servants

I want to meditate this morning on the concept of servants, of being servants of Jesus Christ. You know that we use that expression a lot, servants, in certain countries we are accustomed to calling pastors servants, the servant, although that seems to have already become a word like an aristocracy, the servant, although the meaning of the word is a rather a sense of total surrender, of slavery rather. And I want us to meditate a little on this, the fact that as followers of Jesus Christ, as Christians that we are, we are servants, say the word servant, okay?

You are a servant, a servant of Jesus Christ, when you came forward here one day or in any church or gave yourself to the Lord, you became a servant, a servant of the Lord, you not only became a member of a community in If not, what happens is that you changed category and station in life, and then you became a servant of Christ Jesus, a servant of God, and we are going to see what happens with that word, what it means . You know, the next few Sundays I'm going to be from time to time extracting some teachings from this epistle to the Philippians.

As I was reading this week, I was struck by that expression of the Apostle Paul in chapter 1 verse 1, where Paul says: "Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints of Jesus Christ who are in Philippi" etc, etc. He is greeting his brethren in the Philippian Church and identifies himself and his companion Timothy as servants of Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus Christ said that the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and the apostles identified themselves as servants. Take, for example, the greeting of the Apostle James who was the brother of Jesus and therefore would have been tempted to feel like a member of an aristocracy, a member of an elite because he was a brother of Jesus Christ. But James himself in his epistle in chapter 1 verse 1 writes: "James, servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ." He also identifies himself as a servant of God and of his brother who was in the flesh, now glorified, but God himself, and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the apostle Peter also, in his second universal epistle, chapter 1 verse 1 also, introduces himself as Simon Peter, servant and apostle of Jesus Christ. That is to say that all these men, despite their exalted status as apostles, and very chosen and endowed people of God, identified themselves as servants. Now, what connotation did that have? Because now that word does not have the same connotation that it had in the first century, when these men said we are servants of Jesus Christ they were saying something very located in politics and economics, and the sociology of their time. The word that is translated into Spanish servants is dulos, and that word dulos, actually the literal translation is slaves.

Actually a dulos, a serf was originally a slave, slavery in the Greco-Roman empire, to which Paul and James belonged, and all these people by extension, the Roman empire covered, slavery was a pervasive institution, it was everywhere sides, and many people had slaves, and there were hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who were slaves, so actually dulos meant slaves, and slaves as you know, even in Europe and here, there were slaves for a long time, and it is still practiced in Africa in the Muslim empire, there are many Islamists who enslave many people, but slavery meant that a person who was a slave was the property of his owner, his Lord, he had no personal authority of his own, he belonged to another, their destiny, their days, the things they did, it was not up to him or her to choose, but rather that their Lord had priority over all those things, what time he got up, what he had to do, whether to marry or not, a slave lived inside from the house of his Lord and there he died many times.

A Lord could even dispose of the life of his slaves, he could kill him at most, and it was his right, perhaps he could not do it in a totally arbitrary way, but yes, if the slave deviated from certain things, he could put him in jail if he tried to escape, and a lot of violence was committed against the slaves, that is, a slave was a person who did not have his own life, but rather belonged to his master and to the house where he lived, and the children who lived in that house were also slaves, and were in the same social condition.

So when the apostle Paul, Peter used to say Paul the slave of Jesus Christ, today that word sounds harsh and terrible, nobody wants to use it socially, it is not politically correct to speak with that word, I think that is also partly why it has softened and Servant is said, but the word was a slave of Jesus Christ, and these men used this word to give expression to a relationship that they felt they had with Jesus Christ, they said hey, we are slaves of Jesus Christ, with all that that implies in our life.

