We must go back again and again to the gospel of Christ-crucified

“At the root of all our disobedience are particular ways in which we continue to seek control of our lives through systems of works-righteousness. The way to progress as a Christian is to continually repent and uproot these systems the same way we become Christians, namely by the vivid depiction (and re-depiction) of Christ’s saving work for us, and the abandoning of self-trusting efforts to complete ourselves. We must go back again and again to the gospel of Christ-crucified, so that our hearts are more deeply gripped by the reality of what he did and who we are in him.” Timothy Keller

"For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Corinthians 1:18

Keller's Free Sermon Resource | Redeemer Sermons

God's Word in Two Words

"A high view of the law produces a high view of grace. A low view of the law produces a low view of grace. God's good law reveals our desperation; God's good gospel reveals our deliverer....The overwhelming focus of the Bible is not the work of the redeemed but the work of the Redeemer."  Tullian Tchividjian

Read the whole article: God's Word in Two Words | Christianity 

"Cheap law weakens God's demand for perfection, and in doing so, breathes life into the old creature and his quest for a righteousness of his own making. . . . Cheap law tells us that we've fallen, but there's good news, you can get back up again. . . . Therein lies the great heresy of cheap law: it is a false gospel. And it cheapens—no—it nullifies grace." John Dink

"Sin is not canceled by lawful living, for no person is able to live up to the Law. Nothing can take away sin except the grace of God." Martin Luther

"A low view of the law always produces legalism; a high view of the law makes a person a seeker after grace." Gresham Machen

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes." Romans 10:4

Gospel in action... again yesterday

Seminar speaker Mr. Jinnai

At Azumino Family Chapel

Discussion groups

'If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.' 1 John 4:20

Charity Concert... yesterday

At Toyoshina Modern Art Museum

Busts of Japanese Christian leaders of the past. 

Kanzo Uchimura & Inazo Nitobe

Mr. Jinnai spoke of the great needs in Africa.

the Music

 "It is more blessed to give than to recieve."

People are prepared for everything except....

“People are prepared for everything except for the fact that beyond the darkness of their blindness there is a great light. They are prepared to go on breaking their backs plowing the same old field until the cows come home without seeing, until they stub their toes on it, that there is a treasure buried in that field rich enough to buy Texas. They are prepared for a God who strikes hard bargains but not for a God who gives as much for an hour’s work as for a day’s. They are prepared for a mustard-seed kingdom of God no bigger than the eye of a newt but not for the great banyan it becomes with birds in its branches singing Mozart. They are prepared for the potluck supper at First Presbyterian but not for the marriage supper of the lamb.” 

Frederick Buechner

”Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21

“I forgive you”

“I have often said, “I forgive you,” but even as I said these words my heart remained angry or resentful. I still wanted to hear the story that tells me that I was right after all; I still wanted to hear apologies and excuses; I still wanted the satisfaction of receiving some praise in return- if only the praise for being so forgiving! But God’s forgiveness is unconditional; it comes from a heart that does not demand anything for itself, a heart that is completely empty of self-seeking. It is this divine forgiveness that I have to practice in my daily life. It calls me to keep stepping over all my arguments that say forgiveness is unwise, unhealthy, and impractical. It challenges me to step over all my needs for gratitude and compliments. Finally, it demands of me that I step over that wounded part of my heart that feels hurt and wronged and that wants to stay in control and put a few conditions between me and the one wham I am asked to forgive.” Henri Nouwen

'Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven."'Matthew18:21-22

Koiwai family...

Last evening, Pastor Koiwai (above) & family with our family 

at Cowboy Kazoku (Family) steak house.

Sports Day

Annual event at our kids elementary school... Today... 

Sports day

Hosahna on the right.

Shane helping.

Pulling down the pole. A real battle takes place. 
Shane's in there somewhere.

"Withdrew" to Nobeyama...

Spent time here relaxing and reading.

View of Yatsugatake mountains from Condo.

 Time in the Word and prayer.

 Elementary school kids selling veggies.

Market.... This area is know for it's farms.

Worship at Abundant Life Church....

Yesterday, Sept. 8th.

 Seth's family of 20 visited our worship too.

Jon preached.

Buddhism and the Prodigal Son

We may gain fresh amazement if we compare the story Jesus told with a somewhat similar story in the literature of Mahayana Buddhism. In a famous “Lotus Sutra” the story is told. A young man leaves his father’s house and is gone for many years, “twenty or thirty or forty or fifty.” His father searches for him and moves to another country, where he becomes immensely wealthy. The son, on the other hand, continues his wanderings as a despised beggar. One day the son happens to come to the town where his father lives. He does not recognize his father, but stares with curiosity at the princely magnificence of this elderly man. Fanned by attendants, the father sits on a throne under a jeweled awning, his footstool decorated in gold and silver. He is concluding business deals in gold bullion, corn, and grain with a surrounding crowd of merchants and bankers. The beggar is thoroughly alarmed. “People like me don’t belong here,” he thinks. “Let me get out of here before I am seized to do forced labor.”

But the father has recognized his son at first sight and sends his servants after him. They bring him back, kicking and screaming in terror. Sure that he will be put to death, he faints dead away. The father sprinkles cold water on him, and tells the servants to let him go. He does not identify himself to his son, or his son to his servants. Instead, he sends servants to find him again in the slum section of the city, and to bring him back with an offer of employment. The servants disguise themselves as street people, smearing dirt on themselves and wearing rags, so as to gain the trust of this beggar. Their mission suc- ceeds, and the poor man is set to work at the lowliest of tasks. (The estate is not equipped with septic tanks.) The father watches his son through a window as he is shoveling manure, or, rather, basketing it. He, too, smears on dirt and puts on rags so as to go and talk to his son and encourage him on the job. The son works faithfully on the grounds, but continues to live in a shack nearby. Many years later, the father expresses great appreciation for the son’s faithful work; he declares that he will treat him as a son and make him his heir. The son is indifferent to all the wealth that is now declared to be his; he continues to live in his shack and work on the estate.

After some twenty years, “the householder perceives that his son is able to save, mature and mentally developed; that in the con- sciousness of his nobility he feels abashed, ashamed, disgusted, when thinking of his former poverty.” Aware of his approaching death, the householder calls his relatives, officials, and neighbors, and declares before them all, “This man is my natural son, the heir of all that I possess.”

The moral at the end of the story is that “as we have always observed the moral precepts under the rule of the Knower of the world, we now receive the fruit of that morality which we have for- merly practised.” 

Summarized by Edmond Clowney. Taken from Chapter 4 of the Saddharma-Pundarika, ed. F. Max Mueller, in Sacred Books of the East, vol. 21 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1909), 98-117.

"Grace", AMAZING GRACE, is the difference between Jesus' account of the Prodigal Son and the Lotus Sutra.

Read Luke 15:11-32 , The Parable of the Lost Sons , then this excellent sermon by Edmond Clowney Sharing The Fathers Welcome

After worship at Abundant Life Church...

 Time to shake hands... with Mr. Jo.

International folk... from Brazil (above), the US and Argentina.

Lunch together... last Sunday.

Swallow Tail

This beautiful Swallow Tail (Butterflies of Japan) came out of it's cocoon right out side our church apartment the other day. See the cocoon on the wire?