It's not how you started, it's how you end

Now we have Lilian Gutiérrez who is not strange, who is not foreign to León de Judá. Give Lilian a big round of applause. Lilian is a New Yorker who has been blessed by God in an extraordinary way. She ministers in churches in many parts of this nation and brings that joy of the Lord, that vitality that characterizes her and whenever she is with us we enjoy her so much, with her sense of humor, her vitality, her very special joy of life. . She embodies that abundant life that Christ has for his sons and daughters, so it is a joy to have you with us again, Lilian. we bless you

Let's give a big round of applause to Pastor Lilian Gutiérrez.

Lilian Gutiérrez: Thank you, Pastor. Claudina and I were talking, put my name in that directory and any single brother out there, it's okay to call me at any time of the night or morning. After he is single, handsome, rich and without commitment. Now I know I'm going to get in trouble, it's crazy, but I'm going back to the Bronx tonight I don't care.

Well, how lovely to be here with you. I thank the Lord, the Pastors for their invitation. To all of you. How many sisters were at the retreat yesterday? Well, I have to confess that after kicking those bricks so many times I got sore feet that I had to put Bengay on all night. But we put as many kicks as there were. Is that how you say kicks or what? Kicks. We kicked those bricks representing that there are times when the Lord makes us, "Look, get in my presence. Do you need me? Look for me. Do you need a miracle? Go ahead. Don't hold back, I'm moving." But the one who seeks is the one who finds.

The one who launches is the one who gets. Jesus said, "Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened." But the reality is that what is written in the Greek is a continuous tense. In other words, the one who asks, asks, asks, asks, asks, asks, asks, finally receives. He who seeks, seeks, seeks, seeks, seeks at last there is; whoever knocks, knocks, knocks, knocks, finally the door opens.

And that is what happens many times when we start and do not finish. We seek and do not faint. But the Lord wants a people that stands firm and strong. Know? My parents are old. You know my testimony. My dad is 90 now, my mom is 85. So they have a lot of suffering. My dad is in a wheelchair, they hardly can go out much anymore. They can't go to the services much, right? So lately they have started doing something they never did and that is watching soap operas. And some, I tell my dad, some are so hot that I tell him; "Daddy, don't look at that, it hurts you" and he told me "Blessed, let me even look!"

Well, anyway, because some of them are too hot, right? But once I arrived and they were watching a novel that I liked the title of. Because the title was this: 'Fools don't go to heaven'. AHA! You know it. Oh my God! Shepherd! Pastor, now you know why they don't come to the Friday services.

Thank God that novel is over. But do you know why I took that title? Because it is a reality. Those who are stupid, those who are stupid, those who stay behind do not monopolize what they need and that was how the "gist" is, the bulk of the novel: that she was such a stupid woman that everyone jumped on her. On top of that, they took away her husbands, they took away her boyfriends.

No! But the Lord is not looking for a people who will let their blessings be taken away. He is looking for a town that says: 'I am not stupid, nor stupid'. Because fools don't go to Heaven, fools even less so. Because Jesus was not stupid. Jesus was not a fool. That's why I don't like the pictures they paint of Jesus that make them look half… [BODY LANGUAGE].

Jesus was not like that, he spoke when he had to speak; he rebuked when he had to rebuke; he cast out when he had to cast out. Because he was a man fully man, fully God, fully man. With authority. With integrity, with judgment and that's how the people have to be. 'For a fool neither backwards nor forwards.

Brothers, forgive me because I study, think and prepare myself in English so when I stop I depend on the Lord. So I mess around, well, you guys help me out, okay? Talk to him so that I am a Yankee. But let me tell you. Wait. My dad, who I told you, is 90 and still has a rebellious side, right? Well, he hates the Yankees, he hates the Mets, and he loves the Boston Red Socks.

So he watches the games and says, "Loss, loses." Look how treacherous. But since he is 90 and a veteran of War number 2 we have to let him move on. Amen. So be the glory to Christ.

No, we have to rejoice in the Lord. It is something that the Lord is teaching me. There are times when one becomes so serious, so overloaded, so bitter that as my old Pastor used to say that he was a Cuban, he would say: "Brothers -he spoke like that well Cuban, he is already with the Lord- Brothers, here you are baptized in the spirit Or with lemon juice? And if it's lemon juice, make a lemonade and put a lot of sugar in it." So that they enjoy themselves.

