Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
Hey, good evening, everybody. How are you guys doing today? Good. We're glad. And can we just say we haven't kind of acknowledged them in a little while? Can we say hi to all our church family online? Hey, guys. Want to say we're so glad that you're joining us, whether tonight or some of us who might be watching some other time. We hope we can see you guys in person sometime soon. Hey, you know, before we go any further, I do want to mention a little bit about the lighthouse outreach. And the part of that is that for many of us here, that you're familiar with what we do, every once in a while, you know, there's going to be.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:36]:
Obviously, people come in, and everybody comes from different kinds of backgrounds. And I appreciate the fact that, you know, when the scripture says, come out and be separate, when God says to us, come out and be separate from the world, he calls us to live in the world but not be of the world. That. That so often when we come to something like the evening of Halloween, there's really kind of, like, two approaches that there's been. Kind of like one approach was to stay as far away from that because of the enemy's hand, the way he's tainted this evening, that evening. And so there's that kind of a separation. And then the other hand of it is that the fact that we don't go to celebrate it, but that we go to. To reach out in the midst of it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:24]:
And as Christians, I don't think that Christians ought to actually celebrate in the deeds of darkness or kind of like wear scary costumes and do all those kinds of things. But to be honest, I kind of talked about it like this to a brother, some friends I have said that, you know, if you want to go fishing, you know, when the best time to go is when there's fish. And so. And I don't mean it to be any derogatory way about people, that they're just fish, but the fact is that Jesus said, go be fishers of men, and that, you know, people, most people out there on Halloween, they're not trying to celebrate deeds of darkness or the enemy and all that kind of thing. They're trying to make memories with their families and, you know, do things that they did as kids. And so what we've been doing the last few years, and we've done for many years before the pandemic, that what we've been doing is we set up regional little areas around our community and we just call it a lighthouse where a number of families get together, put out some tents, lights, and really just kind of have some simple games. Sometimes we have music, different kinds of things that are going on and we hand out candy for the kids and we give them a blessing, we invite them to church, we give them a word about God's love and his heart for them. And that's really kind of the thing that we do.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:52]:
And if you'd like to be a part of that, we would love for you to come and join us. You can pray, you can give, you can go and serve at one of those things. But if you'd like to find out more, it's just a little bit more information in your bulletin. Not just about the mechanics of it, but also about the whys of it. Just kind of our heart behind it. That makes sense. And if you have any questions, hey, we'll talk to any one of the staff. We'll be love to be able to communicate with you about it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:21]:
If you have any concerns about that. Hey, you know, this evening though we're starting a brand new series and it's the series that we're going to go for about a month. And it's really just talking about the fact that we have every once in a while in our lives that we go through difficult things and, and sometimes you, you expect them and sometimes they come in unexpectedly. You know, last year when my family and I were in Japan visiting Rika's family, we had a couple days that we went to the east part of Hokkaido, which is where my wife is from, and you know, we had a chance to go to this national park. We had this, it was a beautiful kind of a wildlife area. We got to see the, the cranes that, you know, like, they're like 5ft tall. Walking around. We got to see some really beautiful places.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:19]:
And one of the places that we went to this place was called Lake Accom and it's part of that National Park Service. And it was a great time. We were there fishing and actually we caught some really good fish. I say we, it's actually my son, I didn't really catch that many big ones, but he caught some really good sized ones. And it was beautiful day, just a beautiful day. But something happened on that day that when we were just even heading out, you know, we were looking that we had to, you know, Google map it and we're trying to figure out how to get there. We're driving down this road and it turns into a gravel road that gets narrow. And the further I drive down I start seeing signs that recent past that this road has kind of had storm waters rush over it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:07]:
You know, when you just see all the gravel and then you see no gravel and bushes and all this kind of stuff. And it got me nervous because we're supposed to drive down this road for about 45 minutes to an hour. And so I'm just kind of, you know, forwarding the clock here. And what's it going to be like? Because I also pulled up my phone and I looked and there was like no signal. And so I anticipated the fact that, hey, we're just starting this journey. The road is already showing signs of wear, showing signs of storms. And if something happened, we're driving 40 minutes down the road and then something happens, the car gets stuck. What are we gonna do? No signal, like probably a three hour walk back, right? So I just turn around, right? Turn around.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:56]:
And we got there together, we went another way. And so there was just that kind of a remembrance in the beginning of the day. But as the day went on and we had done most of the fishing, it's already late afternoon, and all of a sudden we just see this clouds kind of rising above the mountains that line the lake. And it's really, really dark. It's like, you know, when that storm is coming and then you just kind of notice that you're still fishing at that time. And then all of a sudden you start feeling the wind pick up. And then those clouds come over the mountain and it is like a curtain of dark, dark gray, right? And it's just moving and it. And it literally felt ominous because then all of a sudden the wind picked up, the water gets choppy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:45]:
