A Failproof Strategy...

Well, there's nothing more I hate to do than breaking up a vibrant fellowship on Sunday morning, but the, I'm so honored and happy to be here this morning at the Cornerstone. And I just wanna thank you for having me here and standing at this pulpit means a lot to me because I know, Milton and other men here, preach the word faithfully from here, and it is a great privilege to be at this pulpit to, be able to speak to you this morning. So, thank you. my name is Dace G Ocara, and Mike told me, I forgot to mention this in the first service, but we have a prayer card.

At the back somewhere he has placed. So if you'd grab one and for us and pray for us and be greatly appreciated. Again, as Mike mentioned, I graduated with him from the seminary in 2000 and I have been Back, ministering in Japan in Osaka, Japan for the past 12 years. We just came back here, last summer, and as he mentioned, I'm working on my school, and I'm not sure why I'm back in school again, but yeah.

It's been, it's been good. The Lord has been, good to us and blessed us with different opportunities. And again, one of those opportunities of being here this morning with you and, We have been ministering at a local church there in Japan called Hamadera Bible Church, and we are now switching our transitioning our ministry to a local church ministry to a more of a training focused ministry. And so I'm in the transition, getting my education done and looking forward to going back on Lord of Wales possibly next year, if not the year following, depending on.

how the Lord directs all things for us. I'm with the family this morning. I, my wife sitting in front and two sons, and youngest daughter is at, at the Sunday school, and I have the oldest one back in our home church up in Lancaster, California. But we have a family of 4, a family total of 64 kids, and ages from 13 to 5.

OK, enough about me, right? And this morning I would like to share with you About the ministry of Japan and the need of Japan. And especially why we need to To pay attention on the ministry. The need of the ministry there in Japan, and I hope by the end of the day this morning I will be able to convince you that you really need to pray for the people of Japan.

And not only that, my goal this morning is to share with you. The plan of God. I call it like this, I said in the title, how to change the world. But I'd like to share with you what the Lord has us to do, as believers.

To impact the world around us. Whether it be Japan or it will be here in this community. So let me go ahead. And share a little bit about Japan first and then I'll dive into the passage of scripture this morning.

OK. By the way, my name is Daiske and if you have looked at the bulletin. You have D A I S U K E and people will call me Daisuki or Daisoku or whatever that might be, but the you silent, and everybody here, here has been pronouncing it perfectly. It's actually should be spelled something like D I C E dash K.

So it's Dice and Kay and I shared this a little bit in the morning, but I'm not a, some people call me the Japanese rapper. Because it looks like DICK looks like a rap musician, but I can't rap. So anyway, I'm, I'm dice skin, right? And what you're seeing back here, if you want to see a vivid, a little bit more vivid picture, you can see it in the back.

But the, there's a picture of Tokyo. And I'd like to share, start sharing about some of the things about Japan and the need for Japan. So let's move on. This Is the picture of Japan.

And there's some more islands, small islands down on this side, but this entire country fits within the state of California easily, a very small country for that matter. We have about 127 million people living there today. Many of them are actually most of them are Japanese nationals, meaning they're pure Japanese, and there are a few immigrants there. So it consists of Japanese speaking Japanese languages.

And The major religion there is Shintoism and Buddhism. Shintoism is the Japanese original. religion and the Buddhism, which is another popular, religion there, came from India through China. And by the time I got to Japan, it was a mixture of all things.

And then, it mixed up with the Shintoism as well when they got there, so we have our own, our our own brand of Buddhism there in Japan. It is interesting to note. That the In Japan, the Shintoism alone, it says that it has 8 million gods. Which means that everything and anything can be God, so we worship the sun and the moon and the ocean and and the trees and mountains and everything else, including a small tiny fish.

