No Reserves, No Retreat, and No Regrets

Hallelujah! First Corinthians 9:24–27. Susan and I were praying about what word each of us was to bring. This is a word that the Lord gave me recently, one that has burned in my heart, and I believe it is a word the Lord wants me to share in this first service.

First Corinthians 9:24–27. “Do you not know that those who run in the stadium all indeed run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. Everyone who competes abstains from everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Therefore, I run in this way, not aimlessly; I fight in this way, not as one who beats the air. Rather, I beat my body and bring it into subjection, lest, after having preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.”

The title of the message I want to share with you this morning is “No Reserves, No Retreat, and Nothing to Regret.” Here the Apostle Paul is presenting a passage from his letter to the Corinthians. You know that the Corinthian church was a church that lived amid the moving of the gifts of the Holy Spirit: they prophesied, prayed in tongues, fell to the floor, trembled, and had all kinds of manifestations; but they lived a life in the flesh, with an inclination toward sin. There was fornication, there was sin and incest, and there were many things in the church at Corinth—a church Paul deeply loved and to which, in his letters, we see him give exhortations with infinite love and infinite mercy, but also with much of God’s justice.

NO RESERVES

And he takes this image, one very familiar to them at that time: the image of races in a stadium. Friday was our day off, and Susan and I took a trolley tour of the city because it is our first time in Boston, and everyone who knew we were coming to Boston told us, “It is a beautiful city. You cannot miss seeing that city.” So we took our tour, and they showed us the most important parts of the city. We were impressed because I personally love the historical side of things; I love old monuments, and antiques have a very special place in my heart. My house is decorated in a style that is partly modern and partly antique, so this is something very special to me. We enjoyed it even though I was very ill with this eye.

But at one point the guide, the man leading the tour, spoke about a race that is very famous here, a race that you hold—a marathon, right? And he talked a great deal about it; you could tell it was something very special. He also spoke about a woman with dwarfism who died but who managed to finish the race. Despite her physical limitations, despite being the height of a child while competing with grown-ups, she managed to run in such a way that she finished the race.

And that is the Apostle Paul’s picture of us Christians. He uses the image of that race that was so famous in the days of the Greeks and Romans. And he makes several observations, comparing it with our Christian life. He says that those who run in the stadium are indeed all running, but in the end only one receives the prize. And he exhorts us to run the Christian race in such a way that we may obtain the prize.

Now you may say, “Well, we have already obtained the prize, and the prize is our salvation,” as we sang in that beautiful chorus. But we also know from First Corinthians that there will be a day when we are in heaven and the Judgment Seat of Christ will take place, where each of us will receive a reward, crowns—and Paul fought for that crown. Paul walked in pursuit of that crown, that reward. And he says, “Let us run in such a way that we may obtain the prize”; he motivates us to obtain a prize.

Then in verse 25 he says, “Everyone who competes,” meaning that everyone who is running also abstains from everything. In other words, there is discipline in his life. If I want to be a good athlete, if I want to win the race, there must be discipline in my life. I have to stop eating things that will not have a good effect on my body. Discipline has to do with food and exercise; it also has to do with wearing the right kind of clothing when I run. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 1 speaks about that when it says that we should run, laying aside every weight and every sin, so that we may run the race set before us; and Hebrews says, fixing our eyes on Jesus. And Paul is saying, “Let us run in such a way toward the finish line.” You and I must run this Christian life toward a goal, and our goal is to succeed in fulfilling what the Lord has established in His calling for each of us.

Paul continues speaking in chapter 9, which we just read. He says, “I run, and I do not run aimlessly”; in other words, I do not run without direction. I run in such a way that I am heading toward a goal, a target. Then he says, “And I fight in such a way, and I beat my body.” He is talking about dealing a blow to all this flesh, which sometimes tries to come out of us through our very pores. It is a beautiful picture; it is a picture we need to reflect on today.

I have a burden in my heart, and often sadness in my heart, because even though we see numerical growth—in Latin America we have tremendous numerical growth, and churches grow every day; and when we look at what is here in the United States, churches with thousands of people—yet, you know, I have a burden and sadness in my heart because I see that the Christian life today is very superficial. Instead of the church influencing the world, the world is influencing the church.

I have sadness in my heart when Christians in Latin America are dazzled by the television programs that come to us from here, Christians for whom it is a Hollywood show. I have sadness in my heart because today the pastor is miles away from his sheep. He does not smell like sheep. He works only with a very small group of people. I have sadness in my heart because there is no contact. I have sadness in my heart because today good is called evil, and evil is called good.

I have sadness in my heart because today our leadership is so superficial that we have seen many leaders fall in the slightest storm. I have sadness in my heart because today what happened in the days when David, in chapter 2 of First Samuel—or 1—sang a lament over the death of Saul, the great king, the first king, is happening again. Three times in his lament he cries out in pain and says, “The glory of Israel has perished.” But he was speaking about something else, because in Saul’s final days he went to consult a medium. “How the mighty have fallen,” he said, brothers, “among the Philistines.” And alongside that Saul fell his great friend Jonathan, a man of God, faithful to his father; and three times David says, “How the mighty have fallen! How the weapons of war have perished!”

