In search of something better

If you remember, two Wednesdays ago, the last time I shared with you, I talked about those 4 dimensions, about how faith, that faith that we have has 4 aspects, and one is the faith that moves us, that directs us to what our experience of salvation is, which is our entrance into our relationship with the Lord through the person of Jesus.

That same faith is also defined as what is the certainty of those things that are not seen. They are remembered when we read Hebrews 11. There is also faith as the gift of faith which is when we are talking about a faith with hypertrophy, or a faith on steroids if you will, which is like when everyone says no, not here anymore There is a way out, this is over. Faith, that supernatural, that gift is activated and allows us to say, no, God is not finished. God still has something in the midst of things. And we launched like this.

And there is also faith according to the fruit of the spirit that speaks about fidelity, about how God, through that sense of faith, also gives us a sense of being faithful in what we do, of being faithful in our relationship with him because he remains faithful to us and also to be faithful to each other in our relationship as brothers and sisters in the Lord.

But today, I want to throw myself into an aspect that is related, but I would say that it is parallel because I began to read that passage from Hebrews 11 and I am sure that many of you have read this passage that talks about the heroes or the patriarchs of Faith.

So come with me to Hebrews Chapter 11, we're going to read some verses here, but as such, I want to focus on verses 13-16, Hebrews Chapter 11, verses 13-16. I have put this title: "Faith in search of something better", write it down there.

I believe that when we live by faith it is because that faith is driving us to seek something better, to achieve something better. Because God definitely does not want us to stay where we are. God wants something better for his sons and daughters. We can say amen to that, right? God wants something better for us.

If God had thought otherwise, I believe that he would not have sent his son Jesus to die for us, and would have left us just as we were. But from the origins of the world it can be seen that God has a desire, a purpose with all his creation, especially with us as human beings. Hebrews Chapter 11, verse from 13 to 16, look how it says:

“… According to faith all these died without having received what was promised, but looking at it and believing it and greeting it and confessing that they were foreigners and pilgrims on earth. Because what they say clearly implies that they are looking for a homeland, because if they had been thinking about the one they came from, they certainly had the time to return, but they longed for a better one…”

Hey me, I like that phrase. You could tell yourself, you longed for something better.

“…This is heavenly, for which reason God is not ashamed to call himself their God, because he has prepared a city for them…”

How cute is this. Look, this text maybe when you start reading it, it's like, wait but here's something that doesn't sound very good. Because it begins by saying, "according to faith they died." It's like, okay, he already threw it at me, these people died, and not only did they die, but he also says, “all these without having, what? Received what was promised."

Perhaps you are saying, Pastor Omar, what message of soul are you going to get from here? Why do you start telling me that these people died without having received what was promised?

What people are you talking about? We'll see. It begins in verse 4 mentioning one of the first beings created on earth, which was Abel. Abel is the first one he mentions. Then he mentions Enoch, in verse 5, in verse 7 he mentions Noah, and from verses 8 to 12 he talks about Abraham and Sarah. Those are the characters he is talking about before verse 13.

And what verse 13 is saying is that those people died without having received what they had been promised. But what was that promise? If we remember the promise that God gave them was a promised land and an offspring, what? So numerous that not even the stars in the sky could, as they say, as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the grains of sand in the sea. That was the promise, The Promise, and I'm going to say it the Promise, with a capital P, if you will, that God had given to those people.

But look how interesting my brothers, because if we were to analyze the stories of each one of these people, obviously there are some stories here that are a little bit tragic. Because Abel, what happened to him? It was the first recorded murder in human history. okay. But his person is remembered as a man who, according to his faith, the offering he brought pleased God. He was one of the first to please God. his faith what he was looking for, what he was looking for was to please God and he managed to do it.

So, at least he achieved part of a promise. But the rest of the promise was cut short by his brother's jealousy. To Enoch, if you don't know the story, read Genesis Chapter 5, that's where it talks about Enoch. Enoch, the only thing the Enoch Bible mentions was that Enoch walked with God for, do you know how many years? for 300 years. Really. Really, Pastor Omar?

Well yes, and keep walking. Do you know why? What's more, I'm going to read this so you can see that I'm not making it up. Look what it says, Genesis Chapter 5, verse 21, says:

"Enoch lived 65 years and fathered Methuselah and Enoch walked with God, after he fathered Methuselah, 300 years and fathered sons and daughters..."

Do you know what it is to walk with God for 300 years? If I walked one day with God it would be something unforgettable. Imagine 300 years.

