Senda Antigua - Ancient Path

As I prepared to preach my sermon, "Growing Down," I was reminded of a song (below) that Sam dedicated to me at my mother's funeral. As a kid that met Jesus at the age of 8, these lyrics take me back to a time when my life was less complicated and my connection to God was much purer. God seemed so big to me when I was small.

My prayer today is that He grow larger as I grow smaller in my own heart and mind. Friend, that ancient path which led to that old rugged cross is still the only route we can take to get us there from here. 

Here are the lyrics to the song. I pray they take many of you back to your childhood so that you can once again play in His throne room.

Luv u,

Pastor Mario

Senda Antigua – Ancient Path

Verso 1

Puede venir quien venga [Come whoever may come]

Y salir con algo nuevo [with whatever new invention]

Y decirle, es que estamos [saying that we are]

en tiempos modernos [in modern times]

Puede que muchos se vayan tras otros, [Perhaps many will run after others]

Y dejar lo que una vez creyeron, [and abandon what they once believed]

Pero esta linda senda antigua [but it's this beautiful ancient path]

Es la que sigo yo [that I will follow]

 

Coro

Aquella senda antigua [That beautiful ancient path]

La de aquellos antepasados [the path taken by our forefathers]

Que al poner las manos en los cojos [who placed their hands upon the lame]

Salían corriendo [and they left running]

 

Aquella senda antigua [That ancient path]

La de aquel Daniel y Elías, [Daniel and Elijah's path]

La que Saulo perseguía [the path that Saul followed as he persecuted Jesus]

Es esa linda senda antigua [It's that beautiful ancient path]

La que sigo yo [that I will follow]

 

Verso 2

Muchos me dicen vente [Many tell me, "Come,"]

Total si todo somos hermanos ["We are all brothers!"]

Total si Dios lo que quiere ["All that God desires,"]

Es que le adoren ["is that we worship Him."]

 

A muchos le da pena, [Many feel sorry for these people]

Pero yo francamente les digo [but I honestly tell them]

Que esta linda senda antigua  [this ancient path]

La que sigo yo [is the path that I'll follow]

 

Coro [Chorus repeats – translation above]

Aquella senda antigua

La de aquellos antepasados

Que al poner las manos en los cojos

Salían corriendo

 

Aquella senda antigua

La de aquel Daniel y Elías,

La que Saulo perseguía

Esta linda senda antigua

Es la que sigo yo

Es esta linda senda antigua la que sigo yo

Music and Lyrics by Sam Cintron

(Listen to it on Soundcloud)

Christmas - Standing on One's Head

CHRISTMAS is when we celebrate the unexpected; it is the festival of surprise.

This is the night when shepherds wake to the song of angels; when the earth has a star for a satellite; when wise men go on a fool's errand, bringing gifts to a Prince they have not seen, in a country they do not know.

This is the night when one small donkey, bears on its back, the weight of the world's desire, and an ox plays host to the Lord of heaven. This is the night when we are told to seek our king, not in a palace, but in a stable. 

Although we have stood here, year after year, as our fathers before us, the wonder has not faded; nor will it ever fade; the wonder of that moment when we push open that little door, and enter, and entering find, a mother who is virgin, and a baby who is God.

Chesterton has said it for us all: the only way to view Christmas properly is to stand on one's head. Was there ever a home more topsy-turvy than Christmas, the cave where Christ was born? For here, suddenly, in the very heart of earth, is heaven; down is up, and up is down; the angels look down on the God who made them, and God looks up to the things he made.

There is no room in an Inn for Him who made room and to spare, for the Milky Way, and where God is homeless, all men are at home.

We were promised a savior, but we never dreamed God Himself would come and save us. We know that He loved us, but we never dared to think that he loved us so much as to become one of us.

But that is the way God gives. His gifts are never quite what we expect, but always something better than we hoped for. We can only dream of things too good to be true; God has a habit of giving things too true to be false. That is why our faith is a faith of the unexpected, a religion of surprise.

Now, more than ever, living in times so troubled, facing a future so uncertain, we need such faith. We need it for ourselves, and we need to give it to others.

