Wednesday, February 12, 2014

AFWIS Joins Operation World In Prayer for the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria

Published on Operation World (http://www.operationworld.org)
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Feb 12: Algeria

Algeria

People's Democratic Republic of Algeria

Africa

See Prayer Information

Geography

Area: 2,381,741 sq km
Agriculture is possible on the Mediterranean coast, in the Atlas Mountains and at oases; 80% is desert.
Population: 35,422,589    Annual Growth: 1.52%
Capital: Algiers
Urbanites: 66.5%
HDI Rank: 104 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)

Peoples

Peoples: 41 (85% unreached) All peoples
Unreached Peoples Prayer Card

Official language: Arabic and Berber. French and English are widely used, and 25% speak one of the Berber languages    Languages: 22 All languages

Religion

Largest Religion: Muslim
Religion               Pop %Ann Gr
Christians99,1830.287.5
Evangelicals84,0810.28.1
Muslim34,462,63797.29 

Answer to Prayer

The growth of the Algerian Church over the past decade is an answer to prayer. A long road of tearful sowing by a tenacious succession of missionaries and intercessors is bearing beautiful fruit – while impossible to assess accurately, some believe that the number of believers far exceeds 100,000. The large majority are Kabyle Berber in background, but faith is growing among Arabs and almost every other people as well. New fellowships are popping up all over the country. This is in part due to the commitment of Berber believers to move into unreached, Arab areas in order to sow the seeds of the good news.
     For an additional 2 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.

Challenge for Prayer

The unreached comprise virtually the whole nation.
a) The growing cities – the educated elite, the middle class and the teeming slums. Algeria rapidly urbanized as people fled into the cities to escape the violence of civil war.
b) Young people are frustrated and disillusioned. Many attempt to move to Europe (often illegally) in search of more freedom and a better life. Those under age 30 make up 65-70% of the population, and this generation comprises the large majority of the Christians in Algeria.
c) The Berber peoples of the Atlas Mountains. Apart from the Kabyles, the other 13 groups are among Africa’s least evangelized. But there is now a Christian witness in the midst of all these, and possibly groups of believers as well.
d) The Tuareg and Bedouin peoples. Only a handful of believers were known just a few years ago. They are now rapidly responding to the gospel. Creative strategies will be required to effectively reach those who maintain the traditional nomadic lifestyle.
e) The Mzab oasis towns in the Sahara. Even these tight-knit and deeply religious communities are being reached by Algerian believers; a very small but growing number have come to Christ.
     For an additional 9 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.

More Information

The Operation World book, CD-ROM, and DVD-ROM provide far more information and fuel for prayer for the people of Algeria.
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1 Corinthians 5 Geneva Study Bible


1 Corinthians 5 Geneva Study Bible

Chapter 5
5:1 It is 1 reported commonly [that there is] fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his fathers wife.
(1) They are greatly to be reprehended who by allowing wickedness, set forth the Church of God to be mocked and scorned by infidels.
5:2 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.
(2) There are none more proud than they that least know themselves.
5:3 3 For I verily, as absent in body, but present in a spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, [concerning] him that hath so done this deed,
(3) Excommunication ought not to be committed to one mans power, but must be done by the authority of the whole congregation, after the matter is diligently examined.
(a) In mind, thought, and will.
5:4 In the b name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, 4 with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
(b) Calling upon Christs name. (4) There is no doubt that the judgment is ratified in heaven, in which Christ himself sits as Judge.
5:5 5 To c deliver such an one unto Satan for the 6 destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
(5) The one who is excommunicated is delivered to the power of Satan, in that he is cast out of the house of God.
(c) What it is to be delivered to Satan the Lord himself declares when he says, "Let him be unto thee as a heathen and publican"; ( Matthew 18:17 ). That is to say, to be disfranchised and put out of the right and privileges of the city of Christ, which is the Church, outside of which Satan is lord and master. (6) The goal of excommunication is not to cast away the excommunicate that he should utterly perish, but that he may be saved, that is, that by this means his flesh may be tamed, that he may learn to live to the Spirit.
5:6 7 Your glorying d [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
(7) Another goal of excommunication is that others are not infected, and therefore it must of necessity be retained in the Church, so that one is not infected by the other.
(d) Is nothing and not grounded upon good reason, as though you were excellent, and yet there is such wickedness found among you.
5:7 8 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new e lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our f passover is sacrificed for us:
(8) By alluding to the ceremony of the passover, he exhorts them to cast out that unclean person from among them. In times past, he says, it was not lawful for those who celebrated the passover to eat unleavened bread, insomuch that he was held as unclean and unworthy to eat the passover, whoever had but tasted of leaven. Now our whole life must be as it were the feast of unleavened bread, in which all they that are partakers of that immaculate lamb which is slain, must cast out both of themselves, and also out of their houses and congregations, all impurity.
(e) By lump he means the whole body of the Church, every member of which must be unleavened bread, that is, be renewed in spirit, by plucking away the old corruption.
(f) The Lamb of our passover.
5:8 Therefore let us keep the g feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened [bread] of sincerity and truth.
(g) Let us lead our whole life as it were a continual feast, honestly and uprightly.
5:9 9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
(9) Now he speaks more generally: and that which he spoke before of the incestuous person he shows that it pertains to others, who are known to be wicked and those who through their wicked life are a slander to the Church, who ought also by lawful order be cast out of the community of the Church. And making mention of eating meals, either he means that feast of love at which the supper of the Lord was received, or else their common usage and manner of life. And this is to be properly understood, lest any man should think that either matrimony was broken by excommunication, or such duties hindered and cut off by it, as we owe one to another: children to their parents, subjects to their rulers, servants to their masters, and neighbour to neighbour, to win one another to God.
5:10 Yet not h altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.
(h) If you should utterly abstain from such mens company, you should go out of the world. Therefore I speak of those who are in the very bosom of the Church, who must be brought back into order by discipline, and not of those who are outside of the Church, with whom we must labour by all means possible, to bring them to Christ.
5:12 10 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?

