Hope

In 2010 when I was with you I talked to you about the things that had happened to us as a family, I told you about the time my son , being raised in the Church, I have been a Christian for 42 years, I met the Lord at the age of 17, I am 59 and a half years old, my children were born in the Church, I do not know another life other than that, I never distanced myself from the way of the Lord, my wife neither, we converted equally for the same time.

And it was very hard when I found out that my son had become addicted to drugs, and that my son, the time came when he could not deal with situations at home having a good relationship as we had, because despite his addiction to drugs I did not fight with him, I loved him, I did not fight with him, I tried to help him, but he relapsed and relapsed, and in his frustration he left my house, and when he left my house it was such and such a time , and so hard, and we were talking about it.

Well back then in 2010 I had five grandchildren, now I have eight grandchildren and as the Ticos say "and the ranch burning" because another one is on the way. I told you in 2010 how hopelessness struck my heart and I entered such and such a great crisis as a Pastor, and having started pastoring as a young man, I have been pastoring for 37 years.

I told them how in the midst of the crisis one day I was reading the Book of Proverbs, chapter 31 that specifically dedicates some verses to women called "The virtuous woman", and while reading that chapter, for the moment my eyes stopped at verse 25, because verse 25 says: "Strength and honor are his clothing and he laughs at what is to come."

And it seemed to me at that moment, after having been reading the Bible for 30 years, I discovered that for some reason I loved the Book of Proverbs so much, I must have read that verse so many, many times, and I never read it. I had read it, I had read it and I had not seen it. That day when I was in my pain and hopelessness, when I came across the verse I stopped and said: but does that verse exist?

I immediately asked myself: how is it possible that this woman can look to tomorrow and laugh? because I can't laugh. I was going through a moment in my life that I did not want to look at tomorrow at all, all I saw was disaster, pain. For me tomorrow was fear, it was tragedy. So I began my journey, I said: I felt holy envy of that woman, I want what she wants because I did not want to continue living as I was living.

This morning I want to continue with you where I left off about five years ago. God Speaks Today's version of Proverbs 31:25 says it this way, it says: "He clothes himself with strength and dignity, and tomorrow does not worry him."

I remember that back then when I read the verse, the first thought I had was: could it be that this woman has a perfect life? but so many years of counseling immediately collapsed that thought because I knew that no one has a perfect life, who does? Abraham did not have it, David did not have it, Daniel, excellent individual, a thousand times better than anyone did not have it, Joseph, oh Joseph, did not have it either, Paul did not have it, Jeremiah did not have it, Isaiah did not have it who has had it?

Yiye Ávila, a neighbor of mine there in Puerto Rico who has already left with the Lord, an extraordinary man who probably prayed for about 6 hours a day and fasted as few people can, did not have a perfect life either. They gave her the news that her daughter, while in Miami, was stabbed by her ex-husband. He went to jail, bought a ticket, went to jail in Miami, went to the man and told him: I forgive you and I love you in the love of the Lord, Yiye said to the man in jail, and after that he returned to Puerto Rico, and shortly after, a couple of years later, her daughter Noemí, the eldest, had gone as a missionary to Venezuela and while in Venezuela she received a phone call where there was a brother who was sick and they wanted prayer, and she turned on the car, he goes to pray for this brother and on the way he crashes and kills himself.

There are so many stories of men of God who lost children in terrible situations. I was listening to Tommy Lee Osborn one day, he was old, talking to some children on his lap, he was talking about the grace of God and he says: "the grace of God was when the plane my son was on crashed" and says: "and the grace of God helped us face that" Who has a perfect life? no one has a perfect life.

So do you actually know where a perfect life exists? I am going to tell you where there is a place where the perfect life exists, it is called "Facebook". Perfect lives on Facebook, people with a deep need for recognition, with a deep need for acceptance who use social networks to show people a life they don't have, and some believers are deluded that we see those Facebook pages that make us envious, Some of us even get upset and angry. How is it possible for that person to have the perfect life, the perfect husband, the perfect wife, the perfect children, they go to the perfect restaurants, the perfect vacations, the perfect birthday gifts, that's right! lie! (laughs).

I have a person over there in Arecibo who has a perfect life on Facebook and in fact, some people said, I listened to some people and it made me laugh because I have lived my life long enough to know that it is a lie, it is not true (laughs). All that made me laugh but I see it, I see the effort of all these people to show the perfect life; but I realized that at a given moment some people made a comment and others said wow how tremendous, and at the moment it seemed like they had a resentment, I was silent, I didn't make any comments.

