Robert Jeffress - The Problem with Prosperity (Part 2)

November 5, 2025 | 29:0

Pathway to Victory offers a practical application of God’s Word to everyday life through the clear, biblical teaching of Pastor Jeffress.

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Dr. Robert Jeffress | Robert Jeffress - The Problem with Prosperity (Part 2) | November 5, 2025
  • ...
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Male announcer: from the pulpit of the first baptist
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  • Church of dallas, texas, this is "pathway to victory"
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  • With dr. robert jeffress.
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  • Dr. robert jeffress: hi, i'm robert jeffress,
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  • And welcome again to "pathway to victory."
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  • Money, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing.
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  • The bible makes that very clear.
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  • Money becomes evil when it sabotages our
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  • Relationship with god.
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  • Today we're going to learn an important lesson
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  • From two wealthy men.
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  • One allowed his riches to draw him closer to god.
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  • The other allowed his wealth to push god away.
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  • My message is titled "the problem with prosperity,"
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  • On today's edition of "pathway to victory."
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • ♪ hear the heart of heaven beating ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves, jesus saves ♪
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  • ♪ and the hush of mercy breathing ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves, jesus saves ♪
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  • ♪ hear the host of angels sing ♪
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  • ♪ "glory to the newborn king" ♪
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  • ♪ and the sounding joy repeating ♪
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  • ♪ "jesus saves" ♪
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  • ♪ he will live our sorrow sharing ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves, jesus saves ♪
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  • ♪ he will die our burden bearing ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves, jesus saves ♪
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  • ♪ "it is done!", we'll shout across ♪
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  • ♪ christ has paid redemption's cost ♪
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  • ♪ while the empty tomb's declaring ♪
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  • ♪ "jesus saves" ♪
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  • ♪ freedom's calling, chains are falling ♪
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  • ♪ hope is dawning, bright and true ♪
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  • ♪ day is breaking, night is quaking ♪
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  • ♪ god is making all things new ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves ♪
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  • ♪ oh, to grace, how great a debtor ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves, jesus saves ♪
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  • ♪ all the saints who shout together ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves, jesus saves ♪
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  • ♪ rising up so vast and strong ♪
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  • ♪ lifting up salvation's song ♪
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  • ♪ the redeemed will sing forever ♪
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  • ♪ "jesus saves" ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves, jesus saves ♪
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  • ♪ jesus saves ♪♪
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  • [congregation applauds]
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  • Announcer: the bible is filled with stories about heroes.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Announcer: but abraham rises above the rest
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  • As a true champion of faith.
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  • In "walking by faith," dr. robert jeffress
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  • Shares how to step forward in faith even when
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  • The future appears uncertain.
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  • Your faith can thrive despite the challenges you face.
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  • Request your copy of "walking by faith"
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  • When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of
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  • Pathway to victory.
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Jeffress: i like what one biographer of abraham has
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  • Written: "the person who is sure of god can afford to hold
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  • Loosely the things of this world."
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  • And, finally, he not only possessed a greater faith,
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  • He looked for a greater reward.
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  • He was looking for a greater reward.
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  • You know, if you go to an investment counselor to get
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  • Advice on how to invest your money,
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  • After they find out how much money you have,
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  • The question they will ask you is "what is your
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  • Investment horizon?"
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  • In other words, when are you gonna need this money?
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  • If you're gonna need this money in the next year,
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  • In the next 12 months, well, you can't afford to take any risk.
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  • You better put it in the bank.
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  • You don't earn much, but you don't risk losing it.
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  • But if you're not gonna need it for 5 years or 10 years,
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  • Or your retirement's not for 30 years,
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  • You can afford to take riskier investments because,
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  • Although you may have some short-term losses,
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  • In the long term, you'll have more reward,
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  • More returns.
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  • Abraham looked at his investment horizon.
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  • It won the next year, the next 5 years,
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  • Or the next 100 years.
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  • His investment horizon was eternity.
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  • He was thinking in terms of eternity,
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  • Of eternal rewards that would keep on paying dividend after
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  • Dividend after dividend, and that's why he could take a risk
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  • In losing this land in the short term in order to please god.
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  • That's what hebrews 11:10 is all about: "for abraham was looking
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  • For the city which has foundations,
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  • Whose architect and builder is god."
