A Father's Embrace: Overcoming the Orphan Spirit and Living in Freedom

0:00:00 - Speaker 1
Getting a revelation of your sonship will cure one of your greatest hindrances. And what is that great hindrance? It's an orphan heart, an orphan spirit, and it's completely opposed to the heart of a son. We all have some elements of the orphan heart and my prayer is that on this Father's Day, we would receive the love of the Father and be healed of any orphanhood that we've accumulated.

0:00:26 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that He has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at CityLightNYCcom. That's CityLightNYCcom. Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that He has a real hope and a future for you.

0:01:07 - Speaker 1
Are you ready to celebrate Father's Day at City Light Church? Let's begin in Galatians, chapter 4. I'm going to read verses 1 through 5. And we'll really be getting into Galatians. I know I keep threatening that for weeks now, but I'm waiting. What is the way? The Bible phrase is in the fullness of time. So in the fullness of time I'm going to begin the series on Galatians. Until then, there's going to be this snippet, but it contains a verse that really is appropriate to the topic today.

Here the apostle Paul is contrasting the law, which is a system whereby you endeavor to be approved unto God through your own self-effort and your own works. You can never do that. It always ends in failure. That's the system of the law. The system of grace that we're under is one. We're already approved, we're already accepted, not through our own self-effort, not through our own works, but through the finished work of Jesus' cross And in the entirety of Galatians. He's trying to set these Galatians free that are mixing the two covenants together. And here he writes.

Now I say that in air, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all. In this context he was saying that under the law we were like children, and when you're a child under the law there's really no difference between you and a slave. But later you grow up and you come into the new covenant and you're a free person But is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the Father. Even so, we, when we were children under the law, we were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, god sent forth his Son. What does fullness of time mean? It just means that the appropriate time Born of a woman born under the law to redeem those who were under the law.

Why did all this happen And why did Jesus come? Yes, to forgive us of our sins, to die as our substitute in place for us. But why, ultimately? was that we might receive this beautiful and precious thing called the adoption as sons, which was mind blowing to people under a Roman mentality, because to have adoption, they understood it in that particular culture, that when you received adoption, there was no difference, none at all, between you and a natural born son. You not only had the same legal rights, but you were considered completely co-equal with a natural born heir. And what Paul is saying here is you have received this precious thing called adoption, and under adoption biblical adoption you have the same level of sonship as Jesus, and God, the Father, looks at you and receives you, loves you and accepts you, just as he does Jesus. And even for modern day Christians this can be something difficult to receive and to understand, because we always want to just put Jesus a little ahead of us. We almost feel like it's heretical to say we're on the same level, but he paid a colossal price to give us these things, so it's actually heretical not to receive them.

I'll often ask who's more righteous, you or Jesus? And then people who don't want to be heretical Jesus, no, the answer is you're the same. He's given to you his righteousness. Who's more of a son, you or Jesus? And ladies, just now it is okay for you to say I'm a son Amen, we're dealing with spiritual new covenant things. Just now, it's okay for me to say I'm a bride of Christ Amen, sweetie, just loosen up your shoulders just a little bit. She always wants to make sure I don't go too far, but it's too late for that. So I'm a bride of Christ.

Somebody's going to record this and take it out of context. I'm a bride of Christ, your son of God, and so you have been made to stand on equal footing as a son. And I will say this that this is something that's easy to mentally ascend to and go, yeah, nice. And with great difficulty comes the revelation, because we've been programmed so wrong. But getting a revelation of your sonship will cure one of your greatest hindrances. And when I say you're with an extended finger, i don't mean just yours, mine as well, everybody's, we as humans.

And what is that great hindrance? It's an orphan heart, an orphan spirit, and it's completely opposed to the heart of a son. They're complete opposites. The heart of a son rests safely in Jesus, is trusting, is forgiving, is grateful. The heart of an orphan, it's like a walking mobile wound. And to one degree or another, just by virtue of living this life, we all have some elements of the orphan heart, and my prayer is that on this Father's Day, we would receive the love of the Father and be healed of any orphanhood that we've accumulated, amen. And so, when it comes to receiving the love of the Father, i've just found this that all too often people, myself included they receive the love of Jesus easily, but the love of the Father whoa, that's a little, that's a little risky. Because Jesus, i know he's very kind and compassionate. I know because I saw the pictures of him walking around with a lamb walking on a bed of flowers. So he seems like a pretty nice guy. He's not going to hurt me. But the Father whoa? what's the Father like? Who's the Father? What's his nature? What's his character? I'm so glad you asked.

The Bible says that Jesus is the express image of the invisible God. That means, if you want to see the Father, take a good long, look at Jesus. Jesus kept talking about the Father. He kept talking about the love of the Father. Philip finally said Jesus, show us the Father and it'll satisfy us. And Jesus turned lovingly towards him and said Philip, have I been with you so long and you have not known me? He who has seen me has seen the Father.