And I have sadness in my heart because today our young people have few role models. There are many heroes, but you know that heroes quickly fall; there are few role models. And we are responsible before an emerging generation. Discipline in the church has come to an end; that is considered archaic. People should no longer be disciplined. Holy leadership has come to an end, though obviously there are remnants. Hallelujah! And for the sake of those remnants, the Lord wants to speak to us. You and I need to live a life that pleases God, even if other “Christians,” in quotation marks, think that the way you and I live is old-fashioned and archaic. But if that old-fashioned and archaic way is based on this Word, then it must mean that your way of life according to God is extremely contemporary. Because this Word is extremely contemporary: it applied yesterday, it applies today, and it will apply tomorrow, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and He said that heaven and earth would pass away, but His Word would never pass away.

That is why I want to share this word: no reserves, no retreat, and nothing to regret. Some time ago, a few years ago—perhaps two years ago—while meditating during my devotional time, I found in a little devotional book a story that deeply touched my heart. It was about a man whose name I had never heard.

He was a young man named William Burten, an American and the son of a multimillionaire family in this country. They had owned Burten’s Milk as well as adhesives and all of that; they were an exceedingly wealthy family. William Burten was greatly influenced in his spiritual life by his mother. His mother was a wonderful influence in William Burten’s life. At the age of 16, after completing high school, his parents gave him a trip through certain parts of the world. After returning from that trip, he came back with a tremendous fire for missions burning in his heart. And God touched his heart with a calling to work among the Muslims of China. William Burten entered Yale and Princeton universities, and when he entered university, his only goal was to prepare himself to serve God. Christian universities.

His father died, and he was called upon to manage his family’s businesses, but he flatly refused to do so because he said, “God, my heavenly Father, has called me to His business.” After his father’s death, he received a multimillion-dollar inheritance. He prayed earnestly to the Lord and felt led to give everything, his entire inheritance, toward the expansion of the Kingdom. He kept nothing for himself, and when he did this, he wrote on the cover of his Bible, on the first page, a phrase that is the first point of my message this morning. He wrote the phrase, “No reserves, no reserves.”

No reserves. To reserve means to keep; it means to hold something back. In our terms, it means not giving everything to God. It is when we reserve a part of our life or possessions and give God 80 percent or 70 percent, but do not give everything.

When we turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, verses 17–22, the Lord has an encounter with a young man. Mark 10:17–22 says: “...As He was setting out on His way, one came running and, kneeling before Him, asked Him, ‘Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One—God. You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother.’ Then he answered and said to Him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth.’ Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him—how interesting; it says He loved him—and said to him, ‘One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, take up your cross, and follow Me.’ But he, grieved by this word, went away sorrowful, because he had many possessions.”

He was drawn to Jesus, and he asked Him what he could do to gain life. And the Lord, knowing his heart, begins to give him certain guidelines. “Practice the commandments.” “Oh, Lord, I have done all of that. I have honored my father and my mother; I am good.” But in the end, He put His finger on the sore spot: “Sell everything you have and give it to the poor.” For the Word says that he was very rich, and He touched the area of weakness: money, material possessions. And it says that the young man went away sorrowful; he could not detach himself from his possessions.

Now, the Lord was not interested in his possessions. The Lord was interested in his heart, but He knew that this was the problem in his heart. Do not misunderstand me: material possessions are not bad; what is bad is for material possessions to possess us. It is when what God gives us possesses us in such a way that it makes us unable to serve the Lord freely. Having things is not bad; what is bad is for the things we have to have us.

The young man’s problem was money. From the beginning of his conversion, Paul understood very well what “no reserves” meant. In Philippians chapter 3, where we truly find his résumé, his curriculum vitae, Paul speaks about what he was before being in Christ. He describes his identity. He says that he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, one who obeyed the law, a man zealous for his religion, a persecutor of the church, blameless in keeping the law. He speaks about where he was educated, at the feet of Hamaliel. But after giving this account, I love it when Paul says, “But all these things, all of this that I considered the greatest thing, today I count as rubbish; today I count it...”

And the New International Version puts it more forcefully; it says, “I consider it dung, for the sake of knowing my Lord Jesus, for whose sake I have lost everything, and today I count it as rubbish.” Paul lost everything to gain Christ. He lost his reputation within his religion, he lost his position within his religion, he lost his religious honor, and none of it mattered to him if he could gain Christ. He surrendered everything, and you and I know that Paul’s life was one of surrender from the moment Jesus revealed Himself to him on the road to Damascus and, surrendered, he said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” From that day on, Paul gave everything.

I hope you have surrendered everything and that today you will be confronted by this word in case you have held anything back: no reserves. The Christian life is a life with no reserves.

