Live life with purpose

Chapter 12 of Hebrews, verse 1 says: "Therefore, having such a great cloud of witnesses around us, let us throw off all weight and the sin that besieges us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the reproach, and sat down at the right hand of the Throne of God."

I want to just leave it there and use that text as a starting point for our meditation this afternoon and as we're talking these past few Sundays we've talked about how to live a life of success, a life of fruitfulness, a life of impact, a life of creativity. , of continuous growth, personal development, of being better every day and every day overcoming our ties, our structural sins, the things that limit us in our growth and our performance as servants of God and there is that call from the Word of the Lord to strip ourselves from all weight and from the sin that besieges us.

We've talked about a lot of things let me see if again, always trying to ok let's go forward on this one; We've talked about a lot of different things, haven't we? of a God who wants to bless us, who wants us to grow, who is committed to us, of the need for good reading, good values that govern our lives, determination, energy, persistence, discipline, to think systemically, to seek allies and people who support us in our efforts, to grow in analytical skills, to look at life in the long term, to forge for ourselves Lord-inspired visions that we can commit to and then go forward day after day in that race of faith of which this passage speaks here.

And many times when one hears all these things, one wonders: well, how could I develop those skills, how can I get dressed in that armor, those attributes of a woman, a man of God who lives life productively? How can each one of us become fertile ground for the seeds of motivation and healthy ambition and God's good purpose?

And I have said that we must conceive the project of personal transformation clearly, that we have to get the idea that I am going to be a person who is transforming my being every day that has to be like a conviction, an almost conversion. what we have to do in our own life; come as if in a position of almost crisis before the Lord and say: I am going to change, I am going to dedicate my life to pursuing those great values of the Kingdom of God and I am going to pay the price and I am going to be a person who lives life creatively.

And for that we have to believe that the brain, that God has given us a mind, a brain that is plastic, can be formed, can change. No one should say: I am too old to change or: I am too hurt, I have practiced these habits for too long to change, I do not believe that in the Kingdom of God one should be fatalistic. How many say amen to that?

The world does not determine you, your past does not determine you, the wounds of the past, your current condition do not determine what you are. I hear so many Christians out there confessing defeat and since they believe that they are consigned their whole lives to living in the same quagmire because there is no hope for them anymore, that is a lie from the devil. The son of God can always change, he can always grow, he can always be freed from any ties that bind him, and speaking at the human level of the territory we inhabit, God has given us a personality and a brain, and a mind and a personality that are malleable, they can change and we have to believe that so we can say: you know what? now I launch myself in the Name of the Lord towards what God has for me and I am going to overcome the past.

That is why the Bible says that: "Leaving what is left behind and looking forward let us pursue the call of Christ to our lives" right? So we must believe that the brain will reconfigure over time if we subject it to the correct exercises and visions. We are free to continue with our personal liberation project, we have freedom in Christ, we are not condemned by our biology or our circumstances; we have to persist and keep a long-term vision because the transformation process takes a lifetime, we never reach the goal. When death surprises us or comes to us, we must still find ourselves with the sword in hand, like the knight-errant pursuing the new conquest, pursuing the new peak, pursuing the new goal of personal transformation and overcoming our self.

Each one of us when we enter the Kingdom of God, as I have spoken in two different services, sometimes I do not remember how I told you what I said in one or the other, but when we enter the ways of the Lord many times we are like Lazarus coming out of the grave tied with all the ties, God has given us life, we came out of death but then we discover that we are tied and the Lord has to undo one by one the mental, emotional ties, the deformations of the past, the fears, bad mental habits and relational and believing that through life God is going to make us more and more like Christ Jesus.

And that is why Paul says in a passage: "My little children, for whom I am in labor pains until the image of Christ is formed in you" and that image of Christ being formed in us is the project of a lifetime and that is why we have to arm ourselves with a long-term vision. If you believe that sanctification is going to happen overnight and sometimes we Pentecostals err on the side of excessive optimism, perhaps also obsessive, but God glorifies himself in the long-term project and in our struggle, even sometimes in our falls and stumbles He is glorifying himself in all of this and teaching us a number of things.

