Core Value of CMA Part 3 - Stewardship

First I thought it would be important to explain what CMA stands for to all those that keep wondering what CMA means. CMA - stands for Christian Missionary Alliance. It is the denomination that our church is part of. www.cmalliance.org

Everything we have belongs to God. We are only stewards. Read and reread 1 Chronicles 29:10-14

10 David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,
"Praise be to you, O LORD,
God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.

11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

12 Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.

13 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.

14 "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

The context of this passage is that David is challenging all the people around him to support Solomon in the building of God's temple. He is giving all the things that belong to the nation of Israel but also his personal belongings. All the leaders are also challenged to give to God's temple.

Then we see David's praise to God indicating that God is the ruler and owner of everything. All that we possess belongs to Him. Our resources, our money, our lives all belong to God. We often just make God part of our lives and what we are goign to give Him as part of what "our" stuff that we are donating or giving to the chruch. But there is something so much bigger that God wants us to understand. Everything (EVERYTHING) is God's. Look around, EVERYTHING is God's in this world. Once we get that into our heads, then we understand that we need to have that perspective in GIVING, SERVING, and LOVING to build God's kingdom.

We are enormously blessed and I don't think we need to feel guilty for all that God has provided in our lives. But if the things in our lives cause us to just want more and more and more stuff rather than more and more of God then the stuff has become an idol and it is time to get rid of it. Is there anything in your life that you just can't see yourself living without in this world? Even think of something shiny and new that you may have just received, do you see it as yours or God's? Here is the challenge use everything for God's kingdom, your money, your resources, everything.

Wednesday: Pray for friends (inside and outside church)
Pray that your friends will lift up their struggles to God. That they know that He loves them