Well, good morning, Christ Fellowship. It is a joy to be back with you. Actually, just to get a sense, how many of you, this is the first time to see us up here being with you? All right, it gives us a sense. We always have lots of shocking things that happen to us when we come back, especially seeing some of your young ones that are not young ones anymore. They're kind of going like this, you know, after a few years. But we are just so grateful for this church. Yoko and I were talking, we were traveling up to New Jersey to see her aunt and uncle and to share the good news with her and also to see our daughter. And as we were traveling, we just were recalling all of God's faithfulness and the incredible blessing it is to partner in the gospel with God's people and the churches he connects us with. And when I think of this church, It's probably been now, so it was like 2009, so 15 years or so ago. And we started with one church of God's family together and went through some challenging times, but never lost sight of the commitment to being partners together in the gospel And then another church in your church had the same vision for the word of God and faithfully proclaiming the gospel. And it came on and we were brought into fellowship in partnership with the larger part of this church. And here we are, even to this day, 15 years later, still together because of the Holy Spirit moving upon God's people, proclaiming the gospel. and sharing the good news. And we know when we come back here and talk with many of you, start mentioning names, start mentioning what's going on with our family, you don't look at us. We don't get the questions we get in some places. Some places, you know, it's kind of like, so Ryan, how's your Chinese these days? I'm not sure how to answer that. It's like, well, my Japanese wife here has been helping me with my Japanese recently. So what a joy it is to know that this church is faithfully, powerfully partnering with us and has been doing that for a long time. And it's our joy. You see up on the screen there, you see our family. This is our first time in 22 years that my wife Yoko and I are on our honeymoon. Our girls are in many different places in the world right now. Our oldest that you see there, Naomi, she is presently in a country in Central Asia working with some Muslims there. And she is exploring what God wants for her. She's been working with children at risk. And because of the heart of missions that God's put on her, she's praying about doing that cross-culturally as well. So be praying for Naomi. Sarah, she's up in Indiana working as a camp counselor. And she's absolutely loving that, which we were so excited about, just her passion and desire to share the gospel with young people. And then our youngest, Susanna, we just met a couple of days ago. She's traveling the East Coast with a drama ministry team. This was a huge answer to prayer because she's our unique one. She's got tons of energy, extremely expressive. And Lord, what are you gonna do with all this? Well, she's expressing it now. But she's doing the story of Ruth, doing the story of Ruth through churches on the East Coast. And she's 14 years, going on 15 next week. So it's a blessing to see. We honestly will tell you, there have been many times that we have felt like giving up. Very hard, the work in Japan. And you'll learn more about it here shortly, but giving up and coming home, at least for me. And then parenting, has it ever been hard for anybody out there? Raise your hand if you've had any challenging. Any kids had any problems with your parents? Okay. Just sometimes like, Lord, being led to our knees desperately, Lord, you're showing things about my heart. I can't do anything, I can't control, I can't love my children the way, I don't know what to do. and crying out to the churches back here, pray for us. And you prayed and God did a work in our children, did a work in us by his grace. So we're so grateful for this church. I'm very grateful for this church and what he's doing in our lives. Just a little bit of a review. Let's see here. How's this work, Leon? Is it on? Let me see here, maybe this does it. Do I need to point at you guys? Pointing up to this. Okay. Maybe it's the spot. Ah, there is a spot. Okay. I might do this. Okay. Well, I'm moving right now, but I'll try to move here. I was told to not move around too much, so I'll try to do this. Is this good? So let's do a little bit of review. Why is missions important? Why are you guys committed to this? Why, I mean, God's bringing the world, I mean, I've been blown away by the number of people groups that are here in the US. I mean, going to Walmart, I told my daughter, talked to Sarah on the phone, I said, guess what, Sarah, I went to heaven today. He's like, what? He says, yeah, I went to Walmart. I said, what do you mean? I walked in there and there were people, there were all nations and all tongues and all tribes there in Walmart. I was like, this is awesome. But as been true in history, as a nation starts to give up the gospel, he often brings lots of nations in to pick up that