And by extension the Bible also tells us that we are slaves of Jesus Christ, no longer in the terrible dehumanizing way that it had, because that is something else, the Lord Jesus Christ said I am no longer going to call them slaves or servants, but I will call them friends, because the servant does not know what his lord is doing, God now, the relationship of service, slavery to the Lord no longer has the same connotation, it has never had it, demeaning, humiliating that it has for men, but it does essence of that condition, which is that our will and our freedom is subject to the prerogatives, preferences, lordship and sovereignty of God, that has not changed at any time, what happens is that within that total surrender, the Lord like a benevolent master, he treats us with great delicacy, but that does not change our ontological status, so to speak, that is, our real condition, the essence of our real condition does not change, we are servants, we are slaves of Christ Jesus, and that t people have to understand it.

The essence of your identity is to be a servant, listen to that, if that got deeply into our minds it would change our way of existing, because nowadays people come to church, convert to the Lord, and as I said last Sunday It is more like for God to become our provider, and the one who pleases us in all our whims, the one who meets our needs and that is real, God does so many wonderful things, but that is not the essence of our relationship with God, they are benefits that come as a consequence of a previous condition of total surrender to the Lord, and subjection of all that we are.

It's one of the things that's important for us to understand in our mind, because I think also, let me, this is not at all out of the focus of this meditation. I thought this morning that this idea that people, today in this culture above all, in which many pastors need people to come to the Church, sometimes the churches are small, we feel powerless, the culture criticizes us, the Churches have an inferiority complex, and there are pastors and churches that want people to come, we want the world to love us, for the world to appreciate us, and for it to know that we are not hypocrites, that we are not Pharisees, and then people come from outside, and there are times with a sense of being special, people come to the church as clients, a culture of clientele has been created, and what is that?

Well, people come to the Church, and the customer is always right, I believe that people come to the Church, and there is not a process that I think should take place in every congregation, and when people enter the gospel, it is like first, when I get here up front and he receives the Lord like I should have the right to slap him a couple of times, and let him know hey, you're entering a different condition into the Kingdom of God, you're entering now as a servant of Jesus Christ, there is a humility that you have to have a dedication, because no, people come and you have to treat them like glass of Bethlehem, because what do they do?, if they do not like what you preach they go to another place, they have a sense entitlement, that if you don't supply their needs and you don't give them the things they need or want, look, there are many other stores out there where they can go to buy, they go to another place where they get better service, and so we pastors live with a fear of telling people what the S Lord really wants us to say, what a pity, and we do terrible damage to people, it's true.

Because I believe that the call of pastors, truly pastors, is sometimes to tell people what they don't want to hear, do you understand? and we have to have a large bottle of oil to anoint it every time we come to preach so that things slip off our shoulders, and say what the Lord wants us to say, especially in this time in which we live, brother, where there are so many doctrines for everywhere and the televisions vomit a number of false teachings, and the Church has a terrible need for solid teaching in this time of history, and the independence of the pastors is needed more than ever, and also the subjection of the people who listen to the Lord's word.

And that means that sometimes I am going to be wrong, it is true, but you have to assume that I have the best desire to bless you when I say something, I do not say it out of anger or to hurt you, or because I want you to my preferences, no, it is because I have a great desire to bless you and to be a true pastor and to shepherd you, and so all of us, and the churches need people who are servants, an attitude, they need servants of Jesus Christ, my responsibility is with Jesus Christ, not with people. And he needs servants on the other side who say, you know what? My obligation is to listen to the Word of the Lord, not what I like, and if this person is preaching the Word of God then I have to listen to it and submit to it.

Come then with that sense of relaxation and delivery. Look how Paul puts this in Galatians chapter 10, where he says, "Do I now seek the favor of men or of God, or try to please men? For if I were still pleasing men I would not be a servant of Christ." One of the problems of the Church is that it tries to please men, today and that is why people do not want to, we believe that if we change the Gospel and tell people what they want to hear, that somehow they are going to commit themselves to the Gospel, the Word of God, the doctrine of God, yes, some are going to leave, but others will come. When you pay the price of preaching the Word of God in the long term, because people react, at first they get upset and some do leave, but others say, you know what, that's the Word of God truly, the Spirit of God is in that place, and they stay, and the Church but the price must be paid first.

