Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:

gentleman. Hey, good morning, everybody. Great to see you guys. Last week, you know, what's a great Father's Day? How many do you guys have great Father's Day last week? Man, you know what? It's great. I I didn't do anything. No. I was kidding. I did plenty afterwards, but I still had a chance to enjoy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:16]:

And we're grateful that you guys are here. You know, I enjoy my kids and when the kids were younger, you know, we always just ask them what you wanna be. Right? And sometimes answer a little different today than I think when I was a kid. When I was a kid, when you were asked, what do you wanna be one day? We would always answer in terms of an occupation. Right? I wanna be a policeman. Right? I I wanna be a farmer. I there was this is all true for me, you know, all these things. Wanna be a doctor. Right? And then I I heard one guy say, you know, when he grew up, he wanted to be an astronaut, but it didn't go that well when he talked to his dad and so The dad asked him what he wanna be. He said, I wanna be an astronaut, like and the the dad said, you mean like Neil Armstrong, you know, who was the first guy he went the moon and the sun said, yeah, except I'm gonna be the first guy to go to the sun. And the dad kinda like rolled his eye. and said, boy, I hate to say it, but that's dumb. You gotta you gotta get burnt. Like, nothing would survive. Anything would burn and it's that, dad, I'm not that dumb. You're dumb. I'm going at night. Right? And so, you know, sometimes there's that child like kinda logic that goes on. And this morning, we're gonna take a look at a short book because we're in this series, right? Short stories of good news. It's a short book but we a big message and and the thrust of it is, it's how to grow up in some sense, how to grow up in the faith. And and because the thing is that growing up in faith has wonderful opportunities and wonderful privileges, but there are some warnings along the way. You know, just like us that when we raise kids that sometimes we're in that place that we we see great, you know, blessing and great opportunity, but at the same time we do need to caution them about some of the dangers that we don't kinda get off the road. Right? And so that's what we're gonna find together. The book of second, John, just to give you a little bit of background, it's it's we're calling these books or it's These books are called epistles and what they are is letters. So when you read the new testament, you'll see the portion of it. It's filled with all the gospels. It's the stories, what of the the life and mission, the death and resurrection of Christ. We see all those things played out. And and then we see the instruction on how to live that out. And these are are all technically letters, even though Some of them are quite long, and some of them are quite short. 2nd John is one of the is the 2nd shortest book in the bible. Right? It is only 245 words in the original languages. And so, all this would have been like not just like a letter. It's almost like a postcard size, you know, kind of a thing. But within that postcard, there's gonna see a lot of information. Now, one of those things that we might get confused about, if you're not that familiar with the bible yet, is if you look at John in the index in your bible or on your bible app, you will find there's 4 Johns that are in there. Right? The gospel of John that tells right the Historian mission of Jesus. So we're not looking at that. And then three letters, it's called 1st John, 2nd John, and third John. Right? And So first John, it's still rather lengthy, has 5 chapters in it, but third John is just like 12 verses. And so that's what we're looking at this morning. The apostle John was an old man at this point, and how many of you guys know how many of you guys have old that tell long stories. Right? You guys know some old medicine and you better not be talking about me in the back. So but, you know, so there are these kinda situations, but he's gonna tell the story really short, right? And so he has a very special position. An apostle walked with Jesus, seen from when he was a teenager and now he's a wise and old and godly man and he's writing basically to spiritual kids. Right? He's writing to that next generation and the generation that's beyond them. And we're gonna read this out loud. The whole book today, because it's 12 verses. It's not wrong. But would you be kind enough let's stand together and let's read the word of God? Starting in verse 1, and then we'll explain a little bit along the way. Ready Let's read. This letter is from John the Elder. I am writing to the chosen lady and to her children, whom I love in the truth, as does everyone else who knows the truth. Because the truth lives in us and will be with us forever, great Mercy and peace, which come from God the father, and from Jesus Christ, the son of the father, will continue to be with us who live in truth and love. And what we find in this introduction, this kind of a a greeting that we find. He's writing it says to the chosen lady. This isn't and let's not think in terms of a special person per se, but the chosen lady is really kinda more of a a metaphor for the church. Right? The church is called the bride of Christ, and so that that would you this, that that all of us who belong to Christ that you're chosen by God. And so he's saying, I'm writing to the chosen people, the church, the the the bride of Christ, and to those who come under your shelter that I'm writing to you in love and he says, because of this, I want you to have grace mercy and peace. Let's say those words, grace, mercy, and peace. Right? So grace, if you're not familiar, sometimes we get confused. Grace and mercy, the difference. Grace is receiving something you didn't earn or you don't deserve. Right? Mercy is the opposite. sit, not getting what you deserve. Right? How many of us that we deserve to lick in sometimes from our parents, but we didn't get it on those on those good days. Right? And that's mercy. So God has both grace and mercy for you. When you get grace and mercy, you know what you get? Peace. Right? So before you see the do me a favor, just would you tell your neighbor, tell somebody right around you, a grace mercy and peace to you today. And then you can have seat. Grace mercy and peace. And so he's starting out, just to say this, I want you guys