Pathway to Victory

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Hey podcast listeners. Thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory and Dr. Robert Jeffress.

We're dedicated to bringing you bold biblical teaching that transforms your life and strengthens your walk with God.

And you can study God's word alongside Dr. Jeffress in person on the 2026 Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska.

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Have you ever witnessed the breathtaking majesty of massive glaciers rising from crystal blue waters or stood in awe as bald.

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Eagles soar over snow capped mountain?

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I want you to experience these unforgettable moments with me on the Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska, June 13th through 20th, 2026.

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Join Dr. Jeffress and the Pathway to Victory family for a spectacular seven-day adventure aboard Holland America's luxurious Koningsdam.

Indulge in elegant staterooms, world-class dining, and expansive decks perfect for breathtaking views.

Visit historic ports like Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, where wilderness and frontier history await.

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There's something powerful about connecting with God and fellow believers in the majesty of his untamed wilderness. I truly believe this journey will refresh you spiritually, physically and emotionally.

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Cabins are filling quickly, so reserve yours today. To book your spot on the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska, call 888-280-6747 or go to ptv.org now. Here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

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Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm.

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Glad to study God's Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program.

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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

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While the absence of a strong physical or emotional desire is no reason to end a marriage, it's a great reason for not beginning a marriage or a new job or a move to another city or any other option you're facing.

God is going to work through your preferences.

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Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, finding the right marriage partner is one of life's most consequential decisions. The choice you make will impact virtually every aspect of your future, your spiritual growth, your family, even your relationship with God.

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shares five biblical principles that will help you make this important decision with confidence and faith.

But first, let's take a minute to hear some important ministry updates.

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Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. Do you ever find yourself in the waiting room looking for something worthy to read? When I'm out and about, carrying good reading material makes all the difference. Instead of mindlessly scrolling through news feeds or checking endless notifications on my phone, I choose to fill those moments with something meaningful. That's exactly how thousands in our Pathway to Victory family are using Pathway magazine. This publication is designed to fit perfectly in your pocket or purse, filled with devotional content I've personally crafted to encourage your faith journey. I'd love to send you your first three editions as my gift to you. Simply visit ptv.org to take advantage of this free offer.

The person you marry will impact every area of your life: your happiness, your children, your spiritual growth, even your relationship with God. Yet many people spend more time researching a car purchase than choosing their life partner. In my book, *How to Make Wise Decisions*, I dedicate an entire chapter to selecting a mate because this choice shapes your entire future. Whether you're single and seeking or helping someone you love navigate relationships, Biblical wisdom must guide this decision. Don't leave the most important choice of your life to chance or emotion alone. When you support Pathway to Victory with a generous gift, I'll send you a copy of my book, *How to Make Wise Decisions*.

Okay, it's time to get started with the subject at hand. Remember, our teaching series in September is called *How to Make Wise Decisions*, and I titled today's message "How to Choose."

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**A Mate For Our Passage**

I want us to turn to the Old Testament Book of Genesis, chapter 24 as we talk about how to find a mate. Genesis chapter 24 now, we made an allusion to this passage a few weeks ago, but today we're going to look at it in depth. It's the story of Abraham searching for a wife for his son Isaac. You remember what had happened. Abraham was now advanced in years, concerned about the offspring that God had promised the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He knew it was time for his son Isaac to find a bride to produce those grandchildren that would be the fulfillment of God's promise.

And so he calls his servant Eleazar in and he says, "Eleazar, I want you to leave Canaan where we are right now, and I want you to go back to Nahor and I want you to find a bride for my son Isaac." The resulting story is a perfect illustration of how to find God's will for your life. I want you to notice today the five principles that Eleazar exercised in finding the right mate for Isaac.

Look at verse three of Genesis 24. Abraham said to Eleazar, "I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of Heaven, and the God of Earth that you shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live." And that leads us to the first principle for knowing God's will for your life. That is, number one, know God's principles.

Now, when it comes to choosing a mate, God's word is very clear. The predominant principle in finding a mate is to only marry a believer. For example, jot down Deuteronomy 7:3-4. God said, "Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them," talking about foreign wives, unbelievers. "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods."

By the way, let me interject something here. Why all of this prohibition against intermarriage? The prohibition against intermarriage in the Bible had nothing to do with race or ethnicity. It had to do with spirituality. The reason God said not to marry foreigners was because they represented unbelievers. There is absolutely nothing in the Bible that prohibits interracial marriage. Nothing. God is not interested in race when it comes to marriage. He's interested in spirituality.