The word says that the joy of the Lord is our strength and this life, this life, is full of problems, tribulations, and tears. Things happen to us that we don't expect and we have to know how to laugh. Especially laugh at ourselves. There are times when I arrive after a preaching and say 'Why did I say that? Why did I do such a thing?' And I have to laugh so as not to overload myself, right? We have to learn to laugh. It's good, having a sense of humor, a cheerful heart brings healing to the soul.

You know what? even psychologists, scientists, people in health careers say that when you laugh, look, it's something that the Lord has created, when you laugh, your brains -the brains- unleash... do you say brains? oh brain! And what are the brains?

Anyway, you understand brains. Well, that very thing, the brains, unleashes a chemical, a hormone that travels throughout the body and brings healing to all the organs of the body. Look what the Lord has created in us, such a precious defense. That is why we have to learn to enjoy ourselves, to laugh. Joy, David said 'The joy of the Lord is my strength' and when he said that he was in the middle of a crisis. He was under persecution, there was opposition, he was being oppressed and he said 'The Joy of the Lord is my strength.'

That's why I love coming to this church, because I love seeing how you adore and praise him. How beautiful! And I laugh with people who don't like praise because in the world people go to parties and when I was in the world I was one who went to many rock concerts, right? What was it? He went to salsa concerts, right? People go to concerts, they jump, they jump, Sugar!

People go, they deserve the deer! I went to Puerto Rico and there was Daddy Yankee: "Put gasoline in it..." then people in the world fall apart. For the Yankees these days, New York City if you go, the horns, people yelling until 2 or 3 in the morning, "Yankees." Okay but then we get home and we're… [BODY LANGUAGE]

We have to learn, Lord. Just as in the world I destroyed myself for the devil, now I for you, I rejoice, I praise you because you are precious. And the Lord likes a people that knows how to praise him.

Psalm 22 says that: "He dwells in the praises of his people" and dwells not only that he lives. In Hebrew a word that means that he moves, that he extends his hand, that he does justice and when you are praising him, he is doing justice for you. The Lord is breaking, making, undoing and it is a wonderful thing.

And I'm glad, Pastor, with the growth that there is in this place. In the middle of a failing economy. When the world says there isn't, when the banks say no, when the world believes it's already impossible, the Lord is expanding you. The Lord is adding to you. Because? Because God works in a heavenly economy and although the physical banks are in poor condition, the Glory bank is full of wealth. And the Lord supplies his people with what they need.

There we are also involved in a "Building Project" right?, of growth and we need 35 million dollars. All the banks have told us: "No way. You can't, you can't." But the Lord in these days is telling us: "Have faith that when man says No, I say Yes. When the bank does not supply, I unleash the heavenly bank from heaven." And we are believing by faith that the Lord is going to help us because we need to expand the temple for the souls that we have to reach.

Do you know what we are in the last days? It is not needed, how do you say? A doctorate in Theology to know that we are in the last days. Put on the 6 o'clock news and you already know that we are in the last days. But the Lord said that "in the last days it was going to be poured out upon the face of this earth in a way that had never been done before."

And he told Joel: "In the last days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and my sons and my daughters are going to live, they are going to prophesy, they are going to have visions, they are going to see my hand move and I am going to restore what The caterpillar has eaten. What Jumpy ate, what Fluttering ate, what the lobster ate. I'm going to restore it so that men know that he's not the man in charge. I'm the one who follows sitting on the throne."

And the Lord has the last word. What the Lord says, the Lord fulfills. Because the Lord gave us the son of man so that he who lies may repent. If the Lord promised you, sooner or later the Lord fulfills it.

The Lord spoke to my mom that I was going to come to his ways, many years before I arrived and even though I jumped, I rebelled, I didn't want to, that religion is for the poor, the ignorant. Ah, what do I want to know about Jesus! Well, after she got sick, when she was diagnosed with stomach cancer, my dad lost his mind. He was put in a catatonic state. There was no psychiatrist, no medicine, no shotverbing, there was no treatment, nothing that could heal him. But the Lord did a supernatural work: he healed my mom, he restored my dad's mind, 28 years have passed and we are still here for the glory of Christ.