And practically speaking, as long as you have faith, that matters. And On top of that, we have Buddhism, which includes ancestral worship and everything else. So we have a really a mixed up culture of religion there with many, many, many countless gods. And that star.

is where the capital is and the capital is Tokyo, as. Some of the interesting facts about Tokyo, it contains 13 million people or so, which is about 10% of the entire population of Japan, so it's a highly concentrated city, one of the actually one of the largest metropolitan area in the world. And in the central part of Tokyo, where most concentration of people are, it's about 240 square miles. In the space 240 square miles and it contains about 9 million people, which counts to 37,270 people per square mile.

37 270. Per square mile. So you can, if you can imagine that, people are actually literally standing on top of each other. But that many people are living in that area, so it's a highly concentrated area.

At some of the pictures. Of Japan, that's the night view of Tokyo. The Japan really has a is a modernized nation, with high technologies and everything, but the, it also has the beauty of nature as well as a lot of great traditions, some of which you might be familiar with. And that's a city of Osaka, which is the 2nd largest city there in Japan.

But the the country, With that modernized culture and society also is somewhat bound or bound by the traditions and cultures. Traditional cultures of Japan and religions of Japan. You see so many little gods, like little Buddhas there, on the right side, you can see it, throughout the, the towns, everywhere you go, there are a lot of different religious activities going on, somewhat as a cultural experience. And people are very confused about what religion and what is not religion, and what is, who is God and who is not God.

In fact, I share with shared this with everyone practically that the that shows how confused we are as, as people about religion is that when a typical Japanese family have a baby, they dedicated, dedicate that baby to at the Shinto shrine. The Shinto priest blesses and prays over that baby and for the health and wealth and prosperity of life, right? And that baby grows up, when they, when he or she gets married, guess where they go. They go to Christian church to get a wedding.

and have a wedding in Christian style, right? And when that person dies, guess where they go? They go to a Buddhist temple to be buried. And we have no problem whatsoever doing that or any we see no contradiction.

In, in that practice. And that's how confused we are. It's, it's incredible to know that we don't really care about who we worship. And this is a busy street of Tokyo.

I have 127 million people. Living there currently without any idea. What the Bible is, what the God of the Bible is, who Jesus Christ is. Some people do celebrate.

a lot of people actually, entire nations celebrate Christmas. what, some people do think that Christmas is a birthday of Santa Claus. That's how lost they are. Well, There's a great need They're in Japan.

Let me, let me show you some of the, the staggering facts. That I am very convinced that I and hopefully you will be praying for the nation of Japan. And people of Japan. Number one.

is the death of a nation. Death of a nation. I have 3 facts this morning about Japan. The first one is this the 1 million, what that number is?

Let me describe it to you. Current population of Japan, as I said, is 127 million plus. OK. And according to the statistics run by a national study, By that year In 2050 that population goes down to 97 million.

97 million. Another 50 years added in 2100, that number goes down to Under 50 million We're a dying nation. We're aged society, and people are dying out. Next generations aren't coming.

Babies aren't born. As quickly as it needs to replenish the The the nation And the number 1 million is this that Japan will lose 1 million people every year after 2003, 2035. The nation is dying, and what that number tells you is that before actually the nation itself disappears, the people group, Japanese as a people group disappears. The country of Japan will collapse because of the social and economic challenges.

You can imagine that, right? Right now, Japan has the highest lifespan in the world. And so many people are aging. And there are only a few young generations.

And that trend continues on. And so we're dying as a nation. Not only that, People are dying. I give you 30,000.

Can you guess what that is? That is a Number of suicides per year. Number of suicide per year. Since 1998, Until actually last year, last year, the first year since 1998, that the number of suicides per year was under 30,000, but still was high, 20,000.

People are dying. People are killing themselves. why? There are very many, many reasons why they're killing themselves, but I believe the primary reason is that because they don't have hope.

They don't have hope And most of the 30,000 are men. In the age between 40 to 60. why? Because they failed in their work.

