Stewardship, Giving, and Growing
Week Two
Part of How We Grow—Implementing Spiritual Disciplines
February 9, 2025

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OPENING PRAYER

Heavenly Father,
You are the giver of all good gifts.
Everything I have is a blessing from Your hands.
Teach me to be a faithful steward,
To use my time, talents, and treasures
For Your glory and the good of others.
Help me to give generously,
Serve joyfully, and love selflessly,
Knowing that all I do is in Your name.
Grant me wisdom to care for what You entrust to me,
And a heart that seeks first Your kingdom.
May my life reflect Your love and grace,
And may all that I have and do bring honor to You.
Amen.

POINT: Becoming healthy spiritually, emotionally, and physically is not only a gift to ourselves but also to those we love.

We can’t pour from an empty cup.
1. Discover what we treasure
2. Discover what contentment looks like
3. Discover what it looks like to be generous

Matthew 6:19-21 NRSV
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

QUESTION: Where do you spend your time and money?

POINT: We must actively cultivate what it looks like to treasure things in our lives. 

Philippians 4:11–12 NRSV
Not that I am referring to being in need, for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Jen Hatmaker Simple and Free instructions:
1. Love God most. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is everything.
2. If we say we love God, we will care about the poor.
3. This earth is God’s and everything in it. We should live like we believe this. 
4. What we treasure reveals what we love. 
5. Money and stuff have the power to ruin us. 
6. Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God. This is what is required. (Micah 6:8) 

POINT: If we want to grow, we will share what we have with others.

“Stewardship is the voluntary and generous offering of God’s gifts of resources, time, talents, and treasure for the benefit and love of God and others. Stewardship means recognizing that nothing we have really belongs to us. Everything we own belongs to God. We are simply stewards. Sharing is in our DNA.” —Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices That Transform Us

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