Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
You probably can't ignore all the changes happening around us. And in these uncertain times, we all need something solid to hang on to. That's why I'm so glad God has a strength much greater than anything you or I could ever face. My name is Glenn, senior pastor at New Hope Kapolei, and I'd like to invite you to join us on Easter, April twenty, where we're gonna celebrate all God has done and all that he's doing now. We meet at Hookele Elementary School in Kapolei. And after our 10AM gathering, we have a celebration for the whole family. And you can learn more at yhipokopolei.org. And so, yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:33]:
And you know, we we haven't done it. Just trying to do some new things, and, you know, obviously, YouTube is something that many of us have been addict I mean, we we use periodically, and so we thought we might as well use that. But you know, the thing is we're not really expecting YouTube ads to really just bring people. You know, I think the biggest thing is is really a personal invitation. But you know what things like this do? Is it brings some validity to your invitation. He goes, hey, you know what? I I think I heard that. I think I saw the sign. I think I saw you know, that kind of a thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:04]:
He said, is that you guys? And so, really, it's it's working in concert together. And so, we're praying for God to bring the folks that he's calling. He's bringing the the people that he loves, and I'm glad that he loves, he loves everybody here. So, we're inviting as many as we can. Hey, this morning though we're or this evening, we're continuing our series we started called, the difference maker. And so I believe that all of us, that your life was made for a purpose, and that you are here to make a difference larger than yourself. That you're made to not just enjoy life, but to make life meaningful and to make a difference for eternity. And you know the Bible speaks powerfully about the importance and the impact of sharing your story.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:52]:
And everybody's story, and you may be in different places in your story, but but your story matters. You know, your story is an important story, and how your story when your story connected with God's story, that I'm I'm sure there was a change. I'm sure there was a that life was implanted. I'm sure that there was things that that you had to overcome. I'm sure there were things that brought a different change or maybe an acceleration in your life. And you know, the reason why I think those stories acceleration in your life. And you know, the reason why I think those stories matter is because stories are powerful. Right? And, and everybody loves a story.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:29]:
You guys love a you guys love a good story?

Rika Yamaguchi [00:02:31]:
Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:31]:
Right? I think we all love good stories. Stories have the capacity to grab a hold of us. And you know, that word we use to share when we talk about our faith story, there's a word for it. What is that word called? Testimony. Right. Yeah. And it's not the kind of testimony, like, in a court of law that that obviously that affects that, but it's a testimony is really it's just a solemn, truthful declaration, and it can be in a court of law, or it can be a first hand account that you've given, or it can be about the impact that Jesus has made in your life. And you know, there's, there's some myths that are out there that when we come to this aspect of our story with Jesus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:13]:
The first is that, you know, that the story I'm going to share is about me, but really it's not so much about you, right, It's really about God, to be honest. When you share a testimony like that, it's really to give glory to God. But the second thing that we think is that because it's about me, right, that it doesn't matter. Right? But it matters, to be honest, more than than ever because when any of us have been transformed by Jesus and our story changes, there's an arc change. You guys ever watch a movie and sometimes they describe it as like the story has an arc. Right? Like maybe it's a love story or whatever, so like boy gets girl. Right? And it's the high point. Then what's the next part of that? Boy loses girl.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:01]:
Right? Boy gets girl back. They live happily ever after. There's a there's a there's a rhythm to the thing, and the the the part about it is that I'll bet that when your story encountered God in your story, when you encountered God, there was an arc change. There was a there was a shift that happened. Our lives reflected that. And sometimes the the thing about it is that people can hear the gospel, and the gospel message is powerful, but sometimes people cannot they cannot grasp it every once in a while. That whether it's because their eyes are blinded, or they're not in that place, but you know what? That sometimes when people share their story, an honest story about sometimes it's about the broken parts. Sometimes it's about the secret parts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:50]:
Sometimes it's about the amazing parts. The gospel comes to life. And all of a sudden, when you share your story, people go like, oh, that's how it works. Right? It's not about just going to church. It's not about just reading the Bible. It's not about just believing the right thing. It's it's like, oh my gosh, this is like God is real. Right? That God really wants to have a relationship with us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:16]:
Really has a real connection with us. And so this is where David says these out of the fullness of his relationship. He says it like this in Psalm 6six 16. We're going to read that together. Can we, do me a favor, let's stand in reverence for God, reverence for His word. Let's read what it says. Psalm 6six 16. This is what it says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:36]:
Ready? Begin. Come and listen, all you who fear the God, and I will tell you what He did for me. When we tell our story, it's really just saying about how good God has been to us. Right? And has God been good to you? Yes. Amen. So before you're seated, do me a favor and say, Hey, let's tell the world how good God's been to us. Right? Amen. Thanks for sharing that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:05]:
