Let's talk about Jesus

In the life of every preacher, I can say this, not only because I have studied it but I have seen it in many preachers, there always comes a time when every preacher comes across this question, the question is, what am I preaching about today? ? What am I talking about today?

Especially when you meet a group of people who perhaps have been listening to biblical messages for years and years and years. and in all this week, do not think that I got the message this morning. No, it wasn't that, I mean, I've been preparing. But throughout this week in my prayer time, when I was praying I said to myself, Lord, wow, what can I bring to the people? What can I bring to the church, to the people who arrive here today and the people who see us on the internet?

To tell you a little about how I do my prayer time, I almost always sit outside on the deck of my house and I sit down, and in front of me I put another empty chair, it's like imagining that I have Jesus there in front of me me. And so in my conversation every time this week, every time I was talking like that, it's as if the Lord said to me, "Talk about me."

Let's talk about Jesus. What better topic to talk about than Jesus? And you know what? That struck me so much because there are times when we focus on many other topics and we forget the main reason for any topic why we preach, and that is the person of Jesus.

And for me that weighed heavily because as a believer, my brothers, many times we can accommodate ourselves and many of us conform to the experiences we have lived in our faith, our relationship with the Lord Jesus. It's very easy. And I am speaking to you, not only from a personal perspective, but I believe that this is the feeling, perhaps, or not perhaps the feeling, but perhaps the reality of many people, who have with us one of the people, one of the beings that has most impacted and transformed the history of thousands of people and with everything to this day, we behave as if that had no effect, as if it did not have an efficient power that is still up to date. today.

And if anyone thinks like this, I ask them to please change their way of thinking because it is not so. I believe that the Lord Jesus is still very much in action today, in the midst of the lives of both those who know him and those who do not know him and those who do not yet know him, the Lord is in action. The Lord has not stopped his business of transforming lives. Jesus has not given up his mission to reconcile the world back to God as its Creator.

The Lord Jesus is still in action. But the thing is, my brothers, that there are times when we can pretend that we have already reached a level where we know everything, we have reached a level like a plateau where there is nothing more to experience, there is nothing more to change, no there is nothing more to transform. And so we get used to it, we get used to living our lives on a daily basis, we get used to the mere fact that I am in control of what I do, this is what I am going to do on such a day, we plan ourselves, this is what I am going to do. to do on my vacations, this is what I am going to do for the summer month, and as our whole life is totally planned by us and many times we leave the person of Jesus out of the equation and how Jesus can truly impact each one of our routines.

And perhaps you are going to tell me, “Ah, Pastor Omar, that is you there because I am not.” I have titled today's message, “Live-Changing Encounters with Jesus.” That is today's title, “Live-Changing Encounters with Jesus.”

Why am I telling you this, my brothers? Why did I want to meditate on this? And that is why I say that we receive this message with simplicity, because perhaps mature Christians who have been here for many years are going to tell me, "Ah, what else are you going to tell me about Jesus if I already know everything I need to know?" of Jesus."

If you already think so, be very careful. It is impossible for you to know everything that Jesus has for your life. I believe that not even the most learned person who has truly known something about Jesus would dare to say such a thing. We always have something to learn. We always have something to receive from the Lord. We always have something to give to the Lord.

And that is why I have wanted to take the time to meditate on these things, my brothers, on the one hand, I thank the Lord Jesus that he never accommodates himself, never settles for having a mere standard relationship with each one. of us. I thank the Lord that he never does that.

The Lord Jesus is always wanting, yearning, desiring to have more connection, more intimacy with each one of us. There is an infinity of mysteries in the Lord that he wants to make known to us, his sons, his daughters, his church, that even we have not yet known. And we haven't met them in large part because we don't spend enough time having those meetings where we can receive something from him, not just meetings where I'm the one who's pulling, pulling, pulling all the time, but where I'm can sit down to truly receive something from the Lord Jesus.

How can we reach these encounters? Look, I would like to talk to you about encounters that should never end. In other words, encounters to which we should never get used to happening just like that on a daily basis. On the contrary, we always have to have the expectation, the emotion, the anxiety in a positive sense, of wow, what new am I going to receive from the Lord? Follow me?

