Called to Give Stewardship Program

Bulletin Inserts

These are to be added to a regular Sunday bulletin. The first group are longer and the last are shorter notes. The numbering has no significance other than to make it easier to keep track of them.

A) Longer Bulletin inserts

1) An unknown writer once wrote:

Thirty thousand for my new car,
fifty thousand for a piece of sod.
Twenty thousand I paid to begin a house;
A dollar I gave to God.

A tidy sum to entertain my friends in chatter.
And when the world goes crazy mad,
I ask Lord, what's the matter?
A dollar I gave to God.

Yet there is one big question,
For the answer I still search:
With things so bad in this old world,
What's holding back my church?

2) Many people think of stewardship as simply having to do with finances. But stewardship is about what we do with all that God has given us once we say, "I believe in You, Lord."

Dr. Menninger the psychiatrist once said, "The [person] who is not willing to invest himself in others is apt to be a sick person. But the one who is willing to lose the self to God and others, finds health and wholeness."
Since money isn't everything in Christian stewardship, then how do we accomplish the giving of "ourselves, our time...?" By worshiping God and sharing faith with others!

The enemies of God and human freedom are everywhere today. A look at the newspaper headlines will tell you how busy Satan has been in the past twenty-four hours. And so, what we do with our time, abilities and treasures is important because it is not only our business, but God's business too. As Jesus said, "[Whoever] is not with Me is against Me."

3) Most people live on an eight day week - not a seven day week. They have Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and SOMEDAY.

So often the most important things in life are saved for SOMEDAY:

Someday we will tell our friends how much we have appreciated them.
Someday we will tell our neighbor what Jesus has done for us and why we follow Him.
Someday we will do something about that big dream we have.
Someday we will consider what time and talents we will give to God's work.

But SOMEDAY rarely comes. Many of the important things never get done.

The work of God must never be a SOMEDAY project.

3) The seeds of generosity are planted at home but families vary significantly in their ability to raise children who care about others. It goes beyond simply sharing toys. Sharing something while retaining possession gives us control and power over those with who, we share.

When an older sibling lets a younger one use his bike but attaches all kinds of conditions, it gives him power over the younger one.

True generosity comes with few conditions. It says that God has given me these possessions to share. Christian generosity comes from a deep belief that all we own is a gift from God and how we use our gifts and goods is God working within us.

5) In a book called Growing into Light, Max Long writes about an old westerner who called himself Desert Pete. Living out in the desert where water is so valuable, Desert Pete wrote a note, put it in a baking-powder can and wired it to an old pump. This is what he wrote:

"Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun, cork end up. There's enough water in it to prime this pump, but not if you drink some first. Pour about one fourth, and let her soak to wet the leather. Then pour the rest medium fast and pump. You'll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. When you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller."

Desert Pete

P.S. Don't go drinking up the water first. Prime the pump with it ... I've given my last dime away a dozen times to prime the pump of my prayers, and I've given my last beans to a stranger while a'sayin' "Amen." It never failed yet to git me an answer. You've got to git "Your heart fixed to give" before you can be give to." - D.P.

Jesus taught, "Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back." (Luke 6:38). Mark adds, "...and more will be given you." (Mark 4:24)

B) Shorter Bulletin Inserts

1) It is possible to fake some things in the Christian life, but it is not possible to fake generosity.

It is possible to say one thing and yet to do another concerning some aspects of the Christian life, but it is not possible to do so concerning giving.

For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have behaved in the world...with holiness and godly sincerity...by the grace of God." (2 Cor. 1:12)

2) Love is the basis of all stewardship.

It has been said that, "What a person is, is determined by what s/he does with what s/he has."
Silas Mitchell in giving advice to someone who was going to write a biography said, "The first thing to be done by the biographer in estimating character is to examine the stubs of the subject's checkbooks."
The point both quotations make is that the things on which we are willing to spend our money are usually good indicators of what our values are and what we love.

3) Giving is not so that poor God needs help paying His bills. Giving is a response from us who have received everything we have from God.

Christian stewardship is an expression of the fruit of the Christian life by the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

"Now as you excel in everything - in faith in utterance, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for us - see that you excel in this gracious work also." (2 Cor. 8:7)

4) A tourist from America paid a visit to the Polish rabbi, Hofetz Chaim. The visitor was surprised to see that the rabbi's home was only a simple room filled with books, plus a table and a bench.
The tourist asked, "Rabbi, where is your furniture?"
"Where is yours?" replied Hofetz Chaim.
"Mine?" asked the confused tourist. "But I'm only a visitor here. I'm only passing through."
"So am I." said the rabbi.

5) Money is one of God's gifts to people.
Every man also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and find enjoyment in his toil - this is the gift of God. (Eccl. 5:19)

6) Our money is important but it will not be with us in eternity.

Know well the condition of your flocks, and give attention to your herds; for riches do not last for ever; and does a crown endure to all generations? (Prov. 27:23-24)

Money is to help take care of our needs. But think about it:
A dollar spent for lunch lasts about five hours. A dollar spend for an item of clothing lasts a few weeks or months. A dollar spent on a car lasts about five years. A dollar spent in the service of God can do work that lasts for eternity.

7) Money is the only subject about which God challenges us to "test" Him. He never challenges us in prayer, Bible study or anything else. Just money.

"Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house; and thereby put Me to the test," says the Lord of hosts. (Mal. 3:10)8)

If one responds to the enticement and seduction of money by using this world's standards, one is doomed. However, if one shares money, gives of it generously, does not let it become a god unto itself, then the Christian will find the heavenly kingdom.

9) We give because God first gave to us.

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