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 eagles soar over snow-capped mountains?

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 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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God is the potter. We're like the lump of clay. And God is always forming us, fashioning us according to his image. But occasionally, God will put us into the firing oven, the firing oven of trials. Not to break us, but to strengthen us.

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Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. When life throws you a curve ball, how do you respond? Do you shake your fist at God or do you draw closer to Him?

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress shares what the Bible says about finding joy in the midst of our most difficult circumstances.

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. Married couples, let me give you a creative idea. When was the last time you surprised your spouse with something they'll never forget, like signing up for the vacation of a lifetime? Well, next summer we're hosting the 2026 Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska, and we'd love to have you come along. The dates are June 13th through 20th; every couple needs an annual getaway. Spending a week aboard a Luxur cruise ship, having all your meals prepared for you, and getting pampered by the excellent staff will serve your relationship well. So check out all the details and surprise your loved one by signing up at ptv.org, okay?

During today's program, we're going to address a common struggle for us all. How do we handle the inevitable suffering that comes our way? Look, when life ambushes us with unexpected trials, our response reveals everything about our faith. Today, I want to show you how James teaches us to find joy in our darkest moments. Not because we're masochists, but because we understand what God is doing behind the scenes when everything seems to be falling apart.

Be ready to jot down our contact information because I'd like to send you my brand new book called "How to Know If You're Really Saved." It's the one I wrote while preparing this teaching series on the book of James, and it's yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. We'll share more details about my book and other resources later.

Right now, let's begin our next message in the teaching series. This one is titled "Triumph Over Troubles."

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Jocko Willink is a former Navy SEAL who's written a lot of books about leadership. Recently, I stumbled across a YouTube video Jocko did describing his attitude toward life when life doesn't go his way. Have you ever had that happen? Things don't quite go like you want them to.

His philosophy could be summarized in one word: Good. Jocko said that when things are going bad, there's going to be some good that's going to come from it.

For example, he mentioned not getting promoted.

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Good.

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More time to get better. Got beat. Good. You learned unexpected problems. Good. You have the opportunity to figure out a solution. When things are going bad, don't get all bummed out. Don't get startled, and don't get frustrated. Get up, dust off, reload, recalibrate, re-engage, and go out on the attack.

Do you know if James, the half-brother of Jesus who wrote the letter we're studying, had stumbled across Jocko on YouTube, he would have said, "Good." That's right. I agree completely. And that's the theme of the first section of James we're going to look at today in our series, "How to Know if You're Really Saved." If you have your Bibles, turn to James chapter one as we discover today how to triumph over your troubles.

Now remember, James was the first book of the New Testament that was written; it has a very simple theme. The book is genuine faith produces visible spiritual fruit. If you're truly saved, there's going to be evidence of it. And where there is no fruit, no evidence, there's no faith. Faith without works is dead. We're not saved by good works, but we are saved for good works. Throughout this short letter, James is going to share about ten different tests you can use to discover whether or not you're truly saved.

For example, next time we're going to look at how you respond to temptation. A saved person resists temptation; an unsaved person gives into it. We'll look at how you speak to other people. Your tongue and what comes from it is evidence of whether you're saved or not. Your attitude about money, your attitude about favoritism, your tendency to judge other people, and how you react to sickness in your life—these are all tests that James says determine whether you're saved or not.

But the first test is the one perhaps James' audience was experiencing most, and it was trials in life. James says, do you allow trials to drive you away from God or toward God? Your response to trials is evidence of whether you're saved or not. Remember, James' audience were dispersed Jewish Christians throughout the Roman Empire. They were suffering trials. Some were experiencing persecution from the Romans, while others of these Jewish converts to Christianity were suffering the disowning of their family members or being shunned by Jewish friends. They were experiencing trials.

And so James addresses how we respond to trials, beginning in verse two. He begins by sharing two truths about trials. Look at verse two of chapter one: "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials." Will you write this down and remember it forever? Trials are certain. James doesn't say consider it joy if you should experience a trial in life, or should you experience a trial in life. But when—they are an absolute certainty.