There is a character in the Bible that many of us are familiar with. In the book of Lucas, Chapter 19 talks about the character of Looting and we all know this story very well, those who do not know it I will give you a very brief summary.

But Plunder was a man who was in charge of collecting taxes in the town of the Jews, the town of Israel. And so that you understand, the people who collected taxes is like saying the IRS today, they were people that nobody liked that type of individual, to be mysterious. On the contrary, they treated them with rejection, they treated them with distance, they even considered them as sinners, so to speak, before God.

And the biblical account says that while Jesus was on his way to the city of Jericho, passing through that city, he met a man named Plunder who was chief of all the publicans and was a rich man, he was also a wealthy man, and he tried to see who this Jesus was. It seems that he had heard of Jesus. But I couldn't see him because of the crowd and because this man was also short, he was small.

I can look at someone specific, but I don't want to put them in the spot. I have my Plunder example here, in a matter of stature, not personality. And it says in verse 4 that Plunder running ahead climbed a sycamore tree to see him because he had to pass through that place. When Jesus came to that place looking up...

I want you to laugh visualizing this story. Jesus was walking down the street and suddenly, in the middle of the crowd, he sees these two feet dangling like this from a tree, and that catches his attention and he looks up and suddenly he sees Plunder over there dangling from a branch. And the point is that Jesus called him by name.

He says, “Hey, Plunder, what are you doing climbing up there, boy? Be careful that you don't fall. So do me a favor and get off that branch because today I need to get to your house with you."

Look at that. "Hurry, come down because today it is necessary for me to pose in your house."

How nice it is that Jesus in his sovereignty, even though he has a whole crowd around him, he knows each one by name and surname. So I can tell you something about Jesus is that, in the midst of all this crowd, if Jesus stops here he can call each one by first and last name, even the one who is back there in the corner, the Lord can call him by name and surname, even the one who is sitting in front of his computer in the most remote town in Argentina, the Lord can call you by name and surname.

He can do that. And not only that, but at the same time he says, "I need to spend time with you." But Jesus, if you have so many other people you can attend to, why me? At this moment it is necessary for me to spend time with you. I have to get to your house. So come down from that tree where you are, you and I are going to have dinner.

How nice it is to know, my brothers, that the Lord Jesus is interested in each one. He can be interested in multitudes, and he can minister to multitudes, but at the same time, since he has that great reach, he can also have the reach to reach a particular heart.

Do you know what I like about this meeting? That this meeting was unexpected. Jesus invited himself uninvited. Check it out. I don't know if you have had someone that you are planning a barbecue or something like that and someone found out and like, can I come? And then you find yourself at the crossroads that if I don't invite him he's going to feel bad because I didn't invite him so hey, one more person, "Honey, include one more mouth that's worth three."

In other words, what Jesus was doing was that he interrupted the Plunder routine in a way that he never imagined before, he interrupted his routine. Can you imagine what your life would be like if Jesus interrupted your routine when you least expect it? How would we respond if Jesus suddenly barges into your time and says, "Hey, we need to talk." What would it be, sorry for taking you as an example Benjamin, you are 15 minutes away from starting one of your classes at the seminary, you are there in your office, and suddenly you feel this presence that fills your entire office and is like the Lord is telling you, "I need to spend time with you before you go to your class." How would we react?

David, like a school principal, you get there in the morning, setting things up, looking at the gates, and suddenly you feel in your heart that the Lord says to you, “I need to spend time with you.”

Oscar, you are arriving at your office and you are rushing there, you have many things on your mind, things that you have to accomplish and suddenly you feel this impression that the Lord is saying to you, "I need to spend time with you."

Mirra, you are doing your chores around the house, you have thousands of things to do and suddenly, when you are going to put a batch in the washing machine, you feel in your heart, "Mirra, I have to spend time with you." "No, Lord, now I can't, I have to do many things, I have to comply with this, I have to do that, I have to do the other." Which is often the answer we give. I have given that answer.

But think about this, the interest that Jesus has so much in your life is so great that there are times when he dares not to respect our time but wants to interrupt it. And although we say that he is very gentleman, but he has these moments that his chivalry uses it to interrupt us and let us know, "I need time with you."

