Chad Mahoe [00:00:00]:
All right. Well, welcome everyone. Thank you so much for joining us. How's about a nice round of applause for our worship team? Thanks, Steve, for jumping on. Yeah. Alright. So how many of you guys out there are night owls? Anybody like to stay up late? Don't get much sleep maybe? Yeah. Only a few.

Chad Mahoe [00:00:23]:
Okay. Not too bad. And how many of you guys are early birds? The rest of you guys probably? There's a lot of you that didn't raise your hand. Maybe you're dead birds right now. I don't know. Maybe adjust your, ears a little bit, but, you know, there's a reason why the saying the early bird catches the worm makes sense, you know. And I was, as I was looking things up, I saw a blog, by miss Missouri State University, and I guess this was an English expression, that was, the first appeared in a book of Proverbs by William Camden, a long time ago in 1605. And, you know, he said that expression comes from the idea that if a bird wakes up early to feed, they will have an advantage because no other birds are gonna be up and feeding.

Chad Mahoe [00:01:13]:
So I think that kind of makes sense, right? The early bird catches the worm. And and, you know, not surprisingly, you know, as I looked up, you know, morning routines and the effects of it, and how important it is, You know, in the National Alliance on Mental Health, Mental Illness, it does talk about, you know, getting up early, and there's a whole routine and different things, and I just wanted to read a few things that they mentioned. You know, how many of you guys like to hit the snooze button when you guys wake up in the morning? Anybody out there? Okay, I did that a few times this morning. So, you know, in order to prevent yourself from running late, oversleeping, it's important to establish a routine. And some of the things that this website talked about was making sure that you ease yourself into the day. So when you wake up, it's, you know, you don't have to kind of rush and do everything. You know, you try to prepare things, the night before. And it also talks about opening the curtains and letting the natural light in.

Chad Mahoe [00:02:17]:
And I don't know who did this study, but they probably don't wake up early enough because when I get up, it's still very dark outside. So that that wouldn't probably work for me. But, they also talked about, you know, putting some music on, some upbeat tunes maybe. You know, obviously for us as believers, playing some worship music to get our our souls stirring. They also talked about doing some light stretching to get your blood flowing. Other people would talk about exercise. You know, another thing that, I think a lot of us might skip sometimes is eating breakfast. Eating breakfast is another important thing.

Chad Mahoe [00:02:51]:
Now it's not eating the breakfast that you normally would like steak and eggs, you know, all those good stuff. Right? It's just a small little meal. Another thing they talked about was reading to stimulate your brain. Okay? To get your mind going. Stimulating your body again, exercising. And the last thing he talked about was beginning work, with a proactive mindset. So before you start your day going to work, try to prepare yourself. You know, sometimes when I'm at work, I like to make a checklist of some of the different tasks I need to do in the day that helps keep me on schedule.

Chad Mahoe [00:03:24]:
So at the end of this website, it it kinda talked about, alright. So you need about 2 hours before you actually go to work and do everything in your day. How many of you guys out there actually get up about 2 hours before you go to work? Anyone? Oh, not too many. Okay, that's what I figured. So at least we all have something to grow towards. You know, and and one of the things that I wanted to do because, those of us, as Christians, you know, obviously there's other routines that we build into our schedule. And I was looking at different websites and there's so many different comments about what what what is a good morning routine for believers. And there was one that kinda made me laugh, so I wanted to read that one because it was kinda funny.

Chad Mahoe [00:04:06]:
It's an easy morning routine to remember, because it was coined as your morning reps. So reps, r e p s, it stands for something. You might be able to figure out some of them. So the r stands for read. So in this example, you know, you would read your Bible. You know, a lot of us would read devotions together. Some of us will do it online on YouVersion together in the Bible app. So you know spend some time doing that.

Chad Mahoe [00:04:36]:
The next thing is exercise. Okay, so kinda on the same page doing some kind of exercise getting your blood flowing. The p stands for pray. Yeah. That was pretty obvious one. Okay. So as believers, you know, we are coming to God in the morning and praying to him and letting him know all the different things that that we have going on and sometimes we need to give, even in the morning, give the things that are worries on our mind to God. Can anybody guess what the last s with this one mentioned? Anybody? Any volunteers at? Well somebody mentioned sleep.