And they're laid off or something like that or when they retire. They have nothing to live for. Because that was the thing that they lived their life for. When they fail, that failure is so significant that it was easier for them.

to terminate their own lives. And including that 30,000, many are teens and younger. why? Because Japanese put so much pressure on the younglings to get into a better school, to have a higher education so that they can live a better life.

So when they fail to enter a school, They terminate their lives. People are dying. Because they are without hope. But also the church is dying.

Church is dying. You might be able to guess that number. 0.3 is a percentage. Believers, evangelical believers in Japan.

127 million people, only 0.3%. That number really means not much. Just looking at that. And it was the same way for me as well.

I always said, yeah, there's only a few believers in them. But that number hit me hard. A couple of years ago on March 11th, when the earthquake happened. I was here on the state side.

And I was looking at the internet TV as it happened. The tsunami waves sweeping through the nation, and I was just couldn't see. Sleep, looking at that. TV monitor.

And on the Japanese national broadcast, on the right hand corner of the TV, the number of confirmed deaths, Kept rising And when it hit 1000. That's one hit, this number hit me hard. how many people Went to heaven that day. Out of 1000, how many.

Only 3, if the statistics right, went to heaven. There are 10 of thousands died that day. And we don't hear too many believers. In that number.

And there are many different reasons again, but I think part of it is because there were not many believers. That area was one of the One of the places that's not reached well. People are dying And believers aren't there. The average church.

is about 20. Every Sunday morning, if they have 20, that's fairly a healthy church. In fact, if you have 100 or above, you're considered a mega church in Japan. I know many churches with 10 members or less.

And about 70% of church members over the age of 60, reflecting the population. When you look at that church, you see, do you see a lot of future bright hope? The church is dying as well. Church is dying as well.

There are so many things that I can say. And I wish I had time. to spill my heart out to you. The reason why Japan needs Christ, the reason why we should be praying for the nation of Japan.

But I don't have that time. I would love to talk with you individually I have a chance. But in light of what I have shared about Japan, I'd like to look at a fail-proof strategy. A failed proof strategy for reaching the nation of Japan for the gospel.

And I call it Peter's Pentagon. I will explain that later in the sermon. But I'm sharing this, I'm sharing this with you because I believe this is not just applicable to the nation of Japan, but also it is applicable. To any community.

This is not anything new. Or revolutionary. It is something that you already know. And know well But I want to remind you this morning what we can do and we should do to reach the people around us, including the people of Japan.

So let us turn To the book of 1 Peter, chapter 1, verses 22. It's chapter 2 verse 10. First Peter 1:22 to 210. And see God's fail-proof strategy.

I'll be reading from New American Standard. First Peter 1:22, Peter writes this. Since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart, for you have been born again, not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring Word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory.

Like the flowers of grass, flower grass, the grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word, which was preached to you. Therefore, putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy, and envy and all slander, like newborn babe babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it, you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. And coming to him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also as living stones are being built up as a spiritual house for holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For this is contained in Scripture. Behold, I lay in Zion, a choice stone, a precious stone, precious cornerstone. And he who believes in him will not be disappointed. This is precious value.

Then it is for you who believe, but for those who disbelieve, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the very cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. But You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. You have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

We will look at The failproof strategy from this passage. And there are 5 points in this strategy. 5 points And the first step, the first step. Of this strategy is the salvation.

is a salvation. Peter has been discussing the great salvation we have received from the Lord since the beginning of this book. We see God providing us with new life through new birth. We see that in chapter 1, verses 3 to 5.

providing us a new life through new birth, then the salvation is proven by the trials. Chapter 16 through 9, and has been predicted by the prophets, 10 through 12. Since we have given this new life, we now have living. Peter urges us to set our hope fully on grace, that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

We see that in verse 13. Paul's been talking about salvation. Paul's talking about new life with new living hope. Now how do we do that?

How do we set our hope fully on grace? And Peter talks about that. From verse 14 through 16, by imitating God's holiness. And then he talks about by having proper fear of God in verses 17 through 21.

