Year of consolidation (Part 3)

We have been talking about Bethel, that place where Abram comes after being in Egypt, reconsecrates his life, worships the Lord again on that altar that he had built before and then continues with the things that God has, God renewing his pact with him that had already started before and we have said that we as the Church are also in a period more or less like this, after an interlude, a time of arduous, difficult, dangerous and exhausting construction and we are returning like Abram from Egypt, and we cleanse ourselves a little dust and we arrived at that stone, that place where we have made a sign of an encounter with God.

Perhaps we think like Abram where we have been, where we are going, we reconnect the past with the present and with the future and then we launch ourselves to search again for the Will of the Lord, and we have talked about how important it is that we consolidate forward, that we press things well before going to undertake new things.

We have talked about some of those things that God has given us in recent years that we need to revisit and tighten once more, we talked about the supernatural mentality that must be the sense of our Church. We have talked about the supernatural mentality, the importance of looking at the world and conjugating it through a biblical supernatural perspective according to the patterns and principles of the Kingdom of God, not according to the patterns of science, reason, common sense, circumstances, flesh, what we see, what we feel but according to what God has said, amen?

We talked about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the need in these times to continue seeking the manifestation of the gifts. We are a charismatic Congregation, we look towards the gifts, the Pentecostal spirit, the manifestation of the gifts and we have to keep looking. We want to be intentional people, of excellence, who do things well, people who mix wisdom with science.

We are ambitious, we are instinctive, we are visionaries but we are also very concrete and some of the sermons that I preached last year, in the last part of the year were about specificity, clarity, thoroughness, all those things that are so important. We want to be a prophetic presence in the city and in the nation, we want to be an agent of transformation.

We want to be an element of transformation, of preservation, of change, of fighting for good and undoing the works of evil. We are a diverse group, we want to embody the harmony of God, the harmony of the Kingdom of God that can have different cultures, socio-economic backgrounds, religious backgrounds and other things and we unite, we complement each other and we bless each other; Central Americans, South Americans, Caribbeans, Anglo-Saxons, African-Americans, all these groups blessing each other.

We want to be a people radically committed to the Kingdom of God and also, in these coming months we want to emphasize more Evangelism, bring more people to the Church. How important that we are evangelists, you don't know when you're talking to a person what's in that person's life and if I had time maybe I'd share it with you later. Sometimes you see people in your neighborhood and you don't know what they are going through and how much they need God, and you don't know when it will be the last day you will see that person and the next day they will tell you: he died and you say: wow, if I had known what was in that heart I would have made more of an effort.

Bethel for Abram is the place where he thinks about what has happened, like us here in this building. Bethel is the place of rededication, if you read the meaning of Bethel for Abram and for Jacob, it is a place where Jacob, for example, says: Lord, I am going to serve you, if you get me out of this mess that I am in, my My heart is going to be yours, my life is going to be yours, I am going to give you tithes of everything I receive and you are going to be my God.

We have to reconsecrate ourselves as a Congregation at this time and look to the future because God has great things for us. Always before the great moments comes the moment of reconsecration.

We want in this time that begins now like Joshua before entering the Promised Land, there are always beginnings that require a rededication. The Lord told Joshua: Consecrate the people to me, circumcise them as a sign of consecration and dedication and then enter into the fights and fights that they have.

Bethel is a place of new beginnings. Jacob has a new beginning because he has just left his past and God is now going to break him, he is going to deal with him, he is going to make him a man of property, of blessing and prosperity, of spiritual authority, so it is a beginning of a new identity for him.

Bethel is also a place of reconfirmation of promises. Abram received a promise from God before arriving at Bethel, decades before when God tells him: Leave your land and your kindred, then Abram recognizes the land of Canaan, then goes to Egypt and then returns to Bethel. And then there again God visits him and tells him the same thing that he said at the beginning: I am going to make you a great nation, I am going to bless you, I am going to prosper you.

We have to revisit what God has promised us because Bethel is the place where God tells Jacob the same promise that he told Abram and it is also the place where he tells Abram the same thing that he had told him years before when it is found for the first time.

God has called us to do something special as a people, God has given us a call, he has put in my heart, in the hearts of many of us and of many people out there in the city an idea that this Congregation is something that You have to reach for God, something special and exceptional. And it has taken time, we have been growing but in a very incremental way, but I think there is a moment when, like in Star Trek, warp speed and one disappears.

