Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:
You know, this evening, uh, we're, we're kind of a packed, um, the service this evening, you know, that we're going to have communion at the end. We're closing our series this evening. But to be honest, what nobody asked me was, is it okay for us to start a war last night, right? Nobody asked me that. And so, you know, we would be remiss though to not take a moment to pray for our nation, to pray for our our servicemen and servicewomen. We have— some of us, we have kids in the Middle East. And so, to be honest, we're praying for you, you parents who have sons and daughters that are on ships or in different bases. We have some friends, pastors, that, that left on Wednesday evening to go to Israel, and they've been shuttled and put in, you know, bomb shelters and We're praying for them as well, right? But we need to— as a nation, don't we need God's covering? As a nation, don't we need his blessing, right? So would you join me as we pray this evening? Father, you said that when people humble themselves and seek your face, Lord, and turn from our wicked ways, Lord, will you not hear from heaven and restore our land? And Father, we know that we're in a place of conflict right now. And Lord, we're just saying, God, is we, we need you, Father.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:21]:
We need— there's beyond, Lord, that we know there are people who have planned and done tremendously complex things to get to the place where they were today and, and the, the start of, of open conflict. But Lord, we know this conflict's been going on for 47 years, and so Lord, this is just kind of the physical, uh, visible things about what's been happening for so long. So, Father, we pray, Lord, would you give our leaders, our president, our generals, our staff, Lord, our servicemen and women wisdom that's beyond their wisdom, Lord, that a direction and an empowerment that's beyond what they can figure out. Father, we pray, would you give them great courage as well, Father, as they stand in those moments that that what they signed up for, for what they trained for, Lord. And, and, Lord, I, I thank you that they need both great wisdom and great courage. And, Lord, the, this, the heavenly host, would it encamp around each man, each woman, whether on a, on a ship or at a base or somewhere, Lord, that in, in danger, Lord, we're praying, uh, would you bring them home safely? Cover them, Father. We pray with the peace of God, cover moms and dads and Brothers and sisters, and as well, Lord, that, that have loved ones in these places. Lord, bring back our pastors.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:45]:
Lord, bring back, uh, Lord, our friends. Um, but Father, we, we pray as well that you would spare innocent life. Lord, we pray there would be no unnecessary, um, a taking of life. But Father, we pray your covering. Lord, this is beyond us, uh, to know all the ways, but we, we are asking for your guidance. And Father, we're asking for peace to come quickly. So Father, thank you. Thank you for hearing us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:11]:
Thank you for blessing us as a nation. And Lord, thank you for blessing our brothers and sisters. In Jesus' name, God's people say amen. Amen. Amen. Hey, thank you guys. Thanks for praying. And this is something that probably we need to continue to pray, right? Daily, we need to continually bring our, our brothers and sisters before the Lord.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:33]:
You know, this morning, uh, this evening, we are concluding a series we started about a month ago, and a series just called Matters of the Heart. And, and we talked about in the first message about how the heart needs to be trained, because the untrained heart makes foolish decisions. The untrained heart, right, it goes and does crazy things. And we've all lived those things. We talked about some of those things this morning in the men's breakfast. But the heart that is directed the heart that is trained, reflects God, reflects wisdom, reflects honor, reflects courage. We become the men that God created us to be, the women God created us to be. The second week we looked at the fact is that we need to learn how to love from the heart as well, and that love isn't so much about chemistry but it's about character, right? And so anybody can have chemistry.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:23]:
That's not love, that's just That's just the mood, that's just the moment. But in the Bible, the opposite of love is not hate, but what we found was indifference, right? The ability to ignore people and just kind of step over and cross to the other side. And so this week we're— oh, and then last week we talked about peace for the anxious heart. And maybe some of us this evening would children and brothers and sisters and friends in the Mideast. Maybe some of you, if you have an anxious heart, it's an understandable thing because everybody has concerns, everybody has worries. But peace for the anxious heart starts with turning our 'what if this happens' to 'who's in control.' And it's the acknowledgment that God is the one that is in control and that we don't carry the weight that we were never designed to carry, right? That if you're carrying a weight way above your load It is no wonder that you wrestle with worry and anxiety. And so we recognize God wants the things that we were not designed to carry. And so this evening we're concluding, though, our series with peace for the wounded heart, because I think this message is addressing things that, to be honest, prevent people from really experiencing God's love, really experiencing God's peace, really prevents at times is the fact is that when we have wounds— and to be honest, everybody here, I can tell, like, not because I just look at you, it doesn't read on your face, but I just know human beings, that we've all been wounded.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:59]:
And frankly, we've all wounded someone else, right? And so we've all been in that place. But the question is not if you've been wounded. The question is whether your wounds have been cleansed and healed, right? Because that makes all the difference in the world. And so this evening we're going to start by just reading out what God's desire is for each person. We're going to read it from Ephesians 2:17. And can we stand in reverence for God, reverence for His word? Let's read this, God's word, out loud together. Ready? Let's start. And He came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who are near.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:40]:
You know, I love when it has these kind of— this, this— on one hand is this, and one hand is this, because it always means that in every place in between, that that's where we're covered, right? That, that those of you who are in high place and those of you who are low place and everybody in between, right? Those of us who, who started well and those who us who are— haven't started well is everybody in between. That's what it's covering. And what does he say? That his desire is for you to have peace. And so we know that although all of us are wounded, all of us have wounded other people, that peace is possible, right? And so before you're seated, would you do me a favor? Is that— turn to your neighbor and say, God's plan is for you to have peace. God's plan is for you to have peace. Peace is possible even for the wounded heart. That's good news, isn't it? And so Why is that, though? Because to be honest, wounds are inevitable. And we've all— and maybe you've had some recently, right? Because nobody escapes this life unwounded.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:39]:
That we've all had hurtful words, right? Spoken over us. Some of us, it's at work. Some of us on the freeway, right? Some of us at home. Sometimes we've all been betrayed. We've all been rejected, right? We've all had some kind of a thing of being overlooked. Maybe you've been abused or misunderstood, right? Or, or sometimes there's church hurt, right? To be honest, church hurts like nothing else, right? Because you didn't expect it coming. There's family hurt, there's leadership hurt. Even Jesus was wounded.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:08]:
We're not talking on the cross. It says this, that he was despised and rejected of men, right? And Jesus, he, he didn't shoot himself in the foot. He never sinned. And yet he experienced this. And so If Jesus is wounded, who was the Son of God, who did everything right, right, then, then it's not surprising that you and I get wounded from time to time, right? Wounds are not the problem. Turn to your neighbor, says, wounds not the problem. Untreated and unhealed wounds, that's the problem, right? And so everybody gets wounded, but The thing is that they can be healed, they can be cleansed, they can be removed. And so, you know, how do these things happen is that, you know, because we've all been, you know, like we've all had this experience, you get cut somewhere, right? Sometimes you know how you did it, sometimes you don't even know how you did it, right? You get, you just feel all of a sudden, you just feel this, or you see some blood on a paper or your shirt or some piece of somewhere, and then you realize, you know, like when you see the the, the hurt, that you see the wound, that, that you notice, hey, there's something inside, right? And maybe, you know, infections sets in, and maybe it starts getting swollen and pain increases, and eventually, you know, you, you just, you just can't be comfortable, right? You just can't kind of function maybe like how you would want it to because the pain isn't from the cut anymore, it's from the infection.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:41]:
Right? I think we've all experienced that, right? In the same way, you know, when we get wounded sometimes by life, in, in events, in relationships, right? Because we've sinned, because someone sinned against us, that we're in this kind of a place. There is a progression that can happen, right? That it's an analog to sometimes what happens on the physical level. And, and it says it like this in, in Hebrews 12:15, which is really the key part that I I want us to focus on this evening, and it says it like this. I'm going to ask us to read this together again as well, and it says this in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 15. Let's read what it says. Ready? Let's read. Begin. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:37]:
Now there's a progression here. You know, it starts with saying that they desire that no one fall short to obtain grace, right? And you know what it actually assumes? It assumes that there's been a wound, right? It assumes that there's been a hurt. It assumes that there's been a cut somewhere, and with that cut, that it ought to be covered by the grace of God. But, but sometimes grace can be missed, right? And you know, Paul said that— Paul had wounds in his life. He, he said, Lord, I have a thorn in my flesh, right? And, and the problem wasn't that he had a thorn, right? Because you know what God said? My grace is sufficient for you. Paul wasn't infected by his wound because there was a grace that covered his wound. You know, when wounds are cleansed, they'll heal naturally, right? But when there's a foreign element, when there's an infection, it doesn't matter at times how long it takes, it doesn't get better, right? Sometimes it gets bitter. And so this is why he says that would none of us miss the grace, because a wound that's unclean leaves seeds that turn into bitterness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:58]:
And it says then a root grows. And what's the end result? Not just it bothers you, it says, and many are defiled. Because events wound you, but bitterness infects us. And so he talks about this aspect that peace isn't pretending like everything's all good all the time and you never were hurt and you never were bothered. Peace comes from the wound getting covered, the wound having grace, the wound being cleaned out. It's like an antibiotic. It prevents the infection from growing. So we all need grace.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:35]:
We all need grace. But what we do when we get wounded, how we respond to it, will often shape our hearts. It will dictate the things that happen in our heart, because there's really two responses that happen when you've been wounded. One is harden up, and the second is open up, right? You know what I mean when I say harden up? That when you've been wounded, that somebody said something and they really hurt you, they really disrespected you, and inside, maybe you do it on the inside and And maybe you do it on the outside. You just kind of howl, like, nobody's going to do this to me. Nobody's going to talk to me that way again. And sometimes you say it on the inside. And sometimes I've seen guys just say it on the outside.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:28]:
And people storm off and those kinds of things. And because nobody wants to be disrespected. It hurts. Nobody wants to be hurt like that again. And so you say those very things. Nobody's ever going to hurt me like that again, right? Or be vulnerable again. Or, or I don't need anybody. I— it's better I just do it by myself, right? I'll prove everybody wrong.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:49]:
And when you're in that kind of place, that's hardening up, that's armoring up, right? And, you know, very different than opening up, right? Opening up is like, oh man, I was wounded. Oh man, it was hurtful, right? But, but, you know, the thing is that when it's opened up, it can get cleaned up. But when it hardens up, it actually— it feels safe, right? It feels natural. But peace cannot dwell in a heart that gets hardened, right? And so we're actually warned and encouraged. It says in Hebrews 3:13, he says, exhort one another every day as long as it's called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. You know, this hardened heart, familiar topic. It's within the scriptures that not to let our hearts get hardened, because those kind of vows that we can say, they can feel protective, it can feel reasonable, it can feel safe, right? Because we'll put up a wall. It's like, who— we're not supposed to keep letting this guy do this to me, or this gal do this to me, right? So We put up walls, we put up bars, we create distance, and it's meant to keep us safe.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:06]:
But the reality is it also keeps you locked in. It makes us a prisoner. And so harden up can be natural, and it's so hard to open up to have it cleansed. But in that moment when you do, cleansing becomes possible, right? But you know, the thing is, when you harden up, all of a sudden you don't see the hurt as much because you start living around the wound, right? You start dodging around it. And you know what happens when you harden up like that? It becomes a shell that doesn't let that wound heal. And sometimes it can be years— and sometimes it can be decades. And you know when it says time heals all wounds? That's a lie. You know what it does? It just makes the wound normal, right? And all of a sudden a hardened heart cannot feel deeply, and we cannot love freely, and we cannot trust easily.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:14]:
Because that kind of a hardened of a heart, that kind of a wound, it distorts our perception. You guys ever been at the beach, drop something in the water, or for some of us, you know, you have a spear and you look in from the top and the old days we called it torching, you're walking down with the flashlight, right? And then you want to pick it up or you want to hit the spear and you aim directly at it and what happens? You miss. Why is that? Because the water distorts our perception. It bends the light, literally. So what we thought was straight misses the mark, right? And you know that all of a sudden, it happens in the spiritual as well. So somebody makes a neutral comment and it feels like an attack, right? Somebody says something that it's because of concern and you feel like it's rejection, right? Or you feel like it's judgment, right? Disagreement feels like betrayal, right? That's when it— when we're experiencing this not clearly but through that wound, and all of a sudden it's refracted, it bent a little bit and distorts our perception. Remember we looked at Hebrews 12:15, it says, it says, we're— don't make sure somebody, no one falls to, fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and defiles, right, many. Because what happens so often is we're not responding to what's happening in the moment, we're responding to something that happened a long time ago, okay.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:01]:
And so in that moment, a root grows. And if you think about roots, right, you don't normally see roots. Roots are underground, right? It's hidden, right? The root of bitterness is the same. It often doesn't show itself like that. It's underground. But when that root grows, It does produce fruits. And it doesn't say, if you notice, it doesn't say there's a root of anger or a root of insecurity or a root of control or a root of fear. What does it say? It says root of bitterness.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:40]:
But the fruit of that root can be anger. The fruit of that root can be controlling behavior. The fruit of that root can be fear or or, or some sense of withdrawal to, to things, right? And so we see this aspect, and you know, the thing is that for many of us, that you can be a believer for a long time. You can, you can worship, you can study, you can serve, you can smile, you can lead, you can be a pastor, and, and still be in this place where, to be honest, there's something underneath. They're still infected, right? And you won't see it as bitterness at first. It comes out sometimes. If you've ever been, you know, you're easily defensive, right? You're always offended about something, right? That if you're, you know, you feel like, I cannot trust anyone. Sometimes maybe that's the sign that there's something below the surface, something that's root is there, the never been healed, and just the fruit, it looks like that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:49]:
It might be an infection. And untreated wounds just don't affect you. It affects your family, right? Affects your marriage, right? Affects your kids, your friendships. Sometimes it affects your health, to be honest, right? Then sometimes it affects your ministry or the rest of your team. And so what's the call? The call then is clean the wound out spiritually, right? Like a, like a, like a physical wound. Once the foreign element is removed, it's cleansed. What happens? It, it's, it's designed to heal, right? God has put in place things that, that cause it to heal. And how do we do that? Hebrews 12:15 says It starts with the grace of God, right? It starts with receiving grace from God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:39]:
How many of us need grace of God in our life, right? Man, without favor, right? Without mercy, right? Without kindness, man, we ain't standing, right? But with it, we can stand strong. With it, we can be more, right? With it, we can rise above the things that all of us get wounded by. Because what does grace do? Grace says, you know what, I see it. I see that pain. God knows, right? God understands. He validates that pain. You know what it does when you receive mercy and grace in the midst of that? It also kind of starts to— how can we say it— maybe the antidote for poison, right? It begins to counteract its effect, right? There's a grace and forgiveness that can swell up in our heart and maybe restore our heart. And that's when we experience the peace, because grace is not pretending that we didn't have hurt.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:40]:
It's letting God treat the wound. Let me give you 4 things that— a way that we can let God, by his grace, cleanse sometimes wounds that happened today, and sometimes it's a decade ago, right? It doesn't matter what it is. And it first starts with this: you got to name the wound, right? You got to name the wound. What does that mean? You know, Jesus, when he talked to people, when he approached people, when he, when he met the woman at the well in John chapter 4, the Samaritan woman, He has this interaction, right, with this lady, and he asks her to say this. He says, hey, go call your husband. You guys remember that story? He says, go call your husband. And she says, oh, I don't have one. And Jesus said, oh yeah, I know, you've had 5.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:35]:
And the brother you're living with right now, that's not even your husband, right? And you know, the thing is that he names her relational history out, lays her relational history out. Is it because he's trying to shame her? No, he wants her to name it. Because what does her relational history say? She's been betrayed, she's been abandoned, right? She's been rejected multiple times. And you know what? It's as she admits, as she names this thing, you know what? That's when the living water flows, right? Because you got to name that thing, that, that, that place where it's wounded, that name, that place that it hurts, right? It's only that. Remember when in Mark chapter 10, Jesus has a blind guy that is calling out to him? And he's often said blind Bartimaeus, but he, he wasn't blind. Oh, he wasn't blind always, and he wasn't always blind after he met Jesus, right? That Jesus heals him. But first What does it say? He's yelling out to Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, and come, right? He says, Lord, heal, right? He's asking, heal me, and all this kind of stuff. And it's like all of a sudden, what is this guy doing? And Jesus says, bring him to me, bring that guy, bring him here.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:54]:
So he's been yelling and he's calling, and he says, bring him to me. And when he sees him, it's obvious that he has to be led there because he cannot see, he's blind, right? And so when he gets to Jesus, what does Jesus say? Oh, you poor blind man? No. What does he say? What do you want me to do for you? When I first read that, you know what I thought? Oh, kind of mean, eh, Jesus? Like, hey, the brother's blind. What does he want? Like, I mean, but you know why? Sometimes naming it involves us in the healing of it, right? It says, this is what I want. I have to kind of engage that says, I have a problem, right? Not like, you know, and, oh, I don't get involved. Jesus did the same thing for the guy who was paralyzed. He asked people sometimes a super obvious question. And can I say this? It might not be obvious to you, but it's often obvious to the people who are closest to you in life, right? Sometimes you don't know where this thing comes from.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:02]:
You don't know where it was. But to be honest, ask your family. Ask your good friends. They often see, like, no, you often get defensive in this moment. You often get upset, kind of beyond what's reasonable. But it's not because he's shaming. It's because naming helps in the healing. And so what do we do is that ask God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:30]:
We ask God. God, would you search me? Would you help me? Because sometimes we are blind. Sometimes we don't see. Sometimes we don't know where it comes from. That's why it says it's the root. And if you've ever pulled a plant out with a root in it, man, I've seen roots go all the way, right? And it's not where you thought the root, where the tree or the plant is, and where the extent of the root went. Yes, sometimes there's a little bit of distance. So you know what? We ask God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:59]:
We get God involved in the equation. God, would you search me? Because I know there's something. I feel it. My friends tell me. My family tells me. But, but what happened? I don't know where it comes from. Sometimes you see the effects. But you know, the thing is that sometimes it's because we got to trace back.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:26:21]:
What did you vow? What agreement did you make with your wound that says, you know what, no one's going to do this to me? And ask God to reveal those kinds of things, because it's in that naming that helps us to do the second thing. Because what happens is when we name it, we'll see that, to be honest, we've made some kind of a vow. I'm not going to let— I'm going to reject people because before they reject me. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, um, put up my anger because you know what, that keeps me safe, right? So nobody's gonna hurt me like that again, right? So we, we do these things, right? But, but what it's led us to is some false beliefs that we cannot be loved, some false beliefs that I always be rejected, some false beliefs that like maybe the woman at at the well, the Samaritan woman, that, you know what, every relationship, I'm always— they— it's for a season and then they move on, right? That maybe that's what she thought, right? But we believe these things. And renouncing something says this. Let me read a quote to you from Bible Hub. This is what it said. It said, the concept of renounce in the Bible involves the act of formally declaring One's abandonment of a claim, a belief, or a practice, right? And so what it's saying is that, you know what, I used to do this, I used to believe this, I used to think like this, and I don't want to any longer, right? And I don't want to any longer.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:01]:
It's a decisive rejection or disavowal, often in the context of turning away from sin worldly desire, false teachings, to embrace a life aligned with God's will. But what I love is that when we do that, there's a promise that happens. Let's see what it says in Acts 3:19. It says, repent therefore. How many of us that when before we were believers, before we got saved, when somebody told you, you know what, you got to repent, how many of us were offended, right? We're offended. And you know what, we never even know what repent meant, right? Right? But, but never sound good, right? I don't know, like, oh yeah, brother, God telling me repent. Well, what does that mean? I don't know, right? And but he says this: repent means to, to change direction, right? To— I was thinking one way, I'm going to think the other, right? I'm going to, going to move in a different direction. Repent therefore and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:54]:
And I love this last part. What does it say? Let's read verse 20 together. That times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. The healing waters, a healing move of the Spirit, something that cleanses and renews and brings a healing, right? That when I renounce a vow, I'll never trust again. When I renounce a vow, says I gotta protect myself from every kind of person that can ever betray me, that all of a sudden I've placed myself in a prison But when I renounce it, the doors open. When I renounce it, all of a sudden that shell, that hardness softens. Now sometimes, sometimes there's a person that's associated with that, right? Sometimes it's not just because you were overlooked from some random thing. It is a person, right? Somebody who did something to you, somebody who said something to you, somebody who took something from you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:56]:
And all of a sudden that, to be honest, sometimes there's some of us, me included, that are driving around looking for that guy, right? And you know what happened is sometimes we stop doing that, right? Sometimes we stop doing it, but to be honest, you think about him. Sometimes there's times that some of us, we get a hurt that we nurse every once in a while. Right? We think about this person and we make them pay. You know what? We make them pay at work. We make them pay at home. Wow, we ignore them, right? We give them attitude. We slow walk their requests, right? We, we make them pay. Instead, you know what the scripture calls us to do is forgive.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:43]:
Forgive. Forgive is one of the greatest things we receive, isn't it? But sometimes it's the hardest thing to give. And Jesus never called us to do our best to forgive. He never called us to do our best to forgive. He said this: Forgive as you have been forgiven. Right? So he's saying this: If you've been forgiven much, forgive much. If you've been forgiven unconditionally, then forgive unconditionally. That's what he's saying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:24]:
He's not saying try your best. He says just give what you've been given. And so forgiveness reminds us to— you gotta— sometimes you gotta release the offender. Why? Because unforgiveness is the root of that bitterness. At times, unforgiveness is the thing that binds them to you. And you think that, to be honest, that you punish them, but to be honest, often we're punishing ourselves, right? And so this is what it says in Ephesians 4:31. It says, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, what? Forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you. Forgiveness is really a financial term.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:20]:
It's like the person who borrowed money and never paid you back, right? You ever lend somebody money and they say, I'll pay you back, I'll pay you back, and it's a fair amount of money, and then now the next thing is like you haven't seen him for a little while and then you see him with a new shirt new car, new whatever, right? Taking a trip somewhere, like, well, you get bile coming up the back of your throat sometimes, right? So what does it mean to forgive? Or release means this: you don't have to pay me back. Sometimes what we do is we make people pay when we don't forgive, right? By our anger, by our words, by our harshness, by our holding back, by withholding love, right? And so what does it say? Release them, because it's in that release you are set free, that I am set free. It won't control us any longer. And then you can receive grace, receive God's grace, because peace doesn't come from control. To be honest, the more you control, it doesn't give you peace. Can give you a sense of confidence at times. It can give you a sense of, you know, like, I'm in charge. But peace comes from surrender, right? And it's grace that gives you that peace.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:43]:
So when you do that, it allows the heart to soften. It allows the heart to regain trust again. It allows the heart to become compassionate or teachable, to become supple and not easily triggered, and it allows us to love again. Now, sometimes, again, we don't realize that we're dealing with something that needs to be cleansed. But, you know, not that long ago— I mean, well, it's a while now, I guess, when you think about it. It's For the longest time, I felt like an outsider, right? And, you know, somehow like I didn't belong. And I think it really kind of surfaced that when I became a believer. When I became a believer, a young man, college age, going to church and all that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:34]:
It was a great church, great people and all that. But somehow I always felt like I was different, like I was like an outsider. I don't know if you've ever been in that kind of a place that no matter where you go, some of us that no matter where we've gone, right? And that sense traveled with me. And when I went to seminary and I got educational training for ministry and wanting to do this thing, and I came back and I was a pastor on staff with some places, and all of a sudden, you know, we'd make jokes. And even when we started the church, that sometimes I would be in a circle at that time, a long time ago, that not that many other guys got education. They just came up the ranks. They were men of God, right? You don't have to go to school to be a man of God. You don't have to go to school to get a calling.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:20]:
But the thing is that sometimes there would be jokes. They'd say, oh, you went to cemetery? Oh, I meant seminary. You know, that kind of a thing. That would be the thing they would say. And it just made me feel a little bit like I wasn't part of the church. And it was, they're just joking around. It wasn't anything. And it wasn't until about 15 years ago, I think, I just had a dream.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:42]:
And in that dream, it just replayed an event that happened when I was 4 years old, right? At 4 years old, I was dropped off at my house, right, from like the first day of preschool, and nobody was there. And I remember thinking, I remember thinking, I looked in the house, the house was empty, the door was locked. I knocked on the door, I rang, I called my mom. And no one was there. And you know what I felt? 4-year-old me felt like, what happened? Did they move? And, you know, 7-year-old me, 10-year-old me knew that Mom just took Grandma to the store and she took her half an hour late. Nothing malicious. In it. But 4-year-old me felt abandoned.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:42]:
4-year-old me was terrified. And that shaped something in my heart that said, I don't belong. That said, I'm on my own. And I felt abandoned. And that led me to some false beliefs. At times. You know, when I woke up from that dream, I knew that God was trying to do something. And you know what I recognized is that, that, that kind of a— sometimes it's called like an orphan spirit.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:17]:
I just, I named it. I said, Lord, I, I've had this sense for way too long. In you, Lord, I know I'm accepted. So I just, I just said, I take this rejection, I take this thing that, that somehow— it's not that it comes to me, I, I put myself in it. I just named it and I renounced the fact that the way that I've thought, I've allowed that belief in my head. For me, there was no one really to forgive, just because it was, you know, as a man I recognized my mom just the grandmother of the store, right? But I asked for the grace to cover me. And you know, I can say this, I felt different. Did everything just change like that? No, but it changed quickly.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:18]:
And all of a sudden, man, I just— that sense of like feeling outside just wasn't there anymore. That's— something's different, like, no. And you know, the thing is that because when the foreign element is removed, infection is taken care of, covered by grace, you know what happens? Healing just naturally occurs. Healing just naturally occurs. It's a supernatural natural healing. And so some of us here, maybe you've built an entire personality around the wound, and we can say, that's just how I am. That's not how you're supposed to be, right? You We all get wounded, but it's not supposed to define us. But we became strong, or we became passive on the other hand, or sometimes we became independent or driven or obsessive or guarded, or sometimes you use funny or, you know, whatever it is that you use, controlling.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:27]:
But we just say, "That's just who I am." But it's really the cut. It's really the wound. Is really the root. And we're going to pray here in a second, and we want to ask God if there's something that just— you know, everybody gets wounded. That's not the problem. Sometimes we can just get it cleansed. Can we trust that God can reveal things to us, speak to us? Can we pray for a moment and just invite the Spirit to lead us? This morning. And with our heads bowed, eyes closed, would you take your hand and just place it over your heart? Lord, I thank you the heart matters to you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:16]:
And Father, every man, every woman, Lord, we've all hurt and been hurt, and we've always— we all hurt someone. But God, if there's something that's just— there's a root, there's a wound, and it hasn't healed, and Lord, there's some kind of a bitterness that's growing, Lord, we don't want it to defile our families, defile our friends, defile our future. Would you reveal it, Lord? Holy Spirit, would you, would you search us? Thank you, Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus. And if there's something that the Lord's brought to your mind, would you just name it to him? Would you just tell him? And sometimes we've made vows because of that wound, because we've been judged, because we've been wounded. We've said these things, and don't push that out of your mind. Would you ask God to reveal that to you? Lord, is there a lie that I have believed? Is there a vow that I have made that has hardened me when you're trying to soften my heart? That will cleanse me when it's removed. And if you, if you sense that you know what you've vowed, you know what you've said, You know how you've lived, but you're saying, Lord, I don't want to do that anymore.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:07]:
I don't want to believe that anymore. You didn't call me to do that. Would you just tell him, Lord, I renounce it. I repent of it. And if there's a face, there's a name that, to be honest, you've held it against them because they were part of what happened in that original wound. And to be honest, when you think about them, you want to make them pay. When you think about them, they're bile that comes up the back of your throat. God's not asking you to try to be nice to them.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:59]:
He's just saying, would you give them what you've been given? Release. In the name of Jesus, if you see a face, would you just tell, tell the Lord, Lord, I release them. Maybe you're saying to that person, I release you. And Father, we're just praying grace that flows from the throne room of God. Would you flow and wash and cleanse out that wound, cleanse out that wound. Father, grace would it cover. Grace would it bring peace. Lord, where there's been rejection, we speak belonging.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:18]:
Father, where there has been judgment, Father, we pray acceptance. Father, where there has been betrayal, we pray freedom. God, where there have been fear We pray peace. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your cleansing. Thank you for your healing, Father. Thank you for taking that which has been crusty and hard, and Lord, we feel the softening of those wounds.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:58]:
Bitterness be dissolved. Roots be removed. Prison walls fall in the name of Jesus. We pray because you've called us, because you've cleansed us, because our heart matters. Thank you, Lord. We receive it. Cover in Jesus' name. If you've experienced some level of grace and mercy and some level of release, and some level of relief, can we just seal that with a thanks to the Lord? Thank you, Jesus.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:42]:
Hallelujah. Thank you. You know, sometimes the enemy, he's a liar. He makes you blame, but you're not to blame. You're just— you've just been a human, just been a person. You know what we're going to do this evening is we're going to seal this time with a time of communion. This communion wasn't given for perfect people. Communion wasn't given for for people who never made a mistake.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:18]:
Communion wasn't given for those who've been goody-goodies their whole life. Communion was given to real people with real problems, who've been really hurt, who've experienced bitterness, experienced distance, experienced judgment, wounded others, right? It's just for people. And the elements that Jesus said was that the bread was His body, and the fruit of the vine, which was His blood. And, and the elements are right in the front, and we're just going to invite you to come take the elements, and then we're going to have a moment to pray together. And so they're all here, and so at your, at your leisure, come on up.

