The Glory of Christ!

Glory to God!

As a church, we are on a journey of repentance - 180 days of prayer for 180° reversal! During these days of prayer and reflection, God has recently been speaking to us about the nature and glory of the Church. With the daily devotionals that Richard is writing and what is being shared on a Sunday, the Lord is bringing reversal in our thinking as we align ourselves to God's Word and revelation. We are being encouraged, challenged and stretched as God transforms us with His presence, truth and power! Hallelujah!

A couple of Sundays ago, Richard shared a message entitled, "Is your church on TripAdvisor?" In his sermon, Richard challenged us to see whether we approach Church like a restaurant or whether we understand God's view of the Church. As he compared "McChurch" to the true Church, Richard showed us that the Church should not be treated like a restaurant but as God has birthed her and purposed her in Christ. Looking at the analogies used in the Bible to describe the Church, such as branches in the Vine (John 15), a building whose architect is God (1 Cor 3; Eph 2:21,22; Heb 3:1-6; 1 Pet 2:4,5), the human body (1 Cor 12:12-27) and a nation that belongs to God (1 Pet 2:9,10), we learned that each have the following in common: Dependance on Christ, connection, equality, significant members, and purpose. The answer to the question whether our church is on TripAdvisor was therefore answered with a clear, "No!" as we are not a McChurch that is evaluated according to what customers think but we are the glory of Christ, the revelation of Jesus to the world!

On Saturday we had a brilliant time together at the Naturfreundehaus in Niederrad. We got together for a fun afternoon and evening of games, coffee and cake, fellowship, grilling, open stage, face painting, praise and worship and more; simply enjoying each other and getting to know each other better. We were even joined by local refugee kids who felt quite at home with us and played with the other children and even joined us during praise and worship. We loved the location and are sure to meet there again in the Summer next year! Thanks to all who organised and contributed toward the wonderful time we had together!

Having celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary last week, Richard spoke to us on Sunday about the relationship and profound connection between marriage and the Church. In his sermon entitled, "Strong marriage, strong church!" Richard gave us four keys to a strong marriage and thus to a strong church as we looked at Ephesians 5:21-33. Based on their own experience as a couple, Richard shared what he and Frances have learned over the years that has helped them to have a good marriage. The four keys are Commitment, that is rooted in living in covenant, Consideration, Communication and Compassion. All four are essential for a strong marriage and a strong church! We had a lot of fun exploring each key and learning how important each key is for marriage and for the Church to reflect Christ.

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Upcoming events

Tuesdays from 19:00 - 21:00: Bible Study at Alt-Hausen 34

30.10 at 19:30: KLF Prayer at Alt-Hausen 34

Sprinkled, dipped or dunked?

Glory to God!

As we continue on our journey of 180 days of prayer for 180° reversal, we are excited to see how God is moving among us and bringing about change in this year of transformation. With daily devotionals, Richard is encouraging us to pray God's Word so that there is an alignment with God's will and purposes. If you want to receive the 180 days daily devotional, please write to pastor@kingdomlife-frankfurt.com.

Two Sundays ago, Alexander shared a message entitled, "Standing your ground" in which he spoke to us from Mark 4:35-41. Looking at the account of Jesus calming the storm and the sea, Alexander showed us how Jesus responded to the storm as an example for us to know how to stand our ground in difficult circumstances. We saw how believers must learn to stand on God's Word, recognising which season they are in, the state of their emotional health, who is pulling with them and how they must wake up, stand up, face the circumstances and speak God's truth. Alexander encouraged us to trust God to take us to the other side in the face of the storms we experience in life. Hallelujah!

