Can you still sing in jail?

Let's go to Philippians Chapter 4, beginning with verse 2: Unleash the joy of the Lord, unleash the joy of the Lord in your life. Amen. The Apostle Paul begins with, perhaps, the highest exultation of the joy of the Lord, intervening in a fight that was taking place in the city of Philippi, between two apparently powerful sisters.

Brothers of level 2, do you remember Amalgalina? Brothers of level 4, Amalgalina, the brave Christian, do you remember her? Not one Amalgalina here, we have two, two. The Apostle Paul says:

"I beg Evodia and Sintique to be of one mind in the Lord.."

Now, brothers, I don't know and there are no details about what That was what happened between these two sisters, but it had to be a tremendous fight, a classic fight so that Pablo, from jail, had to intervene by sending a letter, calling them by name and saying: sisters, I am writing to you from jail, by please behave well. It had to be something potentially destructive to the well-being of God's people and he says to them, please my sisters, be of the same mind in the Lord and the only thing we know in all of Scripture about these two sisters, the complete profile about these We know of two Amalgalinas in verse 3, where Paul addresses his pastor and says:

“.... I also beg you, faithful companion, to help these who fought together with me in the Gospel, complement also and the other collaborators of mine whose names are in the book of life..."

That's the only thing we know about them, but you know what? I think that this is enough because they know what we know about them: 1) they are saved. how do we know they are saved? where are their names written? In the book of life, these sisters go straight to heaven, coming to a mansion near you. Accompanying him in heaven are these two sisters. 2) We also know that these sisters are very effective in their ministry. Not only effective, but rarely in his letters, Paul uses words like these people, these sisters fought with me, they were my war companions. They had to be something serious these two sisters.

That is, they were saved, they were effective in ministry but at the same time they lacked joy, they lacked something. They know, just like the Apostle Santiago who says, well where do these conflicts come from, where do the wars between us come from, they are not born from within their members, they are not born from conflicts deep within you. And it is so, brothers, perhaps, just as we studied in our materials the conflicts that we see around us, perhaps, many of them are born because there are conflicts that have not been resolved deep within us, even though we have powerful gifts and even knowing that the Lord is going to use him. It's not about that.

It is about, brothers, that there is something else, there is a Nobel Prize, there is something powerful that the Lord does not want you to lose in your experience in the Lord, something that will completely convert the way you will be used by the Lord, and that will guarantee brothers that you will last for many years serving the Lord powerfully and your strength will never lack. And that something is the joy of the Lord, the joy of the Lord.

And the Apostle Paul has a solution, a diagnosis for these sisters. Sisters, rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice!! rejoice. Brothers, since I was little I have seen this verse and all my life I thought, or for a great time of my life, I read it like a good son of a Pentecostal pastor father. This is a commandment and God has commanded it to rejoice in the Lord, of course, I am going to obey the Lord. Now enjoy yourself, Samuel. Now, have you tried that? Now I command you to enjoy yourself, and the more you try to artificially impose or invent this joy, I don't know about you, maybe I am testifying of my own experience but the angrier I feel, and the more removed from joy and peace I feel. Because? Because this is not something that one invents, that does not come out, that is not something that is born of his willpower. Do you know what this is? This is a diagnosis.

This is like the Apostle Paul serving as a spiritual doctor telling these sisters, 'brothers, brother Samuel, this is your problem, you have to lower, you have to lower your cholesterol.' How do I respond to that? Thank God, this spring I managed to lose a few pounds and anyone who has had a struggle with losing pounds can tell you, it is not easy at all. How many of us would like to stand on the weight and say, LOW, I conjure you, LOW, and how many of us would like to do that, but we know that it is not like that, right? It's not that easy.

Well, at least my faith doesn't come to that, it's not that easy. You know what the Apostle Paul is saying is the same as what the doctor is saying. If we were to adopt a certain life pattern, if our goal, let's say, is to lose weight, they're going to tell you, well, go to a gym, get on a treadmill, eat less chicharrón, less beans, less fried empanadas , and as a result of this new lifestyle, the natural result, you do not have to order your body to lose weight, by having adopted this new lifestyle it melts.