And what brought that meeting? What it says? When Jesus arrived at Plunder's house, Plunder was moved by the presence of Jesus in such a profound way that what he said was, “Jesus, look, I know that I have done wrong. Today I am going to return everything I owe to the people and if necessary I am going to return it quadrupled. I'm not just going to... no, he said, I'm going to pay it back with interest, forget the interest, I'm going to quadruple it.

The man was so moved by the Lord Jesus that he dared to do something extravagant. And what did Jesus say? Today salvation has come to this house. Salvation was not that he already entered heaven. Does not mean that. When that text speaks of salvation, what Jesus is meaning is that a sense of well-being came not only to the home, but rather to the life of Plunder that only Jesus could give. A new diner has arrived for Saqueo's life.

And not only for Saqueo's life but for all those people who had been impacted by him, in a negative way because now Saqueo had a new perspective on life, that means that the people who knew him were going to have to start to see in a totally different way. He is no longer the tax collector, a sinner, now he is a man who is doing his job but he is doing it in a responsible way and not only that but because he has had an encounter with the same Jesus that I have also known.

So, now I have to relate to him in a different way. So, that aspect of salvation that occurred in the light of that encounter with Jesus, has brought a new meaning, a new direction to life. Unexpected encounters.

There is another type of encounter, which is the encounter that is expected. The opposite of the first, is the expected meeting or the scheduled meeting. Look, in Luke Chapter 10, there is another story that we also know but I want to emphasize something here.

When Jesus visits Martha and Mary these two sisters that Jesus knew them very well and it seems that every time Jesus passed through Bethany one of his stops was the house of the two of them. So, that visit of Jesus was more or less expected, because when they received him in the house, which is what they say, they received him in their house, they began to prepare a dinner for Jesus, for the disciples, and what is it that teach the text?

It lets us know that this is the type of meeting where we catch up with Jesus. In other words, it is what Greg and I call our meetings with Pastor Miranda, they are our check up meetings, maintenance meetings if you will. Just like you take your car in for maintenance, every 5,000 miles, we have every one day a week, not 5,000 miles, every one day a week we have these times where we meet with the pastor to do our maintenance check, and let him know the pastor, how we are, what we have been doing, so that he is informed of all the things that are happening around the church and that he also informs us of the things that he has been doing. In other words, it is something that goes from both parties.

But that is the meeting time, when I think of the person of Jesus that we constantly need. That planned meeting is that meeting in which we catch up with Jesus and that he also catches up with us in some way or another.

Obviously, a part of that text, of this story, of this story of Marta and María is that many times we focus that Marta was over there focused, cooking, serving, and María, what did she do? He decided to sit at Jesus' feet and listen to what he was saying. And obviously everyone says like oh, Maria was the one who did the right thing and Marta was the one who was over there busy with all the chores.

But we here in the church, for many preaching that we have heard that passage, what we have learned is that what Jesus teaches us here is the importance of knowing how to maintain a good balance between what is service and what is devotion. What it is to be involved in some type of action in this case, be it at church, or at work, or in your family, to be doing things that keep your family in a good, healthy, productive, dynamic routine. , versus, spending devotional time, spending time connecting with God, sitting down and saying, okay, let's talk, let me vent and tell me what you have too.

That is what this text is talking about. And these are encounters, my brothers, that we cannot miss in our lives. We need to have those moments planned, expected, where we reach a point in the day, be it in the morning, be it in the afternoon, be it at night, be it whenever we can touch base, where we can sit with Jesus and listen to what he has for us.

And perhaps that aspect of listening can be difficult because those encounters with Jesus are not necessarily that there is a dialogue between two people, but when you are praying, perhaps it is a time that is filled only with silence and the only thing that is heard time, it is your own breathing or the beating of your heart.

But we have to learn, my brothers, that for us one of the ways in which this applies to our lives is that even in that time of silence we can learn to listen to the voice of Jesus in the midst of our lives. And this is something that is not very easy for many people because our minds are so full of things that have to be done, things that I have to accomplish, that even if we are in a time of silence, our minds are a hundred miles away. hours thinking, I have to do this, I have to do that, I have to call such a person, I have to buy this, I have to contact that other person or I have to fill out this letter or I have to make this payment. Our mind is so full and so full of so many things that even if Jesus wants to talk to us and we are silent for even 5 minutes, we will not be able to pay attention to him because we are focused on many other things.

