You have to die to live

I want to share with you in the Gospel according to Saint Mark chapter 10 verses 10 to 31, a story that many of us know about the rich young man. The Bible calls him a leading man, a man of influence, a man of social importance but he had a lack and an essential void in his spirit and he did not know what it was but the Lord made it clear to him what it was. And perhaps some of you who are here this morning need that teaching from the Lord about what truly constitutes a spiritual life, a life that pleases the Lord.

What is it that the Lord seeks more than all things? The money we talked about this morning? service?. The Bible says that if we give our goods to the poor, our body to be burned if we do not have love it is useless, we are nothing. There is something more that matters more than physical actions, although those acts that we carry out for the Lord are important, but there is something even deeper that God wants from us, our heart, our loyalty, our total dedication.

I have titled this sermon "You have to die to live, you have to die to live." It says here that verse 17: "As Jesus was leaving to follow His path, a man came running, and kneeling before Him asked him: Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him: why do you call me good "There is none good but only one: God. You know the commandments: do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and your mother."

"He then answered and said to him: Master, all this I have kept from my youth. Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him: one thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have" there is the key I believe of all this passage, "Go sell everything you have." He could have said: go, give up, get rid of, get rid of everything you have "and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me taking up your cross. But He, afflicted by this word, left sad because he had many possessions ."

"Then looking around, Jesus said to His disciples: Ah, how difficult it will be for those who have riches to enter the Kingdom of God. The disciples were amazed at His words, but Jesus answered and said to them again: Children, how difficult it is for you to enter the Kingdom of God. to those who trust in wealth." An important clarification. "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."

"They were even more astonished saying among themselves: who then can be saved? Then Jesus looking at them said: for men it is impossible but not for God because all things are possible for God. Then Peter began to say to him: here we are we have left everything and we have followed you" as if to say: hey, what is our turn then, right? "Jesus answered and said, Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left a house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for My sake or for the Gospel who does not receive a hundred times as much. " Now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and lands with persecutions, a little touch of irony in the Lord.

"And in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and those who are last will be first." Bless the Lord His Holy Word. Amen thank you Lord. I didn't need the tissue from there because they brought me one here, these ushers are tremendous. So you have to die to live.

This young man is one of many who approach Jesus while He is on his way to another place or on another mission, they interrupt the trajectory, the plans of Jesus up to a certain point, however it is interesting that the Lord never rejects them, never turns towards them impatiently and says: don't bother me. When the woman with the issue of blood interrupts His way to the house of the daughter of Jairus, Jesus does not get upset, he wants to know what faith it was that touched him and when the woman reveals that it was her, he blesses her, sends her away in peace and then continue with His mission.

When he goes on vacation with the disciples and finds him on the other side of the lake a crowd that wants to hear the Word, the Lord takes pity on them. When the friends of this paralytic break the roof and lower his friend because they cannot enter the house that is full of people, the Lord does not accuse them of violating the rights of the owner and stealing his belongings or damaging his house, but ministers to them and he is amazed by faith. The Lord never rejects brothers who come to Him with a sincere heart, although the Lord may be going in another direction. He knows that when we approach Him with a contrite and humiliated heart, He cannot reject us, so says the word of the Lord.

No matter what your situation is, no matter where you are, no matter what your ties are, no matter how many sins are in your life right now, how difficult your moral, spiritual, marital or non-marital situation, whatever it is, remember that God is always willing to listen to you. God is always ready for you to come just as you are and tell him: Lord here I am, I am a mess, I am a mess but take that in your hands, bless it and I promise to walk this path with you, teach me how to be the man , the woman, the marriage, the family, the Church that You want us or me to be.

The Lord always takes you where you are if you approach Him with a contrite and humiliated heart, you do not have to have all things well prepared and arranged, well defined, on the contrary, if you have them well defined you do not need Him. The Lord says that he did not come to look for the healthy, he came to look for the sick, right? what was lost so if you are lost hey: you are the perfect candidate for God to find you.

In a sense, this young man was lost, he was confused, he did not quite understand what he had to do in his life and he approached imperfect Jesus and said, there is a passage, well yes I chose this passage because it says that: "He came running knee before Him" and asked him a question.