to know that I'm praying blessings over you. I'm praying grace for you. I'm praying mercy for you. I'm hoping that you peace today. We said the same thing today. And we wanna tell people, we wanna tell our neighbor that, you know why? Because sometimes isn't the world stressful? Sometimes isn't the world that that if you'd look around and all the situation, sometimes we don't have that peace. And so, when we understand the fact that God still has a grace for us, God still has mercy for us. The people that you love and the people that you're concerned about that God has a grace and a mercy for them Now, they might not be always in the place of receiving it yet, but that that's our prayer, isn't it? Right? We had probably for some of us, I'm guessing that we were praying that there was a theme in in in the group I was praying with, right, that we're we're praying for family. Right? We're praying for bringing people before throne of grace today. But he start he goes on from there and he says this. He says, how happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living according to the truth just as the father has commanded. You know that when you have expectations for your kids that that you're happy when they kinda meet those expectations. Right? Like, if you have a expectation that they'll do well in sports, if they do well in sports, aren't you happy, right? That we go to the practice field, then we see them in the game, and it's like, man, it just brings a level of joy. If you have a expectation that they're gonna do well in school, and then they're going and and doing well, They're replying themselves, they're stretching themselves, right? And you see them running, and we're happy. Right? Now here's one thing that that that John is saying, this is his highest expectation because it brings him great joy. He says that I found some of your kids walking in the truth. And so, the the the command or the the the desire he has that that and I think it's the same desire he would have for us today. And in in our church is to be faithful to the truth. To be faithful to the truth. Because what brings you the greatest joy, right, will be the things that you your greatest hope. And so, you know, when I was talking to my kids, I was talking to one of the kids and we were were talking about like what he wanted to be and his response was, you know, because I said that used to be an occupation. But what do you wanna be? You know, the response was? Rich. I go, that's not like a thing. Right? That's like that's that's a that's a kind of an attendant feature of what you can do. Right? And and he says, well, what if I, you know, I wanna invest and what if like one day I Rich like Warren Buffett, would you be proud and we said, hey, you know, we'll be proud of you if you're an upstanding and and a God seeking man know, a man of character. We will be proud of you regardless, but but he said that, you know, but this money is is important. Right? It's, yeah, money is worked in but but we had the discussion. It's not just money but sometimes it's how you get it. Right? Because if you were drug dealer or you were taking advantage of people, it would be hard for us to be proud of you even if we loved you. Right? That Because that that's not something we wanted for you or reproduced for you. But I also said, but if you had a lot of money, we would still spend it. But, you know, but and no. I didn't say that. You know, I'm a I'm a pastor. Right? So I was just thinking it. No. But but so but, you know, the thing is that you know, we're joking around but this aspect is because we want you to be faithful to to the gospel. We want you to be faithful to God. Right? So what does it mean to be faithful to the truth? And and it means to walk in it and so he's talking about I see you walking. We talked about walking with God last week and and how walking with God is is walking in the truth. Right? It's it's because the truth is is both the it's it's a who, it's it's a what and it's a how. The who is with Jesus. Right? He said that when we're walking with Jesus, so we saw that in the old testament, We saw people in their greatest blessings, like when they had a kid, and we saw people invite God into their work life, and we saw when God invited was invited to kinda read inventing themselves, but it was with a who. Right? And so, but there's also a what to it. Because it's What it is is that as is is the teachings of the scriptures. It's the correct understanding of it. It's it's it's having right beliefs because it is also about what God's word says. It's not simply that I have a relationship with Jesus apart from my understanding in the word of God. Because if not, all I am left with, if I don't understand the word, then all I am left with is my philosophies and I'm left with imagination and feelings. And so how many of you guys have ever gone off track with your imaginations and your feelings? Right? And so God says, he he gives us the word to speak to us the truth. In fact, I I don't have it written down, but First Timothy 416 says this. And so, Timothy, I want you to watch very closely your life and your doctrine. The what you and how you live. Right? And so, the who is Jesus, the what is what you believe and the other part is how you live. Right? Because this is where walking with God is involved not simply like when we're here but walking with God is is not at just at your job or in your greatest blessings, but sometimes it's how you spend your downtime. Right? It's it's it's what you do in your relationship. it. Sometimes it's the thing that brings you to greatest stress. Right? And some of you are sitting next to your greatest joy or maybe your greatest stress. Right? And so in the midst of that, because sometimes relationships are like that or, you know, finances or whatever the the case will be, that this is what invite Jesus into that. So you're walking with Jesus. Why? Because the thing is that whatever you're going through is not your destination. Can we just say that? Some of you right now that you're in a middle of a a difficult season, that there's a there's this thing that this is not God's will for you. but God has a will for you to get through the season. Right? It's like walking through the valley of the shadow of death. He says that's not your destination. Right? But something that all of us will pass through. And so, would you know that he'll walk with you through those moments? But what you believe about