"There is MORE of God's Heart for You to Enjoy!"

Watch this powerful message called, "God's Whole Heart"

How to be Rich

God wants you to be truly rich in Him.
I love this message.
(Full Disclosure: My friend Andy Kampman has a passion for all peoples as Jesus does.)

The Adventure of Missionary Heroism

I'm thoroughly enjoying reading this old book with my family for devotions. I saw you can get the original book for free here for any e-reader. I encourage you to give it a read also. It will move you to pray more and be more engaged in God's plan for all the nations.

Behold Your God: His Love

I had the privilege to share a message at my twin brother's church this summer. I learned a lot (deep into my heart) just in preparing this message. I encourage you to take a listen also.

Pray for Japan Video

I took some old and some new videos, did a little editing and came up with this. Hopefully it will allow you to think and pray about Japan more. (Please click on Settings and set to HD mode.)

あなたの人生を無駄にしないでください Don't waste your life (Japanese)

8 minutes of one of the best messages I've ever heard - with Japanese subtitles.

An Interview about our Mission in Japan

Take a listen to a great new podcast that has been started by a good friend and fellow missionary, Rudy V.

He interviews me here in two parts concerning our work and missions in Japan in general. He asks very good questions that I hope are helpful for you also. Please do pray for us and consider giving to our mission as the Lord leads you.

#1 - Sharing our Faith - 4 Steps to Prepare: 
(Check out part 1 of my interview at the 23:00- 29:09 mark.)

#2 - Strengthening our Conversation about Christianity:
(Part 2 of my interview continues here from about 19:00- 25:00.)

* Part 2 has a fun true story... "When I die I'm going to become a fish." :)

New Trailer for the "Unbroken" Movie

Should Missionaries Ask for Financial Support?

Having raised financial support for the last 16 years it comes as a surprise to me when otherwise strong Christians question the legitimacy of missionaries raising financial support. As America faces more and more if its own problems, I believe it is essential that missionaries continue to put God's heart for all the nations front in center in all the recruiting and support raising they do. Support raising isn't about raising money, it is about raising a team of like-minded people who are passionate for the all the nations to be reached. 1 Corinthians 9:13-14 says,“Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.” Paul’s epistle to the Romans was a support letter. Check out Romans 15:22-29. He was writing them that they might glory in the gospel and share in his zeal for taking this same message onward to Spain. He needed teammates! Note a couple of key phrases… “to be helped on my journey there by you”, and “I will leave for Spain by way of you”. Here Paul is not even asking, he is expecting support to come from gospel-centered Christians. He is expecting that the believers will want to help reach their neighboring country with the gospel. 3 John 1:5-8 says “Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth." For those who do not see missionaries asking for financial support in the Bible – the prophet Elijah even asked a poor woman for support - for food and water in 1 Kings 17. God wanted to test her faith. I think he also wants missionaries to ask for support in order to test the hearts of His people. Do we love money or do we love the mission of the gospel? In Nehemiah 2 Nehemiah prays and then asks the king for support to go on a mission to rebuild Jerusalem. He knew that God could even use even a foreign king to further God's kingdom. As a missionary I know that I cannot do it alone. I am not a "superman of the faith" while other Christians can just easily go to the company and expect money. We all work by faith. Just like everyone else I am also called to WORK through faith in order to build a team of people (from the rest of the body) with a like heart to build the kingdom of God, to reach the nations and make disciples in them, just as Christ commanded each and every disciple to do. Teaching and preaching are the means we use. We do not expect fish to jump into the boat. We put down nets and God brings the fish. In the same way, we missionaries (with great humility) call for the teamwork of the other members of the body who have the same calling from their Lord. We cannot do this alone, nor are we meant to. We are simple sheep just like the rest. The apostle John (who was also a missionary) tells us that we are to support such people who go out for the sake of the Name. He probably learned this from Jesus while walking with Him for three years. Jesus and the twelve, including John, were also supported by the women who followed Jesus. (Luke 8:1-3) How humbling! Let us not be slack in our calling as senders or goers. Let us not be slack in our calling to send or slack in our efforts to call forth senders and goers! While some missionaries today do go out without asking for any support, this is in no way commanded or even recommended in the pages of Scripture. We must be very careful concerning our Biblical understanding of this all important work.

