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  AUDIO SERMON： LIFT UP YOUR EYES
  by David Valderrama
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Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of knowing who Jesus is,
highlighting various aspects of His identity such as Savior of the
world, Son of God, the way, the truth, and the life, the everlasting
Father, and the Prince of Peace. It challenges believers to have a heart
that pleads for the lost, to lift up their eyes from worthless things,
and to focus on the eternal harvest that is ready. The message
encourages a return to the presence of Jesus, to be transformed by His
love, and to be bold witnesses for Him.

Duration: 1:09:24 Topics: "Identity of Christ", "Bold Witnessing"
Scripture References: John 14:6, Isaiah 9:6, Matthew 9:36, Acts 4:13, Psalms 119:37, John 4:35, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Luke 10:2, Acts 1:8

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DESCRIPTION
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This sermon emphasizes the importance of knowing who Jesus is,
highlighting various aspects of His identity such as Savior of the
world, Son of God, the way, the truth, and the life, the everlasting
Father, and the Prince of Peace. It challenges believers to have a heart
that pleads for the lost, to lift up their eyes from worthless things,
and to focus on the eternal harvest that is ready. The message
encourages a return to the presence of Jesus, to be transformed by His
love, and to be bold witnesses for Him.

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CONTENT
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Who is Jesus? The Savior of the world. Savior of the world. Who is
Jesus? Jesus.

Son of God. Son of God. The way, the truth, and the life.

The way, the truth, and the life. Father and Father. Father and Father.

The person who knows me and who loves me. The person who knows me and
who loves me. There you go.

He's the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. That's
what his name shall be called. The Word of God, the Son of God.

Alpha and Omega. The Alpha, the Omega, beginning and the end, the first
and the last. A friend that sticks closer than a brother.

A friend that sticks closer than a brother. There you go. The light of
the world.

Light of the world. He loves us. He's good to us.

He's good to us. The man that gave his life to save mine. The man who
gave his life to save mine.

The one who created the world. The Lamb. The Lamb.

The one who created the world. The one who took the very breath in my
lungs. And the mountain.

The one who has given me breath. Pray to be. King of kings.

King of kings and the Lord of lords. Jesus' love. Jesus' love.

The resurrection and the life. Amen. There's a lot of things we can
think about when we think about who Jesus is.

He's the one that created what we look at every day when we're living
out here. All the trees, the dirt, the sand, the feet of the bug, the
stars. The sun that's shining down on us.

In the book of 1 John, John, biblically we have a lot of these biblical
terms of who Jesus is. We just named a few of them. But it says, that
which was in the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the
word of life.

It says, that life was manifested. And we have seen and bear witness and
declare unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was
manifested to us. Jesus is the eternal life.

The eternal life. It says, and we know that the Son of God has come and
has given us an understanding of him that is true and we are in him that
is true. And his Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God and eternal
life.

One of the things I share when I go out witnessing with people. I have
this sign that says, Jesus, myth, legend, or eternal God. One of the
things that I'll ask them, I said.

You know, if they believe he's a myth, or even if they believe he's the
eternal God. I'll ask them this question, I say, was there ever a point
in time when absolutely nothing at all existed? Absolutely nothing. Was
there ever a point in time when absolutely nothing at all existed? Has
everybody in here heard me ask this? All the children? Okay.

Okay. So, a lot of the times people will say, well yeah, of course. Or
they'll say no.

So I'll ask them, what's zero plus zero? They'll say zero. So if there
was ever a point in time when absolutely nothing at all existed, then
nothing would exist today. Because nothing will never amount to
anything, just like zero will never amount to one, two, three, or four,
or anything else other than zero.

So there was this eternal life, this eternal life that existed for all
things, independent of all things. It gives breath, it gives life, saves
us. This eternal life has a name, and it's Jesus Christ.

Jesus the Christ. That is the eternal life. It's a paradox that we live
in every day.

It's a mystery of life to stir our hearts to seek the cause of it all. I
remember as a little boy, I was seven years old, I was hanging out with
my friend, he was my best friend. His parents were Roman Catholic, and I
didn't grow up praying before meals or anything, but they did.

They would talk about God sometimes, and we were swinging on the swing
set, and I said, Nicholas, where did God come from? And he said, I don't
know, I don't care. He didn't want to talk about it. And I remember my
seven-year-old mind was trying to wrap itself around this person or this
thing called God that created the earth and everything in it and
everything I see above it.

And I was trying to unpack the origin of God in my mind. I was just
thinking, so who created God? And then I thought, well, if somebody
created God, then who created that person? If somebody created the
person that created the person that created God, if this all goes back
to something that has no beginning or no ending, something that just
always existed, who was and who is and who is to come, always will be,
that's Jesus Christ. All these, that's who Jesus is.

He's the eternal life, who is and who was and who is to come. The Alpha
and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. All
things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that
was made.

He's the savior of the world. He's the resurrection of the land. He's
returning again someday.

