Summer Talkback Series - The Theology of Faithful Stewardship
Download MP3Hey, good evening, y'all. My name's Austin Hardison, and I have the privilege of hosting and emceeing our talk back tonight. If I don't know you, I'm an elder here at Redeemer, and I've just had that honor and privilege for the past few months, and one thing that kind of drove the topic of discussion tonight is around stewardship. We're not gonna necessarily talk about giving and money, and that's a hot topic. Right?
Austin Hardsion:But in in being an elder for the last six months and really being a member of Redeemer for over a decade, I'm just overwhelmed by the way that the Lord has blessed our church through his people, and specifically the gifts that he has given us, right, our brothers and sisters. And so one thing that we want to talk about and encourage one another and really celebrate is how do we steward those gifts and those resources and the time and the talents that the Lord has bestowed upon us. So if you haven't been to a TalkBack before, this is one of my favorite rhythms that we have here at Redeemer. Tonight's gonna go like a we're gonna spend a few minutes. Joel's gonna share tonight, and then I've got some friends.
Austin Hardsion:They're gonna come and talk about what stewardship has meant to them specifically through being connected to Redeemer. We'll take a quick break, and then you can ask questions, right? So this is where you come in, a little bit of audience participation, and you can text some questions, and we'll kind of unpack what we heard and discuss that some more. So real quick, there's gonna be twenty minutes of teaching stories from our members, right? That's what does it look like to steward our time, right?
Austin Hardsion:What does it look like to steward our resources and then really stewardship through the lens of hospitality as well, right? So we have a lot of convictions and all as members, right? We agree to a member of covenant, so we'll unpack some of those things as well. So before we get going, I'd love to pray for us and pray for our time tonight. If you'll bow your heads with me.
Austin Hardsion:Father, every good and perfect gift is through you and of you and from you, and we're just grateful for that. We're grateful for your love and your grace, and that you call us to you. Father, you want our hearts. So tonight, may we just tune our ears to hear you and our eyes to see you. Thank you for this evening, and it's in your powerful name we pray.
Austin Hardsion:Amen. One thing I do wanna address before we kind of get going is that as many of you know, over the last couple months, we announced that we have purchased or we've got some property under contract at the Trinity Hospital. And this is a fantastic opportunity. I've had the joy of being a part of some of this process and it's really a great way that we've seen the Lord, again for the topic tonight, use the gifts of his people to help steward this process. And we'll have some more announcements in the coming months, but if you've ever dealt with real estate, specifically commercial real estate, you know that that is a tough, challenging, and lengthy process, right?
Austin Hardsion:So this is extremely complex, but I want to share tonight that with what I've been able to be a part of, I could sit here for the rest of the week and tell you how I've seen the Lord's hand over this process, right? Who He's brought to the table the ins and outs, But we don't have enough information right now that we can share corporately, but some updates are coming and I know that you're all interested in that and I would love to share more about that process in a one on one conversation with you, but I am just extremely excited about the future of Redeemer and what this process means for our church and how the Lord is using it to call us back to Him. So we had initially put out an announcement that tonight was gonna be about the building and what that looks like. So, we have more information, more information is coming, but as someone who's been close to that process, it is amazing to see the way that the Lord is working in and out of that. But we're a church, we're not a commercial real estate company.
Austin Hardsion:So there are complexities that we're learning and growing through on that and it's a complex process. So with all that being said, one opening scripture I wanna I wanna share in terms of stewardship, and really stewardship is all throughout the bible. Right? You see it in Genesis one all the way throughout scripture. But I wanna share Psalm 24.
Austin Hardsion:Right? Psalm 24, the first two verses says that the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. Right? The world and all who live in he founded it on the seas and established it in the work and established it on the waters. Essentially, God owns it all.
Austin Hardsion:Right? That's that's kind of one of the things that I want us to think about. And that's not just money. Right? That's the gifts that he's given you, the relationships.
Austin Hardsion:How do we steward and how do we leverage our time, talents, and treasures to worship the Lord? So, that's gonna be infused throughout our conversation. Thanks for being here. I'm excited to discuss more with you. Joel?
Joel Brooks:And when oh, wow. This is loud. Alright. When Austin said that we don't have anything else to share concerning the facility, he he's right. It is we don't have any, like, hidden plans.
Joel Brooks:I if so, they haven't shown me. It's just it it is a longer process. We can show you a lot of legal documents and go through that, but we do hope to have some of that stuff for you sooner than later. Let me start by defining stewardship. We gotta at least get that out of the way.
Joel Brooks:Okay? So I'm gonna give you a definition of stewardship at the start. Stewardship is taking responsibility for the things that the Lord has entrusted to you. Stewardship is taking responsibility for the things that the Lord has entrusted to you. It's being faithful to use those things the way that your master, your Lord wants them used.
Joel Brooks:And that could be as Austen just said, it could be your time, it could be your talents or your treasures. Often people think of that the the three t's there. But a steward manages another person's things. They're they're not yours. You're managing them and you're using them how he wants them used.
Joel Brooks:So you're essentially a caretaker. So that's the definition of stewardship. But before we dig into stewardship, I just wanna start by first asking a question, satisfy my curiosity here a little bit. Who here in this in this room came to know the Lord at a church? And by that, I mean like, it could be at a VBS that was at the church, maybe youth group at a church, maybe it was just during a church service, some whatever activity, a retreat from the church or what.
Joel Brooks:Who here came to know the Lord at a church? Okay. It's most most people here. And, I mean, that's where I I first heard the gospel. How old were We all were probably pretty long young when you first heard the gospel, you responded to that.
Joel Brooks:Now, let me ask you some questions. The church building that you were in, were you sitting in a pew or a chair that you had bought? No. Or a pew, you know, whatever it is. Were were you sitting in a building where you had contributed the money for?
Joel Brooks:It's likely that we came to know the Lord because people before us were good stewards of something. They were There were people before us who were good stewards of the money God had given them and and they bought the pews, they bought the chairs. They were good stewards of the time God had given them. Sunday school, you know, people volunteering to teach Sunday school or whatever you call them, community groups, serving the youth ministry, children's ministry. They were good stewards of the talents or the gifting that God had given them to to articulate the gospel to you in such a way, maybe to to show hospitality or to care for you.
Joel Brooks:So, you were the beneficiary eternally of someone else being a good steward of what God has given them. I think about that often. I mean, I'm thinking about already when it comes to us moving into another building and I gave nothing towards this building. I gave nothing for the pews. I get it like it was a it was a generation or many generations a hundred years ago that people sacrificed for that and I'm so grateful for their stewardship.
Joel Brooks:They used what they had, in a way that their master wanted them to use it. You know that when you actually give, you give of your time, you you give of your talents, you give of your treasures, you are doing one of the most godlike things you can actually do. And the reason I say that is because God is a giver. One of the first bible verses you likely ever memorized was John three sixteen. For God so loved the world he he gave.
Joel Brooks:God's a giver. We just went through the gospel of Mark and and there it says, you know, Jesus said, the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and to give. To give his life as a ransom for many. Yeah. You have God the father is giving.