(10) Those who are false brethren ought to be cast out of the congregation. As for those who are outside of it, they must be left to the judgment of God.

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Zechariah 10 (NIV)


Zechariah 10 (New International Version)

Zechariah 10

The LORD Will Care for Judah

1 Ask the LORD for rain in the springtime; it is the LORD who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone.
2 The idols speak deceit, diviners see visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

3 "My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the LORD Almighty will care for his flock, the house of Judah, and make them like a proud horse in battle.

4 From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler.

5 Together they [a] will be like mighty men trampling the muddy streets in battle. Because the LORD is with them, they will fight and overthrow the horsemen.

6 "I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them. They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.

7 The Ephraimites will become like mighty men, and their hearts will be glad as with wine. Their children will see it and be joyful; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.

8 I will signal for them and gather them in. Surely I will redeem them; they will be as numerous as before.

9 Though I scatter them among the peoples, yet in distant lands they will remember me. They and their children will survive, and they will return.

10 I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon, and there will not be room enough for them.

11 They will pass through the sea of trouble; the surging sea will be subdued and all the depths of the Nile will dry up. Assyria's pride will be brought down and Egypt's scepter will pass away.

12 I will strengthen them in the LORD and in his name they will walk," declares the LORD.
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Proverbs 12 (NIV)


Proverbs 12 (New International Version)

Proverbs 12

1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

2 A good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a crafty man.

3 A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted.

4 A wife of noble character is her husband's crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.

5 The plans of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.

6 The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

7 Wicked men are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous stands firm.

8 A man is praised according to his wisdom, but men with warped minds are despised.

9 Better to be a nobody and yet have a servant than pretend to be somebody and have no food.

10 A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.

11 He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment.

12 The wicked desire the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.

13 An evil man is trapped by his sinful talk, but a righteous man escapes trouble.

14 From the fruit of his lips a man is filled with good things as surely as the work of his hands rewards him.

15 The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.

16 A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

17 A truthful witness gives honest testimony, but a false witness tells lies.

18 Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

19 Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.

20 There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace.

21 No harm befalls the righteous, but the wicked have their fill of trouble.

22 The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in men who are truthful.

23 A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools blurts out folly.

24 Diligent hands will rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.

25 An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.

26 A righteous man is cautious in friendship, [a] but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

27 The lazy man does not roast [b] his game, but the diligent man prizes his possessions.

28 In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.
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Psalm 122 (NIV)


Psalm 122 (New International Version)

Psalm 122

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 I rejoiced with those who said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."
2 Our feet are standing in your gates, O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built like a city that is closely compacted together.

4 That is where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, to praise the name of the LORD according to the statute given to Israel.

5 There the thrones for judgment stand, the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May those who love you be secure.

7 May there be peace within your walls and security within your citadels."

8 For the sake of my brothers and friends, I will say, "Peace be within you."

9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, I will seek your prosperity.
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