So we are servants of Christ, this Church serves Christ and therefore we preach the Gospel that the Lord tells us, but let's all be humble, when we come to the Gospel we have to put aside the prerogative, I often feel when the people have not lowered their necks, they have not lowered their heads, it is like the horse that is still untamed, and the rider wants to see it when it finally gives up and lowers its head, there are many people who come to Church with their heads up, no they are subject to the Word of God, I believe that there must be a breaking of the will, when a person is humble and teachable, and allows himself to be guided, there is such a great blessing in that, brothers.

This culture does not like this service, of being servants, what stands out rather is the independence of criteria, being your own person, being independent, my rights, but what I see in the Gospel is the opposite , in the Gospel there is a question of surrender, subjection, service, and then God lifts you up, God exalts you, God lifts up the humble, be teachable, ask the Lord to give you a heart, a teachable mind, and let yourself be intruded For his Church, there is a blessing in that, and if his Pastor is wrong, don't worry, the Lord will deal with him, because his Pastor is also subject to the Lord and says Father correct me, if I am wrong please correct me, because I I want to do Your Will, and then God will go about doing the work in due time.

But I encourage you, brothers, finally, one of the things that servant attitude tells me is that, well first, Roberto, you are a servant of Christ and not of men, so preach the Word, that is how every Pastor should be in this congregation, right?, preach, you are my servant, not a servant of culture or people, servant of my Word, amen. And to the Church he says you are servants of my Word too, when my Word resonates and you hear it say yes Lord, we are here attentively to do what You want me to do. That is what I saw in the apostle Paul, these people so devoted, no, I am not serving you, I am serving Christ Jesus. Number one would be that, serve, be a servant of your Church, let's stop this attitude that I am a client, you are not a client, you are a servant, I am very sorry, you are a servant of this Church and of the Church of Christ and the Kingdom of God, do not go around with that question that if they do not give me what I want then I go to another supermarket then, no, hold on, give yourself up and serve the Lord and serve your congregation.

So, first of all, that's very important, right? Another thing about that, you can't miss that, you know that today this culture has also been created as pastors, evangelists with a special caste, I think that This congregation, speaking of definition, this Church must be distinguished by one thing, and that is that all the people who work in this Church as leaders, be they cell leaders, deacons, the pastorate, ushers, children's teachers or any other department of this Church, please, people who serve and who are leaders, listen to this, you must distinguish yourself by a very humble and simple attitude, because you are a servant, you are not an elite, okay?

That means that the people who serve in this congregation and who work in this Church must be distinguished by their friendly treatment towards others. I don't believe in that, pastors are servants. You know that slaves used to have a hole cut in their ears and put a ring on them as a sign that they were slaves. I have thought of putting a ring on myself here, one day appear here, but for fear of being hit by a ring. heart attack 3 or 4 of you haven't done it yet. But honestly there is something nice about having a ring here that says I am a slave of Jesus Christ, I am not much more than that, I do not need to drive a Mercedes Benz for people to think oh, how successful is this pastor, no no no, We are servants, we have to be humble, I repudiate that culture today of elites, superstars.

Listen to me, God hates that, that's why the Church is as powerless as it is at this time, and even in the best churches, many times churches filled with the Holy Spirit where the Word of God and the gifts are exalted, the pastors walk around there like peacocks, making use of the sheep and with these airs of grandeur and seriousness, and no one can get close to them, the Lord sincerely rebukes the devil, because that is not from God. And that also enters me at this point, right?, that being a servant means that I am a servant of others, I serve others and that we have to distinguish ourselves by that attitude of serving others.

