Join Pastor Allen Bonnell as he begins a new sermon series on the book of Acts, titled "The Unstoppable". Pastor Allen highlights the incredible work of the Holy Spirit in our day, from a four-fold increase in Gen Z church attendance to bishops in England reopening churches that had been closed for decades. He emphasizes that the church's role is not to manifest God's work, but simply to join Him as He moves.

This sermon dives into the first chapter of Acts, revealing why the early church was so powerful. Pastor Allen explains that the church is an unstoppable force because believers are "witnesses to the resurrection," empowered by the Holy Spirit. He clarifies that being a witness means dying to self and proclaiming the transformative power of Jesus's resurrection and God's love. He also discusses the Holy Spirit as the "guarantee" of Jesus's return.

The message is a call for believers to be filled with the Spirit's power by weeding out sin, fertilizing their lives with prayer and God's Word, and actively sharing their faith. Pastor Allen concludes with a powerful invitation to those who may be struggling with sin or who have never surrendered to Christ, reminding them not to reject the Holy Spirit's leading, but to say "yes" to Him.

Join Pastor Allen Bonnell as he delivers a powerful and challenging message from Ezra chapter 10, titled "True Repentance". Pastor Allen begins by celebrating the amazing work God is doing in the church, with 24 people coming to faith in August and 14 in the last week alone. He encourages the church to join him in a goal to see 300 people come to faith this year.

The sermon tackles the difficult and controversial passage in Ezra 10 where the Israelites, in an act of repentance, are told to put away their foreign wives and children. Pastor Allen first sets the stage by explaining that the purpose of marriage is to show the world what a relationship with God looks like. He illustrates this with the biblical foundation of marriage as "one flesh" and the picture of God's covenantal love in the story of Hosea and Gomer. He clarifies that the prohibition against intermarriage was not about race, but about interfaith relationships with those who practiced pagan religions, including human sacrifice and cannibalism.

Pastor Allen presents two common interpretations of Ezra 10—whether the divorces were a morally appropriate response to protect the community or if they were a wrong decision despite the people's earnest repentance. He explains his position that this was a descriptive, not prescriptive, truth, as other prophets like Malachi taught that God hates divorce. The ultimate lesson from this difficult text is about the importance of being holy and set apart from the world. Pastor Allen challenges the audience to recognize their own modern-day idols, such as materialism, lust, or self-worship, and to be quick to repent and turn back to God.

Join Pastor Brent Foley for a sermon from Nehemiah chapter 8 as he continues the “New Beginnings” series. Pastor Brent shares a personal testimony of how he and his wife found a spiritual home at Immanuel Baptist Church through an invitation to a life group, where they discovered the power of community centered on God’s Word.

This sermon explores the Israelites’ powerful response to hearing the Law of Moses read aloud for the first time in generations. He contrasts their reverent attention and joyful worship with a modern-day spiritual complacency that can be caused by being over-familiar with Christian traditions.

Discover three key lessons for spiritual renewal:

-- The Word of God Is Elevated: The Israelites’ reverence for Scripture, symbolized by building a platform for Ezra to read from, reminds us to elevate God’s Word as the most important thing in our lives. Pastor Brent warns against over-familiarity, which can lead to a lack of genuine response and a compartmentalized faith.

-- We Need Each Other to Make Sense of the Word: The Levites helped the people understand the meaning of the Law, demonstrating the critical role of community in our spiritual growth. Just as a severed foot cannot survive alone, Christians need to be connected to the body of Christ to thrive and avoid spiritual drift.

-- The Joy of the Lord Is Your Strength: After weeping over their sin, the people were commanded to stop mourning and celebrate, for “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” This shows that true joy comes from understanding God’s goodness and responding to His Word with a heart of gratitude, which in turn inspires action.

This message is a call to move beyond passive faith and embrace an active, communal, and joyful relationship with God. It challenges us to fight against spiritual complacency, find accountability, and respond to the Word of God with the same awe and reverence as the people in Nehemiah’s time.

Join Student Pastor Dustin Rife as he delivers a powerful message on Ezra 9–10, exploring the themes of brokenness and repentance over sin. Rife begins by sharing thrilling testimonies of God’s work among the youth, highlighting a raised spiritual temperature with multiple salvations and students openly confessing their sins. This spiritual momentum, he notes, brings with it a rise in spiritual warfare and the enemy’s use of distractions.

The sermon dives into Ezra’s profound response to the sin of his people, who had mixed with foreign nations and their abominable religious practices. This intermarriage, which led to idolatry and child sacrifice, was not an issue of ethnicity, but of religious compromise. Ezra’s intense, public display of grief and shame—tearing his clothes and plucking his hair and beard—serves as a model of true repentance and a deep burden for the sins of others.

