Bueno, hermanos, hagamos otra vez la oración y pedimos que el Señor nos ayude a considerar su palabra en este tema de la oración. Oramos. Nuestro Padre, gracias por ayudarnos a cantar tu gloria, ayudarnos en la lectura de la Escritura. Y ahora, Señor, pedimos que nos ayudes a a la consideración de tu palabra. Le pedimos que ayudes a que tu palabra vaya adelante y que juntos respondamos a tu palabra en fe y en la oración. Señor, le pedimos que abrieras los ojos de los ciegos, que vean la gloria de Dios en el rostro de Jesús y que sean salvados. Señor, le pedimos que seas merciful y bendiga nuestra reunión con su presencia. Lo pedimos en el nombre de Jesús. Amén. Bueno, estamos considerando este tema de la oración, disculpenme, de la oración, y en la hora anterior, consideramos la esencia de la verdadera oración. The essence of true worship, that is, what is the foundation of what worship is all about? And we consider from John chapter four where Jesus is speaking to this woman at the well. And in Jesus speaking to this woman, he said to her that the father will seek true worshipers who will worship him in spirit and Y así, en la hora anterior, para aquellos que no estaban ahí, consideramos que la oración de Dios en Espíritu tiene que ver con el hombre interior. Tiene que ver con lo que está pasando dentro de nosotros, es decir, en nuestros corazones. It is possible to come to church and to worship God with the lips, but the heart be somewhere else. And so God wants worshipers who will worship him in spirit with their hearts, that they would draw near with the heart of faith. Then we also saw that God, the true worshipers are those who worship the Lord in truth as well. la verdad de Dios como revelado en la Escritura. La Biblia nos instruye lo que es agradable a Dios en la oración, y debemos orar de acuerdo con su palabra. Por lo tanto, en conclusión, vimos que debemos orar a Dios en espíritu y en la verdad. No podemos tener uno sin el otro. Si solo oramos a Dios por el corazón, por nuestros sentimientos, sin la verdad de la palabra de Dios, entonces es solo emocionalismo. Or if we just have the truth of the word of God, if we have everything in place, we understand the truth, but we have no heart for God, then that's hypocrisy. That's formalism. It's just going through the form of worship with no heart for God. We must have both. We must worship him in spirit and in truth. And then I kind of left you somewhat on a cliffhanger. You know what a cliffhanger is? Es como cuando ves un show, un show de televisión o un filme, y termina y no tienes una conclusión. Y te da un pequeño indicador del próximo episodio. Y dices, oh, tengo que ver el próximo para saber qué va a pasar. Y así, te dejé en el piso. Lo que dije en la hora anterior, en conclusión, es que Cuando veas a Dios, te irás a orar a Él. Cuando veas a Dios, te irás a orar a Él. Sabes, cuando alguien ve a un famoso jugador de básquetbol, o a un famoso músico, o a un famoso artista, o a alguien que es famoso, y vas y conoces a esta persona, a esta celebridad, ¿y cómo nos sentimos? Nuestras manos empiezan a herir, Y decimos, oh, no, voy a mover las manos de alguien. Y hay un emocionamiento cuando ves a la persona. Y la persona dice, wow, él es tan alto y tan grande, o ella es tan hermosa, o él es tan talentoso. Y es como, oh, mi corazón. Y estamos tan impresionados con esta persona cuando vemos a esta persona, cuando llegamos a su presencia. Bueno, ¿cuánto más cuando vemos al Dios real y vivo? God is awesome. He is glorious. But how do we see God? I said, when we see God, we will worship him. I did mention that Isaiah the prophet in Isaiah chapter six, he saw the Lord in a vision high and lifted up. He saw the cherubim and the seraphim cry one to another, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. And the prophet said, woe is me for I am undone. For mine eyes have seen Jehovah, the king. He saw him in this vision. And then Paul the apostle, as he was on the Damascus road, he was actually, he wasn't Paul the apostle at that point. He was Saul of Tarsus. And I would say Saul the terrorist. He terrorized the church. He made havoc of the church. He had men and women brought to jail. He had others put to death. He was there at the stoning of Stephen. And while he was on his horse on the Damascus road, the Lord Jesus appeared to him and a light shone from heaven. And he heard the voice