Radical faith that breaks ice

Let's go to Mark, chapter 10, we're going to go to verses 46 to 52 and, again, we're focusing on the topic of what… what topic are we talking about, shall we see? These days… what topic? Say it all: faith.

OK. I hope, brothers, that through our meditations, through our sermons, that concept of faith and not just a concept, is a dynamic... it is a powerful spiritual principle that is engraved in our hearts. I want you to go meditating. I am trying to be at least a little systematic in what I am teaching, and perhaps some of you will be able to go on the Internet and listen to these sermons again so that it will sink deep into your heart and that you can gradually acquire those knowledge that are so necessary to live a victorious life.

Without faith it is impossible to please God, says the Word. That is to say, faith is the most essential thing that can be for a son, a daughter of God. It's like the currency… the currency that allows one to buy, sell, manage, acquire… uh, everything has its origin in faith. Faith is the vehicle that God uses to land on earth, to enter the realm of time and space. According to our faith it will be done to us, says the Word. And it also says that "the just shall live by his faith."

Interestingly, it does not say by faith, I have sometimes quoted it and said, the just will live by faith, how many of us have ever said that? But no, it is "the just shall live by HIS faith." Because I believe that there are different degrees of faith. Different people acquire and attain different levels of faith. And then according to the faith that you manage to reach, through your readings of the Word of the Lord, through such resources as prayer, fasting, reading the word of God, I have already said it; serving the Lord, because all of this increases our faith, we acquire experience, knowledge, by rubbing shoulders with other men and women of faith we acquire energy, we infect each other... all these elements together raise our level of faith until we become people powerful, effective people in the spiritual realm.

Now here we have a character who very much exemplifies that element of faith. One of my favorite characters, the blind Bartimaeus. How many have heard of Bartimaeus? Raise your hand. Okay, about a quarter, maybe a third. Wow! Well, it will be interesting for you to meet, I want to introduce blind Bartimaeus, he is a very nice man, I find him very nice, right? He is an attractive man, he is like Zacchaeus to a certain extent, there is a comic aspect, we could say, of Bartimaeus. But it is simply because of the situation in which he found himself, but evidently like Zacchaeus too, he was a very, very determined man. And that helped him a lot. I want to spend a little while doing a summary, because I tell you that I want you to accumulate knowledge and understand many of these concepts. And so I'm going to try to get right into the event itself involving the life of Bartimaeus. But I want us to at least look at the general first.

In the last few weeks, in what I have been able to when I have been preaching... Today I complete in these, let's say a trio of faith, these three individuals or people share some common elements about faith. I have spoken about the woman with the issue of blood: she approached Jesus in the crowd, touched the hem of his cloak, and received healing power from Jesus. We have talked about the friends of the paralytic, remember too? In the same way, these men who took their paralyzed, wanted to enter the house, they could not because it was full of people and they climbed on the roof, opened the roof, lowered their paralytic, placed him there before Jesus and the Lord, what could do. He had to heal it.

And now I want to talk about this man, Bartimaeus, the blind man, who shares some elements with these two... these characters that I just mentioned. Me last Sunday, I think, was it last Sunday or the day before? As one… the ancestor I think it was, –last Sunday we had something, brother Pedro Julio Fernández. I have said that faith has some qualities that we see in this trio of characters here. One, I've said that faith takes risks, as did all these people I'm talking about. Second, faith overcomes obstacles. Remember that these are characteristics of a person who has faith and you can, in your own life, think of a time in your life when one of these qualities brought you to a new level of, such as effectiveness, or helped you get out of a problem or overcome a difficult situation.

Faith takes risks, I have said. Faith overcomes obstacles. Third, faith sometimes works desperately. There are times when you have to break the gap, you have to go somewhere, you have to knock on a door, you have to introduce yourself to someone who has said they don't have time for you, you have to call and make a second or third call. By the way, something funny occurs to me, this is even banal, but you know what I always say, there is a… I say one of the things that I say here, which was related to that, faith always looks for a solution. How many believe that there is always a solution in life?

