May 17, 2026 - Learning How to Manage What God Has Given Us - Pastor Paul Vallee

Life is all about stewardship or management. How do we manage what God entrusts to us? There are a number of areas that we are tested in. How do we handle our time? Another area is the finances that God entrusts to us. The greatest area of stewardship is the people God calls us to care for. There are people that God places in our lives, siblings, children, parents, co-workers, and neighbours. Depending on your vocation, you can be caring for patients, customers, clients, prisoners, students, or parishioners. One of the great concerns in Paul’s life was to bring the gospel to the non-Jewish world, called Gentiles. Yet, the desire to see his own Jewish people was equally concerning to him. One of the expressions Paul wanted the church to understand was that, in Christ, the barrier between Jew and Gentile was abolished, and all were now able to experience God’s grace found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was also concerned that this barrier was not strictly theological but also practical. Therefore, he wanted those in the churches that were made up of primarily Gentiles to assist their fellow believers in Judea who were experiencing extreme poverty because of a famine. So, Paul challenged the churches he planted to provide financial aid to these Jewish believers who were in great financial distress. How we expend our financial resources reveals much about our values.