Chad Mahoe [00:05:09]:
I don't know if you wanna go back to sleep after you wake up. Any s's? Believe it or not, this person said shower because after he exercises don't smell too good. So that's a good reminder if you do exercise please shower so you spare your co workers the smell and all that stuff. But, all kidding aside, you know, one of the the things that I wanted to focus in on, this morning is to get some discussion going amongst the tables. And maybe we'll take a few minutes just to allow you guys, maybe to talk about some of the morning routines that you guys have. So we'll we'll take maybe 2, 3 minutes and go ahead and have some discussion on the tables and let's see what you guys come up with tonight. Alright. Go ahead.

Chad Mahoe [00:06:46]:
See this kind of stuff. Alright. So looks like some of you guys need to finish up your conversations, maybe take a few seconds left to finish your thoughts. But thank you guys for, engaging with each other on your tables. And I was going around, I heard some laughter. I know some people, they just go straight to their computers and check their email in the morning. I think there was something that, maybe, advised against that just because you're gonna be kinda scrambling the rest of the day, but but we'll see. You know, one of the things that I I wanted to, do was to maybe get a volunteer or 2.

Chad Mahoe [00:07:55]:
Anybody want to share something that they do that maybe wasn't mentioned, anything special? Anybody? No? Okay. I heard something in the morning. Pastor Glenn mentioned it. I didn't talk about it, but I think you said something about drinking some water. It's like the first thing. That's a great idea because our throats are dry. Maybe we've got some drool on the side of our mouth. Well, I do sometimes.

Chad Mahoe [00:08:20]:
But, you know, it's important. Yeah. Keep ourselves hydrated. Right? Then I think he also mentioned hit the coffee. Yes, after. After drinking the water. Yeah. Okay.

Chad Mahoe [00:08:30]:
Okay. But you know actually it talks about waking up in the morning in scripture, and it comes from, Psalm, chapter 5 verse 3. And it says, in the morning Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning, I lay my request before you and wait expectantly. So again, the psalmist is talking about getting up in the morning and and laying everything before his before the Lord. Right? And it's it's so important for us as believers to make sure that we commune with God in the morning. You know, again, sometimes, some people may get up a little bit later. Maybe they don't have jobs where you have to wake up so early in the morning.

Chad Mahoe [00:09:09]:
So whenever you wake up, it's important that you spend that time with God. You you pray to him, you read scripture. You do devotions to kind of keep you engaged in in what God is calling you to do. And the first point, that I I wanted to to mention is, to get up, to brush your teeth, and then to praise the Lord. You know, again, it's it's so important for us as believers that we we need to start off our day on the right foot and building that into our morning routine. I don't know about you, but for myself, it really helps me to stay engaged, throughout the day. You know, so over the years, you know, my journey at New Hope Kapolei, I started, attending in June 2010. And I've shared this before, I I think, just on how I got here, but really going through a tough time and and that first message that we heard when when our family came was recovering your joy.

Chad Mahoe [00:10:10]:
And I think for me, it it was a difficult time for us. There are a lot of things going on in our lives. And ever since that, you know, our lives kinda have never been the same and we're very grateful to God for that. And within those within that time between 2010 and now, there's been a lot of different things that that I've done, that our family has done, to kinda get closer to the Lord. And part of that is, doing the devotions and actually writing it down and keeping it. So I have a bunch of journals that I've kept over the years, and sometimes I look back at at it and and I kinda chuckle sometimes because I I see how, immature or how young I was as a believer. But, you know, over time, you know, part of my routine, my morning routine, especially now, how many of you guys have social media? Anybody have social media? It's a lot of older people in the crowd, not too many hands raised. I understand.

Chad Mahoe [00:11:05]:
K. Some of the younger crowd, you guys have social media, maybe on it too much, but what I like to do that I've changed within the past year or 2 is I like to actually post my devotions on there. And the reason why I do that is just because I don't my hope is that somebody will read it and they might, take a look at it. It might speak to them. God might speak to them in some way. You know? So I've been doing that for a while. I've been doing, devotions within the You version. How many of you guys have the Bible app downloaded out there? Anybody? Okay.

