Pastor Terence Paraso [00:00:00]:
So Philippians, what a great book. Some people call it the book of love, right, because he talks a lot about what love is and and what that means to surrender to love. And it's not an easy thing, right? But I want to just If we can stand together, we'll open with these these verses and read God's word in honor of his word. Philippians 48 through 9. And let's Yeah. Very good. Okay? Okay. Ready? Go.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:00:32]:
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Alright. You may be seated. Thank you. Thus speak the Lord. Dwell on these things. Talking about, the day of atonement.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:01:11]:
Did you know that there is a particular prayer that is still being prayed? How about this? The trivia question. I'll just answer ask it like this. Do you know the one prayer that's still prayed today more than any other prayer by the Jewish people? Anybody? A lot of you are gonna be like, I know this, I know this. It's the shema, right? They still say it twice a day if they're if they're devout and orthodox. And it's the reminder basically it's Philippians, right? Because after all Paul was like a Jew of Jews, right? And he said, I could brag about it, but it only made him scholarly and humble enough to know that Jesus really is the truest and the way in the life, and knowing that God is always there. So he says here, and bold dwell on these things. And the Shema is the whole about it. The whole thing about it is that whenever you're standing, sleeping, running, talking, whatever, have your mind constantly dwell on the things of God.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:02:10]:
I don't know about you but my mind wanders. Anybody? Anybody mind wander like Yeah. No. Yeah, it's not always there, right? But the great thing is that the Holy Spirit's job is to bring to light and to mind when you need the truth, and in the right moment sometimes you're like, I don't know what I'm doing, and then you'll be encouraged. So but to dwell and to digest and to think on these things, because, lot of people know scripture but not the practical side of it. So but there is a practical side of it. There is the how to's, because we know we need to be humble. What does it look like in life, right? What is it supposed to look like? We know we're supposed to be, evangelizing, but I don't know how to evangelize, right? And then it says here, because practice these things.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:02:55]:
So you mull it over so that they become a part of you and it comes out of your life, right? And and but what does that look like? So we're gonna go into some things about what does it mean to move forward together in God's will. First of all, to make sure you discern God's will, not only alone but together corporately, but to move forward in God's will. So there's 3 relationships I want to, remind you of, and I'm gonna key in on 2nd Timothy 2 verse 2. It's one of my favorite verses that I always use because I even though I teach for a DOE school, it's a charter school, and, I get to be as Christian as I wanna be. And I've had the privilege of, pretty much teaching scripture and bless I got to bless the buildings that we're in. I got to lead the whole freshman class along with our staff blessing in 2 different buildings in the name of Jesus. So so I I've taught this to the kids even though they don't know it's scripture. It's kinda cool.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:03:50]:
I'm the character education guy for 9th 10th grade, and they hired me knowing I'm a I'm a crazy pastor that love kids and love Jesus. So this is where I come from. So before I go into this, this is an illustration that, kinda came to me, like I felt God teach me. When I was, way back when, I was teaching some at risk youth at Goodwill. Goodwill years ago had a in the early 2000, they had a program called Hola I Kahana. And the use that we got were all kids who just could not handle regular school. So either the counselors would refer, or PO would refer them, or we had desperate parents call us. And we had like 3 or 4 different locations, and all the kids were Basa.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:04:34]:
So, and I was praying about how to introduce myself to them, and what I was about, and what the program was about because we all know this, right? You guys have all learned from people before that the mind cannot receive unless the heart is ready, right, and healed to prepare. So there was no education gonna happen until their souls were okay. So this is what God gave me. I I gave a cup to every child, and these are gang leaders, pregnant teens. Some of them just abused and kicked out of everything. So they all were bust ups. So this is what I told them to do. This cup is you, and this cup is meant to hold something.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:05:12]:
It's meant has a purpose designed for something. But for today you don't have to use your words because I know everybody here is hurting, I told them. And and nothing you can do or say is gonna make me run away screaming in shock and awe and like I gave up. I gave up. I'm there. God prepared me for this. So I told them, look at the bottom of your cup. And I had them grab a pencil and I said, for every memory you can think of in your life that today if you still think of it, you still have feelings of hurt, or unforgiveness, or bitterness, or anger, something along those lines.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:05:46]:
For every one of those memories poke a hole. And didn't have to share anything, but it was so they looked at me and some of them flooded poking holes. And one of my boys, Micah Kaluna, I don't know where you are today, but I remember you, Micah. He looked at me and said, mister, you for reals. I said, yeah. And he said, okay. He grabbed the bottom and he just went we just did it like that, and he said, this is me, mister. That's me.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:06:12]:
I was like, oh, okay. So what we did next was I said, I'm gonna have a I had a pitcher of water and I said, each of you come to me and I'm gonna pour water into you. And this picture represents all the good stuff that God wants to give you. All the all the love and unconditional love and truth, and and no matter what happens, all that good stuff in life, right? And then so how much can you hold with how bussed up you are? So we're gonna see, and that's why I poured through. Some of them poured really fast, some of them leaked slower than others, but everybody leaked. And it's kinda discouraging to see that because how much can you hold of God and the good stuff if you're still bust up? So the next thing I said, so I said, who are those picture people in your life? Who do you go to that has the good stuff in your life? You have to know who they are. So they kinda you didn't have to say it out loud, but you keep them in your mind, and I said those are the people that you need to spend more time with, not only when your life is bossed up but when things are good as well. These are the people you need to go to.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:07:25]:
And But check this out, I said, But when they run out, where do they go to? They have a source to go to. And you can keep going up the line, but ultimately the main source of all good things is who? God. All good things come from him. So I said, you can go straight to the source. You don't have to come through me. You don't have to go through anybody else. But I said, we're not lone rangers either. So I had them, a bunch of them, take their cups and they held their cups like a little bit of space apart like this in a stack above the bucket.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:08:00]:
And I said, now we're called to be together. Some of us, some gang members there from different gangs, literally from different gangs, so they're rivals. And then I said, we we gotta make this work because otherwise what else you got? Right? So I said, we're here together and they're gonna pour the stuff from the top. So I don't care who's on top, just put yourself in the line under the flow. So I started pouring the water, and it leaked out from 1 into the next and the next. And when the top person ran out I said, what are you gonna do now? You need good stuff to flow through you, otherwise you're gonna be lonely and weak and still bust up by yourself alone. So I said, go ahead. So they moved their cups like this, and they kept switching around when they ran out of water, and it felt so good to realize even if they can't hold it, it doesn't have to even if you leak out the good stuff that you can't hold, you can pass it on to somebody else.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:08:48]:
That's what we're meant to do. And you can get back in the flow, but I said this too. Some of you are like this, you come in here, you say, 'I don't need anybody', and you do this. And some of you in this room are looking at each other and you wish you're throwing the other person out in your mind already. You're giving up on each other. Say, what what good is that gonna do for that person? Nothing. Nothing. It says more about the person doing the throwing than anything else, but I I encourage them to stay.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:09:20]:
Then I said, we're gonna do one one more third thing. So I said, we're gonna do this, just nest all your cups into together each other like this. So we nested the cups and I said, what do you guys think is going to happen? And I said, oh, mister, we so bust up. No madder. I said, okay. So I started pouring water into the cups. And no matter how much holes there were, it stopped, either stopped to a drip or nothing came through at all. You're able to retain the goodness of God because I said, this doesn't come easily.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:09:54]:
This takes a lot of work to be a group like this. It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of vulnerability to know the worst about each other and yet still have each other's back. That's the church, isn't it? What it's meant to be. And that's the good thing. And and you know what? They kinda got it. We we stuck all these on their wall. We had all the cups like this, and they had all the names on it, so they whenever a new kid came in they would tell, oh, that was me, blah blah.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:10:21]:
