Need help? Raise your gaze to the mountains!

Dr. Samuel Pagán, his wife, Dr. Noemí Pagán, are a team, people of God that God is using in an extraordinary way. Dr. Pagán came to what used to be the Central Baptist Church, many years ago, about 15 years ago, I think, he came to Cambridge at that time and he was there with us for a glorious weekend, I have always remembered him.

And the Lord has allowed him to come again with his wife this time, to the Lion of Judah here in Boston. How good is the Lord.

And Dr. Pagán in particular is a man who has been a blessing to the people of God through the years, he has been president of the theological seminary of Puerto Rico, he has written 25 quality books, imagine, because there are many people who produce books left and right, but this man of God is a learned man, he has been the main translator for international bible societies. He is an Old Testament scholar but above all he is a man of God, an excellent preacher and a person who moves in many influential circles, including the Middle East and other parts of the world, and today we are blessed to have him with us. his wife, Dr. Noemí Pagán, who is also a woman of many achievements, is a book editor and also has her own academic achievements, especially also a woman of God and this morning we had the opportunity to hear her share about the word of the Mister. So give him a big round of applause of welcome, warm, as befits our congregation and Samuel we bless you, welcome to your family and we are so glad to have you both here.

God bless you. What a pleasure it is for me to be here again with you to announce the virtues of the one who called us out of darkness into his admirable light. I am glad to be here because as Pastor Miranda told you, a few days ago we had been here and we had a very blessed and joyful weekend. This morning I explained that we were in the process of finishing the translation of the Reina Valera of 1995, in a study edition, so I went to various churches in all of the Americas from Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, everything, to the United States, various churches in the United States, I had to go so I couldn't affect the dynamics of the class, because it has to be, you can't just do it with friends, tell them, look, give me an opportunity to go to Bible school and when I get there When reading the Bible, instead of reading the biblical text, they are going to read what I am going to give them, and indeed, we had a very pleasant, very good experience here and your comments and reflections were incorporated into the study edition known as Reina Valera del 95, study edition. From then on it has come out of that text, millions and millions and millions of biblical texts have been published, that is, you have a little piece that you put there for the very glory of God. So give yourselves a round of applause for how far you've come.

The pastor went to Uganda and you have gone all over the Americas, in Latin America and Spain and all those places and you have been a blessing from the Lord. I like to have my hands freed up like that because I talk with my hands too so…

And it was really a joy for me to be here and today to still be here with contentment and happiness. And let me begin by greeting you in the name of the Lord, greeting you in the name of how the pastor has come from this missionary experience, I would like to greet him and tell you what is happening in the rest of the world. Sometimes we think that only the Lord has his tents here, right? In Boston. The good news from God is that while we are here, the Lord is working all over the world.

And let me first greet you on behalf of the brothers and sisters you know very well, the Mapudungun brothers and sisters. Do you know them? The Mapudungun. Yes, yes, here I heard one this morning, the Mapudungum are the ancient brothers who were called the Mapuche or the Arauca, very good. Here we have someone from Chile and perhaps there is a Chilean who is seeing us here in the name of the Lord. The Mapudungun were a community of warrior, firm, wise, intelligent people who decided to continue their life and their indigenous lifestyle in Chile, they never signed peace agreements with Spain, and they continued in 1919, they made some commitments and some arrangements and while they followed their culture to the eternal Lord, it occurred to him to reach the Mapudungun with the word of the Lord and yesterday we began to translate the Bible in Mapungungu and today that you and I are talking, we are going to read and worship with him psalm 121 the Mapungungun are preaching and singing psalm 121 in their own language, to the very glory of God.

And there are the Mapudungun at this time there is a great revival and a great spiritual awakening because when people have the biblical text in their language, in the language of the heart, they begin to read the text and begin to enjoy it in an extraordinary way.