Do you remember that I told you that God is a God of travel? he is a God of processes, he is a God who delights in taking his time and doing what he wants to do in us. And that is why when we decide: I am going to change, I am going to be different, I am going to undertake the process and the journey of self-improvement and change and growth, one of the things that we have to do is align our lives to our values and our aspirations.

Each aspect of our life, each activity that we undertake, each thing that we do has to become an ally for what we want to achieve, that is why the child of God cannot waste time. I can't waste my time on nonsense in the world there talking, gossiping with other people or there wasting time there depressed, sad in a bed or watching stupid things on TV, reading magazines there about what happened to Madonna or whoever I mean, the last movie star and who divorced so-and-so or whatever, how does that build us up? we have to redeem the time as the Word of the Lord says because soon the night comes.

We have to live life with purpose, with a sense of clarity and everything we do has to be aligned to that man, that woman that God has in mind in His mind to get there while we have the opportunity here on Earth. That is why we have to live life in total harmony with the vision we have conceived because the inconsistency between what God has called us to do and the life we live daily, being inconsistent in these things on a daily basis always leads to failure and tragedy.

There are many Christians who do not live up to their calling. We are kings and priests says the Word of the Lord, how many say amen? you are a king, you are a priestess of the Lord; a king, a priestess doesn't go around living life like a beggar or a scoundrel, they have to live up to their calling and we have to pay the price.

Inconsistency leads to failure and that is what I want to talk about for a moment about, if something stays in our minds this afternoon it is the importance of alignment, mark that word in your life. I have to align my daily life, my values and my practice to what I want to do in my life. I want to be a man of God filled with the Holy Spirit, I want to be a counselor, I want to be a servant of the Lord, I want to evangelize people, I want to speak with authority, I want to heal my wounds, I want every day to be more like Christ, I want my daily living is adding new virtues, new knowledge, new skills, new power; I have to live each day with intentionality, that's another very good word, alignment, intentionality.

Because if you do not live your life according to the values that you aspire to, you will be a schizophrenic person, divided, perpetually divided, and a divided person means that they have a double personality and the Word of the Lord says that: "The person of Double minded, do not think that you will achieve anything from God." He says that he is like a ship carried by the wind, like a leaf blown by the wind, he has no purpose, he is fighting against himself, wanting to do one thing and then, on the other hand, stumbling over his own mistakes and his own inconsistency.

The children of God have to live life with a mission, a goal in mind and all weight that takes away from us effectiveness in that race we have to take it from our side. Do you know that these great Olympians bring their art and athleticism to such a level of near perfection that there comes a time when victories in certain competitions are defined by a 100th of a second or a tenth of a second? and the difference can be determined by a single stroke in the water by a swimmer done in an ineffective way or a way of tapping his feet in the water or jumping off the starting point or any, simple things like what kind of suit are you wearing? wearing? whether it's a streamlined swimsuit that goes through the water easily or the like.

Or a runner can be determined by simply how he moves his arms when he's running whether he runs like this or whether he runs economically, things like that can determine. That's why today there are super developed watches and everything is photo finish with cameras that determine because everything depends on a thousandth of a second and the athlete or the gifted musician or the greatly gifted person has to be shaving seconds, shaving imperfections for every day to be better, better, better.

And I say that if the secular man lives like this, why not the son of God who wants to reach victory at the end and wants to win the race of faith? and that is why you have to always be identifying: ok, what defects are there in my personality, what things impede my career in faith, what defects do I have to get rid of? If my mouth is a stumbling block for the goal that I have forged, I am going to give it to the Lord and I am going to ask the Lord to control it for me. If my temperament, my character is an impediment, I am going to give it to the Lord, if my malicious sense of humor is an impediment, I am going to give it to the Lord, if my tendency to be a spiteful person and to be easily offended is an impediment for me ministry as a cell leader or leader of a ministry in the Church I am going to give that to the Lord.

If I am a person who does not submit to authority, I am going to learn from Christ who submitted to the Father, being equal to the Father. Whatever in your life if there is a mental bondage, something, an addiction, a practice whatever in your life give it to the Lord, die to everything that does not conform to the principles and values of the Kingdom of God, everything and The more you surrender to the Lord, the more lightly you will run the race of faith and the more the image of Christ will take over your life.

Again: the inconsistency, the lack of alignment with the values that we have embraced in our lives and with that image, that royal call in the sense of royalty that we have, the inconsistency and the lack of alignment will lead to tragedy because then we have a devil, an enemy who resents us because we have embraced the Kingdom of God and a God who expects us to honor him with what we declare with our mouths.

That is to say that the inconsistent Christian has both the devil and God against him imagine what a tremendous dilemma. And that is why when you enter the ways of the Lord, understand that you are entering something very serious because whatever mistake you make on one side we have an enemy who does not forgive us anything and will accuse us before the Throne of God and a tremendously saint who says: you know what? I cannot protect you even though I want to because I am a just God and I have to abandon you to the treatment of the enemy, the enemy is coming. What does the Bible call Satan? the accuser of the brothers, he is the great prosecutor who accuses us before God.

And we have to get everything that looks like Satan out of our lives, not only the biggest and most horrible sins but those little things that take seconds off our race of faith.

So I think of a person like Samson, right? to give you an illustration. The Bible is full of men and women who did not live up to their calling and ended up in tragedy and great loss. When God created Samson He created him to be a deliverer of Israel and endowed him from his mother's womb. Samson is born under a spiritual weight, a privileged calling, a mission which he has to fulfill and with a supernatural endowment in his life and God warns his parents that Samson has to live a life as a priestly man, a Nazarite, that is what he wants say that he could not cut his hair because the hair had to exemplify subjection to the Lord.

He could not drink alcoholic beverages because he was supposed to live in a total consecration of his life, things that perhaps other members of the Hebrew nation were allowed and that God had no problem with that but for him who was a chosen one of God those things they were not legitimate. So he had to live in a very great consecration because the call was very great and the manifestation of the power of God in his life was very great and the destiny that God had for him was exceptional, therefore he had to live an exceptional life, but Samson never embraced that call from God in his life.

He always wanted to have fun like a young man, he wanted to have the sensual pleasures of a young Hebrew of his time, he forgot God's call not to marry and intertwine with the women of the other tribes because they would be a stumbling block for his life then That's where Delilah came, because when God has a call on your life, all the powers of hell are going to turn against you and try to subvert God's call on your life.

Let me tell you, that is true even in the smallest person, there are enough demons in the universe for the devil to dedicate an entire army to each person who embraces the Kingdom of God. So you have to know: do not underestimate your importance. When you decide to live as a child of God and enter the ways of the Lord, all kinds of forces will go against you; cultural, social, family, internal biological forces, forces from the past; all those things are going to be against you trying to stumble you in the race of faith and you have to be alert to that.

It is not that you live paranoidly seeing the devil everywhere but you have to know that you are a call from God and there are many things to which you have to be alert because the enemy will try to undermine the call of God in your life. Then there came Dalila, there came traps that the enemy put in his life and since Samson's eyes were not consecrated to the Lord, his heart was not consecrated to the values of the Kingdom, the devil found fertile ground to throw the seeds of sin in his life. and damage the call of God.

And you know what happened right? Dalila took possession of her life and a whole plot was hatched that was little by little. The devil many times is destroying the call of God in our life little by little, he is very wise to throw you a temptation for the moment that you know has to come from the hosts of hell; no, it begins with a tiny decision in your life, a thought that gets in and instead of rejecting it, how delicious, you keep it there for a while longer before rejecting it and little by little it enters: a conversation, an extra thought that you you keep there, a relationship, some friendships, a small habit that is created little by little and when you come to see you are totally sunk and burned and saturated.

Study the life of Samson and you will see that process bit by bit. What happened? as Samson did not live according to his calling, tragedy came according to his destiny. At the end of his life we see him captured by the Philistines, tied with his strength gone because they cut his hair because he gave up the secret of his anointing and he could no longer do what God had called him to do.

