Paul's evangelistic strategy

We are going to the word of the Lord in the book of Acts, in Chapter 13, we are going to go to verse 13. It is a very long passage and therefore simply if you can put it on the screen, I thank the brothers, you can read it little by little and I am going to relate it to you and we are going to discuss some specific points, and go read it with me if you have your Bible and I hope you have your Bible so that you can read with me.

This is the first sermon that Paul preached to a Congregation on his first missionary journey. 3 Sundays ago or something like that, we saw Paul preaching before a Roman man, a high Roman official and we saw there the opposition of this magician, Elymas, also known as Barjesus, as a name like that had to be bad, Barjesus. And the occult opposition of this man who wanted to prevent this high Roman official who could be such a blessing from receiving the word of God and we saw how Paul, full of the Holy Spirit, rebuked him, declared judgment on him. You know there are times for judgment and there are times when the church of Jesus Christ is not just nice and good and good-natured and attractive and people-friendly. Sometimes the church of Jesus Christ also has to declare judgment and also open the judgments of God on a person or even on an entire society. And Paul essentially cursed him in the name of the Lord, rebuked him, and declared that he was going to go blind for a while. And closed the door of the devil who wants to prevent people from hearing the truth.

And this Roman officer was free to believe and was amazed at the doctrine of the Lord who saw that it was a doctrine of power and that it was true and real. And then after that victory they leave and continue traveling and arrive at a place called Antioch of Pisidia. It is important that one day you study a little about Paul's travels because I believe that he made three evangelistic journeys, returned to his place of origin three times and left again to go to different parts of the Greco-Roman world to preach the Gospel, to fertilize land that had not heard the word of God with the Gospel. And those trips are legendary. From there God began to do great things in all that area of the world. Finally Paul ended up in Rome and that is where the book of Acts ends.

But these trips you should read about them, and you are going to realize something and that is that this sermon by the Apostle Paul makes much more sense if you know the events he is talking about and the biblical things to which he he's reffering to. It is like a review of the history of Israel what Paul does here.

The fact is that he arrives in Antioch of Pisidia. Why do they put Antioch of Pisidia? Because there is another Antioch, do not be confused. There is an Antioch that is where Paul came from, there are two cities with the same name, but one is the city of Antioch of Pisidia, this is another region further on. And there they arrive and look at what it says here in verse 14, it says:

“…They entered the synagogue on a Sabbath day and sat down…”

By the way, there's something interesting before that, it says in verse 13 that before they got to Antioch, they came to another city called Pamphylia, it says:

"... But John departed from them and returned to Jerusalem..."

On that trip there were 3, Pablo, Bernabé and Juan, a young man who was supposed to be his assistant. But what happened? Juan seems to have begun to realize that this wasn't so easy, that they weren't staying at the Marriott, they were staying at a Comfort Inn or one of those cheaper little hotels and that he had to go hungry from time to time and that he didn't he could have three hot meals and that this missionary work thing was not as easy as he thought and he gave up, as the Mexicans say. This is getting too heavy, I'm going home.

And he says that he withdrew from them. You will see later that this is going to cause… I point this out because this is going to cause a division between Paul and Barnabas. When the first trip ends and they are going to leave for the second trip, Bernabé tells Pablo to take Juan back and Pablo says, no, man, this manganzón that he left us on the first trip, I'm not going to take him now in the second, that he stays at home, that boy of a mother, that he learns to be a man. And he said, no, he's not going with us. And Barnabas was so upset that Pablo and Barnabas separated.

That tells us something about Paul's character. He was a heavy and strong man too. It is that the Kingdom of God is difficult, brothers, not everyone can bear serving the Lord, there are loads, there are difficulties and it is needed, as I said last Sunday, faithful people are needed, persistent people, people of heart and word.

The fact is that Paul later forgave John and in fact John came... I'm almost sure, I don't want to screw up, but that John Mark wrote the Gospel according to Saint Mark, right? Don't let me look bad. Here I have two shepherds. Yes, he wrote the Gospel according to Saint Mark and then the Apostle Paul, already advanced in years, told him, send me Mark because he is useful to me.