We must remind the world that if Christmas comes in the depths of winter, it is that there may be an Easter in the spring.

by: Fr. Horacio V. de la Costa, SJ

I want to thank my good friend Choy Arnaldo for sharing this wonderful piece with me and now I'm sharing it with you. Pass it on.

Luv u,

Pastor Mario

The Myth of Christmas

A 'card-carrying' atheist is quoted as having told a friend of mine, "A
 myth? What part of 'three kings following a star through a desert to 
bring presents to an immaculately conceived baby-god they dreamt about' 
seems like a myth to you?"

Whenever I hear things like this, I'm reminded of a literary passage that I really think hits the nail on the head when it comes to atheists as a whole. In chapter 30 of his book, Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell writes referring to his character ironically named, "Bozo,"

"Clearly the phrase was not the doctor's but Bozo's own. He had a gift 
for phrases. He had managed to keep his brain intact and alert, and so
 nothing could make him succumb to poverty. He might be ragged and cold, or 
even starving, but so long as he could read, think, and watch for meteors, 
he was, as he said, free in his own mind. 

He was an embittered atheist (the sort of atheist who does not so much 
disbelieve in God as personally dislike Him), and took a sort of pleasure 
in thinking that human affairs would never improve."

There is a certain innate arrogance in the heart of an atheist not found in the agnostic; an arrogance born out of a sense of utter displacement that inevitably leads one to an existentialist view of the world. There is a hopelessness; an inner misery if you will, that desperately seeks company. And so, he aggressively seeks to disprove something that can neither be rationally proven nor disproven. The true angst of an atheist is more so the concept of God than his existence. And so the Bible is a perfect target for the avowed divine cynic.

A God who would make man in "his own image?" How arrogant. To bestow something of his divine nature into mere mortals, what could he have been thinking? I mean, a God who would prejudicially and possessively call a certain people "his own," and then proceed to force his will upon them by leading them out of slavery and incessant oppression despite overwhelming opposition from one the most powerful military powers of their time, and then repeatedly deliver them from world power after world power, over and over again throughout human history? What a showoff! I mean really, water from a rock? Bread from heaven? 90+ year old women giving birth? Earthquakes and firestorms at just the right time?  "What's the point?" the atheist asks. Ultimately, atheists fail to see the forest for the trees. They are blinded by their own utter hopelessness.

Behind every miracle of scripture is an illustration of the hope that there is in God, of an everlasting love that a father has for his children. Each miracle speaks to the faith that God ultimately has in you and me. In our decision-making ability, a power placed inside each and every one of us by He himself. It is a power that gives us the ability to choose him, to choose life of our own volition. Every miracle speaks to his commitment to the atheist, agnostic and believer alike. His miracles toward mankind, despite our foolishness and unbelief, prove that he loved us "while we were yet sinners." (Romans 5:8)  

That being said, the miracle of Christmas is more than just a Bible story about a trio of cosmic weirdoes following an ancient prophecy, as noted by our dear atheist friend. It is more than just a story about a pregnant unwed teenager giving birth to a cosmic king. It is a love story.

Christmas is a story that speaks to a passion that begs each of us to look beyond reason, beyond dogmas and stereotypes, and beyond our own rationale limitations. The birth of Christ is the perfect metaphor to demonstrate what God wants to birth in every one of us: hope.

Through all of the events surrounding the Biblical Christmas story, we see that God concocts the most irrational way of expressing his love for us. And that's the whole point. By use of a poverty stricken teenage couple and a manger, we infer that He offers us a humble love meant to affront our materialism, arrogance and imperfections. It speaks to a love that brings forth life and the hope that life represents, both in us and through us. Through this seemingly ridiculous story, God births in us a sense of hope, despite our humble surroundings and/or adverse circumstances. It presents a hope that survives despite powerful, seemingly insurmountable opposition. And it demonstrates a sacrificial love packaged in the concept of "family," whose goal it is to reconcile mankind one with another, and ultimately with God himself in a bond of peace.

"10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

Luke 2:10-14

The only myth in Christmas is to believe that just because you've given up on believing in God, that he's somehow given up on believing in you. And that is the greatest miracle of all.

"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us."

Matthew 1:23

" [Jesus]…and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen."

