Living in normal times

This morning I want us to gaze for a few minutes, precisely, on a woman who distinguished herself for being a joyful giver, a servant of God; who gave the Lord his best offering and was greatly blessed. You know that we are studying the miracles of the prophet Elisha, we are studying the life of the prophet Elisha at this time when we are talking about the life of faith.

Let's go to Chapter 4 of Second Kings. It is the third miracle that we are going to discuss in the life of the prophet Elisha.

The first miracle that we discussed was that of the widow that Elisha blessed by inviting her to look for many empty vessels and ask for vessels from all her neighbors, her husband had died, she was helpless and had no way to pay her creditors and Elisha invited her to look for vessels vacant all over the neighborhood. The only thing she had was… what? A little bit of oil and Elisha told her, "Take those empty vessels, pour out the oil you have on each vessel and as that one fills up, set it aside and take another one." And when all the vessels she had were finished, the oil ceased and She and her children were able to live on the money they obtained from the sale of the oil and pay the creditors.A precious miracle with great symbolism and many practical and spiritual teachings.

Last Sunday we talked about that other miracle when King Jehoshaphat was in great trouble in the middle of the desert, without water for him and the other two kings who accompanied him and all the army and animals: horses and cows that were with them. . They were on their way to a war and found themselves in the middle of the desert, they ran out of supply, water and the prophet Elisha was nearby, he ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit, he gave the prophetic word and the water miraculously emerged from the interior of the earth and they all drank. And not only this, not only did God perform the miracle of providing for them in their need, but He also confused the enemy because seeing those puddles of water that had arisen in the desert from afar seemed to be blood because it was a time of day when the reddish sun -perhaps towards afternoon- made the water shine and they thought: 'This is blood. They have killed each other - because, where is the water going to come from in the desert? - all one another, we are going to collect the loot and when they arrived the Israelites were very fresh there waiting for them. And there was a great defeat for the enemy army, so God not only saved their lives but also gave them victory even though they were not doing things correctly as we saw.

That sermon taught us about the importance of us being careful how we interact with people who don't walk with God, the care we have to be in the world. The fact that we are a holy people, we are a set apart people; It does not mean that we walk with pride because of that fact, but we do have to be very careful because we cannot share with the leftovers of the world, we cannot share with the leftovers of those who do not know the Lord. As Jehoshaphat did by mixing his life with this King Joram who was an impious man and who did not want to know anything about God, a pagan, an apostate. So you have to be careful because when you walk with God, because many times when you fellowship with unbelievers in too intimate a way, you sometimes end up suffering from the same afflictions and delays that they suffer and we have to be very careful with that.

Always with humility and simplicity but with great caution that two cannot walk together, he says, if they do not agree.

Well, today I want to talk about the woman, the Shunammite, a very dear figure to me and I have preached about her through the years and it is always a great, great blessing to meditate on the life of this exemplary woman.

Second Kings Chapter 4 beginning with verse 8 says: 'It also happened that one day Elisha was passing through Shunem -hence the name Shunammite, she lived in the town of Shunem, she was from the town of Shunem- and there was an important woman there In other words, she was a woman of some economic substance, some social importance. She was a woman, perhaps wealthy, her husband had a business. You were a well-known woman in the community, influential, you were a renowned and prominent figure in your city.

'...there was an important woman there who insistently invited him to eat...'

I invite you to look at that adverb: insistently. She invited him and not in any way, but insistently invited him to eat.

'...and when he passed by, he would come to her house to eat. And she said to her husband, “You know what? Behold, now I understand that this man who always passes by our house is a man of God, a holy man of God. I beg you that we make a small room with walls and put a bed, table, chair and candlestick there so that when he comes to us he will stay in it. And it happened that one day he came over there and stayed in that room and slept there. Then his servant said to Giesi, “Call this Shunammite”, and when he called her she came before him. to do for you?, Do you need me to speak for you to the king or to the general of the army? And she replied, "I live in the midst of my people"; and he said, "What then shall we do for her?" and Giesi replied, "Behold, she has no son and her husband is old." He then said, "Call her" and he called her and she stood at the door and he said to her, "Next year around this time you will embrace a son." And she said, “No, my lord, man of God. Don't make fun of your servant. But the woman conceived and gave birth to a son the following year at the time that Elisha had told her."