We have a merciful God and at the end of his life God gave Samson who repented an opportunity to redeem himself and Samson told him: forgive me I have offended you, give me the opportunity to die at least honorably and God in His great mercy allowed him to this tragic hero make one last great effort. You know the story: he was able to move with supernatural force that God had given him back the pillars next to which he was tied and he destroyed many Philistine towns with their princes and their warriors.

and their leaders in one last burst of divine strength.

But how sad: Samson could have lived a much longer life but his appetites and his lack of discernment made him fail and we cannot, we have to learn from these things, we have to align our habits and our practices to our destiny.

Jacob, another man of God right? Jacob is born with a call from his mother's womb and God had already said: the older will serve the younger, Jacob and Esau were twins, twins and Jacob is born with a destiny from God over his life although he was the youngest God had decided that he was to inherit the birthright. In this case, Esau is born, he has the legal right, but there are other things that are going on here, right? but Esau is born with the legal right, he has the call in the legal sense of the word but God already understood that Esau was not going to live according to his call as well and that is why then Jacob was going to inherit that call.

And then Esau we see that, Esau is called to be the priest in his family, to inherit the birthright of Israel, to be a foundational man, founder of the great things that God wanted to do with His people, but what Esau likes is hunting, he likes to be outside, he likes sports, he is a muscular sports man, carnal, appetites; he is not dedicated to taking his masculinity and his testosterone that gushes even through his pores, that is why he had a lot of hair because he was a manly, animal, carnal man as the Bible says and that testosterone led him to the destruction of his calling.

Because when the time comes for him to come from hunting, to be punished for hunting animals out there, he comes hungry and since he is a man with strong appetites not dominated or tamed by the Word and the principles of the Lord, what happens? his great hunger that he has and Jacob makes him stumble around by his mouth, right? and Jacob, sorry Esau is very hungry and Jacob says: hey let's make a deal. Would you like to exchange your birthright for a good stew, a Madrid stew with chorizo and chop and chicken and a lot of things, right?

And Esau says: oh what! boy yes let's do it because I'm going to starve anyway so I better eat now because if I don't starve it's okay take the birthright don't think about what you're doing. He is not a discerning man, he is not a man who has grown up with the Word of the Lord, discerning the principles of the Kingdom, discerning the importance of what we confess with our mouths, discerning the moments in which we can be doing things before God, before others. angels, the devil and hell and as a discernment of those things he lightly takes the confessions from his mouth and sells his birthright for that blessed sancocho how much did it cost him!

Later he wanted to repent but it was too late, God had already sealed the confession from his mouth because he did not live according to his call and how Jacob cried, one of the most tragic moments in all of Scripture is when Esau comes before his father and tells him He says: "My Father, my gosh, bless me and confirm the birthright in my life" and his father says "I'm very sorry if I already gave it to your brother, I can't go back on what I gave him" and he says: "My Father, don't you have even a second blessing out there, a lesser blessing?"

Listen to me that breaks my heart when I read that. This man who had every right to God's greatest blessing in his life is now reduced: Dad, don't you have a consolation prize there, please, some little blessing even if it is? bless me" and his father gives him, Isaac gives him a blessing but it is already too late because Esau did not prepare himself, he did not live each day saying: I am a priest, I am the founder of my family, I am the base, I am the firstborn , I have authority before God, God wants to do great things through me I am a prince, I have to live up to my calling.

The French say: noblesse obligue means the nobility oblige. Kings have to live like kings, princes from a young age have to get used to the discipline of a prince. Esau did not want to do that and so he paid the price.

Brother, sister, if I can leave something there in your mind, it is that, right? You have to live life lucidly focused on what you are after, on your call, focused on the task of your personal transformation, your call to be a powerful person, a thinking person, a disciplined, analytical person in control of yourself and your appetites that must be the unique project of your life because your success will depend on your transformation, ok? Your future success will depend on your transformation.

So I am going to leave you there because we have the sacrament that we have to celebrate because we have already received a lot this afternoon but I want to invite you, brother, listen to the seed that God is planting in your heart. I want to limit myself to something so simple, a single Word for you: live up to your calling. Tell someone next to you: live up to your calling and of course the other person will tell you because it's not that easy either, okay?

