No reservations, no return and nothing to regret

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

First Corinthians 9:24 to 27. “Don't you know that those who run in the stadium all run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way that you obtain it. Everyone who fights for everything abstains. They indeed to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. So I run in this way, not like an adventure, in this way I fight, not like someone hitting the air, but I hit my body and put it in servitude lest, having been a herald for others, I myself become removed."

The title of the message I want to share with you this morning is called “no reservations, no return and no regrets”. The Apostle Paul is here presenting a portion in his letter to the Corinthians. You know that the church, the Corinthians, was a church that lived in the movement of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, prophesied, prayed in tongues, fell to the ground, trembled, there were all kinds of manifestations, but they lived a life in the flesh, with an inclination towards what was sin. There was fornication, there was sin, incest, there were many things in the Corinthian church, a church that Paul loved deeply and that in his letters we see his exhortations with infinite love and infinite mercy, but also with great justice from God.

NO RESERVATIONS

And he takes this figure, very common for them at that time, the figure of the races in the stadium. On Friday we had the day off and we and Susan took a tour of the city on a trolley because it's the first time we've been in Boston and everyone who knew we were coming to Boston told us, it's a beautiful city. You can't miss getting to know that city. So we took our tour and they took us to see the most important parts of the city. We were impressed because I personally love the historical part very much, I love ancient monuments and antiques have something very special in my heart. My house is decorated between modern and old, so for me it is something very special. We enjoyed it even though I was very sick with this eye.

But the director, the one who was directing the tour, he spoke at a certain point about a race that is very famous here, a race that you do, a marathon, right? And he talked a lot about it, it is clear that it was something very special and he also talked about a dwarf woman who died but who managed to finish the race, she managed to run in such a way despite her physical impossibilities, despite the fact that she was tall of a girl competing with the greats, but managed to finish the race.

And that is the Apostle Paul's picture of us Christians, he uses the picture of that race that was so famous in Greek and Roman times. And he comments several things comparing it with what our Christian life is. He says that those who run to the truth in the stadium are all running, but in the end only one gets the prize. And he exhorts us to run the Christian race in such a way that we can obtain the prize.

Now, you will say, well, we already obtained the prize and the prize is our salvation, as we sang that beautiful choir. But, we also know through First Corinthians that there will be a day where we are in heaven, that the Tribunal of Christ will take place where each one of us will receive a reward, crowns and Paul fought for that crown. Pablo was walking after that crown, that award. And he says, let's run in such a way that we can get the prize, it motivates us to get a prize.

Then in verse 25 he says, “everyone who fights”, which means, everyone who is running also abstains from everything. In other words, there is a discipline in his life. If I want to be a good athlete, if I want to win the race, there has to be a discipline in my life. I have to stop eating things that are not going to have a good effect on my body. Discipline has to do with eating, with exercise, it has to do with the fact that when I run I also have to wear the kind of clothes I should wear, Hebrew Chapter 12, verse 1 speaks of this when it talks about running stripping ourselves of all weight and from all sin, so that we may run the race that has been imposed on us and says Hebrews, fixing our eyes on Jesus. And Paul is speaking, let's run in such a way towards the goal. You and I have to run this Christian life towards a goal and our goal is to be able to fulfill what the Lord has established in his calling for each one of us.

Pablo continues speaking in Chapter 9 that we just read, he says, I run and I don't run as an adventure, that is, I don't run without direction, I run in such a way that I go to a goal, to a target. Then he says, and I fight in such a way, and I hit my body; he is talking about affecting all this flesh, which sometimes tries to come out even through the pores. It is a beautiful picture, it is a picture that we need to reconsider today.

I have a burden in my heart, sadness in my heart many times because when we look at a numerical growth. In Latin America we have great numerical growth. The churches grow every day, when we see what here in the United States, churches of thousands of people, but you know, I have a burden and sadness in my heart because I see that today there is a very superficial Christian life. Instead of the church affecting the world, the world is affecting the church.

I have sadness in my heart when in Latin America Christians are dazzled by the television programs that come to us from here, Christians where it is a Hollywood show. I have sadness in my heart because today the shepherd is miles away from his sheep. It doesn't smell like sheep. He only works 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 what is good is called bad, and what is bad is called good.

