The Crowd and the Disciples

This morning I want to share something for a moment too - I never speak something that has not been ministered to in my life first because it is necessary for God to break us in steps for the word to make sense, right? and the word reaches the heart.

And we all like it when we convert, when we know the Lord, he comes into our lives as a stability and that stability of knowing that we are something, that God has already rescued us from that hell, right? from that depth where we lived, from that darkness of darkness and God brings us into his light.

Many of us are so happy or so at peace for the great salvation that God has brought us that we do not realize that there is a demand, there is a desire of God for us to become disciples and what we have received by grace we can give it

We are going to bow our heads and we are going to ask God that this word mark us.

Father in the name of Jesus. I know that You are here Father and it is You who speaks to the heart, Lord. We want to hear you, Lord. You always speak your word with grace because with grace you have saved us, Lord. Always Your word, Lord, although it is energetic and sometimes penetrating and as your word says "so sharp" that it penetrates to the depths, Lord. To the marrow, Lord.

Lord, we need your word, we need to be awakened by your word and we need you to shine your light on us every day to know which way to go. Lord, I thank you, because this opportunity that you give us to listen to you only has those who have been redeemed by blood and have decided to follow you, Lord. Sir thank you. Stay with us Holy Spirit, that you take from the Father and make us know. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

And we come to that emotional stability, that spiritual, mental stability, we make decisions, we make changes. Our life is instantly transformed. I remember when I converted instantly, I left some vices. I remember that I quit smoking. And those first two weeks I struggled, but when the Lord told me - when I had to make a decision, I remember the Lord told me - I was going to sing for the first time, I had been converted for about a month and for the first time I They had given me a song and for me that was the greatest thing in the world.

I sang in the world like crazy, that's what we say in Puerto Rico. There are some Puerto Rican words that I am going to say, so those who are not from Puerto Rico, as I told the girls, well, they tell me and I try to find a neutral word. Amen.

I remember when they told me I was going to sing that first song, I was like "Wow!" and when I was on the way I lit a cigarette and I remember how the Spirit started like 'hmmm' and they accepted me in the church. I had no problem in that transition to leave my things.

But there is a moment when God says "Now, I want to transform an area of your life. You have to make a decision." And I remember that I used to go up to the catacomb and put my gum in it and everyone, I swore that nobody knew that I had smoked four cigarettes before

But I arrived and they loved me, they hugged me and kissed me because they knew. Because? Because they had gone through their process. But we have to make decisions in Christ. And it is when the spirit asks us for something, not when someone asks you for something. It's when God says to you, "I want to redeem this in your life. You just don't need it to follow me. You don't need this."

And I remember that I picked up and not only threw away the cigarette but also looked in my wallet for that pack that had cost at that time was cheap, but now, a pack is one thing... it's not worth it. With that you can go and buy things. I took it out and threw it out the window and that, that decision that I made, God supported it.

Every decision you make God will support it. Here comes the supernatural of God that comes and goes "poop!": "You did it, now I'm going to help you." And I remember that it was like that vice broke, it broke and miraculously -because obviously we don't understand those things that the Lord does that are miracles- when you decide he takes something away and that's it; that when I arrived, I sang, I felt the freedom of having made a decision in favor of the Master. And when I came back weeks passed, my husband still hadn't converted and he also smoked.

I remember that he was smoking next door and I 'pah! Ask me, as we say in Puerto Rico. I had no desire to smoke.' It means that I realized that there is a supernatural power that cuts and that can remove the root of sin and you can be free. The only one who can set you free is Jesus Christ.

That is why the word says: "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." So in this walk in the Lord, they are going to see things that they are going to have to decide to do. They will not come by osmosis. We would like everything to come by osmosis, just as if it came down from heaven, I would feel: "Ah! Because I'm sorry." Love is a decision, worship is a decision, raise your hands to heaven before the presence of the Lord, is a decision.

Never expect to feel it because the flesh will never want to worship. Never. When the leaders tell you to raise your hands, you do "Lord today I would like to be lying down, but my fingers hurt, but I am going to raise my hands because your word says so. Lift your hands. I will do it in the name of Jesus ". I decide and as soon as you do that, ah! I beat what was beating me.

