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Dr. Robert Jeffress

Robert Jeffress - Say Goodbye To Financial Regrets

May 23, 2025 | 27:29

Robert Jeffress - Say Goodbye To Financial Regrets
Pathway to Victory offers a practical application of God’s Word to everyday life through the clear, biblical teaching of Pastor Jeffress.
#Wisdom #Religion #Choices #Preparation #Future #Dr.RobertJeffress #RobertJeffress #Regret #Money #WorkofYourHands #Finances #Foolishness #Famine

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Dr. Robert Jeffress | Robert Jeffress - Say Goodbye To Financial Regrets | May 23, 2025
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Male announcer: from the pulpit of the first baptist church of
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  • Dallas, texas, this is "pathway to victory" with
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  • Dr. robert jeffress.
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  • Dr. robert jeffress: hi, i'm robert jeffress, and welcome
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  • Again to "pathway to victory."
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  • Jeffress: few things weigh more heavily on the hearts of
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  • Americans than money problems.
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  • When prices go up, we feel the pressure.
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  • And when the economy falters, we fear for our future.
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  • Well, the bible is full of wisdom about your resources, and
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  • Today i'm going to offer you some very practical biblical
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  • Advice for managing your money in a way that provides for your
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  • Family's needs, and for god's work.
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  • My message is titled, "say goodbye to financial regrets"
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  • On today's edition of "pathway to victory."
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  • Announcer: god doesn't want you to carry around the weight of
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  • Sins he's already forgiven.
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  • In his bestselling book, "say goodbye to regret," dr. robert
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  • Jeffress helps you live beyond the would-haves, could-haves,
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  • And should-haves to embrace the future god has planned for you.
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  • You can't undo the past, but there's plenty you can do to
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  • Reshape tomorrow and eternity.
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  • Discover the biblical secrets for regret-free living when you
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  • Request the book, "say goodbye to regret."
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  • Thank you for giving generously to "pathway to victory."
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  • ♪♪♪
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  • Jeffress: even the most casual reader of the bible can't help
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  • But notice how many times the bible talks about the subject
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  • Of money.
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  • Sixteen of jesus thirty-eight parables deal with finances.
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  • You can't flip a page of the book of proverbs without reading
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  • A word about money.
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  • Somebody did a study one time of jesus teachings and said, "of
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  • All of his words in the four gospels, jesus spoke more about
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  • The subject of money than he did about heaven or hell combined."
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  • Why is that?
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  • Why is money such a prominent topic in the bible?
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  • Well, i think one reason is money has a way of touching our
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  • Lives every day, in every way.
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  • You know, paul said in 1 timothy, "if we have food and
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  • Covering," just the basics, "we ought to be content," but you
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  • Can't even get the basics without money.
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  • What are the regrets people have about how they handle their
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  • God-given money?
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  • Regret number one: i regret not saving more money.
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  • Before i begin the preparation on this series, i ask a friend
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  • Of mine, "do you have any regrets in life?"
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  • My friends always know when i'm preparing a new sermon series,
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  • Because i get a lot more philosophical in
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  • My conversations.
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  • So i asked my friend, "do you have any regrets?"
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  • He quickly answered, "no, i don't have any regrets."
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  • And then he thought for a moment, he said, "well, i've got
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  • One regret.
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  • I wish i had prepared better to send my kids to college."
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  • Now, my friend is highly intelligent.
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  • He knows that college is expensive, he knew he wanted his
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  • Two sons to attend, and he knew he didn't have the current
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  • Resources to pay for college.
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  • So why didn't he plan for it?
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  • You know, the fact is, all of us are gonna face some big ticket
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  • Expenditures in life we've gotta be prepared for.
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  • Take college, for example, the education of your children.
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  • The average four-year college today costs $160,000 to attend
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  • Over four years.
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  • Now, that's 179% increase in just the last 20 years.
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  • Have you got a plan for that?
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  • Or think about retirement, there'll be a day you no longer
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  • Receive a paycheck.
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  • How are you going to live?
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  • You know, financial experts tell us that if you want to know how
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  • Much money you need for retirement, just take your
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  • Current expenses, multiply them by 25, and that's how much money
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  • You need to only take 4% from that savings pool every year.
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  • Twenty-five times your current income, how in the world does
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  • Anybody do that?
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  • Or what about healthcare needs for yourself, your children,
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  • Your parents you may be caring for?
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  • Do you have adequate provision for that?
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  • Let's prepare for what we know is coming.
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  • And in genesis 41, this is what joseph said to pharaoh, look at
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  • Verse 34.
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  • "let pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of
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  • The land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land
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  • Of egypt in the seven years of abundance."
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  • In other words, set aside a fifth, 20% of the harvest every
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  • Year for seven years.
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  • "then let them gather all the food of the good years that are
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  • Coming, and store up the grain for the food in the cities under
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  • Pharaoh's authority, and let them guard it."
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  • Let's save 20% every year for seven years to prepare for the
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  • Famine that is coming.
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  • That was god's way of providing.
