To worship God is not to sing

I know that one does not have to be nervous but if I am nervous, and it is probably different... the sensation is different, there are very strong feelings now running through my heart, my life, above all feelings of gratitude, feelings that God once and for all He has worked in our lives in another way so that we can learn to believe. You know that it is not easy to believe God, it is not easy to believe something that is not seen. It is not easy to assume the voice of God and start doing things like crazy. But yes, you have to be crazy for the world and sane for God to believe him. I believe that God has a tremendous opportunity today for your life, you were not called to sit there, in that chair, you did not come here to just be a number in a church, you came to make a difference in the world. Do you know the difference between someone who sings adoration and a worshiper of the Lord? Can you imagine which… what makes the difference between that? Psalm 37 says: “…delight yourself also in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart…” How many can delight in the Lord? How many are learning to delight in the Lord? Tell your brother next to you, "I am learning to delight myself in the Lord." Then they give each other a smile just in case so that it is believed. I compare…I make a comparison between a worshiper and a worshiper in the following way: not necessarily because you see a plane with wings, necessarily you have to know that it is going to fly . You go to a museum and see airplanes complete with wings, but there is nothing to make them fly. You go to airports sometimes and there is an area where bad planes are put and those planes even have all the machinery inside but they don't have the essentials to fly. An airplane is not necessarily because you see it there, it is an airplane that flies. We need to see a plane fly for it to do the job it has to do. Not necessarily the one who worships the Lord and who sings and who cries and who does a whole series of things that have to do with the song of worship, is necessarily a worshiper. And they know that the Lord's church is filling up with singers, there are very few worshipers left. Worshipers make the difference. I want to invite you to open your Bible, I want to invite you so that we can see three examples that have to do with men who marked their lives and the lives of a nation with their lives of worship. Judges, chapter 7, verse 15, Judges chapter 7, verse 15, this one of the passages... there are a number of passages in the Bible where each of us can identify his life of adoration, each one of us can identify his way of seeing the Lord. But I like Judges, I like the book of Gideon, I like the story of Gideon because it represents from the simplest, from a more human reality, reaching the story of David, a worshiper par excellence, a worshiper who was according to the heart of God. Judges 7,15 says “…when Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation…” it says “…he worshiped and when he returned to the camp of Israel he said: get up because the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian in your hands." Let us pray to the Lord, thank you Lord Jesus for this time, thank you God for the opportunity to hear your word. Lord, I ask that you can open our hearts, open our minds, open our understanding to be able to discern and interpret your message, your recommendation for each one of us in the name of Jesus, amen and amen. Every time we talk about worshiping the Lord we think of a song. Every time we talk about worshiping the Lord we think of an instrument, a string, a piano key, a battery or any type of instrument. Every time we talk about worshiping the Lord, we talk about the nine o'clock service, the twelve o'clock service or the Wednesday service or any service. Every time we talk about worshiping the Lord we talk about participating in probably a Christian DVD where there is a lot of Christian music. Every time we talk about worship it has been transformed and we have cornered worshiping the Lord only in one area of our life, which has to do with our voice, which has to do with our emotions, which has to do with what we feel. Not every Sunday we arrive at church the same way. There are days when we arrive wanting to raise our arms and hopefully get up there to the sky of the building and other days we reach down with our arms. There is an emotional reaction, each of us has a different reaction to what happens to him during the week. We see church worship as the end, but church worship is not the end, church worship is the consequence of a worshiper's life. You don't start your life singing to the Lord. You are here and you adore the Lord as a consequence of your way of living. Gideon is a reflection, historically Gideon represents this generation that grew up knowing something about God. Knowing that God, the God of his father, did many things. Gideon represents the lives of men and women who do know about God, but have never made a decision for the Lord, and live a life understanding that they need God but there is nothing