Cultivating Stewardship 2

I pointed out last week that
historically God's people have been some
of the most generous people
in the world
and I gave you a three-fold reason for
that number one
the character of God
God is a generous God he is the
overflowing Fountain of all that is good
number two were created in the image of
God we share his character by Nature
apart from the fall as the Canadian
Blood Bank likes to say
concerning the giving of blood it is in
you to give
third reason is in Christ the image of
God is being restored to us
because of the Fall it's become
distorted and twisted we've become
self-centered and selfish
but in Christ God becomes Our Father the
Holy Spirit begins to increase our level
of faith and trust
and the result is that we begin to share
increasingly in the generosity of God
and so in this little mini-series and
cultivating stewardship there really are
two questions that we're trying to
address
the first question is this
how has God blessed me in other words
what resources of time talent and
treasure has the entrusted to me and
then secondly how can I maximize
my fruitfulness
we don't all share
equal talents of time talent and
treasure
but the question for each of us is how
can I maximize my fruitfulness to the
glory of God
in your bulletins this morning is a
fairly extensive insert entitled
participating by giving I want to ask
you to pull that out for just a moment
if you will
and on the back panel you see there a
chart
that breaks down the giving pattern in
the congregation
to the ministry of this church
to date
and you'll see there four columns
on the left
the giving range
from
0 to 9000 and up
then the number of donors in the
congregation that fall in each of those
ranges
then the total number of gifts
in each range
and then the average per donor now
there's one mistaken there if you drop
to the bottom of the average per donor a
listing the total giving units 357 you
see the sum total range rate
raised there
590 that next figure is wrong it reads 1
62 85 and there is a five missing it
should be
85. that's the average giving per giving
unit in this congregation
now we share this with you this morning
not to shame you if you're on the bottom
end of that list
or for that matter to Pat you in the
back if you were towards the top of that
list we share that with you so that you
get a good feel
of where the giving is at in the life of
this community in your mailboxes today
is the third quarter statement of giving
to the church and what we want to
encourage you to do is take a look at
what you have donated so far and see how
it fits into the overall pattern
recognizing that you may well be giving
to other causes or to other situations
that's not reflected here this is only a
reflection of what you've given to and
through the church but the AIM
again as I said is not to shame you but
to give all of us an opportunity to
reflect together on how can I maximize
the resources that God has given me how
can I be as fruitful as possible under
the blessing of God
now last week I shared with you that
during holidays Michelle and I visited
friends of ours in Nova Scotia they
together with their offspring one run
quite a large apple orchard operation
and one of the reasons I wanted to meet
with them besides renewing relationships
because we hadn't seen them for a number
of years was to find out why his
operation was doing as well as it was
doing
because you see growing apples of late
in the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia
has been a tough business and lots of
Apple Growers have gone out of business
but my friend has not only succeeded in
staying in business
but he has thrived Beyond expectation
far more so than many of his neighbors I
want to find out what is it that you're
doing that is maximizing your
productivity given the fact
that you have no more and no less in
terms of resources than your neighbors
and so pretty quickly it became apparent
that he and his offspring had learned to
maximize resources in ways that many of
their other neighbors were not able to
do they they tore out Old Orchards That
Grew old varieties that are no longer
selling very well
they invested a significant amount of
time and effort in finding new varieties
that demand premium dollars on the
market and then as I pointed out last
week they have adopted a whole new
system of doing Orchards this particular
picture of high density uh Apple growing
where they planned as many as a thousand
trees per acre and I don't know if you
can see that one tree off to the side
there but you see how much fruit this
thing is can you see that
how many apples on that tree
well you have a thousand of those per
acre of a variety that is popular in
themselves well
you're in business
and they have done by God's grace and
his Blessing extremely well by
maximizing
their productivity so how do we do that
spiritually particularly in the context
of this campaign that we're conducting
how do I maximize my financial
fruitfulness in the kingdom of God well
last week we looked at one principle
that is critical in understanding and
that is the fact that we must understand
the law of sowing and reaping
second Corinthians 9 6
later on in this episode where Paul is
encouraging the Corinthian Christians
he says remember this whoever is so
sparingly will also reap sparingly and
however sows generously will also reap
generously
and in conversation with my friend I
discovered that in order for him to
maximize his fruitfulness
he had to spend a lot of money
planting a thousand trees in what is
known as the tall spindle system of
Apple growing involves an incredible
investment you've got to spend between
