When it rains, it thunders

I want to take these last 15 minutes just to reflect on something that I want to connect to the message that I was also speaking about last Wednesday. And, this week, I don't know, for some reason, I don't know if you have heard that expression that says, “When it rains…” Is that how the expression goes? “When it rains, it thunders.” In other words, when something falls, it really falls.

And this week has been very interesting because, in one week we have been dealing with three different funerals, here as a church. And it can sound overwhelming, that is, this morning - last night, Pastor Gilberto was at the funeral of our brother's father, Tito Ortiz, who also passed away. This morning Pastor Gregg and myself went to his funeral. Today we are here with the Gonzalez family. Pastor Gregg is at the funeral home tonight with the family of Sister Nelva Santiago, who also passed away this past weekend. So all of these things you're like, "Wow!" Lots of deaths. What happened is, wait, what's going on here? It kind of all piled up like that all of a sudden in a week.

And I began to think, "Wait, Lord, here is something very, very interesting that I think You want us to pay attention to." And it is the mere fact that many times people are afraid of death, but I believe that death is not just the end of one stage that begins another. That's the most I can say. Death is the end of one stage that begins another.

And, look, I don't know obviously who weren't here last Wednesday, I'm going to do this more as a summary. Last Wednesday I was talking about this topic: When what God does doesn't make sense. That there are times in life that one is like, God, but why do you allow this to happen? Why did this person die in an accident? Or, why does this person who is so dear to you, who does so much for you, who serves you, suddenly die of a terminal illness?

And many times we cannot reconcile the things that happen in life, with our mere human thoughts. In other words, a totally different mentality is required to not necessarily be pointing at God and blaming Him, but knowing how to accept the circumstances and knowing how to move forward. Instead of those words that I was speaking, I made reference to this account of the death of Lazarus that is in the Book of John, chapter 11, that when Lazarus died, Jesus took four days to go visit the family. Instead of having responded, for example, we find out about something like that and in half an hour we are at the person's house and we comfort each other.

But Jesus takes four days to go to comfort the family of Lazarus. But in that, He had a purpose. And the purpose that we saw and discussed is that what He really wanted was to know if people believed in Him or not, that He could do something in the midst of that situation. That was the conclusion of what we were talking about. Do you believe in this? That it was a confrontation that Jesus himself did. Know? Because I was saying, I don't know if you remember the graphic example that I did. That sometimes we come and we cry and leave our tears here at the altar, but we leave the church and continue living our crazy lives like nothing happened.

We come here, we pray, "Lord, help us with this, help me with that." And we come with all these things, asking, asking and asking but then our lives do not reflect, do not show a true sense of seeing that God can truly intervene in the midst of our lives. We do not believe that God can truly do anything. Our actions, our attitudes, our way of thinking, our way of speaking contradicts everything that we can come and say and do here within the church. Here we are self-righteous but when we go out there, oh! The story is different. And it is the truth.

And that is why I believe that in that story, in that story, when I saw that Jesus confronts Mary and tells her, "Mary, don't worry, Lazarus is going to rise again." “Ah yes, Lord, I know that he is going to rise again on the day of the resurrection.” He was kind of missing what Jesus was saying, and Jesus was saying, "No, no, no, I can do something for Him now." And Jesus then has to confront Mary, saying, "Do you believe what I'm telling you?" That is where the key to all this is, do you believe that I can do something in the middle of your life? And I believe that many times Jesus confronts us with those words. In the midst of our lives, in the midst of the bustle of what we live in daily life, it is like there are times when Jesus has to stop our horse and say, "Wait, are you going to believe in me, yes or no?"

So when I focus on these words now how Jesus really wants to intervene but He's waiting for us to give Him that input to say, “Look, Lord, I believe. Do as you want." That is where I see this idea that this death that occurs in our life represents dying to something to begin or end a stage to start another. Look, I'm going to tell you this story. I took this one from Pastor Gregory, I had not seen it this way.

But do you remember the story of the prodigal son in the Bible? The truth is, you know the story of the prodigal son, who was the son who, when he was with his father, obviously gave him the idea of going to Paris, and asked for his inheritance ahead of time. Look how interesting, and this is a secret, I don't know if I had told you this before. But in the story like this from the Jewish context, this boy, when he asked his father for his inheritance. Do you know what I was saying to dad? I want you to die. That was what he was saying, because the father was not dead, so when he asks for the inheritance he is saying, "I am hoping that you die."