Marcos seems to have redeemed himself, perhaps it was a youth mistake, later that man became tremendously useful for the Gospel. You know what? God is the God of second and third chance. If you made a mistake, a failure in your life, whatever, God is always willing to work with you. So don't let the devil tell you, you already messed up, God is not going to bless you, God is not going to use you. No. There are second and third chances in the Kingdom of God. now, don't abuse that. Don't abuse trust either, because God slaps the prettiest one too. Let's not abuse it, but there is an opportunity to serve the Lord and to do great things. Don't worry if you had a difficult, messy life and now you are in God's ways, don't live regretting the past, look ahead. And ask yourself what can I do now so that those years that the thief stole from me, I replace them for the Kingdom of God, for my life, my family and myself. Because he is always willing to work with you. It doesn't matter where your condition is.

It says that then we see that John, that is why the Holy Spirit puts him here, but John, leaving them, returned to Jerusalem and then they went on and arrived at Antioch of Pisidia and entered the synagogue on a Sabbath day.

I don't know if I'm going to be able to go through the entire passage because this is a very dense passage. But let's stop here, he says:

“…They entered the synagogue…”

Who knows what a synagogue is? We are going to learn many things in this. Synagogues were like Jewish churches. The word synagogue is similar to the word Congregation. Synagogue is in the original Greek and refers to a Congregation, a union, a community, they entered the community.

That is why I like when the Lord gave us the name change, from the Central Baptist Church, the Lord encouraged me to call it the León de Judá Congregation, because I like the name Congregation better because it is a name like more dynamic, suggests more. It's like saying the Lion of Judah assembly. That means that God's emphasis is not on the building... people think of a church and immediately think of a building, but no, the concept of church still means it is an assembly, it is a gathering of people, it is a community. The emphasis must always be on the community, on the body, on the family of faith. It is something dynamic.

Congregation is when the people of God gather, wherever the people of God gather there is a Congregation, there is a church, wherever the people of God are in the name of Jesus there is the power, there is the presence, there it is the activity of the Kingdom of God.

So, the Jews, as God had scattered them throughout the earth, centuries before had established communities wherever… can someone tell me, what was required to establish a synagogue anywhere in the world, what was requirement number 1? What had to happen before a synagogue could be established? Samuel, are you praising the Lord, because my sermon is so good, or are you saying what? 10 men, exactly.

10 men were required in a community. In other words, if in China, in Beijing, there was a group of Jews who were there doing business or living in Beijing, they had to ask themselves, are there 10 men in the Jewish community, are there 10 Jews among us? If there were 10 Jewish men, a synagogue could already be established, a church could already be established. And so everywhere in the world where there were Jews, there were these Jewish churches. Where was the main temple?

Did you have breakfast this morning? Where was it? In Jerusalem, right? In Jerusalem was the main temple. But in the rest of the diaspora, wherever there were scattered Jews there were synagogues, that is, churches. It's like the Roman church. Where is the center of the Roman Catholic faith? In Rome. There is the Pope, there is the Basilica of Saint Peter, but there are Roman Catholic churches in all parts of the world, it was something like that.

So these synagogues were places of worship where Jews gathered from all over the world. Where do Paul and Barnabas go to preach the Gospel? They arrive at a synagogue. And in fact there is a lot of fabric to cut in this matter that where there are 10 men...

What would happen, I ask, if León de Judá at the moment 10 people... we have the cells, for example, but sometimes I think that there could be many more cells. What if 10 adults from this church got together and said, you know what? With the support of our church, its blessing, and always supporting our church, not being a cancer cell, but a group that respects its church and is supported, we are going to become a combat unit, we are going to preach the Gospel, we are going to meet to pray, to adore, to evangelize, to anoint the sick, we are going to bring people to our church to receive and on Sunday we are all going to meet to worship the Lord together. And we are going to constitute a community of faith among ourselves.

What would happen? I would say to the men, I met with brother Papo this week to have lunch together and to talk about the ministry of men, I would say to him, why the men apart from also meeting together, why don't they divide once a month, or twice a month in groups of 10 men to together seek the presence of God, invite other men to come to be evangelized and minister to them, instead of just being together.

