september 22
welcome to open church
Open church is a time for sharing testimonies and prayer requests. Those who speak are being recorded and may be heard on our livestream but will not be on camera.
Today's topic
What is your favorite promise in the Bible?
revival watch
Revival Grips Brazil's Amazon: 'We Baptized 14,500 People'
"Those early days were definitely much, much more difficult than today," said Josué Bengtson, pastor of Belem Foursquare Church.
Bengtson has spent decades traversing the river's intricate network, first as a missionary then as a pastor spreading the evangelical message of salvation.
"Back when we started evangelizing in this region, we had just a few workers and, in some municipalities, pastors had to walk 10 to 15 km to open a congregation," Bengtson told CBN News. "Today, almost all medium-sized churches in the Amazon have a small boat."
Bengtson helped establish one of the Amazon's first Foursquare churches.
Today, he says the evangelical presence here is undeniable, with 3,200 Foursquare congregations alone flourishing across the region.
"In the first six months of this year we baptized 14,500 people. Our goal for this year is to baptize over 30,000 people," said Bengtson.
We obtained a video that captures a remarkable mass baptism in the Amazon River, where hundreds including, men, women, the elderly, young adults, and children — publicly profess their faith in Jesus Christ.
lamplight september 15
“Woe unto them! for they have...perished in the gainsaying of Core.” (Jude 1:11)
Jude describes the Levite Korah’s rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16) as an antilogia (to speak against, dispute, contradict). During that time, Moses and Aaron were the spokespersons for the Lord, with authority and direct instructions from God. The Scriptures take that place today.
Korah and 250 other “princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown” (Numbers 16:2) had decided that they were just as “holy” as Moses and were demanding some share of the leadership (and presumably some of the control). This was far more than a mere leadership struggle.
Israel had just come through several major miracles (Red Sea parting, manna, water from the rock, etc.), had been given the Ten Commandments, and had built the tabernacle. They had rejected the report of Joshua and Caleb on God’s promise about Canaan and were in the middle of trying to choose a captain to “return into Egypt” (Numbers 14:4). God was really angry with them!
Korah led this “gainsaying” in an attempt to thwart God’s direction through Moses. Today, that would be equivalent to insisting that science (or philosophy or theology) is just as holy as the text of Scripture. God’s method of testing this antilogia was simple: each leader was to prepare his own censer and incense (equivalent to his interpretation of God’s Word) and see how God responded to him.
They perished in a most spectacular display of ruin—“the ground clave asunder that was under them” and they “went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation” (Numbers 16:31, 33). God does not tolerate rejection of His message, “for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2). HMM III
morning message
moses and elijah
Exodus 14:9-25
1 Kings 18:1-40
2 Kings 1:1-10
Matthew 17:1-3
Revelation 11:1-14
Isaiah 53:6
John 3:3
news spotlight
dealing with division
We recommend CBN News because they cover national and world events from a Christian perspective. However, the opinions expressed are not necessarily those of Cornerstone Community Church or its members.
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