Water of life and water of death

Let's go to the word of the Lord, brothers. Second Book of Kings, Chapter 3, Verses 4 onwards. It is a rather long passage but I am going to try to shorten the reading as much as possible and then I will enter the story itself to get the benefit that God wants us to get in the time we have left. Second Kings Chapter 3. We're going to start with verse 4. And I want to talk about… I've titled this sermon 'Water of Life and Water of Death.'

Let's start. It says here, "Then Mesha king of Moab owned cattle, and paid the king of Israel..." Do you know that Israel was divided? The Jewish nation had been divided between two kingdoms: the northern kingdom called Israel, to which ten tribes belonged, and the southern kingdom of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem, which was where the Davidic line followed. Kings who were descendants of King David and the Kingdom of Israel, the northern kingdom, were generally distinguished as very, very bad kings. Pagan kings, idolatrous kings who had turned away from God completely. In the kingdom of Judah there were good kings and sometimes bad kings and Jehoshaphat was a man of God, a pious king, a man who loved the Lord. But the king of Israel was a wicked man.

It says that, "...he paid to the king of Israel one hundred thousand lambs and one hundred thousand rams with their fleeces. Then from Samaria -Samaria was the capital of the kingdom of Israel, just as Jerusalem was the capital of the kingdom of Judah- King Joram -this is the king of Israel at that time, after Ahab his son, his descendant- and he reviewed to all Israel. And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah -the other Jewish kingdom, the southern kingdom. Jehoshaphat a man of God, a man fearing God but who also had certain defects as we are going to see- "The The king of Mohab has rebelled against me: will you go with me to war against Moab?"

The king of Israel is inviting this king of Judah to go to war with him to regain command and dominion over the king of Moab again.

"And he answered: I will go, because I am like you; my people like your people and my horses like yours. And he said: 'Which way shall we go? And he answered: By the way of the desert of Edom. They left therefore , the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom."

These three kings ally themselves, unite to go on a campaign against the king of Moab and cooperate to bring him back under the rule of Israel, the kingdom of the north.

"And as they went around in the desert..." because that's where they decided to go to battle, perhaps to catch the king of Moab by surprise.

"...as they wandered in the desert for seven days, they lacked water for the army and for the beasts that followed them. Then the king of Israel said: 'Ah! the Lord has called these three kings to deliver them in the hands of the Moabites.

But Jehoshaphat said: 'Is there not a prophet of Jehovah here that we should inquire of Jehovah through him?' And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered and said: Here is Elisha the son of Shaphat, who served Elijah. And Jehoshaphat said: This one shall have the word of Jehovah. And the king of Israel, and Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom went down to him.

Then Elisha said to the king of Israel: What do I have with you? Go to the prophets of your father, and to the prophets of your mother. And the king of Israel answered him: No; for Jehovah has gathered these three kings to deliver them into the hands of the Moabites. And Elisha said, As the Lord of hosts lives, in whose presence I stand, if I had no respect for the face of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you, nor see you.

But now bring me a drummer. And while the player was playing, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha, who said, Thus says the LORD: Make this valley many ponds, for the LORD has said thus: You shall see no wind, nor shall you see rain; but this valley will be full of water, and you will drink, and your beasts and your cattle.

And this is a light thing in the eyes of Jehovah."

Let's just leave it there, okay? Amen. I am now going to continue the story later but not to make the story too long although in reality the best part is ahead; which is the outcome of this drama that we see here built.

But reading this passage, as I was telling you, I have been working on writing a book about the life of Josaphat. Because he is a very fascinating king, he is a very interesting king and by reading his story, which is told above all in the Second Book of Chronicles, in chapters 17 to 20-21, his story, I have found many things. And in this passage, here from Second Kings chapter three, these episodes from the life of Jehoshaphat show us the character of this man.

And it is a complex, nuanced character, not black or white but rather gray areas. And I love complex people. I believe that the issues of the kingdom of God are complex, they are nuanced and I believe that many times Christians want to paint only with primary colors: red, yellow, green, white, black and we are not very given to nuances. And that's what we were talking about a moment ago as well. We have to be nuanced because the Word of God is nuanced.

And Jehoshaphat is a very complex man because he loved God, he had a passion for the kingdom of God, he made great reforms in Judah to bring his people to the knowledge of the Lord and to institute pious laws and to neutralize the worship of Baal and the goddess Acera and bring Judah back to the ways of the Lord. But I had a problem.

