❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Jesus Is The Name Of The Lord (Psalm 124) Andy Nagahara Today’s text is Psalm 124. I am going to talk today about three of the most striking statements in this psalm. Firstly, I will read up to verse 5. 1. If the LORD had not been on our side (1-5) 0 A song of ascents. Of David.1 If the LORD had not been on our side–let Israel say–2 if the LORD had not been on our sidewhen men attacked us,3 when their anger flared against us,they would have swallowed us alive;4 the flood would have engulfed us,the torrent would have swept over us,5 the…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Where Do You Find Your Bread of Life? (John 6:1-15) Mari Ikeda Today we continue in the Gospel of John, and today we will read 6:1-15. This passage records the miracle of Jesus feeding a crowd of over 5,000 people with a meager amount of food. This miracle is the only one of Jesus’ miracles that is recorded in all four Gospels. Therefore, it was probably the most well-known miracle of the early church. It could be said that the story is that significant. However, even though they record the same miracle, each of the four Gospels has a different emphasis, and this Gospel of…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Lift up your eyes for the mercy of the Lord (Psalm 123) Andy Nagahara Today’s text is Psalm 123. It’s a short verse, so let’s read it in its entirety first. 0 A song of ascents.1 I lift up my eyes to you,to you whose throne is in heaven.2 As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,so our eyes look to the LORD our God,till he shows us his mercy. 3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us,for we have endured much contempt.4 We have endured…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) How We Know Jesus (John 5:31-47) Mari Ikeda Today we continue in the Gospel of John, reading 5:31-47. In this passage, Jesus speaks to the Jews who were trying to kill Him. Jesus tells them why they could not believe in Him and what it means to believe in Him, which I think is important for us. How did we, who already have faith, have faith? And what are the reasons why we sometimes lose sight of Jesus and doubt? I also hope that those of you who do not yet have faith, or are confused about your faith, will know through today’s content what…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) From “My Faith” to “Our Faith” (Psalm 122) Andy Nagahara Today’s text is Psalm 122. This psalm has a different feel than the ones we have read so far, in that the psalmist refers to his companions, his friends, and his siblings with joy.Lately, when it comes to others, only those who persecute or oppose him have appeared, and it has been a heavy feeling, but I am relieved here to see that the psalmist also have friends who can be called “us”. Now, let’s think about the importance of thinking from the perspective of “we” rather than “me” and “our God” rather than “my…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) The LORD watches over you (Psalm 121) Andy Nagahara Today’s text is Psalm 121. Let’s read the entire text first, and then take in two verses at a time. The psalmist begins by declaring, “God is the one who watches over and helps me” (1,2) and calls us, “The one who also watches over you and helps you” (3-8). 0 A song of ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills– where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.3 He will not let your foot slip– he who watches over you will not slumber; 4…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) What Is The “Life” God Gives Us? (John 5:19-30) Mari Ikeda Last Wednesday, Kazu, one of the members of this church, passed away. Yesterday was his funeral. His battle with cancer had already begun when he first came to this church 10 years ago, but perhaps what we all remember in common is that he was always calm and smiling. Sometimes he made us laugh with his humor, and many times he brought us delicious food. I also remember the expression on his face when he quietly said “thank you” after we prayed together. Over the past year, he has had many bad days, so…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) שָׁלוֹם・平和・Peace (Psalm 120) Andy Nagahara In the Japanese Bible, these 15 psalms, from today’s 120 to 134, are titled “A song of ascents” The original word simply means “to go up,” as the English Bible translates it, and so the word has been interpreted in various ways: for example, to go to Jerusalem, the city of the temple; to go up to the temple; to go up the 15 steps in the temple, and so on. But it is not possible to say for sure which one it is.However, all the theories agree that going up means getting closer to God. It is a sincere…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) Hearts that are hurt and distorted by society (John 5:1-18) Mari Ikeda Today we continue with the Gospel of John, and today we will read 5:1-18. I thought about dividing this passage into two parts because it is long, but I decided to put it together in one part because I thought there are things we can only see by reading it as a whole. What we can see is that no matter how much our hearts are hurt and distorted in society and we no longer trust anyone, Jesus is the one who comes into our despair and resignation and patiently continues to heal…

❖ Video ❖ Audio (Message) ת（Tau) 　keep trusting and waiting Series: Finding the Gospel in Psalm 119 – A Hymn to the Law (22/22) Psalm 119:169–176 Andy Nagahrara Today, in the final part of our series on Psalm 119, we will focus on verses 169-176, where the 22nd and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, “ת (tau),” is placed at the beginning of each line of the paragraph. We have spent 13 months reading this Psalm 119, 8 verses each time. It was an attempt to find the gospel of Jesus from the poems of the time when Jesus was not yet known, but I wonder if it helped you…