Espera y verás — a fuego lento — DawnCheré Wilkerson

I can't believe it because this month flew by. We are the last delivery of Slow Burn. We arrived together. I loved every minute. I have expectations so God will speak to our hearts. Maybe this is the first time you are part of BU, that you are here. Happy to have you with us. It is a collection of four sermons, but it is also a book. It is the first book I just published. It is a testimony of God's faithfulness. The story he wrote in my life is the one he wants to write through yours. I have an image of the incense, that slow fire of trusting in Him, of waiting for Him, of knowing that He is faithful until we see Him face to face. Today we are talking about that moment of meeting face to face, that He is coming, that He is on His way. In Hebrews 11, as it is in the paraphrase of The Message, each of these people of faith died without having in their hands what was promised, but still believing. Someone say, still believing. How did they achieve it? They saw Him from afar. They greeted Him with their hands and accepted His condition of transcendence in this world. I want to talk to you in the next moments about this idea. Wait and you will see. Wait and you will see. I have to be frank. This is my favorite approach to the Word of God. My favorite subject when I have to talk about eternity and heaven. When we look at the Scriptures,

there is nothing that gives me more faith. Wait for me. Think of what God has prepared for us. Let us pray. Lord, thank you for each person who listens to my voice. I pray, Lord Jesus, that you allow the hearts that listen in all the localities, in line, that they may have the experience that eternity is real. There is so much that awaits us. And now, let us draw strength and joy and peace in your presence, Lord. Let us leave the distractions and focus on you. Let us pray this in the name of Jesus. Let us go one more time. And everyone say, Amen. I am from Shreveport, Louisiana. In my first years of life, I grew up on a tour bus. My parents were evangelists, both of them. They were itinerant evangelists for the United States and Canada, where God called them to go. Sometimes they went to other parts of the world and had to take a flight. But in a group, that's where I spent my first years. When they started to have children, they took us on the road. Two weeks after I was born, I was a two-week-old baby. They put me on a baby seat on that tour bus. And sometimes for months, we did not return home. On one of those tours, it was six months, I remember. They remember that they had been on tour for several months, and we passed through our town. But since they had to come to a service, we could not stop at our own house, in our own town. So we were on Highway I-20, the interstate,

and we greeted our house. We could not enter or take a break. We greeted them from the road, and we continued on the road to the next destination. We were passing through. And that's how life is. We are passing through. Here. There are moments in this life, in the path of life, when we are on a slow fire, when we have glimpses of our true home, and we can greet it from afar. And that's what Hebrews 11 speaks of. It is the slow fire of faith. When we see the patriarchs of faith, these people that we celebrate, broken people, people with flaws like you and me. We have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Raab, Joseph, Moses. Long before Jesus came and said, each of these people of faith died without having in their hands what was promised, but still. a believer. How did they do it? They saw it from afar, they greeted him with their hand and accepted his condition as a transcendent in this world.

The heroes of faith greeted his inheritance from afar and gave us the example so that you and I, in 2025, can do the same. I love this interpretation of the paraphrase of Messias. How did they do it? That's what I want to know. How did they do it? Verse 14 says it. People who live like this make it clear that they are looking for their true home. If they missed their native land, they could have returned it whenever they wanted. But they were looking for a much better country, the country of heaven. It is understood why God is so proud of them and prepared a city that awaits them. I have shared this before, but in the most intimate moments of my relationship with Jesus. I have followed Jesus since I was a little girl, but it was in those moments of waiting, during my time of infertility,

waiting for God, asking God and reading chapter 11 of Hebrews. I read it so many times, but once I read it, suddenly the Holy Spirit made this word come to life and showed me how it is to be waiting for God. It says that they greeted the inheritance from afar and tears began to fall when they imagined Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Sarah looking at the eternity that awaited them, greeting it from afar while they walked on this slow path. I was there alone with God and I knew that right there, not in a service, not on a platform, but there, in that intimate place where I was sitting, I had the invitation to wait and look at my inheritance from afar. Heaven is real

