Every crisis is an opportunity

Last night I was sharing in the Church of Pastor Alan Juárez, the New Life Christian Church there in East Boston. Last night Brother Rigoberto Rojas was preaching, I don't know if you remember, he was here preaching in the month of November, he is this Brother from over there in Costa Rica, that God uses greatly at that prophetic level and while we were there I was impacted much with the first words that he used to begin his message because he was saying that there is something that God is doing with the Church around the entire world

, there is something that God is doing with his people around the world and yes obviously it is heard in terms of a great revival that God is going to bring in the midst of lives, but the means through which that revival will take place is what God is working on in particular, and God is using of each of the needs, of each of the circumstances, of each of the situations that your children feel and suffer around the world to glorify your name.

And that last night was something that resonated so much in my heart, because seeing the time in which we are living, I can say with great faith and certainty that God has something in his plans for his Church today... God has something in his plans for you who are sitting here today, God has something in the plans that he has for you who are seeing me through that computer, God has something for the plans in the Church in Spain, in Italy, in Rome, in Argentina, in Costa Rica, wherever it is, God has plans for his people.

Now there is a very essential key for us to truly receive that type of Word, and that is the element of faith. If we do not have faith my brothers, that Word will sound like nonsense to the eyes- to the ears of many, if I do not have faith my Christian experience falls short, if I do not have faith I can be listening for a thousand and one ways that God wants to bring revival but if I do not have the faith to believe it, that revival will not come to my life, it may come to another but not to me. If I don't have the faith to believe that God has all things under control and that all things work for the good of those who love God, that Word is not going to work for me. Therefore, my brothers, I can understand and I can understand that today more than ever God is calling his people to be able to live in a dimension of supernatural faith. That we can have our feet on the ground but that our head, our mind, our heart, our spirit, are focused on the Glory of God.

I would like to speak to you today about a topic that for me is, as I would say, burning a lot in my heart. And that is the idea of living with a faith without limits. Live with boundless faith. I have the presentation there, thank you. This is something that the Lord has placed in my heart and I understand that he is challenging both me and each one of us as pastors here in the Church. Many of the leaders in the Church are receiving this challenge from part of the Lord and we firmly believe, even though circumstances seem adverse to us, we believe that God is going to do something in these days in the midst of the Church. That not only is going to do something at the level of the construction processes that we are going through as a Church, but that God is going to do something in each of their lives. Because you are the Church, you make up the Church. Each one of you with your ups and downs, with your pros and cons, with your good smiles and your bad smiles, you are part of the Church. And something God wants to do in our midst. And to prove this to you, I want to tell you the story of a boy named Juan Sebastián de Sidón. Have you heard the story of Juan Sebastián de Sidón? I guess not.

Since they bring it to the Pastor, well, I take advantage of it and drink a little.

Look, Juan Sebastián de Sidon is a biblical character. What happens is that they don't name it, I had to name Juan Sebastián de Sidón. And the story of this child is very particular to me, because although many do not pay attention to it, this time I focused on the story of this child. And this boy lived with his mother, a widow, and at that time I would say that this boy was maybe about 10, 11, maybe 12 years old. This child lived with his mother, and in the place where they were living they were experiencing great need. There was a great drought so if it was not raining the fields were not bearing fruit, and if the fields were not bearing fruit, that means there was a great famine occurring in the area as well. People were living in total scarcity. And here I come across the story of this child, how he could see his mother who got up day after day, sought to attend to him, sought to satisfy his most essential needs, such as being able to provide him with a roof, being able to provide him with food so that he could eat , and over time, while this mother was realizing that her resources were being reduced, reduced and reduced, this mother was already thinking that the time will come when we will not have enough for my son Juan Sebastián or for me, however, little by little, she was rationing her portions. And maybe there were nights when Juan Sebastián would say to him, “Mom, Mom, I can eat a pancake because I'm hungry,” and maybe the mom would say, “Juan, you know I can't give you that pancake today because you're going to to need tomorrow.

So drink a little water and try to control yourself during the night and tomorrow then we eat the bread cake.” And so this boy, and he was growing up and with all those things, and I imagine that there are times when he did appreciate his mother's gestures, but maybe sometimes he resented them because he was hungry, "hello mom, I want to eat .“ But one day, a man came to this woman's house. I imagine this man as an elderly man, his face perhaps wrinkled, tanned, by the hot desert sun, he most likely arrives with a hood like this trying to cover himself, with his cane to walk and arrives at where this woman and this boy begin to see the interaction between his mom and this man. And perhaps from his room or from the place where this child is sitting, he begins to listen to the conversation that is taking place between the two of them.

