How to Be a Blessing

Pastor Leon Aguilera

 ²⁴ There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.²⁵ The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.  - Proverbs 11:24-25

If you haven't felt the joy of the Lord in your life, if you have been feeling spiritually dry, or if your faith doesn't feel all that real to you right now, then let me ask you something: When is the last time you shared your faith with someone? When is the last time you had a conversation with someone about what you believe?

The Christian life is not meant to be hoarded; it is meant to be shared. You have been blessed to be a blessing to others, not to keep it to yourself. Proverbs 11:25 tells us, "The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself " This verse is teaching, the generous person will be enriched. Do you want a generous soul? It's one area where you don't want to be lean. 

Here is what it comes down to: as you start declaring what God has done for you, in some ways it will become more real to you as you make it real to others. As you are taking in truth and growing in your faith, you need to share it with someone else. Every believer needs to do this. It isn't just for pastors or missionaries to do; it is for you. Every one of us needs to look for opportunities to tell others about Jesus.

I can't tell you how many times I have been depleted and drained and felt like I had nothing to offer, but as I began to speak, God gave me the right words to say. I started on empty and ended up on full. Jesus said, ^” Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again." (Luke 6:38).

A Preview of God’s Plan

Pastor Leon Aguilera

 ¹¹ For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  ¹² Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.  ¹³ And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:11-13

God has a plan for your life. He has some objectives for you. Even knowing those truths, it’s still easy to get stuck in the bottomless vortex of questions: Who am I supposed to marry? Where am I going to live? What am I going to do for work? It’s time to set aside the questions and get back to what God has said.

His plans for you are not so much about those specifics as they are about developing your character. Everything else will sort itself out.

God always has plans for the welfare and future of those who are His. He always has plans to give His children hope. Even in the middle of sad and sobering words of judgment, God poured out His heart for His people. He pointed them (and us) toward relationship. The circumstances He allows are designed to cause us to call upon Him. We’re always able to call, seek, and find Him because He wants us to call, seek, and find Him!

When God says, “I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” His words are a great comfort. But wouldn’t you love to get a look at those plans? The tension isn’t, “Does God know?” The tension is, “I want to know!” Although God understands our questions, He doesn’t owe us any answers. It’s as if He says, “I know, but I’m not going to fill you in . . . yet.”

He does give us hints, however. God provides us with some general categories that describe His purposes. First, they are thoughts of peace. The Hebrew word is shalom, meaning “the complete state of well-being; fulfillment; prosperity; peace.” As God looks down the telescope of time, His plans are for your total well-being.

Second, His designs for you are not of evil. People who are determined to prove they can live contrary to God’s program will pay a price for their experiment. God’s plans take us away from evil; ours tend to take us smack into the middle of it.

Third, God’s plans are designed, to give you an expected end, that is a future and a hope, both immediately and eternally. The biblical definition of hope is a confident expectation of something better tomorrow. When your hope is in God, He’ll always deliver. It doesn’t matter what has happened, better things are coming. That's hope! You can be confident He has good plans for you.

Living Life On Purpose

^{Leon Aguilera}

¹⁰ Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. ¹¹ And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. ¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. ¹³ Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. ¹⁴ But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

Is life really that meaningless? Are we here simply to pass time and take up space? No way! God has much more in mind for each of His children. In Romans 13:10-14, the apostle Paul gives three admonitions that move us in the right direction.

First, we must WAKE UP. Look at verse 11. Have you ever slept through your alarm in the morning and awakened too late for work or school? Well, in a spiritual sense, this is the exact situation that Paul is calling us to avoid. Our ultimate salvation—that moment when we meet Christ, either at His return or in our death—is drawing closer, moment by moment. And yet, many believers are “sleeping in,” so to speak. Are you in this group?  Are you taking a long nap when you should be taking hold of the Lord?  If so, I exhort you to WAKE UP.

Second, Paul tells us to CLEAN UP. Look at verses 12-13. Christ is returning soon to forever rid this world of sin, but we should live as though that day were already here. How? By stripping off the “works of darkness”—improper pursuit of fulfillment, sexual sin, and relational sin are mentioned here—and instead, suiting up for battle in the armor of God’s light (see Ephesians 6:10-17). Are you taking off your dirty, smelly clothes each day and replacing them with a fresh, new battle uniform? Or are you still soiled and impure before the Lord? God is instructing you to CLEAN UP.