Matthew 28:20 

Merry Christmas,

Pastor Mario

The Truth

"If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." 

Matt. 5:11-16 

I was sitting in a classroom at NYU a short time back reminiscing a bit about the last time I was in that building some 32 years ago during my freshman year at that University. I was struck by how different things were. The classrooms were modernized and equipped with the latest computer gadgets. Yet my mind could still see the room the way it was.

As I listened to the professor, one sentence just seared itself into my mind. We were studying binary logic and she said, "You can't test for falsehood. Falsehood is nothing by itself, it is merely the absence of truth. You can't find something that by definition isn't there in the first place." You see, truth, however elusive because of circumstance, is provable. It is constant. Not only so, but when discovered, it disperses falsehood; It reveals it for what it is.

Things around us may change. We might add a few "gadgets" to our lives. Our circumstances might conspire against us so that the world might seem to be speeding right by us. Notwithstanding, in this ever changing world one thing remains fundamentally true - Jesus Christ.

Ironically, He doesn't claim to know the truth. You see, his claim is far greater than that. Jesus said in John 14:6, "I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." There is no alternative path to truth. It's either Christ, or it's a lie.

When you have Jesus, you have truth. And when you have truth, you have freedom. Jesus said in John 8:31, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." The truth is that Jesus is inside of us and if we just let him shine out, His light will disperse the darkness around us. He will make all things clear in our spirit. He will set us, and those around us free. 

Love ya,

Pastor Mario

Exceedingly, abundantly

"exceedingly, abundantly, above what you can ever ask or even think…"

Ephesians 3:20

 

I can't begin to count the amount of times that I have shared our experiences at the Hope Center with fellow ministers and have heard many of them attribute our radical evangelistic triumphs to "cultural" or socio-economic differences that they feel cannot be duplicated in America as a whole. The underlying premise being that somehow the message of the Gospel is only this effective when it is delivered to Cubans, Argentineans, Columbians, Puerto Ricans, Blacks or maybe even Australians. But for some reason, the Gospel cannot work this well in "mainstream" America.

My friends, that's exactly what the devil wants us to believe! I'm reminded of the report from the spies Moses had sent to Canaan. They confessed the land was indeed "flowing with milk and honey" as Moses had stated. They spoke of two men having to carry one cluster of grapes. Can you imagine that? Those were some BIG mama grapes! That's miraculous provision my friend; the kind that God wants to give to us.

There was just one problem, one small thing standing between them and their miracle of deliverance. The Bible puts it this way,

Numbers 13:33

"And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

They saw themselves as losers, so everyone else saw them the same way. The irony of it all is that we never hear of these giants again. Where the heck did they go? Joshua doesn't talk about them. I believe they were figments of their own faithless imaginations used by the Devil for the sole purpose of robbing them of their blessing. What is the Devil using to rob you of your blessing? How do you see yourself? Are you wildly victorious in Christ, or is this Christian life too difficult for you? What do you do to help you sleep with yourself at night? Do you see other normal Christians as "giants" simply because your Christ-less actions make you feel like an insect? Has the Devil convinced you that you can't have those grapes; you can only look at them from afar while you salivate over what you should be chewing on?

A while ago my wife and I few out to Denver, CO where Hope Center Tabernacle was honored for it's "transformational" impact on America. This didn't happen because our tribe wasted their time staring at grapes from a distance. It happened because many of you took the challenge and decided to impact your friends and family with the message of the Gospel; to take back what belonged to you. We encourage you to believe God for a GIANT miracle in your family, personal life, and finances. Our God is as merciful as he is generous. All you have to do is believe.

Thank you for being obedient to the Lord and allowing us to receive these and many other accolades on your behalf. I am honored to be your under-shepherd and make my boast only in the Lord when it comes to each of you.

Love ya,

Pastors Mario

PROTECTED PROSPERITY

When it comes to our Christian walk, it's all or nothing.  And this includes our money.  

I seldom speak of finances for fear of offending someone who would think that we're after their money. This has become all the more significant to me in light of the media pressure on our finances. It's not wrong to support other ministries. It's not wrong to give to charity for that matter. The Bible, in fact, commands us to do so. What is sinful is not taking care of your family, physical or spiritual, when there is a need. This is a biblical responsibility as stated by Paul to his spiritual son timothy in 1 Tim. 5:8, "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."