First he hears that the man comes so confidently he removes his hood and says, "woman can you bring me a glass of water." And she, "yes or no," goes and looks for her glass of water. While walking, the boy hears the man say "oh, by the way, can you bring me a piece of bread too, I'm hungry." I imagine that this child is like… “but, what does he think he is? If he is a foreigner, he comes here and passes by and doesn't realize that the kitchen is already almost empty and we don't have enough and he comes and dares my mother to give him not just a glass of water but also to give him a loaf of bread Wow! What does this man think? And I imagine that this child went out and went to his mother and said, "Mom, you are not thinking of giving my portion of bread to that man, are you?" The mom doesn't answer anything, and the boy is kind of perplexed, “Okay, mom didn't answer me. Because?" And mom is still there working, in the kitchen preparing the bread cake, and she comes back and says, "Mom, are you sure what you're going to do?"

And I imagine that I sucked her at that moment, she stopped what she was doing and looked at her son, and said, “son, you know what? This morning I woke up with an impression in my heart that someone was coming and I had to do something for that person. I don't know why, but it seems to me that this man who has arrived is the person we have to help." “But mom, why are you going to give him the loaf of bread that is left for us? If that's for us, we've been rationing it, you didn't let me eat last night because you didn't have enough and are you going to give it to him now? "Son, calm down. Let's do this." And I imagine that the boy stayed there grumbling in the kitchen and the mother went to this man who if you haven't understood yet, I'm going to tell you his name, his name is Elías. And the mother goes to Elias, and gives him not only the glass of water but also the cake. And I imagine that this child suddenly stays like this leaning out of the door and sees Elias savoring the bread cake. And perhaps the child was salivating... "the bread cake that I was going to eat"

Who knows if he suddenly started crying and like it couldn't be possible and he goes and locks himself in the kitchen and when the boy goes to the kitchen he finds something he never expected. Suddenly the empty flour barrel was full and overflowing. The jar of oil that only had a drop left was also full to the top. And the child comes out and yells, “Mama, Mama! Something happened!" And I imagine the lady, "wow, but what happened?" And he comes and brings the lady, "Mom, look, the jars are full!" And that's where this boy recognized that there was a visitation of a supernatural power on the two of them as a family because of this man's visit. Because? because there was a promise from God in the midst of all this panorama.

Now the story does not stop there. Because maybe two months later something happened to this child. Our dear Juan Sebastián had a stomach ache, which began to contaminate with pain in his chest, suddenly he was short of breath and in a matter of a couple of hours the boy expired. And our dear Juan Sebastián stopped breathing. And there this woman goes, and she goes to the room where Elias was lying down, and Elias tells her, we have a problem and he didn't tell her maybe that calmly, most likely she was super desperate. And he goes and says to Elijah, “Elías, what have I done with you? In other words, you asked me for a cake of bread and yes there was a miracle, it was distributed now I have even been able to give it to my family, and we have been able to eat. But look, look at my son now, he's dead on me,” and look at the boy lying there on the bed. And I imagine that Elijah, pitying himself at the moment, grabs this boy and takes him upstairs to his room and there he begins to talk to God.

And he says, “God, what do you have with this woman? What do you have with this woman that you did provide for her in half a need, but now her son, what did the boy do?" But Elijah knew in the dimension in which he was moving, that it was super, supernatural, and Elijah did something that perhaps for many of us will be something strange, but the text says that he threw himself three times on this boy crying for him, as he was throwing himself at this boy, the boy all of a sudden… he took a breath, opened his eyes, and “uhh, what happened?” “Nothing, Juan Sebastián, don't worry, you're super well, nothing has happened, another miracle, come here. Let me take you to your mom's and we're going to make other bread cakes and we're going to drink them with water." And there was a big party at the time.

You know what my brothers, with a story like that, I can say that things like this are what God wants to do in our midst now and even better. There are many Juan Sebastians in our midst, that God wants to see and demonstrate himself in their midst so that they can see the power of God working in action in the midst of their lives. But this requires an element of faith that we cannot ignore. They know that there is something very interesting in this story. Where was Juan Sebastian from? Doesn't it say his name? Juan Sebastián… from where? From Sidon. The town of Sidon. Do you know another very important character who came out of the town of Sidon? If we read the previous chapter, from First Kings, Chapter 16, you will realize that there is a character that perhaps many tremble when they hear the name of that person, but this character came from there. First Kings 16, I can read it, beginning in verse 30, it says “And Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab son of Omri did evil in the eyes of Jehovah, more than all who reigned before him. Because it was a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and he took a wife…” Who? To “Jezebel, daughter of Et-baal, king of the…” King of whom? of the Sidonians.