I bring you greetings from the Mapudungum brothers and sisters for the very glory of God. And I bring you greetings, how good, how good the Lord is. And I bring you greetings on behalf of a community in Central America, a particular community that has received the Gospel and God has called you in an extraordinary way, so I greet you, a community that you also know very well, very, very well, very Well, they know the Garífuna from head to toe. Yes, they do know the Garífuna. Now let's find out the ages here. I know you can't do this because I'm going to know.

Who here remembers a song that became very popular in various parts of the world, we were in Israel and we started listening to Snail Soup? Aah, it is known here. They have fixed up well, but look at the ages they are out there. Well, I want you to know that the musician who composed Sopa de caracol converted to the Gospel and today is the musician of the first Garífuna Baptist church in Honduras for the very glory of God. The Garifuna also praise the Lord and send their regards in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I want you to know that not only in the Americas, that in the ancient and distant East, in China, God has his people and we have been able to reach places in China where perhaps there is not a temple as beautiful as the one that you have here, perhaps there are no physical facilities as noble and pleasant and beautiful as the ones you have, but there in an apartment, or in some small house, in the last part of China where sometimes television does not reach, nor the means of communication do not arrive, however the eternal God arrives there. 17 million Chinese Christians are registered as Christians because in China you have to register, but while there are 17 million registered, it is estimated that there are more than 70 million Christians who are worshiping the Lord throughout China, in faraway places and in places nearby, in apartments, and in houses in the big cities, and in Beijing where we could be, there is the Lord saving people, and he is blessing families, and he is renewing marriages, and he is blessing newborn children, and they are glorifying the Lord, because the Lord came to tell us, as in the songs that you have had here today, that in the sea of glass when we are in front of the throne of the Lord there will be people of many languages and many cultures and of many towns. And first there were 144,000 but suddenly it was a crowd that no one could contain and there we were the Puerto Ricans, and the Dominicans and the Chileans, and the Argentines. Look, we were all there blessing the Lord including the good brothers and sisters from León de Judá who are going to be there in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I have greetings, greetings, from the brothers and sisters of Bethlehem, of Bethlehem of Judea, while sometimes we get together and the only noise that is heard is a microphone that puts some strange thing into it, or some matter that we hear In the cult, sometimes in the cults of Bethlehem a shiver is heard around there, and a bomb is heard, and a difficult situation is heard and in between those pains the people of God have gathered to tell us, we are going to be happy people , we are going to be renewed people and we are going to be transformed people and there in Bethlehem of Judea God has his church.

And greet you in the name of Don Quixote de la Mancha. It is interesting, an extraordinary work. Don Quixote, a man who, according to our criteria, the psychologists who are here, the psychologists who are here, would place him in the exam that is done, not in the place of the very sane, however, Don Quixote was a dreamy man and I told him to Sancho, Sancho, come with me because we are going to undertake a liberating project to right wrongs, to free maidens, to give food to those who are hungry, says the text of Cervantes, to give food to whoever is... then people said, but how this is possible. And he tried to convince Sancho, and when he said to Sancho, Sancho, come with me to this project of liberation and grace. Sancho told him, freeing wrongs is not eaten, what do you offer me? Then Don Quixote told him, but come with me because we are going to have an extraordinary project to help those in need. And Sancho smiled and told him, helping those in need is not enough to eat. Suddenly Don Quixote says, come with me and I'm going to make you governor of a….. and Sancho said, that interests me, governors are indeed… that is living. He likes to govern and command. Don Quixote convinced Sancho and went with him.

