Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
But, you know, as we approach Christmas and can you believe that Christmas is in 2 days? Man, it's, it seems like it's gone so quickly. I think that a lot of us, sometimes we're in different places, and maybe some of us have come home from the mainland, for some of us that, you're here to, be with friends and family. Some of us here just kinda in the middle of, maybe seems like the same old, same old. And so We might find ourselves in different places. Maybe some of us were chasing. Maybe some of us were disillusioned, and maybe some of us is ex are expectant, but Christmas is for everyone. You know, sometimes when you're chasing, you know, you might be wondering, what is it that we're chasing? I I think so often that what we're Chasing is that Christmas feeling. Maybe you're like me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:45]:
I love Christmas music. How many of you guys love Christmas music? Right? Christmas music, decorations. Right? I I love the fact that this is where my house looks right now. No. But, you know, that kind of a thing that I I love that. And and maybe when do we're doing when we're chasing that Christmas feeling. Some of it is, I think, that that just that sense maybe when it might have been a more innocent time for some of us. Sometimes it might have been those Simpler times, but we're chasing that feeling.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:11]:
And then for some of us, you come to Christmas and you're a little disillusioned, maybe because it's been a difficult season, maybe because we remember better times. Maybe, some of our our bank accounts were fuller or our bodies were stronger or relationships were tighter or maybe some of us, the house was fuller. I know this year, there's been a bunch of us who have lost friends and family, and And maybe this year, it just it just feels different. And, you know, for some of us, especially if you've lost someone recently or this is the 1st Christmas, away from family and friends. There there was a poem I I heard recently called 1st Christmas in heaven. It was written by a A woman called Wanda Behnke, and she wrote a poem. What would it be like for that first Christmas in heaven? And I I I won't read the whole poem, to you. I I do wanna encourage you if you guys wanna it's it's easily found online, and there may be various, permutations of it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:12]:
But she says this in in the poem. She says, I can't tell you of the splendor or of the peace in this place, but can you imagine imagine spending Christmas with Jesus face to face? I know how much you miss me, and I see the pain inside your heart, but I'm not that far away. We really aren't apart. So be happy for me, dear ones. You know I hold you dear and be glad I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year. I send you each a special gift from my heavenly home above. I send you each a memory of my undying love. And after all, love is the gift, then that wipes away that tear.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:53]:
Remember, I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year. So please love and keep each other as my father said to do, for I can't count the blessings or love. He's for each of you. So have a Merry Christmas and wipe that tear. Remember, I'm spending Christmas with Jesus Christ this year. And even if at times it's a different configuration around the table, Would you know that you're not alone and that the lord is with you and that they are with you still? And yet some of us, maybe we come to Christmas expected, to celebrate God's goodness, to to celebrate together, to see God at work, maybe to be with family and friends, and that the greatest gift of Christmas is Christ himself. But if you find yourself in one of these categories or maybe somewhere in between. Would you know that Christmas is still for you? Christmas is great, I believe, because in many ways, It doesn't just reveal the greatness of God, but it calls us to greater things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:04]:
And at times, we need to experience that Christmas calls us to a greater faith. When Christmas calls us to a greater faith, it doesn't mean that, you know, everything is always fun or everything is always easy. In fact, at Times, it calls us to a greater faith because maybe at times, things aren't happening the way that you would like. Maybe it's happening in a with it. The timing isn't the way that you like. The scriptures talk about that 1st Christmas, it it wasn't actually a very convenient time. And before it even happened, it wasn't a convenient time for Mary to become pregnant with Christ, especially since she was already engaged. She was betrothed to be married, and that they were required at that time to be chased.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:50]:
They were required at that time to be celibate until till the consummation of the marriage. And so when the angel approaches Mary and says, Dead Mary, you're gonna become pregnant, and it's not gonna be from any man that's gonna touch you. It's just that God himself We'll just touch you by his spirit. And and when she was told that, Mary asked the angel, but how can this happen? Right? Because, you know, they they might not have had all the science and medical degrees, that maybe people have today. But at the same time, they understood basic biology, that a man and a woman need to come together. And so she's, how can this happen? I'm a virgin. And the angel replied, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the son of God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:45]:
And yet Mary was involved in this situation, but she had a choice. She she could have denied it. She could have said, Would it pass to someone else? But Mary's response was this. I am the lord's servant. May everything you have said about me come true. Now maybe there were some things though she was wondering. I wonder if Mary was thinking, You know? But the timing of this could have been better. And maybe this would have been better if if it was after we were married.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:18]:
