Pathway to Victory

David J. Mullens: Hello, podcast listeners. Thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a non-profit 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.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: 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: How is your situational awareness? That's not only a question for first responders; it's a question that all of us need to ask. How aware are you of the testing situations you find yourself in? How aware are you of what is really happening around you? You say, "Well, pastor, that's a stupid question. I know what's happening around me." Do you?

David J. Mullens: Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Whether we're merging onto the highway, walking into a room full of people, or just going about our daily life, it's important to stay alert to the activity around us. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress teaches that in the same way, awareness to danger is vital to thriving in our walk with God. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. This week, I've introduced our next series to the airwaves. It's called Courageous: 10 Strategies for Thriving in a Hostile World. In my lifetime, I've never witnessed so much overt mockery of the Christian faith. Undoubtedly, you've experienced a measure of pushback from friends and family members too.

When these moments come, Christians cannot afford to let fear surrender to hostility. I've written a bestselling book to help you, and I'd be pleased to send a hardback copy to your home when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. It's called Courageous: 10 Strategies for Thriving in a Hostile World.

We are living in a moment when boldness is not optional; it is essential. If Christians like you and me surrender to the real enemies that surround us, we fail in our God-given mission to share the hope of Christ with a desperate world. That's why I wrote Courageous, containing 10 biblical survival strategies to help you stand firm and live victoriously, no matter what comes against you.

When you make your first gift as a new Pathway Partner or give a generous one-time donation to Pathway to Victory, I want to send you this book personally. It's my gift to you because the world needs you to be courageous. Plus, when you respond today, I'll also include 10 exclusive encouragement cards. Right now, let's focus our attention on God's word as we gain confidence from the wellspring of truth. I've titled today's message: Survival Tip Number Two: Gain Situational Awareness.

In the early hours of June the 30th, 2013, 43-year-old Eric Marsh, superintendent of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, emerged from his sleeping bag at Prescott, Arizona's fire station number seven. He brewed a pot of coffee, which he drank black. "There's no milk or sugar on the fire line, so why get used to any other kind?" he would often say. Carrying his steaming mug, Marsh walked into the ready room where his tight-knit team of wildland firefighters met every morning.

Tacked on the wall behind him was a poster that featured devastating pictures of wildfire fatalities, in which skilled firefighters had been caught off guard while battling small wildfires that escalated unexpectedly. In ominously large letters, the poster asked: "How is your situational awareness today?" By 5:15, most of the crew had gathered in the ready room. "We've got an assignment to Yarnell," Eric Marsh said. "It's 300 acres and burning on the ridge top in thick chaparral. It's going to be hot—real hot."

By 5:40, Marsh and his crew of 19 firefighters—his "kids," as he referred to them—loaded their two fire trucks and headed toward the small town of Yarnell, about an hour south of Prescott. Once on the fire line, Marsh set his team to work while he scouted out the fire. Noticing a shift in the weather, he sent one of his firefighters back down the mountain to serve as a lookout in case the fire pivoted. It did. The firebreak his men had been cutting was suddenly compromised, so they had to retreat.

The radio crackled, asking if the Granite Mountain Hotshots were okay. They were. They had reached "the black," an island of ash that the fire had left the day before. The brush had already been incinerated, robbing the fire of fuel, making it the safest possible place they could be. Then the fire pivoted again and raced downhill toward Yarnell, threatening homes and ranches. Eric Marsh decided to leave the safety of the black in hopes of saving some of the homes.

He couldn't have imagined that by heading for town, he was leading his crew toward a series of increasingly compromised circumstances, each one more desperate than the last, a reporter later wrote. As the firefighters hiked down the mountain, the raging wildfire became obscured by a ridgeline. Without eyes on the fire, Marsh had a decision to make: bail off to his right and head for the safety of the desert floor, 2,000 feet below, or continue toward Yarnell in hopes of saving homes. He decided to continue toward Yarnell.

Descending an additional 500 feet through thick chaparral, Marsh and his team found themselves in a basin, walled in on three sides by granite boulders. This was an extremely dangerous place because it offered no means of escape. Just then, the worst happened. They heard the roar of flames that had been obscured by the ridgeline. Through the smoke, Marsh saw the fire ripping up the hill toward them. They were trapped. Eric Marsh and 18 of the firefighters with him died in that basin—the most wildline firefighters ever killed in a single incident.

Their bodies were found under fire shelters, small aluminum tents meant to protect firefighters from extreme heat, but not from direct flames. The fire had burned over them so quickly and with such intensity that the massive granite walls of the basin cracked like eggshells. After the fire, Marty Cole, a friend of Eric Marsh and the safety officer on duty, stood among the charred bodies of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. "What were they doing here?" he wondered. Eric was too good of a wildland firefighter to have led his men into this situation. But he did.

You and I will probably never face a fiery inferno of a wildline brush fire of 300 acres coming toward us like Eric Marsh and his men did that day. Nevertheless, you and I are surrounded, it seems like, on every side by fires that are racing toward us, threatening to destroy us. From one direction, we have the fires of culture racing toward us that threaten to consume everything we hold valuable and dear in our faith. From another direction, we have the fire of Satan's test and temptations in our life.

