Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
You know, last week, we started our series, to go forward. And, you know, we talked a little bit about sometimes it's not enough to, wanna go forward, because we've all been stymied when we've tried to go forward. But but, we talked about last week was that God is calling us at times to grow forward, right? That we we need to be stretched, we need to get stronger, we need to let God's love, permeate our hearts, that we need to grow in discernment, we need to grow in knowledge, and that we we do all those things that we're we have a stronger root. And when we have strong roots, then eventually, there'll be great fruit. And so we talked about some of those things last week and letting God expand his kingdom in our life. But but sometimes that's how you go. You know, how do you move forward? That some of you guys remember pastor Kimo? He spoke a few months ago. He came in and had a great word.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:54]:
Actually, he had some word from god for some of us. This kind of a a a move powerfully and, I don't know if you guys know this. I I think he shared when he was here, that he had been a college professor. He's been many things in his life. He's been DJ. He's been all these things, pastor. But when he before he came to Hawaii, he was teaching at LPU, which is Life Pacific, that's Foursquares, Bible College in California, and he was teaching there. And then when he retired, we said, Kimo, what were you thinking was your original retirement? And he just says it like this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:27]:
He says, well, I thought I was just gonna get in my canoe and paddle off into the sunset. You know, like, he just kinda, like, just go off by himself in the ocean. And we all laugh, because now he's so involved, in so many the life of the churches, and he's our regional pastor. So, he's, I'm one of the area pastors, but he's one of 2 area pastors in in our district. But, Kimo's the regional pastor. There's a district supervisor above that. That's pastor Sheldon in Hilo. But, you know, the thing is he's so involved now because the thing is that we don't go forward by ourself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:04]:
Right? That we actually go together. There's people around us, even seated in here. And and on Saturdays, we have the at least the the, ability to sit at tables that you guys are everybody's here. You're not seated alone. Right? You're seated next to someone. Right? But have you ever flown, on a plane? You've ever traveled somewhere and had kind of like a bad neighbor, in your thing? Did you guys ever get into the the battle for the armrests? Right? You guys ever get that kid who's in the back, who's kicking the back of your seat. Right? You know that kind of a thing? And, I I was watching some things about, like, just bad flight mates, and then one of the pictures was, somebody with their bare feet kind of crammed between the, the backs of the seats, so the barefoot was like right kind of like where you put your elbows. Right? And just like, and just you just look at that and go like, I I don't know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:05]:
Sometimes, like, you guys ever go, what's wrong with people? Right? That kind of a thing, because the reality is that when we move forward, you may have a dream in your heart. You may have, the fact that you want to walk to the beat of your old drummer, but the reality is we live in a community, and we live among people, and and even some of the situations that we're seeing now in in our community, that the fact is that that we live among other people and that your life and our life and how we interact and how we move forward or how we are neighbors, it affects not just you. Right? It affects each other. And so some of the things that the next thing I think that that God addresses in the book of Philippians that Paul addresses is going forward. It's not just going forward, but it's going forward in unity because there needs to be this sense that we go together and know how to go together in a way that if you've ever taken a trip, let's say, with friends or taken a a vacation with family, is that, you know, in the beginning, everybody's happy, but you wanna come back happy too. Right? You don't wanna come back, like, oh, man. I'm so glad to be at the end of this vacation or this trip with someone. And so for that to happen, he addresses that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:28]:
That. And he starts this that we're gonna pick up where, pretty much where we left off last week, in verse 27 of chapter 1 in the book of Philippians. And would you be kind enough to stand with me? Let's stand in reverence for God and reverence for His word. And this is what he says in verse 27. Ready? Let's read that together. Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent and I may hear of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. And so it obviously has this picture of unity, like one mind, one spirit, right, striving together side by side, but we don't wanna be when the lord returns, we don't wanna be like, you know, the the the neighbor next to us and say, hey, you're too close. Are you, you know, like, you're so far away.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:35]:
Whatever the the case and and complaining. And he says it. How how is that? Because he says our lives must be worthy of the gospel of Christ. And when is he talks about this aspect of worthiness that it it means a counterbalance, it means a balance or a congruent kind of a sense with the gospel because none of us are worthy, none of us earn, like, to walk with God, none of us earn salvation. Right? So he's not talking about earning it, but he's saying, how can we walk in balance with it? How can we walk in alignment with it? Right? And so it it because what that means is that you can walk in balance or you can walk out of balance. It's hard to walk out of balance, isn't it? It's hard to walk on the crooked part, and so do me a favor. Before you're seated, just turn to your neighbor and say, God wants you to walk in balance with him. Sometimes there's exercises that you can do that you you learn how to strengthen one side, you walk with one weight on one side and you try to stand tall, you know, and then or you do these things where you go around back and forth and you you get to strengthen all your core muscles and all these things, and there's things that happen, but that this aspect that it's starting, he's saying only, it starts with the word only, and he's saying, it says, only let your manner of life be worthy, and one of the things that you cannot see in this is that it uses a compound word that says that when he says, only let your manner of life, that what he's talking about, the literal word that he uses is a word that means to be a citizen, and so he's saying only let your citizenship be worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:24]:
And so he's saying that, you know, that they Paul was a Roman citizen and and Paul enjoyed the the blessings and and benefits that came from being of that, a citizen of Rome. And this we're talking about Philippi was a Roman colony, and and so he's saying, yeah, no problem that we're a Roman that you're a Roman colony, that whatever your earthly citizenship is, but he says, just make sure however you are living, it's congruent and in balance with the gospel of Christ. Right. Because some things that you will find in your in your culture, in Rome, and for us to say in Hawaii, right, in our neighborhood, right, in in in Waipahu, in Ewa, in, you know, Kalihi, in in Wahiwa, right, there's a microclimate that certain things are that's just the way it goes. And so he's saying, don't line yourself just because that's what they do. Right? That's the way they do it in Hawaii. That's the way he says, let it be congruent. Let it be in balance with the gospel.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:36]:
And he's saying this aspect to be balanced with that. And so he's saying in this this thing is that just to take a look because sometimes we're out of balance and we don't know it. Sometimes you don't know it intellectually, but you feel it. Because if you've ever driven with your car and a wheel is out of balance, what does it feel like? It feels like, you feel that. You feel a pull to one side, Right? You you feel the misalignment in your car. You might not know what exactly is wrong with it for some of us, but but you feel its effects. So if you feel the pull, you feel the drag, you you sense the noise in your life. Sometimes what it is is this aspect that something is out of balance.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:20]:
But what do we know about, about the gospel when he says to live a life worthy? Would you first thing we we would notice when you look at that is he's not saying live a perfect life, right. Paul doesn't say, hey, live a perfect life because of the gospel. He never says that. Why? Because none of us can live a perfect life. So that's not the point. Instead, what do we know about what it means to walk with Jesus? One of those is that we acknowledge that we need Jesus, right, that we sin and that sometimes life is not always perfect. Right? My life is not always perfect. How many of you guys acknowledge your life is not always perfect? Right? And so, yeah, all of us, our life is not always perfect.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:01]:
And so what does that mean? That we also trust Him to forgive, right, but we also trust Him to grow us, that wherever we are, that we can grow. Do me a favor. Let's just turn to your neighbor and just say, wherever we're at, we can grow. Right? Right. So that we don't have to say, like, right now, I'm done growing, right, because it's like you might hit have hit a point and you go, like, man, I'm so glad I'm not where I used to be, right, and that's a great thing, but wherever we are, we can still keep growing. And so he's saying this aspect, I kind of like what, the new living, how he translates, how they translate this same verse. In that part, he just says this in verse 127. It starts the verse by saying this, above all and does it say that, above all? Above all.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:53]:
Above all what? I don't know. Above above my race, above my political party, above my heritage, above my job, above my hobbies, right, above my things I do to relax. Whatever it is, he's saying, above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, right. And so he's saying that it's not that those things are bad things, he's just saying they don't rule our life. Why is that? Because we live in a place where everybody has a different heritage, everybody has a different background, everybody has a different way. You guys ever, when you got married, those of us who are married, that when it came to, getting your life together, how many of you say, That's not the way we did it in my house, right? And then you come into this place and you go, like, well, some of us, you know, that was when it came to dinner, was everybody eat whenever. And for some of us, we all ate at the same time. And for some of us that, you know, you would just kind of leave it, you just left your stuff all over the house, and for some of us, it was like neat, and then you live together, and then what do you have to do? It's like, you cannot just appeal to this is how I grew, right, because we learn how to live together, right, in this kind of a situation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:11]:
But it's that way in the church, and so this is why he says, it's this way in the faith, so we align ourselves with the gospel of Christ, right. Because above all, whatever your background, whatever your situation, we learn how to live with that. Because if not, if not, then I'm still living in my past. If not, then I'm still living as a single person. If not, I'm still living as a as a worldly person. If not, I'm still living for myself. And the thing is that that's not what we're called to do. You know, unfortunately, I think I mentioned when my son was, he was coming home from our trip in Japan this summer and he just texted, oh no, there's a crying baby sitting right behind me', and it's like for him, he was flying from Tokyo all the way to LAX, and I think it's probably like a 10 hour flight, and like he was just like, oh my goodness, and you know, there's nothing you can do, right, babies, right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:22]:
It's just like, you know, and he's good. He won't like freak out or he'll just suffer in silence. No, but he didn't say anything at the end. But you know, like, I read this story where somebody was talking about traveling and there was this child that was running around in the plane and going crazy and doing all those things, and mom was trying to calm the child and saying, 'Hey, you know, honey, we need to sit in our seat and, you know, you need to play with your toys and you need to do all these things, but he was kind of having a tantrum and all those kinds of things, and he's saying, 'That's just not what we do.' And and the guy bemoaned the fact by saying, 'Not once did I hear this parent say, and by the way, we're not the only people on the plane.' You know? And I resonate with that because sometimes I go to the gym and I see people and I can I just tell you my complaint about the gym? But sometimes I go to the gym and it's like I just want to do my thing and get out, right? I'm not there to I'm under no illusions. I'm not gonna go to a powerlifting contest. I'm not gonna I just want to do my thing and get out, and it gives me get my heart beaten and stay, you know, relatively healthy as much as I can. But sometimes I will go in, and it's 24 hour. Right? So it's like one of the more popular gyms.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:00]:
It's the bigger gym. And I'll go in there and I'll see a guy, and he's, like, has all this set of dumbbells all by himself. And some people I see, they understand, but they've seen it too. And they take in all these dumbbells, and they have a bar, and they have this thing, and they're using this bench, and they're using that bench, and they're doing this circuit. And I just ask if I'll just ask. When I'm in that situation, I just ask, hey, excuse me. Do you mind if I walk, work in, would you? Because, you know, like, he takes so long to do all that. Like, literally, for him to do one circuit takes, like, 15 minutes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:39]:
And so I just think, brother, you're not the only person in this gym. You know, like, there's super plenty of people in here. And you're taking up 3 stations, and you're taking up 6 weights, and, like, I don't understand that. Right? And and most guys, when they're like that, some guys, they're like, oh, yeah, yeah, no problem, because they realize that it's just dead time. Right? And there's some I've had some people, oh, I'm using them. I know that's the problem, right? That's the problem. That's why I'm having this conversation. In the old days, we would be taught that in the gym, that you would be taught gym culture.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:15]:
You would be taught that, you know, you cannot dominate this thing for half an hour because of other people, that this is one of the things that they don't teach in the gym. They don't teach you to put away your weights. They don't teach you to do these things. Is it just the gym? Or is that what's one of the symptoms of what's necessary in our culture? Because that's not a gym thing. That's kind of modern, modern life. And so we don't have the capacity immediately to change that in the larger culture. I know we don't. But this is one of the things that we need to be willing to teach ourselves, morning and it the morning and it's like, what? My house? Well, people are going to work tomorrow, right, those kinds of things, we would be, you know, there's a recourse that you have.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:25]:
You can call the police. You can talk to your neighbor. Unfortunately, I'm and I'm I'll say this, I'm guilty that there's been times where I have seen something and I should I say to myself, someone should say what? Something. But we don't, why? Because you don't know what the response is gonna be, right, when it comes back. But this is what we need to say as people in the body of Christ is that I'm teachable, right? I'm teachable. Are you guys teachable? Now, I think the culture needs to be teachable because we have been so self absorbed, yes, that the individual in our nation, right, the individual rights have a lot of, a lot of sway. But it used to be on the, on the, on money was e pluribus unum, from the many what? 1. We were 1 nation under God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:42]:
Today, we're tons of tribes, some under God, some not. Right? And so we need to step back to what is true. We need to call people back to what is what is right. We need to be willing to be shifting and shaped, you know, in this process of living together, being on the same team. And so Paul is saying these things. He's saying, we're not doing it to to suit saying these things. He's saying we're not doing it to to suit one person's favor, you know, versus the other person. We're not saying if you're from Philippi, you're good.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:18]:
But if you're from Ephesus, like, we don't like Ephesians. He's not saying that if the eva enkapole or right, like some of us that we grew up, that you had traditional rivalries. How many of you guys know what I'm talking about in sports, your high school, right? That you like growing up in the 70s, growing up in the 80s, like in Wahiawa, the rival for our high school, Lelihua, was Radford. We hated Radford. Right? And I think it's because 2 military schools, right, heavily influenced. But you know, when you get older, you know what happens to those rivalries? It's like, you're so dumb. Wasn't that stupid? Right? That kind of a thing. You realize and you go like, oh, man.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:10]:
Yeah. This guy, he's a great guy. Right? It's like you just realize those things. Sometimes we come into the church you guys ever come to church and you go like, you've seen somebody? And you go like, Oh my gosh, I didn't know they were going to be here. It happens in weddings. It happens in social past, right? And sometimes, you come to Jesus, but you know what? We need to let other people have the same thing that you had, a fresh start, a new beginning, right, that some sense of grace and mercy that covers them. And you guys are great at doing that. You guys are great at doing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:59]:
It's the 10 o'clock service. That's the one that needs that. No, I'm just kidding. I'm joking. But, like, so here's the thing is that we we need to be, though, in this place that there's a grace for one another, but at the same time what we call people to is we're always correcting back to Jesus, that we're willing to correct back to Jesus because it's above my comfort. It's above my pet issue. Issue. Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:26]:
It's above what I consider my identity. It's above those things because, he says, preeminent, only live a life worthy of the gospel. Above all, he's saying, live as citizens of heaven. That make sense? And so there is this aspect that we we need to kind of moderate our behavior. We learn different things. We learn different ways. And the second thing is then, is that we learn how to live and act as a team. We then need to learn to live and act as a team.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:03]:
He goes on, and he says, the second half of that 127, he says, I I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit with one mind, striving side by side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents. And he there's that sense, like, of just such unity, like, we're we have one mind. We're we're doing the same thing. We're side by side. We're locked arms. We're we're we're not divisible. Right? We're we're moving together. There's this sense of, of of momentum that we have.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:36]:
There's this sense that together, we can do more than we could ever do as an individual and that we're striving together. And he uses this athletic term. It's this athletic image of striving side by side for the in the faith of the gospel. It means to compete along with. Right? It's saying your teammate. It's it's it's like that you're like on a football, like some of us are here because it's the beginning of football season on Saturday night, but the thing is that you're it's, you know, it's the guy in the line that's with you. Right? It's the person who's, he's in the backfield with you, right? There's this aspect that you're doing it together. How many of you guys played a team sport growing up? Right? A bunch of us, and some of us didn't, right? So and I'll say this, there's some of us we have to learn.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:26]:
I didn't play really not organized way, I didn't really grow up playing a team sport. I grew up playing an individual sport that had a team component. Right? I wrestled. Right? I did judo. I did those things. You know what? Those are just individual sports. I fight one guy. I wrestle one other person.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:47]:
We have a team, but when we're on the mat, it's just me. Right? That's it. Now there's great things about that because you can't make excuses. And that's what I loved about it. There's no excuses. And it's clear, if you won or you lost, this is what I cannot do. Oh, it's because he missed his play, right? I cannot do that. There's no excuses.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:09]:
But you know what else I missed? I missed the fact that when the team moves together, that you do greater things than yourself. Right? I wish I had that. And we have we wanted that for our kids. So we let our kids have a team sport that they played, and we wanted them to have an individual sport so that they could have a balance. Like, I know how to play with people. I know how to get along on a team, and I know how to take responsibility just for, like, my own self, that kind of a thing. Right? And so that's, you know, as imperfect as that, kind of a thing is, that's one of the things that we wanted. And so when you're playing a team sport, sometimes you block for somebody else, and sometimes somebody else blocks for you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:58]:
Right? And and so this is the thing, if you're you're both running like this, if if this guy is competing with this guy and they're on the same team, this is not like who can run faster. Because this guy runs like this. Why? So he can be slightly ahead, if possible, to clear the path for somebody to go farther. Why? Because if he scores, the whole team wins. Right? And so in the gospel, that's part of what He's saying. We live and act as a team. And sometimes you carry the ball and sometimes you block. Right? Sometimes you you set up the play, and sometimes you you need to be kind of a a a just a kind of that pulling force that takes it with everybody else and pushes it in one direction.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:49]:
And so this aspect is you know what? You have influence. You have influence. And sometimes you will it's not bad for you to use your influence for you, but he's saying this. Sometimes you we need to use our influence for one another. Right? Do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor and say, we need to use our influence for one another. What does that mean? What does that mean? It means sometimes have you guys ever been it's like, hey, you know what? You need a you need a new you need a doctor where you don't have a knock and knock? Like, what did you call my doctor? He's a good guy. You guys ever do that? You refer somebody, right? You make an introduction, right? You just say, hey, you know, you wanna get involved in this thing? Hey.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:33]:
I know those guys on the worship team. Hey. Why don't let me introduce you to them. Right? And you do that kind of thing. It's you using your influence. Right? There's there's some of the times it's like a sense that maybe you say, hey, you're in between right now. You're in between jobs. It's like, you know what? Let me ask my friend.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:49]:
Maybe they write that kind of a thing. Those kinds of things, he's saying, we're not just worshiping together, but we're side by side striving in the faith of the gospel. And he says it, though, why is that? Because, you know, in life there's struggle. In life there's struggle. And he acknowledges that later in in the next few verses. But, you know, one of those things that I think all of us need is we need people on our side. We need people in our corner. And and some of us, you have a lot of people in your corner, you know, people who got your back.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:29]:
They they encourage you. They support you. They'll stand with you in the good times. They'll they'll celebrate with you in in in the, hard I mean, they'll celebrate with you in the good times, and they'll stand with you in the hard times. But there's some of us that you don't have anybody in your corner. At least that's how you feel, right? And so, you know, one of the things that we're doing right now is we're getting ready to start a new semester of Life Groups. And as we begin a new semester of life groups that you know, to be honest, the reason why we do that is because it it gives us an opportunity to get people in your corner and for you to get in somebody else's corner. It's a place where we get to learn how to stand side by side and move together in the gospel, that we learn how to live and act as a team or as a family, and we encourage one another.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:15]:
You know, last week, after service on Sunday, I got to have lunch with some of the guys that they have a life group out in Schofield, and they're younger military guys and gals, and, like, it was a great lunch, and we're just hanging out and talking story, and then they're just they're just the conversation that they're having, and it was really good. These guys like Waldy and Kiara, and some of you guys know Liam and Caleb who got baptized in July, and these guys, James, these great guys. Right? And I just had so much fun, and they said, hey, why don't you come out with some Tuesday? And I would love to go. If you have a they have a group on Tuesday. If you're out that way, maybe you're in Central Wahiawa, you're, you know, kind of looking for people, wanna be with people who who wanna grow, encourage one another, stand together, and you can get on base, then that might be a good thing for you and but, you know, it was just such a great thing because I can see them standing in in one another's corner. I can see them having one another's back, and we do know there's hardship in life. It's not like what Buddha said. Buddha said life is suffering.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:29]:
Now I hope that your life is not just about suffering. If you say your life is suffering, I think you need a perspective shift. You may have a hard season, but probably not everything in your life has always been miserable. Right? So the thing is there there are hard times. The Bible acknowledges that, and it says in verse 29, he says he says, it has been granted to you for the sake of Christ that you should not only believe in Him, but also, what, suffer for His sake. Engage in the same conflict that you saw that I had and now hear that I still have. And he's saying, you know what, that if our message doesn't somehow encompass the fact that there's difficulty in life, that somehow if our message doesn't acknowledge the fact there's some things we cannot escape and, the struggle in that, then to be honest, our gospel is incomplete because we're not teaching people how to go through a difficult time. Because sometimes, to be honest, we have to go through the difficult time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:31]:
My wife and I, we were talking about that in about life group and, and the life group that we lead and and and things, and in that group, we're vulnerable. We'll share the things that are struggling and the things that are not perfect, and my conviction is the reason why I do that is because as a young believer, I remember being in a group where some guys, it seemed like everything was perfect, and then and when if they ever shared, it was because they already figured everything out and everything is all resolved, and this is what I thought. Their life is somehow different than mine, right. Their life is charmed. You guys ever know that? You guys ever feel like somebody's life is charmed? You're like, it's easy, like, oh, what is that? It's because you only see the product, and you don't see the process. Somehow in life group, it's one of those places where you're free to have a process, right, because nobody because nobody's life is always perfect. We're all being perfected, right, But are there people that you can let some of the messiness of your life show and they're gonna love you, they're gonna stand with you, they're gonna encourage you, they're gonna support you. That's what we get to do, stand side by side.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:52]:
Why? Because we're all pulling together. And so we just say in that aspect, yes, we, you know, all of us, we all suffer in life, but might as well be for a redemptive reason. Right? We might as well do it for a redemptive reason. And so, like, you and I, we don't have it all figured out. You guys have it all figured out? No, we don't have it all figured out. It's okay. It's okay. But sometimes you go through a hard time and, and you'll get to see this is the great thing, is that when you stand with somebody, all of a sudden, their wins become your win and your win becomes their win.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:36]:
When you're praying together. Just recently, we had a situation where one of the brothers was going through this thing and a hard thing at work and, like, unjust things happening at work and somebody stealing jobs, you know, that kind of a thing. How many of you guys have experienced that, or that's just him? Right, like some things like kind of people stabbing in the back and all those kind of things that, unfortunately, they happen in workspaces and, you know, he wasn't sure how to handle it. And it's like he just was dying on the inside. And one of those things we said, we prayed together, but we talked about, hey, what are some ways that we could, you know, maybe address that, you know. Not like in the parking lot time, but like, you know, like addressing it, and sometimes just maybe bringing it before an authority and saying, Hey, you know, this is the thing that happened and I'm bringing it before you because I want to know how you want me to handle that, right. So what does that do? It affirms their authority, right, and that we're subject to their authority, but it also is asking, it's getting us beat on, okay, are you going to do anything about this or is it all on my shoulders? Right. And so we prayed and he said the next day because I saw him recently, he said, The next day, he says, Before in the morning I was called into the office and he said, 'Can you close the door behind me?' And closed the door behind him and he says, 'Hey, I just became aware of some of these things that were going on and can I tell you it's not right? That's not how we do business here.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:15]:
And I can assure you that, that this will not happen again. And you know that he walked out of that room, he said, kind of just feeling vindicated, feeling heard, knowing that God heard his prayer that we had just prayed the night before. And so he came and said, I gotta tell you something. Right? And he's happy. And you know what? His win, I mean, I feel the win. Right. I go like, man, I got to stand and I got to see that. And it's like that's the blessing about doing life together, right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:54]:
And when it's hard, we don't have to bear it alone, right. And so this is why God calls us. It's not just a team management thing. It's a, it's a gospel thing because that's how Jesus made us, is that we need each other. And you might feel like I have nothing to offer but nothing could be farther from the truth. We need you and you need us. And so this is part of God's process. Does that make sense? Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:29]:
Yeah. So this is one of those things because He says in Ecclesiastes, right, that's where 2 are better than 1, right, that we need to find this for they can help each other succeed. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help, but someone who falls alone is in real trouble. And so the thing is that this is not a marriage verse, this is a life thing, right, because sometimes, too, those of you guys know, if you have a trouble in your marriage, how are you going to handle that sometimes? It's like you're only going to talk to each other? Sometimes we need other people to come alongside. Right? Pray for us. Stand with us. Go through things with us. And so we're in this kind of a situation, and so he says this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:09]:
He goes to the next verse, and and then he he says these things in the the next chapter, which is best the next verses. And he says this. So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the spirit, any affection and sympathy. Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. And you can almost hear, I don't know how to say it, almost like a sarcastic tone, a slightly sarcastic tone, in the sense of saying it like this. It's like, wow, you know, if there's, you know, if you've ever experienced any encouragement in Jesus, right, have you ever experienced the love of God and the move of the spirit in you that refreshed you? Have you ever? And it could either be like that or the other way you read it is it's because of, right? You read that because of, because there's encouragement in Christ, because there's comfort from love, because there's participation in the spirit and affection and sympathy. Then he says this, complete my joy by being of the same mind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:33]:
Having the same love, being in full accord and with one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. And what he's talking about is he said he calls us how you move forward in unity is you sharing Christ's presence and mind. You're sharing Christ's love and presence and mind. Because it's not just what we do, it's what we do together, right? It's we do this in concert with Jesus. And so, you know, that word encourage, that, that we're, is there any encouragement in Christ? In English, that word encourage actually means to pour courage in. Right? Encouragement literally means to pour courage in, that when you share something with somebody, you stand with them, and you tell them, hey. You know, God has your back, and we're standing with you, and and, you know, we're we're you're gonna get through this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:31]:
It's like you're pouring courage in. Sometimes we leak out the courage that we we should have. And he's he's saying these kinds of things because that when you move forward in life, that we all need encouragement and we all need people to stand together with us. And so he's saying, have this then mind among yourselves. He goes on in verse 5. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a bondservant, being born in the likeness of man. And what he's saying is, in this portion, obviously he's talking about, the example of Jesus, right? Let's just say the example of Jesus. Okay, let's not say it's so excited.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:27]:
Let's not go crazy, but maybe we can say it one more time. Let's say it, let's say it like it's a positive thing, alright? The example of Jesus. Right? Some of us, we don't always relate to the example of Jesus because it's like, oh, Jesus just walked on the water, but I cannot walk on the water. Right? Or Jesus just healed them all. I cannot heal them all. Right? So sometimes, like, so that's not what he's saying though. What is the example of Jesus? The example of Jesus, in this case, he's saying is even though He was God, He had a spirit of humility and He didn't demand His rights. And so, some and this is important because some of us, when we heard that consider one another as better than yourselves or consider one another as being, you know, like depending on your translation, that all of a sudden that we we think, like, oh, what is this? There have to be bad, or I have to be a worm, or everybody's better than me? I'm trying to get over that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:28]:
You know, it's one of the things that you carry, but no, this is not what it's saying. It's really saying in this aspect, it's really saying that at times we give preference and defer to one another, not because you're less than, but because Christ is alive in you, right, because you have the grace of God in your life, right, because if you've experienced the grace of God in your life, sometimes you can defer. You can let someone you can treat someone as better. You're not saying you're less than or they're better than you. It's more along the line that we're saying, because I have Jesus in my heart, I have a capacity, I have a margin that I can defer. Right. This week I went to the post office to go drop something off, and then I'm checking the mailbox and then it tells me and I'm kind of in a rush, to be honest and so it tells me, oh, by the way, there's a box to be picked up, so now I gotta go stand in the line to go pick up this box that I didn't account for, right, because I don't normally check the mail, to be honest. And so I check the mail and I say I want to do, you know, my part.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:37]:
Other people check the mail. I should do my thing too. And so I'm standing in line, and there's a lady that's in front of me, and she has kind of an arm full of boxes, and I can see her, like, having a nonverbal conversation with the postal guy who's, you know, in the front, and he's saying, you know, and then all of a sudden this non verbal thing is not good enough, so he says, Did you get the boxes you need? He goes, Not really, but I'm just gonna go with these. He goes, No, no, no, no. The boxes are on the other side. Just go on the other side. Get the boxes. And she goes, Okay.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:11]:
So she gets out of line, she puts the boxes back that she had, and then and she went and she got the other boxes, and then she came back, and she gave me the kind of the sheepish look like, 'Should I go in front of you or behind you?' And I just didn't say anything, and I just walked forward to the next person. No, no, no, no. I'm kidding. I'm joking. I didn't I didn't do that, right? I didn't do that, right? I just told her, go behind me. No, I was kidding, but of course, what did I say? No problem. No problem. Just, you know, yeah, no problem.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:49]:
Inside, tick tick tick tick tick tick. No. But like I was just thinking, like, I have to go, but but I did say, that, and I had a smile on my face, and I was sincere, you know, because but the thing is, what is one minute, right? Or what is 40 seconds longer? It's just not a big deal. And, and so that's the thing. Did I do it because I needed to, because she was better than me? No. Just that Christ was in me. Yeah. I, you know, I went one minute later to go do the task that I had to do.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:22]:
Not not a big deal. But there's just a grace. When you have a grace in your life, you can give grace to other people. If you've never experienced grace, you'll never give grace. Right? So here's the good news. Receive grace in your life, right, where you're forgiven, you get favor, somebody defers to you, you know what you're gonna do? You're naturally you're gonna defer. Sometimes you say, you're gonna pay it forward. Sometimes you say, you know, you're gonna pay it back, whatever the case.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:49]:
But but that's this aspect. And, you know, when we come to this place that we're deferred to one another, it's contagious. It just builds, becomes a culture that we're willing to go the extra mile because we're not going to leave 1 person hanging to do all the work all the time. Right? And so we we come. 1 person comes in. There's rotation, hopefully, in the teams. And so sometimes, that's when we start new ministries. It's because we we recognize, let's say, the starting trying to start a nursery again is because we see young moms, we see young families coming in and they're scrambling, trying to and we remember what it's like when we had young kids and and we want them to be able to worship together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:33]:
Right? And so this is what I'm gonna say. If you don't have grandkids or your grandkid's not here, maybe that's something that you wanna join in. Right? Love on them. But it's the thing is that it's not so we set one team up in a nursery till Jesus comes back, right, but that we would have a rotation, right, and in that sense, we treat those families just in that stressful season, right, it is a stressful season. You learn to sacrifice sleep. You learn how to, you know, change diapers. You're doing all those things, and you've still probably got your job. You've still got other people to take care of.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:09]:
But we give them that space so they can get refreshed in Jesus. We want to minister to the whole family, to both the leaders, the dream teamers, as well as just to the folks who are just coming in the beginning. Right? They're just getting into the life of the church. So thank you for letting us do that. And so sometimes, what we need to do is we need those models. And who is the model? Jesus is that model. Right? He humbled himself. Everybody has a we need a pattern to follow.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:42]:
That somebody that they're successful and they're successful for a reason. An investor, some of you guys I talked to, some of you guys, you guys are investors. But you know what? You didn't just do it by yourself. I talked to you. You guys tell me. I watched this guy and I read this guy and I watched these videos or in business or sports or whatever it is. Guess what? Our pattern in life is Jesus. Our pattern in faith is Jesus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:10]:
And what did he do? He humbled himself. And so sometimes we can humble ourselves because we wanna share in his life. Okay? And I'm gonna just close with this, thing because, I think it I think it'll make sense because sometimes we come in that we carry a little bit of baggage that makes us not wanna do the team together, not do life together, not do unity together, and sometimes I know what that's like. Before we started the church, I was, we I was I had mentioned I'd been in a number of churches and planted several churches, before in part of the team. And, and one of those things is being in those teams later, I was on boards and councils and and things like that, and sometimes they they worked well and sometimes they didn't work well. And and so in one of those instances, my really good friend who was the senior pastor that, when we were doing in these council meetings, there was this guy who always wanted to kind of come and challenge everything he was saying, you know, And I felt for my friend, and, and at the end, he would just say, man, I hate council meetings. And so I understood that, right, and I've seen that. And then I'd been in some council meetings and board meetings where there would be some guy that we who kind of has an agenda, and even though we had already long talked about this and the thing had been settled months ago, all of a sudden he's bringing up the same thing, and all of a sudden going he's bringing us backwards months, and he's just kind of going off on this thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:04]:
And I just was like, oh my gosh, What like, what is the deal? We settled this long time ago. Right? Why are we even talking about it anymore? I mean, if there was new information and different things, it's not a problem, but it's just kinda like rehashing the same thing with no change. And it just made me frustrated. And then I'd seen some council situations where all they did was rubber stamp the senior guy's thing, like, whatever he said, like, and I thought, like so when we started the church, to be honest, I didn't know really how to deal with a council. I was nervous. I didn't want to have a council because I'd seen it like it's like a beef, right, and I just thought, like, that's not healthy. It was some places a rubber stamp. Some other places it's like, like, oh, my gosh, you're just going in circles and circles.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:52]:
So how do we handle that? They just do what I say. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just joking. That's that's not how we do it. That what we decided that when we started, we pulled these guys together. I said that, hey, you you know, there's going to be times we're going to have to make a decision, and so we're going to discuss something, and we're going to have to vote. Right? But this is not how it it goes, and I don't want it to go like this. I don't want it to be a majority rules.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:20]:
Hey, there's 4 of us that say this, there's 3 of us that say this, sucks to be you guys, we win. Right? Like that. I don't want that because that's that's an unhealthy way, I think, than to move forward, because we're not we don't have unity. That's a power move. Right? Does that sound like anything that happens in our legislative bodies? I mean, it's like and then there's, like, the next time then, we're gonna use our power, right? So that's I just don't see that as a healthy thing. At the same time, we cannot just be consensus that everybody agrees because not everybody always agrees. Right? They see it a little different. That's the that's sometimes the balance, the protection that we get all the different points of view.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:12]:
At the same time, a decision still needs to be made. So I said, what if we did this? You're everybody say your say your real piece. Right? Say your real view. But sometimes, like, if it's just 1 or 2 of us or whatever it is that we go, okay, we know that the majority wants to move in this direction. Can you say can you say if you can say this, if you can say, I have my concerns. I have my concerns, but I I I know that I trust you and respect you guys that I'm willing to go along with it. So it's not just everybody just totally thinks exactly the same, but sometimes there's a deferral to trust. I said, can we do that as a as a measure? That's how we operate.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:15]:
And if you have a sincere, but I don't you know, really, this is not right. This is I don't think this is god's way. This is god's will. You know what? We're gonna listen to that. We're not gonna move ahead if that's the case. And you know what? Everybody in the council said, I can go with that. And there have been times as a result that we have not acted on certain things because somebody had a strong conviction. And there have been times that we have moved ahead despite some concerns, but you know what we we were able to do? We were able to make sure to say, we're gonna pay attention to those concerns.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:04]:
We're not just gonna ramrod ahead, but let's make sure that these things are being attended to, so we're not exposed on this end. And, you know, I I think as a result, Randy, it's worked fairly well. Right? It's because what are we doing? Considering one another more important than ourselves, taking a place of humility, and I understand that, in our church structure, that as senior pastor, I'm a part of the council, but I'm the head of the council, But there's times I take off my hat, and I ask everybody else. I think that's a good model. I think that's a good model in families. I think that's a good model in businesses. I think that's this aspect. In the staff team, we often operate in the same way.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:57]:
Sometimes there's things I have to make a call. I'm gonna ask you, can you guys trust me? Right? Because I have a sense. This is the sense I feel like we need to be doing. And you know when that happens, then we still all move together. I don't take it lightly. Right? Because they're giving their trust. If something doesn't work, I'm the first guy to say, you guys are right. Right? But my my thing is that we're not gonna do everything perfect.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:27]:
We listen to the Lord, but we're not gonna bet the farm, and it's like, the church is either gonna grow like crazy or it's gonna die. We're not we don't make those level decisions generally because I think that's not wise. That's not the way that the Spirit of God leads normally. So but we need to take risks. We need to move on purpose. We need to move with a sense of understanding the whole community. And we need to understand, there is a world out there that so desperately needs Jesus that we need to step out of our comfort zone to be a light in the darkness. And because of that, I feel like we've been able to thrive and balance and survive sometimes difficult seasons because we did it together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:23]:
And so for that, I just wanna thank you guys. That make you guys make all that possible, but I think that's what we find is how to move forward in unity. To defer to one another, be spirit of humility, learning from Jesus, but there's these other things that we do, right? Striving together, right, growing together. Amen? Let's bow our heads. Let's close in a word of prayer. Amen. Father, sometimes we in our culture, we we magnify the human being, the individual, so much in the right that they have, and it is. Nobody can compel someone what to think or to do those to make them do all these things at times.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:14]:
But, Lord, the we lose fact lose sight of the fact at times that we we live among a community of people, and that, Lord, that you've called us that in in the church or in the family of God to understand, Lord, that, it's not just me and Jesus, but it's the safety that happens because there's a community. There's people who stand with us and people who get to know us and that, Lord, that we can grow together, that we can receive grace, and then we can give grace. We can receive truth, and then we can give truth. Father, we can live and act like a team because we've experienced you alive in our midst, and, Father, we need that together. And for some of us, maybe there's some of you that you're in a situation where you're you're tempted right now to just power up and that you have the capacity to do it. But I have the sense that maybe Jesus is saying, would you would you be willing to pull people and get their buy in and not power it through, but ask for their trust? And when there's if it's given, would you know it's a tremendously important thing that you steward is the trust of another individual. For some of you, this is in your marriage. For some of us, this is in your family.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:51]:
For some of us, this is in your with some of your friends. For some of us, it's a ministry possibly. Right? That there's different things. But let God lead you. But just remember, you're part of a family. You're part of a team. You're part of an organization, part of a school. I don't know what it is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:14]:
You're part of a sports team. You're important, but he's asking us at times, just consider the person next to you. Consider the whole team. Consider those things because that's what we miss in our community. This is what we're missing in our culture. Sometimes we get too self focused and we're not thinking about the rest of the community. Father, we're we're inviting you to lead us and guide us as we move forward. And so we're praying we're thankful, Lord, that when brothers and sisters, it says, dwell together in unity, It's like the anointing on Aaron.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:55]:
You said, it's like the oil that is poured down his head and goes down his beard and down the hem of his robe. And it says, that anointing then allows the blessings of God to flow. And there You command the blessing. Lord, that when there is unity among brothers and sisters, we don't have to beg for Your blessing. You command it. So, Father, we receive that today. Father, we receive that in our marriages. God, we receive that in our families.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:28]:
We receive that in our work sites. We receive that in our schools. Lord, we receive that in our teams, Lord, in our hobbies together. We just receive that because that's your instruction above all in all of those areas. Lord, you're above all. In Jesus' name, God's people say, amen.