What does God want with me?

Isaiah 61. Meanwhile, turn around to someone and say, say hello and say "God Bless you." A good evangelical, charismatic, Pentecostal greeting: God Bless you. Brothers, as I shared at nine, my wish for your life; One of the things that I ask from the Lord for your life this morning is that from now on when you hear that greeting, or when you extend that greeting, you... may you never hear those words the same. Let them know the power of those words towards your life and that you know the authority that the Lord is giving you to bless; how we just blessed these homes; how we just blessed these families.

You know brothers, one way to define Blessing, a blessed life is to live according to God's will for our lives. In other words, we can assume that if we are, if we manage to live according to God's will for us; if we were able to know the perfect will of the Lord and live within that will, it can only culminate in Blessing. The only thing we can hope for is blessing. And perhaps your question - and it's a good and fair question - 'Well Samuel, then what is the perfect will for my life? Show me, Lord. Show me your perfect will and Amen, bless me.

Brothers, I suggest to you this morning that perhaps that is not the appropriate question or at least let us ask ourselves of the Lord for something else and that this is the question. If God had the freedom to work in our lives the way He wants, what would He do? If we gave the Lord the opportunity that He would do in our lives precisely what He wants to do. This God who created you, who knows you, who loves you, who is powerful and who only wants your good, what would He do? It's like frankly preparing this word I hear the voice of the Lord telling me: "If they only gave me an opportunity." "If I only had a chance".

Brother, perhaps, you've been seeking the Lord for a while, maybe a few weeks, you've been experiencing this 'call what you call it' according to your vocabulary: religion or the ways of the Lord or this journey, call it what to call you, but you are seeking the Lord, perhaps for the first time and never more seriously than you are doing right now, because frankly you feel that the Lord has been calling you, that is, wherever you want you see signs of the Lord. He hasn't been calling you like A.W. said. Tosser 'He's been chasing you.' The Lord seems to be persecuting you, wherever you are seeing evidence of the Lord wanting to get involved with you, in small exchanges, little things that happen at work or at home. Small miracles, the Lord, getting you out of trouble and protecting you like a brand between the flames and finally you are ready to give up, finally. And ask him "Why are you persecuting me, Lord? What do you want with me, that I see you even in the soup?" Wherever you are, wherever I hear your voice, wherever... what do you want with me?"

Or maybe you are not so new to the Gospel, maybe you have been for a long time, you have been seeking the Lord, but you find yourself at a crossroads right now and you feel that he is about to do... you have, you have no other choice to make certain decisions. Decisions that will impact your family, your home, your ministry perhaps, your job, your company; Whatever it is, changes are coming and he knows it. Or you feel deep in your heart, that there is something more. And now I ask the Lord, what do you want with me? What is behind all this?

And brothers, I do not pretend that this message answers, it offers you specific answers such as what should I study? or who should I marry? Or what profession or ministry should I dedicate myself to? But I do believe that this word of the Lord, which the Lord has to share with us, will show you God's purpose with you; God's plan with you. The fact that God is not dealing with your life randomly, that He wants something with you, there is an end says the word "expected" for the man, the woman of peace.

There is a destiny, something that the Lord wants to do with you and, brothers, that is the Gospel. Declares the word of the Lord in Luke chapter 4 - we don't have to go there but "Early in the ministry of Jesus, He entered the synagogue where he used to worship, to where in the city where He was raised and entering that Sabbath to the synagogue, the local church, his parish, they gave him the Scriptures, a scroll and he opened to this passage Isaiah 61 and began to read these words. It was not His turn to bring the message that day, He was not the teacher, He merely read these words and sat back among the people. But nothing more could be done that day. When hearing the Lord read these words, everyone's eyes were riveted on Him. There was silence in this place, the voice of Jesus of Nazareth declaring these words and the Lord broke that silence by declaring: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled before you." .

Brothers, on this day we hear again the voice of the Lord announcing these words. And the Lord tells you: 'If you let me, if you allow me, today these words will be fulfilled in your life. Today these Scriptures will be fulfilled. If you let me' 'If you let me'.

