Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:

Hey, we'd like to say Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. Can we just say Happy Father's Day? Hey, you know, culture kind of is at war a lot with the way God has ordained things, the way God structured things. And try to say it's like pit one gender against the other. It's like man against the women, women against the men, or whatever it is. And sometimes we hear that man's not supposed to be strong, man's not supposed to be dominating and all these kinds of things. And of course, there's always a capacity to kind of go too far on one end. But dads are men, right? And they weren't meant to be women, right? Dads are they're supposed to be a man? We just wanted to just honor the fact that we know it's not always easy. We know that Father's Day is not like Mother's Day because probably nobody out there got flowers and candy and all that today, right? But we do have something.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:04]:

We just want to remind you. What? God has a call in your life. You don't have to be a dad. Because to be honest, if it weren't for the spiritual mentors out there, that for some of us who we don't have the dad in the traditional sense, but it was somebody who saw our value, somebody who saw our potential, spoke life into us and brought us into relationship. Sometimes it's a mentor, sometimes it's a spiritual leader. Sometimes it's just somebody, a brother who's a little older. And so if it wasn't for them that to be honest, our lives would be much different, right? And so research tells us that we need fathers today more than ever. We need fathers today.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:57]:

Because if not, it says when people have a father in their lives that children perform better academically. In fact twice as likely to go to college 80% less likely to spend time in jail 75%. Less likely to experience teen pregnancy, that even in a job market, that they tend to have a job to hold jobs longer, that they're more better situated emotionally and socially, that less depression and aggression and anxiety. And we all know the difference when a dad's not there, right? And so we did want to honor dads, but we also wanted to pray for all the men, because a lot of you guys are going to be a future dad one day, and some of us are going to be dads. And we didn't have the pattern somebody before us. And God's going to empower you to kind of like be a new generation, to be a new pioneer. You're going to learn how to do something that you didn't have modeled for you in your home, but God wants to bring men around you to help you that when that time comes for you, that you have a model to follow. But we just gave you a little gift.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:11]:

And it says this. It says, be alert. Stand firm in the faith. Act like men. Be strong. Let all you do be done in love. Because you can be strong and you can be aware of things that are happening and you can have faith and you can act in authority, but you can do it in a loving way. You can do it with a spirit that undergirds that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:39]:

That's what God calls us to do. Not in a domineering way, but in a way with strength and authority. And so we want to pray for our brothers this morning and would you be kind, if you're a dad, would you just raise your hand? Would you just raise your hand? And if you are sitting next to somebody who is your dad or who's the father of your children, would you just put your hand on their shoulder? Because we want to pray for dad. Did you guys know that husbands pray for wives and dads pray for kids? And it's nice that kids pray for dads, right? And we're going to pray for each of our brothers as well, Father, that today we stand before you and come before you and we lift up a dad's in our midst. And father sometimes, Lord, it's easy to feel like moms get the glory and maybe rightfully so. But, Lord, we're thankful that it's Dads that are necessary as well. That Lord, without us, lord sometimes to lovingly at times draw the line to lovingly at times, to speak into lives, Lord, that we would be much less than we are. So Father, we're praying a covering over our fathers today.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:57]:

Lord, would you bless them, remind them, Lord, that they serve the greatest father of all, the heavenly Father, that lord, although we pale in comparison, Lord, we are no less valuable. And so, Father, I pray that you would strengthen them. Father. We pray for the young men and those who are spiritual mentors and those who are guide and Lord that become spiritual fathers to some that Lord we're praying God that would you anoint them because their role lord their role to speak life and to provide a model about what a man should be, about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, lord is so critical today because we do have many of us, Lord, that we don't have that example in our home. And Father, we also pray just for the young men who are just being raised up in the next generation, lord, we're praying an anointing and a covering over them that Lord, that they would take their cues on manhood, not to be ashamed, not to be bold, to be strong, Lord, fill them with Your presence. But Father, we just, we bless them as well because Father, we're thankful they're made different, Lord, they're made to be people who stand guard, to people who look to the future, Father, for people who know how to at the same time cultivate relationship at home. So Father, we are asking, would you raise up a generation of young men, Father, who will stand strong and know their identity in Jesus lord, we are grateful for them. We bless our brothers, we bless the young men and we are thankful for them just along with the rest.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:45]:

We pray in Jesus name. God's people say amen. Amen. Hey, again. Happy Father's Day, guys. Hope you get a steak. No, I was kidding. I don't know what the people want necessarily.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:59]:

Not all of us are meat eaters like me. But hey, this morning though, we're continuing this series to change gears. We're continuing the series we began a few weeks ago called Short Stories of Good News. And I was looking for a particular book in which to speak out of this morning, but none of them were short. And somebody came up to me and said, hey, I heard the message last night. He said, I know a book. He says it's the Bible. I said it's true.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:27]:

