Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
Guys, you know, this evening we just want to prepare our hearts really for communion. And this evening, I know that we want to focus on the word. But how many of you guys like a good story? You guys like a good story? I love a good story. And you know what kind of stories I love the best? True stories, right? And not only true stories, but true stories with twists and turns. And sometimes you go, like, how can anything good come out of this thing? But somehow in the midst of it, all, right, that there's. There's a light at the end of the tunnel. There's good that comes out of a difficult circumstances, we're going to see all those things, I think in the passage that we're reading this evening. And we're turning in your Bible, if you have your Bible, you can turn with me first Chronicles 21, if you'd like to read along on the notes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:47]:
There's. Most of the scriptures are. Are in there already. If not, there's the references that are there. But in this particular passage, David has been a winning streak, you know, I mean, you guys have gotten like, we're just seeing things are clicking for you, things are moving in the right direction. And to be honest, at this season of his life, David has been through some difficulties, like the Bathsheba and the whole situation that happened there. But that's been in the rearview mirror. And it's sort of like he's overcome these things and he's in the midst now of just a season where it's like the golden touch, where everything he touches that he's.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:27]:
It just. It just goes right? And so in the middle of that time, this is when this event that we read, starting in verse one, happens in chapter 21. And so before we get in there, you mind if I just want to open in a word of prayer this evening. Father, we do turn our hearts towards you. And Father, thank you. That the things that we read in the scriptures are not just stories that record and encourage faith. Thank you. That they're true events.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:55]:
Thankful. Thank you, Lord, that. That there are lessons for us. Lord, sometimes, Lord, there are lessons for us to follow, Lord. Sometimes there are examples for us to avoid, Lord, sometimes there are things that insights we have about you and ourselves. But Father, today what we're asking is, spirit of God, would you lead us and guide us? And thank you, Lord, that your word is living. Help me to do justice to the things that you have placed in this passage. We pray these things in Jesus name.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:24]:
Amen. And so when we're in this kind of a place, right? That maybe when everything's going well, that we tend to think everything will keep going well. I don't know if you guys have ever felt that way. It's like, man, this will just go on like this forever. But then we see in verse one, it says this. Then let's say then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. And so although things were going great on the outside, that the enemy had a way that he wanted to come and be a spoiler. And I don't know if you've ever felt that way, that in the middle of everything's going well, but there's some kind of a weird undercurrent going here.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:05]:
And so there is this thing, Satan, it says in this place, just one of three places in the Old Testament where Satan is put out by name. And you see it in Job, you see it here. You see it, I think, in one of the minor prophets. And so we see that it says David was tempted in not just. Not in his moment of great weakness, but in a moment of great success. And so sometimes we might tend to think when we're tired and we're hungry and we're angry or whatever. Those are easy times to get tempted. And to be honest, they can be for sure.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:44]:
But sometimes the moments that are really the most difficult are not the moments that are hard for you. But it's when things are going well. And so we see at that place that says, so David said to Joab, who is the commander of his army, and the commanders of the army go number Israel from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report that I may know their number. But Joab said, may the Lord add to his people a hundred times as many as they are, are they not, my Lord King? All of them, my Lord's servants. Why then should my Lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel? Now, the thing about this is when we see this aspect that's going on, why is Joab so against David numbering the people? What is this aspect about? Now, sometimes what's so bad is that the taking of a census is done in the Old Testament. We see it in Exodus, we see it throughout in another place in Scripture. It's just not supposed to be something that's done capriciously. It's not something to be done for political reasons.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:00]:
It's not something to be done for personal pride. And. And when God gave a command to number the people in the book of Exodus in chapter 30, he actually gave some really Specific instructions is that when that were to be done, this was at the command of God, but also that the people who were being numbered would pay a fee, so to speak, that would be used as an offering to God. And so it was meant to be a protection so that when the census was done, that God would not count any sin against them. And so part of the reason that people weren't going to count that kings and people before them and generals were not supposed to count the people was because people only were allowed personally to count the things that belonged to them. That was in the culture. The culture is that you could only count the things that belong to you. And Israel did not belong to David.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:01]:
Who did Israel belong to? They belong to God. Right. And so when David numbers the people, it's like he's saying, these are my people, this is my kingdom. This is. And was David king? Absolutely, David was king. Who put David as king? God did. And you know, sometimes in the midst when things are going well, we start believing the press releases, we start believing the text and the social media about how great things are. But every person needs checks and balances in your life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:39]:
And we need to remember that just like David never outgrew temptation, you and I, we never outgrow temptation. Temptation can come in different forms, and it may look different in different seasons in your life, in different places and different activities and different places where you're at, but we find in this place, in the midst of David's high point, when he's strong, all of a sudden temptation comes in appeal to his pride. And so God becomes angry, it says. And it's in the midst of this anger that God has not just. It's not with. With David per se, it says personally, but it says that the people of Israel. And so that we don't know exactly what. But it's giving the impression that sin was somehow rampant in the nation, right? And that God was trying to bring some sense of justice in the midst of this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:38]:
And so but what we find is that if we're wise, that no matter what season of life you're in is that you develop some protective fence around your life to kind of help you. So that when tempting times come, when difficult seasons come, when challenges come your way, it's not just you. How many of you have been through a challenging season lately? Raise a hand, okay? And you know, to be honest, challenging seasons come and challenging seasons go. But what makes it probably best is that when it's not just us that's going through the season, right? It's not just my commitment, but there are people in my life, right? And these things are developed over time. Sometimes it's a convictions on things that we do or things that we don't do that becomes the development of your convictions before God. If it's based on the word of God, it's based on a way to honor God. That's a wonderful thing. And it doesn't happen immediately when you come to Christ.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:39]:
But these are things that we develop over time. Sometimes it's relationships, sometimes it's confidants, sometimes it's mental mentors, right, that we have these things. But you and I, we need to develop and honor God's protective fence around our life. Unfortunately, we see David blow through all the protective fences God has placed in his life. David's personal devotion and relationship with God, the promises of God's word, the priests and the prophets who were David's friend, Nathan, the prophet who has confronted him with Bathsheba and Hushai, the architect, archite, who was one of David's friends, this other prophet who was a loyal advisor. So we see these guys, his trusted general Joab resists David's penchant to somehow personal aggrandizement. And he says that. And Joab, to be honest, is not the guy with the highest moral standard.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:42]:
So if you know, the guy who always is kind of playing it loose on the fence, you know, right. That to be honest, that's Joab. And when this guy who's kind of like waffly when it comes to right and wrong and it's all gray area when he's telling you, hey, this is not right, it should be kind of like, that's kind of like the final thing. When he slow walks the execution of the order, it's another. It's like he doesn't really want to do it. But then it says this in verse four. But the king's word prevailed against Job, and so Job departed and he went throughout all of Israel. And he numbers the people and it comes up a little bit more than 1.5 million soldiers, right? Men who can go to battle, go to war.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:26]:
And that's a sizable, sizable army. But he didn't count everybody. It says in verse six, it says, but he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab. Right. The guy who probably, you know, he has cut a lot of corners in, in his life and it's paints this actually pretty clearly in the scriptures. But you know, the thing is Often, you know, we. We get warnings in our life, you know, when you look back and probably some of the things in your life where, you know, you made a poor decision, you kind of walked away from things that you shouldn't have walked away from. You allowed certain things into your life that you shouldn't have allowed in.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:13]:
How many of us, you know, there was like a. There was a warning bell somewhere, right? Sometimes a kind of a spirit of conviction on you. There just a sense something isn't right. You know, people have said something. But, you know, the thing is that when we're really committed to kind of just doing our own way, even when all the bells and the whistles and the lights and the flashes are going off, it's very easy. You can. You can blow through every warning that God gives you, but when you do, we won't be happy with what comes on the other side. And so it says in verse seven that, that God was displeased with this thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:52]:
And, and so he struck Israel. And David said to God, I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. And now please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly. And the Lord spoke to Gad, that's David Seir or another prophet saying, go and say to David. Thus says the Lord, these things I offer you, choose one of them that I may do to you. And the Lord presents to David three options on, on what he will do to basically atone for David's sin and, and. And the sin that he has led the people into. And one of those is three years of famine.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:38]:
Another one is to be at war with an opposing nation that would pay a price. And the third one is for kind of a pestilence, a disease that would fall on the land, but at the direction of God. And, you know, one of the things that we find is that when you're painted, you know, you find yourself in a difficult situation. Maybe you haven't acted on something that you should have been acting on. Anybody ever do that? You got all these warnings but just never did anything. You get the notice, you don't do the thing you haven't. And then when it comes time is that how many of us, we. We try to bargain? It's like, can I get out of this late fee? Can I just kind of make things right? And it's like, I don't know if you're like that, but I think it's kind of human nature for many of us that we see this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:31]:
And one of the things I often find is the difficulty when you've made a mistake, when you've blown it, is to try to look only for the no pain option, right? Sometimes we want to look for something that I'll do anything as long as it's easy. And sometimes we get to a place in life that there's just no, no pain option. You know, when the kids are being shuttled back and forth, there's no, no pain option at that point, right? When the notice of foreclosure comes, there's no pain option at that point. God will have a way for you and I to move forward, but it's just not always going to be easy. Once we've painted some doors, because we've closed the doors, to be honest, the door for the no pain option is generally something we've already driven past. And so it says in the. In this place that David, we see him in this place. And.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:32]:
And Gad tells him these things. And. And David's response is, you know, like, lord, you know, I see these things, the three days of the sword, you know, like at battle, or pestilence on the land, or the three months of devastation, right, that will come from famine. And David said to Gad, now I'm in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man. And I think one of the things David is saying is, like, lord, I don't know about. I don't want my enemy to determine my punishment. I don't want, you know, famine to determine my punishment, but I'll trust you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:17]:
And so David makes a decision, he says, and it might not have been an easy decision we will find soon. It's not a painless decision, but I think it's the best decision that he could have made. Because sometimes you're in a situation where there's no. No pain solution. And so we see this aspect, and so he makes this decision. So David lifts up his eyes and he sees the angel of the Lord then come between earth and heaven. And in his hand it says a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. And then David and the elders clothed in sackcloths and ashes fall upon their faces.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:55]:
And so they see and a vision, the judgment that is falling upon. And it's not that the angel of the Lord comes and just lops off people's head, but it is in that sense symbolic that he's releasing a judgment upon the earth, he's releasing a judgment upon the people. And it says, and David says to God, was it not I who gave the command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord, be against me and against my father's house. And do not let the plague be on your people. And, you know, I think that it's at this point that David realizes the consequences of his choices. And so when we're in this kind of a place, you know, there's a blindness that happens when we're in this kind of a moment. Until this moment when we're kind of believing our own press conferences when we're believing, you know, like, ah, I'm untouchable, right? And it doesn't matter then there are certain things that we tell ourselves.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:04]:
But you have to decide, don't believe the lie that we tell ourselves, right? Sometimes the lie that we tell ourselves is, you know what? I can drink what I want. I'm only hurting myself, right? I can. It's my money. So what if I gamble a little bit? If it's. If I lose, it's only on me, right? Maybe we say, it's like, I'm not hurting anybody if I watching this thing as long as I see, but I don't touch or I say things like this. Or maybe I'm driving recklessly. I'm driving like, you know, a madman. I like the thrill.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:39]:
It's just my life that's at risk. What was the problem with those things that sometimes we might say to ourselves, it's just not true, right? That's the reality. It's just not true. It may be a personal choice. You may have the option. I might have the option. But when drug addiction or alcohol addiction takes place, man, there's just broken trust, right? Broken relationships, financial difficulties. And sometimes kids, and sometimes friendships just get.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:14]:
They pay the price, right? That's the reality. I. I remember growing up and talking to my dad. My dad, you know, I mean, my dad wasn't like. My dad just used to say this. I'm the black sheep of the family, right? The only guy who drinks, smoke, gamble and do all those things. That's what my dad said. So I kind of grew up.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:36]:
So black sheep breed black sheep, right? But I remember talking to my dad about some gambling things, and he had just. He had lost big. But he said, at least I came home and at least, you know, I knew when to quit, right? I knew when to quit. I said, dad, what happens when somebody doesn't know how to quit? And he just told me a story about, like, to be honest, was a classmate of mine who's. Who didn't know when to quit, lost the house. Like, literally lost everything. And you see the devastation that sometimes it's what we tell ourselves, it's just not true, right? And so we always, to be honest, when we make a decision that is destructive for our own life, we always take other people with us, right? And you make your kids pay, you make your friends pay, you make your work pay, you make your neighbors pay you. Everybody pays.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:42]:
And so when we think about it that way, you know, it's the fact that what Romans tells us in Romans 14:7, what is. I have that in your notes. Shall we read this together? This is what it says. Ready? Let's read. For none of us lives to himself and none of us die to himself, right? Your life affects so many people. They said the average person in the course of their life will impact. I think what they say is a thousand people, the average person, right? And so will our impact be for good or will it be for pain? You don't get to choose whether you will impact. You get to choose what kind of impact, right? But here's the thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:31]:
Even when this happens, even when this happens. Can we just write this in? It's never too late to do right. Let's repeat that. It's never too late to do right. It's not that it's painless. It's not that it means everything goes away instantly. But it's never too late to do right. David repents.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:49]:
When he sees the consequences of his choices, all of a sudden, now it's. At that moment David is like. David is grieving. David is sorry. Now every once in a while, I'll hear when people make a big mistake, they blow their lives out and they get caught and all of a sudden they're weeping. And people will say this when they see someone in that moment, they say this. You know, he's not sorry for what he's done. He's what? He's sorry he got caught, right? You never say that, right? And then maybe you see somebody, see somebody in the news, and we see all this kind of a thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:23]:
And you know, the thing is that, you know what. What I've seen over the years is that sometimes feeling sorry you got caught can be a prelude to feeling sorry for your sin. You know, it's not the same. It's not the same. But to expect that everybody goes instantly from one place to just being totally repentant, totally falling before God, sometimes, to be honest, there is a process. Sometimes there is a process. And what it is is when you see the pain that's inflicted, you see the price that not just you pay, but you see what you're doing to the people around you. You start seeing, you know what, man? I was so full of myself at that moment.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:06]:
I thought I was like. I thought I was. I could get away with anything. You know, people see these things and people start to change. Now when they do get caught, they get mad and they blame other people, right? You can blame other people. It's like if it wasn't for, you know, if they had just done what I said, then it would. This wouldn't been happened, right? All these kinds of things, and Proverbs warns us is that we don't want to be a fool. The Bible often describes the person like that as a fool.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:35]:
And it says it like this in Proverbs 19:3. People sometimes ruin their lives by their own foolishness. And. And then they get angry at God, right? It's like it's. No, you just. You ought to understand. It's. God's allowing you to get caught is often the sign for your greatest redemption.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:55]:
It's for your greatest turnaround. It's for your greatest healing. It's for your greatest restoration. Pain has the capacity to shake the blindness from our eyes at times, Paul. And if we're honest, it's not just David who's had that experience, right? That we've had that experience ourselves. Maybe it's the pain of your choices, right? Not to make you push your nose in it, but he's trying to get us to the place where we take ownership, where we acknowledge it was us who did it, no matter how much we might be mad. When everything starts to settle, we see, you know what, Lord, that was me. It was I who chose that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:37]:
And I might have been tempted, and I might have been in this situation, but it's David who, when he sinned, he's the one who committed adultery, right? Now, when we think about what is David's greatest sin, I think, what would you guys say? What is David's greatest sin? I see lips moving, but I cannot quite hear. I'm hard of hearing a little bit. So shout it out a little bit, somebody. Bathsheba, right? I think for most of us, that's the thing, that kind of trigger in our mind. That's probably the first thing. When I think about David's greatest sin, I think about Bathsheba. He stole another man's wife, right? He committed adultery. He probably raped her because he was king.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:24]:
He just had his way, right? Who's going to stop him? Right? He commits murder, right? But when you look at the fallout from what happens and not saying this is not bad, it's super bad, God forgives David and we see some consequences in his family line, right? He opens the door for some generational problems in his family affecting his sons, affects his dad, daughters, right? But at the same time, God sees the deep repentance of David's heart and he says this, this is a man after my own heart. Is God excusing all of that? No, he's not excusing it. He forgives it, right? It is horrible. It is wrong. But to be honest, I don't think that's his greatest sin. I think this is his greatest sin. Why? Because 70,000 people die as a result. And I think at this point David feels, oh my gosh, of all the things, I had a lot of things, right? David has a lot of things, right? Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:41]:
David, he writes so many of the psalms, he sings these songs. He's a champion for God, he's a warrior, he has a heart for God. When David does some things wrong and all of us, we have feet of clay, right? But what is your greatest sin when you think about it? Sometimes I'm thinking you might think it's when I did X, I did that. And we all done our different things, right? But sometimes maybe it's not what we think, right? Sometimes maybe it's when we withheld love. Maybe it's sometimes when we punish people who opposed us. Sometimes it's things that we don't think but can set into motion, things that are so destructive. Maybe it's when we think ourselves more highly than we are. This is what basically David did at this moment, when you grab things for his own glory.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:36]:
Because the thing is that to whom much is given, much more is required. And so the impact that from David's choice, because of his, the fact of his position, it cascades. And all the relationships that are under him and 70,000 people paid a price now. But when we own up to our failures, our faults, our sins, our rebellion, God can be gracious, God can be gracious, and we see this happen. And so in the middle of all of these things that it says that the Lord says, okay, I will say, he sends, he speaks to the prophet Gad and he says to him, go tell David to make a sacrifice in this place where of this guy Arauna, or his name is Orna. And it's the same person that depending he has a couple names and that he's go and buy this field and do a sacrifice in this field. And so David, you know, the first thing he does is says, okay, he starts moving. And so David goes to Ornan and he says this in verse 24, no, but I will.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:57]:
And Ornan actually, when he says, let me buy the field, and Ornan says, you know, just I'll give you the field. Don't even worry about it, right? Like you're the king. You're, you're. I love you, respect you. Here's take all the field. Take, take the, take the cattle to for the sacrifice. But David's response is this. In verse 24, King David said to Ornan, no, I will buy them for the pool price.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:25]:
I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer offerings that cost me nothing. David, even though he's king, he's not acting like big government, right? He's not going to tax them. He's not saying take from the, Take from the people and give it to somebody else, right? So take it for themselves. So David paid Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the sight. And David then built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering. In other words, when the priest laid all those things out, sacrificed the animals, placed them on the altar before they could light the fire, it says fire came from heaven, right? And it burnt the animals on the altar. And then the Lord commanded the angel and he put his sword back in his sheath. In other words, the pestilence, the plague was stemmed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:27]:
David was done shucking and jogging. David was done making excuses, right? He just trusted God and obeyed. And you know, David wants to obey from the heart. So this is what he says, you know, if I just take it from youm, right, If I just receive it from youm. But it didn't. I, I didn't learn anything from it. It didn't cost me anything, you know, Is that really worship he's saying? Because he says real worship comes from something in me, right? Real worship is a surrender in my heart. Real worship, it's not that it's a tax, it's the giving of my heart.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:10]:
Jesus said this though, where your treasure is, that's where your heart will be also. And so David says this, I need to. This, this is my burden. This is my sin. It needs to come out of me, right? And so he gives, right? He. He does this thing now and the plague is stopped, right? The whole thing is done. And. And I want to ask you this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:35]:
If you were David and. And you know, you had the biggest mistake of your life, the fallout is all over the place, you know, ruined so many people's lives, right? Upset the stat. It's a great hiccup in the. You know, in kind of a. Almost stellar. Kind of a kind of route that you've been running, right? What would be your tendency? You know, I think, you know, for many of us, maybe the first tendency would be this place that the sacrifice happened. I know it was the place of great mercy because it stemmed everything. And after that, the plague was done.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:23]:
I don't want to be reminded of my great failure. Sometimes I think that's a pretty common human tendency. You know, I'll just. I'll just walk around that area. I'll take a different shortcut. It's a little longer walk to get to the other side, but I'll go around, you know, I just don't want to be reminded of all that. But you know that David does exact opposite of those things. When we read after this, you know what it says is that the tabernacle.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:58]:
You guys familiar with the Tabernacle is right. The Ark of the Covenant, the tent where it was housed, all of those things where sacrifices were made for the people of God. It was actually in a different part. It was in a. In a different tribe. It was in the tribe of Benjamin. It was. It was up north.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:20]:
It was far. But what David does, it says in 1st Chronicles 22. Let's read what it says. Then. David said, here shall be the house of the Lord God, and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel. You know what David does is he takes the tabernacle from Gibeon in the tribe of Benjamin, and he brings it to this place that has been his greatest guilt, has been his greatest shame. Why? Because he plants the sacrifice over the greatest place of shame, if you want to know that. What do you do when you've made a mistake? What do you do when you've blown it? What do you do when you said something you should have? Whatever you do when you do something that you shouldn't have done, what do you do when you haven't done the thing that you know that you should plant the sacrifice over the place of greatest shame? Why? Because that's where it was paid for.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:21]:
That's where grace and mercy was poured out. That he says this. I'm Turning this place of greatest shame into an opportunity of greatest worship. And it becomes a place David doesn't avoid. It becomes a place he goes to regularly. You know why? Because he says, if I don't give it to God, then the devil will take it, right? If I don't surrender it to God, this root of shame will take root in my heart. That if I don't invite it to be something and redeemed, then all of a sudden this thing will morph and cripple me in a different way. And you know, what happens with this aspect isn't just the place where the tabernacle was housed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:08]:
Later it says in 2nd Chronicles 3:1. So Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David, his father. Because the temple was built on the threshing floor of Araunah or Ornan, the Jebusite, the site that David selected for generations. Then, for generations, David's greatest sin becomes the place of greatest worship. Not just for himself, not just for his family, but for the nation, for everybody who was affected. For the 70,000 people's families, this becomes the place where he says, you know what? But when we honor God, when we please him, when we recognize, when we confess our sin, God is gracious. Because the devil wants to remind you of your greatest failures and what you've done. When that happens, when that happens, don't deny it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:14]:
Admit it. You know, when the enemy wants to remind me of things that I've done in my life, I never deny it. I admit it. But I place it all on the cross. Okay? I place it all on the cross. Because when I place the cross over it, yes, I did that. Yes, I did. In my youth, yes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:39]:
In my ignorance, yes. In my rebellion, yes. In my pride, yes. But Jesus paid the price. Why? Because when he's reminding me of what I've done, my pleading, the cross reminds him where he's going. Because he was defeated and judged at the cross. And Hebrews tells us this and that every priest stands daily at his surface, offering repeatedly the same sacrifice. Because today we don't have an animal sacrifice to come that never could take away the sins it covered it over.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:17]:
It says in the Old Testament, instead offering repeatedly the same sacrifice. We never take away sins. Verse 12 says this. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. And when we prepare our hearts to take communion is to say, when Jesus sees the cross, because you plant it in your greatest sin, you plant it over your greatest weakness. You plant it over your greatest failure. You plot. You plant it over your greatest temptation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:58]:
You plant it over your greatest shame. You know what God says? It's covered. It's enough. I love what Paul the apostle writes in First Corinthians 6, 9. Don't you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the kingdom of God? He says, don't fool yourselves. Right? He says, those who indulge in sexual sin or who worship idols or who commit adultery or male prostitutes or practice homosexuality, or thieves or greedy people or drunkards or are abusive or cheap people, none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. But I love this is what he says in verse 11. Can we just read that out loud? Some of you were once like that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:48]:
They don't deny it. They don't pretend that I've never struggled. They don't pretend that I was once enslaved. They don't pretend that I've, you know, I've always been a good guy. He says, no, some of you are once like that. But you were cleansed. You were made holy. You were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:19]:
Paul was a murderer. John, Mark was a coward. Peter denies the Lord three times. Thomas was a doubter. You know what? None of them deny those things. They just placed a cross over those things. And when you do, what you find is there is an amazing grace. How sweet the sound.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:50]:
What does he say in the song that saved a what a wretch like me I once was lost but now I'm found Was blind but now I see. Everybody's blind sometimes. Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody strays in some in their heart at some point. And sometimes maybe we fudge the line. And it's not to say, I'm not saying this so that we excuse our sin. I'm saying, have it redeemed, get rid of the guilt, have your shame covered. Have the voice of the enemy that whispers in the night silenced.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:43]:
Because we don't deny it. We admit it. But it's covered. Because this is what he's Jesus says, it's good enough. It's good enough. You know, I had a conversation with a friend recently, and, you know, we were talking about some of the things that, you know, the ups and downs of being a parent, right? And if you have kids, you understand that, like, there's some things that you did great, probably. And there's some things that sometimes you do. You go, like, man, I should have caught that one.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:22]:
You know, there's some things that I should have been there. I don't know if you guys know what I'm talking. We're talking about all those things. And sometimes it's. And he's a pastor, you know, and sometimes in our weakest moments, you know, we see sometimes the struggles of your kids or things that they'll go through and different things. And he was just saying, you know, man, this was one of those moments where he was kind of weak. And he said a friend told him. He said that, I know you weren't perfect as a dad.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:02]:
I know you trust Jesus. I know you have all this expectation that sometimes you have on yourself and other people might have on you. And I know you see the struggle that sometimes your kids go through in different seasons. But I have to say, what you did as a dad was good enough. You know, when he said his friend told him that, he looked him in the eye and he said. I said. He said it again. He was good enough as a dad.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:32]:
He said he just started mauling. He's telling me this story. I'm feeling emotional already. You know why? Because there's times in my mind I look at some of those things, and it's like when he was saying that I was receiving from Jesus, what he said, you know what, Glenn? You didn't do it all perfect, but you did good enough. Why? Because when it's placed at the cross, it gets covered. It's when we don't that the enemy has a heyday in our life. Make sense? So when we take communion tonight, guess what we're doing all over again? Bringing your greatest weakness. Bringing your greatest struggle, Bringing your greatest doubts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:30]:
Bringing your greatest weakness. Maybe even bringing your greatest strength to keep us humble. Maybe it's bringing your greatest dreams so that it's shaped by the hand of God. And not just the hand for glory. Right? We bring it to the cross because when it does. Covered. Amen. We're going to prepare our hearts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:55]:
We're going to take tithes and offerings. We practice in open communion. If you haven't been with us before, and if you're at home and you listen to Sonny, you already have your elements. No, but. But if not, go ahead and get something. And, you know, we're going to take the piece of bread and a cup of juice. And. And if there's some things that you just need to.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:16]:
Just make sure if the enemy has harassed you, if you felt like, oh, my gosh, I'm not a good Christian. I Haven't done all this. You know what I love is that you never see this in the letters of any of the apostles. I write to the church at Corinth. You know, you guys not really good Christians. But he never says that, right? He says grace and peace to you. He might point out their mistakes, right? But he. He writes as a brother.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:52]:
He writes sometimes as an apostle, but he always calls him back to Jesus no matter what, right? So you never see, like, I'm not a good Christian. I'm not a good. You never see that. See, God just has children, sons and daughters. And when we come, and sometimes we've broken something and we come, he says, lord, I just need you today. What you bring that's broken, God can make whole. Amen. So the elements are there.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:31]:
Take some time. If you need to get something right with God, just bring it before him. You don't have to shuck and drive. This is the time. Just be honest. Before. Let him search your heart. And we'll take the elements together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:44]:
Guys, Go ahead, Sam.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:44]:
I was a wretch. I remember who I was. I was lost, I was blind, I was running out of time. Sin separated, the breach was far too wide. From the far side of the chasm. You had me in your side. So you made a way across the great divide left behind heaven's throne to build it here, inside and there at the cross. You paid the debt I owed, broke my chains, freed my soul.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:37]:
For the first time I had hope. Thank you, Jesus, for the blood applied. Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank you, Jesus, you have saved my.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:02]:
Life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:06]:
Brought me from the darkness into glorious light. You took my place, laid inside my tomb of sin. You were buried for three days, then you walk right out again now death has no sting, life has no end. For I have been transformed by the blood of the lamb. Thank you, Jesus for the blood applied. Thank you, Jesus, it has washed me white. Thank you, Jesus, you have saved my life. You brought me from the darkness into glorious light.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:35]:
Would you take the elements that you guys have before? It says that when we come before the living God, we don't come on our own accord. We don't come unclothed. In some sense, we come. We might say we come naked. You know, we come exposed before God. But this is what it says. He covers us, he washes us. And we take these elements which symbolize his body that was broken and his blood that was shed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:14]:
And God wants us to meet him. You know where? At the cross I love. You know what it says? When it describes the Old Testament and the Ark of the Covenant, it says that when they would pour the blood, which becomes a symbol for the sacrifice and bread that was broken, God says this. I meet you there above the mercy seat. And God meets us. God meets us at the cross. He meets us at the breaking of his body and meets us with the blood of his shed. Why? Because he wants us to be covered.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:54]:
He wants us to be washed. He wants to empower us. He wants us to be filled with his spirit. He wants to be directed by his power, by his voice. Can we take these elements? Father? We're thankful because no matter how much we grow as a believer, no matter how long we've been in the family of God, Lord, we still need the cross. Because, Lord, it doesn't just ground us, Lord, it renews us. It cleanses us, it washes us, Lord. It.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:31]:
It reminds us, Lord, that we don't live in our own power, Lord, we want to live in your power. But we're thankful, Lord, that we want to meet you at the cross afresh. And if there's something you've been struggling, would you just make sure that right now, would you just say God? And so I'm inviting you, God, to lead in this thing right now that I'm struggling with. If it's a thought that you've been kind of been dominating your mind, if it's a guilt of some vague form, would you just not deny it? Would you just confess it to God, Lord, as people are surrendering and inviting you and confessing, Lord, we also say to the enemy, Satan, the adversary. Lord, we're not claiming to be perfect. We're claiming the Perfect One has redeemed us, Lord. We're claiming that the body and the blood of Jesus is good enough once and for all, Lord. Thank youk, by youy power, by your payment, a payment we could never pay over a million lifetimes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:55]:
Thank you. Your sacrifice is enough. Would you take the bread and thank you, Lord, for your blood that was shed? And I take this cup, Lord. I just. Would you wash me all over again? But I still need the cross. Thank you. The cross is still enough, Lord. We're thankful that what you have done doesn't just shake my world, it changes this world.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:29]:
Lord God, would you take the cup? So, Father, we're asking as well today, Lord, as men and women of flesh and blood. Come fill us afresh with your power, Father, with Holy Spirit power, Lord, to lead us, to guide us, Lord, to heal us, to strengthen us, Lord, to direct us Lord, because, father, we're your sons, we're your daughters. Thank you, Lord, that the spirit is enough as well.