You know, one of the greatest myths about Christianity is that when you become a Christian, you get an automatic exemption from problems. Nothing could be further from the truth. Being a Christian is not a get-out-of-problems-free card. In fact, being a Christian guarantees that you're going to face problems in life. What difference does it make then if you're a Christian or not?

Listen to Psalm 34, verses 18 and 19 in the Living Bible: "The Lord is close to those whose hearts are breaking. He rescues those who are humbly sorry for their sins. The good man does not escape all troubles; he has them too. But the Lord helps him in each and every one."

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That's the difference.

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If you're a Christian, you don't escape troubles, but you have the guarantee of God's help. Remember in Matthew 7 how Jesus, the older brother of James, concluded his sermon on the Mount. He said, everybody who hears my word and acts upon it is like the person who builds a house on the rock. The storms came, but the house did not fall because it was built on the rock. But the foolish person who hears my word and does not act upon it is like the person who built his house, his life, upon the sand. And the storms came, and the house fell because it was not built on the rock.

Will you notice that in both cases, the one who applies God's word and the one who ignores God's word both suffered storms? The good man didn't escape storms. The winds didn't skip over his house. He had them too. But the Lord was with him through those trials. Trials are absolutely certain.

Secondly, trials are diverse. Look again at verse two. Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials. That word "encounter" is an interesting word. It's only used one other time in the Greek New Testament, "Peripto." It was used in the story of the Good Samaritan. Remember, the man was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho and he was ambushed by a group of thieves. That's the word used here. Count it all joy when you are ambushed, literally, by various trials. You're not expecting the trial; it just comes out of nowhere.

Have you had that happen? You're enjoying a great day when all of a sudden you get an unexpected phone call with some bad news, or the doctor calls you back in for some news that you weren't expecting and he wasn't either. Or you get disturbing news about a child or a grandchild of yours. It's funny how quickly your life can change. In just an instant, you are ambushed—ambushed by what? By various trials.

That word "various," "poikalos" in Greek, is the word we get "polka dot" from. Trials come into our life of varying shapes and sizes. It may be the daily irritations of life, like a leaky water heater, or it may be a cancer diagnosis. Trials come in different shapes and sizes, and by the way, they rarely come alone. Notice, he says, you encounter various trials, not singular, but plural.

You know, one thing about trials is they are very impolite. They don't wait their turn to come into your life. They don't allow you to deal with one problem before they come and attack you with another problem. Have you noticed how problems seem to come in multiples, all at the same time? Job experienced that, as we'll see in just a moment.

Count it all joy when you encounter various trials, and that leads to the value of trials. How can we consider it all joy? Now, let me be clear. What James is not saying is that when you're on the Dallas North Tollway and a tire blows out, you should say, "Isn't this wonderful?" Or he's not telling you that when the diagnosis comes back as terminal from the doctor, you should say, "Oh, I'm so excited about this. I can't wait to see what God's going to do." James isn't a masochist; he's not a stoic.

But that word "consider" is an interesting word. It means to lead. He's saying your leading thought, your final...

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Thought, needs to be one of joy.

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It's not that there's not hurt, there's not the sorrow or fear or not also present in your life, but the leading thought is one of joy. What is joy? It's different than happiness. Happiness is a superficial emotion. I tell people happiness depends upon happenings. Your happiness, if it's tied to happenings, can change very quickly. But joy is that settled resolve that God is doing something in our life. He's at work, even though in the darkness we can't always see what he's up to.

That's what he means in verse three. Here's why you can consider it joy: knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Underline that word, testing. Dokimoine. In Greek, dokymion is the word for testing. It's a word that's used in two ways in Greek literature. Sometimes it's a word that means the testing of a coin or a medal to see if it's legitimate or not.

