Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
But this evening, we're just kinda in between, series. And so we wanted to we're gonna take communion, this evening together, and and, I just wanted us to to come, to draw close. That we we're drawing close to God, and sometimes it's easy to draw close to God, and sometimes it's a little challenging, to draw close to God depending on what's happening. And, and you know, I I was just thinking that we, you know, like Hal had mentioned, sometimes there are things that we say, and it really conjures up some kind of an image. If we say, you know, that God is love. I mean, you know, whatever the reason, sometimes we're thinking about it in terms of, like, man, he loves me no matter what, what's going on in my life, and that's an amazing thing. But what what comes to your mind when I say nothing is impossible with God? What stirs to your mind? It's like, kinda like the amazing, right? In some sense, the miraculous when, when we couldn't work it out, God could work it out. Right? When that where our faith can move mountains.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:59]:
It can move in seemingly immovable obstacles. It can meet the greatest need. It can heal the greatest illness. It can all of these kinds of things. Right? And And I think about like that too and you know as somebody who had been basically a missionary for a number of years, one of the stories I heard was something that happened not in the group that we were because I was with Campus Crusade but with YWAM and so with Youth With A Mission and in the eighties, you know, there was a story that had happened in Greece and actually there's a little bit of film footage of this and I wanted you guys to see this, and let's take a look at this. It's like it happened in Greece when they were in a dire need financially and, to be honest, when we would go on mission trips or we would take people on mission trips, we made sure they had enough. If we're taking them overseas, we make sure they have enough to come home. You know what I mean? Like, and then at that time, YWAM wasn't necessarily like that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:59]:
Like, if you went, you might not have enough to come home. Like, if you went, you might not have enough to eat the whole time, but we would make sure that people raise the funds to do all that before. So it's just a little different, philosophy, but sometimes when you step out for God, God steps out to meet you. And let's take a look at that video.

Video Narrator [00:02:28]:
11/24/1981, very early in the morning, we were having our worship time and prayer time with the children. And all of a sudden somebody said the fish are jumping out of the ocean. And so all of us were running immediately out to the beach to see what was happening. It was really a beautiful sight to see. I don't think I've ever seen anything like that or hopefully. I don't know if we'll ever see it again. But it was such a beautiful sight to see so many fish jumping out of the ocean right onto the beach and then just flopping back and forth and then for our children it was an exciting time because they had never seen that before either. And everybody was like, what do we do now? What's the next step? And so we realized we can't really throw all these fish back in the ocean, they keep jumping out anyway.

Video Narrator [00:03:25]:
And so they began to collect the fish.

Video Participant [00:03:27]:
I remember thinking as I looked, the fish were slimy and whatever else there's, and I thought you can either watch and observe, or you can participate. And I decided I wanted to participate in the miracle God was doing, and so I started getting my hands dirty, picking picking up fish, throwing them in wheelbarrows, and throwing them into big trash cans, and whatever, and then I volunteered to clean fish, and so for the rest of the day, I didn't give a lecture, and we cleaned fish, and the way we knew we had 8,301 fish was as we cleaned the fish, we counted them. So we cleaned 8,301 fish, but we gave away at least two full garbage bags full of fish to the neighbors that were just right next door to the property. And I think it's really important. I wanted our kids to be involved too, so we got our kids out there too. They were picking up fish and participating in the miracle that God did.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:35]:
Isn't that amazing? You know, I never I never saw the video of all this, but I heard this story, from the early days of of walking with Jesus and and serving and just how in the midst of just kind of an overwhelming need, God answered in a crazy and impossible way. And you know, when we talk about that, nothing is impossible with God. I mean, this can be an example of that. If you're in a place of need, that you're in a place where God, you need God to do something. God can do amazing and above and beyond what you can ask or think, kind of way. At the same time, sometimes, when it's impossible, we're talking about it in a different sense. Right? Sometimes we're talking about things in a different way. And we're gonna read together, we're gonna look together in this weekend's message when God was confronted or Jesus was confronted with something that was impossible.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:32]:
And what do we do when we are confronted with things that are impossible is really the result. I wanna talk about that. And we're gonna take communion together at the end. But would you be kind enough that can we just bow our heads this evening? Let's just ask His leading. Father, thank you so much that Lord, that when we talk about that nothing is impossible with you, that usually we mean it in the way that we just saw in the video. And, Lord, that sometimes there's a need, sometimes there's an obstacle, or sometimes there's an ailment, a bondage of some kind, but nothing is impossible with you. And you come and you deliver. And yet at the same time, there are things that when it's impossible, it's impossible.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:22]:
And, Father, that, what we're asking is, Lord, that would You, the God who is the God of the impossible, would You lead us and guide us that we might see the wonder and awe and the glory, of our King, of our God, of our Savior? And Spirit of God, would you fill, me with words that, Lord, this evening I feel in some ways just, I just really need you to speak through this. Father, would you bring honor and glory to your name? In Jesus' name, Amen. And, we're gonna read, beginning in Matthew 26, verses 36 to 38, where Jesus has been, on the evening of the Last Supper, He has brought the brothers together, they have walked, there's all of this teaching that Jesus has gone through after the last supper, they're walking through the temple, and Jesus is preaching about what's going to happen in the future, future, what's gonna happen in the end days, what's, what was his purpose, what was his plan, that how we need to abide in him. And he's talking about all these things. And then it says that at the end of that, they get to the Mount Of Olives, and from the Mount Of Olives, they go to a place up there. We're gonna read about that, beginning in verse 36. And would you be kind enough to stand with me in this? We're gonna read together verses thirty six and thirty eight. Ready? Let's read.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:50]:
And then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane. And He said, Sit here while I go over there to pray. And He took Peter and Zebedee's two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed. And he told them, my soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me. This place, Gethsemane, is on the lower portion of the Mount Of Olives and, it the Gethsemane just simply means oil press, and there are oil there are olive trees in that area, and there are, presses and ancient places. We don't know exactly, I think, where this part in the garden is where where Jesus stopped, but he was in Gethsemane, and and it says that as he had been confident and he had been preaching and he had been teaching, something changed in the evening, and something changed in his countenance, and something changed in his attitude. And it says that he was overwhelmed with grief, overwhelmed with a weight.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:01]:
And And the disciples were unaware of what was happening. They were unaware of what changed when they got to this place. But sometimes when we are confronted with the impossible, it causes distress. It causes a weight. We feel the weight because we have no solution, right? We have no answer. And we wonder, yeah, what is it that you're really gonna do? But would you know that when you're facing impossible situations that God does have a solution? God does have a solution and sometimes He wants to work actually through the situation and change the situation, and sometimes He wants us to walk through that. But do me a favor, would you turn to your neighbor and says, just say, god knows when it's impossible. God knows when it's impossible.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:51]:
You can never see. Impossible, man. You know, that is only for Ben. It's only for Ben. But, like, you know, that it says, though, you know, as he's there that they're they're they're praying, right, and and Jesus is disturbed. And and and then it says a little the next verse, it says that he went goes on then a little farther and and bows with his face to the ground praying, my father, if it is possible, let's say the word possible. Right? If it's possible, Lord, if there's any other way, he's saying, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine, He said.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:32]:
And then He returned to the disciples and found them asleep, and He said to Peter, couldn't you watch with Me even one hour? Keep watch and pray so that you will not give into this temptation for the spirit is willing, but you probably could repeat that, yeah, but the body is weak, right? But the flesh is weak, and so the disciples we see so often, what you see happening with them often is a reflection of like us, right? I mean, it's like when we see them in the boat and they're freaking out because the storm and the wind and the waves are moving into the boat, right? That we understand that so often that's how we react, right? When we see them sometimes arguing, walking with one another and they're arguing who's is the greatest in the kingdom. It's not like you ever wrestled with pride or when they're right? But we all often the reflections often of us that the same kind of a human tendency, and we see in this place where Jesus has called them to pray, and yet at the same time, they're struggling. But when we're confronted with the impossible, we see Jesus praying. Right? And that ought to be our response. When we're confronted with the impossible, we have to pray. We have to be a people that seek God, and sometimes others can pray with us and others can pray for us, but we ourselves need to be one who who bring ourselves before God. We ourselves need to be people who are contending for these things. And Jesus, even though he's saying that he's praying, he's telling them to pray.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:59]:
Is he telling them to pray for him? No. He's telling them you gotta just pray for yourself. Right? What is it that why? So that when the moments come and something is coming, he's saying, Something is coming and in that time, if you don't want to fall, he says, you need to pray. You need to pray. And and the echoes of that so often is in our lives. And something is sometimes when a a wave comes that we need to be the ones to pray. Right? And and he says, why? Because we don't wanna fall in temptation. We see the echoes of of what Jesus said in the Lord's prayer, where he says, lead us not into temptation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:39]:
Lord, instead would you steer me away from being overwhelmed with temptation that I that I might not stumble and fall. And Jesus himself, it says very clearly, right, is overwhelmed with sorrow. Now, you know, when we see that, sometimes I think that it's an important thing that for us to look at the fact that if Jesus could be overcome with grief and overcome with sorrow, that it gets the best of us at times, right? It's not just Jesus, right? We see throughout the scriptures that powerful or smoke for God or stood for God, at the same time wrestled with depression and wrestled with just being overcome with grief. We see Ezekiel in first Kings 19 that we see him as standing at the the the showdown at the Okay Corral in the old testament where against the prophets of Baal, and he calls on fire from heaven. Right? And if you were to be the person that you're praying and said, Lord, would you just show yourself and then fire came down from heaven, you would think that you're pretty hot stuff maybe, right? Yeah. It's like, man, I got the powerful prayer life here, but it says that later, just a few verses later, it says as he's on the run, he says, you know, Lord, I've had enough. Just kill me already. Just take me home.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:11]:
And we see this, like, so often on the highest highs, sometimes the lowest lows, come on the heels of that. You see the saying with David, right, in the Psalms. He says, Lord, why are you why, oh my soul are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Right? And David who leads in the worship, who leads the people of God, that sometimes it says that he's at the lowest of lows. Or Moses says the same thing after having delivered the people that he says in the midst of the desert, he's saying, I can't carry these people anymore. I can't do it. If this is how you're gonna deal with it, it's like just kill me already and take me home, right? I mean, Moses is overwhelmed and discouraged, right? So we see this. If you ever have felt overwhelmed with the things in your life, you're not alone. You're with the best of the best, in this situation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:13]:
But what did they do? They called out to God. They kept crying out to God. They kept praying in the midst of something that was overwhelming and impossible. But you know, part of the thing is that that what they were doing was really God's assignment. It wasn't because they were doing that they were running away from God's assignment. They were fulfilling God's assignment, and they felt this way. And so sometimes if you see someone going through it, maybe you wonder, well, what did you do if it you know, that you can't really look at it like that. What was your sin? That's not the way it works.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:48]:
Sometimes it's you're in the middle of doing what God called you. And you know, sometimes God's call may include going through some really incredible difficulty. It can often include, or it can come to the place that you feel so overwhelmed. You know, Jesus knows that His death is around the corner. Jesus knows that He has come for this very purpose to be a sacrifice for sins. He knows what awaits him on the cross. And it's in that moment that the son of God, Jesus, the second person of the triune God, who has always been in connection and and unity with the father and the spirit is facing a human death but also the unknown of a kind of a separation between the father and and the son. And in his humanity, in his humanity, he feels sorrow and grief and is overwhelmed and anxious.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:01]:
Right? He is the sinless son of God, and yet he experiences this, right? So, you know, the thing is though, that was God's assignment. And if Jesus had an assignment like this, sometimes we need to be mindful. You might not always like God's assignments. Sometimes God assigns us things, maybe not for our ill, but for a purpose, for a plan. And sometimes you don't always like it. But you got to trust God in the midst of those times. It doesn't mean that God has abandoned you. It doesn't mean that something is wrong, but you can struggle.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:47]:
You can struggle in the midst of that. You know, when I came home from the Mainland and I came back to Hawaii, I felt that it was a call of God that was was bringing me home, you know, and, and I went on staff at a church that I helped plant and that most of my friends were there and I was excited about it and glad to be home and, and I had come from a great experience with great friends on the Mainland and going through schooling, seminary, doing all that. It was a great time and made great friends there, but it was just kind of a different season because I had always worked with young people. I had always worked with college students and then during this season, I worked with people that were more my age and I was already past all that kind of a thing. And to be honest, they were working I was working with, like, doctors and like, engineers and medical people, and and that was a kind of a different group. And and I didn't relate. I remember the first time I led a group up up there in this church that was a church plant, and I met this gal and She was about my age, and I just said, hey, you know, what have you been doing lately? What's your summer like? Or whatever. And she said, oh, I just came back from a cruise, and and I'm a missionary.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:59]:
Right? So when I heard that, I go like, oh, I had such a great time. You ought to go on a cruise. And I was thinking, well, lady, we live on different planets because I am a missionary. Like, this is it. That ain't just happening. Right? And, but you know, they they they were great friends, and, you know, I got to do some weddings and different things, and it was just really cool. And then I came home, and one of the group that I had to lead was the young adults. But the young adults in my church that I had helped plant, and over the years, it had turned into, like, a bunch of the guys who graduated from high school, who were working part time and surfing the rest.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:38]:
Right? And, maybe one or two were going to school, and it was like just a kind of a surfer, like, really, like, laid back, like we play music, we get and all of that kind of a thing. And it was like I didn't relate after having been having ministry with doctors and nurses and engineers, and when I see this, it was sort of a difficult thing. And to be honest, I didn't like it. And you know what? I wasn't like Jesus. You know what I did? I wasn't praying, God, what are you doing in this thing? I was just complaining. These guys are so lazy, right? Like, I was like, what's wrong with them? You know, and I literally was in that kind of a mode. And the thing is that God wasn't trying to get me to be judgmental on them. God was trying to get me to elevate them, right? God was trying to help me to build them up, not tear them down.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:33]:
Right? And that the situation was that I needed to trust God even though I didn't know what that was really meant to do in that season. And you know, there's people from that group that are still serving God today. Still they're in the ministry today, but at that season, it wasn't easy. It wasn't an easy assignment for me. And, you know Jesus, when he had this assignment that where He walked, it wasn't always easy. In fact, what does it say in Hebrews five:eight and nine? He says it like this. Let's read what it says. Even though Jesus was God's son, He learned what? Obedience from the things He suffered.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:16]:
In this way, God qualified Him as a perfect High Priest. And He became the source of eternal salvation for all those who obey Him. Even Jesus suffered. And even in the midst of His suffering, Jesus was obedient. And in fact, it says He learned obedience. Because, see, sometimes obedience and agreement are very different things. Sometimes we agree. We say God says do this, we go like, oh, gladly, right? Gladly, Lord, I'll do that because I wanna do that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:57]:
Obedience is even though I didn't want to do it, even though I didn't agree with it, even though I don't like it, but at your word, Lord, at your word, I'll do it. It's like the disciples said to to Jesus when he said, put out your, put out your boat to cast on the other side, and and Peter is saying, Lord, we've been fishing all night, but there's nothing. Today's a dead day. This is a bad day. Let's just, we're hanging it up. We'll go tomorrow maybe. But he didn't say, what did they say? But at Your word, Lord. But at Your word.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:33]:
They didn't like it. They didn't agree. They thought like, you know what? There was nothing all night. You know what? Just because you said throw on the other side, I don't think anything's gonna happen either, but they did and an amazing thing happened, right? That's obedience. You see, when you just do it because you want to do it anyway, that's disagreement. Right? Oh, yeah, sure. I want to do that. It says Jesus had to learn obedience.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:00]:
Because He didn't want to do what the father was calling him to do. And what does he do? He prays, right? It says then later what we start seeing is he prays fervently, but in a way that, like, actually says that he sweat sweat blood and sweat. And we know from medical kind of a diagnosis of this kind of a situation is that it's a sign of the person on the verge of a nervous breakdown for this to happen. For the capillaries in your skin to burst and it to actually bleed. It's this person is like on the edge, right? And it's saying that this is what Jesus was experiencing that when He was praying. Now if Jesus could pray like that, right? Like unashamed, unfiltered, right? Sometimes we pray, you know, there's a difference between when you pray with your friends in the bible study, right? When you pray with your friends, you know, like on the side, right? Because you know generally we are not praying like that, right? Like Hanabata coming out of your nose and wiped down your shirt, right? We are generally not praying like that. Right? If I'm praying for the offering, you know, Christy wasn't like sobbing. She wasn't doing all that, right? She is praying with a sense of honesty, but she's praying with a sense of faith, but it's a different kind of prayer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:26]:
And it says it like this in Psalm 60 two:eight. He says, oh, my people, trust in him, when? At all times. At all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. And I think what he's saying is that he's modeling for us to pray honestly and freely to God. To pray honestly and freely to God. And you know like when I was saying last night, we had a prayer team, last night that we wanted to worship. We wanted to pray over the prayer team.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:58]:
Do you guys know that there's a team of people that pray for you, that pray for the services, that pray when people come, it's like they pray every week, but you know what? Prayer warriors need to be prayed for at times, right? And that's what we did last night. But I was telling them, you know, when I first became a believer, I didn't know how to pray, right? Because I'd never been to church, I never knew God and any of that, but you know what I immediately began to do is I immediately began to have a conversation with god. I just started talking to god all the time. You guys are and I think all of us, we're either talking to ourselves, we're talking to other people, or we're talking to God. Because you ever hear you guys ever have a dialogue in your head? Yeah. Right? Like, oh, what the heck is this going on? Like, you don't say it, but, like, inside you go like, oh, what the heck is this bonehead doing on the freeway, right, when he cuts in front of you, right, but you you kinda saying that to yourself or maybe you're saying that to somebody else in the car, right, or but to be honest, you know what I learned was in the middle of that, I when I realized how close God was, I just started telling God all those things. I don't know what how to face this thing, and would you lead me, would you guide me, God, thank you for and I just had this conversation with God, but I didn't call it prayer. I just was talking to God all the time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:13]:
Right? And then, you know, after about a year and a half, I and God really was moving in my life. And I just saw God start doing amazing things already as a young believer, but then, I went for training and I was doing all different things. And then they taught me how to pray in a bible study. They taught me how to pray. How many of us have heard this is one of the ways that you can learn how to pray? Acts, right? You guys know, right? What does that stand for? Adoration. Adoration, right? So in other words, we worship and we give honor to God. C. Confession.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:46]:
Right? We repent, we turn away from our sin. Right? T is what? Thanksgiving. Right? That we give thanks to God. We remember what He does. We acknowledge and we give Him thanks. And the S is what? Supplication, which for many of us that's not a common word, but what does that mean that we that what we're asking for God, that would I need this, my request, that's what we're praying. And so, man, you know what happened when I thought, man my prayer life's gonna take off because now I know how to pray. And then you know what happened? My prayer life dried up.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:16]:
My prayer life dried up. Now, when I say this, it's it's not because, to be honest, it's not because nothing wrong with patterns. But this was giving me a pattern to pray, but over time, you know what, my prayer devolved because it's like now I was always wondering, was I doing it right? Did I was I following this thing? And it's like, and I my prayer life started to shrink. I wasn't talking to God because I was questioning about what I'm saying and I wondering if I'm praying the right way, the whole thing. Now Jesus gave us a pattern. Praying the right way, the whole thing. Now Jesus gave us a pattern. What is it called? The Lord's Prayer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:51]:
Right? Like, he didn't pray like this. He's not saying pray these exact words and just just repeat it. He's saying it's a pattern, right? It's not like, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. And it's like, you know, if you pray that every day, like so many times a day, after a while, you're not even thinking about what you pray for. You're just repeating words, right? It's not a mantra, it's a pattern for prayer. So what does that mean? Right? Our Father in heaven is like connect with God relationally, right? You know like what it's not saying? Pray like this, O great God of the universe who is holy forever. We sang that today, right? Nothing wrong with saying that. That's not what God said.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:28]:
What did He say? Oh Father. Sometimes when I'm praying that, and when I didn't feel worthy, you guys ever feel not worthy to come before God, right? Maybe you've been struggling or whatever. But I've said that, you know God, that I don't feel right to this, but you told me to call you Father. Thank you for being my dad. Thank you for being my father. And God wants us to connect to Him relationally. He doesn't want us just to say, oh, great and mighty God of Moses and like, I mean there's a time and place maybe for that, but that's not what Jesus was saying. Connect with Me relationally.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:05]:
I'm your Father in heaven. Hallowed be thy, how holy is your name. You know what? Honor God. Right? Honor God as the one and only God. There's nobody else like Him, right? It's not like, you know, the gods of the the the islands or the gods of the the the Asia. It's like it doesn't matter. Like, He's saying no. There's only one.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:25]:
Amen. Pray for God's will and his kingdom to be established. Lord, would you establish your kingdom in my life? Lord, would you establish your kingdom come, your will be done, right, in our city? Right? One day, we're gonna pray, god, would your kingdom come on my street? We're gonna start praying, right, in in in my neighborhood, right? So we we opened our homes that we made our homes a house of prayer, right, in the fall. But now we wanna say, like, let's climb the street, right? Let's climb the neighborhood, right? But and then we're saying pray for what you need. He says, like, you know, give us this day our daily bread. And and then he says, lead us not into temptation, right? That lead me away from the tempting situations because yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. And it's in the midst of that, there's a pattern. But but he doesn't want you to get hung up in doing it right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:14]:
He says, you know what? I believe that there's a time and place for patterns that's very helpful, but not at the expense of you connecting with God relationally, with you speaking freely from your heart, that you having a conversation with God. So pray honestly and freely lest you get stuck. Am I doing it right? Right? You need to do both, right, at times. You but Jesus is in this moment, Jesus is not saying, I'm adoring acts a, right? He's not doing that, right? He's saying he's praying, and why is Jesus grieving with all of this, by the way? Because is it because he doesn't know what's happening? I feel out of control to my I don't think it's that so much. I think it's though in his humanity, that in his humanity, he had never died. Right? And what is it to die? And in his humanity and his divinity, he never experienced any separation from his Heavenly Father, right? And so he is facing these things and he is like, wait, you know, I know this is what I came for. I know this is what I came for. But you ever ever kind of like get to a place where I know this is what I want to do, but then right on the verge of that you get cold feet, right? Sometimes they say it's like when people get married, oh they get cold feet, right? People going to school, people joining the military, people taking a job.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:43]:
This is everything that you plan for, this is what you train for, this is what And then the moment before, oh you get a little nervous. Jesus was fully God, but He was fully human. And as a result, He had human emotions. As a result, He had human feelings, right? And so, but this is why, it's not because the father didn't love him. The father loved him, right? And he knew the father loved him, but he was overwhelmed. And then it goes on and it says then in verse 44, he says, so he went to pray a third time. Let's say a third time. Third time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:21]:
In other words, sometimes praying once ain't enough, right? Sometimes praying twice is not enough. That you just say, oh my gosh. And all of this is like, and at a time that he is praying, he's saying that could you not pray for one hour? So to Jesus, to pray for one hour isn't hard. He's been praying now, this guy going on hour three, and he's saying that for the, so he went to prayer a third time saying the same things again, and then he came to the disciples and he said, go ahead and sleep, have your rest, but look, the time has come. The son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. And you know, Luke tells us that about this aspect of then praying fervently is praying in blood and sweat or dripping, right? And and so when He said earlier, if it is possible, if there's any other way, and I think He becomes to the place, He comes to the place where He realizes that the Father will not answer that prayer, that it is impossible. It's not possible. It's impossible.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:35]:
Now some of us, we have a hard time that it's impossible, right? Because we know that God is all powerful, right? You guys believe that God is all powerful? Yes. We know that God is all knowing, right? You guys believe God knows everything, right? We believe God is all loving, right? So, we believe these things, and so if you're asked, it says, So is there anything God can't do? Oh, I'm a little bit quiet. No, but like, you know, I think yes, there's some things God can't do. Now some things logically can't be done. Logically can't be done. And I've heard people say, you know, like the stereotypical thing is sometimes we say, can God make a square circle? And you know, like one thing is if you're a pro wrestling fan, you might think, they call it sometimes the ring the squared circle, because a circling thing in amateurs is a round circle, but they wrestle in this this kind of a square thing, so that's why they call it the square circle. But, that's not what having a square circle really means, right? Not technically. What is technically? A square technically is a two dimensional shape with four equal sides that whose angles are all right angles, 90 degrees, right? So in other words, this is a square, right? This is a square, right? Yep.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:56]:
Okay. Thank you. So a square, four equal sides, all at right angles, and what is a circle? What's a circle? Let's see a circle, right? That's a circle, right? And circles are measured differently, right? So it doesn't have equal sides, and so is a circle and a square the same thing? No. So can I make that circle a square and be, and still be a circle? No. Because definitionally, it will change. Otherwise, just words don't mean anything. Right? So there are some things God cannot do. God cannot do nonsensical things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:40]:
Right? Like, can it be raining and not raining in the same time in the same place? Well, some people might say, Yeah, he can. But then all of a sudden, rain doesn't make any sense at the same time at the same place, right? So, John can't do nonsensical things because it doesn't make sense, right? But there are some things that God normally doesn't do. It's not impossible, just God doesn't normally do. Like God normally doesn't say that you can have, you can make, you can do an action, but I'm not gonna give you a circumstance. That's not normal for God, right? Because He says what a man sows, that shall he reap, right? That you're gonna reap what you sow. That's a normal thing, right? Now how do you make a godly man, right? Normally, normally it says, to be honest, how do you make a godly man? You have to have a man go through difficult seasons so that he is not somebody who's a fair weather believer. Right? And when I say man, I mean man or woman. It doesn't really matter.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:46]:
Right? It's a person. Right? That in order to make a godly person, right, a godly man, a godly woman, is that you have to stand the test of time. You have to stand kind of in the midst of the trial. It says in Acts fourteen twenty two, it says that they strengthen the believers and they encourage them. This is the apostle Paul. They encourage them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. In fact, Paul himself, it says that he prayed not just one time, he prayed three times that the thorn in his flesh would be taken away. And each time God said to him, what? My grace is sufficient for you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:32]:
Why? Because sometimes you gotta, you have to endure, right, in the midst of these things. If you're going through a hard season, you know what that shows? That you're in God's school of discipleship in some sense, right? Because if it was just easy and like carefree and all like, man, it's just, right? So people will say it's like not just easy once you come to Christ. Why? Because life is not like that. And if God is making you to be a person of substance, and let's say God wants you to be an overcomer. Right? How many of you guys wanna be an overcomer? Right? Say, I want this is I wanna be an overcomer. I wanna be an overcomer. You know what that means? You gotta overcome. Right? And that means you have something to overcome.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:21]:
Yes, amen. Right? And so we see Jesus faced with the impossible or faced with something He doesn't want to do. It's not that Jesus didn't love us. Not that Jesus didn't know that that there needed to be a sacrifice. He's just saying that god, if there's any other way for us to do this thing, can we go that route, right? That's what he's saying. But what is God saying? In his silence, what he's saying is there's not another way. There's not another way. Hebrews tells us that in the sacrifice, there is reminder of sins year after year, but it is for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:15]:
They did it in the old testament. Why? Because it was an image. It was the covering of sin. It is not the forgiveness of sin. It just covered it. Right? And Paul later says this, I don't treat the grace of God And it's impossible. There's not another way. There's only one way, right? Because if you could obey your way out of it, if you could do good deeds for this, right, then you know what? God would have said that's the way, right? If God could have just waved His hand, then there wouldn't be a need for it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:07]:
But instead it says that He erased the certificate of debt in Colossians. Let's read what it says. He erased the certificate of debt with its obligations. What is that? It's the list of our sins. It's the list of our offenses. It's the list of our weakness. It's the list of our disobedience. It's a list of our bad attitudes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:28]:
It's a list of those things of unbelief. He says that was against us and opposed to us and has taken it away by nailing it where? To the cross. There was a debt and it needed to be paid. And as a result, He disarmed the rulers and authorities and disgraced them publicly, and He triumphed over them in Him. And like the old saying goes, if the greatest need that we had was information, right, then God would have sent an educator, right? If the greatest need of people was technology, but would he would have sent a scientist. If the greatest need was money, then he would have sent an economist or business person, right? If our greatest need was just to like have a great time, then God would have sent an entertainer. If our greatest need is forgiveness and redemption, then He needs to send a savior. And so we see this that God said, it's not impossible to forgive, but the cost the cost is my son.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:51]:
It's not just a man, because a man can die for one person. It cannot just be God, because God Himself alone cannot be killed. So what do we need to do? We need to have a God man who doesn't just die for one, but dies for all that He created. And the prophets say it like this, that He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with the deepest grief. And we turned our backs on Him, and we looked away, He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses that He carried. It was your weakness. It was my weakness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:42]:
It was our sorrows that weighed him down, and we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins. Isn't that what the thieves on the cross next to him said? Right? But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole, and he was whipped so that we could be healed. Jesus wanted to bring salvation, but he just was in this place saying, if there's any other way, any other way. And the father said, no. There's no. And what did Jesus do? He picked up his cross, and he gave his life. Romans tells it to us like this, that God showed his great love.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:37]:
Can we read that together? But God showed his great love for us, by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God's sight, by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God's condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son, while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved to the life of His Son. You know what I love about this is, if we could never earn it in the first place, right, He died when we were sinners for us. If you could never earn it in the first place, then you don't have to earn it now. You just have to receive it. You just have to value it. You just have to respond to it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:33]:
Why? Because because it was easy? No. It wasn't easy. It was the highest cost in the universe that the Son of God would give His life. But he did it for you, and he did it for me. And that's what we celebrate when we take communion, isn't it? Amen. And and really just tonight is we wanna meet God tonight, and let's meet him in the communion. You know when Jesus on this night that we've just been looking at, just before this He had been taking communion with His his disciples, right? He says this is the cup That and when he took it, right, and when they took it, it meant different things. For Jesus, when he took the cup, it was saying, I am committed to the path that my father has.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:38]:
When the disciples took the cup, it was a sign that I am a partaker in Jesus's death, even though they didn't understand what it meant. It meant different things. He says, this cup, right, is is for you. But when he took it, it meant this is the symbol of me dying and pouring out. And we're gonna take some elements this evening, and the elements are in the back. Sorry, I couldn't see through the pillar. The elements are in the back. And I want us to know that when we take these elements, is what we're really doing is we're we're taking symbol of the Jesus's body and his blood.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:27]:
Right? And it's not really doesn't turn into human DNA. Right? It's just still bread and it's still juice, but you know what? It's the real presence of Jesus. And so I want you to do me a favor, and I want you to go and and grab the elements, and then when you guys are done, then we'll come back and we'll take the elements together.

