En Casa Como En El Cielo, Mayo 10, 2026

¡Muchas gracias! Good morning, church. What a joy to be with you this morning. And happy Mother's Day again. Are we happy or not? And I know for some, we have our moms far away. So let's take a time today to remember how special they are for us. But we also know that for some, it may be a hard day to remember. And we want to encourage you to depend on God. For those that don't know me, I'm Alfredo Zúñiga. And it's a pleasure to open up the word as the Fellowship Español Pass. And today we're going to continue our series at home as well as it is in heaven. Where we see the heart of God to reach those that are near to us, both in our communities and in our families. And what we've used as an illustration of the different spaces within our homes. Today's focus would be the driveway, that outside part of the house. Where you're exposed to neighbors and people that are walking in front of your house. But I don't know if you've noticed the transition in modern home architecture. When I used to watch movies, I would see these big houses that had expansive front yards, big front porches, all that were very welcoming so people would come in. But nowadays people are looking for a big backyard. Where we're communicating something a little bit different. And it's this idea that we've gotten used to this privacy and anything we're going to share, we're going to bring it up to the back to share with people, with those that are close. And though our house may not communicate what we're talking about today, we're going to see how to live that out. We can do like our friend Andy who just makes hot dogs and lays them out up front and whoever wants one can just come and get one. Today's theme or today's subject is making disciples in the community. And we're going to see three necessary principles to make disciples in the

communities that God has placed us. And this week I took some time to look at the maps over there and see where each one's houses was or what country they're from. So if you haven't placed a pin where your house is, go ahead and do so so that we can be praying for all the different locations here. But what makes me think is that throughout the week the church is dispersed throughout those many different places. And the opportunity to reach people both in Little Rock and the surrounding areas is incredible. And my desire is that after this morning we may lift our eyes and see the opportunities that are standing in front of us. It's like when Jesus talks to his disciples and says, lift up your eyes for the harvest is ready. And so today, today I want to, church, today I want to encourage you to lift your eyes. There are hearts ready and God is preparing them to hear the good news of the gospel. So let's not let anything stand in the way of sharing the gospel with other people. Pray with me. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning, thankful today because you reached us, thanking you for each of the people here today, for those that are watching online, Father I pray that in each one of us you will place that desire to spread your word to every corner of the city and that people may experiment that joy and freedom that comes from knowing you. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. The first principle in order to reach our communities, church, is that in order to reach them we have to die to our own comfort. And it reminds me of the moment when Jesus was about to ascend into heaven. And he's having this conversation with his disciples in chapter one of Acts. And naturally as he's seeing all the difficulties that the disciples are facing, ask a question that makes a lot of sense to me.

Father, when are you going to restore all things? When is all of this going to be over and done with? And I don't know about you, but when I observe everything that's going on around us, sometimes as I'm experimenting things that I don't want to experiment, I'm asking myself the same question. God, when are you going to restore everything? When are you going to come back? When is all of this nonsense going to be over? When will this suffering that I'm going through be over with? We may not say it with our lips, but we keep asking this question. And Jesus answers in a way that helps the disciples not lose their focus. Because he recognizes that our current difficulties can make us lose focus about what's going on in our lives. And he answers with what today would be the church's standing orders. Read with me Acts 1 verse 8. This is Jesus' answer. That you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. What he's saying is that it's not up to you to know when the Lord is going to restore all things. It's not up to you to focus on when all of these difficulties and sufferings are going to end. You need to focus on the reason why God has left you here. That when the Holy Spirit comes upon you... And it says that when you receive the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be witnesses. Many speak of this power of the Holy Spirit like some kind of strange experience. But when we see the power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers, we see that it's tied into how they're living their Christian life. So someone that is filled with the Holy Spirit is someone who is testifying, who is being a witness of the good works of Jesus Christ.

It is one of the most beautiful evidences. It's as if when you are controlled by the Holy Spirit, what will utter from your mouth are going to be words of the Gospel of Jesus. All of those who have known Christ Jesus have the power of the Holy Spirit. And as a result, they can be witnesses. The word witness in the Greek is marturion, from where we get the word martyr. And we see that many of the people described in the book of Acts literally gave their lives for the Gospel. Maybe the same thing isn't going to happen to us because of proclaiming the Gospel. But nowadays there are people that are being martyred for declaring the Gospel in other parts of the world. Even so, this means we ought to die to ourselves. There must be a sacrifice as we're bringing this news to people. Because when we hold on to comfort, it's impossible for us to sacrifice something for someone else. I'm not saying we shouldn't have hobbies. But if the hobbies are just for your own pleasure, you're wasting the opportunity to use those things to reach others. I'm not saying don't enjoy your work. But if you don't see your job as an opportunity to reach others, then you're losing opportunities. And we've learned throughout the series that people will listen if they know that it matters to you. Look at Paul's example to the church of Thessalonica. 1 Thessalonians 2.8. So being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the Gospel of God, but also our own selves, because you had become so very dear to us. And you see, this thing about reaching people, it's not just about mechanically repeating a message. It's reaching the heart. It's saying that people have needs.