and is waiting for us today. He gave me a higher vision. He showed me that my tears were seeds that were going to bear a harvest and that my daily incense of prayer and praise was transforming me into a fragrance of the love of Christ. It will not be that the revelation of eternity is exactly what we need to walk with strength today. It will not be that understanding what is waiting for us is exactly what we need to understand that there is something for which you do not have to wait to maintain and celebrate and cling to that here and now. In Miami, it is beautiful, I love Miami and I took my daughter shopping

with me. The truth is that they are geniuses. Everyone is telling me about something that I did not know I needed. They are telling me that I can not miss this. They sell it to me with inspiring images, with fragrances, with different creative installations. And when I passed the shopping center, I was thinking of the promise of eternity. And if someone spoke to you and if they wanted to give you a gift, that you would never worry or fear. If someone told you that there is a gift, that you would never feel pain or sadness, that you would not spill any other, that you would be in perfect peace. If there was a gift that would give you eternal joy

and that would never end. I do not know about you, but I would like, yes, I want it. I want it. How much does it cost? When can you send it to me? When it arrives. It sounds too good to be true. But that is the promise of eternity that awaits us. I think that sometimes we do not think deeply enough about heaven. We do not take the time to meditate on the reality of what awaits us. It sounds too good to be true, but this is the promise that awaits us for all of us. We greet you from afar. Eric Clapton wrote a song called Tears in Heaven. After having lost a son in a tragic way, he is dealing with pain and is vulnerable. And a very honest question that comes to each of us when we go through pain and sadness. And he writes that song questioning, asking himself if he has a place in heaven. And he says, I do not belong there. But he does not stay there. And he comes to a place where he comes to the conclusion that beyond the door there is peace. I'm sure, because I know there will be no more tears in heaven. This song, which I have heard for a long time,

maybe you know it, but the truth is that all of us are dealing with pain in this slow fire. But we all have an invitation to understand a perfection that we have not known through the relationship with Jesus. Through the relationship with Jesus we can belong to heaven. We can cling to the promise that eternity awaits us. This is the gift of eternal life, the giver of all. Our Father who is in heaven, our Father God. I believe that today's invitation is, can you and can I, as the patriarchs of faith, greet our inheritance from afar? Because the difficult question of this slow fire path is, and if what you are waiting for you do not receive in this life? The message of the slow fire wait is a message rooted in the word of God. And the word of God is not a book of how to get what you want in the here and now. It goes much deeper than that. It is not a recipe, it is not a formula for success, it is not a five-step plan, it is not a pattern to copy left and right. When we understand the power of the word of God, we understand that we have the right and God gives us the right to ask difficult questions. He does not despise your pain and you do not say you have to. What is that you are? What happens if what you expect is not fulfilled in this life? If you never get the dream job, if you never find the partner, if you never have complete health here, and if you never have a baby, I want to speak to your soul directly. Your life will not be wasted in the wait. Your life will not be wasted in the wait. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, your life will be formed by his fidelity in each season of your life. Because God always responds. He says yes, no and waits.

God always responds to us in this slow-fire wait. That's what his Lordship is about. It is to trust God when he responds yes, no or waits. Do you want to know what the testimony of your life will be at the end of your slow fire? Can you see it? Can you understand it? I can tell you. I waited for God and saw his fidelity. I waited for God and saw his provision. I waited for God and saw his protection. Yes, maybe it was a no on this side of eternity, but I know that God has been close to me in every step of the way. And a no now is not a rejection or a final word. I want you to understand it. From the moment you give your life to Jesus, you are in that slow fire towards eternity where there will be no pain. It does not mean, is it not? It is simply a matter of when. Only God knows how long we have on this earth, but we have to walk with the revelation that we are not promised one more day of that. When we walk with the revelation of heaven, it changes how we walk on this earth. I think of my grandfather who was born in 1912, who was part of a large family and was born in total poverty. My great-grandmother, she spoke French, and my great-grandfather was a smuggler. illegal liquor, and also stole, we are talking about Luciana. My great-grandmother had a diagnosis that she had tumors and that she was going to die, and a woman invited her to the church, and a woman like this, when she is the pastor, she preached and cried, she was healed supernaturally, and lived a faithful life to God, and by the faith that she lived, all her children gave their lives to Jesus.

