Going With the Flow; September 5, 2020

Posted on September 8, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 28:6 The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

Reading the whole story of Paul’s journey from Caesarea to Rome it occurs to me that quite probably several of the soldiers in his guard were believers by the time they got to Rome. Not only did they essentially owe their lives to Paul after the shipwreck, they saw this miraculous sign and then the healing of all the islanders that followed. Thinking about it, they certainly allowed Paul and his party to do anything they wanted until they got to Rome! As far as the islanders here were concerned, I’m sure that Paul assured them he was not divine and instead pointed them to Christ, given what he did in Lystra, as recorded in Acts 14. We go through all sorts of things in life, but if we are yielded to God and flowing with His Spirit, He will use every one of them for blessing and for His glory. (Romans 8:28) We get anxious for no reason at all! I’m reminded of something I read a few years ago about a mother traveling with her young son, when the next flight they were to take was canceled for some reason. As they were walking to the van that was to take them to a hotel to wait for the next available flight, she was overheard saying to her son, “This, Son, is what we call an adventure.” Rather than being upset about changed schedules and the like, she was teaching her son to take life as it comes, roll with the punches, and enjoy the process. I think we all need to take that lesson!


This is appropriate for me right now, because all sorts of things are happening that are out of my control. We have a major typhoon headed our way, scheduled to hit early Monday morning. As a result, the medical center where I’m being treated has canceled all surgeries for Monday, including my skin graft, and I’ve been rescheduled for Wednesday the 23rd. That in turn means that I will be in the hospital on Sunday the 27th, and unable to preach. The phone call from my surgeon came in actually while I was teaching my first nursing school class of the term, so I had to cancel it (twice) and call her back, but the class itself went very well. Then in the afternoon an old friend (literally – he’s 85) came and installed a used air conditioner we were given in our house kitchen. (We already had one in the church kitchen.) We got in some really good visiting in the process, as I helped him in various ways. The air conditioner works beautifully, but the fellowship was even better. I really don’t know what all today will hold, though I have some ideas and some things I would like to happen, but the point in it all is to accept God’s schedule and delight in it, doing God’s will and not letting the devil steal my peace or joy at any point.


Father, thank You for this reminder. This is something You’ve been trying to teach me for a long time! I don’t remember how many years ago You told me, one November, to rest, relax, and rejoice. May I indeed do that, as an example to others and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Getting the Word Out; September 4, 2020

Posted on September 7, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 19:10 This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.

Reading this, we first need to realize that what was called Asia in those days was essentially what we call Turkey today. Even so, that is a large area to have been covered in two years from a city on the southern coast, particularly in light of the fact that they didn’t even have printing presses back then, much less electronic communications. That said, it struck me just now that this doesn’t say “received,” it says “heard.” Hearing doesn’t necessarily mean repenting and believing, as in the Jews mentioned in verse nine. That said, people need to hear if they are to have the opportunity to repent and believe, so getting the word out is extremely important. Today we have electronic means of communication that would have been beyond the dreams of those in Paul’s day, but the very overload of information causes people not to digest much of what comes in. In some ways that’s entirely appropriate, because there’s a lot of junk out there. That calls for all the more skill in those who are presenting the word of the Lord, along with intense prayer for the help of the Holy Spirit. This chapter starts by telling of some believers who had never even heard of the Holy Spirit. (verse 2) Probably very few Christians are in that boat today, but at the same time a majority of Christians ignore the Holy Spirit in their daily lives. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, and as He said, apart from Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5) We are to use every means at our disposal to inform people of the Gospel of salvation in Christ, but we must do so with a profound awareness of our inability to do it effectively in our own strength. We aren’t to take it personally when people reject the Gospel, any more than Paul did in Ephesus, but rather keep seeking out those whose hearts are open to receive.