Some time ago this person who had a perfect life came to my office, and when he came to my office he told me: I have a marriage that is the biggest crap in life, I have spent years sustaining a marriage that is useless Pastor, it is useless. My husband, how many times have I wanted to kick him and throw him away, this person to talk about his marriage used adjectives that I am forbidden to use in this place. We took care of them, we helped them and about a month and a half later, perfect life on Facebook returned again.

So when you see that someone has a perfect life on Facebook, laugh, that's a person who has emotional problems, and if that's you, run away from there, get out of that territory, don't practice it anymore, do I understand? Because after a while the other brothers in this place, those who listen to this Word and the next one, will realize that you have a deficiency in here and in here (pointing to the heart and head).

So why do I come back to this Word this morning? because after I was here in 2010, a few years later, I was praying, and I was praying for a few months, specifically for three months and I said to the Lord: Lord, I want to speak a Word to Your people but I I do not want to preach any message, I want You to give me a Word, that is what I want, I want a Word, and so I prayed every day, give me a Word, give me one, and nothing happened.

After three months I literally got fed up and said to the Lord in my good Puerto Rican: "Boy, what's wrong with you? I've been praying for three months for you to give me a Word for your people and you don't seem interested. Anyway After all, I don't know why the hell I'm worrying because they are not my children, they are Your children; you are supposed to be the one who worries about giving them a Word, not me."

So I had my argument with God there trying to twist God's arm to give me a Word, nothing happened, nothing, in the morning. But then in the afternoon something interesting happened: I was very calm, I wasn't thinking about it, I had forgotten about it, what's more, I think I was watching a program on TV when I suddenly experienced the Voice of the Lord inside from me who told me: I want you to speak hope to My people because the enemy is stealing hope from My people.

I was so impressed, my heart jumped, I decided to go back to Scripture, I had passed my crisis, I went back to Proverb 31:25 again, I looked for other passages of Scripture, I looked here, I looked there and I shared the first Word on hope specifically as a result of that charismatic experience, eventually became three words, the last one I shared the other days. And this morning I got up at five in the morning and I did an uncomplicated exercise, which is that I put the three Words together, I made an outline of the three and I made a new Word about hope, which is what I am releasing this morning for you. so this is the product of three years of digesting and processing a Word from the Lord in my heart.

When God speaks to me about that, a few days later I am on the internet and while on the internet, I meet a person who was introduced to me once when I was 38 years old and he was 18 years old, a friend of mine introduced him to me, a young man He said: look, he knows a friend of mine, we shook hands and now, we didn't see each other again. At some point I would go through the mall there in Arecibo and we would raise our hands and that's it.

I come across this blog and this man is giving Christian advice and when I read his advice, the advice is very practical, but I look and I say, that advice is very good but that advice lacks hope, it lacks hope, for what reason is this Pastor giving this advice to this brother, for what reason, regardless of whether he gives him good advice, why does he not give him a Word of hope? that was my thought.

I forgot about the matter, the next day I get up to pray and when I get up for the moment I discover that I am interceding for this man who I had met at the age of 18, that I have no relationship with him, that he is now 38 years old and that I had I heard at one point that he had become a Christian church leader, one day I was in a public place, at the Arecibo basketball stadium and at the moment they said: we want to call Pastor so-and-so, I'm going to use the name of Juan as a hypothetical name, I am going to tell you why: because I found out when I preached here in 2010, I discovered that there are many people from Arecibo who enter your page, many people from Arecibo told me: listen, listen to your message, I said: where? and they told me: Lion of Judah, I said: but if they weren't there, no, it's because I entered the website, I follow it, and that happened to me on several occasions so probably, eventually, in the next few days someone will to enter the page, you are going to listen to this message and that is why I want to protect the identity of the person, we are going to think that his name is Juan.

So at the moment I am in that stage and they say: we want to ask Pastor Juan to come forward to make an invocation and I say: look to God, he is a Pastor, that's good, because I have no relationship with him, now; this is the Pastor who is writing on the blog and writes a message that is devoid of hope, I am praying in the morning and I fall praying, interceding for him: Lord I ask you for Juan, I ask you to bless him, fill his heart with hope, and while I'm praying for him like that I don't know why I'm praying for him because I wasn't interested in praying for him honestly, I wanted to pray for mommy, for daddy, I wanted to pray; Not for daddy, daddy had already left with the Lord, for my children, for my wife, for the brothers in the church, for this and for that, that's why I wanted to pray, for Pastors who are my friends that I pray, I wasn't interested in praying for Juan not at all, but I find myself praying for Juan.

