Immanuel Fellowship

Romans 6:1-11

Romans 5:9-21

Romans 5:1-8

Devote Yourself To Prayer

This week Erick gave us an encouragement to be devoted to prayer. He encouraged us to remember that faith in prayer does not mean that God does whatever you want him to. Sometimes God answers our prayers in ways we could never imagine. Sometimes when we are praying what we are asking for is destructive and God is the perfect father who will never give us something destructive even if we are asking for it. Erick gives examples from his own life of surprising ways that God has answered his prayers. He also shares some times in his life when it seems like God wasn’t answering his prayer, but looking back years later he can see that what God was doing was wonderful.

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.