7 Pillars Outline

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7 Pillars of Biblical Stewardship

Discovering Biblical Truth About Money

“Wisdom has built her house, She has hewn out her seven pillars.” - Proverbs 9:1

The Rest of the Story
Most stewardship material today focuses on the mechanics of tithing and debt elimination, but does not address the heart issues of stewardship.

Pillar 1 - Discovering Your Purpose

• Understanding the difference between a Biblical Worldview (interpreting all of life through God’s Word) and a Secular Worldview (interpreting life based only on what we want).
• Understand your life purpose and what you value.

“Believing that absolute moral truth exists, the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches, Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic, a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or do good works, Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth, and God is the all knowing, all powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.” The Barna Group, March 6, 2009

Among born again Christians, less than one out of every five had such an outlook on life.

Pillar 2 - Owner vs. Manager

• Clarify your management responsibilities from a Biblical Worldview.
• Identify the resources you are to manage and how their value can be increased.

What is a Steward?

“A steward manages assets for the owner’s benefit. The steward carries no sense of entitlement of the assets he manages, it’s his job to find out what the owner wants done with his assets, then carry out his will.”
      Randy Alcorn- The Treasure Principle

Pillar 3 - Giving With A Purpose

• Determine why giving is essential.
• Determine how much to give.
• Determine to whom you should give.

Giving shows our dependence, love and faith in Christ.

Pillar 4 - Seeking Counsel and Advice

• Discover what resources God has given you to fulfill His purpose.
• Determine how to identify Biblical counsel and advice from a Biblical Worldview.
• Develop goals and action steps that will guide you in using His resources for His glory.

Is it ok to invest in…

• Abortion
• Pornography
• Entertainment
• Lifestyles
• Gaming
• Alcohol
• Tobacco

No? Why not?

Biblically Responsible Investing - the act of building an investment portfolio consisting only of companies that do not participate in or promote lifestyles that are offensive to Biblical values.

Pillar 5 - Providing For Your Family

• Identify the mandate to provide for your family.
• Identify how to provide for your family.

Family Finances

1. Give to the Lord’s work.
2. Take care of the needs of your family.
3. Protect your family from a catastrophic occurrence.
4. Provide for your family.

Provided by Jim Rickard of Stewardship Services Foundation

Pillar 6 - Creating Lasting Wealth

• Discover the possible dangers of wealth accumulation.
• Discover how to invest using Biblical guidelines (BRI; Ecclesiastes Model Portfolio).

As we are tempted to take our eyes away from God, either through abundance or scarcity, we weaken our relationship with and dependency on Him.

Pillar 7 - Wealth With A Purpose

• Understand where wealth comes from.
• Understand how wealth should be used.
• Understand how wealth should be distributed.

The average inheritance is spent in about 18-24 months.
Many times inheritances are spent on immediate gratification and are not invested to further the Kingdom of God or for the benefit of family.