Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

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.

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Now here's today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress, and I'm.

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Glad to study God's Word with you every day. This Bible teaching program.

Speaker 2

On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

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We talk about the analysis of worry, what causes it, the antidotes to worry, the answers to worry.

Let's look at the assurance that comes for those who engage in persistent prayer, truthful thinking, and consistent conduct.

Look at verse nine: the things which you have learned and received and heard from me. Practice these things, and the God of peace shall be with you.

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Everybody wants to live a happy and satisfying life, but few things rob us of our joy and contentment like the crippling effects of anxiety.

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress identifies the cause of worry in our lives and three biblical strategies to overcome it.

Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message. Dr. Jeffress.

Speaker 2

Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. I want to begin today with a very personal question, and it's this: What would it take for you to give up on God? By that I mean, what would it take to rattle your faith and cause you to lose your confidence in God? The death of a child? Termination from a job? Maybe the infidelity of your mate?

Well, Jesus wasn't kidding when he said, "In this world you will have tribulation." So, knowing this is true, how do we cope with a world that's fraught with danger? Gratefully, the Apostle Paul gives us the answer, and it's found in his letter to the Philippians, the basis for our current series called Living Above Your Circumstances.

And just before we get started with the study, I'm eager to remind you that time is running short to request your copy of my book on this same topic. It's called Outrageous Living Above Your Circumstances. I'm prepared to send you a copy right away with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory.

Every day there are forces working against us to steal our joy and to rob us of our contentment. If you're ready to regain the wonderful joy of the Lord in your life, today let me help you by sending a hardbound copy of my book, Outrageous Joy. Get ready to jot down our contact information at the close of today's message.

But right now, let's open our Bibles to Paul's letter to the Philippians, titled today's message "Attack Anxiety."

Speaker 3

How do you keep worry from strangling the joy out of your life? Today we're going to look at these four short verses, verses six through nine in Philippians four, and we're gonna do three things. First of all, we're gonna analyze worry. We're gonna talk about what it is and what causes it in our lives. Secondly, we're gonna look at Paul's three answers to worry in verses six through eight. And then in verse nine, we're finally going to look at the assurance that God gives to those who practice these principles.

First of all, the analysis of worry. Look at verse six. What is worry? He says, be anxious for nothing. Or in some translations, don't worry about anything. There are two words, two Greek words that are translated, be anxious for nothing or don't worry. And these two Greek words mean literally to divide the mind. That's a good definition of what worry is. It divides our minds. The English word worry comes from a German word, wurgen, which means to strangle. And that's what worry does. It strangles us.

What causes us to worry? As I look through the New Testament, I find there are at least three sources of worry, of anxiety in our life. Write it down on your outline. It'll be helpful to you later on. First of all, some of our worry can be traced to a wrong value system. A wrong value system. Notice I didn't say a sinful value system. I said a wrong value system. And what I mean is, building your life, your security around that which is temporal instead of that which is eternal will rob you of joy.

Another source of worry in our life can be unconfessed sin in our life. Whenever we are living in a way that we know is displeasing to the Lord. If we're a Christian, we have that sense of foreboding in our heart that says, God's not going to let me keep living like this. A third source of anxiety in life can actually be attributable to satanic attack. Satanic attack. Remember, in Ephesians 6, Paul is talking about the spiritual armor that we need to put on as Christians. In Ephesians 6:16, he says, above all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Now Paul is saying Satan loves to send flaming arrows into your life. In my life, some of those arrows are labeled lust. Sometimes the arrow is labeled greed. But I think one of his favorite arrows has the label worry on it. And out of nowhere that paralyzing fear comes into your life. And the reason I think this is one of his favorite arsenals is because of what it does to us. Worry has a way of paralyzing us, stopping us in our tracks so that we can't move forward in our relationship with God.

