A Journey through Faith, Community, and Transformation

0:00 You ever feel like you're carrying something around. It's like you're nine months pregnant. Why isn't this baby coming? I've had that. And then I step out and finally do the stuff. The Lord has been on me, but it's in His word. I should have been doing it and I do that. And then it's unlocked and the day loose comes, babies popping up all over the place. I knew I've been carrying these guys for years. Oh, you were waiting for me to just do what the book says do Cause I was always fond of saying I'm waiting on you, lord. It's actually, I'm waiting on you. 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.

0:41 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. So glad that you're with us those of you joining us online glad you're with us also, hallelujah. I wanna just make you aware of this connection card. If you're a guest, this is your first or second time, or you've never filled one of these connection cards out, and I encourage you to do so.

1:28 It's the number one way, the best way that you can connect with us. Ask us a question, if you wanna speak to anybody on our staff, if you wanna get baptized, we have baptisms coming up very quickly. What is the actual baptism date? October, november the fourth? So we're six, seven weeks away from baptisms. So if you've never been water baptized, you can sign up to be baptized through the connection card. If you wanna learn more about membership through the connection card, you wanna serve and volunteer Through the connection card. You just wanna say hi and drop a comment. They're actually read over. Every single one prayed over.

2:09 You leave your phone number. You wanna call some about? Human will call you, not an AI system, a caring individual on full time staff to pray with you, and if you need a counseling appointment, they'll set one up for you. So fill one of those out. You can give it to a nusher. Put it in the offering boxes. I suggest you bring it to the hospitality table where they'll give you a gift in exchange for your data. No, but seriously, look the whole data thing that really hasn't come to New York City Because New York is ain't gonna put up with that. But across the border in Tanaça, I can't even buy a pillow.

2:52 I went into Tempur-Pedek. I want one pillow. I want one pillow. What's your email address? None, your business at iCloudcom. Why can't I buy any? Every store I go into wants my email and then I get coupons three times a day and flash discounts. We're not gonna do that to you and one maximum two emails a week, and they're important. No discount code for next Sunday's service. Well, we're concluding, as though you can really conclude it, but we're concluding specifically this series called the Anointed One and His Anointing and the impetus.

3:32 What I sense from the Lord, and why to begin this series, is because the Lord has something up his sleeve for us. I feel it in my spiritual bones. We are in a place of strength now and the Lord has some ground for us to take, some land for us to possess as we finish up 2023. And that was not the case just a few years ago that we were in a place of strength. A few years ago COVID happened. Even as recently as two years ago, the lockdowns had subsided here, but really the Christian church was devastated. So many people left New York City and then we had a lot of people pleasantly leave.

4:17 They just said pastor, this church has meant the world to us, thank you for your ministry, but our family is going to and you know where they went the Carolinas, florida or Texas. So we had that. We also had some people leave because I did not bend the knee to Fauci, I did not wear three masks while preaching and that was very upsetting. Can you believe that guy is still around squawking. I saw a clip. Even CNN was mocking him the other day. Well, one guy on CNN.

5:00 And so we were weakened and we found ourselves hit hard and the Lord quickly started to bring new people. But it took a while for new people to develop roots. So we had a lot of people get saved, as you can see from our baptisms our baptisms twice a year we have baptisms. They were full with a bunch of new people get saved. We had some others who came and they were already saved. But then what you have. You have a full church, but you have a disjointed church. But then those people began to develop roots, those who weren't saved, god saved. They were baptized in water, baptized in the Holy spirit, started coming regularly, even began to serve, joined a life group and, most importantly, connect with others.

5:43 You cannot be an island in a church. You're not really then experiencing church as it was intended to be experienced by the Lord himself. We're all body parts. We can't have an arm over here and a leg over there. We got to be connected and people started to connect and relationships started to blossom. And now, here we are, wrapping up 2023, we're in September, and I can honestly say, pastor Mo, don't chuckle, but we're the strongest we've ever been, and it's true, we're the best we've ever been. We're the strongest we've ever been. The love that I sense amongst the people, the unity, the coming, not saying we've arrived, but we are at a place of strength, and by every metric, that's good news.

6:26 And so, when you're at a place of strength, what do you do? Do you just, you know, make a hammock, lay down, and that will be the comfortable thing to do, but that's not biblically what you're supposed to do. You then take ground for the Lord, and I believe we were in this series talking about the anointing, because you can't expand God's kingdom and work for the Lord, work for the Christ, without understanding the Christos, the anointing, the power of God and the presence of God. And he wanted to marinate a bunch of you and set you ablaze and realign you and have you experiencing him, because you can't give away that which you don't have.

7:07 Paul said as much as is in me, I'm ready to preach the gospel. Well, if nothing is in you, you can't preach the gospel. But if you're full of the Holy Spirit, you got something to offer, something to give, and he's been filling us so that we have something to give. And I believe with all of my heart. I sense it. Other pastors because I don't believe this is unique to city light, other pastors in the city have confirmed it there is something in the air and I believe we're in the cusp of seeing a major influx of souls come into the kingdom, a major like supernatural, like. I believe if we steward it well, it could turn into something like the Jesus movement, where people who've experienced the Jesus movement they would say people got saved by accident, it was the easiest thing to lead someone to the Lord.

7:54 It was just like in the water people were hungry and the Lord came through and turned the hearts of the people and it was like wholesale salvation by the truckload just coming in. If we steward it right, he always tests you first. You know he could pour out his Holy Spirit on a campus and then if administration decides to shut it down prematurely, it could end that revival. Hypothetically speaking, that could happen. So there's always a test how are you gonna steward what I've given you? And then, if you pass the test, he gives you more. He who's faithful with a little, then he gives you more and then you're able to be faithful with the much.

