❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Immanuel (God with us) The Third Advent (Matthew 1:18-25) Andy Nagahara The third week of Advent begins today. This year, Christmas is next Monday, so this is essentially the last week of waiting for Christmas. Although the end of the year is approaching and the atmosphere is hectic, today I would like to introduce a text that will help you spend this week thinking deeply about the meaning of Christmas. That is Matthew 1:18-25. At first, let’s read up to verse 21. A. How was the infant named Jesus? (18-21) 18 This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) How To Achieve True Peace (Isaiah 11:1-9) Mari Ikeda It is the second Sunday of Christmas. Christmas is a time to celebrate Jesus who was born to bring peace to this world, but with the recent world situation only increasing wars and conflicts, it may be getting harder and harder to believe that a King of Peace was born.Today, I would like to read Isaiah 11 and consider what the King of Peace prophesied in the Bible is like and what true peace is. I’d like to divide the passage into two parts. Firstly let’s read verses 1-5. A. The One who brings true peace…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) The light of the world The first Advent (Isaiah 9:2-6, John 1:9-14) Andy Nagahara Starting today, the Christian church’s calendar begins a four-week period of anticipation for Christmas called Advent. Every year at this time, four candles are placed like this, and one candle is lit today, the first week of the month, and each week the number of candles is increased by one. All four candles are lit during the Christmas service on the last Sunday of Advent. It expresses the feeling of waiting and longing.The text we will read first today is a prophecy recorded in chapter 9 of Isaiah, one of the…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) While We Try To Be Strong, Jesus Chooses and Loves the Weak (John 6:60-71) Mari Ikeda Today we continue with the Gospel of John, and today we will read 6:60-71. Over the past two months and four messages, I have spoken from Chapter 6. In particular, the last two messages have been on the theme “Jesus is the Bread of Life,” in which I have explained that the bread of life that brings us eternal life is Jesus Himself, and that we must eat Him to have a true life. Today’s passage records the disciples’ response to this teaching. As we will read, it is…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) How To Live in Vain (Psalm 127:1, 2) Andy Nagahara Let’s listen to the words of Jesus Christ speaking to us through the Psalm today. Today’s text is the Psalm 12７. This psalm has different contents sung in the first and second halves. The first half of this psalm sings that all human activities are futile if they don’t recognize God’s work in them. The second half of the song is a blessing about having descendants, especially sons. And the content of this latter half is connected to the content of the next psalm 128 . The latter half of Psalm 127 and Psalm 128…