Immanuel Community Church

The Christmas story is the story of God’s love for a lost humanity, giving us his only Son so that through him we can be restored to love like he loves. Speaker: Steve Lee

We struggle to persevere in hope when we cannot make sense of this broken world we live in. But God calls us to place our hope in a coming King who will restore us and renew this broken world under his righteous rule.

The word ‘shalom’, the Hebrew word for peace, means much more than an absence of conflict. It represents the unity and restoration of all of life as well as an active divine calling for us to bring shalom into this shattered world.

The joy of Christmas comes from understanding the depth to which God gave us everything so that we can be saved from our sins.

Throughout history the human condition has been one of exile, but through Jesus’ death we can find our true homecoming back to God.

The gospel tells the story of how Jesus became King by fulfilling the story of Israel through his own life, death, and resurrection. 

The “gospel” is not only the good news of salvation but an announcement of God’s kingdom and as citizens of this kingdom and servants of this King our allegiances should lie with none other than him.

Through Jesus we are restored as full image bearers of God, representing his plan for the world through our own rule in creation. 

Jesus is the ultimate reality to which the tabernacle and temple pointed. Through Jesus heaven and earth are joined together and through Jesus we become God’s temple as his Spirit dwells in us. Therefore, to be God’s temple means that the primary way that heaven (God’s presence and his will) is experienced on earth is through us.

Eternal life is so much more than simply living forever. It’s about a life of flourishing that flows out of trusting fellowship and obedient surrender to God. The rest of the Bible’s story is about God’s mission to once again bring heaven and earth together.