saying, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And he saw the Lord and the man was converted. He saw the Lord Jesus and he worshiped him. But when I say, when you see God, you will worship him. I'm not talking about you're going to have a vision like Isaiah the prophet, that you're going to be driving your car on the road to Damascus and you're going to hear the voice of Jesus from heaven. No. How is it that we see God? We don't see God with the physical eyes. It's impossible. We see him by faith. We see God by faith. And a faith that is not blind. Blind faith says, I believe in God, but doesn't have any reference to the word of God. I see God with no reference to scripture. That's blind faith. But faith that saves is a faith that is informed by the scripture. The Bible tells us about God. The Bible reveals to us what God is like, what God has done. It tells us about His Son, the Lord Jesus. And faith believes the testimony of Scripture. And it's when we see God in Scripture, in the teaching of His Word, in His truth, we see Him with the eyes of faith. Ven conmigo al 2 Corintios 3. 2 Corintios 3. Este pasaje ilustra cómo vemos a Dios. Ahora, lo que Paul está abordando aquí en este tercer capítulo de II Corintios, está haciendo un contraste entre el antiguo covenante y el nuevo covenante. el antiguo Covenant, donde Dios se reveló a su pueblo, Israel, en Mount Sinai, la ley fue escrita en piedras, y luego, a continuación, Moses tomó un pincel en el comandamiento de Dios y escribió las leyes de Dios y sus comandamientos. And then the prophets came and those words were written as well. And thus the Jews, they have the Old Testament and they have the reading of the scripture. Often they refer to it as the reading of Moses, particularly the first five books of the Bible. And Paul said, that's the old covenant. But the new covenant, God does something more. de la palabra escrita en la pared. De hecho, le da una comprensión del corazón de lo que está escrito en la Escritura. Y quiero que veamos el contraste aquí. Miren el versículo 12, 2 Corintios 3, empezando con el versículo 12. Having, therefore, such a hope, we use great boldness of speech, and are not as Moses, who put a veil upon his face, that the children of Israel should not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away." Now, what Paul is referring to, when Moses went into the mountain to meet with God, he came down and he covered his face. There was the radiance, the glow of God's glory shining on Moses' face, and Moses put a veil to cover his face. And that's what Paul is referring to. So that the children of Israel should not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away. It didn't remain on his face, it would eventually fade. Verse 14, but their minds were hardened for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains, it not being revealed to them that it was done away in Christ. And what Paul is saying is that even to this very day, at the point that he was writing, and even to our very day, The very reading of the Old Covenant, the very reading of the scriptures, there is a veil that continues to cover their face, literally their minds, in terms of their understanding. There is the same veil that covers their minds, and they are hardened. In other words, this veil is a veil of ignorance. Es un fallo de la falta de comprensión de la verdadera significación y significación de las Escrituras. Es muy posible leer la palabra de Dios. Puedes comprender las palabras gramáticamente. Puedes ver los verbos y los adjetivos y puedes comprender la historia, pero todavía puede haber un fallo de no comprender la verdadera significación de lo que está siendo leído. Verso 15. Actualmente, el último parte del versículo 14 lo leo. Dice, pero sus mentes fueron arrepentidas hasta este día. Al leer el viejo Covenanto, la misma vela permanece. No se les revela que se ha hecho fuera en Cristo. Pero hasta este día, cuando Moses es leído, una vela se encuentra en su corazón. Pero cuando sea que se devuelva al Señor, que es el corazón, la persona, se devuelva al Señor, la vela será retirada. Ahora, el Señor es el Espíritu, y donde el Espíritu del Señor está, hay libertad. En otras palabras, hasta que una persona devuelva al Señor, hasta que crean en el Señor Jesucristo, a través de la repetición y la fe, hay una dulceza del corazón. Hay un velo que cubre el corazón, donde están ocultos