Sunday, May 6, 2018

“Jesus’ Never Giving Up Love”

Luke 13:1-9

1. You will perish if you do not repent

* Luke 13:3 & 5 “I tell you, no!” = strong denial meaning “I tell you, absolutely not!”

* Luke 13:3 & 5 “repent” = “change direction”

2. The parable of the fig tree in the vineyard

* 1. Jesus’ trust

2. Jesus’ patience

3. Jesus’ sacrifice

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. What kind of way of thinking is “what goes around comes around?”

2. Are natural disasters and accidents God’s judgment?

3. What kind of person do you learn Jesus Christ is from the parable of the “fig tree in the vineyard?”

MCC English 20180506.mp3

Sunday, April 29, 2018

“The Command to Love”

John 13:34-35

1. Are you overlooking something?

* “We Christians are sometimes distracted from our “command” to love

2. Fake “love”

* Luke 6:32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” (NIV)*● The tactics of the devil haven’t changed since the “Garden of Eden”

3. True “love”

* 1 John 4:7-8 “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (NIV)

* It doesn’t exist naturally in us. It is poured out by the Holy Spirit.

* Romans 5:5 “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (NIV)

* The main work of the Holy Spirit is to restore us to our “original ideal image”

* “As I have loved” the Lord Jesus said is not pointing at something externally, but rather meaning “as I have obeyed the leading and assistance of the Holy Spirit”

* In detail this means “understanding what kind of plan God has for someone, and giving of oneself for it”

* “We can sacrifice without love, but we cannot love without sacrifice.”

* Start by focusing on that person, and praying deeply for them

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. How is “true love” different from “fake love?” What kind of misunderstandings have you had about this so far?

2. What can you start doing today to fulfil the Lord Jesus’ command to “love?”

MCC English 20180429.mp3

Sunday, April 22, 2018

“While There Is Time”

Luke 12:49-59

1. Division brought about by Christ

* Luke 3:16-17 “John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But one who is more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”” (NIV)

* Luke 12:50 “constraint” (another translation) “be totally devoted to”

2. Decipher the present time

* Hebrews 9:27 “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” (NIV)

* Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (NIV)

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. What is the “division” that Christ brings about?

2. What kind of era does the Bible say is “this era?”

MCC English 20180422.mp3

Sunday, April 15, 2018

“As A Servant Waiting For His Master To Return”

Luke 12:35-48

1. Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning

* Matthew 5:11-12 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (NIV)

* Roman Emperor Domitianus (reigned 81 – 96)

* 1 Thessalonians 5:2 “…for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” (NIV)

* Revelation 3:5 “The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.” (NIV)

* Luke 12:40 “Be ready” Direct translation = “Be a person who is prepared”

* Psalm 123:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. As the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a female slave look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he shows us his mercy.” (NIV)

2. The wise and faithful manager

* Luke 12:42 “wise” = “has separation and judgment capability”

* Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.” (NIV)

* 1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (NIV)

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. How should people waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ wait?

2. What kind of person was the “faithful and wise manager?”

MCC English 20180415.mp3

Sunday, April 1, 2018

“What Remains Forever”

1 Corinthians 13:12-13

1. Choose the right path

* Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (NIV)

* John 10:9 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” (NIV)

* John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (NIV)

2. Choose the right order of priorities

* Thanatology (the study of how to live life with death in mind)

(1) “tangible things with importance”

(instruments, pictures, cell phones, computers, money, houses, cars, motorcycles, clothing, memorable items, etc.)

(2) “important activities”

(school clubs, cooking, walking, singing songs, hobbies, etc.)

(3) “important people”

(close friends, teachers, family, etc.)

(4) “intangible things with importance”

(love, sincerity, trust, gratitude, faith, God, etc.)

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. Have you made the right choices?

2. Are your priorities ordered correctly?

3. Try doing “thanatology” work.

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Sunday, March 25, 2018

“Do Not Worry”

Luke 12:22-34

1. God is a provider

* 1 Kings 10:4-5 “When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, 5 the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.” (NIV)

* Luke 12:24 & 27 “consider” = to observe carefully, study closely

2. Expand your faith

* The faith of George Müller (1805 – 1898)

* Psalm 81:10 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” (NIV)

3. Seek the Kingdom of God

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. Have you ever experienced “God’s provision?” If so, please share.

2. What do you think can be done to expand your faith?

3. What do you think can be done to “accumulate treasures in Heaven?”

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Sunday, March 18, 2018

“Be Careful of Greed”

Luke 12:13-21

1. A person’s life is not found in their possessions

* “Greed” is the desire to “want to have a lot”

2. The foolish rich man

* Luke 12:17 “my crops”

* Luke 12:18 “my barns” “my grain and my goods”

* Luke 12:19 “myself” = “pushuke” in Greek = “life”

* Takeshi Umehara’s experience “Death Inherent in Life”

3. Rich toward God

* Matthew 6:19-20 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (NIV)

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. To whom do you think “life” belongs?

2. What do you think is foolish about the “foolish rich man?”

3. What kind of people do you think are “people who are rich toward God?”

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Sunday, March 11, 2018

“Do Not Fear, Beloved”

Luke 12:1-12

1. Be careful not to fall into hypocrisy

* “Hypocrisy” is a word originally meaning “an actor wearing a mask,” indicating that one’s outside and inside are incoherent

* “21st Century Samurai” by Charles Corwin

2. Fear God, not man

* John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (NIV)

3. Don’t close the doors of your heart on the work of the Holy Spirit

* The status of Christianity in China (from “China Aid”)

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. What kind of hypocrisy are we prone to?

2. What did you feel from the content of the “21st Century Samurai” as a Japanese person?

3. In what situations do we tend to fear man and not God? What should we do in those cases?

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Sunday, March 4, 2018

“Jesus, Debating at the Symposium”

Luke 11:37-54

1. The stupidity of the Pharisees

* Acts 10:2 “He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly.” (NIV)

* The conversion of Martin Luther

2. Rebuking the Pharisees

* The 3 “woes”

* Numbers 19:16-17 “Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. ‘For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them.’” (NIV)

3. Rebuking the experts in the law

* The 3 “woes”

* The testimony of Keiichi Kimura

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. What were the aspects of the “Pharisees’ stupidity?”

2. What do you think was the confrontation point of the experts in the law and Jesus?

20180304.mp3

Sunday, February 25, 2018

“Together With God!!”

Genesis 28:11-16

1. Faith that is just knowledge

* Jacob’s faith so far

2. A life together with God

* Jacob’s dream: The actual world, in which there is a stairway that reaches from the earth up to heaven on which angels ascend and descend, shows how God is certainly at work

* The joy of knowing that God is with you

* In this era our lives are filled with a lot of information that takes away time to deepen our relationship with God

* How does God speak to us?

(3) Through His Word

(4) Through impressions

* Bono, a vocalist of the worldwide famous rock band, U2 (born in Ireland)

* Philippians 2:13 “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” (NIV)

3. Faith that is passed down

Thoughts to share at Mini Church:

1. In your daily life, has God ever spoken to you through His Word or through impressions? If so, please share.

2. Who has influenced your faith?

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