The gift of a tender heart towards others

Ephesians chapter 4 verse 3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in heavenly places with every blessing in Christ.” It begins by saying that we are a blessed people in the spiritual, heavenly, invisible, supernatural environment, and the Book of Ephesians ends in chapter 6 saying that: "Our fight is not against blood or flesh, but against principalities and powers" and leaders of forces of evil “in the heavenlies.”

So the letter begins by saying that we are blessed in the invisible spiritual environment, but it also ends by saying that we have a struggle in the spiritual environment, that we have a call to be a supernatural people, that we have a call not to be as usual, but to be used as a spiritual instrument on Earth for the power from on high to run in this world. As a Church, we are called to be a diamond of God's grace to demonstrate the multifaceted, multifaceted wisdom of God in the world, and for this the Lord calls us to lift up our way of living, to walk worthy of the call with which we were called. , that it is no longer time to play Christianity as usual. It is time to say: Lord, I am part of something special and I am not going to minimize my part, I am not going to let someone else do it.

I was very touched to see how everyone now stood up to intercede knowing that I can't count on the others. I am going to be a voice before God, I have a part to play in the people of God, there is no one who is going to warm the bench here. If you are here, you are here with a special purpose, amen? so it is time to walk worthy of the call with which we were called.

Ephesians 4:17: “This I say and require in the Lord, that you no longer walk like other Gentiles who walk in the vanity of their minds, having their understanding darkened, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. , because of the hardness of their hearts, which, after they lost all sensitivity, gave themselves up to lasciviousness to greedily commit all kinds of impurities.”

Verse 20: “But you have not thus learned Christ. If you have truly heard him, and have been taught by him according to the truth that is in Jesus, regarding the past way of living, get rid of the old man, who is corrupted according to deceitful desires, and renew yourselves in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, created according to God in righteousness and true holiness."

Verse 25: “Therefore, casting off the lie, speak truth each one with his neighbor; for we are members one of another. Be angry, but do not sin, do not set the sun on your anger, do not give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no more, but rather work, doing with his hands what is good, so that he may have something to share with those in need."

Verse 29: “Let no corrupted word come out of your mouth except that which is good for the necessary edification in order to give grace to the listeners, and do not grieve the Holy Spirit, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, anger, wrath, shouting and gossip, and all malice. Before, be kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another, as God also forgave you in Christ." Amen?

Father: I thank you, that at Christmas time we celebrate the gift of new life, Lord that we no longer have to be the same as before Lord, that the Gospel really works. I am not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the Power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes in Him, and Lord, You are still in the business of changing lives, and Lord we want to be changed by You Lord, so speak to us, we ask you in this brief time in the Name of Jesus, amen and amen.

The Lord is speaking and not just saying through the apostle Paul: "To this I say and require in the Lord." The change in the Christian life is not optional, yes or yes we are going to change, we are not going to continue in the same thing, I say this and require it in the Lord, I testify it is in the original Greek, that before we thought badly and lived badly, right? the problem starts here and also the transformation starts here in the mind, the way of thinking of life. Many times we live madly because we are lost in our thoughts. The Lord says: It is time to be transformed by the renewal of the mind.

Have a new spirit in mind, do you notice what it says? in verse 23: "In the spirit in our mind", which is not only learning new attitudes but is letting the spirit go from my heart to my head, that I begin to think like a Christian, that I begin to see the life of another way and many of us are still many times here in agreement more with the devil than with the Word of God, we tell ourselves lies. We tell ourselves: yeah, I'm like that, I can't change, yeah, I'm like that, this is a problem forever and we convince ourselves of the enemy's lies.

Sometimes we live a life: well, I have my character and this no longer changes anything. No, this is not according to the Word of God, is it? I am already like that, I am already sad, things are going badly for me. One thinks that bad luck follows instead of believing in the Word that says: "Surely mercy will follow me all the days of my life, in the house of Jehovah I will live for long days" right? what are you thinking?

I invite you to listen to the internal conversation that we have when we talk about discipleship, we talk to each other all day: what are you saying, truths or lies? Now the Lord wants us to make up our minds, it's already a new year, out with the old, in with the new, right? I am no longer the same, and God has changed me. I am going to remove that old man from me and I am going to take it off as if it were an ugly coat that no longer fits because this is no longer for me and I am going to put on the new man because I am a new person, right?

