Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
Hey. Good to see everybody. I'm so glad to be back. I've been kinda in and out. We were on the Fiji mission trip a few weeks ago, and then to be honest, after right after I preached, that weekend when I came home, I left to go help my mother-in-law move, and, how many of you guys know when you go from a place that's one size and you go to a place that's 10 times smaller, there's a lot of stuff to figure out and all that, and so, thank you for the graciousness and miles that that allowed me to be able to go do that. But, you know, I'm excited, actually about this weekend, because tonight we're actually partnering with churches all over the state, to seek God and pray. And and some maybe in some sense, you might be wondering what's so different than on a regular weekend. Right? Doesn't every church kinda seek God, pray, and do all that? Yes, we do.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:50]:
But, let me tell you about how, this came about. That a few weeks ago that, there was a kind of a a text that went out, and and a bunch of us who are just friends and connected, and sometimes we networked, that it was just calling us to come together for, to pray, to seek God, just for the pastors and, maybe, like, one leader that they they would say, hey, just you can bring somebody else. And this happened the night before we were leaving on our Fiji mission trip, and so I was thinking, oh my gosh, I got to make sure I get stuff together so I can go do this thing. And, and and I went, and there were a couple hundred of us, I guess, at least in this room at, Summities of God. They graciously opened up their facility, kinda central to people from all over the island, And, and we really just talked about, the need to pray, the need to pray for our community, the need to, have prayer, permeate not just a congregation, but but enter our homes. And and and the precursor to that, if you guys are remembering, it was just on the heels of a few weeks prior, just a horrible tragedy that happened out in Waianae Valley, and and, then and that was on top of what something is every weekend. Right? It just seemed like it's coming on a normal occurrence. And how many of you guys have ever seen sometimes you see something that it becomes normal and you become almost numb, but you know it's not right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:25]:
Right? We just see this horrible stuff that's happening. And sometimes in those moments, I think that, you know, maybe you you start wondering what it is that you can do, but I think there's a lot that you can do. I think there's a lot that we can do, but there's an old saying that says this, until we pray, there's nothing more important that we can do but pray. But after having prayed, there probably are things to do. Right? And so, we know that it starts with prayer. And so this idea, by the way, to gather the churches together and pray, it didn't start with a pastor. It started actually on the Big Island about 4 years ago because, 4 years ago on the Big Island that Mitch Roth, who is the mayor in, in Hilo, right, I mean, he's the mayor for Big Island. He was gathering together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:21]:
The pastors, on the island just wanted to gather with him. If he would be open that we would like to pray for you. And so, once a week, they gather together, to pray. Was it once a month or I think it's once a month maybe, that they gather together and pray. And and probably about a year or so ago, maybe a little bit more, he gave his heart to Jesus because he wasn't a believer, and they they kept on meeting. And and then, not that long ago, just a month or 2 ago, that they were in one of those prayer meetings, and, mayor Roth said, Hey, guys, you know what we should do? We should gather like all the churches on the island, and we should go up to Mauna Kea, go up to the mountain, pray, confess our sins, and ask God to heal our land. And the pastors are like, oh, yeah. Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:16]:
Sure. Sure. That sounds good. Yeah. Like like, it wasn't their idea, but it was, to be honest, a new believer's idea. Right? And isn't that cool that, you know, that that you don't need to be a pastor. You don't need to be a leader. You don't have to have, you know, how it's x amount of time in the kingdom to be able to affect it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:39]:
If you hear God, you sense God's leading, that sometimes we speak that out. Sometimes we we have the boldness to address that. Then you know what happens is that people can sense that. Right? And so the pastors coalesced around that. And, and then we have some friends, on the island who connected with some of those guys that were there. And so they started hearing about what was happening, and they said, you know what? This thing this thing to go and gather together is bigger than the big island. This is something that should go throughout, I think, our state, because this is like a it's not just a it's not a Waianae thing, it's not a big island thing, to be honest, everywhere you go. Right? And and so they they said, hey, let's gather together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:26]:
And so that's why we gather together, and, and so we're partnering with people all across the state. Now you might be wondering why we're doing it at this time, and this is the weekend for Yom Kippur. Today, in fact, is Yom Kippur, which is the day of atonement. It's the holiest day in the Jewish faith, and it's the day that was created to, that God gave so that, one, that the priests could atone for their own sin, could have atonement for their own sin, and the place of worship, and the individual people and families, and thus then the nation and the communities. And so, we have a short video that says that, hey, you know, what better day than the Day of Atonement to do this, to say, hey, God, we we just want to make sure that we get right and that we need as a nation, as a community, to get right. Let's take a quick look at this video, that's, that we got produced.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:34]:
Here in Hawaii, our church is called Halepole, House of Prayer. Imagine if every household throughout these islands set time aside to Pule to pray, to invite God's aloha and grace over marriages, families, our communities, our government, our youth. This year, the day of atonement is October 12. Let us all unite together, turn from our sin, and invite the spirit of God over all these islands and that he may fill this place with his presence. Let's pray.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:24]:
And so, you know, this aspect that in Hawaiian, the word for church is, and the just just turning those words around calls us to turn our homes into a place of prayer. And that's what we wanna equip you to do, and some of it some of you guys might have been around last week where, we made available to you, kind of a a sheet that for guidance that what you can do. Some of you might have done it today. How many have already done this today? Kind of turn turn your guys' house into them. Okay. Maybe pastor Jeff. So hey, no need to show off. No.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:59]:
No. No. But just joking. But a lot of us, what I'm gonna ask you guys is after after the gathering, when you go home, there there's so many sheets in the back if you don't have one already, and if you guys are watching online, hey. Can we just say, welcome to our online church family? Yeah. Hey, you guys. We're counting on you too, and we need you guys to turn your home into your house into a house of prayer. If we can have we put this up on our website this maybe not, but we'll work on that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:31]:
We'll try to see if we can make this available to you. And so, what we're gonna be doing then is is working toward that. And and we're we're gonna start tonight kinda just equipping our hearts so that when you guys go home, you'll be in the right place to feel like you can do this in your home. Because sometimes we might feel like, who am I to do these kinds of things? The thing is that if you're a follower of Jesus, he says you have the authority to do this. Right? So do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor who says you have authority. You have authority. Right? You have the spiritual authority.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:04]:
He's already deputized us. Right? And so, you know, on this aspect of the day of atonement, this is what it says in, in the Old Testament in the book of Leviticus. It says, for on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you, and you shall be clean before the Lord from all of your sins. And and so in the Old Testament, what they did was they would literally bring an animal before before the Lord, a goat or a lamb, and the the priest would lay his hands on the on the animal, and he would confess his sins and somebody else that when you would come, you would bring a sacrifice, and you would confess your sins, and then they would slay the animal. And with that blood, it was it was applied to you, like what was done to cover over the sin. The word kippur actually means to cover over, and so it covered over so that God would have a capacity to not bring judgment, that to bring a grace into their lives. And so the good news is this, we no longer need to sacrifice animals, as they did in the Old Testament because Jesus is our sacrifice once and for all. Is that good news? Yes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:18]:
Man, if when I first became a believer and I heard this and I wasn't a a and about the whole sacrifice thing, I used to think, like, if I had to sacrifice an animal for every time I sinned, there's gonna be no more white doves by by the zoo or, you know, that I would have to wipe them all out. So the thing is that but Jesus is our sacrifice once and for all. And in fact, in the New Testament, it tells us in the book of Hebrews chapter 9, is that the blood of the sacrifice that they did in the in the Jewish faith in the Old Testament, which is our the root of our faith, that's part of where we come from. That's your spiritual heritage. And so that what they would do though is is it says that that would it just covered it over, but in Christ, he removes it from us. And so that now once and for all it's already paid for, but yet we need to be reminded the command to repent and confess our sins still continues on, right? So even though we've come to Jesus, you responded to Him, you turned away from your sin at the moment that you called on Christ, then that's great, but yet at the same time it says that we still need to confess our sin. It says it like this in Acts 3:19. Can we just let's stand together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:42]:
Let's read this together because this is New Testament now, and as New Testament believers, this is what we do. It sayslet's read what it says. Ready? Begin. Repent therefore and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. You notice the difference? It says that before it would cover over, but now it talks about it being removed. Right? And then what does it say? It's so that times of refreshment may come from the Lord. The reason why we confess our sin to God, the reason why we repent, because this is the means, part of the mechanism God has to renew, to refresh, and to restore in your life. So do me a favor.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:29]:
Before you're seated, just turn to your neighbor and says, hey, it's a good thing to repent. Right? And then you can have a seat. And so even as groups of people, like, it's not this is not just you as an individual, but sometimes as groups of people that this this we see this command extended to to communities and to nations. And and it it says that sometimes what's going to happen is that you're going to see, like, what we've seen. You you might see the rise in crime. You might see natural disasters happening. How many of us have been seeing, like, you would how many of us would, like, you might love Florida to go to Disney World, but maybe, like, around now? Nobody wants to be going to Florida, like, right now, right? Nobody wants to be going to North Carolina or Georgia. You know, those kinds of things we see, like, the devastation in our line.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:26]:
But what are we free? I mean, Lahaina was just 1 year ago. Right? And what we see, the sense of lawlessness anybody here work in retail? Just curious. Anybody here work in retail? That that that what we see sometimes is, like, just people coming in wholesale, kinda like do you we used to we used to have a we used to have a saying that, like, when you got went to you got something for free from the store, it was called, you get the 5 finger discount. You guys ever said that? Like, when we grew up, that's what the the the slang was. Right? Today, people sometimes they just pick up what they want, walk on out. Right? It's crazy now. There's a spirit of lawlessness. He says, you see these things, plagues and natural disasters and droughts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:13]:
He says, this is what we do, that if you want to see change, he says it like this. In verse 14, he says let's read this together, can we? That if my people let's say my people. My people. Right? So it starts with who? Does it start with like those sinners out there who steal stuff or or violent? No. It says this, my people. God says it's like, I gotta start in my own house. Right? I got to start in my own family, God's saying, right? So if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then what? I will hear from heaven. And what happens next? I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:06]:
I think our land, I think our communities, I think our families, I think our nation needs healing. But how it starts is not by us just pointing our finger at them. This is what God says. I need you to get refreshed. I need you to be renewed. I need you to be restored. And repentance and confession is the thing that opens that up. How many of you have ever felt dry? You just felt distant.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:35]:
You just felt disconnected from, what is the solution? He says, it's to change, the change in our heart, to turn from our sin. Then he says at that point that we, He can pour this out because God wants there to be a personal renewal for you. Right? God wants your family to be refreshed. God wants our communities to be changed. He wants there to be a national renewal, but it starts with us. Amen. Right?

