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Next Monday the 9th is the date for our next Tozan Club. The weather report calls for clouds but no rain so let's hope it is accurate! I suspect a lot of you have spent a lot of time inside because of the rain. Why don't you join us this Monday and enjoy some fresh mountain air for a change. It will be well worth your time. We plan to meet at the church at 10am as usual. See you then!
My Testimony by YG
I remember a dream I had long long time ago before I was spiritually born-again. I guess I was in my kinder garden that time…In my dream, I met God… I know it might sound all wired, but that was Him I saw in my dream…and it was a very important experience to me. Since then, somehow I’ve always felt that God is always with me…even though I didn’t notice that and accept Jesus as my savior until later on in my life.
First of all, I would like to give you a bit of my family ground; I was born in 1985, in Osaka, and was brought up in non Christian family. My father and my mother got married when they were still teenagers, and they had me. And I also have two younger brothers. I was born and grew up in a very typical Japanese family. I was completely insensitive to religion. My house, as well as other Japanese houses, had one room with ancestors’ photographs as a symbol of Buddhism and another room with a small shrine to Shintoism. My father taught me his philosophy that human beings can do anything with his/her constant endeavor. I lost my father when I was 9 years old by an accident, and since my grandmother is a strict Buddhist, we followed Buddhism way to have our Dad’s funeral. Since then, my family believed that our father became a God since he died.
And some years went by, when I turned 18 years old; I decided to go to Canada for my University. And I got to know one Japanese guy who is a Christian, and when I was telling him that I could play the piano, he asked me to come to Church to play the piano for Japanese Alliance Church. That was how I started to come to Church every Sunday for the service. At that time I never imagined that one year later I would be baptized. However, the past few years have been the most meaningful for me in my entire 22 years of life. I am strongly confident that it is by God's grace that I was being baptized after one year in Canada.
I remember that I did not feel nervous at all about visiting the church in those days. It might be because I used to go to a kindergarten which was owned by a church. Then, I came to learn that God always utilizes a person in the best way for him or her. I do not know how much I was relieved by this. In addition, the Bible study and worship each Sunday has provided me with opportunities to contemplate the relationship between society and myself based on what is said in the Bible. The Bible and the study group have led me to understand that I have been a hypocrite because I have thought I could do anything on my own. I came to accept the fact that Jesus became a sacrifice for me, an arrogant child. His cruel death gave a serious meaning to me.
When I came back to Osaka for summer job in 2005, there was one thing that I didn’t want to do no matter what…that was to celebrate my Dad as a God. I wasn’t saved yet that time, but since I started to know about God, I knew it was wrong to celebrate dead people as a God. Every year, on July 12th my family have Buddhism anniversary for my Dad since that was the date my father died. I didn’t want to attend that celebration, so I asked my people from Church to pray for me. I thought there was no way not to attend that ceremony because I am the oldest sister and the only daughter who was supposed to be at the ceremony to help my mother. I didn’t know what to do, so I prayed God, like this…”Father，if you really exist, show me that you can help me…” yes, I put God to a test. Now when I think about it, I can’t believe that I actually tested Him for my personal reason. I know that was real foolish of me. But anyways, I’d been praying Him. And three days before the ceremony, the miracle had happened. I still don’t know how that happened, but I came not to attend the ceremony. I was so surprised because I knew there was no way to avoid it…but God had listened to me although I was very arrogant, and he answered my prayer..,and made me believe in Him. And finally i came to know that although I didn't know it, God was still at work in my life; he wasn't ignoring me, even though I was ignoring him. and Finally, I completely surrender to Him.
The same year in December, I got baptized at Japanese Alliance Church, and had accepted Jesus as my Savior. it was during our Christmas service, I believe that God has led me to be baptized at that church, on that very day. I have had many experiences over the past year that can only be attributed to God's grace. There have been many more great experiences and I would love to share all of them with you, if time allowed. Now I know that it was not "chance" that I went to church but that it was all part of God's plan. God began knocking on the door of my heart.
"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:32)
Things that once seemed so important weren't important any longer.
I praise God for directing me to live a life based on His Word. I want to make sure that my family and I do as God wants, and as the result of that, we can be free from worry about the future and build our future upon the solid rock, Jesus Christ.
Yesterday I was invited to speak at the Kyoto New Life Church.This is the fourth church connected with Bethany here in Japan and my heart was filled with thanksgiving as I thought about the fact that in the past 25 years or so four new churches have been born here. In 1980 we held our first service in Osaka with an attendance of 6 people. Some years later, Jon started the New Life Church in Kawachinagano. Some years later again, Willy started the Suzuka Bethany Church. Then, just two years ago, Jon took on the work of pastoring this group in Kyoto who wanted to start a new church. This happened just as Pastor Haruna was getting involved in pastoring the Kawachinagano New Life Church. God's timing is just perfect.
In 1980 there were just 6 people meeting at a Bethany Church in the Kansai area while now on any given Sunday it is more like 100 people gathered in four locations worshiping God and hearing the Word of God proclaimed.
I would request your prayers for these four churches that they might continue to be led by God in all that they do and that new people might continue to come to know and believe in Jesus in these four locations.
