The personal site of Jonathan Hayashi
As we even celebrate the 500th year of Protestant Reformation with Martin Luther, which has influenced Protestants since the 16th-century hated the New Testament book of James so much that he wanted it completely OUT of the Bible as it seemed to contradict the doctrine of Sola Fide (Latin: by faith alone).
In the book of James, the solution to interpersonal conflict is shockingly vertical.
Today living in the 21st century, we live in a culture where it is no surprise that all entertainment platform is encouraged and empower their users to allow any filthy language, nudity, violence, and other mature content from movies and TV series.
Huffington Post writes, “Porn sites has more regular traffics compared to Netflix, Amazon and Twitter combined all together each month.”
This is a shocking reality. These are not angry fundamentalist conservative Christians but secular culture coming up with these statistics.
The Contemporary gospel is an American cultural artifact, namely, you can become a Christian and not follow Jesus, discipleship is optional.
Normally we think of Salvation as that which is most significant. Truth of the matter is, the Bible’s view of salvation makes no sense, in fact, it is built on previous grounding ultimately on the doctrine of creation. Without creation, the planet of God with salvation doesn’t make sense at all.
“I love Jesus but I don’t like the church. I will never leave Jesus but I’m done with the church” people who make such a statement are walking away from Jesus.
In this fallen world even people in a very complex, postmodern world are desperately hungry to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to step it up. We need to toughen up and take this job seriously. We need to be ready to suffer for the gospel. We need to be motivated by this stewardship that we have been entrusted. We are to run this race well.
We must know the sheer glory and goodness of what our Father has given us in Jesus Christ. To know Jesus in truth and love is to find the one thing worth finding, the one lasting happiness, the purpose of life, true contentment. It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about himself.
Do you remember when movies and Facebook was a very, very little thing? Do you remember when your great desire was to read the Word and your great desire was to pray and your great desire was to be like him? And your great desire was to just be before him and somehow he would have noticed you? The greatest …
We see a huge collision in Evangelism vs. Missions distinction all together. This is crucial for our churches to understand in order to advance the kingdom ministry through mission work.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote (ibid., p. 219), “Indeed, our chief defect as Christians is that we fail to realize Christ’s love to us.” He adds (p. 223), “How important it is that we should meditate upon this love and contemplate it! It is because we fail to do so that we tend to think at times that He has forgotten us, or that He has left us.”
We don’t have to talk about Jesus, we get to! “But I’m not sure how to go about it Jonathan!” As one of my favorite quotes is from G. K. Chesterton said it once, “Anything Worth Doing is Worth Doing Badly.” Here are some tips that perhaps will help us with us in order to have a Gospel Conversation. Storing: Three stories 1. …
View The Full PostTurning Everyday Conversation Into Gospel Conversations
Jesus is absolutely worth everything within our lives. The fundamental question we must as is, “What is Jesus worth to me?” Radical by David Platt challenges us to consider with honest open heart question, of how we think and take the gospel in our life. So many questions and stipulations that beckons us that leads us a stray with the …
View The Full PostRadical Discipleship: Costly Commitment, A Call For All
New Years Resolution comes in many forms. People wanting to get rid of bad habits, or develop a good habit. Why not begin by what matters most with our faith in the Lord? Let’s start there! One of the benefits of thinking about “developing good habits” is to remember the practices of the ancient church. What the Reformation took away from …
View The Full PostFour Disciplines That Allows Leaders To Flourish