Lukewarmness - The very effective temptation of the devil

Today we finish the series of messages that we are thinking about these days in the book of Revelation, chapter 3, which are the letters written by the Apostle John, but spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ directly to the churches. Each letter is a personal message to us as a church on how we can be aware of the devil's attacks, how we can be an overcoming church, how we can become all that God wants us to be in the last days.

The Lord saves the best for last, so we are going to look in the book of Revelation, chapter 3, the message of Jesus to the church in the Odyssey. Revelation 3, verse 14, begins with these words:

"... And write to the angel of the church in the Odyssey, behold the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation, he says this, 'I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot, I wish you were cold or hot, but because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold I will vomit you out of my mouth because you say 'I am rich and have become rich and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked Therefore I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to dress yourself and that the shame of your nakedness may not be discovered, and anoint your eyes with eye salve so that you may see. I rebuke and punish all those I love, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me. To the one who wins, I will give him to sit with me on my throne, just as I have won, I have sat with my Father on his throne. Let him who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the churches."

Lord, give us ears to hear what the spirit is saying in these last days. Lord, we don't want to be a lukewarm church, we want to be everything you want us to be. We want to enjoy all the richness and delicacy that you have prepared for us. We want to be a church rich in you, Lord. So Holy Spirit open the eyes of our souls to see who you are. Holy Spirit reveal the beauty of Jesus to us on this day and enliven us in this month, we ask it in Jesus name. Amen and amen.

The warmth. The very effective temptation of the devil because he knows how to fill us with everything in this world so that we forget everything that comes after this world. We have to listen to what God is telling us.

It really caught my attention that on New Year's Day the pastor felt the call of the Lord to speak about this for us. And he said that we are going to set aside a week to start this year to seek that we are not lukewarm but either cold or hot but intense, whatever it is, for Christ. May we be passionate for him, may there be nothing duplicitous in our spirit. The Lord wants us alive for him.

Last night my son lost a tooth. He was brushing his teeth and my wife always puts her hand at the end saying, this is not enough, leave me there real hard. No, mommy, leave me alone. A diet in the sink, a tooth with blood. My wife pulls teeth by cold hand. So for the blood I looked for my son what he needed the most, a cup of warm salty water and he prprprpr everywhere, he vomited it from his mouth, saying, you are already bad, you pull out my tooth and torture me with water tibia. We do not want to torture Jesus with lukewarm spirituality.

The Odyssey church was from a very impressive city. It was a city famous for its sheep that had wool. They had black sheep with very super fine wool, they put the best sheep with another better sheep and thus a super super fine wool and they made the best clothes that were in the whole world of the region in Asia. People traveled everywhere to buy their clothes there, from Macy's from the Odyssey. Super fine clothing. And this city became a rich city, very rich. They opened banks. There were people who traveled from all over to put their money in the banks of the Odyssey because there it is known that it will not disappear tomorrow. A rich city.

They opened medical schools and hospitals, very impressive. Some teachers in their medical schools were so famous that even their faces appeared on coins that we have found thousands of years later. The American dream was fulfilled there. They achieved success. They were so rich that they didn't even need help from Rome when the city was ruined by an earthquake. The whole city was destroyed, the buildings and everything, the emperor says, 'look, I'll give you help, money, to build your buildings and hospitals and everything,' and the people of the Odyssey said to the emperor of Rome, to Caesar, 'no thanks, we're fine. Your money comes with commitments and we are fine, we are enriched. We don't need anything. Thank you so much. No.'

A city and a self-sufficient church. That's good. We want to be people who don't have to depend on anyone, thank God. We want to be economically and politically independent but a church that is self-sufficient in spirit is a dead church because Christ says, 'Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.'

The moment we believe we have arrived, that we no longer need it, is the moment we are dying in the spirit. And this church was so successful that they forgot about God, about their need for God. They forgot that man will not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of Jehovah. They forgot that. They lost their taste for the Lord, they lost their passion, they became insipid, lukewarm.

There was one thing that was not good in the Odyssey and that was their water, because they received their water through aqueducts, tubes that came from afar, 6 miles from another city, cold water at the beginning but traveling in the tube For 6 miles he reached the Odyssey warm, disgusting, slimy, water that you do not want to drink. They also had tubes that came from some hot water.