Joel Brooks:You have Jesus, the son is giving. The the holy spirit is the one who who gives us hope, who gives us new life. So when we give, we're actually doing one of the most godlike things we could do. We are imitating or we are reflecting the generosity of our God. And when we do that, God gets the glory, we get the joy because it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Joel Brooks:It's more blessed because it's more God like. We become like God and there's not a more joyful being. Before I address actually what generosity and stewardship looks like, I actually wanna address the biggest obstacle I see towards stewardship, towards being generous with what you have, with what God has given you. And and the way I wanna talk about this obstacle is by asking you once again another question. Who here has been to a really lavish party?
Joel Brooks:It could be a wedding, it could be someone's anniversary, maybe it's a it's a birthday, but the the host giving this party is absolutely loaded. And so they spared no expense, and so you've you've gone to a party. Lauren and I, we just got back from a wedding like that. It was unbelievable. Anybody here?
Joel Brooks:Have you been to parties like that? Alright. If you haven't, imagine. Okay. Just just imagine that you were invited to to one of those parties, and I mean, it there's everything there.
Joel Brooks:I mean, where we were just at, we couldn't believe the views. There's only like a 100 people and there's literally four full bars surrounding the the the 100 people there. I was like, oh my gosh. The price tags, the the flowers, the food. I mean, every time they're bringing over, you know, it's it's more, you know, little bits of lobster or whatever you wanted.
Joel Brooks:It was just endless and it just kept coming. When you're at a party like that or at an event like that, are you worried about anything? You're you're not worried maybe you're worried about what am I wearing? I asked Lauren that. She's like that actually.
Joel Brooks:I asked her, you know, first time, what am I wearing? You know? But but are you worried that you're not gonna get enough? You're You look around everybody, there's there's plenty plenty of food. You you know you're gonna get enough food.
Joel Brooks:You know you're gonna get enough drink. You know that you can you can stay there and you can have fun all night. You know the purpose of this, the the host is giving all of his generosity towards an event like this because he wants you to have a good time. He wants you to talk with your friends and he wants to also spend time with you. That's the point of it.
Joel Brooks:Without you having to worry about anything else, he has provided everything. And now, this is just a time you can you can just relax, have fun, enjoy your host hospitality and generosity. Now, how many of you when you've been at a party like that have pocketed something? Come on. I have.
Joel Brooks:It's I mean, this is funny. Other things are raising hands. I'm just seeing like, I'm this is just gonna be between you and me, Joel. It's just yeah. You you know, you've you've oh, these things are amazing.
Joel Brooks:And you just, you know, you just quiet you just you just you just put a few in for the road, the cab back later, back at home. We actually Lauren and I, we attended a a wedding and we were with a friend of ours who's absolutely loaded. I mean, golly. The the amount of money this person has and and we saw her open her purse and put biscuits in it. I was like, what?
Joel Brooks:It's like, even even really really wealthy people are are are doing that. I would imagine probably most of you at at some point have like, you've you've taken something home. You've you've taken something to save for later. It's interesting that we do that. What I would call that is a scarcity mentality.
Joel Brooks:It's a scarcity mentality. It's it's it's I'm not gonna have enough. And you're You have all of these concerns, like, I might never get invited to another party like this again. This might be my only shot to do this. What if they what if they actually run out?
Joel Brooks:I know it looks like they're not gonna run out but what if they run out of this and I really really like this and and so that you have this kind of scarcity mentality. It's almost like you refuse to accept the abundance of the party that's there. When really what you should be doing all along and what the host delights in, I mean the host loves looking at you seeing you eat the food and enjoying it, but the host loves this even more is when you go, oh my gosh, you have got to try this. And you bring in one of your friends, you're like, you gotta try this. And you're bringing in friend after friend to all enjoy what the the host has provided.
Joel Brooks:I mean, that just that that just Boy, does that warm the host's heart because he or she knows like I have provided an abundance. This scarcity mentality is I believe the biggest obstacle we have when it comes to stewardship and generosity. This whole world is the party. It's the Lord's. And it's this whole earth is a it's it's a earth that the the Lord created.
Joel Brooks:He's the host and he has given us an abundance. We never have to fear running out. And it's this this abundant party that this this host has given us. He wants us to use the gifts he's given them, the abundance that he has thrown our way. He wants us to use those things that to enjoy them, to enjoy one another, and to tell other people, oh my gosh, you gotta try this.
Joel Brooks:You gotta come here. You gotta experience this. What he doesn't want is you starting to pocket things because you fear it might run out. That that actually grieves him because you know what? He's not gonna run out.
Joel Brooks:What you're doing is you're questioning his generosity to you when you begin to pocket those things. Or wondering, is it when's the next party gonna ever is it gonna come again? And when you when you begin to pocket those things, hold on to those things that were meant to just freely invite others to enjoy, freely have some knowing that another round was gonna come, when you start to pocket those things that the way I think of them is you're essentially creating a dam that is blocking God's grace from freely flowing to you. That's what that's what the that's what you're you're just making a dam. You're just damming it up and you're blocking that lavish grace that the Lord wants to just freely flow to you.
Joel Brooks:Instead of taking the possessions and doing this with them, you've done this with them, therefore you can't receive anymore because you're you're so scared of losing what you got. But our posture is always a steward's posture is this, You're freely giving, you're freely receiving. Giving and receiving. And so, have that mentality there that that, okay, I live in a world of abundance because Jesus certainly had that mentality. Mean, everywhere he went, you just see almost this like childlike giddiness of he can't get over the abundance of this world.
Joel Brooks:It's like, oh my gosh. Consider the raven have you seen the raven? Look at it. It doesn't have a career, it's not slaving away. It doesn't have a bank, you know, where it's like trying to build up as as much, you know, money as it can or provision as it can.
Joel Brooks:It's just every day is being fed by the generosity of my father. Wow. God cares for a raven like that? Just think how much he cares about us. Oh my goodness.
Joel Brooks:Have you seen those lilies? Look at the It's amazing. I mean, Solomon in all of his glory, the most wise and the most wealthy king Israel has ever had, can't touch that. What an abundant world our father has given us. You'll never find Jesus worrying about his next meal, worrying about his provisions and the reason is because he went around like this.
Joel Brooks:And he took what the Lord his father gave him, freely gave the things away. He's giving, he's receiving, he's giving, he's receiving. That is stewardship. So Jesus, I think it just tickled and peak to see the world that the father had given him. Jesus, he taught some about stewardship, actually taught a whole lot about stewardship.
Joel Brooks:One of his most famous ones is in Matthew 25. We all know the parable of the talents. If not, just let me remind you really quick. He tells a story about a master. He gives, five talents to one of his servants, two talents to another servant, one talent to another.
Joel Brooks:We're not really sure what the talent means. If you have a NIV, it says bags of gold. I'm like, wow. It's, you know, it's it's it's probably like, you know, just some kind of coin there just, you know, a golden coin. So one gets five, one gets two, another gets one.
Joel Brooks:The master goes away and and then he comes back. The one who got five, he doubled it. The one who had two, doubled it. And this is what the master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, so I will now set you over much.
Joel Brooks:You're faithful with a little bit I gave you, now more is coming. More will always come when you're faithful with what he's given you. More is coming and I love this last line. Enter into the joy of your master. This isn't a dutiful thing, it is you're receiving joy as you are using your master's gifts the way he wants to give and you never have to fear running out cause he's gonna give you more when you're faithful with what you have and he's gonna give you more when you're faithful with what he has.
Joel Brooks:He's given you. And then, have the one. The the person just had the one talent. You know what that person did? Pocketed it.
