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. Do you have people in your life? Let's be honest, this is God's house. You have people that just seeing them saps the joy right out of your life. If they're next to you, don't point.
It's not nice to point in God's house. What's the key to keeping people from robbing your joy? It's to change your attitude toward them, Paul says.
Instead of seeing people as objects to use, see people as objects to serve. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Someone once said, joy is the flag that flies over the castle of our hearts, announcing that the king is in residence.
So does your life radiate with a supernatural joy that attracts others to Christ? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress gives us an overview of Paul's letter to the Philippians, which contains the secret to unbridled joy. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Let me start today with a question. When was the last time you enjoyed a good old-fashioned belly laugh?
You heard me right. When's the last time you laughed so hard you nearly cried? Well, in his letter to the Philippians, Paul gave one of the best descriptions of joy in the Bible. Now, he didn't talk about laughter per se, but he presented a wonderful case for unbridled joy. And in this new series, we'll be talking about developing a sense of contagious enthusiasm, no matter what troubles come our way. To complement this study, I've written a book for you.
It's called Outrageous Joy, Living Above Your Circumstances. My book will help you shed the weight of worry and refocus your life and priorities on kingdom living. You'll come to understand that real joy comes from the Lord.
It's a daily decision and a sign of your abiding growth in Christ. And later on, I'll explain how you can receive your copy. Speaking of fun and laughter, we're getting ready to embark on a joy-filled vacation. And you're invited to join us on the Pathway to Victory, Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. The dates are May 5th through 16th. While this adventure is right around the corner, it's not too late to reserve your spot. But let me urge you to make those arrangements right away.
You'll find all the exciting details about this luxurious vacation with a purpose by going to ptv.org. I'll say more about my book and other resources later in today's program. But right now, let's open our Bibles to Philippians chapter 1.
I've titled today's message, Living Above Your Circumstances. What would it take to give up on God? Are you able to retain your faith, your joy in life, in spite of insurmountable losses, difficult people, adverse circumstances? Jesus Christ was no Pollyanna.
I mean, he had his share of troubles in life. And yet, as he faced the most difficult hour of his existence, as he approached Calvary, Hebrews 12 2 says, he did so with joy. And not some superficial giddiness, but that calm assurance that God was in control of his life. And by the way, as our inheritance, Christ has left that same joy for us to experience.
Remember what he said in John 15 11? He said, these things I have spoken to you, that my joy might be in you and that your joy may be made full. Is that joy in you?
And if not, how can you regain that joy in spite of what is swirling around you? If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to the book or really the letter more accurately to the Philippian Christians. In these four short chapters, the apostle Paul is going to mention the word joy or rejoicing no less than 19 times. Now remember where Paul was when he wrote these words. Paul was in prison facing what could have been his own execution.
And yet he talks about rejoicing, rejoicing, rejoicing over and over again. And he tells us how to do exactly that in these four chapters. Now, what was Paul's relationship with the church at Philippi? Well, Paul made three missionary journeys and it was on his second missionary journey that he first encountered these people in Philippi.
So I want you to hold your place here. And I want you to turn back to Acts 16. Paul and Silas had been joined by Dr. Luke who wrote this journal and by Timothy. And remember it says in verse 8 that they came down to the seaport town of Troas and they were trying to decide where to go from there.
They could go back into Asia Minor but the door was shut there. And they were trying to decide what to do when remember that heavenly vision came to Paul and he appeared and said, Paul come over here. And see he obeyed the heavenly vision and he went across the Aegean Sea for two days and landed in Neopolis and made his way up to Philippi.
And it was there that Paul had three significant encounters that would forever mark his life. Look at verse 13. It says that on the Sabbath day we, that's Luke writing, all of us went outside to a gate to the riverside where we were supposing would be a place of prayer. And so Paul said, it's the Sabbath we need to be in a place of worship. The only problem was there weren't enough Jews in Philippi to constitute a synagogue and it only took ten males to do it.
So there weren't very many Jews there. So they went out to a riverside and they found this place of worship and there were some women who had gathered around. And look at verse 14. Here's the first person he came in contact with, a woman named Lydia. And a certain woman named Lydia from the city of Thyatira, she was a seller of purple fabrics. But more importantly verse 14 says, she was a worshiper of God and was listening to Paul. And the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. Lydia responded to the light that God gave her. She was saved. And then look at verse 15. And when she and her household had been baptized. And then verse 15 she invites the apostle into her home and thus begins the church at Philippi. That was Lydia. Now the second encounter Paul had was with a demon possessed girl.