Chad Mahoe [00:11:34]:
Yeah. A lot of you guys. Okay. So if we're not friends yet on the Bible app, can you please add me as your friend so we can, do some devotions together? Sort of joking, not really. But, you know, one of the things that I've learned, over the years as I, had a coworker that, she was a pretty mature believer, would serve faithfully within our church at New Hope Leeward. And, you know, one of the things she did every morning and I remember going to work and she would already be there super early. She would do her devotions at work, and she would keep track every day. It's like she would do it online, and then the next year she would have her devotions, and the next year she would have her devotion.

Chad Mahoe [00:12:18]:
So I thought that was like, oh, such a great idea. And I tried it for about a week or so, and then it did not work for me. So one of the things to keep in mind for your morning routine or or how you worship God daily is to do what fits you. Right? You can read all the blogs out there, all the different websites, but you have to do something that you'll commit to. Right? So just to keep that in mind because I know sometimes how many of you guys get discouraged where you miss a day of reading, you fall really behind in what you're trying keep up with your devotions, okay? It's okay. It's okay to fall behind. Just get back up. Okay? It's the same thing with our faith.

Chad Mahoe [00:12:56]:
If we mess up one day, that's okay. God forgives us. You know, we need to come and confess and repent, and he forgives us. So one of the things that that has happened at my at my job, you know, being a school counselor gets pretty heavy sometimes and, you know, a lot of 1st year teachers will come in. So actually in 2017, I started a small group, at work, and we would meet once a week in the mornings, just for about half an hour to 40 minutes. And I actually called the group early birds, and, you know, it's going on still today. It's kind of gone up and down with different people, but, you know, on average, we have maybe between 5 and 8 people that come. And, for me, it's it's it's a good thing to, just encourage other believers at work again.

Chad Mahoe [00:13:48]:
Because sometimes we face difficulties. We have our own personal difficulties that we might look at and and we might deal with. So it's important that we have that kind of support. And it's the same thing for you, you know, wherever you work at, you know, try to fellowship with other people, you know. You never know who might need a touch from God, who might be going through a difficult time, who might need some encouragement. Yeah. So I wanna encourage you guys to go ahead and remember that as well. So the next, thing I'm gonna do, I'm gonna transition and again, those of you guys who don't, do devotions or don't wake up too early.

Chad Mahoe [00:14:26]:
You know, Matthew 6, verse 33. How about you guys stand up real quick? We'll go ahead and recite this together and then you guys will be able to sit down. Alright. So can you repeat after me? 1, 2, 3, go. Seek the kingdom of God above all else.

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:14:56]:
Seek the kingdom of God above all else. Yes.

Chad Mahoe [00:15:00]:
Awesome. Thank you. I'm glad everybody's awake now, you know, before I couldn't tell. But, again, it's, you know, seeking the kingdom of God above all else, it's it's a reminder that everything that we do as our worship unto God, everything that we do is unto the Lord. Right? And, you know, I wanted to talk about, you know, the importance of seeking God in all that we do. You know, part of the worship is devoting one's thoughts, one one's words and deeds, to really giving God, glory to God. In adoration, in praise, in thanksgiving, in confessing our sin, and our dependence on him. You know, as pastor Glenn mentioned over the, last 2 weeks, worship is not for anyone else but the Lord.

Chad Mahoe [00:15:45]:
Right? Although he does not need our worship, he is pleased by our worship. And he meets his people in worship. So when we gather together, we believe that God is here meeting, with us. His Holy Spirit works through us. So the other thing that, you know, as as far as worship goes, you know, our true worship requires us to practice holiness. It requires us to be reverent, to to have humility, to show justice, to have kindness and sincerity. And that's the life of a believer. All of those things, sometimes it's difficult to remember that when we face hardships or we face persecution at times.

Chad Mahoe [00:16:28]:
But I wanted to read, Deuteronomy, chapter 11 verses 18 to 22. And, okay good, it's right there. So it says, So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you're on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. I'm gonna stop there and, you know, when you commit yourself wholeheartedly to something it's you, you, you give yourself to it, right? You put your full effort into it. And then when it talks about tying them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders, I know in the Jewish customs, they would do things to remember it and they would have that attached to them.

