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Now, here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory, 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 the Christian arsenal, there's no greater weapon than prayer, but many people don't know how to wield its power.
We're at a loss on 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. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates.
Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. You know, one of the great scandals in the church today is that Christians don't actually do much praying. Not because we don't want to, but because we're not sure how. That's why I wrote *Spiritual Essentials*: How to Study the Bible, How to Pray. In just 50 pages, I share the very method I've used to pour out my heart to God in prayer.
It's simple, practical, and life-changing. And I want to send you my book today. But that's not all. Many of you know that Amy and I are blessed with three little 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 has become an advocate for prayer, and more importantly, a mentor on cultivating conversations with God. In fact, she's written a children's book on this topic as well. It's called "You Can Pray Big Things." Julia's fully illustrated book provides an engaging tool for teaching the young ones in your life how to pray. In fact.
This book would make a fabulous Christmas gift. I'm prepared to send you both of these books: my book for adults and Julia's book for kids. Both are yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. We'll say more about these two resources later on, but right now it's time to turn our attention to Colossians chapter one to continue a message we started on yesterday's program. It's titled.
The perfect prayer. We're going to look at what I've called the perfect prayer, Colossians one.
Now, when we get to verse nine, 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 nine, "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.
Well, that leads to the second prayer request in verse ten, so that you might obey the commands of God. Look at verse ten, 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, so that you can walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. That word "walk" means to conduct your life in a way that's worthy of the Lord. 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 ten, 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 Second Corinthians five nine 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 says 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 chapter eleven verses twenty six to twenty eight.
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. God says, "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 eleven and twelve. Strengthened 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 twenty five thousand, 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 eleven. 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 twelve: 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.
Give me thanks to God for what? You mean I'm supposed to say, "Thank you, God, for this flat tire I had on the tollway 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, 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 twelve: 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 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 thirteen: 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? And 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.
Now 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 he 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 thirteen and fourteen. 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 two thousand 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 fifty-two Americans were taken hostage in Tehran? They were taken hostage by a group of Iranian terrorists, and for four hundred and forty-four days, America was truly held hostage. During that time, these fifty-two 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—a military, an attempt to rescue them. That military attempt had to be aborted. Everything failed. But on January the twenty-first, nineteen eighty-one, 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 Roder, 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 Rother. 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, the domain of that evil, dark empire." The 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 are 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. You're 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 speaking to some right now. 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 follow Jesus today, would you contact us at Pathway to Victory 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. Not long ago, I heard from a grateful listener in Pennsylvania who said, Pastor Jeffre. 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's great! And I hope his comment encourages you, because when you give, you've played a significant role in bringing light into the darkness, and. Today, 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 would make thoughtful gifts at Christmas time. The first is my book called "Spiritual Essentials: How to Study the Bible, How to Pray." It's a primer on two essential disciplines: studying your Bible and talking with God. The second book is for the child in. Your life, written by my daughter Julia. You know, as parents and grandparents, it's our duty to teach our families how to pray.
And Julia's new book gives you a tool to do it. What could be more life-giving than cultivating meaningful conversations with God?
Well, if you're ready to make just one change in your life today, a change that could echo across generations, then I challenge you to pray big things and teach. Teach your children and grandchildren to do the same. Get in touch and request these two resources on prayer. Here's David with all the details. Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of Julia Jeffre Sadler's book for children.
You can pray big things. Plus, you'll also receive Dr. Jeffress's highly practical book for adults, *Spiritual Essentials*. To request these two resources, call eight six six nine nine nine two nine six five. You could visit ptv.org or text ptv to seven eight eight zero zero.
And when your gift is seventy-five dollars or more, we'll also send you this month's teaching series, "Prayers That Really Work," on both audio and video disc. One more time, call eight six six nine nine nine two nine six five, or visit ptv dot org. If you'd prefer to write, here is that mailing address: PO Box two twenty three six zero nine Dallas, Texas seven five two two two. Again, that's PO Box two twenty three six zero nine Dallas Texas seven five two two two. I am David J Mullins.
Conversations with friends and family seem to flow so naturally, but talking with our heavenly Father, well, that's much more difficult. Learn how to make conversations with God a meaningful experience. That's Monday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.
What if your next vacation changed the way you read your Bible forever? Join me for nine nights sailing the Mediterranean with every detail taken care of. When you stand where Paul stood, your Bible comes alive in ways it never has before. Sail with us on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Cruise, May 2027, and. Ask about our optional Athens pre-extension.
Call eight eight eight two eight zero six seven four seven, or visit 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 PT. tv. dot org slash donate, or you can follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Oh, and one last thing before we go, don't forget to reserve your spot on the twenty twenty seven Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise.
Now you've heard me and Dr. Jeffers talk about this Bible conference at sea and cabins.
Well, they're going quickly. Just picture yourself aboard the beautiful Celebrity Infinity sailing round trip. From Athens, now each day you'll gather for biblical teaching, worship, and fellowship, and then you'll step ashore to stand where Paul stood in Ephesus, and walk the streets of Thessaloniki, where his letters still speak to the church today. Nine unforgettable nights with more biblical destinations along the way. Every meal prepared, every detail taken care of, plus the joy of traveling with like-minded believers.
There's also an optional pre-cruise extension in Athens. To book your spot, go to ptv.org.
