Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001310
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00:07 It has stood the test of time.
00:12 God4s book, the Bible. 00:17 Still relevant in today4s complex world 00:22 It Is Written, sharing hope around the globe. 00:36 Thanks for joining me today. 00:39 If there4s one subject the Bible speaks about 00:41 more than any other, what do you think it is? 00:44 Alright. I'll tell you. 00:46 The Bible speaks about money, about finances more than it does 00:49 about any other single subject, which ought to suggest to us 00:55 that the subject of finance and money and money management 00:59 is important and is important in the sight of God. 01:05 Today I am in Eastern Tennessee and my guest is Ed Reid, 01:08 who has written the book about money management. 01:11 Ed, thanks for joining me today. 01:12 ER: Well, it's a pleasure to be with you, John. 01:14 JB: Let's start by asking you why you think there's not a lot 01:17 of time left for planet earth. 01:18 Why are these the last days? 01:20 ER: Well the Bible gives two ways for us to know. 01:22 The first one is the great prophetic timeline and we see 01:26 the time is running out and the other one are signs that 01:29 Jesus gave us and we would see near the end and they're in 01:31 abundance today. 01:32 JB: Such as? 01:33 ER: Well, earthquakes, for example. Matthew, Mark, Luke 01:35 and John, especially Matthew, Mark and Luke 01:38 talk about the synoptic gospels, earthquakes in different places 01:41 near the end as an indication of end-time. 01:43 JB: Okay, now, Devil's advocate. 01:45 There have always been earthquakes. They had them back 01:47 in Bible times. Why should we be concerned when another 01:51 earthquake strikes today? 01:51 ER: Five of the largest earthquakes ever to occur 01:54 on the earth have happened in the last 50 years, 01:57 over a 6 thousand year history. 01:58 JB: Jesus in Matthew 24 said these signs would be like birth 02:01 pains, didn't he? 02:02 ER: Yes. 02:03 JB: Which indicates that they would become more frequent 02:05 and more intense. 02:05 ER: Indeed. 02:06 JB: Do you think we are seeing that? 02:07 ER: I do, indeed. Yes. 02:08 JB: Okay. Now if you think that we are getting 02:10 close to the end of time. 02:11 I believe that. 02:13 I believe that and many, many people watching today 02:15 are totally convinced of that. 02:17 The Bible talks an awful lot about money and finance. 02:19 Clearly a very important subject, and very important God. 02:23 It's important to all of us. 02:25 If we don't have it, life becomes a difficult 02:28 proposition. How, then, should people of faith who 02:33 are convinced that Jesus is returning some time soon, 02:37 and I know that word soon is a relative word, 02:40 how should people be approaching their finances keeping in mind 02:45 the end might be near. 02:45 ER: Well I think the first thing to do is to put God first in 02:48 your life. I could give you a long time recitation of things 02:55 to do, you know, budgeting, and all that. But I think 02:57 the Book of Proverbs, the third chapter, talks 03:01 about honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first 03:03 part of all your increase and your barns will be filled 03:06 with plenty and your vats with new wine and so on. 03:07 Those are written to farmer people but they apply to us 03:09 in the same way. 03:11 And it says don't be wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord 03:14 and depart from evil"and so on, so I think putting God first. 03:19 JB: Okay now, let me ask you a question. Right there in 03:22 Proverbs 3, Honor the Lord with your substance. What does that 03:24 mean? 03:25 ER: Well, I use the New King James version, and it says 03:27 your possessions, your stuff, we would say. Honor the Lord 03:31 with your stuff. And this means, well, you mentioned that 03:34 the Bible talks more about money than about any other subject any 03:37 other single subject and more than two thousand verses talk 03:40 about it. Somebody asked me, well, what is your favorite 03:43 one? Well, it's not even a many one, but Genesis 1:1 saysIn 03:46 the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."So if 03:48 God is the Creator, I'm a creature. If he's the Creator 03:51 He's the Owner, I'm just a manager. So the way I manage 03:53 God's money is a very, very important situation. I believe 03:58 that we are saved by faith alone. The great Protestant 04:01 tradition. But the fact is we're not saved by our money 04:04 management but we can manage away from God. Do you get what 04:08 I'm saying by that? We could move away in our management. 04:10 JB: Certainly. 