What did he read? The Lord began by declaring: "The spirit of the Lord the Lord is upon me; because the Lord anointed me, he has sent me to preach good news to the downcast...".

Let's stop a little there, brothers. "Good news", good news, have you heard this expression? They have heard it many times, the only thing is that they have heard it in Greek, because the Greek... this expression has been translated "GOSPEL", good news. In other words, for me, my brothers, verses 1 to 7 of Isaiah chapter 61 is an eloquent encapsulation of the Gospel of Jesus, of the gospel that we preach. Not just an encapsulation, it is a mission statement of the church of Jesus Christ. Yes, the spirit of the Lord Jehovah was upon Jesus, he anointed him to preach this message, but the Lord chose disciples and these disciples trained other disciples and that is why we now have discipleship in this church. Because you are disciples of Jesus Christ and you are commissioned, set apart, anointed, which means "authorized" to preach this good news.

That privilege and responsibility has the church of Jesus Christ. The word anointing implies authority. The prophets, the kings, the priests, the servants of God were anointed with specific purposes to fulfill a specific mission, not whatever he wanted or what seemed right to him. But to fulfill a specific mission and the Lord Jesus told him: 'This is the Gospel, this is your message Church of Jesus Christ'.

And what's more, my brothers, the churches would say -and this is not about denomination, this is about mission and anointing- you pastor, wherever you are in the world, tuning in on the internet, wherever you are, cell leader, discipleship teacher, brother fulfill the mission that the Lord has given you.

Because frankly my brothers, the churches -as I was sharing with a group of brothers yesterday- that fulfill this mission, that share the Gospel, that live under that anointing, that seek that anointing and are channels of that anointing; those churches God takes care of prospering them. Those churches prosper, they grow, they see the hand of God, they see evidence of God's presence among them.

There is no doubt that God has called them, but the opposite is also the same. If we deviate from this mission, if we forget about it, if there are aspects of this mission that we prefer not to touch for whatever reason, because it's New England and that's not what we talk about here, those churches will die because they're not there for what? They are authorized, anointed for a certain task and if the anointing of God is channeling us through it, they are not fulfilling their mission.

What we're seeing in New England there are no static churches in New England, that doesn't exist here. One or two things are happening in New England churches, they are either growing in an incredible, logistic way or they are dying. And these two and three hundred year old buildings, these houses of worship are being converted into condominiums and restaurants, parking lots or preferably places where a church -perhaps not with great financial resources- but fulfilling the anointing of the Lord, these people occupy those places and are fulfilling the mission. Which is why those pilgrims who put stone on stone put those places there. They made a pact three hundred years ago when they laid stone on stone to build these churches and the Lord is going to take that pact seriously and those places will be occupied by churches that reflect the heart of Christ and are preaching this Gospel. Because what God wants with you and what God wants with New England is simple. Incredibly simple, the Gospel is simple, my brothers. What does God want with you? Do you know what He wants? He wants to heal you, He wants to transform you, He wants to use you and he wants to prosper you. This God who has called you, who persecutes you wants to heal, transform, use and prosper. And here it is, my brothers, it is very clear. The word says, He continues: "I have been sent to preach good news to the downcast, to bandage". Can you imagine, the God of glory bandaging a wound? Don't merely read it, see it, see it, see your God binding up the wounds of the broken. The Lord, He came to bind up the brokenhearted, to publish "freedom for the captives and the opening of jail for the prisoners". Let's stop there for a moment.

My brothers, what the presence of the Lord does is essential. Brothers, how beautiful was the presence of the Lord, right now, right?! How nice it is to be in the courts of the Lord! Although we do not understand everything that is happening, there is no doubt that it is nice to be in his presence. But brothers, what makes the presence of the Lord special and beautiful is not merely that God is here, but that you are also here. And not merely that you are here, but the Lord seeing you, looking at you, contemplating you from his throne, knows you, knows you and knows your need. And he not only knows you and not only knows your need, but something even more beautiful and majestic: He cares about your need, He is upset if you are hurt. His heart breaks if yours breaks.

