confront yourself

Let's open the word to the Gospel according to Matthew, Chapter 17 beginning with verse 24. The account that is found between verse 24 and 27. My brothers, while we look for this word, Matthew 17, verse 24 to 27, know this, if you don't listen to something else listen to this: firstly I have good news for you, if you are here, what is more, if you were born on this earth and even more so, if you were born again God has a purpose with you, God has a ministry that he has entrusted to you , that he wants you and only you to develop. That's good.

I also have a warning. Perhaps the worst adversary that you will face as you develop your ministry is your own character. Our worst adversary, the most determined adversary with whom we will fight the most on this earth is ourselves. But again we have good news for you. Thank God that we do not fight alone, thank you for the transforming power of the word of God, thank you for the hope of transformation.

Brothers, what attracts me to the Gospel is the magical power of the Holy Spirit transforming lives and that is what it does, this whole operation is what gives it meaning. Matthew Chapter 17, beginning with verse 24. Jesus and his disciples are returning from a missionary campaign to their headquarters in Galilee, the city of Capernaum and as they enter the village the IRS awaits them with a warning.

“…When they arrived at Carpernaum they saw Pedro and those who collected the two drachmas and they said to him, Does your teacher not pay the two drachmas? He said, what did he say? Yes. He said yes. And as he entered the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, "What do you think, Simon?" the kings of the earth from whom do they collect tributes or taxes, from their children or from strangers? Peter replied, "From strangers." Jesus told him, “Then, the children are exempt, however, so as not to offend them, go to the sea, cast the hook and take the first fish you catch. When you open his mouth you will find a stater, that is, a four-drachma coin.”

In other words, enough to pay both Jesus' and Peter's taxes at once. If only all our problems with the IRS were resolved like this.

“…Take it and give it to him for me and for you…”

Okay, my brothers, for years all my life reading this text, the Lord gave me the same interpretation and it is valid. Why didn't the Lord pay taxes in the first place? Maybe the IRS missed the exalted theology here. he is the owner of the temple, he is the tax collector. These taxes are going to benefit your temple, you hear? By the way, we are still paying a tax to the temple. What is that called? Thank you, there are theologians here, the tithe. Amen. That is from God.

They are not going to understand that. Pedro goes to the sea, takes out enough to pay both my tax and yours, and we already resolved that. Another powerful message, God is our provider. If you are finding yourself in a bind take your hook, take your rod go fishing. Do not worry, even if it is from the sea, the Lord pulling fish, I have not seen just or helpless nor his seed that blesses Paul. He is our provider.

But recently, maybe because the pastor has been preaching about character and preaching about integrity, reading this, in fact, one more detail, this was my devotional reading, devotional, the morning of our tenth anniversary. Why is it that the Lord touched me this message that day? I don't know. But it was that day. I read this passage and thought, well, and as I always have, I'll skip ahead for a more interesting passage, and the Holy Spirit said, no. stop right there. Sam, I have something to tell you. Pay attention. And this is today's message.

My brothers, you have never imagined, you have not wondered how it is possible that a man like Peter, Simon Peter, who walked with Jesus for three years, who was part of his intimate circle, who was the only person on the face of of the earth, apart from Jesus with enough faith to walk on water, a man the Holy Spirit used to confess, you are the Lord, you are the messiah, the Son of the living God, one who heard the audible voice of the Father and saw the image of Jesus transfigured before him, a man that God used so powerfully, has the irony never occurred to him, that this man of all is the one who denied Jesus? How can that be?

One reads Peter denying Jesus and what one asks is, but how can it be that a man that God uses so powerfully, so obviously with such powerful gifts, can come to deny Jesus?

Do you know what the Lord told me? Samuel, here is why. Already here with this story do you realize? We are seeing evidence of the lack of character within Peter that eventually leads him to deny Jesus later.

Look good. What's going on here? Peter at this moment like when he is confronted by denying Jesus, he is confronted by someone in authority, alone, directly, he finds himself in a bind and apparently they are people in authority that he wants to impress, he does not want to lose face, he does not want them to the image or reputation of Jesus is bad, and what does he do? lies. TRUE? he lies.