Yesterday was a very special day for 6 new creations in Christ whom we baptised at the Bärensee in Hanau after our afternoon service. In preparation for the evening, Richard shared a message in the afternoon, entitled, "Sprinkled, dipped or dunked?" Looking at 3 scenes in the Scriptures, Richard showed us the significance of baptism and explained why the believer should be dunked rather than sprinkled or dipped! The 3 examples Richard shared are the Exodus (1 Cor 10:1-4); the Cross (Rom 6:3-13) and Marriage (1 Cor 12:12,13; Eph 5:31,32). After explaining that baptism does not save the believer but that it is the first step of obedience after faith and repentance, Richard used the 3 examples to show us that baptism symbolises the believer's leaving the kingdom of darkness and being placed in the Kingdom of Light; leaving the old life of sin to living for God and leaving the old "single" life to be united to Christ and the Church. Using 3 kinds of donuts; sprinkled, dipped and dunked, Richard made it clear that only complete immersion in the waters of baptism demonstrate the reality of a life immersed into Christ. Consequently we were challenged to consider whether our lives as believers and as the Church reveal that we have been truly immersed in Christ and His Body or whether our lives look like we have only been sprinkled or dipped! We praise God for His revelation to us and our prayer is that our lives would reflect the baptised life, fully dunked in Jesus and the Church!

God blessed us with amazing weather yesterday and we were able to enjoy the baptisms in the lake with a large group of friends and family. It was the first time KLF had her baptisms at a lake and it proved to be a very special and powerful time in the presence of many onlookers who witnessed the testimony of people who have committed their lives to Jesus and are completely immersed in Him and His people. After Alexander, Elizabeth and Richard baptised our 6 precious people, we returned to the campground chapel where we prayed for them. The perfect evening continued with fellowship and food at the local restaurant. Special thanks go to Nat and Gordana who had prepared the chapel so beautifully and to all those who joined us to celebrate this very special occasion!

Upcoming events

Tuesdays from 19:00 - 21:00: Bible Study at Alt-Hausen 34

25.09 at 19:30: KLF Prayer at Alt-Hausen 34

28.09 from 15:00 - 21:00: KLF Family Party at Naturfreundehaus (Am Poloplatz 15)

Photo by Tania Miron on Unsplash

Identity

Glory to God!

As we continue on this exciting journey of 180 days of prayer for 180° reversal, we are seeing a shift take place in different areas of our lives that we are praying for and believing God to bring about a change of direction that is aligned to His will and purposes. Hallelujah!

In the past few weeks, the Lord has been speaking to us about our identity in Christ. As we receive revelation of who God is and who we are in Christ, the Lord is renewing our minds to bring about reversal in our thinking so that we align ourselves to God's truth.

Two weeks ago Maria spoke to us about how miracles are not dependent on how hard we believe or on our faithfulness but on who God is and how faithful He is. In her message entitled, "How do miracles happen?" we looked at Matthew 9:28,29, Hebrews 11:6 and Hebrews 11:11, and asked the question whether we believe God can perform miracles, whether God wants to perform miracles and whether we believe that He will perform miracles in our lives. Knowing God as One who is faithful, loving and powerful will help us trust in Him to do miracles in our lives! Following on from Maria's message, Richard then showed us from Matthew 16:13-20 that how we see ourselves is dependent on our personal revelation of who God is.

In his message entitled, "Put on your light!" Richard spoke to us last Sunday about the believer's identity as a child of light and how we are to be light in this world (see Matthew 5:14-16; Ephesians 5:8-10). Looking at the example of Jesus in John 1:1-14,  we saw that being light in this world means: beginning with God and living from Him; imparting life to others; not being overcome by darkness; entering the darkness; being prepared to be rejected and misunderstood; being a gateway to the Kingdom; making the Kingdom a reality; revealing the Father and imparting grace and truth. Richard reminded us that believers are to live from their new identity in Christ and not to live in order to attain a new identity. Having been created in Christ as the light of the world, Richard challenged us to put on our light and to keep it on!

We praise God for the reversal that is taking place as we take hold of His truth and live from our knowledge of God and our new identity in Him! Hallelujah!

Upcoming events

Tuesdays from 19:00 - 21:00: Bible Study at Alt-Hausen 34
15.09 at 18:00: Baptism at the Bärensee in Hanau (after our regular service in Salzschlirferstr.15)
25.09 at 19:30: KLF Prayer at Alt-Hausen 34
28.09 from 15:00 - 21:00: KLF Family Party at Naturfreundehaus (Am Poloplatz 15)

Photo by Taylor Smith on Unsplash