that motivates them to seek him more. Somehow God also uses each of these people to show his glory and Gideon represents these people very well. Gideon belonged to a generation that was not being fed spiritually, that all they had was tradition, that all they had was history, that all they had was a notion of what God had done in ancient times. Many of our lives are related to that. Gideon belongs to the tribe of Manasseh in the people of Israel, he was the youngest of a family. So all the more reason, the further away from his experience with God he was. In those years, due to Israel's rebellion, God sent a people, the Midianites, to oppress, listen carefully to this word, to oppress Israel. They took their crops, they abused them, they killed them, they took away their possessions, it says in the biblical story in chapter 6, it says that this was one of the years in which the people of Israel lived the greatest misery in their history, They became so poor that they no longer knew what to do. They began to cry out to the Lord but God told them that because of their rebellion he had raised up that people of Midian to be able to intervene in their lives. The book of Haggai mentions that many times we collect on deaf ears, and Israel was collecting on deaf ears. But Gideon represents a man who knew there was something more. Gideon represents this structure of people who know that there is a God, and that somehow they have to be confronted. God confronted and confronted Gideon. Gideon in one way or another when God calls him says, "ah, but if you are the God who has us as a slave..." and says: "Ah but you are the God who has made us suffer so much", "Oh but you are the God who has made us poor”, but God shows Gideon that this was not his plan for him or his people. You know? When God begins to deal with Gideon, Gideon begins to feel that the God of his parents was just as real now as before. The Midianites today, the Midianites represent an oppressive people for Israel, a people that forced them to believe what they believed, a people that forced them to do what they did, a people that forced them to have a God of traditions and change his life for a life of idolatry, for a miserable life, for a life of losers. Today, the spiritual Midian that is doing many of these things is oppressing people's lives, it is leading us to live according to the system. We don't want to rise up against the system, we don't want to hurt the system. To the economic system, the one that does not have is because it does not get into debt, yes? The one who does not have it is because he does not get into debt... "wow, how nice what you have in your house... how much do you owe?" Midián is leading us, pushing us to have these systems in our homes. The system says you can't correct your children, and look at what you have in your house…look what you have in your house because the system…because Midian has told us that we can't correct our children. I am reminded of a story of a man who was taken to court for not adhering to the system. The judge fines him five thousand dollars for having given him such a good beating, which some deserve. You know that he caught his son missing classes for two weeks and he went to guard him outside and when he realized that, he went to beat him up, and the very well educated son took him to court, very well taught. When the judge applies the fine to the father, he tells him, the father tells the judge, he says: “you know what? Give me another five thousand because when I get out of here I'm going to give it to him too”. We are not brave for that many times. The system says that your son has to yell at you and that you have to yell at your son. This spiritual Midianite empire is getting into our homes, these spiritual Midianites. The school system is damaging our children's education, and we? Well, thank you... that's how it is... The political system is damaging the rights of many people, and us? Well, thank you... that's how it is... The economic system is damaging the lives of many people, and us? Well, thank you... that's how it is... So the only day we rest is Sunday at service time. Why? Because that's where our traditions appear, the best religious traditions including from the tie down, going through a good offering check, going through a good singing voice, going through the highest arm to reach as high as possible. That day we rested, the people did that. He came... he knew who God was and he rested those days, but he lived oppressed by this Midian. You know what? God no longer wants you to live in that oppression, God is calling you to make this decision that Gideon made, and although he did not believe the Lord very much. Do you remember the story of Gideon? That means that Gideon was still not quite sure what he was doing, God had already shown him part of what he was going to do with him but there had to come a time when Gideon He had to take that weapon, he had to make the decision, he had to make the determination. Gideon got up and determined... he changed his mental structure and said: "Now Midian, he will never rule me again!!!".

