the pioneering spirit

The pioneering spirit, the spirit of a few crazy Christians that everyone called Hallelujahs. These Hallelujahs are crazy. And so they had to flee their country and find a country where they could freely praise God and build a society that they hoped would represent the principles of the Kingdom of God. They got into a small boat and arrived here where there were bears and animals and indigenous people who shot arrows at them and founded a country.

And we live under their generational blessing. And I want to talk today about the pioneering spirit that prompted them to get here, the pioneering spirit that God wants to put in us and that we want to live in the name of Jesus. And we are going to see that even the pilgrims were not perfect, and no country is perfect. But God is faithful and loves every nation on earth and has his purpose with every nation on earth and we are part of that, and we are going to talk about it.

Joshua Chapter 3 beginning in verse 1. We are talking about the Israelites in the exodus from Egypt coming out of the desert about to cross a river to fight giants. This is the pioneering spirit. Says the word of God “.... Joshua got up early in the morning and he and all the children of Israel left Sitin and came to the Jordan and rested there before crossing it. And after 3 days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people, saying, 'When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levite priests who carry it, you shall leave your place and follow after it, that you know the way by which you will go, since you have not passed this way before now.

I want to dwell on these words. "....because you have not passed this way before now." The pioneer goes on an unknown path. The pioneer goes where he has never gone before. The pioneer does and dares to do what he has never done before, seeking and planting for a better future. Let's pray.

Father, in the name of Jesus we are a pioneer church and we have a special calling and I ask you in the name of Jesus to be your holy spirit speaking at this time, to be your word speaking for the benefit of your town. I ask you, Lord, that those who are struggling and making an effort despite many conflicts and opposition, that they take courage that you, Lord, call us and that what we sacrifice in your name is not in vain. So I ask you to guide this dialogue, I ask you to be your holy spirit conversing with us in Jesus name.

God loves the pioneer and the pioneer. I would say to define it, the pioneer is the person who does what Star Trek says, I don't know, ship to the stars. How is that program? I don't know, many years ago... Starship, Star Trek... and it seems that you wasted a lot of time watching that program. I know each of the episodes by heart, forgive me Lord. To body go where no men have gone before. To boldly go where no man or woman has gone before.

Dare in the name of the Lord to do something new. Is not easy. I remember the first time I went to Latin America, I think it was Honduras. And I am a gringo lost in Central America, imagine. I didn't know anything, I didn't know how to get on the bus, how to pay, how to operate in the store to buy your bread. I didn't know how it is. I was walking around like a lost madman and everyone was looking at me as if I had two or three heads. I felt so strange, like so lost. I didn't know anything at all. A pioneer has to go where he has never gone before to lose comfort and be willing to risk everything.

We want to define it a bit. The pioneer is willing to follow God despite not knowing where you are going. Abraham left everything to follow the Lord despite not knowing where he was going. That is not easy. It's hard. I don't know if anyone here has had the experience of following God and not knowing, well, where I'm going, how things are going to turn out. We are not sure but we know one thing: God is there before me, he is leading me, he is holding my hand, and if I keep my eyes on him, he will guide me. Although it is a confusing maze, if I follow my guide I won't get too lost.

The pioneer is willing to follow God, he is also willing to take risks. I wish life always had guarantees. I wish I could always say don't worry, everything, everything about this situation is going to work out just the way you want it to. But reality is not like that.

People who wait to be safe before moving never move. There is a saying by a very good sports ball player that says: "You miss one hundred per cent of the shots you never take"

You, as a football player, are going to lose 100% of the.... no I know what, kicks... that you never take. If you're never willing to do things, you never score, and you're not going to win the World Cup. Lord forgive us. Every Brazilian God bless you double, triple....

But if I'm never willing to fail, if I'm never willing to take a little risk, we're not going anywhere. The ones who are successful are the ones who dare to take risks and take the risk of failing from time to time and screw up.

The Apostle Peter, what's wrong with poor Pedrito, right? He's in the boat with the Apostles, they look at Jesus, walking on the water and there's a madman in the boat who says, 'Look, that looks like fun, I want to do that'. ‘How nice, I want to try to do that. I want to walk on the water. That's crazy!'.