Let's look at a couple of those scriptures John, chapter 5, verse 19,. Then Jesus answered and said to them most assuredly, i say to you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do, for whatever he does, whatever the Father does, the Son also does in like manner. There's like 20 different sermons at least, maybe 20 different series you can base off of this one verse. But here's just what I want you to gather from this verse. If you want to know what the Father would do, just look at Jesus. He said I don't do anything unless I see my Father do it first. Just think about that.

Jesus in his ministry and his day to day life. Have you ever seen God do something? You don't see may not be the right word You perceive in your spirit. You perceive God is doing something and then you get in on and you just follow God. Jesus was like that all the time And so when he healed blind Bartimaeus, he perceived in his spirit the Father do that. When he sat with the sinners, he saw the Father do that. When he flipped over tables and charged up the money changers, he saw the Father do that. Yes, both. But if you want to know what the Father would do and what the Father is like and what his nature is, what his character is, what his personality is, take a look at Jesus. John, chapter 12, verse 49.

This is important before I really get into today's message, just to acknowledge that, inadvertently, we may have a different emotion towards the Father than towards the Son, Would you entertain that thought? Look, i've made it my life since early on, when I first got saved to know the Father's love And I was privileged to, just a few years after I got saved, to be part of a global revival where the emphasis was the Father's love. But even as recently as I don't know 15, 16 years ago I found myself sitting undergoing inner healing which I won't get into that too much. I think some people get too caught up in that, where they emphasize themselves too much and forget about a relationship with Jesus, and it can become you don't want Christianity to become just a giant therapy session, amen. But I was going through a crisis in my life and I was there and I was receiving and it was good, it was quality, it was scriptural, it wasn't goofy, it wasn't flaky as a lot of it, it just can be.

But one of the things they had me do was in a time of prayer. They said imagine Jesus' face, which you can do that In your spirit And they said what does he look like? And I was there, i was feeling God's presence And I said, oh, jesus, he's. And I saw Jesus' face. And, by the way, when you see Jesus' face. You don't see Jesus' face, like somebody go.

What color was he? No, you don't. You don't. What color was his eyes? How was his hair? Did he have gel in his hair? You don't see him. You perceive his face. And I saw his face and he was smiling and loving and approving and accepting that. And I said that and they said, okay, good, now imagine the father. And I went huh And I said what does he look like? And it was just like what I'd seen of Jesus, except all like gray, and I couldn't see clearly and it was just a silhouette. And when I expressed that and I knew right away what it meant, it meant that I was stumbling at that time in my life in my understanding of the father. Like Jesus, i was intimate with Jesus, i could hang with Jesus, i can pray to, but the father he was less approving he was less accepting.

That's not the biblical reality. But what I was carrying in my heart was exposed, and then I could go and present it to the Lord and He can touch it and heal it. John 12, 49. So Jesus established I don't do anything unless I see the Father do it first. Here He takes it even further. He says for I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command What I should say and what I should speak Verse 50. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told me, so I speak.

So if you want to know what the Father would say, look at the words of Jesus. If you want to know what the Father sounds like, read the red portions in your Bible. You want to know what He would do, you look at Jesus. If you want to know what He would say, you look at Jesus. He and the Father are one, and Jesus is the express image of the invisible God, and Jehovah God of the Old Testament is Jesus Christ of the New Testament. And the devil is after that revelation. Because he knows, listen now he knows that your success in life and by success in life. I mean real success in life, not the world's definition of success, but real success. Peace, joy, yes, prosperity, but not just financial. Of course it includes that, but that's just a side thing. Real prosperity, the nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken, peace of God, the righteousness, peace and joy that's in the Holy Spirit. Real success, it is yours, in direct proportion to your understanding of the Father's heart. I'm telling you right now, if you don't agree yet, you will about 15, 20 minutes from now Your success in life is directly proportionate to you having a spirit of sonship as opposed to an orphan spirit.

And we're going to compare and contrast. You say what is an orphan spirit? How do you get an orphan spirit? An orphan spirit is a closed, wounded spirit, an orphan spirit again, we all have elements of some more than others. But an orphan spirit can come by way of trauma, it can come by way of religion, it can come by way of bad parenting. Really, can come by way of just walking down this road called life. And God wants to set you free from an orphan spirit which is traumatized and hurting, and allow you to rest and receive joy with the spirit of true sonship. And so we're going to just compare and contrast. If this doesn't make sense to you yet, it will in just a few minutes.

I just want you to, as we begin this journey, to be open-hearted. And this is a different kind of Sunday. A sermon like this would probably best be on a Friday night, where we have more time and we can spend time in worship afterwards, because the Lord wants to do an operation on you. If you can get some of that gunk out of the way, you can really do a deep work in you And have you find true liberty. And so please resist the temptation, as we go through this list, to think I really wish that friend that I had a falling out with was here today. I really wish my skunk of a roommate was here, or my spouse that I bicker with so often was here, and that God and His infinite wisdom started good to have you here today. And so open up your heart and see where you fit, because we all have elements of this, and just know if you walk away saying that was a good message, but I'm so glad I don't fall into any one of those categories, you immediately know that you fell into every single one of those categories and you are the very expression of an orphan spirit. Amen, Amen. Are you all ready? All right?

