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. You know, there's one person in the Bible who perhaps better than anyone illustrates how to demonstrate, yes, deep conviction, but to wrap that conviction in genuine compassion. And that person is Jesus Christ. He, better than anyone, illustrates how to become what I like to call a velvet covered brick. How to stay firm in your convictions, but be soft and compassionate.
with people. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. When America was founded, it was built on solid Christian morals. But today Christian views on topics like abortion or homosexuality are widely unpopular and often rejected.
So how should we respond to people who oppose our values? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shares how to stand firm when others contest our faith. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David. And welcome again to Pathway to Victory. It's the final day in the month and we've chosen to feature a special one day message called becoming a velvet covered brick.
I hope the title piques your curiosity because we're going to address a practical subject that strengthens your relationships. But first, I have a very special announcement. Earlier this week, I concluded a month long teaching series on Bible prophecy called Perfect Ending.
Well, the demand for the companion resources has been nothing short of astounding. Pathway to Victory listeners, people like you have a healthy appetite for learning more. And so we've decided to extend our special time limited offer for three very practical and powerful Bible prophecy resources. This is the very last day to make your request. When you give a generous gift today, I'm going to send you three printed resources that will elevate your understanding of God's timeline for the future. First, I want you to own my best selling book called Perfect Ending.
Why Your Eternal Future Matters Today. Second, I'm prepared to send you an exclusive book called The End Times Illustrated. This 72 page illustrated book portrays God's plan in a manner that's simple to comprehend. And then third, I'm going to send you the very popular Bible prophecy chart, which is a multifolded brochure that you can tuck into your Bible for quick reference. All three items, my book Perfect Ending, The End Times Illustrated, and the Bible prophecy chart are yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.
We'll share more details later after my message. But right now, let's turn in our Bibles to John chapter four. I titled today's message, Becoming a Velvet Covered Brick. A few years ago, I was in our church snack bar eating a cheeseburger, and I was seated next to a very successful insurance salesman in our church named Bobby. And as we were downing our cheeseburgers, Bobby said, well, pastor, tell me, what is your newest book about? And I happened to be finishing up the manuscript for the book on which the series was based, and so I shared with him the idea of a series about the need for absolute truth, about politically incorrect statements that Christians need to believe.
And Bobby said, well, that certainly sounds like a needed book, but can I give you a piece of advice to pass along to your readers? And I said, sure, not exactly expecting what to hear. He said, well, it's a piece of advice I learned from that television attorney you see all the time named Jerry Spence, and it's a principle I use in my business every day. I said, well, what's that? He said, well, Jerry Spence says that to win an argument, you need to empower other people to continue the argument.
I said, well, what do you mean? He said, well, Robert, people like you and like I who have strong personalities, we think that if you get in a debate with somebody, that the goal should be to shut them down, to silence them. We think if you silence your opponent, you've won the argument.
But every married person knows that's not the case. I mean, if a husband's having an argument with his wife, he can certainly shut her down through intimidation or insults, but he hasn't convinced her of anything except she married a jerk. He hadn't won the argument.
To win an argument, you have to empower the other person to continue talking, continue the dialogue. I said, well, how do you do that? He said, well, you ask the other person questions. You listen to their stories.
You find out about their situation. The longer you can keep them talking, the more likely you are to continue the dialogue and win them to your point of view. As Bobby was talking, I thought about some experiences I had had through the years where I'd adopted the idea that if I can simply silence my opponent, I've won the argument. Through the years, I've debated all kind of people on television. One time, a lesbian pastor.
That was a real trip. Leaders from the ACLU, skilled attorneys. And when you get in those TV debates, the whole idea is use your best one-line zingers. Keep talking over the other person.
Make sure you get the last word in before the commercial break. That makes for entertaining television, no doubt about it. It may even influence somebody out there in the unseen audience. But those kind of tactics never win over the other person to your point of view. If your goal is not just to win the debate, but to win the other person's point of view, to win them to your point of view, you have to learn how to empower them to continue the dialogue. And you do that by showing a genuine concern for them, listening to their stories, letting them talk. You know, there's one person in the Bible who perhaps better than anyone illustrates how to do just that. How to demonstrate, yes, deep conviction, but to wrap that conviction in genuine compassion. How to stay hard in your beliefs, but at the same time, be soft with people of a different persuasion.