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  • He was lookin' at heaven, not this life,
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  • And because of that, he was willing to risk a loss.
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  • What did this compromise me for lot and abraham?
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  • Look at the consequences, first of all, for lot.
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  • Some of you right now are facing a choice about a career,
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  • About a move, about a mate, about your money.
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  • You're facing a choice right now.
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  • I want you to notice the three mistakes lot made in his bad
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  • Decision to take the land that looked the best to him.
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  • First of all, he refused to be content with his
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  • Present circumstances.
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  • He refused to be content.
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  • It was that discontent that led him to make the wrong decision.
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  • Look at verse 10: "lot lifted up his eyes,
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  • And he saw all the valley of the jordan,
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  • That it was well watered everywhere.
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  • This was, by the way, before the lord destroyed sodom
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  • And gomorrah," two cities in that valley,
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  • But it looked luscious, "like the garden of the lord,
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  • That is, eden, and like the land of egypt as you go to zoar."
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  • The bible says, as he looked out there to what he was gonna
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  • Choose, he saw the land, the oasis of the jordan.
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  • That word, "saw," in hebrew, means more than he
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  • Just glanced at it.
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  • Literally, the word "saw" means to look longingly at,
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  • To gaze, to say, "that's what i want.
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  • That's what i need."
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  • You know what the greatest enemy of contentment,
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  • Satisfaction in your life and my life is?
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  • It's what i call "the oasis syndrome," to believe that there
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  • Is an oasis out there that is different,
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  • That, where i am, that, "if only i could reach that oasis,
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  • Then i could truly be happy.
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  • If only i had that job, if only i lived in that city,
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  • If only i had that home, if only i had that amount of money,
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  • If only i had that mate, that i could truly be
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  • Satisfied in life."
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  • That's the oasis syndrome.
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  • "happiness is someplace other than where i am right now."
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  • You never quite get there.
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  • It's always someplace just beyond where you are.
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  • That's why the secret for satisfaction is not more.
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  • It's the word "contentment."
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  • Paul said it this way in philippians 4:11,
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  • "for i have learned to be content in whatever
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  • Circumstances i am."
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  • That word, "contentment," comes from a word that literally
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  • Means "containment."
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  • It refers to somebody whose happiness is found inwardly,
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  • Not outwardly.
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  • He is self-contained.
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  • And, of course, for a christian, that containment
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  • Is a relationship with jesus christ.
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  • "i can do all things through christ,
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  • Who strengthens me."
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  • Lot didn't have that contentment.
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  • That led him to make a bad decision.
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  • Secondly, not only did he refuse to be content,
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  • He failed to consult god in his decision.
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  • Genesis 13:11, says, "so lot chose for himself all
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  • The valleys of the jordan, and he journeyed eastward."
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  • Not once is there any indication he prayed to god for wisdom.
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  • He just made the choice and went after it.
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  • You know, the longer i'm in ministry,
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  • I am convinced that the majority of christians
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  • Are really atheists.
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  • I'm not talkin' about theological atheists--not yet
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  • Anyway, but they're practical atheists.
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  • They get up in the morning. they go to work.
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  • They go through their activity list.
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  • They come home.
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  • They spend their money. they do that.
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  • They do this without ever once thinking about god
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  • Or consulting god.
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  • They live their lives as if there were no god whom they
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  • Should consult, a god to whom they are accountable.
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  • That's what you call an atheist, somebody who lives apart from,
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  • Without god.
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  • James had a word about that in james 4,
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  • Beginning with verse 13.
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  • He said, "come now, you who say, 'today or tomorrow,
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  • We'll go to such and such a city,
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  • And spend the year there and engage in business
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  • And make a profit.'
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  • Yet you don't know what your life will be like tomorrow.
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  • You're just a vapor.
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  • You're a mist that appears for a little while and
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  • Then vanishes away."
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  • Is james saying we shouldn't plan?
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  • No.
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  • But he is saying we shouldn't plan without god.
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  • He says, in verse 15, "instead, what you ought to say is 'if the
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  • Lord wills, we will live, and then we'll do this or that.'
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  • But as it is, you boast in your arrogance,
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  • And all such boasting is evil."
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  • What was lot's mistake?
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  • He refused to be content, he failed to consult god,
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  • And, third--and this is so important--he neglected
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  • To consider his family in his decision.