That is part of the formula that many times we forget. In order for the Lord to heal you, he has to know you and not only has he to know you, he has to love you and again and again the Lord, over and over again throughout the word He finds no other way to communicate it in the Old Testament In the New Testament from Genesis to Revelation the Lord has been trying to tell us the same thing: "I know you and I love you and I want to heal you".

The Lord declares in his word: "I have every hair on your head numbered." The Lord goes on to declare: "Not a leaf moves without your Heavenly Father not knowing it." The Lord says: 'See if the Lord cares for the birds of the air and the grass of the field. Are you not worth more than the birds? Are you not worth more than the grass of the field? Mister?

Brothers, your prayer is worth more than gold in heaven. They make bricks with gold there. The streets are lined with it. The prayer of the saints, says the Word, is one of the most beautiful aspects -I believe in the Apocalypse- the Lord considers them, you know what? Precious incense that collects in golden vessels that are poured out at the feet of Jesus. There is not a tear, I do not know how He does it, but that is what the word declares: 'There is not a tear shed that is wasted.'

The Lord is aware of everything, he records everything, he cares about your brokenness and if he leaves it He will heal it. And He continues declaring: "I have come to bring freedom to the captives, and to the prisoners to open jail".

Brothers, do you know that the most effective jails, the strongest chains are not made of iron? And the Lord wants to bring freedom in every aspect of meaning. It bothers the Lord to see lives chained and limited and there are countless prisons. You can be held captive, so to speak, to decisions that you made, decisions that you made and are now living the consequences of that.

In other words, he is captive in his present and his future of something that happened in his past. The terrible thing about this, brothers, is that the Lord sees that and it could be, brother, that this was one thing or another that you did and nobody knows. Maybe you're sitting here and as of today's sun, no one has found out about this thing or that other than God and other than Satan, by the way, who keeps hounding you. What keeps tightening the shackles and maybe you've gotten over it; whatever it is you got through it and you are a lady of the community, a respectful man. Now you have your husband, your family, your job, your profession; but in the corners, in the basement of your heart, in the darkest corner where you yourself fear to go, there is that thing, chaining you.

The Lord tells him: "If you let me, today you can be free. Today I can give you freedom." Or maybe it's not even a decision you made, it's not even your past, maybe it's a generational chain, a family pattern. A decision that your great-grandfather made that affected the future of your grandfather, that marked the life of your father and now you are living these patterns and you are already beginning to see, perhaps, in your children, these patterns. And you say, 'Oh, here we go again!' Here we go again, this same thing, Lord forbid, here we go again. And the Lord tells you: "That chain, that prison, that captivity... I can also open it. And I can also set you free."

Satanic patterns of ways of thinking that the Lord wants us to be free from and this should not shock us. Do you want a hero of faith more powerful than David? A warrior, a psalmist, a king and we hear David asking the Lord: 'Free my soul from prison to worship you.'

If David could pray that way, David, you can ask the Lord for the same. You can be free. I don't know which minor prophet is that makes a reference to "prisoners of hope" -prisoners of hope- that's what we all are, brothers. And physical health.

Brethren, when the Lord read this passage in that synagogue in Nazareth, He read it not in Hebrew but in Greek. A Bible - what they called exeptuagent - a Greek translation; and He added this phrase: "And sight to the blind."

And in this place, in this church we believe in that in a LITERAL way and on July 12 we -as has been announced- have a commitment to the Lord. I am going to be frank with you, brothers, I am going to be frank with you. We are going to receive with our knees trembling those souls that arrive in a wheelchair or on crutches or on stretchers, but brothers, let them come! Let them come in the name of Jesus! If you are here today, welcome! because this church, whether we feel prepared or not, will fulfill its mission. The Lord has anointed us for something! This is the Gospel. This is the Gospel.

Whether we like it or not, if you are ready or not, we are gonna do this thing.

And He continues reading and this does not sound so nice, but, and it should not be, but look at what the Lord declares when proclaiming the year of Jehovah's good will and look: "The day of vengeance of our God. A comfort all the bereaved".

