Presentation April 5, 2014: Show Off Your New Clothing

The emphasis this morning is on verse 12 of Colossians 3, but I want to read from 1 to 17 so that we have an idea of what Paul is saying to us this morning, amen? I am going to read it because my version is different and I want us all to have the same version so that we can all continue here. We're going to stand up one more time and we're going to read, if you can read with me, okay? remember that the Lord is speaking to all of us, amen? This is not for the neighbor or for the one next to me, nor for my husband, nor for my daughter, at this moment he is speaking to all of us.

And it says like this: "If, then, you have risen with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your sights on the things above, not on the things of the earth. Because you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

"Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: fornication, impurity, inordinate passions, evil desires, and covetousness, which is idolatry; things for which the wrath of God comes upon the children of disobedience, in which you also walked in another time when you lived in them. But now you also put off all these things: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, dishonest words from your mouth."

"Do not lie to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new, which, according to the image of him who created him, is renewed until full knowledge, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian or Scythian, bond or free, but Christ is all and in all."

"Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, tender mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. In the manner Christ forgave you, so do you also. And above all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond. And the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which you were also called in one body; and be thankful. "

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you abundantly, teaching and exhorting one another in all wisdom, graciously singing in your hearts to the Lord with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs." Hallelujah, wow! can we say: wow? there is a lot of cloth to cut there. Whoo! Hallelujah.

We are going to pray and we are going to give thanks this morning one more time. Father: we thank you for this Word that we have read and we ask you at this hour, Father, that each one of those exhortations that Paul makes through Your Holy Spirit, Lord, on this day, You Lord, impregnate them in our hearts and that we can go out from here Father with the determination through the Power of Your Spirit, to fulfill each one of those mandates and those exhortations.

Father: we know that each one of us is in a different stage, that each one of us is growing little by little, but I ask you, Lord, that according to the stage we are living in this hour, You continue to guide us and that in us there is the full desire to fulfill and grow to Your stature, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Lord we have asked you and from now on we thank you, amen and amen. Glory to God, you can sit down. To be honest, after reading all that Pablo says, one says: wow, can I, can I?

It is interesting because Paul writes this Letter from prison and sends it to the Church of Colosse where there were a series of setbacks or philosophies that had entered the Church, and what I love about the Apostle Paul is that he is a man who wants the truth fully and openly but with love. He always began by praising the Church before saying what had to be corrected and that is a true example of what correction with love is.

So this morning we are going to look at each one, one by one, each one of these things that he lists throughout the Letter. And while I was writing, I was in Puerto Rico ago, well, I returned last week and while I was there I wrote a lot about what the Lord put in my heart, and believe me, what I am sharing with you is because the Lord has been speaking to my heart, so the water starts here (in his chest) and flows from here to there.

And while I was there in Puerto Rico, I remembered the albums that my mother has of many portraits from when my brother and I were two, I was a child. And there is a very particular portrait, I think I was two and a half years old at the most, and I had a dress, I don't know, I think they are no longer worn, those little dresses that the girls used that put a bow around them , do you sing? and a bow, they had a bow. And the curious thing about that is that when one sat down, the arch would stop like this, it would get up, it was very curious.

I am, there are people around and I am so small in the middle, I have a very big bow and I taught him that, and my dad did the counting because that was when we lived in New York, I was very small; and he told me: there you were dancing and singing and I say: really. You know that moving with the bow gives a special sensation, one kind of likes it. But in that portrait I find myself singing, by the way, with one of my dad's aunts who sang a lot and then had two or three drinks, and I accompanied her singing and I said: oh! my first duet (laughs).

The curious thing about the case is that I look very flirtatious in the suit and I say that almost all of us women, almost all of us, like to dress pretty. Since we were little, when we are little and you have seen a girl, and right away you see her moving in the most flirtatious way because that is something very natural for us women and we like to show off. And we dress well, sometimes today so to speak, we dress to please ourselves, to see ourselves in the mirror and say: oh, how pretty I am! Or if we don't also dress to please our husband if we are married, right? sometimes our boyfriend, we want to look pretty in front of the boyfriend, and if we don't have a boyfriend we just dress because we want to look pretty, period.

And it's funny because the dressmakers, the well-known fashion designers say that they design women's clothes so that they can be displayed in front of other women. Haven't you noticed that when you come in? Well, in fact, the best example we have is when they give out the awards, these Oscar awards or whatever, there is a parade of very beautiful clothes and the women, from one of those well-known dressmakers that I don't know because they are very expensive; but there is something in us to display what we are and how beautiful and, and we want to dress that way, right?