I have sadness in my heart that today we have such superficial leadership that in any storm we have seen many leaders fall. I have sadness in my heart because today is happening what happened at the time when David in First Samuel Chapter 2 or 1, he makes a dirge for the death of Saul, the great king, the first king, and he for three times in his lament he exclaims with pain and says, the glory of Israel has perished. But he was talking about something else, because the last days of Saul he went to consult a fortune teller. As the mighty have fallen, he said, brothers to the Philistines. And with that Saul fell his great friend, Jonathan, a man of God, faithful to his father and David says 3 times, how the mighty have fallen, how the weapons of war have perished.

And I have sadness in my heart because today our youth have few role models. There are many heroes, but you know that heroes fall quickly, but there are few models. And we are responsible to a generation that is emerging. No more discipline in the church, that's archaic. It should no longer be put into discipline. A holy leadership is gone, but obviously there are its remnants. Hallelujah!. And for those remnants the Lord wants to speak to us, you and I need to live a life as God pleases, although for other Christians in quotation marks, what you and I live seems outdated and archaic. But if that outdated and archaic is based on this word, then it has to say that your godly lifestyle is too contemporary. Because that word is too contemporary, it was applied yesterday, it is applied today and it will be applied tomorrow, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever and he said that heaven and earth will pass away but his word will never pass away.

That is why I want to share that word without reservation, without return and with nothing to regret. Some time ago, a few years, maybe two years ago, meditating on my devotional, I found in the devotional booklet I found a story that touched my heart very much, and it was about a man I had never heard of.

He was a young man named William Burten, American, son of a multi-million dollar family in this country, they have been the owners of what is milk, Burten's milk and also glue and all that, a family supremely millionaire. William Burten was greatly affected in his spiritual life by his mother. His mother was a wonderful influence in the life of William Burten. At the age of 16, he finished his high school studies, his parents gave him a trip to certain parts of the world and after he returned from that trip, he came ablaze with a great fire in his heart for missions. And God touched his heart for a call to work in China with the Muslims of China. William Burten entered Yale University and Princeton University and when he entered university his only goal was to prepare himself to serve God. Christian universities.

His father died and he was called to run his family's business and he flatly refused to do it because he said, God, my heavenly Father has called me into his business. After his father's death, he received a multimillion-dollar inheritance and he prayed a lot to the Lord and he was sorry to give everything, all his inheritance for the extension of the Kingdom. He left nothing for him and when he did this, he wrote on the cover of his Bible, on the first page, he wrote a sentence which is the first point of my message this morning, he wrote the sentence, without reservation, no reservations.

Without reservations, to reserve means to keep, it means to retain something. Speaking in our terms it means not giving everything to God. It is when we reserve a part of our life or our possessions and give God 80% or 70%, but we do not give it all.

When you go to the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 10, verses 17 to 22, the Lord has an encounter with a young man, Mark 10:17 to 22. He says: “...When he went out to Following his path, one came running and kneeling before him asked him, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, why do you call me good, no one good, but only one, God? You know the commandments, do not adulterate, do not kill, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother. He then, responding, said to him, Master, I have kept all this from my youth. Then, looking at him, Jesus loved him –how interesting, he says he loved him- and said to him, you lack one thing, go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven. And come, follow me taking up your cross. But he, afflicted by this word, left sad because he had many possessions."

He was drawn to Jesus and he told him what he could do for a living. And the Lord begins, knowing his heart, he begins to give him certain guidelines. The commandments practice it. Oh Lord I've done it all I have honored my father and mother, I am good. But in the end he put his finger on the sore, sell everything you have and give it to the poor. Because the word says that he was very rich and touched the weak area, money, material possessions. And he says that saddened young man withdrew, he could not get rid of his possessions.

Now, the Lord was not interested in his possessions. The Lord was interested in his heart but he knew that the problem in the heart was that. Don't get me wrong, material possessions are not bad, what is bad is that material possessions possess us. It is that what God gives us possesses us in such a way that they make it impossible for us to serve the Lord with freedom, having is not bad, the bad thing is that what we have has us.

The young man's problem was the money part. Paul understood very well, from the beginning of his conversion, what unreservedly meant. In Philippians, Chapter 3, where we actually find his resume, Paul is talking about what he was before he was in Christ. He describes his identity, he talks about how he was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a follower of the law, a man zealous for his religion, a persecutor of the church, he was blameless in compliance with the law. He speaks where he was educated at the feet of Hamaliel, but after he recounts this, I love it when Pablo says, but all these things, all this that I considered to be the greatest, today I consider it garbage, today I have it ....