I say, brothers, there is always a door in life that can be opened, even if it seems to be closed. Even if you have a mountain in front of you and your car arrives and bumps into the slope of that mountain, look at something... I think that even if something, open Sesame Street or something, but I can go through the middle of the mountain. Faith is an incredible thing, faith does extraordinary things. But, brothers, there are times when there are little things in life that I use to learn the importance of faith. From this taking risks, overcoming obstacles, acting desperately. Let me complete, I am going to give an almost banal, everyday illustration.

Faith is rude and aggressive, sometimes faith is nosy, sometimes faith gets in the face of things and people and does things that are rude. That people kind of say, Oh! And where did this person come from and why did he do that? Faith also does the improbable. Faith has that quality that when something seems like it has no chance of succeeding, faith jumps in and says, well, the Lord already... and if I fail, the worst thing is that he simply says no, but I'm going to do it. And he launches into committing the improbable. And faith always looks for a solution, what he said. And ultimately faith always takes action.

Faith is associated with action, doing something. Move do something, break a glass but do something. Don't just sit there flattened. Faith always does something. Now, what I was saying, that those qualities of faith. I always learn, that there is always a solution in life, that one should not… –how many times have we stopped doing things, because when it occurred to us, someone immediately threw a wet sheet over the idea: "Oh, that can't be done. But they already tried that, I've seen that others have tried to do it and it couldn't be done... ah, those people don't hire Hispanics, or a woman has never held that position; Many have already tried to sell that product and have not been successful. Ah, I tried about 10 years ago to buy a house and I failed and now they are already selling it very cheap, but ahh… I don't want to go back…” etc. No?

There are many times that, what happens? When you have an idea, the reasons why that idea is not going to be successful immediately spring to mind. And if you give in, if you lose the battle in that thousandth of a second between the creative idea and the idea that it cannot be done, if in that thousandth of a second you allow the NO or the possibly not to happen, falls on you, you are not going to go to the next step of considering it further and perhaps trying and seeing that yes, what can be done.

And it is important that you always resist the first no of the mind, that the mind is like that, it is very treacherous. But nothing, look, it's even banal, but it's interesting. Literally years ago... how many know what a fret is? It's one of those metallic coffee makers, that you know, you unscrew at the bottom, and it has a little chamber where you make the water, then it has a filter in the middle where you make the coffee. And I told you that the illustration was everyday, right? So you take the other top and screw it on, and when the water boils the steam…it turns into steam, it goes through the coffee, and at the end, well, you have coffee to drink. You did not know that the thing was so complex, right? He has a chemistry lesson there.

The fact is that years ago, we have several coffee makers like this of different sizes, and there was one that I like the most and I don't know but the metal filter, in the middle, was lost. And I wanted to throw it away ten times, because what good is a coffee pot if it doesn't have a filter in the middle. But something held me back and told me, no, who knows if one of these days, who knows if one finds a filter there and some crazy person has the idea of selling filters to replace it when one loses it. You think, and hear, and again there is the thing. Someone had to think of it, you know what, over there people lose the filter of the fretwork, so I'm going to make a few filters and I'm going to sell them. That's already faith too, to a certain degree, it's a secular faith probably to a certain degree, but it is. The fact is that I had always said, no, I'm going to leave it there just in case. But, I always thought it was absolutely hard to get a filter like that, and sometimes we've been to the North End, the Italian bar here in Boston. In fact, if you want to eat good Italian food, go to the North End, that ad is free.

And we had gone through a couple of places, which I had because the Italians use those frets a lot. And Meches, my wife had told me, you know what, they may have there, and we're going to go one day. But I, as if I was giving it a long time, because it was starting, name... of all the places, maybe among Hispanics that can be used, and maybe they have spare parts for those filters, but these Italians here, what's wrong with them? to happen to them, etc. And never… but then again, brothers, it's that brake, it's that subconscious brake that tells you, it's unlikely that it can be done. And that is what prevents us many times from living creative lives and doing things that God wants to do in our lives. How many understand what I am referring to?

It's like there is an unconscious brake, pessimism and shyness that prevents us from conceiving creative ideas and that when we conceive them once and for all, it's like someone comes and turns off the light. And then, well, like this every day... But yesterday Meches came up with the idea of going into this store while we were waiting for something. And you know what? They had those blessed metal filters. So since I got home, I tried it, perfect! And there I have a new coffee pot for two dollars and a bit that cost that filter. So praise God for the faith of Meches.

But what I want to tell you, brothers, is that look, in such simple things one can learn that one can grow because my philosophy is that one must always try, one must always seek a solution. One always when something tells you, look I can do this, do not reject it right away. Go to the second step, go to the third step, and when the door that you have already knocked closes, then go to the house. But in the meantime try because where you least expect is the solution and I have seen that many times throughout my life, that you have to have faith.

Above all that, if you have God with you, he says... someone has said that God and I are the majority. And that is so brothers. People of faith like that always have a positive attitude in life, don't get carried away by emotions. One of the things that you have to learn, if you are a person of faith, look, don't get carried away by emotions, emotions are spoiled little animals that if you let them take over your life and make it impossible for you to take any action. high.

Emotions are the product of the fall of Adam and Eve. Our emotions are damaged and people who live by emotions, by past wounds, by appetites that control it, by negativity or depression, or sadness or those things that want to control us. Brothers, do not think that as the Apostle Santiago says that you are going to achieve anything from God. You can't take him away, one lives by principles, by what the Word of God says. For what one knows is real and that is very important if you want to be a person of faith and if you want to be enterprising, daring, go to that new level of your life. You have to believe that God is with you and that there is always a way out. Remember that, that part of the sermon is free, I didn't quite have it there in my mind.

But, that quality that faith has, brothers, I encourage you in the name of the Lord, gird your loins and say I am going to live a powerful life, a creative life and I am always going to look for a solution. I will always undertake the improbable and train your mind, and when you see suggestions and lessons in your life that tell you it works, mark it as I marked that issue. I assure you that I am going to meditate again on that filter with the fretwork. Because there I said, hmm, here is a lesson, I can put that there in my repertoire, learn, I am going to strengthen, I am going to mark that lesson to grow in the aspect of faith.

Very important, now. As you can see, people of faith generally have a dynamic, hard-working, enterprising quality. That is what I see, that people of faith are not flattened, they are not people who die easily, they are not passive people, they are not people... people of faith are nervous, they move with slightly catatonic gestures and electrical and that's important because there's something, it's not that either... Understand me well, let me clarify that a little. There are people who are very quiet but they are people of faith, don't believe it. But I want to say that if a person of faith asks me, what I see is a waving, moving flag. It is not fallen like this, like all waste, monga, no, it is a flag that is allowed to move by the wind of the Spirit, which receives the wind of God. That is for me the key person, of faith.

Bartimaeus... Bartimaeus is like that. Look how he yells, he keeps yelling, he throws himself away from being called, many things here... other than that. Look at the woman with the flow of blood, diligent, enterprising. Look at the friends of the paralytic, in the same way. All these people share that quality, hard-working and enterprising. What did the Lord say to Joshua? Be brave! Because I will be with you wherever you go. That is the key, brothers. People of faith dare to do things because they know that God is with him or her. That is the key, but God wants… God likes strong and courageous people.

How did He tell Gideon? The Lord is with you, strong and brave man.

Remember that I have always said that those words: strong and brave, are definitive words for a son, a daughter of God, a person of faith. I tell you, brothers, I want to associate with hard-working and courageous people because those people inspire me, motivate me, encourage me, and I get a lot, I learn a lot from them.