So at that time when Jesus was walking the earth He decided to make disciples. But Jesus was also close, Jesus worked. Jesus was a man of crowds and he knew that in the midst of the crowd there were people who were going to follow him and there were people who followed the teacher out of curiosity, to know who he was, because many were waiting for the Messiah. They knew the Messiah was coming and when Jesus came to earth it was a total revolution.

He arrived and everything that was established began, He broke all established religiosity, He was the high priest, He knew what was going to happen and then there was contention, there was everything there. And we were able to identify -through the gospels- that there was a crowd that followed Jesus. But God chose some disciples who were going to be close, who were the ones that He was truly going to use to multiply in them. That intention of the Master is still there.

"God so loved the world," says the Bible, "that he sent his only begotten Son so that everyone who believes will not perish and have eternal life." But God so loved the world, everyone will know Jesus. That will be so. Jesus will not come until everyone knows who He is.

Now not everyone is going to follow him. So many of us arrived and were converted and came into the presence of the Lord. So when we get to that path we realize that it is not a wide path, but rather a narrow path, as we will see right now, nothing will change in the circumstances of life. We are living in a fallen world that will be redeemed and there will be situations and there will be things that we will have to make decisions about.

Now, will we walk like the crowd walked or will we walk as the disciples walked? And this morning I would like to challenge you as God challenged me at a given moment, to know where I am? How am I walking? I have such a great salvation, will I stay in my Salvation or will I be multiplying myself? Am I being a disciple of the master or have I just been following the master from afar, enjoying his blessings but not making adjustments in my life to be a true disciple? Are we disciples or are we a crowd?

God in the word suggests to us that He reveals himself to the occasional curious of his presence or that they can find him. The Bible says: "Seek me and you will live" that is, it is the one who seeks him who will find the treasures and will know the heart of God. He's the one looking for you.

And sometimes we stay, right? like halfway. I know what it's like to have a very hectic, very terrible week and from the morning when I open my eyes to know that I have an impressive schedule and that instead of asking God what God's schedule is, I want to run mine. When that happens, beloved, we end that day so exhausted that we don't have time for... time was like broken cisterns that don't hold water. We don't retain time, why? because we enter into an eagerness, into such an impressive anxiety.

"The kingdom of heaven becomes violent and only the violent take it by force," says the Bible. It means that the violence greater than you and I are going to have in these last times that the coming of Christ is coming is going to be the time. Because it is that time that the crazy rush to live wants to steal from us so that we can have quality time -forgive the redundancy- with the teacher.

Because it is what is going to make us grow, that is what is going to let us know what our purpose is, that is what is going to give us direction, vision. What is it that you want to do? What do you want me for? I am going to be an impact in my office, I am going to be an impact in my church, I am going to be an impact at home.

We women need to know how to deal with our children, how to deal with our husbands, we urgently need to know how we are going to behave, how we are going to provide suitable help. So we need time and many times before this call from God we are slow to hear and we react without passion but we are quick to ask for and receive the blessing.

In other words, we are, we are -we know that he is with us- when He calls us into the presence of the Lord when He wants to be intimate, when He wants to be intimate with us: "Oh yes, when I get back I'm going to pray! " How many has that happened to? So when you come back you're going to pray that series of... you have to open the computer because you have about 55 or more messages that you have to answer.

So it depends on age, right? but those that we already have, that we are entering our 40s, 50s, right? which is the best stage of life. Don't make a mistake. This is the flower, what happens is that there comes a time when we have to close our eyes to rest.

My dad says that to rest is death, but I'm already realizing that it's not reality. In those moments when the clock strikes 9, what do you say: "The Lord was going to give me a word, the Lord, I haven't met God. But I'm going to go" and then when you kneel or sit in your place you enter in such a depth of God's presence that He simply says, "Let me let her rest, because imagine if she can't even say Glory to God."

That happens to me, I don't know if it happens to you, and we don't realize that we're losing track, that we're losing our rhythm. We don't realize that we are leaving God to a second place and we are ready for when things get tight -as we say in Puerto Rico- when the gas peels, that is one of our Boricua phrases, when the eggs are put for a peseta. Not anymore, they are already more expensive. So, I have to help, I have to pray, but it is for a special situation.

