Berlin Immanuel Gemeinde

Immanuel Gemeinde Berlin lädt ein zum “Bible Camp” im Juli 2023

editor — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 09:16:13 +0000

In Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Gemeinden des Olivet Assembly Europe, veranstaltet die Immanuel Gemeinde Berlin ein “Bible Camp” in den kommenden Sommerferien vom 14.-16. Juli 2023. Das “Bible Camp” ermöglicht Christen europaweit Gemeinschaft im Wort Gottes zu haben und den persönlichen Glauben zu vertiefen, durch Bibellektionen, Gebetszeiten, Städtetour und Workshops.

Das Camp wird in Deutschland stattfinden mit einer Altersbeschränkung von 18-30 Jahre. Der Fokus liegt auf das Thema Erlösung durch Jesus Christus und die Freude und Freiheit, die die Erlösten genießen können. Auch werden spezielle Workshops über das Thema Reformation und Martin Luther abgehalten.

Die Immanuel Gemeinde Berlin lädt Interessenten herzlich ein teilzunehmen. Mit dem untenstehenden Link kann die Registrierung erfolgen. Für weitere Informationen, kann das Kontaktformular verwendet werden.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeDdaw5J4hpWWtMSkVCghmPIS7C4vgtiW9011lt3a3ZoXsIAg/viewform

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Renovation Works of Christian Education Center Supported by ELER Begin

editor — Mon, 17 Oct 2022 06:20:06 +0000

Berlin Immanuel Church is preparing one property for future uses as an University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule). The progress is moving forward step by step and this month the renovation works begin.

Regarding the renovation works, the roof of the blue building and the window shutters will be supported by the ELER.

It is hoped the renovation can be accomplished successfully.

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Summer Retreat

Macey Kim — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 11:05:53 +0000

The summer retreat will be held on August 13-15th. The aim of the retreat is spiritual renewal of members as well as presenting the story of the Bible to the newcomers through Romans. There will be Bible studies, praise, prayer and fun activities.

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Surely God Is Good To Israel, But As For Me, I Had Nearly Lost My Foothold

Macey Kim — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 16:48:58 +0000

15 November, 2020 – When Zophar insists on God’s legalistic treatment of his friend (book of Job 20-21), Job refutes the claim that God’s justice can always be observed in his punishment of the wicked and his blessing of the righteous. It is simply not true that the ungodly live a short and miserable life. God doesn’t discriminate and he shows his mercy and goodness to all. God is patient and overlooks our sins for a time, leading us to repentance with his kindness (Rom 2:4). Zophar’s view of God was very narrow, he never looked outside of his own limited experience and the wisdom of his ancestors. Job challenged him to ask the travelers and listen to their accounts, and examine and test his own observations and beliefs. But if the legalistic view of God’s love is wrong and God shows no partiality, if he indeed causes his sun to rise on both the evil and the good (Mat 5:45), and equally allows them to suffer, what advantage is there to live righteously? What advantage is there to believe in God and pray (Job 21:15)? As Christians, we must ask this question sooner or later, and we should be ready to give the reason for our faith that is often made or broken over this.

Asaph, the author of Psalm 73, looked at the prosperity of the wicked and he felt regret that he devoted his life to God. He was deeply troubled by this question – why do the ungodly prosper, why do they experience no struggle and illness, but the godly must suffer? Asaph saw how the wicked mock God and yet go on unpunished, while he had worked hard to keep his heart and hands pure before God just to suffer affliction every day. Asaph began to envy the ungodly, and he almost lost the foothold of his faith, but as he entered God’s sanctuary (Ps 73:16-17) to find answer to what troubled him so deeply, he repented that he had questioned God’s goodness. Asaph realized that in his bitterness, he was ignorant of God’s mercy towards him (vs 21-22). He realized that the Lord did not reject him when he doubted God’s love and when he questioned his goodness and wisdom, instead he held him by his hand and lead him through his struggle (vs 23). When we realize that there is no greater blessing than to be in God’s presence (vs 28) and that itself is an amazing gift of God’s grace, we are humbled immediately and our hearts go towards those who perish without knowing God’s love in Christ (vs 27). We will never envy those who don’t know God and we will never pity ourselves if we truly know the greatness of God’s grace given to us in Christ Jesus, and we will never again be legalistic and uncompassionate as Zophar was to his neighbor, but we will simply love because He first loved us.

