RCCM of Japan

　↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) This is my third message on the book of Micah. It is about the same key verse as before, Micah 6:8. But today I will focus on the part about walking humbly with God. Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Let’s briefly recall what we have learned so far. When we talk about acting justly, this is based on the righteousness of God’s laws.

[An audio recording of this sermon will be uploaded here after the worship service.] Recently, I was taken by surprise when my daughter, who is almost 5 years old, asked me, “Daddy, when can I be baptized?” As you may know, different churches have different answers to this question. After this I started reading many articles about child baptism as well as infant baptism. Coincidentally, at this time, I was also preparing for today’s sermon. In our passage for today, Jesus talks about children and about entering the kingdom of God. So, let’s hear what Jesus says about children from Mark chapter 10, and at the end I’ll return to

↓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 about the God who restores. Especially, we will focus on the message from Joel 2:25, which says, “I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten—the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm…” Through this passage, let’s explore how God restores the years we have ruined by our sins, disobedience, and idolatry. First of all, in Joel 1:1, we see that the prophet Joel only mentions his father’s name without giving any details about himself. We

↓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. John20:24-29 24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus ), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” 26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them.

↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) This is Part 2 of my message on the book of Micah. The theme of this message is the same as before. But in particular today, I would like to focus on the idea of grace. Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” First of all, about justice: I said in my last message that this kind of justice is based on God’s laws of

↓Audio link to the sermon: (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) Today’s passage in the Gospel of Mark deals with a tough and controversial subject: divorce. Christians hold different views about divorce. Regardless, from reading the Bible we can see that it elevates the status of women in times when they were often considered the property of men. Before reading from Mark, let’s pray. [Read Mark 10:1-12] The Pharisees’ debate on divorce Back then, the Pharisees were caught in a debate about when divorce was permissible. The Law of Moses had only one reference to divorce, in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. It’s quite long, so I’ll summarize

↓Audio link to the sermon:(Sunday worship recording) (If you can’t listen on your iPhone, please update your iOS) The Epistle to Philemon is a personal letter. So, Philemon does not teach about the faith. It doesn’t teach the doctrine of Christianity, either. In the early church, believers wrote short letters like Philemon. But, these letters are not included in the canon. So why did people include this short letter in the canon? Aren’t you curious? Letters in the 1st century were usually very short. Interestingly enough, Philemon is longer than the letters of that time. Most of the letters in the New Testament are longer than the letters of that