Because it's one thing for men to get together or women to just have coffee together and play dominoes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's another thing to come together to bring people to faith and to strengthen their church and bless their church, and support it and be support for your Congregation. What could happen? We meet…where a group of faith-filled men and women are. God can do mighty things, you don't need the whole church. Our church is large and many times people cannot be ministered to.

I throw that vision at you, dare, say why we can not meet with the blessing of our church, and become a source of blessing, a small synagogue for the glory of God in this city. And the Holy Spirit is going to help us and be with us and we are going to start spreading out in this city and bringing people to the Gospel. I throw them there for free, it's a part of today's sermon.

Pablo and Barnabas go to this synagogue, he says they went when? Sunday, what does he say? What day were they? A Sabbath, Saturday. Say everyone, Saturday. It wasn't Sunday, it was Saturday. Because Paul and Barnabas were still on the old clock, the Christian church had not yet begun to hold its meetings on Sundays, that is something we do not know exactly when this custom began.

Paul always died a Christian Jew who believed he had found his messiah. So, Paul continued with many of the customs of his Hebrew people. There is a lot of cloth to cut. We do not know when the meeting day of the Christian church changed and was transferred to Sunday, but what the Bible tells us everywhere is that they met on Saturday to worship the Lord. Then God changed and I have an idea, but no one can say with certainty why the church changed from Saturday to Sunday, which was when Christ had risen.

How many know that Jesus rose on a Sunday? But Paul still kept the Sabbath even though he says that is not what gives salvation. But the fact is that when you get to this place, I hope that all this is helping you because I want you to learn a little about the Bible and learn about the history of the church, and these are important things, that's why you're here.

Another thing that I want you to see is this, in this passage it is Paul presenting the Gospel. This is the first evangelistic sermon that Paul preached on that missionary trip. Write down and observe how Paul is taking this Congregation of Jews to where he wants to take them to set their sights on someone who he knows is the most important person these people can meet, and who is going to change their lives. And he takes them like a master salesman, he kneads them, preparing them to hit what he wants them to buy.

So, it says here, follow me:

"... They arrived at a synagogue and sat down, says verse 15, that after the reading of the law of the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent to tell him, brothers, if you have any words of exhortation for the people, speak …”

How interesting. This is like Biblical archeology and anthropology. They get there and sit down and it seems that it was a community, we don't know how many people there were, maybe 80, 100, 200, we don't know. The fact is that these two men arrive and perhaps they asked him, where are you from? As we do with the hujieres. Brother Juan de Jesús has arrived, brother, welcome, where do you come from? How are they called?

And Paul says that he is a rabbi, that he is a pastor, etc. They go where… the principals of the synagogue were like the board of directors, they were the deacons of the church, they were businessmen, people of importance, of spiritual authority, they directed the synagogue. So, when it is reported to them that these two men are here, that they are international pastors or evangelists, as some say out there, there was a custom in the synagogues that when a preacher, a rabbi or something like that arrived, they were given an opportunity so that he would speak, so that he would preach.

Remember when Jesus says that he was given the scroll of the law while he was sitting down. He went to the synagogue and since he was a rabbi, as a courtesy and to see if he has any words to give us, because that's the thing. When churches get big, a certain spontaneity is lost and I understand why. Because sometimes you get a person to talk and then they leave you in a mess, you have to be picking up the pieces everywhere. But many times when there are people like that who are not all preachers, etc., you always depend on the word of the people.

In Pentecostal churches it is not like that, brother, you touch him to speak, and the little brother starts reading the Bible 20 minutes before it is his turn to preach. Samuel, isn't it? Brothers, give him a hello, and the little brother comes and talks for 40 minutes.

The fact is that they used this custom of asking these people to be invited, that's why they told Jesus, preach to us and then the Lord got up and read the scroll, remember? The spirit of the Lord is upon me and has anointed me to give liberty, etc. That was what happened. They arrive and the custom is that and then they ask them to give a word of exhortation, to speak.

Another interesting thing here is also, he says after reading, what does he say? The prophets and the law. In each meeting of a synagogue certain portions were read, remember that the New Testament was not there, the Jews only had the Law of Moses, the prophets and the other books, some of which perhaps still had not even been recognized as books that the Jewish people... I'm not sure where the Old Testament canon was at that time.

