Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
Hope you guys all had a good holiday season, Christmas, New Year's, and that getting ready to enter into all God has for us in 2026. You know, one of the reasons I get asked every once in a while is why we do 21 days of prayer. And shouldn't we be praying all the time? And absolutely, how many of us believe we should be praying all the time? How many of us are praying all the time? You know, I mean, like, sometimes we need some time to refocus. Sometimes we need some time to. Sometimes we need some time to put our hair in the right place. Thank you. Thank you, brother. But when we're together, you know, one of the things that I think that when we come to our 21 days of prayer, I always think there's a few things that we need to keep in mind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:47]:
One is we always know that we're reminded why we pray, right? We pray because God calls us to pray. We pray because there's probably some things that you need to God to work in. And so wanting to come to a 21 days of prayer is often it's. If you need a time of refreshment, sometimes you need a place of breakthrough. Sometimes there's something that you've been praying for, and you haven't seen a resolution yet. You haven't seen the breakthrough yet. And so if you're in that kind of a place, we know that, you know, there's. There's all those moments that we've all prayed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:19]:
Like you driving in the parking lot, how many of us, we've been there, and you go, like, lord, I need a parking stall. And then what happens? Oh, amazing. There's a parking right over there. But, like, not every prayer gets answered like that, right? And so there's often there's time to be a focused and concentrated time. And I like that at the beginning of the year that. That we're seeking some focused and concentrated time to press into God to remove some of the clutter from our lives. And it's in those moments that I think there's a breakthrough. Sometimes it's a renewal, a reconnection, a greater clarity.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:54]:
That happens because sometimes what we do when we pray is we touch the heart of God, but we need to pray for the breakthrough, right? God always hears us. And so the difference about what we do in the beginning of the year and what we do at the end of summer is in the summer, we do 21 days of prayer. Just gather together, focused prayer. But in the beginning, we also want to pair it. So often with fasting. And so the other questions I would ask is that it's important is if you're going to fast, what are you fasting from? And then also what are you fasting and praying for? Because sometimes I don't know about you guys, but you know, like living in the world, you get some of that in you, right? We get some of the world in us from just being living in the world and going about daily life. And so that's why Jesus said when he was coming down from the mountain and the mount of Transfiguration, and when the disciples were wondering, lord, why couldn't we cast out the spirit? We knew what to do, you showed us what to do, but it didn't work for us. And what was Jesus response? He said this kind only comes out by fasting and prayer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:07]:
You know, sometimes the reason is because to be honest, there's a little bit too much of the world in us. And so when we empty ourselves from some of those things, and to be honest, and for you, it depends what it is, right? There's any number of things. I don't know. I left my phone under the table because I was going to show it. Like some of us, we need to fast from kind of like just being overly doom scrolling or game playing or, you know, just constantly surfing, looking for something of interest for some of us, you know, what we're fasting from. How many of you guys know I like coffee, right? I love coffee. Coffee loves me, right? But the thing is that I should have started kind of working down from that coffee, that amount of coffee that I drink a little earlier than I did today, right? I'm already cutting down, but I can feel it, right? Because to be honest, it was a little harder to focus today as I'm finishing up the message because I just had like one cup of coffee. And then tomorrow I have a half cup of coffee and then Monday if I don't have a headache, I'm off.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:15]:
If I have a headache, I'll drink half a cup, right? And so it allows me to wean myself off of coffee. Is it because coffee is evil? No, coffee is not evil. Coffee is a gift from God, right? No, but the thing is that, you know what? As much as I enjoy coffee, I want to master coffee, not have coffee, master me, right? And so sometimes there's things that we give up, we lay aside, not because it's a bad thing or a wrong thing, but sometimes it can take an inordinate amount of space in our heart, inordinate amount of Our attention or our energy or our focus. And so that's what sometimes you find what you can fast from. And so historically, the church has. Has prayed and fasted, and the things they fasted from was from food, right? What they would fast from would be, or like the Daniel fast that they would be fasting from animal products like milk and cheese and meat and all that kind of stuff. And so that's what we see demonstrated in the Book of Daniel. And it happened over a period of 21 days.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:23]:
Because sometimes the battle is not one with. With one strike. The battle is not won with two strikes. Sometimes it's not done with 21 strikes. But it says this from the moment that you prayed, you were heard in heaven. But the breakthrough came on day 21, right? And so what we're just saying is that whether it comes on day 21 or day 22 or whatever it is that we know there are things in your life, things in my life that I'm praying for. It takes more than just shoot up prayer, right? And so there's a time of focus. And so to be honest, if you guys don't even kind of have that sense that, man, I need to press in for that, you know, I still would do 21 days of prayer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:03]:
You know why? Because I need it, right? Coming off the holidays, how many of us that we ate probably way better in the last four weeks, five weeks than we did probably like in every other four or five week period of the year, right? And I'm that way too, right? Man, it's like I loved it, but. But to be honest, I feel like sometimes there's a little bit of detox, right? That's needed, right? A little bit like a little bit too much rich food, a little bit too much, right? Of everything, a little bit too much dessert. I'm trying to watch certain things, but during the holidays, I don't know. Sweets was calling my name. So here's some of that, right? But why do we do it? Because when we lay those things aside, we press in. I believe really what God says is that because you've cleared those things, you have a greater capacity to hear, because sometimes you've cleared those things. Your reliance on me was more than you had been in the past, right? And I don't know about you guys, but I need to hear God more this year, right? I need more power this year in my prayer, right? I need more sense of direction and clarity as I move into the year. And so that's why we're doing it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:16]:
And we're calling us to do it together. And. And so when we come together on Monday, actually Starting Monday night, 7 to 8, it's like I had a friend call me, and he doesn't even go to a church anymore. He's been, you know, he came for a while, a long time, and then he went. He helped his friend plan a church, but he knew that we're doing fasting and prayer, and he's just kind of been in that place where he said, I need to do that. And he was just calling that, asked how to do that. And so we just had a conversation on the phone and shared some things. And I said, but do you have somebody to pray with, like at your church for this? He said, we don't do this yet.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:54]:
And I said, come join us. Because there's something that happens when you gather together, right? And it's not just you doing it in your room all by yourself. Right There is that part, right? But one of the things I love is that I'll do my devotional time and then sometimes I'll pray, obviously in that time, but I may not pray as much as I want to. Hey, but when it comes at night, that's what I use that time, right? A focus. It's praying for my family. It's praying for the church things to be advanced. It's praying for kingdom movements that need to happen. We're praying for an awakening revival in our nation, in our state.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:32]:
This is what happens in this place, and we get to partner together. And if you're learning how to that process of prayer, that this is a great place to learn. Come seven to eight, any night during the week and on the weekends, we'll be starting to pray in our worship time together as well. Hey, this evening, though, as we begin the new year, how many of us hope that this year is a better year than last year? Right? Okay. It's a good sign in some ways that we're expectant. Most of us, we want to be stronger in our faith, I think, this year than we were last year. We want to be closer to God this year maybe than we were last year. Or we want to be closer to God throughout the year, right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:13]:
At more than we were last year. And to be honest, I think we've all heard it said. I. Nobody. What I've never heard, I've never heard anybody ever say to me is that I wish I wasn't so close to God. You know, Nobody ever says that, right? Nobody ever says, I wish I was. I wasn't so close to God. You know, it gets in my way or whatever.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:34]:
Like, everybody wants to be closer to God. And if you know Jesus, you want to be closer because we were made by God and we were made for God. And that you and I, we were designed to be able to grow and to hear God and to know God, right? That's that you and I, we were designed for that, that we were made in the image of God. And do me a favor, turn to your neighbor, says, you were made in God's image, right? Everybody here, you have a capacity that is part of God's design to grow in your faith, to grow in your character, to grow in your knowledge, your vision, your kindness, your love, right? Your resolve, right? We all have that capacity, but we all know it's also. It's not automatic, right? It doesn't just happen to it. Nobody accidentally says, well, I don't know what I was doing. The next thing I knew, I just was more godly. I was just more.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:31]:
I just had a greater sense of purpose and power. Nobody says that because you don't fall into it, but it's something that happens when we pay attention to it. And so this year we're just starting the series out, just calling it Being Confident in Christ, because I think everybody struggles at times with some doubt, everybody struggles with discipline. Everybody struggles at some point with doing what we know we ought to do. And so this year, what we'll say is that instead of letting the enemy speak to us in our doubt, instead of letting the world tell us be more like us, that we're going to say, we're going to press into God so that we can be confident in Christ, right? It doesn't mean that you're going to be perfect, right? It doesn't mean that you're going to be sinless, but you're going to be confident. And. And there's a. There's a difference, right? The word confident in the English comes from a compound like con, to be with.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:31]:
But that F part, the fide, is with faith, right? Is that with faith we become more confident in Christ. And, you know, I don't know what your life is like at the moment, but I'm praying that this year is a breakthrough for you. I'm praying that this year you're stronger. I'm praying this year that you see more answer to prayer. I'm praying this year that you make a bigger difference in the world than you ever thought possible, right? I'm praying that you're able to be elevated to the place that God wants you to be. At the same time, I know there's going to be ups and downs and changes that happen in the world and in our lives that we don't really know if we knew, to be honest. Sometimes it's scary, right? That's why God doesn't tell you everything. But at the same time, that God will be sufficient when we're drawing closer, that we'll see God's promises fulfilled.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:32]:
Now, how many of us, or like me, today, I was prepping the message and I saw kind of a crawler come across my screen that, that said this, that President Trump says, we will run Venezuela. And I just said, what? And I clicked on the thing and I found out, like, did you guys know that we captured the president of Venezuela today? Right. That they had a special operation last night? And I was like, I'll be honest, I follow politics a little bit. World things, I do follow that. And I know that we've had the buildups and we've been moving and pressuring and doing all these things, but I guess I just never thought I would see that. I didn't see that coming, right? And then all of a sudden you're in this thing and you know, like, how quickly this is like day three of 2026, and it's like, wow, that world event, to be honest, there's going to be ripples from this throughout the year. There's going to be things that happen as a result and that, you know what? You and I, there's things like that that are going to happen in the world, maybe in our lives. But the good news is this, Jesus is always on the throne.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:49]:
Amen. Right? He's always in control. He's always sufficient. But how we move forward with that is we can move forward at times in fear, or sometimes we can move forward in faith. And so God wants us that everybody feels fear. Like, the thing is, it's not bad to be. To experience fear at times, right? It's just. It's a natural thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:13]:
It's just that we don't want to stay in that place. We don't want to let it control us. We don't want to let it dictate our future. And so this, this evening, we're starting out this first message in our series, just calling it finding your identity in Christ. Because in Ephesians 6, 10, it gives us a great piece of instruction as well, I believe, as a promise. And it says this in Ephesians 6, 10. Can we stand and rise in reverence for God, reverence for His Word. And God's call to us this year, I believe, is this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:14:47]:
Let's read together. Ready? Let's read, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might, right? So it's saying not be strong, that go to the gym and get your personal record, right? It's not saying that. Be strong because you know everybody and you made all the connections and do all this. It doesn't say that. It doesn't say that. Learn everything you can. Are those things bad? No, they're not bad. But that's not the call, right? The call saying that if you want to stand in every situation, it's not relying on your strength.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:21]:
It's relying on his strength. It's not relying on your knowledge. It's relying on his knowledge, right? It's not relying on your contact. It's relying on the contact that you have with him, right? And so he says this. Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Amen. And so let's just confess that I can be strong in the Lord and turn to your neighbor, says, and you can, too, and you can have a seat. We talked about the fact God has made us in his image according to.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:52]:
According to his likeness. But it's so easy at times that we forget that we're made in the image of God. Maybe we forget these things because probably if you're like me, you introduce yourself to people, you know, like me, you go to a social thing that, you know, you're. If you go to a wedding or some kind of a party every once in a while, you know that. You ever meet somebody and say, what's your name? And somebody says, oh, hey, I'm Glenn. He says, how do you hear. Say, oh, you know, the groom, that's my friend, right? You guys, like, so we're there and we identify as, you know, I'm so and so's friend. Or, you know, oh, if you're meeting parents and you're like your kids team, you say, oh, I'm Jacob's dad, right? I'll say something like that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:35]:
Or maybe that you're meeting somebody, like in a business setting as personal, you know, like some kind of a corporate setting. And maybe you say, hey, you know, I'm from this company, or this is my role, right? We say things like that when we introduce one another. Maybe we say once in a while, like, if you meet somebody and you go like, hey, where are you from? And you go like, hey, I'm from Wahiawa. He goes, yeah, I'm from Wahiawa. Too. I live Kapolei now. I say it like this. I don't say I'm from Kapole, I say I live in Kapolei.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:06]:
When I say I'm from someplace, I say I'm from Wahiawa. Right? You know why? Because Wahiawa is God's country. No, I'm just kidding, but kind of joking. Kind of joking. But you know, the thing is that we, we say these things and they're markers, they identify us. But the reality is that we're supposed to find our identity in Christ, you know, and partly because it's like you can have connections and you can have some progress that you've made in your life, you can have some advancements, you can have some skills, you can have some knowledge, you can have some relationships. All of these things, they're not bad things. It's just that that's not where your true identity comes from.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:45]:
Because there's a formula that's out there, and I believe this formula comes from the world that says this, that my performance and my connections or my relationships and the approval of others will at times equal my self worth. Have you guys ever felt like that, that how you do in life? You know, sometimes you see your performances, like for some of us, we struggle with like the financial aspect because I work so hard at that, because I need to make a mark in that. Because if I don't, then I don't feel like I'm important, I don't feel like I'm valuable, I don't feel like I have. And so, or some of us, it's because I need to be popular, I need to be connected, I need to be in the right space. And those things can say, this is my self worth, this is how I get myself. And we know that, and a lot of us know this about ourselves because that's why sometimes it's so easy that you want to please people sometimes that's why you might struggle with workaholism or that's why you struggle with different things now. Everybody struggles with something, right? Everybody struggles with something. It's not bad to struggle.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:55]:
It's a human thing. Everybody struggles with something, but it reminds us the fact that we need to ground our identity. Identity in Christ, right? Because your past explains where you've been, your performance, it says what you've done. Your circumstances can describe the conditions in your life or what's around you. But God is supposed to determine who you are. Your maker determines your identity. It's who God made you. It's what he's put into you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:33]:
It's what he's given you. The foundational marker for our identity ought to be the fact that we're connected to the living God through Christ. And I am who he says I am, and I have what he says I have, right? And so that if not that, we'll always be subject to this aspect of. Of somebody who has more, somebody who's done more, somebody who says something negative about you. And we're all subject to those things. We all can be affected by those things. But they ought not to derail our confidence in Christ. They ought not to override our confidence in Christ.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:14]:
They ought not to supplant where we put our trust. And so in Ephesians 5. I'm sorry, in Ephesians 1, 4, 5, it says this. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us. Let's say chose us, right? He decided. He decided that you would be part of his family. He called you to be part of his family. You weren't the leftover that you're the first choice, right? That he called us and loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy without fault in his eyes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:52]:
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family, let's say own family. Family is an important thing, right? You're here. I see some of us, we're here with our families, right? We're here together. And for some of us, our friends are our family. And so family is important because family ought to be friends. Friends and friends, close friends at least, right? Ought to be family. And it says that we are called to be part of his family. That you're called either to be a son or a daughter, right? You're called either to be a son or a daughter.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:31]:
Because God doesn't have grandchildren, right? God doesn't have nieces and nephews, Right? God doesn't have step kids, right? He only has sons and daughters. When he calls you into his family, and so he says in this, he goes on and he says, by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ, this is what he wanted to do. And it gave him great pleasure. When God called you, God said, that's a good one, man. I'm so glad. I'm so glad that you're part of my family. I'm so glad that you're my daughter. I'm so glad that you responded to me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:10]:
I'm so glad. It's like, welcome, right? It brought him. It didn't say God was like, okay, that's about right. Said it brought him Great pleasure. We've got to remember that God's chosen you. You know why I remember that? Because sometimes you're not always chosen in the world, right? Sometimes you're not always accepted in the world. To be honest. Historically, Christians have been in minorities in many places.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:39]:
They've suffered persecution even today, suffering persecution around the world. It's not a popular thing. Or the opposition level is so violent, like it can be in Nigeria, that the opposition is so difficult, that drives people underground. But he says this, but you please God. It makes God happy to have you part of his family. And so why now? Partly it says this because God chose me. Now, that always surfaces the question for some of us. I've heard people ask, well, how does God choose.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:20]:
How does God choose people, right? And there's some that said, you know, it's. It's based on what you've done. And I don't think God ever chooses you based on what you've done. There's some that just says this, that God chooses some people to heaven and he chooses some people to hell, right? And this is theological kind of a framework. I don't believe, although God could do whatever he wants to, I don't believe that's the way God operates. I believe God operates basically because it always asks us to choose. Choose to stay who you will serve, right? As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, right? When we read in 1st Samuel 2:30, it says this, now the Lord declares, far be it from me for those who honor me what I will honor, those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. Your choices, My choices make a lot of difference.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:20]:
And I believe God has already laid the call out. He says, whoever will let him come, God chooses those who choose him. Does that mean that, man, I'm so great because I chose God? No, it's not that I never earn it. It's just the fact I recognized man. I'd rather choose God than drown, right? I'd rather choose God than die in my own sin. I'd rather choose God than face hell, right? I'd rather choose God, then just do it all myself. It's not a merit of mine. It's not something that I deserve.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:57]:
I earn. I just respond to. And you and I, we. We want to ground our identity in Christ because we've responded to him. So God says, when you respond to that invitation to be part of his family, then you become a son, you become a daughter. And it's an amazing thing. God does amazing things in our life. I Love what it says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:16]:
Second Corinthians 5, 17. Let's read what it says. Ready? Let's read. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. I'm so glad it says this that if anyone in Christ is in Christ, he's a new creation and the old has passed away. Why? Because Jesus didn't come to make bad people good, make horrible people better.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:50]:
Jesus came to make dead people alive. Jesus came to take those of us who were unable to save ourselves, right? The scripture says that we were dead in our sin. I didn't know I was dead in my sin. I just thought I was living life like everybody else. I was. But that meant I was dead in my sin until Jesus rescued me, right? Until I responded to him. I didn't think I was walking with the weight of the world on my shoulders or the weight of my sin. But something happened when I said yes to Jesus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:32]:
And I felt like a. Literally, I felt like a weight that was lifted off my shoulder. I never expected that. But it's because Jesus makes dead people alive. Following Jesus is not about self improvement, right? It's not about rehabilitating the old self. Does the old. Do you get better? Yes, you do get better. Why? Because Jesus places new life in you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:01]:
He renews your spirit. He takes that spirit in us that was dead to God. He makes it alive. My identity, because my identity is received and not achieved, right? My identity is received and not achieved if I have a performance based faith, right? It's like it's how many ministries I'm a part of. It's how many things that I've done, it's how many people I've brought to Jesus. It's how many people in my life, Bible study, it's how many things, if that's the whole thing, right? It leads often to comparison, leads to burnout, leads to pride, all of those kinds of things, right? But is it because I just do nothing? No. I need to respond to God. But the thing is that the spiritual life that's focused primarily on do's and don'ts is about starts becoming in the rat race, right? Because you always got to do more.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:03]:
You always got to do, right? It leads to a religious spirit, it can lead to a spirit of pride. It can lead to the sense of a Pharisee and judging others. The truth is, you don't earn your identity. You receive your identity and you receive it by grace, right? You receive it by grace in Titus 3, 5, 6, it says it like this. He saved us not because of the righteous things that we had done, but because of what his mercy. Right? How many of you want to earn everything that you get? We want to earn. Maybe that we don't want handouts. I understand we want a sense of self respect.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:50]:
But I never want to earn with God what God can only give by mercy and grace. Because there is nothing I can do to earn my salvation. There's nothing I can do, but I can respond. I can receive it. So he says this because of his mercy and grace. And then it says, then what did he do? He washed away our sins. Because I could never get rid of my sin, not on my own.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:18]:
Right?