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  • He neglected to consider his family.
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  • Look at verses 12 and 13: "abram settled in the land of canaan,
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  • While lot settled in the cities of the valley,
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  • And moved his tents as far as sodom.
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  • Now the men of sodom were wicked exceedingly and sinners
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  • Against the lord."
  • 00:11:59.431 --> 00:12:01.534
  • He moved to the edge of sodom.
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  • What was the mistake?
  • 00:12:05.905 --> 00:12:08.040
  • He never once thought about how it would affect his family.
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  • He made this choice because, first of all,
  • 00:12:11.944 --> 00:12:15.247
  • He underestimated the power of sin.
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  • Now listen to me: he underestimated the power of sin.
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  • Lot was a righteous man.
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  • He had heard all the stories about what life
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  • In sodom was like.
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  • He knew it was an exceedingly wicked place,
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  • But he thought, "i'm strong enough to withstand it."
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  • So he moved to the edge of sodom,
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  • Not into sodom, just on the edge of sodom.
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  • He probably rationalized it:
  • 00:12:38.704 --> 00:12:42.141
  • "well, i need to be a witness to this community,
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  • So i'll get as close to the edge of sin as i possibly can."
  • 00:12:45.511 --> 00:12:52.818
  • But lot's motivation was not the glory of god.
  • 00:12:52.818 --> 00:12:56.555
  • It was his own lust that drew him to the edge of sodom,
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  • His own curiosity.
  • 00:12:59.992 --> 00:13:01.327
  • Interestingly, next time, when we see lot again,
  • 00:13:01.327 --> 00:13:04.263
  • He's right smack-dab in the middle of sodom.
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  • He's like the proverbial moth that tries to fly as close to
  • 00:13:08.167 --> 00:13:11.537
  • The flame as possible without getting burned,
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  • And it usually doesn't work out real well for the moth.
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  • It didn't for lot, that's for sure.
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  • No, wisdom is not getting to the edge of sin.
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  • It's running as far from sin as you possibly can.
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  • 2 timothy 2:22, paul says, "now flee from youthful lusts,
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  • And pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace,
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  • With those who call on the lord from a pure heart."
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  • Not only did he underestimate the power of sin,
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  • But he overestimated the spiritual strength
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  • Of his family.
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  • You see, the bible indicates that lot was distressed by the
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  • Wickedness of sodom, but there's no evidence that his wife and
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  • Two daughters were distressed by it.
  • 00:13:57.850 --> 00:14:00.619
  • Even though lot thought he could handle the temptation,
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  • He never once thought about what this decision,
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  • What this move to another city, another place,
  • 00:14:06.859 --> 00:14:09.795
  • Would mean for his wife and for his two daughters.
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  • They weren't distressed by the wickedness.
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  • His wife ends up being destroyed.
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  • His two daughters married men who were exceedingly wicked,
  • 00:14:18.437 --> 00:14:22.741
  • The scripture says, and they were destroyed.
  • 00:14:22.741 --> 00:14:26.979
  • When a father, a mother makes a decision,
  • 00:14:26.979 --> 00:14:29.682
  • They need to think about what this decision means not just for
  • 00:14:29.682 --> 00:14:33.352
  • Themselves but for their family as well.
  • 00:14:33.352 --> 00:14:36.956
  • Even though i may have the freedom to do something,
  • 00:14:36.956 --> 00:14:40.426
  • It doesn't mean i should do it.
  • 00:14:40.426 --> 00:14:42.094
  • What about the policy toward alcohol?"
  • 00:14:42.094 --> 00:14:44.697
  • Now, let's be honest.
  • 00:14:44.697 --> 00:14:46.799
  • There's no scripture verse that says,
  • 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.567
  • "no drop of alcohol shall ever pass through thy lips."
  • 00:14:48.567 --> 00:14:52.438
  • There's no verse that says that.
  • 00:14:52.438 --> 00:14:54.873
  • There's no verse that says, "you're going to hell if you
  • 00:14:54.873 --> 00:14:56.809
  • Have a drink."
  • 00:14:56.809 --> 00:14:58.978
  • The bible says you're not to get drunk,
  • 00:14:58.978 --> 00:15:01.347
  • And even more than that, you're not allowed anything,
  • 00:15:01.347 --> 00:15:04.383
  • Anybody or anything control your life other than
  • 00:15:04.383 --> 00:15:07.586
  • The holy spirit of god.