y no entienden. No entienden la verdadera significación y el significado de las Escrituras. Es una comprensión espiritual que viene cuando el Espíritu del Señor remueve ese velo de sus mentes y sus ojos se abren And they see indeed that Jesus is the son of God. They see that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the scriptures. They see that Jesus is the word that became flesh and that he is a man. Yes, he's a man, but he's also God in the flesh as well. That Jesus has two distinct natures, a human nature and a divine nature, that he always exists existió desde toda la eternidad, pero en la plenitud del tiempo Dios envió a su hijo, nacido de la Virgen María, nacido de ella, pero este bebé que vino y recientemente celebramos Navidad. Y para aquellos de ustedes que lo hacen, es esa reconocimiento de que este salvador nació para el mundo. Este es Jesús, a quien Moses y los profetas habían hablado. Y es hasta que el Espíritu de Dios abriera la mente de los judíos que ellos realmente creerían que Jesús es el Cristo. Ese castillo debe ser retirado. Y eso es lo que pasó con Saul de Tarsus. Recuerden, Saul era un judío. Él sabía el Antiguo Testamento. He knew the scriptures and he thought Jesus was an imposter. He thought Jesus was a heretic. He thought Jesus and those who follow Jesus deserve to die. And he was on a mission. And that's why he was so principled in his terrorism and in his hate of the church. And he was in rage, breathing threatenings and slaughters. But it was until that veil was removed. Y él vio a Jesús, por quien Jesús realmente era. Y luego aprendió de las Escrituras, no solo su experiencia en el camino de Damasco, pero luego aprendió de las Escrituras, cómo las Escrituras foretojan la venida de Cristo, que el Mesías sufriría, que él no vería corrupción, salmos 16, que él se levantaría de los muertos, y que este es un verdadero descendiente, el hijo de David, que traerá salvación a Israel. Este es Jesús de Nazaret. La vela fue retirada. Y dice, el Señor es el Espíritu, y donde el Espíritu del Señor está, hay libertad. If you put a blindfold on your eyes, you can't see, right? There's no liberty. You can't run. You can't walk and jump because the veil is there's a veil over your eyes. But if you take the veil off, you can see and there's liberty. You can go this way and go that way and you can do things. You can drive. But if your eyes are covered, you can't do much. And so where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. There is a liberation of the heart and of the mind that is that is buried and dead in their trespasses and sin that is blind. And you don't understand the word of God. You don't understand who Jesus is. You don't understand who God is. But when the veil is removed from your eyes and you see and you understand. Seeing is believing, OK? When you believe, the veil is removed, God opens your eyes. You know the song, Amazing Grace, I once was blind, but now I see. And many of God's people here this morning, we could think of the time before we knew the Lord and how we lived in the world. And maybe there are people here who are not believers. You know, I wasn't born from birth as a Christian. I was born again, but I wasn't born as a Christian. I lived in the world. I lived not going to church on Sunday, just sitting around at home doing nothing, walking around, wasting my life. Ni siquiera pensando en Jesús y ir a la iglesia, eso no era importante para mí. No tenía interés en Dios y en Jesús. Tenía otros intereses, los intereses del mundo. Pero, ¿ves? La vela permaneció en mi mente. Estaba en la oscuridad. Estaba ignorante. Estaba ciego. Pero cuando la vela se retiró, comencé a verme como un pecador. Y la palabra de Dios me instruyó. Y luego, de las Escrituras, aprendí quién realmente es Jesús. Y dije, tengo que tenerlo. I need salvation. I'm a miserable man. And not only am I a miserable man, I'm a man who is destined for hell. Because I know that God is the judge and we all must give an account to God. And there's no way that a man can save himself, that a woman can save herself. And then I hear of this savior, Jesus, who became a man, who was with God in the beginning, and who was God, the son of God. He is deity. And he became a man. And I said, oh, I never knew that before. So that explains why he can do the miracles precisely. He could calm the waves in the wind. He can raise people from the