You know, I read an interesting article one time by a psychologist, Dr. Walter Calvert. He was talking about worry, and in his studies he discovered that 92% of the things most people worry about have hardly any chance of occurring. Isn't that just like Satan? John 8:44 says, Satan is a liar. He is the father of all lies. What he wants to do is get your mind centered on something that probably isn't going to happen anyway. Have you obsess about that and paralyze you in making any progress in what God has planned for you? That's why I say much of the worry that we have is attributable to Satan as well. A wrong value system, unconfessed sin, satanic attack. These are just some of the sources of worry.

What are the answers to worry? Well, Paul tells us, beginning in verse 6 of Philippians chapter 4, notice the three answers to anxiety in our life. The first is persistent praying. Look at what he says in verse 6. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your request be made known to God. Prayer is a powerful antidote to worry. Newsweek magazine a few years ago had a cover story on the resurgence of prayer in our country and it reported that 78% of Americans pray at least once a week and 57% of Americans pray at least once a day.

But what I found most fascinating about this survey was 20% of atheists and agnostics pray every day. Find that a little bit strange. 20% of atheists pray every day. How do you explain that? The Newsweek writer makes an interesting point when he says, in allegedly rootless, materialistic, self-centered America, there is also a hunger for a personal experience of God that prayer seeks to satisfy. Serious prayer usually begins after the age of 30 when the illusion that we are the masters of our own fate fades and adults develop a deeper need to call on the master of the universe. In an age of relativism, God remains, for many, the one true absolute. In an era of transience and divorce, God can be the only place left to turn for unconditional love.

Paul says, when you come to the end of your rope, when you realize that you aren't in control of your destiny, that there are many forces at work more powerful than you are, that's the time you can turn to God. Be anxious for nothing. I like the way the living Bible says it in verse 6, don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Isn't that great? Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything.

Now, the suggestion I'm going to give you during the next three minutes is worth the price of the sermon today. Okay? It's not original for me. I got it from Dr. David Jeremiah after he went through his experience with cancer. And here's the suggestion. The application for Persistent Praying. I want you to get a sheet of paper out and put at the top my worry list. And I encourage you to make a list of everything you're worried about. Just list it. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. If you need more than one page, fine. Just keep filling it out. Everything you're worried about that is my worry list.

And then take another sheet of paper and title it My prayer list. And I want to encourage you to go to your worry list. Take the first thing that's on your worry list, draw a line through it and put it on your prayer list one by one, transferring those things that are on your worry list to the things that are going to be on your prayer list that you pray about regularly. Dr. Jeremiah says in his years as a pastor, he has discovered that people who have a worry list that is full and running over usually have an empty prayer list. And he said the opposite is true as well. Those who have a full prayer list usually have an empty worry list.

Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. Verse 6. And notice how he refers to prayer. He uses three words here for prayer. He says, but in everything by prayer and supplication and thanksgiving. That first word, prayer, is a word that deals with a worship of God, the worship, the adoration of God. And whenever we come into God's presence, we need to remember how great God is.

I love what Corrie Ten Boom said one time. She said that whenever I'm overwhelmed by a prayer problem, I just don't know what to do with. I stand in front of a mirror and I say to myself, this problem is too big for me and it's too overwhelming for God to handle. And then I smile and I'm ashamed of myself. You know, focusing on the greatness of God has a way of shrinking the size of your problems. And that's why he says, begin your time with prayer. That's the adoration of God.

And then the word supplication. That's a word that means requests. Tell God your needs is what the living Bible says. There is no request too big or too small for God to be concerned with. If you're concerned about it, God's concerned about it, your supplication. And then thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, that is. Be sure you express gratitude to God for what he's already done for you. Again, the living Bible says, tell God your needs, but don't forget to thank him for his answers before you run into the presence of your heavenly Father with give me, give me, give me, give me. Remember to thank him for what he's already done for you. For past prayers he's already answered. You know why that's so important?

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God.