God, what you believe about the will of God. What you believe about God's word will influence the way that you live and the way that you the the way quality of your life. And so we need to understand this portion, right? Because the hard part about it is all of us believe things about God. Right? This is my this is my theory because I saw it played out in my own life. And this I think everybody believes incorrect things about God, we just don't know it. Right? And so, you know, when I was a younger believer, believe all kind crazy stuff about God. I didn't know I didn't know God because I wasn't raised in the faith. But here's the thing is that as I grew, it became exposed, and I'm gonna talk about that a little later. But regardless of those things, you know what he's calling us to do, is he's gonna call us to to big thing themes in this book is truth and the other one is love. And those 2 always should be paired together. So he talks out truth, but then he also talks about love. And let's read what it says in the following verses verses 5 and 6. He says this, I am writing to remind you dear friends that we should what? Love one another. This is not a new command but one we had from the beginning and and it's this very same commandment that Jesus gave us on the night before his crucifixion. Right? He he tells, I'm gonna give you you commandment at that time, he says, love one another. And then he explains what that means. He says, love means doing what God has commanded and he has commanded us to love one another. In other words, it's not just the feeling, it's how you treat people. It's not just the feeling, it's it's what you do just as you heard from the beginning. Now, I think he emphasizes truth because truth is important because it'll it'll determine how we live and how we think about will determine our actions but it also needs to be tied with love. Because you can be truthful without loving. You know, what that feels like usually feels like judgment though. Right? That when that you're truthful you're truthful, but there's no love it. It's it's a hard truth. Right? It it's a there's a hard edge to it. Sometimes it it it hurts, you know, people's feelings. Sometimes it it descurs people. Sometimes people that that speaking words of truth without love, it it pushes people down. It doesn't really lift them up. And so God says this thing that we need to tie it with love. Now, you I I really believe this is that we might act but we're not really loving if we are not having truth in our love because you can have truth with out love, but I don't think you can real have real love without truth. Right? Because otherwise, we're we're we're not in love or we're loving, we're like an infatuation. Right? Or we're pretending to love. And it's sorta like this. You know, I I think that we will sometimes not be truthful, but it's it's basically more like politeness. Right? Like if somebody you went to somebody's house and they they had their favorite family recipe and they they gave it to you and say, what how does it taste and you eat it and it's like, you've never tasted anything like this in your life and your stomach is churning. Do you say this food is making me sick and I wanna spit it out. Probably not. Right? Probably not. Why? gonna be a little polite. We're gonna say, oh, it's it's interesting. No. Like, I mean, you might say whatever that you you say, but you you not gonna just say, I don't like it. Right? Generally, we will find a polite way to say it. Now, is is that loving? You know, it it definitely could be. Right? It definitely Lee could be. But but we we wouldn't wanna say is, I love it when we don't. Right? Because that's not being truthful. Now it would be it's like, oh, maybe maybe I've never, you know, I'm not used to this kind of food or whatever the case would be. But sometimes we're there's this aspect. Right? So we want to be loving but we cannot be untruthful in that process. And so the scriptures gives us things along the way that that paint a picture what it means to love. In First Corinthians 511, it says this encourage one another and build one another up. In other words, that when God gives you spiritual authority, he says this. It's to build one another up not tear one another down. Right? So sometimes people will if you get a little bit of power, you get a little bit authority that it's not to push people is to pull people up. Right? And so that's what he says. Encourage one another. How many of you could use a little encouragement today? Right? Right? Because to be honest, the world doesn't necessarily build you up. So in in Christ, that's what he does. The other thing it says, except one another, roll is 157. Except one another. The other half of that verse is this, just as Christ accepted you. When Jesus accepted you. Were you totally living the most godly life that there was? Probably not. Right? That that you believe everything correct about God when God accepted you? No, he didn't. It's the fact that he accepted you made you want to change. The fact that he accepted you made you want to know this God. And so we can accept people without really kinda swallowing all that they believe and all that they're living, right? because someone us, we have friends, we have family members that we have neighbors that to be honest, they're they're kinda on the edge but you know the thing is that we can accept them because that's how God accepted us, right? That they're gonna see the love of God by that. So this is where he's saying love one another Sometimes people come in with with, like, a lot of a a lot of trouble as well. Sometimes it's we're we're carrying burdens. Now, every body in life has their own burden to carry, but when it's overwhelming, this is what the command is. He says, bear one another's burdens. and thus fulfill the law of Christ. And so when people come in, I I I cannot I'm not saying that we can take away everybody's pain and we can fix every situation. That's not what I'm saying because sometimes I hear stories that are very difficult. But this is what it means, is that we won't want to let you walk alone in that situation. We're gonna do best to come alongside and support you and strengthen you in the journey. And so it's in that aspect that I think that people won't hopefully feel alone because they're gonna see the body of Jesus come together because that guy or that gal came alongside. And they're gonna sense God's presence in that. And then we pray for one