Rejoice, Rejoice, Immanuel, Shall come to you Oh Israel.

Readings: Isaiah 9:2-6 and Luke 2:1-20

During Christmas and Advent, we sing praises that the Lord has fulfilled His promise to be Immanuel. Immanuel is one of the most revered names of God. In fact, there are 428 Lutheran Churches named “Immanuel” (5th most). But the name Immanuel...

The conclusion we all come to is this: If God is with me, nothing bad will happen. Consider Joseph’s life for a moment. His brothers sold him into slavery. Faked his death and told their father his son was dead. Joseph was falsely accused of rape...

Have you ever experienced a moment when you thought God was anything but Immanuel? Then, when you looked back on the same event you realized He was there the whole time. Two disciples on the way to Emmaus know how you feel.

Luke 24:12-34

In life there will be those moments when God not only seems absent, but worse, unconcerned. We cry out in desperation, “God, I’m dying here. Why don’t you do something?” Then, Immanuel reminds us that He is not only Savior and Lord but also...

God is perfectly present with Adam and Eve in the garden. After the fall into sin, God seems to be like the voice in the sky. He seems to be a distant deity. It is significant, though, that the first time we encounter Immanuel outside the Garden of...

Remember the story of Daniel and the fiery furnace from Sunday school? The question is, where was God? Was He in the fire which means they had to step in the fire to be with God. Or, was God Immanuel in AND out of the fire? The answer is obviously...

If you could choose the people you would want to be with who would it be? The successful? The movers and shakers? The wealthy and privileged? God loves to be Immanuel not with the strong but with the weak. And not just the weak but the weakest of the...

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, YOU ARE WITH ME.” What a comfort to know that when we face the darkest times in life, God is Immanuel in Death Valley.

Psalm 23

Pastor Ken Holdorf furnishes the sermon message for Thanksgiving Eve 2018 at Prince of Peace in Carrollton, TX. The message was inspired by the holiday and by 1 Chronicles 16:8-12 and 34-36