Immanuel Fellowship Church

Matthew 11_1-24 (Are You the One Who is to Come_)

Count the cost, consider the reward, and Proclaim Jesus

Jesus called, empowered, and sent his closest followers as direct emmesaries of his ministry. They represent him and extend his ministry to more people in need of the kingdom.  This is our call! The gospel grace we receive is not to terminate on us. If Christ is pouring into us, he should be pouring out of us.

Prayer is the way forward.  Nothing we desire to accomplish as a church will happen apart from God. He is the Lord. He is the worker. We get to ask the Lord of the Harvest to work and jump in with him as he does it.

We are in the second week of our series on prayer.  I believe that Sam, who is leading out on our church-wide focus on prayer, and the rest of the pastors believe this is a timely series for several reasons.   Prayer is vital to our connecting in relationship with God .   Knowing him.  Going deeper with him, understanding his will for our lives.

When we pray we are approaching the Holy God of all of reality. He is to be honored and revered  

Our friend Pastor Evan Skelton preaches on Actst 14:1-28 and the freedom and security that comes from faith in God rather than fragile man-centered systems.

  True worship of God will always lead to the mission of God  

The Christian life is a life of continual personal growth in holiness.

Jesus, God of the universe, had compassion on you, a sinner. The proper response is to join him in the work of serving the lost, loving the lost, and inviting the lost to come to know Jesus. 

Jesus loves sinners in a scandalous way that the religious establishment of the day could not understand. The gospel is for sinners - Jesus is for sinners - There is grace for sinners!

Jesus is a messiah worth following  and he  is worth the cost to follow because he is the real messiah.  T his world distracts and looks like the solution, but its really all about Jesus. He’s the only hope and he’s the only power that fuels real mission in the suffering of this world .    

Its easy to hear Jesus (ie hear the gospel, engage christian life) and just enjoy it for a while. Jesus’ words are encouraging and challenging, but to hear them and do nothing besides hear them is destructive. - Jesus is not like other teachers - he speaks with authority. His teaching represents reality not opinion. He is not like your most recent social media self-help influencer. He is God. His...

Jesus is underscoring our desperate need as we live out kingdom living during his teaching. Living according to this teaching of Jesus is impossible! We need grace, cleansing, and we need help, but from where? Where do we turn in the midst of the difficulties in our lives? How do we square the tension we often experience in our hearts while searching for the peace of Christ we are promised?  That...

In V1 Jesus gives us the summary of what this whole section is telling us. And it comes down to a couple of key points. The life of the kingdom involves living righteously. He says to be careful that when we live righteously, we’re not doing it for the crowd. For those who are watching us. If you do, says Jesus, God won’t reward you. 

After taking a 3-week rest stop, in Sam’s awesome series on The Glory of God, we are back on the road again in our journey through the Gospel of Matthew, and we begin right in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

Enjoying the glory of God will keep us assured in the midst of trial and difficulty . It is the only real motivator for the Christian life.

Only the love and movement of God can bridge the gap between his holiness/glory and our sin. This is such a joy, we can do naught, but give God our joyful yes.