Both speaking and doing it

‘Mercy (deeds of)  is not simply a “bridge,” a way to meet people with whom we can then proclaim the gospel. It is a visual aid a nonverbal medium message. A person communicates meaning most effectively when using verbal and nonverbal (tone of voice, facial expression, gestures) means. So, too, we communicate the gospel most effectively when we are both speaking and doing it.’ Tim Keller

'"Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."' Luke 10:36-37

'the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.'

Last Friday evening, the youth in our Abundant Life Church enjoyed 'the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.' There were Japanese, Brazilians , Indonesians and Americans. 

       The scene where Alsan gives his life in exchange for Edmond reminds me the this Bible passage. "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."  2 Cor 5:21 

Worship isn't just something we do; it does something to us.

"God’s work in the world is never merely pragmatic. It isn’t simply 'We can organize a program to go and do this.' If you think we can do God’s work like that, read the lives of people like William Wilberforce and think again. You can’t. You need prayer, you need the sacraments, you need that patient faithfulness—because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and the world rulers of this present darkness." N.T. Wright 

"Worship isn't just something we do; it does something to us...There is a logic to the shape of intentional, historic Christian worship that performs the gospel over and over again as a way to form and reform our habits. If we fail to immerse ourselves in sacramental, transformative worship, we will not be adequately formed to be ambassadors of Christ’s redemption in and for the world. In short, while the Reformers rightly emphasized the sanctification of ordinary life, they never for a moment thought this would be possible without being sanctified by Word and sacrament." James K. A. Smith, Sanctification for Ordinary Life | Reformed Worship

"If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.... The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him." John 4:10, 14, 23

Abundant Life Church

Please pray for our Abundant Life Church. Contact us for weekly prayer requests at dave@junkerjapan.org 

"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Jesus Christ, John 10:10-11

I want to know that I have affected people for eternity

“Woolworth’s is gone. Sears is almost gone. TG&Y is gone. So what? This is worth billions of dollars. So what? Is that the end of life, making more money and building something?... For me, I want to know that I have affected people for eternity. I believe I am. I believe once someone knows Christ as their personal savior, I’ve affected eternity. I matter 10 billion years from now. I matter. Someone that does all this doesn’t matter. I’m sorry, it’s gone.” David Green, Hobby Lobby’s Billionaire CEO Says ‘God Owns It’ | @ActonInstitute PowerBlog

More on David Green:

'While he has donated as much money to evangelical causes as anyone alive, Green is more humbled by the memory of his parents’ putting their last dime on the collection plate. His father was a small-time preacher who bounced from one tiny congregation to another, eventually landing at a church of just 35 attendees in Altus, Okla., a speck of a town amid a sea of cattle ranches and cotton fields. The family subsisted on hand-me-down clothes and food donations from the congregation, going weeks without having meat to put on the table–but that didn’t stop Green’s mother from donating to the church. His wife of 51 years, Barbara, recalls her mother-in-law with reverence. “We don’t give out of our need, we give out of our surplus,” she says. “David’s mother gave out of her need. She would give stuff when she might not have something to replace that with, yet she stepped out in faith.” ' David Green: The Biblical Billionaire Backing The Evangelical Movement - Forbes

"As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life." 1 Tm 6:17-19 

Nagano city

 September 17th, we visited friends in Nagano city. They took us to Kawanakajima Battle Field- a famous battle in our prefecture between War Lords Shingen Takeda and Kenshin Uesugi. It is said that after their bloddy battles, one subjects of Takeda buried the dead of his enemy- Uesugi. Because of this kindness, Uesugi gave a highly needed commodity, salt, to Takeda- again the enemy. Hense, the saying, 'sending salt to your enemy.' Not unlike Jesus Christ's words, love your enemy.

Then we visited what was planned to be the World War 2 Matsushiro Underground Imperial Headquarters. It is a catacomb like complex of tunnels and was to be used to protect the emperor and government in the final days of the war. Close to 10,000 Korean slave laborers were used and about 1,500 died. A reminder to the horrors of war.... Yes, I am wearing sunglasses. I thought the tunnel was very dark, until I took them off.

But we preach Christ crucified...

"No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching." C.H. Spurgeon

"It is rare for any movement of God to continue in its fervor for more than 3 generations. If the living person Jesus continues to remain the center you have a fighting chance that everything you’ve righteously worked hard to build may continue for many generations. The foundation is secure. This will require, however, constant reformation on your part. This is why the reformers of the 16th century believed in semper reformanda (always reforming). We continually need to make adjustments to keep Jesus the center of our sermons, church, and our very lives. Thankfully, we do not have a far away God, we have a near God with a living Savior." Tim Kimberly, Preaching Morality vs. Preaching Christ | Parchment and Pen

"But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." 1 Corinthians 1:23,24

Azumino Family Chapel...

Sunday, I spoke at Azumino Family Chapel on grace and gifts.

"All these (gifts) are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills." 1 Corinthians 12:11

But thou wast weak.

“The other gods were strong, but thou wast weak.

They rode, but thou didst stumble to thy throne.

And to our wounds, only god’s wounds can speak-

And not a god has wounds, but thou alone."

Edward Shillito, "Jesus of the Scars"

"But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5 

Shillito was an English minister who survived the horrors of artillery, machine guns, and trench warfare during World War 1.