I have been ministering in Omura for 39 years this month, with what some would call minimal results. However, the Word has gone out, and some have received it. Recently we started live Internet broadcasts of our services, and the number of people reached each week has literally jumped by a factor of eight or more, with considerable potential for further growth. As I write, our church website is being totally redone, making it more accessible and attractive. All of that is in line with a prophetic statement by a missionary friend of mine from Hong Kong, who said that the ministry of this church was going to be multiplied through the Internet. That is all exciting, but we still have the basic reality that we can do nothing apart from Christ, apart from the flow and power of His Spirit. I am to keep moving forward, building on the foundation He has allowed me to lay in the hearts of many, both believers and those who are not yet believers, so that the result will be entirely in and of Him, for His glory not only in this city but around the world.


Father, this really brings to mind Jesus’ statement that “This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14) Help me play the part You have for me in that, for a mighty end-time harvest, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Suffering; September 3, 2020

Posted on September 7, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 14:19-20 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside of the city, thinking he was dead. But after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.

This story is told matter-of-factly, almost casually, when a stoning is a horrific thing. Paul was wounded so badly that those who did it assumed he was dead and dragged him out of the town, which in itself could cause significant injuries. That Luke would record it in this way is an indication of the brutality of life in the 1st Century. Disease wasn’t the only thing that shortened the life expectancy! However, God still had work for Paul to do, and He sent him back. Many scholars think that this is when Paul had the experience he describes in 2 Corinthians 12:1-6, and I would have to agree with them. My wife had what is called a near-death experience in February, 1975, and even she didn’t really want to come back at the time! Her experience came from a heart attack, but Paul’s came from a stoning. You can be sure his time in heaven was far more pleasant than what he faced when he came back! This records that when the disciples gathered around him he just got up, and the very next day set out for Derbe. We don’t know the extent of the miraculous healing he experienced, but my body hurts just thinking about doing that after such injuries. We in the Western church are such wimps! As it says in Hebrews, we don’t know anything about resisting sin to the point of shedding our blood. (Hebrews 12:4) We join the church looking for “your best life now,” and balk at the least hint of sacrifice for the sake of the kingdom of God. Only a small percentage of church members even tithe their income. It’s no wonder we have so little power! When we are fixated on having it easy in this life, whatever we say we believe, we are certainly not “storing up treasure in heaven,” as Jesus told us to do. (Matthew 6:19-21)


This is very close to home at the moment, and not just because we have Matthew 6:21 as our Verse for the Year. I’m in the middle of treatment for a basal cell carcinoma in my scalp. The initial tumor was removed early last month, but when tests showed malignancy, surgery was scheduled to remove the area around that, so I now have a plug taken out of my scalp. Yesterday I went for the post-op check for that, and was told that more malignant cells were detected in the center of the plug, but the edges were all clear, so now I’m scheduled to have skin graft surgery on Monday, taking skin from my upper chest to cover the hole, giving me an instant bald spot. None of this is particularly fun, but people have been amazed at how casually I am taking it. The thing is, I am sharply aware that whatever suffering (I really wouldn’t call it that) I am going through, it doesn’t begin to compare to what even my wife has gone through with her various surgeries, not to mention what Paul experienced in this passage. I have no room to complain! For many years I have been very attached to something Jesus said just before His arrest and crucifixion: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) The less I am emotionally invested in this world, and even in my body, the more I will be able to enjoy the blessings of heaven even before I go there. As Paul said, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” (2 Corinthians 4:17)


Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the circumstances that make me open to receive it. Help me indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, whatever is going on with me or around me, so that I may be fully available for whatever tasks You have for me, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Racial Discrimination; September 2, 2020

Posted on September 6, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 10:34-35 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.”

This was indeed a momentous revelation that changed the course of history. Most people today can’t really imagine the degree of racial discrimination that was endemic in the Jewish people. However, even today we have “white supremacists,” along with antisemitism of all stripes. We also have the BLM movement, that also uses race as a political wedge to divide people. Sadly enough, one people-group discriminating against another is one of the most common features of human history. From God’s perspective, however, that is all total nonsense. He created us all, and we are all of equal value by definition. At the same time we are all different, and some racial stereotypes can have a high degree of validity. What does not change, regardless of skin color or ethnicity, is that God loves us, but “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6) There is no people-group, not even the Jews, that has an automatic “ticket to heaven,” and there is no people-group that is automatically excluded from heaven. God chose Abraham and His descendants as instruments of His revelation of Himself to mankind, and as such they do have some special promises given to them, but as Paul assures us, those who believe in Jesus are accepted in Him, and all those promises come to them as well. (Romans 4:16)