Brothers, the frank truth, look, do you know what aspects I see of this? What aspect of God do I see expressed here? His Justice. Our God is a God of justice. And many of us live in mourning for x or y injustice that we have suffered, in mourning.

Brethren, do you know what the Lord tells you? Frankly. The Lord, all this annoys him, breaks him. It breaks the Lord to see people that their occupation, all their energy is dedicated to trying to fix the crooked things that have been done to them. What "so-and-so" did to you maybe at home or what he did to you in your childhood or something that happened to you in your life. And it is already impossible to rectify the thing and he is living with that and there tied to that situation, there are countless chains: resentment, regret, loss, brokenness, more resentment.

And the Lord says to you, and, brother, when you stumble across these words in Scripture, don't ignore them, the Lord has them there because he loves you. He has it there because He loves you.

Romans 12 exists because he loves you and the Lord says to you: "Son, revenge is mine, I will pay. You bless."

you know? For me this, I said at 9 o'clock that this is similar to those movies about gangsters, when one approaches the godfather. We go up to the best man today and we kiss his ring and we say, "Godfather, do me justice," and the best man says, "Look, you told me. Fine, I'm going to take care of that. There's nothing Satan has done." in you. And he's going to pay them all...all of them. Don't worry, he's going to pay them all. You go, you eat, you go in peace, you live your life, you take advantage of all the blessings that you come to hand. You enter through every door that I have to open for you. Go in peace, son. Go in peace, daughter. Live a life of victory, I'll take care of it. Don't worry."

Because the Lord does not want you to stay there. The Lord says to you: "For me to do anything else in your life, for me to work in your life, I have to heal you. I have to heal you."

How the Lord...? Look, he is extending the invitation to you but it has to come from your lips. You have to say the words out loud: 'Lord, I need you. Redeem me, heal me". Tell God where it hurts. It has to come out of you because God's will is not for you to stay there. The Lord wants to transform you. The Lord wants to do something completely different in your life.

Brothers, that is one of the things that I admire the most, that I frankly love the most about this church and not because it is my church, my brothers, or because we worship the Lord together. Don't you see this pattern? There again, every church that is living out its mission, you are going to stumble upon changed lives. Transformed lives, declares the Lord: "I came to ordain and to the afflicted of Zion be given glory instead of ashes; oil of joy instead of mourning, cloak of joy instead of the anguished spirit. And they will be called trees of justice, Jehovah's planting." The new international version is "roaks of justice for his glory."

Brothers, by the way... I know that maybe Pastor Omar said it just now, but who is here visiting maybe for the first time today? Amen.

Welcome, but sad, I'm sorry but you missed the show. You have missed the drama, because you come here and right now you are seeing a scene that God has created here. Perhaps you are seeing a gentleman in his vest and tie, brushed and adoring the Lord, very elegant. Perhaps you are seeing a lady and a gentleman together, a husband, a wife, some children who seem to be greeted very much and you would say: 'those people have been like this all their lives'.

Or maybe 'all their lives this family has been like this'. But the drama was lost. What's more, I suggest something, after the service maybe approach any of these brothers at random and ask him: What has God done for you? What has God done for you? What has God done in your life? What have you done? Because what you are seeing is a miracle from God. You are seeing what you are seeing is an act of illusion, it is an illusion. The people are looking through the blood of Christ, the people are seeing through his anointing.

Brother, you may also know, you know very well the ashes on which you have sat. You know very well the mourning that you have kept. Perhaps you brother, you know the anguish that your spirit has suffered.

And what's more, you will say 'Pastor, yes, I have... I'm dressing better, I'm coming to church but the Lord hasn't finished with me yet. There is still a lot of work to be done, the work is still incomplete, imperfect. I am a Christian under construction. But that's Okay, that's Okay. Because people see... Glory to God.

You know what I'm talking about.

But people don't see that, what people see is the crown of glory that the Lord has placed on you. What people see is the oil that the Lord has poured out on you. What people see is a smile that perhaps you never smiled in your life... now inexplicably you smile because there is something that the Lord is doing in you. Unchangeably, undeniably, permanently, eternally the Lord is doing something powerful in you and that, my brother, is what God brings out of the miracle, you know? He brings out glory. I will change, as we were singing right now, your lament into a dance for your glory.