You see, giving to God is not about money.  It's never been about money.  It's about faith.  And our faith is our source of life.  The Bible tells us that "the just shall live by faith."   It's about telling God, I'm going to trust you with everything I have. God establishes tithing as our way of ultimately exercising our faith by promising that if we take care of "his house," he promises to take care of our own, much more so than we can ever imagine. This is why He gives us such a wonderful promise in Malachi 3:10 for our obedience in our tithes and offerings, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it."

Conversely, when we don't take care of his house, we rob God. This is how HE puts it:

Malachi 3:8-12               

8. "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?'  "In tithes and offerings.  9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me.  10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.  11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit," says the LORD Almighty.  12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the LORD Almighty.

You see, it's not God's purpose only to bless us in our giving, but to make us an example to unbelievers of God protected prosperity.

Luv ya,

Pastor Mario

Boiled Christians

"27 And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? 29 For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, 30 saying,  'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'"

"The devil you know". You've heard the expression. He's the guy that's better than the one you don't. Truth is, they're both bad. Some of you have heard the "boiled frog" story. It appears that when you place a frog in hot water, he will jump out immediately to escape danger. However, if you place the frog in warm comfortable water, and then gradually raise the temperature to a boil, you end up with frog soup.

As Christians trying to live for Jesus in a totally secular world, we find ourselves constantly seeing the world around us becoming more and more hostile toward us.  If we get too comfortable, we begin to unconsciously compromise our walk, and eventually find ourselves in hot water. James puts it this way, "…don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." The end result is that end up having to do something drastic to get out of our respective "soups," or end up cooked, quite literally.

Jesus cuts to the chase. The bottom line is that being a "true" Christian is a costly proposition. It can cost you friends, your job, and who knows what else. If you're going to call yourself a Christian, please know that you are on display. Everyone is looking to see how "your tower" ends up. And believe me, they will ridicule you when you don't finish what you start. Having said this, its important to know that whatever it is that you have to change or abandon for the sake of Christ, it is well worth it. What you get back in Christ will far outweigh anything that you give up. God likes His Christians hot, not boiled.

Luv ya,

Pastor Mario

Living Worship

I often wonder, "Do we think God is stupid?"

Are we worshipping from the outside in, or from the inside out? The true worshiper worships from the inside out. What he does, he does because of what is in his heart. Not because of some external stimulus.

God defines worship mostly by telling us what it is not. He says through Isaiah, 

Isaiah 29:13

"The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men."

So many of us obey rules imposed on us in our respective churches simply so that we can continue what we call, "worship," irrespective of how we are really living our lives.

The prophet Hosea puts it this way, 

Hosea 6:6

"For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings."

I think we miss-define what it was to live under the law and have a misconception of how we missed the mark in the Old Testament. We think that it was just about our inability to follow a set of rules. When the truth is that it was about a system based on hypocrisy. A system that allowed people to say to themselves, "I'm offering this sacrifice and keeping this feast and doing all these things, so I must be right with God!" And I'm afraid that we do the same exact thing today. We think, "Hey, I'm doing all the right things. I must be right with God."

This is what we do when we go to church Sunday and offer up what I call the "let me worship my way out of sin" sacrifice. We don't cry because we're truly repentant, that is to say, bent on actually turning around for good. We cry out of guilt because of the sin that we intend to continue to practice; the sin we feel bound to. And here's the ironic part. When we do "go the extra mile" and actually try to do what is right for a season, we only hang on for just a little while before we feel overwhelmed and complain about how the burden is just too heavy for us to bear. Here what God is saying: Our offerings are contaminated by our own, deep-rooted sinfulness.

Malachi 1:10-13 reads:

10 "Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands. 11 My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty. 12 "But you profane it by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.' 13 And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty. "When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD.



When we're contaminated on the inside, worship, the very thing that ushers in the very presence of a Holy God into our lives; that upon which our God enthrones himself, becomes a burden to us when in truth, worship is not a burden, it's a privilege. 



Jeremiah went to the temple and accused the people of not worshiping God correctly. 

