Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
You know what? This, this 21 days of prayer, I just feel like God wants to do something special. Part of it is just seeing the responses and seeing God move already. And if you haven't started, joining us, if you haven't started, it's not too late. And and you don't have to, like, you know, do like the fast like how everybody else is doing it because everybody's doing different things. And so we're asking you is to to to press into God, to say, God, I and it's a dedication saying, God, I I I want to spend the beginning of this year. I want to spend the beginning days in saying, God, I want to give you the first of the year. Why? Because when you give God the first, the capacity for Him to bless the rest, it's just extended. And so, but just want to encourage you to that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:47]:
And, you know, this evening, we're continuing the series we started, last week, was just the power to change. And I I think the power to change is, sometimes it's found to be elusive for some, and, probably everybody at a certain place. Right? Certain parts of our life that that, that we we haven't seen change. And and so this evening, we're gonna continue that about, the power to change, about growing good habits and breaking bad ones. But, you know, I was reading some things about the very basic question is, you guys know this, like, what do you want to be when you grow up question. Right? And some of us, we've asked that of our kids. Some of it, we still ask that of ourselves, but I read these that about, like, when people have thought about what do you want to be when you grow up, and one guy said this. I was having dinner last night with my 6 year old daughter, and she turned to me, and she said, dad, when I grow up, I'm gonna marry you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:42]:
And and everybody laughed. Right? That's so cute. And then and then the wife said, well, don't make the same mistake I did. No, but, and then one guy said this. He said, my friends always laughed at me when I told them I wanted to be a comedian, a professional comedian when I grew up. Well, no one's laughing now. Well, that doesn't really work together, right? But you want everybody to be laughing. And one guy said this, he said, he was reading a bedtime story to his son, and he says, he asked them, what will you be when you grow up? And he says, you can be anything you want to, the dad said.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:20]:
He says, anything? He said, yes. You can be an anesthesiologist, or a neurologist, or a cardiologist, or a radiologist. You know, like sometimes, you know, we we, maybe feel controlled, or pigeonholed, or we we feel like, you know, there have been forces that have placed us into different, you know, kind of avenues. But but the question is, it's a valid question. Is it, what do you want be when you grow up? Because that question is still relevant to all of our lives, because to be honest, everybody, we're still growing. Right? You might not be growing physically, although some of us are. No. But, you might not be growing in, you know, kind of like in your career at this point.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:01]:
Some of us have maybe come out of that. Some of us were still in school, and we're in different phases. But the thing is that God has called you to always keep growing, to always keep learning, to be in this process of change and transformation. Because all along the way, God has already done great things in you, but he's saying there's still much more to go. Now this evening, we want to read, in Romans 12 verses 1 and 2, and in this thing about how God wants us to continue to grow and change and be transformed, in the journey of this life. It's not simply for 21 days. It's it's not for the 1st year, or 1st 5 years. It says, it says, you can keep growing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:46]:
You can keep growing all the days of your life. And so we're going to read that together. Would you be kind enough? Let's stand together. Let's read, out of Romans chapter 12 verses 12. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God, because of all he's done for you. Let them be and wholly sacrificed, the kind he will find, except for This is truly the way to the behavior and customs of this world. Think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is and pleasing and perfect.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:39]:
The great news good news is God loves you just as you are. Right? He loves you right now. He he loves you whether you've you've changed or you've not changed. But the the reality is, like even parents, right, we we all love our kids just, you know, when they're like this, but we always desire that they would grow, right? Why? Because, you know, we don't want to be changing diapers when they're 18, right? And so, he does desire for us to be changed and transformed. And what is it that He wants us to grow into? He says to be like Him, right? And so part of that means that that it's a renewing of our mind, part of that is changing the way that we think, and and he says this, that part of that process is so that you wouldn't be indistinguishable from the way that you grew up. That you wouldn't be indistinguishable from your old life. That there would be a sense of that when when Jesus, just like when Jesus touched the leper, that there was a clear sign of what he was before he came to Christ, and that the difference when he was changed after he met Jesus. And so some of those things will be physical, some of them will be different things, but God says, you and I, we were designed to grow.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:54]:
So before you're seated, just turn to your neighbor and just tell them, you're designed to grow. Right? You're designed to grow. Christians, people, we are what they call, indeterminate, kind of a a a growth in us. Right? So, like a goldfish. I don't know if you guys know, but a goldfish can grow its whole life. It's just dependent on the environment and the food, right? And I don't know what the term the limit is, but I've seen goldfish this big before, right, in an aquarium, but it had to be in a very big aquarium. And, they don't always just say this. And you have an indeterminate growth, cap on yourself as well.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:36]:
