Pastors' Blog

Given the National Basketball Association (NBA) finals that are in progress as I write—a contest between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors (who are meeting in a record fourth consecutive finals matchup)—you can forgive the sports world for obsessing over facial expressions. Such was the case in Game 1 a few days ago. Taking cues from Yahoo Sports, let's set up the picture.

Game 1—the teams are tied. With 4.7 seconds to go the Cavaliers' J. R. Smith offensively rebounds the ball and—instead of a quick pass to an open teammate or a shot at the basket himself or even calling for a timeout—Smith dribbles the ball away from the hoop. But in a major gaffe, he forgets the score is tied. The buzzer sounds. The tied teams go into overtime, whereupon the Warriors surge ahead and win Game 1.

A now gone viral video clip (www.sports.yahoo.com/lebron-james-incredulous-bench-j-r-smiths-game-1-gaffe-video-153826487.html) of Cavs superstar LeBron James' facial express of incredulous disappointment says it all. What can a crestfallen superstar say? A mindless gaffe can be a very costly mistake.

But it was more than a just a gaffe that chilly, very early Friday. The night air turns blue with fisherman oaths as the man swears he never knew this Jesus of Nazareth. A rooster crows. And the Prisoner turns, disappointment and hurt etched all over his pained face. No video clip needed. Just the terse recitation: "The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: 'Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.' And he went outside and wept bitterly"  (Luke 22:61-62).

How many times, I wonder, have I left that look of painful disappointment all over God's face? He was counting on me to stand for Him in that circle of chatter. He was hoping against hope that I'd man-up to my moral responsibility as a disciple of His. But forgetting the time left on the clock, I dribbled that opportunity away, when if I'd only been thinking (praying) instead of laughing, I could have changed the score for Team Heaven. Instead, I blew it.

You know the scenario.

Of course, for J. R. Smith, LeBron James, Steve Curry it's just a game. A billion-dollar game, to be sure, but nevertheless just a game. But not so this business of living. It's life or death, it's war, it's for keeps, and the stakes are eternal. Which only jacks even higher the painful disappointment my fumbled gaffes must cost my dearest Friend, my God.

So where is hope for me, gaffe-prone sinner that I am? "Peter's eyes were drawn to his Master. In that gentle countenance, he read deep pity and sorrow, but there was no anger there. The sight of that pale, suffering face, those quivering lips, that look of compassion and forgiveness, pierced his heart like an arrow" (Desire of Ages 713). So look into that Face—it can tell you a lot: pity, sorrow, compassion, forgiveness, but "no anger there." No wonder His very next prayer is my only hope, "'Father, forgive them, for they do know not what they are doing'" (Luke 23:34).

Forgiveness. Compassion. No video replay necessary. Because nothing in that Face has changed. And everything in this heart can still change. "[Peter] said, 'Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you'" (John 21:17).

What a game-changing difference the Cross can make.

Here are a couple of trending headlines to share with you before flying to Tokyo. In Japan right now trending up is the pollen count, but trending down are the children.

Japan's renowned cherry blossoms have been in glorious bloom now since April. But while the world revels in their stunning pink and white splendor, the economic impact on Japan is no trifling matter—$1.8 billion "because of pollen-induced allergies" (www.money.cnn.com/2018/05/04/news/economy/japan-hay-fever-economy/index....). According to Toshihiro Nagahama, chief economist with the Dai-Ichi Life Research Institute, "The damage comes in several forms. . . . Fewer people want to go out, which hits consumption, and workers suffering from hay fever take more sick days. Or if they do show up to work, they're less productive. And 2018 is looking like one of the worst years on record for hay-fever sufferers in Japan. The pollen count in some parts of the country has more than doubled compared with last year" (ibid.).

But trending down for the Land of the Rising Sun is the child count. According to The Japan Times: "The number of children in Japan fell for the 37th consecutive year to yet another record low, signaling that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to combat the low birthrate are still wanting" (www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/05/04/national/number-children-japan-fall...). In fact comparing 32 countries with a population of 40 million or more, Japan is ranked the lowest in terms of the ratio of children (a child is defined as a person aged 14 or under) to overall population (12.3%). Lower birth rates are the harbinger of a dwindling work force and sagging economy. This past year Japan's child count  dropped another 170,000.

