Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001390A
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00:06 It has stood the test of time. 00:11 God4s book, the Bible. 00:16 Still relevant in today4s complex world ...... 00:21 It Is Written, sharing hope around the globe. 00:36 Thanks for joining me today. If there4s one subject 00:39 the Bible speaks about more than any other, 00:43 what do you think it is? Alright. I'll tell you. 00:46 The Bible speaks about money, about finances more than it does 00:51 about any other single subject, 00:54 which ought to suggest to us that the subject of finance and 00:58 money and money management is important 01:01 and is important in the sight of God. 01:04 Today I am in Eastern Tennessee and my guest is Ed Reid, 01:08 who has written the book about money management. 01:10 Ed, thanks for joining me today. ER: Well, it's a pleasure to be 01:12 with you, John. JB: Let's start by asking you 01:14 why you think there's not a lot of time left for planet earth. 01:18 Why are these the last days? ER: Well the Bible gives two 01:20 ways for us to know. The first one is the great 01:23 prophetic timeline and we see the time is running out 01:27 and then the other one are signs that Jesus gave us 01:29 that we would see near the end and they're in 01:31 abundance today. JB: Such as? 01:32 ER: Well, earthquakes, for example. 01:34 Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, especially Matthew, Mark and 01:37 Luke talk about the synoptic gospels, earthquakes in 01:40 different places near the end as an indication of end-time. 01:44 JB: Okay, now, Devil's advocate. There have always been 01:45 earthquakes. They had them back 01:47 in Bible times. Why should we be concerned 01:50 when another earthquake strikes today? 01:51 ER: Five of the largest earthquakes ever to occur on the 01:54 earth have happened in the last 50 years, 01:56 over a 6 thousand year history. JB: Jesus in Matthew 24 said 02:00 these signs would be like birth pains, didn't he? 02:02 ER: Yes. JB: Which indicates that they 02:03 would become more frequent and more intense. 02:05 ER: Indeed. JB: You think 02:06 we are seeing that? ER: I do, indeed. 02:07 Yes. JB: Okay, alright. 02:08 Now if true that we are getting close 02:10 to the end of time. I believe that. 02:12 I believe that and many, many people watching today are 02:15 totally convinced of that. The Bible talks an awful lot 02:19 about money and finance. Clearly a very important 02:22 subject, and very important God. It's important to all of us. 02:25 If we don't have it, life becomes 02:27 a difficult proposition. How, then, should people of 02:32 faith who are convinced that Jesus is returning some time 02:37 soon, and I know that word soon is a relative word, 02:40 how should people be approaching their finances keeping in mind 02:44 the end might be near. ER: Well I think the first thing 02:47 to do is to put God first in your life. 02:50 I could give you a long time recitation of things to do, 02:55 you know, budgeting, and all that. 02:57 But I think - the Book of Proverbs, the third chapter, 03:00 talks about honor the Lord with your possessions and with the 03:03 first part of all your increase and your barns will be filled 03:05 with plenty and your vats with new wine and so on. 03:08 Those are written to farmer people but they apply to us 03:10 in the same way. And it says "don't be wise in 03:13 your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from 03:15 evil" and so on, so I think putting God first. 03:18 JB: Okay now, let me ask you a question. 03:21 Right there in Proverbs 3, Honor the Lord 03:22 with your substance. ER: Yes. 03:24 JB: What does that mean? ER: Well, I use the New King 03:26 James version, and it says "your possessions", 03:28 "your stuff", we would say. Honor the Lord with your stuff. 03:31 And this means, well,@ you mentioned that 03:34 the Bible talks more about money than about any other subject 03:36 - any other single subject - and more than two thousand 03:39 verses talk about it. Somebody asked me, well, 03:41 what is your favorite one? Well, it's not even a money one, 03:44 but Genesis 1:1 says "In the beginning, God created 03:46 the heavens and the earth." So if God is the Creator, 03:49 I'm a creature. If he's the Creator He's the 03:51 Owner, I'm just a manager. So the way I manage God's money@ 03:55 is a very, very important situation. 03:57 I believe that we are saved by faith alone. 03:59 The great Protestant tradition. But the fact is we're not saved 04:03 by our money management but we can manage away from God. 04:07 Do you get what I'm saying by that? 04:08 We could move away in our management. 