Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]: Hey, can we say happy Mother's Day to all of the moms in our midst? All of you moms at home. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:08]: You know, that so often, during this time, often you hear us reading from Proverbs 31 about this woman of noble character, and I I I as I used to read this, I used to think about this, I would say, Wow, that this is an amazing woman. You know, like it says, she she gets up early, she goes to bed late, she's well trusted by her husband, her kids are dependent on her, she cooks and cleans, she provides food, she has her own business, she invests for the future, she's doing all these things, she works with her hands and she works with her mind. You see all these things, and she attends her family. And I used to just think, wow, this is amazing. Now you know what I think? It sounds tiring. So if you're a woman, and a mom today, and and it's just tiring a little bit. You know, we we understand, but we are so grateful to you. You know, the scripture says this, give to everyone what you owe them. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:07]: If respect, then respect. If honor, then honor. And I think for most of us, we wholeheartedly say, without reservation that moms, you guys deserve the honor, you deserve the respect, you deserve our love, our admiration, sometimes moms, we come in all shapes and sizes. Right? We're young, we're old. Right? Some of us, we're honoring, we're thinking about the moms who raised us, the moms who gave us the opportunities, the moms who drove us around, the moms who drove us forward, the moms who sacrificed and laid down their lives for us. And on this weekend, you know, we we recognize for some of us, it's the moms that are in our household now, the ones that that we call our wives, the ones that we may call our sisters, and we think of the unwavering love that they have. And that you might be a mom here today, and and that you have little toddlers at home, and and and it's an exciting and a and a kind of a frenetic time maybe. And for some of us, our children are already grown, and but your presence and your care have left an eternal impact and it's leaving a legacy now. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:27]: If you're nurturing little ones right now and they're incessantly curious or sleepless nights that you're guiding them, in the midst of that, we honor you. If you're one with, teenagers or, tweens, and that you're guiding them with prayer and patience, standing as a pillar for this next generation, we honor you. Wherever you are in the journey, that your role and your life matters. To the new moms learning how to navigate both love and being exhausted at the same time, we do wanna say, you are not doing it without notice. To the moms who struggle to take their kids to practice and games, as well as to keep the never ending homework getting it done, we thank you for not giving up on us and keeping us on track. To the single mom who bears a double burden, that you have a fierce courage and you're the portrait of resilience and honor in our lives. To the adoptive moms, the foster moms, the hanai moms, the way you take us under your wing and you bring us into your heart and you bring us into your love is a beautiful representation of the heart of God. To the grandmas whose wisdom spans generations, your legacy is written in love, and for some of us who have become moms again through that, some of us grandmas have become moms again, we love and honor you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:09]: To the moms who have released their children back to the Lord, no matter how little or how much time that you've had. We're reminding you that you're still life givers, that you're still moms, and that we honor your love and your faith and your sacrifice. And to the spiritual moms who pray for us, those ones who have come alongside us in our moments of insecurity or moments of uncertainty, and you've given us your grace and your counsel, you have enriched our lives in eternal ways. You don't have to be perfect to be honored. You just have to be willing to be honored. You're honored because of your love. You're honored because of your sacrifice. You're not honored for your performance. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:57]: You're honored for who you are. And though it doesn't always feel like it, that we do notice, right? Husbands, right? Kids, that we do notice we couldn't or we wouldn't want to do this without you. And so, we want to take some time to just honor the women in our midst. Would you guys, if you're a mom here, would you just stand this evening? We want to just honor you. And ushers, you guys, thank you so much. And you guys can be seated, but you know, we have a little gift for each of the ladies in our midst, and some of you might be saying, hey, you know, I'm not a mom, but for some of you, you truly are. You're a spiritual mom, and some of you, you'll be moms to be. For some of us, that you're just you're just a life giver, and we want to honor the women in our lives. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:54]: We want to honor the ones who at times have guided us, have been companions, the ones who have been partners in life, and we want to honor you today. It's just a little thing. It's a little, hopefully a little bit of beauty to bring in your life with the rose, and hopefully a little bit of sweet and chocolate is always nice. Right? So if you don't like your chocolate, I'll take it. So no, I'm just kidding. But you enjoy, today I think the amazing part on Mother's Day weekend, chocolate has no calories. I'm not sure if that's true, but somebody told me that. But, hey, you know we wanted to pray for the moms and the ladies in our midst, and some of you, young women, you know, that you're here and you're often, you know, if you're a young lady today, I think sometimes there's so many messages that we get, right, that you're supposed to go out and conquer the world and do all these things, and then at the same time, you know, you feel this tug because you go like man, you know, I don't know if I would want kids one day, but would you just know this, that whatever your role in life, whatever God has in store for you, would you just be open to all that God has for us? You know, sometimes in different seasons of life, you cannot see how certain things will play out in your life, But you know, all I know is today for us, like my wife and I, we had a, we're just talking. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:23]: It's like, we just don't know what life would be like if God hadn't moved in that way, right. But the thing is just be open. Just be open and embrace the things that God has for you. We're gonna pray for the ladies in our midst. If you're sitting next to one of the sisters, whether they're mom, just a young lady, or some of our grandmas, some of our aunties in our midst, it doesn't matter. Would you just extend a hand? We want to pray for our sisters in our midst. Father, today Father, we're praying for for all the young moms and the moms who are caught up in the craziness of life, and the ones who may not be with little kids, but still just the activity and care of the household, and all the things that are related. God, we just thank you for them, and so we just bless our sisters. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:13]: Father, we bless them right now. And father, we declare that they are loved. Father, we declare that they matter. We we declare that you are raising them as a woman of honor, of character, of substance, and father we know that they're not a perfect woman because no one of those exists, just like there's no perfect man. But father we're thankful that they don't have to be perfect to be honored. They just need to be who you created them to be. So father, we pray in whatever way that they're growing, whatever way that you have for them, father, would you go before them? Would you grow them in grace, honor, power, love, wisdom, and strength, God? Father, would our homes be different as a result of your blessing flowing in them and through them? And Father, would our world be different because of Your love and Your power and Your grace flowing in and through them. Lord, we bless our moms. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:20]: Lord, we bless our sisters. We bless our wives. We bless our daughters. God, we bless, Lord, the future moms and the Halalai moms and the spiritual moms in our midst. We bless them all. In Jesus' name. God's people say, Amen. Amen. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:38]: Hey, congratulations again ladies. Thank you so much. Thank you for all that you do. You know, when we, come to a time of, this weekend, you know, we're, talking to moms, but we're talking to everybody today because I think everybody, to be honest, at times wants to be honored. Right? But, you know, one of those things, it's, we we wanna be able to to walk in the things that really last in life. You know, we started the series on Easter called, Against the Odds, and we're looking at it's a series really on faith, hope, and love, the things that last forever, and the last two weeks we've been talking about faith. Right? A faith that strengthens you, but this week we're talking about, in this series, we're talking about a hope that endures, and and I was trying to look up some things about hope, and somebody said this, they said, I tried planting a hope tree in my backyard. The only problem was it never grew. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:38]: Right? That kind of a thing. I don't even know what a hope tree is, but it sounds it sounds right. Just like some of us how many of you guys planted a money tree in your yard? You guys have that money tree? Right? Because and what's the hope? We'll get plenty of money. Right? And some of those never grew. Right? But, you know the thing is, some of them said this, hope is like WiFi. It's invisible and powerful, but it somehow disappears exactly when you need it most. Sounds like my WiFi at home. I I still gotta probably change some things up. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:07]: But, you know, the the thing is that there is a hope that really endures, and not all hope endures, but there is a hope that really endures. The the apostle Peter, wrote about this when he he wrote in the beginning of his book, in first Peter. He said, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he's given us new birth into a living hope. Let's say living hope. Living. Living hope. Right? It's it's not a dead hope. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:35]: It's not a hope about the past, and something that has used to be. It's about something that is currently going on. Something that is currently happening through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Because you have a hope that endures, because you have a hope that is living, because we serve a living God. Romans 15 says it like this, and we're gonna read this together. This is this is God's expression of what he wants you to have, and we're gonna stand and we're gonna read that out loud, and let's just receive it as we read it. Would you be kind enough to stand in reverence for God, reverence for His word, and let's read together. This is what it says. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:15]: Ready? Begin. I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. You know this thing, it says the source of hope is God. That God is that source of hope. But what happens when He fills you, it says with joy and peace, that there'll be overflow. Let's say that word, overflow. What does that mean? It means more than enough. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:49]: It means that that that He fills you and then He fills through you. That God wants that for each and every person, that you would have a hope that is not just enough to sustain you, but but that it waters others. That it encourages that God's hope will flow in you and through you. And so before you're seated, do me a favor. Turn to your neighbor that says, God wants to bless you to overflow, and then you can have a seat. Right? Right? Overflow. Right? So it's like sometimes we sometimes we say this, somebody pouring you, something to drink and you'll put your hand over it because what are we saying? It's like, I had enough. But this is what God says. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:31]: No. Let it flow in you, and let it flow through you. Let it let it overflow your cup. Now that word hope, sometimes you know the word hope, certain words are just, basic, and we we know them. But if somebody asks you to define it, what is the definition of hope? You're gonna read, like, some of those words, you go like, it's sort of like and it's kind of elusive, but we use it all the time, and we it's kind of like we know it when we see it. Right? Sometimes I think hope can be like that. Does hope involve faith? Yes, obviously, I think it does, but but hope, I guess maybe a nice way to put it might be it's a positive expectation for the future. Right? That you have some positive you have things that you're believing for. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:17]: You're you're favorable to this thing. It's like you're you it's going to be something that you like or that you're anticipating. Right? And so it comes from the Greek word, elpis, and that's what it means. It's having some reason of confidence reflecting something that will come. It's hope. It's expectation. And this is God is the source of hope. Right? And that that he can make things happen or change in our life as we trust in him. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:45]: He can bring peace and joy in our lives, but the reality is not all your hopes and not all my hopes pan out. Right? Not all our hopes pan out. Sometimes we have hopes, but but many of our hopes are tied to, you know, some circumstance that you're facing, your job, a relationship, some some health issues, some some goal or dream that you may have. So often I've sat with people and we've prayed about, really kind of when they're in that mode of of getting a new house, or or when they're in this place of trying to make a situation, trying to get into a better job, or or trying to get into this school, or getting their kids into that school. Sometimes I've prayed with people before the big game. We want our kids to be successful. Sometimes we're praying though. Sometimes we're praying because things haven't worked out. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:41]: Right? And you know, the thing is that all the goals and all the plans and sometimes all the things that we hope I wish in some ways, right, that sometimes we wish that people will say this. We wish that all your dreams come true, but the reality is not all of them do. Right? Now, now why is that? Because to be honest, many of our hopes are fragile. Many of our hopes are fragile. They're based on the circumstance. They're based on certain things, and and the thing is it says, how many dreams, how many plans do you have? The Bible says you got a lot, probably, and if we were to number all the things that you've dreamed about, and planned for, and hoped for throughout your life, you could probably write a book. Proverbs nineteen twenty one just says it like this. Many are the plans in a person's heart. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:28]: Right? Because you probably have plans for, your your relationship life. You probably have plans about your financial life. You probably have plans about where you'd like to live or what you'd like to do. Right? And they're not wrong things. They're just not unshakable things. They're just not things that always endured. You know, sometimes those things get maybe disrupted, and you never really kind of know, you never really expected that they'd get disrupted. You know, when my wife and I got engaged, that we had planned to get married about three or four months, after not after our engagement, but after I was gonna go to visit Japan and meet my in laws for the first time. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:13]: And I remember going and I knew after a month that God told me that really, that this woman, she's the one. She's the one that you've been praying for. She's the one that you've been hoping for in in life, and and so, you know, and he hearkened back to me that I I recalled a dream that I had. I recalled that it's not really a dream, it was a vision, that I had that after I had gone through a bad breakup and I was wondering, God, when is my time? And I saw this vision. And, in this thing, I saw that, her fiance and ex fiance, was gonna be pursuing her. And when she says no, that's going to be the time. And it was so weird I wrote it down. You know what I mean? It was just, it was so odd. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:02]: I don't know about you guys, but God doesn't normally talk to me like that, right? And so I wrote it down. And then I promptly forgot about it. No. You know, and when we started dating, I wasn't praying, is she the one? I just was really praying about the relationship. But God brought that memory back of that vision that I had and said, now is this time. And so I just said, man, God, you got to go ahead. Right? And so we went and I visited her folks and it went great and I was nervous. Right? How many of you guys, when you met your in laws for the first time, that you were a little nervous? Right? And, you know, they're smiling, saying all the wrong the right things, but inside you wondering, are they just being nice? Right? So you ask your fiance, like, oh, do they like me or did they not really like me? Right? You're not really sure, in secure a little. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:51]: I was a little bit like that. And then when we when I came home, I thought we were gonna get married in, like, three four months, so we're just in the middle of the planning, doing all those things, and then Rika flies home, and when she gets to the airport, it's like, coming in from international, you can't really go, right? You can't go in and you can't see them, but she has to go through immigration. And I was there for like forty minutes waiting. I mean, it turned into an hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, five hours. To be honest, there's no call that you can make. There's nobody to talk. Like, going at this point, I'm going to the door, I'm trying to ask, I say, you cannot come out, we cannot tell you anything. Six hours, right? And I'm wondering, is she at first I'm wondering, she said they they said she is here, but she cannot come out, right? And then after about six and a half hours, she came out, right? And she was obviously emotional. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:55]: Obviously, she'd been crying. Obviously, Obviously, it'd been difficult because she was told that, she couldn't stay. That we didn't understand this, that she had come on a visa originally, but that when she left, when we left to go visit her folks, you know that that visa was no longer going to be, enforced when she came back. And so when she came back, she actually wasn't deported. It's called denied entry. Now, how many of you guys watching the news lately? Right? So sometimes, like, my wife is a green card holder. We're going to travel soon. Right? And I have some friends who are very nervous about things like that, but it that set up into a motion that we couldn't get married when we thought we were gonna get married. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:48]: When could we get married? Who knew? Who knew? Right? We had to now file these visa things, and write to my senator, and do all these things, and and and you know what the good news is? I hate to break the spoiler, but she came in. We got married. But, obviously, we did. Right? So but the thing is that, you know what? It it didn't work out the way that we had hoped. Right? We we our plans were were were shaken. Now the thing is that this is what it says when you go through a season like that. Proverbs thirteen twelve says, hope deferred makes what? The heart sick. Right? We we were we were discouraged. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:29]: We were tired. We were a little surprised. Why? Because, God, it seemed like everything was moving forward, and and God, we we trusted in you. Right? And some of us, you're you've been in a season like that, a job that looks so promising, but then it somehow fails to really materialize. Maybe you, you had some other things that that you tried. Remember some of us that when you were young that you really wanted that tattoo, and you talked to your parents, and your parents said no. Right? You guys some of you guys remember that? Or or how many of us that you remember that crazy trip you wanted to plan with your friends, and that somehow you guys were gonna do this crazy thing that this was gonna be epic, and somehow that trip never materialized. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Now, if you're like me, you've had a lot of things like that maybe that have happened, and some things that haven't happened, But you know, to be honest, some of those things that we hoped for, and we planned, and we look forward to, sometimes some of those things could have been really good for us, and some of those things probably wouldn't have been horrible for us. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:42]: Right? Like, how many of you, if you got that tattoo, that first tattoo that you wanted to put on you, but you never got put on, how many of you would be, like, embarrassed right now? You'd be thinking about laser removal, right? So or how many of us, if you got that first remember your first crush? How you thought they were the best perfect thing can how many of us have seen what your first crush looks like today? And some of you, you're like, man, I'm glad I didn't get what what I was hoping for. Right? So, but the thing is that sometimes our our hopes are very shakeable. Right? They're they're very they're things that that pass, and so sometimes we need to understand when we talk about a hope that endures, we're not talking about things that that are changed with taste, right, or just changed with the season. God wants you to have a hope that goes beyond that. And sometimes that we need to believe that that you can have a hope that's unshakable because when your hope is rooted in a God who is good and who is faithful, it leads you to a hope that becomes stable and strong and unshakable. You know, in the book of Hebrews, it talks about it like this. He says this, Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His promise very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. Let's say there's the word unchanging nature of His purpose. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:19]: Right? In other words, this purposes of God, He doesn't just change His things. This is an unchanging thing. This is an eternal nature of his promise, right, of his purpose that that what he confirmed it with an oath that God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, that we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us, may be greatly encouraged. I like when it says greatly encouraged. It doesn't say just encourage, that He wants you to be greatly encouraged. Turn your head over and say, God wants you to be greatly encouraged. Now, why is that? This is why it says, because we have this hope as an anchor. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:10]: Why is it firm and secure? Because it's based on two things that do not change, God's purposes, God's plan or purposes, right, that what He gives you, God cannot lie. The The second thing is it's based on his character. And because God is good, because God is faithful, that when he gives you a promise, and that when he makes us a promise, he says, it will not change because I do not change. He does not he he doesn't grow tired of you. He he continues to be the same. It's not wishful thinking, it is an expression of our faith and trust in God's character and his promises. Now, sometimes we don't really notice anchors until you need an anchor. Anybody here sail? Anybody here go boating? Right? No? Not many people. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:11]: Some of us have been fishing, you know, like, it's or surfing, maybe, or like paddle boarding, or kayaking, that kind of a thing, you know, like, to be honest, if you're surfing that you're out there, you're in the if you're waiting for the set, and then the next thing you know, how come I have no waves over here? It's like you guys ever notice this like because he's probably drifted down the beach, right? The the current has taken you out. If you're fishing in that place and you wanna keep fishing in this place, but you keep drifting out of the zone that you wanna There is a solution for that. You know what it's called? It's called an anchor, right? The anchor is it's saying that when the drift the drift of the world around you, it's pulling you in the wrong direction, there's something that secures you in a place of stability. There's something that keeps you on track. There's something that holds on to, the thing that you cannot hold on to, right? That's what an anchor does. And it's not always visible. To be honest, we generally don't see our anchors, but we feel it. We feel it in our soul. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:20]: And God says that your hope, that when your hope is in Christ, sometimes it's like an anchor. You don't always see it, but you can feel it. You don't always know what's what's happening below the surface, and sometimes you sense pressure, but you sense a resistance against that pressure. That's God's anchor for your soul. You know what I love in my devotional readings? I've been reading several places, but I just finished the book of Joshua, and the book of Joshua is when the people of God come into the promised land and for forty some odd years, forty five years, they've been wandering the desert, and they finally come into the promised land, and they finally different tribes start getting their allotment, and they start going and kind of building their homes, and they start enjoying the goodness of God. But I love the summary statement that said repeatedly in this book of Joshua, especially toward the end of the book, and it says it like this in Joshua twenty one forty five. It says, could you be, kind enough to join me as we just read? Is that in your notes, Joshua twenty-one 45? It's on the screen. If not, you can write it down. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:38]: Maybe this is what it says. Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled. Everything He had spoken came true. And you know, God doesn't just do this for Israel. He does it for all His children. That when God gives you a promise, that when God speaks a promise, when you read a promise from the word of God, would you know that He wants this statement to be reflected over your life? That not one of the good promises the Lord had given you was left unfulfilled. That everything He's spoken over you would come true. This is not wishful thinking. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:27]: It's not like stir yourself into a frenzy so that you can hold on. But it's saying this, that it's the nature of this. It's that when God gives you a promise, it's something that you can hold on to. It's something that you can bank on. It's something that you can, understand will be with you in thick or thin. How do you do that though? How do you do that? You do there is a part that you and I have to play and that's that's in this next point is that that we have to align our hope with God and his process. Right? Sometimes, we have to align our hope with God and his process. And, you know, the thing is that God always wants to bless His people, just that sometimes we need to be in the position to be blessed. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:14]: Sometimes we need to be in a position to be blessed. This is what it says in Psalm 8four 11, For the Lord God is a sun and a shield. The Lord bestows favor and honor. And then let's read this last phrase together. Ready? Begin. No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. God wants to bring blame, good things, right, into your life, right? Does that mean you got to be perfect? Blameless doesn't mean perfect. Right? Perfect means you've never made a mistake. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:49]: Perfect means you always do everything right. Blameless means that you're not walking around guilty. You're not walking around in rebellion. Blameless means that that you're seeking that you're seeking God. And so, you know, I think that because God wants to bless His people, that sometimes we don't understand His process in blessing His people. Because sometimes the blessings of God don't always look like blessings, to be honest. They don't always feel like blessings. But sometimes, can we just say this? Maybe it's not a blessing. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:25]: Maybe it's the fact that God puts in our lives at times precursors to blessings that when the right situation takes place, turns into a blessing. I know. Does that make sense? Right? That sometimes you don't certain things that come into your life, they're not, they don't really look like a blessing, and it might not feel like a blessing, and maybe it isn't a blessing in and of itself, but it's a precursor to the blessing. Right? And and so in Romans, we talked about it a little bit last week, that there is a process at times by which God somehow uses and and and takes us through a process. He says it like this in Romans five three to five. It says, not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings. Does suffering feel like a blessing? No. I mean, at least not in my book. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:21]: It doesn't, right? It doesn't, and if you guys have the faith, Oh, when I suffer, I'm super happy. Then praise God that you're ahead of me. I'll learn from you. But, but we know he says that, but it doesn't always feel like that. But because we know that suffering produces something, right, suffering is a precursor. Suffering is a precursor to what? Perseverance. And perseverance is a precursor to what? Character. And character is a precursor to what? Hope. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:51]: A positive expectation of the future. Right? And so hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has given who has been given to us. Sometimes that the way that you were born, you know, that have you ever felt somebody ever tell you this, you know, when God made you, He made you perfect? Anybody ever heard that? That kind of a thing. Right? Or you're perfect just the way that you are. Right? Maybe there's maybe there's love songs. I don't know. Like, that kind of a thing. But the thing is I've heard I've heard that, you know. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:31]: And the thing is that how many of us that you look at yourself in the mirror and you go, if this is perfection, I'm I don't know what imperfection looks like. Right? Sometimes it doesn't feel like a blessing. Sometimes it doesn't feel like a blessing. If I wanted to be an NBA basketball player, rocking it at five four doesn't feel like a blessing. Right? And so, but you know, the thing is that when people who examine people who often have been successful and people, study people who have made progress in life, they cite a couple of things. There's this phenomenon called the advantage of the disadvantage. Malcolm Gladwell writes about this in one of his books, books, the David and Goliath book. And he says that, he was citing a study from the University of London where it says that a third of highly successful entrepreneurs are either dyslexic or have some kind of a learning disability. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:41]: And he's talking about guys like Richard Branson, you know, who runs Virgin, Airways or Charles Schwab, like huge giant investment firm, right? And and he just they just talk about these things, and he he said that that many of them being of again, he spoke at another conference. He said, how many of you have been diagnosed with a learning disorder? You know, ADHD, you know, like, dyslexic, whatever. He said, half the group. Half the group raised their hands. So, Gladwell's insight from this was this. He says, there's two possible interpretations then for this fact. One is that the remarkable group of people triumphed in spite of their disability. They're so smart, they're so creative that nothing, not even a lifetime of struggling with reading could stop them. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:32]: But he says this, but there's another way that you could look at it. The second thing he said, maybe more intriguing, is maybe they succeeded in part because of the disorder, that they learned something in their struggle that proved to be of an enormous advantage. And so maybe when you've had ADHD, right, I have a son who has ADHD, Did it feel like a blessing? No. It drove us crazy. But the thing is he's a hard worker. He has character. He has perseverance. Where have I heard that before? It says sufferings produce perseverance, and perseverance breeds character, and character breeds hope. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:39]: There was a young boy who was born with spinal tuberculosis. When he was two years old, it finally started to take its toll, and so it was so severe that he had to be hospitalized for nine years from two to 11. He was told he would never walk again. His surgeon had to fuse four of his vertebrae in his spine. As an adult, he became an engineer that, you know, he wasn't really kind of known for his athletic ability, his physical abilities, but he was a smart guy. But he was also creative, became a stand up comedian, became part of an improv group in LA. He eventually went on to become an actor, and then later was nominated for his Oscar performance as Mr. Miyagi in Karate Kid, right? Wax on, wax off. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:40]: But you know the thing is, what people say about to be an actor is you got to take a ton of rejections. Right? You are told no so many times that most people never make it. Is it possible that Noriyuki Morita, or more oftenly known, Pat Morita, was able to do it because? Not that spinal, tuberculosis is a blessing, But can we just say this? It turned into a blessing. It was a precursor to something that developed. And so sometimes when we're looking at our lives, there are things like that. Paul the Apostle said this, that it's in situations like that in my weakness, I find strength because I stop just relying on the strength that I have and I start relying on the strength God has. What do we do when the prayer in faith, though, is an answer? Maybe it's a healing that we seek and it doesn't come. Sometimes it's easy to wanna point fingers. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:57]: Sometimes we point fingers at God. Sometimes we blame ourselves. Sometimes you can blame other people. I'm not sure why we do that. But sometimes we do. Right? But don't throw away your hope. You're hoping God. Because your hope is enduring. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:14]: Your hope remains. When your brokenness overwhelms you and you've been through something like that, remember that God is not done. This is not just a precursor in those kinds of things, but sometimes even when something you have hoped in comes crashing down, would you know it's not impossible to recover? You know, this this mug is a I don't know if you can tell. It's just a there's a rising sun. There's like a, Japanese cranes on it. This is a just a Starbucks mug from Starbucks in Japan. This was one of my son's favorite mugs, that he he got in Japan, and he he really liked it, but you know, the the thing about it is what would happen if this mug was broken? And all of a sudden, this mug which was once cherished, what would it be good for? Yeah. Nothing. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:23]: To be true now. And sometimes that's how we think our dreams are. Right? Now, some of you might be wondering, wow, Pastor Glenn, he's kind of mean, yeah? Like his son's favorite mug, and he just broke them. Well, the thing was actually cracked before, but it reminds me of a story of a man named Yoshimasa. He had a valuable and beloved and priceless Chinese teacup. And it was his favorite cup to drink tea. But one day, in a little bumbling of an accident, the teacup fell and shattered on the ground, and although Yoshimasa is Japanese and was in Japan, he knew that the finest craftsman and highest technology during those days was found in China. And so being a man of great wealth and power, he took the shards and had it shipped to the finest craftsmen in China to be repaired in whatever way that they could do. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:34]: And so, you know, he sent it off and basically went on with his life, and after waiting for quite a while, the shipment came back, and when it came back, he opened the box with expectation only to be disappointed that the pieces had somehow been fashioned together, but it was fashioned together with these clasps and hinges and and plates that that made it look nothing like what he had previously. And so, he thought the cup was beyond repair. But some craftsman in the court asked permission to find another route of restoration. And so, they developed a technique that highlighted some ways that maybe kind of conceal some of the brokenness, but they use some lacquer, and some special lacquer, and some powdered gold, and what the result is was a cup that maybe looks somewhat like this that they call now the art of kintsugi. It's to take the broken pieces of something that was once valuable. And sometimes we think that when something is broken, its value diminishes, but in the hands of a craftsman, it can be fashioned into something of beauty. Ashikaga Yoshimasa was the eighth shogun of Japan. And it was under his kind of a rain and this season of life that Kintsugi was becoming popular. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:29]: If you have pieces in your life that somehow don't feel like they fit together, sometimes we look at it and we think, it's just useless. It's just a dead part of my life. Would you understand that God never wastes a hurt? That he never throws away the pieces of your life. You just have to give it to Him. This is what it says in Romans eight twenty eight. Can we read that together? It says, And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. You know what I love that it says? It doesn't say, For God works together. God causes some things to work together for the good. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:26]: You know what I'm saying? Some things in my life I can see I can see how God could work that for the good, right? There's some things sometimes it's hard. There's some things that seem unsightly, that seem irreparable. But God says this. I love that it says he works everything to work together for the good. Are there things in your life right now that's just painful? It's just ugly. It's just difficult. It's just a struggle. And you see no beauty in it. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:03]: You know what God says? Would you just give it to me? Would you surrender it to me? You see, when He says that He works everything together for the good, the only thing that you and I have to do is give Him the pieces. And then let him in the hand of the craftsman, would he form something beautiful? I believe it's often in those moments that the psalm come to life, where we can then say, Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him. You know, in John chapter 10, Jesus talks about life and He says, He says, I have come that you might have life and might have it to the full. And you know that word life, there's two different words for life in the scriptures. One is the word bios where we get the word biology. Right? And, that stands for physical life. Right? That to make something alive like, when an animal is born or a child is born, it has bias. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:19]: You have, you and I, if you're here and you can listen, that you have bios, right? You have a physical life. But the other word is the word zoe, which really means more of a spiritual life. It's not the physical life. It's a spiritual life. It's a dynamic life. It's an overflowing life. It's something that is abundant, he says, something that's filled with strength and joy beyond what the physical can occupy and provide. And so he says that whatever it is that you've gone through, you're still alive. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:59]: But you know that not everybody who's filled with physical life experiences the spiritual life. But this is His promise. He said, When you taste and see that I am good, you seek Me, you'll find Me. And then it says this, Then you'll experience the abundant spiritual life. That's His promise. And that's your hope. Until the day that you go from this life to the next life, He says, I'll be with you. I'll be for you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:34]: I'm moving in your midst. And I can even take the most difficult things in your life and make something of beauty. Amen. Okay, let's bow our heads. We're going to close in the word of prayer. Father, I think for all of us, we, the words that says that the plans in a man's heart are many. And And Lord, we would probably admit to that, that Lord, we've had many different goals and dreams and hopes at times. And Lord, some of them have come true and some of them haven't. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:18]: And Father that some of those things were, by the very nature of the things that we wanted, were very shakeable. But Father, that one of the things You said that is unshakeable in our life is that when we make our hope in You, that we're trusting in You, God, and Your promises, because You will not lie. You will not change. And Lord, that fact becomes an anchor in our life for our soul. And father, I pray that for some of us who may be struggling with some of the pieces in our life. To be honest, there's some people here that you don't know how certain pieces in your life fit together right now. That you used to think it all fit well and I knew how it all fit together. But some of us right now, there's there's a piece in your life that you just don't know how it fits, and sometimes you're tempted to throw it out. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:32]: Instead, would you give it to Jesus? Would you surrender it to Him? Would you put it in the hands of the master who is skilled that says this, that He can work everything together for the good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Maybe some of our moms that you're you're just tired. And some of us we feel pulled in different directions. This season won't last forever, but would you let Him give you strength? Because your value isn't what you produce. Your value isn't just all the things that you do. Your value is inherent. You're made in His image. And He just wants you to live out that image. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:36]: Trust Him. Find your rest in Him. And sometimes we wanna see it all put together like a TV show. Maybe your favorite TV show that that starts out with great drama in the first fifteen minutes and somehow in the last forty five, it all just comes together. Well, the Bible never really promised that that sometimes it takes more than an hour, and sometimes it takes more than one season for it to resolve. But those of us who have these shows, there's some of them that it's traced on over years of seasons, but if you watch long enough, you see it resolved in the end. If that's you this evening, and would you just say, God, I'm trusting You. I'm trusting that you're working together all the things in my life. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:50]: Not just some of the things, not just the good things, not just all the things I did right, but Lord, you're even working out some of the things that I did wrong. Not just some of the things, even all the things. What God is not saying is the things that were wrong are good. He's not saying that. He's just saying this, you don't see how I'm gonna weave it together, but with my craftsmanship, I'm gonna bring out something good. I'm gonna bring out something of beauty. I'm gonna bring out something that reflects my purposes and plans in your life. You just gotta give it to me. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:31]: If you're here this evening and some of that just makes sense to you and you're saying, God, I just need to give those parts to you today. Would you just raise your hand to God? Say, God, I'm giving you those pieces. I'm giving you the parts that I don't know how it fits together. I'm giving you the pieces that sometimes I get tempted to throw out. Lord, I'm giving you those things that sometimes I give up on myself. But God, we thank you that you're not giving up on me, so I'm not giving up on you. Yes. I place my hope. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:00]: I place my faith. Yes. My favorable expectation is not just that it'll work out the way I think. I'm trusting that when you work it out the way you think, it will be good and it will taste good to me. By faith, I say that to you today. I trust you because I thank you, Lord, that it's the goodness of the Lord that we'll believe that we see in this life, and in the next life, eternal life. We thank you. That's your promise. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:36]: In Jesus' name, God's people say, Amen, amen. Okay, thank you guys. Hey, you know one of the things that we just wanted to make sure that we give to you guys was a memory, And so, you know, just be reminded after the service, there's gonna be some family photos that we have our photographer, our professional photographers here. They're gonna take some photos, but sometimes it's in the midst of life. Just make the best memories you can. And so, thanks for joining us today. God bless you guys. If you said yes to Jesus recently, you know, and even tonight, if you said yes to Jesus and, you know, you don't have a Bible, you don't know what to do, what's the next step, we have a yes packet. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:20]: It's out in the back, and we'd love to give you one. Or, if you're online, and you'd like one that we can't email you a Bible, we can tell you how to download it, but we do have some things we can send you. And so let us know. You can always just say, text the word commit at the (808) 793-5655 number. We'd love to be able to do that. God bless you guys. Have a great Mother's Day weekend.