And that person is Jesus Christ. He, better than anyone, illustrates how to become what I like to call a velvet-covered brick. How to stay firm in your convictions, but be soft and compassionate with people. And we see a great illustration of that in John chapter 4, how Jesus illustrated how to become a velvet-covered brick.
How not just to win the argument, but to win over the other person. Turn to John chapter 4, if you would, as we conclude this series by looking at how to become a real influence for Christ in this world. John chapter 4, this is the well-known story of Jesus' encounter with a Samaritan woman. And look at verse 3 with me, it says, Jesus left Judea and He departed again into Galilee and He had to pass through Samaria. Now truthfully, geographically, He didn't have to go through Samaria. He could have gone around to the east through Perea. He could have bypassed Samaria had He wanted to. Why would Jesus go into an area populated by people who didn't agree with Him, who held an opposing theological view?
Why did He do that? It's because He had a divine appointment with somebody whose encounter would change her life forever, this woman at the well. And that leads us to the first principle of becoming a velvet-covered brick, how to influence our culture. And that principle is we need to engage with those with opposing points of view. The only way we're going to influence our culture for God is by engaging with those people who have differing points of view. Now Christians go to one of two extremes in this whole idea of how to relate to a decaying culture. Some Christians say, well, if I'm going to make a difference in society, I need to identify with the culture. That is, I need to become more like unbelievers and convince them that I'm like they are to have an influence on them. Is that the way you influence, make a difference in the culture?
Jesus says, if salt loses its saltiness, it has become tasteless. If you just blend in with everybody else and become like everybody else, there is no distinctiveness to you. The way you preserve, the way you influence your culture is not becoming like the culture.
It's by living in a distinctive way from the culture. That's one extreme to identify with unbelievers. But some Christians not wanting to do that, they go way over to the other extreme, and that is they isolate themselves from the culture. They are so afraid of being contaminated by this decaying culture that they huddle together in their churches and in their fellowship groups and in their Christian schools, and they say, you know, we just got to protect ourselves. We got to keep ourselves from becoming contaminated.
Well, that's not the answer either. Jesus doesn't want us to isolate ourselves from unbelievers. He doesn't want us to identify with unbelievers. Instead, he said, our goal should be to influence the culture, to make a difference. And the way we do that is by coming in contact with other unbelievers. He said, you are the light of the world.
A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. We're living in a dark world. We're to be the light that dispels the darkness.
But light can never dispel darkness unless it first of all comes in contact with the darkness. Ladies and gentlemen, listen to me. The reason God has placed you in the job you're working at, the reason He's placed you in whatever school you're attending, the reason He's placed you in a certain neighborhood or within a certain group of friends is so that you can influence them for God. If you're going to be a person of influence, a velvet-covered brick in this society, first of all, learn to engage with those who have opposing points of view. Principle number two, to become a velvet-covered brick, we need to listen to other people's stories.
Learn to listen to other people's stories. You know, I think it's probably typical for so many of us that once we corner an unbeliever, we've got one in our sights. What we like to do is somehow we feel this pressure just to dump on them.
All of our arguments or the canned spiel that we learned somewhere, without any thought whatsoever of what they're thinking or what their needs are. The late Paul Little vividly described the futility of that kind of approach to evangelism. He says, about once every six months, the pressure to witness used to reach explosive heights inside me. Not knowing any better, I would suddenly lunge at someone and spout out all my verses with a sort of glazed stare in my eye. I honestly didn't expect any response. As soon as my victim indicated a lack of interest, I'd begin to edge away from him with a sigh of relief and the consoling thought, all that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.
Duty done, I'd draw back into my martyr's shell for another six months hibernation, until the internal pressure again became so intolerable that it drove me out. It really shocked me when I finally realized that I, not the cross, was offending people. My inept, unwittingly rude, even stupid approach to them was responsible for their rejection of me and of the gospel message. God didn't call us, ladies and gentlemen, to become spiritual dump trucks. We come up to an unbeliever and then, dump. Smother them in our spiel, in our arguments.
You never win people that way. Instead, we need to learn to listen to other people's stories. You know, I think it's interesting, going back to John 4 for a moment, that when Jesus encountered this woman at the well, his first words to the woman were not, if you were to stand before God and he were to ask you, why should I let you into my kingdom, what would you say to him?