Jezebel was from the people of the land of Sidon as well. And it is so interesting to me, that while Jezebel was giving herself the task of completely eliminating Jehovah's prophets, God on the other hand was sending one of his prophets to bless the land from which she herself came. When I try to put this story into the context in which we find ourselves, I can think of a United States of America that day after day is looking for a way to eliminate everything that has to do with God, however, I keep seeing that God continues to choose his servants and servants to bring blessing to this nation. While others are not recognizing the role of God, God is recognizing his role with that people, with that nation to continue bringing blessing even when they do not recognize it. And in the ham of the sandwich here are you and me. Because you and I are those instruments of God to bring blessing in the midst of this nation. Amen.

Look at something Brothers, this story that I told you gives me three things. that I learned And I want to share them with you. The first thing I see is that regardless of the circumstances of our life, the circumstances that surround us, God is sovereign, powerful, and He is in control. It may sound very simple, it may sound very simple, but these are words that are very deep. Because for me to be able to declare that, it means that there is a level of inner faith that allows me to say precisely those words. You know what, last night while brother Rigoberto was preaching, I liked something he said at one point, and I'm going to take his credits and I'm going to share it with you. But he last night, he was saying that at no point in his preaching did he mention the word crisis. In any moment. And when he mentioned it, he mentioned it to say the following.

He said that in God's vocabulary the word 'crisis' does not exist. And he made an illustration that seemed so particular to me, he imagined that God was like this on his throne because he is listening to many people's prayers, “Lord we are in crisis, help us!” "This crisis, this crisis, and crisis, and crisis here and crisis there, and crisis under the horn, and crisis under the seat, and crisis with the snow," and the Lord, as if disturbed, comes out and says, "Get up, hold on, let me look for my dictionary for a moment.” And God takes and opens his dictionary... and He begins to search, "the C, Cr..." and like God has this disturbed face and suddenly calls the Archangel Gabriel, "Gabriel, come here a moment, I need Please help me here. Tell me if you see the word 'crisis' in this dictionary?

And Gabriel looked out, and "it's just God, do you know what's going on?" Gabriel tells him, "what happens is that since you are sovereign, that word does not exist." But, then, I want to add something else to that story, and the thing was that then it occurred to God, "Wait, let me look for my book of synonyms," and he goes and takes out his book of synonyms and opens it... and he starts saying: “Crisis, crisis, crisis; I can't find the word 'crisis'" but suddenly he found a synonym for God of crisis." And that synonym means, you know what? Chance. And I confused your Spanish there, very ugly, but in God's vocabulary, crisis means opportunity.

That's what a crisis means to God, and you know what? I want to explore something with you, because I understand that today more than ever God is calling us to live at that level of faith, where we can perceive a crisis that has been assigned to our lives, or that we are in the midst of of one, that we can say: No, it is the opposite, it is a synonym for forgiveness, it is an opportunity. Look, many of us or perhaps some of us have faced or are going to face the fact that perhaps when you arrive at work they will tell you, "you can't work here anymore." And you come across that and the world is going to collapse, the rug is going to be pulled out from under your feet and you are going to fall on the floor. Maybe some of you, and I'm going to make sure you don't repeat what I said this morning, some of you, it may be that tomorrow you have an appointment with the doctor and when they come to give you the diagnosis they say, “look we have found a nodule in your lung and we have to do a biopsy,” I said this morning it was an autopsy. I already killed the person! I said…exactly, yes, I was already putting the person there as if dead. No no no no. “…we need to do a biopsy to make sure it's not bad,” and you get that news, and you're already in a crisis realm, like, “wow, wait, there's something going on here that I don't expected me.”

You go down the street and God forbid and I rebuke the Devil, but all of a sudden you slam on the brakes and your car skids against a pole and I say it again I rebuke the Devil that's not going to happen , it's not going to happen, but that can be a crisis that suddenly you say, “yikes, what do I do now?” You have been waiting for so long and so long and so long, so long, for your immigration papers to settle once and for all and when you go to your next appointment they say, “wow, you have to wait 3, 4 years more because now we have no solution.” Arrgh, a crisis there in the face of us. But what God is telling us is that instead of seeing a crisis that you see an opportunity so that his power can manifest itself in the midst of your life.

