Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Well, we're going to get into the Word this morning and just so, so thankful for the opportunity to be able to bring the scriptures this morning. And last week it was great to be able to talk with Amy and share with Amy.
[00:00:18] And this morning we are continuing our series, Change before youe have To. You know, in the series, we've been looking at the thought that change is inevitable, but sometimes we don't like change.
[00:00:29] We worked out there were about six or seven people in last week's service that actually liked change. Most people, we like it the way it is, we like it to stay that way. But sometimes change is forced upon us.
[00:00:41] You know, we have a heart attack. And so we think, I better change my lifestyle, I better change the way I live my life so that I can live a little longer. Maybe our relationship breaks down and at that point we say, I need some help. I need to go see a counselor, need to talk to somebody who can help me in my relationships a little bit better.
[00:00:59] But often we make the change too late and then we have to deal with the consequences of our inaction.
[00:01:06] So this series is all about what if we could change, not because we have to, but before we have to. And we make decisions today that will help us in the future, in our outcome.
[00:01:18] Here's a response that I'm confident I can get a good 100%, though not everyone will raise their hands. I know it's not the way here. How many people would like more money?
[00:01:29] Ah, that's the biggest show of hands I've ever had. Look at that.
[00:01:33] Is money good? How many people like money?
[00:01:36] Are we talking about money in church? Yes, we are talking about money in church this morning.
[00:01:42] Now, I know we're in the middle of a building program, and this is not the reason I'm speaking on money. And you're not going to hear me asking for, for money for the building program.
[00:01:51] But we are going to be looking at the importance of money and how it has a part to play in all of our lives. How many of us interact with money on a daily, weekly basis? We buy food, we pay bills. Money is the commodity in which we exchange goods and services. Now, if we were going back 20, 30 centuries, we might be dealing in grain and wheat and gold and silver or whatever it is. We would be trading in whatever commodity that we have in our society.
[00:02:23] The Bible talks a lot about money.
[00:02:26] It's a hot topic within the Bible.
[00:02:29] The world says, get it, spend it, chase it. But the Bible, on the other hand, has a different view. It Says steward it, invest it, save it, give it.
[00:02:43] The Bible speaks a lot about money. In the book of Proverbs, it speaks about the three M's, the mouth, our morals and money.
[00:02:55] We also get an understanding of the importance of money and finance and wealth. When you hear how much Jesus talked about it three times more than any other topic, Jesus speaks about wealth, money, power, possessions.
[00:03:09] Now, in the book of Luke, Jesus is asked by someone in the crowd to tell his brother to share an inheritance with him. Jesus get him to share his money with me. This is what Jesus. This is his response. He says, therefore I tell you in Luke, chapter 12, verse 22, 23. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food and the body more than clothes. It goes on. In verse 27. Consider how the wildflowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all of his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith?
[00:03:55] Verse 31. But seek his kingdom, and in Matthew it speaks his kingdom and his righteousness. And these things will be given to you as well. Verse 33. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out. A treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
[00:04:23] Let's pray. Father, I pray you give me wisdom as I share this morning. Money's a challenging topic to speak about, but you have a lot to say about money, about our wealth, about our resource. You gave us this planet and you said, take care of it, look after it, steward it well.
[00:04:43] Father, I pray that all that we would have that has been given to us by you, we would be wise. We would. With that, Father, would you bring Revelation?
[00:04:53] Lord, as we consider, Lord, how we are using our money and our wealth, Lord, would we be challenged by your spirit to respond accordingly? In Jesus name, Amen.
[00:05:05] The last part of that verse. For where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
[00:05:11] Our money can be a bit of a homing beacon for our treasure, for our heart.
[00:05:18] When we look at our money, we find out where our heart is connected.
[00:05:22] And this morning, there's an invitation to discover the location of our heart. A couple of weeks ago, Drew was speaking and he said, there's Two things that will give us a reflection of our priorities. You can open up your calendar and you can look at where you spend your time and with who you spend your time, but you can also open your bank balance and you can see what you spend your money on. And if you looked in your bank balance, some of us would look in there and go, oh, wow, I have some interesting priorities compared to maybe some of the other things that I could have a priority for.
[00:05:57] One of the most popular verses to misquote in the Bible is that money is the root of all evil, because that's not actually what it says.
