The Anabaptist Voice 02

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The Church and the Narrow Path

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Way of the Lord

Which Kingdom?

The Anabaptist Voice
02/17/2010

Proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom of God: Love, Joy and Peace in Jesus.

Dearly beloved of Christ,

       How are you? We pray you are well. We hear about the rain and snow elsewhere, but here we are enjoying beautiful days. It did rain more than usual, but the rain is always welcomed here. Yesterday was in 60s, and Don and Michi enjoyed a walk. Spring is here as we are hearing the doves cooing.
       Naomi has not been too well these days, but she is a happy girl and we are enjoying the fellowship with her. After our daily church one evening Naomi gave Dad a kiss and told him that she loves him. Dad told her that he loves her. All of us could express love for each other. It was a wonderful time.
       On Sunday, the 7th, Naomi was not feeling well, and it was raining, so we had church at home. Don read from a Hutterite Sermon Preface which we had received many years ago from the Crystal Spring Hutterian Brethren in Canada. It was wonderful sermon. We used to listen to the prefaces when we were living in Fan Lake Brethren community. Don also talked about how we are to follow Jesus.
       Our dear sister in the Lord, Hyeok Flynt, called. She lost her husband 6 years ago in an accident at work. She and her children need our prayers. We are waiting for our Heavenly Father to guide us, and hoping that we can live together again as we did with them at the Fan Lake community.
       On Friday evening we attended a ‘Meet the Pastors’ dinner for the New Life Bible Fellowship that we attend. The pastor, Greg Lavine, and the assistant pastor, John Kinder, both gave testimonies of their spiritual walk. And Greg’s wife, Debra, told us how she got married to Greg. Greg’s Sunday morning sermon “God has More for You” inspired the article on page three of this newsletter.
       Don has been taking Michi shopping these days. Before we leave, we pray that God will take care of our house, a safe trip, and one more thing: “Please take care of the business phone calls while we are gone.” Amazing thing is, He does take care, and when we get home, we find no phone calls. We are loved, and well taken care of.
       Our Heavenly Father has been taking wonderful care of us and blessing us. Michi thought she was a Christian before she was born again, because she was born in a Christian family. Looking back, she realized that God loved her before she was born. She remembers His love. One day while we were living in Florida, Don came home and told Michi that we have to move to Baltimore in 2 weeks. What did Michi do? She prayed that the house would be sold before we leave, and God sold the house within the 2 weeks. Halleluiah! Here is Michi and Don with some happy grandchildren.
       May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you. (2 Cor 13:14)

your brother and sisters in Christ,

Don, Michi & Naomi Murphy
Tucson, AZ, phone 520-297-1639
www.AnabaptistChurch.org
"Do not store up wealth on earth… You can not serve both God and mammon.” (Mt 6:19)

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The Testimony of Michiko Koyama Murphy

       I was born in a small, very old village in Japan, a land of Buddhism and Shintoism. My birth certificate shows that I was born into the Samurai class, the warrior class. My grandfather was a Buddhist but, as a young man, he began looking for meaning in life and finally became the first Christian in our village.
       He gave up everything for Jesus. He burnt the family shrine which was in the house for generations. He burnt all the books and ornaments which were of Buddha. Thus he broke the strong bondage of tradition and the power of Buddha, and one by one his whole household was saved. Both my grandfather and my father became Christian ministers.
       My brothers and I were the only Christians in our elementary school. During the War, the government spread propaganda accusing the Christians of being spies and enemies of the land. Many Christians were persecuted. One of my relatives was thrown into prison because he was a Christian and would not say that the Emperor is God.
       We lived in our ancestral home with my grandparents. My father died when I was nine years old. My grandmother died when I was eleven and my grandfather died when I was thirteen. Our heavenly Father took care of us and all three of my brothers did well in life. My older brother became a judge, my younger brother worked for the United Nations in Austria and my youngest brother worked as an editor for a publishing company.
       When I was 24, I was working in Tokyo as a secretary at a school while attending college at night. There I got acquainted with an American man named Don Murphy who was teaching English in the school while waiting for his seaman’s papers so that he and a friend could hitchhike around the world working on cargo ships. After meeting me he gave up his desire to travel around the world and asked me to marry him. We were married in a Catholic church in Tokyo (see photo). We raised five children while living in North Dakota, Maryland, Florida, Washington state, Arizona, Quito, Ecuador and on the island of Antigua, moving a lot due to my husband’s employment.
       I was raised with the love of God and His Word. I thought I was a Christian, because I knew the Bible fairly well, but it was only head knowledge, and I was not following the Lord. I finally was born again in 1974 while preparing to teach a Sunday school class at our Catholic church. I had just been asked to be a Eucharistic minister at the church. This caused me to have deep concerns for my spiritual state. As I was looking at a picture of Jesus on the cross for the Sunday school class, a wonderful power came down on me just as if oil was poured on me. The anointing moved from the top of my head to my toes, and I felt totally cleansed from all my sins. I suddenly realized with my whole being that Jesus took my sins away from me. He died for me on the cross. I was born again, a new creature in the Lord.
       My husband Don had a dramatic born again experience also the following year and then we were both baptized in the Holy Spirit (see 1 Corinthians 12 and 14).
       I am so thankful for the gifts that God has given me, especially my dear husband. God made us one, and as we are getting older, we become closer to the Lord and to each other.
      When we wake up, we pray together. Before we sleep, we pray together. At lunchtime, Don reads a chapter from Psalms or Proverbs. We have church every evening at 5 pm and we share what we learned. We pray for each other. We pray when one of us leaves the house. If I have a headache, I ask Don to pray for me and he puts his hand on my head and prays for me. Jeremiah 1:5 says

        Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.
        Before you were born, I set you apart.

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The Three Aspects of Christian Life

       The Lord’s Prayer taught to us by the Lord Jesus tells of the three aspects of Christian life. The first is our relationship to “Our Father in Heaven”, our fellowship with God. The second is our obedience to God: “May Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The third aspect of Christian life is receiving the blessings from our heavenly Father: “Give us this day our daily bread”.
       These three characteristics of the Christian life are essential for our peace and joy. We are to become like little children who rest content in their parent’s care, making their parents happy, receiving their blessings.
       Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:5, Luke 18:17)

Fellowship with God

We are to have daily fellowship with God, spending time with Him, sharing our life’s problems with Him, enjoying His presence. The apostle Paul wrote, “God has called you into fellowship with His Son.” (1 Corinthians 1:9)
We have fellowship with the Lord by prayer, by reading His words in the Bible, and most of all, by communicating with Him.

Obedience to God

We are to live a life of daily obedience to God, obeying the teachings and commands that Jesus gave us. In the Great Commission, Jesus gave us orders to teach His people to obey all of His commands. (Matthew 28:20)
Jesus said: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (John 14:15) “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” (John 14:21) “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” (John 14:24) “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:10)

Receiving His Blessings

       We, as children of God, can, if we close our eyes to the world and open our hearts to God and have faith in His love, we can receive the abundant blessings that our heavenly Father wants to pour out on us daily.
       The apostle Paul wrote, “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19)
       He has more for us than we can possibly imagine so we must live by faith and not by sight.

When we have all three of these aspects of the Christian life, then we have the righteousness, peace and joy that membership in the Kingdom of God brings through the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17).

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