My grandfather married my grandmother and became evangelists. They were poor too, sometimes they had no food, they only lived in a car, and sometimes they did not have to feed my two-year-old father. Years later, they planted roots in Louisiana, planting a church there. And my grandfather, who spoke French Cajun, and changed from English to French with a passion, although he was not eloquent, but he preached with passion, and the altar was filled with people who met the love of Jesus. For decades he preached, and his favorite pulpit was the hospital, going from room to room and praying for people in need. He not only pastored a church, but a whole community. One of the things he said, it's been a long time since I've been in heaven, but 50, 60 years ago are things that I repeat today and that I have kept. He had his own crisis of faith, but God met him in that slow fire, in the dark night of the soul, and gave him hope and a faith to which he clung. I want you to hear his words, what God spoke to him in that slow fire. Lord, we are so grateful for this time. Lord, it is so wonderful to be here with the people who have been supporting us, who have genuinely loved us, with their hands extended to us, with their prayers of faith, and with their love. I thank you for them tonight, but I thank you for everyone. We know that there are people who learned to pray, there are people who knew how to touch God, and we have not surrendered, we have not surrendered. Because when the church stopped, I thought that you had finished with me. But when I felt the urgency of praying, it is as if your voice spoke to me. The best is yet to come. A round of applause for the Lord. The best is yet to come. Say it with me, the best is yet to come.

Your faith is impacting other generations. That is not a pastor for me, it is not a pulpit, a preacher, or a microphone. That is my grandfather. I am carrying his faith today. And it will also be for you and the generations that follow you. The words that you declare are words that future generations will proclaim and to which they will cling in the wait. Why do I say the best is yet to come? Because it was declared about me, of my family, since I was little. And it will also be like that for you, in your slow fire, in your trust, in your dedication, in your daily offering of praise and prayer to God. Your students in the classroom are capturing it. Your children in the living room will cling to it. The people in your work, desperate and broken people, will capture it. Because there is a fragrance in your life that is like nothing that the world can offer. It is the fragrance of Christ. The best is yet to come. You know that there are people who criticized that phrase. Everyone is a critic. Today they want to find something to say. That is not the message of the Gospel, you have to lift your cross and follow Jesus. And you know what? It's true. But that is not the end of the story. We are looking from afar at our heritage and we are saying, Lord, there is much more to come. The best is yet to come. Someone to praise the Lord in this house. The best is yet to come for your life.

The best is yet to come in your future. The best. Eternity is real. My grandfather is in heaven today. And my grandmother called me about 15 years ago and said, Don Sherry, after my grandmother had died, do you want the piano of your grandfather? And I said, of course. I called a company to dispatch it. They sent it to my house. And that piano is now the one my children take piano lessons on. Why are you talking about a piano? Because when my grandfather was overwhelmed by life, or when he heard an ugly word at work or at church, or there was division in the community, or he went through pain or sadness in the family, or he came home overwhelmed with the weight, the pain and the sadness of the fire, he said, I'm not going to prepare myself. I'm not going to worry. And he ran to the piano and sat down on the piano and began to sing the Lord his favorite songs. It's time for me to leave my cross and go home. And I sit on the same piano and do the same thing he did in the slow fire. I adore God while I wait. I sing, one day I'm going to go home. I sing, I want to see his face and sing to him forever of his grace. Salvador, I know that eternity is real.

And when we read Hebrews 11, I want you to know that their inheritance is your inheritance. Their history is our history together, united. It is our love for God and our understanding that the testimony of our lives is the same. God is faithful. If you believe it, give the Lord a round of applause. Praise him. God is faithful. How can I greet that, worshiping? How do I greet and hope? I trust in him. Can you greet that better that is to come? Can you see it with your heart? I want to ask you, how often do you think of heaven? Do you really think of heaven? And have you ever greeted it? Let's go back. What is heaven? And what does eternity have for us? Why do we see these cherubim, these clouds, and these little angels floating? But the word of God gives us a beautiful and powerful image of eternity. Let's move on quickly. But I want the more we look at Scripture more clearly, you can greet that better that is to come for all of us. First, heaven is where God makes known his presence more fully to bless. Eternity is a place.

