Hey, podcast listeners. Thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. You know, Pathway to Victory is a non-profit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. And right now, your generous gift will have twice the impact thanks to the In God We Trust $1.5 million matching challenge, active now through July 5th.
To give a special matching challenge gift, go to ptv.org/slash donate or follow the link in our show notes.
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, we need to rise up and push back against the darkness of this world. And in the limited time we have here on planet Earth, we're to be that lighthouse pointing people to the only hope of the world, Jesus Christ. Therefore be steadfast.
Be immovable. Be courageous. Be productive, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing. that your labor is not in vain. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr.
Robert Jeffress. This year, our nation marks an extraordinary milestone. 250 years of American freedom. but the liberty we hold dear came at a great cost. and it points to an even greater freedom we have in Christ.
Today on Pathway to Victory. Dr. Robert Jeffers brings a special presentation from First Baptist Dallas featuring patriotic music by the choir and orchestra. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates. Thanks, David.
Today is a very special day on Pathway to Victory. Here's why. Just a few weeks ago, First Baptist Dallas came together for one of the most joyful, powerful, and patriotic celebrations I've ever been a part of. Our congregation filled our worship center to honor God and to celebrate 250 years of His faithfulness to this great nation. The pageantry was breathtaking, the music was glorious, and the preaching was straight from God's Word.
Today, we've fast-tracked that entire experience so that you can be part of it. As though you were sitting right there on the front row. What you're about to enjoy is the high point of our In God We Trust matching challenge, and I believe God has you tuned in today for a reason. You see, America's future will not be decided in the halls of Washington. It will be decided in the hearts of God's people.
And one of the most powerful ways you can act on that conviction is by making a gift to this ministry before our matching challenge concludes at midnight on July 5th. Every gift you send before that deadline will be doubled, dollar for dollar, multiplying your investment in taking God's word to a nation that desperately needs it. We are so close to the finish line. Please don't procrastinate. Today, as you experience this celebration of faith and freedom, let it move you to action.
Give today at ptv.org and watch God multiply your generosity. David and I will describe a gift we want to send you in return for your partnership with Pathway to Victory. But right now, let's enter the worship center together and enjoy patriotic music from the First Baptist Dallas choir and orchestra. Welcome to Freedom Sunday, everyone. Let's stay in touch.
Together. We're so glad you're here. Let's sing. Let freedom read. From shore to shore.
Let freedom reign forevermore. This is our song. Lift up your voice. Let freedom reign forevermore. Let freedom ring from shore to shore.
Let freedom reign forevermore. This is our song. Lift up your voice. Let freedom reign forevermore. Let's all sing this together.
My country tries to be sweet land of liberty. Humpy I see. Land where my fathers died. Land of Lord. The pilgrim's pride from every mountain side.
Let freedom breathe. Let freedom refrom shore to shore. Let freedom re forevermore. This is our song. Lift up your voice.
Let freedom breathe. Let freedom reed. Let freedom free forevermore. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. He is trembling on the vintage way.
The grace of Ram is born. He has loosed the faithful light. We not his heroes have sworn. His truth is marching on. I have seen and built the watchtowns of a hundred serving pants.
They have built it in altered in the evening muse and dance. I've been free to rise your sins by the dead and flaring land. His name is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah.
Glory, glory, hallelujah. This truth is marching home. In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea with the glory in his bosom that rested you and me as he time to take them holy best to make them free. What God is marching on. Glory, glory, hallelujah.
Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. His true His mighty heart is glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah. Glory, glory, hallelujah.
His truth is mighty hard. Glory, glory, high. Hallelujah Glory, glory Hallelujah Glory, glory Hallelujah His truth is March is March Thank you so much, Marvelous First Dallas Choir and Orchestra. For your music today. And we welcome the literally millions of you who are watching or listening to this service on Pathway to Victory.
Thank you for joining Freedom Sunday at the First Baptist Church in Dallas. Today as we celebrate 250 years of God's blessings on this country. I think it's important to keep in mind the reality that America will not last. Forever. That's certainly the teaching of history.
The teaching of history is nations rise and fall. Kings and leaders come and go. But only the kingdom of Jesus Christ will last forever. America will not last forever. And neither will you or me.
Have you come to that realization? Whether the return of Christ is 10 years away or 1,000 years away, the fact is, whether we're talking about the end of America, the end of the world, or the end of our lives, it is coming very, very quickly.
So, what's to be our attitude? Are we to be fearful, panicky, depressed? No. 1 Corinthians 15:58 tells us how we're to live in the last days. Paul said, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, and always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our toil is not in vain in the Lord.
So in these very few moments that we have today, I want us to consider Paul's three commands about how we are to live in these last days. First of all, he says, be hopeful. Be hopeful. Write that down. Be hopeful.
