Luke 15:1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

Luke 15:2 And the Pharisees and scribes.murmured, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

Luke 15:3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

Luke 15:4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

Luke 15:5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

Luke 15:6 And when he comes home, he calls together with his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.

Luke 15:7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents.(changes; not perfect but willing to become so {*}), more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.(steeped in the ego level, few people awaken to change unless there are physical motivations to do so, such as trials in life). 

Luke 15:8,9 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does not light a candle and sweep the house and seek diligently till she find it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost.

Luke 15:10.Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.

Repent means changing. It's up to every him or her if they want to awaken from the many prompts received daily, because God never overrides anyone's heart. God's heart is that non should perish:.2Peter 3:9.

Luke 15:11-22 And he said, A certain man had two sons and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain.(preferably, rather).have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat and no man gave unto him.(he hardly had anything at all; poverty). And when he came to himself.(smartened up by realizing that he was overall going nowhere in life by how he was living, he began to see the precious things of life, his family and others who truly cared about him), he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you and am no more worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight and am no more worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.(dress him up so he looks respectable, he's my son). 

Luke 15:23 And bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry.

Luke 15:24 For this, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found. And they began to be merry.

Luke 15:25-31 Now his elder son was in the field and as he came and drew nigh to the house he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Your brother is come and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound. And he was angry and would not go in. Therefore came his father out and intreated.him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years I have served you, neither transgressed I at any time your guidance. And yet you never gave me a kid.(a young goat), that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son comes, which devoured his life living with harlots, you have killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, you are ever with me and all that I have is yours.

Luke 15:32 It was meet.(fitting).that we should make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead and is alive again and was lost and is found.

Luke 16:1 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward and the same was accused of wasting the goods of the rich man.

Luke 16:2 And he called him and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you may be no longer steward.

Luke 16:3-5 Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do for my lord takes away from me the stewardship? I cannot dig. To beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him and said unto the first, How much do you owe unto my lord?

Luke 16:6 And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty. 

Luke 16:7 Then said he to another, And how much owe you? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take your bill and write fourscore.

Luke 16:8,9 And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.(in providing for the comfort and support of this life, the worldly wise focus on this goal, whereas the children of light focus on an eternal goal:.1Corinthians 2:9; what's important to one to get good at is not important to the other). And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon.(riches).of unrighteousness; that, when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.

Comprised from.Matthew Henry's Commentary: The lord referred to in this parable.commended not the fraud, but the policy of the steward. In that respect alone is it so noticed. Worldly men, in the choice of their object, are foolish, but in their activity and perseverance, they are often wiser than believers. The unjust steward is not set before us as an example to point out the careful ways of worldly men. It would be well if the children of light would learn wisdom from the men of the world and would as earnestly pursue their better object. The true riches signify spiritual blessings and if a man spends upon himself or hoards up what God has trusted to him, as to outward things, what evidence can he have that he is an heir of God through Christ? The riches of this world are deceitful and uncertain as they tend to consume so much time, time that could have been used toward the eternal riches things, the things of the spirit. It's all how one looks at life and his part in it. Does one have consideration for the eternal treasures that last beyond the physical? 

Comprised with.Family New Testament Notes:.more sagacious in the selection and more skilfull in the application of means to obtain temporal rewards, than Christians are to obtain eternal ones. 

Comprised with the.Four Fold Gospel:.the steward, a worldly minded rascal, knew better how to deal with a worldly minded master above him and dishonest tenants beneath him, than a son of light knows how to deal with the God over him and his needy brethren about him:.1Corinthians 6:4,5.

Luke 16:10 He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.

One can't expect more in anything until he or she has mastered the little he or she may now have responsibilities over.

Luke 16:11,12 If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful.(most people lack trust because they look not at Christ, but at us {those of us on this Earth consider negative circumstances more than what they are really here for} and how people treat others).in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?

The unrighteous mammon is acquiring money with use in mind for purposes approaching the bad side:.1Timothy 6:10.

Luke 16:13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

One can't be dedicated to spirituality and at the same time be out for all he can get for the self. The way of the spirit is the way of oneness, of wholeness. There is no wholeness in selfishness.

Luke 16:14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things and they derided him.

Luke 16:15 And he said unto them, You are they which justify yourselves.(Job 32:2).before men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

Luke 16:16 The law and the prophets were until John.(John the baptist). Since that time the kingdom of God is preached and every man presses into it.

Original for 'every man presses into it' is 'all are pressed to live within it'. Life has its trials for everyone, so they (along with the many prompts daily coming to one's mind) can have the pressure of life and seek answers to their lives. Everyone is looking for that special happiness but for some the Creator has them fit into His plan away from what they now may be yearning for (*). God controls it all. It's always for our good. Trust the plan! Hard times awaken us to Father-God. Go in the direction God is leading. Pray and meditate, etc.

Luke 16:17 And it is easier for heaven and Earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.

Luke 16:18 Whosoever puts away his wife and marries another, commits adultery and whosoever marries her that is put away from her husband commits adultery.

With Matthew 19:9, shows that if it's for frivolous reasons, then it's ridiculous and if a woman is living with such an idiot, it maybe better she divorce him, so she's finished with him and can move on in her life. But all things need consideration. Perhaps Ask Suby.

Luke 16:19-25 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass, that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.(the phrase denotes intimacy and friendship). The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments and sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.(the idea in this parable being that the uncaring rich person wasn't anywhere but buried and was tormented by the continual thought that he could have done better in life, but didn't and therefor he was reaping the result of what he had sown). But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented..(*)

Luke 16:26 And beside all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed.(the great gulf is the distance between the low consciousness way of the ego and the high consciousness way of the Infinite One; this separates those of low consciousness ways from those of higher consciousness), so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us, that would come from there.

This 'great gulf of separation' Christ describes in the parable above (verses 19-26) shows it's impossible to find the true God from the ordinary consciousness level of existence, because at that level people just don't want to change to having God in their lives, having been, shall we say, pressured into the satanic no effective choice system, all in the world are immersed in. All separations are healed in Christ and now everyone has that opportunity (1Timothy 2:4) but no one is ever overridden, no one is ever forced. It has to come from one's own heart. Bruno Gröning commented on this.

Luke 16:27-30 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house. For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham. But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

Luke 16:31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.

And when Emmanuel rose from the dead, they didn't believe. What did they say of Him?.Mark 3:22. People do not change by the words and the influence of others, only if God grants them change and in this they have a part:.Matthew 21:32.

....continues to Chapters 17-19

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