This is Robert Jeffress. In response to the horrific attack on Israel, I've written a brand new book called, Are We Litting in the End Times?
Go to ptv.org to order your copy. You see, to Paul, prayer was not just some ritualistic duty to try to squeeze into an overcrowded schedule. For Paul, prayer was just a way of existing. It was conversing with God. It was a continuous conversation with God. And that's how Paul said we are to pray, not just for a few minutes every day.
It's a way we conduct our lives, conversing with God. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. In a Christian's arsenal, there really is no greater weapon than prayer.
But many people don't know how to wield its power. We're at a loss of what to say or how to pray. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress outlines the Apostle Paul's model for prayer that changes our lives and the lives of those around us. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Over the past few years, we've developed a number of creative tools to help you grow deeper in your walk with God. And I'm convinced that one of our best-kept secrets is the periodical we developed for you called Pathway Magazine. This publication contains daily devotional readings, feature articles about your Christian walk, and a variety of other fascinating features.
It's printed in a convenient size and sent directly to your home. And to help you get started, I'm prepared to send you the first issue at no cost to you. All you have to do is get in touch with us at ptv.org. Many of you know that Amy and I are blessed with three grandchildren, triplets. What you probably don't know is that these little lives represent the culmination of years and years of prayer. My daughter, Julia Jeffress-Sadler, tells her highly personal story in a bestselling book she's written called Pray Big Things. And now Julia has written a children's book on this topic as well.
I'm prepared to send you both of Julia's books, the one for adults and the one for kids, when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. I'll say more about these two resources later on, but right now, it's time to turn our attention to Colossians chapter 1 to continue a message we started on yesterday's program. It's titled The Perfect Prayer. We're going to look at what I called the perfect prayer, Colossians 1. Now when we get to verse 9, Paul is going to voice his prayer request for the Colossians.
He mentions three specific things he was praying for these Christians at Colossae. First of all, he said, I pray that you would know the will of God. He says in verse 9, I want you to be filled with the knowledge of God's will.
That word filled literally means to be controlled. I want you to know and be controlled by the will of God for your life. That leads to the second prayer request in verse 10. So that you might obey the commands of God.
Look at verse 10. So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all prospects bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. You know, some people say, oh Lord, show me your will.
I want to know your will for my life while secretly thinking so I can decide whether I want to obey it or not. It's not optional for a child of God. The only reason to know God's will is so that you can do it. Paul says the blessings that come in life come from not just knowing God's word but doing the will of God.
Look again at verse 10. So that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects. That is the heart desire of every true Christian, to please God. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5, 9, therefore we have as our ambition in life, whether here or at home, to be pleasing to God.
Why? For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That each one of us may be rewarded for what we've done in the body, whether it be good or whether it be worthless. He said we ought to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. See, the reason Paul wanted the Colossians not only to know God's word but also obey God's commands was, Paul, like any parent, knew that the real blessings of life came from obeying rather than disobeying God's word. And the same is true for us.
The question is real simple. How many of you want to be blessed by God? If you want to be blessed by God, then you obey God's commands. Remember what God said to the Israelites before they were getting ready to enter into the promised land? In Deuteronomy 11, verses 26 to 28, God said, See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, and the curse if you do not keep God's commandments, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today by following other gods which you have not known.
Listen to what God is saying. He said to the Israelites, He is saying to you and me today, you've got a choice to make. You can obey my commands and experience my blessings, or you can disobey my commands and experience my curses. Because I don't care who you are, if you obey me, I'll bless you.
If you disobey me, I will curse you. Obedience, disobedience, blessings, curses. Paul said my prayer is that you will obey the commands of God so that you can experience the blessing of God, bearing fruit in your life in every good work. Paul wanted them to obey the commands of God so that number three, they could experience the power of God. Paul says that whenever you are obeying God's command, you're going to be given supernatural power. Look at verses 11 and 12.
Strengthen with all power according to His glorious might. You know, whenever we think about God's supernatural power, we think about those miraculous acts like the parting of the Red Sea or the feeding of the 25,000 or the healing of the lame or the raising of the dead. We think those are the signs of God's miraculous power.