another. Right? Now there's one other aspect that that he specifically will talk about. But it's this aspect of hospitality. It says it like this in Romans 1213. Let's read what it says. It says this. I think it's in your notes. If it's not, I don't know. Oh, there it is. It says, share with the Lord's people who are in need practice hospitality. Now we have a hospitality team and they're gonna have some wonderful food outside. In fact, today they had chili and rice. So I had a chili and rice breakfast and I'm gonna chilean rice snack right after this. Right? So but and that's what we you know, that's our hospitality team. But and that is. That's part of hospitality. Right? And you're gonna either a cold cup of water or a hot cup of coffee. Right? We're we're gonna offer something that we don't want you to come and leave empty handed. Right? So there's this aspect but hospitality in bible times was there's a little bit more to it than that. Because when people travel, there there wasn't like, you know, there wasn't like McDonald's and, you know, Burger King and Jack in a box along the way. So if they were hungry, there there wasn't a fast food place, there wasn't a restaurant to go to. Sometimes people stayed in inns. Now, the inn is a very don't think holiday inn, right? But the inn was probably like more like a house but they made a practice of it having people over. But but inns back then were sketchy places. When a place was an inn, innkeepers had a reputation of of being thieves. So that they would go through your stuff. They would steal something. They were rat infested or or, you know, flea infested. so on Yelp, they would get 0 stars, right? You would be like, oh, no, then and you would have a post underneath. But but so how people handle that is when they traveled, they actually look for just people, regular people to house them. Now, why would you do that? Because you know, part of this aspect of hospitality, it's big still in the Middle East today. But but back then to the people of God, it was like, hey, I took you in and when you were wandering in the desert, brought you to homes that you did not bill. And so, I want you to express and pay that kindness back. Right? I want you to understand that people are in this kind of a situation. Now, when the church began to grow, what what began to happen is as Christians moved around, they would sometimes take a letter from their home church and say that I'm a real believer, you know, by the way. And and so can you take me in? This is kinda basically kinda like my evidence of that. And the reason why they did that is because if you are taught to be encouraging and accepting and you bear one another burdens and you pray for 1 of the and you're hospitable, right? That you know what? There's gonna be people who wanna come in and take advantage of that, right? And they're gonna pretend in order to gain some advantage. I wish we could say that we've never seen that. But the reality is we've seen it, not even in our church. Right? The people who have come in and and say, hey, you know, like, yeah, you got this business. And and the reality is they're basically trying to get people's money. Right? And so this is how, you know, a Christian is like he didn't have a business but he said he was starting a business. But when you have a business, if it's somebody says it's a Christian business, I don't really care so much that they have they say they're Christian, I look if they do a good job. Right? Because if you're not doing a good job, when you're not saying you're not sending the message. But the thing is that sometimes people will use that to take advantage people. You're gonna see this principle, this is a part of of growing up a little bit, that that sometimes we we say, hey, people aren't always what they seem. Right? And so, this is what he says, in verse 7. I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. And they deny that Jesus came in a real body, such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. Now, when he's saying an antichrist, it's not saying the antichrist. So like if his head was shaved, you're not gonna see 666 on it. Right? It's just a person who rejects the authority of Jesus? A person who rejects the message but not only that, but that he's intending to deceive other people. And when it's talking about that they deny that Jesus Christ came in the real body, it's it's a kind of philosophy. It's a kind of doctrine that was common at that time that was called DeCetticism. Those of you guys, and some of you guys you you like to notice the theological thing. DeCetticism is really a denial that Jesus had a physical body because they thought that the role? I have a tendency to sin. Right? And so because of that, God couldn't have sin in him that that spirit was divine, but it just looked like he had a body. Now what's the problem with that? The problem with that is if Jesus didn't really have a real body, then he didn't really die in the cross. Right? And if he didn't really die in the cross for sins, then we don't really have forgiveness for our sins. If he didn't really die in the cross for our sins, then he didn't really resurrect from the grave. Right? It just look like he resurrected. But you know what? You and I, do you have a real body? Yeah. You have a real body. Right? And so what does that mean? Then that that my sin doesn't get really forgiven or that that there is no real resurrection. So this is the problem. Right? So so here's the thing. That's that's the thought of the day back then. But sometimes there's stuff like that out now. Right? And so this is what he's saying that sometimes we need to be careful. Right? We need to be careful about what we believe, why? Because it says that it's gonna affect the way that we live. Now, sometimes, and I said that we all have incorrect thoughts. I did One of the things I I believed incorrectly was and I was starting in the ministry at that time that I was thinking that that Jesus, I know Jesus was God and I knew he was a real human being, because he ate, and he was hungry, and he was thirsty, and he got sleepy, he got tired, all that. And so I thought this is what happened. When Jesus was born. He had a physical body but that he had a divine spirit. And so, until I took this class, that taught me that said this, that said that's a heresy. And I go, and I didn't understand why. Because if you say that Jesus only had a a human body but a divine spirit, then he didn't he