Welcome to ECB's Weekly Sermon Podcast. ECB is an international church in Bangkok, Thailand,
with dozens of nationalities worshipping together. We invite you to connect with us from wherever
you are through our website, ecb.asia, or our mobile app. And now we pray that you are blessed
by this week's sermon. It is good to be together again. We are beginning the new year 2025. Can
you believe it already? I'm going to start a new series today that is called Treasures of the
Journey. Even though I am the one starting this series, I'm not the one preaching the whole
series. We are going to have the ministry head of our young adults ministry, Zach. He's going to be
sharing next week. Then we're going to have Pastor Phil, and then we're going to have Pastor
Renee, each one of us taking a Sunday to share about a treasure of something that we have learned
in our own walk with the Lord throughout the years that we just want to share with you. Because
we're not the only ones in the journey. You are with us too. And if we can share something that
we have learned that can be useful for you as you start this new year, then we pray that it will be
a blessing. So before I start, let me pray for this particular space. Lord, this is the beginning
of a new year for us. And it's a time in which we have plans and ideas and we come to you with
hopes and expectations. We need you to guide, to provide. We need you to do things and we turn to
you, especially today. But as we walk with you, help us grow. Help us become more mature, followers
of Jesus that not only seek you, but that love you. So use your word today to speak to our hearts. I
pray in the powerful name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. If you are in this season of beginning the new
year and planning things, some of you already have new year resolutions and different things that we
are planning. And therefore this is a season in which by default we're looking at the future. And
as we look at the future, we realize that there's so much that we hope for, but there's also so much
that we do not know. And the journey of faith, of following Jesus, requires for us to understand
lots of different things that will help us go into this journey in a way that will help us do it in
a way that is mature and that honors God. And what I want us to reflect on today is in the aspect of
trusting God in this journey. And the main thing that we are going to learn that is my treasure of
this journey is that I have come to understand that the most important question is not whether
I can trust God, but whether God can trust me. And we start this reflection by looking at the life
of Abraham. Because Abraham is known as the father of faith, it was because of his relationship with
God and his following God and obeying God and taking these steps of faith throughout his life
that everything that God had planned about this journey of salvation for humanity was made possible.
And that's why Abraham is called the father of the faith. In the book of Hebrews chapter 11,
it summarizes the significance of Abraham and it puts it this way, both him and his wife Sarah.
Would you read it with me? It says it this way, by faith Abraham, when called to go to a place,
he will later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was
going. And by faith, even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children
because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be
called their God. If you are a system believer, you know the Lord for many years and you have grown
in your faith, when you read Hebrews 11, you know, oh, Hebrews 11, everybody knows what Hebrews 11
is about. So, well, not everybody. So let me tell you what Hebrews 11 is known for. It's the chapter
that talks about the significance of faith as we follow God. And it's going to mention some of the
key characters throughout the history of the faith in the Old Testament. And Abraham and Sarah were
mentioned here. But one thing that strikes me about Hebrews 11 is that after he mentioned some of
these different names and he says this was the attitude that these people had, this is what walking
by faith, this is what following God looks like. It says at the end, and when God looks at these
people, he is not ashamed to be called their God. And I never put it that way. It's like, God, are
you ashamed of being called my God? It's like when you see me as I follow you, what do you think of
me? I know I'm saved by grace. I know that Jesus paid for all of my sins. I know that God sees me
and sees Jesus in me. I know the whole thing about justification. I understand it. But I'm talking
about when I'm following God, do I follow God like these people did? This is like a father that looks
at his child and feels blessed and proud that this child is my child. Because Proverbs says that
the wise son brings joy to the parents, but the foolish one doesn't. What kind of follower am I,
God? And suddenly when you start shaping your journey from that whole different perspective,
something starts to change. And what we discover in the life of Abraham is that as he began that