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New Year’s Service

Macey Kim — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 20:00:01 +0000

Immanuel to host New Year’s Service, offering the very first day to God. Please come to celebrate the beginning of the Year with us!

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Christmas mini-retreat

Macey Kim — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 19:58:03 +0000

Immanuel Church 2020 Christmas mini-retreat will be held from December 18. The event will be consist of Bible lectures, fellowships, activities and etc.

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Sunday Service: He Who Withholds Kindness From a Friend

Macey Kim — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 13:02:21 +0000

27 September, 2020 – Job’s response to his friend’s accusations in chapters 6 and 7 reminds us that we should live the life of gospel, of being servants of God’s grace. Eliphaz failed to see God’s grace and ended up condemning his friend, instead of being an agent of God’s grace when his friend needed it the most, he became the agent of the enemy. But the life of the gospel is to fix our eyes on Christ who became our servant and gave his life for us. And when we see this great grace God demonstrated on the cross, we can’t help but make ourselves servant of his grace to others. Apostle Paul comforted believers in Corinth in their suffering, reminding them that because we have Christ, God’s power is revealed in our weaknesses and when we live for his glory, serving others, we see God’s grace extend more and more and bringing hope to others to the glory of God – 2 Cor 4:5-15.

Job’s suffering was great, his burden was too heavy to carry by himself (Job 6:1), but his friend failed to show him compassion. When we suffer greatly, it is hard to see grace in our life. Job lost hope, there was nothing for him to expect (Job 6:11) and he felt helpless and useless (Job 6:13). And although Eliphaz’s words were right, they were tasteless to Job (Job 6:6) and only caused disappointment (Job 6:20), because they offered no comfort when it was most needed (Job 6:15). Withholding kindness and grace from others when we have received so much from God is a sin (Job 6:14), no matter how right our words may be (Job 6:25).

Apostle Paul, who once used to persecute God’s people, thinking he was right, thinking he was the agent of God’s rigtheousness, found out painfully on the road to Damascus that he has been the agent of the enemy and had been persecuting the Son of God. But just as shockingly, the Lord did not give him the punishment he deserved, instead he gave him grace and showed him that the punishment for our sins was carried by our Savior. Let us be those who don’t look away from those who suffer (Job 6:28), even when they speak with bitterness, for impetuousness comes from pain (Job 6:2). Let us remember the heart of God who gave his Son so that we could be healed and comforted in his grace, and let us live as servants to others, bringing hope and encouragement that comes from the grace of God, a hope that is eternal (2 Cor 4:16-17).

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Sunday Service: Let Us Draw Near to God with a Sincere Heart

Macey Kim — Mon, 10 Aug 2020 16:13:48 +0000

9 August, 2020 – Opening with Hebrews 10:19-27, the sermon looked at important lessons for our faith that are provided in the book of Exodus dealing with the construction of the tabernacle. The priority for Israel was not to rush to the Promised Land, but first to follow the heavenly pattern shown to Moses and construct the tabernacle according to God’s instructions so that God may dwell with his people. Many think of salvation as simply getting to heaven, but clearly, salvation is about coming to God and learning to live with him first. We must know and follow God’s will to be able to pass through the wilderness of life and enter his kingdom. One of the most important things we must learn is to commune with God through prayer. The altar of incense (Exodus 30:1-10) symbolizes prayer (Ps 141:2, Luke 1:10, Rev 5:8), and so looking at this altar, we can learn about what our prayer life should be like, since what Moses was shown was a heavenly pattern according to which all was built.

First, the fire for the burning of the incense was to be taken only from the bronze altar of sacrifice, not any fire was to be used (Lev 16:12-13). The sacrifice points to the cross of Christ which is our altar and the only sacrifice for sins that is needed. And so our prayer must always be in the name of Jesus, it must be based on the sacrifice of Christ. A true prayer is not about powerful or beautiful words, but one that exalts the works of Christ. What an amazing blessing we have, that God gave us a way to pray and have communion with him! For how is it that the holy God should hear the prayer of sinners, and yet he hears us when we come to him through Christ. Secondly, the incense was a mixture of specific spices (Ex 30:34-38), not any kind of blend would do. And so our prayer must not be a senseless babbling, but it should follow the pattern of the Lord’s prayer that Jesus gave to his disciples. We must receive the Spirit who helps us in our weakness and who leads us in a prayer that is according to the will of God (Rom 8:26).