But the fact is that in every meeting of the Jewish church a portion of one of the prophets was read, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, whatever, and to have balance a portion of the Pentateuch, the books of Moses, was read.

Here is something very interesting, brothers. Number 1, the Jews have always emphasized reading the Bible. Because? Because it was important that the entire Bible be read so that the people would be well educated. How many of you can tell me that you have read the entire Bible already? Don't raise your hand, because you're going to get me down. All of us should have read the Bible by now, even those passages that say so-and-so begat so-and-so and so-and-so begat so-and-so and so-and-so begat… read it because it is the word of God. Who knows if it blesses you in a way you don't even realize.

All the word of God is inspired and has something. Maybe at least he has the name of the son he's going to give him in one of those mengano fathered zutano. There is blessing, read the whole word, know the Bible. I like that. In many Christian churches it is used that a passage from the Old Testament and a passage from the New Testament are read. It is important that we know the word of God.

Do you know what has kept the Jews for two thousand years from wandering all over the earth? The word. The Jewish Scriptures. No other people of humanity have preserved their identity, only the Jewish people. And do you know why they still speak Hebrew today? Because their Bible, their Old Testament served them as a cultural base to maintain their identity, their spiritual values.

I believe that churches, families, parents have to instill in our children love for the word of God. In no Christian house should 5 or 10 Bibles be missing. You should have one on the right side of the bed and one on the left, just in case you roll over and want to read faster. You must have one in the kitchen when you are doing the dishes. You should have one next to the television in case the Holy Spirit touches you. Turn off the television and pick up the Bible. The Bible must be everywhere, it must fill our lives, brothers.

And we have to read the Old and New Testaments because the word of God is one. I like that idea that these people read the law and the prophets. There was balance. They wanted all the advice of God's word. And if a preacher is missing, at least let the Bible be read.

So, they call Paul and Barnabas and say, "Men, brothers, if you have any words of exhortation, speak them." And then Pablo gets up and orders everyone to be quiet, making a sign of silence with his hand. Because? Because many times in the synagogue there was… it was like a cockpit, sometimes people talked, discussed things, it was not a passive, quiet place. Jews have never been quiet people. And then there were moments when there was discussion. He is going to tell the women to keep quiet, to keep quiet, because they were sitting on the platform above, on the balconies talking and gossiping and exchanging recipes while the men preached below and Pablo said, keep quiet, pay attention. It wasn't that they were silent, that they didn't say anything in the church, it was that they were silent because they put the poor women up there in the galley while the men supposedly did the work down here.

Pablo says, keep quiet, keep order. And with good reason, the poor women had to contaminate the men down there who left them abandoned. I'm glad they said they felt your presence. But Paul says, keep quiet.

So, when Paul is going to preach, he makes a sign and they keep quiet to listen to the word of God. You have to be silent in your mind at least. When the time of preaching comes, forget about everything else and keep quiet in your mind and listen to the word of the Lord.

So, here's another interesting thing. He says, “Israelite men, he says, and you who fear God, because he says, if you know Bible history, you will know why he says 'and you who fear God'. who was he referring to? Because he already said Israelite men, why did he need to say and you who fear God? who was he referring to there? To the Gentiles Who said the Gentiles apart from Samuel? Raise your hand, you earned 10 points if you said so. It is true because in every Jewish Congregation there were also people, what they call proselytes in the Bible. They were Gentiles who were being interested in Judaism. There were Romans, Greeks, people who used to worship false gods and now they were like new converts and they were there, although they were Gentiles but maybe they had converted to Judaism or were in the process of converting.

And I believe that in the churches when we preach we always have to speak so much to the old people of the church, excuse me for saying so, and also to the new people who are looking for God. sometimes we preach and we are only talking about transubstantiation, apocalypse and what not. And the people are there, what do you eat that with? They do not know. And that is why you have to train new people. We must also preach with a view to the new ones.

When a church does things for its Congregation, it can not only think of the old, that is why I tell the brothers, look, when you are here in front, behave in a way that the new one that comes does not think that you are crazy or you are having a heart attack. And it's not that we don't have freedom in the spirit, but Paul in Chapter 14, first Corinthians talks about when we're speaking in tongues or whatever, we do it decently and in order for attention to those who are new, They don't understand our lingo, our way of doing things. He says, do things in such a way that there is a certain elegance, a certain order because there are new people who do not understand all this matter of evangelical rituals.

