A City of Refuge

I will be reading from the book of Mark, chapter 10, verses 46 to 52 and I will read from the International version.

“After they arrived at Jericho, later Jesus left the city accompanied by his disciples and a large crowd. A blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. Hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth who was coming, he began to shout, “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me.” Many scolded him to keep quiet, but he began to yell even more. "Son of David, have mercy on me." Jesus stopped and said, “Call him,” so they called to the blind man, “Cheer up, get up, he calls you.” Throwing off his cloak, he jumped up and approached Jesus. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. “Rabbi, I want to see,” replied the blind man. “You can go,” Jesus told her, “your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight and began to follow Jesus on the road.”

May God continue to bless his word. This morning, the subject that we are going to be talking about is so that we can see. And we celebrate on this special morning the disabilities that exist within our society and how people can live life within these disabilities. And that strikes me that sometimes in life one thinks, Lord, when will I be able to see an angel? Why can't I see angels? I would like to see them and talk to them.

Without realizing that many of these angels have taken human form, in a symbolic way and we have them around us. And this reminds me of a story about 20 years ago. There was a couple expecting their baby, a Christian couple, they are happy, happy, and even thinking about what their family would be like now with this new arrival. They weren't thinking that having a baby is like having a mortgage. They are thinking about the joy, about the detail that this creature is going to bring to that home.

They shared with their brothers and sisters in the church that positive impact that this creature would be in the life of this young couple. This young couple faithfully served the Lord, engaged and enjoyed an indescribable moment of peace and joy. Months go by, the time of delivery arrives, a long-awaited moment, the child is born and once it is brought home, the atmosphere in the home continued to be of immense joy. We have a little human being that God has given us with the blessing of being able to raise him up and that in the future he will be someone of benefit to society and a believer.

Enjoying this creature, when the creature reaches 2 years old they realize that something is not going as expected from a 2-year-old creature. They take their child and they take it to the health professionals and the doctors say to them, “Well, your child has one of the autism spectrum, aspberger. It is a moment of shock, it is a moment of facing an unexpected reality. It is a moment in which doubts arise why me, if I have been faithful to the Lord, if I have dedicated my whole life to serving him, what happened?

But the couple, who were an experienced couple in the Lord, did not take or let this moment of tragedy become a monument that extinguished the joy or joy that this creature had brought to the bosom of their family. On the contrary, after meditating and thinking they decide that we are now going to start a new journey with new challenges and opportunities. Instead of making a moment of tragedy, and staying grounded and anchored in that tragedy and continuing to cry and lament, we are going to move and we are going to enjoy our creature, the blessing that God has given us. This will not be a moment of tragedy, this will be a moment of blessing, a moment of joy, a moment to say to the Lord, "Lord, you have given, you can take away, your name will always be blessed."

It is easy to reach this determination when only the parents are discussing and planning, but now you have to prepare yourself because society is going to ask you, the family is going to ask, the church is going to ask, and sometimes it is as if one had to make a ready and when he greets you and they ask you, and what does yours have? You take out the list, because sometimes people don't tend, they don't know, they are ignorant. But this couple has hope, they know that society points it out as a mistake. Educational systems label it special education, but the church, oh the church, the church is different.

So, they have it in their hearts that no matter what happens in our society, when we get to my church – and I'm actually talking about another church – ah, they're going to understand, they're going to receive us. Unfortunately when the couple arrives and goes to church, people start to stand up and speak for the creature, because they assume it has demons. Can you imagine that? that your son or daughter has a disability and the church instead of listening, asking, being compassionate, understanding, has demons.

And service after service, the parents had to be patient, have wisdom, when a very well-intentioned but ignorant brother or sister got up, because they were not educated about what was happening, and sometimes good intentions are not enough, we have each other what to educate I try to put myself in that place, I have come to the house of God to praise him, to serve him, to bless him, to be with my family and my family tells me that my son is full of demons and that is why he acts that way.