But, interestingly that is the external. Notice that we are sometimes judged by the external, by what we are seeing. And sometimes when we look at a woman who is very elegantly dressed; many women: how pretty you are, how beautiful you look on this day and maybe you say to the sister next to you: wow, are you wearing the suit? wow, that must have been really expensive, just like it comes in handy: hey what happened to that sister today? got up poor thing! He didn't look in the mirror. Or if you are very old and you are dressed as a young lady: but look at that old woman, what does she think? look how she is dressed!

That is not true? They measure us and judge us based on how we are dressed, true or false? In the same way our spiritual clothing, ah! people also make judgments about that one. The spiritual clothing that the Word speaks does not necessarily have to do with what we put on, but rather with what is inside and who we truly are, how we walk, what we say, how we act in situations, and for that reason we are also judged. And above all, the world has its eyes on each of those who call themselves believers because they are looking to see if you are living up to what you say, amen?

So right now we are going to be talking about that, leave me here that I am modernized with iPad and everything, did you see? (laughs). Ok, if we read the entire chapter of the Book of Colossians chapter 3, as you noticed from what we read here, at least those first 17 verses Paul uses various verbs that imply an action to be taken.

For example, one of the verses began: "look for" a verb, "put your gaze on", action, "make them die", action, "dress yourself", action, what does that mean? That we as believers have a very important part in our actions and in our deeds. Certainly the Lord deals with us, we are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light, right?

We are new creatures. The old things? "behold, they are all made new" exactly, that is the process of the new birth. What's going on? that there is a part that we have to play because the Lord does not come like a fairy godmother with a rod and do that to you, and that's it, you changed drastically and everything you had in the old world, the old life is gone; it is a process. But for this process to take place there must be a determination of the heart, okay?

I have to do something. I am not going to sit here for the Lord to do all the work and I have to determine it, no matter how I feel because there is one thing that the Lord does seek from us and that is obedience, obedience. And so that change has to be processed little by little.

And look, sometimes we say: oh yes definitively, since I converted, I changed, I am a new creature, but you know what? There are still things that don't let me fly at the height that I have to fly because they are obstructing my flight, and sometimes I don't realize it. I was thinking while I was writing this, a person I know and this person, who has met my husband and me several times, mentions that: I don't know what happens, every time I start a job the boss is terrible, and I work for one or two years and I have to get out of that job, I have to leave because I can't stand the boss and he takes it on me; that person always tells us that. This has happened about five times already with different bosses.

I think that sometimes we do not realize that it is not the exterior that is happening there. Notice that the common denominator here is who? the person, the bosses have been changing, however the complaint remains the same. So sometimes we don't realize it, we are doing things over and over again, over and over again, and we don't realize that the Lord wants to change.

And do you know how beautiful everything is? it is that if you do not pass the test they give it to you again, and if you did not pass it come back again and they give you the test so that you pass it, because the purpose of the Lord is not to say: uju! you hung yourself again, no. God's purpose is for you to grow to the height and likeness of His Son, that is God's purpose. What God wants to do in us is to make us grow, that our character, our actions go hand in hand with who we say we are.

And I am going to tell you one thing: we are in a time where men and women are certainly needed who walk up to the task and what they say they are they carry out with their deeds and their actions. We are in a time like this because I think the world is already tired of what is fictional, you want something real, okay?

Well, as I told you at the beginning, I brought a few things that will help us visualize this better. The Lord does not ask more of us than we can give and you know what? The most beautiful promise that we have as believers is the Spirit of God. When Jesus left, he said he was leaving but he was leaving the Comforter, right? who was also our helper. Therefore, all these changes that sometimes we do not realize that we have to make, these changes in our flesh are difficult for us, but the Spirit of God is the one who helps us to change.

Look, when you get dressed in the morning, how many here get dressed at home and don't have a mirror to look at themselves? Don't you have a mirror to look at yourself? as? ok but you don't have a mirror, you don't have a mirror. We all have a mirror, and when we go out, we put on whatever we are going to wear and we look at ourselves to see if it suits us, if I look fat, oh no! I wear this color because I look thinner with this color, with this I conceal the central area of my body a little more.