And one would say, well, perhaps he lies so that people don't think badly of Jesus, perhaps he lies so that Jesus is more digestible, less scandalous to these people. But he is misrepresenting Jesus anyway. Furthermore, Peter knew not only that Jesus had not paid his tax, he also knew that he had not paid his tax and he lies about both of them.

Do you know what this particular fault is called, this particular fault? The fear of men. The fear of men. The fear of men or moral cowardice. Now why does it matter, my brothers? Know this, character flaws neutralize even the most impressive gifts if neglected.

Here you see, my brothers, the difference between character and gifts. The difference between character and gifts. Why is this important? We are living in a time, my brothers, in which there is both a lot of apostasy and also apparently impressive gifts, ministries and who is not attracted to a gifted ministry, a ministry led perhaps by someone or people who preach well, with power, with fire. There is even evidence of healing, the prophetic word is seen and we know that the prophetic word is authentic, gifts everywhere, authentic gifts. Every gift knows where the gifts come from? Holy Spirit, from the Father of lights, from there come all the gifts.

But, my brothers, despite this you can have great gifts but the flaws in our character that we ignore and neglect can undermine and neutralize it. How is it possible that someone that God uses so obviously, so powerfully, can be so deceitful, so opportunistic, so calculating. I'm talking about Peter.

But it's true, while I was doing that description, you were filling in the blank and there are many blanks to fill in here. That's the problem, there are many blanks to fill. And brothers, that is the danger. Many times we don't realize the inconsistency between powerful gifts and quietly those subterranean waters of character failure, eating away at the foundation of a powerful ministry, rotting it away until the moment we read it on the internet, or hear it on the news, or get the message. gossip about yet another ministry, because it is not one or two, yet another ministry that falls apart and falls apart.

And we always ask the same question? God, you used it so powerfully, reaching thousands and maybe even millions of people globally, how can a ministry like this be made of nothing like this? Good, my brothers, have you heard of a certain Satan? Do you want more gifts than Satan? Among all being created Satan, a being with so many gifts, what was the end? What was it that undid Satan? Pride. Haughtiness. character flaws.

So much so, that when the disciples arrived they were so excited about their first evangelistic tour, their first missionary campaign, and all reporting to Jesus, this thing works. They running all over Judea like children playing with a matchbox, using gifts everywhere. Lord, even the demons were running. Remember?

And what did the Lord say to him? It's good, but I saw Satan fall. Satan will fall like lightning from heaven. Don't be so impressed by the gifts, but rather by the fact that their names are written in the book of life. That matters much more to the Lord.

My brothers, character matters. Shall I say it again? Character matters. There are no character flaws that eventually stop impacting us if we don't attend to them on time. And take, for example, this particular ruling. Which one would say is one of the most tolerable, the fear of men.

Among all the character flaws, if this is the one that Pedro has, this is one of the most tolerable, one would say, right? but think, my brothers, today in the church of Jesus Christ we are suffering from an epidemic of this character flaw. This is spreading in churches and ministries and I would say particularly in New England, and how is this character flaw demonstrated? Very easy. Churches, ministries, many of them with a lot of power, many of them, and look my brothers, here goes the pastor, that is what Pastor Roberto is thinking about this very thing. He is in the presence of the Lord, he has been clear that this is not the end he wants for the Lion of Judah Congregation. We are not throwing stones at other ministries, we are looking at a mirror and saying, we don't want to reflect this, preach a Gospel arranged so that Jesus is less scandalous and more palatable.

My brothers, when we, for example, confronted homosexual marriage in this city, it was a tremendous temptation to be able to say why not. and that would have saved us a lot of headaches. You know, last week a brother from our church, relatively new to the Gospel, was confronted by a person at work, and said, "Which church do you go to?" "To the Lion of Judah Congregation" he said with great pride. “Ah, I know that church, I know that guy, I know that guy.” And he said, here I lost my job. And this lady told him that she is completely opposite to our position on this, she said, “You know what? Of all the people who opposed us and that church opposed us a lot, and that pastor opposed us a lot, the only one I respect is him.”

At least he said it with integrity. My brothers, the Lord does not need lawyers, he needs witnesses. He needs people who share the truth, who swear to tell the truth about him and this word. If not, brothers, why do we want gifts, what are gifts for? What is the purpose of the gifts?