Third, in verse 14 we are called to GROW UP. I don’t know about you, but I was a fairly mischievous kid. Sadly, many of us need this reminder spiritually. We must not even consider how we can satisfy our sinful cravings—in other words, we must make no allowances for failure. He must be in charge of every aspect of our lives. Does this describe you? Are you deliberately and consciously avoiding every opportunity for your flesh to fail? Are you growing in submission to Christ’s authority over your life? God wants you to GROW UP.

Let’s get serious about spiritual maturity! Don’t settle for less than God’s very best in your life. Don’t just pass time and take up space. It’s time to WAKE UP, CLEAN UP, and GROW UP for the glory of God.

The Way Seems Right

Pastor Leon Aguilera

Wisdom from Proverbs:

“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” 16:25

 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. 3:7

Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. 4:26

When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him. 16:7

A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.16:9

Not a day goes by that you and we don’t make decisions that turn the direction of our lives. We base some of our choices on what we know for sure; others are judgment calls. Proverbs 16:25 has a built-in alarm system that warns us, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” When you base your decisions on what seems right to you, flags should fly up all around when you read this verse. Its caution is so specific and so current that we need to take every word seriously.

Notice, “There is a way . . .” not there was a way. This warning is not leftover from when you were in high school. Nor is it talking about your future. This flag is for your life today, wherever you are. If you’re 25 or 45 or 65, there is a way that seems like the way to go and you’re looking right at it.
“There is a way that seemeth right unto a man . . . ” Are you pondering a decision, maybe even taken several steps in a certain direction, that just feels like the right decision because it’s smooth and sunny and fun and fast? Make no mistake about it, most likely it is the wrong way.

Remember when Jonah ran from God? He went down to Joppa and found a boat waiting in the harbor that took him in the opposite direction from where God told him to go. It must be right; the boat was just waiting there for me. Listen, Satan can put a lot of wrong ways right in front of the person who is willing to consider it. You’ve got to go find the right way. The wrong way will usually come after you.

The problem is that all of this only “seemeth right unto a man …” because our minds are darkened by sin, our hearts are impatient for pleasure, and our wills are weighed down with the old nature and the inclination to sin. Don’t trust what seems right to you—that’s leaning on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths..” Trust God with everything you’ve got, ask Him for wisdom, and He will make the path of your life plain and straight. He’ll make it so you don’t have to waste a lot of time going down roads that just seem right but paths that you know are right in God’s eyes.

PENTECOST: THE DAY THE CHURCH RECEIVED HER POWER

Pastor Leon Aguilera

Text: Acts 2

1. The Prophecy of Pentecost.

Acts 2:1 says, “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.” Pentecost is a Greek word meaning “fiftieth day.” It marks fifty days after Passover. It is still celebrated by the Jews as Shavuot. The previous Jewish holiday, called The Feast of the Firstfruits, is celebrated on the Sunday following the celebration of Passover, which is quite significant since this feast comes on the day Jesus rose from the dead! His day celebrates the first fruits of the barley harvest. The Lord Jesus celebrated First Fruits in the appropriate manner by rising from the dead on that day. He also gave the Father His proper First Fruits offering; graves were opened and dead people rose and were seen after His resurrection in Jerusalem (Matt. 27: 52,53). “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming” (I Cor. 15:22–23). The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost is the celebration of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. Now we celebrate the beginning of the great harvest of the church, “…all things are ready…” (Matthew 22:4b). “…Look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest…” (John 4:35b). Pentecost was the day the Jews originally celebrated when Moses was given the Law on Mount Sinai. Pentecost now becomes the day when we commemorate the beginning movement of the church! This is reminiscent of Ezekiel’s vision of the dry bones that became animated: “Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live” (Ezekiel 37:5). “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). Jesus died for our sins. Three days later He rose from the dead; then another forty days later He ascended to the right hand of the Father (Luke 24:50-52) and ten days after that He sent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. And now the covenant of New Testament of Jesus Christ is in full force! “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth” (Hebrews 9:16,17).

2. The Participation of Pentecost.

Luke goes on to tell us in the latter part of verse 1, “…they were all with one accord in one place.” It was no mere coincidence that these words are recorded in Holy Writ. God reveals that when God’s people get along it is like the sweet perfumed air when the anointed priests were together in the corporate worship in Jerusalem. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psalm 133:1). Whether it is Old Testament or New Testament, the Lord extends a blessing of His own presence in a powerful way when God’s people get along.