And when I'm praying for Juan I hear this new Voice that tells me: "I want you to talk to him about hope." I immediately answer, stop the sentence and tell him: "I'm not going to talk to him, I'm sorry, he's not my friend, I don't like problems. If I go and talk to him and then he gossips about it, what who do you think you are to talk to me? forget about that matter" I tell God, forget about that matter. Forgive me but God is my dad, it's very easy for me because I had an excellent relationship with my dad and I could talk to daddy that way: oh daddy stop that, daddy stop that, nah, no disrespect. So for me God is very easy, I don't have religious problems to get closer to God. So I told him: no, I'm not going to talk, I pray for him but I'm not going to talk to him.

The next day in the morning I am praying for my mother, for my brothers, for my children, for my grandchildren and I fall praying for Juan: Lord bless Juan, fill my heart with hope, and I hear that little voice that tells me: "Speak to him of hope" "I told you I'm not going to talk to him, I'm sorry, I don't like problems, he's not my friend, send someone else if you have so many people, he has to have so many friends, why don't you send Someone who is a friend of his who doesn't have complications? I told you I'm not going to talk to him.

This story that I am telling you lasted eight months, the little voice: "I want you to talk to him" "I told you no, I don't know why you insist that, I told you no, I'm not going to go, I'm never going to talk to him ."

After eight or nine months of this little voice being there, I told him: "Look, this is the most I can negotiate with you," I told God. "If you want me to talk to him, bring him to my office, you bring him to my office and I'll talk to him, if you bring him to my office I'll talk to him, if you don't bring him to my office I won't talk to him, the time is over matter, I don't want to talk to you about this matter anymore, we talk about anything else but not about this."

I prayed again and I was praying for him again in the tenth month, in the eleventh month, and I would come back and tell him: "I don't know why you insist if I already told you that I'm not going to talk to him, I I threw the ball in your court, I told you: bring it to the office and I'll talk to it, you haven't brought it to the office, that's your problem now."

One year, twelve months, and after twelve months one Thursday I receive a private message on Facebook, when I open it it was Juan, one year old, it said: Hello Efrén, I would like to tell you that in my work they want to develop some activities with churches and in the first person i thought is you, i would like to meet you, can i stop by your office?

I immediately answer: of course, can we meet on Tuesday at 10 A.M.? and he answers me: perfect. The communication ends and in my mind I am thinking: "Wow, what a great commitment from you with this, really?" I say to the Lord, "really?" and I tell him: "but there's something you missed, I told you to bring him to the office but it was to talk, to talk, he comes to the office for work. Okay, okay, okay" I tell him " I'm not going to complicate this matter, okay, I'm going to modify the sentence a bit" I told him, "this is what has to happen: when he gets to the office he can't talk to me about work, if he talks to me about work I can't I'm going to tell him nothing. He has to sit in the chair in my office and start talking to me about a broken life because, if you're telling me to talk to him about hope, it's because that man has to have a broken life, I'm not. I know but that's the only way, so when that happens, then I'm going to talk to him."

Tuesday came, I prayed Friday morning, Saturday morning, Sunday I kept praying, Monday and Tuesday morning I got up early and prayed for that meeting at 10 in the morning, and I told him: "Remember what I told you, you have to sit in the chair and talk to me about your destroyed life, and when you talk to me about your destroyed life then I'm going to talk to you about hope."

At 10 in the morning we met, we greeted each other, we went to my office, he sat down, and as soon as he sat down he said to me: hey friend, do you know that I got divorced? Well, to say that I got divorced is not enough: I've already been divorced twice, I said: did you get divorced and marry your wife again? no, no, no, he doesn't tell me, no: I got divorced, married another woman and divorced that one again. I tell him: ah brother I didn't know anything, I'm so sorry.

He tells me: that is such a hard experience that I wish it on my worst enemy. And he tells me: that's nothing. I'm not herding, ah you're not herding? No, no, I haven't been pastoring for a long time. I tell him: hey, when did it start and when was your divorce? and he tells me: exactly in April; in April I began to pray for him. I don't say anything to all of this, we just talk, and he tells me: that's not all brother, I have four children and I tell him: wow, how brave you are, I have four children and the oldest is 18 years old and has problems with drugs, he already had a case in court and soon he has another case in court, and that has broken my heart inside.

In fact, I want to tell you the whole story: I not only stopped pastoring, I turned away from the Lord. The whole puzzle is being put together inside me with all the information that he is giving me and I am there with my heart beating saying: shut the fuck up soon because you don't know that this is an appointment with God, in my mind I am saying: You don't know that a year ago God has me praying for you, I didn't know why and you don't know that here today there is a Word for your life.

He keeps telling me everything, he keeps telling me: three months ago I went back to the church where I grew up because I was so lost and lost, but even though I came back, on Friday I was talking to a person who is helping me and I told this person: look, the best thing you can do is, don't look for me or help me because there is no alternative for me, what's more, I am a person who lost hope a while ago, he tells me, I am there about to cry with the heart in the throat.

