This morning (Sunday, Nov. 3rd), in the first message of a new sermon series called "Generous", I challenged our congregation to consider God's generosity. We looked at Psalm 23:5 as our main text and learned that God is a generous God, that He extends His generosity to those He loves (His creation), and that the greatest evidence of His generosity is seen in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, and His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. As a result,
He calls Christ-followers to respond with an overflow of thanksgiving to God and an intentional life of generosity to others. We do this by understanding that everything belongs to God and anything we "have" is a gift from Him. Understanding this truth, we are called to be faithful stewards of all God has entrusted to us (life, time, talents, treasures, and the gospel). The reason we are to steward God's resources faithfully is because "stewardship is discipleship" and "giving is a part of growing" as a follower of Christ.
In illustrating the truth of God's generosity and our response in stewardship, I used the illustration of my wife and I giving our eldest daughter her first iPhone. In presenter her with my "used" iPhone, we also presented her with an agreement for its care and use. In other words, we generously have her something that we expected her to steward well.
Following the services today, many parents (and amazingly, not one student :)) asked for a copy of this agreement for their use. I have attached a copy to this post. My wife found the basic idea for this agreement on another blog post, and we adapted it to more of a Christian context that fits our specific family. I have attached a JPEG version of the agreement to this post (I would have attached a Word or PDF document, but this post won't support that format, as far as I can tell). Please feel free to use this agreement with wisdom and as an example of faithful stewardship of the resources God has provided. Blessings.
Pastor Jim