dead. He can take a withered man with a withered hand and make that hand whole. He could see into the hearts of men. He can do all of these miracles because he is God. But he wept. He had to go to the cross because he was man and he had to go not because of his sins. I said, well, why did he go to the cross if he had no sin? Bueno, él fue a la cruz porque vino a este mundo para salvar a los pecadores. Porque cada uno de nosotros es obligado a vivir ante Dios en obediencia perfecta. Y ningún hombre y ninguna mujer podrían hacer eso. Entonces, ¿cómo podríamos ir a el cielo si no podemos ser perfectos? Bueno, Jesús vino. Jesús era perfecto. He obeyed every command of God. And not only was he perfect, we have a whole record of sins. You know, someone does crime, they go to jail, they have a record, right? And even if the Lord save us, but what about our past? We all have a past. What about all the things we've done in the past? Well, Jesus took upon himself all of those sins for a multitude which no man could number. And when he went upon the cross, he endured hell. He endured hell for the sins of many sinners. He endured that, that's why it was dark over the land. That's why he cried out, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me? And then he cried out, it is finished. When he completed the suffering, When he offered himself as a sacrifice for sin, that's what he did on the cross. He offered himself as a lamb without blemish, a sacrifice for sin as he was on the cross. He was sinless, but he endured the punishment of hell for sinners on the cross. And then he says, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. He bowed his head and his soul departed from his body and his body was laid in the tomb. And then on the third day, that body and soul was reunited because death come as a result of sin. I don't want us to preach another sermon here, but death comes as a result of sin. And that's why there is death in the world. And when Jesus died upon the cross, he conquered sin, he conquered death and he conquered the devil. And when he rose again, all the sin was paid for. His body was reunited with his soul and he rose again from the dead. And when he rose from the dead, that was victory over death. La victoria sobre el muro y ahora él ha ascendido a la mano derecha de Dios con su cuerpo y con su alma glorificada como hijo de Dios y el mensaje de la salvación de su salvación es proclamado en todo el mundo y aquellos que creen en él también estarán con él un día. Y esa es la buena noticia del Evangelio. Y aquellos de ustedes que no son cristianos, You need to see Jesus. And until you see him, you're not going to believe in him. You see him not by a vision, but see him by faith. How do you see him by faith? First of all, you need to learn about him. Read the Bible. Come to church. Read the scriptures. And you say, well, how can I understand that? You need the Holy Spirit to help you, to open up your mind. You need God to save you. You need to cry out, Lord, save me. I can't tell you the steps of salvation, do this, that, and that, but I know what the Bible says, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's very simple. You call upon God. Yeah, but I don't know what to say. You say it in your own words. God knows what's wrong with you anyway. You need to understand what's wrong with you, that you're a sinner. And you need his salvation. Look here at chapter four here. Second Corinthians, look what it says here. Verse three, Paul goes on. And he says, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish, in whom the God of this world had blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. Seeing it is God that said light shall shine out of darkness who shine in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus. That's how it works. Dios ilumina la luz del conocimiento de Jesús, de su gloria. Dios hace algo en tu corazón y solo Dios puede hacerlo. Ningún preacher puede hacerlo. Only God does it. He comes in and he opens you. He gives you understanding. But you must cry out to the Lord that the Lord would show you and open your eyes. When that happens, when you understand who Jesus is, then you see him by faith, then you will worship him. And that's my point here. When you see God. You will worship him. glorioso, justo, sagrado, justo, amable, amable. Cuando veas a Dios en toda su belleza y gloria, su alma se derrumbará