And then you know I got to share their testimony. I just got to share with my 9th graders this year at at Dream House where I teach. So there's three kinds of relationships that second Timothy 2 to that Paul is writing to Timothy, and he's saying you need to have 3 these three kinds of relationships to make sure you're still growing in the Lord, or just connected, right? In Hawaiian it's pilina, to have the connection, right? So the first first relationship you need is to have mentors in your life. Mentors. And and ideally it's somebody you can sit across the table with, right? And then and have spend time with, somebody who knows you. But sometimes it can be authors. It could be people who have passed away, like all the books in the Bible, Right? You have plenty people of all the wisdom of all the ages available to you through the Bible. It's 40 something authors that God chose personally to be the best of the best for us to to learn from.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:11:16]:
But the main thing behind that choosing a mentor is this. Well, 2 things I would say. They have the character that you want, right? The character and wisdom, but they have to they have to love God more than they love you. Amen. It's huge, because if they love you more than they love God, they might not always tell you what you need to hear, because they're more worried about the relationship. It's the first thing I was taught in counseling counseling other people, because as as pastors we all we we too fall prey to help people. What do you think of me? How is that? You know, that doesn't matter. Because when God called Ezekiel you guys know the call of Ezekiel? He said, I'm gonna call you to a stubborn people.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:12:00]:
Not a great audience. A people who are stubborn and should know me, but they don't. And he said, but if you say what I tell you to say to them, then you and I are good. But if you don't say, then you and I are not good. Then it's on you. So get it off your back and tell him tell him. And by by the way, he said, I'm gonna make your head more solid, more strong, and more stubborn than they are. And that's not a that's not a great thing.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:12:25]:
It's Not many people are gonna receive that, but his job was just purely to speak regardless of how people receive. We're not responsible for how people receive. We're responsible to give the message that God tells us to give in in the best way. We don't just slam people with it like they take the truth and No, it's very carefully thought out with a heart in mind and the person in mind because out of a relationship is the best when you know people, and they know you, and they know your heart. So a mentor who knows you but loves God more than they love you. 2nd, our peers to journey with. People have the similar questions. People are journeying along with you that are have similar struggles and can you can kinda relate that you know you're not alone.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:13:04]:
You're not only you're not the only one asking these questions of the of God and the world, right? You're like, oh, I'm not That feels really encouraging. So that's that's really good. And then, you know, Timothy himself, the Bible teaches you need a plurality of leaders. Not just one guy leading it all, but there's a a group of people discerning God's will together. And Timothy was called to gather some elders of the church who would co lead and discern God's will together. So whatever if doesn't matter if you have a have a role or a title, but if you have people who are kind of like in the same journey as you alongside, that's really cool to to know that you're not alone. You can seek out those same things, the same questions you have. And the third is to have mentees, people you teach.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:13:49]:
And I'll cross off sorry, the two words and and or are there. Cross off the word or cause it's mentees and the mission field. Because I was taught this, when when I came out of seminary, typically things happen when you graduate. You just start vomiting all the things you've learned, right? But you realize after about 3 months you did everything you knew. You taught everything you knew. So a great mentor told me this, you really wanna learn something? Go teach it and you'll find out how much you still need to learn. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:14:26]:
So I'm still learning, trust me. And the mission field because you have to know who are you journeying with, who who you can trust, right? And look up to, and who are you God is calling you to reach out to. Who is in your circle of influence? Okay. Because you're not just meant to hold this hold this whatever good stuff alone, but you're meant to pass it on. Sorry, I'm gonna take a drink. Alright. So mentees and a mission field. In this in this way you know, you know kinda you can kinda gauge how you're doing.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:15:04]:
People to speak into your life Because not only because you know, I don't know about you, but parents, you ever had your kids teach you something? Like something they say and just blows you away. Like I never thought of it that way. I had once a 10 year old call me out on something that the child didn't even know they were calling me out on it, and it blessed my heart. I said, uncle, she said, uncle, I I'm kinda confused because you said this and then I saw you do this. And I'm like, oh, you are right. I apologize and I'm I'm humbled. Yeah. You're right.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:15:38]:
I still have to work on that. That was oh, that was kids see everything, don't they? They keep you accountable, especially when your spouse tells you, look at your daughter or your son, just like you. Oh no. And you tell them, copy the good stuff not the bad stuff. Oh well, right? You heard that you heard that happen in your life. Oh boy. So there's a test that you can so as you have these relationships and you put them into your life, because if you're missing if you're missing any one of those relationships, you are gonna be not growing as much as you can possibly growing, okay? You need all 3 ideally to be able to keep moving, to know that you're humble, and you're growing, and you're testing, and you're pouring into someone else, someone's pouring into you, and you can be like those kids in my class, changing the cups and staying in the flow, right? Now what does it look like for yourself to know the will of God? And this is what my one of my mentors taught me, and I love what he taught me. So there's 3 of 3 fold tests, he said, to discern God's will for your life.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:16:41]:
And he said, imagine this, Pastor Rick Khan, if you're watching, thank you for this. Give him credit, right? So he said, Imagine this. There's there's like a harbor. Everybody been on a boat before? You can go on a boat and then there's always these posts with these signs and different colors to show to tell you like where not to go, otherwise you're gonna run-in run aground on the rocks or the coral or something under the water. So he said, imagine you're trying to enter the safe harbor of God's will, and there's 3 different things that have to line up. And this is what he suggested, and I I kinda I use this all the time for my own discernment. So 1st Thessalonians says this, do not do not utterly re reject prophecies, but examine everything. Hold firmly to that which is good.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:17:26]:
And this verse is used to to tell you that the good stuff is God's word, and test everything according to his word. So know and test all prophecy with God's word. Yeah. I might have shared this before, but my wife was a was a, teller for a credit union. And when they had You know, when you're handling cash all the time, not only is it dirty, but you have to discern what is legit and what's not legit. And how they trained them was not to look and study at all the counterfeits that were produced, but they taught them the details of what makes a real bill a bill. Official legal thing. So the principle is this, you have to know the truth to know what's a lie.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:18:15]:
You don't study the lies, you study the truth to know the difference when it's not the truth. You can tell. That was hugely a great principle in that. So that's why that's really wise to do that. That's the first thing you do. The second thing is the Holy Spirit will reveal God's will to you. And that comes from John 1426. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and all is all.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:18:45]:
Right? All things that remind you of all that I said to you. So to remind, right? Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives you with something called the word of knowledge. You've never studied it, you've never learned it, but you just, he just says, you need this now, boom. And you have this thing that pops in your head, and you're like, you don't know where it came from, but you know it's gonna be perfectly applicable to what you need to do or decide on in the moment. That's called the word of knowledge. But it'd be irresponsible to live that way all the time, right? Just walking around, hey God, I'm not gonna read nothing, so you just gotta keep plugging it in. And he's like, no, I gave you my word. So testing.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:19:23]:
So the second thing is Holy Spirit. It cannot be first, it has to be second, right? And the third thing is uncanny circumstances. The things that are like God coincidences kinda line up, they must agree with the first two. You don't begin here. Some people begin in this. You ever heard somebody begin here and go like, oh, you know, he cannot read into every little thing. Look look at the way the sun parted from the clouds. And then they interpret it in something like, wow, you got all that from the parting of the clouds.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:19:52]:
Wow. That's amazing. Or a lot of times when people say, I heard from the Holy Spirit and the circumstance, and they don't check it with God's word, but you're thinking, oh, what I know of God's word doesn't quite agree in principle from what you told me, but it sounds a lot like what you just want, right? So you never heard that? Some Christians say, oh, the Holy Spirit told me. And it sounds like sometimes it's used as an excuse so that you cannot argue with them, that they didn't hear correctly. So who can you argue with if you say it's from the Holy Spirit? But you can know if it's a disagreement with God's heart and his truth if you know God's word. So it has to be God's word first and then the Holy Spirit, and then and then circumstances later. You can't go the other direction. You know, the word is the is the anchor, so that's huge, and that saved me from a lot of mistakes.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:20:41]:
I wish I learned it sooner, in fact, than I did. So Yeah. The next thing is from Ezekiel. I'm not gonna read these verses, just know that Ezekiel 1 that I referred to him earlier, his book is like reading Revelation and reading Daniel. It's a lot of imagery, a lot of God stuff, like powerful angel angelic creatures with different faces and 6 wings and his wheels with eyes and all that. So he got to see this glimpse of heaven. This is the only way he could explain it in a way that we could relate, but all those spiritual beings that he's talking about in these verses are supposed to represent this, that God is omniscient and he's omnipresent, and he's all powerful. That's it.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:21:29]:
Omniscient, omnipresent. Well, I didn't have a blank for this, but you can write in all powerful. And these spiritual beings, they look really bizarre, like you can only imagine them in your head, but when they move, there's always a big thunderous sound it says. Whenever they move, you don't know if the sound comes first or the sound comes because they move or if this just happens all the same time, but they move in 4 different directions. And he says whenever they move, the sound rumbled and it sounds just like the voice of God, like a tumult, like a thunderous sound, but it's also like the voice of God it says. Wherever they move forward, left, right, or backwards, whatever direction it says This word says it's forward. It's always forward. Okay? So the blanks there is God is omniscient and omnipresent and the source of perfect love and truth, and the second blank is no matter which direction God is leading you, it's always forward.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:22:29]:
So once you confirm his word, it may be counterintuitive. Had anybody heard God's word to be counterintuitive and be like against what you'd rather do, but then you know you can't argue with him? That's usually how you know, right? If it always agrees with you, that's usually not a good test, right? So because there's a test of obedience a lot of times. I'd rather not do this right now God, but because you said I trust you and obey you, right? That's huge. But just know any direction he's leading you is forward. This is whenever the beings move forward or left or right or up and down, the eyes of God moved and the power of God was there and the voice of God was speaking. So in dream house we have these 5 core values, and that's what I teach. It's identity. Who are you? What do you believe in? What makes you tick? What are your convictions? What makes you who you are? And then there's voice.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:23:26]:
So voice is not just spoken, it's what you do. Our actions speak louder than our words a lot of times and that's where this comes from, Right? It's our voice. So practicing when God's voice moves and he's speaking into your life, usually it's to do something, to move or to withhold. It's whatever it may be. It it requires an action. That's why in Philippians, Paul knows as well. Right? He says dwell on it and then practice it. Do it.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:23:54]:
Right? It's not just knowing it. So the next blank blanks are do not blindly automatically follow popular opinion even if it's Christian. There's a lot of Christian things that are taught, especially at some of the Christian schools that may not necessarily be biblical. If you really think about how you're grown up, I challenge people all the time. I love these conversations with people from different faiths because it's really great to to see how God moves in other people's lives. But when people come from different traditions of faith, I think I tell them, think about what you're taught about God from your family, and then think about things that you you were taught, you learned about God from your church or your faith tradition, and then when you started reading God's word think about the things, and do they always line up? Not always. If you're really honest, what we learn at home and through our faith tradition and whatever denomination, non denomination it is sometimes, it becomes religion more than and tradition more than really the Word of God. So which one of these 3 should we bank on the most? It's the word of God.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:25:02]:
We correct to the word. Right? So sometimes just because people are going forward, just because they claim to know God doesn't mean they they're obeying God. So you have to discern for yourself. It doesn't mean you you separate yourself or you say bad Christian. No, it just means you pray. You pray for them. You come alongside them. Are you sure? Because I'm gonna run with you a little while, but I'm not convinced right now.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:25:26]:
Like can we talk about this? And you pull them aside and you have a conversation, you pray, and then together you can discern God's will together according to his word. Let's go test this out. Let's go read words and and see. Right? I've had people try to prove me wrong sometimes. This one guy from a cult. One of my friends got involved with a cult at the time, years ago, and he was saying, oh, they they need to know how much I make. They need to know exactly, I cannot date anybody outside the church. I need to only date people within the church.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:25:57]:
There's so much all these rules. He says, is that all from God's word? So I started sharing with him what I learned from God's word, and then he said, oh, he took it back to one of his church elders and the guy said he wanted to meet with me. And that guy just blasted me. I was just sitting there and he's reading he's quoting scriptures and I'm like, so far everything you said was true because you're quoting scriptures, but the way you guys are applying it is just not good, dude. It it's constricting. It doesn't free anybody. It says your your authority is over him rather than encouraging him. That's kinda So I tried to leave as best I could, but that can happen sometimes.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:26:33]:
We can't we can all get lost, but I hope to Yeah. That guy would know the truth one day, sooner or later. But yeah, so the last one is God's will will always be what's best, not only for you, but for everyone around you. Sometimes when you discern God's will, you feel super alone, right? Not only may it not agree with what you rather not do, but you just know if once you know it's God's God's will, it's going to be the best for you and and everybody else around you. Sometimes you don't even know who those people are, because you have yet to be, you know, to meet those people, but God is preparing you for those divine appointments. And if you listen and take it and dwell on it, I don't know about you, but I learn vicariously through God sometimes. Sometimes he doesn't teach me ahead of time. Sometimes I just go through stuff and then I'm like, woah, that can only happen because of God.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:27:34]:
And then he explains later what I went through. And you can be open to that, but don't expect that to happen all the time. Don't don't live like a seed of your pants like I was saying earlier. It's really important, because yeah, we can make honest mistakes. But you know what? Nobody's beyond correcting. I made plenty of mistakes. The only reason why I'm a pastor is because I was so, I had to learn the hard way. I think God's humor is this.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:28:00]:
This is what from my men's ministry I used to teach. We had a joke amongst us that said this. We actually ask each other, how long did you know God? When did you give your life to Jesus? And then some people say, you know, how many years and all this stuff. And some of us guys had compared to the people in the room, some of us had longer journeys and we said, you know what? To the new guys, the newer people, we would say this, God must love you because you didn't have to go through the long journey we had to because we had more to work in me than you. So it's only by the grace of God that I just have a role I'm called pastor just because I have a lot more to learn. It's like it's like having a in school suspension. Anybody seen those? Yeah. Instead of the the kid is not at school, you just bring him closer.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:28:43]:
You gonna sit right next to me. And sometimes God does that. And guess what? You listen. You learn really well when God pulls you close. I was just like that. I was so filikia in the past. I wanna show you this picture of some friends that a lot of you know, and they came to guest speak with my with my students this past week. And these are these are my, man, man, we journeyed a lot together.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:29:07]:
So everybody recognizes Roy Yamamoto, Pastor Roy, in the blue grayish blue shirt. He was a career criminal, and he was kinda getting his life right and still dealing battling with the courts. Right? And we know him as the pastor of Camp Agape Church. Right? And the Camp Agape for a camp for incarcerated kids, so they got to share, and we got to share some of our story and how we did ministry together. I don't know if you know, but Roy used to always sign dance all the time, and we learned under this lady named Corinne, Colleen Nomura. The fine arts at New Hope in general was largely because of her and John Tilton and Lanu Tilton. And she was Don Ho's dance captain. Don Ho, mister Waikiki, who we all know now, he was not always above the law, his dealings, right? But he was saved because of her.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:30:02]:
Her whole dance team was saved because of her. If you know, you guys know the popular brothers, right? Tony and Jeff Roshay, they they used to dance with her, for her, and they also came to know, disciple by her. So she was there. The guy in the middle, his name is Evan Kakegawa, okay. So Colleen, he became like my almost like my second mom, my spiritual mom at New Hope in the early years, the first 3, 4, 5, 6 years of New Hope. It was like living in Old Testament days. We had we've seen miracles, man. We've just seen move of God like crazy.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:30:39]:
And 3 years into being mentored by her, spending a lots of time with her. I've never seen knew that she had kids, and then one day she mentions her son's name, and she's mentioned Evan Kakugawa is my son. I'm like, what? Woman of God and the Evan Kaku Gao that I know, only one that I ever knew back in hip hop days, was a criminal. He was scary to be around. He taught me how to we used to practice. I grew up across the street from Saint Louis High School, and there was a place called the the Field House, and there's a gymnastics stuff around there. And we used to learn how to break dance early in the days together. He helped teach me some stuff.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:31:27]:
But eventually running the streets, in the clubs, the teen clubs, and we saw every kind of drug and addiction out there from running the streets in high school. Only by the grace of God, you know, I didn't experience this, what they experienced, but he was a Evan was a business mind. And, I had to break off our friendship. But that night I couldn't sleep when I found out that he was her son. Because where was he? Right? So I was praying about it and I looked at my phone and I found his number and I was like, I wonder if Evan's gonna it still works. And guess what? He answered his phone. And the weekend after we were preparing for Colleen's 50th birthday. She's in her seventies now.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:32:11]:
Still dances powerfully for God. So I called him and I said, you know, it's crazy. This is Terrence. You remember me? And we started talking, and I said, you know, your mother's 50th birthday coming up. And at New Hope, all the professional entertainers, we had a ministry for each other. And we would have, you know, Kapena and everybody, Naleo Pilimihana and everybody. But we all got together to give a tribute to her. Because a lot of entertainers, Christian entertainers in Hawaii were were saved because of her ministry.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:32:42]:
So we want to thank her and throw her tribute. So I said, brother, you gotta come. You gotta come. Man, because So, well, long story short, he showed up, and it was my turn to come up. And instead of doing a dance or song like some people did, I just had this letter I wrote for her. And when he came in the back door, I saw him sneak in the back door, and it was my time to come up. And basically what I told him was, if you spent 2 weeks in my life, in the relationship that I have with your mom, you would never go back to what you're doing. I'm more like her son than you.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:33:21]:
And then that later on in our our halal, the little girl from our halal said, your friend is in the back. He's he's in the parking lot. He has the letter and he's crying. But but his life started to change back then, but what happened was he ended up not long after that, a chicken fight ended up killing killing 2 people, because he was stuck in the lifestyle, and he had to serve 17 years. And in there Roy ministered to him. Colleen was praying for him, and some of us were ministering to him. Just like how I was at both of their Both of their, what do you call it, hearings when Roy was released and then when Evan got indicted. You don't ever know how God's gonna work, you know.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:34:14]:
And as long as you're connected in God's will, you you need to have all these relationships in your life, and it may be confusing. It's definitely gonna be difficult at times, but you need God and his word and each other big time. Don't ever give up on that. And that's the message. God bless you. Let's pray. Father, we, we come before you. We thank you that, you know us way way better than we really understand.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:34:45]:
You're more intimately involved and interested than we could ever comprehend or thank you for. Oh, we thank you nonetheless, because first of all, I thank you that we don't know everything because we sometimes we think we know better than you. So thank you for keeping us on a need to know basis, so our faith can grow. So we know that you really are a God after our heart, and really not just wanna save us from stuff, but you're gonna be with us through all things, and transform us into being more like your son every single day. Forgive us because we're not perfect. I thank you you're patient. But father for each one here, may they receive your perf good and perfect will, and give them the strength to live it out and encourage each other too. To this time to go home.

Pastor Terence Paraso [00:35:37]:
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.