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:06]:
That's right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:06]:
And you know, the thing is that if we gotta really be honest, one of the other reasons why it starts with the people of God is because when we see this creeping darkness in our communities that we've all seen, right, that maybe you've felt personally. I I know that some of us that live down the street or that we know certain families that have been there. Like, the other day, my son was saying, you know, like, the incident at at, Wendy's just happened the other week. Right? That it's one of the few times in his life at 21 he says, I knew him. We worked together. Right? And I saw, like he said, Dad, something is wrong. Right? And I said, the reason why you said something

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:56]:
wrong is because, yeah, obviously there

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:56]:
is something wrong. But, something wrong is because there obviously, there is something wrong. But but we when we

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:00]:
sense this

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:00]:
darkness, what is darkness? Darkness is kind of like evil. It's there's not a substance of darkness. There's not a substance of evil. What we see is evil. What is evil? Evil is the absence of good where there ought to be good. Right? Absence is the darkness is the absence of light. Right? There's not, like, dark particles that we threw out there. Right? So when we see darkness growing in the land, you know what that's the sign? I think if we have to be real honest, that the church, we haven't been shining our light as we ought.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:40]:
Right? Because I need to confess that at times maybe there's things I don't want to say. Right? I don't want to press on. And so we see this aspect. It starts with us. So God says, hey, let's start with my family. Now when I became a new believer, before the hardening of the earth's crust no. But, I remember reading a little booklet called My Heart Christ's Home by this guy named Robert Munger. And, to be honest, I just put that title in on the notes this, this evening because, you can look it up online, and it's free now if you wanna read this thing, and and he says this, it's like when we ask Jesus into our life, he kind of likens it to like when you invite somebody over to your house, right? And when I was a kid, you know, like that when I was a kid that there was this aspect that how many of us grew up that had the good furniture? You know, like maybe had the plastic over the one sofa because in case if the people came over and then you get scolding as kids, if we just jump on and make the house all messy and all that, And he says why? Because when we respond to Jesus and we invite Jesus into our heart, then a lot of times it's like inviting Him into the living room, right, inviting Him into that place.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:02]:
We invite Him into the nice room. We invite Him into the place that is all kind of put together, right, and that in this booklet, and Munger was talking about that, to be honest, that's good. That's the start, right? That's the start often that we do that. And but he he goes on and he says that that, you know, in Ephesians 316, when it says, God would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strength with strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, or as another translation says it, that Christ may settle down and be at home in your hearts. Right? Jesus wants to be at home in your heart. Right? He wants to be at home in my heart. And that word to be at home in our hearts, that that aspect, he says what it's the same words he said so that he's gonna prepare a place for us. I'm sorry.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:00]:
That place when he says, I'm gonna prepare a place for you in in, John 14:1. He says that where you may be also is the Lord is promising His followers that just as Jesus goes to prepare a place for us, that what we have to understand is that when we prepare a place for Jesus, then He comes and is welcome. And so he talks about this need to prepare our hearts for that. So we let them in the front room, the living room, the entryway, or whatever, but the thing is that sometimes then he says entities and tenations. And it says that sometimes what's going to happen is that you're going to see, like what we've seen, You might see the rise in crime. You might see natural disasters happening. How many of us have been seeing, like, you would how many of us would, like, you might love Florida to go to Disney World, but maybe, like, around now, We have nobody wants to be going to Florida, like, right now. Right? Nobody wants to be going to North Carolina or Georgia.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:04]:
You know, those kinds of things, we see, like, the devastation in our line. But what are we are we free? I mean, Lahaina was just 1 year ago. Right? And what we see, the sense of lawlessness anybody here work in retail? Just curious. Anybody here work in retail? That that that what we see sometimes is, like, just people coming in wholesale, kinda like we used to have a saying that like when you got went to, you get something for free from the store, it was called, you get the 5 finger discount. You guys ever said that? Like when we grew up, that's what the slang was, right. Today, people sometimes they just pick up what they want, walk on out. Right? It's crazy now. There's a spirit of lawlessness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:53]:
He says, you see these things, plagues and natural disasters and droughts. He says, this is what we do, that if you want to see change, he says it like this. In verse 14, he says let's read this together, can we? That if my people let's say my people. My people. Right? So it starts with who? Does it start with, like, those sinners out there who steal stuff or or violent? No. It says this, my people. God says it's like, I got to start in my own house, right? I got to start in my own family, God's saying, right? So if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then what? I will hear from heaven. And what happens next? I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:49]:
I think our land, I think our communities, I think our families, I think our nation needs healing. But how it starts is not by us just pointing our finger at them. This is what God says. I need you to get refreshed. I need you to be renewed. I need you to be restored, and repentance and confession is the thing that opens that up. How many of you have ever felt dry? You just felt distant. You just felt disconnected from what is the solution? He says, it's to change, the change in our heart, to turn from our sin.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:28]:
Then he says at that point that he can pour this out. Because God wants there to be a personal renewal for you. Right? God wants your family to be refreshed. God wants our communities to be changed. He wants there to be a national renewal, but it starts with us. Amen. Right? That's right. And, you know, the thing is that if we gotta really be honest, one of the other reasons why it starts with the people of God is because when we see this creeping darkness in our communities that we've all seen, right, that maybe you've felt personally.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:05]:
I I know that some of us that live down the street or that we know certain families that have been there. Like, the other day, my son was saying, you know, like, the incident at at, Wendy's just happened the other week. Right? That it's one of the few times in his life at 21 he says, I knew him. We worked together. Right? And I saw, like, he said, Dad, something is wrong. Right? And I said, the reason why you sense something wrong is because, yeah, obviously there is something wrong. But we when we sense this darkness, what is darkness? Darkness is kind of like evil. It's there's not a substance of darkness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:53]:
There's not a substance of evil. What we see is evil. What is evil? Evil is the absence of good where there ought to be good. Right? Absence is the, darkness is the absence of light. Right? There's not, like, dark particles that we threw out there. Right? So when we see darkness growing in the land, you know what that's the sign? I think if we have to be real honest, the church, we haven't been shining our light as we ought. Right? Because I need to confess that at times, maybe there's things I don't want to say. Right? I don't want to press on.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:33]:
And so we see this aspect. It starts with us. So God says, hey, let's start with my family. Now when I became a new believer, before the hardening of the earth's crust no, but, I remember reading a little booklet called My Heart, Christ's Home by this guy named Robert Munger, and, to be honest, I just put that title in on the notes this evening because, you can look it up online and it's free now if you want to read this thing, and he says this, it's like when we ask Jesus into our life, he kind of likens it to, like, when you invite somebody over to your house, right? And when I was a kid, you know, like that when I was a kid that there was this aspect that how many of us grew up that had the good furniture? You know, like maybe, had the plastic over the the one sofa because in case if the people came over and then you get scolding as kids, if we just jump on and make the house all messy and all that. And, he says why? Because when we respond to Jesus and we invite Jesus into our heart, then a lot of times it's like inviting Him into the living room, right, inviting Him into that place. We invite Him into the nice room. We invite Him into the place that it's all kind of put together, right, And that in this booklet, and Munger was talking about that, to be honest, that's good. That's the start.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:59]:
Right? That's the start often that we do that, and but he goes on, and he says that that you know, in Ephesians 3 16, when it says, God would grant you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, or as another translation says it, that Christ may settle down and be at home in your hearts. Right? Jesus wants to be at home in your heart. Right? He wants to be at home in my heart. And that word to be at home in our hearts, that aspect, he says what it's the same words he said so that he's gonna prepare a place for us I'm sorry, that place when he says, I'm gonna prepare a place for you in in John 14:1. He says that where you may be also is the Lord is promising his followers that just as Jesus goes to prepare a place for us, that what we have to understand is that when we prepare a place for Jesus, then He comes and is welcome. Come. And so he talks about this need to prepare our hearts for that. So we let him in the front room, the living room, the entryway, or whatever, but the thing is that sometimes then he says, hey, what's behind that door? Right? What's behind that door? And he kind of lists different parts of a home, and maybe in the original writing, you know, it's a little older, so they use language and things that might not be so common today.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:38]:
But he's saying that in your library or on your bookshelf, right, on your desk, or for many of us, maybe it's our smartphone today because that so often where we read is we're reading from our phone. Right? We're researching from our phone or your pictures or books or your videos that what you put in your mind. And he says, Lord, that he says, can I go in that room? And the character in his book says, you know, Lord, I know there's some things that need to be changed in this area, but this is what God says. Well, I'll help you though. I'll help you. And you don't have to clean it up to let me in. Right? Isn't that the good news that you don't have to clean up your life before you come to Jesus? It's it's the exact opposite. He says, if you recognize there are things like that in your life, he says, when you invite him in, he helps you to make the changes, to clean up because you don't have to clean up yourself because none of us can do that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:45]:
None of us earn God's favor. It's a gift. Right? And so we make space for God. And sometimes we then clean out over time, right? And we make space for Him to fill. Things that shouldn't be there, right. Things that were fine before to you, then when we start walking with Jesus, we see it in a different light when we start to understand what God's word, what His will is, Right? And like for many of you, I think that what I found is that when I the more I started walking with Jesus and started experiencing His presence and His power and this connection, personal relationship, impure things and the imaginations and the things that I would think about, and when I started to take those stops captive, my mind began to change. And then he goes on and he says, in another room then maybe the Lord asks is, what's in that room? Well, the dining room? What's the dining room? It's the room of appetites and desire. How many of you guys here like to eat? Oh, yes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:56]:
Right? We all like to eat, right? Like, so maybe many of us, we spend time in that room, right? That we create things or we buy things that we bring home, and it's like, oh my gosh, right, that we go. I just came back from Japan. It's like, it's one of the places I go, like, when people go to Japan, they only go for two reasons, to eat, right, and buy something that's cheap because of the exchange rate right now. But here's the thing is that when, I didn't have a time to go out, but I still thought about the food because it was just doing work. But, you know, the thing is that in that place at times, Jesus had said when it comes to food, He says, you know, I have food that sometimes you don't even know anything about because my food is to do the will of my father. And He talks about the fact that when we commit ourselves to Him, that sometimes we see a changing of our appetites and our desires because sometimes our appetites and I'm not talking about food because sometimes it's our appetites and our desires that lead us astray. And he's saying this, taste and see the Lord is good, right? He uses this metaphor, right, so that we let Jesus into the dining room or the prep room or the kitchen of our homes. Maybe you have a place that you go to unwind at home.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:24]:
Do you guys have a place that you go and unwind at home? For some of us, it might be a chair. For some of us, it might be a patio or a balcony or family room. I don't know, but you go there to unwind. It's your place of relaxation where you try to kind of put the world away. And you know, maybe that's the spot where God wants to meet you in that place, that we meet with Him. And and this is a place maybe that where we go that when you read God's word, you pray, you talk to Him, then He can talk to you, and you can talk to Him. This is really meant to be a relationship because Jesus didn't save us to give us to give you a religion. Right? Some of us came from a religious background, and you didn't become a believer in Jesus because you needed a new religion.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:18]:
You needed to connect with God personally, right? And so he's saying that meet me. Meet me in that family room. Open that space. And some of us today, you know, we have an entertainment room. I went to a friend's house yesterday, not yesterday, a couple days ago, and I walked in, and I go like, wow, that is the biggest TV I ever seen in somebody's house. You know, it's like, it's not 75. It's not like 75. We bought these, 75 when 75 was big.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:50]:
Now it's got 85. I think there's like a 100 something inch TV, but it's like I saw that in the living room, and it's in a condo. So it's like the most dominant thing in the house. And, but, you know, it's a place that you go to to hang out. You go watch movies. You go play games. You, you know, you do you do different things. You have an entertainment space.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:09]:
It's maybe where your friends come over, and it's an invitation when you let Jesus into entertainment room. Maybe that we also let him into the relationships and the friendships, right, the people that we hang with. We let him into that as well because sometimes it's those relationships that we need to let Jesus into. Some of us that how many of us do you guys ever anybody work from home at at all? Or made in the old days, you used to have, like, a workspace, a workshop at the garage or whatever it is. But but sometimes today, people work at home, and maybe we need to invite Jesus to places where when we go to work, some of us, we check Jesus at the door because when I go to work, I gotta do what I gotta do. But you can bring Jesus to work. You know, like, your some of us have had worked in business environments where you said bring your kid to to work day. Right? That you you so let them see what you do in your work life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:20]:
I mean, the thing is, you can bring Jesus with you to work. Would you let him into your workspace, that work part of your heart? But the last one he talks about is, is something that I think a lot of us have, the messy room, the messy closet. You guys gonna have, how many of you guys? You guys know what I'm talking about, right? It's the one that you just go, take the stuff. Just show them in, and you don't let anybody or when your friends come over, like, oh, just don't open that door, right, like just don't like leave that alone, right? And so I think everybody maybe has a messy room. My wife says it almost seems like any room I go becomes the messy room, but, you know, that's a whole different thing, right? But some of you guys I've seen, man, the other guys' house look like model houses, some of us, right? You guys are disciples of Marie Kondo, it seems like, but I'm not a neat I'm not that neat, I'm creative. That's what I like to say, but my wife doesn't see it that way. But, if you're a neat person, I'm sure you still have a drawer somewhere. There's something under your bed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:24]:
There's a file that's tucked away or needs a password to go into. And in the in his book, he says that it's in that messy space that the Lord goes, what's that smell? And And the guy goes, I don't know what you're talking about. And he says, it smells. It smells of dead and rotting things. And he just says that sometimes that's what we put in that messy space, that thing that where we even keep God out of. Then he says to us that, would you let me into that? And and in this in the story in this book, My Christ's My Heart, Christ's Home, he says, Lord, I don't have the strength to clean it out. I can't. And the Lord says to him, I know you can.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:26]:
I know you don't have it, but would you let Me into that? And he says, Yes, Lord. I will let you into it. You see, the Lord knows that there are things, you and I, that if we could have done it, we would have done it a long time ago. But you can't. So this is not, when we talk about letting Jesus into your heart, it's not saying that you're going to be perfect and you're not going to struggle with anything. It's not saying that. It's just saying this, We let him in even in the places we struggle. We let him in even in those things that we know are not right yet.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:02]:
He needs to be cleansed because why? Then his strength is lent into our life. And then maybe for some of us, though, we cleaned up different aspects of our life only to have something erupt in another area, right? And as soon as you get one place clean, then it seems like a pile formed somewhere else. And the Lord says, well, there is one way is that, Lord, would you help me kind of manage the whole house? And He says, yeah. You can. Would you? In fact, maybe you manage it better than I do. In fact, to be honest, if we're real honest, it came from you in the first place. Right? And so there is sometimes a transfer where we recognize that ownership. This is what Jesus, that the Gospels say, that the New Testament says, that the epistles say, that I am no longer my own when I become a believer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:01]:
And I've been bought with a price. And the life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and died for me. And He recognizes that this heart, this life, this home really belongs to you. And when we make that exchange, and we say, God, this life I live now, I'm this is it's really you. I belong to you now. Well, my home belongs to you now. That when there's this title change, that's in that place that newness begins to flow. And so we're gonna prepare our hearts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:40]:
We're gonna pray here in a minute. We're gonna start here. We want you to pray here, so when you go home, your hearts are prepared to pray and lead in your home. Because God's promise is that He wants you to be refreshed, Right? Refreshment, renewal, restoration. Why? Because we've all fallen short. Because we've all stumbled and strayed. Right? So this is not, by the way, this is not so that you feel bad about something that you did in the past. To be honest, we all feel bad about stuff we've done in the past already.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:21]:
But it's so that God can heal you. God can heal the land in your heart, right, that He can refresh your marriage or your relationship. He can renew and restore something in you and that the favor of God might pour out in your life. And so would you do me a favor? Would you bow your heads with me and and and prepare your heart and incline your heart towards Him, and let's close our eyes and so we can focus on Him. Father God, today, we come before You. Lord Jesus, You who are our Lord and our Savior, God, You who are our Creator, we honor You. We praise You today. God, would You search our hearts today? And, Father, would You forgive us for any disobedience, wrongs, or sins we haven't confessed to You before? And you know, maybe when I was talking about the different rooms in your heart, there were things that resonated with you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:33]:
There were things that you said, I noticed in my desires, in my appetite, in my place of relaxation, or my place of entertainment, or the place of what I put in my mind. And there was a little tug in your heart at that moment, would you just confess those things to Him? And turn that sometimes that is the things that have filled our minds or the things that we've put before our eyes or the things that we think about, or our appetites, or our cravings. And, Father, that we confess those to You. There are things we have done, and to be honest, there's things we've not done that we should have. And, Lord, there are things that we know that when we confess them, we can step away from them. But for some of us, there are things and to be honest, probably all of us there's areas of your life you go this, I can't. I can't do it. Just would you give Jesus the combination? Would you give Him the password? Would you give him the key? Would you just open that door? Lord, I can't even clean this out, but I'm inviting you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:46]:
Would you help me? Would you clean? Would you give me the strength that I cannot? And father, we're thankful because it says, Your promise. Lord, we claim Your promise that, Lord, that repentance, to repent is to invite refreshment from the presence of the Lord. Lord Jesus, we invite You into the fullness of all of our heart in all of our life because we submit ourselves to You. We recognize You're our Creator. You're our Lord. You're our Master. And my life belongs to You. Would You lend Your presence in the fullness of my heart today? Strengthen with grace and truth today, by word and spirit this evening.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:58]:
We receive that, Lord, today. Thank you. There is a fresh grace for me. In Jesus' name, amen. I want us to can we just you know that song that we sang tonight? I know it's a new song for many of us, but you guys sang that well. But just as a confession to be reminded, you confess your sin, and He doesn't just cover it over. He says this. I remove it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:35]:
I blot it out. I wash it away because the blood of Jesus is not like the blood of goats. It doesn't just cover it. He removes it from us. And so we're going to sing that chorus and bridge together. You, Jesus. It has washed me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:14]:
Thank you,

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:16]:
Jesus. You have saved my life. Amen. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for the freshness of your presence and your grace. In Jesus name. Amen. You guys can have a see You know, now that we've kind of dealt with,

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:26]:
you know, one of the things that we want to

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:29]:
be able to do is to to pray for our communities, to pray for our state, pray for our nation. And we don't do it that because we, you know, we wanna point our fingers and say how evil people are, but we just acknowledge that it's looking at the situation, looking at our culture, looking at how we behave, looking at our actions, and seeing them not just simply through the eyes of culture, but seeing them the way God sees them, seeing it with the vision that God has given us. And what we find in the Scriptures that it tells us that in those moments when, to be honest, tragedy has taken place and they see the unraveling of society, that what they did was they just acknowledged the the the corporate sense of it. It's not just my personal fault, but it's sometimes their cultural things And Nehemiah said this when he went to the city and the city had been destroyed. He goes on and he says, Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep His commandments. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to the hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night of your servants, the people of Israel. And he says, I confess, we Israelites. Notice he doesn't say those guys.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:00]:
You know, the sinners. He just says, he says, we. Why? Because he's an Israelite. Right? You know what I would say? I would say, we in the US. Right? What I would say, we in Hawaii, your people in Hawaii, I would say that, that we confess our sins, right, including myself and my father's family have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws you gave your servant Moses. When we look at what's happening in our culture, we look at what's happening in our lives, we look at what's happening in our society, we see a crisis about identity.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:44]:
Right? Sometimes we don't know if we're male or female. Sometimes we don't know like what, who we are today. Right? Sometimes we we we we're so we used to be, as a nation, gathered around kind of a set of principles and morals and truths that guided us. And and today, where there's a crisis of division because it seems like we cannot agree about something. One group says this is good, and one group says this is evil. And so what we see is the moral decline in this divisive and partisan culture that we live in. And no more do we see it played out than in the election cycle, right? It's like it even makes it worse. Puts it on steroids.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:33]:
We see the violence and the lawlessness in society, And we see that, to be honest, that people don't want to acknowledge that there's laws and limits. Right? We're an addicted society. We're addicted to porn. We're addicted to drugs. We're addicted to materialism. We are addicted to so many things that we wanna do, we feel justified to do whatever we want, whenever we want it. And why Nehemiah confesses the sins of his nation is because what we see is that they had been carried into captivity in the book of Nehemiah. And so they were in Babylon at the moment, and it had been years.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:17]:
And when you read what God says about why the people were carried off into captivity, it's because he says this: Because while you were in the land and I sent the prophets over generations and generations and generations, that you refused to turn from your foreign gods, right, The gods you didn't know, the gods you were not raised with, the gods that I did not bring to you. But so then, because you've refused to let go of those things, well, then let's see how you like living in the foreign land with your foreign gods. And when we embrace a sense of lawlessness, and we feel like we're justified to do whatever it is that we want to do, why do we act surprised when we see our society become violent and lawless? Right? Why do we, when we cannot call something right or wrong, why do we wonder that there is no more, there's so much confusion on morality issues, right? And you know, one of those things that we find is sometimes we rename things not because it's just more accurate, but sometimes we rename them so that we kind of take away the sense of wrongness about it, right? And I want to talk about something that it can be a political issue. I'm not wanting to talk about this as a political issue. I want to talk about this as a spiritual issue, and that's the unborn, Because the unborn today, we don't call them babies, but we call them fetuses. Is that accurate? Yeah, medically. Right? But you know, if you take a pregnancy test and and you you see, you know, the the thing light up the right way, you know what nobody has ever told me? Oh, go ahead. We're we're having a fetus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:39]:
Nobody has ever told me that. What did they say? Having a baby. And how we feel about this aspect, and we're not talking about, you know, my body, my rights, all this stuff. I just, you know, and maybe to be honest, even as we talk about this, I know that in a room this size, that there are many of us who have been touched by abortion, affected by it, participated in it. And I just confess that before I was a believer, there was a season where we, my girlfriend, told me that I missed the period. I've been a couple, and she wanted to go to the family planning. They just called it planned parenthood ideas back then. And I was a I wasn't a believer, but I was thinking, like, oh my gosh, this is not right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:48]:
But you know what? I went with her. Thankfully, she actually wasn't pregnant. But you know what I know about myself? If she had been, she would have aborted the baby, and I wouldn't have done anything. You know what I saw in myself? I I saw the guilt on my hands, because I wasn't ready to do anything. When I became a believer, I began to see that sometimes we need to call something what it is so that we can get on the right side with God on this thing. And and so can we just say this, that regardless of, you know, are there exceptions and all this kind of stuff that that what's in the womb is a baby, a human life, and that when that is taken, that's not right. I was talking to pastor Rick yesterday, and he he shared something. He said, hey, did you watch the Democratic National Convention? I didn't watch any of those things this this year.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:13]:
But he said, you know, when Hawaii was being acknowledged in the roll call, our governor stood and said, you know, the Hawaii stands, and we stand proudly as the first state in the nation to legalize abortion. Is that what Hawaii is supposed to be known for, that we're proud that we were the first to do that? Or is it something we ought to turn from? And so, I don't say this if you've been through this, and you have just brought that before God. We're not trying to dredge something up. There is a grace that covers you. Right? Whatever you've been through, there is a grace that covers you. We just sang about it. It's called the blood of Jesus. Right? But I think for many of us, we need to start seeing certain things about our nation that from God's perspective and not necessarily what the culture says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:29]:
Right? And there may be some how that is integrated, but when we start saying that, God, what you say is something, I'm going to say that it now, many of us, I think we've all heard the verse that says, or the saying that says, an eye for an eye. You guys ever this is the biblical kind of thing on this. I just want to say this. It's like, yeah, that's we find that in the book of Exodus. This is where it's found in Exodus 21/20 2 to 25. It says, if people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely, but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman's husband demands and the court allows. Right? Or in other words, if a baby's fine, no big deal. You pay a little bit of fine.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:16]:
But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. Now what is the context this is talking about? Should the baby die? Should the baby be disfigured? Because God is concerned about the unborn, And He sees that value. Am I making this up, or is this what this is saying? And so I think we just need to be able to say, God, there's things in our land that's not right. We export porn all over the it's a multi it's like one of the biggest industries, and a lot of it comes from our nation. We export all of our filth. You know the Muslim world? You know what it calls Israel? You guys know there's conflict, right, right now in Israel. You know what they call Israel? Little Satan. You know what they call the US? The great Satan, because we export all this stuff all over the world.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:43]:
Right? And so, do I love our country? Absolutely. Do I think this is the great country? I think it's the greatest country on the earth. But I'm not, we are not without dirt and blood on our hands. So can we just intercede for our nation? Right? And I just want us to pray for a minute. Would you join me as we pray? Father, today, we confess that in our in our land, and maybe sometimes even in our hearts, that, lord, we we want we want power versus over truth. And father, that we play politics rather than than trying to make a better country. And father, that today, we just confess that that we're divided because we've allowed truth to be something that we make a feeling rather than something that we align our lives with. And so, father, we confess that and we repent that, Lord, that is our problem, Lord, that we confess that we have become a lawless and violent society.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:01:01]:
Father, we confess that in our own communities, Lord, in in our own island, Lord, in our own areas, Lord, in the leeward side, Lord, but in the windward side as well, in town, Lord, in the in the North Shore, it is the same. Father, we confess that, Lord, we are addicted society. And, father, it is not just those guys, but, lord, that that that that there's an addiction of of some of it is drugs and substances. And sometimes, lord, it's it's it's it's to our phone, and sometimes it's to our, materialistic indulgences. Father, we confess, Lord, that there is moral decline. And, Father, we confess that sometimes, as believers, we have not called what You say is sin. We call it something else. And Father, we know that the unborn, which, Lord, have 1,000,000 and 1,000,000, It's not a holocaust.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:02:08]:
It's a 100 holocausts that have happened in our land. Father, we confess, Father, and we want to seek you and be willing to see things in our land, in our lives, in our culture, Lord, and to see them the way you see them. And I thank you, Lord, that you don't see them simply as people that are evil or bad, but because you want to bring renewal, because you want to bring refreshment, because you want to bring restoration. Father, we ask, we confess these things, because would You heal our land? Father, would You heal our city? God, would You heal our island? Father, we need it. We see it in education. God, we see it in government. Lord, we see it in business. Lord, heal our entertainment industry.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:03:07]:
Heal our sports injure, industries. Father, heal our, Lord, science and technology industries. Father, heal us in our youth, a generation that is so lost. Father, that's what we ask. In Jesus' name. Amen. And here's the the last thing is that we just wanna equip you on this last aspect about inviting Him into your home. Now one of the things, you know, when we saw in the beginning, it said that the the church is hale pule, but it's not just that we pray while we're here, right, and that we shine on big light here, but what we need is in every neighborhood, right, that light to shine.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:03:59]:
We need light to shine in your family, in your house. Right? How many of us would say that I need light to shine in my house? Right? I need light to shine in mine. Right? And so why do we do this? Because your home matters. Because your family matters. And why we do it is because so often that the works of God start in a house. In the gospels, Jesus starts a great movement of of of renewal in Galilee when He heals Peter's mother-in-law, when He goes to Peter's house. And it says, if you read this passage in Mark 129 to 34, you see that they brought people from all over who were sick, who were ill, who were, demon possessed, and that they had all of these issues. And it says that he healed them all.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:04:54]:
But where did it start? It started in the house. Or you read that Acts 246, that the church broke bread from house to house, or that the church grew from house to house, or that Saul went after the church from house to house. Why? Because that's where life was. That's where that's where spiritual life was. Or we see scattered throughout Acts that the church was always in different people's houses, whether it was Cornelius' house or Mary's house or Lydia's house or Titus, Titus, Justus' house or Priscilla and Aquila's house, that houses where where the church starts, and many times, it continued. It was where the church started in in, Philippi at the jailer's house. It it was where teaching went from house to house. So your house matters.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:05:52]:
And I I was I was talking to some friends on Thursday. We have LifeGroup at my house on Thursday, and we went along because we hadn't had LifeGroup in 3 weeks. So, we stayed late. And, you know, some of them, they get up real early. And I just said, man, so sorry that we went so long, you know, because people hanging out and talking. And they just said this, our lives have changed from being in this group. And so, you know, don't worry about it. Right? And and so your house, your house matters.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:06:30]:
Right? Now I just wanna say this. I I want to say that a lot of us, we have people in our house that are not really walking with God. Right? So you might be wondering, how do I do this? Because not everybody we're not all in agreement sometimes. Right? We have we have people who like, kind of like, I don't want to participate. I don't want to do this. And it's like, you know what? All you do when you go home is you invite them. That's it. You invite them to join you to do this in your house.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:06:57]:
And this is what I want to give you. This is a little bit of instruction, and if you have this little paper on your thing, this is what I want you to do. If not, just remember what I'm saying, is that I would like you that when you pray for your house and you ask Jesus to come fill your home, do me a favor. Open the front door and literally ask Jesus to come in. But you know what? Open all the doors in your house. Right? And if you have that person that they, like, I don't want God. I don't I like I'm into my rebellion phase or whatever it is, and they're not home to open their door too. Like, open every door and that when you pray and you invite Jesus to come fill your home, say, God, just in the whole house.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:07:43]:
Because this house really belongs to you. And then what we do why do we do that? Because there's a power in proclamation. When we proclaim something, what we're doing is we're inviting the authority of God to line up with this thing that we say. So, God, if you want the power of God to happen in your house, this is why you proclaim, God, this house belongs to you. God, come fill this home. Right? If you want your marriage, if you want your family to be blessed, right, this is why we we dedicate our marriage, our family to you. And you might need to embrace sacrificial love or honor and oneness in your marriage or your home for that to happen, but then you can build a foundation that withstands the trials, because trials come to everybody's marriage, everybody's family, right? But what it does is it invites God's abundant grace. And then we may need to then think about how we can create a culture of love and family, Right? Where people can be vulnerable and heard without fear of judgment.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:09:00]:
Why? So we can have an atmosphere, a climate in our home where where people where compassion and grace can prevail. Not at the sacrifice of truth, but with truth there would be grace. Right? And so I just want you to be bold when you go home, and and there is some guidance on the sheet and you can do that, but we just want to pray for you, so that you would be bold and say, you know what? My house matters. My family matters. And I'm going to just dedicate it to God because I want my house to be filled with light and not darkness. I want there to be the enduring grace of God in my house. Right? Is that what you guys want? Well, would you do me fair? Let's stand. We're gonna pray together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:10:01]:
Would you raise your hand out to God? Would you repeat after me? Lord Jesus because you are my Lord and Savior and I've submitted my life to you. I'm asking for your presence and your power. I'm asking for your boldness so that I may go home and declare that our house will be a house of prayer. It will be a place where you are welcomed into every room, not because we are perfect, but because we need your help. Father, we dedicate our children and we dedicate our family that they are gifts from you because you made them. And Father, we pray, Lord, that would there be a spirit of truth and grace in our homes? So there could be a foundation for vulnerability and abounding grace without judgment. I receive it your power to go do this. Because you said, go and make disciples of all the nations.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:11:34]:
And that, Lord, teaching them to obey. Lord, thank you and you are with us to the end of the age. I receive that. Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen.