Stewardship vs. Ownership- The Word that Changed My Life!

Let's just jump right in.  I'm so overwhelmed with excitement about this word that I can hardly contain it.

Notes that I took from a sermon preached on July 3rd 2011 by Pastor Jim Dipalma (World Overcomer's Church in Bartlett, IL)

Stewardship- Taking the responsibility of managing wisely what God has entrusted to you, Baring much Fruit.   God makes the provision*** God takes the responsibility***

When we're good stewards, God makes the provision. It's simply our job to be good "managers" of what ever it is He gives to us. 

Ownership-  Taking full responsibility (It's all on me) *To be held legally responsible (like if you own a home)   Guarantee that YOU will make it happen**   (If you own a home but rent it out.. the mortgage company cares about the payment being made, so if the tenant doesn't make the payment.. it's on YOU as the owner to make that payment no matter what) and if the payment isn't made.. the mortgage company is coming after YOU.. not the tenant!

God  has never given us ownership to anything!  (BOLD STATEMENT)   WE through our choices and  human nature have taken ownership of things that God has intended  us to be STEWARDS over.

Genesis 2:15- The result of Adam taking Ownership rather than stewardship in the Garden of Eden resulted in SIN... which we still pay for today.

1 Corinthians 4: Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.  (Be faithful with the things of God)

Matthew 25:14-30  The Parable of the Talents.  (read all 16 verses) 

READ VERSE 29 and 30!    

For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth

umm...   Did the one who didn't multiply his seed get sent to Hell??   and did he say that he would take the little that the unfaithful steward had from him?


Well, this should show us how important it is for us to be good stewards of the things that God gives us. 
When you have an ownership mentality- it says "this is MINE so I can do whatever I want with it"   But when you're a steward you seek GOD for guidance.


This isn't just about Money..  Your kids.. are NOT your own.  Our job is to be good stewards over them and help them multiply in the things of God.  Train a child in the way he should go, so when he is old he will not part from it. (Proverbs 22:6)


Your time is NOT your own... We should daily seek the Lord on how HE would have us manage our time.  Why do you think so many people have stress, anxiety, depression in life??  Because they have taken on an ownership thinking rather than stewardship.  In Stewardship.. GOD is in control  so I don't have to have worry, fear, anxiety.. cause It's not ME driving - it's the Lord


Your gifts are NOT your own. I was challenged to truly step out and become a better steward of the gifts God has given me. I don't have a right to burry my gift (like the unfaithful servant) and only use them when I "feel" like it.. or even based on when "man" says it's okay.   


Your spouse is NOT your own.. I am to be a good steward over my husband and He me.  To manage WISELY and bare fruit in my relationship with him. So the things he's been asking for me to grow and become better in.. it's my job to be a good steward over those things, but in "ownership" I  can carry an "I change or not change, grow or not grow"  attitude and NEVER see fruit being bore in my relationship...  Why do you think so many couples find themselves walking in circles... jumping over a hurdle only to find themselves coming back to that very same hurdle?   Because  pride and selfishness is at work, and when we own "selves" then we feel justified to not to have to conform for any one else or under anyone else's terms or expectations.


Your emotions are NOT your own.  When we "own" our emotions we walk by "feelings"  We allow ourselves to be guided by our emotions. People can easily upset or hurt us. We find ourselves consistently offended. But God gave us our emotions (let's call them our HEART) and we are called to be good stewards of our heart/emotions that's why in Provers 4:23  it says: "GUARD YOUR HEART WITH ALL DILLIGENCE"  (we are called to guard.. protect.. and tend to the emotions God gave us, not just let then run us rampid.  (the word DILIGENCE) in the dictionary means: Careful and persistent work or effort.  


I believe this is why the servant in the parable was called an unfaithful one.. because while the other  2 servants went out.. persistently working to add to the talent their Master gave.. this one decided to just "chill" and do nothing.  The master said, it would have been better if he would have taken the talents to the bank instead of burying it... at least in the bank it would have accrued some interest.


What things in your life do we have ownership of?  What things do we ned to relinquish ownership of?  This message truly called me to repentance. I OWN nothing!!!  My life is not my own. I belong to God. and the things He has given me are ALL gifts that I am responsible to be a good steward over.  Once I release them to God, I truly have peace and freedom. That's how you can be "Anxious for NOTHING, but in ALL things by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God and then bask in His peace that surpasses all understanding, because it guards YOUR heart and mind. (Phillipians 4:6)


Isn't that something?  When we take care of God's things.. He takes care of us!


Love and Blessings.


Alisa

Declaring War On Ungratefulness and Grumbling

This was SO Good- I had to share.  This is by one of my FAVORITE christian authors: Francis Frangipane.  Take 3 minutes and read this: It is LIFE!

From my earliest Christian years I've heard questions about Jesus' comment concerning Judas Iscariot: "Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?" (John 6:70).

What did Jesus mean? Was Judas genetically a devil and not a man? (Jesus didn't say Judas had a devil; He said he was a devil). Can a devil actually live among people as a human? While I am no scholar in ancient Greek, I think truth is better served reading the literal translation of this verse. The word translated as "devil," diabolos, is the same word translated elsewhere in the New Testament as "slanderer" or "malicious gossip" (see 1 Tim. 3:11; 2 Tim. 3:3).

