Good evening. Everyone
I am more than happy to be here today, not just because this is my first ever message in our chapel, in the in the United States.
It's also my first ever message in English, even though I've made many messages.
I prepared sermons, but every one of them has been in in Albany, and even though I've been working as an Esl teacher for many years, this is my first ever message in English from the Bible when Fred told me it was like probably 3 weeks ago, about the message today.
I had 2 reactions that came to me. The first reaction was: This is very important.
I want to share with with guts, people the he's glory.
But I also had the second thoughts, because had to be in Chicago today.
Take my day to the airport, and I was really stressed to tell you the truth all the day the day I just because I thought it everyone is driving is Thanksgiving gave, and but finally I made it I'm very thankful.
This is the first thing to say. I'm thankful.
Today I'm here. I made it. Yes, because you know I just thought well, maybe the traffic would be congested, and and the second thing before I open the Bible is that I want to thank you all for praying for me today I was very encouraged earlier today when ray just came in the in
The room, and he touched me on the shoulder, and he said: I, we're praying for you, and I am very thankful for that.
And very encouraged.
So what I want to do today is just open my heart to you.
And just proclaim the Lord publicly what he has done.
And oh, while we were in this situation with our you know immigration, I thought that if the if this thing is done I I would need to write a book for that
We are all prone to forget theness, and but I also need to write it, not just because of this, but because what he he did really deserve to be to be documented, so that every other people know my children my grandchildren would know what he has done, and that's why I was very happy
and I think this is the right moment to share with you.
I want to tell you what I want to do is just to tell you 2 stories.
The first story is something that every Christian knows is the story.
When, when God opened the red seat for the Israelites to to walk, and to to save them from the hand.
At the second. Is to tell you my to tell you my story.
This is. A few people know it, and I just want to to read.
If you can open with me, please, from Exodus chapter 14.
It's a long chapter I wouldn't. I'm I will try to be short.
Just read some parts of it. Not all of it, of course.
I know everybody knows it just I just want to refresh, so we can connect the stories together
So it's chapter 14 versus 13 to 16
And I'm reading them. So. Ch: chapter 14 versus 13 to 16.
The first part. So, and Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid.
Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. By the way, I'm using Nkjv.
Which he will accomplish for you today, for the Egyptians who you see the day you shall see again no more forever.
The Lord will fight for you. And you shall hold your piece.
Your your shalom, the word in Hebrew and the Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to me?
Tell the children of Israel to go forward, but lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the ch children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
So
This is not logical
We cannot imagine opening the city.
But nothing is impossible with him. This is a miracle, a miracle of salvation for
For people to walk on dry ground where there is water, and there is only one who can do that.
Only the person who can walk on water can do that
So
The other verses I would like to read. It's again on chapter 14.
It's from 26 to 30, so chapter, 1426 to 30,
This is the second part. Now then, the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians.
On their on their chariots and on their horsemen and Moses stretch out his hand over the sea, and when the morning appeared the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it so the Lord overthrew the Egyptians, in the midst of the
City, then the waters returned, and cover the cheerios.
The horsemen and all of the army of furrow that came into the C.
After them, not so much as one of them remained, but the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the Waters were a wall to them.
On their right hand and on their own. So the Lord save Israel, the day out of the hand of Egyptians and Israel. So the Egyptians dead on the seashore, they saw them
So this story is not just a cartoon or an emitted movie featuring these things.
Nor is it a sci-fi documentary. It's true
Maybe many people want to refuse that or not believe that.
But it's true, because our Lord is true.
He's the truth.
He's glorious and
We see His greatness here, his power, his might.
After all, he's the Creator. He has done everything, everything things we see and things we do not say.
He has complete control over the sea, complete control every over everything, and he can do that.
What what what a great look! What a great protection! And what a great salvation has he made to his people!
It's it's wonderful. It's enough reason to be thankful.
31, not just for the salvation we read here, but for our salvation
We are there to see
But the question I have
Is what was the impact that this event, this story, the Israeli, so with their own eyes?
So what impact did this event have on people? All of them
There are 3 things that are mentioned here, 3 results that it produced on the people on Israelis and it's they are all they are in verse, 31
Thus Israel also saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt.
So people fear the Lord, and believe the Lord, and he's servant, Moses
So this was the the impact.
People fear the Lord
The idea is, they honored the Lord. They had fear and honor together
And the second impact is that they believed in the Lord. There is no other way just to see what he did.
Even if you are blind, cannot cannot do, can do anything about it.
It's it's so great what he did. So when we see, or when we experience God in this way.
Now in our lives.