Growing up as a Caucasian in Japan, I have always been aware of ethnic and racial differences, but I was also raised to know that differences don’t preclude equality. (On my first arrival in the US, not yet 4 years old, I was quarantined with mumps, and one nurse was the first Black person I had ever seen. I insisted on speaking Japanese to her, because in my experience, anyone with skin darker than my parents’ had to be Japanese!) As long as I can remember I have been proud of having been born in 1948, the same year as the modern state of Israel. I don’t think I knew any Jews growing up, but I loved the Jewish songs in The Fireside Book of Folk Songs that was a household staple. In Seminary in Texas, for reasons known only to God, we were adopted into the informal group of Messianic students and their families, and they were floored that I knew Jewish folk songs better than they did. Today I rejoice in the reports I get from OneForIsrael.com, of how more and more Jews are discovering that Yeshua is indeed their promised Messiah. All of that said, my own particular calling is to the Japanese. In my opinion, their sense of racial identity is comparable only to that of the Jews, and it is often a major barrier to their accepting the Gospel. They admire what they see in me, but can’t believe that it is equally available to them, because we are “different.” The common Japanese term for foreigner, gaijin, literally means, “person outside, outsider.” I have dealt with rejection all my life, but that becomes tragic only when they reject the Gospel as “non-Japanese.” This revelation to Peter needs to permeate Japanese society, to bring about the massive harvest that I know God desires.


Father, thank You for Your plans, that are greater and higher than anything man could come up with. Thank You for what You did here yesterday, bringing together people who needed assurance of Your love in a way that I couldn’t have planned if I had tried. I do pray for Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done in each life, shattering the lies of the devil and setting people free, for a ripple effect that will draw many into Your kingdom for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Actions; September 1, 2020

Posted on September 6, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 9:34 “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up.

There are many records of healing in the Bible, and a common element is the afflicted person being told to do something. This isn’t the case every time, but action seems to give form to faith. When the 10 lepers asked Jesus for healing, He told them to go show themselves to the priest, and it was in the going that they realized they had received their healing. (Luke 17:11-19) On two different occasions Jesus also told a paralyzed man to take up their mat and walk, (Mark 2, John 5) and Peter was probably there both times. All of this ties into what James wrote about faith and actions. Protestations of faith aren’t very convincing without actions. We are spiritual beings, but we are also undeniably physical beings, and we can’t divorce the one from the other. Even in the 1st Century there was a heresy that said that because we were spiritual beings it didn’t matter what we did with our bodies, and that was used as an excuse for all sorts of debauchery. Paul addresses that in several of his letters, perhaps most notably in Romans 6. We are saved by grace through faith, and not by our activities, (Ephesians 2:8-9) but genuine faith will be active. (Ephesians 2:10) The flip side of that is another thing the Bible talks about a lot: empty activity. Doing things just for the sake of doing them doesn’t benefit anyone. More than one prophet relayed God’s instructions to stop religious rituals, even though they had been commanded in the books of Moses, because the people’s hearts weren’t in them, and/or their daily lives didn’t line up. The same thing applies to prayer. When we pray in genuine faith we will “put feet to our prayers,” acting in expectation of God being true to His Word and His character. If we feel God might be speaking to us, the best thing is generally to do whatever we think He might be saying, and He will confirm it to us.


The faith/works tension has existed throughout history, and I can’t ignore it. Not only do I need to be active in my own faith, as a pastor I need to be admonishing those in my care to do likewise. I’ve found, time and time again, that if I act like I believe, my tiny, shallow faith is grown and deepened. I frequently tell others that faith is like muscle: it needs to be exercised to be strengthened. I’ve certainly found that to be true in my own life. I am not to demand of others what I’m not doing in my own life. We all need to be growing together, as God’s children and His servants.


Father, thank You for all the opportunities You give me to exercise and grow my faith. Help me be Your agent to help those around me do likewise, so that all the lies of the devil may be defeated and Your kingdom come as Your will is done, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Evangelism; August 31, 2020

Posted on September 4, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 8:4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.

