Skip to content Recognizing the Good: The One Who Returned || Pastor Dolores Ybarra Dec 1 · 29 min ...more
Recognizing the Good: The One Who Returned || Pastor Dolores Ybarra
December 1, 2024 · 29 min
Series Patria Sermons December 1, 2024 · 29 min · Patria Sermons
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Adam Mesa is Lead Pastor of Patria Church and speaks to a congregation of 12,000 about how the gospel of Jesus Christ brings purpose to every life. Patria
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Recognizing the Good 0:00 Thank you again for coming out on this special Wednesday night. If you've been a part of Patriot, well, which was ALFC earlier, you know you would know that on our Thanksgiving nights that we0:12 always give an opportunity to 1 of our ministers or pastors to preach for the first time. So a few years back you saw you saw Gabe, he preached and now he's a part of the rotation on0:23 Fresh Start. And this person that we are introducing is so very special to me and my family. They've been a personal friend of our family for over 13 years. When we launched the0:35 Pomona campus, he and his wife were some of the first members and most faithful members, and now they serve as the campus pastors of that location. Was trying to0:47 hold in the name so long. But pastor Steve and pastor Dolores have been a phenomenal blessing to Patriot, and specifically pastor Dolores. What we love about her that she she's an incredible0:59 wife, mother, business professional, but she's always seeking to be in God's will. We got closer when we went on mission trips with our daughters. And now her1:11 daughter Sabrina, she thinks she's half black because she calls me dad sometimes and so forth. But that's just how close we are. And we just see, pastor Dolores, if you guys went on the women's cruise, you can see that1:23 she knows how to pray, she knows how to exhort, but she also knows how to preach. So if you guys would stand on your feet and help me honor pastor1:34 Dolores, who will be bringing the word tonight.1:42 Good evening, Patriot. Thank you so much. You guys can have a seat. I am excited to be back home after 5 years. That's how long1:54 it's we've been at Pomona, But I'm also very nervous. So thank you all. I also just want to start off by thanking,2:07 our lead pastors, pastor Adam and pastor Ashley, for allowing me, to take the pulpit tonight and the executive team here. They have been praying for me, pouring into2:19 me, and I honor their leadership. Thank you all very much. Well, tonight, the theme of the message is gratitude.2:31 And that probably comes as no surprise being that we sang a bunch of songs thanking God in worship, but also that tomorrow is Thanksgiving. But here's the thing with gratitude.2:43 There's probably half of us here who naturally lend towards that. Right? As we prepare for the holidays, we become extremely thankful and we see a lens of what God has done in our lives.2:55 But there are also probably people here where the holidays are hard for them. It's not that they're not grateful, but they suffer from depression, from anxiety. And I3:07 believe that both of us matter to God, and he hears both of us. So for the purpose of tonight, the title of this message is called Recognizing the Good.3:19 We are going to be in Luke chapter 17 verses 11 through 19. So you know, here at Patriot, we stand for the reading of the word.3:31 So would you all join me as I read? Luke 17 verse 11 starts off as, on the way to Jerusalem, he was passing along3:43 between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance, and he and lifted up their voices saying,3:55 Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourselves to the priest. And as they went,4:07 they were cleansed. They cleansed. Then 1 of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back praising God and giving him thanks.4:20 Wait. I lost my place. He turned back praising God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at the feet of Jesus giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.4:32 Then Jesus answered, were not 10 cleansed? The 9? Was no 1 found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner? And he said4:44 to him, rise and go on your way. Faith has made you well. You can be seated. Amen. Heavenly Father, I thank you Lord4:56 Jesus for this time with your people, Father God. I do not take this lightly, Lord. Pray that the Holy Spirit speaks through me to your sons and daughters. I pray5:07 that hearts and ears were prepared to receive your word well before anybody walked into this sanctuary. So Lord, have your way with your people tonight, in Jesus' name.5:20 So as Pastor Aaron mentioned, me and5:22 my husband, Pastor Steve, have been part