Now this is most interesting. Look at verse 16. And it happened that as we were going to the place of prayer a certain slave girl having a spirit of divination, the ability to tell the future, met us who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune telling. And following after Paul she kept crying out saying, these men are bondservants of the Most High God who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation. Now here's a woman who was demon possessed. But what's interesting is verse 18, she continued doing this for many days saying, these men are the servants of the Most High God. That demon was actually telling the truth. This guy Paul is a servant of the Most High God.
But you know what Paul said, I don't need an endorsement from a demon possessed girl. In fact in verse 18 said he got annoyed at it. And so he turned to the girl and he said to the spirit verse 18, I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.
And it came out at that very moment. By the way, anytime anybody in the New Testament really had the gift of exorcism whether it was Jesus, the apostles or Paul, they didn't have to go through these three hours of theatrics. If anybody really had the gift of exorcism all it took was one sentence, demons come out. And the demon was gone. That's how you know if somebody really has the gift of exorcism or not. Well Paul had it. So the demon came out. The woman was elated.
Paul was elated. Everybody was excited except the men who owned her and were making money from her fortune telling. They were all upset and so they got a riot together. Verse 22 says, the crowd rose up.
They started beating Paul and Silas, inflicting many blows upon them. And then verse 24 says, having received such a command they threw them into the inner prison, verse 24, and fastened their feet in the stocks. By the way, you can go to Greece today and see that inner prison. We were there in June and a couple of my deacons who were with me on the trip presented me the shadow box. You can't see it but it's a picture of me standing in front of the prison where Paul and Silas were and preaching. But I didn't know when they took this picture they'd also picked up one of these rocks from the prison. And when they came to present this shadow box to me it has an inscription, jail cell of the apostle Paul and Silas. And at the bottom it says, stone snitched and smuggled by two wayward deacons.
But I keep that on my desk as a reminder that this is a real place we're talking about. This is mythology folks. This is a real place where they were. They were in the inner prison. Now look at what happened in verse 25. But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God and the prisoners were listening to them. Talk about one of the great understatements in the New Testament.
Here are two men who have been beaten within inches of their lives. They didn't know what was coming next. They might be executed the next morning. But you see their joy wasn't tied to their circumstances. Instead they were praising God and the people were listening, the prisoners were listening. They must have thought these guys are out of their gourds.
What's going on with them? But look at verse 26. And suddenly there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison house were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's change were unfastened. And when the jailer had been aroused out of his sleep and seeing the prison door opened he drew his sword and was about to kill himself supposing that the prisoners had escaped. You see according to Roman law if the jailer lost the prisoners he would be executed for dereliction of duty.
So the jailer thought if the doors are opened the prisoners must be gone. I'll save the Romans the trouble and myself the humiliation of being executed I'll do it myself. But look at verse 28. Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, do yourself no harm for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and he rushed in trembling with fear and he fell down before Paul and Silas. And after he brought them out the jailer said, sirs what must I do to be saved?
What do you mean by that? What must I do to be saved? I think he may have had in mind at least partly his physical deliverance. But he had in mind more than that. You see he knew what that demon possessed girl had been saying. These men proclaimed the way of salvation. And so it was natural for him to ask Paul, Paul what do you mean by salvation? What must I do to be saved? And in one of the great signal passages of the New Testament look at verse 31. And they said believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved.
Star that underline it in your Bible. What must I do to be saved? Paul said believe, trust in, cling to.
That's what the word means. The Lord Jesus and you shall be saved. By the way notice what Paul didn't say in answer to that question.
Sir what must I do to be saved? Paul didn't say well now believe and then be baptized. Or believe and take the sacraments. Or believe and join the church. Or believe and keep the Ten Commandments.
Or believe and tithe. Well maybe he should have said that. But no, no I'm just kidding. No. He didn't say any of that. He didn't say anything except believe, trust in, cling to the Lord Jesus Christ. Being baptized is important. It's crucial. Joining the church is crucial. The sacraments are important. Keeping the Ten Commandments are important. Tithing is important.