That's what he means by the word steadfast. It's a Greek word, hederos, that means to be seated, to be firmly situated, to be secure. The Hebrew counterpart to that is a word that means to be at leisure. Eugene Peterson says, it's the kind of relaxation of one who knows that everything's all right. Because God is over us, He is with us, He is for us in Christ Jesus.
We're to be relaxed as we look around and see the way things are in the world.
Now, He doesn't say we're to be laxadaisical, don't misunderstand. By relaxed, The Word of God is saying we can be at ease. We don't have to be panicked because we know God is in control. And that's why Paul said: in these last days, be hopeful. He has a second command.
He says, be courageous. Be courageous. That's what the word immovable refers to. Be steadfast and immovable. Be courageous.
You know, one of the great illustrations of that in the Bible is the story of Daniel. Remember Daniel's story in Daniel chapter 6? Daniel was living in exile in a foreign country, Babylon, just as we're living in a foreign country right now, planet Earth. They were exiles in Babylon, and he served under several kings while he was in Babylon. And remember, when he was under King Darius, Darius was egocentric, and some of those who served Darius were jealous at the favor that he had shown toward Daniel, so they laid a trap to try to trap Daniel.
They went to the king and said, king, you know, we're interested in national unity, and we can't have unity if we have people praying to different gods. Why don't you sign this edict that says anybody who prays to anybody else, any other god except you, is going to be thrown into a lion's den?
Well, that sounded good to Darius, and so he signed the edict, not even thinking what it would mean to his friend Daniel.
So What did Daniel do when he received the news that anybody worshiping another god would come the dinner for the lions? Look at what he did in Daniel 6:10.
Now, when Daniel knew that this document was signed, he entered his house. And he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously. He didn't change one thing about what he did, knowing that he could face death. Why? You know what Daniel knew?
He said he knew that kings come and go. He had served Nebuchadnezzar and now Nebuchadnezzar was no more. Darius would one day be gone, but the kingdom of God would endure forever. Why change his convictions over a kingdom that was transitional? And that ought to be our attitude as well.
God calls us, in light of what the culture says. to be courageous, to be immovable. How are we to live in these last days? Be hopeful. Be courageous, be that light God called us to be.
And thirdly, be productive. Look again at verse 58 of 1 Corinthians 15, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain. That word abounding refers to a river that overflows its banks. We're to be that way, doing those things that are valuable for eternity. We ought to be motivated in these last days to do as much as we can for the kingdom of God, abounding in the work of the Lord.
Randy Alcorn has a great illustration of that. I heard him one time ask an audience he was speaking to to take out a blank sheet of paper, 8.5 by 11, and then to take your pen and make a dot in the center of that piece of paper. and then draw a line from the dot to the end of the border all the way to the right. He said that dot represents the 70 or 80 years you have here on earth. But the line represents that eternity that awaits you after those 70 or 80 years.
The line goes on and on and on and on. And Randy said, While we're here on earth, we have to live in the dot. We don't have any choice about that. We're in those 70 or 80 years. But the question is not, where are you living, but what are you living for?
Are you investing those 70 or 80 years in the things that are happening in the dot? Or are you considering eternity? He said, people who live for the dot invest in treasures that end up at junkyards one day. But people who invest for the line for eternity are investing for treasures that will never end. You know.
The Apostle Paul was a great model of that. A lot of people misunderstand Paul. They wonder why he went through all the suffering he did. He wasn't some sadomasochist, he didn't enjoy being beat. Within an inch of his life, three different times.
He didn't enjoy being imprisoned or shipwrecked. He didn't enjoy ultimately being beheaded. He did all these things because he knew there was a greater reward coming for those who worked for Jesus Christ. In 2 Timothy 4, verses 6 to 8, some of the final words he wrote, he said, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I fought the good fight.
I finished the course. I've kept the faith, and there is in the future laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord himself shall award to me on that day, and not to me alone, but to all who have loved his appearing. Paul doesn't say, I'm investing my life in the kingdom of God and never think I'm going to receive anything in return. No, he's doing it exactly because what he believes he's going to receive in return. And that's why he said in 1 Corinthians 15, 58, abound in the work, knowing that your labor is not in vain.
There is a reward for those who come. and live their lives for the kingdom of God. You know, I read an illustration that I had a hard time believing at the time was true, but found out, in fact, it was true.
Somebody said, Imagine that you were living at the time of Jesus Christ, and let's just say. It's 0 AD when Jesus was born. And you got the news that Jesus the Messiah had been born in 0 AD. 2,000 plus years ago. And you said, you know, I think this baby Jesus is going places someday.
And I want to be a part of what he's doing.
So you take $1 and you invest in an organization known as Jesus Incorporated. And the purpose of that organization is to make the message of Jesus Christ known throughout the world.
Some people would call it the church, Jesus Incorporated. And you invest $1 in Jesus Incorporated in zero AD, and it earns a return of 6% a year.