Flaming fire, taking vengeance on all those that don't know him, that
don't obey his gospel. A lot of people, you know, just when you think
about what they're doing with their life, what they're doing, how
they're living, the choices they're making, their plans, their dreams,
their hopes, things they're seeking to achieve or hoping to accomplish
someday, it's a good question to ask yourself and to ask people around
you, your family, your friends, your employees, wherever you're at,
people at the grocery store, whoever you're talking with. Does your life
make sense in the light of the gospel? Does your life make sense in the
light of what you profess about Christianity, about your faith in Jesus,
about who Jesus is? Does your life make sense? Is Jesus really who he
is? Is Jesus really who the Bible says he is? Is Jesus really who I am
saying he is? Does my life agree with what I'm saying about him or does
it not make any sense? Like it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 5, it says,
what profit does he have who labors for the wind? Everybody reach out
their hand like this and just try to grab the wind, the air.

You get a big bag, you know, and you can try to stuff it full of all
this wind all day long. You can spend your whole life doing that and it
may seem silly, but that's what a lot of people are doing. They're
laboring for the wind.

They're just living seven days a week to have fun, to enjoy their life
in this world. But time just slips by. Time slips by.

They're working so hard and looking forward to the weekend so they can
relax and just have a good time somewhere. Maybe bowling, playing laser
tag, riding roller coasters, surfing or doing something that's fun. But
one day we're going to die and then what? What's going to happen after
that? You know, just, let's see.

Rayden, how old are you? 24. Ryan here? He's going to be out there 28.
Let's just say that the average life was 75 to 80 years old.

A third of your life is gone right now. One third of your life is gone.
Children, let's say this.

By the time, if you're going to live to be 75 to 80 years old, by the
time you're 25 to 30 years old, one third of your life is gone. How many
of you sleep like six to eight hours a day? You do that every day for
the rest of your life. A third of your life is gone, just sleeping.

So by the time you're 25 to 30 years old, how much of your life do you
have left to live for Jesus to make a difference in eternity? Not one
third. That's not much, is it? If we have one third of our life left to
live, to give to Jesus, by the time we're 25 to 30 years old, and our
vision, our dreams, our hopes, our desires are not to really live for
him, to do his work. He said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent
me to finish his work with his right hand.

He said, Father, I've glorified thee on the earth, I've finished the
work you've given me to do. The work of Jesus is to continue through us.
Going back to who Jesus is, who is Jesus? Creator of all things, God
manifested in the flesh.

God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. The very spirit
that was in Jesus, that gave life to his body. The body without the
spirit is dead.

The spirit that was in Jesus, that gave life to his members, was the
very spirit of God. According to the flesh, he had human flesh, but
according to the spirit, the spirit was divine. That's who Jesus is.

In order for our lives to really make sense, everybody believes that
he's God or the Son of God in here, right? Everybody should be able to
tell me something that he said, right? Should be able to. This is one of
the things whenever I'm out there witnessing the people, I try to get
them to see this contradiction. If they do believe in Jesus, they do
believe that he's God.

Try to get them to see a contradiction between what they're saying,
between that confession of faith. And do they really believe that their
life makes sense? Can you tell me something that Jesus said? Can you
tell me something that God said? And a lot of the times, they can't
think of anything Jesus said. And so there's this contradiction between
what they're saying and what they're doing.

If we really believe Jesus is who he says he is, we're going to study
his words. You need to know his words. Jesus says, the words that I
speak may are spirit and may are life.

The words that I have spoken will judge you on the last day. If any man
keeps my words, he shall never taste of death. He that hears my words
and keeps them, he it is that loves me.

And I will love him, my father will love him, and I will manifest myself
in him. If he loves me, keep my words. He that hears my words and does
not do them is a fool.

He that hears my words and does do them is wise. And when I share this
with people, they may start feeling like, oh, that's legalism.
Obedience, talking about heaven or hell.

I have to study the words. I have to study the Bible and all this stuff.
A lot of the times, people emphasize it's all about relationship.

In a relationship, you care about what the other person has to say. And
so whenever I'm out there talking to people, I try to help them to see
this immense contradiction between what they believe Christianity is all
about. It's all about a relationship with Jesus.

Okay, well, tell me something that Jesus said. I usually can't think of
anything that he said. Immediately, you can see the lights coming on and
this, like, this sorrow, this godly sorrow, this shame, this remorse,
this dysfunction in their heart.

But if we believe Jesus is who he says he is, we need to know what he
had to say. Jesus says, why do you call me Lord and not do what I say?
And if we don't know what he said, how can we know that we're doing what
he wants us to be doing? If we're not seeking Jesus Christ, if we're not
studying to show ourselves approved, if we're not looking through the
pages of this book with the print of his stuff that we might follow
therein, we're just kind of playing around and goofing off and having a
good time. We're just seeking to be entertained.

Our life doesn't make sense. Our life does not make sense. We just want
to have fun.

We just want to play games. We just want to laugh and just be
lighthearted and just play around. When we believe Jesus, there's God.

And while we're still ignorant of what he taught, while we still lack an
immense understanding of what he taught, when we really don't even
really know what he wants from our life, when we don't really know what
his plans are, or even what he wants this day, if we're not seeking that
out, there's a contradiction between what we say we believe about Jesus
and what we're doing. What if Bill Gates or the guy that owns Facebook,
who's that again? Mark Zuckerberg or the guy that owns Amazon, what if
your former employer, what if children, what if you were older, you were
all 20 years old or something like that? What if some billionaire came
into your house or something and he said, hey, because when you think
about a billionaire, when you think about a billion dollars, one billion
dollars is how many millions? A thousand millions. But this billionaire
had a hundred billion.