04:10 ER: Thinking in terms of selfishness and so on. 04:13 In fact, one of the signs of the end is in 2 Timothy, 04:15 the third chapter, where it says in the last days 04:17 perilous times will come and men will be lovers of 04:20 themselves [they're selfish] and lovers of money . That's an 04:25 amazing one. And then also, the 5th chapter of James, in the 04:28 first five verses saysThe rich will heap up treasures for the 04:32 last days. It's all going to get burned up. That's the amazing 04:35 thing. But the interesting thing is they are doing it. Let me 04:38 give you an illustration of last day stuff. 04:40 JB: Sure. 04:41 ER: If I am a professional person with advanced degrees 04:44 and I could earn about a hundred thousand a year, 04:46 in my entire lifetime and this is amazing of 40 04:48 years of working, I will make four million dollars. Recently, 04:56 even during the economic downturn, some of the Wall 05:00 Street bankers got bonuses of 40 million dollars which is 10 05:04 times more than a professional person will make in his entire 05:07 lifetime of hard work. Now this is incredible. Do you 05:11 understand? The rich are saving up for the last days. 05:14 JB: Sure ER: There could not be a better 05:16 example of that, in my opinion. 05:18 JB: So now, we are honoring the Lord with our substance, 05:21 with our possessions, our stuff. 05:22 ER: Yes. 05:23 JB: Planning for the last days of earth's history. Now, I don't 05:26 expect that you are going to be an extremist on this. 05:29 I don't think you're going to be a radical on this. How do we go 05:31 about that? What should we be thinking? 05:33 ER: The very first thing I am telling people now is people 05:36 say, well, is it time to get back into the market? 05:38 Should we start investing again? 05:39 And I tell people, if you have any debts at all, investing in 05:42 your own debt is the best thing you can do. Guaranteed returns, 05:46 better interest rate that you can get, even if your money is 05:48 in there. Better than the stock market where you could lose it 05:51 -- many people have, as you may know. And the amazing thing 05:54 about it is that people, even on credit card debt, the average 05:57 year now, 915 billion dollars a month is not paid off 06:03 on credit cards that are carried over from month to month. 06:05 Minimum 10% and probably many of those up to 27%. 06:08 People are praying on those kinds of balances and not paying 06:12 off those credit cards. So I would say, after putting God 06:15 first in your life, which is managing from God's perspective, 06:18 and that would include the tithe and so on, but then the very 06:21 best thing you can practical management do your very best 06:24 to get out of debt. 06:24 JB: Okay. 06:25 You mentioned credit card debt. 06:27 What other debts are people carrying? 06:29 ER: Well, I'll just give you, for example, automobiles. 06:31 Almost everybody who is making time payments on a car 06:34 actually owes more on it than it's worth. So I'm suggesting, 06:37 and I practice this myself, to drive your car at least 06:40 10 years and then you get twice its value out of it. 06:42 Take care of it. Manage it. 06:43 You know, instead of having to have a new one. 06:47 Many new cars are sold on looks, as you know, somebody on TV 06:50 you see them driving down the neighborhood and somebody 06:52 runs up to the porch to see somebody's new car. It doesn't 06:54 tell you what kind of mileage it gets, how long it will last, 06:57 or anything. It's just well, we need a new car. 06:58 The bottom line is take care of your car and drive it 07:00 a long time then you're not upside down on the mortgage. 07:03 JB: Now, now you're suggesting now, you're suggesting I want 07:07 that new car, man You're suggesting how I might be 07:12 ordering my priorities and and and yeah, I might want that. I 07:18 really want that new car, Ed. 07:19 ER: You told me not to be radical but I am going to be 07:22 radical in one thing. In an ideal world, people would pay 07:26 cash for their cars. So, once you get your car paid off if you 07:30 save up the equivalent of a car payment until you have enough to 07:32 pay cash by the way, if you pay cash, you are really going 07:35 to think twice about do I really want to spend $30,000 of 07:38 my money on this car? Do you see what I'm saying? 07:41 JB: Yeah. 07:42 Whereas if you're putting down a down payment and paying it off 07:44 over 10 years, it doesn't seem quite so painful and the actual 07:46 fact is it's way more payments. 07:47 ER: Yes, it's actually 50% more by doing that over time. 07:49 JB: Okay. We looked at a couple of things right now. 07:51 One of them getting out of debt. 07:53 Looking after yourself by paying down your debt 07:56 and being free from debt. 07:58 We talked about cars. 07:59 I'm sure we are going to talk about more things in a moment. 08:02 Money management, stewardship as the approach of Jesus 08:06 is near. 08:08 Thanks for joining me today. 