of Patriot for a5:25 number of years. We're actually it's actually been about 18. But we haven't always been saved. Big surprise, right? See, we were raising a young5:37 family in the city of Pomona. And around the time my son was 3 and my daughter was 9, I went to work full time, and we were in need of some childcare.5:49 And I'm a very diligent person. People at Pomona know this, like I go through and I fall, I look, I read every review, I look at things in detail before I make a decision. And I was6:01 deciding on who I was going to trust my children with. So I went to the county website, I started to look up childcare centers, I looked at the infractions against them, and then I went to visit them. I am not joking, I6:13 did this guys. And I went to visit them and I found a home for my kids. The home was a Salvation Army. Our son was 3, our daughter was 8, and6:25 he was there for preschool, she was there for after school care. Now, like I said, we weren't serving God at this time, but we knew who God was. So it's not like we were opposed to them learning about6:36 God. Participate in Bible studies. We realized that our son learned how to pray over his food there. They went to chapel. And see, in our home, we weren't6:48 reading the Bible, we weren't worshiping, we weren't going to church, and we prayed every now and then. Truly believe Jesus met my children at Salvation Army. Fast forward,7:00 we're introduced to Patriot. We start serving faithfully. We built community here. Some of that community is in this room tonight. Without them,7:13 our foundation would not be as strong. We love you guys. Some of you may remember that we would close out a Wednesday service. They would want to turn the lights out, and we were outside still having conversations.7:26 But that was so vital to our walk, and so when my husband decided that we were called to Pomona, I was not willing to go. I went dragging my7:38 feet. But he was insistent that we were called to Pomona, and we joined the launch team, and eventually became part of the leadership team. And as part of the leadership team, Pastor Aaron and Erica challenged us to pray7:49 for a permanent home in the city of Pomona. To pray for a permanent home in the city of Pomona. Without knowing where that home was, we prayed diligently. And you may remember when Pastor Aaron would preach on a Sunday8:01 or Wednesday here, he have this home with him. Now8:05 on8:05 the back of this home is an address that he kept hidden from us for months, but he was believing that God would have this as Patriot Pomona's home. 1 night, we're in8:17 their house having a leadership meeting and he says, it's time to reveal the address. 4 90 East Laverne Avenue, the place where God met8:28 my children. And see, the important thing about that is that our kids brought us to Christ. Our daughter was8:40 like, I want to go to church. I want to go to church. I want to go to church. Now I want to go to Wednesday service. Now I want to go to Wednesday service. Had they not had the foundation, I don't know where8:52 we'd be today. But this is my testimony of how faithful God has been in my life.9:04 Pastor that campus so that other children can meet Jesus. See, this is what gratitude is about.9:18 Gratitude is Hakarat Hatav. Do you guys Can you repeat that after me? Hakarat Hatov. I think I got that right.9:42 And that is the title of today's message. So today, I'll have 4 points for you. The first is plead, then press on praise and perfect.9:54 We'll go through these 1 by 1 and the first is plead. So as we read in Luke 17 and it'll be on the screen, it says, and as he entered a village,10:06 he was met by 10 lepers who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices saying, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. See, the thing is, these lepers10:19 raised their voice. Some translations say they yelled. To me, they were pleading for their healing. See leprosy is a very visible disease, but they were kept at a distance, if you remember10:31 what we read. They were kept afar because if you suffered from leprosy, you were ostracized. You weren't allowed in the community. You couldn't hold a job. You couldn't be around other people, and you could not go to10:41 church. But yet, these lepers pleaded for their healing. They called out to Jesus to make sure he heard them. And sometimes, I don't know about10:53 you family, but sometimes when I need a healing, my call out to Jesus sounds a little like uncertainty. It sounds a little like unbelief. Jesus, if you11:05 can. Jesus, would you consider? But not these lepers. These leper lepers declared. They pleaded with Jesus, screaming for their healing.11:22 Them, then they pressed on. They had to move forward. And