I'm going to leave it there. And we bless the word of God this morning.

We are going to deal with the next part of the story possibly next time, even though they are very close, but for now we are going to leave it there. We are going to meditate on that part because the next part denotes a crisis that arose as a consequence of the miracle she received and talks about crises and how to behave in crises.

This first part of the story teaches us how to behave in normal times. Because many times Christians are oriented towards crises.

When do we seek God? When things turn ant-colored, when the water is reaching our necks and when the devil is circling our house and is ready to checkmate us. So we cry out to God and think of God and we become very pious people. But meanwhile we are sometimes indifferent, we are casual and we do not care so much about the things of God, we do not give God the preference that He requires.

This woman, both in normality and in crisis, showed signs of being a loving person towards God, a consecrated woman and surrendered to the Lord. She was a woman who showed dedication, consecration, surrender, preference for God and that is why for me she is such a special woman.

There are so many beautiful women in the Old Testament, exemplary women, women who show us... Some say, well, that the Old Testament is sexist and that women are denigrated. But what I see in writing is women like Deborah, like Ruth, like Naomi, like this Shunammite woman, like that widow we saw, like the widow of Zarepta, Esther, listen to me, the Bible is full of exemplary women, of women powerful. The woman of Proverbs, the ideal woman, the ideal woman that Proverbs describes.

Wherever one sees these beautiful, exemplary women who are a paradigm of what life in God is.

And this Shunammite woman is no less than that and I love her example, because from the very beginning one sees that there are so many things that one can imitate. It says here that she was an important woman. This woman had means, she had money, she had influence, but she did not just stay there, she was not content with simply having these things, but she had love for God in her heart.

The first thing I learn is that money, the goods that we have, are not an end in themselves, they are given by God so that we can enjoy them, yes, but above all also so that we do good to others and so that we do regarding the things of God; that we be solicitous with the Lord's affairs; that we be solicitous when there is a need, when someone has a need that we extend mercy, generosity.

And you know what? that the Lord is always in charge of giving more and more and more to the person who is generous with what he receives. Let's not fall in love with money, brothers, let's not get attached, nor cling to money. When God gives money, let's receive it with joy, let's enjoy it, the blessings it brings, but let's always take money with a soft hand because ultimately, God gives it, God can take it away and our value and our importance and our happiness they are not ultimately dependent on money.

you know? What makes money beautiful is when we invest it to bless others, when we do good around us. When we bless our children, we bless our friends, when we are hospitable, when we use the blessings we have received to be agents of God's grace, especially when we bless the kingdom of God, the things that are important to God.

This woman was not absorbed by her position but she saw her position as a way to bless and advance the kingdom of God, so we see that she was solicitous towards the things of God. It says that, "when Elisha passed through Shunem", now, what did Elisha do while passing through Shunem?

Well, I imagine that Elisha was like an itinerant preacher, he was a prophet of God. God sent him to different towns, to different cities to communicate his word, Elisha ran a school of prophets that was like a traveling seminar.

God sent him to different places to minister and he had to walk through difficult paths. I imagine that the night caught up with one wherever he went and he had to stay there to continue on his way the next day and this woman, evidently her house was on a probably important road and she realized that that man of God was passing by. She understood that this was a man of God and this was important.

She discerned that this man was genuinely a servant of God. God communicated his word to her, he moved with integrity and served the Lord and that was what moved her heart.

