Do God's will and (still) suffer

Brothers, I tell you something with all conviction and that is that the things that God has ahead of us we cannot even imagine. I believe that we are on the verge of a great explosion, numerical and spiritual above all. And I believe that God has spoken to me prophetically also about a visitation from God, not only for this church, but for the whole earth.

And God has something with this people and that is why our vision and our commitment have to be at the level of God's vision for us. In this time that I have been recovering from my illness and I have been in case, I thank the Lord because many of you have stood up, have said present, and my absence has not been felt, thank God, even I think things are going much better than when I'm here.

And I don't say that out of modesty, but because I've seen how God has used this to give the church a sense that, wow, we're a mature people and we don't depend on a man for our health and to continue doing the things of the Kingdom of God. My role as senior pastor, I was telling the brothers who were at the inner healing meeting yesterday, my role is rather simply to keep the space clean so that the people of God can prepare to do the work of the Kingdom of God.

And as I tell you, God is going to raise up hundreds of you as teachers, pastors, evangelists, counselors, servants of God and servants of God in all different areas of ministry. Get ready because the harvest is great. And God needs men and women radically committed to the Kingdom of God. Men and women who have, and I already entered my sermon in passing, men and women who have died to the world and who live for God and for the kingdom and for the purposes of God.

Young people who are preparing to be men and women greatly used by God. People who have decided to turn their back on personal fulfillment and personal achievement, and they've said, you know what? I want my life to serve to bless the purposes of the Kingdom of God.

I want my money, my profession, my knowledge, my social relationships, my talents, everything to be wood for the fire that God wants to develop on earth. God wants, brothers, that you and I, and all the leaders of this congregation sanctify ourselves. God wants us to consecrate ourselves and give ourselves totally to serve him. May we totally purify ourselves inside and out so that he can use us as instruments for his glory.

God has spoken to me a lot through these years, through the book of Zechariah in chapter 3, the vision that the priest Joshua had. I know it is God's will that we be here together this morning, brethren, I'm sure of that.

There in chapter 3 of Zechariah God says to Joshua simply:

"... If you walk in my ways and keep my ordinance, you will also govern my house and you will also keep my courts and among these who are here I will give you place..."

And there is another passage, I don't remember exactly right now, but it says that if you select the precious from the vile, you will be like my mouth and I will give you authority over my church, my people.

My brothers, I feel that God is telling us that we will prepare ourselves, that we purify ourselves as God's people, that we give everything to the Lord so that he can have a people prepared for these last times in which we are living. And although I am speaking in the plural, I want you to put your name in what I am saying, that you feel the personal call of God to give all that you are, and all that you have to serve the Lord.

And so I close everything I have said, returning to what motivated me to say this, is the building of that sanctuary. Yes, because all this that I have said is specifically for that. Because I believe that this building has a very special purpose in advancing what God has for us. And that is God's immediate task for this congregation, build me that sanctuary because I am going to use it for my glory.

So we, like a disciplined and well-disposed army, say, yes, Lord, amen, we are going to build you that sanctuary and we are going to do everything necessary to raise it up for you. And I know, brothers, that we are going to be blessed materially and spiritually in what we contribute to the construction of that sanctuary. So I say to you personally, do not miss the opportunity to be blessed and honored by participating in something that is very close to the heart of God. Amen, glory to the Lord. Thanks for listening to that part, brothers.

Now, I want to direct you to the book of Acts in the 6th chapter, quickly. And this passage interestingly is supposed to have been preached by me for probably over a month, but different things have been involved. But you know what? I believe that God had it specifically reserved for this moment, because this text actually goes from Acts 6 to Acts 8, because beginning with verse 8 of chapter 6, we have here the martyrdom of Stephen, the first martyr of the church. In chapter 7 we have the very long speech, in fact, that Stephen gives before the council in Jerusalem, which is accusing him of violating Jewish law and of insulting the Kingdom of God, its defense as well. A speech that takes him through the entire history of the Jewish people from its foundation through Abraham to the same time that Jesus is killed by means of the cross.

In chapter 8, in the first 3 verses we see an interesting detail and that is that it says that while they were stoning and killing Stephen, there was a young Pharisee who was holding the garments of those who were stoning Stephen and consented to Stephen's death. . And it is graphic to see this, because what Saul was doing and we know that it is Saul who would later be the Apostle Paul.