And the new international version says it louder, it says I consider it dung, for the knowledge of my Lord Jesus, for whose love I have lost everything and today I consider it garbage. Paul lost everything to win Christ. He lost his reputation within his religion, he lost his position within his religion, he lost his religious honor, and he didn't give a damn about winning Christ. He surrendered everything and you and I know that Paul's life was a surrender from the moment when Jesus revealed himself to him on the road to Damascus and he surrendered and said, Lord, what do you want me to do? From that day Pablo gave everything.

I hope that you have delivered everything and that today you will be confronted with that word if there has been any reservation, without reservation. The Christian life is unreserved.

F. B. Meyer a great man of God studied in a Bible seminary. He started preaching, his church had a certain number of people, he had a good ministry. One day a fellow Bible seminary came to his town. He was going to be in his city for 8 days and he invited him to preach those 8 days in his church. It was a revolution. 8 days this man preached in the simplest way, but with an anointing and power of the Holy Spirit that Meyer had never seen before. He was shocked, people were touched, but he was shocked. At the end of those 8 days while his friend was packing his suitcase, he came to the room and talked to him. And in a very proud ministerial way he asked him, what has been the success of this? Why does God use you this way? And his friend told him, simple.

One day I was confronted by the Lord while I was praying and I felt that God came into my life and touched my life. And God asked me to give him all the keys to my locked rooms. And from the day I surrendered everything to him, the ministry changed, my life changed. I live in a different dimension. Meyer did not ask her to pray for him. Sometimes we ministers are so proud that we cannot ask another to say a prayer for us. There are many who feel that they are losing their ministerial dignity when, on the contrary, they are gaining it.

When he went to drop his friend off the train and came back, he knelt on his bed. Meyer did the same, began to pray and said, God today I want to make a total surrender to you. And while he was in prayer, he felt the presence of Jesus come next to him. And the presence of Jesus in his room was such that he could hardly move. And he felt that Jesus was coming to ask him for the keys. So, Meyer took the keys and held them up in her hand and with her breaking heart she said, oh, Lord, take all the keys to my locked rooms. I surrender everything to you. And he put them in the hands of Jesus. And then he felt Jesus say to him, are these all the keys? And Meyer said, almost all of them, sir. Don't worry, some that I leave are little things, I'll take care of that. And he felt that Jesus returns the keys to him and he said, Meyer, or all or nothing. And he turned around and at that moment his heart was shaken and he began to cry and he yelled at him, all of them, Lord. And he surrendered all the keys to his empty rooms. Because you know, in our life there are closed rooms that are empty even though we believe they are full, that we have not surrendered to the Lord, things that sometimes we don't even realize ourselves, character situations, situations that link people to things, but in the Christian life it is unreserved.

It is giving him all the keys, it is giving him all the areas of our life, it is knowing that I cannot reserve anything for myself, it is knowing that I have to live a life in God's way of life, things that make me they please but that I have to maintain myself as the Apostle Paul said, I martyrize my flesh, I beat my flesh, I crucify my flesh because the problem is that today Christians crucify meat with two-inch nails and the meat has to be crucified with nails from the cross.

The problem is that today Christians want to go through liberation, for everything they attribute everything to the devil, but they do not recognize that it is their flesh, their character that are situations in their life. No reservations. God loves you unreservedly.

Today is a day to give God all the keys. Today is a day so that nothing else affects us, nothing else binds us to the world or to any other situation, or personal feelings that are not correct. No reservations. Tell the person next to you, no reservations.

It is giving everything to God, it is giving him our life, it is giving him our strength. Young people, it is giving him your youth but what will happen. The best will happen. It is giving everything.

When I was studying at school, I was captain of one of the basketball teams. I loved basketball, and every time we had to compete with other teams from our school, then our instructor was there working with us. There was a discipline, you had to share the time between studying and the discipline of training. And I never forget, every time we went to play the coach would look at each one of us, and he would say, putting his finger on us, give us everything you have. And he spoke to us like this, give everything you have. And we knew that when he did this finger, he was saying, give it all you've got. And then he repeated, don't forget, give everything.

And many times while we were playing, and sometimes we would lose, and we would look at it to see what instruction was there, there was only one instruction: surrender everything. And when we saw this finger, we gave everything, sometimes the body was tired but we gave it everything until we won. No reservations.

The Christian life is unreserved. I have known the Lord for 31 years and I want to tell you, until now, my life has been unreserved. It has been without reservation. I gave myself to Christ today and tomorrow, it was without reservation. Something happened in my life, something impacted my life, in the middle of a small city, in a very strict society. I was the first person in our society to know the Lord and family turned their back on me, friends turned their back on us. Being an evangelical at that time was 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 of the coast dance very well. Amen. Praise God!