It wasn't so much, just Elisha himself and his position or whatever, but she saw in Elisha an extension of the kingdom of God. Elisha was executing the will of God and then she wanted to bless the servant of God, she wanted to bless what she saw as the extension of the ministry of the Church. So that's why she insistently invited... I wonder why the Holy Spirit put that word there? That she "insistently" invited him to stay? Because Elisha perhaps had other options, perhaps he could stay somewhere else, in a small hotel or the Old Testament version of a hotel, perhaps there were other people in town who were eager for him to stay with them.

Look, Elisha was an influential man as well, Elisha had certain resources, it is clear that he was a man... Because when he asks her later, "What can we do for you?" and he says, "what do you need us to do for you? Do you want me to give you a recommendation to the king or do you want me to talk to the general of the army so that he can do something for you, for your family or your business?" ?" Elisha had access to all of those things.

Do you remember what I was saying last Sunday?

I don't know if it was in the first or second service: that when the church of Jesus Christ has the power of God with it, when the anointing of the Holy Spirit is on the Church, when the miracles of God are being done, the Church wants influence. The church wants an impact on society and the church therefore does not have to beg for attention.

Elisha was a man who commanded the attention and sometimes the fear of kings and important people, he had access and this woman had to compete that they also wanted the blessing of the man, the servant of God, to pose in their homes. she insisted.

Once again there is a very nice application here because... I believe that all of us should want a blessing, we should want intimacy with God, we should want God's touch in our lives, we should want God to bless our houses, our homes with his presence.

She knew that in the visit of this man of God there was going to be a blessing for her in her house, that in her serving the Lord by serving the servant of God, her house was going to be blessed.

She wanted the privilege, she to bless the servant of God and that's why she insisted on him.

I understand there, brothers, that when we want God's blessing in our lives we have to insist, we have to pray insistently for God to visit our home, for God to fill our house, for God to fill our lives, for God to enlighten our understanding.

you know? Those who prevail, those who insistently stand before God are those who receive God's blessings, those who truly desire it and yearn for it in their hearts. He is not the person who says, 'Well, Lord, I am, if You want to touch me, well, Amen, do what You want in my life.

No! is that person at that point of boiling and hungering and thirsting for God and who says, “Lord, visit me”, “Lord touch my life”, “Lord, stay in my house”, “Lord bless my marriage”, “ Lord, bless my children" and is continually crying out before the throne of God for a visitation from God. Those are the people who truly receive from God, they are the caring person.

Elisha says, “Behold. You have been solicitous for us. You've shown all this care for us."

Brothers, who are the people who touch the heart of God? He is the passionate person towards God. We have to, please, abandon that casual impression of the Gospel.

Look, I always clarify these things: I respect Catholicism, I respect my fellow Catholics, I believe that the Catholic Church is a Christian church. You will never hear me throw stones at the Catholic Church but I will tell you something too. I believe that sometimes Catholicism has done a lot of damage, as there are also many evangelical churches that do the same. Showing a Gospel that is a matter of going to church for half an hour, twenty-five minutes, throwing a handout there: 10 cents or 25 cents on the plate and going home as if nothing had happened and believing that this is being a Christian.

And unfortunately so many people, before entering the ways of God more deeply, that is the idea that was forged in their minds, right? A gospel, like that, casual.

I am a Christian, yes, but... Being a Christian is simply like one more piece of furniture among all the pieces of furniture in my house, psychologically, emotionally, and it is one more part of all the other things that command my attention.

So a lot of people grew up with that mentality, right? 95 percent of their life is something else or 99, and for a little while to, I don't know, put a little detail of spirituality there, they go to mass for a little while and sometimes what they are looking around while the priest is doing his thing up there and they leave and they already left and since they punched out the card, they already feel that they pleased God and did what they had to do, yes or no?

Now there are many Catholic brothers who are consecrated, that must be clarified, right? But unfortunately that's the kind of mindset many of us were taught, and what happens? When we entered the Gospel, unfortunately we did not turn off that recording.

And then what we do is we change our card: now we are evangelicals; but we haven't changed our mentality and so we have this idea that being a Christian is the same as now, well, we stay a little longer in church and we are a little more patient with the Pastor who talks too much when he preaches.