That is the God that we serve and he is still alive, strong, wonderful and the Lord is moving. Let's move with the Lord so that we can be the men and women that the Lord wants us to be. Amen?

Let's see this morning and this afternoon the Lord has for us in the book of Ecclesiastes and if you will be so good as to stand up when he finds it. Ecclesiastes 9 and we are going to start in verses 11 and 12. And when you have it you can say Amen, Glory to God. The fools do not go to heaven, the fools even less. The Lord is good, hey, man?

Ecclesiastes 9 verses 11 and 12. Do you know? How that some books of the Bible like the pages stick together, they don't look very good. That's one of them, but if it's by Proverbs, it's almost by Ecclesiastes. And so we are going to read it in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Verse 11 says: "I turned and saw under the sun, that the race is neither for the swift nor the war for the strong, nor even for the wise the bread. Nor for the prudent the riches, nor for the eloquent the favor , but time and occasion happens to all.For neither does man know his time like the fish that are caught in the bad net and like the birds that are entangled in a snare, so the sons of men are entangled in the bad time when falls suddenly on them."

And the message is this: It's not how you start, it's how you end. It's not how we started this race, it's how we're going to finish it. It's not how it starts, it's how it ends. Father in the name of Jesus of Nazareth we praise and bless you, we thank you, because you have been more than good to us. Thank you that until now you have been so present. We have felt you, we have seen you, we have felt you in this place, Lord.

Thank you. Thank you for the rich blessings in this ministry, this Church, these pastors, thank you, thank you, thank you and we know that you have even more. Help us to continue running this race that we finish as you want us to finish: in victory, gloriously. Because it's not how we started in you, it's how we ended. Help us to reach the final point in you for the glory of Christ Jesus. And the people say Amen.

And before you sit down, tell two or three brothers or sisters: "Brother, sister, it's not how you started, it's how you finish. It's not how you started this race, it's how you finish it. It's not how you started in Christ, but how you're going to finish it." ". It's not how we started, it's how we're going to end.

Notice the book of Ecclesiastes is known as part of wisdom literature just like the book of Proverbs, the book of Songs. And in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon that King Solomon is considered by many to be the wisest man in the whole world, in all mankind.

And in Ecclesiastes, Solomon does something that sometimes we kind of can't wait a little bit to do and it's this: he questions every aspect of life. He asks God questions about everything: about life, about death, about the bad, about the good, about wealth, about poverty, about health, about illness, about friendships, about beauty, about work, about life, about vagrancy. of death, of youth, of old age. He asks the Lord thousands of questions.

You know what? Sometimes we stop but I have learned that God likes a good question. God likes when we ask him the question. No, you have to answer it, but God entertains himself with our questions. And sooner or later when the moment arrives when the Lord says: "Today is the day", the Lord answers our questions. He does not always answer it as we want him to answer it, but he does send us the answer.

And Solomon, that's why when we start in verse eleven, I like it, he says: "I turned", in other words he was thinking about all these matters: life, death, much, little, the good, the bad. bad and says 'suddenly I reconsidered -I returned'- I turned back and put my thoughts on the Lord and I realized that life is not based on what man says and does but what God wants as God dispose.

There are two main themes in Ecclesiastes. One is this: in life everything is vanity of vanities. In other words, everything is temporary. Everything begins and ends; everything is superficial. One is here today maybe not tomorrow. One is young one day and the next day wrinkles appear, gravity begins to pull everything in the body down. I'm talking to the brothers too, you know?

Yesterday I spoke to the sisters, but the brothers be careful. I told the sisters that sometimes when one says, 'Lord, why am I still single, why haven't I gotten married when I had so many boyfriends, I don't know what? And a boyfriend that I had 30 years ago who was handsome, good-looking, elegant, well, anyway, I wasn't a Christian; but I know that my mother scolded him, threw him out of the house.

De todas formas. But I was at a retirement meal for a close friend of mine, because I worked with the Board of Education and I went to a meal and the least I expected there I found this ex-boyfriend. And when I looked at him, I said, "Oh, Lord! He's bald, he's blind, and he's potbellied." Thank you Lord that you still left me like this. Thank my Lord".