The apostle Paul did that, look at Second Corinthians chapter 11 verse 20, because you know this has become so pervasive today, that people themselves kind of want their pastors to walk around like that. There are people that if the Pastor is not slapping them every 5 minutes they are not happy, and they think that the Pastor does not deserve respect, really, if the Pastor does not wear a 500 dollar tie and with an alligator tie he is not anointed, and if you don't walk around with the air of a super apostle and speaking with a voice like that (serious), God bless you brother, the Lord is with you, then they are not true servants of the Lord. And many times when there is a humble and simple person, and affable, he knows that he is underestimated, it is true, I have seen that many times with my own eyes and I have experienced it, people want a person who walks around like that with a certain person, the mask of a great servant to then respect him and submit to his authority, and when we use the Spirit of Christ, simplicity, affability, humility, then his image of one falls, it is terrible.

The apostle Paul experienced that incidentally, I say this because it drove Paul crazy, he was like a rabid dog who had been slapped on the snout too many times and he always got annoyed with that attitude, look for example in Second Corinthians chapter 11 In verse 20, Paul says: "You tolerate if someone enslaves you, if someone devours you, if someone takes what is yours, if someone exalts himself, if someone slaps you, to my shame I say it, for that we were too weak." If you read all of that passage and other passages, the apostle Paul complained to the Corinthians, because he says he knows if someone comes over there to steal your money, and ask for large offerings, and to mistreat you, and to have airs of greatness, you will they kneel him for once, oh, this is a great man of God, but I come with a simple heart, a meek and humble attitude, preaching the Word of Christ in a legitimate, original and biblical way, and you say oh no, look at him how weak, his letters are from strong people, but look his presence is weak, his preaching contemptible, but one comes declaiming, making gestures, and this and that, and making great airs of greatness, and you do oh, this is a great apostle of Jesus Christ.

And he was constantly annoyed by this, that's why he sometimes had to say, look, God did this to me, he did that, and then he felt ashamed and said you forced me to speak that way, because if I don't speak that way So they don't believe what I am, the Church is the one that should teach the pastors and the servants of God to be simple and humble, that does not mean that there is no respect for the children of God, but we are not idealizing them, magnifying them, either. adorning them more than necessary, putting them on a pedestal, and we pastors must reject that, repudiate it, and there must be a culture where the most simple and humble person of heart is the person who is most respected. If you treat someone, a leader, a pastor who treats you well and treats you simply, pay more respect to him than to someone who treats you with a distance and who puts himself on a pedestal and this and that.

It is important, do not be manipulated brothers, be wise for good and innocent for evil, there are many people manipulating the people of God, on television, in churches, in many other places, and we are cultivating this culture of greatness and of importance, when the Lord calls the sons and daughters of God to be simple of heart, as the apostle Paul and others were, so that is very important. Look, the Lord had no tolerance for that, I want, I tell all my brothers, this Church must always be characterized by leaders who are servants, leaders who are not seeking glory or adoration, the esteem of others, but others give it to them when there is true humility.

Look, Matthew 23 from 5 to 12, how the Lord spoke about the Pharisees, He said, "These men do their works to be seen by men" never do anything for people to see you, quite the opposite, see if you discern that you are doing something so that people see you, look, immediately run away and do not do what you were going to do simply as a discipline, always discern in your heart the motivations of the things you do, why do you serve, why you moved from one side to another, why did you get up, why are you where you are? I am going to kill that monster of pride, I am going to dry it in my life, "because they widen their phylacteries" that were some threads, "and they extend the fringes of their mantles, and they love the first seats at dinners and the first chairs in the synagogues, and the salutations in the squares and that men call them rabbi, rabbi."

Look when you arrive at a church and they invite you to something, sit in the back so they tell you to come, sit in the front, instead of being embarrassed, no, that's reserved brother, sit over there better, there are people who fights Look, when you arrive at a party or a house, wherever, don't go in at once to eat all the sweets and the tray, let them invite you, be humble, be simple, so that later they say listen to me but it's not time yet, hide a little You have to be humble, you have to be simple in all things in life, always distinguish yourself, when you are invited to a committee, do not immediately start giving your opinion, hide it, wait a little while for them to tell you, what do you think? people who arrive and start to speak up, everyone has to know what they think right away, no, wait, listen, familiarize yourself with the environment, and then when you know the context well then start very weakly first, tentatively, orient yourself, and so you start gaining the trust of the people, and then they are going to invite you to speak instead of you tiring them out too quickly and saying no, he already said everything he had to say, shut up already, enough, what? No?.