It has also happened to me, so there we are ready to seek the presence of the Lord and it is something, beloved, that God has no problem. The problem is not God's, the problem is ours because we stop knowing, we stop discovering the power of God. We stopped discovering where the Lord was taking me and we are not in his perfect will. There is a will that is permissive but there is a perfect one that is where we see, our eyes open and we see how God's plan is fulfilled and there are things that are impossible for man but for God they are possible and we begin to discover them.

We see the revelation of the word in our lives, which marks us for the daily. I don't think that the revelation of the word is something ethereal that it's like I can't reach it. No! The revelation of the word is something that is for today, as the Pastor said, it is so real God, it is so real. He gives so, so simple solutions but you have to get in there.

Where can we identify ourselves? Let's go to John 6:1 to 14. I am sending someone to ask something because I had already told the Pastor, that I need to know the schedule, does the service end at 11:30? Oh! My father, what a barbarity! I had to ask that there. Blessed. But I'm going to advance Pastor, let's see how I do this.

By the time you get to page three you listen to everything I'm going to say and period. I did not blink because I go to the miles. OK. John 6: 1 to 14 says: I love this word: Jesus feeds 5000. "Some time later Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee and many people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs that the sick were doing. Then Jesus went up He went up to a hill and sat down with his disciples.It was very close to the Jewish festival of Passover.

When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming towards him, he said to Philip: 'Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat?' He said this only to test them because He already knew what He was going to do. Not even with 8 months' salary could we buy enough bread to give each one a piece, replied Felipe. Another of his disciples -Andrés, who was Simon Peter's brother- said to him: 'Here is a boy who has 5 barley loaves and there are two fish. But what is this to so many people?' 'Make them all sit down,' commanded Jesus. I like when he says: order things.

'In that place there was a lot of grass so they sat down and there were about 5 thousand adult males. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks and distributed to those who were seated, those who wanted. He did the same with the fish. Once they were satisfied, he told his disciples: 'Pick up the pieces that were left over so that nothing is wasted.'

They did so and with the pieces of the five barley loaves that were left over from those who had eaten, they filled 12 baskets. Seeing the sign that Jesus had performed, the people began to say: "Truly this is the prophet, the one who is to come into the world." But Jesus, realizing that they wanted to take him by force and declare him king, withdrew to the mountain alone.

Mateo, I really like Mateo, I think it's either Marcos, because in Mateo that's in 14, I'm only going to read that little phrase because I love it: "When Jesus received the news." Jesus had just received the news that John the Baptist had been beheaded. Obviously, the man Jesus was in a difficult process. A person he loved who grew up together, Juan de Elizabeth, they grew up together, they were cousins and they had beheaded him. Jesus comes from going through a 'hm' process, accepting God's will as sometimes it is up to us, Lord. He would not have wanted to but he accepted it and says:

"When Jesus received the news, he withdrew by himself in a boat to a lonely place." Jesus needed space. "But the crowds came in and followed him on foot from the towns, and when Jesus disembarked and saw so many people, he had compassion on them and healed those who were sick." And we see a compassionate Jesus, right? I didn't want to miss that point.

What are the characteristics of the crowd? The crowd, as we see here in John and we also see it recounted in the other gospels, was a double-minded people. People who, depending on how, what was being offered, well, they were there. People who were looking for the opportunity to investigate who this man called Jesus was.

Notice that in James 1:8 -I'm going to read this quickly- the people who work, the crowd, those of us who have that spirit, that crowd thing of just following is indecisive and is inconstant in everything they do. That is one of the characteristics of a person who is a crowd. He is indecisive, fickle in everything he does. It starts something but doesn't finish it. He decides to go to church on Sunday, but the next Sunday I can't go. I'm going to start reading the Bible but Ah! I lost the bible. I buy another one but I opened it in a year, but Hm. It has happened to all of us, I believe that here there is no one exempt from that.

It has happened to me. Don't you know how many Bibles I have bought in my life? Until I started making decisions. They enjoy miracles, they enjoy seeing the work of God through their talent. They enjoy miracles, they enjoy what they do, they enjoy seeing the things God does with others but they don't open their hearts. They don't give God space to work miracles in their life. That is a crowd characteristic.