8:37 So that's where we are and you get to play a part and have a role. No outpouring of God, no move of God, although that's usually associated with a human name or several names. That's just the people who get the recognition. It's always carried by the no name people. It's always carried by tens of thousands of Christian laborers who actually steward the movement. So next week we have Nathaniel St Eloi with us. He'll be with us Friday night because we've restarted our Friday night revival night. Do not miss that I shared with someone.

9:18 They said oh, that's during Rosh Hashanah weekend. Yes, it's during Rosh Hashanah nanana. We planned it that way. For those of you who are really Jewish, you're really in touch with the Abrahamic spiritual roots. It's on Rosh Hashanah nanana weekend. It's Friday night, saturday night at seven, not here, but in our other location just a couple of blocks away. All of this information is online and on our social media. And then Sundays for two services here. So I just encourage you don't miss out on Friday night at seven, saturday night at seven, and come here for the landing, like.

10:00 Be there for the takeoff, the ascent to 40,000 feet, eat some peanuts, drink the five ounce bottle of Poland spring, be on the whole ride and then land with us, because the anointing builds, it compounds, it amplifies. So be on the whole journey. I have specifically asked Nathaniel to come. Have you ever wondered why we don't have so many guest speakers when, in reality, it would be easy for us? I could go this route. I've never shared this. It's very easy for us to get the best guest speakers. Do you know why? We have the money. And two, we're in New York City and every ministry wants to go to New York City at least once a year.

10:41 And so we've done that and what we found is, hey, there's some great people, but they don't really know who we are, they don't know me, they don't know my vision, they don't know my heart and some of them don't really even care. It's just one of a hundred places they're gonna minister during the year and we're just another stop along the way. And we've been there, done that, and it always left me feeling empty, like how you feel after you eat at McDonald's you ate something and you're full, but really you're empty, starving for nutrition. And I thought what? But I noticed people who I have a covenant relationship with, who know me, who are in my life, who sincerely love this church.

11:21 They will come and they will minister with no agenda, with no strings attached and with a deposit seems to last much longer. It's not just an evangelist blowing and blowing up and blowing out. So Nathaniel and I have been friends for nearly 15 years and he's seen this church when it was just an acorn and now he's seeing it growing up into a mighty oak and he loves you and I know that right now he is preparing for these services. They're not just another stop in his itinerary. He's praying for you. He's readying his spirit to bring something to you. The apostle Paul said to the Romans I long to come to you, and that's so. You could just hear pretty words out of my mouth. He said I long to come to you that I may impart to you some spiritual gift.

12:04 I wanna leave a divine deposit with you. He'll be leaving a divine deposit here. So join us, take this time out and say look, I wanna close out 2023 with a bang. Lord, I'm gonna position myself to receive from heaven Friday night at seven, saturday night, and then here on Sunday. Amen, amen, amen. The anointed one and his anointing, which is the definition of Jesus' title the Christ. Let's dive in, starting at Isaiah 61, which is what Jesus would read from as he would visit synagogues. Jesus was Rabboni, which means rabbi, and he was a traveling rabbi.

12:47 And as he would go from town to town, the Jewish custom was in the synagogue, whoever or whenever there would be a traveling rabbi, he would get the pulpit. I'm so glad that custom is non-existent in America today. Whenever a traveling itinerant, thank you, no, thank you. But back then it worked and Jesus would come in. And in Luke, chapter four and we believe this is a pattern of is. He called for the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and then he would read from Isaiah 61. Imagine that God in the flesh, the Christ, the Messiah, anticipated, long for, prayed for for centuries, is there.

13:28 He asked for the prophet Isaiah the scroll to be brought, reads from Isaiah 61, and then says today this scripture is fulfilled. In your ears, I am the one whom the scriptures were talking about In Luke 4,. They didn't work out so well. They were so upset at that that they took him to throw him headlong. It says headlong over a cliff, and then the next verse it says but Jesus, passing through the midst of them, went his way. I don't know how that worked out, but it just wasn't Jesus' time yet. Did you ever catch that? They went to kill him. So you picture a mob of people going to throw him.

14:10 This is like street justice. Throw him headlong over a cliff, but Jesus, passing through the midst of them, just went his way. That just shows me that when you're walking in God's will and it's not your time yet, you're unkillable. How did he pass this mob of people carrying off a cliff? He just said you know what? No thanks, I'm not gonna participate in today's execution. It's not my time yet. This is what Jesus read the spirit of the Lord, god is upon me because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the gospel. You know who's anointed and qualified besides Jesus?

14:51 You are that anointing and that qualification was released on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out. And if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, all of your sins have been forgiven you. They're completely blotted out and taken out of the way, and you've been given the free gift of righteousness. You've been given the gift of justification and you've been pronounced not guilty. That's who you really are and you've been filled with this Holy Spirit, which is the unction and the anointing of God. So you are qualified, whether you feel like it or not. Listen, no matter where you are on the spectrum, we have right now red, hot, fiery believers living for Jesus every second of the day, or you could be beat up bruised.

15:40 You came limping in here this morning. You're even suffering with shame and condemnation and you wish you could walk this Christian walk better If your faith is in Christ. I want you to know your sins are already forgiven you, and you are not less qualified than that first person I mentioned. You don't get to sit this out. You are qualified and you can expand the kingdom of God. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed and qualified me to preach the gospel of good tidings. What is the gospel? It's good news. What's the good news? Your sins are forgiven you.

16:21 That's good news. Religion wraps it in bad news, which is well, jesus died for your sins. But here's what you have to do, do, do, and then the list comes out, a 50 point list, putting you back under the law and getting you in a state of works. That's not good news, that's a bait and switch. Good news is all of your sins, every single one, has been taken out of the way. John the Baptist saw Jesus coming. He said behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin, sin singular, the whole sin, the sin problem takes away the sin of the world.

