The church

“The Church is the only society that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members.” Archbishop William Temple

Keep my eye simply on Christ

"If I may speak my own experience, I find that to keep my eye simply on Christ, as my peace and my life, is by far the hardest part of my calling … It seems easier to deny self in a thousand instances of outward conduct, than in its ceaseless endeavors to act as a principle of righteousness and power." John Newton

The battle of the Peanuts!

Shane (8) made a great birthday present for me. The peanuts are battling. Can you see the faces and the armor? The twigs are the swords. I'm a little biased, but I think he was very creative.

Remember Christ

“’If preaching is so central, how can so many Christians listen to it for decades and not be transformed?’ Part of the answer may be…, [there is too much] preaching that moves too quickly to what we should do before establishing who God is and what he has done for us.” Craig Larson

(The heart and soul of our preaching must be “Remember Christ.”)

Counterfeit Gods

For Christmas, I asked my parents to get me Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller, Dutton. Please read the following excerpt.

Pastor and write Tim Keller quotes Archbishop William Temple, "Your religion is what you do with your solitude."

Keller explains, "In other words, the true god of your heart is what your thoughts effortlessly go to when there is nothing else demanding your attention. What do you enjoy day-dreaming about? What is it that occupies your mind when you have nothing else to think about? Do you develop potential scenarios about career advancement? Or material goods such as a dream home? Or a relationship with a particular person? One or two day dreams do not indicate idolatry. Ask rather, what do you habitually think about to get joy and comfort in the privacy of your heart?"

For the remedy Keller quotes Colossians 3:1-3. "'Setting the mind and heart on things above' where 'your life is hid with Christ in God' means appreciation, rejoicing, and resting in what Jesus has done for you. It entails joyful worship, a sense of God's reality in prayer. Jesus must become more beautiful to your imagination, more attractive to your heart, than your idol. That is what will replace the idols of your heart. If you uproot the idol and fail to 'plant' the love of Christ in its place, the idol will grow back."

Keller concludes with a quote from John Newton. "If I may speak my own experience, I find that to keep my eye simply on Christ, as my peace and my life, is by far the hardest part of my calling … It seems easier to deny self in a thousand instances of outward conduct, than in its ceaseless endeavors to act as a principle of righteousness and power."

Read the whole of the above article How to Find Your Rival Gods, Christianity Today.

Happy Birthday to Me!

For my birthday, Oct. 21st, Naho took me out on a lunch date at a 'sushi bar' (above) and we went to Baskin Robbins for some good American ice cream. Thanks Naho.

December ~ Takase Church

Monday, Oct. 19th, we had a talk about Takase Church during our time of our departure in December.

We held it at a nice coffee shop- Sun Port and ate a light lunch.

My Uncle Shigeo, Nelson & Easter, Naho's mother- Fumiko, Naho and I especially talked over how we would get our Filipino friends to the church.

Lord willing, Uncle Shigeo will be the leader.

Nelson will read the sermons I have prepared. Easter will lead the singing.

Naho's mother- Fumiko- will be a great prayer warrior and moral support to Uncle Shigeo and the whole group.

Please pray that the Lord would rule in all things, that Christ would be glorified and His kingdom go forward mightily, especially among the Filipinos, while we are away this December.

The hardness of God...

"The hardness of God is kinder than the softness of men, and his compulsion is our liberation." C. S. Lewis

Wednesday!

After a few days of heavy spiritual struggle, the Lord let us experience some very real advances in His kingdom.

Above: Naho and I distributed gospel literature to Nio. We have covered most the the town now. Please pray for the kingdom of God and His grace to come and advance there.

We had lunch and spent some time in 'discipleship' with our Filipino friends, Nelson and Easter. They are the key to serving the Filipinos in Nio. Please pray for all of our 'growth in grace.'

Later Nelson and his wife ministered to Evelyn (2nd from right) whose husband passed away. Please pray that Jesus particular grace would abound to Evelyn in this time of sorrow.

Conversion of Augustine of Hippo

“I cast myself down I know not how, under a certain fig-tree, giving full vent to my tears; and the floods of mine eyes gushed out an acceptable sacrifice to Thee. And, not indeed in these words, yet to this purpose, spake I much unto Thee: and Thou, O Lord, how long? how long, Lord, wilt Thou be angry for ever? Remember not our former iniquities, for I felt that I was held by them. I sent up these sorrowful words: How long, how long, "to-morrow, and tomorrow?" Why not now? why not is there this hour an end to my uncleanness?
 So was I speaking and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo! I heard from a neighbouring house a voice, as of boy or girl, I know not, chanting, and oft repeating, "Take up and read; Take up and read. " Instantly, my countenance altered, I began to think most intently whether children were wont in any kind of play to sing such words: nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So checking the torrent of my tears, I arose; interpreting it to be no other than a command from God to open the book, and read the first chapter I should find. For I had heard of Antony, that coming in during the reading of the Gospel, he received the admonition, as if what was being read was spoken to him: Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come and follow me: and by such oracle he was forthwith converted unto Thee. Eagerly then I returned to the place where Alypius was sitting; for there had I laid the volume of the Apostle when I arose thence. I seized, opened, and in silence read that section on which my eyes first fell: Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, in concupiscence. No further would I read; nor needed I: for instantly at the end of this sentence, by a light as it were of serenity infused into my heart, all the darkness of doubt vanished away.”