And we have to learn what it is to quiet our mind. I'm not going to say an Eastern meditation practice of “oh, empty your mind, ohmm.” I am not going to tell you to do that, but I can tell you to put into practice what one of the psalms says, "be still and know that I am God."

And that being still means slow down, slow down, shut up, pay attention to what the Lord wants to say. They are expected moments, programmed moments, that we cannot ignore, but we have to be very aware of them. These encounters remind us that both service and devotion are dynamics of life that we must continually foster in our relationship with the Lord.

A third type of encounter, which we must always seek, and we can read about this encounter in the book of Luke, Chapter 5, where Jesus meets the first disciples and calls them to serve. This is the type of encounter that I call the encounter that is determinative or definitive, in the sense that they define something in our lives, they are determinative, they are withering so to speak. When Jesus appears, he lets us know what he has in his heart for us and we have one of two options, either we obey or we sit and do nothing.

Look how it says, Jesus appears to the disciples, after the disciples had been fishing and caught nothing, Jesus appeared and told them, "Launch out into the deep and cast your nets for another catch," and Peter Simon said to him, "But we've been fishing all night and we haven't caught anything." Hey, trust me, in your name, how did he tell her? In your name we will.

Then they signaled when they cast their nets because they had filled up, they almost broke, and they signaled to their other companions to go help them. Verse 8 says:

"... And seeing this Simon Peter fell on his knees before Jesus saying, "Oh, get away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." Because of the fishing they had done, fear had seized him and all those who were with him. But Jesus then said to Simon, "Do not be afraid, boy, for from now on I will make you a fisher of men." And when they brought the boats to land, leaving everything they followed him…”

Look at that meeting, my brothers. Look at that definitive encounter in the life of these initial disciples, one of the first with whom Jesus met that he began to call them, set them apart for his work, for his mission, for his ministry. Jesus again, it can be said that on the one hand he interrupted the routine of these boys again, but what that encounter brought was a sense of definition in the lives of those people.

You know, those who understand what it is to be a disciple in that time of Jesus, look how interesting. A young man who was working either in fishing, in the vineyards or in the carpentry, do you know what it meant? That those guys weren't good enough to be with a rabbi. They did not learn the complete Torah, they did not learn the complete books of the prophets, they could not recite all of them and they could not fulfill those requirements, therefore they could not pursue one of the so-called higher level vocations back then, which was to be the disciple of one of the most renowned rabbis at the time. Therefore, they had to dedicate themselves to the trade of their parents.

At that time they labeled them as you were not good enough, they were not good enough to be able to aspire to the best. You weren't good enough to be a lawyer, a doctor, or a great judge who was to establish laws that would transform the life of a nation, so you had to dedicate yourself to being a shoemaker, you had to dedicate yourself to being a carpenter, you had to dedicate yourself to clean houses.

So, in the terms of that society you weren't good enough. And look what Jesus was doing. Jesus, who was the rabbi of rabbis, interrupted the routine of those boys and let them know, “You are good for me. I want to use you and what others have discarded I want to use."

Look what Jesus does. Jesus was breaking stereotypes from that time with each of those encounters, breaking and when Jesus wants to meet you, what Jesus wants to do is break a stereotype in your head, in your mind, in your spirit, in your being , because you have been taught how it should be, or because of the experiences you have had and have understood, you already know that God operates in this way, because that is the only way in which God operates. But when Jesus wants to have an encounter with you, what he wants to do is break precisely that stereotype that is engraved in your head. And he wants to let you know, “No, no, no, I work in another way, I operate things in another dimension. Are you willing, are you willing to let me interrupt your routine to let you know the things that I truly have for you? Or are you going to stay used to, comfortable with your life as it is now? Are you going to stay attached to your way of thinking that you have now, your way of reasoning, your way of justifying the things that happen in your life? Or are you going to dare to start seeing things in a different way?

Those are the encounters that Jesus still wants to give us today. Determining meetings, definitive meetings where he gets into your life and lets you know, things are not as you think, I have a different perspective. Are you willing to accept it? Are you going to leave things for me or are you going to stand there smelling like fish all the time?

There are other types of encounters that I tell you are both blessing and conflicting encounters. Encounters of blessing and conflict. How many remember the story of Lazarus? Lazarus who was raised from the dead right?

I'm running out of air. John Chapter 11 talks about the resurrection of Lazarus, after 4 days of being dead, stinking and everything, Jesus called him and raised him up. A miracle that transformed that neighborhood completely.

But in Chapter 12 something happens that kind of confuses you. And I want to confuse you for a moment. Hey, they're following me, right? OK. In Chapter 12 he talks about another visit Jesus made to Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. He came to their house again and when people find out that Jesus is in their house, well, everyone begins to crowd and gather there in the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. And I am very interested because verse 9, look how it says:

“…A large crowd of the Jews then learned that Jesus was there and came, not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead…”

Look at that. They not only wanted to see Jesus but they wanted to see the miracle, they wanted to see Lazarus, they wanted to see the living dead. How many times will there be people who have wanted to get closer to you, not only because of what Jesus has done or because of the person of Jesus living in you, but rather because of what Jesus has done for you. You have been praying for a house with 4 rooms, two bathrooms and two covered garages, and when you have that house people want to visit you, not because Jesus provided it for you, but because you have the house, and because they want to see your kitchen with a counter. tops and stuff like that, and they want to see what it's like to be in a house like that.

You were going through a time when you didn't have a job, your bank account went into the red and you said, now what? And the Lord did a miracle and provided what you needed and now people want to stick with you, not because of Jesus in you, but because of the thousands of dollars you have now, and they come to you with their stories, look, I have a need, can you help me? A little loan of 500 dollars, or something like that. I am your family, you know, we have known each other for a long time.

Encounters that are blessing and conflict, do you know why? Look what verse 10 says, it says:

“…But the chief priests agreed to put Lazarus to death also, because because of him many of the Jews turned away and believed in Jesus…”

What happens when the encounters that Jesus brings into your life are, on the one hand, a blessing, but at the same time they cause conflict, because then another around you, because of envy, because of resentment, because of jealousy, they want to kill the miracle that God has done in you.

Follow me? That people react in such a way to the things that God has done in your life that before you were a first-rate foulmouth and now suddenly your speech is so sweet, so poetic that the friends you used to have now think they're like, hey, where did you get that talk now so cultivated, so proper, so politically correct? If you are the first foul-mouthed person on the street, you were the first one who, if you had to say a peep to someone, you told them, and now what you say is, hey, you look good. Good luck. Instead of sending it to a good site, you send it to another site.

So by not understanding what God has done in you, what they begin to do is begin to question you, they begin to ask if what God has truly done in you is real or false. They begin to say, oh, let him, in a couple of months he will start sending everyone to a good place again. And what they want to do is kill the miracle that the Lord Jesus has done in you. It is an encounter that has brought a blessing to your life, but others, because they do not understand the magnitude of what Jesus has done in your life, what they want to do is break everything he has done.

And there are times when it can be the type of meeting that we like, ah, no, to avoid conflict, well, I don't want that type of meeting. But you know what? If you are with Jesus you will not be able to avoid it, because sooner or later what Jesus does in you is going to collide in the lives of others and it is going to bring about a conflict in some way or another.

How many people are not here that in your families you are the first generation of believers, and you come here, you cry at the altar, you give yourself to Jesus and you say, Jesus, I want my life to be for you. And you come home and the first ones who want to break that miracle of life in you are your parents, because they don't believe in the same thing as you. And then you have to get into a fight, it's like that meeting of blessing that you had here when you get home turns into a conflict. And you have to learn how to fight, how to fight with it, how to defend in some way or another what Jesus has done in you.

And what this type of conflict can easily do is turn off that faith, that impetus, that passion that one feels for Jesus and if we are not well established, well, we let ourselves be carried away by the current and it's like, okay, look, it's fine. I'm not going to fight with you anymore, I'll consider this another day.