We are here in this church in an evangelism program that our pastor is talking about and explaining, and speaking with Roberto this week about this message, Roberto told me, "Tell the church that my heart, that the León de Judá congregation can be a city of refuge,” imprint that on your mind and in your heart, city of refuge.

If we left the story there, this family had enough excuses and reasons to leave the church, to forget the Gospel, to forget the Lord, discriminated against by society, discriminated against by communities, discriminated against by the family, discriminated against by the church, who then is left over? But they knew, they understood that there is a God above the community, there is a God above society, there is a God above the church who keeps his arms open all the time to receive them as we are, as we come and as we are.

A little more than 20 years have passed and today the two children of this couple are studying at the university. Look, having demons, being rejected, the parents did not stay and build a building, in that rejection they moved. And these children have names, Gabriel Medina and Taina Medina. His parents are Maritsa and Omar Medina. Let's give a round of applause to Omar who delights us this morning with praise.

How many can praise the Lord? The story did not have a sad ending, the story did not have a tragic ending because the Lord has always been with open arms.

From the beginning you were called,

I chose you long before.

You were separated to serve.

You're not alone, I'll always be with you

Every step you take, I am with you in the dark hour

I am your peace, I am the light and the truth that lights the way.

A faithful friend to the end.

Do not fear, do not dismay, for Jehovah your God is with you.

He will keep you from the enemy, with his right hand he will uphold you.

You're not alone, I'll always be with you.

Every step you take, I am with you in the dark hour

I am your peace, I am the light and the truth that lights the way.

A faithful friend to the end.

Every step you take, I am with you in the dark hour

I am your peace, I am the light and the truth that lights the way.

A faithful friend to the end.

Every step.

A few years ago the American Methodist Church did a research, exactly 4 years ago, they did a national survey with all their members who had a disability. And he asked only one question in the survey, if you could dream of having the budget to create the perfect church that cares and understands the disabilities of your family, your children, or your disabilities alone, what would you do? What are you waiting for? And he says that 80% of the people answered with something that has nothing to do with money or buildings, they said, an attitude of kindness when we arrived at the church. A hand that says welcome to us. Welcome to church.

Perhaps we should emulate Walmart's attitude. Hi! One of the things that strikes me about Bartimaeus when we go to the historical context of this passage is that Bartimaeus did not have a name. I say but, wow, we always call him Bartimaeus. And I find out that at that time every person who was disabled within the first century Jewish culture was not given a name. So, after he is born with a disability, without yet being aware of what awaits him, imagine in the first century, he is going to be rejected by his family, because he reminds them that this is the fruit of a curse. He will be rejected by society, by his family, he will never be able to visit a synagogue and on top of all that, he has no name.

In other words, it doesn't exist. Can you imagine fighting as a human being in the first century under those circumstances. Every time you see him, there is Bartimaeus, that means, there is the son of Timaeus. He was not worthy of a name. And on top of being blind he had the worst, he was a beggar. It says that it sits on the edge of the road – let me also say something. If you were born in the Greek culture or the Roman culture, and you had a disability, they did 2 things, or they killed you, the family has the right to kill you when that child was born, or they took you to the desert and left you and you defend yourself. So that they see the reality of that first century.

Bringing it now to the 21st century, we who are going to start an evangelism program, I was reading and a study was carried out in the federal government that there are 700 million disabled people registered worldwide, and this report said if we take them all and put them in uin country will be the third largest country in the world, after China and India, only for disabled people. What does that involve? a country that will not have the right to education, a country that will not progress, a country that will have to beg.

Says this blind man, beggar, he can't see, he's on the road, he has his cloak. The mantle is very important because the mantle is how he gets the money because how he doesn't see. At that time, glasses or hats had not yet been invented. It was the cloak on his legs and there the people threw the charity, the money, because he does not see, but he could hear. And sitting on that road he's seen a lot of people go by over the years, a lot of people go by, but this time he's hearing a different noise. Someone comes that there is a different noise.

The course of this man's life is about to change. The scene of his life that has no future, that has no hope, that is submerged in discouragement, bitterness and rejection, he says that he heard that noise and he knew that the one who was coming was not Jesús Gonzalez or Jesús Rodríguez, it was Jesus of Nazareth.