But this billionaire had a hundred billion dollars. He was worth that
much and he had that much. And so that's like thousands of millions of
dollars to pay people.

What if he knocked on your door saying, hey, Jeremiah, I've got a plan.
I've got some work for you to do. And you're like, who are you? Well,
I'm an owner of Amazon.

And you're like, oh, really? He says, hey, here's a million dollars.
It's yours right there. He lays it out before you, a million dollars
cash.

I've got work for you to do. There's something that I want you to do for
me. And I'm willing to pay a million dollars every year if you'll just
drop everything and make your life about my business.

What if somebody showed up on your doorstep offering that to you? And
you knew it was real. But what if it's somebody that you did know? Like
this, yeah, this is the guy on TV. This is Bill Gates or this is Mark
Zuckerberg.

Wow, this is amazing. He's offering me a million dollars right now every
year. Guaranteed.

What would you do? I know what a lot of people, they claim they believe
Jesus is God. That he's the son of God, that he's the resurrection and
the life. I know what a lot of people would do.

When do I start? Where do I gotta go? Do I need to move my family there?
Do I gotta just drop it when? Do I gotta leave tomorrow? I'm willing to
leave tomorrow. Because their life is about money. Their life is about
their life.

They're chasing the wind. They believe Jesus is God. But Bill Gates and
Mark Zuckerberg were created by Jesus.

And Jesus is their judge. And they're all gonna appear before the
judgment seat of God to give an account to Jesus. And what they have to
offer is gonna perish with them.

Do we believe Jesus really is the son of God? Do we really believe it?
Is Christianity just some social gathering? Is it just a place to hang
out, have fun and just kind of pat each other on the back saying good
job? Is it just a place where counseling takes place, a ministry takes
place because we're discouraged, fearful or we got some trial in our
life and we just need support? Is Christianity just a support group? Is
it just a social club? Is it just a place to have a good time? Or do we
really believe Jesus is who he says he is? That he really died on the
cross. Was buried and raised from the dead. And he's returning again.

To judge the quick and the dead. Do we really believe this? Do we
believe time is short? Do we, you know, statistics say that every two
seconds somebody dies without knowing Jesus. And the Jesus that they
probably heard about probably wasn't the real Jesus.

And if you're in your 20s, you have one third of your life to live.
Maybe. You're not guaranteed that.

Then what? What are we doing with our life? Is it something that wakes
us up in the morning, Lord? When I'm at the grocery store, when, Lord,
when I'm dumpster diving, Lord. When I'm visiting people across the
state. When people are reaching out to me through social media.

When I'm at the gas station. Wherever I'm at, Lord, just, I want to be
doing what you're doing there. Is that the desire of our heart? Is that
what we're looking for? Because there's a God in heaven that's pleading.

The blood is pleading from the cross. The wounds in his hands and feet
are pleading with us. Plead with men.

Plead with men. Men are dying. They're on their way to hell.

There's a broad way. And many are going to destruction. Are we pleading
as there's this pleading on the inside of us? Be reconciled to God.

Turn from your sins. There's a God who loves you. He wants heaven full.

But listen. The way you're living is not right. You need to change.

Can't live your life looking upon women with lust. When you look at this
woman over here, is there lust in your heart? You can't be going over
here to these clubs. You can't be watching pornography.

You can't live in greed. You can't lie. But more than just the sin, do
we really believe Jesus is who he says he is? Who is Jesus to you? Is he
your healer? Is he your deliverer? Is he your savior? Is he your friend
that sticks closer than a brother? Is he the eternal life that satisfies
your soul that quenched your thirst and there's nothing in this world
that you're thirsting for anymore? Who is Jesus to you? Who is Jesus to
you? Is he worth sharing with the lost? Is he worth sharing with your
friends? Is he worth sharing to your community? To your family? Is he
worth sharing? Is he worth just dropping everything and forsaking
everything? Is he worth more than a million dollars? I think that we
would find it within us to overcome whatever fear, trial or obstacle
that stood between us and a million dollars if we really wanted it that
bad.

One of the things that I live with now, 20 years later, and it's a
trial. When I was born again, I was born again with a Jesus who lived on
the inside of me that was pleading. Wherever I went, Jesus inside of me,
I would feel this pleading, this pleading heart beating within my heart,
pleading.

I couldn't go to the grocery store without getting stuck there for an
hour or two because everywhere I turned I saw people that were lost or
potentially lost. And they didn't have what I had. They didn't know what
I know.

And I saw them and I was moved with compassion looking upon all these
people and my heart was gripped. And I had to tell them, Jesus loves
you. Jesus can save you.

Jesus set me free from my immorality, from my bondage, from my
addictions, from my drugs and all these things. And I have this hope of
eternal life and I've experienced his forgiveness and you can know him
too. And that's all I had to share.

I didn't know the Bible. I wasn't trained. I just had this pleading
Jesus inside my heart.

I wanted people to be reconciled. That's all I had. And if you don't
know what to share with people, if you don't know what to say, you see
the thing is there's a song that Jason Upton sings.

He says, when you were a child, when you were a child, you could not
stand alone. But there's this chorus that goes, it says, I want to know
that child again. Maybe time has changed you.

Love remembers when you called my name. I like the wind. I carried you
away.