journey of faith, he went through these phases. And as he goes through these phases, we can identify
with them very easily because that's what following God looks like. Now, just to be fair,
the whole story of Abraham is super long. So we're not going to study the whole thing. Chapters 12
to 25 of Genesis, if you have not read this whole section, go home and read the whole thing so you
become familiar with it. But we're going to look at certain sections that highlight these moments
in which Abraham is following God. And what does the text say about him? Now you might know that
his name was Abraham and his wife was Sarai. And these two names changed later in the story to
Abraham and Sarah because the meaning of that change highlighted what God had promised to them
in that journey of faith. So at moments as we read, you're going to read the name Abraham,
and then at moments he will read Abraham. It's the same person. So don't be confused as you read them
if you are not familiar with these passages. But look at what it says. The first section that we
see in his journey of faith as he followed God was the invitation to follow God. And that's how
our journey begins for all of us. We hear about God and we start seeking and suddenly we realize
that God loves us and he sent Jesus. And suddenly now we become followers of Jesus. And as we are
following God, now we responded to that invitation. What was that invitation like for Abraham? It tells
us right there on chapter 12 verse 1. The Lord has said to Abraham, go from your country, your people,
and your father's household to the land I will show you. Remember Hebrew says he went without
knowing where he was going? Yeah, precisely because God didn't tell him. God said, I want you to leave
where you are, your country, your people, and you're going to go in a place I'm going to show you,
but you'd never been there before. And then he says, I will make you into a great nation and I
will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who
bless you and whoever curses you, I will curse and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
Abraham, I have plans for your future that you do not understand, but I'm going to turn you into a
blessing to many. All nations of the earth will be blessed through you, but before that happens,
I need you to follow me. If you follow me, then we'll get into business. So we are told that Abraham
went as the Lord had told him. He left his country, his people, his family, and he went. And also Lot
went with him who was his nephew. Abraham was 75 years old when he set out from Haran. Wait, he was
not just graduating from college. This guy was old, 75 years old, past retired age in today's
standards. Now I already feel old and I'm just 50. Imagine God saying you are 75, I have plans for
your future. What future? There's a lot of future ahead of you. And in fact, in the case of Abraham,
he died at age 175. So from this point on, he walked with God for a hundred years of faith. So
you're not really that old if you're in your seventies. God has plans for you. And he calls
Abraham and he says, come. And he goes. And now we are told that he took his wife Sarai, his nephew
Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, all the people they had acquired in Haran, and they
set out for the land of Canaan and they arrived there. He took the whole thing with him. It was a
big move. If you have moved internationally, you know how hard it is to move. He didn't leave his
possessions behind. He took all his possessions and everything and he went. And this is how it
begins. We know that Abraham was from Ur of the Chaldeans. This city is where his father was from.
This is where he was born and this is where he grew up. And then his father moved from Ur to
Haran. And today is fascinating because the British Museum, as well as the Iraq Museum,
has a large archaeological collection of these ancient cities. If you are ever in those places,
check it out. It will expand your understanding of the biblical events. But we know that Ur of
the Chaldeans was in the region of South Iraq. And that is where he grew up and that is where they
moved to the area of Turkey, which is Haran. And that is where God talks to him and invites him to
follow him. And then he moves from there. He's going to live in different regions in areas that
today are called the West Bank and also Israel. And in this whole area, as he travels following God,
you can map it. Actually, I went to Google Map and I looked and I said, how long would it take to walk
all this time? It's like a lot of time. And this is what Abraham did. With all his crowd, he went
through all of those places. And it's interesting because today, most of the time that we hear the
names Israel or the West Bank of Turkey, of Iraq, is because of the war that is going on in the
Middle East. But all of these places are ancient. And when we talk about this man named Abraham,
he lived in that whole region. And God calls him with an invitation to follow him, but he has no
idea what the destination looks like. Welcome to the journey of following God. That's how it is.
