The attitude of triumph (Part 6)

As we are always studying the passage from Hebrews, Chapter 12, verse 1 and 2 and we are going to continue with our meditation that we started a few Sundays ago, we let them know for the brothers who visit us.

We have been thinking about this passage and this series of sermons for several weeks now, we have taken these two verses as a starting point for a series of reflections on the elements that need to be incorporated to one's life to be successful, to reach a goal, to fulfill a purpose, whatever that purpose may be, it can be something small, it can be something big. It could be just graduating from a trade, or it could be graduating as a neurosurgeon, like a young lady who came in very happy this morning, to tell me that she had been accepted to a very exclusive high school, and I encouraged her to keep going, and told her I asked what do you want to be. She told me I want to be a neurosurgeon, and she had difficulty pronouncing the word, but glory to God, but I know it will come. And I told him 'you are going to arrive in the name of the Lord, because you already started the race well and there are links there that you have to reach, but God is going to help you and you are going to reach them.

We believe that the Christian life is successful and Christ has called us to have life, and life to the full. And to Joshua he said 'I have given you all the land that the soles of your feet will tread on', and that is an image that is there in Scripture because it is applicable to everyone who believes. The Bible is full of images of success and triumph.

And I believe, brothers, that when God calls us to the Gospel it is to triumph. I see here in this church, in this community, a community of men and women that in 10, 20 years I will see here professionals, I will see housewives turned into spiritual warriors, fallen men who came to the Lord with all kinds of problems. , redeemed and strengthened. I am going to see professionals in our youth, I am going to see an exemplary race as we have said, in the name of the Lord, because God did not call us to be tail but what? head. The blessing of God accompanies the children of God, brothers.

Oh, yes there may be struggles, there may be difficulties, there may be giants in the way, but God has told us in the end I will bless you. Take the spear in your hand, take the rod of authority that I have given you, and attack those giants, strike the sea and the sea will open, says the Lord.

I believe in a prosperous town, brothers. I believe that when God calls the children of God it is to be luminaries, to surpass themselves, to grow, to do great and extraordinary things, that is why I am taking this time to fertilize their lives with vision. with encouragement, with the ability to believe great things.

This Chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, says "Therefore we also, having such a great cloud of witnesses around us", you remember that we have been breaking down each of these expressions, "let us strip off"-remember getting rid of the things that overwhelm us and make us run the race of faith with heaviness. "...let us get rid of all the weight of the sin that besieges us", those social, cultural values that are not the values of the Kingdom of God that want to get inside of us and take our mind and control it and color it and shape our mind, according to the values of the world, we have to get rid of that sin that besieges us, "....and run with patience the race that lies ahead of us."

You have to draw, as we have said, the race you want to run, you have to define it previously to know how to run it properly and what you are going to need, what equipment, what adjustments, what habits, what attitudes , what relationships, what resources to reach the goal.

“...running with patience the race ahead of us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.” Set eyes on Jesus. I don't think I'm going to have time to go much further than that so I'm going to leave it there.

Let me do a little review for the brothers who arrive here regarding this of the race that we have ahead of us. I was saying that the athlete, and this is the image, the metaphor that the apostle is using here, of a race. The athlete, the runner has to understand the race that he is going to run, he has to structure his strategy to the type of territory that he is going to cross to run those 26 miles, which is a marathon.

The athlete has their sights fixed on a clearly defined goal. Most of us don't have a clear vision of the kind of life we want to live. We live by improvisation rather than by design. I have called you to live a life by design. The design in the first instance comes from God but then God delegates to you the authority to configure what you want to do in life and to analyze all the dimensions of your life, all of them: as a father, as a wife, as a friend, as a professional, as a servant of God, as a person who has a physical body to take care of, as a counselor and teacher of others around you, as a member of the social community in which you move. Each of these conditions, as a human being that you occupy, because one moves in multiple conditions through life, has a specific vision that you have to define and you have to present it to the holy spirit so that he then fertilizes it and turn into something updated.

