This most difficult of parables of Jesus nevertheless provides a lesson to put our focus and our investment in heaven rather than on earth. This short address during a midweek meeting offers a helpful insight into this parable and a useful perspective on our possessions.

Luke 16:1-13 Parable of the Dishonest Manager

Edward Anton

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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 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’m 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?’ “ ‘Nine hundred gallons of olive oil,’ he replied. “The manager told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred and fifty.’ “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.’ “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. “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. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:1–13, NIV)

Ready or Not

Shaun McDonnell

In Legoland, church looks good and is all in order, but this is not real life.  Jesus tells us that in real life we will sin against one another.  What we do and how we respond says a lot about our faith and our mindset as a servant.  This sermon challenges us where we live, in real life. What do we do when someone sins against us, and how do we handle sin in each others lives? Jesus challenges our hearts and actions so that we can have real, Godly relationships with each other. 

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sister[a] sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.7 “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

Legos Or Real Life

Shaun McDonnell

We're Gonna Get It! We'll all get judged. We'll all see God's justice clearly. We'll all have perfect understanding of the Gospel - but some will "get it" too late. Pursue repentance now, and grab those whom you can to make sure they get what you've got. 

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ “Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”(Luke 16:19–31, NIV)

Luke 16:19-31 We're All Gonna Get It

Edward Anton

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We end up in dark, dirty, shameful places when we choose sin over Jesus. In this parable of the coin, Jesus reassures sinners that:

1. It's Where We Are, But It's no Who We Are
2. God Won't Back Off Until We're Back

Luke 15:8-10 Parable of the Lost Coin on Mother's Day

Edward Anton

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“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke 15:8–10, NIV)

 

On May 24th, Pentecost, Ed Anton preached about God's brilliant fulfillment of the Old Testament feasts — especially the Feast of Harvest or Feast of Weeks or Pentecost. 

Not only is this day His Church's "birthday", it's also His Nation Israel's "birthday" as this is the day in Exodus 19 when God makes His covenant with Moses and Israel from atop a blazing Mt. Sinai. 

As God harvested His people from bondage (NO MORE CHAINS), He also has harvested His people from sin (NO MORE STAINS), and will eventually harvest us on His final Day of the Lord into a new Earth and new Heaven with new bodies (NO MORE PAINS). 

Pentecost: It's Harvest Time!

Edward Anton

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Jesus issues an Epic Invitation which requires both a Monumental Consideration and an Unconditional Resignation for every follower. He offers neither comfort nor ease. He offers only persecution, battles, hunger, and… God! Let all who love Him sincerely and not merely with lip service count the costs and follow!

Luke 14:25-34

Edward Anton

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Luke 14:25-34. Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘ This man began to build and was not able to finish. ’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no use either roof the soil or for the mature pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 

It's God's will to gather us close to Him, but it's also His lament that it is often not our will to be gathered.

Luke 13:31-35

Drew Mines

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At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem! “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” (Luke 13:31–35, NIV)

Luke 14:1-11 Are you still Thirsty?

Shaun McDonnell

It's shocking to hear from Jesus that only a few with find eternal life. Thus, Luke 13:22-30 proves to be one of the most sobering sections of the Gospels for anyone — especially for those of us who think that we're already counted among the "few." Here, Jesus directs us to "Strive" to "Make Every Effort" to "Agonize (from the original Greek "Agonizomai") rather than to just "Try" as we fight to surrender our will to His will in true faith.

Luke 13:22-30 The Agony and the Festivity

Edward Anton

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Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” He said to them, “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ “But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.” (Luke 13:22–30, NIV)