I think that when a person imagines that Jesus is walking with other people and this character comes running like a fireball and kneels down before the Lord, imagine that scene; What is in the heart of a person who does that? There has to be urgency, there has to be intensity. There has to be maybe even an emotional breakdown for him to come with that sense of intensity and draw near to the Lord. He did not care what people thought, his moral-spiritual need is so great that he throws himself at the feet of the Lord because there is an urgent need within him, neither his money, nor his fame, nor his social influence, nothing could satisfy him.

The different gospels, this story is found in Mark, Matthew and Luke. Each one gives an additional little detail about this man. It says that he was a main man in one of the passages, that means that in Greek it is archon where the word archipelago comes from, archi is a prefix that means: great, important, main. An archenemy is the main enemy.

So this man is a very influential person in his society. He is a person of considerably important rank, some even believe that he was one of the principals of the synagogue who had certain ties to the local synagogue. There is also another passage that says that he was a young man, he had youth and this passage tells us that he had much wealth, he had many possessions. Meaning he was young, rich, influential, wow he had it all. However, there is something in him that moves him to that urgent movement to get closer to the Lord. He had a pressing need.

Like Plunder that Plunder was also a fearsome man. People put Plunder as a little man in there all ridiculous short but Plunder was a dangerous man, he was a guy who worked for the Roman government and he had a lot of people working for him and he was some kind of licensed criminal, and he exploited people. But Plunder, when he saw that Jesus was coming down the road, he did not think about his dignity and that the people were going to see this fearsome man, but he mounted on a tree. Whatever they think, I need to see Jesus.

This young man does not care about his status at this moment what people think, he throws himself on Jesus because he has a request, there is an urgency in him. Another thing also if you have a need for Jesus somehow do what you have to do, do not be afraid of people. Many people are embarrassed to come forward, declare their affiliation with Jesus Christ, many people are embarrassed to let people know that they are a Christian. See when you have a need, do what you have to do to solve it spiritually and don't let anything stop you from getting closer to Jesus and receiving from Him what you need.

This man had this urgent need because he was a man sensitive to things of the spirit, so he was not calm, he was missing something very important. If he had been an inveterate one of those over there, he would have been happy with his wealth, his money, his influence and all the pleasures that this brought him, but this man did not feel comfortable, he was not calm and that is one of the first lessons we have here. The material does not fill the spirit. There comes a time when the pleasures of the world no longer fill us, the comforts. That is a law of psychology, this of the saturation of the stimuli.

For many poor people eating a steak is the greatest thing in the world oh if I could eat like those people a great steak as advertised on TV! No? and they come to have the money and they eat the steak, and after several times the steak is not the same, it has already lost its value because the more you have, the more you need, the law of psychology says that once you submit to a stimulus you need increasing amounts of the same stimulus to produce the same emotional result.

After people ate the good steak then in order to satisfy them they offer them steaks with cows fed only with grain, ok? grain fed beef. After that, after they ate several steaks from cows fed only with grain, you need some special cows "coby beef" that the Japanese make there, a special meat what do I know, I've eaten it and it doesn't make any difference just that they charge me much more for it, after coby beef is the last thing then you have to eat coby beef. And after that you have to go to the Capitol Grill or somewhere where waiters in white coats serve you the damn steak, it's the same meat but you need more and more and more and after a while it doesn't fill you up.

So it is with everything in life. One thinks oh traveling on planes all over the world. After a while you travel and stay in a lonely hotel and you lose your glamor, okay? and everything is like that in life. You say: well, I would like to experience that and get a little bored (laughs). But the important thing is this, brothers, and it is that: hey take it from God, receive it from God, nothing in this world fills that place that only God can fill. Only Christ can fill that space called spirit and if your spirit is not satisfied your emotions will not be satisfied, your mind will not be satisfied, your body will not be satisfied because the spirit is the essence of everything else. .

