Immanuel Fellowship

Words Of Eternal Life

In John 6 Jesus gave a difficult message about eternal life. His message was hard to understand so many of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him. He asked the twelve disciples if they also wanted to leave. Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”

This week Mike shares some of the passages where Jesus talks about eternal life. We have a responsibility to study Jesus’ teachings about eternal life. Not just study the words of eternal life, we need to receive them into our hearts and live them out.

Romans 4:13-25

This week we take a closer look at what real faith is. Faith is essential for us to receive the gift of justification, but faith is also necessary for many aspects of our Christian walk. Therefore we need to have a good understanding of what Biblical faith is and what it is not. In this message Mike talks in more detail about Biblical faith that is necessary for our Christian walk.

Romans 4:1-12

This week we continue to discuss how important a good understanding of Justification is. To do this Mike goes into some of the history of the church in Europe. In the 1500’s there was a young priest, Martin Luther, who lived during a time when the church was extremely corrupt. People paid to look at relics, have indulgences, and worked hard to make themselves right with God. In the course of studying Romans, Martin Luther realized that we are justified by faith in Jesus’ sacrifice. This realization revolutionized his faith in God, his ministry, the church, and history.

Romans 3:27-31

Last week Mike emphasized what Justification means to both those who already have a relationship with Jesus and those who have not yet made a commitment to Jesus.  This week we focus in more on what Justification means to the disciple of Jesus. As disciples, our understanding of justification is foundational to our understanding of the gospel.

The redeeming blood of Jesus is a theme that runs throughout the New Testament.  It is because of Jesus’ blood that we are justified. This is what allows us to come before God any time. We are free to spend time with God on our worst day just as much as our best day. Satan tries to make us feel too sinful to talk to God, but because of the blood of Jesus we can always come to God.

Romans 3:21-26

In this passage Paul begins sharing the Good News: We are sinners, but we have been saved! God has made us righteous and justified apart from the Law which we could never follow. Our righteous standing before God is a gift received by faith in Jesus. It's a gift of God's grace.

Our justification before God wasn't just a one-time thing (and then we must live the rest of our lives perfectly). The Greek verb tense Paul uses here shows that we are continually justified. Even though we continue to sin as we grow in Christ, we remain in a state of being continually justified. This allows us to grow without the burdens of guilt and condemnation that can hold us back from true, sustained growth.

Romans 2:12-3:20

This week we are back to talking about Romans. Paul is still describing our lostness in chapter 2 and the first part of chapter 3. Before we can really appreciate the saving grace of God, we have to understand that we were all lost and hopelessly separated from God. Paul makes it very clear in this section of Romans that even those who are trying to live by the rules have failed and fallen under condemnation. Next week, starting with Romans 3:21, Paul will begin telling us the Good News of God’s salvation for humanity.

Ressurection Sunday 2015

The Resurrection of Jesus is the single most important event in the history of the world. It is a loud, screaming message to the whole world that God loves them. Because of the resurrection Jesus can offer us a new beginning. More than just starting over, a new beginning with Jesus is a deep transformation – even for those who have failed miserably. Two people in particular who were touched by the Resurrection are Mary Magdalene and Peter. Both of them had failed in the past and Jesus offered a new beginning to each of them. Jesus offers us a new beginning too.

To buy a copy of the amazing painting of the Resurrection go to Ron DiCianni's website.

Blessed Is He Who Comes In The Name Of The Lord

For this Palm Sunday message, Mike talks about what the prophecies in the Bible say regarding the coming of Jesus. Both His first coming and His second coming are talked about in the Old Testament.

The Jews of Jesus’ time had a choice, the choice to accept Him as Messiah or to reject Him. We are still faced with that same choice; no one can stay neutral about Jesus.

Romans 1:24-32

This Sunday Mike talks about the down-ward spiral of sin described in the last part of Romans 1. Without an intervention from God, sin always grows in its power over us and leads us into more sin. In this difficult passage we can see the desperate situation sin leaves us in. We need to be aware of sin’s ability to trap us and take compassion on others by praying for those who have been caught in the deceitfulness of sin. This passage would be very devastating if it wasn’t for the Salvation of God Paul writes about in the rest of Romans.

Romans 1:18-23

This Sunday we talk about the downward spiral outlined in Romans 1. Mike points out that before we are cleaned by Jesus’ blood, guilt serves a purpose. Guilt drives us to seek an answer to our sins, and God is the answer to our guilt. Because much of this first chapter in Romans talks about humanism, Mike also goes over the basic ideas behind humanism and how those ideas stand in direct conflict with God.