Oh, you're in your mother's womb and... look when I gave birth to my second son, we were dancing with my calf when we went into labor. You can imagine. And we were born dancing, and since you were born your mother, chiqui chiqui chiqui, that is, you have rhythm in your blood, that's why I understand merengue. Hallelujah! the salsa and the control, and it's good because they are native rhythms that we have to use to worship and praise the Lord.

So my life was dancing. It was a very healthy youth. Every Saturday night our friends go dancing, we didn't have much money so we would go to a room, order two cokes and 12 glasses. Because our goal was to be able to go and we had to consume something, right? so with 12 glasses, the important thing was to dance for three hours, with the best Caribbean orchestra.

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

I'm going to ....., you can imagine. She didn't know how to dance and I was so in love that I taught her to dance. Obviously he wasn't going to move like we move, but he had already learned. So every Saturday we danced. But when I converted to Christ and the pastor who instructed me the next morning after having given myself to Christ, he told me: you know the Lord wants you, and I said, but don't tell me that I have to leave anything. Because I knew the mentality of the evangelicals. He was so wise that he told me, no, you don't have to leave anything, he loves it that way. Ah well, like that, yes.

And there that morning, one Tuesday morning, I surrendered everything to the Lord. Tuesday afternoon we played canasta at the women's club. I loved the game. Tuesday afternoon, you are going to 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 impassioned my heart.

The following Saturday my husband said, ready, we're leaving. I said, no, I don't want to, the Lord took everything from me. Something, a change to the extreme. Without realizing it, I gave up everything and 31 years have passed and I'm going to tell you, every time I'm giving up more, more, more to the extent that the Lord shows me, I keep giving up.

The world was no longer my pleasure. My pleasure and my only joy is him. He fills me up. No reservations. No reservations. Tell the one next to you, no reservations.

NO RETURN

Let's go to the second point of the message. No return. Tell the one next to you, no return. When William Burten was 25 years old, he had finished his university studies and when William Burten left for China to fulfill his call, he wrote the second sentence in his Bible, after having written without reservation, he wrote without return.

Without turning back, there he wrote, without return. When you go to Luke Chapter 9, verse 57 to 62 there is an encounter of three young men with the Lord. Luke 9:57 to 62 says:

"As they went, one of them said to him on the road, Lord, I will follow you wherever you go, and he said to them, foxes have dens and birds of the heavens, nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head. And he said to others, follow me. He told him, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. Jesus told him, let the dead bury their deaths, and you go and announce the Kingdom of God. Then another also said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me say goodbye first to those who are in my house.”

They were talking, there are three young people who had their hearts in material things, in family, in friends, in relatives, and in verse 62 the Lord utters a word, a phrase and says " ... Jesus told 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 no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is worthy of the Kingdom of God. William Burten, when he left to fulfill his call to missions, he said, no return. Once I put my hand to the plow to serve and follow the Lord, I can't go back. And this is the problem of many. That one day yes and another day they say no. It is the problem of many who today are quote-unquote radical Christians and then we see them go backwards.

The Christian life is one of walking forward, never backward. The Christian life is walking in pursuit of a goal that is before us, which is called the target. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians Chapter 3 verse 13, he says "I have not reached perfection, I am not perfect, but I do one thing, forgetting what is left behind, forgetting religion, forgetting self-righteousness, forgetting honors, forgetting past glories, I feel forward to the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

The Christian life is a march forward never backwards, because when you look back you cannot reach what is ahead. The people of Israel in the desert, every time they went out, every time they advanced and a trial came and a fight came, and they ran out of food, they began to look at Egypt. And they looked at the food of Egypt, and they looked at what they ate in Egypt. They lacked water and looked at Egypt. I wish we would die. That generation never lived up to the promise. That generation never reached the promised land because they walked backwards, never forwards. Only Joshua and Caleb were the ones of that generation who reached God's blessing and promise. Joshua and Caleb that affected the next generation, that impacted the next generation, every time someone died in the desert and they came and said, Joshua, such a family died, Joshua would say, praise God!

Do you know why he said praise God! Because they are less, they have to be buried in the desert, their own words buried them in the desert. There are fewer left, we are going to reach the land, we are going to reach the land. Because Joshua and Caleb were walking forward.

