OBEDIENCE THAT COMES FROM FAITH. By Pastor Fernando

SCRIPTURE

⁵ Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. ⁶ And you also are among those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Romans 1:5-6

OBSERVATION

As Paul starts writing his letter to the Romans, from the very beginning he reveals his purpose to call people to the obedience that comes from faith in Jesus Christ. He is the prime defender of salvation through faith. But he also clarifies that true faith always results in obedience to God's ways. In other words, our faith is validated by our level of obedience or resistance to God's instructions. The quality of our faith is determined not by what we believe but by the way we live.

APPLICATION

The greatest struggle in my life is to live according to what I believe. For years I tried and tried to live up to my convictions, to defeat my compulsions, and to honestly have a lifestyle that reflects my faith. The second greatest struggle in my life is to call out people to live that way. As a pastor my greatest worry and what keeps me awake at night is the frustration of seeing people that believe in God living as if they do not believe His Word. God's grace and mercy has been covering me during my own struggles with unwavering obedience. His patience and kindness has lead me to repentance. And even though sometimes I fall again, I still find his forgiveness available as I repent constantly.

However, I'm troubled in my heart for so many dear people I know that continue living stubborn lives, doing whatever they want, and not doing what God clearly instructs them to do. I must have the same patience and mercy that God has with me. I must find ways to motivate them to obey and never give up trying.

PRAYER

Dear heavenly Father, thank you so much for your grace over my life. I'm doing better living out my faith trough sincere obedience. But now I need your help in helping people to live out their convictions as they trust and obey your ways. Give me a special anointing to motivate, guide, and disciple people in this way, to become faithful and committed followers of your son Jesus. Amen!

SHEEP OR GOATS. By Pastor Fernando

SCRIPTURE - Matthew 26:31-46

³¹"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

³⁷"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

⁴¹"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'

⁴⁴"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'

⁴⁵"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'

⁴⁶"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

OBSERVATION

In this passage, Jesus makes a clear distinction between sheep and goats. The sheep are people who develop a compassionate and merciful heart towards those in need. They do not much, but the little they do makes a difference in the life of others. Their lifestyle may not look very spiritual and their labor may be unnoticed by others, but Jesus Himself takes notice of their compassion. On the other side of the spectrum, you have the goats. They are indifferent to the needs of others and deny mercy. Even though we are given access to God through faith and not our works of mercy, our faith becomes real as we are compassionate towards others. Jesus is clear about this.

APPLICATION

I'm convinced that we need to ask ourselves regularly where we stand, on the right side with the sheep, or on the left side with the goats. The tricky part is that we can easily deceive ourselves and think that we are sheep when in reality we are goats. Who am I feeding? Who am I caring for? Who am I providing roof for? These are tough questions. An the real answers determine where we stand. We cannot pretend to be sheep and stand with the goats. Jesus can see through all the stuff. He will separate who is who.

I need to stand on the side of the sheep. But most important of all, I need to do the things that sheep do. I cannot neglect my work of compassion, helping the needy to have a better life. As we celebrate today the holiday of thanksgiving, I cannot avoid thinking of those in need that by the grace of God we have been helping in the recent years. I think about the Compassion children we have been sponsoring in Colombia, Tanzania, and the Philippines. I'm also thinking about Ashish and the kids in India. We are so blessed to help them, but there is so much more to do.

PRAYER

Dear heavenly Father, today we are specially thankful for all the blessings you give us, specially for the grace to help others who are in need. Please help us to stand always at your right, among the sheep. Help us to find creative ways to take care for the needs of the poor. Give us a special anointing to become a "resource" church that helps the needy. Teach us how to increase our generosity and be more externally focused, especially with people that lack the most basic needs. We are thankful for all your blessings and we pray that we will continue sharing those blessings with others. Amen!

MY SOLID ROCK. By Pastor Fernando

SCRIPTURE - Matthew 16:13-18
¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" ¹⁴They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." ¹⁵"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

OBSERVATION

A couple of weeks ago I was at the Hermon Stream Natural Reserve (Banias) in Israel where the ruins of Caesarea Philippi are located. I was standing on the area where it's most likely Jesus spoke these words to His disciples. I was amazed of how this passage comes alive by looking around the visual context. This city was an interesting place of pluralistic worship. Several temples of different deities were standing here in the days of Jesus, one right next to each other.















The Temple of Pan had it's back wall toward a huge cave that it was called "the gates of hell." In Pan's worship, people would bring their babies and smash them against the rocks of the cave.

But the most amazing thing is that there is a huge rock above all this temples that completely overwhelms everything around it. This rock is massive! Maybe 400 feet wide and 80 feet tall. Jesus was using this rock to illustrate how our faith in Him can overcome anything else and that even the so called "gates of hell" cannot overcome our faith.



APPLICATION

What Jesus said in Caesarea Philippi meant a lot to His disciples. Like 2000 years ago, we are surrounded by a pluralistic society that worships so many idols (celebrities, humanism, other religions, tolerance, possessions, power, etc). And when asked, many people say that Jesus was a good moral teacher, a compassionate prophet, or a champion for the poor and outcast. But above all these, there are many poeple like Peter who recognize Jesus as the Son of the Living God. In our culture, this may not seem very significant because people of a genuine Christian faith are looked down as ignorant, intolerant, and even arrogant. In a certain way, we may be threaten by the way other faiths are growing in popularity. But we should not fear, because our faith stands on the rock, on solid ground, and nothing, not even the gates of hell will prevail.

Very often I feel that my faith goes against the grind and that there is little hope to see the kingdom of God advancing in my oen life and in the lives of those who I shepherd. That's why this passage is so meaningful now to me. My rock, it's way more greater and powerful, and solid, and everlasting, than any other force around me. The great testimony of what Jesus said is confirmed today, 2000 years later. All these other temples are in ruins, but The Rock is still firm and strong.