When Jesus says that Judas is a devil, He is saying one of you is a "false accuser," a "slanderer," a "malicious gossip." Judas could not keep his negative perspective to himself.

Remember, just before Judas delivered Jesus to the Pharisees, he was offended that Jesus allowed a expensive ointment to be poured upon His hair. Judas indignantly complained: "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor people?" (John 12:5). His words spread strife among the other apostles as well (Matt. 26:8).

Judas said, in effect, Who permitted this thoughtless luxury? Well, it was Jesus. The woman had anointed Him for His burial. Yet, to Judas this was an extravagance that Jesus shouldn't have taken. In the angry mind of Judas Iscariot, here was justification to go to the chief priests. He had grounds to break ranks with Christ (Matt. 26:14-15).

God Has a Problem With Grumblers

Betrayal is never a sudden thing; rather, it is an accumulative response to the unresolved anger and disappointment one feels toward another. The offenses we do not transfer to God in surrendered prayer inevitably decay and become a venom we transfer to others through gossip. In the process, we embrace slander, but we feel justified. We become malicious gossips, but in our minds we're only communicating a "truth," a character flaw, that we self-righteously "discerned."

To understand Judas' betrayal of Christ, we must unearth its source: Judas Iscariot was a grumbler. When we lose sight of the many things for which we should be thankful, we become murmurers and complainers, increasingly darkened by a thought-life engendered by hell.

Beware when your anger toward another Christian has led you to gossip about him or her, especially if you are embittered and are now sowing criticisms about him to others. Yes, beware: you are no longer being conformed to Christ, but are actually becoming more like Judas than Jesus.

Grumblers Everywhere

Of course, this grumbling attitude was not isolated to Judas' betrayal of Jesus. Many would-be disciples and Jewish leaders were also infected with murmuring. Consider: there were miracles everywhere and Christ had just fed the 5000 when a very large crowd of His disciples began to find fault. Yet, even though Jesus warned, "Do not grumble among yourselves" (John 6:43), still the crowd persisted. Remember, these were Christ's disciples, and they were not grumbling at a sinner, but the only sinless man who ever lived.

"But Jesus, conscious that His disciples grumbled at this," asked, "Does this cause you to stumble?" (John 6:61). And then, the grumbling spirit continued until "many of His disciples withdrew, and were not walking with Him anymore" (John 6:66). Incredibly, Jesus Himself suffered a type of "church split."

Grumbling caused people to stop seeing and appreciating miracles. It caused disciples to be offended by Jesus' teachings and stop walking with Him.

As it was then, so it is today. Grumbling will ultimately cause you to stop walking with Jesus. It is a killer. You see, not only were the Pharisees and Judas Iscariot critical of Jesus, even His closest apostles grumbled at times. Heaven itself was manifest in their midst, yet all they saw was what they perceived was wrong. That's what a grumbling attitude can do.

This poison of ingratitude is prevalent in the church today. Paul warned that "in the last days . . . men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips" (2 Tim. 3:1-9). You get the point: "men will be . . . malicious gossips" or devils. They will be given to destroying one another with their words.

The Thankful Heart

Personally, I've declared war on grumbling. An unthankful heart is an enemy to God's will. Can you join me in this? Can you crucify a murmuring spirit? We have received too much from God to allow ourselves opportunities for ingratitude and unbelief! We have received too many gifts and privileges to allow grumbling to disqualify us from our destiny.

The thankful heart sees the best part of every situation. It sees problems and weaknesses as opportunities to grow. My prayer is for each of us to possess the abundant life that Jesus came to give us. I want to drive that little, ugly, grumbling demon away from our hearts and replace it with a living awareness of the goodness of God!

Paul warned,"Nor let us . . . grumble, as [Israel] did, and were destroyed by the destroyer" (1 Cor. 10:9-10). The "destroyer" (called Abaddon in the Hebrew and Apollyon in the Greek) is actually the prince over the bottomless pit of hell (see Rev. 9). Listen well: the moment we open ourselves to grumbling, we simultaneously open up to destruction.

  

Thus, Paul tells us to fix our minds on the things above (Col. 3:1). Elsewhere he says,

"Whatever is true, whatever is honorable . . . is right, whatever is pure . . . lovely . . . of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things" (Phil 4:8)

Remember, Paul was writing to people in the ancient Roman world. It was full of evil, full of injustice, full of reasons to grumble and be upset; but instead, God calls His people to a higher realm, where we dwell on the things that are above.

You say, "Who then will point out all the things that are wrong with life?"

Oh, there are plenty of volunteers for that task. Better to ask, "How can I attain the blessed life Jesus came to give me?"

You say, "But the world is wicked. We need to decry and defeat evil." Yes, and I totally agree. I often decry evil myself. But I must live and offer a better life if I am going to defeat evil. God doesn't want His people to be grumbling about the difficult conditions of existence. He wants us to be mercy-motivated, redemption-orientated, prayer-empowered ambassadors of Heaven.

If we are merely complaining about what's wrong with the people around us, we should beware: we may actually be more like followers of Judas rather than Jesus.

Love and Blessings

Alisa