Page 61 - Principles for Discipling Others-Student textbook

Study Section 12: Management of Finances and Other Resources

12.1 Connect.

In the late 1950’s, there used to be a television show called “The Millionaire”. It was a show
about a benefactor named John Tipton Jr who gave away one million dollars to someone
each week. The show showed how various people responded to receiving that much money.
Many squandered the money and were broke in short order. Others did not really change
their living style but used the money to help others. Each week the show gave a different
slant on how people could respond to receiving that much money with no strings attached.

While you probably are not a millionaire, God has given you resources of money, time, and talents to be
used for His glory. How we use these resources is a strong indication of how we love our Savior. If we
spend our money on ourselves and do very little service for others, it shows who is on the thrown of our
lives. So money management is a very important topic when it comes to discipleship, for it is an
outward demonstration of who we are inside.

12.2 Objectives:

1. We will learn that everything we have belongs to God.

2. We will learn 9 principles for investing that, if applied, will protect future savings and
provide funds for your family’s future needs.

12.3 Management of Finances and other Resources

In business it is necessary to properly manage finances and other resources if it is to
prosper. The same is true in the Christian life. Money is just one of the many resources
Christians have to work with.

There are other resources such as your mind which should be surrendered to Christ who
in His sovereign central position provides mental guidance……your body which is the temple of the Holy
Spirit and which is to be presented to the Lord as a living sacrifice for His use (Rom. 12:1,2). There is
your emotional makeup….your personality….your unique strengths and weaknesses that God can use for
His glory. We could spend a good deal of time learning a little more about each of these. But for
simplicity we will concentrate on “finances” since the basic principles of managing them carry over and
can be applied in various forms to the other resources Christians have.

Finances (and our other resources) can be used to bless not only our families but
also our church, our friends, our community and our nation. They also can be
used by the church worldwide in the task of missions as we strive to send the
good news of the Gospel to those who have never heard. The great danger is for
the church to fear bad future events occurring and begin to store up its monies
into million-dollar bank accounts, rather than using what God gives to reach the
untold millions of souls who are yet “untold.” George Barna* discovered that the
typical church allocates only 2% of its gross annual revenues to evangelism. “It is

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