The Good Life

The sermon is about the different meanings of the word "life" in the Bible. In the Old Testament, it refers to biological life, while in the New Testament, it includes the soul and eternal life. Jesus brought a new definition of life and the presence of God now abides in believers through the Holy Spirit. It is important to appreciate and make use of this presence in our lives. Welcome to CCI Fellowships podcast. Thank you for joining us. At CCI Fellowship, we are reaching God, reaching each other, and reaching our community. We pray that this week's message challenges you in your walk with the Lord, causes you to grow in your faith, and encourages you in your love for the Word of God. So the sermon for today is called The Good Life, and I don't know if in English has the same meaning. Well, the meaning is the same, but in Spanish we can say La Buena Vida. And sometimes we refer to it as a good life of someone thinking of maybe retiring, or maybe had everything solved, or maybe on vacation. And okay, Buena Vida, that's the good life, and I don't know if in English it has the same tone. But first of all, let's open your Bibles in John 10.10. I'm going to read from the New King James Version. It says, The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. Here it is. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. So let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your presence in this place. Thank you for the atmosphere that we can feel here, Father, that your Holy Spirit may guide this message, that every word, every scripture that we read today may be learned, not only in our understanding, but also in our hearts. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. So in the Old Testament, in Scripture, we have different definitions for the word life. In Scripture, not different, but obviously everything is referring to alive and living. But there are different Greek words, and I'm no expert about the pronunciation in Greek words, but it's important for us, or Hebrew, but it's important for us, while we read Scripture, to go to the root of the word, and maybe we can have a revelation of what God wanted to do, and how they put it here, because now we have different translations, and it's good to read different translations to get the whole map of what God is trying to tell us. So in the Old Testament, let's go to Genesis 2, verse 7, and it's a very famous verse. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Here's a Hebrew word used, it's called kai, referring to the breath of life, life. And the definition for this is that it's a life, it's living. And here, the meaning for this, it's a biological life. It's very specific that He breathed into His nostrils the breath of life. And I've seen a lot of videos that science tries to explain that first breath of life. And I was watching last time a video in which they had like a scan, while the first breath that a baby had while he was born, and the scan showed like a light coming into his chest, and it was amazing. And that's the breath of life. That's a biological life that God breathed since the beginning to our nostrils. So that's a Hebrew word, kai. And in the New Testament, we have these Greek words, and we can go to Luke chapter 12, verse 22, and you can leave it right near to you because we're going to read the whole verse. But in verse 23, sorry, it says, For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. And later, we're going to get into that same verse. But here, the word life, for life is more than food, it's the word, the Greek word called tsuke. If you study the Concordance, it's the word number 5590. And here, the meaning is breath. And here, we just don't start talking only about biological life, but also it involves the soul. The usage of this word is a vital breath of life, a human soul, the soul as the seat of the affections and will, the self, the human person and individual. These are usage for this word, this Greek word, tsuke. As I said, I don't know if I'm pronunciating right, but let's go to other word in the New Testament referring to life. Let's go to John chapter 14, verse 6. And all the Scripture that I'm reading today is from the New King James Version. And the verse 6 says, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. The Greek word for life here, it's in the Concordance, it's 2222. And it's the word zoi. I don't know if you heard about this word. I've heard people preaching about the zoi of God. And the definition is life. But the usage of this word is life, both physical in the present and of spiritual, particularly future existence. So, this word is having a connotation of not only speaking of the biological life, our soul, but also to the eternal life, the eternity that every person has. So, in John chapter 14, verse 6, Jesus is saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life. He is the life. And I've heard two testimonies. I was remembering this morning that I've heard two testimonies. One from a terrorist group that he converted to Christianity. He started to follow in Christ. And there's other testimony of, I think it was a woman, I don't remember specifically, but both they said that Jesus presented it to them. In that vision, they couldn't see it physically, but they heard this voice that said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And both of those persons never, ever heard or read Scripture before. And when they come to John chapter 14, verse 6, and Jesus is saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And the life, that's the good life I want to speak today. The joy of God, the life of God in our lives. And we're not only existing here. We're having the presence of the Lord in us, and we're going to get afterwards with this. So, it