matthew 6:19-6:20

To make disciples who love God, love people, and serve the world.

To make disciples who love God, love people, and serve the world.

Prayer: Lord, send workers into Your harvest fields.

The idea of stewardship is that everything that we have access to in life are all finite resources. Those things we have access to are not ours; they are on loan from God. Our time, talent, finance, and even our very lives belong to God. The one area that is the most easily identifiable, and is one of the most uncomfortable to discuss, is money. More than half of the parables Jesus used were about money. Our text tonight is one of those. The treasure in the field is likened to the Kingdom of God. The wayfaring man was not sacrificial when he sold all he had to buy the field; the value of the treasure in the field was worth more than anything. No one takes their money with them when they die. The Bible says not to lay up our treasures on earth but to lay up treasure in heaven. We cannot take it with us, but we prepare for eternity. The scripture defines three kinds of giving: Tithes, Offering, and Alms. If we are going to participate in God’s plan, we must do some planning ourselves and treat tithing as a debt we owe. God has blessed us and caused the crop to grow, so we would bring the first part of the harvest to God as an acknowledgment that the blessing came from God.

The idea of stewardship is that everything that we have access to in life are all finite resources. Those things we have access to are not ours; they are on loan from God. Our time, talent, finance, and even our very lives belong to God. The one area that is the most easily identifiable, and is one of the most uncomfortable to discuss, is money. More than half of the parables Jesus used were about money. Our text tonight is one of those. The treasure in the field is likened to the Kingdom of God. The wayfaring man was not sacrificial when he sold all he had to buy the field; the value of the treasure in the field was worth more than anything. No one takes their money with them when they die. The Bible says not to lay up our treasures on earth but to lay up treasure in heaven. We cannot take it with us, but we prepare for eternity. The scripture defines three kinds of giving: Tithes, Offering, and Alms. If we are going to participate in God’s plan, we must do some planning ourselves and treat tithing as a debt we owe. God has blessed us and caused the crop to grow, so we would bring the first part of the harvest to God as an acknowledgment that the blessing came from God.

Welcome to the audio podcast for Dogwood Church in Athens, TX.

Eternal Rewards #1 Various passages

Big Idea - God’s work in saving Israel and bringing them into the promised land as their possession, an inheritance from God, is a picture of our salvation and taking possession of our inheritance of His kingdom. God’s work of saving Israel from bondage in Egypt was a work that God did fully and completely in His own with any help or participation by the people of Israel. But, the work of getting to the promised land and taking possession of the inheritance of the land was a work that they had to participate in by faith and through obedience, driving out the enemy, maintaining holiness in the land, and holding on to what belonged to them. They could not succeed without God’s help, and in a very real sense it was God who would drive out the enemy, but unlike the Exodus, God would only work as they stepped out in faith and acted. The life of the Christian operates in exactly the same way. Salvation, or deliverance from bondage to sin and death is fully the work of God in Christ and we had no part in accomplishing our atonement or redemption. But taking full possession of our inheritance, life in the Kingdom, is very much a joint effort in which we participate with God by stepping out in faith to drive out every enemy, maintain holiness in kingdom life, and hold on firmly to all that is ours in Christ.

Big Idea - God’s work in saving Israel and bringing them into the promised land as their possession, an inheritance from God, is a picture of our salvation and taking possession of our inheritance of His kingdom. God’s work of saving Israel from bondage in Egypt was a work that God did fully and completely in His own with any help or participation by the people of Israel. But, the work of getting to the promised land and taking possession of the inheritance of the land was a work that they had to participate in by faith and through obedience, driving out the enemy, maintaining holiness in the land, and holding on to what belonged to them. They could not succeed without God’s help, and in a very real sense it was God who would drive out the enemy, but unlike the Exodus, God would only work as they stepped out in faith and acted. The life of the Christian operates in exactly the same way. Salvation, or deliverance from bondage to sin and death is fully the work of God in Christ and we had no part in accomplishing our atonement or redemption. But taking full possession of our inheritance, life in the Kingdom, is very much a joint effort in which we participate with God by stepping out in faith to drive out every enemy, maintain holiness in kingdom life, and hold on firmly to all that is ours in Christ.