All of those things are important. But folks those things are the result of salvation. Not the requirement of salvation. The Bible says to be saved there's one and only one thing we must do. Believe, trust in, cling to what Christ did on the cross for us and you will be saved. I know there's some of you here today in this sanctuary.
Some watching on television, radio, the internet. Maybe you're part of a religious group and you're just really not sure if what you're hearing every week from that church or that synagogue or that group of teachers is right. If you're confused, ever confused about what your church or spiritual teacher really believes I want to encourage you to go to that pastor, or that priest, or that rabbi, or that spiritual leader and ask one simple question. If you want to know what they really believe just ask them this one question. What do I need to do to go to heaven when I die?
Now that's a bottom line question isn't it? What do I need to do to go to heaven when I die? And if that priest, pastor, or rabbi starts to stutter and stammer or starts to give you a laundry list of all of these things you need to do, folks you need to run as far and as fast from that church as you possibly can because you are in an apostate church. If he answers anything other than believe in the Lord Jesus Christ you need to remove yourself from that place and be in a Bible believing church.
Notice again what happened? He believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and he was baptized. He took Paul to his family. They believed and they were baptized as well. That didn't end Paul's contact with the church at Philippi.
In fact over the next 10 years he was in contact with that church. Up until the time that he went to Rome during his imprisonment and while he was in his imprisonment awaiting the verdict of his trial for a two year period of time the Christians at Philippi sent Paul a love gift, a financial gift by one of their leaders Epaphroditus. And that's what occasioned the writing of this book of Philippians. Turn back for a few moments back to Philippians. Philippians is a thank you note that Paul was sending back to the church for their encouragement of him as he awaited the verdict of his trial.
And that leads us to the setting of this book. There are really three purposes for the writing of this letter. First of all to express gratitude, to express gratitude. It was a thank you note for the financial gift. In chapter 4 verse 18 he says, I am amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent a fragrant aroma.
He's not talking about Chanel number 5. He's talking about money, cold hard cash. That's what he was grateful for that they had brought to him. An acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God. Second, this letter to the Philippians was written to provide guidance for the church. You see when Epaphroditus came bringing the love gift from the Philippians he also brought some disturbing news. But there was trouble in the church. And Paul because he loved those Christians he had founded the church he was distressed to hear about the trouble. Specifically as you read between the lines here of the letter of the Philippians you'll discover that the church was facing two threats.
One was external. False teachers were starting to invade the church. And look at chapter 3 verse 2. Paul addresses that when he says beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision. But there are also problems in the church from within. There was division, a lack of unity in the congregation. And so in chapter 2 notice what he says in verse 2.
He says, Make my joy complete, being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Ladies and gentlemen, we ought to be on guard against false doctrine. But did you know for every church that is destroyed by false teaching there are a hundred that are destroyed by division and dissension from within the congregation. Frankly as I think about our church, First Baptist Dallas, I'm really not worried about false teachers. I mean a false teacher has about as much chance of surviving here as that proverbial snowball in you know where, okay. It's just not going to happen here.
This is the most orthodox church I know of anywhere. We need to be on guard but that's not our greatest threat. But our single greatest threat is division from within, a lack of unity, a lack of love.
And we need to be on guard against that. And I really sense as I said a few weeks to you, I believe this church is ready to put the past behind as far as I'm talking about hurts and disappointments. I believe that Christians here love one another. You can't find a more loving fellowship than this one. And I believe this church is united in one purpose, to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ to as many people as possible.
We need to be diligent to preserve that unity, be on guard, be vigilant against anything that would destroy the wonderful love and fellowship we enjoy in this congregation. It was to provide guidance for the church. And then number three, Paul wrote this letter to exhibit gladness, to exhibit gladness. He was showing by his own life how to remain joyful in spite of what's happening to you. Warren Wiersbe wrote a little commentary on the book of Philippians and he talks about what he calls the joy robbers. Those things that rob us of the joy that Christ died to give us.
For example, in chapter one, and this forms an outline of Philippians, Paul deals with circumstances. Sometimes circumstances rob us of our joy. You know people who tie their happiness to the Dow Jones Industrial Average or last night's football game. In verses 12 to 13 of chapter one Paul says, the way to keep circumstances from robbing you of joy is to have a purpose bigger than your own peace and prosperity. He says, now I want you to know brethren that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel.
