Cambiando tu actitud ante el cambio

How are you? How are you, CBG? Good morning, Sunday afternoon. I'm David, one of the pastors at Choripa de Iglesia. If you are new here, you may be a little bit confused, like monkeys in the church, it's different, I understand that, listen, we love creativity, and we just started a series called, Wild Animals, and we are using parables of animals from the Bible. But monkeys, I like monkeys, they are mammals, they are primates, they are highly intelligent animals, God made them, you can find monkeys in all kinds of environments around the world, the majority in Africa, in Asia, Central and South America, but you can also find monkeys in Dania Beach, Florida. There is a colony of wild monkeys in Dania Beach, Florida, raise your hand if you have heard of it, that's it. I didn't really know, but I knew they were doing research for this series. It's a small colony, they live in the mangroves near the airport, I'm not going to tell you where, because they are protected, and they are wild, they are not vicious, they are not attacking, but they are an invasive species, they are not native, but we have monkeys out there. I heard this new story, last week, in the other church in Fairbanks, and someone called me on the phone, and Dr. Williams, who is a doctor, who was waiting for me when the services started, and she called me after the service, and she talked to me, and she told me that they have been the same number for several years, they have lived there, in a very difficult environment, and I obviously asked her if I could meet the monkeys, and she made an arrangement, and she took me, you can't go there, it's private property, but they are living there, near the airport, surrounded by civilization, in a very weird environment, for wild monkeys to live, but there you are, if you are looking online, you say, yes, we have monkeys, if you are looking in New Jersey, we have animals in Florida, we have some crazy creatures here in Florida, we have wild life here, many different animals, if you think about Florida, I know that you think about crocodiles, and caimans, and we have more than that, a mile or more to the west of this field, we have the Everglades, that is the, there you are going to get in the Everglades, crocodiles, and caimans, and we have a fish called the bull shark, or the bull shark, it's the strongest animal, with the highest testosterone in the animal kingdom, but it also lives in salty and sweet water, we have seven species of poisonous snakes, and I promise you that we have a lot of spiders, and I'm not going to put pictures on the screen of snakes or spiders, I know that a lot of people are panicking about them, and we have also talked about something else, we have a problem, speaking of snakes,

a problem with pythons, here in Florida, they are an invasive species, but even if you don't know this, Florida is the capital of North America when it comes to invasive species, this is where they have brought them all, we have the lionfish in the corals, we have poisonous frogs in many places, now we have monitor lizards that reach five feet, we have large quantities, and we also have monkeys, we have alligators, I think Louisiana has more alligators, but I think that here in Florida they are tougher, because they have to fight with more invasive species, now these monkeys are 80 years old, the remarkable thing is that they are so intelligent, that they have adapted to this environment so hard for them, they came from Africa, they usually live in environments like the rainforest, but in the mangroves, the water is mixed between sweet and salty, but there is no fresh water, there is little food in the mangroves, but somehow they have adapted to a difficult environment, for 80 years they have been there, since the 1940s, they have been there in Dania, adapting, this is going to be the question, how well do you adapt to difficult environments? Because life is always changing. How well do you deal with change? And right now, if things in your life are cool and kind of stable, give it 15 minutes to see how something is going to change. We are always surrounded by change. Maybe it's been a professional change. Maybe it's been a job change. You worked in New York, now you moved to the south of Florida, one of the best places to live on the planet. And if you are the only New Yorker that is here in New York, you are welcome. Maybe you have been in the same company, in the same place for decades, and now that changes. The bosses, there are new owners or something like that, and they make you change locations. Or maybe you are a kid in the middle of high school and your parents had to move. And now you have to start a new school, or you are going to go to college, and you have to go to another one. Or maybe you moved out of the house, and you moved here, and now you are paying your own bills. Maybe you changed the person you are dating. Or maybe you are in a strong divorce, it just happened, and you had to move to Florida. Or you are newly married. Is there anyone here newly married? Oh, he is here. Oh, okay. Are you alone? Where is your wife? Oh, she is working.

Okay, give a round of applause to this man who came here anyway. Hey, he is big. He is great. Hey, I am married. She is great. She is great. I am happy. Oh, but her family. Oh, she is big. They all live in Florida. Wow, that changes things, right? You retire. Empty nest. Retired. You retired, and you couldn't take it. You retired, and you reestablished yourself. But the change, God tells us to have a positive negativity against change. If you have a negativity against change, that is a destructive formula. How do we be smart about these monkeys? How do we adapt to the change of a very different environment? You know what? Joshua. Let's go to Joshua. Joshua chapter 5. A great example of this. I love this book. It is book number 6. It is after Moses. After the Torah, the law. The Pentateuch. And it is a story of God's people finally entering the promised land. I like it because Joshua wants to take this land. In that part, it is aggressive. Joshua is a book of advancement. A book of protection.