The other day I was trying to find something in a file cabinet and I came upon a discovery. There was an envelope that had been stapled together. It must be something special. I opened it up and there was a gold Krugerrand in there. I remembered an ounce of gold that a relative had left me in his will. I had put it in the file cabinet and forgotten about it. Now, if you want to reach me tomorrow morning, I'll be at the Gold and Silver Exchange when it opens up to cash in that Krugerrand. But before they give me any money for it, you know what they're going to do? They're going to test it. They're going to authenticate that it's legitimately gold before they're going to pay anything. That's what this word means. It means to test a metal or to test a coin.

But it can also be used in another way. It refers to a piece of pottery. In biblical times, if a sculptor was making a piece of pottery out of clay, once he had finished forming it, he would put it into an oven and fire it up hundreds of degrees. For what purpose? To strengthen that vase. If the vase survived the firing oven, the potter would write on the bottom of that piece of pottery the word dokimos, approved, tested. That means anybody who bought it could look and see, is this going to hold up or not? Is it dokimos? Is it approved?

What a great picture of what God does in our life. You know, the Bible says God is the potter. We're like the lump of clay. God is always forming us, fashioning us according to his image. But occasionally God will put us into the firing oven, the firing oven of trials. Not to break us, but to strengthen us. But we can always take comfort in this: somebody has said, when we're in that oven, God has his eye on the clock and his hand on the thermostat. He knows how long and how much.

That's what he's talking about. We can have joy, that settled assurance that God is at work. Why? Knowing that the testing of your faith will produce what? Endurance. And let endurance have its perfect results so that you may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing. Testing has as its end result endurance.

Now, some translations say patience. That's not a good translation. The word patience, macrothumeo, means long-tempered. It has to do with our attitude. But the word really means endurance. In fact, this word was used to describe a person who is able to stand up in the middle of a storm. I thought of this word the other day when we were watching those Santa Ana fires in Southern California, blowing at 100 miles an hour or even more in some cases. I saw a news anchor out there in the middle of the winds saying, "I'm six four, weigh 250 pounds, and I'm having a hard time standing up without falling down."

The reason God gives us trials is to develop our endurance, our ability to stand in the future when trials attack us. The end result is that the testing of our faith results in our being perfect—not flawless, not sinless. The word means complete, mature.

Is it really possible to maintain joy in spite of the trials that may be assaulting you? Think about it for just a moment. In Second Corinthians 7, verse 4, Paul said, "I am overflowing with joy in..."

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All of our afflictions.

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Think about what Paul went through. He was beaten within an inch of his life on three separate occasions. He was imprisoned. He was shipwrecked. He was ultimately beheaded. Did he enjoy any of those experiences? No, he didn't enjoy them, but he rejoiced in them because he knew they were working for a purpose.

Or think about Job, the patriarch Job. Here he was one day that began like any other day, enjoying his prosperity, enjoying his children, enjoying his wife. Well, maybe not his wife so much, but enjoying pretty much most of his life, when suddenly, out of nowhere, news came to him that his enemies had killed his servants. And while that messenger was giving a message, another one appeared and said, not only that, but your livestock have been burned up in a fire. And while that news was being delivered, another one said, there's been a freak windstorm. It killed all 10 of your children.

What was Job's response? Job 1:21. Job said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gives, the Lord is taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Job maintained joy. He had serious questions, as we'll see in a moment, but he still believed God was working.

Or I think about Acts 5:41. The apostles had been beaten. They had been flogged for preaching in the name of Jesus. But Acts 5:41 says, "And they went on their way, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name." Did they enjoy the beating? Did it hurt any less because they were apostles? No. But they rejoiced in the fact that they had been able to be a witness for Christ through the suffering they endured.

Every suffering can be blessed because it hollows out a place in us for God and his comfort, which is infinite joy. Now, I know what some of you are thinking right now. You think this is pie in the sky, preacher talk. This isn't really possible, is it, to maintain this kind of joy?

