Jesus Christ is the resurrection and the life

I want to share with you a passage of scripture found in the Gospel according to Saint John, chapter 6. We want to celebrate and memorize this special day throughout all of Christendom. Let's go to verse 37 and I want to connect the resurrection of Christ with our own resurrection hope and explore what makes that connection possible between those two aspects. John 6:37 are words of the Lord Jesus Christ:

"...Everything that the Father gives me will come to me and he who comes to me I will not cast out..." It is important that you remember that, if you have come on this day and perhaps think that there is no hope for you or that the offenses that you have committed throughout your life are too great for the Lord to personify or for you to enjoy fellowship with the Father, if you are coming to him, if you have come to him on this day and are Looking for him the Lord will not reject you, if you are looking for him it is because he himself is inviting you, not because you came on your own but because the Lord himself wants to have fellowship with you. He is not going to throw you out, he welcomes everyone who comes to him.

“… because I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me… – And now we are entering more into matter – … and this is the will of the Father, who sent me, than of all that he gives me, I lose nothing but raise them up at the last day…”

There are a number of terms of the last day, of resurrecting, of not losing anything of what the Father has given, they are very important concepts that we have to explore. And verse 40 says:

“…And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son… – see the Son, what does it mean to see the Son? We cannot physically see it but we can focus our gaze on it. – … everyone who sees the Son and believes in him has eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day.”

So, we see here that the Lord says that everyone who looks, who sees the Son and who believes in him has eternal life, and the Lord promises to resurrect everyone who fixes his gaze on him at the last day. John 11:25 also has a very nice word for us that connects with it. The Lord says:

“…I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me even if he is dead will live and whoever lives and believes in me will not die eternally. – And then the Lord asks Marta a question with whom he was speaking in this case and says – …Do you believe this?

I want to ask you this afternoon, receive this question as if it were for you only, do you believe this? Do you think that if you believe in Jesus Christ, even if you are dead for an instant, you will live forever? I hope your answer is yes, I believe, that you can affirm that.

Today, brothers, once again I repeat, we are here to celebrate Easter Sunday. Christians all over the earth have been celebrating and will continue to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I sometimes like to think of the Lord sitting on his throne early, since this new day began, I don't know which country has the distinction of being the first country where the day begins, I'm not sure which is the technology behind it. but let's imagine that country that hours ago I don't know if it was in Asia probably, in some Asian country, New Zealand, wow, we have here a geographer that you know. How many hours ago were they celebrating then? Many hours ago in New Zealand, Christians woke up early in the morning, perhaps some sister or brother when it struck 12 at night they were already beginning to thank the Lord for the resurrection and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Since the day began, this humanity has not stopped giving thanks to God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As the earth has been turning so that the sun shines on it, as the sun has risen in different parts of the world, Christians, Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, Adventists, Baptists, Evangelicals of all different persuasions and all varieties of Christianity in the world, have been celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And the Father up there sitting on his throne has breathed in the scent of all that humanity saying, Christ lives, Christ lives, and it won't end until the day is done. 24 hours of incessant declaration that Christ is risen. It is one of the central doctrines of the Christian faith. The fact that Christ not only did not stay in the grave, but actively rose again on the third day after his crucifixion and that he is at the right hand of the Father as that great confession of our faith says.

The Bible recounts in beautiful detail the event of those women who go to the tomb early in the morning on a day like today, two thousand years ago and find that the body that they thought they were going to see and adorn with species as it was the custom at that time so that that body would not decompose too quickly, so to speak, those women who had an imperfect faith, because the Lord had already told them what they had to expect but they could not believe it because biologically it was almost impossible to believe in something as rare as the resurrection of a dead person.

But when those women arrive at the tomb, the word says that they found that the stone that covered that cave where the body of Jesus was locked up had been removed. And the cave where the body of Jesus was, that tomb, was empty.