How many of you imagine that you will be here today living in Thailand? If you are a foreigner,
perhaps this was not part of your long-term projection. And things led to one another,
to another, to another, and you ended up being here. God leads us always to a place that he has
in mind and we follow. And that's cool. That's how Abraham begins. And I remember that I was 18
years old when God called us to leave Chile to go to Mexico. And I was excited, but I had never
been in Mexico before. I didn't know anything about Mexico, people, nothing. So my parents
went to visit, and then they came back and they said, yeah, we're going. And we went. And it was
hard to leave our family behind, some of my siblings that we left behind, all my relatives
behind, my country, my people, my food, my language. So that was the beginning of my journey of leaving
my comfort zone into a journey of faith that God was calling us to pursue as a family. And I never
imagined that part of that journey meant you're going to be working with ECB in Bangkok. So that's
the beginning. But it's in that beginning, and as he responds to God, that now he enters the next
phase, which is the struggle. The struggle is now that aspect in which it's like, God, I believe in
you. That is not the problem. The problem I am facing is that I don't think I trust you. Because
believing in God is one thing. Yeah, Jesus is my Savior. Yeah, yeah, if I die, I'll go to heaven.
Yeah, awesome. But to follow you and to leave my people and now to go into the unknown, I have so
many questions. I have so many fears, so many doubts, so many things. And sometimes they keep
me up at night and I'm trying to do the math and I'm trying to figure it out. And welcome to the
journey of faith. It's the wrestling, the struggle of trusting God. And that is where Abraham is
going to find himself in. He's going to have fears. Because God had told him, leave. I want to make
your descendants just huge number of people and you'll become nations. And the only problem is
that he had no son. So what descendants? So at this moment now we encounter Abraham in a different
season of his life of following God. And the beginning of chapter 15 says this, after this,
the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. Do not be afraid, Abraham. I am your shield.
You're a very great reward. If God comes to you and says, you know what, chill, don't be afraid.
It's because you're freaking out and you are afraid. And God encounters him in that space where
he's thinking all these things. Abraham, it's okay. It's going to be okay. You are so concerned about
figuring out how is this child going to work out, how is it going to happen. You're getting older.
I know. But Abraham, you have to understand that this is not about the child. It's about me. I am
your reward. It's not what you are going to get out of following me. It's me. It's encountering me,
knowing me, partnering with me. I am your reward. I am your security. I'm your shield. But he didn't
know God yet, as he will later in his life. He's still in a stage of his faith that is not mature.
So when he hears God saying, it's about me, I'm your reward. I'm your security. I'm your shield.
He goes like, and he responds to that. Now with the, oh God, thank you. I needed to hear that. Thank
you for reminding me of that. No. You know what he says instead? Let's read it. He says, but Abraham
said, sovereign Lord, I know you're sovereign. You're God. If you want to know exactly how I'm
feeling, this is what I'm thinking. What can you give me? You, God, sovereign, what can you give me?
Since I remain childless. And I already figured out the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer
of Damascus, my servant. Because legally in their culture, they could make one of their servants
the person that will inherit everything. If you don't have children. So he has no child. He's
growing old. He is freaking out. And then he says, ah, I know what God is going to do. Eliezer.
That's how God is going to do it. So God, I know you're not going to give me anything. What can
you do? And Abraham said, look, I've been following you all this time and you have given me no
children. So a servant in my house will be my heir. And then the word of the Lord came to him.
This man will not be your heir. But a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir. That
is my plan. He took him outside and said, look up at the sky, count the stars. If you need, you can
count them. And then he said to him, soul shall your offspring be. Now, it's very easy to look
back in the story from this side of the events and say, oh yeah, Abraham, you had no idea. Another
thing is to be on his shoes, childless, old with an old wife that cannot have children. Hearing God
say, look at the sky, look at the stars. Yeah, yeah. It's like I'm trying to reach the moon here.
It's like trying to reach the stars. Unreachable. Really? A son out of my own flesh and blood? As
numerous as the stars? Is that what you were thinking? I thought you were going to do my
servant here. Really, God? And at that moment something happens. It says that Abraham believed
the Lord and he credited to him as righteousness. He believed enough in God to follow him, but
now he believes in God in a deeper way. Not only that God can be followed, but God is trustworthy.