If your spirit is contaminated, your whole body will be contaminated and only Christ can cleanse it and this young man experienced that. If the spiritual part is not in place, no matter how hard we try to enjoy life with substitutes, we will not be successful, we will be unhappy. The Bible says: "Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness and all things will be added to you." Christ is, the spirit is the basis for true happiness. That has to be the foundation for all the other things.

This man knew there was so much more but he didn't know what exactly was missing. He knew that he was not happy, that he needed something more and that is why he approaches with that deep spiritual restlessness. Now your question is interesting because the way he phrases it indicates something about his mindset. He says: "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? You see, your question denotes a legal Pharisaic way of thinking that what do I have to do, what action, what act, what behavior is going to earn me eternal life? .

That is what Pharisaism preached. If you keep the law, if you make the sacrifices and keep the Sabbath, if you purify yourself twenty thousand times and wash your hands eighteen times a day then you are going to inherit the Kingdom and that is what all these people had captive, the poor they couldn't meet all those requirements, they didn't even know what requirements they had to meet. You practically had to be a lawyer to know how to please God, there were so many requirements.

And this young man asks him: what do I have to do? He already has two strikes when he asks the Lord the question. First he calls him a good teacher and the Lord, look, every time the Lord approaches someone and the Lord responds with a little confrontation and even a little harshness, there is something wrong in that person's heart. For example, when Nicodemus, that great teacher of the law, approaches him and says: Master, we know that you have to come from God because no one does the things that you do if they don't come from God and the Lord says: hey, truly, truly you I mean, whoever is not born again will not inherit the Kingdom of God instead of saying: thank you Nicodemus, thank you for that compliment.

He not only came from God, he is God and so the Lord reacts to that superficiality of Nicodemus's understanding, this teacher of the law who has God himself in front of him and does not recognize him, sees him simply as another rabbi to continue the same errors and the same superficialities of Judaism and for this reason the Lord confronts him. Here this young man comes with the same question of a good teacher. Notice how the Lord tells him why do you call me good? there is no good but only God.

Now was Jesus good or not? Of course he was, he was better than any other that has lived in the history of the world. And I think that the Lord is winking at this young man and saying: well, if there is no one who is good but God and I am good, then I have to be God. He is confronting the superficial idea of Jesus as just a good teacher, isn't he? and this young man approaches him because he sees him as a good rabbi but Jesus is much more than that. Jesus is not just an agent who behaves well, who has a good sermon. He is more than that, this young man does not understand who Jesus is and all the Lord does is to confront him with who He is.

And then he stops him dead and says: hey, I invite you to think a little more about what a good teacher is. And the other thing that is wrong is that it says: what will I do? because this young man represents Judaism. This young man represents religion, any religion with all its burdens, its duties, its responsibilities, its obligations, its commandments and people believe that doing something will earn God's favor, and Christianity is totally different from that. One never approaches God through good works, we know, one approaches through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Christ is the mediator between God and men, it is an intimate, personal relationship, understanding who Jesus is and accepting Him as the Lord and Savior of our lives, this is how one can be justified before God but this young man believes that the Lord is simply a continuation of Judaism and that if he does something and the Lord tells him what to do then he will be able to enter the Kingdom of God and the Lord is not there to.

We say, fame, wealth, youth, beauty do not make a person happy. We can say more, religion doesn't make people happy either. If Christianity is limited to what we are doing, it will not make you happy or save you. People have to put aside that idea that if I go to mass and punch the card and do what I have to do, with that I have justice, I am saved, do you understand? It doesn't matter that I'm just standing there or sitting while the person up here does a lot of shrewd things and all that, no. It is not actions.

There are people who are in the Church but the Church is not in them. There are people who serve Christ but have not given their lives and hearts to Christ. There are people who give money to the Church but do not give their soul to the Lord, they give the Lord the wing to keep the breast as they say out there, right? They give the Lord the superficial, the external so as not to give the that is within them, their heart, their driving force, their will, their totality of their ambitions, desires, dreams and the Lord wants the center of your life. He wants the driving force from you.