Joel Brooks:That was the person at the party who just pocketed it. Actually, what they did was bury it. And then, the Lord came back, took away the very thing he was holding on to and gave it to the one who had expressed or who had been the most faithful with what he had been given. And, that person did not enter into the joy of his master. He was actually cast into darkness.
Joel Brooks:Be faithful with what you have. More is coming. More will come. Now, there's a ton of passages that I could choose from to really dig into stewardship. I wanna choose just just this one that's a little unusual because that's how I roll.
Joel Brooks:And you would never normally think about this when you think of stewardship or maybe you're just a lot smarter now is the first thing you thought of. But it's John 21. I'm gonna put up on the screen and read through it. Is it up there? There we go.
Joel Brooks:So this is after the resurrection. Jesus, he's finding the disciples. In particular, he's finding Peter. They've gone back to fishing. Here we go.
Joel Brooks:After this, Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea Of Tiberias and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas called the twin, Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, we will go with you. They went out and they got into the boat but that night, they caught nothing.
Joel Brooks:Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, children, do you have any fish? They answered him, no. He said to them, cast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some. So they cast it and they were and now they were not able to haul it in because of the quantity of fish.
Joel Brooks:That disciple whom Jesus loved, therefore, said to Peter, it is the Lord. When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment for he had stripped from work, nice detail, and he he threw himself into the sea, fully clothed, bad idea. But, then the other disciples, they came in the boat and dragging in the net full of fish for they were not far from the land, but they were about a 100 yards off. When they got out of the land, they saw a charcoal fire in place with fish laid out on it and bread. And Jesus said to them, bring some of the fish that you have just caught.
Joel Brooks:So Simon Peter, he went aboard and he hauled aboard hauled the net ashore full of fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, come and have breakfast. Now now, none of the disciples dared to ask him, who are you? They knew it was the Lord.
Joel Brooks:Jesus came, he took bread and he gave it to them and so with the fish, this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead. When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these? And he said to him, yes, Lord. You know that I love you. He said to him, feed my lambs.
Joel Brooks:Okay. I'm gonna give five observations here to deal with stewardship. First is this, although the disciples worked hard all night, they brought in nothing. Here we see that no one can ever claim what they have, no one can ever claim their wealth, their possessions, or anything has come to them simply because they have worked hard for it. Hard work alone brings you nothing.
Joel Brooks:Second, when the disciples worked hard in obedience with the Lord's word, they brought in the biggest haul of their lives. So they still worked. They worked really really hard for the fish but Jesus was the one who actually brought the fish. You get that? They still worked but Jesus is now the one who brought the fish because as Austin just read when he read the Psalms, the fullness of the Lord or the fullness of the earth, it's all the Lord's.
Joel Brooks:It's the Lord's fishes. He brought it to them. They worked hard but now the Lord gave it to them and they brought it in. Third, Jesus then asked them to bring him some of the haul. You worked hard.
Joel Brooks:I gave you the fish. You brought it in. Now, want you to bring some to me. They counted it out, had a 153. He said, bring some of it.
Joel Brooks:Jesus didn't give them a number. Bring some of it. You you decide. But I want some of the fish that I provided for you that you worked for. Bring it to him.
Joel Brooks:Fourth, why did Jesus do that? Your your first thought is this. Okay. Jesus, he he did this because he was making breakfast for them. He needed the fish to make breakfast for them.
Joel Brooks:But that's not right because verse nine says, Jesus is already cooking breakfast over the fire. He already has fish. He is already cooking fish for them. He doesn't need their fish in order to make them anything. So, it's not to cook them anything.
Joel Brooks:He's already doing it. Breakfast, in other word, is going to happen whether they participate in it or not. Jesus is gonna make a meal whether they bring fish or not. So, what I think we see here, it's an invitation. Jesus is in inviting his disciples, work hard.
Joel Brooks:I will give you fruit. Bring that fruit to me and join in the work I am already doing. I could do it without you but I want you to participate in what I'm already doing. I want you to be with me. Giving is not something that the Lord wants from us.
Joel Brooks:Giving is something the Lord wants for us. He wants us to experience that that giving, what he actually provided you, it's his, that giving it back to him, it completes our joy because now it allows us to participate in what the Lord is already doing. And, he could do it with or without you. But, our giving towards it is an invitation to be with him. So, we get this joy of joining God in his work.
Joel Brooks:So, hopefully, you're already seeing what this is about stewardship. Final one is this. Jesus then has this conversation with Peter, you know, and he gives him this zinger question. Peter, do you love me more than these? And your first instinct when you read that is, well, he's referring to the disciples.
Joel Brooks:Peter, do you love me more than these disciples? Because remember earlier, Peter had said, hey, even if they all fade away, I'll follow you Lord. And now Jesus, you know, it it's seemingly he's asking him, do you love do you really love me more than these? But actually, more natural reading of this passage, that's not the interpretation, the more natural reading. Remember, they just brought in the whole of their life, enough to count it.
Joel Brooks:Nowhere else do they ever count fish. Why one fifty three? I don't know. It's just because that's what they caught. I mean, you know, fishermen, they love to like take their they probably took the pictures with the fish way in the front and them in the back, know, just but but 100 I mean, they laid them all out.
Joel Brooks:They counted. They couldn't believe the size of this all. John gives us the detail. Make sure we know that they did that. They counted a 153 because can you believe it?
Joel Brooks:It's a 153. Huge wealth came in. Jesus had to bring some of that to him, laid it down there. They didn't need it. Remember, Jesus has already provided the meal.
Joel Brooks:He gave him some of his fish. So there's the possibility here that what Jesus is actually doing is just saying, Peter, do you love me more than these? Do you love me more than the hall of a lifetime? I know you're you're so excited. I mean, you pulled out it, you counted every single fish.
Joel Brooks:Peter, do you love me more than these? And because all throughout scripture, you'll find is God is saying that you cannot serve two masters because you can't serve God and mammon or wealth. You can't serve the two. Now, he doesn't divide it in scripture anywhere between two other powers. There's something about money.
Joel Brooks:There's something about wealth that just grabs a hold of you. And, he is saying, hey, you you can't serve two mad masters. You can't serve God and wealth. And, here, Peter, do you love me more than these? And, Peter says, you know I love you.
Joel Brooks:And, when Jesus heard that, Jesus gave him a mission because he's his master. He's his lord. Go feed my sheep. And it's just, you know, I'm laying it all. It's yours.
Joel Brooks:You're my master. And Jesus says, okay. Here's your here's your mission. Feed my sheep. Stewardship.
Joel Brooks:All of this is stewardship. I mean, the Lord has an abundance of wealth. He's gonna allow us to work hard for. He's gonna allow us to haul in, but ultimately, it's his wealth And he invites us to give it back to him not because he needs it. It's for your joy and allows you to participate in the work that he is doing.
Joel Brooks:He can make breakfast without you, but he wants you to know the joy of doing it. And then he wants you to look at his gifts and all it does is give attention to the giver but you don't make the gift your master. Stewardship. And and and with this, I'm sorry I've been talking a little too long. We gotta get some these people on the panel.
Joel Brooks:I wanna end with a helpful thought process for me when it comes thinking through stewardship of where am I and concerning my time, my talents, my treasure. I like to think of a ladder that has three rungs to it. Every one of you are on one of these rungs. Here's the first rung and this is how we think of I'll just use money, but it's really it's our our time, our talent, our treasure, all these things. And we think, okay, I've got all this money.
