Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:00:00]:

You know, this thing that we're talking about this morning about why do people rise up and are willing to leave their home and confront sometimes evil, sometimes to confront enemies, sometimes to confront those things both within and without the country? That why is that? Because they think something s worth fighting for? And so it does raise the question in my mind, how do God then deal with evil? How does God deal with those things that are a threat to his kingdom or the things that are of corruption? And I say this because I think over the last few years, there's just been an acceleration of change within our country. And so that maybe one of the things that we used to say, and it was champion or it was a sign of great love and tolerance. How does it get to the place where it's a sign like you're a racist or something? You know what that line is? Hey, all lives matter. You guys remember when you could say all lives matter and it was a sign that like, wow, that's inclusive. It's including everybody. And then all of a sudden, what happened that term in certain circles became something that are you minimizing somebody else's experience? No, we're not minimizing. You guys know what I'm talking about. All of a sudden, then the things that we would say that was in the best of intentions sometimes get twisted and turned.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:01:28]:

And we are living through this aspect where I think that we once were a nation that people from all over the world, they still want to come, right? You guys notice this because they say there's like a million people, like every month or so that are coming across the border, or every few months coming across the border, people still want to come to this place. But it was because there was a common sense of morality. Yes, there was great opportunity to come here, but it was because if you're willing to work hard, right, if you're willing to improve yourself, we were a place that with hard work, you could achieve anything. And yet we were a compassionate people. And today, I think what we see is this aspect that maybe the common values are not so common anymore. Maybe these are the things that are being fought about. And so if you're in that kind of a sense where you're sensing that and it's disturbing to you, you're in good company, because that's a lot of us. At the same time, there is a move, I think, to get the people of God, get the people of faith to be silent, right? To not say that you're free to yeah, you can believe what you want and worship who you want, but just don't say it.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:02:51]:

To be honest, I love martial arts, fighting, all that stuff. I love those things. I watch UFC and I was disturbed to see Dana White kind of he's the president of the UFC get into this space, and he's interviewing because, you know, like, when the guy wins a fight, wins a championship, the first thing they say, they put the mic in his face. And what do they say often, if they're a believer, when I thank my Lord Jesus Christ, if without him, I wouldn't be here, and he just says, man, yeah, worship Jesus all you want, right? In your own time, right? But don't say it up here. People don't want to hear that, right? And he's saying that. And the thing is, like I just said, I'm not paying for another fight anymore. No, I was kidding. But I'm still going to watch him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:03:36]:

But the thing is, that not going to take my cues from him, right? Not going to take my cues from him. And so there's something that's happening on this. The scriptures talk about that it's possible for a culture to be very defined, to be very strong, but without the honoring of values, of morals, of God, that it's subject to corruption. The Book of Judges, if you ever read that, the Book of Judges, it goes from a time where there was great leadership under Moses and Joshua to a place of utter chaos. Crime is on the rise, sexual crime, violent crime. And it says this as a caption, as a summary. It says, because that was the time when every man did what was right in his own eyes. I think that's what we find ourselves in our culture today, that we're not looking for truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:04:37]:

We just want to follow whatever our feelings tell us. And so if everybody sees something different, everybody makes something, makes you happy, that's kind of the thing, right? And so maybe we even argue. Now, when I say, how does God deal with evil? Means that I really probably should define evil. And we talked about this a few weeks ago, but what is evil is not like the most monstrous thing you can think of, although that would be evil. But to be honest, evil often looks beautiful. Evil can look nice. Evil can look good. It says even the devil himself comes disguised as an angel of light.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:05:18]:

And so it can look like something beautiful. It could look like something altruistic. But yet, what is evil that theologians tell us that evil is not a thing so much as the corruption of something that is good. It's corruption of something that ought to be. And so I believe that if we're not careful who God has made us to be, who God has called us to be as a nation, that so often it's evil when it gets corrupted. And so this morning that we're going to say, how does God deal with evil? Well, that's what we want to talk about this morning. It's a little different kind of a message. I'm going to say this.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:00]:

If you've been watching us when we've been talking about honor, on Mother's Day. You joined us when we talked about promotion last week and how God has there's a price for promotion. And I got some feedback. People said, man, that's the best message I ever heard on those topics. I was thinking, like, maybe you never heard that many messages on that topic, but this is a little different message. We're going to kind of map out some theological, some biblical frameworks about how God deals with this. And the reason is because if not, we will be stuck with the swirl of culture defining these things for us, and we drift because we don't know the truth, right? And so this is why we're going to do it. You guys ready? There's four points this morning.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:06:47]:

Four points this morning. First point is this how does God deal with evil? Well, the first thing he does is he gives us laws to suppress sin and immorality, right? Now, the thing is that many of us, I think on this weekend, you might go to the beach somewhere, or you might go to the park somewhere. You might take a hike in a mountain somewhere. And many of us that you love nature, right? Isn't nature beautiful, refreshing to the soul? Isn't that wonderful? I love being out in nature. But did you guys know that nature is actually brutal at the same time, right? Because if you love fishing, what do you use for bait? Something that looks like a little fish. And what will happen to that little fish? A bigger fish comes and eats it, right? And that's just the way of nature. It's actually brutal. So if you go camping and you go somewhere in the mainland, you go to Montana, Alaska, hopefully, you're not going to say, look at that grizzly bear, and I'm going to just feed them or whatever, right? Because we know that you may become part of the menu at the end, right? And so nature is beautiful and it is refreshing, but it's also brutal.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:07:59]:

After the fall, nature became brutal. And so some of the things that we understand is that without some constraint, without some guardrail, it's not just nature is beautiful. Mankind is brutal, right, where their might makes, right? That's been the nature and that's been the history of mankind. It is not that America that today, that maybe when I grew up, and maybe that's different for many of us in the room, because we have some younger people here. We have a lot of younger people. But when I grew up, we were basically taught that America has always basically been a force for good. Not that we're perfect, but it's basically been a force for good today. It's been said in some circles that the very founding of our nation is racist.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:08:53]:

Started almost like it's a mistake, right? But, you know, the thing is, this is not the fact that we have very glaring seasons as a nation is not a unique thing. Because if you look at the history of mankind I don't care if you look at South America, you look at Asia, you look at Western Europe, you look at around the world, no matter where you go, that is the history of mankind. Brutality, slavery. Slavery is not an American invention. It's been throughout the history of mankind in every corner of the world. In fact, Western Europe, the Christian nations are the first to outlaw slavery, right? And so this is the thing. This is mankind. And so because mankind needs guardrails, god expressed that in Moses.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:09:50]:

Probably one of the first things that we hear is what the Ten Commandments? Right? Some of us remember the Seven commandments. I'm not sure if everybody remembers the Ten Commandments. If you're not aware you're not remembering the Ten Commandments. You can find it in Exodus 20. We're not going to read that. But let me give you a little bit of clue. The first four commandments have to do about a vertical relationship with God. And the next six commandments then talk about as a people who are connected to God, this is how we ought to treat one another, right? So he says it starts with saying, hey, there's no God before me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:10:23]:

Don't make any images about me that represent me because I don't look like a bird or a crocodile or whatever. Thinking, remembering that the people of God came out of slavery in Egypt, which is filled with idols and filled with images of Gods. And he says, no, I'm not like that, right? And then he says that, don't take my name in vain. That would you consider it a holy that my name is holy? And then he says this. Remember, they were slaves. So he says this now I give you rest. They never had rest. How many of you guys been working straight 24/7 days a week? There's some of us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:02]:

I know that you work not just one job. You work two jobs, right? There's some people in this room that you work three jobs, you don't have a rest. They didn't have a rest for 430 years. So God says this. You need a rhythm in your life. And there's some of us in this room. You need a rhythm in your life. You're not made to work seven days a week all the time.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:24]:

And it's a faith issue. And that's what he said, that I'm going to give you a rest day and just see if I will not bless you in such a way that what you think you have to do for seven days a week. See if you work six and then you rest one, enjoy my goodness, see if I will not provide the rest, because some of us, we need that rhythm. Some of you guys, do we have any students here enjoying the rhythm of a summer break? Oh, I guess all you guys all going summer school? Oh, no. Okay. We're glad that you guys get a summer break. There's a bunch of us. We got the middle school.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:11:59]:

We got the journey kids in here this morning. Can we just say, hey, we're glad to have you guys journey kids, because even pastors get a break. Pastor Mitch is on the mainland right now enjoying nature, the beauty and the brutality of Yellowstone. No, not yellowstone. Yosemite. Sorry. But he's up there, him and Kim. So we see this aspect, right? But then he says, so as a result.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:12:23]:

Now, how you treat people should be different, that we ought to give honor to our moms and dads, right? That we ought to not steal from our neighbor, right? That we ought to be people who don't commit adultery. That the way that we handle our sexuality and the way that we handle relationships ought to be holy. And he says, then we ought not to, as well, speak falsely and tell lies about our neighbor or to use that to our advantage. We ought not to gossip, that kind of a thing. We ought not to covet the things that belong. We ought not to envy or desire the things that your neighbor has or the relationships that he has. So this is that aspect. Now, the Ten Commandments now, this is not the high point.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:13:16]:

Some people talk about the Ten Commandments as it's like the high point. It's not these are the most basic fundamental things for a family or a nation or a culture to survive, right? Because if a culture was to a community was to exist, you cannot just have people going crazy, right? It doesn't work. So he says, God gave laws to teach us, right? So that we would suppress, in that sense, sin and immorality. Now, here's a scripture that some of us have heard this phrase before, that if you've been wronged, that there's a phrase that probably you've heard that you can get an I for what? An eye, right? And I've heard that, right, growing up, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, or whatever it is. And then some people make a comment of that about the Old Testament is brutal, right? Why is it so brutal? And they say this an eye for an eye just results in two people blind, right? So it's kind of like a mockery of that. But here's the thing, is that at that time when this was happening, think about this, that if you're walking down the street and someone gives you stink eye, what do you do? Easy to give stink eye back, right? A little bit. Let's say you're walking down the street, you stay, guy who gave you stink eye, he kind of gives you one of those what do you do? In response? Some of you guys scrap already, right? Like false crap or whatever it is. Because our tendency if not, if we bump them, we bump them.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:00]:

What little bit harder, right, to let them know we know what you did, right? That kind of a thing. So because that's human nature, god says this. He says in Leviticus 20 419, he says, if anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the same manner, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, the one who has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury. It's not about we rejoice in making someone blind. This is what it's about. There needs to be some sense of justice and some sense of commensurate judgment. Justice, so that we don't say, the guy who made you blind, I'm just going to cut his head off, right? The guy who hurt my family, I'm going to kill his family, right? Because you know what? Nature was brutal, and mankind was brutal. And to be honest, it doesn't take very long to notice.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:15:58]:

Without accepted guidelines, there's chaos. Without accepted morals, there's chaos. So this was a limitation that you're not just allowed to just kind of do what you felt like because you were angry, right? It's a limit. That's what it was in this season. This was kind of a radical thing. You just were not allowed to just vent your vengeance, because culture is like a ship and morality is like a rudder. And so you have a rudder that if you take the rudder off and you just say, I want to make my own rudder, and I just, you know, you could steer the ship, but probably not as good as the one that's made for it. And so this is what God said that he says, let me give you some guidelines.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:16:49]:

And so he gave us the law in the Old Testament, and this is the foundation for most of Western civilization, and it was the rudder that guided. Now, today, people say this, well, we don't want God's standards. Why do we got to listen to God? I don't even believe in God. And so I'll make my own standard. I'm my own standard. Why? Because everyone does what is right in his own eyes. And when you don't have truth anymore, people throw out the truth. So now we're stuck with feelings, right? So you don't have let's not try to debate what is the truth, because this is my truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:17:26]:

That might just be your truth, which means feelings. It doesn't mean truths. It just means how you feel about stuff. And so this is the thing, if we're not careful, that we are seeing before us, just that people changing the rudder. That's what's happening in this season. But God has given us guidelines to be honest, for the second point, he's given us guidelines to be honest, to promote human flourishing. So the second point is this, that God also gave government authority and authority to suppress evil and promote human flourishing. God knows that without order, human beings cannot flourish.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:18:11]:

This is the history of the world as well, that when you see a strong you see a strong government, there is great human flourishing. When you see weak governments, they are subject to warfare, and so the constant warfare prevents that human flourishing. And so this is what God says, I'm giving you government and authority to suppress evil. This is God's design and promote human flourishing. It looks like this in the book of Romans. Book of Romans, Paul said this for rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from the fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you'll be commended. For the one in authority is God's servant for your good.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:00]:

For whose good? Your good, right? For my good. So that government, this is what government is for or authority is for. But if you do wrong, he says, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. Now, how many of us at a season in your life, like me, that you're hanging with the boys in the parking lot, cracking a few cold ones, right? And this is the thing that just kind of ruins everybody's vibe as you see a car drive in slowly, and then the blue light turns out right all of a sudden, right? We get that feeling. And so sometimes we see authority as the kill joy in our life. But this is what he's saying if we're not doing anything wrong. I used to get nervous when I would pull up next to a cop car. You know why? Because that was a holdover of my old life.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:19:56]:

Today, when I see a cop car, I'm generally rejoicing if I'm not driving, no, but I still struggle a little bit with that, right? I want to go a little faster than somebody else. But this aspect, he says, if I'm not doing nothing, it's great to see that, right? And so he says, but if you do wrong, he says, be afraid, for rulers, do not bear the sword for no reason. What is it talking about when it's saying bearing the sword? It's talking about coercion by violence. And so this is why there are warriors in the scriptures, because there is and always will be on the human existence till Jesus comes back. There will be war, there will be violence, there will be people. All you got to do is just turn on the news and see that stronger nations want to take advantage of weaker nations, and they don't care if they just blow civilians up, right? Blow. Right. This is what we're seeing in Ukraine, that this is the reason he says governments ought to have a defense.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:21:08]:

And this is something that we see. This is why the police officer who needs to bring order carries a sidearm, right? He carries these things. He doesn't do it for no reason. It says this, they are God's servants, agents of wrath, to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. In this passage, what we see is God's view on the role of government. Now, that's a big, and I'm not meaning to get political at all, but I'm just saying that that's part of a debate. What is the role of government? Right? Because some people say the role of government is to give everyone a universal basic income, right? So basically, like communism, that those who have much ought to give those who have little, right? So some people say that's the role of government. Some people say, well, that's not the role of government.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:22:02]:

The government should be big. Some people say the government should be small. Some people say this is God's view of government. It's not to meet all your needs. Basically, it says that is our responsibility to work, to improve ourselves, to be responsible, not saying in a way that we don't care about our neighbor, right? But you cannot be generous unless you have something to be generous with. Is that true? If you have nothing, can you be generous? You might be generous with your time, you might be generous with your attitude, but it supposes that you have something to be generous with. So what is the role of government, then? The role of government is to provide a just society. It's a society that's stable, that protects itself from threats from without or threats from within.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:23:03]:

And so Paul says later in one Timothy, he says this hey, because I want men and women in every place to pray and pray for those in authority so that we may lead quiet lives and that then we can bring honor and work with our hands, right? So this is the role of government, he says it's not to meet all your needs. It's not. So we sit back and do nothing. But we're meant to be productive citizens. We're meant to be a productive part of the fabric of our culture, the fabric of our nation. So if that's the case, what do we do when nations don't behave? Well, God says sometimes he will raise up one nation to punish another nation, right? This is like a lot of what happens in the minor prophets if you read the Old Testament, that God will raise up a nation to punish another nation. Sometimes God will take a good nation to punish an evil nation. I believe, to be honest, that's why we got involved in World War II, right? Because what we are seeing, right? And part of it, of course, in Hawaii we got attacked, right? So here's this aspect.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:24:20]:

But the other aspect is sometimes God will take a nation that may not even be good, maybe evil, maybe much more evil, but there will be a good nation, like Judah, who strays from God's assignment, and God uses it to discipline this nation, to teach them to return to Him, right? So this is what the scripture says. So God uses governments and uses authority to suppress evil, sometimes from good people and good nations and sometimes more evil nations and evil societies, right? And so it's saying why? Because ultimately we want to promote human flourishing. Does that make sense? Now, that's like the 30,000 foot level of how we look at. But how does it relate to us then? Right? Because you don't run the government, you might have some authority, but you're not in charge of everything. So how does this affect us personally? Well, that brings us to the third point then. So, hey, that God is raising up a people then, right? And that's like you and me turn to me, he says, you're people, so you're a person. So God's raising us up to be a people who will learn, live and proclaim the truth. God's raising up this people.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:25:47]:

We who are called need to learn, live and proclaim the truth. Why do we do that? Because there is a perversion of truth. That's what evil is, right? A perversion, a corruption of what is good. So today the word tolerance is very different than what's in the dictionary, right? To be tolerant used to mean. And it still means that from a dictionary standpoint, it still means that people of different views, of different value, perhaps that we give them the right to have their own opinion, right? It's not that we don't say that there is a right or a wrong we don't agree with right is right or wrong. But you're entitled to your own view, right? Hawaii used to be kind of like a huge reflection of that, right? Hawaii was considered the what? The melting pot. So we had people from all over the Pacific, largely, right, and Puerto Rico, I don't know how that worked, but we have this melting pot, different cultures, different views, but we could all coexist. There was tolerance today.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:05]:

Tolerance is often said that if you don't agree and endorse what I say, then you're intolerant, right? That's not what tolerance means in any stretch of the imagination. But there's a redefining of language. Inclusion. That word inclusion used to mean what if we just said, hey, anybody's welcome, come on in. Right? That was inclusion. Today inclusion. If you have a diversity and ethical and inclusion department, it means this in a company, it means we will give preferential treatment to a certain group. That's inclusion.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:27:53]:

That's not inclusion. That's not what inclusion means in the dictionary. Inclusion means the state of being included. That's all state of welcoming. Everyone would be welcome. That's inclusion. So we see this changing of language because why there's a corruption of truth. What's the result of that? It's so easy then for the people of God, because we don't know how people are going to react.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:28:19]:

How many of you have ever like, you should say something, but you're nervous, you don't want to say something because you don't know how people are going to react, right? But this is what happens. That scripture says, this is how God sees that in Isaiah 520. Let's read what it says. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Right? Because this is the thing that culture has changed. And what we consider good today was considered racists before, to promote one culture over another culture, to promote one race. Because if you're white, can we just say this? You're not inherently racist.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:12]:

That's nonsense. This is the most nonsense I ever heard in my life. Because I'm Japanese. You know what? Japanese can be racist. Japanese can be anybody can be racist, right? Because racist just means racist doesn't mean that you have power. It just means you look down on somebody because of their race, you feel superior to somebody because of your race or their race, you feel less than. Right? That's inherent. But we change it now.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:29:43]:

So some people do this again, I said I wasn't going to get political, but I think it's just nonsense. Because God says this, all lives matter. No culture, no race is less than or greater than another race, right? To Jesus, it's all level at the cross now. But we see this changing. So today what is being promoted is diversity is often just advancing an agenda, right? And so it's changing what is good and calling it evil now and calling evil good. But God says this, if that's what you're doing, he says woe to you. Because there will be a reckoning, right? That's god's view. Now, the world today, a large part of it, doesn't want to be subject to morality, to a view that's outside of themselves.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:30:49]:

They don't want anybody telling them what I should think or how I should act or whatever it is. So this is why you get the breakdown in society, because we're not subject to some moral truth, a higher guiding principles. And so this is what we see played out in Romans chapter one. In Romans, chapter one, he says this yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. As they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. And as a result, their minds became dark and confused. Let's say the words dark and confused. In other words, when they changed the rudder, they didn't realize that all of a sudden, when they're not thinking as God thinks, we're not receiving what God's giving, that the light that's in us, he says, goes dark.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:31:43]:

And our thinking changes, he says, claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And so this plays itself out. It trickles down throughout society. It doesn't just not harm anybody, I'm not harming anybody by acting like this, by living like this, because I create my life influences another life. It. Influences another life. Influences another life, right? So it begins to trickle down through society. And this thought happened first on the college campuses.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:32:19]:

It happened first when you took your classes. And so I'm going to read a portion of Scripture, and I'm not going to comment on it as I read it, I'm just going to read it and then I'm going to ask you a question. So like a couple of verses from where I just read, romans 21 and 22, verse 24, this is what it says, chapter one of Romans. Because they didn't want, right, any of those things. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies and they traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshipped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself. So we're not worshipping the God, right? We're worshipping the things he made who is worthy of eternal praise.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:33:11]:

Amen. And that is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulge in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with men, with women burned with love for each other, men did shameful things with other men. And as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. And since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior and gossip. They are backstabbers haters of God, insolent, proud and boastful.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:34:04]:

They invent new ways of sinning and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them too. Now, you don't have to raise your hand, but how many of us here when I read that we felt uncomfortable, right? There's some of us here that you felt uncomfortable when I read that. And that's not a statement that God has changed. It's a statement that we have changed and that our culture has changed because we know that some of the things I read in some circles is very politically incorrect. Is that just me? No.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:04]:

And so if you feel uncomfortable even in this circle that I read this from the Scriptures. This is the New Testament, by the way, right? Not the Old Testament. This is in some ways a reflection on me, not on you, because this is the word of God. God never changed, but we have. What God considered good never changed. But maybe now it's called evil. Maybe it's now it's called politically incorrect. Maybe now it's called bigoted maybe it's now it's called something else.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:35:41]:

And so I've seen this firsthand. I was sitting with a high school couple seniors and just giving their lives to the Lord and they wanted to sit down and they wanted to ask some questions. And I said, yeah, sure, I'll meet with you. So we met at Starbucks and we're sitting outside and they asked me a direct question about God's view, right? About God's view on homosexuality. And where does it say in the Bible that this was the question? Where does it say in the Bible that homosexuality is a sin? That just love isn't just love and it doesn't really matter. And I read this passage, right, as I'm reading this passage, because they asked, right? I'm not going to not answer this question. As I'm reading the passage, I see in the reflection, because I'm sitting outside, I see the reflection of a guy that's behind me who was doing whatever he was doing and he just did one of these, right? And I could tell he was doing it as well because I saw the faces of the two kids that were in front of me go like that to that guy in his reaction, right? And he was super irritated or upset or uncomfortable, right? But here's the thing. When someone asks me where is this found in God's word, I should not tell him.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:37:14]:

Well, politically we can't. Culturally, that's not the question, right? And if we don't see what God's word says about it, how are we to live? We'll just be subject to the latest thing that the dictate culture says, right? We're just subject to the latest craziness. And so let me ask this is this saying that certain sins are worse than others? Or is this saying because that when we reject God, anything becomes possible and people doesn't, it says later on they will descend into every kind of wickedness, right? So it's not saying that gay sin is worse than straight sin, sin is sin. It's not saying that the person who steals is somehow worse, right? The thing is that it's worse than the person who watches porn. It's just saying this is what happens when we degrade, when we leave God and we leave God's guidance. Then all of a sudden anything becomes free, right? To do so, this is what happens. It's a description of what happens. And I love then what Paul says, because he says, hey, I'm not ashamed of the gospel because it's the power of salvation to who? The guy who's gay and the guy who's straight, right? The guy who did domestic abuse as well as the guy who was an addict to drugs, as well as the person who's an addict to shopping or the person who's prideful or the person who feels insecure.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:02]:

It's the power of salvation to who? Anybody, which used to be inclusive, but we don't have to say it. Well, what if I struggle with this? What if my sin is and then just name the weirdest thing, because you'll find it on the Internet, right? There's a club for everybody, right? But it's just saying, anybody who comes to Christ, he says that's the power of salvation. So if you want to know not just how God states about this, how does God actually deal with people like this? Because that's the difference, right? It's not whether what's right or wrong. Often it's how do we deal with people in the midst of this. I think the best illustration for me, we find it in John chapter eight. In John chapter eight. And just going to if you're interested, just write down John chapter eight. And in there you'll see Jesus confronted with his situation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:39:55]:

It says that he's walking through the town and a woman is caught in the midst of adultery, and so she is dragged before Jesus, right? And the reality is, she's probably naked because they want to shame her, they want to embarrass her, but they also want to trap Jesus. So they say this. So in the law, Moses commanded that people like this, they should be stoned. So what do you say should be done with this woman? And Jesus doesn't say anything in the beginning. He just starts writing on the ground. And it doesn't actually say what he's writing on the ground. He could be writing the sins of, like, you shouldn't steal, you shouldn't give false witness. You shouldn't commit adultery.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:40:47]:

He might be writing all the sins. Somebody says, well, maybe he's writing the names of the people like Mary, and then look at the guy who was sleeping with Mary. What about you? Right? Some people say that we don't know. But it says this after he writes. Then he says this. And they came ready to stone her. So they have stones in their hands already. So what do you say? Do we get the okay to stone her? So they're trying to trap Jesus, right? And then Jesus's response is, let you who have no sin cast the first stone.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:41:23]:

And then everybody went like, oh. And then one by one, it says they drop the rock and they walk away. And then Jesus walks up to this woman who has he has defended, right? Did he guilt her and shame her? No, he defended her. And he says to her, woman, where are your accusers? He says nobody's here. I have none. And he says this to her, neither do I condemn you, but go and sin no more. Right? So he was able to say, yeah, what you did was sin, but I'm not condemning you. So Jesus was able it says in John chapter one, it says that Jesus came in the fullness of grace and truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:42:24]:

And so our response as the people who learn the truth and live the truth and live with grace is we ought to be able to give both grace and truth, it's not to be an enabler. Oh, just grace. Just let them go. Hey, with no judgment. Some of us, we have situations in our family where somebody's life is spiraling out of control, and you feel like, hey, my role is just to love them. Your role is to love them, but there ought to be truth with that grace, because otherwise it's indulgence. Does that make sense? Right? And that some of you, you need to protect the rest of your family from this chaos so that this chaos doesn't take out the whole of your family, right? I talked to people where they have an addict in their home, and they'll take all the money and they'll take whatever is there and they're going to sell it and all that. And so you love that child, right? But here's the thing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:43:39]:

You need to put a limit before he ruins your whole family. Not because you don't love them, but because you do love them, right? So this is the thing. Jesus gives both grace and truth. Turn to your neighbor, says, God wants you to give you grace and truth, right? He loves you as you are, but he doesn't want you to stay as you are, right? He gives you a grace to grow up, right? And here's the thing. Every person is made in the image of God. Every person has value. Every person. I don't care what the thing it is that you struggle with, because everybody struggles with something, right? Everybody.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:44:29]:

That's the human condition. None of us are perfect. None of us are better than somebody else, but neither are you worse than somebody else. Your value is the same, right? Life is a life. If we're not careful, when we start removing these morality and values, you start saying now, some lives are not worth living. In Canada. I thought this was fake, but I read it in the news in Canada that now because they started this Euthanasia thing. It started with people who were dying and people who had health conditions, but now without their consent.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:45:12]:

There is a board that sometimes can vote on someone who has mental illness and say, you know what? This person's quality of life is such that we can take their life for not a crime, but because of their mental illness. This is what happens when everybody does what's right in their own eyes rather than to see the value of each person. Rather than this person saying, this person needs help, it just says beyond help. You're not beyond help. That person is not beyond help. I might not know how to help them, right? I'm not saying I know how to help everybody. We're not saying that, but we're just saying that person still life is still valuable. He's still made in God's image.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:46:03]:

And so this is what happens if we abandon God's viewpoint. And so if God then wants to confront evil, why doesn't he just get rid of evil because he would have to get rid of everybody, right? That's the thing, because he'd have to get rid of everybody. Because I think all of us, we have something, right? This is what it says in John, chapter seven. In John, chapter seven. Where did I write that? Did I skip a page? He says, I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. And if I do what I don't want to do, I agree that the law is good and it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:47:05]:

And frankly, all of us, we have sin living in me. I think all of us, we understand it's like, why did I do that? I knew I shouldn't do it, but I did it. I know I should do this, but I didn't do it, right? We all struggle with that, right? So God doesn't get rid of us. As a result. He wants to help us, he wants to heal us, he wants to forgive us. But to be honest, to say that everyone needs Christ, that people that your sin doesn't mean that you are stuck and destined to live in this way, then not everybody would like that because it presupposes that I have to admit to something, right? And so Jesus said this if you ever tell people about me, it will not always be welcomed at the moment. I wasn't always welcoming when people tried to share the gospel with me. I got into many arguments because somebody tried to tell me about Jesus, because somebody tried to say a biblical standpoint.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:15]:

I got in arguments and I made people cry because I love to argue at that season in my life. But this is what John said. John said this, this is quoting Jesus. So if you stand and say the truth, he says this the world hates you if the world hates you. Remember it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belong to it. But you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world so it hates you.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:48:47]:

Do you remember what I told you? A slave is not greater than the master. Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. And so sometimes when we say those things that we have to be willing at times to pay a price, sometimes you're not going to be invited to that party. Then sometimes people then as they're sitting but we're not talking about, by the way, just walking up to people and saying, my mom used to think this is what I used to do. Hey, you know, you're going to hella. I mean, that's what she used to think I did, right? That's not what I do, that's not how I do it. But I will engage in conversation.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:49:27]:

I will answer honestly the question. And so sometimes people don't like that. I understand because I didn't like it, right? But it's what changed me after because I was confronted with both grace and truth. So it's the way that we do it, right? It's the way that we do it. So let me ask this question. Have you ever or when was the last time you said something that was willing or that you said something that there was pushback from it? Or are we so careful that we will toe a cultural line and never say anything that offends anyone? If that's the case, we will never do any good in the world. Because the good is sometimes confrontive, right? Not that we're confrontive, but truth is confrontive, right? And so we need to be willing. We need to be willing.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:50:37]:

Well, here's the good news. The good news is that Jesus came to resolve that because all of us will face judgment in the world. Like every single person, we're going to all stand before God, every single one. And it's whether we are ready to face Him or we are not ready to face it. Because this is what it says in Romans, chapter three. He says, for everyone has sinned and we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God in his grace freely makes us right in his sight. And he did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:51:15]:

So does God just pick and choose? He says, I love some and I don't love others. No, he says, because everybody's fallen, because everybody is imperfect and we all blow it to some degree. He poured out judgment first. On who? On Jesus. For God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for sin. And people are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. And the sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. You see, Jesus, this is inclusion that no matter what in history, that whether you were born before Christ or after Christ came, he says, everybody gets some sense of an opportunity, right? So that's the inclusion.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:14]:

He says this God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe this. So are we saying that we're better than other people because we're forgiven or we know we're going to go to heaven or no. He says, can we boast then that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. So we can have a little bit of humility, right? It's not because I'm good that I go to heaven. It's not because I'm better than anybody. It's because I receive grace, right, as well as the truth.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:52:59]:

And so Dallas Willard used to say it like this we're just simply poppers begging for bread. But people who have found bread and are telling others where to get it, that's all right. So with this in mind, with this in mind, we're going to take communion because what we're celebrating is not something Jesus just did a long time ago, but it's reminding us that this Gospel is not just preached to the whole world, and not just that the whole world has an opportunity to respond. What we're saying is, I needed it. I need the grace. I needed sacrifice. And what we're doing is inviting Jesus afresh to be in our midst by being in you and being in Me and together corporately, that he manifests his presence. So we're saying this, that you don't have to be a member of the Church.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:54:03]:

You don't have to come every week, but if you're a follower of Jesus, we invite you to take communion with us. And the elements are going to be in the back. So at Your own pace, go and take the elements, the piece of bread, the cup of juice. Then we're going to have a moment to pray, reflect, and then we're going to take the elements together. Father, we're holding in our hands the elements that remind us of what it costs for us to be right with you. Lord, I'm thankful that you never called us to pay for our own sin, but you called us to surrender that to you. We're thankful, Lord, that there is no guilt, no shame, no sin that is greater than the power of the blood and of the body of Christ. That, Lord, you came to take those of us who broke Your law, who did our own thing, who rebelled against You, Father, who railed against you, but yet you brought us close.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:07]:

We're thankful there is grace and there is truth in the Cross. Thank you. That you welcome all. And so, Father, we receive these things today as we're standing before you. We're confessing, Lord, that there's still sins that we struggle with. And if there's something that you need to confess, just confess that to the Lord. If there's something that's in the way of Your relationship with Him, would you just bring that before Him? Father, we're not pretending that we're all perfect just because we've come to know you. We still struggle, but we're thankful the cross is still enough.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:55:47]:

Lord, we're thankful that when we confess, you said that you're just and faithful to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteous. So we confess. But we also confess you're greater than our sin. You're greater than our weakness. Thank you that you chose us out of the world so that we might be Your sons and daughters. We're reminded that by Your body that was broken. It was broken for me, as a reminder. Would you take the breath? And, Lord, we're thankful that Your blood was shed to wash us from our sin.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:56:41]:

And Father, you say to us that it was a new covenant, a covenant by faith, that it was in our performance because we could never perform enough. But you said that by faith we trust in Christ, and by faith, then his blood washes us clean. Would you take the cup? And Father. We are thankful. We're not just forgiven, but you see us as righteous. You see when you see us, you see Jesus in us right now. Lord, as we take this communion element, we just welcome you. Lord, would you fill us afresh? Lord, we're receiving a grace to cover us.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:57:38]:

And Lord, we're saying, Lord, to some who've been struggling in their minds with guilt and condemnation and anxiety. Father, we're praying a peace of God. You said that by Your stripes, we're healed, Lord, not just on our body, but in our soul. Lord, we just receive that there's a spirit of peace on us, Father, that we're grateful there's a grace to cover, Lord, that we just say spirit of anxiety and depression and confusion, would it leave right now? Because, Lord, we're accepted, we're not rejected, we're loved and not judged. Lord, we've judged already. We judged ourselves already and said we needed grace, and so we received it. And Father, we're thankful for those with illness or sickness or injury in their body. We're praying God, would there be a grace to cover them, a renewal, a strengthening.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:58:36]:

And Father, we recognize that there's been many among us even, who's brought that grace. You brought that grace in their lives even in this week. And so we're thankful for it. But, Father, empower us today, lord, fill us with Your spirit. So it is Christ living in me and through me. And that, Lord, the life I now live in this body, God, I live in the power of Christ. Lord, let me represent you today. Let me be Your mouth, let me be Your hands.

Pastor Glenn Yamaguchi [00:59:11]:

Would you see through my eyes and love with my heart? Today I need you to fill me with Your light in my darkness. As a result, I'm welcoming Your presence in all of its fullness. Spirit of God, just fall among Your people. We pray, we confess, we belong to you in Jesus name, God's. People say amen. Amen.