When he finishes and tells me: that's my story, I told him: well, I have to tell you something, and then I begin to tell him all this that I told you to summarize. When I start to tell him this Juan starts to cry, in a matter of seven or eight minutes I preach to him the best and shortest message of hope that I have ever preached. I told him about the crisis with my son, about my hopelessness, I told him about Proverbs 31:25, I told him about the transition in my life, how I discovered joy despite the fact that my son was still addicted to drugs, how the life has changed me because I discovered the ability to dream again.

There is a Psalm that says, it is Psalm 126: "When the Lord returns the captivity of Zion we will be like those who dream, then our mouths will fill with laughter" that Psalm is evidence that slaves do not dream. "When Jehovah takes us out of slavery we will dream again" the slave does not dream, only the free man dreams. There are some who have embraced Christianity and unfortunately due to circumstances they live in slavery and a while ago they lost their dreams, that's how I was and that's how this young boy Juan was.

While I'm talking to him he literally cries and cries as if he were being killed. When I finish he claps his hands, he yells, he grabs his hair, he gets up from his chair, says: this is incredible, I can't think of this, this is God's appointment with me, and he cries, and laughs, and He claps his hands again, and I tell him: I can pray for you and he says: of course, so I get up from my chair, he stands up too, I pray for Juan, he cried, we hugged, he leaves there happy, A few days later he tells me: I wrote a new letter, he loves to write, he has a lot of ability to write, I wrote a new letter, I would like you to read it and he sends it to me, and he talked about having an encounter with a Pastor who told him about how he used to write without hope and how he was in the process of regaining hope.

To make a long story short, two or three weeks ago I went to preach at the church of a Pastor friend of mine, this Pastor friend of mine, there I was preaching and Juan was in this church, he is in this church of this Pastor friend of mine because Just as God put that restlessness in me, now he put that restlessness in this Pastor friend of mine who took Juan under his tutelage and is raising him up, and is preparing him for the ministry. Now Juan is already a preacher of the Word, now he has an extraordinary life. When the meeting ended, he went and hugged me and told me: I always remember that meeting in your office, that meeting marked my life, it was an encounter with God, that day I regained hope, it has been a long journey Efren and look where I am, my life has changed as a result of the God of hope who visited me that day in your office. Juan has a changed life because Juan regained hope, amen?

Now, it's interesting because after all that ends and I have my experience with Juan, I go home and the next day I'm praying, and I thank him for all that, and at the moment I find myself praying and saying to God: Lord, but I don't understand how you get so involved with a person for whom a council doesn't give even five cents. I bring you a person who I say: he has two divorces, four children with drug problems and with the law, he was a Pastor and he turned away from the Lord, and he returned three months ago. Who wants him for the ministry? who, what council wants it? no one, is disqualified, do I understand?

In fact, the Christian community is interesting, what happens in Christian communities. If he was a hit man, killed thirty people in his country, destroyed a hundred families, lived a life full of evil, did it intentionally, he is a great candidate for the ministry; Now he has converted to Christ, he is a great candidate for the ministry, we want him for the Pastorate, we want him to tell his testimony and preach, but a man comes with a life destroyed by divorce, he divorced not necessarily because he had the intent to harm his own family; the hit man damaged thirty, forty, fifty families and we say: he is disqualified, he is useless.

It's like we put the two of them here and said: "what do we do with the hitman?" "we want him for the ministry" "what do we do with the divorced" "crucify him, crucify him" and I am there saying: Lord, why so much effort with this man? I start to cry, "Lord, could you open my heart so that I understand why you worked so hard with this person?" Lord, for the effects of the world he is useless, for the effects of the world he is worthless.

And I heard that Voice that said to me: "I am a covenant God." And when he told me that, I put together all the dolls, because Juan is Pastor's son, and at that moment I understood that despite the crazy decisions that Juan made, despite the wrong decisions, despite all the damage to his life there was a man before him, his dad, his mom who prayed for Juan, and despite Juan's crazy life they prayed for him, they prayed for him.

His father did not know that near their house a Pastor was getting up at dawn to pray for his son and was giving him a Word for his son. And that God is the God of the covenants, he is your God and my God who has made promises to you, who has made promises to me and He is the extraordinary God.

So I don't know how many of you heard the news: between November and December here in the United States three Pastors committed suicide, three took their own lives. In fact, one had a double cult like us today, he preached the first cult and did not make it to the second cult, he took his own life. Three weeks ago, a week before I left here, a Pastor in the United States committed suicide. I read a report that was made that says: Pastors at high risk, where it says: 1,500 Pastors per month are resigning from the ministry, 1,500 Pastors resign from the ministry per month, and the statistics said that of those who remain, 57% say they are leaving. They stay because they have no other alternative, because they don't know how to do anything else, that is, 57% of those who stay say that they stay for a reason: money, that if they had another way to earn a living they would give up Pastorate because they are not interested in continuing, they lost the passion, they lost the desire.

