Hi, friends. I am Annie F. Downs. Let's read the Gospels. The Gospels are the first four books of the New Testament in the Bible, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

These are the stories of Jesus Christ's life on earth, the friendships, the parables, the sacrifices, the meals, the miracles.

Each month we read all four books. If you haven't subscribed yet, go ahead and do that and join us as we read the Gospels together this month.

Invite your friends to join us as well. Here's how it works. I read three chapters a day to you.

You can listen or read along in your own Bible, and then I'll pray. And that's it. This week is really special. If you're listening in real time as we are releasing this this week is really special because it is holy week.

The week between Palm Sunday and Easter. And today is what is called Monday, Thursday. It is the evening of the last supper. And this is when Jesus is arrested and tomorrow is good Friday.

And so as we are reading and finishing up the book of Luke, we recognize that in your lives and in our lives, this is a really important week.

And we honor that and we are grateful for what this weekend means for all of us. So we will keep reading through the book of Luke today.

We will start the book of John on Easter Sunday. So if you have friends that go with you to church for the first time on Sunday or family or your social media friends who follow you Sunday would be a great day.

Today is a great day, but Sunday would be a great day to invite your friends to join us and join us as we start the book of John on Easter Sunday.

Today is April 6, day 6 of this month. It is Monday Thursday. And I will be reading Luke chapters 16 through 18. And this month I'm reading from the message.

Luke 16. Jesus said to his disciples, there was once a rich man who had a manager. He got reports that the manager had been taking advantage of his position by running up huge personal expenses.

So he called him in and said, what's this I hear about you? You're fired. And I want a complete audit of your books. The manager said to himself, what am I going to do? I've lost my job as manager.

I'm not strong enough for a laboring job. And I'm too proud to beg. I've got a plan. Here's what I'll do. Then when I'm turned out into the street, people will take me into their houses. Then he went at it. One after another, he called in the people who were in debt to his master.

He said to the first, how much do you my master? He replied 100 jugs of olive oil. The manager said, here, take your bills. Sit down here. Quick. Now write 50 to the next. He said, and you, what do you owe?

He answered 100 sacks a week. He said, take your bill. Write in 80. Now here's a surprise. The master praised the crooked manager. And why? Because he knew how to look after himself.

Street wise people are smarter in this regard than law abiding citizens. They are on constant alert, looking for angles surviving by their wits.

I want you to be smart in the same way, but for what is right, using every adversity to stimulate you, to creative survival, to concentrate your attention on the bare essentials. So you'll live, really live, and not complacently just get by on good behavior.

Jesus went on to make these comments. If you're honest in small things, you'll be honest in big things. If you're a crook in small things, you'll be a crook in big things.

If you're not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store? No worker can serve two bosses. He'll either hate the first and love the second, or adore the first and despise the second. You can't serve both God and the bank.

When the Pharisees, a money obsessed bunch, heard him say these things. They rolled their eyes, dismissing him as hopelessly out of touch. So Jesus spoke to them.

You are masters at making yourselves look good in front of others, but God knows what's behind the appearance. What society sees and calls monumental, God sees through and calls monstrous.

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