When you're choosing a mate or making any decision in life, number one, know the principles. What does God's word say? But that's not enough. I mean, the fact is there are a lot of growing Christians out there. How do I know which one is for me or for my son or daughter? Or out of all of the options I'm faced with in making this decision, how do I know which is the right option?

Well, that brings us to the second principle, and that is rely on prayer. Whenever you face numerous opportunities, rely on prayer. Look at verse 11 of Genesis 24. Eleazar makes the 500-mile journey to Nahor. Verse 11 states, "And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water at evening time, the time when women go out to draw water."

Now, Eleazar was one smart cookie, okay? He knew if he was going to find a woman for Isaac, he needed to go where all the hot single women of Nahor were. And guess where they all went? They all went to the local watering hole. Every evening they went there about 5 o'clock. It was happy hour at the well there. They went there and they conquered. Of course, they were performing their chores, bringing the water back to the house. And so that is where Eleazar went.

By the way, if you're looking for a mate, go to where those prospective mates are. Where are the single men and women? Where's the best place to find them? The best place to find them is at the local watering hole. And I'm not talking about the bar. I'm talking about the spiritual watering hole—the church where the water of life is poured out. There's no better place to look for a mate than in the church. That's where you're going to find committed believers. That's what Eleazar did.

Now, the only problem was when he went to the well, there wasn't just one lone woman there. It was teeming with women. So how in the world was he to know which woman was the one who would make a bride for Isaac? I want you to notice what he did in verse 12. He prayed about it. Look at verse 12. He said, "O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show loving kindness to my master Abraham. Behold, I'm standing by the spring and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. Now, may it be that the girl to whom I say, 'Please let down your jar so that I might drink,' and who answers, 'Drink, and I will water your camels also,' may she be the one whom Thou hast appointed for Thy servant Isaac."

Now that shouldn't make us panic. It didn't drive Eleazar to panic to find that needle in a haystack, but it did drive him to pray. And I just want to encourage you today, whether it's looking for a mate or trying to make any decision in life, spend time praying about it.

There's a third principle, and that is exercise practicality. When you're trying to find a mate or make any decision, exercise practicality. We kind of alluded to this a couple of weeks ago in verses 12 through 14. Remember, Eleazar prayed, "Now, Lord, whichever woman says, 'I'm willing to not only give you water, but water your camels as well,' she's the one." Now, I personally don't believe he was so much as asking for a supernatural sign as he was being practical. After all, whatever woman made that offer first of all displayed the graciousness necessary.

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To make a good wife.

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But she would also have the physical stamina to make that 500-mile journey from Nahor back to Canaan. After all, that was 200 gallons of water she was going to have to lug up there to water those camels. Eleazar was being practical. And I think in the same way, when we're looking for a mate, we need to exercise practicality. For example, ladies, if you're a single adult woman and you enjoy and are having a great career, you probably don't want to marry somebody who wants you to stay home and take care of the children all day, every day. I mean, there are some women who are called to do that. That's fine. There's nothing wrong and everything right with that. But it's also okay for women to have a career if God wants them to have a career. If you want a career and your husband wants you to stay home, that's probably not somebody you want to be linked up with.

Or on the other hand, if you feel called to the mission field to serve God in the jungles of Africa, you may want to rethink marrying somebody whose idea of roughing it is staying in a Holiday Inn for a night. Okay? It may not make sense to do that. Or perhaps you're somebody who says, "I can't be happy unless I have a house filled with pets." You might want to rethink marrying somebody who's allergic to animals. Okay? I mean, just be practical.

Amos 3:3 states, "How can two walk together, lest they be agreed?" Now, I know God was talking about spiritual issues there—being spiritually matched with another person—but I think that principle applies to anything about which we care deeply. How can we be with somebody, whether it be a friend or certainly a mate, unless we agree about the basic issues in life?

By the way, I'm going to give you right now the best piece of advice you will hear all day. In fact, this piece of advice is worth the price of the sermon. Okay? And here's the piece of advice: whether it's for you, your children, or grandchildren, don't wait until you are engaged to go through premarital counseling. If you wait until you're engaged to go through premarital counseling, you've waited too long. Your children have waited too long. Your grandchildren have waited too long. The reason is, in our culture today, it's very rare that an engagement is broken once people are engaged. You know, the girl and the mother are busy sending out invitations and picking out patterns, and the prospective husband is planning the honeymoon, and they've got all things already set and ready to go. It's very hard to break an engagement.