This verse first struck me a long time ago. This was the response to significant, organized persecution in Jerusalem, energized by Saul of Tarsus, as it explains in verse 3. Though the persecution had been triggered by the proclamation of Jesus as the Messiah, those fleeing the persecution continued to proclaim Him everywhere they went. In other words, they were demonstrating the reality of what Peter and John had told the Sanhedrin: “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20) Too many Christians today can’t be persuaded to say a word about Jesus! I think a big part of the problem is that they haven’t really experienced Him, but have simply accepted a set of propositions about Him, perhaps as a cultural thing. In that sense, the current turmoil in the US may turn out to be a great blessing, because in attaching a cost to holding a Biblical world view, it is waking many people up as to what is important and valuable. Too many Christians don’t really understand what people need to be saved from, so they have no impetus to take part. Yesterday one of the believers here gave a powerful testimony of being moved by the story we’ve read recently of the man who had been lame from birth. (Acts 3) She was moved because she too was born with a handicap, in the sense that she was born into a violent, dysfunctional family. She was always strong physically, but she recognized that she had a problem from birth as much as the man healed by Peter and John. She met Jesus only after a first, failed marriage, but her transformation has been so great that she has brought her 2nd husband and his brother into the family of God along with her. She doesn’t stop talking about the goodness of God any more than the believers mentioned here did. The Church needs more like her!

I didn’t become active in evangelism myself until I was filled with the Holy Spirit in 1974, so I have no room to feel superior to silent believers. I understand the words credited to Francis of Assisi, “Preach constantly. When necessary, use words.” If our lives aren’t congruent with the Gospel we speak, people won’t pay attention. However, words are necessary, because the Gospel has content. It’s not just a matter of emotion, though some are deceived into thinking it is. As a pastor I desire that everyone under my care be active in sharing the Lord they have encountered, and that was the focus of yesterday’s message. The vast majority of Japanese have little or no framework to understand or receive the Gospel, but we’ve got to start somewhere. It is by believers sharing what they have received that the kingdom of God is advanced, just as the sister said so boldly yesterday.

Father, thank You for yesterday and all it held. I pray that Your Word and Your Spirit would continue to work in each person who heard, filling them and overflowing from them to produce a great harvest in Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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Personal Evangelism; August 30, 2020

Posted on September 3, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 5:13-14 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.

I don’t remember when this first struck me, but it was at least as far back as my seminary days (1976-78). The Early Church did have “evangelistic meetings,” such as the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and the group that gathered after the man born lame was healed, in Acts 4, but this makes it clear that it was the daily interactions of the believers that brought more people to faith. That’s the only way their number could have been increasing if “No one else dared join them.” Luke seems to indicate that the incident with Ananias and Saphira, recorded just before this, had a lot to do with people being afraid to join them, because that made it absolutely clear that it was no use pretending to be something you weren’t around this group of people. Today, people sometimes join churches for social or even political advantage. We have candidates who proclaim their church affiliation while espousing policies that are in direct contradiction to the clear teachings of the church they claim. Some people are calling them out for it, but sadly, very few. The broader application of this particular passage is that every believer should be active in sharing their faith. Today I’ll be speaking on “Actual Experience,” pointing out that witnessing isn’t telling made-up stories, it’s sharing what God has done for you personally. I don’t remember the figures, but a study done not long ago in the US showed that a shockingly small percentage of American Christians had ever shared their faith with anyone else. That is tragic! Part of the issue is that far too many church members have never been born again; they were just baptized, at whatever age they did it, because it was “the thing to do.” There can be no salvation without repentance, acknowledging that you are a sinner headed for hell by your own actions. That can happen at a surprisingly young age. My mother shared with me that she came to an awareness of a personal sin at age 5, and her repentance of that was central to her commitment and baptism. Too many churches never teach on sin at all, and so are largely unregenerate.