Worship Team [00:48:08]:
Are you overwhelmed by the weight of your sin? Jesus is calling. Have you come to the end of yourself? Do you thirst for a drink from the well? Jesus is calling.

Worship Team [00:49:05]:
Oh, come to the altar, the Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Leave behind your regrets and mistakes. Come today, there's no reason to wait. Jesus is calling Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy. From the ashes a new life is born. Jesus is calling. Oh, come to the altar.

Worship Team [00:50:19]:
The Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, our Savior, isn't he wonderful? Sing hallelujah. Christ is risen! Bow down before him, for he is Lord of all. Sing alleluia! Christ is risen! Oh, come to the altar, the Father's arms are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ. Oh, come to the altar, the Father's arms are The gates are open wide. Forgiveness was bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:45]:
Before we take communion, if you've never said yes yes to Jesus. Maybe at home you've been tuning in, or you're in the house, you know. Before we take this, these elements, if you've never said yes to Jesus, would you just tell him, Lord, I need you, I trust you, thank you for your mercy and grace that you've been calling me, drawing me. Lord, I want you today, I need you I trust you today. That you thank him, he died on the cross for you, that you're a sinner. Just tell him, Lord, I'm, I'm a sinner. I am, I make my mistakes. I'm not pretending to be perfect.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:30]:
I need your grace. I need your mercy. You know what? He'll give it to you. The picture of that I find in, in the book of Exodus, before we take these elements The people have been wandering in the desert and they're thirsty. They're out of water. And people start complaining and they said, "Where's the water?" And they get to this water and it looks great. And before they drink it, they recognize that the water's poisonous. It says it's bitter.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:09]:
The people are complaining more now. And God says to Moses, Moses— because Moses doesn't know what to do. I thought there's water, but it's like it's undrinkable. And Jesus says that— the Lord says to him, you see that tree? Take that branch and throw it into the bitter waters. And the bitter waters will become sweet. And some people say it's like, you know, there was a charcoal filtration process that somehow did that. Had nothing to do with that. This was a foreshadowing of Jesus that on the cross, by the shedding of his blood, would take the bitterness of our sins the bitterness of our wounds, the bitterness of our mistakes, and at the cross that bitterness would be made sweet.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:13]:
And when we take these elements, we take this bread saying, Jesus, I still need that cross today. Jesus, I thank you, your cross The cross is enough for me today. For my bitterness, for my sin, for my brokenness, for my rebellion. Thank you, Lord, it's still enough today. Father, we take the bread as a reminder and an invitation for you, Lord. Do it again. Do it again. Would you touch? In the deepest part of my heart, the deepest part of my soul.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:55]:
Would you take the bread? And thank you for the cup that is the blood of Jesus. Lord, we want to meet you at the cross because it's there, Lord. You've taken the bitter and you made it sweet. Lord, only you can take the bitter heart and make it clean. Only you can make it sweet, Lord. Only you can make it loving. Only you, Lord, can give us a future and a hope. It's only you, Lord, that doesn't judge but releases us, Lord, to be the men and the women you called us to be.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:45]:
Father, we thank you. It's your life, Lord. Would it flow through us, Lord, in us, God? But Lord, would it go through us as well into the world, into our lives, into our families, Lord, into our community? God, we receive it because your grace, your mercy, your sacrifice, God, it's enough for me today. I receive it in Jesus' name. God's people say amen. Amen. Hey, let's just sing that together.