To Timothy, what did Paul say to Timothy? He told her, I advise you to fan the fire of the gift of God that is in you. And that he added, because God has not given us, what? Spirit of cowardice, but of what? Of power, love and self-control. That is a complete message and sermon. But the idea is that it seems that Timothy was a little bit like, kind of subdued, a gentle shepherd there, and you know, what happens will happen, it is God's will. The 'ay blessed' as Puerto Ricans say, right? And Paul said, no, no, no, no, Timothy. You have to be a strong and brave man. God has put a gift there in you, now fan that gift until it catches on fire. Be enterprising, because God has not put in you a spirit of cowardice or timid, but a spirit of power.

Brothers, let me tell you, you have within you, whether you know it or not, the engine of a war tank. It's not a Volkswagen there, or one of those little Smart Cars there, all shrunken there, no, no. You have a war tank inside of you, say amen even if it is to convince yourself. It's in there, what happens is that many times we don't use it, we don't use it. We're like those old ladies and they have a sports car, and they take it to church at 10 miles an hour on Sunday, and they park it there and they come back and drive it into the house. And there that blessed car is dead, wanting to be taken to a field and squeezed, look, there's no police and zoom, even if it's so he knows what's inside. Do not get ideas now, brothers, no.

But, many of us are like that. We use one percent of the power of God that is in us and the Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit tell you, look, you have within you all the power of the kingdom of God, dare! Undertake, live a powerful life, don't say I can't, don't say ohh, I'm like that and that... that's from the devil, that's from the flesh. You can in the name of Jesus. You have everything you need. Maybe I won't even be able to get into the Bartimaeus text, but look at another important thing. This is a very important principle that I want you to learn about the principle of faith and that is this… It is, it has to do with the nature of the kingdom of God.

How many belong to the kingdom of God? Raise your hand. I hope that everyone, except perhaps those who are sleeping, did not hear me. But everyone…everyone, I hope everyone here feels like they belong to the kingdom of God. And if you don't belong to the kingdom of God, look, become a member right now. Raise your hand and I'm going to pray for you, I'm going to anoint you now with oil if not, if you... Is there someone who doubts, if not, get up and come running here right now because we're going to plunge you into the water this afternoon of baptism. You are a member of the kingdom of God, aren't you?

So… now, if you are a member of the kingdom of God, how are you going to feel comfortable within the kingdom of God? Well, I imagine that it will be assuming the same qualities of the kingdom of God, right? Because if the kingdom of God is one way and you are another, there will be a clash, there will be a clash of power, of nature. You feel comfortable where there is harmony with who you are. For example, what is the body temperature more or less? Who knows? 98.6 I think it is or something, right? Normal? 98... And why is it that people don't like to put... if an environment is 40 degrees or 50 degrees, why do you feel uncomfortable at that temperature? Because you don't agree with your body, right?

But when the temperature is 75, 80... it's like you feel more... there is harmony between your body and the outside world. Now if it is at 120, again also the same. If your body is asking for a temperature a little closer to what you are… then you are also going to feel uncomfortable at the other extreme. If you are a gentle, soft person, you like things calm and quiet and you walk into a place where they are playing rock music at full blast… you are going to feel it too, because there is a disagreement because there is a lack of affinity between what you are and what the environment where you are, represents.

Now why am I saying this? Because when we understand what the kingdom of heaven is like, we are going to have to ask the Lord, Father, adapt me, help me to be what the kingdom of heaven is like. Many of us come and enter the kingdom of heaven, and we bring all the wounds, the drags... the burdens, the problems, deformations of the past and we enter a kingdom that is power, is peace, is joy, is life, is true , it is justice, it is love and in us there are all these different things and there is a clash, and that we have to… Lord, help me each day to adjust more and more to the nature of your kingdom. That is the task, it is the life of a son, a daughter of God. It is to go more and more, to resemble more and more the kingdom of heaven.

