Four stages in the process of sanctification - going towards perfection

Colossians chapter 3. We are going to receive this word from the Lord, I want to talk about four stages on the path to holiness, four stages in the process of sanctification, the journey of perfection that God has for all those who enter his path. The subtitle of this presentation is going towards perfection, the Lord calls us to be perfect as our Father who is in heaven is perfect. The word perfect means complete, well rounded, the attributes, the qualities that God wants for our lives. And this is a continuation of the topic that I started last Sunday, about what are the hallmarks of our church regarding the issue of holiness, what do we believe?

I have wanted to better define what we believe regarding the process of healing and sanctification, and we are going to enter fully into the word, here Colossians chapter 3, four stages of holiness, going towards perfection, says the apostle Paul in the letter to Colossians chapter 3: "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above." There is a precondition and a condition, or a conclusion. How many have risen with Christ? I hope that you have already risen with Christ through his work in your life. "Seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your sights on the things above and not on the things on earth, because you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ in your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory".

There is a reward, after we struggle here in life, God deals with us, purifies us, heals us, cleanses us, perfects us, there is an ultimate reward, which is that our life will fully manifest itself with Christ in glory, is it? amen?. So, well, then, you know what? I was going to do like this morning, the material that we are going to cover is in verses 5, the one that follows, up to 14, but I'm going for a moment, more to save time. I'm going to be working as we go about treating it to squeeze better. So my brothers, this is a meditation based on the one from last Sunday, and so briefly I wanted to underpin some things about holiness, how we perceive holiness, as a congregation, I as senior pastor, the leadership of this church, we talked about holiness as a call from God from the very beginning of the scriptures, the beginning of the people of Israel, God called Israel to be a holy people, separated from the contaminations, corruptions of the societies that were around, reflecting a lifestyle different from the world that surrounded Israel, and an Israel also set apart to represent a holy God, different from the pagan, corrupt, sensual, false gods that these nations adored.

And I said that this is how we are also supposed to share that same call to be set apart from and set apart for. It is also supposed that we reflect a different lifestyle, that this enables us to be faithful and effective witnesses, for a world that requires us to have different values. So we were also talking about how holiness, in my way of seeing it, is not only something that has to do with the sensual part of life, it does not only mean abstaining from immorality, although obviously that is an essential part of it, but also I was talking about a vertical holiness towards God, which reminds us of the essential and total holiness of the God we serve, and we are supposed to reflect that purity, that moral perfection of God, but I was also talking about the horizontal holiness that refers to the one that has to do with the people who are on my right, on my left, who walk with me on earth.

I am also supposed to reflect God's values in the way I relate to and treat others, including my wife, my sons, my daughters, my fellow church members, the colleagues I work with, the people in the street, I am supposed to reflect in my life and in my character also those exalted values of the gospel. And then what I was saying, that our church will always try to maintain that balance between the two things, and that simply good is not enough for us, abstain from homosexuality, from immorality, stop drinking, stop smoking, stop saying obscene words, all of this is absolutely important, understand me correctly, of absolutely key importance, but I also said that we are going to measure the maturity of our parishioners also in the way we behave towards each other, and Paul's letters reflect much that call, to love one another, to reflect that quality of congregational life, but also with which we treat others.

For example, he says, bless those who curse you, bless and do not curse, forgive those who offend you, love those who speak ill of you, that is, there is a very high relationship with those outside, and a call for a ethical height poof, absolutely incredible, that is the height to which God calls us, so vertical holiness, horizontal holiness. Now, I want to talk to you about how the word works this value, like the word of God, how I say, expresses these values and these very important feelings. I want us to see how the word works, because I want to prop it up, I want to put it deep like a root that goes deep into the soil of our congregation.

And this morning, I remembered that many years ago I had preached a sermon, and I went to a box that I have in the basement and looked for it and found it, and there was a sermon from the year 1995, January 8, 1995, do the math , 17 years ago, is the sermon that I have used as the basis for what I am going to preach. And do you know? I saw what I read there, there is nothing there that I have to change, that is what I have always believed, what we have always preached, because it is God's truth. Perhaps we have qualified it a little more but it is the same. So I want to speak based on that meditation on Colossians chapter 3, so that you can see how the word embodies this, what I promised you last Sunday is the interpretive lens, call it that, it is the theoretical-theological frame of reference.