Before you dismiss it, I want you to listen to the words of a pastor who gave this testimony. His wife had undergone five serious cancer operations. Two of his key staff members had just resigned. The elders were trying to get rid of him. And in the midst of all of this, he said, "The greatest discovery I have made in the midst of all the difficulties is that I can have joy when I can't feel like it. A kind of artesian joy. When I had every reason to feel beaten, I felt joy in spite of everything. God gave me the conviction of being loved and the certainty that nothing could separate me from Him. It was not happiness, gush or jolliness, but a constant flow of the Holy Spirit through me. At no time did God give me the easy confidence that everything I wanted could work out on my timetable. But it gave me the confidence that he was in charge and would give me and my family enough courage for each day."

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Grace.

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Joy is the result of that. Isn't that great? A kind of artesian joy that springs.

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Up when you don't feel like it.

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That gives you just enough grace to make it through today and the next day. That's what James is saying.

We can count it as all joy when we are ambushed by trials.

Now let's look thirdly at the reason for trials. We've talked about two truths about trials.

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They are certain and diverse.

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We talk about the value of trials. It strengthens us, gives us endurance. But what about the reason for trials? Even though intellectually we know that the trial may be working for some future great purpose, we still can't help but ask the question, why? Why is this happening? Why is this happening to me? Why is this happening to me right now?

Look at verse five. James says, "But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." People say, why is he talking about wisdom here? No wisdom in light of the trials. It's a wisdom tied to your trials. If you want wisdom, the ability to see your life from God's point of view, ask God to give you wisdom.

Now let me be clear. What he's not saying is that God will tell you all the specifics about why this is happening to you and why this is happening now. That's not what he's promising. In fact, we make a big mistake when we try to explain why God is doing something when God hasn't explained it.

Remember in Luke 13, some people came to Jesus and asked about why it was that some worshipers in the temple had been slaughtered by Pilate. Why did God allow that to happen? Jesus didn't answer their question. He said, "Do you think that those who were slaughtered were worse sinners than those who weren't killed?" And Jesus said, "Let me ask you about another situation. I'll go ahead and bring it up myself. What about that Tower of Siloam, that construction project that fell the other day and killed 18 people? Do you think those who were killed were worse sinners than the others?"

We make a big mistake when we try to explain why God has done something when God hasn't planned it. So we shouldn't expect always that God is going to give us an answer for the why. But I think he is saying that there are some general answers that we ought to seek when we are going through a time of suffering.

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I want you to place a proverbial bookmark right here because tomorrow on Pathway to Victory, I'm going to give you specific ways to apply this passage in your life. In a moment, David will explain how you can receive the audio CDs and video DVDs for this brand new teaching series on James. You'll appreciate listening at your own pace and perhaps sharing the video series with your friends and family.

But that's not all, because I've also written a brand new book for this teaching series. It's called *How to Know If You're Really Saved: A Study in the Book of James*. The young Christian believer might crumble when the first test comes their way. But whether you're a new Christian or a seasoned saint, you don't need to let your trials defeat you. Let them develop you. My new book gives you the practical tools James taught for transforming life's ambushes into spiritual victories.

You'll discover the three essential questions to ask during any crisis. You'll learn why God allows the firing oven of difficulties. And you'll find that artesian joy that springs up when you least feel like it. Request your copy today and turn your troubles into triumph. I'm going to send you a copy when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

That's a lot of information, and so I'm asking David to repeat it now. Thank you for supporting Pathway to Victory with your generous gift. We couldn't provide this daily program without you. Here's David with all the details today.

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When you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, we'll say thanks by sending you *How to Know If You're Really Saved*. That's the brand new book by Dr. Robert Jeffress. Simply give us a call. It's easy: 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org. When you give $75 or more, you'll also receive the complete *How to Know If You're Really Saved* teaching series on both DVD and MP3 format audio discs. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org now. If you'd prefer to send a letter by mail, write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. That's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins inviting you back for part two of the message *Triumph Over Troubles*. That's Thursday on Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress, coming from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. When was the last time you truly unplugged and refreshed your spirit? Step away from your daily routine and immerse yourself in God's masterpiece on the Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska. Picture yourself on the deck of Holland America's elegant Koningsdam, sailing past towering glaciers while enjoying fellowship with like-minded believers. To book your spot on the 2026 Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska, 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.