17:01 They just don't know it yet. I'll often say I got saved on August 14th 1992, but the reality is is that's the day I received my salvation, I was saved. You were saved 2000 years ago at his death, his burial and resurrection. That's when it was all paid for. That's when it was purchased, and then you were touched by the Holy Spirit. He opened up your heart to believe, but not just by the Holy Spirit. Somebody talk to you. Can we all agree on that? It's something that we all have in common. Somebody talked to us. It wasn't just the Holy Spirit. Nobody got led to Jesus, at least not here.

17:43 Nobody got led to Jesus by a vision and a dream. There's always people, even in the scriptures, when Ananias, he receives an angelic visitation. The angel doesn't preach the gospel to him. He says you're gonna go meet a person. He's gonna tell you the gospel. The preaching of the gospel has been delegated to man and so man opens up their mouths. And all of us have that in common is that some person told us maybe it was her parents usually, maybe it's a 50-50 split between parents and a friend, a coworker, someone you knew.

18:28 Some people get a hodgepodge. Some people you can see the Lord just plucks out. They watch a YouTube clip, curiosities stir it up and then all of a sudden they find themselves running into people who keep telling them the same thing, keep reiterating the gospel to them, and then they come to faith, but it's always through people. So we are here enjoying salvation as a result of people opening up their mouths and talking. When you think of it that way, you realize you have a responsibility. We have a responsibility to open up our mouths and talk. We do.

19:08 We're not responsible for the whole world, but we're responsible for the people he's put in our lives. We're responsible for our circle of influence, our sphere. Do you ever think about your salvation? I think, about it every day. I don't want gratitude for my salvation to ever evade me and fall on the back burner. You're eternal being. There are people who don't go to church. They're not safe, but they understand this. We tend to think if we're in the church, we tend to think everybody out there is just an atheist. They're not. There are billions, literally billions, of people.

19:50 They haven't submitted to Jesus, but they believe and they understand that we're eternal beings. They may not call God's name Jesus, but they believe in intelligent design. They look around in nature, at the universe, and they've come to the logical conclusion that this isn't all a random act. We are not just particles and molecules that randomly formed over billions of years after some big bang. No, there was an intelligent personality, a creator behind this who put us here and he's eternal, and so he made us eternal beings and will go on forever. This is real to me. And then I think Lord, I was made.

20:30 I was born into sin and sin cannot have fellowship with you. But you came to me, lord. You came to me and you surrounded me with people who would talk and explain the gospel to me so that I can have all of my sins forgiven, because Jesus came in my place and took on my sin for me. I'm so grateful for that. I'm so grateful that Jesus said and this pains me every time. I say, but this is a reality he said broad is the highway that leads to hell and destruction. It's a literal highway to hell and short excuse me straight and narrow is the way that leads to life everlasting. And he put you on that straight and narrow road.

21:10 And he put you on that straight and narrow. Aren't you grateful for that Every day? I'm so grateful for that that he's opened up my eyes. I can't take any credit for it. He's opened up my eyes to understand what happened on the cross and that now I'm pardoned and I'll spend eternity with him. One of the most powerful verses in the New Testament is Jesus. It's so succinct and so simple. He just says whoever believes on me will never die but will live forever. I'm grateful for that, so grateful. And then I'm also then aware of the responsibility.

21:51 How horrible would it be if I just kept this to myself. It would be if there was famine and drought in the land. And I have a whole wealth of food and water in my house and I'm going out amongst the neighbors, starving and thirsty, and I'm going yeah, it's terrible out here, isn't it? And we'll go back into my house. No, no, no, no, no, no. You gotta share a little bit. Go help out a little bit. Here you are, fees, you're eating steak and lobster, drinking that fresh squeezed OJ, and they're thirsty. We have a responsibility to share with the hungry and thirsty.

22:33 Amen, the spirit of the Lord, god, is upon me, because the Lord has anointed and qualified me and you to preach the gospel of good tidings to the meek, the poor and afflicted. And this is what the anointing that's on you does, and this is what the preaching of the gospel brings. He has sent me to bind up and heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the physical and spiritual captives and the opening of the prison and of the eyes to those who are bound. I love the tense of that. Just go back to that one verse. He says I've come to proclaim the prison doors have been opened.

23:13 Hey, are you with me? This is important because Jesus opened the prison doors 2000 years ago. There's just a bunch of people in prison who don't know it yet. The doors closed, but it's unlocked, but they're too busy sitting around Unaware that they're actually in prison, in sackcloth and ashes, downcast, hungry, thirsty. They don't know that the prison door has been opened. Somebody needs to tell them. Just like I didn't know all my sins were forgiven. Somebody had to tell me. And then, when I was 16 years old August the 14th, 1992, I received that forgiveness. Somebody told me hey, what are you doing, riding in that prison cell?

23:55 Well, how do I get out? Nobody told you. Jesus, with the substitutionary death on the cross for you, unlocked the prison gate. You can walk right through, oh and see. That's why we get it mixed up and we think evangelism is harder than it needs to be, because we think we have to get people to do all these things and understand all these things, when in reality they need to know that the prison door has been opened. There's things are already forgiven them. The price has been paid. Hallelujah, verse two, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, the year of his favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, to grant consolation and joy to those who mourn in Zion.

24:58 This, by the way, was Jesus' mission. He's describing his mission. This is the Christ's mission, this. I encourage you to memorize these three verses because it's your mission also. You are a Christian, which means little Christ, a follower of Christ, an emulator of Christ, little Christ. This is just as much our mission as it was Jesus' mission To grant consolation and joy to those who mourn in Zion, to give them an ornament, a garland or diadem of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the garment expressive of praise instead of a heavy burdened and failing spirit.