Oh, brothers, when we read this biblical account, it is good to celebrate that God heals him, but we must understand the conditions in which he was, in which he lived, what he was going through in order to understand then the miracle that is not only that he sees . How many times do we go through the roads and do not see those bartimaeos of life? How many times in our daily lives do we say to the Lord, give me the opportunity to speak to someone about the Gospel. Father, give me the tools to tell someone the good news of salvation. And then we say, Father, and third, they put someone on the road so I can talk to him. But really it is that we walk so and so upright that we do not notice that if we look down we see the prevailing need of the people who are on the side of the road waiting for someone to tell them, I have Jesus of Nazareth to offer you.

When Pastor Roberto was speaking to the pastors about the evangelism program, he asked, does anyone have any ideas, any stories, any experiences? I have an experience, I don't know if it is positive or negative, but an experience. When I was in seminary, thanks to the Lord I went to seminary because of a scholarship that was awarded to me. So, near the end of my seminary years I had some scholarship money left over and I was thinking, how can I use that money for something educational? And they announce at the seminar that a famous American evangelist who is dedicated to doing evangelism is going to come. And there were only 300 seats available in the area he was going to be in and it cost so much. So, I took advantage, I went to the registry office, I want this money to be put up for this event because I want to be there because I want to know what this world-renowned evangelism expert does, because I want to learn it, because we have to be willing to learn.

So, I remember that I arrived that day, there were 8 guys from the seminary, many people had traveled from the United States to listen to this person. I usually sit in the back but that day I was sitting in the front because I wanted to know what the secret is. And when that man is introduced and begins to say, you have come here to discover the secret of evangelism. Everybody yee. And they want to have the tools to achieve it. And everyone, yes. And I told my friend, you know, we're here. And he says, I'm going to start like I do when I'm at the airport.

And he took a few minutes break. I think, well, I imagine that he must be checking how the person is dressed, where the person comes from, if he is in a good area, if he is in the terminal, then I am here meditating. And he stands up and says, when I'm waiting to board the plane with my ticket in hand I ask the one behind me, do you know Jesus Christ as Lord and savior? No. And there I tell you the basics of the Gospel. And he asks the one in front, do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior? No. I tell you the plan of salvation.

I'm waiting for you to say something else. I get on the plane, I take my seat, when the stewardess comes to ask us if we want an appetizer, I ask her, do you know Jesus as your only and exclusive savior? And I say in my mind, I have not come to this conference to be told that the great program of evangelism is to open your mouth and communicate the good news of salvation. I am looking for something more complicated, more complex, something more specialized, something more technical.

He tells us, we can learn the techniques, we can have the tools, but the most touching way, the way that has the most effect is when you, who are the best weapon we have in the kingdom of heaven, open your mouth and He simply communicates to another the good news of salvation.

When I got to my apartment, my mom was waiting for me and she asked me, “How was that conference?” Well, it's just open your mouth and tell the Gospel. And she tells me, "Well then, pay me the money because that's what I do."

Bartimaeus stands up and begins to shout, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me." That reminds me sometimes we are so focused, so busy in our daily lives that they call us and those around us say, leave him alone, leave him alone, call him later. Not now. but he yelled more. Have you been through that experience? I went through that experience a few years ago when I lived in New York City and this really happened in New York.

I was getting ready with the family to watch the Yankees game and going to a baseball stadium for 4 is expensive. So, we decided, we're going to eat well, we're going to fill them up well, so when we get to the park they won't buy anything. But I forgot one detail, that sounds good between adults, not children. So, Vivian and I take the train, we get to the park, we sit down, we're reminding the kids, “Remember when we sit in the park we're going to watch the baseball game, we're not going to buy anything.” OK. All is well until a family sits immediately in front of us. It was the dad with 3 boys. And he bought popcorn, he bought hot dogs, he bought soda, he bought Cracker Jack, and my little boy, Isaac Gabriel, always the little…

I notice that the gentleman feeds his children but he keeps looking at Isaac Gabriel. And I say, well, what is Isaac Gabriel doing that draws this gentleman's attention? So when I look at Isaac Gabriel, he's like this… What happened? We ended up getting Cracker Jack, hotdog and sodas. Something funny, something pretty. But when the experience is negative we don't laugh.