God does that work, because he designed your body. You, in obedience, are living a lifestyle that results in that victory, that goal that you are seeking. In the same way, brothers, there is a way in which we can live intentionally and the result of that lifestyle, without you trying it, without you trying to invent it out of nothing, the natural result will be the joy of the Lord, and we want to live that way. life.

And what is that? What is the joy of the Lord? If our mind is the joy of the Lord, how do we know that we have achieved it, how do we know that we have achieved this goal of the joy of the Lord. Well in the next verse the Apostle Paul continues to urge him and tells him.

“... sisters, your kindness be known to all men....”

There is a translation, the new international version that translates that verse “.... let your kindness be evident to all..."

In other words, brothers, I translate it this way, that those who know their lives better than anyone else, marvel at the constancy of their love, of his immovable perseverance, his desire to serve even if he has the reason to throw in the towel. Do you know when we have reached that goal? We become those people who say, Wow, will there be something to stop that person? Will there be one thing that can derail it?

Brothers, do you want to know how great the Lord is? Ask your partner in your discipleship class for their testimony. We did that, 5 men, we separated in our discipleship class, we were there until one in the morning and one of our questions was this: and what was it that provoked you to follow Jesus? What's got you on these roads? How did you become a disciple of Christ? And we brothers, we were moved to see what God has done in the life of each one of these men, from different professions, from different nations and ethnic roots, but all of them with a powerful testimony that declares, Wow! If that couldn't destroy him, then maybe there's hope for me. If God could work this way in my brother's life, then maybe God is so powerful to give me that healing, that financial blessing, that victory over my family that I'm looking for. There is a mighty God and that is how we know we have achieved the joy of the Lord. We earn the admiration of those around us, not for us, but for them to see that the God you serve is great.

And Paul, in this same letter, in Ephesians Chapter 2, after the portion that calls us to be imitators of Christ, that is the goal of the discipleship class, we want to be imitators of Christ, empty ourselves , he shares how Jesus emptied himself of his glory, assumed the posture of a man, climbed to the cross, and from there, from the grave the Lord was faithful to lift him up and exalt him and promises us the Lord will do the same with you. Meanwhile, brothers, in verse 14 he declares:

“Do everything without murmuring and arguing so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of an evil and perverse generation, in the midst of the which -I love this phrase- from which you shine like luminaries in the world...”

In other words, like stars, and you know, brothers, why does a star shine? The glow, the energy and the heat and light of a star come from reactions that occur deep within this globe of gas. And because of the pressure of his mace and the pressure of gravity that explodes, an explosion deep inside this star and what there is is light and heat, and what makes life possible on this earth.

More interesting still, the more pressure there is on a star, the brighter it shines. And that is what the Lord wants from us. The Lord wants us to be walking stars, luminaries. You are a star, you are what illuminates the darkness around us.

And the Apostle Paul declares where this energy comes from. In us, in these stars, it is not because there are atoms colliding deep within you, but it is another power, it is another force, it is another energy that will never go extinct, that has always existed and that will exist even when our universe ends and all the stars go out, the presence of the Lord. The presence of the Lord is that power. Declares the Apostle Paul, 'know your kindness be known to all men because the Lord is near'.

Well, Samuel, of course he's around. The Lord is omnipresent, he is everywhere. Brothers, but the secret of the joy of the Lord is not knowing theoretically that Pastor Gregory calls you and asks you at work, and what do we mean by saying that God is omnipresent?' Well, he is everywhere, and wow , we pointed out, that question won.

The point here, brothers, is to perceive the presence of God, to realize, when you least expect it, that the Lord is close to you. Realizing that he is on your par, do you know why? From there, from that furnace of the presence of the Lord, that is your joy. In the presence of the Lord, in your presence, declared the psalmist, there is fullness of joy, there is joy enough for everything you are going to experience.

And, brothers, each one of us has had a brush with the divine, right? Each of us at one time or another has experienced the presence of the Lord in some way.

Brothers, that is because you are here, you have had your struggles, you have had your trials, you still have them. They have not disappeared, but you have arrived at this house, you are here for a couple of hours, you confess your sins to the Lord, you adore the name of the Lord, you lose yourself in praise, you hear words from the Lord who instructs you and strengthens you for a Reason nothing more, because we love it, something dazzles, something fills us, rebuilds us from the presence of the Lord.

