Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:02]: I'm glad that we're not doing this on Thursday night because if we did, you guys will be all sleeping already. Right? Like, all full. I don't know about you guys, but, we probably had enough food for twice as many people, and it's not too bad because I twice as much as normal. No. But, and, you know, at the same time, there's good things that happen. I hope that you're grateful, but, you know, like, some of the things that I know, although there's people have been praying, and people have been trusting God for different things. But just can we just celebrate, that Jasmine, our frontline director, you guys see her often, whether up front, up here, or sometimes controlling stuff in the back and doing all those things. But they had, Josh and Jasmine had a healthy baby boy on Monday evening. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:46]: So can we just say congratulations to them? All Oh, what did I say? Boy? Oh, Leah. I know it's, I don't know what I'm saying, but I know her name is Leah. So, you know, just I know there was great rejoicing and, you know, the whole kind of a thing. And then we she FaceTimed us on Tuesday, all, in the office, and she looked all fresh and all, like, like, so happy and and the whole thing. But I knew that, like, just 12 hours before that, she probably looks super different. Right? And, just, you know, going through those things. But I remember when we had our our our 1st child, and, you're in the hospital, and then they they explain all the stuff that you're supposed to do. This is how you ask the baby. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:30]: This is how you this is how you kinda, tucked them in and the and in the, the blanket, and you kinda create this little cocoon. Day. To tell you all these things, and this is when you change the diaper and then watch for this, and this is like and then you start breastfeeding things and and all that. And then I just remember when we went home, we were like, wait. What did they say? You know? And that's just a stress level. And the thing is that when you pray for something, when you receive it, it's good. But sometimes you guys ever notice, it's like when you receive what God's that's given to you, there's just so much more. Right? There's so much more that needs to be done. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:07]: There's so much more that we we learned it along the way. And to be honest, set. We've as we've been going through this aspect of kingdom and the kingdom of God, the understanding that God's called you to be a all part of his kingdom that God's called you to be a part of his family, to be his representative, that would you know that there's just way there's just way more. And so this evening, I wanted to, continue that by talking about then what do we do now? And so I just remember that. Bringing home the babies, bringing home the kids, and it's like all of a sudden, man, just the panic set in because we knew there was more to do. And to be honest, you know what? Nobody else could do what we were called to do for this child. And this child, this place, you guys know what I'm talking about? Right? You can have supporters. You can have encouragers. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:55]: You can have cheerleaders. You can have parents. You can have in laws that all want to help, but you know that, to be honest, that there's a different role in a different responsibility that when you're a parent. Right? That to steward that. In the same way, to be honest, we're gonna see that in some ways, as we go through our our time together. And, one of those things is that sometimes it's so easy to forget that when we were all called when we're called to Jesus. Yes. We're called to a personal relationship with God. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:26]: Yes. We're called to grow in him. Yes. We're called to get to know him more, but that there's some things that kinda that kinda we can't see beyond the veil. And and and it's sorta like when I was talking about that some of us were that we're in the fog, and you cannot see beyond the fog. You know Jesus is on the other side. All right? You know that he's leading you forward. But there's something that we're we don't really see that well. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:51]: It's like in the next life. Right? Now how many of you guys? Right? Like, I don't know about you guys, but I never been to heaven. Anybody have been to heaven? Okay. Okay. You know? Because if you did, you coulda come up, just share a little bit. But I no. I've never been. Now I know that the scripture Alter talks about it. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:05]: But to be honest, does it give us, like, a ton a ton of detail? It doesn't. Right? And so you hear stories and people and peep stories about all people who who died came back to life, and they tell about all these amazing things. But one of those things that we probably don't see all is the fact that what happens on that calling that's beyond this life. And I I wanna talk about that a little bit because we talked about that the kingdom of oh, God. It's not just heaven, but it includes heaven. The kingdom of God is not just the church. It's not just Israel. It's not just God's plan. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:40]: It's all but it's it's all of that, but that there's a calling in our life, and there's a calling in your life, for beyond what you can expect, beyond what you can even imagine. And I I just wanted us to to read together in, Ephesians 1. And I know I don't know. I why I have it. It says 4 to 11. It's and we're reading actually from verse 9. But but would you do me a favor? Because, yeah, that would be long. But, do it fair. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:09]: Let's stand in reverence for God and reverence for his word. All and then it says this. Let's read. Ready? Begin. God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding cries. Well, let's stop for a moment. You know what a mystery is? A mystery is something that has yet to be revealed in the scriptures that when you read, this is the mystery. In other words, that we we don't see clearly. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:39]: God said all somethings, and we see something, but, like, we don't really see beyond that. So there's a a mystery, but then he he's gonna explain this mystery. He says, let's continue on, which is to fulfill his own good plan, and this is the plan. At the right time, he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ. Everything in heaven and on earth. And furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we haven't received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan. All. And so he's saying that, hey. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:17]: You know, like, he's gonna bring it all together one day. It's like sometimes we see the world, we see God's all planned, and it's fragmented. It's like you see a little bit here. You see a little bit here. You see a little bit here, and it it's like a puzzle piece puzzle pieces. You I'll see some things clearly. You don't always know how everything fits together. You don't know how what the even that sometimes what the real big picture looks like. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:39]: But this is the biggest this is the part where he's trying to bring all this together, and this is a it's a strange thing, but it says this in in second Timothy 212 and 13th. I'm gonna ask us to read that as well. He says this. Let's read. Ready? Begin. If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. If we deny him, we will reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:03]: If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful for he cannot I'll deny who he is. And would you do me a fair? Just look at that middle portion in the in that first verse, he says, we will all reign with him. And what that's saying is that you and I, that we are called to rule and reign with Christ. That, yes, god is king. There's only 1 god. There's only 1 king. That's god is king. But guess what? That God likes to share the power. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:34]: God likes to involve people. God likes to get people partnership, and this is a and and and I we wanna talk little bit about this, but God's purpose wasn't that you just get to heaven, but that you're gonna have some authority in heaven. You're actually gonna rule and and and have some leadership in heaven. You're gonna have influence in heaven. Now you might not feel qualified, like, right now to do that. Right? I'm gonna guess some of us, we don't feel qualified to do that, but this is part of being in God's kingdom is God's training ground for not this life, but for the next life as well. So before you're seated, just turn to your neighbor and says, you're made for influence, and then you can have a seat. All Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:22]: You're made for influence. You're made to have influence, lord, in in this world as well as in the next world. Because God's purpose in our redemption and when he sent out to do this was that we would rule with him over his creation. That's off the beginning that we see even in Genesis that that God called us to rule and reign on this planet, on this realm, of course, we've made our mistakes. We kinda messed it up. But here's the thing, that that purpose was never thwarted. It's just being now fulfilled in different ways that we're called to rule with Christ and share in the inheritance this that God has for us as his adopted sons and daughters. The reign of God, the kingdom of God extends its will on earth off through Jesus. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:12]: Right? The God man, the Christ that yet it says this, that when you do, there's a partnership that God desires partnership. And it is throughout the scriptures that we we see it it it says that when god made man, he says, let us make oh, man, in our image, we talked a little bit about the scriptures indicate, though, at the same time, there's gonna be a big conflict that happens, toward the off end of kind of, time on earth the way that we we count time. And it's gonna be between the kingdom of the kingdom of light against the domain of darkness. And and this conflict that is already raging and unsettled in some ways all will be established when Jesus returns. Now this aspect is is talked about in Revelation 20, and and and tonight, I'm gonna just all not have enough time to actually talk about everything chapter and verse, take a look at it. And, but I I'm I'm just gonna say, and you can take a look at this at Revelation chapter 20. But in Revelation chapter 20, there is this portion where it's after the battle of Armageddon. It's after these kinds of things, and it says then that Satan is taken in verse 1. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:25]: It says that Satan is taken, and he's bound for a 1000 years, and that Christ will rule and reign on earth for a 1000 all ears. Now I I I wanna talk a little bit about it this because and and this is a little different the first half, especially, of the message is a little different because I don't necessarily get into something like this. It's usually in a class. I'll get into something like this, that that there are different views that are related how all people interpret this aspect in Revelation 20. And and there are 3 typical views through the 3 major views. That one's supreme millennial of you, the amillennial of you, and the postmillennial of you, which is one of the reasons why I don't talk about it that much in this kind of a setting. But, this it makes well for classrooms. But I I wanna just give you a kind of a a Reader's Digest version. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:17]: Some of you guys have no idea what Reader's Digest. I wanna give you the abbreviated version, of that. Right? It just shows you how old I am. I remember reading Reader's Digest when I was a kid. But it says the first is this, the premillennial view. And so the premillennial view is is that the millennial kingdom, the 1000 year reign is a very literal thing. It's like literally 1000 years, and that Jesus will return to establish his kingdom. The world will be all messed up from the world, but then he's gonna set everything all straight. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:53]: There's it's gonna be messed up from judgment, but it's gonna be, like, the flowers in the, you know, in the desert. It's gonna be the the Dead Sea is renewed. Dude, it becomes flowing. Like, it talks about in Ezekiel that it's gonna the fresh it's gonna be it's gonna turn to fresh water, and there's gonna be life that springs up in the desert. This kind of a thing is called the premillennial view, and and that then when Jesus comes back, all just it's like heaven on earth. It's like heaven on earth. And then there's this amillennial view. And the amillennial all view of Revelation 20, is is it's it's a little it's the opposite of the premillennial view in it takes a very figurative view. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:35]: So it's not they they don't say it's a really a 1000 years. It's like, you know, it's like a a long time. That's basically what this it's a really long time. We don't know how long. But and so what they're saying is that Christ is already ruling. Right? He's already ruling, and it's true that Jesus is ruling in some sense, but they're saying that this all is the kingdom. So when it says amillennial, it means non not millennial. Right? So it's saying it's not literally a 1000 years. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:07]: But ever since Jesus died on the cross, rose from the grave, we've kinda entered this time, and then this, the gospel goes out that that it will incur a sense of change and transformation in society, and this is actually the kingdom. And and so and then the last 1 is the postmillennial. And the postmillennial then it's saying it it's it's similar to the amillennial in some ways, but it's saying that there will be a return of Christ and that he will establish his kingdom, on earth, but, it'll be a great time of prosperity and change, and, you know, society will be changed and transformed, and that will kinda help engender the return of Christ. Right? So it's different from the Amillennial, which says that, to be honest, it's just kinda continuing and getting better and better and better. Now Amillennial view went out of, kind of widespread belief in the earlier part of 20th century. Can you imagine why? Because there were these things called World War 1 and World War 2. And instead of the world getting better and better and better, that would seem like it was getting better and better and better, and then the world seemed to go to hell. Right? And then 20 years later, all the same thing happened again. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:36]: Right? It's crazy. So our millennial view went out of kind of a favor, but, you know, because also for a lot of us, we it doesn't square with the way that we see the world. Right? How many of us that when you look at the world, you're just saying it's getting better and better and better? That's probably the opposite, right, that we're we're all wondering. And so I wanna kinda give some comments about this. And one of those things is like, hey. Whatever view you have and some people, you know, you the they you've actually come from a pretty structured, theological belief. And so people people have come to the church, and they ask me, what's your view of the millennial? And I like, when I hear that, I was like, oh, wow. That's like a totally different well, normally, we're asking about kids ministry. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:15]: We're talking about we're we're talking about small groups or that kind of stuff. So when somebody walks in. And I remember 1 guy said, well, we're premillennial. I'm premillennial. Right? And the guy is like, oh, I really like this church. He's saying all that. Then when he premillennial, he all like, oh, I'm we're postmillennial. I was thinking, wow. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:33]: That's so weird to me that you would just say, church. We love the people, but because of this view, people, you they they doubt that they couldn't fellowship. And so this is what one of the things I would say. Hey. Whatever view you hold, I mean, that's fine with me. These are all they're considered orthodox views. Right? And there's been some sense of, kind of, uncertainty. And so whatever view you hold, to be honest, I said I'm premillenial, but you know what? This is the good news. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:02]: If I'm wrong wrong. If I'm wrong, if it's postmillennial or something else, you know what? It doesn't it doesn't affect my salvation. Right? So if you don't know what it is. Like, you know, it doesn't affect your salvation. You're already saved. Right? Jesus doesn't by the way, I I mean, believing the right thing about Jesus is important. But you know what? The thing is every one of us have something we believe about Jesus that all it's not right. You just don't know what it is. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:31]: Right? And you know what? Jesus doesn't look at you and say when when we stand before him, he's gonna say, k. Did you believe in the virgin birth? Did you believe that I, not only that I was created apart from the physical kind of normal way of of conception, but also that I lived a perfect life. And and and you go through the list, and then you go and do you believe that the devil is a physical not a physical, but is a is a spiritual being? He's not an imagine, and then you go like, I don't know. Do you know what god won't do? He's like, oh, shocks. You gotta go to the other line. He doesn't do that. Right? You know why? Because to god, oh, god. There's this thing we talked about in the past is has said. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:11]: That's very it god's a big deal to god. It's called all that has said in the in the Old Testament we see is God's faithful covenantal love. All and that when he's saying this, basically, are you faithful to love me back? I'm I'm I'm loving you. I'm promising. When you love me back, that matters more than, to be all this. Then some of then some of the things that you got wrong. Aren't you glad that, to be honest, that's how God sees it? I believe that God god's has said that it's not that just God gives faithful love in covenant. This is what God wants all from us. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:51]: I'm not saying that he doesn't care about, like, us working hard to kind of figure out the best that we can. All but just the reality is all of us believe something that is probably not right. We just we don't know, and it's it's not the big deal. It's not the big deal where the god is real, where the scripture is is the word of god, you know, that kind of a thing. So that makes sense. I just wanted to preface that. So here's some things I think about the different views. I was raised in the faith premillennial. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:20]: Now the thing thing is that you don't realize that you are too, probably, if you grew up in the faith in this church. You're you're influenced by this view. Now when I grew up, though, one of the things that pre millennial was talking about is because Jesus is coming back, he's gonna I'll change everything. Basically, the world is corrupt, and so one of the things that they were saying is that, you know what? Just gotta save as many souls as possible. All Right? If that's the case, we just gotta save as many souls as possible. I still believe that, obviously. Right? I hope you guys believe that too, because people's eternal salvation is is incredibly important. It's the most important thing, I think. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:01]: But some of the results all of that was they said this that, you know what? Make sure that you pull away from the world so that you can be stronger in Christ, that you can reach more people for Christ. And so one of the things is that we abandoned, in some ways, the world because we we wanted to the highest the highest call was a call to ministry. The highest call was there's a position in some sense in the church, is it? That was kind of the highest call. But the thing is, I I think the difficulty is all that that the world matters. The world matters. Right? And and the other part is then when people would talk about that, they would just say it kinda like the response would be at times, but, you know, like, there's an old saying this, nobody polishes the brass on a sinking ship. You know, like, if the ship is sinking, nobody's he's gonna try to make it look shiny, and that's how they viewed that's how they viewed the world. And so here's the thing that that is good though. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:05]: It's talking about personal relationship with God, talking about salvation, all that. That's huge. Now the postmillennial of you, because there's no real future kingdom. I'm I'm the our millennial view, tends to dismiss, to be honest to me, too much of the biblical all narrative, it doesn't square with reality. It it there's I'm sorry. This if this is as good as it gets, then heaven kinda sucks. Right? Like, like, I mean, the this is this is not quite the square. But I think the postmillennial view has a lot to offer in some ways because it although it does talk about it should increase, it should change that with the preaching of the gospel awful and people experiencing change that but there's a sense that we need to make a difference in the world and and that we ought to transform culture. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:54]: And if you've go ever gone to a hospital anywhere around the world, not so much in Hawaii because I don't really see it in Hawaii, but on the mainland, in Japan, different places in Asia, I've been, unfortunate. Sometimes I just had to get connected with these situations, not necessarily for me personally, but I've been even in different countries that so often a hospital's name is prefaced with saint. This this is Saint Mark's. Right? Saint Jude. God's Saint Jude. You know, like that. Right? So the these things why is that? Because, to be honest, you know who started those hospitals was Christians. Right? And and around the world in Japan, some of the biggest hospitals that I've like, giant hospitals, and there's tons of them even in my wife's hometown. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:37]: Saying whatever. And it's like because that when missionaries went, they said, we want to help and bring healing and hope off to the nation, and so they did that. Right? So they believed in kind of this aspect of culture somehow being all form. And so what I think is probably appropriate in some ways is for us to take the best of both and bring that to combined. Because I think people's salvation is critical and important. And that, to be honest, at the end for that person, it's probably, like, the most important decision in their life. Right? It's the most important decision by far in their life. All but I think the part that what we need to be reminded of is that we cannot just abandon the world because the world matters. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:28]: You guys agree the world matters? Right? That, to be honest, when you see suffering in the street, it matters. Right? And and so sometimes in the for a long time, many of our the churches that, like, we fellowship with are friends. And and to be honest, most of the ones who you would say today are growing or or doing well. To be honest, that sometimes when we started, we we were just about soul all winning. Right? And not so much about feeding the poor, not so much about making a difference in that kind of a way. Over time, we learned that, you know what? All, Yeah. Heaven is a real deal, and we're gonna go there. And one day, we're gonna rule and reign with but we gotta make a difference on this world as well. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:14]: And so God's working this, right, because we were we we mentioned, it's it's bigger than bigger than heaven, bigger than the church, bigger than Israel. But that you and I in this world, then you're God's representative. Right? You're God's representative. Is it says it like this. Paul said it like this in 2nd Corinthians 520. He says, so we are Christ's ambassadors. Let's say the word ambassador. Ambassadors. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:40]: God is making his appeal through us, and we speak who? For all price when we plead, come back to God. And so what is an ambassador? It's a representative from another kingdom. You represent another kingdom. You represent a different king than the king of this world. You represent a different leader, then whoever leads your nation or your country or your city or or your company or whatever it is that you can say. Right? So that you're an ambassador. And and so as ambassadors, as representatives, there's influence that you steward. Right? You you steward influence. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:24]: So do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor and just say that you gotta remember you're a representative. And then yeah. All Represent. Right? You're an ambassador that you represent a different kingdom. Sometimes what does that mean? It means that, you know what, my my home country's rules are different than than the country that I live in. Right? All now you would you guys know this that, you know, that wherever, like, an ambassador travels, to be honest, he's immune in some ways from the things of the laws of that land. Because wherever he goes, he's an envoy for his government. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:05]: Right? He's a representative of his government. And so to be honest, in New York, this is what happens. You get diplomatic people. All they speed. They break the law. They don't get arrested. They don't no. I'm not talking about they go murder or whatever, but, like, when they they break civil laws like that. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:24]: They they run a red light. They do whatever. They don't get ticketed. They don't get pulled into the police station. You know why? Because they're the representative from the thing. I'm not saying that you guys should, on the way home, go 90 miles an hour down the freeway. Hey, Glenn said, I'm a representative. I mean no. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:39]: That's not what I'm saying. But I I'm saying that, that in some ways, that we respond to a different call. Right? Now, a number of years ago, in 1975, there were 2 men, who had a vision that basically kinda like the same time, a couple days our 1 guy's name was Bill Bright. Some of you guys know him. He was the founder and president of Campus Crusade For Christ and a guy named Loren Cunningham. And Lauren Cunningham was the founder and president of YWAM, Youth With A Mission. And, and some of you guys know I was on staff at Campus Crusade for, for, like, 9 years, after I graduated from college. And so when these 2 guys, they had a dream, Bill Bright first, that he called Lauren Cunningham all and and told him, hey. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:30]: I had this dream. I had this vision that that as I was praying for the world, that God said that there's these things that we need to do to attend to to to win the world to Christ, to make a bigger influence in the world. And Loren Cunningham had just had a vision himself the day before, and he said, like, man, this is a weird got appointed thing. And they got altogether, and they looked at the list of the things that they they they would receive, and it was basically the same thing. Now without talking to one another. The names might have been slightly slightly different, but, basically, it was the same thing. And in these separate sessions, later on, even a guy named Francis Schaeffer some of you guys might know who Francis Schaeffer was in in Switzerland, and led all the, a community of saints and huge influence in actually, kinda kinda discipleship movement and all of this aspect. He came up with the same thing. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:31]: He said at the same time. Just about all are on the same time. Now what was this influence list that they they came up with. 7 categories, 7 spheres of influence, 7 sectors in society that they sell they God was calling them that we have to reach in order for the gospel to be most represented on the planet. All and so this was their list. Let's read them together. The church, the family, education, government and law, media, arts, and then commerce, science and technology. Right? So those were what they saw. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:14]: Now the according to that, when they when they had this vision and so this is not gospel because this is not in the Bible. But this is one of the things that was fueling that in them is that it says in Isaiah 22, it says, in the last days, the mountain of all Lord's house will be highest of all, the most important place on earth, and it will be raised above the other hills, and people from all over the world will stream there to worship. And what it's talking about is that they they they looked at it like mountains, and and it's just saying these the all mountains in the scriptures are sometimes it's a place where the gods live, and sometimes it's this aspect of kind of blessing, this place of favor. And so the mountain of the Lord is the is the best of all is the highest of all. But it's saying this, that the peoples all of different mountains will come and worship at the mountain of the Lord. Right? And so they're saying that there's different mountains. And so sometimes this initially was called kind of like the the, the 7 mountains or 7 mountains to be taken. Now all that I think the the reality is that what we're really talking about is spheres of influence. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:25]: Right? So maybe that's a better to me, a better term. Or these 7 sectors of society that are instrumental in molding the way people behave and think. And so sociologists might talk about it that there are all sectors that that influence the way a group of people, a a country, a society behave and what becomes normal in them. Right? That and it it talked about, basically, these 7 sectors, right, in sociology. All and so, and, you know, I being on staff with, Kent State, Bill Bright never talked about sociology. You never but he this is the thing that he received. Now I think most of us, we can see very clearly that these 7 things affect the way awful think. Right? That if you've ever kind of, been in the place where you wanted to be a professional athlete. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:20]: Why is that? Because the influence of sports. Right? The influence of sports and entertainment. You ever wanted to be I wanna be a movie star. I wanna be a singer. I wanna like, if you've ever wanted to be like that, then to be honest, we know that influence. Right? Sometimes you know the influence of, some of us grew up in the time when people said to us, you know, one day you could grow up to be the president if you really everybody was told that by your parents. Right? Okay. Yeah. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:49]: Or maybe that generation, but, like, some of us would like, you can be anything you wanna wanna be, but, you know, like, you can be the governor or you can be a senator or whatever. Why is that? Because we understood instinctively that government does affect a lot of the way that people live. Right? Today can teach us to either love our neighbor or kill our neighbor. Right? Like, all you gotta do is look at what's happening in Israel and the Gaza Strip on the strip today that neighbors were not taught to love one another, but was taught. It's okay to kill in the name of their god. And so, what faith or religion teaches matter? And how many of us today, if you're looking at public school, even many of us that working in the public school sector like, to be honest, even though we sent I raised my kids. We all, all, you know, they we all had my kids. All of my kids went through public school. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:48]: And somebody asked, well, don't you believe in Christian school? I said, I absolutely believe in Christian school. I just had public school budget. Right? So that's the reason why we have that. Like, we're excuse me. We couldn't have a house and both. Right? So, we couldn't do that. But to be honest, I saw what was being taught in terms of, in terms of what they talk about in terms of family or sexuality or practices. And today, what we see in the school, to be honest, is so much fueling the things that we're seeing today, because of things that were taught 20 years ago, because of things that were taught over the the last decades. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:25]: Right? So we see these the influence of these aspects. And maybe what we've seen in the last few years is when these spheres all all start to align, and they all start saying the same thing. So, like, in the pandemic when like, if you didn't have the vaccine, all right? You couldn't do stuff because the government said. Right? But who else started saying? The media started saying. Entertainment started saying the same thing. And, you know, all these guys start tweeting, and they start saying all this stuff. It's like you should and and it was all be be started to become crazy during the upheaval, during the riots, and when we saw that something that we most of us, we watch all sports and entertainment. You know why? Because we wanted to escape. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:11]: Right? It's a it's a nice reprieve from the rest the life. Right? We can watch the game. We can watch the fight. We can watch, you know, the movie. It takes us in a different place. But then what happened during that time all that it seemed like government and and then sports said you gotta kneel during the national anthem. And all and then all of a sudden, education started moving in concert, like, saying, hey. You know what? Like, oh, we would come out like all Black lives matter. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:41]: They're they're starting to teach people that in some schools, right, I I I'm I don't haven't heard it about here, like, being white, you're inherently racist versus, like, everybody else. And to be honest, that is insane. That itself is racist. Right? And and so but we saw this all alignment. And today, you know what? I I don't really think about it. I don't I don't feel guilty for kinda, like, all the equities in the world. Is it because I did everything perfect? No. Is it because Japanese people throughout history made everything perfect? No. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:18]: But you know what my friends have said off on the, like, on the mainland. A white guilt is real, and they're white. And all Because why? Because society starts saying that. I'm inherently oh, and you know what I mean? And we see all of this all upheaval, and we see all of these things coming together. Right? Because these aspects are probably They form our opinion. They form our view of the world. Now we mentioned that before that, the kingdom of God and a kingdom is that when the rule and reign of a king, his sovereignty that he possesses a rule over a domain, a realm. Right? So that it restarts to reflect his personality and his character after, and the culture and the the people become that way. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:12]: But the problem has become that when humanity fell, all that Satan invaded or usurped exercise in control over these sectors in in the all And so all of a sudden that that during this time that we start talk about the spirit of the world. We talk about these things that the the enemy is often ruling and reigning in these sectors. But I think our call is that as the part is representatives of God's kingdom is not simply to tell people about Jesus, although I think that's the most important part, frankly. All I still think it's the most important part. Because I don't know about you guys, but, you know, I had a conversation, with a person last week. And and the fact that the that I had an opportunity to tell him about Jesus, all his response to that will determine his eternal destiny. Nothing else that I talk about has any other relevance like that. Right? All right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:23]: You talk about fishing. I talk about food, cooking. I can talk about sports. I can talk about what whatever, but has no emphasis. We talk about business. We could talk about finance. It doesn't have the same effect. I think that's the most important part, but I think all One of the problems is that the church has somehow, in some ways, abandoned much of these sectors. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:51]: All and some of us that when we used to play music, we played music in the world. And the problem was, for some of us who used to play music in the overall. Is that when we're playing music in the world, we were it we were basically undistinguishable from the world. So I understand that some some of us, we had to come out of the world so that we could learn how to walk with Jesus. Right? But I think here's the thing is that we were never called to abdicate and say, hey. You know what? We just gotta focus on the church and to hell with the rest of the world. I think the world matters. I think the world matters. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:32]: Education matters. Academics matter. Government all matters. Right? Entertainment matters. Why? So many people get their information about the world from media, from entertainment. So many of us that we're this is what we see that when you ever you ever talk to kids today? Sometimes it's a little different. When I say kids, I I mean, like, young young adults. Like, sometimes 18 to all 25. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:04]: You know, when I grew up, nobody said, I wanna be a TikToker or a YouTuber one day. Right? That's like a different thing. Why is that? Just because the influence. Right? And, when we look at these things, all We cannot abandon them. I have been guilty. I have been guilty because I just of a sudden, I just gotta run my lane. Right? But here's the thing. Some of us, your call as a believer, you are part of the church. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:40]: But this is what I think we need to say is that it but if you are all called, in some sense, in the marketplace, in government, in in media. That that and if you as a representative of Jesus, the the reality is this. There's no higher call than wherever Jesus tells you to go. There's no higher call. The call to be a pastor is not higher than the call to be all in government, in education, right, in in business. Because why? Because of who called you. Because wherever Jesus calls you, that's the highest call there is. You guys agree with that? Yes. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:25]: Right? So the the reality is all that we need to learn how to walk in that call. Right? And so we're always you'll always be a part of the church, but we cannot just make everything about just the all function of what happens within the 4 walls. Right? We outside of the 4 walls. And so I think then that what we're saying is this. As the followers of Jesus, it's good that you worship. It's good that you get in the word. It's good that you learn how to pray and you pray for yourself and you pray for your family. That's good. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:07]: But that's not all that Jesus has called us to do. Right? All That that that I have a good family and, you know, that this is what God is saying as well, that your work matters. What you do from 9 all 5 or, you know, for some of us from, you know, 8 to 7. I don't know. Some of us work long days. Whatever that you do, all It matters. Because to God, work is not a dirty word to be avoided. But most of us, when we look at those 7 things, we find ourselves in more than one of those sectors. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:40]: Right? We find ourselves in more than one of those aspects. Because if you have family, you realize, wow, family's super important, right, that you're a believer. Look at where we are. We're in church right now. Right? All that what what about this aspect of education? Some of us like, we're all affected by education, but to be honest, some of you guys work in education. We we find ourself often several sectors. But here's here's the thing. When God made us, when God made people and, and, again, I know I'm not having time to give so much chapter and verse. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:13]: The 2 biggest things that you and I were made for was meaningful relationships and meaningful work. Right? In the beginning, when God created man, right, because he wanted to have a relationship, oh, shit. He came, and he called Adam in the garden by name. He was made for that. And then when he made his wife, when Eve was made, was also that they would have meaningful relationships. But the second thing was what? Meaningful work. You can write this down. I don't know if it's in your notes or not. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:43]: I forgot. Genesis 12728. Is that in your notes? Yes. Yeah. This is this is what it says. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he'd created him. Male and female, he created them, and God bless them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number. Fill the earth. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:01]: So it's not just talking about having kids, but then it says this, subdue it and rule over the fish of the and the birds of the air. Sometimes this is called dominion over the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. And so we were made for significant work. Significant relationships is critical, but you're also made for significant work. All So what's the takeaway from this? This is the last part of the message. So as a result then, we see that there's these 7 sectors, these 7 spheres. We know that we're got to rule and ring with Jesus. That in Christ, I believe that we're called to work hard, hard. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:47]: Right? And be the best you can be at work. I believe that that we're called to bring Jesus with us to work, not just for me to have my private prayer time at whatever I do in the privacy of my own home or my own church or whatever that that but I'm called to bring Jesus to work with me. But what does that mean that you preach the gospel all to all your coworkers in the email and then just send to to the office. No. That's not what it means. Or that you stand up in the middle of all staff meetings and say, well, Jesus wouldn't say no. That's not what I'm I I'm saying, but that what you do at work all matters to God. Can we be do we agree with that? Yes. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:33]: Yeah. Turn to your neighbor and say, what you do at work matters to God. What you do at work matters to God. I think it does. I think it matters hugely because God doesn't look at your life. For most of us, the activity that we do most in our waking hours is work. From at least from Monday to Friday, that's where we spend the vast majority all of our hours. And God doesn't say this. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:58]: You know what? When you pray and when you read the bible, you come church or you serve or you go small group, that's the important part. But the other part, those 40 hours or 50 hours or 60 hours doesn't matter. God would God doesn't it's not like that. All all of your life matters. It's because your work matters because your whole life matters. So what do we do? If we how do bring God to work. Can I say this? I think the first thing you should do is start praying for your company. All Start praying for your school. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:35]: Start praying for your office. Start praying for your team. Right? Start praying for our church. Praying for our government officials. Right? Praying for start but start where you go to work. Start where you go to work. Pray for all self, pray for your family. Right? Pray for our church, but pray for your company. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:57]: Why do we pray for all our company. Jeremiah, when he they were in exile, and they were called to live in Babylon. And the people of God were called to live in Babylon. Babylon was the like, just the that was the world. It was, like, the dirtiest, morally impure, religiously, kind of degradation for them. But this is what God told them in Jeremiah 29/6. It says this, and work for the peace and prosperity of where? The city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the lord for it. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:39]: For its welfare will determine whose welfare? Your welfare. First thing you do, pray for your company because all Your company doesn't prosper. You don't prosper. That's the first thing. Right? Your school doesn't prosper. You don't prosper. Right? If your division doesn't prosper, you don't prosper. And so start praying for your church. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:02]: Right? I mean, start praying for your job. Start praying for your work, all because it it matters. And to be honest, you know who else it affects? Everybody else who works at your company. All Right? Everybody else who that's how they get their paycheck. That's how they they make their living. But at the same time, have any of you that when you look at your company, you think that sometimes we could do with some change in our company, in our off school in our right? You look at that. You look at the leadership. You look at how moral it is. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:35]: You look at how, how how it values human effort and how it values human dignity and how it's honest and all of that. How many of us? Guess what? You start praying for that. Start praying for them. And, you know, local style, sometimes it's easy to go and complain about work. Right? Complain about your boss. Complain but I understand that part, but this is what God's call was. He says, pray for the prosperity of where you live, and I believe where you work as a result. All here's the 2nd part of that. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:09]: Gather with other believers at work. Gather with other believers at work. And what do you do when you gather? You know what? Pray for each other. Encourage one another and then pray for your company altogether. Why do we have to do that? Like, again, like, are are we supposed to just, like, kinda rob the company by talking about Jesus at work doing bible study at work. No. Let me do it off the clock. Right? Do it off the clock for some people. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:36]: Guys like Chad together every week, right, every week with with people oh, in the morning. Right? Before before the day starts, they gather. They pray for one another. They encourage one another, and and they pray for their school. And to be honest, we need to pray for your school too. But, like right? I I know other guys like like, Quentin at Gentry that that they they have a small group. He's he's the president of the company, all and you're not supposed to make, but they have a bible study. Right? And they prayed for one another, encourage one they pray for the company. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:17]: Gather together. You know why? Because some things matter. More than 1 person should be praying. More than 1 person should be praying. All and some of you guys say that who do I gather with? Like, again, gather with Christians, gather with people if as long as they believe in Jesus, they agree this is the word of God. Right? And, you know, they might have some different beliefs, different doctors. They might do this stuff differently than than we do them. But you know what? As long as they're as long just focus on the things you have in common, not the things that you have all Right? And and don't worry about those things, but gather together and pray with them. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:59]: I know some people, because they prayed at work. Their companies got the best contracts they ever got as a result, that people started coming to Jesus as a result, that stuff started to turn around as a result. Right? And so people got promoted as a result. Because he started gathering together with Christians that guess what? That if you want to influence that sphere start where you work because that's one of the things. That's one of the places. All Because we wanna be kingdom minded, not just I I mean, I I I think about this church, but I this is this is my primary calling. But we have to think about God's kingdom, and it gets affected by the people that, you know, at church gets affected by people who may never come to this church, but they should come to Christ. All Right? That that your company can be healthier. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:03]: It it would affect people's lives for for so many different ways. All and then I would say this, that this is the last part maybe in this, is consider God's call in your sphere of influence. In other words, that consider what God might be calling you to do in your in your work, in your academics, in, whatever those things would look like. And I I think that this this is the thing is that we have confused so often all in career and calling. And, you know, I've talked to some friends who you know, that they love the Lord and some great guys. And this 1 guy, he works in the medical field, and he's still working in the medical field. And so often he belittles what he does. Right? He belittles what he does. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:53]: He this guy helps people in such tremendous ways. I see the heart of God in him, all but somehow, he thinks that that what he does is just lesser than what, like, vocational ministry is. And I said to I've said to him many times I've said to him many times, man, look at what you do. Look at how you all healing into people's lives. Look at I see you, how you share the gospel. You go above and beyond. You you do stuff that they tell you you shouldn't do because just his heart of compassion. Right? Are you telling me that and then you serve in your church, and you you do all these things, and you serve people. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:31]: And it's like, are you telling me that's lesser of a call? If if that's what Jesus called you, how is that lesser? You just gotta be faithful to do what God's called you to do. Right? But we have confused career and calling. And some people you know, the saying goes, career is what we get all paid to do and as our calling is what we were made to do. But here's the the aspect. What if god all calling you to be successful at work. Now sometimes, we say this as almost like, we wanna balance quality of life. And I and I I've had that discussion with my kids. Off You know? They they wanna go into some professional medical fields, and I'm concerned because I want, like, my daughter if If she moves into the medical field, I I don't want her to be the kind like, when I talk to one of my doctors, I asked them, a few months ago, I asked him, hey. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:34]: What are you doing for the summer? And he was like, yeah. I don't want summer vacation. You know? I not 1 kid. And I said, oh, no. No. No. Not that. I just was wondering. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:41]: I know you're married, and I know you have kids. So I just wonder if you guys had any summer plans. And then he said this. He goes, oh, oh, man. Yeah. I do. I do have summer plans. I'm gonna take my daughter to his college tour, and, we're gonna, you know, go to a few different colleges, and they go, oh, wow. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:00]: It's awesome. He goes, yeah. I'll go be gone for 10 days. And he said this. He then he said to me, he all that's the longest vacation I've ever had in ever since I became a physician. And you know what I was thinking, like, man, I I I'm glad he loves what he does, and he's very good at what he does. All this. But is that what I want from my daughter? Like, you be 40 years old, and you've never had a vacation, all Like, that's over a week. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:35]: Yeah. I understand there's that aspect, but I just wanna day. So I'm not calling us to say to be a workaholic. But I think, what if god is saying to you, all I want you to get promoted because I want you to have more influence in this place. I want you to have more influence in this sector. Not saying that you cannot serve in the church. Not saying that you cannot lead a small group. Not saying you cannot all serve in some ministry. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:05]: Not saying but maybe God wants to promote you, and it's not just about so that you have more money. Nothing wrong with money. Right? Right. Nothing wrong with more money. But what if God wants you to get promoted not simply so that you have more money. What if because so you can have a voice in the way the company is run, in the way all That decisions are made. And you know what? We're not saying because we're gonna take over all the companies. We're gonna take over all the sectors. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:39]: But guess what? People need to be saved in each of all sectors. And what happens if, like, we had a principal in a school that prayed at staff meeting? That what if we had a principal in the school that when it came to say, oh, no. If we're gonna have this kind of club, we're gonna have Christians club. We gotta have all those kinds of things. Why? Because they're not saying, I gotta make everybody Christian, they're just saying, this is who I am. This is what I do. I know there's a guy like that. Right? It makes a total difference. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:10]: What if you had that in business? What if you had that in government? What if you know what? Not because we're gonna make a theocracy. You guys ever hear that? This is what the media says. Oh, wow. Like, Christians, they wanna they they wanna take over, and they do want they wanna make it a theocracy. You know what a theocracy a theocracy is where God is the ultimate leader. I I believe that we want, in some sense, in our faith, in our how we approach it. But we're not saying this, that we gotta destroy our form of government in which we live and that we don't have president and congress and all this kind of stuff. That's not what we want. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:50]: We we still believe in all civil leaders. But I think that when we say we have men and women who either are godly or who are influenced by godly people, I think we'll make the most just. We'll make the most prosperous. We'll make it most open to the gospel being declared. All That that's what happens because this is what God wants to do. He just loves people, and he loves people who do what you do, and he loves people who teach what your kids are learning. God loves people. It just the only thing is all this. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:29]: We know that when we give our lives to Jesus and it affects everything who we are, it trickles down even in what we do. All Right. It trickles down in the way I treat people in my workplace, how I do my job. And guess what? All That will help usher in God's kingdom in just as important a way in some sense all than when we just preach the gospel. The gospel is what gets people into heaven, but sometimes what you do in work all dictates how well they will do in heaven. Because when we learn how to walk with God in those places, all We'd become more and more like Christ. Right? And so that's where we rule and reign with Christ. All and I love what it says. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:23]: I love what it says in Luke 1232. Jesus said this. Don't be afraid, little flock, because your father is pleased to give you the kingdom. See, God's happy to share this with you. All he says, guess what? We'll do it together. That's his invitation. Let's do your job together. Let's do your let's do church together. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:48]: Let's do family together. Right? Let's do so this is the invitation. So what you do all So what you do matters. Does that make sense? This bar here is a closing order for all I understand that when people I'll say and and I believe that we ought to honor, our authorities, these that we ought to honor our spiritual authorities, and we ought to honor. I I believe that. And I believe when people, at times, they have honored me, and I I receive it. And I I I'm saying that's great. All But somehow, I think we're not real careful. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:39]: We communicate something that is not healthy. Some of us that we have thought that what you do doesn't matter. All I do is I do it for a paycheck. All and it doesn't matter where I work, and it doesn't and it's true. God could lead you wherever he wants you to be, and and that's fine. All but I think that that's what the enemy wanted. The enemy wanted us to think that all your job is good all 4, is to give you a paycheck. As long as you're a good husband or a good father or a good wife or a good mom, oh, then it doesn't matter about your job. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:19]: And I think we abandoned that. And we've seen when when all arts get taken over by believers, and you start seeing movies now that have a message, and you start seeing series like The those, you know, different things to encourage people's faith would never happen if they had not all saw that there was a calling for them in having influence in those areas. Same way. Wow. What would their kids turn out like if there were no Christian teachers, what would our what would our government be like if there were no all Christian politicians. Father, I'm thankful. Would you just, if you agree with me, you might not be happy in your job right now or you might be. I don't know. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:00:17]: All But can we just say this? God, I thank you that my job matters. I thank you that what I do from 9 to 5 matters to you. He's not I'm not saying that he he might not call you to a different role, a different company, a different sector, different career track. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying that whatever you do, it matters to God. All and that when you see that God's kingdom can be expanded, yes, in your personal relationships. All But, yes, by you being the best worker at at what you can, by you seeking to have influence for righteousness and justice all this. Because you walk with God. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:01:05]: Father, I thank you that I'm just praying for an anointing on my brothers and sisters. That whatever it is that they do from 9 to 5, what we're asking is that would you there'd be a fresh anointing on them. Because it wouldn't just be a place to get a paycheck, but that they would see that there's opportunities all to have be in an influence for Jesus. Because, lord, thank you that you love their coworkers. Thank you that you love people in that industry, whatever industry it is, whether holy or unholy of an industry. Lord, it doesn't matter that you love people, and you're trying to reach them, and you're trying to establish your kingdom. Lord, that that somehow all Earth would reflect more and more what heaven looks like. Thank you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:01:59]: All Bless my brothers. Bless my sisters. In Jesus name.