Pablo walked forward. You and I have to look ahead. It does not matter that the tests come, it does not matter that the struggles come, it does not matter that the temptations come, if your life is based on the unshakable rock of Christ, the winds and the toughest storms will not be able to knock you down, you will continue looking towards in front of. They will move, some leaves will fall, some branches will break, but their goal is ahead. No return. The Christian life is without return.

When you go to Genesis Chapter 19, in verse 17, at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the angels warned Lot and his family very well what they had to do if they wanted to be saved from the destruction. And in verse 17 the recommendations they told him, when they had taken them outside, they told him escape for your life and, look at the recommendation, "do not look behind you, do not stop on 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 behind him and turned into a pillar of salt”.

Correct. She looked back. Once you and I look back, we will be turned into pillars of salt, because there is no return. It is unreserved but without return.

How I like the view of Elisha. In First Kings in Chapter 19, if I go a little further you will realize the life of this young prophet called by the Lord to serve him as a prophet. Elijah had just had a very hard time, Elijah had been in a very deep depression because of Bathsheba's threat. We see him then go up to Oreb, the mountain of God, and there God reconfirms his call and tells him, there is a higher level, you are going to go, you are going now to prepare your successor and you are going to find him, you are going to extend him the mantle, you are going to anoint kings.

In verse 19 there is Elijah's encounter with Elisha and he says, “...departing from there, he found Elisha, the son of Zaphad, plowing with 12 yoke in front of him. And he had the last one, and Elijah passed before him and threw his cloak over him. Then, leaving the oxen, he came running after Elijah and said, I beg you, let me kiss my mother and father, and then I will follow you. And he said to him, go, come back, what have I done to you?

Here is a young man who was plowing. He had material possessions, he had land, he was plowing the field that would correspond to him. There was a very nice family relationship. Surely Elisha, like all the young people of that time, yearned for a prophetic ministry. Elijah's ministry had been impressive in Israel. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets, until today the people of Israel wait for him. Every time they celebrate Easter, in each family there is a place reserved at the table for the prophet Elijah.

So Elijah impacted his generation. There was a school of prophets. Elijah puts the mantle on Elisha, that was the confirmation of a call. What a joy for Elisha, he had dreamed of the ministry that God had given Elijah, and now it was confirmation. But she does a wise thing, and he says, let me go back for a moment and say goodbye to my parents.

You will say, but the other young people 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 I wanted to say is, I have not called you, the one who has called you is God. I am only confirming your call. Do what you want. He comes home, says that he kissed his father and mother. Because? Because he knew that the call was without return. He kissed his father and his mother because he said, up to here. So far I am with you, I love you, I honor you, but God is calling me. He went back and did something else. In verse 21 it says:

“...And he turned and took a pair of oxen, killed them and with the oxen's plow, cooked the meat and gave it to the people to eat. Then he got up and went after Elijah and served him.

No return. He not only said goodbye to his parents, he took what was his job, 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 and with that he roasted the oxen and gave them to his employees. I was saying, nothing can make me come back. Nothing, neither the material nor the familiar, once I am walking in pursuit of God's call, there is no return, it is forward, nothing can make me come back. I am burning everything that can bind me to my heart, everything that can make me come back, because from this day on, Elias, I am only going to serve you. I will walk next to you. Look, he was a rich man, but he went to serve.

No return. The Christian life is without return. Nothing can make us come back, nothing. Today we see people who start the Christian life with an explosion of joy and one says, they are doing well, but when the sun rises, as the seed that fell among the stony areas says, there is no depth, and in the first test, they ask, what why God? And we go back. But the Christian life is without return.

Number one, no reservations. Number two, no return. Tell the one next to you, no return. And let's go to the third sentence quickly, say without regrets.

WITHOUT ANY REGRET

William Burten was 25 years old when he went out to his call. Going to China, he had to stay in Egypt, first receiving a practical missions course. William arrived in Egypt and his training in Egypt only lasted 25 days. Because he got meningitis in his spine that later affected his brain. And within 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 the arms of William Burten. Her quest companions had placed her there. And when opening the Bible, the third sentence was written: with nothing to regret.

Listen well: no regrets. William Burten not only gave all his money, he gave his life to serve the Lord. for many people perhaps they could say, it was a loss. How did a man with so much passion and dedication only last 25 years? For many people perhaps his life was a waste. But I want to tell you what the Internet is talking about him.