But what I want to teach you today, how the word of God works these things and presents them to us in an implicit way, if you have the right lens you can then separate what seems like a whole but is also something very well structured, so four stages of holiness. What I want to tell you, this little device betrays me once again, but let me see if I can be like, now I turned it off completely, I'm not a good technician, well someone will come, don't worry. Listen to me then, the second slide tells us something, and that is that sanctification is the work of a lifetime, it does not end when you come forward, many people impoverish the gospel thinking that I have already come forward, I punched out the card, They gave me the visa stamp, my passport, now I'm just going to throw fat for the next 40 years, and I have nothing else to do, no, you know that there begins a sublime and wonderful journey, full of adventures, the road to The perfection.

Paul says I continue to the target, says the word of the Lord: "because the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which increases until the day is perfect." The Christian life must be a perpetual improvement, a perpetual being new things, we must always go towards perfection. What we have in the first four verses is a theoretical, theological exposition of what follows in the other verses. Paul says here, in the first verses: "If you have been raised with Christ", there is an emphasis that Paul places on the person of Christ, Paul is always what they call Christocentric, our call to holiness and the point of reference that God wants that we are always is Christ, what Christ was like, how Christ moved in the world, what Christ did on the cross, and what Christ won for us.

The basis of all our aspirations and the source of our power to live as God wants is Christ, his sacrifice on the cross makes everything else possible, there is also a passage in Colossians that says that Jesus on the cross defeated the principalities and the powers, says that he exhibited them publicly, that is, he showed his total shame, and annulled the act of decrees that was contrary to us, on the cross Christ won a series of benefits that leave us free to follow the path to holiness. And we have to look at Him, and what Paul says is that through the cross we have received certain virtues, where does the Bible say that we are sitting? You will say well, 68 North Hampton Street now, well that is physically, but spiritually we are together with Christ in heavenly places, at the right hand of God, positionally you are seated at the right hand of God the Father with Christ Jesus.

That means there is authority, there is power, there is perspective, from above you can see everything, there is freedom from the circumstances that control the man, the woman who knows Christ, there is a new freedom, there is a series of new values, there is a new call, a sublime, exalted condition that you receive as a child of God now. So as a consequence of that, since you are sitting up there, where should your head and your heart be? Up there, because if you are up there and your head is here in the world, you need a lobotomy, a change of something, a serious operation. Many Christians are like that, their spiritual state is on the ground but their aspirations, head, heart, loyalties where they are, in the world, and Paul says no, you have risen with Christ, you are citizens of the kingdom of God, destined for eternity , your values, affections, aspirations, your focus should be on things above as well.

Many of us are friends of the world, and we are not consecrated, holiness begins when you understand that all of your energies must be consecrated to God, then you have to look for things above, you have to set your sights on things below. above, holiness begins when you understand that call to establish priorities, why? Because you have died, ah you are alive now but you know what, spiritually with respect to the world you are dead, disconnected, they unplugged you from the world, that connection that tied you to the world that made the world have that definitive power in your life, they supposedly unplugged that cable, for the purposes of the world you are dead, it says your life is hidden with God.

Oh brothers, if we judicially understood what we are, what God has declared to us, because everything begins with your identity, according to your sense of identity, this is how your performance in life will be. Many of us have not yet changed our identity, we have not changed our consciousness, so we are still in the world and we believe that we are alive and kicking for the world. The man, that old man is not that old at all, he is fresh, there is friendship, camaraderie with the world. But Paul says no, set your sights on things above. Brother, if you love the things of the world, you are not a good candidate for sanctification, because the world is going to be pulling you, and it is going to be injecting you with its energy, and you are here supposedly aspiring to be like a child of God, there is an inherent, structural contradiction that needs to be corrected.

That is why Paul says: "You have died, your life is hidden with Christ." There always has to be death first so that later there is resurrection, as in the case of Jesus, he had to die to then rise again. The call then on the path to holiness is, let's establish priorities, what are you focused on, what are your affections set on, what do you think, what kind of music do you give priority to in your life? When you hear things, including last night I saw a movie, it's called Hugo, I recommend it to you, a beautiful movie, I watch movies from time to time just in case, brothers, but when I see a movie like this I'm thinking how that makes me capable to understand the things of culture and art, how wide my intellectual understanding of culture, cinema, art, human values, all these things are there.