in Luke 17 14, it says, when he saw them, he said to them, go and show yourself to the priest.11:34 And as they went, they were cleansed. Why? Why why not heal immediately? Why not just give them a healing? He says, go and show yourselves to the priest. Well, the 1 thing is with11:46 leprosy, you need someone to cosign that you're healed. You need someone to say, hey, you've gotten a healing. You can come back into society. And some of us do that today. You're diagnosed with cancer.11:58 You go back to the doctor, even though in prayer you clearly heard from God that you're healed. You go back to the doctor, more test, only for the doctor to say you're healed. We do that12:10 today. But what this really was, family, was an act of obedience. It was an act of faith. Could you imagine if the lepers were like, I'm not gonna go. You can12:22 heal me right now, Jesus. You have the power to. Why aren't you gonna heal me right now? And they could have stayed stuck in their circumstance, their situation, their illness. See, when I read this, I12:34 think about perspective and how perspective in a situation really matters based on what we believe. They could have chosen to stay in their current situation and not12:46 perceive the healing that was coming, but it took an act of faith, an act of obedience. There's a couple pictures that they're gonna put on the screen of Patriot Pomona. When we first12:57 took when Patriot first took over the property, this is what it looked like. And if you've been there since then, you'll know that we've done a transition, but this is another picture of what it looked like. And this is13:09 Patriot Pomona today. We've made significant improvements to the property. It's gotten a face lift, We've done a bunch of different things. It feels so much like home. Well, in 2013:21 20, my husband and I went through the most difficult time in our marriage. And I'm not gonna say that our marriage was perfect before then, but I will say we13:32 didn't have the issues that came up in 20 20. So in 20 21, I found myself calling Pastor Aaron and telling him, I think I want out of my marriage. And he asked us to come see him.13:44 So, and he asked us to come see him. So we're in his office, we're talking, we're pointing fingers at each other. Well, he said this and she did that and back and13:56 forth. And he looks at us and he was like, hold on, hold on, hold on. Stand up. Look out the window. What do you see? By this time, Patriot Pomona has had the renovations. But14:08 me and my husband start to pick apart everything that is wrong with the property. Oh, there's weeds, that sprinkler is broken, that tree looks like it might be dying, I think the painters missed something here. And14:20 pastor Aaron stops us and he tells us, Do you know what I see? I see green grass that's watered and mowed. I see a gate that wasn't there before that protects our property and our children. I14:31 see new windows. I see a fresh coat of paint. And in that moment, it dawned on me that I could hold on to the current perspective of my marriage, where I'm14:43 pointing fingers at my husband and looking at everything that goes wrong, instead of concentrating on the promise. In that moment, I was elevating my problem instead of the14:55 promise of God. Honestly, you guys,15:07 blown away. But God was waiting for our active obedience. He was waiting for us to see clearly that he's the healer, that he makes all things new, that he restores,15:19 that he makes things whole. And until we could see that, we would be stuck in our current circumstance, until we moved forward, until we pressed on past what seemed to be15:31 so hard. And what that led to was praise. See, my perspective started to shift. So instead of complaining about my15:43 husband, I would think about the time he called me out of the blue when I was having a hard day at work. How did he know to call me? He made today better just by doing that. And I started to say those things to him15:55 because out of pressing on comes the praise and that's exactly what the lepers did in Luke 17 15 through 16. It says, then 1 of them, when16:07 he saw that he was healed, turned back praising God with a loud voice. He fell on his fate at face at Jesus's feet giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.16:19 See the 1 thing I note when I read this is that the lepers pleaded for and praised with the same energy, the same reverence. There was shouting on both ends,16:31 Lord, I need your help. Healing me. It didn't change for that 1 leopard. He reverenced God when he needed his16:43 help and when he got his healing. And some of us, family, we can't do that. We get our healing, and we walk away from God because we say thank you, and we think that's all