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  • He didn't say to the egyptians, "oh, just enjoy your money while
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  • You have it, eat all the grain you want while you have, and
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  • Then we'll figure out what to do seven years after that."
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  • He said, "no, this is how i am going to provide for you.
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  • Set aside some of your current abundance for the future."
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  • And god says the same thing to us.
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  • That's god's plan, to take care of our future.
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  • Did you know all of us are gonna face a famine one
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  • Time financially?
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  • There is going to come a time in your life, in my life, where our
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  • Needs exceed the income we have coming in.
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  • It may be retirement that causes a financial famine when you no
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  • Longer have an income.
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  • It may be your kid's education.
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  • It may be the emergency or a health issue that you need to
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  • Take care of.
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  • How do you do it?
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  • By setting aside some of your current income to prepare for
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  • The future.
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  • That's what solomon talked about in proverbs 6, verses 6
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  • Through 8, he said, "go to the ant, o sluggard, observe her way
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  • And be wise.
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  • Which, having no chief, officer, or ruler, prepares her food in
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  • The summer and gathers provision in the harvest."
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  • Solomon was saying even an ant, with as tiny of a little brain
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  • As it has, is smart enough to know it ought to take some of
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  • Its food in the summer, and save for the future when there is
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  • No food.
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  • God says the same thing to us.
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  • And that leads to a second regret people have about their
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  • Finances, and that's related to spending: "i regret wasting so
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  • Much money."
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  • Have you ever come to the end of the month and wondered, "where
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  • Did all my money go this month?"
  • 00:07:08.150 --> 00:07:11.320
  • We kind of feel like solomon who said in proverbs 23 verse 5,
  • 00:07:11.320 --> 00:07:14.857
  • "wages sprout wings and they fly to heaven like an eagle."
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  • Money just flies out of your pocket or out of your debit card
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  • Into the sky and you never see it again.
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  • Where has all the money gone?
  • 00:07:27.236 --> 00:07:28.604
  • Think about your lifetime.
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  • Think about a couple, for example, who's 40 years of age.
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  • They have a combined household income of $80,000, and they work
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  • For another 30 years till they're age 70.
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  • And those 30 years, even if they have no pay increase whatsoever.
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  • In those 30 years, they will have earned $2.5 million,
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  • Millionaires, except it just comes in and goes out.
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  • You know, somebody said, my" problem is not overspending,
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  • It's under depositing."
  • 00:07:59.602 --> 00:08:01.404
  • But the truth is, most people don't under deposit, it's not
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  • The deposits, it's the expenditures that get us.
  • 00:08:06.142 --> 00:08:10.146
  • I read a fascinating book years ago by two men named thomas
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  • Stanley and william danko, many of you may have read this best
  • 00:08:14.283 --> 00:08:17.920
  • Seller as well.
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  • It's called "the millionaire next door."
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  • And these two researchers studied the lives of hundreds of
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  • Millionaires, present day millionaires in our country.
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  • And they found something very interesting, they found most
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  • People accumulated their money not through inheritance, not
  • 00:08:32.802 --> 00:08:38.007
  • Through winning the lottery, or smart investing.
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  • The way they became millionaires was by controlling
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  • Their spending.
  • 00:08:45.848 --> 00:08:47.183
  • And i thought this was fascinating in their study of
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  • Hundreds of millionaires, they found, for example, when it came
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  • To their homes, we think of most millionaires as having these
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  • Lavish mansions like "the beverly hillbillies."
  • 00:08:57.526 --> 00:09:00.830
  • We think, you know, that's wealth, but did you know the
  • 00:09:00.830 --> 00:09:04.800
  • Average millionaire today has a house that's worth $557,000 in
  • 00:09:04.800 --> 00:09:10.906
  • Today's dollars?
  • 00:09:10.906 --> 00:09:13.609
  • The average size of a millionaire's home is 2,600
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  • Square feet.
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  • They control their spending.
  • 00:09:19.348 --> 00:09:21.083
  • Or when it comes to the issue of cars, these two researchers
  • 00:09:21.083 --> 00:09:25.087
  • Discovered that the average car of a millionaire is at least two
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  • Years old.
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  • Nearly 37% of millionaires buy used cars rather than new cars,
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  • And they pay an average of $43,150 for their car.
  • 00:09:35.965 --> 00:09:41.137
  • When it comes to their clothes, the average millionaire has
  • 00:09:41.137 --> 00:09:44.306
  • Never paid more than $700 for a suit, more than $245 for a pair
  • 00:09:44.306 --> 00:09:49.912
  • Of shoes, or not more than $400 for a wristwatch.
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  • You know, if there is one lesson we ought to pass on to our
  • 00:09:55.184 --> 00:09:58.988
  • Children and our grandchildren, it's this verse from proverbs
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  • 21, verse 20.
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  • You'd be wise to have your children memorize that verse.
  • 00:10:05.061 --> 00:10:08.297
  • It says, "there is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling
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  • Of the wise, but the foolish person swallows it all up."
  • 00:10:13.202 --> 00:10:18.474
  • A foolish person is one who spends everything he earns, and
  • 00:10:18.474 --> 00:10:22.511
  • Then some.