08:09 Don't go away. I'll be back in just a moment. In Matthew 4:4 08:14 the Word of God says It is 08:22 "Every Word is a one minute Bible-based daily 08:26 devotional presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed 08:29 especially for busy people like you. Look for Every Word on 08:33 selected networks or watch it on-line everyday on our website 08:38 itiswritten.com. Receive a daily spiritual boost. Watch Every 08:41 Word. You'll be glad you did. 08:47 Thanks for being with me today. 08:48 I am joined today by Ed Reid who has literally written the book 08:52 on money management and on Bible prophecy. And today we are 08:56 looking at how a person should plan financially keeping in mind 09:00 that Jesus' return is near. 09:02 JB:A moment ago, Ed, we were talking about how 09:05 important it is that a person should want to get out of debt. 09:09 We looked at some of those debts might be. You mentioned 09:12 clearing car payments. 09:12 ER: Credit cards. 09:13 JB: What are some other and credit cards, thanks. 09:17 What are some other areas that people typically carry debt 09:19 on that they might and perhaps even relatively easily, 09:21 clear those debts and get out of debt? 09:23 ER: Well, a lot of people don't think about this 09:26 but I actually encourage people to prepay the principal on their 09:29 home mortgage. Houses cost so much today because there 09:32 is credit available so we almost always have to get a loan. Very 09:36 few people have the cash to do it so I encourage people to get 09:41 an amortization schedule and prepay principle, like when you 09:44 make a regular payment make another payment's principal, if 09:48 you can, each month if you can, and pay your house off in half 09:50 the time. 09:51 JB: Okay. Explain that a little more slowly. 09:52 ER: Alright. If you have an amortization schedule, 09:54 it has like 5 columns in it and one of them is the number 09:56 of the payment like 1-360, and then it's how much 10:00 the payment itself is, how much goes to the bank 10:04 for interest, how much of that is principle and what your 10:07 balance is. And every time you make one regular payment, which 10:10 you have to do every month, add next month's principal 10:13 payment, which is a much smaller sum (for some people it will be 10:15 like $150). 10:17 When you do that, you've paid two payments in one and the next 10:21 time the third payment. 10:21 So you can pay it off in half the time. 10:23 That's incredible. I've done that two times in my life. 10:28 JB: So you can pay it off in half the time without paying out 10:29 twice as much money. 10:30 ER: Oh yes. That's incredible. 10:32 It's amazing, really. 10:33 You save thousands, literally thousands. 10:36 JB: Okay, someone is writing a note furiously to themselves. 10:39 They are trying to remember what you said. 10:41 Let's make it easy for people. 10:42 If someone wants to review this, that information you gave, 10:45 how can they find that information real quick? 10:47 ER: Well you can just look at an amortization schedule. 10:50 You can find the amortization schedule for your loan on-line, 10:51 for example, print it off and then you can easily see 10:54 what I've just said. 10:57 JB: Are banks happy when people choose to do this? 10:59 ER: I don't think so. 10:59 JB: But that's not really the point here, is it? 11:00 ER: No. As long as there is no prepayment penalty and most 11:02 loans today don't have one and you can do that very easily. 11:05 JB: Okay, talking about getting out of debt, because 11:07 I don't think that it would be wise to be carrying a whole 11:09 bunch of debt into troublesome times that are coming. 11:12 ER: Yes. 11:13 JB: How is a person supposed to get out of debt if, say they 11:15 are wanting to buy a house. Like you said, not everybody can go 11:17 and pay cash for a house. You pretty well have got to borrow 11:22 money to buy a house. What is the right approach? 11:25 ER: I would suggest a couple of things. One of them is 11:27 to make sure you put 20% down so you don't have private 11:29 mortgage insurance to pay. 11:30 That is something that just guarantees your loan 11:33 to the bank. 11:34 It does not benefit you in any way. So have a 20% down 11:36 payment minimum. In addition to that, every time you prepay 11:38 a payment, it builds your own net worth. 11:44 If the economy were to turn really bad, most people 11:47 that don't prepay are upside down on their mortgage, 11:50 which means they owe more on it than it's worth. 11:52 But if you have prepaid, that should not be a bother 11:54 to you. So, it's better to do that in my opinion. 