Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:

Hey, again. Good morning, everybody. Good to see your faces. You know, this is graduation season, and there's different kind of graduations. And how many of you guys went to a graduation recently? Can you guys raise a hand? Right? So, man, how many of you guys love the traffic? You get to see the kids that you love. You get to celebrate with your friends, but sometimes there's a challenge, right? But graduation really signifies it's a change of season, right? It's a sense of accomplishment. And that's why I think we love it going up to the mainland, even for my daughter's graduation, right? Like, we made lays, we did what we could, and there was even some chihu's in Oregon, right? So there's different things that happen, but just the fact that when you get to this place, that it's not the end, it's just the beginning, really, right? When you have this graduation, when you have this season of a change. And so this morning, we're going to talk about the fact that generally the change, what God wants to do is to bring a sense of promotion in us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:58]:

It's an elevation, and everybody can experience this. This is not something I am speaking I'll just be honest, I am speaking it to the graduates, but it's more than the graduates, because wherever you're at this morning, how many of you guys know there's another level, right? There's another level of our marriage, right? There's another level of our sense of authority. There's another level of influence. There's another level of everything that you face, but sometimes it's couched in this aspect of promotion. I heard this funny story about these three graduates that they all graduated from college and it was on the mainland. So they say, hey, let's just go down to Mexico and let's celebrate. And to be honest, they couldn't really remember what happened. One thing leads to another, they're in jail, and when they wake up, they're getting ready to get executed, right? And so the first guy is strapped in the chair, right? And so he says, anything you want to say? Any last words that we're going to give you before we pull the switch? Flip the switch.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:59]:

He said, well, I just graduated from Bible college. I don't know what happened, right? But I know God's gracious, and I know he can deliver his followers, he can deliver his sons and his daughters. So I'm entrusting my life to him. And the guy goes, okay. And then they flip the switch and nothing happens. And they're like, oh, my gosh, maybe it's God, right? So they kind of kneel down, they say they're sorry, and they let him go. And the second guy walks up and he says they sit him in a chair, they strap them in, and he says, do you have any last words? He said, Well, I just graduated from law school, and I believe this is in real justice, but this is not just if this is not just God, would you deliver me? And so they say, okay. And then they flip the switch and nothing happens.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:43]:

And he says, oh, maybe this is not just and so they unstrap the guy and they let him go. And then the last guy walks up, they strap him in, and he says, you have any last words? He says, Well, I just graduated in engineering and I can tell you something. You're not going to electrocute nobody till you plug that thing in, right? And that's the difference between having an education and having wisdom, right? And wisdom says, I don't say nothing, right? So even Proverbs tells us, right, that a quiet man, a man who doesn't say is considered wise, and you would be alive as well. But in this aspect that we know there's more than promotion that's necessary. There's a wisdom that needs to come with it. And so this morning we're going to take a look at that. There's three points we're going to look at, but a key point of it is found in Proverbs I'm sorry, psalm 75. And we're going to read that together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:34]:

Would you be kind enough to stand? Let's stand in reverence for God, reverence for his word. And this is what it says. Let's read. Ready? Begin. For promotion and power come from nowhere on earth, but only God. He promotes one and deposes another. Now, obviously, that doesn't mean that we don't have a human cooperation, right? That doesn't mean that we don't work hard. It doesn't mean that we don't at times strategize.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:01]:

It doesn't mean that we don't apply ourselves. But how many of you have applied yourself and worked hard and it has amounted to nothing seemingly, right? So we understand that promotion, it says, comes from God. And so God wants you to know that wherever you're at that there's not only another level, but there's more that's in store. So before you're seated, just turn to your neighbor and just tell them there's another level because God wants to give you more. And then you can have a seat. Now, more what, right? So some of you, to be honest, there's going to be a recognition in what you do. You're going to say, hey, we recognize that it's like employee of the month, or we recognize that you're leader on the board. You get your name up in the back or whatever it is.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:51]:

And sometimes there's recognition, sometimes there's income, right? Sometimes there's a raise, a bonus, a salary increase for those things. Sometimes it's influence, sometimes it's authority, sometimes there's more resources. Some of us, the promotion that God has is going to be more staff, anybody work where there's just not enough people, like there's too little people trying to get to too many jobs, right? For sometimes it's the fact that we want to go from renting to owning, right? There's things like that, where it's a promotion that maybe you go from singleness to getting married, right? For some of you, you go from married to adding kids. Or maybe like the real big one is that you go from the pinnacle of your career to the thing of retirement. No need to get up in the morning or so early or whatever. But how many of us know that you can receive a promotion from God, but there's a backside to the promotion, right? Because to say yes to more recognition means that there's a price to pay with that. What does that mean? If you're more recognized, you know what, you get more interruptions, right? More emails or more texts or more phone calls that you got to make. If you get more income, you get what? More taxes, right? It's great to have more income, but generally you pay more taxes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:11]:

That when you have more resources. You know what, it takes more time to manage the resource. When you go from renting to owning, then all of a sudden, you don't just call somebody to fix the toilet, you learn how to fix the toilet, right? So there's a price to pay for all of the promotions. That when you get married. You go from singleness to married life. Then you got to learn how to manage your selfishness, right? Because it's not just all about one person now, right? But it's two different people, two different backgrounds, two different tastes at times. How many of you married somebody that their taste is different than yours? Right? Yeah. And the rest of you are liars, because everybody different, right? Here's this aspect where you get more staff.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:57]:

You know what, you got more problems the more people you get, there's more problems together, right? What do you give up when you get kids? Sleep. You give up sleep. That's what happens, especially when they're real young, right? And when you get to retirement, to be honest, would you know this, that you still got to manage your calling? Because you don't retire from your calling. You retire from a job or an occupation. But God still has a purpose and a plan for you when you retired. All of a sudden, you just don't have a purpose. You still have a calling and a purpose. You just have to learn how to manage that and time as well, because we're not called to just watch Korean drama or golf, only there's more.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:42]:

There's still more life than that. And so this is how Jesus said that. Jesus said it like this in Luke chapter twelve, in Luke twelve, Jesus said this from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded. We all want to be given much, right? And there's nothing wrong with that to want more. But just know that the other half of it is that there will be demands from us. And he says, and from one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked, because there's a price to pray for promotion for those of you who are graduating and moving in. And maybe last night we talked to somebody who's going to start a brand new position on Monday, right? Sometimes it's that kind of a promotion that happens. And that she is saying that basically she didn't even meet the requirements.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:34]:

She didn't meet the education requirements. But you know what? God saw there was something in her, and you know what? They gave her the job, even though right. So promotion comes from the Lord. We see. But there's going to be a cost with that. And so if we're unaware of the cost, if we don't understand that with promotion comes a price to be paid, then we're going to be disappointed, right? Then all of a sudden, if that's the case, you know what happens if you don't understand this? Then you're going to come with starry eyes and you're going to receive this. But then all of a sudden, what was a blessing can feel like a curse because you don't realize it requires a little bit more from you, right? So this is why we're doing it, because we want to have wisdom as we handle God's promotion. So I said three points this morning.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:20]:

The first point is this, that promotions aren't the end, but they're part of God's development plan. I don't care what promotion you get. That's not the whole goal of your life. But God's still developing you. He's still forming Christ in you. And he will use your occupation. He will use your season of life. He will use the relationships that tie you together.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:46]:

He's going to use all of those things to grow you. One, to be more like his son Jesus. But also there are things for you to do in life. In Ephesians 210, it says this, that God created us in Christ Jesus to do good works. Let's just say those words, good works, right? There's good things that God has you installed on Earth. That things that you will do that I won't do, right? There's some things that only you can do. No one else. Your spouse can't do it, your friends can do it, your kids can't do it, your parents can't do it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:23]:

You're going to be called to do it. And God's using all of these things, even promotions, right? Even more influence, even at times, more authority, more income, whatever it is, that he's going to use that so that you can step into that next phase. And so promotion brings a new season, but we got to learn that there's an entailment to that. It's going to mean that we got to continue to grow, right? It's going to mean that we're going to have to sharpen our skills. We're going to learn how to have to manage our time better. We're going to have to learn some new things. I'm not a technologically sharp guy when I don't like upgrades. A lot of times in computer systems.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:06]:

You know why? Because I already know how to use the old thing. Now I got to learn the new shortcuts, where's that thing on the bar or whatever it is. But you always learn something new. It might be frustrating, but at the end, you're just a little sharper. And why does God want us to do that? Because he says, then that makes you more effective. And it doesn't matter where you are in life, what your occupation is, but whatever you do, he says, do it to the best of your ability in general, right? My dad, my parents used to say this, that, Glenn, you can be anything you want in life, right? My grandma said, yeah, you can do whatever you want. Doctor or lawyer, you choose whatever you want, right? So that's my grandma, because my uncles were doctors and my grandpa's brother was a lawyer. But my dad said, no, you can be whatever you want.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:57]:

He said, even if you're going to be the garbage man, just be what? The best garbage man there is, right? So maybe that's my dad's generation, they would say that. So this is how the scriptures say it. This is how the Apostle Paul said it from god says this whatever you do, let's say that whatever you do, right, do work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord. And for some of us, to be honest, you guys don't like who you work for, right? I mean, we're just we're just really being honest for some of us, right? That you don't like who you work for. This is what God says. You can keep your job and change your boss, right? Because some of you work for that person. But God says this, stay in that job. Just work for me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:38]:

If you don't want to do it for your boss, don't do it for your boss. Do it for Jesus, right? That when you serve your coworker. Maybe some of you don't like your coworker, right? Could they rub you the wrong way? Or they mock you, they tease you or whatever? You're the low man on the totem pole. They give you all the junk jobs. You don't want to do the junk jobs. I understand stand. But instead of serving him seven serving them. This is what he's saying.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:59]:

Serve me. That's what God's saying, right? So you can stay in your job, change your boss, he says, as working for the Lord, not for human master, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is who the Lord Christ you are serving right now. This is what happens as you be willing to grow, learn some new skills, learn some new things, you get a little better at something. He says that there's promotion. That's a natural thing. Proverbs 22 29. Do you see someone skilled in their work, they will serve before kings, they will not serve before officials of low rank.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:40]:

And it says this is a part of what God wants for all of us, that we don't just stay the same, right? God loves us just as we are. Isn't that awesome, right? God loves us just as we are. But what's the other part of that? That he never wants us to stay as we are, right? There's a better you out there somewhere, right? There's a better me, right? Because we can see that at times in Ecclesiastes. He says this, though, that it requires sometimes a sharpening. He says if the axe is dull and its edge unsharpened, more strength is needed, but skill will bring success. I haven't wielded an axe much, but I'll use a knife, right? You guys like to cook? You guys ever try to cut something with a dull knife? You ever try to cut raw taco with a dull knife? It's like you're just rolling rubber on the thing. It doesn't cut nothing, right? And when it's dull, you can put all the effort in the world. But here's the danger of that, that they said that the most accidents, the most cuts you'll have is because you're dealing with a dull knife, not a sharp knife, right? You see, when the knife is sharp, you don't need to put that much pressure because it's not supposed to be the power of your arm that's cutting, it's the sharpness of the blade, right? So he's saying the same thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:07]:

It's like, if you feeling, man, I'm always working harder and harder, and it require more. This is what God's saying would develop your skill, develop some aspect, spiritual skill, right? A people skill, a technical skill, a skill that's a craft skill. And he's saying that all of a sudden, then it'll help you to be more successful in that. And if we're dull, then we got to be sharpened, right? Sometimes that's that aspect. Now, in order for that to happen, for God to develop us, that there is a price, right? And so how many of us know that the secret to living a fruitful life isn't just to add more all the time, right? Because we all have a limit on how much of our plate that we have, right? If our life is like a plate, there's only so much that you can put on it, right? Because after all, what happens, it starts to slide off. And so if your life feels full and God is calling you and he's going to promote you, sometimes it's scary, isn't it? Because it's like I'm already handling at my max of capacity. And so this is the principle that he says the price is. Sometimes when God adds to your life, you got to take something out of your life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:31]:

Isn't that true? That when you say yes to something, then all of a sudden now you're going to have to say no to other things. Because you can't just keep saying yes, yes to everything and be a people, pleaser. You're going to go crazy. You're going to lose your joy, right? You're going to start resenting people. You're going to start resenting your job, right? Because the thing is that some of us, that we say yes every single time in our job, and we start resenting our job, but the responsibility is with us at times to say, I would love to, but I can't at this moment, right? So don't just tell your boss, no, I'm not going to do them. Don't say it like that. You make your case, right? So that I can do this or I can do this, but I don't think I can do both at the same time, right? So we need, if you're in that place, that's a skill, learning to communicate with your authorities, right? That this is a skill. Sometimes maybe our younger people need to learn how to have an ability to communicate with the people who lead you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:34]:

Because if you just don't say anything, you go, you know what they expect. It means that it's all good, right? And then when it fails, you wonder. Sometimes I got blamed, but they just kept adding and adding because we needed to have that skill, right? Now, here's this aspect, what's the price that you pay is that you leave something behind. And so Paul said it like this, in one corinthians. Can we read this together? Ready? Let's read. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. And so we can think like a child and talk like a child and reason like a child.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:20]:

Children have a different kind of a logic and a reason, right? Like when I was a kid, my dad said, oh, if you could have anything, what would you like? And I said, dad, I want a pony. Dad, can we have a pony? We lived in Wahoa, 5000 square foot lot, right? And my dad's logic, next logic is adult logic is where are you going to put the pony? In the backyard? There's not that much space. He says, oh, it'll be good enough, right? Who's going to take care of I'll take care of that's children logic. How many of you guys got a dog or a cat or something at home? Because the kids said, I'll take care of it. How many of you guys taking care of that dog or that plant? Right? Because children logic is no, I'll do it. Right? So children's logic is will over promise under deliver. That's children's logic. Yeah, I get them, I daughter.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:12]:

No, I'll do my homework first. Dad, I'll do it. If we just let me go out play with my friends now, right? So they'll over promise and they'll under deliver. And so this is what we need to leave behind is we need to leave behind he's saying childish ways, right, that we leave behind our immaturity. That's what he's calling us to do in our house. We often had kids over at our house, whether it's to sleep over, my sons or my daughter, their friends. And we loved it when their friends came over, right? Our only requirement was that if you come in, you guys make something. Or sometimes we cook.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:51]:

Sometimes they're cooking something and do whatever. It's like, that's fine, but just don't leave what? Just don't leave the mess, right? And so we just said, that's not a problem. So you have your friends over, but you're responsible for your friends, right? You're responsible for your friends. So you have to teach them whatever, the rules. In our house, I have very simple rules I can tolerate, to be honest, because if you ever saw my office, I can tolerate paper. I can tolerate extra papers. That's me. Too bad.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:18]:

That's my bane of my existence. But you know what? I cannot tolerate food on the floor, right? I cannot tolerate that. I cannot tolerate crumbs on the floor. I just don't want to have, like, roaches or ants or whatever it is. So what is my recurring it's like, hey, you got to clean up. And you know what? Can you guys just vacuum afterwards? I don't really care, right? And so this is what will happen. Inevitably, I've come in and it's like, there was good that I coming home. He says, they're still sleeping sometimes.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:20:46]:

And it's like, hey, did you guys clean up? You go, yeah, we cleaned up. And then inevitably I come in crumbs on the floor, right? And here's the thing, is that sometimes then we'll ask him what happened. He goes, and what is the thing? It's not my fault, right? Why? It's not my fault. Sometimes my friend did it. And I said, well, what did we say? Right? It's like, you're responsible for your friends. When they come over, you have to tell them the rules of our house. They don't know, right? Maybe they should know certain things. And sometimes this is what you'll say.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:22]:

It's like, ask your kids how's school going? Oh, it's good, it's fine. And they go like, you're keeping up? Yeah, keeping up. And then you see the report card and you go like this, I don't know what is your definition of fine, but this is not my definition of fine. And then this is sometimes I've heard this, it was the teacher's fault because he didn't tell me. Because you guys know what I mean. They have all these excuses, and sometimes it even gets told turned on me. It's like, no, you didn't tell me. I needed to do it by this time, right, is the reason.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:58]:

And so this is what it means to leave childish ways behind, is instead of blaming others, I embrace responsibility, right? I embrace responsibility, I don't push it off on somebody else. And it's driven home to me. And you guys hear me say it from time to time. I just know this, that from time to time, I don't always agree. I know it's hard to believe, but sometimes my wife and I, we see something differently and we don't always agree on something, right? But you know what I know is that no matter what the disagreement, no matter what that issue is, when I stand before God, one day I'm going to stand before God and he's going to ask me, why did you treat your wife like this? Or why did you not do this thing? If he asked me that, you know what? I'm not going to be able to say, lord, it was the woman you gave me. That was Adam's thing, right? He couldn't embrace responsibility, but I'm going to just be accountable for that. And so for all of us is that no matter what, as mature as many of you are, there's always a little bit of us that still has to grow, still has to be developed, that there's a tendency like, I take responsibility, but every once in a while it's his fault, right? Everyone says it's their fault. And so this is why I said just embrace responsibility.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:23]:

Sometimes it's not just for the things that you do, but here's the biggest one. Embrace the responsibility for your own attitude, right? Embrace the responsibility for your own attitude. Some of us, we work in environments. It's not the most encouraging environments, and so it's easy to just I just put my head down and just kind of like, don't stand out because I don't want the thing that gets stand out that that's the one that gets yelled at or whatever it is. But but here's the part. It's like, well, they're not encouraging there they're not positive. But you know what? Take responsibility for your own attitude, right? Because this is one of the things that I've learned, is that moodiness is not a spiritual gift. Moodiness is not a spiritual gift.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:08]:

It doesn't say there's helps and healing. But they never saw moodiness. Some of us that when we go, that there's a challenge, that we get moody in certain situations and we all can. This is what I understand when I sense that it's like if something's not operating the way, I just want to have a spirit of an overcomer. I want to be able to say, hey, let's look to solve problems and fix problems, not just fix the blame, right? So sometimes we got to hammer out responsibilities and all that kind of stuff, but let's just not let it devolve. Don't let your family life devolve into finger pointing, right? Because let's embrace be responsibility for our attitude sometimes for our kids and who are moving into that next phase. You got to embrace the fact that they're not a consumer any longer, right? But they're a participant or a contributor or a producer, right? So there's this next aspect. So we have to leave childish things behind.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:18]:

But you won't do it if you're always blaming somebody else, right? If we cannot take responsibility for my actions and my attitudes. So I think it starts there. So do me a favor, let's just turn to your neighbor. Turn to your neighbor and says, just smile, right? And you know what? I'm responsible for my attitude at home. Some of you guys, you live by yourself. So, you know, I mean, to be honest, there's nobody you can blame anyway, but you can blame the dog or the cat. I don't know. And here's the thing, is that there is this price to pay because God is actually developing our character along the way.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:56]:

It's great to have new skills and there is a skill there's relational skill, there's emotional intelligence skills, right? So there's great there's. Things are necessary as well as technical skills. But the biggest thing God's trying to grow is this character part of us, right? And I know a lot of folks that when they're praying and praying and then they find the one, right? And then you can tell the ones who just found the one because they walk around starry aisle and you ask, hey, how's your boyfriend? How's your girlfriend? Oh, they're great. They're so perfect or whatever, it's like, well, you mean they don't have any faults? No, they're perfect. I was just thinking, you either on drugs or you're really in love, right? But the thing is that because nobody's perfect, but this is what brings that is when you live together, right? And then you get married and all of a sudden, then if we are not developing a character right, then that's when that thing that was the greatest blessing can feel like a curse because we're not growing in our character. Because there's going to be times that we're going to have to deny ourself, right? Sometimes the world says this don't worry what be happy, right? And sometimes it's not just you cannot just throw all your responsibilities away, but you still got to deal with stuff. My parents used to tell me, glenn, all we want for you to do is to be happy. And I tried to make myself happy.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:27]:

And many of us in this room have lived to make ourselves happy. And the greatest result was what? We became more miserable than ever. Why? Because it's a never ending thing, the point of your life. If you're growing up here right now, my hope is not that you're always happy because you're not going to be. I hope that's not your goal. I hope you have a goal to be a person of substance, that you're going to be a person of character, right? Because a person of character can be happy. I'm more happy today than I ever was as an unbeliever. I.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:07]:

Am. It's hands down, right? And no drugs involved, right? None of that stuff involved. But here's the thing. It's because I grew in character, and you know what? They say that people are the happiest not in their 20s, not in their 30s. They're saying that generally people are happiest from 50s plus. You know why? Because we got the biggest character flaws beat out of us by I don't know what. But something happens because there's a maturity, though, that happens along the way, and we don't start getting so worried about everything else. And so let me give you some I said three points, but there's three points under the third point.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:57]:

And so how do you grow in character, right? How do you grow in character? First, I think, is this just learn to be faithful in the small things. Learn to be faithful in the small things. Now, I know this goes against our coffee mug slogans. How many of you guys have a coffee mug at home? Right? And generally, it's not just I mean, you might have the plain white one or the plain black one or whatever, but a lot of times we have a saying on it, right? What's some sayings that you guys have on your coffee mug. Okay, I've seen some that says, yeah, don't talk to me till I've had another cup, or whatever. I see all those kinds of things. Right? But we have some of that. Got the world's greatest, whatever, husband, world's greatest mom, world's greatest wife, or whatever.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:48]:

But I've seen this. Don't sweat the what? Small things. Right? It's good, right? I'm not saying that we don't and I've seen another one that says this, by the way. Everything's small, right? They say that. Now, the reality is, yeah, we got to prioritize sometimes. But Jesus says the opposite, actually, right? He says the opposite because he says in Luke 16, he says, whoever can be trusted with what very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with what very little will also be dishonest with much. So some people that I only have a little bit money, so I don't need to be responsible because I just blow it. Because we just feel like, what's the point? It's only a little bit.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:36]:

But this is what he's saying, that if you cannot handle the little, then you cannot handle want to get more, right? So most of us think that just having more is going to solve our financial problems, but that's not the case, because one of the things that I worked in sales before, and you know what I realized is that the more you make, the more what, the more you spend, the more you want. Right? And so, so often and as a missionary, I was a missionary for nine years, and what you do is you raise your own budget, right? Like, my budget, when I did it, like, graduated from high school $11,000 a year. I was rolling in the leg of a number. But you know what? I had to raise that. And sometimes the most generous people, generally the most generous people, were not the guys with the highest income. And one guy told me once, he said, I'd love to support you, but I was going to buy a new boat, right? I got to buy a new boat and get bigger engine, and we can go out farther, and this and this. And I just smile. I say, hey, God bless you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:41]:

We'll pray for that, whatever. It's like insiders. They can go boat, right? Raise my budget for reach kids on the college campus. But the thing is because it's not the big, right? It's like he's saying it's the little things. Sometimes it starts with the little things. Now, what does it mean to be faithful in small things? Sometimes it's not what is little to you that you got to pay attention. Sorry. It's not what you think is little.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:12]:

It's sometimes what other people think is important. Because sometimes you think, right? Sometimes you think that when your boss tells you something and he focuses on something that's not that big, it's not that important. You guys ever do that? Or like your wife tells you something or your husband tells you something, you go but inside you're thinking, no big deal. I'm not even worried about that, right? But if you want to have more peace in your home, you want to have more peace at work, that when somebody tells you something is important. Even if you don't think it's important, if you pay attention to that, you know what, that's going to happen. Generally speaking, they're happy, they're satisfied, right? Because why didn't my kids vacuum that time really think it was a big deal? I thought it was a big deal because I thought food on the floor is a big deal. Dried crumbs is a big deal to me. And so this is what God says.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:10]:

Sometimes you're going to look at a person, they're not a big deal. They don't have the money to buy this thing. Right? If you're a salesperson, you know what they say sales people look at to determine if you have money? Your watch and your shoes, right? Your watch and your shoes. Why? Because generally, if the guy's rocking a twelve grand watch and he's wearing like 500 $600 shoes, even if he has like a bottle T shirt, you know that guy has money, right? Now, if he saw my son, he's going to be fooled because my son has my father in law's Rolex watch, but he don't have that kind of money, right? But here's the thing, is that if you treat sometimes people like a little thing, I don't need that guy. You know what? Sometimes this is what Jesus saying. No, that's a big thing. You think it's a little thing. Be faithful in the little things.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:08]:

It's how you treat the people. Sometimes it's how we treat the people who serve us. And I'm guilty of this. Like, when I go to the coffee shop, the guy who takes the ticket for the car wash, but he said this, it's a little be faithful, treat everyone well. Right? And so in that, then he's saying this, then you're going to what you're going to do when you have people close around you, you'll be trained how to treat them well. Right. And being treating people well doesn't mean I just do everything they tell me, because sometimes that's not the case, right? We need to kind of hash things out prioritize. But start with sometimes the thing you think is little.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:55]:

Jesus says it's not that little. And people can you say, do me a favor, turn to your neighbor and just says, people are not little things. Yeah, people are not because some of us, if we're really honest, I have friends that I met them before. They were believers. They couldn't give me the time of day because I wasn't important to them. Right? Yeah. I was still pastor. I was doing that scanning, but he wasn't interested.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:22]:

Now it's a different story, you know what I mean? And so sometimes that you're responsible to people and not for people, your coworkers, you're responsible to them. You're not responsible for them. And some of us, we have people we're responsible for, but we need to be able to deal with these little things because we're really developing trustworthiness, right? We're really developing trustworthiness anybody. And maybe this is a local thing, too, but I've talked with some people. We're developing leaders, and we got projects going on. I said, how are you doing on this? Do you have everything you need? Yeah. I said, how's it going? How's the progress? I get them, I get them, I get them. Right? And then this is what happened.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:36:12]:

Then it was, okay, hey, can you just kind of turn over your part of the project? And then it's like, oh, I'm sorry, not ready yet. You know what I learned at that point? When he says, I get them, I get them, I get them. Doesn't mean I got them, I got them, I got them. Right? And so all of a sudden now I have to manage at a different level, because if you told me you got it and you got it, we're all good. I don't really care in some sense how you got that part done, but if it's not, what happens? Now I have to kind of delve a little deeper. Now I have to can you show me what you got? Can you tell me what the I don't want to have to do that, but if that's what happens, I have to do that, right, that makes sense. And so when we're faithful in the little things, then we'll get much that the more freedom you be faithful in the little things. Your boss doesn't have to oversee you as much.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:08]:

That when we learn to anticipate the things that are needed, not just all the things that were said in passing, but sometimes it's just to give you a picture. Now, this part I'm telling a lot of times I'm telling the college guys, I'm telling the high school people, graduates or whatever, because sometimes that we're waiting to be told exactly what to do. But if you can anticipate and not be waiting to be told exactly what to do when there's time for a promotion, guess who's going to get promoted? Not the person who's just waiting. I don't know. They never say nothing. They're just going to hang in the break room. Or the guy who, you know what, he organized something, he cleaned something. Who's going to get promoted? The person who's already basically showing initiative, right? And God's saying the same thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:58]:

God's saying the same thing, that we get promoted because of those kinds of things. And to be honest, part of it is like here, it's a big thing for us. It's a big thing for us. And if you're in a part of the church for any length of time, I hope that you can feel that we'll never ask you to do something we're not willing to do. Right? Any leader who asks you to do something that we're trusting that they've learned and they're passing on, they're not going to ask you to do something they're not willing to do. And it's not saying this, oh, I'm going to ask Naoku to play the piano, that I play the piano. Believe me, you don't want me playing the keyboard. But it's the aspect of serving, right? The aspect of doing that kind of a thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:38:44]:

Somebody we're talking once, and they said, well, they were going to do this thing and they were going to take the offering. I don't know what to say when I take the offering. I said, Just say why you give, right? And just say why you tithe. And the person told me, Well, I don't give and I don't tithe. Maybe they give. And I just said this. Well, you know what? Then it's better that you don't say it. I'll do that.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:10]:

Then you know why? Because we never want someone who asks and leads to take the tide, who is not doing it. Why is that called integrity? Because there needs to be a reasonable sense that what we show on the outside, what we say we do is reflected on the inside, isn't it? Part of the confidence comes because we know people have integrity. And so that's just that part. And so the same with God now, when it happens, and promotion happens, sometimes what God sees as a promotion doesn't feel like a promotion. And so sometimes how God's bringing us forward feels like a reversal, or it looks like it, or maybe it is a temporary reversal, because none of us just did this straight, right? That many of us, we've gotten performance reviews that haven't been the best at times, right? You haven't always knocked it out of the park, possibly. And so this is the second thing in this point, is you got to learn to be resilient in God. Learn to be resilient in God. That when you take your knocks, when you get discouraged, when you get a negative review, like, some of us, you get a negative Yelp thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:33]:

You get a review. You're an Amazon seller, and you get, like, an unhappy one star. That this and this and this, that you got to learn how to be resilient in God. And I say resilient in God because sometimes I see people get in a battle if somebody says something negative, you were the most horrible customer, or whatever. It's crazy, right? But we have to learn at times that when somebody's throwing a rock at you verbally, that we don't throw rocks back, right? I've had that happen this week. If somebody was saying whatever negative thing, somebody texted me, like, it is negative thing, it's like, man. And I just said, there's a part of me that was like, you don't know how much we've done for you, this thing. And instead, this is what I said.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:23]:

I just said, hey, I can see you're upset. Call me when you're ready, right? Because I had mentioned, call me. And then all of a sudden, I got this, like, what is this? You know what I felt like doing? I felt like justifying myself in the first. I felt like telling all the shortcomings, right? And I didn't do that. What's the point in that? I left childish things behind. So I just said that. I just said, hey, I can see you're upset right now. Call me when you're ready.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:52]:

And I think, learn to be resilient in God, because part of that is God has a grace for you. Because I don't always feel Godly. You guys ever know what I'm talking about? For some of you, it's when you drive, right? For some of you, it's after dinner. When somebody doesn't clean up their plate, it doesn't matter. But we don't always feel Godly. But how we respond is more than what my initial reaction might be, because you can always have an initial feeling of a reaction, but it's what you choose that makes all the difference in the world. So be resilient in God. So that we're not going to say, like, well, why do I have to do this with this person? Why do I have to paul the Apostle had a thorn in his flesh, right? And anybody you guys got a splinter before.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:47]:

You know what I'm talking about, right? We've all had it. Or maybe you've been to the beach, you had slippers, but you stepped on a kava thorn. I don't know if you guys man, that thing will go right through your slipper, right? Will that kill you? It won't. But it's painful, isn't it? It might bleed, actually, right? But thorns won't kill you. But they are painful and they might hinder the way that you walk. I've stepped on thorns and it's the next thing. I cannot put my heel down because it's sore right now. Paul had a thorn in his flesh.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:22]:

It wasn't going to kill him, but it was painful. And this didn't come from God, it came from the enemy. And so this is what it says in Two Corinthians, chapter Twelve. He says, Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given what? A thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. We don't know exactly what this is. Some people theorize it was Paul's, like his failing eyesight. Because in some manuscripts, in some books, he says, see with what large letters are, right? Because he cannot see good. So he has to write big.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:58]:

Or some people say it's because he was beaten so many times and scourged so many times that he had maybe arthritic problems. Like anybody have a joint issue, right? So he's saying, and then God, because he has pain we don't know what it is was it kind of a hard relationship? But it says, what was the natural thing? He says, God, would you take it away? He says, how many times he prayed for that? Three times. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me what? My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses so that Christ's power may rest on me. When you have a thorn, the purpose that the enemy has is to get you so discouraged, to quit your calling, quit your job, quit your marriage, right? Quit your ministry. Just quit just discourage you because it's a little painful. It's not going to kill you, but it's uncomfortable.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:11]:

And maybe you pray about it. Lord, help me in this relationship, help me in this job, help me in this thing. And sometimes God will take it away, right? Sometimes he changes the situation and sometimes he wants to change us. How does he do this? He says, I have a grace for you. You know what God was actually saying to Paul? I know this is painful, but it's causing you to lean into me in such a way. I love how you're praying more. I love how you're trying to be more patient. I love how you're trying to persevere through this thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:50]:

And that even though that came from the enemy, I can use that because it's making you more like me, right? Paul said it like that in the very beginning of the book. He says, we don't want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired what, of life itself? Indeed, we felt we had received a sentence of death. I mean, we thought we were going to die, but can we read that last line together? Ready? Let's read. Where is that? Okay. Sorry. But this happened so that we might not rely on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead. And so that's what he's trying to get us to do.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:42]:

Don't do it in your power. Do it in his power, right. Don't do it in your strength. Right. Do it in his strength that you can be confident, but be confident in God. Don't trust to do it in your flesh. Do it in the spirit. Right? There's times that, man, I got to pray and I got to say, God, I got to go into this meeting, and I don't want to do it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:06]:

Would you just empower me to do it because I don't have it, right? I want to flip out. If this guy says this, I'm going to want to flip out on him. But God, would you help me? I just honest, right, at times. And so this is the aspect. That's what he's saying. So God said this, and you know what? That's wisdom. That's wisdom that we're not trusting in. Just your strength.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:31]:

So when you take a new job and you get promoted and you have a new influence or you get married or you have kids, don't just do it in your love. Don't just do it in your power. He's saying, do it in God's power. To be honest, I don't know how people do married life together apart from Jesus. I don't know how people raise kids in this world apart from Jesus, because I just don't have all that strength myself. Maybe I'm weak, maybe I'm weak. But you know what? This is what Paul said. But when I'm weak, when I'm trusting in God, there's a strength that's greater than me, right? How many of us need that kind of a strength? Amen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:14]:

Here's the last one. This is the last one is that we always want what we want when when we want it, right? That you want to help from someone when, like, oh, in two years, you can help me? No, we want to help now. Right? But here's the thing that you got to learn to trust in God's timing, because sometimes God's timing is not my timing. Sometimes when I want to go to the next level, it's not in my timing. It's going to be in God's timing. Joseph was 17 years old. He was the son of Jacob, right? That one of the patriarchs, abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And he had these dreams, and he had this sense that there was promotion for him, that there was something greater.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:06]:

He was going to have great influence, and it manifested in these dreams that they were harvesting wheat, and they put all the wheat bundles together, and all his brothers and even his parents, and he said, all your guys wheat bowed to my wheat. And dad was like, what? And all the stuff, all the stars in heaven and the moon and the sun, and they bowed to me, and it's like, you got an ego problem, my son. Right? But it was God on him. Now, maybe the way he handled it wasn't the best, but he knew something was in him that was saying that there's going to be god's going to do something in my life. I hope you have that sense. God's going to do something in my life because he wants to. He doesn't want to do that. He didn't handle it well.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:58]:

His brothers got jealous, and so the next thing they did after he told them about these dreams is they tossed them in a pit. Do you guys remember the story? And they sell him as a slave. But you know what? God was actually moving him to his greater influence, right? He's going to be the second command of the most powerful nation in that part of the planet, right? He went from Israel to Egypt in one fell swoop. It looked like a reversal. But you know what? That was God's promotion. But he was in a slave. But what happened? It says there's this little phrase that's in that Joseph story, then in all those things, he gets a slave, he gets sold, he rises up, he gets thrown in jail, right? Gets falsely accused. That sucks, to be falsely accused.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:52]:

I know what that's like. But you know what the phrase is. But the Lord was with him, so even when he was a slave, then he rises, and then he gets the false. He gets in prison. But the Lord was with him, and he starts rising in prison. And it was at that point, because he's now from Israel to Egypt, the slave then in jail, but that he goes into the Pharaoh's jail. It's in that place because he was faithful. He didn't think it was too small a thing to interpret a dream for the baker and the wine steward, right? That the king's wine steward.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:35]:

It wasn't a thing. He was in prison. Where is he going to go? He can interpret the dream. The Lord spoke to him. I can speak into that. It's that little thing that led him to get out of the big hole he was in. He wouldn't have ever really thought. And it says, Would you remember me when you get out? Tell me about the king.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:54]:

And he said, yeah, oh, sure. He went, he promised, I get him, I get him, I get him. But it says this, he totally forgot about Joseph in prison till several years later when the king had dreams that disturbed him. And it says at that point, the guy remembered and it's at that point that he got elevated. 13 years later. 13 years later. Some of us, we've been waiting for something 13 hours, and we're impatient already, right? Some of us, we've been waiting 13 weeks for your delivery of an appliance, and we're super, super impatient, right? And maybe some of us, we're in 13 years and some of us going to wait longer for certain kinds of things. But some this is what we just understand.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:43]:

God's timing is not always my timing, but even in those moments that it seemed like a reversal, god was bringing him somewhere because he was growing in his character. He was laying aside some of the immaturity he had. When he told his dad and his brothers that he laid that aside, he was a more Godly individual. He did the little things in prison when it didn't seem to benefit Him, right? But this is what happened at the end. That's how God could promote it. That's what God wants to do at you and me in the various forms, in the various places that we're at in the various seasons of our life. He's saying this, there's still more. Amen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:53:25]:

Let's bow our heads. We'll close in a word of prayer. Father, this morning we're thankful that, lord, you don't just bless us once in life and tell us, just be happy that you did something good or like when we got saved, lord, that's the greatest gift we understand. But Lord, we have a full life that we need to live because of that gift. And Father, we're thankful that right now, just right where you're at, just maybe take a stock in your own life. Are there some things you can be grateful for? Are there some things that are challenging you right now? Do you have a thorn right now? Is there a person in your life? Maybe it's painful, and maybe You've asked God to take it away or fix this thing, but can you understand that? Would you just ask God? God, would you just if you're not going to take it away, would you give me the grace? Would you give me the grace to endure it? Or you give me the grace to attend to it? Because, Father, it's not just getting the promotions in our life, it's paying the price, because we don't all pay it at one time. These are things that we will pay daily. We pay it in installments.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:52]:

And so, Father, would you help us to change our attitude and to change our actions, maybe to lay aside some of the immaturity? If there's an attitude that, to be honest, God says, frankly, your attitude sucks, would you just confess that to Him and say, god, would you help me change this attitude? Father, we are grateful you never leave us alone. Thank you that you're with us always. Even when my attitude sucked, even when I was stuck in this thing that you never leave me. Father, thank you for your forgiveness today. Thank you for your grace today. But Lord, help me to have eyes and a vision with faith and say, Lord, that you're leading me forward. There's greater influence somewhere there's going to be a greater income somewhere there's going to be a greater responsibility and greater stewardship, mourn and all of those things, Lord, for some of us, we're praying for an expansion in our family. Father, we're thankful that there's some that's been challenging, it's been painful, but Lord, would you make their efforts fruitful, Father? Would you bring life, Lord, to this couple? We're thankful for that, but Father, thank you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:34]:

It's because of you in the nearness of our God that is our good. So Lord, I just invite you in to lead me and guide me in my career, in my relationships today, in my ministry today. God, wherever we are, would you just lead me today? Would you fill me today? And in those moments where I don't have the strength, God, I am really depending on Your power. Christ in me, Lord, christ in me. Not I who live, but I live it by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave his life for me and fill me with Your spirit, even our heads bowed and eyes closed. If all you've had is just you in life, if all you've had is just you, you might know some successes, but I'm going to guess even in your bid to try to make yourself happy, you know what it's like to not really be happy. And sometimes we could smile on the outside and feel empty on the inside. But this is what God says, because you weren't meant to do it by yourself, you were meant to do it with God.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:43]:

God wants you to live life with Him, in a relationship with Him. And if that's you this morning you're saying, if God, you want me, if God, if you really want me and you know all about me, if you really know all that stuff and you can forgive me, then I want you. This is what God says, come, he says, come, he says, ask me. And then he says, I will not say no. He says, no one who comes to me will he turn away. We're going to pray a very simple prayer. Just by saying, God, we just recognize today you might not have always wanted it's not a hypocritical thing to say, you know what? I'm never becoming a Christian. I don't keep your religion to yourself.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:28]:

But then, now to say, Jesus, I need you, it's not hypocritical. You know what you call it? Growth. Maturity. That's what that's called. It's called insight now. So if you're saying that, don't let the devil tell you you're being a hypocrite. You're not. You're just growing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:45]:

We're going to pray that simple prayer. Would you join me, Lord Jesus, thank you for seeing me. Thank. You for understanding me. Thank you for understanding me more than I understand myself. And today I recognize I need you I've sinned. I've made my mistakes. I've rebelled.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:07]:

But thank you. Jesus died in my place. Would you come live inside me today? Fill me with Your spirit, fill me with Your presence, and lead me in this journey of life with you. Would you be my god? Would you be my savior? Would you be my shepherd and my leader? And would you bring people around me so that in this journey, there were some who can give me help in my time of need? And some I will help in their time of need? And open your word so I can understand your will and your ways I say this now so you can hear me. I can hear myself, that Jesus is my Savior. He's my lord. And today I give myself to you. In Jesus name, amen.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [01:00:06]:

Amen.