It produces fear, owner and
Believe we we can either believe who we are, not non believers, or our belief strengthens when we see what he does, it goes to another level
Now was the third. The third. There is no third here
But the third is, and that's the point where I want to focus.
The third is
A song, or him
Or a shout of thankfulness.
And it's not written here in this verse, because it is a whole chapter, and it's chapter 50
It's 15. This is this is the third impact. When you see, when they saw what God did for them.
You can't help it. Every cell of their body was shouting.
Every cell was singing for what he did
It's it's a natural reaction coming out of a person of a person's depth to have shouts of joy when you see God perform wonderful works such as that
Yeah so for us as believers, it's a natural reaction to give thanks
And of course we cannot read the whole chapter, but I want to just read some select versus from one to 5, so 15 from one to 5
Then Moses, then so after what they what happened then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord and spoke, saying, I will seem to the Lord, for he has triumph gloriously the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea the Lord is my strength, and song, he
Has become a salvation. He's my God, and I will praise him.
My father's God, and I will exalt him.
The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name
Parallel chariots in his army. He has cast into the sea his chosen captains also chosen, kept captains, I mean they were.
They were not just a regular soldiers that were chasing the these realists?
They were they. They were the best of his army, his chosen captains also are drawn into the Red Sea.
The depths have covered them, they sang to the bottom like a stone.
What a comparison you we all know when you throw a stone into water.
It goes deep.
This is a shout of joy that comes out of their hearts.
13, sorry 11 to 13,
It's a question
Who is like you O Lord, among the gods who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful imprises, doing wonders.
You stretch out your right hand, the earth, swallow them
You in your mercy, have led forth the people whom you have redeemed.
You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation, and it's very interesting, you see, because at Chapter 14, he says to Moses, just out your hand
Here.
It says you. They they say you stretch out your hand, not me, not, Moses.
You you did that.
It was not Moses, it was God.
Some some words or phrases that I I have, you know, taken down to point out from this song of thankfulness our just to have an idea trying gloriously my strength, and my song, I will praise him.
Lord is a man of war, glorious in power.
The greatness of your excellence, glorious in holliness, the greatness of your arm, the Lord shall reign forever and ever
These are the words that they use in this song of thankfulness.
What a heart of thankfulness is that to to thank God
For what he did, using these words just to exalt him because he deserve it. He deserves it
Now, why do I? Why did I choose this story to share with you? After all, it's a story that everybody knows
Because the reason is this I did this before I ever knew I would be here, that when my friends family and relatives, and church members, brothers and sister enabled ask me about our process, here, and how it was you know going I compared it to this story I do know I would be here. But I compared it to this story
And I just want to proclaim and declare to you what he did.
You know the idea. The story is long. I try to give you the gist of it.
But we as a you know, many families, my blurtas Mom signed the petition for us to join the family here.
I it was September, 2,020, so like 2 years ago, and normally the the procedure would take 6 months, and then we were ready for the for the positive answer.
And then, you know, it was a sure thing for us.
Because we did it. We had done it before without the family, family, family members, and I also stop doing some things there, because this was a short thing, and we were fully prepared for for the answer from The Uscis does the the institution.
Who deals with it only to know that after 6 or 7 months past, only to know that well, this cannot be.
This cannot happen, or for it to happen, it would take
12 years, a 104 or 5 months.
What.
I mean this can be true because we know it. It took 6 months with blurred as Mom, and it cannot be the same.
It cannot be different for us. Well, the truth was that it needed legally speaking, in the 12 years, because the relationship that a parent has with the married son or daughter is different in from if the son or daughter wants to have his parents come here different we didn't know that we knew everything except this little detail
But it was on purpose, by the way, it was on purpose, and I knew that
I think the I was thinking of a word how to describe myself at that moment I was devastated.
Emotionally drained and devastated because we have left many things in our country to be prepared for our arrival here and now we learn that this is impossible to happen, and I knew for a fact that even after we talk to an attorney just to know something official speaking she said that well is true you need 12 years
for this thing to happen
And there is no other way out, not even like a like a premium.
Application, so we can. We can expedite it nothing, and
This is the time when I knew I was. God, was testing my faith.
And this happened for this reason. By the way, just so I want to open my heart to you.
So you know it. This happened for this reason: God wanted to test my faith period, and I lost it by the way.
I lost the test I failed to test.
It was too much for me. That's what I thought.
I was like literally crying, because, you know why didn't he tell us before?
After all, so that we wouldn't be prepared for that at all.
Then we learned that Milwaukee public schools were hiring international teachers.
Since I had been teaching English for 14 years. I thought, Okay, I don't need to do that.