They seek to satisfy their needs. It is the God of Blessing: Jehovah Gire. God give me God I need and we only go to the presence of the Lord to ask God. And there is nothing wrong with asking God, we have to ask God because the Bible emphasizes it: "Touch the door and it will be opened, seek and you will find". We have to ask the Lord, but could it be that all the time and the only time we have intimacy, we have a relationship with God is when we ask him?

They follow the signs, they are those who follow the signs but do not change. Sometimes we go from church to church running: "there is so-and-so, there is so-and-so. They are doing a miracle. Let's go there." And many times it is that we take risks, we are eating a good word here, it is not adulterous, Christ-centric and for the moment we go to a place because there are fireworks and things are happening, issues and there we go and we can get confused.

Careful! Following the signs. What does Mark say? I did as my husband, my husband marks them so as not to get lost. Look at what he says about those who know God, the disciples: "These signs will continue to accompany those who believe. In my name they will drive out demons, they will speak in new tongues. They will pick up snakes and when they drink something poisonous it will not hurt them." They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. After speaking with them the Lord Jesus was taken up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. The disciples went out and preached everywhere and the Lord helped them in the work and confirmed his word with the signs that accompanied them".

How different! We weren't running after the signs. The disciples began to run after the signs, the signs accompanied them and it says here that it was Jesus: "The Lord helped them" How did Jesus help them? What did they talk? When we speak and when we declare something, we declare it in whose name? In the name of Jesus and that is the meaning of that word: in the name of Jesus things are done.

Do not fear, because you have the same Jesus that these people had. The spirit of God dwells in you. You have the authority to cast out, you have the authority to lay hands and heal, you have that authority. You have to exercise it. You have to be a disciple. The crowd - it's better if someone else does it - are those who sit and watch: "Oh! Look so-and-so, it happened. How tremendous! Look, the Lord baptized him, how good!" but I nothing.

So, God wants you to enter the waters and those waters cover you, that you have the experience of being used by God, of savoring what the power of God is in your life. They were forgetful listeners and not doers of the word. They heard the word but did not retain it to act on it. That happens to us so much! The competition in the world is so great, brothers, there is so much pressure in the world, there is so much distraction in the world, there are so many things that call our attention, there are so many things that challenge us to do not have the character of Christ and answer bad for bad and if they give me a slap I give the other.

In the world we are full of violence. We are living -I believe- the most violent times. I see the young people, I admire them. Look, brothers, when I go on this trip for young people and I see young people ignited in the presence of God, I say: "Oh my God! You really are real. You have not lost - we say that young people are losing themselves - a lie of the devil

There are young people who are full of God, there are young people who want to serve the Lord, there are young people who secretly seek the presence of the Lord and in public God supports them. Young people who don't want each other, adults, women, children who don't want to be contaminated, who don't want to live in those two waters and God supports them. But we have… what? We cannot forget the word.

They flee before the commitment. One of the things that the crowd saw in Jesus was that they thought that He was the Messiah or some say that He was the Messiah, others said that He was the prophet. But when they saw Jesus in their minds that meant he was the political leader and they said "Wow! The Messiah has come," the political leader as the Messiah and that he would defeat the Romans and usher in a new era of wealth and peace for the people of Israel.

But Jesus spoke of a kingdom that was not of this world, so it was a spiritual kingdom that he was going to establish and when the crowd realized that he was not the king of the Jews, what did they do? they crucified him. No more followed him. They did not commit. We need to have commitment. This is the time when the moment of testing comes, we cannot run away. We cannot say: "Oh! When I was in Egypt it was better."

Commitment before God. They returned, they had other priorities before God. Oops! This killed me. When this phrase hit me: I knew I had more important priorities than God. I knew that there were times when I had to make decisions and I didn't make them. When the decision to drop out of college came, see if God is patient with us, but he has a deadline, he has a limit and that's where you say: "Oops! What do I do?"

When the time came I was in the moments, look brothers, more beautiful from my work at the university, I directed the Choir, I directed the Music department there. We had a trip to Italy, the choir had won a gold cup in sacred music and mixed choirs, the Puerto Rican flags and you know that this is a very high emotion. Come up a… -and I say: "Now you're calling me to leave?"