There is another passage in Scripture that says that there was an angel who sat on the stone that covered the entrance to the tomb of Jesus Christ, as a sign of the victory of the resurrection over death, over every obstacle that prevents us from entering. in communication with that great event of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We also remember that the Lord appears after his resurrection to a number of people, it was not a resurrection like that and then he went to heaven, but he was on earth for a while and he appeared to Peter who was sad because he had denied the Lord and gave him some parcels. He appeared to the 12 disciples who were… or to the 11 because Judas no longer belonged to those 12, but he also appeared to them and blessed them and confirmed the faith of Thomas who doubted.

And then he appeared to another group of disciples, including Peter, who were fishing and believed that there was no hope for them and he appeared to the 2 disciples on the road to Emmaus and reminded them that he had said that he He was going to die and that he had to go through a process and that that was part of the fulfillment of Scripture.

And the Apostle Paul says in First Corinthians chapter 15, that later the Lord also appeared to more than 500 brothers, 500 Christians, 500 followers of Jesus Christ and appeared before them. It was not a hallucination because 500 people are not going to have the same hallucination. It was a reality. And Paul says, when he writes that, he says that there are still some who are alive, because Paul was already writing some time after the resurrection, 30, 40, 50 years later, perhaps less, and he said, there are still some who are alive, giving them as a note of authenticity to what he was saying.

The early Christians believed it was very important for them to testify about the resurrection of Jesus Christ and Peter in his first sermon, in the Book of Acts, the first sermon the church actually preached after the ascension of Christ, talks about that this Christ whom the Jews had crucified, God had raised him from the dead and made him Lord of all creation. It is because the resurrection is the central fact of the Christian faith.

The crucifixion is very important too, but without resurrection there would be no consummation of the deity of Jesus Christ. It is what guarantees Christ's victory over death, his divinity, his divine character. None of the founders of the world's great religions claim to have been resurrected, and none of the world's great religions claim that their founders were resurrected.

Muslims admit that Muhammad died and do not claim that he was resurrected. Buddhists do not claim that the Buddha who founded their religion was resurrected, in fact, they know that he died of a stomach ache, they even know what he died of, and they have a tomb that memorizes the life and death of the Buddha. And the same with respect to Confucius, I think that name also says something, I don't know, but Confucius also died and founded a great religion, but he died, he did not rise again.

But Christians insist that our founder lives and reigns as we have proclaimed this afternoon. He rose from the dead. And we challenge the world to prove us otherwise. And for two thousand plus years people have been trying to nail that Christian claim and kill our hope, but they can't, they haven't been able to. No one has ever been able to disprove that Jesus rose from the dead. The most developed brains have tried through the centuries but it has not been possible.

Because? Because the fact of the birth of Jesus is something historical because new generations of believers declare that the Lord has risen, as we do here in the 21st century in the city of Boston this afternoon.

There have been very developed lawyers who have tried to judge the resurrection of Jesus Christ and try to determine if, according to the principles of jurisdiction or legalism, of the legal, they can disprove and have had to bow their heads before the evidence that exists for the resurrection. There is a lot of evidence that together makes a host of arguments that it is very difficult to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have known people who have tried to disprove the resurrection of Jesus Christ but have not been able to.

I was telling the brothers this morning, my brother-in-law Eddie that perhaps he will watch this program later, he was a Marxist, communist, atheist intellectual, very convinced that the Bible was a hoax and a number of lies, and many years ago Back in the day some Christians started visiting my sister Sari in Miami, and they would come at the most inopportune times of the week and Eddie would go into the bedroom until they left. The presence of these Christians bothered him. And it bothered him so much that he decided, while he waited for them to leave, to pass the time and start reading the Bible to develop arguments and one day put them all to shame.

And several weeks passed and Eddie began to read the Bible alone, while the other evangelicals were in the house disturbing, and one day Eddie left his room convinced that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. And for several years now he has served as a pastor in the city of Miami and sometimes I believe that he is more evangelical than me in many of his doctrinal insistences because Christ is a reality in the heart of man. The resurrection of Jesus Christ gives hope to all of us against the greatest enemy of humanity, which is death. Every human being trembles before that irrefutable fact.

