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You've got less than a few hours. Okay. I think I will be fine then. Okay, good morning, everyone.!
Right? Okay, I just want to pray, and then we can start. Yes? Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.
Thank you because you are here with us. Thank you because we had this opportunity to be together in fellowship, and for this opportunity to listen to your word.
I pray, Lord, that you will speak to us in this morning and remain with us. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Well, first, I want to introduce myself.
Some of you don't know me. My name is Brian Abranovich. I'm from Argentina, and I'm a missionary in Bolivia with my wife, Gloria.
She's from Brazil, and our kids, Nina and Amelie. Let's say both of them are from Brazil, right? They have Brazilian passports. And I want to go to Colossians 3, 1 to 4.
And before that, I want to apologize because of my English. I'm still learning, and I will probably need to read a lot.
I won't read in Spanish if I'm preaching this, but I will need it in English, right? So let's go to Colossians 3, 1 to 4.
And before we read this passage, I want you to think about something for a moment. Have you ever looked back in your life and felt about all the things that you used to be worried about you?
Maybe there was a time when you were worried about, I don't know, money, or about your job or buying a house or reaching a certain goal in your life.
Maybe there were problems that seemed so big at that time. You were worried about them and spent a lot of time thinking about them and wondered how things would work out.
But today, when you look back, some of those things that you were worried about at that time, it seems like little, right?
Not so important anymore. And some of the problems that you had before, they disappeared. Some of the things that you wanted so badly, you no need anymore.
And some of the things you thought were so important have simply become part of the past. And when we look back, we may begin to ask ourselves some different questions.
And I believe those are the questions that we really need to do ourselves. Who did I help? Who did I encourage?
Who did I tell about Christ? Who did I help grow in their faith? Did I use my life to make a difference in their life, the other people?
Because sometimes we spend so much time worrying about things that will eventually pass away, that we will forget.
And we forget to invest in things that really matter. We spend years trying to get more, achieving more, accomplishing more, and there is nothing wrong with that, but the problem is just to live for those things.
And there is a question that we need to ask ourselves. I'm spending my life on things that will last, or I'm living only for things that will eventually pass away.
And I believe this is really important for every Christian, right? Regardless, no matter our age, if I'm new in the faith, if I'm 20 or 30 years ago in the church, no matter the time, we need to ask these questions for ourselves.
And we can do it today, perhaps if you never did it, you can ask today yourself, did I invest my life in what?
In things that will remain, or things that are just passing and will be in the past, right? And we can still invest our time, our resources, and our lives in things that matter to God.
that's what I want us to think about today. And now we can go to Colossians chapter 3, verse 1 to 4.
And it says, Since then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things above, not on early things, for you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our Savior, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.
Amen? And notice what Paul is saying. He's saying, Seek those things which are above, right?
And then, set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Paul wants us to look at our lives from a different perspective.
He wants us to remember that there is more to life than what we can see around us. Our positions are temporary.
Our accomplishments are temporary. Many of the things that occupy our attention today will be eventually passed away. But our lives belong to Jesus, and that should change the way we live it.
right? And I want to go in this message through four questions. The first one is, where is your attention?
Or, Milo was saying a word yesterday, it was, where is your gaze? Right? And let's look again to Colossians 3, verse 1 1 and 2.
1 and 2. Say, those things which are above, set your affection on things above, not on things on the air. And we all, we are all looking to something, right?
We all have things that occupies our mind, influence our decisions, and shape our priorities. And what we continually look at often influences what we become.
And somebody told me one time that we, we are really similar with that that we admire or we just really look at.
For example, kids. You know, kids, you will probably see my girls doing something that I used to do or that my wife used to do.
I have an example that is pretty clear in our, in Bolivia we work with another family, Talo and Patti Vergara, and they have three children.
And the first one, Lucas, he is really similar to his father. He will walk the same way his father do. And why? I mean, Talo never taught him how to do it, right?
But he's looking at his father. And I can see Nina or Amelie doing things that I do or even that Gloria do because they are with us and they are looking at us.
They have we have their attention, right? And that's something that I can, you can see not just in kids, but you can see in other places.
And if you want something and you are pursuing something, you will be or that thing or that person will guide your way or your path, right?
And there is something that we need to really look. Paul is saying we need to look above, right? Not in the things that are from the air.
He tells us to set our minds on the things above. Now, this is not, this does not mean that working or doing other things that we can be worried about right now are wrong, right?
But as I said before, the problem is living for those things, for things that will pass away in a certain moment.