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  • But the wise person is one who learns how to spend less than he
  • 00:10:23.879 --> 00:10:28.918
  • Earns over a long period of time, that's how you become
  • 00:10:28.918 --> 00:10:32.755
  • Financially independent.
  • 00:10:32.755 --> 00:10:35.157
  • Third, people say about their finances, "i regret not making
  • 00:10:35.157 --> 00:10:39.862
  • Wiser investments."
  • 00:10:39.862 --> 00:10:42.064
  • There are people who have learned this principle of
  • 00:10:42.064 --> 00:10:44.533
  • Spending less than they earn, they save regularly, but then
  • 00:10:44.533 --> 00:10:48.504
  • They end up losing it all through a bad investment or an
  • 00:10:48.504 --> 00:10:52.308
  • Unwise investment.
  • 00:10:52.308 --> 00:10:53.809
  • That's what solomon was talking about in ecclesiastes 5, the
  • 00:10:53.809 --> 00:10:57.580
  • Passage we read together a moment ago, look at it again.
  • 00:10:57.580 --> 00:11:01.584
  • Solomon said, "there's a grievous evil which i've seen
  • 00:11:01.584 --> 00:11:04.954
  • Under the sun: riches being hoarded by their owner to
  • 00:11:04.954 --> 00:11:09.291
  • His hurt.
  • 00:11:09.291 --> 00:11:10.626
  • When those riches were lost through a bad investment and he
  • 00:11:10.626 --> 00:11:14.530
  • Had fathered a son, then there was nothing left to support him.
  • 00:11:14.530 --> 00:11:18.801
  • As he had come naked from his mother's womb, so will he return
  • 00:11:18.801 --> 00:11:23.606
  • As he came.
  • 00:11:23.606 --> 00:11:24.974
  • He will take nothing from the fruit of his labor that he can
  • 00:11:24.974 --> 00:11:28.911
  • Carry in his hand."
  • 00:11:28.911 --> 00:11:30.246
  • Here is a man who worked all of his life, saved faithfully, had
  • 00:11:30.246 --> 00:11:33.949
  • A big pile of money, and he lost it all through a bad investment.
  • 00:11:33.949 --> 00:11:40.623
  • Now solomon is quick to say, "we come into this world and we
  • 00:11:40.623 --> 00:11:44.326
  • Leave with nothing either."
  • 00:11:44.326 --> 00:11:46.262
  • The fact is, all of us are going to lose all of our money one day
  • 00:11:46.262 --> 00:11:49.331
  • When we die.
  • 00:11:49.331 --> 00:11:50.666
  • When we die, we leave it all behind.
  • 00:11:50.666 --> 00:11:54.670
  • But that's not the tragedy.
  • 00:11:54.670 --> 00:11:56.438
  • The tragedy is to lose all your money before you die.
  • 00:11:56.438 --> 00:11:59.942
  • To have a lot of life left, and no money to support yourself or
  • 00:11:59.942 --> 00:12:04.013
  • Your family.
  • 00:12:04.013 --> 00:12:05.347
  • He's talking about avoiding bad investing.
  • 00:12:05.347 --> 00:12:09.618
  • What are the mistakes people make in investing that lead to
  • 00:12:09.618 --> 00:12:13.189
  • This kind of situation?
  • 00:12:13.189 --> 00:12:14.723
  • Let me mention several.
  • 00:12:14.723 --> 00:12:16.225
  • Mistake number one: postponing investing.
  • 00:12:16.225 --> 00:12:20.062
  • "oh, i know i need to do what the pastor said, what solomon
  • 00:12:20.062 --> 00:12:23.199
  • Said, but right now is not a good time to do it.
  • 00:12:23.199 --> 00:12:26.101
  • I'm gonna postpone investing."
  • 00:12:26.101 --> 00:12:28.704
  • Let me give you a great illustration of the danger of
  • 00:12:28.704 --> 00:12:32.842
  • Doing that.
  • 00:12:32.842 --> 00:12:34.176
  • Let's say you have two people: sally and bill.
  • 00:12:34.176 --> 00:12:37.479
  • And sally and bill begin working at the acme corporation on the
  • 00:12:37.479 --> 00:12:41.083
  • Same day.
  • 00:12:41.083 --> 00:12:42.451
  • And on their first day of work, the hr person comes in and tells
  • 00:12:42.451 --> 00:12:45.054
  • Them that "we've got a plan here where you can have some of your
  • 00:12:45.054 --> 00:12:49.024
  • Salary withheld and invested in a retirement plan."
  • 00:12:49.024 --> 00:12:53.395
  • Sally thinks, "that sounds like a good idea."
  • 00:12:53.395 --> 00:12:56.498
  • So she signs up to invest just $1,250 a year in a investing
  • 00:12:56.498 --> 00:13:02.137
  • Program, a retirement program.
  • 00:13:02.137 --> 00:13:04.940
  • She does that faithfully for eight years, but at the end of
  • 00:13:04.940 --> 00:13:08.944
  • Eight years, she decides she wants to be a full-time mom, so
  • 00:13:08.944 --> 00:13:11.814
  • She retires.