Dinosaurs Lived with People? Really?!
Teaching in a non-Christian, atheistic country, I have had to think in concise ways for kids to comprehend creation as taught in Genesis. In studying it pretty thoroughly for several years, I see no reason to muddy up the clear reading of the text.
Because secular science has "gotten it wrong" so often, I really feel we need to start simply with what the text of the Bible says and then go out from there. Do we have reason to believe the simple, straightforward reading? There are many sites to get answers for the other scientific doubts that remain. I believe there are very good answers out there. (Here is one.) There are several others. Here are some quick bullet points, first from the Bible and then from science:

1. The Bible says a few times that everything was made in six days. The N.T. (including Jesus) affirms this. The days have the qualifiers "evening and morning" to help us see this clearly.
2. The Bible does not say any animal or anything was created separately from these six days.
3. Therefore man and dinosaurs were created in the same week.
4. Another reason it does not work to say that the days are ages of time: There was no death before sin. According to Gen. 1:29-30, God gave every plant for food (not meat) at the beginning. This was because there was no animal death. (Plant death is different in the Hebrew and in common experience. Plants do not feel conscious pain.) Interestingly, the first animal death is when God sacrifices an animal to make clothes to cover Adam and Eve's sin. We should remember our own sin when we think of death - any animal or human death. More Biblical evidence:
5. Job's "Leviathan" & "Behemoth" (Job 40 & 41) match the description of dinosaurs. No other animals do. No other animal has, for example, "a tail like a cedar". (Job 40:17)
6. The Bible refers to dragons and so does almost EVERY other ancient culture. Why? The only explanation is that there must have been some similar non-mythical animals people really witnessed.

Apart from the Bible we have found: 
1. Dinosaur soft tissue (skin and blood cells). This makes no sense if they were 65 millions years old.
2. Various drawings/artwork and stories of actual encounters with dragons throughout history.
3. Even secular scientists now admit that the majority of the dinosaur fossils we find were buried in massive floods.
4. Various dating methods actually support a young earth much more than an old earth.

A Wonderful Picture of Grace
The Nebraska Cornhuskers, honored a young man battling brain cancer at their spring game this weekend. You can read the story here, and watch his 69-yard touchdown below. To me, this is just what God does for us in Christ. We cannot get a touchdown spiritually - No way! But He does it for us, so that we can fight and win, even in our mistakes and weaknesses.

Already 2 Years Ago...
It is hard to imagine it has already been 2 years since the earthquake/tsunami. Today only you can view the best documentary film I have seen on it all here: http://www.lucywalkerfilm.com/TSUNAMI-THE-CHERRY-BLOSSOM
Our hearts and prayers continue on for the victims.

Beautiful Japan, Beautiful Prayers for Japan


More country videos can be found here.

David Platt at Urbana '12

Take 30 minutes and watch this.  You won't be sorry.

(HT: Z)

SOLE SURVIVING PINE TREE (part 2)

By Neil Verwey: 

The lone pine tree which became a symbol of hope in Japan after surviving the March 11, 2011 triple disaster is dying.

The solitary pine was the only tree out of a forest of 70,000 to survive the impact of powerful tsunami waves as they swept across Takata Matsubara forest in Rikuzentakata, northeast Japan.

The 30 m tall tree subsequently became renowned nationwide as a poignant symbol of the nation's tenacity in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami.

However, conservationists have concluded that efforts to save the single tree are futile as its roots are now heavily rotted by seawater.

Local civic groups have been working for 9 months since the triple disaster using a variety of methods to save the tree, ranging from putting up protective iron sheeting to pumping seawater out of the surrounding soil. Despite such efforts it is not possible to save the tree due to its inability to receive nutrients through its rotting roots.

Source: The Telegraph 2011-12-05

Juxtaposed to this lone pine tree, a powerful symbol of hope and recovery for the tsunami survivors is a more powerful symbol: the tree upon which Jesus Christ died.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,

so that we might die to sins

and live for righteousness;

by his wounds you have been healed

(1 Pet. 2:24, NIV).

There is hope in eternity for the survivors of the 11/3/11 triple disaster this Christmas!

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to earth as a baby to live for us, die in payment for our sins against God, and to save all who would believe in Him.