y caerás ante sus pies y dirás, eres Dios, y lo orarás. Now, I have two more things I'd like to bring out in this matter of worship. We considered the essence of worship. Now I want us to consider the benefits of worship, the benefits of worship. You know, when we worship God, something happens to us. And I want to highlight two things. Two of the benefits of true worship. And the first benefit I would list here is that true worship will strengthen you as a believer. True worship will strengthen you as a believer. It will make you strong. en tu fe, en tu corazón. Cuando realmente adoramos a Dios en espíritu y en la verdad, este acto de adoración, lo que estamos haciendo, le traerá claridad, es decir, una comprensión de quién es Dios. En otras palabras, cuando adoramos a Dios, veremos a Dios como Él realmente es. Dios es grande, and everything else is small. That's what happens in worship. When you worship God, you will recognize, you will be reminded afresh, not that you don't know this, but you will be reminded afresh that God is big and everything else is small. Esto te permitirá perder todo por Cristo. Hablaba con un hermano durante el descanso sobre cómo a veces los cristianos pueden sentirse intimidados por la justicia y en medio de personas desconvertidas porque tienen miedo de lo que la gente va a pensar sobre ellos. Bueno, ¿qué piensa Dios? You see, when we're truly worshiping God, God will be big and He truly is big. He is great. He is the sovereign Lord. And everything else in human beings and circumstances and situations will be small. We will see, in other words, we will see things as they really are. We will see our lives as they really are. and we will not be crippled with fear. Pero, en realidad, seríamos fortalecidos como creyentes y podríamos enfrentar la vida. Podríamos enfrentar los exámenes, las dificultades y las tentaciones de la vida porque adoramos a un Dios que es grande, a un Dios que es glorioso, a un Dios que es capaz de hacer más que lo que podemos pedir o pensar. Y luego miramos nuestras circunstancias y miramos a la gente alrededor y decimos, bueno, ¿por qué soy tan optimista con Él? and about her. And so what? Let them laugh at me. God is my judge. It is well with my soul. What can they do to me? You see how it makes you strong? That's a benefit of true worship. te fortalecerá como creyente, porque estás involucrándote. No estás jugando juegos cuando estás realmente orando a Dios. Estás extirpando tu alma a Dios. Y también tienes a su palabra para encorajarte, y el Espíritu de Dios te ayuda, y algo está sucediendo dentro de ti. Tu fe está siendo más fuerte, tu amor y tu devoción a Dios se está profundizando, Vuestras percepciones y claridad de la realidad están siendo clarificadas. Y por lo tanto, cuando enfrentas dificultades y dificultades en la vida, estás en la presencia de Dios. Sus promesas son reales. Crees y confías en Él. Sabes cómo ir a Él en la oración y llenar tu alma con Él. Dios está cerca de ti y te hace fuerte. Veámos un ejemplo. Vuelve conmigo a Job, capítulo uno. Many of us are familiar with what happened in the life of Job, how he lost his children. They were killed in a tragic accident. Eventually, Job was afflicted with all of these boils on his body. And I want us to see here when Job responds, to this tragedy. I want you to see how his faith shines through and how he worships God. Job chapter one. And this is after Joe received all of this news. He lost his livelihood. He had it. He was in his own business and all of his stock is not stocks in terms of money, but livestock in terms of cattle. And he lost a lot of his livelihood. He lost his children. And this man was devastated. And this happened very quickly. Look at verse 20. Then Joe borrows and rent his road. and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshipped. He worshipped. You say, why would he do that at a time like that? He worshipped and said, naked I came out of my mother's womb and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave and the Lord have taken away Blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this, Job said not, nor charged God foolishly. I want you to see the connection between worship and strengthening and being strengthened as a believer. Job has lost all that he had. He falls on the ground and he worships. Él toma su mente y pone su mente sobre Dios. Él ha perdido todo esto. Está en el suelo