Do you see where I'm going? Sometimes our actions, we believe that we are doing something for mere momentary pleasure, but what we are doing behind the scenes is something else. So, the point is that this boy is going to take all his money and spend it on women, he spends it on everything he did according to the story, and after he was involved in the herd of pigs, eating locust beans, stinking of... He definitely didn't smell like roses, he didn't smell like roses. Maybe he had the fertilizer to grow roses, but he didn't smell like roses.

So, the thing is that in the middle of that situation this boy suddenly sort of reconsidered. The guy hit the wall, so to speak, and he hit it real hard. His nose went to the back of his head. And forgive me, the Gonzalez family, but there are times when I get a little jocular when I'm here preaching on Wednesdays, so bear with me. But the thing is, this guy suddenly decides, "no, wait, here I am with these pigs, while at my dad's house I was better." The thing is that this boy says I'm going to go back to my dad and he says, "Look, dad, I know I sinned against you, I offended you and only receive me as one of your servants." That was the plan he had.

But what happened, the end of the story is that when he was coming back his father saw him from a distance, and the story says, 'more…' I'm going to read this part so you can see that I'm not making it up, but it is there. Look, Luke, chapter 15… uh, where am I? Verse 20: 'And, getting up, his father came. And while he was still a long way away, his father saw him and was moved with mercy and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.'

I want you to watch this, because again, this story is in context. Remember that back then, men dressed, how do you say? Their robes… their tunics, that was how men dressed back then. And this man was doubly offended so to speak, I mean, he was doubly offended. First his son offended him, and then he offended himself, because when he says he ran, the women who wear smocks here when they are sleeping, if you have tried to run with a smock, is it difficult for you to run with one? batola? It's true that your feet are... What do you have to do, you have to take the rag, pick it up and run, right?

That happens a lot to brides when they go up the aisle here. Blanca, look at her there. It happens to the brides that when they come up, the trains of the dresses are so big that it's like they have to put it up to be able to climb the step. And look, when this man runs away, I imagine he had to lift his smock to be able to run away and that means that this man revealed his beautiful, strong and hairy legs. And you know what? Back then for a man to do that was an offense, too. The man was taking offense; but that man didn't care because the one he saw was his son. And what mattered most to him was his son, to be able to go and receive his son and restore him.

Pastor Gregory shared today that this story is a lot like what happens in heaven when someone leaves us. We are here on earth living our lives the way we do, but when we get to heaven we may come with a sense of, “Oh Lord, I did this, forgive me I sinned.” And God suddenly like for him, how do you say? The parliament that we had prepared, He stops it because look at what it says.

When…and the son said to the father, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' put a ring on his hands and shoes on his feet.’ In other words, daddy cut him off, didn't let him finish. He had a full explanation and justification for what he had done, however he interrupted him and said, 'Look, don't worry, you're with me, I'll receive you. I am reconciled with you and I give you a totally new identity.’ That boy passed… that herd of pigs was the death of a stage in his life and when he arrived in the arms of his father it was the beginning of a new life. Do they follow me where I go?

That episode there can only occur when we come to that encounter in our lives, and look, look, I'm talking about death in two terms. I'm talking about death when we pass from one lifestyle to another. Like one lifestyle to another. As it were, we give up one thing to, as it were, absorb another new lifestyle. And also, obviously, there is that death when we die here, this life, that there is that separation of these two beings, the body remains inert, immobile here on earth and goes underground, but the soul returns to the one who gave it. breathed first.

That breath of life that these bodies have right now... Look, now think about this, if suddenly God took that breath of life from me, this body that you see, is going to collapse here. It will not have movement, it will not have anything. And there are times when we worry about this body and we get so attached to this body, but this body is nothing without that breath of life.

So when that separation occurs, the body, like this, is paid in full. But God receives the origin, the essence of all things, receives it once more. I am sure that this happened with Milagros; that happened with our brother Tito's father; That happened with our sister Nelva's mother. That happened with Abdulia's son, too, with David. That happened with so many that we know, who have already moved to a much better place than we are now. But here, while we are here, my brothers, that is where I see that episode take place, that stage in which we always have the opportunity to die to something here in the now, in the now, in order to start a new stage in our lives. lives.

When someone dear to us leaves, it represents the end of something, it represents the end of a stage in our lives. They can represent the end that when the next Thanksgiving meal comes, there will be a space that was not available before, but not now. Perhaps when we are at family reunions, at Christmas there will be something that will be different, it is the end of a stage, but with everything and that will be the beginning of another.

How we proceed with that beginning of another season, that is where it depends if we make God truly real in the midst of those things or not. That is where it really stands out, how would I say? That climax where things can stand or fall. And I share these words, my brothers, because in different facets of our lives, this can be experienced. Yes, for those of us who lose a loved one, that person leaves us an example. And we can determine or imitate that example or ignore it completely, but the example is there. How we assume that, can mark the beginning of a new season in our lives or not. And at the same time concerning so many other things.