10 and 15 grand an acre to start that
kind of an orchard
the advantage is that you start bearing
fruit in two or three years and by year
seven or eight all things being
considered equal you have your money
back
which is half the time of a traditional
Orchard but you see you have to sow in
order to reap and that is a universal
principle not only in agriculture it is
a universal principle in all areas of
life
what do you have to do if you want to
have friends
you got to make friends
how do you build muscle tissue how do
you
you know develop your brain power
you have to use it or you lose it it's
very counter-intuitive
particularly when things are tough we
want to hold on to what we've got
but scripture says that is the opposite
of what you need to do you need to
invest it I recall a former Pastor here
telling the story
of a traveler in the desert
coming to
the absolute end of his water supply
and you know at the verge of dying of
thirst and then he comes along
a pump in the desert
and by the pump is a little bowl of
water
that he just anxiously wants to drink
but there's a little sign that says if
you want water
who is prepared to take that kind of
risk
knowing that if it doesn't work
you're out of the water that you could
have had but that you see is the nature
of faith and that is the nature of
sowing and reaping it is always a
question of can I trust God
to look after my resources The Book of
Proverbs puts it this way one man gives
freely
yet gains even more
another withholds unduly
when it comes to poverty
so again here's a question to ask how
much sowing
are you doing
and some people say well I can't afford
to sew
and I would say to you if you can't
afford to sow you cannot afford not to
solve
because that's what's going to multiply
the resources even if you're at the
bottom of the scale
you've never contributed anything beyond
you know
your own particular needs and your own
expenses
then if you want to multiply your
resources it starts by putting seed in
the ground and trusting that God will
honor it brings us this morning then to
a second major principle that we need to
understand and that is this we need to
understand the difference
between stewardship
and ownership
we need to understand the difference
between stewardship
and ownership
now an owner
owns by definition
what he's got his possessions his Goods
his whatever
and as an owner
he can do with his possessions whatever
he wants to
and if he wants to spend it recklessly
that's up to him if he wants to invest
it wisely that's up to him if he wants
to give it all away that's up to him and
owner owns his stuff and can use it the
way that he sees fit
a steward
is a bird of a different feather
altogether
because of the word Steward and it's not
a word that we use commonly anymore
today is of course a manager
and a manager manages somebody else's
possessions
and when you manage somebody else's
possessions you have to manage them
with his best interests in mind
and you're going to be held accountable
for how you manage his Goods
and if you're a faithful Steward
hopefully you will be rewarded but I can
guarantee you if you are an Unfaithful
Steward you're going to be held
accountable for squandering the trust
and here lies the problem
and here lies the problem not only for
secular people but even for many of
God's people
we confuse the two
we think we're owners
instead of stewards
we think my body is my own my money is
my own my resources are my own my life
is my own I can do with it what I want
but that's not a Biblical World in life
here
the Apostle Paul puts it this way I love
the way that he puts it in the context
of spiritual gifts to the Corinthians
who were quite arrogant and proud of all
the good things that they possessed he
says for who makes you different from
anyone else
what do you have that you did not
receive and if you did receive it why do
you boast
as though you did not
why do you boast why do you think
this is who I am
you see what happens of course
is that
we tend to think
that what I've got
is the result of my own cleverness my
hard work and
you know I've earned this money so I can
spend the way that I want it I've built
this Empire and and I'm in charge of it
it is it is my doing and I have the
right to enjoy it and perhaps even look
down my nose at other people who haven't
been so as successful as I have been
that's perfectly natural very human and
very immature because that's what the
Corinthians were doing they they thought
they were really something forgetting
that whatever they had
was a gift from God I mean here's a
practical question
so you're proud of what you've been able
to accomplish in life but let me ask you
this question
who gives you the strength to get up
every morning
to go to work
who puts his breath in you so that you
can breathe
to Carry On from day to day
who gives you the wisdom to make the
kind of decisions that need to be made
in order to accomplish the goals that
you are pursuing more than that who has
enabled you to be born and to be raised
in a society
that has encouraged and empowered you to
accomplish what you have accomplished
can you imagine how
how different
your life would be
if you were born in a third world
country
or if you lived in Syria or Iraq
there are people out there every bit as
smart as you and I
but who are struggling to stay alive
because of the circumstances in which
they find themselves
whatever we have
is a gift given by God Scripture puts it
this way in the book of Deuteronomy
because God knew that when he blessed
Israel
they would have the same problem
and here's what God says in Deuteronomy
8 verse 18 but remember the Lord your
God
