[The audio recording will be uploaded here after the worship service.] Good morning, church. It is really good to be back at IBF and read God’s word with you. I have been preaching through Mark’s gospel for more than two years. Today is the last reading of Mark’s gospel, and it is about Jesus’ trial, death, and resurrection. However, I will not be preaching a traditional sermon. Rather, today I wat to guide us through a quiet meditation on Scripture. This meditation is based on a popular Christian practice called Stations of the Cross. If you visit Jerusalem today, you could walk through a road called the Via Dolorosa, “the
“A Time for Everything” (Ecclesiastes 3:1~6)
↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) Today I would like to share with you a message about “timing.” As we go through life, we all realize that timing is so important. In fact, we could even say, “Timing is everything.” No matter how hard we try, if it is not the right time, we cannot see fruit. No matter how much effort we put in, if the timing is not right, it will not succeed. That is how crucial timing is. The Roman philosopher Seneca (around 4 B.C.–A.D. 65) once said: “Luck is what happens when preparation meets
“What does it mean to believe?” (Luke 7:1-10)
↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) Sorry, this post is no translate, only available in Japanese. [Luke 7:1-10] 1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum. 2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. 3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. 4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our
“Come, let us return to the Lord” (Hosea 6:1)
↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) My last sermon was on Hosea 3:2. The passage was about God’s work of redemption. Let me briefly summarize it. Hosea 3:2 says, “So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about one-and-a-half homer of barley.” The northern kingdom of Israel was captivated by idol worship and bowed down to Baal; they were unfaithful to God, but God redeemed and saved them. Fifteen shekels of silver was actually only half the price of one slave. That is how unworthy the people of Israel were when God redeemed them. But in