So that all grace may abound

The truth of the principles that I am laying down here are not just for this campaign finance but are for a lifetime. That is very important to remember.

I have said in the spirit I believe that this year is a year of teaching about faith for the León de Judá Congregation, that everything that we are going to be teaching in one way or another is going to be oriented to reestablish the faith of this people, to that it be an aggressive people, a militant people, and an effective people with respect to the things of the kingdom of God.

So, this teaching that I am going to share with you, I assure you, is for a lifetime. And it entails one of the great principles of the Christian life, which is how to give faith to release God's blessing, both around us and in our own lives. And I have two texts that I want to share with you, one is found in Mark, chapter 12, verse 41 to 44. So, I want to invite you, if it is a little boy, you can take it and take it to your class, I thank you, please so that we have Speaking of using the services of the Church, it would be very good and he can be blessed too.

Mark, 12, 41 to 44. And I want to guide your mind towards this image, this scene from the gospel. The title of this message is, 'That All Grace May Abound.' This passage tells us there, that Jesus once sat before the chest of offerings. There was a place in the temple where people came, it was like a lobby, let's say, it was a large square in that immense sanctuary that was a whole complex of buildings, the temple. And there the people came to deliver their offerings, their tithes, their offerings for the temple. And the Lord was setting there, no one knew that he was the Son of God, at the time, I imagine, but he was there watching the scene.

And so it happens many times in our lives, that we give to the Lord and we do not understand that we have a great cloud of witnesses around us in the Spirit that they are seeing. I believe that there are angels, there are demons, there are principalities, powers, archangels, and God himself is watching over this drama that is unfolding in this congregation these days. God is watching and many times we do not know how important what I do is, what I give to the Lord, and I think "I am nobody, I am simply giving mechanically" and we do not know how sublime that moment of giving is.

The Lord was looking at that scene of people giving daily, he says, "and he saw how the people put money into the treasury and many rich people put in a lot," the first detail, right? These people came with all their great clothes, their beautiful suits, obviously people of wealth and resources, and they threw money in abundance. Perhaps some of them did it ostentatiously, and the Lord observed discreetly, but what happens, second detail, "a poor widow came," how many times in Scripture do we see poor people with scarce resources who are the ones that God chooses to give to him. Do a count of Scripture and you will see how many times that is repeated.

There was no one less provided than a widow in those times, she was the very image of poverty and the inability to give, however, a woman like this comes, evidently the Lord identified her as a poor widow, and that woman put two mites I mean, a quadrant- I don't know how much exactly two mites or a quadrant was equal to, I imagine it was the price of a cup of coffee or perhaps even less, 50 cents, a dollar, we don't know. But, it was very little compared to the large amount of money that those very rich people gave. Then, the Lord, observed, marked that scene and since He was always looking for ways to build, instruct and prepare His disciples for the ministry, He understood that it was important that they know the spiritual principle that was behind that moment. Very important, because brothers, one of the most powerful principles of the Christian life is giving and serving the Lord.

Search perhaps throughout the scripture, when God wants to bless someone, when he wants something from someone, he asks him to give, calls someone to give something, and think of Abraham when God asks him to give his only son and that give it to him as a sacrifice. God is always impressed and wants us to learn to give and serve. Then the Lord called his disciples and wanted to share a lesson with them. Notice, sometimes people get upset when we bring up giving and money, and people say, 'Oh, that's not for the church.' Look here at the same son of God taking time from his teaching, to share about giving, and if you look at the ministry of Jesus, many times the Lord spoke about money, generosity, giving to Him.

So, he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who have put into the treasury." Mathematically that was not true, mathematically that was not true- physically the rich gave much more in terms of total amount than she did. Why did the Lord say that she gave more than the others? Well, here is the answer, she says, " because everyone has put in what is left over, but this one" -that widow- "out of her poverty, put in everything she had, all her sustenance." In other words, in the divine economy, in the spiritual economy, the offering of This woman had more power and more courage than those who gave a lot quantitatively, why? Because this woman gave in the zone of discomfort. This woman gave with faith, she gave sacrificially, and that was what moved the heart of God .

