Immanuel Lutheran Loveland

We hear of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan and the beginning of His public ministry. This Sunday provides the opportunity to talk about the blessing and the gift of baptism, even though the baptism Jesus institutes at His ascension is different than the baptism He received from John. In Isaiah 42, we have one of the Servant Songs of Isaiah, which also provides images of both darkness and ligh...

We start this Epiphany series with this powerful prophecy from Isaiah. He speaks very directly of darkness, a deep darkness God’s people were mired in because of the exiles and the horrors of those experiences. The darkness runs deep but the light is not overcome. We hear from Isaiah the proclamation of a future reality that we know will be Jesus, as God’s promise of a Savior is fulfilled. Isaiah...

It seems like every keen cultural observer has joined many of us in noting that we are living in a world that is filled with hopelessness. Hope might be in short supply in society at large but it is the lifeblood of followers of Jesus. The Bible unapologetically and joyously proclaims what each of us know in Christ - in HIM we have a LIVING hope! In Jesus we have a hope that transcends whatever ci...

We are home at last as we celebrate Jesus coming into His world. On this Christmas morning, we rest in the wonder, the peace, and the joy that is ours in Jesus! Old Testament: Isaiah 9:6-7  Epistle: Galatians 4:4-7  Gospel: John 1:1-14  Sermon Title: “Home at Last”

This night is filled with lights and singing – from the angels proclaiming that the time has come. It is The Light that has now come into the world – the Light that will lead us home. We join our voices with the angels that night, singing their praises with the shepherds over the King who has been born. Come into the wonderful stillness of this night, to the candlelight and singing “Silent Night”...

For all of us, we strive for and desire a peace-filled, unbroken home. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case as we all struggle with the brokenness that sin has brought into our world and into our lives on this side of eternity. What we hear today is the promise and assurance of what the unbroken home will be – established by Jesus Himself. We look forward to the fulfillment of these Advent pr...

Christmas is a season of celebration, gratitude, and giving, and this cantata focuses on the ultimate Christmas gift...Jesus. Brimming with beloved carols and exciting new songs, The Gift traces the ageless Christmas story through the lens of gratitude and our response to the Greatest Gift. As always, if you can’t be here in-person, take advantage of our live stream option. We live stream our wors...

While we won’t be talking a lot about clicking the heels of our ruby red shoes, as followers of Jesus, we know that there’s no place like home! We’ll focus on the blessings that we can experience in our times of worship, when we gather here at “home” with the Lord, and are reminded of the powerful promises He holds out for us – promises that we can share with others to help them see the blessings...

Using the prophet Isaiah and the pending exiles of God’s people, the messages the Lord provides are messages that revolve around “home.” This week, the first of our Advent series, we recognize how, at Christmas, God leaves his home to enter our exile so that, by grace through faith, we might be brought home to him—a gift we could never earn but freely receive in Christ. We’ll consider the many tim...

On this last Sunday of the Church Year, we celebrate Christ the King Sunday. The end of each church year typically touches on end times. We’ll take that focus based on Jesus’ words in the Gospel reading from Luke 21. He offers us so much direction and wisdom and love, all of which flow so contrary to the messages our world tells us that are filled with fear, anxiousness, uncertainty, and worse. Je...

What does resurrection have to do with our life of discipleship in the here-and-now? Isn’t that just about “some day,” that time after we die? Why should we be thinking about it now? As we’ve said all series long, this is definitely a radical view of discipleship, to incorporate the promise and assurance of the bodily resurrection is critical in how it shapes the way we live our lives every single...

We’re going to take time this week to explore one particular changed life – that of Zacchaeus! Yes, he’s that wee-little man whom Jesus called out of the sycamore tree to have dinner at his house. The changes that took place after this interaction between Zacchaeus and Jesus were, at the very core, radical and life changing. Where do we fit into this? There are multiple elements that Zacchaeus dem...

All Saints Sunday is an annual celebration as we take time to remember the many “saints” in our lives and throughout history. The Bible defines saints not as a special, elevated tier of people but as all believers in Jesus. It’s one of those mysterious Sundays that lifts us up and reminds us that we are part of something so much bigger than ourselves. Through this day’s readings, we’ll see the imp...