When they go through premarital counseling and find a potential problem, they usually gloss over it and say, "Well, we'll work that out later on." No, the time to do premarital counseling is when you're even thinking about getting married. That's when you ought to go through counseling to see if you're really spiritually and emotionally compatible. We have in our church the Stricklands and the Smiths leading a Nearly Wed, Newly Wed class. We have another session, Gil and Ann. I'd like to maybe think about changing the title of that to "Nearly Wed, Newly Wed, or Thinking About Getting Wed Class." We need to do that because you can surface any of these issues that could be potential problems in your relationship.

Exercise practicality. Principle number four: consider your preference. Occasionally, somebody has come to me and said, "Pastor, I'm really in love with this guy. I mean, he seems to be the perfect potential husband. He's a growing Christian, he's ambitious, my parents like him. The only problem is I just don't feel that spark inside. I just don't have that spark."

And I'm going to confess to you, over the years, I've given some terrible advice to people. I'm so bad at counseling, I wouldn't even go to myself for counseling. You know, hopefully, I've gotten a little bit better. But I remember I used to sometimes say to people, "Well, you know, romantic love, that's a kind of a Western civilization kind of deal. And the important thing is to be committed to one another, and the feelings will come later on if you don't feel that spark right away."

I've since changed. I realized that having that strong physical and emotional attraction is necessary for two people to stay together. But it is absolutely vital in getting two people together to begin with. I mean, if you don't have that spark in your heart toward that other person, if you don't blush when you just hear their name, if you don't have this sensation of "I can't live without him or her," you need to keep looking for God's will for your life because one way God speaks to you is through those desires that He puts in your heart. Philippians 2:13 reminds us, "It is God who is at work within you, giving you both the power and the desire to do His will."

And by the way, you see that emphasis on personal desire and preference in the story of Eleazar. Look at verses 57 to 58. Eleazar finds Rebekah. She offers to water the camels, and so Eleazar says, "Well, I want to go back and talk to your parents and relate to them exactly what happened." In verse 57, after Eleazar tells them how God had worked all of these circumstances out, the parents said, "We will call the girl and consult her wishes."

So then they called Rebekah and said to her, "Will you go with this man?" Now, what I want you to see is Eleazar relied on the principles from God's word. He only married a believer, he prayed, and he tried to be practical. But how did Rebekah know if this was God's will? It was by consulting her preference. You see, she had never met Isaac before, never laid eyes on him. But when she heard this story about what God had done, about the miraculous way in which He worked, something was stirred inside of her. In verse 58, she answered, "I will go." The parents said, "We're going to consult her desires." She said, "I will go." And sight unseen, she got on the back of a donkey and traveled 500 miles to meet this man, Isaac, with whom she fell in love.

What I want you to see is God does work through our preferences. Let me say it again: while the absence of a strong physical or emotional desire is no reason to end a marriage, it's a great reason for not beginning a marriage or a new job or a move to another city or any other option you're facing. God is going to work through your preferences.

And that leads to the fifth principle, and that is trust in providence—trust in God's sovereignty. After Eleazar had made this 500-mile trek, after he'd gone through all of this exercise, what if, when the parents said, "Do you want to go?" What if Rebekah had said, "No, that's not my desire"? What should Eleazar do then? Actually, he had anticipated such a possibility before he set out on the journey. Turn back to chapter 24, verse 5. And Eleazar said to Abraham, "Suppose the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Should I take your son back to the land from where you came? What am I to do, Abraham, if she says no?"

Look at verse 8. Abraham answered, "If the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this. My oath only, do not take my son back." There, Abraham was saying, "Eleazar, as far as I can determine, this is God's will. But if for some reason God shuts this door, I believe He will provide a bride for Isaac another way." What a great demonstration of faith.

You see, there's a lot of misunderstanding about what faith is. Some people say, "Well, faith is just a hope that God's going to do what I want Him to do." And people think, you know, if I can just conjure up these positive images and believe that God's going to do what I want Him to do, if I can believe hard enough and long enough, God will ultimately do it. They always compare it to that story, "The Little Engine That Could." You remember the story? You know, "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." A lot of people think that's what faith is. They think if they can just visualize, God will do it. "I think God will. I think God will. I think God will." If they'll just say that often enough, loud enough, and forcefully enough, somehow that's going to make God do what we want Him to do.

That's not faith. You know what real faith is? It is the assurance that God is going to do what He wants to do in His way and His time. True biblical faith is saying, "God, this is what I desire, this is what I want. But I am leaving the results to You because I trust in Your goodness and I trust in Your wisdom." That was the faith of Abraham. He said, "As far as I know, this is the best way to find a bride for Isaac."

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But.