Dustin outlines three key points from the passage:

The People Were Broken for Their Sin: The returning exiles, like the biblical figure of Ezra, demonstrated genuine brokenness, weeping bitterly over their unfaithfulness, recognizing that even small sins can have devastating consequences.

Ezra Was Burdened Over Sin: Ezra’s prayer and confession, even though he was not personally involved, show a profound identification with the sins of the people. This example challenges us to move from gossiping about others’ sins to interceding for them and holding them accountable.

Blessed by Mercy: Despite their unfaithfulness, God had not forsaken them, but extended His steadfast, unfailing love. This passage reminds us that God’s grace and mercy are always available, providing hope for a new beginning and a fresh start every day.

The message concludes with a powerful invitation for both believers and non-believers. For those who don’t know Christ, it is a call to acknowledge sin and receive salvation. For believers, it is a challenge to confess, repent, and find freedom from the habitual sin that separates them from God.

Join Pastor Allen Bonnell for a powerful message from Ezra chapters 7 and 8, titled "The Hand of the Lord." Pastor Allen celebrates the incredible work God is doing at Immanuel Baptist Church, including baptizing 146 people in the past year alone. He shares a bold vision for 300 baptisms this year, emphasizing that such a feat could only be accomplished by God's power.

This sermon focuses on the theme of God's hand of favor, guidance, and protection. He explains that for the "good hand of the Lord" to be on you, your heart must be set on three things, just as Ezra's was:

To Study: To diligently study and ask questions about God's Word, moving beyond just reading it.

To Do: To apply God's Word to your life, understanding that belief must be turned into action.

To Teach: To share what you've learned with others, discipling them to do the same.

Pastor Allen contrasts the Old Testament experience, where the Spirit of God was "on" people for specific purposes, with the New Covenant reality for believers, where the Spirit of God dwells "in" us. He reminds us that as a born-again believer, you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, with constant access to God's presence and all the resources of heaven.

He also shares an encouraging lesson on God's timing and provision, citing the example of Ezra's journey and God's intervention, even through a pagan king, to finance and protect His mission. This message is a heartfelt invitation to surrender to Jesus, confess sin, and live in the confidence that His hand is on you.

Join Pastor Allen Bonnell from Immanuel Baptist Church for a sermon on “Joyful Overcomers” from Ezra chapters 5 and 6. Following an inspiring update on Camp 120 and the joy of children in their faith, Pastor Allen draws a powerful connection between their childlike trust and our own ability to overcome worry and anxiety by resting in our Heavenly Father.

He provides a brief history of Israel’s exile and return, setting the stage for the narrative in Ezra where God’s people, after a 16-year delay caused by opposition, are encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to resume rebuilding the temple. This message reminds us that in this fallen world, we will have trouble, but God’s presence and promises remain firm.

Discover three key points for overcoming life’s challenges:

-- You will have trouble, but take heart: Understand that opposition is a normal part of the Christian life. Pastor Allen explains how God disciplines those He loves and reminds us that our reward is not in this world, but in the next.

-- God will provide for His mission: He illustrates how God not only encouraged the builders to resume work but also commanded their adversaries to pay for the project, proving that where God guides, He provides.

-- Jesus has overcome the world: The sermon concludes by linking the rebuilt temple in Ezra to Jesus’s declaration that He is the new temple. This emphasizes that intimate relationship with God, not a physical location, is the true path to freedom, salvation, and joy.

This message is a powerful call to surrender to God, overcome internal and external opposition, and rediscover the joy that comes from trusting in His sovereignty and the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Join Pastor Scott Cannon from Immanuel Baptist Church as he continues the Ezra series, diving into Ezra chapter 4 to reveal how to navigate opposition when pursuing God's will. Pastor Cannon emphasizes that whenever God's people undertake His work, the forces of darkness will inevitably rise up and oppose it, often with repeated attacks.

This sermon explores four key aspects of the adversary's tactics:

-- Deception: How enemies (like the Samaritans in Ezra) offer seemingly helpful partnerships to corrupt God's work.

-- Discouragement: The enemy's attempts to create frustration and intimidation to halt spiritual progress.

-- Defamation: The use of slander, false accusations, and "half-truths" to undermine God's people and their mission.

-- Decree: The painful reality that even obedience to God's command does not exempt us from severe opposition and setbacks.

Pastor Scott provides current examples of adversaries facing the church today, including disunity, following pastors over Christ, consumer Christianity, lack of discipleship, and sin within the church, noting alarming statistics about church closures and pastoral resignations.