Chad Mahoe [00:17:23]:
And for us, we might not do that now, but that's why it's so important that we gather with the Lord, that that we try to memorize the word within our hearts. That way when it's time to use it, when it's time to speak to another, to encourage one another, that it is on our hands. It is on our minds. Verse 20, it says, write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children will flourish in the land. The Lord swore to give your ancestors. So again, it's this reminder that, even even, in our house, we have reminders that's all over the house, you know, because again, everywhere we that's all over the house, you know, because again, everywhere we turn, we want to be reminded of God's goodness, of God's faithfulness in our lives. And that's a it's a it's a great reminder for us, whether we're in the house, whether we have guests over, whether we're leaving the house. Again, it's this constant reminder.

Chad Mahoe [00:18:19]:
And it says, be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him. Again, it's it's sometimes it's very difficult, when we go through our day as as Pastor Glenn mentioned, for, some, some of the people in our church really facing some difficult times and, you know, more than ever, that's when they need to cling to the Lord and to hold fast to him. And that's why it's important for us as a church to pray for them. As brothers and sisters is to lift them up, to encourage them, when they're in a rough season. How many of you guys have been glad because you've had brothers and sisters within this church to uplift and to encourage you when you're going through difficult time. Yeah. Amen.

Chad Mahoe [00:19:09]:
Amen. So the second point is is a reminder and it it goes like this, a scripture and a prayer throughout the day keeps the devil away. And I know it's maybe a kind of funny way of saying it, but it's it's true. It's when you memorize scripture, when you have it ready, to utilize, you know, as as a as a weapon, right? It's the offensive weapon against the devil and the prayer keeping in communication with the Lord. It does. It helps keep the the devil at bay. You know, the devil tries to steal, kill, and destroy. And the the best thing that he wants is to get us off track, to get us to get our minds off of God and to worry about all the different things that we're going through.

Chad Mahoe [00:19:55]:
So it's true. It's important. And you know, some of the sometimes, you know, for me at work, those of you who work for the state know about, some of the prohibitions that you have at work and, sometimes it gets difficult. There are people who I believe that are that do come against us, at work. And, sometimes it's very difficult to deal with and I have to pray and I have to remember, who God calls me to be. Because again, it gets very difficult to try to be holy to people when you're facing different situations that tempts you to be angry and want to do something back and take revenge, but, it's important that we fill ourselves with God's word that reminds us of of how we're supposed to be. We pray with other believers. How many of you guys have prayed? I've I've used a 793-5658.

Chad Mahoe [00:20:50]:
I know that number by heart because, anytime I'm going through a difficult situation or if there's somebody The next scripture that I wanted to focus in on is Colossians 317 and most of you guys probably know that one and I would like you guys to stand again just to give you some exercise. We talked about that for our morning routine. But we'll go ahead and repeat that together. We'll say it together, and it starts now. And whatever you do whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Alright. And before you guys are seated, would you guys say, whatever we do, we do it in the name of Jesus. Alright.

Chad Mahoe [00:21:52]:
Awesome. Awesome. As you guys can tell I'm kind of an educator so I like the participation. I like the engagement. So thank you guys for that. How many of you guys at work that you've ever struggled with like your superiors? People that, oh, there's at least one person that raised really quickly, and and, so at least I'm talking to at least 1 person in the room. But, yeah, sometimes there's, you know, there's changes that are made and then there's different people that you deal with that you may not agree with, and you may not understand why they make certain decisions. But do you know that we're supposed to respect our authorities? That we're supposed to pray for them.

Chad Mahoe [00:22:32]:
As frustrated as we might get, in certain decisions and certain things that happen, we're supposed to bless them. We're supposed to pray for them. Right? We're supposed to, pray for other people to come alongside them. How many of you guys have prayed for your, superiors, your bosses and stuff And that you you couldn't really pray the nicest prayer so you were praying for God to bless that person for other people to come alongside because you have a difficult time. We just had a conference actually for, school counselors, on Friday, yesterday actually, and I bumped into one of my good friends, that I used to work with before. And it's so funny because I I talked to her and I I was talking about, oh yeah, you know, I'm gonna preach this weekend. And you know, she's the one that kind of turned me to faith, when I was at Nanakuli and she was like, So what is God saying to you, Chad? And I was like, Oh, what are you trying to say? Because I was giving her some examples of of different things that were going on. And it was a reminder that no matter what's going on, no matter how frustrated I may get, I'm called to bless those in authority and I'm called to pray for them, right? So let that be a reminder for you guys as well.

