Pathway to Victory

Speaker 1

Hey, podcast listeners, thanks for streaming today's podcast from Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory is a nonprofit ministry featuring the Bible teaching of Dr. Robert Jeffress.

And right now, your generous gift will have twice the impact, thanks to the Now Is the Time Matching Challenge, active now through December 31st. To give a special year-end gift, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes.

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

Speaker 2

Hi, this is Robert Jeffress and I'm.

Speaker 3

Glad to study Word with you every day on this Bible teaching program.

Speaker 2

On today's edition of Pathway to Victory.

Speaker 3

Understand that giving to the Lord is just one aspect of a bigger subject that we're gonna talk about today, and that's how we handle money overall.

You know, the Bible has a great deal to say about God's blueprint pattern for how we handle our money.

I decided to title today's message "What Parents Wish Their Children Knew About Money."

Speaker 1

Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, a lot of today's young people are struggling to hold a job and mishandling money in an alarming manner, and parents have an important role to play in breaking that pattern.

Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress presents five lessons about money that parents need to pass along to their children and grandchildren.

But first, let's take a minute to hear some important ministry updates.

Speaker 2

Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. The wrapping paper has been cleared away and Christmas, the most commercially successful holiday of the year, has come and gone. Our children received many gifts, perhaps far more than they needed. So how do we instill in them the biblical truth that giving brings greater joy than receiving?

Today, I'm going to share five crucial money principles every parent must pass on to their children and grandchildren. But first, I'm urging you to participate in one of the most exciting opportunities in the history of Pathway to Victory. I'm referring to the Active Matching Challenge in the amount of $1.7 million. Your generous gift will allow men and women all around the world to receive spiritual encouragement from Pathway to Victory.

In addition, you're going to receive a thank you gift. It's the brand new Pathway to Victory devotional for 2026. Every page was penned with you in mind because I'd like to be your daily companion throughout the new year as I come alongside you in your spiritual journey. We've printed our devotional in a larger font so that it's easier to read. It's bound in beautiful, tanned leather, and it'll help you keep your eyes fixed on Jesus every day in 2026.

I'm going to say more about the devotional and the matching challenge after my message, but right now, let's tackle the subject at hand. I titled today's message "What Parents Wish Their Children Knew About Money."

Speaker 3

You know, at first, Dallas, we place a premium on reaching children. There's a reason for that. We know statistically that 85% of everybody who comes to faith in Christ does so before the age of 18. After you reach age 18, the older you get, the less likely you are to ever come to faith in Jesus. That is just a statistical fact. And so the time to reach children is now.

But reaching children for the Gospel is not the only thing we do here at First Baptist. Bringing them to a point where they receive the gift of eternal life is not the end goal; it's the beginning goal. Because once we reach children for Christ, then we have the job as a church and as parents to teach them how to live according to God's plan for their lives. Deuteronomy 6 says, "Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. And you, talking to adults, shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your might. And these words which I'm commanding you to shall be on your heart."

Then verse seven says, "And then you shall diligently teach them to your children." We're to teach our children the commands, the statutes of the Lord. Those commands are not just the moral commands for living morally and purely; they command the instructions for how to live your everyday life. The Bible calls that wisdom. Throughout the Bible, there's an admonition for parents to teach their children wisdom. Proverbs 4:1-5 states, "We don't have time to look at it, but at verse 3 it says, Solomon said, when I was a son to my father, tender and the only son in the sight of my mother. Then my Father taught me and said to me, 'Let your heart hold fast my words, keep my commandments and live. Acquire wisdom.'"

What is wisdom? Somebody has defined wisdom this way: wisdom is the skill to live life according to God's plan. In the Old Testament Hebrew, the word wisdom, "hakma," is used in Exodus 28:3. It's used to refer to a group of people who were supposed to make the priestly garments that Aaron, the high priest, would wear. God had a very specific blueprint for how those garments were to be made. Exodus 28:3 says, "The weavers were imbued with wisdom to skillfully make those garments." They had the skill to follow God's pattern for that garment.