In all candor the church in Japan faces a similar challenge. The number of "second birth" or "born again" members  is dropping. And the outlook is glum. But "glum" is a human attitude, not a divine perspective. In fact I believe God's stunning YES CAN DO perspective for reaching and winning new children for His Kingdom in Japan (and throughout the world) is over the top! How else shall we explain John's vision of all the saved in heaven one day (we pray soon): "After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands" (Revelation 7:9).

Did you catch that? The number of the redeemed from earth is so high no one can count it!

I say we take courage from this stunning portrayal of God's saving love for His lost earth children—He is going to save us by the tens of thousands of millions. And those numbers will include Japan!

So on the eve of my flying to Tokyo for the upcoming full-court press evangelistic series on the campus of Saniku Gakuin Adventist College (where 70% of the 201 students are non-Christian pagans, to put it bluntly)—I earnestly solicit your prayer partnership on behalf of all the evangelistic series and preachers across the islands of Japan this month. Put your finger on God's promise: "Therefore in the east [Land of the Rising Sun] give glory to the LORD; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea [Japan]" (Isaiah 24:15). "Sing to the LORD a new song . . . you islands, and all who live in them" (Isaiah 42:10). How the Savior longs for the day when Japanese voices will join that innumerable throng in singing the praises of our Redeemer and God!

Look—if the "pollen count" in Japan can go up, why can't the "pollen count" of the Holy Spirit and His contagious "everlasting gospel" go up as well! Of course it can—it must. So we must pray—pray as we have never prayed before for God's supernatural release of (1) the dark lord's iron grip upon that land and (2) Christ Jesus' penetration throughout that society. Let the ether be filled with His life-giving "pollen." And our prayers.

PS—for my (hopefully) daily reports on Japan please visit www.pmchurch.org/JapanJournal. Pray on.

I picked up a book in the Hong Kong airport while returning from Thailand last week. (Don’t get me going about my decision to save $268 by toughing it out on a wooden bench in the airport transit lounge instead of checking into the airport hotel—bad decision!) The book is Adam Grant’s New York Times best-seller, Originals: How Non-conformists Move the World. Catchy title, intriguing content.

Grant—a psychologist researcher at Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and ranked one of the world’s top twenty-five management thinkers—spends a chapter expanding his counter-intuitive suggestion that procrastination can actually heighten creativity and production. Perhaps Mark Twain was right: "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow."

"It may not be a coincidence that some of the most original thinkers and inventors in history have been procrastinators" (96). Take Leonardo da Vinci, for example. "Scholars estimate that da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa on and off for a few years starting in 1503, left it unfinished, and didn’t complete it until close to his death in 1519" (ibid). Turns out he procrastinated in similar fashion with his painting of The Last Supper, a masterpiece in the making for over a decade and a half. "His critics believed he was wasting his time dabbling with optical experiments and other distractions that kept him from completing his paintings"—but it was these pottering distractions that fueled "a lifetime of productive brainstorming, a private working out of the ideas on which his more public work depended" (ibid). I.e., da Vinci’s procrastinations ignited his genius for originality.

Adam Grant suggests it was the same for Martin Luther King, Jr., and his iconic "I have a dream" speech. Early in that summer of 1963 King and his advisers began hammering out a list of talking points for what they knew would be a critical speech carried on television and radio live to this nation. Over the summer they debated and scribbled. But it wasn’t until the night before that August gathering at the Lincoln Memorial that King sweated through his last feverish efforts. His wife Coretta later recalled, "'He worked on it all night, not sleeping a wink’"(92). And yet when he stepped to the lectern with his notes, the "I have a dream" segment wasn’t even there. It was the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson who shouted out from behind him part way into his speech, "Tell 'em about the dream, Martin!" And tell them he did, eventually pushing away his prepared notes to draw instead from the 275,000 miles and the 350 speeches he had already logged that year. "I have a dream" he intoned. And thus was born one of the most recognized phrases in human rhetoric, inserted into history at the last moment!

Adam Grant’s protracted point? Procrastination, coupled with deep thinking and interrupting brooding, can actually ignite originality and creativity. "Once a task is finished, we stop thinking about it. But when it is interrupted and left undone, it stays active in our minds" (99).