[00:06:07] Let me read the verse 1 Timothy 6, 10. For the love of money is the first step towards all kinds of sin or evil. Some people have even turned away from God because of their love for it. You hear that? We can turn away from God if we love money too much and as a result have pierced themselves with many sorrows. When I'm chasing money, when I'm pursuing it, when it's my goal and that is my focus, money can become an idol in my life. It can even take me away from God.
[00:06:41] Money has the power to corrupt, cause great damage to people.
[00:06:46] When our money's out of control, and I wonder if there's a few testimonies where money hasn't been where it should be in your life. It can cause incredible anxiety.
[00:06:56] Some stats would say that 70% of relationship troubles are surrounding the use of money or the lack thereof.
[00:07:06] When our money's out of control, there can be incredible anxiety and pressure that we feel that causes our relationships to unravel.
[00:07:15] However, money has the ability to do good and great and amazing things. We've got somebody in our church who employs 120 people now.
[00:07:29] In employing 120 people, that's fathers and mothers that are putting clothes on the bodies of the children that they're raising and putting food on the table, filling up the cars that they drive, allowing them to go to school and have all of these things. Hundreds of people are blessed because of this person's ability to make wealth and use it wisely.
[00:07:54] So money is good.
[00:07:56] Money is a worthwhile tool. It's helpful. It's necessary.
[00:08:01] Kevin Gerald, he says this money is a dominion certificate.
[00:08:06] Money says to land, I can own you. Money says, to buildings, I can build you. Money says to vision, I can fulfill you.
[00:08:17] And I love the thought of God can get it through you.
[00:08:21] He will get it to you.
[00:08:23] If God knows that the resource that comes into your life will go through you. To be a Blessing for him, for others. If God gets the glory with all of our wealth and our resource, then I have watched time and time again God provide for people enough for themselves and for others.
[00:08:45] So this morning I want to give us two keys. And each key's just got a little breakdown of a few thoughts.
[00:08:51] And it's important that we get them in order, which is why the first thought this morning is that we have to be intentional in our stewardship.
[00:09:01] Intentional stewardship. The Bible's very clear. We need to be wise with our resource.
[00:09:07] A proper kingdom mindset is an acknowledgement that all we have comes from God. Psalm 24:1 says, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live in it.
[00:09:20] When we acknowledge that all we have and all the resource that we have gathered and we can gather, when we recognize that it's God's, it's in the right place and the right priority, we also must acknowledge that it's God who empowers us and enables us to generate wealth. Listen to this.
[00:09:41] God was speaking to the Israelite people in Deuteronomy 8:18. He says, you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers as it is this day.
[00:09:56] So here's a few thoughts on how we can be intentional in our stewardship as disciples of Christ.
[00:10:02] First thought this morning, don't waste our wealth.
[00:10:05] Don't waste our wealth. God has no problem with wealth.
[00:10:09] God blessed the people when they brought an extravagant offering for the temple in Solomon's day.
[00:10:17] So God's not afraid of wealth because the wealth is His.
[00:10:22] But God must be glorified in our wealth.
[00:10:26] We'll all be judged on what we do with what we've been given as much as we will the words that we speak. It'll be with the resources we've been given. What are we doing with it? Are we adding value to the people around us or are we just spending it all on ourselves?
[00:10:41] God wants us to be thinking about other people. When we love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, we've got to think about our wallet, too.
[00:10:50] Do we love him with all of our resource? To the point where if he said, I need you to give that to someone, would we be in the position to be able to do that?
[00:11:00] Well, if we haven't got the stewardship part right, no, we can't. And I'm going to share a couple of stories of Our failures, as I always do when I preach in a moment.
[00:11:10] So the question I want to ask, are we being wise with our money?
[00:11:17] The wealth and the resource really matters. A few weeks ago, we talked about the parable of the talents and those that were given some.
[00:11:25] There was an expectation, there was a demand placed on each of these servants for the master coming back and saying, I want a return on my investment.
[00:11:36] Coming back and saying, I want to come back and see that you've done something with it.
[00:11:41] Now, that's not a guilt trip, but it's a reminder of that all we have is the Lord's and that we are simply stewards of all he's given us. Because there'll be a moment and we're gone.
[00:11:53] And what have we done with that wealth, with that resource? How have we spent it? How have we invested it? How have we saved it?
[00:12:01] And I want to say the principle has nothing to do with how much money we have.
[00:12:06] If you have less money or you have more money, the intention is still the same. We have to be wise with it.
[00:12:14] I know some of the wealthiest people I know they are not frivolous with their money.