gospel and carry it on. So we had a huge mission here, we have a huge mission to continue in Japan, and what is that mission? Help us, you can see there in the bold and underline, I would like you to together read those parts in bold and underline as we read this together. Turn to me and be saved. For I am God. And there is salvation in. For there is. under heaven given among men by which we be saved. Is it any clearer? It doesn't matter where you are, what people group you're a part of, what religions you have, what you just heard about the creator. He calls all the nations, all peoples that he's created to come and there's only one name, only one name. And what does that mean for us? Well, let's continue. And? To believe in Him whom they have never heard. And? To hear without someone preaching. And? To preach unless they are sent. And that's what the Holy Spirit does. He sends each of us every day and especially sends out special workers that he's called to take and preach the gospel full time. The message must get to those peoples. But why Japan? And what ultimately is missions about? Well, one thing God made clear to me years ago, before I committed to full-time's missions, is this truth that is found in Isaiah 24. And again, if you would read the bold with me. In the east, exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear singing, Ultimately, this is about the glory of the Lord. And what an incredible, this is an incredible promise there in Isaiah 24, that God's eyes and His Spirit is going to the ends of the earth from east to West, calling all the nations to give glory to Jesus Christ, the righteous one, our true righteousness. That is why we're proclaiming the gospel in Japan. The Lord has given it Yoko and I the privilege of sharing the gospel there in her hometown starting in 1998. You see Shimonoseki Christ Bible Church. We were there 10 years working in that ministry. And then there was a new team that was launched down two hours south into Fukuoka. Fukuoka, we went there in 2009, so about the time we started the partnership with you guys. And we have continued to ministry there with our team. We've seen two churches, one planted and one revitalized. kind of was struggling, a Japanese pastor called us to serve with him to see that church strengthen in the gospel. Another thing that's happened is that our team was led to start what's called a launch team. That is for what God is doing in raising up many missionaries and bringing them to Japan. We needed a place for them to be trained in language, to learn about culture, how to do teams well, And then from those two years of being together and also doing internships with Japanese pastors and churches, we then launched them out to do their own teams. And God faithfully brought the right people together. We had the vision, but we didn't think we should be doing it. So we didn't know how that was going to happen, but God raised up the right people for that. And right now we are serving together with Fukuoka Megumi Church. Can everyone say the word Megumi? Say that. Megumi. That's a beautiful word in Japanese. It's the word for grace. So we are serving with Fukuoka Grace Church. And part of the story there is that we, the pastor that we went there to work with and partner with, we were there six months about to sign the document of how our partnership was gonna work together to plant new churches. And from the podium, he stands up there and says, I've been called to go plant another church in another state. We're all kind of going like, my Japanese is getting bad here. What did he just say? Because we were so shocked. But the denomination had requested, he is an incredible evangelist. And so he got pushed out and God brought, we were like, Lord, who's going to be the new person you're going to bring? And he was right in line with the vision that God gave us. So now, not only are we working with Fukuoka Bible Church, but you see in parentheses there, Saga is the neighboring state or prefecture, as we call it. So Fukuoka Megumi Church is also working with Pastor EDA there with Saga Bible Church. So there's two churches that we are serving with there. And if you notice, a lot of the people you see in the picture above that are in the picture in the bottom, because we go down there and do things with them to reach more people in that area. And one of the parts of the vision with Fukuoka Megumi Kyokai, or church, is this thing called gospel houses. Here, a lot of times with churches, it can be a community place that you invite people to come. They know if they have some problems they can go to a church and maybe find some answers. You invite the kids. It's a safe place maybe for kids to play and to learn some good things and morality. In Japan it's totally foreign. It has nothing to do with the Japanese. So for us to open up our homes for us to reach out to our neighbors, to live out the gospel there among the people. We can invite them in and share the gospel. They can see the church living out the gospel together. And that's been the vision, to see these groups multiplied all throughout