Imagine, Saul was holding onto these men's garments, I imagine so they could stone Stephen more comfortably and more effectively. Before I was in the hospital and all this, God had put it in my heart to meditate about when we went through times of trials and suffering, and in a sense crucifixion, even for the fact that we are serving the Lord.

And for this reason it seems extremely appropriate that now that I return to my pastoral work, so to speak, and preaching, that it is my turn to speak precisely on that subject of the suffering and martyrdom of Stephen. It is not that I consider myself a martyr, understand that, but many times in our Christian life we are going to go through times of persecution and suffering and adversity. And we have to be prepared to go through those difficult times in a way that glorifies God and that allows us to emerge victorious and even better from those trials.

I believe that many times the churches fail to prepare our people for the sufferings, and the losses and the adversities that inevitably come to the life of every believer, and we fail in that. Particularly those churches that emphasize the power of God and that move in the Pentecostal movement, we talk about victory and spiritual warfare, but sometimes we don't talk about those times when we have to suffer and that simply what we have to do in In that case, it is to commend our souls to God until the test passes.

How many times have you gone through a situation of difficulty in your life, illness, economic deprivation, difficulties at work and in your profession? Perhaps there has been a time of spiritual dryness, even depression, marital problems, and difficulties in life, and you have prayed to the Lord to pass that cup from you. And you have fasted, and you have confessed all the sins that you remember and those that perhaps you could have committed without realizing it and those that you are going to commit as well. You have reconciled with all the people who did something to you and with those you owe them too, and you have rebuked and declared, you have done everything that the Pentecostal manual prescribes to emerge victorious from the test, and yet the problem still continues, the disease, the difficulty. How many have been there? I think everyone, right?

And many times then our tendency is to doubt the faithfulness and mercy of God. The truth is that situations will come into our life that we will not be able to explain in any way, and in those cases we simply have to accept that God is sovereign, God is Lord, that he is not wrong, that he by definition is not does nothing wrong, that everything he does in the life of one of his children is good by definition, and that although perhaps at the moment we are going through the test we do not know the explanation, the Lord knows that this is necessary and it is for our good, and for the blessing of those around us.

Many times our sufferings will not be because we are outside of God's will, but precisely because we are within God's will. As in the case of Stephen who was doing the will of God, he was preaching his word, he was defending the lordship of Jesus Christ, his martyrdom comes precisely because he is declaring the truth of God and moving in integrity as a minister.

In a recent case, God had chosen to free Peter and John from martyrdom, miraculously releasing them from prison, and yet in this case, with a man filled with the Holy Spirit, upright in his walk with God, God sovereignly chooses not to deliver him from a painful and cruel death.

Why these two different ways of proceeding with his servants? God's designs and ways are not our ways. And many times when the test comes to our life if we do not have an explanation, we simply have to say, you know what, Father, even though I do not understand, I submit to your will, you are Lord and you are good.

However, through the study of this text one can see a little of the mysteries of God explained in this journey of his servant Stephen and it is enlightening for us. We see here, Stephen is brought before the court and he takes a historical tour of the Scriptures showing the hardness of heart of the Jewish people throughout history against the prophets of God.

Through his long speech Esteban shows how faithful he has been over and over again calling Abraham, Joseph, Moses and how these men had to suffer for the infidelity of God's own people.

In the case of Moses, for example, Stephen points out that even while Moses was on the mountain receiving the tablets of the law, the Jewish people were down there corrupting themselves, raising idols.

And there in verse 51 finally Stephen concludes his impassioned sermon and cannot refrain from a word of accusation against the hard-heartedness of the Jews and says:

“…stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute and kill those who announced in advance the coming of the just one of whom you have now been betrayers and murderers? You who received the law by the provision of angels and did not keep it..."

And when these men hear that, instead of breaking down, what they do is like they are filled with a demonic rage, they gnash their teeth and they throw themselves on Esteban and they snatch him up and take him out of town to kill him and destroy him.

Reading Stephen's sermon and his long account of the history of the Jews, one of the things I concluded is the importance of not being deaf ears, brothers, of listening reverently and retaining the experiences and teachings of the Holy Spirit throughout throughout our life.

Because what Stephen accuses the Jews is, you have received revelation time and time again, prophets that God has sent you, revelation through all the centuries, and you have continued stubborn in your rebellion and your carnality.

