What if one of Jesus’ most famous stories about hell… isn’t really about hell?

In Week 9 of True Fiction: The Parables of Jesus, Pastor Chris Hoyt unpacks the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19–31, a parable filled with wealth, poverty, judgment, a great chasm, and even flames. But when we look at the conversation surrounding the story, Jesus may be confronting something much closer to home.

The rich man had everything he needed, while Lazarus suffered right outside his gate. The problem wasn’t that Lazarus couldn’t be seen. The rich man had simply stopped seeing him.

Through this challenging parable, Jesus exposes how easily our values can distort our vision, how radically the Kingdom overturns the world’s measurements of importance, and how we can have Scripture in our hands while still missing the people God has placed right in front of us.

Maybe the most important question isn’t, “What exactly are the flames?”

Maybe it’s:

“What’s at my gate?”

Scripture: Luke 16:19–31

What if grace feels unfair because we’re still trying to calculate who deserves it?

In Week 8 of True Fiction: The Parables of Jesus, Pastor Kim Hoyt unpacks Jesus’ Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard from Matthew 20:1–16, where some workers labor all day while others show up with only an hour left. But when payday comes, the generosity of the landowner challenges everyone’s definition of what is fair.

Jesus uses this story to confront something deeply human in all of us: our tendency to compare, calculate, and question grace when someone else receives what we think they haven’t earned.

But Kingdom grace was never about earning.

It’s about the goodness of the One who gives.

Whether you’ve followed Jesus for decades or feel like you’re showing up at five o’clock with nothing left to offer, there is still grace for you.

Because grace isn’t fair.

Thank God it isn’t.

The Kingdom is built on something better: the extravagant, undeserved, unending goodness of the King.

Scripture: Matthew 20:1–16

What happens when our confidence in being “right” becomes the very thing keeping us from recognizing our need for grace?

In Week 7 of our True Fiction series, Pastor Rob unpacks Jesus’ parable of The Pharisee and the Tax Collector found in Luke 18:9-14.

Two men enter the Temple to pray. One stands confidently before God, convinced of his own righteousness and comparing himself to everyone around him. The other stands at a distance with nothing to offer but honesty, humility, and a desperate prayer for mercy.

Yet Jesus says it was the tax collector who went home right with God.

Through this powerful parable, we discover what Kingdom Humility really looks like. It isn't thinking less of ourselves. It's recognizing our need for grace and refusing to use someone else's failures to make ourselves feel righteous.

Because in the Kingdom of God, we don't come to Jesus proving how good we are. We come knowing how good He is.

Scripture: Luke 18:9-14