How many of us have stood up…have stood up against this Midianite system? These spiritual Midianites who submit us to their will have boxed the church into four walls. They want to box your spiritual life in your house, they want to limit you in your spiritual life. But Gideon did not accept that, but the people did, they were silent, there were only a few who carried out some guerrilla activities. If you read chapter 6 and chapter 7, you will realize that Gideon was a true guerrilla in those times, he was a true human rights activist. You know? Gideon represents today the lives of those who are being confronted by God to make a spiritual decision in their lives. Madian, the Midianite army was uncountable, the Midianite army didn't have a fixed number, all they saw was people, weapons and horses and many things, and you know what? Gideon stood up against 32,000 and had to fight with 300, until 300 came, do you know why? Because God wanted to glorify himself in his life. A man, a worshiper of God, not only expects to worship on Sunday, he lives a constant life of worship. A worshiper of God begins to say in the morning and at night: "Lord, I praise you, I adore you, I bless you, what I do, what I say, what I think, is to honor and bless you." Then you begin to destroy their altars that madian has set up in your house. Those altars that the spiritual Midianites have established in your heart. Those altars that the spiritual Midianites have established in your mind; think badly of another, have bad feelings, have a grudge, have hatred. God is capable of cutting that off, you just have to have a determination, you just have to make a determination, get up and say: "well, I already heard the dream and its interpretation" and Gideon worshiped and then he told the people: "well, let's get up and go and fight against Midian." Do you know what happened next? What happened to the Midianites? Can someone tell me what happened to the Midianites? They were defeated, they ate each other, they themselves were confused. I love it when Gideon blows the trumpet and breaks the pitcher, that's the part I like the most about this. Do you know why he didn't lift a finger, he didn't lift a sword, he didn't lift a missile, he didn't do any of that? he only glorified the name of Jehovah of hosts. And even though he had a secularized life, he understood that God was preparing him. He was a worshiper. He not only worshiped in his time of religious tradition, he tried to live his life as a worshiper. How many live oppressed, how many live oppressed by the system? How many are being oppressed by this spiritual midian that is putting this dirty, often sinful life in their home, in their mind, in their heart? and you know it's wrong. I want to invite you to have determination, to get up and decide to face this spiritual Midian with God. Joshua, the walls of Jericho, some tremendous walls. In those walls, do you know what made the walls so wide that people lived up there? It wasn't an 8, 10, 10 foot block thing where you bring a truck and dump it, that was a huge thing, that was an impenetrable fortress, no one... that was the safest city there was. Joshua is an example of a man who believes in the Lord, he is an example of a man who understands that God has greater things for his life. When they cross the Jordan they find a tremendous surprise, a wall enormous high, enormous wide, an enormous city, but it was not impenetrable. Joshua was also a worshipper, Joshua also understood that his life depended on what the Lord said for him. How many of us are constantly trying to make our dreams come true but there is a wall that limits us? We arrive and see that wall, and we say: “Lord, thank you, but I'll stay here. Lord, thank you for everything you have given me, I prefer to keep it, I do not want to go further, I cannot climb that wall, I cannot break that wall, I cannot go further" and the Lord tells you: "but if I I have told you to come by, to go and pick it up, that is what belongs to you, that is what I am going to give you”. Joshua teaches us how important it is for our lives to understand that listening to God's voice and doing what God pleases has benefits. How many of us would have thought of going around that wall 7 times? No, we probably would have hired the best extremists to put some bombs in some very strategic parts to see if we could do any damage. And if we take out one of those bricks, we can go into a little hole around there, right? At that time there were no such things. Or maybe hire a catapult company in those years so that they all jump to the other side, there were no means, there was no economy for that. Probably your life and my life have many dreams, we have many desires but there are many of them that the limitation is very high, it is very wide and it is very long. And we were left being the usual conformists. As long as I have enough to pay the rent and to have a cup of coffee in my mouth, it's fine. As long as you have the bus ticket, it's fine. The Lord wants the dreams that he has promised to give you, he wants you to conquer them and there is no wall that can face that. But there is our faith, get up and believe, get up and believe that those limitations are going to be brought down by the Lord. A worshiper not only sings, he also believes