And indeed, they began an extraordinary project but little by little Don Quixote was…. One of the phenomena that one sees in the work of Cervantes is that Don Quixote was the one who lived in illusion, the one who lived in dreams, and Sancho was the one who lived pragmatically, the concrete one. And one of the phenomena that one sees in literature is that little by little, little by little, Don Quixote becomes pragmatic and Sancho becomes illusory and begins to dream and think. In the final Chapter, Don Quixote gets sick and when he gets sick, Cervantes tells us that it was an intense illness, already fatal, and he fell asleep for 7 straight hours, and people began to think that he was going to die, that he was already in bed. final stage, that how was it possible that Don Quixote was going to die, and suddenly, Don Quixote woke up, stood up, came to himself, says the text of Cervantes, came to and began to recite the psalms, began to say psalms of blessed David, in whom I always trust, and he begins to recite the psalms, the psalms that have been such a blessing to us.

I was telling the brothers and sisters this morning that there are psalms that are as if they were ours. It seems …….. and the children of …….., well, I wrote it last week. Because? Because it is a psalm that has so much inspiration. Hear this one, the Lord is my light and my salvation whom I shall fear. The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom should I be afraid. When the evil ones, my anguish and my enemies gathered against me, they stumbled and fell, even though an army encamps against me my heart will not fear even though war rises against me, I will be trusting. An extraordinary psalm, psalms that bless us, that help us.

And don Quixote begins to remember all those psalms. Listen to this, listen to this, God is our refuge, our strength, our quick help in tribulation, therefore we will not fear even if the earth is removed and the mountains are transferred to the heart of the sea. That is, even if the tsunamis come, with everything and that I trust in the promises of the Lord.

How many can give glory to God for that? Psalm, psalms, psalms, blessed the name of the Lord. psalms. Listen to this, look, when I see the heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you formed, I say, what is man that you remember him, and the son of man that you visit him. Because he made us in an extraordinary way, you are not made in an automatic reproduction machine, you are not made like a photocopy of anyone, you are created in the image and likeness of God. In you is the divine virtue, there is a breath of God in your DNA is the footprint of the Lord that no one can stop, that no one can distress.

That is why when Goliath wanted to anguish David and humiliated him and said, come, I am going to give your meat to the birds of the field, it is because there was not a man in Israel who would fight with me. If David becomes Puerto Rican, that's where he says and blessed, that's where he says blessed. If he becomes Dominican he says, oh, that's where he says oh. David looked at Goliath and said, look Goliath, you come to me with a sword, spear and javelin, but I am going to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, and he adds, God of the squads of Israel who is the God who you have provoked

The problem of the enemy is not that you are good people, glory to God if you are good people, the problem of the enemy is not that you offer and tithe, glory to God if you tithe and that is very important for the congregation, the problem of the The enemy is not that you are listed in the church books, glory to God if you are listed, the problem is that you have the image of God. And when people have the image of God, you can't take that away from them. The image of God is there and the psalms reflect it.

The law of the Lord is perfect that converts the soul. The testimony of the Lord is faithful that makes the simple wise. The commandments of the Lord are pure, all faithful, they make the heart happy, the testimony of the Lord is faithful, desirable they are more than gold and more than much sharp gold. But none of those psalms I'm going to preach to you.

There are extraordinary psalms that are close to our hearts, and one of the psalms takes us to the mountains. One of those psalms takes us to the top of the mountains, one of those psalms takes us to the extraordinary mountains.

Let's see how many here remember I will lift my eyes to the mountains from where my ……… will come.

Very good very good. So we no longer have to read that part of the psalm that was part of our participation and thus they give me the opportunity to remember at this moment in the same way that they received greetings from all those parts of the world: Africa, Chile, from all these places I want to bring you particular greetings from a woman who captivated my life, from a young lady who inspired me and made me review my devotionals and my biblical texts, Miguelina.

Miguelina is a young woman from Bethlehem. With Miguelina I had the opportunity to participate for more than 5 months, one of the tasks that my husband and I did, when the Lord gave us the opportunity, in 2001 to visit Israel and Palestine to be there for a year. It was participating with the young people of the University of Bethlehem, when this difficult situation occurred in New York, where the twin towers were hit by an airplane, there we were at that very moment when all this difficult situation was happening here in this part of the world, We were at that precise moment in the desert of Beersheba, in a solitude retreat, in an intimate retreat with the Lord and there in that desert of Beersheba, my husband tried to identify an oasis and the other members of the group, who were around 8 people, each of us located in an oasis, and in that oasis we had the opportunity to be intimate with the Lord and to review not only part of our Christian pilgrimage, but also to review what our life had been and where we wanted to go lead.