04:10 JB: Certainly. ER: Thinking in terms of 04:11 selfishness and so on. In fact, one of the signs of the 04:14 end is in 2 Timothy, the third chapter, where it says "in the 04:17 last days perilous times will come and men will be lovers of 04:20 themselves [they're selfish] and lovers of money". 04:24 That's an amazing one. And then also, the 5th chapter 04:26 of James, in the first five verses says "The rich will heap 04:30 up treasures for the last days. It's all going to get burned up. 04:34 That's the amazing thing. But the interesting thing is 04:36 they are doing it. Let me give you an illustration 04:38 of last day stuff. JB: Sure. 04:40 ER: If I am a professional person with advanced degrees and 04:43 I could earn about a hundred thousand a year, 04:45 in my entire lifetime - and this is amazing - 04:49 of 40 years of working, I will make 04:52 four million dollars. Recently, even during the 04:56 economic downturn, some of the Wall Street bankers got bonuses 05:01 of 40 million dollars which is 10 times more than 05:05 a professional person will make in his entire lifetime 05:08 of hard work. Now this is incredible. 05:10 Do you understand? The rich are saving up for the 05:12 last days. JB: Sure 05:14 ER: There could not be a better example of that, 05:16 in my opinion. JB: So now, we're talking are 05:18 honoring the Lord with our substance, with our possessions, 05:21 our stuff. ER: Yes. 05:22 JB: Planning for the last days of earth's history. 05:25 Now, I don't expect that you are going to be an extremist 05:27 on this. I don't think you're going to be 05:28 a radical on this. How do we go about that? 05:31 What should we be thinking? ER: The very first thing I am 05:34 telling people now is ... people say, well, is it time to 05:36 get back into the market? Should we start investing again? 05:38 And I tell people, if you have any debts at all, investing in 05:41 your own debt is the best thing you can do. 05:45 Guaranteed returns, better interest rate that you can get, 05:47 even if your money is in there. Better than the stock market 05:49 where you could lose it -- many people have, as you may know. 05:52 And the amazing thing about it is that people, even on credit 05:55 card debt, the average year now, 915 billion dollars a month 06:02 is not paid off on credit cards that are carried over from month 06:04 to month. Minimum 10% and probably many of 06:07 those up to 27%. People are paying on those kinds 06:10 of balances and not paying off those credit cards. 06:12 So I would say, after putting God first in your life, which is 06:15 managing from God's perspective, and that would include the tithe 06:18 and so on, but then the very best thing you can do - 06:21 practical management - do your very best to get out of debt. 06:24 JB: Okay. You mentioned credit card debt. 06:26 What other debts are people carrying? 06:28 ER: Well, I'll just give you, for example, automobiles. 06:31 Almost everybody who is making time payments on a car actually 06:34 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. 06:43 Take care of it. Manage it. 06:45 You know, instead of having to have a new one. 06:46 Many new cars are sold on looks, as you know, somebody on TV 06:49 you see them driving down the neighborhood and everybody runs 06:51 up to the porch to see somebody's new car. 06:53 It doesn't tell you what kind of mileage it gets, how long it 06:55 will last, or anything. It's just well, 06:57 we need a new car. The bottom line is take care of 06:59 your car and drive it a long time then you're not upside down 07:01 on the mortgage. JB: Now, now you're suggesting 07:04 now, you're suggesting ... 07:07 I want that new car, man ... You know, you're suggesting that 07:10 I might need to take a look at how I'm ordering my priorities 07:14 and and and and yeah, I might want that. 07:18 I really want that new car, Ed. ER: You told me not to be 07:20 radical but I am going to be radical in one thing. 07:23 In an ideal world, people would pay cash for their cars. 07:27 So, once you get your car paid off if you save up the 07:29 equivalent of the car payment until you have enough 07:31 to pay cash - by the way, if you pay cash, 07:34 you are really going to think twice about "do I really 07:36 want to spend $30,000 of my money on this car? 07:40 Do you see what I'm saying? JB: Yeah. 07:41 Whereas if you're putting down a down payment and paying it off 07:43 over 10 years, it doesn't seem quite so painful when the actual 07:45 fact is it's way more payments. ER: Yes, it's might be 50% more 07:48 by doing that over time. JB: Okay. 07:50 We looked at a couple of things right now. 07:53 One of them - getting out of debt. 07:54 Looking after yourself by paying down your debt and being 07:58 free from debt. We talked about cars. 08:00 I'm sure we are going to talk about more things in a moment. 