Is that so or not? we search and look at each other before leaving. In the same way, the spiritual mirror that we have is the Word of the Lord and that is where we must look at ourselves to see if we agree with how God wants us to be, okay? So, I'm going to ask Ana and Omar, both because I'm going to bring something here now. I deal a lot with food, aside from the fact that the career I studied has a lot to do with food, but those who know me go to my house, I'm always in the kitchen cooking, that's a fact.

And many of the analogies that the Lord sometimes brings to my mind have to do with food, dreams that I sometimes have have to do with food, they are symbolic but they have to do with food and I think it must be because they have to do with food sometimes it is easier for me to understand them.

But while I was writing I thought that we, those cooks who are here who cook rice, how many cook rice here? ok, that's one of the main things in our culture but I ask because there might be someone who doesn't. When we cook rice in Puerto Rico, in my culture people are crazy about what we call the pega'o, the pega'o, in the Dominican Republic, the concón, I think in Colombia it's the paste; and a Chilean brother once told me: uh! but if you cook and leave the paste, they classify you as a bad cook, and I said: well I don't know but in Puerto Rico that is one of the parts of the rice that we like the most.

And when we take out that hit, it's not hit, it's hit, when we take out that hit many of us use pots or as in Puerto Rico they call them cauldrons made of these strong metal, like strong aluminum, so we take a ladle and you hear crack, crack, crack! removing the stick What's going on? that sometimes we can't get the whole paste out and it stays there or the mark remains on the pot. So what I usually do is I put water on it and leave it there for an hour or two, sometimes if it's too much I leave it overnight and the next day I scrape it off because when there is water it sponges up and comes out easily.

Did you know that the Word is the water of the spirit? and if you are subjected there to the Presence of the Lord, the water of His Presence, which is the Word, also detaches the things that we have stuck to that we need to detach, and only in His Presence and knowing His Word, which is the mirror in the one we look at. In fact, Santiago used to say: what good is it for a man to look in the mirror and then go away and forget about his image? he compares it to the person who reads the Word of God but then doesn't do it.

So it is important that for all this that we are going to talk about, the Presence of God is essential in our lives as believers. We need His Presence and not just to read a chapter in a historical way, we have to learn to read the chapter, the verse or whatever and let it soak in there, what is the Lord saying to me with this? How can I improve with what the Lord is telling me in the Word? soak in the Word of the Lord, amen? let that be today's verse, soak yourself in the Word of the Lord.

I am going to ask Omar to bring me this mannequin here and this mannequin, which we are going to use this morning, we are going to take off the cloak that it has over, it represents the old suit, okay? The old suit is the carnal, it is what we were freed from when the Lord came into our hearts. I want to know that everyone can see it, can everyone see it? Or do I put it here? or put it closer. Omar forgive me but you're going to have to load it again, oh, ok. Can everyone see it there? wait my skirt falls off here.

I have to thank my sister Luz who is not here this morning and she would have liked to be, she was the one who lent me the mannequin and my sister Betsy who is not here this morning either, beautiful sister who cut a cloth there lightning fast in the way she thought and tossed it on top of the mannequin. As you can see, the mannequin has a dark brown suit and represents carnality, the old man.

I told them that, once we know the Lord, this garment is discarded by the power of the blood of Christ and we are renewed in the heart, right? and we are new creatures. This is the suit, this is the old man's suit, okay? everyone is watching right?

In this suit, Pablo, according to what we were reading, mentions some of the characteristics that are found in that old life and which we have to discard. I look at this and remember: I converted about thirty years ago, a little more, but when I converted, I did not convert in the Church where I had grown up. I became a Church that I was watching through television. I went through a very difficult process in my life after being married for about three years, four years and I went into a depression, I didn't even know what depression was but I went into an internal anguish.

And one day when I was ironing, I remember that I was ironing in a little room that I had to iron clothes, I turned on the television and there was a brother preaching, and this brother was from a Church that was very far from where I lived, but he ministered to me so much in that moment the Word of God that I said: I am going to go to that Church. And I ended up going to that Church and in that Church I was reconciled with the Lord.

And I say I was reconciled because when I was little I had been taken to Church but I had never really walked with the Lord, I was still listening but I did not know him. And from that moment I made a confession of faith and commitment to the Lord.

And that Church was very different from the Church I used to go to because the sisters dressed differently, and in my zeal, and in my love of serving the Lord, I stripped myself and began to wear the style of clothing that they used; In Puerto Rico it is very hot and very humid too, and one of the things were those thick long skirts, I know that some here are just as familiar, and long, and I sometimes say how could I with the heat that it is ? but one gets used to it.