F. B. Meyer, a great man of God, studied at a Bible seminary. He began to preach; his church had a certain number of people, and he had a good ministry. One day, a fellow Bible seminary student came to his city. He was going to be in his city for eight days, and Meyer invited him to preach at his church during those eight days. It was a revolution. For eight days, this man preached in the simplest way, but with an anointing and a power of the Holy Spirit such as Meyer had never seen. He was impacted; the people were touched, but he was impacted. At the end of those eight days, while his friend was packing his suitcase, Meyer approached the room and spoke with him. And with great ministerial pride, he asked him, “What has been the key to this success? Why does God use you this way?” And his friend told him, “It’s simple.”

“One day, while I was praying, I was confronted by the Lord, and I felt that God came into my life and touched my life. And God asked me to hand over to Him all the keys to my locked rooms. And from the day I surrendered everything to Him, my ministry changed; my life changed. I live in a different dimension.” Meyer did not ask him to pray for him. Sometimes we ministers have a pride that keeps us from asking someone else to pray for us. Many feel that they are losing their ministerial dignity when, on the contrary, they are gaining it.

After he took his friend to the train and returned, he knelt beside his bed. Meyer did the same thing: he began to pray and said, “God, today I want to surrender totally to You.” And while he was praying, he felt the presence of Jesus come beside him. And the presence of Jesus in his room was so strong that he could barely move. And he felt that Jesus had come to ask him for the keys. Then Meyer took the keys, raised them in his hand, and with a surrendered heart said to Him, “Oh Lord, take all the keys to my locked rooms. I surrender everything to You.” And he placed them in Jesus’ hands. Then he felt Jesus say to him, “Are these all the keys?” And Meyer said, “Almost all of them, Lord. Don’t worry; the few I’m keeping are small things. I’ll take care of those.” And he felt Jesus return the keys to him and say, “Meyer, either all or nothing.” And He turned away, and at that moment Meyer’s heart was shaken, and he began to weep and cried out to Him, “All of them, Lord!” And he surrendered all the keys to his empty rooms. Because, you know, in our lives there are locked rooms that are empty even though we believe they are full, rooms we have not surrendered to the Lord—things that sometimes even we ourselves do not realize, matters of character, situations that bind us to people and things—but the Christian life is without reserve.

It means giving Him all the keys; it means giving Him every area of our lives; it means knowing that I cannot keep anything for myself; it means knowing that I have to live a life according to God’s way of life. There are things I like, but I have to do as the apostle Paul said: “I mortify my flesh, I strike my flesh, I crucify my flesh,” because the problem is that Christians today crucify the flesh with two-inch tacks, but the flesh must be crucified with the nails of the cross.

The problem is that Christians today want to undergo deliverance; they attribute everything to the devil, but they do not recognize that it is their flesh, their character, that these are situations in their lives. Without reserve. God wants you without reserve.

Today is a day to give God all the keys. Today is a day for nothing else to affect us, for nothing else to bind us either to the world or to any other situation, or to personal feelings that are not right. Without reserve. Tell the person beside you, “Without reserve.”

It means giving everything to God; it means giving Him our life; it means giving Him our strength. Young people, it means giving Him your youth—but what will happen? The very best will happen. It means giving Him everything.

When I was in school, I was the captain of one of the basketball teams. I loved basketball, and whenever we had to compete against other teams from our school, our instructor was there working with us. There was discipline; we had to divide our time between studying and the discipline of training. And I never forget that whenever we were going to play, the coach looked at each one of us, pointed his finger, and told us, “Give everything you have.” And that is how he spoke to us: “Give everything you have.” And we knew that when he made that gesture with his finger, he was saying, “Give everything you have.” And then he repeated, “Don’t forget: give everything.”

And many times while we were playing, and sometimes we were losing, we would look at him to see what instruction he had, and there was only one instruction: “Give everything.” And when we saw that finger, we gave everything. Sometimes our bodies were tired, but we gave everything until we won. Without reserve.

The Christian life is without reserve. It has been 31 years since I came to know the Lord, and I want to tell you that, up to this point, my life has been without reserve. It has been without reserve. I gave myself to Christ today, and by tomorrow it was without reserve. Something happened in my life; something impacted my life, in the midst of a small town, in a very strict society. I was the first person in our social circle to come to know the Lord, and my family turned their backs on me; our friends turned their backs on us. Being an evangelical at that time carried far too great a price.

I was born on the coast; I was born dancing. All of us who were born on the coast—the women from the coast—dance very well. Amen. Praise God!

Oh, you are in your mother’s womb and... Look, when I gave birth to my second child, my husband and I were dancing when my labor pains began. Can you imagine? And we were born dancing, and from the moment you are born, your mother goes, “Chiqui, chiqui, chiqui”; that is, you carry rhythm in your blood. That is why I understand merengue. Hallelujah! Salsa and control—and it is good because they are native rhythms that we must use to worship and praise the Lord.