Chad Mahoe [00:23:46]:
So Romans 12, 12, this one, this scripture really spoke to me, and and I think it's gonna be, a real good model, that that we're gonna focus on. So it says, and so dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice. The kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. And I wanted to stop there because, where'd it go? Oh, there it is. So when we give our bodies to God, it's not just giving our physical bodies bodies to God, but it's giving all of ourselves to God. Right? So it's not just what we do physically, with our bodies, but it's mentally.

Chad Mahoe [00:24:44]:
It's within our hearts as well. So it's causing us to make sure that that living the holy sacrifice that, he's calling us to be. That's why it's so important that we sacrifice those, those thoughts. The things that we want to be, we are tempted to be from the world. How you know, we are justified the world sometimes teaches us to be justified. We should be angry with different things that go on. Right? We should be mad. We should hold a grudge.

Chad Mahoe [00:25:11]:
You know, that it's a reminder that no, that sacrifice that we, are onto the Lord is not of our own doing, of not who we are in ourselves, but it's who we are in Christ. Right? And it goes on to say, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. So I can remember you know earlier in my life and earlier in my career that was I was a bit different as a person, before I followed Jesus. Believe it or not, you know, I would maybe swear a little more. I would tell some, maybe some crude jokes and, be inappropriate at times. And sometimes I slip still, but not too much anymore. But, you know, when I was at Natakuli, that was kind of the beginning of my journey, as a Christian.

Chad Mahoe [00:26:11]:
And I remember the first time that we did my prayer and fasting as a church. And I was really seeking God and then I I always felt like I wasn't good enough that, that all these mistakes, all these different things that I've done in my life, like how could God love me? How could God forgive me for those things? And, as I was fasting and praying in that time, God really showed up. In fact, I remember clearly that we were eating lunch together as a group of counselors. And, my friend mentioned that, Oh, you know, Chad, I can really see how much you've changed and how God has been, working in your life. And for me, it was that was something that I was praying about and for that to happen and for, me to get confirmation of of something like that, man, it really shook me. It shook the foundations of, of, who I was as a as a person, as a believer. And, that actually led me to, in faith, transferred to a new school. And that's where I'm at now at Evo Mackay.

Chad Mahoe [00:27:18]:
But before when I was at Nanakuli, we followed our students from 7th grade all the way until they graduated. And I was there for 5 years. So if you can put the math together, I left during their senior year. How many of you guys would be upset if your child's counselor that was with them for 5 years left all of a sudden right before the last year, right before they graduated. It's okay. Some some some people were, yeah, honest about that. So it was it was one of those things that I I had a strong connection to my students and I really loved what I did there, but God called me someplace different. And it was a reminder that sometimes we get comfortable and we wanna do things that make sense in our minds.

Chad Mahoe [00:28:00]:
But sometimes God calls us to do things that we normally wouldn't do. And, you know, I praise God for, allowing me to take a step of faith and to make that decision because I've been at Em Haikai, you know, ever since then. And, there's been so many ways that God has blessed me there, that I I really praise him for, just leading me to the school that I'm at. And I plan never to leave, but of course, we'll see what God says about that. Right? So the next thing I wanted to show is actually, it's a story of someone that you may have heard. She's been in the news before. Hopefully the video works. It's of a woman named Baronelle Stutzman.

Chad Mahoe [00:28:42]:
And if you guys know anything about Alliance Defending Freedom, she was kind of like the main person that they represented, kind of in the earlier days. So let's take a look at this video, and, we'll join together after.

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:28:57]:
I think the worst part is when they say I won't serve gay people. That's just not true. I've never discriminated against anyone in my life. It was a Friday, March 1, 2013. One of my favorite customers, Rob Ingersoll, walked into the store. Rob's more than a customer. He's a friend. He's been coming into me for over 9 years for birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day.