皆さん、お体守られていますか？牧師である主人から何か証しを書くように促されました。が・・今、私はある闘いのただ中にいて何か良い事書けるのか心配。自分がこんなに弱かったとは・・正直、参っています。私のその敵は見えないのです。見えない敵との闘い・・言い換えれば信仰の闘いです。ふと今日、昔手に入れたジョージ・ミュラーと言う人の「信仰」と言う本を読み始めて、とても考えさせられています。彼は信仰についてこんな事を書いています。「見る事を止めた時が信仰の働く時である事を忘れないようにしましょう。困難が大きければ大きいほど、信仰は働き安くなります。」・・彼はすごい信仰の人 でした。この信仰で、孤児院を運営し、63年間で、祈りによってのみ経済的必要が満たされ、およそ一万人の孤児の世話をしたそうです。「自分の信仰の限界で神を束縛してはならない事を学んでからというもの、73年に渡り神のみ座に近づいて、てぶらで帰って来たり、神からの供給が底を尽く事はなかった」・・本当に信仰とは何だろう。信仰の真価を問われる時、私はどこまでしっかり立てるのだろう・・私は見えない敵を必死にみたい
と目をさらのようにしているのだろうか・・とか考えている・・。或いは、考えてばかりいる事自体、信仰ではないのでないか？そして今、私が出しつつある結論は、信じる事を選ぼう・・与えられていると、私の内で叫ぶ声(み言葉)を握りしめてみようと言う事です。 何だか支離滅裂な文になりました。わかって頂けないかも・・。でも、これで、牧師先生のお願いに応じられたのは感謝。では、私のこの選択から学んだ事を、又、お分かち出来る時が来るようにと願いながら・・皆さんの上に神様の祝福を祈りつつ。ＲＳ
Christ My Healer by Paul Sunde
Some years ago a friend of mine went to Vancouver, Canada, on business. As he was a Christian, on Sunday he visited one of the churches in the city and there he ran into some people that he used to know from Osaka. They started talking about old times and my name came up. One of the girls said, ”I remember a guy named Paul Sunde-However, he got cancer didn’t he?”
”He died, right?”As recently as a few years ago there were people who thought that I had died. I suspect that even now there are places where Paul Sunde is thought of in the past sense. Through my testimony I would like to share with you how it is that I came back from the edge of death and am still alive.
I Hospitalization
Everything started with my waking up in the morning with my whole body shaking so bad that my wife actually thought it was an earthquake. I had a feeling that my body was in serious trouble so I had her drive me all the way to Kyoto to the Baptist Hospital because there were doctors there that I knew and because it was a Christian hospital that I was used to. In the hospital I had one big question: WHY?
What had I done wrong? I was very busy at the time pastoring the Bethany Church in Osaka. When I started to have physical problems I had many people pray for me. I believed Matthew 8:17 which says, "He Himself (Jesus) took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses." And yet, here I was, in the hospital. Was this God’s will for me? Could this be God’s will? And if this was in fact God’s will, what was going to happen next? Was I going to die or to live? Did I need to hurry up and find a new pastor for the church or was I going to be healed? Of course there was only one thing to do in order to answer these questions and that was to pray and to read the Bible.
II The DISCIPLINE of God
The answer to my first question of whether or not I was in the center of God’s will came quickly. It was in Hebrews 12:5-7 "And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: 'My son, do not dispise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourages every son whom He receives.' If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?" God, IN HIS LOVE-as my loving Heavenly Father, was treating me as a son and was disciplining me for my own good.I REALLY needed to be in the hospital-it was the BEST PLACE for me to be at that time. It was a result of GOD’S LOVE for me. Why? I was TOO busy. Work was my life. Work controlled me rather than me controlling my work. I was too busy to pray.
My prayer times were business meetings with God. Bless this project-bless that project.I had no time to really pray. To spend time with God because I loved Him and wanted to be with Him. I was involved in many things kind of shikatanaku-not because I felt the guidance of God. In the hospital, my schedule was wiped clean and I was given a chance to begin again. I am really really thankful for that. My schedule is different today because of that time in the hospital. In the hospital I was given plenty of time to read the Bible and pray. No thoughts of work anymore. Just God. In spite of the pain etc. my time in the hospital soon turned into a retreat time. A time away from people and work. A time to get to know God in a deeper way. However, I soon had to seek an answer to my second question. Life or death?
I was operated on in March and the doctor told me that without an operation I would have been dead by June. My doctor operated on me with NO HOPE OF A CURE. My wife was told that I would die either in the fall or in the winter and so I was supposed to enjoy the summer as my last time of health. Medically speaking there was no hope at all. I needed to know whether to start making plans for my own funeral or to plan on continuing on with my work. I needed to know whether or not I needed to find a new pastor for Bethany soon or not. These were big questions-not the kind that are asked everyday.
III Guidance
There were three places that I looked for the answers to my questions.
1. The Word of God.
2. The Spirit of God.
3. The Church of God.
The Word of God
This was where I was weak. Verses such as Matthew 8:17 did not help because I already had cancer and was in the hospital.
