Abraham's School of Finance: Stewardship

We are learning about managing finances in this month's preaching series at VCF entitled Abraham's School of Finance.  Week 2 is all about Stewardship.

Week 1: Covenant
Week 2: Stewardship
Week 3: Tithing
Week 4: Generosity

OIKONOMIA - from Greek; the management of household or household affairs; management, oversight, administration of others' properties.  ECONOMICS is derived from this word, and we know it is the production, distribution and consumption of limited resources.  Key word here is limited, which is why people hoard and focus on just getting.

To understand stewardship, the following questions need to be asked.

  • Who is the provider?
  • What is the purpose?
  • What is our part?
PROVIDER

--- The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)
--- For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. (1 Timothy 6:7)

God is the ultimate provider and God's resources are unlimited.  We are merely stewards and not owners.

PURPOSE

The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;  I will make your name great,  and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse;  and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

God wants to partner with us.  God blesses us so we can be a blessing to others.  Use worldly wealth to bless others.  We have more than we need.

PART

--- Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2)
--- Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. (Luke 16:10)
--- A faithful man will be richly blessed, 
but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished. (Proverbs 28:20)

--- Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (Hebrews 10:23)

--- Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel failed; every one was fulfilled. (Joshua 21:45)


Be faithful in the little things.  Do not live beyond your means. Be faithful with the use of other people's possessions.

Pastor Jeff Eliscupidez 
VCF Fort, November 12, 2011

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Filipino Friday 3: Reading Habits and Book Formats

Image
Reading Habits and Book Formats . Where and how do you read? Can you read anywhere and everywhere, or do you need a certain place/mood/state of mind to get reading? Do you read more in the morning or at night or any minute that you can? Where and how do you usually read? Are you exclusively for print, or do you go for ebooks more than print? Have you ever tried audiobooks? I am old school.  Even as most books now have digital versions, I still prefer the physical, ink-on-paper variety.  I like holding a real book, flipping the pages and being able to see my progress based on the thickness of read/unread pages.  Somehow, I feel more engaged and focused reading a physical book vs. from a gadget. I very rarely reread books so most of my collection just sit on the shelf after I'm done with them.  I feel it's a waste of precious trees if they are not shared with others.  So I started a Google doc at work where the team can list down their collections and anybody interested in
Read more

Trivia and Reading

Image
I am currently reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and I am inspired.  It’s about the author’s year-long quest to be happier.  It’s purposeful and practical and has lot of tips that I can apply or have started doing. Rubin focused on different areas every month and for May, it was Be Serious About Play.  The author was trying to go back to activities she enjoyed as a child. This led me to also think about a favorite childhood pastime, which was collecting trivia.  The Philippine Daily Inquirer used to run a trivia section by Bong Barrameda and I would religiously cut and paste them onto scratch papers, which I would then collate and read again and again.  Nerd zone! Not only that, I also kept a trivia notebook where I researched and wrote down interesting information like areas of study, capital cities, historical figures, scientists and discoveries, everything!  That was fun for me.  I was about to say they were useless info, but not really.  Because of this intere
Read more

Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer

Image
There is something to be said for collective recommendations like bestsellers list.  I found this title on such list at Fully Booked, read a few pages and decided to buy it.  I was intrigued by the theme of the book which is memory, specifically, how the author started as a journalist covering the US Memory Championships and ended up as a contender in the finals of the same competition one year later. It claims that with proper training, one's memory can be improved to be at par with the top mental athletes of the world.  Memory training has become an esoteric discipline because we practically do not need to remember a lot these days.  Information is very easy to retrieve from electronic devices and what not.  You just need basic search terms and the Google provides the information you need and more. Photo from Rainy Day Books I have to admit I rely on external memory a lot.  I can recall birthdays of my very close family members but outside of that small circle, I have to
Read more