for it is he
who gives you the ability to produce
wealth
and so confirms his Covenant which he
swore to your forefathers as it is today
it is he who gives you the ability to
produce wealth
everything we are everything we own is a
gift from God we are stewards not owners
and as stewards instead of owners we are
responsible before God
we are responsible before God
to handle his stuff
in a way that honors him and that puts
his interests ahead
of our own isn't that a marvelous
thought to contemplate because you know
what else that means
that means that when you and I come to
the end of our lives and when history
ends
we're all going to stand before the
Judgment seat of Christ
and he's going to hold us accountable
for what we have done
with what he has entrusted to us
and if we have put his interests ahead
of Our Own
then we will hear the words well done
good and faithful
servant you have been Faithful over
but if we haven't been faithful
then you know what he's going to say
depart for me because I never
knew you incredibly sobering words the
parable
in Matthew 25
of the three servants who received five
two and one talents is a powerful
explanation of this biblical truth isn't
that
the guy with five talents invested it
got five back received praise from the
master same thing with the guy that had
the two talents invested them got them
back multiplied them
praise from the master but the guy with
the one Talent
remember what he did
he stuffed it in the ground
because he thought his master was cruel
and harsh and he didn't want a risk of
and the master was furious with him you
know why
because the bottom line for that
particular servant
was not the Master's well-being
but he was covering his own behind
he was more concerned about his own
standing
than he was for the coming of God's
kingdom and you've heard me say this
before God would rather have you and I
take a chance make a mistake investor
time talent and treasure in the coming
of his kingdom even if we lose it as
long as his interests are more important
than our own interests because that is
what he is after he wants us to be
faithful in the little how can he
entrust us with
eternal riches where we get to run his
kingdom for all eternity if we haven't
learned to manage our time talent and
treasure on his behalf in the Here and
Now
we are
we are stewards
we're not owners so that's a very
important principle there is still a
third principle that I want to try to
touch on in as much time that we have
this morning I need to skip ahead a
couple here
and that is this
proper stewardship
in planning
let me say it again
or good stewardship takes careful
thought
and planning
and that's one of the reasons we read
these verses together from second
Corinthians chapter 8 because I find it
incredibly instructive
how Paul goes about encouraging
these Corinthian Christians to increase
their level of generosity we don't have
a lot of time to talk about this but he
starts off
by playing two provinces against each
other
he plays the macedonians off against the
achaeans
he
plays off Macedonia over against Corinth
because
he had earlier
told the macedonians how generous the
Corinthians were they had already
organized this whole campaign to raise
funds for the for the poor Saints in
Jerusalem
and
this he says and you can read it later
on in the chapter this has stirred up
the macedonians to become incredibly
generous now he uses the generosity of
the macedonians to stir up the
Corinthians saying to them the
macedonians out of their extreme poverty
they gave everything they had they
pleaded with us for the privilege of
giving to the relief of the Saints in
Jerusalem and he says now
I want you to get on the wall to make
sure that the offering that you've
promised
that you can raise it
because it isn't good enough to make
promises and pledges
what really matters is can you carry it
through
and in the process of doing that in this
particular passage he outlines for us a
number of very practical principles on
stewardship that we would take well
under advisement and let's see how far
we can get just running through those
very quickly number one he says are
giving should be deliberate our giving
should be deliberate each man should
give what he has decided in his heart to
give
too often what happens with people when
it comes to stewardship
is we spend it on our expenses we spend
it on our own Pleasures or entertainment
and then if anything is left over and
the correction plate comes around or
some cause is being collected for well
I'll dig in my pocket and and maybe I'll
put in a 20 or I'll put in a five or
I'll I'll put in a quarter and then I'm
pretty proud because I'm being very
generous
giving needs to be deliberately planned
we'll talk more about that in a moment
if we have time the second thing I want
us to notice is that giving should be
freely
it should be from the heart each man
should give what he has decided and it's
hard to give not reluctantly or under
compulsion
for God loves a cheerful Giver
what are the men here the other day
asked me the question you know
he said why is it that God loves a
cheerful Giver
I said you tell me
and he said it's because God hates sour
dull
God hates sour dull he loves a cheerful
Giver
and moving along
our giving should be
proportional
verse 12 if the willingness is there
the gift is acceptable according to what
one has
not according to what he does not
have
it's acceptable according to what you
have
not according to what you do not have we
cannot give
what we do not have
but we can give from whatever little
we do have and then Paul goes on to
state for us the biblical principle that
drives giving in Christian Community