This Church, this community has a great call from God and that is not for anyone to be proud of, on the contrary what causes me is holy fear, what causes me is rather discomfort the fact that God has called us with a purpose. The Lion of Judah Congregation listen to this and I rebuke any pride that there may be in that expression and any glorification of a Church, a name; maybe God has chosen us because we are the most impure people in all of Boston but certainly there is a calling upon this Church and I am always pleading with you my brethren to live up to the calling that we have.

Continue purifying, healing, cleaning each one of you because each one of you is part of a body called the Lion of Judah Congregation and we are part of a larger body called the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ but you, you can take it quickly and lightness to the race of faith of this Church if you do not purify yourself and clean yourself more and more, if you do not consecrate yourself more. A single person can contaminate an environment and that is why I always ask the Lord as the main Pastor of this Church: have mercy on me, help me, because we have to clean each one of us because there is a call from God on your life.

That is why I always insist that when God wants to use a people he circumcises them. Do you remember how God called Joshua before they crossed the Jordan River before entering the Promised Land? and God called Joshua and told him: circumcise the people because they are going to enter, prepare yourselves because from tomorrow God is going to do wonders in you. And circumcision was a symbol of consecration, surrender to the Lord, God putting his mark on each family leader saying: I claim you, I put a mark on you like a hot iron with the owner's initial is put on a cow.

And so God calls us, if God is going to do something through this Congregation, you and I have to live up to the Kingdom. We can't settle for being here, raising a lot of dust, singing and shouting, but you know what? many times we do not live up to God's call and God is not bribed with emotional praise, God wins his heart through actions and works. In all areas of life, my brother and sister, you have to consecrate to the Lord everything you have, what you are.

Your time, your talents, your energies, your marriage, your family, your sleep, your entertainment, your conversations, your relationships, your money, your work; all thoughts, everything you have to circumcise and give it to the Lord and consecrate it to the Lord. God has to sanctify this Church more and more every day. Every day, every day I ask the Lord: Lord, take away everything that does not suit you from us, take away everything that does not please you, start with me with fear and trembling and deal with each one of Your people.

The day we commit ourselves to the project of personal liberation and consecration to the purposes of the Lord, we will see the glory of God explode in our midst and the purposes of the Lord be fulfilled before us, but get aligned, live life with intentionality, live life with the sense that you are framed within God's plans and call for your life and run that race day by day reinforcing God's call on your life every day.

Let's bow our heads a moment now, consecrate yourself to the Lord there. Lord: I consecrate myself to You, I give myself to You, tell it to the Lord, tell it to the Lord. Father help me understand what this means and remove all imperfection from me, all ballast, all excessive weight, all growth on my exterior that prevents Your wind from running through me and impeling me forward quickly I give it all to you to You Lord. At this moment I surrender to You and to the values of Your Kingdom and this Church we surrender to the Lord.

I also want to take advantage of this moment as we are to invite anyone. If God has spoken to you in this service in some way, in some way and you want to give your life to Jesus Christ right now, I beg you, listen to the Voice of the Lord telling you: I am at the door of your life, I am knocking on the door of your life , if you open the door for me I will enter and have dinner with you and you will have dinner with Me and you will have intimacy every day of your life with Me, I will walk step by step with you and I will teach you.

When you fall I am going to pick you up, when you offend me I am going to forgive you if you repent and confess I am committed to you every day until the end of the world, I am going to give you all the resources and strength to be what that I want you to be in my life but you have to open the doors of your heart for me. If someone this afternoon receives that call from God and listens to it, I want to invite them to raise their hand, raise your hand now, I would love to pray with you and ask God's blessing on your life.

Will there be someone who wants to give their life to the Lord Jesus? God bless you sister here, anyone else? who wants to tell him: I give myself to You Lord. There is a chorus that says: "All to Christ I surrender, I surrender everything to him." Someone else? raise your hand do not be afraid, the Word says that today is the day of salvation, God bless you young man here too, anyone else? God bless you.

