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The small German-speaking congregation in Hua Hin experienced special days. It started off rather sadly. A long-time special friend, retired District Evangelist Bruno Odermatt, passed away at the age of 68, and on Sunday, October 20th, Apostle Fred Wolf held a memorial and comfort service in our church in Hua Hin. It was quite a difficult moment, especially for the family, Bruno’s colleagues, and the congregation he served. Our comfort is that in communion with Christ, we remain connected until we meet again.

The greatest comfort is always found in shared joy. District Apostle Edy Isnugroho, along with Apostle Samuel Tansahtikno, visited Hua Hin from October 25 to 28 for a special gathering. Our German/English-speaking brothers and sisters and a good number of Thai members shared special moments of fellowship, conversations, delicious Thai food, and the highlight on Sunday, the celebration of service. The church was filled to capacity.

A particular joy was brought by the reinstating of Brother Donovan Daniels from South Africa into the Priestly ministry, allowing services to be offered again in Bangkok after a long time. Brother Martin Sowa from Germany was reinstated as a Deacon, thereby strengthening the congregation in Hua Hin. Not only joy but also some heartache was caused by the retirement of Priest Oswin from Chiang Mai. He was loved and highly regarded. He had retired from Germany and then accepted the pastoral mandate as a Priest for Chiang Mai for another 10 years. An impressive service for the Lord spanning almost 50 years. He truly deserved an honorable retirement. There are not many in the entire worldwide church like Oswin.

On Saturday, everyone was able to relax during a three-hour boat trip off the coast of Hua Hin, enjoying the breathtaking coastline and scenery. All local members happily shared the incurred costs to make this special experience possible.
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Thailand is indeed a special country where we belong to the Christian minority. Yet, the perseverance of loyal brothers and sisters kept the small flock together, and the church looks back on around 50 active years

God loves man as the husband loves his wife. But how about us? The Chief Apostle urged the congregation to appreciate their election.

 “Then he said to me, ‘Write: “Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!”’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true sayings of God.’” (Revelation 19:9) This was the Bible text for the divine service on 17 March 2024 in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

“Today we have a very well-known word about the marriage supper of the Lamb. And we know it, it refers to the first resurrection.” Chief Apostle used the image of spouses and fiances to illustrate the relationship between God and humankind. “God was a faithful husband. But His wife, Israel, was not faithful.”

Beyond an image

“It’s just an image, but it tells us something,” Chief Apostle went to explain. God loves humankind out of love and not because of his merit. Out of His love, the Son of God renounced God’s glory to come to earth to deliver us from sin and called us to eternal fellowship with Him.

“And we love our husband, our bridegroom. We have a good reason to love Him. We love Him because He loves us.” If we do his will, it’s not to be rewarded. But just because we love Him and we want to please Him. A relationship of love.

The New Testament uses the image of the wedding feast to illustrate Christ’s return and God’s eternal fellowship with His people. They will experience perfect joy and peace. We will praise God in eternity. “Imagine how grateful we will be,” said the Chief Apostle. Being delivered from earth, from the evil one, from all the suffering, the injustice, the violence, from everything we suffer from on earth. And finally, we will be in perfect fellowship with one another, the living and the dead.

Our election: source of peace and joy

Already today, faith in our election brings us great peace and joy. “Let us be thankful for our election. Let us be joyful that we know that God loves us. we are loved by the One who is absolutely perfect and holy for no reason. And we can be sure He loves us. That is a great joy and a great peace: I know I’m loved.”

Another aspect to be grateful for is that He has given us the certainty that He will come to take us with Him. “That’s not just a probability, that is our certainty!“ We can be absolutely certain that Jesus Christ will come to lead us into His kingdom.

A foretaste of the marriage supper in heaven

Here, today, we can already have a foretaste of this feast of marriage in heaven through the worthy celebration of Holy Communion. Each time we celebrate Holy Communion, we thank God for having sent His Son, and we thank God for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We receive also the strength we need to do the will of God. “Let us celebrate Holy Communion as a true preparation and anticipation of the marriage of Lamb in heaven,” Chief Apostle went to conclude his sermon.

“Prayer works!” is the motto of the New Apostolic Church for the year 2024. In his New Year’s address, the Chief Apostle explains how prayer works and gives initial impulses on how we can tap into the power of prayer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hGXFRATnvI

Dear brothers and sisters,

Regardless of what we may experience in the coming year, there is a source of strength that is often underestimated: our personal prayer! We are absolutely convinced that prayer works!

And this is the motto I would like to issue for 2024: Prayer works!

As always, our example in this is Jesus Christ. He had intimate conversations with His Father. He prayed for His own, He intercedes for us today. His prayers are effective. This gives us comfort and confidence for the coming year.

What are the effects of prayer?

Prayer makes us grateful. In fact, praying is giving thanks. It is praise, thanksgiving, and worship. But we don’t always feel like praising; on the contrary, we often feel more like complaining or grumbling. In such moments, it is important to reflect on what God has done for us. He has strengthened, preserved, and blessed us. And this makes us grateful.

Prayer makes us compassionate. Our intercessions are inspired by Jesus. In intercession we move away from ourselves and our own wishes, and direct our attention to the needs and requirements of our neighbour. We pray for our neighbours because we care about their well-being. We want to do more than just sympathise or feel pity. Let us rather be active, and comfort, strengthen, and help others.

Prayer makes us strong. We do not pray just in case, thinking: “Maybe it will work.” Our prayer is based on our experience: we know that God helps. Even if His answer sometimes surprises us: our trust in Him makes us confident. And this strengthens us to continue on our way.

Prayer sanctifies us. When we go to a quiet place to pray, the noise of the world falls silent and our relationship with God becomes the focus. Like Jesus, let us go into the desert or up a mountain: let us withdraw from outside influences and adopt a different perspective. Doing so helps us to remain serene in these fast-moving times.

Prayer unites us. We do not only pray the Lord’s Prayer with one another but also for one another. The whole congregation prays for your daily bread and the forgiveness of your sins. When we pray, we all stand before God together.

So much for the effect. But what about our prayer practice?

Just a few hints:

Let us pray always. We should not only pray to God when things are going particularly well or particularly bad. Let us pray in every situation.

Let us pray sincerely. Prayer is more than just meditation. It is our personal dialogue with God. We cannot hide anything from Him. He will answer. Let us be sincere and earnest when it comes to our prayers.

Let us also pray together. This not only applies to the congregation, but also to families and couples. Those who pray together open themselves up to one another, which creates closeness and strengthens the bonds between one another.

Let us aways ask in the name of Jesus. The Son of God taught us to always pray first for our salvation. Because then we can be sure: “Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.”

Dear brothers and sisters, so let us tap into the power of prayer and realise how great it is. This is our programme for 2024.

I wish you all a blessed New Year.

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