I am seeing it through the lens of a pastor, now I am enjoying the film, understand me, but I am interpreting it in the light of who I am and how I can interpret it for the light of the kingdom of God as I am doing Right now, I'm making the most of what I saw. Not because my sights and yours must always be on the things above, you have to see the world, the actions of your life, the experiences, the falls and rises, the adventures, the victories, the defeats in the light of eternity. What is God saying to me through this? How can I use this as a stepping stone towards the perfection to which God calls me?

Paul then says in verse 5, as a consequence of all that God has done, where is your vision, where is your ontological, spiritual position? As a consequence of all that you are, Christ has accomplished in you everything that has for you in eternity. Look at what he says then: "Make you die then", see that well, that well ties what I have just explained with what follows. "As a consequence of that, do certain things", and what I want you to see with me is that there are four levels of growth and improvement to which the word calls us, but first see this. In those 4 movements there are two categories, two of those movements are to destroy, strip, undress, and two of those four movements are to dress, put on and cover. There is a destroy to be able to build. I have been building, working in construction for 17 or 18 years, I have literally understood what this means.

Every time we have taken a building like this, I always realize that we have to destroy, we have to dig, we have to get rid of, we have to remove old things to put new things. Destruction and dispossession always come before renewal. If you want to be like Christ, there are things that occupy a place, there is one of the laws of physics that says that two objects cannot occupy the same space. Something has to come out of your life, many times we are so full of old attributes that the new ones of Christ cannot fill our life. We are so full of the life of the world that the life of Christ cannot fit within us. If you want to live you have to die, the Lord Jesus Christ said if the grain of earth does not fall to the ground and die, it remains alone, it remains fruitless, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. You always have to die to live, you always have to get rid of something to acquire something new.

There are things that you love and that you value, and if you do not give them to the Lord first, you will not be able to receive the good thing that God has for your life. Look at Abraham for example, Abraham had to strip himself internally of what he loved the most, which was his Isaac, his possibility of permanence, of inheritance, of procreation, of fame, of world influence as God had promised him. And when God gives him what he wanted, at 100 years of age, now he says give it to me, glory to God that Abraham said seems crazy but take it, because many times what God wants is for you to get rid of what you you love the most, until you die you will not live brother. And I always see that dynamic in scripture, when the son, the rich young man, comes to Jesus, full of anxiety and desire for perfection, and says to him, Lord, what do I have to do to inherit eternal life?

Well, you know what the commandments say, do this, but he told him with a mischievous smile on his face, and the rich young man told him well, Lord, but if I've already done all that, well, you're missing something, take all your goods, take all your wealth, your properties, your social reputation, your influence, take all of it, sell it, get rid of it, and give it to the poor and then come and follow me and you will find what you want. And the Bible says that since he had so many possessions, he became sad and preferred to leave and continue with his spiritual burden instead of being free and stripping himself of what tied him to the world. Now I have always said that if that young man had said to the Lord, well Lord, it's okay, I give it all to you, when he turned his back, the Lord would have said oops, wait a minute, come here, he was playing with you, as he did with Abraham, I only wanted you to make the transaction within yourself, that you transfer the money mentally, spiritually, emotionally, now that you did it, keep it, take it, use it for my glory, and you know that the mortgage, the insurance is in a my role, when I want to ask you, you have to give it to me, live it as if you have it but as if you don't, use it as if it is a loan from me to me.

And many times, in order to bless us, God first has to cut things from us, to first get to where Christ is, you have to strip yourself of everything that is human, carnal, earthly, diabolic, animal. So the apostle says first put to death, then live, so there are four things, right?, that are here, there are four sections in that passage that follows, from 5 to 12, from verse 5 to 7 there is a call, from 8 to 11 another call, from verse 12 to 13 and in verse 14 a final call, four levels of spiritual perfection. The bible calls them a constant growth, from one level to another, from one level to another. Brothers, everything that is alive grows, if you are alive in Christ you will grow, there is a constant evolution, how sad that many churches have sold people this maleficence, I do not know what to call it, this lie, that when we enter the gospel what we have to do is simply follow a routine, speak in a certain way, learn formulas, and lock our interior, quite the opposite, that's where things begin, and your whole life is going to have to be a go , to go, to go towards something, when you reached a level, to another, you have to go to another, to another, there is continuous growth, we never stop, we cannot stagnate, you have to be perpetually restless, wanting more for your life.

