Having the Father’s Heart

We are well into 2011 now. And as usual life is busy. There are challenges of family life, finances and health. We have to contend with things every day.

One of the wonderful things about Jesus is that as the Son of God he taught us how to be sons of God (men & women). As he was growing he lived his life in submission and respect to his earthly parents but all the time grew in his relationship and understanding of his heavenly Father (Luke 2: 41 – 52). He spent regular time with his Father in prayer (Luke 6: 12). He said I only do and say that which I see the Father doing and saying (John 12: 49). He also told us that God is a father to us and has room in his heart for us (John 14: 2); that the only way to the Father is through the Son (John 14: 6), who died to take away our sin. As we trust in the Father and Jesus today (John 14: 1), our hearts will be filled with his love and peace. We will not be orphans or feel alone but will know we are loved by our heavenly Father who is there for us and in us by his Holy Spirit (John 14: 16-18).

Family News

Let’s pray for Kudzie and Heather who have moved outside of London to a new home in Derbyshire near Heather’s parents. Let’s thank God for the South Africa mission for what He did in the youth & student team over the Easter break. The Lord developed servanthood in the team as they served in cleaning the disabled school’s classrooms and helped weed out roots in a piece of land to prepare it for a playground for the foster home.  Many grew in their closeness to Jesus (2 of the team committed their lives to Jesus and one made a recommitment). Some wonderful life transforming relationships were developed in the Townships and the Victory Church in Jeffries Bay and Derbenville Family Church in Cape Town. It was good to see Christian and Kara who are doing well on their year of training.  They also send their greetings.

Being Family Together

Finally having the Father’s heart is also about realising that we are family together. Brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s keep honouring one another as we do the work of the Kingdom, both in LNC and across the world whether Afrikaans or Xhosa Christians in South Africa or Christians from other churches in London and the UK. God is building a kingdom family that reaches generations and this can only happen as we have a loving submissive respect for God and each other.

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

What a year 2010 has been. God has done so many things – Las & Lila have been married, baby's have

been born, baptisms have happened, people have committed their lives to Jesus. Marriage seminars have taken place, there have been men and women's mentoring and the cells have been active in serving the community through the Besom project among other things, as well as strengthening and caring for each other. There have also been Kenya missions, Birmingham youth missions and youth outreach evenings. There have been parenting courses and marriage weekends away. There has been Coffee shop revive and the parent and toddlers group. Jason & Joelle have planted into Normandy and

Christian & Kara are about to get equipped in South Africa.

All these things are a part of walking in our inheritance, which has been our theme in 2010. It takes courage and obedience to God to walk in the things he has asked us to do. It also takes a relationship with God - being willing to spend time with Him. Let's never forget that immediately after the 10 commandments (Deut 5: 6 - 22) comes the command to love the Lord our God with all our heart (Deut 6: 4 - 6). We can only do God's will when we love him and we can only love him when we know he loves us (1 John 4: 19). This is eternal life to know the only true God and Jesus Christ who He has sent (John 17: 3). It's about relationship. We know this eternal life is the key blessing of our New Covenant inheritance. But along with that comes Kingdom family, a kingdom purpose – bringing heaven to earth and eventually a new heaven and earth with the reward of an eternity with Jesus. So as we enjoy Christmas with friends and family and then begin 2011, let's take time to seek God and hear His voice telling us He loves us, that we're worth it (He must think that as he died for us) and He has a purpose for our lives.

Then as we enter 2011 we will enter with that sense of being people in the purpose of God and we will be ready to move into the mission, discipleship and power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus served the mission of His Father out of relationship with His Father and was therefore able to disciple others out of deep love and in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we move forward let’s remember that God does not want us to walk alone - we do all this as a team and kingdom family - reaching generations.

Entering our Inheritance in 2010

I hope you are enjoying 2010. At present we are studying the book of Deuteronomy as a church. Last

year we were emphasising the importance of preparing to enter into our promised land. This year we are looking at how to walk in our inheritance – in the blessings God has for us. When we are blessed we can bless others.