Now, don't be offended by that. I think that's a great question to ask people. In fact, there's probably no better question to determine a person's spiritual relationship than that one.
It helps you understand, is the person trusting in grace or works for salvation? But you have to use that question at the right time. And that's what Jesus did here.
He didn't start with a question like that. Instead, he started by listening to the woman's interest, determining what she was interested in. As it turned out, she had come to the well for water.
That makes sense, doesn't it? She was interested in water. But notice what Jesus said in verses 13 and 14. Jesus answered her and said, Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life. He got to know the woman. He demonstrated a concern for her. He began a dialogue with her, and as he continued the conversation, as he empowered her to continue the argument, it gave him more face time with her to persuade her to his point of view. If you are going to not just win a debate but win another person, you need to listen to their stories.
Engage them in conversation. I was on the Fox and Friends program from New York. I got up, I'd made the commitment, went down to midtown Manhattan, went to the Fox studios, and went up to the green room where they have all the guests sit before the program begins. So I was sitting there watching the hosts and the anchors come in and out and all the activity that was going on, and there was this lady seated next to me.
She was about mid-20s, and she was going to be on the program as well. And so she looked at me and she said, Well, what's your story? And what are you here to talk about?
So I explained the reason I was there to talk and what the interview was going to be about, and she was very pleasant, but she said, Well, I hope this doesn't offend you, but I just want to ask you, why do you conservatives hate homosexuals so much? I just smiled, and I said, Well, you know, I'm not sure that's a fair characterization of our point of view. I said, Well, tell me what your story is.
Why are you here? And she explained that she had been on that cruise ship the week before where the woman fell over the side of the ship and disappeared at sea, and they had invited her to come on and talk about her experience there. So we continued talking. I kept remembering, Okay, continue the dialogue, continue asking questions. I said, Well, what do you do for a living? She said, Well, I'm a lawyer for MTV. And we talked about that a little bit.
And she said, You know, I've always wanted to ask somebody. She said, I grew up in the Catholic church, and I'm just wondering, can you explain to me what the difference is between what Catholics believe and what you believe? And I said, Well, you know, it really doesn't have to do with what Catholics believe and what Baptists believe. The only thing that really matters is what the Bible says.
And we believe the most important issue is how a person can have a relationship with God. And I went on to explain and go through the plan of salvation with her for the next three or four minutes and explain the difference between grace and works. Now, I happen to believe the way God works is, the reason God got me up at 4.45 that morning to go down to Fox Studios was not to be on television. That's the only way He would have gotten me up out of bed at 4.45.
That was just the cover story. He had me there in that green room to deliver a message to somebody who was genuinely interested in knowing Him. But here's the point I want you to get. If I had followed my natural inclinations, which I do all too often, had I followed my natural inclinations and gotten into an argument with her and tried to shut her down, I would have lost the opportunity to present the gospel. When you're trying to really influence somebody, listen to what they have to say.
Listen to their story. For example, the reason some people might object to the idea that homosexuality is a perversion, maybe they have a family member who died from AIDS. One reason they might object to the idea that hell is a literal place is, maybe they have somebody in their family who's not a Christian.
Maybe the reason that they object to the idea of husbands being the leader of their families is, maybe they're in an abusive marriage and they don't want to accept that truth. Maybe the reason they can't accept the sovereignty of God over all situations in life, maybe a loved one has gone through an illness, an accident, or even death. We need to listen to other people's stories if we're going to influence them for the gospel. That's what Jesus did here. There's a third principle He illustrates in John chapter 4, and that is learn to distinguish between major issues and minor issues.
Learn to distinguish between major issues and minor issues. In this series, we've looked at some explosive truths that God sends good people to hell, evolution is a myth, husbands are to be leaders of their family, homosexuality is a perversion. We've looked at many of those hard truths, but let me be clear to say, all of those truths are secondary issues compared to a person's relationship with God. The only truth you have to embrace in your life is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth to die for your sins, and by trusting in Him, you can have forgiveness. That's the only truth you have to embrace to be in heaven one day.
All other truths are secondary. Jesus illustrates that here when you come down to His encounter with the woman at the well. For example, beginning in verse 15, Jesus found out about her moral condition. He already knew about it, but He got her to admit to it.