When this is so good here. The choir was fine, they had good voices, we had worked a lot. And when we received the prize that God had told me, I remember that the Lord had shown me, I had seen that victory. I prepared the boys because for me the choir was part of my ministry: they prayed, they converted. On that journey those who had not been converted were converted. I had children of pastors in the choir, the children of Pastor Mijain, they were my students. God did what he had to do there in the choir, on that trip.

But in addition to being converted, we won that first place. When we got back, the process of me resigning from the university began. The Lord told me: "You are not going to leave, you are not going to wait until you retire, because that is the easiest thing to do. I am calling you to retire so that you can serve me later. You are leaving now."

I longed for that in my heart, but I had to make a decision. I said, "My God." My blood flowed with the choral music. That was my whole life. It was making music and when I made the decision I shook myself and said: "This is God's time." I did it with joy but I decided to commit myself to God and that priority that God was asking of me: "Go out, it's time for you to go out." It was breaking, I never looked back. I did not go back to university or to look for a diploma. They are still there and I have been away for almost 5 years.

They return for more provision and not for God. The crowd returned for more provision. They followed the teacher, because the teacher was going to give them something. Now, characteristics of the disciple. The disciples serve and pick up the pieces. The Bible says in John: "When it was all over Jesus said to them: 'Go and pick up the pieces that were left over.'"

The disciple is the one who serves, the disciple is the one who gives himself to the Lord and even the things that no one is going to do and even the things for which we are going to have to humiliate ourselves we are going to do, for the love of Christ.

Once the crowd is done, it literally leaves. He who is a disciple remains faithful, come what may, come what may. I am not going to deny Christ. Do I have to humiliate myself? I humble myself, do I have to forgive even if they don't repent? I do. Do I have to face persecution because of the teacher? I pick up the pieces. Do they hurt me even though loving more is loved less? As Pablo said: that is picking up the pieces.

Now there is a blessing of picking up the pieces. The one who picks up the pieces is the one who after the party has a special part with the teacher. Do you know that? You go to a party and everyone leaves and then the intimate stay with you and there the new wine is the one that comes out, there the things that were not told to the public are said in secret, there you share with that person. It's like when you have a girlfriend and the boyfriends get married, everyone leaves, but almost always the boyfriends stay at the end and then the hugs come. Who stays? the family, the intimate

Do you want to be intimate with God? You have to pick up pieces. Do you want to have the quality, the best, the highest, the cane melao and you don't want it to be diluted? Well, don't be a crowd, you have to be a disciple, you have to be there in the last moments where God did impressive miracles.

Not all miracles were seen in the crowd. God did things, do you remember when Jesus went to heal that girl? He told the people: "No one, the screamers do not accompany me, and those who cry and those who do not have faith do not go with me. I am going to take these three. And these three: Simon Peter - now I do not have the Word I don't make names. I don't say many names when I don't have things clear in words- they stayed and saw the miracle of the resurrection of that girl, the daughter of Centurion. Right? They followed him wherever he went.

They knew the teacher. Philippians 7 to 10 talk about that, they know the Lord. They know what the teacher likes, they know what he dislikes. They have an intimacy with the holy spirit, they have a connection where the spirit of God is not saddened -remember that when we are a crowd- there are so many things that are running in our minds and in our emotions that the spirit is saddened.

But when we are disciples we are sensitive to the voice of God, sensitive to what the teacher is saying. And there: "No, don't make that loan now", but if I was going to make that loan. "No, don't do it", the spirit worries you.

They know the Lord, they know where they are going, they know what open doors are and they know when the doors are closed and they are from God. God always answers: "Yes, no or wait." We don't like waiting, it's almost always yes and yes and if I retire and do what I want sometimes we get hard when we say "Yes the Lord said" and He had said: "Wait".

We are formed by Him. God begins to form us, God begins to break us like vessels in the hands of the potter. God takes us to the place to refine ourselves like silver, he passes us through the fire. Disciples are transformed in character, in everything from the inside out. They are broken by Him.

All your ambitions are destroyed, your dreams are no longer your own, they are God's dreams. Cleaning begins with the house, we begin to be transformed. Sometimes we are married and women, I'm sorry, but I throw a little more at them. We sometimes want our husbands to be transformed but we get wild and want things to be now, we disrespect our husbands, we preach to them instead of maintaining...