And if he said he was going to do something, he will figure it out. And at this moment,
this passage, this verse right here is going to become a significant verse in the New Testament
later in the letters of the apostle Paul when he talks about justification by faith. This is the
source of it. Abraham believed in God and he became justified. God credited him with his
righteousness at that moment. And here we are told that on that day the Lord made a covenant with
Abraham and said, to your descendants I give this land from the body of Egypt to the great river,
the Euphrates, the land of the Canaanites, Kandumites, Hittites, Parasites, Rafaites,
Amorites, Canaanites, Jerigoshites, and Jebusites. All of these people, all of these cultures,
all of these people groups that inhabit all this land, I am going to give you all of that land
to you and to your descendants. And now you can imagine Abraham is no longer in Turkey,
now he is down in Hebron. He is in the region that today is known as Israel. He is there.
But that was not a country yet. That was an area populated by lots of different people groups that
eventually we know their idolatry and their social corruption reached levels that demanded
God's justice to bring judgment upon them. And none of those cultures exist today. They were all
one extent. And it's in this moment that God makes a covenant with Abraham because he believed in
what God promised. And it's in this moment that in that covenant God says, I'm going to tell you
what I have in mind. You see that river over there? You see that river over there? All that land I'm
going to give to your descendants. Me? I'm a foreigner in this area. That's what you have for
me. Which by the way, this is a passage that brings into all these theological discussions
and reflections about what is the nation of Israel today? How does that correlate with
biblical prophecy and all of these things and who owns that land and who has the right over this
land and all those questions? These are the verses that are significant in all of that
theologizing. But then what happens is that it's in this season that Abraham is struggling,
struggling, struggling. And the only question that he's been focusing on is the same question
that you and I focus on all the time. God, can I trust you with this? God, are you really going to
do this? God, how do I know that you are going to lead me in a good way? Can I really follow you?
Because I'm kind of not trusting you. You failed me in the past. Are you going to fail me again?
And we are trying to follow God from a place of mistrust. Can I trust you, God? Can I trust you,
God? He had to go through tough moments in that journey because he grew so insecure that at moments
he made very poor decisions. He became a liar. He deceived. And then he tried to take things on
his own hands and make it happen by his own plan. And then he messed up. And he had children outside
his marriage to Sarah. And he became controlling and fearful. And he had to mature through all of
that. Because when we follow God from that place where the only question that we're asking is,
God, can I trust you? You are going to suffer through those dysfunctions of making decisions
that are not aligned with God. But as he went through those years and he learned through his
mistakes, if you asked him later, so, Abram, can you really trust God? He can look at you with his
child in his arms and he says, oh yeah. There was a time in my life in which I thought, it's
impossible. God, there's no way you're going to give me a child. So, Elias will be the guy. And
now, holding this child in my arms, can I trust you? Oh yes, I can. You have proved yourself to be
trustworthy. And those experiences marked you. I remember that for a period of time in counseling,
I was working with a person that had so much debt. And as the person was going through this
process of inner healing and we were doing the math and God was healing all these different things
that had led to all those decisions and all that debt and all that healing taking place. I remember
writing the numbers on the whiteboard and we were saying, God, for this to happen, you will have to
provide a lot of money and lots of jobs. And from that place, it was like, there's no way this can
happen. So we prayed standing, looking at that whiteboard and saying, God, we cannot do this.