So dancing was my life. It was a very wholesome youth. Every Saturday night, our friends and we would go dancing. We did not have much money, so we would arrive at a dance hall and order two Coca-Colas and 12 glasses. Because our goal was simply to be able to go, and we had to buy something, right? So, with 12 glasses, the important thing was to dance for three hours to the best Caribbean orchestra.

When I fell in love with my husband and then married him, I knew—my husband is from the interior of the country—and I knew that I was in love with him. I am going to tell you what the sign was: no woman from the coast who dances well marries a man who does not know how to dance. And my husband did not know how to dance.

I’m going to... you can imagine. He did not know how to dance, and I was so in love that I taught him. Obviously, he was not going to move the way we move, but he had learned. So every Saturday we danced. But when I was converted to Christ, the pastor who instructed me the following morning after I had given myself to Christ said to me, “You know, the Lord loves you.” And I said, “But don’t tell me that I have to give anything up.” Because I knew the evangelical mentality. He was so wise that he told me, “No, you don’t have to give up anything. He loves you just as you are.” “Oh, well, if it’s like that, yes.”

And there that morning, on a Tuesday morning, I surrendered everything to the Lord. On Tuesday afternoons, we women played canasta at the club. I loved the game. Tuesday afternoon—would you believe that I did not go to the game? They called me. For the first time, I was reading this Bible. The fire of God set my heart ablaze with passion.

The following Saturday, my husband said, “We’re ready; let’s go.” I said, “No, I don’t want to. The Lord took everything away from me.” Something happened—an extreme change. Without realizing it, I surrendered everything, and 31 years have passed. And I am going to tell you: each time I am surrendering more, more, more. As the Lord shows me, I keep surrendering.

The world was no longer my pleasure. My pleasure and my only joy is Him. He fills everything in me. Without reserve. Without reserve. Tell the person beside you, “Without reserve.”

NO RETREAT

Let us go to the second point of the message. No retreat. Tell the person beside you, “No retreat.” When William Burten was 25 years old, he had finished his university studies, and when William Burten left for China to fulfill his calling, he wrote the second phrase in his Bible. After writing “Without reserve,” he wrote, “No retreat.”

Without turning back—there he wrote, “No retreat.” When you go to Luke chapter 9, verses 57 through 62, there is an encounter between three young men and the Lord. Luke 9:57–62 says:

“As they were going along, someone said to Him on the road, ‘Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.’ And He said to them, ‘Foxes have dens, and the birds of the heavens have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.’ And He said to another, ‘Follow Me.’ He said to Him, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their dead, but you go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.’ Then another also said, ‘I will follow You, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to those in my house.’”

They were talking. There are three young men there whose hearts were set on material things, family, friends, and relatives. And in verse 62, the Lord delivers a word, a phrase, and says, “...Jesus said to them, ‘No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.’”

And He is saying here that no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is worthy of the Kingdom of God. When William Burten left to fulfill his missionary calling, he said, “No retreat.” Once I put my hand to the plow to serve and follow the Lord, I cannot turn back. And this is the problem with many people: one day they say yes, and another day they say no. It is the problem with many who today are, in quotation marks, “radical Christians,” and then we see them turn back.

The Christian life is a walk forward, never backward. The Christian life is walking toward a goal that lies before us, which is called the mark. The apostle Paul said in Philippians chapter 3, verse 13: “I have not attained perfection; I am not perfect. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind, forgetting religiosity, forgetting Pharisaism, forgetting honors, forgetting past glories, I press forward toward the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”

The Christian life is a march forward, never backward, because when you look back, you cannot reach what lies ahead. Every time the people of Israel set out in the wilderness, every time they moved forward and a trial came and a struggle came and their food ran out, they began to look back toward Egypt. And they looked at the food of Egypt, and they looked at what they used to eat in Egypt. They lacked water, and they looked back toward Egypt. “If only we had died!” That generation never attained the promise. That generation never reached the Promised Land because their walk was backward, never forward. Only Joshua and Caleb from that generation attained God’s blessing and the promise. Joshua and Caleb influenced the next generation; they impacted the next generation. Whenever someone died in the wilderness and people came and said, “Joshua, such-and-such a family has died,” Joshua said, “Praise God!”

Do you know why he said, “Praise God”? Because there were fewer of them; they had to remain buried in the wilderness. Their own words buried them in the wilderness. Now there are fewer left; now we are going to reach the land; now we are going to arrive in the land. Because Joshua and Caleb walked forward.

Paul walked forward. You and I have to look forward. It does not matter if trials come; it does not matter if struggles come; it does not matter if temptations come. If your life is founded on the immovable rock of Christ, the fiercest winds and storms will not be able to knock you down; you will keep looking forward. You will be shaken; some leaves will fall from you; some branches will break, but your goal lies ahead. No retreat. The Christian life is without retreat.