And there reluctantly instead of 25 cents we put 1 peso on the plate but we have not changed our hearts, we have changed our minds. And really, I mean, it's sad but that's the reality.

And I beg you, my brothers, turn off the recorder. If I were Pentecostal I would say, "tell your brother: turn off the recorder", right? Turn off that record that tells you that this is the way to live the Christian life.

I long, brothers, I ask the Lord, "Father, that our church, that our Congregation be populated with people boiling for You, people red hot for You".

When a prayer meeting is called, look, the church is filled; when an extraordinary session is called that people say, “well, no, I already struck out the card on Sunday. I don't have to go until next Sunday." No! Let people feel the desire to come to God's house, people who don't say, "Oh! I'm too tired, my back hurts, this hurts" .

Look, if I exercised her more, coming more times, it would hurt less, I assure you. The problem is that we are so conservative with our energies. I have discovered that the more I try to conserve my energy, the less it lasts, the more I invest it in the Lord, the more I have. It's amazing, brothers! But it is the secret of multiplication.

The more we give to the Lord, the more we receive. Sometimes you'll be thinking, “No, it's Friday night, I've already worked all week…going to church tonight for a service, what's it going to be? No. And I need to rest, I need to recover."

Look, in the long run, you are going to have dark circles under your eyes on Monday morning when you go to work. If you go to church and seek the Lord and are filled with the Lord, your spirit is blessed, your mind clears up, your emotions are enriched, all ailments go away and you feel God's blessing the next day.

I have stopped thinking that the more I conserve my energy, the more I will have. It is the opposite, there are more leaks of energy. Look, consecrate your life to the Lord, insist on God, seek God. As the psalmist says: 'As the servant pants for the streams of water. Thus he cries out, for You, oh God! my soul."

He says: 'My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and present myself before the house of God?' says the psalmist.

How many of us can say that we desire the presence of God like this? How many of us are insistent like this woman that when we see the presence of God, in this case in the servant of God, who saw this woman? Because Elisha was the embodiment of God's presence in Israel. When we see that presence of God, we say, “I want that, I want that presence to be in my house. I want that presence to be in my house and I am willing to pay the price for God's blessing to rest in my life. And I want to invest in the things of God."

And that is what makes the difference. This woman insisted.

Brothers, I encourage you to give it... look, take off the brakes on the car of your spirit, just have an accelerator, that's all and move on, don't worry, a collision with the presence of God is the most beautiful thing, I believe .

Seek God, insist on God, insist on God.

It says: 'He who seeks will find, to him who knocks it will be opened, to him who asks it will be given'. The Lord says that 'If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask?'

What is your need? Pay the price, insist on God until the Lord opens his hand and blesses. The Lord often likes to hold his blessings to see us yearn for and ask him until he releases his blessing that he has for our lives.

Be like this woman, pushy. She insistently invited him to sit at her house and eat with her. And when he passed by, he would come to her house to eat.

There is another beautiful passage that reminds us of God through Elisha sitting down to eat. The Lord Jesus Christ often went to the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary and sat down to eat with them.

The Lord says in his word: 'I am at the door and I knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him or her and he with me.' Signs of intimacy, right?

When Elisha sat in this woman's house, there was conversation, there was intimacy. She was learning. I imagine that woman asking Elisha, “Well, how was the miracle of that widow? The newspaper says that you invited her to bring empty pots and they filled with oil. Explain that to me, Mr. Eliseo."

Elisha told her how the miracle happened, she grew, she knew more, she developed in her faith and her knowledge of the mysteries of God and she was blessed. Because when we have intimacy with God, there comes understanding, discernment, experience, the things that then allow us to receive more of God's blessing.

He sat down to eat with her. But look at the following: she could have stayed there and already would have been an exemplary woman, she insisted, she used her possessions to bless the Prophet, she fed him continuously.

