diff --git a/content/posts/2024/winter/week-6.md b/content/posts/2024/winter/week-6.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0524c90 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/2024/winter/week-6.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +Shrewd Stewardship + +## Big Idea +Money holds no virtuous value, it simply is a means to an end. Money should not control our +hearts and lives but rather God should. Money then is a temporary gift that God gives us to serve him to +the absolute fullest measure we can in this life. We should steward our resources and money and use +them to serve others, the church, and the mission of the church is to further the kingdom of God. + +## Read +Luke 16:1-16 + +## Discussion Questions +1. The parable that Jesus gives is really a shocking parable, because Jesus seems to praise a +dishonest man. But it is not the dishonesty that Jesus praises him but rather his shrewdness in +dealing with temporal money. Why do you think we as Christians struggle to have the same attitude +toward eternal “return on investment”? +2. Shrewd by definition is sharp powers of judgment or wisdom in circumstance. What does a shrewd +Christian do with his money? Is giving only 10% really a shrewd way to give our money to the +church? +3. What are some ways we can take our money and build relationships with unbelievers, so they might +hear the Word of God and the gospel? Are there current things that we could do right now in our +community to strengthen those relationships no matter what the cost? +4. Read Acts 5:1-11 Dishonesty in giving is a dangerous heart attitude before an all knowing God, how +do we develop faithful giving practices that would please God? +5. Being a slave carries such a bad stigma in US culture, but the people in Jesus’s day would have +understood the significance of the defining principle Jesus gave. Talk about the dangers of being a +slave to money. In the quietness of your own heart, do you think your giving habits show a love for +Christ and his church? + +## Prayer Focus +Pray that God will give us a renewed focus with the money that he gives us. Pray God +will take our money and use it to win souls into the kingdom of God, train teachers and preachers, and +equip missionaries to spread the truth of God and disciple believers. +## Next Steps +Read Psalm 37 and Revelation 21. Ask yourself which category are you in? The one that is +faithful to God and are blessed and rewarded or those who are not and are punished and destroyed? +Chose to use your money to serve God and advance the kingdom. Be faithful sons of light with all that is +entrusted to you. \ No newline at end of file