Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

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/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm.

Speaker 3

Glad to study God's Word with you every day.

Speaker 2

This Bible teaching program on today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

Abraham died without ever receiving the payoff. But still he died. Genesis 25:8 says, "Satisfied with life." How could that be? How could he be satisfied if he hadn't received the payout yet?

Because he knew the payoff was in heaven. And that's really what the difference is between a Krispy Kreme Christian and a Special K Christian.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress.

You ever find yourself feeling discontent or dissatisfied with life? Are you always looking for happiness in the next big thing? But nothing ever really satisfies?

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress will share how you can be fully satisfied and content in your walk with God.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Speaker 3

Dr. JEFFRESS thanks David and welcome again.

Speaker 2

To Pathway to Victory. We've come to the final stretch in our month-long series called Experiencing the Power of the Holy Spirit. Which means time is running short.

To request the exclusive resources that go along with this study, the first resource I would like to send you is called the Jesus Map. This multifolded brochure features a beautifully illustrated map of Israel and a detailed map of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. It identifies 52 key events in Jesus' life, from the birth of Christ in Bethlehem to his ascension on the Mount of Olives. The Jesus Map is my gift to you simply for contacting pathwaytovictoryptv.org.

Over the past several weeks, we've been pleased to send out thousands of copies of my book called I Want More: When Our Spiritual Journey Lacks Fire. When we begin to get bored with going to church, it's obvious that we are not walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. In my book, I Want More, I'll explain how you can deploy the Spirit's power in your life. Don't let the days slip by without requesting your copy of my book. I Want More is yours when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

We'll share our contact information at the close of today's program along with more details about these resources. But right now, I want to help you understand how to become spiritually healthy by engaging the Holy Spirit in the common experiences of your everyday life. My message is titled Becoming a Special K Christian in a Krispy Kreme World.

Speaker 3

Recently, I discovered I was out of my breakfast cereal. That was my usual habit, Bran Flakes. And so I ran up to the supermarket to pick up a new box, and I found out they too were out of Bran Flakes. The closest thing they had was a Special K cereal. I was about to make the purchase while standing there when suddenly I was approached by a temptress: a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. As I looked at that box of donuts and then thought about the Special K cereal, I had a choice to make. In that instant, I had to choose between taste and nutrition.

I thought about how, when you eat one of those donuts—or in my case, it's usually half a dozen of those donuts—you know that surge you get. Oh, you feel great for a little while, and then you hit that sugar thud and crash to the bottom. Did I want to go for that experience, or did I want to go for the long-term satisfaction that comes from cereal? You know, that's a choice that we all face, not just in relation to our physical diet, but our spiritual diet. In the series on the Holy Spirit, we've seen that all of us have a hunger for more in our relationship with God. Don't we all want more than what we're experiencing right now? We want more joy in our worship, more power in our prayers, more success in our struggles. We all have that holy hunger for more.

The choice is how we are going to satisfy that holy hunger. Well, today, as we conclude our series on the Holy Spirit, we're going to talk about the difference between being a Krispy Kreme Christian—one who's out for the short-term fixes—and being a Special K Christian—one who finds that lasting satisfaction. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Genesis, chapter 25. The Krispy Kreme Christian is one who is looking for exhilaration. He focuses on short-term rather than long-term solutions. He is one who is looking for experiences rather than spirituality.

But the Special K Christian, the one who finds that lasting satisfaction, focuses on spirituality. One of the greatest illustrations of a Special K Christian, one who focuses on satisfaction for the long term rather than short-term fixes, is the character Abraham in the Old Testament. There was an episode in his life early on in his relationship with God that really changed the course of his life. After Abram and his family had a short stint down in Egypt, for reasons we'll look at in just a moment, they came back to Canaan. The first thing they noticed was that their livestock had multiplied, and there wasn't enough land to sustain both his and Lot's livestock.

Abraham said, "Lot, here's the deal. You choose which land you want, and whatever land you want can be yours, and I'll take what is left over." Why was Abraham willing to surrender his right as the patriarch in the family and let Lot get the best of him? The reasons really illustrate what a Special K Christian is all about. I want you to notice here the three ingredients, if you will, of a Special K Christian as opposed to a Krispy Kreme Christian like Lot.