And so this young man believes that it is only the actions but the actions have not given him success, they have not given him what he needs and that is why he does not feel happy. Many people are in the Church and they are depressed, they are sad, they are tied up, they are miserable and they blame the Church and say: I already tried the Gospel and it did not work for me, I am going to Buddhism or I am going to something else, or the Gospel is a bunch of lies and they start looking elsewhere. No, the problem was not that the Gospel failed you, the problem was that you did not take it all.

I have a vision here in mind if I were in marketing and one day maybe the Lord will give me the pleasure of taking a picture of a person, in fact I discovered one on the internet and what the person was drinking was beer and then it wasn't It was good for me, but I took it and wrote below: Christ, drink it all, because this person is: glop, glop, glop like this, drinking it. And I said wow that image is good, you have to take everything from Christ, you have to take everything from the Gospel.

Many people take a little drink and believe that this is it and then when the Gospel does not work they blame the Gospel, right? they come to Church and a number of things, brothers please I tell you: it is not. Christ is inviting you to something greater, an intimacy, a deep relationship with Him. He wants you to melt completely, to melt and then He does something new with that liquid that is going to remain, to form you. As the Bible says, right? that we are like vessels in the hands of the potter, like the clay that says that if the potter made a vase with clay and he did not like it, what does he do? he destroys it, makes it again into a ball of mud, and then he makes another, another ball. And we have to do so.

When we come to Christ we have to give him everything we are, there are no ties, there are no limitations. You have to come to the Lord and throw everything before Him, all the baggage. You have to bring your money, aspirations, body, relationships, marriage, everything, dreams, wounds, and throw it at his feet, a bundle, a bundle of energy, and tell him: Lord, do what You want with me. And until we do that, the Lord is there waiting to see what we are going to do. We think that we are going to deceive him with false mercy.

This young man had pity, he was restless, but from the moment he saw him, the Lord understood exactly on which foot he limped and where the point of his need was, just as he saw the Samaritan woman that we studied before and also saw her need. She wanted to confuse it with a number of theological issues of where to worship and how to worship, the Lord said: no, no, nothing like that. Let's get to the point: I am the one who is in front of you the Messiah and you have to fix your life, you have to put your life in order and then you can serve me, you can experience joy. Religion is not enough, it is something more than that.

So the Lord sets a trap for this young man to take him where he has to take him because the Lord is an absolutely sublime teacher. Then he tells him: well, you know the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, it is interesting. There is a commandment that He does not mention here and later we are going to see why it is not mentioned and it is the most important of all, and it is the one that he is violating.

So the Lord knows that he has already complied with all those commandments, but he is preparing him to give him a final blow, he is preparing him, right? You have to be careful brothers with believing that merely going to Church and complying with external commandments is enough, you know? You may be the most decent, well-behaved person in the world but that just means maybe you have low testosterone, that's all honestly. The Lord wants more of us. The Lord wants us to go through a crisis in our lives and decide: look, I can do this, but you know what? Although I can do it for the love of God, I will choose this path.

I believe that in life there has to be a moment of crisis where we decide: why are we doing what we are doing? Why am I going to truly serve the Lord, why am I going to behave well? Because many people believe that simply by having an honest life, well behaved, God is going to be pleased with that.

And that's why there are so many people in the southern United States in Tennessee and in Georgia and all over the Bible Belt who go to church on Sundays, they fill the churches but their hearts are rotten inside. And they are people who behave well, they pay their transit tickets up to date, they pay all their bills up to date, they give money to the Church, they behave well, they have their marriage and everything, but inside God has not done the profound work that He want to do. There has not been a moment of crisis in their lives where they meet the risen Christ and bow like Thomas, and say: My Lord and my God.

They are like Peter, walking around with Him for a long time saying great things but there is a part of their being that still needs to be dealt with and until God deals with it Peter cannot truly enter into his apostolate, until it is reduced to a mass of mucus. and tears, forgive me if I am very graphic after having denied the Lord. Then Peter truly enters his. Because it is that the Christian life is a matter of that, brothers.