  • 00:13:11.814 --> 00:13:13.182
  • And for the next 22 years, she doesn't invest anything in her
  • 00:13:13.182 --> 00:13:16.685
  • Retirement plan.
  • 00:13:16.685 --> 00:13:18.254
  • Now bill started working the same day, he heard the same
  • 00:13:18.254 --> 00:13:21.724
  • Lecture, the opportunity to take some of his income and save for
  • 00:13:21.724 --> 00:13:25.261
  • The future.
  • 00:13:25.261 --> 00:13:26.629
  • But he said, "you know, i've got a new wife and a young child.
  • 00:13:26.629 --> 00:13:29.865
  • I just don't have any extra income, so i'm not gonna do it
  • 00:13:29.865 --> 00:13:33.202
  • Right now."
  • 00:13:33.202 --> 00:13:34.570
  • But the ninth year, beginning of his ninth year there, he decides
  • 00:13:34.570 --> 00:13:38.807
  • He better start preparing for the future.
  • 00:13:38.807 --> 00:13:41.310
  • And he saves for the next 22 years, $1,250 a year, the same
  • 00:13:41.310 --> 00:13:46.515
  • Amount as sally.
  • 00:13:46.515 --> 00:13:48.317
  • Now, at the end of 30 years, who do you think is gonna have
  • 00:13:48.317 --> 00:13:50.886
  • More money?
  • 00:13:50.886 --> 00:13:52.254
  • Sally, who invested for eight years and then did nothing for
  • 00:13:52.254 --> 00:13:55.491
  • The next 22 years, or bill, who did nothing for the first eight
  • 00:13:55.491 --> 00:13:59.061
  • Years and invested faithfully for 22 years.
  • 00:13:59.061 --> 00:14:02.598
  • You know the answer.
  • 00:14:02.598 --> 00:14:03.999
  • At the end of those 30 years, sally, who only invested for
  • 00:14:03.999 --> 00:14:07.803
  • Eight years, will have more money than bill, who did for 22.
  • 00:14:07.803 --> 00:14:11.941
  • Sally will have $75,000, bill will have $73,000.
  • 00:14:11.941 --> 00:14:16.679
  • How can that be?
  • 00:14:16.679 --> 00:14:18.280
  • It's because of the magic of compound interest.
  • 00:14:18.280 --> 00:14:22.418
  • Money invested early, a little bit, is much more powerful than
  • 00:14:22.418 --> 00:14:26.922
  • A lot of money invested later.
  • 00:14:26.922 --> 00:14:29.525
  • John d. rockefeller called interest the eighth wonder of
  • 00:14:29.525 --> 00:14:34.630
  • The world.
  • 00:14:34.630 --> 00:14:35.998
  • My grandfather used to say to me, "interest is your best
  • 00:14:35.998 --> 00:14:39.868
  • Friend when it's working for you and it's your worst enemy when
  • 00:14:39.868 --> 00:14:43.739
  • It's working against you, because either way, it's working
  • 00:14:43.739 --> 00:14:47.276
  • 24 hours a day."
  • 00:14:47.276 --> 00:14:48.944
  • By the way, can i say an aside to thank you for being generous
  • 00:14:48.944 --> 00:14:54.216
  • And making it possible for us to pay off our debt as a church.
  • 00:14:54.216 --> 00:14:58.320
  • That's the smartest thing that we ever did here, and it's
  • 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.557
  • Because of your generosity that we're not paying 8% interest
  • 00:15:01.557 --> 00:15:05.227
  • Right now on a church indebtedness.
  • 00:15:05.227 --> 00:15:08.063
  • A lot of people make the mistake of postponing their investing.
  • 00:15:08.063 --> 00:15:12.201
  • A second mistake they make is failing to diversify
  • 00:15:12.201 --> 00:15:15.504
  • Their assets.
  • 00:15:15.504 --> 00:15:16.905
  • Mark twain one time said, "put all your eggs in one basket, and
  • 00:15:16.905 --> 00:15:21.443
  • Then watch the basket."
  • 00:15:21.443 --> 00:15:24.213
  • God's word says just the different thing.
  • 00:15:24.213 --> 00:15:28.183
  • In ecclesiastes 11, solomon said, "you need to diversify
  • 00:15:28.183 --> 00:15:33.222
  • Your savings, don't put it all in one place.
  • 00:15:33.222 --> 00:15:37.092
  • Have a diversity of investments."
  • 00:15:37.092 --> 00:15:39.962
  • And by the way, studies show the wisdom of that biblical wisdom.
  • 00:15:39.962 --> 00:15:44.767
  • Ibbotson and associates in chicago did a 60-year study of
  • 00:15:44.767 --> 00:15:49.104
  • The returns on various investments.
  • 00:15:49.104 --> 00:15:51.907
  • For example, if you wanted to play it safe and put all your
  • 00:15:51.907 --> 00:15:55.244
  • Money in a money market fund, over 60 years you would earn an
  • 00:15:55.244 --> 00:15:59.648
  • Average of 3.5% to 4% a year.
