Hey friends, I'm Annie F. Downs. Let's read the Gospels. The Gospels are the first four

books of the New Testament and 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 get to read all four books and we will continue that today. Here's

how it works. I'll read three chapters to you. You can listen or read along in your own

Bible or follow along online if you want. And then I'll pray. And that's it. So today

is August 21st, day 21. And I'll be reading Luke chapter 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 owe 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 of wheat. He said,

take your bill. Write in 80. Now, here's the 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,

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