And in that period of time I met Miguelina. Miguelina was a young woman who had the opportunity during a period in the history of Palestine, specifically Bethlehem, she had the opportunity to get close to different mountains, especially to constantly visit Mount Zion during the week and there Miguelina had many friends, in what it is called the Old City. And Miguelina suddenly all that experience of visiting Mount Zion and some mountains around the cities around Bethlehem, suddenly she sees that experience of having friends on the other side of Israel, suddenly she is surprised, she could no longer participate or meet her friends and her friends on the other side of the place where she lived. And when I'm telling you, the other side is like the bridge that divides the church that you had, Cambridge, from here to this other side. This is more or less the division that exists, perhaps even closer between Bethlehem and Jerusalem.

And Miguelina that year 2001 when I had the opportunity to go there, Miguelina could no longer visit her friends and at that moment we arrived. And after the experience of us having left the Berseva desert, finding the news of what had happened in the United States, that week I had the opportunity to talk with Miguelina. And in a conversation that I had with her and another young woman from the University of Belén, I ask Miguelina, Miguelina, do you think that at some point in history there will be peace in this place? And Miguelina looks at me, looks back, and looks to both sides, and looks at me and says, are you talking to me, Naomi?, and I say yes, I would like to know if you believe that at some point in history there will be peace here? And she looks at me with her eyes wide open, a Palestinian woman, a very awake and beautiful Palestinian girl, she says, but how is it possible that you ask me that question? Have you forgotten who was born here in Bethlehem? In our land and our people the prince of peace was born. Hallelujah!

And after speaking with Miguelina and telling me all the experiences that the young people had suffered there at the University of Belén, and facing her again, face to face and telling me, we will never lose hope because the one who was born in our midst taught us the importance of the peace that we will achieve someday.

And Miguelina said, because the Lord is with us in our town. Miguelina was already familiar with Psalm 121 and not only did she know it, but together with some friends from Israel she had the opportunity on many occasions, while going up Mount Zion, to the Old City, to repeat with her friends, I will raise my eyes to the mountains from where my help will come. And when I confronted her with the question, she refers to the same psalm to remind me in a particular way that the gaze of her people, the gaze of the brothers and sisters of Bethlehem, was totally on the heights of heaven. They still kept their arms raised today, because for that believing people, for those Christian brothers and sisters, for that youth, the only trust is in the Lord, creator of the mountains, of the plains, your creator and my creator. . Miguelina trusts and understands that even though the climb is dangerous and rugged, even though there are stones on the road, even though the difficulties are increasing, Miguelina, that beautiful young woman, understands that the prince of peace who was born in her town accompanies them in the midst of the pain, difficulty, in the midst of lamentation, there is the Lord with that people.

And there the Lord wants us again. We leave a job with an ellipsis that we have to finish. And living with those young people has been the greatest privilege for us. And that's why I've always said that I believe in youth, and I believe in youth, and now every time I look somewhere, or in a corner, the only thing my eyes encounter is young people. I believe in youth because we are the product of a church like you. When we were boys and girls, and we began to develop as young people, those churches that helped us form believed in us and what we are today we owe to that church. who believed in us.

I believe in youth like Miguelina, there in Bethlehem, who understands that she makes the most perfect exegesis of what Psalm 121 means, which I invite you to re-read with us at this hour.

We are going to read Psalm 121 as if it were a prayer in the same way that they did when they began the devotional. A devotional blessed by God, a devotional that challenged us again and that reminded us today that when our prayer is clear and comes from the soul, and comes from the depths of our hearts, the Lord listens to it, the Lord he sees their need, hears their cry and is ready to respond to us.