If someone else feels that conviction to give the Holy Spirit to give their life to the Lord, this moment is valuable, God bless my brother there behind you, you are consecrating yourself to the Lord, you are saying: Father, there is no turning back, I give myself to You, I I surrender to You anyone else? feel in that freedom God bless you. This is not a commitment with León de Judá, with me or with a denomination, this is your God and you making a pact, making a pact, you are going to hold on to the Hands of the Lord and you are going to walk with Him and He with you.

Someone else? come forward here if someone can accompany those brothers and sisters who have passed, someone accompany you and be your squire there, come here with confidence without fear because God is happy to see you pass here in front, come here we want to pray for you; I think there must be some man here in the Church who wants to give his life to the Lord, some man, look how beautiful these sisters are but, amen God bless you brother Patricio God bless you, thank you.

Any other hairy-chested male to come here with his? amen how good this guy is big that's how the Lord likes them to come, anyone else, anyone else? Amen, glory to God, glory to the Lord, anyone else? some other young male, a husband. Your wife has been adoring you for a long time, you came to Church today for the first time perhaps and God has touched you, do not resist the Lord and come forward here, we want to pray for you.

My brothers and sisters, I commend you in the Name of the Lord: listen, take the ways of the Lord seriously, do not simply make a passing profession, tell the Lord: Lord, there is no turning back, there is no turning back, today my life is going to change Today something new and different begins and I die today, say this thing there in your spirit, I die today to my dreams of the past without you and this life that I am going to live I want to live with You Lord. I identify myself as your servant, a member of Your Father Kingdom; Take my appetites, Lord take over my life and consecrate myself to You, I give myself to You Lord, You are gonna be the supreme value.

Lord, You are going to be the supreme value in my life from now on and I am not going to set limits or barriers Father, open your heart to Christ, open your mind, open your spirit, open all the drawers now same to the Lord, everything, everything, open all the drawers of your life; the Lord does not mind that you show him your humanity. If there are some things that you have to fix, the Lord will help you to fix them, if there are fights that you still have to fight with yourself and with your flesh, He will help you.

If there are relationships that you are going to have to break, He is going to give you the strength to do it, He is not going to condemn you because you have decided to embrace this call. He says: I am with you every day until the end of the world and Christ wants to sit on the throne of your heart and be the owner, be the sovereign. Give him everything now say: Lord I give myself to you, my sins, my dreams, my aspirations I put everything at Your Feet. Forgive my sins, heal my life, sit on the throne I recognize you as my Lord, my owner, the Savior of my soul, my friend, the one who forgives my sins, the one who leads me directly to the Father, the one who guarantees my destiny eternal Jesus, Jesus, Jesus I am Your property.

Tell the Lord: Lord I belong to You, Lord I am Yours and I yield my life to You right now Father, thank you Jesus thank you Lord we adore you, we bless you. Father: bless this harvest, I mark and seal them with the seal of Your Spirit and of Your Kingdom and I invite You, Father, to take control of each one of them, and of them, Father. Oh thank you Lord Jesus thank you in Your Name Lord amen amen.

Leave me something else before we finish my dear brothers and sisters, we want to invite you in line with what we have said, right? There are brothers who want to help you in your Christian walk and we have, for example, three classes that we give between services, they are introductory classes to the Christian life and we want you to take advantage of that instruction because the Christian life requires knowledge.

I encourage you in the Name of the Lord as part of your commitment. What are three hours to invest in the Kingdom of God to grow more as a child of God? you spend three hours sometimes on a single movie imagine, three hours in three weeks. I invite you to take advantage of this opportunity that we offer you, our brothers are going to give you more details and the second thing is, we want to pray for you. Delmi: what is the best to go there or? Are you already taking the names of the brothers or? ok, ok why don't we do that for a little while, look at a little discomfort, go with our brothers for a little while there, it's gonna take just a moment and then you will come back, come back later, ok? we just want to take your names, bless you, and you can come right back.

Join them for a little while there and we are going to bless these brothers, thank you and this is part of the race that you are beginning now in faith, amen? Glory to God.