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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. You know, when I think of somebody who prepared for his journey to heaven without any regrets, I think about Abraham. You know, in Genesis 25 eight, we have this word about Abraham's death. Moses writes, and Abraham breathed at his last and died at a ripe old age, an old man, and satisfied with life.
Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. You know, none of us can know for certain how much time we have here on earth. Some of us like Abraham will live to a ripe old age.
Others may be called away sooner. So how should we live each day knowing that it might just be our last? Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress explains what we can be doing right now to prepare for our journey to heaven. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David. And welcome again to Pathway to Victory. I'm glad you're with us today because I'm presenting the final message in our series about A Place Called Heaven. But first, it's important to remind you that we'll be visiting a slice of heaven next May 2025 and would love for you to join us on the Pathway to Victory Journeys of Paul Mediterranean Cruise. This isn't just a vacation. It's a spiritual journey that will transform your faith and create unforgettable memories.
Imagine worshiping on the same seas where the Apostle Paul sailed. Along the way, we'll explore stunning islands and soak in breathtaking views. I can't wait to share this experience with you. So join me for an adventure that will impact your life forever.
The dates are May 5th through 16th, and all the details are at ptv.org. And then bear in mind that today is the deadline for requesting your copy of my bestselling book called A Place Called Heaven, Ten Surprising Truths About Your Eternal Home. So please be ready to take down our contact information at the end of today's program. I want you to take this fulfilling journey with me by reading about the place God is preparing for you. As you elevate your perspective heavenward, it'll transform the way you view life in 2024 and beyond. My book again is called A Place Called Heaven, and it's yours when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.
But right now, let's continue a message that we began yesterday. As we answer this important question, how can I prepare for my journey to heaven? Now today, let's look at the fourth way to prepare for heaven, and that is make the most of your time on earth.
Make the most of your time on earth. God has allotted a different number of years and days for every one of us in this life, and yet we talk about people's average lifespan. In Psalm 90, Moses said there's an average lifespan for most people, and Moses beat it.
He lived to be 120 years of age, and yet in Psalm 90 verses 10 and 12, he said, 70 years are given us, and some may even live to 80. But even the best of these years are often empty and filled with pain. Soon they disappear, and we are gone. Verse 12, teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are.
Help us to spend them as we should. Paul said it this way in Ephesians 5, 15, and 16. He said, be careful how you walk. Not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil.
In the Bible, the word walk was an analogy for how you live your life. He said, be very careful how you live your life. In light of how short time is, make the most of your time. Number five, to prepare for your journey to heaven, minimize your pre-departure regrets.
Have you ever had this experience? You're at the departure gate getting ready to get on a plane, and you remember something you should have done. I should have stopped the newspaper. I should have stopped the mail. I should have packed a warmer coat or an extra pair of socks.
You know what I'm talking about. You wish you had done something, but it's too late. Now, those kind of regrets are minimal.
They have no lasting consequences. But to come to the end of your life ready to enter into heaven with regrets, that's a whole different story. As a pastor, I've had the experience many times of sitting with Christians who were about to die and listening to them to lament their regrets in life, relationships they wish they had maximized, relationships they wish they hadn't broken, opportunities they should have taken advantage of. You know, regrets are like a cancer.
They eat at the very soul of our being, and there's certainly no way to spend your final days here on earth. How can you make sure that you don't end your life with a long list of regrets? You know, one of the best resolves you can make is right now to focus on those things you believe God would have you to do regardless of how long he has left for you here on earth. I've encouraged you to engage in an exercise that I think really would honor God. That is, think through five major areas of your life, your relationship with God, your relationship to your family, your relationship with friends, your career, your finances, and then draw a column like this and ask God to help you identify what three things would you like to accomplish in each of these areas of your life before you go to heaven. Take an hour sometime this week and take time to fill out what are the three things God would like me to concentrate on the remaining years that I have. That's what Paul had in mind in Ephesians 5 when he said, live your life with a sense of purpose.