Brothers, I tell you that always in all of scripture, what truly touches God is when we get out of what is predictable, what is comfortable, what is reliable, what is reasonable and we enter the zone of what only God can make possible. That is where the concept of faith is truly activated, as long as you remain in the natural, then there is no faith. When you leave the natural and enter where only God can provide, there you have entered the zone of faith. Every life of faith presupposes sacrifice, risk, if there is no sacrifice, if there is no risk, if there is no stretch, if there is no deficit in some way, listen to what I am saying, there is no faith. David understood this very well.

In an event in the history of God's people, God supernaturally marked King David the exact place where a temple was to be built for Him. The first temple. God through a scene of an angel standing on a plot of land, an era of a man from Israel, God marked that is the place where I want my sanctuary to be built. Because there are places like that, sacred places, I told the congregation this morning, I really don't agree with this, but I believe that this church, this place is in a sacred place. I don't say it like that because it's just a church, no, but this place specifically.

And I told the brothers, look at this, it is important that we understand these things, because I have always known that geographically the Lion of Judah is in a central place, it is centrally located in the city of Boston. 2 or 3 Saturdays ago, Linda Clarke, who is an African-American intercessor, well known here in the Boston area, in New England, in a prayer and praise meeting that we had here with brothers from different areas of the region, He said something that I thought I was the only one who actually understood this. But it's not like that, she said, this church that opens its doors so that prayer and praise can be held here and God said, she has a special purpose for this place and said, this place is and I use the words 'in the epicenter of the city of Boston.'

Geographically, if you look at a map of the Boston area, you're going to see this area is geographically central to the city of Boston. It has even become even more central when that exit 18 of route 93 was made, this place is absolutely accessible. One of the most easily accessible church locations in the entire city of Boston. And God had a purpose, when this church was just rubble and we had barely entered to start working on it, I had a dream one night, God gave me several dreams around this, this church is actually the origin of a dream with the Lion of Judah, that is why it is called the Lion of Judah Congregation and I have shared it with you.

But at the beginning of the construction I had a dream where I saw myself in the basement of the church, which at that time was a dungeon, very ugly, dark, gloomy, you see it today and you can't imagine how terribly ugly that place was there below. And what's more, the architects didn't even want us to try to build anything down there, they said just close that because there's not much to do. God allowed us to enable it. But I saw myself down there in the dream and in my mind I knew that there was nobody, it was like that because I had one of the few keys at that time to enter the sanctuary or to enter the entire building. So, I had entered the dream alone, I knew that I was the only one in the building, but at the moment I realized that there was someone else inside the basement with me.

I wondered, but who can be here? Because I'm the only one who's ever entered here, at one point she materialized in my vision, in my sight, a tall, thin woman, I still remember her well, with a look of madness in her eyes, such an vacant and distant look, and with his hair all matted, like when wanderers haven't bathed for a long time, and his beard and hair become pasty, like straw, so sticky and his hair was all stuck like that; and she looked at me but did not see me, she looked through me and began to walk, I remember the terror in the dream when I felt when she was getting closer to me, and the closer she got, the more my terror increased because I knew that there was a spirit of madness in her. This woman was out of control, her mind gone and I understood that she was a spirit of madness and that is why I was terrified, because the spirit of madness was approaching me. When I thought she was going to crash into me she just walked right through me and kept walking like I didn't exist.

At the moment in the dream, in the same basement, I saw another person, an overweight, extremely overweight, Anglo-Saxon man, sitting on a lazy sofa, a lazyboy, one of those big, padded one-person sofas that reclines. , recliner, setting there too with a look like that far away, all underdressed, just like that right, okay extremely overweight, but doing nothing. And what I felt was that this person was a failure in life, stagnant, he had nowhere to go, simply stagnation was what I felt and in my spirit I felt that this man presented me with a spirit of stagnation and failure in life. And suddenly the whole place was illuminated and filled with people, with spirits that trafficked through the space below, and I understood then in the dream that those, all those evil spirits, were the ones that possessed a lot of the people. people in this community and that they were afflicted with different ills and that these spirits simply did not know or care that there was a building here, for them it was simply a spiritual zone and they crossed from one place to another and trafficked here as one would do in a large square, moving as they wanted.