But, it says "... and all the days of Enoch were 365 years, and verse 24 look at the key here, Enoch walked with God and disappeared because he took him..."

In other words, what that text is saying is that Enoch was one of the few people who did not experience death. Like Elijah taken away. What happens is that Elías went on a party, in a chariot of fire chariots. Enoch, the case of him that you blink and… he left. And in the blink of an eye he was gone.

Look how interesting that related to Enoch there is a passage that we know that says, "but without faith it is impossible to please God because it is necessary that the one who approaches God believes that there is and that he is a rewarder of those who fear him."

We use that passage a lot, but that passage is saying it in relation to the life of Enoch. Because all Genesis says is that he walked with God. And what does that mean that he walked in God? if he walked with God it is because he believed that there is, that there is a God. and throughout those 300 years, which some say are figurative, symbolic numbers, but whether it is 300 years or it would have been 30 years, the thing is that man believed that there was a God and in everything he did, he did it as if he were in relationship with that God.

And God, in his character, in his conduct, rewarded Enoch because he took him to live with him for all eternity. 300 years was not enough, it gave him even more. There Enoch's sense of faith is measured in the fact that he did have faith because he knew there was a God and was intentionally in relationship with that God, every day of his life. There it can be said that this man followed a promise and received it completely because he is with him.

What other character speaks to us? noah. What happened to Noah? Noah saw a promise fulfilled. True, he was saved in the ark because he had the faith to believe God when everyone else was saying, “Oh boy, you're crazy, that's just a drizzle that's falling. Nothing will happen." Let me save the ones that God told me and in this case the animals were more important than the people, the only people that were saved were Noah's family. That's where the faith of this man was seen. And God rewarded her.

But obviously his life came to an end. There was still a much bigger promise, that promise is then communicated to Abraham and Sarah and the promise is to give them numerous offspring.

You know one thing that interests me about this whole story, and even about the other characters mentioned in Chapter 11, is that none of these people were perfect. All these people had their faults. And it's very interesting because Sara is being recognized as a woman of faith when she heard the angel say, "And your wife is going to conceive too" what did she do, "this angel was roasted." So, the first one who hesitated at the word was herself. More, however, here they are identifying her as a woman of faith.

Look at this, how interesting. Look how interesting. I hope that you are following the thread of where I am going because even after she received that word, and that they had a promise that God was going to give them a son, they took matters into their own hands and decided to do it on their own form too, but with all that there were consequences. But despite the consequences, God kept his side of the deal, as they say, his pact side.

But nevertheless, these people were considered as patriarchs, heroes of the faith and we have them there as an example. And then we come across these verses that say, “hey, these people lived according to the faith and also died according to that same faith that they were professing. But they did not receive what was promised, but looked at it from afar, believing it, greeting it, confessing that they were like foreigners and pilgrims on earth."

What were they looking for? verse 14, what does it say they were looking for? they were looking for a homeland. How many have love for their homeland? How many have love for Santo Domingo? How many have love for Chile? How many have love for Colombia? How many have love for Guatemala? For Puerto Rico? Amen. For Cuba? Cuba the great, Cuba the only one. Venezuela and all the other countries represented here.

Look, one loves that homeland, but I like this, "they were looking for a homeland because if they had been thinking about the one they came from, they certainly had time to return."

How interesting this is, my brothers, that this experience of faith had two moments where these people could easily have returned from the same place they left. Who does this remind you of? To the people of Israel when they left Egypt. What was it that they were saying over and over again, over and over again when they came across a problem, “Oh, Moises, why did you get us out of here? we are going back there to Egypt.”

And because you were thinking that way, what happened? God used 40 years to get rid of all that incredulous and stubborn generation that, despite all the miracles that God did, kept thinking of coming back and coming back.

Instead of going back, but look at how he says, "but they longed for a better, this is heavenly" That phrase is where I got the theme of this message, a faith that seeks something better. If I asked what are you looking for? what would you answer me? If I were to ask you tonight, as you sit here, or as you sit at home, in front of your computer, wherever you are, if I asked you, honestly, what are you looking for? what would that answer be? When we come here to this church, what are we looking for? When we approach a God who is almighty, what are we looking for by approaching him? When we join a cell, what are we looking for? When we hear a prophetic word that God is going to bless his people with great things and we hear that word and that word encourages us, inspires us, what are we really looking for?