What I want to call you my brothers is that we are cosmonauts of the Spirit, always exploring new frontiers, like Star Trek, we all have a little something here Star Trek, we are dressed as cosmonauts, where no man has gone before, we have to go to other parts of the universe of the Spirit, discovering many areas of our life, there are many passages that tell us that we are always adding things, look at just one example, second Peter 1: 5 to 8: "You also putting all diligence, for this very reason Add to your faith knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control patience, to patience mercy, to mercy brotherly affection, and to brotherly affection love. I'm already tired of reading only what I just read to you. I need a Coke, someone out there to help me.

It is continuous work, well I already have virtue, I behave well, I am a virtuous person, but you know what? If you do not add to that knowledge of the mysteries and subtleties of the word of God, you are a virtuous brute, you are a ignorant who has good intentions but little knowledge, the word says that that is why Israel failed, he was very zealous towards God but he lacked knowledge, I love knowledge, and many people despise the knowledge of the word, oh no, the pastor is It turned out too fine today, what I like there is a chop with two potatoes and let's go to what we came. No, the word has sublime truths that we do well, so after virtue comes knowledge, but what happens, many people have virtue and knowledge and then, it kind of becomes an end in itself, it's like it becomes They take hold of a high-power cable, but self-control is required to be able to channel that, to handle it correctly, because if not many people with virtue and knowledge become proud, then we have to control ourselves.

There is a call from God to master the appetites of the flesh, master emotions, master bad memories, master bad experiences that have deformed us, and all this is part of self-control, control of our faculties, then after mastery own, patience, because if you have virtue, knowledge, and self-control, then you no longer have patience with those poor devils who behave so badly in the church. You become an impossible person to bear, patience is needed, with yourself and incidentally with others. So it is always putting on new attributes and things, because what does the word say, if these things are in us and abound, they will not allow us to be fruitless, there will always be something to do in the kingdom of God.

So it is a vision to which God calls us, of constant growth versus the poor vision of Christian people, many times, of a stagnant and simplistic religious life. So look at the first level, which is as soon as I can, the first level says do what is earthly, everyone say earthly, the earthly in you, that is the first level, and that is often where we stay, I call the earthly biological, human life, carnal life, animal life, carnal and obvious passions, the most obviously sinful, that's what people think of when they think of holiness, well, I'm not homosexual, I'm not a fornicator, I I'm not an adulterer, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do bad things, I don't kick old ladies in the street, I don't steal children's popsicles when their parents aren't looking, therefore I'm ready to go to the darling.

And there are many people like that who believe, well, since I already left, and many holiness churches as I tell them, that is, that is what the sermons, the calls are limited to, and what happens, there are holy but ugly people that I do not want to have dinner I don't even want them in my house with them, frankly, forgive me for telling you sincerely, I speak to people in life, they are a bad testimony to the beauty of the kingdom of God, because for me holiness is beautiful, beautiful, attractive, Smiling, as I said last Sunday, it is something beautiful, it is something that wins people over, nice, our kindness may be known to all men, says the Apostle Paul. So many people think about the earthly, the carnal, brother, very important, if you have not dealt with that first level, do not dress as I said last Sunday, if you have not dealt with that first level you are tied to the devil , there is a very big hole through which the enemy can put everything he wants to do in his life and do damage, steal his energy and hit him, because that is the energy that he exemplifies, and we have to purify ourselves and deal with it.

We are never going to completely undress ourselves from the carnal, the animal, because our very nature, biological, neurological, is earthly, but we have to mount a continuous battle, a renunciation of our inner being to it, an appeal to the strength and power of the Holy Spirit and the illumination of God so that he is always cleaning us, purifying us. We have to submit our being to God's treatment. The battle against the flesh will never end, these different levels are continually occurring in our lives in different sequences and in relation to each other, but definitely, the first level is that, and Paul mentions them, some of the things that characterize that first level. , fornication, porneia, that is, everything that has to do with, there was no word pornography, everything that is impurity, it is not only having sex before or outside of marriage, but everything that is impure, and everything that it is not suitable for holiness and purity, without stain of God.