First of all, the Special K believer has a greater purpose in life. He has a greater purpose. Why was he willing to surrender this land to Lot? First of all, he was concerned about his own family's well-being. Notice in verse eight, he says, "Please let there be no strife between you and me, for are we not brothers? Are we not from the same family?" You see, Abraham realized that once they got back to Canaan, the problem with Canaan was that it was filled with Canaanites—people who hated God and hated the people of God. Abraham knew that if these Canaanites sensed that there was strife between Abraham and Lot, they would see that as weakness and use that as an opportunity to attack and obliterate God's people. So Abraham was saying, "For the sake of our family, let's stick together."

By the way, we would do well to remember that as a church family as well. You know, one of my pet peeves as a pastor is church members who have a commitment to the church that is about a thimble. Deep contrast that to what Paul says should be our devotion to one another. In Romans 12:10, he said, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor." That word "devoted" refers to the natural affection that occurs between brothers and sisters based on the fact that they are from the same womb. That's what the word "brotherly" means literally in Greek. It means to be from the same womb. The reason we, as a church family, are to have a rock-solid commitment to one another and this body is because we are from the same womb—the womb of Jesus Christ. Because of that, we not only are devoted to one another, we give preference to one another. Abraham understood that concern, and because of that, he was willing to surrender his rights. He had a greater purpose.

But his greater purpose extended beyond the care of his own family; he was concerned about the reputation of God. You see, he realized that if there were strife between him and Lot and they divided, and the Canaanites were destroyed, their family—not only was their family going to be hurt, but their reputation of God would be ruined. Because God had promised to make Abraham the father of a great nation. But if there were no Abraham and no Abraham's family, there would be no Israel. And because Abraham was concerned about something more than his immediate gratification, because he had a concern for the plan and program of God, he was willing to surrender his rights to Lot. A Special K Christian is one who has a greater purpose than his own gratification.

Secondly, the Special K believer possesses a greater faith. He possesses a greater faith. I'm sure that when Abraham made this offer to Lot to give him first choice of the land, I imagine Lot thought to himself, "Poor old Uncle Abraham, he's slipping in his old age. He's getting senile. He would have never made that kind of offer in his younger years. After all, you don't get to be a Middle Eastern tycoon by being Mr. Nice Guy. Poor Abraham, he's senile, starting to drool a little bit. He doesn't know what he's doing here at all." But the fact is, Abraham knew exactly what he was doing.

See, the reason he was willing to let Lot have the better land is that Abraham had learned the lesson the hard way of what happens when you think you have to look out for yourself instead of allowing God to meet your needs. Turn back to Genesis chapter 12. I told you a few moments ago about Abraham's detour to Egypt. Let's see what happened there and the lesson that Abraham learned. Remember, in Genesis 12, God said to Abraham—and by the way, Abraham was a senior adult when God said this to him—He said, "Abraham, I'm calling you to be the father of a great nation." He told him to leave Ur of the Chaldees to go to this land that God would show him. He would make him the father of a multitude of people.

So Abraham obeys God. When we get to verse 10 of Genesis chapter 12, they arrive in the promised land flowing with milk and honey. The only problem was there was no milk and there was no honey. Look at verse 10 of Genesis 12. When they arrived there, they were confronted with a problem: there was a famine in the land. The rains that were supposed to come in the latter part of the year failed to materialize. No water in the land; it was parched. Because of that, it was an agricultural society, which meant no food for Abraham and his family. God had miraculously uprooted them and moved them to Canaan, and now they faced an important question: Could the same God who brought them to this new place be trusted to sustain them in this new place?

Some of you are facing that same question right now. God has uprooted you, and he's brought you to a new city, to a new church, to a new job, perhaps to a new family situation. You know, it was God who brought you to this point. But now you're facing a crisis. Things aren't the way that you thought they were going to be. The question you're facing right now is this: Can the same God who brought me to this place be trusted to sustain me in this place? Abraham looked around at his situation and said, "I can't trust God. If it's going to be, it's up to me. I've got to do something. I can't let my family starve to death." And so he uproots his family in Genesis chapter 12 and moves them to Egypt. Because in Egypt, there was plenty of water, plenty of land, and plenty of food.

Now understand, Abraham had the best motivation for doing this. He wanted to care for his family. He surveyed the situation and saw that it was a desperate situation. There was nothing wrong with looking at your circumstances. The problem Abraham made was that in all of his calculation, he failed to put God in the equation. Never once do we find him in Genesis 12 asking God for guidance, asking for God's supernatural assistance. Mark it down: Whenever you make a decision without consulting with God, you're going to make a big mistake. Abraham made a big mistake. You read in Genesis chapter 12 that his experience in Egypt ended in disaster and disgrace.

