God owns everything. We are stewards—not owners —called to reflect His generosity with faith, wisdom, and joy. 1. Foundation: God Owns It All Psalm 24:1:The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it. Haggai 2:8: “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the Lord Almighty. Biblical economics begins with ownership. If God owns everything, then money is not primarily about control—but about trust and stewardship. “Money doesn’t make a man—it reveals him.” (Ed Cole). Discussion Questions • Do I truly see my money as God’s—or mine? • How would my spending change if I believed God owned everything? • What areas of my finances do I struggle to surrender? 2. Abram’s Generosity: Giving First and Freely Genesis 14:18–20. Abram gives a tenth to Melchizedek. [See Hebrews 7:1-3 for a glimpse of who Melchizedek is]. Abram gave before the Law, showing: • Giving is rooted in gratitude, not obligation • It acknowledges God as ...
1 Corinthians 12:12-31 We had our Insight Meeting last week. It was so positive, but a number of you were unable to make it. So I am now going to share some of the exciting things from that so that the whole church is in the loop. When I was a lad my mum would buy me the school uniform. I hated it. Not because of the uniform, but for most of the school year, it was too big. My shirt sleeves were over the ends of my fingers. My blazer was much the same. I’d moan at her. You know what shed say? “You’ll grow into it!” She was right. I did. And then the last few months of the year, I had grown out of it. My shirt sleeves would not get to my wrists. Here’s a graph of the attendance here over the last ten years. It takes into account the pandemic years, which were mainly on zoom. Now, some have pointed out that the rapid growth I have alluded to at the various meetings is simply people returning from COVID. The truth is that some people never returned here after the pandemic. Some...