Seems like only yesterday when you were a child. I think about what it
was like when I was born again and I was this precious child in God's
eyes that had his pleading heart within me and I didn't know what to
say. I just felt what he felt when I looked at these people around me
and I pleaded with them.

But today, 20 years later, even it's just, I've learned so much. I've
experienced so much. I've just been trained so much.

It's like, I remember 10 years ago, I went from Jesus loves me, Jesus
can save me and all this to the wrath of God is upon you if you don't
repent. And it was just, I didn't know what to say. I felt like I
couldn't tell people Jesus loved them anymore.

I felt like that might be encouraging them to live in sin while Jesus
loves me. Great. He loves me even when I'm going to go get wasted at
this club and get laid or go home with this woman tonight.

He loves me. Woohoo! I felt like I couldn't tell them Jesus loved them.
I felt like it was a no-no, like a sin almost to tell that to people.

I felt it in my heart and so I went through the struggle. I also went
through the struggle like, I want to have a word and season for him that
is worried just like Jesus. It says in Isaiah chapter 50 that, talking
to Jesus, it says that He opened my ear to hear.

He awakeneth it morning by morning. And He's given me the tongue of the
learned that I should know how to speak a word and season to him that is
weary. And so I learned that.

I need to have a word and season for him that is weary when I see Jesus
talking to the woman at the well. When I see Paul talking to certain
people and Peter talking to certain people, they had a word, a specific
word. And I thought, okay, I need to know what to tell people.

And it was just so complicated, but whenever I first gave my life to
Jesus, I just had this pleading on the inside of me. And I didn't have
to have it all figured out. I just had Jesus on the inside of my heart.

And I felt this love for them, this compassion. He was moved with
compassion towards the people, for He saw them as having sheep, being
sheep with no shepherd. Just lost, lost, just wandering through this
life aimlessly, without any purpose, looking for this fulfillment,
looking for this to satisfy them.

He saw all the brokenness, all the despair, all the confusion, all the
turmoil, all these different things. And He was moved with compassion
towards them. Who is Jesus to you? Does Jesus live on the inside of you?
Does this Jesus, does the pleading Jesus live on the inside of you? Have
you ever experienced the pleading of Jesus? It says in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, it says, Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new
creature.

Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. Have you
experienced that? Have old things become new to you? New desires, new
things that bring joy and peace and fulfillment, new reason for living,
new vision, new hope.

Are you walking in newness of life? Is this an amazing experience that
you get to have every day? Walking with Jesus, the creator of all
things, living on the inside of you, feeling what He feels, hearing His
voice, Him moving you this way and that way. Is this a reality for you?
If it was, have you lost it? If it was, do you feel like, oh, I hear
what you're saying and I want it again. It's been tormenting me.

I just feel like I don't have it anymore. And I felt that pleading of
God through me before. I felt Jesus is pleading hard when I would see
people and I would just go to them and talk to them.

I don't even know what to say, but His pleading just compelled me to go.
The love of Christ compels us because we judge thus, that if one died,
then we're all dead and He died. That those who live should no longer
live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.

Yes, I felt this love of Jesus on the inside of me, pleading with me to
plead with them. And when I went to them, it wasn't man pleading with
man. It wasn't David pleading with them.

It wasn't Ryan pleading with them. It wasn't Scott pleading with them.
It wasn't Secura, Bianca or anybody pleading with them.

It was God pleading with these men. It was God pleading with them
through us. The love of Christ compels us.

It says, now then we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were
pleading through us. We are ambassadors for Christ. Who is Jesus? Son of
God.

God manifests in the flesh, the Word of God. Everlasting Father, Prince
of Peace. Who is Jesus? We are ambassadors for Him.

We are here on express purpose. To turn this world upside down. To save
souls.

To seek and to save that which was lost. To be a light in the dark.
That's why we're here.

We're ambassadors. We don't need to be tossed to and fro. Why am I here?
What is my life about? I don't really know what I should be doing with
my life.

We are ambassadors for Jesus Christ. And Paul says as though God were
pleading through us. We are to be pleading ambassadors.

Ambassadors that have the pleading of God on the inside of them.
Compelling people to come in that His house may be full. There's a free
account that I want to share of some martyrs.

I've shared it a few times but I like sharing it. Ignatius was a first
century early Christian. He had been following Jesus for a few decades
or several decades.

And he was a bishop in a church. And he was captured because
Christianity was against the law. The leaders were hunted.

Captured and tortured and killed. But when he was captured he was
saying, My dear Jesus, my dear Savior. His name is so deeply written in
my heart.

That I am persuaded that if you were to cut me open. Take out my heart
and chop it to pieces. That you would find His name written on every
piece.

Who is Jesus to you? Can you relate to Ignatius as Jesus is? The name of
Jesus is deeply written on your heart. Do you feel like this is not
relatable to you? Or are you like, wow, I wish I could relate to that.
This is a man that believed who Jesus was.

The Son of God. God manifested in the flesh. But he was crucified.

He was delivered up for our offenses. He was wounded for our
transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities.

For our rebellion. Our pride. Our stubbornness.

Our lying tongue. Our deceitfulness. He was crucified for that.

He was delivered up for it. But he was raised for our justification. He
really believed this.

And he pleaded with men for decades to be reconciled to God. Gee, the
name of Jesus was so deeply written on his heart. He was persuaded that
if you cut him open and chop his heart to pieces, you'd find the name of
Jesus.

