Luke 16:8-18

⁸When his master heard what the manager had done, he admired the dishonest manager for the clever thing he had done. The truth is that the ungodly people in this world act more wisely toward other people than godly people MET act.

⁹So I tell you (pl) this: Use the money that you have here on earth to help others so that they will become your friends. Then when you die and you cannot take any money with you, God and his angels will welcome you into a home in heaven that will last forever.

¹⁰People who faithfully manage small matters will also faithfully manage important matters. People who are dishonest in the way they handle small matters will be dishonest in the way they handle important matters.

¹¹So if you have not faithfully handled the money that God has given you here on earth, ◄he will certainly not allow you to possess the true spiritual riches in heaven!/would he allow you to possess the true spiritual riches in heaven?► RHQ

¹²And if you have not faithfully managed things that belong to other people, ◄ God will certainly not allow you to receive treasures in heaven that would belong to you!/would God allow you to receive treasures in heaven that would belong to you?► RHQ

¹³No servant is able to serve two different bosses at the same time. If he tried to do that, he would prefer one of them more than the other one; he would be loyal to one of them and despise the other one. Similarly, you cannot devote your life to worshipping God and worshipping money and material goods at the same time.”

¹⁴There were some Pharisees there. They loved to acquire money. When they heard Jesus say that, they ridiculed him.

¹⁵But he said to them, “You try to make other people think that you are righteous, but God knows your ◄inner beings/hearts►. So he will reject you. Keep in mind that many things that people think are important, God thinks are detestable.

¹⁶The laws that God gave Moses and what the prophets MTY wrote were ◄ in effect/what you needed to obey► until John the Baptizer came. Since then I have been preaching about how God wants to rule people's lives in a new way, and many people are accepting that message and very eagerly asking God to control their lives. But that does not mean that God has abolished the laws that he established previously.

¹⁷All of God's laws, even those that seem insignificant, are more permanent than heaven and earth.

¹⁸For example, because God considers that a marriage lasts until either the husband or the wife dies, he considers that any man who divorces his wife and marries another woman is committing adultery. He also considers that any man who marries a woman who has been divorced by her husband {whose husband has divorced her} is also committing adultery.”