When you go to Genesis chapter 19, verse 17, in the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the angels clearly warned Lot and his family what they had to do if they wanted to be saved from the destruction. And in verse 17 they gave them these instructions. When they had brought them outside, they said to him, “Escape for your life,” and notice the instruction: “Do not look behind you; do not stop anywhere in this plain. Escape to the mountain, lest you perish.” But when you go to verse 26 of the same chapter, it says, “...then Lot’s wife looked back from behind him and became a pillar of salt.”

That’s right. She looked back. Once you and I look back, we will be turned into pillars of salt, because there is no retreat. It is without reserve, but also without retreat.

How I love the account of Elisha. In 1 Kings chapter 19, if I move ahead a little, you will see the life of this young prophet whom the Lord called to serve Him as a prophet. Elijah had just gone through a very difficult time. Elijah had been in a very deep depression because of Bathsheba’s threat. We then see him go up to Horeb, the mountain of God, and there God confirms his calling once again and says to him, “There is a higher level. You are going to go; you are now going to prepare your successor, and you will find him. You are going to place the mantle upon him; you are going to anoint kings.”

In verse 19 we find Elijah’s encounter with Elisha, and it says, “...So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Zaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him. And he was with the last one, and as Elijah passed by him, he threw his mantle over him. Then he left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, Please let me kiss my mother and my father, and then I will follow you. And he said to him, Go, return; what have I done to you?”

Here is a young man who was plowing. He had material possessions, he had land, and he was plowing the inheritance that would belong to him. There was a very beautiful family relationship. Surely Elisha, like all the young men of that time, longed for a prophetic ministry. Elijah’s ministry had made an impact in Israel. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets; to this day, the people of Israel await him. Every time they celebrate Passover, each family has a place reserved at the table for the prophet Elijah.

So Elijah made an impact on his generation. There was a school of prophets. Elijah places the mantle on Elisha; that was the confirmation of a calling. What joy for Elisha! He had dreamed of the ministry God had given Elijah, and now came the confirmation. But he does something wise, and he says to him, allow me to go back for a moment to say goodbye to my parents.

You will say, but the other young men asked for the same thing; but this was different—the motivation of the heart was different. You are going to see what Elisha did. And he says, What have I done to you? What he meant was, I have not called you; the one who has called you is God. I am only confirming your calling. Do what you want. He returns home; it says that he kissed his father and his mother. Why? Because he knew that the calling allowed no return. He kissed his father and his mother because he said, this is as far as I go. This is as far as I go with you; I love you, I honor you, but God is calling me. He returned and did something more. In verse 21 it says:

“...And he returned, took a pair of oxen, killed them, and with the oxen’s plowing equipment he cooked the meat and gave it to the people to eat. Then he arose, went after Elijah, and served him.”

No return. He did not only say goodbye to his parents; he took what constituted his work—his oxen. What he did was a prophetic act. He took the oxen and killed them. He took the yokes, he took his work tools, broke them up, and with them roasted the oxen and gave them to his employees. He was saying, nothing can make me go back. Nothing—neither material things nor family—once I am walking in pursuit of God’s calling. There is no return; it is forward. Nothing can make me go back. I am burning everything that can bind my heart, everything that can make me return, because from this day on, Elijah, I am only going to serve you. I am going to walk beside you. Look, he was a rich man, but he went to serve.

No return. The Christian life allows no return. Nothing can make us go back, nothing. Today we see people who begin the Christian life with an explosion of joy, and we say, they are doing well; but when the sun comes out, as it says of the seed that fell on stony ground, there is no depth, and at the first trial they ask, And why, God? And we turn back. But the Christian life allows no return.

Number one, no reserves. Number two, no return. Tell the person next to you, no return. And let us quickly go to the third phrase; say, nothing to regret.

NOTHING TO REGRET

William Burten was 25 years old when he set out in response to his calling. On his way to China, he first had to stay in Egypt to receive practical missionary training. William arrived in Egypt, and his training there lasted only 25 days, because he contracted meningitis in his spinal cord, which later affected his brain. And after 25 days, William Burten died. And when his body was brought to the United States, and when his family opened the coffin, they found the Bible in William Burten’s arms. His missionary companions had placed it there. And when they opened the Bible, the third phrase was written there: nothing to regret.

Listen carefully: nothing to regret. William Burten not only gave all his money; he gave his life to serve the Lord. Many people might perhaps say it was a loss. How could a man with so much passion and such dedication live only 25 years? To many people, perhaps his life was a waste. But I want to tell you what the Internet says about him.

It says that on the day of his burial, hundreds of young people came to consecrate themselves completely to God. It says that after his burial, the number of young people who came to serve the Lord in missions was astounding. William Burten’s life made an impact on his generation. William Burten’s life continues to make an impact even today. Although little is known about him, he continues to make an impact on those who know of him. Personally, this young man’s life has made an impact on me.