But she wanted more than that. You have to be ambitious, brothers, in the things of God. You have to be hungry. In Dominican we say you have to be, "agayú", you have to say... does that word exist in other countries as well? Isn't it? To dare to ask God for great things, right?

Then, “she says that she told her husband: 'Behold now, I understand that this man who always passes by our house is a holy man of God.'

Let me say something there. He says, "Behold, I understand, that this man who always passes by our house is a holy man of God." There he is implying something and that is that there were other people, perhaps out there who were false prophets. There were people out there who were merchants. In these times of Elisha and Elijah there were false prophets; wherever there are genuine prophecies and the move of God is in the environment, there are also people who are preaching what is not due and people who are after money or after fame or influence or other worse things.

This woman discerned that Elisha was a sincere man, that he was truly serving God, that the goods he handled were for the kingdom of God, and this woman said, “You know what? I have realized that this is a man of integrity, this is a man who truly walks with God. You have to bless him."

Brothers, what I mean by this is the following, as I was saying last Sunday, there can be many different churches, many different ministries, many different people serving the Lord. When you distinguish and discern and discover a good church, a good community, a good ministry, bless it.

Bless it and stick with it and don't go around like a little butterfly hopping from place to place.

hold on tight Today I see many people jumping from place to place and get tired of one place and go to another to see what is new in that church. And listen to me, the scarlet always looks much greener on the other side. When they get there they discover that there are also wrinkles and there are defects and everything and later when they get tired of that land they go to another one and they never grow and neither serve nor bless.

If you have a good congregation, serve your congregation, give to your congregation, stay in your congregation because there is a lot of bad teaching out there. If you believe that, say, the word of God is preached in this church, there is a certain degree of integrity, although it is far from perfect. But if you are eating well, if you are receiving from the word, bless your congregation.

The Apostle Paul says that, "those who receive spiritual goods, bless material goods to those who bless them spiritually".

This church is your congregation, you eat here, this church serves this city, so many different ministries. Give generously to your congregation, bless your church, and support your congregation, if you believe your money is being used properly here.

And I believe that we give the greatest possible demonstration that what is done here is to serve the Lord and not to enrich anyone. So there is no reason. So she discerned that this man was a truly holy man and that he served the Lord from the heart and that leads her to conclude, she says, "I beg you that we make a small room with walls and put there a bed, table, chair and lampstand so that when he comes to us he will stay in it".

Let me stop for a moment and let me go back because there is a very important teaching here.

The brothers, the boys, think that I am always hitting them on the head; but notice that this woman is like she is the one who... is the spiritual leader of the house. You will see later that when she says 'Look, I have to go see the prophet because her son has died and I want to go see the prophet. Go visit him where the prophet lives", and the husband says, "But what are you saying if it's not Sunday, there's no special activity in the church, today isn't Wednesday for prayer? Why do you want to go to church? ?". How many people think like that? If it's not Sunday and Wednesday night, at best, why go to church? There are so many other things that make a church.

But this woman, she is the one who is always the protagonist, her husband is like he is concerned with the business, with work and she is the one who is always attentive to the spiritual blessing of the home.

You already know where I'm going, right? Brothers, men, be leaders in your homes, be priests in your homes, lead your home in the Christocentric way that God wants. A house is blessed when the husband is a man who exemplifies the best values of the kingdom of God.

I rejoice because I am seeing signs, more and more each day, of an entire army of men that is rising up in León de Judá more and more; and that they come to pray at 5 in the morning on Saturday morning and meet on Tuesdays.

I thank you for the ministry of our brother Gilberto Sámano who is blessing these men, leading them and encouraging and encouraging them to be true men, men of God. That they are not the sisters, only.

Evangelical and Catholic churches... there are already too many women in them. It is not that there are, as we have said, there are too few men in them, that is the problem and we need men consecrated to God. The time for women to take the lead has to come to an end, brothers. Sincerely.

We need men who love the Lord, just like their women. We need men who assume their spiritual leadership, who is not the woman always pulling the man to, "let's go to church, let's take discipleship, let's go to the special service, let's go to the campaign".

