Unpacking God's Gift

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift" 2 Cor. 9:15

The Lord is continuing to reveal the truth of His grace to us, and yesterday He showed us the following:

• In Christ the believer has received grace upon grace. John 1:16
• In Christ the believer has received fullness of life. John 10:10; Col. 2:10
• In Christ the believer has received every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm. Eph. 1:3
• God wants the believer to walk in the fullness s/he has received, now. 2 Cor. 6:1,2
• God wants the believer to walk in His fullness so that s/he will minister His grace to others.
• God has given the believer His Spirit so that s/he will understand what s/he has freely received. 1 Cor. 2:12
• The fruitfulness of the gospel depends on the revelation the believer has of God's grace! Col.1:6
• What the believer has freely received, s/he is to freely give as a minister of God's grace. Mt. 10:8; 1 Cor. 11:23; Acts 3:6; 1 Peter 4:10,11
• God has made the believer competent as a minister of His Spirit and grace. 2 Cor. 3:6
• For the believer to be an effective minister of God's grace, s/he must believe s/he has received and s/he must humble him/herself for grace to abound. God gives grace to the humble. James 4:6

Faith and humility are the keys to overflowing with God's grace.

• Humility "has no confidence in the flesh." Phil. 3:3
• Humility is confidence in God and no confidence in self apart from God. John 5:19; Phil. 4:13

In response to God's amazing revelation, we spent time ministering God's grace to one another in His power and in the confidence that He is able to make all grace abound to us (2 Cor. 9:8). Hallelujah!

Some highlights of the week have been the start of our study in the Letter to the Hebrews at our Tuesday Bible study; our worship team supporting Voice in the City at their Arise Shine! meeting on Saturday and hearing the testimonies of lives being changed by God's grace in the church and outside the church. Hallelujah!

This weekend we will have our KLF Training days with Mike and Kay Chance. Check here for details...

Quote of the week:

"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10

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Experiencing God!

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ!

Nothing compares to the surpassing greatness of knowing Jesus Christ our Lord! We are continuing to discover and experience the wonderful truth of being "In Christ" and yesterday the Father encouraged us with the following:

• Jesus came to give us fullness of life. John 10:10
• The believer has received fullness in Christ. Col. 2:10
• Grace is God's unconditional gift to man. Eph. 2:8,9
  
• God's grace abounds and overflows. 2 Cor. 9:8
• The believer has received everything to reign in fullness of life! Rom. 5:17
• However, many believers are not experiencingGod's fullness because of unbelief or displaced belief.

1. Unbelief prevents the believer from entering into the fullness of grace and rest. Heb. 3:7-4:11
2. Displaced belief is when the believer trusts in other things more than God's promises.

• Location: Believers can believe that the fullness of God must be received elsewhere. However every believer can receive where they are. Psalm 139:5-12
• Timing: Believers can believe that God wants them to wait for His fullness. However every believer can receive God's fullness now! 2 Cor. 6:1,2
• Form: Believers can believe that they have to do something in a particular way to receive the fullness. However every believer can receive God's fullness by simply trusting in God and His Word. Gal. 3:3
• Worthiness: Believers can believe that they have to "improve" before they can receive God's fullness. However every believer is worthy to receive because s/he is the righteousness of God in Christ! 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 10:10,14
• Man: Believers can trust in God moving through a person rather than receiving directly from the Lord and trusting in Him. John 7:37,38; 14:1

Every believer can experience God's fullness if s/he simply trusts in God and His Word. James 1:5-8

In response to God's Word to us, we spent time entering into His rest and His fullness so that we could overflow with the grace He has poured into our lives.

Upcoming events:

28 November: Arise Shine! meetings with Voice in the City. Check here for details...
4-6 December: KLF Training Days! with Mike and Kay Chance. Check here for details...

Quote of the week:

"God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all you need, you will abound in every good work." 2 Cor. 9:8

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Wholeness

Glory to God!

The Lord is restoring us! As He continues to reveal Truth to us, we are being healed - spirit, soul and body. Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about being healed spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically as we align our thinking and our lifestyle to the truth of His Word. The Lord showed us how we need to be made whole from the inside out so that we reveal the wholeness God intends for His Kingdom people. We praise God that it is His will to heal us through and through and that we can enter into wholeness by faith and obedience. Hallelujah!

Quote of the week:

"'...I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the Lord." Jeremiah 30:17

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Grace!

Praise be to the Lord!