We're comparing and contrasting the heart of a son to the heart of an orphan. One lives in abject misery. The other one experiences righteousness, peace, enjoying the Holy Spirit. And, of course, jesus paid a very dear price and went to the cross so that you can receive the adoption as a son and have the full privileges of a natural born heir that is himself Concerning the image of God. The orphan heart sees God as master. They see a harsh, cold and cruel master, somebody they have to work for, not somebody they really want to spend intimate time with. The heart of a son. There's an intimacy there, there's a delight there. They realize that they are approved, amen. They realize that they are accepted, they realize that they belong And so they see God as loving father.

And one of the main things that Satan works on people is this rejection. And, by the way, that's also one of the ways you can catch and allow to fester this orphan spirit is through rejection. This is why Jesus has so many sayings about acceptance. He says come to me whoever. Whoever comes to me, i will accept. I will by no means cast out.

And one thing I found is most people feel like they're the oddball. I realized that early on when I began pastoring, because people would come and confess that and each one would think that they were the only one. And I thought I've always felt that and I thought I was the only one. But everybody in their mind. Because from the day they're born, satan starts working this narrative of rejection in them. They feel like they're the orphan walking through the snow down some windy street in some city on Christmas Eve, cold and broke, and there looks like this warm glow coming from a house and they warm up the window and they peek through And inside is a family and there's the stuffed turkey and the fireplace is going and they're laughing and enjoying and they're on the outside looking in. Have you ever felt that about your life? I have. Everybody feels that way.

It's part of Satan's assignment to make you feel like you're the weird one, you're the odd one, everybody else is having the time of their lives, but you're the one that's dejected and rejected And that's why Jesus came with a message of not just acceptance but approval. He will accept you and then, when you come to him in faith, he will wash you in his blood and take all your sin away. And now you're not just accepted, but you're approved and you're justified, which means you're pronounced not guilty. That's the love of the Father, hallelujah, and that's one of the benefits of sonship.

Dependency concerning the subject of dependency, the orphan heart, because it's been hurt, is independent and self-reliant. Can I get a New York City? Amen Sounds like it's describing New Yorkers right. Well, there's some truth to that. The orphan heart has been hurt And so they're mistrusting. They don't allow people in Their life. Motto is if it's to be, it's up to me. They don't want help. They're singing the Frankston Atresong. I did it my way.

The heart of a son is interdependent. Acknowledges need. By the way, humility means that you have a neediness for the Lord And when you've been made whole by the Father's love, when you've allowed him to do a deep work in you, you can be open and you can be transparent and you can allow people to come in and help you. Have you ever known somebody that's just like? I got this, i'll do it my own way, i'll do it myself. They don't want to be helped. Really, there is. It's pride, it's manifesting pride, but the source of it is a pain, but when you have sonship, you know the healing, the Lord's healing touch so well that, even though you know, hey, look, some people will hurt me If I allow people into my life, i feel very confident in sharing this with you because this is my calling, this is what I do professionally.

I put my heart out there and let it get hurt And then you know what. The Lord comes as the bomb of Gilead that He is and then heals it. And this is what He was training me with before the ministry. Because I said, lord, i keep letting people in. They just keep hurting me, and I'm not just speaking in metaphor. I was praying that prayer.

I was in college and I was sensitive, but I think how sensitive I was when I was 18, 19, 20, you know I was Lord. And are you getting misty eyed for me? It's okay, the Lord did this a long time ago And so and the Lord spoke to me in my spirit so clearly and meant the world to me, he said they may, but I am the bomb of Gilead And I will come and I will heal You. Have you stand in a fork in the road. You can allow people into your life and some will hurt you. Or you can say all people are awful and all of them always hurt me. And now you've put up walls to keep people out, but guess what? Those same walls that keep people out, they keep God out. And do not fall for the lie that you will put up walls that will keep people out but you let God in. It doesn't work that way.

By the way, i really believe that that's why some people are still masking up today, because I'm seeing it's so hot. The other than you still see people with the masks And I'm going all right, look. First of all, i want to say do you own a time machine? Are you? have you come here from three years ago? Then the Lord chills me out And I think about it And I'm like this person is not worried about COVID. And then I and I'm looking and I go.

You know, there are some people. What they really are putting up is a protective barrier against the world, because I have looked at some people in my neighborhood and some people sitting on a bench alone and I'm looking, i see pain in their eyes and I see a hurting heart And I realized this is why it's often do you know, when people go through a crisis, they'll take up smoking, like why? What does that got to do with personal pain? You want to hurt your body? Go have McDonald's. Do much quicker than cigarettes. But there's actually this desire to. You're blowing the people away. You're blowing life away. You're putting up a protective barrier. You don't you want to be insulated. You don't want people in. That's actually one of there's various reasons why people can still be wearing masks today. I fully believe that's one of them. I'm putting up a barrier.