This is too much unless you do it. And we believe that you are calling us for healing and that you
desire for this debt to go away. So we are praying for you, provide. And those are hard prayers to
pray because you are praying it from a place of impossibility. But then God provided and a year
later, as we met to look back, we only had words of praise because God had provided all the jobs
and all the salary to get out of that debt. Those experiences make it much easier for you to trust
God because God has shown in a material way that he is trustworthy. But the reality is that he's
trustworthy whether you have experienced it or not. You are just a little bit behind the story,
wait until the right time comes and then you will see. But it's in this season that Abraham now enters
a new season in his journey with God. And this is the season where everything clicks for me. I call
it the switch. Because there's a very obvious switch in the approach in which Abraham has towards
God. To God, I believe you so I can follow you, but I don't trust you really that well, so I'm
fearful. Will you really fail me or will you really fulfill your promises? To now, okay, you fulfill
your promises, I know I can trust you. But there's something that is going to happen in this season
of his life where the whole concept of trust is going to turn around. The question is no longer
going to be, God can I trust you? But Abraham, can I trust you? And that's very different. Very
different. I tell you why. Because if I ask God, God can I trust you? The answer is obvious. Yes,
he's holy, as we were singing. Even in the worst case scenario, we'll praise your name,
you know, because you are good. We know who you are. You're trustworthy, so can I trust you? Yeah,
of course I can. But God, can you trust me? That's a whole different story. And it's in this place
that Abraham becomes the father of the faith. Not when he left Ur and Haran, not when he saw the
stars, no. It's in this season when he became trustworthy. God is going to ask him to do
something. God is going to say, Abraham, this son that I had given you, Isaac, I want you to take
him with you to this place I'm going to show you, and I want you to sacrifice him as an offering to
me. I remember one of the first times I read that, that didn't sit very well with my heart. It's like,
God, that's what pagan people do. Astecs sacrifice children to worship their gods. The very
Canaanites that you are going to destroy, these children's child sacrifice, why are you asking
Abraham to kill his son? It makes no sense to me. It makes me not want to like you. And there's so
much more that's going on that I understood at that moment. It makes me remember the story of the
guy that was allergic to chocolate. He liked it, but he couldn't eat it. And then he has a child,
a daughter that loves chocolate, and she can eat it. And her favorite ice cream was not strawberry
ice cream, not vanilla ice cream, but chocolate ice cream. So one day they buy this chocolate
ice cream for the girl, and she is still young, and she's so excited. So the dad looks at her and
says, can I have some? And the mom looks at him like, what are you doing? You're allergic to
chocolate. Why are you doing that? Just, you know, can I have some? And the little girl goes,
sure. And he goes, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. He doesn't taste it. He knows he can't. But
then after that, the wife says, you know, why did you do that? I was not wanting the chocolate. I
just wanted to see what kind of daughter I have. What is this kind of self? It's like, no, mine.
What is she going to give it to me? I just wanted to see her heart. That's all I wanted to do. It's
like, ah, bingo. That's exactly what God is doing with Abraham. And we know, because God later tells
him, no, no, no, no, don't hurt the child. I don't mean for you to really sacrifice him. Don't, don't
touch the child. And he provides a ram for the sacrifice. We know that. What Abraham doesn't
understand is that for this covenant to become a blessing to all nations, all the peoples of the
earth will be blessed through you. Because what God was doing is that he was trying to find a human
that he could partner with in order to bring salvation to all humanity. He needed someone
that he could use his family line to bring the Messiah down the road, Jesus. Because one day,
the son of God was going to come through that family line, and that son of God, his one and only
son, was going to be sacrificed to bring forgiveness of sins for all the peoples of the earth. And
because that is what God was going to do, he needed someone that will align with his heart.
So Abraham, do you have the heart that I need to see before we'll sign this deal? Because this deal
is forever. And we are told that Abraham obeys God. And this season is important because as you see
this picture, it's like Abraham has no idea at this point what God is going to be doing later. No
idea. He doesn't understand the whole thing about Jesus and dying on the cross and all of these
things. But later, the Word of God tells us if you read 1 John, the Apostle John chapter 4-9,
read it aloud with me just to get the language. This is what God was planning to do. And this
is what he accomplished, and he did, through Abraham's descendants. Read it with me. This is
how God showed his love among us. He sent his one and only son into the world that we might live
through him. This is what God wanted to do. Did you pick on the phrase, his one and only son?