But the point that I want to bring up is that in my heart there was such a great zeal to serve the Lord that I stripped off and began to wear those clothes. By the way, that was a problem for my husband because he didn't like it: no, no, no, no! Stay but change your clothes, change your clothes. But that's beside the point.

The point that I want to make this morning is that in my zeal to serve the Lord I knew that I had to change externally, of course, in my lack of knowledge and maturity I did not know that it was not only the external change; there was a bigger change that had to take place. And why am I saying this? because then when I started to wear the clothes that, as I tell you, I wore well, well, well up here, when I began to wear them at the time I realized that I was judging in my mind and in my heart those who were not wearing like me.

And I began to put in my heart and say: oh well, he is not as spiritual as me because if he were spiritual he would be wearing something else, you know what I mean? And the Lord one day called me to account and told me: that way of judging is spiritual pride. So I thought I was so special and so, and believe me it was with the heart because it is in the desire to serve the Lord. But there is a garment, it is the point, there is a garment that we have to discard and a new one that we have to use and put on. I am going to start mentioning according to the Word that we read, Ada is going to help me, the characteristics of this old suit or of this carnal suit.

First of all, one of the things that Paul tells us in the Letter is that: "Put to death what is earthly in you" and that includes bad thoughts and bad desires, we are responsible for what we do and what we think. We are responsible, do you hear girls? we are responsible. One of the first things he mentions is sexual immorality, put sexual immorality in there.

When we talk about sexual immorality we are talking about adultery, we are talking about fornication, I think I don't have to define those terms, incest, pornography. And you will say: but sister, you are mentioning these things, everyone here is Christian, obviously we know what these things are, we are not going to practice them; but believe me, you would be surprised how much pornography has increased among Christian women.

I was looking for the current incidence according to some studies that have been done and they believe that 17% to 20% of Christian women see and are tied to pornography. We always believe that the problem is man's, but did you know that women are also involved in this?

And one of the reasons why this happens why the Christian woman sometimes gets involved in this, one of the examples given by believing husbands, and sometimes non-believers, in English would be to spice up, give her a little more passion to your marriage, ok, if you want I'll back down because I don't want the sisters, ok. Many times, I lost the thread, many women want to please their husbands, so they start watching at his insistence, and I tell you these are real cases, they start watching pornography at their insistence. And believe me, it is a lie from the devil because eventually the man gets tired, and the man who is tied to pornography tends to eventually affect his marriage a lot because it breaks the unity of the marriage, it is self-satisfying, he cannot engage with the woman and that affects.

But the interesting thing is that many of the women have been abandoned afterwards and they remain tied to pornography. And other single women who are alone, and there was the case of this woman who in the Church told her that: look, go to the chat rooms to make friends, chat rooms are not so common but you still make connections for these single, single places and the person began to talk to someone, this person began to talk to her about other things and seduce her, and then eventually she began to send images and the person was also tied up. So let's not say no and keep in mind that as Christian women we are all exposed to falling into the trap and the network of pornography.

The lasciviousness, which is one thing by which we classify this society, is the most we see today, and you will say, what is lasciviousness? It is a form of sex, of excessive sensuality and lack of restraint. Do you know that we live in a society where everything is allowed and they call bad good, and they call good bad, and I do my thing and you don't care what I do? In other words, it doesn't matter what others think and who they hurt along the way. He is a person who lives with lewdness, there is no brake on those sensual desires, they do what they want.

Ok, well, in addition to that we have along with sexual immorality we have impurity, do you have it lying around? Ok impurity. We live in a society where everything is excesses, right? There is a license for everything, a license to do what you want and they tell you that you have to respect but you don't respect, especially if it has to do with impure things, you do what you want.

There are also disordered passions and bad desires, I am uniting these all because they have to do with the same thing. Do you have it there? let's put it near there. Ok, greed which is a form of idolatry. If I say, how many of us here have something in which we can sin in idolatry? no one: oh no, I don't see saints, no, no, no. Idolatry is simply something that you put in the place of God and that consumes all your strength. Money: buy, buy, buy, buy, buy; it is a form of idolatry because sometimes we put him before the Lord.

So while we're talking about these things I want to make it clear that this is not to judge or place blame on anyone, we're just here to do a self-assessment of where we are, okay? Then the other, anger. How many here can say that at a given moment they have become angry?

Anger is a fit of anger, that's what they call it, a fit of anger that has its external manifestations. The angry person may well punch a wall, break something, raise his voice to all he can, make a lot of noise and ruckus. What he doesn't know is the damage he is causing to other people.

