Christian Stewardship

Let me tell you a little story:

it's the story of FOTSO who had built his house in the village and moved to the city; however, because he didn't build his house to remain uninhabited, he asked the KAMGA family there to occupy it, in order to take care of it without paying any rent.occupy it, to take care of it without paying 5 FCFA for the rent, the only thing he asked of them was that they be foundthe only thing he asked of them was that they be found faithful, i.e. that they take care of the house, clean the house, if they used the light they would have to pay...

So, FOTSO stayed in town until the day the job ended, and he decided to go back to the village to settle down, but what a surprise it was when he returned to find that all the windows of his house had been broken. kAMGA hadn't taken care of the house FOTSO had given him for nothing.

if you were FOTSO, what would you have done? (5 min discussion)

Do you know that in your everyday life, you behave like KAMGA?

Today, we're talking about Christian stewardship

What is a steward?

A steward is someone who manages the property entrusted to him! A steward is not the owner of anything! Christian stewardship therefore consists in managing everything God has placed at our disposal in such a way as to please Him, not for your interests but for God's interests.

Do you know that, like KAMGA, you are simply a steward of all that God has placed at your disposal? Let's open our Bibles in Psalms 24:1 "Psalm of David. To the Lord be the earth and all that is in it, The world and those who dwell in it!"

The Bible makes it clear that nothing belongs to you, beloved, neither your breath of life, nor your body, nor your clothes, nor your house, but all this has just been placed at your disposal at a time like this, so that you may use it to please Him, that is, to serve Him, to glorify Him.

Let's continue by reading, in the book of 1 Cor 4:7 "For what makes you different? What have you that you have not received? And if you have received it, why do you boast, as if you had not received it?" and also Jacq 1:17, every excellent grace and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change or shadow of variation.

Certainly when KAMGA stayed in the village, he even boasted, going up and down in the beautiful house he had been entrusted with instead of maintaining it, forgetting that he had received everything.
Do you sometimes behave as if the things God has given you belong to you? You boast about them, you look down on those around you who don't have them as you do, you think you're the most beautiful person in the world, you look down on others...
But you're just a manager.

A steward must be found faithful.

from our story at the beginning, you'll understand that you're just a steward like KAMGA. FOTSO in this story represents God who has put at your disposal everything you possess, but like KAMGA, sometimes you don't take care of the things God has given you - your life, your body, your possessions.today, we will see how as a Christian you must manage these possessions in such a way as to please God, for God expects you to be faithful in the management of everything "1 cor 4 :2 Moreover, what is required of dispensers is that each one be found faithful."Beloved, God will call you to account one day, just as FOTSO called KAMGA to account that day. Will you be found faithful?

Why will you be found faithful?

out of love for God, because you know that God has loved you enough to give his Son for you, you should seek to please him in all things; You must therefore be careful in managing all that God has entrusted to you, because one day you will give an account of your life" Rom 14 :12 So each of us will give an account to God for himself."And if you're not found faithful like this unfaithful steward, God will withdraw the management of his goods from you, because why should he leave you his goods for you to waste! Do you think FOTSO had to leave KAMGA in his house? Let's read Luke 16:2, He called him and said to him, "What is this I hear about you? And if you are not found faithful, God will not be able to entrust you with the true riches, that is, the riches of the kingdom, as the Lord Jesus himself says in Luke 16:10-12

How to be a good steward?

1/steward of your body

Because God loves you, he created you in his own image, i.e. "spirit", for God is spirit (John 4 :24) and then gave you a body, creating you in a wonderful way! Have you often thanked God for the hair he gave you? For your complexion? Or are you one of those who spend all your time complaining? He says you're a marvelous creature: "I praise you that I am such a marvelous creature. Your works are marvelous, and my soul knows it well Ps 139:14".

As a steward, you must take care of the body God has given you

You are the light, reflect that light!

It's not a question of girls putting on make-up and pretending to clean their skin, because your body doesn't belong to you, it's the temple of the Holy Spirit! Now, if your body doesn't belong to you but to God, are you going to dress any way you like, exposing your nakedness? no, because that's a sin. You've got to dress decently! There's no question of exposing your breasts or thighs, because you want to please God. For fashion reasons, you put on your skinny jeans, and belly tops outside, a man sees you, he's excited, do you think you're glorifying God by acting this way?

