Stewardship, Oct 2015 General Correspondence

October 25, 2015
My Dearest Brother in the Lord:
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ!
I wanted to share a word with you.  Let me begin by saying that I am “confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” and also that he will complete that same work in me. 
Heard a message today from Pastor James McMinnis from Word of God Ministries in Shreveport, LA about the steward.  His text was from Luke 16:1-3. 
1  And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 2  And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 3  Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed
He began the sermon by defining the words steward and lord.
•Steward – Manager
•Lord – Owner
Just with this one revelation he could have stopped.  “Jesus is the owner of my life.”  He taught well the position of steward and the fallacy of taking ownership and of living in abundance and/or lack.  He said that a steward never lives in either abundance or lack, that he is always supplied what is needed to be stewarded.  He began to explain how we always look to what’s missing: “When I get this job, I’ll tithe.”  “When we pay this off, I’ll spend more time with my family.” and that we miss it entirely when we do...  Our fulfillment is not in the things we don’t have, it’s in the stewardship of what we do have. 

“You cannot manage what you don’t have.  Pointing to what you don’t have shifts the responsibility you should take from yourself to the thing you don’t have.”  That’s unfaithful stewardship. 
Luke 16:10: 
10  He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Spiritual Law of Stewardship.  This is true for any one at any time!  More is not the answer, management is!

Continued:  Happiness is not locked up in what you don’t have.  That is the message of the enemy.  Matthew 14 the disciples said “We don’t have enough.”  WRONG FOCUS!  Jesus said, “What do you have?” – HE MADE WHAT THEY HAD ENOUGH!
13  When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. 14  And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. 15  And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. 16  But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat. 17  And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. 18  * He said, Bring them hither to me. 19  And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. 20  And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. 21  And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.
Stop waiting for better and be faithful where you are!  There are 2 positions (perceptions) here that keep people from honoring God:
1.Insufficiency (lack) – “I ain’t honoring God, He don’t do NOTHIN for me!”
2.Abundance (surplus) – “I have all I need, what do I need to honor God for?”
Stewards don’t live in either Insufficiency or Abundance, nothing is theirs, nothing is owned, what they have is sufficient.
Ref Proverbs 13:22:
22 A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.
And Job 27:16, 17:
16 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay; 17 He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
In Matthew 21:1-3 we see the Lord (owner) in action.  The Lord sent for an ass and colt that were tied, one who somebody thought they owned.  Imagine that you had an ass and a colt and had it tied outside while you took a break from your work.  Now imagine some men coming up to them and untying them!  That man thought he owned those animals but the owner had sent a Word:
1  And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2  Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. 3  And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say , The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them.
We are always quoting Philippians 4:13:
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
And we forget the context:
12  * I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
Paul said that there’d been times when he had steak and there were times when he had mayonnaise sandwiches and that at BOTH times he had found how to be content.
Pastor McMinnis closed with I Corinthians 4:2:
2  * Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

Genuinely,
Jasper D. Pierce
President
Christ Carries Me Ministries