Sports Day...

Shane and Hosahna had a Sports Day at their Namiyanagi Elementary School last Saturday. They're in there somewhere.

Relay! Hosahna's in the pink.

Shane's race. I think he's on the left.

When we remember what a great pit we were pulled from

"When we go out to serve others, we will often find ourselves taken advantage of. It’s unavoidable. Yet when we remember what a great pit we were pulled from by the Head of the Church, and what it cost the King in His self-sacrifice, we will be rebuked, humbled, and given persistence to pull others from the same pit… This is the supreme cause of diaconal blindness in the local church. We have forgotten how great our own sins are, and feel, perhaps unconsciously, superior to the ‘unwashed’ sinners around us…" 

Jack Miller

"He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy...." Titus 3:5 

Shrine festival....

 A few days ago, the local shrine, Taga Jinja, had a local festival. This parade came before our church.

"Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, 'To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
The Apostle Paul, Acts 17:22-31

Toru Hashimoto

Toru Hashimoto is the mayor of Osaka and flexing what seems to be unusual influence in Japan. He has started his own national party in a wave of popularity. There is an unusually high percentage of Japanese that like him. It may be more of a reaction against the poor showing of the present political parties ruling Japan though. 

But, the concern is that he seems to be anti-Christian. The reason I say that is because Christians in Japan often refuse to sing the Japanese national anthem "Kimigayo" and bow to the flag. Some of the words in the song seem to declare the emperor to be a god, singing praises to him. The flag seems to point out that he comes from the sun-goddes, Amaterasu Oomikami.

And Hashimoto is requiring his city employees-teacers of Osaka to sing the national anthem and bow to the flag. The Japan Times Online

The danger is that, "even when he (Hashimoto) flexed his ultranationalist muscle for the first time, creating legislation that would require Osaka teachers to stand and sing whenever the Kimigayo was played, the public barely blinked."

He has also said to his city employees, "You have no fundamental human rights."Japan Today So the issue goes well beyond the rights of Christians....

If there really is an anti-Christian trend, the church in Japan needs to be ready. And the church in around the world needs to pray. Japan in the past, during the Tokugawa era and World War 2, severely persecuted Christians. It could happen again.

Here are some articles concerning this subject. Old guard see despot in Hashimoto , How did we end up here, in 'Hashimotopia,' 2022?

A beautiful baby!

Sunday, Naho and I went to the Shinshu University Hospital and saw little Josiah born to Seth and Hannah. A beautiful baby! 

"Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth." Psalm 127:4

Ah! My dear friends! I am concerned for the poor but more for you.

“I fear that there are some Christians among you to whom Christ can not say “come thou blessed… inherit the kingdom”. Your haughty dwellings rise in the midst of thousands who have scarce a fire to warm themselves at, and have but little clothing to keep out the biting frost; and yet you never darkened their door. You heave a sigh, perhaps, at a distance; but you do not visit them. Ah! My dear friends! I am concerned for the poor but more for you. I know not what Christ will say to you in that great day…I fear that there are many hearing me who may now know well that they are not Christians because they do not love to give. To give largely and liberally, not grudgingly, desires a new heart. An old heart would rather part with its lifeblood than with its money. Oh my friends! Enjoy your money; make the most of it; give none away; enjoy it now, for I can tell you, you will be beggars throughout eternity”  

Robert Murray M'Cheyne

"Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do." The Apostle Paul, Galatians 2:10

Sunset....

Sunset behind the Abundant Life Church.

"...I will build my church..." Jesus Christ, Matthew 16:18

"Our first charity must be to ourselves"

“The spirit of God is a spirit of peace, and also in the case of grave sin, it makes us feel tranquil sorrow, humble, confident, and this is due precisely to His mercy. The spirit of the demon, on the contrary, excites, exasperates, and makes us in our sorrow feel something like anger against ourselves, whereas our first charity must be to ourselves, and so if certain thoughts agitate you, this agitation never comes from God, who gives tranquility, being the Spirit of Peace. Such agitation comes from the devil." Padre Pio

"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is  faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.... But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." 1 Jn 1:8-2:2

Korean Gospel

September 4th, our family enjoyed the "Ongijain Concert" (Korean Gospel) at Azumino Family Chapel.

Ongijain means potter in Korean. "But now, O LORD, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand."  Isaiah 64:8 

"This is the end...for me the beginning of life!"

“Through the half-open door in one room of the huts I saw Pastor (Dietrich) Bonhoeffer (pict),… kneeling on the floor praying fervently to his God. I was most deeply moved by the way this lovable man prayed, so devout and so certain that God heard his prayer. At the place of execution, he again said a short prayer and then climbed the steps to the gallows, brave and composed. His death ensued after a few seconds. In the almost fifty years that I worked as a doctor, I have hardly ever seen a man died so entirely submissive to the will of God.” Doctor  H.  Fischer-Hullstrung, doctor serving at his execution

A few days before Boheoffer's execution, in a small worship service with other prisoners, he read Isaiah 53:5, “With His stripes we are healed.” Then read I Peter 1:3, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

"This is the end...for me the beginning of life!" Boehoeffer, at his execution

McDonalds

McDonalds after good days work on Sunday (2nd). It's about a 15 min. walk from our home/church.