A book of transition. There are so many transitions. There are so many things changing for the people of God. Joshua's time. They moved. Jordan. They cross Jordan. That is a change. A change in praise. Some things that God's people should never change in terms of praise. It should always be built on God and his word. But there were changes. It is like us. If you come here, you are used to maybe other churches. You will think, well this is not the church that my grandmother took me to. Probably. But there are changes. For example, they celebrated Passover for the first time in 40 years. But the biggest change was the change in leaders. In the previous chapter, Moses dies. Why? Moses was the biggest of all the leaders that had lived with the people of God. He did miracles. He is connected to God. He is the one who gave the law. Imagine, imagine the new Joshua. He would have to fill those shoes. They knew that Joshua was going to be incredible like us now because we read his story. Let's go to chapter number 5. There are little details.

I got this. There is so much change in these 4 or 5 verses. Open your video. Then the Lord said to Joshua, Today I have taken from you the approval of Egypt. That is why that place was called Gilgal to this day. The afternoon of the 14th of the month, they camped in Gilgal. Now technically, they were 40 years old. But they were not getting a house for 40 years. So God says, I have already gotten, in the afternoon of the 14th of the month, I have already gotten, in the afternoon of the 14th of the month, They camped in Gilgal, in the plains of Jericho. The Israelis. celebrated Easter. For the first time, it doesn't say that they observed Easter, or that they went for the ritual of Easter. It doesn't say that they celebrated Easter. I think that when the people of God get together, it should be a celebration, an occasion of happiness, of having fun together. I think it should reflect the vibe that is in the moment. There are serious things happening when we get together, of course, but the meeting of the people of God should be a celebration, because the Bible says, Christian, you have been saved, you have been redeemed, you have been forgiven, you have been accepted by God for all times. You have been saved, you are free, you are free. The one that the Son set free will be free. God always wins. They celebrated Easter. The next day of Easter, look at verse 11, that same day they ate of the product of the earth, bread without yeast and toasted grain. The manna ceased the next day of having eaten of the products of the earth. Since then, the Israelites have not received any more manna, but that year they ate of the fruit of Canaan. That is a change, a change. In these four verses, certain things are linked. They have to navigate new things. Four things have changed. Take notes on your phones, because if you are going through a significant change in this moment, this is coming to you. Something is going to change if it is not already happening to you. How do you adapt to these changes? Number one, there is a new menu. That is number one, a new menu. Who are the eaters? Who are the eaters? Who likes food? They are like me, I love food. Notice, do you realize when your way of looking at things changes, your way of savoring them? This is my family, these are my monkeys. There is Lisa, and there are my boys. They know Pastor Charlie. Victoria is my only daughter. She is in the music industry. She is in Nashville.

Zane is a little bit taller. He is younger. He is here in the front row. He is entering his second year of high school. Victoria has a metabolism. She can eat whatever she wants and stay skinny. They get a little bit upset, she says. People say, I don't like pizza. Responses, I don't like pizza either. Do you can eat pizza and stay skinny? That's right. Zane. Zane is eating me out of comfort food, eating households, feeding me out of comfort. He is so excited. Hisовой. He is growing to be a great eater like me. Open door or whatever he's in is what he's doing. And so, he is growing and he's eating whatever he's in, everything. When they were little, when they were little, they had great personalities, but their diets were very different. Charlie was always a fearless eater. He would eat ethnic food, sushi. We went to a Cuban pig roast once, and he was like seven years old, and they had the whole pig. And someone challenged him to eat the eye, and he ate both. His best friends in high school were from Nigeria, and he loved it when they invited him to dinner. They wouldn't order. They would go to the meat department at the grocery store, and they would buy all those organ meats, and all those weird things, feet, and they would make stews and mixes, and he loved it. Zane, when he was little, his diet was brown. It had to be beige, brown. Everything had to be brown. Chicken nuggets are brown. French fries are brown. French fries are brown. Everything that was brown. So, you change your diet, and the people of God, in chapter 5, the menu and the diet changed. For 40 years, God had given them nothing but manna. What was manna? Manna was a provision, provision from God, supernaturally provided to His people. How? Because they escaped slavery in the previous chapter. And there are 2 million Jews. How does God feed those people in the desert? So, He said that every morning manna would appear. Manna is a Hebrew word. I've never seen it before, but it's described as a bread in scales that tastes like honey and some seeds that I don't know. Every day, manna, this manna was provided, but how do I tell you, you had to go out early to look for it, God provided it. In chapter number 5, and it changes, manna stops, and now people are going to eat what the earth produces, grains, bread, wine, milk, and honey. They had to work for that, they had to grow it. Now, in the product of the earth, God provided manna,