Joel Brooks:What should I do with my money? That's ring one. So you're you're thinking through. Okay. You're you're showing a little wisdom.
Joel Brooks:You're trying to think through what do you want to do with your money. It's better than not thinking about what to do with your money. Know, do I invest it? Do I buy a house? You know, gosh, the interest rates, you know, the bad But what do I do with my money?
Joel Brooks:First rung. When you start thinking biblically, you at least get to the second rung here which is this. What does God want me to do with my money? It's great. You've now invited God into the equation.
Joel Brooks:Okay. So Lord, I mean, I've got this money here. What do you want me to do with it? And you're listening to him. Certainly better than that first rung.
Joel Brooks:But where you want to get is this top rung. God, what do you want me to do with your money? That's stewardship. It's not your money. It's not your house.
Joel Brooks:It's not your time. It is not your gifting. It's all the Lord's. And, what you're doing when you're at that top rung is you're asking, Lord, what do you want me to do with your money? The things that you have given me.
Joel Brooks:Be honest, where are you on the ladder? When it comes to how you think through the things that the Lord has given you, What's your gut thing? Is is it you don't even invite God into the conversation or I'm imagining there's a lot of twos here and that second wrong, you're like, okay. No. No.
Joel Brooks:I mean, I I've worked hard for this money, it's my money but you know, Lord, know you want me to some, so what what would you have me to give towards? Top rung. It's where we're striving but have a honest conversation with yourself about what rung am I on. And if you don't know really where you are, if you don't really know what you treasure, what you really desire, Jesus gives us an easy way to find that out. He just says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Joel Brooks:And there, all you have to do is look and and think, where am I spending all my money, my time using my gifts? Where is that currently going now? Because that is my treasure. Where your treasure is, your heart will follow. Another thing I like to think of when I think my life is if, you know, two hundred years from now, I'm long gone, Aliens come down.
Joel Brooks:They're trying to figure out, dude, there's this crazy civilization. They they they they come through like some documents, they're they're excavating all around my house, all this, and they're looking at all my old records. What would they notice? Looking at all my financials, looking at my calendar, looking at everything, would they see I was just like every other person around me? I pursued the same vehicles, the same houses, the same clothes, as the I mean, you look at my budget, the they have all the credit card receipts, the same things or would they notice, wait, here's an anomaly.
Joel Brooks:This person here is different than every person around. It's a good helpful way for me to kind of think what what would they think or am I deceiving myself by saying I'm a good steward when actually I'm just blending in? I don't have any difference in the way I view all of these things. So what I want you guys to do this week is just simply to start the process of good stewardship is just to pray, God, what do you want me to do today with what you've given me? Just today.
Joel Brooks:What do you want me to do today with what you've given me? And when you have that listening posture, you'll become a conduit. A conduit or the biblical word for it is a steward. And with that, I'm now gonna hand this over to who? Austin?
Joel Brooks:Who goes up? Who comes up? My wife is gonna go first. I'm gonna Here. No.
Joel Brooks:Here. We're gonna give Where's this mic? Here it is. Do you wanna hold the mic or do want me to set up a stand for you? Okay.
Joel Brooks:Here. You want you can use this.
Lauren Brooks:Lauren, I haven't met you. Okay. So like we've heard about these other topics, now I wanna help shift our thinking about how we think about stewarding our homes. Austin asked me to talk about hospitality, so that's kind of where I'm coming from. So I remember it's remember if we're thinking about the latter, it's not what do I want to do with my home, or what does God want me to do with my home, but what does God want me to do with his home.
Lauren Brooks:So I've just been pondering that this week and thinking a lot about being a steward of my home. Our we have lived our house now for twenty three years and when our we have three daughters. And when they were little, they named the house Sunnyside. And we love our house so we are really thankful that we get to live there, but I have to continually stop and realize it's his house, it's not my house. We don't probably have the best space for having other people over.
Lauren Brooks:We don't have a driveway. That presents a problem a lot. It's kind of hard to get into it. But it really hasn't stopped us. We actually started the church in our house in 02/2008.
Lauren Brooks:And being a good steward of God's house means recognizing what he's given us and then asking him how does he want us to use it. Our house is smallish, I mean it's perfect for our family, But it's the perfect size to do whatever it is that he wants to do with it. So I'm reminded of the story that Jesus told about the five fish and the two loaves and how he fed 500 with that small amount. And so sorry 5,000. Even better.
Lauren Brooks:That's right. Even more impressive. No. Thank you. So he uses whatever we have to achieve his purposes.
Lauren Brooks:People don't care really about your house or your yard or your decorations or how delicious your food is. Those things are fine to think about, but really what people want is to be in your house and having connection with you. So I just want to encourage you to not wait until you feel like you have the perfect home, the bright furniture, whatever it is that you're waiting for before you offer hospitality and steward your home. You'll be waiting forever because you'll never arrive and people need you now. So I think about, gracious, the times that we we host people in our house constantly and I love it so much.
Lauren Brooks:One year we counted up, we we hosted 800 people that year and that was crazy. And it takes a toll, like let's not it does. But but again, it's God's house and it's his place and and we're grateful. We we don't always have the things don't always go according to plan. One time the the caterer didn't show up with food, so I had to go down to the basement and pull out frozen pizzas.
Lauren Brooks:But people didn't care. They just they want to be with us. So just remember that too as you are stewarding your home and being hospitable that Things aren't going be perfect. Sometimes when it rains, when we have our new Redeemer dinners, we just have people come inside and sit down the floor and we
Lauren Brooks:picnic. It works out. One last thing I wanted to mention, I before I had kids, worked at Southern Living. It was a dream job. It was so great.
Lauren Brooks:And I learned a lot there about cooking and hosting and decorating and gardening and I learned so much, but it was entertaining. And I have since learned there's a very big distinction between hospitality and entertaining and just not to confuse the two. And I have to fight sometimes to want things to magazine worthy or perfect. But once again, when I rightly remember it's God's house, what does he want me to do with it? And think about others and inviting them in to my life and into hope and into community.
Lauren Brooks:That's what really matters.
Joel Brooks:Thanks Lauren.
Doug Strohmeier:Hi everybody. I'm Doug Stromier and this is my wife Amy, and we've been here at Redeemer about two and a half years. We're gonna talk to you a little bit tonight about stewarding of finances. This is a topic I feel really passionately about. I'm gonna keep my hand in my pocket because I talk with my hands a lot and I've I've been They're they're not.
Doug Strohmeier:It like happened earlier tonight as Josh can attest to, so I'm gonna try and do better. You know, the first thing we wanna talk about a little bit is is, you know, the homes that we were born into and how that has impacted our our view of stewardship of finances. I was, you know, really fortunate to to grow up at a Christian home. Joel, you're asking a couple questions about think back to when and I I thought back to Vacation Bible School and accepting Jesus as my savior. And, you know, really from a young age, you know, I was taught about stewarding finances and about a tithe.
Doug Strohmeier:It was really ingrained in me. So I really didn't have any questions, you know, as I grew up and I got a a great education and had a great job and started started down the path of of tithing really when I had very little. And it was it was pretty easy. I had some roommates and and, you know, live cheap and and it really really was pretty easy. And I actually didn't really think that much about it.
Doug Strohmeier:It was something that was kind of ingrained in me from childhood and I put it into practice.