The question is: is it true that Christianity, is it true that God's people are being struck with hopelessness? definitely that is true. As I said, I have been a believer for 42 years, we did not hear about suicide in Christianity, that was not heard. Suicide was not heard among the brothers of the Church, much less among the Pastors, today communities of faith experience people who commit suicide, today we can open the news and look for so many Pastors, some who commit suicide and others who have been about to commit suicide, and that by the mercy of God God intervened in a miraculous way and they did not take their lives, that is the reality.

I was in Los Angeles in January and the Los Angeles Pastor of a Korean church tells me: Efrén, if you saw that 2014 was so hard, I say: why? He says: a 25-year-old from our church , an excellent young man, with good relationships, he talked about the Lord all the time, he had a prosperous business, good relations with his parents, he told us: I am going on vacation to Las Vegas, he went to Las Vegas, when the news reached us: he climbed a building in Las Vegas and killed himself. They searched for the computer, they searched for the car, they searched for the cell phone, the parents have been looking for what was the reason, they searched for the bank accounts, there is money in the bank accounts, there is nothing nebulous in the cell phone, there is nothing nebulous in the computer, parents, no one knows why the kids in the church say: he won me to Christ, all the time his conversations were about Christ.

Parents are in great pain not only because they lost their child but because they want to know why, what happened and no one knows what happened. Suicide reaching Christianity, hitting Christianity. Suicide reaching the Pastors, we are preachers of hope, the message of Christianity is a message of hope, how is it possible that we speak of hope and we do not have it? we are failing there. We are opting for options that are precisely the evidence that we have reached zero hope, zero hope.

I went through my crisis but I never in my life considered suicide. I did tell God: I would like you to take me. That's fine, that's what Moses told God: kill me now, I'm fed up now, I didn't give birth to this people, that was the closest I got to doing before Him. Am I explaining myself correctly?

So we have that the Proverbs woman did not have a perfect life, if she did not have a perfect life, what did she have? she had a life like yours and like mine. They called from the school, they say: come to the school because your children quarreled, they are doing the numbers because expenses have increased and the economy and business are going down, you have to do the numbers, they called her and said: unfortunately look at your dad she went to the doctor and they told her she has cancer, they called her and told her: your sister is getting a divorce, she has a normal life.

And if then this woman has a normal life like yours and mine, why can she laugh at tomorrow? the only conclusion is very simple: the Proverbs woman can laugh because she had a promise, she had a promise.

I recovered my laughter when I discovered that I had a promise regarding my son and I had lost the promise. And one of the things that I studied in January was the power of a promise so great, I would like to look at the Bible now. First of Samuel chapter 1 verse 8 onwards, this is the story of Elkanah, there is a man named Elkanah, and there is a woman named Ana, there is a woman who I will not read here but she is also part of this story, she is called Penina. Penina was a devil.

In other words, Elcana had two wives. One was Ana who was barren and the other was Penina who had children and Penina was a devil. When they went to church it was the best time for Penina to boast to tell her: you're sterile, I'm the favorite because I have children and you can't, you're second, I'm first.

This is the story and we are going to read the verses, verse 8 says: "And Elcana, her husband, said to Ana: Ana, why are you crying, why don't you eat and why is your heart grieved? Am I not you? better than ten children? These are the traits of a depressed person. Cry, why are you crying, why don't you eat? In other words, a woman can cry but she eats, she is not depressed, she is sad. She cries but eats, she's not depressed, okay? she has a sadness, she has a sadness, that is not the case with Ana.

Ana cries and does not eat, and her heart is afflicted, there is no way, the trip is long, they go to the temple and he is worried about her health; Eat something woman, I can't, my stomach is closed, I can't eat, and she cries and cries and cries. Verse 10 says: "And she with bitterness of soul prayed to Jehovah and wept abundantly" verse 11 "and made a vow saying: Jehovah of Hosts, if you deign to look at the affliction of your servant and remember me, do not forget your maidservant but give your maidservant a male child, I will dedicate him to Jehovah all the days of his life."For forty-one years of my life I thought that Ana was crying because she didn't have a child until recently when I read this again I discovered that I was wrong. Let's continue the text.

