Managing Finance in the Fear of the Lord <Lk 12：

：13-21；
；42-48>
* Summation：God wants our heart! Though the heart cannot be bought with money, but the way we use money determines where
our heart is!
What does it mean to ‘Manage Finance in the Fear of the Lord?’ i.e. To acknowledge the sovereign of God, thus having authority
over money, and with that, using it to benefit self, people and kingdom of God.
Managing is about Spending and Saving. In these 2 contexts, if we receive answer from the Lord’s teaching, HE will put us in
charge of all things. In managing finance, there is both ‘absolute’ and ‘appropriate’ principles. If we grasp them well, we could then
be said to be a faithful and wise manager of the Lord.

1．
．The Reasons God puts the representation of all creation (i.e. Money) in our hands
1） Responsibility towards God: Restore the authority of God and Represent Him to use money
⇒ (1) Use Money in accordance to His instructions (2) Use Money in accordance to His purpose

2） Responsibility towards Self: Manifest the Glorious Image of God’s Child

⇒ (1) The Dignity of a Believer (2) The Wisdom and Prudence of a Believer
E.g. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph are all men of wealth in their Era, using their riches to glorify God
Yet similarly, Paul, who hasn’t a single possession, also glorify God with his status quo

3） Responsibility towards Men: To use our money wisely to influence men for the gospel ⇒ Win over men through sharing,
subsidizing, and a humble yet magnanimous heart.

4） Responsibility towards the Larger Society：Understand the Spiritual Principle in impacting the society
⇒ Give to Caesar what belongs to him, Grasp Specialization, Impact Society through its operating system

2．
．Incorrect Mindset of Finance Management
1） The Mindset of Self-Possess, Self-Usage: “Deeming it as money earned be me, thus belongs to me”
(Manage Finance with such mindset, not acknowledging the fundamentals of God, The Source of Finance)

2） Putting purpose in saving, earning, and accumulating riches

(Stinginess, excessive thriftiness, even thinking one could only glorify God and bless men if he/she is rich)

3） Treat Money as Safeguard (Subconsciously having the sense of security through the money one possesses)

4） Deeming that it is normal to ‘worry about money not enough’ (Unconscious about the attack of Spiritual realms)

5） Liberally spend money out of convenience, especially increasing one’s spending with one’s earning
(E.g. Earn more spend more, habitual extravagance, materialistic, seek after comfort increasingly, etc)

3．
．The Finance Management that Fear God and in line with Spiritual Fundamentals
1） Give your Firstborn to God (The Importance and Spiritual Element of Tithing) <Dt 14：22-29> <Dt 26>
(Tithe one-tenth of your salary, bonus, provision, earned interests/investments to the church you belong)

2） Money has to be used to minister to lives (The management of finance must definitely help man to fulfill the promise
<covenant> of 4 Gospelization).
When a person has used money in such a way, he could be said to have rule over money, and thus could rule over all things.
He will thus receive much answered prayers, testify God’s provision and practically see his money used in exchange for lives.

3） Use your finances in the capacity which God has determined for you (God-driven way of managing finance)

4） Always resist the lacking heart with the spirit of contentment

<1Ti 6：6> ‘But godliness with contentment is great gain!’ In our Chrisitian life, there must not only be Godliness, but to
always test: Are we contented, thankful, joyful about God’s current provision?

5） Possessing the perspective to save for greater spiritual inheritance (Like how Jospeh save during 7 years of abundant harvest,
David save gold and silver for his whole lifetime)
Must grasp the correct notion of Saving. How to view Specialization Vs Speculation?

* Conclusion: The greater your wealth, the greater your responsibility, because the amount of influence, assistance
and blessings you could bring forth is greater.
Money itself possesses charm. Therefore, if you possess money and yet unable to be a good manager, you will as a result be
pierced by the griefs of money, bringing forth loss in your spiritual life.