Sunday, August 11, 2024
“Abraham’s Disguise Tactic”
Pastor Hiroyuki Anjiki

Isaiah 59:1-2 “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (NIV)

1. Abraham’s unbelief
2. Abraham’s scheme
3. God’s intervention
Genesis 12:2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” (NIV)

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. What did Abraham fear? What did he do as a result?
2. Have you ever made a mistake such as that which Abraham did at that time?

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Sunday, August 4, 2024
“People Look at the Outward Appearance,
but the Lord Looks at the Heart”
Pastor Joey Anjiki

1. People look at the outward appearance
* What kind of person was Jesse?
His grandmother was Ruth, a Moabite (Gentile), his grandfather was Boaz, and Boaz’ mother was Rahab (a former prostitute in Jericho)
* 1 Samuel 16:6 (See above)
* The reason why Samuel was attracted to Eliab: his unresolved feelings for Saul
* Problems with people judging outward appearances
(1) They focus only on the good aspects (possibility of idolatry)
Have the perspective that “All people are sinners.”
(2) They focus only on the bad aspects (overlook a person’s good points)
Have the perspective that people are “Made as God's workmanship, created to do good works.”
* An episode of the grandmother of a woman named Louise in the U.S.
2. The Lord looks at the heart
* Why was David excluded from his family?
(1) Theory that David was too young
(2) Theory that David was despised by his family
* God’s standard “was the heart”
* More than what happened to David is happening to us (sinners as children of God)
* Evaluation from God, who sees the heart, is the most important thing in our life
* A journalist’s account of his visit to Mother Teresa’s institution

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. What are the two problems that occur when we only look at people’s outward appearance?
2. What perspectives are important to have to avoid those problems?
3. What happens when we seek God's evaluation first?

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Sunday, July 28, 2024
“The Covenant with Abraham”
Pastor Hiroyuki Anjiki

1. Abraham’s calling
* Matthew 13:22 “The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.” (NIV)
* Hebrews 11:8 “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” (NIV)
2. The content of the covenant with Abraham
* 1st decree:
Genesis 12:1 “Go from your country… to the land I will show you.” = “Go as it it is in your best interest!” (direct translation)
Genesis 12:2 (1) “I will make you into a great nation” (2) “I will bless you” (3) “I will make your name great” (3 blessings)
* 2nd decree:
Genesis 12:2 “…You will be a blessing” (imperative form) = “You will become the source of blessing” (other translation)
Genesis 12:3 (1) “I will bless those who bless you” (2) “Whoever curses you I will curse” (3) “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (3 blessings)
3. The content of the covenant with Abraham
* Abraham’s lifestyle
Genesis 12:7 & 8 “…he built an altar” “pitched his tent”

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. What is the covenant with Abraham?
2. History has proven that this covenant is true. What kinds of examples of proof are there?
3. What position should Christians take on “antisemitism”?

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Sunday, July 21, 2024
“What to Pass on to the Next Generation”
Pastor Joey Anjiki

Background
* Set in Israel around 1000 B.C.　
* At that time, Israel had no king, but there was a divine government led by God through leaders called “Judges”
* The prophet Samuel was the last of the Judges
* Revival in Mizpah (1 Samuel 7)
* Today’s passage is the story of the generation of children of the revival generation (1 Samuel 8)

1. The people wanted a king (Yearning for worldly values)
* 1 Samuel 8:1-3 The fall of Samuel’s sons
* The people wanted a king
* 1 Samuel 8:4-5 (See above)
* God recognizes monarchy
* The conflict of people after the second generation of Christians (The values of the world seem attractive to them)
2. Realize the greatness of what parents left behind (Personal encounter with Jesus)
* Something that happened when I was in seminary
* The testimony of a young girl
* Ephesians 1:3-11

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. Why did the people want a monarchy?
2. If you grew up in a Christian home, did you have any conflicts because of that?
3. Why were you able to turn to God in the midst of all of that?
4. Please pray for blessing upon children.

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Sunday, July 14, 2024
“Faith in God Throughout Human History”
Pastor Hiroyuki Anjiki

1. The genealogy tells the story
2. The history of Shem
* Genesis 11:14 “Eber” = to cross over, to go across a boundary
(Abel was the one to become the ancestor of the Hebrew people)
* Genesis 11:16 “Peleg” = to divide (During his era, the Tower of Babel incident occurred)
* Genesis 11:26 “Terah” = The father of Abraham
* Acts 7:2-4 “To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’ “So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.” (NIV)
3. The way to Jesus Christ
* 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.” (NIV)

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. What do you think this genealogy is telling us?
2. Review the genealogy from Shem to Abraham.
3. What is the relationship between this genealogy and Jesus Christ’s genealogy?