Written on every piece. Piece of his heart. In the 4th century, there
was this young girl named Eulalia.

She was 12 years old. 12 years old. But I listen to this, okay? And she
was 12 years old.

And she had a zeal for Jesus. She really believed something on the
inside of her. It was just compelling her to go out and to plead.

At 12 years old. Anyways, her parents had to move. I think they moved
away from where they were at because she kept wanting to go out and
plead with men.

And they were afraid she was going to get killed. The parents were
afraid that she was going to get killed. And so they moved further away.

And anyways, she managed to escape one night. And she went to this Roman
tribunal. Where these judges were.

These executioners. And all these people that were torturing Christians.
And she pleaded with them and she rebuked them.

Face to face. This 12 year old little girl. And at first, you know, they
spoke to her these soft, pampering, flattering words.

And talking about how, you know, it would be so sad for her to die
before she experiences marriage and children and all these things. And
she said, oh, you know, and you won't be able to endure, you know, these
torments that will inflict on you. So just take a little pinch of this
salt.

You know, offer it to these idols that were set up there. Just take a
little pinch of this salt and offer it to these idols. It says that this
12 year old little girl just knocked him over.

She rebuked. These people that were trying to compel her to do this. And
it says that they were infuriated and straightway they took her.

They bound her up on some table or something. And they took these large
pincers. In my mind, it's some razor sharp curved piece of metal.

And they cut her open on the ribs here to where you could see the
insides. And this is what she said. She said, what a great occasion this
affords me, my Lord Jesus Christ.

Behold, your name is being written on my body. They were just cutting
her open. For the name of Jesus, she was bearing witness to the truth.

She said, oh, what a great pleasure this is that your name is being
written on my body as they cut me open. Behold, my purple blood
confesses your holy name. Who is Jesus to her? Who is Jesus to that 12
year old girl? Her savior, the Lord, her master, the creator of all
things.

There's nothing she wouldn't have done for her. It was a great honor to
this 12 year old Mayan that the name of Jesus was being written on her
body as they cut her open. That's how she interpreted it.

She gave God the praise for that. And it says that the apostles, after
they were beaten, they rejoiced. They were counted worthy to suffer
shame for the name of Christ.

When I was carrying the cross, I think this was in 2008, I met this old
man named Preacher John from South Carolina. And he'd been preaching at
that time for 53 years. And he told me the story about this revival that
was happening somewhere.

And all these big time preachers, these evangelists were there. They all
were just preaching, you know, and doing all this stuff. There was good
crowds and people.

And then there was this old country farmer of a small church. He went in
there. It was his turn to preach.

And this was his message. I'm just gonna sum it up in the way that I
understood it because I don't remember it word for word. But the idea
was this.

He's at the pulpit, you know, standing before all these people. And this
is his message. You know, I don't care about these people of the grocery
store over here that they'd be going to hell when they die.

I don't care about these hoodlums over here, you know, these gangsters
getting in fights, killing each other, and sending each other to hell
every day. I don't care about my neighbors and community where I live,
you know, where they're gonna spend eternity. But I'm deeply disturbed
tonight.

I don't care. That was his message. That's one thing that people do, you
know, is they get involved in ministry.

You know, they, including myself, with this work or whatever. We get to
this place where it's like we don't care anymore. You know, we'll go
drill water wells or we'll go out preaching on the weekends.

Or we'll congregate like this and we'll preach or fellowship and preach
to each other. But what are we doing? The grocery store, the gas
station, the airport. What are we doing where we live in our community?
Do we care? Do we care? Can we agree with that old country farmer, you
know, who preached for a long time? And he just finally realized that he
didn't care about those people.

He just lived life, you know, ministering, you know, at these appointed,
these appointed, these set days and these set times for ministry. He
ministered at those times. You know, I mean, you know, we witnessed from
time to time where we're at.

But do we really live each day with that pleading heart of Jesus on the
inside of us? If I went to this creek over here and I caught a fish and
I brought it back here and I just, I take this fish and I set it right
here and it's just flapping and flapping and flapping and we're all just
sitting there watching it flap and everybody's wondering, what is he
doing with that fish? Just flapping on this chair. What's he doing? I'm
just really quiet. Everybody's looking at me, expecting me to do
something and I'm not doing anything.

I'm just sitting there and that fish goes from flapping vigorously to
just kind of like a little twitch from time to time. Everybody's really
looking at me now. They're like, what is he doing with that fish? What
is he going to do with that fish? And I'm just sitting there like this
and the fish, you know, they can tell, you know, it's going to die.

If I don't do something with this fish, it's going to die and it starts,
it's just moving less and less and less and everybody's really, you
know, they're like looking at each other like, if he doesn't do
something with that fish, I'm going to have to go talk to him. Jesus
said, follow me and I'll make you to become fishers of men. There's
millions of fish.

There's hundreds of fish around us every day when we go out into the
world and I like that. A fish out of water will die and people without
Jesus die and they say every two seconds somebody dies without knowing
Jesus. Car wreck.

Cancer. Heart attack. All these different things are happening to the
young and the old.