You know why, at Get Together's leadership in church, whatever they'll always tell, you always have cups of coffee. You know why you have cups of coffee? Because people a lot more social if they can hide behind a cup of coffee, because they feel protected. You can be a 350-pound man hiding behind a six ounce cup of coffee and you feel totally emboldened. Now I can talk. There's people hiding behind three millimeters of mask. How did I get on this? Because when you're independent and Self-reliant, you're putting up walls to keep people out, but those same walls keep God out as well.

When you have the heart of a son, there will be an openness. I'm telling you, this can set you free. You receive the father's love, you receive his acceptance and his approval of you when you can walk the streets of New York City and you realize I'm open and I'm open to the blessing of God. I'm open to good things, i'm open to holy ghost surprises. Satan wants to get you in a car wearing place of hiding. Do not let him. Jesus paid too high a price. He shed his blood, taking away every single one of our sins, so we can walk and be open and say Lord, i trust you, you will protect me from the evil and I welcome a hundredfold return Waterfall of blessing upon me, of good Amen.

Theology the orphan heart only understands rules. The orphan heart by nature is religious. It only understands Touch, not taste, not rules and regulations Militantly cross every T, dot, every I, and Then, of course, the orphan heart will then put their expectations of what they're striving with on everybody else around in their life. Orphans are now fun to hang with. That's just the truth. When it comes to an orphan heart, the heart of a son, You don't live by the love of law, you live by the law of love. Everything that you do is fueled by first receiving God's love, hallelujah. Pray for me hun.

This is one of those funny kind of messages. People tell me they appreciated it, but It's like That's a cricket sound, by the way. All right, on the subject of security, the subject of security. In the first service that went security and our security guard jumped up and left into action, and so I Was blessed to see his response, though I was like this is nice, but I always wonder what would happen if somebody just came up and Stepped up to me I'm glad we have. Would he beat you, though past your money wouldn't beat you. Secure, the subject of security. The orphan heart is insecure. The orphan heart lacks peace. When you have the heart of a sonship, you are resting at peace. You don't have anything to prove. Get to that place and your maturity with the Lord, and then you're receiving his love. Where you don't have anything to prove, i know the world likes to set it up so that they value judge you on your accomplishments, on your bank account, your resume, but all of that it's for nothing.

Jesus. He didn't do a thing up until his baptism. He was a good Jewish boy, living with his parents until the age of 30 And Didn't do a thing. Have you ever thought about that? he didn't do anything. I Went to Ethiopia and they had these like murals and there was Jesus. They had these murals of Jesus Taking these cracked clay pots and touching them and they would turn into doves and fly away and like nice mural.

But it's unbiblical. The Bible is clear. He did his first miracle, he did his first thing of note After his baptism. So he didn't do anything. Yet when he came up out of the water he heard the father's voice. This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.

What did Jesus do to earn such a statement? Nothing. It wasn't about what he did. It was about who he was a son. It's not about what you do, it's who you are a son. You have validation and affirmation apart from your performance, and an orphan heart is always trying to prove itself and is always measuring and weighing and keeping score, because they get their validity from that.

And it's such a trap. Why? Because people are fickle. Oh, you do know that right to throw yourself worth on the tumultuous sea of Human emotion, that is a recipe for disaster, because people will like you one moment and then hate you the next. Have experienced that personally. You see it in the scriptures, where Paul and Barnabas on Mars Hill. They go preaching. They loved them. They said the gods have come down in the form of men. That was some good preaching. The next day, that same people, that same group that said the gods have come down in the form of men, they were stirred up by the enemy and they took up stones to stone them 24 hours from hero to zero, and it was still that same crowd that laid palm branches at Jesus's feet Was the same crowd that cried crucify him, give us Barabbas. So there's people who can't go to sleep at night because they're still counting likes And waiting for just one more to come in so they could just get that little boost of validation and affirmation.

We're all like this. When I say that, i'm not saying there's some people here, we all have an element of that which we have to resist by receiving God's grace, by receiving God's validation and affirmation and love. Apart from God, we're all just a bunch of hungry animals just needing some attention Where this we are. But when you have the heart of a son, you can rest in knowing you have his validation, his attention, his affirmation. You're that apple of his eye. The Bible says he calls you out by name. And if this isn't real to you, this is just pretty words. And you say that's a pretty words. I wish that was real for me, pastor. I'm glad it's real for you, but how would I ever get it to be real for me? You have to allow the Lord to do open heart surgery on you, and that doesn't come cheaply. I mean, it's free in the sense that was purchased with the blood of Jesus. But you got to let him do it By spending some time with him, sing a song to him, read his words, say a few words, invite him in, say Lord, i give you every area of my life. Lord, i give you access to my heart. Tell him some secrets You wouldn't tell another human. Yes, i know he knows them already. It's not for his benefit, it's for yours. Pour out your complaints. The Bible says before him.

