Pathway to Victory

David J. Mullens: 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.

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.

Understand what we’re saying. When you understand your life purpose to spread the gospel to as many people as possible, then it helps you make important decisions. It makes easier the decision to choose purity over immorality. It makes it easier to choose generosity over greed. And thirdly, it helps you make the choice of diligence over aimlessness.

David J. Mullens: Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, every day you face choices that can either advance God’s kingdom or leave you vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. So how can you make the right decisions when temptation comes your way? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains how you can choose purity over immorality, generosity over greed, and diligence over aimlessness. 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. There’s a spiritual war raging all around you, and pretending it doesn’t exist won’t make you safe. It makes you a target. Listen carefully: Satan’s attacks are insidious, subtle, and devastatingly effective against unprepared believers.

I wrote *The Divine Defense* because I’m tired of watching Christians become casualties of spiritual warfare. In my book, based entirely on Ephesians 6, I’ll show you how to put on the divine protection God provides. It’s the armor that transforms you from a sitting duck into a spiritual warrior. Without it, you’re just another potential statistic, more spiritual roadkill in the enemy’s way.

The wisdom in these pages will revolutionize your prayer life and change how you live every day. Let me send you a copy when you give a generous gift to support Pathway to Victory. Plus, I’ll be sure to include a multi-folded brochure I’ve written for you. It’s colorfully illustrated and called *Equipped for Battle*. This resource offers you a plan for whatever battles are confronting you today.

Oh, and at the end of today’s program, I’m going to answer a common question that comes from our audience. One of your fellow listeners wanted to know about transgenderism. He asked, "If a person accepts Christ, but later in life decides that God made them the wrong sex, will God accept that person?" It’s a tough question, so keep listening to hear my answer. But right now, let’s turn in our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 6 to continue a study I titled "These Boots Were Made for Walking."

Living your life purpose will help you thwart Satan’s attacks. How so? When you understand what your purpose in life is, it will give you the resolve to make three key choices in your life that not only enhance the spread of the gospel but will keep you safe from the attacks of Satan in your life. You want to know what these three choices are?

Choice number one: choosing purity over immorality. But that’s not the only trap that a Christian has to avoid. Choosing to make evangelism, sharing Christ, your priority helps you in choosing generosity over greed. You’re under an illusion if you think money can protect you from every adversity. No amount of money can protect you against a single cell in your body that begins to multiply and metastasize.

And money certainly can’t protect you from the greatest crisis we all face one day, and that is death. That’s why Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:9-10, "But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare"—there’s that word, a trap—"and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs."

How do you break that fixation with money that some people have? Many of you may know the name of Bob Buford. He was a very successful cable TV executive in East Texas. He made millions and millions of dollars, but halfway through his life, he decided God was leading him to make a change. He wanted to move from a life of success to a life of significance.

And out of that journey, he wrote the book *Halftime* that many of you have read. He describes that journey from success to significance. The first thing he did was hire a consultant who had worked for Coca-Cola and Xerox to help him map out the second half of his life. After a few hours, this consultant said to Bob, "Bob, you’ve been talking for a couple of hours now, and I still can’t decide what your real focus in life is. Is your focus money, or is it Jesus Christ? I can’t decide which it is."

"The fact is, if you will tell me which one is your focus, I can help you develop a plan to meet that purpose. But as long as you’re oscillating between the two, you’re going to be confused." That’s exactly what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 6. You can’t have more than one focus in life. You can’t have more than one priority.

Did you know the word priority technically can’t be in the plural form? It can only be singular. You can only have one priority. You can’t have priorities. You can have different interests, but there is one priority. Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 6.

He said, "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Star that in your Bible.

Verse 24, he goes on to say, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." What’s the antidote to becoming fixated on money? Verse 33 of Matthew 6, Jesus said, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

Connecting yourself to God’s kingdom’s purpose will dramatically change your attitude about money. In the previous church I served at, we got involved in a building program to build a new worship center, and we had the campaign and encouraged people to give. One of the men who was in that campaign, one of the leaders in the church, gave a significant portion of his net worth to the building of that new worship center.

