I am a cross-cultural missionary and I work with three cultures daily; Japanese, Filipino and American. I find great joy in my role as a bringer of Christ because all men, no matter what their culture seeks, no matter what they think is important, find that thing they seek best in knowing Jesus.

Ravi Zacharias, noted Christian speaker, often mentions that in Bible times the Hebrew people pursued LIGHT, the Greeks pursued KNOWLEDGE, and the Romans pursued GLORY. He goes on to explain that true fulfillment in life is not found in mere abstractions like light, knowledge and glory, true life is found in a PERSON – the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul addresses all of these in this verse: 2 Corinthians 4:6 “…the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. “ True fulfillment and life is found in THE FACE OF CHRIST. The answer to everything we are searching for is Jesus.

My Filipino friends often seek fun and friends. They will find true fun and true friendship totally fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. My Japanese friends often speak of a longing for peace, beauty, safety or honor. All these things are ultimately fulfilled in the person of Christ. You will find true peace, true safety in Jesus. My American brothers seem to be looking for freedom and liberty. There is true freedom only in Jesus.

Whatever your worldview is, whatever you are searching for, whatever you believe will give you fullness of life and contentment; you will only find the true fulfillment in the face of Jesus Christ. He created you and he alone knows what you need. He holds the universe together and he is the ultimate personification and fulfillment of all Truth (with a capital “T”).

Have you taken an honest look at Jesus? It will change everything.

“This site animates select C.S. Lewis essays to make them easier to understand…”
http://www.youtube.com/user/CSLewisDoodle

Great site inspired by a master of apologetics, C.S. Lewis:
http://www.apologetics.org/

Ravi Zacharius answers “How can God be good if…?”
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=902520087497301262

I love Ravi’s podcasts – check his website:
http://www.rzim.org/ 

Moshe Averick answers Dawkins
http://www.aish.com/sp/ph/The_Design_Argument_Answers_to_Atheists_Objections.html

 

Whether you are fighting a battle against lust or trying to encourage a friend who is drowning in pornography, you are facing a “giant” which is no less terrifying than the biblical Goliath was to a young God-worshipper named David. The only way we can fight the fire of lust is with the white-hot passion of true devotion to God. The Bible explains that when Jesus Christ (the God-man) humbled himself to become a mere mortal and took human flesh, he experienced all the temptations of a man. Don’t be ashamed to take your struggle to the Lord. He really understands how hard it is to remain pure. But He did it and He can help you do it too!

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.
(Hebrews 4:15 )

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
(Psalm 51:1-2 David wrote this psalm after his sin with Bathsheba led to tragedy in his life and others…)

Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.
We are far too easily pleased.
(C. S. Lewis)

Sexual immorality is a symptom of something deeper (John Piper)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDlrBQbWaoQ

Avoiding sexual sin – Part 1 (Mark Driscoll)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyTN8cCPazM

Avoiding sexual sin – Part 2 (Mark Driscoll)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bel7HxYW5T4

Masturbation is a sign of passive manhood (Dennis Sy)…

http://www.dennissy.com/uncensored-porn-and-masturbation/

Resisting pornography (Perry Noble)…

http://www.perrynoble.com/2005/08/17/thought-on-pornography/

Porn-Again Christian free e-book (Mark Driscoll)…

http://relit.org/porn_again_christian/toc.php

The biblical standard for Christians never changes:
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people.
(Ephesians 5:3)

This is a topic that actually keeps me awake at night sometimes. It is definitely something that makes people uncomfortable to think about, much less talk about. But recently I heard an amazing speech by a lady who survived an abortion attempt in a professional clinic in 1977 and now speaks for the unborn. If you think abortion is a right that needs to be protected you really need to watch this video…

PART 1:

PART 2:

My take – why I personally can’t stay silent about this

I know I don’t have the right to judge anyone when I have sinned with the worst of them. So if abortion is in your past please hear my heart – I am not trying to condemn you. But unlike those of us who can speak up, unborn children are totally at the mercy of our world’s propaganda machine. They have no voice but ours. Many think that abortions are usually done only in cases of rape or medical necessity but this site documents the reasons why abortions are actually performed:
http://www.pregnantpause.org/numbers/whyabort.htm 
In summary, this survey (by a pro-abortion group) documents that the three highest reasons given by percentage are:
#1 Woman can’t afford baby now
#2 Woman is unready for responsibility
#3 Woman is concerned about how having a baby could change her life

As a pastor, I have talked to, counseled and prayed for women who feel terrible guilt about abortion. There is forgiveness in the cross of Christ and God will take care of the aborted ones. But what about those of us who bury our heads and ignore the facts of what is happening? Are you willing to be a little uncomfortable and speak out against the lies? Are you willing to tell your elected officials that this is wrong? Who will speak up for the little ones?

A song from the 80s that touched my heart:

If you actually took the time to watch the videos above I would really like to know what you think. Feel free to start or participate in the discussion in the forum by following the link below…

My home church in Japan is Yokohama Grace Bible Church. Satomi and I raised our kids there, were ordained as pastors there, and experienced the seasons of God bringing growth and maturity to His local body there. Now, YGBC is picking up and following the Holy Spirit on a big adventure. They will move out of their permanent location on August 25th and begin renting a hall on Sundays only at the Yokohama YMCA. They will have to move locations from time to time and really trust God to help them find locations, set up, tear down, just as we did in “the old days.” But they are willing to do this because they feel that the time is right to prepare for new growth and new opportunities. They are basically going to move out in faith.

I had the great privilege of preaching at Yokohama last Sunday night and I shared a message about a man who got out of the boat by faith and actually walked on water because he believed he could do whatever Jesus called him to do. Please pray for Yokohama Grace Bible Church and Pastor Scott and Naomi Douma as they begin to walk on water.

You can hear my message here:

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Walking on Water (by Ray Mercer)