Open up, confess his word, even if you don't feel like it, if you struggle in any one of these areas of being an orphan, speak God's word. I am a son. I have the same privileges as Jesus. I am accepted on the same level as Jesus. I am approved by my heavenly father on the same level as Jesus. I Don't have anything to prove to God. There is nothing that I can do That would cause him to add one more drop of his love. He just loves me thoroughly, completely, unconditionally, amen. You have to read, you have to retrain your mind, and A lot of us, we've been programmed all of our life with wrongs, thinking, thinking. And you can't Correct thoughts with thoughts. It's impossible. You can only correct thoughts with words, and what better word is there than the word, the word of God. So you begin speaking his word and And then there's a holy spirit, renewing of the mind that'll set you free. Amen. The need for approval.

The orphan heart strives for the praise, approval and acceptance of men. Do you know when Napoleon was famous for saying he was. One of his statements was it's amazing to me What a man will do for a little piece of ribbon And it was commanding troops People would run and risk their lives and do all sorts of crazy things so they can get a Two-cent ribbon sewed to their uniform. So they could feel like now there's somebody said you get that ribbon, you're right away. You want another ribbon? Maybe not, but then someone else comes in and they have three ribbons. Why they have three ribbons? I only have one ribbon.

And new lust that comes up, which should all make us think of social media right now. Amen, mankind has never had to deal with what we have to deal with today, because Comparison is the root of all evil. That's my saying. The Bible says money is. The Bible is correct. I'm wrong, i'm just saying right now, and social media is a comparison amplifier, the orphan heart strives for the praise, approval and acceptance of men.

It is amazing what people Will do for pats, for pat on the head, an orphan heart that maybe never got a pat on the head from their natural father. I've seen I say I've seen entire churches where the pastor's whole team is just a bunch of orphans. The pastor manipulates them and Plays weird abusive games where he's very, very close with them one moment, then emotionally cold. The next then gives them the pat They're so craving, then withholds it and then and then he's got 20 men Just following him just to maybe sort of Hopefully, get a little pat, a little. That a boy. You got a, that a boy from heaven. Amen. The heart of sonship, totally opposite than the orphans heart, because of the heart of sonship realizes and knows I'm totally accepted in God's love and Justify that means pronounced not guilty, by his grace. Amen.

The motive for service The orphan heart has a need for personal achievements as they seek to impress. I Learned to son first year of Bible school I'll never forget. A speaker said this and I thought that is Truth and I need to remember it forever. They said you can do all of the right things for all of the wrong reasons. And so even in Christianity, if you have an orphan heart, you can be doing all of the right things. Externally They look right, but you're doing them for the approval of man, to be counted as one of the spiritual, for natural accolades.

And Really the Bible says that all that, when the fire touches it, it'll be woodhane stubble, because there will be a judgment for Christians. Not a judgment on whether it's heaven or hell. If you've put your faith in Jesus and Trust in him for his righteousness, your heaven bound, your sins are forgiven you, but there is a judgment on what you did with your life here on earth and you'll get a reward accordingly. And what is The real test, the real judgment, is our motivation. And if I'm, if I'm coming here every Sunday because I want to be admired, because I want to feel important or anything like that, then the fire touches it woodhane stubble What a waste. But if I do it because I want to see lost souls saved and existing Christians Discipled and the name of Jesus glorified, and it says precious stones, the heart of a son Service that is motivated by a deep gratitude for being unconditionally loved and accepted by God, i pray that the 200 people that we had on that volunteer boat yesterday, that every single one.

I believe that I can. It's the spirit that we've endeavored to cultivate. Nobody serves because They feel their scoring points with the big guy. But you serve. You serve because You're grateful and you know you're already unconditionally loved, not based on your performance. So now you want to give back Hallelujah, the motive behind Christian disciplines. I feel like we need the worship team to come in, do a quick set and we jump right back in. Everybody with me. Is this coming across a little too seminary? Okay, sorry, i'm exposing my orphan heart. Do you like me still? Am I doing a good job? Okay? I need a hug.

The motive behind Christian disciplines, the orphan heart, duty and earning God's favor. I read my Bible because I have to. I read my Bible because then God will approve of me more or like me more. Or they have no motivation at all because they're an orphan. They feel like something has owed them, life did them dirty and so there's zero motivation. But at the heart of a son it's because of pleasure and delight. It's not because I have to, it's because I get to, i want to.

