Dear brothers and sisters,
Praise the Lord for the Canon of scripture, the 66 books of His word. In His gracious providence our God decided to bless us with the whole counsel of His word. In the mission field it is not just the best resource, but we do not have anything else apart from it. His word brings things to existence, gives life, frees us from sin, and reveals to us His love, grace, mercy and the majesty of God. Since the first century, error is always finding new masks to penetrate churches and transitioning cultures. False doctrines are emerging every day so please pray for all missionaries and churches so we will grow in passion for it and stand firm (2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 1:22).
Praise the Lord for blessing us with a church retreat. The goal of our retreat was to study the word of God as a church in the mornings and evenings. It was a blessing to see how God cares about us and leads us when we put His word at the center. Praise the Lord for leading us to focus on the growth of the children of the church by preaching the Gospel to them and there were two blessings that came from their response. First, the next week a group of parents shared with us that their children didn’t wanted to sleep without reading the Bible and others were feeling guilty and in need of forgiveness. They were asking questions about how to be born again and others were questioning the truth of the Bible. Second, a group of parents were sad because they realized that their children were completely indifferent to the Gospel and had no interest for the word of God.
We are now praying and encouraging the parents to follow the questions of the responsive children and encouraging the other parents began sharing the Gospel with their growing children instead of religiously passing along some Bible stories, void of Gospel. We do not know if God will mercifully save all our church’s children, but please help us praying that He finds parents and the church working hard and praying for the precious lives that He is bringing to our church. It is so easy to send them to the bible schoolteachers once a week and not pay the cost of praying and sharing the Bible with our own children regularly. Please help us praying for the next generation of Christians in Japan that their parents and churches will work with all their strength and joy for the next missionaries and church planters for the worship and glory of God.
We rejoice that our church anniversary is coming soon and we will have two baptisms. It was great to hear some of them sharing their testimonies last week. We want you to join us in this celebration in prayer. There is nothing more precious in a church that seeing the worship that comes from the fruit of the people He saves. Please pray also for the unbelievers that are starting to attend regularly our church that the truth of the Gospel will give them freedom and they will come to surrender and believe in our Lord Jesus. Please pray so our church continues evangelizing without neglecting discipling (Matthew 28:19).
Continue to pray for our elderly homeless ministry. The Japanese understanding of the basic truths that westerners know about God, creation, sin, and etc. is alien to them. This is why we are praying and choosing carefully which Bible verses to use so we can build foundational teaching that will help them to understand the Gospel clearly. It looks like only need physical help and food, but people who live on the streets are living in a daily spiritual and emotional crisis. Please pray to our God of Glory so he will give life to these people on the streets and they will come to believe in our Lord. Praise the Lord that the true riches of His glory are not for this fallen world, but are for eternity in heaven with Him.
Thank you always for holding the rope with your prayers, encouragement and support.
In Christ,
Luis (Tokyo- Japan)