Level 1 brothers, I guarantee if you continue like this, automatically, don't worry, you will become addicted to the presence of the Lord. The farther you think you are from the presence of the Lord, a hunger to be in the presence of the Lord will awaken within you. The secret, the goal is to be able to experience the presence of the Lord in a natural and constant way that is never far from you, that is, for centuries, Christians who graduated from level 4, long before us, and those who will follow us have practiced disciplines that intentionally cultivate the presence of the Lord and release the joy of the Lord.

And I am going to tell you something, brothers, no matter how agitated you are serving the Lord, the more difficult, do you remember quadrant 1 and quadrant 2? It will be more difficult for you to practice the disciplines, from there they will unleash your strength. Brothers, you will be more tempted to agree to leave aside precisely the source of joy and anointing that life gives you.

What is one of those disciplines? Brothers, the first and perhaps the most important is prayer. The sentence. The Apostle Paul says,

“... be anxious for nothing...”

Let's stop there for a moment, why the anxiety. Do you know why the eagerness, why does he tell us? Look, red flag, you look busy, red flag, find a place. Get out of the way right now.....red flag, you have to run to pray somewhere. Because? Because eagerness is the enemy of joy, brothers. In fact, I would say, it is the opposite of the joy of the Lord and you know what? If you don't take care of yourself, the desire can even become a lifestyle. What's more, you can feel it, I know people who feel proud of their efforts. Yes, because until they recognize that it is very difficult to dwell in the presence of the Lord and, at the same time, dwell in eagerness. If you dwell in the presence of the Lord it is impossible for you to dwell in eagerness, and the Apostle Paul says:

“.... do not be anxious, but when you see that red flag let your requests be known before God in all prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving...”

First, Samuel we all pray. That is not the most basic thing, the alphabet, even before level 1 I prayed. Good. Glory to God. And even in the womb we swallowed, it was very natural but just because we do it does not mean that we do it well or that we do it effectively or that there is a way to do it that is more effective that helps us to release the joy of the Lord more indeed. I say we swallow from the womb, because Sister Kenis, Pastor Gregory's wife, one of her duties is to train her patients to swallow, she is a physical therapist who focuses on that. You know what it's like to teach an old person who has lived his whole life swallowing, how to swallow. Is not easy. But why? Because maybe there are ways to do it that are less effective than others. For me, I know that if I leave my prayer room still in a hurry, something stopped happening there.

And there are things, brothers, thank God that we can do. Our materials speak of an appointment with God, something constant, regularly with the Lord, be it at 6 in the morning in your living room, wherever it is, but you have that inviolable moment with the Lord. You don't feel like getting up, you don't feel like being in the presence of the Lord, all the more reason. But, brothers, what happens there? Ok, I'm here, I have my coffee, I have my little music, I light my candle, I am half a monk. And I am in the presence of the Lord, now what?

Brothers, take this however you want, but at least this has turned out well for me, I learned this, I did not invent it. Richard Foster, his book 'Celebration of discipline', 'Celebration of discipline', suggests this practice. Take a moment to expel the negative before entering the presence of the Lord. At that moment expel, give it, Lord, I give you my rancor, Lord, I give you my pride, I give you my distractions of the flesh. Father, my bitterness, my jealousy, my strife, my guilt, my depression, my eagerness... And Father, ..... Lord, ingest your grace, your power, your love, your peace, your revelation. I receive your wisdom, I receive your mercy, I receive your presence. I receive your revelation.

Brothers, that may take you 5 minutes, but we are ready to explore the word of God and something else, says the Apostle Paul, add thanksgiving. And I would say, that's discipline number 2. Thanksgiving. And because? Do you know what is the definition that I have for thanksgiving? Thanksgiving is reviewing, understanding and celebrating what God has done in you, taking a moment to review, to understand what happened and to celebrate how good God has been. I would say trace the footprints of God in your life through his work in you.

And, brother, I recommend you, maybe not start with the big stuff. Since we were children, they taught us, a Catholic, even when we didn't know what we were doing, to give what? thanks because we are going to eat. Father, thank you for this that I am sharing today.