Because that's life, brothers, everything changes, everything changes in life. One day you are strong and healthy, the other day you are in a hospital emergency room. One day you have wealth, a hurricane blows your house and you are left with nothing. One day you have many friends, another day you search and there is no one to help you. And so is life. Everything is vanity of vanities. That's why it's not worth clinging to anything or anyone. Do not put up with anything or anyone, except the Lord.

The second theme is this: life to the future is full of surprises. And many times the least that one expects is what arrives at the door and what one longed for the most, what one expected never appears. This is life. We know we are here at this precise second, but even five from this moment we don't know what can happen.

How many people have not seen and that we know of in the Church, a family that left the youth service, got into the car, they were going to a Friday's to eat together and a drunk came in the car and killed the three young people, who left a worship service. This is life.

My sister's youngest son, my 14-year-old nephew, went swimming with some friends. There was an accident and my nephew died, he drowned. What a shock for my sister, my sister! But that's life. That is why the word says: "Tomorrow is not promised to anyone." We have this second, this moment and we have to take advantage of it.

Jesus said what?: "Do not worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow brings its own worries." Worry about this moment what is happening here now that we only have this second to grab. Amen.

And so goes Solomon. And so he ends, the conclusion in chapter 12 is this, this is his conclusion: 'To live, to continue in this race, to finish as the Lord wants us to finish two things: fear God - because the fear of God it is the beginning of wisdom - fear God and keep his commandments'. This is the whole of man. Nothing else is worth it, nothing else is important. Fear God and keep his commandments. That keeps us running this race until the day the Lord sends us to search.

Then Solomon makes some observations. This Chapter 9 is a key chapter, very significant, and the main message is this: man should not live by his own strength, abilities, or knowledge, but with complete trust and total dependence on the Lord. When we live like this, the Lord directs our steps and we get to where we have to go.

So in verse 11 he makes some observations and in 12 he gives us a warning. The first thing he says is this in number 11: "I turned and saw under the sun that the race is not even one of the light ones." And I looked up this word in the Hebrew to be sure of what I'm saying, but the term that he used here: that the race is not for those who are naturally fast.

Do you know that there are people who are light? Well, I know that you are in Boston, here the people are a little more... but there in New York, we walk fast there, we eat fast there, we talk fast there, everything is done fast there. If you have ridden a subway, have you ridden a subway in New York City? When the train stops and those doors open, you have to run inside because if you don't run inside, those who are leaving run outside and not only run but all run together.

So it's like a wave: you're coming in and they're pushing you out. You have to keep going in because otherwise the door closes, the train leaves and you stay on the platform. And so is life. Life, one has to move, because otherwise the blessings escape. Opportunities come and go.

The doors open and close and you're still standing there waiting, 'where's the train?' No, you have to move. You have to search, you have to make the arrangements, you have to determine that you are going to move, you are going to look for what you need because there are blessings for the people, but the people have to move and they have to move light. You have to move fast.

The apostle Paul compared this life with the race and told the Corinthians: "You do not know that those who run in the stadium all run the truth but only one takes the prize. Run in such a way that you obtain it." In other In other words, there are many who are running in this race but in the end only one is going to take that prize. You run individually as if that prize has your name on it so that you keep running and don't faint and don't back down.

In Corinth there was a stadium that was one of the largest in the Roman Empire and every three and four years they had games like we have here Olympics -Olympics they say- they had those games and although there were many competitions, the competition that the people liked the most People were the ones who ran the race and those were given the hardest training.

And one of the things - I read this and it was quite wonderful because it's something that has, that's why Paul uses it, spiritual principles - they told those who were running the race: "Run and don't look to the right, don't look to the right." left, look only at the prize that you have at the end because if you look at the one that is running on the right or if you look at the one that is on your left you may be discouraged, you may be troubled, you may be confused. just looking at the prize that is at the end of the race".

And many times that happens to us spiritually, that if I am aware of my mother, that if I am aware of my family, that if I am aware of the workers, that if my supervisor. No! My eyes are on Christ Jesus and everything that the Lord monopolizes for me is enough to deal with all the issues of my life.