I will lift my eyes to the mountains and everyone says with me, where will my help come from. My help comes from Jehovah who made heaven and earth.

How good is the Lord. How good is the Lord. Looking up at the mountains is a form of prayer, it is a form of prayer, it is a way of looking away from the problem that is weighing us down, from the problem that is distressing us, from the problem that is trying to take away our peace, and put the look then in the possible solutions that we can have.

One of the effects that problems have on us is that they disorient us. The problem that comes into our lives comes with the intention of preventing you from making sober and wise decisions; the problem comes with the intention of distressing you and trying to tell you that you cannot, that you are useless, that you are not capable, that you don't have the energy or intelligence to solve those problems. The problem that comes with you is to detract from it, to try to disorient it. In other words, when one is in the middle of a problem, this disorientation sometimes does not allow us to see clearly that the solution to the problem is closer than we think.

Psalm 121 is the prayer that tells us, I will lift my eyes to the mountains, which the psalmist wonders, where does my help come from. He says it with certainty, my help comes from the Lord and he adds a last name, from the creator God, from the God who creates the heavens and the earth, from the God who creates infinity and outer space, from a powerful God is what he means the biblical text. Looking up at the mountains is recognizing that there is an extraordinary power over us, that over us there is an extraordinary capacity, that over us there is an extraordinary virtue that helps us stand up face to face with the problem to declare that we are more than winners. through him who loved us.

Take a good look at this, the problem wants to humiliate you, economic, the personality problem, the family problem, the work problem, the global problem, the economic problem, the political problem, whatever problem it is trying to humiliate you so that you cannot pursue the Christian course in life. And you don't realize that when the problem comes to humble us, you face the problem with authority in the name of the Lord.

Look at this well, when faced with a problem we never kneel. We kneel at the altar of Christ. We kneel before the cross of Christ, we kneel before the presence of the Lord, before the problem we stand up with authority and do what you sang this morning and this afternoon, get up and shine because your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Problems are evaluated, problems are studied, problems are analyzed to see how they started. Someone started them, problems don't start alone. And when one analyzes the origin of the problem, on many occasions, one realizes that the problem does not start there, the problem starts here. The way you treat your wife, the way you treat your husband, the way you treat your children, the way you respond to a nasty joke at work, the way you respond to life's problems, how you get up in the morning. When you discover the origin of the problems, you already have half the problem solved, because the first thing to do to solve a problem is to identify how it started. And when you identify how it started then you can respond to the problem in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our relationship with problems is particular because I explained to the sisters and brothers this morning that we want to magnify the problems that we have. Many times we come to the pastor or the church leaders to say, look pastor, this is the biggest problem you have seen. In life you have encountered a problem like the one I have. I have never in my life, so you begin to detract and make the problem big, and big, and big, big, never tell God how big your problem is, tell the problem how big your God is.

Blessed the name of the Lord. Give it strong to Christ on this day. Never tell a problem how big it is, never tell a problem how complicated it is, problems, some problems are complicated but let me explain this. Someone tells me, pastor, what I have has no solution, it could be. Well, if there is no solution, it is because God wants you to learn to live with it. Because the definition of a problem is that it has a solution.

God knows if what God wants is to teach you humility, God knows if what the Lord wants to teach you is simplicity, God knows if what God wants to teach you that you begin to mold your character and mold your personality and mold your way of being so that Little by little, the new creature in Christ Jesus can grow and the old creature diminishes, with those vices, with those attitudes, with that arrogance, with that hostility, with those resentments. Say no to bad words, say no to hostility, say no to bad jokes, say no to irresponsibility, and when that temptation comes stand up and say, I will lift my eyes to the mountains because I know that my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

The God of the psalmist, is the God who responds to our cry, is the God who responds to our need, looking up at the mountains is an acknowledgment of divine grace because the mountains in the Bible are symbols of God's interventions. On Sinai God intervened and revealed his word, Mount Nevo God intervened and told Moses, Moses, this is a relay race and not all of us are going to arrive at the same time, to the same place, but we all have to fulfill our responsibility. Look at the promised land from Mount Nevo.