08:02 Money management, stewardship as the approach of Jesus is near. 08:07 Thanks for joining me today. Don't go away. 08:09 I'll be back in just a moment. 08:11 ♪ [Gentle Music] ♪ In Matthew 4:4 08:14 the Word of God says "It is written 08:16 'Man shall not live by bread alone but by 08:19 every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'." 08:22 Every Word is a one minute Bible-based daily devotional 08:25 presented by Pastor John Bradshaw and designed especially 08:29 for busy people like you. Look for Every Word on selected 08:32 networks or watch it on-line everyday on our website 08:36 itiswritten.com. Receive a daily spiritual boost. 08:40 Watch Every Word. You'll be glad you did. 08:47 Thanks for being with me today. I am joined today by Ed Reid 08:50 who has literally written the book on 08:52 money management and on Bible prophecy. 08:55 And today we are looking at how a person should plan financially 09:00 keeping in mind that Jesus' return is near. 09:04 JB:A moment ago, Ed, we were talking about how important it 09:06 is that a person should want to get out of debt. 09:08 We looked at what some of those debts might be. 09:10 You mentioned clearing car payments. 09:13 ER: Credit cards. JB: What are some other.... 09:15 and credit cards, thanks. What are some other areas that 09:17 people typically carry debt on that they might and perhaps even 09:20 relatively easily, clear those debts and get out of debt? 09:23 ER: Well, a lot of people don't think about this but I actually 09:26 encourage people to prepay the principal on their home 09:29 mortgage. Houses cost so much today 09:32 because there is credit available so we almost always 09:34 have to get a loan. Very few people have the cash to 09:37 do it so I encourage people to get an amortization schedule and 09:41 prepay principle, like when you make a regular payment make 09:44 another payment's principal, if you can, each month if you can, 09:47 and pay your house off in half the time. 09:48 JB: Okay. Explain that a little more 09:50 slowly. ER: Alright. 09:51 If you have an amortization schedule, it has like 5 columns 09:54 in it and one of them is the number of the payment like 09:57 1-360, and then it's how much the payment itself is, 10:02 how much goes to the bank for interest, 10:04 how much of that is principle and what your balance is. 10:07 And every time you make one regular payment, which you have 10:10 to do every month, add next month's principal payment, which 10:13 is a much smaller sum (for some people 10:15 it will be like $150). When you do that, you've paid 10:19 two payments in one and the next time the third payment. 10:22 So you can pay it off in half the time. 10:24 That's incredible. I've done that two times 10:26 in my life. JB: So you can pay it off in 10:28 half the time without paying twice as much money. 10:30 ER: Oh yes. That's incredible. 10:32 It's amazing, really. You save thousands, 10:34 literally thousands. JB: Okay, someone is writing a 10:37 note furiously to themselves. They are trying to remember 10:39 what you said. Let's make it easy for people. 10:42 If someone wants to review this, that information you gave, 10:44 how can they find that information real quick? 10:47 ER: Well you can just look at an amortization schedule. 10:49 You can find the amortization schedule for your loan on-line, 10:52 for example, print it off and then you can easily see what 10:54 I've just said. JB: Are banks happy when 10:56 people choose to do this? 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 11:01 prepayment penalty and most loans today don't have one and 11:03 you can do that very easily. JB: Okay, talking about getting 11:05 out of debt, because I don't think that it would be wise to 11:07 be carrying a whole bunch of debt into troublesome times that 11:11 are coming. ER: Yes. 11:12 JB: How is a person supposed to get out of debt ... 11:14 if, say they are wanting to buy a house. 11:16 Like you said, not everybody can go and pay cash for a house. 11:20 You pretty well have got to borrow money to buy a house. 11:23 What is the right approach? ER: I would suggest a couple of 11:26 things. One of them is to make sure you 11:27 put 20% down so you don't have private mortgage insurance 11:30 to pay. That is something that just 11:31 guarantees your loan to the bank. 11:34 It does not benefit you in any way. 11:36 So have a 20% down payment minimum. 11:39 In addition to that, every time you prepay a payment, 11:42 it builds your own net worth. If the economy were to tank 11:46 really bad, most people that don't prepay are upside down on 11:49 their mortgage, which means they owe more on it than it's worth. 