No! Men, you have a special gift from God, women are blessed, they are and will be a great blessing. She is a joint heir to the kingdom spiritually equal to us, but God has made the man the head for blessing, it is not so that he can rule over his wife but so that he can cover her and lead her spiritually. So, brothers, do not underestimate the importance.

I love this woman because since I laid my eyes on this passage I have seen that this woman exemplifies so many beautiful things.

Do you know that the first time I preached this passage...? This was the first sermon I ever preached in church 24 years ago on the Shunammite. And I have, look how good it is to keep things, these notes are from the year 85 and that is the first sermon that I preached in the church as Pastor, now. Because brother Polishuck had left, who was the preacher brother, after brother Juan Vergara had to return to Puerto Rico with his wife Elsie for a while.

And that indicates something of how important this woman has been, this figure, in the Bible for me, she has been a great inspiration, because she represents so many things. That spirit of the woman who through the centuries, through thick and thin, many times oppressed, many times denigrated, ignored but who has secretly kept life many times, the lamp of God on earth, lit. It does not have to be like that.

I believe, that God wants, that men, men, their spirituality is very special. Not that we are better than women, but there is something about a church being led in a Christ-reflective way by men with their women at their sides, like warriors, spiritual Amazons displaying the vitality of God.

Why is the Muslim world so strong even though they do not have the Holy Spirit and lead a spirit contrary even to the divine spirit? One of the things, I believe, is because the man in the Muslim world, the Islamic religion is full, full of men who would give their lives a thousand times. Unfortunately for a totally false cause, for God's sake. And in the Muslim world in an oppressive and destructive way of women and their dignity, men are the ones who absolutely have the upper hand in that religion. And it is that when men stand up, my brothers, in a way that reflects the fruit of the holy spirit, meekness and the love of God that is, look, that is atomic, I tell you.

And that is why I beg you, men of God, "put your batteries together" to put it very simply and be there red hot, directing, leading the people of God and being priests in their homes, being an example for their children, leading the vitality of the kingdom of God I call you in the name of Jesus.

This woman, however, was the one who came up with things, 'Look, why - this servant of God comes here all the time, come by - don't we build him a bedroom? Why don't we make him a place where he can come and stay?'

You see how she was solicitous, it was not enough to give food to the servant of God; 'We are going to make a room for him and we are going to put a wi-fi Internet connection there and we are going to put a small stove so that he can make his coffee there in the morning and we are going to put a desk, a bed'.

Look how she thought, this woman is caring. She thought of everything, I imagine that what she says there is only some of the little things that she thought. She thought 'this little painting that I'm sure he'll like, and a quilt so that when he arrives he'll feel happy and a good pillow and his desk so he can write there and a lamp at night...' She thought of everything for the presence of God, forget about the servant, what she saw was the incarnation of the spirit of God entering her house.

She wanted to bless the man who represented the work of God in that spiritually barren land that was Israel at that time. Then she goes to her husband and says, 'why don't we prepare his nice room for this man? Let's build it for him.'

See the thing? She wanted to invest her family's money in preparing a place for the servant of God. And I imagine that the husband also... 'well if that's what you want, well go ahead and do it'. They made his good room for the servant of God. She went further, a plate of food is one thing, but another thing is when you add a structure to your house and infect your house with the intimacy of home - now with the presence of a person and you allow that person to live with you.

That is already entering another level, I have always said that, brothers, there are always other levels of maturity and spiritual growth in the ways of the Lord. Don't be content with yesterday's fire, don't be content with yesterday's experience, don't be content with the top you climbed spiritually a week ago, a year ago. Look for the next peak.

In the Lord there are no limits neither of depth, nor of height, nor of extension. In the Lord one can always go to another level. When you reach the next top, look to see where the next mountain is and head in that direction.

