Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:01]:
Hey, good evening, everybody. Hey. I want to ask Kale to come on up. You know, before we get into the message, one of the things that's happening is our Fiji mission is taking place in the coming week. This is the last weekend that he's here. And when we were just talking, I said, hey, when are you guys leaving? Thursday. Because it might seem like an odd day because you know why we go that way? Because that's when Fiji Airlines flies to Fiji. So there's no.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:29]:
No option beside. But Dr. Hale is hanging. Is up here. Do we have a mic for him? We wanted to pray over him and pray over the team, but I just wanted to give him a minute or so to share a little bit about the mission, what they'll be doing, and you can stand up on the. You know what we need? We need that extra step. Right.

Dr. Hale Akamine [00:01:00]:
Is it on?

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:01]:
No. There you go. There. There we go.

Dr. Hale Akamine [00:01:04]:
Sort of. But anyway, so we leave Thursday night. We come in at 0600 and we drive for four hours to Suva and. And we get settled and Sunday morning we do two worship services. And then Monday we. We go out in a couple hours away into Nassori, which is predominantly a Fijian Indian population. But we focus this time, actually most of the time on training the trainers, working with church leaders and pastors and equipping them. And this year, again, we got to hit a little harder on how to deal from a scriptural basis the whole huge issue of drug addiction that's just running rampant in Fiji.

Dr. Hale Akamine [00:01:49]:
And Pastor Landon Mauricio will be doing that with his elder, who's 29 years old. And then my nephew, who's been to Fiji before, missionary with ywam. And then my part is to equip leaders to be able to make decisions when they're under pressure. So that's kind of the work I do now. And so we'll be rinsing and repeating that for three different places, traveling across the main island of Viti Levo. Then we'll. One of the nights, because I just got wind that they want us to work with the young leaders at one of the. One of the churches and somehow communicate everything we did in two hours.

Dr. Hale Akamine [00:02:35]:
So I'm not sure how we're going to do that, but God's before us. It's no time to rest. But hey, we didn't go there to have one of the typical Fijian vacations that people do, but it's really to go. God is already before us. And you guys has. Have already sort of contributed to the mission field. And the monies have actually been passed out already in. In many cases, too, to kind of support some of these churches that basically, in Fiji, the pastor usually funds the whole church.

Dr. Hale Akamine [00:03:07]:
They don't usually take offering, probably because they don't have very much, but. But anyway, thanks to. To our church and other people that God has provided richly. So we covet your prayers, really, because on the mission field, God only knows, like Pastor Glenn and Pastor Landon got blessed with stomach issues there, but they fought through, so I had to pick up the slack and go eat for them at one of the places. Anyway, thank you very much.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:38]:
You know, when we talk about me, why don't you stay up here? We're going to pray for a second. You know, like it. I'm not physically going this year, but I can still be part of the mission. You know why? Because there's an away team and there's a home team, right? And without the prayers of the saints, without the things that you've given, without the encouragement, without the fact that we stand together, that, to be honest, if it's just you on the mission field, it's tough. But when the prayers of the saints, when the prayers of the home team go before us, it opens doors. We've been in situations where there's absolutely like, oh, brother, something got canceled out, and it's like, what do we do today? And then the prayers happen and doors open, and then the next thing you know, oh, man, the doors for ministry are wide open. And so sometimes those things happen. And so let's not let him go uncovered, right? And so I'm gonna ask actually later for just kind of a schedule that those of you who would want to know, like, hey, I pray day by day.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:43]:
You know, today's Monday. He's in Naosauri. Some of you guys are. I have no idea where this place is. It doesn't matter. God knows, right? But we pray for those things. Hey, would you do me a favor? Extend the hand. Father, we thank youk, Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:58]:
That. Lord, I know that in my brother's heart there is such a burden for the people of Fiji. Lord. I know it's. Some people think of it in the kind of the romantic, the beaches and all of those things. The things that we never see when we go. Lord, it's the things that we see which are people in the trenches, Lord. It's helping them, Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:20]:
It's equipping them. It's being in that place where we're standing interceding and imparting and so, Father, that I pray, Lord, that not just for hail and not just for Landon and the rest of the team, but Father, for each person that's involved, Father, would there be an empowerment? And Father, go before them because something will arise, as it always does in every location. The things that we could never plan for, things that we didn't understand, that maybe that was a burning issue. And things that come up, Lord, that. That we just in the middle, somehow you make a way. So, Father, I pray that beyond the team's kind of cumulative knowledge. Thank youk. That there is the wisdom of the living God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:07]:
Father, would you'd just impart that in the moments that are needed, keep them healthy, keep them strong. Father, would you'd be filled with joy. Father, would they go and that would the world see just by the way, that they at times just love one another, that they see that Jesus is living among them. But, Father, also that the things that are passed down are not just theories, Lord, it's the things that we've done. It's the things that we've practiced. It's the things that we've seen. And so, Father, would it be find receptive hearts as well? And Father, we thank you for our brothers and sisters across the Pacific, but particularly in this time, Lord, our brothers and sisters in Fiji. Father, would there be a revival? Would there be an awakening, Lord, that when darkness starts to creep on the land, Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:57]:
We have seen that, Lord, that you will raise up a capacity to shine great light. And so, Father, we pray, would there be these beginnings in Fiji as well? Would you use this mission trip to plant those seeds and water those seeds? We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. And the good thing is that even though I'm not going, when they see hail, sometimes they get us confused too. So it doesn't really matter. So I'm just kidding, though. Although sometimes that is true.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:35]:
Hey, you know, this evening we start a new series called Better Together. And it's really about the power of community. And, you know, the Bible is filled obviously with the stories that men of faith, right, Men who did amazing things. And I just kind of made reference to some of that in Hebrews 11, men like Moses and Elijah and Paul. And we learned so much about God through them and their ministries, about how they face their challenges, how they face life, how they face their calling with faith and perseverance and they please God. But, you know, one of the things that we would be remiss to think is that they did it all by themselves, right? They Just pulled up their bootstrap, so to speak, and did that. You know, in Exodus 17, there's a. And I'm not going to ask you to look at that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:21]:
You can write it down if you like. In Exodus 17, Moses is leading the people through the wilderness, and they get ambushed by a neighboring nation. They're called the Amalekites, right? And so God gives Moses this. This prompting that says, raise up your staff and pray. And so Moses says, hey, I'm going to raise up my hands of prayer. And it's like when Moses raises up the staff and starts praying, the battle starts going in the way of the people of Israel, and they start seeing the victory. And Moses knows this is through his prayer. He can see it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:59]:
It's as evident, right? It's like his prayers are making a difference. You know what the problem is that God didn't say how long the battle was going to go. The battle goes from basically all day all the way to sundown. How many of you guys have ever done, you know, like, little exercises? You do this stuff and, you know, you guys ever do those kind of exercises, right? You know, it looks like, so meaningless and easy, but after a couple minutes, what happens? Starts burning, right? So when Moses has the staff up like this, it's like, this is nothing. But after five minutes, I'm sure burning and trembling, right? Going dead at that some point. So, you know, what happens is. But he wasn't alone. He had two guys, Aaron and Hur.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:48]:
And they came alongside and it says, moses, we see you dying. Come sit down. And they brought him to this rock, and. And then Moses got to sit down on the rock, and when his arms were dead and could no longer hold it, what did they do? They just came alongside and they held it up. And it says that in the midst of all of those times, that to the end of the day, that there was victory, that they defeated those who attacked them and started to savage their people. And so, you know, the thing is, Moses didn't do that battle alone. And sometimes we start in the journey of faith, and we start with joy and we start with a sense of peace. But to be honest, sometimes what happens along the way is in the journey, you get a little weary because you take a few shots, right? You get a little bit of the world on you and things start happening and we get a little discouraged.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:46]:
Elijah was a man who kind of went through that, even though he was a mighty man of faith, saw great miracles, like miracles like you and I have never seen. He saw them and it would be easy to think that as a result, he would never have any problems, he would never have any doubts. But that's not the way life works. In fact, after his greatest victory, after his greatest victory came his greatest battles. And the battles were not physical. The battles were internal, the battles were spiritual, the battles were emotional. And he falls into a funk, into a depression. And he has been encouraged all along the way by his servant, by his friend.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:29]:
But in his depression, he leaves him behind, right? And so we see this aspect that God never wanted Moses to be alone. God never wanted Elijah to be alone. He, God always provided. But when we don't take the resources that God brings our way, sometimes we find it especially weary. And, you know, this can take place in. In business. This can take place in other kinds of relationships. Think about a young person, a man or a woman, that says, hey, I want to start my own business.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:03]:
You know, we're talking to some of our people today, and somebody said, hey, what do you want to do? You know, like, in this and, like, I'm gonna go back to school. And then eventually I want to start my own business. But, you know, without partners, without mentors, without sometimes family backing, right? Maybe people who have some experience or vision or insight or connections or kind of sharing a workload or emotional or financial support, sometimes many of those ventures collapse, right, because that. They were never designed to be done alone. Success often depends less on the individual brilliance of one person as it does with the capacity to share that burden. And so today we begin this new series because we don't want to start a mission without support, right? But with support, we know that even at times, weary hands can prevail from the lesson of Moses. We're beginning this series called Better Together. Because no matter what, no matter who you are, that we're better together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:11]:
And. And so we're going to look at that by reading from the book of Ecclesiastes, from chapter four. Would you be kind enough? Let's stand in reverence for God. Reverence for his Word. Maybe a familiar passage to some, but let's read together. Beginning in verse nine, it says this. Let's read them fast. Because now some of you guys at home, you might not have heard, but there was a card that just kind of blew right by.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:41]:
Hey, let's read together. Ready? Begin. Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to Lift him up again. If two lie together, they keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him. A threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:16]:
And I've said before, this is not a marriage verse. This is a community verse. Sometimes this is shared in the context of marriage. Does it apply? Absolutely. Right. But we don't have three people in a marriage, at least not in the West. Right. And so what it says is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:34]:
It's talking, I really believe, about, in general, it's friendship. It's about the power of community. And if you don't have people in your life to stand with, you do not have people who have your back at times. Sometimes life gets challenging. Sometimes the faith gets challenging. Sometimes relationships get challenging. And there are people who say, you know, that you can have people who give you advice at times. I wouldn't let anybody do that to me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:04]:
I'd make them pay or whatever it is. But, you know, the thing is that you have to have. Everybody has to have somebody that has your back, but has your back in a way that honors God, right? Not just has your back that just says, I'm going to go, oh, animal, Right? That's not what we're looking at. We're not looking for somebody to. To take into the fight. We're looking somebody to take us to the fight that gives us the opens and the heavens. Right? And so before you're seated, do me a favor, turn to your neighbor. He says, God wants you to have someone who has your back because God has your back.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:43]:
But God uses people to get your back. Right from creation. When God said it is not good for man to be alone, he talked about the fact that we were built for relation, relationships and interdependence rather than independence, because isolation is dangerous spiritually. We see this with Elijah when he felt this blues come on him. And what was his tendency? His tendency was to move and isolate. And the enemy often picks off the lone sheep of the flock in isolation. He also tempts and corrupts, right. In different ways.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:26]:
But it's often in our aloneness. It's often when our minds just kind of run in a circle. And so what happens is when you have relationships, when you have people, people who speak life, people who stand together, that we all see that it prevents us from sometimes going into that downward spiral. You know, today we need to be reminded that God uses community not just to encourage us, but to teach us his ways. God uses community to teach us his Ways, you know, because today I think that what we're seeing in some of the places that maybe it's evident it's not just on the west side, but it's in different sides that we're hearing that gangs are kind of like on the upswing. We're hearing that there's a kind of a temptation for some to experience some kind of a community. Somebody who says that I got your back and that. That you're not going to be alone.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:20]:
And maybe you come from a rough background, but you'll be. We'll be family. But the thing is that bad company corrupts good morals, right? That what happens is in the process that something that never would have been a temptation for you not only becomes possible for you, but sometimes becomes your experience because of this community. The enemy has community. If God's people don't experience community, right? So we must choose God's way. You know, when it says in Matthew that Jesus is speaking, he says to them, hey, you know, the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them. And they're great. Their great ones exercise authority over them.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:05]:
You know, what he's saying is that it uses this word of that, basically, it's like a despot, that there's a guy, he's like a. A king, a ruler, a harsh ruler that they rule at an iron fist. But he says this. Let's read what it says in verse 28. Ready? Let's read. It shall not be so among you. What is he saying? He's saying that, you know what? Sometimes you walk into the faith, but you walk in having a program about how you were raised. You walk in about how you do relationships.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:41]:
You walk in about how you deal with money. You walk in about how you. You deal with conflic, right? Some of us, we run when there's conflict. Others of us, it's easy to kind of get into battle and you get aggressive, right? Sometimes we have all of these things, but sometimes we need to unlearn the ways that we've done things. So he says to them, it shall not be so among you, but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, right? And even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, but to give his life as a ransom as the people of God. Sometimes we have to learn how to do things in an honoring way, and sometimes that entails us unlearning things about the way we've always done them. You know, I've made mention of this before, but that when I first got Married, I had a way that I dealt with conflict. And it was through previous relationships that if we got in a fight, my style was, okay, let's just throw the gloves off, beef it out.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:44]:
Not physically, not physically, but just beef it out and then we'll be all done. And you know what I found as I tried to practice that in my marriage in the early days, it's like all I did was I sent my wife into an emotional hole because that's not her style, right? She wasn't going to beef it out. And my wife with tears and all of those things. And it's like I realized something was wrong pretty quick, right? And you know what the spirit of God was telling me? It shall not be so among you, right? I needed to learn another way, right? And the good news is I had friends. The good news is I had others that in my circle, that. And some of it is that I could see that obviously I'm a kind of, I want to do something that's effective. And I could see that this was not an effective way. It might have worked in previous relationships, right? Because maybe that was their personality, but this was not my wife's personality.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:43]:
I needed to learn another way. How many of you guys been in that place you go, I got to learn another way, right? And sometimes it's dealing with our money, sometimes it's dealing with people, sometimes it's dealing with your kids. It could be all kinds of things. Sometimes it's dealing with challenge at work. But God uses community to teach us his ways. Now, there's some things that Paul said as well. He says as the people of God need to learn how to live in a God honoring way. It isn't automatic.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:11]:
He says it's not automatic. You're not going to know it. If you're in this journey and you feel like, man, my life is still kind of rough in some places. And you know what? Don't feel bad. That's just the way it is that you start where you start. Do me a favor, turn to your neighbor. Just tell them you start where you start, right? Wherever you are today, right? This is where we are. But the good news is that Jesus doesn't demand that you be someplace else before you can start.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:39]:
He can start with you right where you are. And Paul said it like this, I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God. In other words, there's people at that season that were just like today, that they had rough backgrounds, they had different things that were happening in their life and they didn't know how to live in a God honoring way. And so this is what he says. Let me give you some cues, Timothy, so you can instruct your church and that better they'll be better together and not rough together, not tearing one another down together. Because community isn't so much about what we subscribe to. Right? Not what we subscribe to. My channel and those of us who are watching online.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:34]:
Yes, we would like you to subscribe to our channel. Right. But it's not about that. That's not community. That's about engagement on a digital level. Right. It's not about where you attend. It's often going to be about where we connect and when we get to this place that it's where we belong.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:53]:
The church isn't described in the scriptures as a place to watch or attend, but a place to be connected, the family of God to be a place of strengthening. You know, when God uses the word church, that Jesus uses the word church for the first time. He says in Matthew 16:18, he says, I tell you that you're Peter and on this rock I will build my church. Let's say build my church. And what happens the gates of hell then shall not prevail against it. Right? That God builds the church. And that word church comes from, some of you guys know, comes from the word ekklesia, which means literally ek means out of. And K.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:37]:
Klesia is short from kalasis, which means an assembly of called out ones. Right. It's not about an organized religion. The church is not about having organized religion. It's about a community of people who are called by God. And some of you, the reason that maybe you never came to church for a long time was because you had this view. I didn't like organized religion. And so if you don't like organized religion, you'll be happy in our place because we're not that organized.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:11]:
No, but. And so I wish that wasn't true. But God always though, God always has a grace for us. Right? And so one of the things that you that happens is that as a called out people, it means we're being called out of the world. Sometimes we're being called out of our past, sometimes we're being called out of our habits that God's calling us out. And he's not just calling us out from something, he's calling us to something. Right? That when God calls you, he's not just calling you out of something and then that you don't have anything. We need something to model after.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:45]:
We need something to practice. We need something to engage in. And so we're called to him, but we're also called to go through this faith journey with others. Now, there's levels, though. There's levels to this thing of belonging and community. If we look at Jesus that what is Jesus most kind of known for? When you think about the Gospels, what is Jesus most known for? I'm obviously going to the cross, right? But before that, anybody we quiet today? That's okay. I'll say it that I think we know him for teaching, right? We know him for speaking, maybe doing miracles, right? Maybe doing healings, right? Maybe doing, you know, whatever, other kinds of miracles. But many times healing, many times casting out spirits and all of these things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:37]:
And, you know, the thing is. And it happened and we see thousands and thousands of people, right? And they came and they were touched and some of their lives are changed. But often we see this is Jesus is going from village to village and city to city. He says it in Matthew 9:35. He said Jesus went through all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel in the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. And when he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd. Now what do we see? That God cared about everybody. God had a compassion for each person, right? It didn't matter where they were at, right? Didn't matter how, you know, kind of messed up their life might have been or what their situation was.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:27]:
That God somehow had a capacity to reach down in that moment and touched people. And then what happens? Basically, he goes to the next town, does that all over again, right? You know, the thing is that that was happening in this public space, right? He was just going from town to town. Although he touched individuals, he didn't in many ways let them, all of these individuals in on his private life, right? Jesus ministered to them, but they didn't really minister to Jesus, right? Because why? Because this was happening in the public space. In fact, later it says in John 2, or it says earlier, actually in a different book, though, it says Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them. Why? Because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man. And for he himself knew what was in man. In other words, he knew the fickleness of people, right? He knew the fact that sometimes people are here today, but then, you know, hey, I'm with you. Jesus today, but sometimes, then they're gone tomorrow.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:41]:
He knew that sometimes people didn't listen and take direction. When he healed the leper, he told the leper, he says, hey, tell nobody about this. Instead, go to the priest and show him so that you might give the offering that Moses prescribed. And you know what he does? Immediately goes, tells everybody that he could that would listen to him. It's like, you know what? I had leprosy, but Jesus healed me, right? Now, is that bad? In some sense, we might think that's good, right? He's sharing that experience. But what did Jesus tell him to do? Don't do that, right? Don't do that. But this is what it says, because he didn't listen. It says that the crowds got so big that Jesus couldn't even walk through the cities.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:25]:
So after that, he had to change his plan because he couldn't walk freely through the towns anymore. And so in the public space, Jesus understood that I can share this way, but sometimes people don't have that capacity to come back this way, right? And so there's a level of begone. But people look at that and they liked what he said and they listened to him. And he's got like, I was attracted to his message. There's something about him, right? But then you see other circles that happen in a, in a more social space where maybe there is a little bit more back and forth, right? That you can reveal a little bit more about yourself, Jesus. What we see in the Gospels is Jesus didn't just have the 12. How many of you guys know that Jesus had 70 at times that he poured into, that he. He discipled and that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:19]:
That he sent out on missions. There's, if you read the Gospels, that there's not just the 12, but there's 70. So there's a lot more people that, that Jesus would pour into and that would allow them to pour into him, and that would allow them in relationship and trusting him with. Trusting them with the mission that God had for. For them. And so some of the 70 that seem to assemble periodically, but not as much as the 12 disciples, right? And so we see this aspect of. But with the 12, right? With the 12 disciples, he did life together, right? That they went wherever Jesus went. When Jesus went into a town, they went into town.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:02]:
When he slept in a place, they slept in that place. When he slept out in the field, they stepped out in the field, right? They were there day and night. And so in that place, we see that's not more Of a personal space, not just a social space. Right? And so in that kind of a thing, when you're in that personal space and you're doing life together, it's much easier to share private things. Things you wouldn't tell everybody, right? Are there things that you wouldn't just tell your neighbor what's going on in your life? You might be friendly, but you don't share everything. Or your co worker at work. Right. And why? Because at work that's probably a lot more of a social space and your personal space.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:45]:
We want to be able to talk about what's going on in our life. We want to be able to what's really on our heart. Right? You're not the only one that has, you know, at times, issues in a relationship. You're not the only one that has a challenge some way. And we're in this kind of a place, but in a personal space, even Jesus, he says he shares things that he spoke to the crowd. It says in parables, right, about that the word of God is like a seed. But he just said a farmer walks out and sows some seed and some falls on the road, and some falls on the side, and some falls on the thorns. And then some are planted and they sprout and it's good, right? It's a good soil.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:27]:
But to the disciples, it says that he explained what all that meant, right? He says the seed is the word of God and the different soils that represents different people and the conditions of their hearts. And some of them are hard and some of them are rocky. And then some of them, like, they'll spring up quick, but then they have no roots, so they can't last in the middle of the heat. Some are, they're just choked out by the cares and concerns of this world. And some people, they'll receive it and they will bear fruit 30, 60, 100 times. Now why is that? Because Jesus gave more to those who gave more. That makes sense. Sometimes we think Jesus treated everybody the same.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:15]:
I don't think so. Jesus treated everybody with respect and love. Jesus honored people, but he didn't treat everybody the same. If we read the gospel, right? Because he gave to the disciples insights that he just didn't tell everybody else. And so in the middle of that, sometimes some of us need to understand when we are looking for a place of belonging, when we're looking for somebody to have our back, sometimes that doesn't just happen. And you know, obviously it doesn't happen on Facebook, just some guy, random person, right? It doesn't happen on Instagram. It doesn't have it. It happens probably in a lot more personal space.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:00]:
And then even among the disciples, that there was an inner tree. I don't know if you guys are aware, but Peter, James and John, he invited to be part of the most sensitive revelation about himself, as well as some of the most difficult season of his life in. In the Gospels, that when Jesus takes the three of them and they walk up the mountain and Jesus is transfigured before them and it says, and like a cloud came down. And Jesus became as white and bright like the day. And all of a sudden he heard. They heard a voice that came from heaven and said, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. Because Peter was a little bit.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:51]:
He was talking, hey, Lord, we should do this. And it's like you say, shut up, Peter, and listen to my. Not this Peter, but to listen to the voice of my son. But they see Jesus like the other disciples hadn't seen. Why? Because that was an intimate space. And when Jesus goes to the cross and he's weeping and he's convulsing in prayer and he is bleeding because of the stress that is happening, he wasn't by himself. He called those three to come pray and watch with me, right? Sometimes you're not open with everybody about all the stuff that's going on in your life, right? Why? Because that's natural. Nobody is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:40]:
Right? Because we have different levels at which we connect with people. The important thing is that we start moving in spiritual circles to go from just being in the public, like maybe at times, you know, hey, we're at a conference. For many of us, we're at a conference, 800 people in a room. And seems like different people, different days, because it's just people's work schedule, right? And the conference was amazing. The Hawaii Leadership Conference was amazing. But not everybody's your friend. You don't even know everybody. You don't even recognize a lot of people, right? Or maybe some of them you recognize, you know, because, hey, I used to see that guy on tv, right? I seen this person.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:28]:
I seen Ben Vegas playing. I seen, you know, all these people. But the thing is that, to be honest, I mean, I've met Ben, but I don't know him, right. He don't really know me, right? And so this is a public space, you know, I'm not expecting at that moment to get all of this, hey, you know, what happened to me this week? I don't expect that. And so we find we need to find, even in spiritual circles, not just public spaces or social spaces. We need to find places where we can get to know people and we can do life together and that not everybody's gonna be your best friend, right? So this is not to say that you got to join a group and everybody in that group is going to be your best friend. That's not what we're asking, right? Because you don't get 50 best friends in life, right? You just don't. But.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:24]:
But you ought to have friends who have your back. We ought to have friends who know us. We ought to have friends who will be able to pray for us. You know why? Because they kind of know what's going on in our life. And that when it's a rough time, stand with you, encourage you, help you to grow, speak life to you, share the gospel with you, or share the word of God and vice versa, you get to do that to them as well. You know, one of the things that was interesting was a documentary was produced a few years ago. And in this documentary called the Mask you live in, there's a scene where a teacher is giving a group of high school boys just a piece of paper and just kind of write. And he says, on one side, write what your image is, and on the other side, write what you're feeling.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:17]:
And so, in other words, what. What do people see when they see you? It's like some of them write cool, tough, smart, whatever, right? So they're writing all these things, and on the other side, you write what is. How you feel. So on the outside, it did say all those things like, tough, right? Fearless, I can kick a. You know, all that kind of stuff. But on the other side, you know what it said? Stuff like, lonely, sad, have no friends. And, you know, the thing is that all the folks in the circle, all the friends in the circle were surprised that the other people felt that way. But the reality is everybody feels like that at times, right? But if you never have a place where you can pull off a mask, and when I say that, I'm not saying that you just wear a mask and fake it all the time, but you just don't share it, right? Everywhere you go, it's not appropriate either, right? We're not saying you should do that, right? So we're not asking you to go to the store, and when the lady at the registers, how you doing today? And then you just go, right? Like, that would be weird, right? That'd be weird.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:33]:
But the reality is that when you have somebody who has Your back, you. You can let them in and they'll stand with you. Now, part of what happens is that God uses relationships to help change us, to help grow us, to help us look more like Jesus. Because transformation happens in accountability and honest friendships. Transformation or becoming more like Jesus happens in the context of. Of accountability and honest friendships. That's what happened to Jesus plan with the 12, that he couldn't do with the thousands, right? Because they couldn't all be part of that. They couldn't all traffic together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:17]:
But in Proverbs 27:17, it says this. Let's read what it says. Ready? Let's read as iron. Is that not in your thing? Okay, no problem. I'll just read it as iron sharpens iron. This might be familiar. So one person sharpens another and, you know, sharpening. I don't know if you guys have ever sharpened anything, sharpened a knife, you know, or sharpened a blade of some kind is that it only happens usually when it's rubbed against something that's a little harder than itself and it begins to take off an edge that may have been dulled or bent or misshapen and.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:00]:
And it requires some kind of a friction and, you know, honest conversation that being open to hearing a different perspective, being willing to be corrected, being willing to even be encouraged, right? Even being encouraged. Sometimes it's not easy. It's not easy for that. But. But growth rarely comes from just learning content, just having information. Learning doesn't just come from reading a Bible verse that the Bible is important, but we need to sometimes learn how to practice that, apply it in relationships, right? Because no matter how much you read about love, right? You know how you learn how to love? You learn how to love by being around people, right? You learn how to love by letting God love you in the middle of your mess. So you learn how to love people in the middle of their mess. That makes sense, right? So do me a favor, just turn to your people, say, I'm learning how to love.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:09]:
Turn to your neighbor. And it's not always neat and pretty, right? But this is what Jesus modeled for his disciples. Jesus encouraged, he equipped, he corrected, right? Because why? Because he spoke truth, but he always spoke it with love. And so I guess at this point I just want to ask you, do you have people in your back in your. In your life? A couple. A couple people that you said that I could let them know what. What's going on in my life and that I give them permission to speak into my life. Because if you don't have that, can I say, I think you haven't stepped into God's design for your life yet.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:02]:
Not fully, right? That you may have stepped into your relationship with God, which is the ultimate thing, which is what changes your destiny. But what changes the way that we live? What changes? Sometimes our emotional health, sometimes our physical health is sometimes when we let people speak into those things. Why? Because, you know, God doesn't always say the things that a human being will say, Right? And I'm not saying because they get all emotional, but it's because that human being is in your presence, your physical presence. And so one of the things that we want to do, like just within the church community, is to know that there are groups that some groups are just intentionally designed to build and connect, just to make connections and to help in the spiritual growth, right? And that in the middle of that, sometimes we call them life groups or we call them devotional groups, or you might call them. Call them a Bible study or what have you. But what, what are those? When we look at the scriptures, they're basically. Often it's just little groups of people. We.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:21]:
We call them. But you might even call it a church, right? It's a mini church. When I was at. I grew up in a Hope Chapel churches, and when we had small groups, this is what it was called, was called mini church. And it was just a group of people. Could be two, three people, it could be a dozen people, it didn't matter. But whatever the size, but it was a smaller group. It wasn't like what was happening on the weekend.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:48]:
It wasn't what, like, was happening. And when everybody got together, this is what you see in the scriptures in Romans 16, that we. We see Paul writing and greeting Priscilla and Aquila, Aquila and the church that is in their house, right? So it's in their house. You can't have hundreds of people in your house, right? In Rome. And then later we see that Priscilla and Aquila were tent makers. Literally, they made and fashioned tents and at times seemed to travel itinerantly, go from city to city and different places. And so he writes to them in the book of First Corinthians in chapter 16, and says to them, hey, I'm writing to Priscilla. And by the way, you guys in Corinth, say hi to Priscilla and Aquila for me and the church that is in their house, right? And so we see this in Colossians, we see this in Philemon that they're writing to the churches in people's house.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:49]:
Why? It's because we need to get into a different environment at times where we can speak into one another's life, where we can look at the Scriptures and ask questions, where we can kind of speak and pray for one another. We need to be in this. This kind of a situation. And what happens is that being in relationship, when we start making connections, where we start being able to speak into one another's lives, it does something to us. And I believe in one of the things that it does is it multiplies your joys. Because now that in the middle of whatever is going on that, you know, there's people who think about you, who pray for you, who will support you, who'll stand with you. You know, Jesus said it like this. In John 15, verse 10 to 12, he says, if you keep my commandments, let's say, keep his commandments, right? If you keep my commands, we're called.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:45]:
Not that rules that sometimes we say are made to be broken, right? But to be honest, rules were made to be kept, right? And commands are given to be followed. And he says, so if you keep my commandments, you abide in my love, just as I kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. But these things I spoke unto you, that my joy, let's say joy may be in you and that your joy may be full, he said. And so God speaks the words of life to us. Not just to give us direction, not just to tell us what to do and what not to do, but it's so that you would have joy. And where's the joy come from? Often it's in relationships, right? Often it's in relationship, in the midst of relationships. He says, this is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. And many life groups, many small groups, meet in homes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:49]:
Not all of them. Some of them meet here. Some of them might meet upstairs, some of them might meet downstairs. Some of them might meet in a coffee shop or a restaurant. I know sometimes people have met outside in parks, but the thing is that it doesn't matter so much on the locale, but it just needs to be a place that even Saturday night at service, we're not having you guys sit in rows. You guys notice that, right? That we're sitting at a table. Why? Because there's a certain kind of learning that can take place when we're sitting in rows. That's important.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:25]:
Sunday. That's what it is, right? We do it like that on Sunday at Hookele. But if we can. You know what? There's something when we're kind of looking at each other, there's something that when we're sharing around a circle, sometimes, when we're being able to pray for one another, when we're hearing somebody's story, when we're standing with them in their sorrows and rejoicing with them in their wins, right? That something happens. What's that called? It's called community. It's called belonging. It's called connection. And we need that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:59]:
We all need that. Why? Because we were created that way. And so you know that I love what Eugene Peterson, well known pastor, theologian, Bible scholar said. He said this. He says there can be no maturity in the spiritual life, no obedience in following Jesus, no wholeness in the Christian life apart from an immersion in an embrace of community. In fact, I am not myself by myself, right? In other words, that when I get isolated, when I pull away from everybody, I'm not even myself. I'm not the person that God made me to be, is creating me to be because I need to do that among other people. Sometimes it's called to one another's right, encourage one another, support one another, bear one another's burdens, right? The that we would stand together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:57]:
We weep with those who weep, that we rejoice with those who rejoice. And you know, we have some groups that are built intentionally for that. Those are our life groups. And there's other kind of groups that you can serve. You can do something together and connect as well. Right. And these are important. Sometimes we call these ministry groups like Levites and our tech teams or our kid zone or a worship team or a prayer team.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:27]:
And they have a specific job, they have a specific role, and they actually do stuff together, greeters and ushers and those kinds of things. But we hope that what you don't get is you just get a job because nobody needs another job. Well, unless you need a job. But the thing is that this is what it says in Acts 242, I mean 246 and 7. It says, Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They receive their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And it talks about different environments, talks about a big group, kind of more of a public space or a social space. It talks about homes, it talks about sharing meals, it talks about being able to, to have in the middle of that, glad and generous hearts.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:19]:
And what happened, there was joy in it. And it, and it echoes what it says in Psalm 133. It says that when there's a spirit of unity, that happens because they're all worshiping God together, they're standing together. You know what it doesn't say is that all their lives are perfect. It doesn't say that nobody had a struggle. It doesn't say that everybody knew how to live in the family of God. It says that they just started this process and there was a unity. In Psalm 133 says, it's that when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity, it's there that God commands the Blessing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:02]:
In Acts 2, 46, 7, it says, so they were praising God and having favor with all the people. What is that? God commending the blessing. It's no news that people can make you happy, right? You guys ever walk into a place and then somebody goes, hey, hey, you made it. Hey, it's good to see you. And all of a sudden, you might have had a bad day, but what happens to you? You get a smile like, hey, hey. Pulls you out a little bit, right? That happens. But you know, this PhD, her name's. I can't say her first name, but Dr.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:45]:
Demir, and she's a professor at Northern Arizona University. And she kind of drills down what exactly about that kind of interaction and friendship warms our hearts. He says, the real thing is it's companionship and doing things together. And so sometimes, like in our ministries, it's like, yeah, we're doing things together, but we. We don't do it because we need a job. We're doing it because we want to serve God and we want to make a difference together. And sometimes simply doing things together is the component of friendship that makes us most happy, because she concluded is that it helps to make us feel like we matter. And you do matter.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:34]:
Right. And so when we're talking about this aspect of being better together and finding someone who has your back, our desire is that everybody that comes into contact in our. Our church family would find people that would be in their corner, would have people in their corner that would believe the best for them, pray for them, support them, stand with them, because there's nobody who can do that for everybody. Right. It's obvious I can't do that for everybody personally. Right. But it's not so much that I pastor every individual person, but that every person gets pastored. It's not that I connect in that depth with every single person, because I can't either.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:28]:
If Jesus didn't do it, I can't do that. But it's important that every person find that connection. And so just my challenge to you as we begin this series on Better Together, is there a step that you can take to get more connected to other people? Is there a step that you can take? And what's a step for you? For some of us, you're already plugged in. You already, you've been involved and you've done all these things. And for you, you think, like, to be honest, I feel pretty connected, right? I feel pretty dialed in. I got my small group, I got my ministry, I got all this stuff. And it's like, but for you, I just want to say this, but is there something that, to be honest, maybe you're not even sharing with the whole group, but when they break up for prayer and maybe we go to smaller groups, do you actually say what you really need prayer for? Can you share your struggle, but that you know that it'll be held in confidence, Right? And for others of us that at times we're watching online or, you know, we come on a Sunday and we just kind of bail out after that? Can you stay a little longer after service? Can you share a meal together? Can you grab a cup of coffee? Can you engage in a conversation? Is that going to change your life? It might not. But what might happen is you might feel a comfort to stick around, share a little bit about your life, get to know people.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:15]:
And in this process, it might start in a very public place or a social setting, but hopefully it leads you to a place where you actually make friends and you get to a place maybe that you get connected in a small group somewhere. Maybe it gets. Brings you to the place that you start meeting, maybe even with your own friends, creating your own small group. It doesn't matter to us that whether it's a group that we start or it's a group that you start, we want to help you. Because everybody needs somebody in their corner. And maybe you can be that person in somebody else's corner. Maybe you take that step. Maybe you open up a home, maybe you open up an office somewhere or a classroom somewhere for a group to meet.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:06]:
Sometimes we've met in classrooms. You know, we have a discipleship group that sometimes meets in a classroom. But one of the things I've known, I'm not myself when I'm by myself. I get shaped best when I'm with people. And I'm not talking about I don't have a personal devotion with God. I'm just talking about, in addition to that, that when I get to share what I've learned, I get to receive from what other people have learned. I get to pray for people, they get to pray for me. Something of the dynamic, the spirit of God is manifested, and our great desire is that all of us would experience that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:54]:
Make sense? Hey, let's bow our heads. We're going to close in a word of prayer. You know, some of us, the reason why we never have stepped toward some kind of a greater connection is we. There's two thoughts that go through our head, and they're both legitimate. One of them is, will they like me? Because if they really knew me, I don't know if they would like me. And sometimes we have to silence that voice in our head because that's not from God. And sometimes that's not even just from you. Sometimes that's the enemy whispering that in your voice.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:46]:
And the other thought that is just also legitimate is not only will they like me, but when I go, will I like them? And that's legitimate. You might not click with everybody. And so when people take a step in that, we're not saying that, you know, you have to be in a group and be in one group for the rest of your life, but give it a shot, get to meet people, take some time to fellowship, Ask somebody like, you know, not just what their name is, but, hey, what's your. What's your week been? Right? What's been happening that's good in your life, Right? Sometimes we. Sometimes we talk about what's good, something. We talk about what's hard, but we make a step because it's only when we do those things that you'll find somebody in your corner, Father. Tonight as we're here, I pray that all of us, Lord, would be challenged about how to take a step somewhere. For some of us, it's a step in existing relationships to be a little more vulnerable, to be a little bit more trusted, because we still hear that voice, even though we're good friends, that maybe we don't let them in because we get a little nervous.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:12]:
What will they think about me? Will they still respect me? Will they still believe, Lord, that we're all subject to the same things in life? So, Lord, that you never called us to be without sin or temptation. But knowing how to deal with those things, Lord, allows us to change and be transformed. And thank you, Lord, that when we take steps like that and we move toward people, it's often with the great faith and expectation that you will honor your word that when you call people together in community, as Father, I pray that those who our need to take a step just to get connected a little bit. Maybe it's in a small group and maybe it's just hanging out a little after service. Father, I pray that whatever the place, would you lead us and empower us to do that very thing? In Jesus name we pray God's people say amen. Amen. Hey, God bless you guys. Thanks for joining us.