There is a proverb that says that in many words sin is not lacking. Oops! That has always stayed here for me. Sometimes we want to insist, in our time, as we want. When the Lord began to work with my husband. The first thing he told me was: "Take your hands off and close your mouth. You are going to collaborate with me by praying" and that was not easy for me.

For what woman is it easy to shut up and just pray? Oh, blessed God!

That's asking the girl. God transform me if you want me to do this. Because I... there are going to be moments where God is going to tell you broken, I'm going to break you, I'm going to silence you. And in that process is where God begins to break you, where the word begins to be life, where the only alternative you have is to seek the word and know what God's will is.

And God begins to break you and begins to make you a new man or a new woman. A man who can be a priest, who can be wise to lead his family. It was one of the impressive things that God did in my husband: from being a follower, he made him the head, not the tail. He began to understand and to be the door. The man is the door of the home. The anointing begins, the oil says in the Psalms that it is spilled, where? Through Aron's head, down through the beards and what happens? bless the whole body.

The man is the head wherever he stands, man you are the head. It is in your family and your wife will have tremendous ideas and tremendous leadership but you are the head and that... you will be held accountable. Adam had to deal with that situation. "The woman you gave me," called Adam, she screwed up but they called Adam. That awful! It's not fair right?

I always think that men will think that: "But it's not fair, if she was the one who got buzzed. Why are they calling me? Call her." But God's order was that, so don't let it. We are influential and we have.... we eat the sweets, but you don't let yourself eat the sweets, when you are right and you know where you are going, man of God, go ahead and let your wife hold on. Hey Father! I'm like bad today.

Don't invite me to a men's congress because then yes... Look, I had to hold on. Oh blessed! And it's not that that, isn't it, girls? It's not easy: "Oh, yes I'm going to hold on. Hmmm!" But that's where God breaks us, that's where God teaches us, women, men. God teaches you. Hold your ground, you lead. We hold on. Amen.

Account for. The disciple accounts. How difficult it is to account! A disciple does not walk like a Lone Ranger in life. A disciple gives accounts. The man, the husband tells his wife; the wife reports to her husband. Leaders report to the Pastor, render responsibility.

If you say you are a disciple and start, take the bags and are a leader and take the bags and disappear and the Pastor does not know, you are acting like a crowd. The crowd was the one that went in and out as they wanted, they did not give an account to anyone. But we, the disciples, the leaders, the Flock, all of us, in the order established by God of subjection, have to give an account.

I'm not going to verses because it's already a quarter past eleven. We have to account. Did Jesus give accounts? Well of course. David, all David's victories, consulted with God. What happened to Saul? He had defeats because he did not submit to God, he did not give accounts. They dwell in his presence, they carry the presence of the Lord, they wait on him. They wait for God to move first, they let God take the first step. The disciple carries the presence of the Lord.

It is that chick, the donkey, that carried Jesus when he entered Jerusalem. You carry the presence of the Lord. Don't leave it at home. Do you know what happens? The Lord like sometimes we bring it down. I sometimes get it out of the car.

In Puerto Rico, the earplugs are an impressive thing and people do their little things and I "God bless you" and that blessing becomes, it comes with a taste of "I'll crush you because if I tell you something else they can come out... " and sometimes we say to the Lord: "You're not here, give me 5 minutes, and I'll put so-and-so in order." "Give me a break, Lord, I have to do a few things here so that people understand."

We do it brothers. We have so many traits of the crowd and we don't realize it and we put them there and we are... come on chigüín, chigüín, but we have so many traits.

And finally we have to pay the price. There is a price. Follow the master, there is a price, and it is death. It is to die. It is to die to us. "It is to decrease, says Paul, so that Christ may increase in us."

We are fishers of men. It was the first and last call from God. "And, you are already disciples" he told them at the end. But at the beginning, when he decided for his disciples, he told them: "I am going to change your fisherman. Instead of catching fish, you are going to fish for men."

He established the beginning and the end of his ministry and it is the same calling for us. We are converted. Salvation is precious, we have eternal life, but we have been called to fish for men and in the end we are also reminded of Jesus at the end of the gospel, it will be difficult.