Amy Strohmeier:So those of you all who have heard our story know that our family lives growing up could not have been more different. I was raised by a single mom primarily and there were questions of whether there was gonna be food on the table or not. So we went to church, we gave out of what was left. We didn't tithe. It was what's left over and then you choose something to give give from there.
Amy Strohmeier:So giving was encouraged but it wasn't it wasn't a habit. It wasn't a rhythm. It was, well, let's take make sure that what we need or what we want is taken care of and then whatever's left, then we'll give some out of that. And then we got married.
Doug Strohmeier:Yeah. So fast forward to the year year 2000 and we just celebrated our twenty fifth wedding anniversary this past July 1 last week. That that was awesome. So you know here we are twenty five years ago and and we're bringing these two people together with these very different backgrounds. But surprisingly it was really easy, you know, as we talked about finances, Amy had a great job, I had a great job, we're making good money, and it was kind of very easy to to get get on board or just adopt that mindset that that it really does belong to God.
Doug Strohmeier:And I really appreciate what was said earlier is it does belong to God. Our time, treasure, talent, it belongs to God. And so we were able to put that into practice and you know through the first year of our marriage it was pretty darn easy.
Amy Strohmeier:So the first year of our marriage, fairly easy. We're both making when I say almost down to the penny, we had basically the same salary. Right? So this is this is not a bad thing. On our first anniversary, we found out we were pregnant and I had been told for twelve years that that wasn't a possibility.
Amy Strohmeier:So all of a sudden, pregnant and we'd said that I was gonna stay home. So at fifteen months married, I start staying home and our our income is cut by 50%. Like, literally 50%. But we kept spending like it wasn't. We had so much fun that fall.
Amy Strohmeier:We're Auburn fans. We went to every single football game, home and away. Right? I mean, this is what we did.
Doug Strohmeier:Don't forget the bowl
Joel Brooks:game.
Amy Strohmeier:Oh, yeah.
Joel Brooks:And the
Amy Strohmeier:bowl game.
Doug Strohmeier:Back when Auburn
Amy Strohmeier:went Yeah. Because we were good back then. And then we got to the end of the year, and we looked at our balance and we were broke. I mean, y'all, it was it was not good. It was really, really not good.
Amy Strohmeier:But one thing that never crossed our mind is we looked at that and we're like, oh, no. Actually, we said other words, was tithing was never on the table. We knew changes had to be made, but we also knew that tithing was an act of worship because it put our focus on God instead of on our circumstances. And I will confess that having grown up the way I did, there were plenty of times where I was like, oh, no. I know where this is going.
Amy Strohmeier:Right? But it didn't. Instead, we tried to be good stewards of the remaining 90% and we adjusted our spending. We adjusted what we did. That meant that for several years and all of my financial planners in here are gonna hate me saying this, but I'm gonna say it anyway.
Amy Strohmeier:We didn't put money in retirement. We we made sure and God God provided that we our needs were taken care of. Doesn't mean all of our wants were. Right? Joel referenced Matthew six.
Amy Strohmeier:The lilies of the field, the the birds of the air never went without food. The lilies of the field were clothed. Right? They had what they needed. God didn't promise them a vacation to the Panhandle every year.
Amy Strohmeier:So we we made those adjustments. Those adjustments have stuck with us through the twenty four years since then.
Doug Strohmeier:Yeah. One of the things we as we were talking about preparing for tonight, we didn't have we didn't have an income problem. We had a what what do we say? The the the need problem had spending problem. Yeah.
Doug Strohmeier:But I mean but I mean, think about that for a minute. It's kinda hard to look at things that way today because it's easy to say, oh, I just I I gotta have more income and this is like I won't get on the soapbox, but but we had to do a real hard look at what do we need, you know, it is is clothing, shelter, food, you know, those are the needs. Everything else is kind of a want and we really had to wrestle with that and and it was very difficult at times, but we we really built some habits, you know, starting twenty five years ago that has have been a real blessing to us today. You know, it it just created this appreciation for what what God has given us. It also has helped us to be to be generous with that.
Doug Strohmeier:When you buy into that mindset that it really is God's, then it's not hard at all to to arrange your life in such a way that you can be generous and and that would certainly be that's been our experience and that would certainly be an encouragement. You know, we wrote down Tide and gave us an ability to distinguish between needs and wants and it really does continue to impact us.
Amy Strohmeier:Yeah. And you know, it fostered in us, Doug said, the desire to look for other ways to steward what God has given us. Our time, our resources. I think most of the staff knows that if we're short on a place to have something or somebody needs housing, just give us a call. We're five minutes down the road.
Amy Strohmeier:We're happy to open our doors for whoever and whatever. And while I was a stay at home mom, I jokingly said I was a professional volunteer because that's that's what I did. But one of the the verses that really sticks out to me about about tithing and how it affects everything and really recognizing that it's all from God is in Luke 11, and Jesus is having dinner with the Pharisees. And he's already said, hey, you know, you cleaning your hands, but you don't worry about cleaning your heart. And then he goes on and he says, but woe to you Pharisees, for you tithe mint and rue and every herb and neglect justice and the love of God.
Amy Strohmeier:Right? So just tithing isn't enough. But then he goes on to say, these you ought to have done without neglecting the others. So we're supposed to do both. Right?
Amy Strohmeier:It's not write a check and you're done or set up your automatic withdrawal from your credit card. That's not it. But that's the that's the start. The tithing in Jesus' mind with the Pharisees was never in question. It was don't just do that.
Amy Strohmeier:Let that develop a posture of gratitude and open handedness with everything that I've given you because it's all mine anyway. Anything else?
Doug Strohmeier:Thank you.
Sarah Waller:Hi. My name is Sarah Waller, and I was asked to speak on the stewardship of time. And in the context that I volunteer with Redeemer Kids. And for the past, I wanna say three to four years, I say I'm I serve every Sunday that I'm in town. And so that that really kind of comes out to be like, you know, I really only out of town maybe four weeks weekends out of the year.
Sarah Waller:So I I serve regularly. And when I was asked the question like, why do you serve with Redeemer kids? It was a good kind of thought process to go through because truly I can tell you it's a joy. It is something that I look forward to every week. It doesn't feel like a burden.
Sarah Waller:If anything, feels like a gift to know your kids and just just to be around them. And also just the relationships I have gained from the adults that serve alongside you. But, when I I think back of how I really got here in the first place, I was a student at Sanford, that's where I went to undergrad, and I joined a local church in Birmingham. And, through that church, I actually was like a hired childcare worker. So, as a college student, I was paid by the church to serve which I know Redeemer does and really that was a huge stewardship to me.
Sarah Waller:That was a steady income. I was a college student that had five or six different jobs and so having that consistent, know, $30.50 dollars a week from the church really was such a gift. And, I kind of fast forward to my story and and I graduated in 2013 and I came to Reed Niebuhr in 02/2014. I kind of knew that helping with childcare was was the way that I wanted to serve the church. And, I wanted to transition away from it being a job feeling and more of it being a service feeling, just kind of a sense of duty of I knew I wanted to serve the church.
Sarah Waller:This was something my parents really instilled in me. Having grown up in the church is is that we give back and we serve. And and at first, I didn't serve with great consistency. I was in my twenties. You know, was going to weddings on the weekends, I was visiting friends from college, I was going to my parents house and so I didn't necessarily start serving with consistency, but I definitely started serving with a sense of commitment.
