The Power of Christ Centered Fellowship_by Ray Tavarez

　↓Audio link to the sermon:(1st worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) Introduction First of all, I want to thank pastor Ino for asking me to share God’s word today. I’m very thankful for his life and ministry and for the IBF church community. Before I start today’s message, I want to quickly introduce myself. My name is Ramon but everybody calls me Ray. Together with my wife, Megan, we serve as missionaries here in Japan with Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF). My wife was born and raised in Texas and I was born in New York City and raised in Puerto Rico (a small

“The Witness of John the Baptist: Faithful but Suffering” (Mark 6:7-32)

↓Audio link to the sermon: (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) The Witness of John the Baptist: Faithful but Suffering Corrie Ten Boom was a well-known Dutch Christian writer. During World War II, she and her family protected Jews by hiding them in their house from the Nazis. They were all caught eventually. Her father died in prison, while her sister died in a concentration camp. Corrie herself was almost sent to the gas chambers. But one week before the execution scheduled for Corrie and all other young women her age, she was suddenly released from the camp, due to an error in paperwork. Unfortunately,

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”(James 1:22)

　↓Audio link to the sermon:(1st worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) Message by Missionary Park We as human beings are so easily deceived. When someone keeps repeating a certain thing seriously over and over again, we tend to believe that it is so true even if it is a total lie. Right? When people in power or people in authority speak, we think that they are alway right and never wrong. In addition to that, we tend to believe that science is infallible and statistics can’t be manipulated. We believe that NHK news and CNN news are all “facts.” But unfortunately some news

“Restore us to yourself, Lord” (Lamentations 5:21)

　↓Audio link to the sermon:(1st worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) My previous sermon focused on the idea that it is good to wait upon the Lord. God has an appointed time for everything. Sometimes we are challenged in our faith to simply wait quietly for God to work. As we will celebrate Easter next Sunday, let us remember the suffering of Jesus on the Cross this week. The main verse for today is Lamentations 5:21. It says, “Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old.” Let us remember the work of Jesus on the Cross