  • 00:15:07.586 --> 00:15:09.989
  • But there's no absolute prohibition against a christian
  • 00:15:09.989 --> 00:15:12.925
  • Drinking, but that's not the question.
  • 00:15:12.925 --> 00:15:16.628
  • The question is not whether it's okay for me to do it,
  • 00:15:16.628 --> 00:15:21.000
  • Whether or not i can handle alcohol.
  • 00:15:21.000 --> 00:15:23.102
  • It's how my freedom impacts other people.
  • 00:15:23.102 --> 00:15:26.839
  • Even though my freedom gives me the opportunity to drink,
  • 00:15:26.839 --> 00:15:32.211
  • How would that affect other people who may not be able
  • 00:15:32.211 --> 00:15:36.015
  • To handle alcohol?
  • 00:15:36.015 --> 00:15:38.117
  • What about my children?
  • 00:15:38.117 --> 00:15:39.852
  • I don't know if they're able to handle alcohol or not.
  • 00:15:39.852 --> 00:15:43.255
  • The statistics are, right now, 15 million americans are already
  • 00:15:43.255 --> 00:15:48.494
  • Diagnosed as alcoholics.
  • 00:15:48.494 --> 00:15:50.829
  • That's 6% of the american population.
  • 00:15:50.829 --> 00:15:55.100
  • What if you went out to dfw airport?
  • 00:15:55.100 --> 00:15:57.536
  • You're about to get on a plane, and the ticket agent said,
  • 00:15:57.536 --> 00:15:59.538
  • "now, before you board today, we are required to tell you there's
  • 00:15:59.538 --> 00:16:03.509
  • Six chances in a hundred that this plane is going to crash."
  • 00:16:03.509 --> 00:16:09.448
  • How many of you would get on the plane?
  • 00:16:09.448 --> 00:16:11.884
  • "i'm willing to take my chances."
  • 00:16:11.884 --> 00:16:14.019
  • No sane person would do that.
  • 00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:17.990
  • Now, are you willing to take that chance yourself?
  • 00:16:17.990 --> 00:16:21.260
  • You don't know whether you're an alcoholic
  • 00:16:21.260 --> 00:16:22.628
  • Or not till it's too late.
  • 00:16:22.628 --> 00:16:24.763
  • And even if you're not, are you absolutely sure your children
  • 00:16:24.763 --> 00:16:28.300
  • Or grandchildren aren't in that percent, that 6%?
  • 00:16:28.300 --> 00:16:34.073
  • No.
  • 00:16:34.073 --> 00:16:35.474
  • Lot made the mistake of not considering his own family
  • 00:16:35.474 --> 00:16:39.611
  • And the impact this decision would make on them,
  • 00:16:39.611 --> 00:16:42.981
  • And because of that, he lost everything dear to him.
  • 00:16:42.981 --> 00:16:46.618
  • What was the result of abraham making the choice he did to give
  • 00:16:46.618 --> 00:16:51.990
  • Up his rights to the land?
  • 00:16:51.990 --> 00:16:54.259
  • Look at this, in verse 14: "and the lord said to abram,
  • 00:16:54.259 --> 00:16:58.030
  • After lot had separated from him,
  • 00:16:58.030 --> 00:17:00.599
  • 'now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are,
  • 00:17:00.599 --> 00:17:03.202
  • Northward and southward and eastward and westward,
  • 00:17:03.202 --> 00:17:06.004
  • For all the land which you see, i will give it to you and your
  • 00:17:06.004 --> 00:17:09.942
  • Descendants forever.
  • 00:17:09.942 --> 00:17:12.144
  • I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth,
  • 00:17:12.144 --> 00:17:14.179
  • So that if anyone can number the dust of the earth,
  • 00:17:14.179 --> 00:17:17.015
  • Then your descendants can also be numbered.
  • 00:17:17.015 --> 00:17:20.919
  • Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth,
  • 00:17:20.919 --> 00:17:24.990
  • For i will give it to you.'"
  • 00:17:24.990 --> 00:17:27.359
  • I love what one writer said.