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God is like we are as parents. Well, more accurately, we're like God is as parents. The reason we as parents love to hear our children say thank you is because God is a parent who loves to hear the words thank you. We thank God as a way of worshiping Him. But thanking God also has a way of reassuring us when we remember to thank God for what he's already done for us. It has a way of giving us assurance that in the past, God has been faithful to us, and He's going to be faithful to take care of our current needs as well with prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving.

By the way, let me be very clear here. There is no blanket promise in the Bible anywhere that just because you ask, God is going to answer the way you want him to answer. There's no guarantee in the Bible that God is going to give you everything you want. That's just positive thinking, prosperity gospel mumbo jumbo. The scripture is very clear in 1st John 5:14: "This is the confidence that we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, we know that he hears us." There's no blanket promise that God will give us everything. But if we ask anything according to his will, we know that he hears us.

I don't know about you, but I am sometimes more grateful for the things God said no to that I asked him for than for the positive answers he's given me. There is no promise that God will give us everything we ask for. It's like somebody said: prayer doesn't necessarily change our circumstances and make them better, but prayer always changes us and makes us better. And that's why Paul said the first attack against anxiety is persistent praying.

But secondly, he says in verse eight, we need to engage in truthful thinking. Truthful thinking. Look at what he says in verse eight: "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things." You know, one of the most important choices we ever make in life is what we're going to think about. We choose which pasture our mind is going to graze in.

I want to share with you four words that are guaranteed to rob you of joy in your life. The first two words are "if only." Those words deal with the unchangeable past. We go back and think, "Oh, if only I had done this. If only I hadn't done that." Don't dwell there. The other two words that will rob you of joy and peace of mind are the words "what if?" Those words will send you to think about the unknowable future. Paul says instead of thinking about the unchangeable past and the unknowable future, there's something better you can think about.

By the way, telling people not to worry—"Hey, just quit worrying about that. Don't think about that"—that never works. Let me illustrate that for you. For the next 30 seconds, whatever you do, don't think about a pink elephant. No, don't think about it. Regardless of what, think about anything except a pink elephant. If I tell you to do that, by the end of the 30 seconds, you'll have a whole herd of pink elephants stampeding through your mind. It's not enough to tell people, "Don't think about this." We've got to have something positive to replace that thought with.

And Paul tells us in verse eight, he says, instead of worrying, set your mind on what is true, honorable, excellent, and lovely. What is he talking about? If we had time, we would turn to Psalm 19:7-10, and we would find the psalmist uses these words to describe the word of God. You know why? The Bible tells us to concentrate, to think on, to meditate on God's Word. God's word is nothing more than a journal of God's faithfulness to his people. When we read the word of God, it reminds us that just as God has been faithful to his people in the past, he'll be faithful to me in my situation. That's why Psalm 119:65 says, "Great peace have they who love thy law." Engage in truthful thinking.

Then the third principle for attacking anxiety is consistent conduct. Consistent conduct. Verse 9 states, "The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace shall be with you." Remember I said just a few moments ago that one thing that robs us of peace of mind is when we know we're being disobedient to the Lord. Jonathan Edwards said one time, "The unrighteous tremble at the rustling of the leaves." Whenever you're living disobediently, anything and everything will frighten you. Paul says the antidote to that is the things that you know to do. Practice these things.

What's one thing you're doing in your life right now that you know God wants you to stop doing? What's one thing? Second, what's one thing you're not doing in your life right now that you know God wants you to start doing? You know what's amazing to me is how quickly we can answer those questions. You already know what that one thing is, don't you? That you need to stop doing? You already know what that one thing is you need to start doing. The Bible says when we live obediently, we conduct ourselves in a way that is in accordance with his Word. There's great peace of mind.

Listen to Isaiah 32:17: "And the work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever." Know what the effect of righteousness is? That's simply a word that means right living. The effect of righteousness—right living in your life—is quietness and confidence.

