Algo Falta // Ama Como Jesús

[♪ Upbeat music plays ♪ It's great that you are here today in Iglesia Vertical. Thank you for being here. If I haven't had the opportunity to meet you, my name is Juan Alzate. I am part of the team as a young pastor. And I love Sundays. I don't know if you like Sundays, but I love Sundays, being here in Iglesia Vertical. It's really like a fresh air, a new air that the Lord gives us, not only through his spirit, his presence, but also being here with family as part of Iglesia Vertical. And that doesn't happen by accident. So I want to take a moment to honor Pastor Virgilio, Pastor Agislen, for the culture here in Iglesia Vertical, which starts from the top, and also for the opportunity to speak here today with you. And well, today we start a short series called Ama Como Jesús. It's going to be a very short series of two weeks, two Sundays. Today I have the opportunity to open this series, and it's a special series because it's a series that many churches here in southern Florida are participating in. The idea is that many churches that are participating in this series are doing it so that there is unity in the body of Christ. And today, the title of today's message is, SOMETHING IS MISSING. Say it with me. SOMETHING IS MISSING. SOMETHING IS MISSING. And thinking about this, it took me to this week, just when we all celebrated Thanksgiving this Thursday, and I thank God that it's a day where we have the opportunity to consciously stop and think and say, Lord, thank you for your kindness. Thank you because you are a part of our lives. And it's also a very beautiful and cool time. I love spending time with the Lord and also eating. I love both things, the presence of God and food.

And thinking a little about food, I want to show you in a moment three images of food or drinks that suddenly taste better, or at least it seems to me, when they are accompanied by another food or another drink. So, let's start with the first one. The production team will help me. And there we see the first one, which is a coffee. How many like coffee? Show me. How many need to have breakfast with coffee? And maybe let go a little. So, I'm going to show you three photos, as I said, and when you see the first photo, I'm going to show you what's missing to add to the next photo, food or drink. So, I want you to say with me, something is missing. Look at the next photo, what is missing is coffee with milk. Some who refuse are those who only drink coffee alone. Black coffee, may God bless you. Okay, that's another topic, another discussion. But let's see the next image. Okay, help me. Something is missing. Rice with what? Rice with chicken. Because it's yellow rice. If it had been white rice, maybe beans, but that with tomato sauce tastes spectacular. Okay, the next photo. Here we see a ham sandwich, but say it with me, something is missing. Okay, don't get ahead of me, don't worry.

I got used to these sandwiches at school and at university. But something is missing, and I heard it here, ham cheese with cheese is missing. So, the reason why I showed you this, it's not for you to think about food, although I'm getting hungry, but I want to emphasize on this topic, on the word that something is missing. And many times in our journey with Christ, we think that suddenly we are loving and honoring Him in the best possible way because we are coming to the church, we are praying, fasting, but I sincerely believe that something is missing. This message is for the veteran who has been in the Gospel for years, it is for the new Christian, or even if you have not yet put your faith in Christ, this message is for you. And as Pastor Claudia said, we are in a Christmas season, the end of the year, where suddenly we think a little more about the past year, the coming year, where we make mistakes, where we fail, where we can improve. And I believe that there is something that is missing in our relationship with God, that the Lord put not only in my heart, but also in the hearts of many pastors talking about this topic through these last weeks. So, with that said, I would like to pray for the Lord to speak to us.