Don't be vague. Oh, I want to be a better person. I want to be happier. Don't be vague, but firmly grasp what you know to be the will of God for your life. Regarding your mate and your family, resolve. I will appreciate, enjoy, and value the mate God gave me. Some of you here know the pain of losing a mate.
But I don't have any regrets about the way you've treated your mate and appreciated your mate. Regarding your children, resolve. I will endeavor to point my children to Christ, to earn their respect and to celebrate their uniqueness. Or with your friends, resolve. I will treasure my friendships by praying for and spending time with those people who enrich my life. When it comes to your career, resolve. I will choose a life work that utilizes my giftedness and my passions. When it comes to your finances, resolve. I will make sure that my finances are in order and my family is provided for when I die.
Here's one general one that really crosses a number of areas. Resolve. I will ask forgiveness from anyone I have wronged or gone, they will always remember I tried to make things right. One way to minimize your regrets in life is to focus right now on what God would have you spend the rest of your life doing. But part of dealing with regrets is going back to past mistakes and dealing with those as well. You know, mistakes can't be erased from our life, can they?
Have you discovered life has no rewind button on it? The fact is, you can't erase your past mistakes. You can ask for God's forgiveness from them, but you can't erase your mistakes. But you can allow whatever mistakes you've made in the past to be a stepping stone to make significant changes right now in your life that will affect your tomorrow and your eternity. That's the way to deal with past mistakes so that you don't have any regrets.
You can't erase them, but use those mistakes as a stepping stone to allow you to change your tomorrow and your forever. Whenever I think about that truth, I think of the remarkable story of a Swedish chemist named Alfred Nobel. Alfred Nobel made a fortune by discovering that you could stabilize liquid nitroglycerin with a compound. And so he created this substance. It was really a paste that came from very volatile liquid nitroglycerin and this compound.
And he had a new name for this paste he created. He called it dynamite. And Alfred Nobel planned for this explosive to be used in construction, the building of canals and roads, or in mining operations. Little did he know what would be the first use of dynamite, and that would be to kill millions of people in warfare. In 1888, Alfred Nobel's brother, Ludwig, suddenly died. But French newspapers made a mistake, and instead of printing Ludwig Nobel's obituary, they accidentally printed the obituary for Alfred Nobel. And so Alfred Nobel had the unique experience of reading his own obituary in the newspaper.
And as he read it, he realized what he would be reminded for. In fact, in the obituary, it used the term, he was a merchant of death. Not wanting to be remembered for that, Alfred Nobel made the decision to change his life at that point. He took his fortune and spent the rest of his time devoted to improving life on Earth through the humanities and through science. And he created the awards that we still know today as the Nobel Peace Prize. Alfred Nobel couldn't erase his past, but he decided to use whatever regrets he had to make changes in his life today that would affect his tomorrow and his eternity.
You know, you and I won't have the fame or fortune of Alfred Nobel, but we can exercise the same principle. Whatever regrets, mistakes you've made in the past, you can't eliminate them, but you can use them to change your tomorrow and your forever. You know, when Paul came to the end of his life, he didn't come to the end of his life without any mistakes. He had made terrible mistakes.
He had blasphemed the name of God and persecuted Christians. He didn't come to the end of his life without mistakes, but he came to the end of his life without any regrets. In 2 Timothy 4-7, as he prepared for his execution, he said to Timothy, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, and I have kept the faith. Finally, to prepare for your journey to heaven, take care of the practical matters before you depart. Take care of practical matters before you depart.
One last item to check off on your to-do list before you depart this world is to make sure that those you care about most are adequately provided for. You know, Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah with a sobering message. He said in 2 Kings 20 verse 1, Set your house in order, Hezekiah, for you shall die and not live.
That's pretty good advice for all of us. Set your house in order, for you are going to die. The fact is, just like Isaiah said to Hezekiah, you are going to die.
I mean, do you understand that? You are going to die. Why don't you say that with me? I'm going to die. I am going to die.