And we can have many things in our hands without allowing those things to have our hearts. We can work hard without making work the purpose of our lives.
We can enjoy what God has given us without forgetting the one who gave it to us. And the question is, what has become so important to me that I cannot imagine my life without it?
What occupies my thoughts more than anything else? What do I believe I must accomplish to feel that my life has been successful?
maybe the answer will reveal something about where our attention really is. And let me give you a personal example.
I'm still studying university theology. And of course, I'm busy these days. And I had a test on Friday.
I was here. I was at the cabin. Right? And I didn't have time to study. Right? Because I was driving or I was really busy in the conferences.
and I knew the percentage or the possibilities to me to approve that test were really, really low.
Right? But of course, I don't like to disapprove or to yeah. I wanted to pass that exam.
Right? I studied a little bit. Then I went to the Zoom. Right? with my teacher. And he asked me a question and then I answered.
And then he asked me another question and my head was like, I don't really remember that. Right? I read it, but I don't remember. Right? And that was kind of frustrating for me.
And I just told with the teacher, I'm sorry, I don't really remember. Right? But you did a great homework in that question.
Yeah, but I don't remember. Right? And then I explained to him, I'm traveling and this, I'm really busy these days. And I'm sorry, but I don't remember.
Right? I freeze. My mind was white. And after that, he said, okay, you won't approve this exam.
Right? You will need to take it another time. And I say, okay, yeah, if it's that, it's okay. Right? But I was really, really sad because of that.
Because I'm really pushing myself. myself. And then I just needed to stop. And I was thinking, probably in some years, like in 20 years, I will be a doctor in theology.
Right? And I will look back at this day and I will laugh. Right? And I know that I will do it again, this test, and I will do it well.
Because I will have the time to study. Right? But at that moment, it was really frustrating for me. And I just needed to stop, to pray, to put it in the hands of the Lord.
And then I came with my family. We walk a little bit through the cabin, looking at the beautiful view we had over there.
And I said, okay, I will just let it go. And I will study again. And I know that I will do it well. But sometimes we don't do that.
We just remain or we stay worried about many things. Right? And I encourage you to think, if there is something that is worrying you, you need to maybe ask, this is something really important?
this is something that is eternal? This is something that will remain above? Or is it something that will stay and will pass away in some years or some weeks or some days?
The next question is, what are you investing your life in? God has given us something that we can use to serve Him?
He has given us time, abilities, opportunities, relationships, and in many cases, financial resources. And every day, we are investing those things somewhere.
The question is not whether we are investing our lives, because we all are investing our life in something. The question is, what are we investing our lives in?
And think about the things we worked so hard to accumulate, right? One day, our money will let behind. Our houses will belong to somebody else.
Our cars will eventually be replaced, or one day we won't be able to use it anymore. Many of the things we spend years working for will not remain ours forever.
But we can use those things today to make a difference in the life of others. We can use our time, we can use our words, we can use our resources to help people to hear the gospel.
We can just come to somebody and be with them, speaking, hearing, right? And that's probably something that that person needed at that moment.
You may not know what's going on in the life of that person, but you can probably impact him his or her life because you just stay with him or her and listen to him or give a word of encouragement, right?
We might never preach probably in large audiences, right?
It's not my dream to preach in a stadium like Billy Graham or something like that. I will probably never do that. But I'm here, right?
And I know that probably this message can impact your life. Probably not, right? But I'm here because I know that I'm doing something that it won't stay just here.
It won't pass away. I want you to think that this will be a day that you can look above, right? Some of us, well, you saw this week or these days, other missionaries like me and my family.
And of course, all the things that we are doing, living in our countries, living in our comfort many times, living in our families, is because we know we are doing something that will last, right?
It's something eternal. And we are looking at those things and we are giving the importance that those things have because we know we are doing this for the Lord.
The next question, I have is, well, it's not really a question. It's the world does not always recognize what truly matters.
And I want to tell you about a story from a book by one of my favorite writers, that is C.S. L. Lewis. And the book is called The Great Divorce.
And I was reading this book like two months ago. And it's a, well, the title is because it's like a divorce between heaven and hell.
And Lewis, well, let's say it's Lewis, but the main character in the book is in a bus and then he came to heaven, right? and he started to look at many people and then one of these persons that is coming is a woman in heaven surrendered by extraordinary glory, right?
And she seems to be like really famous and she's accompanied by people whose lives have been deeply affected by her.
and the main character, he just asked to an angel, who is that woman, right? What did she do when she was leaving?
Probably she was really famous, probably she was, I don't know, preaching to a lot of women or whatever, right? And then the angel looked at him and said, no.
