Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
Hey, you know, this evening, though, want to change gears a little bit, and, you know, we're continuing our series on Second Thessalonians. But, you know, I just was watching a show. I noticed. I watched a show a while back on Netflix, and in this show, there's a magician, and he performs a lot of different kinds of tricks. But if I were to ask you, do you think that I would have the capacity to. To convince someone that they were invisible? Like, for real, like, thinking that they're invisible? Yeah. Okay. A bunch of you guys shaking your heads, and you're.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:37]:
True. You guys probably right. I couldn't do it. But, you know, there's a magician named Justin Willman, and he has a series on Netflix that's called Magic for Humans. And that's exactly what he set out to do in one of those episodes, and he wanted to convince somebody that he was invisible. And so how he did it, though, was he got an audience together, and they're all just in a park, and he's telling them what he's going to be doing, and then they get a couple volunteers. Well, one guy's a volunteer. And then just when this guy doesn't know anything that's going on, he just comes in, he sees this comedian or, I mean, this magician doing things on stage.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:18]:
He asked him, hey, do you want to be part of the trick? And he brings two guys down. One guy is in on it, one guy is not. And they're in two different chairs. And he's saying, what I'm going to do is I'm going to make this. I have the capacity to make things invisible. And. And he kind of does a little precursor, little trick with water and the whole thing. And so.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:36]:
Oh, people are kind of amazed. And then he says, okay, now I'm going to do that same thing for this gentleman. And you know how they put the. You know, the cloth over the guy and he pulls it off and this is out in a park, and there's like, there's no stage. There's nothing. And the guy's gone. Now, I don't know how he does that, but that's his job, right? That's his thing. And so the other guy's, like, totally shocked.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:00]:
And then he says, he brings a can, and he gives him this can, and he says, you hold it. Nobody else can hear you. Nobody else can see you. And then he lets go of the cup, and the cup's just being suspended in midair. The other guy on the other side, he's like, 20, totally shocked like, whoa, what's going on? And so then he walks over to him, and he. He does the same thing, right? He says, you won't be able to say. People won't be able to hear you. People won't be able to see you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:27]:
And he pulls off the. The cloth and he's totally sitting in the chair, but everybody in the audience goes, what? And. And he's like, wait, what? And. And he does this thing. He does the same thing with the can. And. And. And he tenderly grabs the can and he lets go.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:45]:
And everybody in the audience is like, oh, my gosh, right? And then people come to take pictures behind them like this, but they had already previously stayed sitting in front of the empty chair, taking the picture like that. So when he takes the picture, they're showing it to one another, and the guy can see it's the chair he's sitting in and the people in this picture, but he can't be seen. And over a little bit of time, he becomes absolutely convinced that he's invisible. And he gets to the point where he's crawling on the side because he thinks he can steal this lady's cup of wine, glass of wine, and nobody will notice. It's hilarious to watch. But the reality is, although we might not be convinced to think that, you know, you're invisible or that I'm invisible, that the enemy is always working overtime to deceive, to derail and to distract us. And what we find in Second Thessalonians is that he was hard at work trying to discourage and convince these brothers and sisters in Christ that something had happened that had not happened, and that it was a disruption to their faith. It was a disruption to their confidence.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:04]:
And so Paul addresses this, and we talked about it a little bit in the first chapter last week. But in this, we understand there's a general principle that Jesus gave us. This is found in Matthew 8:32. And he says this. He says, and you will know the what truth? And the truth will set you free. Now, if that's the case, that Jesus is saying this, that. What is the corollary of that? That if we are not in the truth, that it's the likelihood that we are either enslaved or deceived or confused. And you can fill in the blank, right? And so that the Apostle Paul wants to set the truth straight so that people can experience the freedom they can not have.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:54]:
No confusion, to have the confidence, to have the clarity. And he begins this whole book by starting. I'm sorry, this chapter, chapter two, in verses one. And two, and would you be kind enough, we're going to stand and read that together on the screen or in your notes, whatever your Bible, whatever it is you have. Let's read this is what it says. Ready, Begin. Now, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you brothers, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word or a letter seeming to be from us to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Now, it doesn't matter who we are.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:42]:
We are all subject, I had mentioned, to being tricked, deceived, confused, or what have you. And it appears that in this passage that people, whether they had been pretending to be the Apostle Paul, have written to them the letters saying that the day of the Lord had come and that somehow you missed it, you were left behind. That when God went to come to set everything straight and he would take people to be with him, you know what? You didn't make the cut. If that were you and you were convinced of that, what would it do to your faith, Right? I think it'd be easy to think that we would be discouraged. We would feel second class, we would feel forgotten. You might feel, I don't know how to live my faith out if this is the case, right? So Paul has this thing that he wants to set this thing straight because it says the truth will set us free. But what we see, like in the trick that I had described in the beginning, that what he saw convinced him otherwise, right? Sometimes our feelings convince us otherwise. Some times people's words convince us otherwise.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:59]:
But the word of God is always true, a rock on which to stand. And so this evening, what we. I just titled the message, you know, standing firm in the truth. Because if we want to walk in freedom, we need to be standing in his word. So before we have a seat, just turn to your neighbor, says, God wants you to be strong in His Word, then you can have a seat. God never wants us to be shaken or fearful or discouraged or derailed, right? He doesn't want us walking around in the spirit of fear or insecurity or inferiority. Now, it's safe to say that Thessalonians obviously never missed the return of Christ. Why? Because, you know, he still hasn't come yet, right? So we know obviously that they never did miss that day, the day of judgment and the day of salvation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:50]:
And I think today the issue is that often we ask when we see the things that are going around us is, are we living in the end Times, right. Are these the times that. That are near the end, the things that are described? Sometimes it's attributed to the Book of Revelation that, like the things in the Book of Revelation. And the Book of Revelation does have many of those things. But many of those things are also found in this book called Second Thessalonians. And we'll happen to read into many of these today, and looking at these things now, if you were to ask me what do I think, I think the. The. The answer is obvious, that absolutely we are.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:31]:
That absolutely we are in this place, that living in the last days. Does that mean I know when? No. Does that mean I know how soon? No. But I think it means to us to be prepared, to be ready to live soberly, to live closely with Christ. But we ought to have confidence that when that day does come, that we will be ready, that when that day does come, you can stand strong. And so when you know the reasons why you can have confidence, it allows you to stand strong. And so he continues this chapter by saying this. He says, let no one deceive you in any way, for the day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the Son of destruction.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:23]:
And so he gives us some clear markers that saying, hey, this is how you know when that time comes, that before Christ's return, there will be at least two things. He says, what the rebellion comes and the man of lawlessness is revealed. Now, they refer to two things. One of those is the great falling away, and the second is the unveiling basically of the Antichrist. Right? And so this word rebellion, let's say the word rebellion, rebellion. Now, rebellion sounds like an uprising, right? Something that happens like in a. In a third World country or maybe what we experienced during the pandemic or different things. We see these kinds of things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:05]:
But that word rebellion, it actually comes from the Greek word apostasia, where we get the word what? Apostasy, which means. It does mean a defiance of an established system, authority. But it also very clearly often means abandonment or a breach of faith. And so he's saying that the day that the Lord will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and then the man of lawlessness and the man of lawlessness will be revealed. So this falling away that happens first is, I think, something that, to be honest, people have worried about who study the things about the health of the church and the effectiveness of the church of. I think it was earlier in the year, before Easter, I talked about a study that was done that tracked Actually, a fairly rapid decline in church attendance over the last 20 years. And there has been this aspect of, although people might say, I have a belief in God, that their faith is somewhat becoming less stable, right? And people saying that, hey, that this is something that I live out versus something that I believe but doesn't affect my life. And so they saw a fairly steep decline.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:35]:
And the last couple of years, there has been the upturn, right? We talked about this thing is that there has been a turning around. And surprisingly, and maybe not surprisingly, but often among the Gen Zs, the younger generation. And we see the same thing sometimes on the weekend, right? We see the same things. I see the same things on the Sunday. And people who are coming and just wanting to follow Christ. Now, the thing is that this falling away is something that Jesus talked about. This is not something that Paul came up with, but something that Jesus himself said that although in our generation, most people hold to a belief in God, there still has been this decline in overall church attendance. But is that what Paul's talking about? I'm not exactly sure.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:25]:
But this is what Jesus says in Matthew 24:12. He says, @ that time. Let's say at that time. What time is that? And we'll see in this thing, this passage, this is talking about the end times, right? Many is. It says, we'll turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people, and because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. You know, when it says, at that time, many will turn away from the faith and betray and hate each other, you know, I think many of us. And sometimes when I'm talking to my friends and pastors and we talk about, like, you know, before the pandemic, that we used to think that if you knew Jesus and you followed him, you love Jesus, man, we would be just on the same page, right? And it didn't matter. It didn't matter anything else.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:23]:
It didn't matter about your political affiliation. It didn't matter about these things. And then, you know, what happened in the pandemic? It seemed like being a follower of Jesus wasn't enough because people would ask, what is your stance on the vaccine? What is the stance on Black Lives Matter? What is your stance on transgender issues? What is your stance? You know what I mean? And so all of a sudden, the church, which had been almost like a block, became fragmented, right? And sometimes we seeing people Friendships and. And leaders and different people. And this is every church that has gone. And some of them, many surprised about those who left. Now they might. Some.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:07]:
A lot of them just went to other churches. And so it's not like they left the faith per se, but others we also know just basically drifted to the side, right? And maybe starting out, staying online. And then, you know, after a while, just kind of just went and lived their life. And so is this that falling away? I cannot say that that's the definitive thing that that will be. But he does describe, and what I believe is it's a sign of how it will be. If this is not. If this is not what he's talking about. But one of the things that we need to understand, why will people turn away from God? Why will they abandon the faith? You know, we are called to do two things when it comes to our relationship with the Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:01]:
I mean, there's a bunch of things, but one is to fear the Lord and one is to love the Lord, right? It says that we ought to. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, right? The first and the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God, who with your heart, mind, soul and strength. And Jesus describes a time, and he says this at that time when people are falling away. He says in verse 11, and many false prophets that appear and deceive many people. He says this in verse 12. Can we just read that sentence again? Ready? Let's read. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, Right? So what's going to happen? Because sin becomes normal, because the things that are against God's design become accepted. Because people follow their own feelings or they follow their own impulses, that lawlessness and whatever the law is, it doesn't really matter.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:09]:
We just do what we feel like. And for many of us, maybe we think the last six years might have been a time of great lawlessness. Where we were said, the border is under control. Where we say, you know, if you say you feel like a woman, you can use the woman's bathroom or play in a woman's sport. Could you imagine these kinds of things happening 10 years ago? No, because. But we see these things. But why does it happen? It says because. People will say.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:52]:
People will say, maybe sometimes it's too hard to be a believer. Why? Because we lose the fear of the Lord and we have a fear of being different than the culture, having a different view, being judged by the world. We love the approval of people rather than the approval of God. And so he says in this time that there will be a great falling away. And I think it's a warning to us. Is that, sure, who likes to be liked? To be honest, I like being liked. I liked being like. I was like, I think that's normal.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:35]:
But he's saying we ought to want the approval of God more than the approval of man. And in this time, unless we're holding to the word of God to honor God, that it's something that makes us more susceptible to the drifting away. He goes on in this thing as the Antichrist is. And we've all heard about it. But the thing is that commentators, they look at this aspect, knowing that in 70 AD that there was. You might know that there was a great rebellion in Israel. And that's where, like Masada took place. And the nation was basically destroyed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:19]:
The emperor, the Roman Empire, came in, disbanded the nation and dispersed the Jews throughout the Roman world. And there was no nation of Israel from 70 A.D. till when? 1948, May 15, my birthday. But like that, the nation of Israel was regenerated over what, 1900 years and during that time. So they're saying, some people are saying it refers to that this Antichrist, because he destroyed the temple, because he disbanded the people, because he destroyed the nation. So is it referred to that or is it referred to something in the end of days? And that is yet to come? Now, the thing is that when we talk about prophecy, that many commentators and many theologians notice that it is often called that a prophecy will often have a mountain perspective. Have you guys ever driven and it's like, it's hard to see here, Maybe sometimes it's very easy to see this principle displayed. I think, like in the mainland, if you've ever been to Colorado, ever seen the Rocky Mountain national park, you drive up there, that there are these massive mountains, and as you're seeing one mountain, you get closer, you think this is the mountain.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:44]:
As you get closer and closer, you pass it, and then you notice something, there is another mountain behind it, right? But it could not be seen. It could not be seen because when it's in this perspective and you're far away, you cannot see that mountain past this mountain. But as you pass that mountain, you see there is another mountain that's behind that. And so. So in this aspect, I think it possible that the emperor was part of the near fulfillment. But yet there are much to come. And this is how we know that, because John the Apostle tells us in the book of first John that there are many antichrists in the world at this time. And so it is saying that there will be a greater one.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:39]:
And so people, during World War II, when Hitler came on the scene and dominated Europe and imprisoned the people of God, the chosen people, God's chosen people, the Jews, and gassed 6 million of them, in addition a couple million Christians, gypsies, gays, right. He killed like a ton of people, not just Jews. Right. He just was on a rampage in Europe. Many thought Hitler to be the Antichrist. Was he the Antichrist? I don't think so. Was he a Antichrist? I think so. But when we have these things, what it's showing us is that as bad as you think this guy is, as bad as you think that person was, when the big A Antichrist comes, it's going to be worse.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:39]:
And so we see these things because they fulfill the prophecies given to us in the book of Daniel where he says that his armed forces will rise and desecrate this man of lawlessness who opposes the temple fortresses and abolish the daily sacrifice and exalts himself above every so called God or sacrifice. And then they will set up the abomination object of worship so that he sits in the temple that causes desolation. And one day he will basically declare himself. It's like these things that worship God, they're nonsense. I, he will claim, sit in the temple one day and proclaim that he is God. So there will be seasons of great evil in the world. And he's saying in these moments where we have great evil and it looks like evil is winning, would you be reminded that they're only given a certain space and that God is still in control? But he allows these seasons to remind us there will be a great day of judgment and deliverance. But this isn't it yet.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:01]:
He's saying this, but be coming so that you can stand firm in the truth. Don't think it's already happened. Don't think you've been left behind. Don't think that it hasn't worked out. Don't think that when maybe for some of us over the last several years, doesn't it seem like the world went crazy, the society went crazy? Didn't it seem like evil was winning and lawlessness was. It didn't matter what the law said. You could have a riot every night in Portland, right? You could have a. It doesn't matter that people can walk into a store, steal whatever they want and walk right out.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:37]:
Doesn't it seem insane? This would never be possible for many of us a few years prior to this. And so what we see are the warning signs of what will come. But he goes on and he says this. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And you know what this is saying is this. It's saying, although, yes, there is evil still in the world and evil is at work, but would you know it's under God's control because God is still here and he's working his things out.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:34]:
He's working all things out, this man of lawlessness. One day he will stand and exalt himself above every other authority, every other religion, every other object, and he will claim the right to rule. But he says there is a mystery of lawlessness, meaning that there is this spirit of rebellion that is active now but sometimes hidden. Sometimes it's hard to put your finger on it. Sometimes it's hard to say. It's subtle. It might be systemic, right? We're living in a season maybe right now where it seems like at least we're moving a little bit more towards an old sense of normalcy, right? So isn't it nice now that, hey, that like, if you have kids in sports, you're not going to have to worry that, you know, your daughter has to compete against the man. My daughter played soccer in High School.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:39]:
4 foot 10, 90 pounds. I cannot imagine her playing. And she's just playing about, just a bruiser, blah, blah, girl from the school, right? Like she can get bounced around, but like if she was competing against a man who said he was a girl, like, literally she could be permanently injured, right? I'm glad that, that that's not the environment that we're setting for our society, for our daughters, right? I'm glad that that's not the kind of thing that we're, we're doing. Because right now there is a war. There's a war over the battle for determining what's real. Right? For some, the believer, what do we say? What's real is what God says is real, right? You don't have to be a believer in God. For some people, they're saying, no common sense. Common sense is what's real, right? We have to.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:36]:
Is common sense bad? No, common sense isn't bad. Common sense is good. I think of faith in God is above common sense, right? Common because it employs common sense. But there are some things that we take because it's been given to us by God. This is, that has survived thousands of years. For some people, its feelings is what's real, right? Its feelings determine what we should do or not. But if we are not in this place where there is some level, something to restrain it, it's saying this, that all of society would just totally go off the rails. But there is something that restrains this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:21]:
Holy Spirit is Him. It says it's a He. Some people say it's the Church. The Church is often described as a she, right? We are called the Bride of Christ, but the Spirit works through the Church. But it is Him. It is he who restrains the corruption, right? But we have a place to play, right? Jesus said that you and I are the salt and light of the earth. A means by which we have a sense of revelation. A means by which we.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:01]:
We can see clearly. A means by which so not just brought flavor, but brought preservation. That if the church does not stand and hold to what Christ has said, we lose our flavor, we lose our ability to influence society and we lose our capacity to display a message. But when we are filled with the Spirit, when we are directed by him, when we stand on what God says, He says there's a restraining influence, but one day it will be removed. When is the Spirit removed? I believe that's the time that the church is removed. It's going to be that time. And he says, he goes on and he says in verse eight, and then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing his by the appearance of his coming. And the coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:19]:
Therefore God sends them a strong delusion. Let's say that word, strong delusion. You know, a strong delusion is like this aspect that. To be honest, a few years ago, I was just looking. We are allowing our country to go down the funnel of destruction, right? Dismantling marriage, dismantling security, dismantling fiscal conservancy, dismantle. And we all see it, but no one does anything. Now it's not like it's all perfect, but there's an opportunity to stand and reverse some of these things. But didn't.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:06]:
Have you been in that place? You're like, what in the world is happening? Sometimes this is what God says, that there will be a strong delusion and there's a reason. We'll talk about that. So that they may not believe. So that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure on unrighteousness. Now, we believe in miracles, right? You guys believe in miracles, right? We believe that God heals, right? We believe in healing. We believe that God can answer in a dramatic way, right? He can open the door, he can hold back the weather, he can create an opportunity. And, and to be honest, we'll have a time to pray for prayer and healing on Friday, next Friday on our 21 Days of Prayer. If you know someone that they've been, they have an affliction, they have some kind of a situation, we're just going to have the prayer team, we're going to have a chance to worship together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:01]:
We're going to talk about like how, what is, how does God move in this aspect? And we're going to pray this week. We just had some situations where we prayed for people who had been, you know, been to the neurologist, been gotten cortisone shots and have no relief for weeks. Prayed for and pain free, right? Pain free. And who gets the glory? God gets the glory, right? It's only God who can do these things. But we believe that God can heal. But you know what we don't believe? We don't believe that it doesn't matter where the healing comes from. That as long as I get what I want, that's all that matters. And this is important because it says in these last days that the enemy, the lawless one, by all the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, the devil is not a creator.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:16]:
He's generally a corrupter. He's a. He's a copycat, right? You guys ever had that when you were a kid and you said, can we just stop this? And then the guy goes, can we just stop this? You guys ever have, right? They just kind of copy what you say. Isn't that irritating, right? That man, it's like, but see, this is what the devil does. He sees what God does and he copies and imitates. Why? Is it because he wants to be God? Because he wants to be God? Because he wants the worship. It was that way in the garden. He didn't create a garden, he didn't create a world.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:59]:
He. He just gave the promise that he could make it a better world. And what happened? It broke, corrupted it. He says Come live in my world. It's better than God's. And this is why we have the problems that we have today. He deceived, and as a result, the world is broken. But Paul says this man of lawlessness, in accordance with the work of Satan, will have all kinds a counterfeit, miracles, signs and wonders.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:40]:
Now, the scripture is very clear to warn us about saying that miracles can happen, but not every miracle is from God. In the book of Deuteronomy 13, I just wrote the reference because it's a little bit long, you know, to write in your notes. But he says this in, in Deuteronomy 13, it says, if a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you to come to comes to pass. And he says, hey, let's go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them. You shall not listen to them. You shall not listen, I'm sorry, to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. But let's read what that last line says to get. It's on the.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:28]:
On the screen. For the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and all with all your soul. So what is he saying? God is testing whether we just love the goodies and the benefits or we love Him. Because if to us it doesn't matter, whoever gives me what I want, I follow him versus I follow the living God. And I believe him for things, I trust him for things. But I receive whatever he gives. I rest in his goodness. He says, this will be a great determination for those who can stand in that time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:17]:
So he just encourages us. Love the truth. Love the truth. Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you do know him and have seen Him. Jesus makes the claim, if you see me, you've seen God, you've seen the Father.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:43]:
But he gives a warning. Jesus himself says in Matthew 24:24. Because false Christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders so as to lead astray every possible astray, if possible, even the elect. Now, I know that at times, you know people, that there's psychics, there's fortune tellers, there's all kinds of things, right? And many of them, I think they're just people who want to make a buck. I don't think all of them Are that way, I think people can experience things and know things and do things, sometimes from a demonic source. And so he's saying, be careful. Be careful. Be careful who you let pray for you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:43]:
Be careful who you go to for guidance and advice. Be careful. Because it says, this is a warning from God that when this comes around, he says, sometimes God's testing our hearts. Do we love him or do we just love the benefits? And so he's saying that in the middle of all this, in the middle of all this, that we need to be mindful because the spirit of a delusion that is poured out so that they may believe what is false in order that they might be condemned, those who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness, that these things happen as a result. Basically, it's really the sign of a judgment. It's the unfolding of a judgment of God when there is a spirit of delusion. In essence, God is saying this. If you didn't want to follow me and you didn't want to learn that you didn't want to walk in the truth, I'll let you walk into error.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:55]:
And so he says, we need to hold to the truth. I'm sure we've all gotten sick, right? I'm sure we've all been. Everybody been to the doctor at some point, right? Everybody been to the doctor at some point. Your doctor ever tell you something that you just didn't want to do? How many of us that we hate going to the doctor when he says, you got to count out the sweets, you got to eat more greens, you know, you gotta, you know, drink less coffee, or you gotta have, like, you gotta cut down on how much alcohol you drink, Whatever. Like, we don't want to hear that, right? Every once in a while, we. We just want it, like, now that that's understandable, right? He had something seriously, seriously wrong with you. If he had something seriously wrong with you and he gave you a treatment plan, and then he says, in this case, hey, you just need to make some adjustments to what you eat. I need you to take this medicine.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:54]:
We have this procedure that we do. It's not going to kill you, but the disease can. I'm sure that we would think the rational person would basically go along with the plan, right? But how many of us know that we know somebody, we know people that just go, meh, I don't think so right now? If that person, because they refused it, face the consequence that no one would want, we would understand. Why wouldn't we? Because it's not that. It's not just I made a mistake. It is a rejection. It is a rejection of authority. It is a rejection of truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:53]:
It's a rejection of a plan that would be bring life. And so unfortunately, sometimes there's a strong consequence for that. And so God says, come to me that you might have what life. When we reject the God of life, what does it bring? It brings destruction. Sometimes in relationships, it brings destruction. Sometimes in our health, it brings rejection. It brings destruction sometimes to our, our well being as a person, right? Sometimes. And this is what he's saying, learn how to love the truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:35]:
Learn how to love the truth. So no matter what I say, you'll be walking in the same path. Makes sense. And then just. I'm just going to close with this. He says this so in verse 13. But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, beloved by the Lord, because God has chose you. God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:03]:
And to this you are called through our gospel so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter. And sanctification isn't something that is done for you, it's something that we choose, right? To be sanctified, to be set apart, to be growing in an ongoing sense. Salvation happens in a moment that you trust them, right? And it's undeserved, it's unearned, right? But it's something that's received. The moment you say, jesus, I'm a sinner and I know I've been living it my own way, but I surrender and I come to you. That moment that we put our faith in Jesus, it says, your name is written in the book of life. He forgives you your sin. The Spirit of God is placed in you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:14]:
That's a free gift. But you know, everything else that helps us to become more and more like Jesus. It's something that we have to really choose, right? That we have to step into. When we discipline ourselves for godliness, when we develop godly habits, when we, when we learn how to connect with God on a daily basis, when we learn how to discern his way and say, I'm going to submit my will to his will. Anybody who ever has prayed, God, what is your will? God, what's your will? What are you leading me to? Generally, what we're not telling God is God, tell me Your plan, if I like it, I'll do it. And sometimes that's why we. We might end up doing. But generally we're saying it's because I really want to follow.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:09]:
And there is a. You know, there is probably sometimes we just. We all have chosen our own way, even after God's revealed it. But over time, what happens, we get closer and closer and the old me starts looking a lot further into the rear view mirror and we start looking a little bit more like Jesus. Doesn't happen in an instant, right, but it happens over a lifetime. But this is what he's saying. But he says, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit, that the Spirit's work in you and belief in what? The truth. Belief in the truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:59]:
He says to this. That's what you were called. So it's an ongoing relationship, and it's an ongoing process of change, being willing to be changed and transformed to look more and more like the Savior who called us. And then he says this in verse 16. Let's read what that says together. Ready Now. May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace. Comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:42]:
When we started the book, we talked about opposition that would come from the world and how there would be trouble from the outside. But by persevering through your faith that you can, you can stand. In this chapter, he says, sometimes the confusion about the future and the confusion of the world and the confusion of the spiritual confusion, sometimes that can be a trouble that gets on the inside. But when we hold on to truth, when it changes our thinking, it will allow us to see what God is doing. And then we can have hope that God himself will comfort and establish you until Christ's return, because he's the God of good hope, of all comfort and all strength. This isn't just so that we can survive till the end times. This is because God is calling us to shine our light in the darkness and the time will come. Maybe just like how we.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:05]:
When we started this service this evening, you know, the sun's shining in from the outside. We got it, you know, screened a little bit. Right. We have the tint on it. But over the course of our service, the sun has set and the darkness has fallen on the outside. And now the light from inside, inside this room shines outside. Was the light shining outside? Was the light always shining on the inside? Yeah, it was always shining on the inside. But when did it become most noticeable? When the world got darker.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:51]:
And it will be this way in the end time. So let the light of Jesus shine in your darkness so that you can have light absolutely. But so the light can shine through you for others. Because God is still calling, still loving. As long as the people are willing to humble themselves and come in truth, it's just that they might be saved. That's our role in these things. That make sense. Hey, let's close in a word for Father.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:38]:
I know that in this chapter there's actually a lot of things that could be really technical and we could have talked about in very complicated ways. But when it comes down to it, Lord, we just want to be closer. And we want to be aware, Lord, that we all want a good life. But I think everybody wants a good life. But Father, what. What we want to do is we want to place you first because we know that we never get to choose the times in which we live. We just get to choose how we live in the times that we do. And Lord, there will be a generation, and I believe this is our generation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:34]:
We didn't choose to be born at this time. You did. But Lord, thank you that we can choose you and that when we do, Lord, we may not be perfect, but we'll be growing and we'll be changing. And Father, would Christ be formed in us today so that we can stand in the truth to shine the light and regardless of all of. There will be craziness that happens in the world. But Lord, it's always under. It's always under your authority. And so thank you, Lord, that there will be ebbs and flows in these times, but that the people of God, when we're standing in you, get stronger.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:30]:
And that can fulfill the mission that you've given us today. Thank you that you've given us in your word. Thank you that we're seeing it displayed in our very. In the very times of our lives. Would it not bring us. Would it not bring us fear, but would it bring us comfort that God is in control, he knows all the days of our lives. And thank you, Lord, that you always be good. In Jesus name, God's people said Amen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:08]:
Hey, thanks for joining us.