y está pensando en Dios. ¿Quién es Dios? Piensa en lo que realmente es la realidad. Y Job dice, ¿sabes? And he has grief. I mean, he rent his clothes. And no doubt there will be tears in his eyes and his heart is broken and he falls to the ground. And he said, you know what? I brought nothing in this world. I lost my children. I lost my livelihood. I did not bring my children when I came into the world. I did not bring the children with me. I did not bring this livelihood. In other words, he recognized that everything that he has has come from God. I brought nothing in this world. So he says naked. I came out of my mother's room and naked. Shall I return there? Not that he's going to return to his mother's room literally, but when he laid his body in the grave, his clothes isn't going with him. And then he said, that's reality. And then he says, the Lord gave. And the Lord has taken away. And he says, blessed be the name of the Lord. You know what was most important to Job? Was that God be glorified. Many people would say, you see, this is why I don't go to church. This is why I don't believe in the Bible. If there is a God, how can these terrible things happen to me? Look at what I lost and what I suffered. I don't believe in the Bible. I don't believe in religion. I don't believe in those things. How many times you've heard that? Maybe some people think that way sitting here this morning. But I tell you, people who think that way, they do not know the Lord. They do not know what it is to worship God. They do not understand reality. The reality is, is that God doesn't owe us anything. The truth is, we deserve to be cast into hell for all of our sins. La verdad es que somos pecadores y Dios es sagrado. La realidad es que cualquier cosa buena que recibimos ha venido de la mano de Dios. Y Dios es soberano. Y Dios es bueno, y Él es merciful, y sí, la tragedia que tal vez nosotros podamos experimentar, que escuchamos de otras personas, en términos de nuestras mentes, simplemente no podemos entender por qué estas cosas están sucediendo. Pero una cosa que sabemos, We know that God, he is blessed, he is just, he is righteous, and he has been good to us. So whatever happens to us from this point on, we know that we have the best. It is well with our souls, and if something should happen to us, we die, we know that we're going to be with him in heaven. And here's Job. Él cae en el suelo y la oración. Job reconoció que necesitaba a Dios. Él no tiene nada y nadie en este mundo, sino a Dios. A veces nos sentimos de esa manera, llegamos a ese punto, cuando tienes decepción en la vida, y incluso tu marido o tu esposa te puede decepcionar. or your children may disappoint you. These are the ones who are near and dear. And you recognize, you know, my spouse and my children, they can never do what only God can do for me. I love them and they love me, but they're not God. There's only one God. And my job and this opportunity and the house and the things that I have. And I thought, you know, once I've achieved these things, I'd be so happy. But no, these things cannot satisfy the longing of my soul because these things are not God. So in worship, you know what happens in worship? In worship, we're responding to God, just as we sang earlier in the service. We sang these songs of hymns of praise. And in these hymns, we're celebrating God's goodness and his salvation and his mercy to us. And we're reminding, we say, oh, praise the Lord, bless his name. And as we sing these songs, what are we doing? We're offering up. Agradecemos, ofrecemos un agradecimiento, aclaramos que Dios es tan bueno y gracioso y glorioso. Y así celebramos eso mientras cantamos y cantamos de nuestros corazones y reconocemos a este Dios bueno y gracioso y merciful. Recuerda, Dios es grande y todo lo demás es pequeño. Incluso nuestros problemas. Así que uno de los beneficios de la verdadera oración es que la verdadera oración te fortalecerá como creyente. ¿Sabes la historia de la iglesia? Ves a la gente que estaba conectada a la oración y que estaban quemadas vivas y cantando. Eso suena asustador. ¿Cómo puede alguien cantar mientras se queman o se meten en la cárcel mientras Paul y Silas cantan en la medianoche? in those circumstances. Or when Jesus says, when men reproach you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake, rejoice and be exceeding glad. Rejoice when people are threatening