I understood from that day, just beginning construction here, that God had placed us in a place of great spiritual evil, of great need. At that time we had Blancher's Liquors, that store of evil and vice that has now become a drug store, glory Lord, we had this place here that was a seedy bar also open, we prayed and God has been closing them one after another. And this city, which is one of the largest concentrations of social services in the entire United States, here is the largest homeless treatment center, there in Boston Medical Center, which in, I think in one, if not all The United States, at one time was. But you know the hundreds and hundreds of homeless people, here's Rosy's Place, here's the Pine Street Inn, one of the great, great homeless centers in the whole region, there's the Salomon Carter Fuller Center here just a stone's throw away, which It's one of the biggest insane asylums here in the whole region.

It was an area of so much evil, of so much violence. Before we got to this building, months before, two people were killed in that alley behind you, a prostitute and a homeless man. This was a terrible place here, and I understood that God had moved us to this place. And God has been blessing and cleaning this place, not only because we are here, but I believe that our prayers, our presence here has been cleaning a lot to the point that today the South End and this avenue around here is one of the most desirable areas of the entire city of Boston.

But God told me that this place was so magnetic, it was a spiritual place and God had brought us to that place to do spiritual warfare in the name of the Lion of Judah, not in the name of the shepherd boy, the Lion of Judah who is a war incarnation of Jesus Christ. It is the temperament that God has given to this church, brothers, that is the prophetic incarnation that you have. You have the DNA of the Lion of Judah as a congregation and I hope that you will rise to the height of the call that you and I have received.

Because that's what God wants, a warlike and brave people, like that Guatemalan girl who stood here with a giant heart, you know, I know it was done by any 6-foot-8 woman, you know she's there. And if I have to go to war I'd like 1 or 10 like Delmi, and that's a credit to our church, you know. But, God wants that for the men and women of this congregation.

So what I was telling them is that when David approached the owner of that threshing floor, of that lot, to buy that land, the man understood that it was an opportunity for him to give that land to the Lord, because when one gives to the Lord there is blessing, you know what David told him, when David told him look, I want to buy you this land and pay you its fair price. This man, I think his man was Arauna if I'm not mistaken, otherwise it doesn't matter. The fact is that the man who owns the land told him, he knows that King, I'll give it to you, I'll give it to you, don't pay me for it, he knows that I'm going to give you oxen and wood to make a sacrifice to the Lord in this place and consecrate this place to the Lord, I give you everything, do not give me anything.

And you know what David told him, you know thank you very much, but I will not offer the Lord a sacrifice that costs me nothing. famous words. Here a duel took place between two givers. Each one wanted the blessing to give to the Lord and both knew that to unleash God's blessing you have to give. And David said, no, you are not going to take away that privilege, I am not going to give anything to the Lord that does not cost me. And that is why in the texts of the Bible there will always be people giving that it costs them. If it doesn't cost you, don't give to the Lord. If you don't feel a little bit of doubt and fear, don't give to the Lord. If you don't feel a little uncomfortable when you give, don't give to the Lord.

I tell you, I beg you in the name of Jesus, in this great moment in the history of this congregation, give it to the Lord like this, like this widow. Give to the Lord in the zone of what is uncomfortable, give him your poverty, give him your unemployment, give him your fear of losing your job, give him your gaze at this strange and disastrous time that we are living in the economy of this nation, give the Lord over there. Get in there in that uncomfortable place and give to the Lord from there. Give to the Lord from your doubt, that if I am truly capable of giving this in these three years and dare in the name of God. He knows that every time this church has had to give to the Lord, it has always been stretched spiritually and has always been stronger than before. And I know this time it's going to be different, I see a here who is nodding his head when I say this, that man came up to me last Sunday and said, 'Pastor, I mean, I promise you $7,000. for this church, I want to tell you right now. And I'm going to try to give it to the Lord as soon as possible, and I'm not even going to wait 3 years.' And I felt touched by that offering and that offering promise. You know, and this church is populated with people like that, brethren, I know those people don't have money to spare, but, wow, what a blessing.

And one feels, and I believe that God, above all, feels grateful and pleased by a people who stick to David and Arauna and say I want to be like them who gave in a way that cost them something. That widow gave that way and that is the way we are giving at this time. There is another text with which I want to complete this study, found in 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 6 to 8, which again illustrate the type of experience we are talking about. I have already said that in many passages of writing the theme of faith stands out, and by the way, Gregory, my graphics are not as cool as yours, he made a presentation there with dolls and paint, all this is very basic, I When I grow up I'm going to be like him and I'm going to give more... But, here is the most I could add a little color, that's all.