So when we come to chapter 13:1, we see Abraham coming back from Egypt to Canaan, dragging his tail between his legs. See, he had learned his lesson. He had learned what happens whenever you try to watch out for yourself instead of trusting in God. And so now in Genesis 13, he's faced with this situation. He says, "Lot, you go ahead and take the better land." Well, Abraham, what if the land you have—that smaller piece of land—what if it dries up? What if you're not able to support yourself or your family? I'm sure Abraham thought about that. But, you know, he concluded this: "What's the worst thing that could happen to me if I let Lot have the better piece of land? The worst thing that could happen to me would be that I would lose my life. But if I lose my life, guess what? God loses his reputation. Because God's the One who made these promises to me. God's the One who promised to make me the father of a great nation. And if this Israel that he's promised to make me the father of, if it's stillborn, if it's obliterated before it gets off the ground, God is going to be a laughingstock among the heathen."

So he says to God, "God, you know what? You're responsible. You're responsible for taking care of me." Abraham made that real estate transaction and he slept soundly that night. Folks, you know what the greatest cause of worry in our life is? Somebody said worry is assuming responsibility that God never intended you to have. You look at the basis of all worry in life. It comes down to our taking responsibility for concerns that really only God can shoulder—things that he's responsible for. For example, you know, parents, we are responsible for teaching our children what it means to fear God. We're responsible for bringing them up in the admonition and the instruction of the Lord. But parents, you are not responsible for the choices your children make. You're not responsible. They have to make their own choices. We're responsible to teach them. But you know what parents do? We all do it. We just get all concerned and worried, "Well, what if they do this? Or what if they do this? Or what if they do this?" That is not our concern. We're to pray for them. They're responsible. But whenever we make their choices our responsibility, we're taking on a responsibility God never intended us to have, and we're weighed down with worry.

See, the Special K Christian has a greater faith. He believes that ultimately God will do what he has promised to do. Thirdly, the Special K Christian, besides having a greater purpose and a greater faith, is looking for a greater reward. The Special K Christian looks for the greater reward. You know, investment advisors tell us that we ought to decide what we're going to invest in dependent upon our time horizon—our investment time horizon. For example, if you're a year away from retirement, what should you do with your assets? You shouldn't put it into the stock market because in a year's time, the stock market could go either way. The safest thing to do is to put it in a low-risk environment, put it in the bank, put it under your mattress. The interest rate's about the same in both. You know, it doesn't matter. I mean, that's a low-risk investment. Putting it in the bank, you're not going to make any money. You're not going to lose any money either.

But if your investment horizon is five years, or you're 10 years away from retirement, or 20 years, or 30 years, you can afford to take greater risks. In the short term, you may take some losses, but in the long term, you'll gain more by taking those risks. A Special K Christian is one who is looking for a payoff not immediately, but in the long term. That was true for Abraham. Why was Abraham willing to take a short-term loss in this real estate transaction? Why was he willing to allow Lot to have the better hand? Here's why: Because Abraham's investment time horizon was not a year or 10 years or 30 years. His investment time horizon was eternity. And because he had that eternal mindset, he was willing to take short-term losses—not because he enjoyed losses, but because he believed there was going to be a payoff in the end.

That's what you see in Hebrews 11:10 in talking about Abraham. The writer says, "For Abraham was looking for a city which has a foundation whose architect and builder is God." He was looking to heaven. He was looking to the ultimate payoff. You know, that eternal time horizon is really the only explanation for why Abraham did what he did in his life. Why was he willing to experience the losses that he did throughout his life? I mean, for example, why would he be willing to leave everything and everyone familiar to him in Ur of the Chaldees to go to this land that God had promised to show him? Talk about taking a risk; he was taking a big risk. Or why is it that he was willing to believe God's promise that he would be the father of a great nation when all physical evidence was to the contrary? Or why would Abraham be willing to offer his son Isaac, the son whom he loved, as a sacrifice, a burnt sacrifice on an altar? Why would he endure that kind of loss? It's because his investment horizon wasn't next year or the next decade; it was eternity.