  • 00:15:59.648 --> 00:16:02.818
  • If you put it in bonds, all in bonds, a fixed rate investment,
  • 00:16:02.818 --> 00:16:07.289
  • You would have about 8% a year you would earn.
  • 00:16:07.289 --> 00:16:10.893
  • But a blend of investments between stocks and bonds, 60-40,
  • 00:16:10.893 --> 00:16:16.231
  • Would yield almost a 10% return over those 60 years.
  • 00:16:16.231 --> 00:16:21.503
  • And those, what seem like small percentage difference, add up to
  • 00:16:21.503 --> 00:16:25.641
  • Big dollars over the long haul.
  • 00:16:25.641 --> 00:16:28.544
  • Listen to solomon's wisdom in ecclesiastes 11:2, "divide your
  • 00:16:28.544 --> 00:16:33.282
  • Portion," divide your money, "to seven, or to eight, for you do
  • 00:16:33.282 --> 00:16:37.786
  • Not know what misfortune may occur on the earth."
  • 00:16:37.786 --> 00:16:41.457
  • We can't predict the future, that's why we need to have a
  • 00:16:41.457 --> 00:16:44.493
  • Balanced investment.
  • 00:16:44.493 --> 00:16:46.462
  • Mistake number three: waiting for the right time to invest.
  • 00:16:46.462 --> 00:16:51.133
  • "all right, i've got this money, i know i need to invest it, but
  • 00:16:51.133 --> 00:16:54.236
  • Pastor, the world is so unstable right now.
  • 00:16:54.236 --> 00:16:57.439
  • There's an election coming up, there's all this problems with
  • 00:16:57.439 --> 00:17:00.476
  • China and russia, and all the global problems and so forth, is
  • 00:17:00.476 --> 00:17:05.080
  • Now really a good time to invest?"
  • 00:17:05.080 --> 00:17:07.683
  • There's an old chinese proverb that says, "the best time to
  • 00:17:07.683 --> 00:17:11.253
  • Plant a tree was 20 years ago.
  • 00:17:11.253 --> 00:17:15.524
  • The next best time to plant a tree is today."
  • 00:17:15.524 --> 00:17:19.895
  • Do what you're going to do today.
  • 00:17:19.895 --> 00:17:22.464
  • And then finally, and i think this is what solomon really had
  • 00:17:22.464 --> 00:17:25.467
  • In mind in ecclesiastes 4, is avoid get-rich-quick schemes.
  • 00:17:25.467 --> 00:17:31.240
  • That's the poorest investment usually you will ever make, in a
  • 00:17:31.240 --> 00:17:35.177
  • Get-rich-quick scheme.
  • 00:17:35.177 --> 00:17:37.212
  • Some investment possibility that promises big returns.
  • 00:17:37.212 --> 00:17:41.683
  • I think that's what he meant in ecclesiastes 5:14 when solomon
  • 00:17:41.683 --> 00:17:44.820
  • Talked about riches lost through a bad investment.
  • 00:17:44.820 --> 00:17:49.424
  • Now you don't lose money in the stock market unless you sell for
  • 00:17:49.424 --> 00:17:53.595
  • Less than you bought, but it doesn't go down to zero.
  • 00:17:53.595 --> 00:17:56.665
  • But one way to lose all of your money is through a
  • 00:17:56.665 --> 00:17:59.368
  • Get-rich-quick scheme.
  • 00:17:59.368 --> 00:18:01.036
  • You know, i have to confess, in my younger years i made some big
  • 00:18:01.036 --> 00:18:05.340
  • Mistakes by investing in get-rich-quick schemes.
  • 00:18:05.340 --> 00:18:10.445
  • You know, all of my bad investments had three things in
  • 00:18:10.445 --> 00:18:13.615
  • Common, number one: they dealt with something i knew very
  • 00:18:13.615 --> 00:18:17.119
  • Little about.
  • 00:18:17.119 --> 00:18:18.820
  • Real estate, silver futures, oil wells.
  • 00:18:18.820 --> 00:18:22.791
  • Secondly, they promised larger than normal returns.
  • 00:18:22.791 --> 00:18:26.261
  • And thirdly, they resulted in my losing all of my capital.
  • 00:18:26.261 --> 00:18:31.633
  • Don't make that mistake, solomon said in proverbs 28:19 to 20,
  • 00:18:31.633 --> 00:18:36.305
  • "he who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who
  • 00:18:36.305 --> 00:18:40.976
  • Follows empty pursuits will have poverty and plenty.
  • 00:18:40.976 --> 00:18:46.081
  • A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who makes
  • 00:18:46.081 --> 00:18:49.918
  • Haste to be rich will not go unpunished."
  • 00:18:49.918 --> 00:18:54.623
  • You know, somebody pointed out to me this week that many times
  • 00:18:54.623 --> 00:18:58.193
  • Senior adults are prone to these kind of schemes.
  • 00:18:58.193 --> 00:19:01.930
  • They're trying to make up for lost time, maybe mistakes they
  • 00:19:01.930 --> 00:19:04.733
  • Made in the past, and they can be vulnerable to
  • 00:19:04.733 --> 00:19:07.803
  • Get-rich-quick schemes.