With our annual observance and celebration of the Reformation, we hold the four traditional “solas” of this radical change in the church back in the 1500s: “Grace Alone,” “Faith Alone,” “Scripture Alone,” and “Christ Alone.” Through this fall series, we’ve talked about several of these already. This Sunday we’ll look at the extremely radical nature of grace. We talk about it so much here at Immanu...

What is truth and where do we find it? Why is it so important when it comes to discipleship and following Jesus? We’re returning to St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy where, once again, Paul’s inspired writing takes us into some deep and very rich territory when it comes to God’s Word and the power behind that Word. The truth he speaks to us drives a stake right into the heart of our culture and...

Is saying “Please” and “Thank you” a regular practice of yours? The whole idea of gratitude runs very, very deep for us followers of Jesus – and it’s not just a matter of being nice or polite. It has everything to do with discipleship – and from a cultural vantage point, gratitude can seem to be a pretty radical idea. We’ll delve into this using one of Jesus miraculous healings – in Luke 17 when H...

“What exactly did I sign up for?” After reading the opening of St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy, that might be precisely what you wonder as a follower of Jesus. Paul here expresses all manner of radical notions when it comes to our discipleship as God’s people living in this world. He speaks about the power of the Word, the working of the Holy Spirit, being given not a spirit of timidity but of...

We live in a culture of abundance and a societal mindset of “More! More! More!” How do we combat that as Christians? Do we combat it? Should we combat it? Or is it OK to buy into this cultural cadence? St. Paul has a little bit to say about this near the end of his letter in 1 Timothy and what he shares is very counter-cultural and radical! Old Testament Reading: Amos 6:1a, 4-7  Epistle Reading: 1...

In the 1 Timothy reading, St. Paul expresses God’s ultimate will and desire – that ALL people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. That sounds great on paper and in theory, but what happens when we really believe that God wants ALL people to be saved. Think about some of the people in your life, people we hear about on podcasts, people we read about in various new sources, people who are...

When it comes to discipleship, we talk about outreach or the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) regularly. But to actually live it out can be a radical move when it comes to our discipleship. We’ll dig deeper into this from the story of the lost sheep that Jesus tells in Luke 15, which serves as a radical (read “crazy” and “bad”!) idea for a shepherd. How does it look for us to take our Lord’s mi...

During this service, Emma Hubble was commissioned and installed as Immanuel’s Director of Christian Education. Emma’s dad, Pastor Scott Giger, preached for this service on the Gospel reading from Luke 14 and the radical nature of how Jesus describes what it means to follow Him. There is definitely a cost that comes with following Jesus and is not easy! But here we are—Emma and the rest of us are h...

Old Testament: Proverbs 25:6-7 Epistle: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14 Sermon Title: Unexpected Commands? At the end of Hebrews, the writer to the Hebrews lays out many, many practical examples and encouragements of just how it is that can live out our faith. From general hospitality to marriage to our leaders, our faith plays a significant part of guiding us in the day-to-day of ou...

Old Testament: Jeremiah 1:4-10 Epistle: Hebrews 12:18-29 Gospel: Luke 13:10-17 Sermon Title: An Unexpected Selection The prophet Jeremiah had some good excuses as to why he wouldn’t be a good choice for God to use as His prophet. How the Lord counters Jeremiah’s pushback is powerful and pertinent – for Jeremiah and also for us! It was Jeremiah who thought he was an unexpected selection – but that...

Old Testament: Isaiah 5:1-7 Epistle: Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Gospel: Luke 12:49-56 Sermon Title: An Unexpected Crowd Last week we took the first half of the “Heroes of Faith” chapter in Hebrews 11, including the powerful definition of faith. This week we’re going to take the second half and the start of chapter 12, all of which tie together beautifully – and in quite an unexpected and mysterious way. W...

Old Testament: Isaiah 1:1, 10-20 Epistle: Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16 Gospel: Luke 12:32-40 Sermon Title: Faith – with Unexpected Results Hebrews 11 is the awesome “Heroes of Faith” chapter of the Bible. Reference is made to story after story of Old Testament heroes of faith. Rather than delving into one or two of these people, we’re going to take the big picture of the faith they had in the Promise and...