It is not just a part of your imagination or a mental state. Jesus, as he ascended, said in John 14, 2, in the home of my father, in many houses, if it were not so, I would have told you that I am going to prepare your place there. It is a place. There are years when children were afraid of heaven. And when they spoke of heaven, they began to realize that in a wonderful place, sometimes you are afraid and you are anxious about heaven. You have to look in detail what is waiting for you. He wants to give you peace and power in the here and now, when you examine what he has prepared. Our bodies in heaven will be our resurrected bodies. You will never age, nor will you weaken, nor will you get sick. You will see the perfect creation that God established for the first time when he said, it is good. And God saw that it was good. Vamos a comer y beber en las bodas del Corvero. Mi mamá dice que lo van a cocinar los italianos. ¿Quién dice amén? Habrá un cielo nuevo y una tierra nueva. Sí, una nueva tierra. N.T. Wright dijo, el cielo es importante, pero no es el fin del mundo. El cielo y la tierra serán renovados, serán restaurados, perfectos y completos. Es a través del amor perduradero del Padre que hará todas las cosas nuevas. Y me gusta como lo dijo Eugene Peterson en la paráfrasis de Message. Este pasaje de Apocalipsis 21, del 1 al 5. Vi el cielo y la tierra creados de nuevo. Se fue el primer cielo, se fue la primera tierra, se fue el mar.

Vi la Santa Jerusalén creada de nuevo. Descendiendo resplandeciente del cielo. Tan lista para Dios como una novia para su esposo. Hoy una voz atronadora desde el trono. Miren, miren, Dios se ha mudado al vecindario. Haciendo su hogar con hombres y mujeres. Son su pueblo, Él es su Dios. Enjugará cada lágrima de sus ojos. La muerte se ha ido para siempre. Las lágrimas se han ido. El llanto se ha ido. El dolor se ha ido. Todo el primer orden de cosas se ha ido. El entronizado continuó. Miren, estoy haciendo todo nuevo. Escríbanlo todo. Cada palabra confiable y precisa. Dale un aplauso a Jesús si estás agradecido por eso. Esta visión es solo un vistazo de la gloria que nos espera. Es puro. Es un amor puro que el mundo no ha visto. Es Shalom, la paz que no falta nada. La paz perfecta de Dios. Todo gracias a Jesús. Todo gracias a Jesús. ¿Cuál es la mejor parte? Es que vamos a tener comunión plena con Dios. Todo lo que necesitamos en el fuego lento se encuentra en su presencia. La neurocientífica Caroline Leaf dice que nuestros cerebros están diseñados para ser adictos a Dios. Ese anhelo, ese deseo de más que marca a la humanidad.

Nosotros buscamos otras adiciones tratando de llenar un vacío porque tú fuiste creado para ser adicto a Dios. Desearlo más que nada para no poder vivir, respirar y pensar sin él. Así fuiste creado. Y creemos que el cielo debe tener nuestro corazón no solo porque es algo pleno de belleza, sino porque estamos unidos con Jesús ahora. Y es una expansión de la comunión que celebramos el día de hoy. Es algo más perfecto, más profundo. Es completo. Todo de nuestra identidad no se trata de esta vida. Todo acerca de nuestra identidad no tiene nada que ver con esta vida. Tiene que ver con la próxima. ¿Qué quieres decir? Miremos a través de la palabra de Dios. Primero, nuestro Padre está en el cielo. Mateo 6.9 Lo que Dios les enseñó, Jesús les enseñó a sus discípulos. Ustedes deben orar así. Padre nuestro que estás en el cielo, santificado sea tu nombre. Él está intercediendo por nosotros ante el Padre. Pero también tu nombre está en el cielo. Escrito en el libro de la vida. Nuestra ciudadanía está en el cielo. Nuestro hogar está en el cielo. Juan 14.2 y 3 En el lugar de mi padre hay muchas viviendas. Si no fuera así, les habría dicho yo a ustedes que voy a prepararles un lugar allí. Y si me voy y se lo preparo, vendré para llevármelos conmigo. Así ustedes estarán donde yo esté. Tu hogar está en el cielo, pero no es solo eso. Nuestra herencia está en el cielo.