But we can't do that. If that encounter with Jesus has been one of blessing, it has been definitive, it has been decisive, we have to keep fighting for that. If I made a confession here at the altar, why am I going to forget about that confession when I leave the door? I have to carry that with me, if Jesus has truly done it in me, I have to carry it with me, and I have to make my life fit, fit into it. And maybe that may sound like a message for new believers but look, no, this is for people who have been living in this relationship with the Lord Jesus for 30 years. Because still in 30 years you know what? I am going to tell you a secret, even after 30 years of serving Jesus, of your being a true Christian, in 30 years do you know what is one of the things that can break precisely that momentum? What I said at the beginning, comfort, everyday life can break that.

We are Christians as they say, from the mouth to the outside, but not from the heart. Inside here, the routine of life has settled in us so much that we have lost that sense of adventure in our relationship with the Lord Jesus.

There is one last meeting that I want to talk about. In Matthew Chapter 25 he tells us about a parable that many of us also know, Matthew Chapter 25, the parable of the 10 virgins or rather, the 5 prudent virgins and the 5 negligent virgins. What does this parable say?

There were 10 virgins in a vocabulary more than today, 10 chaste, pure girls, this is the illustration that Jesus is using, and he is using this parable to talk about the Kingdom of Heaven, about that promise of what is to come. 5 of these girls were prudent in the fact that when they went to await the return of the king they took their 5 jugs of oil with them just in case their lamps went out and they could keep them burning, and 5 of them were not prudent enough and left. They only went with their lamps and the little oil they had in them.

Come midnight, what does the story say? They began to announce, the king is coming, the king is coming! And the girls began to get ready, to dress again, but they started, they began to prepare their lamps and then the 5 imprudent ones realized that their oil was running out and they said to the 5 girls they had, “Hey, girls, Can you share a little bit of that oil?” and they told him, "Look, so that we don't lack it and so that you don't lack it, it's better for you to go shopping and then we'll have enough for both of us." at midnight who is going to buy oil?

So, I think those 5 girls had a somewhat Machiavellian plan behind all of this. They wanted to enjoy the king for themselves and not with the other 5. No. I'm reading too much into history there. But it does say that they were sent to buy oil. And while they were going, what happened? The king arrived, the 5 girls who were there entered the wedding with him and the door was closed, and when the other 5 arrived, what happened? Rey, here we are, forgive us, we had to go buy oil. Sorry. But I don't know them.

Hey, those are very blunt words, very strong. I don't know them. Yet this is how the text says. What does Jesus say next in verse 13?

"...Watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour that the Son of Man is to come..."

Do you know what this last meeting I want to talk about is? It is a meeting that is yet to come. And it is the meeting where Jesus is going to take back his entire church and he is going to take her to dwell with him for all eternity. That is the meeting my brothers, which in our hearts has to be the most awaited by all of us. Apart from the first 4 meetings that I told you about, apart from having unexpected meetings with Jesus, that he interrupts our lives, apart from having maintenance meetings, to check up on how things are. Aside from having encounters that bring blessing and conflict into our lives, apart from those encounters, we have to always be longing and waiting for the encounter of all encounters, which is the day he is going to return for us.

Listen, if not everyone said amen, there is a very big problem here. Because that means that if we can't say amen to that because we have lost perspective, the most important and most definitive aspect of our faith in the Lord Jesus. And that is having faith and the conviction that there is a day when he will return for us. If I can't say amen to that, I have a very big problem.

Ah, that's why it's been preached for centuries and centuries and still hasn't come back. It is the same excuse that many people have used for many years, but I believe what the word says, in the book of First Peter, that the Lord Jesus is patient with everyone because he does not want anyone to lose but rather everyone to reach that eternal life and salvation.

Listen to me, at some point in our lives, at some point in the routine of our days, of our weeks, at a time when we are sleeping, at a time when we are in the grocery store or in the marqueta doing whatever errand we are doing, in At some point, if we say that we are Christians, if we say that we are faithful followers of Christ Jesus, at some point the mere thought of saying, "Lord, when are you coming for us?"

And it's not just when we're in trouble. If you think about it only when the credit card is at its maximum and the interest has gone up, and that's when you come, "Oh, Christ, come back so all those debts are gone." No, you are thinking wrong.

If you only think about that when you have problems with your spouse, "Oh, Jesus, come get me so I don't have to deal with this anymore."