11:52 But if you have prepaid, that should not be a bother to you. 11:54 So, it's better to do that in my opinion. 11:56 And I will just tell you that right now, today, 12:01 aside from end-times, we are having 10 thousand 12:04 Americans retire every day of the week, starting this year, 12:08 and this will last for 10 years in a row. 12:11 This is the baby boomer generation. 12:13 And people know they are ready to retire when they have their 12:15 debts paid off, including their home mortgage, when they have a 12:18 reasonable income stream, and they have health insurance. 12:22 So, just to prepare for end times would be the same thing, 12:26 in my opinion. Try to be debt-free so that no 12:28 matter what comes in the future, it does not 12:30 adversely affect you. JB: Okay. 12:33 Give me some more. What are the principles 12:35 of money management, wise financial planning 12:37 stewardship? Should people be entertaining 12:40 when they are thinking Jesus is coming back soon? 12:41 Because I've heard people say "The Lord is coming back 12:44 and it doesn't matter. Let's rack up debt. 12:46 Let's do - just go nuts because the Lord is coming back and we 12:49 don't have to worry about it. That's irresponsible. 12:51 ER: I've heard that as well. But I really believe that the 12:53 Bible says in Psalms 37:21 "The wicked borrow 12:57 and do not repay." 12:58 It is not a Christian perspective to rack up debts 13:01 and walk off from them. In addition to that, before 13:03 God's people are taken to heaven, we are going to have a 13:06 time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation and 13:08 the people that are in debt are going to have 13:10 the worst time of it. Essentially, losing everything. 13:12 So I think we need to have a focus away from this earth 13:15 and toward our Kingdom. I would suggest very sincerely 13:19 that the more we can we should support ministries like It Is 13:22 Written and others with any available cash, it's not going 13:26 to be good in sometime in the future and all the stuff we have 13:29 is going to get burned up some day. 13:31 JB: It's true, isn't it? Now we have an opportunity to do 13:34 something with our funds that one day we are simply not going 13:36 to be able to use. ER: Yes. 13:37 Think of all the money that was lost in the downturn in the 13:39 economic markets from 2008 and 2009. 13:42 If that money alone that people lost 13:44 had been put into ministries, we would have more money 13:46 than we knew what to do with. 13:48 We are talking millions, even billions of dollars lost in the 13:50 portfolios of many Americans. 13:53 JB: Okay. Financial stewardship. 13:55 Looking toward to the return of Jesus. 13:57 Take us a step further with this. 13:58 ER: Well, another thing that I would say is right now we have 14:01 very high unemployment. We need to be employed so that 14:04 we can help support our families and do the work of God. 14:07 So I would suggest do all you can to stay employed. 14:12 In other words, be a diligent worker. 14:14 And it's interesting. Proverbs 22 talks about 14:18 "Show me a man who is diligent in his work 14:20 and he will stand before kings, not mere men." 14:22 Be the best employee that you can be - that's important. 14:25 And if you don't have a job, I would suggest that 14:28 you take any job that you can that does not violate 14:31 your conscience. You would not want to be a 14:33 "go-go dancer" or a bartender or something, but most any job 14:36 would be of value to you if you didn't have a job. 14:40 JB: It is important, isn't it, that people put themselves in a 14:41 position - and I say this kindly because I know some people 14:44 are out of work and would do anything they could 14:46 to change that. It's important to make yourself 14:49 as employable as possible. ER: Oh yes. 14:52 JB: What are some simple things, just very simple things somebody 14:53 can do to enhance their employability? 14:56 ER: Well, you can find out, for example, what kind of jobs are 14:58 available now. For example, health care 15:01 in the economy right now, go to a hospital 15:03 parking lot and you can hardly find a place to park. 15:05 Very few healthcare workers have lost their jobs. 15:08 There is not very much unemployment in that area. 15:10 Train yourself for some level of health care. 15:12 You know, nursing, inhalation therapy, 15:14 whatever it might be, lab tech, whatever. 15:16 Those are things that are important. 15:18 Computers are still important. Everybody gets their stuff on 15:20 their cell phones and their computers and so on. 15:23 Computer guys are staying busy and they are making 15:24 good incomes, much more than preachers, 15:26 as you may know. JB: Yeah, yeah. 15:29 Moving right along, what other advice 15:31 can we give people that are thinking about the end of time 15:34 and wondering what to do, how to manage their finances 15:36 wisely. ER: I would say, 15:38 live within your means. Make a budget. 