wasn't a real human being because real human beings also have a human spirit. So why didn't I believe that? because it didn't make sense to me. How do you have a human spirit and a divine spirit in one body? Well, the the scriptures actually paint a picture that Jesus was fully human and fully God but one person. You guys get that? What? Fully god. Let's sit up. Fully god. Fully god. Fully human. Fully human. But one person. Right? So Jesus wasn't like schizophrenic, you know. It's not like he is like, hey, sometimes I act out of my divinity, sometimes I act out of my humanity, And so now, when I heard that, this is what the picture says, but it didn't make sense to me. So I said it the other way. Right? Now, what's the difference? You guys wanna know the difference between a heretic and a person who doesn't think correctly about something? This is I learned, it's correct ability. Right? because all of us, we're gonna believe something that's incorrect about God. That was one of mine. Right? But when I heard the truth, even though logically at first it didn't make sense to me, Right? That I rejected it but I was correctable. Right? I was correctable. And so the difference between these guys that he's talking about is they're not correctable. In fact, they demand a people believe that. And so, they need to be careful. Right? We need to be careful about that. Because we're and because we're accepting doesn't mean you take everything that's taught to you. Doesn't mean that you accept everything that's said or or each person. So this is the this is the instruction that we're fine. He's asking us guard your faith and your home that that you're responsible to guard your faith and guard your home. This is part growing up is that we recognize, you know, like, when your kids are are young, isn't that like a it's great that you want them to have uncles and aunties. But is a little bit sad that you gotta sit at when we go to the store that, you know, don't go with strangers. Right? That's kind of a we that's like a sad part. You to tell the kids and, you know, when we go to different places, right, that you gotta tell them to be careful. This is what he's saying. You you gotta be careful at same time. He goes on, he says this, watch out that you do not lose what we have worked so hard to achieve, be diligent so that you receive your full reward. He doesn't want someone to kinda give up their faith because they walk in a wrong direction. one who wanders away from this teaching has no relationship with God, but anyone who remains in the teaching of Christ has a relationship both with the father and the son. If anyone comes to you or meeting and does not teach the truth about Christ. Don't invite that person into your home or give any kind of encouragement. Anyone who encourages such people to become a partner in their evil work. Don't end up supporting what is evil just because you practiced kindness and love, but in a in a discerning way. Right? Is that the kind of an instruction? That's a little bit of a that's a little bit of a grow up time because sometimes we we can be at a place where we say, hey, I just wanna everybody the same. Right? But the reality is you don't love everybody the same. Right? You don't love your husband or your wife the same as you you love your coworker. I hope that's not the case. Right? Could that be Then that's what marriage night is for. No. But like, you love them in a different way. Right? So we we don't love our kids the same way we love our spouse. We don't love our our neighbor, right, the same way. We There's different things. We love them in an appropriate way. And so I'm not saying, because Jesus didn't say, hate your enemies. He said, love your enemies. So we can pray for them. Right? But we ought not to kinda embrace them. Does that make sense? Because what he wants us to be careful of is the teaching that you will end up embracing. Because it will what you believe about God will one day determine different ways that you live and an expression in your life. For instance, there is a person. I read this quote that said he said this. He said, if God doesn't exist if God doesn't exist, then why should I deny myself whenever I encounter these kinda earthly impulses. Right? no reason why I need to deny myself. Now you know who said that? Jeffrey Dahmer. And he is very well aware that what you think about God will influence your actions. fortunately, people paid with their lives. Right? And he ended up paying with his. Right? But this was his thought about God. It in lewins his actions. And maybe, you know, when we see what's going on in our world today and we see kind of the craziness in the world today, but what are people being told hey, there's no god. You're your own god. Or whatever it is that you don't have to answer to god. And so what are people doing? They're just living whatever their impulses say. And so what we understand is that when we had right understanding about God. It doesn't just shape our behavior and shape our morals but but it it turns us into different people. it it changes us with the power of the holy spirit. In conjunction, changes us. It grows our character. But what do you have to do to guard your house? You have to understand what you let in your house is what you will live with. Right? What you let in house is what you'll live with. I have a I have 2 cats at my house. You know why? because I ended up feeding them. Right? Once you have a cat, once you feed it, it's yours. Right? So This is what I've learned. Right? So that what you let into your house, that's what you're gonna live with. Right? So we have 2 cats in our house. Right? Now the thing is that what you have to guard then in your house are people, right? Who you let in your house, presence, the kind of spirit you let in your house, felt the kind of teaching your led in your house. What posture or the attitude that you bring in your house and this is, the things that go on in your house. That we're all called to to watch these kinds of things. Right? Because, you know, somebody comes and knocks on the door and says, hey, you know, I'm raising funds for a mission and you know, I I I wanna be supportive and and I have been and and but you know, to be honest, nowadays I ask for what kind of group can I see the literature? I read the thing and you know have been cults that have come to the door. Right? Have come to the door asking for money. The last thing I wanna do is is give money to a