To be a pioneer you have to be a little crazy, a little bit out of it, ready to dare and try to do something completely crazy and be willing to get a little wet too, and have everyone else laugh of you. But the others who remained in the boat never had the joy of even taking a little step on the water.

There is a book that I really like that says in English, I am going to say it: “If you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the boat”. "If you want to walk on the water, you have to get out of the boat." It is necessary.

The pioneer dares to take risks. Dare to follow. He dares to fail from time to time because he knows that if I invest, if I sow there is a blessing that comes later. I will not be chained by my fear or my past. I'm going to be willing to jump in and try to do something new, despite the bad circumstances.

I want to talk a little about a forced, forced immigrant. His name was Joseph and he was sold into slavery and ended up in Egypt, in a prison. He was not a willing immigrant. No, he was a forced immigrant, driven to pioneer. The thing is that when life gives you the negative, when life forces you to do what you would not have wanted, what do you do? You stay there like trembling, complaining or you decide in the name of Jesus we will see what we do, and we will move on.

As the saying goes, “when life gives you the lemons….. make the lemonade”. Joseph becomes second to Pharaoh and blesses not only his family, but a whole nation where he was taken.

We are pioneers. The pioneer is never still. If you are too comfortable you are not going anywhere. We have to be willing to be restless and not stay in one place too long, and to move, and break from our past a little bit.

I know my family, and I've talked about this a bit before, doesn't travel much. In my family, especially for my mom, a trip from Connecticut to Cape Cot is a trip to the other side of the world. He prepares for weeks how everything is packed, how it will be, then it takes him weeks to recover from such a long trip, from getting on the plane and wandering around Latin America. Look, Gregory, we're not like that. We are from the house. What you do?

In Christ we are willing to break with the past. And the mother comes to understand it and is calm. But know that no matter what we have always done before, in the name of Jesus I go for new things. The pioneer is willing to jump in and keep going and is obligated to walk by faith. Because the nature of being a pioneer is to sacrifice myself today, take risks today, because I am confident that it will bear fruit and that if I pay the price, although I do not see at the moment how it will turn out for me, I know that God is faithful to bless what I am entrusting to him. The pioneer has to walk by faith and not by sight.

And this is being a pioneer: taking the hand of the good shepherd and trusting that even when I am lost there will be a voice behind me saying: 'that is the way, walk that way'; and trust that God will not leave me. He will guide me, but I have to throw myself a little. This is pioneering.

A Pioneer We are called as a church to be a pioneer church. We have a pastor who is super restless in the Kingdom of God. Does not conform. The moment that something is already set, he says: 'already, next time'. Is incredible. It is a gift that you have. It tires the rest of us. He says 'come on, let's go forward'. Now he is wandering around Mexico, preaching the word of God, not wandering, he is in a guest place. But, he is a pioneer and we are called to be pioneers.

I have news for you: 98% of those in the house today whether they like it or not are pioneers. Because the immigrant by nature is a pioneer. You've left your house, you've left the rice and beans and you've got here with this cold and heat and everything ugly and Red Socks and traffic, and here you are. Pioneer, pioneer, like it or not.

Some say, 'look, I was born, it's the parents who made the decision.' Well, you're part of the bargain, you can't escape. You are the son of pioneers and you are in the thing. We are pioneers, immigrants who are pushing forward looking for something better for their family, for their future.

I think it is important that we see being an immigrant as something sacred, something precious, something that God is with you, with us in the thing, that he understands what we are going through and is behind us promoting the way.

I want to talk a little bit about some special immigrants in my life. Well, there are a thousand special immigrants in my life, but besides that, I want to mention two in particular. My wife is of Japanese descent, her grandparents came from Japan, and she knows that the Japanese were not as well-liked when they came to California. They had different appearance, different customs, they ate raw fish. Everyone was looking at them a little weird.