That's one thing I was sharing with my I want to say barber, but she's a hairdresser, but it feels weird to say hairdresser. I was at the barber shop with my barber and it was blowing her mind. She was like so who shows up on Sunday? And she's coming from a particular mindset. She feels like why would you come to church if not because you're terrified and you have tremendous guilt and shame in your life? And I told her you know everybody who comes. They know that God will love them just as much if they don't come Like they come actually because they want to and they want to know him more and they want to sit under the word and they want to meet each other and have fellowship and come into the corporate anointing and worship God together. I didn't say that to her. I secularized what I just said to her, but I helped her understand that they come because they want to, not because they have to, and I'll never forget her look. It was like a blue her mind. Like that's possible, yeah, when you've been forgiven of all your sins and you've tasted of his love. That's how it is. Amen.

And that is the difference between you covenant Christianity and dead religion and the difference between an orphan heart and a new covenant heart of a son. The motive for purity, for holy living an orphan heart must be holy to have God's favor, thus increasing the sense of shame and guilt. The heart of sonship they don't feel I have to be holy. I want to be holy. He's changed my life, he's changed my heart.

I want to be holy. I get to be holy. I get to be delivered from sin, which has always hurt me. I don't want anything to hinder my relationship with God. Self image the orphan heart suffers from self rejection, from comparing oneself to others, self rejection, from comparing oneself to others. The heart of sonship is positive and affirmed because you know you have such value to God. I hope that if you've been coming here for some time, or if this is your first time, you know that you have value to God. If you will allow yourself to marinate in God's love and pursue a radical love relationship with Him, the power of God will manifest in every area of your life.

When I think of my job. What's my job? It's the same as your job. My job is to receive truckloads of God's love every day. Out of that everything will flow, and I notice if I'm not doing that every day, one of the first things is more that orphan heart creeps in So quickly too. So quickly. The Lord could have done a deep work for years, but if I'm not receiving His love consistently in a few weeks, you don't want to be near me, You don't want to know me right hon.

Yeah, her most evocative response in church she was like hey man, look, she's giving an offering. She's waving a towel and giving an offering. She liked that so much. If you ever wondered, does Pastor Boyan battle with pride? No, the Lord sent me her and she's a great, great solution. First of comfort, thanks, baby.

The orphan heart seeks comfort and counterfeit affections, addictions, compulsions, escapism, busyness, hyper religious activity. I joked in the first service. I said if you're single and you really want to stand out, go to a cafe and just sit there like a crazy person, without a phone in your hand. Doesn't that sound so insane? Like just put your phone down and just sit there and just, but you will immediately stick out as someone who can actually stand their own company for more than 60 seconds and isn't terrified of being alone with their thoughts.

The heart of sonship seeks times of quietness and solitude to rest in the Father's presence and love. And this is a new challenge that's only about 10 years old, something I think about when raising our kids, and we really try to have very strict and disciplined guidelines when it comes to technology, but I see how, when their hour is up, i mean, it's like taking the crack pipe away And they're good, they're up, the timer goes off but it's like And I think I remember for me like hours up in my infinite mind, right, remember that was the norm. And now, like my kids, are going to have to receive training in how to be good company for themselves And that's vital because so much of what happens between you and God it'll happen in silence. I don't make the rules, it's just how it is. The old timers call it contemplative prayer or meditative prayer, new charismatic, call it soaking, old time, pentecostals, call it waiting on God. It's all the same. It means you're not talking, you're being still and knowing He's God. And so much happens And Satan wars against that time And for a lot of us we can't. We couldn't 20 years ago now because our dopamine receptors are fried from scrolling. We can't, so we got to go back to the gym. It's like going back. We have to train ourselves.

So I recommend and I know this is really scary starting out with 60 seconds Quiet time. For some of you it's going to be the most terrifying minute of your week. I joke, but only because I've experienced it. You go to be silent before the Lord and that 60 seconds will feel like an hour. It'll just be you and the Lord in silence And your mind will immediately drift and you got to just come back. Mind Jesus, i'm just just Jesus. 60 seconds, put in 60 seconds And the next day make it 90. And try to get up to 10 minutes where you can be quiet with the Lord.

I have many messages on this topic and for some of you you're hearing it for the first time. But there is great power in being quiet before the Lord. Not much seems to be happening, but He is putting gifts inside of you, he is going before you. So much happens when you're quiet before the Lord. When the Bible talks about praying for hours, do you really think someone is talking for hours? Like your prayer life may not be powerful because you run out of stuff to say after 5, 10 minutes, that's kind of normal And then you can pray in tongues and then you go for another 20 minutes And then you know, like when I talk about how I've had seasons where I pray eight hours a day, do you think I'm pacing back and forth and I'm yes, lord, hallelujah, And I'm shouting for eight hours Like 80% of that is me being still before the Lord? Hallelujah.

