opened up that jar of stink perfume and I poured it out on his pillow completely. He was asleep, but he bolted out of bed immediately. Though he was asleep, he was now awake. And he stayed awake the rest of the night.
Ready for me to come back in with another vial of it. In fact, I think he stayed awake several nights after that.
Well, that's kind of what Paul is talking about here. Not stink perfume, but he's saying stay awake. Be on guard, not from the attacks from your brother or sister, but from the enemy. Don't sleepwalk through life. If we're going to be effective, we've got to stay awake.
Secondly, stay hopeful. If you're going to maintain situational awareness, stay hopeful. He says it this way in verse 6: be alert. You say, well, what does that have to do with being hopeful? Be alert has to do with not only being awake, But understanding that if bad times, difficult times, are coming.
Even better times are to come after that. You know, in Luke chapter 21, verse 28, Jesus has just described all of the events of the tribulation that will lead up to the return of Jesus Christ. You remember what he said in Luke 21:28? He said, When you see these horrible things begin to take place, Panic. No.
Throw a pity party for yourself. No. Bury your head in the sand. No. He said, when you see these things begin to take place, straighten up, lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.
When we're alert to what is really happening, we can be excited because we know the return of Christ is just around the corner. Paul is saying if we want to maintain situational awareness, Stay awake. Stay hopeful. And finally, he says, stay serious. Verse 6, be of sober spirit.
What does he mean by be of sober spirit? He doesn't mean walk around. With an expression on your face like you've been sucking on a dill pickle. He's not talking about that. He simply means be serious.
Don't be frivolous. Be serious as you understand what is happening and what is about to happen. That's how you maintain situational awareness. You may have seen me on Fox and Friends talking about the speech Vice President Pence gave at Taylor University to a group of Christian graduates. It was almost exactly the same speech he had given the week earlier at Liberty University, again to a group of Christian graduates.
And I thought students Part of his address is so applicable to you today. In fact, if I were to title the vice president's speech, It would be. Gaining situational awareness. That's what he was talking about. It was eerie how closely it resembled my message today.
Listen to what the vice president said. You know Throughout most of American history, It's been pretty easy to call yourself a Christian. It didn't even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible. But things are different now.
Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs.
So, as you go about your daily life, Just be ready. Because you're going to be asked not just to tolerate things that violate your faith. You're going to be asked to endorse them. You're going to be asked to bow down to the idols of popular culture.
So You need to prepare your minds for action, men and women. That's an exact quote of the verse we looked at last week, 1 Peter 1:13. Prepare your minds for action. You need to show that we can love God and love our neighbor at the same time through words and deeds. And you need to be prepared.
to meet opposition. As the founder of this university often said, no one ever achieved greatness. without experiencing opposition.
So men and women of Liberty University, class of 2019. As you strive for greatness, know that you'll face challenges. And you'll face opposition. But also know this. If like Shadrach, Meshach and Abindigo.
You end up in the fire. There'll be another in the fire with you. Isn't that great? Isn't that great? That's what Paul is saying.
Mm. Know the situation around you. And because of it, Stay awake. Stay hopeful. Stay serious.
Uh As your radio pastor and friend, I want to equip you with 10 essential tools for not only surviving the fire, but actually thriving. Today we've concentrated on tip number two, but there's eight more in this series. And when you get in touch with Pathway to Victory today, you're invited to request a copy of my hardbound book called Courageous, 10 Strategies for Thriving in a Hostile World. It's not just the cultural divide that threatens our country, it's the godless attitudes that pervade as well. And have you ever seen so much unrest than right now?
Our nation is polarized on two sides, sometimes shouting their differences at one another.
Well, in these volatile debates. It falls on you and me to remain strong and active. We can't afford to become complacent. Our role as followers of Jesus Christ is to become bold torchbearers in a culture that desperately needs light.
So how do we do that? My new book will provide 10 easy-to-apply survival tips to help you navigate the dangerous terrain of a godless culture. And a copy is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In fact, when you give today, I'll also include a stack of 10 courageous encouragement cards that you can carry with you for daily encouragement. Thanks for joining forces with Pathway to Victory so that together we not only sustain this ministry, but we gain new territory in bringing light where there's darkness and hope where there's hopelessness.
I couldn't possibly do this work without friends like you. Here's David with all the details. When you support the Ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, you're invited to request a copy of the book by Dr. Jeffers called Courageous, along with a set of courageous encouragement cards. Ask for your copy when you call 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org.
You could also give by texting PTV to 78800. And when your gift is $75 or more, you'll receive the complete Courageous Leader Kit, which includes the book, a personal and group study guide, the complete teaching series on DVD and MP3 format audio disc, and the Courageous Encouragement Cards. To request the leader kit, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You can also send your request by mail if you'd like. P.O.
Box 223-609-Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas. 75222. I'm David J.
Mullins. Survivalists know that whenever you find yourself in a threatening situation, it's imperative you take inventory of your available resources. Join us for survival tip number three. That's Thursday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr.
Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. What if your next vacation changed the way you read your Bible forever? Join me for nine nights sailing the Mediterranean with every detail taken care of. When you stand where Paul stood, your Bible comes alive in ways it never has before. Sail with us on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Cruz, May 2027, and ask about our optional Athens pre-extension.
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To become a Pathway Partner, go to ptv.org/slash donate, or you can follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Oh, and one last thing before we go: don't forget to reserve your spot on the 2027 Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. You've heard me and Dr. Jeffers talk about it, and cabins are going quickly.
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