Primera, Pedro 1 dice, y recibamos una herencia que no se puede destruir, contaminar o marchitar. Tal herencia está reservada en el cielo para ustedes. Nuestro corazón está destinado a estar en la eternidad con Jesús. Nuestro corazón está destinado a estar en la eternidad con Jesús. Mateo 6 dice, porque donde esté tu tesoro, allí estará también tu corazón. Where is your heart today? Where is your heart kept? Perhaps you have not thought deeply in heaven for a long time, or perhaps your thoughts are full of anxiety and anguish for that, but perhaps you have not taken the time to delve into what God has prepared for you. I want you to take a minute and receive this in your heart, take a moment to consider in silence how much God loves you, that he has prepared a place for you. In my eight years of waiting, of infertility, I wrote in my diaries where I sat and thought deeply, perhaps you want to write in your own diary, your own reflection about the eternity that awaits us, and it is as true as today I sit down, I fulfilled my role in my temporary home, one day, someone says, one day, we sing it today, one day I will be before my Father and my Savior in heaven, it will be my reality, Lord, allow me to focus on the invisible, on what is the provision of heaven, pause, that day will come. When God invites us to think deeply about eternity, he is not saying, wait, wait, it will be better, no, he is giving you strength to make an impact in the world, now he does not say, hold your breath until you see me, and everything will be better, God is saying, my spirit, the Holy Spirit lives in you, and you can change the world that surrounds you while you wait for my return. The question for us is, where is your treasure, because Jesus says, do not accumulate treasures on earth, where the dust and the rust destroy, and where thieves get into stealing, rather accumulate treasures in heaven, where neither the dust, nor the rust, nor the thieves get into stealing. Today Jesus asks you, where is your deposit? Where is your deposit?

You heard the old phrase, you will never see a car behind a funeral carriage, you will not bring a car of processions, because you can not take it like that, the piano of my grandfather is in my house, one day everything I own will be in the house of another person, or it will be destroyed, carcass eaten by rust, stolen, broken, we can not take any of this with us. We are supposed to use possessions and love people, not to love possessions and use people, because when we choose to love people, it creates a fragrance, a taste, an invitation to love that you and I find in Jesus, and sometimes it is so easy to forget that your slow fire has a expiration date, and sometimes it is easy to be overwhelmed by the lists and daily activities of the here and now, and we forget to wait for the Lord, and know that He is going to renew us with strength, with eagle's wings, and see that our years here are numbered, instead of remembering the word of God and the promise and the reality that that has, by waiting for God on a slow fire, He is going to take your tears, which will be the harvest, but there will be a day that your tears will end, and there will only be infinite joy. When you bring your daily incense, there will come a time when you will not bring something small that will be transformed, but you will see a sky, a cloud, a whole new earth, and perfect, where no one is missing and nothing is broken. Look that Jesus does not stop, that not only do we not make treasures here, he also says, make, accumulate for themselves treasures in heaven, where neither the dust, nor the charcoal oxide, nor the thieves get into stealing. Luis is the best investment advisor and he is telling you where you should invest. He is asking you today, where is your treasure? How is that reflected in the way you live and the way you manage and how you impact those around you? If you read the story, you will discover that the Christians who did the most for the current world were precisely those who thought the most about the future. It is since the Christians have stopped thinking about the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. I want to tell you something. I know we have a lot of headlines in the news, but the good news does not sell. The reality is that there is a revival that is happening in the world. There are presidents of companies that are awakening and using their talents for good. There are thousands of students who are baptized and claim Jesus as their Savior.

