Pathway to Victory

David J. Mullins: 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, one of the best ways to mitigate against mistakes when you're in a dangerous situation is by learning from examples of the past. Let's learn, the word of God says, from past experiences if we're going to survive and thrive in this present generation.

David J. Mullins: Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor Dr. Robert Jeffress. Life is short, and we can't possibly learn everything there is to know over the course of a single lifetime. But gratefully, we have books filled with the knowledge of those who came before us. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress encourages us to learn from the past and apply the wisdom of scripture to our lives. But first, let's take a moment to hear some important ministry updates.

Dr. Robert Jeffress: Thanks, David, and welcome to Pathway to Victory. History is important. And today on Pathway to Victory, we'll be reminded that history is not only important, but in some cases, learning from history is key to our survival.

In addition to this teaching series, I've included these survival tips in a book I've written for you. The title of my book is *Courageous: 10 Strategies for Thriving in a Hostile World*. I'm going to say more just after my message, but I want to make sure you request a copy of my book while we have them on hand. My book called *Courageous* is yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Well, as you know, America turns 250 years old this July 4th. And the question on every believer's heart is the same one Christians have been wondering for years: Can America survive? This is the final week in the *Courageous* series, and courage is exactly what this moment demands.

So, starting today, Pathway to Victory is launching the In God We Trust Matching Challenge. Many of you may have already received a mailing from me announcing this opportunity. And if you haven't yet, it should arrive very soon. It's a $1.5 million campaign to get the gospel to as many people as possible before the window closes. Every gift you make right now will be matched dollar for dollar. And this is the moment to act.

Okay, let's give our complete attention now to the topic at hand. I titled this next message in our *Courageous* series, "Survival Tip Number 8: Learn From the Past."

Juliane Koepcke didn't grow up like most girls. Her parents were well-known German zoologists who worked and lived in the Peruvian rainforest. When she was 14 years old, Juliane's parents established a research station in the heart of the jungle, and she became a jungle child.

Life in the forest was difficult. They had no running water or electricity. Every morning, they shook out their rubber boots to dislodge the poisonous spiders that had taken up residence there overnight. Her days consisted of homeschooling lessons in math and language, as well as research excursions into the jungle to study insects, birds, wildlife, fish, and plants.

However, the educational authorities in Peru didn't approve of her schooling. So after 18 months of traipsing through the rainforest, Juliane traveled to Lima to finish high school, which she did in December of 1971. Her mother flew to Lima to retrieve Juliane for the Christmas holiday. But since there was a graduation dance on December 22nd and the graduation ceremony the following day, they decided to fly back from Lima to their jungle home on Christmas Eve.

Every flight was booked except for one airplane belonging to LANSA, the smallest airline with the worst safety record in Peru. Onboard, Juliane and her mother sat two rows from the back. She took the window seat, her mother sat in the middle, and a heavy-set man was on the aisle. "I think it will be okay," her mother said.

Those words would haunt Juliane for decades. Only 15 minutes from reaching their destination, the plane flew into a thundercloud. Turbulence rocked the plane this way and that. Christmas presents, jackets, and suitcases that had been stored in the overhead compartments flew around the plane's cabin. Glancing out the window, Juliane saw a blinding light over the right wing, and then they began to plummet.

The noise in the plane was deafening. People were screaming and the engines roared. And then, as if somebody had flipped a switch, all was quiet. Juliane, still strapped to her seat, was outside the plane. Her mother was gone.

Falling headfirst from nearly 10,000 feet, Juliane saw the canopy of the forest spinning and coming closer. The treetops looked like broccoli, she later recalled. Somewhere on the descent, she blacked out, lost her glasses, and the capillaries in her eyes burst, causing them to appear blood-red.

Her seat somehow righted itself before it hit the trees. Because once on the ground, she was relatively unhurt with only a concussion, a broken collarbone, and a gash on her left calf. When Juliane came to, she was by herself. She didn't see any wreckage around her. She knew it would be impossible for the rescuers to find her under the thick canopy of trees, so she would have to rescue herself.

Thankfully, she knew the jungle and was well comfortable in it. She attuned her ears to the forest and heard the trickling sound of a stream. She knew that streams led to creeks and creeks led to rivers, and people lived along rivers. So she moved toward the sound of the trickling water.

She intended to follow along the banks of the stream, but the jungle was such a tangle of trees and vines that it was almost impassable. She could walk along the shallows, but she knew stingrays buried themselves in the soft mud along the banks and that piranhas are dangerous only in low water. So she decided to wade into the middle of the stream and float.

She would have to watch out for the alligator-like reptiles called caimans, but she knew that they generally didn't attack people. During the day, Juliane kept to the stream. At night, she came ashore and as best she could warded off the biting insects that tangled in her hair and tried to burrow into her nose and ears, all the time shivering from the ice-cold rain. All she had to eat was a bag of Christmas candy she found, which would last only a few days. Everything else she knew could be poisonous. But she also knew that she could drink from the middle of the stream with little danger of dysentery because the area was uninhabited.