About a year into the construction project, he told me one day, laughing when he said it, he said, "You know, Pastor, I used to have a morning routine. I would get up and drink a cup of coffee, then I would open up the newspaper and read the stock market report." He said, "But now, since this building project, my new routine is I get up, I have a cup of coffee, and I drive down to the church and watch those bulldozers working in that construction pit because that’s where my money is now."

You know, it was Mark Twain who said, "Put all your eggs in one basket, and then watch the basket." Now, that’s a humorous comment, but it’s really unnecessary because the fact is, wherever we put our eggs, that’s where our attention is going to be. We put our affections wherever our treasure is. That’s what Jesus said: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

He didn’t say where your heart is, your treasure will be. That’s kind of understood. But where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. If your treasure is invested mainly in your home, guess what you’re going to be focused on? You’re going to be focused on the housing market. Is it up? Is it down? How’s my investment doing?

If the majority of your investment is in the stock market, you’re going to be watching the Dow Jones Industrial Average every day. If you play it safe and you put it in the bond market, you’re going to be watching interest rates, whether they’re up or down. But when you invest in God’s kingdom, that’s where your attention is, that’s where your heart is. Your purpose determines your investments, and your investments determine your affections.

Our purpose ought to be to seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness. If that’s your real purpose, then your investment will be laying up for yourself treasures in heaven. And when you make that investment, your affections follow. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be as well.

Understand what we’re saying. When you understand your life purpose to spread the gospel to as many people as possible, then it helps you make important decisions. It makes easier the decision to choose purity over immorality. It makes it easier to choose generosity over greed. And thirdly, it helps you make the choice of diligence over aimlessness.

You know, purpose is to our life what a skeleton is to our body. You have to have a skeleton on which to shape and hang every other vital organ in the body. So it is with your purpose. Having a clearly defined purpose helps you determine every area of your life, including how you spend your time.

One popular writer expresses it this way. He said, "For years, all my daily energy was spent trying to beat the trials in my life and arrange for a little pleasure. My weeks were wasted away either striving or indulging. I was a mercenary. A mercenary is a soldier who fights for pay for his own benefit. His life is devoted to himself. But the quality of a true warrior is that he is in service to a purpose greater than himself, that is to a transcendent cause."

Ladies and gentlemen, when you grasp, I mean you really grasp, that God has not just saved you, He’s enlisted you in His service for the greatest purpose in the world, it will determine how you spend your time, what you eat, where you invest your money. It impacts every part of your life. And just as a soldier in battle or an athlete in competition trains his body for maximum performance, the Christian who understands his purpose in life will discipline his body to be his slave rather than his master.

Now, think about this. Your physical body can either be your greatest asset or your greatest liability in fulfilling your great purpose in life. Paul understood that. Listen to his words in Romans 6:15-19: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to the one whom you obey?"

If you want to know what you’re a slave to, just ask yourself: what am I doing? What am I obeying? Whom am I following? We are slaves of the one we obey, either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you were once slaves of sin, you have become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you are now slaves of righteousness.

Paul says, verse 19, "I’m speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. But just as you presented your members, the parts of your bodies, as slaves to iniquity, impurity, and to lawlessness resulting in further lawlessness, so present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification."

Here’s the Jeffress paraphrase: your body is either a slave to sin or it’s a slave to righteousness. You decide. Every day, you decide how you’re going to use your body. Your body can be the greatest asset or the greatest liability in achieving your life purpose, your God-given purpose.

Think about your voice for a moment, your voice box. You can use it however you want to. Your voice can be a tool that God uses to lead people to faith in Jesus Christ, or your voice can be an instrument that is used to tear down, discourage another person. Your hands can be used in a number of ways. Your hands can be used to open the word of God, to give you the spiritual nourishment you need. Or your same hands can be used to access an internet site that will destroy, quench your love for God.