The Confessions of Saint Augustine

How have we learned Christ?

"How have we learned Christ? It ought to be a startling thought, that we may have learned him wrong. That must be far worse than not to have learned him at all: his place is occupied by a false Christ, hard to exorcise! The point is whether we have learned Christ as he taught himself, or as men have taught him who thought they understood, but did not understand him... The Christian religion, throughout its history, has been open to more corrupt representation. Have we learned Christ in false statements and corrupted lessons about him, or have we learned himself?" George MacDonald

David Livingstone on Motives

“Some of the brethren do not hesitate to tell the natives that my object is to obtain the applause of men. This bothers me, for I sometimes suspect my own motives.

Man is a complex being and we greatly need our motives to be purified from all that is evil.

On the other hand I am conscious that though there is much impurity in my motives, they are in the main for the glory of Him to whom I have dedicated my all.”

David Livingstone, missionary and explorer of Africa

In memory of.....

In memory of Ralph Cox, Don McCalpine, David Martin and other missionaries that have gone before us. They are most blessed as they are 'in the habitations of [God's] glory and dominion.'

Stella Cox quoted this in her letter recently, "It cheers us up to think of things of heaven, because all that we desire await us.” R.A. Torrey

“Bring us, O Lord God, at our last awakening into the house and gate of heaven, to enter into that gate and dwell in that house, where there shall be no darkness nor dazzling, but one equal light; no noise nor silence, but one equal music; no fears nor hopes, but one equal possession; no ends nor beginnings, but one equal eternity; in the habitations of your glory and dominion, world without end.” John Donne, 1572-1631

A curious avoidance of scientific fact

Sorry, I couldn't resist responding to the media.

The New York Times wrote:“In a rational system　of medical care, there would be virtually no restrictions on financing abortions. But abortion is not a rational issue.”

However, “The traditional Western ethic has always placed great emphasis on the intrinsic worth and equal value of every human life regardless of its stage or condition. This ethic has had the blessing of the Judeo-Christian heritage and has been the basis for most of our laws and much of our social policy. The reverence for each and every human life has also been a keystone of Western medicine. . . . Since the old ethic has not yet been fully displaced it has been necessary to separate the idea of abortion from the idea of killing, which continues to be socially abhorrent. The result has been a curious avoidance of the scientific fact, which everyone really knows, that human life begins at conception and is continuous whether intra- or extra-uterine until death. The very considerable semantic gymnastics which are required to rationalize abortion as anything but taking a human life would be ludicrous if they were not often put forth under socially impeccable auspices.” California Medicine, 1970

David Brainard

from Japan

Remember Me

"One thing, and only one thing, is necessary for Christian life, righteousness, and freedom. That one thing is the most holy Word of God, the gospel of Christ," Martin Luther

Mark Gali writes on ‘Grace,’ Christianity Today, Oct. 2, ’09:

The Word of God written and preached is first a gift that reveals the crucified Christ, as well as the risen Christ.

When evangelicals have offered the Bible not as a proof text but as the Word that proves and judges and forgives us, that's when our movement has been transformed and been a transforming agent in the world.

The Word of God says the way to start working on the horizontal is to look up, in particular, at the one hanging on the Cross. The place to begin is not more feverish doing but a type of non-doing, acknowledging the complete inadequacy of any doing and the utter powerlessness of the horizontal to fix the horizontal. It means to allow oneself to be borne up by the Word of grace.

Where we stand, in short, is Golgotha, under the shadow of the Cross, a sign of God's judgment on our pretensions and God's forgiveness of our sin.

Grace makes the horizontal possible in a whole new way… In short, it is where the vertical meets and transforms us.

When we meet God in his paradoxical presence, we will once again know that great paradox of the Christian faith: with our focus on the vertical, when the weightlessness of belief becomes for us the weight of glory, that's when we are born again, born in the Word and for the world. This is something that happens once, yes, at one's conversion. But it also happens daily, at one's reconversion each morning and each Sunday. Then we become new creations, blessed with vertical life and energy and grace to do the horizontal thing we are called and gifted to do. [Mark Gali]

When Jesus called the disciples to ‘Remember Me,’ He was calling them to their heart-focus that would transform every aspect of their life.

The Word of God says, 'I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."' Romans 1:16-17.

Check out this excellent article “In the Beginning- Grace.”

For a further Gospel-centered read “True Spirituality: the Transforming Power of the Gospel.”