Matsumoto Castle again...

We looked around a little. Joshua loves Japanese castles.

"O my Strength, I will watch for you, for you, O God, are my fortress." Psalm 59:9

Give me the strength to seek you....

"Give me the strength to seek you,

since you have made me in order to find you, 

and have given me the hope of finding you more and more."

St. Augustine

 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Matthew 7:1-11

Azumino Family Chapel...

Last Sunday, the 20th, I preached on 'forgiveness by Christ's sacrifice' from Hebrews 10 at Azumino Family Chapel. My parents started this church. My brother Jon and Pastor Koiwai have build it up. Please pray that in this church also the Spirit would lift up Christ to the glory of the Father


"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed." I Peter 2:24 

Neediness

“The gospel, if it is really believed, removes neediness- the need to be constantly respected, appreciated, and well regarded; the need to have everything in your life go well; the need to have power over others. All of these great, deep needs continue to control you only because the concept of the glorious God delighting in you with all his being is just that- a concept and nothing more. Our hearts don’t believe it, so they operate in default mode… If you really want change, you must let the gospel teach you- that is to train, discipline, coach you- over a period of time. You must let the gospel argue with you. You must let the gospel sink down deeply into your heart, until it changes your motivation and views and attitudes.” 

Timothy Keller

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35

You limp.

”How do you know you have met with God? You limp." D. M. Lloyd Jones


“He will bring you down if he is going to use you.” Tim Keller


Please read this most interesting passage on encountering God.
And Jacob was left alone. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.  Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."  And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob."   Then he said,  "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip.Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh. 
Genesis 32:24-32


"So in essence, God was voluntarily allowing Jacob to prevail so that He could show him mercy and not destroy him. But there was a day when God did not allow Jacob to prevail. There was a day when God did not voluntarily hold back His power on Jacob. There was a day when God did pour out His wrath upon Jacob. That day was at Calvary when Jesus Christ stood in Jacobs' place as his representative and substitutionary atonement." 

Adrian Warnock

Song Solnamoo

May 13th, we joined local Matsumoto churches in welcoming Song Solnamoo and his flutes. It was amazing, again. We had already heard him the beginning of this year near Takase. He is a graduate of Julliard, prepares music for Korean TV dramas and has done over 60 concerts in northeastern Japan where the devastating earthquake hit. He hopes to actually live in Japan and serve the Japanese through music and message.... This was very special to Naho who also plays the flute. 

For the love of Him who is greater than the world

“The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the expulsive power of a new one… Thus… it is not enough… to hold out to the mirror of its own imperfections. It is not enough to come forth with a demonstration of the evanescent character of your enjoyments… to speak to the conscience… of its follies… Rather, try every legitimate method of finding access to your hearts for the love of Him who is greater than the world.” Thomas Chalmers


Read the full article The Expulsive Power of a New Affection by Thomas Chalmbers


"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39