And notice that I love what the word of God says, that we do not receive because we do not know how to ask. So, let's pray and let's ask God, speak to me, but, many times when we ask God, it is with an egoistic motivation. Today, tell God, speak to me. Sin importar lo que tenga de frente de mí, la situación, el problema, la ansiedad, la angustia, porque su palabra es suficiente para llegarte tal cual donde estás. ¿Te parece? Vamos a orar. Señor, te doy gracias porque tú estás aquí en este momento. Espíritu Santo, te pedimos que nos hable, Señor. No queremos que nada, Señor, se ponga entre tu palabra, que nos va a hablar en el día de hoy y en este momento, Señor. Aunque estemos abrumados con lo que está pasando afuera, de repente es pecado, dolor, situaciones difíciles en nuestra familia. Te damos gracias porque tú estás aquí en medio de cada aflicción y cada dolor. Confiamos más en ti que en nuestra propia voluntad y fuerza y te damos gracias por este momento. En el nombre de Jesús. Amén, amén. Bueno, vamos a estar hoy prácticamente en Isaías 58. Vamos a estar estudiando unos 10, 11 versículos a través de Isaías 58. Y mientras que llegas ahí, antes de leerlo, y lo vamos a leer juntos en un momento. Isaías, si recuerdas, fue un profeta. Él fue un profeta y este tema de ser profeta en esos días era muy importante porque aún no tenían acceso a una Biblia como tenemos hoy en día. Aún no había venido Jesús, no tenían el Espíritu Santo, porque esto fue casi unos 700, 800 años antes de Jesús, cuando Isaías era un profeta. El profeta se encargaba de recibir de Dios para hablarle al pueblo de Dios o a la gente de Dios. Entonces aquí vamos a empezar en Isaías 58.2 y cuando vean, si miran las pantallas, cuando vean unas palabras resaltadas, quiero que lo leamos juntos. ¿Vale? ¿Les parece? No me van a dejar solo. Isaías 58.2 dice Ok, pausa.

Aquí vemos un pueblo, un grupo de personas, gente, que buscan de Dios, desean conocer de Dios. Están pensando en Él, orándole a Él, lo reconocen como el Señor verdadero. Y no solamente oran y lo reconocen de esa manera, pero fíjate el siguiente versículo, versículo 3, la primera parte, y dice Entonces aquí vemos dos cosas. No solamente vemos un grupo de gente, el pueblo, que busca de Dios en oración, que quiere que Dios se les acerque a ellos y que ellos se acerquen a Él, pero también un grupo de personas que hacen ¿qué? ¿Qué hacen? Ayunan. Entonces, sin leer más, solo con esto, yo diría top. Están haciendo un buen trabajo. O sea, esta gente, este pueblo, están ayunando, orando, buscando de Dios. Good job. Bien hecho. Pero algo falta. Mira lo que dice en Isaías 58.1, el primer versículo. Ok, pausa. ¿Cómo es posible que esta gente, este pueblo, que ayuna, ora, tiene un corazón ante de Dios y quieren agradarlo? ¿Cómo es posible que Dios tiene algo contra ellos? Aquí vemos en el siguiente versículo lo que Dios tiene contra ellos. Versículo 3 dice Por ejemplo, lo que está tratando de decir este versículo es que aunque estaban ayunando, buscando de Dios, de la misma manera, en el mismo día, se aprovechaban de una manera incorrecta con los obreros que tenían. La gente que tenían en su negocio, por decirlo así. Versículo 4 sigue. ¡Wow! Eso es fuerte, mi gente. Yo no sé si tú has ayunado. ¿Cuántos han ayunado? 21 días de ayuno, oración, enero. Ya casi viene, mi gente, el café. Prepárense para ayunarlo. En dos meses ya casi viene. Pero fíjate eso, imagínate. ¿De qué les sirve ayunar? Si están ayunando pero están peleando a golpes. Es como si fuese, a ver, pongámonos la película como si fuera el último día de ayuno y oración. El sábado, que generalmente es un sábado, celebramos los 21 días aquí en la iglesia.