If you think about it only when the traumas of your life are so, so, so serious that you dare to have this suicidal thought of saying, "Lord, take me with you because I can't take this world anymore." There is a problem.

At some point in the midst of our lives we do have to yearn for that return of Jesus, but it is not that this desire is inspired by the problems that I have in my life, but because it comes from a sense of conviction, of faith, that it is a promise that the Lord Jesus has given to all of us. In order for me to keep that perspective alive I have to keep up to date with all the other encounters I told you about.

I have to wait for those unexpected moments. I have to pray for those moments, where I'm up in the tree with my feet like this dangling on a branch and out of nowhere Jesus tells me, "Hey, Omar, I have to spend time with you." I have to wait for those moments.

I have to wait for the moments that are programmed in my agenda when I say to myself, "Okay, this is my time with the Lord", and the boys have gone to bed, and the husband or wife is sleeping, now I'm leaving to eat a good shortbread with the Lord, that is the example that I always give, to eat shortbread with the Lord.

If you can't eat ice cream, then have a juice or something, but the thing is that you are spending time with him, intentional time. And when you sit there, don't just come and cry, “Oh, Jesus,” but you can sit down, get used to the fact that even in the midst of silence the Lord can speak to you.

As it happened to me, that through such a busy week, that every time I sat down to pray it was like Lord, this, Lord, that, Lord, the other, and suddenly, what am I going to preach on Sunday? ? Shut up, talk about me. If I had kept my mind so busy with all the things I had to do, I would not have been able to hear what Jesus really wanted me to pay attention to.

Talk about me. People need to hear from me. There are times when you focus on talking about 5 blessed points for a good marriage, but there are times when people need to hear the only point that can truly bless that marriage and that is me. Talk about me.

Five keys to minister liberation in the spirit. Talk about the only key that can do what I am. Four steps to drink a good syrup and sing beautifully before the Lord. It speaks to me that I am the only syrup that can truly infuse people's voices so they can truly sing.

In other words, don't preach about all these things, preach about the essence. The Lord wants to give us those encounters, my brothers and sisters. That is the reason why we are here. listen, I ask you, what happened to that fire, what happened to that fire that drove me at the beginning, what happened to that passion that one day led us and motivated us to say, "Jesus, look, here I am, I give you My life, I give you everything that I am, I cannot do things and I have only tried for a long time and I need you."

What has happened over the years that this passion, that impetus that moved us at the beginning is now dormant? Ah, pastor, it's just that I've encountered many problems, with people in the church and that has made me cold. Or that that one did that, the other did that, and look, what have you done? We are always aiming at what the other does but what have you done? What have you done to find that passion, that fire stays lit in your heart, in your spirit, in your mind? Ah, it's just that I've read a lot of books and the amount I've read has kind of made me think in a different way.

Look, the letter kills, the spirit gives life. If I focus too much on the letter and forget what the spirit of God really wants to do in me, I am losing perspective on what God wants. I am not saying that it is not important to study. Yes, study, why not? we have to do it. But that should not be the priority. The priority must be that I can hold these encounters here with the Lord, where I can come and sit and that I can say, Jesus, look, I read this in such a book and it kind of shook my mind, what do you think of this? ? What do you think of this idea that occurred to this person, this thinker, centuries of years ago or yesterday when he wrote it?

I was recently reading the publication of a book by an author called Groucho, I don't know if I'm pronouncing it correctly, but the book has become a hit, the book is titled “It, have you got it?” And it sounds very popular, it's like a very cool phrase.

But this man believes that he has found the wonderful idea of talking about the It being the spirit of God working in our lives. And that book has spread like wildfire and I say to myself, "But what's different?" What a new idea has been invented if that has already been promulgated for so long. People know that we all have it, we all have the Holy Spirit in our lives and that it is something to be nurtured, to be fostered in us and that it comes through the person of Jesus working in our midst.

Look, my brothers, I want to summarize now. But if there is a burden on my heart that I have wanted to share with you today, it is the following, never get used to the fact that your life of faith is what you are living now. The moment you feel that your life of faith is cold, it is static, there is no change, there is no adventure, there is no emotion, there is no action, there is something that is happening.