25:47 That they may be called oaks of righteousness, lofty, strong and magnificent, distinguished for uprightness, justice and right, standing with God, the planting of the Lord. That he may be glorified. This is Jesus' heart and this is our heart, and this should be every Christian's heart. But I'm in the biz. Did you know that Ministry can be a biz? It doesn't have to be, but it is. I'm joking. You know what I mean. I peaked under the hood. You know what I found? 2% of the church is actively engaging their surroundings with the gospel, and that is depressing.

26:37 Indeed, 2%, 2% of Christians are following the mission of Christ. What are the other 98% doing? Well, I peaked under that hood too. I wanted to explore this thing. What's happening? What are the other 98%? I don't think that statistic is true here. I know there's other churches that throw off. I think it's much better here, but still, we have a way to go. What are they doing? I peaked under the hood. I realized what they're doing is they're waiting for everything to settle down in their own life before they start evangelizing. They're waiting to get on steady ground. They have thoughts like, oh, I can't do it yet because I have problems, and when they're all fixed I'll be perfect and I'll be a great advertisement for the Lord then.

27:18 And then they end up waiting forever. And then they were in heaven where everything is perfect and everything is calm. And then they're trying to evangelize in heaven and everybody's like yeah, I know that Some other guy told me way before you, no, but you do it when it doesn't seem like a good season to do it. That's how you get out of that season. This is what people have to get you minister your way out of trouble and onto the next level. The promise from the Lord is if you build his house, he will build your house. If you seek first the kingdom of God, all those other things will be just added unto you.

28:03 And so there's a lot of Christians. They're wondering why isn't? I've been to the seminars. I've gotten the eight keys to the nine doors that'll put me on the 10 highways to greater increase in success in Jesus, but nothing seems to be changing. Why? Because people all around you are dying and going to hell and you're waiting. You know you're believing God to become dead free. I found the quickest way to activate the promises of God is to get busy with the simple mandates Go ye into all the world. Hey, good news, you live in Queens. You don't have to go ye into all the world. The world went to ye 161 nations in Queens, 2.4 million people.

28:47 Go ye into Jackson Heights. Go ye into Forest Hills. Go ye into Sunnyside. Share your faith and then watch how the promises there's latent promises. You ever feel like you're carrying something around. It's like you're nine months pregnant. Why isn't this baby coming? I've had that. And then I step out and finally do the stuff that the Lord has been on me. But it's in his word. I should have been doing it and I do that. And then it's unlocked and the day loose comes Baby's popping up all over the place. I had sex tuplets. Wow, I knew I've been carrying these guys for years. Oh, you were waiting for me to just do what the book says do Okay.

29:28 Because I was always fond of saying Lord, I'm waiting Christians love it. I'm waiting on you, lord. It's like it's actually I'm waiting on you, I think. I think a lot of you don't know what you're capable of. You tried witnessing once. Twice you invited someone to church and that kind of fizzled out and you're waiting for somebody to cross your path, fall to their knees and say what must I do to be saved? No, you still have to go out and most people they need you to be the conversation starter, but you're not aware what you're capable of.

30:16 The enemy loves to come to believers and tell them they're not ready yet. But if you never reach the end of yourself, you won't activate the power of God. I'll never forget witnessing to my grandfather. I led my mother to the Lord and ended in 92. My father then came in the spring of 1993. My mother got radically saved, immediately started pursuing the things of God. My dad had a bit of a rough start For a number of reasons, mainly because of his background, having immigrated from a communist country. You're just skeptical. You're not skeptical. Actually, jesus can put up with skeptical.

30:57 He was cynical. The Pharisees weren't skeptical, they were cynical. And then Jesus says no, thank you. But he was very cynical because under communism if there's ever an assembly with more than three people and it's organized, it's corrupt, it's evil. So he didn't like churches. He didn't like pastors. He loved Jesus. Even to this day, I'm the only pastor he likes. Everyone else is a charlatan and a crook. So he had a bit of a rough start. I thought I wonder if any of this is really penetrating Until years later I'm witnessing to my grandfather and I'm wrestling with him Because all he's known is the Eastern Orthodox Church, what commonly here is just called Greek Orthodox.

31:45 Our faith is identical to that. It's just called Serbian Orthodox because we're not in Greece. And that's how he was raised and in his mind, if he made the sign of a cross and thought of God once a year, he was doing his duty and that's all that he needed to do. Over there those churches aren't even open every Sunday. They're only open half a dozen times a year for the High Holy Days. So I'm wrestling with him and I can't penetrate. I've been wrestling with him for days. This last wrestling match was right after dinner, so my parents were there. Now here's my red hot on fire mom. She's just looking and she's wondering how can I help, but she's not doing anything.

32:25 All of a sudden, my father, who I had completely put on pause. I just thought, lord, you've got to give me a strategy. He opens up his mouth and presents the gospel for the next 120 seconds In such a way my mouth hung open and I thought this is Billy Graham sitting right next to me. He went through everything our sin condition, the necessity for blood sacrifice, jesus' perfect death on the cross as our substitute, and how faith in him causes our sins to be forgiven and presents us righteous and right standing before God. He said it all. I went oh. Later I said what I said. That was awesome. He went.

33:07 I said where did you get that from? And I'll never forget what he said. He said oh no. And when he said oh no, I said oh, I know what happened. You, according to the scriptures, opened your mouth and God filled it. And that's what the Bible says open your mouth and I will fill it. Jesus, speaking of being persecuted, said don't even think about what you're going to say, don't even have a strategy, don't even plan it. Open your mouth and in that hour I will give you what to say. I saw my lukewarm, so that I don't say Baxlyn, let me be respectful because sometimes he watches online.