Has anyone been in a hot spring? Very hot. And it came in the tube cooling down until it reached the warm, disgusting and undrinkable Odyssey. Jesus says, 'You have become as lukewarm as your water and I am about to vomit you out of my mouth. I wish you were either hot or cold,' is repeated 3 times, hot or cold. That does not mean either very bad or very good, God does not want anyone to be very bad. This is not the message.

It's just that cold water is rich to cool you down, hot water is good for the Dunkin Donuts coffee that you need on a day like this. Cold good, hot good, warm bad. And you are as warm as your water. And he had words and a strong rebuke for them because he loved them, 'everyone I love I rebuke and punish,' not to humiliate anyone but to wake them up because he knows what is best for them and for us.

Look at what it says at the beginning in verse 14, 'Thus speaks the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.' Jesus is the amen. Amen means so be it, really. When Jesus said, amen, amen, I tell you, truly I tell you, this Jesus is the truth. Everything else in this life is a half pleasure, a false pleasure. Jesus is the real thing. He is the real one. He is the faithful and true witness, he knows what he is talking about.

Do you know why? Because he is the beginning of God's creation. God made creation once through Jesus but he is making a new creation and it started with a man who died and was raised from the dead. Our Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. It is the first of the new creation. Jesus is the first to go to the other side and get a taste of what it's going to be like in the resurrection.

When we speak of heaven we use faith, we use words, we use imagination. Jesus knows this from experience. He says, look, I already ate that fruit, I promise it's good. I know what will make you happy. Listen to me. Know what? There is a saying that there is a hole, a void in the human soul that is the size of God, only God can fill this void. But we fools that we are try to fill the void with everything else in this life. We seek to be happy with what? First with money, beautiful things, human love, food, a cup of coffee, the excitement of a soccer game or a cup, something we fill looking for happiness. And the most successful people in this world, the famous, movie stars who have millions of dollars, multiple husbands and wives, everything you can imagine, end up happy? They almost always end up in a terrible depression and often take their lives. Because? Because nothing fills God-sized space but God. Amen.

There is a song that I heard, joy, joy, joy is what I wanted but I was looking for it where I didn't have it. Joy, joy, joy, that's what we're after. God knows what will make you happy. David knew, God, my God, it's you. At dawn I will look for you, my soul is thirsty for you. My flesh longs for you to see your power and your glory because your mercy is better than life. My lips will praise you as marrow, and my soul will be satisfied with fatness.

Better than a meringue cutlet, better than anything in this creation, all the joys of this world if they are healthy, they are not bad, but they should point us to the beauty and deliciousness of the Creator who made it. I don't want to make you feel guilty for enjoying life. I hope that when you eat, that you savor what you are eating, a rice with pigeon peas, a sancocho, how delicious, a little coffee when it's cold outside, not a gringo watery coffee but a real coffee, half sugar in a little cup. Enjoy it. A game of the cup or of the Super Bowl that I am already in, waiting to enjoy it and enjoy it, but knowing that this emotion that I feel in this thing does not compare with the joy that awaits me in the things of God.

To know that he is much, much, much better. he is what adds the deliciousness to the chocolate that makes me fall in love. God knows he is joy, the emotion more precious than precious stones. Nothing you could wish for can compare to it, the wisdom of God that is there woven into all of creation.

Enjoy life, but let all the joy of this life be healthy speaking, enjoying life, knowing that there is a Creator who really fills me in my spirit and in my soul. Every man or woman of God who has really had an impact in the world and in heaven has the same thing in common, they are all fans for the presence of the Lord. Everyone is crazy with living an intimacy with God, they die without this presence. It's a cute obsession, a magnificent obsession. They are fans.

I often speak and also the discipleship materials talk about how as Christians we should not live by emotions. We must live by faith, we must make decisions based on the word even when we don't feel like it, to live for Christ not by emotion, because love is a decision by faith. And I agree with everything I have taught but emotions are also important. Christ wants you to be in love with him. He wants you to enjoy him.

As Moses said, I cannot live without your presence. Jehovah had told him, you are so sinful that I am going to send you to the promised land with a warrior angel before you. The angel of the Lord himself before you, but the shekinah presence, glorious, that pillar of cloud and fire, my presence, does not go with you because you are so sinful that I am capable of killing you on the way. And Moses says, it doesn't matter, if you don't go with us, I'm not going anywhere, if your presence isn't going to accompany us, don't take us out of here.

And Jehovah answered saying, okay, I see, I'm going with you. And Moses says, no, no, no, this is not enough, I will not move from this place until you show me your glory, even if it kills me I want to see you. And God says, okay, get into a little place on the mountain and I'm going to reveal myself to you. Moses says, I'm crazy with you, I need more.