caught my attention that after understanding these three words and usages between the Old Testament and the New Testament, we may conclude there's a different usage of the word life in the Old Testament and the New Testament. What's the difference? Can someone think about what's the difference? I already said what were the different usages of it, but there's something in common between the difference between the Old and the New Testament. And it's called Jesus. Jesus made a complete new definition of life in every person. There is hope. There is an eternal life. People understand this after Jesus brings His teachings, and life turns with a different meaning to them. We can see, and I've studied this, about how people know God while reading Scripture and in history. People know the God of the wrath, the people that we have the law. And it was very hard. And sometimes when we're reading over the Old Testament, while Leviticus and the law, while we have the law, you can see it's very hard sometimes. No, not sometimes. It was very hard as a human. And part of when we see the Scripture as a whole, we can see that Jesus gives a different meaning. Obviously to the law, He came to confirm the law. He didn't come to abolish, but He confirmed the law through His life. That's what Jesus gave a complete different meaning for life, and the meaning of life. And now we can know the God of justice. And that's maybe another message and another opportunity I can bring to you. It was a very interesting study. But they knew the God of wrath to sin, over sin. That's why Jesus in the cross, the wrath of God, was satisfied in Jesus. And now we have the God of grace and also the God of justice. So, the life of God in the present. So I want to ask you something. Is Jesus in us, in our lives? Yes. In John chapter 15 verse 4 says, Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. So, right now here's Jesus saying that we can be compared as the vine, and we cannot give fruit or have life if we are not connected to the branch. I think that's the word. So, Jesus abides in us. Once we come to Christ, Jesus abides in us. We in Him, and He in us. But right now, where is Jesus? Right now, at this point in history, where is Jesus? We can read in a lot of scriptures, but in Romans 8 verse 34, one of my favorite chapters in scripture, Romans 8 verse 34 says, Who is He who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. So, Jesus is at the right hand. In Hebrews also, we can read that Jesus is at the right hand of God at this moment in time. So, Jesus abides in us. We in Him, and Jesus is at the right hand of God. So, we have, and we know through scripture also, that the presence of God abides in us through His Holy Spirit. Let's go to John chapter 14. We're going to be reading a lot from John. John chapter 14, verse 25 to 26. It says, So, while reading these three scriptures, we may conclude that the presence of God abides in us. And I think that I've brought this in other sermons, but thinking of what happened in the crucifixion, that we can read in the Gospels that the veil was torn, the veil of the Holy of Holies was torn. And that's a representation that now the Holy Place, we can come into the Holy Place, because the Holy Place is not only in a specific area or a specific geographical point. Once we come to Christ, and after reading this scripture, we can conclude that the presence of God abides in us. And I remember bringing this in one sermon, going to eternity, going to heaven, and getting to know these characters in scripture. And we can read of the prophets. We can read in the Old Testament about, sometimes it's easier for us to think that maybe it was easier for Daniel to believe, because he set up his heart to pray, and he received an angel. And you can think like, maybe that would be easier for me and Pastor Jose, I think the preach of this about Thomas, saying that he was not going to believe until he can see Jesus. And these are those who believe and have not seen. But right now, imagine getting back to eternity, to heaven, and having this conversation with these guys. And they're asking you back, how was it to have the presence of God in you? That's hard, and what are we doing with that? Are we appreciating that? Are we making this ours, the presence of God abides in us? So getting back to the good life, the good life, the life of God, is getting to know that we're not only living right here in the presence, we're going to have an eternity, but the life of God is knowing and getting to know that the presence of God abides in our hearts, abides in our life. And yes, that was the point of this. So I want to ask you one more time, what comes to your mind when someone is saying he's living the good life, or you ask for someone and, oh, he's living the good life, a vacation mode on, maybe someone on his retirement on the beach, as I said before, or having everything solved in his life. And maybe we can think of a person, and we can see someone living his life, and we can make up things about how he's living his life, and maybe we can think, oh, that person has everything solved. He doesn't have any kind of problems. But also, as we know in Scripture, everything that Jesus said, we're going to have difficult situations here on earth, but we still know that I am God. So we're set, and I'm sure that everyone thought of this, of thinking of the good life, thinking of someone, or maybe someone or anyone that is living the good life, but that's the standard that while we are living in the world, we can easily fall into this and thinking, what's the good life? Maybe the good life, and that's why in Scripture also we have a lot of references and teachings about money. And right now, every Thursday, in the groups, we're in a new