Reigning in Life!

Glory to God!

On Saturday the women of KLF had a brilliant time together as the Lord revealed the truth of His goodness to them and they encountered and experienced the God who is good!


On Sunday the Lord spoke to us about how He wants His children to reign in life (Rom. 5:17)! Having received God's abundant grace and the gift of righteousness, the believer can live in the fullness of life God has given him/her. However many Christians aren't living the abundant life God intends for them.

Looking at the history of Israel, the Lord showed us 3 stages that symbolise our walk with God.

1. The first stage is in Egypt - the "house of slavery" where man is ruled by satan and his kingdom of darkness. Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 1:13
2. God rescues His people out of bondage and are led into the desert, having been led through the Red Sea - the waters of baptism.
3. God's will is for His children to be led directly out of bondage into the promised land - the life of abundance where His children reign in life.
4. However, God first leads us through the desert (the second stage) to ensure that the believer loses his self-life.
5. The children of Israel wandered/roamed in the desert as long as they:

• Lived in unbelief. Heb. 3:7-12; 4:1-3
• Worshipped created gods and served them. Ex.32
• Lived according to their own desires and will. Num. 16

1. Joshua led the children of Israel through the Jordan (a type of Spirit-baptism) once the Israelites believed God's Word, devoted themselves to God alone and surrendered their lives to the Lord (stage 3).
2. The believer is baptised in the Spirit when he allows the Holy Spirit to control him and saturate him.
3. Only as the believer is dominated by the Holy Spirit can he dominate/ reign in life!

The account of Jesus in Luke 3 and 4 demonstrates many striking parallels:

1. Jesus was baptised and led into the desert by the Spirit. Luke 3:21,22; 4:1,2
2. In the desert (not 40 years but 40 days), Jesus was tempted by the devil to try to move Jesus away from absolute surrender and faith in the Word of God. Luke 4:3,4
3. The devil also tried to get Jesus to worship him rather than the Father. Luke 4:5-8
4. Jesus was also tempted by the devil to do His own will just as the Israelites rebelled in the desert. Luke 4:9-12; Heb. 3:7-12
5. Jesus proved His absolute surrender to God's will and returned to Gallilee in the power of the Spirit! Luke 4:14
6. Jesus then entered the "promised land" as He applied God's Word to Himself and walked in the promises of the Father. Luke 4:16-21

The 3 stages are:

1. Egypt-house of slavery-kingdom of darkness-ruled by satan.
2. Desert-dying to self-roaming-ruled by self.
3. Promised Land-faith and surrender-reigning in life-ruled by the Spirit of God.

To reign in life is to believe God's Word and walk in it by faith and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
God's Word to us is both challenging and encouraging. He wants His children to stop roaming and to start reigning as they submit themselves to Him and His Word!
We praise God for His grace and the gift of spiritual revelation, understanding, wisdom and knowledge to know Him more and to reign in life.

A couple of our leaders attended Kingdom Faith's Leaders' Conference last week and were mightily inspired and ignited by the presence of God and the richness of His revelation through the worship and the preaching of His Word. We praise God for our relationship with KF and are excited about what God is doing in them and through them in that nation that is spilling over through the churches that live in covenant relationship with them. Check out this link for excellent resources and teaching...

Quote of the week:

"...if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." Rom. 5:17

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The Gospel

Praise be to God!

The Lord is blessing us with spiritual revelation that is transforming us and reviving us. Hallelujah! This afternoon the Lord spoke to us about His righteousness and this is what He showed us:

The problem

• God's righteousness is divine.
• God's righteousness is unattainable by human effort.
• Jesus revealed the standard. Mt. 5:20; 5:48
• There is no one righteous. Rom. 3:9,10,20
• Man's nature determines his righteousness.
• Man has a sinful nature because of Adam's disobedience and not because man sins. Sin is the fruit of the sinful nature. Rom. 5:12-18
• Man is by nature an object of wrath because of his sinful nature. Eph. 2:3
• Legalistic righteousness cannot attain God's righteousness. Phil. 3:3-7

The solution

• The Gospel is the good news that God's requirement for righteousness to be reconciled to Him is fulfilled in Christ by grace through faith and not by works or human effort. Rom. 1:16,17
• The Gospel reveals "righteousness apart from works." Rom. 3:21-26
• Christ is our righteousness because He fulfills the righteous requirements of the law in us. 1 Cor. 1:30; Rom. 8:3,4
• God's righteousness is a gift and not a reward. Rom. 4:4,5; 5:17
• Faith in Christ means submission to God's righteousness. Rom. 10:1-3

The problem of self-righteousness

• Jesus dealt severely with the self-righteous religious leaders.
• Trying to earn God's righteousness "sets aside God's grace." Gal. 2:21
• Self-righteousness makes one legalistic, judgmental, mean and miserable.
• The "offense of the cross" is based on the fact that the flesh, rooted in pride, does not want to "simply" believe but wants to be involved in earning righteousness. Gal. 5:11

The benefits of submitting to God's righteousness. Justification.

