Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
Hey. Good evening, everybody. How are you guys doing today? Good. Good. I'm glad that you guys are. I know it's, might have been a stressful week for some, especially if you're a Kansas City fan, but I see if I see some red shirts out here, but like, no rip, no rip. I just watched the first half, and then afterwards I could be a prophet for the second half. But, aside from that, you know sometimes life gets stressful, right? Maybe it's traffic, right? Anybody try going down Farrington Highway today in Kapolei? I heard it was crazy with the opening of Don Quixote in Kapolei.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:37]:
Sometimes there's stuff like school and work and all those things. Right? It's the financial pressures the financial pressures that are out there. Right? It's trying to keep up with the the cost of living. You know, sometimes that eggs used to be the cheapest thing that you could buy. Right? Now it's the hardest thing that you can find. Sometimes there's things like that that come out. And somebody said, it's been particularly hard for flat earthers. You know why? Because it could push them over the edge.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:03]:
But, you think about it later, you'll share it at work, Right? You share it with your friends. But you know, it's not always fun, I know, but, we can have stress at work. Sometimes it's the pace of work. Sometimes it's the hours that you're doing. Right? Sometimes it's just maybe just the nature of what you do. And maybe for some of us when you come home, it's not that easy as well. Because parenting, you know, marriage, all that has its own stress, with its own stresses. And, do you guys remember that maybe when when I grew up, like when we were kids, for breakfast, you know what we would eat? We would just open the box cereal, get the milk.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:43]:
Now you feel like if you do that with your kids, you're poisoning your kids. You know, you have to do something different now, and things have changed. And, I love what Jim Gaffigan, he's a comedian, he said this, Parenting, he said, is stressful. Parenting is a sacrifice. It's exhausting. It's expensive, and at times it feels thankless, but at least eventually you get to die. But, and so, hopefully it's not that bad. Right? And then, you know, there's just things going on in the world, and maybe sometimes we we see things and and it it is stressful.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:18]:
And so as a result of that, you know, we wanted to talk about that, you know, about some relationship essentials. And we're saying this series is relationships, essentials, even if because sometimes we think that the things I learned, it doesn't work because my situation is different. And last week we said, you know, we talked about it because we're saying, you know what? The relationship essentials work even if you're different than your partner, even if you're different than your spouse, even if you're different than your family. And this evening, we want to talk about three things that relationship essentials, even if life is stressful. You know, because, most of us, life isn't perfect. Life has its stresses and strains, and it's not always what you planned. And so this morning, this evening, we're going to talk about again three things, but the first thing I'd just like to say is that when you're when you're in a stressful situation, when it's been stressful at work or stressful at home, you gotta watch your words and your attitudes. You know why? Because sometimes we say, you know, I just need to blow off steam, or I just need to let something out, I gotta I gotta vent, right, this kind of a thing, and and we understand what that's like, right? We use that term venting kinda like how we we're gonna take the pressure off, right? We're gonna, let our emotions kinda get a little bent better and you know, we maybe we come home and we, you know, we we kind of pour that on on our spouse or our close friends, right? And that's what we say.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:47]:
We're we're venting. And and it's a harmless way, often, but it's it's not always harmless, to be honest, right? Sometimes venting, can be dangerous because we go from venting to ranting. You guys ever make that difference, right? Where, you're so angry and it's like that the people that you love, it's like we do a kind of verbal vomit all over their, you know, all over them and, you know, maybe after, us kind of venting, we say, they feel like they need to take a shower. And so, the scripture is very clear that to be honest, you know, life gets stressful, but it doesn't mean that we ought to kind of vomit that stuff all over people. In fact, it says it like this, Can we just, stand? We're gonna stand in reverence for God, reverence for His word. And can we just read Ephesians four twenty nine together? There's three things we're gonna talk about. This is only one of them, but let's read. Ready? Begin.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:49]:
Don't use language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear. And you know, sometimes when we're if if we're just kind of saying, I just need to get it off my chest. I just need to spill it all out, and we kind of leave the venom, and it, and it's spread among, it says, among our friends, among our family. It says, be careful. Don't use that kind of language. Why? Because when it's saying let everything be good and helpful so that it'll bring encouragement, not discouragement. Right? Not not just to, kind of vent so that we kinda spread that venom and poison.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:32]:
And we've all heard the thing that sticks and stones may, I'm sorry. You might hear the words, Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. That's the biggest lie that's been out there, right? Because how many of us been hurt by words, right? We've all been hurt by words and, and so he says that. So before you see that, do me a favor. Let's just say to your neighbor, Hey, let's be careful with our words and our attitudes. Because I don't know if you can picture this. I don't know if you can picture this, maybe, you know, you're you're at home, or maybe you're in the office, and it's just a relaxed day. Right? Everybody's in a good mood.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:15]:
Maybe if you're at home, somebody's cooking dinner, and and you know, maybe somebody else is helping for once or whatever the case, or maybe you're at work, and you know, people kind of bantering about the weekend or whatever it is, and then someone comes in, slams a door, stomps in, and you just sense the mood change. You guys know what I'm talking about? Right? And and it's in those moments, it's not just the words that we speak, but did you know that the attitudes and the emotions that you carry are contagious, right? Because the the things that you bring that that to be honest, people can feel them, they can read them, and it affects them. And and so often, you know, like if we say things even and add on that, like, you know, we we need to be careful about that. That's why we say it's both words and attitudes. I I I remember when I first started a job, and I was doing sales at that season, and to be honest, I was encouraged because I'd never made so much money in my life, right? Because I've been in ministry, I've been doing all these kinds of things. I was a missionary, and now I'm doing sales and I'm getting compensated like per what I do. You know, like when you're in ministry, you don't get any different pay if your bible study grows, right? It doesn't make any difference if people give their lives to Christ or they go on a mission trip. And so, I was in that kind of a situation and was a nice season in my life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:46]:
And I remember, talking to one of the veterans that was there and he was saying, you know, yeah, well, you know, the pay structure, like the bonus things, if you think this is good, you should have been here like five years ago. That's when it was really good before the takeover, right? And I go, Oh, wow. It wasn't really quite five years. It was actually maybe a couple years. And I said, Oh wow. Yeah. I wasn't here then. Right? And then he says, You know like in the Christmas party that we had? Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:16]:
It was alright. Alright. But you should have been here. The Christmas party is two years ago. Like they gave away so much stuff and the trips and and all that kind of a thing. And you know, like, when you hear that kind of a thing, if I kept listening to that brother, man, you know what? I probably would have never have stayed at the company. And that gave me actually a a real blessing for us, that, to be honest, allowed us to be able to buy our first home. Right? And the thing is I would never have qualified doing anything else that I was doing prior to that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:50]:
But you gotta be careful because stay away, just as I I would encourage somebody at work, stay away from the guys who are always talking about how it was before. You know why? Because it'll poison how you do it today. And and so, you know, that we you could be happy at the place and all of a sudden somebody's complaining, what happens? Man, you start looking like, oh, yeah. Well, if it was like that, it's not like that now. And we start complaining, right? Right? Because not just emotions are contagious, thoughts are contagious. Perspectives are contagious. The scripture actually warns us at times about the people that we associate with. Right? It says it like this, Proverbs 22 verses 24 to 25.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:35]:
He says, don't befriend angry people or associate with hot tempered people. Now some people are thinking, I cannot go home. No, just kidding. But or he says, but let's just read that last part of that sentence together. Let's read that last part of the sentence together. Ready? Let's read. Or you will learn to be what? Like them, and endanger your soul. You know, it's just saying why? Because if you're around angry people all the time, guess what happens? You start getting angry.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:04]:
Right? You're around people complaining all the time, guess what happens? You start complaining. You're around people who are always kind of belittling, and guess what you start doing? You you tend to start belittling other people. Proverbs eighteen twenty one, such a powerful verse. Everyone should commit this to memory, frankly, that that it says it like this. And some of you guys do know it. Maybe you don't know the address, but that's Proverbs eighteen twenty one, but it says it like this. Can we read it together? It says, the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. And when we're in relationships, did you know that the words that not just that you speak directed at a person about like who they are, or what they're doing, or how happy or not happy you are at the moment, but it's just saying, the fact that we, the words that we speak will be either blessing or cursing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:58]:
It will be either life or death. And you know, so often I've seen people that when we say we're venting, you know what we end up doing? We end up cursing the very thing God's trying to bless. Be careful about how you talk about your marriage. Be careful how you talk about your spouse. Be careful how you talk about your kids, right? Are they perfect? No. No. But is that the standard before you can talk well about them, Right? And so, one time Sometimes the reason why we struggle, I think, in some of the relationships is because if we're not careful, we end up cursing the very thing God is trying to bless. And so he says, Be careful that the power of what we say of our tongue, and not just our tongue, but our emotions.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:45]:
Right? Because you can say, I said thank you. Right? Like, and do do people feel thanked? Obviously not, right? And so it's the emotions as well as the words that we say. Because we're creating an atmosphere in our home, in our marriage, in our circle of friends, in our workplace, by the kinds of things we display as well as the things that we permit. And, be careful about giving into a spirit of complaining. You know, one of the things is, I heard somebody say this once that complaining is my spiritual gift. And I was thinking, well, that it's something, but it's not a gift, I think. But, you know, why is complaining so negative? Why is complaining? Actually, in the scriptures, it's not looked down on. I mean, it's not looked on like as a neutral thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:40]:
It's actually looked down on quite clearly. And I think part of it is it makes us a victim, right? It it gets us to focus on all the wrongs that were done to me, not something that I can do to make a solution or somehow make an make things better. I think sometimes we end up feeling trapped and helpless. And to be honest, when we end up complaining about people, you know, part of the thing that it's actually saying is we are ending up complaining not about not about people, but about the God who put those people in the situations. That's what you see in the Old Testament. You know, I was reading in my devotions today in the book of Exodus, and as they were, being led out of the promised land, you know, it says that, that the people, when when Pharaoh came up on them, we're gonna talk about this in a minute, in the next point, but when Pharaoh came up upon them, that he had said, Go. Go leave already. That the tenth plague had happened, and and and the pharaoh was ready to let them go, and the people leave, and the pharaoh said, Yes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:49]:
Go. Get out of here, but bless me. Bless me. And then he changes his mind. And so when he sends the the, Egyptian army after them, you know what it says the people did? It says they did two things. One, they cried out to God. The second thing is they complained to Moses about Moses. You know what Moses' response is? Your complaint isn't really about me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:13]:
Your complaint is about God. Because I'm not the one who set up this 10 plague thing. Right? And in the New Testament, it says it like this. It says, let's look what it says, first Corinthians 10, verses ten-eleven. It says it like this. Let's read together. Ready? Begin. And don't grumble as some of them did.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:32]:
And they were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for who? For us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age. Does that mean that you have to always just smile and like it? No. No. But it says that be careful about complaining and grumbling. Why? Because it's contagious. Right? You know, in the, in the Old Testament as well, in, in the book of Deuteronomy, it talks about even if we were to go to war, that, and if there were to be men who didn't want to be there and they were afraid, you know what they were supposed to do? Send them home.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:16]:
Send them home. Why? Because just as fear is contagious, so is courage contagious, right? Emotions are contagious. Your attitude is contagious. So can I just ask this question then as a result? What have you been spreading lately at home? With your family, with your friends, right, with folks at work. Right? Because because sometimes we understand there's a lot on your plate. We understand that at times, we we we just feel like we need to vent, but be careful about, you know, venting, right? Because you just, you don't want to explode. And, you know, one of those things that I think that if we're probably honest, most of us, what we would say is that we don't think about what I just said very often about complaining or clumbering or about the contagiousness of my attitudes. But I'm guessing that you could be like me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:12]:
You could be better, right? So do me a favor. Just turn to your neighbor. Would you just say to them, I can be better. Right? I can be better. Because just as complaining is, faith is contagious. Just as just as, faith is contagious, courage is contagious. But what do you do when it's really stressful? I love what it says Psalm 20 verses one to two. This is what it says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:40]:
Let's read. Ready? Begin. In times of trouble, may the Lord answer your cry. May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm. May he send you help from his sanctuary, and strengthen you from Jerusalem. And you know the thing is that I had just mentioned about this story in Exodus, in, in, I think it's chapter 24 that I was was reading today. I read a bunch today, just in my devotions. But one of those, it it just says how when they looked up and they saw the Egyptian army on the horizon, they thought when Pharaoh sent us out, we're finally free.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:24]:
We're finally free from bondage. We're finally free from oppression. We're finally on our way to the promised land. And then all of a sudden, they see the army, and it says the first thing they do, it just says they cried out to God, right? What's your first response when things go wrong? Do we cry out to God? Or do we curse the situation, right? Do we do we call out to God? God help me. Or do we blame someone else. Right? And it's it's in that moment that we God's saying this that cry out to me and sometimes cry together. Right? Cry out to me and and sometimes cry together. You know, we were, it was a good season in our our life with the kids and ministry a while back.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:17]:
And And then one day on a I remember it was a Monday, a Monday evening, and my wife got a phone call. And it was my mother-in-law. And she had just mentioned that about Rika's dad having, taken a real bad turn. And one day he woke up and, he couldn't speak. One day he woke up just like, no previous no no symptoms previously. Everything, no. But the next morning he woke up, couldn't speak, couldn't move. It's like he he didn't recognize and sounded to us like a stroke and, said that he had been taken to the hospital.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:59]:
And And then she said this, Can you come now? And my mother-in-law is like the most considerate person and you know, like she would never make that kind of request unless it had been urgent. We sensed that, like, because she never talks like that. So the next thing we did was we dropped everything we were doing, we made some some plane reservations, but the closest we could make the plane reservations were, you know, just where we we needed a a few days to head out. And, to be honest, we we were overwhelmed. Right? Because we were thinking we weren't gonna be able to make it. And so we got together and we prayed and we called out to God. And to be honest, some of you guys were around during that time where, we we asked the church to pray. And the church prayed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:58]:
And I fasted and prayed before the trip and on the journey there. And to be honest, when we walked into the hospital room for the first time, he hadn't eaten in how many? Was it 20? One month. He hadn't eaten. He'd been on an IV and they were able to give him some nutrition through this IV. But he had obviously lost a tremendous amount of weight. But the thing that marked it is there when he looked at us, there was like there was no there was no effect. There was no emotion. There was no recognition.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:39]:
You know, if you have no emotion, you don't look like you. You actually look quite different. And, and we laid hands on him in that moment and prayed for him. And there was a stirring that was there. And to be honest, some of it, I really believe, was a spiritual thing. Some of it was a spiritual thing because of the response that happened when we prayed. And then we just kept praying. And then a few days later, we met with the doctors and, you know, unfortunately, not unfortunately, fortunately, one of them actually spoke English.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:20]:
And I'm a guy that, when in those meetings, you know, I like to ask a lot of questions. If you guys ever go to the doctor and it's serious and, or you have somebody, you know what? Ask a ton of questions. You know what? Because somebody needs to make sure that we understand. So I'm asking a ton of questions and saying there's something in his brain and all these things, and I'm asking, hey, can we do this thing? Can you, you know, do chelation therapy? And he's like, he's saying, are you a doctor? I said, no, but I play one on TV. No, but I just, you know, because I'm looking online, I'm looking at all these kinds of things, and and, and he says, well, you know, the thing is we if it was this thing, we we thought we gave him this medication that that he should perk up. But he just kept going down. And then we thought if we gave him this thing, that he he should at least, you kind of level out and then come up, but he just kept going down. He says, and then all of a sudden, he just stopped declining and then he started to rise.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:20]:
And we thought, okay, he's making a turnaround. So if we give him these things, it'll raise the increase. And but it didn't. It just it just kept going up slowly. And then he says, But then we tried this other thing. If this is the thing, if this is the real issue, then then now he should really pick up. But but he didn't. He just kept getting better and better and better and better.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:41]:
And I asked, when was that day? When did it turn? When did it stop? When did it turn? And he said the date, and that's the day we came and we laid hands on my father-in-law. But it wasn't just us. It was you guys. It was the church. We didn't go into that place by ourselves. We went in with the prayers of others. And if it's a stressful season, do you petition and pray and ask God to do the miraculous? Yes, you do. But don't do it by yourself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:15]:
Right? Cry out to God, but get others to cry out to God with you at times. And you know, sometimes we're in that kind of a season that that like for, for my father-in-law, he actually got better and better and he recovered. Now did he recover fully fully? Not fully fully, but he recovered where he could travel. He recovered where he could, he came how many more times? Probably like another six times, to Hawaii after that. And they just they expected this was this was it. And, he did have a decline after that. But we got a number of years where he was well, that he could enjoy his grandkids. We could enjoy him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:00]:
We could enjoy time together. Why? Because when it got stressful, overwhelming, we cried out to God. We went to the doctor, but our trust was in God. Right? And and so we cry out to him. You know, one of the other things that happened though is sometimes you are like that and God just It's like when they went to the Red Sea, that he he split open something that that just shouldn't happen. The doctor said this shouldn't happen, and you can walk through this situation. And he walked on ground that no one should ever walk on, right? On the bottom of the ocean, right? And it was dry. And God did that for us with my father-in-law.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:53]:
And then there's some other times, if you think about Jesus, Jesus did the exact opposite. He didn't split the ocean open and walk on the dry ground. Instead, he walks on the water and makes a pathway where you think there can be no pathway. And he actually invites Peter to come join him, right? Now, you know, a number of years ago, we planted a church out of our church and, and many of my best friends actually went out with that. And you know, sometimes you you hear about things and you have expectations and there's gonna be an awesome kind of a situation, and then sometimes the reality isn't it's not as smooth and easy as you think, right? It's just like marriage. How many of you thought, when I get married, my marriage is gonna be awesome, it's gonna be beautiful. It's like And I'm not saying it isn't, but it just isn't as easy as you thought, right? It's not as always perfect as you would think. It was that way when the planting of the church, you know, that relationships get a little strained at times.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:54]:
And you know, like you you misread sometimes what person is saying or doing and and all of those things. And and to be honest, it was like one of the most difficult seasons of our lives. And and we felt a little bad because we're supposed to be happy, right? That's what we thought. But to be honest, that often we were quite sad, right? And there were moments that we just made sure during that season, we kept our hearts clean before God, Right? We kept our hearts clean before God. You know why? Because from the heart flows the issues of life. We watched what we said. We we watched what our attitudes were. Right? We didn't wanna complain about anything.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:38]:
Right? But we prayed. And and we it was a hard situation, but but we we emerged from it stronger. You know, the scriptures say Romans twelve fifteen, Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn. It was messy. There was grief. But it covered our emotions and it honored our oneness. And so cry out to God, and sometimes you cry with other people, right? When it's really stressful, right? And then sometimes, I think this is the last point really, it's try to align your life with God's ordained rhythm. You know, when I was a young guy in the ministry especially, I just thought, I don't really need to sleep that much.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:30]:
Right? How many of you guys, I'll just be honest, I've been a kind of a cram student from college, right? Anybody know what I'm talking about? Like, I mean, I missed so many classes and I just crammed all night, and I passed. And I did well often, but I I kinda got this thing where and I was like that in the ministry, and I think I didn't need to sleep. I can go, like, I can do this camp, I can do this thing, and it's like I hardly sleep. And then I realized when you start getting about thirty something, that you go like, maybe I need to sleep a little bit more. And then when you hit 40, you go, I definitely need to sleep more. And, you know, some of us, sleep is the thing that we will sacrifice the first. When push comes to self, the first thing some of us will do is we just sacrifice sleep. I just power through it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:27]:
That's been my way. But you know what I realized is that Psalm 127 says it like this: In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat, for he grants what? Sleep to those he loves. You know when you eat sleep, even though it looks like nothing's going on, you ever watch somebody sleep, right? It's beautiful when you watch your kids sleep. You know when they're really young, you watch your kids sleep. And maybe sometimes we get worried, so how many parents like Steve, I know, Sarah, you guys put your hand on the do you ever put the hand on the chest to make sure that they're breathing? Right? We do that. Oh, it's so beautiful. And then your your spouse, when you look at them sleeping, and he's like, close your mouth. No.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:14]:
But like, we we start thinking that nothing's happening, but you know, actually, your brain is actually more active in some ways even than you you think. Did you know that that when you are sleeping, that there is a cleaning system, the brain's cleaning system is in full operation. During sleep, your glymphatic system removes toxins from your brain. It kicks in. It flushes things out like beta amyloids. I don't know if you've heard of that, but that's often linked to Alzheimer's, right? It's it's the nighttime deep cleaning system. It happens when you sleep. Your memory consolidation, it sorts and stores memories while you're sleeping.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:58]:
It decides, you know, what you get to keep and what you get to forget. And so that's why, you know, when I was pulling an all nighter, you know, what would happen is I could regurgitate on the paper, but you asked me a couple days later, I couldn't quite remember. Because it doesn't allow it it could go into short term and maybe medium term, but it's not in your long term memory cause that happens during sleep. It controls your emotional regulation as well. Your amygdala which processes these kind of primitive emotional states, and your prefrontal cortex, that rational thinking parts, they both reset during sleep. And so if you find that you cannot control yourself, your emotions very often you know what, sometimes you just need to sleep. It it promotes your creativity and when you're dreaming kind of a session, you know, like when you're you have that rapid eye movement, if you ever watch people when they're sleeping, there's that time when there's like, is that a convulsion? No. That's just that's just called REM.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:00]:
It's just part of what's happening. It's when you're dreaming, and they said, this is actually result linked to problem solving and emotional processing. And your neurons get recharged and rewired. Sleep is part of God's design. And when you cheat God's design, you don't really cheat God's design, right? It's like we end up either breaking the law or we get broken on the law, right? And so the scripture is clear that sometimes we need, if your, it's so stressful for you, this is not a time that you should stay up and worry about it. Because how many of you, Jesus said, by your worry, ever changed anything? Right? He's saying, entrust it to God. That's what he's saying. Trust it to God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:51]:
Do me a favor. Just turn your neighbor and say, can you trust God? Trust it to God. Trust it to God. And you know what? Go to sleep. Right? Is that easy to do? No. It's not. But but try to sync your life with the rhythms that God has ordained, right? You need to align your life with God's ordained rhythms. You know, the other thing that happens, this should be a sleep, should be a daily thing, but, on a weekly, there's daily things that you ought to do, and there's weekly things you ought to do, there's other things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:28]:
What's a weekly thing you ought to do? Do? This is what it says in Deuteronomy five twelve. It says, observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy as the Lord your God has what? Commanded you. You know, some people will look at this and say, Hey, this is an Old Testament thing, right? We're not commanded to observe the Sabbath. But Hebrews tells us there's a Sabbath day that still remains. It may not remain in the way that you think, right? But it may not be it's that you get stoned if you don't, observe the Sabbath, but what it's saying is that you still ought to have a day of rest. And what does that mean? It's it's there for you to connect with God, for you to, rest physically from your labors. It's there for you at times, maybe to have recreation, but the other thing is it does is it recreates you. It recreates you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:26]:
When it says observe, it doesn't mean watch it from a distance like you would watch a football game, you know, from the bleed nosebleed section, but it means to be careful to do it, to observe it, to guard it. And this seven day a week cycle is something that God created. The seven day a week cycle is something God created. And it's something that we will do, you know, experience this side of eternity. Ancient Egyptians had a different time cycle. They had a ten day week and they had a three week month, right? And when God saw the way the people of God were treated under that regimen, what did he say? God pronounced judgment on it, right? God said, You know what? That I have heard the cries of my people. Because they were under a burden God never designed them for. In 1793, in France, there was an effort to increase human productivity.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:32]:
How many of you guys try to be productive, right? We try to hack productivity, we try to do all those things. Of course, we wanna do our best, kind of a desire, there was this move of kind of, anti christian elements in this enlightenment period. And so some of them wanted to de Christianize the nation and the calendar, so they tried to go back to that ten day work week that the Egyptians had. And they formed calendars and all these things, but it failed miserably. Suicide rates skyrocketed, people burned out, production decreased because it turns out that people weren't made to work nine days I'm sorry, nine days, and then rest, they were designed to work six days and then rest. Right? Now today we might have, like, a five day work week, and maybe some of you this week, you have a four day work week. And some of you guys, because you had, you know, four day this week, because some of you guys got off yesterday, and some of us, us, well, most of us will probably get off one day this week, right? So, we're fortunate in that. But here's the thing, is that sometimes you keep working even though you don't have to.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:46]:
And so someone once said, When you go against the grain of the universe, you get splinters. Right? You go against the grain of the universe, you get splinters. Because the day of rest isn't so that you work more, right? It's so that you can glorify God. It's so that you can be recreated spiritually, emotionally because we need this change of pace. Without silence at times, all you have is noise, right, Without silence. You don't have music until you have rest. All you have is noise. And so what happens in that time? We remember when we remember who God is, we start understanding and remembering who we are.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:36]:
In his book, twenty four six, the surgeon, doctor Matthew Sleep quotes something he read, in the book, The Blue Zones. And I know Jane's a big blue zone fan there. But it looks at how people who lived the longest and healthiest around the world, it kinda examines them, that they live on average about a dozen years more than the general population, these blue zones. It's like, you know, in Okinawa, in I think in Redlands, California, right? There's some places around in the in in Italy, there's all these places. And they look that they they had some commonalities in that that blue zone thing. They didn't smoke, right? They They ate a diet that was high actually in animal fat, right? They walked a lot. They valued family and relationships. But they actually looked at, the Seventh day Adventist community that is in Loma Linda, California.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:35]:
And so you guys might be aware of Loma Linda Hospital, right, and the university is well known. It's a Seventh day Adventist facility. And Seventh day Adventists are they kinda have a big deal in kinda honoring the Sabbath. And so what they found was that on the average group in Loma Linda, that they lived a dozen years more than the rest of America. And Sleeth observes that if you multiply the Sabbaths they observe per year, right, times their average lifespan divided by three sixty five days, he says you'll end up with twelve years. In other words, the number of extra years they live is roughly equivalent to the number of days they spend in Sabbath keeping. And so maybe it's coincidence. Maybe it's coincidence.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:28]:
But the Bible hints at a cause and effect relationship, right? That you're not meant to run, what do we say? 20 fourseven, right? We're not running to run 20 fourseven. That's life journey. 20 foursix, he says, is life giving. Because to remember who we are is we got to remember who He is. You know, when life gets stressful, even in relationships, sometimes you don't have a choice though, right? There's these seasons, we understand. And the thing is that when there's these seasons, sometimes, you know, you I encourage you, when you're going through that kind of a season where you didn't have a choice because, you know, that's just the way our industry works, it's just the way our company is set up, it's just the way Sometimes you're in that place. You know, one of the things that I really encourage you to do is just talk about the season at home. And just say, sometimes I've had to do that where we've had the same thing, even in church, even in different kind of ministry settings, and I'll tell my wife, I'll say: You know hun, the next few weeks is gonna be, is this gonna be a little bit crazy, right? I have so many more things to do.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:45]:
But this is what we tend to do is I tend to plan a payoff. If I make my family pay, I try to plan a payoff. What do I mean by that? It could be as simple as that, you know, when it's all done, then we'll have, you know, like a date night. If it's all done, then it's like beach day. If it's all done, then let's go out to eat, right? If it's all done, then we'll, maybe do a staycation or whatever it is, right? And some of you guys know that, you know, like let's say the holidays, like Christmas and all that, it's like it doesn't make it less busy for for guys like us, right? It makes it more busy, right? There's just things like that, and many of you, you guys join in because without you, we we wouldn't be able to do a ministry. Right? It's it's not one person. It's doing a hundred things. It's a hundred people doing, you know, maybe one or two things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:43]:
But but sometimes you gotta plan things and have a payoff. And, you know, that's that served me well. Because why do I say that? Because my wife doesn't hate the ministry. Right? Because my son is serving the Lord. In Proverbs thirteen twelve, it says this: Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. And if I make a commitment like that, you know what, I try my best to fulfill that. Right? Because if not, I end up losing credibility. Last thing, last place you want to lose credibility is with your family.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:27]:
Right? And that why you hear me say often, if you haven't heard me say, when we do life group, I have groups I meet that are just men or different settings. But I love doing the Thursday group because my wife is in the group. So if I start saying something, even like tonight, just look at her face when I say, This is the thing I do. Because if you saw my wife doing this when I said, I try to have a payoff date, or I try to honor that date so not to lose credibility. If she saw her doing this, that's my accountability. Right? Because if it don't really work at home, then it don't really work. And so, it is my encouragement. And I understand things get stressful.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:19]:
And it is not something that you can keep, that it doesn't affect the people in your life, right, at times. But that we reward them for writing it through with us. We honor them. And you know what happens? Then all of a sudden, you find yourself not carrying that burden alone in your family or in your marriage because they're carrying it with you, right? Because they're compassionate. They didn't understand that there's times that you can't change the calendar. Sometimes you can't change the way, the the industry works. And you know, when it comes to this aspect of rest and Sabbath that we ought to fulfill, Doctor. Eugene Peterson said, our culture day of a day off, right? Isn't really Sabbath.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:12]:
He says, if you call it like the average person, he says, sometimes he, pardon my language, but he calls it, the way that many people observe it, he calls it the bastard Sabbath. Why? Because the father is often missing on that day. And, and so excuse my language, that's his thing. And Sabbath uncluttered means uncluttered time and space to distance ourselves from the frenzy of everyday activities so we can see what God is doing. That we can sometimes let our soul catch up with our body. Right? That we can let our emotions settle so that as we move into the next week, that we have a spirit of refreshment. That we regularly quit one day of work a week, at least, so we don't take ourselves too seriously. And we see the hand of God, right? Because that takes faith for some of us to rest one day.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:19]:
Some of us feel like we cannot rest one day because I won't make it. It's sort of like giving, right? It's saying, God, if I take this one day off, You have to somehow make it so productive that it is like I would have worked seven days. That is what God was asking them to do when they live a but to change my schedule to reflect His created order. Because when He made us, He understood how we're made. God wants you to rest. He wants you to find renewal. He wants you to find reverence. And some of that, you just find it when we honor how we were made.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:15]:
That make sense? Hey, let's bow our heads. We're gonna close in a word of prayer today. I just want to ask you, you know, for the things that I mentioned to watch your words and your attitudes when things get stressful because your emotions, your actions, your words can be contagious. And I had mentioned this aspect is that, yes, you know, sometimes things, obviously, they're harder than you thought. You didn't expect certain things to happen. You didn't expect that it would happen at this time. You know, those are the moments that you need to cry out to God, but please don't cry out alone. You know, would there be a people and one of the reasons why we have midweek prayers, one of the reasons why we have the text in church.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:14]:
It's one of the reasons why we have small groups. It's one of the reasons why we have, capacity for people to find a place where they can get filled. Right? So we want to have those things. But also make sure that you are sharing it at home. Don't try to be so strong for your spouse, so that they don't that you don't share what's going on on the inside. It just becomes a wall. It we're supposed to be it says that they were naked and unashamed, and that means when you're overwhelmed, that means when you're frustrated, that means when and if we're sharing it and not spewing it, it is not gonna be toxic. And actually, they are gonna come around you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:04]:
And this aspect of rest, this aspect of sometimes we just feel like I am so busy, I cannot rest. I understand that. And I am a recovering workaholic. But I have been convicted of the need to rest. And so, you know, the more I do it, the better I get. I just want to ask you with that in mind. What is the Holy Spirit putting His finger on in your heart today? Maybe something, there's one thing that you can apply today. I want you to think.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:44]:
I want you to be open. Would you hear the whisper of God? Father, we can always change the situations that we face, but we can change how we face them. And you who are God and King, Lord, you gave us instruction. You told us not to complain. But instead, have faith. Lord, You told us to watch our words and to watch our thoughts because so often we can influence a family and influence a team. And, Lord, that You said to build up and not tear down. To not learn an angry person's ways.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:30]:
So, Father, that sometimes we need to learn Your ways. Father, You told us to cry out because You are always listening. You told us to cry out because You are the one who saves. You told us to cry out because that You are the living God. And I thank You that You hear us right now. But, Father, You also said, Rest. Because You are God, and we're not. Because You are in control, and we're not.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:02]:
Because You are the Lord of the Sabbath, and You made Sabbath for man, not man for the Sabbath, so that we can be renewed. And sometimes in ways we can see, and sometimes in ways we can't see. And this long weekend, maybe this is the place to start. But make sure You have the Father in the midst of it. And Father, with our heads bowed and eyes closed, Lord, we come to You. And you know, maybe there is somebody here, or somebody watching online, that, to be honest, you've never really surrendered to God because you've been God your whole life. I just want to ask this question: How's that been working for you? I don't know about you, but I was the God of my own life, and it didn't really work well. The gracious invitation from God was that if you come to me, the living God, I'll be your helper.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:06]:
I'll be your strength. I'll be your saviour. I'll be your friend. I'll be your God. And, you know, I wouldn't say my life is perfect. Far from it. But I know that I'm better today than I was the first day. And I'm being better today than I was last week.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:32]:
Because the Savior keeps saving, And the helper keeps helping. And the living God never gets tired or old or weary. If you've never said yes to Jesus today, I just wanna have the privilege to pray with you, if that's you. And it's just a simple prayer. This is an acknowledgment that we are not God, that He is. And we turn from our way and trust Him in His way. It's called Repent, that means to change our mind, and have faith in the living God through Christ Jesus. And if that's you today, I'm gonna just pray this simple prayer and invite you to join me as we pray.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:18]:
Father, I thank You that You know me. I thank You that You understand how You made me. And that how I can prosper even in stressful times. Lord, it's to watch my words. Lord, it's to cry out to you. It's how to align my life with how you made me. Today, You made me for Christ Jesus, You said. So I open up my heart and receive You.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:56]:
Would You come live inside me today? Thank You for dying on the cross in my place. Forgive me turn from what I know is wrong. And would You lead me in the way that is right? Help me to know You and know Your voice, to know Your will and know Your ways. And help me to become who You created me to be. In Jesus' name, God's people say. Amen? Amen. Hey, God bless you guys. Congratulations to those who prayed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:36]:
Have a great weekend.