Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:02]:
Guys. Great to see everybody. Hey. You know, this we started, I guess now 3 weeks ago, this series. And, you know, one of those things that we talked about was that, sometimes you just need to make a little mid course correction. You guys remember when I was talking about that? Like, it's just 1 degree or 2 degrees. But I don't know if you've ever been in a place where you're trying to make that adjustment, you know, those mid course corrections. It's just a little here, a little there, but you still feel scattered.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:32]:
You still feel, kind of bound down. You still feel like, you know, you can't focus on the things that really matter. And sometimes it's kinda like that. You guys ever get that with your phone? Your phone just doesn't quite get right. Your computer just doesn't get right. Those of you who have a smart TV, sometimes it doesn't act like it's very smart. Right? And, and sometimes what happens is what's what's happening is that there's just different levels of code, right, that get kinda either, just one line here, one line here, and it just kinda gets tweaked. And and and so that even though you're trying to make all these adjustments, it just doesn't take.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:08]:
So what's the solution? It's the dreaded one that many of us don't like to take but it's called the the hard reset. You guys ever do that? Right? So that if you get a phone, if you, you can reset to what? Factory settings. And then you know what it does actually, although you might seem that we sometimes we don't wanna do it because you go, I gotta reload apps. I gotta I gotta I get it all set up the way that I like it and, you know, we get to those things. I gotta download the updates after this, but what's the benefit of doing a reset, a hard reset at times, resetting to original settings is that you start from a clean foundation. You get to the place where that phone operates the way it was designed, the computer operates the way it was designed, the TV operates by the way it was designed, whatever smart kind of, items that you have. And so what happens is at times we cannot detect where the the the virus, where the code is wrong. We can't detect those things, so we just go back to the original setting.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:14]:
You know, I think that sometimes it's helpful for a believer to do that, that when we refocus, we wanna refocus. It's It's like if you guys have ever been in that chair in the, optometrist office, okay, which one is better, this one or this one? And then at the end, you kinda wanna punch the guy because he's like, I cannot tell the difference. Like it's like, like one makes it this way, one makes it this way. I mean, like it's like and it's hard, but the thing is that when you reset, you know, reset to the original design, what's the benefit? You get less problems. You have a clean slate. You have a solid foundation. You have less freezes. You have no kind of, things to, kinda drive you off course.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:56]:
And so this evening, in the message, you know, when we say resetting to factory settings, it's like basically saying, like, when if you cannot figure it out, just reset your life to Jesus. Right? That we reset our lives to Jesus, you'll be in a good spot. But but why do we need to reset our lives to Jesus? Because sometimes in life, we've settled into places that are, maybe just a little bit of a wrong place. Right? Maybe that there's times we made a left turn when we should have made a right turn, and rather than getting back on track, we just kinda settled there. And and that although god still loves us and god still cares for us, sometimes we settled in bad habits. Sometimes we settled in little compromises. Sometimes we're asking God to almost change His ways rather than for me to align to His ways. Maybe an example of this is I don't have the passage kind of printed out in your notes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:50]:
It'll come up on the screen, though. In the Old Testament that we see, Lot you guys remember Lot is the the the nephew of Abraham, and, they were kinda traveling together, but they got both too successful. They got too big. And so, hey. They're gonna divide. And and and Abraham was generally very generous. He said to Lot, hey, you get to choose. Like, which what do you want? And he says that Abraham looked out and he saw the green plain and the green valley that was that was in that direction.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:24]:
He says, I'll go that way. Now the unfortunate thing is do you know where that place was? In Sodom and Gomorrah. Yeah, so like it had fertile fields around it, but it was kinda like one of the most corrupt cities in the area and that eventually God said this, I'm bringing judgment on that city. And so, you know, no matter how much I think that it says that Lot was a righteous man and actually his soul and Hebrews tells us that that his soul was tormented living in the place that he was. And and, you know that God wants to bless us, but sometimes the places where we've settled make it hard. Right? And I'm not talking about, like, if you live Kapolei, oh, that's a cursed place or whatever. Like, I'm not saying anything like that, right. It's not.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:13]:
It's just Kapolei. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just joking. But like, it's not, right. So, but sometimes we're talking about maybe figuratively things in our life. And so God gives a direction that it says that rather than bringing destruction and having Lot in the city, what does he do? He he sends an angel and he go the angels go down and and they hurry and they say it a lot. Take your wife and your 2 daughters who are here and get out right now or you'll be swept away in the destruction of the city. You know, God is gracious.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:44]:
God desires to to to spare His people that we were not designed for judgment, but it says that Lot still hesitated, right? You guys ever hesitate to do the thing that you know you should do because cause there's a little bit of a discomfort, right? We all I think have done that. I know I've done that and it says actually that the angels had to grab Lot's hand and says, come follow me, right. And so they start leaving, Lot with the angels, with his wife, with his, his 2 daughters, and he's telling them, run for your lives. Get out of the city. And and then it says in, in verse 22, it says, Lot reached a village just as the sun was rising over the horizon and the Lord rained down the fire, right, and the judgment came on Sodom and Gomorrah. But it says this, that he he destroyed the city. He says he utterly destroyed them along with all the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation. But then we read this and you probably remember this part that if you're familiar with the story, but Lot's wife looked back as she was following behind him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:53]:
In other words, her body was going one way, but her heart's direction was in another way. And the reason is it's not because she just said she heard a noise and she said, oh, inadvertently looked behind and then God brought judgment. That's not really the picture that we get. But it says, but Lot's wife looked back as she was following behind him, and she turned into a pillar of salt. It wasn't the fact that the fate that she faced the wrong way that was her downfall. It was the direction of her heart and her focus. And sometimes rather than looking at the goodness of God and the mercy of God that He had given them and walking into a future that might have been different than her past that she was looking and longing for what she had known. And I don't know about you but I've known some ways of living, so well that I would never want for anybody else.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:51]:
I don't know if you guys know what I'm talking about, right, that we lived in the world and we operated in the world and we did all the things of the world and and I would never want that for my kids. I would never want that for anybody. Right? But the thing is that at times we can look back at that if we're not careful and we try to kinda almost live vicariously through some of those old things, but instead of believing God for something new, instead of believing God for something different, right, as a result, to be honest, you know, that God really wanted that woman, that wife, to make it out of that place. In fact, her family falls into disrepair just because the lack of her absence. And for each one of us that that, to be honest, you are so vital and necessary for the plans that God has for you and for your future, for your families, for for our our community, that you as an individual are so important and you're so necessary. At times we need to be willing to kinda reset to God's direction. And so sometimes what what has to happen is that I don't know if you guys noticed, but there's a structure to our lives. Right? You guys probably it's based around sometimes where you live.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:12]:
It's based around what you do. Right? There's different things that that you have. You have a structure in your family. But but sometimes we need more than, than structure. We need a heart that can live out that structure. And I'm gonna take a look, in the rest of our time together, largely from an example from King David. And King David, when he was a young man, was a great example of a person who was had a heart for God, right, and he was faithful to what God called him to do, that he faithfully shepherded sheep. So God said this, if you can be faithful in that, then you know what? I believe that you can be faithful to to shepherd a nation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:55]:
Right? And so that because when, when the sheep were attacked, it says, by a a bear and a lion, that rather than running away, right, that that it says that he he charged the bear. He charged the lion. And because he was willing to overcome the lion and the bear, God said this, that when the giant came and Goliath came, he says, the same God who delivered the lion and the bear into my hand will deliver you. Right? And so we we see David as a great exemplar of a worshiper, of a man who has great courage, of upright in heart, but David wasn't always that. Right? Cause David was a man, right, just like we are human beings, right, we're people and so David has a horrendous slip in kinda in his midlife crisis, right, he goes through this midlife crisis and it almost cost him everything he built his life on. No almost cost him all of his family, his testimony, and his legacy. God restores him. But but I wanna take a look at that instance because what happens is that the structure that he had built around his life, the design that god had to protect him, that he dismantles piece by piece.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:12]:
And in that moment is when he makes this greatest mistake. Now some of us, in the next few weeks, we're gonna start, watching football. Any how many football fans we got here? Any football fans? Right? Okay. Yeah. Some of us. So, remember, I'm glad that it's that Saturday service you guys raising your hand because then we'll see we see you on Saturday, right, because it's like unless you're going to game or whatever, generally you're not going. But, and if you're a Sunday when I say this for Sunday, I just go remember DVR. No.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:45]:
No. But, but, but, you know, at the end of the game, you always have guys that they talk about the game. Right? There's a post game analysis. And one of the things I kinda I don't like about all that is that it it kinda fosters a lot of armchair quarterbacks. Right? Like, oh, man, you know what he should have done? He he he he buttoned hooked left. He's supposed to go right. You know, whatever the case, right? People make all these little details. It's like that guy who was, you know, like he missed that tackle.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:14]:
If he just was and sometimes we almost act like we would have done better. Now I'm not trying to say that's that's Monday morning quarterback David's life, but because this is what it says in 1 Corinthians. It says, now these things happen to them as what? Examples for us. Right? Happened to them as what? Examples for us. Right? So God is saying to us that when we look at the people in the Bible, when we look at their stories, real human beings who live real lives, that sometimes they do great, copy that. And sometimes they do wrong, don't do that. Right? Not that rocket science. Right? Not that complicated.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:52]:
And he's saying they were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age because if you think you're standing strong, be careful not to fall. And so what we're looking at it is because the scripture says that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to look at the examples to follow, follow, the lessons to be learned, right, the the things to be avoided. And and I believe that there's there's structure that needs to happen. And sometimes some of us, we want to say, you know, I I'm committed to God, but there's some misstructure in your life. And, you know, one of the things I found is over time, I, like, my wife and I, we structured our lives. We structured our marriage in such a way that would I I think we tried to do it in a way that would keep us close together and would keep our family together. And one of the things that we did was that when we first got married, my job as a as a pastor sometimes I'm working nights, and I was still doing sales on the outside at that time, when we got married.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:57]:
And so in my job, I didn't work 40 hours a week because that's just if you guys ever did outside sales, that's not the way it works. Right? But I was doing for retail side so I would work evenings and mornings, sometimes the weekends. Right? And so my my schedule was like this. And so we said this, I said that whatever the job that she would get, like somebody has to have a stable schedule. Because my schedule is this. Right? If she was like that, then we could both live like this where we never get together. I said that, to be honest, at times you cannot say I I I don't think that my commitment can outbeat a bad structure. You know what I'm saying? So that's the decision that we make.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:45]:
And periodically, I would run into people that that the structure of their lives is they never saw each other. And then I wondered, wow. I guess maybe I was wrong. Unfortunately, over time, you know what it taught me? Structure beats, to be honest, structure beats just your heart and your commitment all on its own. Because over time, they've drifted. Over time, resentment builds up. Over time, you know, different things happen. And so God calls us there's a structure to his protection.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:20]:
There's a structure to his his his circle around you. And so this is what I wanna talk about this evening. How do we reset so that we're in this place of God's protection, we're in this place of God's blessing, and that that it doesn't mean that difficult things don't happen to us, but that you'll be able to go through it. Right? Because it's not gonna just be you, but you're gonna be cooperating with God. Make sense? Yes. K. Let's go ahead then. And so the first thing I'm gonna say is this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:49]:
You gotta live out God's calling and His purposes. You gotta live out God's calling and His purposes. You know, it says in 2nd Samuel 11:1, it says, in the spring of the year when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. And they destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah, but let's read that last sentence together. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem. Now sometimes we might think that, hey, you know, I would love to be king someplace because then I can just do whatever I want. Right? But if you look at kings and presidents and CEOs, to be honest, they don't just do what they want. You know what? To be honest, that it says this, whoever wants to be the greatest of all, you gotta be the servant.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:36]:
And even kings, it says this, there was a season when kings would go to war. And David normally was leading the charge except this year, right? David stayed home. David didn't go to war. Why is it? Maybe because he thought, I did it so many times, I don't need to go anymore. Maybe been there, done that. Maybe maybe maybe he was tired. Maybe he was bored. I don't know, right, that but the thing is that he stopped doing what God had called him to do.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:09]:
And it's in this moment that he stays back. It begins to set into motion, begins to set into motion something that never would have happened if he had made the choices that he was gonna say that he was supposed to make. That make sense? And that's why we say sometimes we settle in places that we're not supposed to settle. And and so one of the things that we'll find is that when you're operating in the things God's calling you to do, it's a protection for you. Right? That when that if God's called you to, to serve in in your job, right, that one of the things that God calls you in this place, and you know that you know that this is not just a job. For some of us, we just have a job it feels like. Right? It's just a job. But some of us, you know that God led you there and that there's a purpose and a plan for you there.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:59]:
Right? When you step into that place, it is a blessing to whatever it is that you do, but can we understand it is also a blessing to you because God protects you in that moment. And when I step out of that place, I become sometimes more available and more subject to things that can pull me off course. In this case, we're gonna see very quickly that, this happens to David. Sometimes that we need to be in a place that I believe every person was called to make a difference, that that your whatever it is that you do, whatever your season in life, right, when you're young, you know, like sometimes we think my whole job is to play. Do you guys remember that? Like, oh, I wish I could be like, sometimes we go, I wish I could be 5 again. You know, when you just played and you did, like, you just ran around on the field and you did whatever it is or maybe not when you just did this. I don't know. But sometimes we might I hear people sometimes, oh, that was the best time of my life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:02]:
But to be honest, even kids can make a difference. You know, Duran was talking about that, right? Like Ethan, he's in there. We see other kids on Sunday. I see Matthew. I see Gabe. I see all these kids that they're just getting involved. I didn't do that when I was here. I just entertained myself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:17]:
I didn't have a responsibility, really until kinda like a little more older and we started to have like jobs, you know, maybe different things. But, you know, or the thing is about it is that when you walk into that, that you're called to make a difference. Whether you're in the middle of the work life, you know, maybe you got kids, you're retired, Just because you're retired, you're not retired from God's kingdom. Right? A believer never retires. Right? You know, like, sometimes people like, when I hear people talking about the, anniversary, everybody says this. They go like, oh, 25th anniversary. I was 5 years old when we started the church. Right? Like 30 years old.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:01]:
You know, I I I say the opposite. I was 50 years old when I was, starting a church. I look pretty good for 75. Right? Like, but, you know, if if I said I look like hell for 30, but I would look okay for 75. But, I'm not quite that old. Like, but here's the thing is that that nobody there's not a retirement. One day one day I'm gonna be too old for this job. One day I'm gonna be too old for this role, but you know what? I'm not gonna be too old for the kingdom.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:27]:
Right? I'm gonna be I'm gonna be leading the Bible study with the kupuna. Right? I'm gonna be volunteering with the kids and and and I'm gonna get in kid zone. You know why? Because I'm gonna be so deaf. I cannot hear when they're screaming and all that. I don't know. I just gonna wanna make a difference somewhere. And and all of you that that you can make a difference somewhere, and you should find a place to to get involved, make a difference because it's part of God's protection over you as well as it allows you to receive a little bit more. Because sometimes what happens is that people come in and they just they hear the word of God and it's like, oh my gosh.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:04]:
It's like just like a spring rain, you know, to a parched soul. It just kinda revives you. And then after a while, you just go, oh, I kinda heard that. And it was like, I don't know if that message was for me. You know what I mean? And so sometimes after a while, you're just hearing good things. And it's not that it's bad things, but it doesn't penetrate. Part of the reason you know why that is? Because it's we're like a sponge that that it can absorb and it can absorb and it absorb. But when it's full, what needs to happen? That sponge has gotta be squeezed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:40]:
Right? It has to be used because if it's not, it cannot absorb anymore. Right? And so serving and being committed to the things of God, fulfilling God's calling and purpose in your life, keeps your your spines being squeezed so you can receive grace and mercy all over again. Because that's God's heart. Right? It's it's grace and mercy for His children. But the second thing that we see is that you have to cultivate relationships with godly people. The calling of God is like one circle. The relationship with godly people is another circle. It says, you know, in this moment that when David didn't go to war that Billy, his best friends in all the world, the people closest to him, his inner circle, the ones who have been with him from thick and thin, right, that these are the guys that David really trusted, right? So I don't know if you guys have ever heard that, you know, when people get famous all of a sudden, right, David kinda had that in his life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:49]:
And so sometimes people will say these things is that when people get famous overnight is they never know who they can trust. Right? Because everybody wants something of them. Like, they want an endorsement. They want a job. They want a paycheck. They want, right, they wanna write off that person's fame, whatever the case. But David Joab, who became his commanding general, right, these other guys that they were the guys that they they were in it and with him when he had nothing to offer because so David knew, you know what? These guys, these guys, these my these these are my buddies. Right? But what did he do with his buddies? He left them all behind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:43]:
Anybody who could speak into David's life wasn't with him during this season. Joab, the army, the the 30 mighty men, the people who could speak, and David would listen. Other people, David is thinking, like, you don't know. I'm the king. You don't know that, like so he he he qualified who he listened to. But can I ask you this? Who can speak into your life today? Who's the people that you trust to speak into your life? They don't have to be perfect, but if you don't have people who can warn you, you don't have people who can coach you, don't you don't have people who can encourage you. Right? Sometimes when a a stranger, they might see you and you go like, wow. That was great that you did it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:31]:
And you go, oh, yeah. But you don't know. You guys ever did that? Just discount something somebody says, even positive, because, ah, you don't really know what it took. But when people know know what it took, they know what happened, then so often those words really mean a a lot more. We need friends, family members, mentors. Right? We need partners. We need buddies. And those things that people who can speak godly counsel into your life, sometimes it doesn't happen instantly.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:05]:
You gotta develop those, right, because you don't trust them. Right? You don't just sit down and just go blah, this is all my whole life. Right? We reveal ourselves when people show themselves trustworthy, right, and we reveal ourselves in deeper and deeper ways. But David's deepest and worst decisions are in his life we see are when he doesn't listen to the counsel of this inner circle. One of those things is this thing that heal when he falls with this woman named Bathsheba, we're gonna see real soon. And the second one is when he, numbers the people of God against the council just to fulfill his pride. Right, and and these things that we see these things happened when he disregarded the closest people in his life. We're probably the same way.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:05]:
Right? We're probably the same way unless we never let anybody get that close. The thing is that your choices and my choices always affect not just you. Sometimes we'll say it. Right? Sometimes we know we're not actually living well, we're not doing the right thing, but we say this, I'm hurting nobody but my what? Myself. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you are doing something that hurts you and you're part of a family, you're part of a team, you're part of a marriage, right, you're part of some tight knit group, that what happens to you when you start going down the tubes, you start pulling people with you. You start pulling people with you. You start going down the when when the kids have to shuttle back and forth, it's not the same as when they were all in one home.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:06]:
Right? No matter what we say, when, you know, I'm struggling with this thing and I'm saying that, hey, I I got it under control. I can quit any time. But you're placing some spouse or some girlfriend or some boyfriend or some parent. You're putting their life in a whirlpool. Right? That's just the reality. We say those things. Somebody covers for you. Somebody has to pull up the slack.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:34]:
Somebody this is kind of the natural thing. It happens to David. And and so here's everybody struggles with something, but let would you know this that God brings people around you for your blessing and your good is kind of the expression of His protection over your life. I I like what it says, in the New Testament. It says this, Romans 12 I mean, Romans 112 says this, why is it important to have people like this in your life? I may be encouraged together with you while among you. Each of us, what, by the other's faith. Why? Because sometimes maybe my faith struggles. Why? Because maybe sometimes I have a blind spot.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:22]:
Why? Because sometimes I don't have the ability that you have. And so I need people in my life at times to help me in the places where I cannot see. Or like David, I believe, reflects Proverbs 11 14, for the lack of guidance, a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers. Unfortunately, David separates himself from his advisers. And then what we see is David then, when he separated himself from his advisers, it says he goes to the top of the roof one day of his house, and as he's looking out over the city in the time when he's supposed to be at war, he sees a woman bathing on her rooftop. Why and now you might be thinking like, that woman was an exhibitionist. No. That one, men were not supposed to be home at that time, they were supposed to be working.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:19]:
So David is out there. The second thing is why did they do it? Because it's hot and and and that was a place where they would sometimes bathe. They would have a place. They would have a a mikvah, a place where they could kinda wash and and sometimes ceremonial clean. And so like those of us when we take a bath, she's naked. Right? You're not taking a bath with all your clothes on because you don't expect to be seen. David is at a high vantage point because of his place in the city and the fact of the palace that he has built so he can see. And it says that because David now is not out where he's supposed to be in battle, he's at home doing something he's not and he's nobody to tell him, nobody to talk to him about it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:02]:
Nobody to say, oh my gosh. You wouldn't believe what I saw today, but but nobody to talk him down. Nobody talks sense into him. And so he goes out, and if you're familiar with the story, right, sleeps with his sleep with this beautiful woman, kinda sets his whole life in turmoil, and then over time finds out she's pregnant. Right? Now the thing about Bathsheba is Bathsheba is the wife of one of his mighty men, one of his inner circle. Right? Not only is she the wife of his inner circle, Bathsheba's dad is also part of that same part of that mighty man. And and Eliab's dad, or that his dad is one of David's closest friends. So in other words, the woman that he sleeps with is like the little girl he saw grow up in the middle of all the family parties.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:04]:
You know what I'm saying? He knows the he knows the grandpa. He knows the dad, and he knows the husband, and he sleeps with this woman. Why is that? Because God has protection over him, but He has shunned the protection. And and so, in the middle of this thing, it calls us, I think, that we see that when the people of God moved, they also took the ark of the covenant with them and when they went to battle. And the Ark of the Covenant and the priest that would go with them along with the army is really kind of the symbol that the spiritual center that God is going with the people of God as they go to, kind of claim the rest of the land. And so David leaves behind this place of worship. David is left behind. He's left in the same place, but the spiritual kind of vitality has left the city, so to speak.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:00]:
And David, the the thing is for us is what did he leave behind? The the thing is for us is what did he leave behind? He left behind somehow the practices that what he's most known for. It's his daily worship of God. And so the the other thing that you need to structure in your life is the time to seek God daily. It doesn't have to be like an hour, it doesn't have to be, but but you're you're talking to God daily. You're worshiping God daily. Right? In John 4, Jesus said it like this, for God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. Right? I love what it says that in this aspect, come, let's worship and bow down. Let's kneel before the Lord our maker, for He's our God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:55]:
We are His people He watches over, the flock under His care, If only you would listen to His voice. And unfortunately, David who was once known as a worshiper, once was the the head worshiper for for all of the nation stops worshiping, and and it leaves him spiritually drained. The thing is that when you're getting spiritually drained, sometimes you look great to everybody else, but you feel it on the inside. Right? You know there's a distance between you and God. Nobody else knows because they see you doing the thing and you look exactly the same to them, but but you know. And so what God calls us to do is prioritize a meeting with Him daily. Right? And and whether you do it at night, whether you do it in the morning, whether you're learn how to do the devotions, and we started doing that with some of our young adults. We're just gonna do that with our small group.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:54]:
We're talking about things like this that we want everybody to know that, but, like, there's been times that I I have been in a place that if I didn't have that time and I had gone out into the world, I would have crashed because I just didn't I wouldn't have had the strength on my own. And and we need people who'll stand with us and we need people who encourage us. Right? I've needed people that have to guide me through some some rough waters at times. And and you're probably the same because that's part of the structure that God has for you. I'll say this. This is this is the 4th thing is that you also need to establish God's principles in your life. Establish God's principles in your life. You know, when a person loses his way, when you see them relaxing and loosening their standards, they might have been known as the person who, you know, man, he does his he meets with God daily.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:03]:
He might have been known as the person who he never misses a weekend at church. He might have been known as a guy who's led a Bible study, but then all of a sudden, he's not going. All of a sudden, he's not worshiping. All of a sudden, he's not in the word of God. All of a sudden, he's not praying. And and all of a sudden, when you see somebody going through that, that you know something's wrong. You know something's up. Right? And sometimes it's the sign that the enemy has set his sights on your life, that all of a sudden if you're at a place where you left behind certain things in the past long time ago, right, man, you left aside the partying thing, you left aside the gambling thing, you left aside the gambling thing, you left aside and all of a sudden those things that haven't bothered you for years, all of a sudden it's like you go go, like, oh my gosh.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:55]:
It's tempting, and you're you're, like, feeling this pull. Sometimes that's the sign the enemy has set his sight on you. And that's why we need to be in the midst of God, our calling. We need to be meeting with God. Right? We need people surrounding us. But but sometimes it's this thing is that there's principles that you've established in your life over time. Right? And and the word of God is the source of those principles. And here's the thing is that there's things that will come and go in life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:24]:
There's different fads that will come and go in life, but the thing that never will pass is the word of God. Right? You guys remember Pokemon? I would see people walking around doing like this. I don't see that anymore. Right? I heard some people still do it, but it's a fade. Right? That that thing faded. Right? There's there's fads that come and go, different things, but it says the word of God never withers. Let's read what it says, Isaiah 40 verse 8. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:03]:
You know, one of those things is also that I I've seen people do this. Sometimes we feel like we outgrow some of the things that we used to do as a kid, right, or we used to do when we were on fire for God. We said, like, you know, yeah, I used to do all these things but, you know, now I'm busy. Right? Now I have more responsibility. Now I I now I have kids. Right? And so I'm it's not that I'm not saying I, I don't love God. I'm just I'm not religious. I'm just becoming more spiritual.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:37]:
And and when I hear that, I think that you start laying aside the things that got you spiritual, right, that it's really kinda like this aspect that we need to see is that we're starting to drift. Right? We might call it different things, but we have to respond to God. It says it like this Proverbs 1:7. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But can we see what does the last half say? But what? Fools despise wisdom and instruction. You know, I understand though that at times and I and I've been in this place where I was was a great example to a lot of the young men in the ministry when we started, before we started the church, and I was a missionary, I was really basically lead young college students, right, in ministries and take them on mission trips and kinda pour into them and and and and train in leadership and do all of those things. And and I was the example. And and we would talk about, like, that, hey, you know, like, sometimes that when you're in those situations where you're tempted and you're like, hey.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:49]:
Just sometimes you gotta remove yourself from the temptation. Right? And then sometimes people would say, hey. You know, I'm if you stay at my girlfriend's house, and I say, well, you know, I don't know if that's a good that's a good thing. Right? Like, because I don't know about you, but maybe sometimes it's hard to control, right, different things. And and she said, oh, no. No. We're good. And and I I shared with them there's a the scripture in, 1st Thessalonians that says that prove all things, hold fast which is good, and abstain from all appearance of evil.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:19]:
And then I went to the mainland. I went to seminary. I went I went to college and, grad school, and and it was to get equipped to to do basically what I'm doing now. And, and then I was in a long term relationship, with a a gal who's from here and, she was going away for college and doing all those things too, but she wanted to visit me, in California when I was going to school. And I have a friend that she lived 40 minutes away, and she could've easily stayed with them. And, but my friend who's also from here, he lived really close to me. He was going home for Christmas, and so his place was empty. And so I said, oh, you can stay there.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:04]:
It saves me 40 minutes from having to go pick you up and bring you back. But in my mind, I was thinking, like, wait. You all by yourself in that house, me all by myself in my house because my roommates and all those guys, they're going back home and doing all that stuff too. I had to stay through that Christmas thinking, that's not good, but, nah. I'm I'm better than that. I grew past that. I didn't. Now I wouldn't say that, you know, we didn't, you know I wouldn't have done anything that would have disqualified me from ministry, but I got close.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:47]:
And it's because I was throwing away the principles that I had been taught, that I had practiced, that I had told other people. And somehow all of a sudden I thought, no, I'm past that. When Rika and I started to date then a few years later and, she was staying with a mutual friend and somebody else from church, this one auntie, had a friend and or had a relative and she had another place to stay and she could stay all by herself and she would have saved $150 a month to stay in that place. And although she was staying with my friend, and she's a good friend, her their apartment was, sorry to say, kinda ratty. Yeah. So it would have been a nicer place. I I we actually went. We looked at it from the outside.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:38]:
I never went inside, and she was tempted to go stay over there. Let's just say $150 a month, so for the wedding and all that stuff. But you know what I remembered? I remembered when I threw away the principles of God. And I said, you know what, hon? My integrity is worth more than $150. Let's just do it right. It's not I'm not saying you. I'm just saying me. I I can picture myself like, well, let's just close the drapes, you know, whatever.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:06]:
I mean, I don't know. Like, just, you know, just that kind of a thing. Because the closer you get, closer to marriage, harder it is to wait. Right? And so dedicate yourself to the principles of God as well. Because when we don't, we end up paying a price. Right? That's what happened to David. And the last thing is this. Dedicate yourself to the holiness to holiness before God and people.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:36]:
Now, we're gonna read a verse and, some of you guys have heard me talk about that sometimes my weakness is coffee. This is just water today. But, I love coffee. I do. But when I found out that God also loves coffee, I felt relieved because we're gonna read a verse that tells us about that. It just says this, that Hebrews. Never mind. Some of you guys can get it later on.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:03]:
But let's read what it says. Let's read the coffee bible verse, in, Hebrews 12 14. It says this. Ready? Let's read. Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Right? Let's read that Psalm 199 as well. And how can a young person stay pure by obeying your word? It seems so much harder to stay pure when you're young. And I understand you get hormones crushed into your body.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:33]:
You got you got temptations, like, at the tip of your fingers, right, on your phone, on your computer, sometimes your TV, whatever it is. And sometimes it's hard. But to honor God with your body, honor God with your life, to honor God is it's not to say that you gotta just attain some level of perfection. That's not what this is talking about. It's saying I dedicate myself to God so that what it says my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, knowing that what I put into my body is is like because the Spirit of God dwells in me. Right? Right? Should I put drugs in this thing too? Right? Because, the temple of God the Spirit of God lives in me, if I sleep with someone, I'm bringing Jesus along with me too. Would I wanna bring Jesus along with me in the things that I do in my life? That's what it's that's holiness. Right? That I'm mindful about that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:37]:
Right? That would I wanna lie and bring Jesus along with me as I I lie or as I I cheat my, I cheat my neighbor or I do like, would I wanna do? Obviously not. Right? So this aspect of holiness is not about living a standard. It's just being reminded because God is always with me and I dedicate myself to Him is that just to remind myself I'm always Jesus is always with me when I'm doing something, and I'm just kinda mindful of that. Now David had this huge fall because, to be honest, there's at least 5 things. I I believe there's probably more. But he blew past the first one when he didn't fulfill his calling. Right? And then there was this next thing that if he had his friends around him, but he blew past that one, right, and then there was this principles and all that, then he blew past that one. Right? And and and then we come to this place where we see he's there's his commitment.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:45]:
And the thing is that, like, what I was mentioning is earlier is that if all I have in my life is my commitment, I'm not sure I'm gonna make it because sometimes I don't feel like it. You guys know I mean, just being honest. But so sometimes I have to structure my life to account for those moments, to give me strength outside of just it's only me. And I think we all need that, to be honest. Because if it's just your commitment sometimes, it's it's it's rough. Right? So because your choices matter, right, your desire's not always perfect. And and so Paul says this. He he does say he dedicates himself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:35]:
In Galatians 2:20, it says, my old self has been crucified with Christ, and let's read the rest together. He says it like this then. It is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. You know, the thing is because Paul is saying, he's in me. I I wanna live out that grace. I wanna make the best choices.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:11]:
Paul always had a companion. He always had a Timothy or a Silas that was with him. He lived in community. He fulfilled his calling. Right? He lived out the principles of God. Paul becomes a great illustration once coming to Christ. But even if you haven't, even if you haven't, you can still be redeemed, and you can still get back on track. You know, after David's massive fall and and and then all the things that spiraled all of control, David had another son.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:46]:
He marries Bathsheba, and he names the next child after the man who eventually confronts David. He names his next child Nathan or Nathan, which means gift from God, after his friend who would speak into his life and helped him to turn his life around. And you know what? When he's doing that, it's different than than his son Absalom who later rebels and tries to kill David and tries to to steal the kingdom. Absalom names kids too. You know what he names them? After his greatest pains, after the greatest failures. His his sister was raped and molested. He names his daughter after her. After his greatest pains and the thing that caused him to go off the rails, he murders the the brother who actually raped his sister.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:57]:
And and the thing is that what you allow yourself to overcome, what you allow yourself to be healed of will make you stronger. Right? What you allow to forgive and to receive forgiveness will make you stronger. David made his future, made his present surrounded by reminders of God's faithfulness and God's kindness to himself. They kept him on the right track. David's older son, unfortunately, reminded himself of all the wrongs that had been done him and all the wrongs that had been done to his people that he loved. You know what that made him? Bitter and grasping for power and for control. And then it went well for him. So let's allow those things that the things that we learn and the grace of God in our lives, would those things shape us and guide us? Would those things be a protection over us? Because that's what keeps us moving forward.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:59]:
That make sense? Yes. Amen? Hey. Let's close our let's bow this our heads and close in our word of prayer. Father, this evening, you know, we've been talking about at times we need to reset, reset to the things of God. Because one little change here and adding a little bit of this here, sometimes it's very helpful. And sometimes it's just not enough because we we've been planted in certain areas in which it becomes very difficult to thrive. And so, Lord, being reset, Lord, and resetting to the fact that, Lord, we're gonna fulfill your call and we're gonna fulfill your purposes. Lord, that we're gonna surround ourselves with with people who can speak life and speak godly counsel in our life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:54]:
Yes. That we're gonna cultivate those things. We're gonna seek you daily. Yes. Lord that we're gonna establish your principles in our life because we never outgrow your principles. Lord, we we just come to the place where at times, Lord, we forget at times, and so sometimes we come back to those principles. And we want to dedicate ourselves to live a life wholly dedicated to you and not just in the private space, but even in the public space so that people can see that where we stand. And I don't know if any of those things stick out to you, but maybe it's one of those things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:40]:
Maybe it's all of them. And we're not saying it to overwhelm you. We're just saying that when you lean into those things, what you do is you create a safety margin for you, but you create a safety margin for those who follow you. You create a barrier that protects you from not just the schemes of the enemy, but sometimes just the hardships of life, where we need the support and the encouragement of others. We need the vision and the guidance from other people, where we need to hand to God on our life. And if you just see this one area or or several areas in your life and you're saying, God, I I wanna pay attention to that. I recognize that it came out in the message, but I I I recognize I need that in my life. If that's you, would you just tell that to the lord? Lord, I'm just recognizing there's there's some areas, lord, I I need to rebuild.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:42]:
So, father, would you help your people? But as we're just taking this time this season to refocus because we wanna end the year well, better than we started, stronger than we are now. Yes. Yes. Lord, so we receive. Yes. You have a grace for that. Yes. And we wanna cooperate with you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:01]:
Bless your people we pray. In Jesus name, God's people say, amen? Amen. Amen. Hey, God bless you guys.