He says that on the day of his burial hundreds of young people came to consecrate themselves completely to God. He says that after his burial the number of young people who came to serve the Lord in missions was impressive. William Burten's life impacted his generation. William Burten's life continues to impact today. Although little is known about him, he continues to impact those who know him. This boy's life has impacted me personally.

We read on the Internet that a year or two years ago they brought one of the American soldiers who were fighting in Iraq and on the day of the burial, that they were putting him there with the US flag, his parents stood in front of him. to the coffin and spoke the words that William Burten had written. They said when burying their son: he lived without reservations for this nation, he lived without 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, he arrived at the universities, he did not want anyone to realize that he was the son of millionaires. He lived under a normal appearance. He didn't want anyone to find out, but after a short time in the universities, people did realize who William Burten was, not because of the money they had, but because of the lifestyle he lived. He impacted the youth, he lived a right life before God. He even confronted his professors when they wanted to bring new ideologies to Christian universities. He challenged them, he confronted them, he would leave his studies and he would walk the streets and he would share the Gospel to everyone he met on the streets. He would walk the streets and when there were beggars, he would pick them up, take them to a restaurant, pay for their lunch or dinner, and while he shared lunch and dinner with them, he shared the bread of life that is Christ.

He did not go unnoticed in the midst of his generation. He impacted his generation, not because of the money he had but because of the greatest treasure he had, which was Jesus Christ. He could live without reserve. He could live without return and he could close his eyes saying, with nothing to regret. The pain of the disease was terrible, but that did not make him renounce. On the contrary, he knew that the 25 years he had lived had been lived very well.

3 years ago when I was diagnosed with kidney cancer, all the news affected us. I was one afternoon with my daughter on the sofa at home, I was lying down. She was crying and of course I was crying too. And I said, if the Lord allows me or wants to take me to 54 years, look, the only thing I want you to know is that I have lived them well. I did not use those words that William Burten used, but I said, Lord, allow me to live longer because there is much to do, but if you still want to take me now, I can tell you that I have enjoyed every second of my life. With 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 sadly watching many greats fall. People who started well, people who started very well and ...... we say, how could this happen? At any time they neglected an area in their life.

And Paul says in the first portion that we read from First Corinthians 9, in the last part he makes an exhortation and he says “... I run beating my body, I have it as bondage, not being that having been a herald for others I myself come to be eliminated”.

Having been a herald. I go back and repeat what I said at the beginning. Our generation that is rising up, you have to look at it with passion because it is a generation that God is calling to challenge the world in recent times. These young people that we have need life models, they need life challenges, life challenges that they have lived without regrets.

Many are falling, many large trees are falling because they started well. The important thing, beloved, is not to start well, it is to end well. You know when David started, in his early days he made a lot of mistakes, he had a lot of falls. But David was a man who impacted his generation, impacted the nation. When David died the lamentation of the people was, the lamp of Israel has gone out. What a tremendous testimony.

It says, Israel's lamp went out, because David ended up well. It started badly but ended well. And it was an impact for their generations, 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 bad kings. But when you go to Chronicle you see a detailed account of what the kings of the south were, that there were many good kings, like Jehoshaphat, like Hezekiah, like Josiah, like Asa, and it's interesting when they talk about them and say , that when they were very young they assumed the kingdom. They say, they sought Jehovah with all their hearts and followed the ways of David, their father.

It strikes me because David was not her biological father. But they released the inheritance of their biological parents, as the inheritance of a love in Josías who was their perverse father and of a grandfather like Manasseh, who only at the end of his days had an encounter with God for the great and extreme mercy of God. . But it says that Josiah followed the ways of David, his father. What he wanted to say is that they made the determination to follow the spiritual fathers. And today you and I have to become spiritual parents that mark a generation that is rising so that they still have to renounce the inheritance of their biological parents, who perhaps do not follow the ways of the Lord, in order to follow the blessing of the inheritance in their spiritual parents.

The lamp of Israel has gone out. Not important is not starting well. Someone said this that touched me a lot, someone compared the ministry and the Christian life as a parachutist jumping out of a plane. Listen, beloved ones, it doesn't matter how many pirouettes the skydiver does in the air, the important thing is that the skydiver ends well, is liked. It doesn't matter how many pirouettes you and I do. The important thing is to finish well.

Just take me, you go with me to two Scriptures, Second Timothy, Chapter 4 verses 6 and 8, a very well known Scripture, his last letters that Paul wrote to his disciple Timothy and at the end of his letter, he write this:

Second Timothy, Chapter 4, verse 6: “...for I am already ready 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, for the rest the crown of justice is kept for me, which the Lord, the just judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but to all who love his coming.”