Look, my brothers, you see that I am talking very animatedly about this, but it is making it very difficult for me to share this message, because I myself often have struggles with those same principles of the Word of God. It sounds very nice, it sounds very inspiring, but when, as you say in English, 'when the rubber hits the road,' when the fire burns, as it were, you say, wow, I mean, what can I do to be able to live at that level? And I want to encourage you by saying, my brothers, that this dimension of faith cannot be lived in your own strength, you have to live it with the strength that the Spirit of God gives you, because when we are talking about a supernatural faith, it is precisely supernatural. . We are not talking about the fact that it is a natural faith that comes out of us, I mean, it comes out of us, but it comes out through the strength and power of the Holy Spirit working in us.

And look how interesting it is because God likes to move on those levels when things get uglier for us. When everything was pink, peaches and carrots, everything is fine, oh well we're calm, yes I have faith, I live it and everything is calm but when things get difficult, then it's like “argh, God, why? what are you bringing this into my life now? I am a son of yours. I am your daughter, why do you allow me to live this now? My husband told me that he wants to leave the house because he can't stand me anymore, why after 8, 10, 15 years of marriage? Why does this have to come out now? And there it is, my brothers, it is there at that point, it is there at that level, it is there where one believes that there is no longer any hope, that this faith, that this supernatural faith, which emanates from the heart of God, has to take action in we. It is there when one is feeling that one is being overwhelmed with all these pressures that one has to draw strength from where one does not have it, and be able to say, Lord, this is what the circumstances tell me, but I believe in what you tell me. me.

And this brings me to my second point, my Brothers, because God remains faithful to his promises and he will take care of providing for each of the needs of his sons and daughters. Did you know? I like that when I say that God remains faithful, it's as if God dared to challenge us, well, he doesn't dare, he does, he challenges us. If you look at the passage, Malachi 3:10, which is a passage that we know very well. Malachi 3, 10… I lost Malachi. Oh look! OK. Malachi 3.10. “Bring all the tithes to the storehouse and there is food in my house,” and what does he say next? "Try me my Brothers." Look at that word from God himself, try me, it's as if God were saying to you 'provoke me, you want to see, do you want to see if I'm from real, go ahead, make my day.' come provoke me, make my day.'

Now, but it is very interesting my brothers, that when God gives a promise I cannot box God into my own mental and human parameters that are so limited, so small and so imperfect. In my human capacity, I cannot conceive that God limits himself to what I want and in the way that I want it, and when I want it. If I do that I am offending God. I mean, I can tell God that I would like you to do this, and this, and this, but ultimately he is the one who has the last word, it's not me. So I must recognize my brothers, that when I approach him and when I see that my human capacity has reached its limit, which is when I can no longer understand the why of things, the why of things, there then is where the supernatural faith, that faith that has no limits is activated. And start taking you to another level.

That is the faith that when you find yourself facing these crises, which I mentioned a minute ago, or you face them, is that your faith can then say, I have this in front of me, I am very clear about it, I am not Being unrealistic if I ignore them. I recognize them, but I also recognize that I have a God who remains faithful, I have a God who is in control of all things, I have a God who, even if I have to go through a trial period for a moment, I I know I have a God who is going to get me out of there and put me in a place that is higher than myself. He's going to put me on that rock that's taller than me. Do you know my brothers, today more than ever, the Lord wants us to learn that we cannot put limits on our faith, do you know what? Even if it costs, that is one of the most difficult parts.

If we want to see God working in our lives as we have never seen him before, we are going to have to go through episodes where it is going to be difficult, where it is going to be difficult to have to sacrifice what is ours so that God can truly manifest himself. Like Juan Sebastián's mother, she recognized in her heart that something was happening and she was taking a very big sacrifice to give everything she had to give it to this servant of God, because in some way or another God was going to provide. There was a word that Elijah gave this woman, and she decided to believe that Word. In the same way, God gives us a Word that he is going to remain faithful and that he is going to provide, you have the option if you are going to believe that Word or not, if you do not believe it then you will lose the adventure, if you decide to believe it, get ready for the ride. I say it once again, my brothers, God is doing, has done and will continue to do great things in the midst of his people. And we have to prepare ourselves to see it.

But in order to see it we are going to have to prepare and make sacrifices. Sacrifices not for making a sacrifice, but a sacrifice of faith to see God working in a mighty way. I believe it my brothers, that at the church level we as a church, as the body of Christ, I am sure that we are going to see God working in a great and powerful way in our midst. That maybe when the world is saying that church is crazy to throw itself to build a building now, you know that we laugh in front of the world because it is a promise that has been given to us and we are moving to the level and standard of that promise . We do not move to the standard of this world, we do plan and do the negotiations that have to be done but we know that our faith is placed on another level, and it is at that level where we move.