And many times the old people say, no, but why doesn't the pastor let me do this, doesn't he let me do that? It is not because the pastor is not spiritual, it is because the pastor is attentive to the entire Congregation and there are things that one does... if you are alone with 10 brothers who are veterans in the Gospel, look, take off your clothes if you want, no it doesn't matter, yell, kick, lie down on the floor, if everyone is in the same situation, amen, glory to God. But if there are new people who do not understand these things, pay attention to them because you have to… the Gospel is also to win the unconverted, to win those who are not in Christ.

That is more important than anything else. What use is it that you leave the church with your bow down and your suit undone, but you removed from the Gospel two possible people who could come because they are scandalized and they leave. What is better that you have your party or that people enter the Kingdom of God? you tell me. That's logical.

So we always have to be aware of the new ones and not just think that I want my party and I'm going to give it to myself even if the world falls apart. No. Balance is needed and that is why Paul says:

“…Men of Israel and you who fear God…”

Hear me, there's more material coming out of this sermon than I thought when I got here this morning. And you who fear God listen.

Then he begins a retelling of the history of the Jews and tells them that God brought them out of Egypt, he threw out 7 nations more powerful than them. For 450 years he gave them judges to direct the life of Israel and at the end of that time he says, in verse 21:

“… They asked for a king…”

This for the good understanding there is also a... there you hold on for a moment, they asked for a king. The Lord had a little thorn when he said that, 'they asked for a king', remember? Because? Because the Jews said, hey, but everyone has a king, the Queen of England, that the Queen of Monaco and what we have here is a mayor gone through the water. We also want a king. We want to be a major nation, and God said, "Hey, I'm your king, why do you need to be fashionable?"

Christians do not have to be in the world's fashion, brothers. What God gives us is good, although humble and simple, but it is better than what the world has. And then, he said, "do you want a king?" Well, choke on a king and he gave you Saul. And Saul did not behave well and God had to remove him, and finally it says that he sought out one who was after his heart. gave who? To David. They are learning now.

It says here that he raised up David for their king. You know, God was offended when they said, we want a king. And God, oh well, and what am I? But they asked for a king. Then he sent Saul, then David came.

There's an interesting tidbit here too. Say what:

“…He raised up David for king, of whom God also testified, saying, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart…”

The only man God says in all of history is a man after his own heart is David. However, David made serious mistakes in his life, which tells me something about how God treats people. That's why people sometimes tell me, pastor, so-and-so is doing this and that, cut off his head. You don't know how many requests I have to behead people in my office right now, on my office desk. And I tell you one thing, that the heart when one acquires a pastoral heart is different, brothers, because I have had to learn what the pastoral mentality is from the evangelistic mentality or other types of mentalities. You have to tie yourself up to someone with a dirty old rope, walk that path of sanctification and take them step by step until they have something of the image of Christ formed in their life and they learn to be even a little bit of a Christian. You have to forgive them and love them and tolerate them and advise them and tolerate them again and advise them again. That is pastoral work.

Because people are always going to mess it up, brothers. The only one is me, the others are all maganzones. David made so many mistakes, he was a poor father, so much so that one of his sons, Absalom, betrayed him because he had so much resentment for the way David erroneously perhaps, but also because he had a corrupt heart. David was a bad father. I guess he was good in many ways but he made some serious mistakes.

He killed a lot of people, he was bloodthirsty, so much so that God told him, look, you will not be able to build that temple because blood will be flowing from below on all the foundations of the temple, so your son, Solomon, will do it. He forced a woman, Bathsheba, he forced himself on her and to hide the sin he had her husband killed, an honest man, a general of his army, loyal, faithful, upright, and he had him assassinated to cover up the fact that that woman upon which he had forced himself, had conceived a child, and that was going to be a terrible national scandal. And he had the man killed to hide the whole thing.

He wanted to deceive this man into sleeping with his wife who was already pregnant with him, with David, so that it would appear that it was the husband who had impregnated her and when he did not want to, because he was a man of integrity, then I am going to tell you. have the head cut off He made serious mistakes.