Because I had never ever in my life thought that I could.
You know, come to the Us. Through my through my job never!
And to tell you the truth is that I thought if if we go to the us, maybe I need to change my job I would like to change it that's what I thought I don't want to teach English anymore.
Or you know teach kids. Maybe I would do something that is more profitable or not.
That much not breaking.
But God has a different plan.
Not my plan. I'm really serious about that. I never ever thought in my life, and I had never moved the stroke of a pen to do something that would bring me and my family here through my job.
Never! I had had the opportunity, and I had never done that.
Never. On the contrary, I wanted to stop doing that thing
But he said, No, you will do that. I applied
Half heartedly. I didn't even have a resume ready, nor did I have my credentials converted to the American to the American system.
We use numbers in my country. Here we use letters, ABC.
And nothing, and everything was done on in a record time.
I applied. I they send me some English tests, they said.
You have paused them, and we have a job offer for you.
Would you like to accept that
That was the email
Is she serious? I mean? I said. Yes, of course. Yes.
And then from that moment the the school attorney, the district attorney, got the my case, and she did every step till the moment we we got the visa for 3 years.
By the way, is for 3 years, but they, the Milwaukee public schools, reserve the right to renew it because they need teachers, and because it is legally possible to do that
So here we are. This is. This was impossible, but it was made possible by him
That's why that's why I wanted to share this with you.
Because I I feel it as a as a duty now to tell people who he is, and what powerful God is.
I feel it. It's the truth needs to be out.
Is to go out to. So everybody people know about him
I have noticed that generally people give thanks. This is what I have noticed.
The question is, Who do you give thanks to
People of the world give thanks to to themselves, to their abilities, to their skills, to their inborn talents.
I did it. People give thanks to no to to parents. They help me do that.
My my my my my intellectual, properties, are able to do whatever I want, and to achieve.
They give thanks. They give credit to everything to themselves.
For us is different. We give thanks to the one and only to the source of our to the source of our salvation.
To the one who
Who has created us, and who is maintaining us
And the same thing that happened when even the the the original pilgrims did.
They didn't give thanks for the harvest that they had planted, and then by their strength they they they harvested them, and they were they had enough reasons to thank themselves, but they said no we are having a we are observing a day of thanksgiving because we want to we want to
Thank God for the harvest we have originally speaking, and then Lincoln was right.
Later on that he ratified and declared it the national holiday.
He did not say, Well, we have to be thankful. We have to.
We have to thank ourselves. Excuse me. We have to thank ourselves, our abilities to for what what we have, but they observe the day to to fully dedicate it. To the one and only to the source. Of the harvest and the foods we we every we have own our tables every day
I wanna I want to give you. I wanna very more specifically.
Now tell you some things that why I am thankful for what I am thankful for.
I am thankful for the family we have here in the in Milwaukee, and thankful for their heart that they helped us.
They have been, they have been beside us this moment of transition, and I am very thankful for that.
I know that God has put them there, and has God has given them their heart, the heart of
Of generosity and helpfulness.
I am thankful for the school of children. By the way, you knew that we came here in August, but the school enrollment was in February for for the choice program, and out legally speaking or according to rules they were they could not be accepted, to school because the registrations
We're already finished but one more we were. I was still sleeping.
We got an email from the school principal who said that: well, we have accepted your children to to the Lutheran Christian school just comes, stop by and fill out the forms and now really
Probably August, fifteenth. So we came here in August, sixth, who goes 15.
They started school, and I was literally jumping out of join in the morning.
Really I was happier for them than for myself.
We all know. We know as parents how important this is, for for us and for our children.
They started school, and I I I didn't know that my children go to a Christian school in our country.
They were not in a Christian school or kindergarten.
But now they are in Christian school, and they get Biblical lessons every day.
I'm thankful for the Mps. And'm sorry if I'm late. I don't know all the time I lost track of time this.
Is I'm sorry for if if it's late.
But I'm trying to to finish it quickly. I'm thankful for Mps.
For Milwaukee public schools, you know. We were on Friday.
We were at a meeting with other international teachers, and there were in total weekend.
There can be a 100 international teachers coming here in Milwaukee, and I I.
They were from Nigeria, Mexico. Let all Latin America from Africa, and there was another Albanian living in the city where where I work and I heard from them from the hardships and the challenges they are going through Michael Lee from Albania, she she she was a she's a
biology, biology, teacher, she said, that now I have to pay around $10,000 to get the teaching certificate, and I thought, Well, I I don't know anything about that I just I just applied but it was like a $100.