You know those crazy people who go after tornadoes, but people who have to see the cyclone up close, they are hungry. Moses was like that with the presence of Jehovah, even if you kill me, I have to see you. I have to see my God.

I want to be like this. Yesterday was January 6, what do we celebrate on January 6? The Kings. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with great joy. In the Greek there are 3 words for joy, joy, joy. I want that joy. I want to be like the Apostle Peter who for all his defects, even after having denied Jesus, when he was in the boat and the others noticed, look, there is a man on the seashore, it is Jesus, after him rise from the dead Do you know what Pedro did? He put on his towel and jumped into the sea and swam into the sea to be with Jesus. He says, I am not going to wait for any boat, I am going directly to my Jesus. I want to be like this.

I want to be like that sinful woman who was famous for a bad life on the street and Jesus was in the neighborhood eating at the Pharisee's house and she says, it doesn't matter, I have to see me Jesus and she goes to the door, and they say, look, you can't come in here. She says, you don't understand, I'm going to come in here and she goes in and lies down at her feet and starts to cry and then she realizes that Jesus' feet were already wet and she dries them with her hair and it's a scandal. But Jesus says, the person who is forgiven much loves much. And she looks at him, don't worry about God, your faith has healed you.

A yearning for Christ. A hunger to be close to the Lord because only he can satisfy. David said, one thing I have demanded of the Lord, this I will seek, that I be in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to contemplate the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.

But those of the Odyssey were already full. They were so full of this world that they had forgotten to be hungry for the next. "You say, I am rich, I have become rich and I need nothing, but you do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked."

He was like Esau. Do you know the story of Esau? Esau and Jacob in the Old Testament were two sons of Isaac and the eldest of them, Esau, was entitled to a spiritual blessing through his father. And Esau had the right to that blessing of the Lord, a special presence of God and his younger brother, Jacob, who was half a scoundrel, but who valued the things of God, he invented a plan. I'm going to steal my brother's blessing. Esau comes in from the field after hunting animals and he comes home terribly hungry and Jacob says to him, 'look, are you hungry, little brother?' 'Yes, very hungry, cook me that lentil stew that I like, with garlic and stir-fry.' And Jacob says, 'okay, one little thing, sell me your blessing.' Esau says, 'what do I care about a spiritual blessing, I'm starving.' And so he ate well in this world but lost the riches of the Lord, the delicacy that God had prepared for him.

Many of us exchange the earthly blessing for the heavenly blessing. We lose the best for something much, much less. God says, don't settle, because I have advice for you. When Jesus gives me advice, I better listen. He says, "Look therefore I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, and white garments to wear so that the shame of your nakedness is not discovered and anoint your eyes with eye salve so that you may see."

This is not a hoax, he is the real one, the true and reliable witness. This is not selling you something fake. Why do you spend money on what is not bread? Jesus you are saying, look, I have something that your soul really needs. But here we are, it is an invisible gold. Would you buy from someone who wants to sell you something invisible? But how about a million dollar bank account that you don't see, but rather the promise of the person offering it. The thing is that the riches of the spirit are invisible to the human eye but are only perceptible by eyes of faith.

How is faith defined? Some have it memorized. For faith is the certainty of what is expected, the conviction of what is not seen. This is why it is a fight. The world can be seen, food can be tasted, money can be touched, but there is an invisible wealth that is better if we have eyes of faith to search for it. You have to set your eyes on a prize that is not visible but is so real that it is worth losing everything to win that pearl of great price that God has for us.

Moses made a great sacrifice. Many times we talk about sacrifices in the service of the Lord, that people sacrifice themselves to serve God. And it's good that we talked about it because many people sacrifice a lot. But the people who sacrifice the most always say, I haven't made any sacrifices because you can't give more than God can give you back. Joy is the gold that God promises. And all those who have paid the price know that nothing in this world compares. Every sacrifice is worth it because there is joy in the Lord.

The Holy Spirit is the deposit that helps us to taste the riches of heaven, that helps us to see the invisible, to taste the foods that God has for us. I remember after graduating from university I decided to do ministry with university students, they didn't pay me but I lived with a family and I felt very happy. And someone asked me what you do now after graduation. I say, I am giving Bible studies, the university. And what do they pay you? Well, pizza, we had a good time. And he says, wow, how noble! That's having a good time. The Lord's service is not noble, it is joyful, we earn more than we give.