We are certainly looking for a blessing, but now I say, are we looking for a whim, a personal desire or are we truly looking by faith? And this is where I see that there is a difference between these two, because we all have our whims, my brothers. I am not going to deny it. All of us have our personal desires, things that we want to achieve. The same Psalm 90, I love this Psalm 90. Psalm 90 in verse 17 says, “Let the light of the Lord our God be upon us, and confirm the work of our hands upon us, yes, affirm, yes the work of our hands confirms.”

What this verse is saying is that, look, God, we have had years of tribulation, we have had years of sadness but now we want to go in this direction, we have these good plans and we want your light to shine on these things, that you grant your favor, that you be with us and that we can achieve it. That is a personal desire and we are presenting it to God, and look, God will undoubtedly allow some of your desires to be achieved.

It's like I say sometimes, that God is such a spoiled father, there are times when he becomes like a spoiled father and grants us those whims. But when those whims are driven by rotten desires, trust me they're not going to happen.

There is another passage that I can use in James Chapter 4, verses 2 and 3 that says, “They covet and have not, they kill and envy and cannot get. They fight and fight but they do not have what they want because they do not ask and if they ask they do not receive because they ask to waste money on their own delights.

When our intentions are ill-intentioned, believe me that you can spend the saliva that you have in your mouth that God is not going to grant you what you are asking for. As much as you pray, as much as you fast, Lord, that red convertible the year is what I want. I'm going to give you an '82 Datsun, because the reason you're asking me for the convertible doesn't look very good.

Sir, the lottery. Lord, I'm going to give the lottery and the tithe to you, from that lottery. The tithe, you should give more than the tithe. Why are we searching? If we then seek by faith, and here I am going to summarize, if we seek by faith, look, we must understand that our reach cannot be measured in terms of this world, but rather in heavenly terms.

Although our faith in God produces results in our earthly time, with everything we must understand that that, that Promise with a capital P, for which our faith in God impels us is to meet him. That Promise to which God is calling us, look what it says, in Hebrews 11, the last verse of that Chapter, verse 39 and 40, look what it says:

“All of these, all of the people this Chapter is talking about, all of these, although they achieved good testimony through faith… that is, that is why they are being recognized because they had faith, despite their imperfections, they were men and women who had faith in God... did not receive what was promised... and you are going to say, oh, wow, why not? what is promised?... God providing something better for us so that they would not be perfected apart from us..."

Do you know what you are talking about there in that text? This text is speaking of the promise that we have in the Lord Jesus of eternal life, eternally reunited with God. That is where the perfection of the people of Christ will be seen. That is the faith to which we are aiming.

That is why we are pilgrims and strangers on this earth, because although we live here our true residence is not in Boston, Massachusetts, our true residence is not in Randolph, our true residence is not in Hyde Park or in Rosslindale, or in Revere or in Stoneham or in Medford, wherever you live, your real residence, our real residence is at address 777, street of gold and seas of crystals. Where is that? Enrique, explain to me where that is? Okay something, up there, right? There is no rocket that goes up there.

Look where I'm going, my brothers. Certainly we are looking for something because God wants to bless us in this earthly time in which we are. God wants to bless us here in this current time. God wants you to live a full life, to live an abundant life, to be able to stand up in the middle of any situation and be able to say, "Gee, hey, I'm living this and this and this, but wow, inside I feel , no one messes with me, because with me is the greatest of all.

It's like this sense of certainty, again, of security, and it's not security in oneself, but it's security in the fact that there is someone much older than us who is, as it were, giving us his cover, giving us his coat, his lullaby, their protection, their nourishment so that we can lead lives that are full, that are abundant, that looks, yes, we have our ailments, we have our situations, there are times when we find it very difficult, there are times when we have frustrations , that we have disappointments, but with everything and that, that supernatural faith, that faith that is from another world, that faith that sometimes takes steroids, drives us and fills us so that we can, as they say, recalibrate our system and keep pointing to those things to which God is calling us.

It is not for nothing that Chapter 12 tells us, “Therefore we too, having such a great cloud of witnesses around us, what do we have to do? Strip ourselves of all weight and of the sin that besieges us and run with patience the race that lies ahead of us, setting our eyes on…”

Do to God everybody like that, hey. I'm looking at you. “…set our eyes on Jesus.”

What is it that he says next, “…the author, the finisher, it begins with him, it ends with him…” and if he is in the middle of that, look my brothers, he is the one who is going to be moving us, who is going to be there, as they say, pushing, don't settle for this, keep looking for more, keep aiming for more.