We in counseling have had many cases, some of marriages with anger problems and it is curious, and we are talking about Christian people, let me just say that, we are talking about Christian people, one of the things that the person who raises his or her voice says The one who raises his voice, or the one who has these outbursts of anger is: you, whether it's him or her, you provoke me, it's your fault because if you didn't do that I wouldn't respond like that, okay?

Did you know that you are responsible for your actions? That I can't blame absolutely anyone for my reaction? I am responsible for my reaction. Those around me are not to blame. Maybe they did something that might be tempting, but I am responsible for my reaction.

So don't be fooled especially, women who are sometimes mistreated, although there are men too, but mistreated women and they feel guilty, and they are always saying: it was me who provoked it, maybe if I don't say this then the best my husband does not react like that. There are no excuses, we are responsible for our actions.

Okay, anger. Don't let the sun go down on your anger. Know what? The problem with anger is that if we don't deal with it, it creates resentment and bitterness, and you're carrying that resentment all the time. And we have a bad habit, I mean a bad habit, that sometimes we are angry and everyone knows it except the person with whom we are angry. And we're talking to everyone except the person, but that person still doesn't know; Maybe that person said something that made you angry. But as believers we have to learn that if someone said something that made me angry or offended, I go to the person first and talk to my brother, or talk to my sister, talk to my husband, talk to my wife, talk to my son. , whoever it is, talk to my coworker; Talk to the person first, because sometimes we get offended and the other person doesn't know that they offended us, okay?

And we get angry with that person and we don't know, and forget it, we create a monster out of the person and the person is not how you are imagining it. So if we talk we can solve. And I also bring this because many of us are leaders or belong to a ministry, and the worst thing that can destroy a ministry is anger or a lack of forgiveness. If we don't know how to forgive, if we get angry and create a mountain here, and we don't speak, and we don't face the person with love and tell them what has happened we can't solve, then that remains in our hearts, that bitterness and that resentment. And then: don't put me to work with that person, I don't want you to put me to work; with everyone but her, with everyone but her. Give me someone else. Or if not: is so-and-so going to be in the group? because if he is in the group I do not participate. Ok, that's an example from other churches, not from here.

Okay, the profanity. They say that this is a sin against man and it means that because of the malice in your heart you speak slander hurting and harming another person. The tongue is the easiest thing to get us into trouble. With the tongue we bless our Lord and with it we curse the people created in the image of God, that's what Santiago said, okay? Santiago says.

I could tell you about a lot of cases because one sometimes finds out about situations through the things one does in counseling, but this person came to me and said: look, I don't understand how my husband can praise the Lord, the way in which he praises him, and you see him in the Church and it seems that he is a saint, but did you know something? that when I get home he calls me pests, insults me for anything, comes home from work in a bad mood and the first thing he does is treat me as if I were a rag and he tells me that all the time. And I question myself, I wonder how long the Lord is going to allow him to continue where he is in the Church? that told me, I am quoting what the person told me. So let's be careful, let's be careful. We have to align ourselves with what we are, we are not what we were, it sounds contradictory. We are not what we were, we are a new creature.

Lying, the lie. The lie is the modus vivendi of this world. There is a lie wherever you go: at work, at school, wherever you want; It is so common that people no longer even realize that they are lying and sometimes the liar or the person who lies lies so much that they do not even realize that it is a lie, they believe it, they believe it. So let's scrap, ok.

Ephesians 4:25 says that by the way, if you want to read a Book that goes along with what Colossians says, Ephesians, Paul also says the same thing to the Church, especially in chapter 4. And one of the verses is: "Therefore, leaving the lie, each one speak to his neighbor with the truth because we are all members of the same body."

Have you ever thought that if we are all members of the same body? this is the body right? if I do something that hurts this finger, I get bruised and this finger is horrible, swollen, they can't even put a cast on it, but this finger is going to affect how I hold things; Sometimes we don't know how much we need certain parts until we don't have them. So whatever happens to this finger is going to affect my hand and my ability to do certain things with my hand.

In the same way, anything that happens to one of my brothers who make up the Body of Christ will affect how the Church walks, how can the Word of God be effective if there is something in the Body that is out of date, that is bad? ?

