GIVE WHAT IS DUE! He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” —Luke 20:25 “Caesar’s,” they answered. So Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” —Matthew 22:21 Then Jesus told them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” And they marveled at Him. —Mark 12:17 Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. —Romans 13:7             Tax season has just past us…

ON-GOING, HIDDEN SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT! And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.” —II Samuel 11:5 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah. In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.” —II Samuel 11:15-15 Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? —II Samuel 12:9  Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.” —II…

THE ORCHESTRATION OF YOUR SALVATION And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” —Luke 19:8-10             Jesus sought out Zacchaeus.  It may seem the other way around when we read this portion in context, but within the sovereignty of God it was God that brought about the circumstances for Zacchaeus.  Think about this…  Who was…

UNDERSTAND!        Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”  The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about. —Luke 18:31-34 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes. They…

LESSONS FROM A CHILD— DO NOT HINDER THEM! Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. —Luke 18:16-17             An atheist says, “There is no God.”  An agnostic says, “You can’t know God or anything about the existence of God.”  Both are unscientific, illogical conclusions.  Both are excuses to do what one wants to do.  Both are hypocritical because if we are just accidents, existing by random chance and survival of the fittest, then why do they not truly live…

FIND YOUR STRENGTH IN OUR LORD OUR GOD! When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel. David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God. —I Samuel 30:3-6             When David and his men return home to Ziklag they found it totally destroyed and all their…

SERVE “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’? 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’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 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.’ ” —Luke 17:7-10             None of us deserved God’s favor upon us.  We…

YOUR ETERNAL DESTINY! And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ” —Luke 16:27-31             This “rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day”…

RESPONSIBILITY GIVEN US FROM OUR RISEN KING! “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 16:10-13             Today is resurrection Sunday. …

JOY AND REJOICING! I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. —Luke 15:7 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. —Luke 15:10             When was the last time you rejoiced over someone who repented and called on Jesus to be saved?  How awesome this is that when “one sinner who repents” causes rejoicing in heaven!  Angels know the joy in heaven when a sinner repents!  When was the last time you knew there was joy and…