listen to these verses our desire is not
that others might be relieved while
you're hard-pressed
but rather that there might be equality
at the present time your plenty will
supply what they need
so that in turn their plenty will supply
what you need then there will be
equality the magical word as it is
written he who gathered much did not
have too much
and he who gathered little
did not have
too little
who he remembers
where that quotation comes from
he who gathered little
did not have too little
how's that worded again
he who gathered much did not have too
much he who gathered little did not have
too little since quotation marks comes
from the Old Testament
the Manna in the wilderness you remember
the story
God said I'm going to feed you from
heaven
and God says every morning when you get
up this man of the word means what is it
because they didn't know what it was it
was bread from heaven
and God's people are always very human
isn't that because what if it doesn't
come tomorrow
so let me gather as much as I can what
happened when they gathered as much as
they could
it was spoiled
so now
God says well when it comes to the
Sabbath you're not going to get Manna so
on Friday you got to take a double
portion and these good faithful
oh
but then
I may not I disobeyed God last time I'm
not going to disobey him this time so
I'm only going to gather for the day
guess
what happened
little hungry
on Saturday
laurente and Paul uses this story
to drive home an incredibly practical
biblical truth
and that is the principle of equality in
the body of Christ
remember how John put it later on in 1
John chapter 3 verses 17 and 18 if
anyone has material possessions
and sees his brother in need but has no
pity on him how can the love of God be
in him dear children let us not love
with words or tongue but with actions
and in truth and here lies the challenge
for Christian Community if God blesses
you the purpose of the blessing is to
share it with others around you so that
there is no inequality in the body of
Christ my experience is the poor like
that a lot better than the rich
isn't that the truth
so the challenge is to have our hearts
transformed you know this doesn't mean
people aren't responsible to work it
doesn't mean creating a welfare state I
mean you know communism try to do it by
legislation that didn't work Western
governments try to do it by taxing the
rich and giving it to the poor that
doesn't really work what God is after is
generosity from the heart
and if we are led by this spirit
and if we understand that everything we
have is a gift that God has given us to
use for his purposes
then
as we do that from the heart
we share
generously in places of Need For the
Glory of God and very often I hear
stories of people in a community like
this or in other churches who who
struggle and are in Despair and God will
lay their need on somebody else's heart
they will invest money into their
situation or whatever else and it just
is an incredible blessing I've told you
this story before when Michelle and I uh
were at Seminary
the last year of my Seminary a life
there we had just gotten married wanted
to prove that God was our provision
lived for a whole year on the little
money that we had received at our
wedding
uh the Lord arranged free rent or a free
lodging for us that particular year but
I'll never forget two kids that I barely
knew barely knew
decided that they were going to forward
their tithe to us for the course of a
year it helped us get through it wasn't
a huge amount of money
but to this day I carry those folks in
my heart
because I know
that they were motivated by the love of
God
and they were a tremendous blessing to
us
in our own time
one more thing just very quickly then
I'm going to ask Darren to come out
our giving should be
regular
and the scripture verse to go with that
is from the earlier letter to Corinth 1
Corinthians chapter 16 to verses one and
two
now about the collection for God's
people
do what I told the galatian churches to
do
on the first day of the week each one of
you should set aside a sum of money in
keeping with his income there's the
proportional giving thing again saving
it up
so that when I come no collections need
or will have to be made on the first day
of every week each one of you should set
aside a sum of money in keeping with his
income
Darren was telling me the other day why
do you think
the Canada Revenue Agency
wants business owners to deduct
at source as opposed to waiting to the
end of the year
because they're smart enough to know
that when people wait to the end of the
year
there's usually not much left over isn't
that true
and isn't it true in your own giving
patterns to the church
if you wait
until
the end to determine what you're
offering is
almost always gone before you get to the
offering you've heard the story with the
farmer
who whose cow was pregnant
and gave birth to twins and
he was so excited about it he went
running to his wife and he said guess
what
we've not only got one calf we've got
two calves and I'm so thankful to the
Lord for this
that one calf I'm dedicating to the Lord
and the other calf I'm keeping for
ourselves
time goes on
one of the calves gets sick
dies
and with a sad face he comes and tells
his wife that one calf has died and and
she says to him you know that's really
too bad because
now we're without that income from that
particular calf and and he says oh no
that's not the case at all it was the
Lord's calf that died
it's always the Lord's calf that dies
haven't you ever discovered that
the biblical principle is one of first
fruits
you know when the early immigrants came