Lastly, the prayer was to be seasoned with salt (Ex 30:35) which was a symbol of purity and holiness, and also God’s covenant (Lev 2:13). And once a year, on the day of Atonement, the priest would cleanse the altar of the burned offering with the blood of the atoning sin offering (Ex 30:10). And so we must remember that we are in a holy covenant with God, through the blood of the Lamb, and offer prayer that is pure and holy. We must repent and be renewed first, for how can God receive a prayer from a sinful and unrepentant heart? And so we see, that the making of the tabernacle was not about making furniture but a pattern of life that taught God’s people how to properly approach him, receive his grace and live a life that is a living pleasing sacrifice to God. And we will do well to learn and follow the pattern shown to us in Christ as well.

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Sunday Service: Acknowledge And Take to Heart That the Lord Is God

Macey Kim — Wed, 20 May 2020 13:11:09 +0000

17 May, 2020 – Berlin Immanuel Church continued studying the Ten Commandments this Sunday. The First Commandment in Exodus 20:3 exhorts us to examine our hearts and acknowledge that there is no other god (Deut 4:39) in our life but the Lord who loved us in Christ Jesus. There were many gods in Egypt that Moses could name, but the purpose of the Commandment is not to give us a list of false gods. There is only one God who created the heaven and earth, and only one God who gave His Son for our sins, there simply is no other. So our highest devotion must belong to Him only. God uses revelation to make Himself know to us – Deut 4:32-34. Not that He needs to prove Himself – Deut 4:35 – but that we may know Him. The Commandment thus exposes the false ‘gods’ in our life, things that are our highest goal, things we give our highest devotion to before God. If God is not at the highest place in our life, we end up replacing Him with other ‘gods’ and we break the First Commandment.

So since our main concern is to be for God to be God in all aspects of our life, the list of false gods is not necessary, nevertheless the Bible gives us plenty of examples of the kind of things that commonly compete with God in our lives. The most common one is the desire for possessions and earthly security in them. Jesus taught us to “store up treasures in heaven” instead of on earth – Mt 6:19-21. We cannot serve two masters, either God is in the highest place or the possessions, they can’t both be in the same place, because they are not equal – Mt 6:24. In the Parable of the Rich Fool, in Luke 12:13-21, Jesus taught us that “man’s life does not consists in the abundance of possessions”. The rich fool used the possessions as if they were the goal and purpose in life, making himself abundant beyond what is necessary. But our earthly life is not the end and when we stand before God, if our goal in life was rich towards ourselves and not towards God, we will stand before Him empty handed in the end – Luke 12:21. The rich young man who came to Jesus to enquire about inheriting eternal life left sad because even though the kept the Commandment of loving his neighbor, he broke the First Commandment. He wasn’t able to follow the Messiah because he loved his possessions before God. So that is a clear sign that we break the First Commandment, when God asks us to follow him but we have something more important to do first. Our response to God’s calling shows where our heart truly. Those who are gripped by greed must repent and those who are overcome with worry must learn to trust the Lord, for when we follow Him and seek His Kingdom first, he will graciously provide all things – Mat 6:25-33. For if we have God who did not spare His own Son, how will He not give us all things – Rom 8:32.

For most people, and most Christians, our own happiness becomes the highest purpose and goal in life. If this god of happiness takes God’s place in our life, we treat God as a means to our happiness, God is here to help us to get what we desire. Of course God loves us and wants us to be happy, but to be happy is not the purpose of our life. We experience the fulness of joy in life when we rejoice in the Lord, when God is our goal, our joy is true and lasting. The self-centered pursuit of happiness of man is a false god. The purpose and commandment for man since Adam, through Noah, Abraham and Moses is to be a blessing to many. It is this outgoing sacrificial agape love shown to us fully in Christ that moves the believers since the time of apostles until God’s Kingdom is fulfilled to go to the ends of the earth and be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, being a blessing to many and serving in the love of God. Our life is to be a living sacrifice – Rom 12:1, not a self-serving pursuit of my own happiness and comfort. Only when we unite with Christ and His life, we can experience the joy of the gospel-like life and be truly fulfilled.

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Pentecost Retreat 2020

Macey Kim — Wed, 20 May 2020 13:03:37 +0000

Pentecost Retreat will take place on 31st May 2020. Plans are still be formalized and the schedule re-formatted given the current social-distancing rules in place in Berlin. It is likely that the Pentecost event will be held online and include Bible Studies and prayer meetings. Further announcements will be made in due course.

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