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Week 6 - FINANCIAL DISCIPLESHIP |
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"Heaven, not earth, is my home"
Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle
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This 40-day journey explored an area of our Christian life that we rarely discuss - how we view, manage, and relate to finances. Approaching this topic with
"Financial Faith" transforms our lives by saturating our convictions, our habits, and our attitude with God's power, grace, and principles.
God never intended faith to be an intellectual exercise but rather an adventure that brings us closer to him and helps us to live like Jesus.
Discipleship is always counter-cultural and often counter-intuitive. This material world targets us with a message that markets self-indulgence, discontentment, and consumerism - all aimed at "conforming us to the pattern of this world." Yet, these worldly principles promote ineffective and unhealthy financial habits that include poor (or no) financial planning, living beyond our means, accumulating debt, and underestimating the power of both saving and giving.
In the Bible, God conveys effective, time-tested, universal, and practical financial principles. This Kingdom Training class challenged us as disciples to reexamine our preconceptions and practices by applying
God's biblical principles in a way that invites God into every area of our life.
Week 1: The earth is the Lord's and everything in it
Week 2: The faithful servant of God is a prudent and diligent manager
Week 3: The borrower is slave to the lender (so get out of debt!)
Week 4: We have been made rich so that we can be generous - like God himself!
Week 5: God expects us to have a financial plan that is God's plan, not ours
Week 6: Financial Discipleship applies these principles to our lives
In this final week of Financial Faith Bible studies, we apply these biblical principles to our personal discipleship, our family, our career, our dreams, and our decisions.
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Day 40 : My Decisions |
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Proverbs 3:9
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
TEN FINANCIAL DISCIPLESHIP DECISIONS
1. Honor God with Your Wealth
Proverbs 3:9
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops;
Will I obey the scriptures and give sacrificially-at least a tithe?
My Weekly Contribution will be Rs._________/week which is ___% of my income.
For mature Christians: I will increase my contribution to Rs.____
2. Guard Your Heart
Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
What heart sins have I identified in regard to my finances - greed, laziness, not getting advice, careless spending, not taking responsibility, etc.?
3. Become a Living Sacrifice
Romans 12:1-2
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
How can I live more sacrificially to advance God's Kingdom?
4. Give and it will be Given to You
Luke 6:38
Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
How can I give by faith and how would God react?
5. Develop a Spirit of Self Discipline
2 Timothy 1:7
For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
Will I prepare a budget that I am ready to live by?
6. Get Advice
Proverbs 12:15
The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.
Who is my financial advisor? When am I going to meet with them again?
7. Free Yourself of Debt
Romans 13:8
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Proverbs 6:1-5
1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have struck hands in pledge for another,
2 if you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth,
3 then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor!
4 Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.
5 Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.
Proverbs 22:7
The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
What is my plan to eliminate debt from my life?
8. Accept Responsibility and Repent
Luke 19:8
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
What would it look like if I made a radical change in how I manage my finances?
9. Be a Light to the World
Matthew 5:14
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
What am I going to do at work to make my life an upward call to everyone around me?
How can I make my finances an example to other disciples so I can lead in this area?
10. Dream to Impact
James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
What is something you can do with your finances to make an eternal impact on people?
Have you considered adopting a child or supporting a childs education? Could you support a missionary in another city or country?
Do you have the means to help fund a mission team?
Would you consider selling your possessions and helping to plant a new church in another city?
Proverbs 11:25
A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed
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