  • 00:17:27.359 --> 00:17:29.394
  • He said, "for abraham, the place of surrender became
  • 00:17:29.394 --> 00:17:33.966
  • The place of possession."
  • 00:17:33.966 --> 00:17:35.934
  • When abraham opened his hands and said,
  • 00:17:35.934 --> 00:17:37.936
  • "lord, for your glory, i'll surrender this land,"
  • 00:17:37.936 --> 00:17:40.472
  • God said to abraham, "that's all i needed to hear.
  • 00:17:40.472 --> 00:17:45.010
  • This land is yours forever and ever and ever.
  • 00:17:45.010 --> 00:17:47.946
  • Nobody will take it from you."
  • 00:17:47.946 --> 00:17:51.250
  • The old testament scholar allen ross said it this way: "abraham
  • 00:17:51.250 --> 00:17:54.353
  • Had learned that it was not by his own plan or power that he
  • 00:17:54.353 --> 00:17:57.523
  • Would come into possession, not by jealously guarding
  • 00:17:57.523 --> 00:18:02.361
  • What he thought was his.
  • 00:18:02.361 --> 00:18:03.962
  • God would give it to him even if abraham gave it away
  • 00:18:03.962 --> 00:18:08.233
  • A hundred times."
  • 00:18:08.233 --> 00:18:11.403
  • The place of surrender became the place of possession.
  • 00:18:11.403 --> 00:18:15.574
  • Have you learned that lesson yet?
  • 00:18:15.574 --> 00:18:18.076
  • Do you understand that, if you put god's interest
  • 00:18:18.076 --> 00:18:21.580
  • And the interest of others above your own,
  • 00:18:21.580 --> 00:18:23.382
  • God will take care of you?
  • 00:18:23.382 --> 00:18:26.518
  • You may have read recently about david green,
  • 00:18:26.518 --> 00:18:30.956
  • The founder and ceo of hobby lobby.
  • 00:18:30.956 --> 00:18:33.992
  • He is a multibillionaire and a committed christian.
  • 00:18:33.992 --> 00:18:38.063
  • He recently announced that he's giving away his company,
  • 00:18:38.063 --> 00:18:41.867
  • His multibillion-dollar company, and he says one of the things
  • 00:18:41.867 --> 00:18:44.903
  • That motivated him to give it away,
  • 00:18:44.903 --> 00:18:48.140
  • The foundational belief was he wasn't the owner of anything.
  • 00:18:48.140 --> 00:18:53.312
  • It all belonged to god.
  • 00:18:53.312 --> 00:18:55.581
  • He was just a steward, a manager of what god had given him.
  • 00:18:55.581 --> 00:19:00.452
  • It was because of that attitude, i believe,
  • 00:19:00.452 --> 00:19:02.521
  • God blessed david green, and he'll do the same with you,
  • 00:19:02.521 --> 00:19:05.691
  • Maybe not financially but spiritually and in every other
  • 00:19:05.691 --> 00:19:10.062
  • Way that counts.
  • 00:19:10.062 --> 00:19:12.464
  • What about those dreams, those possessions,
  • 00:19:12.464 --> 00:19:15.067
  • Those relationships?
  • 00:19:15.067 --> 00:19:17.536
  • You can hold on them tightly just like lot did and end up
  • 00:19:17.536 --> 00:19:20.839
  • Losing everything, or you can open up your hands,
  • 00:19:20.839 --> 00:19:24.810
  • Give it to god, trust him to do what is right and best for you.
  • 00:19:24.810 --> 00:19:29.481
  • I read this story this week.
  • 00:19:29.481 --> 00:19:32.851
  • I thought of the words of jim elliot,
  • 00:19:32.851 --> 00:19:35.554
  • That faithful missionary who was killed by the
  • 00:19:35.554 --> 00:19:39.491
  • Auca indians in ecuador.
  • 00:19:39.491 --> 00:19:41.627
  • When he was a college student, he had written in his spiritual
  • 00:19:41.627 --> 00:19:44.196
  • Journal these words: "he is no fool who gives up what he cannot
  • 00:19:44.196 --> 00:19:51.169
  • Keep to gain what he cannot lose."
  • 00:19:51.169 --> 00:19:56.742
  • That was abraham.
  • 00:19:56.742 --> 00:19:58.710
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:19:58.710 --> 00:20:03.949
  • Jeffress: abraham provided a marvelous example for us.
