A Message by Pastor Katsumasa Hirota,
1st Sunday, at Oita Evangelical Christ Church, on January 4th, 1998
Sermon: "Go into the world." Mark 16:15.
Sermon: "Go into the world." Mark 16:15.
It's already the 4th day after the New Year. We can't be resting all through these
days. If we continue with such bad habits, there will be no progress in the new year.
Since we have stepped into another year, our whole length of life has shortened by one
year. We need to be more and more alert 'till [the Day of Jesus Christ] the time when
Jesus comes back.
Isaiah 45:22. This part was given to me for the new year as well as our present
scripture reading. When I thought about these verses, I reached to God's commandment
which we are to observe; to reach out to the world -- for it is God's will that all
people should be saved to know the truth. Refer to 1 Ti.2:1-4.
We also used to be unbelievers, not knowing the truth or our Creator. Now we know the
meaning of the cross which was used by God to save human beings from the effects of
their sinfulness.
When Nicodemus, one of the teachers of the Law, came to Jesus asking how people could be
saved, He replied that people should be born again. Unless we are born again, we can't
fully know the truth.
And God is now graciously inviting people, which was how we came to be saved as a first
step. After knowing Him, as Christians, we have a commandment to preach the Gospel to
the world. Ro.10:12-15. And, for this new year, "to go into the world" is definitely
the correct verse for us! Rev. Paul Niece used to preach that we Christians are in the
center of the people wherever we are. Out of the core that are Christians, the Gospel
comes to the people around. The reason why we have relations with these people or those
people is for us to spread out the Gospel. One of the ladies of Chapel Noah, who used
to live here in Oita but now lives in Tokyo, sent us a letter. In this letter she said
that her father had passed away. He was 84 years old, but he had accepted Christ before
he died. When she first learned that her father had become seriously ill, she
desperately wanted him to know the truth. To her this was even more imperative than
praying that he should be healed! This hope, prayer and compassion for his soul to be
saved was surely from God the Father, Himself. Though she thought he was unconscious,
she continued telling him the Gospel. She said she saw him crying, as there were drops
of tears coming out from between his eyelids -- I give my thanks and praise for this
wonderful thing!
Remember those stories [parables] that Jesus told us in the Bible; when a single person
is saved, there is a loud shout of praise among the angels, also when the second son
came back from his wayward ways, the father held a big party. See Psalm 95: Why do we
praise Him? Why do we sing? We sing to the Rock of Salvation. This part encourages us
to be pleased with our own salvation and other people's salvation much more! There is
nothing that is more precious than salvation. Our thanks-giving be much greater than
someone else's! We are to be more earnest in hoping and praying for our family's
salvation, as well as the people around us. Our church should also send out
missionaries into the world, which we have been praying about. Finally, this prayer is
being fulfilled in one person; Aiko-sensei [Aiko Mimata]. When she was called, she had
a vision to go abroad for the Gospel, but it has not been realized. She had to wait for
the past several years. However, I'm sure this new year is a year of preparation for
her to go out! We are to be sent into the world as a witness in this new year.
God says that there are many people of mine in this place [Japan]!
Translated by Junko Okamoto
- Edited for the Net by Shido
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