She floated for days until she recognized the call of the Hoatzins, large birds that nest along large rivers and open water. Following the bird call, Juliane walked into a large clearing next to a river. There she saw a boat beside a well-worn trail that led to a shelter. The shelter was empty, but the next day she heard voices. Three men emerged from the forest and were frightened at her presence, thinking she was some kind of a river spirit, said to have fair skin and blonde hair. Her bloodshot eyes didn't help ease their minds. But she said in Spanish, "I'm a girl who was in the LANSA crash. My name is Juliane."

Ninety-one people, including Juliane's mother, perished on that LANSA flight. She was the only survivor. She endured 11 days of Amazonian rainforest. The most amazing thing about her survival was not just the fact that she survived being ejected from a jetliner, but that she was able to survive 11 days in the jungle by herself with only minor injuries, wearing a sundress and one sandal.

The fact is whether you're climbing a mountain, whether you're trying to survive in the Amazonian jungle, or whether you're trying to survive in some other difficult situation, your survival doesn't depend so much on doing everything right. It depends upon not compounding one mistake with another mistake. And one of the best ways to mitigate against mistakes when you're in a dangerous situation is by learning from examples of the past.

That was true for Juliane. Juliane remembered her past experiences she had already had in the jungle, but specifically she remembered the lessons that she had learned from her father and her mother. From her father, she had learned that creeks lead to rivers and rivers are where people are. She learned about the dangers of shallow water, the piranhas. She learned from her mother, who was an ornithologist, about certain bird calls that would lead to where people were residing. Her ability to remember lessons from the past were important to her survival.

That is true of all survivalists. People who are in threatening situations learn how to survive from lessons from the past. They look at people who have gone before them. They mimic their strengths; they try to avoid their mistakes. And the same is true for each of us.

In our series, *Courageous*, we're talking about how not just to survive but thrive in the hostile world in which we live right now. C.S. Lewis said it best when he described this world as enemy-occupied territory. In our series, *Courageous*, we are looking at 10 of those survival tips that will guarantee that we thrive and live as God would have us live in this threatening situation. And today, we've come to survival tip number eight, and that is to learn from the past.

Of course, we're talking about in a sense history, the value of history. I'll admit today there are not many people who place a value on history. But one person who doesn't think history is unimportant is the author of history, God himself. History really is His story. And over and over again in both the Old and the New Testaments, we are taught about learning lessons from the past.

For example, in Deuteronomy 11:26-28, He said, "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, and the curse if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today by following after other gods which you have not known." God was saying, "You have a choice. You can learn from the past mistakes you've made and your forefathers have made, or you can learn from those mistakes. If you don't learn from their mistakes and repeat them, you will be cursed. If you follow me, you will be blessed. Remember the past."

You see that same admonition in the New Testament. In Romans chapter 15, verse 4, Paul says, "Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the scriptures, we might have hope." These stories we have in the Bible aren't there just to entertain us. They're given to us for a reason, Paul said, that we can learn lessons from the past. In Job chapter 8, verses 8 and 9, the word of God says, "Please inquire of past generations and consider the things searched out by their fathers. For we are only of yesterday and know nothing because our days on earth are as a shadow."

We're only here for a short amount of time. We can't know everything there is to know on our own. The word of God says inquire of past generations to learn what you need to know. It was George Santayana who gave that famous quote we use all of the time. He said, "Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it." If we don't remember the lessons, especially the mistakes of the past, we will make those mistakes over and over again.

If you have your Bibles, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Remember, Paul was writing to Christians at Corinth who had fallen away from God. Their lives were marked by immorality, idolatry, dissension, backbiting. And yet they comforted themselves in their rebellion against God by saying, "Well, we're saved. Our salvation is secure. Nothing's going to change that. We can do whatever we want to do." Paul said, "Not so quick."

In 1 Corinthians 10, beginning verse 1, he said, "Remember your forefathers. Remember the Israelites. Remember that they were God's uniquely chosen nation. They enjoyed God's supernatural provision while they were in the wilderness. They enjoyed His supernatural revelation. They were the children of God." And yet, notice what he says in verse 5: "Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the wilderness." What does that mean? God struck them dead in the wilderness. Even though they had this unique position with God, because of their disobedience, God disciplined them. He killed them.

And then he says in verse 6, "These things happened as an example for us, that we should not crave evil things as they also craved." And then he says again in verse 11, "Now these things happened to them, the Israelites, as an example. They were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come."

Notice the repetition of that word "example." Verse 6: "These things happened as an example." Verse 11: "These things were an example." That word "example" in Greek, *typos*, is a word that we get our word "type" or "typewriter" from. Some of you are old enough to remember a typewriter. Remember how those work? You'd hit the keys with letters of the alphabet on each of the keys, and if you would punch a certain letter, it would activate a little metal bar that had that corresponding letter on it, and that bar would make an impression. It would strike against a ribbon of ink. And when it would strike that ribbon of ink, it would leave an impression on the piece of paper of that letter.