Here's a happy Christmas thought. Let's say it again. I am going to die. Tony Campolo says it well. He said, one day you're going to die, they're going to take you to the cemetery, drop you in a ditch, throw dirt in your face, and then go back to the church and eat potato salad. It's true. Now, here's the question. After your family has finished the potato salad, what are they going to do?
Do they know exactly what to do? Audrey Hindle wrote about her husband, Jim, who was a CPA and a certified financial planner. A few years before he died, her husband, Jim, wrote an article on how to leave your financial house in order for your family. 1 Timothy 5.8 was the basis for his article. Paul said, if anyone does not provide for his own, especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. You know, men especially, providing for your household means more than earning a living and making sure they have their needs while you're alive.
It means making sure they're cared for after you're dead so that they know exactly what to do. In that article, Jim Hindle advised that husbands or families put together a notebook that contains the vital information your loved ones are going to need when you go, listing bank accounts, investments, passwords to computers, information about your obituary, what you would like them to remember, any ideas you have about your memorial service so that when your family is overcome with grief, they won't be in a panic trying to find things and make important decisions. Jim Hindle died and he left such a notebook for his wife, Audrey. She said she took that notebook into their attorney.
He looked through this and said, I have never seen anything like this before. Audrey wrote, my husband, Jim, demonstrated love, godly character and integrity by leaving a part of himself in this book. I have never felt abandoned or insecure. My husband took good care of us in his life and is still taking care of us in his death. Do that for your family. You won't regret it. By the way, do you know the most foundational thing you can do to set your house in order for your departure? Make sure you have a will. Did you know 64% of Americans have no will?
64%. Guess what? If you die without a will, you don't get to say what happens to your money. You know who determines what happens to your money? It's not your family either. The government tells you what's gonna happen to your money when you die, either by state regulation and law or by the federal income tax code.
Does anybody here want the government telling your family what to do with your money? That's why you need a will. And by the way, make sure that will reflects your values. You know, when my dad was preparing to die, he wrote out his will. In fact, Doug, your dad, Jack, was instrumental in helping him compose his will. And my dad said, this will is my last will and testimony. And in the preamble of that will, he talked about his salvation experience and how he came to faith in Christ. He wanted to make sure that we read it, that the attorney read it, that the judge had to read that final testimony of his faith in Christ. But in that will, he not only used words to express what really mattered to him, he did it in what he left behind. And a part of his estate was left to this church that had been so instrumental in his life, his family's life, and in which all three of his kids had come to faith in Christ as well. Make out a will. And when you make that will out, don't forget the church. It's your last way of making sure some of what you've accumulated goes on and on and on and on for eternity.
Set your house in order. You know, when I think of somebody who prepared for his journey to heaven without any regrets, I think about Abraham. You know, in Genesis 25, eight, we have this word about Abraham's death. Moses writes, and Abraham breathed at his last and died at a ripe old age, an old man and satisfied with life, and he was gathered to his people.
Amy, I want you to think about that as an epitaph for my headstone, because that's really a great one, isn't it? Died at a ripe old age, satisfied with life. Abraham was satisfied. He was content. He had no regrets about his past.
Not that he didn't make any mistakes. He made some humongous mistakes, but he knew they had been forgiven by God. He died satisfied, without regrets, when it came to his children. He had successfully passed on his faith to his children and to his grandchildren, and he died satisfied about his future. He knew he was headed to be gathered with his people and with his God because of his faith in God's provision for his sin.
He died satisfied with life. Are you ready for your journey to that place called heaven? Some of you may say, well, pastor, honestly, I get fearful when I think about not the end result, but the process of getting there to that place called heaven.
I'm fearful of death. Whenever I think of the fear of death, I think of the true story of John Todd. John Todd was born in 1800 in Vermont.
He spent the first six years of his life living in a little hamlet called Killingsworth. When he was six years old, John Todd's parents, both of them, died suddenly. He and his siblings had to be parceled out among any relative that would take them. He had a very kind-hearted aunt who agreed to take him and to raise him. So he went to live with her. For the next 15 years, she cared for him just like a mom.