Video Narrator [00:47:37]:
You, Jesus. You have saved my life. Brought me from the darkness into glorious life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:28]:
Oh, yes. Brought me from the darkness into So you know, we hold in our hands, really two simple things. Right? A bread that is a symbol of Jesus's body and the cup, the of juice, which is a symbol of his blood. And you know, it says that Jesus poured out his life, that you would have life. Right? He died on the cross. He that that you wouldn't have to pay the price for your own sin. And in fact, you know, even though we're believers and we sometimes try our best to follow God and honor God, the same time winners moments inevitably that we fail. And Hebrews tells us that you know in our bid in this war against the flesh that no one has shed really blood.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:54]:
In other words, we we never no matter what you do to try to to honor God and follow God, none of us have done what Jesus has done because it's impossible. There's only one who is qualified. Only one, the one who would give his life, the one who would follow the way. Jesus didn't enjoy the cross. He despised the cross it says. Despise the shame. But for the joy set before him, he endured it. And what is that joy? That joy is you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:31]:
That joy is me. That joy is is is our neighbor. That joy is our friends and our family that that will come to know him. Because apart from the sacrifice, all of us would be lost. All of us would be distant. But because of his sacrifice, all of us can be redeemed. Anyone can be forgiven. Before we take these elements, I'm reminded of a passage in in Matthew.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:05]:
And in Matthew, earlier in the book it says, that when Jesus calmed the storm and Peter's on the water and and he's sinking and Jesus just pulls him out. Says they come to the other end of the lake and they go to his place and he says, and when the people recognized Jesus, that the news of his arrival spread quickly throughout the whole area and then soon people were ringing back all their sick to be healed and they begged him to let the sick touch at least the fringe of his robe, and all who touched him were healed. And there's there's some of us, to be honest, maybe you need healing today, But you know the thing is, they it wasn't that Jesus reached out and touched him, but you know what it says? They were all reaching out to touch Jesus. And when they touched Jesus's robe, it says they were all healed. They didn't even really touch Jesus's skin. They just touched what was touching Jesus. But what were they doing? They were reaching out for Him. And you know, when you reach out to touch Jesus, why were they healed? Because when you touch Jesus, He's touching you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:25]:
Amen. Right? Yes. And I want us to think about it this way. What does it mean when they were all healed? They all got what they needed. They all got what they needed at the touch of Jesus. I don't know what your need is, but would you bring it before the Lord today? Is it forgiveness? Is it redemption? Is it is it strength? Is it renewal? Is it is it healing? Is it an opportunity? Is it the fact that that you just need to be close to Him? Because the prelude to getting what you need is the presence of God in your life. The prelude to power is his presence in your life. The prelude to confidence is his closeness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:28]:
We're not just eating bread and drinking juice. We're bringing ourselves before the very presence of God who died in our place. So father, we come. We confess. Lord, we repent. Father, we want you more. Lord, we wanna be close. We wanna meet you in the communion table, because we need the presence of the living God in our lives.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:59]:
We need the the redemption of the cross. We need the power of the blood still. Yes. Because there's no other way. There's no other way for me. There's no other way for a wounded and broken and hurting world, but to come through the cross. So Father, we're just reminded. Thank you that though you despised it, it was the joy that was before you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:29]:
Thank you that we somehow brought you joy of our redemption, of our forgiveness, of our renewal. Lord, that our lives would be changed and transformed to reflect your honor and glory, and we fall so short, but God thank you that you are with us always. Thank you for your spirit, God. Yes. Lord, we're thankful and we remember the price. Yes. The breaking of your blood. Would you take the cup? And the pouring out of your blood.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:03]:
God, would you just wash over us all over again? Would you take the cup? Lord, we crave your presence. Yes. We crave your touch. Yes. We need you today. Yes. We draw close to you today. Yes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:35]:
Thank you for your presence that's here. Thank you for forgiveness. We're thankful for renewal. Lord, I'm thankful that you're moving in the midst of your people right now. Thankful for the blood. I love those words. We're thankful for the blood. Because nothing shall separate us from the love of God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:59]:
Amen. Nothing. Nothing. Amen.