And then he thought, he says, also loving one another fervently in verse 22. And such life of imitating God's holiness and having proper fear of God and loving one another fervently can only be lived by those who are born again, as Peter says, in verse 23, born again through the living and abiding Word of God. And here we see the first step. In order for the world around you to change, It must begin with God.

who saves men for His glory through proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Just as Peter says in verse 25, he, he writes this. This is the word which was preached to you. It was preached to the readers of Peter's letter.

The word of God. As we all know from Romans 10:14 and 17, Faith comes from what? Hearing and hearing by The word of Christ verse 17. And how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?

How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? Verse 14. The gospel must be heard.

And yes, we must go and make disciples. But I want to remind you, That just as Peter said in chapter 1, verse 3, and he uses the same word in 123, the new birth, he's talking about. The regeneration is not caused by our proclamation of the gospel, right? It is caused only by who?

Only by God. And his work And this is a great comfort and a motivation for all of us. To be in this work. A few years ago, Japanese churches celebrated the 150th anniversary of Protestantism.

Just about 150 years ago, The first missionary. Came as a Protestant believer. And started church planning. It's been 150 years.

Within that 150 years of missionary effort. As you have seen them. Christianity has never flourished in Japan. Never take root.

I know many pastors and missionaries working in Japan faithfully, proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, ears. After years Month after month, days after days. But they have not seen any converts. That's not uncommon.

I've known a missionary. Who is a great guy doing a great ministry has not seen a convert in the past 10 years. But what? There are many reasons why Japan has always been a difficult field, but ultimately, I know that the Lord has seen a good and fit.

For now, to harden the hearts of Japanese. And if it's God's work, no matter how close the nation is to the gospel, God has chosen Himself men and women who would bow before Him in praise and adoration. He has that people. In the nation of Japan.

I know that God will cause people to be born anew. As you and I faithfully proclaim his gospel, no matter where we are. The fail-proof plan really begins with God saving people through the proclamation of his gospel. As you and I faithfully proclaim, The good news of Jesus Christ.

God saves those whom He has chosen. And if God has caused you to born again, You and I partake in this plan of God, this failproof plan of God, to change the world around you. So the first step Is salvation. The second step.

Is the hunger Hunger. Look at chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. Based upon the fact that God has caused the readers to be born again with new life, Peter calls them to put aside all malice, and all deceit, and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, and all these seem to, to indicate sinful attitude and speech that are contrary to the command to love one another. Instead, instead of doing all these things, all bad things, Peter urges the reader to long for the pure milk of the word.

Verse 2. Some English translations have pure spiritual milk here. The word in the original spiritual or of the word means that which is logical, reasonable, or rational. It is really a play on words and original.

the Greek word for the word. It's logos Right? Lagos, you've heard about this, Lagos. The word that Peter uses in chapter 2 verse 2 is a logicos.

You see the similarity log us logico. And Peter uses this word, this phrase intentionally to communicate vividly the truth. That the true believers desire to know the word of God. It is logical The purpose of such longing is that we might grow in respect to salvation.

We might grow in respect to salvation. He's not talking about our human effort to gain our own salvation, as we have already said, right? Salvation is granted by grace alone, through faith alone. But he's talking about the ultimate fulfillment, fulfillment of salvation.

And Peter already has mentioned about this in chapter 1, verses 579, and 13, and so forth. It is the, the, this growth is, is the glory to glory growth, as Paul puts in 2 Corinthians 3:18, glory to glory growth, or, as Peter says, growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, growth. As he writes in 2 Peter 3:8. In chapter 2 verse 3, Peter drops a punch line.

The conditional statement, beginning with, if you have tasted, in chapter, chapter 2, verse 3, does not cast doubt upon the salvation of the readers. But he's emphasizing the total absurdity, the total absurdity. If they do not have that longing for the word. In other words, if you are saved, if God caused you to be born anew, then it'll be so absurd if you don't long for the Word of God.

