Friends, we come to the Fourth Sunday of Easter, known as Good Shepherd Sunday. Jesus says in the Gospel, “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” What is it about that image that sings to us across the ages, from the pages of the Bible to the present day? What I want to do is reflect on this image of the shepherd…

"My face might look rough. I might not have a smile on my face but I will not bring an evil report. I have learned to live by faith and speak the Word of God in all circumstances!"--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsLet's open our Bibles to Numbers 6:24-26. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text th…

Friends, this week, on the Third Sunday of Easter, we have a passage from that magnificent twenty-fourth chapter of Luke—one of the appearances of the risen Christ to the Apostles. When we’re talking about the Resurrection, we’re talking about the central point of Christian faith, the hinge upon which the whole of Christianity turns. So to understa…

"God's nature is that He is gracious. He is kind. He is compassionate. We serve a wonderful savior. If we have a judgmental concept of God we need to get rid of it."--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsLet's open our Bibles to Numbers 6:24. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text the amount to (844)9…

Friends, on the Second Sunday of Easter, we have the inexhaustible reading from the twentieth chapter of John—one of the accounts of the Resurrection appearances of Jesus. These are in many ways the core texts of our Christian faith, so it behooves us to spend some careful time looking at them. This week, I want to reflect on the shalom (peace) tha…

"The Lord has given me a particular word for the church today. He gave me some revelation knowledge to share with you. We must not miss the significance of Easter!"--Pastor Emmanuel Williams +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text the amount to (844)940-2781 Follow us: imitatorsofGodminist…

Friends, a very happy and blessed Easter! We come to the climax of the Church’s year, the feast of feasts, the very reason for being of Christianity. Everything in Christian life centers around the Resurrection. And the Church gives us, every year, the account of Easter morning from the Gospel of John. I want to bring out just one feature that John…

"I don't know why folk in church want to be quiet. The Bible says let the sea roar and praise God!"--Pastor Emmanuel Williams +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text the amount to (844)940-2781 Follow us: imitatorsofGodministries.com/Facebook…

Friends, we have the great privilege on Palm Sunday of reading from one of the Passion narratives, and this year, we read from the Gospel of Mark—the very first one written. But what I want to do today is something a little bit different: instead of putting the focus on Jesus, I want to focus on a series of people around him as they react in differ…

What does the Bible mean when it says the Lord makes His face to shine upon us? Let's take some time to dissect this.--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsLet's open our Bibles to Numbers 6:25. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text the amount to (844)940-2781 Follow us: imitatorsofGodministries.com/…

"Will there really be a New Jerusalem? Throughout the entire Bible the New Jerusalem is referenced."--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsLet's open our Bibles to Revelation 21. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text the amount to (844)940-2781 Follow us: imitatorsofGodministries.com/Facebook…

Friends, on this Fifth Sunday of Lent, we hear one of the most pivotal passages in the Old Testament: Jeremiah 31:31. Jeremiah knew the long Israelite history of covenant and blood sacrifice, but he prophesies, “The days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” This passage will fi…

"The old covenant was ratified with the blood of bulls and goats. The new covenant was ratified with the blood of Jesus. Because of that we have access to God. We don't have to go through a high priest."--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsLet's open our Bibles to Numbers 6:24. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Te…

Friends, the Gospel on this Fourth Sunday of Lent includes one of the most famous verses in the Bible: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16). In many ways, this verse is the Gospel in miniature. But we can isolate this line too much and m…

"God gave Moses a proclamation to say over His children. It is no ordinary prayer, and here it is: The Lord bless thee, and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsLet's open our Bibles to Numbers 6:24-26. +++++++ Ways to…

Friends, on this Third Sunday of Lent, the Church asks us to look at one of the great texts in the Old Testament—namely, the Ten Commandments from the book of Exodus. Lent is a time of getting back to basics spiritually, and walking through the Ten Commandments is a great way to do it. Go back to this text in Exodus, commit the Commandments to memo…

"We are spirits. We possess a soul, and we just happen to be living in a body. There are different ethnic groups, but there is just one race and that is the human race."--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsLet's open our Bibles to Revelation 7:9. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text the amount to …

Friends, we come now to the Second Sunday of Lent, and we’re on both dangerous and very holy ground with the first reading from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis. The ancient Israelites referred to it as the “Akedah,” which means the “binding”: Abraham binds and is ready to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command. It’s hard to imagine another text in t…

"The blessing is a public declaration of a favored status with God. The Bible tells us that we are highly favored!"--Pastor Emmanuel Williams +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text the amount to (844)940-2781 Follow us: imitatorsofGodministries.com/Facebook…

Friends, we come now to the holy season of Lent. The Gospel for this First Sunday of Lent is Mark’s laconic version of the temptation of Jesus in the desert. Mark does not give us the details we find in Matthew and Luke, but we do hear this mysterious observation: “He was among wild beasts, and the angels ministered to him.” We are given here a kin…

"God has intimate knowledge of all of your needs, and He loves you and wants to bless you."--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsWe continue our study into what it means to be blessed. Let's open our Bibles once again to Numbers chapter six. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodministries.com Text to Give - Text the amount to (844)9…

Friends, this week, our Gospel is the marvelous passage from Mark about Jesus curing a leper. These moments of healing stayed so deeply in the imaginations of the first Christians. What do we make of this particular healing of a leper? Let’s look at it from three angles: life on the margins of society, the shame of our own sin, and the absence from…

"Saints, this year, in 2024, you want your heart to be full of faith so that when you espouse the word of God you will get RESULTS. Then you won't grow disappointed and discouraged because you're not seeing what you are saying."--Pastor Emmanuel WilliamsLet's open our Bibles to Numbers chapter six. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www…

Friends, the Gospel of Mark is a fascinating literary work. St. Mark seems to write in a breathless, staccato, even primitive manner, but the deeper you look, the more his Gospel appears iconic. He presents scene after scene in a very concentrated way, telling us some rather deep truths about the faith. Our Gospel for today from the first chapter i…

"It's important to come to a local church, not church on TV. If we can get up and go to work, we can get up and go to church. If we can get to work before the work starts, we can get to church before church starts."--Elder Brenda LawrenceLet's open our Bibles to Hebrews chapter 10. +++++++ Ways to Give: CashApp: $IOGM Pay Pal - www.imitatorsofGodmi…

Friends, the first reading from Deuteronomy today is of signal importance. Moses, speaking to the people before they enter the Promised Land, says, “A prophet like me will the LORD, your God, raise up for you from among your own kin; to him you shall listen.” These words haunted the mind of Israel. Moses was the supreme authority; there was no figu…