Christ the King Church

Our life is all about God. He is our Maker and Redeemer, and we delight to serve Him. Our desire is that you know Him also.

God your Creator

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, “I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone.” – Isaiah the prophet, Isaiah 44:24

The Bible talks about us being “fearfully and wonderfully made.” The more that medical and scientific experts delve into the astounding complexities of our makeup, the more obvious it is that mere chance plus time cannot have created mankind – let alone the universe. We were made by God, in order to enjoy Him, serve Him, and glorify Him.

One who can create the heavens and the earth by His word of power is no-one to trifle with! Happily, God is intimately involved with His creation, providing for the creatures He has made and superintending the innumerable details of a vast and glorious universe.

But what is wrong with this picture? Mankind has chosen to rebel. Each of us, according to God’s Word, has gone astray, and chosen a pathway of self-centered sin against God. God’s sovereign power and holy standards have not been altered by our sin; however, we’ve brought about a separation from our Creator, so that we do not walk in trusting fellowship with Him.

Nonetheless, God has revealed Himself as a Redeemer – one who will purchase back His straying creatures from self-inflicted bondage. That is the good news about Jesus Christ.

Christ the Savior

I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. – Paul the Apostle, Galatians 2:20

Our church exists because of a person who lived two thousand years ago – who was born miraculously of a virgin, who lived a spotless life of love and holiness, and who gave Himself as an offering for human sin. This person, Jesus Christ, was crucified (though He was guiltless) by sinful men, but all as part of the plan of God to rescue a fallen race from its deadly addiction to sin and rebellion.

It was the love of God that impelled Him to send His Son as a Savior, and it is the power of that resurrected Savior which has cleansed us of our guilt and given us new life. Jesus stated plainly, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no-one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

We unashamedly hold Him forth as the only One who can take away the guilt of our lawlessness, purge the stain of our sinful impurity, overcome the power of sin in our daily lives, and make us stand, in the final day, spotless and blameless in the presence of God our Father.

It is certainly true that there are many other religions, many other notions of God, many other man-centered ways of attempting to remove guilt and bridge the gulf between man and God. But there is only one Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He still calls His people out of their sins and gathers them together in churches to serve and proclaim Him – which is why Christ the King Evangelical Free Church exists today.

We invite you to read the Bible – where Christ now speaks to people who seek Him – and join us as we worship Him on our way to His heavenly kingdom.

Knowing God

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God, and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

We love, because He first loved us.

– John the Apostle, 1 John 3:1-3, 4:19

It is certainly true – and the conscience of every person instinctively testifies – that God is infinitely great, wise, powerful, and just. We run from Him in fear because our consciences also testify that we are thankless lawbreakers who reject Him and live self-willed, impure lives. However, when we come to hear of the love of God for sinners – love that reaches out, calls us back, and offers to cleanse us of guilt and make us His children – we can only respond in faith and love and service.

It is the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, that fills our hearts and enables us to love God. God is not impressed with empty religious rituals or vain attempts to appease Him with our own good works. Instead, He pours out His love and wins our hearts to Him by giving us a wonderful Savior.

Reading the New Testament accounts of Jesus’ life, we cannot help but be amazed by His kindness to the unworthy, and we are struck by the response of love and service from those who tasted of His mercy. Those who taste of the love of God do not go on in a lifestyle of sin, but instead aspire, in a practical day-to-day walk, to obey Him in gratitude, faith, and holiness.

If you do not love God from the bottom of your heart for His immense mercies poured out in Jesus Christ, then we urge to put aside all false and empty religious notions and fix your gaze upon Jesus Christ as He is proclaimed in the Bible. Only by believing in His gospel can your relationship with God be changed from disobedient rebel to loving child, and your heart transformed from impure hardness to godly purity.

Serving God

Whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

– Jesus, Matthew 10:24

What does it mean to serve God? Does it involve selling everything, and going off to labor in some obscure land for the souls of those who have never heard the gospel?

In some cases, yes. But for the majority of Christians, it means living a disciplined and loving life among neighbors, filled with acts of service as simple as giving a cup of water, or shoveling snow from a driveway, or just listening. The doorway of truth into the hearts of our neighbors is generally opened by a lifestyle of kindness, consistency, and holiness.

Some are called to serve God in full-time ministry, but all are to serve Him in legitimate callings, whether that be as a nurse, homemaker, businessman, public servant, or student. Faithfulness is generally displayed, not in the spectacular, but in the mundane. Being a disciple of Jesus means serving Him with our thoughts, attitudes, words, and actions, day in and day out, whether or not anyone else is watching.

We do support, and get involved with, wonderful people and organizations that are reaching out to the lost, and providing tangible help to the needy. We are seeking to touch the unconverted in France, the recovering addicts in our own community, and the hurting who are dealing with an untimely pregnancy. We hope, by God’s grace, to do much more in the future to serve Him, while being faithful right now to all that He has given us to do.

Eternal Life

He who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

– Jesus, John 5:24

Eternal life begins, in a very real way, when any man or woman, boy or girl, believes in Jesus as the only and perfect Savior of sinners. At that moment, the punishment of sin is taken away through the sacrifice of Jesus, and a new life is given to the believing heart. This is rebirth, a new beginning; as the Bible puts it, “old things have passed away, new things have come.”

This new life, given by God through His Holy Spirit (who comes to dwell in the heart of each believer), shows itself by an increasing rejection of the sinful choices that lead to death, and an increasing affection for God and His ways. Faith, love, and obedience mark the renewed person; no longer following his own way, or the opinions of those around him, he is now a disciple of one Lord, Jesus Christ.

But this life is merely the blink of an eye, compared to the eternity that awaits. Jesus has promised a fellowship with Himself that lasts forever. When our bodies give out in death, our souls are ushered into God’s presence, there awaiting a new resurrection body, like the one possessed by our resurrected Lord. Going on in sin and unbelief leads inevitably to judgment and an eternal death; the free gift of God through Jesus Christ, however, is the removal of all guilt that would condemn us, and the bestowing of the righteousness of Christ upon anyone who believes.

Heaven is a social place. God is there, along with countless saints. Here at CTK, we enjoy the presence of God on earth, and we seek to taste a bit of heaven every time we meet together in loving fellowship and worship.