Impurity, disordered passions, greed, because it is not only sexual, it is also greed, corporations that exploit people, the media that addict people, executives that lie and manipulate, and create needs that people they don't have, that they go home with obscene bonuses knowing that they are lying and cooking the books, because they know that later all that is going to collapse, but what does it matter to them if they already have their bonus of three million dollars, let whoever it is be kidded, there they are, that is the evil of the world, it is not only sexual, it is everything that ties man to here, space, time, so Pablo says get rid of all that, fight, against everything it's.

And it says here: "The wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience, in which you also walked, in another time, when you lived in them" imperfect past tense, meaning hey, I'm already assuming that that is no longer a dominant factor in your lives, you lived in that but now, brother God always assumes that now, but we have already dealt with these things, at least in the basics, this congregation, God is calling us every day more and more brothers to the sanctification of our lives, at that level first, let us leave those things, that impurity, please, young men, I know there is a lot of appetite here, I know that the old man, the woman, is still screaming and screaming inside of us, of us , but the bible says hey, those things are for people from outside, you lived with that, you moved with those things, now the word already assumes that those things are dying, we are detaching ourselves from those things in our physical, psychic life , should not even men within us, I say that with fear and trembling, it is assumed that this is no longer a dominant reality in our lives, we do not practice it, it does not dominate us.

Look at the word, to practice, to be dominated by, to be immersed in this, it is different from that there are moments that we fall, stumble, get up, but we do not live in it, we do not celebrate it, we do not practice it, we do not stop feeling that we are sinking repentance when we practice these things because we know we are out of the will of our heavenly Father. We are sensitive to God's rejection of these things. So the Bible calls us, let's get rid of these things, because our life is already with Christ.

Second level, it says here then in verse 8, look look how interesting: "But now also stop." It is what I tell you that the word works and conjugates things in a very beautiful way when we understand it, the Holy Spirit guides the apostle Paul to say to the Colossians and to us by extension, brother, leave those violent and ugly things in life animal of man without Christ, and people say wow, thank God, I have left all that behind, it no longer dominates me, but now, that is, there is a second level, don't get so comfortable, but now you also leave all these things, anger, anger, etc., what are all those things?

The first level is obvious, external actions, the second level I call something internal, attitudes, personal traits, habits of the heart, anger, anger, malice, blasphemy, dishonest word, why the distinction of the Holy Spirit?, because it is what I say, in many churches, and Christians, and Christian circles, people focus on the first, and pastors, preachers, the discipleship process, the ethics of a church many times, we avoid the other, the other level We don't talk about it that much, but the Bible calls us.

I believe that we cannot truly reflect the goodness of God unless we have allowed God to deal with that dimension, and that is what makes the Christian path so agonizing for me, I point out to myself, because every day I I measure that word and I find myself lacking, I need God's treatment in my life. I can't let my guard down, brothers, don't worry, I'm not going to shoot myself in the next 10, 20 years, no, it's not that I'm neurotic about it either, no, but I know where my homework is, and I joyfully accept it, because I know that I already have the approval of my heavenly Father, and He is committed to working with me, what I understand is that I am not a 100-meter runner, I am a 26-mile runner, I am a marathoner , and I have to run the good race of faith until I reach the end, and God calls me to other levels of perfection that I don't have yet, I'm dealing with it, right?

Anger, anger, malice, blasphemy, many congregations, secretly, families, Christians who serve the Lord, there are things, how many of us does this affect? And Paul would say things similar to these, because there are many other things, gossip, grudges, lies that we tell about each other, attitudes that exist in our lives, we are ultrasensitive to the perceived offenses of others, there are even other things, tendency to despise ourselves, to despise others, manipulate people, control them, denounce their defects, humiliate people with our verbal capacity, our hurtful sense of humor, many things that belong to that second dimension of perfection, it is all that internal life of the self that also imprisons us, and Paul says but you are also things, not only the sexual, immoral, also leave the undue attitudes, the inappropriate treatment of others, ask the Lord to heal you.

I think I'm also going to talk in the future about ok, what is the mechanism that God uses to effect change in our lives? Because that is also important. How are we going to get to this, right? So look at this clarification, brother, you know what? I would say from my own personal experience and observation, and not just this church, I would say literally hundreds of churches, ministries, that this border is the one that often causes the most damage to the congregations, the one that impoverishes the most, the one that most damages the testimony of the church, the one that makes the ministries the most ugly, the one that neutralizes the leaders the most, the one that kills the most ministries that God would like to unleash, but cannot, is what brings the most reputation to the kingdom of God on television In large churches, in large ministries, it is not letting God deal with that area, and not reflecting God's treatment, the divine bleeding in that dimension.