Sarah Waller:And, so maybe it looked like I served once a month or I served every couple of weeks. But, that commitment of my time of saying I want to do this, this is the way I want to serve the church, It brought so much fruit into my life. I mean, Jess, I can name so many people in this church that I met by serving with kids and became these deep friendships for me just by sitting and having the chaos around you and talking about your weeks while the kids are running crazy. I do serve with a four k so it is a little crazy. I will say what I thought about like what was a difficult moment and I think childcare like serve and redeemer kids, it has its difficulties and there will be Sundays that you leave and you go, what just happened?
Sarah Waller:Like, that was crazy. There were so many of them. But, at the same time, there's such joys. I can tell you countless stories of just the sweetest, funniest things. I mean, kids really say the darnedest things.
Sarah Waller:One of my favorite stories is I won't name names, but this one kid, we're sitting there and we're playing like a song and you know it's it's church, so it's like a sing songy nursery song. And he just looks at me and he goes, I don't like this song. I like rock and roll. And I'm like, what? And then I asked his dad when he picked him up, I'm like, does he list do you guys listen to a lot of rock and roll at home?
Sarah Waller:And he goes, no. I don't know where he came up with that. And so, I mean, there's so much joy. And then, for me, that commitment turning to consistency brought even more fruit because the joy of doing ministry every week and the joy of, you know, saying I'm gonna commit to this service and this ministry is serving with the last four k and eleven fifteen is I get to know the kids. And, it's just a joy to every week get the update on these kids lives.
Sarah Waller:And, you know, sometimes talking about how difficult it can be at sometimes, I I I think of one kid. There's been a handful of kids that are just hard nuts to crack. Right? Like, they come in and they just feel tough. They feel difficult.
Sarah Waller:But I can think now like when you start with them in August, when they kind of elevate up into their grade or whatever, and then I think how they leave for me, they go off to kindergarten which is really a lot of feels for that. I get to know them and I get to know how these kids think and how they work and I can think of one kid that was really difficult. He didn't really ever want to participate. Right? And we're all about participating.
Sarah Waller:So it's like, how do we get all the kids to do everything the same time together? In about month four, so it took a while, I learned that he didn't really wanna participate, but he really wanted to be my helper. Like, he just wanted to be like the TA. Like, I'm the teacher, he's the teacher assistant. And when I could somewhat hoodwink him into believing that he was helping me play the game, he would play the game.
Sarah Waller:And, I think that only came from having a commitment and the consistency that came through it. And, so now, when I think about my time that I commit, I mean, I I joke that Sundays are church days. I come to the 09:40, I stay for the 11:15, I get home around 01:32, but I wouldn't trade it. I wouldn't trade that that time that I spend here and those time with the kids. And so, it's just been really a joy I think coming from just a sense of wanting to serve and now the feeling like the service is really a gift to me.
Sarah Waller:Thanks.
Austin Hardsion:Amy, Doug, Lauren, Sarah, thanks for sharing how you've been impacted through stewardship. For the sake of time, how this works, we're gonna take a five minute break if you have any questions. And I and I kinda wanna preface this as well. Like, what we're sharing tonight is not about guilt or anything like that. It's it's a process.
Austin Hardsion:Right? Like, climbing the ladder that Joel referenced is is a process. It's simply an invitation. And more than anything else, like, God just wants our hearts. He wants he wants us to to run to him.
Austin Hardsion:So if you have any questions, ask. You can text tough questions for these tough people and we can discuss it and have it open for him. We're gonna take five minutes, so it's 07:07. We'll get started, but go grab some water, go to the bathroom if you want. I oh, man.
Austin Hardsion:I'll read this quote later. It's in my notes somewhere, but we'll break, and we'll get back to it in five minutes. So I worked really hard to find a Soren Kierkegaard quote. I even worked to find a couple of Tolkien and Lord of the Rings quotes. But what I wanted to read right before we dismissed was this is a quote by Adamir Christiani from CS Lewis.
Austin Hardsion:It says that, Every faculty you have, your power of thinking or moving your limbs from moment to moment is given you by God. If you devoted every moment of your whole life exclusively to his service, you could not give him you could not give him anything that was not in sense his own already. So something I wanted to share before the break, but So we've got a handful of questions coming in. We'll kinda do a little bit of popcorn or some different thoughts on this. But the first one that I wanna hit is a lot of questions around giving, not just volunteering, stewarding your time, but a lot of questions around giving.
Austin Hardsion:So how do you balance giving to specific charities or programs you're passionate about versus just giving to the church and trusting God will use it where it's needed most? So how do you balance giving to charities, other nonprofits, organizations versus just giving to the church and hoping that God uses that where he wants?
Amy Strohmeier:Yeah. So for a long time, we mainly just tie just tithes, especially after we were broke. But we were at another church, I guess about seventeen, eighteen years ago, and we were at a missions conference. And we heard one of the elders get up and say that what he and his wife had done is every year, they set aside thirteen months worth of tithe. Twelve months went to the church.
Amy Strohmeier:That thirteenth month is what they used to invest in organizations and causes outside the church. So they trusted the leadership of the church to invest the tithe and to do God's work that way but they didn't use that as an excuse to not be involved in their community as well. But they found a way to do both. So that's what we've done for a long time.
Joel Brooks:And I would just add to that. I I think one of the things that's happened in the past is the church has as a whole misused a lot of funds and people began giving outside of the church out of distrust. But I think the clearest examples that we have of how people in the early church gave I mean, you have Acts six where people, they they gave their money and literally they laid it at the apostles feet. And then the apostles then distributed it. And so it was we are gonna trust the leadership of the church here with our money and then they would distribute it.
Joel Brooks:And it's one of the reasons that you have the elders, you have the leadership, the pastors of the churches, you actually are trusting these people with a lot of the resources. That's not saying you don't give outside the church at all, but I think the the precedent you see early on is certainly you're giving it to the church there. You're laying at their feet and then they're distributing it out. And then you you have Paul in first Corinthians, gosh, 14, I think. Don't quote me on that.
Joel Brooks:One of the things you see is he actually commanded the Corinthian church every month, set aside money. So I mean, he he was telling the actual local congregation every month to take an offering. And then this that offering that was gonna be used for helping the poor used for different things and Paul was gonna come and collect it later. But you saw this systematic giving. It was It's like people got used to giving to the church every month.
Joel Brooks:Every month. And Yeah. So that's the the pattern that I think we see.
Austin Hardsion:Yeah. I think the question was was kind of how do you balance both? A plug for Redeemer is that we have many vetted local and global partners as well. So I would encourage an action step would be go on a mission trip, serve locally, and connect to those organizations. And if that's an avenue that you wanna support as well, that would be another way.
Austin Hardsion:Speaking of serving, Sarah, I want you to take this question, and then Lauren, you can add to it. It says how do you balance wanting to serve as much as you can without getting overcommitted? So how do you balance wanting to serve as much as you can without getting over committed?
Sarah Waller:I say I'm a recovering over committer. I definitely am that person who will say yes. I love saying yes. I think for me it was just a process of maturity of growing older and realizing like what do I want to spend my time with. Especially weekly commitments because there's only seven days in the week and if you have six commitments that's a lot, know.
