Thank you. Welcome to Truth for Life where today we begin a study in the Gospel of Luke.

We're going to take a look at some of the lessons and parables.

Jesus shared with his disciples as they traveled toward Jerusalem.

Alistair begins with a parable that at first glance can seem puzzling, maybe even unsettling.

We're studying in Luke's Gospel at the moment here at Parkside, and we have come to the 16th chapter,

and we're going to read from there now, Luke chapter 16, and we'll read from the first verse.

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 my manager any longer. The manager said to himself, what shall I do now? My master is taking away my job.

I'm not strong enough to dig,

and I am 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. 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.

Then he asked the second, and how much do you owe?

A thousand bushels of wheat, he replied.

He told him, take your bill and make it 800.

The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly,

for the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.

I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed

into eternal dwellings. Father, as we seek your heart, thank you that we don't have to

wonder where we should go. But we take our Bibles and we open them, and we discover that you

have introduced your heart to us in the pages of your word.

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