And do you know what happened during World War II? The nation of Japan attacked the US, Hawaii, and they took all the Japanese and put them in prisons. It doesn't matter if you were born here in the US. It doesn't matter if you are a doctor, a lawyer, whatever, even more reason to put yourself in jail because you look like Japanese, so you are a resident enemy and we are going to put you in prison for these years.

My father-in-law was born in such a camp. And my wife's grandparents lived in these camps for 3 years. There in the woods of Arkansas and they started at a place where the horses run, a racetrack. He was born like this. When someone is in a situation it is legitimate to be a little angry. If someone isn't a little angry there is something wrong. It's unfair what happened, but you know what? this generation of Japanese immigrants did not allow their spirit to be broken. They say, 'Look, to break my spirit you have to do much worse than this, because we are strong and we are fine here and God is going to bless us.'In the camps many came to know Christ, and my father-in-law who was born in this place he is proud today of that; "Look, I was born where the horses were." He loves horses, since he was a child.

The grandmother, the Japanese grandmother, is already 90 years old and says: “what a nice camp. I had two free babies. I didn't have to pay anything, no insurance or anything. The food, free. I didn't have to cook or anything like that. What a nice camp. Look, I want to go back to camp. I wish I was always in camp!”

That's the gift of seeing the glass half full, isn't it? They paid the price, they sacrificed themselves. They were looking for God and their children and grandchildren are serving the Lord and are blessed thanks to their sacrifice.

At the time you thought it was easy. Nothing to see. But persevering, being a pioneer, investing for the future will bear fruit for generations that come in blood and also in spirit, the people we have touched in our lives.

I am here, in large part, thank God for a simple peasant from Italy, super simple. My grandfather was a very nice man, very simple. I remember him, he died when I was 3 and a half years old and I remember him, look. I still remember his eyes, his feet, because he sat there and I looked at his feet on the floor and I remember. It was one of my earliest memories, and he was a nice man, he loved God.

He was a sincere man in the Lord, but he was the eldest son, his family lived here in Summerville, when they came here to the US, and he was the eldest son in the family, very poor family, and already in the fifth grade, level, the family was without money. They say, 'look, you have to stop studying. It's time to work.' So he had to quit school and work to earn money for the family. A man, a simple young man. So he never studied much, he hardly read much, but he was a man with a good heart, he sacrificed, he paid the price.

Her daughter, my mother, was able to study until she finished high school and then began working as a secretary. And his grandson, I, have been able to study much more. This is... it's thanks to them, it's thanks to the sacrifice he made, I barely know him but I'm living under the blessing of what he has done. We live in the shadow of people who have come before us, who have paid the price for us. It was not easy, but there is a blessing.

Immigrants are paying this price for their families, for their lives. Much more than this. God calls you, if you are in a country, whatever country it is to adopt that country and be there not only to benefit yourself but also to be a blessing to the place where you are. Whether you want to or not you are a missionary in the US. God has sent you.

Some say, 'but look, I didn't want to be a missionary here. I didn't want to come here, I was happy but my parents pulled me and here I am. Or there was a war situation and he had to........ Let's look at Jeremiah 29.

It doesn't matter which way you get there if you're here and if you love God you're a missionary to this country ”. Jeremiah 29, the Israelites were in captivity, they were conquered by the Babylonians, a pagan country, a brutal, bad country, which conquered them, took them prisoners to their country as exiles. They had no choice. They were there like prisoners. And look what God says to them in verse 4, Jeremiah 29, verse 4 is this is God's word to us too. “......Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all those of the captivity that I have transported from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and inhabit them; plant gardens and eat their fruit; marry and beget sons and daughters; give your sons wives and give your daughters husbands so that they may have sons and daughters and multiply and do not diminish yourselves and seek peace in the city to which I had you transported and pray for it to the Lord because in his peace you will have peace .”

We are called to prosper in the place where God has placed us. I love it when a mom brings me a newspaper with a picture of her little boy hugging David Ortiz because he won an award for being a good student at school. And I cut it out and put it on my wall and ask the young man to sign it. I love hearing a brother say 'I already bought the house. We bought the house, we want to open a cell there. It fascinates me when people graduate and are prosperous, because they are sowing and God is raising them up.

