Do you ever feel like handling money is a maze and you can never find your way out? Christians in particular are called to be good stewards and that's the topic of the next HAVEN Today. Join Charles Morris for part two of a program with financial expert Don Coley called "A Steward's Journey".
Title: A Steward�s Journey (Pt. 2 w/Don Coley)
When I was a kid the saying was �a penny saved is a penny earned� nowadays people don�t pick up a dime. I�m Charles Morris and welcome to Haven Today. Do you ever feel like handling money is a maze and you can never find you way out? Christians in particular are called though to be good stewards and that�s the topic of our next few minutes together. We will be joined again by Don Coley, a financial expert, who's written a wonderful book called A Steward�s Journey; a 30 day approach that can set you free. Don't go away now as we again with music that calls us to have confidence, confidence in the Lord alone.
Song: He�ll Take Care Of The Rest
We are worshiping the Lord together here on Haven Today; I'm Charles Morris and thank you for being with me for part two of a program called A Steward�s Journey. That's the name of a book by a good friend of mine Don Coley, Don welcome back to Haven Today.
(Don)
Thank you Charles, it is good to be here again.
(Charles Morris)
Yesterday we got to here a commercial of a man who thought he had it all but yet was overwhelmed with debt. I think you would be good if we listen to this clip that Mel Gibson gave in an interview with Diane Sawyer on Prime Time. What we�re going to listen to was broadcast about a week before his movie The Passion of the Christ opened. He didn�t know that it was going to be a success or a blockbuster at that point did he?
(Don)
No he didn�t.
(Charles)
Alright, hold on everybody; let�s listen to a man who has it all:
Let�s face it, I�ve been to the pinnacle of what secular utopia has to offer; it�s just this kind of everything; I�ve got money, fame, and this that and the other. It doesn�t matter, there wasn�t enough, it wasn�t good enough, and it leaves you empty. The more you eat the emptier you get.
(Charles)
That of course that was Mel Gibson who I guess I could say is a zillionaire but money's not important to him and it wasn't before he made the blockbuster movie The Passion.
(Don)
I think that in his words there was a point and time when money was important to him. When he had everything that secular society had to offer and yet he discovered like Salomon, almost 3000 years before, who denied himself nothing that it wasn't enough. No matter what he had it didn't satisfy deep in his soul and that was a revelation to Mel Gibson. I hope it will become more and more a revelation to many of us how we use money and how that relates to our contentment and satisfaction.
(Charles)
Well, for those of us who saw that entire Prime Time special a week before The Passion of the Christ opened, there's something else going on there now; Diane Sawyer's a great interviewer but she didn't quite get it did she.
(Don)
There's an element of a spiritual reality and there was a keen awareness that there was a spiritually alive person and it's difficult to understand that if you're on the other side of that dimension.
(Charles)
Yes, you just can�t quite have your eyes open, in fact, you know a lot of effort is put out to inform people on how to be good stewards and you don�t have to live in the Christian world to get this kind of information. There are a million books on the bookshelves on; follow these five steps, these three golden rules, if you�ll just do these things but It's not about information is it to be a godly steward?
(Don)
It�s not just about information although we are given clear instruction of how we should handle money on behalf of God and yet there is more to that. There is a sense in our heart as opposed to more of how we should handle things there�s an understanding of why we should handle them that way. My mind runs to Mother Teresa for a second knew who was raised in an upper-class European home went to a Catholic school in India and left there for the slums of Calcutta. Why? Because there was a sense in her heart that there was a calling that was close to God heart that was worth sacrificing her life for. That's the why of stewardship that will lead into the how.
(Charles)
And there is this sense that there is an inspiration behind being good stewards too.
(Don)
In teaching I think anything but particularly in teaching the Scripture that it's important to understand that God has not ceased work with the completion of the Scripture but he is still actively involved in the lives of his people today. That's one of the exciting things too me for people on a stewards journey is that they are stepping out in faith and opening themselves up to see new dimensions of God work on their behalf. I shared with you a little bit earlier, I asked a couple of questions in speaking, I asked some people:
1) Would you like to observe God at work? Most people say, �Certainly, I�d love to observe God,� but then I follow up with a second question:
2) 2) Would you like to experience God at work? And there is a difference, a big difference.