Peer relationships, the orphan heart full of competition, rivalry and jealousy towards other success. I just want to remind you that we're also trying to find ourselves here. We're not thinking of our roommate, our old friend, our spouse, the person at the grocery store, whoever the coworker. Try to find ourselves here. The orphan heart has a poverty lack mindset And it thinks that because God bless somebody else, that God is going to run out and there won't be enough left over for them. It's a big what about me? You going to run out. So I'm jealous, i'm envious, i resent you getting something, because I was always trained and the way I grew up was as if you get, there's less for me. The good news is God doesn't run out. He's a fountain that never runs dry. His cup overflows And so you can have the heart of a son, where you have humility and unity amongst your brothers and sisters, as you value others and are able to rejoice in their blessing and their success. All of our attitude needs to be if somebody else gets blessed, what God did for them he can do for me, and God doesn't run out. Amen, praise God, Handling others' faults, the orphan heart, accusations and exposures in order to make you look good by making others look bad.

The orphan heart loves to gossip. The orphan heart loves to point out other people's faults and critique them because then they feel better about themselves. They love to magnify other people's faults so that they can mask their own. I'll just be transparent right now and confess that I know I'm delving back into an orphan heart. If I become critical and more critical, then immediately I know oh, you know. What I'm really saying is, father, i'm not feeling so loved lately. I'm not receiving your love for me. I'm becoming increasingly critical of people in my life. The heart of sonship, love covers, love covers.

The Bible says a multitude of sins as you seek to restore others in a spirit of love and gentleness. You are tolerant, loving, you forgive quickly. By the way, the doorway you have to walk through in order to have the heart of a son. You have to walk through this doorway. It's called forgiveness, not for yourself but for others. I'll never forget somebody very well, very well, very, very knowledge in quote-unquote, inner healing, wrote books and all that if I'll never forget. He just said once he just Speak seminars hours and hours on how to be made whole on the inside, he said. He said I can sum up 99% of inner healing with one word forgive. And the whole place would, because we want to talk about all these things and therapy this and Inner healing that you want to be healed of the inner baggage. The doorway you got to walk through is, you know what? There's some jerks in my life. I release them, i forgive them, i cancel their debts. I truly forgive them as I have been forgiven. You have to walk through that door as long as you're mad, bitter, angry, easily offended, you're struggling, you're in misery, you have an orphan heart. Get up from under that thing. Rise up to being a son. Jesus paid for that privilege with his own blood.

View of authority and Orphan heart will always expose itself when it comes to its relationship with authority. The orphan heart, the orphan heart, sees authority as a source of pain. Their attitude as authority has always heard me, starting with my dad, my fifth grade teacher, my coach in high school, my first boss. They resent authority, but you cannot ever be in authority unless you learn how to be under authority And you will always be under authority. I'm under authority. We have to joyfully submit to authority Orphan hearts.

They come in all different shapes and sizes, but they also come packaged like this. You know, i don't want any leaders and I Don't really go to a church, i just kind of go from church to church wherever the Lord wants me. I'm on assignment, we're all the same. You know, we're all gots children. What's with this like rank and order and God is a God of rank and order. God is a God. I know this is not a popular word right now. I'm gonna say it cuz it's not. God even structured the angels in hierarchy. They're not all the same. There's the archangel, the seraphim, the cherubim, the regular ones that just hold your feet up, let's you dash your foot against the stone. He set it up in rank and order And that's spirit of the enemy Operating through old wounds. They love to blur all those lines. That's why an orphan heart. Your least favorite word is submit. It's like shoving garlic in a vampire's face. Oh, i didn't even get to that.

Bar lack of a heart, attitude of submission. Do you know The madman of Gadara, also known as Legion? you know what a Legion is? it's a Roman garrison of three to five thousand troops. That means the madmen of Gadara had anywhere from three to five thousand demons living in him When they found him, you know how. They immediately knew he was cured and the demons came out. It says they came and they saw him sitting, sitting. What is sitting? It's a sitting, clothed and in his right mind. Sitting is the posture of a disciple. He was sitting and learning and Jesus Rabboni, the rabbi, was standing and teaching and He went from being the raving lunatic with zero submission in his life to sitting and going.

Do you know what an orphan heart is like? No, you can't tell me nothing. I Know it all. I'm the smartest in the room. Don't come and speak into And the other ones are just always banging their head against the wall. Hey, hallelujah, the heart of sonship, respectful honoring. You. See them as ministers of God for good in your life. Amen.

View of correction or admonition. Orphan heart Difficulty receiving admonition correction You must be right. You got to be right. When you're you got to be right? So you easily get your feelings hurt and close your spirit to discipline. If we look at somebody to come on staff or especially come up on leadership, i don't want to let the cat out of the bag. This is one of my secret things. But I immediately start correcting and I'm not, if you notice, unless the Lord like lands on me, i don't offer much unsolicited counsel. I don't. I'm too busy with inbound solicited counsel. So Do you, does that make sense? I don't. I can see you, like you're driving your car off a cliff and I Like, come to me. I'm here, but unless the Lord pricks me, i'm not good. Maybe the cliff part was a little too dramatic, but I'll probably stop that. But In the Bible, listen, you couldn't serve as a monk, you couldn't serve as a priest. You can be a Levite if you had any scabs. Did you know that? do you know why? Because scabs are nasty.

