Thanks to your prayers of support, I was able to visit people in the shinetsu (north) part of Japan, where there was a big gathering for Christians. With the strength of God's Spirit, I was able to give the people there a sermon. At the church where I gave this sermon, I had a very blessed time singing to the Lord with the people. That church has been blessed in many ways, and being able to sing praise so well was one of them. A lady pastor led the singing, and there were many musicians, including two guitarists, two keyboardists, and a pianist. To be honest, it was a great surprise to me to find such a talented group in such a remote mountainous place! Anyways, I had a very nice time there.

Martin Luther, we hear, did not like the Book of James. He called this book: a book of straw. He had a reason to say this, for in the time that he was living, Christians were very fallen, even the leaders. One of their foolish ways was to pay for their sin's forgiveness with money; buying tickets [-- Buddhist adherents do this in Japan today]. They couldn't understand the real forgiveness of God. The fact is we can never be saved by our good deeds. Our being good can never save us -- we do think this is so, and we have the same faith as Luther's. However, though we, Japanese Christians, have been placing such an emphasis on "faith", which works for our good on the inside, we have neglected acting out our love and faith in our relationships with others.

Let's look at Mt.7:20-27. Here, Jesus tells us how important it is to be wise and to act wise. So, from this, we know that it is indispensible to us to practice what we preach.

1 Co.3:9-14 tells us that living a life can be compared to building a house. As you all you, building a house requires a firm foundation. Without this, the building will collapse easily in the future. In life, we encounter several floods and storms, or troubles. To be able to stand up against these storms, we need to be supported by the words of God. And, in practicing His words, we can gradually become firm, strengthened against the hardships of life.

Ep.2:8-10. Once you believe, you have no excuse not to follow or practice the words of God.

In today's scripture, Abraham's faith is referenced: Ge.15:6. It was certain that Abraham was righteous in believing God. It was clear that he was such a faithful person. But in acting out his faith, he was not regarded to be righteous until he offered Isaac to God. Through his deed of dedicating his only beloved son to God, his faith became an active one. This was also the case with Rahab, who allowed the Israelite spies to hide themselves in her house. Though she was a gentile, she knew that the true God was on the sides of the Israelite people. Through her faithfulness, she was remembered by God.

Ga.5:6. At the last judgement, we will be separated as sheep from goats. Doing good even to the least one means doing good to Jesus. Not doing good to even the least one means not doing good to Jesus. We need to examine ourselves to see if we have been good neighbours to those around us. The important thing is to let your faith work through the love of God, which is the love that never expects a reward.

Even in the church, we can practice this kind of love; to newcomers, introducing them to our church home, being helpful and respectful to others, etc. There are too many people in the church for one person to wait on, but if we share this work together, it is not difficult.

Chapel Noah's slogan or aim is: to build up "The church that tries to reach out to anyone. The church that prays all of the time. The church that loves and waits on each other."

Translated by Junko Okamoto - Edited for the Net by Shido
For another sermon see: Oita Evangelical Christ Church
For all sermon indicies see: cHaPeL nOaH sErMoN iNdEx