to this country many of them were
poorest Church mice
but many of them would take their
paycheck
and before they spent it on groceries
and they spent it on bills they had in
their case two envelopes in which they
put money
the first was the offering for the
church
and the other was what they were
dedicating to the cause of Christian
education
and they learned to live on the rest of
their money do you know in this day and
age a lot of us live way beyond our
means
and because we live beyond our means we
can do what God is calling us to do and
what God is after is to bring us back
into a Biblical place of stewardship
where we responsibly learn
what it is to Steward the resources that
God has given us so that we in turn can
be a blessing if you look at your own
life how blessed you have been by other
people who have invested time talent and
treasure in you can you imagine what a
blessing a congregation like this can be
to the city to the province to the
Nations
if we take our resources sow them
generously as the Holy Spirit leads us
do it wisely
with great forethought
and watch God increase the Harvest of
little
enthusiasm here
but you see that takes faith and it
takes discipline and I'm going to ask
Darren to come up uh Darren as many of
you know uh used to be pilot with the
Armed Forces and has more recently left
the armed forces and now is
and if you can believe it even Bankers
can be saved so
I'm going to keep it short but it is a
20-year walk uh we're gonna take the
highlights so we're gonna go back to
1995. I was a young lieutenant in the
Air Force I got my first posting to
Victoria BC to fly helicopters off our
warships Magda and I were pretty much
newlyweds just us no children no
dependents and possibilities were
endless positive possibilities were
endless but I messed it up early
um I was I was an early Christian so
early in my walk very controlling with
my money
I was smarter than God when it came to
money and it was my money so I was going
to take care of that
to 95 and 98
I basically almost put us in bankruptcy
I purchased a beautiful townhouse that I
could not afford I filled it with
beautiful items I could not afford on
credit
and to top it off I bought a brand new
we'll call a sports car that I couldn't
afford and then uh then I made a budget
to prove that I couldn't afford it at
the end of it so that was a mess this is
actually the beginning of my banking I
think but anyways
so that was a three-year storm in the
making and by 98 the storm had arrived
uh
in the spring of uh of 98 I was deployed
to the Persian Gulf on one of our
warships
uh we were paycheck to paycheck and Meg
was constantly having to look for higher
paying job more hours to make ends meet
so I left in April that year by may she
got fired and I remember I got a call on
the ship on HF radio that uh my wife is
in distress
and we were in big trouble and I was
halfway around the world and there's
nothing I could do about it
but it gets worse
um five months into the deployment I had
back issues I was returning to Canada
with medical issues
removed from flying duties my pay went
down because of that
we were maybe a week and a half from
Financial ruin we're like one paycheck
from from being ruined
so that was 98. um I joined a men's
group that fall the leader of the men's
group was an investment broker he was
doing really well at the time but he had
known hard times from that industry
um and he spoke often about the
importance of stewardship ties and
offerings and slowly I I began to listen
in my control on on finances
it became you know I was less
controlling over time anyways uh by
Christmas in 98
um I remember we went to a hockey game
in Victoria kind of like the Belleville
Bulls level and I sat beside this
gentleman this this men's group leader
and I had a chance to ask him some
questions about his giving
and I asked him how do you know how do
you decide how much do you give and he
always said that he gives he gave 10
percent and then for offerings how the
Lord led him
um I thought that was interesting I said
how often do you give he says every week
because that's how he got paid I thought
that was interesting because I knew his
paycheck was tied to the stock market
and the stock market goes down some
weeks so you know I asked him do you
just like get a refund or claw back from
God or what do you do like
and you know he actually said he always
ties ten percent whether it was a gain
or a loss that week so whatever the
number was positive or negative he gave
10 percent
I was like bam a two by six in the back
of my head I like the level of Faith to
do that is unbelievable he must have had
resources but that was a huge level of
Faith so anyways that Christmas of 98 I
gave what I could and I gave
um 25 dollars so I did the math last
night and I actually had to move the
decimal point in my my banking
calculator that was basically 1 100 of a
percentage of my income that year and I
actually had to borrow it from line of
credit because I didn't have the 25
bucks to give the church
it was really embarrassing we uh we had
a huge problem
anyways uh we entered 99 that was the
fourth year of the storm
I heard a teaching from Clive pick on
stewardship ties and offerings really
impacted Magnum
uh we just started in 99 to start
tithing 10 on our net income so after
tax
uh it was a tough year we cut back a bit
uh or sorry cut back a lot made it got a
bit of work when she could when it was
available
so by the end of 99
we hit a huge hole my medical issues for
my back had really worsened
I was facing what they call a medical
review board that's basically what I
decided to keep you or or cut you for
the military usually 50 50.