he can do in our lives, but he has so16:55 much more for us. See, when you start to recognize the good, it's easy to17:07 elevate your praise. And some of us don't realize that because we don't want to see that there is purpose in our pain.17:19 Charles Spurgeon said, I bear my witness that the worst days I have ever had turned out to be my best days.17:35 Kind. If there is anything in this world for which I would bless him more than anything else,17:50 Can you honestly say that? I don't know if I can honestly say, in the moment, if I would bless God for the pain and affliction. But I can tell you now, family,18:02 that since I've pressed on, when I see other marriages suffering, I'm like, hold on. Move forward. Go past it. Trust God because it's gonna get better. He has so18:14 much more and He has way more for you together than apart. I don't know if some of us are ready to see the purpose in our pain, but God is18:25 willing to show you. And that leads us to our last and final point, which is perfect. In18:37 Luke 17, 17 through 19 it says, Then Jesus answered, were not 10 cleansed? Where are the 9? Was no 1 found18:49 to return and give praise to God except the foreigner? And he said to him, Rise and go on your way. Your faith has made you well.19:03 All 10 lepers received a physical healing. All 10 lepers, 1 returned to say thank you. And the 1 that returned to say thank you, Jesus said to him,19:15 rise and go19:15 on your way, your faith has made you well. And the 1 that returned to say thank you, Jesus said to him, rise and go on your way, your faith has19:16 made you well. I believe that when Jesus says your faith has made you well, what he is saying is your faith has made19:27 you perfect. Not perfect without imperfection, because that's God, but perfect as in whole. He didn't this 1 leopard didn't19:39 just receive a physical healing, He received a complete healing. Spiritually, emotionally, physically, a complete19:51 healing because he had a moment of gratitude that Jesus had the power and the authority.20:02 See, Matthew 5 verse 48 says, you therefore must be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. Sometimes we interpret perfect to20:14 mean nothing will go wrong. That's not true. Me and pastor Steve still have passionate arguments. But what we know now is that there is nothing that can separate us.20:27 Nothing can come against our marriage. Perfect doesn't mean nothing will go wrong, perfect means complete. It means that we look more and more like our20:38 Heavenly Father. It means that we grow in holiness, that we grow in righteousness, and that others can see our Father in us. Perfect20:50 doesn't mean without imperfection, it means complete. James 1 verses 2 through 4 says, count it all joy my brothers, when you meet trials of21:02 various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and you let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be21:14 perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Steadfastness means to stay. Steadfastness is long suffering. How many of21:25 us are willing to do that? So that we can be perfect, complete, looking more and more like our Heavenly Father.21:39 Some of us, when we get our healing, we're just satisfied to hear from the world. Somebody may come across your path and say, Hey, you look different. And you may say, yeah, I do. But never21:50 share who made you different. Who never share who healed you. That's what the other 9 lepers were. They got their healing, they went to the priest, the priest said they were healed, and22:02 they went on their way. The 1 leper, he came back and he gave glory to his healer. And see, our healing isn't just22:14 for us. In this last scripture, Luke 17 19, the end of it says, rise and go on your way. That's an that's a verb. That's22:26 an action. Rise and go on your way. Not for yourself. See, in other references in the Bible, when God or 1 of his22:38 messengers references this, rise and go on your way, it's a call to action, it's a call to obedience, and it's a call to faith. Scriptures up here. In Matthew22:49 9, verse 5 through 6, it says, for which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven, or to say, rise and walk. But that you may know that the son23:01 of man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he then says to the paralytic, rise, pick up your bed and go home. In Luke 17 19, which we just set read, it23:13 says, and he said to them, rise and go on your way. Your faith has made you well. In Acts nine:six, it says, but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. This scripture is23:25 in reference to Jesus speaking to Saul, who later becomes Paul, who wrote most of the New Testament. He is likely responsible for why