The Bible says we have an adversary, the devil, who prowls about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. Then in another direction, we face challenging circumstances in our family, in our work, in the world in which we live. If that were not enough, from another direction come the attacks from our very own sin nature that wages war against us and wants to pull us away from God. We are in many ways in a situation where there seems to be no escape. How can we ever survive those kinds of ordeals?

Well, in our series titled Courageous, we're looking at 10 survival tips to not just survive but thrive in the hostile environment in which we live right now. Last time, we began looking at the first of those survival tips. Remember what it is? Don't panic. Every first responder knows that if you're in a threatening situation, you cannot panic. You've got to gain control of your emotions. As God told Joshua in Joshua 1: "Be strong and courageous." The second tip is the one that we're going to look at today: gain situational awareness.

The question that hung over Eric Marsh's shoulder in that ready room every day is a haunting question: "How is your situational awareness today?" That's not only a question for first responders; it's a question that all of us need to ask. How aware are you of the testing situations you find yourself in? How aware are you of what is really happening around you? You say, "Well, pastor, that's a stupid question. I know what's happening around me." Do you? Do you really understand the situation you're in?

The single greatest enemy of situational awareness is denial, and we all engage in it. We substitute what we wish were happening for what is actually happening. I saw a good illustration of that a couple of years ago. I got a call to come down to the new studio immediately to comment on a breaking news story. A gunman had positioned himself in a hotel room in Las Vegas, Nevada, and he began opening fire on concertgoers below him. Those who were attending the concert heard the gunfire, but they assumed it was fireworks going off.

Even though there was no sign of fireworks in the sky, even though people were dropping around them hit by gunfire, they substituted what they wish was happening instead of what was actually happening. Before you're critical of them, realize we all have a tendency to practice the denial of what is really happening. For example, we read about the rise of online harassment and cyberbullying among adolescents, and then we say, "Oh, well, that's not that big of a deal. It's just normal teenage behavior."

Or we look around and we observe our First Amendment rights as Christians being threatened. We deny that's really what is happening. We say, "Well, that's just the culture in which we live." Or we hear pastors and religious leaders saying, "There's really more than one way to heaven other than faith in Jesus Christ." We hear that, but we just assume they're trying to be compassionate toward other people. If we're going to survive the culture and the situation in which we're living, we've got to see things the way they are. We've got to have situational awareness. For that, we need wisdom.

Wisdom seems to be in short supply today, doesn't it? Never before have we lived in a culture with such a shortage of wisdom. We can't even figure out what a man is and what a woman is and who is either one. This gender fluidity is everywhere. That's the culture in which we live. Well, how do we gain situational awareness and know exactly what is happening around us? It begins with knowing what time it is. Turn over to Second Timothy chapter three, verse one.

Paul warned his protégé Timothy about the coming moral and spiritual decline in the world. This single insight is like a flashing caution sign for all of us. Look at Second Timothy 3, verse one: "But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come." I want you to notice two phrases in this verse that are key to gaining situational awareness, to knowing what time we're living in. First of all, the phrase "the last days." You may be thinking, "Well, people have been claiming it's the last days since the time of Christ."

Pastor, are you saying we are living in the last days? Most definitely. We are in the last days. The last days began the moment Christ ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives after his first coming. Before he ascended into heaven, he said to his followers, "I'm coming back again." The moment he ascended into heaven, the stopwatch started. It is the countdown to his return. Paul thought Jesus was coming in his day, and that was 2,000 years ago. That's exactly right. And guess what? We are 2,000 years closer to the coming of Christ today than we were back then.

Every second that passes moves us closer and closer to that greatest event in human history. So we are living most definitely in the last days; it's the period of time between the first and second comings of Christ. The second phrase to notice here is the word "difficult." He says, "Know this, that in the last days, difficult times will come." The Greek word translated "difficult" only appears one other time in the Greek New Testament: in Matthew 8, verse 28, when it's used to describe two demon-possessed men who could not be restrained.

They were extremely violent or "difficult." That word "difficult" literally means without restraint, without moral restraint. What Paul is saying is, in these last days before the Lord returns, it's going to be a time without any moral restraints. Isn't that a great description of the age in which we're living right now? We need to gain situational awareness. I remember something Billy Graham said years ago. If you want to understand what is happening in the world today, you need two things. You need to have a newspaper in one hand.

Today, it would be your Facebook newsfeed, but back then, it was your newspaper. And you need to have a Bible in your other hand. The newspaper tells you what is happening in the world, but the Bible tells you what it means. If we're going to gain situational awareness and understand our world, we need both a newspaper and a Bible. A great model of having situational awareness and why it's so important is found in an obscure verse in the Old Testament. Turn over to First Chronicles chapter 12, verse 32.

I can see some dust poofing up from your Bibles as you go back to First Chronicles. I stole that line from somebody, but it's a good one. Look at this verse: "And of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were 200 and all their kinsmen were at their command." A little history here will help you understand why this verse is so relevant to us today. The sons of Issachar. Jacob had 12 sons; his ninth son was Issachar.