  • 00:20:03.949 --> 00:20:07.185
  • He was a man of faith, unencumbered by the entrapments
  • 00:20:07.185 --> 00:20:11.456
  • Of his times, and this is my dream for you as well.
  • 00:20:11.456 --> 00:20:14.293
  • You, too, can be a man or woman of faith.
  • 00:20:14.293 --> 00:20:17.562
  • Now, before we wrap up today's message,
  • 00:20:17.562 --> 00:20:20.365
  • I have some great news to share with our pathway
  • 00:20:20.365 --> 00:20:22.868
  • To victory family.
  • 00:20:22.868 --> 00:20:24.536
  • Recently, pathway to victory has taken on new territory.
  • 00:20:24.536 --> 00:20:28.206
  • In addition to reaching new cities in north america,
  • 00:20:28.206 --> 00:20:31.276
  • We're expanding into international regions as well.
  • 00:20:31.276 --> 00:20:34.646
  • In some cases, my sermons are translated into
  • 00:20:34.646 --> 00:20:37.816
  • Foreign languages.
  • 00:20:37.816 --> 00:20:39.651
  • Well, we celebrate these victories because each one
  • 00:20:39.651 --> 00:20:43.322
  • Represents new opportunities to reach even more people with the
  • 00:20:43.322 --> 00:20:47.426
  • Gospel of jesus christ, and each one gives us an even greater
  • 00:20:47.426 --> 00:20:52.030
  • Platform to bring light into the darkness of this world.
  • 00:20:52.030 --> 00:20:55.867
  • So, if you're among those who support pathway to victory,
  • 00:20:55.867 --> 00:20:59.104
  • As a pathway partner or as a generous donor
  • 00:20:59.104 --> 00:21:02.374
  • I hope this is an encouragement to you.
  • 00:21:02.374 --> 00:21:05.277
  • God is multiplying our ministry together as we pierce the
  • 00:21:05.277 --> 00:21:09.581
  • Darkness with the light of his word.
  • 00:21:09.581 --> 00:21:12.084
  • Now, please stay right there.
  • 00:21:12.084 --> 00:21:13.752
  • I'll be back with more "pathway to victory"
  • 00:21:13.752 --> 00:21:16.254
  • In just a moment.
  • 00:21:16.254 --> 00:21:18.490
  • Jeffress: the story of abraham is an invitation to come back to
  • 00:21:18.557 --> 00:21:23.428
  • The altar of god.
  • 00:21:23.428 --> 00:21:26.198
  • He fell into disobedience and ultimately disgrace.
  • 00:21:26.198 --> 00:21:32.571
  • Repentance begins with a change of mind that says, "i don't want
  • 00:21:32.571 --> 00:21:35.874
  • To keep going this direction."
  • 00:21:35.874 --> 00:21:38.510
  • And that's what abraham did.
  • 00:21:38.510 --> 00:21:41.313
  • Picture right now a challenge you're facing.
  • 00:21:41.313 --> 00:21:45.183
  • It may be a challenge with a child or a grandchild.
  • 00:21:45.183 --> 00:21:48.820
  • It may be a financial need.
  • 00:21:48.820 --> 00:21:51.423
  • It might be a physical problem with you or somebody
  • 00:21:51.423 --> 00:21:53.925
  • You care about.
  • 00:21:53.925 --> 00:21:55.861
  • Do you believe the same god whose been faithful in the past
  • 00:21:55.861 --> 00:21:59.164
  • To you will be faithful to you now?
  • 00:21:59.164 --> 00:22:01.566
  • Is god still alive?
  • 00:22:01.566 --> 00:22:03.969
  • Is god still working and you really trust in god?
  • 00:22:03.969 --> 00:22:09.908
  • The one quality god admires, god desires more than any other
  • 00:22:09.908 --> 00:22:15.046
  • Quality in our lives is faith.
  • 00:22:15.046 --> 00:22:19.084
  • What is faith?
  • 00:22:19.084 --> 00:22:20.786
  • It's believing that god will do what he has promised to do
  • 00:22:20.786 --> 00:22:24.790
  • And acting accordingly.
  • 00:22:24.790 --> 00:22:31.029
  • If the story of abraham tells us anything it tells us this.