           

3. The Posture of Pentecost.

“And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2). God can do anything He wants to do, anyway He wants to do it, but I always like it when He does a good thing in a sudden or immediate way. “…And immediately his leprosy was cleansed” (Matthew 8:3b). “…And immediately their eyes received sight…” (Matthew 20:34b). “…And immediately the fever left her…” (Mark 1:31b). “And immediately he arose…” (Mark 2:12a). “…And immediately he received his sight…” (Mark 10:52b). “And his mouth was opened immediately…” (Luke 1:64a). “…And immediately her issue of blood stanched” (Luke 8:44c). The main emphasis I want you to see here is the Holy Spirit came while they were in a posture of rest, “…where they were sitting” (Acts 2:2c). The Feast of Weeks or Pentecost is spoken of in Exodus 34:21,22: “Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.” God is giving us insight to how the harvest is to be gathered. In the same way this holiday of harvest is commemorated by resting, the Lord tells us in Hebrews 4:9,10, “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” “…Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zechariah 4:6c).

4. The Power of Pentecost.

In verses 3 and 4 we learn that tongues of fire hovered over these one hundred and twenty disciples in the upper room. I believe it was the same upper room where the disciples partook of the Lord’s Supper. What a sight this must have been! Fire has long been a symbol of God’s presence and God’s power. Exodus 13:21 teaches us that God led the children of Israel with a pillar of fire by night. On Sinai, God came down: “And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly” (Exodus 19:18). This reminds us that in Acts 4:31, the place was shaken when the people were filled with the Holy Spirit. “The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire” (Deuteronomy 5:4). “And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed” (Exodus 3:2). In Acts 2:4, the Bible says, “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost….” Earlier John 20:22 records, “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” Years ago I heard it said that Jesus exhaled and on them and on the Day of Pentecost, the church inhaled.

5. The Purpose of Pentecost.

For the remainder of the chapter, verses 5 through 47, we see the resulting effect of the Day of Pentecost. In Acts 2:8 every man heard the Word of God in his own tongue. Acts 2:13 shows us the disciples were under the influence of God so strongly that their behavior was modified. In Acts 2:32 the disciples were consumed with getting out the message of “This Jesus….” We come to the end of this great day with these final words, “…And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47b). The result of the Day of Pentecost was people were saved. This is the supreme purpose of the empowering of the Church: that people might be saved and that the Great Commission could more effectively be carried out. The Holy Spirit purifies, sanctifies and energizes the Church. He gives gifts to the church as mentioned in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. There is a phrase found in Scripture that points out that this gifting “…maketh increase of the body…” (Ephesians 4:16c). When we are operating in the fullness of the Spirit there is an increase in the Body of Christ. Acts 1:8 spells out the purpose of the power of Pentecost: “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Oh that we might be consumed with the purpose of God in our ministry, i.e. the salvation of lost souls and their discipleship!

THE POWER OF FORGETTING OUR PAST

Pastor Leon Aguilera

The key to life change is forgetting, not remembering. Try remembering that next time you are sitting with a friend or counselor who is digging deeply into your past in the hopes of impacting your future for good. Consider the life of Joseph. If anyone was a candidate for ten years of therapy because of a painful past, it was Joseph. This guy was coddled by his father, pampered as the youngest, and ridiculed and ultimately rejected by his brothers. Finally, at one point his eleven brothers stripped him naked, threw him into a pit, then hauled him out and sold him as a slave in Egypt. Now would that mess with your mind? Then Joseph got a job in Egypt; he was working hard and trying to build a life for himself when his boss’s wife flipped out and falsely accused him of trying to have sex with her. Sounds like the Jerry Springer show. Unable to defend himself, Joseph was chained up in some rat-infested prison and completely forgotten for several years.

Now you would think that Joseph would be messed up for life or certainly would need endless hours of therapy to process all that pain. Yet the Bible teaches something quite different. In all of it, Joseph saw a sovereign God who was at work. Was Joseph devastated at times? Yes, but he was not destroyed. Was there pain and loneliness and heartache and, at times, despair? Yes, but Joseph found a better way to deal with his pain. He would forget the injustice, trust a wise and sovereign God, and move ahead with his life.

           

In Genesis 45:8, Joseph looked into the eyes of the brothers who did so much to hurt him and said,

“So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

Just to make sure the point is made, the Scripture quotes Joseph affirming that message once more in Genesis 50:20. “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” Did they sin against him? Yes! Was it evil? Yes! But did God use it for Joseph’s good? Yes! God did. As a confirmation that Joseph found healing by forgetting his past, he named his first son Manasseh, which means “the Lord made me forget.”