Learn vital responses to opposition: expect it, discern and resist deceptive partnerships, stand firm against discouragement and slander, and trust in God's unwavering sovereignty. He passionately reminds us that whatever it is that the enemy is designed for evil in your life, God desires to use it for good.

This message is a powerful call to stand firm in faith, knowing that the same God who starts a work in us will complete it until the day He returns.

Join Ryan Hanley, Pastor at the Williamsburg campus of Immanuel Baptist Church, as he continues the "New Beginnings" series, exploring Ezra chapter 3. This sermon addresses the profound question: How do we rebuild our lives and spiritual foundations after seasons of wandering or sin? Hanley draws parallels between Israel's return from 70 years of Babylonian exile and our own journeys of repentance and renewal, emphasizing that "you're never too far from the love and the mercy and the grace of God."

Hanley reminds us of our identity as God's chosen people, made by God and for God, with a purpose to proclaim His excellencies to the world. He highlights that forgetting this purpose can lead to drifting, but God, in His immense patience and mercy, continually offers second chances. The sermon emphasizes that true rebuilding begins with repentance and leads to genuine worship.

Discover how the returned exiles in Ezra prioritized rebuilding the altar and laying the temple's foundation, even amid fear from surrounding peoples. This serves as a powerful reminder to prioritize God's presence and His Word in our lives, building upon the "cornerstone of Jesus." Hanley challenges listeners to allow Scripture to shape their perception of life, hope, and worship more profoundly than worldly influences.

Experience the mixed emotions of worship, a blend of joy for God's new work and sorrowful repentance for past failures, all united by God's steadfast love that "endures forever." This sermon is a heartfelt call to respond to God's continuous invitation to return, rebuild, and live faithfully for His glory, recognizing that even a "heap of ruins is a foundation of God's great work."

Join Lead Pastor Allen Bonnell from Immanuel Baptist Church as he begins a new series, “New Beginnings: Renewal, Rebuilding, and Refocusing,” starting with the book of Ezra. Pastor Allen opens with the powerful truth that “nobody is too far gone that God’s grace cannot redeem them”, sharing a personal testimony of his father’s deathbed prayer.

This sermon highlights incredible stories of God’s recent work, from college students finding Christ in Spain where conversions are rare, to record numbers at 1451 Camp, and two students giving their lives to Christ at a public park prayer meeting. These events demonstrate a season of spiritual renewal and rebuilding within the church.

Delving into Ezra 1, Pastor Allen reveals key truths:

-- God is in control: He orchestrates historical events, even using pagan kings like Cyrus, to fulfill His purposes. He cites Jeremiah’s 70-year prophecy as a testament to God’s precise timing and faithfulness.

-- God will provide for His mission: Just as God moved Pharaoh’s heart during the Exodus, He stirs hearts and provides resources, even using the secular world’s wealth, for His work. He often works through a faithful remnant, not necessarily the masses.

-- God calls His people to respond: He invites us to leave spiritual “Babylon” (exile from Him) and return to our first love, regardless of how long we’ve been away. God’s desire is for His presence to be known in every community.

Discover how God is stirring hearts for evangelism, liberal giving, and full-time ministry. This message is a powerful call to surrender to Christ, trust in His perfect plan, and boldly engage in His mission.

Student Pastor Dustin Rife shares an exhilarating message on the impact of youth ministry and the continuation of God's work, highlighted by powerful testimonies from students who attended 1451 Camp. This sermon celebrates how lives are being transformed and how God is actively pursuing people, emphasizing that Jesus truly rose from the grave and is still changing lives today.

Pastor Dustin shares a compelling statistical finding: where you are spiritually by age 18 is likely where you'll stay for life. This underscores the critical importance of investing in the spiritual development of teenagers, with a call to action for both students to take their faith seriously and parents to prioritize God, His kingdom, and His church above all else.

Hear inspiring testimonies from students as they share their "next steps" in faith, including commitments to ministry, sharing the Gospel with friends, releasing worldly distractions, and starting Bible studies.

Drawing from John 12 and the historical "Haystack Revival" of 1806, Pastor Dustin challenges believers to "put wood on the fire" through prayer and continued spiritual growth. He outlines four valuable lessons from the Haystack Revival, emphasizing that God uses:

-- People in the middle of nowhere to plead for souls everywhere.

-- Young people to stir up all ages.

-- Few in number to gather countless for harvest.

-- Invisible and seemingly insignificant events to accomplish His great purposes.

This sermon is an invitation to respond to Jesus, to surrender your life to Him, and to join in fervent prayer for a spiritual awakening in our communities and beyond.