So you invest your dollar. You never invest another dollar, just this one dollar in Jesus Incorporated. The next year you have a dollar and six cents, right? It earned 6% interest. Second year, a dollar and six cents and a fraction because of inflation and compound interest.
So it's a dollar and twelve cents, then a dollar and maybe nineteen or twenty cents. Every year, that dollar compounds in 6% interest. By the time you reach today, 2026, you know how much that dollar would be worth? through compound interest. $720 quadrillion dollars.
One dollar invested at six percent. For 2,000 years. I had to do the math to see if that's right. It's right.
Somebody else estimated it even higher. It would be a 10 with 50 zeros behind it. You say, how could that be? That's the magic of compound interest. It's the horizon you have for your investments.
You say, well, that doesn't make any sense because it doesn't apply to me because I didn't live 1,000 years ago. I didn't live 2,000 years ago. That's right. We didn't live 2,000 years ago, but guess what? We're going to be alive 2,000 years from now.
And 10,000 years, and 10 million years, and 10 billion years. And even if we weren't alive 2,000 years ago to make that investment, we can make that investment now, knowing that there's a reward coming down the line. You see, the problem with most people and their investments is their horizon for investment is too short. They think the investment horizon is 10 years. Your financial advisor tells you to think about the next 20 years or the next 30 years.
But as believers in Jesus Christ, we have to have a longer horizon than that. We need to think about eternity. The fact is, when people have only a 20-year, 30-year investment horizon, they invest in things that will either be lost, stolen, ruined, forgotten, or left behind. But when you invest, and I'm not just talking about money, when you invest your time, your treasure, Your efforts into the kingdom of God that will never end, you are ensuring one day that you're going to receive an inheritance, a dividend that 1 Peter 2, 4 says is unblemished, undefiled, and will not fade in heaven. And it's reserved in heaven for you.
It has your name on it. That's why the Bible says right now in the short time we have on planet earth, we need to be abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our work, our investment for him is not in vain. Let me ask you today. How are you spending these last days? Maybe the twilight years of America or the last days of your life on earth.
Are you allowing the daily headlines to just grip your emotions? Seize you and fill you with fear. Or are you placing your hope in some politician or political party thinking that they're going to deliver you from the mess we're in only to be disappointed? Are you spending your time just trying to eke out a living, help your family survive and make it till the end? No, the Word of God says we need to take a much more offensive, not defensive, stance.
We need to rise up and push back against the darkness of this world. And in the limited time we have here on planet Earth, we're to be that lighthouse pointing people to the only hope of the world, Jesus Christ. Therefore be steadfast. Be hopeful. Be immovable.
Be courageous. Be productive, always abounding in the work of the Lord. No one. that your labor is not in vain. As America celebrates 250 years as a nation, my prayer is that she would turn her heart back to God and rediscover the hope that's found in Jesus Christ alone.
Now, I want to issue a personal challenge. As you've likely heard, a group of faithful friends has established a $1.5 million in God We Trust matching challenge. And every dollar you give to Pathway to Victory will be doubled in impact, dollar for dollar, to get God's word to more people across America and around the world. The deadline is Sunday, July 5th. I urge you, don't wait.
We don't need Washington to save America. We need the gospel. And your gift, whatever the amount, will be doubled to help make that happen. And as our way of saying thank you, we've prepared something truly special, exclusively from Pathway to Victory. It's the 250th Commemorative Edition of America is a Christian Nation.
This is a beautiful full color gift book filled with inspiring stories and stunning imagery from our nation's history. Along with it, the In God We Trust DVD and a patriotic music disc too, it features incredible performances by the First Baptist Dallas Choir and Orchestra. These resources are our gift to you. A treasured keepsake for your family in this historic season for America. Here's David with all the details.
When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of pathway to victory, You're invited to request the brand new 250th commemorative edition of America is a Christian Nation. In addition to the book, you'll also receive In God We Trust, a brand new two-disc set featuring music performances by the First Baptist Dallas Choir and Orchestra and teaching from Dr. Robert Jeffress. To request these resources, call 866-999-2965, visit ptv.org, or text PTV to 78800. And when you give $100 or more, we'll also send you the America and the Bible Message Series on DVD video and MP3 format audio disc set.
And remember, because of the In God We Trust matching challenge, your gift to pathway to victory will be matched and therefore doubled in impact. but the deadline is quickly approaching on July 5th at midnight.
So be sure to get in touch with us today before it's too late. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You can also send your donation by mail right to PO Box 223-609 Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609-Dallas, Texas, 75222.
I'm David J. Mullins. In recent decades, the American government has taken drastic measures to ensure the separation of church and state. But today's legislature is actually going against the wishes of our founding fathers. Join us Thursday for the message, America is a Christian nation.
Here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible.
And right now, your ministry gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact thanks to the In God We Trust $1.5 million matching challenge. Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on July 5th. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org slash donate. or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
