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Baptisms in August

lukepk1 — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 06:12:30 +0000

2 weeks ago at Jesus lifehouse international church Osaka we had some amazing baptisms.

6 young champions were baptized and 8 people said they wanted to get baptized next time after seeing this one! The stories were powerful again!

Baptisms never get old. This is why i came to Japan- to see young Japanese meet and follow Jesus!

One guy was sharing how when he first came to church he didnt really like it and it didnt affect him, but he kept coming and slowly he started to understand the messages. His life group leader answered all his questions and he finally understood what it meant to follow Jesus. He was so passionate and confident as he got baptized!

Two girls said that they came to church a year ago and did not want to receive jesus at that time and left. They later, when going through a hard time remembered our church and the people and hoped they would be invited again. After coming back and seeing how they were so warmly welcomed they received Jesus and were in tears as they shared about how Jesus had changed their lives.

The heart behind the " Simple Prayer" we teach

lukepk1 — Sat, 09 Jun 2012 02:30:11 +0000

Simple Prayer is one of the key things we teach in life groups at Jesus lifehouse. Here is some of the heart behind it.

The more layers of method we add the prayer the less people will actually pray. But if we follow Jesus’ simple model of prayer, the church will increase in prayer and Power!!

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Matthew 6:5-13 New International Version (NIV)

⁵“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ⁶But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. ⁷And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us today our daily bread.
¹²And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.’

No big words- You don’t need to use words you don’t understand. God is happy with your own language straight from your heart.

Stay with your own personality- dont change personality when you pray. God loves you so be your self. Some people who are fun and happy people become very intense. Just imagine how that looks to new people and to God. It looks fake. Or maybe its a learned behavior. The next generation doesn’t want that! They want to be authentic. They are modeling how we interact with God.

Pray to God, not the people. This takes off the pressure to give God the whole back-story of my prayer. He already knows!! Just get the prayer.

Baptisms

The majority of prayer is private, not corporate. Come to church praying, not ready to pray. Get your own space, anywhere anytime. Prayer meetings are good as long as they don’t become ways to distinguish the classes of prayers. scoring their prayers out of 10 and comparing. If we are praying all the time, then when we come together to pray its going to be exciting and powerful.

Fast is good- Jesus’ famous prayer was about 20 seconds long. Most of Jesus’ prayers for healing where 1-3 second prayers. But they came from passion and faith. Length is not the measure god is looking for, its heartfelt and passionate! This is good news for MEN!

Students

Philippians 1:3-4 New International Version (NIV) I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy

Turning thoughts into prayers-Paul says whenever i think about you, I pray for you. What an exciting way to pray! Worry changes nothing. turn them into prayer. Elevator, walking, on the train ( internally) etc. Im not great with lists but I CAN DO THIS!

What should you pray about? whatever, whoever God is brining to your mind is a good way to start. If your reading Gods word and journaling then your thoughts will more and more be on the things of God so don’t stress - Pray over the big picture things on your mind. Work, church, the city, spouse or future spouse ( one of the other!), your family, leaders. This will motivate you to pray more.

As the whole church turns thoughts to prayers will the prayer level increase or decrease? INCREASE .

Think through are there any areas of prayer which have become religious ( not heart-felt, methodology instead of passion)?

Come back to simple prayer! God is a good father and wants you to pray to him. start praying again today!

Baptisms at Jesus Lifehouse International Church Osaka

lukepk1 — Mon, 14 May 2012 03:31:25 +0000

Yesterday Jesus Lifehouse International Osaka church was the biggest services ever then after church we had baptisms! We use a another church building for our baptisms. 12 great people were baptized in one the most moving baptisms I’ve ever seen!

7 boys and 5 girls got in!

We ask what does Jesus mean to you when after we baptise people and some of the answers were

” He is the foundation of my life “

” He is my father”

“He is my everything!”

One young guy told about he was a drug dealer until he came home one day and his mum wanted to kill herself because of what he had become. After that a friend invited him to church- it was an old church. He walked out and thought i don’t need God. Then one our young guys met him and brought him to church- He realized this is it! He gave his life to Jesus and Changed so much! Now he was so thankful to Jesus.

So proud of our young life group leaders many who have been leading for a few months baptized their first people. They are so confident to lead their friends to Jesus! Well done!

Another person talked about how they were told by doctors they would not live to be a university student. Now they are in 3rd year university and God has saved their life! So thankful to Jesus!

One of the best times of Baptisms is when people pray for each other at the end! I love seeing the passionate prayers of life groups for each other.

( thanks Saki for the great Photos)

2011 update

lukepk1 — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:13:35 +0000

2011 in Jesus Lifehouse international church Osaka was the biggest ever. Thankyou for your support.

Here is an update of some of the things happening with young Japanese becoming Christians and being discipled here.

In 2011 over 1100 new people came to church, not including the events that we didn’t or any of the outreach programs we did in universities, schools and more across the city.
We had 270 people make decisions for Jesus – many of those peopLe had never heard the gospel before.
Our Christmas production saw over 400 people in church that week with 28 decisions for Jesus.
Right now we have around 32 life groups lead by 80% Japanese mostly saved and discipled in our church.
Overall, the church grew everywhere by almost 100 people. Most of these people are Japanese who had never heard the gospel, Jesus or ever been to church.
Some of the most exciting things for us were to see about 40 baptisms in the year
a lot more ministries starting. These include teens! Our teenagers are amazing and passionate. Young professionals network for working people. University go to the next level. Families joining the church and getting saved. Our young people leading their families to god!
New leaders – 10 new life groups.

Izumi and I are so excited about what god is going to do in 2012. We have some amazing things planned for this year so keep in touch. Thank you for supporting and praying for Japan!

God bless.

Luke and izumi kennedy.

Baptisms in Osaka Jesus Lifehouse (churchplantingjapan.wordpress.com)