what he sings, a worshiper not only sings, he also believes the implicit promises in praise and adoration, he lives them. That is why sung adoration and sung praise is not the end, it is the consequence of our life of adoration. Joshua believed the Lord and could have said: “Lord, why don't we take a longer path, we become friends with those from Jericho, can't they translate that word into English? Hey? But God had told Joshua no, that what was inside was for them, they had to take it, that was part of their time to take the land. How much does it cost you to realize your dreams? How hard is it for you to think that you are going to get what you want to get? We have problems with English,- no, I can't because I don't have time, I don't have money, I don't have anything-. And probably many natural limitations that are very right in our lives. Those walls... you want to get a degree, young people leave high school, Hispanic youth leave high school and many times they do not want, do not want or cannot enter universities, but you have a more powerful God who can tear down those walls . Maybe you are an adult person who also wants to continue with your studies, with doing a good business and the limitations can be many. It may be your education, it may be your English, it may be your transportation, but your God is bigger than all that. There is no limit to your God, your God is unlimited, your God is infinite, your God has no height, no width, no depth, and Joshua believed the Lord. Every day they circled once, and on the last day they circled seven times and then he ordered the priests to rise up and blow their horns and blow their trumpets and praise and glorify the name of the Lord, the same as Gideon did “…at my signal blow trumpets and break pitchers…. There is a common denominator, get up and believe. To those who have this thing like Gideon's, who a little bit believe the Lord and a little bit don't, get up and have determination because God is confronting you today to believe him, to remove from your life those influences of Midian, to remove from your life those influences that are harming your mind, your way of seeing life. To that influence that is telling you today: “you know, take your life”. To that system that is telling you: "you no longer have a remedy in your health", but God tells you something else, God can defeat, God can lift you up, God can teach you to believe. And God wants you to believe, and God wants you to be decisive. King David started there as a shepherd, a shepherd, not a church pastor, and he had to do many things in his life as a shepherd. This is a growing process, Gideon represents that life of people who are observing God and that today God is telling you, do not observe it anymore, embrace it, take it. Joshua represents those lives of those who have served the Lord but need in one way or another to learn to believe in these rare medium strategies that the Lord gives us. Believing in the Lord is going around a wall, it is not because of the laps, it is because of faith, it is because of obedience, it is because of your attitude as a worshiper of the Lord. You were created to worship him, to bless him, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. David in second Samuel, in his story in chapter 17, is an example of who has lived this life of worship to the full, this is the exact or almost, almost perfect image of what God is looking for in each of his children, This is the image that God is looking for to be able to perform the great wonders and his great works that he has to do in our midst today. Life seems at a time when the people of Israel and the Philistines were going to war, and each one prepared, the only thing is that the Philistines seem to be much better, They were enormously tall, they were like I don't know, seeing a basketball team from the United States with one from Chile. True giants, I'm not saying that all Chileans are boys, eh? I didn't want to use another country so as not to offend, Chileans forgive me. There was enormous inequality, such inequality was so great that only one of those giants was capable of cornering that town. Imagine the rest of the team. There was no where, that army of Israel who knew that their God was the creator God of all things. That army of Israel who knew that his God was the one who would have delivered him from a lot of battles and given him many victories. That people of Israel that contained and kept their traditions, every time they went to war, recognized the name of the Lord above all things. That people of Israel often represents us because we are very big here in the church. Here in the church we tell the Devil everything, but let's go out of the door. Here in the church, wow, look…I see hundreds of halos here, but I saw some who took it out of their pocket when they entered, I am sure that more than one will want to put it back in their pocket. This is how this army of Israel represents, many times we are very happy in the church, we are the first activists of the church. I wish they would fill us with activities from Monday to Sunday to keep us busy in this religious activism. These people have been busy in religious activism, in what they never did, in learning to be brave, and understanding that God is looking for brave people. The first