We read on the Internet that one or two years ago they brought home one of the American soldiers who had been fighting in Iraq, and on the day of the burial, as they were laying him there with the flag of the United States, his parents stood in front of the coffin and spoke the words William Burten had written. As they buried their son, they said: he lived with no reserves for this nation, he lived with no return, and he lived with nothing to regret. He gave everything for his nation.

William Burten gave everything for the Gospel. His life was an inspiration. When he arrived at the universities to study, the comments that were made were that when he arrived at the universities, he did not want anyone to realize that he was the son of millionaires. He lived with an ordinary appearance. He did not want anyone to realize it, but before long, at the universities, people did realize who William Burten was—not because of the money his family had, but because of the lifestyle he lived. He made an impact on the young people; he lived an upright life before God. He even stood up to his professors when they wanted to bring new ideologies into the Christian universities. He challenged them, he confronted them; he would leave his studies, walk through the streets, and share the Gospel with every person he encountered there. He would walk through the streets, and whenever there were beggars, he would take them to a restaurant, pay for their lunch or meal, and while sharing lunch and food with them, he would share with them the bread of life, which is Christ.

He did not go unnoticed among his generation. He made an impact on his generation, not because of the money he had, but because of the greatest treasure he possessed, which was Christ Jesus. He was able to live with no reserves. He was able to live with no return, and he was able to close his eyes saying, nothing to regret. The pain of the illness was terrible, but that did not make him turn against God. On the contrary, he knew that he had lived his 25 years very well.

Three years ago, when they found the cancer in my kidney, the news affected all of us. One afternoon I was with my daughter on the sofa at home; I was lying back. She was crying, and of course I was crying too. And I said, if the Lord permits it or wants to take me at the age of 54, look, the only thing I want you to know is that I have lived those years well. I did not use the words William Burten used, but I said, Lord, allow me to live longer because there is much to be done; but even if you want to take me now, I will be able to tell you that I have enjoyed every last second of my life. Nothing to regret.

And I want to conclude with this: may we live our lives in such a way that there is nothing to regret. Today we are watching with sorrow as many great people fall. People who began well, people who began very well, and ...... we say, How could this happen? At some point they neglected an area of their lives.

And in the first passage we read from First Corinthians 9, in the last part, Paul gives an exhortation and says, “...I run, striking my body; I bring it into bondage, lest, having been a herald to others, I myself should be disqualified.”

Having been a herald. I will repeat what I said at the beginning. Our rising generation—you have to look upon it with passion, because it is a generation God is calling to challenge the world in the last days. These young people we have need role models; they need life challenges, the challenges of lives that have been lived with nothing to regret.

Many are falling; many great trees are falling because they began well. What matters, beloved, is not beginning well; it is finishing well. You know, when David began, in his early days he made many mistakes and had many falls. But David was a man who made an impact on his generation; he made an impact on the nation. When David died, the people’s lament was, the lamp of Israel has gone out. What a tremendous testimony.

It says, the lamp of Israel went out, because David finished well. He began badly, but he finished well. And he made an impact on the generations that followed him. When you study the books—the book of Kings—the books of Kings speak more about the kings of the north, and the kings of the north were wicked kings. But when you go to Chronicles, you see a detailed account of the kings of the south, among whom there were many good kings, such as Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Asa. And it is interesting that when it speaks of them, it says that they assumed the throne when they were very young. It says that they sought Jehovah with all their hearts and followed the ways of David, their father.

That catches my attention because David was not their biological father. But they let go of the inheritance of their biological fathers, such as the inheritance of Amon in Josiah’s case—his wicked father—and of a grandfather like Manasseh, who only at the end of his days had an encounter with God because of God’s great and extreme mercy. But it says that Josiah followed the ways of David, his father. What it meant was that they made the determination to follow their spiritual fathers. And today, you and I must become spiritual fathers who leave a mark on a rising generation, so that they may even renounce the inheritance of their biological fathers, who perhaps do not follow the ways of the Lord, in order to follow the blessing of the inheritance found in their spiritual fathers.

The lamp of Israel has gone out. What matters is not beginning well. Someone said something that touched me deeply; someone compared ministry and the Christian life to a parachutist jumping out of an airplane. Listen carefully, beloved: it does not matter how many maneuvers the parachutist performs in the air; what matters is that the parachutist finishes well, that he lands well. It does not matter how many maneuvers you and I perform. What matters is finishing well.

Just come with me; you are going with me to two Scriptures: Second Timothy, chapter 4, verses 6 through 8, a very well-known Scripture, one of the last letters Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy. And at the end of his letter, he writes this:

Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse 6: “...For I am already about to be sacrificed. The time of my departure is near. I have fought a good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. From now on, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who love his coming.”

Paul could say with satisfaction, I have completed everything God entrusted to me. I have lived uprightly, I have lived with no reserves, I never turned back. I have finished with satisfaction, with nothing to regret.

