Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
And, you know, there is a, in the in this season that sometimes we're there's a power of a decision, right, that that we just made a national decision. We just made some local decisions, in our election. And, you know, before the service, we were talking about, with some of our our dream teamers. We're talking about the fact that, I'm not sure if you're happy today with the way that elections turned out or that you're you're grieving today, but, that just remember this, 4 years ago, it was probably the opposite way then. Right? So probably the people who are happy about the election 4 years ago, they were pretty bummed out. And and today, that if you're, happy I mean, if you're, bummed out today, that's you were probably happy 4 years ago. But but we made the decisions, the best decisions we could, the convictions that we have, and so, you know, the the the nation is set on a course of some kind. But today, in the same way, we're still called to make decisions every day.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:04]:
That when you're you're when you're facing a situation at work, you're faced with a decision. Right? When you're, how many of you have, ever double booked? You've been in you gotta go 2 places at one time. Right? And then what are you faced with? You gotta make a decision. Right? Cause you cannot go to both, so you got to do 1 and you got to, try to graciously, reschedule or bow out or however that is, and so, but we're always faced with decisions, but the decisions that we make, often in these little things, and sometimes they're little things, lead to big impacts. And this evening, I wanted to start this a new series this evening, just called I Have Decided because it's the fact that sometimes we don't want to make a decision. It's the times when we put them off, that we delay these things, that it's in those moments that sometimes that we're we're needing to, to say, hey, I I'm in or I'm not. Right? I I need to say that I'm going forward or I'm I'm standing where I am. And so, we we need to be able to make the decision, but this evening, we're gonna talk about, the the decision to follow Jesus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:23]:
We're gonna talk about the decision to follow God, and we're gonna be looking at the book of Isaiah, chapter 6. And Isaiah, and, I I think our our brother is, okay, right? So we just kinda give give Steve some space here, and, if he needs some assistance, we can just do a call if needed, but I think he's I think he's good. And, so Isaiah is the is one of the first prophets, that we find in the Bible, and, Isaiah is often considered the greatest of prophets. Part of it is because he wrote the longest, he wrote the longest book, so we're in for a long night. No, just kidding. We're not looking at the whole book, but, you know, the thing about, Isaiah was he was raised in an aristocratic home, married a prophet, and in the beginning of his ministry, he was well liked, but like most prophets, he soon became unpopular because his messages sometimes were difficult to hear. And have you noticed today, sometimes it's no different, that at times when it comes when everything is good and we all say the right thing that people want to hear, then, at at that time, everybody's happy. But sometimes, when we have to have a difficult conversation, when we're confronted with a difficult decision, sometimes, when we need to say what God says and not necessarily what culture says, that it may not always be popular.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:52]:
And so, the the same principle happens today. And and that and part of that is because the rebellious voices are often the loudest voices. The craziest voices make the most noise. It's often those people who are, kind of on the stable side, they're often the voices that are on the kind of like the normal side, they tend to not want to make waves, right? But but for us, that we still need to decide as well. And so he called the people to turn from what they knew was sin and so that God's judgment might might have might be averted. And Isaiah had a long ministry, 60 years, and and he had served under 3 kings, and so he had a long tenure. But in chapter 6, there's something transformative that happens, that we wanna take a look at, and and it starts with chapter 6 beginning in verse 1. And, before we before we do you mind if I just open in a word of prayer? Let's let's join our our hearts together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:53]:
Father, that tonight, we're thankful that you're here in the midst. And father, we're thankful that you understand that what's happening in our lives, what's happening in our situation, and god, we wanna turn our hearts toward you, but would You open Your word to us tonight. Father, in all that's going on, Father, that we want to hear what You're saying today. Lord, we thank You that what You've said, and Father, what You revealed, and Lord, what it reveals to us about You, what it reveals to us about what is potentially ours, Father, what it reveals to us on how You want us to respond. And so, Lord, tonight, Lord, would you lead us and guide us? We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. And, we're gonna just read the first verse, right off the top, and then would you be kind enough? Let's stand in reverence for God. Let's stand in reverence for His word, and and, let's read together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:46]:
Chapter 6, verse 1, and it says it like this. Ready? Let's read. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne and the train of his robe filled the temple. And you know, what we see in this situation is is Isaiah sees he has a vision of God and it is a vision. I don't think it is necessary that he was in the temple and this is a physical sight, although it could be, but he had a clear vision of God and that the thing is that it overwhelms him. It empowers him. It transforms him, and for the people who want to follow God, we do need to experience God. And so, it's not just that Isaiah who needs to see God, but don't we need to see God in some ways.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:48]:
Right? We need to see God at work in our lives. We need to understand His heart. We need to understand His word. And so, before we're seated, do me a favor. Before we're seated, do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor and say to them, I I hope you see God tonight. Yes. I hope you see God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:57]:
Right? I hope you see God in His word. I hope you see God in our time. Right? And then you can have a seat. Now, there's a little bit of a time marker in here. Right? It says, it's in the year that King Uzziah died. I saw the Lord. Now, this little marker, is it significant? Well, if your name is Uzziah, it is. Right? Like, in the year that I died, what? Well, I I think, he would be concerned about it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:28]:
It's it's important for him, but why is this why is the it significant to us? Well, and to his listeners. Because when King Uzziah was in the year that he died, it was a very traumatic thing in the life of the nation. Uzziah had become king at an early age, at 16 years old, and he actually ruled for 52 years. He's one of the longest reigning kings in the history of Israel, and he was a good king. He did right in the eyes of the Lord. And, in fact, he was he brought spiritual renewal on the land. He brought, like, a healthy change. He secured them from their enemies.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:09]:
He was creative. He was innovative. He he had infrastructure projects that developed the nation for water supplies and agriculture boom. The military was strong, and they developed strong defenses and reclaimed lands that they had lost in previous wars. So he was well respected. He was well trusted. He was popular. He was successful, but the thing is that what we find is that he gets old.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:41]:
Right, he gets sick. And so, either he has died or he has been in this decline, and it's brought in a sense of instability in the nation because the trusted, respected, and loved leader is now either gone or is about to be gone. But, you know, there's there's something what we see about, you know, all that, Uzziah has been able to accomplish, in its 52 years, and and I think it's the same principle applies, to us today. In 2nd Chronicles 26, when it talks about Uzziah, it says of him something. It says that as long as the, as long as he sought the Lord, the Lord made him prosper. As long as he sought the Lord, the Lord made him prosper. And and I think the same is today. You know, I've talked to people so often, it's like when they've sometimes I've run into people and, you know, we haven't seen them in a while, and then they said, you know, I was seeking the Lord and then things were going so good, but, you know, I got sidetracked and and the whole thing, and it's just been so crazy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:49]:
And and, you know, the the that when we seek the Lord, that he does want you to do well. Right? It doesn't mean that you get everything you want or you never get sick. No. No. But he he causes you to prosper. And and so the hard part about it is sometimes, how do you handle that prosperity? How do you handle the success? Because what it did for Uzziah, like many of us, that there's a temptation and it made him prideful. And in his pride, he crossed some lines that were some hard lines that God said you ought not to cross, and one of those things that what he did, what got him in trouble was he went into the temple and tried to do something that was reserved for the priest. And kings were not supposed to do it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:32]:
Regular people weren't supposed to do it. It was a it was a the capacity that priests were given, it was to offer incense to God in the temple. And so as he does this, he pushes aside the warnings that he struck down. Right? He struck down with with a disease. He struck down with leprosy, and he was a good man. It says that he was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, but it doesn't mean that he did everything perfectly. You guys ever notice that? That, you know, God doesn't you don't need to be perfect for God to love you, right? But sometimes, we do need to obey and and, frankly, Uzziah was a good leader and his son who came on the heels of this wasn't such a great leader. He wasn't a strong leader.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:19]:
He wasn't decisive. He actually led the nation astray in many ways. And so, interestingly, that Isaiah doesn't see the Lord either till Uzziah is sick or he passed away. Now why is that? Because sometimes it's easy to put other people on a pedestal. Right? It's easy to put our, our heroes on a pedestal. It's easy to put a person on the pedestal and that we trust them. Right? And so sometimes when we do that, it's it's it's it's like this. I I feel like, you know, for for some of us, we need to be careful, and I'll say it like this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:56]:
I'm really happy about the election results this year. Right? It went the way that I prayed. It went the way that I hoped, and I think that that we have a strong hedge to the downward slide that we're going. Now, I understand you may not feel that way, right? So this is not meant to be a political, portion in the message. I would just say this, but there are some that want to magnify a leader so high that they're not looking at God. Right? And so, this is where I think sometimes we got to be careful because when we do that, sometimes God has to remove our idols so that we start looking to him. And so, it's at that moment of of their greatest insecurity. It's at that moment of their greatest sense of, of instability that God shows them, I'm still in control.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:48]:
I still am holding all things together. He gives him a vision of himself. And so we see it says that in verse 2, he goes on, he says, I saw the well, verse 1, he says, I saw the Lord high and exalted, seated on the throne, and the train of his robe filled the temple, and the the picture of it is is that the the train is like, right, the after part of the the king's robe, and it's it's saying it's like that it was a smoke, and the reason why we see this aspect, it's this aspect that we don't really see necessarily the fullness of God, you know, that because if we were to see Him so clearly, it says in the Old Testament that you were to you can't handle that. It'd fry you. And so, this aspect of the mystery of of the cloud that fills it, we see God is in the middle of that. We see a portion of Him. Right? We see a little bit of it because the temple could never contain God. Right? But it's it's like he visits, he inhabits that place.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:51]:
And then he say this, and above him were seraphim, and they see this clearly. And seraphim are a class of angels that they're usually associated with the the throne room of God, that they they they sing and worship God. They stand in that place. And it says, and each with 6 wings. With 2 wings, they covered their faces. With 2 wings, they covered their feet, and with 2 wings, they were flying. In other words, they're saying that let not the glory be on us because we're just here to declare God's glory. And they were calling to one another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:32]:
The whole earth is full of his glory. And then it says, at the sound of their voices, the doorposts and the threshold shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. And it's like a rumbling and a shaking that took place. And you know, the thing is that we can't orchestrate this kind of a vision of God, But you know, the thing is that we can prepare for it. Right? You can't command, God, I want to see you like Isaiah saw you. That's not necessarily our call, but what is our call is to start with seeking God. You know, the thing is that if you want to follow Jesus, you wanna follow God, it just starts with seeking God. Whether it's a time of uncertainty, it's a time of difficulty, that God says, seek me now.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:29]:
And when we see this aspect of of, of this temple and we we see all these, kind of a dramatic things, it's you can orchestrate that but you can call the fire of heaven down. You can try. You can try. But the thing is that God responds as God wants to, right? But here's the thing, although you can't call it down with all of authority, but what we can do is we can create the fireplace that would be a receptacle so that when God comes, and that part would be our hearts, right? We call to Him and seek Him. And He says in Jeremiah 2912, He says, can we read that together? In those days, when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. And you know, we need to be making time to seek God personally, that in this season, it's not enough. You know, I don't know about you guys, but like, I tried not to watch election results because I know that if I watch them, I'll get absorbed in them, right? I'll get lost in it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:40]:
It's like, well, what's happening next? And so, I wasn't even watching, the election results. I had stopped. I was just kind of doing some things that I needed to do, and then we ate dinner, and then later on just kind of just hanging out. And then I get a text that says, hey, I don't know if you're watching, but Trump is giving his acceptance speech. And just like, it already happened, right, by the time I became aware. And so but the thing is, as soon as that happened, I stayed up till 1 o'clock in the morning. And so that's why I was trying to avoid. Right? I was trying to avoid that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:14]:
And, but the thing is that we need to create time to seek God personally. And I don't know if you have that regular time. We talk about having a regular time, but create that time. You know, would it be a time whether you call it a devotional time or a quiet time, we need a place to quiet our soul down. How many of us that once you start going in the day, your heart, your mind, you're just like, man, till I'm done. Right? It's like, wow. Then that's when you rest. So, you know, before you start, that's often the best time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:50]:
Right? Have that time. Bring yourself before God. Right? Align your heart and your mind with him. Worship. Take some time to to worship. Listen to a worship song. Right? Take some time to to to read a scripture. Right? Find a Bible reading plan.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:04]:
Find something that maybe for some of us, maybe just read through one of the gospels. If you've never read the Bible before, read through the gospels. Read read through one of them and and just and and just focus on on on Jesus and see what God's word is telling you, and be in this place where that we can meet with God. You tell him what's on your heart. You pray for the things that you're asking for and the things that you're concerned about, and be quiet before him. And you know what? Sometimes, in the quietness and ask God, God, you know, it's not just us telling God all of our requests. Well, you do. You need to tell.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:43]:
He says, tell me. Right? He says, pray to me, ask me. But sometimes, you got to listen. Sometimes just be silent. God, if there's something that you want to whisper to me, would you speak to me? And I just, and I go back to this story that so often when I, I remember in the beginning of the church that, one of my friends that, she was never not really been at church. She's a single mom, you know, 3 kids, just kinda running herself ragged. And the only reason why she came to church was because she wanted her kids to go to church. Right? She wanted the kids to get some kind of education.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:28]:
So she came, right, because you can't just drop off the kids. So she came. And then when she came, she that 1st Sunday, she gave her heart to the Lord and and that she's just crazy running around busy and and we just talked about, you know, like, you know, Christina, you need to be in this place to seek Lord. Just give some time and just it doesn't matter when. And so she was on the road and she was driving and going to work on the way on the freeway and she said, and she was just talking to God. God, I don't know if there's something, you know. Then she's praying about her kids, praying about her job and she said, she just heard a voice that says, Christina, I'm in control. And she was so shocked that she heard this voice, and she says 2 things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:20]:
1, I never heard God ever speak before. And the second is, I know I don't speak like that. Right? Because the first thing we think about, is that just me? Right? Is that just my own thoughts? But she said, I never think like that. I never thought like that. So she just pulled off the side of the road, and and she started weeping. The fact that God would speak to her about, like her, she felt like my little life and my little problems. And that God is telling me and giving me comfort and direction. And she became a great leader in our church, been involved.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:57]:
And she since moved, along with her husband, Frank, and they, you know, got married, in the church, found her husband, you know, in the midst of all of these things. And you know, the thing is that I hear that same story over and over again. That when we make space to hear God, God wants to reveal Himself. Right? The God that you serve is a revealing God. He wants you to know Him. So let's take some time. Make some space. And if and if you need some guidance, you need some help, just talk to any one of the staff.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:31]:
And there's there's different kind of reading plans or just a way that wherever you're at, that there's something that can help you wherever you're at. K. And so we just say start with seeking God. Do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor and says, I can start by seeking God. Right? If we wanna follow God, we gotta start by seeking God. But the second thing is that you gotta be willing to go deeper. You gotta be willing to go deeper with God as well.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:59]:
Right? And so we might just start, I'm just gonna seek God, but we're willing to go deeper. And what does that mean to go deeper? This is what it says in, in verse 5. And so as Isaiah is, continuing on, he says this, Then I said Right? So he's seen this vision. He's seen the he's seen the shape, the the the presence of God. He knows it's the presence of God, then the angels and the song that they sing, and I don't know if you guys noticed, but in Revelation, when they show the throne room of heaven as well in chapter 5 of Revelation, They sing, the angels sing a song, and you know how the song goes? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, right, who was, who is, and is to come. And that same thing, holy, holy, holy is the same thing. It's the same song, right. It's the same song.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:52]:
It's like 900 years difference and they're singing the same song, and so, you know, sometimes we got to be mindful that it's okay to sing the same song, right? It's okay that, you know, like whatever it is because it's a truth that they're singing. And but this is what he says that when he sees this God who is holy and we talked about holy and holy doesn't just mean morally pure, morally pure, morally pure, right? It it holy means to be separate and a cut above, distinct from, and and the implication is this that no matter who you know, no matter what thing you think is strong, what thing you think is mighty, God is above that. There's nobody like God. He's unique. He's mighty. He's powerful. Is He pure? Yes. He's pure on top of that, right? But the whole thing isn't just that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:45]:
We're not just saying holy, holy, holy. We're just saying, God, there's nobody like you. God, there's nobody like you. God, you're above all things. Whatever it is that you can conceive. Right? And so, when he sees this, he says this, then I said, it's all over. I'm sorry. Is it in the New Living Translation that you have? Okay.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:06]:
It is. Then he says this, it's all over. I'm doomed for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven's army. Some translations say, woe is me. Some say, I am am undone. And then he goes on, I am a man of unclean lips.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:32]:
And you know the thing is that sometimes when you're going along in life, we don't really see ourselves the way God sees us. We see ourselves compared to other people. You guys ever do that? It's like, well, at least I'm not doing that. It's like, you know, I'm not where I used to be and you know, that's normal. We all do that I think, but you know, when you compare yourself to others, you know, it's easy to to look okay. Right? It's like, man, at least, you know, I'm not, you know, crazy. I remember my son, he would be, when he was in school, he was a smart kid but he had focus issues. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Anybody have kids like that? Like, take forever to do the homework and all that stuff, forget to turn it in.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:15]:
It's like another word for that is ADHD. But, like, but he would be, you know, like, he had the capacity to be top in his class if he could just focus, right? And, but this is what he would say. It's like, oh, dad. No, I know I'm not the top in the class, but, you know, like I'm around 3 or whatever it is. Like, I'm not on the bottom. I'm not in the middle. I'm kind of like, you know, he would just be like that. Why is he doing that? Because he's just he was comparing himself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:45]:
As long as I'm under, I'm all good. Right? And a lot of us, we live like that. Right? And maybe in in school, there's no no harm, no fall. Yeah. Maybe you could do better, but, you know, you have other priorities. You have other things. Maybe in work it can be that way, but, you know, when it comes before God, it doesn't quite work like that Because, you know, although he was a prophet, although he he came from aristocracy, although Isaiah was educated, although he was connected, he's in the kind of inner group. When he sees God, the presence of God, and rather than comparing himself to to people, he looks at who God is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:28]:
You know what it does? It doesn't make him prideful, like, oh, I've seen God. He just goes this, like, oh, my goodness. Goodness. That God is so awesome. God is so good. Like, I felt insignificant, right. When we see our lives in the presence of God's light, His enlightenment, rather than the world's enlightenment, we look really different, right. Sometimes they call it virtue signaling today, right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:59]:
You got to say the right words, you got to say it, and if you say the right words, then it's like, oh, okay. You're for the oppressed or you're for this and all that or you say the right words, but this is what he's saying that when you see yourself in light about how God sees you, I think you'll see 2 things. I think you'll see, to be honest, how deeply loved you are. I think you'll see that nobody loves you like God does. I think you'll see that when you see God, but the second thing you'll see is, I never knew how faulty and frail and sinful I am. Because that's what Isaiah sees. He says, Woe is me, I'm undone. My life is unraveling.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:48]:
Now, this is not unusual in the scriptures. This is normal. Job, who in the beginning, if you've ever read Job, you understand that Job goes through troubles. Most of us understand in the scriptures, if you've heard the story of Job, that Job goes through tremendous hardships, right, tremendous difficulty, like the loss of kids, the loss of his business, the loss of his health. It's trial after trial, but it doesn't say it because Job was a bad guy. It actually says Job was a righteous man and God was bragging about how good Job is. But at the end of all those things, at the end of those things in the last chapter, he says this that Job gets this vision of God and he says this, My ears had heard of You, but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore, I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:50]:
Right? Compared to everybody else, Job was a righteous man. He was better than his friends. He was a righteous man. He wasn't a sinless man. Right? But when God shows Himself, sometimes what happens is He becomes the mirror now. Right? He's not just the window to see God. He's a mirror of us. Right? He reflects us to us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:20]:
And we see our imperfections compared to his perfection, so compared to his holiness. When Jesus encounters Simon Peter, Simon was just a everyday fisherman. Right? Just a working class guy. And, Jesus tells him, Peter, would you toss your net on the other side? And Peter said, we've been fishing all night, Lord. Like we know what to do. We know what we're doing. I do this every day. And he says, but at your word, but at your word, I'll do it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:01]:
And so they let down the nets and it says, you know, they caught an abundance of all these things and of all these fish. It was like the boat was gonna sink, and so he jumps in the water. He gets into swim up to Jesus, and when he gets to Jesus in Luke 5:8, it says this, when Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, 'Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man.' You see, sometimes when you see something who is that good, something that is that perfect, right, you just go like, oh man.' You guys ever meet even people sometimes like that? Like, they have such an innocent and pure response to something that you go like, jeez, I wouldn't have responded like that. And then you go like, oh, man, I feel a little bit embarrassed. You know what I mean? Like or you see somebody who's so smart, right, in your field, like, just above you, but so smart. You go like, oh, wow. I guess I'm not right? And it's not like they're trying to make you feel, but you just know, right? And when we see God, that's how it is, right? That's what he's saying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:08]:
Now God doesn't show him yourself so he can say, you're so wretched and sinful and let me show you all your flaws and all your mistakes and all that so that, you know, that he so that I can put you down. That's not what he's saying. But what he wants to do because he wants to heal you, because he wants to cleanse you, because he wants you to grow, because he wants you to experience his grace. That's why he does it. And Isaiah says, I'm a man of unclean lips. Why doesn't he say an unclean heart? Right? Because today that's what we would think. But we don't know exactly, but I wonder, you guys ever complain about somebody? You guys ever complain about how they do it at work? They complain about like, right? Like to be honest, it's easy. It's easy today to be a complainer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:55]:
It's easy to be a critic. It's easy to be I think it's the same as it was back then. And he says this, you know what? It's not me, just I gotta watch my tongue. Like, just that's just the way it is. I live among a people of unclean lips. And Isaiah sees his situation when he sees that he feels it's hopeless, but God doesn't say it's hopeless. He doesn't leave him in that place. Instead, what happens? He shows himself, in greater ways.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:30]:
Do I have the rest of that. I didn't write that. So for some reason sorry about that. So let's read what it says in Isaiah 6. So in Isaiah 6 verse 6 though, he says this, then one of the seraphim, one of the angels, flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal and that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said, 'Behold, this has touched your lip. Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for. You know what God wants us to do is that when He shows us our weakness like that, it's because He wants to meet us in that place.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:16]:
Now you know what he doesn't say when the cold touches his lips? He doesn't say you notice that he doesn't get burned. He doesn't say, like, oh my gosh, my lips were so cho cho for the next, like, 6 weeks, and it was like I was bald bandits and give me some lip balm. He doesn't say that. What what because what it is, it's a symbolic thing. It says, the very fire from the presence of the altar before God touched his lips and what it did was it didn't burn him, but it made him clean. Right? And so what God wants us to do at times when He reveals to us things about ourselves is because he wants us to have a transforming experience. He wants us to to be forgiven. He wants us to be cleansed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:02]:
When you see God and you understand what God's word tells us, and you start to see Him, and you face maybe certain things about yourself that you go like, you know, like we said that, wow, I wouldn't have responded to that. You know, like some people who are really, like, a pure hearted. I remember once I was dating this girl, she was sharing this story about, like, you know, this this character that, you know, he he has a surfboard and a brand new surfboard and somebody else kinda loses their surfboard, and he gives his surfboard away, to this guy. This is that she wrote this story and, and she says, you know, when I think about that, I think just like of you. And I was just saying to her, it's like, I'm glad you think, I'm generous and kind but if I had one brand new surfboard and somebody lost their surfboard, I would say, sorry, but I wouldn't just give mine. Right? Like and I felt embarrassed by her story that it's like, I'm not that good. I'm not that good. Right? I'm not that generous.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:14]:
You know, like, probably, I wouldn't have the money to buy another surfboard. Right? And there's that aspect. And so here's the thing, is that when you see your flesh and when you see your character issues, that would you sometimes we've got to face them and say, you know what, God? I know I'm not where I need to be. God, I know that my temper. God, I know sometimes the way I speak to people. I know sometimes the struggles with my flesh, my addictions, right. Sometimes I know I'm apathetic about the things that I should be passionate about. Sometimes I know I lack courage or I lack boldness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:56]:
Sometimes, Lord, I know that my fears control me, Right? That when we say that, right, like, God doesn't do it to rub your nose in it because He's trying to work a transforming work in that area. That's really what He's trying to do. God, I know I'm so easily offended sometimes. I know I have a tendency to control or to complain. Right? But God wants us to see that so that it's not enough to say, God, you're holy and I'm not. It's to say, God, I'm willing to be changed in some of these areas. I'm willing to grow. Hebrews 12 14 says that this aspect of holiness is not simply something only God possesses because he actually says this, right, that you should be holy as I am holy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:48]:
Now, we're not going to be holy to God like God is holy exactly because we're not God. But he's saying this that we're moving in holiness. Right? We're moving in dedication. We're moving in at times. We're gonna put our flesh to death. Right? So in Hebrews 12 14, he says it like this. Let's read what it says. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:16]:
Without holiness, no one will see the Lord. You know, I read this article today about a psychiatrist talking about the elections and saying if people voted and that she's being interviewed, a Yale professor in psychiatry is being interviewed by, you know, one of these political people and says, what if, you know, they voted for this person and it's like, and you know, and it's not the way that you voted?' And she says, well, you know with the holiday's coming up that you ought to create some distance about people who vote different. Some people say this that you should, you know, family is family. But she says, No. You should create some distance. You basically cut them off and tell them why. 'Because you didn't vote the way that I did.' I think that if your political view overrides God's command to love your neighbor as yourself, right, to honor those like mother and father and to to move in that direction. If they're not just actively attacking you and, you know, crazy in that sense, I think if your politics override that, then something is wrong with your faith.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:53]:
Because that's not what Jesus said to do. Right? He said, you know what? Can you love them from a distance? Sometimes. Like I said, I understand. There's some people that that they're so actively trying to undermine you, so actively trying to destroy you. But this is not what this this lady is saying. This lady is just saying because you've devoted different than you, you ought to cut them off. I think that's insane. Right? And so this is what it's saying that when we look at stuff like that, it's like we need to be living peace with everybody and to be holy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:32]:
Without holiness, no one will see the Lord, right? And so when we're truly in God's presence, it changes us and transforms us. Sometimes your knee jerk reaction is not the right reaction. We lay aside our old ways. Right? I saw someone, recently and they were asking me, you know, well, I'll I'll I'll just be one of my kids said this. He said, dad, you know who John Wayne Gacy is? Yeah. I think so. Like a serial killer. And he said Jeffrey Dahmer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:09]:
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. No. Yeah. I know who they are. And he goes, like, yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:12]:
Dad, so what so what is what is it saying? Is it saying that, like, if they were to accept Jesus, they would go to heaven? I go, yeah. It it yeah. The gospel means that. He goes, like then he just goes like, but that seems so unfair because what about this other guy that, you know, he doesn't know Jesus, but he's, you know, decent guy, good guy. And, like, how can that guy not go to heaven because he didn't accept Jesus? But these guys, like, they they're just crazy. Right? Then I said, yeah. I understand what you're saying. It's not fair.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:51]:
It's called grace. Right? Because if it was fair, all of us would be lost. Right? But what grace did was says that, you know what? It's it's that no matter what we've done, that if we turn from our sin and that wherever we've been and we embrace the grace of God through Christ Jesus, that His death on the cross, then he says this, then you'll be saved. Right? The thing is, is that when we compare ourselves to one another, right, the light of my reflection to the next person, then I'm not that bad. See Isaiah didn't get that. Right? He didn't have I wasn't he wasn't letting the light shine. He's just saying, yeah, I'm just as guilty as as to John Wayne Gayside. Is my sin the same sin? No.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:44]:
But I have sinned nonetheless, Right? Is this sin the same as Jeffrey Dahmer? I don't think Isaiah was tempted to kill people and eat them and store their body parts in the freezer, but he but he was just as guilty in the sense that he had his own sin. Right? And so but he was being changed. And the good news is God is better than OxiClean and Tide because He really gets the stain out. Right? Now isn't that good news, right? And so He cleanses what we cannot cleanse. He gets the stains that we cannot get out. And the reality is why does God do that? Because how can you tell somebody about the love of God beyond what you've done, beyond where you've been if you haven't experienced it? How can you tell somebody about forgiveness of God if you haven't been forgiven? How can you tell somebody about the grace of God if unless it really felt like grace? I didn't deserve this. I couldn't I don't understand how God could do that. But that's who God is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:45]:
So God orchestrates times, like Isaiah maybe, where we encounter Him and when we see Him for who He is so we can receive the grace we so desperately need. Anybody else in that place? Right. Man, I'm in that place. I need that. And and then we see this. So he he responds, holy, holy, holy. Right. And then he says, woe is me, and he's cleansed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:12]:
And then he says this, and then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who will go for us? And I said, here am I. Send me. Now, does he know what God wants him to do yet? No. He just he just said, well, who's gonna go? Like, he doesn't even know what the task is. Right? He says, who's gonna go die in the crop? Like, thankfully, that wasn't the case. Right? Who's gonna go, across the ocean? He doesn't know what it is. But he says, here am I. Send me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:47]:
I love that about Isaiah's response because once you know the grace of God, there's a part of you that wants to do what God wants you to do. It's like, God, I can trust you now implicitly. I can trust you. Right? And so, when I hear people say, you know, when I get to heaven, man, I have a list of questions that I'm going to give God, and, like, why did this happen in my life, and this and and I understand when people say that that they have unresolved issues or some things that they don't really have an answer to. And I have my own, right? I don't understand how everything and why everything happened. But I just know this, after I met Jesus, right, after I met Jesus, I didn't understand how everything worked but I knew He was good and I knew He was kind and I knew He was merciful. I mean, what the biggest question I had is that why do some people go to hell and why do some people go to heaven? Right? And you know what I knew? When I encountered Jesus, all I knew was I didn't deserve it. I knew I was lost.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:58]:
I knew I deserved judgment but He gave me grace. And all I know is that, you know what, He didn't just love me but He loved the people that I know too. And He was working on them and trying to draw them but it was up to them to decide, right? And so when I get to heaven, I'm just gonna be grateful that I'm there, Right? I'm gonna be grateful that God that that you're God that you're God. I'm grateful for that. And and so but this is what he says, whom shall I send and who will go for us? Now who is God talking to that, to be honest, it's it's a picture of what's happening in heaven? Right? So this is a vision. So that he's he's there is a heavenly host in in heaven. There are are angels. There are beings in that place that that live.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:47]:
God had a family before in heaven, before He had the family that's here on earth. And so at the same time, then you're saying, okay. Who's gonna go do this next thing? Isaiah says, here am I, Lord. Send me. And then he says this, go and tell these people, be ever hearing, but never understanding, be ever seeing, but never foreseeing. And so because he said yes before he knew the specifics, he knew that, you know what, that he was gonna have a mission to represent God, but he didn't know the nature of the assignment. Was it to comfort? Was it to confront? Was it to lead? But this is the thing that he ended up doing, right, that he didn't know is that not everybody's gonna like his message. Not everybody's gonna respond to his message.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:38]:
So some people will hear the message and they're still not gonna understand. Some people are gonna hear the message and they're still not going to hear they're still not going to see. Now, he didn't know how long it was going to be. He didn't know the location. He didn't know the the content at that point, but he said yes. And if we want to say to be a person that you follow Jesus, that make a decision, sometimes you're gonna have to be like Isaiah. Sometimes God wants us to say, you know what, Lord? I don't know all the details. I just know I can trust you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:10]:
And whatever you tell me to do, I'm willing to do. Because we don't want to say yes in words and then say no in my actions. Right? And Jesus told the story about that, right, where the man had 2 sons and he says, Go and do such and such of a thing, and, the one son says, No, I'm not doing it. And the other son says, Okay, dad. I'm gonna do it. Right? But later on in the day, the son who said no goes up and does the father's will. And the son who said, Yes, Lord. And then didn't do what the father asked.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:55]:
And then he tells a story, then he ends that little story with a question. He said, 'So which one of the sons did the father's will?' And it's very obvious that the one who said no in the beginning but actually did it, right? And so, you know, we know very clearly from that kind of a story is that it's not just what words we say but the actions that we have and the follow through that we have. Now, you cannot make the decision for what you'll do every day to the end of your life, right. What you can make the decision for is the course in which you'll follow, right. You can make that decision. Because I'm saying, God, I want to say yes to you whatever that you say. And you're gonna have to make that same decision tomorrow and tomorrow. I'm just setting the course.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:46]:
Right? Because I'm not gonna say yes and then just shine you on. And you know, the thing is that we need a yes follow through, right? We need a yes follow through because this is what Professor Gary Smith says. He says, from this example, he says this, from this example, one might propose the theological principle that the clarity and reality of a person's vision of the holiness and the glory of the majestic King of Kings is directly related to the clarity of a person's sense of call and their willingness to humbly submit and serve God in whatever capacity He desires. In other words, that I think God does this with every generation, with every person. He says to them that when we encounter Him, that when we understand Him, He says, Will you, can I send you? And to the degree that we understand Him, to the degree that we trust Him, to the degree that we see Him, that we will have a clarity, a sense. God, I'm willing. Right. God, I'm willing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:07]:
Who will I send to talk to the lost? Who will I send to bring clarity to the confused? Who will I send to those who are rebellious? Who will I send to those who are who are poor and in the hurting condition? Who will I send? Are we willing to say, here I am, Lord. Send me. Cause where is He sending us? Because sometimes where He's sending us, He's sending us to the work yard. Sometimes He's sending us to the classroom. Sometimes He's sending us to the neighborhood. Sometimes He's sending us to the family that that mocks your faith. Sometimes, he's sending us to the the people at work. Sometimes, he's sending us to the client.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:57]:
He sends us because this is what He sees of this generation. They need me. They need me. I love them, but who will go? Because God always does this in a partnership, but it starts with a decision. It starts with a decision. It just says this. God, I'm gonna follow you because I know who you are. You've been kind to me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:34]:
You alone are God. Like the disciples, where else could I go? Who else has the words of life? Right? And what will happen though before you go, and what will limit us is often our capacity to confront the character flaws that we have. Right? The fact that because all of us have character flaws. I have mine. I have my weaknesses, and unless I'm willing to confront them, at the end, what will will hinder me is my unwillingness to deal with that. And so if you want to follow God, you got to be willing to say, sometimes He does it not to rub your nose in it, but it's to free you. It's to change you. It's to transform you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:25]:
It's to grow you. It's to heal you. It's to free you. And then we say, God, nobody else could have done that but You. So here am I. Send me. Amen? Let's bow our heads. Let's close in a word of prayer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:53]:
I'm not sure where we're at, and for some of us, and I'm sure there's some of us here that just saying, I wish I had a vision like Isaiah. I wish I had a revelation. I wish I heard the voice of God like your friend, Christina. I wish I I wish I've seen God's move in a way that that I can say it's like I know that I know. If that's you this evening, would you would you just raise your hand? If that's you, you can say, that's what I'm I love. I want I want to see experience God like that. Okay. Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:35]:
And, father, I I know that, my friends, that some of us were just thinking that, Lord, I I want to hear your voice, and I'm praying for my brothers and my sisters that are here. And I thank you that it's not that you don't want to speak to them. It's not that that that they're incapable of hearing, but sometimes we haven't stilled ourselves to be in that place. I pray, Lord, that in this week, that would they carve out some time, that in a daily basis, they would begin to train themselves to quiet themselves, to say, God that today, I don't want to do it my way. I want to do it your way. And it's not just, it's not just the decision, but it's being in your presence. It's being in Your word and asking for Your help. And Lord, would they in that process, would they begin this process of of seeking You first, seeking You in each day.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:49]:
Because Lord, I know that sometimes the big the big asks that you put in people's lives, they don't just go to the most qualified. They don't just go to the the most outspoken. They go to the people who are available. And Lord that would they be available to you. And some of us maybe you've been confronted with some character issues and some things that you've been struggling with and sometimes you're feeling a little beat up from it, Thinking, how come people don't give me a break and why not, you know. But is it possible God's just surfacing those things so that you could be like Isaiah? So that you could be cleansed? So that you could go deeper? So you could get past it. He's not doing it to shame you. He's doing it to transform you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:49]:
And if you're here this evening and you've been going through that and instead of giving the devil the credit for it, let's give God the credit for it. Sometimes what He's trying to do is get us to change, not on our own, but with His strength. If that is you this evening, would you just raise a hand to God? And father, I thank you that when we raise our hands to you, what we're saying God is Isaiah couldn't clean his own lips but Lord, it's by your presence. Lord, it was an empowerment from you. And so father, we surrender that some of these things Lord, whether it's a, whether it's an anger thing, whether it's the temper, whether whatever it is, I thank you that when it's surrendered to you, God, we're asking for your power. Father, we may not be perfect tomorrow. We just want to be growing tomorrow. We wanna be changed in our relationship.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:56]:
We wanna be changed in this life. So, father, would you pour out your power to do that? And, lord, we're saying if you're saying, god, I'm willing to be sent. I'm willing to be sent out. I want to be a I want to be a voice for healing and not a voice for division. I want to be a voice for hope in Jesus, not one that just condemns the world. The world is already frankly condemned apart from that, but we need a voice of hope so that people can change, so that people can encounter, living God. And father that we're asking I'm asking, Lord, here we are. Send us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:40]:
Would it start with us? Lord, each one can reach 1 at least this year. And, father, would you show us that wherever we go, whatever we do, where's one that I can love? Where's one that I can reach out to? Where's one that I can speak life to? Where's one that I can encourage and come alongside? Father, would you bless your people? In Jesus' name, God's people say, amen. Hey, God bless you guys. Thanks.