Now, a question: what is the kingdom of heaven like? I have said many things, but look at Matthew 11, verse 12. Matthew 11, verse 12. It is a passage that I find very revealing. It says here, "from the days of John the Baptist..." This is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking, "from the days of John the Baptist until now," and that may now be the 21st century because we're reading it right now, "from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven…” Here is a problem, a little problem that I am going to try to solve right now. It says, “the kingdom of heaven suffers violence,” –suffers violence, – “…and the violent take it by force.”

OK. Now let me ask you a question, what would you understand by this that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence? If it's me reading it, I would interpret that to mean that the kingdom of heaven receives violence against him. That suffering is like enduring is like enduring. Endures violence... is a passive image of the kingdom of heaven. As the kingdom of heaven is always receiving violence from outside, they are giving it... I see there a bat and blowing up the kingdom of heaven. Suffer violence. I always felt uncomfortable with that idea, and that's why it's so good to go back to the original Greek and understand a bit of the grammar. Not everyone can do that, they have the opportunity, but I'm going to do the job for you this morning and you're going to thank me, that's what they pay me for.

But, I… I searched in the original Greek of that text and it is interesting there what it really says in the original Greek that has been translated into Spanish, but as you know the Bible has been translated into many different languages. And translators, sometimes, when they encounter a complication they have to decide, sometimes there are two options to interpret something and the person has to choose one or the other option and put it there and discard the other alternative. In the original Greek, that which says: suffer violence and the violent… In the original Greek it is viasetai kai vastai. Kai means _____. Viasetai is the word that has to do with violence, and vastai, some say it was like a play on words: Viasetai vastai are very similar in Greek. Just as there is a play on words in Spanish. Suffer violence and the violent. The Lord was playing with language.

Now, the word, viasetai which is translated: suffers violence, is a verb that can be translated both actively and passively. How many have already gone to sleep now? They are awake… okay. In other words, viasetai in the original Greek could have been translated: suffers violence or suffers violence. Or do violence. It proceeds with violence, proceeds forcefully, forcefully, proceeds aggressively, does aggressiveness, is aggressive in other words. What happens is that I imagine some translator of those flattened over there, stuck there in his… ah, the poor kingdom of heaven suffers violence, because he did not like that the kingdom of heaven was violent. But know brother, the kingdom of heaven is violent.

The kingdom of heaven is against what? From the kingdom of darkness. When God enters the world he comes to take away from Satan what the devil stole from man. Do you know that? When Adam and Eve fell in the Garden of Eden, the devil took control of this world. Why does Satan say to Jesus, all the kingdoms of the world belong to me and I give them to whoever I want? And the Lord did not tell him, liar Satan. No. The prince of this world is Satan, illegitimately, but he is. When Christ comes into the world and that's why he says, from the time of John the Baptist. Because? Because John the Baptist was the one who began to announce the coming of God, yes or no? Look it up, “repent for the kingdom of heaven is coming.”

When they said that, imagine, it is like a person who owns some land in a distant part of the country and has not visited it for 20 years and a number of people have moved there, and they are living and a neighbor took the land and he does what he wants with her and no one has bothered him. And for now the owner of the land says, you know what, I'm going to go, that land is mine and I'm going to work it, I'm going to plant it, I'm going to cultivate it. But when you get there, those people who took it and stole the land are there, and they say, you can't come in here. Oh no? Can't I get in here? Let's see who's boss. And a fight starts, a battle, it can be a legal battle or if the owner is a little violent, even with rifles and shovels and whatever, they solve the problem. But a conflict begins. The one who is illegitimately entrenched there and the one who is the legitimate owner who comes to reconquer his land.

And so it happened, when Christ enters history, He comes to reconquer his own. How many say amen? Even if it's just to cheer me up a bit, wow! The Lord says to his wine! In other words, the Lord came to what belonged to him, to reconquer it, to seize it, to steal souls from the devil, to steal the world, the nations, to take them away from Satan because he had stolen them. And what happens? A power struggle had begun. The kingdom of heaven advances now, he had to do violence. Why do you think that the Lord Jesus Christ says that in order for one to plunder the house of a strong man, what does one have to do? You have to tie him up first and he says, and then you can ransack his house, yes or no? True yes.