Right? You know, the scriptures are are filled with stories of how God changed people's lives, whether it's the Old Testament or the New Testament. You know, but by the time we get to the gospels, that those narratives, they're filled about the life and ministry of Jesus, and it's like those those stories go on on steroids. Right? We just see, you know, Jesus, healing Peter's mom, like mother-in-law. We see him, touching everybody who's out about people are bringing all kinds of people, people who's who having problems spiritual problems, people who are having, you know, physical problems, people who are having, you know, some ailments, right, people who are are blind, people who are deaf, people who have been, paralyzed, all kinds of situations that happen. But you know, for sure, Jesus, when it says that everyone who touched Jesus, He healed. And Jesus, for sure, is the greatest difference maker, but as a result of His ministry, this is what He said. He gives you the capacity to make a difference. He passes the baton to us, and that the great commission that we find in Matthew 28 is not about that, hey, let's just remember Jesus is the only one who changes lives.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:18]:
This is what he says, now our job is to receive maybe I don't know if it's the baton, you know, sometimes because the baton kind of implies that you run separate. It's kind of more like we run together. Right? That we run together. And, and and and that we now he says, because all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him, Jesus says, let's go and share the story. Let's go and make disciples of all the nations. Let's go and and teach them everything that God has commanded. But sometimes it starts with us sharing our story. You know, the, one of the more, I think, well known, and there's so many stories that they're so well known, about when Jesus encounters the woman at the well.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:07]:
You guys remember that? When Jesus encounters the woman at the well, it's really in a there's so many undercurrents that are going on. There's cultural issues that are there. There's some racial issues that are there, you know, the racial things, it's like he's in Samaria, and to be honest, Jews look down on Samaritans, right? It's sort of like, it's the wrong side of the tracks, it's the wrong ethnic group, and there's some cultural issues that Jesus is talking to a woman during the day. And it's still like this in The Middle East, in Arab countries, to be honest, Muslim countries, where men do not talk to a woman that's not their family member in public. Before I was going to go on a mission trip to Egypt, that there's we would go through all these cultural kind of training kind of things they talk about, and and we see these same undercurrents that happen in Jesus's day. And yet, when Jesus encounters the woman that He just asks a simple favor, right? Hey, can you give me some water? And she says, oh, oh, sure. And then his next line is that, hey, but if you knew who you're talking to, you'd be asking me for water. Right? And he talks about living water, and she doesn't really get it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:22]:
Right? She doesn't really get it, and then he starts laying some kind of a truth bombs on her. It's like, yeah, maybe you don't understand because you've been chasing life in relationships all these times, right? And it's, you're not married now, but you've had six husbands, and you know the woman you're living, the person that you're living with, and he shares all these things, and all of a sudden, you know, this lady's life is kind of revealed. Now when God reveals something, He's not calling you out. Often He's calling you up. Right? So often He's saying, you know what? I know you, and I'm still for you, right? When God shares something like that, He reveals something. He wasn't doing it to embarrass her. He was saying, you know what? But you're not beyond the grip of my grace. You're not beyond the love of God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:15]:
You're not beyond the capacity to change. And so, you know, it goes from there, she goes out and tells the whole village, it says, about this person. You gotta come see this person who told me everything about my life, it says, she said. But then we see later, when they meet Jesus, this is what the people in the village say. And they say it like this in John four forty two. It says, then they said to the woman, then they said to the woman, now we believe. Let's say believe. Believe.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:49]:
Right? Something stirred in them that that they came to this place. Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard Him for ourselves. But you know what? They never would have heard Jesus for themselves if she hadn't gone and shared her story. Right? And so her word, it says, began the stirring of faith, began the stirring of curiosity, began the stirring of the spirit. The Lord will use your story to stir something spiritually in people. Now we know that He says that He is indeed the savior of the world. And as you begin thinking about sharing your God story with others, there's four things I think that we need to be reminded of, or take into account as we begin to get ready to somehow share our story with people. Just as a show of hands, by the way, how many of you have felt like you've shared your story with somebody who who, you know, they might not know the Lord, but, you know, you try to bring them to church or maybe try to share the gospel, but but you just you shared your story.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:58]:
How many of you ask would say that? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. There's a bunch of us, but you know the thing is I know sometimes we don't feel equipped how to do that, and to be honest, that's what this message is about tonight. It's how to give us some tracks to run on, and I think the first thing that we have to understand is the power of stories. You might not be able to to, you know, share the gospel, like you might say it's like the guy that whoever you fill in the blank that you you listen to on online or somebody that you watch on TV, but you know, is that you don't have to know how to do that, although we want to talk about that as well in the future, but would you know that our brains are wired for stories? There's something about a story that can can activate, can engage us. It's much better than facts or bullet points, and and that stories really kind of have that capacity to that. It has a capacity to connect emotionally at times.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:54]:
It has a capacity to connect, you know, with empathy, or just engage our imagination. It's a way that people not only can understand the gospel, but they can also start to feel the gospel. And so why is that? Because it's real life. Because real life stories really matters. How many of you guys, when you watch a movie that, you know, when at the end it goes based on a true story, like, it's, like, more engaging all of a sudden. Right? And it's not fantasy. This is like it's it's this is that has happened, you know. And, and so one of those things, why does it do it? Because stories make things that says relatable.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:33]:
We'll see a few things here. The stories make things relatable because when you share a personal story, you take a concept and you make the abstract real. You know, I I don't know about you guys. Some of you guys might be great at at math and all that. I I think I had shared a while back that, you know, when I took math in high school, I had a hard time. How many of you anybody else like, you know, when I was like elementary school, middle school, like, oh, I was just like an A's all the time. Something happened when I started taking, you know, algebra, algebra one, algebra two, and all that stuff. It's like, I don't know what we're talking about.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:13]:
Right? And when I was having to take calculus in college, but I was just dreading that. I was thinking like, I'm gonna be getting, you know when they say f bombs, I'm getting different kind of f bombs. I think it's like, I'm you know, I was nervous about it because I it was just concepts. It was just like formulas. Right? I didn't understand it, but But you know what happened is I took it I took calculus in the College of Business, and they explained what all these formulas are. So you know when you have a business and you sell these things, and you you want to figure out what's the optimum thing? Well, this is what that formula does. Right? And and then all of a sudden, oh, well, that's what we're doing. Right? And it it it made something that was abstract, made it relatable.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:02]:
Somehow it clicked for me, and and I was able to process. When you tell your story, you know, when people say that God who was eternal, right, became man so that man who is not eternal, could be with God for eternity. That, in some ways, that's the gospel. Right? But you know, for some people, that concept, it kind of just goes over their head, right, in the midst of that. But when you share your story, all of a sudden you say it's like, you know, yeah. I was raised in a church, or, yeah. I've never been to church, but, you know, when I was at my lowest or you know what? But when I was at this crossroads, it was that it's God pulled me out. All of a sudden, people will see themselves in your struggle.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:52]:
They'll see themselves. Right? It's just like when you watch the movies When you watch a movie, don't you just identify every once in a while with the character? Right? You get like, oh, man. Well, I've been there. Right? We we're in that kind of a situation, and all of a sudden, because it's relatable, you know what it does? It brings hope. Right? And so people identify with that. Stories break down walls. Right? Because if you've ever tried to tell somebody about Jesus, and sometimes this is one of the fears that I hear people when I've asked people, what's your what's your biggest hesitations about telling people about Jesus? Like, they're gonna this is the number one thing I hear. They're gonna ask me a question that what? Yeah, I cannot answer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:36]:
Right? And you don't want to get into a religious argument, or you don't want to get, like, right? We get all these kinds of things. Right? And and I've had that conversation before too. I mean, I've had a conversation, like, actually with a family member, an uncle, and we were talking. He's asking me some theological questions. He actually he paid for a trip for me to go fishing with him in Mexico, and the real reason why he took me was because he wanted to understand, Glenn, why are you so different? Right? And you know when when we were talking about, like, about just about my life, oh my gosh, it was easy. But when he asked me a, like, a theological question and I began to answer, it's like he got into an argument. And I was thinking, like, what's the difference? Because you know what? He can argue about religion. He can argue about philosophy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:33]:
He can argue, but you know what? He's not going to argue. God did this in my life. Amen. I was in this place, and and he was I mean, he was I'm glad he had the resources to pay because I didn't have the money to go pay for the to go fishing, but that was the real reason. And so it breaks down walls. And when, you know, when when John writes this part, when he says, you know, now your story helped us believe, but now we've tasted it for ourselves. We understand for ourselves. You know, this morning, we had Diane Park.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:11]:
She did such a great job, you know, and so, can we just she's not here, but can we just say thank you. She did such a great job. I was here in the back and hearing her so real, so vulnerable, and yet so faith driven and so believing. Right? For God's move in our lives, and because even though we don't we don't know how things are, our eyes are set on you. Right? That principle. But you know, about a month ago, a month and a half ago, we had, my friend Pat McFall come speak to us as well, and you know, he ladies, you guys didn't hear. The guys heard, but he when he came, one of the things he opened was he told a story that he went to Starbucks, one morning, right before he was going to preach, all dressed up, all this and he's standing in line and all of a sudden there's this huge guy standing at the counter just yelling at the, the gal at the cash register. It's like, I don't care.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:10]:
Bring me my GED coffee. And like, you know, like and he's just yelling at this girl, and he's like, 'Woah.' Right? Everybody's like kind of taking her back. You know like all of a sudden when somebody's going off, like the mood and the energy in the room, you go like, oh. Everybody's feeling like that. And he just kept going. He said, I'm sorry, you know, like we're still like you're brewing the thing and there's other people and all this kind of stuff, and he said, I don't care. He starts pounding the pounding the counter, and he's telling this story, and then all of a sudden, he says like, I basically have to pick up my coffee and I gotta go preach, on on Sunday morning. And then he says that he just said, Hey.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:53]:
We're all waiting in line. Just be patient, like the rest of us, right? And it's like, as soon as he said that, the tension level went whoop. Like, as much of it as right? Because you know, we don't know now all of a sudden, sudden, is this gonna get physical or not physical? And you know the thing is that I was thinking to myself, it was very relatable, although I was thinking, if I had to preach like in twenty minutes, I would just go. Because if I ended up getting into something, then there's plenty of people that they're gonna be wondering, they're gonna be stressing out. What? Where's that pastor? Like, what are we gonna do? Right? I literally was I literally was thinking that. But the thing is that he tells this story, and then they're like, we're all listening to the story, and it's funny, he's super funny, and he's it's like we can all imagine, and then he says this. He says, and you know the reality is here's this guy dominating the whole room with his anger and his kind of domineering way, and and and then he he he transitions and he says, and you know the thing is, as as much as it's like I I just remember there were times when I did that with my family, with my anger, when I saw my wife with fear in her eyes because I had an anger problem. And I didn't know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:19]:
It's like, you know, he's just sharing his story, but you know what? How many men in that room go like, oh, yeah. Right? And all of a sudden, he was able to share something because we all understood, because we all been there. Right? And and it wasn't to bring us down. It was to say, this is but there's hope. Right? That God had called us up. And so, you know, I when we think about that, stories break down walls because we all relate in some way. Right? Stories can build connections and trust, because we're all drawn to honesty. Right? In this age of social media where people tell about, like, everything, all their successes, right, all their great trips, all their great dinners, right, sometimes people you can feel a little depressed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:16]:
People, you know, they say that people feel most depressed after being on social media, right? Because they see it, because that's what everybody posts, but the reality is that behind the scenes stories, right? If you saw this perfect dinner, dinner, but then you saw us like you was beefing in the car all the way with your boyfriend or your girlfriend or whatever, and it's like the food tasted bad even though it looked great because, you know, the bile in your stomach came up or whatever. Like all of a sudden, if people would put that on social media, right, that you would be like, Oh. Right? But the reality is when it's real, sometimes, you know, we can tell stories to impress people, or we can tell real stories that really happened to us. Sometimes behind the scenes stories, right? Sometimes the stories about real life that when we're open about that, you know what people see is that you're a real human being, right? You're Just a real human being. You know, we're not like black hats and white hats. To be honest, everybody's hat, a little bit dirty. Right? Everybody's hat, a little bit gray, a little bit brown, whatever it is that we're going to say. And here's the thing, why does it build a connection? Because there's a little bit, it's like, well, he's just like me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:34]:
Right? She's just like me. I mean, it's like, like, maybe the exact circumstances of our life might be different, but, you know, but I get it. People get it when you share, like, an honest story. And sometimes stories show people about what is possible. Right? They show people all about, you know, if if God could do something like that for them, sometimes people are thinking, I wonder if it's possible for me. You know, sometimes it stirs a spiritual hunger. Sometimes it makes them question. Testimonies, like, sometimes we used to call it it's kind of in the category of we call it of a salt talk.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:17]:
You know what happens if you eat too much salt? You get thirsty. You get thirsty. And so it's not the gospel. Sharing your testimony doesn't make people saved and ready to go to heaven, but you know what it does? It makes them more open, more thirsty for the things of God. And that's really kind of the purpose. It's like, it's to show that this is how it can work. This is what it can do. And, you know, Jesus tells this the story the gospels tell the story about the the man who, was demon possessed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:54]:
Are you guys familiar? He had so many demons, it says that he called his name. When Jesus confronted the the demonic, kind of entities, he says their response was, we are legion because we are many. Right? And it tells the story about the guy was so, oppressed by demons that he couldn't even be restrained by chains. He was naked. It was like he just sounds like a terrifying thing, just like an insane person, but demonically, empowered, right? And it says, Jesus cast out the spirit, and that man ultimately, as a result, he was just enamored, right, with Jesus. He says that when he he fell down and he was came to his senses and and he was in his right mind, the first thing he wanted to do was just his devotion was, I Lord, can I follow you? Can I can I just be a part of what you're doing? Because it was so powerful. And Jesus says to him what? He says in verse 19 of Mark chapter five, Jesus said to him, go home to your family. Right? And tell them everything the Lord has done for you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:06]:
Instead of saying, come follow me. You know what the most important thing you can do right now? It's not like being a traveling ministry. It's not like go across the oceans. It's not like go to, you know, go to China or Russia or wherever to share the gospel. She says, you know what? Go home. Tell the people that you live with. Tell the people where you came from, right? And so it says the man started off to visit the 10 towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him. Can you imagine this guy's story when he went home? I'm sure some of them remembered like, oh brother, you I see this is this the same guy? Right? You guys ever seen people like that? Like is this the same guy? And maybe somebody that they they didn't know that he had had this demonic problem, he had been possessed and and all of these things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:01]:
Maybe they didn't know. They just hadn't seen him for a few years, and all of a sudden now they see him, and they go up to him and say, hey, man. How are you doing? I haven't seen you for a long time. Where have you been? He says, oh, I've been living in the gatherings. I was like, oh, the gatherings. Isn't that the place that I heard get, like, one crazy demon possessed guy, but it's, like, just terrorizing. It's, like, just out of control. I heard that they they try to kind of lock him down, but he breaks the chains.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:27]:
And what if he said that? Hey, brother. You know what? That's me. Can you imagine what a story would be like? You know, we were in a young adult group one night, just just a bunch of the young adults were, you know, at our house, and we're having a study, and and then one of the guys just says this, like, would you be just sharing before we're in the study? Or we might have been in the study, I can't remember, but he just asked this question. Hey, you guys ever been driving on the road? And you you see the guy who's just strung out on drugs talking to themselves. Right? And everybody's like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. He says, and this was his thing. You know what? That was me. That's how bad my problem was.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:15]:
I was just out of it, walking down the road, talking. It's like that's where I came from. That's where Jesus met me. I was that guy, and you know today, I mean, he wants to serve the Lord. Today he's in Bible College. Today, he's planning to prepping to to go plant churches. Right? But I tell you, when he said that, everybody in the group was like, oh, what? Right? Everybody. And maybe your story isn't that dramatic, but when it's a real story, then if he could do that for him, maybe he could do that for me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:01]:
Sometimes we're believing for somebody else. Maybe he could do that for my family. Right? Maybe he could do that for for my kids. Maybe he could do that for my for my parent or whatever it is. Right? We people believe in that way. It shows them what's possible. The good news is this, and Jesus said this. Right? Nothing is impossible.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:23]:
Nothing is impossible that when you believe. And so, you know, everybody has a story to tell. So what's the second thing? The second thing is before you start sharing your story, just would you confirm your your connection with Jesus? Would you confirm that connection? Because for Jesus to use your story as a difference maker, you know, you you have to have an encounter with him. Right? Right? You have to actually know Him. Right? It's not just telling about Jesus, you know, like there are people in the bible who tried to use the name of Jesus, but they didn't know Jesus, and it wasn't effective. And because when we know Him, then it's not telling about some story. I could tell you stories about, you know, Ohtani. I could tell you stories about, any baseball fans, I could tell you stories about Otani.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:19]:
But you know what? I don't know Otani. I don't really know him. I never met him, right? And so it's really kind of a third person thing, right? It's like it's what I read, it's what I heard, it's what But if I knew him, I said, you know, when I met him, wow, he was like more genuine than I ever thought, right. He was more humble or whatever. You know, we say that, and so I just want to ask if you've had a personal encounter with Jesus that you I don't know if it was because you made an intellectual decision or because your decision was a little bit more emotional. It doesn't really matter. It just matters that you came to know Him, that you surrendered your life. Right? And in Romans ten:nine and 10, this is how the apostle Paul describes that what becomes necessary.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:14]:
He says let's read what it says in Romans ten:nine and 10. He says, If you declare with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. You know that word when it says to declare? Let's say the word declare. Sometimes we might think that word means, I just say it, right. I said it. But this is not just saying words and saying I just said the magic words. I said a magic prayer, right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:53]:
The sinner's prayer, right. You know that the sinner's prayer is not a magic prayer. It's not magic words, you know. Lord, I invite You into my heart. Would You forgive me of my sin because I repent. Those are not magic words. They're they're good words if we trust Jesus. Right? That word declare actually means a promise, some kind of assurance, a confession.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:22]:
You know what the reality, what it's saying? If you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord, it's saying this, I choose to make Jesus my Lord. So for some people, when they've done that, they have a real experience right at that moment. For other people, to be honest, they feel the same. But then over time, they begin to grow. But they made sometimes we call it a decision. Because faith is not a feeling, it's a choice. Right? Just like love. Is love a feeling? No.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:00]:
Love has feelings. Right? But what what kind of feelings do you have when you love? Sometimes it's like wonderful, and then sometimes it makes you crazy. Right? So but sometimes you don't feel nothing. I see a few babies in here. Right? This is one of the things I know from having children ourselves. When the crying goes off at 03:00 in the morning, and you get up to change the baby, you do it why? Because you what? Love your baby. Wait 03:00 in the morning, when you change the diaper, right, and then you open it up, and all of a sudden, there was an explosion that you didn't account for, right. You're like, how many of us go like, oh I had such warm feelings for my baby.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:52]:
No, that's not right. But you chose. You chose. You know, it's the same when we choose Jesus. Is it because you always had this? No. But over time, you'll experience those. Right? You'll experience the love of God, but you gotta choose them first. Right? And he says this, because it's with your heart that you believe and you're justified, but it's with your mouth that you declare, this is my choice.' Make sense? Yes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:22]:
Right? And so to be honest, if you're not sure, we're gonna make sure tonight. Right? We're gonna give an opportunity to do that. Right? And so, and here's the third part, that your story requires a little bit of reflection, and then I wanna encourage you to write your story out. Now, some of us, when I say that, it's like, I already know my story. I don't need to write it out. I don't need to think about it. I lived it. Right? But here's the thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:49]:
You guys ever listen to somebody tell their story, and they go, like, hey. So I I I met Joe today at the at the on the course, and, wow, that's they had a crazy thing. And you go, oh, what happened? He said, yeah. When we met, you know, at at the the golf course, I was we're just talking, how are you doing? And you started telling this story, and then I saw like Joe's brother. He came. You remember Joe's brother? And they start telling about Joe's brother, and he's like, oh yeah, oh yeah, brother had one, like, one some heart problems, and it's like and he's thinking like, man, what does this have to do about Joel? Right? Like and and all of a sudden, yeah, all that happened, but it's not all important. Right? And if we don't reflect on our story, that sometimes people cannot understand what is the point of our story. And it's like, ladies, how many times you've been telling your man a story and they go, what's the point? Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:50]:
I know you hate it. I know you hate it when a man says that. But when he says that, he literally doesn't know the point. And sometimes, man, have you been telling your story, and your wife, she don't know the point either, right? Because we're telling all these other things too, right? So sometimes, right, so reflecting will help you to understand the point. And so there's really three points that in almost any story is like, what were we like before Jesus? Right? How did we come to know him? Right? And then how are we different as a result? And so when we talk about what were you like before Jesus, it's really you gotta think about not like, you know, when I was three years old. You know, unless that's when you accepted the Lord. But, right? It's like, okay, sometimes we want to start a little sooner, a little more recent. You know, this is a dangerous prayer when people pray for grace, you know, when people start praying for the food and you go like, Lord, in the beginning you created the head, like oh my gosh, that's going to be one long grace prayer, right? So we we wanna start someplace else.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:09]:
So where do we start? Like, tell us about think write down about what were you doing before you met Jesus? What was your life like? What were you feeling? What were you thinking? What was your mindset? Right? There's some of us that in different seasons that certain things just defined your life. Right? It's like, if you were the the high school athlete, man, that that was probably your identity. Right? If you were the party person, that was all I was thinking about was this. If I was just a workaholic, that just defined you. Right? If you're like my friend, that, you know, unfortunately, drugs just dominated his life. But what were you feeling? What were you acting? What were you what were you what was happening in your relationships? And then all of a sudden, well, how how did you hear? How did you hear? Some of us, you know, but I was raised in the church. But some of us, it's like I never heard anything. There's some of us that, you know, how did you hear? Who told you? Right? What made sense to you? Ask yourself those questions.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:14]:
So the first one, I'm just in that thing that what were you like? Who were you like before Jesus? Right about your thoughts, your actions, your feelings, your relationships. What defined your life? If you think about those things, and then you go, okay. What was the realization? Who told you? Right? Like and when you write about those things or you talk about those things and you tell your story, can I give one thing? It's like and don't be negative about, like, if you came from some faith tradition that, maybe you're not there now. You know, sometimes this is like the most common one I hear is like, you know, I went to Catholic church, but and then we'll say something negative about that. I never went to Catholic church, so I don't have anything negative to say. Right? So I never went. But, I would just say, you know, be careful about doing that. There's brothers and sisters in the Catholic church.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:16]:
Is it like do I believe everything that Catholics say? No, I don't. I mean, the Catholic Church believes. But I never say anything negative about it. You know why? Just because, like, if you come somebody comes from that background, all of a sudden you say something negative, it's like saying something it's like, hey, can I tell you something? But you know, like your mom. Oh, I couldn't stand your mom. I was like, all of a sudden, they're not gonna listen to anything else you say. Because when you say something negative about something that where they come from, somebody that they value, right? I mean, even if it's Buddhist, or atheists, or whatever, you can say it's like try not to say something super negative, because sometimes people cannot hear once you say that. That make sense? I remember like when I was in The Mainland, I was like, I had this Bible study and this ministry stuff we were leading, And like all these Asian guys, they would all identify with me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:16]:
And then of course we had, you know, how old you guys from The Mainland right over there, and the group was mixing. And one girl, she said this. She really she didn't mean it this way. She said, oh I really love you guys, but we were eating like Chinese food and had like the ika inside the noodles. You know what I mean? All the ika legs. And she just said this. She goes, oh but I could never eat the food that you guys eat.' All of a sudden, I just sensed the mood change in the room. She meant it like she wasn't even thinking.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:52]:
And all of a sudden I see the guys like all grumbling. I pull them on the side, and they they said this. Stupid haole. I said, hey, shut up. You cannot say that word. You're not even from Hawaii. So I got so I said she didn't know what she was saying. She didn't know what she was saying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:10]:
Just cut her a break. Right? Cut her a break. But sometimes we'll say that when we, you know, when we do that. So that's why I say that. And then, here's the third thing. How have you changed since? How have you changed since? You know? Sometimes for some of us, your life totally changed. Everything, 180 degrees. For many of us, the change was more gradual.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:35]:
Right? For some of us, if you didn't have, like, a super dramatic you know what changed? Was the spirit in which you did things. The motive in which you did things. Right? And it's in that moment that sometimes motive changes that we were if you think that sometimes, like, I don't know, my story is not that dramatic. But when you're when something changes, you have a heart change, describe the heart change. How how was that different? How do you think different now? How do you approach a sister and situation differently now? Now? Right? Because we all struggle about different things in life. That's a common thing. Everybody in this room, we all struggle with something. Right? And to be honest, we're all struggling with something still.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:27]:
Right? And so when sometimes when you hear somebody tell something, it's like, man, there's sometimes when somebody's talking, I'm taking notes. Like, oh, what? Tell me, what is that? And and so how have you changed since? You know, at this point, I just wanted to ask my wife to come up and share, kind of like just her her faith story, how she came to faith. If you haven't met my wife, this is my lovely better half, Rica. Is there a handheld? The handheld mic? Oh, okay. I guess we told I told everybody, except Derwin who had the mic, that Rika was coming up, but I'm gonna let her share the story. Hi, everybody.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:43:12]:
Hi. I will try not to make it too long. So, I'm gonna share my story, what Jesus did into my life. And, and I have fun. I didn't really like study, but, you know, I went to school because they had PD. And, you know, I enjoy PD. And, you know, because of the friends, I went to school. Dentist.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:44:37]:
So, like, you know, he worked hard, and, everybody respected him. And, you know, he provided, you know, for the family and loving. And my parents have really open mind. You know? So, I was really blessed, you know, when I was small. And it looked everything good. Great. I think more than good. You know? It was great.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:45:04]:
It looked really great. But in my heart, I was, feeling empty. You know? Even though I had good time with my friend and I had fun, but my heart was still empty. I was, I felt like I'm missing something, and I didn't know what it was. You know, like, my heart was really, really empty. I don't know why I was there. Must be something to feel my heart. So, my body was there, but my mind was searching for something in the future, looking for something.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:46:16]:
And, you know, living in Japan, like there's no Christian. I never had Christian friends. I never seen the Bible. I never seen the church. You know, and I think, you know, I know the word God but I didn't know who he was. So I wasn't searching. I didn't know what could fill my heart. So my body was there, but my mind was in the future, in the middle school.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:46:51]:
But when I became a middle schooler, I started to play basketball and I really enjoyed it. I was into it, but still my heart was empty and I was looking for something. And you know what? My mind was already thinking about high school. Must be something in the high school. You know, as I got older maybe you know must be something that could fill my heart. So, again my body was there, but my mind was seeking in the future looking for something. And I became a high schooler. At age of 15, I decided to go to England.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:47:43]:
I really don't want to say how many years I was there because my English wasn't is not that great. So I don't want to say, but I was there for two years. And, you know, it was a great time, great experience. I learned a lot of different culture, different people from other countries. It wasn't easy, but you know, I learned a lot. And I was thankful, but still, even though I went to a different country all the way from Japan, I couldn't find anything to fill my heart. And I came back. I went to I went back to high school.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:48:21]:
I played basketball because I I chose that high school, because I was thinking to go to college to play basketball. So then my high school was the the champion in in Hokkaido. That's, the, you know, northern part of Japan. But, it was really tough. Train really hard, and a lot of people came to play basketball in that school. So, you know, really competitive and had to train really hard. But one day I got the anemia, some kind of anemia, and I couldn't play. The doctor said it's gonna take a little longer.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:49:10]:
So my door of the college closed, And I felt like I had to stop playing basketball. And, I felt like no reason for me to be in this school, you know, now. I don't know why I'm here. But, it wasn't easy, it was hard. I cannot play basketball in college anymore. But, you know, God opened the other door. I decided to go to the vet school, which took, like, six years. But, I decided to go.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:49:52]:
And I didn't know, but, it was a Christian school. You know, and there's a one Christian in my class, and he invited me to go to church. And again, I wasn't looking for God, and, you know, I wasn't interested in God, but I was interested in Him. So you know the praise of all that God walked, you know, different way, right? And I went to church for the first time. It wasn't a Sunday service. It was during the week they had a service. So I went for the first time. You know, I couldn't find I tried everything, but I couldn't find.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:50:42]:
But first time I went to church, and I didn't know God. I didn't know even the Bible. I never seen Bible. I know the name of Jesus, but I didn't know. The first time I went to church, I just felt like this is what I was looking for. And for the first time, I felt like my foot on the ground on this world and living. You know I was so relieved like oh I I can really live live present time. Because remember my mind was always seeking something, looking for something to fill my heart, and never lived, you know, the present time.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:51:35]:
Just my body was there. But for the first time, I felt like I'm living on this earth, in this world, present time with my heart. Not just my body, but with my heart. You know, I told you, in Japan less than one person is Christian, so that's why I didn't know anything. I didn't have a Christian friend, never seen the Bible, never seen the church, you know, never thought about God. But, you know, and I didn't know what could fill my heart, and where I could get that. Something. I didn't know about something, and I didn't even know how I could get that.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:52:26]:
But God was so good. He never forgot about just an ordinary girl in Japan. God never forgets, you know, and nobody told me about Jesus, but He never forgot about me. And one day, He came to me. You know, I'm not perfect. I believe in Jesus. I'm not perfect. I'm still learning and growing, but I started living my life when I was 20.