We are going to talk about Baptism next month. In the Book of Romans it says that when we are baptized we are buried in the death of Christ, that is why we do it by immersion. We respect other expressions, but immersion symbolizes very well that baptism is a burial and you can be born again, but it is a burial. Old Gregory already ended up in a lake in Massachusetts, right? (laughs).

I always tell the story of the man who gets baptized and then takes a big rock and throws it into the lake, and they ask him: why did you do that? and he says: well this is my tombstone, old Gregory is dead there, right? I told this to some children a few times and they asked me if there were many dead bodies down there in Hopkinton Lake, they got scared, the things that children think, right? You have to be careful.

Already the old me. When we talk about getting rid of the old and putting on the new, it is not that we are talking about something that is not true, we are removing what is already dead, the word corruption is repeated in this text. The old way of living was a corrupt way, it took life.

The devil's lie is that if I live in sin I'm going to be happy, I'm going to live life, maybe it's the crazy life because it's not God's life and it takes away your true personality. I love to see people and remove their sin, start looking for God, live their sin and their personality blossoms from them, right? springs from them, personality, humor, jokes, joy, songs, dance, the real you is already living.

Sin is like rust, it's like something that takes life, that makes a person's personality ugly, but holiness is beautiful, holiness is glorious, it makes you the glorious person that God wants you to be, amen? So we take off the old man, we are going to put on the new man and your new man, the person that you are, see what it says in verse 24: "Put on the new man created according to God in righteousness and true holiness." The new you, the real you is holy and beautiful and glorious and joyful and humble and true and faithful and right in the sight of God, that's the real you.

But that's where the problem comes in. A lot of times I don't feel holy and humble and joyful and all these good things. I like honest people in discipleship who sometimes tell me the truth about how they feel, especially at level 1, right? is that Gregory, I am bad. There is a brother that I have known here on the street for many years, he tells me: Gregory, my problem is that I like to drink, if I am happy I drink to celebrate, if I am sad I drink to feel better, if I am bored I drink to fill my stomach. time, is that I like to drink. I know that this man is going to be here at the altar glorifying God because he is honest, right? completely honest and there we can work.

Many times we feel ugly, we feel bad, and I have good news for you today: your feelings are real but they are not your reality. My feeling is real, it's mine but it's not your reality. Your reality changed the moment you received Christ as Lord and Savior, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold, all things are made new. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, you are, your members are members of the Body of Christ Himself on Earth. You are a son, a daughter of God. Maybe you can say: I feel bad but I am blessed in heavenly places by my Jesus Christ because this is your reality.

We can be honest, but when you ask some brothers or sisters here how are you sister? blessed, blessed, and I know that they say it by faith, they are not trying to deceive, they know that life is hard, right? there are tough situations, but they are saying: in Christ I am blessed. I am not going to listen to my feelings or the lie of the devil, I listen to the Word of God that I am no longer a sinner, I am a saint in Christ. I feel rejected but the reality is that He chose me in Christ so that I would be blameless and holy before Him, right?

You are a son of God, a daughter of God, sin is no longer for you, it is not for you. You can say like in the Church: it's just not me anymore, certain things are no longer for me, there is a new way of living but you have to get used to it, right? we have to learn. Sometimes doing the right thing doesn't feel natural, it feels difficult, it feels forced, something that isn't genuine but that doesn't mean it's not right.

In the world of recovery, the twelve steps, they have a saying for people who feel like alcoholics, like drunks, every year they have told themselves: I am a drug addict and that's how I am, this is my normal state, and they say: no, no, no, let's pretend you're a sober person. If you were a sober person, what would you do? what way of living would you have? And you're going to pretend you're sober until it becomes real to you. But I thank God that He does not call me to disguise or invent, or pretend anything, I am a new creature in Christ, and outside with the old, inside not with the new but inside with the truth of who I really am because this old life is no longer for me.

So we're going to talk about four things specifically. We start with the truth as we said, so in verse 25 it says, "Putting away the lie, speak the truth, each one with his neighbor, for we are members one of another." Lying is no longer for me, playing with others is no longer for me, you can say. Some are used to constant lying, dissimulation, invention, appearing to be something we are not, thank God you can remove the mask in Christ, you no longer have anything to prove, you can be honest.

I return to discipleship. The person in the class who says: look, you know what? Sometimes I feel like sinning, and they're honest about it, and everyone else knows that we can be honest, we can be honest here because God can really change us. So, discarding the lie, we are going to remove the mask and say: I am a real man and the lie is no longer for me.