That is what puts leaders against each other, the secret agendas that often govern people, are the divisions in the churches, the pastors who do not lead our congregations well, we allow ourselves to be possessed by the ego, pride, dominate , the screening, the exploitation of others, is that dimension, that is why I stop on it and the word also stops. We have to put these things aside, my brothers, let God treat the area of your mind, your personality, your emotions, it is known as the process of discipleship, of perfecting the self. Listen, this kills marriages, this is what is killing so many families, this is what makes counseling work so difficult for me and the counselors. Because I see this lack of treatment in that dimension in spouses, it is bleeding the marriages of people who love God, come to church, but the values that they exemplify and how they treat each other make me and others we want to promote healthy marriages, it almost ties our hands, because it makes it difficult for the wife to bear her husband, it makes it difficult many times for the husband to deal with the love he needs, it makes the children lose love and affection for His parents.

And then sometimes one, brothers, one does not know what to say, please help the Holy Spirit, asking the Lord to deal with his life, with mine, asking him to burn us, kill us, cut us, bleed us, so that the life of Christ can manifest within our families, our spirituality. So that then the word of the Lord can incarnate properly in the lives of the children of God.

You know when you let God deal with that area of your life you are going to be a different person. They get annoyed with me because I speak to them like that my brothers, I hope not, it is the word of God speaking to their lives, this dimension has to be treated, I hope that no one leaves here upset with me, I am not pointing out their sore , I am aiming for what God wants for your life, look at it positively, and that will be a blessing in your work, human relationships, in everything, let God's surgical knife enter inside you and remove those things, and replace them with the character of Jesus Christ. Let God shape you.

There is a third level, carnality, merely biological biology, carnal, earthly, second, get rid of the attributes, those secrets that make the human personality ugly, the wounds and deformations of the past, that make you a thorn in the side of others, those secret, black veins that run in your life. Ask the Lord to bleed you out so that you can be more like Christ. There is a transfusion of blood, from human blood, carnal to the blood of Christ within you. But the third level is an even higher level, we go from the lowest, and concrete, and hard, to something a little lighter, to something even more sublime.

Look what it says, so in verse 12, I'm going to skip three verses, a transition, verse 12 says, there it is: "Put on", the first two are put off, undress, let go of, throw down, here it says: "Put on ", put on, assume, get dressed, you are naked because supposedly you have already freed yourself, now get dressed, remember that I said that you have to destroy to build, "Put on then as God's chosen ones". He knows what the word calls us to assume and live as the identity of children of God that we have. You are a child of God, so God tells you live now as a chosen one, do not live a schizophrenic life, with a sublime and noble and royal state within you but living as a beggar and a vagabond.

Live as God has made you, how are we supposed to dress, what are the qualities that we express, that characterize us externally? Saints and beloved. What does beloved mean? Easy to love I would say, benign, kind, nice, lovable, tender, holy and loved, endearing mercy, meekness, patience, and other similar things, transparency, honesty, mercy, forgiveness, joy, peace, meekness, temperance , self-control, all these things that we talk about, these are the virtues that we must be assuming day after day after day in our lives.

I would like to have time, I am not going to do it, but dwell on each of these qualities, how many of us say before the Lord? Father, I want to be like Christ, I want to exemplify the character of Jesus, I am not content with simply having left the old things, I want to dress myself in new things that glorify you, and adorn my life, Lord. How many times are we asking the Lord for these things, brothers? That's where the positive comes in, right? This reminds us of something else, he says, bearing with and forgiving one another. Why? Because look my brother, no one, not even yourself, behaves at that level, and sooner or later we have to put up with ourselves or with others, and that is what ultimately, if someone offends us, forgive them and even forgive ourselves.

We have to immerse ourselves in a behavior, get dressed, it means that you cover yourself completely, fill yourself up, let yourself be governed by that behavior at the height of our condition. Remember the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 22, love, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, there is a quantity, there are lists, everything good, everything noble, everything pure, everything kind, everything perfect, everything that is of good name, if there is any virtue, if I say something of praise in this think, there are continually lists of those calls, those qualities, that point us to one thing, deny yourself, love others , lives for others, that denial of the self. The world, the jungle is for the strongest, my needs, Christ says don't look at your needs as much as those of others.