And it is that he was a man who, as it were, allowed himself to be greatly impressed by the wicked and allowed them to lead him into ways that were not approved by God. He established intimacy with these northern kings who had abandoned the worship of the true God. They had become inveterate in the worship of the Baals. And he established a marriage with them, he established an alliance with them.

From time to time we see that one of these kings invites Josaphat to participate with them in some situation, some company, some effort, some war campaign... and there is Josaphat like a little lamb. 'Of course! Since we are not going forward, I am like you and I can do the same as you do. And he let himself get into serious trouble. Over and over again that happened to him.

One of the problems with King Jehoshaphat was that the first thing he did was wrong. Marry his son Joram, not this Joram - this Joram is the son of Ahab, make no mistake; Jehoshaphat also had a son named Joram and married him to the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. imagine.

Do you know who Ahab and Jezebel are? Two of the most impious, most diabolical kings recorded in writing. Elijah fought against them and later Elisha also fought a little. But Elias above all had a terrible controversy.

Jezebel is the demonic spirit itself. A woman who came from the pagans, from the pagan world and Ahab, king of Israel, a Jew, married this woman -who was a real demon- and this corrupted Israel more and more.

And these people were hated by God because they hated God. They committed crimes, they abused their reign. And here Jehoshaphat came to establish a relationship with these people hated by God.

He married his son to a daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, and that was the biggest mistake Jehoshaphat could make. A man who loved God, a respectful and God fearing man. Passionate with God.

But, what did this man have to do by marrying his son into a cursed lineage, with a corrupt lineage such as the lineage of Ahab and Jezebel? And that brought great loss to the life of Josaphat and his family.

The Bible records that after Jehoshaphat died, years later, that Jehoshaphat's daughter-in-law whom he married to his son; Jezebel's daughter killed almost all of Jehoshaphat's offspring for staying in the kingdom. All of Jehoshaphat's grandsons were killed because she wanted - her own lineage killed him - so that none of her sons would stay in power, and she herself could continue to reign in Israel.

Terrible, it cost this pious king a great loss. His pairing, his undue cooperation with people who shouldn't be at that level of his life. And I believe that one of the great lessons that this passage records is precisely that. And as I said, it's a very long passage and we don't have all the time.

But you see that here. Jehoshaphat is there in Judah very calm. Joram has his problem with a king who now does not want to submit to him and invites Jehoshaphat to meddle in his affairs and cooperate with him to get him out of trouble.

One of the things that I learn, brothers, that when one -and this is very clear in the history of all these kings- walks with God and one's life responds to the principles of the Word of God, there is a blessing on the life of one. God's support is upon one.

And look, I believe that when you have the spirit of God in your family, your finances, your health, your life, you can expect God's blessing to accompany you.

But when you separate yourself from God, even the devil and the demons that were subject to you now start to rise up and say, "You know what? I'm not going to respect this guy. We're going to do whatever we want."

That happened in Israel. Many of those towns that they had under their government began to rebel against them and even attack them, and a number of enemies were raised.

Israel had to continually fight to maintain itself as it was surrounded as it still is today by so many enemy nations.

The Bible says that God gave Jehoshaphat peace because Jehoshaphat feared God and Jehoshaphat destroyed the idols of Acera and Baal and established the law of Jehovah in his nation. And as a consequence of that came the blessing of God and the nations themselves, they say they came to pay tribute to King Jehoshaphat and to seek his dominion, his government and Jehoshaphat became strong and established armies in different parts of his nation and God prospered him materially .

But Jehoshaphat did a lot of work -read it so you can see- in trying to establish the law of the Lord, educate the people and therefore peace came and prosperity and tranquility came to the kingdom of Judah. But in the kingdom of Israel there was war, sedition, revolutions against it, disorder and what happens? that then Joram the king of Israel comes to tell Jehoshaphat "You know what? I need you. Go with me to this battle."

And I think... this speaks to us a lot, brothers, essentially about the relationship of Christians with the world and how difficult it is to manage that tension that exists in Scripture.

Because on the one hand the Bible says that we are in the world even though we are not of the world and we have to have relationships with the world from the field of work, the economy and many other things that it is impossible for us to remain completely isolated. And it's not good either because we are the salt of the earth and the salt has to mix with the things that come out. Yes or no? We are the light of the world. The light has to invade the darkness.

