Steve Manhanga at New Creation Church

Steve Manhanga did brilliantly on Sunday when he spoke from Romans 12:1 - 21 on "Rich and Poor?"

By way of introduction he said we needed to ask ourselves this question -
Does God want us to be rich or does He want us to be poor? Some interesting views were shared.
We live in a world where one third live on 12 rand, which is equivalent to USD1.5 per day.

Who is more Godly, rich people or poor people? These people are out there and not in the church.

There is the prosperity gospel - name it and claim it!
There is the poverty gospel - as poor as a church mouse.
So is there a middle ground, and if so, how do I find it and live in it?

Proverbs 30:8 -9 "Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonour the name of my God."
2 Corinthians 9:10 - 11
Luke 16:11 - 12
Matthew 25:14 - 30

So what are talents?
They represent any kind of resources we are given. God gives us time, gifts and other resources according to our abilities and He expects us to invest wisely until He returns. It's not how much we have, but how well we use what we have. So lets bring it to Jesus.

2 Corinthians 8:9 Paul is writing from Macedonia and hoped the generosity of these churches would encourage the Corinthian believers.

Stephen then told a story of Elyana Singh (daughter of Artaj and Judy Singh) who is 10 years old and has learnt to sow what she has. He also shared about being faithful with little and God will add to you.

Righteous rich:
Proverbs 10:4 - Rich through hard work
Proverbs 15:6 - Rich through righteousness
Proverbs 11:24 - Rich through generosity
Proverbs 3:9 - 10 - Giving first 10%

Righteous poor:
Proverbs 15:16 Poor to avoid trouble of wealth job; poor through tragedy
Paul - Poor to facilitate something greater
Examples - Job, Ruth, Naomi, Jesus, widow who gave 2 coins, Paul and the Macedonian church

Unrighteous rich:
Proverbs 16:8 - Rich through injustice
Proverbs 11:16 - Rich through ruthlessness
Proverbs 28:22 - Rich through greed
Proverbs 23:4 - Rich at the expense of health
Examples -  Laban, Esau, Haman, the rich young ruler, Simon the sorcerer, Ananias and Sapphira

Unrighteous poor:
Proverbs 10:4 - Poor through laziness
Proverbs 28:19 - Poor through worthless pursuits
Proverbs 28:20 - Poor through 'get rich quick' schemes
Proverbs 28:22 - Poor through stinginess
Examples - The sluggard from Proverbs and Judas Iscariot

Treasure principle key #1 - God owns everything. I'm His money manager. We are the managers of the assets God has entrusted - not given to us. "Whatever good thing you do for Him, if done according to the word, is laid up for you as treasure in chests and coffers to be brought out to be rewarded before men and angels, to your eternal comfort." John Bunyan

A person is rich according to what he is, not according to what he has.
Measure wealth not by the things you have, but by the things for which you would not take money.

God expects us to give of what we have, not what we don't have.

Adapted notes.....