Why does God take away something you love?

Praise God for ministries that offer healing and freedom. We hope, brothers, that everything that enters through the atriums of this church or any Christian church seeking freedom, seeking healing, that they find those places, wherever it is, whether it is here, whether it is in your country, if you are seeing us on the Internet, but that's what a church should be.

And brothers, the Lord is going to keep his promise to us. If the Lord promises healing, he wants to be sure that there is healing in that place; if he promises freedom he will make sure, brothers, to fulfill that promise of freedom. And brothers, a few days ago, a while ago since the Lord has been working this message in my life and I have shared it in other contexts. The first time I shared this message in a homeless shelter, that same week that, by the way, is run by some very violent and brave brothers from this congregation, Sister Dilma and her powerful team, who quietly enters a shelter every Tuesday at the night, anonymously and there ministering to a people that is their home, they are not even two blocks from here.

I shared a version of this thought, one Wednesday night with the Lázaro group and in another place, a couple of weeks ago, but what I had not realized was that Pastor Roberto on the 6th July brought a message, if you did not get to hear it, I recommend that you look it up on the Internet, prophetic, I believe that it marked the life of this church. It is more comprehended, it has penetrated our vocabulary even of prayer this afternoon, that is how we know that a message is prophetic, when even the words pronounced by the pastor reverberate in our prayers and our interventions. And only last night I had the privilege of listening to that message, only this morning I had the privilege of listening to Pastor Omar's message and I can tell you, brothers, that I find the main ideas of these messages perfectly balanced.

What is the message? Brothers, if you don't hear anything else, receive this. Do you believe that the Lord loves you? Do you believe that the Lord knows the best for you and wants to fulfill the best for your life? So, brothers, receive this message in the name of Jesus.

Sometimes the way in which God's love for us is most manifested is not in what he gives us, but in what he takes from us. Sometimes the best way that the Lord shows you that he loves you is not so much in what he gives you but in what he takes from us. We go to the presence of the Lord.

Now, Jehovah, I invite you to speak. Spirit of God fill this place as you used to fill the temple. And even if this priest will not be able to minister for the perfection and power of your presence so be it. But fill this place with your presence, blow God's spirit on this word and let it sprout life. We ask it in the name of Jesus.

Let's go to Mark, Chapter 11, verse 12 to 25. Perhaps one of the reasons why this message has touched me so much is because for most of my life I did not understand this word, this Biblical portion in this way. And this has been a revelation, Mark, the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 11, verse 12 to 25. amen. Glory to God.

My brothers in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit: "... the next day when they left, this is Jesus and his disciples, he was hungry for Bethany...."

Ok, a little context here, my brothers. The next day means the day after his triumphal entry, which we celebrate as Palm Sunday. The day before the Lord had entered through the gates of the city of Jerusalem and the people shouted just as we sing today, Jerusalem blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna, hosanna to the king who lives. The Lord entered the city that day, it seems that it was late, he entered the temple, took a look, checked the temple and left. to where? And this is a context that you will see throughout this passage. When the Lord entered the city, brothers, it was the time of the Passover, there was nowhere to stay in all of Jerusalem. Jerusalem did not have a Holiday Inn express, it had not been invented, Travelocity. There was nowhere to stay in Jerusalem.

Well, what most Easter pilgrims did was stay in surrounding cities. Many of them staying outdoors in the fields and mountains to celebrate the Passover in Jerusalem. Jesus did this. Jesus stayed in the city of Bethany and perhaps even in the home of his friend, Lazarus. Well, that's what you're going to see. You are going to see this order: the Lord and his disciples entering the city, leaving for the city. Ok, fine.

“... the next day when they left Bethany, he was hungry and, seeing a fig tree that had leaves in the distance, he went to see if perhaps he could find something on it, but when he got to it, he found nothing but leaves, well, it was not the time for figs. Then Jesus said to the fig tree, never again shall anyone eat your fruit, and his disciples heard it....”

I'm sure Jesus wanted the disciples to hear it. You can imagine how you would react. I imagine the disciples reacted in the same way that maybe, if we want to be honest, we wouldn't have reacted like, what would this fig tree do to Jesus to deserve this?

“...Well, going on from there they came to Jerusalem and when Jesus entered the temple he began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who sold pigeons and did not allow anyone to cross the temple carrying a skewer, that is merchandise, some, and taught them saying, 'it is not written my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have made them caves of thieves...”

The Lord would rise reluctantly that day.