[00:12:21] In fact, they will go after every bargain they can find. They will go for every sale.
[00:12:26] They don't throw their money away just because they've got lots of it, because they want to invest it into something that really matters. And so you can say, well, I don't have a lot of money. I can't be a good steward. Actually, the more we are good stewards with the little we have. What was the parable of the talents?
[00:12:43] You've been faithful and little. I'm going to give you more.
[00:12:47] How wonderful would it be if God would increase your resource because you've been proved faithful by not wasting your wealth? Every pound will be accounted for as much as every word that I speak.
[00:13:01] So let's not waste our wealth. Second thought. Give God our first and best as intentional stewards of what he's given us. Would we give God our first and our best? As long as I remember, I've tithed, I've given a tithe. I've brought it into the local church.
[00:13:18] You know, the local church is the hope of the world.
[00:13:20] It's a place where people find and encounter God. And I truly believe when we bring our tithe into the storehouse, God is honored and people's lives are transformed.
[00:13:31] So many of us have had a transformation take place because of the local church.
[00:13:36] You've come into church and your life has been changed. And Transformed because of the message that's being preached and the ministry that's taken place within the body of believers.
[00:13:48] I know Amy and I, we found Jesus in church. Our parents, followers of Jesus. And we are so thankful for that. We were brought along to church and there were probably some Sundays we didn't want to come to church.
[00:14:01] But I'm so thankful for parents that said the deveters we go to church. That's what we do when we're older. You can make your decisions for yourself, but this is what we do as a church family. I'm so thankful for parents that raised me that way.
[00:14:17] We discovered our purpose in church. Amy sat in messages and heard God's voice calling her to go on a ywam or YFC trip.
[00:14:28] Going on a mission. I heard that too.
[00:14:31] I met Amy in church. There you go. Some of us, we're looking for a partner in life. Church is a great place to find someone.
[00:14:41] We got baptized, baptized in the Spirit in church.
[00:14:45] We got married in church.
[00:14:47] We're raising our children in church.
[00:14:50] So when we bring our first and our best to God and we put it in a storehouse, we bring it into a place where ministry is taking place.
[00:15:00] We know that we are being good stewards of all that God's given us.
[00:15:06] Bringing the tithe into the local church is not merely an Old Testament principle. I know there's lots of conversations going on, lots of debate as to whether I bring my tithe and whether tithe was Old Testament or not.
[00:15:17] It's actually not about that.
[00:15:20] It's not about whether it's at 10%.
[00:15:22] I believe that's a starting point.
[00:15:25] I believe it's a fulfilling of what God had spoken.
[00:15:30] I love that in Malachi. It establishes the tithe as a first fruits honoring to God the New Testament. It reinforces the spirit behind the tithe, the first fruits as something that's consistent, something that's prayerful, something that's sacrificial, something that's given joyfully. 2 Corinthians 9, 6, 8. Remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion.
[00:16:06] For God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly. So that I love this in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
[00:16:19] What an incredible promise that as we live generously, as we're faithful with what we have.
[00:16:27] Paul's talking about a prosperity that isn't just financial.
[00:16:30] It's health, it's strength, it's relationships.
[00:16:33] And if we believe this to be true, then would we position ourselves in a place where God is honored through our finances?
[00:16:42] Our prayer is there would be an overflow of abundance so that in all things you will be able to do all that God's called you to.
[00:16:50] The tithe that also supports spiritual leadership, as we read in 1 Timothy 5, and it advances the work of the kingdom. We see that in the book of Acts, where people would bring what they had into the storehouse, they would bring it in and they would distribute and they would take care of people, and the ministry would flow out of what was given.
[00:17:10] Jesus himself, he affirmed the tithe when correcting the Pharisees.
[00:17:15] He said, you should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former, showing that generous generosity and obedience goes hand in hand.
[00:17:25] Tithing allows me to prioritize first.
[00:17:28] God first releases provision into the house that disciples me.
[00:17:33] That allows us as a church to reach into the city and to southwest and beyond to take ownership of the mission that God has entrusted to us.
[00:17:43] And for Amy and I are tithe as the beginning place, an acknowledgement saying, God, all of this is yours.
[00:17:49] And I know there'll be some people here today that actually giving to God is not something you have practiced. It's not something that is a part of your spiritual discipline.
[00:17:58] Can I encourage you pray about it?
[00:18:02] And if you feel a nudge from God, if you feel a sense of this is what my step of discipleship needs to be, then just be obedient to that.