I am surprised every time how deep, how incisive God is and He is always looking for that greater measure of us. So I encourage you: do not be satisfied with simply coming to Church, do not be satisfied with having an evangelical card, that is not what gives joy, peace, that is not what gives power, that is not what allows you to bear fruit, that is not what allows you to experience the pleasure of God. What allows you to experience the pleasure of God is that your heart is pure and perfect with the Lord. That you love him above all things and that you have died to everything else and given your life only to Him and live it only for Him.

Perhaps you cannot give a million dollars, but if you give five cents with all your heart, the Lord is pleased with it. And then he's going to give you more so you can give five thousand like our sister Delmia here, so there's no excuse either, right? It is that God is like that.

Says the Word. Do you remember Jehoshaphat, King Jehoshaphat? One day a prophet approached King Jehoshaphat who had made a strange pact there to get rid of a crisis in his life that he had seeking help from an impious king and the prophet of God approached him and said: look, you have done something crazy looking for solutions outside of God, when God already gave you great victories when you had the courage to seek it with your heart. Don't you know? Does the prophet tell Jehoshaphat that the eyes of God travel throughout the Earth seeking to show His favor in favor of those whose hearts are perfect towards Him?

Brothers, what God is looking for, God goes through the churches, God goes through the Vatican, God goes through the places where decent people are with a great desire, a great hunger to find a man, a woman moaning with love for Him and surrender to Him. A heart that prefers Him above all things, a heart that is willing to say no to all the other pleasures in the world just for Him. A heart that has gone to the cross and been crucified and given up everything, and has said: Lord I prefer you above the love of women, the riches of the world, the appreciation of the worlds, the favor of the powerful, I prefer You above all things Lord.

We've seen the Tim Tebow drama, is it called? Tim Tebow, I don't watch football or baseball or anything related to sports, but recently there was a drama where Tim Tebow, I don't want to crucify him either, but there is an interesting drama here in the public domain that we are experiencing right now here in the United States with all the persecution of the Christians out there. But Tim Tebow is a very, very successful athlete and he is a committed Christian and has shown great faithfulness to the Lord, right? And then recently, now at a time of crisis in his career in which he is very insecure because he is not doing well, apparently he was invited by a very large church in the south to inaugurate his new sanctuary and he was going to be one of the speakers, of the lecturers.

And when the homosexuals, the homosexual group, the homosexual interests in this nation that are so powerful found out that Tim Tebow was going to speak at Church about this Pastor who has preached that homosexuality is a sin even though that is not let's say his sermon central, but the fact that this man has preached and there is a war against every person who stands behind a pulpit and says that homosexuality is a sin, then since this Pastor has come out in public and is a very well known Pastor who has preached that homosexuality is a sin then they fell on Tim Tebow so he wouldn't go preach, to speak to this Church and they threatened him, look: your career is in danger, you have made many bad decisions. This may be your last bad decision, it will destroy your career.

And this young man had at that moment the opportunity to make a heroic decision or a convenient decision. I don't think he sinned in saying: I'm not going, but I don't think he honored himself either. I immediately thought of Daniel when he said to his partner: you know what? I'd rather not graduate from the king's university but I'm not going to eat that food sacrificed to demons. Give us vegetables and the Lord will take care of it, right? And what does the Bible say? It says that it gave him wisdom more than all those who were there in that group, and it gave him revelation and it gave him success because they honored God first.

Because Daniel had a moment of crisis that asked himself: well, what do I do, do I do something that goes against my conscience and my understanding of God or do I settle and do what is convenient? I think Tim Tebow lost a great opportunity there to maybe sacrifice his career if he had to but I'm sure God would have given him a thousand times more. Now God is not going to condemn him, I don't think he committed a sin per se, understand me, I am not saying that he sinned, what I am saying is that he missed a great opportunity to join the great heroes of the Bible and do something that would glorify God. God, pay the price. Losing his life to gain it, the Bible says that he who loses his life will gain it. You have to die to live, you have to lose everything to then receive everything.

