Great reads from "Gospel Coalition"

Please read How Preachers Read the Bible for Themselves Doriani quotes B. B. Warfield. "A minister must be both learned and religious. It is not a matter of choosing between the two. He must study, but he must study as in the presence of God and not in a secular spirit. He must recognize the privilege of pursuing his studies in the environment where God and salvation from sin are the air he breathes. He must also take advantage of every opportunity for corporate worship. . . . Ministerial work without taking time to pray is a tragic mistake. The two must combine if the servant of God is to give a pure, clear, and strong message."

This is good too. The Love That Is Neither Easy Nor Natural. Eric Raymond writes that we settle for the kind of love that comes easy and miss out on the kind of love that takes sweat (and grace).

Also, How to Combat the Demonic. I like his Charles Spurgeon quote. “The preaching of Christ is the whip that flogs the Devil.”

Finally, a book is recommended. The Presence of God: It's Place in the Storyline of Scripture and the Story of Our Lives.  The author quotes Psalm 16:11, "In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

Azumino Family Chapel

Last week, I preached there from Luke 20:1-8. 

Right now, five men are preaching a series from Luke both at Azumino Family Chapel and Abundant Life Church. The primary verse is Luke 19:10. "The Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost." "The Son of man, Christ, came 'for us' to save. We are also to be for people. Christ is now for me, for them, 'the lost', saving, through me, through the church."

"Brothers, pray for us." 1 Thessalonians 5:25

"The best help in all action is – to pray, that is true genius; then one never goes wrong." Soren Kierkegaard

Please pray for us "In Jesus name", and for our ministry here in Matsumoto, Japan.

1. That the Lord's name would be magnified in our city of Matsumoto and then through out Japan.
2. That Matsumoto would be blessed in the truest sense.
3. That our Abundant Life Church would be gospel-centered.
4. That we would proclaim Christ with great boldness.
5. That lay-leaders would be trained and serve with diligence.
6. That our family would be protected spiritually.
7. That the Lord would provide our sufficient income.

Thank you so very much.

"I felt my heart strangely warmed…"

The evening of May 24th, 1738, John Wesley reluctantly attended a meeting lead by the Moravians in Aldersgate. Someone read from Luther's Preface to the Epistle to Romans. About 8:45 p.m., "While he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."

Read more: John Wesley's Heart Strangely Warmed – Church History - Christianity Today

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Romans3:23-24

Look away from me….

"He knows how we speak when we are desperate.” Derek Kidner

Hear my prayer, O Lord,
listen to my cry for help;
be not deaf to my weeping.
For I dwell with you as an alien,
a stranger, as all my fathers were.
Look away from me, that I may rejoice again
before I depart and am no more.
Psalm 39:12–13

Praying Our Tears | Redeemer Sermons

The key to racial reconciliation: humility and forgiveness.

From Kate Bachelders article in Wall Street Journal: God Isn’t Dead in Gotham

A couple of Sundays ago a man stood up mid-sermon and asked Mr. (Timothy) Keller to address racial tensions amid recent grand-jury decisions not to indict police officers in Missouri and New York. He tried to defuse the situation by saying he doesn’t preach on political current events because you “can’t read out of the Bible a simple answer to these issues.” The man asked again.

Mr. Keller remembers how he replied: “Let me tell you what I think the Gospel does to people in power, to people with resources: It humbles them. It tells them to listen to people without. But here’s what the Gospel says to people who do not have resources and might be tempted to be bitter and angry: It tells them to forgive.” The man said thank you and sat back down.

"…Walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…" Ephesians 4:1-2 

＊Humility and forgiveness all flow from the gospel of Christ, yes at the foot of His cross.