P.T. Barnum purportedlysaid, “There are two kinds of people in the world, con men and suckers. Thank God for the suckers.”

Today we’re going to talk aboutsuckers. Unfortunately, many Christiansare suckers, and thereforeare easily manipulated.

I’m going to tell real life stories about the various ways we are manipulated, and how sometimes we are our own worst enemies. The final story is just from this past weekwhen I realized I’d been sucker for years—and had no idea. At the end, I’m going to give you three questions to ask yourself and others to help make sure you aren’t a Christian sucker.

In effect, we are going to talk about what Jesus meant in Matthew 10:16 when he commanded his followers to “be a shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” In modern parlance, Jesus might well of commanded his followers, “Keep your hearts pure, but don’t be suckers.”

There are many areas where we needto be shrewd:

Lies, Half-truths, Rumors,Innuendo and Spin.

They overlap, but I list them tohelp you better define in your own mind what to look for.

Being shrewd doesn’t just happen.It is a deliberate process.

3 BASIC QUESTIONS:

1) HOW DO I/YOU KNOW THIS IS TRUE?

2) IS THIS INFORMATION FROM A PROVEN RELIABLE SOURCE?

3) HAVE I CONFIRMED IT FROM A SECOND RELIABLE SOURCE?

The Bible is very clear,

you need at least two separate sources (2 witnesses)

to confirm truth.

DON’T BE A CHRISTIAN SUCKER.

BECAUSE SUCKERS ARE EASILYMANIPULATED.

BE SHREWD as Jesus commanded.

And remember,

part of being shrewd

is realizing that God really isthe issue

—in every issue