  • 00:22:31.029 --> 00:22:35.467
  • It doesn't matter how old you are.
  • 00:22:35.467 --> 00:22:36.868
  • It doesn't matter how far you've drifted away from god.
  • 00:22:36.868 --> 00:22:40.505
  • You can come back.
  • 00:22:40.505 --> 00:22:42.507
  • ♪♪♪
  • 00:22:42.507 --> 00:22:49.314
  • Jeffress: well, david, thanks for asking that very relevant
  • 00:22:49.381 --> 00:22:52.117
  • Question, and the bible actually does say a lot about
  • 00:22:52.117 --> 00:22:55.454
  • Transgenderism.
  • 00:22:55.454 --> 00:22:57.189
  • You know, we need to realize this whole transgender
  • 00:22:57.189 --> 00:22:59.825
  • Phenomenon is relatively new.
  • 00:22:59.825 --> 00:23:02.461
  • It hasn't been around forever.
  • 00:23:02.461 --> 00:23:04.296
  • This is a new lie that is being perpetrated
  • 00:23:04.296 --> 00:23:08.500
  • By the enemy, satan himself.
  • 00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:11.636
  • God is the one who makes us male and female.
  • 00:23:11.636 --> 00:23:14.940
  • That's not robert jeffress saying it.
  • 00:23:14.940 --> 00:23:17.008
  • Jesus christ said it in matthew 19:5, "have you not read 'he who
  • 00:23:17.008 --> 00:23:21.480
  • Made them from the beginning made them male and female.'"
  • 00:23:21.480 --> 00:23:25.817
  • The greatest rebellion, the most basic rebellion we can
  • 00:23:25.817 --> 00:23:30.655
  • Be engaged in against god, is the rebellion
  • 00:23:30.655 --> 00:23:33.558
  • Against our creator that says,
  • 00:23:33.558 --> 00:23:35.126
  • "you made a mistake, i should be a different sex."
  • 00:23:35.126 --> 00:23:39.197
  • So, when we engage and embrace transgender philosophy,
  • 00:23:39.197 --> 00:23:43.335
  • We're really rebelling against god.
  • 00:23:43.335 --> 00:23:46.304
  • Now, for many years psychologists, psychiastrists
  • 00:23:46.304 --> 00:23:49.975
  • Called gender confusion gender dysphoria.
  • 00:23:49.975 --> 00:23:53.578
  • It was a mental illness.
  • 00:23:53.578 --> 00:23:55.480
  • Only now, recently in our politically correct culture have
  • 00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:59.251
  • We decided not to call it a mental illness, but it is and it
  • 00:23:59.251 --> 00:24:03.321
  • Needs to be treated compassionately.
  • 00:24:03.321 --> 00:24:06.558
  • I often say to people when we encounter somebody who claims to
  • 00:24:06.558 --> 00:24:10.195
  • Be the wrong sex, they need to be treated compassionately, but
  • 00:24:10.195 --> 00:24:14.933
  • They do need to be treated, they don't need to be confirmed in
  • 00:24:14.933 --> 00:24:18.970
  • Their mental confusion.
  • 00:24:18.970 --> 00:24:21.072
  • I mean just imagine, your 13-year-old child came home and
  • 00:24:21.072 --> 00:24:25.544
  • Said, "mom, dad, i've decided i'm a kumquat,
  • 00:24:25.544 --> 00:24:29.281
  • Not a human being."
  • 00:24:29.281 --> 00:24:30.849
  • Would you take them to a psychiatrist who would affirm
  • 00:24:30.849 --> 00:24:34.152
  • Them in being a kumquat?
  • 00:24:34.152 --> 00:24:36.121
  • Would you consider supporting them in their decision to
  • 00:24:36.121 --> 00:24:39.190
  • Be a kumquat?
  • 00:24:39.190 --> 00:24:40.525
  • Would you let them go out and sleep in the vegetable patch at
  • 00:24:40.525 --> 00:24:43.929
  • Night in order to encourage them in their new identity?
  • 00:24:43.929 --> 00:24:47.566
  • No, you would get them to a psychiatrist or a psychologist
  • 00:24:47.566 --> 00:24:51.636
  • As quickly as you could.
