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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