That it's not the physical growth, I mean, I capped out at 5 4, so, there's that. But the aspect is growing in spirit, growing in heart, growing in character, growing in spiritual vitality. And so even Jesus had to grow. Right? I don't know if you guys, you know, remember or recognize that that Jesus was born a baby, and He didn't just go from being a baby, boom, instant being, you know, Lord of lords and King of kings. It says this in Luke 252. It says, Jesus grew in wisdom. Let's say wisdom. How many of you guys need to grow in wisdom this year? Right? Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:12]:
So it's just a wisdom, a godly wisdom. And in stature, what does that mean? It means physically. Right? He who is growing up physically, and in favor with God and all the people. And Jesus grew up like any person. He needed to grow intellectually or with wisdom. He needed to grow physically and, you know, coordination and all that kind of stuff, spiritually and character as well. Hebrews tells us that that, it's by the things that he suffered, that he he grew and that he grew relationally, right? How his capacity to love people, to not just love God but to and be loved by God, but to love people and to be loved by people. And and, of course, a lot of our goals probably revolve around similar things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:58]:
Some of us, it's maybe relational things that you're praying about. Others of you are praying for physical things. Right? Some of us wanna lose a little weight, some of us wanna gain a little weight. Right? Some of us have some intellectual goals or some things that we wanna master. Some of us have financial things that we wanna look at or professional or work or school related, and some of you just have some dreams and hobbies, things that you you want to, you know, someday get a hold of. Someday, you know, you want to learn a new language. Right? It's surprising how many of us are on Jibigo, not Jibigo, but, Duolingo. Jibigo is like this old thing that I tried before, which didn't work.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:36]:
No, but, but Duolingo. Right? So I just see you guys, right? Trying to learn languages, and, you know, it's an encouraging thing. But you know, the thing is that when it comes to change, change happens at different levels. And change happens sometimes, by just the results or the outcomes of of some of the changes that you wanna do. Right? So like, for instance, if you said, hey, those of us who say, I wanna lose 10, £15, or £20, whatever it is this this year, what's the change? Well, when you lose weight, right? Or for those of us who wanted to, kind of have a little better handle on ourselves financially, that it's it's it's raising up that emergency nest egg, or that fund, or that fund for for something with a a strong purpose. Right? Those things are are outcome based. Right? When we say these things that that we we're praying for and we wanna change a habit. Right? Some of us maybe, like myself, I wanna be more on time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:32]:
Right? And some of these things. And so, or grow career skills. Those are outcome based, kinds of changes that can happen. But there's also things that are are more process oriented, that change can happen in your processes. And and what we mean about that is what you do to achieve that outcome. Right? So, because if you wanted to lose weight or save money, what do you have to do? You have to probably eat better, right? Or maybe you gotta exercise more, or you know, it's for some of us, it's getting ourselves on a budget of some kind, or you know, for some of us who we're trying to change, you know, for career wise, we're saying, maybe we we take a class or we get training and we, we we get mentored by somebody, right? We and all of these kinds of things. But there's this, you know, and those things are good places to to change, you know. It's it's maybe you start with like some kind of a specific outcome, right? Some kind of specific change, then you and you you get these processes along the way.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:35]:
But but true behavior change won't stick unless there's also an identity change in the way that we see ourselves. And some of us that maybe, I don't know if you've ever been in this place that when I became a Christian in the beginning, I just used to say, I'm just a sinner. Right? I'm just a sinner, and I used to say that all the time. And I meant it in the most kind of, way that saying I'm not better than anybody else. And that's all I was trying to say. But to be honest, you know, the scripture doesn't say I'm just a sinner, and the scripture doesn't say you're just a sinner. The scripture actually says that you're a saint, right? Do you sin? Yes. Yes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:17]:
Yes, you do. I think that's a hard yes, right? But that's not your identity. That's not your identity. Your identity, once you give yourself to Jesus, he says, You're a saint. You're a child of God. That you're somebody that's been set apart for God and God's purposes. And what we need to understand is sometimes you can change the behavior, but if we don't change the way we see ourselves, then sometimes that change doesn't last as long as it should, right? Because you can change for any reason as long as you have enough of a motivation, right? That, I've talked to people who said they could never quit smoking cigarettes, and then they got lung cancer. That's the first thing they did.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:04]:
They quit smoking cigarettes. And you know, the thing is, if you have a strong enough motivation, you can probably do anything, but sometimes for it to stick is you also got to change your identity. Because if the goal was to lose weight, your identity is different if the goal is to become healthy, right? If your goal right now, it says that, you know, I just wanna start having date night with my, with my spouse. You know, the goal is really because I I wanna have a strong marriage. Right? That if if the goal is to work out 3 times a week, maybe the goal is because you you just wanna be athletic and healthy, right, and fit. So the goal of 21 days of prayer, by the way, is not to pray for 21 days. It's it's to be a person of prayer. Right? And so, but sometimes it's having an emphasis like that, having a process like this helps us to get to become a person of prayer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:02]:
Because I wasn't always a person of prayer. And and so part of the reason we started 21 days was so that I could grow to be a person of prayer. I needed this process to help with that. And so, it's been a it's been a great journey for that. But at the same time, you know, rather than just saying, you know, hey, it's just I wanna lose £10 or, you know, I wanna, you know, make 20% more income or whatever. And those may be real things that you need to pray for, and to contend for, and to train for, and to prepare for, but some ways, the thing that what we really need to understand is it's not just what we want to see, the real issue is who we want to be. And what we see in this passage that we read in the beginning was that God's call is that no matter what you're like, and no matter what your background, and no matter what your struggles, or whatever you've where you've been lately, the thing is that that you can decide to be somebody very different at times than what you might be stuck in right now, right? Because everybody I know who's come to Christ has a before and an after, right? All of us, we were something, and God changed us, right? And it might not be, you know, like, hey, I was a drug dealer, and I was in prison and all that, right? That's the stereotypical, like, we see that, and there's, I mean, we have brothers and friends in the church that that is their background, and it's a mighty story. But in order for that story to be mighty, doesn't mean that you had to come from that and go to something else.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:42]:
It just needs to know that you need the grace of God, right? You know the grace of God, you know the forgiveness of God, and all of us, to be honest, it doesn't matter who you are, we're all broken. We're all flawed, right? We're all, we might be saints, but we still need saving, right? And here's the thing, it's that to decide who you want to be, in some ways, means that you figure out what is it that you stand for. What are your principles, right? What do you wish to become? And you know, like, I've thought about that even as a man, you know, as an adult. You know, I had to think about that. I always said that I wanted to be known as a man of God, not just be seen as a man of God, I wanted to be a man of God. Because sometimes we want to be seen as something, but to be something is a little different, right, because it's that way even when nobody's looking. I wanted to be a man of God, right, with a heart for Jesus, a heart for His kingdom, but I also wanted to be a loving husband and father where my kids could know my love and love me back and respect me back, right? Right, I want to be a good leader. I start thinking about those kinds of things, right? But because your identity will be reinforced by your habits and strengthen my habit, and it can be take on a life of its own.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:14]:
It can take on a a synergistic effect because all of us that we have that capacity to grow and to change. And it doesn't matter where you start, but it matters that you start. And so, you know, it's been said that we watch our thoughts because they become words. You watch your words because they become actions. You watch your actions, they become habits. You watch your habits because they become your character. And you watch your character, why? Because it becomes your destiny. And so, you know, right now, being in Daniel Fast, the reason I said that we started the 21 days of prayer and fasting was because I needed it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:59]:
But, I, right now, my wife and I, we're basically, for us, like, what we're doing is just like a vegan diet, basically, right? And, I don't know if you you know this about me, but I love meat. I love coffee. Not necessarily at the same time, right? But I went out with a girl once, and, and we had a great time and and the whole thing, and she was fun and cute and the whole thing. But then during the course of the the the evening, she said, because we went out to eat, and she ate like a salad or whatever it is and something. And I said, why aren't you, why don't you just eat something more? She said, oh, I'm vegan. And I just, I started to hear the like, I think this is the death of this date. I just thought, because I was just picturing, like I just forwarded the thing. If we got real serious, like on our birthday, are we going to be cutting tofu? And then like, you know, Christmas and like, I mean, I don't know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:09]:
It's like, and literally, I just said like it was great to spend some time. We can be friends, you know. And nothing against you, Carla. I know that you're still, you know, watching that. Glenn's a better man than me. And so, but you know, the thing is that I'm just saying this, like, I couldn't quit. And, I couldn't do it. And you know, like I've heard about, like, I should get my kind of diet under control.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:38]:
I should quit coffee because I could tell that I was like, basically, I love coffee, but I was addicted to coffee. I mean, I would drink like a pot of coffee every day, and sometimes that pot of coffee looked like my mug. And, but you know, the thing is that I wouldn't do it because I just didn't want to. Right? And you know, the thing is that, I came, I wanted to be a godly man, and I know that I needed to master certain things in my life so they wouldn't master me. And so, I I just needed God's help. Right? And so, this is what part of the reason. 21 days of prayer reminds us that, you know what, when sometimes when you don't even wanna change, sometimes you don't feel like you can change, sometimes you just ask God for help. God, sometimes I just say that I don't want to, but I'm willing, right? God, sometimes I don't think I can, but but if you say I can, then I can.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:45]:
Right? And so it's in that process that, you know, every year, you know, when we go through, it's like there's been times I just like, I cannot function without coffee cause I still got to prep, and and, and I'll just confess this, like, I normally step down from coffee so that I don't get this massive headache, but this year was so busy with my son. It was here, and coming home from the mainland and all this stuff, and you just had a ton of extra stuff in it, so I didn't have a chance to step down. So I just, I just, like from the beginning of this thing, I quit coffee. I said, I'm going to just try it, and my head was going to explode. But, so I just, this is what I did. I just drank 1 cup of coffee, which is like in the morning, that's not even half of what I normally drink, but I just drink 1 cup, and then I just did the next day, next couple of days, and to be honest, today, I'm not drinking coffee. And I could still function and still had a bunch of stuff to do, and I was able to do it, right? And so here's the thing, you confess your weakness, but you confess his ability, right? Sometimes when we confess our sin, that's great, but you know what, that's only half the story. Because when you when you come to this place that I cannot do this, what we need to finish is but you can't.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:10]:
Right? That's the that's the thing is that when, God shows us something about ourselves and He wants you to admit something that if you say I can't do it, that's part of it, but that's only half. You know, if you think about the prophet, Ezekiel, when he's shown a valley, he's had a vision, that he's shown a valley of dry bones, it says. It's just like bones scattered in the desert. And God asks him, Elijah, can these bones live? And Elijah doesn't know what to say in the beginning. And why is that? Because surely he can't do it, right? Like if you were to ask, God was to ask Elijah, Can you make the bones alive? He'd probably say, No, Lord, I just can't. But that's not what he asked. He asked, Can they live? Not, Can you make them live? Because he then Elijah's answer was wise because he said this, But Lord, but You know. Because if You say they can, then they can.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:10]:
And it was after that that He told Elijah, so you prophesy over these wounds. Live. Come together. Some of us, we have areas of our life that have been resistant to change. I encourage you, prophesy over your own self, right? That, you know what, certain parts of your life that have been dead, certain parts of your life that have been just struggling, prophesy and say this, God, I can't change it, but I know you can. We we gotta give the other half, right? We gotta give the other half. And Philippians 4:13 says it like this. Let's read that together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:46]:
Ready? Begin. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. And that, you know, obviously, that's everything that can be done, right? Like, you cannot jump to the moon. That's not what it's talking about. It's like, you can do anything that God wants you to do. You can do anything that He calls you to do. Sometimes you just gotta ask Him, change your heart. Now, when we talked about, like, hey, what is it that I stand for? What are my principles? And what are the hey, sometimes those are big questions, and and you you don't have an answer for that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:18]:
You're in the process of figuring that out. But sometimes you say, but I still know that I wanna lose £20. Right? I still know that. I I don't know this whole thing, but I just know I need to get my finances under control. And that's fine. Start there. Right? So if you need to to start with an outcome based, change, that's fine. And you make a goal, and you be specific, try share it with someone.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:38]:
Right? Try to set a time frame for that. And, and that's helpful. Right? But what happens is if you work backwards after you start doing this process, sometimes you can ask yourself, what kind of person, sometimes you can ask yourself, what kind of person is the person that loses £20? Right? What kind of person is the person that that learns a new language? Right? You know, some of us, the reason why we don't do certain things is you don't want to look stupid, right? Because how many of you know that the first time you do something, you don't look great, right? And you know, the thing is that, I remember hearing this lesson from my pastor at the time. How many of you guys know Ralph Moore out at Hope Chapel? And he says that a believer is, it's like going skiing. Now, how many of you guys skied before or surfed or whatever, right? Like, ride skateboard. You know the thing he says this. He says, If you go skiing and you never fall, you're not really learning skiing. You know why? Because you gotta stretch yourself because you fall is the only time then you'll learn.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:57]:
You'll know the limit. Right? And you know, that really spoke to me because sometimes I wouldn't want to do something new because I didn't want to look foolish. I didn't look like I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't want to look, and so now, every week, I look like I don't know what I'm no, I'm just kidding. But and you know, the thing is that it's okay. It's okay. Turn to your neighbor and say, it's okay to not know, right? It's okay to not know, right? It's okay to look a little foolish sometimes, right? You know, again, a bunch of us, I know this, I hear this a lot today, even, I met some folks, I had to do a couple things today, and people just told me, wow, what happened to the rest of you? I go, woah, was I that big before? And they just, again, they noticed that, some of the weight loss that I've had over the last year, and part of it is I had motivation. My motivation was, you know, I didn't want to be diabetic.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:56]:
Right? I mean, when I was pre diabetic for a year, and, I went to several appointments and it didn't get any better because I didn't make any changes. In fact, it actually, it did change. It got worse. So, and, but you know, what I was thinking, this was my motivation, is I don't want to lose my toes. I don't want to lose the feeling in my feet. I don't want to be in that place where I cannot see, I already wear glasses, right? I mean, I was, this is the kind of thing, right, I was thinking of, and so that was my motivation. If you have that as your motivation, you can probably do just about anything. I didn't have a process, I didn't know what to do, right? And so I needed a process that had accountability, and so I because I didn't know what I was doing that was really that bad, because I didn't think I was that bad.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:46]:
How many of you guys, you have some ailment and something, and then they say it's lifestyle related, but you don't really know what you're doing that's so bad? I mean, that's what that was me. I was thinking, I mean, so I eat pie in the morning for breakfast with my coffee sometimes. It's like, that's why everybody does that, right? Or, you know, I mean, like, that's what I was thinking, right? So this is what I did. I just bought the, I bought the the, glucose monitor, right? You know, where you gotta poke your finger and you do all that, and and some people said, you know, it's like, you don't need to do that. You can just and here's the thing, I just knew this about myself. If I had tried to cut down my blood sugar on my own and and tried really hard, and then I wait 6 months because I would wait 6 months and get another blood test, and then if it was exactly the same or God forbid, was worse, you know what I would say? Forget it. I tried it, and I couldn't do it. That's why I knew about myself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:44]:
And so, this is I needed to, I needed something that would show me accountable, right, like, okay, this is, like, I didn't know. It's like, well, apparently eating sukiyaki, which tastes amazing that my mother-in-law makes, spikes my blood sugar really high, right? So apparently, that's like, apparently, I learned from testing my blood sugar that I cannot eat at 10 o'clock at night and have dessert and do all this stuff, and it's like, not affecting my blood sugar. Like, some of you guys are looking at it, like, I was like, come on, did you ever like that? I said, to be honest, I was, Right? And and so, here's the thing is that I've I've kind of come to this place now where I was just trying to hit a number. Now I'm starting to think a little bit more, but what does a healthy person eat like? Right? Because I want to eat like a healthy person. And so when I'm confronted with, can I eat chips or nuts? Shucks, a healthy person eats nuts, not chips. I don't know what that I hate that. No, but, you know, sometimes it's like, should I eat pie in the morning for with my coffee, or, should I eat something savory? Well, I think I should eat something savory, right? And so, you know, and part of the reason why I started this process was it was doable, right. It didn't have to be like, I'm gonna be drinking wheat grass and all this like eating, I'll never have anything enjoyable that I eat ever again, right? So it was just, it was doable.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:14]:
I could change a few things. I could basically eat mostly what I've been eating, but sometimes you change the order, right? There's a few things along those lines, and it's helped me to change and, like, keep moving forward. And so you might not have it all figured out. I don't have it figured out. I'm still learning and growing along the way. But but you you do want to start now, right? You do want to make one change, even if it's a little change. Have you guys heard this, right? Like if, and if you don't know where to start, like, you know what, say: I don't know what I need to change. Like how many of you, like you don't have to raise your hand, how many of you make your bed in the morning? Right? Okay.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:58]:
Yeah. There's the people who make their bed, they really want you to know they make their bed because they're new, right? But there's this guy, he's an admiral. He says, you want to change your life? He says, start with making your bed, right? And he just, you know, it was a famous speech that he did at a naval academy graduation, and and he was just saying, he's kind of going on and said like, sometimes it's that inconsequential. What is it making my bed have to do with anything? He says, because no matter what, you go out in the day and you have a horrible day and you know, everything, everything goes like the way you want, but when you come back and you look at your bunk and you see your bed is made, he says, well, at least that was it, right? So he just says start that way. Start small, but start now, Right? And so, because all of us have habits that we've created and have been created over our life. And a habit we talked about last week is a behavior that's been repeated enough times that it actually becomes automatic. And so that process, it might have been mysterious to you how it happened, but the reality is there was some kind of a need or some kind of a problem, and whether you, you know, kind of happened into it by accident or you tried something on purpose, that somehow there was a response to that that solved your problem that you go like, I think I'm going to do that again. And then over time, what really happens is it starts becoming something that becomes habitual, right? Because there's some kind of reward.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:32]:
You get some kind of a thing for whatever it is that you do that has a it's a habit, and we might say a good habit or a bad habit, that in some ways, you get some kind of reward for it. And so, you know, and and we don't just have 1 or 2 habits, all of us. Science, social scientists say that approximately 95% of what you and I do every day is not really conscious. It's just stuff like, how many of you, like, when you brush your teeth, you brush, when you brush your teeth, you brush one side of your mouth first. Like when you put on your shoes, you generally put on the same side shoe every time. That when you take a shower, and you take a shower, you generally wash the same body part first every time. Is that true for you guys, when you think about those kinds of things, right? And so these are like, they're unconscious things. And what will you drive home from work? Right? Every day is like, well, today, let's go in the country.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:35]:
Or is it you just drive home, right? Here's a scary one. You ever been sleepy driving? Sleepy driving, and instead of pulling over, the next thing you remember is you're in the driveway. Here's the scary part. You don't remember how you got home. Why? Because 95% of what we're doing, what we do is subconscious, they say. Now, this is not a recommendation to do, by the way. That wasn't a recommendation. So, but so here's the thing that what we need to do is that we we God uses habits in our life because they prevent us from being overwhelmed with the multitude of choices that we face every day, right? And today, how many of you guys have said, hey, you want to, have a quick survey? Can you do a quick survey? You look at the survey, and you go, okay, I can do a quick survey.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:28]:
It's like a 3, 4 question. And you look like it's 6 pages, 7 pages of question. I don't know about you guys, but it's like, I just, I just closed that. I was like, no, I can do 2 or 3, but I'm not doing, I'm not doing like 8 pages of questions, right? And the thing is that we just get overwhelmed, and so in order for that to happen, it's like God's memory system for you. It's God's, you know, just like we have a lot of automated things, God uses that in our behavior so that you can bring your mind and your attention to more important things. And the important the thing is that, that it's hard is that you learn all these shortcuts, and you develop all these routines that you don't even think about, right? That probably some of us when we wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is what? After you go to the bathroom or do whatever. For some of us, it's like, we start making coffee. Is it are you craving coffee sometimes? Sometimes you might be, but a lot of times, you're just doing it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:31]:
Right? And like, how many of you have just been in a conversation and you just take this road and you're going a different way because you're just going home because, but you were supposed to go somewhere else, but you just followed a routine that was already in your head. Right? And so it's it's actually meant God has it. It's part of our design, so that we're not overwhelmed. And you know, I I've heard people say about, like, firemen, right? The right now, you know, all the horrendous fires that's going on in, in LA, that when they run into it, you know, how can they run into, like, a burning building? And how can they do all these things? And what is the answer is, it's because of their training, right? It's because of their training. It's because of their mindset. It's because of the things that they've prepared. And why do they train? So that in that moment, they are not consciously thinking of every single little thing because that would overwhelm them. But a lot of it, it's become a habit, in the most positive sense.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:38]:
And so, it's a helpful thing that God meant it to be, right, so your brain doesn't get clogged up. But the thing is that habits also, we know habits can have a downside, right? The downside is that, you know, we do things that, you know, cause us frustration or cause others in our life to have frustration, right? And and, so the thing is that there's bad habits that can happen. Now some people, when we just talk about habits in general, feel like, you know, it's it sounds boring to have habits like that. Why do I have to have good habits? It's like, there's no spontaneity, and you know, the the the fruit of life and all this. That sounds boring. But the reality is that it's the most freeing to have, to have good habits. Because if you don't have good habits, you'll probably pay a price and have less freedom. Right? Because if you if you don't have good eating habits, you may be struggling with some lifestyle related issues.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:41]:
Right? Because you you haven't taken care of this part. If you never had good habits to learn how to study, then you always feel like you're behind in the 8 ball, right? Or if you've never, you know, learned how to have the habit of going to bed, well then you're kind of always tired. And so it's really meant to be God's kind of help for us to, to get through and so that we can use our best for kind of other things, right? And, so turn to your neighbor and says, there's a good side to habits. There's a good side to habits. But when we talk about bad habits, sometimes the reality is that we have to watch about this identity that can form around it, that you start preserving that identity that prevents you from making the change. Like I was, right, saying that, you know, I won't quit coffee, right, because I love coffee. That was part of my identity, right? So, or you might say, I'm not a morning person, or I'm bad at remembering people's names. And so it prevents you from ever, you know, trying to be a morning, change your wake up time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:48]:
It prevents you from trying to remember people's names, or I'm not good with technology, or we can say these things. I'm afraid of crowds, especially since COVID or whatever. So we if we don't change some of those things that we're thinking, we don't modify and change our minds and change our reasonings, sometimes you'll never change, right? And, or like, I'll never quit cigarettes. Why? Because I don't want to. It's just my one, you know, little habit and reserve. But here's the thing, you can just have fill in the blank, you know, that those things that I said, there's an infinite number of variations, right, that it can be. But when you repeat those lines over and over to yourself, you create a neural pathway in your brain so that when an opportunity comes up to do something different and do something that will be helpful, if we're not, if we just let it, we keep doing those things, there's nothing to challenge it, then the automatic answer is no. The automatic answer is no, thanks, right? Because I can't go.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:56]:
I've seen people not go to different kinds of like go to their grandkids' games and because they don't want to miss their show. You can, you can DVR that thing, right? And, but go, right? I've heard people say, I cannot go, I don't want to ride a plane. Why? Because I cannot smoke. Because it's a long flight. I cannot go 8 hours to another country because I can't have a cigarette. Like, seriously, I'm not just making that up. Like, people because something happens when we don't challenge some of those things. You can.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:39]:
You can challenge those things, and you can grow because we're called all to become more like Christ. And letting yourself be transformed to be more like Him is is really, it's an important part of the process, right? Unlearning sometimes, you've got to unlearn. How many of us have things you've got to unlearn? Right? We all have things we've got to unlearn because we have to learn who we are in Christ. And it'll help you to do things. Now I just want to give you this last kind of a point here. There's a model of how your habits work and, and and just the habits in general, right? And so, the first, you just see there is this cue, craving, response, and reward. And it usually starts at sometimes we use the word trigger. Right? Like you go to this place and it's like just a certain smell, then you go like, oh my gosh.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:33]:
You guys ever walk into the mall and go, I gotta eat a Cinnabon? Did you know what that's like? By design, the people who design malls and where they station those things, that they want that place where when you walk in, that the smell of Cinnabon, holy smell that, and it's like, oh, I never even knew I was craving Cinnabon till I smelled that. Why? Because that's the trigger, that's the cue. And it starts with something like that. And, and usually, it revolves around stuff like, you know, secondary, today, it revolves around stuff like money, or fame, or power, or food, or personal satisfaction or satisfying some kind of a physical desire, right, or friendship. Early on, you know, maybe kind of in more primitive times, it was more about like, you safety and, and, food, water, you know, maybe sex, that kind of a thing. But, when you you wake up in the morning, maybe after you go to the bathroom, and then you go like, oh man, I'm dragging? What's the first thing? I gotta make coffee. Right? So that's a cue. So there's a trigger of some kind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:49]:
And then after that, there's this thing called cravings, that's the second step. And craving is the motivational force behind every habit, right? It's the, like, the why you want to do it, right? So without, because without the motivation, you're not gonna do it. So, and so some of us, we we when you smell, let's say, somebody smokes a cigarette, right, for some, that smelling that cigarette, you go, like, I just want a cigarette. Right? Or like after dinner or I I hear these kinds of things. And, I grew up with parents who smoked for 3 packs a day for 30, 40 years, right? And I remember begging my parents, hey, mom, dad, stop. You know, break stop, quit smoking. And they just said, I can't. Right? But you know what, that's not true because even though later, even though it was much later, might have been 30 years or 35 or 40 years, you know, they both quit.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:53]:
And it wasn't because I nagged them, they just had a different motivation. They had to have a different motivation. And but here's the thing is that there's a craving that happens, right? You're not, you know, you don't want to brush your teeth just because you want to brush your teeth. It's generally because you crave having a I don't want to have bad breath when I talk to people at school or at work or whatever it is, or you love the feeling of a clean mouth. But, you know, when you come home after work and you, you know, you're bored, maybe that's a cue. What's the, craving? I want to be entertained. I want to be comforted. I don't want to be sitting in an empty house quiet.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:40]:
So what do you do? You crank the AC and you turn on the TV or you start playing a game. Craving is different from person to person. Right? But but that's the craving. But the third step is the response. So when I said that you turn on the AC, turn on the thing, that's already the response. If you're craving a cigarette, what's the response? You're like, why not? You know, whatever the case. So there's a there is a response, a particular response, and it's going to require some kind of physical or mental exercise of energy to do that, but you'll do it. And then after that, the final thing is there's a reward.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:24]:
And so, sometimes the hard part about rewards is the reward isn't what you think the reward is. Right? Because sometimes we think like, I'm playing the game because I just want to play the game. But sometimes the real reality is you just want to be entertained. Right? That's the reward. There's a reward. There's something that you get out of doing this, doing something, even if it's a thing that you hate doing. Like, I hate that I cannot quit cigarettes. But we think, I just craved a cigarette, but what you really crave is probably the feeling of relaxation that happens after that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:06]:
Right? So there's this thing, and it's a loop, right? It's a loop that goes like from a cue, something reminds you, something triggers you, something kind of makes you aware, and then it elicits this craving. You really kind of, I gotta really do this thing, and then you have an action, and then there's some kind of reward because if you didn't have like any one of those things, you wouldn't have a habit. And so, you know, like if you how many of us, when you get a text, you really want to look at what that text is? You guys, right? Like, we don't want to. You might be talking to somebody, and then you hear that or the and you're in the middle of an important conversation, and you're trying to just give that person your full attention, but you got to do this. Right? You know what I mean? That we you don't have to, but that's a habit, right? So what is that? The cue is the what? The ding or the the thing, right? What is the craving? Craving is sometimes in your mind, what do you think might be important? But you know what they say is a lot of it, it's it's a social connection. Right? But let's say, what is the response? I look at the text. What's the reward? To be honest, they said it's a little hit of dopamine in your brain when you see this thing or play this game. So there's this thing, so there's things that are happening in us, but we don't really break it down like that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:44]:
Right? And so sometimes we have stress. Right? Let's say, the cue is you got to answer email. How many of you love answering email? Okay. Thank you. I'm not the only one that right? It's not my favorite thing. And but what is the cue? Okay. You've got to do the thing, right? You still got to answer the email. And, what do you crave? Sometimes you're craving, like, I'm starting to feel stressed because it's like, oh my gosh, I feel overwhelmed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:19]:
I get other things to do, and I'm stuck in this thing. And so you want to kind of get some control over your life, or you want some stress relief. So what could be a response? Sometimes people bite their nails or they twirl their hair or whatever in the middle of doing the thing. Why? Because that's your kind of reward, like it distracts you, mental break, from that thing. Right? So every habit that you have, there's going to be part of this aspect. But there's good habits, and there's bad habits. So in the next week, we'll talk a little bit about building that and then tearing down some of the bad habits. And, you know, this recently I was talking to one of our young guys, and he met this couple, and they were out, and they're both kind of going through a difficult season in that time, and he said the couple asked them, Uncle, how do you stay sober? Now he's young, so the couple must be real young because they call him uncle.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:39]:
So I think maybe the first time he was called uncle for, like, adults. I don't know. But, but how do you stay sober? Right? You know, he told them. He told them that, man, it wasn't for God. It wasn't for God. I wouldn't I wouldn't be sober. Right? And, you know, the thing is that nobody, including my friend, nobody could make a decision to just say, you're not gonna drink or you're not gonna use for 10, 15 years. The guy who wrote freedom starts today, he said it like this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:18]:
He says, I'm not 15 years sober. I'm 5,475 days sober because he's saying his sobriety came one day at a time. And the reality is that you can change. It might start one day, but it's important to start now. And so you can change as well. You don't have to change everything right now for the rest of your life. Start for today, and then make that same decision tomorrow. Right? Then we make the same decision the next day.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:02]:
Make sense? Hey, let's bow our head. We're gonna close it in order to pray. Her. Father, sometimes that there's things in us that we don't see all that's happening below the surface of our lives. But we're thankful that you do. And sometimes, Lord, when we're confronted with these things in our lives, we freely admit that we can't change, we can't do it. But sometimes we forget that the other half of the equation is that I can through Christ who gives me strength. Through you, Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:41]:
You have the power. You have the strength. And Lord, I we're thankful that that so many people who've gone through recovery successfully are a testimony to that. Father, for so many of us that even even as little as breaking a coffee habit, that Lord, we do it regularly just because we want to show that to ourselves that I'm the master of something and it's not that that masters me. Drawing close to you. Because when we're connected to you, Lord, we have a power that's greater than ourselves. We have something that we never had on our own. Lord, I thank you that you want to grab a hold of your sons and your daughters, and that there are areas, Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:33]:
There are areas that you want to work on in our lives. Father, would you give us we give you permission. If you're if you're serious about that today, and you might not even know what it is, but would our heads bow and eyes draw if you're saying, God, I know I have stuff to work on, but, I don't know sometimes where to start. Could you just open your hands to God and say, God, I don't know where to start, but can You show me? Lord, I'm willing for You to show me what sometimes I feel like I cannot grow in or I cannot change. And that might be true, but the other half of the equation is that you can. And through you, I can. Would you speak to your sons and your daughters? Because I thank you that what you're really trying to do is lift from us at times the ammunition the devil has with a spirit of condemnation. Grace for us, but Lord, we also know that we are engaged in a battle, and we don't want to give the enemy more ammunition than he he needs.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:00]:
And father that this this evening, if you're here and maybe, you know, you've heard the gospel, you you know, but to be honest, you've never really surrendered to God. You know, you've never really because you want to be in control, and the reality is you're not as in control as you think you are, right? And, but if you're in this place where you're saying, I can I'm willing to trust God today. It doesn't matter if you've said no a 1000 times before. Today, you can be different. If that's you today, I'm just gonna ask you, if you're in the house, raise your hand. If you're at home, I can't see it. Would you just raise your hand to God? Just say, God, I I've tried to change. I've tried to help myself, but I can't.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:57]:
But I know you can. And today, you're willing to give yourself to Him. You're willing to trust Him today. We're gonna pray a very simple prayer. I'm gonna just ask you if you you're saying that or if you just wanna reaffirm that to pray along with me. Lord Jesus, thank you for making me and loving just as I am just as I am. But I confess. I know I've sinned and I've rebelled and you still love me, and you still love me, but I need your forgiveness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:37]:
I need your grace in my life. So I surrender myself to you. Would you come live inside me today? Thank you. Jesus died in my place. Thank you. Jesus died in my place. And took the penalty for my sin. Help me to know him more.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:02]:
To know your voice. To know your will, to know your ways, and help me to become who you created me to be, a person who's loved, who has substance, and who has power. In Jesus name I pray. God's people say, amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, let's say congratulations to those folks. Thanks, guys.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:37]:
God bless.