There�s a story that comes to mind from the Northwest in the United States where a couple who farmed and they grew asparagus and believed that God was calling them to be generous beyond what would reasonably be expected from their financial circumstances. They believed that God was directing that way - they were obedient and they made a commitment. The interesting thing about this story is that their crop that year was enough to pay for that entire commitment. Now the skeptic in us Charles wants to say, �Well it must have been a good year� or �It must have been different rainfall� or whatever, but the circumstances was that the adjacent farms had the normal crop that would be expected, it was only their farm that had the abundance. The difference between observing God at work and experiencing God at work is all of those farms in the adjacent properties were able to observe God at work but can you imagine what it was like to be in the house and observe and watch those crops coming in at rates that were unprecedented. They were experiencing God, experiencing God working on their behalf because they had come along and made a commitment to God's work in a special way.
(Charles)
It's interesting sometimes though Don how we have expectations that if we'd just do something for God we can demand this abundance of blessing. What we're really talking about, the stewardship that you are referring to the biblical stewardship, runs deeper than that doesn't it.
(Don)
It runs a lot deeper, in fact, Paul talks about that in 2 Corinthians and he says, �We had been made rich in every way so that we can be generous on every occasion�, he doesn't say so that we can have a bigger home or a nicer car or a country club membership or better than something else, but so that we can be generous on every occasion. Earlier there it talks about him increasing our store of seed so that we can have that. The way that we can remember that is, it�s not so much that God gives to us but the blessing of God is intended to go through us and to continue his work and the results of that continuation of his work and the blessing of God through us is that God himself will receive the honor and glory.
(Charles)
That's a great story about the asparagus farm, in fact, your good friend and mine Jim Grams our Vice President of Ministry here at Haven, was just telling us about the missionary report that he got from Africa and here this missionary family went into a Muslim village and planted a garden large garden and every garden failed in that little village that year except for one garden, the garden of the missionary. Now the missionaries didn't plan it that way, they didn't ask God to do that but that's the means that God used to allow the missionaries to share the Gospel.
(Don)
And build a bridge into a new community into a new group of people who needed to hear the gospel of Christ and that's the exciting thing; God does in fact control the harvest and he is able to produce the crops. For us sometimes we lose sight of that but the life of stewardship maintains this closeness and intimacy with God to allow that to become more and more the routine that we can experience.
(Charles)
Don Coley is our special guest here on Haven Today and we are talking about a steward�s journey which is actually a book that Don has written and I'll tell you how you can get a copy a little bit later. One thing that you point out in your book that I think is very important is that God wants us to be a giver and not a taker; big difference isn�t there.
(Don)
There is such a big difference and we all understand that difference instinctively and I can ask you a question, would you rather be in a room filled with givers or would you rather be in a room filled with takers? Those takers are self-absorbed and self-centered and the givers has this sense of warmth and comfort that is attractive to us and generous people, in fact Charles let me ask you, when was the last time that you met a generous grouch?
(Charles)
Uh�. other than myself? (laughing) Probably never!
(Don)
Those are words that don't go together. Stingy people, the culture, our culture, tells us to accumulate and to hold-on but the Scripture tells us that the way to true contentment and to true wealth is to let-go and to move towards generosity and not just with money but with our gifts, with our time, with our prayer, with our smiles, with our friendship, imagined what it would be like to live in a world that was defined by the word generous.
(Charles)
Wow, you know it�s interesting; we adults don�t always get it - we have to learn it from children don�t we.
(Don)
The Scripture says that God loves a cheerful giver. We have done some videos as well to try to communicate this in visual medium and in fact Jim just mentioned this morning he had a birthday last weekend and his grandchild brought a gift that they had made for him and they couldn't wait to give it.
(Charles)
That�s right; he said that she was shaking with anticipation to give a gift to her grandfather.
(Don)
The Scripture says in one of the newer translations, �God loves it when the giver delights in the giving�. Can you imagine Gods joy, we as givers, we as people who are generous people, absolutely delight in the giving that we can't wait to give? No reluctance, no obligation, but we see giving as an opportunity as opposed to an obligation.
(Charles)
The story you were telling me of a little boy who wanted to do something for the Lord's work in other places.
