a divine moment

Let me just recap a little bit of what I talked about last Wednesday for the benefit of those who weren't there. Last Wednesday I was talking about the second Chapter of Ageo, where we were meditating on that phrase that Ageo, for example, in Chapter 2 said meditate on your ways, that this had to do with the way of proceeding, the way in which one has behaved, the conduct that one has. And then in Chapter 12, the call of God through the prophet, that is, meditate on our hearts. Meditate on your heart.

And that call is rather to meditate on the attitudes, and the actions of character that many times become obstacles to allow God's blessing to flow in us. And one very important thing that I mentioned is the mere fact, my brothers, that we have to be very alert to the mere fact of being able to identify what are the intentions with which we arrive before the presence of God.

In that Chapter of Haggai something that the prophet said in the first Chapter was that, God, sorry, speaking through the prophet he said, ah, for you it is time to be in your homes while the house of the Lord is completely abandoned. And what he was pointing out was precisely that, the intentions of the people, how the attitude of one person could easily infect the attitude of many others. A person who came from exile here to Jerusalem again with the intention of rebuilding but still in his heart is like, no, I'm going to focus on my own thing. And when you start to think that way, that thought begins, so to speak, to spread to others. And then they stop paying attention to what God really wants them to pay attention to and everyone begins to focus on their own.

And that's why God then had to say, come here, what time do you think it is? Do you think it's time for you to leave my house and focus on yours nothing else, or do you think we have to go here more or less wide open. Well, God was very direct. No, here you have to pay attention to the house first so that later they can work on their own.

That reminds me a lot of the word of Jesus when Jesus says, seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all other things, what? They will be cared for. It is a principle of the Kingdom of God that many times we ignore because we fall into this routine of life that easily blinds us from what God really wants us to learn and the way he wants us to live.

Look, those words of Ageo, while I was meditating on it, made me think, wow, there are times when God has something, God brings it to him. I don't know about you, but when God has something, God brings it to him, God goes to find a way to get our attention so that we can respond to those actions that God is doing. What if in the midst of all this, my brothers, you know what? My heart has begun to meditate on what they are, what are these actions that God wants to do with us. What is God trying to do?

And for a while, last week, I was talking with Pastor Miranda, we went out to lunch and at one point we were talking about the Wednesday service, how God is moving and how things are happening. It was very interesting because he told me this phrase, like, look Omar, there are times when one has to enter into that momentum of God. Do you understand that term? When one has a momentum that is like an impetus, an impulse that is moving us. And one has to learn to discern that and be able, like who says, ride that wave, to be able to navigate that wave in some way or another.

I have no doubt, my brothers, that God is doing this around his entire church. On Monday I have a podcast, it's like a series like this on audio that I receive preaching from a pastor in Australia, you know where they call it, the down under, there in Australia, southern Japan, over there. This pastor of this church,…. Church, his name is Brian Houston, it seems like on Monday when I began to hear this reflection, the theme of his preaching was A Divine Momentum, a divine moment. And I said, well, clearly not a rooster crows. I said, Lord, you are definitely doing something in your church, in your church with a capital I. And the words that this pastor was saying were echoing those messages that I brought concerning Haggai. He was not stressing Ageo, but the words that I had shared with you, he was saying the exact same thing.

And I would like today, my brothers, to share a concern that I have in my heart with you, and at the same time a wish, that you can leave here today hand in hand. This has a biblical foundation as well. Go to the Bible with me to the book of Acts, Chapter 2, although I imagine that by now you have to know by heart the Chapter of Acts 2 and 3 and 4, because that has been the center of the preaching of the last Sundays for almost a month or a month and a half, most likely.

So Acts, Chapter 2, 3 and 4 and you have to know it by heart. What's more, who wants to come here and recite 3, 4 from memory? Not like that either. But look at this, if I only refer to some parts of these 3 Chapters in the book of Acts. Look at this, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, what happened? Let's do a review here. When the Holy Spirit arrived the disciples were in the upper room, they were there praying, fasting, seeking the presence of God, what happened when the Holy Spirit arrived? It manifested itself in tongues and they began to speak in other languages, other people who were there from other countries began to understand them, that they were speaking in their own language. The one who spoke Arabic, in Arabic, the one who spoke in Aramaic, in Aramaic, the one who spoke in Jebuseo, in Jebuseo, the one who spoke in Guantanamo, Guantanamo also understood it. They spoke in all languages.

And what happened next? Do they remember? When some people came who started saying, wow, those people are drunk now so early in the morning. And what happened to Pedro? A momentum entered Pedro. And he opened that mouth and took out a litany of messages that nobody imagined. Everyone was kind of gobsmacked. You've heard that word, right? Gobsmacked is like stunned, they were like wow, but this fisherman who came out of the corner, look what kind of message he suddenly took out there.

And what happened? Look how it says, verse 41 of Chapter 2, verse 41 of Chapter 2. It says:

“…So those who received his word were baptized and about 3000 people were added that day… and if I continue reading…. And fear came upon everyone and many wonders and signs were done by the Apostles. All those who had believed were together and had all things in common and sold their properties and goods and distributed them to all according to their need. Persevering with one accord every day in the temple and breaking bread in the houses, they ate together with joy and simplicity of heart, praising God, having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to the church every day those who were to be saved..."

Tell me if that is not a divine momentum. Have you ever experienced a momentum? Have you ever experienced something like this in your life? I don't know, but I can give my best example when I was in high school, I liked to do track and field a lot, so one of the events that led me to practice was the long jump. I was skinny but I jumped, I don't know where the hell I got strength from but I jumped with everything and I was skinny. I remember that I participated in the events of my school and maybe I did not arrive in first place but I did throw my good marks. And there was one day that my coach suggested that I go to a training session that was going to take place in Tennessee. And from Puerto Rico he sent me there with another part of the boys' team. So they took me to a coach that was specific to long jump. And that man sat me down with the other boys who were participating in that event. He first sat us down in a room with a projection and showed us a video, and in that video he showed us step by step, like in slow motion, how one had to have the proper technique from when one left the block, when one was running, the position that one had to assume when one touched the board, to make sure that one raised the chest up, because doing that was what was going to give one the impulse to go out and go further.

The thing is, after all that technical theoretical talk, obviously what's up? They take us to the field, they take us to the field. So, well, one begins to practice and obviously the first attempts are somewhat clumsy because one is learning to master a technique, but listen to me when one falls into tune, oh, oh, I, my leap, I managed to overcome by two feet. Just for mastering a technique well, which in Puerto Rico I remember that I did about 18 feet jumping across the length. When I came out of this practice I ended up doing almost 20 and a half feet more just by mastering the technique.

But my brothers, to experience a momentum, that is glory. It's like being on a cloud, it's like one just taking a step, poof, it's like the body itself is propelled because there is already something that is moving you. And this is experienced in many other things. I don't know if it has happened to you that you get up one morning and you get up with some kind of energy that you don't know where it came from, but you get up and you're, pam, and you do this and you do that, and you do the other, and you manage to prepare breakfast ahead of time, and iron your clothes, and go to work. When you get to work the bus is there, I mean, when you go to the stop the bus is there and you don't have to wait and you get on and you arrive and take the train, and everything is flowing there. You arrive at the office, your colleagues have already prepared the coffee and you don't have to wait for it. They follow me where I'm going

It's like you come with this momentum where everything flows. They have everything there for you, as they say, in your hand. And you didn't ask for it, but it happens that way. And in life that can be experienced in many ways, in many ways.

But when we are talking about a divine momentum, an impetus that comes from God, this is where I see, my brothers, that one has to pay close attention. Look, in the Bible there are many examples of different people who experienced a momentum from God.

And if I ask you if you think that momentums are only, as they say, for good things that everything ends in something good? Not necessarily because there are momentums that can start, that can go elsewhere. I remember when I started doing this service here on Wednesday nights, the first few days there were about 40 people. The first Wednesday, the second Wednesday about 38 arrived, the next Wednesday about 32 arrived and they continued like that and I, wow, if I continue at this rate I will end up with 10 people. And look, there was literally a moment when there were 10 people. So, the momentum was going as they say, on the other side, and I, Lord, that is not the momentum that I want to see. Forgive me, I would like to see something else.

You know what? In the Bible there are other people who experienced that. What happened to Job? What happened to Job? Hey me, a momentum that went one after the other. First, everything he had in terms of livestock dried up, he lost everything, his children began to die. Then his wife went astray, and on top of that he developed leprosy and on top of that his friends were supposedly advising him, but it was like, what have you done before God?

Look, tell me if that's not really bad momentum. That's a momentum so to speak, not a momentum, but a momentum, going in reverse. Do you know another character in the Bible that had such a momentum? Jose the dreamer Hear me his momentum as he was taking off. He had a first dream and like, this revelation is good and he went on and had a second dream, and wow, and he told it but when the brothers said, ah, ah, no more, what happens with that momentum? It crashed. The brothers threw it in a well, nothing, we are going to get it out of there, we are going to sell it better. And if we now see the momentum when they sold it over there, what happened? He went as a slave to another place and after he ended up as a slave, what happened? He ended up in jail and after he was in jail what happened?

After prison, the momentum picked up again. But look, you know the most interesting thing about the story of Joseph, is that even though that momentum was supposedly going down, down, down, the Bible always says that Jehovah was with him. Jehovah was with him and made everything that came into his hands prosper.

That made me understand that not necessarily because the momentum goes as they say, downhill, it means that it is all bad, because God is there as he wants. Imagine you, or I, that there are times in life when momentum seems to go downhill too. I do not have enough money to pay the debts, the son, the daughter left me or left the house. No Luca has not left home. Sorry, there are those cases. What I expected to happen with my husband, with my wife, is not happening and it's like the momentum continues, continues.

What's more, look at the ministerial level, if I have ministry leaders here, I believe that this is also seen sometimes even at the ministerial level. That one is praying, that the ministry becomes solid, and I don't know, and there are times that what happens is the opposite. The ministry is sort of going downhill, and one is like, oh, Lord, but what is happening here? Am I not praying enough? Am I not fasting enough? I'm not asking how should I ask?

But look, in the midst of all this I dare to say that Jehovah is you. As happened to Jose. Jehovah is with you. Look, a momentum is lasting, yes or no? that is, permanent. You believe that a momentum is permanent. No? No? no, no, no, imagine what a surfer is like, that's in Spanglish, but a surfer, a surfer, okay, a surfer, I'm going to say it that way, one of those who surf the waves on the board. Imagine one of these characters, you know that when they go out to sea, what are they doing? They are waiting for the best wave. And what's happening? It is one wave after the other, each wave brings its momentum. And he has to learn to identify the opportune moment to ride that wave and stand up and do all the flips that he is going to do inside the wave and then, as if to say, reach its end. And after that, what? He goes back inside to catch another wave and follow him around. But there are times when the waves go down, what has to be done? He has to stay there waiting and he is there sitting on the board and checking that sharks are not coming from below or anything, until suddenly the waves come back again and he starts to rise again and he goes back and catches that same flow once more .

Look, my brothers, the same thing happens in those moments of God with us. There are times when those waves that God brings, brings them as they say, to propel us to a certain level, to take us to a level, to move us from point A to point B and when you get to point B you have to wait for another momentum to come, another wave to take you to point C. and it may be that the space between one and the other is quite varied. It may be that from A to B in 5 minutes one comes, but it may be that from B to C you have to take 2, 3, 4 days and from there I can continue adding more, more, more time.

But the point is that in the midst of all those things, Jehovah is with you, with us. What can stop them? One moment. What can stop it? Look, the first thing that crossed my mind was disbelief. The disbelief of what? Disbelief of what? The greatest disbelief that we can have is that God is not going to do anything, that we have to do it on our own, that they themselves have to cause that momentum.

And look, you can cause the momentum in your own plane, as if to say, in your own reality, you can cause one thing or another. But if it is a momentum from God, the most you can do is pray for it. So, disbelief is one. Conformism, the me staying conformed. I'm fine. My reality is cool, I'm fine, I have a house, I have a job, I have a car, I have a boyfriend, I have a girlfriend, I have a wife, I have a husband, I have children, I have everything, now, I'm here. Leave me here alone. That conformism thought, look, can also have that momentum that God wants to do with you.

Do you know anything else that can stop it? Trying to ride someone else's wave. Trying to run someone else's momentum. That can also stop you. He knows that surfers fight the waves and if once one is already riding a wave, if another gets in, they take him entangled, he is not going to say, ah, sorry, you were there, forgive me, I'll get out then. No, what's up? No, that wave is mine and I'm riding it.

What can happen is that the momentum of one, of a person can cause a momentum in yours. The wave that one leaves may cause a rip curl, like another wave that drives you to find your own rhythm, as they say, but you cannot navigate the wave of the other. You have to wait for your momentum.

Another thing that can hold you back is focusing too much on yourself, too much at someone else's expense. If I focus too much on what I want and how I want to see that momentum of God in my life, and I forget how other people can be blessed, look, that momentum of God can also be turned off. When God brings a momentum, when God brings something, a movement, that impetus, that force that begins to move you, that begins to impel you to a new growth, to a new maturity, to a new development, look, God will to bring into your life, but through your life it will impact others as well. God's blessing is like that. You can, as they say, withhold it so that others don't receive it and then your problem will be one of selfishness because it's like no, what God has for me is nothing more for me. But no, that's not what God wants.

What God wants is that we can, as they say, water that blessing in the lives of others as well. So look, I want this is where it comes from, I think you have already gotten the idea, this is where I want, as they say, to end the day, today I am going to finish early, and this is it, my brothers, these last Wednesdays and Sundays and even this vigil that although I was not there, but I heard many things, look, I have no doubt that God is bringing those waves that are moving us to another level. I believe that God is bringing a divine momentum, not only here in this church, but that God is bringing a divine momentum through his church around the entire world, and I confirmed that with this man's preaching, thousands of miles away from here. There is something that God is doing. And God is, as if to say, saying, hello, wake up, wake up.

God didn't put a peanut in there, nor did I put it in there just to carry hair. Is there something in there and also the Lord says, like, is there something in here too? Look, how can that manifest in your life, maybe you say, but you pastor, you should know but I don't necessarily know. That suits God. And it suits you. I can pray for you, I can be on my wave and I can wet you with my wave to see if something happens in your life, but believe me I'm going to keep running this little wave because it's not very easy to ride it either, one has to learn to discern, my brothers.

We have to, let's see how I say it, we have to learn to see a little bit beyond our noses. And to be able to understand what God is doing in the midst of all things, my brothers, and it is not easy, it is not easy. Look, I tell you, even in this very weekend I went through an experience that was like, Omar, you know better, you know better. I let myself be carried away by personal feelings that are there and begin to make assumptions that I shouldn't make to simply, after all, so that God tells me like, Omar, come here, what are you thinking? In other words, do you believe that things will only happen as you think or as you understand? Or you are going to learn to look at what I am looking at, you are going to learn to think in the way that I am thinking. You are going to learn to pray the way I want you to pray, not the way you necessarily want to pray. Are you going to start dealing with people in a kingdom way or are you going to deal with people in a banal, worldly way, here, social like tutti li mondo.

It is not easy, my brothers, it is not easy. There are times when, look, when a surfer falls off the wave, that's what they say in the…. And those…. They can be very ugly, because when that wave falls, it is not believed that the surfer remains like that on the surface floating. That wave when the current of the wave falls takes it down. And down there he stays in the roll of the wave, and if there are reefs below, believe me that person is going to get down to the reef. You can easily stay underwater for one, two minutes. So, surfers have lungs of iron, I can tell you. But they don't want to fall, ever.

I do not want to fall from that wave, because I know that if I fall I am going to find myself in a situation where I am going to be, as if to say, Lord, get me out of this. But look, if we are understanding the flow of God, even if we fall, the Lord comes back again and takes us out and puts us back, go again, catch another wave and continue. We have to be aware of that, my brothers, really. We have to be attentive to that move of God, to those hints that God gives us sometimes, to that technique of how God wants us to lead our lives. If we remain too focused on our particular situation, look, we are going to lose sight of what God really wants to do.

One has to dare, one has to take risks. If I think that when I was learning that long jump technique, look, one has to even dare to embarrass other people until you can master what you have to do. Now, I'm not saying that this gives you a license to go and…. I'm not saying that, it's not like you, and it starts, ah, well, I'm going to make mistakes because the pastor told me that yes, I have to make mistakes to be able, as they say, to learn the technique. No, no, no, I'm not saying that.

But I am saying, my brothers, that when one truly tries to understand, to search, to discern what God is doing. Look, along the way, we are going to make mistakes, because we are going to interpret what God is wanting to do, moreover, almost always our interpretation is going to be contextualized in what we are asking for, feeling, experiencing at the moment.

If I take a very basic example, if I tell Anthony right now Psalm 23, verse 9, I tell him Anthony, Jehovah is your shepherd and you will lack nothing. He is going to interpret it in a way, that if I tell him it is….

Maria, if I tell Maria, Jehovah is your shepherd and you will lack nothing. I am sure that Maria is going to interpret that same phrase totally different from what Anthony is interpreting it.

If I tell Arnold back there, Arnold is going to interpret it in a different way as well. If I tell Suyen, Suyen will interpret it in a different way. Because our interpretation is always conditioned by where we are, where we are living, what we are feeling, what we are experiencing, what tests we have, what achievements we have. One interprets everything that way, but the beauty of God is that even if he interprets it that way, God can reach the need of his heart in the way he wants, through that same sentence.

Now, but it does not mean that I am going to adjust what God is wanting to say to my need, I have to adjust my need, my condition, my situation to what God is truly wanting to say. Do they follow me where I'm going or did I lose them there? Did they catch the momentum? They are on the wave with me. Get out, it's mine.

Look, my brothers, I am telling you this, and I am telling you this obviously from a pastoral perspective, but it is more to encourage you, so that your radars are well on. In the smallest details there is something that can cause a move, an impetus, a force from God. It can be a tragedy as it can be a great achievement, as it can also be a simple greeting from a person that you never expected that person would greet you like that.

As it may also be that you are there getting on the bus and in a very long line and you are the last one and they are going to close, and suddenly, the last person who is before you, stands aside and says , forward. And you pass and then another person enters.

How can something like this be, things so simple and simple that God can be telling us, like, I haven't done this for a long time. I'm looking at you. Do not sleep. I'm looking at you. I have my eyes on you. I have my eyes on you, and there is a high that I am bringing to your life but you have to wake up and be aware of what I am doing, because if you are not aware you will lose yourself.

So, my brothers, let's stand up. I'm not going to talk anymore.