Well, for us, wisdom is the skill to follow God's pattern, His blueprint for every area of life: for our marriages, for our work, for our relationships, for every part of our life, including the area of life we're going to talk about today. I know you're wondering, where is all this going? Well, today has been on the calendar for a year as our annual stewardship message. Now, don't run for the exits. Ushers, lock the doors, please, for just a moment. Before you get defensive about that, understand that giving to the Lord is just one aspect of a bigger subject that we're going to talk about today.

And that's how we handle money overall. You know, the Bible has a great deal to say about God's blueprint pattern for how we handle our money. And that's one area we need wisdom in. You know, the skill to handle money wisely is key to living successfully in this life, but it's also a key for living well in the next life. Did you know? How we handle our money in this life, Jesus said, is a test for how we're going to handle true riches and responsibilities in the next life. One of the most important skills we can develop in our Christian life is handling our money according to God's plan and passing that wisdom onto our children and to our children's children.

And that's what we're going to look at today. I decided to title today's message "What Parents Wish Their Children Knew About Money." I mean, if you were to sit down and say, "You know, child, grandchild, I don't want you to make the same mistakes that I made. This is what I really wish you would learn about money so that you don't remain a leech on me for the rest of my life." No, no, no, dad, no, no. Proverbs talks about the two children, "leech and leech," who kept sucking their parents dry out of money.

So there's a selfish reason for you to pass this along to your children, but it's also part of our responsibility to pass these lessons. So today, in the few minutes that we have, I'd like to talk about five lessons about money that we as parents need to impart to our children and our children's children. I've marked each of these principles and given it a rhyme that might help you remember it a little bit more.

First of all, in the area of earning, you know, earning money's important, isn't it? Here's the little saying I want you to remember: "Your job is a gift from God." Would you say that with me? "Your job is a gift from God." I want you to imagine, and I know you would have to imagine this, that you bought a lottery ticket. Nobody buys a lottery ticket here, right? But let's just assume that in a moment of weakness, you did, and you found out you won the jackpot: $3 million. You'd feel pretty good, wouldn't you? You'd probably start thinking, "What am I gonna do with this newfound wealth?"

Well, I've got great news for you today. You've already won the jackpot and probably don't even realize it. Did you know that you've won a multi-million dollar jackpot? It's called your job. Your job. Think about it. Just like your salary that gets paid in installments, the jackpot is paid in installments. You usually don't take it all at once; you get it in monthly payments over a number of years. It's the same way with your job. Your job has a payout to it every month; it's called your salary.

Now just think about how much that adds up to over a period of years. Let's just say you and/or your mate make an average of $70,000 combined. Multiply that times 40 years of working, and that's about $3 million that you're going to receive. Some of you may make less than that; some of you may make more than that. Take whatever your combined household income is, multiply it by 40, and that's how much money is going to be yours. And by the way, that jackpot called your job is a gift from God.

Did you know that the ability to make money, to have a job, comes from God? Deuteronomy 8:18 says, "But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you the power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers as it is this day." Does God want to provide for our needs? Of course He does. The way He provides for our needs is through the job that He gives us. And that's why one of the most important lessons we can teach our children is to view their jobs as a gift from God and to maximize that opportunity and maximize that wealth He wants to transfer to us.

In Proverbs 10:4, Solomon talks often about the relationship between hard work and prosperity. Proverbs 10:4 states, "Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich." Or Proverbs 14:23, "In all labor there is profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." That word, translated "labor" in Proverbs 14:23, means toilsome labor. It's the kind of work that makes you drip with perspiration, the kind of work that requires so much focus and concentration that it drains you physically and emotionally. That's how we're to perform our work if we're going to succeed in our work.

I remember once I got up one morning and I started groaning and said, "Oh, I just can't believe how much I have to do today." And Amy, in her compassionate way, said, "You ought to be grateful you have the health to be able to go to work and do what you need to do today." And you know, she was exactly right. I mean, it is a gift, not a curse, to be able to work and to work hard. One of the best lessons we can teach our children about work is that work is a gift, not a curse from God. And we ought to maximize our job opportunity.

There's a second lesson, though, about work that we need to learn. You know, I just said a few moments ago, in your lifetime, you're gonna have millions of dollars pass through your hands. Isn't that a phenomenal thing? You're going to have millions of dollars pass through your hands. But that's the problem, isn't it? It passes through your hands. You hold on to very little of it. Solomon expressed that truth in Proverbs 23:5 when he said, "Cast but a glance at riches, and it's gone. For wealth will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle."