So, in other words, brethren, you believe that Satan is going to hand over souls and nations and communities and youth and systems of government, just like that. By no means, it's a wrestling match. It is a hard fight that has started in the world. And you know what? You and I are part of that kingdom of God. We are part, so in reality in the original Greek, what the Lord said was: from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven proceeds with violence, and the violent take it by force. You understand? Doesn't it make better sense that way?

Because a kingdom that only suffers violence, well then, I think that then it would be like the faint-hearted, the timid, the suffered are the ones who take it. No, it makes a lot more sense: The kingdom of heaven is proceeding with force. Look up, for example, interpretation, interpretation, the NIV Bible, the New International Version in English, and now today Bible scholars are much more in agreement that the interpretation of that verb in the original Greek should be active, not passive. . And already the most modern Bibles, the most modern versions, interpret it like this: the kingdom of heaven proceeds with force, aggressively. And the strong, aggressive, striving and courageous people are the ones that take him away.

It's like that car – that bus is running and the driver says, get on and you have to... either jump or the bus will leave. That's right, you have to hold on to the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven is not going to wait for you to yawn and get dressed, no, no. The kingdom of heaven is walking, it has to run and jump inside because if it doesn't take it and go looking for another. That is the kingdom of heaven. That's why you look at the people who praise in the Bible and they are always a bit violent and smelly. They don't like panaa as the Caribbeans say, they are such daring people, they are hard-working people. Caab, Jacob, David, Moses, Daniel, Saulo... a guerrilla fighter there that God Saves him, because he needed someone like Saulo. Why is God looking for Peter? Excited, impulsive. Why does God look for people like that? Being able to look for more passive, calmer, softer people... because God likes it, because the people he can use, the kingdom of heaven is an army, it is an Army, it is a war tank that is moving and needs someone decided to go in for surgery.

So God, brother, sister, God wants to change your DNA. God wants to change your genetics. God wants to put a new and different program in you. God wants to give you the program of the kingdom of heaven. God wants to give you the genetics of the kingdom of heaven. I have said, look, for me the image that I have of the kingdom of heaven, do you know what it is? I don't know if you have ever seen an icebreaker, one of those ships that sail through Antarctica, the North Pole, where the seas freeze and there is sometimes ice that is one foot, two feet, three feet, ten feet thick in the sea, but that is where the ships have to pass. And you know that these icebreaker ships have a shell on the front that is made of iron, it is made of steel, very heavy. And I have seen those ships when they move on the ice. See, brother, that's like a hot knife cutting through butter, and the ice is jumping all over the place, moving away; and the prow of that ship is like this, it's like a V, and it's breaking, breaking, breaking. And he advances, and everything that gets in his way breaks him, breaks him, throws him aside, because he has a purpose and he has to reach his goal.

Look, brother, that is the vision of the kingdom of heaven. You belong to that kingdom, you belong to that Christ, don't let them come to me with Jesusito there, like a little lamb all battered and... that is not the image of Jesus that I have. To me, Jesus is a powerful, strong man, sunburned, with parched skin from walking the roads of the Middle East preaching the gospel, who goes ahead of his disciples to the cross, he's not there complaining why you you did this to me No. He goes right there, to the cross. See how the Lord goes, it is before his disciples to Jerusalem, he knows that they are going to crucify him there, but there he goes before them. For me, Jesus is a determined, strong being, he is a man who must be respected, his yes is yes, his no is no. His words are clear, when someone says something he doesn't like he lets them know.

And it's not that we are, brothers, I believe that everything has to be tempered by love, grace, mercy and the goodness of the fruit of the spirit. But the people of the kingdom of God, even within that grace, that mercy, that love, have a quality of strength and a certain decision that they have in their character. The Lord is like that, examine the pages of the Bible. Brothers, a determined man, clear in his well-defined purposes; He knew what he came for, and what was going to happen to him, and where he was going and where he came from, and who He was. You don't see the Lord saying, well I'm not sure if I'm God or not, if they owe me or not… no, no. He very clear: I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father if it is not through me. Point is over.