I was baptized at age 7, on the basis of a genuine love for Jesus and a desire to be committed to Him, but I don’t remember any specific element of repentance at the time. However, at age 24 the Lord in His grace showed me my spiritual pride, and that repentance was devastating. On the immediate subject at hand, I had been seeking to be filled with the Holy Spirit from late 1973, to no effect that I could detect. Then in 1974 a friend pointed out that we receive everything from God by grace through faith, and I should ask God, and then trust that He had been true to His Word. Two days later I abruptly realized that I was talking about Jesus with a total stranger, and Acts 1:8 came to mind: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses.” At that moment I realized that God had indeed been true to His promise and filled me with His Spirit. Now, when I see genuine believers who don’t witness, I pray that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit!


Father, thank You for this reminder when You had already told me to speak on witnessing today. I pray that I would say everything You want me to say, but no more, not overloading my hearers with more than they can absorb but faithfully transmitting what You are saying now, so that we may indeed be the church that You want in this place at this time, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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God’s Sovereignty; August 29, 2020

Posted on September 3, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 4:28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

This is a verse we often skip over or ignore. We forget that all the horrible things that were done to Jesus were explicitly part of God’s plans, so those who were being inhumanly cruel were even so being God’s agents. We can’t really wrap our minds around that. It’s not at all that God desires evil, but He uses even evil to bring about ultimate good. The more we grasp that, the better we are able to give God thanks for everything, just as Paul admonishes us to do. (Ephesians 5:20) We aren’t to thank God for sin, but in faith we can and should thank Him for a wide variety of things that on their surface aren’t in the least attractive. These believers had just been threatened by their own government, having seen what that government had done to Jesus, and their response was to ask God to use them in defiance of their government. That sort of thing is happening in California and other places in the US today, not to mention in places like China and North Korea. We are not to seek persecution, but we are never to fail to obey God out of a fear of persecution. We must remember that God will never allow anything to happen to us that He can’t turn around and use for our good. (Romans 8:28) We are to thank Him for the privilege of serving Him, regardless of the consequences.

This is an area where God is still training me. Over 20 years ago He told me personally that there are many things that are not as He wants them to be, but at the same time I know that He can and will turn even those things around to advance His plan. How He will, or even can, do that is far above human intellect to figure out, but it is something I need to accept in faith. Right now I am recovering from having had a plug of my scalp removed because of a basal cell carcinoma, and I am anticipating undergoing a skin graft to complete the repair in about a week and a half. What is going on isn’t exactly fun for me, but it is something for which I am to be actively thankful, in faith that God is using it for good. The same applies to every detail of my life, though too often I forget it in practice. I am to be thankful for not being able to figure out (yet) how to get my drone flying, even though I have wanted to be able to do aerial photography with a drone for a long time. I am to be thankful for the interpersonal frictions that complicate my life, as frustrating as they can be at times, knowing that God is using them to shape and grow everyone involved. I am not to “lie down and roll over” for the attacks of the devil, but rather stand firm against them, (James 4:7) and at the same time thank God for training me as His warrior, for His glory.


Father, thank You for this reminder, and for Your patience in training me, in this and every area. Help me be a good student, growing to be and do all that You desire, for Your glory alone. Thank You. Praise God!

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Gifting; August 28, 2020

Posted on August 30, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 4:12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

There are two particularly powerful statements by Peter in this section, this one and the one in verses 19-20 that has been the justification for civil disobedience ever since. This is just further evidence of Peter coming into full form, on the heels of the healing that triggered Peter and John’s arrest and trial. What strikes me is that the very boldness that up until Jesus’ resurrection had seemed to be something of a liability is here put to marvelous use for the glory of God. God doesn’t make mistakes in how He creates us, whatever we might think about ourselves or others. The very characteristics that might drive us to distraction were prepared by God for specific purposes, and when we discover those purposes, we can be very grateful indeed. Sometimes it can really stretch our faith to try to see good in some characteristics, again, both in ourselves and in others. However, God indeed sees the end from the beginning, and His purposes are good. Sometimes we just have to pray, “Father, thank You for the good You have planned for that, because I sure can’t see it.” Honesty is always the best policy!