No, because scabs, because scabs are an Unhealed wound. Scars are good. You can serve with a scar. That's where a scab used to be. That's a wound that's closed up, but a scab that's still tender, that's still touchy. There may be some pus coming out. And the only way you discover that, if you bring some correction to somebody, have you ever?

People have an orphan heart. You can give them a compliment and they'll be like what do you mean by that? There's so much hurt, there's so much pain, there's so many scabs. Everything is a defensive Like you look good today, oh, yesterday I didn't. You know what are you trying to say? You can't even say God forbid. You tell somebody you lost some weight. Oh, thought I was fat.

See, it's sermons like this why our attendance vacillates so much. You know Lord builds it up. I'd tear it down. All right Expression of love And orphans heart is Guarded because it's mistrusting.

Guarded and confidential, based upon others performance as you seek to get your own needs met, or when you have an orphan heart. You really see people as a means to an end and your user. By the way, i'm not talking about some people, mystical people out there, no matter me and you, all of us have elements of this. Want to put our best foot forward, present yourselves only in a good light. I pray that every single one of you have at least three people in your life, not that you're married to, not related by blood. Three people, one will do, for starters, that you can be you and you're still loved. And if you don't have that, which is you? that if you don't ask the Lord, you are not meant to go through life alone. Ask the Lord to put an actual friend in your life, that you can be real with Amen and the real. The sad truth is, it's true, though the older you get, the more faith You're gonna need for that, because the more difficult it becomes.

You're in your 20s is a piece of cake Yeah, who's he talking to? 30s, a little bit more challenging. So you get past your 40s, you're like God Squeeze his friend out of a rock for me, but I want one The heart of a son, open, patient and affectionate as you lay your life and agendas down in order to meet the needs of others. And this is the blessing zone and The reason why some of us don't have close friends. The Bible gives the answer is because we're not friendly Says if you want friends. This is one of those mind-blowing out of proverbs. You're like oh there, it is He who wants friends should be friendly. And so if you want friends, then like, be the friend that you want and find people and just love them and Don't condemn them. And do something nice for them, be a be a listening, open ear, and then you will reap from what you've sowed. Worship team, come on up. I'm nowhere near done, but I just wanted to give the illusion that I am.

So sense sense of God's presence When you're an orphan, your sense of God's presence. You don't sense God's presence. You think that God will reward you when you only do right. I Remember like two weeks after I got saved, thank goodness, i I was actually Discipled, and what that means is it was just some other Christians who would listen to me and answer my questions, but I didn't know how to allow the Lord to do work in me And there was some things that I stopped doing, other things and I, the guy who led me to the Lord, i said you know, do you ever, after you, sin? do you ever, you know, not feel God's presence? 16 years old, two weeks, safe, i'll never forget. He turned to me, said no, i feel it more So what I thought. You know he runs away when you sin. He said no, he comes closer to help you. It comes closer to heal you. But we in our heads, we think if maybe we had authority figures or parents who withheld affection When we did wrong and gave affection when we did right, then we think God, the father, is that way and he's not. He's not, he's not. So when you have an orphan heart, you relate to God based on your behavior. You think he's looking at you conditionally, but it's unconditional. That his love is the heart of sonship. Your sense of God's presence is close and intimate. The condition of the orphan's heart is one of bondage. The condition of the heart of sonship is liberty. Concerning your position the orphan heart you feel like a slave. The heart of sonship you feel like a son, like a daughter.

Concerning vision. The orphan heart full of spiritual ambition, the earnest desire for some spiritual achievement and distinction and the willingness to strive for it, a Desire to be seen and counted among the mature. Yeah, you know who the most miserable people are? those who are in full-time ministry and they're doing it for affirmation and validation. They are in In a constant state of torment because it's never enough. It's never enough. The heart of sonship to daily. This is the vision, this is the plan, this is the goal. To daily experience the father's Unconditional love and acceptance and then be sent as the representative of his love to family and others.

Concerning the future. The orphan heart says I got a fight for what I can get. The heart of a son concerning the future realizes that sonship Releases us into our inheritance. Amen, close your eyes, lift your hands. Right now, on this Father's Day 2023, i pray in the name of Jesus Ho, for an outpouring of Abba's love for you, that the orphan's spirit Would be healed in Jesus name, that you have a revelation of adoption, of Sonship At all. The pain of yesterday go go. Performance mentality that it goes. Bitterness goes, striving it goes. But you realize You're as approved as you're ever gonna be, yours, accepted as you're ever gonna be, yours, forgiven as you're ever gonna be. Philan afternoon And a Firstー. Oh No, thank you, jesus.

Thank you Jesus, the callousness that goes hardness. Bye-bye in Jesus' name.

1:06:10 - Speaker 2
This is the City Light Church Podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansic and City Light Church, visit us at CityLightNYCcom. That's CityLightNYCcom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you, and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to CityLight Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.