Heritage Baptist Johnson City

People are obligated to give tax to Caesar because it is owed to him. More importantly, however, they are obligated to give God everything.

God is endlessly patient, but His patience is not permission. This isn’t just a story. It’s God’s own heartbreak over a world that keeps silencing His voice and rejecting His grace. Yet even in rejection, God is not defeated. The Son who was cast out becomes the cornerstone of a new creation.

Fear of man and love of power will always blind us to truth. Jesus calls us to humility and submission—and sometimes that involves admitting we’re wrong.

Jesus cleansed the temple not just to drive out corruption, but to restore its purpose: worship for all nations.

God’s visitation isn’t just history—it’s present. Jesus still draws near to save,convict, and heal. Don’t wait. Don’t harden your heart. Don’t be like thecrowds who cheered on Sunday and crucified Him on Friday. Surrender to Him fully today.

Zacchaeus may have been a “wee little man,” but Jesus is not a “weelittle Savior.” And this story is not just about a man in a tree. It’s about every one of us. Like blind Bartimaeus before him, we are all unable to see Jesus on our own. But Christ comes to us, calls us by name, enters our lives, and changes us forever. Will you receive Him with joy today?

Saving faith is serving faith. We are saved to serve. Are you?

Jesus walked knowingly into His suffering because He walked obediently into the Father’s will. The cross was never a surprise to Jesus. It was His mission. It’s the reason he came.

The Christian life must be lived by grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit because there are impossible challenges in it.

We are not just saved by childlike faith. We are called to live by childlike faith. It is an attitude and posture we should maintain throughout our lives.

Each of these stories provide us with Jesus’ definition of faith. In this particular story, it’s the definition of saving faith.

The Pharisees are looking for signs of an external, political, religious kingdom. As such, they miss the internal, spiritual, present kingdom in Jesus and his followers.

In this passage, Jesus turns from the Pharisees and their temporary mindset to his disciples and the characteristics of his eternal kingdom. What’s at the heart of following Jesus?

The person who won’t be convinced by the Bible, won’t be convinced by miracles.

This Sunday, in Luke 16:14-18, Jesus exposes the hypocrisy of the ever-present Pharisees who are still “lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say” (Lk 11:54).

Prodigal means, “wasteful.” In this story, both sons are wasteful. In their own ways, they each waste their relationship with the Father. But in reality, it’s the Father, who is really wasteful. He wasted an inheritance on the younger son. He’s wasting love on the elder son. No matter how wasteful you are of your life, God will meet it and match it, overwhelm it by his abundant love.

This story is all about the worth of the search. It demonstrates the value of what was lost – a single coin – but worth the effort for the Searcher as illustrated in the joy experienced in its recovery.

There is no mistaking what Jesus is saying. This is one parable told three different ways. The shepherd, the woman and the father are metaphors for what God is doing through Jesus.

Jesus does not seek casual followers but those willing to commit fully. The cost may seem great, but the reward—eternal life in His presence—is infinitely greater. Will we truly listen and respond with wholehearted devotion?

As Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, he takes time to teach the disciples about the kingdom he’s building. He’s answering two questions from chapter 13: What does it look like, and how large will the kingdom get?

No one’s heart ever broke like the heart of Jesus because no one else has ever seen how beautiful the world was before the Fall, understands how terrible it has become and longs for it to be reconciled to the Father like Jesus. In response, he is creating the most wonderful world, the real world. He’s not building an alternate world because his world will one day be the only world that is.

John Philips wrote that Jesus’s enemies snubbed him, sneered at him, slandered him and now they are trying to scare him.

Not everyone believes in Heaven but, among those who do, people will often give various reasons why they think they are going to Heaven. In this text, Jesus talks about, not how easy, but how hard it is to get into Heaven.

Jesus explains that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed or yeast—it starts small but grows much larger, infiltrates everything, and has a much greater impact than at first appearance.

Good work done God’s way confuses and frustrates unbelievers but blesses God’s people and advances the kingdom.

Jesus wants his hearers then and now to know this: “How” calamities happen is not the primary issue. “Why” calamities happen is not the primary issue. The primary issue for calamities is that they do happen, and how we respond means everything.

The pressure is mounting on the twelve to embrace the implications of being a “wise and faithful manager” of their calling (v 41).

Throughout Luke 12, Jesus warns his followers about living with the right priorities. Jesus has given many reasons to do these things, but in vs. 35-48, he provides the ultimate reason: He, as the Master, is going to return and will reward faithfulness.

What makes you worry? Evidently, worry is common to us. In 2023, 19% of Americans visited their doctors about anxiety. In Galilee, the disciples didn’t worry much. But as they make their way to Jerusalem, it becomes evident there is much to worry about.

As Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, he encounters more largely populated towns, and tens of thousands of people listen to him teach as he walks.

In this passage, Jesus uses the hypocrisy of the Pharisees (which he ‘woe’d’ in ch 11) to remind his listeners that real Christianity is whole life; both private and public. This is important because it is not people, but God who holds our eternal destiny, and he knows everything about us.

Much of Jesus’s ministry looks like he is turning the world right-side-up. This passage shows us he’s also turning it inside out.

What does it mean to you that Jesus is God’s Son?

Our rest in God now, previews our rest in God forever. Can you? Are you resting in God now?

Representing Jesus is no small task. It requires that we live consistent with the values and vision of God’s kingdom. But the “out of this world” reward is worth the work.