33:53 My mom definitely is watching, not Baxlyn, lukewarm, baxlyn. Baxlyn Dad turned into the world's greatest evangelist because he just surrendered and made himself available in that moment. And some of you don't know that is what you're capable of. Who can't yield and allow God to flow through them? But you never brought yourself to that place. But God wants to use you in a great way and the only thing we can take with us to heaven is souls.

34:34 That's our legacy. People talk about legacies and leaving a legacy on earth. Everybody wants to live forever. I'm building this business. It'll be my legacy. No, you're going to be forgotten about very quickly. No, if you remember it, for 50 years you're 0.001%. You just have grandkids, great grandkids that you're pictured to them oh yeah, I heard, and they'll have one sentence about your whole life. That's the reality. You think of the last 2,000 years. You can name but 10 names. Right off the cuff is the name 10 of the most influential names of the last 2,000 years, and you have to think of these names. These are the names of the last 2,000 years, the most influential people.

35:19 Now, this time on earth is a vapor, Who'll be forgotten, but what will truly live on and have an eternal consequence is the people we bring with us to heaven, and each of us should be those that pluck from the fire. When I first got a taste of soul winning, it was a couple of weeks after I got saved and I let someone to the Lord. There's something that filled me then. I still remember it when you're doing what Jesus created you to do. He created you for two things To know Him one, and two to make Him known.

36:04 This is not that complicated Know Him and out of that overflow of knowing Him, make Him known. Relieve suffering. That doesn't mean do humanitarian work, relieve eternal suffering. Humanitarian work is fine, but social justice without the gospel is an injustice. Relieve suffering. Relieve people who are on their way to a devil's hell forever, where the worm doesn't die and their fire isn't extinguished. Relieve that suffering. When I sense that I got addicted to soul winning, I feel like I'm in the perfect center of your perfect well, and I had the privilege of leading someone to the Lord just a couple of weeks after getting saved.

36:51 Part of that was just because all of my friends were unsaved, unlike now we're. The vast, vast, overwhelming majority are Christians and they were teenagers hungry. And so I led that year dozens of people. I don't mean I set a prayer in a corner with them and I led them to the Lord. I mean they came to Bed-Stuy Brooklyn with me. They got baptized in the same tank as me. They got filled with the Holy Spirit, they got discipled and I saw them. There's several of them in full-time ministry today. Yeah, hallelujah, god is just looking for the available person.

37:33 Let's read Luke oh, hallelujah, yes, you Someone said, not me, yes, you Listen. There is this poem that I mentioned when one of my majors was English, so I had this way patches. Remember this poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson called charge of the light brigade. It was about the pressure, the Crimean war.

38:15 I believe it was a Prussian army and it was this light brigade on horseback that valiantly charged into battle. Canons to the left of them, cannons to the right of them. They charge into battle. Every single one of them was slaughtered. And the story goes there was a French general, also on horseback, on a cliff, overlooking this scene, and he said incredible, incredible, because it was spectacular to behold what a show of bravery. He said incredible, but this is not war.

38:59 I think that what's considered in the American church, evangelism, most of the time falls under the umbrella of incredible, but it's not war. It's not really getting the job done. It's not effective. It's spectacular. It makes a good show but nobody's really getting one. I'll give you an example Every ministry, when they wanna reach New York City for Jesus, that's outside of New York and they come in, where do they go? Times Square, where there are no New Yorkers. Nobody told them that the one place New Yorkers avoid like the plague is Times Square.

39:40 If you wanna be away from New Yorkers, go to Times Square and you'll trip over Texans on their way to Olive Garden and on their way to the M&M store to get an M&M hat for $50. But everyone of them and who do they phone up? They phone me up several minutes large. Do you wanna get involved? We're gonna have this big. No, I don't. I've seen what you do and it's incredible. Looks great on Instagram, gonna make great short videos on TikTok and for YouTube and it looks wonderful, but I know nobody's getting saved. The only people who show up to that is a bunch of Christians. Didn't you see the hands being raised for salvation?

40:21 Yeah, I saw those same hands worshiping an hour before. Now they're getting resaved and then you're gonna have a baptismal service and they'll get baptized for the fifth time that year. I don't wanna play Christian games. I wanna get the job done. I want something that's really gonna work. Amen, I want war Real, war real taking dominion. You know how people usually get saved. Someone invites them to church. They like it. They have some questions. You then meet with them for coffee or on a park bench or over the phone.

41:05 You answer their questions. They come again. They like it. If something happens, they don't come for three or four weeks. You give them a call see how they're doing because you love them, not just to see them get saved, but you love them with no strings attached. You love them just because they're a child of God. Then they come again to hear the gospel. But you know most people have to hear the gospel like a dozen times before it registers. You did, I know I certainly did so. Then you reiterate the gospel to them. They get saved. They come to church. They hear about baptism. They get baptized. They come to a revival night. They experience God's power, not that you can only experience it on a revival night, but I'm just saying they get baptized in the Holy Spirit.

41:55 It doesn't really sound that spectacular, right, it's not. It's boring Me, se la guerre, but it's war. It's actually getting the job done. There's ladies. I remember one lady. She would win whole neighborhoods to the Lord with cookies. She made baked fresh cookie. This obviously wouldn't work in New York, because no one's going to let you in, no matter what cookies, cupcakes or whatever you have. But would you believe there's parts of the country where if there's a smiling lady with a basket of fresh baked cookies, they'll actually let her in. And she went from house to house with fresh baked cookies and said can I share something with you? And she would share the.

42:36 She led thousands to the Lord. Is it incredible? No, but she was doing war, much more so than somebody doing some giant crusade and a lot of fluff, a lot of flair, but no real fruit, something every Christian is capable of doing. You're capable of it. Yes, you are Right. Where you're at, there are denominations that really cater to thoughtful people.

