Kingdom Stewardship

Hey, this is Tim Pratt Jr. I want to welcome you to the podcast Student of Life. I pray that you hear something that will add value, shape, develop, and cultivate your faith in order to be the person that God desires you to be, as well as the application to see it through. Enjoy. What's up? So this is episode 10, and it's our last episode within our stewardship series, and we're going to call this one Kingdom Stewardship. It will not be a long one. I just want to conclude, and I really want to point you in a direction to dive deeper into this whole kingdom stewardship, because I just found out a few days ago that if you don't know him, I highly encourage you to look him up. But Tony Evans, Dr. Tony Evans, has done a series on kingdom stewardship, and right after I finish recording this one, I'm about to plug into it and just really follow that series. And who knows, we might have another beefed up one sometime down the road. But that being said, if you haven't looked him up, I highly encourage you to. He's one of my favorite people to study, and his book Kingdom Man has really blessed my life, as well as other resources that he has out there. But I want to read something that actually, uh, Tony Evans wrote. And I know we've kind of echoed this, but like I said, this episode is Kingdom Stewardship, and I just kind of want to conclude. And this is more so to just to point you to further dive into kingdom stewardship. Kingdom steward: a believer who faithfully oversees, protects, and expands the assets God has given him or her to manage on his behalf, on God's behalf. One thing that I don't believe I've said within these episodes or this series is that In 1 Corinthians, we have to come to understanding that our life don't even belong to us. We've talked about our kids, you know, not belong to us. Our parents don't really belong to us, or we don't really even belong to them in the terms of like everything is stewardship. Our parents managed over us, they stood over us, we stood over our kids. God can snatch us up out of here or call us home anytime he wants, if he desires. And I'm talking to believers, of course. And knowing that, we— it just makes you more sensitive to steward over, to be a kingdom steward, to advance the kingdom of God. Because I'm on here for a specific amount of time on this earth, in this, this flesh, this finite body that's going to pass away. And so the things that I need to instill the stewardship principles. And just when you think about true legacy that I need to instill in my kids, and just like this podcast, and, you know, writing a book and blogging and speaking and just working, just everything that I do should in some shape, form, or fashion— I don't have to just talk about the scriptures and always preach them and teach them, but my life should demonstrate and reflect Christ. It should reflect that kingdom stewardship mind, knowing that I don't own anything, but I want to just advance the kingdom of God as he has called me to and commissioned me to. So the fact that my life doesn't belong to me, it just— it gives you a— if it doesn't, then I, I, you know, that's you. But me knowing that it makes me want to be more diligent and urgent about things because I know my time is limited and it doesn't compare to eternity. So that being said, on this— on this— in this earth, we have to take all of this content. Hopefully you dive deeper and understand that most of us aren't experiencing God's kingdom is because we aren't keeping his covenant, we aren't obeying him. We aren't following his, his rules. I mean, and you know, you can say by the law and all of that, but following his command, I should say. Maybe that's a better terminology, following his command, the, the command that Jesus gave us. And so we have to understand that this kingdom, that God's kingdom, his covenant, it provides covering. So only he can build and add to the church. He can build the kingdom, but we can help advance it. And so with me knowing that, and I know we've been using the financial terms, you know, like with the— we've been referencing money a lot because it is one of the primary tools. And like I say, it just about touches everything. But it's so much bigger than that when it comes to our gifts, our talents, and just so much more that we can help, you know, advance the kingdom of God. And so you have to ask yourself as you listen to these episodes, I hope you go over and check out the Tony Evans Kingdom Stewardship series or just research more about it. I hope you do become a kingdom steward. Like I say, this episode is just more so to conclude. I don't want to dive deep or anything like that. It's just more so to reinforce what we have been saying throughout this series and really just to point you back to go back and listen to those, because there's no point in me reiterating everything that we have talked about in those, those other 3 episodes. And so remember, one of the foundational things is that I ask you, what comes to mind when you think of stewardship? What comes to mind now when you think of kingdom stewardship? So, and you add those 2 words together. Because our time is limited and it's just so much we have to do. It's so much that we have to instill in our kids if you have them, or people that's just connected to you in general when you think about legacy. Because really the true legacy is the legacy that points to Christ. It's eternity. And so I'm gonna read that again. Kingdom steward, you know, from the perspective of Tony Evans: a believer who faithfully oversees, protects, and expands the assets God has given him or her to manage on his behalf. So you're a steward whether you like it or not. You're stewarding over your life whether you like it or not. Either you're wasting time and you're just wasting the purpose that you were created here, or you're out here being about your Father's business. You're out here being a kingdom steward. You're using your money, you're using your talents, you're using your gifts You know, your dream is attached to the kingdom stewardship, to God. Your relationships, divine connections, divine relationships, kingdom businesses, kingdom ministries, you know, and just on and on and on in some shape, form, or fashion. Like I said, I don't have to always preach the gospel or just teach it, but just live it. I can just be, as my dad often says, and that influences the kingdom of God. It represents the kingdom of God. It— I'm being a kingdom steward over everything that I'm involved with. And so just dig deep, dig deeper. And like I say, if you haven't, go back up and listen to the 3 episodes because I believe that they will bless you. And especially if you go a step further and start pouring into and just— or allowing Tony Evans, you know, and, and validate, go search it out yourself. Just don't take myself and Tony Evans or whoever else perspective on things. Go and search it out, the scriptures, yourself. But you are a steward. You are a steward whether you like it or not. So the question is asking, what type of steward are you? How are you managing it? If I gave you $100,000 right now, how would you help advance things and do it? Or would you just hoard it and waste it? So I hope you've enjoyed this series, man. I hope it has blessed you, you know. And I'm really just flowing off the hip. I'm not— I didn't write any notes on this one besides, you know, reading this quote from Tony Evans. But stewardship to me is huge, and the more I dive into it, you know, we can get very deep into it, but what's the point? I think everything really should be simple and understanding. And, you know, interpretation of scripture, we should stay with the word of God. But when it comes to stewardship, I just want to leave you with this. When it, when it comes to stewardship, Tony Evans said it best. Many of us want our independence on God's dime. Think about that. Matter of fact, he quoted like this: God has children that wants his independence on his dime. Think about that, because when he said that, that resonated deep to me, how I want to live my life. I want to be the owner of my life. I want to be the owner of my money, my job, all this type of stuff. I want it to be mine. But at the end of the day, it's really not. Everything is borrowed from God. I can't do nothing outside of myself when you really think about it. You can sit up here and say, well, I mean, I'm me, these are mine. But listen, God created— he created mankind. So just that in itself, if you out here say, well, I can do this on my own, well, it's borrowed. Everything, all of us, everything is God creation. That doesn't mean all of us are God's children, but all of us are God creation. And so with that being said, are you stewarding over your life and everything that's connected to it? The way God desires you to. Hey, so I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to this content today. If it has impacted you in any kind of way, I want to encourage you to share it on your social media feed with family and friends. And if you desire to connect with me on a more deeper level, go to www.timothyprattjr.org where you'll get more information on how to do that. With that being said, continue to have a blessed day, and Lord's will, I'll see you next time.