  • 00:19:07.803 --> 00:19:09.571
  • Remember the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it
  • 00:19:09.571 --> 00:19:12.975
  • Probably is.
  • 00:19:12.975 --> 00:19:14.643
  • A fourth mistake, a fourth regret people have in their
  • 00:19:14.643 --> 00:19:19.081
  • Finances is this: i regret not investing more in god's work.
  • 00:19:19.081 --> 00:19:25.354
  • I regret not investing more in god's work.
  • 00:19:25.354 --> 00:19:28.824
  • I know what you're thinking.
  • 00:19:28.824 --> 00:19:31.260
  • "pastor, do people really regret that, or are you just trying to
  • 00:19:31.260 --> 00:19:34.663
  • Shoehorn a tithing sermon into this one?"
  • 00:19:34.663 --> 00:19:38.900
  • Do people right now say, "oh, i regret not investing more."
  • 00:19:38.900 --> 00:19:44.106
  • The average christian invests about 1.5% of his income into
  • 00:19:44.106 --> 00:19:48.310
  • God's work.
  • 00:19:48.310 --> 00:19:50.178
  • But do most people regret that?
  • 00:19:50.178 --> 00:19:52.114
  • I admit, no, they don't.
  • 00:19:52.114 --> 00:19:54.216
  • They don't have any regrets about that--yet.
  • 00:19:54.216 --> 00:19:59.054
  • But these are regrets that are postponed for the next life,
  • 00:19:59.054 --> 00:20:03.692
  • When they will have regrets of not being more faithful, "where
  • 00:20:03.692 --> 00:20:07.095
  • Do i get that?"
  • 00:20:07.095 --> 00:20:08.430
  • The passage we looked at last time, 1 corinthians 3, verses 13
  • 00:20:08.430 --> 00:20:12.200
  • To 15, that talk about the evaluation, the judgment, every
  • 00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:17.105
  • Christian will face of his life.
  • 00:20:17.105 --> 00:20:19.641
  • God is going to judge how we spend our time, our talents, and
  • 00:20:19.641 --> 00:20:23.912
  • Yes, our money.
  • 00:20:23.912 --> 00:20:25.514
  • That's what the judgment seat of christ is about.
  • 00:20:25.514 --> 00:20:29.217
  • Every one of us will experience the fire of god's judgment to
  • 00:20:29.217 --> 00:20:33.989
  • Determine whether our work is eternal, gold, silver, precious
  • 00:20:33.989 --> 00:20:39.828
  • Stones, or it's worthless, wood, hay, empty pursuits.
  • 00:20:39.828 --> 00:20:46.134
  • And those whose lives, the way they spent their time, talents,
  • 00:20:46.134 --> 00:20:49.805
  • And their money, those who have spent it on trivial pursuits
  • 00:20:49.805 --> 00:20:56.244
  • Will see their lives go up in flames.
  • 00:20:56.244 --> 00:20:59.047
  • Now, they'll be saved.
  • 00:20:59.047 --> 00:21:00.816
  • He makes it clear.
  • 00:21:00.816 --> 00:21:02.150
  • They'll be saved, but by the skin of their teeth, as by fire.
  • 00:21:02.150 --> 00:21:06.355
  • But those who invest in the eternal matters will receive a
  • 00:21:06.355 --> 00:21:10.726
  • Great reward.
  • 00:21:10.726 --> 00:21:12.060
  • In luke chapter 16, jesus told to me the most fascinating
  • 00:21:12.060 --> 00:21:16.665
  • Parable that he ever told.
  • 00:21:16.665 --> 00:21:18.767
  • You remember the story about the business, the wealthy man who
  • 00:21:18.767 --> 00:21:22.304
  • Had a business manager who was in charge of his finances, and
  • 00:21:22.304 --> 00:21:25.741
  • One day he calls him in and said, "you're doing a lousy job,
  • 00:21:25.741 --> 00:21:28.810
  • So i'm gonna fire you.
  • 00:21:28.810 --> 00:21:30.679
  • You've got a week left, and then i want you out of here.
  • 00:21:30.679 --> 00:21:33.715
  • Just finish up your work and get out of here."
  • 00:21:33.715 --> 00:21:36.218
  • Well, the financial manager began to panic.
  • 00:21:36.218 --> 00:21:39.054
  • He thought, "i'm gonna lose my job.
  • 00:21:39.054 --> 00:21:41.022
  • I don't have any marketable skills.
  • 00:21:41.022 --> 00:21:42.858
  • I don't like hard work, and i don't want to have to beg
  • 00:21:42.858 --> 00:21:45.927
  • For money.
  • 00:21:45.927 --> 00:21:47.295
  • What am i going to do?"
  • 00:21:47.295 --> 00:21:48.630
  • He panicked, but then he came up with a plan.
  • 00:21:48.630 --> 00:21:51.767
  • He was going to use those last days of his employment to
  • 00:21:51.767 --> 00:21:55.270
  • Prepare for the future.
