Established!

Glory to God!

These past few weeks, the Lord has been speaking to us about growth and fruitfulness. God's will is that we become mature and grow into the fullness of Christ and bear much fruit (Eph 4:13; Jn 15). In his message entitled "Remain unmoved!," Prem spoke to us about how the believer can grow to remain unmoved. He showed us that the journey to maturity is a process of learning to be governed from the inside out and living from the Spirit and truth of God rather than reacting to physical circumstances (see Gen 49:22-24; Acts 27:23-26 - Paul remained unmoved because he knew he belonged to God, he served God and he trusted in God's faithfulness). For the believer to mature, s/he must learn to receive, believe, feed on, meditate on and apply God's Word until s/he remains unmoved in challenging circumstances, living from the reality of God's truth over and above the natural realm (Prov 4:20-22; 1 Pet 2:2).

God's will is that we grow individually and as a church. In his sermon entitled "Principles for church growth," Richard showed us 5 principles that we can learn from how the early church grew as described in Acts 6:1-7:

1. The organisation must serve the organism - as the church grew, structures were put in place to support the ever changing dynamic of the church body as people were added and different practical challenges arose. Acts 6:1
2. Decisions must be governed by godly values - the church dealt with issues and challenges according to godly values. Acts 6:1
3. Responsibilities must be shared - the church worked together to find the right people for the right jobs so that responsibilities were shared. As responsibilities are shared, each area of ministry can be more focused and effective. Acts 6:2, 7
4. Criteria for choosing leaders must be right - people were chosen for leadership responsibilities who were already producing the fruit of being filled with the Spirit and wisdom! The fruit of people's lives determined whether they were suitable to take responsibility for any given area of ministry in the church. Acts 6:3 (see also Heb 13:7; 1 Tim 3).
5. Roles and responsibilities must be established - once the leaders were chosen by the church, the elders prayed for them and laid hands on them to establish them in their responsibility, anointing, authority and calling. Acts 6:6

In response to God's Word, the elders gathered all KLF's ministry team leaders and prayed and laid hands on them to establish them in their respective responsibilities in KLF.  Following the church service, we met as a church for our church "business" meeting in which Richard, Frances and Alexander shared what has been happening since the previous church meeting, how we are using our financial resources and what we sense God doing now and in the future. There is a definite sense that God is establishing KLF in our,

1. Identity - who we are and who those are who belong to KLF and are building with us.
2. Values - our priorities and what is important to us - that we be a spiritual, relational, maturing, healing, serving, generous, outward-focused, creative and multiplying community.
3. Organisation - the way we organise ourselves in order to support the church as a changing and growing organism.
4. Purpose - that we help people live the Kingdom life wherever they are individually and as a church both locally and beyond.
5. Position - a place where God wants us to build a home and a base where we can be a habitation for God's presence and where we can influence the local community.

We ended the meeting with a time for anyone to ask questions and it was great to feel the excitement and interest within the congregation as we respond to the Holy Spirit and move forward together.

Looking at John 1:1-13, Richard shared a message on Sunday entitled, "Indwelling Word" in which we looked at how we need to respond to Jesus and His Word in order for spiritual conception to take place in our lives. Using the analogy of our lives being our home, Richard challenged us to exmine our response to Christ or His Word knocking at our door (Rev 3:20):

• do we peek through the spy hole of the door to observe from a distance behind a closed door?
• do we invite Him or His Word in as a visitor for a temporary stay as we put on our temporary best for our temprary guest?
• do we invite Jesus and His Word into our homes to live with us so that He has access to every room in the house at all times?

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." Col 3:16

Jesus, the Living Word wants to take residence in our lives!

Upcoming meetings and events 

Christmas at KLF: 16:00 at L60 on the 24.12. No meeting on the 25.12.
5-7.05.2017: KLF's 10th Anniversary Celebration