Rika Yamaguchi [00:53:24]:
For the first time, I started to live my life, you know. So maybe I'm 40. I'm still 40. But, I had a new start with Jesus, and no more emptiness. You know, again, I'm still learning. I I have a lot of places that I have to grow, but no more emptiness and no more living in the dark looking for something. You know, So that, God is alive, and he's gonna do, he's gonna touch your life too.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:23]:
How many of us could relate that we're chasing something? Right? That it couldn't fill us. And and it wasn't so much that she was looking for God, but that it comes out that God was looking for her. Right? Even through a kind of an imperfect person because she didn't meet the love of her life, the answer to her prayers right here. No. Just kidding. God's the answer, right? But you know, everybody relates, right? It's it's a story. When you think about your life and you tell your story, just it's we're kind of we all have the same needs. We all want to be loved.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:03]:
We all have pain that we gotta get over. We all have frustrations. Right? We all have things that we're chasing. We we are we're we're just people. Amen. But the good news is that God came for real people. That's the good news. You know, when you do this and you start sharing, you know, we we want to be careful, and I think my wife is really good not to to use kind of jargon inside baseball language.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:34]:
You know, it's like, oh, it's like I needed the conviction of the Holy Spirit and this and that, and it's like people that they might not know. Right? But I was saved, sanctified, and set apart. Like, you know, like, sometimes people won't understand that. I think there's times that we use that, but just think be mindful about who you talk to. You know what? Whatever your story is like, again, like, I I know some people, they tell stories about, like, the journey they were on and how they really just found that fulfillment in Jesus. It is a wonderful story. And then I know some people that when they if they tell you the whole story, kind of make you a little bit nervous, you know, like they we we can get in that place. But wherever you are in your story, commit your story to God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:25]:
Right? Wherever you are in your story, commit your story to God. Because God allowed you to walk the path that you've been down for a reason. There's no shame about your story because God said this, I can work all things together for the good to those who what? Love Him and are called according to His purpose. Alright. I just wanna close with this. You know, in in Luke 15, Jesus tells a bunch of stories about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and then a lost son. Right? And this lost son is called, so often we say, the prodigal son. But the young son who basically with rebellion in his heart, right, said, dad, sell a four zero one k, sell the extra house, You know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:21]:
Cut this business part off. I just want my inheritance now. In other words, he's saying, dad, I to be honest, I would be prefer if you were dead so I could get my inheritance. Right? Really, like, it's a horrible situation and he gets some money and he lives a crazy life. Right? And he has to be at the bottom of the barrel, where he has to be at his lowest, or he had to hit rock bottom. And at rock bottom, he he goes home. Some of us, you know what? You relate to that story. Right? Your story is is his story.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:54]:
But you know, that's not the whole story of the prodigal son. Right? Because what's the other half of the story? The other half of the story is there was the good kid, the older brother, the one who always went to school, the one who got straight A's, the one who was responsible, the one who got married, had the job, did everything right, but you know what? But somehow something in him didn't understand. Didn't understand the love of God. Didn't understand the love of the father. Why? Because when the son came home, and the dad said, son, your brother's come home. Go make reservations at Morton's. We're going all out for dinner. That brother, what was his response? He got mad.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:44]:
How dare that guy show his face around here after what he did? And why are we going to Mortensen's for him? Like, you never even take me to L and L. You know, whatever that's that's his response. And it says though that dad, when he saw his son, what did he say? That you ain't my son no more. You never said that. You said, how dare you share your show your face wrong? Never said that. Never said, hey. Until you beg me for forgiveness, you're not welcome. Never said that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:27]:
Instead, it says, the father, in the most undignified and emotional way, says he he tied up his clothes and he ran to his son and embraced it. And you know, the story really, I really believe it's trying to say is like, when it comes to that story of being lost, some of us were lost in our rebellion, and some of us were lost in our goodness. And we never really knew the fact that sometimes your heart gets renewed. It's in the love of the father. Right? And the the whole point of it, when you see this, the high and the low, you know what the impression is? The the point is? Because it doesn't matter. Because it's like and everyone in between can find hope and redemption in the love of Jesus. Amen. So wherever your story is, don't let the devil tell you it doesn't matter.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:00:36]:
Don't let the devil make you ashamed. Don't dare be ashamed Because the grace of God was given so others can also see there's hope. Amen? Amen. Hey, let's bow our heads. We can close in a word of prayer. Father, I thank you that for some of us, we're very great at sharing our story. And for others of us, Lord, we haven't really given it that much thought. But Lord, I thank You that we have a story, not just for us, Lord, not just for our family to be grateful, but Lord that sometimes it's that story that will touch a person.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:01:20]:
It's that story, Lord, that it people will listen to stories, personal stories. They might not always believe it. They might not always understand it all, but sometimes what they'll sense, they'll sense the heart of it. Sometimes people will say, I wish I had that peace. Sometimes people say, If that kind of love is real, I'd like that. So, Father, I pray that You would help us, Lord, that the stories that we've walked and the stories that we've lived, Lord, they need to be told, not for our glory, but for yours. And if you're not sure if that's your story yet, you know what the Lord wants to do? He wants you to know. He wants you to know His love.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:02:13]:
He wants you to know His grace. He wants you to know His forgiveness. If you've never said yes to Jesus, but that's your story today, maybe your story, this is the point where there's change. It's that moment. If anybody here, that's that's you, would you just raise a hand and say, Lord, it has to be or maybe you need to renew your life. Maybe you need to renew your faith. Right? I'm gonna pray a real simple prayer. Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me, And I haven't always searched for you, but thank you you've been looking for me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:02:54]:
I surrender to you tonight. Would you come live inside me? Forgive me of my sin. Thank you for Jesus who died in my place that I might have life, that he came from heaven, that I can be in heaven with you. And would you help me to know you more, to walk with you in this life, to know your nearness? Help me to understand your will and understand you, and that I might become all you created me to be. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Hey, can we say congratulations to the brothers? Hey, God bless you guys.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:03:45]:
Thanks for joining us.