They love that people call them rabbis, how many people want to be a pastor now? There are many people who desperately want pastors, not because God has called them but because they have a bunch of pastors (laughs), everyone wants to be a pastor today in day, and they don't know that being a Pastor is the riskiest thing in the world, because one has to talk so much that at some point they are going to make a fool of themselves, they are going to say something bad, at some point the Bible says that where there is a lot of word there is a lot of foolishness too, that's the horror of pastors, one talks so much that one is always screwing up. And the Bible says that many of you should not become teachers because you will receive greater judgment, the more authority you have, the more is expected of you and the more God demands of you. If people knew what the responsibility of serving the Lord is, they would not want to get involved in serving the Lord, they would have to wait for the Lord to call them, and many people want to be called this, rabbi, rabbi, pastor, pastor.

"But you do not want to be called rabbi, because one is your Master, Christ, and you are all brothers." I am your brother, and you are my brother and my sister, I am not more than you, I simply have a position that God has given me and I do the best I can, but I am not superior to you, in nothing, so we are siblings. "And do not call anyone on earth your Father because one is your Father, who is in heaven, and do not be called teachers because one is your Master, the Christ, the one who is the greatest of you is your servant, because the who exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

We as a Church have to create a culture of brotherhood and service to one another. The higher a person reaches, the more he must distinguish himself by being humble, being simple at heart, putting his rights aside. Now, let me tell you that a servant also has to use authority, because if he doesn't become a jump outside, right? Sometimes you have to establish order, you have to discipline, you have to stand clear, but it must be in a way that do not betray pride, arrogance, sense of superiority, or anything like that. Do you get me?. There is a way in which one can establish discipline from the position that one occupies in terms of rank, but not of ontology, not of what I am, that I am better than you or anything like that, I have to say that you always have to try people with great care, great dignity, each member of this Church is precious in the eyes of the Lord, they are a son, a daughter of God, and they must be treated with great care.

And when we carry out our tasks, whatever the task that you carry out, listen to me if someone brothers does not express that position, I do not know what I am going to say, report it or something but do not submit to that, we will not tolerate arrogance in this Church on the part of a leader, talk to him or her and express your point of view, but that is not from the Kingdom of God and does not express the preferential culture of this Church, we have to have an attitude of being servants of others.

Look at the apostle Paul, First Corinthians chapter 9 verses 19 to 23, says: "Therefore, being free from all, I have made myself a slave to all, to win as many as possible, I have made myself to the Jews as Jews and to those who are subject to the law as subject to the law to win those who are subject to the law, I have made myself weak to the weak" verse 22, "to win the weak, and to all I have made myself of everything so that everyone Somehow I save some, and I do this for the sake of the Gospel to share it with myself." Why should we behave with that humility, that simplicity, that good treatment in the Church? Because of the Gospel, to give credit to the Gospel, because it talks about that, the Lord continually spoke of serving others, of being servants of others, "And you call me Lord and you say well because I am, but if I I am the Lord and I wash your feet. You have to wash each other's feet."

Brothers, if that culture of service to one another, in this Church, became dominant, how would it change at home, in husbands, serving their wives, listen to me if one day your wife arrived and found the dishes washed, I would give you a heart attack, but before I die I would receive a blessing (laughs), I'm playing. If when you got home you had a chicken, not from Kentucky, from Boston, if you went to Boston Chicken, you bought a good roast chicken, you bought a little jar of mashed potatoes and another of corn, do you know at what price? am I referring to?, and maybe even a little bit of sweet potatoes, also mashed, and a few cornflakes that he brought you, and you don't have to cook them but serve it and put it there with two candles and some plates well, listen to me that woman is going to reward you in an inconceivable way afterwards (laughs).