43:19 I said thoughtful because I'm remaining exceedingly respectful. I used to call them Christian eggheads, now we're going to call them thoughtful. You know, they just relate to the scripture. It's what the apostle Paul said about knowledge puffing up. It's that verse coming to life. They read every book, 50 translations of the Bible, and then they argue these points of the gospel and they present Christianity as though you had to have a PhD to get saved.

44:04 They even confuse me, like, what Like? If I had to understand all this to get saved, I would have never gotten saved. You know what really helped me as I was diving or exploring that world? Because around 2010, I visited our orphanage in Bahia-Dar, ethiopia, and then they took me out into the bush to preach. Into the bush. I'm talking about mud huts, where eight people live in a mud hut. So never, ever, these people could be 30, 40 years old, never spent one day inside of a classroom. You understand what that does to an intellect. You need to go on some mission ships with us where you don't know how privileged we are here, where nobody has been stimulated by a book or there's just a glaze in their eye.

44:48 They're essentially on the intellectual level of a four or five year old. It's not even recommended that you preach the gospel as you would in America, but that you use a board and a dry race board and a marker and illustrate the gospel, and so I would give the simplest gospel presentation so that a four or five year old could understand it, and you would see them get saved, and salvation that would last. You know what that shows me? That shows me that the Lord designed the gospel Fine. If you're a frontal lobe, an egghead, I love you. I died for you. My gospel is so rich and so complex. You can debate about it for weeks on Twitter. Bring out the nuance Beautiful.

45:32 Also, though, if you've never been into a classroom for a day, my gospel is so simple that even a child could understand it. That's also there and everything in between. Why am I saying this? I'm saying this so that you don't feel that you need to go to Bible school. You don't feel that there's all these hurdles in front of you. When people out there are lost, they're on their way to hell, they're burning, and they're just looking for a normal, a normal, loving human being to talk to them about God. That's all they're looking for. I didn't know it. That's what I was looking for A normal, a normal girl.

46:12 She was my friend for years, elena Chan, since junior high, since seventh grade. Now I'm in tenth grade and I see her in French class and she just looks behind the shoulder and waves high to me and I look at her and I just. Her eyes to me seem like they were glowing. She looked different. I'm not saying this as always, but for me, maybe the Lord did something to just stir up my curiosity. So we're walking to the next class and I said what's going on? You look different. She said why? Yesterday I went and I got baptized at this church. I said yeah, and I got excited because I thought, you know, I've been wanting to get baptized, because in the Eastern Orthodox faith you're baptized as a child and I don't even know for whatever reason they didn't baptize me.

46:59 So I thought I should, because otherwise I'm going to go to hell. This is not true, by the way, but that's what I thought, because if I'm baptized as a kid, then I can live any which way I want and I still go to heaven. Again, not true, but that's what I believed. And my mom phoned up she phoned up the Serbian Orthodox Church in Manhattan and I'd said $500 earlier in the service, but I believe it was $800. In the early 90s it was a lot of money. They requested a fee $800. And in the first service when I shared this, some people went. You can feel the like why would they charge? They're charging because no one's tithing. Do you know why?

47:39 No one's tithing? Here's a heavy Revy. Unsafe people don't tithe. It's wonderful when saved people tithe, but unsaved people definitely don't tithe. So in these churches where there's no power of God, where there's no actual gospel being presented but the church still has to keep going, they charge for weddings, they charge for baptism. You have to charge. We've never charged for a wedding, for anything in our lives, because we have a church of save folk who tithe. That was just a side little church economics class I wanted to present to you just so you know how the sausages are made. Anyway, $800, my parents couldn't afford it, so I always felt like something was missing.

48:23 So she says yeah, I got baptized, she was saved one day. And she said and now look what I can do. She starts speaking in tongues in the hallway of Forest Hills High School in between classes and I go. Now I didn't know what she was saying, but I felt something like oh, I knew something supernatural was just activated and I said what was that, elena? And she says that's the Holy Spirit. I said what's that? And she said he's like a guardian angel who lives inside of me. Very bad doctrine.

49:03 She did not have all her teeth crossed and all of her eyes dotted, but notice that she was still saved. Notice that she was witnessing less than 24 hours saved, doctrinal, messed up and noticed that here I am as a result of her efforts, serving the Lord 31 years later. That means that God can use anyone. He can use you. You don't need to go to Bible school. You don't need to have finished reading the whole Bible. I didn't even get to Matthew 3 before I started witnessing.

49:45 When I got saved, I started a book of Matthew right around the part where I got to Matthew 3. I would have read it much faster, but the church I got saved in was a King James only church, so I had to really push my way. If I had known Pastor James back then he would have turned me on to the NLT and I would have chapters a day. Let's read Luke. Oh yeah, you're qualified. Wait before I read Luke. I've been keeping you on the edge. Listen, there always is this bit of a shift when I talk about evangelism.

50:27 Do you know why this shift? I don't mean in a positive way. There's almost like this weirdness in the air, similar to when you talk about tithes and offerings. It's similar, it's like a hmm, because you realize there's some responsibility that comes with your salvation. And it's weird how some people don't want that. They prefer to just sit and do. No pastor, tell me more about what has already been bought for me and what I can just sit back and receive. That's most of the stuff. But there are some things that you have to do, and I realize I am the pastor who says you're a human being, not a human doing. And Christianity isn't about do, do, do. It's about done, done, done. But for you theologians out there specifically, what I'm talking about is, as concerns your salvation, your sins being forgiven, that's a finished work and you can add to it.

51:18 Your responsibility is done. But now that you are saved, now that you're holy, now that you've been declared not guilty, there is a responsibility. But the good news is he doesn't just send you out alone and say now you got to work for me. Go, because that's what some people think. Now God saved you. Now you got to pay him back and he goes go, now you labor for free. No, he goes alongside with you, he puts his hand over yours. It's not like father telling his son get out there and mow the lawn, so dad saying, hey, you want to mow the lawn with me? Come on, put your hands over mine, let's mow the lawn together.