The book of Hebrews, says what? "Fix your eyes on Christ Jesus, the author and consumer of your faith." He is the author because the first chapter of my life began, he is the consumer because he has already written the last chapter of my life and the other chapters I have to keep running.

Since I was a teacher for so many years, I like to use fairy tales and fables because really those fairy tales were not written for children, although they use them these days. They were written as satires, as comments against the government of England and the oppression that was there. Then there was the fable of the rabbit and the turtle. Do you know him? Do you remember that the race started: get ready, set, go - to the list, to the mark, boom! So they started, the rabbit was fast and the turtle was going… [BODY LANGUAGE]

Then the rabbit looked back and said, "That turtle is so slow, let me stop. He went to the little mouse's house and there he had a Bustelo coffee with milk. Well, do they drink Bustelo here or what? Anyway, whatever ... cappuccino. He drank the coffee. He went out, got back into the race and there was still the turtle [BODY LANGUAGE]

'Oh! Let me go to the bear's house to give me an omelet with fried beans, there; What's more, he ate a bangú with cheese or if not, give me a peñil with rice and beans, give me rice with andules, give me beans, give me tortilla'. I already covered all the nations here. Okay, anyway. Give me spaghetti with meatballs, give me couched hotdogs, whatever. He sat down and ate his snack. He came out and there was still the turtle [BODY LANGUAGE]

So what happened? He passed next to a lagoon, a little lake and there was the little palm and the rabbit said to himself: "Ah! I'm going to take a little nap here because that turtle is so slow." And he lay down in the lagoon and fell asleep. And after a while he woke up shouting "Yeah! Turtle" because while he was sleeping [BODY LANGUAGE]

So I support you, be fast, be slow, be average, keep walking until you reach your final point because the Lord has a destiny for each one. Many have started this race and many have strayed. With many that I went to the seminary 28 years ago, these days, they no longer exist. Many churches where I went to preach, Pastor, 20, 25 years ago that were full and glorious are no longer in ministry.

Because? Because they stray, they take their eyes off Christ Jesus, they forget the prize we have at the end. The apostle Paul said: "I am not perfect yet. I have not yet reached perfection. But one thing I am determined to do. I forget what lies behind me and press on to the goal that I have in Christ Jesus."

And there are times when you have to make that provision. I forget about mistakes, I forget about the past because it doesn't matter how I started, what matters is how I'm going to finish. And I keep going in Christ Jesus, because there is a race to run.

But Solomon continues and says in addition to... what? "…the race is not for the light. The battle is not for the strong." So I looked up that word strong, it means 'those who are naturally, physically strong. There are people who are strong and do not record their height. We believe that only the great...

My dad is small and fragile, he is thin but my dad has a strength that he was born with. I remember years ago when he was not a Christian, he got into a fight with an Irish man. The Irishman was big, robust, what's more he had two or three whiskeys inside. So my dad got out of the car, we're braying with the car, my dad cut himself, well, and my dad told him: "Hey!" and it was to the great Irishman. My mom yelled at him: "Get in the car, that Irishman is going to kill you" and my dad "No, I'm not afraid of him." Well, you know the truth, my dad stood up to him so much that the Irishman got in the car and drove off.

And there are times when people like this are naturally strong, they have courage. But this war my brothers is not physical, this is not a fist fight, this is a spiritual war.

Paul told the Ephesians and the Ephesians had places, military bases, they knew that about being military, about fighting war. But Paul said: "In Christ the war is not against flesh and blood. This war is against powers, principles, heavenly hosts. We have an enemy who hides, who covers himself up, who lies to us, who sneaks in, who gets in, that deceives us, that entangles us so that we do not reach the place that the Lord has for us".

But he told him: "Clothe yourself, not with your own power, but with the power of the Lord. Put on the armor so that when the bad day comes you can stand up." I like it in English because it says: "Take a stand." In other words, literally stand up because this war cannot be fought sitting down. Standing up is a position of authority and not standing with your feet together, mind you. It literally says: "stand upright with your feet apart" because there is strength.

Do you know that when you are like this they blow you, you lose but when you stop like this you have a better balance? And even if they blow him… [BODY LANGUAGE]

Pastor, this church makes me do crazy things…because they support me!