We have to serve our wives, maybe I am being too dramatic, invite her to Kentucky then, but no, many times brothers, it is not the idea that I am the head of the house because that is what Christ said, and wife equally, be attentive to her husband's prerogatives, glory to God, at least someone appreciates what I'm saying. You know, the Bible talks about the woman who respects her husband, men have fragile egos, it is because we are weak that you should respect us, a man needs a woman who treats him preferentially, who makes him feel special, that he is worth it, that He has authority, I understand that women thrive on love, men on respect. If you want to serve your husband, treat him with love, with respect, I was going to say bow, ok, that's too much, but at least with respect, make him feel that his manhood is worth it, and that he is a good provider, let his masculinity lift her up , instead of trampling on it, that's important.

That is to serve one another, parents have to serve their children and their children serve their parents too, hear me if a culture of service spread in this Church it would be the Glory of God on Earth, let's practice it, let's serve each other brothers. The leaders serve the laity of the congregation, the laity exalt their leaders and say that they are doing a good job, right? It's not that they are embellishing them later, but they are recognizing their good work, a tremendous blessing, that is the atmosphere in which the Holy Spirit can do very powerful things, when there is service to one another.

So we see that, right? We are servants of Jesus Christ as opposed to servants of men, the congregations are servants of the Word and the Kingdom of God and therefore allow themselves to be taught by those values, the leaders are humble and simple servants who serve the people under them, in servant leadership. Those who are served bless and make life easy for their leaders who do not abuse or manipulate or oppress them, but admire the fact that these men and women serve them with humility and simplicity of heart, and there is blessing in that whole area.

The last thing, the last value that emerges, because there are many values that emerge from this culture of service, is that we are servants of justice and holiness. Wow, that really hurts, we are servants and the Bible then calls us to understand that now we have to serve already very high values. Look at Romans chapter 6, let's go to Romans chapter 6 verses 16 to 19, it says here, well let's go to 15 because it starts there in a section: "So, we will sin because we are not under the law but under grace?"That is what also happens, when they are under the law, an oppressive, demanding, demanding system, oh, then they behave well, but then comes the Grace of God that does not treat us as slaves but with love, with mercy, He forgives us our sins, he does not demand actions from us to be saved, so many people abuse that, then Paul says: "In no way, don't you know that if you submit to someone as slaves to obey him, you are slaves of the one you obey , is it from sin leading to death, or is it from obedience leading to righteousness?."

You have two types of slavery that you have to choose in your life, either you choose slavery to sin or slavery to justice, but you have to choose between one thing and the other, I prefer to be a slave to justice. It says: "But thank God that although you were slaves to sin, you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered" another word, eh?, is retaining the idea of authority and subjection to authority, and of belonging to something greater than you, "And freed from sin you came to be servants of justice", amen?. You have already gone from being a servant of the devil, of sin, but now you are going to live for the justice and holiness of God.

"I speak as a human because of your human weakness, that as well as for iniquity you presented your members to serve filth, to iniquity, so now for sanctification present your members to serve justice." In the same way that you jumped into the bottom of the pool to do evil and sin, now jump in to do the holiness of God and serve God in a pure, holy and clean way. It is a call for complete immersion in a life of purity, holiness and justice in the values of God, there is no middle ground. I believe that the Lord is calling us at this time as a congregation to be a Church that serves holiness, serves God's values, serves the Word, we have to dive into the waters of holiness and justice because we are serfs.

Look at verse 22: "For now that you have been set free from sin and have become servants of God, your fruit is sanctification and the end is eternal life." We have already been freed from sin and have been made servants of God, and our fruit must be sanctification for eternal life. Look at another passage to nail this down completely, well there are many, but go with me to Matthew chapter 24 verses 42 to 51, Matthew 24:42-51, this is perhaps not as clear as that in that sense about holiness but it is. It tells us about a total surrender in all aspects of our life, and it is to be watching over the approval of our Lord.