Why does God say, a man after my own heart? It's mysterious. I think the reason is because David was a man who loved God terribly and powerfully, first and foremost, and he was a man who recognized his sins and was not there showing off. He was an honest man, he was a warrior, he was a man who had learned to fight tooth, nail and hand and God had entrusted him with a difficult mission and he made his things and his mistakes, but he had a tender heart towards God and he never gave up. bowed before an idol, always defended the honor and honor of God and his name.

When God pointed out his sins, he threw himself on the ground, he cried, he never rebelled against God's will. he was tender and desperately loved God. and you know what? That is what God is looking for.

The Bible says that you will not despise a contrite and humiliated heart, O God. Read Psalm 51, against you, against you alone I have sinned and I have done evil before your eyes so that you may be recognized just in your word and considered pure in your judgment. Behold my mother conceived me in sin, in sin I was conceived and in sin my mother conceived me, behold [inaudible] secret in the intimate [inaudible] wisdom. Purify me with hyssop and I will be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow.

That was David, brothers. And that tender heart that knew its sins, knew its sin, repented, knew that only by the grace and mercy of God, that is what God is looking for in you and me, a tender heart. You are going to fail, you are going to be wrong, you are going to do things in your life that are going to offend God, but if you repent, you love the Lord, God will always tell you, "I am not going to ignore you, I will continue with you until death.”

When you do something that does not please God, throw yourself on the floor, cry, repent, promise yourself that you will not do it again, do not continue sinning on purpose, because in one of those the devil will give you a blow and God will also to give two Repent, do not celebrate your sin, do not sin on purpose. But if you sin, repent and straighten your paths. And God will erase your sins and will not remember them.

When God talks about you, he won't talk about your sins, he will talk about your virtues and your heart. That is why Abraham failed God and God called him a friend. That is why Sarah laughed in disbelief when God told her that she was going to have a son and then she is spoken of as the mother of faith in Hebrews, with a woman, there is no mention of what she did in error.

That is why Peter denied Jesus and could later write wonderful epistles and be a column in the church, because the Lord seeks a repentant, tender heart that loves him above all things. It is a difficult race, along the way you will fail God 10 times, but if you repent and seek his mercy he will be faithful to forgive you over and over again. Let the world know that, brother, tell it about a God of grace and mercy.

So, he talks about David, he said according to his heart, and he's leading them… look at how Paul is leading them through a process to lead them to Jesus. When you hear David evangelistically mentioned by a Bible preacher, Jesus is right around the corner. Because? Because of the descendants of David came Jesus.

The Jews exalted David, that was the most glorious time in the life of Israel, the history of Israel, and Paul says, God promised them a savior who was going to come from the lineage of David. And you know what? Paul says, that's how it was. There is a man named Jesus who came from that lineage.

Look, verse 23, "... From this man's seed and according to the promise God raised up Jesus as a savior to Israel..."

Each of these expressions is important. God was the one who raised him. God told Jesus, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, listen to him. It was not Jesus who raised himself up, God raised up Jesus as his savior and his representative. If God does not raise you up, do not be around doing things, God who raises up pastors, preachers, is God, when God raises up a man, he gives him authority, blesses him and gives him everything he needs to carry out his work.

So, God raised Jesus as savior to Israel but also to all humanity. This is important here. When you preach the Gospel to someone, when you share the word of God, I believe that one of the things you have to do, the Lord was saying this to me these last two weeks when I was meditating on this passage, you have to Take that person and talk to him about his previous situation, his personal history, if you know him. Because God always has a purpose with each man or each woman, since that man is born or before he is born, or that woman, and God is dealing with him or her, wanting to bring him to the knowledge of Jesus Christ. Everything that happens in his life is a spiritual engineering to bring that person to the knowledge of Jesus as his savior.

And that is what I see here that Paul tells him, look, Jews, the entire history of Israel since Moses, from Abraham is God's treaty to gradually lead them to the peak, culminating figure, the only one that matters, Jesus. 450 years with judges, 350 years in Egypt, 40 years in the desert, 40 years with Saul, 40 or how many years with David, after that hundreds of years of the period that follows and the intertestamental period, and finally raised…he He made a promise, God made a promise to Abraham, that from his seed all humanity would be blessed, all the nations of the earth would be blessed, thousands of years ago, and now when Jesus arrives that promise that he had made to him is fulfilled to town.