Do you know what the Apostle Paul says? We are going to get to heaven, the first thing that the Lord is going to take away from us are the blessed gifts. Why do you need gifts there? But you kept the character. That's the thing. Because the gifts are used for one thing and one thing only, to point to Jesus Christ and direct the people, a people who are lost to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And if we are impoverishing the Gospel, what are the gifts for? Character matters. Character is important.

Pastor Samuel only has bad news today. More bad news. But this is going to get better now. My brothers, the Lord does not heal character. We have to develop character. The Lord does not heal character. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord cleanses leprosy from lepers. The Lord raises the dead. The Lord does not heal the faults of our character. Our character flaws develop through perhaps many times following Jesus, that is, the discipleship process. This is how character develops.

Peter and the other disciples followed Jesus for three years. Have you ever thought why the Lord did not go to the cross at once, assuming his authority even in the first year of his ministry? Do you know why? He knew that it took at least three years to work with these men of all kinds of character, smoothing over their rough edges. While they by observation, by following, by imitation, imitating him, observing him, trying, failing, messing up, the Lord lifting them up, cleaning them again, taking them by the hand, training them, that is the process of discipleship. And that is what forms our character.

And brothers, thank God for the blood of Jesus Christ. We have a lot going for us. The blood of Jesus Christ is the tuition to the school of character, which allows us access to Jesus. Without him there is no transformation, for the moment you have an encounter with Jesus Christ, the blood of Christ reaches you, what do we say? You are a new creature. A spiritual baby. Do you know what it means? We have a lot to learn, just like babies. We have to learn the spiritual alphabet. We have to learn a completely different mentality from the mentality of this world and also thank God for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit allows us to be of use to the Kingdom of God even imperfect. And that's all of us.

To be of use to the Kingdom of God, muting our lack of character so that Christ and his power may be exalted through us. Brothers, the day that Peter was baptized in the Holy Spirit, this man who struggled with this lack of fear of men, for the moment this fear apparently disappears. He preaches, 3,000 are saved one day, 5,000 another day, they are taken to court, he stands before the Sanhedrin and confronts them. Wow!

All under the power of the Holy Spirit. But know something. You realize that years after this, years later, Peter angered Paul. Because? What happened between Pablo and Pedro? Peter after being baptized in the spirit stops associating with Gentile Christians in order to appear good in front of his Jewish friends. This so enraged Paul that he called him a hypocrite, he dedicated part of a letter to Peter. Because?

Years after being baptized in the spirit, after all your experiences, how can that be? Do you know why? Years later the Lord was still dealing with Peter's character. Years later. Oh, Sam you're depressing me. Dear God, I'm never going to change. I'll never change.

My brothers, good news now. That is a process. As you walk, God will use you, you will see the glory of God. It is more that way is that we are going to grow. And the good thing about this is this, my brothers, there are factors, things that we can do to speed up or stop this process of character formation. Factors that can accelerate or stop our growth of character.

That is why you see, my brothers, some who have just come to the Gospel and soon you see them totally, apparently transformed, a tremendous change, your friends don't know you, your wife says, who is this man? And there are others that perhaps last for years and apparently if there is a change, only the Holy Spirit notices it. It's true.

Because? Because this is a process and the good thing about it, brothers, is that you can decide to speed up or stop this process depending on those factors. Factor number 1: a teachable heart, a teachable spirit. You know, Jesus after Peter did his and denied him, counseled him, asked him, "Peter, do you love me?" "What do I know if I love you. I don't know anything, yeah I don't know." The Lord said to him, “Look Peter, truly I tell you when you were younger you used to gird yourself and go anywhere else when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and take you where you do not want to go.”

Now the word says that this is an allusion to the manner in which he was going to die. Says the word, "This he said, making it clear by what death he was to glorify God."

You know, I believe that the Holy Spirit gives us permission to see that as there are many deaths in our lives, my brothers, how was I going to die? How many ways have we died and that one, and that one. Leaving behind a character flaw, that is leaving a song of yours, that is a part of you and saying this he added, "Follow me."