I think, and I got the certificate for 3 years. Nothing else
Now tell me, who can do that?
She needs to pay $10,000 to get the certificate, or otherwise she would go back
I'm thankful for for my brothers and sisters here and in our church in Albania.
We are very important for each other. We are not meant to be
Lonely Christians. We are meant to be a community, and here we are, and even though I come from Albany or Colombia, or other countries, you know when we enter these doors or the doors in our church or chapel in in Albania, we all speak the same language
The language of love, the language of Christ, the language of of Bible, which is the same
Because God is the same.
And finally
It's not fine. I'm sorry
I am eternally thankful for my God and my Savior Jesus Christ.
My heart's and my feelings, and my love for him go beyond words.
I am not skilled enough to express the love I have for him, and the
And his truth.
He is our save your and he's the one who is alive.
He dies for my scene heroes for my salvation, so that where he is I will be with him
And I am forever. I am eternally thankful and grateful for that
Even during that time of devastation for me, and testing I always I knew, even though I was irritated with him.
I knew, and frustrated. I knew deep down my heart the the verses from sound 136 that's say, that's a that read give thanks to the Lord, for his good and he's mercy and yours forever I knew it I knew it's some I knew
The truth. I knew that there was something there. I knew that he, his love and his mercy, never ever fail.
I knew that
And the last thing I'm thankful, and I want to be very sincere with you.
There is no, there is no.
There is no point to be otherwise, but I want to be sincerely with you.
I am not just thankful because of what he did, because what he did was wonderful, because I don't want to have that materialistic point of view and saying, Well, he did that for me and I have this and I have that I don't want to have this materials the point? Of view
But I am thankful because I saw him not what he did, but I saw him.
I was sitting in the front line
And I saw him on the stage do everything
But I am not. I am more thankful for because I saw him, not because what he bless me with
I saw him ex so powerfully, and finally, because to tell you the truth, I was emotioned in the beginning, because I think it's it's natural.
But I could never stop talking about him, and his greatness, but we know that throughout the Bible, and especially the New Testament, Paul urges us and exhorts the churches.
He rise, and then in turn asked to be thankful at all times and in all circumstances.
We know what he says to Philippians, to Romans, to Thessalonians.
In other words, he's exhorting us to leave above our circumstances, because if something bad happens
It doesn't come natural to be thankful. But what he does there.
He says, be thankful all circumstances, in other words, live above your circumstances.
I know this is easier said than done
But as we think, for the next Thanksgiving the next year to come
Let's keep this in our mind, in our hearts.
The, in, our.
You know our identity as Christians, to be thankful
Every time, and let me let me tell you something true that happened last night, and I'm closing with it.
I'm I really apologize for the time
But yesterday, and and and what what did I? Why did? I do this?
I did this with. This is very important for me. Please don't look at me.
Just look at him!
I just wanted to present to you him
That he is glorious. He's powerful, and he's loving, and he's mercy and yours forever.
Just give thanks and glory to him, and look what happened yesterday.
Blurton, my wife, and my dad, and the children, because they are not that they don't go to school.
They were driving all day go into different places. Everything was fine, perfect.
So, and in the evening she was alone, going to going to pick her mom from work.
And she was alone in the car, and while she was going out of the of the her workplace she heard a loud noise on the right left of her front wheel, and she was confused, and she kept driving the car and then another second she heard another louder noise.
Like something had broken, and she went out the car. Other people were looking at her, another woman who was standing by.
She said, Well, you scared me what? And she was like.
I'm sorry. What have I don't know what happened
Only to know that the what do you call that? The control arm of the car?
I don't know if if that's the right word, the control, the left control of the arm had literally broken down into pieces, the wheel couldn't move. Anymore.
It because of rust and metal fatigue just broke down and the the front left wheel was just moved to the side
And and just by chance, by chance and out of nowhere somebody came and said, Well, I'm a mechanic, and I have a tow track here with me, so I'm gonna throw your car.
Put it into the right parking place, and you'd be fine with that, because she just stopped in the middle of the road she would block the traffic and everything.
But out of nowhere somebody came, he said. I have a truck, and I'm a mechanic, and I was.
I was coming back from work at the time, and I was like 5 min away I went there.
It was like, nothing has happened. Nothing has happened.
Just imagine if this thing happened when, while she was driving in the freeway with 40, 50, 60, all day, but it both down exactly the moment when my dad and my children were at home, and the car was driving in the parking lot with maybe 5 or 7 miles
Now? Who did that
The glory is all to the God. Thank you very much, and I really apologize for the time.
I've lost track of it
Let's send with the number 4 O. 5,
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