❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) God who swore an oath to the people (Psalm 132)  Andy Nagahara Today’s psalm is not like the previous 131, in which the psalmist appeals directly to God for his feelings, but rather it reminds listeners of King David’s relationship with God and makes them consider their own relationship with God. This psalm is about four times longer than the last one because it uses many references to past events to explain the story.Let’s divide the whole text into four parts and read them in order. First, we’ll read up to verse 7. A. David swore an oath to the Lord (1-10) 1. An oath…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Knowing God’s Love Is The Beginning of All Rebirth (John 7:32-36) Mari Ikeda We have been away from the Gospel of John series for a while, but today we are returning to the series again to read John 7:32-36, but since this passage only raises a question for us, I will read other passages as well today. Let’s read them. John 7:32-36. 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I am going to the…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Like a weaned child with its mother (Psalm 131)  Andy Nagahara On the Sundays that I speak, we are reading a series of psalms, and today we are reading Psalm 131. It has been eight years since I started this series, and since there are 150 psalms in total, I think we will be able to finish reading them by next summer.The Psalms teach us important lessons even though we live in a time and culture completely different from those in which they were written. It is the answer to the question of how to maintain peace of mind and joy in the midst of…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) God Is Good And Faithful Easter Sunday (Luke 24:36-49, Isaiah 53, etc)  Mari Ikeda      Today is Easter, the day we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. There are many ways to describe the meaning of the event that Jesus, who suffered and died on the cross, rose from the dead after three days. In the second half of today’s message, I would like to talk about those meanings, but if I were to encompass them all, I would say that Jesus’ resurrection is an event that proves that God is faithful and good. We have nothing to fear if we can believe that God…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Cry out of the depths to the Lord!(Psalm 130, Matthew 26:36-39) Andy Nagahara Next week is Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Just one week earlier, on this Sunday, Jesus had come to Jerusalem riding on a colt. At that time, Gospel of John tells us that the people welcomed Jesus by waving palm leaves. That’s why this Sunday is called Palm Sunday. The prophet Zechariah had predicted this event 600 years ago: Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt,…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Job’s roller coaster life(Job) Martin Kadir For whatever reason, I was drawn to Job, in my early teenage years. My favorite thing was a plastic bracelet where we could choose letters of the alphabet to insert. I inserted the letter J-O-B at that time.Although until this morning when I read passage by passage, verse by verse. The book of Job made many things open up and explained more about Job’s life path whose dynamics got steeper and steeper. It is far from what I used to think.Because I admit, I only heard about Job from a few verses or from snippets of articles in books,…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Do You Really Know Jesus?(John 7:25-31) Mari Ikeda      The title of today’s message is a bit of a challenging question. Whether you are not yet a believer in Jesus or have lived most of your life believing in Him, I hope that today you will reexamine what you know and believe about Him. None of us can know everything about God in our lifetime. Therefore, we need to always humbly reexamine ourselves to see if we think we know Jesus when we really don’t, or if we think we know God when we really don’t. By reexamining ourselves, we will be able to…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Bless in the name of the Lord(Psalm 129) Andy Nagahara 0 A song of ascents.1 They have greatly oppressed me from my youth– let Israel say–2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me.3 Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.4 But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.5 May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.6 May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow;7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands, nor the one who…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Even When Going Through Storms(Luke 8:22-25) Jaelee Bae 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?” 12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders. “One day Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake.’” (v.22) This is the third time I have come to Your Church. The first two times was when I was attending Tokyo Union…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Faith forces us to make decisions(John 7:11-24) Mari Ikeda Today we continue with the Gospel of John, reading 7:11-24 in three parts. Let’s read them quickly. First, verses 11-13. A. Not to fear conflict with the familiar community (11-13) 11 Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, “Where is he?” 12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.” 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.     　 Today’s passage teaches us one thing clearly. That…