However, notice what Paul says here. That same power that God used to perform those supernatural miracles is working in your life right now. And God's supernatural power results in three very tangible results.
Look at what happens when God's power is working inside of you. First of all, it produces steadfastness. Verse 11, for the attaining of all steadfastness. What does that word mean? It refers to how we respond to difficult circumstances in life.
Literally, the word means to refuse to buckle under pressure. Do you know people who go through just some horrendous difficulties in life, Christians, and you wonder how they make it through such a loss, such a time of testing? How do they just keep from giving up? The answer is they have been strengthened, fortified with God's supernatural power. And that comes to you when you're obeying the commands of God. You're strengthened with all steadfastness. Not only that, God's miraculous power, verse 11 says, produces patience in you. Now, to understand the difference between steadfastness and patience, steadfastness refers to how we respond to difficult circumstances. Patience refers to how we respond to difficult people in our lives. Any of you have some difficult people in your life? No pointing, please.
Do you know what I'm talking about? People who just really get to you, okay? People who really get under your skin.
People you would love to tell off. Well, the Bible says when God's supernatural power is working in you, it produces patience. That word patience, macrothumio, means literally to be long-tempered.
It means to have a long fuse rather than a short fuse. It means refusing to pay back evil for evil. And the reason for doing that is because God doesn't repay us with evil for the evil that we've done. God's supernatural work produces patience in us. And then the third result of God's power working in our life is thankfulness.
Look at verse 12. Joyously giving thanks to the Father. When you go through a difficult circumstance, when you are overwhelmed by difficult people in your life, Paul says you can give thanks and you can do so joyously. Now, to appreciate that word joyously, understand that in Paul's day there was a group of Greeks called the Stoics.
Remember them from your school studies? The Stoics kind of had this idea that the way to get through life is just grit your teeth and get through it the best you can. Stoicism. But Paul said there's a better way to live life than the grit your teeth method. The Bible says you can go through difficulty not just gritting your teeth, but joyously giving thanks to God. Giving thanks to God for what? You mean I'm supposed to say thank you God for this flat tire I had on the tow away this morning? Are we supposed to do that? Are we supposed to say when the report comes back from the doctor, oh God, thank you so much for this cancer. I can't thank you enough for it.
No, that's unrealistic. What he's talking about is giving thanks not for the circumstance, but giving thanks to the God who is sovereign over the circumstance. Realizing that no matter what happens to us, a God who loves us is still in control of our life. By the way, that's the difference between joy and happiness. Happiness is a superficial emotion that depends upon the happenings around us.
It's circumstance oriented, happiness. But joy is that calm, steadfast assurance that God is in control of our life. How can we give God thanks when we're going through difficulty?
How do we know he still loves us and hasn't turned his back on us? Notice what Paul says, the three things we can give thanks for that God has done in our life. This is my favorite part of the sermon. Couldn't wait to get here.
Okay, here it is. I want you to write them down, the three things that God has done for us. First of all, we can thank God because God has qualified us to share in his inheritance. Look at verse 12, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. Now, most of you here today expect to be in your parents' will, don't you? If your parents died or if they're getting ready to die or if they someday will die, you expect to be named in their will.
After all, you're their child. But how many of you today expected to be in Sam Walton's will when he died a few years ago? The multi-billionaire founder of Walmart. How many of you expected to be in Sam Walton's will? I didn't say how many of you wanted to be in his will.
But how many of you were disappointed? Oh, I can't believe he disinherited me and didn't put me in his will. I doubt there's any one of us here today who expected to be in Sam Walton's will.
Why? We're not a part of his family. It's the same way with the riches of God. You and I, by nature, are disqualified from sharing in God's riches because we're not related to God when we're born into this world. The Bible says we're not born children of God in this world.
We're born children of darkness. But look at what God does for us when he saves us. He qualifies us. Literally, he makes us fit to share in his inheritance. He puts us into his family and therefore we are qualified to be joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ of everything God owns. Isn't that great news? He has qualified us to share in his inheritance.
Not only that, look at what he did for us. Secondly, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness. Verse 13, for he delivered us from the domain of darkness. That word delivered literally means he rescued us. Did you see this news story about that motorcyclist who was trapped underneath a burning automobile?