People around us every day are dying. Do we care? Do we have the
pleading heart of Jesus on the inside of us? Be reconciled to God. Have
we tasted and seen that the Lord is good as he quenched our thirst? Has
he satisfied our soul? Has he freed us from our addictions, from our
bonds? Has he given us hope? Has he forgiven us of our sins? Has he
given us eternal life? His fellowship with Jesus, the creator of all
things, the sweetest fellowship in all the world.

Is he worth sharing with the world? Is he worth sharing with the lost?
Is he worth being humiliated? Is he worth being mocked? Is he worth
being misunderstood? Is he worth being laughed to scorn? Jesus. You're
just... I don't ever want to do that again. What is Jesus worth to you?
Is he worth, you know, you being bound to a table and metal pincers, you
know, razor sharp, cutting you open? What would come out of your mouth
if that was happening to you? Would you say with a 12-year-old, Eulalia,
what a great occasion this is, my Lord Jesus Christ.

You were crucified for me. Not because of what you did, but because of
what I did. What a great privilege and honor this is that your name is
being written on my body as they cut me open and my blood pours out.

It's confessing your holy name. I have this account right here on the
phone. Maybe afterwards.

What would come out of your heart? Would you even be... What led her to
that, what brought her to this condition, to this place where she was
bound up and being tortured? Was that pleading heart of Jesus, that love
for her Savior inside of her compelling her to go? Have you experienced
that? What if somebody said, hey, I'll pay you $1,000 for every person
you say Jesus loves you to? What if somebody, hey, I'll give you $1,000
if you will just share Jesus. Every person you share Jesus with I'll
give you $1,000. Who wants to do it? Would your hand go up? We know this
person was serious.

Would you be willing to do it for $1,000 per person? Why is money so
important? Would you be willing to do it maybe for a wife or maybe for a
husband or to gain something in this world? Is Jesus worth sharing? Do
we care about the lost? Do we have that pleading heart of Jesus inside
of us? Luke chapter 10, you know the parable of the good, the story of
the good Samaritan. There was this man that was wounded. He was taken
over by thieves.

He was wounded, robbed and left for dead. On the side of the road. Who
was the first person that walked by? Levi.

Who was the second person? Priest. Who was the third? Samaritan. We have
to be that good Samaritan.

The thief comes not but to steal, kill and to destroy. There's people
all around us every day that are beaten by him, robbed by him and are
dead in their trespasses and sins. We need to go over their pouring in
oil and wine with the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

They need the blood of Jesus and that blood pleads with us from the
cross to plead with them to come to that cross to be reconciled to God.
That's how we need to be. Okay.

Whenever I was carrying the cross, it was either 2007, 2008, 2009. I
don't know, but I was walking one day and this person came up to me and
they thanked me because they thought that I really believed what the
Bible said on this brief encounter. He shared with me this testimony of
some interview with an atheist on television and the atheist said this,
that Christians don't really believe the Bible, but if they do, they
must be some of the most cold-hearted creatures on the face of this
earth.

I didn't know all the details of this interview or anything, but in my
mind, this is exactly where it went. He's right. He's right.

If we really believe in heaven and we really believe in hell and that
Jesus says many are going to hell and few find the way to life, how the
hell should we hear without a preacher? We believe in these things and
we're not sharing Jesus with the lost. We must be the most cold-hearted
creatures on this earth to care more about how we feel or what we might
look like or we might get rejected or we might look funny. How do you
think Jesus looked on the cross? Stripes laid all over his body, crowned
with thorns, naked, shamed publicly in front of his family and friends,
beaten beyond recognition.

It says stripes are for the backs of fools. He looked like the biggest
fool because there were stripes all over his body. How do you think he
looked Did he care how he looked? Did he care what people thought about
him? He endured it all because he was the savior of the world.

He knew what we needed and we know what people need. They need Jesus.
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

Who is Jesus to you? Is it just some title in this book? Or is he living
on the inside of you, pleading with you to plead with men? Who is Jesus
to you? Have we lost it? Have we let that slip? Have we been wounded in
the conflict? Has time taken a toil on us? Have we gotten discouraged?
Have we gone shipwrecked in some way? Let's come back to Jesus. Let's
come back to Jesus. Jesus to follow me and I will make you to become
fishers of men.

What makes you a fisher of men? It's spending time with Jesus. Being
with Jesus. Experiencing Jesus.

Feeling Jesus. All the hearing from Jesus. Knowing Jesus.

It makes you become a fisher of men. There's an impartation of his
heart, of who he is, of what he is on the inside of you. And it moves
you.

We need the presence of Jesus. He said, apart from me, you can do
nothing. He didn't say, apart from my words.

He didn't say, apart from trusting in my sacrifice. He said, apart from
me. He didn't say, apart from having this past time.

Apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, him, today, right now.
Apart from me, right now, in this moment.

I can do nothing. Apart from me, him, living inside of me. Paul said, I
am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I. Christ lives in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loves me and gave himself for me.

Paul lived each day with that on his heart. It was written there by
Jesus himself. Is that written on your heart? When you say with the
apostle, to live is Christ, to die is gain.

Paul was pleading with King Agrippa. He was being interrogated, he was
arrested, and he was delivered. Anyways, you know the situation.

King Agrippa, there was something about the apostle Paul that compelled
King Agrippa to say, you almost compel me to become a Christian. Paul
said, oh, I wish all men were all together as I myself am, except these
bonds. When you read that account in the book of Acts, can you relate to
what the apostle Paul was saying there? I wish that all men were all
together as I myself, apart from these bonds.