And that's why, if we're going to handle money well, we have to learn a second truth about money, and it relates to the area of spending. How do you hold on to more of that money and not let it slip through your hands? Here's the saying I want you to remember: "Wanting more is the key to becoming poor." Would you say that with me? "Wanting more is the key to becoming poor."

Think about this. It doesn't matter what your salary is. It doesn't matter how much money you have in the bank. It doesn't matter how much stuff you've accumulated. If you don't think it's enough in your mind, you're poor; you're lacking. You know, there is a fascinating book that came out a few years ago called "The Overspent American." It was by a Harvard Sociologist named Juliet Shore. She talked about how spending habits in America have changed through the decades. She said back in the 50s and 60s, Americans had a standard of living by which they measured themselves, and it was their neighbors.

I mean, if their neighbor bought a new washing machine, they felt like they had to buy a new washing machine. If their neighbor bought a new car, they felt like they needed to buy a new car. Their neighbors were the standard by which they judged how content they were or satisfied. In fact, we had a saying for it back then. I bet some of you remember it: "Keeping up with the Joneses." Remember that? The Joneses were your next-door neighbor. You measured your well-being by them.

That's not our standard today, the sociologist says. We no longer measure our contentment with our neighbors because we don't know our neighbors. We don't know if their name is Jones or Smith or whatever it is. We have a new standard that we use to measure how well we're doing. It's what we see on television or what we see on the Internet in these ads. We look at the lifestyles of people who are earning 10 times, 100 times, a thousand times what we are. That becomes the standard, and it's an unrealistic standard.

And so Americans plunge themselves into debt trying to maintain an unrealistic level of living. And that's why one of the most important things parents can teach our children is this: there will always be somebody with more than you have. There will always be somebody who has fancier clothes, a nicer car, a larger house. There'll always be somebody up the organizational ladder from you who is earning more money than you are. There'll always be somebody with more.

I mean, just think about it. Of the 400 wealthiest Americans on the Forbes 400 list, 399 of them are looking at somebody who has more than they do. And that's why you can't allow what others have to be your barometer of contentment. Like Horton from Dr. Seuss, we have to learn to be able to say, "Enough is enough. I've had enough." You know what the key to satisfaction in life is? It isn't spelled M O R E; it's spelled E N O U G H. Enough. Learn when enough is enough.

I came across these words from Gaius Lucilus. He wrote, "It is not the man who has too little who is poor, but the one who hankers after more. What difference does it make how much there is laid away in a man's safe or in his barn? How much head of stock he grazes, or how much money he puts out in interest, if he is always after what is another's and only counts what he has yet to get, never what he already has?" There's real wisdom in that.

Paul expressed it this way in 1 Timothy 6:6-8: "For godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. And if we have food and covering, with these we shall be content." Isn't that interesting? Paul says, if you know where your next meal is coming from, if you have a place to sleep tonight that's covered, you can be content. Anything else is gravy added on top of that. A key to spending is understanding the truth that wanting more is a key to becoming poor.

Third, and this is closely related, if we're going to teach lessons to our children about God's view of money, we need to teach them about debt. Here is the saying I want you to write down: "If you don't want to fret, be careful of debt." Say that with me: "If you don't want to fret, be careful of debt." It's an important thing we've got to teach our children about, and that is the dangers of debt.

I was reading this week that in 2016, 770,000 Americans filed for personal bankruptcy. You say, "Well, how do I put that number in context? What does that mean?" 770,000 people filed for personal bankruptcy during the Great Depression of the late 20s and the 30s. One less than one out of every 1,000 Americans filed for bankruptcy during the Great Depression. In 2016, over five out of every thousand Americans filed for personal bankruptcy. That means five times percentage-wise of Americans are filing for bankruptcy in these times of prosperity as were during the Great Depression.