You know I'm… the happiest half hour of the week for me is Saturday from 9 to 9:30. You know why? It is the breakfast that is given here on this side with people who are coming off the street and the head of the ministry has assigned me to be the receptionist. I take attendance and I invite all new ones to go up to the sanctuary and I give them a personal welcome to the church of Jesus Christ. Welcome to our church, we hope you feel at home, and I also tell you about the rules. This is very important. But to give that welcome, the people a lot of them haven't come to a church in years, they're there like wow, I'm in the house of God. This for me is like eating ice cream, because I see the joy in the hearts of the people entering.

My children came with me. Normally they have activities on Saturdays but they came on Christmas Saturday and Noah, my 9 year old son was with me receiving people from the street. He handled the pencils and papers and there was a man who came in, and when I was talking to him he started to cry and I asked him, why are you crying? Because I haven't been in a church for 20 years and I feel at home. And he was crying and he accepted Christ the next day. Did you notice someone who greeted me when I was here translating? It was... maybe it's here, I don't know. I would have said hello already.

And we cried with him and my son said, 'you know what, daddy? I didn't expect to have a good time here, but I'm having a good time. This is fun. I feel happy inside.’ And I said, this is the joy of salvation.

In Luke, chapter 15 all the 3 parables of someone who loses a sheep, a woman who loses a coin, the father who loses a son, when he later finds him he always says the same thing, 'come, rejoice with me because I found what I had lost.' The joy of finding and finding the lost is better than any joy in this world. It's the best show in town. It's the most fun and I want my son to enjoy it.

When we see service to the Lord as seeking joy from him, from the Holy Spirit, it is no longer a duty or an obligation but a privilege because we earn more than we give. This is true. The word blessed means happy, happiness, blessed are the poor in spirit because theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Happy those who hunger and thirst for justice.

The word says it is more blessed to give than to receive. If you give happier. When you suffer Jesus says, blessed will you be, happy will you be when they insult you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, there is a reward. God is with us when we rejoice in him. What we give is not compared to what we receive. The Apostle Paul said, for me to live is Christ and even to die is gain. Glory is more than we can lose.

He thought everything he had sacrificed was rubbish compared to the excellence of knowing the beauty of Christ, for Christ's sake. There are riches for you and me. I want León de Judá to be a church rich in the Lord. I also ask for a financial blessing, I ask God for a blessing, that people have successful work, but that this does not remove a spiritual poverty, which says, Lord, I am not satisfied, I need more of you and without this I cannot live further.

Jesus also promises fine clothing. Anyone here who likes fine clothes? People for all the years have tried to dress ourselves. What did Adam and Eve do after their sin? When they realized they were naked, they made a crazy suit of fig leaves and covered them up like that. And God comes, looks at them and I imagine him almost laughing. You guys look ridiculous! You guys look so dumb like that. Let me cover them. Let me dress you in clothing suitable for you, animal skins to cover your shame.

Where do you get animal skin? Of an animal. Sacrifice. Shed blood to cover the shame of sinful people. When we are covered there is no shame, instead the Lord clothes us with human dignity. I love the story of the patriarch Jacob who had a favorite son, the son he loved was called Joseph, and he gave him a coat of many colors.

When I see the worshipers here I almost see them in the spirit dressed in robes of many colors, thus with a special dignity. What happened to the prodigal son when he entered the house? There with dirty clothes, with mud from pigs, the father says, 'Look, let's give him the best tunic so that he has dignity.'

When you are dressed well you feel good, but human clothing is nothing compared to the divine clothing on us. I see this in the eyes of the brothers. When God dresses them with his glory on the inside, they walk with their heads held high, with a new joy, with a special dignity. I want us to be known by a priestly person, elegantly dressed in spirit with a dignity and joy that only comes from him.

And finally eye drops. Jesus made eye salve for a blind man in the Gospel of John. Does anyone know how Jesus made the eye drops to heal that man? He spat, he made mud and that is an eye drop that you are not going to buy in a store but it is the eye drop that heals the eyes.

We think that we can seek wisdom with the eye drops of education, with the eye drops of human wisdom, God says, I only need my saliva and mud and I will give you new eyes so that you can see. Have you had this experience? After truly receiving the power of God you see things differently.

When I came out after accepting Christ it was like the whole world was in HD, the whole world brighter. I saw the different people, the different word of God, the different trees. Nothing had changed around me but I had changed. God put his mud, his eye drops in my eyes to see.