Those who have tasted the goodness of God. In salvation will certainly have desire to know the word just like the newborn babies' longing for the milk. That's the point. That's the point.

And I believe this hunger is the key to the fail-proof strategy for changing the world. It tells me that when God saves, He who is saved, the believers, Has craving. Cravings for the truth of the word. And I know you can relate to this because you have this credit, don't you?

You want to know the truth and you hunger for it. That is why you come to church every Sunday morning. Hearing the word of God proclaimed from this pulpit. That is why, because of this hunger and thirst for the word you.

Attend a Bible study during the week. So that you may be able to learn more about his truth. That's why you study the word by spending your time in the Bible, meditating on it, and reading good Christian books, to further your knowledge of our Lord, right? That's why you turn on the Christian radio station to listen to good sermons.

Imagine yourself In a place where there is no Christian broadcasting to tune in. Absolutely none. No solid Christian books to read. No Bible studies to attend.

And no good and sound preaching to hear. Can you imagine that? Well, guess what? That's where Japanese believers live.

I can go on about this as well. But let me summarize and say this, when you are not fed, when you are not fed, your sense of hunger gets so numbed. That you don't even feel that you're hungry. Haven't you had that experience?

Like maybe you are experiencing that now. That you're hungry for lunch, right? And you have intense hunger. Your stomach is growling.

And then after a while, It cease Right? And you're no longer hungry. You don't feel hungry. It happens Spiritual way too.

You cannot get excited about your spiritual food. Because the table is always empty. How can you grow in respect to salvation then? How can you become mature in your faith?

And I hope you're thankful to God. That you have this church That proclaims the word of God faithfully and accurately week in and week out. I hope you're grateful that you have resources that help you grow in a Christian walk. And I hope you are taking advantage of the blessing that the Lord has bestowed upon you by giving abundant opportunities.

To hear and learn his word. For you It's available. For people in Japan. That may not be so.

But that hunger is important because that hunger leads to another step. That is growth. That is growth. Peter has made this point already in 22.

And I mentioned this already. So let me take this point nice and short. Believers will grow. Through the hungry intake of the Word of God.

There is no question about this. In fact, look at chapter 2, verse 4, where Peter writes, you also as Livingstones are being built up. You are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are identified with the living stone, and are being built up as a spiritual house.

There's an ongoing nature here, ongoing nature of building. It's not just the size of the universal church. But I believe it is also a maturity of each individual believers. Remember Paul in Ephesians 4:11-13.

He talked about God gifting the church with those who teach and teach the truth, that God gave apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers to the Church? For what? For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature, which belongs to the fullness of Christ. And Paul Also states the purpose of his ministry in Colossians 1:28.

Many of you remember this, memorize this. We proclaim him. Paul says, we proclaim Christ, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete. Mature, perfect in Christ.

There is growth when there is a proper intake of the word. That is step number 3. God saves, right? God saves the saved hunger.

And the hungry eat and grow. As sad as this is, I have to say that this is where Japanese churches suffer. Lack of feeding The truth of the Bible beyond the fundamentals of faith has created churches. With baby believers.

Who are saved But do not know how to live their life as the people of God. And I can totally relate to this because I was one of those. I first came to the states in 1989. I got saved in 1986.

For those 3 years and plus some years after I came here. I knew I was saved. I knew what God had done for me, and I had so much appreciation for him. But what?

Nobody Nobody taught me how to live a believer's life. what that did to me. I was miserable as a believer. why?

Because I know I'm sinful. Because I fail every step of the way, and I knew what God demanded. In a broader perspective, he wanted me not to sin, right? But I know that I was sinning.

I did not know though how to overcome my sin because nobody taught me. And what that does to a believer. You get depressed Because you're guilty of all charges, and you don't know what to do. You can come to the throne of grace and you do that.

I did that. But every day, Every walk was tainted by sin because I did not know how to overcome. Do you think that a believer is an attractive person? Do you think nonbelievers will look at that person and say, Whoa, I want to be like, like that guy.

He's so depressed. You see my point. Growing In the likeness of Christ is not optional for believers. We are to grow and mature as imitators of Christ.

If you were saved You're hungry. And you have the food. of the Word of God. And you take that in and you grow.

And be more Like Christ every day. The question we can ask this morning is whether we are growing ourselves, right. As you grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord. We should be manifesting that growth right in our lives, reflecting that growth.

Are you growing in holiness? In the fear of God. And in the love for him and his people. And that is something that we must honestly assess in our walk before the Lord.

But that's the 3rd point, 3rd step. Number 4. We have seen 3 out of 5, right? Step 1 is salvation, step 2 is hunger for the word.

Step 3 is the growth. Caused through the intake of the word. We find 4th and 5th in verse 9 of chapter 20. After contrasting the believers and believing and disbelieving, and the disobedient and obedient in chapter 2, verses 6 through 8, Peter comes back to talk about the believers, describing their privileged, privileged position.

And that's the 4th step, the privilege. Peter has stated in verse 5 of chapter 2 that believers are being built up for a holy priesthood. For holy priesthood, and we see further description of what the believers are in the eyes of God. As you may know, Peter borrows these descriptions from Exodus 19, where the Lord declares the nation of Israel with these titles, if she keeps his covenant.

Israel came out of Egypt 3 months prior to this event. And now found themselves at the head of Mount Sinai. It's right before the giving of the 10 Commandments. They have seen God's power displayed against Egypt.

They received God's gracious care through the past 3 months of journey, providing manna and bringing the water and everything else. And they've seen and experienced God's faithfulness in keeping his promise to Moses that he will bring the nation back to this very mountain, Mount Sinai. And that is the reason why Israel should And indeed did desire to obey God's covenant. Because she has tasted the goodness.

of their God. And as she follows the commandments of God, she lives out the special privilege of being God's special people, representing his glory to the world around them. And in the same way, in the very same way Peter says, that we are God's special possession. Placed here on earth as the very representative of God Himself.

Who would represent that we would represent His holiness, goodness, and glory. Just like Israel did, we are seeing his great power displayed over Our sin, right? We've seen that God's power over our sin. We've experienced that.

And we're receiving now his gracious care throughout our lives. and are experiencing his faithfulness as he fulfills us the promise of our salvation. And we desire nothing but to follow his words, because we have come to know him as the Lord, who is good. Haven't you experienced that?

Won't you say that the Lord is good? And if the Lord is good, and if that, and if the Lord is here telling you, follow me, would you follow him? Yeah, absolutely. The growth through the word makes us able to live out that privileged life.

As we become mature in Christ, we act as God's chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession in the very lives we live. Realization of being such special people is one of many benefits. Of salvation. Believers are to be distinct from people around them Because they are now a new people.

We are the people of God. As we hunger and thirst for the pure milk of the world and grow by it, we represent Him who called us. That is our, that is the natural consequence, and the fourth step. And this failproof strategy.

For changing the world. And the 5th and the final step is recorded in the end of 29 where Peter states the purpose of the special privilege believers received. He writes, so that you may proclaim him, proclaim the excellencies of him, who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of the out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Because you live your life as God's special people. What you do and what you say become The living testimonies of God's saving work. And His glory. The way you handle your everyday life.

Becomes a testimony of how God has changed you. You display joy in the trials of life. You have hope in the darkest hours of your life. You give thanks in the hardship.

You give praises to the Lord, for all the good and bad things. You encounter in your life. Indeed, Because you do all things in life, for the glory of God, right? You do all things in life for the glory of God.

People around you see you differently. Differently. And that, that the difference between you and your non-believing friend. is that the Lord has caused you to be born again.