Brothers and sisters of the León de Judá congregational church, once one sees the promised land, one is never the same. When you see what God has for us, keep going, when you see that what God has for you is a new heaven and a new earth, when you realize that what God has for you is a blessing and deliverance and transformation, you do not let yourself be carried away by any momentary bad moment but you go ahead trusting in the promises of the Lord.

The mountains in the Bible, from Mount Nevo we can go to Mount Carmel that receives revelation and divine transformation. From Mount Carmel we can reach the mountain of transformations and redemptions and beatitude. From the mount of beatitude we can reach Mount Golgotha, and from Mount Golgotha we reach Mount Zion, which is the mountain that is related to Psalm 121.

I will lift my eyes to the mountains from where my help will come. My help does not come from friends, although they are important, my help does not come from politicians, although they have to understand and do their responsibilities and their work. My help does not come from banks, my help does not come from insurance, my help does not come from anywhere, my help comes from a God who, although the heavens of heavens cannot contain his glory, who although infinity and space sidereal cannot contain his virtue, it occurred to him on this day to sit next to us and that eternal God has sat here in the Lion of Judah congregation next to you, to listen to the beating of your heart, to listen to your cry, to attend to the cry of the people who see it on the Internet to give us life and life in abundance.

Tell the one next to you; God brought you to speak to you. God brought you here to speak to you. Now tell him the other way, say it and for me too, talk to me. And to talk to me too. I will lift my eyes to the mountains from where my help will come. My help does not come from any corner, my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth, that is, my help comes from the God of Abraham, who called Abraham and Sarah from Ur of the Chaldeans and when they left there they did not they had given him a map, and when they came out, they came out trusting in the promises of the Lord.

Only God knows how many are here this morning, on this day, or this morning, or see us through the Internet, who left their lands without a map. They didn't know where they were going to be, if they were going to stay in Texas or if they were going to go to Chicago, if they were going to go to New York or if they were going to go to Philadelphia, they didn't know where they were going to be, the good news is that God did know where you were going to be. God has our life on his agenda and although Abraham and Sara did not have a map, at night they began to look at the stars and listened to the divine promise that told Abraham and Sara, look, how many stars. If you could count the stars in the heavens or you could count the sand of the sea, look, the blessing that I have for you is even greater.

Brothers and sisters of the church of León de Judá, you have not been called by God to suffer, you have not been, in life there is suffering, but that is not God's purpose with your life, you have not been called in life to be antagonizing, so that you live from fight to fight in your marriage, God has not called you so that you live in a bad mood in a bad mood with your boss and with your colleagues and with your coworkers, God He has not called you to live embittered or destroyed, God did not create us to be unhappy, God created us to reveal his glory, to manifest his splendor, so that we could give by grace what we have received by grace and when the psalmist said, my help comes from the Lord, it is the recognition that in life there are adversities, in life there are conflicts, in life there is despair, but that our help, our support and our help comes from the being that has the ability and power r to give us life and life in abundance.

How good is the Lord. How good is the Lord. Now let me explain to you a little word that appears in the text that in Spanish is so simple and easy, but in the biblical text it is extremely complicated and it is the verb, look what a nice verb this is, save, save. Remember? It will keep us, says the psalmist, it will keep us, it will protect us from all evil. In Spanish, the verb to save is significant, but somewhat limiting because in Spanish I keep the paper, I keep the microphones, I keep the cameras, but I don't keep the animation. I can save the inanimate nothing else. I can't keep Noemí, first of all she's not going to let herself be kept, to begin with. But the animated thing, I can't save myself, I can save the team, but human beings can't save themselves.