A man or a woman can live a life denying many things but will never be able to deny death. He knows that at some point, no matter how powerful he is, no matter how intellectually developed he is, no matter how much money he has, no matter how many achievements, no matter how much people flatter him, one day, as the Bible says, he came into the world naked and so on. same naked will go away. All the toys stay with him. Someone has said that no one has ever seen a coffin dragging a moving truck behind it, because we all have to face death. You and I know that one day our biology is irrefutable and all claims of greatness and independence bow their heads before the fact that death is a reality and so what, what remains behind the curtain.

The Bible declares that Christ was resurrected that we too can be resurrected after death if we put our hope in him. I hope that this afternoon you can say yes, I have set my eyes on Christ Jesus and my path, my eternal destiny is assured. I know in whom I have believed as the Apostle Paul says. We too, as a consequence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, can have our own resurrection.

That is one of the most important things that by looking at Christ and affirming that he rose from the dead, we are saved too. The Bible says the same thing, if we believe in our hearts, if we confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord and that God raised him from the dead, we are saved. As simple and as forceful as that.

Jesus declares in John chapter 11, "I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even though he is dead, will live, and whoever lives and believes in me will not die forever." Christ is so much a part of the resurrection that he says that he is the resurrection and when you connect your life to him you are also part of that resurrection. The resurrection of Christ passes directly into your own life as well.

It is interesting that when the Lord makes that statement that he is the resurrection and the life and that everyone who believes in him does not die eternally, he is making that statement to Martha looking at the death of her brother Lazarus and already Jesus ready to resurrect him. But the Lord does not remain only in that theoretical statement that he is the resurrection and the life, but he then asks Marta, "Do you believe this?"

I think it is important not only to passively listen and agree in a generic way that Christ is the resurrection, but it is also important to have our own reaction to it, to affirm it with our own mouth, with our own actions and words. The fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ demands a reaction from all of us.

There is a very famous book that was written called “Evidence That Demands a Verdict.” In other words, before the affirmation that Christ is the resurrection and the life and that if one believes in him one has eternal life, one must react, one must give a verdict, either I believe or I do not believe. And this afternoon my desire is to be like a comb that is passed through this congregation and that gets stuck wherever there is one who does not believe in Jesus Christ as resurrected and raised from the dead and that stays there for a little while these words, and that until you react positively, you say, no, today I will not leave here without affirming my faith in Jesus Christ, without believing, without confessing that he is Lord and that God raised him from the dead. That is my wish, that this be a point of reference for each one of us here, because that is very important.

That is why the church of Christ through the centuries has asked people to make a public confession of their faith in Jesus Christ. How do we know, for example, in the Book of Acts when Peter preached that sermon, the first evangelistic sermon recorded in Scripture, we could say, how do we know that 5,000 or 3,000 were converted, were there two sermons? Or how do we know that 3,000 or 5,000 were converted? How do you know? I think because he told them, hey, how many believe that this Jesus that we crucified is the Son of God and that he rose from the dead? Because he asked them for a reaction and because more or less a quick count was made.

Because you always have to have a reaction. Many people say, no, I believe in my spirit, I don't have to tell anyone anything because that is between me and God. No, there is something very important about expressing externally what one has believed on the inside. That is why Paul says that if you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord and confess with your mouth that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Don't swallow the smoke, throw it out, take it out. Don't swallow the resurrection, declare it too. Give an affirmation of it.

We must humble ourselves before the processes that God has established. You have to go through the process. If a doctor tells you, look, do this, I'll do that, you probably do it because your life depends on it and the same thing happens with writing. The church of Jesus Christ has given a form, Christ himself has... He says, if anyone confesses me before men, I will confess him before my Father who is in heaven.

You have to confess Christ publicly and that confession, my beloved friends and brothers, is the most important confession that a human being can make and requires a formal declaration and not just a passive assent. That confession is more important than a marriage declaration, you stood before your community, before your family and friends, and the pastor tells you, "So-and-so, do you accept so-and-so as your wife to love her?" You know the drill, right? And you say, "Yes, I get it, yes, I get it." And there is a photo that remains in the record. Why do we do that? because it is something tremendously serious.

Look to see if your girlfriend is going to settle for you to say, no, but you know that I love you and that's enough for you. No, she wants to see that ring, she wants to wear that suit, she wants to grab you and not to let go, for you to remember that you told her that you were going to love her until death do you part. Some still slip away, imagine if they didn't.

It is important. Whenever someone does something of great importance it is always required as a public event. What's more, when one dies, sometimes you even have to publish it in the newspapers so that people believe, that bad blood finally died. I can't believe it because weeds don't die, but there it is in the newspaper so you have to believe it.

When you become a citizen of the United States or of any country, there is a citizenship ceremony, Vilma, yes or no? Because? Because you are moving on to something very important. You are, at that moment, sort of confronting which country you belong to and to which country you are giving allegiance and allegiance, and that requires a declaration, something solemn that you affirm. There is an oath of allegiance, there are graduations where a university certifies that those who are there have passed the requirements of that university and that they deserve that diploma that is handed to them and that they then hang on a wall so that the whole world knows that they are university graduates and of such a university.

Anything important requires signing a contract. You buy a house, sign a contract. What's more, you ask your computer to change the operating system and there's a little box that says, I agree with the requirements and whatever, from Google or Apple or whatever, with 7,000 different conditions and you say, just press it and that's it, I agree, because it's important.

Every big decision requires a specific ceremony, a moment. And there is no more important decision in the world than the one that will determine your eternal destiny, the one that will determine what you are going to do for the rest of eternity. Life is a breath. The Bible says that man is like the flower of the field that the wind passed through it and it perished and its place will no longer know it.

We are in the world for an instant, 70, 80 years seems like an eternity to us, especially if we have ailments and we already want God to take us from this world, but in reality when you think of eternity something that has no end, that goes on forever. all the time of the times, of the times, you look at life and what seems so important and so definitive to you seems like the blink of an eye, it has no meaning in the light of eternity. And yet, sadly, many people go to their death without having determined, without having assured what will happen to their eternal destiny.

Many of us take out insurance and pay 30, 40, 50 dollars every month for rare insurance to ensure a few years of old age without problems, but we do not insure the most important thing, which is our eternity. And the Bible says that when we enter into a verbal relationship, a personal assent with Jesus Christ, his resurrection, his claims, only then can we be sure of our eternal life. It's not something we can put off until tomorrow, it's not something we can say, well, I'm too young.

Would you like to live your life hanging from a rope that can break at any moment and not have a security mesh underneath? It is a decision we have to make and we have to make it today. Today, says the Bible, is the day of salvation, today is the day that Christ asks you, do you believe this? Do you believe what I have declared?

Jesus says, the one who lives and believes in me, putting that emphasis now on the one who lives in me, in other words, it is not only a verbal assent but also adopting a lifestyle that shows that we believe in him. I invite you, brothers, as you express your faith in Jesus Christ, also make a commitment, to live an authentic Christian life, to continue growing in the Lord.

God has put in our hearts this concern to bring many to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, more than what God has allowed us to do up to now, in a very intentional way, but he has also put in my heart this commitment that we have to learn then as a church how to lead you to a robust life in Christ Jesus.

Because receiving Christ is simply saying, I do, it is putting on the ring, but then you have to live together, you have to make a home, you have to have a relationship with him, not just come from time to time and have a casual life christian. No, I want to invite you to put down roots in your Christian faith and receive all the benefits of your relationship with Jesus Christ.

That means that you do not stop congregating. The Bible says let's not stop gathering as some have customary. You know that when you congregate and adopt a family of faith and that family of faith adopts you, then you can continue to grow and learn more about the Lord and every day then learn more about what God wants for your life. The Christian faith is a great manual with instructions for all aspects of life, for your financial life, your married life, your personal relationships, your professional life or as a housewife or worker, how to deal with illness, tragedies, the losses, the troubles, the challenges, the triumphs of life.