series right now, in a new study, and I invite you. This is a good opportunity that if you're not assisting right now to a home group, please do so, specifically for me. And I've shared this with the group. It's been eye-opening in a lot of terms and a lot of practices. And right now we're on Beyond Blessed. But also, we can fall into this thinking that the good life is having wealth, is having everything sold, and we've talked about this. So the enemy since the beginning of creation had an anti-design for everything, for everything. You can think of something that is signed that the Lord has placed in Scripture. Think of an example, and I'm going to bring just only four, but there are many, many, many examples that the enemy who is ruling this time, this earth, has an anti-design in what we are living today. The first example is that the God in heaven, before creation, He was already being worshipped by angels. But the enemy, since the beginning, he wanted to be like God. He wanted to be worshipped. The second example is the meaning of marriage. And I love this, and I don't know if I've talked about this before, but I love the significance of marriage in the Scripture. Scripture opens with a wedding and closes with a wedding. But what's the design of God for marriage, that men and women get into marriage? And there's another sermon right there. But what does the enemy is bringing at this time, in this era, this specific time? Same-sex marriage, it's okay. And at this point in time, maybe it sounds crazy for you, but it's something that is doing a lot of echo around the world, and it's the new standard. So there's an anti-design. Another design is that mankind is meant to multiply. Speaking of marriage and part of the purpose of getting married is to multiply. But what does the enemy bring as an anti-design? Abortion. And there's an agenda in the world. I don't know if you know about this, but there's an agenda right now, and abortion is part of this agenda. Another example is life is to be plentiful in the Lord. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it right, plentiful in the Lord. The enemy brings burdens, stress, and anxiety. And right now in this time, I have a lot of friends, a lot of people in social media or wherever you can know this, that in this time, people is more with the stress and anxiety levels. I think I can say as never before in time. We can go to the medical reasons why is this happening, but we know that the enemy also has an agenda, and he's the one bringing burdens, stress, and anxiety. This getting to a further level, depression, and people committing suicide. So that's the anti-design. The design of God is to bring life. The anti-design of the enemy is to bring death. And as I read in the first scripture, the thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. But what is Jesus telling us? That they may have come, that they may have life, and that they may have it in a more abundant life. So the plan of God to humanity is that we may have abundant life, not coming from us or other commodities or the way that we are living our life, but living the life, the joy of God in our lives. Let's go through and read about Luke chapter 12, verses 22 and 26. I'm going to read very slowly, very, very slowly, because we've been speaking about stress and anxiety. And one of the main reasons, you know that there's a statistic that the main reason why marriages are getting divorced each time, the number one reason is due to financial situations. That's the number one reason why marriages, well, this statistic was about three years ago, and I think that maybe it hasn't changed or not. But that's why in Scripture, and Robert Morris, we've heard him speak about this, why in Scripture there's a lot of teachings about the usage of money and finances. So let's go back to Luke chapter 12, verses 22 to 26. It says, Then he said to his disciples, Jesus is speaking, Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, there's this word again, what you will eat, nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn, and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you, by worrying, cannot one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? In another version it says, in the New International Version, Sorry, the verse 25 says, Who of you, by worrying, cannot a single hour to your life? So, part of bringing this verse into this sermon, and what I felt the Lord wanted to tell you, is that to stop worrying. By worrying you cannot a single hour to your life. It's different when you worry and you stress and anxiety comes, and anxiety, I remember during a pandemic, I think that some of us, or maybe all of us, at some point were very anxious, because there was uncertainty of what was going to happen, and anxiety comes while you don't have that control over any situation, and you don't have that control, then anxiety comes to your life. So, what will happen when we are having difficult situations money-wise? And we can start thinking of life, therefore I say to you, don't worry about your life, and right now I'm completely sure that Jesus right now is referring to our biological life, how are we going to get feed, what are we going to wear, and right now Jesus is, we can read this, same part in the Gospels in Matthew 6, He is telling His disciples to not worry, they are going to be sent to other nations, to other cities, to preach the Gospel, and Jesus is saying to them, don't worry, don't take any money, I'm going to provide for you. And I don't know if you have ever been through in a situation in which you don't know what are you going to do to the next day, or how your ministry is going to be sponsored, or how to the next week on your budget you are very low, and how are you going