When he was 21 years of age, he left home, went to school, prepared for the ministry, became a successful pastor. In his middle-age years, he received word that his aunt who had cared for him was about to die. She wrote him a letter and said that even though she was a Christian, she greatly feared death. Moved with compassion, John wrote her back. Recounding that night when he, a frightened little boy, was welcomed into the loving and warm home of his aunt.
And this is what he wrote to his aunt. It is now 35 years since I, a little boy of six, was left quite alone in the world. You sent me word you would give me a home and be a kind mother to me. I have never forgotten the day when I made that long journey of 10 miles to your home. I can still recall my disappointment when instead of coming for me yourself, you sent your servant, Caesar, to fetch me. I well remember my tears and my anxiety as perched high on the horse and clinging tight to Caesar, I rode off to my new home. Night fell before we finished the journey and as it grew dark, I became lonely and afraid. Do you think she'll go to bed before I get there?
I asked Caesar anxiously. Oh no, he said reassuringly, she'll sure stay up for you. When we get out of these here woods you'll see her candles shining in the window. Presently we did ride out in the clearing and there sure enough was your candle. I remember you were waiting at the door, that you put your arms close about me and that you lifted me, a tired and bewildered little boy, down from that horse. You had a big fire burning on the hearth, a hot supper waiting for me on the stove. After supper you took me to my new room, you heard me say my prayers and then you sat beside me until I fell asleep.
You probably realize why I'm recalling all of this to your memory. Someday soon God will send for you to take you to a new home. Don't fear the summons, the strange journey or the dark messenger of death. God can be trusted to do as much for you as you were kind enough to do for me so many years ago. At the end of the road you will find love and a welcome waiting and you will be safe in God's care.
That's the future. God has planned for you. I go, Jesus said, to prepare a place for you. It's a place more magnificent than you could possibly imagine. It's a place where every heartache will be erased and every dream will be fulfilled.
It's a place reserved for those who have trusted in Christ as their Savior. It's a place called heaven. And with today's final message we conclude our series about a place called heaven.
Every single broadcast from the first Monday in November until now was devoted to this topic. And now it's time for you to contact Pathway to Victory to request your copy of my bestselling book A Place Called Heaven Ten Surprising Truths About Your Eternal Home. None of us knows when God will summon us to come home but all of us know the day is inescapable. Rather than instilling fear about death we can get excited about the amazing home God is preparing for those who love Him. My book is written in a style that helps you live every day in light of your eternal home. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory you're invited to request my book A Place Called Heaven Ten Surprising Truths About Your Eternal Home. You can be certain that your financial investment in Pathway to Victory is bearing fruit. Recently I received a note that said, Pastor Jeffress, I haven't been to church in a long time but I've been listening to you on the radio. Today I felt God speaking to me.
I'm ready to commit myself to God and trust Him through all of my trials. Thank you so much. Well, this thank you note really belongs to everyone who supports the ministry of Pathway to Victory.
My voice wouldn't extend beyond the city limits of Dallas without you. Thank you so much for partnering with us to bring the truth about heaven to the country we love and even the entire world. Now, don't forget you can watch Pathway to Victory on television. Saturdays you can catch us at noon Eastern on TBN, the Trinity Broadcasting Network.
On Sundays we're on hundreds of stations including TBN at 10 a.m. Eastern and Daystar at 6 p.m. Eastern. David. Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You can request your very own copy of the bestselling book A Place Called Heaven when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory.
Call us toll free at 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $75 or more, we'll also send you all 12 messages from A Place Called Heaven. That's the teaching series on CD and DVD. Plus, you'll receive encouragement from A Place Called Heaven.
It's a beautiful book filled with inspiring scripture, breathtaking photos, and words of wisdom. But this is the last day this offer will be available. So don't wait, get in touch. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. If you'd prefer to write, here's that mailing address, P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.
Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, wishing you a great weekend. Then join us again next week for the start of a study in Luke called Reigniting Your Passion for Christ. That's 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. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash donate or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory.