If you pass by that woman on earth, you will just pass by her. Like she's coming here, you will just go, right? You will see, yesterday, Milo was talking about Messi, right?
The soccer player. And if you pass through Messi, you will say, okay, you will take a picture or something like that, right? Because he's famous. But if you pass to this lady, you will just pass.
You will probably not notice her. And this guy, this angel, say that to her, to him.
She was a normal person, but she is famous here because she spent a lot of time loving people.
Just loving people. Just taking care of people. Just praying for people. Just speaking about the Lord to other people. That's why she's famous here.
And of course, in this earth, we have another sense of what is successful.
Right? We will see a guy like Messi, and we will say, yeah, this guy is successful. Or Milo gave another example of Jeff Bifos.
Right? He will say, he's successful. Or Bill Gates, or another person, Elon Musk. But no, most of them, they will probably be in heaven.
Right? And this lady was famous, of course, it's a story, right? But she was famous because she loved other people.
And I want you to think about this. And I want you to think about in what are you putting so much effort in your life.
Are you investing your life in what? Are you investing your life in things that will just stay here? Or are you investing your life in things that really matter to God?
Because this is what will do a big difference. Right? I want to be like, I don't know, 80 years old or more, and look back and say, I invest my life in the right things.
I use my life to love people. I use my life, I spend my life speaking to others about Christ.
a lot of people was able to know the Lord because I speak to them. And many people was encouraged because I went to them and I speak about the Lord.
Or I gave them a word of encouragement. And I want you to look at your life and see if you did that.
And if you didn't, you can do it today. And you can think about what are you doing with your life? Where are you investing your life?
Because one day we will be with the Lord and He won't ask me, okay, let's see what kind of car do you have?
Do you have a four wheels or whatever? Do you have a Tesla? Do you have a nice car? He won't ask me about that. He won't ask me about, do you have a nice house?
Do you have a house with a play room or something like that? He won't ask me about that. He will ask me to how many people I preach, to how many people I was just there sitting to hear, to how many people I was there to encourage, to how many people I help in my life.
That's what will really matters for God. There are too many things that we are really worried about it and to God, that doesn't matter.
And I really want to live my life for the things that are really important for God. And I want you to spend the rest of your life in those things.
You can probably stay just here in this church, right? Helping or cleaning and probably you may feel I'm doing anything.
I'm not preaching, I'm not singing, I'm not playing the piano, I'm not in the media team, but you probably have some missionary.
You probably went to a missionary and gave a word to encourage them. Or you probably went to somebody else that is not a missionary and gave a hug.
And probably that person was needing a hug. Those are the things that I can see that are really important.
And those are the things that I can see will impact life. And not just in earth, will impact life's eternal life.
may may may may may believe in the Lord, they can probably have problems during this life where they will be in eternity with our Lord.
And because of that, because you wanted to spend your life preaching the gospel, being encouragement for others, because you will be living for the things that really, really matters to the Lord.
And the last thing that I want to say is live today with eternity in mind. Because when we saw our life, I'm 32 years old, right?
And I can see these 32 years behind me, right? Or, yeah, the time that already passed.
But if I'm seeing, or if I'm trying to see my life in this perspective of eternity, 32 years is nothing, right?
Some of you will say, okay, you are just 32, I'm 64, double your eyes, your age. Or even more.
Some of you will say, oh, you are too young, right? But if you watch or you try to see your life in this perspective of eternity, it's nothing.
It's nothing compared to eternity. Then I want you to think about this and to try to spend the rest of your life in the things that matters.
Paul says, for ye are dead and your life is high with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
Paul is saying, our life is high with Christ in God. Our lives belong to the Lord. Our identity is not built on what we own, what we accomplish, or what other people think about us.
Our life is in Him. And because we belong to Christ, we can live with a different perspective. We don't have to spend our lives trying to prove that we are important.
We don't have to compare ourselves with others. We don't have to measure our success by how much we have accumulated. Instead, we can ask how we can honor the Lord with what He has given us.
We can use our money to help others. We can use our time to encourage people. We can use our experience to help younger believers. We can pray for missionaries and support their work.
We can help churches teach God's Word and share the Gospel. We can remain faithful in the responsibilities God has given us.
And we can do these things without expecting everyone to notice. Living with eternity in mind does not mean ignoring the responsibilities of the life on earth.
It means living on earth with our eyes fixed on Christ. It means understanding that our possessions are temporary but we can use them to help others.