Like Abram, we have to renew our pact with God, our promise, our commitment to be a different people, a holy people, a people pleasing to the Lord.

Bethel is the place to remember the experiences lived and prepare to continue the journey. In life we cannot simply accumulate experiences and experiences without processing them and incorporating them in an orderly manner into the totality of our being, time and care are required to order the things we experience, reflect on them.

One cannot live life simply by accumulating things, experiences I mean. Many people do not grow in wisdom because they do not take time to reflect on life, what they are experiencing, the mistakes they have made, what God has said to them during the week, what they have experienced in the last year, what falls they have had and what triumphs and put those things in order, put them in your file and reconfigure your life in light of two, three or four significant experiences. Because most of us live life, you know? we do not take time to reflect, to be in silence.

How many of us can't live if we don't have a radio, a TV on, is that so? I know people who can't sleep if they don't have a TV on or a radio on, don't raise your hand now you don't have to, huh? It is that we always need noise, we need to be where there is something, activity; you have to take time, silence, reflect.

We also need to reflect on where God brought us from and where we might have fallen had it not been for God's mercy, and what that does is it increases our awe and reverence for God and His mighty deeds, teaches us to be more humble, more grateful, more dependent on God.

It is important to live life with that sense of reverence and wonder before that God that we are so fragile and that always gets us out of a bind, and sometimes gets us out of a bind that we didn't even know we were in, and one day we will see the video up there in the sky and we will realize all the things that God took us out of.

Life must be lived with a sense of mystery, weight, wonder and seeing the things that God has done and where he has taken us from, thank you Lord that I could be in another place right now and You have me here blessed.

Many times we have to examine the things we have experienced, draw the necessary spiritual lessons, and seal those lessons before the Lord in prayer and integrate them into our lives and behavior. I know that I have learned many things in these days, many incredible things that have formed me, have broken me and have made me much more dependent on the Lord and it would be a waste if I did not take the time to take those things and learn from them. .

We must thank the Lord for freeing us from great dangers, getting us out of our battles. For example in Psalm 105, if you look at verse 5 and 6 it says: "Remember the wonders that He has done, His wonders and the judgments of His Mouth, O you offspring of Abraham His servant, sons of Jacob, His chosen."

The writer in verse 13 says: "And they went from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, he did not allow anyone to wrong them and because of them he punished kings; "Do not touch" he said "my anointed ones nor do evil to My prophets", brought famine upon the land and broke all sustenance of bread." The Psalmist delights in counting and pointing out all the things that God has done.

We have to do that periodically in our Congregation and see how God has taken us out of so many things in our life, and specifically thank Him. When the Lord got me a new wife and blessed me with her, when he opened a financial path for me, when a new era began in my ministry, when he introduced me to do new things in life, when he allowed me to bless my Congregation with the fruit of my work and my knowledge, and mention specifically.

I want to end with this: some of the very specific concrete elements of consolidation this year. I also want to take a moment for some of the things, it's okay Omar if you want to start a little, I know I'm going very fast, you have to translate and also save time at the same time.

Number one: we have to continue the effort of Evangelism. Continuing with the Evangelism effort, we did not accomplish everything we had to accomplish last year. We started, we learned a lot, God did beautiful things but we have to continue being an evangelistic Church more than ever.

And the Latin Congregation alike has to start bringing more people. Good, a brother introduced me to a sister who is coming for the first time, who was it? recently. Welcome, it's good that Magaly brought this sister and that's what we have to do.

Let's invite people to Church, invite your coworker, people are willing to come to Church. They may not be willing to change their lives overnight, but they are willing to come to Church.

Number two, we want to solidly establish ourselves in our new sanctuary and learn how to use it like a new car properly, the mechanics of being in this place. We have to learn how to use our new sanctuary, from a new sound system that praise God we were able to install this week to how to use the projector, how our children are to get out of the place, a number of things; the ushers have to find their new way of operating, all of these things are going to take time to learn and this year should be a year of learning and practicing to use our new sanctuary properly.

Number three: we have to beautify and put the finishing touches on this sanctuary as well. It's like when you move to a new house and buy a new painting, curtains, furniture. We thank the Lord, for example we need chairs, we need other things up there, thank the Lord. Our sister Sandra Barbieri and the lunch group decided: do you know what Pastor? We have to buy those chairs, they promised, the money is already there, someone lent the money but they are going to pay it in the coming months and we are going to have our chairs up there and have them up there.