While this is happening, while Ana is praying, she is not praying as clearly as we are, Ana is stammering and the high priest thinks she is drunk, so he rebukes her and says: "Woman, you arrived drunk" and she says "I I am not drunk, I am a woman with a heavy heart" and it is interesting that the high priest, when he hears her answer, declares a Word to her. In these times when a high priest released a Word that was a prophecy, that was fulfilled. In fact, at the time of Jesus, a high priest released a prophetic Word regarding Jesus: it is necessary that one die for the people and not that all the people die for Him, and the Scripture says that this was a prophecy that released a high priest. priest about Jesus.

So in verse 17 of chapter 1 of First Samuel it says like this: "He answered and said: go in peace and the God of Israel grant you the request that you have made." Verse 18: "And she said, 'Let your servant find favor in your sight, and the woman went on her way, and ate, and was no longer sad.' This is the evidence that she came out of depression, right? Yes, he says he ate, he stopped crying, he wasn't sadder.

Now, if Ana's problem is that Ana cried because she did not have a child, and Ana did not eat because she did not have a child, the text says that Ana ate, the text says that Ana stopped crying, that means that when she was to the temple the high priest gave her a baby, because when he gave her the baby she said: that's all I wanted, I was crying because of that, because I didn't have a baby, the high priest tells her: oh, wait, you are . Two days ago a woman came here with a baby and told me: a hurt woman is going to arrive, a woman with a broken heart, she is sterile, this baby is for her, you are going to give it to her, and then the high priest He says: wait a minute, I have God's gift for you here and he gives her the baby, and for that reason Ana eats and leaves happy like the jibarito, crazy with happiness; but no, that was not what happened.

Ana was not sadder, Ana ate, but Ana was not given any baby. Why did Ana leave happy, why did Ana eat? Ana left happy because Ana recovered a promise. When Ana recovered the promise, joy came into her life, joy came to her heart and Ana said: my stomach opened, I'm hungry, Ana ate and she wasn't sadder. That is the power that has a promise, that is the extraordinary power that has a promise.

At the time Ana had her baby according to the promise. Let me give you good news that you know, but it is always good to give you a good promise: if God made you a promise, He will fulfill it, He does not play with you, He does not lie to you, He does not deceive you.

Now I ask you this morning: where is your promise, did you lose it? If you are crying and you are sad, probably what happened to me 10 years ago is happening to you, I had lost the promise. I recovered my laughter not because my son returned home, my son was still on drugs and I was happy because I recovered a promise, God took care of himself in that wise way that He has He took care of reminding me that He is and true, and that if He promises, He fulfills.

So I said: it's true, why am I crying and I'm sad, and I'm depressed, and I walk downcast, and people say to me: what's wrong with you? If I have a promise, I'm looking bad, I'm looking at my son. I have to stop looking at my son and look at the promise, and that's what I started to do. When my son arrived I saw him thin and said: oh Lord You promised me and You are going to do something new.

Then people began to tell me: Pastor, you look happy, you look happy, I told them: I'm happy. In fact, one day my son came to my house and he says: daddy I'm going to ask you a question, and I say: tell me daddy, and he says: it's because my friends tell me that you look different, yes, friends my friends say that you look very happy, and I tell him: it's true, daddy, I'm happy, and for my son that was like: I don't understand, I'm still on drugs, how are you happy? I was happy because I had recovered a promise.

Now I ate, now I slept well, I got up, I no longer wanted to die, on the contrary, I didn't want to die at all because I dreamed of seeing the promise, and in fact a year later I saw the promise, because a year later my son He returned to the feet of Christ, he came out of that world of perdition. Am I explaining myself? he himself told me: daddy I want to change, will you help me to change? and nine years ago that was in February 2006. He came to me and said: daddy I want to change, can you help me? Hey? I've been waiting for this day for a long time, I've been looking at the promise for a long time. That day I wanted to jump and hit the roof of joy and joy that I had but I saw it before in my heart with the eyes of my faith, like the Proverbs woman, I saw it, I saw it, I looked at it I enjoyed it, I contemplated it.

Where is your promise this morning? I lost you? if you lost it is a good time. Do you know what hurts God the most? what hurts him the most is my lack of faith, what hurts him the most is disbelief because disbelief is a direct attack on God's character.

Do you know that the word unbelief literally means two things? Number one: you are not to be trusted, and number two means: you have no say. Do you know why faith pleases God? because faith means: You are trustworthy, You have your word.

That is why the Bible says: "40 years I was angry with this people because of unbelief and I said: They will not enter my rest." Israel's adultery did not allow them to enter the promised land, Israel's idolatry was not what prevented them from entering the promised land, no, no, it was disbelief when they said: you brought us our children to die in the desert, you brought us here to kill all of us, and God says: how do you say that? Is that what you guys are saying? Well, leave me what I am going to tell you: you are not going to inherit the promised land, you say that your children are going to die and I want to tell you: all those 20 years of age and under, they are the ones who are going to inherit the land promised, and they were the ones who inherited it.