to do? And I love, and I've been in that situation different times, speaking of business-wise and also personally, in our marriage and everything, and how beautiful it is to see God's grace and His hand always in His child. And I can ask you, I can give the microphone, and I know that everyone has a testimony about this, so let's be confident, let's be confident that God is always going to provide, while we live the life, the good life that God has for us in the present. And I heard this, and I like it, that sometimes we have eternity as an insurance in the afterlife. What's coming after our biological, after our lungs stop breathing, we have as an insurance eternity. But eternity we can start living, and that's what Zoy, and I think this is the best explanation about this word, the Zoy of God, we can live it right now. The present, the life of God that wants us to live is right now, and we can live different miracles that God can do. So I want to get you this, that God, the same God that we read in Scripture, is the same God that is right now, and that He's going to provide, He's going to provide. If He says that He's going to heal you, He's going to heal you. And don't be anxious about anything. Let's go to Romans 8, verses 7 and 8. Because the carnal mind is empty against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. And where did I get this specific Scripture? Hearing also a testimony in which this person had a lot of times in the ministry. And one day while reading his Scripture, while reading his Bible, he got into Romans 8, verses 7 and 8, and the revelation of the Spirit came to him and said, I'm doing ministry in my flesh, and I'm not pleasing God with what am I doing. And while he was sharing this, but let's continue reading, and that's what the Holy Spirit brought to my life, and that changed my life completely. Romans 8, verses 9 to 10 says, we continue reading Romans 8, But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit. If indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is the life because of righteousness. The good life is only in Christ. If you're doubting about if you have the Holy Spirit in you, and I remember Pastor John preaching about this, since the day one that you accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior in the veil of sin was taken out of your eyes, and you were revealed that you were sinning, that work that who did that was the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit came to you and abides in you. So if you're thinking, I don't know if I'm pleasing God, remember that if the Spirit leads you, definitely you're not being lit by your flesh, but your spirit. So that's the good life. And for closing this sermon about the good life, and I love the way that Pastor Jose last week, he didn't even read it. In his mind and in his heart it's estampado. It's Psalm 1 and it's one of my favorite psalms. And it kept during the whole week, and I was just caught up with the sermon asking the Lord, how can I close? What do you want me to close? Speaking about the good life. And let's go to Psalm 1. It's one of the most beautiful psalms that we can read. And let's go to verse 1. It says, Blessed is the man. In Spanish it's the word, Bienaventurado es el varón. And the word blessed in Hebrew, it's the word baruk. And what does baruk mean? It's experiencing God's favor and abundance in his life. That's a blessed person. And I think that Pastor Robert Morris also talked about this. But the word referring right here in Psalm 1, is blessed is the man. It's the word, Azre. That it means happiness, blessedness in the possession of someone, baruk. Of how good is God to that person. So basically, we can translate, Azre is the word blessed, here in Psalm 1. But blessed, Azre, like the meaning I can see, and I can say this with confidence, how blessed is Pastor Jose. He's a baruk, he's a blessed man because he has the favor of God. And we can see how God moves in his life. And basically, we can translate, or we can say in other words, Psalm 1, Oh, what a good life this man has. And here it is. Who was not in the counsel of ungodly. Who are the ungodly? People who have inverse morality. Nor stands in the path of sinners. Sinners are people that it's, I remember, I don't remember the word right now, but in sinners, it can be translated as, errar al blanco, not giving right in the middle. Like when you're pointing to the middle of, maybe you're practicing ark or something, and you don't give into the middle, you errar, you fail. That's sinning. You're not giving in the, you're not living the life that God wants you to live. And sin, it's believing, practicing sin. It's going against what God wants in our lives. So let's continue. Nor sits in the seat of scornful. Who are scornful? Escarnecedores in Spanish. Someone who cannot perceive the goodness. So, I had this image while reading the verse one. And speaking of faith, and speaking of endurance, as the last two Sundays, why do some people fall apart from the Lord also? We can, I had like specifically this image, as if you're going into a store, or you can go window shopping or something, and you're walking into a store, and you can see that, oh, you are walking, and you stand there, and maybe it was a dessert from the baking mom, I don't know. But maybe, and after a while, you start thinking, you stand there, and after a while, you're seated in a restaurant, eating a postre. That wasn't just an example. But that's what happened to people, that walks, stands, and sits. And you can be in any stage. And someone, at some point, I've got while I was coming to Christ, I said, and my thought was, well, all my friends need to know Christ. And I forgot that the first one who needed to be transformed was my heart. And