It's going to be a difficult lesson. This is the last one. John 60. This is strong, I never imagined Jesus speaking on these levels, but the Bible says so. But John 60 is a difficult teaching and it is a difficult challenge for us when we do not make decisions on time. With which we do not agree, sometimes we do not agree with everything that being a disciple implies and it is difficult to accept it.

But look at John 6:60. That's strong, right? Did I say 60? I'm not going to say why, because there are men and my mind goes away.

"All this Jesus said while he was teaching in the Capenahum synagogue. Jesus had spoken loudly then upon hearing him -says 6:60- many of his disciples exclaimed: 'Oops! this teaching is very difficult, who can accept it?' But Jesus, very aware that his disciples were murmuring because of what he had said, reproached them: “Does this cause you to stumble?” Can you imagine Jesus doing that? Does it bother you?

"What if they saw the son of man go up to where he was before? What if the plan of salvation of freedom and life vanishes? The spirit gives life, the flesh is worthless." I'm in the new international version.

"The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life", that is, I am piercing you with the word. I am giving you a strong yoke, but this is life for you. The word is life for us even if we fall sometimes and it is difficult.

"However, there are some of you who do not believe." It is that Jesus knew from the beginning who were those who did not believe and who was going to betray him. So he added: "This is why I tell you that no one can come to me unless the Father has granted it." Then many of his disciples turned their backs on him, no longer walking with him. So Jesus asked the 12 - the intimate ones, those who pick up the pieces -: "Do you also want to stain yourself?"

Oops! I imagine the faces of all the disciples: 'Oh, my God! got upset'

"Lord -Simon, always, is a baba in good times and in bad, whether or not he messed up- Simon Peter says: 'To whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life and we have believed and know that You are the Holy One of God' "How many have believed here? How many of us know who we are going to? Give the Lord a round of applause.

He has words of eternal life. It's going to cost us. Now is the time that it will cost us. Stand where you are. We are going to stand up and we are going to make a pact with God and we are going to say:

Sir, I know I have characteristics. I know that my call, that my commitment to you has been diluted in a moment. I know that I have had you sometimes not in the first place, nor in the second, sometimes I have had you in the last place. Still You have loved me, You are faithful to me. Even so, You have freed me, You have healed me, You have forgiven me. But I have to make decisions.

We face many things, yes, but Peter never said: Who shall I go to? To survive, to have life in this time and in the future, only you can give it. You are the only one who can give life.

Let's pray, raise your hands to heaven.

Lord in the name of Jesus we come before you Lord acknowledging our vulnerability, our weakness, Lord. Lord, I know that every day that we confront ourselves with these words, Lord, you confront us, Lord. You look at us, you sharpen our eyes, Lord, to look at you as if seeing the invisible, to believe you.

As Peter said, we have believed, we have believed that you are God. Whatever the cost, we have to die, we have to suffer, we have to choose, renounce, reject the offers of the world, we have believed that you are God.

Lord, and once again, Lord, we tell you, we confess to you this morning that we want to be disciples, that you help us, Lord, not to flirt, not to mix, not to dilute our call, to remain firm in the temptations that the world brings us that are impressive, Lord. That our flesh trembles, because our flesh is weak but we have the spirit of God that dwells in our hearts and that tells us and our spirit cries out to your spirit like an abyss to another abyss.

Father, you are my Father, you are my Lord. Your blood has a value, Oh! Jesus! Your value is incalculable, Father. It's not worth it, what the world, what time wants to steal from me. I want to focus on you, Lord, we want to focus on you, we want to live for you, we want to be a pleasant offering to you, Lord.

Help us, Lord, in our disbelief that your offers are greater. Your word is true and it is fulfilled. That your presence will go with us, it will go before us and calm the storm. That you enter the secret of our lives and transform us and forgive us.

Father, we need, Father, that you help us to believe, but we will make decisions this morning, Lord.

If there is anyone who knows this morning, that just as I took out that pack of cigarettes and threw it away, if God has to perform a miracle, I would tell you to run. We have five minutes left. The holy spirit does what it wants the moment you give it permission.

So if there is someone who has to come here in front, come with me here let's pray one more time. We are going to make a pact with God.

Is there anyone running to this place this morning? and says Lord there is an area in my life that I have to change. I have to give it to you. I cannot continue to be a crowd in this area.