giant stood up, and this giant had no idea of whipping them and verbally repressing them for forty days. How many days has the giant been telling you things? How many years has the giant been telling you things? How long has the giant been threatening you? How long has the giant been suppressing your spiritual life? This huge Goliath, that Goliath who in those years barely appeared in the morning, because he also got up early, I would say he got up before the people of Israel, was waiting for them. And he had the luxury of going in and out as many times as he wanted during the day. And he has frightened the people of Israel and a Chilean appears, because he is very small. No, there you could say any other country, right? That he had no experience of war, that what he had done the most... nothing, having killed a lion and a bear. It was nothing that, how many of us would kill a lion and a bear? How many of us would spend hours and days alone taking care of the sheep without the Internet, without television, without radio -that really suffered- without your cell phone? How many suffer for their cell phone? Somehow this giant took it upon himself to intimidate the people. And there are giants today who are intimidating you, who are repressing you, who are threatening you. What are those? Your character, your addictions, your pessimistic way of seeing life. Do you think you're going to have a good time today? You are not going to do it and we already submit to the fear of the giant. Do you think that if you are struggling with addictions or whatever problems, do you think that today you are going to have a great time? No, don't worry, I'll take care that you have your bad day. Well, whatever you want Goliath, then I hide. So I go to a corner, and I prefer not to fight, I prefer not even to look him in the eye and let the day go by as it is. Lord, I'm going to fight anyway, Lord, but don't let the giant cross me because I'm afraid of him. And there appears this character David, David who was after God's heart. How many would like to be considered like that? How many would like to be considered in such a close relationship as almost friends of God? Many times we only become faithful to the church, we do not go further, but God wants you to be his friend, God wants you to be in his heart, to be according to his heart. David was a man after God's own heart. That led him to you know what? to serve as cannon fodder, spiritual bait. He went to get there, and how did this giant think he had come to offend the people of God, who had come to offend the name of the Lord. I'm going to fight him, he says, and he introduced himself. Do you know the story? I imagine David carrying those things like that, with that armor and that sword and leaving the tent, can you imagine? He couldn't do that, he didn't even trust that armor, he didn't trust that sword, that's why it weighed so heavily on him, because that wasn't his trust, his trust was Jehovah of hosts, his trust was the Lord, his trust it was the one who freed him from the attacks of those beasts there in the field. You know? He only took five stones, he only took that, and he had a skill there, he was a very good stone thrower but his courage was not based on his aim but on his trust in the Lord. God only used that ability that he had to defeat him. What is the giant that torments you daily? What is the giant that is drowning your life with threats? The fear? Shortage? The life of a worshiper begins singing in church and progresses as God gives you victories in your struggles. The one who lives oppressed, rise up with determination, the one who lives with limitations, rise up and believe, the one who lives repressed, rise up and be brave, because the brave take away the kingdom of heaven. How many of us are exposed to these spiritual Midianites each day? How many of us are looking at that wall every day wondering when it will come down? How many of us look at the giant from inside the tent, we only see like this, we open a little bit of the tent to see if he didn't come out that day to see if we can go buy bread and come back? How many of us...? Many times our life is only a temporary spiritual life. God wants your life to be a complete life in the Lord. God wants your life to be a complete worshiper's life. When you get up in the morning, even though you know it's not going to be a good day, even though you know that you have to pay the rent and all the bills that day, that's one of the more bad days out there. God wants to tell you: I want a worshiper, a worshiper who worships me in spirit and truth, not just the one who sings. I want you to sing to me, I want you to cry, I want you to bow down, but I want you to live that adoration. I want you to live that way of seeing me in church. I want all that courage that you have inside the church, when you open the door to the parking lot, to continue having it, and to continue fighting Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday , Sunday, every month, every year. If you are oppressed, get up because God has determined today to use you. If you are limited, get up because today God has determined that your faith grow and that your belief means tearing down the walls of Jericho. If you are repressed, get up because the Lord is looking for the brave.