We have to do a lot of things like that and I thank the Lord. By the way, I express my gratitude to the Women's Ministry as well, through an offering of $6,500 dollars, incredibly, we were able to finish setting up the entire sound system, buy a new projector, the new screen is coming this week, possibly I don't know if we're going to have it for Sunday, all this for an offering that the women gave on the day of the retreat, so thank the Lord for that too.

You have to continue committed brothers. A sister came to me this week and said, you know what? You stopped taking money from the account that I had given permission to, probably because I finished my commitment, but I want to renew my commitment for a while longer, because there are many commitments that we still have to pay. So all this, right? we have to learn to beautify; chairs, the sealing of the fourth floor, we want to finish it, decoration, lights, better sound, all these things have to be worked on.

Number four: we need to strengthen the foundations of prayer and seeking the power of the Holy Spirit. Continue with our vigils, the healing services, look for more anointed services where the Lord is manifested, where the power of God flows and we have to dedicate time to that.

Number five: we need at some point and probably in the spring to have the formal opening activities, opening is the word here. We need to officially inaugurate our new sanctuary, we are going to invite people from outside and we are going to have services for a week or two, inauguration services as well.

Number six: I believe that as a Church we have to learn to function again without the distorting load that we have carried in recent years of the construction of the new sanctuary but also twenty-odd years of non-stop construction. We have to learn, God has allowed us to be building, 93 we bought the first building, we renovated it. As in 1999 we started the other one and we were there for several years, and we already finished that one and we had started with this one and we have also been here already working. All the time using the money from the tickets, from the income of the Church, working hard, almost continuous financial campaigns and now it's time to rest a little, don't you think? I need a rest too.

And we need to learn to function as a Church that now enjoys, you can enjoy all the blessings that God has given us, I don't want to say that too harsh because maybe God says, you know what? you still need more. But no, I think that now we have to learn to function normally as a Church and see how it feels, how it feels and what that means.

This is important: we have to pay short-term debts that we contracted through the most recent construction this year, because around April of last year the bank already finished all its lending and we still have to continue building, and we have Not only had we already had to pay the entire mortgage with a short-term debt that we hope to consolidate shortly, but we have also been paying for all the construction materials, the construction material; well a number of things that have worn us down financially.

And several brothers have lent money in the short term and with incredible generosity for which we thank God and my goal this year is to go a long way in returning that money to those brothers and you have to help us with that, brothers, okay? because it is the only way we have done this miracle.

Brothers: look at our Church has grown numerically but it has not grown equally, at the same level financially. We have a lot of new people coming into the Church who don't give at the same level because they haven't quite gotten into that generous and stewardship mentality that is the hallmark of a mature person in the faith, what does that mean? that the needs of the Church have increased but the financial base has not been at the same level.

This is a very broad Church ministerially so what happens is that the needs continue to increase, pastoral and personnel and services, people expect more and more from us but the financial means do not increase at the same level.

So there is an imbalance: we grow more numerically but we do not grow equally financially and what happens is that this happens, the distance is increasing and it is stressful, because people say: oh no, I want better care for my children, I want better pastoral care; there are more funerals, there are more weddings and so that requires more people, more ministry, more excellence is required, people want better service, better sound systems, better everything but if we don't grow financially to be that type of Church that normally to have the services that a Church has like the ones we have, its income is much higher than what we have. Go where you want, to any American Church or whatever. Not just rabid Pentecostals, those 4x4 evangelicals over there are more prosperous than us, you know? because they give more generously.

We need to advance our goal of being a truly multi-ethnic Church. It's going to take time to be a truly multi-ethnic Church, how to be more bilingual from up here. That's why you often see me threatening the people up here, if they don't speak to me in quick English I tell them from below because I'm tired of giving them instructions about that many times. If they don't do it, I'm going to do it, forgive me if I'm aggressive in these things, but that's how it is. We have to learn, the people up here have to be more bilingual, more balanced in their mentality, we have to know when we are going to speak in English, in Spanish, in both, we have to be a very balanced people in that.

And finally, we have to learn to function in the light of two sanctuaries and three buildings with two main services in English and Spanish with all the mechanics that this requires.