“... And the scribes and the chief priests heard him and sought how to kill him because they were afraid of him, because all the people were amazed at his doctrine, but when night fell Jesus left the city and passing in the morning they saw that the fig tree had withered from the roots. Then Peter, remembering, said to him, Master, look, the fig tree that you cursed has withered, answering Jesus said to him, 'Have faith in God, for truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, get off and throw yourself into the sea, and he will doubt in his heart, but he will believe that what he says will be done, what he says will be done to him. Therefore I tell you that whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you will receive it and it will come to you. And when you are praying, forgive if you have anything against someone so that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses, because if you do not forgive either your Father who is in heaven will forgive you your trespasses.... ”

My brothers, it may not seem like it at first, but the Lord revealed to me that these texts are linked with a purpose. Look, what happens first? First the Lord enters the city, he is hungry, he finds this fig tree, a fig tree and that was public property, that is, brothers, in Jerusalem in particular at this time, it was a very agricultural era and these fig trees These fig trees grew everywhere, they were wild trees, they were owned by no one and by everyone at the same time.

Maybe in Boston we don't recognize what that is like, but in our countries that exists, that where there is so much natural beauty, the Lord has blessed, has enriched our countries with so many natural resources that there is fruit and there is to eat wherever. I don't know about you, but in the Dominican Republic I experienced something like this. Marina introduced me to the way one fells almonds from the tree, very romantic. One throws at it with a pebble to see if one knocks down an almond. No wonder those guys are ball players, right? And it was something like that.

There were these trees everywhere. The Lord approaches, he sees a tree with its leaves, he approaches it and sees that it had many leaves but it was empty and he cursed it, he cursed the poor fig tree. Now why would the Lord do this, for what reason. If it wasn't fig time, was it? Doesn't the word say it very clearly? Ah, but it had leaves. We had to do some research on this. What we now in the 21st century do not realize, and unless one is around these fig trees one does not realize, is that the fig tree bears fruit at least twice a year. The main harvest, the time of the figs, is in the summer, but the fig tree bears its first fruit, some firstfruits, in the spring and this fruit sprouts even before the tree puts on leaves and it seems that the purpose of this first fruit that bears it is the fig tree, these firstfruits so to speak, that opens and prepares the tree for the main harvest. In other words, it is inferior but very necessary so that in the summer this tree truly blossoms and bears fruit.

And brothers, what is understood is that not bearing this first fruit is a good indication, that it would not bear fruit in the summer either. The Lord approaches this particular fig tree, sees many leaves but no fruit. Then the Lord enters the city, he sees disorder, he sees markets, he sees people buying and selling where they are supposed to be praying. Now, we are almost certain, brothers, that the place where they had this trade, the little place that they chose to put these tables and this business of exchanging coins, were the courts of the Gentiles. The only place in the Lord's temple where Gentiles were allowed to enter and maybe…. And Gentile by the way, everyone here except Cherrie would be limited to that place. The only place where they hoped to hear the word of God, the only place where they could get closer to the Shekinah glory of God was those courts, it was there that there was this mess, this disorder, this merchandising.

And the Lord closed their store in a violent way and told them, there will be no more marketing, get out of here, this is supposed to be a house of prayer for all nations, for all people. Now, brothers, what will these texts have in common? I think that one of the ideas, brothers, that stands out to me the most, or at least one of the things that I heard from the Lord when reading these texts was this: Sammy, sometimes we get used to things that are because they always They have been like this and we do not imagine that our lives can be different. It is that the idea has not even enlightened us that perhaps what we have become accustomed to living is not the perfect will of God for our lives, that perhaps in the heart of God he has imagined something else, another future, another dream so to speak, for us, and we don't even realize it. We have no clue. We can't even imagine.

And that's what I see in this text. Many commentators have said that the curse of the barren fig tree is a prophetic symbol anticipating Jesus cursing a corrupt temple and an empty religion. And I think rightly so.

Brothers, I read comments even from atheists and they all agree with this, and some of them, brothers, conclude, you see, you see that this Jesus speaks of a God of love, they speak of a God of understanding, what do you see here? We see an angry Jesus, cursing a fig tree, what did this poor fig tree do to Jesus? And the temple, how is the Son of God going to behave and in the house of God? But do you know what I see here, and I think you know what the Lord sees? Perhaps these people, not perhaps, I am almost sure, that no one in that temple even remembered the days when the presence of the Lord filled that place in such a way that not even the priests could minister, but Jesus did .