An example that if we don't ask for forgiveness we have an unforgiving heart. Not forgiving my brother will affect me in everything I do, it has an impact on me. An example of someone who said that in old Rome, when someone did something that was against the law, they took, and took a corpse and tied it to the person behind it, and that person, the punishment was that they had to walk with that corpse. behind for weeks and weeks, and weeks. Okay? imagine a corpse that is rotting and you walking around with all that.

And that is the same if you pay attention when you do not forgive, you are carrying a dead person who is hurting you, because forgiveness brings benefits, because you are the one who is affected the most. So when you have something with a brother and you don't want to forgive him, remember the corpse, that you are carrying a corpse and that corpse is going to rot a little.

Ok I don't want to go into more of this because I'm interested in quickly going to the new suit, how many say amen to the new suit? amen. Let's take away, yes "undress, get rid of the old now" this was what the Lord did to us, he stripped us. While I am now dressing my new suit, the sisters are going to give them some bookmarks that have the same color as this suit that I am going to put on so that they can write down the qualities, the characteristics of the new creature and remind themselves of this. So we are going to ask Omar to play a little music in which we are going to dress this one; notice that it is yellow.

Yellow symbolizes the friendship of God, we walk in friendship with the Lord once we are stripped of the old man. We are no longer enemies but friends of the Lord, the old creature becomes a new creature and now the system of the Kingdom is different from the system of the world. Our actions are going to be completely different from the actions of the old man.

When everyone has their marker. Okay? they already have. The little suit, the little suit of the new creature, hallelujah. Take out your pen or take out your pencil, whatever you have and we are going to start writing down and I hope in the Lord that you will put it later inside your Bible, and every time you read His Word you will remember the actions and what it represents a creature in the Lord.

We are recreated right? we are born again A completely supernatural process that only Christ through His blood does. One of the things that characterizes the Kingdom and that should characterize us is: mercy. How many of us are merciful to each other? Mercy is sympathy for the pain of others, the misery of others. The Word of the Lord that says in Lamentations 3 verses I believe that 23 and 24 says that: "By the goodness of Jehovah" or by the mercy of Jehovah "we have not been consumed because His mercy never failed" and I believe that Laura mentions it this morning "new are every morning."

Look, if the Lord has mercy on us all morning, every morning is new, why can't you have mercy every day with the one next to you, why can't you have compassion with the one next to you? yours? Right now it may be that you are going through difficult economic situations, it may be that you simply have a broken heart, it can be so many things. Mercy, pity yourself, pity your brother.

The next thing is kindness that goes very hand in hand with mercy. Being benign, our God is benign. A synonym for benign is to be generous, to be a generous person. Benignity "Because God is good" right?

And here is a very special one: humility, humility. Humility is voluntarily lowering yourself. Romans 12:3 says: "No one should have a higher concept of himself than he should have but think of himself" with what? "with good sense" and in moderation in some versions "according to the measure of faith that God has given you." Galatians also says: "If someone believes he is something when in reality he is nothing, he is deceiving himself." Philippians 2:3 says, "Do not do anything out of selfishness or vanity, but rather humbly regard others as superior to yourselves." Praise the Lord.

How beautiful it is to know that when we are working for the Lord we can consider our brother, our superior sister, no matter what talents you have, no matter what abilities you have; The Lord has put you to work with others who also have talents and abilities, perhaps different from those you have, but who are equally valuable to the Kingdom. So do not underestimate yourself or hold yourself very high, but have, as it says here, a moderate concept of yourself and that you think sanely, amen? modesty.

Meekness. Wow, submission, that means submission. Many people say: I am meek but not stupid, I have heard that statement, but did you know that meek means strength and gentleness at the same time? It is a perfect combination. You can be gentle at times and also be strong.

The Word says that Jesus entered into a lamb and that as a meek man inside Jerusalem, meek. You are not taking anything away by being meek, on the contrary, you are imitating the Master. Meek, strong and gentle. He says that he is opposed to enmities, lawsuits, jealousy, anger, contentions and divisions. Barbarian, how much do we avoid if we have a meek spirit, okay?

It says: patience. Ay ay ay. In Greek there are two words that describe patience: long and temper. This is being under pressure without giving in, being under pressure without giving in, being under pressure and not complaining, being under pressure and not talking about your neighbor, being under pressure and knowing that God is your strength, amen? He says that it is necessary for there to be a good relationship between siblings, ayayay because not all of us have the same character and temperament, we are all different, our way of being is different. So, we have to be patient with each other.

