With my pastor Andrés Briceño Ruiz
In nearly fifteen years, this was my forth trip to México. The first two times I went with Pastor José Bosque who introduced me to the area; the last two I have gone by myself. This trip, by far, was the most productive one; I stayed two weeks and I did not stayed in a fancy hotel, I actually stayed in a small little house across the street from the church that extended me the invitation, that is the Church Hermosa (The beautiful). I was able to preach more and in more churches and was able to receive more in terms of spiritual blessings than the previous three trips combine. I will talk about this a little later. I did not get tired, I did not loose my voice, even as I was singing and preaching constantly and, I did not get sick; praise God!
This is the casita; the Lord truly met me here!
To start, the Lord gave me grace to finish my first Spanish book describing these four trips and the lessons learned alone the way. I am super excited about this book. I started the book on December 8th and finished on December 22th. I am already working of the first editing process… simply amazing! Over 23,000 words in two weeks? Glory to God! I wrote the majority of this book on the little casita (House). God met me there in a very special way! This book will be published in the beginning of next year.
This is the casita; the Lord truly met me there!
I can say more about the things the Lord have me teach; apostolic teachings that were a blessing to the people; but I don’t want to focus on that. I want to focus on the fact that in México I found my spiritual father. I had known Andrés Briceño Ruiz for about fifteen years. I never saw him as son and he never saw me as a father just because I came from America. We have a sincere love and respect for each other. But going into México I knew that God had something for me; I knew that I was to learn some powerful lessons there.
The Lord did not disappoint me; Pastor Andrés was truly a blessing and an instrument from God to speak some things into my life that were life changing. I am not saying that there are no problems in churches in other countries or that all about the American church is mess up, but there is something about ministering in a place where your only provision and your only doctor is truly God.
I believe that many American pastors have gotten soft and comfortable. They don’t pray, they don’t seek a personal relationship with God and are minimizing the authority of God’s Word. Some are constantly pointing out what is wrong with the church, but offer no solutions what so ever. I believe that many are physically and spiritually out of shape, operating their churches like social clubs. They show an apparent success, but with no evidence of God’s anointing and no need for faith; everything seems to be a form of godliness with no evidence of power. Others, especially in the Pentecostal/Charismatic wing of the church are waiting for the next revival. They see revival as the thing that will have them do, what they should be doing already. In the process, they do very little!
This is the building of La Hermosa Church. It is my prayer that this
building be completed in 2017. We are committed and believe in this
ministry enough to support this mission 100%.
When we minister oversees we confuse the humility of these men and we look down on them, not realizing that many of them are actual true apostles who walk in power, wisdom and deep revelation of God’s Word. That was my experience with my good friend Pastor Andrés Briceño Ruiz. For years I have given up on truly having a spiritual father. It seems like the experience that I have had with a few of these, so call apostles, is that if I was not of some kind of benefit for them, they would act as if they did not even know me. I can’t even get a “Like” from them, from a Facebook post. It was all about them; they act like some kind of ruler or king over me. Others saw me as an equal and did not discern my need for a father. The Scripture shows that we have thousand of mentors, but not many father. (First Corinthians 4:15).
The good news is that the Old Testament ends with the following promise,
“See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” Malachi 4:5-6 (NIV)
Through a series of circumstances and confirmations, it became obvious to me, that Pastor Andrés was indeed my spiritual father, as he ministered to me like no other person in my life as a Christian. By the time I came to him to ask him to pastor me; his heart was already ready to do so and not only that, he had the confirmation from his own pastor.
As of July 31 of this year I started a ministry at home; at this point is just my family and a couple of friends. Honestly, I am not interested in members or numbers; I am interested in making disciples. I am interested in the Great Commission and in actually establishing the Modus Operandi of the church clearly stated in Acts 2:42 “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” (KJV)
God is moving and doing amazing things amongst us. I am looking forward to next year and what the Lord will do. As of now, I am happy for the Lord’s mercies and blessings over my life. Looking forward now to my fifth missionary trip to México. This time, my wife will go with me.
This is the inside view of La Hermosa Church.
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