Why not ask God for the grace to forget your past? This digging-up-the-past thing is a worldly and unbiblical method for life transformation. True heart change is not about remembering, and it’s not about digging up things that may or may not have even happened! It’s about forgiving and forgetting. It’s about trusting a sovereign God. It’s about focusing in on my own need to change and saying with the apostle Paul, “forgetting those things which are behind” (Philippians 3:13).

Is it important to deal with your past? Absolutely! God doesn’t want us to pretend. He wants us to face our past and to deal with it by focusing on forgiveness, and putting it behind us. The answer is not in the past and no process of myopically scouring our past will lead to the change our heart desires. God’s plan for your past is that you would honestly assess it and then displace it through forgiveness.  If you have been trying to change by going over and over your past, get a big green plastic bag and put that approach to health and healing where it belongs

An Easter Meditation

Pastor Leon Aguilera

Of all the celebrations Christians are involved in, Easter has to be the most important. It is certain that during the Passover of the Jews, Jesus of Nazareth at the age of 33 died on a Roman cross, just outside the city of Jerusalem, almost 2,000 years ago. In three days, He arose from the dead with more evidence than we have of the entire existence of Julius Caesar. Long live the King of Kings!

I give these Easter meditations God has given me over the years.

           

1. Our Lord who died for us should be lived for with total abandonment.

The most life-changing thoughts to have ever entered this frail, human brain of mine are the thoughts of the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” For most of my life this verse has held me captive with reverent ramifications. Think of what the apostle is saying! Paul is so challenged by the exchange of Christ’s life for his on Calvary that he never gets beyond it. He pictures himself dying with Christ, being buried with Christ and rising from the dead with Christ. Listen to what he says in Romans 6:5 and 6, “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.” He was so into Calvary and the cross was so into him that he said, “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (I Corinthians 2:2).

Calvary is intended to bring us to Christ in complete surrender and abandonment. Christianity was never designed to be an addendum to an already full life. God intends us to empty ourselves of ourselves and this world and give ourselves completely over to him.

When the famed Evangelist Wilbur Chapman was dying, one of his friends was standing by his bedside weeping. Chapman had the strength to look at his old friend and say, “Don’t cry for me; I died twenty-two years ago.” In other words since he was saved and surrendered to the Lord, he was a “dead-man walking,” and it was not he but Christ who lived within Him, calling the shots, leading in every decision, making the sacrifice necessary and doing whatever it takes to advance the cause of Christ in this world.

2. Never forsake the cardinal doctrines of the faith.

Stay with the Bible! Don’t veer from its pages and paths. In the ancient days Christians were called (even by Muslims), “The People of the Book.” Believe every page of this Holy Book called the Bible. “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him” (Proverbs 30:5). Stay with the belief in the Deity of Christ! John said, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth”(John 1:14). Stay with the Gospel! Paul said, “…I declare unto you the gospel… how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…” (I Corinthians 15:1, 3,4). Stay with the blood atonement for our sins! “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Romans 3:24-26). Stay with what we celebrate today: the physical, literal, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ! “And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins” (I Corinthians 15:17).

3. Stay involved in the local church.

Church attendance is a habit and a very good one at that. When people fall out of church, they too develop a habit, one they will regret for time and eternity if they do not change. The Bible says, “Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (Ephesians 3:21). Being faithful to church on Sunday morning, Wednesday night and even Friday night is like saying, Lord, You have the first day and the middle of the week and end as well; You have all there is of me and my house. “…But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD....” (Joshua 24:15). “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18). I encourage you to not only attend the House of God but find a need and fill it. Be an active church member.

4. Leave a legacy of honor.

What are you going to leave behind? As the days and years of my life pass, this thought comes to mind: I want to leave a legacy of faithfulness. I want to be faithful to my Lord, my wife, my family, Lefferts Park and those I have preached to over the years. “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful’ (I Corinthians 4:1,2). “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (I Peter 4:10). A steward is one who is assigned as the manager of a household or of household affairs, especially a manager or superintendent to whom the head of the house or proprietor has intrusted the management of his affairs, the care of receipts and expenditures, and the duty of dealing out the proper portion to every servant and even to the children not yet of age. He was also the manager of a farm or landed estate, an overseer or the superintendent of the city’s finances, the treasurer of a city (or of treasurers or quaestors of kings). We are given an assignment from the Risen Lord to take care of His business while He is gone. Jesus said, “…Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13). We are to be faithful to the King’s great commission, financing His Kingdom work and then to impart His discipleship to the next generation.