This process can't even begin until you make the decision, not knowing what lies ahead, because you have no idea. Because there are areas of our character that have to change, that even you don't realize, it requires the Holy Spirit. You have to be led, you have to reach out and let the Holy Spirit take you and take you where you don't want to go. Maybe hear, what you don't want to hear, maybe see, what you don't want to see. Perhaps discovering and this yes, this does take courage and that is why this requires a teachable heart. Discover things about us hidden in the basket of the basement of our soul. That the Holy Spirit knows from there, and he says, Sammy, come. No, God, no. Come. Eat. A teachable heart.

Two. Good company. Also the Apostle Paul writes "bad companies corrupt good customs." Bad company corrupts good character.

My brothers, you know what? Everyone can be nuts in your family. Your whole family is nuts, all that waits for you at home is nuts, the people you work with are nuts, the only saint there among them is you. And get used to it. And that's how stick to people who look like Jesus. Stick to them, like Eliseo to Elias, I'm not going to let you go. Don't even think that I'm going to loosen you up, wherever you go I go. No way.

You know, and how does this translate? My brothers, I believe that one of the most exciting, most transforming programs, one of the things that I have learned the most in my ministry here at the León de Judá Congregation, is our mentoring program. Because the idea there is to change a whole generation of young people through weekly contact with people who reflect the grace and light of the Lord.

And brothers, each one of us needs a mentor in that sense. Brothers, look around you, there are people here, we have lost something by losing respect for the elderly. I have learned so much from the elders that God has lent me in my life, for a while. I am still learning to pray for them, to obey the Lord, for them. They passed into eternity a long time ago but what they have taught me, what they have shown me, that is part of me, and around me, my brothers, the messages of Pastor Miranda, discipleship groups, a church in other words, my brothers. You can't do this without the church. You can't do it without the church.

Thank God for the church of Jesus Christ. Still full of imperfect people, everyone following Christ, everyone being led, some one step, some another, but there are people here, if you arrived yesterday, don't worry, there are others who went ahead of you They know the map of the area, they walk like Christ, they talk a little more like Christ, they think like Christ. Stick with those people and that brings us, brothers, to the third factor.

Third factor. First, a teachable heart. Two, good company. Three, discipleship. Now this is an unpaid advertisement. My brothers, not for nothing, but this church has an excellent discipleship program, discipleship ministry. And the discipleship ministry, I bless your life, glory to God... that discipleship program, my brothers, don't expect angels, not even your teacher. Everyone in that group, even the teacher, even the mentor, and that is what is beautiful, this is what excites me, each one of them is a group of men and women like you seeking the same thing, perfection in Jesus Christ.

Being open about your faults. Growing from level to level. My brothers, why do you have me teaching the discipleship class for almost 10 semesters now? because I have already hung myself 9 times. Now I have to start again, teaching again because that is a process.

And one of the things that I love the most, at least at level 3, which is the level that I teach, are appointments with God. Say appointments with God. This is also part of your discipleship process, especially if you are here and consider yourself a Christian, until you decide I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, giving myself totally to him.

Let's confront the same. And one of the things that we teach is our appointments with God, levitating us early. This message was born from an appointment with God. Opening the word, and not studying the word, but one of the sayings of a seminary teacher that I love, who is a member of our Congregation, but one of the things that stuck with him, he said, in our appointments with God we do not study the word, we let the word study us.

In those moments alone with the Lord, defenseless, the Lord approaches us and asks us, What do you think of Samuel? What do you think of that yesterday? What do you think of this commandment? What does the Lord expect, what do you think? How are you doing with that? The Lord studies us. discipleship.

Four. See trials as opportunities to grow. If we survive it they transform us.

My brothers, many times the struggles that we have with our faults, is evidence that maybe there is something in the landscape, I would say the landscape of our life that takes over those faults. And the Lord in his mercy, and many times in his mercy it is something quick, radical, often violent, but out of love for us he removes something or fixes something or changes the landscape. How does he do it? You lose your job of 15 years and your benefits. You lose your mortgage. At the moment you have a problem with your son or daughter that you never imagined, you wake up and he is a totally different person. And all your image about the future of this creature is spoiled.

You are currently facing a crisis in your marriage. Many of the men, here are men that the Lord has not transformed, here are men and women, but I address the men with whom I have dealt more, that the Lord has not transformed, he has risen. Marriages that he has revived, but why? In a moment of crisis they had to confront, wow, pastor, I don't want to lose my marriage, I don't want to lose my children, I have to change.