Christianity is a manual, that Bible has an answer for every situation that a man or a woman can confront. And for that we need to grow. I confess to you my sense of need in this time that as a church, we not only learn to bring people to Jesus Christ but also to lead them through the Christian career. We are going to do our part, I assure you, we are going to be learning, we are going to be developing different forms and then I invite you, when we serve the table, to drink from it. When you accept Jesus commit yourself then to seek him and to military.

You can make a revolution in the city of Boston, my brothers. We can bring many confused young people, many who are tied up on drugs, in the despair of a meaningless life, and bring them to a knowledge of Jesus Christ. Right now I see here hundreds of evangelists that we want to send to the city to bring thousands of believers to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

That was the challenge that I offered this morning to those who came to the service in English. This church, brothers, is a pack of dynamite that is going to explode not to kill lives, like those suicide bombers in Brussels, but to give life and distribute the grace of God throughout the entire city.

I see in each one of you, even those who have arrived today for the first time, I see in you messengers who can bring your friends, your family, the people who work with you to the knowledge of Christ so that they live transformed lives. . The world cannot offer the Latino community – although I know that perhaps there are others from another community, but that's how I spoke to those from the English-speaking community this morning – brothers, the federal government, the social agencies, the schools, they don't they can offer our community what our community needs. Christ and his Gospel can make a difference.

I think of our children, our youth, when they embrace the ethics of Christianity, when they embrace the moral values of the Christian faith, then they can become healthy students, then they can prepare to be healthy wives and husbands. Then the systems of this city informed by the healthy values of the Gospel will be able to find a way to create students who can function as they should. And our commitment, our desire is that as a church we learn to offer our community the teaching it needs to live that abundant life that Christ died to give us and that he rose to assure us.

I want León de Judá to become a transmitter and that you become an agent of transformation for our community because the Gospel of Christ is something revolutionary and makes a difference. But committed Christians are needed who are educating themselves, who are growing, who are changing, who are giving part of their being and their lives to the Lord every day so that the Lord puts new components in them and then they can be that transforming church.

Yesterday morning 200 women gathered on the fourth floor of our church and I was listening to this conversation between Meche and Eneida where Eneida was talking about the difference that the Lord Jesus Christ made when she went through years of crisis in her life. And I saw these women, many of them new to the faith, passing the Kleenex around like it was hot cakes, moved and shocked and receiving education and teaching and identifying with the truths that were being exchanged in that beautiful interview. And I said, that is what the church can do, take an abused woman, for example, and give her good instruction, good teaching, how to defend herself, how to go through crises, how to transmit that blessing to her children.

I watched as one of Eneida's beautiful daughters at the end of the service talked about what her mother had meant and how her mother had made a difference despite all that she had suffered and suffered abuse and disappointment, her mother had passed on to them the ability to be healthy. And that very attractive, well-educated young woman showed me that when the Gospel is involved in a situation of human tragedy, it makes a difference and changes the losses into steps for greatness and for transformation, and then instead of bequeathing them to our children dysfunctionality and illness, we leave them health, hope, good principles.

And that is the difference that Jesus Christ makes and that is why I challenge you on this day of resurrection, not only to receive Christ, but also to begin to live in Christ and also then to transmit Christ to others and become Christians. trained and prepared to induce hope in other human beings.

I'm finishing, I want to make a couple more points. The resurrection of Jesus not only assures us of eternal life in the future, but also blesses us here in the life that we have and helps us to live free lives, abundant lives. Because the Lord has said, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

When we believe in the resurrection, we lose the fear of death, which is something so important. You can live free of that fear. Many people, even Christians, are afraid of death, but when you believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ that makes your own resurrection possible, then you are free from that fear and then you can live a life where death has already lost its sting, the grave has lost its victory. Yes it is a reality but you know that it will be like that prick of a needle when it enters but now, that's all. Death will visit us but you know that immediately you go from an imperfect life to a perfect and eternal life in the presence of God. You are no longer afraid of death.

