A Simple Life (Romans 12:1) - Part 1

Romans 12, beginning with verse 1: ".... So, brothers, I beg you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not conform to this century, but transform yourselves through the renewal of your understanding so that you can verify what is the good will of God, acceptable and perfect.

I say then by the grace that is given to me, to each who is among you, who does not have a higher opinion of himself than he should have, but who thinks of himself with sanity according to the measure of faith that God distributed to each one, because in the way that in one body we have many members, but not all the members have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ and all members one of another, so that, having different gifts according to the grace that is given to us, if it is of prophecy, use according to the measure of faith; or if of service, in serve or the one who teaches in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; the one who distributes, with liberality; the one who presides, with request; he who shows mercy, with joy.

Let love be without pretense: hate the bad, follow the good. Love one another with brotherly love. As for honor warning one another.” May the Lord bless his holy word. Amen.

Well brothers, in these next few days I would like to spend some time talking about what I call preaching horizontal sermons. Why horizontal? Because many times in church we preach what I call vertical sermons that have to do with spiritual things, obviously spiritual, for example when we talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We talk about signs and wonders and miracles. We talked about spiritual warfare and we talked about the world of demons. We talked about the need for prayer and fasting. These things are obviously spiritual. But I believe that what Christians and many Christian churches that recognize the importance of the gifts and the spirit often lack is that ethical dimension, that moral dimension of life, that daily dimension. I am referring to that dimension of the Christian life that has to do with our relationships with one another, with our character, with our daily behavior, with those little things in life that are what make the difference.

Many times we Christians fall so in love with the gifts and things of the spirit that we forget that there are simple things in life. Actually, I believe that the big problems that we have in life are due to those small things that we have not delivered to the Lord, those little foxes that spoil the vineyards. And I believe that we pastors should also learn to give people such sermons, which are a little boring at times, but which do not lend themselves much to Glory to God, Hallelujah, and to dance in the seats, but which are solid food for daily life.

Brothers, let us direct our gaze more and more to those areas of life. I believe that success in life depends on certain virtues such as honesty, hard work, being diligent, being disciplined, being persistent in life, not living only by emotions but by principles . These are the things that truly ensure a successful life.

We Christians, brothers, must make sure that these things are part of our spiritual life. Let me give you an example of this. Gregory informed me that I think that today he went to visit a family from the church and the family of our brothers Brenda and Winston Quant, they are from Nicaragua, very faithful Nicaraguans, many years in the church. I am sure that 90% of the church does not know Brenda and Winston, and Winston they definitely do not know him because he is a very quiet, very calm man. Gregory was celebrating the fact that they just got a house that God has given them, a beautiful house. Gregory was there. I even saw a little bit of envy in his eyes... The way he described it to me, he said "Wow, I'll change it for you." A new, brand new, huge and very blessed house.

And when Gregory was talking to me about Winston this morning he says that with tears in his eyes he thanked the Lord. Immediately, Mario is nodding because he knows what I mean. There is a picture of Winston sitting here in this building about 10 years ago, 8 or 9 years at least, in the cold, and Winston was here helping Mario with the construction work. Winston, brothers, I see that photo and I, who was a participant in the whole process of fighting for this building, I blessed that man. Winston didn't brag about anything, Winston just faithfully came and gave his time to build this building and when other people maybe got a little tired, and you understand, this is not an implied criticism or anything like that. Winston sacrificed himself for the Lord and no one knows even this. Today I am saying it here. But in my mind I always thought, Winston is a calm, quiet man, he doesn't make a lot of noise but he served the Lord in that persistent, sober, disciplined way. Do you understand what I mean? But notice how years later the blessing of the Lord comes to his life.

Your daughter right now is studying a special program, a beautiful daughter named Suyen, a beautiful daughter with a special character, with a scholarship who will soon be traveling to Guatemala with a group of young leaders chosen from all over the nation for their studies as well. As you see, brothers, this is a family that I have always seen through the years; not very flashy, they don't jump much, they don't speak much in tongues, they don't throw themselves on the ground and glory to God for those who do all those things, understand me. I am not criticizing anyone, on the contrary, I want all these things to happen in my church. Glory to God for them, Amen.

There are other brothers who sometimes jump and dance and everything and Glory to God for it. It is that, as Jesus Christ says, it is not that he does one thing or the other, but one thing and the other. What God wants brothers is that we unite the two qualities in life. Let us unite the passion for God, the fire of the holy spirit, the filling of the holy spirit but also a sober, hard-working, disciplined, excellent life and that we unite these two qualities in one.

That is what will allow our lives to be a blessing. Listen to me, the Latino community and also now North Americans to whom I speak here. It is important that you, young people, young couples who are here, I see my brother Wilson, for example, and his wife, and I see other young couples, Samuel and Myriam and Omar and Airimar, and many other young couples. Hugo and his wife too, Sofia and others.

Brothers, let us dedicate our lives to living by solid values because that is what will build our house and not. The one to stick to a vision through thick and thin, against discouragement and the ups and downs of life, one to stick with it, punching in your card on time every day at work, going to the bathroom only the time that is necessary and dedicating everything the rest to work, earning their bread honestly, that people say: "Look, if that employee leaves, the factory collapses" because you dedicate yourself to making a life of integrity, simple, from the heart.