That they would really know Jesus Christ and him crucified. That they
would really understand who Jesus is and what he came to do and what he
freed us from and what's available in him and what he's prepared for all
eternity for those who love him. He had this heart.

He lived it each day. There were all kinds of fires of hell and fires of
men trying to extinguish that fire of Jesus. What inside of him? I'm
sure he got discouraged.

I'm sure that he made some mistakes in all these things, but there was
this pleading that was on the inside of him when King Agrippa said those
words, oh, you almost compel me to become a Christian. See, I thank God
for that. I think when King Agrippa heard and saw the apostle Paul,
there was just, he really believes this.

Paul really believes this. He really believes it. It's compelling to me
to even, compels me to want to become a Christian.

When we're around people, when we go places, do people see that same
thing on the inside of us? Do they say, wow, you almost compel me to
become a Christian? You don't need to know what to tell others on the
inside of you. He'll tell them. He'll tell them.

Jesus said that. There's no doubt. I think he speaks to that pleading.

He speaks to the pleading. Like the first three or four years of my
pilgrimage, I immediately went out in the streets and I washed off the
sticking needles in my arm, doing every drug I could through a needle,
manufacturing methamphetamine, looking at pornography, having all this
other horrible stuff going on. I went, just from that, filled with the
spirit, out there preaching on the streets, just like that.

I didn't have, I didn't know the Bible. I didn't grow up in church. But
Jesus was living on the inside of me and immediately people took me out
in the streets witnessing.

I had no clue what to say. But when I went out there to these clubs and
stuff and I saw people, I just felt what Jesus felt. I mean, I had so
much joy.

And I would just go up to them and I don't remember what all I would
say, but I would just share what Jesus saved me from and what I was
doing a week ago and what I've experienced since then. And it was very,
very compelling testimony to people. I didn't have to know.

I didn't have to have an educated system of thoughts to bring to people
to get them to see who they are and what they need and all this. I
didn't know how to do any of that. I just had Jesus living on the
inside.

I knew what he did for me. And I knew he could do it for them if he did
it for me. That's all you need.

We may not feel the pleading of God sometimes. Should we then not speak?
Should we then not speak? I don't know. I think that if you, the more
that you talk to people when you do this, you'll feel that pleading of
God on the inside of you.

But don't let it be quenched. Give Jesus an opportunity to plead through
you. Go, open up your mouth.

Say something. Jesus loves you or whatever. See what God can do.

Say, hey, what are you living for? What are you doing with your life? Do
you have any faith? It's simple questions. Whatever it is, it doesn't
matter. But this is what I do know.

That if you, if you believe in heaven, you believe in hell. You believe
you were saved from hell and now heaven's your home. All because of what
Jesus did.

And you look at people from that perspective, you'll find what you need.
That's all. It will produce something You may struggle with anxiety.

They slap me in the face or spit on me or laugh at me. It doesn't
matter. They heard the name of Jesus.

Have you ever heard some bad music inside of a store? Some old song that
you used to listen to all the time? And you go, oh man, I got this song
playing in my mind all day long. I try to get rid of it and I just can't
shut it out of my mind. That's what it's like sometimes when somebody
hates Jesus and they hear the name of Jesus or they hear someone
preaching.

They may try to shut it out but they heard it. It's a seed. It's a seed.

God is able to cause that seed to grow. And there was, you know,
whenever I used to go up to people and witness to them, I mean, in time,
I started trying to be sensitive, you know, to just God leading me to
this person. And I remember several times when I thought God was leading
me to somebody, it was somebody that was totally uninterested in Jesus.

And I would walk away thinking, God didn't lead me to do that. Man, I
feel really stupid. Then I realized, you know, of all people, they need
to hear about Him.

They need to hear about Him. God did lead me to them. That's not because
they just dropped everything and became a Christian.

It's not because we had a good conversation about Christianity because
they were already a brother. It's just somebody that has some type of
offense towards Jesus. And they got to encounter His pleading heart.

Even though it was rejected. There's a scripture here in John chapter 4.
I remember how he words it here. Jesus says, say not, we are yet four
months.

And then comes the harvest. Don't say, you know, hey, I'm going to go
out preaching this weekend. Don't say no.

The harvest is yet to come. Whenever I have plans for it. Whenever it's
already arranged.

Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields. For
they are white all ready to harvest. Lift up your eyes.

Lift up your eyes from your discouragement, from your fear. Lift up your
eyes from carnal temporal things to that which is eternal. The souls of
men.

Jesus is pleading heart for them to be reconciled. Lift up your eyes
from your circumstances that just are very uncomfortable. Lift up your
eyes from how you feel.

Lift up your eyes from your past experiences that taunt you or mock you
or bring you down or bring you low. Stop looking at yourself. Stop
looking at your circumstances that are disagreeable to you.

Look up. Lift up your eyes. Look on the harvest now.

They're already white. They're already ready to harvest. You know, there
is this church I was a part of and they were very, very zealous to go
out witnessing.

Hold up the signs and go preaching. But this is their perspective.
Nobody really wants to hear about Jesus.

People aren't going to listen. We went out there. I went out there too.

We went out there expecting none to get saved. Expecting none to get
converted. None to get healed.

None to be interested. We were just out there being faithful to Jesus.
Holding up his words.