[00:18:10] Be obedient, be faithful. And it could be that you just skip a meal deal from Tesco this week and give that instead and say, God, I'm gonna bring you my first and my best. And this is gonna be the starting point for a relationship with money, with God.
[00:18:30] The last thought in intentional stewardship is we need to invest for future generations.
[00:18:35] Proverbs 13:22. A good man leaves an inheritance for their children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous.
[00:18:43] Sometimes God asks us to give everything we have, but that's an exception rather than the rule.
[00:18:51] A farmer has to plant seed in order to get a crop the next year.
[00:18:56] Now, in order to have seed, you have to save seed. If you eat it all, if you use it all and you can't plant some more, then you're not going to get a harvest the next there's an offering. But I also believe that God says, I want you to put a seed into something.
[00:19:14] I love seeing entrepreneurial projects over the years. I've had children in our children's ministry and youth ministry and they've come up with an idea. A couple of, couple of our lads, they recorded their first single. I said, right, I want to invest in that. Gave them some money, gave them some studio time.
[00:19:32] Why? Because I'm planting a seed into something I know is going to be Kingdom. And you're never going to go wrong when you invest into something that goes for the generations.
[00:19:42] When our children grow up, I want them to have resource.
[00:19:46] I want my children to be able to own a home. Wouldn't it be wonderful if that was the dream of the generations? I don't want their struggle to be spending their whole life just trying to own a home just to survive. It's so hard today, right? It's so hard. If you're a young person saving for a deposit, the deposit that you required slips away as quick as inflation. Just doesn't work. It's so hard.
[00:20:11] But we might need to save some money. I remember when we were saving for our deposit for our house, we were wasting money. We're eating lots of takeaways. We were spending money on things we shouldn't be spending on. We had to tighten things up in order to get the deposit that we needed. And it's hard. Put the effort in when you're younger, please put the effort in when you're younger. Put a savings plan in place so that you can make worthwhile investments for your future.
[00:20:42] A wise investment now will help provide security and a foundation for future generations.
[00:20:47] As a church, this is my time to give in to this place because I want my children not to have to be burdened with a mortgage and the details and all of that. I love for our kids just to be able to flow a ministry because we have made that investment in my lifetime.
[00:21:08] So after committing to intentional stewardship where we're not wasting our wealth, where we're giving to God our first and our best, when we invest for future generations, we then get released into one of the most exciting Kingdom adventures called Spirit led generosity.
[00:21:26] Two parts to this message today. Intentional stewardship.
[00:21:31] Making sure that we take care of what we have been given so that. And it's the so that we can do this bit. The spirit led generosity.
[00:21:42] You ever had a moment where you saw a need and you had it and you went and you gave it and it brought an incredible blessing to someone. Has Anyone experienced that? Even just a meal that you gave to someone, or a sandwich or something like that.
[00:22:01] Oh, what a gift it is to give something to someone not expecting it in return.
[00:22:08] And isn't that God? For God so loved the world that he. What he gave.
[00:22:15] So every time we give to someone, we're reflecting a little bit of God's nature.
[00:22:22] But here's some thoughts on spirit led generosity.
[00:22:28] We talked about the fact that our treasure is the homing beacon for our heart. Where our money is, that's where our heart hangs out.
[00:22:36] So the same principle applies. If you love your family, you will spend your money on them.
[00:22:42] Come on, young men. When you are courting the woman that you love and the one that you want to marry, some of us remember this. Well, money was not a problem. You would spend anything on flowers, on dinner, on movie tickets. You would invest in the one that you love the most.
[00:22:59] In the spirit of openness and transparency. I messed up this week.
[00:23:05] Amy came home on Tuesday.
[00:23:07] She had a bunch of flowers in her hand.
[00:23:10] She said, I bought you. I bought me some flowers from you.
[00:23:21] You shouldn't be clapping because that's not the way it's supposed to work.
[00:23:27] Oh, okay. All the cat, go on, go on, hit me. All the hecklers, go on, go on.
[00:23:36] She said, you didn't buy me flowers for telling me that. I got up there and did that and I preached with you last week. I said, I told you multiple times how amazing you were that you preached and you're so natural and I just love being up there with you.
[00:23:51] She said, that's not how I receive love.
[00:23:56] So key number five for keys to a pretty good marriage.
[00:24:03] This is for free.