15:40 This is kind of like going on a diet and most people, 15:42 they don't' want to do that. Make a simple budget. 15:44 Here's what my income is. Here's what my expenses 15:46 are each month. Live within your means. 15:48 Let me give you a simple illustration. 15:51 Because of the bombardment of advertising today, 15:54 most people think they need more stuff 15:56 but most of us can get along just fine with the stuff 15:58 we already have. In fact, I ask people, how many 16:01 of you think you have stuff you will never use as long as you 16:02 live? And most people raises 16:04 their hand. Have a yard sale. 16:05 Sell off stuff. Put that money on your debts and 16:07 so on. But if you don't think that you 16:09 can live within your means or too poor to save, 16:12 visit a third world country like Haiti or Central India, 16:16 or some of those places, and you will realize 16:18 that you are very rich. If you have a car, 16:21 in any condition, you are in the top 5% of people 16:24 in the whole world. So, let's just learn to live 16:27 within our means and that is going to be a very helpful thing 16:29 near the end-time. You can't afford to get 16:31 further in debt. This is kind of a tail onto the 16:34 one of getting out of debt, but certainly don't go 16:35 further in debt. JB: A simple idea. 16:38 Live within your means. Yet, so many people find it 16:40 very, very difficult to do that. We are talking today about 16:44 financial management, stewardship, money management, 16:47 keeping in mind that Jesus is coming back soon. 16:51 I'll have more with Ed Reid in just a moment. 16:53 ♪ [Thoughful Melody] ♪ It is written is dedicated to 16:56 sharing the gospel around the world. 16:58 Our dream is to impact the world for God. 17:01 Our television program is only one aspect of how we try to 17:04 accomplish that. To discover more about 17:06 It Is Written, I invite you 17:08 to visit our website: itiswritten.com 17:11 and browse the dozens of pages that describe what we do 17:14 and how we do it. You will also find an archive of 17:17 past programs in script form and as streaming video and audio 17:21 files along with many other helpful inspirational resources. 17:26 Let's get to know each other better. 17:27 Visit our website itiswritten.com today. 17:34 JB: Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written. 17:36 My guest today is Ed Reid, an accomplished speaker 17:39 and author and - you may not want me using 17:42 this word, Ed, but an "expert" in the fields of 17:45 financial management and Bible prophecy. 17:47 We are talking today about how believers in Jesus should 17:50 approach finances keeping in mind that Jesus is returning - 17:54 we believe - soon! Now, the last thing we spoke 17:57 about you know, really, this is the sort of thing we can talk 17:59 about all 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. 18:07 Which means that if I have an income of X and I want to buy an 18:10 automobile that really belongs to someone who has an income of 18:16 Y or X times 3, I might want to scale back 18:19 my expectations a little 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 18:25 little savings, even if you have a smaller income 18:27 than you would like, I would suggest saving 18:30 something out of every paycheck and this not for retirement. 18:33 What I am talking about here is doing something 18:36 for emergency's sake.' JB: Okay. 18:38 Now someone, she is sitting here watching our program. 18:40 She is at home raising her two and a half kids, 18:44 and dad has a job, it's not a high paying job 18:47 and she's saying "this guy is saying save? 18:49 I can't even get the groceries paid for each week". 18:52 ER: I would budget savings just like groceries or utilities. 18:55 It could be a small amount, like $50 every paycheck or something. 18:59 But when you can build that up, many financial counselors 19:02 suggest having at least a $1,000 for emergency and try to have .. 19:06 the general savings is three to six months equivalent of 19:10 living expenses in an emergency savings fund 19:13 that you can draw upon should you have transmission 19:16 problems with your car, your refrigerator goes out, 19:18 you have a health emergency that your insurance 19:20 doesn't cover. JB: This isn't for a trip to 19:22 Disneyland? ER: No, no, no. 19:24 And the real interesting thing I would tell you is, 19:26 even eating out is kind of incredible. 19:30 I would suggest that if you eat out once a day, it doubles 19:33 your family's food budget for the month. 