now still, God produces all these products, now you have to work a little harder for it, but it's still God's provision. But the way we revisit God's provisions, it changes. Look at it this way, God is the singular source, the only source, where do these provisions come from? For 40 years it's manna that simply appears, and then it's the product, the grains of the earth. Because, for example, what happens? When you lose your job, you freak out, you get scared, the company you've had for 10 years removes your position, or they lower the number of employees, this is my career, you say, my job, I have to feed my family, what do I do now? It's a big problem, yes, but you can't panic, God is the one who provides the provisions, God is the provider, your belief has to be in the provider, not in the provisions, and God is the source of all the good things, Saint James chapter 1, it says, all the good things, and all the perfect gifts come from our God, from heaven, so God is your source, the work is the provision, God promises us the source, the work is fluid, you don't say Christian, I believe in my work, my faith is in my company, no, your faith is in your God, your belief is in your God, now I hope to maintain my job, but if I lose my job, I'm willing to work, because God promises me provisions, and that is my source, I know another job will come, because my God is going to fulfill all my needs, God promises you the provisions, so don't panic, make your resume, go get yourself a headhunter, put your word out, if you are willing to work, God will provide, now if you don't want to do anything, well, may God really help you, you will have to work at a job, or maintain, grab anything, while that ideal job comes, okay, Hope Depot is always hiring people, do something, do something, do something, don't stay still, because change comes and continues, the menu gets better, it requires a new strategy, a new economy

for example, another change, hear my disclaimer, this is not a political endorsement, this is not a recommendation, this is not a recommendation, the economy has changed in the last few months, nationally we have had changes, we have changed our relations with those who make economic exchanges worldwide, changes in immigration, all those things have changed, and Christians are panicked, no, don't panic, God is in control, God is your provider, and if you are smart, you can navigate with success, there is a new change in the economy of the Israelis in chapter 5, they go from an economy based on money, to an economy based on cultivation, the demand is very straight, the only rule, the reality is, go and grab it, God provides it, it is on the ground every morning when you get up, the only thing you have to do is go out with loyalty, and go in the morning to look for it, everyone wanted to do it, you have to do it in the morning, there are people here early in the house, some of you are losing, because you are in the afternoon service, but it is the only rule, you had to go and grab it before it evaporated, so if you fell asleep, your alarm did not go off, I'm sorry, to tell you a little thing like that, as well as the side, I love my workers here at Church by the Glades or the First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale. Most of them are young people. Okay? Almost no one gets to my age. But you know what? They're smart. Young but smart. From time to time, I run into some of these young people who are technically late. They say, Pastor, I can't. That's my problem. I can't get up early. Shut up. But you're smart.

You're talented. You don't have to be late. You can do it. Because on the eighth day, God created the iPhone. There's an alarm on the iPhone. You know? You hit it once, twice, three times. You put it on high. And it's okay. And it charges. And if you still can't get up, again, this is not part of the service. But look, for $29, I have the solution on Amazon. On Amazon, you can buy this alarm clock. This is along with your iPhone. And it has wheels. You set the time. You charge it. You set the time. You put it on high. And in the morning, when it turns on, it starts running all over your room. You have to get out of bed and chase it to turn it off. That will get you up. I assure you. Amen? Be early. Be early. Come on. You can do it. Because if you fall asleep, oh no, I had a hard night. I didn't sleep well.

You lost your mind. You don't eat that day. But the economy of cultivation is more complex. It requires strategies. Innovation. Learning. Trying and failing. And you had to be smarter to be successful. And after chapter 5 of Joshua, you had to go and do all of this. You had to go and do all of this. You had to go and do all of this. You had to go and do all of this. You had to go and do all of this. You had to go and do all of this. You had to go and do all of this. You had to do your part as religion. God gave you all those abilities. You had to do your part as religion. You probably didn't have one. But know, if I had a dream about our church back in the months of Mount Sinai... The majority of people think the church has a lot of wealthy people, a lot of people with great facilities. We have what is people that work for gratification? We have single women that work two jobs to be able to maintain their house. I don't know. We have a lot in the middle between poor and rich. But I don't judge them for the cars they have in the parking lot. Church by the Glade is one of the most intelligent churches when it comes to managing God's money.

