Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
This story that I wanna start with, it's not found in the scriptures. It's actually found in the Jewish scriptures, in in the Talmud. It's it happened in the first century BC, and it had been a dry winter, and the rains were painfully absent in that winter season. It's usually the season that precedes the bounty of spring and the fresh growth, but that year, it was there were none to be found. And so, by the time summer came around, the those rains who had been missed, had led to a great drought. And it was at that point that the people were, not just worried about their crops, they were worried about their what to drink, they were worried about their animals, they were worried about their children, they were worried about their own lives. And so they approached a man who was a man of God known to pray, and his name was Honi. And it had been nearly four hundred years, right, since God had spoken to the people through the prophets, but Honi was convinced though God may have been silent in His speaking to people, that God was listening to the prayers of His children.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:20]:
And so Honi got out, he accepted people's request to come out and pray, and he walked out into the street, and there he took his staff and he carved a circle in the dry dirt. And in it, he dropped to his knees and he raised up his hands and he said, Lord of the universe, I swear by your great name that I will not move from this circle until you have compassion on your children. And as he prayed, a rain began to drizzle. And the people around started to look up to the skies and say, Is this the rain? But not Honi. Honi kept his head bowed and he said, Lord, this is not what I asked for. I asked for the rains to fill the cisterns, the trenches, and the reservoirs. And it's said in that story that the rain started coming down in sheets, in torrents, and that the drops looked like, the size of an egg that they were so big. And it rained so heavily that the people had to, actually make their way into the temple because it's paved, it's filled with stone, so that they wouldn't be washed away in the floods that started to happen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:45]:
And then eyewitnesses described that, but Jehoney said this. He said, Lord, not for such rain have I prayed, but for the rain of your favor, your blessing, and your graciousness. He hadn't prayed for a destructive rain. He wanted a rain that would bring life. And so, I ask for the rains of your goodwill, your blessing and generosity. And then it began to rain calmly and peacefully, it said. And Honi was celebrated after that as the kind of the hometown hero. And this is, again, not a story from the scriptures, but from the Jewish midrash.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:27]:
And the historian Josephus records it as well. But it was that rain that came that saved the generation, the generation before Jesus. And without a guy like Hone, maybe it's possible that there would have been a very difficult, much more difficult generation for Jesus to have been born in. And that sounds amazing, doesn't it? That that Honi made a difference, not just simply for him and his family, but for his people, but for his nation, but for his country, for his city. And this this series that we started called the difference maker is because I believe that all of us want to make a difference. Right? All of us want to know that that our life mattered and that we can have an impact that's greater than ourselves. And if you've ever wondered in the midst of that, how do you pray maybe something like this? How do you have a prayer that changes things? That's what we want to talk about this evening. And one of the first clues is that when you pray something, that how many of you have ever wondered is this God's will what you're asking for? You guys ever wondered, like, is this God's will? And sometimes when it's like that, it's it's hard to pray with real confidence.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:45]:
Right? Because sometimes you don't I don't know if God wants to do this. Is it is God doing this kind of a thing? And so one of the things that you can be mindful of is that when you know something is God's will, you can pray that with confidence. And this evening as we go through this, I think you you and I, we need to be reminded that for some of us, if something is God's will, we we have a difficult time how to rationalize that. Because they said, if this is God's will, why do I have to pray already? I know this is God's will. Isn't it enough that it's God's will that this happens? And maybe one of the things I think we need to understand is understanding God's will and the prayers of God's people are both necessary, and that you and I, we're essential to God's economy. We're essential to God's movement, in this day and age. So, do me a favor before you, before we go on, just turn to your neighbor and say, you're essential to God's plan. You're essential to God's plan.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:52]:
So, one of those things is if you want to be a difference maker, you have to remember or be reminded or accept that you're an essential part of God's plan. Because this is what it says in first John five fourteen and fifteen, we're going to read that together. Would you be kind enough to stand in reverence for God, reverence for His word, and then we'll read this out loud together. This is what it says. Ready? Let's read. This is the confidence we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of Him. And remember, this is what it is it started with in this first beginning of this verse.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:40]:
It says, it's the word confidence. Let's say the word confidence. God wants you to pray with confidence. God wants you to have confidence. Not a God, not a self confidence, but a God confidence. That when you're doing something that you know is God's will, that a boldness will kind of fill your soul. And that understanding how that happens is it is a partnership with the will of God, the power of God, and with the prayers of God's people. So before you're seated, just turn to your neighbor and says, I'm glad that you know you're important.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:16]:
Right? And then you can have a seat. All of us here, you're an essential part. You can have a seat. You're an essential part of God's kingdom. You're a person who's been given authority and power to fulfill God's kingdom when we surrender ourselves and we seek Him. That really, in essence, you're God's representative. And, and you know what happens is what we're really talking about tonight mostly is this thing called intercessory prayer. Now, how many of you have heard that term? You know what that intercessory prayer is? Okay.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:48]:
Yeah. A few of us. Maybe some of you guys shy because I think you guys know, but you didn't raise your hand. The word intercessory prayer is actually two words that because intercession is not necessarily prayer, but intercessory prayer is a kind of prayer. And maybe let me draw the distinction. The word intercession just simply means, to arrange a meeting. Right? And I don't know if you've ever been in that kind of a place where, you need to meet someone, but you don't know the person. Right? But maybe you know the person who knows that person.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:24]:
Right? And so maybe this person has got you a job interview. Maybe this person has made an arrangement for you to to get tickets for something. Maybe this person has has represented you in a in a court. Maybe we can call an intercessor. Sometimes, somebody who would do that might be an attorney, right? It might be just a friend, it could be, maybe you don't know how to get well, but you know somebody who does, and who's that? Maybe you go to your doctor, or the secretary advances your your call. That kind of a situation. That person is acting as an intercessor. Right? Now, what we do when we have intercessory prayer is that you go before someone else, and you represent them before God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:08]:
And you represent them before God. Right? And that all of a sudden you make a meeting that you say, God, here's my friend. And he may or may not even know you, but you bring them before the throne of grace and you say, God, would you move in this, my friend's life? Would you move in my neighbor's situation? Would you move in the the my my office, in my company because we're going through this season? Would you move, Lord, in, in our school because there's a need for something to change in the spirit of our school? And so it's really what it's talking about is it's a partnership with the will of God and the prayer of God's people. And it's it's not enough just to have the will of God. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. That. You know, when God created people that he said to them that it's who who created the world? Who created the world and who created all the people and everything in life on the on the face of the planet? God. Right? It wasn't people, then he didn't ask permission.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:17]:
He just did it. But after that was done, if we're reminded in the book of Genesis, what God said to to Adam was he says, now you are to rule and to reign on this earth. You are to subdue the earth. That God had created everything that was his will to bless it, but it was necessary for human participation for it to be advanced. I kind of think about it this way, at the risk of being political. I don't mean to be political, but it's just something that came off the top of my head. It's sort of like this. How many of you guys know that we have laws in our country that are to express will of the people? Right? It's supposed to be the will of the people and our representatives vote these things in as defending us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:09]:
And what they say is this, that you can enter the country if you come legally, right? Let us know who you are, let us check you out, and then you can enter the country, right? And to be honest, I've been around the world and every single country functions that way, right? I've been to The Philippines, guess what? You cannot just show up and walk out. You can't do that, right? I've been in different places in Asia, Israel. It's not like that. I've been that like that in Europe. You cannot just land and get on the plane. You got to show some ID. You got to write all these things. But what happened over the last four years in our nation before this last last couple months, millions and millions of people entered.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:55]:
Why? Because there was no capacity that workers had to enforce the law. Right? So without enforcement, it's almost as if it doesn't matter what the will is. You see, what we are called to do is to be an enforcement of God's will by our prayers. It's not enough that that God says, I came to seek and save the lost. He invites us to partner with Him, that the dynamic of His Spirit would be released. You know, if we think about it and even in Ezekiel's day, in the days of the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel was called to, to pray and to speak to the people of God. But this is what he says on God's behalf. God spoke sent him to say this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:53]:
He says, I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land. But what does he say? I found no one. And the result of this later we see was the taking of the people in captivity, right? Because although God wanted to restore, God wanted to rebuild, there was no one who stood in that space. And so what we're called to do is to stand in the place for our communities. We're called to stand in a place for our families. We're called to stand in that place for our neighborhoods or where you go to school or your friends circle. There's some of us here that you're probably like the you're the first believer maybe in in your circle for some of you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:38]:
Right? You're the believer maybe in in your circle for some of you. Right? You're the first believer in, in your friend group. You're the first believer in your family. You're the only believer, or maybe you're the first guy who stood up at work or in your classroom. And and so one of those things is, you know, it's a great privilege, but sometimes it can feel a little alone. Right? You can feel a little alone. But would you know that when you pray, you're not alone? Now all of a sudden, the resources of heaven become available. But what do we pray then? What do we pray? Well, there's a number of things I think that we pray, and it's important that all of these things that we find will be God's will.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:23]:
Because if you're not God's will, some of us will lack confidence. But if it is God's will, what does He say? You're gonna have confidence. Right? Turn to your neighbor just so so you can have confidence. You can have confidence when you pray something that you know is God's will. Jesus said it like this in the, the Lord's Prayer. He says, Father in heaven, how holy is your name. Right? And then the second verse that in that that passage says it like this in, Matthew six ten. Let's read what it says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:58]:
Ready? Begin. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. You know that word come? Would you do me a favor? Would you circle that word come? And what it signifies is to be brought close or to come into the presence. It's a sense of movement from one place to another, and it's saying it like this. So God, would the kingdom that is in heaven, the kingdom that is up there, would somehow that be brought here into my experience? Would it be brought here on our plane? Would it be brought here in my town or on my street? God, that this is what we pray. Now why does God pray? Tell his people. This is the second thing in in the the Lord's prayer. The first thing is praise.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:47]:
Right? The first thing is acknowledging who God is, that God is holy. But the second thing is this, that would you use then your authority, because you all have authority, to say, God, we're asking, would your kingdom come here? Would it be manifested among us? What this does is invite the presence of the living God and say, God, we want you to rule here. God, we want to stand in your presence here, not just when we get to heaven. You will stand in God's presence in heaven, but you don't have to wait till you get to heaven. We can do that here. Right? You might do that in a worship service. Right? You might do that in a bible study. You might do that with your friends.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:32]:
But what we're asking is, God, would you take what is up there in the fullness that's happening, and God, we want to see that expressed in here. How many of you can think that would society get a little better? Maybe the things that we struggle with in economics, maybe the things that we struggle with in crime, maybe the things that we struggle with in domestic violence, maybe the things that we struggle like substance abuse, all of these things. What would happen if what God was doing in heaven was taking place on earth? Right? Now there is a thing that of course we want to invite the dynamic of God. We want the spirit of God. We want this is what you see what happens in revivals, when all of a sudden something changes in the atmosphere. And it's more than one church. It's more than one denomination. It's more it's just God just starts saying, I have heard people's prayer and I'm coming.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:38]:
But the second thing I think that the scriptures very clearly tell us is that you have to pray for God to trust out more workers. You have to pray for God to send out more workers. Why? Because this is what Jesus said. Jesus gave us this instruction. He says, these were His instructions to them. The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest. Ask Him to send more workers into His fields.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:09]:
Last week, we talked about, the first thing we do is we gotta have an encounter with God. Right? So we look to God. That's the first thing we do. We wanna be a difference maker. Let's encounter God. Let's see God for who He is. When that happens, you know what? We end up being changed. We end up being cleansed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:25]:
We end up being empowered. We end up being envisioned to those things. But we also mentioned that you got to look around you, right? Look around you. And he says that the fields are ripe and ready for harvest. In other words, people would like to respond, but they cannot respond on their own. They won't respond on their own. You know, one of the things about harvest how many of you ever worked on a farm or you had a garden in your your backyard? You guys anybody here? Right? So if you've ever had like, let's say lychee season in your backyard or you grew, you know, string beans or whatever it is that you you and you see all the abundance of the thing on it, you know what it doesn't do? It doesn't pick itself. Right? Like my friend, he used to hate, they had they had a big lot up in Wahiawa, and they had like a really big lot, and so there his dad would farm and he would grow all these things and he would give away to all his neighbors and friends.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:26]:
But my friend Ross, he hated it because when it was time for it to be harvested, you know what that meant? That's what he was doing Saturday. That's what he was doing on Sunday. That's what he was doing after school. And, but the thing is that we need more workers. We need people to be part of that, people to touch on other people, people to encourage, People to lead to Christ. People to teach. People to, to pray. People to intercede.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:55]:
And what this is saying is it says the harvest is great, but the workers are few. And if you've ever been in a place where you go, like, you know, we need more help in our ministry. Well, to be honest, it's a universal thing. You you ask any church. Any church will tell you. Nobody I haven't met a church where they said, oh, we have just too many volunteers. You guys we don't need, right? There's no church that says that, that you know, even though the biggest churches, the most well organized churches, the ones that you think it's like, these guys they have everything down, and it's not that way. I've been on staff at really big dynamic churches, I think in a in a season of revival even, but it's this isn't always the case.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:37]:
There's never enough workers. But this is what the prayer he says is to do. He says, ask him to send more workers into his fields. Do me a favor. Circle the word send. You know that literal word sounds almost like, oh God, we can we place an order and then just we need more workers and just send more workers. That's not the word that it's used. The word that is used is a it's a Greek word.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:05]:
The word word is called ekbalo, and, ballo means to send or to send out, but the word ek means to kind of push. So, this is the thing. It's like God push people out there and get out into the field, right? And God, would you push them out? Why? Because sometimes workers don't want to work, right? Sometimes we rather watch people work. Sometimes we rather applaud for the people who work. But sometimes we wanna high five the people who work or who get involved. But God is saying this. You know what? We're not only all invited, but there's times that God pushes us out. You know where this word is used before? It's when Jesus is sent into the wilderness to pray for forty days and fast.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:03]:
It says that the Spirit, some versions will say, uses the word impelled. It's Jesus kind of had to push from behind to go into the wilderness. It wasn't something he just said one day, I think I'm gonna just go to the wilderness and not eat for forty days. The Spirit pushed him. It thrust him out. How do you know when God's pushing you? Sometimes you feel it inside, when your friend starts talking to you, like, hey, you know, we're doing this thing. Would you be And then you're like, I hope you don't ask me. Right? How many of you guys have asked, felt like that? But sometimes the Spirit is calling you to be involved.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:46]:
You know, one of the things I, when we started this other church in Mililani, I just remember being part of the planting team. We have some friends from Maui. They're planting a church in Wailuku and just such an exciting time, you know, to do that. And like when things are on the ground, I remember that kind of a season, the season here as well. But when we planted that church in Mililani, it's called Hope Chapel, Mililani, that I was a young college graduate. I was starting the ministry and I just worked with colleges. I worked with adults. I wasn't a Christian when I was growing up.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:31]:
I don't know what it was like. I wish I knew Jesus when I was in high school. I had no idea what you do with kids, right, Especially young kids. And so when we started the church, we said there's always three things that every church needs. You need good worship, you need a good message, and you need kids. Something for kids. Right? Because the most important people in people's lives are their children. Right? So they want something like that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:59]:
And so it said my friend said, Glenn, would you lead the children's ministry? I said, you must be smoking crack. I have no idea what you're doing. Like you don't want to entrust children to me. Like I don't even know what to do. And he said, oh Glenn, you're great. You you do wonderful. And then until somebody else comes to the surface, right? And so I remember literally, getting in there and like it's almost like the movie Kidney Card and Cops. You guys haven't seen like Arnold Schwarzenegger? The kids are like all dominating him, and I used candy, like bribed kids.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:31]:
I didn't know what to do, right? But I taught them about Jesus, and I just remember this, that at the end of the service in the classroom, I just remember saying, 'Okay, kids, let's bow our heads and we're going to pray.' And I just gave a simple invitation. And on that first Sunday that when we did that, this this redhead girl named Cindy, I just remember, said, okay, how many of you would like to to ask Jesus to come live inside your heart today and that know that you could be, Jesus', you know, you're your mom and dad's child, but that you would be God's child. And that Sunday, she lifted her head and she raised her hand and she looked me in the eye and she said, I do. You know, and we we just prayed a very simple prayer. And and you know what? I don't know how if she'd always walked with Jesus after that, but at that age, it's odd that you could still see a change in her life, a sense of confidence, a sense of joy that came in. And we saw that in a number of kids from somebody who knew squat how to deal with kids. Right? I was really nervous like that because before I was a Christian, like if kids came around me, if I came around kids, sometimes they would cry. I don't anybody ever made kids cry? Like I don't know why.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:59]:
Like I just think, what's my vibe man? But, but after that, something started to change. And you know what? That God sent me out there. Right? He trusts me out there. You know, to be honest, in this season, we're we're still in that place. Right? Being, you know, pandemic's way in the in the background, but the fact is that God's bringing more people. God's bringing more family. God's bringing more kids. We're still in that need here, even in our season.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:29]:
Right? That we need people to to jump in and be be put in. Does that mean you know what to do all the time? No. Absolutely not. But you'll learn along the way and that people will help you along the way. We still need that. But this is what you need to pray for. That's the one thing that you can pray for is that, God, would you send more workers into the harvest? How many of you feel that you can pray that with confidence? That's what it says. Right? Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:00]:
Amen. Here's the second thing I wanna give you. When you pray a prayer like that, would you be willing to be the answer to your own prayer? Right? Would you be willing to be the answer to your own prayer? Because sometimes it's not saying that you gotta get in the schedule and you gotta just but I'm just willing, Lord, to step outside myself. Sometimes you gotta be willing. Right? And last week I was saying that it's it's it's not the pastor, it's not the hired hand, it's not the the guy who has all this experience, not the guy who went to Bible school that that people really, really need in their point of need. They need somebody that they know. To be honest, who they need is you. Right? I was saying last week about how my son, right, like, they they treated us so well when we went to the restaurant where he worked, worked, not because they knew us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:55]:
It's because they knew Him. And that's the way it works. So, here's the second thing, though, I'm gonna say is that we have to also learn to pray for ourselves. Because sometimes what happens, sometimes the reason why God doesn't move is not because we're, you know, that He doesn't have His will, and not because He we haven't prayed for those things, but sometimes if we're not careful, I've seen people that they have people in their lives, they know clearly that they are not believers, and they and that they need Jesus, but we don't do anything about it. Right? We don't do anything about it. And sometimes the reason is because you tried in the past and then they bit your head off. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Like, you tried to tell your friend about Jesus. You tried to pray for them or whatever, and then they got all, like, it just didn't go well.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:53]:
Right? And I I've been there. Right? And so sometimes this is what we we do then, which is fine. Never mind it. Right? Go hail it for you for all I care. Right? I tried to tell you. Right? But sometimes, to be honest, you know what? We gotta get past our hurt. Right? You gotta get past your hurt. You know, when people are not believers, we shouldn't expect them to act like believers.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:20]:
When they haven't experienced the kindness of God, to be honest, sometimes they're skeptical. Sometimes they're mean. Sometimes they say mean stuff. When it's your friend how many of you guys got the, you know, you get the stiff arm all of a sudden, like, hey, that's good. That's good. That's good for you. I'm glad for you. Hey, but no tell me about that kind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:44]:
And then you get a little offended. Don't be offended. How many of you said the same thing? Didn't you say the same thing? People wanted to tell me about Jesus. I told them get away from me. Right? Don't talk to me. And I would get into arguments. So that's why I don't get offended when people give me that because I did the same thing. And I'm guessing you did too.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:15]:
So this is the thing that you should do. Pray for yourself. Because if there's people like that, sometimes it's a spouse, sometimes it's a parent, sometimes it's a child, sometimes it's a friend or a sibling, but would you ask God? So you know they need Jesus, but you haven't even let them know, you haven't invited them, you haven't prayed for them even. Ask God to give you a burden for their spiritual condition. You know, the apostle Paul said it like this in Romans ten:one. In Romans ten:one, he says, dear brothers and sisters, the longing of my heart and my prayer to God is for the people of Israel to be saved. You know, later Paul actually says this, I would even give up my own salvation for people to be saved. I cannot say that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:08]:
I'm not that far. But you know what? There's been times I just had to say, 'God, give me a burden. Give me a burden for your people.' What does that mean to have a burden? You know what that means? It it it means that you have a care and concern, but sometimes, you know what? What happens is that you might be in this place where the Spirit of God lets you feel what they feel. I don't know if you've ever been to that. Like, I've been in prayer times where we're just praying for these some friends and, like, all of a sudden I'm praying for my friend, and I just put my hand on his shoulder. And we're in this group of guys. These are all guys. I put my hand on his shoulder, and it's like I felt his pain, And I started to weep, and I I wanted to pray, which is because all of a sudden I started praying for the things that was in his heart because God let me experience what he's feeling.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:17]:
And, you know, that made me want to pray more for him. Even though sometimes he would say inappropriate things, he would do goofy stuff, but I kind of got a glimpse behind all the things. Sometimes that's what needs sometimes that's what we need. And if you you don't have compassion for your friend or you don't have your compassion for your family member, just ask God, give you a burden. Give me a burden for them. And you know the other thing that you can do is ask for God opportunities to encourage and to serve people, because Jesus said it like this. He says, let your good deeds shine out for all to see. Let's say the words all to see.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:02]:
All to see. Right? In other words, it's not for you to see, but it's so that they would see. Why? So that everyone will praise your heavenly father. Amen. You know, we don't do things so that people would see how good we are. We want to do things at times so they would see how good God is. Right? So when it comes to the whole 'olalei kind of a thing and just going and serving the the folks in our community, the families that's nearby, the the people who send kids to that school. We just want to do that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:32]:
Why? Is it because we want to be seen as like we're the nicest guys? No. Because we want them to see how good God is, that God cares for your kids, right, that God cares for you, right, that God knows all the challenges that you're trying to trying to put food on the table and pay the rent or the mortgage and stretching all that and you're trying to do stuff for your kids. We're just there to support you. Right? Why? Just so people would see how good God is. And it says this, then the last one is this, at times how many of you have ever felt like you want to invite but you didn't invite? You want to tell somebody about Jesus but you didn't know what to say. Even just the other day, I was, we had our refrigerator kind of go on to the the blink, and so we called the repair guy. The repair guy came and I was just thinking, you know, before he leaves, I wanna invite this guy to church because I've been I was talking to him a little bit. We're talking about kids.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:33]:
He's got a six year old daughter and, you know, just talking about I said, man, that's the best. Right? And he said, you know, just different seasons. My kids are all adults now. And I said, isn't that the best? Because you come home and this is how it is when they're six year old. Daddy. Right? I said, there's nothing like it. You're in the sweet spot. Doesn't last forever, but you're in the sweet spot.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:56]:
And then you just started talking about all these things, and he goes, hey, well, what's the next stage and all this kind of stuff? And I said, I think this this is the thing. There's there's good things in every season, even adolescence. Not less, but still get good things. No. But, but, you know, we're just talking about that, and I said, okay, I gotta invite him to church. But, you know, just even me. I'm a pastor. I'm in my house, and and, I'm thinking I'm gonna invite him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:23]:
I just got distracted because, to be honest, that, you know, somebody came and different things were happening and I I just forgot to invite him. But we've been talking about it, but the opportunity to just invite him, I I just let it pass because I got distracted, because I got caught up in doing something else. And so you know what the scripture says? That we ought to ask God to give us a boldness so that we can speak. All right? God, would you give me your boldness? This is how it says it in Ephesians six twenty. Even the apostle Paul, he wasn't always bold. He says he needed boldness from God, right? Do I have that in the in the notes? Nope? Okay. Well, you can look. Ephesians six nineteen and twenty, where he says, like, give me the boldness to speak as I ought to speak.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:18]:
Can we just say this? Boldness is not arrogance. Right? Boldness is not pushiness. Boldness is just the sense that when you know what? I don't have to be apologetic. I don't have to do it perfect. But it's sort of like it's sort of like going to the hospital. You guys this is one of the things I always ask people, like, they're concerned about people who are sick. Right? If you guys have somebody in your family, you're you're concerned about them. I said, have you gone ever and prayed for your family member? And a lot of times people will tell me this, I don't know what to say.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:03]:
You guys ever know that feeling? There's been times I didn't want to go to the hospital because I don't know what to say. This is one of the things I found. It's not what you say. Right? It doesn't matter what you say. It just mattered that you showed up. You just showed up. That's all you you need the boldness to just show up in that moment. Right? You don't have to have magic words.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:28]:
You don't have to have magic, you know, prayer that will heal everything. Although we talk about, you know, there's there is a little bit of learning that we can to pray in healing and all that, but you just need the boldness to pray for it. Believe God that that's what he wants to do. So pray for yourself. Ask God to help you in those things. And what do we do when we're praying for people? And to be honest, the things that we're talking about right now, then this next section, are things that we would I would like you to pray when you walk your streets, when you walk your neighborhoods, that to pray for these these things and this next this next section. The first thing is this, ask God to draw them by His kindness. Ask God to draw the people that you want to bring before Him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:18]:
Sometimes that's your neighbors, sometimes that's your friends, sometimes that's your family members. Ask God to draw them. This is what it says. Let's read together John six forty four. Ready? Let's read. For no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them to Me. No one This is what Romans says. No one seeks God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:43]:
No one is good. Right? No one is, like all of us, a fault. To be honest, we can't even come to God unless God starts making the way, unless God starts drawing us. That word means to el cool means to draw, pull, attract, even drag. How many of you have sensed that sometimes it's not that you went looking for God. God came looking for you. And it's in that moment that we sense God's pulling power. It's this the picture of moving an object from one area and being pulled into another area.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:23]:
That's what he's saying. Would you ask God to draw that person? Because it says it like this in Romans that it's the kindness of God that leads people to change directions and turn towards Him. Because most of us, we never came on the first time somebody told us about Jesus. Right? But it's the second time, the third time, the fourth time, the fifth time. You can't even tell how many times it's been. But, God, would you draw them? Would you start drawing them to yourself? And that's when people start experiencing something. They start getting interested. They start getting open.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:08]:
And then the second thing is this, ask God to open their eyes to Himself. So often we don't see ourselves clearly. Right? Most people tend to say, I'm a pretty good guy. Right? Even though we all would admit, all of us admit, I'm not perfect. Right? Every person that I've ever talked to, nobody has really, to my face, told me I am perfect. Although somebody did tell me that somebody told them that in counseling. Not not hell, but like in a premarital counseling that somebody said, no, I'm perfect. I don't want to be married to you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:50]:
Because something you're blind. Right? Because nobody's perfect. But but we're sometimes we compare ourselves to other people, and we might think that we're better than them. Sometimes we compare ourselves to other people, we think we're less than them, right? And sometimes we're just living, right? Sometimes you're just enjoying the good life. But this is one of the things that I think I've seen is that sometimes people aren't living the life they're living because it's that great. They're living the life that they're living because that's what they know. The guys who partying might have been super fun in the beginning. After a while, you know why you did that? Because that's what you know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:37]:
Right? Some people, they're grinding it out in business, and they're climbing the corporate ladder, and they they're buying all the stuff in the world. World. Sometimes the reason they're doing it not because it's that great, because that's not they know how to do. Right? People do what they know how to do, and sometimes we don't see ourselves. So when you talk to them about Jesus, if you've ever tried to share with them and it's like they just blow you off and their life is so busy and they're not interested and all of those things, but this is what Jesus said in John sixteen:eight. He says, and when he comes, who is he? The Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world of its sin and of God's righteousness and of the coming judgment. When I started became a new believer, I started telling my family, I started talking to my friends.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:38]:
My parents didn't know what to make of it because they just thought like, I guess it's better than doing drugs. But I mean, right? It's it's good, but they didn't understand it. And I remember after a while growing in the Lord and all of these things happening. And then my dad told me this one day. He says and we had gotten into some arguments and he tried to say, you don't even know what you're talking about. You, like, you just just started in this thing, and why are you telling me about Jesus? And he was upset. But and I've had those conversations. Then one day we're driving, and my dad says, you know, sometimes I think crazy thoughts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:25]:
I go, what are you talking about? He says, yeah, sometimes I think about, like, if what you say is true, you know, like, I wonder kind of crazy, like, like really a god and all that. And I remember telling my dad, dad, that's not craziness. That's probably the clearest thinking that you've ever had. Where did that come from? It wasn't from me. It was God starting to bring a spirit of conviction on him. We were just driving to town and having a conversation and And ask God to open people's eyes. Ask God for Him to convict them, not because we want them to feel bad, but so they see themselves the way God sees them. The reality is everybody here, we're gonna stand before God one day.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:25]:
Right? And our friends and our family too. Right? And our neighbors too. And the people in our city. And many of them are not ready. And so but that's what the Spirit says. It's like, I'll show them. I'll lead them. I'll guide them.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:46]:
I was talking to, some friends a couple days ago and, we were talking about when we first came to Christ and, one guy was saying that, you know, he was in a certain kind of multi level marketing company and I won't say the name Amway because I don't want to give that away, but like, but if you guys are open to keeping your options open and making, you know, an income, then I'd like to have a talk with you. No, but you know that kind of a thing. And so they were going to these business conventions, and and they were all these they were gung ho, and they wanted to make money, and they wanted to start their own business, and they saw some people who were really making it. So they went to the convention. They went to the conference, and it was amazing, business kind of a convention, but they said this, hey, on Sunday there's an optional service. You're not required to come, but we're just making that open, right, for you to come. And it was just a it was just a service. They had music.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:44]:
They had a message. They had a whole thing that happened, and and then he he said that it's like and when they gave this invitation, like, I don't know, like me and my friend, and they're both pastors now, and we're just we're just boggling, just weeping. And he and he said it like this though. In our prosperity gospel kind of push in our mentality, we you know, but we didn't understand really the fullness of the gospel. But this is what I said to him. But God changed your life, right? It didn't matter if you wanted your struggle was to be rich. Didn't matter what you know what? That's awesome what happened. Maybe it's not like how you would preach the gospel today, but you were moved because the Spirit of God came on you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:42]:
And it doesn't matter where it is, in a hotel, in a business function, in somebody's house, on the beach, in a car. It doesn't matter. And and this is the reason why sometimes we don't see it is because we're blinded. In fact, it says it like this in second Corinthians four four. It says, Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe. They are unable let's say the word unable. Unable. To see the glorious light of the good news.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:19]:
It doesn't say they are unwilling. It says they cannot see. They cannot see. Why? Because somebody and something is blinding them. You guys have been blind before, right? It's not like you just hated God necessarily. Some of you might have. I mean like you went through some hard things maybe, but it's the enemy that is blind. They don't understand this message about the glory of Christ who is the exact likeness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:56]:
In first John three:eight, it says this, But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. What that means literally means to loose, to set free, and untie. And so these people who have been blinded get loosed. How does that happen? Sometimes just by your prayer. Pray God that would you unblind their eyes. Would you silence the enemy. Sometimes you just command the enemy. You just say devil get your hand off of that person and open so so that they can see.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:36]:
We pray for that. Pray for that on your street. Pray for that for your neighborhood. Pray for that for your your friends or your your kids or whoever it is that it's not that they have anything against you or although they might. It's they're blinded and they don't know. And the last thing is this, I'm just gonna say is would you pray for our Easter gatherings? Pray that when that time comes that God would show His glory, that God would be drawing people. Right? That, you know, that we're gonna have like this great celebration. We're gonna have egg hunts for the kids.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:21]:
We're gonna have a lunch, free lunch for people. Normally, we just say we do potluck. Right? We just do potluck, and everybody brings and you guys are fantastic cooks. But we just say this year, we're gonna just we're going we're gonna cater to lunch. You know why? Because I don't want you guys to be so bothered by having to cook something, right, and bring something. And then to be honest, hospitality wise, it's a lot more. Now you gotta store them, make sure nobody gets food poisoning, you know. Hot stuff stay hot, cold stuff stay cold.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:55]:
Right? Nobody wants hot macaroni salad. Right? So we just wanna do all this stuff. Right? So we yeah. All that stuff. That's great. And you have entertainment and all that. But but what they really need is Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:10]:
That's what they really need. Yes. Well, it's a celebration, so we're gonna celebrate. But would they encounter the living God? That's what we want you to pray. Pray that God would move. Why? Because He told us to pray that. He told us to ask for workers. He told us to extend his kingdom.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:33]:
He told us to pray that people's eyes get open. He told us to say, God, would you would you bring a spirit of conviction? So it's more than the message. It's your spirit that's more. You know, a number of years ago when we were had started the church, and we were up in Mauna Kequila, we started at Mauna Kequila Elementary School, and they had 28 parking stalls. How many of you guys know that 28 parking stalls is not a lot? And, and we had, you know, a couple services up there, and it was always crowded and all that stuff. So we knew we needed another location. And so we wanted to go to the middle school because the middle school was bigger. They had this parking lot, the whole thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:19]:
So we we pray and we we go down, and, initially they said, We can let you come, but only one time. And I said, Well, what do we do the next week? Oh, that's all, I don't know. You can come one time. And so we did it. We used it one Easter, but the hard part is that people go there for Easter and then we got to go back to Montequito, right? And sometimes people get lost in the shuffle. We just saw this. We cannot do that again. So we need to we need to pray that God you would open the door.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:59]:
And, the doors wouldn't open. They just refused. And so this is what I did. I used to go I would take my bicycle and I'd ride from my house, and then I would ride around a couple of middle schools, and I would claim the land. And I would just say, God, would you would you give us this school? Because more people need you. God, would you open their eyes? Would you give us favor in this place? Lord, would you we we know that you wanna do amazing things, that you just love our city, and you love our community. I mean, God, we need a space that has a little bit more parking, and we need a space that, you know, that where we can grow. And I would just ride around that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:49]:
And I see the security, few months. And then we went in, and they said this. They said, you can come in but only one time. It hasn't changed, but I just said this. I said, I just felt like in my spirit that the Lord said, just take it. And so I said, okay. And this is what we did. We went in, but before we went in, we say anything we can do this is our philosophy, I told her.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:28]:
I I said, we want to leave it better than what we than when we found it. We're not interested in being renters. We're looking for partnership. So we know this is your house. This is your house away from your house. So we want to always leave it better than we can. And so is there anything we can do? And so we bought some things that they needed and we did some things. And as soon as we went, we never left for like ten years.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:59]:
And we went from this place where they never gave us rooms till we had to run at the school. And some of you guys remember that season. And there were anything we wanted to do, they just said, go ahead and do it. And it just was a favor. Why? Because we prayed. We started to pray. We just said, God, we don't have the power to change people's hearts. That's you can.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:25]:
But the Spirit of God just somehow came. I I read that school and that season was an amazing season in the church. We're getting that same kind of a partnership at Ho'okelle, I feel like. God just wants to say, he wants not just to bless us, he wants to bless through us, our community. That would our community be different as a result, but it's the prayer of his people. That make sense? Yes. I think that's the call. You wanna be a difference maker.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:56]:
Yes. You don't have to go around the world. Some of you will. You don't have to go stand up and preach the gospel in a great outreach. Some of you will. There's some of us that we go this Sunday, there's gonna be the youth challenge outreach. You're doing such a great job. Thank you, pastor Rick.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:17]:
Can we just say thank you, pastor Rick and the team that goes out? And some of you will, but the thing is, you can start just by praying. That's what moves the hand of God. Amen? Amen. Let's bow our heads. Let's close in a word of prayer. Amen. Father, I thank you that you didn't say we have to have all the gifts in the world. We don't have to be the most talented speaker.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:46]:
We don't have to be the most powerful person. You're the most powerful. Lord, you have all the skill. Lord, you have all the power in heaven and earth. And so father, what we wanna do is we wanna come in agreement with you and say, God, would your kingdom come on the West Side as it is in heaven? Father, I thank you that would your kingdom come to heal families. Father, would your kingdom come Lord to break just generational, domestic violence. Father, would Your kingdom come to heal, Lord, this Yes, Lord. Some, Lord, just of of of abortion that's gone from one generation to the next to the next.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:35]:
Father, would your spirit come because there are people who are lost and seeking the good life and missing the good God, who gives a better life. Yes. Yes. Father, would your kingdom be expanded? Yes. And Lord, we're sensing that, Lord, you're doing something I think in that we haven't seen in a generation. It's an outpouring of your spirit. And Father, would you flow in our neighborhoods, in our city, in our streets, Lord, in us and through us today. Amen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:14]:
For your honor, for your glory, in Jesus name, God's people say, amen. Amen. Hey, God bless you guys. Thanks for joining us.