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

Faith Operating Through Love!

Glory to God!

On Sunday Elizabeth Nehring presented the vision for our KLF youth ministry that will begin in the new year. We are excited about what God is going to do with our youth and how He wants to raise, equip and release this generation!

The Lord is speaking to us about coming back to the essence of what it means to be a disciple of Christ and living the Kingdom Life.This is what He showed us on Sunday:

• Paul expresses the essence in Gal. 5:6 when he writes: "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love."
• Faith looks like something! "Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." James 2:17
• Faith operates through love and sets the believer apart (holiness) as a disciple of Christ. 1 Thess. 3:12,13; John 13:34,35
• Faith operates through love in three essential ways in the disciple's life.
• The essential 3 are love for God's presence, God's people and God's salvation purposes.
• Love for God's presence is expressed through a life devoted to God. Rom. 12:1,2
• Love for God's people is expressed through a life devoted to the Church. Acts 2:42-47
• Love for God's salvation purposes is expressed through devotion to see both Jew and Gentile saved. Rom. 1:16
• The essential 3 are the manifestation of the true disciple's faith!
• Love for God's presence, people, and purposes set disciples of Christ apart as God's holy people.

 The 3 essentials of Kingdom living:

Love God's presence. Love God's people. Love God's purposes.

We praise God for His revelation to us and we are looking forward to seeing KLF rooted and established in the 3 essentials of Kingdom living!

Quote of the week:

"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal. 5:6

_____________________________

 
 

 

Saturated with the Truth

Glory to God!

The Lord is continuing to rebuild, restore and renew us as He is exposing wrong mindsets, attitudes and behaviour in order to rebuild solid and strong foundations into our lives. Through this process, the Lord is moving us out of a place of being ruled, or roaming and moving us into the place of fullness in Him where we are reigning in life (see previous posts).
Yesterday we had a powerful time with God as He showed us the important difference between a "believer" and a disciple. Looking at John 8:28-59, this is what the Lord showed us:

• A believer believes in Jesus and knows what He says.
• A disciple believes Jesus and does what He says.
• Jesus modelled true discipleship as He only spoke and did what the Father told Him. John 8:28,29
• Jesus challenged those who believed in Him by showing them that everyone is mastered by that which s/he is obedient to, whether it be:

1. Sin. John 8:34,35
2. Abraham. John 8:39
3. Satan. John 8:44
4. God. John 8:47,55
5. Jesus. John 8:31, 51

• A true disciple believes Jesus and does what He says.
• Those who hear and don't do, deceive themselves. James 1:22
• The disciple looks intently into the Word to see his spiritual reflection and to be saturated with the Truth so that s/he will naturally overflow with what s/he is filled with! James 1:23-25
• Those who are saturated and overflowing with the Truth are those who receive the Word "with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction" so that their faith becomes visible and known. 1 Thess. 1:4-8
• To be convinced is to be saturated (Greek:plero) with the truth and to bear it continuously (Greek:phoreo).

This Saturday a group of us will be "hitting the streets" of Frankfurt to demonstrate the love of God and to overflow with His Truth.

We are excited about what God is doing with us as He is rebuilding, restoring and renewing us so that we can help others be rebuilt, restored and renewed.

Quote of the week:

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples." John 8:31

__________________________