Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]: Hey, good to see you guys. I hope you guys are hungry, right? Because we're gonna hopefully fill our soul a little bit, and we're gonna also fill our stomachs. But, you know, we. I wanted to say thank you for those who really have taken these 21 days of prayer seriously and really kind of stepping into it. And we're gonna be concluding our 21 days of prayer tomorrow, and we're gonna have some time to celebrate tomorrow, which is also. This is our anniversary weekend. But I hope that for many of you guys, you began a new rhythm. You know, sometimes in the summer, we have these breaks. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:33]: We have these different things, and when our rhythm, our life changes, sometimes our spiritual disciplines, right. They get kind of thrown off track. Right. You know, whether we travel, we're doing fun things, and they're great things to do, and we're glad that you got to do them. But sometimes we got to shake off the cobwebs of summer, because God has so much more in store for you at the. At the. Toward the end of this year. As we move through, we want to move through. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:59]: Not like how many of you guys want to whimper off across the finish line of the year or you want to end strong, right? We all want to end strong, and so thank you for doing that. And so, you know, for some of you, I think in this 21 days that you. You've probably found just the joy of praying together. For some of us, some of you, you found the joy and the power of prayer. You sense God's presence in those moments. And. And for us, that. For if you're. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:26]: If you're one of those people that kind of identify with that, maybe God's calling you to join our prayer team, you know, because prayer matters. Prayer that. It's. It's prayer that moves the hand of God. It's that God has called us to partner with him. But he says, pray, seek me. Not just once, like he's. Like Pastor Jeff was saying, but he's saying, seek me continually. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:48]: And so if you're interested in Just let us know. You can write just, hey, prayer team on the card. You know, like, you're interested on the connect card and turn that in. Or you can text us at the 808-793-5655 number, and we'll get back to you, because we really believe that God's power and his presence is released through the power of prayer. Hey, but I do want to transition a little bit. Happy 26th anniversary, NHK family. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:17]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:18]: And we're glad that you could join us this weekend. There's some people here in the room that came to that first service at Makakilo Elementary School 26 years ago. Some came on purpose. Some came by mistake. Some thought we were Hope Chapel. They were confused. And, you know, the thing is. But hey. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:41]: But Jeanchi is still here 26 years later, right? And. And the Steinhoff. But you know what. What has been great that the family has grown over the years. And, you know, when you think back 26 years ago, you know, I don't know what you. Some. What do you think about? Maybe there's some of us that you weren't even born yet, but I think most of us here in this room that we're probably were alive, if not the kids. But, you know, when you think in terms of what life was like 26 years ago in Kapolei, how many of you guys know, there was obviously no Hoopili, right? No East Kapolei. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:21]: That never even. That was just a Loon Farms, Right. No, uh, West. No Kamakana Ali'. I. Right. No. No Target? No Costco. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:31]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:32]: There was no Regal Theater. No. No Zippies. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:36]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:36]: No Sushi Bay. For some of us who. Who kind of like that, right? Our ministry center was our house. My dining room was the office, my living room, the meeting space and the practice room. And just like the city has changed, I've changed, you've changed, we've grown. Sometimes the way that we grow could be debatable, right? You know, but the thing is that. The thing is, hopefully you and I, we're not just older, that we're a little bit more like Jesus. We can believe him for more, we can trust him for more. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:12]: We can love him and love others as a result. You've probably seen some good times and you've probably seen some hard times, but it's the persevering through that really matters. You know, these last 26 years, and I'm going to get just. I'm going to transition to a message. But these last 26 years, it seems so quick. And I think that happens when you get to do life and ministry together with people you like, people you respect, people that you trust. And, you know, I mean, it's. I was just talking to Derwin tonight, and then I said, man, how long is it that you guys been here? 10 years. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:55]: 10 years already. You know, I remember when you guys came in the first. That first was a Saturday night, right? And just time goes quick, and I'm so glad that it does, because it's better Than it's like, oh, my gosh, right? We don't want to be like that, right? And so today we're going to celebrate today we're going to have the hospitality team knock themselves out as well as you guys brought a bunch of stuff. So can we just say thank you to our hospitality team the week in, week out. Amazing. So we're going to do that. But before we do, I do feel like, you know, there's some things that God has laid on my heart. You know, one of those things is, I think, anniversaries, like just like a regular anniversary, a wedding anniversary or a birthday or whatever it is that they're there. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:47]: Some people said, like, we don't want to magnify, man. Or we don't want to magnify. Yeah, I kind of get that. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:53]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:54]: But the thing is that God instructs us to celebrate his goodness, right? He instructs us to celebrate his faithfulness, his provision to recognize that his presence. And so he says to us in Deuteronomy 16:14, he said, Be joyful at your festival. You, your sons and your daughters, and your male servants and your female servants and your Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless, and the widows who live in your towns. You know, what is it saying everybody, right? There's no insides, there's no outsides, Everybody is welcome. And so this, you know, but he's saying that be joyful, you know, some things is like if you. If you don't celebrate, something would be a little amiss. You know, yesterday is actually my daughter's birthday. So that's the reason why I wasn't here for Friday night. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:41]: It's the only one I missed, right? But, you know, I think the Lord forgives me, right? I could celebrate my daughter's birthday, but you know what? It would be kind of odd is like, it's her birthday, but I just treat it like every other day. Now, I understand that if you're an. A more mature individual and often a man, that when it comes to your birthday, that's what you say, right? Just like any other day, right? But you know what? The thing is that I understand you might feel like that because it's like, I don't need anything special, but don't put the damper on your family's desire to celebrate, right? They want to honor you. They want to celebrate you. They want to say, man, I'm so grateful God brought you through, especially some of you, the kind of lives you guys had. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:28]: Whoo. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:29]: Are you guys lucky. You guys still alive. Now, but for some of us, right, there's that thing. I'm included in that. But the thing is that it's appropriate to celebrate. And this is what it says in Nehemiah, 8, 10. Can we read that together? Let's stand in reverence to God, in reverence for his word. This is what he says. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:47]: Very simple. He says this. Let's read. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:50]: Ready? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:50]: Begin. The joy of the Lord is your strength, right? So we celebrate because it, it leads to joy, right? There's. Sometimes you celebrate and you're not that joyful, but as you continue to celebrate, your heart changes, right? But there's time for perseverance. There's time to, to be grit and endure. But you know what? That's not the description of the Christian life. It's not the description of the life with Jesus. It should be a life of peace. It should be a life with fullness. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:21]: Should be a life with joy. Though we all persevere through the difficult times. So do me a favor, before you're seated, just turn to your neighbor and say, I'm so glad you're part of the joy. And then you can have a seat, right? Because we all know when we gather together, it multiplies joy and it reduces sorrow. And so, hey, you know, we're going to take a look, though. I feel like as we're here, you know, we, we might look different. You know, we, we have a, a different ministry center, to be honest. We have more space than we used to have. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:53]: We have more stuff than we used to have. We have, you know, different things as we start. We have obviously more staff than when we started. We have different things that have changed. But I, I feel like, to be honest, the calling has never changed, right? Calling never changes, that circumstances change, but your calling never changes. Your assignment may change from time to time, right? For some of you that, you know, when you started out that you, you just love the kids and that was enough. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:19]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:20]: And that was your, that was your assignment. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:22]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:22]: But your calling probably never changed. The arena in which you fulfill the calling can change. And, and I believe that there's just three prophetic directives for the next season for us as a church. And, and when I say prophetic directives, I don't mean that I'm the prophet. I mean, I heard these directives, to be honest, in our larger church family, we're sitting around in a district and part of the district team, and we're talking about what we're doing as a national movement, an international movement, and we talked about These three things. And it's like, this is the things that I pray for our church, family. And so I wanted to just take a little bit of moment to say, you know, in these days that we live, that the world can look crazy at times. The world can. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:19]: Can be a great place to live at sometime. But in these moments, in this season that we live in fateful times, that I believe these directives are not just simply for our church. It's not really for foursquare church. I think it's for all people of God that we ought to be these things. And so I'm going to just go through these. And the first thing is this. That we ought to be a people who are pursuing his presence, right? That we ought to be a people who are pursuing his presence. You know, it's part of the instruction of God that Jesus would. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:51]: Before Jesus ever sent anybody anywhere, do you guys ever notice that he says, first come, right? Jesus uses two verbs very often. Come and go, right? But you cannot go unless you come first, right? Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, right? And I will give you, take my yoke upon you. I will give you rest for your souls, right? Come to me, right? That you might see, taste and see that the Lord is good. You're going to come to God. You're going to hear that man. You alone had the words of life, like the apostle Peter. So in that instruction, you know that it. It leads us when we come, that we experience redemption, right? We experience healing, we experience renewal. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:35]: We. We find the joy of our salvation. And when we're in that kind of a midst that he's not saying come religiously, but he says, come seeking my presence. Come seeking who I am. Moses, when he was given the directive to lead the people of God through the desert on the way to the promised land that the Lord said, I'm going to send you. Because he says, come. The God often says, come first. But then he says, go. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:08]: Go into the promised land, right? Says, go preach the gospel, right? To make disciples of all the nations, right? He sent this 12. He sent the 72. Go and preach in the countryside. Take no staff, he said, right. And no extra bag. He gives this instruction. And so when he tells Moses to go, this is Moses's response. The Lord says this first. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:33]: That my presence will go with you where I know you'll bless. Then the way where I know you'll bless. Then the way that promises beyond what God can give, right? That God is saying to you at the moment, I'd rather be in that place. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:48]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:48]: It's like, it's. Even when it comes to honoring God with my finances, I'd rather. I'd rather live off the 90% that God blesses than the 100% that I just keep for myself. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:58]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:59]: And so when we experience the goodness of God, it draws us, it changes us and awakens something within us that you want to seek Him. And we hope, like, during these 21 days that you just. You develop that rhythm again, right? Because you. Some of the kind of, like, sometimes it's the apathy, sometimes it's just the blah, Sometimes it's just the. The mundane sense that we sense that, oh, my gosh, there's awakening within you. And I love what it says in Psalm 27. 8. Let's read what it says. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:29]: Ready? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:29]: Let's read. My heart says of you, seek his face. And this is. This part he's saying that when my heart says, seek his face, that this is. It demands a response. So this is what he says. Your face, Lord, I will seek. So it's not just a feeling. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:50]: It's a decision. It's a choice. It's a step that we take. We were made to know God. He made us and knows us, and he's calling us closer. And how we'll do that, hopefully in the next, in the coming days, is like it says in Psalm 119, verse 2. And you look at that, it says amped. It's not that because the writer was all amped up. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:13]: Write down. It's a short for the Amplified Bible. That's for all of you guys who are hard of hearing, like myself. So. But this is what it says. Let's read what it says. Blessed and favored by God are those who keep his testimonies and who consistently seek him and long for him with all his heart, their heart, right? And so we need to consistently seek. And consistency is a thing that. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:39]: It's not perfection. It doesn't say perfectly. It says consistently. It says that it's. It's my. It's my practice, it's my habit. It's my. My regular. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:50]: This is where I gonna be. I don't. I. I remember when I first got married, I was, you know, with some people at work, and. And, you know, that I was saying, hey, what are you gonna do? You know, like later on season, it's like one guy goes, oh, I gotta go home. And, you know, he kind of gave that little, like a weird tone to it, right? And I said, well, what's the alternative, right? Like, and you know that because in that season where I began to experience was like, you know what? I get to go home and there's somebody there, right? I was single for a long time. I was single till I was 35. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:34]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:35]: Right? And so, you know, like, when you have roommates, it's not the same, right? It's like. And then when you get sick, to be honest, and you have roommates and your roommates, guys, you know what? But you're on your own. That's how it is. It's like, but when I got married, it's like, man, I get to go home. And there's this aspect of consistency, right? I go home every night and it doesn't get old, right? I love that I get to go home. And that's what God says. It's like, would you recognize your home with me? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:07]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:08]: Would you come home to me? Like, hey, not every once in a while, you know? But make it your practice. How do we do that? We read His Word, right? It'll build your faith. You'll hear his voice. You'll see how God thinks. You'll see how God feels. You'll see what God does. You see how God thinks about different things, things that are happening in the world that we read His Word. His Word is the only thing apart from God and people that will last forever. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:40]: You and I, we were made to live forever. Every single person on the face of the planet, right? And you heard me just say that the only issue is just where you're. You're going to live, right? That every person, they were made to live forever. But only God, right? Well, the angelic hosts and as well as people. And he says, and His Word will live forever. Everything else will fade away, right? This room will fade away. These things will fade away. The TVs will die out one day, all these kind of things. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:14]: But he says this, but my Word. So we read His Word because it's eternal. It's his living. It's the expression of his heart and his mind. We pray, we pour out ourselves. I hope that when you pray, you pour out your heart to God, right? You're not just telling God what you think he wants to hear. You know, that there's that he really wants you to pour out your heart before, be honest before and pray about those things. When you need to cry, cry before God. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:39]: When you want to rejoice, rejoice before God. But in the middle of that, what you'll find, you'll find him closer than ever, right? We worship. We do all these things. Now, somebody just asked me the other day, and I was surprised that they asked because they know me well. But he said, somebody asked me, hey, do you like religion? And I said, no, not really. And I think they were a little bit surprised. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:05]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:06]: But, you know, I'm just not somebody who likes religious things. I love God because He loves me. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:13]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:14]: But I don't just love religion. It's. To be honest, it's sort of like this sometimes in this, this last five weeks, some of you guys know, I'm so glad that this season is done for me personally was that. But the last five weeks, I did five funerals. And to be honest, some of you guys in the room for your family, right? And so it's been a difficult season for some of our friends, right. In the congregation. But, you know, in almost every funeral, I'll say it's like, I just acknowledge that when people come. Nobody likes funerals. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:52]: We love the people is why we came, right? We love the person who passed away. We love our friends who are going through this season. We love people. We don't love the funeral. To me, loving religion is like loving the funeral. It's the substance, it's the life, it's the relationship that makes all the difference, right? And so, yeah, I'm not, you know, I'm not going to criticize everybody who does their. The thing that they do, but let's pursue God is saying this. Pursue My presence, right? Seek my face. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:31]: Sometimes when we pray, we're seeking the hand of God. I don't know if you've ever noticed that when you read the scripture, sometimes it says that he did this by the finger of God. By the finger of God. He cast out the demon from the woman, right? By the finger of God. He did this miracle by. It says sometimes the outstretched hand of God that He delivered them from the Egyptians. And when it talks about the hand of God, it talks about that we need him to do something. And sometimes we just. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:02]: We need God to do something, right? It's like beyond us. Nothing wrong with that. But. But it's. But when we seek not just God's hand, but we seek his face, we just want to be with youh. We just want to know youw more. We just want to. We want to hear your voice. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:18]: We want to enjoy this relationship, right? This is the thing. God is calling this. I believe this season that he's calling some people from religion to seeking his presence, right? He's seeking some that have been well acquainted with seeking his hand. But he said, I want you to seek my face, not just in our church, but in every church. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:41]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:43]: I think the second thing is that we're called to possess the land. We're called to possess the land. There's things that you and I were put on this planet to do. Yet you are here for a reason, a purpose. God has a purpose and a plan for you. Demo Fear, turn to your neighbor and says, you were put on Earth for a purpose. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:07]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:09]: You have a calling that is bigger than you. Because is it. Does that mean what is your purpose? Is your purpose to get married, have kids? For some of us, you know, that's. That is entailed in that, right? But the thing is that your purpose is bigger than that kind of a thing. That's. That's part of the joys of life. It's part of the calling in our life. But you have a bigger purpose, and part of that is to extend God's kingdom. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:38]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:38]: It's to be part of extending God's kingdom and taking back things that the enemy has stolen. It's declaring his goodness. It's standing for what is right. And now when we have this aspect of. Of possessing the land, for us, part of that was getting back into the city of Kapolei. Like, we. We are grateful for this place. This allowed us to be sustained during the pandemic that if we didn't have this, like many of my friends, they, like, they met under a tree in the park or, you know, like, they didn't have a facility. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:08]: So this enabled us. It didn't just enable us that we. We had other people too. I have friends that they needed a space. They said, hey, feel free. Come knock yourself out come Sunday night. Come. You know, as long as it's not the time that we're using it. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:21]: That. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:22]: So other churches were sustained because we had the facility. We're really grateful for that. But to be honest, how many neighbors do we have in the industrial area? Not many. We needed to be where people are. We needed to be part of the community. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:38]: We. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:39]: We needed to be. I believe that just being visible around there, right. We're tucked away in this. This place. If you come to this place for service, it's because you really intended to. Right? And this is what I love. Sometimes people come in and they've never been here before, and sometimes I just see the face. Oh, wow. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:00]: That. It was, like, a lot nicer than I thought. That when I come inside. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:04]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:05]: Okay. I can read between the lines. You guys were scared when you Guys first came to this location, right? So if you came at late at night, you would be scared too. I can understand that. So. But the thing is that we're called to possess the land, right? We're not called to be in the corner. You know what? It was comfortable to be here. We didn't have to set up and break down. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:23]: We didn't have to load trucks again. We didn't have to do all that stuff, set up, break down. But you know what? How many of us know that even if you're here on Saturday night, you've been on Sunday, you go like, man, there's a different vibe, right? There's a flow, it's a great place. There's a welcome, right? It's not that we're not welcoming here. It's just that it's harder for people to see from this place, right? We were grateful for it. You know, Jesus told this story. He told this in Luke 19, he said, he tells this parable, and it's very transparent. Parable. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:58]: I think he says it like this. In verse 12 of Luke 19, he says, he said, therefore, a nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. You know who he's talking about? He's talking about himself, right? He's getting ready to leave and that he will be gone, but he will return, right? He's telling this story, and then he gave them to the folks that he's talking to, his 10 servants. He gave them 10 Minas or Minas, and said to them, engage in business until I come. But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, we do not want this man to reign over us. In other words, you know that God knows that not everybody wants to be part of his kingdom, that not everybody knows, and it is part of his kingdom. And so he gives in this parable, he gives an instruction, and he uses the parable of taking care of a financial treasure and stewarding that, right? But it's supposed to cause increase. It's supposed to grow. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:08]: And guess what? To be honest, the thing that God loves the most is not money or gold or financial stuff. It's people, right? It's people. That's why he called you. That's why he called me. And that we're called to bring people to Christ. That's part of the call. That's the. It's called the Great Calling or the Great Commission, right? To go make disciples of all the nations, right? God's saying this. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:37]: It's like when we get to heaven, it's going to be a celebration, it's going to be a party. But you know what? It's supposed to be every language, every tongue, right? You know, I was in Japan on vacation a few weeks ago, right? And we had a chance to go to a hotel. I brought my family to a place we normally just stay at, my mother in law's place. And then when we were there, I saw this girl and I knew she was from Myanmar. I just know just from the ways that she looks and you know, she was there. And so I told my wife, that girl, that lady, I know she's from Myanmar, talk to her, right? Because we have so much friends in Myanmar, the ministry that we started in Myanmar, and you know, that I went up to her and I said, excuse me, are you from Myanmar? She was surprised that I knew, right? And I just said, oh, mingalabar, which is like hello in Burmese. And you know, the thing is that she hadn't heard that in a little bit, especially from a guy like me that, like, I guess I get Japanese face, right? So generally she has to learn to speak traffic in Japanese in Japan. But you know what? That in heaven, in heaven, it'll be your language. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:04]: You know what, if you speak pidgin, I'm sure you're going to hear brah, brah da brada, right? If you speak, you know, Swahili, you're going to hear hujambo, bibi, you're going to hear, you're going to hear whatever language you speak, right? And if, and if you're deaf and you do sign language, you're going to hear it because you're being you. And the thing is that we see this thing, this is what he says, though. He says this to us. Would you look at verse, verse 13 when he says this, calling the ten of his servants, he gave them ten miners. And he said to them, let's read that last sentence. Engage in business until I come. This is not. This is not. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:51]: The whole point is like financial. But he's saying, be about the father's business. Be about the father's business. There'll be people to love, people to extend a hand to, people to pray for, people to serve, people to share the gospel with, right? That's what we're called to do. We're called to possess the land because God cares about every single person. I'm glad that God cares about every single child, every single adult, every single old person. You know, Like, I know it's hard because we all get busy, right? We all get busy lives and Sometimes people, they get to places in life where I know that they're not as mobile as they used to be and it's so easy for them to get shut in. This is one of the reasons why we continue to stream, even if we don't stream on Sunday, because there's not the hardware there for us to do that. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:53]: Because we want people to be connected. We know that some of you, we haven't been able to see you in a long time. We do pray for you, right? Praying for the Debbie we. Praying, you know, praying for. I know that even some people in the room that when they cannot come, this is why, right? Because you don't have the capacity to come. We understand that. But. But you're still part of our family. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:15]: And here's the good news is, because God always sees you, even when you cannot make it right, Even when you're not in the room, even. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:22]: But. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:22]: But the thing is that I'm glad that the God I serve knows each of our names. I forget who said Imelda this week, she said, and it might have been a quote that she heard somewhere, but I loved it. You know, it says that the devil knows your name, but when he calls you, he calls you by your sin, right? He calls you by your fear, right? He calls you by your doubts. But you know what? God knows your sin, God knows your fears, God knows your doubts, God knows your struggles. But what does he call you? He calls you by your name, right? I'm glad that the God that we serve calls us by name. And you know, the thing is that what does that mean then for us to be able to advance the kingdom? I think it'll take from us as individuals at times and as us as a church corporately is. We got to dare to believe God, right? You look around the world, it is filled with so many needs. It can be overwhelming. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:31]: But you know what? When you pray for someone, when you say that you're to someone that your life matters, when you say God really loves and cares about you, even though you don't believe in God, for some people, you don't even believe in God yet. But you know what? God believes in you, right? I've told people that. And the thing is that you give people hope when you tell them that there is a God. He knows you and loves you and he's calling you, right? You give people hope when they cannot hope for themselves. When we come to the end of ourselves, it's often. It's only when we come to the end of ourselves that we Find the hope. Because before that, we were doing it our way. We were doing it our timing right, we were running everything. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:17]: We were in control. But we want things to work out our way. But when you encounter the God of all hope, something changes. So the thing is that we need to dare to believe God that when he says to make disciples of all the nations, that when he says, talk about me, tell them about me, that. Would you dare to believe God when he says to you, trust me in this. Dare to believe God when he says you will make it, that you will have influence that. That you will grow into this. When he says all of these things, you know what? We dare to believe God. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:06]: Believe God then over your abilities, believe God more than what the world is saying. Believe God more than what the devil is whispering. The devil believes in God, but he doesn't believe God. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:22]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:23]: He knows there is a God. Does he trust God? Absolutely not. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:28]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:31]: The devil knows, but we can believe God. We can trust God. Dare to believe that God is going to draw people through you. You have a calling on your life. Once you give yourself to Jesus, there's an anointing on your life. Now, can that increase and grow over time? Yeah, absolutely. But you know what? God doesn't make a body with spare parts. You're not a spare part. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:03]: You have something to accomplish in life. I could never accomplish. Hale could never accomplish. Pastor Jeff, Donna, we couldn't accomplish. That's why you're here. There's not spare parts. There's not like the old days that when we used to build models, some of us, you guys remember before you had stuff like plastic models, right? Then you'd get a car or a ship or like we were kids, we, you know, used to build planes and stuff like that. And sometimes we would build the whole thing and then we would find extra pieces. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:39]: Sometimes was the. Like we would glue the cockpit and then we forgot to put the pilot in. So just say, well, this is remote control. Now, that's before remote control. But the thing is that God doesn't just make extra pieces to be thrown away. Your life really matters for the kingdom of God. You are irreplaceable. I am irreplaceable. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:04]: So let's pray for the loss. So let's pray for your loved ones, right? God would. Would God, would you move? Would you move and not just dare to believe God, but dare to obey. So when he says something that's a little scary, so then when he says something that's a little uncomfortable, when he's calling you to say something, to do something, to give something, to encourage someone, to embrace somebody, to start doing something that you haven't been doing, or to stop doing something that you have been, to take a step, something, somewhere. Would you dare to obey? Just. Why? Because you're religious? No. Because you love God. Because he loves you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:55]: You know, it's. Jesus said this, if you love me, you'll obey me. And you don't have to be perfect to love God. And you don't have to be perfect to obey. You just got to take one step, go forward. I'll bet some of us here, you already know what step Jesus wants you to do. Can I just ask you, what is that one step that the Lord's been kind of resonating? He said it more than once, but he's told you, is there a place I want you to do me a favor if, you know, Would you just write that on your notes? This is my step. This is where I'm going to be. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:37]: Sometimes things, you know, they ring in your head. You know, like this week, some of you guys might have known is that there was a brother that, like, was a homeless guy. That was when I came into the office. It was 12 o', clock, just about 12. We have a men's group. And when I came in, I noticed the guy and he was, I could tell, like, you know, inebriated, right? He's high or whatever it is. He's like on the. On the street. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:05]: And so kind of having dealt with a lot of guys that, while they're high, tended to say, okay, you know, you wait till they kind of sober up. Then that's the best time to have a conversation. So I just left them. But other guys came in, they gave them something that they offered to, something to drink. Couldn't even respond to that. We had our meeting and all that, and I didn't even remember. I'm not. I just assumed that he got up and went away, right? And kind of went on his way. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:32]: He had his wagon and stuff by the trucks that we have. And when I was leaving, I was locking up after prayer and we had stayed longer because different things. I looked over and the guy was still there. This is nine o', clock, nine o' clock at night. And it's like, well, I still have to make one phone call. As I'm driving away, I was thinking, I know that, like, somebody checked on him earlier, but I gotta still do this thing. And so I did this thing and I ate, to be honest, I was hungry. But, you know, like, it's like 11 o' clock at night, and I'm just thinking about that guy, right? And so I tell my wife, like, I'm going back to the office. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:16]: Oh, why are you going back? Now there's this guy I know just like the Lord is saying, we got to do something, so just check, just check if he's okay. And so I come and sure enough, he's still there, still lying there, like, hasn't moved. To be honest, I was wondering, is the brother alive or not, right? And so I just call, call the police and say, hey, we need a wellness check. Because it's also in this area, 11 o' clock at night. And when guys on the street, they often carry something with them. You don't know what kind of response you can get. And so we called, the guys came, and to be honest, they just shined a light in his face and didn't even do anything for him. And he looked at them and so they just drove off, right? But it wasn't until the next day, the next day when I came again, 10 o', clock, he was still there. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:15]: And later, after Sunny, a lot of you guys know Sonny, he spoke last night. And former police officer still, you know, to be honest, reserve, having dealt with this a lot, man, he just treated him with so much respect and honor. And we just asked him, hey, you need anything to drink, anything to eat? Can we give you anything about medical thing you need, like. And he's denying everything, but we asked, can I pray for you, right? And he said, yeah. And so I just laid my hand, prayed for him. And you know, after we prayed, then he says, oh, you know, the water sounds good. No, you know, like, to be honest, until we prayed, he wouldn't receive anything. But after we prayed, he was willing to receive something. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:10]: And, you know, then Sunny had gave him some money to go get something to eat. Is that going to change the situation for his whole life? Probably not. But maybe it starts something, right? Maybe it plants a seed, right? It's just, you and I, we're not called to. It doesn't say, hey, plant the seed, water it, tend the garden, all this stuff, and then harvest it all at the same time. That would be crazy, right? If you planted a seed and thought that that's what's going to happen, right? It takes time. Some of us that you, you plant seeds and somebody else harvests. And so this is what you are mistakenly believe. I didn't do anything that mattered. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:01]: And sometimes maybe you, the guy that you get to, you get to harvest, you get to see that person trust Christ. And you can tend to think, oh, I saved somebody today, right? No, this is what the scripture says. One watered, one planted some, right? Tended the garden. But it was God who causes the growth. But we partnering with God to extend his kingdom. But it only happens when you dare to dare to believe God dare to obey. And for some of us, can we just say this? Dare to grow again. To be honest, you've gotten a little bit. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:38]: We can get a little comfortable in what we already know. And, you know, when people drift or when we get stagnant, nobody drifts into the fantastic, right? Nobody just goes like, oh, man, I was doing so good on my diet and my weight, and I just kind of got off the rails. And then you know what nobody says, and I lost ten pounds. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:03]: Right, Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:04]: Nobody says that, right? Because when you drift, it tends to go the opposite way, right? It goes for a little bit more. Less order, right? And so, you know, when we were in this place, sometimes we've been staying in the same place. Life has continued to move on. Can I just say, for some of us, you got to get connected again. You got to grow again. Some of us, you were as part of a small group, and then you're not anymore. Used to be a part where you gathered together with your friends and you would pray together, and maybe you do a devotion together. You know, you need to get it back to a place of accountability or place of encouragement, place where you can pray or use your gifts, right? For some of us, that there was a flame, but now there's a number. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:48]: You know, the scripture says this, you got to stir it up. You got to stir it up. And I just want to encourage you. I want to challenge some of us. You know, find that place again, get in that place. And if you. You say, hey, I want to start a group, but there's no group on my time when I'm available or like, kind of like my stage in life or, you know, the situation that's for you. Then, you know what? If you want to start a group, we'll help you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:17]: You start one with your friends. We'll give you resources, right? Let us know. We're starting a new semester of life groups in a couple of weeks, and we would love for you to be able to just say, hey, you know what? Like, they don't have to come to our church. We just want you to extend the kingdom of God. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:34]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:36]: And so makes sense. It is the last thing, this is the last point is that we Want to pass the flame. We want to pass the flame. You know that in this race of life that we're running, nobody runs forever, right? And in one day, we all have. We will either stop running and that's it, or the baton that we've been handed, we will hand to other people, right? And guess what? God has called us not to let something start with us and end with us. We're always called to pass on what grace has been given to us. Sometimes we pass a charge, right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:26]: We. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:27]: We pass a vision. Sometimes we pass belief. Sometimes we pass encouragement. Paul said this in second Timothy 2. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:37]: 2. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:38]: He says, you've heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths. Let's say that now teach to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others. You know, God calls us that it isn't always somebody who's younger than you. It's not only your kids. It's not only high schoolers or. Although of course, we want to equip them, especially in this day and age. But sometimes it's just somebody, you know, not younger in age, but younger in faith, and that everybody can help somebody. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:22]: Everybody can help somebody. Because sometimes, even if you're just like a week older in the Lord, you know, a little bit more. What are you saying? Pass it on. Pass it on. And, you know, sometimes I think that, you know, for us and like, the intergenerational part of it, because on Saturday, we don't really kind of have the space or the team even for. Or the regularity for kids. We would love to be able to do that. I mean, if we had a little bit more, you know, consistent, then it'd be easier, too. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:58]: But the thing is that there's a tension because we always want to have stuff that's applicable for our kids, right. Age appropriate. And so that's what we do have on Sunday from nursery and kid zone to middle school and starting again in a couple weeks. We're going to be having for high school again on Sunday. You know, a lot of those kids are actually kind of just mainstream. They're serving in service, might be serving on the worship team already. They're finding a place, finding a voice. Isn't that great to see some of the teenage guys, like, part in the worship team or how they lead worship, even last week, right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:35]: So, you know, that's. That's because there's people like Steve who passes the flame. It says that. Is it because he cannot play? No. Is it because he cannot sing? No, because he knows that if I pass the flame to somebody else and it starts burning in their heart, they're going to pass that on to somebody else. They're going to make a difference with their life. And so, you know, it's been exciting. And sometimes I think we're tempted to think that nobody wants to hear. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:11]: Everybody's too busy at times, Nobody, they're caught up in their own thing. And I did say a few months ago that yes, there has been a decline over 20 years in church attendance, but something God is doing in these days, starting from the pandemic, to be honest, that people who self proclaim to be Christians has been growing. It's 62% now. Before it was 50 something percent. In the last few years, just in the last two, three years, there's a change, that there's a hunger for God. I was talking to somebody who was feeling like, man, I wish our more kids would be wanting to do this. There's a movement on the mainland mostly that we're hearing a lot of this called the Unite Movement. It's a prayer confession movement. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:10]: College campuses, thousands of kids, like 2,000 to 10,000 in a group. And it's not because they promising them food and all, they're just saying, hey, come. And people are bringing their friends, bringing their kind of leveraging those relationships. And people are coming and people getting saved like crazy. Gen Z, Gen Alpha, right? This group. And I really believe that we haven't seen that outpouring in Hawaii yet, but it's coming this week at Campbell high school. The first week of school, the Christian Club had 145 kids. I heard right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:56]: Of course, get 10,000 in that school. No, I'm just kidding. But like, but you know, it's the biggest high school. But the thing is that God is doing something and we want to pass the flame. We want to be strategic, we want to come alongside. And the tension that sometimes we have is that we want kids. I want kids to see you guys worship. I want your kids to see you worship. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:19]: Because you're probably not at home just like leading them in worship and raising your hands. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:25]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:25]: Because that dynamic is hard sometimes at home, I understand, as parents or whatever. So like on the weekend, on Sundays in particular, you know, once a month, we're going to be bringing the kids in just to worship with us. Do they have worship in their class? Yeah, but you're not in the class with them. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:42]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:43]: So we want them to see you worship. We want you to lean into that. We want there to Be that there's stuff that's geared for them, but sometimes they just need to. They need to see us do it. I love what it says in Psalm 78, says, we will not hide these truths. Can we read this together? We will not hide these truths from our children. We will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the Lord, about his power, and about his mighty wonder. When it says not hide, I think it's. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:20]: It's not hide from your family. It's not hide from your friends. It's not hide, of course, your kids. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:26]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:27]: But we're passing that on. Let's pass the flame. Because this is too important to have started with you and to end with you. Because people matter too much. Because God's kingdom matters too much. For all of eternity. For all of eternity. That's our call. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:48]: And we're going to fulfill our call because we want to follow those directives. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:53]: Right? Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:54]: Seek his presence to claim the promised land. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:01]: Right. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:02]: We're continuing to do that, but we got to pass the flame in the process. Amen. Hey, let's bow our heads. We'll close in order. Final word. Father, I'm thankful for the friends in this room. I'm thankful for the people who are online. And, Lord, that sometimes we. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:21]: There's only so much it feels like what we can do as individuals. And the enemy loves to whisper in our ears that, you know, you can't do much. Who are you? But I just want you to say right now, like, would you just. Lord, we pray that the enemy's voice would be silenced so that your people can hear your voice. Instead of hearing those doubts, instead of hearing those questions, and instead of hearing about what they cannot do, Father, would you whisper to your people, Father, the things that you've been trying to communicate to them? Lord, I thank you that they matter. Father, I thank you that they're loved. Father, I thank you that what they do matters. And, Father, that although you don't always get to see the results right away, that every time you spread a seed, that every time you water something that has already been planted, every time you encourage, every time you lead someone to Christ, it matters. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:40]: Every time we seek him, every time we trust him, every time we obey him, it matters. Your assignments may change, but your calling never does. Hey. With our heads bowed and our eyes closed, I just want to ask this. You know, sometimes I. When the enemy is working, sometimes it's. He works overtime. And so if you're here this evening, and if you were to die tonight, and how confident are you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:19]: That you would go to heaven. If you're saying, like, it's like 0 to 1, do me a favor, raise your hand. Yeah, yeah, I see that. If it's like, you know, from two to five, raise your hand. Okay? If it's like six to nine, raise your hand. Now, here's the thing. If you put your faith in Jesus, he says this, I want you to know, right, that what he's done, it doesn't ask us to say. God doesn't want you to be wondering and that you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:08]: That you figure out some statistic, you know, some probability. But he says this in First John, chapter five. He says, I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know you have eternal life. And this is the confidence we have toward him, that if he. If we ask anything according to his will, he'll hear us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know we have the requests that we have asked of Him. So when you ask, Jesus, would you save me? Jesus, would you come in? Jesus, would you forgive me? Jesus, would you lead me to be honest? Those are all things God wants you to ask. So what does he say? He'll do it. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:00]: It's not about you. It's not about your performance. It's about him and his performance. For all of us who've raised our hand, I'm going to just pray a simple prayer. And would you join me? Because I want you to put your hope in him and His Word more than your performance and your doubts. I understand you have some ups and downs like all of us do. We're going to just pray this prayer. Lord Jesus, I give myself to youo. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:41]: For some of you, it's all over again. For some of you, it's the first time. But just say, I give myself to you. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:49]: You. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:52]: I'm well aware that I sin. I'm not perfect and I have many flaws. But thank you that you love me. Thank you that Jesus died for me. I want to receive you. Would you come live inside me today? Forgive me of my sin. Lead me, guide me, because I want to hold on to your hand. And Father, would you reveal Yourself to Me in increasing ways and bring me people who can encourage me and strengthen me and who I can encourage and strengthen. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:37]: And reveal yourself through your Word and. And by your Spirit, so that I might become all you created me to be. Thank you for calling me to yourself. I'm coming. And thank you for having a purpose for my life. Help me to understand that as the days go on, in Jesus name, God's people say Amen. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:08]: Amen. Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:08]: Can we just say congratulations, folks? You know, that passage I just read was 1st John 5, verse 13. And it goes on, but he says this, that he doesn't want you to wonder and worry. That's one of the ways the enemy steals our confidence, right? Makes us hesitant. Makes us feel like we're not good enough. But God has a call. Hey, God bless you guys. Thanks.