I don't know how much you make. A little or a lot. That's why we offer the Peace Financial University. It's an incredible course. Nine weeks. It's one hour every week. It starts this week. I'm telling you, half of this room needs to sign up for this. We don't judge you. We teach you how to track your expenses, how to manage your money, how to invest. Especially how to negotiate with debt. Because if you owe, if you're a debtor, listen to me. We do this as a nation. We're in debt. You're feeling this stress. You have the mortgage, the car payment, the student loans. Your credit cards are at their maximum. Let me show you a plan to get out of this. Every semester we have people in the Peace Financial University. In fact, I want to tell you this way. For sure, the majority of the couples that have gone through this, after nine weeks, between savings in nine weeks, how much they get in favor? You know what I'm saying? $5,700. In those nine weeks. In their favor.

The momentum keeps growing after the nine weeks. The only group right now are people in the front row, and half of them work for me. The 57 people in the front row, because they all work for me. And I want to give you so much money that is. Let me pick out a volunteer. I'm going to try to visually represent what $5,700 means in earnings in nine weeks. Cassidy. Cassidy runs half of the church here. She's right there on that side of the table. She's a great organizer, a great leader. But she helps to run financial peace. This is Cassidy. This is Cassidy. $5,700. And I'm going to pretend I want to give this to you. This is real money. So I want to give this to you. This is not a hit on the car. This is not a hit on the car. Let me give you this, let's count, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. This is not a hit on the car. This is not a hit on the car. Whoa. Yeah, yeah, I want you, I want you. Take it, keep it in your hand. Most of our young people have not had that amount of money in their hands.

Get it all, pick it up, pick it up. I don't even know how to hold it. Isn't that crazy? Hold on, wait. You only have $100. There's $5,600. There's little tickets. 60, 80, 85, 100. Here's the rest. You now have $5,700 for 9 weeks. For 9 weeks. That's what people get ahead of themselves. In profits. Anybody here who would not enjoy having that? That goes for 9 weeks. That's $640 an hour for 9 weeks. I bet you don't make that. Oh, wait, we charged you $25. Wait, I can give you the $5 and $20. That's what we charged you. You still feel like you got ahead of yourself. Of course you did. Give it up for Cassidy. We have money right there, Cassidy. Josiah, thank you so much. I mean, please don't take a picture of your pastor holding all this money. That's a lot of money. This is the average. You're probably better than average. Everybody takes out their phone and says,

don't take my picture. It's for them to take the QR code picture. If you're not even going to do it, at least pretend in front of me that you're doing it. It starts Wednesday, September 17th. If you don't do that, don't ever ask God for blessings. God said, here's your blessing. Here's your part. Here's what you do. You had something to do. You had to learn the strategies. We're going to teach you the strategies. It's not a nine-week course on how to give to the church. Not at all. I know some of you guys wouldn't give more to the church if you knew how to do it, if you could do it better. As your pastor, I hate seeing people with disfunctionalities and disruptions in your life, in any aspect of your life. I hate it even more, I hate the parishioners of my church. Let's go. Free yourself financially with this University of Financial Peace. The changes in the economy require intelligence, applications. We read about a lot of monkeys in Indonesia that are wild,

but they always stay in a temple, and they're a tourist attraction. People come and take them. They don't touch them, but they take them. They have a little trap that they do. They steal things from tourists. They steal your camera, they steal your glasses. They don't steal them to keep them. They take them to exchange them for food, for cookies, for junk food. They know that if they take away a pen, they'll give it back to you with something small, even if you give it to them. They take away your phone. They don't give it to you for a small cookie. You have to give them something bigger. They've evolved. They're smart. There's another thing, another change. New enemies. They came and they were told, I know the big enemy was the Egyptians and the Pharaoh, but now when you pass the Jordan, you're going to get new haters. Simply because you're safe, you think your problems are going to disappear.

No, there are Philistines, there are Canaanites, there are Malakites, there are Ameritas, and cellulites, and all kinds of Aids that want to kill you. The walls of Jericho, there are armies, cruel people, diabolical people. In some ways, when there are these problems, you can see new opportunities, new enemies, new opportunities. We know. How would we have known the glory of David if Goliath had not appeared? How would we have known that Joshua was such a great leader if the walls of Jericho had not been there? How would we have known the faith of Daniel if we had not had to confront the lions? God paints this story. She or he, you are in a situation now that is not the one you chose, it is difficult, it has been a change, you know what? Look for the opportunity of God in that situation. Praise Jesus, praise Jesus, praise Jesus. Celebrate, because college football is about to start. I love college games, I love the Seminoles, the schools in Florida, the Gators, and I love the U. They are playing well, now we have a new quarterback, he is new to us, he played for Georgia and they transferred him. Let these guys change teams if they want to. He was in Georgia, he was going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the world, he had a difficult season.

