Luke 16

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: In Luke 16:1-9, Jesus tells the parable of a manager who is accused of wasting his master's possessions. The manager realizes he will lose his job and decides to use his master's assets to gain favor with others. The master commends the manager for his shrewdness, and Jesus uses this parable to teach about the importance of using God's gifts appropriately and adopting a business-like mentality in the Kingdom of God. Christians should be diligent and intentional in their efforts to serve God and make a difference in the world. The lack of excellence and diligence in the church is a problem, and Christians can learn from the business world's focus on making a profit.

The lack of excellence and diligence in the Kingdom of God is a problem, and Christians need to adopt a more entrepreneurial and strategic mentality. Christians should be as active and vigilant in making profit for the Kingdom of God as they are in the business world. Christians need to plan ahead, be intentional, and think strategically in how they present the gospel to different people. The dishonest manager in the parable is not being praised for his dishonesty, but for his cunning, planning, and diligence. Christians need to be shrewd and wise in how they deal with people and pursue the Kingdom of God. The lack of capacity to think in terms of business and institutional development is a challenge for many churches, and Christians need to use the Holy Spirit to develop these skills. The author is challenging his Latino congregation to think in these terms to become an example to other Latino churches.

The pastor discusses the need for Latino churches to think strategically in terms of business and institutional development. He encourages them to develop their gifts and abilities, and to use their limitations and failures as assets for the Kingdom of God. He emphasizes the importance of diligence, creativity, and astuteness in order to turn problems into opportunities. He also suggests that Christians can learn from the secular world and apply those principles to benefit the Kingdom of God. Ultimately, he encourages everyone to be diligent managers and to bring profit to the Kingdom of God. The pastor ends with a prayer for God to unleash gifts and for hearts to be opened to the possibilities ahead.

I invite you to look with me at Luke, chapter 16 and we are going to go to verses 1 through 9. I decided to continue with this theme of the stewardship and of good management of God’s assets. So, I thought it would be nice and kind of illuminating to see two parables that Jesus related regarding the same subject. I’ll try to remind you, of course, I know that my last sermon is firmly edged in your mind and you sensibility and you remember every word of it, but I’ll try to remind you just a little bit so that, just to be redundant. But I thought it would be a nice contrast between the two.

So, Luke, chapter 16, let’s begin with verse 1, and it says here that “… Jesus told his disciples there was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. So he called him in and asked him: ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management because you cannot be manager any longer.’ Now, the manager said to himself: ‘What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job, I am not strong enough to dig and I’m ashamed to beg. I know what I’ll do so that when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses. So he called in each one of his master’s debtors and he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ‘800 gallons of olive oil’, he replied. The manager told him ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly and make it 400.’