That is the wrong perspective. We need to go out there. We need to
realize that Jesus is beautiful.

Jesus is lovely. Jesus is worth forsaking everything for. We can't lose
that.

Jesus healed me. Jesus saved me. Jesus delivered me.

We need to go out there. We need to get rid of this depression, this
discouragement, or this so-called matured state of just accepting that
people really don't want to hear. People do want to hear.

They need to see the joy that he lights on the inside of us. The peace
that he gives us. The hope that we have.

The forgiveness. The joy of our salvation. They need to see that.

When we go out there, we're bringing Jesus. The pearl of great price.
The resurrection of the life.

The treasure hidden in the field which a man found. He sold all that he
had to buy that field because that treasure was there. Jesus is who
we're sharing.

We're bringing him. Lift up your eyes from frustration, disappointment,
grief, loss, rejection, confusion, and all these things and just look to
Jesus. And spend time with Jesus because his presence is transformative,
empowering, life-giving.

His presence. He says, apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me
in you and abiding with you and communing with you even now, right now,
every day, you can do nothing.

It's all about the presence of Jesus. We need to sit at his feet. We
need to hear his words.

We need to fellowship with other believers. We need to strive together
for the faith of the gospel. We need to be around like-minded people
that have this pleading heart that can relate to it and just come
together and just in that presence that we get of Jesus, that
visitation, that blessing, whatever it is that we receive of him on a
personal level or a corporate level, we need to take that out to the
streets and take it to our families and the grocery stores and the gas
stations or wherever we're at.

Not just some planned four months now then the harvest thing or this
weekend thing but now, wherever we go, that's what we need to do. And if
that heart, if you can feel the heart of Jesus pleading, but you see,
the times when I don't feel that is because I'm looking at myself. I'm
focused on myself.

I'm looking back to how, oh, I remember the presence of Jesus was so
strong in my life. I'd be walking on the way to the gas station or
somewhere and I would just fall on my knees feeling so unworthy of this
gift that I have, this anointing, this presence of Jesus, this
visitation from Jesus and I would fall on my knees and just weep there
because I was such a vile man engrossed in the immorality and just
horrible bondage and now I have this peace and this hope and this life
and this joy and this love and I just felt so unworthy and I would fall
to my feet and I'd just be right out there in the open but not thinking
about anyone else but just crying, oh, Lord, I can't believe you did
this for me. I can't believe you've given this to me, Lord.

And I would get up, you know, but I look back and, you know, I just,
there's so many things like that, just going to the grocery store, I'd
have this craving for ice cream or something and I would go there and
somebody would be down there at the ice cream section and immediately I
was like, that's why I'm here. That's why I'm here. It's for that person
and I'd go talk to him and if it wasn't for that person, maybe it was
for this person in the ice cream section and I just ended up spending my
time in the ice cream section witnessing to people and I wouldn't even
walk out with some ice cream sometimes.

I'd be so nourished and so satisfied that craving was gone. That was my
ice cream. That's right.

Yes, I have ice cream that no, no, no, there you go. Very true. But you
were saying you don't want to get caught looking back.

Looking back and it cripples you because that's what I once was and I
felt it so much more back then. Right. But you're focused on yourself
still instead of this Jesus, now the same Jesus.

Right. That captured my heart back then. The same vile man.

Yes. That was saved back then. I still save the day.

The same passion is there because it's the same Jesus. It's not about
me. Right.

Amen. The blood from the cross is pleading with us. The soon return of
Jesus is pleading with us.

Heaven is pleading with us. We plead with others to be reconciled to
God. I want to close with this scripture here.

Psalm 119 verse 37. Now this is a different translation that I'm going
to read here. I don't remember which one it is but it says turn my eyes
from looking at worthless things and give me life in your ways.

Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things. Jesus says lift up your
eyes. Lift up your eyes.

I will make you to become. I will make you. I will cause you.

Just being with me it's like in the book of Acts when the Pharisees and
the authorities that arrested them you know they heard that Peter and
John speak to them and they perceived that they were uneducated men. It
says that they marveled. They marveled perceiving that these were
uneducated men and they have perceived or they understood that they have
been with Jesus.

They saw the boldness of Peter and John. Yes. But being with Jesus will
produce a fisher of men out of us.

It says turn my eyes from looking at worthless things. Lift up your
eyes. Jesus says.

So important throughout the day to get discouraged or you're frustrated
or you had a bad dream or whatever it was some bad news or whatever
comes your way. Persecution or misunderstandings or broken relationships
whatever it is. There's a harvest around you and that harvest around you
will be lost because you're not lifting up your eyes.

You're looking at worthless things. You're looking at temporary things
and he also says lift up your eyes. He's talking about work in this
whole context.

He's talking about work. He says I have meat to eat that you know not
of. My meat is to do the will of him that sent me to finish his work.

Do not say yet four months and then there's a harvest. Behold I tell you
lift up your eyes. As Christians we're called to not labor for what is
temporary for what is perishing but for what is eternal and all our work
that's what our work should be about.

We're working for money while our money should be for necessity and
because we're really seeking first the kingdom of God and his
righteousness is to use for his kingdom it's his money it's his time
it's not ours.

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Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/z5xXk6JSv_g.mp4
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/david-valderrama/audio-sermon-lift-up-your-eyes/
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