Pablo could say with satisfaction that I have finished everything that God entrusted to me. I have lived correctly, I have lived without reserve, I never returned. I have finished satisfactorily with nothing to regret.

I want to tell you that at the end. The last Scripture, First Samuel, Chapter 2, verse 2 to 5. When Samuel, the judge, the prophet, the priest of Israel finished his days, he was already an old man, and he is in front of all the people and how beautiful when Samuel confront the people, verse 1 onwards:

“...Samuel said to all Israel, behold, I have heard your voice in all that you have said to me, and I have appointed you. Now then, behold your king goes before you, I am already old, full of gray hair but my children are with you."

Look what he says “...And I have walked before you from my youth up to this day. Here I am before you, testify against me before the Lord, and before his anointed if I have taken someone's ox, if I have taken someone's donkey, if I have slandered anyone, if I have wronged anyone or if I have taken someone's bribe to dry my eyes with it and I will restore it to you. Then they said, you have never slandered us, nor wronged us, nor have you taken anything from the hand of any man. And he said to them, Jehovah is a witness against you and his anointed, he is also a witness on this day that you have not found anything in my hand; and they responded, so it is.”

In front of the people Samuel could testify that he had lived without reservations, that he had lived without return and that he had lived with nothing to regret. You can't have a bigger example.

He has gone to be with the Lord, who we could not meet with Susan personally, but who lived without reservations, who lived without returning despite trials and struggles, and today you bear witness because Since we entered this church, speaking to Meche on the phone this morning, her heart was broken, there was sadness, because we love those kinds of people who have an impact on our lives and our generations.

Our sister Antonia has gone with the Lord, but she has left a great legacy. Antonia's name means priceless. She lived without reservation, she gave everything. She lived without return despite the hurricanes and the storms and the strong fight. And when she closed her eyes yesterday, she could say, with nothing to regret.

I want to live that life. Oh, Lord help us, they have the best example. I could tell you about William Burten, I've been able to tell you about one and the other, but you lived around a woman who lived without reservations, without return and with nothing to regret.

Every testimony we heard as we arrived at the church, Mary was sharing the good advice, the sage advice. A woman who still had a vision of what was coming and was sensitive to give it. A woman who lived in integrity and truth and has left a legacy, not just to her children and grandchildren, but to the entire church. It's good to live like this.

Oh, think of heaven, I want to believe that when she departed with the Lord, the Lord rose as he rose when Stephen was stoned, and welcomed her to heaven, and said to her, good faithful servant , you gave me everything and you walked without looking back and you complied until the end. I can believe that the Lord stopped yesterday and welcomed his beloved daughter because she ran the race and reached the finish line, she lived as long as the Lord allowed her with nothing to regret.

The Lord help us to live that way. May the Lord help us. Oh, young men, the Lord help us. She was a model for you, a model for her generation, for the young, for the young. Even though we are 92 years old, lives like this we need to have among us so that we can live without reservations, without return, without regrets.

Please, as I would like you to sing the last song of salvation that you sang while I make a small call, remember? What a beautiful song. What a beautiful hymn. Susan tells me that this hymn was composed by a man who lost everything in the tragedy of the Titanic. And having lost his entire family he could sing the lyrics that we hear.

Close your Bible please. Look a little inward this morning. Just let me make a call, maybe you've booked something yet. Perhaps there are things and areas in your life that you still haven't given up, you haven't delivered. Perhaps there are keys with which he has closed some doors and has told the Lord, up to here you can take, but not this. Perhaps there are people who need to surrender areas of their character today. I don't know how many things I know about myself but not about you.

Let me say a prayer for you. And if there's something you have to give up, I want to ask you to come in and stand here for a minute, make the decision today to live without reservation. If there are people who have tried to look back in the midst of difficult situations, I want you to walk forward to tell them, Lord, now no matter what happens I will not be able to look back. I want to walk without return. No return, Lord, you know it. You know, walk forward for a little while. Don't look, don't talk to anyone, for a moment, you know what you have to give up, you know. You know if you have looked back and have gone back. In him there is hope.

David speaks of his many and extreme mercies. I don't know what kind of life you have led, maybe 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 to not go back, it is a morning to tell him, Lord, you are the only one.