at some point, I had some difficult situations there, because I was walking, I was standing, and I was sitting with people far from the Lord, and also acting as someone that doesn't have the fear of the Lord. But what happened? In verse two, here comes the hope. And remember, blessed is the man, blessed is the man. Oh, what a good life this man has. And it says, but his delight is in the law of the Lord. Law, it means Torah. It means, the Hebrew word Torah, it's teaching, teaching, and wisdom of God. And in his law, he meditates day and night. Meditate, here's the word, it's called aga. And it's the meaning, it's to moan, to grow, to utter, to speak, to muse. And I can say, to mumble, I think that's the word, the word of God. And I'm going to read this again. But his delight is in the law, in the teaching and wisdom of God, of the Lord. And in his law, he meditates, he delights, he utters, he speaks, he muses, day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season. Remember, reading about, we being the fruit, and God being the, in John 15, we're connected to him, we're not connected to him, the vine, we're not any, we're not going to bring fruit. Whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does, shall prosper. Whatever he does, shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like chaff, which the wind drives away. And while reading this, and meditating about this, I remember also the explanation of Jesus, about the man who built his house over the rock, and the one who built it over the sand. So we can have two different spectrums here, about the one who loves God, who meditates in his law, and we have here like a checklist, that meditates and everything is in his word, and abiding in the Lord. It's like a tree planted by the rivers of water. I know that you have seen, maybe you have a favorite tree, and if you think of a fruitful tree, you may think of a tree near a pond or a river, and what a beautiful tree. But we have the other spectrum, of the ungodly, the sinners, the people who does not have the fear of the Lord. It's like the shaft, which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous, for the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. The payment of, I don't know if I'm going to say this, but the payment of sin, is death, and we're speaking of a spiritual death, and also part of bringing this message, and reading Psalm 1, sometimes we are too permissive, with sin in our lives. And I'm not saying this, because I have everything in my life, solved. Every one of us have different situations, but my motivation this day, to live the good life, is to not be permissive in our lives, with sin. And I'm not talking only about practicing sin, but also permitting anger, chisme, bribing I think, gossip, sorry, in our lives, and those things that we feel like, eh, maybe, at some point I'm going to church, I believe in God, but sometimes we're very permissive. And having a sin not dwell in our lives, is like if we're running, I'm going to bring this example again, like if we're running a marathon, and we have a small stone in our shoe, maybe at the beginning, it wouldn't make a big difference in our lives, in our running, but when you go farther miles, it's going to get hard, and it's going to be complicated to continue running. So that's the example, and while the worship team comes in front, so let's pray, let's meditate, in what the Word of God is speaking to us, remember that it's not me or the person who stands here, it's His Word, and while the Word of God is taught, it's read, there's the presence of God, so let's stand, let's pray a while, let's meditate, what the Lord wants to speak to us today. Heavenly Father, we come to you boldly to the throne of grace, Father, by bringing this message, and all the words Father said today, Father, it's not bringing condemnation, as we read in Romans 8, Father, there's no condemnation for the ones who are your children, Father, and we can come boldly to the throne of grace, Father. Father, I pray at this moment, that as that example of maybe a stone in our feet, or things that the Holy Spirit is bringing to work on those things, things, Father, and are not permitting us to live the good life, Father, I pray to you, that any condemnation, that anything, Father, that is separating us, there's nothing that can separate us from your love, Father, that that revelation comes at this moment, Father, we want to live the good life that is in you, Father, that anything that we are living, or getting anxious, or worrying, Father, at this moment in life, Father, this message is, and your word says, Father, that we can be still and know that you are God, Father, that you're going to provide, Father, if there's people here, Father, that are having difficulties, or are fighting against anything, Father, and they're about to let go, to go to the world, Father, or I don't know, Father, there's desperation in their hearts, I pray, that your presence comes like a bomb, in their hearts, in your time, and don't worry, I got control over this, Father, that today there's deliverance, that there's hope, in the house of the Lord, and we know that you are more than able, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Thank you for listening to this week's podcast. If you are ever in the Tegucigalpa area, and looking for an English-speaking congregation, please join us on Sunday afternoon at 4pm, in the main auditorium of Iglesia CCI, in Colonial Trevichi, just off Boulevard Sollapa, near Una. If you'd like prayer, or more information about our church, contact us at fellowship.cci.org. Contact us at fellowship.cci.gmail.com, that's fellowship.cci.gmail.com, or follow us on social media. We hope to see you, or hear from you soon. Blessings.