What was the problem that prevented them from inheriting? It was not his sin directly, it was his unbelief because unbelief is a direct attack on the character of God and God wants us to eradicate it from our lives, God wants us to practice faith because faith pleases God. The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. It doesn't matter what I do, if I don't have faith I can't please God.

Your problems do not move the Hand of God, you can have ten thousand problems waiting for God to solve them for you, God is not committed to solving your problems or my problems, God is committed to those who have faith. If someone has faith and even if it is a single problem, God is committed to that person because the one who has faith will move the Hand of God.

The Bible says not only that without faith it is impossible to please God, it says that it wants us to believe that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him, that is, that God wants us to live with expectation. Some of us are believers and we live waiting for the scourge, and we live waiting for the bad news, and we live waiting for the bad day, and God says: No, no, no, you are doing it wrong, you have to wait for My goodness, I am Well. I know that the bad day is part of life but I live waiting for God's favor every day of my life, I say: Lord, surprise me today, what do you have for me today?

Before yesterday Friday we, my wife and I were in Pennsylvania and we traveled back to Philadelphia on Friday night to come here, and I check-in, and when I check-in he says, I had told him in the morning tomorrow: Lord, what do you have for me today? Surprise me, when I'm doing the check-in in the morning it said: congratulations, we have moved you to first class at no cost, for free, and I say: aaaahhh, is it true? and it said: pay: $0.0, I said: mommy we are going in first class and for free. I live waiting for God's favor, do you understand? I live waiting for the goodness of God. I live that way.

A few years ago I was going to Nicaragua, we were going with two more brothers, we were going to take help to Nicaragua, medicines, clothes, shoes, money, etc., we had bought the three tickets and we are leaving early for the airport, around 4 In the morning we were there at the airport in San Juan, in Copas, which is the airline that is going to take us to Nicaragua, and the person tells me: which one of you is Efrén Durán? I say: me, you can't go, I say: but how is it going to be? The two of them can go but you can't go, I say: impossible.

But let me tell you something: at two in the morning when I got up to bathe I said to God: Lord, sometimes one has to go to the airport but today, today I won't have problems at the airport, not today Lord, today I I declare that I am going to see Your favor in such an extraordinary way, Lord, that I am going to rejoice and be glad, and I went to bathe, now they tell me: you cannot go, I say: why not? I can go? yes we buy them, no sir your ticket is canceled and when that happens they are talking to me I say in my mind to tell God: hello, hey boy, do you know what they are saying here, you know that this does not look like what that I spoke to you at 2 in the morning? hey you forgot; I told you at 2 in the morning that I was going to see Your favor in such an extraordinary way, so look what you are doing, I am not moving from here.

They tell me: you can't go, hey: what about the afternoon flight? there is no flight in the afternoon, there is no flight tomorrow and there is no flight the day after tomorrow, there is a flight on Thursday and I say: but Thursday I already finished my work, I am going to Costa Rica, no sir you cannot go. And while that is happening, a brother from the church comes and tells me: what is happening? and I tell him: they tell me that I can't leave, that there is no way, that there is no flight in the afternoon, or tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow or anything, and I tell him: talk to a supervisor and while the supervisor He comes and I tell him: hello, what's wrong with you? You know that I live waiting for Your favor, right? We already talked about that, we talked about it at two in the morning.

That's when he tells me: you can't go! and one of my friends says, forget about it, let's go to American for a moment, but American for what? Come with me, and we'll walk to American. American is empty, there is no one, there is only one person at the counter. My friend tells the young woman from American, only one person who was at the counter: young man, do you have a flight to Nicaragua? and the young woman says: give me a moment Sir, yes sir, but there is only one, and three of us were walking, there is only one and my friend says: don't worry, we only need one, but are you arriving today? yes, yes, it arrives today at 5 in the afternoon, okay, so we go all the way around like this.

The woman says: but there is a little problem sir and then my friend says: what is the problem? and the woman says: that only flight there is in first class, then my friend says: ah, is that the problem? My friend took out one of those American Express Platinum cards, one of those with which you can buy the world with it, he takes out an American Express Platinum card and says: can I buy this ticket with this little card? The woman tells him: sir, this is a platinum, with a platinum you can buy not this ticket, you can buy many of these tickets. The woman passed the card, the ticket came out there, she took the ticket and gave it to my friend, my friend took the ticket, gave it to me, hit me on the shoulder and said: enjoy your little trip in first class class while your brother and I go to second grade.