Did you see that group of bystanders come and surround the car and when they realized there was somebody under there, they lifted up together that car and they delivered, they rescued that man from the burning automobile. That is the same word Paul uses here to describe what God has done for us. The moment you trust in Christ as your savior, God rescues you from what? From the domain, the kingdom of darkness. What does he mean, the kingdom of darkness? He's talking about Satan's kingdom.
A king's kingdom relates to whatever area that king has authority over. So what is Satan's kingdom from which we've been delivered? This may surprise some of you, but the Bible teaches this world is Satan's kingdom. The Bible says Jesus said Satan is temporarily the god of this world.
Paul called him the god of this age. Satan has temporary control over this world. And when God saves you, he rescues us from Satan's kingdom. He rescues us from this world. You say, no, wait a minute, Robert, rescues us from this world? I mean, why do we need to be rescued from this world? This world is hardly like a burning automobile that we're trapped in. I look around, this world's a pretty nice place when you think about it. Why do we need to be rescued from it?
I'll tell you why. You don't see the world as it really is. You see, the reason this world seems good to us is because of the influence of God and God's people in this world. Very rarely do we see pure, unadulterated evil. Every now and then we catch a glimpse of it when we see some of those heinous, unspeakable crimes that people commit against other people. Every now and then we catch a glimpse of real, satanic evil. But for the most part, that evil has been diluted by God and his people.
But hear me this morning. The person who dies without Jesus Christ is going to not only be separated from God for all eternity, but is going to be separated from the influence, the goodness of God and his people in the world. In hell, there will be no godly influence. The person who spends eternity in hell will feel the full brunt of pure evil. He will feel evil that is unrelenting and unending.
It is forever and ever and ever. And the good news is, when Jesus died for you, he rescued you from that. He has rescued us. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness. But not only that, notice thirdly, God has transferred us into the kingdom of his son. Look at verses 13 and 14. And he transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Now this word redemption is filled with rich imagery. It refers to the deportation of a group of captives from one kingdom to another kingdom. It's not the setting free of captives. It is transporting them from one kingdom to another kingdom. The Colossians understood this word because in their history there was a time when Antiochus the Great took a group of 2,000 Jewish captives and transported them from the kingdom of Babylon to the Roman Empire in Colossae.
That's what the word means, to transfer from one kingdom to another. Remember when 52 Americans were taken hostage in Tehran? They were taken hostage by a group of Iranian terrorists and for 444 days America was truly held hostage. During that time these 52 hostages were kicked, they were beaten, they were tortured, they were subject to mock executions. America did everything they could to try to release these hostages. They tried diplomatic appeal, those failed. They tried an attempt to actually rescue them, an attempt to rescue them. That military attempt had to be aborted.
Everything failed. But on January 21, 1981, as Ronald Reagan was being sworn in as the President of the United States, during that swearing in ceremony word came that the American hostages had finally been released. And those of you who were alive during that time, will you ever forget the scene of those American hostages touching American soil for the first time?
Some of them so grateful when they got on the tarmac they bent over and kissed the concrete tarmac. One of those hostages that was released was named David Roeder. And as he emerged from the airplane, touched down on American soil for the first time, this was the picture that a news photographer captured. He had his arms outstretched and next to him was the sign, Welcome Back to Freedom. He was filled with unending gratitude for having been rescued from the domain of Iran and transferred back to the United States.
Now, you know, as I looked at that picture this week, Welcome Back to Freedom, I thought to myself, freedom? Was he really rescued back to freedom? I mean, yes, he left one totalitarian regime, but he came back to the United States. And when he was in the United States, he wasn't free to do whatever he wanted to do. He still had to pay his income taxes. He still had to obey the speed limits. He still had to follow other government regulations. He had not been freed of any and all restrictions and regulations.
But if you ask David Roeder, he would say, given the choice, I would much rather live under the regulations of the United States of America than live under the regulation of the domain of that evil, dark empire. Now, ladies and gentlemen, that is the same for you and for me. The Bible says when God saved you, when he rescued you and me from the domain of darkness from Satan's kingdom, he has not freed us to live however we want to live. Paul said, do you not know you're not your own?