Georgia is not a powerful team, their line of defense was not the best, so he had a lot of pressure. But through the exchange portal he came to Miami, they only play three games, but he is playing well. He exploited the opportunity that is intertwined in a change. You are probably not a five-star quarterback playing for the university. If you know my wife, Lisa does a lot of things well. She is a comedian, she tells good stories, she is a great mother, a great wife, but she is a great friend. If you are chosen among Lisa's friends, you are blessed. She will always be there for you, she is as loyal as a pitbull. And I think, where does this set of wisdom that she has to be such a good friend come from? They changed her from Michigan to Miami when she was a teenager. She was in Michigan, she dressed in a certain way, now she comes here to the 305 area, her hair has to be different, her new friends, she is no longer a cheerleader at school. I believe that God used that difficult change in Lisa to create and build that way for her to be able to build friendships. Maybe these changes that are happening are so difficult. Maybe you didn't choose it, maybe it was your husband, your wife, your job. Something else produced that change, it is being forced to contain in it. See the opportunity in it. Be smart, there is always opportunity intertwined in each change. And fourth and last, new freedom. When I said in 3, I said freedom. Do you understand what God's agenda is for you? God loves to set you free. In John 38, verse 6, it says, if the Son sets you free, you will truly be free. Do you think the Bible is all commands? No, God wants to set you free. In every way that a person can be free, spiritually, internally, relationships, potentially free, financially free, to whom the Son has set you free. But you have to fight for your freedom. The generation of John had to fight the walls of Jericho, the Canaanites. Many of them died in the desert for not being believers.

Freedom is never easy. When God gives you your emancipation, you will never come without a fight. Because freedom is a change, and changes lead to work. How is it that monkeys in Dania Beach have stayed there for 80 years? I'm going to give you the answer. In the 1930s, the Roosevelt family wanted to create a tourist attraction. It was called the Dania Chimpanzee Ranch. So, when that was happening, they had problems to keep them. So, they sold some of them for medical experiments. And they took them to these laboratories. But one of them saw how her caretaker opened and closed the cell. And she looked, and looked, and observed, and learned. And when they weren't looking, she opened the cage. And she opened all the other cages, and they escaped. They escaped. And they caught all but 12 of them. How did these 12 escape? Why did they escape? Because they went to the mangroves. This is a very harsh environment for a monkey. Because the water is mixed, it's not fresh water, there's not enough food. It's a harsh environment for them. But you know what? It's also a very difficult place, the mangroves, to catch them. And they used that difficulty of the mangroves to survive and escape, and not to be caught. Resisting change is a form of sabotaging yourself. I think God made these changes. From the first part of Genesis, if Adam hadn't received that first piece of apple pie from Eve, if he had never made that tree for her to eat,

we would still be in the garden, naked, eating fruit from the trees. No. When Adam and Eve ate from that tree, that was happening so that change would come. And that's where he told them, now get out, but you're going to have to work. Stop freaking out about change. I'm worried because retirement is coming. I'm panicking because college is coming. Oh no, now artificial intelligence is going to take my job. What are you worried about? Use it. See how to use artificial intelligence for your benefit. God is transforming you. You are renovated and transformed. Renovation of your mind. Grow. Get better. These monkeys are not invasive. They are not natural, although they are an invasive species. But if I can flip the writing of what it says, it says, wait a minute and think. Look at them. How did these great species come to Florida? You know, most of them came in cages, in containers, locked up, in boxes, in poor condition. But once they got here, they got new opportunities, new ways of eating, new foods, new environments. And look at how almost all of them, not only have survived, but they are going to dominate. You can dominate as people of Christ,

if you adapt to the changes in your environment. We are conquerors. The Bible says that you are the head and not the tail. God made you to exploit the changes, to find the opportunity. Don't be afraid because change is good. Thank you Lord for the power of your word. Thank you for the power of your people. Sometimes the enemy comes to us because he thinks we are afraid of new things. God, you make new people every day, new creations for Christ. We are when we surrender ourselves to him. God gives us this change and we are all going to face it with opportunity in the name of Christ.