That's the word that is used here. To make a mark, literally, that word *typos* means to strike a blow. Just as a typewriter strikes a blow on a ribbon on a piece of paper, the word of God says God struck the Israelites. He left his mark on them, so to speak, because of their disobedience. And we can learn from their example. We can look at the blow of God that their bodies bore and be encouraged not to make the same mistake. Let's learn, the word of God says, from past experiences if we're going to survive and thrive in this present generation. Those who don't learn from the past are condemned to repeat it.

When I think of learning the lessons of the past, there's one man who comes to mind from the Old Testament. His name was Josiah. He was the king who allowed history to shape his future. We find his story in the Old Testament book of 2 Chronicles. Turn back in your Bibles to 2 Chronicles chapter 34, beginning with verse 1.

Josiah is sometimes called "good King Josiah." Many of the kings of Judah, the southern portion of Israel, many of them were evil kings. Some were good, some were evil. But King Josiah was a good king. How did he become a good king? Look at verses 1 and 2. Josiah was eight years old—think about that—he was eight years old when he became king. And he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem, and he did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in the ways of his father David and did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

When we read about Josiah's ancestry, it's amazing that he turned out the way he did. It talks about his father David. David was not his father; he was his forefather. David lived hundreds of years before Josiah. Josiah had a grandfather named Manasseh. And Manasseh held the title of the most evil king to date in Judah's history. Why was he considered so evil? Because he introduced idolatry to the Israelites. He led in the sacrifice of children and consultation with witches and sorcerers. He was an evil king. That was Josiah's grandfather.

His father, Manasseh's son, was named Amon. Some people say Amen. Amon was Josiah's father, and he took the title from his father of Israel's most evil king. In fact, he was so evil he only lasted two years until he was assassinated. And after his death, Josiah, his son, became king when he was eight years of age.

Now you know Josiah could have very easily thought of himself as doomed to failure. He could have bought into that idea you still hear talked about today of a generational curse. Have you heard that before? "Well, I'm just cursed because of my ancestors." He refused to believe that. He refused to become a victim of a generational curse. Instead, he decided to walk uprightly with God.

How was that decision made? How did he make his decision to follow God? Well, first of all, I want you to notice that decision was influenced by his mother. He had an evil father, but he had a godly mother. In fact, in 2 Kings 22:1, it says Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jedidiah.

Now why does the writer talk about his mother? Most people believe it was his mother who compensated for an ungodly father. His mother carefully taught him the word of God. Let me just say a word to those of you who may be single moms right now trying to rear children by yourself, or maybe you're a mom who loves God but you're married to an ungodly husband. Your children don't have to become spiritual roadkill because of that. Your children don't have to be destined to a life of ungodliness. Don't underestimate the power you have to shape, to mold the future of your child.

In today's world, we sometimes think the most important thing we can do for our children is to help them score high on the SAT exam or to get into a good college or develop them into a star athlete. Ladies and gentlemen, the most important thing we can do for our children is to teach them to know and fear God. That is our primary responsibility. All the other means nothing compared to that. Jedidiah believed that. She taught her son to love God, even at a young age, eight years of age.

King Josiah was a man who allowed history to shape his future. And for that reason, we remember him as the king who brought Israel back to God after generations and generations of wicked rulers.

Well, we're in the final stretch of the *Courageous* teaching series. It's a study that will conclude on Friday. So, let me urge you to take down our contact information from David in just a moment and get in touch with us right away. I want to make absolutely certain that you have access to one of the boldest books I've ever written. It's the one that parallels this teaching series, and the full title is *Courageous: 10 Strategies for Thriving in a Hostile World*. I'll be sure to send you a copy when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Well, America's 250th birthday is just weeks away. And today, Pathway to Victory launched the In God We Trust Matching Challenge. A $1.5 million match fund is in place, and every gift you make will be doubled in impact. Look, Washington can't fix what's broken in this nation. Only the gospel can, and Pathway to Victory is committed to proclaiming that gospel with boldness on this program and everywhere we communicate the good news of Jesus Christ. Friend, your gift to the matching challenge will truly make a difference. So, please get in touch today. We have been a nation blessed by God because of our dependence upon God. And in a season when America desperately needs to return to dependence on God, your gift declares, "I still trust Him." Here's David with all the details.

David J. Mullins: Today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of *Courageous* by Dr. Robert Jeffress. To request this resource, call 866-999-2965, or even easier, go online to ptv.org. You could also support this ministry by texting PTV to 78800. And 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 10 *Courageous* encouragement cards.

And with the In God We Trust Matching Challenge now underway, your gift today will be matched dollar for dollar. Again, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You can also send your donation by mail. Write to PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. I'm David J. Mullins inviting you to join us Tuesday when we wrap up Survival Tip Number 8: Learn From the Past, 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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We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. 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 round trip 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. Oh, and one more thing: if you book online before July 31st, you'll receive a $200 early bird discount. To book your spot, go to ptv.org.