"Today, if you hear His voice..."

It’s always great to have Keith (and Nova!) Hazell around. As well as being great company and wonderfully normal, Keith has a prophetic ministry that I really appreciate. Kings Community Church has been significantly shaped, and encouraged to take some bold steps over the last 20 years through Keith’s prophetic encouragements and provocations. Of course, we recognise that actually it is God working through Keith, and we always weigh up such prophecies against Scripture, and God’s leading in other ways, but oh we do love to witness God’s leading!
Keith was preaching here at Kings this morning, encouraging us to be ready for God’s surprises, to be ready for new opportunities, new opening or ‘gateways’ as a church, realising that they can often be surprising – and challenging!

Last weekend Angie and I were in Copenhagen with CCC (Copenhagen Community Church) celebrating with them the fact that papers had just been signed on their new building – praise God! And it’s a great building, offering great opportunities in the heart of that influential international city. I love the fact that God has allowed us at Kings to be strongly involved with CCC – what a great opportunity for us! I believe that many of us from Kings will be making the (easy!) journey to Copenhagen to serve CCC in all sorts of ways. And the beauty of this arrangement is this: my going to Copenhagen has released Josef to go to Turkey where he is working amongst, lets just say, a very mixed company of people , presenting Jesus in words and deeds. And lives are being wonderfully changed!

Doesn’t this all sound very familiar? Isn’t this just what Jesus did – challenging and changing people’s lives, offering new possibilities and opportunities wherever he went? When we discover and welcome God’s call and leading in our lives, something special happens. We experience God’s love and care for us personally, and a whole new world opens up before us. We are invited to leave our former, familiar, self-centred world and enter His world where Jesus is doing wonderful things, drawing men women and children to himself, bringing hope to the helpless, mending broken lives, making all things new. And to think – we are invited, no, we’re called to live in His world! This is what it means to be a follower of Jesus! There really is no better way to live your life, certainly none more fulfilling – it’s what you were called for!

Enjoy the journey this week!

Goff

New beginnings...

Marcus began our new preaching series this morning, entitled ‘New Beginnings’. We are going to be preaching on the first chapters of the book of Genesis. When we think of the book of Genesis we usually think ‘controversy’, but our aim is not so much to get locked up in controversy as to attempt to draw out the massive, wonderful, life-changing truths that it contains. I thought Marcus did an outstanding job, preaching on chapter 1 verse 1, In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. You can hear it by downloading it from this website, so I’ll just give you the headlines, his main points.
In short, what this key verse tells us is that it’s not about us, it’s all about Him. God, in Christ is The Hero, The Creator, The Owner and the Purpose giver. It’s all about you, Jesus! And you, the life-giver, make New Beginnings possible for us all. Have a listen!

Speaking of new beginnings, we heard this week that CCC (Copenhagen Community Church), our good friends in that great city, have secured a new building in which to meet. Having filled to capacity that room up above the Irish Pub in the heart of the city, we have been praying & looking hard for a new place to meet. Well, this week the deal was done, and we have secured a great premises at street level, again in the city centre. Thank you Lord! There’s plenty of space to grow, and we have plans to make use of it throughout the week, making lots of friends and making Jesus known! Angie & I will be there next week, and I will be preaching at CCC next Sunday – I look forward to it very much! Thanks to all of you at Kings who have been praying for a new building.

Lastly, Gateway Church in Dubai are also facing new beginnings. Clive and Heather Cernik, who we all know, love and have supported strongly for several years now, feel that their work in Dubai is done. Clive has led Gateway church for getting on for 5 years and under his leadership, God has built a great church there in Dubai. They will be leaving Dubai at the end of the year, so please pray for them as they look for the new beginning that God has for them!

If you are facing a new situation or a new challenge, let me encourage you to put your trust and confidence in the One who loved you enough to pour out his life for you, taking all your faults and failures on himself, making it possible for you to enjoy new life, a new beginning, in his company, in Christ!

Have a great week
Goff