But we have to be careful that in that process we don't let the world color and determine how we conduct ourselves. Amen.

That the world does not get us into controversies and that the world does not dictate the path where we have to go. But that we always keep that healthy distance that makes us distinctive.

We have to be careful. Holiness is real. God's call in Scripture to keep us apart.

Where does the word Holy come from? The word Holy means that it is "separated" and how difficult it is for us to keep ourselves separate from the world!

I am the first to raise my hand because you want the world to approve of you. There are so many decent, loving, well-meaning people in the world.

Evangelicals here in North America want the world to see us as nice people, winsome people, winners, attractive people and we do our best to often avoid anything that shows us as separate and different.

But it is a balance. I think we have to put on a nice face of the gospel, I don't think we have to walk around like we've been cured in lemon all the time. With a face, there, gloomy and sad. No, we want the world to know that in Christ there is joy, there is gladness, there is abundance, there is blessing.

Of course! Because there is. Because where the spirit of the Lord is there is blessing, there is freedom.

But there will be times when we are going to have to say to the world "You know what? I'm very sorry, I can't cooperate with you in that area. I have my principles in that area and I'm sorry, but if we are going to walk together let it be with clarity. I I can't for you to accept me to get involved in the things that you are doing".

And that is what the world wants many times. The world throws stones at Christians because we do not support certain practices in which they are involved and they say that we are haughty, we are self-righteous, that we judge people.

And look, the devil is always going to accuse. Forget about it.

Don't be intimidated. There is a campaign of intimidation on Christians so that we allow ourselves to be emotionally bribed and into the nonsense that they... which is precisely what is causing their problems and their destruction. The devil's attack on our culture. So many problems that this culture has.

And what happens many times? What then the world comes to the church for the church to solve the problems. For the church to get involved in the problems of the world, often not knowing that they are the ones that have caused us the problems and we then have to come and solve them.

It is a balance. Go? It is a very delicate line.

Here we have Joram inviting Jehoshaphat to get into this campaign with this king, who has rebelled against them. And I am impressed by Jehoshaphat's expression that in fact when King Ahab, Jehoram's father, invited him to another military campaign years before that against Ramoth de Gilead, another nation of Syria. It is a big city in Syria.

And when he called Josaphat to invite him to that war, Josaphat's response was the same as he told his son years later: "My people like your people and my horses like yours."

What did Jehoshaphat mean by this? He meant to say 'Hey! I am as man and as macho as you. Of course! Are you going to go to war? Well forget it; that me too Get a hand that I'm going to be behind you, I'm going to do the same'.

That is the Miranda version of Scripture.

But, brothers, what does that tell us? That in Josaphat there was a certain insecurity. He wanted to compare himself with Joram.

And I have tried to get into Josaphat's psychology to understand what prompted him to respond in this way and the truth is that I recognized myself within it.

Because how many of us Christians want the world to see us as "cool"? Like you know what? I am as nice, as enjoyable as any other and I can dance the tango like any other in the world and I can do anything that others do. I am not one of those sour and sanctimonious evangelicals out there. No! I am a liberated evangelical, I am a sympathetic evangelical.

And how many of us let ourselves be bribed by the world? And do we try to prove: 'No, I'm an evangelical, but don't worry, I have my moments to free myself up a bit?' And sometimes we believe that with that we are going to attract the world. But you know what? that doesn't work like that. I can never be more agile and more developed in Christian advertising than God himself. And God has clearly said that we cannot be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

I believe that we as Christians have to be sure of what God has told us. I cannot be with that insecurity of "I want the world to approve of me, for the world to like me, for the world to say that I am good people."

Look, the world is not going to say that because the Bible is very clear. He says that 'darkness does not love'. Men do not love the light because it shows them their evil deeds. You are not going to win the world trying to just put on a nice face. Not that it shows otherwise. But you are going to win the world by the beautiful presence of God in your life.

You will win the world when people see something different in you. When you see the fruit of the holy spirit in your life, when you see harmony in your home, when you see order in your house, when you see your character: upright and kind.

The Bible says, 'Your kindness be known to all.' Do you know what touches the world when it sees a person with the character of Jesus Christ? When do you see a kind, kind, generous, transparent person? He doesn't go around judging people, or saying 'I'm better than anyone'. No.

