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Eternal Vision is a ministry dedicated to helping Christians realize their full potential for Biblical living, especially in the much-neglected area of Biblical financial stewardship. Our ministry professionals provide discipleship, legal, and financial planning assistance to individual Christians.
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"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly..."
-Psalm 1:1
The Bible is clear that Christians must seek Godly counsel on important decisions, yet when it comes to one of the most important planning processes a Christian will ever undertake, little thought is given to the worldview of the professionals whose advice they seek. Because each Christian is accountable to God for his stewardship, estate planning is a matter of eternal consequence! What a joy to know that with the right counsel, we can stand before the Lord and hear, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Three aspects of the Christian worldview distinguish Christian stewardship planning from secular estate planning. These fundamental differences make an extraordinary impact on the eternal outcome of the estate planning process.
It seems the ongoing recession is making everyone cranky. Entertainment and material purchases have been curtailed. Stress over financial issues is building in many homes. People are feeling claustrophobic as their world shrinks. My remedy? I get outside myself. Nothing lifts my spirits more than the opportunity to help someone else. And right now, more people need help than have for many years. There are endless opportunities to get involved and make a difference.
What would you do if...
Every Christian family should have a readily accessible contingency fund with enough cash to weather an emergency. The Bible has specific guidance in this important financial area. This challenging article studies two key Bible passages and asks the questions, "Will you be prudent or punished?" and "Is saving at odds with living by faith?"
Every child, at some point in his or her life will ask the question, “Who am I?” The predominant teaching in the public school system today is that we are essentially, and only, physical beings. To quote Stephen Pinker, an oft-cited Harvard professor of psychology, “When the brain dies, the person goes out of existence.” He really means that! Many educators teaching in public schools, universities and colleges have the same opinion.
Children are more than physical beings; they are also spiritual and eternal beings. This eternal perspective is what drives our Christian view of education. Your ministry’s leaders are passionate about continuing to offer this unique form of education. Will you pray for your school’s leadership? Only through God’s power can they protect each student from the humanistic influences of the world.
In Proverbs 22:6, King Solomon urged parents to "train up" their children for a special purpose. In Numbers 7:10, the same Hebrew word is used to describe the dedication of the alter for use in sacrifice; in I Kings 8:63, it is used to refer to the dedication of the first temple for use in worship; and in Nehemiah 12:27, it refers to the dedication of the rebuilt wall for use in protection from outside corruption. In each case, a special sense of joy and consecration marked the dedication as a special event.
Parents, you have a special cause for dedication as well: your children. Spiritually, our children do not belong to us, but to God who entrusts to us the responsibility of raising them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Your children have not come to you as a blank slate. God in His wisdom has gifted them with talents and abilities unique to them. Help them discern the "way in which they should go." Then train them up to fulfill the special purpose for which they have been designed by God.
Stewardship is the rightful management of that which God provides. The legacy you leave in dedicating them to serve the Lord will provide them lifelong guidance and ultimately bring glory to the Savior.
In the early 1900's when the founders of the Fundamentalist movement trumpeted forth the absolute essentials of Biblical Christianity in a work known as The Fundamentals, A Testimony to the Truth, they thought it fitting and necessary to include an exposition on the topic of financial stewardship! Dr. Arthur T. Pierson (1837-1911), a pastor and ardent defender of the faith, wrote more than 50 books in his lifetime, including a popular biography of George Mueller and his last work: three chapters in The Fundamentals.
In his chapter, Our Lord’s Teachings About Money, Dr. Pierson delivers an exposition of the teachings of Christ himself on the topic of money that is both plain and powerful. Written nearly a century ago, the powerful truths reflected in Pierson’s work remain as powerfully relevant today as they were 2000 years ago when the Son of God first revealed them to man.
A will is the kind of thing no one likes to think about. The unsavory combination of having to deal with a lawyer and contemplating your own death is enough to make anyone hunt for a more pleasant activity! (I suspect many gutters have been given a non-seasonal cleaning for this very reason!)
While no one likes to think about dying, a good estate plan can be a tremendous source of blessing for the Christian, his family, and the ministries God lays on his heart to support.
This article outlines some priorities to consider when drafting a will and seven changes in life that indicate the need to change your estate plan as well!
The Eternal Vision personal stewardship review and planning process is designed to be thorough, and yet simple for each client to understand. Our desire is to help Christian people who are responding to the Lord's leadership in the area of Biblical stewardship to accomplish the goals God has led them to establish.
Every Christian is different, and we understand that God burdens each of us in different ways to accomplish His overall mission. Trained EV advisors meet with clients to determine their personal goals and to provide one-on-one discipleship as they seek God's will in the area of personal stewardship.
Over the next several years, trillions of dollars are expected to pass from one generation to the next by inheritance. Developing a Biblical perspective on inheritance can mean the difference between that inheritance process honoring the Lord or missing a gigantic and eternal opportunity.
The words inherit, inheritance or heir are used over 240 times in our Old Testament. It is an extremely important theological concept in relation to God and his covenant relationship to the nation of Israel. By far the greater percentage of references refer to both the nation and the land it would control as an inheritance. The remaining few references address the family aspects of inheritance. What is important is that God “modeled” the concept of inheritance as a loving and holy Father toward his beloved children.
"The fundamentals of the economy are strong." Ooops; maybe they're not! The Government (or should we say the taxpayer) is bailing out failing financial institutions. Investment banks are going the way of the dinosaurs. Foreign banks are buying the assets of domestic banks and investment houses. What is going on? Isn't it incredible how financial issues impact our theology? Sad how the turbulent times expose the weakness in our faith.
How much trust are we really putting in our uncertain riches? The anxiety we experience over the turbulent times is the barometer that will measure our trust. Its reading is undeniably accurate! There is hope! The Bible counsels Christians to keep our trust in the living God, not their stuff. This article acknowledges the difficulties of turbulent financial times, but provides practical suggestions for every Christian to honor the Lord by practicing Biblical stewardship.
Eternal Vision also provides stewardship training resources to help pastors and ministry leaders build a stewardship ministry within the local church. EV has no financial products to sell and represents no other ministry in working with individual Christians.