I want to tell you that at the end. The final Scripture: First Samuel, chapter 2, verses 2 through 5. When Samuel, Israel’s judge, prophet, and priest, reached the end of his days, he was already an old man, and he stood before all the people. And how beautiful it is when Samuel confronts the people, from verse 1 onward:

“...Samuel said to all Israel, Behold, I have listened to your voice in everything you have said to me, and I have appointed [a king] over you. Now therefore, behold, your king goes before you; I am now old and gray-haired, but my sons are with you.”

Look at what he says: “...And I have walked before you from my youth to this day. Here I stand before you; testify against me before Jehovah and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I slandered? Whom have I wronged? Or from whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? And I will restore it to you. Then they said, You have never slandered us or wronged us, nor have you taken anything from any man’s hand. And he said to them, Jehovah is witness against you, and his anointed is also witness this day, that you have found nothing in my hand. And they answered, It is so.”

Before the people, Samuel could testify that he had lived with no reserves, that he had lived with no return, and that he had lived with nothing to regret. You could have no greater example.

She has departed to be with the Lord. Susan and I were unable to know her personally, but she lived with no reserves, she lived without turning back despite the trials and struggles, and today you bear witness to it, because ever since we entered this church—when I spoke with Meche on the phone this morning, her heart was broken; there was sorrow—because we love that kind of person, someone who makes an impact on our lives and on our generations.

Our sister Antonia has departed to be with the Lord, but she has left a very great legacy. The name Antonia means of incalculable value. She lived with no reserves; she gave everything. She lived with no return despite the hurricanes, the storms, and the fierce struggle. And as she closed her eyes yesterday, she could say, nothing to regret.

I want to live that life. Oh, may the Lord help us; you have the best example. I could tell you about William Burten; I could have told you about one person and another, but you lived around a woman who lived with no reserves, no retreat, and no regrets.

Every testimony we heard as we arrived at church—Mary was sharing the good advice, the wise advice. A woman who had vision even of what was to come and was sensitive enough to share it. A woman who lived in integrity and truth and has left you a legacy, not only to her children and grandchildren, but to the entire church. How good it is to live that way.

Oh, think of heaven. I want to believe that when she departed to be with the Lord, the Lord stood up, as He did when Stephen was stoned, and welcomed her into heaven and said to her, “Good and faithful servant, you gave Me everything, you walked without looking back, and you fulfilled your calling to the very end.” I can believe that yesterday the Lord stood up and welcomed His beloved daughter because she ran the race and reached the finish line; she lived the time the Lord allowed her to live with no regrets.

May the Lord help us to live that way. May the Lord help us. Oh, young people, may the Lord help us. She was a model for you, a model for your generation, for the young people, for the young people. Even at 92 years of age, we need lives like that among us so that we may live with no reserves, no retreat, and no regrets.

Please, how I would love for you to sing, while I make a brief appeal, the last song you sang about salvation—do you remember? What a beautiful song. What a beautiful hymn. Susan tells me that hymn was composed by a man who lost everything in the tragedy of the Titanic. And after losing his entire family, he could sing the words we heard.

Close your Bible, please. Look inward for a moment this morning. Just allow me to make an appeal: perhaps you are still holding something back. Perhaps there are things and areas in your life that you still have not surrendered or handed over. Perhaps there are keys with which you have locked some doors and told the Lord, “You may take this much, but not this.” Perhaps there are people who need to surrender areas of their character today. I do not know how many things I know about myself but not about you.

Allow me to pray for you. And if there is something you need to surrender, I want to ask you to come forward and stand here for a minute, and make the decision today to live with no reserves. If there are people who have tried to look back in the midst of difficult circumstances, I want you to walk forward to say to Him, “Lord, from now on, no matter what happens, I cannot look back. I want to walk with no retreat. No retreat, Lord; You know it.” You know it; walk forward for just a moment. Do not look around; do not speak to anyone. For a moment—you know what you have to surrender; you know. You know whether you have looked back and retreated. In Him there is hope.

David speaks of His many and extraordinary mercies. I do not know what kind of life you have led; perhaps no one knows, but God knows. God knows you; God knows your heart, and today is a morning to surrender everything. Today is a morning not to turn back; it is a morning to say to Him, “Lord, You alone are everything.”

As you stand there, raise your hands for a moment. Close your eyes there, close your eyes there, and while your eyes are closed, look to the Lord who is before you. Let us pray this prayer. You know what you have to surrender, and say to the Lord, “You have called me to live with no reserves. You gave everything for me; You left Your glory, Lord. You left Your glorious glory up above and came to this earth, and without holding anything back, You gave Yourself. You went to the cross; You shed the last drop of Your blood for me. You were reviled; You were humiliated. Oh, You are the Son of God; You are the living God, and You had to go to the cross—the curse of the cross, the most shameful death, the most terrible death. There You lost Your dignity; there You became sin for me; there You endured the cruel abandonment of knowing that God had to close His eyes to His beloved Son. Oh, there You suffered the loneliness of not having the Father near when our sin was laid upon You. And Lord, You lost everything, with no reserves; You never retreated. Even in Gethsemane, when You wept and Your sweat was like great drops of blood, You did not retreat. You only had to say, ‘Father, if it is possible, take this cup from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Yours, be done.’ And You gave the word in Hebrews that You were looking ahead, that all the suffering did not matter. The Word says that it was for the joy set before You that You endured the cross and scorned all suffering, because there the joy was us. The joy was my life; the joy You could see, and what kept You moving forward, was that You wanted to give me Your salvation. You never retreated, Lord.”