you believe in God.23:37 And if he didn't rise and go, can you imagine what would have happened? In Acts 8 26 through 27, it says,23:51 goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is the desert place. Philip was instructed to go to meet the Ethiopian Munich, which led to the gospel going24:02 beyond Israel. Imagine if you do not rise and go. Some of you are in this room tonight and God has healed24:14 you, but you're still in the same place. He is calling you to rise and to go, and we can only do that24:26 when we have a moment of gratitude. See, most of us, we get scared because the enemy starts to whisper lies to us. When I was preparing to come here tonight, as we were driving up, my husband says, Are24:38 you okay? I said, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. I'm so scared. So scared. But looking at where God has24:50 brought you from, looking at the healing, looking at the deliverance, looking at how he has made new new, looking at him dying on the cross for us. Gratitude25:02 is spiritual warfare against the eyes of the enemy. And as I was preparing to come up here, my son turns to me and he says, second Timothy, mom, for God has not given you a spirit of fear.25:16 Gratitude is spiritual warfare. So tonight, on the eve of Thanksgiving, as we prepare to be thankful for a lot of things tomorrow, I'd25:28 like to remind you family, gratitude isn't a 1 day thing. Gratitude is an everyday thing. Wake up in the morning and challenge yourself to change your perspective,25:40 to shift it and to see and to recognize the goodness of God in your life. I promise you it's everywhere if you just look.25:54 We're gonna transition to a time of altar call, because I recognize that there may be some people here tonight, like I said at the the26:05 top of, me talking, where this is hard. It's hard to be grateful. It's hard to be thankful because you look at your life and you say, but I haven't seen the promises of26:17 God. Or maybe you have and you're just choosing to ignore them. See, God reveals himself in lots of things. It's26:29 just up to us to look for him. And tonight, you may be here, and you may be at the end of the end. And all God is asking26:41 is for you to turn around to look at him and to reach out for him. He'll do the rest. So family, if you're here tonight and you've never26:53 accepted Jesus as your Lord and savior, I want you to take a moment and just go through your day to day. He woke you up. You27:05 were breathing. You had a way to get here today. You had food today. You have clothes on your body. These are all reasons to thank God. But what he wants the most27:17 from you isn't any of that. It's your heart. He wants you to love and to serve him. He wants to make you whole. He wants to forgive you of your sins because he wants27:29 to spend eternity with you. He doesn't just want you here for a moment on the earth recognizing who he is. He wants you for all eternity. And if you're27:41 here today and you've dedicated your life to Christ in the past, but man, things just got really hard, kind of how like how they got hard for me, You're having a hard time recognizing27:53 the good, seeing who God is. I'm talking to you too. I'm gonna challenge you tonight to hear what God is calling you28:05 to do. Rise and go. It looks different for all of us. Rise and go. So if you're either of those 2 people, I'm going to ask that you bow your head.28:17 And we're all going to bow our heads and close our eyes and we're gonna say a prayer. But family, I wanna remind you, it is not the prayer that saves you. It is a heart of repentance, of giving28:29 it to God and asking him for his forgiveness and then truly seeking him and running after him. So if you'll all bow your heads and close your eyes, repeat after28:41 me. Heavenly Father, I thank you Lord28:58 make me perfect, to make me complete, to make me holy,29:04 to29:05 make me look more like you. I want that more than anything. So Lord, today, I ask that you come into my heart, that you save my29:16 soul, and that I be with you for all eternity. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen.29:30 See how they're scoring on us? Shots left and right. I know. They know our next play before we even make it. We gotta tighten up off the court too. Businesses track and sell our personal information. They dunk on us all29:41 the time with that data. Wait. What do you mean? You have to exercise your privacy rights. If you don't opt out of the sale and sharing of your information, businesses will always have the upper hand. The ball is in your29:52 court. Get your digital privacy game plan at privacy dot c a dot gov.In this video 0:00 Recognizing the Good
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