And every one of those 770,000 bankruptcies is by a person who had the same problem: he spent more money than he had. He used debt to create an artificial standard of living. And that's why the Bible, although it doesn't prohibit debt in every circumstance, says you better be very careful of debt. Proverbs 22:7 says, "The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave." You see, debt is not because people aren't making enough money. Just as I've shown you in these economic boom times, people are going into bankruptcy. It is people spending more than they have income for. It's having unrealistic expectations about spending.

And that's why we have to be careful about debt. Now, I think we've got to be careful here to distinguish between good debt and bad debt. There are some instances in which it makes sense to borrow money. A good debt, for example, might be buying a home. Very few people could afford to pay cash for a home. They take out a mortgage, understanding that hopefully over time, that home maintains or even increases in its value. Bad debt is borrowing money for items that depreciate, like your groceries or clothing or vacations. That is bad debt.

Be careful of debt. Proverbs 22:26-27 says, "Do not be among those who give pledges, among those who become sureties for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your lender take your bed from under you?" I mean, why would you go out, he says, and get into debt if a banker is going to come in the middle of the night and snatch your bed from under you? I mean, who would do such a thing? And yet, many people make that kind of foolish decision.

The problem with debt is that it allows us to artificially live above our income, at least for a while, until everything comes crashing down around us. And you know what the greatest facilitator of debt is in our country? What it is that makes it so easy to get enslaved with debt? The credit card. The credit card. I was reading again this week that the average American has 11 credit cards with an average balance of $5,700. You say, "Well, what's the problem with that?" There are two problems with credit cards you need to warn your children about.

First of all, the obvious: the high interest rates that you pay with a credit card. Even though interest rates overall are relatively low, historically low, I read this week that the average credit card rate is still 15%. 15%. Now, let me illustrate what that does. Let's just say you go out and you buy some appliances and charge them on your credit card: $2,000. And let's say that you make the minimum payment on that credit card every month. Do you know how long it will take you to pay off that $2,000 debt? 22 years. 22 years. And by the time you finally have paid off that credit card, you would have paid $4,789. That's $2,000 for the actual cost of the appliances, and $2,789 of interest.

Speaker 2

Concerning the inherent dangers of owning a credit card, there's a second point I want to share with you. So please be listening again on Monday when I have more time to describe what parents wish their children knew about money. Just as our children are confused about managing personal finances, many are confused about what it means to become a Christian. At Pathway to Victory, it's our mission to share the Gospel with clarity and boldness. Would you join us in sharing the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ?

You've heard me talk about the tremendous Matching Challenge that's active for a few more days. Friends of Pathway to Victory have set aside $1.7 million as a means for matching dollar for dollar your special end-of-year gift. This means your generous gift of $100 becomes $200. Your generous gift of $500 becomes $1,000 until we reach the goal of $1.7 million in our nation.

Today, we're experiencing a surge of interest about spiritual things, and Pathway to Victory is postured to make an impact as a trustworthy source of bold and practical Bible teaching. This beautiful Matching Challenge will multiply our influence in America and beyond. And now's the time to respond, especially if you've never reached out to Pathway to Victory or maybe it's been longer than you think since your last gift.

As a thank you gift for your participation in the Matching Challenge, I'm going to send you the brand new Pathway to Victory daily devotional for 2026. We've printed this volume in a larger font so that it's easy to read. It'll become your daily companion as you walk with God and with me in the new year. Here's David with all the details.

Speaker 1

When you give a generous year-end gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, we'll say thanks by sending you the brand new 2026 Pathway to Victory Daily Devotional. To request this exclusive resource, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. When your gift is $100 or more, we'll also send you "Celebrate the Savior," a DVD, video, and MP3 format audio disc set featuring the best Christmas teaching messages by Dr. Robert Jeffress.

Remember, because of our Now is the Time Matching Challenge, your gift will be doubled in size and impact. So be sure to get in touch right away. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You could also send your donation by mail if you'd like. Write to P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. That's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.

I'm David J. Mullins, wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again Monday for Part Two of the message "What Parents Wish Their Children Knew About Money," right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas.

You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. Right now, your special year-end gift will be matched and therefore doubled in impact, thanks to the Now Is the Time Matching Challenge.

Take advantage of this opportunity to double your impact before the deadline on December 31st. To give toward the matching challenge, go to ptv.org/donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.