Because God has called us to be the head and not the tail and God raises up his children and I love it because it is for his glory, not ours. He says that we are in Christ and he is with us in the struggles we have. So we are called to seek peace in the city where we are, to be missionaries in the country where it is, that we adopt the country.

Now, adopting the country never means that we discard our cultural or ethnic identity. Well, God has made me what I am. Look, if I'm a gringo, there's nothing I can do, I'm a gringo. I'm sorry, Italian, German, forgive me, they are both in the cup... there's nothing I can do. I was born that way and you have to admit that this is a good thing.

Embracing the country of the United States and being a missionary here is never dismissing or being ashamed of the background that one has, that God has given you, a cultural richness, an ethnic richness, it is who we are, even the bones. But so it is possible to keep my identity and be a missionary here in this country and adopt the vision of the country that I am in.

For example, on Thanksgiving, on Thanksgiving Day, how many of us eat turkey with tortillas and rice with beans, and one thing and another, and all that on the side, right? In my family we eat turkey with lasagna next door, right? ....... I eat turkey with a good sushi and they take out the sticks they use and..., this is fair, it's a mix. It is that God has a call for each country.

I believe that God loves every nation on earth, sees it almost as a person, and loves it with all the good and all the bad and has a purpose for his glory to shine through that culture and that nation. I see that we are a window through which the glory of God can shine, but we are not a boring, clean window, we are a window of many colors, these are stained glass, these windows have a design and the light shines and is a different way through a Dominican, than through a Guatemalan, through a Japanese and God shines in different ways the same light, but through different glass. And he gets more glory through it.

So we are who we are thank God, but God has brought us here to adopt a nation and be a missionary to that country. Now, as I said, I believe that each country has a special purpose in the Kingdom of God and each country has national and cultural sin as well. Every country, there is no country that can say, 'we are a Christian country', or 'we are a satanic country'. No, every country is a country that God has chosen despite things that is not fulfilling God's purpose for that country, whatever nation it is.

In the case of the US, it is a country thank God, founded by some people of faith and we live under that generational blessing. But not all of them were Christians and not all of them put their faith into practice and we are going to talk about that a little bit. But it is a country that has many rich things due to its Christian background. For example, a work ethic, what is called 'the protestant work ethic'.

The Puritans, however strict they were, knew that if one works, one prospers. It is from proverbs and there was a lot of blessing and it is something that we inherited from them, something good that we inherited from them.

Another thing that is inherited from that background is a system modeled on certain Biblical principles. One of those principles is that the human being is not an animal, it is a creation of God, that God has created you. And because they are God's creatures, each human being is given, inherently has certain innate rights. Those rights are the right to freedom, the right to receive freedom to make decisions in certain areas of life, the right to be respected and treated with value in life. they are rights that are received from God.

This was something revolutionary in its time. He is saying that no one is born to be a king and others are born to be servants. He is saying that we are not going to judge you for what your father did, we are going to judge you for what you did and that you have the ability to improve yourself, regardless of your lineage, skin color or family name. There is no aristocracy, there is equality between human beings. It was something revolutionary in its time.

But, on the other hand, it is a country based on the belief that human beings are sinful. In other words, some people who believe that the human being is good, that the human being is basically good. How many here have children? Wow....we have so many moms and dads. How many have nephews? How many are teachers? How many have ....? Ok, everyone deals with children in some way, ok. Those children, if you let them choose what they want to do, what will happen? Are they going to choose the good, are they going to be little angels? Don't you? You think they're going to be little angels... Every mom, every dad, every teacher knows that... look, they're little devils, those children, no matter how cute they are, I know they have to be disciplined to guide them in the way. Made in the image of God but they are sinners so some moms and sons are looking at each other. forgive me. But this is....

So the US government and system is built on a mistrust of political power that if one person has unlimited power, that person is likely to use that power to do the bad. So don't trust. A government was formed, a system that if bad presidents get involved, and many bad presidents have gotten involved, there are limits to the damage that can be done. There are checks, there are balances, there is a system to protect us from ourselves.