He says, 'look I'm a sinner like you. But Christ has healed me and I have the grace of God in me and the same mercy that I have received you can also receive. And the same word that strengthens me when I am going through a crisis, that same word can help you too.

'Did you know? I also have my tests, I also have my economic struggles. Yes me too. My family is not one hundred percent perfect. But I have the resources of Heaven that help me and bless me and I am growing and I am learning. I am closer to Christ every day.

And when people see that presence of God, when they see the Shalom of God in your life, in your house, in your economy, in your way of being, in your relationships with others, in your spiritual life that gives you peace and confidence and hope, they say "you know what? I want that too".

But it's not that artificial sympathy that tries to compare itself to the world and do as the world does and avoid anything that might bring controversy.

Today here in North America, especially the Evangelicals and I have to say unfortunately that beans are boiling everywhere, there are problems everywhere... but the Anglo-Saxon world and in other sectors of North America I see a sector of North American Evangelicals trying, having fear that the world will not see us as more just or more -as I said- more self-righteous than we should be.

And we remove the name of Christ from the names of our churches, we edit the sermons so that there is nothing controversial when seekers and visitors come to the church. We remove everything that can be controversial, everything that can be confrontational, everything that can make people uncomfortable and we preach a sanitized gospel. It is a hygienic gospel, but a gospel that has no life because just as we remove one thing, we remove the other.

With the controversy the vitamins also go away and we grieve the spirit of God because we are trying to please man more than God. And only when we have God's blessing is that the world will be confronted.

Because the Word says that "it is not with a sword or with an army but with my spirit" says the Lord. Amen.

The Bible says in its word that the 'weapons of our warfare are not carnal but powerful in God for the destruction of strongholds'.

The world is not going to be won by Madison Avenue advertising techniques or wherever advertising companies are today. At one time it was on Madison Avenue, today it will be elsewhere. We are not going to win it like this. The world will be won with spiritual weapons, with the presence of God in our lives.

With a church that has opened space for the Holy Spirit to dwell in it. A church that purifies itself, that sanctifies itself, that is searching, that has mercy, love, peace, joy. The fruit of the Holy Spirit and the holiness that befits the house of God.

That is why, brothers, God is calling us. Let us purify ourselves, let us sanctify ourselves. And there are many angles on this passage. But one of these is this thing that you have to be careful when the world invites you into its affairs because it's in trouble. Don't come here just to earn it.

I think that Josaphat, one wonders, what was a man as pious as Josaphat doing messing with these people all the time? And in part I believe that Josaphat wanted to evangelize these people. Jehoshaphat thought perhaps "look these two sister nations have been at war for sixty years since Solomon died.

Y. wow! What an opportunity now to heal the gap between these two nations and re-establish unity and so much war that has been between us. How much money could be saved for social works, etc.! But you know what? It was not the will of God. Because these people were already inveterate, they were already committed.

And you know what? I see, brothers, that a nation, a society has said "you know what? I am not going to make a deal with God"- There are moments in which man becomes so stubborn in a course that nothing can separate him.

And sometimes I see that this culture is so inveterate and so sure of itself and so involved in its passions and its addictions that I think it is very difficult. Now we have to keep trying, but we also have to know that we have to take care of ourselves and handle that deal with great caution.

There is a passage that I do not remember the exact expression now, I think it is the Apostle Peter who says that 'there are people that we have to minister to even while we hate the very clothes they are wearing'. Look for it there, it sounds difficult but I know it's there.

And that's how it happens many times, this world is corrupt, corrupt and we have to be careful how we get involved in it because we want to win it but many times that world puts a jiujitsu key on us and tells us "come, come, let them work with us" but it is to co-opt and wrap us up and change our way of being and we have to be careful.

I mean, I don't have a one hundred percent clear answer. It is a tension because we work, many of us are social workers, teachers, we are in the business world, there are lawyers, there are people who have small businesses, etc. And our work puts us in that tension and we have to be there, but we have to walk very carefully. We have to ask the Lord to give us wisdom.

Where is the balance? And each situation will be different, each person, each moment, each institution, each possibility will bring its own difficulties.

This is a time for the people of God to ask God for a lot of wisdom, a lot of discernment to know how to walk among a generation that is said to be 'evil and perverse'.

That is not what I say, by the way, that is what the Word of the Lord says.

It's not that I... the coffee was bitter this morning, no. That is what the Word of the Lord says. We have tried to clean up the vocabulary of the Word and of course we cannot. It is very clear, brothers, and it is what the Word of the Lord says.

We have to ask him, "Father, give me wisdom."

This is a time for the people of God to study the Word of the Lord, to know the Bible. These are dangerous times, these are times when you sometimes hear a man of God, a woman of God who loves God and that God uses him in many ways but there are seeds, there are roots of bitterness in his preaching or in his ministerial style or in their life. And one has to ask him, "Lord, give me discernment. Help me to know how to separate one thing from the other."

Today we are in dangerous, dangerous times and only the knowledge of the Word of God and the discernment that only the Holy Spirit can put in your life will teach you how to resolve the tensions, the dangers, the ambiguities that live in this Century. XXI raises the son and daughter of God.

And that's why we can't just be Sunday Christians. You have to study his Word, you have to know the Word of God, you have to pray.

The Bible says that "times will come in which if they were not shortened, not even the elect would be saved" and I would not doubt that we have already entered those times and we need to know how to balance, how to relate to the world, how to maintain the proper holiness to God and as also being a light in the world and a salutary presence. A healing presence in the world in which we move.

One thing that the world does is what we see here that invites us to fight its battles and then wants to tell us how we have to fight them and the methodology that we have to use.

Here it says that once Josaphat tells him 'my horses are like yours' and then he asks Joram 'which way shall we go?' and he replied 'by the way of the desert of Edom'.

Reading some of the comments I realized that many writers and interpreters of this passage think that it was Joram who asked Jehoshaphat which way they should go.

Knowing well and studying well the life of Josaphat through these last few months and seeing the grammatical ambiguity here, it is not clear if it was Joram who asked Josaphat or Josaphat who asked Joram 'which way shall we go?'

I personally think, and again, you may think differently, that it was Jehoshaphat who asked Joram 'which way shall we go?' and Joram said to him 'by the way of Edom'. You see that it says "he" and "he" here. We don't know which one asked whom and that... the ambiguity is also transmitted in the same original Hebrew. So why do I believe that?

Because on another occasion when King Ahab asks Jehoshaphat to go with him on another campaign that was contrary to God's will and Ahab instructs Jehoshaphat what to do when they go into battle and Jehoshaphat very meekly and very foolishly is carried away by the suggestion of King Ahab.

You remember? Ahab tells Josaphat "well Josaphat when we enter the battle I'm going to dress up and you dress in your king's clothes." Hey me, "hello?" as they say in english Ahab very innocently says I'm going to disguise myself so they don't recognize me, but you dress as a king so they can identify you and put a very large target here that says "King. Shoot me."

And what does Jehoshaphat do very meekly? He says "Okay, that's fine." Get into this very evil plan of King Ahab and what happens? when they enter the war, of course they do immediately see Josaphat with all his attire and jewels who is the King and "we are going to attack him because he is the king". The enemy king had said "don't go against anyone except Ahab, only" and when they saw him dressed as a king they said "Well, this is King Ahab, let's shoot him."

And what happened? They almost killed poor Josaphat.

The Bible says that 'Joshaphat cried out to the Lord in his haste and God freed him and miraculously made the archers move away from him and go against others.'

Because when the just, even when he is wrong, cries out to God, God has mercy on him, brothers. It is a great lesson.

If we have gone behind the world, if we have made mistakes, if we have made mistakes, brothers, there is room for repentance and God is merciful.

Thank God that God does not judge us only how we act. Because if not, who could stand? says the Word of the Lord. God has mercy on us.

But my point is that Josaphat time and again allowed himself to be governed, controlled, and that the methodology of the battles that he undertook, he let the world define for him instead of him. And that world that Ahab and Joram represent is a world that does not have God's blessing.

Moreover, he has the curse and the judgment of God against him. Ahab had God's curse on his life. And in fact in that battle, of which -not this one but the other one that I just mentioned- where Ahab does everything possible to disguise himself and takes all possible measures so that they would not know that he was the king of Israel and

God had sent a lying spirit to destroy Acaba in that battle. Very long and maybe I will continue this next Sunday.

But the point is this: the Bible says that, "an archer shot an arrow at random, without knowing - in wars that was used, archers just shot their arrows and fell to the other side, wherever he went and whoever he wanted." He gave that it was... he had a headache that day- the fact is that that archer shot the arrow at random; Ahab was armed to the teeth and with all his necklaces and with all his armor and he says that the arrow blinded him it went right into the only place I could get it in through here on the side, where the armor had a little bit of an opening.