You've been bought with a price. No, when you were saved and rescued, God transferred you from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his own son. That's what he says in this verse. We have been transferred to the kingdom of his beloved son, the Lord Jesus Christ. You and I are still slaves, but we are slaves of Jesus Christ. And because we are slaves of Jesus Christ, we have an obligation to live under his authority, his rule, to obey him.
But, folks, isn't it much easier to follow the rules and regulations of someone who loves us like Jesus than to live under the regulations of someone who wants to destroy us like Satan? You know what the best evidence is that Christ, your king, really loves you? The best evidence, Paul says, is he is the one who rescued you. He is the one who redeemed you. He is the one who paid the price to set you free, and the price was his own blood.
Let's bow together in a word of prayer. Today I'm speaking to some of you here in our sanctuary, some of you by radio and television who are not yet Christians. Whether you know it or not, you are part of Satan's kingdom. And if you do absolutely nothing from this moment until the day you die, you're going to spend eternity separated from God.
But listen to the good news of the gospel. God loved you so much that he sent Christ to die for you, to redeem you, to buy you back from Satan's domain so that you can have eternal life. I talked about God's will for your life.
God's will for your life is that you trust in Jesus, that you escape an eternity of judgment, that you accept his forgiveness in your life, believing that when Christ came to die for you, he paid the penalty for your sin. There are others of you here today who are already Christians. Are you going to obey God and experience his blessing, or continue to disobey God and experience his curses? Father, I know your Holy Spirit's speaking to some right now, some who need to become a Christian for the first time, some who need to yield control of their lives to you, to start obeying you. Father, your Spirit is working and speaking. I pray no one would harden their hearts against you.
Give them the power, the courage to stand up, to stand up coming and responding to your invitation. For it's in the saving name of Christ we pray. Amen. And if you've made this life-changing decision to trust in Christ today, would you contact us at ptv.org, that's Pathway to Victory, ptv.org, and let us know. We'd love to welcome you into God's family and celebrate this moment with you. We absolutely love hearing from our listening family, especially when you share how God's Spirit is working in and through your life.
And if you're among those who support Pathway to Victory with your gifts, let me reinforce that your generosity is truly making a difference. Not long ago, I heard from a grateful listener in Pennsylvania who wrote, Pastor Jeffress, I grew up in foster homes until the age of 18. I spent my life angry at my mother until I heard you teach about forgiveness and its power.
It changed everything for me. I will be forever grateful to God for that message and series. Wow, that is great. And I hope his comment encourages you because when you give, you've played a significant role in bringing light into the darkness. In fact, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'm prepared to send you two special resources as a simple expression of my thanks. Both books are written by my daughter, Julia Jeffress Sadler. The first one is a brand new book that she's written for the little ones you love. It's a beautifully illustrated children's book called You Can Pray Big Things. The second book on prayer is for adults. Julia titled her original best-selling book, Pray Big Things. If you're ready to make just one monumental change in your life today, a change that would echo across the generations, then I challenge you to pray big things and teach your children and grandchildren to do the same. Please get in touch and request these two resources on prayer. Now, here's David with all the details.
Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today, you can request your copy of the brand new children's book, You Can Pray Big Things by Julia Jeffress Sadler by simply contacting Pathway to Victory today with your generous gift. Plus, we'll also include Julia's original best-selling book for adults, Pray Big Things. Request both resources when you call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. And when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you the complete unabridged Prayers That Really Work teaching series on CD and DVD.
Of course, it contains much more content than we've had time to share on the broadcast. Again, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. If you'd like to write, here's the address, P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
Again, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins. Conversations with friends and families seem to flow so naturally, but talking with our Heavenly Father, that seems much more difficult.
Learn how to make conversations with God and have a meaningful experience. That's Friday on Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Even though we don't know the date when Jesus will return, we need to have our finger on the pulse of what's happening today. So, in response to the war in Israel, Dr. Robert Jeffress has written a brand new book. It's called, Are We Living in the End Times? In light of increasing chaos, division, and warfare in our world, this really is a fair question. Request your copy of Are We Living in the End Times by going to ptv.org.