And this requires a series of questions that one has to ask oneself: the career one has ahead, for example, what grades do I want to get next year? Or in my academic career as a whole, what lifestyle do I want to be living in ten years in professional or financial or material terms? Do I want to be a professional or not? Do I just want to occupy a trade? Glory to God, maybe you want to just, let's say, and I'm not going to say just because there's no such thing, but maybe you don't want to be a neurosurgeon, but you want to be a nurse or you want to be an audiovisual technician or in a hospital or whatever, a trade: carpenter, electrician.

But you have to ask yourself: what goal do I have for my future? What kind of life do I want to live in 5 or 10 years? What kind of person do I want to marry? And you have to think about that individual and analyze it instead of just taking the first thing that comes to you to get by because you don't want to stay, then you take the first thing that comes, instead of saying 'No, I'm going to wait for what God He's going to bring me, and if not, he won't.' Amen. Better alone than in bad company, they say over there sisters. Don't go improvising on such important things.

What are the qualities of that individual or that woman? What characteristics do I want to define me as a person, moral, ethical, temperamental, personality? What kind of friendships do I want to cultivate? Who are the people I want to influence my life? And with whom do I want to share my social moments, of intimacy?, instead of simply choosing the insecure again, the first one that comes to you to have someone, a warm body to be close to you and not to say that you are alone and that you have no friends.

No, choose, wait, aim well, determine your people who strengthen you, encourage you, give you vision, support you in your dreams, not people who are dragging you towards the void, towards the bottom, towards the inertia of life. Look for people who inspire you, who contribute to your life, who enrich your dreams, people with whom you can see yourself reflected in your high aspirations. You understand? Because that will affect your life.

What kind of clothing am I going to wear that is consistent with the values of my Christian faith and with the image I want to reinforce in myself and project to another? This is very important. Sometimes I see those 17-year-old boys there with those pants falling down, and those bags like that around them, no... I, I'm at the age where I can say those things and I don't sound so hateful.

But brothers, I see those guys sometimes and I say: if I were an employer, would I employ something like that? Look how a soldier dresses, how a warrior dresses. The clothes we wear have to reinforce what I have inside, do you understand?

If I want to be a strong, determined, firm man, my clothes are either going to reinforce that image or they are going to be dragging it back and I am going to be struggling subconsciously with the clothes I have on and it is going to unconsciously battling with my values. While if I dress in a certain way, those clothes strengthen my subconscious in terms of the positive purposes that I have for my life, yes or no? If you didn't understand me, look for the cassette at the end of the service and listen to it again.

Why do soldiers dress in tight clothes, with their medals and spurs and their issues? Because they are reinforcing courage, discipline, a manly character, decision. They are saying all this to each other when they are seen marching into position. They have certain gestures, a certain way of speaking, all of that says: you are a warrior. You are going to face death at some point, you are going to have to kill or be killed. You are going to be under pressure so steel yourself now for the battle ahead.

And so it is in civilian life. What clothes do you wear, for example? Woman, if you belong to the Kingdom of God, and if your values are chastity, modesty, spirituality, not the sensual, but the spiritual, if you want to bless the men who are around you, you have to ask yourself, 'forgive me, I know that I am entering very dangerous ground here, perhaps even my pastorate is in danger. But sister, it's not for you to feel bad. No, no, no, understand me, because I struggle with that in everything, even with my own daughters, we are always in battle regarding that. And it's okay, we're among the family, we're like here.

I want to plant a vision in your life, you know? It is that what I want rather is to encourage them to reflect on their environment, because most of us prefer life without thinking about who I am, how my circumstances are aligned with my vision: what I eat, how I dress, the places that I frequent, the relationships that I maintain, the readings that I do, the entertainment in which I get involved, my routine of work, study, devotional, all these things have to be linked to a vision that you have previously decided about yourself. And you have to take time to determine who I want to be in the Lord.

That is why God tells Joshua 'I have given you all the land that the soles of your feet can tread on'. So, God has given you the land of your personality, what you are going to be, the achievements that you are going to have. God has said 'I have given you authority', but if you do not take that authority and determine life. Life is like an animal, you have to take it by the collar and shut it up so that it knows who's boss, because otherwise life rides on top of you.

