A heart of gratitude

We go before the presence of the Lord and one of the things that I have asked before the Lord for my life and for us tonight is that we learn to enjoy a life with the Lord that is more than merely superficial. Perhaps you are here and you can confess "the Lord took me from where I was for many years in chains, imprisoned in life" but perhaps God wants something more for you, even after that, the Lord has healed you from great things, but there is more that the Lord wants for you. And you know what? You yourself realize that you have been living in a superficial way and you can't find what you need.

Perhaps there is a key that the Lord wants to give you tonight and I want to explore it a little. The idea of a heart of gratitude and the secret of living celebrating the presence of the Lord tonight. And I invite you to Luke chapter 17, verse 11. A story that perhaps many of us have read. Luke chapter 17, verse 11. I'll give you a little background on this. A couple of weeks ago we had a special, extraordinary service, a fact that it was not part of our order of service as a brother wanted to bring him, offer the Lord a service dedicated to celebrating a miracle that the Lord did in his life, in the life of his son.

It so happens that your daughter was the victim of an accident. A bullet that ended up in his brain, and you'd say, "Well, that should be fatal." But the fact is that this young woman came that night, she stood here, she testified, she spoke to the group that was there at 6:00 p.m., that very special Sunday afternoon, but we noticed something. There were maybe, there was a good group, and it was a beautiful environment but maybe we were about 40, about 40 souls who were here. A little more, a little less, something like that. And I thought and made the comment to the pastor: "Look, if the opposite had happened, God forbid." And it has happened here, you know, among us, young people, who lose their lives through nonsense, in the midst of their youth.

And we've seen this congregation, we've seen this packed sanctuary. We counted at a funeral like this, almost a thousand people all night, going in and out of the doors of this place at a funeral. Because? Because someone was the victim, it is known, of a tragedy, they died and we celebrated their funeral here. Here we are celebrating what is practically a resurrection, a miracle that the Lord did and there maybe 40 people here. And I made the comment to the pastor “look, that is the average more or less, biblical, of celebration”. If you look. Well, yes, the Bible says that 90% of healed people do not come to the Lord and bless and thank him.

Where does it say that in the Bible? Here, in this portion we are going to read it. Ten lepers, you know, all ten are healed. Nine jump, jump, celebrate the fact that the Lord healed them. You do something very different. It made all the difference to his life. That man lived under a shower of blessing that I want to reach you. I want it to reach your home. I want that rain to cover the Lion of Judah congregation and our entire neighborhood. I want the Lord to create a people like this man because when that happens, my brothers, there is going to be a revolution in the air, and the Lord is going to transform a people into an unstoppable people. That happened?

As Jesus went, this is Luke, chapter 17, verse 11. As Jesus went to Jerusalem, he passed between Samaria and Galilee. Between Samaria, which was a quasi-Jewish town. The Jews did not consider the Samaritans to be pure Jews, and Galilee, which was a Jewish town but with a lot of Greek influence, and that place was between the two, was a no man's land, neither Jewish nor Greek nor Samaritan. Perfect for people who have nowhere to go, like these lepers. The perfect place for them to live. And upon entering a village, in that area, they were met by ten leper men, who stood at a distance and raised their voices saying: "Jesus, teacher, have mercy on us." Here we are for a moment.

The leper was deprived of participating in everything that is represented by a normal life. It was considered an impurity that the leper appeared in full society and less, in the temple. The temple was where everything took place. All commerce, all social exchange, religious life, access to the presence of God. And you know? there are many who approach the Lord like this also "we were many destitute like this", far from access to a normal life, to the full blessing of the Lord. The economy, social life, it was forbidden for them to approach Jesus by the Mosaic Law but they recognized his authority. And this is good. People, in a bind, without resources, without any other alternative or hope, instinctively cry out to Jesus.

They instinctively cry out to Jesus. My brothers, help us to pray for this. May this continue to be what the Lord does in the Lion of Judah congregation, may the people see themselves in a bind, may the Lord illuminate the condition of the people, may the scale fall in their eyes and they see themselves as they are and see, recognize that Jesus is your answer, that it is your need, and that we see here, week after week, night after night, experience after experience, souls crying out, Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, do something with me. I have no choice, I have nowhere else to turn. You are my only answer.

May the Lord at every level continue to do that miracle in this place. Isn't that the house of churches where you want to go? A place where you see that Jesus is exalted and broken people feel safe and know, they recognize that his power and his authority is there and they go there. Well, that's what these people did. And Jesus, and when he, Jesus, saw them and said "show yourselves to the priests", and it happened that while they were going, what happened? They were cleaned. Interesting. Sometimes our healing comes instantly, and Glory to God for that. That should be front page, we should celebrate that, but the truth is my brother, we are usually healed as we go.

