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By Pastor Shoichi Ino I never expected to visit the country of Finland, but this year I had an opportunity to do so for the first time. On invitation by the North American Covenant Churches, I visited Finland from April 2 to 8. A seminary of the Finnish Evangelical Free Church had invited representatives from the American Covenant Churches to speak on the subjects of church revitalization and pioneer evangelism. Local pastors and seminary students attended the lecture. Representatives from the Japan Covenant Churches were invited too, and we sent 3 Japanese pastors to discover if we could apply lessons from the lecture in the Japanese church context. In a

From a sermon series on 1 Kings by See Huang Lim, a missionary at IBF. Today, I would like to share some reflections about how some people respond to the idea of religion, especially in Japan. We will still read a passage from 1 Kings as part of our on-going study of this book, but I won’t focus on the passage. I’ll only summarize its main point and then reflect on two common attitudes towards religion. [Read 1 Kings 16:8-28] Background The reason for this chaos and death is the same for all 3 kings. The root of the problem was idol worship. Idol worship was not a new problem

From a sermon series on 1 Kings by See Huang Lim, a missionary at IBF. My last few sermons focused on the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the time of 1 Kings. Today, we will read about the Southern Kingdom of Judah, about the first 3 generations of kings there. The first is King Rehoboam. The second is his son Abijah. The third is Abijah’s son Asa. When you read about the kings in this book, you might think their stories sound very similar. That is true. But each king’s story contains one or two details that are unique. I’ll focus on these unique details. [Read 1 Kings 14:21-15:24.] King

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From a sermon series on 1 Kings by See Huang Lim, a missionary at IBF. In Japan, many people wear masks. It’s to prevent us from spreading sickness or catching it. But there is another reason for masks, according to a Japanese friend of mine. One day she told me: Some people wear masks because they want to hide something. Maybe they don’t want people to notice or recognize them. Or maybe, they want to hide something dishonest. I thought my friend’s comment was interesting. In today’s story from 1 Kings, we will hear about a king who wanted to hide his identity. 1 Kings Chapter 14 is actually about

By Pastor Shoichi Ino When preaching, a pastor shoulders the great responsibility of conveying God’s word, entrusted to him by God. He reflects deeply on the words of Scripture and makes it easy for the congregation to understand. I’d like to share something I read in The Supremacy of God in Preaching, a book by John Piper, about 5 steps the writer tries to keep in mind when preaching: APTAT. Piper asks for the help of the Holy Spirit by offering an “APTAT” prayer. A – ADMIT: I recognize that without you, Lord, I am nothing. P – PRAY: So, Father, I seek your help. Please grant me the insight,

From a sermon series on 1 Kings by See Huang Lim, a missionary at IBF. Intro Today we will read 1 Kings chapter 13, to continue our series on 1 Kings. Chapter 13 contains a rather strange story and a warning. Before reading, let us pray. [Read 1 Kings 13] A strange story Welcome to the strange world of Old Testament stories. You probably have several questions buzzing in your mind. The writer doesn’t give many answers; he simply records the events that happened. But a few things are clear. First, the story begins and ends with King Jeroboam. Second, the writer often repeats this phrase: “the word of the