The arrow found him blindly because it was directed by the spirit of God against this king who was an evil king and that God had declared his execution. Because the justice of God was against Ahab.

And, brothers, the last thing because I see that, listen to me, I preach too long.

Look, the North American brothers are already coming, I am still here beginning my sermon. Don't be scared, no! Brother Gregory is much wiser than me on that. But, it doesn't seem like, Okay, I can go on then.

Brethren, the point is: God's judgment is determined on the wicked. God's judgment is determined on those who do not seek the Lord. The man, the woman who is not at peace with God does not have divine protection, they only have divine judgment, they only have the war of demons.

The Spirit of evil is a reality in this world. The devilish spirit is loose in this world and he who does not have Christ in his heart has no protection. On the contrary, he has the wrath of God against him or her.

If you are not in Christ Jesus, unfortunately, brother, you may be well-intentioned, but divine protection cannot be over your life, otherwise you will have judgment.

What you undertake will not go well for you no matter how many measures you take, no matter how much precaution, no matter how much effort you make to protect yourself, no matter how much... the Word says that 'If the Lord does not build the house, those who build it work in vain '. It says that 'If the Lord does not watch over the city, the guard watches in vain.'

The world is dooming itself to failure, all its efforts, all its investments, all its social programs, all its scientific advances, all its sociological and psychoanalytic research in the long run are going to be sword boots that will not be able to make a dent against the destruction and dysfunctionalism and the natural deterioration of the cosmos of nature.

Only when we have the spirit of God can we counteract the works of sin and the damage that sin does in the world. And then when we get involved with the world and the world tells us the way we should go, see? here now I am tied.

Because when Josaphat asks him 'where shall we go?' 'Ah, we are going by the way of Edom', through the desert. The world takes you through paths of desert and death. The world takes you along paths believing that it is the most strategic place, it is the best path, but when you are there you will lack water as Josaphat did and you will find yourself in trouble.

Don't let the world define the way they want you to live, don't let the world define the methodology you adopt to fight the battles of your life. Do not allow the world to contaminate you with its way of reasoning, the world only knows reason, intellect, science. But those weapons were never enough to bring wisdom and happiness to the man, to the woman.

Only the word of God, the fear of God and the Holy Spirit.

The world says "we are going through the desert, we are going through Edom", the way of the world. Edom represents the world, look it up in Scripture. I don't have time to develop it. But the world says "come, cooperate with me, help me in this problem that I have", but it says: "don't mention Christ, don't talk about the cross, don't talk about holiness, don't talk about sexual purity because I don't want to know about that , that is not for me. If you want to help, help me with the weapons that I allow you".

And many times, foolishly, we allow ourselves to be deceived by that spirit and we end up in the desert. We end up turning in the desert like these people and only the presence of God can keep us going.

Thank God that Josaphat, despite his mistake on time, said 'wow, is there anyone here in this desert who has the word of God to tell us what we have to do?' and there was Elisha. And Elisha came near and the prophetic spirit came upon Elisha and Elisha gave the miraculous word.

And that battle was won not because the army had a good strategy but because God in his mercy intervened and with a supernatural strategy brought victory. Our battle is supernatural, our weapons are supernatural. If we are going to heal our children it will be with supernatural weapons, if we are going to heal our marriages it will be with supernatural weapons, if we are going to heal our economy it will be with supernatural weapons. If we are going to heal the wounds of our emotions, the distortions of our personality, the wounds that the world has inflicted on us, it will be with the intervention of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Because we know where to go to ask for a direct intervention of the spirit of God in our lives. We are going to need the prophetic spirit that Elisha embodied to say "this is the word of God", this is God's strategy, this is what God wants you to do.

Brothers, the Lord wants us to be a people, a people who seek where we have to look, that our resolutions come from the Word of the Lord; that we say "No, I'm very sorry. I love you, but look, I'm married to this book, I'm sorry. I would like to tell you that what you're doing is right, but, look, I stick to this Bible that He judges me first and tells me what I have to do".

We have to use the methodology of the word of God. Let's not marry the world, let's not be intimidated.