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Sunday, July 7, 2024
“Go Forth and Preach the Gospel”
Pastor Joey Anjiki

1. Go forth
* Mark 16:15 (See above)
* The disciples of that day told the Jews, and then the gentiles who believed in another god
* Why did they go forth? Because they believed in the universality of the gospel
* The miracle that occurred for a young boy in Argentina on December 31, 2020
* Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” (NIV)
2. Tell who?
* Not just strangers, but people close to you
* What does it mean to be a testimony?
3. Realize that the responsibility is in your hands
* Mark 16:16 (See above)
4. God is with you and will provide your needs
* Mark 16:17-18 (See above)
* The gospel is being spread through various manifestations

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. When we believe in what nature of the gospel can we go forth?
2. Who do you preach the gospel to? What does it mean to be a testimony?
3. Have you ever experienced faith cultivation through healing or miracles?

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Sunday, June 30, 2024
“In Order to Be Happy”
Pastor Kenichi Osumi

1. In order to be “happy”
* Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (NIV)
2. What is “happiness”?
* Psalm 73:28 “But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.” (NIV)
* Dr. Yasuyuki Shimoinaba (Kameyama Eikoh Hospital)
“I think life is not only about its length, but its quality.” (Words of a 26-year-old terminally ill cancer patient)
3. In order to have a “happy death”
* Tetsuo Kashiwagi “People die in the same manner they lived.”

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. Who is God to you?
2. What is “happiness”?
3. What do you need to do to have a “happy death”?

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Sunday, June 23, 2024
“Meeting the Resurrected Christ”
Pastor Joey Anjiki

1. Mary Magdalene (The stage at which it is communicated from someone)
* Mark 16:9 (See above)
* The disciples heard about Jesus’ resurrection from Mary Magdalene
* Who did you hear about Jesus from?
* The stage when it is difficult to believe that the resurrected Lord is with you
2. The disciples on the road to Emmaus (Meeting the resurrected Lord through the Word)
* Mark 16:12 (See above)
* Luke 24:27 “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (NIV)
* Luke 24:32 “They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” (NIV)
* Meeting the resurrected Lord through the Word
* The testimony of Tomijiro Kobayashi, founder of the Lion Corporation
3. The state of the disciples (Meeting the resurrected Lord through experiencing the Holy Spirit)
* The eleven central disciples believed only when they saw resurrected Jesus themselves.
* We can experience resurrected Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. Have you ever experienced the presence of the resurrected Lord being with you?
2. Share about that experience.


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Sunday, June 16, 2024
“The Tower of Babel as Rebellion
Against God”
Pastor Hiroyuki Anjiki

1. The origin of languages
* (1) The history of linguistics
Eugene Nida, an American linguist
* (2) Cognitive science
Noam Chomsky, a Jewish linguist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor
“Universal grammar”
* (3) The presence of someone to talk to
* (4) All races have a language
2. One common language
* Genesis 11:4 “make a name for ourselves” = intent to rebel against God
3. The division of languages
* Genesis 11:7 “Come, let us…”
* Genesis 11:9 “Babel” = confusion
* Max Schuler, a German linguist
* Otto Jespersen, a Danish linguist “All human languages originate from one language”
* Isaac Mozeson, an American linguist “It is Hebrew (Eden language).”

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. What do you think about the fact that much of the evidence of linguists matches up with what is recorded in the Bible?
2. Why did the Tower of Babel incident occur?

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Sunday, June 9, 2024
“The Birth & Increase of the Nations”
Pastor Hiroyuki Anjiki

1. The meaning of the lineage record
2. The descendants of Noah’s three sons
(1) Genesis 10:2-5 The descendants of Japheth
(2) Genesis 10:6-20 The descendants of Ham
　Genesis 10:6 “Cush” = Ethiopians
　Genesis 10:6 “Egypt” = Egyptians
　Genesis 10:6 “Put” = Libyans
　Genesis 10:6 “Canaan” = Palestine area indigenous people
(3) Genesis 10:21-31 The descendants of Shem
　Genesis 10:21 “Eber” = to pass over/by (in Hebrew)
　Genesis 10:25 “Peleg” = to separate (the incident of the Tower of Babel)
3. The increase in human sin and God’s plan for salvation
* Genesis 10:9 “before the Lord” = “thanks to the Lord” (another translation)
* Acts 17:26, 27, 30 “From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us… In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” (NIV)
* 1 John 4:9 “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (NIV)

Thoughts to share at mini church:
1. What is the lineage record in chapter 10 telling us?
2. Where do you think “God’s grace” is shown in this lineage record?

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