I believe that the favorite way that God uses to heal us is the way that he used with these lepers. Maybe if we were to do a survey here, each one of us can identify with one of these lepers, who see the Lord, we approach the Lord in a bind. I have this need, my life, I can no longer handle it, Lord, my home, my son, my marriage, my economy, etc, etc. And what you get is not a hands-on lecture or something dramatic. What you get is a word. A word. You receive a word of Faith, you receive a promise. And then we have to walk under that promise, walk in obedience under that word. By faith.

The Lord declares you healthy, declares your home healthy, declares your marriage healthy, declares your situation healthy, declares your mind clear, in order, declares your life as it should be, as God created you. He declares healing and wholeness over you. Even if you don't feel it at the time. Although apparently nothing has changed, although it is the same jalopy, if you came in a jalopy. I know what a pileup is, look what I drive. Although you came in a jalopy, it's the same jalopy, the same job, the same apartment, everything. But you are walking under a word of deliverance and healing, believing that on the go, in obedience, his discipleship class. Bringing to the Lord this misshapen character, this memory, this situation, this habit.

Bringing it to the Lord and seeing the Lord one flake at a time falling on the way, one flake at a time. One flake at a time. Clean hands, clean forehead, face. Bring me a mirror and you see that you are another on the fly. The Lord healing you. It is the favorite way the Lord uses to heal us. Now, they found out. They say "and it came to pass as they went, they were cleansed." Verse 15, then one of them, seeing that he had been healed, what did he do? What did he do? He returned, glorifying God with a loud voice. As we Puerto Ricans say, whatever it takes. With all his voice, with a loud voice, and prostrated himself, this has been a privilege that he did not have before. He prostrated himself, face to the ground at her feet, giving her thanks. And this was a Samaritan.

Responding Jesus said: "it is not God who was cleansed" And the nine, where are they? Remember, the other nine were supposed to be Jews, and there was no one to come back and give glory to God but that foreigner now, my brothers. I guarantee you this: the blessing, a powerful life has nothing to do with your religious background, it has nothing to do with how many times you have slipped or rebelled or zigzagged. It has to do with an attitude of your heart. There is a heart, no matter how much you know, no matter how much you have taught, there is a heart that seeks the Lord, and this man, and you know what? The Lord is no respecter of persons. It is the point here. We can go further into that but that is enough.

Know this. All of us here are Samaritans. None of us have a right to anything with God. Jesus in his mercy seeks and sees the condition of the heart, and there is something in this man that gives off grace from the Lord. The Lord blesses him and told him “get up, go”. Your Faith has saved you. Other traditions in the King James, in English, famously declare: Your faith has made the hole. It has made you whole. And I like this. Do you know what this says? This is what this says to me, it's the blessing this man gets. And here I want to arrive. Perhaps you ask the Lord, please let us not treat the Lord like a Coca-Cola machine. For our own good, an exchange, a trade. We have a need, we put in a prayer fleece, an answer comes out.

There is a need, we put in a prayer fleece, maybe a little fast. That requires maybe a dollar. And if a blessing comes out. And the Lord Glory to God, solve that predicament, solve that need, but there are areas in our lives that the Lord wants to explore. The Lord wants to be Lord and wants to bless everything that is yours, to make it in one piece, to make us whole. And this man achieved an attitude, he achieved, this is something that we ourselves can do, and you know what? Believe it or not, what he did, it's hard. Not that it is so difficult for one to come and recognize that dessert at the feet of Jesus, but the thing is this. If it were that common, the other nine would have done it too. The difficult thing is not that, the difficult thing is that it is not our human nature. It is not our habit to do so.

It's more, a survey, don't answer. How many times has the Lord not done precisely what you have asked the Lord? He has intervened in a way, it was God. It was a miracle. Now I ask you, what did you do with it? How did you answer? Did you celebrate? Did you celebrate? Do you still celebrate? No. You remember now and realize, you have removed, as it were, in the face of the Lord, in your adoration and praise, that intervention that the Lord did for you. Don't feel bad, my brothers. This is for us to begin to celebrate the Lord, to remember the things that he has done for us, to be thankful for the things that he has done for us, and to publish the things that he has done for us, and do you know what he did for this man? ?