So it's a Christian principle. How nice! No? So a perfect country, yes, a Christian country, no problem, amen, that has always lived according to its belief. Every country has its inconsistencies.

The same ones who wrote are all made in the image of God and have the right to freedom are the same ones who were slave owners, who said 'ok, write it slave, that you are equal to me, that you have the same rights.... Write it down.' Slavery. It was a national sin.

And what happened to the indigenous people of this country? Where are the natives? Outside of the casinos, where are the indigenous people? There are almost none, and why aren't they? Because the missionaries supposedly made a mistake and killed everyone instead of converting them, a little problem. There are inconsistencies, there is national sin and those sins resulted in national punishments. The sin of slavery resulted in the civil war in the 19th century, hundreds of thousands of people died because of the national sin.

The president at the time, Abraham Lincoln, said we are bleeding to pay the price for our sin. We are bleeding. Every drop of blood that has fallen on these battlefields is the result of the blood that has fallen from the backs of slaves in this country. We are being punished. He was unknowingly preaching the word of God.

What I want to say is that no country is exempt from the punishments of the Lord. every sin has its consequences and that is why God calls Christians to be the salt of the earth. Salt was used to preserve meat at that time there was no fridge. If there was no salt, the meat would stink, I don't know if you have seen bad meat, rotten meat, bad meat with worms. I have seen it. It's very ugly. And that happens with a society when Christians are silent and do not do our job of ministering.

There is national sin and if we do nothing, society will rot. And from there comes the missionary call for the Christian immigrants that God has brought to this country. I believe and we have seen in history that God raises up the church with revival to call the country to return to certain Christian principles. It was the Christians who were the most vocal against slavery, against racism. The preacher Martin Luther King was the leader against racism in this country. But there were also Christians who did not say anything. There were Christians who misused the Bible to justify the nation's sin. God calls us to be prophets in our society.

Today in our days there are many national sins, some of them revolve around the sin of human pride. The human being who stands up and says 'there is no God'. It is up to us to define what is morality, what is the family, what is life, and nobody can tell me anything. Everything is relative and that is why national sins are entering. If the church does nothing, the country suffers. We cannot take God's blessing for granted. You are a missionary, a missionary. I feel like the man from Macedonia in the Book of Facts saying 'look, we gringos need you. Do not leave us'.

God brings immigrants from Latin America, Africa, Asia to represent a different perspective that enriches society and at the same time suffers everything that comes against it. But there is a blessing if we say yes to that call.

In the Bible Daniel arose a great prophet in Babylon and a politician, and was used to bless his people and also the pagan nations. But God used him. Joseph, Neemiah, there are many men and women, Esther, women of God who were used to change their country.

I am very proud of Pastor Roberto, always, but especially these days. And he doesn't talk about everything he's doing, but last week there was a press conference and the pastor came out there next to the governor, senators talking, expressing a Christian perspective in society. He is a missionary, he is saying that if he is called and whether he wants it or not we are with him in this mess. Here we are. And God calls us to put the batteries and be faithful.

What we do through the social ministries of the church in education, in immigration, this is not only because we have nothing else to do, we do it because we are called to be the salt of the earth and to make a difference in society. So the kings of the world come to talk to us? Yes, but we are not with them, we are the church of Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is not political, it is something spiritual, but we are called to speak and preach and have a positive influence in secular society.

Do you dare? Because God loves you. He calls you to do it, whether you are ready or not. It calls you to be a pioneer, but to be a pioneer we first have to be a pioneer in our own generation. We have to dare to be different from our personal past, from our family past.

How many of us know that it is not easy to break the patterns of the past? How many have seen cases like this? You meet a man on the street who says, 'Look, my great-grandfather was a drug addict, my grandfather was a drug addict; my dad gave me my first beer and my first marijuana cigarette; my brothers are all drug addicts and me, what will happen? There is a whole bad vibe behind it that drives us to follow in the same footsteps as our ancestors. We have generational sin and curses. Everyone, there is no perfect family. And there is a bad movement, but God calls us to say 'I am not a slave to my past. I am not a slave to my generational heritage. I, in the name of Jesus, can be a new creature, I can follow Jehovah.'

