What God does IN us is better than happens TO us

I want to share a subject that is on my heart, that I have had there since these last Sundays that we have been listening to all these different messages that are based on the book of the Acts of the Apostles.

We well know that the pastor has been preaching a series of messages on that spirit-filled life, what our lives can become when we let the spirit of God work in our lives, and how it can prompt us to do great things for ourselves. the glory and honor of God.

But today what I want to talk about is this topic, and I want us to think about it carefully, to reflect on it. Think about this, what is happening in you is greater than what is happening to you. Let me say it again: what is happening in you is greater than what is happening to you.

did you understand? Can you say amen to that? More or less. I hope that at the end of this message you leave here convinced. Look at this, let's go to the book of Acts, chapter 4 and I'm going to be starting at verse 29. One of the most interesting things in the book of Acts is to see how God can take people as totally ordinary and God He transforms those people and makes them agents of his kingdom, of his message, to transform the lives of many.

If you read through the entire book of Acts you will find one story after another, of how by the power of the Holy Spirit lives were transformed, lives were confronted, lives were sacrificed, but all for a great purpose. . And that is the purpose of making known the greatness of God. But there is a text that I am going to focus on and it is in verse 29 of chapter 4 of Acts, and it says like this, this happens after Peter and John, after being released, who were in jail, Once they returned to the room where the rest of the disciples were and began to talk to him about what the authorities had told them, and how they had threatened them not to share the message of Jesus with anyone. However, when they go and make this report, look how the disciples began to pray. They began to pray saying:

"... And now Lord, look at their threats and grant your servants that with all boldness we can speak your word while you extend your hand so that healings, signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy Son, Jesus...."

That text for me is the key to being able to understand the theme of this message today. Because only a person who manages to be in tune with the power of God can make that kind of statement. When other people get carried away or influenced by the things that happen to them and can lose heart, and can lose all sense of hope regarding their lives and their future, here we see a group of people who even in the face of Those threats have the guts, they have the power, they have the authority to be able to pray and say, Lord, we don't care about those threats. We want you to cover us with your spirit so that we can continue living the kind of life that you want us to live.

Therefore, if I say then this afternoon, what is happening to you, what is happening in you is much greater than what can happen to you, for us to be able to internalize, understand this, we have to be totally in tune with God and what he is doing in the midst of our lives.

Do you know why I say that, my brothers? Because many times we are in tune with so many other things that have neither reason nor rhyme. They follow me where I'm going There are times when we can be in tune with the Mega, the Mega's radio station, right? What other radio station is out there? Which? Bachata 16.7. There are times when we are in tune with a series of things, my brothers, that perhaps the message it transmits is a message that instead of lifting us up, instead of raising our morale, what it does is something else. Sometimes it produces a series of ideal thoughts that are often not the best.

There are times when we are in tune with the voices of other people around us. We have friends, we have family members and look, you know what? many times those voices can speak to us with the best intentions, but when you see their life, their experience and how they have had their ups and downs, one has to wonder, wow, how much attention can I pay to what is happening to me? meaning?

There are times when we are well in tune, you know what? With all the things that happen in society, in the world in which we live. And when we hear of a revolution that occurred over there in India, or something like that, then we all panic here because that is not going to happen here. And like that, many times the tune of our minds is out there floating in the air, wandering without any kind of sense or direction.

But if we really want to live under the tune and be able to say like wow, despite all those things that can happen around me, I know that what is happening in me is much better. It's much better than what Bachata, in the Mega can say, or what my friend in the corner can tell me. What God is doing in me is much better. How many of us can say that?

Now, look, there are 5 things that I would like to talk about, and I am going to try to be very economical with time, although I still have time. But I'm going to suck the whole time.

Look at this: what are those things that happen to you, that happen to us that can be counteracted with what God is doing in us? Follow my tongue twister, please. For example, something that happens to all of us is when someone says or does something to you that you don't agree with.

Many times we can have conversations with people and suddenly in that conversation something happens that your buttons are touched, or your calluses are stepped on and you are like, hmmm, like you get defensive, you start to prejudge what the other person is saying, and you kind of start to establish your distance, your category, like, with this person I can't do this.

And if they push the buttons too much, well, one starts to get agitated, and one starts then and enters into a discussion, into an argument and things can get a little red, in a situation like that. Of course, how do I counter this? Because what God does in us is that instead of having a volatile character that what he wants to do is cut off someone's head, what God does in us is the opposite. God gives us a spirit of peace, God gives us a spirit of meekness and not only that, but also gives us the wisdom to know how to proceed with people, how to speak, how to resolve situations where both people win and that not only one uses me, as they say, as a rug to wipe their feet and the other gets away with it.

That is what God does in us. God forms a character in the midst of our lives where he allows us, on the one hand, to recognize our pride, to recognize when our ego is wanting to intervene in a situation and then to know how to deal with another person.

Look, I'm going to give you an example and I shared it this morning, and I feel free to share it now as well. This is fresh out of the oven. Two Wednesdays ago I started a series of sermons and I am most certainly not going to say that I made a mistake but I know that I got into a, as they say, I opened a Pandora's box. Because I wanted to start preaching on theological issues, doctrines that can be quite conflicting many times, doctrines that have caused divisions in many churches, and I wanted to take some of these doctrines and start preaching them in light of what we, León de Judah, we believe regarding those doctrines.

And two Wednesdays ago I started talking about this question of whether a Christian can lose his salvation or not. And the thing is, obviously, if you want to hear what I preached, tune in to the website and quote it, watch it because I'm not going to say everything. But what happened was that at the end of the service a brother came up to me and started arguing with me because he did not agree with my perspective.

And the thing was, imagine this, two Puerto Ricans arguing, things got a little heated. And I have to admit that my pastoral side went to one side and my Puerto Rican side also emerged and I confess my fault, I confess my fault. And I talked to this brother, I told him, we're super cool now, we're waiting for the next theological topic to discuss again. But the point was, my brothers, that we both came out of that argument a little hot. But the next day this brother texted me and he was apologizing to me and letting me know that he respects me and stuff like that. I mean, I received it and amen, glory to God. And yesterday I met him here. Look, it was so beautiful and so precious, to be able to see this brother and give him a hug and let him know that I love him, that I cannot allow an argument like that to take away the love that I feel for him. The love that God has put in my heart for him and that God has put in his heart for me too.

And that is something, my brothers, that only a mind, a person who is well tuned to what God is doing in their midst, can achieve that. If it had been another Puerto Rican of those who come directly from the island, who doesn't even have a father of love for God, you know what? Here there would have been a blood bath, most likely, in the church. And I came out in the spokesperson later and in León de Judá two were beaten to death and it comes out like this, tremendous news in Puerto Rico.

But the point is that when one acknowledges, by the way, please, it's not that I'm projecting a bad image of Puerto Ricans, okay? God loves Puerto Ricans just as He loves Guatemalans and everyone else, but each ethnic group has its passion and passionate character, and there are times when that character can come out in many forms. TRUE? Dominicans not to mention, too. Cubans too, Colombians too, so we all have that.

But the thing is, that's what came out of this situation. But from that conversation, my brothers, from that argument, look what came out? Something so beautiful came out of being able to admit that I was letting my pride get in the way of a relationship and he recognized the same thing and together we were able to talk and say, look, we're going to figure this out. These discussions... we put into practice what Paul says to Timothy, look, don't get caught up in discussions that have no rhyme or reason and that lead to nothing. If you believe in Christ and I do too, you are my brother, you are my friend and we follow him around.

And that was the key point of all things. God gave us the wisdom to be able to make amends for what had happened. And that is what happens with that situation that I was presenting, my brothers. Each one of us, you set the scenario you want: this happens at the level of marriage, this happens at the level of work colleagues, this happens with your friends on the street, this happens with a foreigner on the street that he cut you a cake and you want to tell him two or three, that happens in any way, in any way.

The point is that what God is doing in us is much greater than what happens to us. Because what God is doing is forming in us a character that is in accordance with his character and not with the character of what this society wants to project on us. So that's the first one.

The second, look, there are times when things happen to us is that we are victims of injustices in the society in which we live. And injustices can take many forms, in many forms. There are times that if you are in the workplace where you are, there are times that they are getting the most out of you with some ridiculous hours of work and the pay they give you is nothing. And there are times when those can be injustices that happen to one.

That maybe if you are a student at the university and you suddenly want to proceed with the professor or the professor and you want to ask him or her a question and you see that professor or professor evades you a bit, and another person pays a lot more attention from what is given to you, you may feel that this is an injustice being done against you.

And likewise in so many other scenarios that one can experience injustices. But how does God counter that, my brothers? The justice of God is not the same as the justice of this world. When others want, as they say, to step on you, what does the Scripture say? That God will make your justice shine like the light of noon. God is the one who is in charge of doing justice in your life. And what God does then is that in light of those injustices that happen in your life, God makes you an agent of his justice so that you can do justice in others and in favor of others.

That's how God counteracts these things. But that issue of justice also has a challenge in the day in which we live today. Because we live in a time, my brothers, where that word justice is so manipulated by so many groups within society. Many people can say that they have to do me justice because I believe in this, or because I live this way. And today talking about justice is very hard, it is very difficult.

But the challenge we have is for us to be able to become those agents of God's justice, to be able to follow the standards that God has established for each one of us and that we let ourselves be governed by that and see how God, by being faithful to us, that aspect of what he wants to do through us, how he can bring about justice in the midst of everything we get involved in. are they following me?

Look at another situation that happens to us: when by chance we are diagnosed with some kind of disease. Many times if you go to the doctor and they tell you, look, it's a very different thing from when they tell you what you have is a cold due to pollen allergies, versus, being told, what you have is terminal cancer. But the point is that they are telling you something that is affecting your health. Whatever it is, they may have told you that you have cataracts in your eyes and they're not Niagara, they may tell you that your joints are obviously developing arthritis because you're getting older and you're starting to feel it and you can't bend like before, it could be anything they diagnose you with. And you know what? despite that, what God does in you is much greater than those things that can happen in our life.

You know, I shared an example this morning of two people that I met, again, in Puerto Rico, and this is a couple that I met when I was in middle school. Her name is Rafaela Vega and she was my Christian education teacher, and her husband, Luis Alberto, he was the pastor of a church there in Puerto Rico. The point is that she was a tremendous woman, she was a tall woman, taller than me, she was strong, she had a very strong constitution, very active, very dynamic, a woman filled with the spirit of God and that woman, my brothers, I I carry her in my heart because she sowed in me that seed of the word of God, she instructed me, she challenged me, she corrected me, she spanked me, she did everything I needed to do so that I could get to the point where I am now.

The point is that there came a time in her life where she was diagnosed with cancer. And in a matter of months he died, in a matter of months. That took us all by surprise. We were all stumped. What if we pray? Of course we pray. In the church we prayed, we fasted, we anointed it with oil, we asked for miracles. But look, you know what? died however you want. We're sorry, we're crying, we're crying. There are times when I remember her and my heart breaks for that.

The issue is that several, I would say, about two years after her death, her husband, Luis Alberto, he was a rather broad man. And it was funny to me because he wasn't ashamed of that. As a good Puerto Rican there was a song, a merengue that was sung there that said, the pipe is the least of it, the fat man dances well, cheerful and fun, he's a nice fat guy. He sang that song all the time. Every time they told him something about his weight, he would come out with that song.

But the point is that he was also, like his wife, a man filled with the spirit of God, a man passionate about the Gospel, for God, for his Kingdom, for seeing lives transformed. And he two years after his wife passed away, he had diabetes and his diabetes started to get worse. To the point that his kidneys began to fail, even within that condition he kept coming to church, he kept pastoring, from the hospital he gave calls, from the hospital he prayed, but it got to the point where he also died.

Those two people who were so key in my life suddenly both died. And once again, it is not a matter of us as a church not having prayed, because we also prayed, we fasted, we interceded for healing in the life of this man of God as well, but it also reached the point where he passed away. In the face of all these things, my brothers, you know what? there are some who can say that it was all in vain, but no, because I am sure that what was happening in them was much greater than what happened to them.

Do you know why, my brothers? So many people have come out of that couple that I know who are in pastoral ministry right now. That church that they founded in Río Grande is a growing church, it is a church full of energy, full of the spirit of God that continues to reach many lives there in the town of Río Grande and even beyond, and all because of the testimony of this couple. . That their illness was not a situation for them, as they say, to spoil everything, or to give up halfway, but because they were so, so aware of what God was doing in their lives that this illness could not help them. stop, I couldn't stop them. No matter how tragic it happened, what happened, whatever you want, they kept ministering, ministering, even from the hospital bed they kept ministering to the people because they knew the call that God had placed on their lives. They knew that what God was doing in them was much greater than what was happening to them.

Let me finish by saying this point: all the circumstances that can happen to us, you know what, my brothers? All the circumstances that happen to us what they want to do is take away the joy that God has placed in the midst of our lives.

Can you look at your life right now and can you laugh? It is a rhetorical question but I want you to think about it. If you look at your life right now, everything you are living, everything you are going through from a to z, can you laugh? If we can't laugh then what is it with Nehemiah, chapter 8, verse 10? May the joy of the Lord be your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength.

You know, this is very particular, this text is very particular because it does not mean that it is the joy of the Lord, ah, because he is there in heaven and because we are on earth. It does not mean that it is the joy of the Lord because he is God and we are not. Rather, it is the joy of the Lord because he is our creator, he is our Father, and he rejoices in each one of us who are his creation.

When the text says that the joy of the Lord is because he is happy with what is happening in each of our lives, because he knows that each one of us is sculpted in his hands and the work that he is doing in us he going to perfect

Look at this text in Philippians, go with me to Philippians, chapter 1, verse 6 says:

"...Being convinced of this that he who began a good work in us will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ..."

In other words, the day Jesus Christ returns once more. You can tell the person next to you, what's more, we're going to sing Tanto Tanto. I'm seeing two or three heads out there that are nodding, there it is. Ok, tell the person next to you, the one who started the work in you is going to perfect it. Rock him, give him, so he wakes up well.

Look, my brothers, I have no doubt about something, I am so convinced in this that I can really bet on this and I know that God is going to do it. I mean, not that I'm betting, sorry, wrong illustration. I throw my chest into this, better to leave it and say it like that.

But the issue is this, my brothers, you know when I think and I meditate on all the things that we live in daily life, and I can only imagine some, the ones that I have lived, the ones that you can live and then I I try to reconcile many times what the word of the Lord says, I try to reconcile what we have been hearing from the book of Acts of so many lives that were transformed, people who spoke in tongues, miracles that were done, God breaking chains, opening doors from prisons and Pedro and Juan were released, Pablo and Silas too, I start reading all those things and look, you know what? There are times when I let myself be carried away by the pressures of the world, I'm going to say, this doesn't make sense. This is like it's very foreign, this was there at one time, this doesn't make sense now. But obviously it is difficult for me to say that because the experience that I have had corresponds more and more, confirms more and more that what God has done back then, is still doing now, that God who was in action two thousand, three thousand years ago, it is still in action today.

Look, my brothers, all these children that you saw here, tell me or not if God is at work in the lives of those children. And therefore, because it is in action in the lives of those children, it is in action in the lives of those parents. Where are the parents of those children? Let me see the hands. Parents, look, I see all those beautiful and beautiful faces out there and I dare say that none of you are the same as you were when the semester began. And if they tell me otherwise, well, we'll talk later, okay? We can pray for you right now.

But the point is, my brothers, that when we open that door so that God begins to pray in us, when we dare to get in tune, in the frequency of what God wants to do, listen to me, there is nothing that happens in this world, there is nothing that can quench the joy of what God can do in the midst of your life, there is nothing that can put up with the purpose that God wants to do in your midst, or that God wants to accomplish in your midst, rather.

All things however, what Scripture says is what, that all things work together for good for those who love God. All things work for the good. Hey, if you are a boyfriend, a girlfriend, and the girlfriend or boyfriend left you for another, as bad as that may seem, it works for the best. I don't know why that came out of me, Lord, but amen.

Listen, my brothers, I want to take a moment to reflect on this and close here. I know that we have heard a lot that we are in a glimpse of seeing a great move on the part of God in our midst, and I believe that, and I believe it with all the strength that is in my heart, in my life. I believe it, I yearn for it, I desire it. I want to see it, I want to be a part of it. But it does not mean that God is not in action now. God is in action now. God is working in the midst of each one of their lives, in different facets, in different ways, that is why I dare to say that what is happening in us is much greater than what can happen to us in this way. daily live.

This is how I see it, at least the people I know, and the stories I know, and I cannot help but be amazed at what God is doing in the lives of so many people here. There are some that I don't know yet but I can imagine what their story will be like. And if at least, if in your life you have not yet been in that correct tune to be able to see exactly what God is doing in you, look, I believe that today there is a good opportunity for you to get into that tune. and that you can begin to confess with all your heart, look, yes, I believe that what God is doing in me, what is happening in my heart, the words that I have received in my heart, I know and believe that they are much greater than what happens in my environment around me. Because God makes it possible.

So I would like to take a moment, my brethren, to pray about this. And I would like to take the opportunity to pray for those people who perhaps feel that they are out of that frequency, God's frequency, that perhaps you feel that the influence that you have had by the things around you have been greater and you have gone with the flow of those things instead of truly being in tune with God. For us to be able to see clearly what God is doing we have to be in tune with him. If I get out of tune, it may be that I see some little things, but I am going to lose the totality, the environment of everything that God wants to do. And you know what? God wants to bless your life, God wants to do great things in you. I am sure that he has done them, is doing them and wants to continue doing them. And I look around here now and I want to take that moment to pray for you, if you understand in your heart that you need to be on that right frequency, not on any radio station frequency, but on the radio frequency of God, I believe that today could be a moment in which we can begin once more, begin once more and believe that those things that God has begun to do in the midst of his life, that God can and will complete them, He will complete them to perfection. As much as the situations around you oppose, God can complete it.

I invite him to close our eyes where they are. Let's pray. Dear God, I thank you for the things that you do in the midst of our lives, the things that you have done, what you are doing now and what you will continue to do and that is why, my God, that the solemnity of this moment Father, I ask you, my God, I know that there are many hearts here that have heard this word and I know how you can reprove each heart. So, Lord, through your name Jesus I ask that the work that you have begun to do in many of the hearts that are here, I am sure that you can complete it, but if there are some here that in some way or another they have gotten out of tune with what you want for their lives, I ask that with your Holy Spirit, my God, you bring conviction to those hearts so that those hearts may be able to open their eyes and see, my God, what you are doing in their midst.

Father, I pray that to all the people who are here today, to each heart, my God, in each family, in each home, over each man and woman, each young person, each child, Lord, I ask you, my God May it be you imparting that supernatural grace that only you can give so that each one of us, my God, can see and understand that what you do in us is much greater, Jesus, whatever circumstance passes, surpasses any situation. I ask you for a sense of faith and conviction in the hearts of my brothers and sisters, Lord, that if for some reason these words that I have said, Lord, it is difficult for them to assimilate them, due to the intensity of what they are living , I ask that you with your Holy Spirit can reach each one of those hearts, my God, so that they can understand, Lord, in all its fullness the power that you have to work in the midst of their lives, when we truly We give you the permission of our hearts so that you can do as you want, Lord.

Have your way, Lord. I pray. I ask you, Lord, that you take command of our lives, the command of our hearts, Jesus, and that over each one of the hearts of my brothers and sisters who are here today, Jesus, that you be imparting, my God , the blessing that only you can give. I leave each one of them in your hands, Lord, and I trust, Lord, that this word will bear fruit. I thank you, Father, in the name of Jesus. Amen.