Deuteronomy was written for three reasons. Firstly to remember all that God had done with his people – so that they could give thanks and remember the lessons learnt. Secondly in order that Israel could renew their covenant with God before entering the Promised Land so that they would not be distracted by other gods and thirdly so that they could prepare themselves to live in the land in a godly way.

Remembering and giving Thanks

In the same way we can look back over our lives and over the last year and see all that God has been trying to teach us and learn from it. I believe this will be a key to walking in what God has for us in 2010. Where was God asking you to trust Him and be obedient to Him?

As a church I thank God for the 13 baptisms last year. We also thank God for the missions to Kenya and the youth mission to Birmingham where the young people served local communities by washing windows and clearing up houses; For all the new ones who have given their lives to Christ and for the births of 6 new babies in the church too; For the marriage of Christian and Kara as a wonderful example of a Christian couple doing relationship the God way; For the ministry of Louis & Edna to us as a church and the apostolic and prophetic words about growth that have been spoken over us; For the way Neil has taken on the Administrators role and for the values and vision and mission statements that have given renewed strength to us; For the outreach that has been taking place through Cafe shop Revive and the Parent and Toddlers group and the marriage course that some couples took part in last year.

I also remember how God has taken us through the wilderness of trusting him for provision when there was barely enough and thank him for providing new resources in 2010 so that there is enough. God is faithful!

Renewing Covenant

I believe that as we remember what God has done it will now strengthen us in our commitment to God as we move forward with Him. The way Israel was to fulfil the commandments of God as a nation and walk in His blessing was by each person individually loving God from the heart. Each was to have a personal relationship with Him and respect and obey his voice (Deut 6: 1 – 7; Deut 28: 1 – 2). This would bring blessing on them and cause them to be a blessing to the nations. We too as God’s church, representing His Kingdom, need to listen to Him as individuals, pick up the vibrations of His voice, pay attention to them and put into practice what He is saying to us. As we do this we will more clearly pursue His will for us and be in a blessed state where we can be a blessing to others. There is so much peace in listening and obeying God.

Preparation

As we pray, seek, love and fear God, he will equip us in what we are meant to do for Him. Our society today needs Christians who are fully committed to Jesus and willing to use their gifts to change our world. This will be in so many ways. Many will reach youth through loving them, listening to them, bringing them into their homes and teaching them the principles of God. Others will do this through their work, e.g. school teachers etc. Others will reach families through the parenting courses we are putting on this year. This will be indirectly through us building kingdom families that people see and want to emulate. Others will run businesses that will grow and provide employment and provide finance for the Kingdom. Others will minister through their medical gifts and others through their schools and universities. Everyone of these things is going on this year in LNC. I would encourage you as a Christian whether a member of LNC or another church to hear God and use your gifts for him. You may still be in the preparation stage. Get prepared and then move out in what God has called you to do. It will make a difference. The world is waiting for us to enter our inheritance and bring some answers. It’s all happened before – Schools, hospitals, and many businesses were started in ethical ways in the UK by Christians. God has chosen you to be a light to the nations. As people see your light they will seek the Light. Let’s go for it!

Preparing to enter our inheritance

The Pastor speaks!

Some of you who check our website regularly will have been wondering when the pastor would speak

again. Well praise God he has spoken at last.  Thanks to all those who have urged me to put fingers to keyboard.

Looking back

We have come through a few years of pressure in terms of our finances as a church. Yet we have seen

God’s faithfulness. In our difficult time between 2006 to 2008 God came through by giving us prophecies about providing wells of resource for us. Each word was given by different people who were not connected with each other or members of LNC. One of the words said there would be a well of resource in the car park. At first we did not know how literally to take this. No, we didn’t start to dig for mineral water to bottle and sell, but we did begin to hire our building out for training. However someone approached us about hiring seven spaces in our car park which provided a substantial amount of money per month just when we needed it. We had paid off our mortgage and tax arrears but this enabled salaries to be fully paid again. Praise the Lord! God is faithful.