• Because we have received God's righteousness we are justified. Rom. 5:18,19

Access to God.

• Because we are justified we have access to God. Eph.2:18

Union with God.

• Because we are righteous in Christ we are reconciled and joined to God. Rom. 5:10,11,17,20,21; Eph. 2:5; 2 Cor. 5:18-21

Sealed with righteousness.

• Because we are righteous, we are sealed with righteousness. Rom. 4:11

Object of blessing.

• Because we are righteous we are objects of blessing. Eph. 2:3-9

Grace can reign.

• Because we are righteous grace can reign. Rom. 5:21; Gal. 3:1-5

God is glorified.

• Because God has made us oaks of righteousness, we are planted by Him to reveal His glory. Isa. 61:3

We praise God for this awesome good news of the gift of God's righteousness given to all who believe in Jesus.

This week 2 of our leaders will be attending the Kingdom Faith leaders' conference which is always an inspiring and exciting time and strengthens our covenant relationship with KF.

This Saturday the women are meeting together with God and one another as they "taste and see that the Lord is good."

Quote of the week:

"They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour." Isaiah 61:3

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Good News!

Praise be to God!

The Lord is continuing to give us spiritual revelation from Isaiah 61- the Lord's Word to us for 2010. In the past 2 weeks God has been speaking to us specifically about His favour and how He wants the Church to experience His joy as we walk in the truth of what Jesus has done for us.

Yesterday the Lord showed us the difference between an "outer court mentality" and an "inner court mentality" as we learned how believers approach God either with an Old Covenant mindset or New Covenant mindset.

• An "outer court mentality" lives from the outside in and tries to change behaviour in order to be righteous - i.e. living a holy life TO BE righteous.
• An "inner court mentality" lives from the inside out and realises by faith what one has received and behaves accordingly - i.e. living a holy life BECAUSE one is righteous!

The Lord then revealed to us the significance of the OT Priesthood and how it forshadowed Christ's Priesthood and the requirements for entering the Holy of Holies - Righteousness, Holiness, and the blood of Redemption.

Since the believer has given his/her life to Christ and has in turn received Christ's life (2 Cor. 5:21) s/he has been made holy, righteous and is redeemed and therefore has access to the very presence of God (Hebrews 10:19-22)! Christ is our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor. 1:26-30). God has made every believer a holy priest (1 Peter 2:9) and appointed (Isaiah 61:6) and anointed us (Isaiah 61:1-3) to fulfill the responsibility of a priest. God has made us competent as ministers of this new covenant (2 Cor. 3:4-6). Hallelujah!

The believer has received Christ's righteousness, holiness and redemption and has been anointed and appointed to be God's holy priest.

We praise God for continuing to give us spiritual revelation, understanding, wisdom and knowledge so that we can know Him more and make Him known more!

Quote of the week:

"I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." Isaiah 61:10

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Mike Vickers

Glory to the King of kings!

We've had a brilliant time with Mike Vickers who has inspired and helped us to break through into greater faith and boldness to pioneer God's work to build His Kingdom here in Frankfurt. Mike will be walking with a cross from Frankfurt to Berlin in July and KLF has the privilege of being part of this powerful and prophetic journey across Germany. Judging from the anointing upon Mike's visit this past weekend and the fruit of God's work through him, we are looking forward to seeing what God is going to do on this year's Germany cross-walk.

Yesterday the Lord spoke to us, as a church, about being like Jonathan. Looking at 1 Sam. 14:1-23, God spoke very clearly to us about taking the front line and pioneering His Kingdom work to take the city of Frankfurt for His glory. We were greatly encouraged and many responded to God's call to take up our responsibility to rebuild, renew and restore our city! Hallelujah!

To find out more about Mike Vickers click here...

We praise God for continuing to reveal His redeeming heart to us and for strengthening our faith so that we go forth with boldness and confidence into the darkness to fulfill His will and purpose for the Church for the praise of His glory (Eph. 1:11,12; 3:10-12).

Quote of the week:

"Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." 1 Sam. 14:6

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