The Bible declares in Matthew 18:7 "Woe to the world because of scandals! For it is necessary for scandals to happen; but woe to the man through whom the scandal happens!"

By protecting him from sickness, or destruction, because if you destroy the body God has given you, God will destroy you (If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and that's what you are. 1 Cor 3:17); so you mustn't indulge in cigarettes, which are harmful to your health, nor get drunk on wine, for the Bible declares: "Do not get drunk on wine: it is debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit" Eph 5:18

Your mouth is not a well of gossip that you open everywhere, but to edify those around you, so that you can tell them about the love of Jesus! Likewise, your ears are not there to listen to all the gossip in the neighborhood; the Bible says in Psalm 1:1, blessed is the man who does not sit in the company of scoffers...

Your eyes are not there to view pornography, things that do not glorify God!

Your feet have been given to you so that you can use them to serve God, not to go around the neighborhood looking for gossip or nightclubs, dancing all the makossas that are fashionable. We sing faggot, faggot, you too are wiggling, who are you glorifying? In everything, ask yourself who it is you're glorifying by doing this. The beautiful voice God has given you is to praise and adore him, not to sing abominable things!

Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, you don't have the right to do what you want with it!

Let's read 1 Cor 6:13-20 " Food is for the belly, and the belly for food; and God will destroy both. But the body is not for fornication. It is for the Lord, and the Lord for the body... 18 Flee fornication. Whatever other sin a man commits, that sin is outside the body; but he who commits fornication sins against his own body.19 Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you received from God, and that you do not belong to yourselves? 20 For you were bought with a great price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to God."

Beloved,

God says that your body doesn't belong to you, but it is his temple, so you don't have the right to give it away to just anyone, because you must use it to please God!your body is not for debauchery, fornication, adultery or masturbation, beloved!

Then your body is not for fornication, there are many sins that the Bible condemns, but among these sins, only one is different from the others, because it is directed against the body while the others are outside the body(1 Cor 6:18)

Fornication This is a sin related to sex and can be defined as any sexual practice not approved by the Word of God, whatever the nature of the sexual practice.

1) Fornication: Sexual relations outside marriage

2) Masturbation: Sexual relations with oneself

3) Homosexuality: Sexual relations with a person of the same sex

4) Bestiality : Sexual relations with animals

5) Adultery: Sexual relations with a person other than one's spouse in marriage.

6) Lust: According to Jesus, this is a form of adultery

Matthew 5:28: "But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart".

The Bible tells you to flee fornication, not to resist it!

So don't lock yourself up with a person of the opposite sex whom you love and say you're going to resist.against your body, and this will empty you of the Presence of the Holy Spirit; choose your company, because bad company corrupts good morals (1 Cor 15 :33). Avoid risky places: nightclubs, maquis, bars etc., X-rated films, X-rated magazines etc...

Why run away?

The Bible is very strict about fornicators, saying in 1 Corinthians 6:10 that fornicators cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

- The sin of fornication is a sin against the body, and we know that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 6:19, so the sin of fornication, unlike other sins, is a sin that greatly grieves God's Holy Spirit.

This can eventually extinguish the Holy Spirit within us. And we know that when we no longer have the Holy Spirit, then we no longer belong to Jesus' camp, because the Holy Spirit is God's mark on all his children.

There is no valid reason before God to practice fornication!

Let's pray

You know how you use your body and God has told you how to use it for his glory,

Pray and repent and God is able to help you use your body for his glory!

1/Steward of your time

Who among us here knows how many days we have left to live? Beloved, you are but a steward of the time God has entrusted to you!

Let's read together James 4:13-17 "14. For what is your life? You are a vapor that appears for a little while, and then disappears." Pr 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day can bring forth."

Beloved, time does not belong to you, so, while you have the opportunity, serve the Lord with all your strength, redeem time, you must do while it is day the works of him who sent you, for the night is coming when no one can work" jn 9 :4 "

Beloved, the night is near, the night is that moment when God will call you back, if in your head you're always putting off serving the Lord, you're saying when I grow old, I'll follow him, and if you die now

So don't waste your time in trivialities, it's true you're young, you see you've got plenty of future, but know that it's good to bear the yoke in youth, if you hear the voice of the Lord, don't harden your heart, for the day is coming when you'll be able to serve the Lord.if you hear the voice of the Lord, do not harden your heart, for the day is coming when you will have to account for the management of your time, do not waste time. The Bible says that the devil knows he has little time, do you also know that you have little time to accomplish your heavenly course here on earth?