She had that experience with the servant of God who ate at her house and now she said, “You know what? Now we are going to make him a bedroom where he lives, where he can be comfortable"

What places are there in our lives, brothers? Sometimes we give the Lord only a small part of our life. But we say, you know what? that of him coming and entering my bedroom, not there. May He enter my intimacy, my subconscious, my thoughts, not there; that He enters my money, not there; that He enters my profession: no!

And God says: 'I want to enter the most intimate places of your life.'

I'm closing this, but you can get a lot, a lot of use out of that image. Because first that, she went to another level; Second, he infected his life with that of the prophet of God.

Thirdly - there is something very important here - and it says that "one day Elisha passed by and stayed there". What does that mean? That for many weeks and months that bedroom was empty and I imagine that she was always in charge to the girl -so to speak- to clean, to keep the desk clean, the bed to be well made. That lamp was there turned off waiting that one day the man of God would arrive and use that bedroom.

He says that "one day he passed by there and stayed in his house". Brothers, that means to me that many times we are asking the Lord to do things in our life. I want you to transform my life".

Perhaps we have said to the Lord, "Father, there is something in my life that I want You to break - a bad habit, a relationship that I know is not conducive to what You want in my life, I want to change from that job that I know I am not allowed to go to Church as I would like". And one is begging the Lord, one is crying out to God, praying.

For me, that bedroom is a symbol of those spaces that exist within us that God fills and blesses in some way and that remain empty and we believe that God has already forgotten and that he will never arrive.

But, brothers, let me tell you that one day God is going to touch your life and He is going to respond to that cry that is within you and I encourage you to leave that lamp there, do not remove it from there; leave that bed where God can rest in your house; leave that prayer continually before God.

Do not stop asking the Lord to pose on your house and to enter a new level of depth in your life. Because one day the Lord is going to do it, the Lord does not ignore the cry of his children. The Lord does not forever ignore the desires we have to reach other levels of relationship with Him.

"One day, the word says, Elisha came and stayed there and settled on that house" and the blessing came because it says that it seems that the man rested well and before leaving he said to his servant 'Listen to me, this woman has been so courteous to us. He has been so good to us for so long. Look what she's done, we have to do something to bless her."

Brothers, what a beautiful application!, right?

When you give to the Lord, God will not get tired of blessing your life. The Holy Spirit will be solicitous for you, if you are solicitous for Him. God is a rewarder of those who seek him. No one ever gave to the Lord without receiving a blessing from God. The heart of God is motivated and mobilized when there is a person who loves him in a chosen way, in a preferential way.

And I love that, because I see there, what the Holy Spirit does when we give to God, when we are motivated by the Lord. The Lord will be saying, "What can I do to bless my son? What can I do to bless my servant?"

I have a pimple, and I'm going to remove it now. Give me thirty more seconds.

I see people out there who get upset and from time to time I see that, "Pastor, don't talk a lot about money in the church." I don't think we talk a lot about money, although our church has needs. I think, you know what, My brothers, the one who gets upset when people talk about money in church if it is done correctly, is the person whose heart is not yet totally, truly delivered to the Lord in that regard.

I know that in many churches there is excessive talk and we treat it when it comes to the case, when it is in the Word and when there is a situation to mobilize the people of God; I want a Church that doesn't have to apologize for talking about money when it's appropriate.

Let me ask a question, how many times do you talk about money at home with your wife or with your family? How many times do you mention money to pay the "bills" for the house or to buy a car or not? or to pay the rent or for the next repair that needs to be done to the car or for how much are they going to set aside in the account?

The family talks about money because that is part of the household economy. This spiritual family is not nourished by corn oil or whatever, there is money, there are expenses and there are projects and there are missions.

So you have to inform the people of God about that, in a natural, coherent, organic way and don't get upset about it.

I believe that the person who loves God and if he is in a church that has integrity in the use of money, should not feel tense. I think that the one who feels tense is the one who feels threatened and doesn't like being hit where it itches.

But I believe that when one has resolved the matter of money, one is calm, one does not get upset, one simply receives it naturally. If your conscience is clear, why bother? Leave him alone and move on. You know that you are not being referred to. You say 'No, of course, we're going to give it to the Lord. We are going to serve the Lord.'