The moment you understand that your Christian life, that your life of faith, is being measured more by your own parameters than the parameters of Scripture, we have a problem, because then we are not living the Christianity that Jesus wants us to live. .

Thank goodness for another microphone. The moment we begin to be convinced that Jesus only works like this, like this, like this and like that, we are losing sight of what Jesus can really do. We are putting Jesus in a little box, when Jesus is much bigger than that little box in which we can put him.

Look, he wants meetings with you. Jesus longs and desires to have encounters with you. So I want to make a call to all of us today. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day, visualize this with me, today is the day that all of us are up in our sycamore tree, our legs are dangling, looking to see where Jesus is. That is the day for all of us. That is the day for those who have not given their lives to Jesus to do so today. That is the day. This is the day for all of us who call ourselves Christians, this is the day for us to rekindle that fire and begin to yearn and desire to have new, refreshing encounters with the Lord Jesus. This is the day.

This is the day. So I want to pray. Do you want to have those encounters with the Lord Jesus? Stand up and answer this prayer. Thank you Jesus. Thank my Lord. Thank you Jesus.

Will there be someone here who has not given their life to the Lord Jesus? Whether I'm sitting back there in the corners where I may not see you, but the Lord Jesus does see you. Will there be someone who can be said to identify with a Looting? That you have heard a lot about Jesus but you don't know him yet. There will be a person here who wants to say, Lord, I need you to come into my house, to bring salvation. There will be someone who can say today, yes, Lord, look, I want you to enter my house for the first time. For the first time, enter my house and do something new.

If that is your prayer, I want to pray for you. We want as a church to pray for you. And likewise this other prayer is for all of us, all of us, my brothers, truly, and I say this with great respect, it may be that you have been a Christian for years, me too, but we need to renew our encounters with the Lord Jesus. We cannot let the routine of our lives continue to drown out that impetus, that faith, that intensity with which the Lord Jesus wants us to live for him.

Beloved Jesus, oh Jesus I declare once again that today is that day of salvation. Today is that day in which you can bring a new well-being to our lives, today is the day in which an encounter with you, Lord, can bring a new sense of direction, can bring a new sense of purpose, can bring a new meaning. of meaning in our lives, and that, Lord, is what I ask for us as a church at this time, Lord.

Father, please, I ask you and from today I declare it in faith, that you be giving us encounters in which you interrupt our lives, that you interrupt our routines, Lord, and that we see ourselves in the obligation to pay attention to you and not to our own agendas, Lord.

Bring, Lord, those meetings that are expected, which are programmed, Lord, those meetings that are of blessing and conflict, Father, those meetings that are definitive in our lives, where you confirm things in us. Those 4 aspects, Lord, allow them to take on a new life, Lord, in us, that you put a hunger in us to be in contact, to be in relationship with you, Lord, where we can only sit and receive from you, Lord .

And Father, that above all things, these encounters foster in us a burning desire to have that final encounter of your return, of your return through the church, of having an eternal life with you, Lord Jesus. And I say this, Jesus, not because we are desperate to get out of here, but simply out of our burning desire to live a full life with You, to see things as they are, not through a mirror, Lord, not through a mirror. to know halfway but to be able to know fully as you know us, Lord.

Father, I ask that to us as a church, Lord, to all, to all of us, Lord, and even to the brothers who see us on the internet, Lord, that all of us you create in our lives a burning desire to long for, to seek and have those encounters with you, Lord Jesus. Fill us, reveal yourself to our lives, Jesus. Allow us to know new things with you, new things about you, new things about ourselves, Lord, that will bring us closer to you and prepare us even more to be able to reflect that love that you give us to others around us.

I bless those people who are making that decision for you today, Jesus, may your light illuminate their hearts, may your light illuminate their lives, their families and Father, the rest of us, who have known you for years, Father, allow that light to continue to shine in the midst of our lives and do not allow the routines of daily living to turn off our communion with you, our devotion to you. I thank you Jesus. I bless each one of my brothers and sisters this morning, Jesus. Thank you for each one of them, Jesus. May this word continue to echo in us and lead us deeper with you, Jesus. In your name we pray Lord. Amen. Amen. Thank you Jesus.