51:59 I'm going to mow the lawn with two co-laborers with him and he pays you. And yes, I'm going to use that word he pays, he pays you. Jesus gave the example of the vineyard and the laborers in the field and the master of the house will pay them. I found that when you are consumed with people and you love people and you actually want to see these souls come to Jesus, oh yeah, there's some things that God just likes. He doesn't cause him to love you more, but he just likes these things and they open up the windows over your life and evangelism, witnessing whatever you want to call it.

52:39 Witnessing Evangelism that sounds so aggressive, fine. Sharing your faith, whatever you want to call it. I call it plucking one out of the flames of hell and presenting them to Jesus, and I want that honor and what I'm pressing for is Lord, I know there's a move of God coming to New York City. Favor us as a church. Let us have an honor of bringing people to Jesus. I want and I don't want sometimes people. Well, my job is just to sow seed. Someone else will water, someone else will harvest. People use that verse as an excuse all the time. Well, I just plant a seed. I gave an invite to church to someone and I planted a seed.

53:23 Someone else will water it. No, I want to plant a seed. I want to Lord, use me. Use me to bring that person from zero to hero in Jesus Christ. Use this church and use our people and your relationship with the Lord will come alive. Your Christianity will come alive and you will realize this is what I was created for to know him and to make him known. Hallelujah, I'm telling you, if you have been saying no to this, or if you've just put this and assigned it to somebody else, you will be trying to taste of Jesus and it's like eating ice cream with saran wrap around your tongue.

54:11 Your Christianity will be empty. It won't connect because you're not doing what he created you for. You're not fulfilling the Great Commission. I trust that nobody's under condemnation as I say this, but I hope you are on the receiving end of a heavenly pinprick. Yes, right on your bottom. Wake up, they're dying all around you. Wake up and you get to leave them. And don't always think of the handful that rejected you. You really think about it. How many really rejected you? How often did you try to win someone and cast a wide net and trust the Lord to make you better.

54:59 We should be growing. Learning from there's some people you know. You've all run into some street preachers. Nobody's getting saved. They've been on the same street corner hollering for years and they never go back to the drawing board and say you know, maybe I should think about my strategy. They just believe everybody else should adopt around them. No, you learn something, take some notes, get better at it. And let me say this a lot of times Christians think that their only responsibility is inviting someone to church. It is not so. That's just the beginning. Jesus didn't say you'll be witnesses unto a church. He said you'll be witnesses unto me.

55:40 Our responsibility isn't really inviting them to church, it's to talking to them about Jesus. Church just helps in that. Does this making sense. Oh man, hey, I got good news. Next week we have a guest speaker. He's gonna be putting no responsibility on you whatsoever, it's just gonna be. It's gonna be like a buffet all you can eat and it's about everything that you already have in Jesus. I know I'm not talking to all of you, yes, but I am messing with some of you. There is an anointing to mess with people. Did you know that?

56:21 It came upon Elijah on Mount Carmel with the prophets of Baal. He said where is your God? Maybe he's using the toilet? Is he relieving himself? Cut yourself more, cry harder. It's the anointing of messing and I feel it heavy upon me. I'm gonna call it the mantle of messing Some people. Then we're not gonna hear it under the wind until you poke them and provoke them and just tease them a little and say, hey, you gotta think about what you're doing. And what will your life look like if you keep doing what you're doing in 20 years from now? And what could it look like if you aligned yourself with God's values and what God is requiring of you?

57:02 Ho, ho, ho, ho, hallelujah. Let's read this and we'll close with this. Jesus talks about who we're to be like. He said to him what is written in the law? What is your reading of it? So he answered and said you shall love the Lord. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him you have answered rightly, do this and you will live. But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus oh yeah, and who's my neighbor?

57:49 This guy thinks he can outsmart Jesus. Then Jesus answered and said a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a certain priest a priest, this is, someone who's in the business of helping people, or at least should be A certain priest came down that road and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. He couldn't even, he couldn't stand the messiness of it. You know God loves ugly and he rescued us in our mess and he's calling us to not be afraid of the mess.

58:30 Listen, you're saying oh, pastor, you're telling me to witness. You don't know my sphere of influence, my circle, it's a mess. God loves the mess. When I got saved, all the Christians that I didn't even know were Christians that I later found out because I tried to win them. And then they would tell me no, I'm a Christian, no, no, but are you real? Do you understand that Jesus is that? Oh, yeah, yeah, no. I go every Friday youth group. I know I'm like why didn't you ever tell me? And several of them said the exact same thing. Well, pfft, you know how you are. We never thought you'd get saved, like so. You prejudged me Because I was just total, just secular, humanist, hedonist, running around doing whatever I felt like doing.

59:12 I said did you want me to act like a Christian before I became a Christian? And then you were gonna witness to me? You wanted a clean fish before you even caught it. No, god loves the mess, but this priest, he cut across the street, he couldn't stand the mess. Likewise a Levite. So a priest and a Levite, that would be like today, jesus would say a priest and a pastor, people in ministry who should be seeking out to relieve suffering. They couldn't even stand to look at it. When he arrived at the place, came and looked and passed by on the other side, but a certain Samaritan, and there was a great contention between the Jewish people and the Samaritans. There was a huge tension, so they really didn't have dealings with each other.

59:56 But here's a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was and when he saw him he had compassion. You have to have compassion and think about daily how blessed you are, how privileged you are that you're not on the highway, the broad way that leads to destruction that so many are on. But even if you're messed up right now and you feel like a patchwork job, you're saved because your faith is in Christ and you're looking to Jesus. And here you are right now, sitting under the anointing in his word. Be grateful that you're heaven bound and then have compassion on someone who isn't.