My wife and I were enormously helped in this area by the teaching on Motivational Gifts by Don and Katie Fortune. We first met them when a missionary friend in another part of Japan called and said the Fortunes were in Japan and were interested in Kyushu, and would we be interested in hosting them. We recognized a God-given opportunity, and have been grateful ever since. I interpreted for their teaching on more than three different visits to Japan, and we became quite close to them, staying in their home on visits to Seattle. They have both graduated to their reward in heaven, but we still try to communicate the truths they taught. Based on Romans 12:6-8, they differentiated that list of gifts from the one in 1 Corinthians 12 and the one in Ephesians 4:7-13, depending on the Greek terms used, and called the Romans list Motivational Gifts. They said they were analogous to personality types, and listed positive and negative characteristics of each. We found that teaching to be a godsend in raising our daughters as well as in dealing with those around us, and even understanding ourselves. We frequently call on that teaching in ministry involving interpersonal relationships, because we all tend to expect, and even demand, that other people be “like us,” and they seldom are! We were involved in such ministry just last night, and once again we were reminded that God doesn’t make mistakes when He creates people. We are all wounded and otherwise shaped by our life experiences, but God’s gifting is always good, and it is our privilege and responsibility to seek that out and apply it, for His glory.

Father, thank You for Your grace on so many levels. Help us be consistent channels of that grace to everyone around us, allowing them to blossom into all that You created them to be, for the blessing of everyone around them, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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Preparing for Christ’s Return; August 27, 2020

Posted on August 30, 2020 by jgarrott

Acts 3:19-20 “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you–even Jesus.”

In English I was going to go with just verse 19, but then I realized that in Japanese, the “times of refreshing” part is in verse 20, and that actually gave me further insight. We are prone to focus on things in this life, which is why “times of refreshing” sounds so nice. However the Bible is very clear that the “final fix” isn’t going to come until Christ returns, so that should be our focus. Times of refreshing are nice indeed, but they are temporary, just as Lazarus’ resurrection was temporary. (John 11) We tend to forget that he eventually died again! The ultimate solution to all the world’s problems comes only with Christ’s return to reign over everything. That’s not at all to say that we aren’t to fight evil right now. We are Christ’s representatives in the here-and-now, (2 Corinthians 5:20) and “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.” (1 John 3:8) We cannot be saved by politicians, but we are to be active in promoting Biblical principles and policies in government. We cannot eliminate poverty or suffering, but we can be God’s agents toward that end. That said, we are not to be discouraged by the minimal results of our own efforts, because Jesus is the ultimate “clean-up batter,” and He’s going to hit it out of the park. To continue that analogy, we just need to work to keep the bases loaded. We do need to remember that all of this is predicated on our own personal repentance. This was an extremely hard-hitting sermon by Peter, and he pulled no punches. He had no idea of “political correctness,” and he wouldn’t have cared if he had! Too often we let the devil trick us into being mealy-mouthed, worrying more about offending people than whether they are going to get saved. Peter is an excellent example for us, because he was a deeply flawed individual (as we all are) and he made lots of mistakes (as we all do) but he was totally committed to Jesus Christ as Lord, as we all should be.

I have always been encouraged by Peter, and I need to keep learning from him. Japanese culture cares intensely about “not rocking the boat.” That seems to have rubbed off on me, and I have “tempered my words” more than I should have many times when presenting the Gospel. I need to remember that the Gospel of repentance and faith is disruptive, period, so I shouldn’t be so afraid of offending. I’m not to offend needlessly, (Romans 12:18) but I am to be unapologetic about the fact that salvation is found in Christ alone. (Acts 4:12) My job is to call people to repentance and faith, not to make them feel good about themselves. Too often we offer “palliative care” when a cure is available! I am to remember that my Lord is returning, and I am to call everyone to get right with Him before they meet Him in judgment.

Father, thank You for this call to action. Help me follow through, not just thinking this was a nice devotional time but actually allowing You to change my lifestyle. I ask for wisdom and boldness, because the people around me have no foundation, no frame of reference, to receive the Gospel. I pray that Your Spirit would have total control over my words and actions, so that the lying barriers of the devil may be shattered and people set free to repent and believe, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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