God bless you. Do not be afraid. This I do in secret. Every time I discover that there is an area in my life that I have to stop and say: "No. Stop it. I'm not going to do it." One of the areas where God has confronted me the most is in being a submissive and meek wife. Meekness. Listen and learn to be silent and God demanded that from me.

"But, Lord, I am right", "No, no, no. Respect your husband".

I remember that when my husband began the transformation of our house, coming from a matriarchal home, what I said was fine. Until there came a time when he had to make a decision, lead our family. He did not know everything but God knew everything and God was his leader and he began the transformation of being the man, the head, the door and every blessing flowed. It wasn't perfect, it never will be, but God began to tell him "I chose you to take care of your wife and your children and bring them to my presence."

The man, man, you have that responsibility even if you feel it's hard. God is with you, as the Pastor said this morning and there will be no storm and there will be no call that God does not help you achieve it. That is why this is the time to be honest with God, to search our hearts and be honest with God.

If this is the time to make changes, get out of your seat and tell him, Lord, who am I going to go to if not you? Only you have a word.

Father in the name of Jesus we gather before you imperfect men and women, men and women who need you Lord, we are making decisions this morning. Father, when we leave our seat, when we respond to your word, it is because we are your children. We are your children, we have been washed by the blood of Christ.

Lord we have been chosen by you from the crowd to be disciples. Father, this morning, Lord, we surrender everything that has prevented us, Lord, we surrender our justifications, we surrender our failures that prevent us from moving forward.

Lord and we made the decision to follow you because everything you did and your word says that "we will do even greater things". Yes, we believe you, Lord, we take a step forward, but it is a step to tell you that I do believe. I do believe that I can be a wise husband, a husband, Lord, who can lead his family.

I do believe that I can be a prudent woman. I receive this challenge in the name of Jesus.

We receive the challenge that you are giving to be an offering, to be a man of value, women of suitable help, women who, not Father, contemplate life with simplicity, that we are not light women in thinking and acting, but that we are people committed to our families, committed to our parents. And the young Lord, radicals for Christ. Young people, Lord, who are not fooled or seduced by the offers of the world, but rather decide to follow you even if it costs them. Even if they are reproached, even if they are humiliated, Lord.

I know in whom I have believed. We know in whom we have believed and today you bring freedom in action in the name of Jesus, you bring freedom from the memories of the past, from the vices of the past. In the name of Jesus.

Today the flesh is free, the mind, the emotions are free. In the name of Jesus. To follow Christ as a disciple.

Father, Lord we humble ourselves before you, we shake off dad. We shake Lord. Father because your word says that we are ministers of the new grass. Yes sir. Listen well to this word, this is the confidence that we have before God for less than Christ. It is not that we consider ourselves competent in ourselves. Our ability comes from God. He has trained us to be servants of a new covenant. Not in that of the letter but in that of the spirit, because the letter kills and the spirit is and gives life.

We are gathered here believing that we are not going to discard ourselves because God does not discard us. We are ministers of a new covenant. This morning we have made the decision to pay the price to be disciples, to love, to give an account, to hold each other in love, to believe, to seek the word to make decisions in his presence. To follow him at all costs.

Father in the name of Jesus we commit ourselves and make a pact with you. Repeat with me. Mister. All those who want to make a pact, raise a hand. The decision is on your lips and in your mouth. Lord in the name of Jesus we come before you.

To whom shall I go but to you? You have the word of life.

I renounce my past style of life, my hardness of heart, my lack of understanding, my insensitivity to listen to the voice of God when he wants to transform me. This morning I approach you in confidence knowing that it is your spirit that calls me, the one that touches me and the one that can change me.

I renounce my past lifestyle and accept the call. I receive the anointing of your holy spirit, the power of your spirit to be able to achieve, to be able to overcome all temptation and be a man, a woman according to your heart.

I want to please you in everything, that's why I commit myself in front of you. I make a pact with you. I do not want to go back. Help me in my disbelief. I do not want to go back. I receive this call and I declare myself in your name your disciple, willing to pick up the pieces, willing to surrender to you and live a holy, pure life, pleasing to you.

Thank you, Lord, because you have done it. The moment I make the decision you do it and you will give me the strength to continue. Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus. Thanks Dad. we thank you.