Maybe it would be, better when there would be no misunderstanding, no questions about, hey. Are you sure this holy spirit deal touching you is, is is true? And maybe it's in those moments that if it didn't cost. And sometimes I think most of us, we don't wanna pay something and and have a cost to something if we don't have to. But I wonder if Mary remembered what the prophet Isaiah had said 700 years earlier. And he said this in Isaiah 714. Therefore, the lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel, which means God with us. Now some of you might know that the word virgin, it could be interpreted to just say a a young woman, But how in you know, how much of a sign is that that a young woman will have a baby? Well, that's just a common thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:17]:
But for a virgin, which is the primary definition. To give birth would be a great sign because it just doesn't happen, does it? And she didn't understand how God would do it. She chose to cooperate with God as the angel said it to her. Now for many of us, we probably find ourselves in situations where we read the scriptures or we hear the voice of God then says this, that that would you trust me and you want to say yes. You want to believe God, but you can't figure out how in the world God can do it. You guys ever been in that situation? Right? It feels impossible, but if we always wait so that we can figure out how God will do something. And some of us, we don't wait to figure it out. We tell God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:07]:
How many of you guys tell God? By the way, this is how you should do that. Right? So sometimes we wanna tell god this is how you do it. But if you wait for god to tell you how he's gonna do it, you probably won't see god move very much because god is not a thing to be figured out. He is a person to be trusted. If you wait for god to explain himself when he's calling you to do something, it can be a long time before you might hear the voice of god again because he calls us to trust and obey him. And even when you cannot see how it will happen, Peter didn't understand how he could walk on water, but he said, lord, if you command me to come, I'll come. Or Mary and Martha didn't understand how Jesus could raise their brother from the dead, but they allowed him to do it. You know, when I was a a little younger of a man when I went to seminary in the mainland, I had gone, and and how many of you guys know seminary is private school, and so it's pretty expensive to go? And so I had a ton of student debt and and just kinda barely surviving, and I was wrestling at the end when I was gonna graduate whether I stay up in the mainland or I come back home.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:22]:
And part of the reason, I was struggling, to be honest, was I didn't have the money to come home because I had sunk all this to to stay up there, and and so I was wrestling with this. And in this last Semester before I moved, I remember praying, god, what do I do? What do I do? Until I finally decided, I remembered that when I went, that what I had told god was that, god, if you allow me this opportunity to do it, I'd like to get the education so I can come back, and I want to reach local people as we reach the world. And I I want to be able to minister at home where there would you help us to to that our land would be filled, that people would have opportunity to know Christ. And so when I remember that, I thought, okay, god. I I think you're calling me home. The only thing is I didn't know how I was gonna do it. And about a day after that, I was driving onto the freeways in one of the crazy freeway systems in in LA. And just as I'm waiting at the light, to go onto the freeway ramp, I just get rear ended from behind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:23]:
And and I I literally had a cup of coffee in my hand. The coffee went everywhere in the car, and and we got out and, you know, that nobody got hurt, but, car had some damage, but mostly cosmetic. Right? The car could still function, but ended up the guy didn't have a license. He had no insurance, and and so he just kinda bailed. Right? And, and then when I got home, I I called, the insurance company. I told them, hey. I was in an accident today. I I'm not sure what do I do here.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:52]:
And they said, well, what was the situation of the accident? I told them that well, the guy didn't have a license, and he didn't have any insurance. And and they're looking at my record, and he say, you know, mister Yamaguchi, I hate to tell you this, but you don't have this thing called uninsured motorists. And I said, what's uninsured motorists? I didn't understand at that time. What it what it's for is it covers you in case that other guy doesn't have insurance. I said, I thought I had all that when I signed up. Said, no. You don't. And so now I was stuck with not just not enough money to go home.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:23]:
I didn't have enough money to even fix my car. In about a day later, I get a callback from the insurance company, and he said this. And I don't to be honest, if this is legal, I'm pretty sure it's not. But, but it's not me. I didn't propose it. No. But the the guy called me, and he said, you know, mister Yamaguchi, if you if you pay us the premium that it would have had that that you would have paid if we gave you uninsured motorists. We'll take care of the damages on your car.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:52]:
Now the the bill would come up to $180 versus $1800 of fixing the car. So I Said, wait. You're telling me if I give you a $180, you will give me $1800? And he go, well, if you wanna put it that way, yes. And I said, I like putting it that way, and I'll do that right away as soon as I can. But you know the thing that I thought was a problem. You know what that allowed me to do? Allowed me to buy my ticket to go home and allowed me to ship all my stuff back home including the car. Now I mighta had some cosmetic damage, but here's the thing. The Thing that I thought was the biggest problem that I was encountering at the moment was the way that god even brought the answer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:35]:
And sometimes I could never have planned that, and maybe you find yourself in situation you have no idea how god is gonna do something, but this is the thing. You don't you're not supposed to have to figure everything out all the time. Sometimes you do. Sometimes he calls us, plan, prepare, but there will always be times that things will go beyond what you can plan, that can go beyond what you can prepare. But, you know, life keeps going, right, at Christmas. Despite it being Christmas and it being a a great time, sometimes The fact is that that life keeps going, but the good news is god is still faithful. And so Christmas often calls you to the greatest challenges during this season. At that time, the Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus, had declared that a a census would be taken throughout the Roman Empire, and families were required to return to their ancestral home.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:31]:
And and so, that was a great inconvenience to people, and it said this in Luke 2. It says, and because Joseph was a descendant of king David, Mary's husband, He had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, in David's ancient home, and he traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee, and he took with him Mary to whom he was engaged, who is now expecting a child. Now, I've never been pregnant. Not a big surprise. Right? So, at least I hope. Right? But, I've seen my wife go through 3 pregnancies, and one of the things I know is, that whatever bladder size she had before she was pregnant, it gets to be like a teeny, tiny, tiny thing after that. But I also see how, we never had to ever do a 95 mile journey on foot when my wife was 9 months pregnant going through a hilly mountainous region. And that's what they were faced with.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:30]:
It was a it was a big challenge, to be honest. It normally takes 3, 4 days if if people are healthy and they're walking this kind of a journey in normal times. But with a 9 month old woman, Right? 9 month pregnant woman, who knows, right, how long that would take. Right? Because every 500 yards would be hard in that kind of a situation. Probably riding on a donkey or a camel would still be hard. And then finding about their accommodations. Right? That might be disappointing to say the least. Let's read what it says in Luke 2.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:06]:
It says this, verses 6 and 7. It says, and while they were there, where? That's to Bethlehem. The time came for her baby to be born, And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger because there was no lodging available for them. Now I don't know about you guys, but brothers, have you ever forgot to make a reservation? Have you ever tried that some of us were trying to make Christmas dinner reservation, maybe. I don't know. But but here's the thing. Rather than them spending The time fighting, like, you should've called. We should've started earlier.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:47]:
We should've right? All that kind of a situation. You know, the thing is you never see them talking about that. You never see them fighting. You never see them blaming one another. Instead, you find them together you find them together holding this child, Loving this child, enjoying that moment even though it was hard. Right? That we find that there's a cave in Bethlehem, in the shepherd's field. And we had the privilege to to be in Israel and to be in that cave. And and you see the fire marks where where shepherds would have burned for 100, if not, 1,000 of years of fire in the cave at night to somehow get a little bit of warmth, somehow to get maybe a little bit of light.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:34]:
And so it was a hard situation when a feeding trough and and and scraps of clothes and rags are Are used to instead of a brand new, you know, sterile blanket was used to to do that. There is a season where maybe what they were doing was hard. And then I remember asking people, there used to be a A saying that sometimes we would hear, and I would say it myself and some of my friends would say it. When we ask, how are you doing? And we know things are hard. You guys ever ask somebody that you know they're going through a hard time, and they you ask them how they're doing. And and sometimes people today, what do they say? Fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:23]:
But we didn't wanna say fine because it wasn't fine necessarily. But we would say that we had sensed the goodness of God. So we would say, I'm doing good, but it's hard. Right? And so we wanted to be able to be honest, and I don't hear people say that so much today. But sometimes you can rejoice when it's good even if it's hard because we'll see how god can sustain us Just like Mary and Joseph, that we sense his presence and his strength and joy even in the midst of pain. And sometimes hard times are just simply hard. Right? I understand that. When I was a young man before I became a believer, Christmas had been hard for a few years because it was at Christmas time, at the end of the semester, that when I Move my things from the dorm.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:15]:
As soon as I walked into my parents' house, I could sense something was wrong. And as I put my things down, I asked mom, mom, what's what's the matter? And all she could choke Out before she burst into tears was, your brother has cancer. So it was at Christmas that we discovered that My brother had cancer, and his prognosis was 3 months. And not knowing God, it was just one of the most devastating things that I can remember, and and it was a very hard Christmas. We spent it in the hospital that year, and and my brother after that would be in in chemotherapy, like, for a week out of every 6 weeks. It was his kind of a regimen, and and he outlived his Prognosis of of 3 months. He lived at least two and a half years. But in the midst of all that, I remember that I couldn't go to I couldn't go to the hospital.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:19]:
I it's not that I didn't love my brother. I I just couldn't handle it. I I just didn't my love for my brother couldn't overcome my discomfort in my fear. But 2 years later 2 years later when I became a believer that that things began to change. And I began to see that even though I was facing the challenge, it's it's not that the challenge got any easier, but Something changed in me that I I started spending every night in the hospital. I I I I was in the middle of taking care. And and we saw great seasons of remission, but those were in The rearview mirror by the time that last Christmas rolled around. And so we were in this kind of a place where I couldn't have seen myself doing it earlier, but I knew I knew even though it was hard that I saw the goodness of god in the midst of that time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:23]:
Even when I would spend the night at the hospital and and get up in the middle to help my brother. That was my role. And when I when I told my parents, actually, I'm gonna leave school for for the time being. And they said, no. No. No. We don't want you to feel like you have to do that. And I said, mom, dad, it's not that I have to.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:42]:
It's I want to. Because the goodness of god had been poured into my life. And Christmas Calls us to worship. It calls us to worship the living god through Christ Jesus. It says that night when Christ was born. It says, there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding the flocks of sheep. And suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord's glory surrounded them, and they were terrified. You know, the most common Phrase that is ever uttered when an angel comes on the scene is said the next.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:26]:
The angel reassured them and said, what? Don't be afraid. Angels are not fat babies in diapers. They are often pictured as fearsome warriors or as as as shining and angelic beings. He says, I bring you good news that will be a great joy to all the people. Can you do me a favor? Can we just say to all the people? To all the people. You know what? That's you, and that's me. That's your friends. That's your family.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:54]:
That's your neighbors. Lord, that that's that's Hamas. That's Israel. That's that's Russia. That's Ukraine. That's black. That's white. It says it's to all the people.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:08]:
God never says that that I love certain people. He says I love people. He says I made you and I love you. This says the savior, yes, the Messiah, the Lord has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David, and you will recognize him by the sign. You'll find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth lying in a manger. In all the people, What does that mean? The good, the bad, the ugly? Raise your hand if you're the no. I'm kidding. You don't have to do that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:41]:
But you can you can tell to somebody else. I think you should raise your hand when he says this. No. But and then it says this, though. And suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others. And the armies of heaven praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, in heaven and peace on earth to those with whom god is pleased. Can you imagine the shepherds being out there in the middle of the dark. That that's what they did.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:11]:
They just stood watch over the night so that that at least 1 of them, they would rotate, but they would Stay up to the night and often without fire, just sitting in the dark. And it was in the midst of that that an angel appeared, and so you can imagine a bright light shining just His presence would freak out anybody. And then he says these things, and then it says then it's like the sky Open and tore the fabric of the universe to reveal the heavenly host. And what they said was glory to God in the highest. You know that first Christmas after I gave my heart to Jesus when I started to see the decline of my brother's health And then we had had a a good couple years. A few months After that, when I started to see that, we we had a Christmas party. I I worked on campus at and At the end of the semester, we we had a Christmas party, and there was lunch that they bought us and did some games and all that. It was fun.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:17]:
It was a Nice kind of a break from all the craziness and finishing finals and and helping other students and all that kind of stuff. And then we started to sing a few Christmas carols. And I'd sung Christmas carols that you know, in the old days, you know what? You could sing Christmas carols in elementary Cool. Anybody remember that? Right? You could sing Christmas cows in elementary schools, but, you know, I never knew what Christmas was about besides that Jesus was born, and I didn't know what that meant or anything. And and so as we saw started to sing these Christmas cows, I remember singing, hart the herald angels sing. And then it starts I I I'm reading these lyrics as we sing in a office Christmas party, And it says, hark the heralds angels sing glory to the newborn king. Peace on earth and mercy, mild. God and sinners Reconcile.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:13]:
Joyful all the nations rise. Join the triumph of the skies. With angelic host proclaim, Christ is born in Bethlehem. And then it struck me. I just read those words like a a couple days before. And there are songs that I had sung since I was a little kid, but I had no idea what they meant. And he said that moment, it just hit me. We're singing about the Jesus that I get to know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:46]:
I never knew God growing up, and then I did. Why? Because of the grace of God. And in that office party, I was trying to hide the tears. Yeah. We got a it's dusty in here today. I don't know what happened. Right? But I couldn't hold back the tears To be able to worship out of a song that I had sung, I had no idea what it meant. And now because I knew him, he was real to me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:23]:
And so Christmas calls us to worship the living God through his son, Christ Jesus. And yet it says in the midst of that time he says that if you go and you look, you will find him. How can you find this baby? How will you know that the sun has been given that will change the world, that will change your life? He says, you just go, and you find them wrapped snugly in cloths, lying in a feeding trough. That's what a manger is. And so Christmas is a time to respond to a great invitation. You see, the angels came to the shepherds, and shepherds, at one time, had been a very noble profession. But by this time, they kinda fallen into a bad light. They're kinda known as Steves and outcasts and kinda the lowest of the lows.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:25]:
And the angels did not go to the religious men. They did not go to Those were the shining and great kinda, religious experience. He went they went to the lowest of the lows in that society. Why? I believe that there's an argument called from the least to the greatest. Because if the grace of god can extend to the least of these, it can go to anyone else. And so there's this invitation that you can meet the king. Would you go? Would you would you take a step of faith? Maybe in The darkness. Would you take a step of faith in the midst of of the night that seems mundane to go? Whether we say, come all you faithful or come all you weary, come all you hungry, Come all you who already have everything.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:36]:
Come all to those who have nothing. He just says, come. And he says that when you do, that maybe in that moment, you get to meet the living god. We have a special song we're gonna share this evening and just ask the team to come up and sing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:58]:
Thanks, guys. Because Christmas isn't when you have everything together, Christmas isn't for those times and those places and those people who have, like, a shining and perfect life. It wasn't just to Martha I mean, Mary and Joseph. It was also to the shepherds. It was to anybody who would respond. And the birth of Jesus is a historical event, and the the issue isn't, you know, what the exact day. To be honest, it's probably not December 25th. It was a time that was chosen because it was the darkest of times.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:40]:
The darkest of times in in the course of the year. And if you lived in any place else besides Hawaii, you know how dark it can be, how dark early it can get. Right? My wife's hometown at 4 o'clock, it's already getting dark right now. And so it's in those moments of darkness, they wanted to shine the greatest light. And so even though we don't know whether Jesus was born on the 25th or some other time, the issue isn't When he was born, the issue isn't even whether he was born. He was. What changes our life is when Jesus is born in our And so for some of us, maybe this evening is a time just to renew that. Maybe it's been a season that you've been kinda far from God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:30]:
Maybe it's been a season where you've just kinda been stretched and and pulled in a 1000000 different directions, and and you just haven't talked to God in a long time. Maybe this is the time for you to renew your faith. Maybe this is the time for you to to draw close again, because Christmas is an invitation As much as it is a call to a great faith. Maybe it's a it's an invitation, of course, to worship, but But the greatest invitation is to the king himself. Would you do me a favor? Would you bow your hearts? Would you bow your heads? Father, for some of us in the moments of silence that lord, we realize that We've been more distance between us than we'd like. We have more distance between you and me because, Frankly, it's not that you who've moved, but it's it's me. And if you're here and that's you, And you're just saying, god, I just wanna be close again. For some of us, it's like Jesus is saying, would you come home? You're saying, lord, I'm coming.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:44]:
If that's you, would you just tell the lord that in your heart? And there's some of us that you've frankly never given your heart to him. Maybe this is your time. You don't have to have been raised in the church, take a class, or or get everything right or know everything about the bible. In fact, you can know absolutely nothing except the fact that god is saying to you that I want you, that I love you. And if you're willing to be loved, If you're willing to be forgiving, if you're willing to be led, Jesus is saying this, would you come? Why do I say that? You don't have to know anything except the fact that Jesus came for you, that he was born, that he lived. He died. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to for the sake of the salvation of men so that people could have a right relationship with God. Because Even if you don't know all of that, you don't know all the stuff in the bible, you get to know God just like you get to know a person.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:02]:
And sometimes you've been in a place where you have you don't know absolutely anybody, and someone walks across the room, and they say, hi. I'm and if extend their hand. If you don't ignore them, you take their hand. You know what? It's an offer of friendship. Can I just say this to you? Christmas Reminds us that God is sticking out his hand, and he's calling you. Maybe this is the Christmas you get to meet Jesus. If that's you this evening, would you be saying to him, lord, if you're sticking out your hand towards me, your hand of kindness, Your hand of mercy. Your hand of love.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:49]:
How could I not want that? How could I not want In the scripture, I was reading in the book of Revelation. And some people think, why would you wanna read there at this time of year? But one of the things that is said as he He talks to people. He he writes a letter to these 7 churches. It each of those churches, it says this. This is how it starts. I know you. So for some, it's I know your heart. For some, it's I know your circumstances.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:26]:
For some, it's I know your troubles. For some, it's I know your pain. For some, it's I know your your heart in the The things that you're trying to do, and this is what God says, I know you. Would you take his hand today? I'm gonna pray a very simple prayer. If that's you today. Just as a an act of faith with our heads bowed, our eyes closed. If if that's you, would you just raise a hand to god? Just say, god, I I sense that that's you, that you're calling me today. I'm gonna pray a very simple prayer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:58]:
Vatshu, would you be kind enough? Let's repeat together. Lord god, Thank you that you know me. But more than that, thank you that you love me. And, Jesus, thank you for coming for me. You're not just the savior of the world. Would you be my savior? I want to know you. And would you come live inside me today? Thank you. Though I've sinned, would you forgive I put my faith in Jesus who died for me and rose again.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:49]:
I trust you. And would you help me to grow in my faith, step by step, Little by little, till I become more and more like you. Help me to hear your voice and to know your presence. In Jesus' name, amen. Yeah. Hey. Can we say congratulations to those folks? You know, I know that, my friends handed out a little light that I was supposed to tell to hand out earlier, but you guys got those little lights? Yeah. You know, right now, we're gonna, prepare our hearts to do the candle lighting portion.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:33]:
And And, obviously, in a public school, there's no open flames, so that's the reason why we're we're going with this light. So we wanna come back next week too. So But, you know, the thing is that a little light in the day would be insignificant. It would be unnoticeable. But in a dark room, even a little light is seen by everybody. Right? And and so I'm gonna ask us to do me a favor. Would you guys can we cut the lights at this time? And even in darkness, a little light is visible to everybody. Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:19]:
And this is what it says, that Jesus was the light of the world or he is the light of the world. And that if the light shines in the darkness, it overcomes the darkness Always. It's not a it's not a laser beam. It's not a spotlight that shines for Miles and miles, it is it is a little light when it it lumens a person's heart. And you can see maybe a a Step ahead of you. But God's promise is this, that when I come and I illuminate your heart, that you'll be able to see, that you'll be able to sense, that you'll be able to be guided just from a little light. Because when that little light is transferred, if we were to do it in a candle, then what would happen is someone would Take their candle and go to this candle, and they would turn it or they would light it, and then there would be more than 1 light. And so this evening, would you take out your little light, And would you turn it? Just hold the top and turn that little top knob on the bottom and turn it till that light turns on.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:48]:
Now if your light doesn't turn on, it means that god doesn't love you. No. I'm kidding. It doesn't mean that. I'm just joking. I'm kidding, obviously. So sorry. I should that's, like, maybe a little harsh to say, but like a I was just joking.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:58]:
If your light doesn't turn on, just your neighbor that can help you. But, you know, the thing is that in the darkness, that that a little light that shines in 1 person's heart. Right? Can be passed to another. You know, that you can you can share your Faith, you can share your love. You can share your hope. And some of us, we're gonna have Christmas dinners, and we're gonna have family parties, and You get together with different people. Would you just share the love and the hope of Jesus where you go? And I believe that when that happens Can you can you just hold up your light? What happens when everybody just shines a little bit of a light? Right? It brings light into the world, and it looks cool too. Butler, can we just stand, and we wanna invite you to join us in worship.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:17]:
Father, we're thankful that it's not just in this moment when we Stand in a room with that's dark, that with these little lights that that you want to use in our lives. But father, we ask that would you shine your light in our hearts? And father, we're thankful that the light always overcomes the darkness. Lord, whether it's anger or or disillusionment. Father, whether it's it's sometimes it's a lack of knowledge about what we're gonna do and confusion. Father, we're thankful that the light of Jesus can shine in any heart that surrendered to him. So, father, we pray that would you bless your people? Father, with this Christmas, would they go with the knowledge that, Lord, we can have peace with you because we have the peace of God in our heart, because you've forgiven and to anyone who calls on him. Father, we're asking, would you surround them, bless them, comfort them, and direct If you've not said yes to Jesus, you know, you could do it in your own room, in your car, or wherever it is that One day, this battery's gonna burn out, but the light of Jesus in your heart, when it's ignited, becomes something that burns for all eternity.