The Innkeeper

John Piper reads his classic poem, The Innkeeper, below.

I recommend watching this, especially if you are going through a difficult time this Christmas.



(HT: Justin Taylor)

"Never the Same" — The Sawi People Fifty Years Later

In 1962 Don and Carol Richardson came into contact with a remote tribe in West New Guinea known as the Sawi people. They were cannabilistic headhunters without a written language, nor any clue about Jesus.
The Richardsons, along with their three children, preached the gospel to the Sawi people and witnessed a remarkable movement of God. The story is told in the best-selling book Peace Child and has inspired many to take the gospel to the furthest ends of the earth.
Just recently — fifty years after they first met the Sawi — the Richardsons returned to the village they once called home. This short 15-minute film from Pioneers documents that experience. It is one of the most amazing things you will ever see.
Never the Same from Pioneers-USA on Vimeo.
HT: DGM

 

Free E-book on Luther
Click here to learn more about this new free book from John Piper.

A Pumpkin パンプキン

by Yuko
ある人がたずねました。”クリスチャンになるってどんな感じ?”
友だちはこう答えました。
“まるでかぼちゃになったみたいだよ。
神さまが、かぼちゃ畑からぼくを収穫してきて、汚れをきれいに洗ってくれる。
そしたら、ヘタをとって、中のぐにゃぐにゃしたものを取り出してくれるんだ。
疑い、嫌悪、欲望の種を取り除いてくれる。
そして、新しくにこにこ顔のカービングをしてくれて、
世界中のみんなが見えるように、
神様のピッカピカの光をぼくの中にいれてくれるんだ。
Someone asked, “What is it like to be a Christian?”
His friend replied, “It is like being a pumpkin.
God picks you from the patch, brings you in,
and washes all the dirt of of you.
Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.
He removes the seeds of doubt, hate,and greed.
Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you
to shine for all the world to see.”

Another Wonderful Biography to Stoke your Fire
John Wycliffe: The Morning Star of the Reformation

Shangdi - East meets West
Often times it is said in Japan that Christianity is a western religion. However, today there are likely more Christians in China than there are in the U.S. The biggest objection though is that in the beginning, there was one God, one Creator God, both in the east and in the west, and that fact is clear to see if you look into ancient history.

"ShangDi," in Chinese, is the Creator-God in ancient history. This surely appears to be "one and the same as the Creator-God of the Hebrews. In fact, one of the Hebrew names for God is El Shaddai, which is phonetically similar to ShangDi. Even more similar is the Early Zhou pronunciation of ShangDi which is ‘djanh-tigh’ [Zhan-dai].4 Another name for their God which the ancient Chinese used interchangeable with ShangDi was Heaven (Tian). Zheng Xuan, a scholar of the early Han dynasty said, “ShangDi is another name for Heaven (Tian)”.5 The great philosopher Motze (408-382 BC) also thought of Heaven (Tian) as the Creator-God:

 ‘I know Heaven loves men dearly not without reason. Heaven ordered the sun, the moon, and the stars to enlighten and guide them. Heaven ordained the four seasons, Spring, Autumn, Winter, and Summer, to regulate them. Heaven sent down snow, frost, rain, and dew to grow the five grains and flax and silk so that the people could use and enjoy them. Heaven established the hills and river, ravines and valleys, and arranged many things to minister to man’s good or bring him evil.’ 6

 Today, Chinese Christians still remain truly eastern, as they trace the Creator God back in their histories and call God, "Shangdi" in respect to His love and deeds for them in the past. Incidentally, the earliest recorded histories in Japan (the Kojiki) also describes the creation, by three deities and chiefly by the deity in the center of heaven. Like the Chinese, the emperor of Japan since ancient times was an object of worship. However, the emperor in China became such because originally, he was the only one who could act as a priest to make sacrifices to Shangdi. Shangdi was believed to be too holy for just any person to approach. Slowly, instead of worshipping Shangdi, the emperor, whom they could see, was worshiped. It is interesting to note, however, that Shangdi was never to be represented by an image or by an idol. (Learn more here.) Lastly, it is important to look at the writings which both the ancient Chinese and the Japanese still use today. They give us many clues as to the thought processes of these ancient peoples. The following is a chart that shows some of the similarities between the Bible and the kanji characters still used in Japan and China today.
 