I am the light of the world, whoever walks in me will not walk in darkness. Point is over. You call me Lord, and you say it well because I am, He says. Now also the Gentile part of Him wrapped the towel around himself, washed the feet of his disciples, but there was no doubt in Him about who He was. He knew who He was. He is a determined man. Brothers, God wants us to be like this. God wants us to be like this, the kingdom of God is like this, and you and I have to be like this. Nothing to be between two waters, God does not like lukewarm people. Why do you say to those in the Odyssey, I wish you were hot or cold, but since you're lukewarm I'm going to vomit you out of my mouth. Because God does not like lukewarm people, God does not like people who have one foot in the world and the other in the kingdom of heaven. They believe a little but they are not sure and they prepare things just in case things go wrong so they can get out on time.

God likes determined, clear, determined, defined people. If I perish, I perish, but I'm going to smoke this to the end. I am going to be a member of the kingdom of God, and if I was wrong at least I lived my life with purpose. And I don't know, brothers, you have to be or not be. And one thing that God wants in this time is determined and clear people. May our community be a community of determined people. Let's stop playing between two waters, I am or I am not, I give or I do not give, I have or I do not have, I live or I do not live, I decide or not... make up your mind once and for all. Make up your mind to throw yourself fully into the waters of the kingdom of God and be a determined man, woman. Embrace this Bible, embrace its values. Don't be just a pious coming here to hear a mass and a priest there… Let me not talk too much, no. I respect. But, brothers, that of coming here to a little water there, lukewarm, passed through water. That never did anything for anyone.

God wants radical people. Committed people, people who are like the kingdom of God. Clear people, defined people, people who have already died and who know that this world is simply a little path there towards eternal life. We are pilgrims and foreigners, I have nothing, this is not mine. I am not going… I am going directly to the kingdom of God, and what I live here I live as it says in the faith of the son of God and that he has already died. And he decided that long ago and now he's here to serve the kingdom of God and to do everything possible to advance that kingdom. Ripping souls from Satan wherever there is a need for the kingdom that person says present because everything he is, everything he has, everything he thinks, everything he lives is for the glory of God. He has already determined to live for God, he has decided that ship is breaking oppositions. His destiny is already clear. That is the kingdom of God.

And may the Lord, brothers, that my life and your life respond to that. We are going to be like Bartimaeus, amen. Again, no... no, maybe next Sunday, let's see if I have time, I'll try. Read Bartimaeus again, look at the passage and you will see that blind man, hear Jesus go by, he yells at him have mercy on me. The Lord pays no attention to it. Well, he says, I'm going to yell at you until you listen to me. The Lord stops, people are telling him not to yell so much, it doesn't sound good, you're waking people up, he keeps yelling louder. Finally the Lord says, send it to me, bring it. And the Lord asks him, what do you want me to do for you? Sir, let him see again, period. Five words, or four I don't know how many. Tell it yourself. Sir, let him see again. And the Lord tells him, go your faith has saved you. Point and let's go to the next one. And that was all, five or six verses, but this man had a need and for me nothing, and the musicians please if they can come here... nothing exemplifies the character of my brother Bartimaeus, look at that little detail, when the Lord called, what did he do? He threw down his cloak…he threw down his cloak, and he ran after Jesus. Why did the Holy Spirit put that thing about throwing off his cloak? Because He could have simply said when they called him he went to Jesus. But he said, throwing off his cloak, look for him whether he is there or not. It was where Jesus was.