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But if the woman, whoever she is, says no, God will provide in his way and in his time. I remember reading a book years ago that had one of the best titles I've ever seen. The title of the book was "All You Can Do Is All You Can Do." You know that's true when it comes to knowing God's will. After you have acquainted yourself with the principles from God's word, after you've prayed faithfully, after you've tried to be practical, after you've tried to consider your own preferences, ultimately you have to make a decision and then trust in the goodness and the sovereignty of God.

And he has a great promise for us when we do that: "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not unto your own understandings. In all your ways, acknowledge him and he will direct your path." There are some of you right now who've listened to this message, and honestly, you might say, "Robert, I've really made a mess of my life so far. I'm tired of trying to make decisions by myself. I want God's guidance in my life."

Here's the good news of the gospel: God will give you that wisdom, that guidance, but you have to be a child of his to receive it. And that's what happens when you become a Christian. When you trust in Jesus as your savior, when you believe that he died on the cross for your sins, God not only forgives you, he not only wipes the slate clean, he not only gives you the assurance of heaven, but he also gives you His Holy Spirit. His Holy Spirit comes into your life to lead you and guide you in every aspect of your life.

And today, if you want God's best for your relationships, for your work, for every part of your life, the most important and basic decision you could make today would be to come to be a Christian. The Bible says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes on him will not perish, but will have eternal life."

Today, if you would like to trust in Christ as your savior, say, "Pastor, today I'm ready to trust in Christ." Maybe you've made that decision privately, but as the Bible says, you need to make it publicly. And then you need to be baptized as a sign of your faith in Christ. Today we invite you to come.

Perhaps you've already made that decision, but there's one area of your life for which you're seeking God's guidance. Maybe today you'd be willing to come and say, "Pastor, I'm willing to surrender this area of my life to God. I'm willing to say, 'God, whatever you show me, I'll do. I'll follow you if you'll just give me your leadership.'" It's only when we come to that place of surrender that God will truly give us his direction.

Or maybe God's speaking to you about a special area of your life. Father, how we thank you that you didn't leave us as orphans in this world to fend for ourselves. We thank you for the guidance you promised to everyone who asks. Father, I believe your Holy Spirit is speaking to some here today. Some who need to trust Christ for the first time. Some who need to surrender every part of their life to you.

Father, I pray no one would resist the Holy Spirit's invitation in their hearts today. Give them the power, the courage to stand up. To stand up. Coming, responding to your invitation, for it's in the saving name of Christ we pray. Amen.

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It's possible you're in the throes of making a decision about marriage today. Some are wondering whether or not to marry whatsoever. And others are trying to counsel friends and family about choosing a life partner. Whatever your situation, let me encourage you to request a copy of the book I've written called *How to Make Wise Decisions*. I've devoted an entire chapter to this important subject, giving you biblical guidance on making one of the most critical decisions in life.

Requesting a copy of my book is simple. Just give us a call, go online, or write a letter. All we ask is that you include a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. We'll make sure that your financial investment is applied toward reaching men and women all across America and the world with the life-changing truth of God's Word.

Right now, we're actively asking God to provide 50 new Pathway Partners to our family of monthly supporters. Maybe God's been nudging you to join hands with us. As a monthly supporter, you agree to give an automated gift in the amount that suits you best. In the end, your role accomplishes the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Your gift makes you a missionary of sorts, sending the good news of the Gospel into your city, your state, your country, and even the world.

As a Pathway Partner, your generous monthly giving truly makes a difference. Recently, I received a note from Ken who said, "Pastor Jeffress, when I was deployed to South Korea for three years, it was your broadcasts that allowed me to stay focused on that narrow path." Thanks for reaching Ken and countless others like him.

Here's David to tell you how to become a Pathway Partner.

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To become a Pathway Partner, just give us a call at 866-999-2965 or follow the easy steps online at ptv.org. When you give your first Pathway Partner gift or a generous one-time gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you the book *How to Make Wise Decisions*. In this practical guide, Dr. Jeffress explains how to tell the difference between God's voice and your own personal desires.

When your gift is $75 or more, you'll also receive, in addition to the book, the complete *How to Make Wise Decisions* CD and DVD teaching set. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You're also welcome to make your request by mail. Write to PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas. That's PO Box 223609, Dallas, TX 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins. Do you feel satisfied by the work you do? Or has your job become a daily grind, a way to earn a paycheck? Discover the biblical principles for finding the perfect job. That's Friday on Pathway to Victory.

*Pathway to Victory* with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Experience the breathtaking majesty of America's last frontier on the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska.

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Board Holland America's luxurious Koningsdam ship with Amy and me for a journey that.

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Will refresh your soul and renew your spirit.

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Experience the unforgettable adventure June 13, 2020. To book your cabin, call 888-280-6747 or go to 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 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.