Topic: Stewardship
This month we are going to do a series of 3 messages on Stewardship.
What is stewardship? Stewardship is an individual’s responsibility to properly manage everything which God has entrusted to his or her care.”
What are we to be stewards of?We are to be responsible stewards of everything which God has entrusted to our care.“The earth is the Lords and everything in it. “
In this series we are going to hit on a few big areas of stewardship.Now everything is big to God
The small things are big to God. If you give a cup of water in my name God notices it and God rewards it. By big I mean those things in our lives that directly affect everything else. Is there one area of stewardship that’s bigger than all others? I believe there is.
Some people say that…
•A man is what he eats…
•A man is what his wife says he is
However the Bible says that
•A man is what he thinks in his heart.
“As a man thinks in his heart so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7 KJV)
So we are going to begin our series by looking at the biggest area of stewardship; Being good stewards of our Hearts!
The Bible says
“Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)
Your heart is the wellspring of your life-Guard it! How do you guard your heart? One way we can guard our hearts is by being a good steward of it.
The Bible also says
Man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7)
If God is always looking at our heart we need to be looking at our heart also. We need to be looking to make sure that we are being good stewards of our hearts.
There is a common belief: Everyone in the world is born with a good heart
Is everyone in the world really born with a good heart? What does the Bible say?
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” Jeremiah 17:9
Does that verse support the belief that everyone is born with a good heart? No! So who deceived us into believing everyone is born with a good heart? Our hearts deceive us into believing that everyone in the world is born with a good heart. Right now your heart is telling you-you were born with a good heart! The truth is - Everyone in the world is born with a deceitful heart.
Here is what Jesus said about man’s heart
“For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean.” (Mark 7:20-21)
According to Jesus everyone in the world has a sinful heart. The bottom line is everyone of our hearts are both deceitful and sinful.
I hope it is now clear when I say we need to be good stewards of our hearts I’m not referring to the deceitful and sinful heart we were born with.
Trying to be a good steward of the heart we were born with is like trying to be a good steward of fake money.
The heart we were born with doesn’t need stewardship – the heart we were born with needs salvation. We must be born again. We must have a new heart!
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)
How do we get our old heart of stone removed?How do we replace it with a new heart of flesh?
Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live! (Ezek. 18:31-32)
The answer is thru repentance.Repent and Live!
I don’t get a new heart by just saying I’m sorry. I get a new heart by living in such a way that shows I’m sorry. When I turn away from my offenses. When I rid myself of all the offenses I have committed.God gives me a new heart
On the day of Pentecost Peter preaches a message of salvation when the people heard this, they were…cut to the heart
They said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brother’s, what shall we do?”
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Repentance brought
•A new heart
•A new start
•A new Spirit
Too many people are trying to live for God with the wrong heart. We can’t love God with our old heart.
These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Matthew 15:8
But I know you, I know that you do not have the love of God in your heart. John 5:41
We must have a new heart. When a person repents of their sins and believes in Christ they are given a new heart.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
It’s this new heart and not our old heart that we are called to be good stewards of.
How would someone know if they were being a good steward of this new heart?
It’s simple: Are you someone who loves God with all your heart? (Matthew 23:37, Mark 12:30
Luke 10:27)
We can only love God with the new heart he gives you. You can’t love God with your old heart
God says I have given you this new heart so that you can love me
Objection: But I have always loved God. I never remember a time I have never loved God
Was it the God of the Bible you loved or was it a god of our own making?
You can’t love the God of the Bible with your old heart? Your old heart loves sin. The God of the bible hates sin.
God gives us a new heart. God uses this new heart to help us to love Him. How does God use this new heart to help us to love him? First of all
“God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” Romans 5:5
Why has God poured out His love into our hearts? Is it so that we can love things?
Or is it so that we can love God!
God pours out his love into our hearts in order to help us to love him. God gives us the love we need to love him. We love him because he first loved us! You can’t love God until you receive his love into your heart.
Is there anything else that God pours into our hearts to help us to love him?
“For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” make his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus.” (2 Cor. 4:6)
God pours light into our hearts!
Why has God poured out his light into our hearts? Is it so that we can be knowledgeable about useless things or is it so we can be knowledgeable about Jesus?
The challenge? Are we still trying to love God with our old heart or are we loving God with our new heart?
God is not going to pour out his love and his light into our old hearts. He is only going to pour out his love and his light into our new hearts. New wine into new wineskins!
If you are struggling to love God ask God to take away your old heart of stone and give you a new heart of flesh
Prayer
Father forgive me for trying to love you with my old heart. I can only love you with a new heart. I repent of trying to love you with my deceitful and sinful old heart.
I ask you for a new heart to love you. Take away my old heart of stone and give me a heart of flesh. Pour out your love and your light into this new heart so I can love you more.
Amen