19:35 So eating out should be a special occasion, you know, 19:38 for a special thing, birthdays, anniversaries, 19:40 that kind of thing. And the most amazing thing to 19:43 show you that Americans need that, go to any 19:46 well-known restaurant and you have to wait to get in, 19:50 even though there is a downturn in the economy, 19:51 people are still eating out. JB: I have wondered. 19:53 I have marveled, as a matter of fact, many times that 19:55 the economy is apparently in such bad shape 19:56 that the restaurants are full. ER: Yes, isn't that incredible? 19:59 JB: Yes. That's not something you have to 20:00 do-eat out. But it is something you could, 20:03 perhaps, but you could work that another way, couldn't you? 20:05 ER: Lack of savings is the biggest reason people go in 20:08 debt. They don't intend to go in debt 20:10 but something happens to their car, or you know something like 20:13 that. They have to go then and put it 20:15 on a credit card and then they pay for it two or three times 20:17 over. JB: Now what about investing? 20:19 I know we gotta be careful here. We can't tell people 20:21 what to invest in and what not to invest in. 20:23 ER: Yes. JB: How should a person 20:24 approach investing? ER: Well this is a very good 20:27 question because obviously, wise and prudent people don't 20:30 spend everything they make. As I said before, 20:33 live within your income. But you would have to think in 20:36 terms of the future. When you can't work as gainfully 20:39 as you used to, or should you lose your job or whatever. 20:41 So I would suggest, first of all, 20:43 invest in your own debts. That's the very best investment 20:45 anyone can make. Guaranteed return. 20:49 For example, if you have money in a CD, you might be getting 20:52 1% or 2% but if you are paying off 20:55 your credit cards, you're making 10% or 27% 20:58 so that's an investment that I would recommend. 21:00 But another thing is, in these unusual times 21:03 - and by the way, your question is so good that I 21:05 want to insert this - BEWARE of 21:07 get rich quick schemes. There are hucksters out there 21:10 that want to get your money. And so I would suggest that 21:13 people always counsel with someone else before investing 21:16 somewhere. This great thing comes along - 21:19 by the way, most get rich quick schemes are introduced to people 21:21 by their friends who sincerely believe they are doing their 21:24 friends a favor. But you have to really 21:26 look at it. Something you don't understand, 21:29 you have to invest quickly, you know it's gonna promise 21:31 high returns, all of that. And I'm just going to tell you - 21:34 AVOID those at all cost. Even if it makes you so you are 21:39 not friends with that person because you are going to end up 21:42 not being friends anyway. JB: Typically with investing, 21:44 isn't it true, if something seems too good to be true... 21:46 ER: Oh Yes. It almost always is. 21:48 That's true. And the real interesting thing 21:50 about investments, I would say, even though the government is 21:53 trillions of dollars in debt, probably the safest investments 21:57 are government-backed securities. 21:59 Because the government has the unique ability to print money 22:01 if they need to. But you know, 22:03 it's kind of the standard. So I would suggest, if you have 22:06 to put money away that you're not investing in your debts, 22:09 put it in a secure position. Because if you could make more 22:12 in the stock market, the higher the level of income offered, 22:16 the greater risk it is. That's always true whether the 22:18 people telling you believe it or not, 22:20 whether you believe it or not, whether it seems possible even. 22:23 The higher the interest promised, the greater the risk. 22:25 It's always true. JB: Now if Jesus is coming back 22:28 soon, if the end is near, and I don't' say that - 22:31 in fact, I don't say that as a doom merchant, 22:32 I say that full of hope. ER: Aren't we all excited? 22:36 JB: How important is it that a person really keeps an eye on 22:38 the future? ER: Well I will just tell you 22:39 this. Christian Bible believers have 22:42 inside information. Now in the investing world, 22:45 that's not a good idea of having, as you know. 22:47 But we have inside information and it's in 2 Peter 3:10, 22:52 that when the Lord returns, the earth will get burned up 22:54 and all the works of men and as I tell people, 22:57 that will reduce its value considerably. 22:59 All the stuff gets burned up. So I would say as a Christian, 23:02 you know, get rid of 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. Divest yourself of the stuff you 23:09 don't need. Sell it at yard sales. 23:11 Now here's the real story. Christians are going to work 23:14 together for the greatest event ever and that's to work together 23:18 to finish the work of God on this earth. 