Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
You know, this evening we're continuing the series we started last week on on refocus. And I don't know if you guys have ever had a chance, or a situation. I'm I'm looking at some of us, you know, like some guys are I'm looking out. There's a fair amount of you guys, like me, that you have glasses. Right? But I know some of you guys, you guys don't have glasses, but you have contacts. And then some of you guys, you guys just get good vision. I'm jealous. You know, like when I was, when I was 29, I started to notice that maybe my eyes aren't as good as they used to be.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:32]:
I might You guys ever have people like, especially on indoor lighting, fluorescent lights, somebody would wave like across a big auditorium or whatever like this, and then I go like, I don't know if they're waving at me because I cannot tell, I cannot make out their face so I just rather like, but I don't really know who it is. I couldn't focus, and then and then that led me that when I was driving, I was on the mainland and I would be, you know, when you drive here, you don't really need to read, right, when you read, like, for many of us because we know, like, oh, the greenhouse, that's where I'm going to turn, right, you know, that kind of a thing, but like on the mainland, I'm driving, you need to read the signs. And all of a sudden, I would be, that's the one, you know, like it's too late. But, more more recently, sometimes, you know, when I've been on my computer too much, I've been on my phone too much or whatever, there's been times when your eyes get tired. Do you guys ever get that eye strain? And then I'm driving and literally the road starts to get blurry, right? Not not not the kind like call the cops on me kind, but like, the kind that, like I was surprised, I cannot focus, and sometimes we we cannot see clearly because we're we're overtaxed, we're over strained. Sometimes we cannot see clearly because things get in the way. Sometimes we cannot see clearly because we see ourselves and we see situations. True past hurts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:50]:
There's all kinds of reasons. But you know the thing is that this evening God wants to remind us that he wants you to see more clearly together, and that we're gonna take a look at 3 things that that, that really kinda help us to or or 4 things this this evening that I think will help us to see clearly that when it comes to That when we hear about some of the opportunities that, there are to to kind of get involved, to make a difference that, you know, for some of us that you need to be reminded that that the you can make an impact in this world, that your life that your life can make this world a better place, right, or it can make it a worse place, right? That that we all have the potential to go one way or the other. And for most of us, to be honest, we've been on both sides, Right? And so the thing about it is God is saying this, when you see yourself clearly, it just gets so much easier to make the most of your life and to make a better impact with your life. And so this evening, I just want to talk about, four things, but we're gonna start, by reading. We're gonna be reading mostly out of the book of first Peter, where he kind of shines some light on on this whole aspect about being able to see clearly. And so would you be kind enough to stand with me? Let's stand together. Let's stand in reverence for God, reverence for His word, And then this is what it says. We're gonna read in 1st Peter 1 verse 3.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:28]:
This is what it says. Ready? Let's read. Oh, praise to God, the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And you know, when we read this, obviously, one of the greatest characteristics about God that we see in the Bible is that many of us have seen this, we've heard this, or maybe you read on your on your Bible that it says it doesn't just say some of us your bible, doesn't just say bible, it says what? Holy bible. And and that we see in the the book of revelations that it says doesn't just say God is holy, It says God is holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, knowing that that when we repeat that it's a it's such a magnification of this aspect, that God is holy. And and holy doesn't just mean pure. Holy means that that totally different, totally separated, totally above us, totally above all things, and and this aspect that what we wanna see to see clearly is, first, we gotta just make sure we're looking at God clearly.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:32]:
I know we talked about it a little bit, but we're gonna see a little bit different ways. And so, before we're seated, do me a favor. Just turn to your neighbor. It says, God wants you to see a little more clearly today. And then you can have a seat. Whether you've had strain in your life, whether you've been taxed, whether there's been things in your way, whether you've had something in your eye, or whether you've been sick. That doesn't matter. God wants you to see more clearly.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:58]:
And then one of those things is, yes, he is holy, but you know the other part about it is that it it that there's not of course, there's nobody like God, but and that he's more than us and he's greater than us. Yes, all of those things. But it says this. It's out of the greatness of his mercy that we've been born again. And that what he's saying is that not that God doesn't want us just to be in awe of God and have a reverent fear of God, although he does want that. It's just the beginning of wisdom. It helps us to make better choices. It helps us to understand that what we do matters.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:34]:
Right? It matters for good. It sometimes matters for bad. But that what we do matters in this life. And so that we do understand those things, but we should not just be in awe of God, but that He wants you to know that His mercy is just as magnificent as his holiness, that his mercy toward you is greater than you can ever imagine. Because what it is, what it how it's manifested ultimately is that when we were dead in our sin, that when we were in our point of rebellion, that when we were in our point of apathy, when we didn't care, when we were ignorant, when we were prideful, when we were stuck in our sin, God said this, I'm not waiting for you. I'm taking the first step. And he sent his son to the cross. He sent his son in our place.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:30]:
And when God sees us, it doesn't mean that he just sees us as miserable life someplace. Right? You just can't. You want to move forward, but you don't know how. That you've wanted to make a different change. You've wanted to be better, but you didn't know how. Or to be honest, you tried, but there's another part of you that came out, right, that gets in the way. But this is what God says, that when you were stuck and when I was stuck and we couldn't help ourselves, God covered us. God washed us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:14]:
God drew us. God chose us. He chose us before we chose him. Do me a favor. Just turn to your neighbor and just say this. You know, God chose you. What did he choose you for? That you would be the recipient of his mercy. That that he he doesn't want to judge.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:33]:
Right? He wants to have mercy. That's that's God's heart. He says that not only that we receive his great mercy, because it doesn't just say mercy, it says his great mercy. Let's say great mercy. Great mercy. What does great mercy look like? It's like when you really messed up. When you really don't deserve it. See, some of us, we think that, you know, not all of us have had the wild life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:57]:
Some of us, you guys been you guys been basically good guys your whole life. There's some of us. Believe it or not, there's some people that really like that, like, like, hey, Hale's like that. Right? There's different people. Like, my wife has been like that. Right? I'm basically good their whole life. My wife is so sweet that I you know, you always matter. You always marry somebody who's a little bit opposite of you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:17]:
Right? My wife is so sweet. She's so good. I was looking at myself, like, oh, what does that say about me? Right? Like, I'm bitter and not so good. But like, but the reality is God had great mercy on me, but he had great mercy on my wife. Right? Because to be honest, even when we've been good our whole life, it's only good compared to other people. Right? Not compared to God. Right? Reason we we've all lied. We've all longed for things that we shouldn't have.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:47]:
We've all we've all been in those places, but God has had great mercy. Even when we didn't know how messed up our life was, God said this, Let me send my son to the cross first. And that when we come to him, it says in the next verse, he says, You're coming to Christ, who is the living cornerstone. He was rejected by God's people. He was rejected by people, but he was chosen by God. And so it's saying that he was chosen by God for great honor, that Jesus is not simply the way, the truth, and the life. He's the foundation. He's the cornerstone on which we want to build our life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:23]:
When you build your life on Jesus, your life fundamentally changes. You're no longer building just on your own ability. You're no longer building just on about where you've lived. You're no longer building about what your family history has been like. Like. You're no longer building on what your education or your skills or your connections have been. Are those sometimes those things helpful? Yeah. Absolutely.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:46]:
But what is the foundation of your life? What is the foundation of your life? When you build on Christ, when you build your life on Jesus, it's like going true north. You know recently, I went fishing and we were on a boat. And there were times we couldn't see. Frankly, we got stuck in the fog. Anybody ever been stuck in the fog in a boat before? And we started, this is the scary thing, while we're in the fog, I heard freighters. Like, we're talking about Matson container ships. We're in a shipping lane. We're in a shipping lane.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:25]:
And, they can see us because they have radar. We cannot see them, right? They're going like 20 knots. We're going like 3, right? 3 miles an hour. And we just hear this, which means get out of the way. But you know what? When you're looking in the fog, you don't know which is the way. You know what we had to do? We had to pull out the phone, and then pull out the the compass app, and then we had to figure out which way is south, right? Because that was going to take us out of the shipping lane. And the thing is that sometimes you need something that's outside yourself. There's times in your life you get so upside down, you don't know which way is up.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:13]:
How many of you guys been in the washing machine when you've been surfing? You guys know what I mean? Right? All of a sudden Right. You don't even know which way is up sometimes. Right? But we swim toward the light, right? You swim toward the light, the best, the most lightest part. And so when you build your life on Jesus, you always know which way is up. You always know which way is forward. You always know which way brings you to the right place. So we wanna see God clearly. Right? Because when we see God as holy, when we see him as merciful, when we see him as loving, that that it helps us to kind of angle our lives, position ourselves.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:52]:
God wants you to be positioned for the greatest success in your life. But the second thing is this, then you gotta see yourself clearly. Right? You gotta see yourself clearly. And one of those things it says that when we see ourselves clearly is is that you don't always belong in this world. When you become a follower of Jesus, when you've made Jesus your cornerstone, when you've made him your foundation, sometimes you're not always gonna fit in into places that you've been before. Right? You know, I've been able, been fortunate enough to travel through a lot of Asia, and been in places in Indonesia and China, Myanmar, Japan, right, Taiwan, Philippines, in the Pacific. We'll go to Fiji again soon, you know. And there's places that I go that, I know I totally don't look like everybody else.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:45]:
When I'm in Fiji, I'm always looking up to people, literally, right? Get some big brothers out there, right? And I know I don't like totally look like I'm local, right? But there's places I'm in Japan. There's places sometimes when I'm in China. They're like, sometimes I look I look local. People have have said that to me, right? And and, you know, there's times I know I don't look like, and sometimes I think that I fit in. But what God calls us is that sometimes, that to see yourself clearly, you gotta remember that you're not supposed to always fit in. You're not supposed to always fit in. Nothing wrong, right? How many of us that when you have your friends come from the mainland, or you meet some people, they're from the mainland and they want to speak Pidgin. How does that sound to you? Brother, just speak the way that you normally speak, right? Sounds weird like, oh, hey brother.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:42]:
You know, like they don't know how to say, hey brother. Like, they don't even know how to say it. Right? But you just want them to speak what is normal for them. Right? And sometimes God wants you to be true to who you are. What that means is this, he says it like this. In 1st Peter 1 12, he says, I am writing to God's chosen people. Let's say the words chosen people. Chosen people.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:05]:
Now what does that mean? God chose you. Right? He's talking about you. He's talking about me. The people that God chooses who are living as foreigners in the provinces. Not just the Philippine provinces, but all over all over Asia and all those things. Right? He's saying, but that we're living as foreigners. We're we're living as people who are not we're not natives. And God the Father knew you and chose you long ago.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:32]:
His His spirit made you holy, and as a result, you have obeyed him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace. How many of you want more grace and peace? Right? Yeah, we all want more grace and peace. We all want more of that, right? But part of that happens when do you get that? Is that when you're willing to be different. Sometimes to see yourself clearly is you gotta be willing to be different. Sometimes we dress different. Like, when I go to different places, they dress different. They're wearing they're they're wearing the traditional clothing in some places, and and it's obvious that, you know, we we don't fit in.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:12]:
Sometimes it's it's it's it's our it's just our body hack. If one thing I love when I go to Myanmar is that I'm not short when I go to Myanmar. I'm I'm average. Right? Now when I'm in the mainland, I look like I look like a midget. But the thing is that in some places, I look, I look big. Some places, I look small. But he says this, it's okay. Just be willing to live like you don't belong.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:38]:
And you know what the reality is? That sometimes when we change our life, when we make different choices, when we align ourselves with God's life, right, then all of a sudden, even the places that you grew up, even the people that you've hung with your whole life, all of a sudden, now you start looking different. Right? And I remember when my life started to change, that sometimes my friends and I've had my friends say that you think you're better than us. I said, come come on. We've all been in the same place. We've all done the same things, and I'm not any different than that person. Right? Except I've been forgiven and except now I'm moving in a different direction. And I'm not saying I'm better than you. This is what I realized, I needed Jesus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:27]:
Right? I needed Jesus. You know what, and I think he would help you too, right? That's all I'm saying, right? And there were those times when they're they're saying, hey, one more for the boys, and they're saying all these things, right? And it's like trying to bring you back to the old way. And in that season of my life, that was a hard decision, right? That was a hard decision. I was tempted to go back, but it's because I was willing to be different. Are you willing to be different? Right? Because some of us, we work in places where they tell you, just fudge the number at work. Right? Or just just just tell them whatever it is you got to tell them to get them off your back and then go back to the job. Right? Some of us, we are in that place. But when we speak truth, when we're honest, when we're upright, when we stand on conviction Because what you know what? Because I'm not just working for my boss, I'm working for the Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:25]:
Right? That when I start working for God, sometimes we're gonna look a little different. And and it doesn't always jive at times. Sometimes it brings a little bit of tension. Sometimes it brings a little bit of misunderstanding. Maybe they think you think you're better than them. The reality is, what I've noticed about most Christians is that we're not self righteous. We're the opposite. We know we're not righteous.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:51]:
That's why we need Jesus. Right? Right? Sometimes that guy who says, I'm good, I'm a good guy, he's self righteous. He's trusting in his righteousness. I know I cannot trust in mine. I would be destined for hell just like the next guy. Right? But I've received his grace. I've received his mercy. That's why he starts there.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:11]:
Would you know that you're the object of God's affection and his mercy? Right? And so we're called to live at times as resident aliens in a foreign land. You know, my wife is, that we've she's been living in Hawaii 26 years now. Right? 20 I'm sorry, not 26. We've been married 20 7 years. So, you've been she's been she's living in Hawaii for 28 years now. And the thing is that she's not a citizen. But you know, the thing is that there's a few things that are different. She cannot vote.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:48]:
Right? She cannot, when she comes in, she she has to show her green card when she comes in. And and you know, I just show my passport, and I come back home. Right? Those kind of things. But in reality, day to day life is not so different. But every once in a while, I know my wife has moments and she realizes I'm not a native. Yeah. I noticed that same thing when I'm in Japan. Right? I noticed those same things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:16]:
I noticed those things sometimes when I go back to some of those places where I used to hang out before. And I would visit my some of my old friends. I recognize some of those things. But this is what he said, that just live out the fact that you're a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. Right? And then sometimes we're learning kingdom ways still. Right? Sometimes we're challenged because of the ingrain about what I've, my whole life I've been living this way. I went through culture shock, frankly. When I became a believer, I went through culture shock.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:49]:
I didn't know how to live differently. I didn't know how to speak differently. I didn't know how to act differently. But as Jesus was living in me, this is what I noticed. I wanted to change. Right? I wanted to follow. I was I I had more peace in the midst of that. And so this is what God says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:07]:
If you're willing to live as a foreigner, you know what you'll find? That God's presence is attracted to you. You're not just running after Jesus. Jesus is running after you. And as a result, he says this, that you can live with faith, confidence, and courage. Why do we say that? This is what it says in 1st Peter, chapter, verse 3. 13. Let's read what it says in that that first, that first phrase. Now Okay? From there.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:38]:
Ready? Let's read. Now we live with great expectation. You're saying, nah, don't just live with expectation, live with great expectation. Right? Live this with a sense of faith. Live with a sense of confidence. Live with a sense of courage, and we have a priceless inheritance, an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you. It's pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. Beyond the reach of change and decay.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:06]:
You know, there have been times when I was a kid that we buried something, in a tin box in the backyard because we wanted to make buried treasure. And part of that is, like, we put some candy in there. Right? And when we later on, we forgot about it, and then several years later, we dug up the thing and said, I wonder if the candy is good, and we opened it up, and that was so important to us and it was like, I don't even know what to describe it, but it didn't look anything like the form it was when it went in, right, and that Anse didn't get it or anything. It just looked obviously inedible. And the thing is that sometimes the things that we bury, sometimes the things that we hide, sometimes the things that we're counting on, that we think, Oh, later on, just put it aside for a little while. I'm gonna go back. Sometimes what you're gonna see is it's just not appealing anymore. Why? Because even though you've been changing, this thing has continued to decay.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:02]:
But he's saying this, the inheritance we have in Christ is pure and undefiled, unable. It's beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, can we just read that next phrase? Through your faith, what? God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation which is ready to be revealed on the last day. God wants you to live with great expectation for your future. That he wants you to believe that better things lie ahead. You see, everybody's seeing the same things that are happening in the world. Right? You guys read the news at all? Are you here? Are you see on social media, whatever, that you see things that are crazy that happening in the world? You know what? God says this. Don't focus on that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:46]:
Don't obsess about that. If you have concerns about it, yeah, bring it before God. Bring your friends before God. Bring our community before God. We're gonna be doing that during our 21 days. We're gonna be praying for our city. We're gonna be praying for our state. We're gonna be praying for our nation, right? We're gonna be praying for our world.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:03]:
But you know what? Don't obsess. Right? Don't obsess about it. I I was, talking to some people in the who work for the federal government, in the Defense Department. They work kind of in the intelligence thing. And there's, they have concerns, frankly. They have concerns. They have concerns with different things that are happening in Asia, in Taiwan, in the Philippines. They have great concern, frankly.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:28]:
And you know, like, if I'm not careful, sometimes I can just think about all that, right? Think about the economy. Think about like, be aware. You know what God's calling us to do? Be aware, but live with faith and courage because God is protecting you, it says. God has been protecting you. And what does that mean? I think for sure it means eternally. You see, once we give ourselves to Jesus, he says that no one has taken anyone the father has given me. No one has taken them from my hand, not even one. And he's not going to start with you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:04]:
If you've trusted in Jesus, some of you guys, you worry that you cannot, am I going to lose my salvation? Right? There's some of us that we're thinking that it's like, I disqualified myself. You know what God has says? No, I got you in the grip of my grace. That will he call you to repent? Yeah. Probably. Will he call you at times to trust him more? Sure. All of us have to do that at times. But is god going to kick you out of his family when he brought you in? No, he doesn't. You see, this aspect of being placed in God's family, the the Bible calls that adoption.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:39]:
Let's say the word, adoption. Adoption. Adoption, even in the biblical times, was a formal legal transfer that someone who was not related, that someone who was not part of a family, someone who did not count, someone who was an outsider becomes an insider, that all of a sudden, someone who is not related is now related, related, that all of a sudden, the relationship fundamentally changes, that now the person that you might have called master, you call father. And this the relationship God wants you to say. Like he doesn't want you to say, oh God, great God of the universe and almighty Lord or whatever, but this is how God tells us to pray. This is how Jesus told us to pray. How does He tell us to pray? Our father in heaven. You're related.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:30]:
You're connected. Long time ago, when my friend when we were kids, one of my friends, he's in and in the medical field, but his dad was a local boy and he worked on the Lirline. I don't know if you guys remember, but that was before the modern cruise ships, that was the cruise ship in Hawaii a long time ago. And he would say that he would be there waiting for his dad to come off the ship, but he couldn't go up because there was a guard that was there. It has a gangplank. And that's where like all the guys who worked on the ship would come in and out, and he was waiting for his dad. And the guard would prevent my friend from getting on the ship. But he wanted to get close to his dad.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:13]:
But you know what would happen? When his dad would come on the scene, his dad would just tell the guy, Man, that's my boy. And he said he would run up into his dad's arm, and the dad would take him along in his ship. You see, God doesn't call you to call him master and Lord and and and and almighty God. Is he that? Yes. He is. We understand that. But this is how he wants you to relate to him. He's your dad.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:44]:
You can call on him. He's for you. He's not against you. He waves away judgment and gives you access. As a son, as a daughter, you have access to God. Just say would you say that? I have access to God. Sometimes the world, they don't call on God. You know why? Because they don't have His phone number.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:08]:
They don't know how to get in touch. They don't know if they're heard, right? But this is what God says, He hears you. He knows you. He gave you the private number, right? He gave you the private number. Through Christ is that. And it goes on and it says I I believe that, of course, it's calling us to be protected spiritually. Right? That that he says your name is written in the Lamb's book of life, that that that you're you're bound for heaven. Now, does that mean everything in your life goes perfect? No.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:44]:
It doesn't. Right? Doesn't guarantee any of that. But I believe that it does cover you in this life as well. Would you know that God protects his people even today, even in this life? Now all of us though, we've probably seen that Or maybe you've had some bad things that have happened to you, right? I've known some people who Christians died in an accident, right, died in a car accident. Last year, I lost a friend who was at would normally at this service in an unfortunate work accident. But here's the thing: It doesn't mean that bad things never happen to God's people. But how many of us know there are things in our life where the that if all things being equal, you shouldn't be here? Right? You've been in a place, you go, you look at that, and it goes like, Hey, by all rights, bro, I shouldn't be here. Because some of us, we would be we would crippled, some of us, we know we would be dead, for some of us, we knew that we would be in jail, for some of us, we knew we would be divorced, for some of us, we knew that we would just be like, I couldn't show my face in this place, right? We know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:02]:
Why is that? Because it says that God's protecting you. And I believe that, to be honest, that God is protecting you in a way that when you wanna follow him, that when you wanna follow him, that you're not gonna go to heaven till God says that you've done and that he protects you. Everybody has a time. Right? Everybody has a it's so many days. Now, the thing is, I don't know how many days you have. I don't know how many days I have. But I know till that day is up, this is what God says, you're protected, right? And it's not so that at the end of last day, I'm not protected. He's just saying, now he's telling the guard on the plank, move aside because my boy's coming in.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:55]:
Right? And so he's saying this, you're protected. God stations, it says this, that the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, that he dispatches his heavenly host. God is protecting you so that you can move forward with courage. What would you do if you knew that you that you could not be taken out? That you would not be humiliated, that you would not what would you do? How many of us would speak up more? Oblivious and walk around like, and then, you know, like be a, you know, a be oblivious and walk around like, do do do do do, like, and then, you know, like, be a like, go into the wrong place at the wrong time, or or yell out at people, or, you know, we're not talking that. Right? It's not an excuse to be dumb. Some of us, to be honest, you guys gotta be more careful when you're out on the street. Because you say we say, god is gonna protecting god is gonna protect me. So you're walking in the parking lot, and you're doing all this on your phone, and you're telling people, everybody else who might be looking at you, and every once in a while, there's people who have bad intentions.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:10]:
You know what? You're telling them when you do this, when you walk in the like, please choose me, because I'm not paying attention. Right? We got to be a little bit street smart, right? But the thing is that I believe that as sons and daughters, this is what God is saying: Be wise as we live in the world, but would you know that I have your I'm protecting you. There have been situations that I know I shouldn't have gotten out of. There have been situations that we've been overseas where that, to be honest, we I could have been stuck in that country. There were even in going on to Myanmar, we're going like, if we had gone on that trip, we probably could have got to Myanmar. But when we would have come back would have been, like, 3 years later because of the pandemic. But god had us protected. And and so that was the largest team.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:02]:
We had 28 people going to to Myanmar on that team. But here's the thing. God says this, I have better plans. I'm leading you. I'm guiding you. Have peace. Have courage. A realist sometimes There's people who say, I'm a realist.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:25]:
And the reality, what they say is, I used to trust God. I used to trust God, but I had something bad happen to me. And sometimes some realists, they're really skeptics, right? And they really just depend on themselves, because you've been burned. And and we've all gone through something. Right? But when instead, if you let the fact that you've been burned, but would you see that somehow God brought you in a back end, that he brought you still, somehow he brought you forward? Would you just keep trusting him? Keep trusting him. Have the courage. Have the confidence. Because he's saying this, I don't want you just to have, like, expectations.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:06]:
Some things might change someday. He says this, have great expectation. There's been times when I've prayed that I've asked God, God, what do you want me to do? And God spoken to me, ask me for more. Because great faith believes that God is a great God and that he does above and beyond what I could do or what I could ask or I could think. Right? And here's the good news. Even though it says that all this stuff is waiting in heaven for us, he lets us experience some of that now. The goodness of God, he gets us experience it now. That you're greatly loved, you're greatly chosen, you're greatly called.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:51]:
Right? But, but sometimes, you know, we just gotta be a little bit humble. Right? We gotta be a little bit humble. How many of you guys recognize we gotta be a little bit humble? The a few years ago when my kids were younger, I remember going to like my folks' place, and, when we were driving home, my youngest son, he was probably like 7 or so, and and he says, wow, dad, you know, grandma and grandpa's house is big. Yes. It's like so big, their house, because it's just kind of laid out differently than ours. And I said, yeah, yeah, it's a good sized house. Right? Wasn't that size when I grew up. That got the house got bigger after after I moved out.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:32]:
But but yeah, the house is it's a nice sized house. But I I told him, but you know, to be honest, our house is bigger. He says, no, it's not. I said, because grandma's house is 1 story. Our house is 2 stories. Right? So we have the, you know, living room and this and this and this. And he started thinking, and he goes, oh, yeah. Nobrega.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:56]:
No. No. No. No. No. But it's just no. I'm not bragging. I'm just saying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:59]:
Right? But like, sometimes sometimes you just gotta be little bit humble. Right? That's what he's telling me. Be humble. Be humble. And, and there is that part. There is that part. But but God wants us not just to be live humbly in some sense, but look to the longer term. Look to the longer term.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:19]:
You see, sometimes we gotta live for eternity. That's what God is calling us to do. Now, eternity is hard to contemplate. Right? How many of you guys have tried to think about eternity? And it just kind of fries your circuits a little bit. Right? Just like because we cannot, it's like, oh, like what does that mean, eternity? So like, even in the song, Amazing Grace, when we've been there for 10000 years, bright shining as a sun, where there's no less days to sing God's praise than when we just began. I go like, what does that mean? So after 10000 years, it's like we're in the same place. Now, it is. It's a hard thing to to contemplate.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:52]:
But maybe one way to think about it is like right now, like if we had a line that was going out of this room, and and it's it's right here, we go like all of a sudden this way, all the way is is the future. Right? So this this line goes all the way forward, and it keeps going and going and going and going all the way forward, right? But there's another part that goes back this way, right, goes all the way back in history, right, that whenever time began, that that's what's there. And then some people say, well, what happened before time began? I mean, that's just beyond our comprehension. So for all intents and purposes, let's say it goes on, infinitum. And all of a sudden, like, what is our time frame? Right? So if you get to live if you lived 80 years, that's a decent length of time. Right? That's a decent length of time. Right? What would be a long life? Some of us that today, we want to be healthy, we want to live long. Like, how many of you guys want to live like tell me tell me when to stop.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:53]:
How many of you guys want to live 80 plus years? Raise your hand. Raise your hand. And the rest of us, you ready to cash it in? Is that what you're saying? I don't know. But how many of us, some of us, we wanna live we wanna live 90. You wanna live as long as you can live healthy. Because none of us probably wanna be, like, you know, dementia and all that kind of stuff, and we don't want that. Right? Most of us. Right? But like, if you could live to be a 100 and be just as healthy basically as you are today, just as sharp basically as you are today, like how many of us wouldn't want to live to a 100? Right? Right? Because we would, if we still have the same faculty, we're strong, right? Like, we might think a 100 years is a long time, but in light of eternity, on that line, it's like a scratch.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:37]:
It's like a dot. Right? And so this is what he's saying though. But when you live your life for God, when you live your life in faith for him, that dot will influence everything else that happens as it goes forward, all of the rest of eternity because of this one dot that you lived for God, this one scratch of your life, he says, will change all of eternity. And as a result, when the 100th year happens and that next day that you breathe your breath in heaven, he says, all of what happens after that will be different because of what you did when you live for faith. Right? And maybe some of those ways, you might wanna think about eternity as relationally as well. Maybe you wanna think about that one day, we know what does that mean, that when we get to heaven, you're gonna be able to walk and talk with Jesus. Right? Ask him whatever question. How many of you have questions for God that when you get to heaven? Right? But you know, I have questions not so much for God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:45]:
I have questions for people in the Bible. Like, when I get to heaven and I meet Adam, I would ask him, Britta, why? Why did you eat that fruit when you're not supposed to? You know what that caused the rest of us? Right? And I'm sure everybody else can ask them this thing, right? But you'll be able to talk with the saints: Abraham, and Moses, and Paul, and David, and all these people that you read about in the scripture, right? But there's some of us that we've had family members who've passed already, who loved Jesus. But what does that mean? That you're gonna see mom and dad again. You're gonna see grandpa and grandpa again. You see your brother and your sister again. Some of us, you're gonna see your spouse. Right? You're gonna see your you're gonna see your wife. You're gonna see your your husband.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:43]:
You're gonna see people. For some of us, we're gonna see our kids. Right? And if you've had a miscarriage, you're gonna know what your child looks like in eternity. You're gonna see them. And you're gonna be able to walk with them, and you're gonna be able to talk with them. You see, this aspect that for some of us, you're gonna see people. I'm gonna see Billy with an idea there. I'm gonna see Nino who went to be with the Lord earlier this year.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:13]:
I'm gonna be able to see people. See, relationally, it means that you'll never be separated. Relationally means you'll be reconnected. Relationally, it means that you're gonna be together again. In this moment, God is saying this, that if all we have to live for is today to make ourselves healthy and wealthy and wise, right, if all we have today is for what I can put in a bank account or or how many clicks I can get or how many likes I can get or how many followers or subscribers I can get, if that's the only way that I live today, then when we stand before God, all that stuff, all that I've accumulated, as many likes, you know what? It's gonna matter, like, for nothing. Right? He says that our God, that one day all of us will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, and everything that we've done in faith and obedience to him is is gonna pass through the fire, it says. And when what is that talking about? Because the scripture talks about God as a consuming fire in the Old Testament. That God is holy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:26]:
Right? And that one day that, that he says that it's gonna pass through the fire. Everything in my life is gonna pass through the fire. And everything that has been done in faith and obedience and love for God, he says, is gonna emerge refined and pure. And everything else is just gonna become ashes. It's gonna become rubble. And some some of us that you guys ever heard the expression, the skin of your teeth? It comes from the Bible. Because it says that some people, although they knew Jesus, they lived entirely their whole life just for everything today. So when we go, we think, like, it's like my 401 ks.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:12]:
It's my it's gonna I'm gonna bring my whatever, my house, my boat, my car, my friend, like my relationship. I'm gonna bring all that. But what happens is, was that for you or is that for God? We just live for our flesh. Right? All those things, because he says, it's gonna be gone. And so but this is what it says, but you'll still be in heaven, maybe some of us, by the skin of our teeth. He said, you'll still be there, you'll still be happy, But this is what God wants you to understand. I want you to live now, now, live you, I want you to live for me because it's there that you find the greatest freedom. It's there that you find the greatest reward.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:54]:
It's there that you find the greatest peace. It's there that you find my protection. It's there that you find my mercy. It's there that you find my blessing. It's there that you find me working alongside you. Right? And so, and he says this, and then in the next life, he says even greater. And and I don't know about you guys, but I I need to be surrounded by people who think like that, who walk like that, and encourage me to do the same. Because you're a part of a spiritual community.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:26]:
You're a part of a community of faith. The scripture says it like this, 1st Peter 2 56. And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priest. And through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifice that please God. What does that mean? Like when we worship. Right? That when we that when we give, for God's glory, that when we contribute to the needs of the other of others and needs of of people. That the scripture says, I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:06]:
The thing is that you and I, if we're gonna be built into this spiritual house, a spiritual temple, you know what you don't wanna be? You don't wanna be the brick on the side that never gets used. Right? Because the reality is you have great potential to do good. You have great potential to do good. Do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor and say, You have great potential to do good. But what becomes hard is when you separate yourself from everybody else. That's when it becomes hard. Because then, to be honest, you gotta fight the devil on your own.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:43]:
You gotta fight your thoughts on your own. You gotta fight your temptations on your own. You gotta fight all that on your own. But when you surround yourself with other people, when you surround yourself with others going in the same direction, when you surround yourself with those who encourage you and support you and walk with you, who pray with you and pray for you, that it's in that place where you find strength and you find added grace and you find added protection. And the thing is that don't separate yourself. Proverbs 18:1 says that, He who separates himself seeks his own desire and he quarrels against all sound wisdom. But if you never join forces with other believers, we will be the less for it, right? Because nobody can replace you. Nobody.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:35]:
You're not a replaceable thing, right? You're not an interchangeable part. You're unique. And God has a unique purpose and a plan for you. And when you live that out, something changes, not just in this community, but something changes in the world as a result of you. So we would be the lesser for it. But the second thing is you'll never reach your potential in Christ all on your own. You cannot. Because the Bible uses the terms one another, right? You guys ever heard of it? Love one another, encourage one another, pray for one another, bear one another's burdens, right? It's stand with one another, right? Grieve with one another.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:25]:
Rejoice with one another. You cannot do the one another's, guess what, without one another, right? And this is the training ground. You know how we learn how to love people that super different than us? By learning to love people who are at least in the same family, right, In the same family. Now every family, every family has their little things, and every church is the same, right? So some people, I know this, I just ran into somebody this week, and I they hadn't been in church for a long time and the whole thing, and I was just talking with them. And and I asked where they lived and they said, you know, a certain place. And then I just started telling them, Hey, have you been to this church? Because they're just down the road from you. And they said, you know, can I tell you something? I never go in that church. I go, oh, what happened? Something happened.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:23]:
He goes, I went and I I saw this person and and, they were like one of the pastors at the staff, and they they just kind of rubbed me the wrong way. So I never went to that church. And I I talked to them. I said, I don't think that person is even there anymore. And, it wasn't a senior pastor, it was just one of the staff. He said, that person's not even there. Just go over there. It's a great great church.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:47]:
I go, yeah. I don't know. I don't like that. How about your church? That's Chad. No. No. That's just joking. That's not Chad.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:54]:
But like, the thing is that, you know what? Everybody gets hurt. And the thing that separates most people is other Christians. Right? It's other people. That's the one that's hardest because we expected more. But the reality is the person that's next to you, they're just like you. We all make mistakes. Have some grace. And you know what? And when you forgive, it's not for them.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:25]:
It's for you to be free. Right? So just forgive them. Move forward. Move forward with your life. But we need community for that. You're part of the community, so get connected. Because without that, you'll never become the person that God's called you to be. And sometimes, what you're gonna find is that the people who rub you the wrong way, God is using in your life the most to cause you to grow.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:54]:
To the people who rub you the wrong way, it's that God has placed them in your life strategically to create some kind of character in your life, right? Are oysters known for in terms of jewel? What are oysters known for in terms of jewel? Pearls. Exactly. Right? But a pearl doesn't start out as a piece of as a as a pearl. How does that start out? Often as a piece of sand, an irritant that is somehow lodged in a in a mollusk that cannot move, because they're cemented, right? They cannot move. And so when that sand gets in, they try to expel it. But if it cannot be expelled, what happens is it secretes this calcified substance over that piece of sand or rock that sometimes a little bit sharp, and it starts to smooth out the edges. And then all of a sudden, over countless times of being secreted, When the oyster is open, what we see is not a grain of sand or a piece of rock or whatever. What do we see? We see a pearl.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:03]:
And sometimes God uses people in your life. So how many people have sand people in your life? Yeah. We all have sand people in our lives. Right? Just don't just don't point at the people at your table. But we all have sand people in our life, but God uses them to produce something greater in you. And that's why we become more patient. That's how we become more loving. That's how we become, like, we have greater wisdom.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:26]:
That's how we will grow as people. God uses that. But here's the other thing is you gotta see the world clearly. You gotta see the world clearly. And you know, earlier we said that we live as foreigners in this strange land. But but you might be wondering, it seems like the world is increasingly, I don't recognize the country that I grew up with. I don't I don't recognize the community that I grew up with. Right? I don't recognize the country that I I live in.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:56]:
Because when we see all the changes that are going on and some of us think, is it the world change or did we change? And the answer is, of course, it's both. Right? That the more that you follow Christ, you start to change. But you gotta understand that the world is changing, and it's changing at an increased pace. And so one of the reasons why we don't recognize the world so much today is because many of us grew up knowing that there was such a thing as right and wrong. How many of you grew up realizing that there's common things that was right and wrong? Right? Raise your hand. Right? There's most of us. We all knew that, hey, like, you know what? You don't pick all the lychee off the tree without asking auntie first, right? How many of you guys recognize that? Right? Hey, if you ask what? Go go ahead, right? And then all of a sudden somebody comes in the middle of the night and you look at your trees all bow ahead. Right? Like, oh, it's like it's uncool.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:56]:
Right? That's what we would say. We'd be uncool. It's not good. We understood that. But today, part of the reason why it's so difficult is because the world has changed, especially in Western countries, especially in the US, because we've suffered kind of a philosophical change. And I'm just gonna explain this for a minute. For some of you guys, you don't really care about this kind of stuff. For some of us, it's gonna help you to understand why it's changed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:24]:
Because there was a point of view that's called postmodernism that was being taught in colleges, like, in the seventies and in the eighties, and it started to bear its fruit in the nineties, where a lot of people said that we were previous to postmodernism was this thing called modernism, which was there was a right way and there was a wrong way. There's a thing about being productive and things that are unproductive. There's things about being true and things being false. But they said, some people said, that's too binary. That's like, not everything is true or false, or maybe there's this aspect that truth is relative, and that that you have your truth, and I have my truth. Does that sound like more common like today? That was taught in colleges in the 78 in a lot of the the social departments, social study departments. And so as a result of that, that this aspect of individual truth, not something for me to align my life with what is true, that all of a sudden, that began to take shape. The scripture warns us about that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:30]:
He says this, this the world will try to rob you and blind you and captivate you. He says this in Colossians 2:8. See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. Because if you are a person who has sincere faith in Jesus, And that at one time, we were the majority of the people in our culture. Now to be honest, we still are. We still are. But this aspect of postmodernism has permeated through our culture, so that many of us, even in our even though you believe in Jesus, you might say, My truth and your truth and that kind of a thing. That we adopt those kinds of language, right? Now, if you notice today that we shouldn't judge and criticize other people, right? That's kind of like a big taboo, unless you're white.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:38]:
You know what I'm saying? Like like, it's just nonsensical, right? It doesn't it doesn't fit, right? And or, it doesn't matter what your sexual preference, right? It doesn't matter what your sexual preference, unless you're straight because you're homophobic. Right? You're cisgender, right? All of a sudden that in this thing that we we never should mock anybody's religion unless you're Christian. Right? Then you can get mocked all the time. Now, what is it saying? It's because it's saying that, part of the reason that this happened is also, not just what was being taught in the colleges, but after 9/11, after 9/11, there was this rise of this group of people called the new atheists. And and some of these guys are college professors, and some of these guys are, were great, you know, like, social thinkers, guys, like Dawkins and Sam Harris and Dennett, and these guys who then went after 9 11 happened, there was a move that said not just that certain religions are bad or certain things that religions can teach would be bad. But what they taught was that religion in general is irrational, pathological, and uniquely dangerous. And that promoting the beliefs would create greater, prejudice, greater discrimination, and greater violence. Right? So this is what these guys talk.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:16]:
Now we've always had atheists, but these guys are called new atheists because in the old days, atheists that just didn't believe in God, they were kind of like, they don't believe in God, and then they go do their own thing. But the new atheists made it their mission to try to tear down the foundations of Western society that was often based on Christian ethic. It's not that everything was Christian. It's not that everything was just. It's not that everything was like what Jesus wanted it to be. But there was a sense of right and wrong. Right? There was a sense of common decency. There was a sense of value of hard work, of merit, all these things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:57]:
And so they set about to destroy that. And to be honest, in some ways, they've kind of succeeded. But recently, recently, one of the guys who've been part of that, Richard Dawkins, was asked about about what their thought was, because the thought was, why did they wanna tear down religion? Because they thought if they tore down religion, what would happen is that people would be more rational, and people would be more reasoned and people would become more just. But what they have found is if you did take away the common values for decency and morality, what is left in its place? It does not give rise to greater rationality. It gives rise to grabbing power and indulging your whims, indulging your impulses. And so what we've seen over the last 20 years has been a rapid rise of a lack of common decency, common morality, and instead of people becoming more just and more free and more rational, become less rational. Except Richard Dawkins, when asked about it, confessed. He says, I am not a Christian in the traditional sense of a Christian.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:30]:
But what I have come to understand is I am culturally a Christian, and I would much rather live in a Christian nation than one that doesn't have it. Because what he's found is that as society has degraded in the West, in particular, in the free fall in some of the things. He says, this is the exact opposite of what we thought we were doing has been accomplished. And so that's one of the reasons why the world has changed so much in the last 20 years. And so these are just things that in case that you've wondered. But now here's what I want to say about this. This is the last thing. In order to see yourself clearly, you also got to see your challenges clearly.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:19]:
You got to see your challenges clearly because everybody has challenges. Everybody has problems. Everybody has stuff that they struggle with. And so this is what God says to us. Let's read what it says, 1st Peter 6 and 7. Ready? Let's read. So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:42]:
These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold. To your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Christ Jesus is revealed to the whole world. Now when Peter says the word, trials, it's an ambiguous term because it could mean a temptation, or it could mean some troublesome thing, a trial that you go through. So it could be either one. And a trial is something that is a is a test that comes that that that you may wonder whether I can stand up to the strain, I can stand up to the pressure. Like a piece of metal that sometimes got to get rated, you know, like to handle certain amount of pressure because it's gonna be used in a certain application.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:00:37]:
You don't want it to snap, you don't want it to wear out, you don't want it to break. Right? And, temptation is something that is meant to lead you to a place that will destroy something. The Bible describes it as sometimes an appeal to yield to a sinful desire. Right? Something that God clearly does not do. Right? James 113 says that God never tempts us. Right? Encouraging us to yield to our sin. But but our flesh, our own flesh does it. And sometimes, the the adversary does it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:01:15]:
He tempts us. I don't need the devil to be tempted, but when he gets involved it gets a lot harder. But this is what scripture is saying, that God still can use those temptations and those trials that we all go through. Because temptation, although it's taking pleasure in something that we shouldn't, right? Like Adam and Eve, they took pleasure in what they ate. They took pleasure in those things, and it broke something. And they didn't realize that what happened on that tree of the knowledge of good and evil didn't realize would break the rest of the fabric of creation. And so today, it's not that everything in the world is evil, but nothing in the world is really perfect. As even the best things in life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:02:04]:
Everything's a little everything is a little broken. And when people when the Bible says that people then we all struggle with sin as a result, It doesn't mean that we're all evil, right? It just means that we're deeply flawed and none of us escaped that. There's 2 things I know about each of us in this room, everybody watching online, anybody that you meet, there's 2 things that I know about them. They are more deeply broken and sinful than they can imagine. Me included. But the second thing is that I know is they are more deeply loved than they can ever imagine. Because God didn't come for goody goodies. God came for real people whose lives are not perfect.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:02:58]:
And so this is what he's saying. So God will use then these tests and these trials to somehow purify and and remove some of the impurities from from our lives. And he makes an analogy. He's saying it's like, it's like metal, and gold is one of those things that can be purified. Because most of us have heard of, like, white gold. You guys ever heard of white gold or rose gold? Right? And you go like, how come it's not yellowish gold? Right? Why is it not like that? It's because, to be honest, there's other things in it. And and so it it takes on that hue, takes on that thing. Like rose gold has tin and it has copper in it, and that's why it gets that kind of a pink patina on that thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:03:48]:
Right? And and so, white gold, I think, is nickel and some other things that that kind of get in that way. And sometimes we know that it's also by the purity of it, 14 karat gold, 18 karat gold, 24 karat gold. It's different levels of impurity. 24 karat gold is basically pure gold. Right? But what happens is no gold starts pure. It has to be refined. And those surfaces, those impurities get removed, but how does it happen? It happens in the fire. It happens when it's melted.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:04:23]:
It happens when it's being shaped. It happens in those places where all of a sudden, that its rigidness is reduced and made molten, and it then becomes moldable. And when you and I, when God turns up the heat in our life, sometimes, to be honest, we need the heat in our life to be willing to change. Sometimes we need the heat in our lives to be able to recognize certain things that we go, like, this is not helpful, what I'm doing. This attitude, it hasn't prospered me. You know, all of us, we have attitudes that we carry on in life, and we have it because it worked at one time. Like, if you're a bully, it worked at one time. Right? If you'd like to cut the corners, why it worked at one time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:05:11]:
Right? Because we we're not gonna tell the truth. We're gonna lie about this thing. Why did we use it? Because it worked at one time. But when the heat comes up, we realize, like, oh, geez. It wasn't helpful anymore. You guys trying to let us lay those things aside because we were all like that. And so our faith, nobody's faith is a 1000 percent pure. At least I know mine isn't.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:05:37]:
There's a bit of humanity in us. Right? There's a bit of our flesh in us. There's a little bit of old habits and attitudes, but this is what we wanna say. God, would you refine me? God, I'm willing to be changed. I'm willing to grow. I'm willing for you to mold my character and my faith. Maybe during these 21 days, God is gonna call you to lay aside an old habit. God's gonna call you to lay aside an old attitude.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:06:02]:
You would say He's just gonna say, can I can you let me mold me mold you and refine you and maybe place you, like, you're just like you're just 2 degrees off? Your whole life is not wrong, but just need you to move a little bit to the right. It needs you to move a little bit to the left. And he says that as a result, then we change. As a result, we grow. As a result, our character is changed. Our faith is changed. And And we all talk about the Lord's return being sooner than when we first started, and I think it's soon. But in these last days, as as the enemy is moving, God is even moving greater.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:06:50]:
In these last days, we're gonna see the fulfillment of God's promises. We're gonna see the fulfillment of prophecy. We're gonna see the increase in miracles. We're gonna see the increase of the people of God's rising up. Because some of these things that we've talked about in the change in our world, it's become so evident. It's become so evident to many people, not even of faith, that the craziness of the last 10 years, you know, it's it doesn't make sense anymore. Right? Not not to everybody, but to many people. And so God is moving in the midst of this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:07:28]:
But he says this, if we are not careful and we don't draw close, he says the love of many grow cold because lawlessness has increased. And so, here's the thing, is that all of us that as we're moving forward, this process of refinement is when it's heated, there's also a cool down period. Right? When something is hot and molten and it has to be reset, it it needs some time. Because if it happens too quick, what happens is that metal becomes fragile and cracks take place that inevitably lead to fatigue and ultimately to disaster. To ensure that cooling happens in a controlled instance today, sometimes what they'll do is they'll they'll take it and they'll dip it in oil. They'll they'll dip it in a bath of some kind of a chemical so that the right temperature is maintained. And this constant temperature bath bath, allows it to solidify in a way that's not brittle and not not filled with air and not filled with these things. And so sometimes what happens is that God uses time in your life, and he uses time in my life so that change is not instantaneous, but change happens over time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:08:59]:
And so in these next 21 days, we're trying to take some time to let God reshape us. There's some places, he's gonna wanna cool, in some places he's gonna wanna heat up. But in this place, let's press into him. And what you'll see is you'll see him more see your life more clearly, and the world will make more sense because you'll start seeing what's happening at a different level. Make sense? Let's bow our heads. We'll close in a word of prayer. Father, this evening, the reality is all of us. We don't always see as clearly as we would like.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:09:41]:
And father, if there's some smudge on the glass of our soul, Lord, would you just would you reveal that to us? Because we want to see you more clearly. And some of us, we've been wounded by Christians, and we've been wounded by churches, and and we've had these things. But, Lord, that that sometimes your greatest advertisement is the people of God, and sometimes the greatest hindrance is the people of God. But would you help us to see you more clearly? And, father, would you help us as a result of seeing you more clearly, that you are God, but but that you're filled with mercy and compassion and love and grace, that we would see our lives more clearly. That sometimes we're not meant to fit in because you're changing us. Lord, that sometimes we we need to live for eternity and not just live for today, foundation of Christ. Lord, that you're using that, Lord, to sometimes refine us and shape us so that we might be more usable in your hands, that we might be more aligned with you. And that Lord, that we also want to see the world that is all of its enticements, that sometimes Lord, would you help us see past the facade.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:11:15]:
And that we see what's happening, sometimes under the surface. So that we can make better choices. Lord, I pray your blessing on your people. Lord, thank you that wherever we are today, we're choosing you. That wherever today, Lord, we are, we're drawing closer. That, Lord, wherever we are today, that, Lord, we surrender and we confess that we need you. Because, Lord, although we've sinned greatly, that the grace of God is a greater mercy. And thank you for choosing us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:11:49]:
We choose you today. In Jesus' name, God's people say, amen? Amen. Hey, God bless you guys.