La iglesia está llena. There's not even a single grain of rice, as we say in Colombia, because it's full. Why? Because there are people who are celebrating, we are celebrating that we have finished a day of fasting before God. Imagine that after the service, you go out to eat at a restaurant, as many do, to celebrate and eat something delicious, exquisite, and suddenly you see two people from the Impact Team. You start to hear that they are throwing bad words, they start to push a little harder, and they start to fight with fists. And you say, wow, these people, I haven't seen them for two hours in the church, worshiping, serving on their knees. This is what God is saying. I mean, what's the point of fasting if after or the same day, the way you are treating others doesn't represent my heart? And God continues speaking in verse 5, You are humiliated when you do penance for pure formula. You bow your head like reeds in the wind, you dress in rough fabric and you cover yourself with ashes. Is that what you call fasting? Do you really think that pleases the Lord? And at that moment, they were dressed in a specific way to represent that they were fasting, but What God says here, look, I have nothing against fasting, but what I do have against you, which is a spiritual discipline that you are doing, which is empty. You are doing it for me, but how are you impacting others? How are you treating people? So, what is missing? Here we see the answer in the following verse. No, this is the kind of fasting I want. Set free those who are unjustly imprisoned.

Relieve the burden of those who work for you. Tell me, set free the oppressed. Release the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry and give refuge to those who have no home. Give clothes to those who need it and do not hide from relatives who need your help. There is what was missing to the people of Israel. They were praying, they were fasting. They wanted to honor God and that they could approach Him and from them to Him too. But they were missing something. They were not loving others as they should have loved them. I put it this way. God cares more about how you love others than what you know and do for Him. That is why many people in the world and in culture today have so much hatred towards Christians. Because they know a lot. They speak a lot. Suddenly they love God directly a lot. The way they treat others does not add up. It is not the same. This is a commandment that God sent us. We see it in John 13, 34-35. So now I give you a new commandment. Love one another as I have loved you. You must love one another. The love that you have for one another will be the proof in front of the world

that you are my disciples. The proof that you are a follower of Christ is not what you know. It is not what you do for God. It is how you love who? Your neighbor. The others. Your neighbor. Your family. Your parents. Your brothers. Your uncles. Your cousins. You cannot love God well if you do not love people well. Because people are part of God. They were created in His likeness. And many times we say God I love you but your children I have a problem with that person. With this relative. I give you this example. I have a beautiful family. Next month I am going to celebrate 7 years with my married wife. Next year we celebrate 15 years of being together.

God has blessed us with two boys. John who is 5 years old. Daniel who is 4 years old. Imagine for a moment that someone after church today, let's call it so and so comes up to me and says Pastor Juan, I wanted to thank you. Thank you for today's message. You even prayed for me, thank you for the spiritual guidance, I really love you, I respect you. Oh, but those children of yours, no, no, no, those children of yours, they keep running up and down in the church, screaming, the older one always asking why, and the other one also asking why. And eating, they don't eat, they always eat, they want more food, they leave everything messed up and disorganized. And no, let's not even talk about your wife, your wife talks through her elbows, no, who can stand your wife? Imagine my reaction, as Isaiah says, I mean, it doesn't work, something doesn't make sense. Why? Because you can't love me, if you don't love the people I love, who are part of me. And that's the problem with the people of Israel, and our problem, that we think we can separate love for God from love for the people, that they can be two different things, or separated, but this is not true. We can't separate our love for God and our love for the people. That's why it's possible that a husband, a man,

who comes in on Sundays, who is here praising, with his hands up, rising, praying, thank you Lord, Amen, Hallelujah, but he goes home on Monday, from Monday to Friday, and destroys his wife with his words, his actions. It's possible that suddenly the entrepreneur, or the business owner, who is here taking notes every Sunday, is in a group, in a group of life, but the way he handles his business, he is lying to the client to take advantage and earn more money. It's possible that suddenly there is someone in the Impact team, who has signed the code of honor, who has been baptized, who has done freedom twice, brother, twice, but that same person, who doesn't love and respect his parents, his family, many times we think, we don't say it, and we don't do it on purpose, but start thinking, yes or no, what has happened to you? It has happened to me, where we believe we are on good terms because we are loving God, honoring him in a way, but what about his children, his people, his people? I'm not saying that loving people is easy, because yes or no, it's difficult, when they say amen, amen, it's difficult to love people, but what I do tell you today, is that there are people in your family who need your love,