  • 00:21:55.270 --> 00:21:57.105
  • And so as the financial manager, he had all of the accounts
  • 00:21:57.105 --> 00:22:00.242
  • Receivable that belonged to his master, all the bills owed
  • 00:22:00.242 --> 00:22:03.245
  • To him.
  • 00:22:03.245 --> 00:22:04.579
  • And so he started discounting them, if a guy owed his master
  • 00:22:04.579 --> 00:22:06.715
  • $100, he discounted the bill to $80 or $50 or $20.
  • 00:22:06.715 --> 00:22:12.320
  • Why did he do that?
  • 00:22:12.320 --> 00:22:14.022
  • His hope was once he joined the ranks of the unemployed, he was
  • 00:22:14.022 --> 00:22:17.959
  • Out there on the streets, these people he had done a favor to
  • 00:22:17.959 --> 00:22:21.997
  • Would become his friends and hire him and take care of him.
  • 00:22:21.997 --> 00:22:25.901
  • Now you would say, "that's blatantly dishonest."
  • 00:22:25.901 --> 00:22:29.004
  • Yes, but it is shrewd.
  • 00:22:29.004 --> 00:22:31.573
  • And when the boss found out what his financial manager had done,
  • 00:22:31.573 --> 00:22:35.110
  • Instead of being angry, he praised him.
  • 00:22:35.110 --> 00:22:38.680
  • He said, in effect, "you know, if you had shown this much
  • 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:42.217
  • Initiative while you were my employee, you'd still have
  • 00:22:42.217 --> 00:22:44.686
  • A job.
  • 00:22:44.686 --> 00:22:46.054
  • Hats off, congratulations for your wise thinking."
  • 00:22:46.054 --> 00:22:49.324
  • And then notice what jesus said, the application he made in
  • 00:22:49.324 --> 00:22:52.594
  • Luke 16:9.
  • 00:22:52.594 --> 00:22:54.095
  • "i say to you, make friends for yourselves by the means of the
  • 00:22:54.095 --> 00:22:59.201
  • Wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will
  • 00:22:59.201 --> 00:23:04.606
  • Receive you into eternal dwellings."
  • 00:23:04.606 --> 00:23:07.776
  • Jesus said, "your money is going to fail you one day.
  • 00:23:07.776 --> 00:23:11.379
  • The day of your death, when you leave it all behind."
  • 00:23:11.379 --> 00:23:14.649
  • Proverbs 11:4 says, "riches do not profit a person in the day
  • 00:23:14.649 --> 00:23:18.687
  • Of judgment."
  • 00:23:18.687 --> 00:23:20.055
  • You're gonna leave it all behind, but what you can do is
  • 00:23:20.055 --> 00:23:23.325
  • Send some of it on ahead of you.
  • 00:23:23.325 --> 00:23:25.994
  • To paraphrase the words of one philosopher, "the best use of
  • 00:23:25.994 --> 00:23:31.700
  • Money is to spend it on something that will outlast it."
  • 00:23:31.700 --> 00:23:37.439
  • That's the best way i know to say goodbye to
  • 00:23:37.439 --> 00:23:40.742
  • Financial regrets.
  • 00:23:40.742 --> 00:23:44.379
  • Jeffress: the day your life comes to an end, the only
  • 00:23:48.517 --> 00:23:51.820
  • Investment that will truly matter is the investment you
  • 00:23:51.820 --> 00:23:55.156
  • Made in eternal things.
  • 00:23:55.156 --> 00:23:57.626
  • Well, i want to take this opportunity to reinforce the
  • 00:23:57.626 --> 00:24:00.629
  • Mission of "pathway to victory."
  • 00:24:00.629 --> 00:24:03.164
  • The darkness in our country is great, but the hope of the
  • 00:24:03.164 --> 00:24:06.735
  • Gospel and the light of god's truth is even greater.
  • 00:24:06.735 --> 00:24:10.238
  • That is why every day on "pathway to victory" we proclaim
  • 00:24:10.238 --> 00:24:13.642
  • The good news of god's word far and wide.
  • 00:24:13.642 --> 00:24:17.078
  • And through our efforts, the light of the gospel is piercing
  • 00:24:17.078 --> 00:24:20.315
  • Through the darkness, and transforming many lives.
  • 00:24:20.315 --> 00:24:24.085
  • Thanks to all of you who partner with "pathway to victory" in
  • 00:24:24.085 --> 00:24:27.255
  • This worthwhile endeavor.
  • 00:24:27.255 --> 00:24:29.157
  • This ministry wouldn't be possible without you.
  • 00:24:29.157 --> 00:24:33.261
  • Now, stay right there and i'll be back with more "pathway to
  • 00:24:33.261 --> 00:24:35.964
  • Victory" in just a moment.
  • 00:24:35.964 --> 00:24:38.967
  • Announcer: what if your doctor were to say you had only six
  • 00:24:39.034 --> 00:24:41.770
  • Months left to live?
  • 00:24:41.770 --> 00:24:43.204
  • Would you have any regrets in your life?