How can a tiny man tame a giant horse? Because when the horse needs to, he pulls the... and lets him know who's in control. I have seen men walking with a ferocious dog that if it wants to destroy the owner in a moment, but when the owner pulls a little on the collar, the dog adopts an attitude of discipline. And I believe that this image is like this for all aspects of our lives.

If you let yourself be governed, dominated by circumstances, by daily living, life will ride on top of you and control you. But if you decide "No, I am going to live this way in the name of the Lord and I take authority over my land", and you start living by design and not by improvisation, life will adjust to you and the Circumstances will begin to align and reconfigure according to the vision that you have conceived in your heart and in your spirit.

But you have to ask yourself these questions. You have to take time to reflect on these different areas of your life and do it as a life routine for the rest of your days on earth. Now, the Apostle who writes says, "the race that we have before us fixes our eyes on Jesus."

The word that translates into Spanish as 'put your eyes' is 'aphorontes' and it means, in English perhaps the expression can give you a better idea 'looking away'. There is one of the translations 'looking into the distance', in a focused way, in a very specific way, very concentrated. Putting your eyes that way on Jesus.

We brothers have to live life that way. And I want, for a moment, to hide the expression 'in Jesus' and I only want to isolate 'looking at'. Why is that idea of a vision so important?

I shared with the brothers this morning to have a specific vision about what I want to achieve. I was saying the importance of us being able to internally visualize the goals that we set for ourselves. I say here in life you have to clearly define a vision and then live with your eyes set on that vision, letting the vision guide you in all the actions you do daily.

Abacuk, Chapter 2 says 'write the vision so that he who reads it may run'. And the visions that we conceive have to be that way. We should write them if possible. I have a personal vision of the type of life I want to live as a father, as a husband, as a professional, as a pastor, as a leader, as a son, as a brother, each of these areas, my intellectual life, as a friend of God and in each of those areas I have written down and I visit that vision regularly to remember it. And I have to set my eyes on her to run my life according to that vision.

Stephen Covey one of the great writers on leadership has said the following. He says that we, in one of the books that I recommend the most, in fact is called "Seven habits of highly successful people" "Seven Habits of highly successful people", one of the books that should not be missing in your library, is in Spanish Also: "Seven Habits of Highly Successful People."

And he says that we have to live life as if... this way: imagine you can miraculously be watching your own funeral, while people are talking about you, ok? And that you can listen when people stop and eulogize your life and you have to try to live your life thinking about what you would like people to say about you at the end of your life. "He was a great father", "a hard-working man, a disciplined person, I always saw him studying and reading and improving himself, he was a man who knew how to be a good friend, a person who paid his debts and who lived within his means, but he was also always looking to improve himself in different ways. He was a person who did not allow himself to be defeated but was always moving forward."

One has to wonder what I wanted them to say about me when my life is over and then one has to let that vision animate one throughout life. You have to ask yourself first, set your eyes on the vision. The ability to visualize, to see things in 3 dimensions and in color on the screen of the mind. The things, the dreams that you want to develop in your life. God wants you to define them clearly and many times God will not respond to your requests until you get to that point of knowing exactly what you want.

When I was a graduate school student and even before that, I was taught something very important. When I was going to do a written work or a thesis, whatever it was, the first thing I had to define what my topic is, because for example, they don't ask you to write about the Second World War, because I would have to write a complete encyclopedia . Hundreds of books have been written about the second world war, but just one aspect: how, say, the invasion of Poland, and even that is too big, affected the second world war and its start. And I had to go even deeper into a particular character. Once you knew what your specific topic was, then you could start reading, researching, writing, because until you clearly define what you want to write, it's difficult, your mind is scattered everywhere.

That is what happens to me when I give a sermon, the first thing I need to know is what is the topic I want to preach. Once I have the subject and I have the text, I run free, but when my mind is everywhere like this, wandering, I don't concentrate. For example, today the subject that interests me is vision, living life by vision, and look, I have isolated three words: set your eyes. That is all that interests me in that text for today.