God never forgets, brothers. Man forgets but God never forgets. Men betray God but God never betrays us. God's mercy never abandoned the Jewish people and throughout the history of the Jewish people he was leading that nation to a climax and it was when he raised up the Messiah that he was going to wrap up and bind that time in history so that another time would open up. time, so that humanity could now deal directly with him through the person he was going to raise up who is Jesus Christ.

And likewise we have to tell people, look, all the events of your life, the failures, the abuses of your parents, the misery for which you lived in your country, the divorce, the rebellious son who has betrayed you, the illnesses you've had, the loungers you gave, alcoholism, drugs, what they stole from you that day on the corner and they took your money and slapped you, all of that God has been working in your life to lead you to something , and it is so that you know Christ as your Lord and savior.

I think it's important that we let people know that. God is always working in the life of each individual. I do not believe that there is time wasted on a single person, brothers. God is always working to take you, take me, glory to God if we have met him. If you have known Christ, look, jump for joy and joy, throw yourself on the ground and give glory to the Lord because all your past, all your history, your losses, your failures, everything now God turns into a blessing in the light of Christ Jesus in your life.

Your future has meaning. Your past has meaning. Your present has meaning because Christ exists and because Christ lives within you. Forget the rest, that's secondary. The important thing is that you have Jesus because he is the one who prepares you for eternity. When you are in eternity everything you have been through here will have absolutely no importance. The important thing is that you know Jesus.

And that's why when you present the Gospel to people you have to use even the events of your life, just as you have to use the events of your own life, to strengthen their confidence in the person of Jesus Christ. You have to raise Jesus up before the consideration of the people and tell him, look, don't worry, what happened is water, water under the bridge, which they say in English. It does not matter. The question is what are you going to do with Christ now? Because God has used all those things to prepare you for an encounter with the only one that matters, the Son of God.

Notice how Paul presents Jesus as the culmination of history to the Jewish people. And that was done by all the great New Testament preachers. Everything leads to a single person, and I believe that we, you and I, live for only one thing and that is to make people aware that they need Christ. We are to be an evangelistic machine, at your job, in your family, in your neighborhood, wherever. Ask the Lord to open your mouth to share wherever you can about Jesus Christ.

What would happen in this Congregation, brothers, if each one of you began to exploit the opportunities you have to share Christ, among your friends, among your family? If you were having dinner at his house with a view to taking a moment and telling him, can I pray? Or that the conversation you said to that friend, to those two or three friends, look, give me 10 minutes to talk to you about Jesus, and then I promise I won't bother you anymore. But I need, I have a duty to tell you, would you like to hear what Christ has done in my life, how he has used my past, and I believe that he has a purpose for you and everything you are going through will acquire meaning if you you listen to jesus

What would happen if we considered it the greatest duty and the greatest privilege that we have to tell people about Jesus and transform their lives and their past according to what Christ can do in them? That's what Paul does.

I'm going to end here, if the musician brothers can stop by, because there's so much material. Let's leave it there and then I'll tuck this in. Brothers, perhaps God is calling us this morning because that is what struck me about this passage. There was so much material, I didn't know how to get my hands on it. I saw Paul fighting like a gladiator in the arena before these unbelieving Jews for them to know the Messiah, and contriving to lead them in a sophisticated and complex way, weaving a beautiful cloth of many colors to bring them to a climax, prepare them for a encounter with Christ.

I say wow, I have to learn from that, our church has to learn from that. And how does it do it? Paul knew the Bible intimately and he knew the history of his people and if you are going to be an effective evangelist you have to know the Bible intimately and you have to know the people you want to minister to. You have to become part of their life with only one intention, and that is that God uses you to bring them to the knowledge of Christ.

If you do not know the Bible, you will not have the authority that the Bible has to speak. Only the woman, the man who knows the word of God intimately and who has had dealings with God can speak to another with authority about the word of God and Christ Jesus.

get ready. Those discipleship, that's not there to entertain people, that's to train you. take them. Stop making excuses that I don't have time, that I work a lot, that my back hurts. Rebuke the devil and come and study the word, learn, train yourself, prepare yourself because God has called you to be a propagator of the Gospel.

