COGIC UK Newsletter Issue 2
Welcome to COGIC UK’s online newsletter! It is hoped that this medium will bring news of what is happening in COGIC both locally and nationally.
Prayer Meeting: According to the "Dictionary of Christianity in America," the Puritans of the 1600's in America had a Sunday morning and a Sunday evening gathering time as well as a Thursday morning lecture. These practices almost certainly go back to the Puritans in England.
The mid-week meeting had its beginnings in prayer meetings that were occasionally mentioned before 1800 but became popular through the efforts of Charles Finney and D. L. Moody in the 1800's. Moody held noon prayer meetings in conjunction with his preaching campaigns. During the years 1857-1858, an awakening occurred that was later called the Prayer Meeting Revival. By 1900, prayer meetings or mid-week services became common in most evangelistic and many Protestant churches. By the mid-1900's, the prayer emphasis of the mid-week service was often replaced by a teaching or preaching service.
While the extra services are not commanded in scripture, they surely have its blessings. The apostolic church often met on a daily basis: "And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ" (Acts 5:42). Hebrews 10:25 tells us, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching." Therefore, the closer we get to the end of this age, the more often we should meet together as a church.
Excerpt taken from www.learnthebible.org
NB: Prayer and Bible study is held at COGIC headquarters every Wednesday evening from 8.00pm – 9.30pm
AS IRON SHARPENS IRON, SO ONE MAN SHARPENS ANOTHER - PROVERBS 27:17
The purpose of the Men’s Fellowship is to empower men through the Word of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit, to understand their roles in the church, family and society.
Men from varying backgrounds and ethnic origin, 14 years upwards, gather to discuss matters pertaining to family life, church life and society with the Word of God as our guide. It is our hope that we will be better followers of Christ working to build His Kingdom; better husbands and fathers and be an influence in our societies.
Why not come and join us at our next meeting for an inspiring evening! We meet every second and fourth Friday of each month at the COGIC centre.
COME AND BE BLESSED! Bro Ed King
SERMON NOTES
What Is Jesus Doing Now? Hebrews 2:16-18
Jesus shared the same creative power and the same divinity as God and the Holy Spirit, before He was born. Micah 5:2shows us that God foretold the coming of Jesus through the prophets. In John 1:1, John confirms that in the beginning, Jesus was the word. He was God and was with God. Darwin’s theory of evolution can only begin after the creation. John talks about Jesus before the beginning.
Jews at the time of Jesus believed that disability or tribulation was caused by sin. But Jesus dispelled this notion. The work Jesus is engaged in now is dealing with what happened then and what is happening now.
What Happened Then
Jesus paid the full price. He laid down His life as the only acceptable sacrifice. He opened up the way to heaven. We owed a dept we couldn’t pay, but Jesus paid the dept He didn’t owe. He had never sinned, but He was made sin for the world.
1st Timothy 2:5 tells us that Jesus is the only mediator between us and God. Those who should know better in society often behave in a way that provokes God. The work of the mediator is to go between to find a settlement for the quarrel. There is a quarrel between man and God because of our attitude and our disobedience since the sin of Adam.
In order for God to deal with man, we first had Aaron’s line for the priesthood. Men could not go to God themselves;they had to go through the priest. The priest would go out on a daily basis and make a sacrifice for the people in the outer-court. The inner-court was where the presence of God was all the time. The high priest could enter it only once a year, after first making a sacrifice for his own sin. No one else could enter the inner-court. Hebrews 9:6-8 reminds us that the way into the holiest place was not yet given unto the people. This was not open until Jesus died on the cross.
What is Happening Now?
Jesus is at the right hand of God talking to God about us. We are sometimes conscious that yesterday we may have behaved in a way that was not pleasing to God. But Jesus, the mediator, has entered into the most holiest place and is working as the most holiest high priest. He is our go-between, so matter what we did yesterday, Jesus will plead with God to forgive us.
The enemy will bring past deeds to our mind. But today, because of Jesus, we can approach God with boldness. We must just have faith. We can come before the presence of God. Jesus is at work now, working for our salvation. If we accept Him and believe Him, our life will never be the same.
Right now, Jesus is talking to God about you!
(Excerpt from a sermon by Bishop A. Blake DD)