Jesus continued speaking to the host and advised him to invite people who couldn't pay him back to his parties. A man sitting at the table heard what Jesus said and commented that the people who sit at the feast in the Kingdom of God are happy. Jesus told him the parable of the dinner where the invited guests wouldn't come because they had other things to do. So the host invited the poor, crippled, blind and lame people and also those strangers traveling on the roads and filled up the house with people who appreciated his gifts. Once, when large crowds were following Jesus, He told them that if any of them loved someone more than Him, they couldn't be His disciple. Also, no one can be His disciple unless they give up everything they have. Salt that isn't salty isn't worth anything.
One day the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law grumbled because the outcasts came to hear Jesus. He told them that if they owned 100 sheep and one was missing, they would leave the 99 and go find the missing one. Same thing if you lost one coin out of 10. Then Jesus told them about a father who had two sons. One son asked him for his inheritance and then went out and blew it on reckless living. When he ran out of money he got a job. He was so hungry and he noticed the other workers had plenty to eat, so he decided to go home and apologize to his father and ask him for a job. While he was coming home his father spotted him and was so excited that his son had come home, he didn't even care about the money. He threw a big party. The other son who had remained obedient got angry, until the father came out to talk to him and tell him everything he had belonged to him. They had to celebrate and be happy because the brother had been dead and was alive again.
Jesus told the disciples about a manager who cheated his master to point out that worldly people are more shrewd than the people of the light. Learning how to be a good steward over money is good practice for being a good steward over bigger and better things in heaven. If you cannot be trusted with worldly wealth, how can you be trusted with heavenly wealth. It all belongs to God, He is just letting you play with it. "You cannot serve both God and Money." (NIV Luke 16:13) Once there was a rich man who lived in luxury. Every day a poor man, named Lazarus, with sores all over his body was brought to the door of the rich man hoping to eat the scraps from the rich man's table. They both died. The poor man went up to heaven to sit with Abraham at the feast in heaven and the rich man went to hell. The rich man in his agony looked up and asked Abraham if Lazarus could come and cool him down because he was so miserable. Abraham told him that wasn't possible. Then the rich man asked Abraham if he would send his relatives a special message from someone who was dead. Abraham told him that they had Moses and the Prophets to warn them just like everyone else and they wouldn't listen to a special messenger anyway.
Tomorrow read Luke 17-19:27
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