Matthew 24:42 to 51, says: "Watch therefore because you do not know what time your Lord is coming, but know this, that if the father of the family knew what time the thief was coming, he would watch and would not let his house be broken into. , therefore you be prepared because the Son of Man will come at an hour that you do not think. when his Lord comes, he will find him doing so. Truly I tell you, he will put him over all his possessions, but if that wicked servant says in his heart oh, my lord is coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and even eat and to drink with the drunkards, the Lord of that servant will come on the day that he does not expect and at the hour that he does not know, and will punish him harshly, and will place his share with the hypocrites, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Do you understand my brother?

We have to live as if God could come at any moment, because there are many people who have entered the Gospel and we have entered into an economy that, ah, we have been here for two thousand years, and yes, Christ can come today but also It can come a thousand more years from now, so why bother living at that level of total sanctity? It's going to come any minute. I'm going to do it again just in case, and when we come to see we go sleeping, and we behave badly, as it says here we begin to abuse the house of God, where God has placed us as servants of the Lord.

He says no, you have to live with a sense of urgency, a sense of total surrender to the Lord. You have to live like God is watching continuously and today could be the day that you appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ and have to give an account about your stewardship, how you have behaved, how you have lived, wow, This forces us to examine ourselves and ask ourselves if we are living up to the Gospel that God has called us to live.

We are going to ask the Lord to develop in us that sense of complete urgency, that at any moment Christ can come, we have to live like this totally surrendered to Him living at a level of purity in our lives, that this is the feeling in our hearts siblings. How beautiful, servants of Jesus Christ, you are a servant of Christ, I am a servant of Christ, this is a culture, this is a Church of service to the Lord, we are going to ask the Lord to seal that in our hearts this morning, amen?.

We are going to stand up, ask God there to do that work in your spirit, in your heart right now, and that this call to a culture of holiness, of humility, of service to one another, of simplicity of heart, to always look at the Lord and ask Him, what is it that You want me to do Lord?, tell me what You want from me, what you ask of me, and everything belongs to you, I did not have time my Brothers, that is another point as well, that everything we have is from Him. Everything you have is from the Lord, nothing is yours, your money, your time, your body, your energies, your family, your house, your Work, your profession, your future, everything belongs to the Lord first, and you handle it with the permission of the Lord, and when the Lord needs it for his purposes you have to give it to the Lord for his purposes, live only for Him, you don't you live for yourself, the apostle Paul says and I no longer live but Christ lives in me, what I now live I live in the faith of the one who gave himself p or me.

If God helped us, brothers, to live like nothing is mine, everything belongs to the Lord, when I am at work I have to say no, this profession is not mine, this work is not mine, this work belongs to the Lord, this money It belongs to the Lord, this woman with whom I have married belongs to the Lord, these children that I love so much belong to the Lord, what God wants is what will be done in this Church, this Church is not mine, it belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we handle it with great care because it belongs to Him, God willing that this be our feeling in life.

Father, help us to reach that level of consciousness, that everything we have, everything we are belongs to you, and that we are subject to certain values and to a Kingdom that is not a Kingdom of false independence but of subjection, love. with one another, service, humility, meekness, elevate one another, strengthen one another, love and encourage one another, Father we almost desperately beg that this be the hallmark of this family that is the Lion of Judah congregation, every day of its existence, we want to please you Lord, we want to be a Church devoted to you, pleasing to you, desperately desirous of serving you and pleasing only you Lord, help this Word to be a prophetic declaration that like a screw is deep goal within the structure of this Church, structuring its government and its economy, its way of living and of existing every day of its existence.

Thank you, help us Father, we declare Your Truth and live it now, help us to live it now Father, thank you in the name of Jesus, and the people of God say amen, God bless you my brothers.