Here are three other interesting kanji: 魔　 This character means "evil" or originally, "tempt". You can see two trees and hiding below them is an "oni", an evil monster -an orge or a demon. The top and left lines show "hiding". In Genesis, Satan hides in the trees to tempt Eve. 船　This character means, "ship", especially a large ship. A smaller ship would be 舟 A larger ship would be one where there are eight mouths (the top means "eight" and the bottom box means "mouth") Many believe this is because there were eight people on the ark, in which Noah made. This story is not just a Bible story - in various forms it can still be found in almost every ancient civilization.
 *Repost from 2009 

Very Encouraging Spurgeon Movie
If you only have 15 min, watch the first scene of Spurgeon's conversion. Very moving and helpful. I watched the whole thing with my 5 year-old and he kept saying, "I like this." "I really like this." It made me smile.

Forgotten Christmas
Here is a great way to get ready for Christmas.
(RSS click through to watch.)

What to Preach to Non-believers
Good stuff from John Piper:

Let’s do this inductively. I ask. You answer.
John 3:17, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

• Why did God send his Son? _______________

John 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

• Does not obeying the Son (e. g., when he commands us to trust him) bring us under God’s wrath or leave us under his wrath? _______________
•  
• So what did God send his Son to save us from? _______________
•  
• Is this a felt need among the unbelievers you know? _______________
•  

What are the implications for the content of preaching and evangelism?

WHAT IS QUALITY TIME?

Quality time. Have you ever wondered what that is?

I wondered what quality time was until I heard someone
say that "quantity" time "is" quality time. Put another
way, it's not so important that every moment you spend
with your preschooler be life-changing and memorable;
it's more important that you invest a (large) quantity
of time into her life.

One thing I have learned about quality time: I can't
force it. It's not as if I can say, "OK. I'm going to
spend quality time with my daughter right now."

But I can say I'm going to spend a certain quantity of
time with her. And it's then, when I least expect it,
that the opportunity for quality time presents itself.

I encourage you to do the same. Invest "quantity" time
first. That way, you'll create an environment that
permits--even encourages--"quality" time.

Written by Sonlight

Good News for a Teacher/ Disciple Maker

For the last several months I have felt the need to study Greek.
Though I have studied the Bible and theology with vigor since I became a Christian, I have felt the need to go deeper in order to teach more accurately the things of God to others. I have felt this especially because of the fact that I am preaching more and I will be held accountable by God as to what I teach!

One Greek word that caught my attention lately is "math". 
Yes, Math! It is the origin of our word "math" which basically means "learning". "Mathetes" is a word that means "one under disciplined learning", usually translated as "disciple".

This refreshes me as I think about my role as a missionary.
Jesus said, "Go and make DISCIPLES of all nations..." He did not say, "Go make converts." My gifting and inclination has always been to make learners - as I love to invest in individual learning wherever I am: at school, at home and at church. It was good news to hear that this is exactly what God wants. And yet the qualifier is that he wants his disciples to be characterized by love. "They will know you are my disciples if you have love for one another." (Jn 13:35) Our teaching can never be abstracted from loving individuals and personally training them and walking through life with them. This is the type of missionaries God is looking for!

Modern day Judsons
Adoniram Judson and his wife, Ann, left America in 1812 for Burma (today, Myanmar). Adoniram was the first American overseas missionary. For 38 years he endured imprisonment, torture, illness, depression, isolation and the loss of two wives and several children to take the Gospel to the unreached peoples of Burma. When he died at sea in 1850, people wondered who would follow.
Read the stories:

Judson: A tale of two men changing lives

‘You are contemplating a missionary life’

Myanmar singer works to prove Christianity doesn’t replace ethnic identity

Then and Now: Sharing the Gospel in Myanmar

Wonderful Free Book to Stoke Your Fire for Missions
If you haven't yet done so yet, stroll over to the DGM website and pick yourself up a free e-book/PDF of "A Holy Ambition" by John Piper. I am reading it now and man am I being lit up! I encourage you to do the same.

Get it here.

My 2nd Cousin's TED Talk
Great stuff from a guy we got to stay with and spend some time with this summer.

God-Centered Missions
Listen to my friend Andy Kampman as he shares some great thoughts here.