Are You Ready
For Sunday?
Living Out The Word
Scripture
Talking the Text Podcast
Children’s Worship Materials
Sunday eBlast
Worship Bulletin
Recorded
Services
8:30 a.m. Worship Service
11 a.m. Worship Service
Sermon Podcast
Sermon Transcript
Are You Ready For Sunday…
Living out the word
The word “ensnare” is only found in this passage in the New Testament.
- What do you make of the writer of Matthew’s choice of this word? Is there a difference between “ensnare” and “catch unaware?”
- What would have been the social or political consequences have been if Jesus simply said, “Pay Caesar?” or “Don’t pay?”
- In your life, what belongs to Caesar? To God?
Talking the Text Podcast
Westminster Talking the Text Podcast for Sunday, October 18, 2026 | Isaiah 45:1-7, Matthew 22:15-22 | with Donovan Drake, Guy D. Griffith, Stephanie Boaz, and Sarah Bird Kneff
Talking the Text: your weekly resource for deeper insights into the Sunday scripture. Gain a richer understanding of the pastors’ reflections and prepare your heart and mind for worship with this valuable tool. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to enhance your spiritual journey every week!
Worship Bulletin & Transcript
The entire sermon transcript will be available the week following the sermon.
8:30 & 11 am Worship Bulletin
Sermon Transcript
Worship Services
8:30 & 11 a.m. Recorded Services
The full worship service recordings will be posted here after each service.
8:30 a.m. Worship Service
11 a.m. Worship Service
Sermon Podcast
The sermon podcast will be posted here after the worship services.
Scripture
Isaiah 45:1-7
An earthly ruler works God’s will
45:1 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him– and the gates shall not be closed:
45:2 I will go before you and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron;
45:3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name; I give you a title, though you do not know me.
45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other; besides me there is no god. I arm you, though you do not know me,
45:6 so that they may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is no one besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
45:7 I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the LORD do all these things.
Matthew 22:15-22
A teaching about the emperor and God
22:15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.
22:16 So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality.
22:17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the Caesar, or not?”
22:18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites?
22:19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.
22:20 Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?”
22:21 They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”
22:22 When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.