First, when you discover the power, just like you discovered this man, first, when you discover the power of celebration, you discover first, celebration strengthens our faith. What do I mean by that? You begin to see everything in your life, everything, everything in your life as a background of God working on your behalf. Your life is no longer the God of the Bible, but your God. You begin to write your own praise and worship psalms.

Just like Psalm 103 that we read at the intersection, you yourself will be saying “Bless Jehovah, my soul. Thank you. Lord, you are the one who forgave my sins. Lord, you are the one who pulled me out of the hole. Lord, you are the one who turned my family to me. You are the one who opened those doors. You are the one who provided for my table today when there was no where or how. You are the one who has brought me here when I myself know that it is impossible that I have reached the level that I have been. Bless Jehovah, my soul." You start, and every time your lips, use your lips, confess it, every time you confess that, something happens. It's a transaction in your mind, your heart, it all comes together to believe, if God did that, what else can't God do for me?

Second, celebration increases the joy in your life. Joy in your life. Maybe this is the antidote to depression in your life. Maybe this is the antidote to low self-esteem or if you tend to complain or you are like one of those cartoons, those dolls that walk with a little cloud on you, always raining on you, you know? If you leave, the enemy will always draw a cloud over you why? This is kind of the opposite of the first topic. The enemy wants you to forget what God did. Now I have news for you, don't be scared. There will be clouds, there will be clouds. God worked for you, healed them, healed them, delivered them, provided for them. But tomorrow you will face another test, tomorrow you will face another situation, I guarantee you.

It is that God wants it that way, because he wants to continue working for you, because he wants to continue hearing those praises. And may you continue to grow in your Faith. Trust God, he is a good guy, he knows what he's doing. But my brother, that comes, and the enemy tells you “now yes. In a hurry. Let's see who gets you out of it." And in those moments you can say “no, no, no. You are wrong, God loves me. I don't know about this situation but I know that recently I was in trouble and the Lord got me out of it. And I know that I was broken, I remember kneeling down, and the only one who heard me was God. And I remember that there was nothing on the table, and it was God, Satan, I rebuke you in the name of Christ, it was God who provided for me.

Well you are wrong, Satan, my God loves me. My God takes me into account. You're wrong, my God. At the moment that depression, where did it go? Do you know something magical? I love this. The celebration encourages God. Can you believe that? Encourage God. Believe me. Encourage God. He invites him to perform miracles and feats in his favor. The Lord loves to do things for people who are going to worship him. It's like a magnet, those people attract the anointing of the Lord. That exalts the name of the Lord. You will see that it is like a positive circle. The more you adore the Lord and the more you celebrate the Lord, the more the Lord will appear for you and the more his name is exalted. And the more your name will be exalted, the more the Lord will adore you.

A positive circle until we see the Lord in heaven. And there you can say thank you in person. Because all eternity is for that, is for that. Finally, speaking of which. My brethren, we have entered into an exciting evangelistic year. And the celebration exalts the name of Jesus. Brothers, I invite you, take your discipleship classes. Let's take any, take any opportunity to learn the word and live in it. But do you know? Even if you arrived today and if you arrived today, and if today tonight, the Lord did something for you, he answered you, he took away a worry from you, he healed you physically, now you have something with which to exalt the Lord to a world that does not knows him. They can also debate the Bible with you. But they can't debate life with you.

They cannot take away the real, powerful, incontrovertible authority of a life touched by God, and that exalts the Lord. Let's lower our faces. Father, you are good. Each one, in fact, now, take a moment and force yourself, force yourself. If you are here, if you, a living being, God did something for you for you to be here, there is no one here, there is no being, there is no one here that God has not loved. There isn't one. No. He has loved you. He has saved you. He has been your provision. He has been your protection. He has been your healing. He has been the one who answered you. He has been the one who regenerated you. He has been the one who made the impossible possible. Your assignment at this time is to remind yourself of one, only one. And thank him. And thank him.

You got it? Do you remember? Do you remember, my brother? Thank you Jesus. That's all. That's all he expects. Thank you, thank you Jesus. You deserve it. You deserve that and much more. Is a circle. When you start contemplating those things, it will be difficult. You are going to find that you are going to get addicted to worshiping the Lord but don't take me away from my God yet, because I have too much to thank God for. Don't take me away from this moment for a second because there is so much to thank God for. Maybe not all but some of you are in that dilemma to choose something and just give thanks. But you know? The Lord is going to give you the greatest "you're welcome", the greatest "you're welcome" of your life. So we declare it. Lord, so I declare, over your people, Jesus.