Heaven's perspective

 Glory to God!

God is giving us His perspective of what it means to enter His Kingdom, live in His Kingdom and establish His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of baptising a new life in Christ and celebrating what Christ has done for us. It is always a joy to see a believer take that first step of obedience to demonstrate their identification with Christ's death, buriel and resurrection through the waters of baptism. Looking at the account of Jesus' raising Lazarus from the dead in John 11:38-44, David showed us in his message entitled, "Life of death?" how God despises death and longs to give life; the depth of God's love for us; the effect of death; that God calls us to have life in Christ and that Jesus wants to to set us free from the bondage of death and everything associated with it. David then explained that every believer should be baptised because it is a step of obedience; it is a testimony; it is an identification and it is a sign of belonging.

In her message entitled "God's family culture: forgiveness," Antje shared and demonstrated how God calls His people to live in love and unity as representatives of the culture of heaven. Looking at the extent of God's mercy and forgiveness toward us, Antje explained how God expects His children to be like Him and to demonstrate the same measure of forgiveness as we receive from Him (see Mt 6:12,14,15). Understanding the nature of true forgiveness is a key to being able to reflect the Father's heart and the culture of heaven on earth as it is in heaven!

On Sunday, Richard spoke to us about the nature of "True revival." Looking at the account of the revival in Dunkeld in 1882 that was led by D.L. Moody and Ira D. Sankey, we noted some of the characteristics of a genuine move of the Holy Spirit. Richard explained how true revival of the Church and awakening of the Lost correspond to the nature and person of the Holy Spirit (see Jn 16:7-11; Eph 4:10; James 4:5). Seeing the significance of united, fervent and persevering prayer before and during past revivals, Richard encouraged us to pray and to seek God's face for a move of His Spirit so that the Church is revived and the Lost are convicted by the Holy Spirit in our city and our nation.


We are pleased to have our Mission team back from their 2 week visit to Butuan in the Philippines. On Sunday they will be giving us a detailed report of their trip and we look forward to hearing about what God did during their time there. Moriah-Jane has written a personal log of their visit which you can view here.

Upcoming Meetings
 
Regular mid-week meetings will take a Summer break from 1 July - 13 Aug. (Sunday meetings will take place as usual)
29.07: Men's Bike Ride
12,08: Experiencing the Holy Spirit with Edgar and Tatjana Mayer from 16:00 - 21:00 at the EFG in Haeberlin Str.3
Saturday 02.09, 02.12: Welcome Coffee at L60
01.11: Ed Traut - Prophetic Encounters

The old has gone, the new has come!

Glory to God!

Yesterday's meeting was very powerful as we encountered God in worship, communion, His Word and prayer. We were greatly ministered to throughout the meeting by Psalm 103:1-5 where David writes,

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits -
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

In his message, entitled, "Exit - No Return!" Richard spoke to us about what it means to be a new creation in Christ where the old has gone and all things are made new (2 Cor 5:17). We looked at 3 important aspects of the believer's new life in Christ as we asked: how do we enter newness of life in Christ; how do we live in newness of life in Christ and how do we walk in newness of life in Christ?

Looking at Luke 9:57-62, we noted that when Jesus calls us to follow Him, He calls us to leave the old, sinful, independent, self-centred, ungodly, worldly life we lived behind us and to follow Him in newness of life and never to look back! Having entered the new, the believer must learn to live in all that has been received in Christ and to not forget all His benefits (Psalm 103:1-5; Eph 1:3; 2 Pet 1:3). Richard emphasised that when anyone is born again, s/he is a new creation and that we grow into fullness in Christ as we receive revelation of what we have received in Christ and experience fullness in Him (1 Cor 2:12; Eph 4:13,15; Phil 3:7-9). As we looked at the context in which 2 Cor 5:17 states that the believer is a new creation in Christ, we noted that newness of life in Christ applies not only to the believer's new identity in Christ but especially to the believer's new purpose in life. Paul writes that Jesus died for all so that those who are made new in Christ should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again (2 Cor 5:15). The believer's new life in Christ is motivated by Christ's love and God's salvation purposes (2 Cor 5:14; 18-6:3). To walk in newness of life is to do the good works that God prepared beforehand for each new creation in Christ (Eph 2:10). We praise God for His revelation to us and for His command to leave the old and live in the new as we exit and not return!

This week our missions team will be heading for Butuan, Philippines to minister there for two weeks. We are excited for Aris, Cristina, Andreas and Moriah-Jane to go as KLF's representatives to visit Kingdom Life Butuan and to be part of their ongoing ministry while they are there. It is always a wonderful experience and we look forward to hearing what God will do during their visit.

Upcoming Meetings
 
Regular mid-week meetings will take a Summer break from 1 July - 13 Aug. (Sunday meetings will take place as usual)
09.07: Baptism service at the EFG in Haeberlin Str.3 from 15:00 - 17:00 (no meeting at Eastsite 15 on that day)
29.07: Men's Bike Ride
12,08: Experiencing the Holy Spirit with Edgar and Tatjana Mayer from 16:00 - 21:00 at the EFG in Haeberlin Str.3
Saturday 02.09, 02.12: Welcome Coffee at L60
01.11: Ed Traut - Prophetic Encounters