That is the only thing that justifies your life, I tell you the truth. Share the Gospel. And introduce people to the person of Jesus and use their culture, use their customs, use their personal history and ensnare them into giving their life to Jesus, because that's the only thing that matters in life. Every day I am more and more convinced of them, there are two characters in the world and one has to choose between the two of them, it becomes clearer to me every day, or Christ, who came so that you may have life, or the devil who only knows kill, steal and destroy. The rest totally secondary. That is the Gospel in a very abbreviated version.

And which of the two are you going to choose? God sent Christ to set you free and save you and heal you and give meaning to your existence. And the devil is here to make sure that doesn't happen in your life. Which of the two are you going to choose? And which of the two are you going to affiliate with and which of the two are you going to walk in this world with? As simple as that. Case closed.

All the law and the prophets are summed up in this word. Let us lower our heads for a moment, may this word that we have heard be planted in our hearts and in our spirit this morning. If the Lord is calling you to be more active in sharing your faith, take the floor. And if the Lord is calling you to receive Christ as the only one who gives you meaning and value, receive the word and give your life to the Lord and affiliate yourself with Jesus in one way or another.

The only thing that counts, the only thing that is worth, Christ, everything goes to him, everything points to him, only. What are you going to do with Christ? That is the question that God asks you. What are you going to do with Christ? What do you make of you?

I want to give it a try, if someone hasn't received Jesus as their Lord and Savior yet, if you are one of those Jews that Paul was talking to, or one of those God fearing people who heard that message and is listening to it today. again, and you have not sincerely given your life to Jesus yet, I invite you to do so because he is the one who gives meaning to your entire existence and gives purpose to everything that has happened in your life and will happen in the future. Jesus, God has been dealing with you since your mother's womb to lead you to only one thing and that is to make a covenant with the Son of God.

I would like to give the opportunity if someone has not done it yet, if the Lord has touched your life and you want to do it this morning, raise your hand, I would like to pray for you. Will there be someone who has not done it before and you want us to pray for you this morning? And you don't want to leave here without taking that step having heard that word from God, I would like to pray for you this morning.

Is there anyone that I can pray with if you haven't received Christ yet as your Lord and Savior? If you haven't done it before, let's give you a chance, just a minute, you haven't done it before and you want to do it now, raise your hand so I can pray for you.

Will there be someone? You haven't done it before. Thank you Lord, we adore you, we bless you. Thank you Jesus. Amen. And now all those of us who want to appropriate this call from God, to take Jesus seriously and announce it to the people, preach it, change our lifestyle in order to be true bearers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there in your heart I want you to affirm the word you have heard and if you want to raise your hand, if you want to say, Lord, I want to be a preacher of your word. I take your call seriously, raise your hand as a sign of accepting this challenge, brother, maybe right now, accept it and raise your hand as a sign of... up there too if you feel... I'm referring to you up there in the galley up in the balcony also you have called, commit yourself, commit yourself.

If there is someone else who still needs… if you want to receive Jesus there is still time, raise your hand. I ask the Lord to make León de Judá an evangelistic Congregation, we are building that sanctuary and I want to fill it twice, as we filled the service here. how are we going to fill it? It has to be with people preaching the Gospel, you guys, I'm not going to do it. You have to bring him here to me then I'll trip him, but you have to bring him here first. You have to bring, invite people, pray with them there in your house too. You can present the Gospel to him like Paul did, like Barnabas did, [inaudible]

I need radical people to accompany me in this battle to bless our community and turn it into a community of faith that the devil cannot get away with as he is getting away with, with our young people and with the married couples and with the adults of our community. We need you to tell them about Jesus, he has the power to undo the works of the devil, undo the works of the one who has power over death.

Introduce him to Christ. Thank my Lord. Thank you, Father, for this word, Father, we ask that this church be transformed into a radioactive community, Lord, that it announce your word, that it bring the unconverted to the knowledge of Jesus. Thank you because Christ has given meaning to our life. We adore you and we bless you, Lord. We love you, Jesus. We exalt you, Lord. Thanks thanks.