Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
Good to see you guys. Hope you're having a great week. I'm having a great night. I don't know if you guys can tell if my voice sounds a little scratchy. You know, we were doing a mic check. I was thinking, something is wrong with the sound system. No, it's just something's wrong with my voice. So that was the only thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:17]:
So, you know, on Wednesday, I couldn't speak. To be honest, I lost my voice. And, you know, I had some meetings and different things and ended up going to the doctor. But praise God. God is good. Antibiotics also help. And so, yeah, if it sounds a little scratchy, it's not the stream, you know, it's something. It's operator error.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:36]:
This operator. Hey, this morning. This evening, though, you know, we just completed our series last week, against the Odds. And I don't know if you've ever felt like you've been against the odds. The odds are against you. But we. We just talked about how God is on our side, and when he's on your side, it changes the equation. And we talked about how three things remain that faith, hope, and love.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:00]:
And he says the greatest of these is love. And we finished that series last week. But to tie in with that, actually this message could be very well part of that series. And I think it's because all of us are sometimes looking for power. I don't know about you guys, but sometimes when I'm reading through, scrolling through the news and different things, I. I'm always seeing, you know, little articles. I don't know if you guys see this about, like, little mind hacks that, like, if you want to have brain health, you know, you take mcts. You guys know what mcts are? Coconut oil.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:34]:
You guys know, like that. And when I heard that before, I just thought, you know, that was insane. Who wants to drink coconut oil? It must be horrible. And I've seen, you know, folks in my family do that, and I couldn't tell if it worked or didn't work. But the thing is, you know what? Hey, when you start getting brain fog a little bit, you know what I noticed then I start taking coconut oil, right? And you know, there's all these other things, and that's pretty much all I take for those kinds of things. You know, I hear all kinds of stuff. Ginkgo, biloba, creatine, all these things. Some of those are for mental sharpness, and some of those are for physical vitality, right? A little more energy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:12]:
And to be honest, when you read the news and you look at what's going on in our economy that we're always looking for more energy, right. I don't know how many of us remember at the beginning of the pandemic when gas was like five bucks a gallon, right? And it's like, oh, my gosh, what was happening that we were looking for more energy. And, you know, the thing is that I think with all that in mind, that God also promises power, and not in the way of just mental acuity or physical strength or something to drive the economy, but a spiritual power to drive forward his kingdom. And this weekend, I don't know if you're aware, is Pentecost weekend. And Pentecost. Pentecost simply means 50. But what it is is seven weeks after the Passover. In the Hebrew scriptures, that was an annual harvest, a festival where they tasted and saw of the Lord's goodness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:09]:
They. They had a time of celebration in God's provision in their lives. And to be honest, this weekend we. We celebrate a different provision. And it wasn't a physical provision, although God is a provider, but it's a celebration of God's promise of power. And this evening, what we're going to read is we're going to take a look at what happened on that first weekend of Pentecost after the resurrection. And when Jesus promised, he promised that power would be available. But the promise for power didn't just start at that Pentecost after the resurrection, after Jesus ascended to heaven.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:51]:
It is something that we see littered and peppered throughout the Scriptures because it has always been God's promise. It is always God's desire that all of his people experience his power in their daily lives. And so we're going to start by reading this evening in Psalm 68, verses 34 to 35. And would you be kind enough to stand. Let's stand in reverence for God. Reverence for His Word. And then we're going to read out loud verses 34 and 35. Ready? Let's begin.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:25]:
Tell everyone about God's power. His majesty shines down on Israel. His strength is mighty in the heavens. Let's pause here for a second. So who are we supposed to tell? Everyone, Right? And what are we telling? That God is powerful. But you know, of course, we all know God has power in heavens, but what about on earth? This is what he says. Let's read, continue on. God is awesome.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:50]:
In his sanctuary, the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God. You see, even King David, long, long, hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus Was born, gave this word. He's saying that God wants all his people to experience his power, to experience his presence. And God gives power to people. God gives his presence to people. God does it by his spirit. And so before you seated, do me a favor, just turn to your neighbor, says, aren't you glad God wants to give you power? And then you can have a seat.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:32]:
God wants to give you power. He wants to strengthen you. He wants that praise to flow from your heart as you experience that. But you know what I've noticed is it's sort of like we always see different ways we can understand some of these things and how it works just even in the world, that you'll see something very common. And then, you know, maybe you can understand that, that this common thing has a. Like a spiritual illustration. If you look. How many of you guys know what this is? Just from the color? Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:08]:
Credit card. You guys know which credit card? Oh, it's upside down. They make a difference. You cannot read them from there. But it's a Hawaiian miles. How many of you guys have a Hawaiian miles car? Yeah, yeah, I figured, right? Like a local people, we use this. Why? Because we need the free flights, right? We want to save money. We want to do all that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:26]:
But I don't know if you guys have known, but Barclays kind of announced, these are the guys who run this card and Alaska Airlines. And some of us noticed that, hey, there's been a few changes once Alaska bought Hawaiian Airlines, right? But one of the things that they announced is that this card is going to disappear. They're going to just close this card. And what will it be replaced with? It will be replaced with this card. This is an Alaska Airlines card. Now, if you do nothing, you don't have to worry about it, one day they're going to just send you this card. If you have this card, they can just send you this card in the mail. And you know what you're going to do? You just use this card, no problem.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:08]:
But you know, the thing is, if you have been the guy that you look like 70,000 miles, the offering for this card, you know what I mean? That you can get 70,000 free miles, you, if you take a flight and you sign up on the plane, will you have a couple more months that you'll still issue this card, Right? And if you want 70,000 miles, and I'm not telling everybody, spend money and, you know, please be. Be good steward of your money. But if you're going to spend it anyway, right? And you will pay off Your credit card every month, sometimes this might be a good deal, right? But you only get a couple more months. Because what will happen is when they give you this card, you know how many miles they give you when they give you this card? Because you don't do anything. They give you this much miles, right? Here's another way you could do it, though. If you sign up on Alaska Airlines right now, because you already have the card. I don't need another Hawaiian miles card. You know What? You get 60,000 miles.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:08]:
You can get free 60,000 miles. So that's why I have an Alaska Airlines card, right? Because I might as well get something for nothing, right? Like, if I can right now, the thing is that. Why do I say that? Because you can't respond to something you don't know, right? If you don't know, you just don't know. And. And you know what? For some of us, you could have lose about 70,000 miles. You could lose that 60,000 miles. Or some of you guys, you can get the card and then get the other card and you get 130,000 miles and you can go Japan for free for, you know, and all those things. And the thing is about it is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:42]:
But if you don't know, it just goes by you. It's the same thing about the promises of God. So we need to understand God's promises and what he makes available. Because if you don't, you just live life the way you've been living. And so this is what he says. This is Jesus speaking, right? On the night before he goes to the cross, he says this. He says, and I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate. That word, advocate can mean somebody who's like your defense attorney, someone who's like your counselor, someone who comes alongside for you, someone who goes to bat for you, right? So he says, who will never leave you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:24]:
And he is the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth. The world cannot reseize him because it isn't looking for him, right? They're not looking for him and they don't know anything about Him. And so they're not able to receive it, he says, because he doesn't recognize him. But you know him because he lives with you now and later will be in you. And so, you know, so often, I think in churches it's very easy for us to talk about Jesus, right? How many of us it's easy to talk about Jesus. And when you pray, who do you pray to? You know, I'd say this, that I always prayed to Jesus. Because when I got saved, because I experienced that moment when I said Jesus, come into my heart like lord, would you forgive me of my sin? That I literally felt a weight lifted from me as it just is a young 21 year old, you know, young buck back then, I'm now an old deer. I don't know what that means.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:22]:
But you know, the thing is, but I still remember. I still remember. And when Jesus touched me, I literally knew something was different in my life. So it was so easy for me to talk to Jesus, right? And I knew I didn't deserve it. I knew I was like living a crazy life. I knew that I had made my mistakes and I had my rebellious things and I did all these things. But Jesus was kind and merciful. It's easy to talk to Jesus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:48]:
To be honest, some of us, we have a little, maybe a little harder time sometimes to pray to the Father. If you came from a home where maybe you didn't have a good relationship with your dad or maybe even was a bad relationship, sometimes hard to pray to the Father because we might feel like God is distant, the Father is distant, you know, but that's not what the scripture says. The scripture says the Father himself loves you, right? The Father himself loves you. But sometimes we talk about the Father, we talk about Jesus, but, but sometimes, maybe when it comes to a practical life, we don't really talk too much about the Holy Spirit. For some of us, for some of us it's the opposite. You know, you guys are very in tuned and well aware of the Spirit of God. But the thing is that you cannot call on somebody that you don't know. But let's take a little look about who this Holy Spirit is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:41]:
Because the reality is he's the same God. He's the same God that we find throughout the scriptures. Peter says it like this in second Peter 1:21. He says for prophecy never had its origin in the human will. In other words, people didn't make it up. They didn't have a good story to tell. They weren't just great speakers, they weren't just talented. They didn't have chatgpt to figure out something and then give you something else to believe, right? So they said this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:12]:
But the prophets through who through though human spoke from God how as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. And so when we're talking about the prophets that sometimes you have New Testament prophets, there's guys Agabus in the, in the scriptures, Paul has a prophetic word and these kinds of things. Obviously the apostle John writes the book of Revelation. We see this, but he's also talking about the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah, the prophet who said that a child would be born to us and the government would rest on his shoulders. And we would call him wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, Mighty God, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, the God with us. How did Isaiah speak of this? This was the Holy Spirit gave him those words. It wasn't Isaiah came up with the idea. It wasn't Isaiah who said that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:08]:
That the suffering servant would just. He would die for the sins of the rest of us, and the punishment of us all were laid on him and by his stripes we are healed. Isaiah wouldn't come up with this on his own. It was the Spirit of God who spoke to him. The same about Ezekiel and Jeremiah and Daniel or Moses. It's the same spirit. It's the same God that when you call upon the Spirit of God, it's the same spirit that spoke to Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel, Moses, Isaiah, right, Paul, Peter, it's all the same God. It's the same God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:49]:
You know, what we find in numbers 11 is probably the most prolific guy in the Old Testament, though, is I would, you know, throughout Moses, probably the most prolific guy who is out there. And obviously he has this encounter where on the mountain with the burning bush, right? And out of the burning bush that a voice calls out to him and he says, moses, take off your shoes for you're standing on holy ground. And I think what God is saying is a. Don't treat as. Don't treat as common my presence, when my presence shows itself, honor, honor that, respect it, treat it as valuable. And then, you know, the thing is that Moses has this encounter and he goes and delivers the people and they go through the Red Sea and all of these things and totally, you know, miracles that happen through the 10 plagues that fall on Egypt and gets them to open their hand to release the people of God. But, you know, the thing is that Moses had a problem. The problem that Moses had wasn't that he wasn't anointed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:59]:
It wasn't that God didn't call him. It's just that basically he was doing it all by himself. And there's 2 million people and it says that he would listen to 2 million people's problems and he would listen to. And he would adjudicate like. Like if you thought like, hey, this guy, he was, you know, he was crouching two souls to my side, and my thing was this. And his animal, you know, ate my stuff or whatever, he would listen and judge all those things. He was burning out, right? He was burning out. Like, I don't know if you guys.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:30]:
Like I just read today about. What do you call those guys, the dispatch people on the phone, Communication officers. They call, they work five days a week, and mandatory they got to work three, at least three, four hour extra shift. It's like every day, right? Every week. So, you know, it's like, hey, some of these guys, they talk about the burnout problem. I think Moses was burning out. And it was in the middle of that that God says to Moses, hey, moses in numbers 11, it's in your notes and the references. But for.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:02]:
For me to put everything in there might be a little hard, but I think this one might. There. He says, you know, Moses, I will come down and speak with you, and I will take some of the power of the spirit that is on you and put it on them. You see, God told Moses, Moses, gather 70 leaders to help you lead. But we don't want them just to lead out of their own wisdom, out of their own power, out of their own ego. He says, I want them to lead like I would lead, right? So what has he said? I'm going to take some of the spirit that's on you and I'm going to put it on them so you won't have to do it alone. And so they dedicated themselves, it says, to God. And they took that night and they prayed and they dedicated themselves.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:51]:
And then God came and he took some of that same spirit that was on Moses and he put it on the 70. But the thing is that not all the 70 showed up to the place where they were supposed to go. A couple of them were, you know, a little bit low, low. They never went. Maybe they didn't know where the tabernacle was, the tent was, or they just got a late start or whatever. But 68 of them were there. Two of them were still around their home place. But this is what it says, that the Spirit of God didn't care.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:22]:
He went and he fell upon not just the 68 who were at the tent at the tabernacle, but even the other two. And so when that happened, they began to prophesy. They began to speak for God. They began to speak as the Spirit gave them direction. So sometimes when it says to prophesy, it's not talking about telling the future, it's speaking directly from God or it's giving a message from God. Sometimes it's calling out something that's wrong. Sometimes it's telling what's Right. Sometimes it's just saying how good God is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:55]:
But they're speaking this. And Joshua, who is Moses assistant, right? Ever since he was a young man, we had been Moses assistant. And when he sees this, he says, lord, look at this. Like, I can tell them, shut up already. Like they're stealing your thunder, you know, like they're doing, like, what you do, how that's not right. And this is what Moses replied. And in Numbers 11:29. But Moses replied, are you jealous for my sake? He says, I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:33]:
You know what Moses heart was? Moses heart? Wasn't that like, hey, I don't want anybody else to have the spirit of God, because, you know, I'm the man, right? He said, no, that wasn't his heart. His heart was like, no, I wish everybody had the spirit of God. I wish all God's people were prophets and that the Lord has put spirit on them. And you know, why is that? Because just Moses was a generous guy. No, because that's been God's heart all along as well. That's God's heart. It's not for special people. Although we see that happen in the Old Testament, that God did do that, that he.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:07]:
He would go on Samson. And when that happened and Samson became strong, Samson wasn't just this big ripped guy that just walked around all the time. It's that. But he had a leadership role. And when he needed to operate in that, the spirit of God came upon him. We see the heart God, not just the heart of Moses, because he's the same God. He's the same God that in the book of Genesis, that when God made this dirt mannequin in this form of a man, and all he was was a dirt mannequin, right? He says it was God who breathed the breath of life in his nostril. And it's the same God, the same spirit that made that dirt a living soul.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:59]:
It actually uses the term a living soul. It became a living soul in the. In the original language, he became a living soul. And you know, the reason why I think God shows us things like this is because he wants to take some of the dead things in our life. He wants to breathe life in them. Are there places in your life you go like, man, Lord, I just. I need life in this thing. Sometimes it's a relationship, Sometimes it's a certain segment of your life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:26]:
Maybe it's your work life. Maybe it's, you know, the fact that your ministry. I don't know what it is, but Sometimes it's your relationship with God, sometimes it's a relationship with another person. God, would you breathe life in that? It's the same spirit. It's the same God, you know, that God wants to take those things and make them alive so we can see him, so we can perceive him, so we can be filled with his spirit, so we can think with a renewed mind and a renewed heart. You know, I love this, and I just want to encourage you. It's in Genesis 1:2. It's the very beginning of the Bible, right? Verse 1.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:06]:
Most of us, or many of us can recite it right in the beginning, God created. Created the heavens and the earth. But, you know, verse two says this. Now, the earth was formless and empty, and the picture it gives is. It's chaotic. The original language in Hebrew literally means that the water was chaotic. The Hebrew word is tohu wabohu. It was unformed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:33]:
It was a mess. But it says darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. It's the same God, the same God who brings order out of disorder, the same God who brings light in the darkness. The same God who brings about the additional aspects of creation that we see. It's the Holy Spirit. And he might have moved in different ways in different times, but it's the same Spirit that. What God wants to fall upon you. Why? Because he's God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:10]:
And that God has revealed himself as Father, Son and Spirit in times of old, right? That God fell on them, on leaders and all of these things. But this is not God's plan for all, right? Because although he might have moved in different ways in different times in. In these days, right? We. We have a different. We have a different call. This is what he said after the resurrection, after he died and rose from the grave, after he said, I will send the advocate. He gathered the disciples together. It says, let's read what it Sundays in John 20:22.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:50]:
And he said this. Let's read. Then he breathed on them and said, receive the Holy Spirit. How was that? It's like. It's like the televangelist. And then he fell down. I don't know. Maybe.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:03]:
Right, maybe. You know, sometimes when people fall down, I wonder, is that coffee breath? I cannot tell, you know, like. But like, the thing is that. That's why I try to chew gum before I pray for somebody too. But you know, the thing is that we want what God can give. And he says this, that he breathed on them the Holy Spirit and he said, receive The Holy Spirit. Guess what? When Jesus says to you, receive the Holy Spirit, you know what happens? You receive the Holy Spirit, right? He gives that to you. And he said, the spirit that was with you will soon be in you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:39]:
And so this is what we see happening, that the disciples had the Spirit now dwell inside of them. And Paul starts telling us in Romans, chapter eight, he says, you know that if you don't have the spirit inside of you, you're not a believer. Because if you believe in Jesus, you know that the moment that you say, God, I confess, Lord, I'm a sinner. I confess I need your grace and mercy. Thank you. That you died on the cross. Thank you. That's enough.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:10]:
Come live inside me today. Come fill me. I give you my heart. Whatever language you use, I open a door in my heart. Whatever language you use, guess what God says. The spirit of God comes in you. And sometimes you're like me. You feel that difference.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:24]:
And for some of us, you maybe you didn't feel it doesn't mean that it didn't happen, because it happens to all people who call on the name of the Lord. But this is what he says after that, after that, right before he ascends to heaven, he calls them together on a mountain. He gives them some instruction. And then he says this in verse 1:8 of Acts. And he says, but you will receive power. Let's say the word power. The word Dunamis. It's where we get the word dynamite.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:00]:
It's where, you know, it's the dynamic. It's. It's a power to change things. It's a power to endure things. It's a power to move forward, right? It's a power that makes a difference when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses telling people about me everywhere. In Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and in the ends of the earth. And some of us, you might remember last week, we were talking about Peter, how he denied Jesus three times, and he didn't want to tell nobody that night about Jesus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:35]:
He didn't want to tell the slave girl. He didn't want to tell the other servant in the house of Caiaphas. He would say, no, no, no, no, no. I don't know him. I don't know what you guys talking about. He leave me alone. I don't know, right? And he says, hey, I thought you. No, no, you look familiar.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:48]:
He said, no, no, no, you got the wrong guy. That's another Japanese guy. You know, like. I don't know, like another shirt Japanese guy with glasses. But. But, you know, the thing is that in the middle of all that, that's what happened. But he's saying this. But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, something changes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:06]:
And you will be my witnesses and you'll tell people about me everywhere. And he says, this word upon you is the anointing of God. This Spirit falling on us, he gives us the power to do it. Like the 70 leaders in Moses days, like Samson in the Book of Judges, like the prophet Isaiah. That what we see, we see those things. And now he's saying this to the disciples too. And so this empowering of the Spirit of God is available to every believer. Because it's not just King David who wrote that in Psalm 68 that we read in the very beginning of the message, right? He wrote 49% of the Psalms.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:47]:
King David, he wrote almost half the Psalms. And in Psalm 68, he's already saying, hey, God wants to give you power, right? It's not just for me. It's not just for special people. It's not just for the priests. It's not just for the prophet, not just for Moses. It's for all the people. And on the day of Pentecost, on the day of Pentecost, after the Spirit is poured out, this is what we read. This is the part.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:13]:
This is what happened on that first day, at that first Pentecost, after the resurrection, when the Spirit of God was poured out. Let's read together. This is what it says. Let's take a Look. Acts, chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. It says, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. Have you ever been in a place where, like, all the doors are closed, all the windows are closed, and then all of a sudden you're praying, and then like, all of a sudden you get this chicken skin.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:53]:
I don't know if you've ever been in that kind of a situation. You're like, hey, there's something. There's something. It's not ac. It's not. I've been in that kind of situation where that happened. I've been in that kind of situation where it's a spirit that's not a good kind of. And I've been in that kind of place where the Spirit of God has come and you just.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:16]:
There's something. I didn't hear a wind, but I felt it. But this is what they said. This is the first outpouring. And so it is very dynamic. It is very visible. It's very evident to everybody. And it says they heard it, they felt it, and then it says this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:36]:
They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came and came to rest on each of them. You know where you see fire like that, maybe not resting on each person, but when Moses was standing on holy ground, because it's the same God. He's trying to show that this is the same God that Moses talked to on Sinai, that he's come. And is it only for one person now? No, it's for each person. And as I look upon this room, I see a tongue of your tongue. I don't see any of anything. No, I'm just kidding. I don't.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:12]:
There's no tongue of fire over your head, but the same spirit wants to be poured out into your life. He says all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled him. And it says after that that they went out into the streets and they were talking and they were saying in. They were just speaking. And people heard all these different languages, although they never learned all of those languages. And they heard people. That says people heard them each in their own language. They were praising God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:50]:
That's what it means to prophesy sometimes, right? Like, he's not telling you God is going to do this or do that. But they were talking about the goodness of God, the power of God. They were talking about how God was moving in that moment. And. And everybody heard it. They understood. And they thought these guys were drunk because many people didn't understand the language. But then Peter gets up and he speaks now, Peter, what did we say? He was nervous.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:17]:
He was afraid. Now, by the way, it's not to, you know, really pile on on Peter, because to be honest, if it was you or me, we would be just as scared, right? Why? Because they hung Jesus up on a cross. And guess what? You know, the servant is not above his master. If they did that to Jesus, man, they very well could do that to me, right? But instead of cowering now, instead of pulling away, says, Peter gets up and delivers this banger message, and 3,000 people get saved. And he tells them, you guys are guilty. You guys killed Jesus. But you know what? He died for your sins, and you guys repent. And he says, man.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:02]:
And then the people just responded. But in that message, he also says this. He says this in Acts 2, 17 and 18. He says in the last Days, God says, I will pour out my spirit. Where? Upon all people, right? This. Say those words. All people. Now who is all people? That's me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:23]:
That's you. God wants to pour his spirit on you. He says, upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, right? Young people will be able to speak for God. How many of us that when we see, like, a teenager, like Charisse singing for God, that it blesses us, right? When we see somebody stand up for God, we see guys like, there's a little girl, Steve Lee, who's one of our worship leaders, and his little daughter is 8 years old. See her drumming in worship. I've seen her play. And it's just like 8 years old, and it's like, oh, my gosh.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:08]:
And it's like, man, God is moving in us. It blesses me, right? Because you can never be too young. But you know what? On the same side, you can never be too old. Because what does he say? Hey, if you old. He says this, and I'm starting to resemble that. He says, and your old men will dream. Dreams. What do old men dream about? Old women.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:29]:
No, it's kidding. I don't know what they dream, but whatever God placed in their heart, he says, in those days, I will pour out my spirit even on my servants, men and women alike. And they will prophesy. Men, women, you know, it doesn't matter, right? In this day, this is a big deal because women were not considered equals, right? Women were not legal witnesses that you couldn't call them and they wouldn't be a valid witness in a court case. Is it because God said that? No, that was just culture. Sometimes culture is wrong, right? To be honest, that we got to measure culture at times by God's word. Because even our culture, our culture has stuff that's wrong, right? It's accepted, it's common, but still wrong, right? And so here's the thing. God's saying, I'm sending it, all, right? Because, you know, like, a man's not more than a woman, and a woman is not less than a man or more than a man, right? It's like, we may have different roles, we may have different design, right? It doesn't take a whole lot to just look at somebody who's a different sex than you and say, hey, we built little different.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:37]:
You live with one, you tell the difference, right? So how many of you husbands are. When you hear your wife tell a story, you're just thinking, and what's the point, right? And wives, how many times can you Want to say to your husband, can you just shut up and listen? Or is that only my wife? No, just kidding. But so sometimes, right, we're different. We're different, but of equal value. Do me a favor if you're on your table says, we're all the same value. You know what? All the ground at the cross is level ground. Nobody's higher, nobody's better than the next person. But the other part is nobody's worse, right? Nobody's less as well.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:21]:
And so he's saying everybody, right? Because when the spirit comes, he changes things. He changes the order of things. He changes the status quo. And also he says, what happens? He brings power. You're going to have power coming. Does that mean you personally. Yes, it does, right? Just like Peter changed personally. He was empowered.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:47]:
You will be empowered. Will you look exactly the same like Peter and stand in front of thousands? No. The way it's expressed may be different, but you will sense a power greater than yourself. Maybe to stand for God, maybe to have a sense of courage, maybe to have a sense of boldness, maybe to stand your ground for what you know is right. Even when the world is telling you, hey, bow down, or happens in your workplace, maybe there will be a release of new gift. Maybe love grows, right? Because in the midst of all of these things, we see they loved radically. In the early church, they sold their goods and gave to one another. People sold property for the work of God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:27]:
That in. In our church, we've seen people take people into their homes, give cars away. You know, what they paid. I've seen people pay tuition for somebody's child. I've seen God have done amazing things. Because why? Because somebody made them do it? No, because love grew radically. People gave generously, people preached boldly. They moved in.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:52]:
Signs and wonders. Have we seen signs and wonders? Oh, yeah, we've seen signs and wonders in our church as well, right? Not only healings, we've seen God open doors. This is a result, right? When our backs were against the wall. And I remember saying to the congregation, and some of you heard me say it, it's like, hey, I know where God. I know God has a place for us, you know, because we were. Our old ministry center is not very far away, but it was going to. Our lease was ending and we needed to move. And we had basically a few weeks and we didn't have anything on the horizon.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:25]:
And I remember standing up on the weekend and saying to everybody, we were at, uh, west at the time. And I said, and God has a place for Us. I. I know it, he says, I just wish he would tell me because I didn't know where it was. I went on vacation, and the day I come back, this place came on the market. This place hit the book. And the next day we were in this place, and the owner, who is our neighbor, she made us a huge deal and all of these things were available. But it's, you know, like, the good news is, if you want to call it a coincidence, this is what I know, that when you follow God and the spirit of God is on you, you just get more coincidences, right? And I don't care what sometimes people call it, but I give it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:13]:
I give the glory to God, right? I give the glory to God because somebody might say, hey, we cannot find cancer. I just say, you know what? Hey, I'm healed, right? Somebody might say, hey, the money just somehow came in at the right time. It's like to the dollar, just about. And you might say, well, that's a great coincidence. I just say, thank you, Jesus, right? Because we will either give glory to something or we give glory to God. But the Holy Spirit is not just for your personal building up, but it's also for world changing, for world transformation. Because Pentecost launched a kingdom movement that's still spreading today throughout Asia, throughout African continent, throughout the Middle East. One of the things that's happening in some of the Muslim countries that are most radical in terms of their.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:12]:
The way that they follow Islam is that people are becoming Christians because they will have a dream of Issa, that's who they call Jesus. Come in white and appear to them and reveal himself to them and says, and calling them to follow him. And people are renouncing Islam is like. It's the amount of people in Iran today. It's a revolution that's happening. And it's not happening, to be honest, because people are preaching the gospel only because people are having these radical encounters as the Spirit of God is being poured out on all people, on all people. But what we're talking about specifically is for believers. So that Pentecost launched this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:02]:
It's not just about tongues. It's not about just gifts. It's not about miracles only. It's about a mission, right? Because God cares for each person, the people that we like. Aren't you glad that God loves the people that you love? Right? I'm so glad God loves the people that I love. And I'm so glad that sometimes God loves the people that maybe I don't love so much, you know, because I was probably those people that they didn't love me that much, right? But God loved me. God cared about me. But God cares about all people, and we need to let them know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:46]:
But so what do we do today? What do we do today? Well, in. In Acts 14 and 5, this is what Jesus says, right? He. He's telling them, hey, it's coming. Wait in the city. Something's going to happen. And then he says this. On one occasion, he was eating with them and he gave them this command, do not leave Jerusalem. But wait.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:07]:
Let's say the word wait. Wait for what? For the gift of my father, right? For the gift my father promised. Now, that word wait in the Old Testament comes literally from the word to twist or bind. And the picture is tying something up, tying something together. And so the word wait is not just sit around and do this. I don't know where Jesus is. I don't know where the Holy Spirit. That's not what it says, saying just sit around and.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:43]:
Oh, I don't. You guys are going to play games till right? It's. It's not saying that the word wait has this. Has this picture that's saying that. It's. We're dedicating ourselves. We're tying ourselves to God and his promise. What does that mean? It's like, well, if God don't come true, I go down with the ship.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:10]:
I don't know if you've ever been in that place. God don't come true. The ship ain't. It's not sailing, you know, but sometimes I just. I put my stake with God, I tie myself to him. He says, in the winds come. The waves churn and they spill over. But you know what? You're not moving because you're holding on to God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:34]:
You dedicate yourself. Sometimes that word we see in the New Testament is the word consecrate. I know you guys heard the word consecrate. Consecrate comes from the word holy. It's the same word. When you read it in the Greek, it's the same word, but it means to be set apart. And so I'm set apart for God. So what do we do today? That if you want to respond to this, God is saying this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:01]:
Dedicate yourself to me. When you dedicate yourself to me, when you set yourself apart from me. He says that's part of what God looks for the people he pours his spirit on. Because when Pentecost came, it says they were all in one place. What were they doing? They were praying. They were dedicating themselves. They were seeking God, they were taking, tying themselves to God. Because the Spirit of God is not a reward for the believer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:35]:
It's a gift, right? Salvation is a gift to an unbeliever. The Spirit of God is the gift for a believer. He's the gift for people so they can experience God's presence and his power. Now, if you're a believer, you already have the Spirit of God, but what does it talk about? He says that the Spirit of God will come upon you. And that's a different thing. Because before, what did we say? The Spirit of God is where? In you. But when we see the Old Testament saint so often, it says. And when it says, it's the same for Moses when He had the 70 leaders, the spirit of God will come upon them.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:21]:
And then they prophesy. And the implication is coming from above and filling you up. And it says, the Spirit of God will come upon you and you will have power. And so even though the Spirit is in you, because that's the sign God knows that's the sign he gives you as a deposit that he's with you. He's not going to leave you. He's not going to forsake you that you belong to him. But the Spirit coming upon you releases God's power in your life. And so that's the promise.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:55]:
But if you. The thing is, you got to want more of God because God wants more of you. And that you surrender, you surrender your life to him, right? So we're not like Peter, just following from a distance. We're trying to be as close as we can. And you'll never be perfect, right? It's not about being perfect. Turn to your neighbor and says, it's not about being perfect. It's not about having no sin in your life, because that's impossible, right? But you know what we do? We confess our sin to him. We acknowledge, lord, I fall short.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:32]:
But I need your spirit to strengthen me, empower me. Jesus said this in Mark 11. He says, I tell you, you can pray for anything. Let's say anything. I'm guessing some of us, we need to pray for some stuff. But sometimes we wonder, is it too big for God? No, it's not. Not too big for God, nothing, too little for God, because you can pray about anything. And if you believe that you've received will be yours.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:01]:
Now, in context of what we're talking about, I want us to think in terms of the Spirit of God. If you believe, you can receive it. But when you are praying first Forgive anyone you're holding a grudge against so that your Father in heaven will forgive you your sins as well. Right? We talked about unforgiveness last week. And you know, I think the thing is that we all, when we've been hurt and all that, it's easy to hold on to that pain and sometimes just try to make people pay and just be angry with them. But you know the familiar saying, you know, like unforgiveness is like if this was poison. He says unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other guy dies, right? So what does he say? Just let go the poison, right? And then it says in that moment, God can respond. And does it mean that, that you'll feel it? I don't know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:12]:
Some people do. Many people do. Some people have a gift that is expressed, a spiritual gift that's expressed. Does that happen? Everybody know. But the thing is, this is what you do, you receive it by faith, right? He says you can pray for anything. If you believe that you've received it, it will be yours. In other words, you receive in advance before it might even be displayed. You just receive it and say, you know, when God poured out, when he wants to.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:43]:
Some think Pentecost is a one time event, but the scriptures show it's something that's repeated and was expected wherever the gospel went. But even for you, that maybe you've experienced this outpouring of the Spirit of God and you've spoken in tongues and you've prophesied, you've said, you know, you've been empowered and all that. And the thing is, that's great, that's great. But you know what I noticed about most of us? We leak, right? Man, I'm all fired up. And then all of a sudden somebody cuts you off in traffic. It's like little bit of that spirit went, right? And somebody says something bad to you, something you get mad at you, right? You still need to be filled afresh. Tongues can still flow, prophecies that can still come. Miracles still happen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:32]:
Boldness still needs to rise. Revival is still on the outbreak. And I think in this season, many of us have seen more and more people coming to Christ. And these days God is doing something new and he wants to do something new in you. So let me ask this question. The apostle Paul, when he was traveling, he asked these believers, have you received the Holy Spirit when you believed? They didn't know what to say. But you might have been saved, you might have been prayed for, you might have prayed, asked, but don't settle for yesterday's experience. This Pentecost, let's say, God, we need a fresh infilling.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:16]:
We need a fresh experience of you coming upon us. We're going to just close in a word of prayer together. And when we do, if there's something to confess to God, confess it. You need to tell the person next to you. No, you don't need to tell me. Absolutely not. You don't need to. You tell God the moment you do, he says it's forgiven, right? It's clean.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:42]:
But if that's the thing, and if there's this part that you say, God, I'm willing to dedicate myself, Lord, I want all that you have for me. And if there's more, God, I want more. I want more of you. I want more of your spirit. And we're going to pray that together. Would you be kind enough that let's close our eyes, bow our heads before him. Because, Lord, this Pentecost is not simply because the calendar brings it, but it's because it's the Father's heart. He has always wanted to pour out his spirit not just on a few, but on all his children.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:20]:
And you could be at home. And if you're at home and you're watching online, or you're in your car, or you're, you know, if you're in the gym, maybe it's a little bit more awkward, but like, if you're. Find yourself in a place that you can be private, would you go and you bow your head before God and open your hands and would you pray? And we're going to pray a very simple prayer. Father, thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Lord, that you have always wanted for all your people to receive the fullness of the spirit of God. Thank you. The Holy Spirit was at creation and the Holy Spirit spoke through the prophets. And the Holy Spirit was given to us at the day of salvation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:15]:
But Lord, you promised power. And so we're saying, thank you, Jesus, that you want to give me power to serve you, to be bold, to love, Lord, to represent you in the world, that the church might be built up, that the gospel might be preached, that our life might be different. Lord, thank you for supernatural love and supernatural gifts. So right now we say, come, Holy Spirit, to all who ask, to all who seek, Lord, to all who desire, to all who have consecrated. Fill every heart, Lord, baptize us afresh. Lord, we receive by faith in Jesus. Name the fullness of your spirit. And Father, thank you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:14]:
That from glory to Glory. You said that we can go, Lord, that we can see more of you in every day, in every situation, Lord, that when your spirit of God rests upon us, Father, we receive it today. And if by faith you say, jesus, you promised it, God, I believe you. I receive it by faith. If you can agree with that, would you just give the Lord the greatest blessing that you can give him the greatest praise? Say, yes, Lord, we receive it today. We receive it today. Father, thank you that you're the giver of good gifts. Every good and perfect gift comes from the Father of lights above.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:00]:
And Lord, thank you that we can receive because you gave it for all people. Thank you. You gave it to me, Lord. We receive it in Jesus name. God's people say amen. Amen. You know, if you'd like us to pray for you, and maybe you're. You're designing a specific gift, maybe there's something that you're contending for.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:20]:
Maybe there's something that's a burden on your heart. Maybe there's something that you're trusting God for. You know, after service, maybe at this table, some of the prayer team, Uncle Ben, myself, Lisa, there's Pastor Jeff that, you know, we'll be around and if we'd love to be able to partner with you, because there's. Sometimes it's like we pray. And you know what? God heard you. God heard you, and you know what God has given you. It's not about gifts. It's not about gifts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:53]:
Gifts are great, but it's not about gifts. It's about more of his presence. Right? It's about more of his empowerment and that we can be the men and women that God's called us to be. That's really what it's about. Amen. Amen. Hey, thanks for joining us, guys.