
In early 2016…
Valley View’s Leadership Team invested our time in exploring stewardship in the context of our growing relationship with God. This emphasis challenged us to evaluate our personal discipleship and take a step up from where we were at the moment.
This series took a different approach by encouraging us to line up our hearts with God’s heart to transform us as disciples. In this manner, giving becomes the byproduct not the focus of stewardship. We want everyone at Valley View to have a healthy approach to giving. Below you will find four lessons that you can walk through to help you as you explore this area of life. Remember for us, this series was not about the money, but about challenging ourselves to follow Christ in all areas of life.
Don Linscott of Generis introduced these lessons to us in his message. Click here to view.
Lesson 1
Often people are shocked to find out that Jesus taught more about money than any other topic throughout his earthly ministry. He understood that the temptation of each of us is to focus on material things. The things we treasure in life reveal and reflect our heart. This lesson challenges us to treasure God first and trust in Him alone.
Lesson 2
Perspective is always a difficult thing to achieve in life. Often our perspective starts with what we have compared to what we don’t have. God’s perspective is much different. He owns it all and simply asks us to manage what he provides to us wisely. This lesson challenges us to change the way we look at our finances.
Lesson 3
Tithing…It is a word that scares most, but it doesn’t have to. The Bible lays out principles using the tithe as it’s basis that continue throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament.
Through this lesson, we encourage families to build upon their past giving and intentionally challenge themselves to continually increase their giving to 10% and beyond. If your not near that now…don’t be discouraged. Allow your relationship with Christ to continue to change your finances.
Lesson 4
Many in our culture believe that God blesses proportionately to how they give. This view teaches simply that if you give more…God blesses more. Often this is referred to as the Prosperity Gospel.
While the Bible is clear that God blesses those who are faithful to Him, it is not based upon what we somehow deserve because of our monetary gifts. In fact, blessing should be understood from God’s point of view and always begins in our hearts as His followers. Our motives and character play a big role here. God calls us to selflessness, generosity, and faithfulness.