PRAYER

Dear heavenly Father, thank you so much for the opportunity to see the context of what this message means for us. Give us the confidence to continue advancing your kingdom in our culture and society today. Not even the gates of hell can prevail. You are greater than anything else and we will not be overwhelmed by anything in this world. Our faith has been solid, is solid, and will remain solid for eternity. You are the Christ, the Son of God, My Solid Rock! And in the midst of all kinds of pagan worship around me, my faith is in you. Amen!

MY CAPERNAUM. By Pastor Fernando

SCRIPTURE. Matthew 4:12-16

¹²When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he returned to Galilee. ¹³Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— ¹⁴to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
¹⁵"Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the way to the sea, along the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned."

OBSERVATION

Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee, most exactly in the city of Capernaum. According to the prophetic word of Isaiah and the report of Matthew, the people of this city were living in darkness. It was the land of the shadow of death. Jesus intentionally decides to shine His light in the darkest places. It was there where He found His first disciples. From there, His healing ministry became notorious and His fame spread until Syria.

APPLICATION
As we chose to follow the ministry of Jesus, we need to find our own Capernaum, a place where darkness seems to have domain, and shine the light of Christ's love with faithfulness. We cannot be afraid of the darkness. We need to be in the midst of it. Many Christians want to stay in the light always because they fear the darkness will overpower them. We need to find our Capernaum so we can make a difference in this world.

Last night my good friend from church invited me for dinner with one of his colleges from work. He warned me that his friend was kind of... lost. And it was true. This guy is close to professional success, but afar from the restoring love of God. His conversations were filthy and his mindset was covered by darkness. What a contrast! All day I was surrounded by pastors in a conference, and at the end of the day I was with someone living in the darkness. I realized that I was in Capernaum, and that I like to be in Capernaum.

I enjoyed my dinner with this gentleman. We did not talked about Christ, but he said that our time together was the highlight of his trip. The Lord reminded me of the importance to be around people that are living in darkness. How else they are going to see the light? We cannot hide the light under a bushel. We need to shine God's light, like a city on a hill.

PRAYER

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the Capernaum moments you give me to shine your light. Please give me a passion to always seek opportunities to shine your light in dark places and to give people living in darkness a taste of what it means to walk with you. Amen!

SCRIPTURE - 1 Corinthians 7:35

I am saying this for your benefit, not to place restrictions on you. I want you to do whatever will help you serve the Lord best, with as few distractions as possible.

OBSERVATION

The apostle Paul is really intentional in helping the believers to focus in loving God rather than in doing things to earn His love. He wants to be honest about his convictions so he makes a distinction between God's Word and his own preferences. Being single helps him to focus more in the work of the Lord. A lifestyle that avoids eating food sacrificed to idols helps him to be a better servant, specially to weaker believers. The key is to distinction between putting restrictions and giving instruction. They are not the same.

APPLICATION
Today I came back form an amazing and life-changing trip to Israel. I know myself and I can see how I'm going to ask evry believer that I know to go to Israel. Certainly it's great if every believer can spend few days in the Holy Land, seeing, smelling, touching what we read about in the Bible. However, this is not a requirement for a sincere faith. It helps a lot, but it doesn't make us better Christians nor give us a special favor with God.

PRAYER

Dear heavenly Father, help me to communicate my passion for the Holy Land without bringing guilt or making restrictions to people. Even though I consider very important to be there, especially for pastors and teachers, give me wisdom and grace to motivate people in a way that honors you. Amen.

IMPRESSIONS. By Pastor Fernando

SCRIPTURE

As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted in the marketplaces, and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. Such men will be punished most severely."
Mark 12:38-40

OBSERVATION
Jesus disliked profusely the false impression that the Pharisees were giving to the rest of the people. Their religiosity was a facade. They were inconsistent in their beliefs and behavior. And worse of all they thought their prideful and selfish behavior was godly. Jesus was very cler about this. Punishment comes to those who live to impress others with lies.

APPLICATION
Its crazy how many times my sinful nature wants to impress a false me rather than to impress Christ in me. Its very important for me to catch myself doing that, repent, and let the truth come through. This is at the core of my struggle to pleasing God rather than pleasing people. The sense of urgency and importance is great because of the consequences it could bring.

PRAYER
Dear Lord, please help me to avoid false impressions and embrace your impression of Christ in me. Let me be true and true! I loe you Lord. Amen!

THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL. By Pastor Fernando

SCRIPTURE

³ He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;

⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;

⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121:3-8

OBSERVATION

This is one of my favorite promises from God's Word. Interesting I'm reading this on my way to Israel. God's love for His people is amazing and you can see His passion to bless them and protect them. However, the tendency when we read this passages is to think about "Israel" as a territory or a nation. Even though this piece of land is covered under the promises of God, God's heart is for the people of Israel, those who worship the God of Abraham and inherit his promises.

APPLICATION

I cannot describe the amount of anticipation I have for this trip. For years I've been dreaming with visiting the holy land and its sites. My heritage and bloodline to Jewish ancestors runs deep and I'm very excited about getting there. However, the Holy Spirit wants to bring sobriety to my emotions. It's not about the piece of land, but more about the people. The apostle Paul cried to God for the people, not for the nation, and surely not for the real state. My excitement of being in the holy land must always be bellow my excitement of ministering to holy people. I need to enjoy this trip and capture the moment, but my focus as I go to Israel should be the people that God loves so much and wants to bring closer to Him.

PRAYER

Dear heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity to travel and visit the Holy Land. I'm so excited to visit the land of my blood ancestors and more than anything, my spiritual ancestors. Please give me a heart for the people above anything else. Bless my family and the church back at home. Amen!