And loving them with all of our hearts. And it says that in that love, Paul shared the Gospel. It says not only the Gospel, but also our own selves. So how is someone not going to listen to the other person? When this person has given themselves in service and in giving. giving to the other person. You see, sometimes we talk about reaching people with the Gospel, and we forgive that we must give all of our heart. And other people, they give their whole hearts and they have really great relationships, they forget to proclaim the Gospel. It's not one and it's not the other. It's both together. To preach the Gospel and to give our own lives. And he gives them a strategy. He says Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, to the ends of the earth. Last week we spoke a lot about what Jerusalem represented. We spoke about our home. We spoke about bringing people into our home dynamics. But today we're talking about Judea and Samaria. That aren't necessarily in our immediate circle. That's not the people in the backyard. It's the people that we have to go a few extra steps. The people that may not share the same school or work, but that we can try a little harder to go to them, give them a call, maybe go get some coffee. Judea and Samaria weren't necessarily that close to Jerusalem. Therefore, the second principle is that we must go beyond our home. Our home is important. Our immediate relationships are also important. But if we just stop there, we're not going to reach those that are waiting to hear. Look at what John chapter 4 verses 1 through 7 says.

Now, when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John, although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples, he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And pay attention to verse 4, and he had to pass through Samaria. So picture this. Jerusalem in the south. Galilee is up north. And in the middle of Jerusalem and Galilee, there's Samaria. Now, an interesting thing is that the Jews and the Samaritans did not get along. And though it would make perfect sense to just go either straight down, the Jewish people would go all the way around just so that they wouldn't have to go into Samaria. And so what this short phrase tells us is that God had a purpose, a divine appointment to go through there. And something that we must know, Jesus didn't just do things randomly. He went where he wanted to go because he knew he had something to do there. Imagine if we imitated this that Jesus did a little bit. And that one might say, hey, I need to go to this place. Maybe I should go see this person. Maybe I'm going to go do this at the supermarket, but hey, maybe I should call this one person, see how they're doing. It would transform what we do and the fruit of our lives. One of my friends showed me a video. the power of the telephone as we're driving. He says that every time he drives somewhere when he's alone, he calls somebody that God's put in his heart. And I thought, all of us here drive a lot of places throughout all the week. And if we applied the same principle, can you imagine just how many people we'd be speaking to? To see how we can be praying for each other. To see how each other's doing. To see if there's any financial needs. To see if there's maybe been a tragedy going on in life. And all of a sudden, he's living in Memphis and I'm in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. And all of a sudden in the middle of the day I see this phone call. Just to see how you were doing. An opportunity we're missing sometimes.

Because we're not thinking like Jesus did. Because we're not thinking, who do I need to go visit? Who do I need to go talk to? Now something that I love here is that he had an agenda. He was going to Galilee. But he wasn't going to waste that trip to Galilee. What I'm trying to encourage you to is that you don't have to create anything new in your life. You have to take advantage of what's already there in your life. And what do verses five through seven say? So he came to a town of Samaria called Saqar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, give me a drink. Jesus knew what time that woman would be there. And we all know the story of the Samaritan woman. Where Jesus talks to her about that living water that he has for her. And as a result she goes to the people of the town and says, here's the Messiah. But let's not overlook what's happening here. Jesus is going to a place where no other Jews would go. If we don't get out of our comfort zone, how are people actually going to know that we care? The enmity between Samaritans and Jews was so bad that when a Jewish person wanted to insult another Jewish person, he'd say, you're such a Samaritan. And you can see that whenever he says, before Abraham was, so was I. They tell him, oh, you're a Samaritan and you're possessed. And on a different occasion, the Samaritans, when Jesus was going from Galilee to Jerusalem, and the Samaritans knew that he was going with the Jewish people down to Jerusalem, the Samaritans said, no, we do not want to receive Jesus here. And that's when the disciples said, oh, make it rain fire from heaven. And Jesus said, you don't know what spirit this is. And Jesus crosses all of these cultural divisions. He doesn't care because he is determined to bring the gospel to those that need it. Many times we don't speak a lot about this. But even here in our own community, we experience a lot of cultural divisions. differences. And sometimes it's a little bit different for each one. And sometimes it can be hard to cross these cultures. But it shouldn't matter to us. Our socioeconomic status shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter what language we speak. Nowadays with Google Translate, anyone can talk to anyone. So there should be no excuse. We can bring the gospel church. And we see this once and again in the word of God. We see God appearing to Peter in a vision so that he'll go to Aquila, to the centurion, and the Gentiles. And though we're not going to get to read that portion today, you can read it in Acts chapter 10. It's that we're