Your feet—your feet can take you all kinds of places. Your feet can be used to take you to the front lines of Christian ministry, or they can take you deep into the enemy’s camp where you’re seduced and destroyed. It was that realization that his body could be his greatest asset or his greatest liability in serving God, it’s that realization that caused Paul to write these words in 1 Corinthians 9:26-27: "Therefore I run in such a way as not without aim; I box in such a way as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I’ve preached to others, I myself might not be disqualified."

You know what Paul’s greatest fear was? That after all of his sacrifice, after all his time and energy in spreading the gospel, at the end of his life he would make one mistake, one stumble, one fall that would discredit his witness forever. And Paul knew that was a possibility. He knew that he had an old nature that, though defeated at the cross, was still active. He had that old nature that pulled him toward sin continually. And the only way he could have victory over his body was to remind his body constantly who’s in charge.

Sacrificing to discipline his body for the purpose of godliness and not godlessness. We have to discipline ourselves. We have to remind our body who is in control. One of my favorite seminary professors used to say to us regularly, he said, "Men, make it a habit to say no to at least one thing every day just to remind your body who’s in charge."

We need to learn to do that. We need to remind our body constantly who’s in charge. That saying no to something may be saying no to a second piece of dessert you’d like to have, not because it’s sinful but just to remind your body who’s in control. It may be turning off the television to spend time in God’s word, not that there’s anything sinful about watching television but occasionally to remind your body who’s in charge.

It may mean closing that *Sports Illustrated* magazine or shutting down that website, not because you were reading anything wrong, not because you were looking at the swimsuit edition, but because you were interested in sports. Nothing wrong with that, but now, occasionally you just have to turn it off, close the pages to remind your body who is in charge.

And here’s the main point Paul is making: you will never have the motivation to discipline yourself for godliness unless you have your purpose clearly in mind. Otherwise, you’re boxing in the air, you’re like an athlete who’s training with no game in sight, or a soldier who’s disciplined himself when there’s no enemy in sight.

So it is with us and our life purpose. We will never discipline ourselves for godliness until we understand our purpose in life. Eventually, if we don’t understand our purpose in life, we’ll give up on discipline and we’ll give in to sin. Paul’s point is a very clear one: knowing your life purpose is the key not only to spreading the gospel but protecting yourself from the attacks of the evil one.

I love the way the Phillips paraphrase renders Ephesians 5:15-17. Listen to this. Paul says, "Live life then with a due sense of responsibility, not as people who don’t know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time despite all the evils of these days. Don’t be vague, but grasp firmly what you know to be the will of God."

I’ve been speaking to Christians today, but I realize in an audience this vast, there are some of you who may not know Christ as your Savior yet. If you’re not yet a Christian, what God is most interested in is not what you can do for Him but what He can do for you.

If you’re not yet a Christian, the greatest need you have is for God’s forgiveness, and He offers you that not as a reward for something you do but as a gift that is something you receive. Today, if you would like to trust in Christ to be your Savior, to begin that relationship with God that can start right now and extend throughout eternity, I want to encourage you to pray this prayer in your heart as I pray it out loud, knowing that God is listening to you. Pray this with me:

Dear God, thank You for loving me. I know that I have failed You in so many ways, and I’m truly sorry for the sins in my life. But I believe what I’ve heard today, that You love me so much You sent Your Son Jesus to die on the cross for me, to take the punishment I deserve to take for my sins. And right now, I’m trusting in what Jesus did for me, not in my good works but in what Jesus did for me to save me from my sins. Thank You for forgiving me and help me to live the rest of my life for You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

If you prayed this prayer with me today, please take a moment to write and let me know. David will share our mailing address, and I’d love nothing more than to celebrate your decision to follow Jesus.

And later in today’s program, I’m taking time to answer a question from one of our listeners. He posed his question this way: "Pastor Jeffress, if a person accepts Christ under their name at birth, but later in life decides that God made them the wrong sex, so they change their name and make body alterations, will God accept them as His own?"