When we are the ones who are forgetting us, the ones who don't notice us, the ones who don't even have a name, that's how we feel, sitting in the congregation, among a lot of people but no one knows that we feel discouraged, we feel alone, We feel like we don't have a name, we don't have a personality, only because we have come from a world that rejects us, from a society that points to us and from a world that sees us as having no value.

But let me tell you something this morning, this congregation has been reached this morning with that feeling, with that emotional problem of rejection, shake it off, that we are in this congregation with open arms. I know that sometimes we have to put oil in our joints... our expression is worth more than having a building that is prepared for the disabled. We have elevators, our doors have the correct measurements, according to the federal government to be able to pass a wheelchair, the bathrooms are prepared for all that. the facility is set up to receive the handicapped, the question is, are the people who can speak in this church set up to receive the handicapped? Or we will keep them in a nameless corner, because the Christ that I receive gave me a name, a new name. Hallelujah!

Jesus gave the command, "Call him." What would those Apostles who were with Jesus say? Has Jesus gone crazy? How Jesus is going to give this blind beggar VIP treatment. 68 years ago, 1948 in Puerto Rico, my uncle Domingo Rivera was addicted to alcohol and a card player, a man who could win $5,000 in one night but lost it, because his vice was gambling. Rejected by society, living on the streets, no one in my family knew the Lord. And one Sunday morning, Sunday, without a shirt, with pants, without shoes, without stockings, drunk on the sidewalk, because not all of us come from high rank, I remember where I came from and I don't forget that.

He says that this brother waiting for the public [inaudible], who was going to a church at that time at stop 14 in Santurce, a church that the governor of Puerto Rico attended, a high-ranking church, arrives at the vehicle stop and He sees this man lying on the ground drunk and asks, "What's your name?" And he says, “Sunday.” “Sunday, do you want to change your life?” "Yeah." "Come next Sunday and wait for me at this bus stop and come with me to church."

A week has passed, my uncle lives on the street, what did my uncle do? Saturday night arrives, you have to have your clothes to get to church and I don't know if in other countries, but in Puerto Rico it used to be when you do the laundry, and there is no dryer, you put the clothes outside and hang them out. So, he went shopping to different houses and he says that God blessed him a lot. So, my uncle was a 6.4 man, a very tall man, and his pants fit like he was crossing the river, without a belt, he had a rope for a belt, a shirt, shoes without socks.

When this gentleman arrives, this brother next week and sees him, he is at the bus stop waiting for the brother from the church to take him, the brother picks him up, pays for public transportation, they arrive at the church, the governor is there inside the church, there are many senators inside the church, and Domingo says to the brother, “Do you want me to sit in the back.” He says, "No, no, come with me." And he sat him in front.

And during the preaching he would say to this brother, "I get up now and I accept that Jesus." "No, you have to wait for them to make the call." OK. The story tells that Domingo converts to the Lord, 1948. A man rejected by society. That conversion of Domingo Rivera changed the entire Rivera family.

Jesus [inaudible] congregation, as the pastor said last week, let us treat those who do not know the Lord with VIP treatment, because for that person the blood of Christ was shed on the cross of Calvary.

It is interesting that Jesus knows what is going to happen, but Jesus was not light of word. He is not fast and he meets this man and he says… they called him, he threw off the cloak, implying that if there was money there, the money is gone, he is leaving his current way of earning a living, not yet having the health. He goes out and throws off that cloak, he knows that something is going to happen, there is that expectation, something is going to happen.

If we were Jesus, which is our role at this time, and we meet someone with disabilities or someone who is an alcoholic, or someone under the influence of drugs, we automatically know what the person needs but we don't take the time to ask them. that person, what do you need? Not what I think you need, what that person needs. Because by asking that person what they need, we are giving that person dignity. We are giving him importance, we are telling him that he is a human being, we are telling him that we are willing to listen even if we do not have the answer, but if we do not have the answer, we can say like Pedro and Juan, we have neither money nor gold , but what we have we are going to give you, which is the power of God in action.