I told God: today I am going to see Your favor at the airport in an extraordinary way, and even though the devil got in (applause). Of those I can tell you so many stories. I live waiting for God's favor, I don't live waiting for God's scourge at all.

I end by telling you this story. As I told you, I have eight grandchildren, I am used to it, when we go on a trip we give them gifts and to make it easier we give the grandchildren money, we give them money, they already know it. I have a granddaughter named Micaela, but Micaela since she was three years old, two years old, she already has a notion of what money is. I arrive from a trip and everyone kisses me, and Micaela comes to me and says: grandfather, the money, grandfather, the money. Then the parents scold her and punish her, they have punished her. I tell my mom: don't punish her if you did the same thing when you were little, the other siblings didn't ask for anything but you always asked me for money. The mother says: no, I'm not like her, she still is.

After all, they have reprimanded Micaela in so many ways, they have not managed to change Micaela, the only thing they have achieved is to make her more intelligent. When I arrive on a trip, I arrive at the family and they all arrive there, they all come to give me hugs and kisses. In fact, my eldest grandson when he was about ten years old, he already turned thirteen, when he was about ten years old he tells him that Micaela is coming so that the parents don't see her to ask me for money, and Micaela pretends to say something to me in a low voice, and the black boy, I told you last time that my two white daughters married two black boys and that at first I thought it was an attack from the devil on my family (laughs) but no, no, no, no, it was a blessing so I have eight grandchildren and I have them of all colors: I have them white, dark-haired, black, everything, and the first is a black, an extraordinary black, that's cool.

And the black boy, well aware and mature, and the black boy says to Micaela: Micaela, are you asking grandfather for money? You know what mommy and daddy told you, you can't ask them, I'm going to tell them so they punish you, what will grandpa think of us? The important thing here is that grandfather arrived, he says, it's not that he gives us money, so Micaela stays like that.

In January I arrived and I had not exchanged money, so they are all there and I tell them: my children, tomorrow I will give them money because I did not change money, they all say: it is fine, grandfather, and Micaela says: but why, but why? that? I say: Micaela because I didn't change money Micaela, but when? I'll change tomorrow and I'll give it to you, when I have promised you something and I haven't fulfilled it, right? yes yes grandpa

They went to play and about three or four hours later they left home and they all came to kiss me to leave and Micaela stayed last, she went to me, she gave me a kiss and a hug, and when she kissed me and the hug put his mouth on my ear and said: "oh dad God that he remembers" (laughs). They have not been able to change Micaela, Micaela always lives with the expectation that Grandpa has something for her.

Now it is interesting because God is better than me, he is a thousand times better than me and He wants you to know, that you believe that He is your rewarder if you seek Him. Micaela knows me, she knows that I always want what better for her, no matter what her parents say, she always comes like this, she always comes to her grandfather with expectation. In fact, the other days I asked all of us: you don't do Micaela's thing, you, when grandfather gets old, do you live with the expectation that grandfather is going to give you? And even the black boy said: yes, grandfather, yes, haha, yes, grandfather. They don't say it but they live it, they have the expectation in their hearts.

God is better than me, God is better than any of us as Paul says: "If we can give good gifts to our children" my Heavenly Father, your God, my God, He is good and He wants you to know that He is a rewarder of those who seek him, so it is a good time for you and I to rise up, take back my promise and live by it.

Job said: "Even if He kills me in Him I will wait" and ended with these words. I was recently reading the message of an American preacher and he said: "hope is the ability to listen to tomorrow's music, faith is the courage to dance today."

Can you get on your feet? I just wish I had a Word of prayer on you. Father: this morning I praise You and I thank You, I thank You for the privilege of being able to come here and share Your Word and share Your truths, and share the things that happened to us. Lord: thank you for the life of John, thank you for the restoration of his life, thank you because he lost hope, he reached the bottom, but you are a covenant God, you took care of him and today you have him in a high place Holy Father because You are the God of all hope.

Thank you because Ana teaches us the great power that there is in a promise, how a promise of Yours, how a Word of Yours can get us out of the crisis at any given moment. I hope that this morning we can all leave this place having found the promise, having recovered the promise that was lost along the way, Lord, that we can leave the place as Ana left, which the text says: "And she ate, and was not sadder." "Because I knew that I had a promise planted in my heart, I had a Word planted in my heart.

Lord, I bless this town this morning in the Name of Jesus and I pray that Your Grace be upon them, Lord, and that You fulfill every plan, every purpose that You have with this town, with the lives of my brothers, with their families. , with your children, I bless you in the Name of Jesus. I bless your generations and the next generations because You are God of covenant, in the Name of Jesus thank you Lord, amen, amen, amen, thank you very much my brother God bless you very much.