Japan's decline...

"The country (Japan) is not just in a prolonged slump but also in an inescapable decline." Read A declining Japan loses its once-hopeful champions - The Washington Post

Other articles: Japan's Potentially Dangerous Decline - Forbes, Sharp, Panasonic's job cuts mark Japan's decline - The Times of India, The scary global implications of Japan’s slowdown

Even America....Obama V Romney: Fighting Over An America In Decline? - YouTube

Do pray for Japan, and us, as we preach the gospel. That the nation would be transformed inside out- even society.

"First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. For this I was appointed a preacher..." 1 Timothy 2:1-7

SBC

Can you read the lettering on the buidling in back? SBC My parents for many years faithfully broadcasted a short weekly gospel message from there on Sunday mornings. I few elderly men reminded me of that the other day... "Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty."  Matthew 13:8 This is our prayer.

Under the mastery of one great and predominate affection

“It is seldom that any of our [bad habits or flaws] are made to disappear by a mere process of natural extinction. At least, it is very seldom that this is done through the instrumentality of reasoning… [or by] the mere force of mental determination. But what cannot be thus destroyed maybe dispossessed- and one taste may be made to give way to another, and to lose its power entirely as the reigning affection of the mind… The heart’s… desire for having some one object or other, this is unconquerable… The only way to dispossess the heart of an old affection is by the explosive power of a new one… It is … when admitted into the number of God’s children, through faith that is in Jesus Christ, that the spirit of adoption is poured upon us- it is then that the heart, brought under the mastery of one great and predominate affection, is delivered from the tyranny of its former desires, and is the only way in which deliverance is possible.” 

Thomas Chalmers

'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'  Mark 12:30 

Fishing...

On October 21st, my birthday by the way, after worship and fellowship at Azumino Family Chapel, we took the kids to go fishing. They loved it.

"Mine!"

"There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry 'Mine!'"

Abraham Kuyper

"The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice." Psalm 97:1

Azumino Family Chapel

Me preaching at Azumino Family Chapel last Sunday, the 21st. I preached from 1 Timothy 6 on our attitude toward money.

"Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment." 1 Tm 6:6 

Arguing about Politics

In a period when politics is becoming a 'god' in America, it would be good hear a sermon on politics. Click here: Arguing About Politics by Tim Keller

"The Pharisees pose a controversial question to Jesus when they ask him if they should pay taxes. Jesus responds with a revolutionary answer: He refuses political complacency, political simplicity, and political primacy. Jesus then models a revolutionary idea, showing his followers that the way to gain power is to give it away." redeemer.com


 "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Mark 12:17