Look, you can die, I'm going to list a few: you can die to a way of thinking. You can die to that, decide, no, I'm not going to think like that anymore, I'm going to start something new. You may think... you can die to a form of character. As I have always said, "Oh, I am like that, people have to accept me as I am." Look, you can die precisely to that character. You can be like that – “I can be like that, but God is going to help me change, for the good of my family, for the good of my wife, my children, my work colleagues…” You can die to that and start something new. “I have a vice for alcohol.” "I have a habit of smoking that I look like a chimney." You can die to it and start a new stage in your life.

There are many things! "Oh, I come from a past with depressive thoughts." Look, you can die to it and in the name of Jesus start a new life. There are so many things that can happen in the here and now, but if the person of God is not present there, as they say, serving as the axis of all that machinery; that new stage that begins can be very difficult and tumultuous. But with God, I believe, and I faithfully believe, that even if the storms of life come, look, that house will remain, my life will remain and the purpose that God has intended for it will come.

So, my brothers, I encourage you to think about this. I encourage you to think about this: please, when you are facing a time of transition in your life, in whatever way that transition may manifest, don't forget that perhaps that transition is bringing an opportunity from God for you. we can die to something and start a new stage. In any way that can happen, but I believe that it is a door, it is an opportunity, it is a sale – it is a moment in time, where God tells us, “Consider me, believe in me. How are you going to lead your life from now on? Are you going to continue driving her to hell, as you were doing on your own account and your own criteria? Or are you going to start considering the things I want for your life? So that your life and your steps can be ordered a little more. When we consider that and respond to that invitation from God, look my brothers, I believe that things - life takes a totally different turn.

I want to encourage you and I want to leave you with this, and I want to pray for your lives, pray for you Gonzalez family and invite you to consider these words, about how in this new stage the things that Milagros learned and taught you about how many things could be make tangible in the midst of their lives. And likewise I say it for the rest of all of us, my brothers, because no one can avoid this. This word can be applied to many contexts in our life. God always gives us a new opportunity to finish something that has to be finished and start a new stage so that he can truly flow in the midst of our lives. So I encourage you and invite you to consider these words.

And I want us to pray, my brothers, I want us to pray and for these words to truly be cemented there in the midst of your minds and your hearts. That we don't walk out of here like, "Oh, that's nice!" No no. This is not how cute, this is, Wow, how You are speaking to me God! And how can I respond to You?

And look, I take the chance... usually, I don't do this, but I do take the opportunity to do this, if these words really touch the heart and one wants to consider how maybe he used the prodigal son, wait, I have to do a maintenance check with God and straighten my life, my steps. If some of you feel that way tonight, look, where you are I ask you to stand up and that we can pray for you too. That if you say, Lord, look, I need to organize my life in some way and ask that you be directing my steps, I want to pray for you in particular. Only if you identify with these words, I want to pray for you and that God can truly encourage your life in a way that you can receive that strength from God to be able to move forward in these new stages that in some way or another, God brings to your life and that God allows them in your life.

In any way that these endings and beginnings can be given, you can go, walk as God commands and as God wants and gives for you. Lord, Jesus, right now, look Lord, I present to you each person that is here, oh, God. Father, right now, I beg you, Father, that these people who have stood up, You know their hearts, You know their feelings, my God. You know how they are before You, so I ask that right now, You come into their hearts, Lord, and that You reconcile their lives completely with You, Lord. That they can feel your lullaby right now, my God, the coverage of Your presence over them, my God.

And that You affirm them at these crossroads of their lives, in these transitions, in this closing of some chapters and starting other chapters in their lives, Lord, I ask that You bring revelation of your purposes on their lives, Lord. May they see Your hand at work in their midst, Lord Jesus, and above all else may they know You even more and experience more of You than they ever have before. Lord, I believe that Your word has the ability to make a difference. And here Your word has been spoken, my God. Allow this word to dig deep into hearts, Lord, and to move us to carry out actions that go according to the desires that You have for our lives.

Father, I bless all my sisters and brothers here tonight, Lord. I ask that on each one of them, You deposit Your peace, deposit Your grace, Lord, and that You affirm in the midst of each one of their hearts, the walk of their lives. Bless us, Lord, as we prepare to leave here and go back to our homes, Lord. Be with us and that, my God, even in our sleep that we can feel and experience Your presence in the midst of our lives.

We thank you for everything, in the name of Jesus. Amen and amen. Thanks God.