Though let’s be clear he isn’t suggesting procrastination is the best way to study (an important caveat on this eve of final exams here at the university)! The wise King Solomon reminds us: "A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest [procrastination]—and poverty [of income, of ideas] will come on you like a bandit and scarcity [of good grades] like an armed man" (Proverbs 6:10).

But there is one procrastination that spiritual sense forbids—and that is putting off your decision about Jesus Christ. The Roman governor Felix made that fatal mistake: "He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, 'That's enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you’" (Acts 24:24-25). Procrastination. Lost.

Have you been putting off the same decision? "I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). Because there is no time like right now to open the door to your life and invite the Lord Jesus to be your Savior. Turns out, He, too, has a dream—the dream of a forever friendship with you. So why wait? Why not say Yes right now? (Contact me at this website, and let me help you with that Yes.)

Almighty God and Father of us all—"Hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom Come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9-10). For You are the Omnipotent One whose strong hand still guides a billion billion galaxies in their soundless trek (Psalm 147:4), and yet each morning You eagerly bend low to hear the chirping gratitude of the tiny sparrows (Luke 12:7). And if You feed the birds of the air, dear Father, how much more will You care for us, who are Your children? (Matthew 6:26) As the psalmist Himself sang, teach us to sing, "I will bless the Lord at all times—Your praise shall continually be in my mouth!" (Psalm 34:1)

But dear God, it is because You have "loved us with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3), that we come humbly to You in advance of our collective Day of Prayer and Fasting. Have mercy on us, O Lord. For like our fathers and mothers, we have sinned against You (Daniel 9:4-10). We have turned to the gods of this world hoping to satisfy our appetites and slake our many thirsts (1 John 2:15-17). Like Israel of old, we have emulated the corrupted culture around us (Hosea 4:17). We have joined the clamoring rabble, "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15)—but dear Savior, we admit and confess Satan has deceived us and Caesar has enslaved us. How can we then cry out for the demolishing of his strongholds out there without first pleading for Your deliverance from the dark strongholds in here? You have promised, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). O Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, remove our sins, too, we implore You (John 1:29). Cleanse us, and we will be clean—wash us, and we will be whiter than the snow that fell this springtime week (Psalm 51:7). We must hear the Gospel's assurance, "Neither do I condemn You—go now and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11).

Forgiven and freed, we take courage now to boldly come before Your throne of grace with petitions for this Day of Prayer and Fasting (Hebrews 4:16). "For the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4). And so Almighty God, in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, we come with the weapon of prayer against the strongholds of our mortal enemy, the fallen Lucifer and his demonic hosts of angels (Ephesians 6:12). We possess no power of our own, but we come boldly in the might of Him who "made a public spectacle of [Satan and his hosts], triumphing over them by the cross"(Colossians 2:15).

We come on behalf of people who don't even know they are enchained in the enemy's stronghold (1 Peter 4:18-19). On this Day of Prayer and Fasting we call upon You, Father of all humankind, to deliver the masses ignorantly held in these enemy strongholds:

• We pray for Japan (the Land of the Rising Sun) and boldly claim the promise that the Sun of Righteousness will yet rise with healing in His light (Malachi 4:2)—may the 163 evangelistic events to be conducted there in May "proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners" (Isaiah 61:1);

• We pray for the secular West, where atheism and paganism's iron-fisted grip pins both young and old in their strongholds—may the cry of Creation's angels—"Worship Him who made heaven and earth"—be heard in the halls of academia, the corridors of politics and power (Revelation 14:7);

• We pray against the stronghold of racism in our country, on our campus and in our church—break down the egotism (self-worship) that lies coiled and deadly in the heart of all racism, and answer the prayer of our Lord—"That they may be one as We are one, O Father, I in them and You in Me, so that they may be brought to complete unity"(John 17:22-23)—so that as we humbly but radically love one another "everyone will know" that we are Your disciples (John 13:34-35).

And one more request, dear God. Would you please grant to us a visible sign that You have heard our prayers and have already begun to answer them (Isaiah 65:24). After all, You promised us, "In the last days I will pour out My Spirit on all people" (Acts 3:17). Send us that sign as a divine token that the strongholds we go against in the name of Christ are already beginning to crumble.

"O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name . . . deliver us . . . for Your name's sake!" (Psalm 79:9) So that one day "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11).

AMEN.