Mothers, fathers, single mothers, students, grandfathers, everyone is receiving a revelation that Jesus is real and that eternity is where we have to put our treasures. God is doing something on earth. It may be that he returns at any time for his wife. May he find us on fire. May he find us waiting, trusting, surrendered and waiting. Completely in him, with complete hope in him. With each year that we realize the reality of heaven, he drives us to radical obedience and surrender here on earth. He gives us joy and gives us a glimpse of the joy and peace that is coming. I am the daughter of an American football coach. I have gone through so many stadiums, so many games, where everyone is sitting and suddenly someone gets up and starts to make the wave. And this person, someone I have not met before, suddenly impacts my body language. It impacts my life because when the wave starts, everyone starts to imitate it. And without knowing it, thousands of people are following the same moment of greeting and celebrating. And it is like that in the Body of Christ. From one generation to the next, Abraham, Isaac, Sarah, Jacob, Raab, each of the patriarchs and matriarchs of faith started to greet. They did not start the wave. Abraham simply entered the work that God had initiated and greeted his inheritance from afar. And I want to be the person who says, I see it. And I also want to greet my inheritance from afar. I know that heaven is real. I know that my family is waiting for me. I know that the cry will last for the night, but the joy will come in the morning. God has given you an image of eternity so that you can hold on to it slowly. As He did with your brothers and sisters who preceded you. Where is your heart waiting? Check your heart. Do you think that the earth is your home? God wants to give you a deeper revelation of who you are today. Wherever you are, I want you to know that you are not isolated. You are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. You saw one there on the screen. And today you can hear the testimonies of those who defeated and preceded you. You can say, I do not have a grandfather. And you say, read the Bible.

In Hebrews 11, that is your family. They are the ones who belong to you. That is the faith that they have passed on to us, inherited to you and me, to claim as a home. This is our family. This is our eternal family, and today they call us from that road in heaven. And he said, rest, as Moses said. When the Lord saw that Moses was approaching, he called him from the house of Moses. Moses, here I am. He answered as he told him. Wait for Jehovah. Strive and cheer up your heart. Yes, wait for the Lord, said Jeremiah. The Lord is good with those who wait for him, with all those who seek him. Joshua challenges us in the fire. Look, I command you to strive and be brave. Isaiah prophesied. But those who wait for Jehovah will have new strength. They will raise their wings like eagles. They will run and will not be tired. They will walk and will not be tired. Do you remember the life of a scepter? You and I were born for a moment like this. Corrie Ten Boom, of whom we have shared the story so many times, says, Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to an unknown God. Charles Spurgeon said, The people of the Lord have always been a people that waits. And my grandfather, Rodney Durant, said, There, from heaven, the best is yet to come. Can you see it? Why don't you greet him? Greet the promise of God.

Greet the peace of God. Greet the fulfillment of the fidelity of God. He is here and now. But he is taking us home. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Everywhere. Let's stand up. I want us to pray. Can we greet him? Greet him. I know that when we talk about eternity, there are people here who look at us online in other places who have not given their lives to Jesus. The sky sounds good, but I have to tell you that you can walk with God here and now. You don't have to wait to experience the Prince of Peace, to receive the same power that conquered death. We are not walking through this wounded and weak life. We can walk with boldness, with strength, protected and surrounded by protection because we are children of God. When we decide to put our faith and trust in God. Have you decided to do it? Today we want to make you this invitation. You can't do it for yourself. You can't be good to be called son of God. But you can believe that Jesus died for you and that he resurrected. And you can ask him to direct your life. The old things have passed and everything is new.

At that moment of believing, when you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord. If you say, I want to give my life to Jesus, we close our eyes and bow our heads. I want you to be able to respond to this invitation, to this goodness, to the patience of God that is waiting for this moment in your life. On the count of three. One. This is something between you and your Creator. Two. Don't postpone this decision if God brought you today to do it. Three. I choose Jesus. Raise your hand if you are making that decision. I see your hand. More importantly, God sees your heart. God sees your heart. And from the front to the back, we all raise our hands. Dear Jesus, today I choose to put my life in your hands. I am celebrating that you rescued me. I believe that you died for me and that you resurrected. Forgive me for my sins. Wash me. I want to walk with you. I want to speak with you. I love you, Lord. In the name of Jesus. And everyone says, Amen, Amen, Amen.