In many passages of scripture the theme of faith stands out. We are talking about faith this year, right? And the initiative of the individual, the spiritual aggressiveness that you experienced displayed here this morning. Faith is aggressiveness, it is a spear that goes in and embeds itself in a wall. We see that Christ reacts positively to the action of faith that risks things trusting in his faithfulness and power. And we have said that when we give as Children of God, we give looking towards the God from whom our provision and our security are born. We give with one eye toward God and one eye toward need.

Because that hand that is extended to God says, 'Lord I am going to receive from you and I am going to channel your provision and your blessing towards the need.' believing in the God who supports him. And the Bible is full of risk takers, faith presupposes risk. I have already said it, Bartimaeus is one of those examples, you remember the story of Bartimaeus, the blind man who, when he cried out and shouted to the Lord, "Lord son of David, have mercy on me," people said shut up, don't bother the Teacher. And finally his faith prevailed, the Master listened to him and says that when he sent for Bartimaeus, he says that leaving his cape, he went to Jesus. Why did the Holy Spirit encourage the evangelist, leaving his cloak? Because the cloak was the cloak was the source of security for a beggar, the cloak covered him from the rain, sheltered him, it served him to sit on it, so he could put his offerings when he went home. The cape was essential.

When Jesus called him, Bartimaeus left his cloak and went to the Lord. And I say that, that when we go to a miracle or a blessing, in some way we have to leave the security layer, to take risks, to get into the risk zone. That is faith. Now another point that I want to point out to you is the following, brother, because this is also very important. A principle of faith that will help us in all aspects of our life is that God is a God of covenants. Say with me: Pacts. If you always look at God making Pacts, in scripture, he made a pact with Abraham. I tell him, you are going to be my son, you are going to serve me, through you the nations will be blessed, if you are faithful to me I will multiply your offspring, I will make you as numerous as the sand of the sea, etc. etc and I will bless your offspring. Pacts. Now he told them, you serve me.

To the Hebrews, he made a pact with the people of Israel through Moses, and he told them today I put life and death before you, choose one thing or the other, if you serve me I will make you prosper, I will bless you, I will give you health, there will never be sterile, your family will have wealth, you will make lenders and not people who borrow, you will be head and not tail. A number of promises, he told them, he made a pact with them. God always wants to make covenants, and through His Word, God also makes covenants with us, and we make covenants with God. Now what does it mean when God makes a pact with a man, a woman, it means that he takes it seriously.

You never make a pact, a contract, with a child. You do it with a person who you believe in their word and you make a deal with them, if you believe that person is conscious, mature and knows what they are doing and that they abide by the consequences of the contract and the pact. God treats us like adults, covenants have a legal quality, there are consequences if we break them, and there are rewards if we keep them. According to whether we violate them or obey them. Now remember that, I'm here as a lawyer, I'm making a case. God loves risk and sacrifice, God makes pacts with his children. A third very important element is this, the importance of the Church of Jesus Christ. This deal that we are making of this financial campaign is made by the church with its parishioners. The church is important, many people say, well, I give to God, but when did you see God stretching out his hand for someone to give him something, never. You always give to a cause, an institution, a ministry, an enterprise of the kingdom of God. It is always something human, concrete, personal, physical, right?

And the church, God has made a pact with us regarding their business here on Earth. God has given man authority—the church—and it functions through those channels of authority. Remember that we have talked a lot about authority, God delegates authority to his church. His church is authority on Earth, the church watches over God's affairs here. The Lord Jesus Christ told his church, what you bind I will bind in heaven, what you loose on Earth I will loose in heaven. What's more, he said, those of you who forgive their sins, I will forgive them. That is inconceivable. God gives the church the authority to tear down and to build. To judge. It says that one day we will judge the very angels of God, and that therefore we have authority to judge lesser things here on Earth. The church is something very powerful, so when you give to your church, understand, you are giving to God, if that church flows in accordance with biblical principles. If the church is manipulating, exploiting, deceiving, no. But if the church is moving the Word of God, when you give to your church you are giving to the Lord. Because she is the authority that he has established here, Now for this reason, brothers, because of that authority that the church has, the state of the house of God, the resources available to the church, are important to Him, because according to his church have resources so you can do your will.