23:20 It is not going to be free. God is going to ask us to 23:22 utilize stuff he has given us. Remember, "honor the Lord with 23:25 your possessions", your stuff and that's the way we help him 23:28 do it, helping Him to finish the work of God. 23:30 So I think another thing. This earth is not our final 23:33 home. We have dual citizenship 23:36 as Christians, citizens here of 23:37 whatever country we are in and citizenship in heaven 23:39 when we accept Christ. So we are moving from one to the 23:42 other and we want to move our@ assets from here to the new 23:46 earth so that we can be blessed and to bless others 23:51 at the same time. JB: Okay. 23:52 Let's go to the Bible. A couple of verses, a couple of 23:54 Bible verses that you believe are especially helpful, 23:57 especially pertinent to people as they are wanting to honor the 24:00 Lord with what they have, keeping in mind 24:02 the time is short. ER: Well, I would think of 24:03 1 John. That's a very interesting one. 24:06 Chapter two. I believe I have it marked here 24:09 in my Bible so I can find it quickly and verses 15 to 17 24:14 says something similar to 2 Peter that I just mentioned. 24:16 Don't love the world or the things in the world. 24:18 If you do, the love of the Father is not in you because all 24:22 that is in the world, the lust of the eyes and so on, is not of 24:24 the Father but is of the world. And that's just giving 24:27 this point. The world is passing away 24:31 and the lust of it. But he that does the will of God 24:33 abides forever. 1 John 2:17. 24:36 So what that says to me is it's not going to pass away, 24:40 it is in the process of passing away. 24:43 With all of the natural disasters and things, the world 24:45 is waxing old like a garment, is what it says in the Bible. 24:49 And we have to understand. I believe in ecology. 24:52 I believe in separating my trash and all that kind of stuff. 24:54 But we are not going to save the planet. 24:56 The Bible is clear that it is passing away and the lust of it 24:59 but he that does the will of God abides forever. 25:02 So I would say that as you read through the Scripture, look for 25:04 the will of God, put that part in your life. 25:07 JB: How about if we pray together because a lot of people 25:08 are taking on board what you have said today and they are 25:10 saying, Lord, some things have got to change around here. 25:12 ER: That's true. JB: I've got to get it right now 25:14 and it's not going to happen unless people are praying their 25:16 way through this. Let's pray together, shall we? 25:17 ER: Okay. JB: Our Father, we thank you in 25:20 the name of Jesus that you are willing to guide us in some of 25:25 the most practical and important areas of our lives. 25:28 There are a few things more practical 25:30 than our daily finances. We are all confronted with the 25:34 importance of them and sometimes confounded by them. 25:37 As we have talked today, Ed and I, 25:38 I pray that you would guide us all as we seek to honor you 25:43 with our stuff, and our possessions 25:45 and our finances, as we seek to plan 25:48 prudently with the return of Jesus so imminent. 25:52 I pray your Holy Spirit will guide us and keep us. 25:55 Let your will be done. Please be first in our lives and 25:59 let us face the future with confidence, confidence that 26:01 comes from knowing we are honoring you. 26:03 In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. ER: Amen. 26:16 ♪ [Musical Interlude- Gentle] ♪ 26:27 ♪ [Thoughful Melody] ♪ Today we have been 26:28 talking about crucial financial issues that affect all of us. 26:31 Our goal at It Is Written is to help you live a more satisfying 26:34 and God-centered life. So this week, our free offer is 26:37 a helpful book on finance called God Will Provide. 26:42 It's a practical discussion on how a faithful God has promised 26:45 to provide for the needs of His faithful children and includes a 26:48 special section prepared by Ed Reid, on Managing Fances 26:52 in Difficult Times. Please call or write us and this 26:55 free book will be on its way to you. 26:57 There's no cost and no obligation. 26:59 Just call 1 800 253 3000. And ask for the book 27:04 God Will Provide. If the line is busy 27:07 please keep trying. You can also request this free 27:10 book by writing to It Is Written, Box 6, 27:14 Chattanooga, TN 37401 and we'll mail a copy to 27:18 your address in North America. Please note this free book is 27:22 limited to the supply on hand. For immediate access, 27:26 you can download a free electronic version of the book 27:29 God Will Provide, from our website 27:31 itiswritten.com. 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Revised 2016-01-25