When one defines his life in this way and defines his goals in this way, what he does is that all the resources, all the faculties of our being are then unified to go in a single direction. Because this is how the human being works, when it is clear what one wants to be, that affects the authority with which you speak, what you project. In a job interview if you have doubts about whether you want the job or not or if that is what is really going to fill your life, or if you are there simply because you have no other reason. you know what? If he is a perceptive person from your answers, he will realize how focused you are on what you want.

And that is why it is so important that when you are going to undertake any struggle in life, any goal in life, you spend time visualizing, concentrating on what you want. First define well what you want to be, and then set in your mind a clear, specific, well-defined vision so that this vision then orders and concentrates all the other faculties of your being to it. And it is what happens, when you finally discover what you want to do or be in life, your whole being then magically, mysteriously unifies because God made the human being that way, to be focused and then you are going to walk with stronger, stronger. But you need to visualize, that's why it's so important to take time to think about what you want to do.

I said before that many of us live life in the steam, running from one place to the other, we never reflect, we never think. I would say that for each day of life one should take an hour of reflection and thought and silence to meditate on how I am going to process that aspect of my life. You have to take time to think about things and see them clearly, setting your eyes on something that is well, well, important.

The heroes of Hebrews Chapter 11, because Chapter 12 is linked to Chapter 11, Chapter 12 is simply an application of what is in Chapter 11. And if you look at the heroes of faith What the writer of Hebrews shows in Chapter 11 are men and women who could visualize what they wanted and spent time looking in a mental way at the things they wanted to achieve, what they were aspiring to, and that encouraged them to keep going.

Look for example, go with me, to Hebrews Chapter 11, verse 7, it talks about Noah, one of the great men of faith. It says "...by faith Noah, when he was warned by God about things not yet seen, with fear he prepared the ark in which his house would be saved and by that faith he condemned the world and was made heir of the righteousness that It comes by faith."

See? About things not yet seen..... Noah was called to build an ark for a rain that he had never seen. The Bible tells us that the first time it rained was when the flood came until then it says that the earth gave off a vapor that moistened the earth, but it had never rained. And God said to him, 'It's going to rain, prepare an ark for me and collect animals for it.' Noah had to visualize something that was not seen.

And, brothers, if we want to succeed in life we have to see things as if we were already witnessing them. What is the faith? Faith is therefore the certainty of what is expected, the conviction of what is not seen. The conviction of what is not seen.

When we bought this building, it was a warehouse, here there was a roof that doesn't exist now, there were no balconies, everything was brick, this didn't exist, there was a much lower wall. And we had to break that down and make.....in there is a steel beam that weighs thousands of pounds, up there, and this was connected to the other building next door. This was completely...., no one would think that's what this came from. I had to visualize what this could be.

Before those columns were covered with wood, I had seen them covered with wood. Before this neighborhood was a neighborhood that today is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a studio next to us, I used to tell the brothers that it now costs two and a half times, almost three times what this entire building cost us. with your parking lot. But you have to see things before they happen. I saw this neighborhood as blessed, I did not see it full of alcoholics and criminal people, I saw it blessed because the Church of Jesus Christ was going to enter this place and because it is the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

You have to visualize things that you can't see, brothers. David tells him that God calls things that are not what they are. God is the first visionary in the universe and we have to be children of our father and be able to conceive big dreams. So what if no one in your family ever graduated from college, maybe you haven't seen a member of your family but you may be the first or you have to visualize yourself receiving a diploma and celebrate that and look at it. You have to see things that are not seen, brothers. You have to see your house made and you have to see its walls and you have to see its carpet and you have to fantasize inside it.

You have to take time to reap visions of life so that you can then, like Noah, build an ark and put animals in it. Noah was waiting for years and years seeing something that had not yet been seen, a rain fall, and for that faith, he says, he condemned the world. I mean, there was no excuse. He believed God and his faith made possible the salvation of him and his family.

Look at another person who had a vision, look at verse 13, all the heroes of faith. It says: "All of these died according to faith, that is, all those great men and women who achieved great things in life, all of these died without having received what was promised but what?, looking at it from afar and believing and greeting it."