That is the God that when they gave you a bad grade, a bad grade in High School and you got frustrated and they gave you your first F to those who gave you an F, you say, oh, my career is over here. And the Lord says, no, that's not the end of your race, keep looking, keep going. That maybe some of us got a disease and like, wow, wait how am I going to get sick with this now? And after a while, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, God comes back and starts poking, hey, this isn't over yet.

A loved one died and you suffered his departure, it hurt you and you questioned God why and you spent a time of silence, where nothing felt, the leaves of the trees did not move and you were there in a total depression and suddenly Out of nowhere, that punch comes back again. Hey, this isn't over, keep going. I still have something with you. I am calling you to something else.

That is God through his Son Jesus who drives us, who moves us, who tells us, look, I am the one who has started, I am the author of what is happening in your life. I am the one that is driving you. If you are looking for something, it is me that you have to look for. Yes, look for me to provide you with the money you need to pay your debts, look for me to give you the love you need for your children, for your wife, for your husband. Look for me to provide you with a good house. Seek to be part of a church that can nurture you, that can teach you. Look for your having friends, friends around you who encourage you. Look for your to have good air conditioning in the summer and good heating in the winter. Seek to be in good health. Get into a gym. Look for what you want to look for, but above all those things, what did Jesus teach us? Search first what? And all those other things I mentioned?

You see why I said at the beginning that it is something so basic, but at the same time it is so deep. We are seeking by faith to meet the Lord eternally. That is the call that God has on all of us. That is the Promise with a capital P to which he is calling us. The promise of eternal life. There is a promise that God fulfills for us here in our time because God has promised to bless you here and he will fulfill those promises. He is going to stay faithful even if we turn our backs on him, he is going to take care of staying faithful to his side of the deal.

But there is that Promise that will not be given until the day he indicates. That is where all of us are going to be perfected together with Abel, together with Noah, together with Enoch, and together with all the others who are there, with Sarah, with Abraham, indeed, that is where we are going to meet Sara and we're going to say, “Wow, Sara, you know you were called a woman of faith even though you had mocked the angel. Wow, girl, the truth is that God loves you a lot, you heard.

That's where we're going to say to Enoch, “Enoch, how did it feel to be standing here on earth and you left, how did it feel?” That is where we are all going to be perfected. We are all going to be perfected there. It is where you are going to find the one who stepped on your keys a long time ago. You are going to look him in the face and you are going to say, “Wow, the truth is that God is great, that God brought you here just like he brought me too. Look at us how we are. We are with the nature that God intended from the beginning for our lives.”

Faith in search of something better. I thank you Lord Jesus because you are the one who puts that faith in us, Lord. You are the one who drives us, you are the one who encourages us to continue, you are the one who fills us, the one who teaches us, Lord, you are the one who corrects us, you are the one who remains silent when we have to be silent and the who talks to us when you have to talk to us. You are the one who accompanies us through all the ups and downs of our life and you are the one who calls us to an eternal life with you.

That is where our faith is founded, Lord, if I did not have that promise of eternal life, I would not be what I am now, but because I have that promise, that is why I stand firm, walking, persevering, Lord. That is why we are all here despite the different circumstances that may come, that try to distract us, to confuse us on the way with you, Jesus, with everything we look at you, Lord, because you are the author and finisher of our faith .

You are the one who brings into our life, Lord, all those good and beautiful things that you have for us in your riches, in glory. So, Lord, watch as we continue to meditate on this topic of faith, use these words, Lord, to establish that faith in you, Lord. Not in any man, in any woman, in any institution but that our faith can always remain in you, Lord. You are the one we follow, you are the one we are looking for, it is not anyone or anything else.

So, Lord, we thank you for your word, for your faithfulness and for the promises that you have over our lives, which encourage us to move forward. Bless us, Lord, as we leave here from this place, Jesus, cover us, protect us on the way, Lord, as we go to our respective homes. We know that the rain is out there, thank you for the rain, which refreshes the environment but at the same time there are its dangers, so please protect us until we reach our homes safely, Lord, and may you give us a restful, restful rest , my God, may that bed, Lord, be the feathers of angels in which we rest so that tomorrow we can recover strength and energy and achieve what we have to do.

It is enough for each day its own eagerness, but for now our eagerness is to rest in you. We thank you Jesus, we bless this time. Thank you for each one of my brothers and sisters, those who are here and those who see us on the internet and on each one of them I declare your peace, your love, your goodness, your fidelity, your mercy and your grace and your favor. . In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank my Lord.