No one in those days who was in that temple could imagine the days when the King of Israel Jehoshaphat threw himself prostrate before the altar, in that place, seeking the presence of God. They could not imagine the Levites rising spontaneously praising and adoring the Lord and that the glory of the Lord be revealed and of the people that the prophetic word would go up and the Lord directing his people, encouraging his people, defeating their enemies stored up against them. It was impossible for them to remember something like that, but Jesus did. Jesus did know. Jesus did know what this temple was and what it represented.

Perhaps no one there respected Jehovah's Shekinah glory, and the power behind that veil. But the Lord had not lost respect, the Lord did know what, who and why lived there. What there was, brothers, was an empty religion, a lot of form, a lot of religiosity, many whistles and flutes and things without power, without power. A priest opening a scroll, dusting it off and reading those words without revelation, without anointing, without authority, without power, and brothers, while this was taking place, what Paul would later write, the appearance of godliness, the appearance of godliness but denying the power of her.

Meanwhile, brothers, people arrived hungry and the Lord saw this, the Lord saw people entering the temple through a door chained and leaving the same way, people entering with demons and those same people entering through another door the same way or worse than how they entered; people making contact with the temple of Jehovah on the way to hell, and there was no one who could reach him, a word of anointing, a word of freedom, a word of power, a word that could transform his trajectory into one of life. he saw this, going in broken, leaving broken.

And, brother, you know what? They say the Lord got angry, that's okay. I think it's okay to be angry. Brethren, I can't imagine anything that makes God more angry than that. I can't imagine anything that could infuriate the Lord more than the idea of offering a promise of life and freedom and healing and power and that people arrive expecting that, expecting an encounter with a living God, expecting the word of transformation, waiting for hope for his life, waiting for someone with enough authority to stand against the hosts of the enemy that has risen up against them and power in the name of Jesus to scare them away. And the Lord said, you know what? Never, ever will someone eat your fruit here, never, ever will someone enter this place with the invitation, with the leaves inviting you to enter and share life only to find emptiness, only to be deceived. That will never happen in this place.

And do you know why he does it? Do you want to know why? He does it not because he is a wrathful God, but quite the opposite. He's a God of love, like that. Brothers, do you want God to love you? Be careful, because when God loves, he loves passionately, he loves completely, he loves insistently. He is like one of those little boys who fell in love with you in grammar, who kept sending you notes and you couldn't get away from him, he loves insistently. He loves, his love is a consuming fire. He loves like a father who takes his children and his wife seriously and who will protect them at all costs, at all costs, he is willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that nothing and no one will ever cheat on us.

And guess what? it is because he loves us that the Lord does not tolerate something taking up space and manure and water and light and sweat and effort so as not to bear fruit. He loves us too much for that. he loves you too much, he loves us too much, brothers to let us starve waiting for the fruit of a barren fig tree, that you starve waiting for something that has deceived you with a promise of life. He loves you too much to let you starve waiting for something that will never happen.

And guess what? This brings us back to the fig tree. And the fact that the same God who loves, the same God who takes authority in that temple focuses on you. And this is where perhaps the message becomes a bit particular. There is where it gets personal.

Brothers, think for a moment, perhaps there will be in our lives, in the garden of our lives, fig trees that we have tolerated for a long time, too long without bearing fruit. Perhaps there is a fig tree in your life that the Lord has cursed and he has told you a long time ago, pull it out, it is taking up extra space. What are we talking about, Sam? Pastor, Sam, what are you talking about?

Speak to me clearly. Well, brothers, frankly, perhaps it is a relationship that the Lord has told you from the beginning, look at this, it will never bear fruit, but there it is, a friendship, relationships, whatever, in the garden of your life taking place. Perhaps it is a career or even a longing, a dream that you have had and you planted it there and you have tolerated it and you have gone, a business perhaps, a desire. It is in your garden taking up space and you have returned that fig tree year after year, you have checked its leaves, it has never given you fruit, it has never given you fruit or perhaps, brothers, it is an addiction that you cannot let go of in your garden life taking space, sucking your dignity, your time, your sweat, your marriage, your finances, your emotions, your sleep, your well-being, occupying space without bearing fruit of joy, peace, love, life, goodness, temperance, patience, without bearing fruit in your life.