What does the book of Haggai say, chapter 1, verse 7 and 8? "and I will put my will in it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord." You see, when you build the house of God, the ministry, the mission of the church, two things happen: then God can place his will in it, that is, he can develop his redemptive purposes here on Earth and He is also glorified I know that God is being, and is going to be glorified, by this undertaking that we have undertaken. Because all of this is going to redound in a great way for the glory of God. So, that is why the state of the house of God is so important. So we see over and over again, God promises that if we care about the state of his home, He will care about our needs. He will provide. Always remember that, when you give to God you are giving to a God who He says, don't worry, you won't lack. As he told the widow of Sareta. I will make sure that you don't lack what you need for your existence, for your needs. Malachi, 3, 10 to 12 is the passage classic in this sense, where God says to the people, bring all the tithes to the storehouse

Never keep a part of God's tithe, never keep what belongs to God, bring it all to him. He says, “bring all the tithes to the storehouse, it is to go to my house, that there is food in my house,” and look at what the Lord says, “and test me now in this, says the Lord of Hosts. If not, I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out blessings on you until there is no more.” God has been generous, when he calls us to give him he tells us, don't worry, I'm going to bless you. And look He adds, He says, "I will also rebuke the devourer for you and it will not destroy the fruit of the Earth, and your vine in the field will be barren, says the Lord of hosts, and all the nations will say blessed because you will be a desirable land says the Lord of Hosts.” You know what my great desire is as a pastor, that this Congregation of León de Judá become a desirable land, our children prosper, our finances prosper, see more marriages blessed every day, more people settling their affairs with God, people who they are good workers, a credit to our community that they represent the kingdom of God well, people that God is prospering and blessing and our children being functional, successful men and women, filled with the Holy Spirit, blessing their community, and that all the people look at this congregation, this community, like when they looked at the pilgrims, Puritans, they came to this nation and turned it into a flowery garden and say wow, truly, God is with them, let them call us blessed. Because? Because we are giving the Lord that sacrificial part that unleashes his blessing and his life, do you understand? That we are dying to have life, the grain of earth, falling to the earth- the grain of wheat falling to the earth, breaking, opening and giving life, much, much fruit. For he who loses his life will gain it, says the Lord.

So, never forget, if you care about the state of God's house, He will care about you. Now, the house of the Lord represents Him, His glory, His power, His ability to provide and, brothers, we must be zealous to contribute our part to the state and glory of the house of God. Why are we wanting to build a new sanctuary? Not only because there is already a need, if we look around, above, below, everywhere, this is full – the second time it has been filled today. We can't keep up with it anymore, but above all brothers in our hearts is to offer the Lord something even more worthy of his glory. That sanctuary, when it's there full of people, and it'll be filled twice over, hear me promise you in the name of the Lord. You know we're not going to just have one service there. From the first day we are going to have two services. I'm not looking to make our job easier, you know. It seems that a sister, someone told me that she thought we were going to do service because the poor pastor is already tired of two services, not yet, maybe in 10 years, 15 years, I still have a little strength left, you know. But no, no, what I want is more space for more saved souls, that's the only thing that interests me, you know.

So we will always be opening this place for the glory of God, so that there is more space, so that more lives are saved, so that there is more glory for the name of the Lord. I'm not satisfied, simply, okay, we already have this little piece here, don't think like a poor person, brother, don't think like a miserable person. Throw the miserable mentality to the ground, and stomp on it. Get out of that small hole and grow in a mentality of prosperity, blessing, excellence, greatness, ambition of the Lord, do not settle for something small, and what else. Look, God has more and more blessing for his people. So, we are going to contribute for the state, for the glory of that house of the Lord. There are some universal principles that are embodied, Second Corinthians, 9, this passage that we have just read. God establishes universal principles, what are some of those principles that we saw there in that passage that we read? In Second Corinthians, 9. Quickly, first we see a warning, it says, "but this I say," that but, is a but as a warning, no, but this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. There is a warning there. The word of God is sometimes very serious, not everything is marshmallow and jelly. Sometimes you have to look at it seriously too, that God takes us seriously and tells us, you know I'm going to make a deal with you Do your part, I'll do mine, He says, "If you sow sparingly, you will reap sparingly."