cult. Right? And because you're not embarrassed to ask. Right? In fact, they're trying to hide these things and couch it. So I read it carefully and I sometimes I've called the number. Right? I I I talk to a person because people will come, they are looking and to some of the people who whether not always cult or not always false teaching, but sometimes just people who are trying to pray financially on the kindness of believers. Right? We ought to be wise. the the Jesus said for us to be as gentle as doves, but what? As wise as serpents. So we need to be discerning in this aspect. Because when you invite that kind of a person, you invite that kind of a spirit into your home. The thing that we ought to manage well in our house is what's the spirit in our home. What's the what's kinda like the mood or the atmosphere in our home? If you have a like an angry kind of a tone in your You don't have to have that. Right? If you have a discouraging or kind of a dark tone in your house, that's not what God wants to bring in your house, that that scripture, it it says to us that when Jasmine said today, it's like when we prayed, it's like there was a change in the atmosphere. Sometimes we need to change the atmosphere. Some of us we need to change the climate in our home, by what we by what we do, by what who we let in, by what we do in our house. Right? But but you know what? Worship in your house. Right? Play play music that that in that lifts your spirit not drags you down. You know, I going to the the gym, nowadays not so much at 24 hours, but in the old days, you know, you go to a gym and they would just be like, super hard driving rock, kinda like, you know, like all the power cords. I I I grew up with that kind of power cord rock act right, hard rock. And it's like, it was great because it just pump you up. Right? And then later on, it was rap music. And I would go into the gym and I just like, you're listening to all this music. You're getting angry You know what I mean? Like, now I gotta get angry at this, like, and that's not the spirit I wanna walk out with. Right? That's not the mood I I have in my house. And that's not the mood I wanna bring back to my house either. Anybody here ever have a bad day at work? Oh, theoretically. No. But, you know, I'm like, yeah, we've all had a bad day at work. Right? I I don't know what your bad day is. Sometimes it's a traffic going in or the traffic coming home. Sometimes the the client that you dealt with or a disagreement with your boss or whatever it is. Right? Can I give you like this is a bad day for me? I I ministered to a family who lost a child. That's a bad day. Because they're angry, they're grieving. Right? They're they're they're devastated and I understand that. I you know, I'm a human being too. So I walk into debt, I'm affected by that. Right? And I'm but I'm trying to bring hope encouragement and comfort. But sometimes I'm just listening. I'm just being with them. Right? And and to be honest, I I'm a dad too. So when people you walk with that, sometimes we wonder what would we do? How would we handle it? If I lost a child. They would be devastating. Right? So I'm driving home kind of carrying this thing. And I cannot walk into the house depressed or discourage or just kinda heavy and and the kids, you know, at that time, the kids, you know, kinda younger. So like, daddy, come home and be like this. Hey, get away from am not in the mood. You know what I mean? I didn't want to bring that into my house. So this is what I do on the drive when I have a hard time. I am taking all of those burdens that have I've taken on my shoulder, and I'm giving all that to Jesus. I'm saying, you know, lord, that family, my friends that are there, I know I cannot change that situation. I cannot take away their hurt. but I'm I'm bringing them before you, before the tone of grace. Would you pour out your grace on them? I cannot carry this load. It is too for me. I'm just I'm I'm giving it to you. I'm just charging all of that as I'm driving. That's what I'm doing. I'm praying. I'm trying to kinda give that to on. There's times I pull up into my driveway. And I know I'm still carrying stuff and I just don't wanna walk in and be like so distracted or angry or whatever. And so to be honest, literally, I will stay in my car I will lay all that at at Jesus feet before I get out and go in the house. And literally, I will, at times, put my hand on the wall and say, Lord, if I need to pick because sometimes you gotta pick this up again. Right? But I don't want it to ruin the rest of my night with my family. I I lit put it on the like I put my hand on the door outside and they say, Lord, I'm gonna hang this here the best that I can. If you want me to pick it up tomorrow when I leave, I'll do that. And you know why? because I wanna change my attitude when I walk in the house. That makes sense? Because I am responsible for the attitude and the spirit in my own home. Right? And so he's talking about this in the church. Be careful. what you're with the people and the presence, the philosophies and teachings, your attitude and your practices. So for some of us, can I just ask this, it's just maybe in your own house. What do you watch? What do you listen to? You know, what do you watch on what do you watch on TV or cable or or streaming Netflix or whatever it is. What are you watching on social media and and voices that you listen to, whether it's a podcast or the books that you read, the music that you listen to. Right? Because all of us have a propensity towards something. Right? All of us have a leaning towards something. Anybody here that you grew up watching like super spooky movies. Everybody grew up watching spooky movies? Yeah, I I did too. We loved them. You know, but they were terrifying. Like, literally in Waihua, I used to run home from the theater because we didn't wanna walk home. We're like ten years old back then. You just go by the movies to the with your by your friends with your friends by yourself that my parents didn't go. But when you watch those spooky movies, we used to end up running home sometimes because we'd scared, you know, on the way home. Right? I kinda that adrenaline rush from watching all that stuff, but later on, you know what? That was the hard part of that is that led me to do other things like like, you know, we would go to places and, you know, go to that like the, go to like places that dare stuff and and we had experiences, right? And played