You know, it's really tough to fish at that point. And then so we're starting to pack up and get going and you know, we're trying to get everything loaded. And then all of a sudden we start hearing the thunder. Lightning, right? And you can see that it is raining cats and dogs across the lake as it's moving. And I said, come on guys, we got to get in. And we just booked it in the car. And I was trying to outrun the storm. I never tried to do that like in a thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:15]:
And it's like. And it's. We're driving in the rain, there's lightning that's going on. But the farther we drive, it gets a little lighter, a little lighter. I actually manage to go up this other side of the mountain, go across, and we beat the storm. And you know, we're just kind of like, wow. It's hard to believe that if we didn't leave when we did. It could have been really a difficult way back, right? But you know, in Proverbs 27 it says, you know, that a righteous man, he sees trouble coming and he hides himself or he goes the other way, right? But the unfortunate thing is you can outrun all the storms in life, right? Because some storms you can, you see it coming and you can make a decision and just go the other way.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:03]:
And sometimes, sometimes you just got to go through it. You know, life storms are real, but so is the presence of God. And when you're in those moments though, that sometimes we can all be taken by surprise. Sometimes we think, I've been through it before, I know what life tough seasons are like and, you know, I've grown through it. And sometimes we get to the place where maybe we think, well, you know, like, yeah, everybody gets trouble, everybody gets bad traffic days and all of these kinds of things. But to be honest, we're talking about not the fact that you get stuck in traffic or, or, you know, somebody said something mean to you or whatever it is. We're talking about things that really try your soul. You know, Jesus said this in Proverbs 16:33.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:53]:
I love this promise of God that he has in 1633. But it doesn't start out the greatest promise because it says it like this. In John 16:33, it says, in this world or in the world you will have tribulation. Let's say the word tribulation. It's probably not a word you said lately, right? It's not a word that normally I use in regular conversation, but that comes from the Greek word telepsis, which if we look at the Greek English lexicon, it's one of those tools that you can look at that it says this. There's two kind of primary meanings for this word. It says trouble that inflicts distress. You know, sometimes we think that we can grow as a believer and that maybe some of us think that if I grow hard, if I grow clean in God, I am faithful.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:50]:
I'll get to this place. You guys ever feel like, when am I going to get to that place where I hit Christian cruise control? And it's just easy, right? And the road is like, it's just paved road. You guys ever, you know, you're driving on the freeway? How many of us like you driving on the freeway? And you hit that road? Because this is all over Oahu. It seems like it used to be just horrible. Like you need a four wheel drive. And then after they PAVE it. You go like, Bruh. That's like glass, right? Oh, man, it's so nice now to drive then.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:19]:
I'm just waiting till they do that in Kapolei. No, but, you know, we get to that place. But this actually says that when tribulation comes, it's distressful. It's not something that's easily. It's not something that's easily gone through. The other thing it says it's an inward experience of distress, affliction or trouble. And so the reason I say this is not the great part of the promise, but it's part of the reality, the environment that we find ourselves in. That the world that we live in, which is broken, that truly has a struggle between good and evil, and that we do have an enemy to our souls, and that there are people who live not just broken lives, but seek to inflict harm on others.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:11]:
And we do live in a place where justice is not always received in the fullness like it will be in the kingdom. And so that's not the important part, but I love the second part. And we're going to just read that together in John 16:33, the second half of that verse. Would you be kind enough? Let's stand together and let's read what it says. The first part said, what in the world? You have tribulation, but this is what it says. The second part. Ready? Let's read. But take heart, I have overcome the world.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:47]:
And so the good news is this, that we're starting a series called Standing Strong in the Storms of Life. And what it says is that if Jesus is with us in the storm, that if he's with us in these moments, if he never leaves us, if he never forsakes us, if he is always leading us, and that we want to be close to him. And you may follow imperfectly, like all people do, but the thing is, this is his promise that I've overcome the world. And that because he wins, he says, in some measure, we walk in the victory that he has purchased for us, the way that he's made for us. And that what we want to look at in this series is how you can stand strong even in the storms of life. And so the root of it is going to be found in the fact is that Jesus is with you in the middle of the storms. Whatever it is that you're going through, whatever life looks like. Now, some of us will say this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:46]:
You might have heard this saying that says that you're either going through a storm, you're ending a storm. Or you're going into another storm. You guys ever heard that saying, right? And the older I've gotten, you know, one of the things that I've seen, and people ask, how is life going? Is it a rough season? Is it a tough season? Is it a good season? And sometimes the reality is I say all of the above, right? Because to be honest, it's not that there's no challenge in life, that there's always some kind of challenge, it seems like. But it doesn't take the fact that there are things to rejoice, that God is still moving and active. And sometimes when you're in the season, you might see very clear seasons of difficulty. And if you're in that kind of a season, it's a clearly this kind of a season. Would you know, Jesus is with you in the midst of the storm. And for many of us, we're kind of in that place where life gets a little bit more complicated at times.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:45]:
There's so many different things that are going on. But the same principle is with you. Jesus is with you always, even in the midst of the storm. So do me a favor before you're seated and just look at your neighbor says, because he wins, you can win. And then you can have a seat. Because Jesus stands, you can stand. Because Jesus is faithful, we can be faithful. The reality is everyone does experience storms in life, right? The apostles, when they were simply doing exactly what Jesus called them to do, Sometimes we think, if I just follow what Jesus says, then I'll always have an easy way.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:31]:
And to be honest, there are seasons when it is like that, but sometimes there are seasons, it's the opposite. When Jesus told them to just sail across the lake, it's really just in obedience to his word, they encounter a storm and that they cannot get through. They battle it all night. And you're probably familiar with a storm where Jesus comes, what is he walking on? Walking on the water, right? And I love the fact that wherever you are, that Jesus can get there somehow, right? It doesn't matter. You could be in the remotest part of the sea. You could be stuck in an airplane, you could be stuck in an elevator. But he can get to you, wherever you are. Do me a favor, turn to your neighbor, says, wherever you are, Jesus can meet you, right? But it doesn't negate the fact that at times all of us will experience a storm.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:27]:
And even if we're a follower of Jesus, right? It doesn't make us immune to those. Sometimes it's loss and an emotional storm. We are Going through a series of grief or loneliness or maybe even depression or anxiety. Maybe you've been through heartbreak. Sometimes there are relational storms where there's conflict in a relationship that. That has been so life giving to you. And maybe you can't see how we're going to solve it in the short run. Maybe you've been betrayed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:00]:
Maybe you've been in that place where friendships have been strained and it feels like the foundations of trust have been shaken. When, you know, Jesus went through that, he was betrayed, and then there was capacity for restoration and forgiveness and things that were broken were made stronger with him. All things are possible. And then sometimes there are financial things, right? Sometimes there are material things, things that you need in life if you work for the federal government or funded by a federal program. Man, you guys are in our prayers right now. Many of us, that maybe we don't work for them, that some of you guys know. I don't know if people are following, but there's a lot of people out there that are working. They're not getting paid while the government shutdown is happening.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:53]:
And so maybe you've been through job loss or debt or business failure or some kind of a financial insecurity. It can be scary in those moments. Maybe we don't know how God will provide. The good news is he promises he will provide. And many of us here, we've been through those seasons. We don't know how we're going to make it, but God somehow always comes through. There's physical storms, right? Sometimes health storms, illness, pain. Maybe you're taking care of a family member who's going through a difficult physical season.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:37]:
Sometimes those things shock us. The loss of independence or maybe contemplating even our own mortality. Or we see a weakness come in us that we never experienced before. Sometimes there's spiritual storms where you have doubt or temptation, a spiritual dryness, to be honest. Every person at some season goes through a season like that, right? And sometimes you think the most godly people out there are the people that they didn't ever experience that. You know, there was a biography written about Mother Teresa, and in it she details some of those things. And people looked at that. Some people looked at it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:21]:
People who don't actually probably walk with Jesus, I think. And one of the things they said was, see, Mother Teresa was a fraud. She had her doubts, she had her troubles. She had questions that she didn't have the answer to. No, you know what she had? It was called faith. It was called faith because you're not defined by your doubt. You're defined what you do with your doubt. And she continued to move forward.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:51]:
Sometimes we have storms. Not because of anything, to be honest, because of you or because of people individually in your life. Sometimes just the world is shaken by storms. Remember when February, what is that? Five years ago, when there was news about, hey, what's happening on that cruise ship and those people can't get off. And you know, you're hearing all these things and it's like, ah, you know, won't be that bad, God, we'll shut down. And it's like three years later, right? We look at it, oh my gosh, right? You know, sometimes pandemics happen, sometimes natural disasters happen, sometimes wars happen. And it can feel overwhelming when the loss of control. Or maybe they're not sure about your life's direction.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:42]:
But Jesus is always faithful, right? I love what it says. When Jesus met those disciples in the midst of the storm, it says, even the wind and the waves obey him, right? And sometimes you just get an individual thing, an internal thing. You wonder, what's my purpose in this season of my life? I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing. And sometimes we have regret or we have questions, we have guilt. But God says this even when in those moments, would you follow me? Would you feed my sheep? He said to Peter, he says, would you trust me? And we're in those kind of things. If you're in that kind of a season, would you know that you're not alone? You're not the first person to go through it, unfortunately, you're not also going to be the last person. And all of us go through them not once in life, frankly. These things happen with and sometimes some sense of regularity.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:47]:
But this evening what we're going to look at is. I wanted to look at a portion of scripture where an unlikely character, a non Jewish woman, a Canaanite woman, sometimes she's referred to as a Syrophoenician woman in the Book of Mark, but it just says Canaanite woman in the book of Matthew. And we see this woman have this interaction with Jesus and she's going through a very difficult season. And it says it like this in Matthew 15, verses 21 to 22. And as we read this, we need to be mindful that Jesus has done a lot of his ministry before. This time in the area of Galilee. You see him, you know, at Peter's house. We see him walking throughout the.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:33]:
It's the wedding of Cana in Galilee. It's all of that area that he's going through. We see him at Bethsaida, we see him in the, in the synagogue, we see him do miracles all in this Galilee area. And he has left the Galilee area as persecution has even arose, not just in Jerusalem, but in. It has moved and followed them into this area. And it says they moved to a place outside of Israel proper, to the district of Tyre, inside it. And this is what it says in Matthew 15:21 and 22. And Jesus went away from there.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:10]:
Where is there? That's the Galilee region. And withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon is really kind of like modern day Lebanon. This is where the Canaanites were. If you were to read like something from your History 151 class or that the class was called when I took it, you know, ancient history, that these are the Phoenicians, right? And so when it says the Syrio Phoenician woman that there's kind of a thing and they were, they were sailors in this area. They, they, they traversed the Mediterranean as a people. But this woman, it says he, he meets there and behold a Canaanite woman from the region came out and was crying, have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. My daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:03]:
Now this unnamed woman had a daughter whose daughter was oppressed, it says clearly, by an evil spirit. Now some of us, you might read that in different translations in the Bible, whatever it is that you normally read and sometimes you see different words for it. Sometimes it'll say the word possess. Some of them would say oppressed. But if you actually look at it in the original language, it's all the same word. The same word is literally mean to be demonized. Daimonozai. That's the literal word that there is no word that ever is used that says that when someone has demonic problems that that person is owned by the devil.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:40]:
It never uses that word possession in that sense. Sometimes we wonder where is the demon? Is it inside, outside? You know what, to be honest, sometimes it's inside, sometimes it's outside. It doesn't matter. This is the only thing is that we know this person's problems was caused by demons. Now sometimes in the old days, this is what they would say. Oh, you know that those people in Jesus day, they were uneducated, they didn't have modern medicine. And so when Jesus encounters the boy who has a kind of like an epileptic seizure and it's falling down on the ground and he's thrown into the fire or he goes into the water. This is what they say.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:22]:
Ah, the boy just had epilepsy. He just had a seizure. Now, the thing is that demonic or spiritual oppression like this can often mimic. Can often mimic physical things. I've been in situations where we're praying for people, and this woman came in and half her face was drooping. And. And I've had friends who have, you know, what you call that often? Bell's palsy. Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:53]:
If you ever had a friend with Bell's palsy, half their face is drooping. There's been people at church that. That they get at this thing that's. That. That the varicella virus attacks a nerve in your system and basically have to have their face droop sometimes. You know, it's difficult to control. You know, they withdrew a little. Their eyesight is a little difficult on that side.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:15]:
And so she. She wasn't looking at us in the face. And. And so, you know, the thing is, I just thought I wouldn't want to look too. I'd be a little embarrassed. But she came to be prayed for. We'll pray for her. And.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:28]:
And then the pastor that I was praying with said to me, said, pastor, can you. Can you come? And he goes, yeah, yeah, I'm right here. Anyway, he said, and he told the girl, can you look at me? And she looked at me. And then as I looked at her, I saw her eyes doing this, like it's a cock. And I go like, oh, I don't know if I actually seen that before. Maybe some of you have, but that's the first time I'd seen it. And it turned out that there was a literal spirit that was influencing this woman's life. How do I know that? Because when we prayed for her, she not only fell to the ground, but after prayer, there's this thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:17]:
She got up. And I'm not putting words in her mouth saying, this was a spirit, because this is what she said at the end of the prayer when she sat up, she says, what was that? I felt something come out of the top of my head, right? And then this is what the other thing was, that when she looked at us, her face was normal. Now, I don't care what you call that, but that's not. Because we didn't know what Bell's palsy is. We know what Bell's palsy is. And sometimes, literally, there can be things like this that happen, that mimic. That mimic physical things. And we don't know what happened to the daughter where she had something like this or she had seizures all I'm guessing is that as a mom, she saw her daughter change, right? Maybe it was a personality change.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:15]:
Maybe it was an angryness that went about them. Maybe there were just kind of unexplained behavior. Maybe there were physical ailments. But as a parent, that when you're in that situation, if you've ever had someone in your life that struggled with substances, and we don't want to recognize those things from time to time, right? We want to pretend like, oh, we're hoping against hope at times that it's not what we think it could be. But to be honest, in this case, this woman came to the place where she realized, man, this is the enemy. This is. This is a spiritual force, a wickedness that she could not deal with. But the good news is this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:02]:
She knew who could. She knew who could. And so she comes to Jesus and what does she say when she sees him? Can we just read what it says in verse 22 again, where she says after, it says, when he went to the tyrant side and he said, behold, a Canaanite woman came from that region, came out and was crying. Let's read that phrase again. That after was crying, have mercy on me, O Lord, son of David. Now, when she calls to Jesus, Lord, O Son of David, even though she's not Jewish, she is referencing something that is very Jewish, the fact that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah, the son of David, the one who. Who is to come, the one who is to set all things straight, the Mashiach. He is the one who will come, and that he comes in the name of the Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:01]:
Later, we see as a triumphal entry into Jerusalem. What did it say? Right? That blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And they throw down their coats and they tear down the palm branches because they are welcoming the king of Israel, the spiritual king, right? She is recognizing Jesus, is that. And that with that comes all the attendant miracles. And to be honest, it's more than likely just all the stories that have been told in the area, right, probably just filtered into this area. That man, there's this guy that he speaks, and. And people's lives change. There's this guy that's out there that people were blind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:51]:
He touched them, and they could see that people who were ill, that they recovered, people who couldn't walk can walk again. And so the lame walk, the blind see. And the poor have the good news preached to them. This story was going on throughout the era. She knows it. So she comes to him and says, lord, have Mercy on me, O Son of David. And she recognizes. She recognizes the fact that he is the Messiah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:26]:
Whether she's ever been to church, whether she's ever been to synagogue. And she recognizes that her daughter being totally out of control, she brings him to the person whom hope, maybe in some sense, against hope. We don't know how long she struggled with it. We don't know how long she's battled with it. I'm sure she's prayed before. I'm sure she took her to whoever would do it, you know, kind of attend to these kinds of things in her village. But unfortunately, things don't go the way that I think she had imagined. Because it says this in verse 23.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:10]:
Can we just read what that first sentence says? Ready? Let's read. But he did not answer her a word. And so she's crying out, lord have mercy. I can imagine, maybe with a sense of emotion, with maybe tears coming down her face, that she's pleading with Jesus, maybe this is my last hope. And he's silent, right? And worse than that, this is what it says. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, send her away, for she is crying out after us. Sometimes when you're in the storm, you can't hear Jesus. Sometimes when you're in the middle of the storm, you're crying out to him, and it seems like he doesn't care or he doesn't listen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:07]:
Sometimes in those moments, the intimacy, the closeness that you've sensed with God just feels like a million miles away. He was right in his presence, and yet he was silent. And the silence of God and what people say can be very troubling right now. When God seems silent, it's easy to misinterpret the silence. Can we be mindful that silence does not mean I'm not interested? Can we just look as we read this story that we realize that when God sometimes is silent, it doesn't mean that I can't do anything. It doesn't mean that I don't care. Because we will see very shortly that. That he really does an amazing thing for her.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:05]:
But when you're in this place, sometimes the silence is deafening, right? You know what is worse than the silence is the people who speak for Jesus and sometimes say the wrong thing about what Jesus is really thinking. Because what do they say? It's like what happened to me a while back. I went to a floral shop and I just was going to visit somebody, you know, and, you know, they had gone through really difficult season. I just wanted to get some flowers to bring it when I was go visit. And it was close to closing time, and as I walked in, I could see them working on an order. And I just apologized and said, hey, I know. I know you guys are kind of getting to the closing time, and I can see that you guys are doing this thing, but can you. Would you be possible just to make a little arrangement for me? And to be honest, I'd gone there, I'd given them a bunch of business, you know, in the past.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:05]:
I knew that they know who I was. And she didn't even answer me. She didn't even answer me. Just, there are two ladies, they're working. Just one looked at the other one and said, this. Just do this to this. And you know, the thing is, like, I was thinking, brah, I'm right here. I can see you, right? Like, can't you just say something to me? I'd like to, but she just did one of those.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:29]:
And then the other ladies, you know, I'm sorry, we can't do that. You know, how did I feel, man? I was so offended, right? I was so upset, right? I never went back to that place for years, right? Later on, I felt convicted and said, well, you know, like, everybody has a bad day. And the thing is that. How would this woman have felt when she said that, Man, I would. I'm shocked. She stays, right? It's like, don't you see? I can see you. I see Jesus right there. Now, to be fair.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:10]:
To be fair, you know, one of the reasons I think that they. They said this because when Jesus had sent them out in Matthew chapter 10 to go preach the gospel, he told them very clearly, do not go to the Canaanites, only go to the lost. The house of the lost tribe of Israel. So they were instructed. That was their instruction when he sent them out. And so he probably thought because they probably thought because he was quiet. Because he was quiet, he was saying the same thing. And so they just say, hey, you know, can you just.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:47]:
Let's just get rid of the lady. She's irritating. She's so, like, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know what they're doing, right? If there's, like, motions with this, and if you've been hurt by other believers when you're going through something, sometimes it's. Sometimes we end up blaming God. If that's what it means to be Christian, I don't know why I need God, right? If that's what it means. You guys don't know what I'm talking about. And I'm sure all of us have talked to somebody like that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:20]:
All of us know someone like that. If you've been hurt by a believer, it's sometimes it's the hardest thing, partly. Why? Because we have a higher expectation of them, right? We didn't expect that from somebody who's also a follower of Jesus. But sometimes we get resentful toward God and we think like, if that's how it is, like, and this don't work, you know, one of the best explanations I've heard is it's like this. If you like music, let's say, you know, someone comes up to you and say, hey, I want to play some music. What's your favorite kind of music? Oh, I love classical music. And so they say, I'm going to play some Mozart for you. Would you like to hear some Mozart? And so you say, yes, I'd love to hear Mozart.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:10]:
Then they pull out the violin and they start playing and it just sounds like they're murdering a guinea pig. You know what I mean? Like just a squeaking and squealing. And so all of a sudden you go like, that's horrible. Right? But you know what we don't do? You might have hated the music, but sometimes say, I hate Mozart. Why do you hate Mozart? Because what you don't really like is it's not that you don't like Mozart, because if you actually listen to Mozart, that's not how it sounds. What you hated was the poor presentation of Mozart. And so when we have things like that, that sometimes you run into people that it's not that they're not believers, maybe they were ill informed, maybe they were, they thought they knew. Unfortunately, I've talked to people who have been through some of the biggest storms in life and only to have been wounded further.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:15]:
You know, like literally people have said to some friends after they lost a child that somebody from their church said, you know, maybe it's because of your sin that your child died. Like, oh my gosh, who says that? How do you even know? Right? How would you even know this? Now, this person didn't say it to be mean, but it was the most devastating thing that could ever have been said to this family. And they left that church as a result. But you know what the good news is? They never left God because they understood. The difference was that sometimes people speak in ignorance and that's not God that's speaking, but the silence of God. And sometimes what people say can compound our trouble. And so in the midst of that, what do we do? Do we stop. Do we give up? Do we sulk? Or do we do something else? Because how you interpret the silence, don't interpret it like God is not listening, that God is not willing, that God is not able, that he doesn't care.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:46]:
You might not know why he's not responsive, but what we see, this woman do is amazing. In verse 24, though, he continues to say this. He said, he answered, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, in verse 20, 25. I'm sorry, verse 25, it says this. Instead of running, instead of walking off in a huff. How many of you guys ever been so offended to your own harm you walked away? You know, I remember in college, I took a class, math. I hated math, but I had to take it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:28]:
And I remember going to this Prof. For help, and he just sent some comment, you know, like, I should know this already, and I didn't understand it. And so, you know, I was offended what he said. So, you know what I did? I just stopped going to the class. Yeah. And then I'm not shocked later I got an F because I stopped going to the class. But, you know, I clearly knew that it wasn't like the best choice, but my offense got the better of me. I love that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:06]:
This woman, she's unoffendable, man. I look at this lady, she is amazing. She cannot be deterred because it says this in verse 25, but she came. And what does she do now? She kneels. Now, she came and she knelt before him, saying, lord, help me. You know, sometimes in the silence, we don't pray less. We pray more that we don't stand and shake our fist at God. We get on our knees and we ask, God, God, help me, Jesus, help me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:50]:
And he answered, it's not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. When I said this woman was unoffendable. Because most of us know that you watch a movie at some point and they say, oh, you are the son of a filthy dog. You know, the guy's in the Middle east and all that kind of a thing. In the Middle east, dogs are not known. Dogs are not like how they're treated here, right? Because some of us here, you don't have a dog at home. What do you have? Furry children, right? That's what you guys have, right? That we have friends that, like, the dog doesn't just come along with them, it comes along in the stroller, right? How many of us that when we go home, the dog greets us, the Dog doesn't just greet us and wag its tail, he licks our face. We try not to think about what else he was licking.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:43]:
But you know, the thing is that, right, you kiss the dog in the face and you buy the dog clothes, right? That's like, for some of us, we have that kind of a relationship. No problem. No problem. This is not how it was, though, in Israel, if you've ever been to the third World, sometimes when you walk in down the street, you know what you often you see just dogs walking around, right? Scavenging, right? That's how it was in the Middle East. Dogs were considered kind of like an unclean thing and that they were dirty. Jesus doesn't use that word, though, when he says, he actually uses the word. When he says it's not good for the dogs to eat the crumbs, he's just saying, he says, like for the little dogs, he uses the word. And so he kind of softens it in some sense, right? He.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:37]:
He's saying, you know, it's like the puppies or the dogs, right? It's not good to throw the children's bread to the dogs. To the puppies. And she says, yes, Lord. Yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table. Now when he says this, she has no idea, really, probably. She probably doesn't know that Jesus had a mission first to go to the lost house of Israel. It's not finding the lost people in Israel. It's saying the nation as a whole was lost.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:19]:
The country was lost, they had strayed, they didn't understand. They're missing the whole point of their worship. And so Jesus was called there. Why Jesus was called to go there? Because if he didn't first go to the house of Israel and follow and fulfill the promises God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You want Jesus to fulfill the promises that God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? You know why? Because if he doesn't fulfill his promises to them, why should he fulfill his promises to us, right? But if he is a promise, not just a promise maker, but he is a promise keeper to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, guess what? He'll be a promise keeper to you. And so when he was saying to her, I have come to the lost house of Israel, he's not saying, you dirty Canaanite, non Jewish woman, get away from me. Get in your cooties and go home. That's not what he's saying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:29]:
He's saying, sister, you don't understand that I have to fulfill the Promises of God. That everybody outside of God's family, everybody outside can have the opportunity for me to fulfill the promises. How do I know that? Because that's what it says in Romans 15, Paul the Apostle said this. For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised. Who is that? That's the Jews. To show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify. Who are the Gentiles? Everybody else. Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:15]:
Might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written. Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. We are here today because Jesus fulfilled his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Because he went to the lost house of Israel. But Jesus still responds at this, at this. On her knees, at this begging, at this imploring Jesus. He says, it's not right, Lord, to throw the dog.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:51]:
When Jesus says it's not right to throw the children's bread to the. To the dogs. But she says, yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table. And then Jesus answered her and said, oh, woman, can we read what that next line says? Great is your faith. Great is your faith. Why is her faith so great? I think her faith is so great because even when he was silent, because even when she could have easily been offended, she refused to be offended. Instead of walking away enough and raising her fist to God, she gets down on her knees and says. Doubles down and say, lord, son of David, have mercy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:50]:
Because sometimes it's not the fact that you've prayed once. Sometimes it's just that we got to keep seeking the Lord. She pressed in to God. It's shocking to us today in some ways to see this interaction. And some of us. You read this passage in the past and it offended you, right? I know the first time I read this passage, it offended me because it's like, what in the world? Why are the disciples like that? What's going on in this thing? And I could have seen myself walking away. But it's a great faith because she trusted Jesus. She kept pressing in.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:39]:
She knew his character. And the closer we know God's character and we press into him when we respond in that kind of a faith, a trust in his promises, in his character, it pleases God. God responds to faith even in this moment, even though it wasn't the order in which it was supposed to happen. Anybody who comes to him with faith says he will know in no way turn aside. It says in the Scriptures that. That without faith it's impossible to please God. And then he says in verse 28, then Jesus answered her, O woman, great is your faith. Be it done for you as you desire.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:35]:
And her daughter was healed instantly. Because it doesn't matter to Jesus whether the root of your storm is a spiritual problem. It doesn't matter to him if it's a physical problem, it doesn't matter to him if it's a financial problem, doesn't matter to him if it's a relational problem, it doesn't matter to him if the world seems to be going to hell and a handbasket. He's able because he's still with them. He was always with her in the middle of this storm, even when he was quiet, even when he said something she didn't understand, even when she had to press again. And so he. He heard her, he blessed her, he responded to her. And there's many of us in this room that you've been through seasons where you didn't know where you were going to get the strength to get up and take care of your parents again.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:53]:
You didn't know how you had the strength to get up, to go to work in an environment that seemed to suck the life out of your soul. But you went anyway and you prayed, God, would you change this circumstance at work? Lord, would you change someone's heart? God, would you change me? You've prayed and it seemed like it was silent, but he was always listening and he never left you. And sometimes we don't understand all the mechanics, why it doesn't happen. You know, the way that. The way that you thought it doesn't happen on our timing, to be honest, I would love to say it's because God's building character and sometimes he is. I would love to be able to say, because sometimes God's building faith and that we need to be able to keep knocking. I would love to be able to say it's because, you know, he just needed to work something out in the world. And we didn't realize that there are all the mechanics that needed to happen in the world.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:09]:
You guys know what I'm talking about. Like, I wouldn't be in the house I am today, except when we bought this house, the market needed to collapse in Japan, right? People had. Some of them had lost their business that who owned the house. And that house went in value and lost about a third of its value, 40% of its value. It was the absolute lowest time this house price has Ever been. When I bought that house, you know what? It wasn't because I was the great real estate guy. I'm not that smart. God just had a timing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:01]:
But the reality is sometimes we don't know why at times. And I. I try not to pretend that I know. Sometimes I will say maybe, maybe it's because God's doing this. And I say it like that because I don't want to be the guy like the disciples in this moment. I might not be aware, but sometimes people. It can help them to have a reason. But this is what I know is that you can trust God because he's always faithful, because he's always with you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:50]:
And we can stand because he's standing with us. That makes sense. Don't let the enemy whisper in the silence. See, he's not listening. You'll hear that, you'll feel that. Come back with what the word of God says. He always cared for this woman. He had something larger to fulfill.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:19]:
So that he could answer not just this woman, but he could answer all who come. That's you and me. Amen. Hey, let's bow our heads. We'll close in a word of prayer. Then we're going to prepare our hearts for communion. Father, when we're in the storm and we're not talking about like a windy day, Lord, we're not talking bad traffic days. We're not talking about somebody said something mean at, Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:53]:
We're talking about things that cause us distress, Lord. The things that SAP our strength. The thing that kind of raises our fears, Father. The things that sometimes we think, I'm not sure how I'm going to make it, Lord, those are real storms, Father, we just thank you. We don't always know how you'll do it. Father, just today we say this. If you're in the middle of the storm, could you just say what this lady said? Lord, have mercy. Father, would you have mercy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:37]:
Father, would you have mercy on our friends going through some financial difficulty right now? Father, would you have mercy on those that are. Are going through some physical ailments right now? Father, would you have mercy? Father? And Lord, those who are being strained in a relationship that has been so important in their lives, Father, would you have mercy? And Father, we just ask, we just declare. Would you declare over yourself and over the situation that I may not know what to do do, But I thank you. You do. God, I'm not sure what you're doing, but, Father, would you lead me out of the storm? Would you pray to him? Father, I'm not sure if I have the strength today, but I thank you. In you there's all the strength I and Father, we pray. Would there just be grace, mercy and strength, Lord, on your people? Because we thank you. Every storm passes and even when the storm is raging, Lord, beyond the clouds the sun is still shining, but we just can't see it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:04]:
By faith. We say, God, thank you, you're still in control and that, Lord, you're still in control of my life. I might be out of control, but Jesus, you're still in control, Lord, Would you provide the finances, Father? Would you bring the restoration and the healing, Father? We pray for reconciliation and a rebuilding of trust, Father, Give your people the wisdom they need. Lord, there may not be a three step plan to get out, but we thank you. We know who to call. We call on you in Jesus name God's people say Amen. Amen. Hey, can we seal that with a praise, Lord, thank you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:51]:
Thank you that you always. Sometimes it comes in a miracle, like it did for this lady, like it did for that lady that we prayed for that I thought was Bell's palsy. I hesitate to say because sometimes the miracle is you just survived. Sometimes the miracle is you get joy again. But he's always good and he's always faithful. Hey, this evening we're going to take communion together. And if you've been with us, you know we practice in open communion. If you're at home, we again invite you to go get a piece of cracker or juice or whatever it is that you have.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:48]:
And we know that this is celebrating the Lord's death on the cross for us. In the Old Testament there's a prophetic word that was given. And he said this in Micah 7, verses 18 to 20. Where is another God like you who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever because you delight in showing unfailing love. Once again you have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean. You will show us your faithfulness and unfailing love as you promised to our ancestors Abraham and Jacob long ago. And I love this passage partly because just that pointer, it said at the end how you were faithful to Abraham and Jacob.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:59]:
Why is that? Because like I said earlier, if he's faithful to them, he'll be faithful to them of me, because he's just faithful. And that would you know that you're probably like me, that you haven't been sinless this week, right? Maybe you've struggled more than you you'd like. Maybe you had a better week than you imagined. But in every case, let's draw close to him at the table that he meets us into sacrifice. And so the bread and the juice are at the table here. And we just invite you to take it at your own pace when everybody has that. We're going to pray together and take the elements together. Let's go ahead.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:03:38]:
Hey, would you hold the elements before you? You know, we read that he says, you will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean. And, you know, I remember having a conversation with one of my kids and they were talking about, you know, talking about, I remember when this happened. And you remember when that happened? You know, they kind of shared something that, you know, the things that they hide from you when they're kids that, you know, you just didn't let them know that, you know, and they said, oh, dad, you know, you didn't know when this thing happened. And I said, yeah, I did say, really? We thought we had you fooled. No, no, I knew. How come you never said anything? Did you forget? I said, no. I just chose not to remember. And, you know, we take the elements not because God doesn't know.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:04:59]:
It's because he chooses not to remember. When says that at the covenant, the ark of the Covenant, that they would pour the blood over the covenant. And it says that God met them in that sacrifice. Would he meet you? And would you meet him him in the taking of his body and his blood, Father, thank youk. You choose not to remember, Father. We don't come because we're perfect, Lord. We come because we need you'd and we love you. And we're thankful you paid the price for us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:05:40]:
And that Jesus is enough, Lord, if you said it's enough, it's enough. Thank you. You're greater than our greatest sin. You're greater than our greatest joy. You're greater than our greatest hope. Thank you. You're our king. You're our Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:05:58]:
Thank you for making the way, by the breaking of your body. Would you take the bread? And we thank you for the shedding of your blood, Lord. It washes us. It cleanses us. But Father, we want to meet you in the sacrifice. Thank you, Lord. There's a grace sufficient for all things. We take the cup.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:06:33]:
Father, would you be a seal over our hearts? Strength. Strengthen. Empower. Renew. Father, we turn from our sin and we embrace the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, who's our Lord, who's our promise keeper? Father, who's our strength today? Thank you. In you, God's people, say Amen.