We must not settle for anything else. Brothers, Jesus is rebuking us with love. He says, I rebuke and chasten as many as I love, so be zealous and repent. Let's seek passion for things of the spirit. I say again that I do not want us to feel guilty for enjoying this life, but we must cultivate a spirit of gratitude to know that the most beautiful delight in this world does not compare to the delight of the Holy Spirit in my life and give thanks to God.

The next time you hear a song you like, think wow, what will the sounds of heaven be like? When you taste something nice, how will it be in heaven? And not only then but because of the spirit now, that we are a little greedy about it, that we are not satisfied but that we want more.

But there is another medicine to seek hunger for things of the spirit. It's called fasting. Refusing to eat for a while to seek God. Is there anyone here who likes to fast? There are 2 or 3 crazy. When I am fasting many times I do not feel the presence of God, I just feel hungry. And it doesn't fail, I know I talk about this a lot, it doesn't fail, the day you decide to fast they will give you free food at work and lots of delicacies. How it will be? Wicked, get away from me! I am fasting.

We don't gain anything by suffering, brothers, it's not a matter of if I punish myself a lot, I'm suffering a lot, God is going to give me more. It's not that. So why fast? I don't fully know, I just know that it works, that denying human hunger helps me cultivate spiritual hunger.

The word says, draw near to the Lord and he will draw near to you. If I get closer to the Lord, he will get closer. He is going to come to you. Works. In the morning I said, I wish that eating donuts would bring me closer to the Lord. But fasting works. If someone hasn't done it before don't feel guilty, people come and always ask us the question, okay, what are the rules for fasting? What can I do, what can't I? and they are always disappointed when we tell them that we are going to give them a list of rules. Each person is different. You are going to fast in your own way, you are going to choose something for a while, maybe it will be for a day, two days, 3 days, maybe just part of a day and abstain from what? Everyone asks the question, can I eat bread? Can I eat vegetables? I can drink coffe? Everyone has that question and we tell them, that's between you and God. Because God doesn't look at the rules, he looks at the heart.

We are not going to be legalistic about it. We are not earning God's approval, it is a spiritual discipline. There was a brother who decided to fast from the night until 5 in the morning, every day. And people tell him, but brother, what fast is this? You are sleeping, brother. I don't know, maybe he loves his chocolate at 3 in the morning. I don't know. It is not for us to judge someone else's fast. Nor is it my duty to judge my own fasting, mind you, brother. If you are fasting and then in your human frailty you eat a banana, you are not going to hell, brother. Forgive yourself. It's really not a big deal. It's not a big deal.

Fasting is not a vow, it is a decision to seek God, joyfully treat it brother. If you haven't done it before, do something. If you have health problems, be careful, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. If you are diabetic or something like that, you have to eat, you can fast in a healthy way. Or maybe fasting from Facebook for a few days, turning off the phone for a day, sports. Maybe not football in the month of January, but in March it is allowed. We are all going to choose something and focus on the things of the Lord. You know why? Because Jesus' gold is worth buying.

It is worth eating food that Jesus has prepared for us. There is nothing noble in that. I'm selfish, I want more of him. And you have to look for God knowing something, that God is already looking for you. You cannot seek God any more than he is already seeking you. He says, I am at the door and I knock if someone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in to him and have dinner with him and he with me. These are words of love, words of longing from God's heart for us.

Where does this come from? All the images in the book of Revelation have their background in the Old Testament. Does anyone know in the Bible where there is someone who is knocking on the door looking to enter to be with someone loved? The Book of Songs. Song of Songs 5:2.

The beloved, the wife, who represents the bride of Christ. Cantares I think it is erotic, literal love poetry, between husband and wife. I think so. And in fact it's so erotic that Jews don't allow their children to read it until after their bar mitzvah. You are young, keep that to yourself, because it has strong images. But it also has a spiritual meaning.

We are as the church the bride of Christ. We are the beloved and he is the husband. The beloved says in Song of Songs 5:2, “I slept but my heart was awake. The voice of my beloved calling, 'Open to me, my sister, my beloved, my dove, my perfect one.'”

That is the voice of Jesus longing to be with his bride. You don't know how much God loves you. And I say he loves you because love sometimes sounds so... no, he loves you, he loves you, he wants to be with you, he wants to be close to you. In the garden of Eden there was the man who was looking for God. Where were Adam and Eve? Hidden in the tree and God could have left them there but he sought them out because he loves them.