Western Fukuoka where there's 200,000 and where there's 99.9% lost. So just to help you remember, Japan is not reached. It's actually the second largest unreached people group. My wife's people group is the second largest unreached people group in the world, 122 million people living in Japan, 99.5% in our area, 99.9%. Do not know Christ. And that's what God has called us to, to share the gospel there. If you notice, I say gospel houses in Mr. Foucault's son's story. Be in Sunday school class, all right? Because we're going to continue to tell you the story and other ways that God's transforming lives and sharing the gospel with people. But I'd like for us to move on and take a look at Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16, starting in verse 25. Acts chapter 16. Starting in verse 25. And let's look at this together. Acts 16 verse 25, about midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God. And the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds. And he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. and he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God." My wife, Yoko, has been having the privilege there in Japan of not only sharing the gospel with her own people, but God actually brought us a Chinese woman named Ine, who from the very first day expressed that she wanted to know what the scriptures this Bible teaches. And so they've been doing an evangelistic Bible study. And she's lived there many years, and so she understands Japanese well enough, and of course she understands the characters, like you see there at the bottom in yellow. That word that you see there in Japanese is Fukuin. Now you hear the first part, Fukuoka. Fukuoka. The name of our city. Fukuoka means happy or blessed hill. Great place to live, huh? We live on a very blessed hill in Fukuoka. And fukuin was something that Ende-san was paying attention to as she was doing this study. And they were starting to go through the Gospel of John, and she made a wise and excellent observation about this word fukuin, or gospel. She was reading John, and she noticed how the first disciples became followers of Jesus. One person would learn of the Messiah, and then run and go find someone else to tell. The exciting news of Jesus spread from person to person. She then noted those two Chinese kanji for the word gospel, fukuin, which is blessed or happy sound. The happy, the blessed sound, the gospel. She was moved, realizing that is exactly what the gospel is, how true this is. But sadly, we, brothers and sisters, myself included, can at times lose sight of how wonderful this news about salvation in Jesus actually is. This morning, I want us to just take a few minutes, just take a moment here, and I want us to stop, and I want us to pray, and ask the Lord, teach us again by your spirit, the joy, the blessedness of this good news. So let's just close our eyes, and then you speak to the Lord, asking him to speak to you, and then I will pray. Father, we here today as your dearly loved children, unworthy of the grace that you have poured out on us, long for you to speak to us through the power of your spirit, through the clarity of your word. So here we are, Lord. Feed your sheep. Speak to us. Do not allow us to leave this place without your gospel changing us. Meet us where we are in a powerful way, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. So we're going to look today at three blessed or joyful sounds of the good news of Jesus. Let me say these three beautiful words for you. They are freedom, hope, and joy. Freedom, hope, and joy. When we turn to God and place our faith in Jesus Christ, His salvation gives us freedom, true freedom, hope, and joy in a way that this world cannot give. Every one of us, if we're very honest, longs for, knows we need to experience and know these three gifts of salvation And today, from the lives of Paul and Silas, we can see that they experienced this in their lives. So what is happening here in Acts 16? Well, Paul and Silas are on their second missionary journey, and they're revisiting the cities in modern day Turkey, or how are you supposed to say that? Tarukiye or something like that is the new pronunciation for Turkey. I'll stick with Turkey today. They were there in Turkey proclaiming the good news and encouraging the churches from their first missionary journey. Paul wanted to go into northern Turkey. However, God's spirit prevented them from going. Instead, God gave Paul a vision and they crossed over into Greece in response to what Paul had heard from God. They arrive in Philippi, a very organized Roman colonized city. There was no Jewish synagogue in Philippi. But they found this prayer group of ladies down by a river. And by the way, this story of this prayer group with Lydia is very similar to my wife's story and what happened with her mother. But stay tuned, you have to come to Sunday school class for that. So there they were down by this river, the one that you can see pictured there, it's thought to be maybe that river there, and they were worshiping the true God. We on our church there at