Pay attention to that. Let me go back to Genesis. Because now that Abraham has obeyed God, God
talks to Abraham and says, do not lay a hand on the boy. Do not do anything to him. Now I know
that you fear God. Because you have not withheld from me, who? Your son, your only son. Now I know
it has become evident. You have shown yourself to be trustworthy. I can see your heart. I can trust
you now with this plan. I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you have done this, I have
not withheld, who? Your son, your only son. I will surely bless you and make your descendants as
numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sun on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession
of the cities of their enemies. And through your offspring, all nations on earth will be blessed
because you have obeyed me. Now that you are trustworthy, I can trust you. And now that I can
trust you, we can go on with the plan. Let's sign the deal. Here sign deal.
Abraham, the father of the faith, experienced the switch. The question was no longer can I trust
God, but can God trust me? And it is of the most significance in our walk with God, as we look at
this year ahead of us, that we understand that you can trust God. God is not going to fail you.
The problem is, are you going to fail God? Can he trust you with the vision that he has for your
life? I can trust you with the plans that he has for you. When the time comes, are you going to
obey him? This is the treasure of the journey. And I'm no Abraham. I'm not a hero of the faith. I'm
just a follower of Jesus, a sinner saved by grace with all my faults and scars. But in this journey
of faith, as God took me out of my country and my people and then moved me to Mexico City to work in
church plant with my family in those years, then moved to Dallas and then start studying there and
suddenly become an American citizen and then become a pastor and then have years of ministry
and become a professor at a doctoral program with a Christian university in the U.S. And all of that
that I did then, forgot to say, I want you to now live all of that a second time and now I want you
to move to another continent, another country, another community altogether. That journey of
faith that has taken me through different countries has also reflected this that I see in Abraham.
The faces of responding to God's invitation and then wrestling and then experiencing this switch.
That this is not about me but about you. And there are four obstacles that I want to take you
through briefly that I have experienced that I realize God cannot trust me if I don't overcome
this obstacle. I have to overcome it. The first obstacle is going to be related to this aspect of
control. Because you see, being saved, being a follower of Jesus, is an invitation to go into
the unknown. You have no idea what tomorrow brings. But Jesus is inviting you to follow him.
And in this following Jesus, these obstacles were going to come. Control. I just want to know the
whole plan exactly how it's going to work because you know that makes it much easier to trust.
And I remember when I was in college, I'm thinking I really want to do grad school and a master's
and I want to do all these things but I don't have the money. How am I going to do this? Would it be
possible? What is going to happen? And I am fearful. I'm anxious. And I'm writing this paper in
the library at college and then I grab this book from the shelves and I open the book as I'm
filled with anxiety about all of these things that may happen in my future. I'm in my early
twenties at that time and as I open the book, there's a little bookmark that says don't worry
about the future. God is already there. And that's exactly what I needed to hear. Why do I want to
know how this is going to work out? Because that gives me control, you see. Feeling in control gives
you a sense of safety, of security, but that's false. The only security is God. And therefore,
you can obey God because he knows best. And what's interesting is I've been reading during these
weeks during this break this book called True North that is about leadership by Bill George
and I found something intriguing. He says the most dissatisfied people I have known had a clear
career plan. It is important to be flexible and venturesome in stepping up to unexpected
opportunities. If you're only interested in advancing your career, you will wind up dissatisfied
because you will become controlling. You want exactly everything to happen your way, your time,
and that is not how we follow God. Not only you're going to be miserable, but people working with you
will be miserable too. You can trust God. You can obey him because he knows best. Go into the unknown
this year. Go for it. As long as the Lord is leading you, go for it. The second obstacle that I've
experienced is the obstacle of cost. Leaving our ministry and community in Dallas coming here had a
cost involved and I was wrestling with that. I was thinking, God, why would my team be so
bad? Why would my team think? Why would our church think? Why would my mother-in-law think?
