Show Me The Money

Faith Fundamental Baptist Church

Morning Worship Service

September 12, 2004

¡§Show Me the Money¡¨

Pastor Joseph Conrad M. Edpao

INTRODUCTION:

Our study is focused on stewardship. I believe that last Sunday we had a clearer understanding about stewardship. We need to remember that we are not focusing on this theme in order to generate funds. But our goal for this month of stewardship is to build Christian character. (Faith raising, not fundraising)

I believe that it was impressed into our hearts and minds that we are not owners of anything in this world strictly speaking, because in order to own something we must have the power to create and sustain something. And we believe that only God has the power to create and sustain things. Even though we don¡¦t own anything in this world strictly speaking, according to our speaker last Sunday, we cannot deny that we have some things in our hands, and these are loaned to us by God. Why? It is because God wants us to enjoy life.

Are you enjoying your life? We should because God Himself has given us the things that we need in order to enjoy life. But sad to say that many people, even Christians, do not enjoy life in spite of the many blessings God has given them. What do you think is the reason why people don¡¦t enjoy life? The answer boils down to Christian Stewardship.

Someone said, ¡§An appreciation of Christian stewardship gives you the freedom to enjoy what you have.¡¨ Many Christians don¡¦t have a proper understanding and appreciation of Christian stewardship that¡¦s why they don¡¦t enjoy the things that they have. It is our desire for this month that we would be able to learn and appreciate Christian stewardship in order for us to enjoy what we have. If we enjoy what we have then we will be grateful to God.

Let me first give you my definition of a steward. I. Being a steward is a privilege. It¡¦s a privilege because God Himself has trusted us and has given us the assignment of handling things well. As a steward, we must be reliable. We must execute our assignments well.

II. Being a steward implies having power. We must not abuse this power because it was only delegated to us by God. As a steward, we must be responsible. We must exercise our authority that was delegated to us by God well.

Although our intention is not to raise funds, this morning I would be talking about money. Yes, you heard me right, MONEY.

ILLUSTRATION:

I found some interesting information on the Internet. As most of us know, Michael Jordan is one of the highest paid athletes in the world. He makes over $300,000 a game; that means if he plays 30 minutes, he’ll make $10,000 a minute. Assuming he makes a conservative $40 million in endorsements next year, he’ll be making $178,000 a day, whether he is working or not.

If he sleeps 7 hours a night, he makes $52,000 every night while visions of sugarplums dance in his head. If he goes to see a movie, it’ll cost him about $7, but he’ll make $18,550 while he’s there. If he decided to have a 5 minute egg, he’ll make $618 while boiling it

If he wanted to save up for an Acura NSX at $90,000, it would take him a whole 12 hours. If you were given a tenth of a penny for every dollar he made, you’d be living comfortably at $65,000 a year

Next year, he’ll make more than twice as much as all of our past presidents for all of their terms, combined! Amazing isn’t it? But Jordan will have to save 100% of his income for 270 years to have the net worth of Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates!!!!!!!!

Money is the common thing that every one of us has. It may not be as much as other people have, like Jordan does, but I believe that it¡¦s one of the things that our hands hold every now and then. God has given us money in our hands, and as stewards we must be reliable and responsible with our money.

Money is not a joke. Biblically, money is a big deal. If we would look at the Bible, Jesus spoke a lot about the dangers and opportunities of money. One person by the name of Rod Sider once compiled the entire Bible passages about money and possessions into a book, and it looks about half as thick as the Bible itself. Money is a big deal, and we need to know how to handle our money because if would not handle it properly, it can destroy us and not bring true and lasting happiness. Money is our friend but it can also be our greatest enemy if wouldn¡¦t handle it properly.