there are people in your work who need your love, there are people in your school, student, middle, high school, university, who need your love, there are people in your community, in your church, who need your love, and if you start thinking a little, there is a lot of need, only here, only in your family, yes or no, there is a lot of need, there is a lot of need, and many times what happens to us, what, suddenly you have heard this terminology, paralysis by analysis, that by analyzing so many things that there are, we get frozen, because there are so many decisions, so many needs, that you say, no, where do I start? I better not do anything, and that is not the right reason or the right way. So, if Jesus himself, could love people, even when they did not deserve it, even when it hurt him and it hurt him to do it, when they mistreated him, how can we love people? I give you a very practical tool, ready? I want you to write it, and it is the following,

love the people you have in front of you, once again, love the people you have in front of you, the people you have in front of you, love them, do not think so much about the others around you, but whoever God puts you right there, love them. I want to make a confession, is that okay? Okay, three people, can I confess something to you? Okay, as a pastor here in Iglesia Vertical, and working here full time, I have made myself comfortable, because there is so much need here, there is so much need here in Iglesia Vertical, so many people that I am pastoring, helping, so many people that call me, look, I am in need, my children, my family, and this last year, God has brought me such a beautiful conviction, where he has told me, you know, it is not enough, you have to love those who are outside these four walls, your family, your extended family, that knows Christ, that does not know Christ, your day to day, in Publix, in Costco, there are so many opportunities that God does not give, that we ignore, so with that in mind, this has happened to me this last year,

so I give you an example, two weeks ago, talking about how to love the people in front of us, I went to a service, of a prayer on a Wednesday, and I got home at like 7.30 in the morning. And I stayed in the car, I was sending an email, I hadn't entered the house yet, I wasn't entering yet, I stayed there writing the email, when I heard the Amazon truck. That has a different sound, because it's not the garbage truck, I recognize it now, and there it is turning around, and I promise you, at a distance, turning towards the house, I hear it, a very hard music, very hard, with the windows closed, and the song said, I'm in love. But everything, everything, everything, very hard, and it went on, I'm in love. So, while the truck passes, it stays there in front of my house, it's going to unload a package, I feel that the Lord tells me, you have to talk to him about Christ. And I'm like, no, daddy God, are you serious, like right now? I mean, let me in, I have to take the kids to school. He says, yes, talk to him about Christ. So, well, what am I going to do? The Lord gets off with his package, he goes to my house, I'm still nervous, doubting, I talk to him, I don't talk to him, what do I do? So, well, I get up, he gets a little scared, because I get up all weird, and I ask him a question, I say, friend, are you in love? And he says, why do you say that? I say, no, well, I heard the song you were listening to, I'm in love. He says, no, no, no, I'm just here, I mean, he got all nervous, he didn't know what to say, but look at this, I told him, I'm in love too, and he started to go back,

I think he got scared, he started to go back. I say, no, no, no, don't go, don't go. I'm in love with Christ. Have you met Christ? And he says, Christ? Yes, yes, yes, I go to a church. I say, oh, well, I wanted to invite you to my church, I don't know what you're going through right now, I know you're just leaving this package, but I want to let you know that Jesus loves you. And look, I invite you to Vertical Church, it's here on the block. No, no, I live in Kendal, I live far away, I have my church, it starts... I say, well, my brother, God bless you, God bless you. And he left. So I go into the house and I tell my wife, I was super excited, my love, my love, look at what just happened. And why? Because I'm more aware, okay, God, with the person you put me with, I'm going to exercise that love that Jesus exercised for me. I think sometimes we lack urgency, a little bit of fire under our butt, a little bit of fire under our butt, because if Jesus comes tomorrow and you knew, who would you be talking to? To everyone in Jesus' world. To Amazon, to Publix, to Costco, to your family, to everyone. But many times, because there's no urgency,