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:29:29]:
His arrangements were my favorite to design. They're really fun and challenging. They'd bounce different ideas around and he'd let me be creative and produce something that was unique and special for him. Floral design is an art and Rob gets that. I knew Rob would be coming in. He'd been there the week before when I was out and told the staff that he and his longtime partner, Kurt, were getting married. I knew Rob would want me to create floral designs for their wedding. I love Rob, but I knew I couldn't do this.

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:29:58]:
I'm a devout Christian. My relationship with Jesus Christ is the most important thing in my life. That's where everything I am and everything I have comes from, including my creativity. My faith also teaches me that marriage is a sacred union between a man and a woman. When the staff told me about Rob's visit, my husband and I talked and prayed about it. I would gladly sell him pre arranged flowers or loose flowers, but I knew that as much as I love Rob, I could not create something to celebrate an event that was totally against my faith. I didn't wanna hurt Rob's feelings and I wanted to tell him as gently as possible. On that Friday, Rob came back.

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:30:39]:
I took his hand in mine and told him I could not do his wedding because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. Rob said he understood and was very loving. We chatted as we always had. He talked about his mom walking down the aisle, how we got engaged. Then Rob asked me to recommend another florist, and I recommended 3 that I knew would do him a good job. We hugged each other and Rob left. I was so thankful that Rob had graciously accepted my explanation and that we had parted as friends. Until a few weeks later, I got a letter in the mail from Washington state's attorney general.

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:31:16]:
The government was threatening to sue me unless I designed floral arrangements for same sex weddings. I was in shock. It didn't seem possible to me that Rob would have filed a complaint and he hadn't. The attorney general saw a post Rob's partner put on social media and decided on his own to threaten me, to take away my livelihood unless I would create art for an event I didn't believe him. But I could never do that. I can't use the gift God gave me to violate my relationship with him. So the government and the ACLU sued my business and me personally for discrimination. My lawyers and I have been battling this case in court for 4 years.

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:31:58]:
My case is simple. Will I serve gay customers? Yes. I serve Rob joyfully for over 9 years and would welcome him back to my shop even now. Will I hire gay employees? Yes. And I have.

Chad Mahoe [00:32:13]:
Will I

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:32:13]:
let the government force me to create art expressing things I don't believe in? No. And that's my right. That's every American's First Amendment right. What does freedom of expression mean if the government tells me how to express my art? What does freedom of religion mean if the government tells me I can't live out my relationship with Jesus Christ? If I lose in court, I will likely lose everything. The penalties and attorney's fees could be well over $1,000,000. My business would be gone. My husband and I would lose our home and our retirement. But I have faith.

Barronelle Stutzman (Video) [00:32:51]:
God gave me a gift, and I just want to continue serving him by using that gift to bring beauty and joy into people's lives. Rob and Curt had the freedom to live their lives according to their beliefs. Should I not have that same right to?

Chad Mahoe [00:33:14]:
So regardless of where you stand in in this issue, I think for me what spoke so clearly is standing firm in your faith. And as believers, we may not agree with every single thing, but we're still called to love others and we're still called to use wisdom. And, you know, when I look at Romans 121, you know, about being a living and holy sacrifice, that there's people that that need to share their story, that need to, share their beliefs so other people, can be strengthened, can be encouraged, can know that there's other people fighting a battle that sometimes it feels like we're losing. But how many of you guys know that the victories are already won? Amen? Amen. Amen. So the the next point that I wanted to talk about, and and to say is, don't just hold on to your faith, give it away. And it might be a weird way of thinking about it, but, you know, it's so important for us to know who we are in Christ. Right? Things like, what is your testimony? How did you come to Christ? Those are things that we need to be sharing with others.

