During the month of August 2009, our churches around the world are focusing their prayers on their neighbors. [click on the title or heading above to make the "print this page" icon appear for easy printing]

“The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them.” – Psalm 34:7

We are praying for the salvation of our neighbors, and also for God to bless them and to help us have good relationships with them.

We also pray for those who live around the church building or meeting place itself.  They have easy access to the church services, giving a good opportunity for the Lord to bring them to salvation and for them to mature in their faith as they attend a church near their home.  It is also important to avoid, if possible, any problems with the neighbors who live around the place where we have services.

• During the first week, we devote our early morning prayers (6 am) to this subject.
• During the second week, the churches fast together each day until 9 am.
• During the third week, the churches have noon prayer meetings devoted to this topic.
• During the fourth week, the church members should make an extra effort to invite their neighbors to church, in faith that the previous three weeks of prayer and fasting by the whole church for this subject will release a blessing for this outreach.

Recommended Prayer List for This Month:

• For salvation of neighbors (in the early mornings and during family services at home);
• For a good testimony from the members’ families to their neighbors;
• For good relationships with the neighbors, so that they can be reached for the Lord;
• For the Lord to reveal the needs of the neighbors;
• For the Lord to bestow grace and to honor the brethren’s efforts in inviting their neighbors.

Guidelines for having a good relationship with those who live around the place where the church meets for services:

• Respect the privacy of those who live next to the church, whether they are members or not.
• In all the services, but especially in the early morning prayer meetings, avoid having loud conversations at the entrance of the church, singing loud enough to be a nuisance to others, slamming car doors, etc.
• Avoid making noise from services late at night that could wake neighbors who are sleeping.
• Do not park your cars blocking the entrance to other people’s driveways and garages.
• Make sure the children do not sit on walls or go into people’s yards to play without permission.

Remember: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”

- Romans 12:18

During the month of July 2009, Maranatha Churches around the world are focusing their prayers on the co-workers of the church members (the people with whom we interact at our jobs or workplace).

We are praying for the salvation of our co-workers, and also for God to bless the members of the churches at their jobs, and to provide jobs for members who are currently unemployed.

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Colossians 1:6 - “All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.”

The response to our recent evangelistic campaigns in Brazil – has been unprecedented. For us, this is a special moment, a final great harvest before the Lord returns. The photos here tell the story well.

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“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  - Matthew 28:19

“Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’” – Acts 2:38

“Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and his entire household believed in the Lord; and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptized.” – Acts 18:8

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“…And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”  - Genesis 12:3

God wants to bless each person individually with salvation and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  In addition, the Bible teaches that God has special blessings he intends to give to families as a whole, not just to individuals in isolation.  

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Genesis 46:33-34 - When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’  Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.” 

Joseph wanted to bring his family to Egypt to live with him, so that they would survive the famine that afflicted that entire region in those days.  Once he had convinced his entire family to come there – which had been very difficult – he wanted them to settle in Goshen, the most fertile region of Egypt.  To ensure that they could settle there, he coached them on what to say to Pharaoh during their meeting with him – that they were shepherds. 

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Jonah 4:1-3 - “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry.  He prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish.  I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

The prophet understood the nature of prophecy – that normally God predicts judgment in an effort to turn people to repentance. Jonah did not want God to have the opportunity to show mercy to Israel’s enemies. He was being nationalistic, putting his naitonalism before God’s purposes.

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Ephesians 4:11-13 - It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

EVANGELISTS ARE PART OF THE FIVE FOLD MINISTRY: Evangelists are pastors whom the Lord uses a lot in bringing unbelievers to salvation. That is their primary function in the Body – to bring conversions and growth in numbers. Because of the need for this in every church, pastor-evangelists are often shared between many churches instead of being responsible for a local congregation. They usually exercise their ministry in conjunction with another (more pastoral or teaching-oriented) ministry so that the new believers receive adequate teaching and substance in their spiritual lives. continue

“If I preach voluntarily, I have a reward; if not voluntarily, I am simply discharging the trust committed to me.  What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge, and so not make use of my rights in preaching it.”   - 1 Corinthians 9:17-18 continue

Titus 1:3 – “and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior…”  

In this passage, Paul first mentions that his preaching “brought the Word to light.”  It was the revealed Word.  Paul’s preaching was all from the Old Testament, of course, and his preaching opened up the Word and showed the Light, which is Jesus, in every story.  The New Testament did not yet exist (in written form) when Paul started preaching, so he was limited to the 39 books of the Old Testament – but this tells us something about the usefulness of these Scriptures in bringing people to Christ.  They were sufficient for Paul to preach and present Christ everywhere he went in a way that touched hearts and produced conversions.  Some denominations today preach exclusively from the New Testament, not understanding that the Old Testament also presents Jesus, when we have revelation.   continue