We've talked about the analysis of worry: what causes it, the antidotes to worry, the answers to worry. Let's look at the assurance that comes for those who engage in persistent prayer, truthful thinking, and consistent conduct. Look at verse nine: "The things which you have learned and received and heard from me, practice these things, and the God of peace shall be with you." And then look back at verse seven: "And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I want you to underline that word "guard." Remember where Paul was when he wrote these words? He was under house arrest in Rome. A different Roman guard was being assigned to Paul every six hours. That Roman guard for six hours would look at Paul. As Paul looked back at that guard, as he dictated this letter to his secretary, his amanuensis, he had an idea. He thought, you know, in the same way that that guard is watching over me right now, whenever I pray, whenever I meditate on God's word, whenever I conduct myself as I know I should, it's like the peace of God is watching over me. It's marching around me, guarding my heart and my mind, regardless of what is attacking me from outside. That's the word picture here.

That's the assurance: God may or may not deliver you out of that difficult circumstance you're in, but the promise here is that the peace of God will strengthen you in the midst of that circumstance. Pastor Ron Mel has battled for years with leukemia. He wrote these words one time about his experience with leukemia: "Many people have asked me how I've dealt with years of leukemia, years of hanging by a rope over the edge of a cliff. My answer might be that it's not so bad when you know who's holding the rope. I've settled into a sense of confidence that my time is in the Lord's hands."

Please hear me on this: my life really is his responsibility. And because of that, I don't worry, because he's going to care for everything. The Bible says you can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern (1 Peter 5:7). When you put God first and he's everything to you, that's what you've done. God is responsible for my life. He's responsible for the outcome. He's responsible for how long I live and how long I get to serve and minister. The weight of it is off my shoulders. He's responsible for what happens in the end, and I'm not. I just get to enjoy the journey.

In fact, I believe it's what you don't surrender to him that ends up eating you alive because you carry it and you feel so responsible to somehow bring it all to a good conclusion when deep in your heart you know you never can. What is it that is strangling the joy out of your life? The Bible says the answer to that fear, that worry, is to pray about it. Instead of stewing over it, choose to read God's word, make it a part of your life every day, and do that one thing you know God wants you to do. And the promise is the peace of God shall march around your heart and guard your mind in Christ Jesus.

Speaker 2

By now, I hope you've put a finger on that issue that's eating you alive. Have you identified the problem that's making your stomach churn and causing you to lose sleep at night? God knows your situation. He's standing there and he's ready to march around your heart and give you peace.

I've written a book to help you do just that. It parallels our month-long study in Philippians, but goes far deeper into many relevant topics we've been addressing. So as we near the conclusion of February, today's the day to request your copy of *Outrageous Joy: Living Above Your Circumstances*. It comes with my thanks when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. This is a full-length hardcover edition, so you might gauge the size of your gift with that in mind.

In addition to my book, I'll be sure to include the Scripture Encouragement Card as well. It contains six of my favorite verses from Philippians and will help you stay focused on the Biblical foundation for Unbridled.

In closing, let me say a word of thanks to our Pathway Partners who give generously every month. Many of our Pathway Partners are brand new, having signed up recently. It's never too late to establish this life-impacting relationship with us to become a Pathway partner today. Just give us a call or go online to ptv.org, and when you give your first gift to a Pathway partner, I'll be sure to send you my book *Outrageous Joy* and the Scripture Encouragement Card as well.

Here's David with all the details.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You know, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll send you a copy of Dr. Jeffress's book *Outrageous Joy*, designed to help you live out the principles we're learning in our current study. Give a gift and request the book when you call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. When your gift is $75 or more, you'll receive the book as well as our current teaching series, *Living Above Your Circumstances*, on both audio and video discs. But this special offer ends this week, so get in touch right away. Again, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. You could write to us if you'd like. Here's that address: P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins inviting you back next time for a message called "When You Can't Get No Satisfaction." That's coming up Tuesday 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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