You know why? Because perhaps the Apostle Paul said: 'Neither my word, nor my preaching was with persuasive words of human wisdom but with demonstration of the spirit and of power'. That is how the gospel is preached and your friends will say "I have never seen God, but I have seen Saturnino. There's no one here named Saturnino, right? OK. I am in the safe place.

I do know Saturnino and I know what Saturnino went through and I know the years that Saturnino was on drugs.

Brother, if you feel alluded to, don't worry because this is the miracle that the Lord has been doing wholesale in this church. This could be you, or someone else, or like two dozen other people in this church. You see Saturnino and Saturnina and I know that those people were left alone for 10, 15 years. What do they do together? And those children, look how cute they are, they are on their way to university and you can say as Gigi Ávila says 'Who did it? Christ'. To his name glory, and that is transformation.

God brings glory out of your life. And there is not one thing that gives more glory to the Lord than the fact, and it is here... look... it is what... the Lord is a strategic genius. All of this has to do with spiritual warfare.

Because He chooses the very people that Satan wanted to destroy, mind you. He calls the very people that Satan wanted to use as a carpet and discard them. He uses those people that Satan wanted to remove from the glory of God.

That's the people He uses, notice, it says here:

"Those people will rebuild the ancient ruins. These people will raise the first ravages. They are those people who will restore the ruined cities. The rubble of many generations."

In other words they are those people that the Lord chooses to use. The Lord wants to use you. Brethren, we not only believe in revival, we believe in a revival that is coming to New England and we are counting the days. We take it for granted, like they're forecasting that it's going to rain this afternoon, it's going to rain over New England. It will be transformed. But we forget how the Lord brings about these revivals. How does he choose? What is the process? And the process of revival is that He takes your children, He takes... you're a living rubble. We all are.

The Lord begins by rebuilding us. It starts with you and then He plants you, you are Jehovah's planting. He plants you in one place or another. It can be your work, your home, your ministry, but in a decisive place and you begin to hear the voice of God there and you serve the Lord. And in those places the Lord begins to use you. What's more, you don't even realize that the Lord is using you because he does it so naturally, it flows from you, but the Lord is using you.

Or it could be this, it makes you like Nehemiah that there is a problem in the community, something for which there has never been a solution to this thing. Everyone has heard it for generations and has never seen a solution. But when this news reached Nehemiah, Nehemiah... "How is Israel doing? How is Judah these days?" and they answered "Ah, if you could see it! The walls are devastated and the people live in depression and anxiety. But you hear it in a different way, this affects you. Have you noticed? Has this happened to you? What bothers no one else bothers you, what others hear goes in one ear and out the other, the Lord does not leave you alone.

It lifts you up, you start to pray, fast about it, because it won't leave you still about it. You seek the presence of the Lord, "Father, how do you allow this? How is it that this thing exists, that it is a shame to your people? That it is an affront to your people and your children? Do something, this has no solution ". And at the moment you hear the voice of the Lord: "Yes, this has a solution. I have only chosen you for this. There is a strategy. I know the strategy, I know how to rebuild those walls, Nehemiah." “Joshua, I know how to tear down the walls of Jericho. I know how to do this."

Satan's strongholds are malleable, brothers, they are plastic. They can move and the Lord looks for Nehemiah. The Lord seeks Joshua. The Lord plants his vision. I see Patty. 'Alpha, where did that come from? Where did that come from?'

Years ago, everyone seeing needs. But if one hears the voice of the Lord, inclines his ear, the Lord chooses you. He starts sharing his strategy with you and says 'Now go do it'.

And perhaps at that moment you are the first to complain, the first to protest: "But Lord, I can't do that" and why? because I am part of the problem. I am of this generation. How can I clean up the debris of that generation, if I am of this generation?

You say like Isaiah himself: "I am a man of unclean lips from a people of unclean lips." "Sir, no one in my family has graduated from college" or "Sir, no one in my family, no male in my family, no one has lived a sober, chaste life", "Sir, no one in my family has ever married." The Lord says to you 'Don't worry, go, let me use you. And by using you I will prosper you'.