it's hard for us to love the person in front of us. I'll give you another example. My grandmother got very sick a couple of months ago. And among the family, she lives in Colombia, we talked a little bit about what we could do. What if we could raise money, we could send her money to pay for those expenses, or to send her food, or we could do a devotional every day on FaceTime to talk to her so that she feels better. And someone said, why don't we go to Colombia to visit her? And I promise you, my first response inside was, ah, really? This was in October, Family Fun Night was two weeks away, a lot of work, a lot of things, a lot of resources, a lot of time. And in that moment, God showed me and said, yes, you have to love your grandmother in the way that she needs it, not in your own way. Because it's easier to send her money or do FaceTime, but to be there, holding her hand, praying for her. So I want you to think, why do I share this? Because I want you to think in your life, who has God put in front of you?

Who? Both in your day-to-day, as in your family, in your work, and in everything we do. Why? Because of this, and I want you to write it down, God calls us to love Him well by loving others well. That is a call from God. God calls us to love Him well by loving others well. So, if this is the answer to the question, what is missing? What is needed to love like Jesus loved? If this is the answer, to love our neighbor, why is it so difficult to do it? Yes or no, it's difficult? Why is it so difficult to do it? Here is the reason, and I want you to write it down, take a picture of it. The most common reason why it's hard for us to love others is the lack of forgiveness. I went in and, oh, the Lord is touching a heart. That's the most difficult reason

to love your neighbor. Why? Because there is a lack of forgiveness. There are many reasons why people don't forgive others. And suddenly you identify with several that I'm going to read to you, I'm going to have them here. The production team will help me here on the screens. But there are many reasons why people don't forgive others. I think one of them is thinking that they will hurt me again. That if I forgive them, I give them a green light to my life and it can happen again. I think another has to do with pride. Pride is interposed thinking, no, that happened years ago, that's over, I don't have to forgive. Everything is fine, we are fine. Or suddenly forgiveness seems unfair to you. You say, how am I going to forgive him or her? Because look what they did to me, look what they didn't do, what they told me. Or suddenly you think, justice must come first. I'm not going to forgive them before they feel something or they take the first step. Then I will forgive. Suddenly you think, forgiveness requires a lot of work and that's why I haven't forgiven. I also identify with that topic. Or suddenly, I think this is also a very big reason, the other person is not regretful. How am I going to forgive this other person if they don't even recognize what they have done? They don't even know the depth of the pain they caused me.

And I think the last reason why people don't forgive others is that sometimes the pain feels too deep. It's true, sometimes we think and feel, it's too much, it's too much. How am I going to love and forgive this person that hurt me so much, that did this to me behind my back, that wasn't there to support me, to protect me. And today I have the responsibility to remind you of what Jesus says in Matthew 6, verse 14 to 15. He says, Because if you forgive others their offenses, I will also forgive you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their offenses, neither will your Father forgive you his. Now that hurts, that reality hurts. Because I put it this way, the lack of forgiveness is a sin. It's sin. I know it doesn't sound nice, it doesn't look good, but it's the reality. And what does sin do? It separates us from whom? It separates us from God. So if what we lack to love like Jesus did is to love others, and if what is between us is to love others is the lack of forgiveness, what do you think we should do today? Forgive. And I know it's very difficult for us to forgive, because this is not a prayer or in a moment, it's a process. Until we die and reach heaven, we will have to forgive people. Always. For the rest of our lives. And many confuse restoration with forgiveness. And it's not the same. I want you to write this. God does not always call us to restore the relationship, but He does always call us to forgive. Many of us don't want to forgive because we think it's the same as restoring. They are two different things. Suddenly you say, if I forgive, everything has to return as it was before.

