❖ Video ❖ Audio The God Who Reaches His Hand Toward Us as We Reach Our Hands Toward Heaven Romans 9:30-10:13 Mari Ikeda A. The mistake of reaching out to heaven (9:30-10:4) 30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:“See, I lay in Zion a stone that…

❖ Video ❖ Audio Why Does the Bible Include Curses? Psalm 109 Andy Nagahara There are parts of the Bible that baffle me as to why it says so many terrible things. Today’s verse is no different. The title is “A Psalm of David. The title is “A Song of Praise,” but the content is clearly “A Psalm of David. A Curse”. In Romans 12:14, Paul says, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them,” but who is right, Paul or the Psalmist? In a word, the Bible is God’s word, but we have to read it differently in the Old and New Testaments. This is because…

❖ Video ❖ Audio The Joy of Living Taught by Jesus and the Author of Ecclesiastes Ecclesiastes, Matthew 16:25-26, others Mari Ikeda Today, instead of our usual series on the book of Romans, we’re going to read Ecclesiastes from the Old Testament and the words of Jesus from the New Testament. I wanted to read Ecclesiastes because I came across a book last year that taught a new interpretation of the book that was so good that I wanted to share it with you. The title of the book is ” Let’s read Ecclesiastes – a book that calls us to ‘live’” by Satoshi Otomo, and published by UCCJ (The…

❖ Video ❖ Audio Becoming a Church That Pleases God 1Peter 2:3-5, 1Samuel15:22, Proverbs 21:3, Hebrew 12:28 Andy Nagahara 1. What pleases God? But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.  2.  What is a church? now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, the living Stone–rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him– you…

❖ Video ❖ Audio What it Means to Love One Another Luke 10:25-37 Mari Ikeda A. Our love is limited 25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?” 27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” 28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.” 29 But he wanted to…