Unshakeable

Glory to God!

As we navigate through these challenging times, we are seeing how God has been preparing us for this season. Last year the Lord took us on a journey of transformation that led into 180 days of prayer for 180° reversal in our lives, our church, our city and our nation. We ended last year with God speaking to us about taking back what the enemy has stolen and launching us into 21 days of prayer and fasting to realign, refocus and renew our devotion to the Lord so that reversal can take place.

As we have embarked on this year, the Lord has given us the word: reconcile. In response we began our 6 week study of Danny Silk's book entitled, "Keep Your Love On!" with the purpose of strengthening our relationships, learning to communicate better and learning to establish healthy boundaries so that we continue to build a house of peace that is built on the foundation of love and acceptance and supported by the 7 pillars (love, honour, self control, responsibility, truth, faith & vision) that bring about lasting peace, hope and joy in our relationships.

Despite the disruption of Covid-19, God's purposes will be accomplished and what He has begun in us, He will bring to completion! Consequently, the Lord encouraged us a few weeks ago to depend on Him as our Provider and our Protector and to fix our eyes and minds on Him as we make Him our Priority.

With the present governmental requirement for citizens to avoid all social contact and to stay at home for the sake of managing the pandemic, we are looking at ways to help us as a church continue to be aligned to what God is saying to us as a church, to continue strengthening our connections and to continue seeking to be an influence in our city. For this purpose we are uploading a sermon every Sunday on to our website, a short word of encouragement from our leadership every Wednesday, posting a relevant Scripture and encouragement every Monday and Friday on our Facebook page, encouraging our people to stay connected, committing ourselves to pray every Wednesday from 19:00 - 20:00, and looking for possibilities to help one another and reach out to others. God is calling us to be zealous, intentional and practical so that we will come out of the present crises even stronger than when we entered it!

These past 2 Sundays, the Lord has been encouraging us to trust in Him and to allow change to give us a vision for a better future. In his message entitled, "Unshakeable" Richard spoke to us about the nature of trust and how God calls us to be unshakeable in times of shaking (Heb 12:25-29). We saw how trust is a choice and that God calls His children to trust Him, especially when we don't understand what is going on, or cannot see "backstage." Just as the Lord chooses to trust us as He has faith in the best version of ourselves, so the Lord wants us to trust Him and have faith in His goodness and faithfulness. On Sunday, Alexander shared a message entitled, "Vision for a better future" in which he showed us how God uses times of crises to bring about change as His people internalise change, align their speech to His Word and are willing to go through the process of change to bring about what the Father is doing in heaven on earth.

We praise our unchanging God that His Kingdom is unshakeable and that as we fix our eyes on Him and trust Him wholeheartedly He will help us to be unshakeable and filled with hope for a better future. Hallelujah!

Photo by Mario Álvarez on Unsplash

Keep your love on!

Glory to God!

In response to God's word to us for this year, we are looking at ways to put reconciliation into practice and are studying Danny Silk's book entitled, Keep your love on!" together as a church. Last week we began our 6-week study by preaching on key themes from the book, meeting together in small groups to discuss the book and encouraging one another to strengthen our relationships, improve our communication and learn to set healthy boundaries. We are excited about the enthusiasm and involvement of almost the entire church and we are confident that these 6 weeks will be extremely helpful for every one of us to learn to connect and love better.

Three Sundays ago, Alexander shared a message entitled, "The power of choice" in which he compared the lives of Jesus and Judas to identify what makes people live powerful and victorious lives or powerless lives as victims. Looking at how Jesus was intentional about His choices and how He took responsibility for every choice He made, we noted how powerful people live and serve others in humility to empower others. Conversely we saw how Judas lived a powerless life as a consumer that led to his turning his back on his Master because he himself became mastered by selfishness, disillusionment, disappointment and greed. Alexander explored the glorious truth that just as the believer is chosen by God, so every person has the power to choose God and others to be reconciled, connected and to keep one's love on.

