Hey, podcast listeners! Thanks for streaming today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our mission is to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word through the most effective media available, like this podcast.
To support Pathway to Victory, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, William James said, Perhaps the greatest discovery of this century is if you can change your attitude, you can change your life. You know, if you think that thinking and attitudes are not that important, just look at what the Bible has to say about right attitudes and right thinking. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Our attitudes may have a profound effect on our lives right now, but it doesn't end here. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress teaches that the way we respond to life circumstances will have consequences that extend all the way into eternity. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message from the series, Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Before we venture into our next teaching series, I'm eager to draw your attention to an exclusive offer from your friends at Pathway to Victory. I hope you'll join us as a minister in this way. Gratefully, Pathway Magazine has been one of the most popular branches of our ministry, and today I'm eager to get you started. When you go online to ptv.org, you'll find a place to request three free issues, and I'm confident you'll love what others have enjoyed as well, such as feature articles on life issues, the devotional readings, the interviews, and so much more.
And then, as a complement to our next teaching series, I've written a book for you. It's called Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life. There are moments in life when we're knocked off the rails with bad news. Sometimes it's an illness. Other times it's an attack from someone we once trusted.
In any case, these events are outside of our control. Well, my book is intentionally written to help you transform your mind. See, we can't choose our circumstances, but we can choose the way we respond to them. Later on, I'll explain how you can receive a copy of my book, Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life. But right now, let's turn our attention to the study of God's Word. I titled the first message in this series, Attitude is Everything. Over and over again, the Bible talks about the importance of our attitude, our mind, our thinking. You can just jot down these references. We don't have time to look at all of them.
You can look at them later on. But Luke 1 17, a description of John the Baptist, and it is he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous. There is an attitude of the righteous as opposed to the unrighteous. Or Romans 8 verse 6, for the mind that is set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace. Philippians 2 5, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3 15, one more. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude. And if anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you.
Do you see that? To neglect the importance of attitude, to ignore the importance of how we think is to be totally unbiblical. Now, five key insights about our attitude.
I want you to write these down. Principle number one, our attitudes are chosen. Attitudes, for the most part, are chosen.
People many times choose the attitude that they're going to have. You know, I think about the Apostle Paul. He had some terrible, difficult circumstances in his life, one of which caused him to write the letter to the Philippian Christians. Here he was imprisoned, awaiting the verdict of his trial, whether he was going to live or die. And yet 19 times in that little letter, he said, rejoice in the Lord.
Again, I say, rejoice. Others would have lamented that kind of situation, but he chose the attitude that he was going to have. And in Philippians, later on, he said in Philippians 4 11, not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
You know, that's a key verse. Paul was saying, I don't come by this positive attitude naturally. It's not genetic.
It's not body chemistry. I had to learn this attitude of contentment. Our attitudes in many instances are chosen. Secondly, our attitudes are influenced by input. Our attitudes are influenced by external input.
What we read, what we watch, what we listen to. I know people, I bet you know people who are just angry all the time. Just angry, angry. And yet you look at their habits, they listen to talk radio continuously. Or they watch the cable news continuously.
Let me let you in on a little secret. Those things are designed to make you angry. They wonder why am I angry so much? Or other people I know, you know, they say, you know, pastor, I just have such trouble with impure thoughts. Look at what they're looking at. No wonder they would have difficulty with impure thoughts.
Websites they visit, movies they watch, and so forth. You know, it's an overused analogy, but it's still true. Garbage in, garbage out. Paul talks about the importance of our input. In Philippians 4, verse 8, he says, finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and of anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things. Yes, our attitudes are influenced by what we see and what we read and what we listen to. But our attitude is also influenced by the kind of people we hang around. Luke 1.17, Luke talks about the attitude of the righteous. You know, if you haven't done this before, I encourage you to start reading one chapter of the book of Proverbs every day.
There are 31 chapters, one chapter for every day of the month. If you read through Proverbs, you'll find there are all kind of warnings about the kind of people you ought to avoid at all cost because the people we hang around are the people who influence us. David, Solomon's father, also talked about the danger of associating with unrighteous people. In Psalm 1, verses 1 and 2, David says, how blessed, how happy is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. I love how the Living Bible paraphrases that.
How happy are those who don't hang around with sinners, scoffing at the things of God? That doesn't mean you isolate yourself. We're to be influences on the unrighteous, but we're not to hang around them. We're not to party with them. We're not to allow them to shape our attitudes. We have to be very careful because the fact is, listen to this, attitudes are contagious. Our attitudes are shaped by the input we receive. Number three, our attitudes affect our relationships. Our attitudes affect our relationships. I think every one of us listening to this message would say, you know, I would like to have a better relationship with my mate. I wish I had a better relationship with my parents or with my children.
I sure wish I knew how to get along better with my supervisor, my boss at work. Do you know what the answer to better relationships is? Many times, it's a change of attitude.
In James 4, verse 1, James asked this question. He said, what is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members, in your body? He said, diagnose any problem in a relationship, and at the root of that problem is a wrong attitude. That's certainly true in marriage.
You know, whenever you have two people trying to live under the same roof, each hell-bent on getting his or her way, you're going to have sparks flying, you're going to have conflict, and ultimately, you'll have a divorce. A selfish attitude destroys relationship. But you know what the antidote to a selfish attitude is?
It's a change of attitude. Paul said in Philippians 2, 4 to 7, do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of others. Have this attitude in yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard his equality with God a thing to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men.
Our attitudes affect our relationships. Yesterday, we had the funeral service for one of our great deacons, Herschel Forrester. And person after person offered a tribute to Herschel. You know, Herschel had many accomplishments in his life.
He was a pro football player for the Cleveland Browns. He was a wildly successful commercial real estate broker. He had received all kinds of accolades.
He had built a huge business. But it was interesting, the people who talked about Herschel only made a passing reference to those things. The reason that throng of people gathered together, the reason his two children and his grandchildren took to the platform and praised their dad and granddad was for none of those reasons. Instead, they talked about his attitude, how he was an encourager, how he loved them, how he drew them close to God. It was all about attitude, nothing to do with accomplishment. And if you want to be sure that you have people praising you, remembering you in the best light possible, remember, don't forget your accomplishments. They will always remember your attitude. Our attitudes affect our relationships.
They either improve them or they destroy them. Number four, our attitudes are both the cause and the result of right behavior. This is worth the price of the sermon right here. I want you to listen to this carefully. Our attitudes are both the cause and the result of right behavior. We understand the first part. We understand how we think our attitudes produces right behavior or wrong behavior. Proverbs 23, verse 7, as a person thinks in his heart, so is he. How we think determines how we act. But did you know the corollary of that, the converse is also true? Right actions produce right attitudes. Right actions produce right attitudes. And perhaps the greatest illustration of that in the Bible is found in Genesis, chapter 4, verses 6 and 7.
Turn there for just a moment. You remember this story, the story of the two brothers, Cain and Abel. God had said to the brothers, I want you to bring a sacrifice to me. Teaching at an early stage in human history that a sacrifice was necessary to approach God. And so God gave very specific direction on what that sacrifice was to be. Abel brought the sacrifice that God had prescribed and God accepted his sacrifice.
But Cain decided to freelance a little bit. To create his own sacrifice. One that he thought would be acceptable to the Lord. And the Lord rejected Cain's sacrifice.
By the way, there's a whole sermon series right there about the sacrifice that pleases God. Throughout the scripture from that point on, you find this phrase, the way of Cain. Avoid the way of Cain.
Beware of the way of Cain. What is the way of Cain? It is the way of trying to approach God in your own way instead of God's prescribed way.
Do you know every religion in the world today? Whether it's Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, every ism you can think of is just one of the many religions that are the way of Cain. Trying to approach God in your own way. The Bible says there's only one way to approach God. It's through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Jesus said, I am the way, not a way, the way, the truth, the life.
No man comes to the Father except through me. The mistake Cain made was trying to approach God in his own way. God rejected his sacrifice. And Cain became angry.
He became depressed. And notice what God said to Cain as a result. Verse six. Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
Why are you dejected? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you, but you must master it.
I want you to underline the question, if you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? He's saying if you do the right thing, Cain, you'll start to feel better. You'll start to feel the right thing.
You know, so many people have that reverse today. They wait to do the right thing until they feel the right thing. If you depend on your feelings first, you'll almost always get it wrong. You know, today there was a popular saying, if it feels good, do it.
Remember that from the 70s? If it feels good, do it. The converse of that was if it doesn't feel good, don't do it. And so a lot of people adopted that feeling. Well, a husband or wife filing for divorce would say, I don't feel any love for my mate, therefore I'm going to divorce. Or somebody would say, you know, I don't feel fulfilled in my job, and so I'm going to leave my job with no other prospect in mind. Somebody says, well, I just don't feel the Spirit in the church services anymore, so I'm going to quit coming to church.
People base their actions on their feelings. I talk to people all of the time who have wandered away from God, and I'll ask them some diagnostic questions. Are you reading the Bible? Well, I used to. I just don't feel like it. Tell me about your prayer life. Well, I used to pray pretty regularly, but I just quit because I don't feel close to God. I notice you haven't been in church in too much.
Yeah, I just don't feel like going. And I always share with them the secret. If you wait to do the right thing until you feel the right thing, you're not going to do it.
Reverse it. If you will start to do the right thing, then you'll start to feel the right thing. Many times, most times, feelings follow actions instead of producing actions. And that's why he says here, if you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? The Bible says our attitude is both the cause of and the result of right behavior. One more truth, and perhaps it's the most important one. Our attitude determines our destiny. Our attitude determines our destiny.