Ephesians 4:2 says: "With all humility and meekness, with patience one another" without your hair standing up as I say. Being mutually tolerant, that's another. Are you putting it Ana? mutually tolerant, put up with each other. That more or less goes with patience. James says: "Do not complain against each other so that you will not be condemned. The judge is already at the door."

And here is one that we all need more and more: a forgiving spirit, it goes very hand in hand with what I mentioned before anger. If God forgave us, why can't we forgive those around us or those who offend us, why can't we? Did you know that forgiveness has nothing to do with how I feel, you know? It has nothing to do with feelings, it has nothing to do with emotions; People say: I don't forgive him because I'm very angry or very upset, and if I forgive him he's going to think he got away with it. No.

Forgiveness has nothing to do with emotions, it has to do with obedience, to what the Lord is calling us to. And on many occasions we have to forgive even though we don't feel it and let the Lord put our hearts in the place where they should be in that obedience.

Love and here we go with something very special, ok, we are going to put this belt. The Word says that love is the bond that unites; don't drop this, tie it back there. Love, here is in the very center. You know why? They saw that the little suit was not fitted and when they put on the belt it seemed that everything is in its place because love has to be there for all these things to be effective.

Without love there can be no humility or mercy because the basis, the link that links all this is love for brothers, love for God and love for brothers. So this is something we have to think about. And when all this is working and it is seen little by little in our lives, there is a spirit of peace because we know that we are working as the Lord wants us to work.

And last but not least, we have to have a grateful heart. Never forget where the Lord has taken us from, never forget what the Lord has done for us. How many times do we give thanks for the blessings we have? Many times we focus on what we don't have and forget to give thanks for what we do have. Always remember to be grateful.

The peace of God will reign in your heart when there is a grateful heart, a loving heart, a merciful heart, a humble, meek heart, a heart that supports others. A heart that does not complain and forgive, that does not get angry but in peace resolves what needs to be done.

When I told Meche, when she asked me what the theme was and I told her: look, I've been to the Book of Colossians and it has, put it on, because I was leaving for Puerto Rico and I told her: put something there It has to do with the dress. I told her that because the Lord has been dealing a lot with me about that, how we are reflecting the character of Christ. So when I say that I mean it because it is something that God has been ministering to me and in the time that we are living, and in the time that this Congregation is going through like now, I believe that more than ever these areas of consolidation, of make strong are the areas of our actions, of who we truly are before God.

I can present a show here and seem like one thing, and at home be another, but I think the shows should end now. We must enter as we are and ask the Lord to help us at the same time. He says that to establish a new habit it takes, some say 21 days, others say 50 days, seven weeks so to change a habit from an old one to a new one. I tell them that no matter how much you put in, you have the help of the Holy Spirit; what has no excuse is not to change. You have the help of the Holy Spirit and only He can help you make the necessary changes.

And with this I finish. As I mentioned, I was there last week, it was when I returned from Puerto Rico and this happened while I was there. I was with my husband one afternoon in what is known as Old San Juan, the area of Old San Juan is very beautiful, they have made it very pretty and we went with the fact of walking for a while to stretch our legs a bit, because we had been working all day with my mom because my mom has Alzheimer's and that's why she was there, and we got hungry and we stopped for a moment in one of these carts that have hot dogs to buy a hot dog; the line was about, well there were about eight, nine people to buy the hot dog and we did like number 3.

In front was a girl asking, buying, placing her order, after that came another girl, a man, and us. That girl who is doing the order did not get out of the car, she was there talking, talking and talking, and then we began to notice and I say we began, because there were some comments in line, that other people came to her and gave her money so that She kept ordering, and after a while another one would come and give her money: ask her for this, ask me for this. And the girl who followed him, that is, the next one in line, said: but this one is sneaking in! straining is an expression of taking advantage, I don't know if it's the same for everyone; she's sneaking in and she looked at us like this: "but she's sneaking in, look how people are sneaking in."

The girl couldn't take it anymore and went to the other one and said: but what do you think? look at all the line that there is all the time and I see that you keep taking money from people, and people who come and approach you, and you keep asking. Then she said: no, no, and she went, didn't go, but began to argue with her: no, I brought money; It wasn't true because it was being given to her by various people who wanted to take advantage of her being there.

And the girl who was in line, of course, was not satisfied with what she was telling her and she turned to everyone who was in line and said: and she is a Christian. When he said that to me it was like: ugh! a stab in the chest because sometimes we don't realize the effect of our actions. And I tell you that sincerely today we need more than ever, more than ever and look: Iglesia León de Judá, those who are visiting, make the purpose and determination in their hearts that if all this that we speak here about the Word that we read, that Paul brought very well in Colossians, that this is something that you carry impregnated in your heart day by day, day by day.