You are not here because you decided to be here. You are not a Christian because you decided to bless God with your presence. You are here because God sought you out and saved you and you responded to his love. The one who looked for you is still looking for you, he is knocking at the door, he is still calling us asking us to open the door for him. From the whole Bible the Lord is looking for that intimacy with us. And so it is represented with a dinner, eating with the Lord.

From eternity God longs for a banquet with his people. Abraham received the Lord and the angels and gave them food. When the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai to Moses, Moses and the chief priests sat down at a table to eat in the shekinah presence of Jehovah. When God appeared to the people of Israel in the shekinah glory in the fire and the cloud, there was a very special offering called the peace offering, the fellowship offering. There the people killed the animal, cooked it like a beautiful roast, you could smell that roast meat and that rich meat with the bread, which also included the offering of the arepa and the tortilla, and you sat down at the table, everyone sat in the table the people and the priests at one table, in the shekinah glory of God, there before them, and they ate together in the presence of God.

Jesus when he came to look for the lost, what did he do with the sinners and tax collectors and prostitutes? What did he do with them? He would sit and eat with them. When Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to Peter and Peter swam to shore and got there and what did he find? A fire and Jesus cooking breakfast for them. God wants to eat with you. He wants to be sitting at the table. Oh taste and know that God is good. Amen.

God wants to sit with us because there is another banquet waiting for us, the wedding supper of the lamb is going to be the best prepared supper in all eternity and there is a secluded place for us and God does not want this church to go hungry waiting for that moment Let's start eating now. That is why we fasted from the food of this world for a while, to say that I know that you have better food for me. Thank Mr.

We have to cultivate this taste for the Lord. It is not easy, sometimes we or I feel guilty for not feeling happier in the Lord. The Lord does not want that. Feelings come with time. I don't know if you ever felt obliged to be happy on vacation, how terrible, to be obliged to be happy. It is not an obligation, it is a privilege.

If we open the door and leave a space for Jesus to spend time with me, my soul is made for that, and my soul is going to wake up in the presence of the Lord. I don't have to force it. I don't have to feel obligated, but I do have to feel invited because Jesus is knocking on the door and he has a destiny for me and for you.

This collection of letters ends with this sentence, in verse 21 and 22: “I will grant to him who conquers to sit with me on my throne, just as I have conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let him who has an ear hear what the spirit says to the churches."

You are created to be crowned a king and reign alongside Jesus in the new creation. Some here are saying, well yeah, I'm finally in control as it should be. It's not that. But it is a spiritual authority that is the joy of seeing the kingdom of God in this world so that this world is as it should be. Amen.

You have a call to be a princess, a prince in the Kingdom of God. You were created for that. You were created in the image and likeness of God, in ancient times a king who rules over a distant land put up a monument to himself, an image of him to represent his person in that place, to give a message to the people. Although you don't see the king, he is your king because his image is here. King Jehovah has set his image in this world to represent his glory here. Do you know what is the image of God in this world? Look in the mirror, maybe you don't know it but you are called to represent his kingdom in this world, to be a reflection of his glory; in everything you do you are proclaiming Jehovah is king. In all the details of your life there is a message, God is here and he is the king.

But in the end things will change a little when we are crowned. Jesus says, he who overcomes sits with me on my throne. The image represents him when he is far away, Jesus says, no more, you will be sitting with me on the throne and we will reign together. It is not that we are going to stick to him in the chair like in a Dominican taxi, but you are going to share the reign with him and we are going to be with him in that beautiful weather.

Start now, brother. This church is not called to be a lukewarm church. We are called to be a winning church, a church seated with Christ in heavenly places, a church that knows what it is to enjoy his presence, rich, nobly clothed with him, with eyes that see the spiritual world. We are not going to settle for things as they are, we are going to look for more in 2017. Let's do it with all our hearts. God will answer our desire. Amen.

I invite you to stand with me. Consider that a certain beginning to that time, to those weeks of intensive search for the presence of God and we are going to begin by saying that we heard the voice of our Jesus at the door. Amen.

We pray together. Father, in the name of Jesus we thank you that you are a passionate God for your people, a God who loves us more than we can imagine. We repent Lord as people and as a church for settling for less than what you have for us. We want to be zealous for your presence.

Lord, awaken in us a hunger and thirst for justice and we will be satisfied. Lord, we heard your voice at the door and decided today to open it to you. Come in, dine with us, Lord. Your church awaits you in the name of Jesus. Amen.