So that nothing that we have is ours it all comes from God. When you sang, “We give Thee but Thine own, what e’r the gift may be,” you’re acknowledging that no matter what you give to God, He gave it to you first. And, therefore, we really can't give Him anything that is already not His. We also emphasized that God made everything else–He didn't just make us He made everything else–and He owns it. We’re accountable to Him for our life and the utilization of every resource we have been given. We belong to Him we're accountable to Him for our use of money and things. Secondly, we emphasized that God made us and, therefore, owns us. And so God sets the agenda that is dominate in our lives, and His glory is our prime directive. And if we really understand and believe that, it will mean that His glory and His agenda will be our first priority in everything. The first thing that we learned is that God is God and we are not. If you look on the page that describes “Stewardship 2004,” one of the members of the Stewardship Committee took notes during the sermon a month ago, and they reduced it to sort of a synopsis of the main points and provided it for you to remind you again: these are the simple points that we made that under gird everything in life with regard to our use of ourselves and our possessions in the service of God. And you’ll find those on the back of your bulletin today. Now, having reviewed those ten principles, on October 5 th we commented on four principles that undergird our whole approach to the use of money and resources in life in general. And the Stewardship Committee has mailed out that outline to you again in the little pamphlet, “Ten Principles for Christian Giving,” and if you haven't read that I want to urge you to walk through it and read it until you are comfortable and convinced of the New Testament teaching on what we as Christians ought to be doing in terms of giving. Now, a month ago, last October 5 th, a month ago–we reviewed the New Testament teaching on our whole approach to giving. And then, they've emphasized our membership vows: that we've promised to be stewards when we joined this church, that we would support the church, and that we need to show a real and a tangible commitment to do this financially. That is, not simply wanting to address the issue of what we give to the church or even how we use all of the money and possessions that God has given us, but looking at the whole of our life as a stewardship–our possessions, the gifts and graces that God has given us, the native talents and energies that the Lord has given to us–looking at the whole of our life as a trust from God, as a stewardship to which we will give an account one day. They've also emphasized whole life stewardship. It's even an index of our Christian growth and health and commitment, and that's important for us to remember today. They've emphasized the heart in giving: that is, that our giving to the church is a matter of the heart it's a spiritual issue. Now, for the last several years, the deacons and elders of our church have emphasized several things that they’re repeating this morning. The Stewardship Committee a number of months ago landed upon this as the theme verse for our Stewardship Commitment for 2004, and since today is our annual Commitment Sunday, we're provided by looking at this verse with another opportunity to reflect upon our financial commitment to the support of the work of the church. The second verse of the fourth chapter of 1 Corinthians is our text for today. Stewardship Sunday 1 Corinthians 4:2 Thinking and Living Like a Steward
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