Fukuoka Megumi Church, we actually have a sign that says that we are a riverside church because we got a river running right next to our church there in Fukuoka. And as Paul preached the gospel, preached about Christ and Him crucified, a woman named Lydia and her family believed the gospel as God opened her heart to receive the incredible message. And she invited these gospel preachers into her home, and guess what? A gospel house was started. Paul and Silas kept going to the Riverside Church, and on the way, a fortune-telling girl with a demon kept shouting and causing trouble for them. So what happened? They cast out the demon. Actually, the message she was shouting was this. These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaims to us the way of salvation. Wow. Not bad, huh? But I guess Paul and Silas didn't rightly like the idea of having a demon evangelist on their missionary team because she was being a distraction to what they were really trying to say. and she was not the true vehicle for that message. But God changed that. Well, she was delivered from this demon and the people were making money from her, go to the authorities and tell one Paul and Silas and report them. And they called in Jewish troublemakers who were convincing people of the city to stop practicing their, telling them to stop practicing their city's customs. So they literally beat them with severe rods and gave them to the jailer. He put them in the footstocks in the inmost cell of the prison. Now I want you to think about this with me. Think together with me. If you were a news reporter and you went into that jail and you interviewed Paul and Silas and you asked them, so what is it like to be a Christian? What do you think they would say? If we use today's sermon title, believe on the Lord Jesus and how would you finish the sentence? Paul's way, excuse me, Paul's way of encouraging the Christians was to outright tell them, and actually on this second journey they were going around, outright telling them that they would have to go through many trials to enter the kingdom. So how did Paul and Silas apply this message that they told others to their own lives? Well, look at verses 25 and 26. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bonds were unfastened. What is going on here? Think about it. These guys' backs are aching in pain and bleeding. They can't move. They have just been slandered and thrown into jail. There were reasons to be discouraged, but in their circumstances, they remembered Jesus and the gospel. Maybe as they thought on the life of their Savior and they recalled the good news. Maybe they thought of Christ's Passion Week. Maybe they remembered that on Palm Sunday, when there was the Passover Feast, the people laid palm branches in the street going to Jerusalem and shouted, Hosanna! expressing that they saw Jesus as their promised Messiah and as the king who could set them free. But unbelievably, in just a few days, that same crowd would be shouting, crucify him! And Jesus would be brutally beaten and nailed to the cross to die in the place of sinners. Out of love for God's justice and love for us helpless sinners, Jesus suffered in our place. But while he suffered on that cross, we know he was meditating and praying upon words like we find in Psalms 22. Following Christ's example, Paul and Silas were making the most of their suffering, responding rightly to their suffering. Truly, Christians suffer, but because our Savior died and rose again, our suffering does not have to imprison us. Our circumstances, whatever circumstances you may be in right now, they do not need to imprison you. Yes, we lament. Yes, we grieve. But like Paul and Silas, our prayers of lament can turn to songs of praise. The jailer had put them in the stocks in the inmost cell, but Paul and Silas knew true freedom in Jesus, and the surrounding prisoners did not. These two believers knew freedom from their sins, guilt, shame, and a life of trying to measure up. They were dead to sin and alive to God. Furthermore, they considered it an honor to suffer like Jesus. So what did they do in their suffering? They sang songs of freedom. I've never been beaten for telling others about Jesus. I know many have. I did have to report to the principal of a U.S. high school and later at a Japanese high school. And both principals warned me not to tell my students about Jesus. And I was told I would lose my job. That was an easy trial. But I've had other trials in my life. I've had days of spiritual attack and depression when I felt like I was in a prison of darkness and shame. And like the writer of Psalm 42, I chose, I was encouraged and I chose to put my hope in God and to remember what God has done for me. I decided to pray and sing praises of song in the darkness of my night. And eventually the light of the gospel broke through into my heart. So brother or sister, my dear brother or sister in Christ, declare your freedom in Christ in the middle of your night. Pray about your suffering and sing the gospel. This is what Paul and Silas did. These bleeding, chained men sang the good