Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:01]: Hey, this Father's Day weekend, let's say happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. We're so grateful for you. We're proud of you. You guys matter. And how many of us had a dad that said that when you were asked them? Or maybe you said that. Hey, what do you want for Father's Day? I don't need anything. Like, your love is just enough. Anybody you guys ever. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:23]: Well, so, you know, like, this Father's Day, we didn't get you anything then, so we just said, no, it's kidding. But we do have a little gift for you guys. And ushers, they' they'll pass it out. And when you look at it, it's actually just. It's two pairs of socks. And it's because I needed socks and I was too lazy to buy. No, but they're just. They're symbolic. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:47]: You can actually wear them, though. One's a short sock, right? One's a kind of just. I don't know what you call them, but the. What is he called? Ankle cuts. And the other one's just kind of like a regular, like, dress sock. And, you know, the scripture says he's told you, oh, man, what is good and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love, kindness, and to walk humbly with your God. And this is just to say, in whatever season you're in, that we want you to be able to walk in God's love and his power and his truth and his grace. And. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:26]: And sometimes it's on those days that you're running around with the kids on the soccer field or the tennis court, and some of those days, it's like you're still at work and you got different things to do. So it doesn't matter. Whatever the season you're in, whatever the thing that you face in the week, whatever this. This. This time of summer is like for you, we want you to walk humbly and. But closely with your Father in heaven. And so, you know, we do also, you know, acknowledge. I know that for. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:01]: For some of us, that Father's Day is difficult. You know, for some of us, we recently lost dads, or we remember the dads that have gone before us and gone to be with the Lord. And then some of us, to be honest, that. I know it also brings up kind of the idea of the remembrance that it wasn't that great kind of growing up. But whatever the case that we're. We're praying that God reworks the way that you can see that that God begins to renew those parts of us. But we do want to pray for all the brothers, all the men. And to be honest, this weekend, we're really talking about how dads and men are essential. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:45]: I don't know how many of us remember. Do you guys remember during the pandemic when that those who were only essential workers were allowed to work? And that for some of us, that you guys who were essential workers, you're like, whoo, I can keep working. And for others of us, we were like, oh, I glad I'm not essential. No, but sometimes, you know, like, it kind of gave the impression that, hey, what you do and who you are, it's not essential. And the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth, that every man, every woman is essential. Every father, every person who has been an influencer, a mentor, a shepherd, a stepdad, a dad. Again, sometimes that grandpa's. We know what it's like sometimes. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:38]: Well, I don't know what it's like, but I've heard from my friends that sometimes when you. When you take in your kids. Kids, and there's all these kinds of ways. I have a spiritual son that. That. That honors me literally, as his dad, and it's. It's a. It's a joy and an honor. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:57]: But we wouldn't be the men. We wouldn't be the people. We wouldn't be the. The women. You guys wouldn't be the women apart from, as well, the influence of. Of these brothers. So we just want to pray for them. And if you're seated next to a brother, a man today, would you just extend a hand? We want to just pray for all the brothers in the house. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:19]: We want to pray for those who are dads and those who are spiritual dads, those who influence those who do shepherd others, Father, that today we're thankful for the men in our midst, Lord. Some of them. We have the privilege of being biological dads. We see our kids grow from little to big and, Lord, many times bigger than us. But, Lord, in many ways, that. That's a sign that all of us desire, Lord, that. That the people that we influence, that they can go beyond us, Lord. Whether that's the spiritual sons and spiritual daughters, Father. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:57]: Whether it's the biological kids that we have, Father. Whether it's the influence we have for the kingdom, Lord, that we want others to go beyond. Because, Lord, it's something that we never get less. When people go beyond us, Lord, we feel more enriched. So, Father, I pray, Lord, empower and bless our brothers, Lord, Those who are young and those who us who are not so young. Lord, to not stop, not quit loving, not quit teaching, not quit reaching out, not quit speaking truth and speaking life. Father, we pray, Lord, and fill them. Would this be a season that today they would feel honored? Father, we honor them because honor is due. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:46]: So we honor them in our midst. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Hey, can we give all our dads here a hand? We're so thankful for you. You know, this weekend I actually got a little Father's Day thing early and I got a card. And to be honest, it was one of the most meaningful things. I got emotional just reading some of the things that my kids wrote. And sometimes you get the privilege of hearing that sense of the impact that you have. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:19]: And sometimes, you know, for most of the time you probably don't about sensing that. But. But though it might seem like a thankless thing, though it might seem like some say that it doesn't matter as much you matter, everybody here matters. And this weekend as we're talking, I am speaking, I'd say directly to the men, but to be honest, to you ladies, it applies just as well. Maybe some of the specific things we are called to do may be different, but every person matters. And so before we go any further, we're going to stand in reverence for God, reverence for his word. We're going to read Genesis 1:27 together. Would you be kind enough to stand with me? I'm sorry. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:03]: We're going to read First Corinthians 16:13. We're going to read that together. And let's declare God's word together. Ready? Let's read. Be watchful. Stand firm in the faith. Act like man. Be strong. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:20]: Obviously, this directive is specifically to the men and that we're called. And there are roles that we're called to do. And this is not to say that everybody has to be like the jock, the crazy aggressive. It doesn't say that. Right. But there are roles that God has for us to have in. In the midst of a family, in the midst of the family of God, in a society, and, and that every person, no matter what you're, no matter whether you're male or female, everybody matters, everybody's important. But we, we just want to affirm that the role of a man today, the role of a father today is so essential in our time. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:06]: I'd say in more needed than. Than ever before. So before you're seated, do me a favor. Just turn to your neighbor and just say you matter. You matter. And then you can have a seat, you know, because we live in a time, I think, where the world might distort masculinity, calling it toxic or selfish or frat boyish, depending on what it is. But God designed men to operate with honor and dignity and strength, purpose and honor. And when we do, we totally reflect, I believe. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:43]: And when we do it with love, we do it in a way that reflects God's creation. It reflects our creator. In Genesis 1:27, it says that God creates. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God. He created him male and female. And so obviously this is not just. That's why I say it's not just to men. Because, ladies, you're made in the image of God. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:09]: Men, you're made in the image of God. And in fact, we don't get a full focus, we don't get a full spectrum understanding of the image of God unless we look at both men and women. But today, as it being Father's Day, we're trying to focus on the men. And to be honest, you know, when today I noticed that oftentimes the young guys especially and my friends who had traveled someplace on the mainland, I forget where they were, they were at some conference. And he said, everybody, man, all the young guys in the conference, they all had these beards, right? Everybody had like, kind of like the mahoy. But like, they all had this, like. Some of them full. Some of them, you know, ZZ Topish or whatever kind of a thing. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:54]: And it's like I go, wow, what? What is that? And he was asking, like, what's going on over there? And it said, you know, sometimes I think when there's a confusion, and at times in the sex, when there's a confusion in our design, sometimes people want to kind of accentuate the fact that we're different, right? That we have different strengths. And if everybody was all the same, life would be boring, right? If everybody was all the same, not only would life be boring, but something would be missing. Something that protection for you, something of the fullness of the image of God would be missing. But we're called so often to be in relationships with people who are different than us. Not just all the same, right? Not just all the same race, not just all the same gender, not all just the same occupation. I hope you have friends, I hope you have family members that don't do just exactly what you do believe exactly like you. Because if you are, then to be honest, there's a little bit of a Blindness so often that that comes with us, that we are enriched when people around us are different than us, but that we're seeking God together. And so, you know, this, this weekend, I think it's important to understand the. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:14]: How essential men are. We talked about some of that, about ladies at our sisters on Mother's Day, but it says it like this in Ezekiel 22:30. I'm going to ask us if we can read that together. He says it like this. The prophet Ezekiel had this message, and God told him this. Let's read. I look for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I search for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn't have to destroy the land. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:48]: But I found none. No one. And, you know, God is still looking for men to fill the gap today. I think today that there's a gap that in. In our culture, there's a gap in understanding our identity, there's a gap in understanding our role. There's a gap in understanding about moral leadership. There's a gap today in how to show up honor to others. There's a gap often, I think, in the thing of people understanding spiritual covering. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:20]: And God is looking for someone to stand in the gap today. And you don't have to be a perfect man because none exists, right? You don't have to have it all figured out because to be honest, we're all kind of in the process. But God's looking for willing men. God's looking for available men. God who are men who are seeking him, men whose hearts are his. And that when you do. I think we stand in a space that if. Unless you stand in that space, that it could affect your family, it could affect your community, it could affect your business, it could affect your legacy. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:00]: But God says this, that when you stand in that gap, then you walk in who you were meant to be. You fill the role and the purpose for which God made you. Because our culture is confused, I think, about identity, right? We have a Supreme Court judge who cannot tell us what a woman is, right? We have times where people don't want to get caught in asking that question. Now, it might not be like that in this room, and. But we all do know that you don't need a biology degree, which, what she, she claimed. I don't. I'm not a biologist. But you don't need to be a biologist to know that men and women are different, right? If you are married to somebody, right, and you go home, we know the other person on the side on the other side of the bed is different, right? And so, you know, men are different. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:55]: And we're not just talking about the plumbing, right? We're talking about. We're not just talking about the secondary characterist 6 the things that so often we see or we can tell, right? Like you know, facial hair and those kind of things we talked about. But the things that matter, that we are actually different, right? Men have. Biologically, men have thicker skin and seems like figuratively too, right? Seems like emotionally too. We have more facial hair, more body hair, more sebaceous glands. Women tend to be thinner, thinner skin, less body hair, different kind of hair growth patterns. Men, we have a higher metabolic rate. Women tend to be a slightly. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:39]: A slower metabolic rate. Our brains function differently, right? It's not to say that there's not people who think different outside of the general pattern, but there is a general pattern for reason that men tend to think with one side of their brain at a time versus women who tend to think as a kind of a more of a whole brain. And on average. On average men just are physically stronger than women, right? Just that. At least in your home. Is that the case? I'm wondering. For most of our homes, I think that men that you are on average just have a higher bone density, right? That you. We don't get osteoporosis so much, right? We have greater muscle mass. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:27]: How many of us have heard of Serena Williams? You guys know who Serena Williams is, right? Okay. Of course. The tennis tables that. The tennis tables in the back. You guys know who Serena Williams is? She's a monster of a tennis player, right? Won 13 Grand Slam single titles. She holds the most wins of singles matches won at a majors that.367 matches. She looks strong physically, right? She looks like she can take me out maybe on that, on the. On the arm wrestling thing, as well as kind of the grit of a champion. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:07]: But you know, she was invited to play an exhibition match with tennis. A male guy who won was a champion as well. And just to do an exhibition match, not really, you know, a competitive match. But she refused. And when asked why. Why would you refuse? Right? Because they thought you can beat anybody. And this was like on a talk show interview. And she says the reason why she refused is one, I only play girls. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:42]: But she said this because I didn't want to be embarrassed if I played him. He said I would lose 6060 in five to six minutes, maybe 10, she says, because it's a completely different sport. Men, she said, are just Faster, serve harder, hit harder. It's just a different game. And this is somebody who plays at the highest level. Right? And so if you're a husband, if you're a father, if you're a man, that, to be honest, we just are built different than our counterparts. And that is by design. Right? And so if you're a husband, if you're a father, there's an authority that you have that's just given to you by God. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:31]: You don't have to ask God for the authority to be in a. To have that in your home. It's something that's given to you. The moment you say, I do, God gives you the mantle of a husband. The moment that you have children, God gives you the mantle, the authority of a father. But we do need to understand that we walk in that we should embrace those things. You're called to be a spiritual covering in your house, in your family. And it's not because, you know, it's not to say you got to live a perfect life. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:08]: You got to, like, never make a mistake. That's a bar. That's beyond. That's not what it's called. But understand that your power, I think, is extended as you are rooted in God, as you are rooted in God, your power gets, I think, raised to another level as you get empowered by God. Psalm 1 says it like this. It's a familiar psalm, I hope, to some of us. The psalmist starts out just saying this. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:38]: Blessed is the man. Let's say blessed. What does that mean? To be blessed. To have the favor of God. Right. To have God's hand upon your life. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, nor. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:56]: And on his law he meditates day and night. And then he says this. He gives it like, how can I describe that? And this is what it says. Let's say the next phrase together. Ready? Let's read. He is like a tree, right? So he's like a tree. How many of us have ever tried to pull out? You guys ever see those? Like a seed that somehow falls in your yard and it's just growing into a tree. Man. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:25]: I get. I get those. I don't know why. I mean, why we get these so often. And if you leave it. If you leave it and if it gets this thick, maybe I think that I can just pull that out. Right, exactly. I see Pastor Jeff shaking his head because we tried, right? You pull on that thing. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:44]: You pull on that thing and that root. It's tougher, right? It's tougher than you think, right? It's. Because what you see above the surface is not the whole tree. There's things that go below the surface. And he says this. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither, in other words, even in the summer. And we're getting into summer, and I know it's the summer for two things. One is, you guys notice how bright it is when we started the service, it's like broad daylight, right? And it's like at 6:00 clock, and it's like, okay, that's the sign of summer. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:21]: You know. What's the other thing? I look at Makakilo, it's all brown. Oh, it's summer. No, but, you know, that's that kind of a thing. So. But this is what it says that, that a man who's connected to God is steady. He's saying like a tree. When you're nourished by the word, when you're. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:38]: When your relationships are with other godly individuals, right? And that when you. Your strength isn't found in your career or your income or your charisma or your talents, that it's found in your connection to God. He says you become like a tree. You become firm, a strength bigger than yourself. Right? Because if we were in a place that yet so often, if it were, we were out in a field and a storm would have come, like, to be honest, and let's say there's no lightning. Although that's what they tell you on the mainland. Although here it seems like nobody would listen. That what would happen when the storm starts coming? Where would you see if there. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:21]: There was a tree in the midst of the field, Right. Or trees. We'd run for the trees, right? We'd run under. We'd run in a shelter on the hot day, we. We'd sit under the tree. And it provides a shade and a benefit that's beyond itself. Godly men are not perfect. Godly men are not perfect. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:45]: But we learn how to repent quickly, right? We learn how to repent quickly. And sometimes, to be honest, not so quickly. You know, I was at convention. I'll just say it like this. We were at convention. And we're asking God to kind of search our hearts just as a movement, just as like all the pastors, all the leaders that were gathered together. Yeah. We just want to be clean before you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:13]: If we want the move of God that we want, Lord, that would you search our hearts? And we just had this time to do it together. And while we were there, you know, I just was quiet before the Lord. And to be honest, the Lord brought something to my mind. Said, lord, if there's something that I just need to get right with you. And to be honest, you know, what the Lord brought to my mind was two instances to two of my kids. Two out of three is bad. No, but where I just, to be honest, I prioritized the ministry over my kids in a very specific area, in a very specific season of their life, a very specific incident. And, you know, the thing is that this is years ago, and I just didn't even think about it, you know, I didn't. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:03]: I just. One of them happened during the pandemic when, to be honest, in the beginning, as the pandemic happened, I don't know if you guys remember much because it seems so long ago, but at that time, you know, when everything was shut down, when everything was closed up to me, I just. I'll be honest, I was worried that would the church survive, right? With the church survive. But people cannot gather together. We weren't online. We didn't have a mechanism, so we were quick to try to do that. And how are people going to survive? Right? Because most people weren't working. And we entered this season of the unknown. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:43]: And in that time, for some, they said that, hey, you know, it was an easy schedule. I worked harder during that time, try to hold everything together and move everything around and be in that place. And to be honest, one of my kids paid a price. I didn't notice some of the things that they were going through at the moment because, to be honest, I was so focused. I might mention, you know, those kind of things to him. It's like. But I didn't even think about it. And, you know, when I got home, I made sure to tell my kids, you know, hey, can we just talk for a second? I just. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:19]: I don't know. Do you remember the season? You remember this thing? And I said, you know, I. I really. I just. I blew it. I failed in that moment. I just. I need to apologize because I should have. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:34]: I should have cared for you, but I got too distracted in what I was doing, and that's not what wasn't my heart, but that was what happened. And, you know, I just apologize. And to be honest, even when I apologized, and this is years later, I mean, sometimes there was one of them is a little bit more of an emotion that came out for others. The other one is just. I could see that. It's like, oh, I didn't think that you thought about that sometimes. I didn't. But when I did, you know what I made, Right? Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:10]: That's what it means to repent. A godly man is not a perfect man. He's a man trying to follow. And so when we make a mistake, we own it. Right? We love deeply, we serve faithfully. And sometimes, you know, as a man, I think that you can feel like a spare part every once in a while, right? If you have young kids, how many of us, when you had young kids, it's like, you know, like the baby stage. And then when you kind of hold and all of a sudden, like, baby's crying because mom walked in another room, and you think, like, man, what am I? Like, you know, leftovers. And that's what it feels like, right? You might feel like that in certain seasons of your life, but you serve faithfully. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:00]: But. But when you do that, when we repent quickly, when we love deeply, when we. When we serve faithfully, and I think when we stay connected with other godly men, we get a strength that's greater than ourselves. Some of you guys know, I was in. In California for our anniversary and was just a great time. I wanted. One of the place I wanted to go was to go to the Sequoia National Forest and to see the giant redwoods that are there. I don't know anybody ever, ever go see it up close in person. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:37]: Okay. Some of us. Oh, a bunch of us, man. I'm a little jealous because I. I didn't make it to the. The national forest, but I did see some redwoods and. And I just have a picture here, and that's not me, but that's. I didn't see this place. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:53]: Right? But, you know, the thing is that it's obvious that these are, like, national treasure. This is huge trees, right? This. This kind of thing. It's like the ones that this one of them looks like the kind that, you know, where they could cut it out and the car could drive through. But, you know, like, I think, and so often in our culture, what it tells you is that if you're this big, if you're this dominant, you want to just kind of stand alone by yourself, right? But if you look at these trees, these are phenomenally huge trees. But did you know that redwoods don't grow alone? They grow in a stand. They grow together. They only Prosper. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:37]: Redwoods only prosper one in this very narrow band along the coast of California where the fog comes in, it kind of. It gives them the moisture that way, but they also only grow together. You know why that is? Because even though these trees can go hundreds of feet, right, that the thing is that their taproot, they do have a root that goes down. But what really sustains them in the midst of the storms is the fact that they grow together. And so their roots become intertwined. And so when the storms come and the winds blow, that, you know what? They don't just stand on their own strength. They stand because there is a network of connections below the surface that keeps them in place, right? And so, brothers, that. To be honest, I am saying this because one of the biggest epidemics long before the pandemic among men, I would say this is the statistics tell us, especially as you get into your 30s and your 40s, is loneliness. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:54]: Because the buddies that you had in high school or maybe as a young adult and kind of going as all of a sudden people start getting into their careers, they start getting into their families, they get. And they start getting that. So often this has been called the. The friendless American male phenomenon, right? Because our best friend becomes our spouse. Right? Our greatest investment is in our kids. And I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with loving your kids and loving your spouse, obviously. But to be honest, you know what? Men, you need other men in your lives to learn how to be a man of God, to be understood of the things that you go through that sometimes you cannot share with your spouse because it's so different, right? Not appropriate for you to deal with that with your kids. Statistics tell us that men who are disconnected are more likely four times. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:59]: Or men are four times more likely to die by suicide, two times more likely to have mental health issues, two times more likely to have an alcohol related issue. Why is that? I think so often it's because sometimes we're not as connected to other people as we need to be. You might be as connected as you want to be. You may not be as connected as you need to be. This is what Psalm 133:1 says. Let's read what it says. Ready? Let's read. Behold how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:38]: You know what it says? It says it's good and it's pleasant. In other words, it's a good thing. It's something that God designed us for. And what it's pleasant. You're going to Enjoy it. And if you just keep reading that psalm only has three verses and at the end of the verse, what does it say? It says this, because when brothers dwell together in unity, that is where God commands the blessing. If you want to be blessed, you got to get connected. Can you be blessed when you're not connected? Yes, you can to a degree. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:14]: Because you cannot do the one anothers of life without another person, right? And, and I have learned how to be a better husband because of friends in my life. I've learned how to be a better parent because of men in my life. People who've just to be honest, sometimes just a couple steps ahead of me, right? Just a couple stages, like their kids are like maybe four years ahead of my kids, right? I learned how to be a better parent. I learned how to be a better dad. I learned how to be a better husband. It's because I have friends. And you know, sometimes we know there's ebb and flow in life. We know there's ebb and flow in life. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:54]: Sometimes, you know, you're in a, you're, you are in a crazy season with work and different things that can happen. But, but men that so often it's so easy for some of us to throw ourselves into work. And I'm going to just say I can be one of those, right? I even confess that. But sometimes it takes more than your career, it takes more than your family. It takes someone else. It takes someone else just come alongside, talk to you, pray for you, understand you, you understand them. And sometimes you're goofing off, right? Sometimes you're just fooling, sometimes you're fishing, sometimes you're golfing, sometimes you're, you know, just talking stories. Sometimes you just, you know, everybody gathered around, we're grilling something on the, on the, the grill outside. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:45]: But I just want to encourage you, if you're a brother here, that and you don't have that time, right? You know, get together with somebody, join a small group or play golf with somebody or go surfing with somebody or go fishing with somebody or we've had golf ministry in the past. Why? Because we just wanted to facilitate a place where men can get together, join a small group, right? Because you and I, we need men in so often it's so different ladies that, and I know it's not magic for you guys, but I've just seen ladies like, oh, we should get together sometime. They just met some people, right? They're friends and they go, oh, we should get together. And you go, yeah, we should get Together. If I just met some guy said, hey, we should get together sometimes, what's the reaction? What for? Right? I mean, it's like different. It's different. Hey, we should get together for coffee. What for? Right? The dreaded. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:45]: If I call somebody out of the blue and say, hey, let's get together for coffee, sometimes somebody will say, hey, the pastor called me for coffee. What do you like? What do you like talking about? Like, sometimes we just want to connect, right? And sometimes we need something. No, but. And so. But I just want to encourage you. Join a small group, find something. You know what, we should start a fishing ministry. You know, we should start things that, like, man, how many of us that would be great to just go fish. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:13]: Or maybe it'd be something that you can take your kids and to be honest, I know some people, maybe you don't know how to fish. You'd like to teach your kids how to fish. Well, some of us know how to fish, right? We should do things. Right? To just be together as men. And yes, can we do a men's camp or can we do. Yes, we can do those things and we'll have another men's breakfast in the fall. But we need relationships. We need relationship. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:43]: And sometimes men, we do better on a side by side relationship, doing something together than just a one on one looking face to face, talking story. And sometimes we need that. But here's the last thing you're also. I don't know if it's the last. I've forgotten where I'm at, but it's not the last. Sorry, it's not the last. Some of you like, whoo, we're getting out early today. Like, sorry, you guys, not getting out early, but says, you're called to lead with love. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:14]: You're called to lead with love. We started by looking First Corinthians 16:13. And it says that, you know, act like man, be strong. Right? Let all you do be done in love. I mean, sorry. 1614 then continues and says this. Let's read what it says together. Ready? Begin. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:31]: Let all that you do be done in love. Yes. Be strong. Yes. Act like yin. Yes. Be strong in the faith. Right? Yes. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:42]: Be watchful and aware and observant. But he says this, let all you do be done in love. It's so easy. I don't know, like, am I the only. I guess sometimes you call it, am I the only guy that sometimes you get caught mansplaining, right? Sometimes you get caught, like, falling into the role of the teacher, you know, like, and I've been in that place that I remember getting in a big fight with my wife. And I was thinking like, oh my gosh, she's just driving me crazy because she doesn't see the real logical point. And it was just getting heated, actually. And I just remember thinking, you know, Lord, man, I just gotta. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:26]: If she cannot see this point, I don't know what in the world we're doing together. And I clearly heard the Holy Spirit say to me, glenn, I never called you to be her teacher. I called you to be her husband. I called you to love her. And it's like, when I heard that, it's like, oh my gosh, it's like somebody just take a ice pick and jab it in my heart. But you know what I did? I repented quickly and I took ownership and I changed the tone and I said, han, I'm so sorry, can we pray together? And she went like, you pray? She's a godly woman. But even though she gets worked up, right, If I, if I'm in that thing. But he says this, you know, masculinity isn't harshness. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:14]: And there's always a tension of an opposite that we need. Because with courage, there ought to be compassion, right? Because with strength and truth, there ought to be kindness and grace. There's a tension that if we don't have a tension, we just fall to one side. And you need something to balance, right? With our power and strength, there needs to be humility. Because if I have no humility, I'm just a tyrant. And so Jesus is the model of godly manhood, right? He was strong, but he wept over Jerusalem. He was a person who was bold and could confront injustice and hypocrisy, yet he could wash the disciples feet, right? And we see that he laid down his life, that his, his words of love were not words, but they were the expression of his heart. So man leadership in our home, in our workplace, it's not about a position, it's about serving in love. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:27]: It's not about, hey, I had a man of the house. God gave me the authority, and you guys got to just do what I say. That's not what I mean when I say to take your role. But I do think what it means is it's more like being a thermostat rather than a thermometer, right? Because what does a thermometer do? A thermometer just reflects whatever the temperature of the place that it's in, right? So if you're in a place at work where Everybody runs hot. If you're just a thermometer, you know what? Then you yell just as much as everybody, you know, you swear just as much as everybody else, right? Then if you come place where everybody's quiet, then what do you do? You just thermometer. You just reflect. Okay, I'm not saying nothing. And. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:07]: Right. So we just follow based on. We're different people in different places. But a thermostat is different. A thermostat sets a tone, it sets a direction. And it may, depending on the situation, if the windows are open, you can have the thermostat on and the room might not get cold. But you know what? You take the effort to initiate. That's all you're called to do for us to do. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:36]: You're not responsible for every single thing because sometimes there's different factors that are involved. But you can take a step, right? Let's do a favor. Let's just raise your hand and say, I can take a step, right? We can all take a step to be a thermostat rather than a thermometer, right? Sometimes it's easy because, like, when something happens, you look around, is anybody else going to do it? It's like depending what it is. But sometimes we're called to initiate in the relationship, right? In our marriage, in our parenting with our kids, right? Because if we don't disciple our kids, guess what? The world will disciple our kids. And to be honest, it's trying really, really hard. And so you might not know what to do, right? You might not know what to do. And sometimes as parents, and this is both men and women, are you ever tempted to just complain about something that the kids do or don't do, right? Because it drives you crazy. I remember when the kids were still in high school and driving them to school, and I said, I love doing it in the morning. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:44]: And then when they got cell phones, something happened that all of a sudden, you know, we used to do like a verse of the day. We used to talk and all this stuff. And then all of a sudden, the next thing I know when that. When we're driving, it's like, you know, playing a game, whatever, and no conversation, right? And you know what I was tempted to do? Like, hey, put the dang phone away. And this and this and this, right? And it's like, complain. I was tempted to complain. And. And I'll be honest, I mean, I did complain, but when I caught myself, you know, what I said was, hey, you know, guys, I. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:22]: I know that I'm driving You to school. But, you know, that doesn't mean I'm a chauffeur or an Uber driver, right? So this is really kind of. This is really a. We only get so much time together. So, hey, let's put our phones away, because when we're in the car, it's not phone time, right? It's time that we have a short conversation, right? We only get like 5 minutes or 10 minutes to drive to school. Let's not waste it just being preoccupied. And, you know, sometimes there were groans and sometimes there was like, ah, well, we can talk about whatever. But you know, the thing is that even today. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:00]: Even today, when we're. If we're eating and we're at the dinner table or whatever, like, you know what? It's. Phones down, phones down. If you get a call, you can answer the phone. If up to you, you know, like, if you need something from work or somebody's trying to reach you or whatever. But, like, let's honor the time, because we want to learn how to honor the time. And, you know, sometimes you got to father by faith, not by sight. Because if you just look at the emotion that they display, if you just look at the groan that sometimes is. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:30]: And it doesn't matter, sometimes it's just a sign that it's like their flesh. If you have to deny your flesh, do you feel good about it? No. Right? Like, if, you know you're not supposed to get that extra piece of pie, right? I know. Like, some of us, like right now, it's like, oh, geez, I gotta. The doctor said I gotta watch this numbers. I gotta watch this stuff. Like, so when somebody offers you the extra piece of pie and you want to eat it, and then somebody reminds you, oh, are you supposed to. Do you feel like, thank you so much for reminding me, or do some of us feel like, hey, mind your own business. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:07]: You eat what you like, I eat what I like. Right? Like, right. Sometimes we feel like that. Everybody feels like that. But to be honest, just because they give that kind of reaction at times, it doesn't mean we just let them go. Because if we don't disciple our kids, the world will disciple our kids. Right? And it is. And so we want to combat that. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:34]: And so in the way that part of it too is, I think that we got to learn how to practice speaking words of life. We got to learn how to practice speaking words of life. Proverbs 18:21 says. And it's familiar, I'm sure that the tongue has the power of life and death now but you know, the thing is that I'm going to say this, that when, before I got married or around that time when we were dating, you know, I needed, I started to study. Not studying the scriptures, not studying just about relationships. I had to study about like how I was feeling. Because if you ask me how I was feeling, I didn't know. Because in my house when I grew up, you know what? We had two emotions growing up. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:16]: Mad and happy. That's it. You was either mad or you was happy or maybe you never have any emotion. But that's all I knew. So somebody, when somebody asked me, my wife would ask me or my girlfriend, how are you feeling today? I was like, well, I'm alright, but I don't know how to say except mad or happy. You know what I mean? And to be honest, what I learned is I actually read things and articles that said, oh well, I'm concerned. And it's like instead of raising my voice, I can say what I literally learned how to find out what I was feeling. And for some of us, you know what the reason why you speak the way that you do because you don't know how any other way to speak. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:03]: Right? But maybe we can tell our kids like how many. Maybe you never grew up this way with your parents and I didn't grow up this way where it's like you did something. It's like great job. You know what I was told like, well, what you expect one medal, right? Like, you know that kind of like. Right, of course that's you suppose. And so I needed to learn how to be a little bit more encouraging. Hey, way to go. Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:27]: You know when somebody does something right, like instead of catching your kids doing something wrong, can you try to catch your kids doing something right? And when you do tell them way to go. Do they need correction? Absolutely. Everybody does. Right. You know, I appreciate, you know, you're right. Some of us, you know what, we have a hard time saying we were wrong, but can you at least acknowledge that, hey, they were right when they said something right? Yeah, I'm here for you, you know, regardless of what happens. Yeah. I'm in your corner. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:01]: I'm here for you. Right. You can say yes or you can say no. Right. You know, to be honest, like if that's the case, that there's you look at in that notes, there's a few websites that will lead to an article or parent queue that sometimes there's just different things that if you read a little and study a little, that to be honest you know what? It's. It's not that you can't do it. It's just that you don't know how, Right? But if you learn some of these things, I'll say this. I'm not perfect. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:36]: I'm far from it. But I'm better. I'm better than I used to be. I'm not how I used to be. And you know when it says that your words that can bring life or not. I just saw this video someone had sent me, and. And it's by the guy named Michael Jr. He's a comedian, you know, by trade. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:57]: And, you know, you might see him. I don't know if you ever see dry bar comedy, this guy's in there. But he. He just kind of has a little. He took a video and he just put a little thing and he. And it's a little bit where. I think it really illustrates this point. Let's take a quick look at that. Comedian Michael Jr. [00:47:13]: Yo, comedian Michael junior Here. As you know, I just flat out enjoy doing comedy. Comedy. But one of the things I love way more than that is being a dad. Not too long ago, I'm going through some video footage, and I run into this video of my youngest daughter being born. Now, of course, I was there. I actually took the video, But I had never really experienced it from this perspective before. Now, look, we're in the hospital room. Comedian Michael Jr. [00:47:41]: She's sticky and she's baby and all that stuff. And she's in the middle, middle of crying. And then I speak up. I start talking to her and watch how she responds when she hears my voice. Okay, look, I'm right here. It's okay. It's okay. I'm right here. Comedian Michael Jr. [00:48:08]: Here. We're doing just fine. It's okay. It's okay. I'm right here. Right here. Yeah. It's okay. Comedian Michael Jr. [00:48:16]: It's okay, baby. It's okay. That was pretty awesome. So check it. A few minutes later, the nurse starts working on her, puts her pamper on her, and I'm not saying anything. And she actually starts to cry again. Then I speak up, she hears my voice and stops crying, like, again. But I want you to notice what else happens after I tell her that I love her. Comedian Michael Jr. [00:48:50]: Portland. It's okay. It's good. It's good. It's good. I'm right here. I'm right here. I am right here. Comedian Michael Jr. [00:48:58]: I love you. I love you. I love you. Comedian Michael Jr. [00:49:05]: I'm right here. I'm right here. It's okay. It's okay. That's just phenomenal. Like, whoa. Here's the thing. We'll always have times where we're not as comfortable, probably even to the point of tears, where life is just heavy. Comedian Michael Jr. [00:49:23]: The key thing to do in those moments is to be still and listen for the father's voice, because he is trying to talk to you. And I can tell you what he wants you to know is that he loves you. All you got to do is open your eyes. Happy Father's Day. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:45]: That good man. It's like, obviously it's not even the words that he spoke. When it's that way. It's something instinctual. It's something kind of hardwired, the tenderness of the voice that all of a sudden it just brought a piece to that child. And so often people, they're not really listening to our words, they're listening to the way that we say our words. And so, you know, I get caught every once in a while, like, what is that tone? I go, what tone? You know, that kind of a thing. And it's like. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:17]: And I can be focused on the content, but, you know, I get convicted when I see like this. But I think more than convicted, I get instructed. Right. I see that tone matters. Yeah. I see that, that words matter. I see that it does. And so it doesn't just matter for me. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:36]: It doesn't matter just for Michael. I think it. It matters for all of us. This is the last thing, though, you know, because when we talk about these things, I'm not saying it so that you feel guilty, because I know everybody here, we have our shortcomings, right? And then maybe your default is kind of like, you know, maybe to raise your voice or maybe your default, whatever the case may be, you know, like, as you get short, you're tired, like he says all of those things. And in the midst of all those things, would you just remember the Father heart of God? Remember the Father heart of God. When you're struggling, when you haven't been your best, when you know that, oh my gosh, I blew it again. What is the Father heart of God? It says it like this in, in Psalm 103:8. It says that the Lord is what? Compassionate and gracious, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:35]: You know, when he says that he's slow to get angry, he's saying it's not like, you know, he's not so thin skinned. That sets off right at the moment, you know, when you make a mistake, when you blow it. He's compassionate, he understands. He's looking for ways to restore Us, you know, in verse nine it goes on and it says he will not constantly accuse us nor remain angry forever. You ever replay your kids failures or somebody else's failures? Oh, remember when you did this and you did that and it says this that, it says God will not do that. Why? He doesn't punish us for all of our sins. You know, in fact, actually Isaiah, the prophet said, says that if he did, God says this in Isaiah 57:16, if I kept throwing up in your face your past failures, if I chose to retain an angry disposition toward you because of your sin, your spirit within you would grow faint before me and you would wither up and die. That's Isaiah 57:16. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:04]: And so you would. You know that when you haven't done well, he's not looking to rub your nose in it. He might want you to change your direction. He may want you to, to lean into him. He may want you to, to change your attitude and confess your sin. But would you know he's compassionate? He doesn't say when you get to 49th time that you've done it and you get it to the 50th time that you've done it, the Lord doesn't say, Look, I had 49 up to here after this, it's like it's all you. I'm sorry he doesn't cut you off. Thank goodness for his forgiveness, for his grace, for his mercy. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:50]: And part of the reason is he understands. He understands us. He understands our frailty. You know, if you keep reading in the Psalm 103, it actually says part of the reason is because he knows us. He knows our frame, that he remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass, like wild flowers that will bloom and die. He understands. He knows us because why? Because he made us. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:22]: He knows you because he made you. But I want to say something just as we get ready to close is that it's not enough to know about the God who loves us. It's not enough to know our calling and our identity. It's not enough to just know that standing. But we need to receive all that God has for us so that we can stand. We need to receive all God has for us so we can be gracious. We become more gracious when we receive his grace. And if you're not taking full advantage of God's grace and mercy and forgiveness and you and we sometimes pretend like God, I don't want to let you into this space. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:07]: He already sees it. All you're doing is you're Just cutting yourself off from the grace that God wants to bring you. God doesn't have a short fuse. He's not in a bad mood. He may not be like the father that you grew up with or, you know, the boss that you had. But this is what it says in Psalm 103, 13. Can we read what it says? Let's read that together. The Lord is like a flesh father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear Him. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:46]: And so God has a compassion and a mercy for you. Just receive it. When you do, it'll fill you, it'll strengthen you. You know, in the New Testament, Paul said it like this. It's good to be strengthened with grace. I said, paul, I'm sorry, that's Jude. But it says that in the New Testament, in the book of Jude. So this morning or this evening, let's bow our heads, let's receive as well as to walk in the things that he said. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:19]: Can we bow our heads? Let's bring ourselves before Him, Father, as we come today, Father. We're thankful, Lord, whether we're a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, Lord, that all of us need mercy and we all need the Father's heart. And we are grateful, Lord, that though you know everything about us, Lord, though yout know all of our heart's intent, so often we speak of it as comforting words. Oh, God understands. But the reality is sometimes it also shows us something scary because you really know our heart. And sometimes you know the evil that's sometimes in our heart and the selfishness. But what still holds is thank you that you are kind and compassionate, merciful and slow to anger. And Lord, thank you that you've made a way for forgiveness. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:23]: You've made a way for grace in our life through Christ Jesus. Though we are guilty, Lord, we don't pretend we're thankful you made the way. Thank you that you paid the price. And if you're here this evening, and maybe when we talk even something about parenting, we talk about marriage a little bit, we talk about these things. Sometimes the enemy starts whispering about all of your friends, failures. But can we not listen to the voice of the enemy? Because the voice of the Spirit of God leads us in the right direction. And you call that conviction. But the voice of the enemy leads you to guilt and to shame. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:10]: He condemns. Let's not give the enemy the voice into our lives. How do you do that? Receive his grace, receive his mercy, receive his forgiveness. And if you're here, maybe even for the first time, you. Maybe you've never received that, but it's fresh for you today. Take advantage. And this evening, whether it's for the first time where you're just saying, God, I just recognize in the midst of my mistakes and my shortcomings, I just need your grace and mercy afresh in my life. If that's you, would you just raise your hand to God? Say God, that's what I'm praying. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:50]: As hard as we try, sometimes we fail. But Father, I thank you that there is a grace that covers and thank you, Lord, that you don't just long to embrace, Lord, that you do embrace and the moment we acknowledge and the moment we confess and the moment we turn our hearts toward you'd Lord Jesus come. Come afresh for some, Lord, for the first time because thank you that you died on that place. And Father, for many of us, Lord, you come again because you separate our sins as far as the east is from the west. And thank you, Lord, that you do not come and constantly remind us of all of our failures. Instead you throw them into the sea of your forgetfulness, lest we wither. Pray your spirit of refreshment over every man, every woman or every father, every mother, Lord, every child. Lord God, thank you because we matter to you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:57]: We're essential. In Jesus name God's people, say Amen. Hey, God bless you guys. Have a great Father's Day this weekend.