Two Sundays ago, Richard encouraged us to make sure that we not only go through the book but that we use the 6 weeks to learn the principles in Danny Silk's book in such a way as to understand, relate to and apply the principles to our lives. In his message entitled, "The evidence of love" Richard showed us in John's first letter how John describes those who have received eternal life and what the evidence that accompanies salvation should be. In particular, Richard pointed out the difference between knowing about the Father's love and actually receiving His love in such a way that it influences one's life (see 1 Jn 2:15,16). Just as the apostle Paul rejoiced in seeing the fruit of the Gospel, so John's concern was that the Gospel was bearing fruit in the lives of the believers (see 1 Thess 1:2-10; 1 Jn 5:13). Richard then spoke to us about how love must replace fear in our relationships since perfect love drives out the fear of punishment (1 Jn 4:16-19; Lk 7:36-50).

Last Sunday, Frances spoke to us about the "Foundation of Healthy Relationships" as we looked at our core needs that can only be met in relationship. Frances showed us that the core needs of love and acceptance, security and significance that make up our identity were affected through the Fall leaving mankind with a void that can only be filled with God. We saw how God as a relational Being, created mankind for relationship and how we need God and one another to live godly lives in His image. Frances showed us how God satisfies our core needs and how we need to develop relational core values that help us strengthen our relationships.

We praise God for teaching us how to strengthen our relationships, improve our communication and build healthy boundaries as we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and learn new tools to keep our love on. Hallelujah!

Upcoming Events

24.02 - 05.04: 6-week "Keep your love on" project

25.04: Seminar with Alexander Blair at Alt-Hausen 34

07.06: Baptismal service at 11:00 (location to be decided)

21.06: Joint summer celebration with CZF and Quelle des Lebens

Building a house of peace

Glory to God!

Yesterday was the last day of our 180 days of prayer for 180° reversal and the last day of our 21 day fast. It has been a significant journey for us and many have testified to experiencing change in their lives over these past 3 weeks and months! Apart from the joy of having a full house yesterday, there was a wonderful sense of God's love as we worshipped and shared communion together. Richard then shared a message entitled, "God's vision for KLF" in which he showed us the following:

• Without a prophetic vision, people become disconnected and "run wild." Prov 29:18
• Unless we have a goal, we cannot measure our progress. Phil 3:12-14
• God's vision for the Church is to build the new Jerusalem, the city of peace, the bride of Christ that is made up of Jew and Gentile and is to become the dwelling place of God with man. Rev 21&22; Heb 12:22-24; Eph 2:14-22
• God wants us to build a house of peace, a people who live in God's shalom and seek to help those who do not know Him, to be reconciled to Him.
• God's shalom is the manifestation of fullness in Christ. Jn 10:10
• The glory of God is connected to His shalom, Hag 2:9
• We are called to be a sign and a symbol of the new Jerusalem - a foretaste of heaven on earth. 2 Cor 5:17-21; Jn 17:16
• Just as God is zealous, intentional and practical in order to fulfil His goal, so He calls us to be zealous, intentional and practical in moving toward the goal of building a house of peace. John 3:16; Isa 9:7; 2 Cor 11:2; Jn 2:17; Col 1:19,20; 1 Jn 3:16-18

Using the illustration of a zip, Richard showed us that we are to be like zips as we zealously, intentionally and practically (z.i.p.) seek to be reconciled to God, to one another and help the lost to be reconciled to God. Richard exhorted the church to make a commitment before God to be zips in order for us to build a house of peace together.

As we take hold of God's word to us for 2020 - Reconcile - we are looking to work through Danny Silk's excellent book on building healthy relationships, entitled "Keep your love on." The plan is to meet in small groups over a six week period, beginning at the end of February and to study the book together as a church.

We praise God for what He is showing us and for what He is doing among us as we commit to zealously, intentionally and practically build a house of peace together! Hallelujah!

Upcoming Events

29.02: Paint and praise workshop

24.02 - 05.04: 6-week "Keep your love on" project

25.04: Seminar with Alexander Blair at Alt-Hausen 34

07.06: Baptismal service at 11:00 (location to be decided)

21.06: Joint summer celebration with CZF and Quelle des Lebens