news of freedom in Jesus Christ. Who knows, maybe they were singing Hosanna, a praise song which was a cry for freedom. Deliver us. Our situation may not change. But because of Christ, we are always free. And one day, hallelujah, because Christ rose from the dead, truly all suffering will be gone. The prisoners around them heard those prayers and the songs that night there in Philippi. And the Word of God says that suddenly an earthquake struck. Japan has experienced many, as you've probably heard, earthquakes. We just had one on New Year's Day. Can you think of other times in the New Testament when there was an earthquake? I'll give you two. At Jesus's resurrection, And when the Christians in Acts 4 prayed for more boldness to share the gospel, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And with this earthquake here in Acts 16, the gospel message of hope comes to the jailer and his family. Now imagine this jailer's desperate plight. It was common Roman law that if prisoners escaped, the jailer or soldier would have to accept responsibility for his failure and be executed. Look at verses 27 and 30. 27 to 30, when the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul cried with a loud voice, do not harm yourself, for we are all here. And the jailer called for lights and rushed in. And trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Christ had given Paul and Silas true freedom. So they did not run away. Interestingly, neither did the other prisoners. It seems that Paul and Silas were compassionately thinking about their jailer. And this jailer, he comes trembling and falls at their feet. There are people all around us who are without hope. Think about where you are, brothers and sisters. Let's be honest about the brokenness of our world and the brokenness of your friends and your neighbors. Paul and Silas, people around us looking at their situations, they do not feel free. They actually feel chained. They don't have hope for the future. Some just endure every day with no joy. Others withdraw away from society. Some actually commit suicide. In Japan, suicide is the leading cause of death in men between the ages of 20 and 40, and women between the ages of 15 and 34. But Christ has given us a message of hope. So like Paul and Silas in these verses, we can tell people not to harm themselves. There is deliverance. This jailer, this man has come to the end of himself. He is trembling and pleading with Paul and Silas for answers. He says, what must I do to be saved? What does this mean? The prisoners are there, so he's not afraid of execution. However, in those moments of the earthquake, the possibility of the escaped prisoners and thinking about taking his own life, he surely considered the coming judgment of God. Surely this jailer had heard what the fortune-telling girl had said. Maybe the jailer had fallen to sleep hearing the prayers, their prayers and their worship. And at that moment, he was concerned about his eternal fate. How about you? Have you ever come to the point of trembling that you have fallen before your Creator and cried out for salvation? This jailer wasn't asking for good news to make his life easier. He saw that Christianity didn't make life easier for Paul and Silas. He saw God's power, and he knew he needed to be right with God. If natural disasters or tragedies hit this area, if something happened to one of your neighbors, something happened in your job, in your company, if one of your friends was thinking of harming themselves, or simply if they didn't have hope to face tomorrow, Would he or she be ready to come to you and ask how to be saved? Peter said that we should always be ready to give a reason for the hope we have in us to those who ask us. And what was Paul and Silas' answer to his desperate question? Was it complicated? No, it was as we see there in verse 31. And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household. And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. I have great respect for the church planner that left us and went to Saga, the evangelist, Pastor EDA. When we were out distributing flyer invitations to our church, kind of like tracks, he said to us missionaries who, you know, we have to be honest, our Japanese is not so good. We do the best we can, all right? But he looked at us and said, you know, you don't have much time to talk to these guys. So when you're passing out these flyers, be sure, more than anything else, to say, Jesus Christ. Just keep saying the name Jesus Christ. People need to hear the name Jesus Christ so they can later come to him. They need to know his name. People don't know who he is. I'm thankful for Pastor EDA and many others who are proclaiming Jesus Christ. Friends, hear the sweetest words of these two preachers in Philippi. Believe on the Lord Jesus. Does it get any more complicated? Believe on the Lord Jesus. But what must I do? What must I do? Believe. Believe what? Jesus, the one who saves. Jesus, the true Lord and God over all the earth. Not your own imagination of who Jesus is, but that Lord and God over all the earth. Not Caesar, not