Time together, trust, affection, time. No, no, no. Suddenly that will return in the future, and suddenly not. It's ok. But, but, we have to forgive. Suddenly there will be no complete restoration, and that's ok. But there has to be forgiveness. And when there is forgiveness, and when we can love others. Look at what I did in Isaiah 58, 9. What God did about this people. If you discard the yoke of oppression. If you leave the accusing finger. It's not that they did this. If you leave the malicious tongue. Stop talking badly of them. Of what they did, of what they didn't do. But if you dedicate yourself to help the hungry and satiate the need. Then, but look at the order. If we can stop doing something. Start loving. Then your light will shine in the darkness. And as the midday will be your night. Wow, wow, Amen, Amen. And I ask you the question. Do you want that for your life? Do you want that when there are darkness in your life, there is light? That when you feel that it is night, that it is midday, that it shines. How about if what has been missing all this time. It is not more prayer that is good. More fasting that is good.

But how about if what is missing in this time. For your life, your relationship with God. It is that you begin to forgive, to be able to love well, and in the middle of your darkest moments you are going to feel Wow, Lord, you have taken a weight off my shoulders, and when I have seen my life, the moments that I have had a lack of forgiveness are dark moments where I have sat on the throne of God thinking that I have justice or revenge on someone I want you to write this, forgiveness is not just an internal decision, it is an external commitment So it begins internally, but I also have to commit to leave with the oppression on the person to leave pointing with the finger, to leave speaking badly It begins internally, but it is reflected with an external commitment So, before finishing, if you tell me, ok Pastor Juan, I understand, what is missing is that I have to love others, I have to forgive but I still can not, it is difficult for me to forgive, what do I do? I would tell you, look at the cross, look at Jesus, Jesus had all the reasons in the world not to forgive you And what did he do? Did he forgive you or not? He forgave you Here are some of those reasons why Christ should not, ok I put it like this, should not have forgiven you Number one, we do not deserve it, who deserves it? Nobody, nobody deserves the forgiveness of God Number two, we have ignored and doubted many times, even when he has told us, do not doubt, do not fear I got you, I am with you We can not pay back to God, imagine Jesus before dying, how they will be able to pay me back to see if I die for them or not There is nothing you can do, that I can do We have failed to the standard of God, we have repeated the same mistakes We have sinned more times than we can count and remember And finally, we have chosen our own path instead of his path With all these reasons that Jesus had to not forgive you and die for you Do you know what he did? He died for you and forgave you He understood something that today we have to understand And it is the following and I want you to write it, take a picture Vertical worship requires horizontal love It does not suggest, it does not indicate to suddenly do it, no, no, no If you really worship and love Christ and you have given your life in a vertical way, it requires horizontal love

That is why we are here my people Even in difficult times, loving your family when they do not deserve it, even when they do not understand it I give you Proverbs 19 and 17 that says, if you help the poor, you lend to the Lord, he will pay you You are loving them, not so much for them, although yes for them, but for God Everything we do, do it as if it were for Him, for God And when we do that, Isaiah 58 verse 11 is fulfilled that says, the Lord will guide them continually He will give them water when they are thirsty, he will restore their strength, they will be like a well-watered garden Like a spring that never dries That is the promise that you have, that we have, but it requires what is needed To love as Jesus loved, we must love our neighbor And I believe that today God is calling you and me to forgive someone, a group of people Because He first forgave you, let's pray Lord, I give you thanks Because your word today is like a fresh water that leads us to what your word says, to a place of repentance Lord And that leads us to salvation, we do not want the sadness of the world that leads us to death We want your sadness, a healthy sadness that leads us to a place of repentance That is a place where there is transformation, where we change, where we stop living the same way we have lived I ask you Holy Spirit that today you show us who we should forgive, with whom we should talk And if it requires suddenly start some important conversations Or join a group of men, women, of freedom, of Christian advice But today, help us A tomar la decisión de amar como tú amaste, le damos gracias por este tiempo, en el nombre de Jesús, amén, amén, amén, amén. Amar como tú amastes, le damos gracias por este tiempo, en el nombre de Jesús, amén, amén, amén, amén, amén.