What circumstances? Being in prison so that my imprisonment and the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorium Guard. He said, I can rejoice in these negative circumstances because I have a purpose bigger than myself and I can actually see how these negative circumstances are contributing to that greater purpose.
Do you have a purpose in life bigger than your peace of mind and your prosperity? It's key to maintaining your joy. Chapter two, a second joy robber is people. People can rob you of your joy.
Do you have people in your life? And let's be honest this is God's house. Do you have people that just seeing them saps the joy right out of your life? If they're next to you don't point. It's not nice to point in God's house.
But you know what I'm talking about. Well what's the key to keeping people from robbing your joy? It's to change your attitude toward them Paul says. Instead of seeing people as objects to use, see people as objects to serve. And that's what he says in chapter two verse four.
Do not merely look out for your own personal interest but for the interest of others. In chapter three he deals with another joy robber and that is things. You know having things or not having things can rob you of joy in life. Wiersbe does tell the story about the wealthy man who was moving into his home and he was hauling in all of this electronic equipment and all of this art and beautiful furniture. And his Quaker neighbor who believed in simplicity was watching all of this go on. And finally after the man had hauled all of his stuff in the Quaker came up to him and said, friend if thou is ever in need of anything let me know and I will show thee how to get along without it. You know we need help in learning how to get along without certain things. And Paul says in chapter three verse 20 the key to that is to remember our citizenship.
For our citizenship chapter three verse 20 is in heaven from which we also eagerly await for a savior. And then chapter four deals with perhaps the greatest joy robber of all and that is worry. Have you ever been having just a great day when all of a sudden this alien thought enters your mind from nowhere? It's this thought what if? What if the doctor? What if my mate?
What if my employer? What if the stock market? What if? What if?
What if? And suddenly we are seized, we are paralyzed by fear. That's what worry does.
In fact the word worry comes from a word that means to strangle. Worry has a way of strangling the joy out of our life. What's the antidote to worry? Verses six and seven of chapter four, be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension shall guard your hearts and minds and in Christ Jesus. The Living Bible says it succinctly, don't worry about anything instead pray about everything.
Are you tired of being the victim of negative circumstances, people, things in your life, worry? Are you ready to start living your life on a higher plane to start experiencing that peace that Jesus Christ died to provide you? If so I hope you won't miss one of the weeks and the months ahead as we discover God's secret to living above your circumstances. I'm confident this month has so many treasures waiting for you to claim.
When we truly applied the principles that Paul has offered in his letter to the Philippians, we're prepared to experience outrageous joy. Earlier I mentioned a full-length book I've written on this topic and now's the time to get in touch with us to request your copy of Outrageous Joy Living Above Your Circumstances. It comes with my sincere thanks for your generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. Now let me clarify that your gift accomplishes far more than covering the cost of this book.
The best part is this, your gift is channeled directly into bringing light into the darkness through the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Your gift can penetrate a heart that's overcome with grief, with the hope and life of God's Word. Not long ago I heard from a listener in Delaware who wrote, Pastor Jeffress, my sister passed away in December. She was my very best friend.
When she died, I was mad, so mad in fact that I walked away from God. Then I stumbled on your program. After listening over the past few months, I've been guided back to knowing and loving God again. Thank you for your honest, direct biblical preaching. This letter is so encouraging to all of us who support Pathway to Victory because it's clear that God is using your investment to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word. And when you respond by giving a generous gift today, don't forget to request my book titled Outrageous Joy.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. Today when you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you Outrageous Joy.
It's the exclusive book from Dr. Jeffress that dovetails with our current series. As an added bonus, we'll also include the Standing on the Promises of God scripture card. To request these resources, simply call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org.
And when your gift is $75 or more, you'll receive not only the book and the scripture card, we'll also include the audio and video discs for this month's series, Living Above Your Circumstances. Give us a call right now, 866-999-2965, or it's even easier to go online to ptv.org. You could mail your gift. Let me give you that address, P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. That's P.O.
Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you back next time when Dr. Jeffress shares how to maintain outrageous joy in spite of difficult circumstances. That's Wednesday 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.