See, you can't greet anything you haven't seen in three dimensions. What has struck me the most about this passage is the idea that these people, God told them 'you are going to triumph, your life is going to fertilize the nations. I have promised you victories and you are going to achieve them. The Lord spoke to them of things that were going to happen and many of them did not see them, they died without having seen what was promised but in faith they saw it with their eyes, and they saw it so clearly that they greeted it and believed it. And so you have to believe that God is going to take you to the goal.

And when you are in trouble and in difficulty in your goal, keep saluting the goal. Say 'in the name of the Lord I see you, I declare you'. Get used to speaking positively. I have it. It's mine. Say hello to the things that God has promised you and believe it and don't let anyone kill your dreams. Keep throwing water on your dreams until you fulfill them. Say hello to them and believe in them.

In verse 26 and 27 it says that Moses rejected the luxury of the Pharaonic court and the privilege of being the son of Pharaoh's daughter for, it says in verse 26 “... considering greater riches the reproach of Christ –although he did not understand that but it was indeed what he was working on-.... considering the reproach of Christ as greater wealth than the treasures of the Egyptians, why? ....because he had on –look again- his eyes on (his eyes on, remember?)....on the reward for faith he left Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king because he stood as seeing the invisible”.

One has to see the invisible things. Most of us human beings are very basic people. We only see what we touch, we only see what we smell, what our 5 senses touch. But the man, the woman of God has to live with an additional faculty that is the faculty of the spirit. Walking in the spirit...... We have to be dreamy people, in the positive sense of the word. We have to take time to visualize and that our visualization is like a prophetic act where when we see things on film in our minds, we are prophesying about them and we are adding an additional dimension of power to our prayers, to our requests before God. You have to visualize, you have to put your eyes on these things.

You have to conceive a vision and then align your life and every aspect of that life, every action to that vision. This is the center of this whole message of the series in total that I am developing. We must live with purpose, with goals, taking authority over our lives, with a clear idea of what we want to achieve and then launch ourselves into running that race.

And I'm going to take the last thing that I didn't do this morning but it says: “fix your eyes on Jesus”.

This is where I get a little more spiritual. Jesus is a source of power, brothers, for our lives. Visualizing Jesus and visualizing his person, his word, his example gives us encouragement to achieve our goals. Paul, it has been said that his Gospel was a Christ-centric Gospel, because Paul was all in Christ. If you look at Paul's writings the word in Christ is everywhere.

Paul says, for example, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And when you take time to found your life in Jesus, that gives you encouragement, that gives you power. There is something mysterious in the figure of Jesus. There is something mysterious in the name of Jesus. We have to live our dreams, that's why I'm not talking to you about positive thinking. I am not saying here just a secular-style cheerleader. I believe that when you have Christ within you and when you take time to focus on Jesus in your life, it mysteriously connects you to a source of power that gives you the ability to accomplish things that ordinary human beings cannot. achieve.

We must use Jesus in a sense as a source of power to reach the goals we want to achieve. Christ is the one who makes it possible for us to achieve our goals. He is the main hero of that great pantheon that Hebrews 11 shows us. He is our model for a successful life, for a fulfilled destiny, that is why we must fix our eyes on him and always carefully observe his example.

And that brings me to something very important. If you want to achieve great things in life it is important to have a good model, an environment. Today in leadership and corporate thinking circles, all of that, there's a lot of talk about having a good mentor, someone to mentor you. It is important that if you want to reach your goals, you associate with people who can take you forward, who can give you energy, who can serve as a model for you. Find someone to be your mentor.

If you see a woman in church, for example, who is filled with the holy spirit, a woman who knows the word, who prays with authority, look, stick to her and say 'make me your disciple' . Have someone disciple you and pray with you and give you life, give you their vision.

Young people, find a mentor, find an adult. Adults, mentor youth. Many of you men have already led a successful life and have achieved... it doesn't have to be a genius, it doesn't have to be a four-star professional, but you've reached adulthood and you're married and you've fought certain battles and you have your wounds that you have overcome. You can be a mentor to a young person.