like Ouija board, all that stuff. I needed deliver in from those things when I came to Jesus. I didn't realize it when I came to Jesus, but there was a lot of kinda leftover stuff on me. I needed to clear that off. I don't know if that makes sense. Right? And so everybody has that but even now if I'm not careful like, there's a spooky spooky movie. There's a little bit of wanting to watch that. You know why I don't wanna watch it? I don't wanna let that in my house. I don't wanna let that in my soul. Right? I don't wanna let I don't wanna have an opening to those kinds of things. What is for you. For many men is what we watch physically, right? That that can pull our hearts that way. You know, I was talking with my kids about that. I said, hey, I I'm my boys, and they're young men now. But when they were in their teens, I'd say, hey, what are you gonna do if your friend shows on his phone and there's like videos of naked ladies. And you know I'm talking to my kids. Right? So they're super uncomfortable. The what the heck is dad talking about? Right? Say, I wouldn't look at it. I wouldn't look at it. I don't wanna see that. And I said to them, you know, if I you know what's gonna you know what? How dad would be? I would wanna look at it. I would wanna look at it because once I see it, it's like something like a magnet that's drawing into that. And and so this is why this is why we don't have that stuff in our house. because if we had that stuff in our house, I would wanna look at it. In other words, I put a guardrail around it because I know I will never I'm not I'm not struggling with porn but if it was right in front of me, I would wanna look at it. And if you are just being a board, that's what you're gonna wanna do. So let's not pretend you're not gonna wanna do it. You're gonna wanna do it. That's why you don't let it on your phone. That makes sense. Right? That's what I'm telling my kids because that's the reality. They're gonna wanna look at it. Right? And so would I? So I have to have a guardrail. around my house. If you ever driven down the road and late at night and you're a little tired, you guys ever been driving and all of a sudden you go, and then you wake up. You know what I'm talking? You hit those reflectors on the thing. Before you hit the usually there's a line. But you don't feel anything when you cross the line. It's visual. Right? Until you hit those reflectors, then what happened? There's a little vibration. Right? And that's a wake up call. Some of us, when you cross the you don't feel a thing. It's a visual thing. You see that you cross the line. You don't feel the effects till you hit the reflectors. If you ignore the reflectors, hopefully there is a guardrail. Right? But even if there is guardrail. If you hit it, it's a wreck. But the hope is you're still alive. Right? God doesn't want you to have a wreck in your life. So this is what he'll do. He'll place reflectors. And sometimes you cross a line, you know cross the line, you just don't care that you cross the line. Because there's no effect. But this is when you're hitting those reflectors, you're feeling the shaking. Right? We're relationships, people. You're something about your job. You you peace, all of that. You start feeling the shaky. My guess is this morning, some of You're feeling the shaking. Would you take that as God's grace for you because he's trying to avoid a wreck in your life? Right? And so this is this aspect that we need to be careful. We need to put up our guard. This is how I know. This is one of the things I say how I check. If I know that should I be doing something or be doing something. Is I ask myself this, how do I feel when I'm doing it and how do I feel after it? Like for instance, I I get together with some friends. And we went through this kind of a situation together where it it was, you know, it was a hard situation and and so afterwards they were complaining about it and ended up turning from kinda commiserate together to complaining. And then to gossip. And like I after a while, I felt like this, I came back from that time of getting together with those friends, which was started out with just talking story and laughing to later on at the end of that conversation, I felt like I needed to take a shower. You know what I mean? I just felt dirty like, oh my gosh. What am I purchasing? They're pastors too. Right? How am I guys know that doesn't matter. Right? If you don't listen to the warnings, right, you kinda step past the line. And so I just said, oh, you know what? I cannot do that anymore. Right? And I needed to I needed to tell them and I needed to just kinda avoid that situation till it kinda they got over that we used to hang out again. Right? But this is how it says it in the scriptures

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:11]:

in Galatians 5 19.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:13]:

Because what ever you do will either lift you up. Sometimes it's flat, but but to be honest, sometimes it's neutral but but often times negative. Because it's this. Ask yourself this. When you do whatever it is and when you experience whatever it is that you let into your house, how do you deal. Does it inflame your sinful nature or does it inflame your spirit? Does it raise your spirits or does it bring you down? He says, when you the desires of your sinful nature, the results are really clear. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcerer hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension. Decension means division and discord. Right? And then the next word it says the vision, the literal translation of that is cutting in half. Is it cause separation? Is it cause separation of of of of spouses, separation in in in relationships, envy, drunken, as wild parties and other sins like these. Right? Let me tell you again as I have before that anyone living that sort of life will now inherit the kingdom of God. If I feel more inclined to these things, sometimes I think and I I don't think I should be letting that in my house. I don't think I should be watching that on my phone because it's I I see its effect. That makes sense? That's why I encourage to you that that place a guardrails, not a guardrails, but but place some things around you because you have to have a filter. in this world because there's a lot of things that will offer you for free until you're hooked. Right? Free has a price. Right? Free has a price. So in the old days, we just