Chad Mahoe [00:34:32]:
How has God changed your life? How have you gone from a sinner to a saint? How have you relied on yourself and now you've changed your life and you rely on God now? You know, how does he continue to speak to you daily? And and how how has he used you, you know, ever since, coming to faith in Christ? You know, my every every year for I think the past 6 years or so, I've always tried to pray and and and meditate and and find a word that really cements, the year for me. And, last year was and that, stands for, boldness. And there are definitely some, situations that I I had to be bold in. I had to testify in court twice for a friend, 2 friends that were going through different things just as a witness. Yeah. I also, I was bold in in taking on a position, within our our school that I I definitely I'm not normally comfortable with. I don't like union stuff all the time, but, I'm not the grievance rep in my school and grievance rep sometimes, you know, have to go through hard situations and have difficult conversations with the administration at the school and everything. But, you know, I praise the Lord for kinda steering me into that direction because without that word, I probably wouldn't have done it and without praying about it and really holding fast to it, yeah.

Chad Mahoe [00:36:03]:
This year my word is identity and, there were other words that I was thinking of and for some reason that that word identity, continued to speak loudly to me. And I I think now more than ever, it's it's to make sure people understand my identity is in Christ. It's not in the world. It's not in, even my children or my wife. It's in what God says about me. It's who God has created me to be. And of course, I strive to be the best husband and the best father I can, but unless my identity is in Christ, everything else kind of fades away. The next scripture I wanted to mention is Psalm 78.

Chad Mahoe [00:36:48]:
And we're gonna read that 4 to 7. It says, we will not hide them from their descendants. We will tell the next generation the praise worthy deeds of the Lord. His power and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children. So the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. Again, it's this idea that, the faith that we hold on to it's not meant just to be our faith or to be our family's faith.

Chad Mahoe [00:37:29]:
It's meant for everybody to see. It's meant for everybody to learn from, to be encouraged by, to be supported by. And I think it's just a great reminder for us that even if you don't have kids, there's kids all around you. Kids within the church, kids in your community, maybe relatives that you might have that you can inspire, that you can encourage and support as well. How many of you guys know the bible intimately? You don't have to raise your hand it's okay. You know and I asked that because it's one thing to go to church on a Saturday or a Sunday and it's another thing to open up the Bible throughout the week and to look at what it says and to try to memorize the different stories in there because all of that stuff will encourage us, will speak to us at the right time. That's what I believe, is that God will speak to us through his word at the right time so we can encourage and support others, right? You know again, it's this reminder. How many of you guys yearn to seek him daily? How many of you actually seek him daily, Right? So it's not, this isn't, meant to condemn you but to strengthen and encourage you.

Chad Mahoe [00:38:39]:
That if you if you have gotten behind, if you haven't, you know, done what you feel like you should have done, it's okay. You can start again. That's a great thing about our faith is that God draws us near to him all, all the time. It's not just when we're following him, not just when we're praying and when we're reading our, the Bible, when we're doing our devotions. Even if you're going down the wrong road, it's always the right time to turn back to him. Right? And then my last point, you know, it says be a disciple maker to the next generation. And as, you know, as parents, we're called to raise our children in the way this should go. So when they're older, they won't depart from it.

Chad Mahoe [00:39:26]:
And I actually wanted to read that now, Proverbs 22 verse 6 and I wanted to read it from the amplified version. It says, train up a child in the way he should go, teaching him to seek God's wisdom and will for his abilities and talents. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. So sometimes we do the best that we can, and we believe that God has, you know, providence and he is sovereign over everything. And, maybe some of you guys have experienced this where you were hoping that your your children would just praise the Lord and to serve him faithfully and to be all that you hope him to be. And I still have those dreams for all of my children, obviously. But sometimes, when they're not following God like how you were hoping for, sometimes it's easy to, get down and and to condemn yourself. But, you know, I wanna remind everyone out there that no matter where your children are, if you have children, again, it's never too late to call them.

Chad Mahoe [00:40:37]:
Tell them all that you love them. To show scripture. To make it come alive to them. So the hope that they turn back to God someday, that it happens. Those of you guys again, who you don't have, children of your own. There's often opportunities to mentor children. You know, how how many of you guys have helped different children within, the church? Anybody, whether you scold them because they're not doing the right thing, you know, or maybe, you know, encourage them. Say hi to them even.

