Post date: Jan 28, 2015 7:47:59 PM
1-26-2015
Greg's notes from the whole group lecture
Leviticus 25
Aim: When I surrender to God's ownership and submit to His discipline, I experience His blessing.
We must understand that God is the owner of our lives; we are only renting our bodies.
“ ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you reside in my land as foreigners and strangers.
-Leviticus 25:23 NIV
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
-Psalm 24:1 NIV
Principle
My life and everything I have belongs to God to be used for His purposes.
Nothing we have belongs to us; our intelligence, talents, and lives come from God. He gave us everything we have. We are stewards of what God has given us.
We should live by faith.
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
(Romans 1:17 NIV)
Store up things for God, not for yourself!
And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
(Luke 12:15-21 NKJV)
Principle
God's ownership and my stewardship mean laying up treasures for Him, not myself.
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
-Matthew 6:19-21 NKJV
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
-Matthew 6:33 NKJV
Principle
God's ownership and my stewardship mean helping others, both materially and spiritually.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
-John 13:34 NKJV
This happened a lot while I was teaching in Alaska. There were a number of times when God called me to give up my free time to get some of the kids in the village some food or to help them find shelter in a safe place.
Conclusion
It's easier to give away someone else's money than to give away our own. Luckily our money isn't ours--it belongs to God! If we struggle to give, we might have a trust/ownership issue. We must trust God with the resources placed in our hands and remember that we are stewards of what He has given us.