8-9-2026 “Hope with Empty Hands” by Pastor Glen Schlecht

We know that spiritually-speaking, we have nothing – empty hands as we stand before the Lord. In Isaiah 55, He invites us to come to Him to buy, eat, and drink, even though we have nothing in-hand to pay for it. In the Gospel, Jesus ordered His disciples to feed 5000 people, even though their hands were essentially empty – all they had was five loaves of bread and two fish. At the outset, there didn’t seem to be much hope. But then Jesus went to work, filling His disciples’ empty hands with His good gifts – food for the hungry crowd! That miracle, along with His invitation and promise from Isaiah 55, fill us with hope, in spite of the empty hands we may have. His hands are never empty – He is a God who offers hope when humanly speaking, hope seems in low supply!Old Testament: Isaiah 55:1-5Epistle: Romans 10:5-15 Gospel: Matthew 14:13-21 Sermon Title: “Hope with Empty Hands” As always, if you can’t be here in-person, take advantage of our live stream option. We live stream our worship services directly from the home page of Immanuel’s website through YouTube. You can view our worship live streams here: https://immanuelloveland.org/