[00:24:06] Understand your spouse's love language and speak to it in them. And what made it worse is that then my daughter Rosie, she buys Mum flowers as well. So now I feel like if I buy flowers this week, it's just. I don't know.
[00:24:23] So we'll see. We'll see. She will get flowers, I promise. In New Zealand, I bought her a house with like 25 rose bushes.
[00:24:32] She could pick her flowers anytime she wanted.
[00:24:35] How romantic is that?
[00:24:37] Apparently I'm supposed to pick them for her. So. Yeah.
[00:24:41] Anyhow, what's the mission God's called you to?
[00:24:48] What's the spirit led generosity that God has asked of you?
[00:24:53] There might be something that maybe in your business, you're saying actually part of the profits of what we earn is going to be given into a mission or a project.
[00:25:03] Maybe you've got a heart for people that are doing it tough on the street and that actually you can put some money aside, you can put some have money in your bank account to be able to walk down the street and give somebody a hot meal and maybe a sleeping bag.
[00:25:17] You've got a heart to invest into the ministry of CAP which is run here. That bell every time someone goes debt free coming out of debt, they ring the bell to celebrate somebody coming out of that bondage of debt.
[00:25:34] Maybe you might want to invest into that ministry of the NC and others around this church are a part of.
[00:25:42] Maybe it's giving to Teen Challenge or street pastors.
[00:25:46] Finding something that you can invest your time and your money into.
[00:25:52] Where you sow your money, that's where your heart will hang out.
[00:25:56] 2 Corinthians 9:6 Let me remind us again, remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously. John Wesley once said, earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can. I love that. Earn all you can, save all you can, give all you can.
[00:26:18] And I want to give two thoughts around Spirit led generosity as we close this morning.
[00:26:23] This is one I learned the hard way. You can only be generous with what you have.
[00:26:29] In the early days of our marriage we were at a conference and the speaker was talking about this amazing project and I gave an opportunity for people to give to this project and we wanted to give, but we had no money in our account and so we gave a pledge with a credit card and we gave out of money we did not have for the next six months.
[00:26:54] It took us a long time to get out of that debt.
[00:27:00] It wasn't a huge debt, but it was money we did not have. And so that debt began to incur interest.
[00:27:06] And here we were thinking something was a blessing which ended up being a bondage on our lives.
[00:27:12] Friends, Part 1. Intentional stewardship is the most important before you think about being generous.
[00:27:20] Sometimes we can want to be generous, but we give with something we don't have.
[00:27:25] I want to encourage you. Do not. Do not give with what you don't have.
[00:27:33] If your heart is to give and bless someone or bless something, can I encourage you? Please do not, do not give what you don't have.
[00:27:44] It might mean that you have to get out of debt.
[00:27:47] It might mean that the next three, four months is actually getting the stewardship part right so that then there will be a moment where you can give, you can give.
[00:27:59] And the last thought this morning is that you can't out give God.
[00:28:05] You can't out give God.
[00:28:08] Spirit led generosity.
[00:28:10] God is so faithful.
[00:28:13] He's so kind and he's so clever.
[00:28:18] God just has this way of blessing people and pouring his blessing out into others through other people.
[00:28:26] A number of years later, Amy and I were attending another conference and we had a similar moment where we kind of turned to one another and said, we want to give into this.
[00:28:36] This time we actually had money in the account.
[00:28:40] We had some savings set aside. We wanted to buy a car and the car hadn't broken down, but we were putting money aside because we wanted to buy a new car.
[00:28:49] And we felt really led to give this amount.
[00:28:52] And so we did. And we gave it generously and we gave it cheerfully and it wasn't money that we didn't have.
[00:29:01] About a week later, somebody calls us up and says, can I come and see you?
[00:29:06] I'm like, okay. I hope this is good, hope this is okay.
[00:29:10] And he turns up in a Ford Mondeo.
[00:29:14] Not the flashest car nowadays, but it was a car valued 10 times the amount we gifted. And he gave us the keys and said, God told me to give you this car.
[00:29:27] I'm like, wow.
[00:29:31] Now what's interesting is that that very make and model was my dream car as a teenager. I know my aspirations weren't really high, but hey.
[00:29:45] And so I think I was 18 years old working my first job, and the boss had a Ford Mondeo, brand new Ford Mondeo.
[00:29:53] And I got to drive it one day and it was a lovely car, just drove really well. And I thought, one day I'm going to own one of these Ford Mondeos.
[00:30:02] Isn't it interesting that God can even know the little desires of our heart?