That is what Christ did. He did not take being equal to God as something to cling to but emptied himself, stole himself, took away everything that He had a right to have and gave it to God, he said: Lord, I I will obey above all things. Until a man or a woman does not have that moment of crisis in which they have to decide: do I give everything for God or do I put up with everything because I love him more? And God is continually asking us that question throughout our life, every moment of the day opportunities come to you to say: what do I do? I follow my Christ and sacrifice something that I love or say, I do not prefer it and I am going to save for me? and then the Lord tells you: well, it's fine, stay, don't worry, with your grain of corn, keep it there under your pillow, don't worry.

But you know what? it will rot there under your pillow because the one who withholds says what is not his, he steals from the Lord, he steals from the Spirit. The Lord wants only one thing from you, it is your heart. He wants you to surrender to him; that is why the great sacrifice of Abraham, the Lord tells him: look, I have given you a son, adore that son, the son of his old age. At the age of one hundred, Abraham has a son and when that son is already grown up and chubby and cute, the Lord tells him: now you kill me.

I know that look: I tell you the truth, I could say right now I disqualify myself, I would not have that faith of Abraham who knows if the Lord in His grace would touch me but it would have to be from Him that it came not from me. But Abraham cooked himself in his own juice walking to the place of the crucifixion and there when he already has his moment of crisis, what things, what thoughts will have passed through Abraham at that moment? and when he is going to put the knife into the chest of his beloved son, the Lord sends an angel to hold his hand and tell him: stop. Since you did not spare me your son, your only son, now I am going to tell you something: you are going to have children that not even the sands of the sea will count your offspring, and I am going to bless you and you are going to be a blessing to all humanity. And whoever fights with you will have to deal with me and whoever blesses you I will bless him too.

Because when you give to the Lord what you love the most, the Lord never tires of blessing you and giving you, giving you, giving you. That is why the Lord gives him that thrust and says: oh, so you kept all the commandments? ok well, well, look at one little thing you are missing: take everything you have, go to the store, take it all out and then start distributing it and give it to the poor, and come then, take up your cross and follow me.

Do you say that you love so much? ok well look then do you want to be happy? here is the key: you believe that I am a teacher, you believe that I have the truth then that, what you love so much, your money, your position, your influence, your social status give it to me and then follow me and you will have the contentment and happiness, and eternal life that you are seeking.

And what does the Bible say? which the young man considered. He thought maybe about those Gucchi suits he had in the closet, the 250 dollar ties, he thought about the steak he was going to eat with his girlfriend there at the Capitol Grill, he thought about the Jet Leer that he had parked there at the airport to travel to France and be in Paris for a week on vacation. He thought that when he arrives at restaurants they already know him and they immediately give him the best table because they know that he gives a good tip. And he thought about all those things and he thought: hm, follow this guy here who doesn't have to drop dead that there are women who have to attend to him and leave everything I have for that? He measured and weighed and said: no, sorry. He did not have the moral courage to give up what he loved the most.

And what does the Bible say? He says that: crestfallen, sad he took his way and walked away. Note that the Lord does not condemn him, it is more when he tells him: I have kept everything and when the Lord sees the superficiality of this young man, what he does is that he is sorry for him and loves him, he says: he loved him. There was tenderness in him, he saw him as his son. This kid is clueless, he doesn't even know what he needs to do. He thinks that just by keeping the commandments and living a superficial life that is what will save him, no.

The Lord did not condemn him, the Lord did not begin to curse this young man and say: what a sinner, how inveterate, he does not say that he simply saw him take his sad little path, head down with his life just as it came. Because that is what the Bible says: if the grain of wheat does not fall to the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit. This young man left exactly as he arrived whole and the Lord wanted him to break before Him, to give him everything. And so that is why the Lord says: look how difficult it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

You don't have to be a millionaire let me tell you, you don't have to be a millionaire for this to apply to you, you just have to have something that you love other than God. Is there something that you love more than God? Some secret pleasure, some illicit relationship, some trait of character that does not honor the Lord, some ideal that you have that if you serve Christ you will not be able to achieve? Some comfort, some privilege, something that you know you love more than God?