Before Jacob died, the patriarch of Israel pronounced a blessing on his sons and predicted their future. When it came to the ninth son, Issachar, Jacob said, "You will be a strong donkey." If your dad said that about you, you probably would not take it as a compliment. But in Jacob's day, that was a compliment. He went on to predict that you would find rest in a pleasant land. That's exactly what happened. Years later, when the Israelites actually conquered the promised land, they divided it according to the sons of Jacob.

The sons of Issachar were given a small fertile tract of land between the Kishon and the Jordan rivers. The sons of Issachar became farmers. To be an effective farmer, you had to be great in skills of observation, correlation, and application. To be a successful farmer, you had to study the weather and know what time it was. You had to know the condition of the soil. You had to be able to know when it was the right time to plant and the right time to harvest.

The sons of Issachar were skilled in observation, correlation, and application, but that didn't just help them with agriculture. The sons of Issachar were also keen observers of their culture. The Bible says they sensed unrest in the nation of Israel. They sensed that this was a time for David to expand his kingdom. They discerned that there was such unrest in Israel that this was the time to anoint David as king over all Israel, and they were instrumental in helping him do just that. They understood not just the soil; they understood the culture.

They understood their times, and the Bible says they knew what they should do. God says if we're going to be effective for him in this world, we've got to be like the sons of Issachar. We've got to understand our times so that we can know what we should do. Have you ever heard Christians who say, "I don't tune into the news very much. I don't read the newspaper. I don't watch television. I just read my Bible and pray. I just keep my blinders on so I don't get distracted by what's happening in the world."

There's a word that describes people like that: stupid. If you're just reading your Bible and praying and have no observance of what's happening around you, you are stupid, stupid, stupid. God does not place a premium on stupid. Some people think he does. Some people think, "Oh, people who aren't aware of the world around them, they're so spiritual." No, they're stupid because they cannot know what they're supposed to do if they don't understand the culture in which they live. They need to be like the sons of Issachar.

God didn't leave us here just to take up space waiting for the Rapture to come. God left us here to make a difference in this world in which we live. If we're going to make a difference, we've got to understand what's happening around us. God calls us to be salt and light in this decaying and dark world. Let me give you a great illustration of this. Perhaps you've seen me talking about these pro-life bills that are coming from various states challenging the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade law and the Casey law.

Why are all of these pro-life bills springing up right now? Is that by accident? No, it is carefully planned out just as it should be. There were people, dedicated Christian men and women, who put their finger in the air and sensed that this was the perfect time to change that abominable practice of abortion. We can save the precious lives of these innocent children who are being slaughtered on the sacrifice of convenience. That's because it's time for God's people to stand up right now and to do something and speak out to protect the lives that God has created.

That's what I mean. We've got to understand the situation in which we're in so that we can know what we should do. But the situational awareness I'm talking about is not only an awareness of our culture and the spiritual temperature of the nation as a whole. God wants us to ascertain the situation we're in right now so that we can know individually as Christians what we're supposed to do. There's so much at stake in our culture today. Lives hang in the balance, and it falls to every follower of Jesus Christ to become bold for him.

Maybe you have fears about the economy or a family issue. Whatever the case, God knows. He's given you the tools to become bold and courageous. Let this be the year when you give deliberate attention to strengthening your resolve. Use this series and my book as a personal guide. My book is called Courageous: 10 Strategies for Thriving in a Hostile World. Many are reading my book in their morning devotional times. In doing so, God is instilling a powerful dose of spiritual confidence as they apply his word.

When you request my book today, it'll come with 10 courageous encouragement cards that you can either carry with you or display in a visible place at home. Both my hardbound book and the encouragement cards come with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Thanks so much for standing with us. Your generous support allows us to pierce the darkness with the light of God's word. Here's David to tell you more.

David J. Mullens: When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of the book titled Courageous by Dr. Robert Jeffress. Plus, you'll receive a set of courageous encouragement cards to take on the go. Call 866-999-2965 or even easier, go online to ptv.org. You can also text PTV to 78800. When your gift is $75 or more, you'll receive the complete Courageous leader kit, which includes the book, the personal and group study guide, the complete teaching series on DVD and MP3 format audio disc, and the courageous encouragement cards.

To request the Courageous leader kit, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You could also send your donation by mail. Simply write to PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullens, inviting you to join us again next time when Dr. Jeffress continues his message on Survival Tip Number Two: Gain Situational Awareness. That's Wednesday, right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

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Oh, and one last thing before we go. Don't forget to reserve your spot on the 2027 Journeys of Paul Mediterranean cruise. You've heard me and Dr. Jeffress talk about it, and cabins are going quickly. Just picture yourself aboard the beautiful Celebrity Infinity sailing roundtrip from Athens, standing where the Apostle Paul stood in Ephesus, and taking in the breathtaking Greek islands. Nine unforgettable nights with stops in Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini, and more. Every meal prepared, every detail taken care of, plus fellowship with like-minded believers. There's also an optional pre-cruise extension to Athens. To book your spot, go to ptv.org.