But you know what? It ain't short, so it's too long. And so this morning, we're just looking at little snippets, really little vignettes of people who experience something that we're talking about this morning. And it's embracing transformative moments. And all of us want to grow and change over time, that we want to be maybe better, we want to be more decent, we want to be more noble or worthy or honorable. But obviously it's not automatic, right? It doesn't just happen. But often what happens is there's an event that happens and that God uses in our lives to sometimes bring blessing. And sometimes it's actually an event that stretches us, feels like beyond what our capacities are. But when those moments are embraced for what God is trying to do, they become transformative.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:18]:

Now, what is a transformative event? It's really an event or situations that cause or can cause because it's not automatic importing and lasting change in someone or something. Because we don't want to just be a flash in the pan. We don't want to just have kind of a fad for the moment. But we want to grow and become people of substance. We want to grow and become more noble and strong. And so obviously, this extends beyond speaking to men. This speaks to women, it speaks to kids, right? It speaks to boys and girls. And at the same time, though decidedly I am speaking to you, brothers, but would we know that the message, I think, applies to each person? And so this morning we want to take a look at this process that how do you face these events and embrace them? What do you get out of them? Because for many of us, the first transformative events as an adult might happen when you enter the work world or maybe you leave home or you're in this process now where you're on your own.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:29]:

Or for some of us, it's when you get married or things like that, that it allows us to embrace something, and it almost brings us to a fork in the road, so to speak. And this morning, we're going to start by looking at a man named Enoch and when a transformative event happened to him, how he responded to it. And so we're going to read from Genesis five, chapter five, verses 21 to 22, just as the lead up for that. Would you be kind enough to stand with me? Can we stand in reverence for God? Reverence for his word. And we're going to just read this together, and this is what it says. Let's read. Ready? Begin. When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:15]:

And after he became the father of Methuselah, enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Now, the thing is that it says that Enoch lived 65 years when he first became a father. Now, some of you guys, that if you've been a father like me, that a little bit later in life, sometimes we used to worry. It's like when you're going to go to the park and play with your kids, and people might come up and say to you, it's good your grandpa takes you to the park, right? If you've ever kind of worried. And even though Enoch is 65 years old, when he becomes a dad, I think one of the things to know is this happened before the flood. It it happened before the climate actually changed. And so what happens is that people lived a much longer life. And so he I don't think he looked like he was 65.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:06]:

I think he looked like he was 20 or whatever it is. But here's the thing. It was a transformative event because it doesn't say that he walked with God and then he became a father. It says he became a father. And you know what? It presented a fork in the road, and he learned to walk with God through something. Because sometimes there's a promotion that comes, and you realize in order to steward that promotion, that you need to step into something more than you, right? We need more than us at times. But here's the good news. God is enough, right? We just have to tie ourselves to Him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:44]:

So do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor and just tell them, god wants to promote you, right? But you got to choose Him. And then you can have a seat, right? You can have a seat after that. Because when your authority and your responsibility grows, it sometimes brings us to a crisis point. Some people go it goes to their head, and then maybe they lead in kind of like a worldly way, right? And then maybe that's maybe the wrong fork in the road in those moments. It is a stark message, but also opportunity to learn to walk with God and to walk with God. What does it mean to walk with God? To walk with God means to embrace God's presence. It's an invitation to a shared experience, right? It's to say that the life that you live, you don't have to just live it by yourself, but you can live it with God in the midst of all that's going on, right? And so Enoch, when he becomes a father, it doesn't say he walked with God right before.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:48]:

It says it happened afterwards. Because many of us, when we became a father, if you are a dad, that it's probably one of the sweetest moments in your life, right? That when you hold that child and you're amazed, right, that you've been praying and you've been looking forward to this baby, and then you finally see the baby, and then all of a sudden, something else happens. You know what happens for many of us? Fear. Fear happens because we go like, oh, my gosh, am I good enough for this? Right? We feel the responsibility. I believe that's what happened to Enoch, when that child came, he was happy, he was overjoyed, and then that wave of fear came that says, oh, my gosh. Like your wife, that she's responsible, she's an adult, right? She can kind of handle. But when you just look at this child, they cannot. And so you sense that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:45]:

And it's at that point, I think that he says that I need to be a better man, right? I need to be a better person. You guys ever had that feeling? It's like, man, I just need to rise a little bit. It's not that God doesn't love us in that moment, but we also can sense that God's calling us higher and calling us up. And so it's in that moment, I believe that he says, I want to do things a little different. Some of us, maybe when you had a child, that you needed to learn some new skills. Maybe some of you needed to learn what it's like to play with a kid or to read the books or to maybe come home and create a family time. Maybe some of us, we weren't raised that way, but we learned those things because we understand that we become a pattern for the next generation. And so I think that what we see is probably Enoch became more engaged as he walked with God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:42]:

And so some of us, we need to just be mindful to learn to walk with God. It helps to be engaged with your family and your friends. Why? Because sometimes you got to know what's valuable and what do dads get out of it. When you get engaged, we talked about the fact that children's lives get different, right? That less involvement in risky behaviors, right? The greater sense of success that tends to be a precursor to their lives, right? And so all these things, but what do dads get out of it? Dads at the same time that when they get engaged, that they tend to set higher goals, right? They tend to have more healthy habits because they see that people are dependent on them. And so it's like, man, I got to kind of clean up my act, kind of sense. Their self esteem tends to increase as they see their value because of the role that they play. But being a father raises the pressure on a person, right? Because being a mom raises a pressure on you. Right? It just raises the pressure.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:47]:

Just like taking a new job raises the pressure. Stepping out of your comfort zone raises the pressure. So the call becomes that invitation to learn to walk with God. The words walk with God, we use it so commonly in the church that maybe for some of us, it's hard to see that it's a metaphor, really. Right? It's like going on a walk together. It's not a walk where we just kind of like one has a walkman or they're not walkman. That shows you how old I am, that one has their air pods or whatever it is and listening to their thing, and the other guy is just kind of scrolling and doing their own thing. But it's not that kind of a walk.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:24]:

It's kind of a walk where we're walking together side by side, maybe arm and arm or maybe I don't know the situation, but shoulder to shoulder, and it's like we're enjoying the same things. We're experiencing it together. That's why I say that to walk with God is an invitation to experience God, to live with Him, to engage in your relationship with Him daily. And if we keep doing it, it just becomes our lifestyle. It becomes part of our DNA. But you cannot walk with God unless you give God time. You got to give God some time. It's just like in any relationship, you cannot have a healthy relationship without giving that relationship time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:09]:

Because without time, without seeking Him, without experiencing Him, without responding to Him, without being able to kind of process the things that happen together, that it becomes difficult, right? It becomes difficult. And so we want to structure time. If you don't know what it's like to walk with God, what it does is it allows to renew your mind, right? It allows you to strengthen your inner person. It allows you to connect with God in a meaningful way. And if you've never done that, I just want to go very simply, and this is not kind of a lesson on how to journal, but if this is the thing, how can you give God time? You can start with 15 minutes, right? Maybe you can even start with five minutes, if you like, but just start. It's better to do something than nothing, right? Do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor and says it's better do something than nothing, right? So however you start, but let me give you a thing that works well with, like, about 1512 to 15 minutes. The first thing is this, that start with worship music.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:16]:

Listen to your favorite worship song. Listen to something that you don't have to buy. They just go to how many of you guys just go to YouTube because it's free or Spotify or Pandora or whatever it is? Go to some source. Where your favorite worship song? And why is that? Because heaven is the language of heaven is worship, right? When we get to heaven, did you know that you're going to worship and that you're not going to just sit like this. You're going to be engaged when you worship in heaven. But part of it is, it doesn't just rest in your mind. It speaks to your heart. In this process.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:53]:

It allows you to engage your heart. It kind of wakes up your spirit to what we were called to do. It connects us to God in a different way than maybe just the Word of God does. But start with worship. Listen to worship song. It'll prime your heart. It'll get you to say, this is a relational thing, it's not a task thing. And the second thing, though, is that you do need the Word of God, because this is the revelation of God's heart and his mind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:22]:

Just spend five minutes, at least in the Word of God. Maybe you read a chapter, and when we say a chapter, how many of you guys know? Oftentimes it's less than a page long, right? Or it could be a page. It's not a long time. When we say a chapter in the Scriptures, it's not like 50 pages or anything. But get that, because what it'll do is it'll engage your mind as well as your heart. Then when your heart's prepared, it'll help to renew your mind. It'll help for you to think God's thoughts. It'll help you to get God's perspective, to know God's heart toward you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:56]:

How many of you have ever woken up that when you wake up in the morning, you look at your phone, and the first thing you do is you check your email. You're like, how spiritually relaxing is that? Or you read the news and you go like, oh, all the horrible things that happen, right? Or you watch some endless YouTube videos, and then you just lay in bed, like, a lot longer than you would. Those kinds of things, they orient us a certain way. But if you orient yourself with worship, you orient yourself with the Word of God, what happens is it gives you a strength. It gives you an energy beyond you. It helps you to be able to clear your mind, to renew your mind. Living in this world today, I think all of us need to have our minds renewed, right? Because there's so much that's going on in our world. And the last thing is just spend five minutes talking to god five minutes, telling Him your deepest hopes, right? But asking Him to go before you in these things, maybe you're talking about your deepest fear, maybe you're talking about your greatest sense of concern.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:05]:

But in these things, just have a conversation with God, bring them before God. And then what you'll find is that it's really you bringing yourself before Him. In that moment, what begins to happen is you engaged your heart, you engaged your mind, you engaged your inner being and starts aligning like that. And if you need to know how to journal, there's another way that we can do that. It helps you to remember the things that God has done. And so we haven't done a class on it in a long time, but if not maybe getting involved in a small group, then someone, you ask people in a small group, how do you meet with God? How do you journal? What does that mean? And people will be able to share that with you. It's very simple process, but I believe it'll a helpful process and it's important for us to learn to worship God because everybody worships something, right? Everybody worships something. And if you're not worshipping God, you know what will happen? You will worship something else, right? You'll worship your job, maybe you'll worship your boyfriend or your girlfriend, you'll worship your freedom.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:18]:

You'll worship whatever it is. That for some people that if you don't have this capacity to cast their cares and anxieties on God, you know what happens? You'll use something else, right? You'll smoke something else. You'll drink something else. You'll take a pill of something else to help you to handle the pressures of life. But walking with God is not something for the select few. It's something that God wants for all his children, right? A good example of that, we find Jesus speaking to the disciples and he said, jesus said in Matthew eleven, matthew eleven, he says this, come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens. Now, some of us, this is a familiar passage, he says, and what will happen? I will give you what? Rest. How many of you guys could use some rest, right? Father's Day? To be honest, you know what, most dads want rest.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:17]:

A lot of dads. That's what we want. And so just kind of take it easy. We don't need a huge amount of stuff. But then he says this, though, take my yoke upon you and let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart and you will find rest for your souls when it says take my yoke upon you. Let's say the word yoke. Yoke, right? Now, for some of us that we want to say that because it's like, oh, I got all yoked when I started going to the gym. That's what we think, right? But that's not the yoke that this is talking about.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:45]:

The yoke that this is talking about was really a farm implement. It was a wooden beam that had been shaped to attach two animals with. It would be a harness on each side so that a bull or an ox would go in one harness on one side, and another ox or bull would go on the other side, and they would be used kind of their strength would be used to be productive, right? So they would plow the field with these kinds of things or carry a pull a cart or what have you, right? So we see these things. So this thing is a yoke that allows two people or two animals, two things to walk together. Excuse me. I don't know what happened there. So here's the picture Jesus is giving us. This picture is there is an older, wiser oxen that would be the lead ox, and they would often parent with the younger oxen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:51]:

And so he doesn't know. He's undisciplined. He wants to do this thing. He wants to stop when he stops, but the older oxen leads him. And so there is a partnership, and he says this, that when you tie yourself to me, he says, Take my yoke. So he's on one side, he's saying and he's saying, Tie yourself to me. And you know what you're going to find? First, you're going to find rest. Second, you're going to let me teach you, right? And then this is the thing that will happen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:20]:

You're going to find in that sense, it's easy to bear and the burden is light, and you'll find rest for your souls. And so this is what he's saying, walking with God, tying your life to Him in responding to his invitation to walk with Him in life, he says this it'll change you. It'll change you. It'll give you the strength to handle the greater pressure. It'll give you the strength to handle the greater responsibility. It'll give you the peace. That when you got the anxiety from all the things that are happening, oh, my gosh, how do you care for a baby? Or how do you do this new job and all of these things? He says it'll give you the peace to walk through it. That's the first thing he's saying, that learn to walk with God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:07]:

It's the number one thing every Christian needs to learn is how to walk with God. It can be helped by coming to church, but it's not the same thing as going to church. It can be helped by a Bible study. It's not the same thing as going to a Bible study. Those things are used to help you walk with God, right? But to walk with God's, responding to God's invitation. But here's the second thing, I think, that challenges many men, but challenges many people. It's when you get into a job and you get into a career, and all of a sudden it's consuming, right? Because it requires so much of you to be competitive. It requires so much of you sometimes, especially in this day and age, where there's not enough workers, right? How many of you guys, wherever you work, it's like, man, they're looking for people, right? And so there's more and more responsibility, and so there's this aspect for those who are engaged that happens.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:07]:

It's kind of always been that way. But what we see is that God wants you to learn to trust Him in your job, in your career. God wants you to learn to trust Him in your job and your career. A great picture of this is we find in the Book of Luke, where Jesus is at the sea I'm sorry, the lake of Ganesserate. And people are crowding around, it says, and they're trying to listen to the word of God, to be honest. Laker Ganeshre and the sea of galley is the same thing, though. But he's at the water's edge, and there's two boats there that pulled up because they've been fishing, and they've already come in from their early morning fishing throughout the evening. And while they're there, they're cleaning the nets, right? Taking out the limu, trying to kind of repair the holes in the nets.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:58]:

And then Jesus says, because the crowd is coming, he says, hey, you guys mind taking a boat out a little bit? I'm going to use it as a platform from which to speak. And so they said, sure. And so they go out, and you know what this is? It's really jesus. Stalking Peter at work. He's showing up at his job site, and he's interested about what's happening in Peter's life. You guys ever felt like God is stalking you at work, that you're there, and then you work in the middle of work, and then you run into this person who says something that I just listened to that today, right? You're at work in the middle of the work thing. That maybe somebody's coffee cup or whatever it is that you go like, oh, this is what I needed to hear today, that you're in this kind of a place. Maybe you had a meeting that was just a divine meeting.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:49]:

That part of the situation is God is concerned not simply what you do on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, or when you get home, but he's concerned about what you do nine to five, Monday through Friday. Right. He's concerned about everything in your life. Some people tend to think it's like there's the holy moments. That's when I have Bible study. That's when I go to church, that's when I pray, and then I have my life. Right? Sometimes we call that the sacred and the secular divide, but it's not supposed to be that way. That when God calls a person.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:23]:

This is what he says. Your whole life matters to me. Aren't you glad your whole life matters? Tell your neighbor that your whole life matters to God. So in order for God to. Begin to show you that he can work in your work life. Sometimes he stalks you at work. That's what he did to Peter. And then he says this in verse four of Luke five.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:48]:

He says when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, who will become Peter? He says to him, put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch. And Simon answered, Master. Let's say the word master. Master. We've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything, but because you say so, I will let down the nets the word master. Notice he doesn't say teacher often that you see them say rabbi or teacher. He doesn't say rabbi or teacher. He's in the middle of teaching, but he doesn't respond to him as a teacher.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:23]:

He uses the word master come from the Greek word to mean commander or chief. Or like, if I notice this, if I go to a restaurant and the bus boy comes and they want to ask you to do something, or the guy who comes to park your car, they might say, oh, a boss. Can I get your keys? Or whatever it is, right? And they're saying that you have a place of influence over them. And so in that situation now, that's what he's saying. He's calling Jesus the master, the boss, the chief. In other words, he's saying you're the captain of the ship. The thing about it is, you guys noticed that. What was Jesus known for before this? Probably being the carpenter.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:10]:

He was Joseph's son. He was a skilled carpenter. And just because you're a carpenter, does that make you qualified to be a captain? No, I don't think so, right? It doesn't make you qualified. But when you're Jesus, you're the Savior, you're the master. Then to be honest, God knows your job better than you know your job, right? Somebody have tried to tell you your job? Did anybody ever have you tried to tell you your job and you go like you just want to put up your hand and say, SHH. I don't think you get it. You don't know what's all involved, right? And sometimes we can do that to God. It's like, hey, I want you to do this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:48]:

Wait. God, you don't know what I'm facing. And he knows. The good news is he knows. And he knows because he brought you to this place, he knows your job better than you do. And so he says this, simon answered, we worked hard all night, haven't caught anything, but because you say so. Let's say that because you say so. Have you ever been in that place? God, I don't know why you're asking me to do this, but because you say so, right, I'm going to do it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:18]:

You ever been in that place where God tells you to be quiet? You get in an argument? Anybody ever get in an argument and then you hear God's whisper just would you be quiet? I've been in that place getting in this argument. I got an argument with my wife. This is, like, early on in our marriage, and I just want to win. Anybody want to just win in the argument? It doesn't matter what's, right? But you just want to win, right? And I didn't want to back down, and I knew how to win, but God told me, literally, he told me, Shut up. I just heard that it wasn't her. She didn't say shut up. She might have wanted to say Shut up. But, you know, at that point, I just I put up my hands and I said, I'm sorry.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:08]:

Can we just stop? Why? Because Jesus said so? I think it wasn't for that. I don't know. We would have got married. But it's in that kind of a moment that this is what he's saying, because you say so, god, he says, I'll let down the nets. And when they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. And so they signaled their partners in the other boat to come help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. I have friends I know who've made the deal of their life because they followed an impression from God in their sales career. I know people who got a dream and they got stirred about something in construction and that they need to do this development.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:00]:

They needed to bid this job. And it's because they felt this leaning from God that they leaned into this opportunity, and they had to fight for it. It caused not just them, their whole company had to shift certain things in order to bid this, but because of that, they just sensed the pleasure of God. Why? Because he said so. But, you know, the thing is that when you invite God into your job, what happens is you get better at your job. When you invite God into your job, you know what happens? It's that your capacity to tolerate and to move through kind of all the opposition increases, your productivity increases. Am I saying that just jesus does your job? You just show up and Jesus does a job? No, that's not how it works, right? You still have to sharpen your skill. You still need to stretch yourself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:56]:

You still have a brain and a mind that works. But you'll hear Jesus from time to time say, Would you do this? And all you have to say, Lord, I don't know what wait, that doesn't even make sense. The commercial fisherman has been fishing all night, hasn't caught anything, and here's this carpenter telling him what to do. But he's not just a carpenter. He's the what? He's the master. He's the boss. He's the authority. But because he does it says that the the haul that he gets is kind of like it's the catch of a lifetime, right? God wants to increase your productivity.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:37]:

He wants to make you more fruitful at work. He wants to make you even a better person at work. And so one of the most transformative things can happen for you is when you invite God into your work. Have you ever invited God into your work? Let him lead. You say, God, I'm a teacher, but you're the master teacher, right? I work in construction. But you're the master carpenter, right? I work in sales. But you have brought people the opportunity of a lifetime. Invite him to be that, because when you do, this is for many people.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:15]:

Unless we invite Jesus into be the master of our work, our work becomes our master. So we give Jesus our time after work. But in work, work is my master, and we live kind of this bifurcated life. But when you invite Jesus to be the master in your work, you live a full life, a whole life, an undivided life, and it doesn't matter where you are, right, that you can experience God's presence, and it will take you some sense of action and obedience for that to be, because you'll have to act on it. You'll have to involve God in it. But find some people at work. For some of us, you'll run into someone who's a believer at work, and maybe you pray for your company, or you pray for your team, or you pray for the projects that are happening, or you pray for one another. In that moment, it becomes opportunity to see God at work.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:17]:

But it's important to respond. It's important to respond. And sometimes what happens as you enter the work world and as you are in that place that you get promoted to the next level, right? Now, when you get promoted to the next level, what happens is there's this thing. You guys ever heard this called the Peter Principle? It's where you get promoted to the place that you go beyond your competence. It's a place where it surfaces your inability to do something. In other words, because you are great in this job, they say, hey, you're great in this job. I think you need to go to the next job. And so you go to the next job, and then you get better at that, and you get all this stuff that's going on, and then you get promoted, and then you go like, oh, this job is just a lot more than I thought, and it shows all your inability.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:02]:

Well, you know who else was like that in illustration? Moses was like that. Moses decided to follow God. When you know who was following him? Sheep were following him, right? He was an old man on the hill, leading sheep. God called him, and he promoted him. To what? To lead the people of Israel out of slavery. And all of a sudden, that what happened, is instead of sheep following him, a nation was following him. He confronted the most powerful nation on earth. He leads them out of Egypt in the desert, and now there's like a million to 2 million people following him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:40]:

Guess what happens when you have a million to 2 million people? You get a million to 2 million problems. No, it's kidding, right? Because wherever you have people, you have problems. Right. If you had the more people, there's great opportunity, but there's also great problems. And so Moses is putting out fires here and there. He's like having to go to so many meetings, he's having to do so many things. And Moses has been a competent guy, but all of a sudden, it's just overwhelming for him. And he gets to the place, it's so overwhelming, he sends his wife and his son to go live with his father in law because he just has to focus on his job.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:23]:

His job consumes him, his ministry consumes him. And then his father in law comes and visits him and they have this little interaction. This is what happens in Exodus 17. In Exodus 17 I'm sorry, 18, verse 17, it says, when Moses's father in law comes, let's read what it says. Moses father in law replied, what you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you. You cannot handle it alone.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:00]:

Listen now to me that I may give you some advice and may God be with you. Now, if you're in the midst of working your tail off and somebody comes alongside and say what you're doing is not good, what is most people's response? You know how hard I'm working, I'm doing everything I can. Can you just leave me alone? Right. But this is what Moses father in law is saying and not saying. What is he not saying? Is he saying, Moses, you're not working hard? No, he's not saying that. Is he saying, Moses, that you're not good? No, he's not saying that. Right. He's saying, Are you doing something immoral? No, that's not what he's saying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:45]:

He's just saying the way that you're doing it, you're killing yourself and you're stressing everybody else out. That's what he's saying. Right. And so somebody is willing to speak to him to say that, you know what? You need a change in the way that you're doing things, not because they're against you, but because they're for you. Right, but what is he inviting Moses to do? Moses, it's time to reinvent yourself. And sometimes you and I, we get to that place, we have to learn how to reinvent ourselves. When we started the ministry, I kind of promised in my mind, I said, I never want to ask anybody to do something I would never do. And I want to model that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:36]:

Nobody's going to work harder in the ministry than me. Right. Because I don't want to ask people to do something I'm not willing to do. And there was great value in that. And then I found myself working like 70 something hours a week. And then I just thought, well, it's not good for my family, right? And then we began to raise up leaders and all that and that was a great season. And then there were changes that happened and then after that when COVID happened and all of a sudden and all of a sudden that same mindset came in. Nobody's going to work harder than me because there was less people around, there was less kind of situations, right? But you know, the thing is that I'm not called to work just work hard.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:18]:

I'm called to make disciples and to raise up other leaders. And in order for that to happen, I cannot do everything. And so God challenged me that, would you reinvent yourself, right? But somebody had to speak that, right? Or somebody I just had to see it. I had to kind of have that awakening. But is there anybody in your life that you allow to speak that way to you? Because if you don't, then all of a sudden it becomes very hard to reinvent yourself, right? But maybe it's like a crisis point that comes like Moses and maybe it's like where I'm so overwhelmed, I'm working so hard. And maybe sometimes the temptation is to throw it all away. And sometimes the response God's looking for is don't throw it all away, just do it different and you be different. And this is what he's saying, it's time to reinvent yourself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:13]:

It's in that moment that it can be a transformative moment. Because what we find is that God wants to do actually more through you, but it not kill you in the process. How many of that's a good word to us today, right? Because sometimes that we can work ourselves to the bone, but that's not what God is calling you to do, to kill yourself in doing this. But it will entail a few things. One of those things is you got to embrace a little bit of humility and surrender, right? Because you got to be willing to think that there is maybe a different way than you're doing it not because what you're doing is wrong. It's just not good for you in the long run. It's not good for the group in the long run. It's not good for the family in the long run, right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:59]:

It's not good for your business in the long run. And so it says it like this in James 410. What? Humble yourselves before the Lord and what will happen? He'll lift you up, right? It's recognizing your limitations. You cannot do everything right that we have to get to that place, right? We recognize our limitations, we humble ourselves. We acknowledge that, to be honest, there may be things that we are not doing or we could do it a different way. And sometimes the biggest problem becomes not the fact that you don't see that there are other things or you don't know your limitations. It's just that we don't want to let go of control. And so the other thing is you got to let go of control.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:46]:

At times, transformation happens. Not from clinging to our own ways, our own plans, our own desires. It happens when you know what we say, god, you're in control at your word. And so sometimes you release the grip because you say so. And it might have come from a different person. It might have come from but that you sense this is God's word for you. And in that moment, you got to let go of control. For many men, that control is the thing that we struggle with, right? Because you feel like you're not going to be a good leader, you're not going to be a good husband, you're not going to be a good father, whatever the case.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:29]:

But it's not holding on to control so tightly. You over steer, right? You hypermanage these things. But letting God have control, but what's going to happen? How is this going to turn out? Sometimes you got to embrace the unknown. You got to say, we're going to venture down this road. I'm going to follow what God is saying, because I know this is going to kill me if I keep doing it in this way. And so you embrace the unknown, and then what happens? God shows up, and the unfamiliar, over time, becomes familiar. We learn how to do something differently, right? We see all these things begin to happen. And so for some of us this morning, god's just calling you to walk with Him, right? That's it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:24]:

God is just real simple. God's just calling you to learn how to walk with me. I just want to invite you to share your life with me. For some of you, it's going to be maybe this aspect of invite me into your job. Even if you're if you're a stay at home mom, invite me into your job, right? Even if you're retired, invite me into your job. If you're a student, invite me into your school, right? That's what God's asking. And for some of us, it's the fact that, no, you've been at it for a while. You've invited him into your job.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:00]:

You've invited him. You walking with him. But to be honest, you kind of get into this place where you're just feeling so much weight. God's just inviting you to just kind of reinvent how you've been doing it, right? Not because you're not good. He says, just this thing, the way you're doing it, it's not good. At this time, there's a change that's needed. Sometimes what happens is when that happens, we become like a man named Jacob. Jacob was a guy who knew what he wanted and did what was necessary to get what he wanted.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:36]:

If it included shortcuts. He'd do a shortcut if it involved kind of pushing the edge of what's right. That's what he did. And God prospered him still because God had a call in his life. Would you know that God doesn't call you when you get your life together? He calls you first, and then later, your life tends to get together. And so he's starting to be blessed, and he has a full house. He went out by himself, and he's coming back with a full family and a lot of resources. But he has to go and meet his past.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:14]:

He has to go back to where God's called him to, and that's to his ancestral land. But his brother's there, the one he cheated and the one that he lied to and the one that he took it advantage of, but that's where God is leading him, but he doesn't want to go. So he camps out on one side of a river. On the opposite side is his brother is coming, and he puts all these animals and all these things and all these people on that side, and he stays on the opposite side alone because he's thinking about self preservation. And it's in that moment that the angel of the Lord visits him at night. And it says they get into an MMA match that lasts like the old school UFC. No rounds. It's just like one long thing, and they're going at it all night.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:14]:

And Jacob probably thinks, like, Brad, I can hang with this guy until, just as he says, the dawn is coming, that he's saying he just recognized. But to be honest, I'm tuckered out. And so he says, I need you to bless me. He says to the angel of the Lord. And the angel of the Lord then takes his finger, and he just touches Jacob's hip, and his hip gets dislocated. And what he's showing is that you've been wrestling with me all night, not because you can really hang with me. I've been waiting for you to realize your limits, right? I could have taken you out like this, but I wasn't interested in that. I want you to know that when you're struggling with me, you're never stronger than me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:15]:

But I'm letting you. I'm letting you do this. But what I want you to do is learn that, you know what? Actually, I'm on your side. But you got to learn how to follow. You got to learn how to submit parts of your life. You got to learn that sometimes there's going to be shortcuts you've been taking in the past. I want you to learn another way. Are you willing to do that as a result? Probably.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:42]:

Jacob walked with a little bit of a limp throughout his life. He learned in that moment that when I'm wrestling with God, I need to figure it out, but I need to come out. I win. I win. When I learn that God is greater than me. When I learn that trusting Him with my family or my career or with my future, that when I trust Him, he makes it greater, not lesser, right? When I give Him control, actually, I rise in my ability, not diminish in my ability. So it's kind of an upside down way of looking at it. But this is what he does for Jacob.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:29]:

Maybe if you've been wrestling with God today, he's just saying this. You can wrestle a long time, not because God wants you to, but because you keep fighting. But would you just ask, Lord, would you bless me? I'm willing to do it Your way. That at your word. And you know what happens? He says, okay, then, that part's done, and let's move forward. That's really what God wants. Does that make sense? Can we bow our heads? Let's close in a word of prayer today, father, we're thankful that there's drive in us and there's desires in us, and it's not bad. It's just that sometimes they need to be directed, and sometimes they need to be shaped.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:17]:

And sometimes, Lord, you want us to learn how to walk with you in the midst of all the complications of our life. And, Lord, that today. For some of us, that's what you're hearing. You're hearing this invitation of God that says this. I want you to experience me, not just on the weekend or not in a Bible study only, but I want you to experience me. I want you to learn to hear my voice. I want you to learn how to trust me, because I'll renew your mind. I'll renew your strength.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:53]:

I'll open your heart to things that you've never even seen. For some of you, maybe that's God's invitation. For some of us, maybe it's God's been stalking you at work not because you don't know what to do, but God wants you to experience Him in your work so your life's not split in half. If that's you today, would you sense God's tap on your shoulder, say, I just it's Bring your dad to Work Day, right? Can you bring Jesus to work with you tomorrow or Tuesday, whenever your work happens? And for some of us, it's saying this, I know you're working hard. I know you're spent there's a better way. There's a better way. Can we you can be a different you. You don't have to do it the way that you've been doing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:56]:

It not that you're bad. It's just that what you've been doing is kind of outlived its season, and there's a new way, and if that's you, that's what God's inviting you to do. Those moments can change you and transform you, but you got to invite Him in. That's you this morning. Would you just raise a hand to God? It's just saying, God, I get it. That's you. You're inviting me. I want to respond to you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:24]:

Would you raise your hand to Him that's you this morning. Father, I thank you that our lives matter to you. Our whole life matters to you. So, Father, we do want to respond to you. Father, would you lead us at work? Father, we're willing to let go of the wheel of control. And for some of us, being willing to respond to your call to reinvention, Father, because we want to just learn how to daily experience you. So, Father, we respond to that. Would you just cover your people today? Would you invite as they invite you into those moments, into those places? And if you've never really responded to God, maybe today that's really what God wants.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:23]:

God just wants you to open your heart to Him, right? If you've never done that, or maybe you have in the past, but you put Him away, and maybe just a time to open up again. I'd love to be able to have that opportunity to lead you in a time where you're just saying, god, I want to come home. I know that you're a good father. You might not even have had a father. You might not have had a pattern, but he's the God that's for you. But he's calling you. He's saying, I need you to trust me. I need you to trust me with your life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:02]:

He says when you do that you turn from what you know is wrong. He says he'll lead you. We're going to pray a very simple prayer. If that's you, would you just join me as we pray? Father this morning. I thank you that you're here. And I thank you that you know me. And I'm thankful that you love me. I recognize I haven't been listening to you or following you, but I recognize today I need you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:40]:

And so I turn from what I know is wrong, and I ask You, Lord Jesus, to come live inside of me. Father. Would you forgive me? Would you cleanse me? And would you lead me today? I'm choosing you because you chose me. Would you help me to understand Your will and Your ways so I might walk with you? Lord, would you help me to understand Your Word and understand what Your voice sounds like so I can respond to you? Would you bring people into my life that will help me along the journey and that I can help them as I continue to grow? Thank you that you're with me always. I surrender to you. I say this now so you can hear me and that I can hear myself, that Lord Jesus, you are my Savior. You're, my lord. I want to follow you because you are God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:06]:

You're my teacher, you're my master. But thank you. I'm your child. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. Hey, can we say congratulations to those folks? You god bless you guys. Have a great Father's Day weekend.