Sarah Waller:So I think for me coming out of college, I struggled and I felt burnout and burnout in ministry is hard. I mean, I I don't want speak to that too much, but it's hard because it's something you love and you want to serve the Lord and it's hard to be like, I need to walk away from this or I'm gonna die. And so, I think it is it's just a maturity and it's a thought process for me of just saying, okay, what what do I really wanna commit to? And, you know, right now for me that's home group on Wednesdays, that's childcare on Saturdays or Sundays, not Saturdays. And then I do a lot of monthly commitments.
Sarah Waller:I don't take on weekly commitments. I think grad school actually really was the fire that that brought out that of me of just all of a sudden I took on a commitment of grad school and in my time did become limited and I think that was a good experience by fire that taught me that. But then coming out of that the maturity of kind of just recognizing, I want to do something to my fullest, I can't do it all. And there's even some things now that I'm thinking, I probably have to have that uncomfortable conversation of saying, I need to step back because I can't do it all.
Lauren Brooks:Will you repeat the question?
Austin Hardsion:Yeah. It was how do you he deleted it. With without without over committing, right? How do you balance wanting to serve more but not over committing?
Lauren Brooks:Okay. Well, oh, because I don't know that I really do that well. I mean, I try. But, I mean, I literally like ask the Lord daily, what do you want me to do today? Like and sometimes even the older that I get, the more childlike I feel, like I think I should know how to structure my day and what to say yes to and what to say no to.
Lauren Brooks:And I I do, but I find myself asking him more and more like what what is it that you want me to do today? Who do you want me to say yes to? And I I can't say yes to everything and everybody and I have learned that when you say yes to something, you're saying no to something else and so good and bad things. Once, I think I mentioned before I had a dream job at Southern Living that I really, really loved. And we prayed about, once we had children, I stayed at home with them full time.
Lauren Brooks:And then now, you know, our kids have gotten older and I I keep praying like, Lord, do you want me to go back to work? Do you want me like, what what is it that you want my life to look like? And I guess kind of just stewarding my life and my time and my resources and my talents, I keep feeling like even not going back to work full time outside the home for money or as a career is a way that I have even I'm stewarding I guess my life for our church, for our family, just to give myself more margin to be able to go for walks with women, do women's bible study, host things at our house almost every week, which are joyful things and I love it and I really haven't sacrificed or given up anything and it really has been such a joy. And so for me, it's just continually asking him and not ever assuming that I know it's best.
Austin Hardsion:Next question is going to be in the faithfulness leads to more right mindset. Can you parse that out theologically between that and like the idea of prosperity gospel?
Joel Brooks:You'll find this and actually even Luke 16 as well. Jesus talks about this a number of times. In Luke 16, he actually uses, hey, if you're not faithful with unrighteous mammon or unrighteous wealth, a good steward of that, what makes you think that you can have even this greater spiritual wealth? This other wealth that that the Lord wants to put on you. Basically, how we take even the small little things like God would say, of a little bit of your money here has huge spiritual implications.
Joel Brooks:And so there is not just a physical wealth. Hey, I give $5, I'm gonna get $10 back. Just bring it on Lord. I mean, if if that was the case, I mean, you should our house would be enormous. I mean, they're like, it's just That's not it.
Joel Brooks:But we have received We've never wanted. Never. I mean, and the Lord has always faithfully provided for us a wealth in everything. Spiritually, a wealth and the joy we have, a wealth in the friendships we have. There's this great conversation that the Lord has with Peter at some point where the Peter's like, hey, Lord, what about us?
Joel Brooks:We gave up everything to follow you. And there he points out just like, look at my huge sacrifice and I'm not getting much. And I love the Lord's response to him. He says, basically, what exactly have you given up, Peter? Really?
Joel Brooks:What what exactly have you given up? That you haven't inherited much more, many more homes, many more friends, many more everything in this lifetime, he said, and in the life to come. So he didn't just promise future rewards, he says, got that now. How does he have it now? The church.
Joel Brooks:Like, our homes, our possessions, our we're family. And it's it's been he's given us this extraordinary wealth. So I think that's just one of the things there. It's not just I'm gonna get $5, I'm gonna get no. That's that's not it.
Joel Brooks:Prosperity gospel. No. Bad.
Austin Hardsion:What about the redeemer jet?
Doug Strohmeier:Just a a comment I wanted to share is the the to to say it's gonna be more, we've always come at it that it's going to be enough. And it it really makes you test, do you really believe this? You know we kind of had that that moment twenty four years ago. Do you actually believe this? You say that you do, but you're confronted with, you know, in our case of financial situation that was that changed pretty significantly.
Doug Strohmeier:Do you actually believe? Do you trust me, you know, God's saying this to us, do you trust me enough that you will continue to do that? Do you believe that I have good plan for you? Not that I have more, that I have enough, that I will take care of your needs. And you know, I'm I'm I'm happy to say that that yeah, there were times that maybe we we didn't feel that way, but we're committed to it and and God God is faithful.
Doug Strohmeier:He's absolutely faithful.
Austin Hardsion:This question is is for for parents. Right? But it says hospitality and service has an effect on you individually, which we've discussed, but also on your kids. So how have you balanced their needs amidst God's call to serve and welcome other people?
Amy Strohmeier:So we're empty nesters now. So we can talk about this on the far side of it.
Doug Strohmeier:Can I do a quick a quick response? Yeah. The the quick response is poorly.
Amy Strohmeier:Okay. Anyway, so so our kids always knew. Our kids were part of it. They were part of hospitality. They shared their toys.
Amy Strohmeier:They let us know when a a guest kid overfed the goldfish and we had a minor panic, but, you know, they would go with me to serve. When I was serving at a regular volunteer location in Indianapolis, they would come and they would play hide and seek. But then they also started serving. Our son started serving in kids ministry at one of our one of the churches we belong to before Redeemer when he was seven. And he would be in kids ministry from 07:30 in the morning until the last service was over.
Amy Strohmeier:What you model for them is what they're going to learn. So don't ever think that they're too young to be part of it. They can help set out napkins if you're hosting, but they can also pass out name tags.
Doug Strohmeier:And yeah, I thought you were taking that totally different direction. But yeah, you know, we were were confronted, I was confronted with real time challenges, lots of lots of work burdens, and I think why I said poorly is, you know, I I kinda withdrew from a lot. This goes back, I don't know, 2015, 2014, something like that. And you know, I think I modeled that really very poorly, maybe did very well for our kids and it really shows. I mean they've they've got a heart for that and I'm really just coming out of out of that time, a lot of career demands and and really finding that margin.
Doug Strohmeier:I love we talked about margin, think Lauren you said maybe margin. I love margin in life. That does mean you have to say no, and that can be challenging as well. But yeah, think Amy did a wonderful job with that.
Joel Brooks:I I would just say real quick that our children, they've had a unique experience just with the church starting in our home. And I love that with our oldest child, she doesn't think of a building when she thinks of church at all. She just thinks of people gathering together in a home. And they they all got to experience church through that lens of just people always coming in the home. But what they didn't get to experience was what you would call the typical youth experience or child experience going into a church.
Joel Brooks:I mean, you should have seen our children's ministry when we we started because it didn't exist. It was just, you know, throw a child in a room and then hope they were survived. And and we did that for like years. It was just there was not really anything there. And so our children didn't get If you grew up in a church and you had all of that, our children didn't get any of that.
Joel Brooks:And they didn't suffer at all. Because what they learned through it is like they Gosh. They learned so much about the church. They learned how to welcome the stranger in and treat them like family. They've learned what gospel hospitality is supposed to look like.