Many do not receive more from God because they do not sow more. God treats us as adults, depending on our investment so we will reap the interest. I am going to clarify that a little more, later on, I am going to qualify it a little more. If you look in Haggai, chapter 1, verses 9 to 11. It says here, "You seek much and find little, and you lock yourself in the house and I will dissipate it in one breath." How many trillions of dollars has this nation lost in one breath? How many trillions of dollars have been lost in this country of wealth in one breath from October to here? Trillions, several trillions- I read in a newspaper article the other days, the headline said, is the trillion the new billion, is the trillion the new billion in America? Because today we talk about trillions, we no longer talk about billions, the losses have been in the trillions and the investments are in the trillions and it is not even known if they are going to have an effect. It has lost in this nation and in Europe and in all the countries of the world, it is already I don't know if more than trillions of dollars, an inconceivable amount has been lost.

He says, “you lock yourself up at home and I will dissipate it in a breath, why? Says the LORD of hosts, because my house is deserted and each of you runs to his own house." When a nation, a family, an individual makes their own comfort, their own wealth, their God, you know what and neglects the principles of God's house and God and his purposes, that is ephemeral. Your wealth, your comfort is ephemeral, it is gone in a breath. Because if this nation set its sights on God and on the principles of justice of the word of God and generosity, it would not be going through the tragedy it is going through. "That is why the heavens stopped the rain above you, and the earth stopped its fruits, and I called the drought on this Earth and on the mountains, on the wheat, on the wine, on the oil, on everything that the earth produces, over man and beast, and over all the work of the hands.” This nation has sown sparingly in recent years and is reaping sparingly, it is reaping. When the Puritans and the pilgrims in this nation sowed generously towards God, God blessed them, multiplied this nation incredibly, now it is becoming scarce because faith and love towards the things of God have been scarce.

Notice, brethren, just the direct role faith plays in activating or deactivating the power of God. There are sowing and harvesting principles in every faith process. If you sow bountifully, it says here, you will reap bountifully. Notice something, many times people do not like this sowing vocabulary and I think that today the principle of sowing has been abused a bit. And a lot of people use that to manipulate people for their own gain, even in church. And I rebuke that spirit, we are not part of that at all, but we must rescue a spiritual truth that is biblical. This sowing, what does the word sow imply? It is always planted with the intention of reaping. Sowing in the Lord is like investing, you always have to expect a return. Even a woman who sows flowers, for example, because you can say, well, a farmer sows to reap fruit, but he knows that a woman or a man who likes flowers, the flowers may not have much use but it is a fruit. You plant and wait even if it is a flower, no one plants a plant that does not produce something that is good or profitable. And you always sow to reap something, so brothers, you know what, you always have to expect a return on your investments.

God has no problem with us giving with a certain expectation of receiving. There are people who want to be more Catholic than the Pope, holier than Saint Paul or Saint Peter, and say no, I am going to give to the Lord, but I do not expect anything and I rebuke those who say that God will give you if you give, etc. But look, you can't be more generous than yourself, and God is the one who says to you, give and I'm going to bless you. Do not be ashamed to expect a blessing, I believe that there is a moment when holiness becomes foolishness. And I encourage you brothers, give it to the Lord and look then wait for a blessing, you do not know when it will arrive, but wait for a blessing because God has promised it to you. Believe it. That is biblical, so God has no problem with us giving expecting to receive knowing that He has promised, he has been the one who says test me now in this. If He says test me, let the man up there test you. And try it.

Don't be trying to make life easier for Him, He doesn't need that help. Expect to receive blessing. "Test me in this, I will open the windows in heaven and I will bless until there is no more," says the Lord. Now, the clarification that I make is that it is not about something mechanical, if you hear me saying give the Lord $1,000 and God is going to give you a BMW tomorrow, then yes, there I separate myself from those people. Or, give the Lord your wedding ring, give me your car key and come tomorrow God is going to give you a humvee or whatever. It's not about that. Now what I do believe is that when you give to the Lord there is a biblically generated hope that if you are generous to Him, your life and even your finances as a whole will reflect God's blessing and approval.