Hallelujah. This is what Paul told him: "When you've done everything... when you've done everything, when you've prayed as much as you can pray, when you've fasted that you can't fast anymore, when you've praised, adored, and hoped, stop." and stand look with like this.

Remember that the loins means a place of safety. I know in whom I have believed. Well, I hope the brothers do that. But the sisters, I know in whom I have believed. And the brothers, spiritually, I know in whom I have believed. And I know that the Lord is going to perfect everything that corresponds to me until the day of Christ. And the Lord will fight my battles.

When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, they reached the bridge facing the Dead Sea and the Egyptians and Pharaoh were behind them and the people immediately wept. As we do, we complain: "Oh, what if we were better in Egypt!" It was a lie, they were slaves, they were oppressed, they had no food and they lied, they said: "There we were eating rice with beans, there we had chops." Lie, they had nothing.

There was fear and the Lord told Moses: "Look, tell my people to be calm. Let them keep their peace because I, Jehovah, will fight for them." And the Egyptians who see today will never see it again because we have a God who knows how to defend his people.

David said in Psalm 3: "I saw when God put a fist into my enemy and knocked out his teeth." And there are times, we have to work by grace and mercy because what goes there comes here. But there are times when you say: "Lord, shut the mouths of those liars. Lord knock out the teeth of two or three who are mortifying me."

When I was newly converted and the Pastor knows many of the people I met years ago and the sister that the Lord used for me to come to the ways of the Lord. That little group of sisters had a little prayer group but it was strong and when I was recently converted my mother took me to her services and those sisters, wow!

Those little sisters, almost all of whom are now with the Lord, prayed like this: "Look, Lord, that shameless daughter-in-law of mine. Pull her hair. And look at my drunken, womanizing son-in-law, break his legs and put him in the hospital." And you know what? Thus it was that many of us arrived with broken legs, with the hairs pulled up, without teeth. We arrived, but we arrived because they did pray!

And that, brothers, I do not suggest that you start praying like this. I don't pray like that, but those sisters did pray. They were prayers, you know what? they were violent prayers. But do you know what Jesus said? Jesus said this: "From the days of John the Baptist to the present the kingdom of God has suffered violence. But the violent snatch it away". And that word, that term "snatches" that I looked at in the Greek means: "catch it quickly and not let go for a second".

In other words my children belong to the Lord. My children are going to serve Christ. My husband is coming. Finances come because they come. The church will be filled with his glory. My healing is coming soon. The Lord will restore my strength, the blessings come because they come. The Lord is going to do what he is going to do and we have to snatch it up and not let go for anything or anyone. Because there are blessings for you, for me, and it's not how we start, it's how we finish this race in Christ Jesus.

And Solomon continues, in addition to the fact that "the race is not for the fast, nor the war for the strong, nor even for the wise, it is the bread. And this is talking about the wise, it is talking about those who know how to do, know how to do plans". You know what? Many of us like to plan, we like to do and undo, but the truth is that our needs are in the hands of the Lord. The Lord is Jehovah Giré who supplies what we need and we can plan, do and undo and we have to do it but at the end of the day the Lord is the one who supplies what I need.

I shared it this morning on one of the news shows, not a Christian show, a show I don't know if it was 20/20, Line/line one of those news shows they were interviewing this man and he said at 14 years he left Mexico, went to California, worked in a restaurant washing dishes, lived on the streets, slept in the parks, but within him was a dream: that he wanted to do something in life. He struggled, threw himself and sought the Lord. These days, to make a long story short, these days, he's the number one neurosurgeon in this country working at John Hopkins Hospital.

The great..., the great politicians, the great international men when there is a problem of the mind, of the brain, tumors, it is he who they have to consult. And when they interviewed him, the reporter asked him, "And how did you get there?" He said, "Because the Lord brought me here. The Lord supplied me with everything." The Lord opened the doors for him.

Look, 14 years old, not a word of English, no family, washing dishes, living on the streets, and he became the number one surgeon in the world. That is the God we serve. That is why the Lord said: "the silver is mine, the gold is mine. Whatever you need I can supply."

"Riches, also says Solomon, is not for those who are businessmen." There are people who are businessmen, they know how to make money, but many times they do it through manipulation, through tricks, they even look for it, they die.