Now, in the biblical text no. This is a verb that is related only to God in the Bible, interesting this. Only God has the ability to save, because the verb save has nothing to do with putting in a drawer, it is the image of a bird that spreads its wings and protects its creature, and it is with this intention to protect the creature, he cares for him, protects him, helps him that God keeps us, which means he protects us, whatever it means that he cares for us, what it means is that he goes before us. God keeps us from all evil, God keeps us with his right hand, God keeps us with his unequaled power, God keeps us so that we can stand in the midst of adversity, in the midst of conflict, in the midst of tears , and say like the psalmist in psalm 118, in the midst of pain say, I will not die but I will live to sing the glories of the Lord.

I will lift my eyes to the mountains, from where my help will come. The great question of life. I answer you this day by saying, our help comes from a God who creates, a God who saves, a God who transforms, a God who redeems, a God who helps us stand up, a God who heals us, a God who breaks our chains and a God who helps us face life in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and be more than victorious people through the one who loved us.

I end as follows. Like Don Quixote, since I just wrote the book, I'm always telling people to see life that way, they began to tell him that he was crazy because people who have dreams of good begin to tell him, son, put your feet on the ground . Because the people who have projects that bless the community tell them, no, no, life is not like that. Because the people who have plans to bless the towns look at them that way and they began to tell him that Don Quixote was crazy and they began to laugh at him.

And they asked Don Quixote on one occasion, tell us about Dulcinea, his love, and he begins to speak of Dulcinea as the Empress of El Toboso and he begins to speak of Dulcinea as the queen of his thoughts and his actions as a knight-errant, and when they begin to say that, Don Quixote begins to speak that way, someone stands up and tells him, you're crazy and you don't know who you are. And don Quixote was surprised, he remained silent and said, no, I know who I am and not only do I know who I am, I know what I can become.

Look, brothers and sisters of the church, you are a woman of God and you are a man of faith, you have a family in the grace of Christ, you have children who are growing in the development of the Lord, you are a man that you are not a bunch of circumstances, you are a woman who does not live from failure to failure, you are created in the image and likeness of God and you can become that divine instrument that the Lion of Judah needs, that the city needs Boston, and what the United States needs, what the world needs today.

Say it with me, I know who I am because I no longer live Christ, but Christ lives in me. Let us stand and worship the Lord.

I raise my hands even though I don't have the strength. I raise my hands even though I have a thousand problems, only God knows, God knows if the pastor knows because he knows some of you, the majority, I don't know, I don't know how many have come here bitter, how many have come here sad, how many have passed a hard time on Friday afternoon before leaving work, I know who is in for a difficult situation on Monday morning. What I do know is that if we raise our hands even if we don't have the strength, we are more than victorious people through the one who loved us. I raise my hands even though I don't have the strength, my special assistants have arrived here, I raise my hands even though I have a thousand problems, and we are going to worship the Lord with that song so that it can be heard there in the church in Cambridge and throughout Boston, but I would like to pray Look what I'm praying for all these days.

This economic crisis that is magnified by the media has caused people to make inappropriate and unfortunate decisions. Whoever has come here today making an important decision in their life, this is the time for them to come to the altar to pray for you in the name of the Lord. Whoever has arrived here on this day making a vocational decision, I am going to change jobs, I am going to change cities, I am going to change nations, I am going to change... that is a decision that affects their entire family, I am going to ask you to come down wherever you are to pray for you in the name of the Lord. Those who are making a fundamental decision that affects them, remember that the decisions are that you are going to change your tie, because it is a tie that matches you more or less, that is not a decision that we say, that is very… right? If your decision is going to affect the rest of your family, your wife, your husband, you have to bring it to the altar of the Lord.

While we sing I raise my hands even though I don't have the strength, the brothers and sisters who want a private prayer, I am going to ask you to come closer to the altar of God to pray for you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.