Young people, get the butterflies out of your head and the cockroaches too. That's what's important, brother. It is that quality. What you dedicate yourself to, what you give importance to, that is what will determine success in your life. If your values are simply knowing the latest episode of the latest novel, you're going to have a head full of cockroach wings. But if you dedicate yourself to creating solid values in your character, woman, man of God, and to be firm in your behavior and walk straight in life, that is what will lead you to success.

Now what does all that have to do with this passage. I realize that all I'm going to be able to do is give the introduction, but that's fine, the introduction is fine, and there's a lot for you to chew on. This passage is obviously a passage that is made up of simple advice. Chapters 12 and 13 of Romans and to the end are chapters that are very practical. From Chapters 1 to 11 in Romans the Apostle Paul is engaged in discussing very high, theological issues, and the Epistle to the Romans is one of the most powerful epistles in Christian theology. In Romans the Apostle Paul established the foundations of Christian theology, but from there, from Chapter 12 onward, the Apostle Paul, led by the holy spirit, dedicated himself to giving simple advice about the Christian life.

All he does in the rest of that chapter is give us practical advice. For example, we go to verse 9, it says: "love be without pretense, hate what is bad, follow what is good" "love one another with brotherly love", verse 10, "in honor preferring one another .” Look at verse 15 "rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."

Brothers, these are very simple tips. There is nothing hyped up, nothing very exotic there about these tips. These are the qualities brothers, as I say, as an introduction this morning in the name of the Lord, I want to call you all to look at these simple aspects of the Christian life. If we dedicate ourselves to pursuing those small but very important values in life, over the years we will see how in the case of the Quant family, God's blessing rests.

For some reason I see young couples and tell them. If you set that goal now in your lives to live a life like this, that honors the Lord in simple things, in small things, God will bless you in the long term. When you get to 20 years of marriage, 30 years of marriage and you can look back and see how the growth has gone.

The word of God says: "... because the path of the just is like the light of the aurora that is increasing until the day is perfect." The journey of the man or woman of God, of the couple of God, is like that, standing there and people who look through the years, step back and can see the design, can see the ascent. Perhaps we, living it day by day, do not see it, but others can see it and when we stand back and look at our life, we see that our life has been ascending. That has to be done day by day, simply putting one foot in front of the other, firm, valuing the word of God.

I want to do something right now. I want this youth to rise up, I want that couple that is there to stand up. And all other young couples 15 years and older. From 15 to 22, 23, get up. I don't want to be too precise, here too. Rocío and this couple get up. Stand up. You two too. Any other young people who are here too. Stand up. If you feel that this is for you too now stand up, also the others. All right, if you want to stand up, Gloria and Rafael, please stand up. Commit your life to the Lord.

Look at what it says here, it says: "...do not conform to this century but be transformed through the renewal of your understanding." There are a lot of youth, a lot of people who are starting out in life who are conforming to this century. The Lord is saying, do not put so much emphasis on the things of this world, the fashions and the values of the world and the ambitions of the world. No. Instead transform inside, change your mindset, renew yourself so that you can live successful lives. It says: "... so that you can verify the good will of God." There has to be a change of mentality before we can verify God's will for our life, because God wants to bless each one of us but first there has to be an interior change. "Lord, I am going to put my love in you, I am going to put my passion in you, I am going to take the eyes off the world and I am going to dedicate myself to honor you and seek your glory", and then you will see the blessing of God descend on your life.

When you put your preference in the things of God. When you prefer God and put him above all things, God begins to bless you and clear your path and straighten your steps and remove obstacles from your life. There has to be a conversion.

Many of us are in the church but the church is not in us. It's like what he says: some go through the school, but the school doesn't go through them. Many of us are in the church but the church has not gotten inside of us.

The Bible says: "... the eyes of the Lord run through the whole earth looking for those with a perfect heart towards him to show himself faithful in their favor", but they have to start with a change of mind and values. And that we put those values into practice every day. Test the Lord. I promise you in the name of Jesus, that you will see great things in your life. Amen. Hallelujah. Glory in the name of the Lord.

Right now raise your right hand. Everybody stand up now and raise your right hand as a sign of covenant with the Lord. And tell the Lord “Father, I embrace the values of your Kingdom, I embrace the ethics of your Kingdom, the morality of your Kingdom. I welcome excellence into my life”, say so to the Lord. I welcome discipline, persistence, self-control, honesty, justice, love, equity”, are the values of the Kingdom of God. Ask the Lord to change your life: “Lord, change me. Change my emphasis, change my attitude, change my heart, Lord. Change the structure of my life inside. Change me inside Don't change me on the outside, just do external things. No, change me inside. Put a new strength within my Lord. Oh hallelujah.”

Thank you, sir. We adore you, we bless you. Thank you Jesus. Thank you for your word, Lord, because your word is true, your word is faithful, Lord. We embrace your word, Lord. Let's sing Lord, we thank you. You are going to see big and transformative changes in your life. Dare to believe the Lord and put it to the test for a while like Daniel did with his vegetarian diet. Put God to the test, really for a while and challenge others to see the change in your life. You will see how God will transform your life.

Thank you sir. We bless you, we adore you. Thank you Jesus. Thank you. Hallelujah.