In 2007 we looked at being sons and daughters of the kingdom of God and the implications of having God as the ruler of our lives. In 2008 we looked at what it means to be a mature son and daughter of God from the book of Romans. There are so many pressures to influence us to walk away from what God is saying and doing (financial, relational, work, etc.) but, ‘....those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (mature sons - huios)’ (Romans 8: 14). As we obey the Spirit’s voice we display the Son’s nature and glory.

What’s happening now!

As we have entered into 2009 we have felt that God is emphasising that we need to prepare to enter our inheritance. I believe God is addressing us as individuals and as a church. In response we have spent some time fasting through lent. The results I have noticed so far are that people are praying more and becoming sensitive to the voice of God. We have also seen 11 baptisms this year. 8 of these have been teenagers and there are more to come. Many people have been seeing very rapid answers to prayer. We have prayed over substantial financial issues in people’s lives and within a few days, in one case the next day, deposits have turned up for people to buy houses, free holidays have been given to people who could not afford them, etc..

God is preparing us spiritually to enter the inheritance He has for us, especially in the areas of youth and finance. I believe this is so that we can speak to the world in these areas where people are suffering most and bring an answer from God. As a church we have recently revamped our vision, strategy and values statements to better reflect what God is doing in us and with us so that we can enter our inheritance. You can see these on this website.

What do we need to do now to continue to fully enter into all God has for us?

1)        Don’t be afraid or discouraged – This stopped the Israelites entering their inheritance – Deuteronomy 1: 21

2)        Pray – Jesus has room in his heart for you; He prepared a place for you with his father and wants you to dwell there – John 14: 2 – 3.

3)        Have faith – hear his voice for your life and the church - Romans 10: 17. God will do what he said he will do. Meditate on his word.

4)        Act – When you know what He is saying and have confirmed it with spiritually sensitive and mature people then act – James 2: 17 – and you will be blessed and reveal his glory to others.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed –

Romans 8: 20 (NIV)

Looking back on 2006

2006 has been one of those years that has just seemed to fly by. However I have now eventually put fingers to keyboard to reflect on the past year.

Thank you Lord!

There are so many things to be thankful to God for. As LNC we started the year with the theme of Purpose. We looked as a congregation at God’s purposes for us from ‘The Purpose Driven Life’ book by Rick Warren. We preached on each of the 5 purposes in the book:

   * Planned for God’s Pleasure

   * Formed for God’s Family

   * Created to become like Christ

   * Shaped for Service

   * Made For Mission

Most people in the church committed themselves to reading the book and we then discussed the questions at the end of each chapter in order to apply them to our lives. Some also then met in small accountability groups in order to make sure they were living these things out.

I thank God that there was a real sense that God was moving in us. Things that I noticed were that we became more servant-hearted as a church. People gave time to practical tasks that needed to be done in the church like cleaning up, caretaking and helping out generally. A greater sense of unity and support developed and people were enthusiastic and sacrificial in their service to God.

Other things have been encouraging too this year. We have again ministered to Kenya in practical and spiritual ways. The youth also made a great impact in Birmingham through the youth mission at the end of July with youth being saved and the area of Aston impacted through social action and drama and dance presentations and a BBQ. We have also seen many mini outreaches taking place through cells from candle parties, to meals for friends, family and work colleagues. We have invited people in for Scrap Booking Days and had picnics and some of the guys have been away together with friends to Wales on walks. 

Difficulties

There have been a lot of pressures with our finances this year as a church which has resulted in us cutting salaries down. This has caused some of us to be greatly challenged in our faith. Peter was told that his faith would be sifted but that Jesus had prayed for him that his faith would not fail (Luke 22: 31 – 32). I have felt that I have had to keep my focus strongly on Jesus through this pressured time. Should I look for other work? Does God want me to just hang in there and look to Him and believe the money will come? So I have tried to carefully look to God and listen and obey Him. Thanks be to God, the money has been coming in for us personally and also the church finances are coming into order. Through this time of sifting as a church I believe we have had to hold our nerve, keep our focus on Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith and pray that we don’t enter into temptation in the middle of it. Other relational difficulties, and people not following through with God, have also been tough and painful. However through all this we have had to stay focused. So stay focused - God is good.