You can say amen to that. Because I have seen it in my life, in the life of my family, the life of my mother, for example my mother met the Lord 50-odd years ago in poverty in the Dominican Republic and I have seen four generations since she made that act of faith, to give her life to the Lord, blessed. Because I saw it in her and her generation, her family, I saw it in her children, of which I am a part, I saw it in her grandchildren, and I have seen it in her great-grandchildren. They have all been blessed financially and they are people who have studied, have progressed and have enough. I believe that if they had given more to find money they would have more money, because God would have blessed them. But many of them have given themselves to serve the Lord. And there has been their joy and God has prospered them in that, and has blessed them and will continue to bless them. You see, when you give to the Lord there is a breath of prosperity and blessing that falls on you and your offspring.

That is so, Shalom, the peace of God spreads through your life and your life flows in a word of blessing. Moments of test may come, certainly, as our sister Delmi spoke, of course, but the curve will always be upward. That's what's important. May life go like the light of the aurora that is increasing until the day is perfect. So don't be afraid to expect a blessing, because the blessing is going to come into your life. The last thing is that Paul says, each one give as he purposed in his heart. “Each one give as he purposed in his heart.” Each one, a principle of the Bible, every man, woman, member of a congregation must give to the Lord.

I hope that in this campaign no one is left without giving. If you have a squirrel on your hunt, take a nut out of its mouth and bring it here, no matter what it is. But give, give everything that breathes, give praise and give to Jehovah. I'm going to use that verse, there. Brothers, this is for everyone. Look, I don't want anyone to stay with me next Sunday because we are going to have the campaign. Don't stay at home, come and even make a promise there, whatever. But promise the Lord something, the joy of the Lord is going to be, brothers, that every family that considers itself a member of this church, part of this congregation that is receiving. If you visit us, if you still do not identify with León de Judá, do not feel alluded to, but if you eat from this house spiritually speaking, look, I encourage you in the name of Jesus, dare and give to the Lord. Amen. Prepare an offering.

That's why it says, each one give, because I separate give. Because you know that many times they are very generous when they say father, I love you, my life is yours, we sing choruses, right? I give it to you, I don't know what when, but when the time comes to give, listen to me, we develop a stiff neck there, a pain enters us and the lever stops and it doesn't want to jump but for nothing, right? There is a moment when one of the promises and the romantic has to come out and you have to give, simply. Each one gives, as he says, as he proposed. I put emphasis on proposed, as he proposed in his heart. To propose means to make a conscious decision and make a resolution, take a deliberation and say, I am going to give.

This week pray to the Lord, and propose in your heart a generous and faith offering to the Lord. He says, "do not give as sadness or out of necessity." Brothers, if next Sunday, when you are coming to give your offering, I want them to be tears of joy, not of sadness, okay? No one comes here to give, you know limping and limping there, no, no. Give with joy in your heart. Come laughing out loud. Because God loves a cheerful giver. Give with ease, generosity, spontaneity, give with faith knowing that God will reward you. So, the last thing, already like that. He says, "Give each one, give as your heart purposed, not with sadness," he says, the third a promise. We saw a warning, we saw a call, give, and now we see a promise. “For God is mighty,” give to the Lord knowing that God is mightier than recession, inflation, depression, whatever. God is more powerful. God is powerful "so that it may abound in you." Notice the abundant, overwhelming language of this passage. Images of abundance. It says, "that all grace may abound to you."

That is, the grace of God is the fuel that makes possible every good thing in the human economy. And he says, God is powerful so that in your life, your business, your health, your family life, your emotions, your work, all that essence that is needed for there to be a blessing in your life abounds, abounds with all grace. "Always having grace in all things," any transaction, any situation in your life, everything sufficient "so that you may abound in every good work." You know what, God is going to give you not only for you but for others, when God gives you, don't just store up, don't pile up like the wretched man in the parable, give. Be a source of blessing, in these times we are going to have to learn to give to others. God is going to bless someone and then they must bless others. They're going to see and God is going to bless them all in the end. He will not lack, he says, the one who had did not lack, nor the one who did not have whatever. There was blessing. The fact is that there was blessing and there was provision so that you abound in all grace. A promise, a call, a warning, a promise. Well, that's going to be the illustration. So brothers.

