Immanuel Fellowship Church

We're continuing our Exiled series in 1 Samuel 25 with a wild story about what happens when we try to take revenge into our own hands. David is still hiding from King Saul in the wilderness. After he and his men protect the flocks of a guy named Nabal, David asks for a share of his feast. Nabal just insults him and turns him away.  David sees red. He grabs 400 armed men and heads out to get even. Before he can do something he'll regret, Nabal's wife Abigail intercepts him. She takes the blame, brings food, and reminds David to let God handle his anger. She really acts as a picture of Christ here, stepping into the middle of the conflict to save David from his own destructive sin. David actually listens and backs down. Ten days later, God strikes Nabal down, and David ends up marrying Abigail. It’s a good reminder of why we need to trust God when we've been wronged instead of trying to settle the score ourselves.

Life can get really heavy. When you are hurting or stuck, any quick way out can look like a gift from God.

In this message from 1 Samuel 24, we look at the moment King Saul wanders right into the cave where David is hiding. Saul has been hunting David for months, so David has every reason to take him out. But he doesn't take the easy way out of his pain. Instead, he spares Saul's life and waits on the Lord.

We talk about why taking sinful shortcuts never actually fixes our problems. We also explore how to trust God's timing, even when your life is messy and hard.

It’s so easy to get wrapped up in our own stress that we stop noticing the people right around us. In this message, Pastor Sam looks at Luke 7, where Jesus eats at a Pharisee's house and forgives a woman known for her past. While the religious leader sits back judging everyone, she comes to Jesus with total honesty and love. It’s a powerful reminder that Jesus sees us, knows our mess, and forgives us anyway. When we realize how much we’ve been forgiven, it changes how we see the broken world around us and gives us the confidence to have that one simple, life-changing conversation about Him.

At the end of Matthew, Jesus gives his final command on the mountaintop. It's easy to just zone out because we've heard it a million times, but that command wasn't just for the apostles back then. If you follow Jesus today, you're part of that same unbroken line of faith going back 2,000 years.

Jesus didn't just beam us straight to heaven when we got saved. He left us here to be his hands and feet in our hometown. It's so easy to get caught up in being busy and completely miss the people right in front of us who don't know him, but we have a real part to play in his mission. Let's take a fresh look at what it means to actually live out what we believe, and remember he's right there with us through all of it.

In today's message, Pastor Sam talks about the parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15. This sermon, "One Found Son," is a look at how God pursues people and welcomes them home no matter what.  Pastor Sam also spends some time on the older brother in the story. It's an honest look at our own resentment and why it can be so hard to forgive the people we think don't deserve it. This sermon discusses what it means to pray for your "one" and how we should be celebrating when people turn their lives around.

If you want to understand grace and forgiveness a little better, give this a listen.

This week's sermon "One Found Coin" takes a look at Luke 15:8-10 to show just how deeply God values every lost person. It digs into how Jesus reveals God as someone who actively goes looking for sinners, and why heaven itself celebrates when even one person repents. Looking at Ephesians 2, it is clear that salvation is by grace alone - God reaches people who are spiritually dead and brings them to life in Christ purely through His mercy and love, not because of anything we do. We encourage you to start seeing the world through Christ's eyes, to notice the lost people around you, to pray for specific individuals by name, and to live with a real sense of intentional purpose that reflects God's compassionate pursuit of people.

Every person matters deeply to God. Looking at Jesus’s parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15, Pastor Sam opens our new series "Who's Your One?" and reminds us that God sees our worth, pursues us in our lostness, and joyfully welcomes us home.

Like Levi and Zacchaeus, we are invited into a better story of repentance and transformation. We have been found by Jesus, and are called to live with “heads up and eyes open,” noticing and loving those who are lost around us. When we are captivated by Christ’s relentless love for us, loving others and joining His mission to seek and save the lost becomes the natural outpouring of a life transformed by grace.

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In this message, Pastor Craig unpacks Titus 2:11–15, highlighting how God's grace not only saves but also trains believers to live transformed lives in a broken world. Discover how grace shapes our identity, empowers us to deny godlessness, and calls us to live with hope and purpose as Christ’s ambassadors. If you’re exploring faith or seeking encouragement for your Christian walk, this sermon offers biblical insight, practical application, and gospel-centered hope.

This past Sunday, Pastor Sam walked us through 1 Samuel 23, looking at a season where David’s life was completely upended. Hiding in the wilderness and hunted by Saul, David faced constant pressure and betrayal. Yet, instead of waiting for his circumstances to settle, he continued to seek God and obey Him—even when step-by-step obedience made no practical sense. David's story shows us that while hardship is an unavoidable part of living in a broken world, God does not leave us to figure it out alone. He sustains us right in the middle of our struggles, often providing the exact encouragement we need through others to keep going. The takeaway for us is clear: stop waiting for life to clear up before saying "yes" to God. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking we will commit more deeply once our finances are stable, a relationship fixes itself, or work calms down. God calls for our obedience right now, right where we are. When you feel spent, bring that weariness to the Lord and lean on your church community. As we allow the gospel to anchor us and support each other through hard seasons, our current pain loses its power to derail us, keeping our eyes fixed on what God is doing for eternity. 

In 1 Samuel 22 we see David at his lowest point. He's hiding in a cave with nothing but the clothes on his back, surrounded by a ragtag group of desperate people. Meanwhile, King Saul's envy has rotted him out completely, leading to one of the darkest moments in Israel's history. Pastor Sam hits on the point God leads us even in the midst of evil. David doesn't try to seize the throne through his own strength. Instead, he focuses on daily integrity and faithfulness while God builds his kingdom for him. We see how God goes ahead of us, scouts the path, and makes a way even when everything feels like it's falling apart. This message tackles some hard realities. Sometimes you do your best and horrible things still happen. Sometimes you don't get a why. But the promise of Scripture is clear: when we walk through evil, we do so with no fear because God is with us. He doesn't watch from a distance. He climbs down and walks ahead of us through the mess.