Sometimes the truth can cause you problems, but lies are more problems, because a lie leads to another lie to cover the lie you told before, right? and then you have to tell another lie to cover the second lie, and you don't remember what my lie was? and you think: you have to write the lie so as not to forget what you invented, what was the story we told him? oh I don't remember The truth is easier to remember, so by discarding the lie, let's be a transparent, honest people, we can look people in the eye.

I'm not a spiteful person anymore either. Verse 26: “Be angry, but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give place to the devil.” Anger, anger is not a sin in itself. He says: get angry, every human being is going to get angry, right? Some of us know this a lot, don't we? Some of us have a slightly shorter fuse than others. It's normal, it's natural.

Someone who steps on the callus and says: ouch! you get angry, it's normal. The sin is keeping the anger from one night to the next day and then the next day, the next day, and another month, and another year, generations upon generations of anger that begins to grow like this, roots, becomes a root of bitterness , a weed that kills life, that corrupts my being, my personality, that makes my personality ugly.

Stored anger also contaminates my personality because I don't trust you, because I'm still angry with him, sometimes it's passed from generation to generation. Children who grow up bitter and don't even know why, it's because the grandmother passed her anger onto her son and the thing goes from generation to generation.

Brothers, I have good Christmas news: we can be free from it. Anger even gives rise to the devil himself among us. I have seen people who, when they manage to forgive demons, leave their body because they are no longer going to carry the sin that has been done to them, they are now free from the anger that they have kept from year to year.

Brothers, even secular psychologists know that forgiving another person is the healthiest thing we can do to be healthy and free. Forgiving is not excusing, it is not minimizing, it is not saying that what they did to me was not bad, maybe it was bad, it is not protecting the person from consequences and allowing someone to continue hurting me, this is not forgiveness, This is facilitating sin, right? The thing is that when someone sins against you there is a debt that is with God and is between God and them, and God says to you: You know what? I am the God of justice, let me settle the accounts. Vengeance is Mine says God, you don't have to take matters into your own hand.

Sometimes sin causes crimes and the person has to pay their debt to society, well this is between them and the judge, but in my heart I cancel the thing that you owe me, I decide not to keep anger anymore and I release it in the Name of Jesus, and I say: even though you have hurt me, I am not going to load what is ugly on me, I forgive you in the Name of Jesus, I release you from all burdens and all curses and I declare a blessing over your life.

Now I want to make something very clear: there is a difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. Someone asked me: but how am I going to forgive him if the person does not want to be forgiven? reconciliation is only possible when both seek to restore the relationship. Forgiveness is something I do by faith in my heart. It may be that I am forgiving someone who is not even alive, who died ten years ago, but I am still angry, and I say: why am I carrying it? I release it in Jesus' Name.

Forgiveness does not require reconciliation either. In fact there are some people and relationships that are better left in the past brother. There are some pardons that you have to give, forgive, without looking for the person who offended you, right? because sometimes you have to leave things in God's hands and not anymore, no friend on facebook, especially if you are forgiving an ex-boyfriend, an ex-girlfriend and you're already married, okay, leave the ex-boyfriend there in the hands of the Lord, you are in a new life, okay? forgive him in the Lord so he doesn't continue punishing your husband, but you don't have to look for him, you don't have to make him a friend on Facebook, no, no, no, this has already happened, right?

And sometimes forgiveness is going to be a long emotional process, the Pastor talks about that. There is forgiveness that is a decision by faith but there is also emotional forgiveness. Sometimes we forgive but there are still bad feelings, I say again: your feelings are real but they are not your reality, we forgive by faith and we repeat the forgiveness until the feelings change. It may take time but it will reach the point where you will no longer have that same hatred for the person, you will perhaps feel sorry that the person was like that but you have forgiven him and you are free in your heart.

The key is you know what? certain things, later in this text, grieve the Holy Spirit. Bitterness is something that prevents the flow of God's anointing among us. Forgiveness is removing an obstacle for the anointing to flow within us.

And then there are two other things, and I ask for your patience with me, I'm going to talk about the other things. It also says in verse 28: "Whoever stole or stole" I do not know what stealing is so forgive me, "whoever stole, do not steal anymore, but work, and yes doing with your hands what is good so that you have what share with those who are in need.” You know I don't want to accuse anyone of being a thief, that's not the idea, but I do want to say something: the new man works in the Name of Jesus, amen?

The new Christian, the anointing of God is not only for the Church but also for Monday morning when you have to work, because to work you have to deal with the difficult boss, those in your office who annoy you, but work heals , work is a blessing. There is a sweat that neurosis and sin leave with that work day sweat and so we have to share with others. In Christ I can say that now I am not someone to steal but I am to give to others. Thank God, amen? that is part of the anointing.

One more, verse 29: "Let no corrupt word come out of your mouth except that which is good for the necessary edification, in order to give grace to the listeners." The key word here is the word: rotten, it comes from a very clear word that refers to something rotten, like a fruit that is already rotten. What happens when you put an apple that is already rotten with the other apples, what will happen, right? so are the words. We give a negative word and it brings death into the air and into the hearts of others, but words of life promote life in the people around us.

He says that there are men whose words are blows of the sword but the tongue of the wise is medicine, amen? Brother, you have medicine for a sick world, you have medicine. If you ask him: Lord, give me words for this person, there will be an anointing flow through you of words of life, words of encouragement, expressions of gratitude, greetings of affection, words of instruction preaching the Gospel, words of life at home. .

Brothers, I felt that the Lord rebuked me very strongly about my words towards my dog, that I was not the one who wanted the puppy, right? I got carried away, right? For all you know, press on, puppy, puppy, we already have a puppy! and he relieves himself everywhere, he baptizes the carpet, and well, some of my words to him weren't very good Christian words, and I felt the Lord say to me: He's a dog, but you're still filling the air with negative words? No? the air darkens when there are ugly words brother.

No more complaining, no more criticism, no more gossip. You know, I preach this and then I always arrive at Church the next week and it's raining, it's cold and I see a little sister who comes to me all wrapped up and I tell her: oh sister, how ugly that day is and she tells me: oh, I'm not one of ugly words, of death, I thank God that at least he has given me a coat and I say: oops, excuse me. Every time I preach that, the Lord hits me hard, right? because in an hour oops! another word of death came out of me again.

All this has to do with the Holy Spirit, he says, very important: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." The Holy Spirit sealed you, it doesn't go away anymore, you are a Christian, but the Holy Spirit does get sad. For this reason there is no uglier feeling than praying and feeling that God is far away and sad with me because of my words, because of my bitterness.

The Lord says: Not anymore. What you do affects Me, when you have done it to the smallest, you have done it all to Me, so your words, your life of giving, all this, you can make the Holy Spirit feel welcome.

And it all ends with asking God for the gift of a tender heart towards others this Christmas. "Rather be kind to one another, merciful, forgiving one another as God also forgave you in Christ." The very nice word here “for mercy” is a word from the Greek that says, it is similar to the word that Jesus felt to the crowd. In Greek the word is: splanknas because it means: bowels, which is love, compassion that comes from your bowels. This word is even stronger, it is éosplanknas, double compassion, double love, double affection, double tenderness.

Many times in discipleship we emphasize that love is a decision, that even when there are no feelings you can love your children and your wife, and your brothers, amen? love is a commitment, I'm not moving from here, right? until death do us part even when we go through things right?

But do you know that love can also be from the heart? and it can be a feeling too. It can be a feeling, a love like the father did to the little boy, and you look at the others and think: wow, I see this person with different eyes. The Lord is an expert in taking the heart out of stone and giving us a heart of flesh, amen?

Brothers: all this is the Gospel, God forgave us, we celebrate at Christmas that we did nothing to deserve salvation, we did not seek it, Christianity is based on the fact that God sought me when I did not I was looking for Him. God shows His love for us that even though we were sinners Christ died for us.

I did not ask that God be born in Bethlehem, God sent His Son to save us. He could have left Adam when He sinned there in the trees, hidden, miserable, naked, but instead God sought him out, clothed him, covered his shame and gave him hope, and Christmas is the celebration of the grace of God. God sent His Son to me, He has changed me, He has made me new, so how can I not forgive others?

You can put on the new man. If God has been generous with us, if God is for us, who can be against us? If He did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for all of us. By grace you have received, by grace give.

This Christmas I invite you to put on the new man, the new woman and give, give words of life, give money that you have worked and earned, give a second chance to loved ones who have offended you, forgive and live in the Grace from God, and this is key to reaching the heights that God is calling us to be. There is revival coming and it is no longer time to play with God. The Lord wants to be home with us, so we prepare the house, amen?