Do not look at your glory as the glory of God, it is the opposite of carnal gratification that seeks self gratification at any cost. The self must die, it must yield to the consideration of others, that is the basis of love, it is a higher principle to which scripture calls us. The last level, be patient and give me a few more minutes, the last level, love, then leave the earthly, leave the impure and not noble qualities, get rid of all that, put on virtues according to the kingdom of God, goodness, patience, and then the crown, and I would say the jewel that is on top of the crown is love. Completing everything, love, says the apostle Paul, is the perfect bond, which unites us to one another in an indissoluble and organic way.

I told the brothers this morning, look, don't ask God for love because God is not going to give you love with a magic wand. Love is the conclusion of a life delivered to the treatment of God. Love is that which, when you have assumed all the virtues to which the word calls you, together constitute an attitude and a posture that is called love. That is why every day we have to submit ourselves to God's treatment, surrender to being of the Lord, know the height to which he has called us, and little by little then love becomes the distinctive quality of our lives. Perfect love is the result of a lifetime of perfecting and dealing with God. Without love, says the apostle Paul, if I do not have love I am nothing, if I do not have love the things I do are of no use to me, if the motivation of my life is not to bless those around me, if the motivation of my life is not manifesting the love of Christ, if the manifestation of my life is not the stripping of myself, be and live.

If I don't reflect Christ's self-sacrifice in my life, then nothing I do has ultimate value or meaning. Do you understand the height at which God calls us brothers? Four levels of sanctification is what beautifies, ennobles and settles all other spiritual qualities. Get rid of your body that yells at you and controls you, get rid of the emotions and distortions that make you ugly, assume the qualities and virtues of the character of Christ, and above all that your life reflects love for others, a love that Only God can manifest through you because it is not in us to manifest such a high love, a thing as high and sublime as that.

Brothers, I hope I have complicated your life a little this afternoon, those of you who are still listening to me, I hope you leave here thinking wow, this is more complex than I thought, but also more interesting, now I understand why I was so bored in the Christian life, and it is because I had impoverished and oversimplified the journey of Christianity, this is something serious, beautiful, to be a little better, bleed a little more, if you are lucky in the Christian life Every day God is going to come and he is going to put a syringe in you and he is going to take a little bit of blood. It will weaken you a little so that you manifest God's love in your life a little more, it will hollow you out a little so that God's anointing fits more within you.

He is going to impoverish you a little to enrich you a little more, he is going to take a little meat from you to put his Spirit on, may God be the blessing of our lives, I ask God that this church and this pastor every day we can exemplify a little more of the Kingdom of God so that this world believes that Jesus Christ is Lord. Stand up, glory to the name of the Lord Jesus, we give glory and honor to his name.

Father, this word is too high for us, but we send it out anyway and we receive it, we get inside it because if we put it on it's too big for us, Lord, but we want to grow, grow, grow to fill that word, I ask that this people may, in your mercy, may while this church remains here, reflect those values, it begins with me Father, I admit to your people that I am not up to the word that I myself preach and I need Your treatment, Holy Spirit, take us to the level we need to go, manifest Your energy, not the energy of the world, we want the energy of Christ to fill these families, these homes, this community represented here, and that this power, that energy of yours fills that sublime message of yours, begin to expand like a holy vapor, a cloud of glory to the four winds, filling this community, setting an example, preaching a message, projecting a life, an example Lord for the people to see, it starts with me, my home, my family, continues with every man, every woman, every home represented here.

I send your glory now to this people Father, I send your energy, kill everything that has to be killed in us Father, Lord send your knife now to cut everything that is not yours, deal with us, don't stop dealing with us , Lord drive it, a stake, a sign, in the heart of this church Father, until Christ comes, help us to live up to that message Lord, to your glory, we adore you, thank you for what we have experienced today in this holy place, we take it with us like a little flame, let nothing put it out, we are going to protect it and we are going to keep it, we are going to put it on the altar of our houses, so that it lights up our lives and our home, take us out of here like flames burning that we exemplify the gospel of Jesus, his good word, thank you, in the name of Jesus, we pray, amen and amen.

People of God receive that word and ask the Lord to make it real in your life and in mine, we are blessed.