{"id":11968,"date":"2020-10-13T20:00:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T03:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_15_25-32-copy\/"},"modified":"2020-10-11T12:43:33","modified_gmt":"2020-10-11T19:43:33","slug":"luke_16_1-14","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/luke_16_1-14\/","title":{"rendered":"The Taming of the Shrewd"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke 16:1-14\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 16:1-14. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 16:1-8 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1 \u00a0Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.
\n2 \u00a0So 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.’
\n3 \u00a0“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’m ashamed to beg–
\n4 \u00a0I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’
\n5 \u00a0“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
\n6 \u00a0“‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’
\n7 \u00a0“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 eight hundred.’
\n8 \u00a0“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.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-8: \u00a0Is Jesus telling this story to encourage us to lie and be dishonest?\u00a0Not at all.\u00a0Rather Jesus is highlighting the importance of being shrewd \u2013 that is, street smart, wise, strategic, and proactive \u2013 when dealing with problems. Often times I find that the reason why an individual, a team, a ministry or an organization is not as effective as they could be is not for a lack of heart, but a lack of wisdom, a lack of what Jesus calls \u201cshrewdness\u201d.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be someone who, when facing a problem, just sits there and does nothing but complain or panic. Be shrewd.\u00a0In other words, use your brain. Be resourceful.\u00a0Be street smart. Think strategically.\u00a0Plan ahead.\u00a0Pray for wisdom.<\/p>\n

Shrewdness is perhaps the most underestimated quality in Christian leadership.\u00a0In Christians circles we might even look down on shrewdness as a lack of faith. Yet Jesus himself tells us that we need to be \u201cshrewd as snakes and innocent as doves\u201d (Matthew 10:16).<\/p>\n

Luke 16:9 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n9 \u00a0I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for<\/em>yourselves<\/em>,<\/em>\u00a0so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 9: \u00a0In the parable Jesus told above, the shrewd manager used the influence he had while he still had his job to win the favour of his current clients. That way when he was out of a job those clients would welcome him. The lesson here is that we are to use the influence and the resources that we have right now to help people come to know the Lord. That way when our time on earth is over, we will see that our lives had an eternal impact on the lives of other people, and they will be part of our welcoming party when we get to heaven.<\/p>\n

Luke 16:10-12 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n10 \u00a0“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.
\n11 \u00a0So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches?
\n12 \u00a0And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 10-12: \u00a0Sometimes I\u2019ll hear people say something along these lines: \u201cThe things that I am doing right now \u2013 my current responsibilities, my current studies, my current job \u2013 doesn\u2019t really matter. When I get to the big leagues and I have real responsibilities, that\u2019s when I\u2019ll really focus.\u201d Unfortunately, people who have that kind of attitude toward their current work often never get promoted, for they were not trustworthy with even a little.\u00a0If you want to be promoted, be faithful in the little things. You might be tempted to think that those little things don\u2019t matter, but they do.\u00a0God watches the way we handle the little things and takes that into account when considering whether to promote us.<\/p>\n

Luke 16:13-14 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n13 \u00a0“No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
\n14 \u00a0The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 13-14: \u00a0In this parable Jesus calls us to use wealth out of love for people.\u00a0If we are not careful, however, we will use people out of love for wealth.<\/p>\n

Lord Jesus, with the time and resources I have remaining, may I shrewd, wise, strategic, and proactive. \u00a0For Your glory, may I be a trustworthy and effective steward of what You have given\u00a0<\/em>me.<\/em>\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Luke 16:1-14. Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Luke 16:1-8 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1 \u00a0Jesus told his disciples: “There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions.\u00a0
\n2 \u00a0So 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.’\u00a0
\n3 \u00a0“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’m ashamed to beg–\u00a0
\n4 \u00a0I know what I’ll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.’\u00a0
\n5 \u00a0“So he called in each one of his master’s debtors. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’\u00a0
\n6 \u00a0“‘Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.’\u00a0…..<\/p>\n

On verses 1-8: \u00a0Is Jesus telling this story to encourage us to lie and be dishonest?\u00a0Not at all.\u00a0Rather Jesus is highlighting the importance of being shrewd \u2013 that is, street smart, wise, strategic, and proactive \u2013 when dealing with problems. Often times I find that the reason why an individual, a team, a ministry or an organization is not as effective as they could be is not for a lack of heart, but a lack of wisdom, a lack of what Jesus calls \u201cshrewdness\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11970,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11968"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11969,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11968\/revisions\/11969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}