When I was at university I worked part-time in a stereo equipment business, equipment, so look, man, it was a town - I'm sorry to say it but it's the truth - it was from a Latino town where there were a lot of poor people, a lot of needy people. The man, the owner did not speak a word of Spanish. Well, three words: good(u), pretty(u), cheap(u) and the truth is that many of the things that they sold to those poor people were neither good, nor pretty, nor cheap. Because he would take old, used merchandise, clean it, repackage it with new boxes, and sell it as new. Things already used that were no longer used to steal money from poor people.

The world is full of traders like that. But in the house of God, we do clean business, because God supplies through his own will. And when we pray and ask, the Lord has told us that he will supply us. What's more, what has he told us? "What is going to touch the hearts of certain millionaires in New York who are going to give us that money." We know that the Lord knows how to do it in his perfect and precious way and in the way that He does it, the Lord knows how to make it good. But when we want to reach out, manipulate and do business, we often damage the stew. The San Cocho is damaged.

We have to let the Lord be the one to supply our needs.

And Solomon continues here and says something else, look: "The favor of God is not for those who are eloquent." Do you know that there are people who are very eloquent? They know how to talk, they know who to talk to and again it's for the Board of Education, 33 years in New York. I was everything: teacher, administrator, supervisor, etc. I saw people in the educational system who have nothing to do with education. They don't know anything about mastery, they have no compassion for children, they are not interested in raising children but they know the right people, they are very political, very charismatic, they know who to talk to, they know which doors to knock on and they are in a position to do decisions for millions of children, who should not be there.

But the house of God, the favor of God, the grace of God is not based on how eloquent one is or how much one knows. It is based on the fact that God showers his grace on whomever he wants to bless.

God lifts who He wants to lift, God supports who He wants to support, God heals when He wants to heal, God moves when He wants to move. God does what he wants to do and how he wants to do it. And we have to depend on that grace.

The apostle Paul was a thorn. There are many interpretations that it was that sting. Something that Paul said made him so bitter, grieved him so much that he cried out to God to take it away. Some say that maybe he was blinded by the damask light, some say that "No, maybe it was because he suffered from psychological problems" because there were times when he was happy and there were times when he was sad. He suffered from depressions. There are others who say: "No, it was emotional pain, that his children in the Lord went against him and criticized him, accused him of certain things."

We don't know the thorn, but we do know this: Paul cried out, asking the Lord to remove that thorn. But the Lord didn't say "I'm going to take it away from you", he said what? "My grace is enough for you. For my grace is made perfect in your weaknesses." In other words, the weaker we are, the more problems we have, the more the power of God is manifested in our lives.

Then Paul said: "Well, if that's the case, then I glory in problems, I glory in sickness, I glory in tribulations because when I'm weak I'm stronger. Because when I'm weak in person, then I have to depend on the grace of God." And God tells us: "People, my grace is enough for you. Come what may, whatever happens, don't stop there, keep running, because my grace will take you from here to there and from there to there and from there to the next day." and from month to month and from year to year until it comes to the end point and ends in victory."

The Lord wants the People to end with a victory, not as victims, as victors in Christ Jesus. And Solomon ends with this warning and says this: "Be careful that bad weather does not catch you, it does not come suddenly as it does to fish and birds".

You know that the little fishes, the fishes are swimming in the water, right? The little fish is most happy... 'There is power, power, without equal power...' He is swimming most happily: "I have joy, joy, joy. It is so beautiful..." Well, there is the fish. But suddenly what happens? They throw the net at you and catch the fish when you least expect it.

The bird is flying the happiest, it sits on the 'phis' harlots, there is the trap that catches the poor bird and Solomon says this: "Be ready and alert so that when the bad day comes you don't have it happen to you like the little fish that is swimming or the bird that is sitting on the harlot. But that you have your eyes open so that you know when the bad day approaches. And when it approaches you learn to stop and keep running so that nothing and no one stops you from the blessings that the Lord has for you."

The Lord has blessings for each one of you here. It has your name on your blessing. There is a prize at the end of this race and it does not matter when you started, how you started, what matters is how you are going to finish: either you are going to faint and get out of the race or you are going to continue running like the turtle. I arrive because I arrive and even if the rabbit stops here, even if some deviate there, you look... [BODY LANGUAGE]

I arrive because I arrive, because I am determined to persevere until the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul said: "I am convinced that he who began this good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ. And although I still have a long way to go, I know that the Lord is not finished with me. I am a work in progress - a work in progress- the Lord has changed me a lot, but I still lack it. Because the flesh is still alive". As I told him: if they let me, I'll shoot a deer, I'll shoot him gasoline. If they let me I'll throw you a well meringue, if they let me I'll throw a sauce and cough? Strong because my flesh is alive. The meat is alive. The spirit is saved but the flesh is alive. I have to crucify my flesh.

Paul said: "It is not I who live in Christ, but Christ who is living in me. I have to kill the flesh, the natural passions to continue running this race that I started in Christ Jesus." Because whether or not the others arrive, I have to keep running until the day that Christ calls me.

As I said, my dad is 90, he has Parkinson's Disease and four years ago he had a stroke, last year he fell at home and broke his hip, he has a wick with screws. Ninety years, and you know? The doctors tell him: "But you must be dead by now," and they know his answer: "I am a veteran of War number 2."

So one of the things that the soldiers did in war 2 to support each other is that they said this: 'Praise the Lord, pass the ammunition.' In other words: 'Praise God, pass me the bullets, I'm going to kill two or three more.' So my dad at 90 in a wheelchair with so many diseases is still saying, 'Praise de Lord, pass the ammunition.' Praise God and give me the rifle I have to kill two or three more demons out there.

And that must be the disposition of the people. Come what may, come what may: Praise de Lord and pass the ammunition, which is not how I started, is how I will end.

And I am determined that I will continue until I see the glory of God in the land of the living. David said: "I would have fainted if I did not believe that I am going to see the goodness, the riches, the blessings of God in the land of the living."

Brothers, there are blessings for you, there is health for you, there are finances for you, there is work for you, there is a house for you, there is prosperity for you, there is a family for you, but you have to get up and run this race. You have to fight until the day you finish, you have to continue until the day the Lord found his fold because the Lord will give you his grace. Sufficient in my grace.

you know? My dad really likes old hymns but one that he keeps singing is this: 'When the roll is called there, when the roll is called there, when the roll is called there, I will happily respond to my name' and then he yells "Felipe" and he himself answers: "Present".

And I asked him: "Why do you keep singing that old thing?" He told me: "I am practicing for the day when people say 'Felipe' and I say 'Present'". I already arrived, I fought the good fight, I ran to the end, I did not let myself be defeated. I am victorious. I earned it. I'll keep going. I will have the victory because IT IS NOT HOW I STARTED, IT IS HOW I END.

Thank my Lord. Thank my Lord. And brothers, as my old Pastor said: "To go back or to gain momentum." Keep going because the fools don't arrive, the fools less so.

But we are going to continue because we are going to end in glory, we are going to end in victory. We are going to end with our heads up, not down. We are going to end in integrity, we are going to end in holiness of spirit, we are going to end doing the will of the Lord. We are not going to get carried away by fraud, we are going to move forward in Christ Jesus. Amen. Praise God.

Before further. There is someone in this place who perhaps has never had an experience with Christ Jesus, perhaps this is the day that the Lord tells him 'Come over here and I am going to start a race with you. May this be the day of the beginning of your career in Christ'.

Is there someone who says "Sister, I want to start on this day? Maybe I was away, maybe I have never been." Come sister, stop by. Come be daring, go through here. Hallelujah.

Remember that fools do not arrive, but those who are willing to fight, those who are willing to run this race, reach the end. There is someone else who says, this is the day, that I restore myself, that I renew my vow with the Lord, because I am going to continue running this race and "Not even going back to gain momentum". Because I am determined to continue running.

Thank you Lord, thank you sister. Thank you, Lord, God bless you. Thank my Lord.

You who are there extend your hand here because when a single soul comes there is joy in heaven.

There is a party in Christ Jesus, every time a person says today "Lord, I want to start with you, Lord, I give you my life" There is a party in heaven, there is a party, there is a party in Christ Jesus.

Thank my Lord.