  • 00:24:43.204 --> 00:24:45.273
  • In his best selling book, "say goodbye to regret," dr. robert
  • 00:24:45.273 --> 00:24:48.944
  • Jeffress shares biblical principles for dealing with
  • 00:24:48.944 --> 00:24:51.346
  • Regrets from your past and preventing regrets in
  • 00:24:51.346 --> 00:24:54.049
  • The future.
  • 00:24:54.049 --> 00:24:55.383
  • Jeffress: regret is one of life's most painful and
  • 00:24:55.383 --> 00:24:58.286
  • Unnecessary emotions, and in my best selling book, "say goodbye
  • 00:24:58.286 --> 00:25:02.357
  • To regret," i'll help you turn those if-onlys into successful
  • 00:25:02.357 --> 00:25:06.861
  • Lessons in living.
  • 00:25:06.861 --> 00:25:08.597
  • Announcer: it's time to move forward, satisfied with the life
  • 00:25:08.597 --> 00:25:11.766
  • You're living.
  • 00:25:11.766 --> 00:25:13.168
  • Request your copy of "say goodbye to regret" when you give
  • 00:25:13.168 --> 00:25:16.004
  • A generous gift to "pathway to victory."
  • 00:25:16.004 --> 00:25:18.673
  • In the pages of this highly practical book, you'll discover
  • 00:25:18.673 --> 00:25:21.910
  • The biblical keys to leaving behind regrets about
  • 00:25:21.910 --> 00:25:24.679
  • Relationships, your marriage, finances, and more.
  • 00:25:24.679 --> 00:25:28.216
  • And when you give $75 or more, we'll also send you the complete
  • 00:25:28.216 --> 00:25:32.954
  • "say goodbye to regret" teaching series on
  • 00:25:32.954 --> 00:25:35.323
  • Dvd video and mp3 format audio disc.
  • 00:25:35.323 --> 00:25:39.227
  • Jeffress: one of the heaviest weights, other than sin,
  • 00:25:39.227 --> 00:25:42.564
  • Is regret.
  • 00:25:42.564 --> 00:25:43.898
  • Regrets are not the problem in and of themselves, they are an
  • 00:25:43.898 --> 00:25:47.202
  • Indicator of a problem that needs to be dealt with.
  • 00:25:47.202 --> 00:25:51.573
  • Announcer: thank you for helping "pathway to victory"
  • 00:25:51.640 --> 00:25:53.975
  • Proclaim the redemptive power of jesus christ to a world in need.
  • 00:25:53.975 --> 00:25:58.113
  • Together, we are broadcasting the message of god's love
  • 00:25:58.113 --> 00:26:01.316
  • And forgiveness, biblical hope, and life transforming power
  • 00:26:01.316 --> 00:26:04.819
  • Across the country and around the world.
  • 00:26:04.819 --> 00:26:08.556
  • Jeffress: there's a good chance you resonated with at least one,
  • 00:26:10.859 --> 00:26:14.229
  • If not several, of these financial mistakes.
  • 00:26:14.229 --> 00:26:17.265
  • Trust me, you're not alone.
  • 00:26:17.265 --> 00:26:19.234
  • And no matter what your bank account or investment portfolio
  • 00:26:19.234 --> 00:26:22.671
  • Looks like, you can make changes and decisions today that will
  • 00:26:22.671 --> 00:26:27.008
  • Help you leave behind financial regrets.
  • 00:26:27.008 --> 00:26:30.712
  • Well, next time we're going to venture into the sensitive topic
  • 00:26:30.712 --> 00:26:34.416
  • Of sexual regrets.
  • 00:26:34.416 --> 00:26:36.484
  • In doing so, we'll discover god's plan to transform shame
  • 00:26:36.484 --> 00:26:40.455
  • Into forgiveness.
  • 00:26:40.455 --> 00:26:41.956
  • Stay tuned for a preview of what's coming up next in our
  • 00:26:41.956 --> 00:26:44.626
  • Series, "say goodbye to regret."
  • 00:26:44.626 --> 00:26:48.997
  • Jeffress: you know, critics of christianity say, "you
  • 00:26:48.997 --> 00:26:51.166
  • Christians, you're just so hung up about sex.
  • 00:26:51.166 --> 00:26:53.868
  • Why do you make a big deal about sex?
  • 00:26:53.868 --> 00:26:56.538
  • I mean, sex is a physiological action.
  • 00:26:56.538 --> 00:26:59.574
  • It's no different than eating food or taking a drink of water
  • 00:26:59.574 --> 00:27:04.012
  • Or going to sleep.
  • 00:27:04.012 --> 00:27:05.380
  • It's just a function of the body, why make a big deal
  • 00:27:05.380 --> 00:27:08.249
  • About sex?"
  • 00:27:08.249 --> 00:27:09.651
  • Well, sex is more than just a physiological function.
  • 00:27:09.651 --> 00:27:13.354
  • Announcer: set your dvr and join us next time for the message,
  • 00:27:14.989 --> 00:27:18.126
  • "say goodbye to sexual regrets," here on "pathway to victory."
  • 00:27:18.126 --> 00:27:18.126