Heritage Baptist Johnson City

Don’t put your trust in earthly rulers. The best this world has to offer will only ever be a cheap imitation of the One True Savior.

In the Bible, as we see in the naming of John and Jesus, names are an important reflection of one's person.

After Gabriel leaves, Mary is suddenly alone, and the house is once again quiet and dark. It's as though nothing ever happened. But something did happen, and Mary knows it.

Mary, as God’s willing servant, becomes, what Luke hopes for Israel, and for every reader. Her response is what Luke wants Theophilus to say. This is what he wants you to say.

After four hundred years of silence, the world is about to get loud.

Luke's is the Gospel of certainty, of knowing for sure. He calls it a narrative, which is a story. It’s his story of Jesus. But it’s not fictional story. It’s not a myth. It’s the truth. Luke knows better than to deny Jesus and he does not want Theophilus to doubt the truth about Jesus.

Since Moses wrote Genesis and Exodus and served as God’s conduit for saving Israel from Egypt, it’s fitting to end this series looking at how Jesus fulfills, not only the words of Moses, but the ministry of Moses.

We are glory-oriented creatures because God built this glory orientation into us. For all of our lives, we are attracted to and pursue some kind of glory, but you will never be happy—never be satisfied—until Jesus is at the center of your life. Only he can ‘save’ you in every way.

Jesus stands at the right hand of the Father, his presence interceding for you.

"There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel."

The ark of the covenant symbolized God’s presence, Immanuel, God with us in Jesus. The items in the ark represented Jesus. The ark and its contents were a shadow of Jesus, and he is the fulfillment of it.

Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Many things can fill us but only Christ can sustain us. You know this is true. Just as bread is a staple of life, so Jesus is the staple of life. Accepting him as Savior is like being fed by him with an eternal food, one that will not only fill you now but never perish as well.

Christ is our light. There will be no darkness or temple in the New Jerusalem, because Jesus will be our ultimate light and home, the place we meet and forever live in God’s presence.

The redemptive work of God is more than just forgiveness—it’s bigger than that. God’s salvation is so complete that he doesn’t only want to take away the guilt, but he also wants to make you clean.

When Moses met with God on Mount Sinai, God instructed him on how the Tabernacle was to be built. Within those instructions God told Moses to build an altar upon which the people would make sacrifices. The purpose of the altar was to hold up the sacrifice type that would find its fulfillment in Jesus.

The Tabernacle had only one wall, the linen curtain that surrounded the actual Tabernacle and defined holy ground from the rest of the camp. It separated a righteous God from all humanity. We are all equally separated from God, and we are all equally saved only one way.

God’s goal in building the Tabernacle was to meet with Israel. Since creation, God has always had the desire to live amongst his people in fellowship with them.