  • 00:24:51.636 --> 00:24:53.471
  • It is just as ludicrous for a man to say i now am a woman or a
  • 00:24:53.471 --> 00:24:58.476
  • Woman to say i now am a man as for a child to
  • 00:24:58.476 --> 00:25:01.980
  • Say i think i'm a kumquat.
  • 00:25:01.980 --> 00:25:04.015
  • So again, let me repeat, when we meet transgender people,
  • 00:25:04.015 --> 00:25:08.320
  • Treat them compassionately but encourage them to get treated.
  • 00:25:08.320 --> 00:25:12.457
  • Jeffress: "he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep
  • 00:25:13.959 --> 00:25:16.928
  • In order to gain what he cannot lose."
  • 00:25:16.928 --> 00:25:20.165
  • That's a lesson that can take a lifetime to absorb,
  • 00:25:20.165 --> 00:25:24.235
  • Unless, of course, we learn from great men of faith like abraham,
  • 00:25:24.235 --> 00:25:28.406
  • Who led the way.
  • 00:25:28.406 --> 00:25:30.175
  • Well, it's natural to feel regret after making a wrong and
  • 00:25:30.175 --> 00:25:33.712
  • Sinful decision, but sometimes we feel regret after making
  • 00:25:33.712 --> 00:25:38.416
  • A good decision.
  • 00:25:38.416 --> 00:25:40.085
  • Next time, i'm going to share how to avoid what
  • 00:25:40.085 --> 00:25:42.621
  • I call "believer's remorse."
  • 00:25:42.621 --> 00:25:45.790
  • Stay tuned for a preview of what's coming up next in our
  • 00:25:45.790 --> 00:25:48.193
  • Series "walking by faith."
  • 00:25:48.193 --> 00:25:50.629
  • Jeffress: sometimes we regret not just wrong decisions
  • 00:25:51.930 --> 00:25:55.166
  • But right decisions.
  • 00:25:55.166 --> 00:25:57.669
  • As we're going to discover today in our study in the life of
  • 00:25:57.669 --> 00:26:00.872
  • Abraham, there's only one remedy to regrets over the
  • 00:26:00.872 --> 00:26:04.676
  • Right decisions we make, and that remedy is faith.
  • 00:26:04.676 --> 00:26:11.216
  • Announcer: set your dvr and join us next time for the
  • 00:26:11.216 --> 00:26:13.718
  • Message "refusing to second-guess your right
  • 00:26:13.718 --> 00:26:16.655
  • Decisions," here on "pathway to victory."
  • 00:26:16.655 --> 00:26:19.724
  • Announcer: experience the beauty of alaska with the
  • 00:26:22.994 --> 00:26:25.296
  • Pathway to victory family june 13-20, 2026.
  • 00:26:25.296 --> 00:26:30.268
  • Sail through the calm waters of the legendary inside passage
  • 00:26:30.268 --> 00:26:33.672
  • With dr. robert jeffress aboard holland america's
  • 00:26:33.672 --> 00:26:36.141
  • Magnificent koningsdam.
  • 00:26:36.141 --> 00:26:38.376
  • Be inspired by award-winning musician michael o'brien's
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  • Powerful worship; share laughter with dennis swanberg,
  • 00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:44.649
  • America's minister of encouragement;
  • 00:26:44.649 --> 00:26:46.951
  • All while exploring frontier towns like juneau,
  • 00:26:46.951 --> 00:26:49.854
  • Skagway, and ketchikan.
  • 00:26:49.854 --> 00:26:51.856
  • Jeffress: there's something powerful about connecting with
  • 00:26:51.856 --> 00:26:54.125
  • God and fellow believers in the majesty
  • 00:26:54.125 --> 00:26:57.128
  • Of his untamed wilderness.
  • 00:26:57.128 --> 00:26:59.297
  • From the majestic glaciers to soaring eagles,
  • 00:26:59.297 --> 00:27:02.434
  • These moments in god's creation will deepen your
  • 00:27:02.434 --> 00:27:05.036
  • Faith in powerful ways.
  • 00:27:05.036 --> 00:27:07.205
  • Announcer: join us for a spiritual journey through some
  • 00:27:07.205 --> 00:27:09.374
  • Of creation's most spectacular displays.
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  • Don't wait, our best cabins are going fast.
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  • Secure your alaska adventure now.
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  • Call ... or visit ptv.org.
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