You know, the fact is, one thing all of these heroes of the faith in Hebrews chapter 11 had in common was they all believed in that eternal investment horizon, and they died without ever receiving the ultimate payoff. You realize that everyone listed in Hebrews chapter 11 died without receiving the promise that they were looking for? Look at Hebrews 11:13-16. "All of these died in faith without receiving the promises, but having seen them and welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, the heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them." Abraham died without ever receiving the payoff, but still he died, Genesis 25:8 says, "satisfied with life." How could that be? How could he be satisfied if he hadn't received the payout yet? Because he knew the payoff was in heaven. He was looking for that city whose architect and founder is God.

And that's really what the difference is between a Krispy Kreme Christian and a Special K Christian. If you want to boil it down in this statement, here it is: For a Krispy Kreme Christian, it's all about this life. It's all about this life—what I can get now, what I can experience now; it's all about this life. But for a Special K Christian, the focus of their life is using this life to prepare for the next life. The Krispy Kreme Christian has a very narrow, a limited time horizon. The Special K Christian has eternity as his focus.

Now, in one of the churches I used to pastor, there was a young woman. She was 37 years old. She was married, she had two small children, and she was diagnosed with incurable cancer. I remember, at her request, some of the leaders went over to her home, and we prayed for her. We laid hands on her, prayed for supernatural healing. God did not answer that request. I remember one of the last times I saw her. I went to hospice to visit with her and her husband. She was asleep, so I stood outside and visited with the husband. I will never forget what he said to me, knowing he was about to lose his wife and be left with two small children. This is what he said to me: "Pastor, I hate the cancer, but I love what the cancer has done for our family and for our faith. It's drawn us closer to one another, and it's drawn us closer to God."

You know, only a person with an eternal time horizon can say something like that. A year of unanswered questions, a year of unanswered prayers had led this husband to realize God is much more interested in what happens in us than what happens to us. See, the fact is, he could change your circumstances right now in an instant if he wanted to. Think about what circumstance you're facing right now that God couldn't change in an instant if he wanted to—your finances, your health, a relationship. The fact is, our circumstances are momentary; they can change from moment to moment. But the work of the Holy Spirit in us, in molding us into the image of Christ, is a work that lasts a lifetime. The Special K Christian is the Christian who realizes it's really not about us; it's about God in us. And that realization is the beginning point. Ladies and gentlemen, for every one of us who wants to experience more of the Holy Spirit's power, this is a...

Speaker 2

Sacred moment right now as men and women all around the world are responding to the Holy Spirit's invitation. How thrilling to know that someone has entered into God's family by saying yes to his invitation. And that's what Pathway to Victory is all about.

Not long ago, Bobby wrote to us and said, "I got saved one morning while listening to Pathway to Victory on the radio. When it happened, tears started falling from my eyes. I bought a new Bible and began to read it and could not get enough of God's Word. Since that day, I found a wonderful local church and I continue to listen to Pathway to Victory every morning on my way to work. Thank God I found Pathway to Victory."

Well, thank you, Bobby, for sharing that wonderful news with us. And to those of you who give financially to support this ministry, let me extend Bobby's thanks to you as well. You are the ones who are making it possible for radio listeners around the world to hear the life-changing truth of God's Word. God can and will use your gift, whether big or small.

And remember, when you respond today, you're entitled to request the book I've written for you called *I Want More*. Some in our listening family have found it easy to automate their gifts to Pathway to Victory. We call these people our pathway partners. You can imagine the impact of this relationship because your monthly gifts have a compounding influence over the course of one year.

And to say thanks for becoming a pathway partner today, I'm prepared to send you my book *I Want More* and the Jesus Map brochure.

Speaker 3

David thanks Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 1

A copy of the book *I Want More* is yours today when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Call 866-999-2965 or make your request online at ptv.org, and when you give a gift of $75 or more, you'll also receive this month's teaching series on the Holy Spirit called *Unleashed*. You'll get that on both audio and video disc, but time is running out to take advantage of this offer. So get in touch with us right away. One more time, our phone number is 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You could also send your request by mail. Write to PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

One last thing: Dr. Jeffress is working on a new teaching series about miracles. If you have a story about God's supernatural intervention in your life, you can share it with Dr. Jeffress by emailing miraclestv.org, that's miraclestv.org.

I'm David J. Mullins. Have you ever felt like there is something special that you were created to do? Learn how to discover and use your spiritual gift next time 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/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.