I was sitting like this, I saw something precious like that, like something shiny... I feel that it is the Holy Spirit, full of people even more than now, I said Lord, but what are you going to do? We are going to break those walls but there is no space, because I see that there is something behind. And I said, maybe I'm going crazy, but no. You know with God you don't play games, right? Stand in front of all of you.

…

I'm a little nervous because I don't like to speak in public but the Lord has touched me and the Lord wants you to know it, from the first moment I came to this church, I felt something special, the pastor is chosen by God. I have been coming to church since I was 7 years old, my grandmother sowed the seed in me and I have never been able to separate myself from God, I have had very difficult moments in my life like the one I am going through now but I have God in my heart. I have a vision in this church, a year and a half ago, give or take. I came here asking the Lord for a beautiful home like the one I have now. And I saw him here praying, the Lord gave him to me just as I saw him. And I don't remember what topic the Pastor was preaching about, I know he was talking about the Holy Spirit and I had a vision that I saw the Holy Spirit above all of us as something brilliant, huge that enveloped us all. I saw this bigger church, with more members, and it is not the Pastor who wants this church full of people, it is the Lord. I said within my heart, Lord, it will be that those walls are going to break down and they are going to be wider behind. Because I had no knowledge that there was going to be another bigger temple next door, in fact I came, I am once again on the path of the Lord and I want to continue looking for more of God.

And the Lord, when the Pastor began to say, I think, 5 Sundays ago that we could each give $2,000 to $3,000 in two years, I said in my heart, how do I give if I have a super-bad economy, I dunno I don't know, in September he went to Santo Domingo, I brought back a lot of money. The Lord has not allowed that money to leave my hands, and two Sundays ago the pastor said the same thing again, that we can give to the Lord and that money came to my mind and I said, "Lord, I The only one that I have, how am I going to give it? But I kept listening to the Pastor. And last Sunday I said in my heart, that money is not mine, that money is for the Lord. And that's the only thing I have saved but it's not for me. It is for the Lord. And on Sunday I had a very strong concern in my heart to speak to the pastor, but I saw that he was very busy. I felt it so, wanting to convince people to give to the Lord and I felt in my heart that the Lord was going to continue touching people as he touched me, that this money is not for me, it is for the Lord. And the Lord is going to continue playing, pastor, because I saw it, I know that it is so. Because the Lord has done great things in my life. No one can imagine the wonderful things the Lord has done in my life.

And today that I saw the sister here standing with all the needs that she has, bringing her what belongs to the Lord. I said, my God, you are wonderful, and this church is going to be built like this with the power of God. What I want to come to is that I felt that it was only me that touched my heart these two Sundays ago, to give it away because it is not mine, it belongs to the Lord, when I saw the sister I said incredibly on Sunday, that the Lord was going to touch them so that they would give, look at the sister who stood here to give it. And so more people are going to come that the Lord is going to continue playing because what God wants is going to be done that way.

Thanks thanks. Amen.

You know, I think there's a lot to say. Thank you Lord for that way. I don't normally do that but I felt from God that it had to be done. The conclusion, brothers, of all this is so. I am going to read it, in a church like ours, brothers, with many immigrants, many with limited resources, this text that I have just discussed acquires greater meaning. Here in this church, in the Lion of Judah, as in the case of the widow we discussed who gave everything she had, we have the opportunity to prove how great our faith truly is at this time. We can see when God prospers and blesses us through our sacrificial faith, how faithful and trustworthy the Lord's promises are. Amen. Glory to God.

Thank you Father, thank you for the way you conclude your teachings, because only you make these things possible, Lord. In this prophetic time that we are living as a congregation, we only ask you to hold us by the hand, Father, and that you have mercy on your children who want to honor you and want to apply your principles. Do not let us fall from this glory or allow a single word to fall to the ground, Lord. From all that we have declared, bless your people, strengthen their hands, strengthen their hearts and spirits, Father, so that we can honor your purpose at this time in the life of our congregation and we will give you all the glory and all the honor when your will has been accomplished, Father. In the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.