11:56 And I will just tell you that right now, today, aside from 12:02 end-times, we are having 10 thousand Americans retire every 12:07 day of the week, starting this year, and this will last for 10 12:10 years in a row. This is the baby boomer generation. And people 12:14 know they are ready to retire when they have their debts paid 12:17 off, including their home mortgage, when they have 12:20 a reasonable income stream, and they have health insurance. 12:21 So, just to prepare for end times would be the same 12:25 thing, in my opinion. 12:27 Try to be debt-free so that no matter what comes in the 12:29 future, it does not adversely affect you. 12:32 JB: Okay. Give me some more. 12:34 What are the principles of money management? 12:36 Why is financial planning stewardship? Should people be 12:39 entertaining when they are thinking Jesus is coming back 12:41 soon? Because I've heard people sayThe Lord is coming back 12:44 and it doesn't matter. 12:45 Let's rack up debt. 12:46 Let's do just go nuts because the Lord is coming back 12:49 and we don't have to worry about it. That's irresponsible. 12:51 ER: I've heard that as well. 12:52 But I really believe that the Bible says in 12:54 Psalms 37:21 The wicked borrow and do not repay." It is not 12:59 a Christian perspective to rack up debts and walk off from 13:01 them. In addition to that, before God's people are taken to 13:05 heaven, we are going to have a time of trouble such as never 13:08 was since there was a nation and the people that are in debt are 13:11 going to have the worse time of it. Essentially, losing 13:13 everything. So I think we need to have a focus away from this 13:15 earth and toward our Kingdom. 13:16 I would suggest very sincerely that the more we can we should 13:19 support ministries like It Is Written and others with any 13:24 available cash, it's not going to be good in sometime in the 13:27 future and all the stuff we have is going to get burned up 13:31 some day. 13:32 JB: It's true, isn't it? 13:33 Now we have an opportunity to do something with our funds that 13:35 one day we are simply not going to be able to use. 13:37 ER: Yes. Think of all the money that was lost in the downturn 13:39 in the economic markets from 2008 and 2009. 13:42 If that money alone that people lost had been put into 13:45 ministries, we would have more money than we knew what to do 13:48 with. We are talking millions, even billions of dollars lost in 13:51 the portfolios of many Americans. 13:53 JB: Okay. Financial stewardship. 13:55 Looking toward to the return of Jesus. Take us a step 13:58 further with this. 13:58 ER: Right now we have very high unemployment. We need to be 14:03 employed so that we can help support our families and do the 14:07 work of God. So I would suggest do all you can to stay employed. 14:12 In other words, be a diligent worker. And it's interesting. 14:17 Proverbs 22 talks about Show me a man who is diligent in his 14:20 work and he will stand before kings, not mere men."Be the 14:23 best employee that you can be that's important. And if you 14:27 don't have a job, I would suggest that you take any job 14:31 that you can that does not violate your conscience. 14:33 You would not want to be a go-go dancer or a bar tender or 14:35 something, but most any job would be of value to you 14:39 if you didn't have a job. 14:40 JB:It is important, isn't it, that people put themselves 14:42 in a position and I say this kindly because I know 14:44 some people are out of work and would do anything they could 14:47 to change that. It's important to make yourself as employable 14:50 as possible. 14:50 ER: Oh yes. 14:52 JB: What are some simple things, just very simple things somebody 14:54 can do to enhance their employability? 14:56 ER: Well, you can find out, for example, what kind of jobs 14:58 are available. 14:59 For example, health care in the economy right now. 15:02 For example, go to a hospital parking lot and you can hardly 15:05 find a place to park. 15:07 Very few healthcare workers have lost their jobs. 15:09 There is not very much unemployment in that area. Train 15:12 yourself for some level of health care. You know, nursing, 15:14 inhalation therapy, whatever it might be, lab tech, whatever. 15:16 Those are things that are important. Computers are still 15:20 important. Everybody gets their stuff on their cell phones 15:22 and their computers and so on. 15:24 Computer guys are staying busy and they are making good 15:26 incomes, much more than preachers, as you may know. 15:28 JB: Yeah, yeah. 15:29 Moving right along, what other advice can we give people 15:33 that are thinking about the end of time and wondering what 15:35 to do, how to manage their finances wisely. 15:37 ER: I would say, live within your means. 15:40 Make a budget. This is kind of like going on a diet and most 15:43 people don't' want to do that. 15:44 Make a simple budget. Here's what my income is. Here's what 15:46 my expenses are each month. Live within your means. Let me give 15:50 you a simple illustration. 