Chad Mahoe [00:41:12]:
You know, things like that. Simple things like that. It all makes a difference in in my in my mind. Sometimes it's You can volunteer. Volunteer like my my daughter, Wokea, who volunteers with hospitality. She's there serving with adults. And so, you know, those of you who are, part of hospitality, and have been a part of hospitality, thank you for helping and, helping steer my my child in the right direction. You know, even if it's not families within the church, sometimes it's in the community.

Chad Mahoe [00:41:49]:
That you might know that hard headed kid that that lives a couple doors down from you, that you despise and you cannot stand. Maybe it is time to do something different. Maybe encourage them. Maybe get to know them a little bit. Yeah. They're not going to be able to come to Christ unless someone tells them, right? He talks about that in scripture. You know, you could even do stuff like, donating time, or donating your money. You know, some some some of you have, helped to sponsor some of my children to go on trips to with Young Life, or to Molokai.

Chad Mahoe [00:42:23]:
Or even for me, not a child, but, for me to go when I went on my mission trip to Indonesia with our church. You know, I would not have gone, was it not for the generosity and help from people like you. So to end, the message, I wanted to talk about this opportunity that I got a few years ago. How many of you guys have heard of Youth Challenge Academy? Anybody out there? I know you are probably wondering. Or wonder why I am asking, because we post that sometimes. So if you have not heard about it, you might be a newer person at our church. But we do often post things about Youth Challenge. And, Youth Challenge Academy is an organization that was started to help those, students who couldn't, handle the normal high school curriculum and, experience.

Chad Mahoe [00:43:22]:
So they needed an alternative location to get their education. And, you know, for the past few years, it's it's it's really only once a month. It's the last, Sunday that we go. It is from 4:30, we meet there, all the way until about 7:30. But one of the great joys of helping at a place like Youth Challenge, you know, you might be thinking, wow, you cannot get enough of school. You are even doing, you know, other things at, a different kind of school. But normally, you know, of course, being a large family, you know, being very involved in all the different things that we do as a family, maybe sometimes it wouldn't make sense to take on something else. But for me, is a great opportunity to really help those students who maybe never got the help that they needed before, and that is why they are in that program.

Chad Mahoe [00:44:16]:
And one of the greatest joys for me is to be able to go and see some of my former students, that were not able to graduate, that weren't able to do things, maybe as they hope to or as their parents hope to. But as a reminder for me that, you know, how we worship daily, is we bring our whole selves. We bring everything that we have, and even if it's for that one child, or that one person, that it makes a difference. So with that, I didn't expect to get so emotional, but, just wanna close and pray right now. Father God, I thank you just for the opportunity, Lord, to encourage other believers out there. Maybe to inspire other people who who don't know you yet, Lord. That there's a much greater life to live, than what they're living now. Father God, I thank you that, this journey that we're on as believers, Lord, the worship that we give unto you, Lord, that it's a sacrifice Lord it's a living sacrifice that causes us to change who we are Lord To be more like you.

Chad Mahoe [00:46:16]:
Father, I ask that, that this message will reach those who've been turning away from you, Lord. That they they they've heard about you, Lord, and that they they've known you before, Lord. But, Father God, would you remind them that it's never too late to turn back, Lord. That there's a community of believers, Lord, whether it's here at New Hope Kapolei, or whether it's at another church, Lord. That there's people that are willing to love on them, To encourage them, to support them, to pray for them. And maybe there's some believers that that don't know you at all, Lord. And maybe this is the first time they're really ever hearing a message, Lord. I'd like to pray for you as well.

Chad Mahoe [00:47:01]:
That if you are ready and willing to to take a step of faith and to get to know this this this man, this man named Jesus who came down to this earth and who died and rose again. That if you would take a step of faith and believe in him, that I'd I'd love to lead you in that. So, if that's you, you can repeat after me. Lord Jesus, I thank you for loving me. I thank you for seeing me. I thank you for knowing me, even though I never knew you. Would you come into my life? I confess that I'm a sinner. I repent of my wicked ways.

Chad Mahoe [00:47:55]:
Lord, I'm ready to follow you. Would you help me to become the person that you've created me to be. In Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being here, and thank you, those of you online. But, I just pray that God, blesses you and encourages you so you can be a blessing to others. Thank you so much.