Our time is limited but we can use it to encourage people and serve the Lord. Our opportunities may change but we can continue to be faithful.
And our circumstances may be different from what they once were but our purpose remains the same. we belong to Jesus Christ and we can continue to live for Him.
Maybe you are in a season of your life when you cannot do as much as you once did. That does not mean your life has lost its value.
Maybe you are no longer able to travel or serve in the same way you did it years ago. I'm 32 and I was driving we drive the first days like I drop like three days and after those three days I was with a back pain my goodness right because I was sad like eight hours per day or something like that and I'm 32 right I don't want to imagine when I will be I don't know 60 right and I was like my goodness I know the pastor was sick right and probably if he was younger he was younger than that than now right he will be okay right and I cannot do things that I was doing when I was 20 right but I can still do things that that that is what
I wanted to to say nothing about your age I don't know how old you are don't worry about that but you can still pray right you can speak you can still hug people you can still listen right you can still encourage those who are serving you can still pray for missionaries you can still teach God's word to someone who needs to hear it you can still share your testimony and tell others what the Lord has done in your life and you can still be an example of faithfulness to those who are watching you there are things we cannot control about the future but we can ask God to help us use the opportunities we have today we can choose to invest in people we can choose to support the spread of the gospel we can choose to serve faithfully and we can choose to seek the approval of God rather than the applause of people because our lives are hidden with
Christ in God and that's why Paul tells us to set our minds on things above not because the things on earth have no value but because they must never take the place on Christ in our lives we don't live for eternity because we want to escape from the earth we live on earth with eternity in mind and as I say during these 35 minutes you can spend your life praying for your pastor for their family praying for your brothers and sisters trying to be an encouragement for them you can just sit with somebody and start to listen to them because probably that person just need somebody listening to him or her you can hug somebody you can give to others you can still preach the gospel you can share about your testimony but do these things because you know those are the things that are really important for the
Lord don't worry about things that will just pass and I'm saying this because I'm the kind of person that will be worried about things that doesn't matter the Lord sometimes is probably laughing about me right these guys worry about this right but God has another perspective and we can try to try we can try to see our lives with that perspective right and again before we we start to to pray again I want you to look back in your life and ask you who did I help who did I encourage who did
I teach who did I help grow in their faith who did I pray for who did I help hear the gospel and what I did with the opportunities that the Lord gave me or gave me right because we can spend our lives accumulating things that we will eventually leave behind or we can use what God has given us to make the difference in the life of others we can live for recognition or we can seek to please the Lord we can focus only in our circumstances or we can look beyond ourselves and help others hear the gospel we can assume that our best opportunities are behind us or we can ask God to show us how to remain faithful today and remember this lady from this book
The Great Divorce Sarah Smith is a story right her life reveals a kind of greatness that the world might never have recognized and then reminds me and I hope reminds you that life does not have to be famous or to be meaningful some of the people who have made the greatest difference in lives of others may never be known by the wider wall they just pray they gave they serve they encourage they love and they remain faithful let us seek to please the one who is seeing us let us live for an audience of one that's the
Lord and I want to pray for you and of course even for my life that we can live that way that we can think that way and that we can try to see our life in a different perspective and that we can live if you didn't live it before but you can do it right now and today that you can live thinking in the things that are above and the things that are really important to God the things that will last and the things that really matter let's pray dear God thank you so much for this morning thank you because you has given us time opportunities abilities you you have given us other people to walk with us relationships you have given us a church to belong a place to belong and of course you have given us salvation you have given us grace you have given us the opportunity to share what you can do with others and
I really want this morning to pray for everyone here for my brothers and sisters and I want you just to bring peace in their hearts and I really want to look back in our lives that we can say okay I spent my life in the things that were important for the Lord I didn't spend my life in things that are just remaining here in earth but I spent my life preaching I spent my life speaking with others I spent my life loving people because that's also what you did you love us so much and you did your life for us and this is the kind of life that we want to live and
I pray that you will help us and I pray that you will still give us the opportunities to do this a lot of times and we can spend our life in the things that will last we will spend our lives thinking in eternity thinking in lives that are going to spend eternity with you and with every one of us here and I praise you Lord I praise you because I'm here because somebody was praying for me when I wasn't even existing I am here because a lady prayed for my family and they didn't know it but you knew it and you answered that prayer and help us
Lord to see that the things that can probably look small things sometimes are the greatest things that we can do and we have a different measure of those things but you know our hearts you know our difficulties you know what you has given to us and I pray that you will help us to live for those things that will last and you will be happy about it thank you Lord in Jesus name I pray amen thank you