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From the 7th to the 14th of November Christians worldwide will be praying specifically for our brothers and sisters living in persecution. These days of prayer are known as IDOP (International Days of Prayers for Persecuted Christians). Thank you for faithfully standing in the gap for our brothers and sisters who are living amidst persecution. Your prayers are worth more than all the silver in the world to them. The theme of IDOP 2021 is: Matthew 5:11. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.

An overview of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Registered organizations are considered to be juristic persons, i.e. they are separate legal entities. It is vitally important to have an understanding of what it means to operate an organization and whether to register or not. All churches need to know the laws of their country and keep up to date with changes.

Let’s briefly consider a modern congregational church and what a typical structure could look like. There are 4 areas of the local church which can be represented by 4 relationships the church has. They are: 1) Up-Reach: The church reaching up by communicating and giving to God. 2) Down-Reach: God reaching down by communicating and giving to the church. 3) Out-Reach: The church reaching out to those outside the church. 4) In-Reach: The church reaching in to those inside the church.

There are only 2 officers in a local New Testament church - namely elders and deacons. Some churches adopt a system whereby a single “lead elder” (or pastor) has a board of deacons. But the NT church had a plurality of elders within each congregation.

An overview of the epistles of: 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude

- Called - Anointing - Anointing produces effective ministry - Called to preach - Qualifications for ministry

1 John 1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. Yet professing Christians don’t attend Church and try justify their actions with “The Church is full of hypocrites.” However, Christians in Countries closed to the Gospel risk imprisonment and even death by obeying the instruction of God’s Word to Fellowship.

An overview of the General epistles of: - James - 1 Peter - 2 Peter

The word deacon is derived from the Greek word diakonos, which means “servant”, “minister” or “an administrator”. Depending on context, at times diakonos is simply translated “servant”. While elders see to the discipline, doctrine and spiritual well-being of the church, deacons are generally concerned with the material or practical side of a church’s operation, assisting in church business.

Most couples are looking for a marriage that will last and bring happiness! It is referred to as a “Match made in Heaven.” However while some marriages are seemingly made in heaven, they still have to be lived out here on earth. That, in itself, makes them all less than perfect. But there is a marriage that will be successful, it is the eternal marriage, not made between a man and a woman, but between Jesus Christ himself and believers who receive Him as their Saviour.

Perhaps some of us would not be too keen to admit that we are superstitious, but I’ve encountered quite a number of Christians that have been influenced by this teaching of “blood line curses”, “generational curses” and so on.

An overview of the epistle of Paul to Philemon.

An overview of Paul's epistles to the Thessalonians.

The missing blue thread in the prayer shawl.

IS THE CHURCH LED BY APOSTLES AND PROPHETS OR BY ELDERS AND DEACONS? In the late 1940’s some admirers of the controversial William Branham in Western Canada (not Branham himself) started what would become known as the Latter Rain Movement. They thought that this “new wave” of the Spirit was the “latter rain” referred to in Joel 2:23, “Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he has given you the former rain faithfully, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.” (KJV) They interpreted the “latter rain” as an end-times outpouring of the Holy Spirit which would be greater than the “former rain” (the Day of Pentecost). Not even the original apostles, they believed, had witnessed such a movement of the Holy Spirit. However, they believed that God was restoring the ministries of apostle and prophet in the present day.

An overview of: - 1 Timothy - 2 Timothy - Titus

Communion is a memorial in which Christians identify with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and remember the Lord's broken body and the blood he shed for us. Along with baptism, Communion is a Covenant sign. 1 Cor 11:25 (ESV) In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” [cf. Matt 26:27-28]

Evangelism is recognized as one of the Five-fold miniseries. It also follows, you would expect Evangelists to operate mostly outside of the Church. The true Evangelist comes with a sense of urgency. He / she believes in hell, eternity and judgement. Evangelists have a God-given, unique passion for those without Christ.

The New Testament has been preserved in more manuscripts than any other ancient work of literature, with: - over 5,800 complete or fragmented Greek manuscripts - 10,000 Latin manuscripts - 9,300 manuscripts in various other ancient languages including Syriac, Slavic, Gothic, Ethiopic, Coptic and Armenian. The dates of these manuscripts range from c. 125 (the ??52 papyrus, oldest copy of John fragments) to the introduction of printing in Germany in the 15th century.

Christians are instructed to fellowship with other believers. Heb 10:25 (NIV) not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. The recipients of the letter of Hebrews were being persecuted for their faith. Maybe some had stopped fellowshipping because of their fear of persecution and possible death. Many have stopped fellowshipping today because of their fear of infection and possible death by a virus. Even when there are no restrictions or eased restrictions they don’t fellowship.

Chapter 8 - Income and Expenditure Chapter 9 - Cash Flow Statements Chapter 10 - Income Statements Chapter 11 - Budgets Chapter 12 - Break even Point Chapter 13 - Management Accounting Chapter 14 - Balance Sheet & Financial Position Statement Chapter 15 - Depreciate your way to a healthier non-profit

Some interpret this 1000 years allegorically. They understand the 1000 years as merely a figurative way of saying “a long period of time,” not a literal, physical reign of Jesus Christ on the earth. However, 6 times in Revelation 20:1-7, the millennial kingdom is specifically said to be 1000 years in length. If God wished to communicate “a long period of time,” He could have easily done so without explicitly and repeatedly mentioning an exact time frame 6 times in 7 verses.

- Introduction - Misconceptions of Spiritual Gifts - Discover Your Spiritual Gifts - Different Gifts - Miraculous Gifts - Serving Gifts - The Motivational Gifts - Grace Gifts

An overview of the epistles of Paul to the: - Philippians - Colossians