While you're there raise your hands for a moment, close your eyes there, close your eyes there, and while you have your eyes closed look at the Lord who is before you. Let's do this prayer. You know what you have to deliver and tell the Lord, you have called me to live without reservations. You gave everything for me, you left your glory, Lord. You left your glorious glory up there and you came to this earth and without reservation you gave yourself, you went to the cross, you shed the last drop of your blood for me. You were reproached, 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 a sin for me, there you had 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 loaded on you. And Lord, you lost everything, without reservations, you never backed down, even in Gethsemane when you cried and your sweat like great drops of blood, you didn't back down. You only had to say, Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me but not my will but yours be done. And you gave the word in Hebrew that you were looking ahead, that all the suffering did not matter, the word says that it was because of the joy placed before you, you suffered the cross and you despised all suffering because there we were the joy. Joy was my life, the joy that you could see and what kept you going was that you wanted to give me your salvation. You never backed down, Lord.

Oh, you were the faithful model that we want to follow and today we are in front of you, and you endured our sticks. Make a lesson there by delivering the area of your life that you have to deliver. ......... there your lips without anyone hearing you, but talk to the Lord, tell him, Lord, I give areas, I give ligatures ........, I give, Lord, areas of my character that have not been good, I give you all the keys to my locked rooms. Today I give myself unreservedly to you, I want to give you everything to live a correct life, something good has to happen in my life. Surrender everything there today, open your lips, you know you have to surrender to the Lord. oh, tell the Lord, talk to him there. Talk to him for a little while and surrender everything to him. Surrender everything. Surrender everything. Let's surrender everything to him today. Let us surrender our possessions to him, let us surrender everything that binds us to this world. Let's give him every relationship that is not correct and you know it, every relationship that I have been asking for.

Oh, Lord we give you everything. And today we raise our hands to you, from today we want to walk to finish our career as Pablo finished it, as William Burten finished it, with nothing to regret; as Samuel finished it, but as our sister Antonia finished it, with nothing to regret.

Raise your hands and tell him, make me an example, make me a model that challenges my generation, make me a model, Lord, that I live in such a way that my light never goes out in front of them. Oh, Lord help me to finish the race and each of this Christian life that is a challenge and a marked commitment to the life of holiness, to the life that pleases you, today, today Lord, help me to break with sin, to break with all the bondage of the flesh. Help me hit my body to give 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 TO DR. MIRANDA

Pastor Roberto just let me finish this. I have a word for you, the Lord tells you, he knows your heart and the Lord put me this morning after we spoke this word to you, the Lord tells you, my pact with you has been of life and peace. The things that I have given you in your heart so that you fear me and you have been afraid of me. You revered it. You have walked well before my name, you have lived humiliated, the law of truth has been in your mouth, and iniquity has not been found on your lips, in peace and justice you have walked with me, you have turned many away from inequity and Today I tell you, the priest's lips must keep wisdom. From your mouth the people will seek the law because you are a messenger of the Lord of Hosts.

But there is something else, the Lord has given you a very strong apostolic anointing and I see you as a man of the city, guardian of the gates of this city. You have been given very large keys. Take care of that big key, the Lord tells you, because I have placed you as an instrument of justice and truth. Many pastors, many leaders will come, they will open their hearts because there is advice 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 town, because your heart is like mine, I have put a little bit of my heart in you. You have loved my sheep, you have hurt with my sheep, you have cried with my sheep, and you have guided my sheep.

You have had a simple heart, son, a heart that has not boasted of wisdom but, on the contrary, has sought more of me. I have seen the thirst that is in your heart for me and the hunger for me. And with the coming days 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 happen in this nation, I tell you now there is a new time. It is spring time, it is the time where you will see many things bloom.

Your eyes will have vision and your heart vision. It will not be your vision but mine. Get ready for very big steps that must be taken, steps that will mark your destiny. For many perhaps, madness, but deep in your heart you will know that you are right because there is a deep feeling. Oh, blow the trumpet when it has to be blown because I will reveal to you times of danger where you have to blow 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, so sharp that you will hear it in your heart. There are different sounds and you know, son, the different sounds of the trumpet will be revealed to you and I will reveal it to you when it is convocation, time to announce danger and I will reveal myself to you and you will know it.

Lead my people in my law. Deepen it in my law. Take it to the depths of my law, of my word. Teach them the holy and straight path. Speak to them holiness, oh preach the cross that has been so forgotten. Preach it, son, it's a delight to your heart. Preach it to my pastors. Preach it to my leaders, because I have set you as a man of leadership and influence. New days and new seasons, new anointing for this time, you will see my glory. Do not fear, says the Lord, I will go before you. Hallelujah!