The apostle Paul could say that in 1 Cor 9:24 "Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all run, but only one wins the prize? Run so that you may win it."

Beloved, avoid the waste of time, the fornication relationship there, it's today that you must say stop to sin there, it's today that you must give up, for tomorrow is not yours....

Strive to present yourself before God as a tried man, a workman who has nothing to be ashamed of, who rightly dispenses the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15, be ready at all times, don't behave like the foolish virgins who thought they had time, and when the Lord returned, they were surprised, be ready at all times.

Start setting aside time for him every 24 hours that God credits to your account every morning, make him your priority, don't put it off until you're old, time doesn't belong to you!

Compared to eternity, your life is very short, so manage the little time you have here in a way that glorifies God. Always remember that your home is not here below, but in heaven with the Father, so this is only a temporary passage for which you will give an account

2/steward of your gifts or talents

A gift or talent is an ability, a remarkable natural aptitude that God has given you to do certain things. Some people are gifted, for example, at singing, have a beautiful voice, the gift of exhortation...

Why has God blessed you with these gifts? It's to serve Him and advance His kingdom, always remember that nothing belongs to you, everything comes from Him, everything subsists through Him and for Him (Rom 11:36), so your beautiful voice is for singing praises that will bring people to Christ, not for singing songs that will send people to sin...

Let's open our Bibles in Matthew 25:14-30, 14 It will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and gave them his possessions. ...29 For to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but to him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. 30 And the unprofitable servant, cast him into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is the parable of the talents. God has blessed you with gifts and talents, and his desire is for you to make good use of those talents, to give an account to him afterwards and be rewarded. When you send a child to school, you put everything at his disposal and expect him to succeed

At the end of your earthly life, you will be judged and rewarded on how well you have managed the talents God has entrusted to you. If you are found to be faithful, He will reward you and entrust you with greater talents.

So actively seek out your gifts and use them to serve the Lord (prayer)

A gift is something you like to do and do well, without it being a burden for you

If your gift is hospitality, do it for the glory of God

If your gift is organizing, keeping things clean, serve the Lord with it...

3/Steward of your finances

During our brief time on earth, we never really own anything. God lends us our finances, they belonged to Him before we arrived, He'll lend them to someone else after we're gone. So, know that mm if you store up millions for yourself, we won't be able to bury you with it, so it's important for you to serve God with your money too.

You're just a steward of your salary and all your possessions 1 Cor 4:7 "For who is it that sets you apart? What have you that you have not received? And if you have received it, why do you boast, as if you had not received it?" and also Jacq 1:17, every good grace and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights...

The Lord often uses our finances to teach us to trust him, and for many, money represents the most difficult test. You receive everything from God, but it's an ordeal for you to give for his work.

Many of us want to experience prosperity with God, but don't practice the law of sowing.learn to sow in God's work (quantity/quality/soil/) 2cor 6 :9 Know this: he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.

Jesus says that whatever you invest in this century for the advancement of his work, you will reap a hundredfold ...So when you go to Christian programs, to church, don't go empty-handed, but invest and God who sees in secret will bless you.

Let's read Malachi 3: 8-11 " 8 Does a man deceive God? For you deceive me, and say, Wherein have we deceived you? In tithes and offerings. . 11 For you I will threaten him who devours, And he shall not destroy you the fruits of the earth, Nor shall the vine be barren in your fields, Says the Lord of hosts."

Dimes

It represents the 1/10th of your income that you give to God; it is given to God at your treasure house; where is your treasure house? is it the local church/cell group/media/ministry? where are you blessed? Who is responsible for your pastoral care? where is your good land (heb 7:14; neh 10:38; lev 27:30-32; 2 chr 31; 6) today (luc 11 :42) God says that if you test Him with the tithe, He will threaten the one who devours, He will bless you..

Offerings

This is what you voluntarily give for God's work. Remember 2 Cor 9:6, give abundantly and you will receive abundantly (Prov 11:24 , Prov 19:7)

The Bible says that Judas was the treasurer of Jesus and his disciples, so when they met, they gave offerings... we're going to learn also to give in order to organize the work of God.remember, you're giving for God's work!

god says that while you're giving for his work, he himself is taking care of you. This is your way of showing that you trust in him and not in your wallet! Prayer.