And I thought, brothers, that many times in the churches there are people, in this church thank God that does not exist, but in other churches there are people who spend years and years and years, coming to the church every Sunday, receiving words, sermons , speeches and simply remain the same, sterile, do not grow, do not enter into the revelation of God for their lives.

And God tells you, do not be a broken sack, retain the word of God, treasure it and put it into practice in your life, open your ears to hear the word, interact with the word of God, feel his personal and individual call for your life . And ask yourself how you can embrace that word and live it and put it into practice every day of your life, because otherwise what happens is that, as with these Jews, we harden and become insensitive to the word of God.

So we come to church and the word is like when one has a key in one hand, from so much work that hand or that piece of skin hardens and you hardly feel the roughness of the surface anymore because the skin is hardened.

Many people come to church Sunday after Sunday and have become so used to hearing the preaching that they no longer listen with their hearts. So that is one of the teachings but that is not the main point of this sermon, but it is an important thing that is seen here.

But what I wanted to talk about is that of martyrdom and suffering in the life of the believer. I was saying that there are several lessons that we can learn from the life and suffering of Esteban.

And one of the things that I have learned is that, as I have already said, sometimes precisely because we serve the Lord and be faithful to him, we will suffer the attacks of the enemy. Second Timothy 3:12 says:

"... And also those who want to live piously in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution..."

Sometimes for speaking the truth and having an exemplary conduct there will be people who will want to persecute and attack us. The enemy will try to destroy us and lead us to deny God's faithfulness and mercy, he will want to neutralize our testimony that blesses the people around us so much.

So, as we said brothers, suffering is not always due to being in sin. Sometimes it will be the opposite. Sometimes we think that since we serve the Lord everything has to always work out for us. It won't always be like this. We have to be prepared for when the bad day comes, when persecution comes into our lives, when illness comes, economic problems, loss of loved ones, family conflicts. Sometimes adversity will be the best sign that we are pleasing God and that we are at the center of his will, instead of the opposite.

When the test comes, brothers, the Christian counterattacks with the words and promises of God. The powerful believer uses the weapons of the spirit but many times the trial and drought last longer than we want. And in those cases the only thing we can do is stand on the word of God, we need to exercise faith and stand firm until the bad day passes, and it will have to pass. That will be our greatest fighting weapon, simply resisting in the word of God.

Let's look at chapter 6 of Ephesians, verses 10 to 20 where the Apostle Paul says:

“…Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand firm against the wiles of the devil, because we do not have a fight against blood and flesh but against principalities, powers, against the rulers of darkness of this century. Therefore, he says, take the whole armor of God so that you can resist in the day and having finished everything, stand firm..."

And so the Apostle Paul advises us to be firm, standing still while the storm rages around us and the enemy's attack persists, simply keep ourselves covered with the elements of the Gospel around us.

Many times, brothers, when the hurricane of trials and difficulties rages around us, what we have to do is take our windows, put a 4 by 8 plywood sheet through all the windows, close ourselves in, and let the storm is spent around us. And when the hurricane is tired and exhausted, you remove the plywood sheets and clean the trees that fell, and the birds sing, you return to your normal life, protected by the coverage of the word of God.

When we go through difficulties in life that is the key, brothers, pray more, read the word more, bless God, remain faithful in what we have to do and let the devil do what he wants and threaten and roar, and say the word, resist the devil and he will flee from you.

For me that is the best way, when we have said all that, that is what truly results in the life of the believer, because difficulties and trials are going to come into our life in one way or another. And in the end, definitely, as the Apostle Paul says, in all these things we are more than conquerors.

Ultimately, brethren, you have to preemptively arm yourself with that attitude that no matter what happens in my life, I'm going to glorify and praise and adore my God, no matter what. I am going to arm myself with the promises of God and I am going to believe that God has good things for me, but if the day of evil comes, even then I am also going to serve the Lord and glorify his name, no matter what happens .

Habakuk's words in chapter 3:17-19 are immortal words that we must engrave in our hearts always:

“…even though the fig tree does not flourish and the vines do not bear fruit, even though the produce of the olive tree is lacking and the farmers do not provide maintenance, and the sheep are removed from the fold and there are no cows in the pens, yet I will rejoice in the Lord and I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Hallelujah! The Lord GOD is my strength, who makes my feet like servants' feet and makes me walk on my heights..."

