City of Refuge Fellowship

For twelve weeks we have based our preaching on the study Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. This week, in our conclusion we consider the heart of what we have learned, God desires and pursues a love relationship with us. God has taken the initiative for us to know Him. He has revealed Himself, bought our salvation and made a way to His presence. In our conclusion we look at three important keys to a vibrant and lasting relationship with God: Humility, Prayer and God’s Presence. My prayer is that each of us would long to know God, that we would be able to join the Apostle Paul in declaring everything as “loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”.

This Saturday, January 9th, from 10-1:00 we will be meeting to clean our new building at 18 E. Broad Street in Burlington.

We will be providing all of the cleaning materials. Please come out and join us whether it be for the entire 3 hours or a shorter amount of time.

We will have a pot of coffee brewing in the morning and will pick up some pizzas for lunch. If you need any other information please email abie@cityofrefugefellowship.org

We have set aside every Tuesday as a day of prayer for our National leaders: President Obama, the Senate and the Congress. Each week we present a specific focus, birthed from Scripture, that we can agree and pray together.

Father, teach our National Leaders, O LORD, the way of Your statutes, and they shall keep it to the end. Give them understanding, and they shall keep Your law; indeed, they shall observe it with their whole heart. Make them walk in the path of Your commandments, for they delight in it. Psalm 119:33-35

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when a wicked man rules the people groan. Proverbs 29:2

Therefore, I will exhort that first of all supplication, prayers, intercessions, and giving thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.  I Timothy 2:1-3

Thank God, after over 14 months of praying and waiting we have taken possession of the building at 18 E. Broad Street in Burlington. We will be referring to this building as our ministry center as it will house our offices as well as the counseling and training ministry of Servants of Cana.

The most important part of the building is that it will eventually be the home of the House of Prayer. We will begin the process to have this use approved by the city very shortly. Once approved we will then begin to do some work to make the building suitable for this use and then we will be off.

At this time we are leasing the building but we are praying for God to order all of our steps to be able to purchase it.

Please come out Monday, January 4th from  6-7:00 PM to visit the building, we will be closing with a short time of prayer. Also, we have scheduled a cleaning day for Saturday, January 9th, from 10:00-1:00. Please come join us as cleaning supplies and lunch will be provided. We hope to have the building ready to move the offices in at the end of the next week.

Beginning on Friday, January 8th we will be having a monthly night of prayer and worship for the community. Our desire is to build unity and faith by worshipping and praying together as the Body of Christ in Burlington. We have sent out letters inviting all of the local churches and welcome you to come and join us as well. This will be an informal time where the only agenda will be to glorify God with worship and to seek His face in prayer.

We are planning to continue this throughout 2010 on the 2nd Friday of each month. The venue may change each month. In January we are meeting at Cherubini Academy, 35 W. Broad Street, Burlington, NJ 08016

For more information please email abie@cityofrefugefellowship.org

A huge part of truly experiencing all that God has for us is to know God’s purpose, desire and love for the church. The Apostle Paul refers to the church as “the Body of Christ.” He makes it clear that there is one body that is made up of many members, that each member is individual, has a function but is also interdepedent with every other member. The church is much more than a gathering, than a place or even a family. The church is the extension of Jesus, it is the way that God has chosen to relate to His people and also to use His people to relate to the world around them.

I believe that there are two great keys to becoming all that God has created us to be as His Body, humility and love. Jesus humbled Himself like none other and His love was complete and fully poured out. I pray that you and I will choose a path of being like Jesus, that we would not come to the church to see what it can do for us but that we would choose to become a part of the church, to grab hold of those around us and to spend ourselves on behalf of God, His kingdom and His people.

In John 14 Jesus made two very important statements about obedience. First He said, “If you love Me, you will obey what I command.” Then He stated, “He who does not love Me will not obey My teaching.” Obedience and love are tied to each other. I believe that true obedience requires love and that love will ultimately show itself through obedience. If my belief is correct then obedience is much more than simply doing what one is told or keeping laws, commands and rules. Obedience becomes about relationship, it is not merely the fear of punishment but a longing for communion, a desire to fulfill and increase intimacy.  As we move forward into a new year I am praying to live a life of greater obedience; not merely that I will be willing to do the right thing more often but that my heart and my mind, my life will be lived in a desire to know God, to please God and to trust Him enough to know that He will guide me in truth, in life and in the way of righteousness.