There are many young people who are growing up without a father in this society and who need someone to give them life. That's why when I'm walking through the aisles of the church and I see a little boy, I don't care what he is, I try as much as possible to stop and put my hand on his head and bless him, that he give me a hug and cling to him. him because I am transmitting life to him, in some way.

I want that... that little moment there that I have with that little boy and look into his eyes and hug him or whatever, I think that I am transmitting something to him and that that boy maybe, that sticks with him and that he has that memory of a pastor years ago who hugged him and his subconscious is blessed for that, and he loves the church and loves the Lord for that moment.

And so you too must do the same. We are in a society that does not have many worthwhile people to lay eyes on. Today young people cast their eyes on rap artists, on basketball players, the criminals they see on TV, the bad sensual examples of movie entertainment. Those are superficial examples, examples that encourage consumerism, materialism, sensuality.

Brothers, we have to provide an example for our children. We have to model, we have to be lives that can lay eyes on us, not in the sense of idolizing ourselves, but for someone to say 'wow, that person has something admirable, I would like to imitate him' It's not that we're perfect and by the way I tell you, no idealize anyone. Your mentors are going to fail you, your idols are going to fall. There is no one perfect. What we are saying is a healthy respect, a learning from the things that the person has achieved and we have to take care of each other.

Married and experienced women mentor girls so they can lay eyes on you and learn from you. You have already had children, you have fought battles, some have your wounds about marriage, but God is healing you. You can share a piece of advice with a young lady. Why are our children so empty?

About 3, 4 days ago I stopped, I was going to go to City Hall in Sommerville to do a personal errand and I parked my car and while I was looking for my papers to order them to go, there was like, I'm not exaggerating , like 15, 10, 15 young people from Sommerville High School, stuck there near my car. I spent about 10 minutes watching them. I saw a very pretty 16- or 17-year-old girl and I saw her attached sensually to two different men, and they hugged her, groped her. I saw other youngsters there swearing and making obscene gestures. I saw in your eyes the emptiness, brothers, of growing up without spiritual parents, without models. That young girl hitting herself, selling her body for a smile, a caress, a sense that "you are worth it" that we accept you. And those youngsters abusing her and thinking about other things with no motivation, no purpose for living. And I said 'Father, have mercy on this generation because they are like sheep without a shepherd'.

There are no models, there is no one to look up to today, but we can in the name of Jesus entrust ourselves and say: 'Father, I want to be a person who is at least a young man, a young lady can look at me and I can transmit something of your life to her'. And live, as we said, because we have a great cloud of witnesses around us. They are always watching us. There are people who need it, brothers and if you are not that person who exemplifies high values, no one else is going to be able to do it in this generation.

Women, men mentor somebody, cover somebody, some young man, some young woman. Life, humanity learns by transmitting values, one generation passes its torch to another generation and that to another generation. The devil has broken that sacred cycle of transferring vision from one generation to the next, and we Christians have to correct that defect and begin to transmit life. And then, take them by the hand and say 'look, you are not looking at me, who you really have to look at is Jesus. Set your eyes on Jesus, that one will not fail you, that one will not disappoint you, that one will not fail, that one will not tell a lie, that one will not promise you something that it does not fulfill. Put your eyes on Jesus. Love Jesus. Pray to Jesus. Meditate on Jesus. Read about Jesus. Imitate him, learn integrity in the midst of suffering. And I am going to develop them a little more the next time we speak, but when we set our eyes on high models, and Jesus is the hero par excellence, our lives are filled with the life of Jesus.

It says that looking face to face with the unveiled face we are transformed from glory to glory. Looking at Christ we become like him. Putting Jesus as the primary example, observing his integrity, observing his integrity in the midst of the test, we absorb those values.

Brothers, I encourage you in the name of the Lord. I invite our musicians to come here to look at Jesus. Says the writer of Hebrews "...consider the one -that's what follows after that verse- consider the one who suffered such a contradiction of sinners so that your spirits may not grow weary until you faint."