Brothers, if it doesn't occur to you that this is natural, yesterday, I had to leave a purchase with someone who had an empty fridge. There are people like that in our media, who live like that. If you have food to waste, thank God, thank God for the parking space you got today. Do you know who I learned that from? From Pastor Robert. Pastor Roberto parks in impossible, impossible places. He has a gift for parking, but I saw that there is a pattern: he asks the Lord from before, 'Lord, I need a parking lot and close by, I don't want to walk far,' and the Lord looks in front of the High Convention Center, who have you seen that? The Lord opens some spaces for him, wow.... it really is like that.

Yesterday I did the same, I had to visit someone in the Hospital and I say, well, in the name of Jesus that Roberto preaches, no, in the name of Jesus, Father, open a space for me. In front of the hospital, can you believe it? This is good, this gets good. One, in front of the hospital, two, a little machine on a Saturday; Three, it was out of order, glory to God. Praise God. I did my little Pentecostal dance, thank God, because the Lord says, you know, I don't know how many of you have tried this at night, but instead of taking the Valium, I took the thank you, and thank the Lord. I know I had a hard day, but thank you for that work, thank you, Father, that I got out on the highway and arrived safely. Father, thank you for the family, although half of them deserve the asylum, but it is my family. I am not alone. I am not alone. Thank you, Father, thank you for the little things that escape me.

And you know what happens at that moment? The peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus, for now, brothers, without explaining it, this is better than a drug, drug addicts, people who have struggled with this, say amen. This is better, do you know why? You are not escaping from reality, you are very aware of reality, you are very aware of what you are dealing with. His struggles are very conscious, but for the moment you get a glimpse of the fact that God is near, he is with me, he has not abandoned me, and that unleashes peace. That sparks joy. You are not alone.

But, brothers, the Lord is not enough for you to feel better, the goal of life in Christ is that our lives improve, that we rise from power to power, from better to better and that is why the The third discipline is to study the abundant life, to study the beautiful life of the Lord.

You know, in 1999 the number 1 song in the world was a song recorded by Ricky Martin called 'La vida loca'. It was the biggest hit on Columbia Records, and we maybe used to live la vida loca at one time, but now in the Lord, the Lord has called us to be full time Christians, or my level 3 brothers, now we are Christians full time. And maybe we have to learn a whole new way of living, foreign to the way we lived and thought, a new way of talking, a new way of acting, a new way of thinking.

And, brothers, I tell you, this will take your whole life. We're in this forever. For a lifetime until we see the face of the Lord we will be students of eternal life, students of success life, students of joy life. And it begins perhaps with this question: what would Jesus do?

The Apostle Paul says here, "... moreover, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honest, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is good name, if there is any virtue, if something worthy of praise in this, what? think....”

Brothers, this exercise begins by asking ourselves, what does Jesus say about how I should manage my money and my time? Because the Lord has an opinion about that. What does Jesus say how I should treat my friends, my wife, my children, my companions? What does Jesus say about how I must confront my triumphs, how I must confront my defeats? On this think.

Brethren, everything we read, every piece of music we hear, everything around us, we intentionally make ourselves, become students of how to be a better worshiper, a better friend, a better father or mother, a better hairdresser, a better businessman, a better teacher, a better husband. The beautiful life, the abundant life. study it.

Brothers, I'm not about you, but maybe if you haven't figured it out already, you have a new mind in Christ. You know what? Run with that mind, conquer with that mind, perhaps you have feared speaking English as much or more than I fear speaking Spanish, and you know, this may be the year to take that class of English as a second language. Or maybe this is the year you learn, brother, how to unclog that sink. Or maybe this is the year you enter college.

One more success, and he wasn't here, he was a mentor, I see this brother, and I say: that's life abundant in meat, that 3, 4 years ago he was using drugs in Central square, helpless. Today he is working and today he is at the university. Brothers, why not? If possible. God has equipped you for that victory. You are not an exception. You are not an exception.

But, finally, brothers, unfortunately, brothers, it is not enough to merely study the abundant life. We have to practice it, we have to live it and finally the Apostle Paul declares:

“.... what you learned and received, and heard and saw in me, do this and the God of peace will be with you. ..”

Brothers, question, 5 cents for the correct answer. That's what Pastor Gregory gave us last night for which they answered a question, and I won you the 5 cents and I can give it to you now. What did the Philippians see, what did they see Paul do? Something that happened in Philippi. Don't worry, I'll tell you.