Well, what I want to say, brothers, is that when one gives to God, God never tires of blessing. That is what I want to tell you in the long run. Let's not steal the privilege of seeing God bless.

Elisha said, “Look, we have to do something for this woman, call her. And he said, what can I do for you? Do you want me to do this, or do that?", "No, I don't need anything".

When we give to the Lord, let's give to Him because He is good, simply. Give to God because God is who he is.

Look, I wrote this 24 years ago and it's just a little phrase about it, because one never changes the way of thinking about true things. It says here: the best act of giving to God does not look to the future but to the past. Not what God can do for me tomorrow but what he already did for me on the cross. That's all, isn't it?

In other words, don't give to God, thinking about what you are going to receive. One of the things that I object to and I sometimes oppose so many preachers who ask people for money is that what they often do is stir up their greed: "Give it to God and he'll give you that Mercedes Benz." ." "Give God $100 and He'll give you a thousand dollars," and whatever.

We ask for God to do this and do that. No.

Look, ultimately I want all of us to be like this woman: “No, I give because I love God. I don't need you to do anything for me."

That is one of the most beautiful answers in all of writing. "I live among my people."

I can imagine the dignity with which that woman said those words. He told him: “No prophet of God, I don't need anything. I am among my people". And it is the heart of a truly giving person.

But not happy, Eliseo asked Giesi again. “Look, there is something that this woman needs. We have to do something for her," and Giesi told her, "Well, look, there's something. She's never had a child. She's barren or her husband seems like..."

No, she wasn't barren, her husband was old, in other words. He could not conceive, the factory was already closed and God said, "we are going to open that factory for once" and Elisha moved by the Holy Spirit told him: "Truly I tell you that one year from now, for this very day you You are going to have a child in your hands". And she couldn't believe it and she said, “You're making fun of me. No, don't make fun of me.” It seemed impossible.

Brothers, it is that God is like that. When you love God above all things, God will put you as the apple of his eye. God will care about you and your needs. God will have you in mind.

Serve God, give to God generously, seek God and prefer him above all things. I assure you that God will not get tired, God will give you the desires of your heart. God will give you the secret requests of your soul. God will bless you in many different ways.

In this case the blessing came not with more money but with something that money could not buy.

Sometimes God blesses us with peace of heart, peaceful sleep, health, a peaceful and harmonious family, emotional healing, dear friends, times of refreshment in our life. There are many ways in which God blesses his children who prefer him and who love him above all things.

This woman is a call to this church: to love God above all things and to give oneself fully to God.

Today, my brothers, God calls us. Let us consecrate ourselves more and more. Let's give the Lord everything. Let's pull all the stops, as they say in English. We are going to remove all brakes and we are going to be generous in all areas with the Lord. May God have a people with a heart like this woman's! Surrendered completely to Him. Glory to the name of the Lord.

We're going to put our heads down for a moment and re-consecrate ourselves to God this morning and if anyone hasn't yet given their life to Jesus Christ and wants to do so I would invite you to raise your hand this morning and I would like to pray for you to commit it to God.

If you haven't done it before and want to do it now, raise your hand and I will pray for you and present you before the Lord. If you haven't done it before, we leave this moment open... Thank you, Lord. We adore you, we bless you.

If no one is there we will pray so that our hearts are consecrated to God. Father we bless you. Thank my Lord. Thank you because we have in You everything we need and we still want to give you more.

We want you to have what you deserve from us. Today we give you the whole of our life. Rise up a church, Lord, of which You can be proud and that truly pleases your heart. A church consecrated to You and that rejoices in giving you the best of itself.

Thank you Lord, thank you for your presence. Thank you for the beautiful example of this woman and now we entrust ourselves to You and bless Your people, Father. In the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.

Sermon by Dr. Roberto Miranda recorded August 23, 2009 in Congregación León de Judá

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