There are cases of people who come from inheritances that there are always divorces, divorce, divorce, suicide, suicide, depression, depression, and it's so hard for them to break out of these patterns, and there are many here who are first generation Christians in their family. There are some who come from the opposite. Their Christian dad, their Christian mom, and they come with a generational blessing, but I would say that most of us come from the other side, that we are pioneers trying to establish a new way of living for myself and my family and my children and not It is easy.

You know that there are many who come here to church, they are very common cases of people who come after living together as a man and a woman for 10, 15, 20 years without ever getting married. This happens a lot and sometimes they come with many children, and after reading the Bible, they say 'look, why don't we get married, I think we already know each other. Let's formalize this thing,' and we marry them and they serve Jehovah.

I remember a couple who had many children, they were together for 15 years. They came, they met Christ, they came to the conclusion that it was time to get married and they were a little nervous. And I, 'but, how are they nervous? If they have known each other for many years together. How come they're nervous?' On the day of the wedding, the mother tells me, 'I'm so happy and proud that someone from my family is finally getting married.' And I realized, no one in that family got married, no one. Never, no marriage, no uncle, no grandfather. There wasn't.... there wasn't. The couple in front of me were pioneers who were saying 'no matter what has happened before, me and my house will serve Jehovah, me and my house are going to lead a different life.'

And those kids are going to grow up with mom and dad married, with another model. And a different wave begins but it is not easy. I encourage you in the name of Jesus to see yourself as a trailblazer, a trailblazer.

I invite the musicians and I encourage you to say to yourself, to yourself, I and my house will serve Jehovah. I confess, Lord, the sin of my ancestors and I break them because your month has called for a different life and I am going to be a blessing to my children. If you do not have children, I am going to be a blessing for my spiritual children, for my society, for my people, for my nation, for my church. I am going to bleed today so that there is a blessing tomorrow.'

I heard a song that I really liked. In that song the lady sang a song to her great, great, great grandson, I don't know if I said it correctly. And in that song she says the following: my little son, my great-great-great-great-grandson, I have a message for you: live in peace. Live with the blessing that I am gaining for you, for living in Christ. My great, great, great granddaughter, I have a message for you: live in peace, live in the ways of God, know that God loves you, know that you can lead a different life because God loves you and I have prayed for you. you.

The pioneer does not give up. The pioneer stands firm and says 'despite today's difficulties I am sowing for my future, for the future of mine, for the future of my society. Do not give up. God has called you and you will have its fruits if you continue in what God has given you.

On this 4th of July we are celebrating our day, we are celebrating the day of being a pioneer for Christ. Be a pioneer for the country, be a pioneer for the family and not give up.

I invite you to stand up. Let's say a prayer. Let's rededicate ourselves to God's call on our lives. And father, in the name of Jesus we come before you, Lord, we tell you that we are your people, Lord, that you have called us to great things. I speak to you if you feel that you do not see the fruit of the sacrifice you have made, if you do not see the answer to some prayers that you have made for your children, for your grandchildren, for your city, whatever, I encourage you to know God is faithful to keep his promises. He is faithful. He is faithful. We are children of Abraham and there will be people who will say 'I am the son of .... and they will say your name'.

Father, in the name of Jesus, Lord, we come before you, Lord, as a pioneer church. We tell you, Lord, keep us from conformity, keep us from comfort, Lord that we be warriors, Lord, fighters. Lord, may we always be bold to break through on new ground, Lord. May we be faithful to follow you. And I invite you if you feel that this call that God has for you is reconfirmed, I invite you to raise your hand and together, as a church, we are going to consecrate ourselves again to him.

To say, Lord, help me to move forward in your name, to forget what is left behind, Lord, and push myself forward, to win the prize of the heavenly calling that you have for me. As a church, Lion of Judah, Lord, we say yes to your call to conquer. We tell you that yes, Lord, you have not brought us here to turn back. You have brought us here to conquer and to be a blessing but we do not know the way. But you are the good shepherd and we have our eyes fixed on you, Lord and we will follow you.

Thank you Lord. Thank my Lord.