So you tell them, you tell them about how he has done that in your life. The more you grow, The more you live out the reality of your, your, your, reality of your, Being special possession of God. The more you live out the privileged position of being God's special people, the more you display his glory. The more you display his glory, the more you proclaim His Excellencies.

I told you the Peter's Pentagon, right? The reason why I call it Pentagon is because I see it. In that shape, not this 12345. It starts with salvation.

Right? I cannot do this. God has to do it. I can only be faithful in proclaiming the gospel.

But he is the one who changes people. It starts with salvation. That salvation guaranteed 100% that if you are truly saved, what happens? You hunger and thirst for the word of God.

And when that happens, you Take the word of God. In you, and growth happens, right? And when you grow, what happens? You live out your privileged position of being the special people of God.

You are able now in the midst of difficulties and challenges of life as a as a special possession of God, a people of God. You can live your life glorifying Him. And then when you do that, what happens? You will proclaim The excellencies of God.

Who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. what happens next? where the arrow goes, right? When people around you see that, They will come to you.

They will want to hear About what changed you. About who changed you. And God will use that. To change that person next to you.

And that cycle starts all over again. Starting from you. Then your friends And their friends to their friends. I can do nothing to cause someone to be born again.

I have no power It is the work of God and It is his alone. But I can only, what I can do is that I can only be faithful to his command to go and to make disciples, to preach the word. And do the work of An evangelist. I have no idea whom God would save.

So I continue to pray. that he will use my testimonies of words and deeds to bring his sheep into His kingdom. But I know that all his people All his people, those who are saved, have this craving to know the Word of God. Though the number is small, there are believers in Japan.

The true believers have this craving. They may not know it because they're so numb. But if we bring that word to them, If we bring the faithful teaching and preaching of the Word of God, if we expose them to the delicious food, That should be on that table. They will have that craving.

They want to know the word. what happens if they don't want to know the word? They will eat it, and they will grow, and they will live out their privileged position of being special people of God, proclaiming the God, the glories of God. And people around them will be reached.

I know that they will live differently. If they know the word, if they understand the word. I know that they will proclaim His Excellencies. As I shared with you.

Japan is a dying nation. I can say a whole lot more about this. But it is dying In every sense of the word. They desperately need Christ.

They need to hear the gospel, and they need to see their own need for Christ. I cannot reach its 127 million people by myself, obviously not. But if we could feed the hungry believers in Japan. And have them grow.

to live their lives more distinctly for the glory of God. I believe we could reach the entire nation. Again, People are disappearing there in Japan. With Probably several 100 years.

If this rate continues on, there will be no Japanese living on this face of the earth. I believe it's origin. And I would like you to pray with me, for the people of Japan, that they would know the Word of God, that they will live out the Word of God. To proclaim His Excellencies.

That God will use their testimonies. To bring his people into his kingdom. That is why I believe and I am committed to the local church ministry. Because it only takes place in the local church.

And I believe in the training ministry because We need to train these men and women to live without that. Life. Alongside of like-minded churches. Would you pray with me?

Would you pray for the people of Japan? Let's pray. Laura, thank you so much for this time. You are A sovereign God who is able To change the world instantaneously.

Who is able to break the hardened heart, hardened hearts, stiff-necked people. And make them soft to receive your word. Make them. have their eyes open to your gospel.

So I beg you. That you would do that. To the people around us. And to the people of Japan.

What I want to thank you for this church. And those people who are here. Wanting to know your word and to live out your word. What made you use them to reach out to their friends?

Because their lives are so different. Because you have changed them. And that your Excellencies may be proclaimed. In the way of praise and thanksgiving to you.

As well as great testimonies to the others who do not know you. And Lord, may you According to your will. Grow and change the believers in Japan. That they all live out They're calling That they are the people of God, that they will manifest your excellencies in their lives so the people around them will Seek to know you.

Again, thank you for your word. That you are the one who is sovereign behind The strategy that you have. And it starts from you. And it ends with you.

So we trust your goodness. And I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.