Christ says, "And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." That last day is the day of judgment, it is the day the Bible says that the time will come when every individual on the face of the earth, those who have lived and those who are alive and those who will be alive in the coming years , every person will have to appear before the presence of God and give an account of what they have done, be it good or bad, says the Bible.

On that last day, only those who have set their sights on Jesus and have believed in his resurrection will be able to remain eternally in the presence of God. Those who have not made their peace with Christ will continue to live because God does not turn us into junk and turn off our lights when we die. His eternity is in us, but we will live separated from the presence of God if we have not received Christ as Lord and savior. Only those who have put their signature at the bottom of the covenant between God and men through Jesus Christ will be able to enjoy that eternal and perfect life that is only possible in Christ Jesus.

That is why we must believe in Christ, affirm that he lives and that he is real, so that we can then be free to live life as God wants and not be afraid of death.

Recently, barely a week or so, I went to the house of our brother Efraín Ortiz who is a man we have known for many years, he was a member of our congregation, faithful, generous, he participated in the church, he was always available to help in any situation of need, any activity, he had a restaurant and was always very generous in his business with our activities. He earned the love of many people. Recently, his now widow, his wife, called us and he asked me to come visit him at his house. We knew that he had been sick but I did not know that the doctors had already given him 4 or 5 months to live. And the cancer that he had been fighting for several years had finally made him bedridden and he could no longer get out of bed.

And I went to visit them one rainy afternoon a few days ago and I entered their house and I went to their bedroom and there was brother Efraín lying down, he had lost a lot of weight, his eyes had acquired a disproportionate size given the smallness of his body and all the weight I had lost. But those eyes, instead of being eyes of despair and sadness, were eyes of joy and peace and sweetness. They were eyes that had knowledge of something that we often do not know when we are so involved in the cares of the world. He knew that his time had come unless God practically did a great miracle of resurrection, and I was touched by the look of peace on Brother Ephraim's face.

He was calm, there was no despair on his face, he was at peace. We were able to talk about her situation very clearly. And when I looked through the window of his room, which was quite spacious and illuminated by two large windows, it was interesting because while I was talking to him I realized that beyond the patio of his house there was a small cemetery. And it was dramatic for me the fact that here I am with a person who is a few steps from the other life and there is like a cemetery there reminding us that there is something waiting. I didn't actually mention what I was thinking at the time, but my mind was racing about the reality of death, waiting for all of us either very close or very far away, but there it is.

And the truth is that I came out of that meeting edified, blessed and even confirmed in my pastoral call because I say, wow, we the servants of the Lord can prepare people for such an important event as the departure with God. And this man today can be quiet waiting for his moment without terror, at peace with God and there is no pain in his heart, in his spirit. Because? Because he had put his hope in Jesus Christ, because he knew that the resurrection was coming and that he was simply going to pass from an imperfect life to a perfect life, that there was going to be a little atrium of transition but immediately after he expired and gave his last breath was immediately present before the Father.

This is what the Apostle Paul says, we are absent from the body and present before the Lord, and Paul says that being with Christ is much better. he was in trouble, Paul says, because I'm not sure what I prefer, because being here in the world allows me to bless others and help them to know Jesus Christ, but being in heaven is 20 thousand times better for me, so I'm in trouble, I don't know which of the two to prefer.

Listen to me, so I would like all of us to be in trouble, simply being in the world because perhaps we can be useful to the Lord but knowing that the heavenly homeland awaits us, much more glorious because we are convinced of our faith.

I have seen that same conviction in those who have lost loved ones who know that their loved ones are with the Lord. There is also that sweet, meek sadness that yes, we do not have a physical body and we do not have dad or mom to give us a hug, one of those hugs that a mother can give, but we know that one day we will see them and that we will celebrate. our victory together to be in eternity.