The Lord is continuing to reveal the extent of His love to us. By the Holy Spirit we are receiving revelation of what we have been freely given (1 Cor. 2:12) and it's mind-blowing! Hallelujah! Yesterday the Lord spoke to us about True Freedom and this is what He showed us:

1. In Christ the believer has received everything s/he needs for life because s/he has received the fullness of God. Col. 1:19; 2:9,10
2. God has done everything for mankind to be able to receive fullness of life in Christ Jesus. Rom. 5:6-8
3. This awesome gift of Life is received by believing in the finished work of the cross. Eph. 1:13,14
4. Salvation is God's work. 1 Cor. 1:26-30
5. Hunility is confidence in God.
6. Everything man needs is found in Jesus. Christ is the believer's wisdom, righteousness, holiness and redemption. 1 Cor. 1:30
7. The way for man to have life and to walk in righteousness, wisdom etc is to believe in, and trust in the Righteousness, Wisdom, and Life who lives in the believer.
8. The gift of Christ, who is the believer's Life, is received by faith. Eph. 2:1-9
9. The believer has been given the fullness of God and s/he can rest in the completed work of Christ.
10. The believer's life begins by faith and should continue by faith in Christ! Gal. 3:3
11. When a believer lives his or her life under rules and regulations, s/he becomes legalistic and places him/herself under law - trying to attain a righteousness apart from Christ (self-righteousness). Gal. 5:4
12. Law activates the flesh and results in condemnation!
    
13. Alternatively believers treat God's gift as a license to do whatever they like which leads to a life controlled by selfish desires. Gal. 5:13; Rom. 6:1,2
14. Both legalism and liberalism are not freedom.
15. True freedom is found by walking according to the leading of the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:17
16. The Holy Spirit primarily uses the conscience of the believer to direct him/her. Rom. 14; 1 John 3:19-24
17. The road to true freedom (sanctification) is all God's work - by grace through faith.
18. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of the believer's faith! Heb. 12:2
19. The believer lives in true freedom when s/he lives by the Spirit; free from the control of the law and free from the control of the flesh.
20. God is faithful and it is Christ in the believer who works all things. 2 Cor.1:21; 1 Thess. 5:23,24
21. To continue to walk in true freedom, the believer simply needs to trust in Christ to do His work in and through him/her. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life! John 14:6

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! 2 Cor. 3:17

We praise God for His amazing grace and love and for revealing the depth of His grace and love to us by His Spirit!

Quote of the week:

"You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" Gal. 3:1-3

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God's love!

Praise be to our God of grace and love!

On Friday KLF met for a powerful evening of prayer and worship as we stood in the Truth and established Christ's lordship in our lives and in our city. We had an awesome time praying the Word and proclaiming the Truth as the Holy Spirit led us. We were particularly blessed to have Phil Gorman visit us from Harpurhey Community Church in Manchester who joined KLF's worship team leader, David Rowe in leading us in worship. It was a brilliant evening and the presence of God was wonderful. You can find the teaching notes from the evening on "Ready 4 Battle?" here...

On Saturday KLF and Treffpunkt Leben organised a Narnia Party for children to have an alternative to the halloween parties held over the weekend. We believe that the Church should provide godly alternatives and initiatives to bring Life to the world rather than be a condemning voice that just criticizes and judges the world! The theme was C.S. Lewis' Narnia story and all the games, costumes and activities revolved around the first Narnia film. The party was a great success and the children (and adults) were richly blessed.

Yesterday's meeting was very powerful once again as the Lord gave us an even deeper revelation of His love. Already during worship in song, God was working deeply in us to bring healing and affirmation to His children as He revelaed more and more of His love to us. The Lord then spoke to us about what salvation is and this is what He showed us:

"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church." Eph. 5:31,32

• The marriage vow can be compared to the believer's confession of Christ that both lead into a covenant - an agreement between two parties to remain faithful to one another.
• The marriage relationship represents the relationship God has with His children.
• In light of how the marriage relationship can be compared to the believer's relationship to Christ we can note the following:

1. A marriage relationship is not based on a marriage contract alone! It would be ridiculous to say that a couple is married that live their lives independently and seperately. The person who continues to live his or her life apart from, and independently of his or her spouse and says s/he is married is deceived.
2. A marriage relationship is not based on fulfilling "marital rules." It would be ridiculous to base one's marriage on trying to fulfill certain marital rules. The couple that lives by following marital rules to maintain their marriage lives a life that is conditional and is not based on love.
3. The marriage relationship is a covenant of unconditional love. The covenant is made on the basis of love and the fulfillment of that covenant is a relationship based on unconditional love.
4. Therefore, "to be saved" is to enter into a covenant of unconditional love with God in Christ.
5. Salvation is therefore the fulfilling of that covenant of unconditional love through the believer's union with God in Christ Jesus.
6. The believer's relationship to God is therefore not based on a formula, nor on living under law, but it is based on being united to God in Christ because of our dependence on His love for us and remaining in His love.
7. The believer is saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) - in other words, we are saved by trusting and relying on God's unconditional love for us and abiding in that unconditional love (grace = undeserved gift of love).
8. Salvation is union with God in Christ Jesus and is based on love.

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1 John 4:10

Yesterday evening we had another opportunity to demonstrate God's love to the world as we spent some time with the homeless and needy. It is such a blessing to be able to pass on what we have freely received. Hallelujah!

Quote of the week:

"We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." 1 John 4:13-16 (emphasis mine)

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