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:20]:
Giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. The only problem that I can have is that when after having received that, sometimes it says this. The Scriptures warn us in Galatians, he says, do not be subject again to a spirit of slavery. In other words, don't, after having received this mercy from grace, think that you have to earn it. Or that you can earn. Doesn't mean that you're not saved at the moment. It just says that it leads us to a spiritual bondage because we think it's us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:07]:
Paul says it like this. Galatians 2:20 says, I've been crucified with Christ, right? What does that mean? To be I've crucified with Christ. I die to my old self. I die to my flesh. I die to my ways. If my ways are different than God's ways, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh. In other words, this life that I'm living in, this physical world, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. The only trouble becomes when I start feeding the thing I'm supposed to crucify, right? My old self.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:52]:
Your old self. Because how many of us recognize whatever you feed grows? I looked up, what is the average American gain during the holidays from Thanksgiving to New Year's? What's the guess? What do you guys think? What's the average American gain? Eight pounds. That's what I was guessing. That's what I would eat, like five, six pounds or something like that. I was surprised at the answer. The answer came back this way. It said it's one to two pounds. Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:32]:
How many of us are above average? No, I'm just kidding. But like, right, so it's like. But it doesn't sound that bad. But this is what he said. This is what the study said. Later on though, it says the problem is that like a large percentage of us that it sounds just like one or two pounds, but over 10 years you never lose that one to two pounds. So like in five to 10 years or whatever it is now, we're 10 pounds, 20 pounds, right? That we've gained. And the reality is, because why whatever you feed grows, right? And so Paul is saying in this place, you know what? Don't feed your flesh, right? That's why.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:17]:
That's why we fast every once in a while, right? Because we just as a decision of our will that. Hey, how many of us you guys like? Man, I love steak, right? I love the fatty part. Put all the salt on top, all charred, right? I love that part. But I'll put that aside, right? How many of you guys love, like somebody wook here made this pumpkin crunch thing. We had a Christmas thing that I try to watch the dessert. I ate one bite of that thing, I had to eat the rest. I love that, right? But what happens if I keep doing that? Keep doing it, like with. Just because I want to.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:07]:
To be honest, I probably have, you know, more health situations than I would want, right? And it's sometimes I put aside the things that it's not bad, it's not bad. It's just that I realize my flesh doesn't always have an off switch, right? My desires don't always have an off switch. And so when I come to a season like this, 21 days of prayer and fasting, it's like I just lay them aside for a period of time, for a period of time to pray, to seek God, to say, God, my strength doesn't come by bread alone, right? Man does not live by bread alone. Man does not live by meat alone. Man does not live by fine foods alone. But by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God, literally, it's saying this instead of me gaining my strength from the things that I eat. I will eat to nourish, to survive. I will eat in that way, but my strength is going to come from God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:16]:
That's the principle of fasting. It's laying aside certain things so that we rely on God. I love what C.S. lewis said. C.S. lewis says this in his book Mere Christianity. It's one of the benchmark things. It's a great book.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:33]:
It's an older book. It's an English. He was an English professor. And so sometimes a language today Might sound a little different than how we would speak, but in this thing, he says this, the Christian way is different. It's harder and easier. Christ says, give me all. I don't want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work. I want you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:00]:
He says, I have not come to torment your natural self, but to kill it. No half measures are any good. I don't want to cut off a branch here and there. I want to have the whole tree down. I don't want to drill the tooth or crown it or stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked, the whole outfit. And I'll give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you myself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:30]:
And my own will shall become yours. And so the calling is this a surrender to God? Does he do it? Because I'll never eat a piece of meat again in 22 days, because we start on Monday or 23 days, I'm going to eat, probably, I'm going to eat meat, right? I'm probably going to do. I'm probably going to eat, probably going to drink coffee. Day 23 or whatever it is. Is that wrong? No. But this is what I'll do. I'll be, I'll have a greater sense that this is something to enjoy, not something to master me, right? This is something that I can, I can do as a, as a blessing from God, not something is. I need to be satisfied.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:19]:
And so as a result, we need to have our identity strengthened and renewed daily, though we need to have our identity strengthened and renewed daily. You know, the world, our flesh, our appetites, right? The devil is talking to us daily, subtly and sometimes not so subtly, right? That when you go out in the marketplace and you're out there and it's like, you just realize, it's like, hey, maybe my clothes may not be the fashion, right? Of the 21 year old hipster dude, right? I recognize that, right? Maybe you recognize that when you're in the world and you're watching something on tv, you're like, wow, the values of this thing is so different than what I'm trying to have applied in my life or in my family's life. But the world is always talking, right? The world is always pushing, the world is always trying to pull us into its mold. And so to combat that, we need to be strengthened and renewed daily, right? Because you cannot just do it unless that we're strengthened and renewed daily. I Think one of the ways that we do that is by reading God's Word daily. By reading God's Word daily. The word of God is given to us because it expresses the heart, the mind, the will and the ways of God. It lets us know with no uncertain terms that God has a purpose, has a plan, has a will, and has a way.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:04]:
I love what it says. In Psalm 1:1, 2. It says this. Can we read this together? Ready? Let's read. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers. Let's stop here for a second. What is this saying? The world is trying to mold you into its shape by the people that you talk with, the people that you walk with, the people that you listen to, the people who mock God and the things of God, right? It's saying these things. It's like the world is saying, it's trying to mold you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:44]:
But what is this? It says, there's a contrast. Instead it says, blessed is the man who doesn't do these things, does not let the world mold him into this image. But verse two, it says this. Let's read. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And on his law he meditates day and night. You see, God is a relational God. But relationship requires revelation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:12]:
You see, if you never know anything about the person that you want to be in relationship with, that you're not really in a relationship with that person, right? You don't even know the person. You don't even know what pleases the person. You don't even know what makes that person stresses them out or that it's distasteful to them. But when we understand this, that revelation about what a person likes, what a person is for, what a person's values are, when we understand that what their tastes are and their distaste tastes are, then it's easier for us to move and live in relationship because we'll be in the right accord. God is a relational God. But to have that relationship, at times you got to know the person. It requires revelation. God spoke to Moses as a man speaks to a man.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:06]:
It says Moses knew God and spoke to God and his words preserved in here today, Right? And what it does is Scripture is the primary way God reveals himself clearly, consistently and truthfully. Because without Scripture, all we'd have is our feelings, our sense of things, and how many of us that you have felt something, your intuition has told you something. I'm sure that there's times your intuition has told you something, and he goes, like, I was absolutely right on. But how many of us have also had times our intuition told us something and it was absolutely the rough, the worst decision. It wasn't right? Right. And so we need the word of God to show us the way that's beyond what my feelings as my perception would be so that I can understand the truth of God. We need to not just know about God, but we need to understand God. Otherwise we risk creating a God in my own image instead of me living out my image of God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:26]:
Right. To me, a good example of that is when I'll talk to people periodically and every once in a while talk to somebody and somebody will say to me, basically, we're just talking about something. And I've tried often gently, to share the truth. It's a sensitive situation, maybe. And somebody will say this. They want to get to have a discussion about, hey, what does God think about this? And so I'll try to be clear. But I also want to, you know, I don't want to ruffle somebody's feathers in the way that I say it. I cannot help at times if somebody doesn't like what God's word says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:07]:
What I can help is I can not have to say it in an offensive way. Right? Because we want to be gracious and truthful at the same time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:16]:
Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:16]:
And so there's been times I've said, well, you know, I know this is a difficult thing. It's not a culturally, probably a popular thing, but God's view on this is that this is not something that pleases him. And we'll have this discussion. And then somebody had said to me in the past, like, well, my God. My God would never do that. My God would never say that. And so, to be honest, there's been times I wonder, well, who is your God? Because I don't know about you, but how many of you get disciplined by God, corrected by God, Right? And if somebody says this, I can. My God would never correct me and tell me something I'm doing wrong.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:02]:
If that's the case, then your God is you, right? Because God says this. He says, every child of mine that I love, I train, I discipline, I correct. Because any one of us who've had kids, right, single people say this about children. They're so innocent and perfect parents. We don't say that we love our kids. We love our kids to death, but they're not that innocent always, and they're not that perfect. Right? They need to Be trained just like we needed to be trained, right? They need to be corrected just like we need to be corrected, right? And when God says this, if you're really my kids, I'll correct you. Because in the old days, in the old days, you'd go in the store, and when I did something wrong when I was a little kid, like, somebody would say something like, hey, put that back.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:08]:
And I would be like, oh, sorry, Auntie. I don't even know this lady, right? And I'll put it back, right? Because we're just fooling around in the store nowadays. I've seen kids at times in the store say, hey, put that away. You shouldn't be touching that. That's not it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:21]:
Hey, who.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:22]:
You. You're not my father, right? You guys. In other words, don't say anything to me because I'm not under your authority, right? If we say that to God, then that means we're not under his family, right? Because every child, he says, he corrects, he trains. Is it because he doesn't love us? No, it's because he does. It's because he does. And so he calls us in Romans 12, 2, he says this. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. Let's say transformed.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:05]:
What does that mean, to be transformed? To be changed in the most beautiful and positive way by the renewing of your mind and by testing, you may discern what is the will of God. And it goes on. It says that which is good, it's pleasing, and it's perfect. The renewed mind shaped by truth, informed by the Scriptures, is something that is not just discern. It's. You'll like it. Ultimately, you'll be pleased by the decisions that you'll make, and you'll show that it was true and it was right. Right? And so he's saying that we.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:47]:
We need that. But we. It's not always what we feel. I don't know about you, but I need my mind. Still need it renewed. And the Word guards us then from just being able to figure out what's God's voice and what's not God's voice. Because God never contradicts the things that he says. You know, my kids, they catch me in contradictions.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:10]:
Every once in a while, you're gonna get caught in contradictions, right? Frustrating at times, right? You want to just say, because I said so. But by the way, that's not a bad answer every once in a while. But, yeah, I mean, to be honest, sometimes parents, you got to say that because I said so. And we'll talk about it later. Right. You know, but the thing is that it helps us to understand. God does not contradict himself. He's better than us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:37]:
Right. He knows what he's saying. Right. Sometimes I don't know what I'm saying. Or maybe tonight I don't know what I'm saying. I'm not sure. But I love what it says. Then Psalm 25, 4 and 5, he says this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:49]:
Make me to know your ways. Teach me your paths. Why? Because it leads me in your truth. And teach me. Right. God's truth, God's leading, leads us to life. Those who God teaches has to be one. People who sit under the truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:09]:
Right? Then you'll know God's heart. Then you'll know God's Word. Right. And then you'll know what God's thoughts are. Right. In order for that to happen, you got to renew your mind. We got to submit to God's authority, and we have to remain in his Word. In your bulletin, there's a reading plan.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:29]:
And so we started putting this in before the end of the year. We put it in, actually, even in our Christmas services. And I wanted just this to be there for you. It's not that you have to read this plan, but I want to challenge each of us that. That to take wherever you've been with God, wherever you've been in your sense of scheduled or disciplined reading of the Word, and that. Would you just say, God, what can it mean for me to be a greater student of your Word? What will it take for me, God, to be in your Word on a consistent, a more consistent level, a daily level? And so if you. If you look at that reading schedule, it'll have, like, Genesis, it'll say Matthew, and then it's going to say Proverbs and then Psalm, right? And if you read each of those things, like throughout the year, you read the whole Bible in a year. Now there's some of us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:38]:
Do you have to read the whole Bible every year? No, you don't. You know, you don't have to. It's not like some arbitrary thing. Every Christian should read the whole Bible all year, every year. It doesn't say that. Some of us strive for that. I think it's a good goal. Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:56]:
But it's not a magic bullet. But here's the balance to that. I have also known people who have known Jesus for 30 years who have never read the whole Bible. And I think on that level, we ought to expose ourselves to the full counsel of God and not just The Gospel of John, the Psalms and Proverbs. Right. You see, when you're new in the Lord, just be in the Bible. You read a psalm, you read a thing, you just, just be in the. Just be in the Word.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:34]:
But over time. How much time? I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to have a. Like, if you've been a Christian for five years, you ought to read like. That's. I don't know how to say that. That would be weird.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:49]:
But I do think at some point over your lifetime, wouldn't you like to have said that? I know the full. I've read the whole Bible. Right. I've read it through. Are you going to read every. Are you going to understand everything you read? No, you're not. I don't understand everything I read. But that's what study is for.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:12]:
That's what helps are for.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:14]:
Right.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:14]:
Those things, they can help you. And. But I want to challenge you to do that. I want to challenge you, say, hey, at the beginning of the year, I'm going to read through. I'm going to read through the New Testament, I'm going to read through the Psalms, I'm going to read through something, have a plan. If you have the Bible app, there are any number of reading plans that are in there about how to read through the New Testament or how to read through the whole Bible about, like specific things that you can do. This is not the plan, but I am going to use some of these things in some of our life groups. I'm going to be challenging people that, hey, let's read off the same sheet, let's read the same thing so that when we get together in some of our small groups, we're going to do a devotional time together where people learn how to read, learn how to journal, learn how to pray, and that we, we learn how to reflect on these things that what God is saying to us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:17]:
Because we need to go back to some of the fundamentals. Right? The fundamentals are fundamental. Why? Because this is the building block. It's the building block. So we're going to talk about some of those things throughout the year. But I just want to encourage you on that. Like if you don't have a plan, maybe this can be part of your plan.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:37]:
Yeah.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:38]:
And then I'll just say this, the last thing is this, that God wants you to daily feed on his Word because it roots you, it anchors you right in the middle of life, whatever is going on, that we take our marching orders from God that whatever is happening, that we know God's word. So that God's word shields us from the pressures of life. It shields us from the enemy's deception. It shields us from the ways of. Of the world. I'm being sucked into that. So he says this in Hebrews 2:1. So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard or what we may drift away from it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:18]:
The old saying used to be that this book will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from this book, right? That this book will keep you from sin, and sin will keep you from this book. And that principle, I think, is what he's saying, is that we pay careful attention because when we drift, it's not loud, often it's subtle, right? We don't see it. I skipped it here, I skipped it there. It's rarely dramatic, right? It's when prayer becomes occasional rather than. Than consistent. And when it's when our convictions become flexible instead of solid. When scripture becomes optional because I heard a great poem or a saying today, the word anchors us in the truth. When our emotions and culture and difficulty try to pull us away, right? And so confidence is cultivated to a consistent exposure to the truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:27]:
And I do want to commend everybody here and those of you who are joining us online. I believe there's something that happens when we come together collectively, right? To affirm that Jesus is our Savior. To affirm that God is our king. To affirm that what we know is true. To affirm that I'm a follower of God's Word and follow follower of the move of the Spirit in our life. And so there's something that happens when you gather together. And so thank you. Thank you for doing that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:00]:
And I'm just going to end with this, is that God wants you to talk to him daily. God wants you to talk to him daily. I love what it says in Proverbs 27:8. It says this when you said, actually, it's not Proverbs, that's Psalms. It's a mistake. When it says Proverbs, it's actually Psalm 27:8. He says, when you said, seek my face, my heart said to you, your face, O Lord, I shall seek. God wants you to talk to him and he wants you to seek him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:34]:
He wants you to pray. He wants you to tell him all that's going on in your life, Right? He wants you to confess that the things that you're struggling with and ask for help when you need help. Right? And sometimes in our prayers, we shift from striving to surrender. Sometimes we're praying, contending for things that you know, need to be changed, that you know, needs the hand of God to move, to change something, right? It's in those places where you're contending for loved ones and sometimes you're interceding on their behalf. Sometimes you're praying for somebody who cannot pray for themselves, right? And we're in that moment. He says this, he says, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you'll find. Knock and it will be open to you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:27]:
For everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be open. And what I love about this prayer is the scripture talking about prayer is it describes sometimes you just pray and you receive, but sometimes you don't, right? Sometimes you don't. I prayed and nothing happened. And then it goes on. He says, seek and you'll find. What does that mean? I got to get up and go out and go look for this thing as I'm praying. But prayer enables for me to connect, to find the thing that I'm looking for, right? And then it says this, you got to knock.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:26]:
You know, when my kids were young, they had always a ton of fundraiser things for soccer and all of the sports things that happened. You guys know what I'm talking about, right? And so sometimes they would want, daddy, you can you sell this candy for me? I said, I'm not the one playing soccer, right? So I wanted them to get some skin, skin in the game, right? And so like you need to be able to put some effort into getting some of this reward. And so we go and we tell them, this is what you do when you have a fundraiser. You got to know what you say. You introduce yourself, say what you're doing, right? And this is how they can help, right? And then you let them respond. So I had them write these things out on a three by five card. And it was painful to watch sometimes, right? It's painful to watch because they don't want to do it. They don't mind asking me, but sometimes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:36]:
What did their dad say? I heard you, but I need you to go out and see Seek. And you go to the door and they go like this, oh, nobody home. And they come back to the car. I said, did you knock or did you ring the doorbell? No, but I didn't see a light or anything. Why did. They're just nervous. But this is what I wanted them to learn, I wanted them to learn was that if you're really committed to this thing, thing you've got to be willing to get some skin in the game. Not everything comes in life just because you ask.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:19]:
It's not a bad thing to ask, but sometimes you got to get a little bit of effort behind that, right? So they would press the doorbell, and they would be relieved when nobody would be home. But I've seen them as well, you know, like, to be honest, I've done it myself. It's like, sometimes it's not the most convenient thing. They knock on the door, they're ringing the thing, and I'm in the middle of something, and I go and I see this young girl or young guy out there, and they're, hey, I'm going to football camp or raising something for. Sometimes people have said, because I'm going to a private school and I'm raising funds for tuition, right? And it's like, well, wow. It's like, man, this. My kids, that's why they went public school. No, but because they wouldn't have raised money for their public.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:10]:
For private school. But, man, when I see that, you know, I just. I'm so, like, proud of them, you know, say, hey, good job. You know, I'll give them what I can. And often I don't need the candy or I don't need the things that you use that for the next person, right? Because I knew something was being built in them by the process, not just the product, right? And sometimes that's why God says this. You got to ask, but sometimes you got to get up and seek, and there's. Sometimes we got to stand at the door and knock. And he says, in this process, something changes in you and something changes in the world that we're in, right? Because sometimes God is trying so hard for us to not just get what we want, but to become what he wants, right? But it's not bad to get what you want.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:00:14]:
It's not bad to ask for those things. We just want to be part of the process. And God says this, but you got to know me, and let's do this together. Hey, you know, this. This evening, it's just a really. A call to say, hey, let's get back to some of the basics. It's the word of God. It's prayer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:00:38]:
It's just saying for some of us, you know, you could have taught this, what we just talked about tonight. But sometimes we just still need to get back to the basics, right? Get to that place where, Lord, I want to love you like I loved you at the start. Amen. Because when we do this, you know, What? We're fine. Our confidence in Christ grows. Hey, let's bow our heads. We'll close in a word of prayer. Father, I thank you that when we talk about things like this, it's never to embarrass anybody or to shame anybody.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:01:15]:
But I'm thankful, Lord, that we talk about the basics, because, Lord, it's so easy. It's so easy to forget. It's so easy to live off of podcasts. It's so easy to live off other people's messages when you want your people to hear directly from you at times. And, Lord, I love when I've been able to see people who share with me, and it's just like, Pastor, I read this passage today, and then I heard this on a radio and I heard this person said it, and you said this scripture, and it's like I just hear Jesus talking to me about this subject. And, Lord, just the blessing it is to see the fact that, Lord, their confidence growing in you because they know that they know not simply because they heard a message, but because they've heard it from you first. And, Lord, the messages just somehow just seem to bolster and encourage that they were on the right track. So, Father, I thank you that you want all your people, you want all your children to know you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:02:30]:
You want all your children, Lord, to be able to hear your voice and know your will and know your ways. Lord, we know we need to encourage one another and be strengthened together. But, Lord, help us to find our identity in you, because these things, your word prayer, Lord, they remind us of who we are and whose we are. In Jesus name, Amen. You guys, we're gonna prepare our hearts. We're gonna take communion together. And, you know, communion, we practice in open communion. You don't have to be a member of the church to take communion with us, but if you're a follower of Jesus, we invite you to take communion.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:03:21]:
Communion.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:03:22]:
And there's the bread, the elements, the bread and the juice. And we're going to invite you to come take. Take it at this time to take the elements. And we're going to take actually the elements together. When everybody gets that, okay, so I'm just going to invite you to come up. And the elements are right on the table.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:06:43]:
When we take communion, it's not because we're perfect or we're sinless. In fact, before we take communion, it's a time to search our hearts. As you're asking God, Lord, would you search me today? If there's something to confess, would you confess it? If there's something you need to surrender, would you surrender? If you hear the whisper of God and he's saying, I need you to talk to this person. I need you to make something right. I need you to. To make right with this person. Would you make a commitment? Say, lord, I am. I'm going to call them.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:07:22]:
Call them today, call them tomorrow. Make that commitment. Because what these things, elements symbolize are the body and the blood of Christ. And what does that mean, this body and the blood of Christ? I was just. Somehow I was just thinking about, like, in the movies that I would watch as a kid. And often there would be kind of like a western movie, and there'd be these two guys that were together, and often one would be like a Native American, and one would be like the cowboy or like the military guy. And they became friends, but they became more than friends. And so someone would take out a knife and he would cut his own palm, and the other guy would take the knife, and what would he do? Cut his hand.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:08:20]:
And they would join themselves together, he says, because now our blood is mingled, we're not just friends, we're brothers. This is what it says in Ephesians, chapter one. In love, he predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, through his, his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, to make known to us the mystery of his will, according to his promise, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. And I'm grateful that God, you don't wait for us to get to heaven to experience you, Lord. You want us to experience you now. And God, we don't thank you that we don't have to cut ourselves to be part of your family. But we thank you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:09:53]:
Definitely need your blood to wash us, to cleanse us, to flow in us. Father, we take these elements. Because what we say, God, when we take these elements is we're saying to you, I need the body of Christ and I need his blood for my redemption, Lord, because I'm your child, because you called me Lord, I simply said yes. And if you said yes, would you take the bread? Would you take the cup? Lord, we grab a hold of your hand today. Father, we're thankful you wash us clean. Not because we deserve it, but because we're your children. Because you paid the price. Thank you for your strength, for your grace, for your power, Lord, for your healing today, Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:11:07]:
We receive it, Lord. We believe it good and we stand in it today at the beginning of this year, 2026. Father, we are your sons. We are your daughters. God, we were stronger this year, God, we're going to be more committed this year, God, we're going to make more progress this year, God, we're going to be visioned in you today, Lord, we're going to love like you this year. God, we need you. We love you. We bless you in Jesus name.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:11:35]:
God's people say Amen. Amen. Let's say that we're praying.