15:51 Because of the bombardment of advertising today, most people 15:55 think they need more stuff but most of us can get along just 15:58 fine with the stuff we already have. In fact, I ask people, how 16:01 many of you think you have stuff you will never use as long as 16:04 you live? And most people raise their hands. Have a yard sale. 16:06 Sell off stuff. Put that money on your debts and so on. But if 16:09 you don't think that you can live within your means or too 16:12 poor to save, visit a third world country like Haiti or 16:15 Central India, or some of those places, and you will realize 16:19 that you are very rich. If you have a car, in any condition, 16:24 you are in the top 5% of people in the whole world. So, let's 16:27 just learn to live within our means and that is going to be a 16:29 very helpful thing near the end-time. You can't afford to 16:32 get further in debt. This is kind of a tail onto the one of 16:35 getting out of debt, but certainly don't go further 16:38 in debt. 16:38 JB: A simple idea. Live within your means. Yet, so many 16:40 people find it very, very difficult to do that. We are 16:44 talking today about financial management, stewardship, money 16:47 management, keeping in mind that Jesus is coming back soon. I'll 16:51 have more with Ed Reid in just a moment. 16:55 It is writen is dedicated to sharing the gospel around the 16:57 world. 16:59 Our dream is to impact the world for God. 17:02 Our Television program is only one aspect of how we try to 17:04 accomplish that. To discover more about it is Written, I 17:08 invited you to visit our website itiswritten.com 17:10 and browse the dozens of pages that describe what we do and how 17:14 we do it. 17:16 You will also find an archive of past programs in script form and 17:19 as streaming video an audio files along with many other 17:23 helpful inspirational resources. 17:26 Let's get to know each other better. 17:28 Visit our website itiswritten.com today. 17:34 JB: Thanks for joining me today on It Is 17:36 Written. My guest today is Ed Reid, an accomplished speaker 17:40 and author and you may not want me using this word, Ed, 17:42 but anexpert"in the fields of financial management and Bible 17:45 prophecy. We are talking today about how believers in Jesus 17:50 should approach finances keeping in mind that Jesus is returning 17:54 we believe soon! Now, the last thing we spoke about you 17:56 know, really, this is the sort of thing we can talk about all 18:00 day, how important it is for a person to live within 18:02 their means ER: Yes. 18:04 JB: If you have $10 don't spend $11. Which means that 18:08 if I have an income of X and I want to buy an automobile 18:12 that really belongs to someone who has an income of Y or X 18:18 times 3, I might want to scale back my expectations a little 18:21 bit, right? 18:21 ER: I think so. Yes. 18:22 And let me just suggest also that it is a good idea to have a 18:26 little savings, even if you have a smaller income than you would 18:29 like, I would suggest saving something out of every paycheck 18:32 and this not for retirement Wha I am talking 18:34 about here is doing something for emergency's sake.' 18:38 JB: Okay. 18:38 Now someone, she is sitting here watching our program. She is at 18:42 home raising her two and a half kids, and dad has a job, it's 18:45 not a high paying job and she's sayingthis guy is saying save? 18:50 I can't even get the groceries paid for each week. 18:52 ER: I would budget savings just like groceries 18:54 or utilities. It could be a small amount, like $50 18:58 every paycheck or something. But when you can build that up, many 19:02 financial counselors suggest having at least a $1,000 for 19:05 emergency and try to have .. the general savings is three to six 19:10 months equivalent of living expenses in an emergency savings 19:13 fund that you can draw upon should you have transmission 19:17 problems with your car, your refrigerator goes out, you have 19:19 a health emergency that your insurance doesn't cover. 19:21 JB: This isn't for a trip to Disneyland? 19:23 ER: No, no, no. And the real interesting thing I would tell 19:25 you is, even eating out is kind of incredible. 19:30 I would suggest that if you eat out once a day, it doubles your 19:34 family's food budget for the month. So eating out should be a 19:36 special occasion, you know, for a special thing, birthdays, 19:39 anniversaries, that kind of thing. And the most amazing 19:42 thing to show you that Americans need that, go to any well-known 19:47 restaurant and you have to wait to get in, even though there is 19:51 a downturn in the economy, people are still eating out. 19:53 JB: I have wondered. 