Jeremiah 3:3-8

"3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!" 5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever. 8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless." 


Many of us are just lip-synching through our Christian lives. God is saying that you can't just come to church once a week and say "I'm all right with God." You've got to live your faith every day, helping the widows and the orphans, and not serving other gods. True Christianity is a 24/7 thing.

Another critical point is to realize that Church isn't a temporary hide out from sin. 

Jeremiah 7:9-11

9 "'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, 10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"—safe to do all these detestable things? 11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! Declares the LORD. 


I'm guilty as sin, but come to church and cry about it and so I'm okay. I sing in the choir. I dance for God. I, I, I.

I think God says the same thing, "Aye, Aye, Aye!"

God doesn't want what you can spare. He never has. He demands your best. Let me say that right… He deserves your best! So why do we give him your leftovers? 

Malachi 1:6-8

6 "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name. "But you ask, 'How have we shown contempt for your name?' 7 "You place defiled food on my altar. "But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' "By saying that the LORD's table is contemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.


God no longer demands an animal sacrifice, but He does ask us to give of our time, our money, and our talents. We can give Him what's left over from the rest of the week, or we can give Him our best. Is ministry a "burden" to you?

Do yourself and God a favor and stop now. Repent and turn to him. Treasure the gift of worship. Fall on your faces before God in appreciation for his grace that sees beyond our faults. God demands our first fruits not our leftovers. He doesn't want your spare time, your spare money, or your spare heart. I don't care what you think you do for God, how is your heart when you do it? Do you get offended in ministry? Has someone hurt your feelings so much that it has become okay, as a result, to give God junk?

Here's the reality of worship. When you give God your best, and when you bring it to Him first, you consecrate the rest. Worship is for God and no one else.

Are you tired of lip-synching through our Christian life?

Here's the solution… "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1)

Some more Organic Truth to ponder about…

Luv ya,

Pastor Mario

 

Why “Organic Truth?”

Jesus speaks to my rationale in choosing this name when he responds to certain Pharisees in the second chapter of Mark. The disciples are accused of sinning because they had picked some heads of grain while walking through a field during one particular Sabbath day. Jesus responds to the religious criticism by saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." He caps the statement by then adding, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."   

Religious discussion has historically revolved around man's devotion to God. What we can, as human beings, do to impress this divine entity. What we can do to garner his favor or avoid his wrath. The irony of Jesus' statement here is the redefinition of God's imperative. The most holy admonition to the Jew, the keeping of the Sabbath, is characterized not by what the observance does to or for God, but rather why the admonition was given by God to man in the first place. The observance essentially does nothing for God. It doesn't make God feel more powerful or relaxed to know that man has taken a day to rest from his labor. The Sabbath, like most other of God's commandments, is given by God to man for the benefit of man and not for His own sense of fulfillment.

Like a parent forcing a child to take castor oil for his own good, the admonition to Sabbath rest, as well as many other commandments, represents an ideal promoted by God to counteract man's inherently self-destructive, materialistic obsessions. It forces man to stop and recognize the importance that God places on his/her personal health and welfare. In the field of agriculture, even a field needs to be given time to rest in-between harvesting seasons so that it can replenish itself with the nutrients necessary to sustain life. Which is what it's all about in the first place; the promotion and sustaining of human life and the premium that God places on its care.

When Jesus then says, "So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath," he is saying that we must realize the supremacy of Christ in all areas of our lives, even those areas of our lives we thought we had a religious handle on. He is admonishing us not to lose ourselves in the act of worship to the exclusion of experiencing and/or surrendering to the very object of our worship, namely, Jesus Christ himself. God's ultimate purpose in your life and mine is that we experience life to the fullest extent possible (John 10:10); a truth we can easily loose on the altar of religious sacrifice.

This blog is dedicated to stimulating edifying and reinforcing conversation centered on God's truth to man, often pointing out the deceptive ideals promoted by our self-centered, secular mindset, or our own often misguided religious dogmas. I hope to present a healthy and balanced perspective of truth from God's point of view.

Organic truth.

I look forward to exchanging some part of my life with a bit of yours.

Luv ya,

Pastor Mario