Do you know what happened in Philippi? They saw Pablo sing in jail. They saw Pablo sing in jail. It was in Philippi that Paul and Silas were unjustly thrown into jail after being flogged, they were put in a dark hole, without light and with little air and there they put Paul and Silas. And in the middle of the night they entertained themselves, and what were they doing in the middle of the night awake? Do you know what occurs to me? Perhaps because of the pain from the wounds from the lashes they received, they couldn't even sleep. They couldn't go to bed, because instead of them complaining, they began to sing hymns and praise the Lord and at midnight an earthquake broke out that shook the entire prison, shaking it in such a way that not only its chains fell, but also the doors. of all the prisoners who heard their singing and all the chains fell in that place. What is the lesson? Brothers, if you want to experience full life in the Lord, if you want to unleash the joy of the Lord, perhaps one time or another you will have to sing in jail, sing in jail, sing in prison. You know what, pastor? Maybe that's the least I want. Pastor, right now you don't understand what I'm going through. What you just told me is so insensitive, I don't feel like singing in this jail, I don't have the slightest desire to sing in this jail.

You know, brother, I understand you. I understand you, but know that, brothers, this is the whole point of the joy of the Lord. This is your final exam, this is your final exam, this is the door, the threshold to the joy of the Lord.

Brothers, in our jail, it is in our jail, in our prison that we practice the abundant life. It is there. Brothers, it is in the time of our deceit and betrayal, when we are hurt or disappointed, that we have to practice forgiveness. What use is forgiveness if everything is fine? Forgiveness was invented for those times when we least want to use forgiveness.

In the time of our stress, fear, and brokenness, that is the time for us to practice perseverance. It is in those moments that we have to practice perseverance. And it is at the time of our bankruptcy or our divorce, or when we are convinced that nobody saves us from this. That is the time when we have to practice faith, in his jail.

Brothers, I urge you, we have learned a lot in this semester, we have received a lot of information, you have received precious materials, none of that is worth anything to us, unless we learn to sing in our jail, unless that we learn to sing in our prison.

And I invite the musicians to get on and I invite you brothers to stand up. Do you know, brothers? They are saved, we go to heaven if you receive the Lord as your savior, but the Lord wants more for you. You are effective, God can use you, he will use you, he is still using you, but God wants even more for you. Brothers, perhaps you have seen with envy the life of another and say Wow! What does that brother have? You know, the same thing that's in you. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He dwells in you. He dwells in you. The eternal source of joy is within you. Now, in the name of Jesus, unleash, unleash, light the furnace within you from the presence of the Lord.

I declare it, Father, a ray of anointing falls on our brothers and that glow of peace, that glow of joy, that glow that makes life beautiful, turn it on now, Jesus. Turn it on, turn it on inside my brothers. Father, and the peace of God, the peace of God will be with you.

Sing in jail, bro. Sing in jail, sing in jail. Brothers, let it come out of your lips when you least want hymns, spiritual songs, worship to Jehovah. It recovers all the works that God has done for me, everything he has done for me, many ways that the Lord has delivered me. The Lord freed me from the bear and freed me from the lion, and the Lord will also deliver me from this giant. Sing, sing, sing in jail and an explosion will break out on you, brother, when you least expect it, driving on 93, preparing food for your family, maybe the last rice they had in the house, arriving at your work, collecting all possible strength to get there, in those moments an indescribable joy will explode in your mind and your heart, you do not know where it came from, but you do know that it is the Lord living in you, may his kindness be evident. You know why? Because the presence of God is by your side, his presence is by your side.

Father, we receive your fullness, we receive your joy. We open our hearts and our minds, we receive your peace, we receive your brilliance. Father, in the darkest minds this afternoon, Father, may they receive your light. Lord, the most wounded backs, Lord, in this congregation may they now receive your balm, may they receive your ointment, may they receive your healing. Father, the most lost cases here, it doesn't matter, be it financial, be it physical, be it academic, Father, from there a giant rises. Master, we receive the victory that only comes from you. Thanks for your joy. Thank you because you don't abandon us. Thank you for all that you have done in our lives and thank you, Father, thank you for the fullness of joy that is in your presence. We thank you until we see you, hug you and kiss your face. Thank you Jesus. Amen.

Give glory to God for the joy he has given you and for the victory. Amen.