I want to challenge you this morning, too. Put your faith on the Lord, put your eyes on the Lord, put your brain and your intellect on the Lord. Seek the methodology of the Kingdom of God. Seek the guidance, seek the counsel, seek the reasoning of the domain of the Spirit.

Young people, particularly now that you're struggling and you're fighting in a very difficult cultural context, I urge you in the name of Jesus Christ renew your vow of holiness for the Lord and say to yourself: 'Do you know what? I'm not going to try to please the world. I'm not going to try to win the world over by showing that I'm a nice guy, that I'm a nice girl. I'm going to be who I am and I'm not going to be judging people or walking around as if I'm holier than you.

But I'm going to stand my ground, I'm going to be my own man, my own woman and I'm going to just be a Christian and I'm going to walk according to the word of the Lord. If they don't like it, you know, I'm so sorry. I wish I would have good relationships but too bad, I'm not going to sacrifice my relationship with God to please man.

We are not here to please man, we are here to please the Lord. God will give you grace and God will bless you. Let's stand up, brothers. Let's stand. Let's stand up, brothers.

Today the Lord calls us 'Do not walk on the path of Edom'.

There are two waters, the water of life and the water of death. The water that God gave Elisha - I didn't have time to develop that - the miraculous water that came to quench the thirst of these armies ended up being a stumbling block for the other army and the reason for their defeat.

Because the weapons of God are the edge of a double sword. If you receive them, if you allow yourself to be ministered to by them, they bless you, but they curse you.

The word of God is a blessing to those who receive it and a curse to those who reject it.

We want to be on the right side.

I invite you this morning in the name of Jesus: if you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, I ask that this morning you take a step of faith in your spirit and say "Lord, I need that water that only You can give. When I walk in the desert, I want to be close to that source. That source of water that is what I need to get ahead."

And if you have not taken that step of faith yet, and you have not given your life to Jesus Christ, I want to invite you before you leave here this morning to take that step of faith, my brother, my sister, and to put your life in the hands of Christ Jesus.

If you are in a desert like we were, without Christ, be like Josaphat, humble yourself, humble yourself and say "I want, I want God's intervention in my life. I want to go to the spring of water".

The Lord Jesus Christ has said it "I am the water of life. Whoever drinks from me will never thirst, never. Whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never thirst."

So Christ invites you and is invited into your life this morning. I want to make sure that everyone here has taken that step of faith and has given their lives to Jesus. And if you haven't, brother, sister, I want to invite you to raise your hand and I want to pray for you.

I want to ask if there is anyone here who has not yet taken that step of faith and given their life to Jesus. I want to invite you to do it. Is there someone who hasn't done it yet and wants to say "Lord I receive you today as my Lord and Savior?" Will there be someone?

I am going to give you a little more time so that you have time to think if you are one of those people who needs to take that step.

Will there be someone who has not given their life to Jesus yet? I invite you to raise your hand. We want to pray for you. Amen. If there is no one, glory to God.

I assume that we are all clear, we are well, well inside that water of life that is Christ Jesus. Let's lower our heads.

Father, may Your Word this morning make an impact in our hearts. We want to be men and women that you like, Lord. We want to be people committed to you. Clearly defined people, people willing to pay the price. People who are so sure in You that even though the world criticizes us and we sometimes feel lonely and alienated... we can find peace and we can find satisfaction because we have your smile, we have your approving gaze, Father.

We have your Father's heart that blesses us and seals us and adopts us.

Oh Lord! There is a hunger and thirst in us to be a pleasant people to you and to be a people that brings a smile to your lips and to your Father's heart. Consecrate us, Lord, seal us. Sanctify us. Take away everything that is not yours Father.

Heal all division in our mind, our spirit. All double spirit, Lord, all indefinition and make us a resolute, committed people, Lord. Of course, in which we have died and we are hidden. Our life is hidden with Christ Jesus in heavenly places.

That is our desire, Lord. Sanctify us and purify us and cover us oh God! Cover us from the attacks of the enemy and the temptations of this world.

I bless this town, Father, and I declare it sealed. Your Word sealed in their hearts and endowed with a double portion of your grace, Father, to be effective witnesses there in the world of the love and grace of Christ Jesus.

We adore you and we bless you. Thank my Lord. Amen. Give the Lord a big round of applause this morning. Glory to the name of Jesus.

Sermon by Dr. Roberto Miranda recorded August 16, 2009 at León de Judá Congregation

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