(Don)
Well he and the others in his church were challenged to raise some money for evangelism and children's work and he made a commitment, now he was a seven-year-old boy Charles so when I tell you this, he made a commitment of $1000. Now that�s pretty astounding, I know a lot of adults that commitment don�t make that commitment, but the interesting thing about that was that through his efforts $1200 were raised for God's work to tell other boys and girls about Christ. That was just year one but you see what happened there and what happens on a stewards journey is this boy learned something about God's faithfulness and then when he became eight he said, �We�ll believe for more� and raised more than 3000 dollars. When he was another year older and believed for more, he believed for 5000 but raised more than 7000. One little boy not yet ten years old was responsible for more than $11,000 moving into the kingdom. Did he do it? No, I think he would say that God did it through him. What I love about that Charles is it that young boy is learning something about the faithfulness and the provision of his God.
(Charles)
Wow, that�s right and I hope that we all listen to this. You business people that are listening right down thinking and chuckling to yourself and saying, �Boy I bet that kid is could be a millionaire someday� don't even go there it's a different lesson.
(Don)
Actually he's already been called to the mission field but I see a George Mueller in training there; one who can sense what God's vision is and knows what God's heart is and knows God's faithfulness and will act upon that.
(Charles)
Don, we started out by listening to Mel Gibson talk about giving it all up and laying himself and his fortune on the line. You know really I think in the life of Mel Gibson and the life of other stewards whether they have a little or whether they have a lot I see the end is really the beginning and not the other way around. We want to kind of think, what we do now, what we do next, but we as believers in Christ are called to see the end in sight first aren�t we.
(Don)
We are called to see the end and we are given hope by knowing what the end is. We know that that end is going to include a reward for the faithful servant; �Come let's celebrate together� God says to the good servant who has handled well the wealth and the resources and the talents that God has entrusted them with. So seeing that end very clearly and understanding how we all will come to that point allows us then to be good stewards in the present.
(Charles)
Don I would like to ask you to pray for people listening right now who need the Lord. They need to be on this steward�s journey with Christ because they can't do it alone.
(Don)
I would love too, what I would like to do is take that passage in Luke and kind of pray in agreement with that prayer that our faithful management over the little that we have in worldly wealth will lead us into true riches. Pastors who need that true riches, who need the presence of God in their church, who need a healing presence, who need the ability to speak with the authority and forcefulness of God in their pulpits, who need to demonstrate the heart and the compassion of God to their people, those true riches come from handling rightly the wealth that we're given.
Heavenly Father we pray for pastors and leaders and people in the pew, Lord we pray that they would experience true riches and we pray that they would experience you more than they would have ever known possible. We pray that you would lead them to a point of obedience that you would show your light and reveal the circumstances of financial management in these lives and in these families. Give courage Lord to make changes where changes are needed, give courage, give hope and give a way to allow pastors to see that you intend much more to allow their people to see that you intend much more a life lived to the full. So we pray this in the name of Jesus and we pray it with the end in mind knowing that the name of Jesus brings power to this prayer that we come before you and we ask you to do this and to undertake this on behalf of all who are listening, Amen.
(Charles)
Thank you Don Coley, and I am so happy that Jim Grams, our Vice President of Ministries here at Haven Today, introduced us a few hears ago and I'm so thankful that you have shared with us today. The program is called A Steward�s Journey and the name of Don's book �A Steward�s Journey; Solving the Money Maze� for those of us who are trapped in a money maze of a consumer driven culture the solution can just seem frustratingly out of reach. Well I think Don's time that he spent with us is a good start and I know his book that we have available for you is an even better start. If you'd like to take a 30 day adventure exploring time proven biblical principles of stewardship within the context of this modern consumer culture we live in then I invite you to give us a call in a minute. Ask for A Steward�s Journey; Solving the Money Maze by Don Coley. We will also send you a bonus CD with our interview programs with Don that I know will be a blessing again to you and the book is something you might want to pass on to somebody else and also that CD with the interviews; A Steward�s Journey. Call us right now at 1-800-65-haven that's 1-800-654-2836 or go online to haventoday.org. When you get in touch with us please let us know the station that you listen to Haven on. I'm Charles Morris thank you for being with me, come again tomorrow when we tell The Great Story; that�s all about Jesus, together here on Haven Today.