They tell you you lost your job, Okay, you recognize that you are going to have a time of pressure, that you are going to have to look for another but you know that your faith is set up here, and it is that faith that moves you. You had a fight with your husband, with your wife, whatever it was, and you know, you recognize the trauma, you recognize the problem, but you also know that above those things there is a faith that is moving you. You can have a person that you have been praying for for years and you don't see any change yet and you recognize that which is in front of you but we also have to put our faith up here, that God, God, God, God is going to work. something in the middle of that person, in the middle of that life, in the middle of that circumstance.

God does not want us to put limits on our faith. God wants us to see... that what may seem impossible, for God is very cool, how possible. You know what my brothers, there is something that I want to do, one of those crazy things that sometimes occur to me, well they do not occur to me, but I understand that God puts it in my heart. I did it this morning and I want to do it with this group again. This morning when I woke up, going over my notes, God put an impression on my heart, that I was like, "Wow, Lord, are you sure?" This may seem illogical to many if I do it, but the Lord kept putting it there in my heart. And I felt that the Lord told me, my God- my people want to see miracles, and I want to give it, but they have to take action, they have to take action. So do, and I, "fine."

How many of you have your cell phone with you right now? Do you have your cell phone? take it out please. And you who are watching us on the internet also take out your cell phone. And if the musicians can come here too, please help me, come. You know, there is something, if you believe it, brother, tell me, do you believe that God is doing something in the midst of this church? You believe...? Now, exactly. If you have it turned off, turn it on, because we are going to use it. If you have him on vibrator, take the vibrator off, whatever it is, take it off. Take out your cell phone. And I want you to go thinking about a person that you know that the words that we have discussed, that we have spoken here, that that person needs to hear those words. I want you to think of a person who needs to listen. Please, if you can put the computer back. A person who needs to hear someone tell him the following: "that God is in control, that God is going to provide and that this person does not put limits on his faith." So I want you to take a moment right now to think about that person, think about that person, and let's pray before we make that call. I want us to make that call from here right now.

Do you know why I'm doing it like this? Because the Lord put this impression in my heart, that from here it is as if it were the effect of a bomb, that when something explodes here it spreads, its effect will reach wherever those calls are being sent. And we are going to make that call in faith, we are going to make it in faith, even if you have to spend minutes of your plan, well, not minutes, I am going to ask you for 30 seconds, nothing more. Well it's Sunday, right, so don't worry about the minutes. Look, I'm going to put it on the screen so you don't forget. Please don't look at me with faces like Omar lost a screw in his head, no, no, no, no, I'm not going to accept that look, receive this with faith my brothers. Because you are going to make a call to a person who needs a touch, a visitation from God, and I believe that through that call God is going to touch that person's heart. If you don't want to do it, if you don't feel safe, fine, don't do it, miss out on the blessing of not being part of something that God wants to do with that person, but if you believe that God has the power to move the person's heart for something as simple and straightforward as a phone call, grab that phone then.

I want you to do the following, call that person, if the person answers, talk to the person and tell them, look, I'm in the middle of the church, I'm in the middle of the service, and perhaps the person, "worse and you're crazy, you're calling me in the middle of a sermon,” you know what, tell her, “look, I want to tell you something quick. God is in control, God will provide for you. Don't limit your faith. I love you so much, bye bye” they hook up, now. If you get the message machine, you leave the message. You leave the message, that person receives the message later. But the point is that we in faith are going to expand Blessing to those people that you have in your mind right now. So take your phone in your hand and pray with me, pray with me right now.

Father, I am doing this action in faith, Lord Jesus, because there are people who need a touch from you, and these people, Lord Jesus, we have as a contact here on our phones but you have them in the contact of your heart, so Father right now, this call that we are going to make, I consecrate it to you Lord Jesus. May these next 30 seconds, these words, this message that we are going to send to these people, Lord, reach the depths of their hearts, Lord Jesus, and may they make a big change, Lord, may they bring a sense of hope, may they bring a sense of peace to your hearts. So bless my brothers and sisters as they dial those numbers, Lord Jesus, and may your grace and your power be in the middle of that conversation. Through your Son Jesus. Amen. And amen. Brothers, make that call. I am going to stay here praying, make that call in faith.