Joel Brooks:They can actually have conversations with adults. And so they all love the Lord and that's just the Lord's kindness. It's not our parenting. They just they all love the Lord. They've all been growing with him without all the other stuff.
Joel Brooks:But I think a lot of it is that consistency of just having people in our home, hearing those gospel conversations happening over and over and over.
Austin Hardsion:A lot of these questions are are kind of how do you do this? What's the practical way to implement this? And Lauren, one of your answers I think is is really the answer for all of this and it's to ask the Lord, to sit and to listen. Lord, what do you want me to know? What do you want me to do today?
Austin Hardsion:Right? And going before him and learning to discern what he has for us because his gifts are so great. We got to lead a home group for a few years and just answering the parent question, it's such a joy. Again, all this giving, stewarding, the benefit is the joy that you receive. And so for our kids at four and two and now even older, they know, like now they're asking on Wednesday like, is it home group night, right?
Austin Hardsion:So yeah, we have and Joel you shared these stories several times of how you're you know, you might break a window or break an antique or break whatever in opening your home, but it's not your home, it's the Lord's home. And so like we've seen, you know, with 12 kids in our house, there's damage done, right? But like how great is it to see those kids after a home group when they know that we're making time to meet and practice gospel hospitality with others, And that's just a core conviction that we have as a church. I wanna We'll maybe close with one more or two more questions, but I really like this question. It says, do you have any examples of how you were surprised when the Lord used your stewardship to accomplish far more than you expected?
Austin Hardsion:And they referenced the story from Mark, right? But I also think about Ephesians and what Paul writes in Ephesians three of how God can do infinitely, abundantly, measurably more than we can ask for. So are there any examples of how you were surprised when the Lord used your stewardship to accomplish far more than you expected?
Sarah Waller:I think for me and this is kind of a it's just working with kids especially at the age of four or five. Like it's such a sweet moment when maybe they're eight or nine and they decide to get baptized. I mean, can sit in this pews and tell you the times I've cried just thinking, oh my gosh. Like like, the they're at four. I knew them and not that I like made a big moment but like just these little seeds of like I mean sometimes, you know, like Redeemer kids teaches the bibles to these kids.
Sarah Waller:Like, we just got through Judges and I was like struggling a little bit being like, and then they killed everybody. You know, like, sometimes redeemer kids is a little hard in the lessons. It's not fluffy all the time. And and it is it's that's a powerful moment and then I feel like for me, I've been doing it consistency maybe three or four years and so it's it is those seven eight year olds that are coming up and I mean, you could just wait just thinking that that's that's happening.
Amy Strohmeier:So this one's gonna seem a little odd but just kind of go with me for a minute. Like Lauren said, a big part of it of stewarding things well is stewarding your time and making yourself available. As your kids get older, that looks very different. Both of our kids went to college in Virginia, but we made an effort to get to know their friends. And so when one of our daughters, good friends was having a massive crisis, she messaged me on social media.
Amy Strohmeier:I put we'd taken her out to brunch five or six times with the the rest of the group, but we made that effort to make her feel comfortable and that she could come to us when she had a need. And so I think for me, it's moments like that where it's not, oh, I gave this much money and this ministry grew this much. It's the little things that I don't even really think about that sometimes have the biggest impact.
Joel Brooks:I'll share one little story. This is just a fun story. So I'm at I'm working out at a gym. Alright. Now I've I've finished my workout.
Joel Brooks:I'm going to the truck and as I'm getting in my truck, the Lord just I'm I'm praying and Lord's like, hey, you need to go back, find this person I don't know of and you need to give her whatever you have in your wallet. And I was like, oh, that's fine because I don't carry money in my wallet. I mean, I don't. If if if you're here in in Avondale, it's it like it's just you'd be a fault. Is this all you would do if if So I don't carry any cash with me.
Joel Brooks:And I thought, maybe I've I might have like a dollar in there for something. I was like, okay, that's kind of strange. Maybe Lord wants me to have conversation with this person or whatever. And then I went I forgot somebody had just paid me and I had a 100 and something dollars in my wallet of cash. I was like, okay.
Joel Brooks:And so I went to the person. I said, this might sound really strange. The Lord told me to give you all the money I had in my wallet, and I actually had money in my wallet, this is it. And the girl just burst in tears and she goes, I lost my job. And just and that was a way that the Lord provided for her.
Joel Brooks:And, like, I was like, he knew that. I don't ever carry money in my wallet. He had you in mind, like, and think of when I got the money, like, all of it. And it became this, like, we're invited into our master's joy, You know, when it came into that stewardship. Those are just a really exciting thing for me.
Lauren Brooks:Alright. I just thought of a story. So we we had a new to redeemer dinner. We have them all the time, which is great and I love it. And if you haven't come to one, come to one because it's just a great way for us to meet you and for you to meet us.
Lauren Brooks:But we had one, I don't know, a few weeks ago and I was feel it had been a hard day just personally for just some things that had happened and I wasn't really feeling like having 25 people in my house that I didn't know. But they were coming and so and probably about thirty minutes before they came, was just I went to my laundry room by myself and I just got down on my knees and I prayed and I was like, Lord, I don't have what I need tonight to be kind to all these people who are coming into my house. I'm feeling sad, like I wanna go get in my bed and cry. Okay. That's where I was.
Lauren Brooks:But I gave it to him and I was like, will you just give me what I need to then pour out to other people what they need? And so then I got up and I washed my face and put on a happy face, you know. But I think even through that, he met me because the first person came in the door and I welcomed them and they came in. And this lady just handed me flowers, which was so sweet because people don't generally bring me flowers. And then I was like, oh, thank you.
Lauren Brooks:I went and put them like in a vase. And then I came back and other people were coming in. This other lady came in, a second lady and she said, I felt like I should bring you flowers. Y'all, three different people brought me flowers that night. And it was just such a sweet the Lord saw me even and then I was having a hard time and then it just gave me the confidence to see all these other people are new to our church, they're wanting to get plugged in, they're wanting to be known.
Lauren Brooks:It was just really it's a sweet a sweet moment. And then Austin brought me
Austin Hardsion:It's a great story in reference to close on. There's one question that I do want to end on, And it says, does Redeemer offer any resources or people to connect with in regards to stewarding your finances well? Overall wisdom on how to budget biblically. In the past, Redeemer has hosted Crown financial classes, so what I would say is reach out to an elder or reach out to someone on staff, and we can gladly point you in. Joseph Viret would be the man for that.
Austin Hardsion:So that is a great action step. We've participated in that, and I highly highly highly recommend it y'all. And again, this is climbing the ladder is process, right? Ultimately, this is just an invitation. All that we've discussed tonight is an invitation for the Lord to draw you near to him, right?
Austin Hardsion:That he wants our hearts is a simple way to put it. If you have any questions about tonight, I'm going to hang around, find an elder. If you have a home group leader, just again, go to the website. There's a ton of ways I could spend the rest of our time talking about ways to get involved, right? From serving in the children's ministry to parking to, I even think about, you know, the worship team.
Austin Hardsion:The Lord has just richly blessed this church with gifts through His people, right? And He's all made us uniquely in His image and has equipped us. And so if you need help discerning that or find that reach out, right? Like don't don't be afraid of that. So, that's kind of all that we have for tonight.
Austin Hardsion:Just honored and thrilled that you were with us.