That’s a great question, and transgenderism is an important topic to address. We’ll get to it in a minute. At the beginning of today’s program, I mentioned a book I’ve written that can teach you how to put on the entire armor of God. It’s my book titled *The Divine Defense*, and it’s one that I think every Christian needs to have on his or her bookshelf because no one is immune from Satan’s attacks.

Satan is working overtime to bring every single one of us down. But if we follow God’s plan for defense, then the devil—well, he doesn’t stand a chance. A copy of my book *The Divine Defense* is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

In closing, I boldly invite you to join us as a partner in ministry. You might ask, "Why should I partner with Pathway to Victory?" Well, here’s the answer: it’s because hurting people need to learn about the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and our polarized nation needs the guiding light of God’s word. So thank you for reaching out with a gift today. When you do, you will be used by Christ to change lives. Here’s David with all the details.

David J. Mullens: You’re invited to request a copy of Dr. Jeffress’s best-selling book *The Divine Defense* when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. As an added bonus, we’ll also send you the highly requested *Equipped for Battle* brochure. Just call 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org.

And when your gift is $100 or more, we’ll also send you, in addition to the book, this month’s new teaching series on audio and video disc along with the companion study guide. Plus, you’ll receive a special children’s book titled *Suit Up for Kids*. This colorful book helps the children in your life learn to fight temptation and trust in God’s protection. To request these resources, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org.

And for a quick and easy way to support Pathway to Victory, text PTV to 78800. You could also write to PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that’s PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

And now it’s time for today’s edition of Ask Dr. Jeffress. A listener named David asks what the Bible says about transgenderism.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Well, David, thanks for asking that very relevant question. And the Bible actually does say a lot about transgenderism. You know, we need to realize this whole transgender phenomenon is relatively new. It hasn’t been around forever. This is a new lie that is being perpetrated by the enemy, Satan himself.

God is the one who makes us male and female. That’s not Robert Jeffress saying it; Jesus Christ said it in Matthew 19:4: "Have you not read that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female?" The greatest rebellion, the most basic rebellion we can be engaged in against God is the rebellion against our Creator that says, "You made a mistake; I should be a different sex." So when we engage in and embrace transgender philosophy, we’re really rebelling against God.

Now, for many years, psychologists, psychiatrists called gender confusion gender dysphoria. It was a mental illness. Only now, recently, in our politically correct culture have we decided not to call it a mental illness, but it is, and it needs to be treated compassionately.

I often say to people, when we encounter somebody who claims to be the wrong sex, they need to be treated compassionately, but they do need to be treated. They don’t need to be confirmed in their mental confusion. I mean, just imagine your 13-year-old child came home and said, "Mom, Dad, I’ve decided I’m a kumquat, not a human being."

Would you take them to a psychiatrist who would affirm them in being a kumquat? Would you consider supporting them in their decision to be a kumquat? Would you let them go out and sleep in the vegetable patch at night in order to encourage them in their new identity? No, you would get them to a psychiatrist or psychologist as quickly as you could.

It is just as ludicrous for a man to say, "I now am a woman," or a woman to say, "I now am a man," as for a child to say, "I think I’m a kumquat." So again, let me repeat: when we meet transgender people, treat them compassionately but encourage them to get treated.

David J. Mullens: I’m David J. Mullens, wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again next week when our series called *The Divine Defense* continues 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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David J. Mullens: 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 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. Have you reserved your spot yet for the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska? You’ve been hearing me and Dr. Jeffress mention it, so what are you waiting for? Just picture yourself on the deck of Holland America’s elegant Koningsdam and stepping out on deck to witness nature’s grandeur. It’s beautiful.

These moments in God’s creation will deepen your faith in powerful ways. It really will. Experience five-star dining, luxurious staterooms, and visiting iconic ports like Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. We’re also bringing along our own Christian entertainment; you’ll love it. Seats are filling up, so book your spot today at ptv.org.