❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) “You Will See Greater Things” John 1:43-51 Mari Ikeda Today I’m going to continue the series of John’s Gospel, so I’ll read 1:43-51. This passage, continuing from last time, is the scene in which the first disciples met Jesus. It was Andrew and Peter last time. Today it will be persons called Philip and Nathanael. Let’s read a little at a time, starting with v.43-44. A. Philip 1. Discovered by Jesus (43-44) 43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Here we have…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) כ (Kaph) Put your hope in God’s word Series: Finding the Gospel in Psalm 119ーA Hymn to the Law　11/22 Psalm 119:81-86 Andy Nagahara We return to our series on Psalm 119, which is also called a hymn to the Law. For today’s eleventh part, we will focus on verses 81-88, in which the eleventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “כ (kaph),” is placed at the beginning of each line of the paragraph.This character is thought to derive from a letter depicting a palm (Hebrew: כף kaf). What can we learn from the state of the psalmist when he was in the midst of life-threatening hardship,…

❖ Video (Whole Worship Service) ❖ Audio (Message) “Come, and You Will See.” John 1:35-42 Mari Ikeda As it’s the beginning of the new year, I was thinking to speak about the covenant of members of this church. But I decided to continue the series of John’s Gospel first, because I thought the passage to follow in the series was very appropriate to read at the start of a year. The passage is from John 1:35, the scene of the encounter of Jesus and His first disciples. It is illustrated the most in v.38-39, but let’s follow the order and read a little at a time, v.35-37 first. A. Being…

❖ Video (Whole Worship Service) ❖ Audio (Message) Sow seeds of joy and peace Matthew 10:26-29 Andy Nagahara One day at the end of the last year, Tamori-san was on a TV program called Tetsuko’s Room and when Tetsuko asked him what kind of year he thought next year would be, he replied, “I think it will be like a new pre-war year, won’tIt?”.I was born in 1955. It was ten years after the end of World War II. For younger people today, this may feel like just shortly after the war, but I was not aware of this at all. However, my parents lived through the war, and my…

❖ Video (Whole Worship Service) ❖ Audio (Message) The Two Epilogues of the Christmas Story Matthew 2:16-18, Luke 2:25-38 Mari Ikeda It’s Christmas Day today, but according to the Church Calendar the official Christmas service was last week, and so it’s the end-of-year service today. So I decided to pick up the passages from the Bible which can be read as the epilogues of the Christmas story today. There are two different ones, each of which has a content completely opposite to the other. One is a tragedy, while the other seems to be a happy ending. By comparing these two stories, I realized they teach us how we should walk…

❖ Video (Whole Worship Service) ❖ Audio (Message) No Vacancy! Luke 2:1-21 Message for Christmas 2022 Andy Nagahara Now it is the last week of Advent. Since Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, some churches will hold their Christmas service on that day, but many churches have their Christmas service on this last Sunday of Advent. So let us, too, reflect on the events of Christmas today as we read the Gospel of Luke chapter 2. At first, let’s read verses 1-7. A. The miserable birthday (1-7) 1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2…

❖ Video (Whole Worship Service) ❖ Audio (Message) God’s Weakness That Surpasses Any Force or Power Luke 2:1-7 Message for the third Sunday of Advent Mari Ikeda It’s the third Sunday of Advent today.To start my message today, I’d like you to have an image in your mind. I have used this image in a different context before. It’s domino toppling, especially not a linear sequence, but a planar one. The trick is to stand dominoes to be toppled automatically one after another by toppling only the first domino. It feels nice to make all the dominoes fall just by flipping and toppling the first one by our finger. It…

❖ Video (Whole Worship Service) ❖ Audio (Message) The Light Shines On You  John 1:6-9, Matthew 2:1-3 5:14-16, Isaiah 60:1-3 Message for the second Sunday of advent Andy Nagahara Christmas is the time to remember the birth of Jesus Christ. And the four weeks before Christmas are called Advent. We light two of the four candles that are placed in the chapel only at this time of year, for today is the second Sunday of Advent. As you can see, we were also able to decorate for Advent and Christmas last Sunday after the service. Decorations for the season have been common for quite some time, even in non-Christian households,…

❖ Video (Whole Worship Service) ❖ Audio (Message) What Lies Beyond “It Wasn’t Supposed to be Like This”  Luke 1:5-25 Mari Ikeda In the church calendar, the four weeks of Advent has started from today. Today I’d like to pick up the story of Zachariah and Elizabeth in Luke’s Gospel 1:5-25.Have you ever felt about your life, “It wasn’t supposed to be like this?” Perhaps for some of you it is exactly how you feel now, while there should be people who have gone through such feeling in the past. It might be a loss of health, a loss of someone important, or a loss of dream. In anyone’s life,…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) י (Yodh) The History of The Kingdom of God Series: Finding the Gospel in Psalm 119ーA Hymn to the Law　10/22 Psalm 119:73-80 Andy Nagahara The tenth in the series of Psalm 119, called Hymn to the Law, is the tenth paragraph in the entire series. It is verses 73 through 80, where the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Yodh, is placed at the beginning of each line.　This character is thought to derive from a hieroglyphic script that depicted a hand (Hebrew: יד yad). As we read today’s section two verses at a time, we can see the history of God’s relationship with us, who…