It turned out she'd been married five times, and she was now living with a man who wasn't even her husband. But Jesus didn't give her a lecture on sexual abstinence. He didn't say to her, you need to clean up your life. That's what He talked to her about. And then she tried to engage Him in a theological discussion. Now Jesus, where should we worship? On Mount Gerizim, like our people do, or in Jerusalem where your people do, Jesus didn't want to get involved in a side theological debate. He said, woman, the real issue is your relationship with God.
That's what the issue is. And what I'm saying to you is, if you're genuinely trying to influence somebody to become a Christian, don't get involved in side issues. Don't expect unbelievers to embrace spiritual truth until they have first of all embraced the one who is the author of all truth, Jesus Christ.
Distinguish between major and minor issues. And number four, reflect the love of Jesus Christ. If you're going to really influence people, we have to reflect the love of Christ.
Remember, a debater's goal is to win the debate. A disciple's goal is to win the other person. Unfortunately, too many people have been turned off to the gospel, not because of the offense of the cross, but because of the offensiveness of other Christians. Remember, our goal is not to win people to a set of ideas, it's to win people to a person, Jesus Christ. Isn't it interesting that after this woman had the encounter with Christ, verse 29 tells us that she ran into the city to tell people what had happened to her. But notice in verse 29 she didn't go into the city and say, come, listen to a set of ideas that have changed my mind.
No, she said come and meet a man who has changed my life. Our goal is not to win people to a dogma, a set of beliefs, it's to win people to a person, Jesus Christ. And the way we do that is by reflecting His love. Many of you might be familiar with the name of Arthur Burns. He was a powerful Washington figure from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was ambassador to West Germany.
Perhaps he was best known for being head of the Federal Reserve System. Arthur Burns also happened to be Jewish. And that's why it surprised people when Arthur Burns wound up coming to a weekly Bible study at the White House led by Christians. Every week Arthur Burns would come to that Christian Bible study, but he would never say a word. And nobody ever called on him because after all he was Jewish. But one day a newcomer was at the Bible study and he was charged with leaving the group. And not knowing that Arthur Burns was a Jew, when the Bible study wrapped up, this newcomer called on Arthur Burns to say the final prayer. Well everybody was stunned. They shot glances at one another wondering what this famous Jew would say at a Christian Bible study in prayer.
But Arthur Burns didn't flinch. Instead he invited people to join hands and they did so. And Arthur Burns prayed this prayer. He said, Dear God, I pray that Muslims might come to know Jesus Christ. I pray that Jews would come to know Jesus Christ. And I pray that Christians would come to know Jesus Christ. You see, the more we know and reflect the love of the person Jesus Christ, the more likely we are to influence them to embrace the one who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me. As Christians, our role is not to silence our critics, but to engage them in conversation.
We don't win debates by outshouting the competition. A debate is won when our opponent finally sees the wisdom of God's plan. Well, our prayer at Pathway to Victory is that God would raise up a generation of believers who become salt and light just as Jesus taught us to be, or in the vernacular, become a velvet-covered brick. Earlier, I explained that today is the very last day to request a trilogy of Bible prophecy resources.
And please, before the day is over, be sure to reach out to Pathway to Victory with your generous gift. As you do, you're entitled to receive three practical resources that will truly accelerate your understanding of Bible prophecy. First, I'd like to say thank you by sending you a copy of my book, Perfect Ending, Why Your Eternal Future Matters Today.
This book represents decades of personal study, all condensed into one volume. Plus, you'll also receive another helpful resource called The End Times Illustrated. This 72-page book of colorful illustrations will help you understand the key events in the end times. But that's not all, because I'll also include our ever-popular Bible prophecy chart as well.
Friends, I really do believe we're living in the last days. And I can't think of a more urgent time to boldly declare the gospel of Jesus Christ and to reach as many people as possible as quickly as possible before He comes. So, thank you so much for partnering with me in this ministry, where together we pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of Dr. Jeffress' best-selling book called Perfect Ending, along with The End Times Illustrated. To make your request, call 866-999-2965. Or, even easier, visit our website, ptv.org. Now, when you give $75 or more, you'll also receive the complete, unabridged Perfect Ending teaching series on CD and DVD.
But this is the very last day we'll be mentioning this special offer, so don't wait. To request the complete package of resources, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. If you'd like to write to us, jot down this mailing address, PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. One more time, that's PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
I'm David J. Mullins. Wishing you a great weekend, then join us again next week for the start of a powerful new series called America and the Bible. That's right 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. 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.