all struggling against leaving our comfort. We've all got our own agendas about our lives and our families. And what God wants is for us to make room in our lives so that we can see other people enjoying the life in God. And the last principle I want us to look at is that we need to serve with the love of Christ. First, we must die to our own comfort. The second is to leave our own homes, go further than. And the last is to serve with the love of Christ. Look at 2 Corinthians 8, 9, how Paul speaks to the church. Porque conocéis la gracia de nuestro Señor Jesucristo, que siendo rico, sin embargo, por amor a vosotros se hizo pobre, para que vosotros por medio de su pobreza llegárais a ser ricos. 2 Corinthians 8, 9. Because you have known the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who being rich, for love toward you made himself poor, so that through the poverty you might be rich. Jesus makes himself poor to enrich others, speaking spiritually of that eternal life he was going to bring. And although this verse is talking about offering and generosity within the church, it must also apply to how we are living when we serve others. We are depriving ourselves of things. And when we do what Jesus said he was going to do, he did not come to be served, but to serve others. The beautiful thing about this principle is that we can do it together as a church. I've seen the hospitality and love that many brothers show. And I've seen the grace with which the Lord has allowed others to share his word. And I've seen the grace that God has given to others where they can just invite people and keep on inviting people. I've seen the grace that God has given others to be very sociable and bring their people in. And we realize why God made each of us different. Because we are called to do this together. It's interesting that we plan, that we continuously plan our lives. We make financial plans. We make plans for our house. We make study plans. But what if as a church we made plans to reach others? If each week we thought, I want to call this one person today, Lord I want to go visit this other person, Lord I want to invite this family over for lunch, Lord I want to bring

provision to this other person, if it was part of our planning process, which I think it should be, what do you think the impact on the church would be? We see success in many of the areas that we plan, and sometimes we'll say, oh I wish the Lord would use me more, and maybe you're just a phone call away, just a prayer for someone, an invitation to that person that perhaps God is bringing to mind, it's simpler than we're thinking church, but we need to be intentional, and I want to share something about our church in this last principle, through the years we've been sharing our compassion for the different needs of people, and we've been making annual initiatives, so last year our initiative was to go to the prisons to those that are imprisoned, and what we wanted to do was bring a care package to each of the people that are incarcerated here in Arkansas, with literature about the gospel, to visit them, and we saw a lot of fruit from that initiative, but this year we wanted to focus our compassion on those in the health care system, for those that are struggling with food insecurity, and at a church level we're going to be doing this initiative that works as a whole church, if you look at the statistics here in Arkansas it says that one in four children suffers from food insecurity, which means that one out of four kids doesn't know where their next meal is going to come from, and we know that in the kingdom of heaven there will be no children that are left hungry, and this is the reality for many kids at school, and that's how we've associated with food banks, and schools, where boxed food items can be given to either the kids or their families that are in need throughout the city, and we want the summer to be able to provide for the maximum amount of children possible, so how can you participate in this initiative? Starting next Sunday we're going to have boxes either inside or outside, not sure where, and you're going to be able to see the list of necessary food items that we're going to need in those boxes, this is something that you can do either just you and your wife or as a family, and as you're going to the supermarket you can buy the extra things to bring them on Sunday, and pray for these children that are going to be receiving this, and I do ask that you please buy items that are specifically on the list because they are specific about what items we can actually give, but each family can buy as much as they want to and we'll go ahead and place them in the boxes before the 7th of June. And so, after we've collected everything, we're going to distribute it to the different schools and food banks on June the 13th.

And we'll talk a little bit more about the distribution process itself. But this is a tangible way with which we can serve with the love of Christ in our community. So church, what can we conclude this morning? Let's not let our own comfort stop us from reaching those that need the word of God. Let's not forget to be intentional in the places or with the things that God has already placed with us. Our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our hobbies. Let's be intentional. And lastly, let's serve with the love of Christ. So why don't you join me in prayer? So let me finish this morning. Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning for reminding us that we have the chance to reach our communities for the gospel. Forgive us when we let distractions stop us from being effective in what you have sent us to do. Help us be intentional in all the places that you send us. To see those opportunities and those encounters as heavenly appointments. That we may not squander any moment where we can care for others. Use us, Lord. For your glory. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.