[00:30:07] Sometimes our desires are a little bit selfish. And sometimes God says, you know what? I can fulfill that one.
[00:30:13] It's okay to have dreams and desires. It's okay to have those things that you think and you wonder and you hope and maybe, just maybe, God might.
[00:30:21] And so this car was given to us.
[00:30:24] Wow.
[00:30:26] Absolutely amazing. The gift that we'd given was given spirit led. I would say the first gift we, we gave wasn't because it was out of order. God doesn't change his mind on what priorities are.
[00:30:39] We had it out of order, but the second time around, we had it in the right order.
[00:30:46] When our giving is truly spirit led, God will take us on adventure after adventure.
[00:30:51] We think we can out give God, but you watch as you just love and you serve and you bless and you give to people. He will pour Out.
[00:30:58] When we moved over here, we considered what it would cost to move all of our furniture by ship over to here.
[00:31:06] And honestly, it was probably three times the amount our furniture was even worth. We didn't own expensive furniture, we bought cheap equivalent of Ikea. We've never really had expensive stuff, but we thought, well, we could sell it all. But then who wants to do a garage sale for every day teaspoon and tablespoon in the house? And so we sold a couple of the big ticket things. But then we found out there was a solo mum with three kids. She'd just lost her husband, she was moving from the UK over to New Zealand where her family and her support were. And we said, can we help you? And we said, we've got a house load of furniture, all the kitchen stuff, it's yours, we just want to bless you. It just felt like the right thing to do. And so we did.
[00:31:52] Now about a week later, we get a call from a friend who was moving from the UK over to do missions and he said, when we came over to the uk, we were given a house load of furniture.
[00:32:03] We're about to move.
[00:32:05] Would you like ours?
[00:32:09] Three kids, same number as us, three beds, three sets of dresses and drawers.
[00:32:15] And some of them were the drawers work, some of them don't.
[00:32:19] But we are so thankful that you cannot out give God.
[00:32:25] But can I encourage us? We've got to be intentional in our stewardship.
[00:32:30] Maybe there's two responses today. Maybe some of us, we just need to take a look at our finances, sharpen our pencil a little bit and go. Actually, could I make a dent in that debt this week? Could I knock £5? Could I knock £20 off that debt?
[00:32:44] Could I make some savings here and there to try and get into that place where I might be able to be generous with what I have?
[00:32:52] So, two responses this morning.
[00:32:55] Is it time to sharpen the pencil?
[00:32:58] Work harder on that stewardship?
[00:33:00] Maybe test God in this, Bring your first and your best to him.
[00:33:04] And the second response is, what is God asking you to give?
[00:33:09] To who?
[00:33:10] Who is it that you need to bless in this next season?
[00:33:14] Maybe you even just need to put £20 in your pocket. This is what I often do, put £20 in my pocket. So when I need it, it's there.
[00:33:22] Just pay for someone's groceries, just walk through and somebody's fumbling with the card and just slip £20 and just walk on by.
[00:33:32] What are you doing that for?
[00:33:33] All you need to say is God bless you.
[00:33:36] You've just told that person, that God loves them because of that blessing. What is it we could do? Would we allow God to lead us into generosity?
[00:33:47] Come on. Would we stand together?
[00:33:56] I don't know whether it's the first or the second or a bit of both, but would you respond as I pray? Respond to God and say, I want to be faithful with all that you've given me. I want to be faithful in the stewardship. I want to be faithful in the generosity.
[00:34:15] Father, I thank you. Thank you, Lord, that you have given us money, wealth and resource.
[00:34:21] And Father, I pray that we would be wise with all that you've given us.
[00:34:26] Father, I pray that we would not waste our wealth. I pray that we would bring you our first and our best. I pray that we would invest into future generations and opportunities.
[00:34:36] Lord, I pray that if we need to make decisions this week to sharpen up our budget, maybe to make a budget, Lord, in order to be wise with what we are spending. Lord, would you give us the courage to do that? Courage to strip back on the things that are not necessary, that we would be able to invest in the things that are most important.
[00:34:56] And God, for those that have got a heart to give, Lord, I pray that you would inspire their giving this week. I pray that we would walk through our week with opportunities in front of us and that we would respond accordingly and say, I want to bless that person. I want to give in to that opportunity. Father, we pray, Lord, that we would be wise with all that you've given us. The earth is the Lord and everything in it. Lord, would we be wise stewards of all you've given us? In Jesus name, amen. Amen.
