Group Guide

October 29th, 2023

This Week's City 7:

7. How can I trust that the Bible is still God’s Word today? I trust the Bible is still God’s Word today because Jesus rose from the dead proving He was God and said His words would never pass away. Through the Holy Spirit, God inspired the writing of the Scripture, determined the canon of Scripture and protected the copying of Scripture so that we might know Him and worship Him to this day.
(Matthew 24:35; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Revelation 22:18-19)

Ice-Breaker:

How disciplined are you with money? If you're married, who is the spender and who is the saver?

Discussion Questions:

Have someone read 2 Corinthians 8:16-24 aloud.

This week's message was all about stewardship. From an early age, we are convinced that our stuff belongs to us. Just ask a teenager! What is the difference between an owner and a steward? How does each mindset affect your decision making and attitude toward your stuff?
In verse 19, Paul is explaining how it's going to work when he gives the gift to the church in Jerusalem. He is guarding against criticism of the way they are handling the gift and trying to put their minds at ease. Clayton talked about the lineage of stewardship. Paul is explaining here ORIGINAL stewardship. Their gifts are in good hands because of the pain staking lengths they are going to to make sure people can have confidence in the process. Why are they going to such lengths? Because it's not his money! It has been given by the churches, entrusted to the managers to be used for ministry. How important is it that people have confidence that the money the give towards ministry is handled with integrity and care?
Next comes the COMMUNAL stewardship. Once the money gets to a ministry, it's important that it continue to be stewarded well. Paul wanted the gentile churches to have this confidence, and we want members of City Church to have confidence as well. Clayton went into detail about how the church is structured when it comes to decision making and finances. The six Elders give spiritual, directional, doctrinal, financial and legal oversight to the church. The Finance Team meets monthly to review income, expenses, to assess our financial position and to give advice and direction to the Elders for future decisions. There's a compensation team that determines the pay for our four Executive Pastors and approves the pay of the rest of the staff. We have teams that count money each Sunday consisting of our administrator, a finance team member and a police officer, all of which sign off on both the count and the deposit. We have begun preparing for our first audit review which will happen every year from now on. It is our prayer every Sunday and every month at our finance team meetings that we would steward resources well for the fame and glory of Jesus. How do these systems affect your confidence that your money is getting put to good use?
Finally, Clayton talked about INDIVIDUAL stewardship. Jesus said in Luke 16 that if you are faithful in little things you'll be faithful in bigger things, and if you're dishonest in little things, you'll be dishonest in bigger things. Every individual in our church is a sort of "non-profit ministry," and God has made donations to you because he wants you to use them for HIS mission. He blessed you to increase your capacity for generosity. In other words, he blessed you not to increase your standard of living, but to increase your standard of giving! This means that if you don't steward God's money generously, you're actually embezzling HIS money! If God were to give YOUR finances an audit review, how would you fair? Are you stewarding what He has given you well? Is your money advancing the gospel?
The big idea was that you are a STEWARD, not an OWNER. Good stewardship starts with the understanding that you're on a BATTLESHIP. The Macedonians responded to the emergency in Jerusalem with urgent generosity. What is the emergency? The gospel ministry and helping those in need. Reflect on this quote from Francis Chan... "We have become dangerously comfortable—believers ooze with wealth and let their addictions to comfort and security numb the radical urgency of the gospel." Are you numb to the urgency of the mission? Have you been too comfortable? Is there something in your heart that might need to shift?

Prayer Topics:

That we would learn to be good stewards of all God has given us.
That we would realize it's not ours, but His.
That we wouldn't be numb or comfortable in the face of the urgency of the ministry of the gospel.

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