to take my life, when people are lying about me, when people hate me and they don't want anything to do with me, rejoice. Jesus says, yes, rejoice. for great is your reward in heaven. But how can we do these things unless we're truly worshiping God? Paul, waiting to be executed in 2 Timothy chapter four, he says about the time of his departure is at hand. He says, may God be glorified in his everlasting kingdom to whom be the glory. Dice que en el verso 18 de 2 Timoteo, capítulo 4. Quiero decir, 2 Timoteo, capítulo 4. Para quien sea la gloria. Déjame leer el verso. No tienes que volver allí, pero yo solo quiero ser acurado aquí. En 2 Corintios 4. Paul dice que el Señor me enviará de todos los malos trabajos. and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Here's a man, he's about to have his head cut off. And he says, the Lord will deliver me. I'm going to be with him. And he will bring me to his heavenly kingdom. And he says, to whom be the glory. Let God be glorified. If it's by my death, well, may my death be to his praise and his glory. For he is worthy. He has saved me. He has redeemed me. To him be the glory. How can you do that if you don't worship him? And so I say, brethren, week by week as we gather for worship or in the privacy of your home, having your own personal Bible reading and singing and prayers. This is a benefit of truly worshiping God. Cuando tu corazón se va a ir a Dios, puedes lidiar con la vida. Y segundo, la verdadera oración te guardará del pecado. La verdadera oración te guardará del pecado. ¿Sabes que sirves lo que oras? Si oras dinero, The Bible says the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And if your ambition in life is to be rich, I'm not saying it's sinful to be rich, but if it's an ambition, If it's your ambition to be rich, if it is your passion to have money and to covet money and things, then these things become your God and you will serve them. And in serving money, you know how people serve money? They'll do anything to get it. They'll lie. They will steal. They will give their bodies in an immoral and sinful way. They will do anything and everything, and some will even murder to get it. But when God is the object of your worship, you're free from the love of money. You're free from covetousness. O puede ser la popularidad que te adoran. Puede ser otra persona que te adoran. Y eso es por eso que algunas personas escuchan que su novio se rompe con su novia y ella está enamorándose de alguien más y él viene y dispara y mata a ella y luego se mata a sí mismo. Y dices, oh, eso es loco. Bueno, el tipo hizo de la chica su ídolo. Él hizo un dios de esta mujer y dijo, debo tenerla. Y si no puedo tenerla, nadie más puede tenerla. Y si no puedo tenerla, There's no reason for living. And he blows his brains out. You hear the stories. Worst true worship. You see, we are not to be worshipping people. We are not to be worshipping things. We only only to be worshipping God. And when you worship God, you will be in your right mind. You will have better, more fulfilling relationships with your spouse, your children, because you do not expect them to do what only God can do for you. So when you truly worship, when we are truly worshiping God, it will keep us from sin. When you worship God, you become holy. se convierte en sagrado. Y de vuelta en nuestro capítulo 3 de 2 Corintios, si aún estás ahí, y terminaré con este capítulo. 2 Corintios 3 Paul continúa. Dice en el versículo 17, ahora el Espíritu, ahora el Señor es el Espíritu, y donde el Espíritu del Señor está, hay libertad. Pero todos nosotros, con la cara revelada, esa campana ha sido retirada, observando como en una mirada, la gloria del Señor se transforma en la misma imagen, de gloria a gloria, incluso desde el Señor, el Espíritu. Ahora, lo que estamos hablando aquí es de la santificación de lo que habla Paul aquí. Él dice, pero cuando estamos con la cara desvelada, nos observamos como en un espejo, ¿sabes? Si miras en un espejo, ves a ti mismo, claramente. Cuando observamos, como en la mirada, la gloria del Señor, en otras palabras, cuando nosotros, cuando esta vela se rompe nuestras mentes y cuando vemos a Dios con los ojos de la fe, a través de su palabra, cuanto más vemos a Dios, cuanto más aprendemos sobre Dios, cuanto más queremos ser como Él. y nos transformamos en la misma imagen de gloria a gloria. Es decir, la santificación es progresiva. Nacemos