19:54 I have marveled, as a matter of fact, many times 19:55 that the economy is apparently in such bad shape 19:57 that the restaurants are full. 19:58 ER: Yes, isn't that incredible? 20:00 JB: Yes. That's not something you have to do eat out. But it 20:02 is something you could, perhaps, you could work that another way, 20:05 couldn't you? 20:05 ER: Lack of savings is the biggest reason people 20:08 go in debt. They don't intend to go in debt but something 20:11 happens to their car, or you know something like that. 20:14 They have to go then and put it on a credit card 20:17 and then they pay for it two or three times over. 20:20 JB: Now what about investing? 20:21 I know we gotta be careful here. 20:22 We can't tell people what to invest in and what not 20:24 to invest in. 20:24 ER: Yes. 20:24 JB: How should a person approach investing? 20:26 ER: Well this is a very good question because obviously, 20:29 wise and prudent people don't spend everything they 20:32 make. As I said before, live within your income. But you 20:35 would have to think in terms of the future. When you can't work 20:39 as gainfully as you used to, or should you lose your job or 20:41 whatever. So I would suggest, first of all, invest in your own 20:44 debts. That's the very best investment anyone can make. 20:47 Guaranteed return. For example, if you have money in a CD, you 20:52 might be getting 1% or 2% but if you are paying off your credit 20:56 cards, you're making 10% or 27% so that's an investment that I 21:00 would recommend. But another thing is, in these unusual times 21:04 and by the way, your question is so good that I want to insert 21:07 this BEWARE of get rich quick schemes. There are hawksters out 21:10 there that want to get your money. And so I would suggest 21:13 that people always counsel with someone else before investing 21:16 somewhere. This great thing comes along by the way, most 21:20 get rich quick schemes are introduced to people by their 21:23 friends who sincerely believe they are doing their friends a 21:25 favor. But you have to really look at it. Something you don't 21:29 understand, you have to invest quickly, you know it's gonna 21:31 promise high returns, all of that. And I'm just going to tell 21:35 you AVOID those at all cost. 21:37 Even if it makes you so you are not friends with that person 21:42 because you are going to end up not being friends anyway. 21:44 JB: Typically with investing, isn't it true, if something 21:45 seems too good to be true, it usually is. 21:48 ER: Oh Yes. It almost always is. 21:48 And the real interesting thing about investments, I would say, 21:50 even though the government is trillions of dollars in debt, 21:56 probably the safest investments are government-backed 21:59 securities. Because the government has the unique 22:01 ability to print money if they need to. But you know, it's kind 22:03 of the standard. So I would suggest, if you have to put 22:07 money away that you're not investing in your debts, put it 22:10 in a secure position. Because if you could make more in the stock 22:13 market, the higher the level of income offered, the greater risk 22:16 it is. That's always true whether the people telling you 22:19 believe it or not, whether you believe it or not, whether it 22:22 seems possible even. The higher the interest promised, 22:25 the greater the risk. 22:27 It's always true. 22:27 JB: Now if Jesus is coming back soon, if the end is near, 22:29 and I don't' say that in fact, I don't say that as a doom 22:32 merchant, I say that full of hope. 22:34 ER: Aren't we all excited? 22:34 JB: How important is it that a person really keeps an eye on 22:36 the future? 22:37 ER: Well I will just tell you this. Christian Bible believers 22:42 have inside information. 22:43 Now in the investing world, that's not a good idea 22:46 of having, as you know. 22:47 But we have inside information and it's in 2 Peter 3:10, 22:50 that when the Lord returns, the earth will get 22:54 burned up and all the works of men and as I tell people, 22:57 that will reduce its value considerably. All the stuff gets 23:00 burned up. So I would say as a Christian, you know, get rid of 23:04 the stuff that you don't need. 23:05 A lot of the us have things we've carried around for years 23:07 that we really don't need. 23:08 Divest yourself of the stuff you don't need. 23:11 Sell it at yard sales. 23:13 Now here's the real story. 23:14 Christians are going to work together for the greatest event 23:17 ever and that's to work together to finish the work of God on 23:19 this earth. It is not going to be free. God is going to ask us 23:22 to utilize stuff he has given us. Remember,honor the Lord 23:26 with your possessions, your stuff and that's the way we help 23:28 him do it, helping Him to finish the work of God. So I think 23:31 another thing. This earth is not our final home. We have dual 23:35 citizenship as Christians, citizens here of whatever 23:38 country we are in and citizenship in heaven when we 23:41 accept Christ. So we are moving from one to the other and we 23:44 want to move our assets from here to the new earth so that we 23:48 can be blessed and to bless others at the same time. 23:51 JB: Okay. Let's go to the Bible. 