That is the attitude that the devil will never know what to do, a Christian cannot be defeated as long as he maintains that attitude, that posture in his heart. Another important lesson, and I'm closing now, that we learn from Stephen's martyrdom is that when we suffer in Christ, God generally blesses us with spiritual blessings that compensate for suffering on a physical, material level.

I have learned that in times of trial and suffering, we kind of get closer to the Lord than ever. We are more sensitive to the truths of the spirit. There was a time of lack in the life of my family, many years ago, when I was little in the Dominican Republic, and food was still scarce in my house and I remember that my mother, who had recently met the Lord, said that when there was not so much food in the meal then she felt freer to worship the Lord and seek God because she did not have to cook, she even thanked God for those times. And we children thought in a different way, we were not so spiritual.

But yes, Stephen saw the glory of God. It says that as these men prepared to stone him the heavens opened up. Stephen saw the glory of God and Jesus seated at the right hand of the Father.

Brothers, I am willing to endure a few stones to see what Esteban saw. Stephen was given the exceptional privilege of seeing God's lordship over history and over creation. It is important to remember that Lordship of God when we go through situations that seem unfair and inexplicable to us.

As Job we have to say, God gave and God took away, be the name of Jehovah blessed. The Apostle Peter, in first Peter 4:12 says:

“…beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, as if something strange happened to you, but rejoice because you are participants in the sufferings of Christ so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of his glory. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the glorious spirit of God rests upon you…”

Hopefully when we are going through testing situations in our physical life we can change the channel and tune in to the spiritual world and feel and discern what God is doing in our life to prepare us to see greater things.

Yes, brothers, in this time of being at home resting quietly waiting for my body to readjust back to normal, I have been taking advantage of this time to seek God and ask the Lord, well, Father, what are you doing for me? teaching? How can I get in tune with the secret blessings that you are bringing into my life?

And I have no doubt, brothers, that God has been digging into me so that more of the anointing of the Holy Spirit can fit into my life. While my body was being stoned, I know my spirit was seeing the glory of God. And I know that God has greater purposes in my life and in the life of this congregation.

In crucifixions the devil is always at work but God is working above the devil, fulfilling our life's purpose and preparing us to be more like Christ.

And I cannot suppress a third lesson, forgive me if I go on a little longer, and that is that while Stephen was being stoned, this man, this young Pharisee who did not know that God had a purpose in his life was there participating in that martyrdom of this man. Notice that God was using the martyrdom of this man first to unleash a persecution that would take Christians through many different towns to preach the Gospel, and perhaps more important and more strategic as planting a seed of conversion and conviction in the life of that young Pharisee who was watching this man die in such an exemplary way and forgiving those who were stoning him.

Not long after that moment the Lord knocked Paul off his horse and called Saul to serve him as the great Apostle Paul. Not only that, but many years later the Apostle Paul, having already suffered many sufferings and many crucifixions, he remembered that moment in which he participated in the death of Stephen and said, only by the grace of God am I an Apostle of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I believe that Saul's conversion began at that moment, as Stephen bled and poured out his spirituality into the air, releasing the power of God from his body. Something of God's grace in Stephen touched Paul's heart and prepared him to become the great servant of God that he later became.

For now remember, my brother, my sister, that when you go through the test, according to the models of the word of God, your life will bless others as well. God will use your suffering to bless others and make you an instrument of God's grace.

Remember that your sufferings are never in vain, there is always a purpose. God is always working in the lives of his children. Nothing that happens in a servant or a servant of God is meaningless.

Let us live the Christian life with that sense that nothing can separate us from the love of God, neither death nor life can separate us from the love of Christ. May the Lord continue to bless you, amen, amen.

We are now going to celebrate the holy supper brothers and precisely speaking of crucifixions we are going to remember the sacrifice of Christ on the cross of Calvary. Father, we bless these elements, we consecrate them to you, prepare our hearts, our spirits to discern the body of Jesus and to participate in this privilege as brothers in Christ, one body in Christ Jesus. We confess that we are not deserving of this privilege but we gladly participate in it. Bless this people, Lord, pour out your grace on them and build up an exemplary church for the glory of your name. Strengthen us now through these symbols, in the name of Jesus. Amen.