um
we were broke the housing market in BC
was crashing we were just hanging on I
remember going to my companion officer
and saying
uh either bankruptcy or proposal was
probably in my future and he reminded me
that that was an item for dismissal for
an officer in the military uh I could be
dismissed just on those grounds so yeah
this is great
um here we come
so
spring of 2000 God plucked us from the
fire uh the medical report review board
ruled in my favor they said we're going
to keep you but we're going to take you
off of helicopters and put you on
airplanes better for my back
we got a new lease on life I got a new
flying job up Vancouver Island my pay
went back up but the road ahead was
going to be really really really Rocky
it's like I told Pastor John it was like
trying to lose weight the first five
pounds are brutal the last five pounds
are brutal and you gotta work out the
hallway in between and stick with it
so February 2000 we moved up Vancouver
Island
our townhouse did not sell we couldn't
find anything to rent we bought a little
1938 house in town in Comox BC
so now I'm carrying two mortgages this
is awesome
plus I get to leave the province to
Portage la Prairie Manitoba for four
months to take a flying course increase
costs
the military did help me with a
short-term loan to try to carry both
places only for six months
I passed the course the town hall sold
three weeks before the six-month cut off
and we took a forty eight thousand
dollar loss on the townhouse so
but that it actually made me happy that
it sold so that was a good thing it was
only forty eight thousand and I'm just
being really open here so
um
just about done so now it's it's 2000
between 2000 2003 we really began to
walk out the recovery of our financial
situation we heard that teaching by
Clyde pick on stewardship
we created a budget uh once the
townhouse was sold a budget of Just What
We Needed not what the Joneses had but
what you know what we needed to live
we put tithes and offerings uh our
giving at the top of that budget and
we've kept it there ever since on our
family budget our family budget is
handwritten on a you know a piece of
paper nothing fancy and we've always
kept it that way
we started walking on the recovery we
started tithing 10 percent of gross so
before tax whatever came in
on anything that came in and at the
frequency we received it so then it was
twice a month with the military
um huge Temptation throughout that time
why because as soon as we started
tithing
I'll say as per scripture that that's a
long story but as per scripture
everything we owned seemed to break I
mean if it had a motor if it ran
electricity if it was a vehicle it broke
and it broke hard huge temptation to cut
back well we'll cut back this month and
then you know fix it up and then we'll
catch up that wasn't going to happen so
the motives of our hearts were tested
during that time
so that's like a
2000-2003. so how does the story end
um we were able to find some great
mentorship at our church on Vancouver
Island in these areas of stewardship we
never gave up on trusting God's word
that he would provide for our needs and
he never let us down we left Comox with
a good house sale
it literally made up within a hundred
dollars of the losses from Victoria five
years earlier
10 years later so if we roll roll ahead
to last year
the faith that I had built allowed me to
leave a great paying Air Force job with
the security and benefits of a
government job
for family stability to improve that
I really need that Faith to go into
really what's a sales related job with
no guarantees we still work our finances
week to week
never given up on God's promise he's
never
um let us down that he will will provide
for us the numbers have seem impossible
in the past but he did never let us down
and if Darren's story registers with you
because I learned a long time ago it
doesn't matter how much money you make
it's how much you spend
that determines how much is left over at
the end of the day there are some
websites listed on the bottom of this
that have a lot of resources in terms of
managing money both practically and in
God's way
and
let's step out in faith
let's just
stretch ourselves wherever we find
ourselves in our giving pattern
in a way that gives God the opportunity
to come through afresh
and show us how great and how big he is
in terms of creating his character of
generosity
in our hearts and in our lives can we do
that