CHRIST IS ALL
SPRING 2006
Dear Friend in Christ,
On the first Sunday in March, the daughter of one of my friends here in Matsuida attended church with me. She is about 15 years old. I have invited her to church after that, but she has not yet attended again. Please pray that she, her parents and two brothers will get saved. During the spring months, I have walked the streets several days, leaving Christian literature at each house, distributing about 8,000 pieces of literature. I pray that those who receive it will carefully read it and consider the Gospel messages in the literature. Please pray with me that many of them will trust in Christ as their Saviour.
On Sunday morning, April 9, I
preached at the morning service in Pastor Hayashi’s house. There were only 5 of
us at church that morning. I preached from Acts 16:16-25, explaining clearly
that the spirit of divination in that damsel was an evil spirit from the devil,
and that soothsayers (fortune tellers) get their knowledge and power from
demons. One Japanese lady was quite shocked to hear that. It is a common custom
for Japanese people to go to a fortune teller at New Years and have their
fortune told, to learn what the coming year holds for them. So I preached most
plainly to those present, telling them that God’s Holy Bible gives them all the
instruction they need for their lives. I urged them to faithfully read and obey
the Bible, and to cease having anything to do with the devil’s fortune tellers.
Please pray that they will start obeying God in this matter. So many devilish
customs are deeply engrained into these Japanese, making it difficult for new
Christians here to break away from them. Please pray with me, for God to break
those bonds of the enemy and guide these new Japanese believers into following
God totally by completely obeying His Holy Bible. May God give us strong faith
as we pray these things. The spiritual battle here is most intense. Your
prayers make a great difference and I really appreciate them.
On Sunday morning, April 30,
I again preached at the service in Pastor Hayashi’s house. Seven were present
that morning. I continued with my previous text, and centered in on Acts 16:25.
Oh what a wonderful verse. I told them how that Paul and Silas, beaten and
fastened in stocks in jail at midnight, represents the darkest and most
difficult times in our lives. Still, our God gives us songs in the night. (Job
35:10) I preached on the complete victory we have in Christ, no matter what
situation we are in. I stressed the important fact that the other prisoners
heard Paul and Silas singing. Then I compared that to the fact that there are
people all around us who are prisoners of sin and Satan, and these “prisoners”
need to hear us singing praises to God. I invited those six people to
join me in singing and preaching out in public, but no one responded to that
invitation at all. Each person was as quiet as a church mouse. Please
pray for them to do God’s will for them regarding telling of, and singing of,
their Lord and Saviour to the many lost souls around them.
The first week of May had 3
holidays here in Japan, and the main street in Karuizawa was crowded with
tourists. It rained on Tuesday of that week. But for the other 5 days, I
preached to that crowd of eternal souls for several hours each day. Several
thousand people heard me, and a few of them took New Testaments and Christian
literature that I had put out. Let’s pray that many of them will be saved.
From time to time, a 9th
grade Filipino girl in my neighborhood comes to my house for me to help her
with her English study. One time when she came in May, she was somewhat tired
from a long day at school and didn’t want to study English another hour. So she
said, “Let’s talk about God.” That was such beautiful music to my ears.
Seldom does anyone here say anything like that to me. I handed her a Bible,
took another Bible for myself, and had her read aloud some powerful passages in
the Bible. As she read one verse at a time, I would pray that for her. Then I
soon asked her to also pray those things for herself. How I rejoiced to hear
her pray aloud for God to deliver her from the power of darkness and to
translate her into Christ’s glorious kingdom, to forgive her and cleanse her
sins with Christ’s shed blood, to give her true faith in God, and to give her
eternal life, and such. I wish you could have been here and have seen how
excited she got as she prayed for God to help her to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge and to be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians
3:19) I hope that she was truly converted on that day. If not, I know she
honestly opened her heart to God for His Holy Spirit to work in it. Please pray
for her and her family to believe on Christ. They are good friends of mine.
I pray for God to protect you
and your family members, to provide for you, to keep you faithfully serving
Him, and to greatly bless the work you do for our Lord. Please pray for me to
serve God zealously and do all I can to proclaim Christ here in central Japan.
Less than one percent of the Japanese around me are Christian believers. I long
to see God save many of them. Please pray for that.
Thank you for caring for this
missionary work here. Thank you for praying for me and these lost people I
preach to. Those of you who give financial gifts to me are such a big help to
me. May God richly bless you all and reward you abundantly for all you do.
Christ’s
unprofitable servant,
Richard Yerby