The Lord is asking for higher growth and maturity. Perhaps we cannot, as Mayra's vision said, perhaps we are not flying at heights even though the cage is open, but we are not flying at the heights that we should, we are not even leaving the cage because there are things that are stopping us, things that They still don't let us fly high. That charge is still there.

So I urge you this morning: meditate before the Lord. Only God knows where you are, where I am, only God knows. Make the determination in your heart to walk the height the Lord has called you to walk. We are in difficult times and many people have moved away from the Church because many testimonies have not been the best.

So as God's people in this hour we are going to lower our heads. I am not going to ask anyone to say: me, this, the other, I believe that we all need to grow in one area or another. We are going to pray asking the Lord to help us and I would like even something else. Why don't we all hold hands? we are a Body, we are a Body united in the love of the Lord.

Father: in the Name of Jesus, Your people this morning lift up their eyes, lift up their hearts, Father we lift up all that we are before You Lord. Lord we know that You are the One who searches the hearts. Lord You know who we truly are, You have called us to walk in peace, You have called us to walk my Father in a freedom full of power, full of Your Grace and Your mercy, and perhaps many of us have fallen short in those areas Father , one other area.

Father, but in this hour, Lord, I ask you, along with my sisters, that in Your mercy, Holy Father, You Lord, right now put strength where strength is lacking, determination where determination and commitment are lacking, Lord, before You so that we can, Lord, begin to walk to another level, to a higher level, to a purer level, to a level that reflects what You Lord have done for us and what You are in us, because You Lord gave Your life, your whole life is In us.

Your Word says that we are hidden in You, Lord, and we ask that the strength of Your Holy Spirit help us to establish new habits, Lord, new customs, Lord that we can say with all internal strength that we are Christians, that we are people who have been washed and that our actions go hand in hand with what we say Lord. Allow us to be effective, Lord, not only here in the Church in the ministries we serve, but to be effective at home, with our children, with our spouses, with our blood brothers, with the family that still doesn't even want to know or know you. perhaps that he turns his back, that we be patient, that we can love instead of Lord instead of disowning or getting angry.

Father that we can be what You have called us to be: meek, humble, full of love and that we can Holy Father get up every day seeking Your Presence and declare with our lips and say: Lord, on this day we are Your instruments; use us according to Your purpose and that we may Lord bring glory to Your Name on this day. Father in the Name of Jesus we ask this and we give you glory and honor. Amen and amen. Hallelujah, thank you Father, thank you Lord.

Look and if there is someone, I don't want to pass this on for something either. If there is someone who still needs a change of clothes from the old to the new in a sense of heart, may the Lord enter their life. I do not know if this morning there is a person who has not yet made that commitment to the Lord but I want to bring him, if you are here this morning and you consider that you are actually a listener but you have not yet made a commitment to him Lord, I'm going to invite you in, I'm going to stay a few minutes, I pray for you, you don't have to convert. If you are not from the Church, you do not have to come to this Church, the important thing is that you seek the Presence of the Lord and find a place where you can worship. We offer you this but get a place.

So if there is someone, the doors of the altar are open and we make that call in the Name of Jesus, in the Name of Jesus. If there is no one, I bid them farewell with the love of the Lord, hoping that everything we have talked about this morning and afternoon remains in our hearts. Thank you Father, thank you Jesus.

Father: we thank you for this soul, we thank you Lord for his heart in this hour. Father, she has made a commitment before You Lord, in these moments Lord I extend my hand for each one of them Lord and I ask you in the Name of Your beloved Son that their heart right now be washed by Your beautiful blood, and that they believe a new heart Father, You have said that you died for each one of us who still do not know you, Lord. You have died for us and I thank you because in this hour these sisters recognize that you are the Father, that you are the one who has died and that you have the power through your blood to restore and bring new life.

Lord, just as that old garment was removed, Lord, these sisters this afternoon, as they are washed by Your blood, receive the new garment of Your Presence, the new garment that brings new life. Father bless them, help them to walk in You, help them Holy Father through the power of Your Holy Spirit that lies in them right now, may You help them to know You more and more, and more, and give them the strength to walk with You. From this moment they are Your daughters, so we declare it in the Name of Jesus, amen and amen. Thank you Father, thank you.