Brothers, you know what? Maybe you went near that fig tree, whatever it is, whoever it is, frankly because you were hungry. You were hungry. You were on your way to the temple, you passed by, you saw the leaves, he invited you and you came closer. And you reviewed it because you were hungry and I want to tell you something, brother, your God knows what it is to be hungry, your God knows what it is to be in need, he understands your desire, he understands your emptiness, he understands what it is to seek life from this thing, but what he tells you, is you know what? I want to rip out what doesn't suit you and I want you to live.

And perhaps, brother, you will say but Lord, I have invested so much in this fig tree. It's true, this year it didn't bear fruit, maybe next year it will bear fruit, maybe next month it will bear fruit, maybe this is the harvest year, but the Lord has told you, reality, chuck. This tree will never bear fruit. What the Lord is saying to you this afternoon is, let me in, let me rip out what I have cursed, and have faith in God, have faith in God. Don't worry about the fig tree. As a good husbandman, the Lord knows that so that we do not starve, he knows why the Lord made you, and the Lord made you to bear fruit, and the Lord tells you this afternoon, I give you authority in the name of Jesus, it's more brothers, let's stand up.

I give you authority in the name of Jesus, not only to uproot the fig trees in the garden of our lives that shouldn't even be here in your lifetime, but he says, if you believe this afternoon all mountain that obstructs your way, everything that opposes the place where the Lord wants you to arrive, if you believe in this afternoon you can direct the word to that mountain and in the name of Jesus throw it into the sea.

Brothers, you know what? The Lord has a destiny for your life. There is somewhere the Lord wants you to go, there is a purpose for which the Lord has created you. There is a path that you would not be here on, if you were not determined to chart the path to get to that place. Maybe you know, maybe you don't even know where this place is, but you do know that it's a good place, it's a place that God has prepared, it's a place that only you can occupy, if it weren't for distraction. of this fig tree, if it were not for this mountain that is in your path, and the Lord this afternoon gives you that authority.

Brothers, this afternoon the Lord tells you believe in me, have faith in God. Have faith in God. Have faith that the God who called you on this journey will not allow even if Mount Everest comes between you and the purpose that he has for you, but you have to be willing, that the Lord enters your heart, enters the garden of your life and do what he has to do, clean what he has to clean, rip off what he has to rip off. And brothers, this afternoon take that authority, authority over fig trees of attitudes, habits, vices, addictions, life patterns.

Come before the Lord and let the gardener come in, check and love you. Let the Lord love you the way he wants to love you, taking away so that there is room for his grace, so that there is room for his power, so that there is room for his blessing, so that there is room for his revelation, so that there is place for his anointing, so that there may be a place for his peace, so that there may be a place for the ministry for which he has called you, so that there may be a place, that place in your role as Father, brother, those children who see you, they admire, even without understanding you, knowing your troubles, knowing they see that daddy goes out and deals with this fig tree, and you would be the hero of the house if he uprooted it today. I would receive the applause of your entire generation if you say once, to the garbage with you. I am going to plant, what is more, the tree is you, the tree that he wants to plant is you, a tree of life, a tree planted near the streams of water that bears its fruit in due season and its leaf does not fall and everything he does and everything he does will prosper, that is what God wants, that is what God wants for you, that is God's intention for you, but first he has to start because he loves you.

Let's go before the Lord, let's ask permission that you enter our garden now. Lord, thank you that you love us so much not to let the enemy deceive us with false promises of life. Father, we say like Peter, only you, only you, only you have the word of life, Father, and we declare Lord, we declare that fruit will sprout, Lord, where there has only been sterility and we give you Master permission to uproot what is not good for us , that you remove and burn what is not yours, what you have never imagined that we have in our means. Father, plant in its place life, plant in its place the fruit of abundant life. Father, that each life here for 30, for 60 and for 100, Lord, that is your purpose for our lives.

If this afternoon you want a prayer in particular and you say, Pastor Samuel, I know that the Lord has a place for me but I am facing mountains until today, but in the name of Jesus I will not return Same house, I am not going to play life again as the enemy has tried to make me play it. I declare that the mountains, you give me authority this afternoon to throw them into the sea and I inherit, what's more I invite you brothers to inherit. If that is you, you will say, pastor brother, I take this seriously and I declare that until today there were mountains but in the name of Jesus I am going to throw them out, in the name of Jesus I am going to throw them out, I invite you to pass in the name of Jesus. If you have never received the Lord as your savior, if life has been a mess for you, it has made no sense and you need the Lord to be the God of your life, I also invite you to come in at this moment, come on brother , in the name of Jesus.