en la gracia. Nos convirtimos en más maturos, más humildes, más santos, más inteligentes, más graciosos, pero esto viene mientras y al igual que lo observamos, al igual que lo observamos. ¿Recuerdas a Michael Jordan cuando estaba fuera? No estoy hablando negativamente de Michael Jordan, pero sé que me estoy casando. Sé que es realmente LeBron James hoy en día, pero no quiero hablar de Michael Jordan. Y yo recuerdo que empezó a jugar y su estilo, viste a todos los otros chicos lavándose las cabezas, poniéndose cortas largas. ¿Por qué? Porque idolizan a Michael Jordan, así que quieren ser como Michael, así que todos quieren vestirse como él. O si es alguna mujer famosa o lo que sea, tal vez se pinta su cabello y haga algo y ponga algo en su cabello y todas las chicas dicen, oh, ella es tan linda, quiero ser así también. Así que, ¿sabes? Cuando admires a alguien, cuando te idolizas a alguien, empiezas a ser como ellos. You want to walk like them. You want to talk like them. You want to be like them. And when we worship God, when you worship God, brethren, you will become holy. Because you will see God in all of his glory. You will see Jesus. And you say, oh, Lord, I want to be like you. And as we read in First John, it says, everyone that hath this hope set on him purifies himself, even as he is pure. We shall be like him when we see him face to face. So brethren, I trust you will see the importance of true worship. Therefore, when we come to church, when you're reading your Bible, now I'm not saying No vamos a luchar por estar fríos. Tenemos las dificultades de vivir la vida cristiana. Vamos a estar fríos, vamos a estar cálidos. You know, we're going to be a lot of things can bring us down and so forth. But I'm saying consistently we worship God by faith, not by how we feel, but in principle by faith. And we seek to give God the very best that we can give him, crying out that he would help us by his Holy Spirit. But nonetheless, we don't give up because we're having a bad day. o porque no nos sentimos tan espiritual, pero no, sin principio, venimos ante Dios y decimos, Señor, me siento frío, Señor, estoy convicto de mi pecado. ¿Cómo puedo orar por ti? Señor, perdóname por mi pecado. Señor, vengo a través de tu hijo, el Señor Jesús, y ayúdame a dar lo que mereces. Ayúdame a orar por ti en Espíritu y en la verdad. Vengo antes de ti pidiendo. Es por eso que toda esta oración está sucediendo. When you come to church, we're praying before the Bible is read. We pray before the preaching of the word. That's why we pray, because we recognize that we can't do any of these things apart from God's help. We don't come to church to play games or to go through a formality. When you come to church, remind yourself You are coming before the presence of the living God. And God will never disappoint you. God will not disappoint you. And I say to you who may not be Christians, there's no better way to live. And may you come to know this God. You know, that's why you're here. para glorificar a Dios y disfrutarlo para siempre. Levantemos la mano. Padre, nos agradecemos por tu palabra. Nos agradecemos por tu Espíritu. Nos agradecemos por tu Hijo, and for your grace. And we thank you, Lord, that we can come to you and that you know our frame. You know that we are but dusts and that the Lord Jesus is touched with the feeling of our infirmities and was tempted in all points like as we are yet without sin. And therefore we can come with boldness to the throne of grace. para encontrar gracia para ayudarnos y misericordia. Señor, pedimos que nos acerques y le agradecemos que eres un Dios glorioso y que un día, Señor, nos veremos frente a frente. Pero ahora le pedimos, mientras estemos aquí en la tierra, que nos ayudes a vernos con una fe más fuerte, That our eyes will be open that we know we see through a glass darkly. But we pray, Lord, that you would help us to serve you. And to enjoy you. And to glorify your name and to have your glory and your praise to be preeminent in our lives. We do ask and pray that you would save sinners. That you would open their eyes, that you would remove the veil. And there would be liberty. They would be liberated from their sins, liberated from this world. And they would be among the sons of God, worshiping you and serving you with joy. Lord, may your kingdom come this day. Y pedimos y le pedimos estas cosas en el nombre de Jesús. Amén.