Because people believe that Christ was referring to material wealth and they say: well since I don't have millions that doesn't apply to me. No, the churches are full of people who have not given our wealth to the Lord. Your wealth can be your youth, your wealth can be a sense of humor that does not please the Lord, your wealth can be a caustic word that hurts people, your wealth can be displaying your anger when you feel like it without caring the consequences, your wealth can be a desire for revenge and a resentment that you're glad to feel that burning inside of you every time you think of so-and-so and that taking that away from you is like pulling out a thorn that's going to hurt but then you're going to feel fine but you don't want to go through that moment.

Then the Lord tells you: give what you love the most, give your wealth to the Lord and then you will be happy. That is what God wants from you this morning, that you give Christ. That you understand that Jesus is the greatest good, the greatest good, if you have Jesus you have everything. What is there in your life that prevents you from being happy and having intimacy with Jesus, what is there? I have to ask myself that question, I have had to examine myself many times throughout my life and it has not been one thing, there have been so many and I still have many more ahead of me that I have to continuously deliver to the Lord. He is telling me: give me this, give me that. I don't like that, I need that.

Many times I hit the nail on the head and give something to the Lord and I find myself traveling more lightly, and other times, you know what? I play crazy and I didn't hear it and then I walk around limping until I realize that: ah ok, alright Lord take it too, take it. I give it to him and my life is happier, I am more fruitful, more creative, I have more intimacy with God, God speaks to me more clearly, I discern His Voice better, what is there in your life that you have to give to Jesus?

Jesus is the secret, he is the pearl of great price, he is the highest good, he is the maximum expression of happiness. If you have Christ with all that He represents, if you have gone through that death that He went through then you can identify with Him and He can give you the salvation that you need. The Church is not the solution, I'm telling you from now on, religion, being an evangelical did not save anyone or make anyone happy, it is a total surrender of your heart, of your life to Him, that is what the Lord invites you to do this morning.

Do you want to lower your head for a moment? If someone this morning, if you feel that somehow this Word has spoken to your life up there on the balconies, here below I invite you this morning not to do what the rich young man did and leave just as you came, dare and give the Lord what you love the most. Tell him: Lord, by faith I am going to give it to you. I love this, I like this but I understand that there is nothing that compares to Your pleasure when you look at me. So I give you my life today and what's more, I'm going to expand that, you don't have to be just a person who has not received Christ as Lord, an evangelical or a Christian who has discovered that no, today God told me: look Give me that too and if so, I also ask you to receive this Word for yourself.

I personally want to be one of you right now and say to the Lord: Lord, examine me, know my heart, try me, know my thoughts. If there is something in me that you do not like, Father, right now I will do it in front of my Congregation, teach me, instruct me, alert me, enlighten me and give me the strength to deliver it to you, Lord, because I want to be pleasing to You and I want to have You above all things. Teach me Your way, teach Your way to Your people Your way, enlighten it.

Father, if there is someone here this morning who needs to deliver something to you, touch their hearts and speak to all of us. Brothers, I want to invite you to raise your hand while you are there, if Christ has spoken to you today, if Christ is telling you: give me your life, give me your heart, raise your hand there. I see that hand there going up, amen, amen. Hands go up.

If you feel that there is something and you identify it, you give it a name. Is there a name that you give to it? Give it to the Lord right now, raise your hand whoever it is. Now I open it to the whole Congregation, anyone who feels there is something, you know the name of it, do not do it simply as a pious, generic gesture, do not do it as something specific, raise your hand and give it to the Lord. Father, I give you my wealth, whatever that wealth is, I give it to you today, I give it to you, Lord, I give you everything I have. What You need from me here is Lord, I put my wealth at Your feet.

If there is someone else who needs to give something, your soul, your life, your emotions, your memories, your appetites, give them to the Lord right now. Father, I also raise my hand in the name of Jesus and I ask you: heal my life, heal my brothers, we give you everything we have and everything we are Lord. Jesus, we prefer You above all other affections, all other riches, all other appetites, all other pleasures. You are the highest good, I give it to you, Lord, take it right now and keep it, Father, we place it at Your feet.

We want to lose everything to gain everything, we want to die to live, we want to give up to have. Help us to be a Father Church of dead and risen people as Christ was. Surrender your life to the Lord this afternoon, surrender to the Lord everything you have.