And my brothers, if the Lord does that, you know that the Lord cares, be glad that your name is written in the book of life, the Lord cares more about that than our mortgage, that than our retirement, that than our pension, that our situation or our friendships. If you have that the Lord can restore everything else. If you have that, the Lord can make even from what seems the worst catastrophe, born, life sprout again, as long as you have that, a life that reflects Christ. There is hope. Don't see it as the end of the world, see it as something the Lord is using to form a powerful man or woman in you.

And now point number five. Put on the new man, new woman. And I'm asking you to please take me back to Ephesians, Chapter 4, for a moment. That perhaps in your appointments with the Lord..., Ephesians, Chapter 4, verse 22, you stumble upon this verse.

"As for the past way of living, get rid of the old man who is corrupted according to deceitful desires and renew yourselves in the spirit of your mind and put on a new man, created according to God in righteousness and true holiness..."

Let's all say, “Put on a new man, therefore putting off lying, speak the truth each one with his neighbor because we are members of one another. Be angry, but do not sin so that the sun goes down on your anger, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no more, but rather work, doing what is good with his hands, so that he may have to share with those in need..."

Do you see a for what? So that? So that? You know why? With each change of character the Lord is giving you a promise of a new life. On the other side of this effort is a new you waiting for you. The Lord has a new future for you. A new you. A new image in the mirror. There is a reason for this and it is worth the work required to change our character. Amen.

No corrupted word comes out of your mouth if not the one that is good for the necessary edification in order to give thanks to the listeners, and not with sadness of the Holy Spirit of God with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, anger, anger...

Why am I reading this list? Because here my brothers, you can check, check, check. I know where I have to check. Do your check there and get to work, we are missing a lifetime. Amen. Remove from yourselves all bitterness, anger, wrath, shouting, slander and all malice, rather be kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another as God also forgave you in Christ.

Dressing up again man. Because? Do you know what it is to dress again man? Rehearsing a life of victory. But pastor, that's not me. I was born this way. Brethren, have you not been listening to this message? We are all born this way. That is why we have the power of the Holy Spirit to accompany us in that. Put on the new clothes, even if they don't fit you right the first time, even if they look weird, even if you pop a button the first time. Put it on, start walking like this.

You know, in my old life I was a liar but I am a new creature, I am going to try to tell the truth, I am going to try to work, I am going to work my five hours, not my seven hours and fifty minutes. I'm going to try this. try it out Do you know why? You're going to get so used to this new dress that you're never going to let go of it, because good things are going to start happening. I promise you this.

You know, the universe is governed by principles called the law of God. And when you begin to rehearse these values, the principles of God that reward truth, that reward justice, that reward temperance, that reward love, that reward peace, that reward mercy, that reward, in other words, the fruit of the spirit the moment you realize that doors begin to open before you. And people are treating you not as what you were, but what you are now in Jesus Christ and they don't even know why opportunities open up. Do you know why? There is a new energy behind you, you are operating within the law of God. you are operating on God's principles. You will be like a beacon that marks the presence of the Lord and all the energy, all the goodness, all the promises, tremendous life will await you when you put on the new man.

And finally, I invite the musicians to join us. Finally, know this. There is grace, there is grace. The Lord knows who you are. The Lord knows what this is costing you and the good thing about living this way, the good thing about entering into discipleship with the Lord is that you are entering into a close relationship with the Lord, you are going to get used to his voice.

Lord knows what becomes? On your coach. Your coach. Your friend. What do you think, Samuel? How is the fight going? Sir, as we Puerto Ricans say, I don't know if this word has been used in this pulpit in 25 years, I'm in the prangana. I'm broke. I don't have to pay taxes, sorry. You don't think I know? Here I have for you, for me, for tomorrow, for later, there is grace for you. you're fine. I just need you to try.

Let's stand up for a moment. You know, what I would love to see as a result of this message? Evidence, testimonials. Pastor, this was the message that you preached that infuriated me the most about you, but since that day my life has changed and I am experiencing a new life. The Lord needs your gifts, but those gifts have to flow in a container of character that appears in you.

Sir, we make a deal with you. We make a pact with you. Take us by the hand, Master, send us, we will follow you wherever you want us to go because we know it is a good thing, a good place. Lead us in the name of Jesus.