Jesus asked, what do you need? And what did he say? Let me see, I want to see. Rabbi, I want to see. In the English ministry there is a person who sometimes serves in the Department in the usher program, who also has a disability, is cared for by people who are in the Spanish ministry. And this boy who apparently is not listening or has cognitive problems, they say, they told me that once walking down the street with this boy, he saw someone who was lying down, a homeless, and they continued walking but he went to the homeless and told him, “If you want to change your life, come to church so you can meet Jesus.” They stayed. God speaking the message of salvation.

And on another occasion, I know another person who also has a cognitive problem. They were teaching him how to walk without getting lost and where he was going to do his therapy there was a Burger King about 4 or 5 blocks away, and the idea was that little by little he would go alone, outside the rehabilitation site to Burger King, buy his Woper and come back without help. And he says that walking towards Burger King someone who is also on the street comes and asks him for money and he kept walking, ignored him, but remembered and turned back. And he said, "I can buy you food, if you come with me to Burger King and listen to my story, then I'll buy you at Burger King."

Brothers, we are watching, Bartimaeus did not see but heard that the Christ was coming. And that Christ changed the scene of life once and for all. Are you watching? If you can't see you can't hear, if you don't listen you can't help, if you can't help you are not benefiting the Kingdom of Heaven.

On this day God gives you the opportunity to be an agent of change. Many of us with good eyesight and good ears wait for the Bartimaeans of this day to bring them to Jesus. Unfortunately we are not seeing You cannot see the Bartimaeans in your family, in your work, in your community, those around us, those around the corner. Many times we pray, God give me the opportunity to share the good salvation. What we should say is, Lord, open my eyes. Father, open my eyes so that I can see the Bartimaeans of this life, that not only the Bartimaeans remain in the English ministry, that they also come to the Spanish ministry, that they come to our service, people who speak Spanish who do not have where to live, that they can come here and feel comfortable, people with Down syndrome, people with autism, people with traumatic brain injury, people rejected by society, people who are released from jail, that they can come here and say, "When When I arrive at this church, people welcome me. When I arrive here, people call me by my name, because God has given me a name.”

How happy I was a few weeks ago receiving a text from my Miguel Eusebio Ramírez, our prison minister, when he sends me a message but with a photograph, like a Face, he is with 4 former prisoners who ended our discipleship doing evangelism in the street. And he asks, "But do you have training?" “Pastor, our best training is that we were lost, we found Jesus and now we are new creatures.”

This morning God tells us, let's not stop, call him, let's not stop, call him, let's not stop, call him. When we see someone who is disabled shake hands, no one knows what the one sitting next to us is going through, because of the battles he goes through during the weekday, be encouraged so that at the end of time we can say, " Lord, I see, and if I see I am used for your glory, I am used for your cause, so that the kingdom may be expanded."

I don't want when I get to heaven I ask myself, "I put a lot of people on your way." "Father, but I didn't see it." Because you were looking with eyes of ignorance, with eyes of discrimination, with eyes of prejudice, things that have no place or place within the believing body. We rebuke every spirit of discrimination, every spirit of negative reception, of rejection, because we are a church that receives those who need it, because we have Jesus, we preach Jesus and we live that Jesus.

God bless you this morning. And I want to leave you with one last piece of praise, before you leave this morning, this church has a program called body system and that is looking for volunteers to give one Sunday a month, an hour and a half, with children who are disabled to that their parents can sit and listen to the Lord's message as well. An hour and a half, otherwise the parents don't come, they stay at home watching the service online because they can't come to congregate. It is time to begin to see because God has already called, and God has given the order, it is time to begin to see.

So, how do we translate this action, donate your time, an hour and a half a month so that a family can receive the message of the word of the Lord. In the back will be Melvin and my wife Vivian. God bless you.