Verses that spoke of Jesus healing people did not help because I and many others had prayed many many times for healing before coming to the hospital. I needed a verse that would speak to me WHERE I WAS. For me that portion of the Bible was John 9:1-7
First, my parents and I were encouraged by verse 3. "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him." At a time like this it is very easy to blame yourself. Both my parents and I would find ourselves thinking that it was some sin that had put me into the hospital. This verse encouraged us that that need not be the case.
However, even more than verse 3, verses 6 and 7 really spoke to me. "He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam' (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing." Often, when Jesus heals it is instantaneous. As I have already mentioned I had been prayed for many times and was NOT instantaneously healed. But here was a case where Jesus heals-but NOT instantaneously. To me this meant that even though I was in the hospital and even though I was taking medicine and even though I had had an operation this did NOT mean that Jesus was not healing or was not going to heal me-just that it might take some TIME. Another unique thing here is that Jesus used MEDICINE (of a sort). He used saliva and clay to anoint the blind man-He did not just lay hands on the man and pray. This was a great encouragement to me and I was able to pray that just as Jesus used saliva and clay to heal the blind man that Jesus would use the medicine I was taking to heal me. The final ecouragement for me was that Jesus used a PROCESS to heal this man. He had to go to the pool of Siloam and wash and then he would be cured of his blindness.
Before going to the Baptist Hospital in Kyoto I had really prayed and believed that that was where God was guiding me. I had also prayed much about my doctor and felt that Dr. Shiota was a doctor that God was guiding me to. I don’t think that the blind man could have gone to just any pool-it had to be the pool of Siloam. It was NOT a special pool-just the pool that Jesus led him to. In the same way I don’t think the Baptist Hospital is a special hosptal or that Dr. Shiota is some special doctor-just that for me that was the hospital and the doctor that God guided me to. Through these verses I was encouraged to believe that even though it might take time I should believe that Jesus would in fact heal me of my cancer.
The Spirit of God
Along with the Word of God was the very important work of the Holy Spirit in my life. What was the Holy Spirit saying to me during those days in the hospital? The Holy Spirit seemed to be saying that I was going to be healed and that I would continue my work here in Japan. Right at that time I had a very interesting experience.
Some days after my operation, I felt my life slowly ebbing away.I felt like a candle that was going out.I was so weak I could only wisper. I called my dad over and wispered in his ear, ”Thanks for being with me”. I thought that that might be the last sentence I would utter. Then my body went to sleep but I myself didn’t. Then I found myself leaving my body and floating above my body-looking down on my own body. I saw the nurses come in and I could see my dad sleeping. I felt that I was FREE to go to Heaven if I wanted to. I also felt UTTER PEACE-PEACE LIKE I HAVE NEVER KNOWN BEFORE. However, I was worried about my wife, Reiko. I was worried about my church. And I was worried about my mission. All night I was in that position and no angels came to meet me. In the morning, I found myself floating down to once again join my body. I then remember actually waking my own body up. And then I felt great physical pain and I knew that I was back in the land of the living-back in the physical world. My conclusion was that God’s will was NOT for me to go to Heaven but rather to continue living and working here in Japan. In that frame of mind I one day heard that my pastor from my church in America was going to visit me. This would be a chance for me to receive guidance through the church.
The Church of God
This was exciting to me because I very much wanted to know what his attitude to my sickness would be. Many people from churches here in Japan had been encouraging my wife to start making plans for my death and telling her that it could be
God’s will for me to die. I was given permission to leave the hospital for a few days and spend time with my folks and my pastor. There I asked him to pray for me. He prayed a most powerful prayer-really more of a prophecy than a prayer. He never mentioned the possiblity that I might die. He declared that God had a work for me in Japan and that I would be enabled to live and do the work that God had for me. I took his prayer as a confirmation from God that I should believe that I would in fact be healed.
IV Faith
There now was one final thing for me to do. God had given the guidance and the promise of healing. I now had to BELIEVE God. I had to have FAITH. Hebrews 11:6 states, "For without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him". For one year I was a very sick person. I was hospitalized 3 times and was operated on twice. However, the second time the doctor was amazed to find no trace at all of cancer. And for many years now I have basically been a very healthy person. In my free time I climb mountains and usually can outwalk younger people when it comes to hiking. In fact, recently I have actually taken up rock climbing. This is all just a result of the power and the grace of God.
Conclusion
What have I learned through all of this? I think I have learned two things.
1. Of course I have learned that Jesus Christ still heals sick bodies just like He did so many years ago.
2. However, I also learned a lot about the love of God.
God loves us so much that He does not let us settle for second best. Sometimes He guides us along some pretty tough roads but it is always because He wants the best for us. A doctor will only heal your body but God will heal not only your body but your heart also. Often, it is our heart that really needs the healing touch of God. I personally feel that the new work that God did in my heart during that year that I fought with cancer is greater than the work that He did in my body.
My prayer is that each and every one of you who read this testimony will experience this love of God in your lives. Maybe in physical healing. Maybe in a new work in your heart. Maybe in some other way. May God bless you all.