Some say that a blind man's cloak was the most important thing. You've seen homeless people, people who don't have a home, they generally carry a backpack or something, right? And that they have there, there they have their coat, there they have a toothbrush, there they have some little things that are very important to them. That is their survival, they literally have their house on top of them and that is fine for them… they protect it tooth and nail. It's. That was what a blind man's cape was, the cape was what allowed him to sit on top of it while people were walking around asking for money, the cape covered him when it rained, the cape gave him shelter from the cold. That cape was the most important thing a blind man had and when the Lord tells them, send him for it, he already says, I no longer need this cape. That cape no longer works for me, now the most important thing is that I touch Jesus, that I talk to Him. He throws away his cape and goes ahead, he doesn't take it, he doesn't take it with him just in case it doesn't work out for him and then he comes back to have it He leaves the cloak there, that no longer serves me.

Look, people always when Jesus does something... what happened to the paralytic, when they healed him? He took his stretcher, rolled it up and went with it carrying it. There is something special, brothers, a symbolism in that, that many times what has served us for our illness no longer serves us when we have an encounter with Christ. We have to put the crutches aside. Those things that give you security and that you have there just in case, drop them, throw them away and make up your mind at once and go after Jesus. And live the kingdom of God according to the values and principles of the kingdom of God. How many can say amen and understand what I'm saying, there are? Glory to the Lord.

People according to the kingdom of God, that's how we're going to title this sermon, what do you think? People according to the kingdom of God.

Let's stand up in the name of Jesus. God wants people according to the temperament of the kingdom. Determined people, clear people, strong people, concrete people, dynamic people, enterprising people, radical people, militant people, that is what God wants in his kingdom, brothers. And God wants to do that, if you are a woman, a man of faith, ask the Lord to conform you to the values of his kingdom. And may the Lord give us the character of Bartimaeus. Ask the Lord right now to give it that character. Ask the Lord to strengthen your spiritual temperament, to raise your spiritual temperature. May it take you to a certain dimension of spiritual life.

Father in the name of Jesus... all right, brother, leave it there a little while.

Father in the name of Jesus release your power in us, release Lord, that character, that temper of the kingdom of God, release the character of the kingdom of God in us. Make us determined people, people filled with the Holy Spirit, powerful people, we renounce the timidity of the flesh, we ask that, Father, raise up a church that is in accordance with the character of the kingdom of God, raise up a people, Lord, determined. Arise a mighty people, fill us with your spirit Father. Father, these words that I have declared I declare prophetically. I declare that this will be the temper of this congregation. Lord and Father, everything you need to do begins with me, but Father, we have been called for a time like this. And we need you to prepare a church that is like the kingdom of God.

A determined church, Father, a church according to the heart of God. Father, I give you all the resources of this congregation and I ask you to make us powerful people. May this church know that you can depend on it, Lord, for your causes. Make us evangelistic people, Father. Make us aggressive people, make us people of adoration and fasting, make us people of holiness, Father. Make us people of faith so that we can do what needs to be done in this time, Lord. We thank you, we thank you.

Receive the word, brother, sister. Receive the word of God in your heart right now, receive it and tell him, Father, that word is for me. Receive that seed and say, Lord, I bury it in my heart. Say, I believe that this seed will bear fruit in my life. I believe that You have impregnated me with a word today that comes from your mouth and it is your life that You have given me, Lord. And I receive that life, I am going to live like this. Help me to be like the kingdom of heaven. Help me to be a man, a woman according to the kingdom of God. Today I kill all indecision and give myself completely to living as Christ wants me to live. Help me, change me, change my temperament, change my character, change my vision, change the energy within me and make me as you want me to be.

Father, I declare that word over your children, in the name of Jesus. Lord I declare it over this church! About those who are near and those who are far, Lord! I declare that this church, Father, will be a fort of the kingdom of God, a detachment of the kingdom of God, for your glory, Lord. Rise up warriors. Thanks, Dad. In the name of Jesus and the people of God say: Amen.

Brothers, I'm not even going... I'm going to ask you simply, say hello to each other and tell someone also, I bless you and declare the strength and grace of the Lord on your life. Declare right now the power of God over that brother, that sister, and go away confident that you have everything you need there to be the people God wants you to be. I bless you in the name of the Lord. Amen and amen.