'It will be first and not last', it will be first, it will be head and not tail”. Has no one married? Well, you will be the first. Has no one gone to college? Good! You will be the first. Has no one lived a life of holiness? Welcome, you will be the first. You are the Columbus of that family. You are the one to whom I will deliver the scroll, the curse ends with you and a blessing will come from me. Blessing!

Glory to God.

"Foreigners", my brothers, "will feed your sheep". "And strangers shall be your husbandmen and your vinedressers." And brother, you, who do not see how the Lord can use you, the Lord tells you 'You will be called a priest of Jehovah'.

"You will be called ministers of our God, you will eat of the riches of the nations. And with his glory you will be sublime. And instead of your double confusion and your double dishonor, they will praise you in their inheritance. Therefore in their lands they will possess double honor ". And listen to this, this is weird: how does this translate? What do you eat this with? "And they shall have everlasting joy"

Do you know what that is? If they don't know what that is, I don't blame them. There are many who do not know what it is. There are many who do not know what that is. But let me give you a goal. Ask the Lord for this. People who take this seriously and who receive this word live strange lives where the Lord turns things that could destroy anyone else. And even within that whirlpool they experience joy. Joy... perpetual joy, which will never end. The Lord working in your life. Stable emotions, from power to power is what the Lord promises. From glory to glory. And brothers, if this sounds strange to you, I say brother, in the name of Jesus: Get used to it.

If you have taken this word seriously, if you have allowed the Lord to work in your lives, the Lord calls you a priest. The Lord calls you a product of his glory, of his mercy, a channel of his blessing. The Lord will have to form a whole new... you have to get used to a whole new mentality and instead of thinking scarcity start thinking prosperity and abundance.

The Lord will train you. He promises you: "Evil will not befall you, nor plague will touch your dwelling. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand. You who take me seriously, you who call me Lord, you who dare to believe my word, you are different" Does not apply to you! You are the people of God, chosen lineage, royal priesthood. You are not a small thing. They know the call is a one word call. If any of this makes sense, Glory to God that they have received this word.

But now the Lord says to you: "You know what? Now son, let me heal you. Let me transform you, let me use you, let me prosper you. Let me work in you."

Let's bow our eyes for a moment and I ask that the musicians accompany me at this moment.

We still have a lot to do, we have Holy Dinner, time is running out.

But a brother came up to me after the first service and I think he came up to me with a prophetic message and said "Pastor please if you're going to preach that message again, make a call." And so we will.

What is a call? Now I'm going to explain. If you are here and you say there are areas of my life that I do not feel healing. I don't feel healing, I don't feel that the Lord... there are whole potholes.

Let's go to the most essential.

These promises, the Gospel, the reason why they are good news is because the Lord, first you have to give permission... give permission to the Lord... that He be the Lord of your life, the boss, the one who commands.

In other words, Father, I have lived this way up to here, take me by the hand, now lead me. That's all. direct me. Make me your son. I receive you as my Lord. I receive you as my answer, I receive you as my solution.

And if you have never done that, I am going to ask you publicly... if that's news to you... and you want to do that publicly, please raise your hands. If you want to receive the Lord this afternoon and do it as You, Lord, we invite you to raise your hand. Amen.

If you have never said 'Lord, take charge of my life, I want you to be my Lord and work in my life in an active way. I invite you to raise your hand. Amen. Amen.

If there is no one, brothers, I ask that we stand up.

Brothers, let's close our eyes for a moment before receiving the elements of the Holy Supper.

And when you digest these elements, imagine that the Lord is there; her broken body, her blood is walking through her being, her interior and as He walks, as He makes this course within her, He is touching this or another, different aspects of her being.

And let's go right now... let's ask him: Lord, we receive your healing. Lord we receive your transformation.

Lord, we leave you to use us in the way that gives you the most glory and lifts you higher.

Lord, we long for you to prosper us and for you to bless the work of our hands. We ask you in the name of Jesus.