23:52 A couple of verses, a couple of Bible verses 23:55 that you believe are especially helpful, especially pertinent 23:58 to people as they are wanting to honor the Lord with what 24:00 they have, keeping in mind that the time is short. 24:03 ER: Well, I would think of first John. That's a very 24:06 interesting one. Chapter two. 24:08 I believe I have it marked here in my Bible so I can find it 24:11 quickly and verses 15 to 17 says something similar to 2 Peter 24:16 that I just mentioned. Don't love the world or the things in 24:18 the world. If you do, the love of the Father is not in you 24:21 because all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes and 24:24 so on, is not of the Father but is of the world. And that's just 24:28 giving this point. The world is passing away and the lust of it. 24:33 But he that does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:17. So 24:37 what that says to me is it's not going to pass away, it is in the 24:41 process of passing away. With all of the natural disasters and 24:45 things, the world is waxing old like a garment, is what it says 24:49 in the Bible. And we have to understand. I believe in 24:52 ecology. I believe in separating my trash and all that kind of 24:55 stuff. But we are not going to save the planet. The Bible is 24:57 clear that it is passing away and the lust of it but he that 25:01 does the will of God abides forever. So I would say that as 25:03 you read through the Scripture, look for the will of God, put 25:05 that part in your life. 25:07 JB: How about if we pray together because a lot of people 25:09 are taking on board what you have said today and they 25:10 are saying, Lord, some things have got to change 25:12 around here. I've got to get it right now and it's not 25:15 going to happen unless people are praying 25:16 their way through this. 25:17 Let's pray together, shall we? 25:18 ER: Okay. 25:19 JB: Our Father, we thank you in the name of Jesus that 25:22 you are willing to guide us in some of the most practical 25:27 and important areas of our lives. There are a few things 25:30 more practical than our daily finances. We are all confronted 25:34 with the importance of them and sometimes confounded by them. As 25:38 we have talked today, Ed and I, I pray that you would guide us 25:41 all as we seek to honor you with our stuff, and our possessions 25:46 and our finances, as we seek to plan prudently with the return 25:50 of Jesus so imminent. I pray your Holy Spirit will guide us 25:55 and keep us. Let your will be done. Please be first in our 25:58 lives and let us face the future with confidence, confidence that 26:02 comes from knowing we are honoring you. In Jesus' name we 26:05 pray, Amen. 26:05 ER: Amen. 26:30 Today we have been talking about crucial financial 26:31 issues that affect all of us. 26:32 Our goal at It Is Written is to help you live a more 26:35 satisfying and God-centered life. So this week, our free 26:39 offer is a helpful book on finance called God will provide. 26:45 It is a practical discussion on how God has promised to provide 26:48 for the needs of His faithful servant and includes a special 26:53 section prepared by Ed Reid, whom you met on today's program 26:56 Managing Finances in Difficult Times. Please call or write us 26:58 and this free book will be on its way to you. There's no cost 27:03 and no obligation. Just call 1 800 253 3000. Just ask for the 27:08 book God will Provide. You can also request this free book by 27:11 writing to It Is Written, Box O, Thousand Oaks, CA 91359 and 27:15 we'll mail a copy to your address in North America. Please 27:22 note this free book is limited to the supply on hand. For 27:26 immediate access, you can download a free electronic 27:29 version of the book God will Provide, from our website 27:33 itiswritten.com. Thank you for your letters and your continued 27:37 support. It is Written is a faith-based ministry made 27:40 possible by viewers like you. If you wish to help the worldwide 27:43 outreach of It Is Written, your tax deductible gift may be sent 27:47 to the same address or you can make a gift on line at 27:50 itiswritten.com 27:51 And thank you for joining me today. I look 27:53 forward to seeing you again next time. Until then, remember: It 27:57 Is Written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word 28:01 that proceeds from the mouth of God. |
Revised 2015-02-05