1:00:39 That blows my mind. I think about people who've rejected Jesus and they live in such suffering on earth and then they die and go on to real suffering that freezes my blood, real suffering that doesn't end. No, I wanna intercept that. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. In the natural, these were used as antiseptic ingredients for balm and the wine because of its alcohol content. But we all know what the scriptures are alluding to here. Aren't we Oil, a type of the Holy Spirit.

1:01:20 Wine, a type of the Holy Spirit. That's what city light is. It's an oil and wine dispensary. Or when you walk in in the spirit all the ushers, all the greeters they have jugs of oil and wine. They pour it on people's heads. In our ceiling, these hydraulic mechanisms holding 55 gallons of oil and wine come sloshing down on people. Be one who pours in the oil and the wine. Oh, I'm not good at that. Just start and watch what the Lord does. I'm using this word and I don't want you to win.

1:02:00 Set this word, it'll be addictive. It's addictive because it's one of the first times that you'll see and experience how God comes in and you step back and how God works and uses you and flows through and works on your behalf. And then you actually become very impressed, not with yourself, but with how the Lord can just do that, and you go whoa now, all those times when I hear the Lord can do anything through you. Now it's making sense Because I'm saying things I haven't even really studied or thought of, or they're in there, but the Holy Spirit draws them out, but only when you bungee, jump and put yourself out there.

1:02:41 He poured in the oil and the wine and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn and took care of him. This is a meridian. He's the one who should have crossed the road, but he didn't. He stopped. You know why? Because love stops. Listen, love stops. Another world is going at a quick pace, your life is going at a quick pace, but love stops, compassion stops. He stopped. Who does the Lord want you to stop by? Just stop, and then make him a part of your everyday prayers and genuinely love him, with no strings attached, not because you're trying to bring him to Jesus, only you love him because who they are, and then bring him to gospel.

1:03:29 Say how, any which? Try a bunch of stuff, try the simple stuff. You know what worked for me for years? Something as simple as hey can. I don't know if you believe in the Bible or not, but will you read John chapter three with me? This is gonna just read John chapter three with me. It takes like 10 minutes. I can't tell you how many people I've read to the led to the Lord just by reading John chapter three with him. For many it's the first time they're even exposed to scripture and you sit down and read John, chapter three, and Jesus is talking about the new birth and you're explaining it to them, which opens up a window or a door to bring in other parts of the gospel. The next thing you know they understand the gospel and you lead them.

1:04:10 Then you know what I find is a major problem. People don't know how to close the deal Because and they always quote that verse, well, you know, I sow someone else waters. No, you go for the jugular, hit bull's eye. I've seen Christians where somebody's like what must I do to be saved? And like well, think about what I told you and walk away. Oh, don't worry, in a year from now someone will come and you know, I just planted a seed. What that seed will be burnt and scorched in a year from now. You could have just reaped that whole thing. You do it, yes, you can. You can with his strength, with his wisdom, and you won't be doing it alone.

1:04:53 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two dinari, gave them to the innkeeper and said to him take care of him and whatever more you spend, when I come again I will repay you. So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves. Worship team, would you please come up? God is calling us to love our neighbor. There's some practical ways you can do that. I know you guys have friends. You know how. I know Cause. When we have a church picnic with catered barbecue, you guys show me just what social butterflies you really are.

1:05:34 You invite people. People come out, cause a church picnic is easy to invite you, but extend it a little more. We have these physical cards. For those of you who are into physical cards, this is a nice thing to leave with someone. You know what I find works really well when you invite someone to church, just shoot them a link of the Google Maps link. We have right now 193 five-star reviews. Maybe you will be the next seven right here. Bring us over 200. But it's a great advertisement for our church. We got our pictures, videos, our website, the times. On there people can read reviews and just shoot that over to a friend. Say wanna come here with me this Sunday? This is where I've been going.

1:06:17 Well, I'll never go to church, I know. Come check it out. I never do a lot of things until I do them, hallelujah. And this week, as a start to this new season in our life, in the church's life, we wanna give you this. I usually don't like church merch. It's always cheesy, always tacky, but this, honestly, this looks like a key fob to a Lamborghini. This is a city light key chain. We'll give you one and one to give to a friend when you invite them on your way out. But let's pray right now and let's trust.

1:07:00 Let's trust that the Lord will use us. Those of you who right now you're saying I want this so much. I want to take people with me. Release that compassion right now. Release that cry, lean into it. Sometimes it's painful. John knocks. You know what his prayer was. Hundreds of years ago he cried out to God. He said oh God, give me Scotland or I die. Give me Scotland or, lord, I'll die. I ache for their salvation.

1:07:41 I ache for them to come, for your family, your parents, your children. Don't be afraid to be moved to where you say Lord, give them to me or I die. I ache for them. Use me, flow through me, open up my mouth, give me the right words at the right time. I will seek the opportunity, but you also need, but you also put me in an opportunity, lord, whatever it takes. You have no hands on earth. You have mine. You have no feet on earth. You have mine. You have no mouth on earth, but you have mine. Use me flow through me. Not my will, but yours be done, father, in the name of Jesus, let a mighty outpouring of your Holy Spirit and a special fire from heaven come upon us as a church.

1:08:30 Lord, let this be a house of salvation from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. Raise us up 10 times more than before. Thank you for previous salvation in the baptism. Lord, 10 X in Jesus' name. There's a million of us here in the five boroughs, lord, we're asking 400s of thousands in Jesus' name, that a mighty move of God would come and sweep New York City. Amen, amen. This is the City Light Church podcast.

1:09:11 If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansik in 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 City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.