anything else you would look to, but Jesus alone. Take your eyes off of yourself and look only to Jesus as the hope of salvation. This not only includes you, but your whole family as well. If you do, whoever puts their trust in the name of Jesus will be saved. Now you may be wondering if this jailer actually knew enough about Jesus to place his entire trust in him and put his hope in him for salvation. Well, if you look at verse 22, you see that they actually spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. So, yes, if someone asks us about salvation when we're working or if we're passing out tracts or flyers or at school or whatever, maybe a short statement is enough at that moment. Believe on the Lord Jesus. But just like Paul and Silas, you will want to tell them more about Jesus. You and I must tell them the word of or about the Lord. But what is the gospel message? Well, Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 summarized the gospel simply. Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead on the third day. Paul says this is of first importance. This is first of all. but you don't have to stop there. There's so many wonderful aspects of this gospel, this good news, there's so much there. And from the first page of the Bible to the last, you can find God's wonderful plan of salvation. You can see a list on the left there on the slide that Christians often use to summarize the redemptive story. And on the right, there's a picture of this image that a Japanese pastor encouraged our missionary team to try in sharing the gospel. There are many methods for sharing, but there's only one message of hope and only one Savior. And Paul and Silas share the word of the Lord with everyone in the jailer's house. And what happened? Well, verses 33 through 34 say the jailer and his family believed the good news. Now notice the immediate change their faith had on their lives. Salvation always leads to transformation. The first thing the jailer does is he washes the wounds of the preachers. Christ's salvation creates within us a compassion for others. Hope in Christ frees us to become instruments of healing and hope to others. Notice that this family, like Lydia, also opened their house to the gospel and shared a meal with Paul and Silas. I believe that God is calling each of us here to this kind of fellowship in the gospel. In Japan, it might be over some ramen, or some curry, or a cup of green tea. You can think what it might be like for you. I heard a story about even John Piper, when he had a very special guest in his house, in his gospel house, he pulled out the cornflakes for a meal, and in a very simple way, they enjoyed joy in Jesus over a bowl of cornflakes. You don't have to do much. but you can rejoice together in Jesus. Do you open your lives and your house to others? But notice in verse 33 that the washing did not stop with Paul and Silas' wounds. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds and he was baptized at once, he and all of his family. The jailer's whole family, their whole family believed the message and they were washed too. Because of Jesus, their baptism declared the washing away of all of their sins and the healing of their souls. They were not imprisoned by their past or afraid of their future. They had a new certain hope. They had true freedom, hope, and now joy. Notice that their faith in Christ revealed that they had come to believe in the true God. And they overflowed with joy. The Greek word here actually expresses a leaping and dancing with joy. It's kind of hard to get all that into one word there, right? What a night this was in Philippi. You know, maybe some of us here need to pray with King David in Psalm 51. Restore unto me the joy of my salvation. Christ changes everything. He gives us something to sing about and he makes whole families dance too. So how about you and how about me today? Believe on the Lord Jesus and be saved. You and your house. I know that there's some of you today that need a call on Jesus' name to put your trust in Him, to turn from yourself and to look only to Him, that you may know what Jesus purchased for you with His own blood, true freedom, true hope that no one can take away. and joy that's not based on your circumstances, but continues to grow as you get to know the true God. So will you close your eyes with me right now? As the Lord has spoken to you this day, would you just express that to Him? Would you cry out to Him? Would you express your trust in Jesus? Will you cry out for him to reveal the freedom and the hope and the joy that can be yours and mine every day by believing and trusting in him? Father, we give thanks that you again have met with us, your children, and with your new children today, because you have spoken to us good news. We thank you and we look to you to continue to speak your words of freedom, hope, and joy over us. that we may also boldly, powerfully share what we are experiencing every day with you, with others. Send us out from this place and make your son's name famous among all the peoples of the world, we ask in him, amen.