Attitudes profoundly impact our life, our death, and our eternal destiny. Many of you may be familiar with the name of Norman Cousins. He was a celebrated New York journalist.
For a period of time, he was editor of the prestigious Saturday Review. In 1964, Norman Cousins developed a very serious, crippling connective tissue disease. The doctors told him he only had one chance in 500 of surviving that disease. But he wasn't satisfied with the prognosis. He decided to take matters in his own hands. He had already begun to study the biochemistry of the mind and of attitudes. And so he did his own self-prescription.
He, first of all, started taking intravenous, massive doses of vitamin C. But not only that, this was the day before videotape. He got a movie projector, a 16-millimeter movie projector. And he watched old reruns of the comedy show Candid Camera and movies of The Three Stooges. And he would watch this learned man, scholar, watching The Three Stooges on television and on his movie projector. And he made this discovery. He said, I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect that would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep. He went on to write a best-selling book about his experience I read many years ago entitled Head First, the Biology of Hope. And in that book, Norman Cousins said, the most prolific gland in our body is the brain.
The most prolific gland in the body is the brain because it activates both healing secretions and deadly toxins dependent upon our attitude. Think about it. Your attitude affects how long you live, how soon you die. But perhaps the most convincing argument for right attitudes is your attitude affects your eternal destiny. Remember what we said an attitude was? Your mental or emotional response to the circumstances of life.
Now, listen to this. Every one of us in this room, we all experience different circumstances in our lives, don't we? But there is one circumstance, every one of us in this room, every one of us watching on television, there is one circumstance we have in common, and that is sin. We've all been infected with sin. We've all fallen short of God's plan for our life. Truthfully, we didn't choose that circumstance. We were born in sin, the Bible says.
But even though we didn't choose that circumstance, we can choose how we respond to our sin and our failure before God. Some people respond by denying it. I don't believe that. I don't believe what the Bible says that I'm a sinner deserving eternal death. I don't believe that.
Other people respond to that reality with rationalization. Well, I know I'm not perfect, but I'm better than most people. Haven't killed anybody.
Don't deal drugs. I'm okay. I may not be perfect, but I'm good enough. If that is your attitude, your response to sin, the Bible says you'll spend eternity separated from God. But here's the attitude that God respects, the attitude of the humble who respond to their sin, not by denying or rationalizing, but agreeing with God. God, you know you're right, and I'm wrong. I am a sinner.
I have fallen short of your plan. And only when we confess our sin and put our faith in Jesus Christ and what he did for us, it is that attitude through which we receive forgiveness and eternal life. That's why John said in 1 John 1-9, if we will what? Confess our sins.
He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Perhaps William James' comment should be changed just a little bit. Perhaps the greatest discovery of this century is if we can change our attitude, we can change our life and our eternity. That's the overarching message in my teaching series called Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life. When we purposely change our attitude, we can radically transform our life and our eternity. As we conclude today's teaching time, I'm inviting you to request your copy of my book on this topic. It's called Choose Your Attitudes, Change Your Life.
The principles you'll learn are the same ones I'm practicing as well. When I feel the weight of the world on my shoulders, the weight of my family, my church, my ministry, and the world in general, these 11 biblical solutions work, and I'm thrilled to offer my book to you today. It comes with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. Remember, when you give, you're providing the fuel that's needed to reach people all across our country and the world with this life-changing message of hope. For example, not long ago, I heard from Thomas, who listens to this program every morning in Alaska. Tragically, Thomas grew up in a hostile church that never modeled grace but legalism instead.
He said it took him more than 20 years to get over the pain of that experience. But now, Thomas said, his wife has become a Christian, and along with their five children, they're attending the same church that's now under new, grace-loving leadership. And every day, Thomas listens to Pathway to Victory for spiritual nourishment as well. So, thanks for your investment in Pathway to Victory. Your gifts are truly making a difference as men and women are drawn to the light of God's Word.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request your copy of the book by Dr. Jeffress, The Choose Your Attitudes Change Your Life when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. To request your copy of the book, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you both the CD and DVD sets for the Choose Your Attitudes Change Your Life teaching series.
Plus, you'll receive a study guide for individual or group study. To request the complete package of resources, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You could send your request by mail. Here's the address, P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that's P.O.
Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Everyone loves a good underdog story, but often we don't get to experience moments of triumph in our own lives. That's because we quit partway through our endeavors. Learn how to choose perseverance over defeat. That's Tuesday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. The Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise sets sail from Rome May 5th through 16th, 2025. Join me on this trip of a lifetime. I'll be teaching from God's Word, and you'll have plenty of time to take in the beauty of Greece, Italy, and Turkey. Experience an 11-day spiritual journey like no other while enjoying world-class accommodations aboard the Celebrity Ascent, a new luxury cruise ship.
To book your reservation now, go to ptv.org. 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. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway Partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway Partner, 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.