Oh, You were the faithful model we want to follow, and today we stand before You, and You endured our blows. Make a lesson there by surrendering the area of your life that you have to surrender. ......... There, with your lips, without anyone hearing you, speak with the Lord. Tell Him, “Lord, I surrender areas; I surrender bondages ........; I surrender, Lord, areas of my character that have not been good. I surrender to You all the keys to my locked rooms. Today I surrender myself to You with no reserves. I want to give You everything in order to live a right life; something good has to happen in my life.” Today surrender everything there. Open your lips; you know what you have to surrender to the Lord. Oh, tell the Lord; speak with Him there. Speak with Him for just a moment and surrender everything to Him. Surrender everything to Him. Surrender everything to Him. Today let us surrender everything to Him. Let us surrender our possessions to Him; let us surrender everything that binds us to this world. Let us surrender every relationship that is not right—and you know it—every relationship that I have been asking you to surrender.

Oh Lord, we surrender everything to You. And today we lift our hands to You. From this day forward, we want to walk so that we may finish our race as Paul finished it, as William Burten finished it—with no regrets; as Samuel finished it, but also as our sister Antonia finished it—with no regrets.

Raise your hands and say to Him, “Make me an example; make me a model who challenges my generation. Make me a model, Lord, who lives in such a way that my light never goes out before them. Oh Lord, help me finish the race, and may every part of this Christian life be a challenge and a commitment marked by a life of holiness, by a life that pleases You. Today, today, Lord, help me break with sin, to break every bondage of the flesh. Help me discipline my body so that I may surrender to You the best and most precious.”

I thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord, thank You very much, thank You very much, thank You very much, Lord. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

WORD FOR DR. MIRANDA

Pastor Roberto, just let me finish this. I have a word for you. The Lord says to you that He knows your heart, and this morning, after we spoke, the Lord placed this word in me for you. The Lord says to you, “My covenant with you has been one of life and peace. The things I have placed in your heart were so that you would fear Me, and you have feared Me. You have revered Him. You have walked rightly before My name; you have lived humbly. The law of truth has been in your mouth, and iniquity has not been found on your lips. In peace and righteousness you have walked with Me; you have caused many to turn away from iniquity. And today I tell you: the lips of a priest must preserve wisdom. From your mouth the people will seek the law, because you are a messenger of the Lord of Hosts.”

But there is something more: the Lord has given you a very strong apostolic anointing, and I see you as a man of the city, a guardian of the gates of this city. Some very large keys have been entrusted to you. “Guard that great key zealously,” the Lord tells you, “because I have placed you as an instrument of righteousness and truth. Many pastors, many leaders will come and open their hearts because there is counsel in you. You have seen it before, but in the days to come it will be greater. I am placing you as a guardian and as a prince among the people of My people, because your heart is like Mine; I have placed a little of My heart in you. You have loved My sheep; you have grieved with My sheep; you have wept with My sheep, and you have guided My sheep.

You have had a simple heart, son—a heart that has not boasted in wisdom but, on the contrary, has sought more of Me. I have seen the thirst in your heart for Me and your hunger for Me. And with the days to come, there are higher levels; this is a new time. It is a new season, and just as you have been familiar with the seasons that take place in this nation, I tell you now that there is a new time. It is springtime; it is the time when you will see many things bloom.

Your eyes will have vision, and your heart will have vision. It will not be your vision, but Mine. Prepare yourself for very great steps that must be taken, steps that will mark destinies. To many they may perhaps seem like madness, but deep within your heart you will know that you are right because there will be a profound sense. Oh, sound the trumpet when it must be sounded, because I will reveal to you times of danger when you must sound the trumpet, not only for your people but for My people in this city and in this nation.

Sound the trumpet. You will understand what I am telling you in the days to come, because I have placed the sound of the trumpet within you, so piercing that you will hear it in your heart. There are different sounds, and you know, son, that the different sounds of the trumpet will be revealed to you, and I will reveal to you when it is a call to assembly and when it is time to announce danger. I will reveal Myself to you, and you will know it.

Lead My people in My law. Take them deeper into My law. Lead them into the depths of My law, of My Word. Teach them the holy and upright way. Speak to them of holiness. Oh, preach the cross that has been so greatly forgotten. Preach it, son; it is a delight to your heart. Preach it to My pastors. Preach it to My leaders, because I have placed you as a man of leadership and influence. New days and new seasons, a new anointing for this time—you will see My glory. Do not be afraid, for the Lord says, ‘I will go before you.’ Hallelujah!