This is what I felt when my beloved mother passed away at the age of 92 almost 10 years ago and the family members were together and I remember well that circle around our Toñita in her hospital bed and we knew that the time was ready, it was still the doctor who had treated her for many years with her and Toña was in her bed and we were talking with her, praying with her, we knew that the doctors had already told us, get together because she is going to leave at any moment. And I still remember, as if it were right now, that moment when Toña breathed her last and went with the Lord.

And we cried even the doctor was crying because he had learned to love my mother in the years that he had cared for her, because it was something so beautiful, so sweet that it was like an angel came and spread the curtain around her body and said, “It no longer belongs to you. He left with his heavenly Father.” And we cried quietly, that was a Saturday a little after noon, and the next Sunday, when we notified the congregation, I was able to preach a sermon, quiet, because I knew where my mother was. I knew that she was with the Lord and that at the age of 92 perhaps she already wanted to be brought into the presence of the Father. And I know that now she runs marathons through the planets and galaxies and doesn't get tired, she doesn't have trigeminal pain, her digestive system is working perfectly, what's more she doesn't even have it, for what? You don't have to eat. It's free.

My brother, my sister, I want you to also have that same hope this morning in the resurrection of Christ Jesus. I want you to prepare your heart right now, if I can ask you to bow your head here, that we all be... you may still be a young man full of life and full of strength with very big cheeks, because you lift weights, and the death is the furthest thing from your mind right now. Or it may be that you are a professional with achievements and with great illusions about the future and death seems that this is still for 50 years from now. Or it may be that you are an old man or an advanced person and death already acquires more reality in your life. Or you may be suffering from some type of medical condition that reminds you of your mortality in a rather forceful way. No matter what your condition is, maybe some child can understand what I am saying, I also call them to reconsider and think about what eternal life is and what is that guarantee that Christ offers.

I want security for you, I want conviction for you, I want for you the contract signed through your declaration that Jesus Christ is your Lord and that you believe that he rose from the dead and you are not ashamed to confess it before men and you are willing to marry him, and you are willing to say, yes, I receive it, yes, I promise, yes, I will marry him, yes, I will be with him through thick and thin, through thick and thin. trials and triumphs. Jesus Christ will be my Lord.

I want to invite you right now to confess it internally and for all of us here to confess Jesus as Lord and savior, particularly those who have not done so yet. and I want to give everyone the opportunity and I see several people come up here if not many right now or raise your hand where you are and say, "I commit myself to Jesus Christ and his resurrection."

I would like you to raise your hand right now, I want to ask you to raise your hand, if you have come this afternoon and you have not done so before, give your life to Jesus right now. Raise your hand and say to the Lord, "Lord, I receive you." Up there on the balconies, here a hand is raised, I know there are many more. You have come this afternoon, give your life to Jesus right now. There's another hand going up. Raise it up high.

Christ says, "If anyone is ashamed of me, I will be ashamed of him on the day of judgment." Why don't you receive Christ this afternoon. Give your heart to the Lord. Come to the one who has given his life for you. I see several hands behind as well. There's others. Brothers, there has to be a moment in which you humble yourself before the Lord and this is a precious moment to do it.

Stand up, those who have raised their hands stand up wherever you are. Stand up. I want to see dozens of people, because I know that there are many here who need to make their pact with Christ Jesus. Don't be ashamed to put your faith in Jesus. The younger the better, the more elegant the better, the better educated the better, the further from death the better, because then you can live many years in the light of your relationship with Jesus Christ.

is there anyone else? If you're struggling right now, if she wants to come, let her go ahead. If you are struggling, it is the Holy Spirit saying, receive me. Don't be too proud to accept Jesus. Someone else?

Brothers, I would like to invite you, can you walk with them and bring them here. I want several of the brothers from the church to come here, some hujieres or deacons or brothers who are part of our community, Peter and Aeneida and others, come here. We will pray with you. Come, we are going to make a big crowd here, converted and unconverted and first-time converts, come here and we are going to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And there are others here, there are others who must also come and make their pact with Jesus. Come here ahead. I have faith to believe that many will come here. Come with your partner. If you haven't married and are living together, don't worry, come on. If you have an addiction, a problem, a habit and you still haven't solved it, I need you. Christ needs you here.