You have to set your eyes on a vision. You have to use high aspirations in life. The world out there is always looking at decayed things, corrupt things, things that do not give life, we Christians have to set our sights on exalted things, sublime things, beautiful things.

He says that “.... all the good things – and a precious passage occurs to me, brothers, and I no longer had that, but right now, it is precisely in Philippians, Chapter 4. Look what It says about that of looking at tall and beautiful things and visualizing them. Chapter 4, verse 8 of Philippians: "...for the rest, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honest, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good report, if There is no virtue, if anything worthy of praise in this think." I could say set your sights on this.

Christian, God calls you to set your sights on sublime things, high things, inspiring things, beautiful things, things that encourage you, things that bring out the glory that is hidden from you. Young people, invest your time in things that will inspire you. Do not look at nonsense that what they are going to do is that they are going to absorb life and steal life. Set your sights on things that encourage you to keep going. Look for friends who inspire you, look for environments that may not be the most delightful and attractive possible, in terms of joy, but that are sublime and admirable so that your life can continue in that direction.

I want a youth that sets its sights on high things. And the Apostle Paul ends by saying "what you learned, and received, and heard, and saw in me, this do." You understand? Pablo was a man who walked with integrity, and he wasn't afraid to tell them 'hey, look at me, let me mentor you, imitate me.' Only a man like Pablo could say something like that with that certainty.

But there's the idea of looking at positive examples and thinking about positive things. In this church there are beautiful people, there are hard-working people, honest people, people of integrity, people who are doing their best. Let's set our sights and be like them, imitate them and bless others. If you think there is something good in your life, don't apologize. Don't be falsely humble. Say, 'No, I have this and I can give it and I'm going to share it with a little boy, I'm going to share it with a young man. I'm going to share my life, I'm going to share my talent, my calling, my gifts with someone and then I'm going to say 'look, fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of your faith'.

Let's stand up. People of vision, people of vision, brothers, people of vision. People who are focused on what God has put in their spirit and who pursue it with courage until they reach the goal.

Think about what you want from your life, God tells you 'Son, daughter, how do you want me to bless you? What do you want me to do for you? What do you want to be in 5 or 10 years? Have you taken time to think about it? Because I want to bless you, I want you to give me the precise coordinates where I am going to meet you. What is the area of your life that you want me to touch so that I can land there with all my gifts, all my power and take you to the goal?

Nothing is impossible for a child of God. Set your eyes on what God has called you to achieve. Put your eyes up, aim high. Aim high in life and bathe your visions every day in prayer, visit that reserved garden where your vision is and live life that way, constructively, by design, not by inertia, not by improvisation, and you will reach the goal In the name of the Lord.

God is a rewarder of those who seek him and who define clear visions. Father, I bless this people in the name of Jesus this afternoon and declare the birth of new visions in their hearts this afternoon.

Lord, help us to raise up a prosperous town, a blessed town, a town of men and women, young people and children who are like a fertile land, very dark, full of nutrients, where all that is needed is a small seed to fall, to raise a leafy tree full of fruits that bless others.

I rebuke any rope the devil wants to tie around our necks to keep us tied to the earth and I loosen those ties and watch this town soar to new heights. Oh, Lord, your word says that those who trust in Jehovah will have new strength, they will be like eagles, they will run and they will not get tired, they will walk and they will not get tired. Oh, Lord, give us eyes of eagles, give us an ability to see the prey in full definition before us and launch.

Help us to visualize great things that you are going to do in our lives. I bless this people, Father, and generate in them vision on this day, the ability to believe, to see what you have for them and we give you the glory and honor, Lord, and we will only give credit to you.

Visions for your people, Lord. Dreams, as you gave to José, as you gave to Daniel. Dreams that have to come true and the persistence to stay until they reach the goal. Thank you Jesus.

Receive God's blessing, my brother, my sister. Receive that seed, God's dream for your life, believe it, take time to visit those places of great creativity and believe that God is going to give you your dreams, in the name of the Lord. I bless you now, in the name of Jesus. Thank my Lord. Amen. Give the Lord a round of applause.