What is going to happen with these things? It's like the aspect of you are so focused on what
you're leaving behind that is holding you back from following God into the future.
I was wrestling with that. God didn't use a bookmark, but he actually used his word.
I was reading Philippians that, I mean, look at that time,
and I'm wondering, you know, should we go to Thailand? What about this? What about that?
But this and that and this and that, you know, all the questions. I'm analytical. I cannot turn that
off. You know, this is what God said. Will you read it? Why did you call me Lord, Lord, and do not
do what I say? It's like, okay. Right. It's like I was asking the wrong questions. The only question
that mattered was this. God, is this you? Because if you're calling us to go, we'll go. Simple. You
see, if Jesus is really my Lord, then we go. We follow. So you can obey God. You can trust him,
going to the unknown because he's asking. And if the Lord is asking, we go. But then the other
obstacle was the obstacle of identity. But God, I am this. I have this role. I have this
experience. I have this projection. And you're asking me to change all of that. It makes no
sense. It's not the right career move. And suddenly, God used that season to make me realize,
Pablo, you are confusing your role with your identity. You are not your job. You are not your
title. You are not your paycheck. You are not your function. That is not who you are. And I remember
those days I was reading Philippians. And this is what I read. Your relationship with one another
have the same mindset as Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with
God something to be used to his own advantage. Rather, he made himself a servant of God.
Nothing. By taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And when I read
that, you know what stood out of that passage, which was this word servant. It's like, Pablo,
you are my servant. That is who you are. Your roles will change throughout the years.
But you are never your roles. But you are always my servant. And when that clicked, it was like,
oh, silly me. That's right. It doesn't matter what God is calling you to do. Move, change,
change roles, change positions. As long as it's the Lord, go for it. Because what you do is not
your identity. You can trust and obey God because he positions you. Today here, tomorrow like that,
tomorrow in the middle. It doesn't matter. And the last obstacle was the obstacle of value.
All of us want to be in a context where we are valued, not taken for granted. When you start
feeling undervalued, underused, undercompensated, it's very hard to follow God. It's like, God,
you know, I have so much more I could do. God, you know, I could be making so much more money.
God, you know, so when you feel underpaid, undervalued, underused, it's a place where you
wrestle. But in that period of my life, God took me back to Philippians and he says,
Paul, you missed the first part. Who being in very nature of God did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage. I know what it is to be undervalued,
underestimated, underused. To have the attitude of Christ, did you know what it was for God
to be accused of serving Satan? Did you know what it was for God
to be misjudged, like he had no power to do anything? Jesus was the one who was
the power to do anything. Jesus was God incarnate. Yet he was willing to be undervalued and
underused and underpaid. He was willing because he was aligning himself with God's plan.
And this is where God had to make me realize, Pablo, even if I'm asking you
to be in a place where you feel underused, undervalued, under everything,
would you still do it if I'm asking you? Would you? And at that moment, what shifts
is that the value is not about you. You follow God because he is the valued one.
He is the reward. He is the shield, the great reward. So at that moment of wrestling,
it's like, yes, you can follow God. You can stay there. You can continue to be undervalued
or underused because if Jesus is asking you to do it, he is worth it.
Unless we overcome these obstacles, we cannot become trustworthy followers of Jesus.
So as we look at this year and the plans that we have ahead, I'm here to remind you
that as much as we want to look for God's blessing and direction, the most important
question of this journey is not whether we can trust God, but whether he can trust us.
So I want to leave you with this question. Can God trust you?
Lord, as we are following you this year,
thank you that you're not asking us to go ahead of you into the unknown, but to follow you into
the unknown. And as long as you go before us, we know that we will always end up in the right place
because you never mislead us. And we know that you will always end up in the right place.
We know that we will always end up in the right place because you never mislead us.
Strengthen us.
Strengthen us. And if there's any fear that is holding us back, break its power over us.
We love you Lord and we pray in the powerful name of Jesus. Amen.
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