If you are struggling with something and you think you are too entangled to receive Christ, this is the calling for you. If you are not a very religious person but you have spiritual concerns, come and tell Jesus Christ, "Lord, I come as I am, with my problems, my ties, my business that I am not sure if you approve of or not, my bad habits, but I need you Jesus Christ, and I believe at least two things, that you are the Son of God and that you rose from the dead and I am willing to confess this today before a community like this."

And then begin to unpack what you have confessed. I plead with you that if anyone is standing, some believer will come up to them and bless them. Here I see this cute couple that is here. Someone to come here, that's sister, come, pray with them wherever there is a life. There are others there, brothers, someone who knows the Lord, pray with that person, that no one is left without receiving affirmation from someone in the faith community.

The Lord is watching, don't worry if someone approached you, the Holy Spirit stands on each one of you as if you are the only one this afternoon and the Holy Spirit is moving in your heart right now in the name of Jesus. I believe that something wonderful is happening here right now. There is a special anointing. The Holy Spirit is touching you. The Lord is running through this crowd and you dialogue with the spirit of God, tell him, "Lord, I receive you, I believe that you rose from the dead, I believe that you are the Son of God, I believe that you You are my savior, I believe that you come for the second time, I put my faith in you, I do not trust in my own justice but I trust in you. I don't have the capital to pay for my sins but you do and I take a loan from you and with that I pay for my eternal life right now. Sir, you are the capitalist. You are the one who pays for my salvation." Say so to the Lord.

Lord Jesus Christ, I am going to live my life believing in his resurrection and believing in your divinity and I am going to walk with you all the days of my life. And so, my brother, my sister, fight that good fight until Christ becomes real in your life. This church is your church, remember that, it is as much yours as it is the person who has lived in this place for more years… like mine, and then start living an authentically Christian life. Give your life to the Lord.

Start reading the word. Ask the Holy Spirit to change you, ask the Holy Spirit to come into you right now. Say, Holy Spirit come into my life and sit on the throne of my life and teach me how to be your son, how to be your daughter. I want to meet you. Tell the Holy Spirit, I want to know you and I want to be known by you.

Brothers, I promise you that we are going to do everything we can, give us a little time and we are going to set up a way to help you grow in faith and I simply ask you to join us and give us a little of his time to instruct and teach them, because we want you to be productive, fruitful Christians, and that you can experience the benefits of being children of God and that all the benefits of Christian citizenship come to be part of you.

How beautiful, I see a mother with her daughter receiving Christ. Generations being blessed. That's what it's about. Let the Lord touch you this afternoon, let the Lord touch you.

Father we thank you for this harvest of souls. We consecrate it to you, Lord, we bind them to you, that they may feel your love this afternoon, Father, that they may feel the love of this congregation. Lord, accompany them through their Christian life and may nothing in this world obstruct or scandalize them so that they turn away from you. Help us to be a genuine church that loves the little ones and leads them towards a firm and permanent life in Jesus Christ.

Oh, I bless you in the name of the Lord this afternoon. Christ loves you and has great things for you. Each one of you is a jewel right now in the eyes of the Lord. You don't know how precious you are, how precious you are before Christ Jesus. Right now there is a party in heaven, right now there is a celebration, right now the angels are dancing around the throne of God for each one of you.

And I am in the clouds, I am declaring great things for your lives. Now live that powerful life in the Lord and start walking. We'll be in touch with you, soon we're going to… we want you to take some basic classes, a few hours that you donate to this effort to turn you into fruitful Christians. I embrace each one of you in the name of the Lord right now and declare grace upon grace upon grace upon your lives.

When they return to their seats, give them a hug too, shake their hand and tell them, I congratulate you on the most beautiful decision you have made in your life. They are sealed. Hallelujah! Sealed with the grace of the Lord. We bless you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.