used to say garbage in, garbage out. Right? Because what you think and what you let into mind and what you lend into your heart. It's gonna somehow express itself in your life over time. Amen? Amen. And then he goes he's gonna come to his clothes and he says this. I have much more to say to you, but I don't wanna do it with paper and ink. For I hope to visit you soon and talk with you, what? Face to face. Right? Because writing a letter that was, you know, that was the greatest technology they had to communicate with people who aren't face to face. Today, we have streaming. Today, you you can social me media. You can zoom. You can FaceTime. Right? You can do whatever. You can connect over a vast distances, but he's saying something. He's saying that that a lot of things are best communicated through relationship, not just through technology. And so he's saying this that although I have more to say, there's some things I just wanna get together and let's just talk. And he says, what? then our joy will be complete. And so, we encourage people to get together face to face wise, because one, is isn't it Don't you receive the truth a little different in person than you do just watching online. Right? Right? The fact that you can pray together, we had a prayer circle in here. And last night, I got to pray with some folks of some pretty heavy tough. And I just put my hand on my friend's shoulder and we we came be brought it before the Lord and claimed in his authority. I said, you know the thing if you had sent that in as a text, we would pray for it just the same but you would never have heard the prayer. Right? And you would never have had that hand on your shoulder. Right? And you would never have sensed that sense of community. Right? But we would have prayed for you. You just would have known. Right? And so that's what we're asking you guys, come join us. Right? Because that's there's this aspect face to face. And the other thing is this. So that you can't receive the message as fully as you in person, but the other thing is you cannot be the hand like some of you were in our prayer circle on somebody else's shoulder, right, that that you're not just your joy is not complete, but somebody else says joy could be fuller, right, in that face to face. And so that's what he says. Sometimes we're standing and we're bearing one another's burden. Sometimes we're rejoicing in the good things and sometimes just the fact that we're doing a life together. That's what he And so that's the message. Does that make sense? Short book but pretty big message. This mower heads we're gonna close an order prayer. But before I do, I'm sorry. I wanna I wanna just hear this thing. This is Why does he say face to face? I'm sorry. I went to share this. Because this is this is God's heart, face to face. This is the Ben addiction. This is the blessing that Moses Prays for the people of Israel. he says this, may the Lord bless you and keep you? May the Lord make his face to shine on you, and may he give you his favor and give you his peace? Because you know the this aspect of face to face me God, look at you that when you're struggling, you know what God doesn't do? This is what God doesn't do. He doesn't say don't I can't look at you. I can't stand you. That's not how God does it. He pronounces blessing. I wanna see you face to face. Would you know that when you're struggling, God's showing you his face? We're just not see him because we're looking the other way. Right? And so he's saying this that God's heart for you is to have a face to face relationship. And so he's saying, how do you just have a face to face relationship with people? k. Let's close. Let's pray. father, we're thankful, the encouragement to to be faithful to the truth because the truth has always been faithful to us. it it was true before we believed it. It's true now that we believe it and father that we're thankful that truth is a guard for us. But father we all know that we ought to love today. Father, if there's some people right now, we're struggling to love. Lord, we don't have to change them. That's not our responsibility. Lord, you call us to love them. You you call us to encourage them to to accept them, to stand with them, bear their burdens. But yet at the same time God, give us wisdom. We need discernment because some of us we ought not to grace so that it it changes you. That some of us, Lord, that that there are things that you wanna us to watch that we let into our lives or we let into our homes. And if you're here this morning and then you're feeling the bumps because you're driving on that place. You're past the line. God's saying this. Would you just move a little more toward the center. Move closer to me. And father, we're thankful that in all of these things you give us grace and mercy. Would your peace guard your people's hearts as your face shines on you? We want to see you, Lord. Face to face. If that's you this morning and something that we talked about that you sense God speaking to you, would you just raise your hand to God and say God again? it. You're talking to me today. Lord, I heard the words from the pastor, but Lord, I heard words from you. Father, thankful that that you speak to your people. With our heads about eyes closed, if today you never said yes to Jesus, we just wanna give you an opportunity to do that. God wants to have a face to face relationship with you, but it starts with you saying, Yes to God. God already put out the offer. God has already extended his hand toward you. He's waiting for you to take it. If you're willing to take God's hand today, let's just tell them. That's you. Would you just pray? Father today, we come before you. And we're thankful that you extend your hand to us in Jesus. So Lord, today, I open up my heart, and I wanna receive you as my savior and my lord. I take your hand, lord Jesus, Would you lead me and guide me? Come live inside me today. Forgive me. Thank you that you died on the cross in my place. I put my trust in you. Help me to understand your will and your ways. Give me insight to the scriptures as I read them? And would you bring people along my pathway to encourage me and that I might encourage them? I say this now, so that you can hear me, that you are my savior and my lord. Lord, I say these things I can hear it and that Lord the world can hear. I belong to you in Jesus this name, because people say, Amen. Hey, man. Hey, God bless you guys. Thanks for joining us this morning.