Celebrating Milestones and Embracing New Beginnings in a Faith Journey

0:00 And as they would walk by, they would throw the stone and it would serve as a memorial centuries later to Recall the past victories. There is a power to that, you know. Every time we give a testimony, we're recalling a past victory, and the Bible says there's a power to our testimony, and so we're going to spend this service Recalling and remembering and building a memorial to God of the past victories we've had in the year 2023. Amen. 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 Jansic 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. Are you ready for the best year of your lives? This is what I'm believing for. I'm believing it for me, my family, for the people who call City Light home, and I want you to believe it for yourself the best year we've ever had. Let's go to Joshua.

1:22 Joshua, chapter 4, verses 1 through 3. I want to show you a powerful principle from the word of God. This is after many, many years, various trials and tribulations, after the children of Israel were supernaturally delivered out of Egypt, wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years, highs, lows, temptations, finally crossed over the Jordan into the promised land. And this is what God instructs them to do. This means that it's very important to God. When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua now choose 12 men, one from each tribe.

2:05 Tell them take 12 stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan, carry them out and pile them up at the place where you will camp tonight. What were these stones? They were memorial stones. 12 men together, 12 stones. Throwing a pile. To anybody would have just looked like a pile of rocks, but to them it would have served as a reminder for them and for future generations, a reminder of the goodness of God, a reminder of past faithfulness, a reminder of past victories, and throughout the scriptures that's a common theme.

2:48 The Lord says remember, remember, remember. Do you know why he says remember so often? Because we're so prone to forget, and this isn't the first time the children of Israel or a people of God were instructed to do this. Jacob, when he had that encounter with God at Bethel, he made a monument of stones Over and over again throughout the scriptures after victory. Sometimes it was one person, sometimes, in this case, it was 12, sometimes it was in the tens of thousands. Each one was asked to pick up a stone. Imagine what that looked like and as they would walk by, they would throw the stone and it would serve as a memorial centuries later to recall the past victories.

3:31 There is a power to that. You know. Every time we give a testimony, we're recalling a past victory, and the Bible says there's a power to our testimony, and so we're going to spend this service recalling and remembering and building a memorial to God of the past victories we've had in the year 2023, amen. And here's what I'd like to encourage you to do, this is my wife and I we're going to do this as we ring in the new year. It takes all of ten minutes, but it's very powerful. Get a piece of paper and just write the months of the calendar year January, february, march, april, may and, next to each month, just put down one victory, the best victory that the Lord gave you in that month. Think back.

4:12 If the year seems like a blur like it does for many of us when you try to think back, and if you don't journal, I found, if you just go through the camera roll of your phone, have you ever done that Like ah, I forgot I even took that trip in February. Oh, look at that, I was at such and such place. And then that causes you to remember something great that the Lord did last February, march, and just write that down and thank the Lord for every month and thank the Lord for what he's done, and get yourself ready, because I'm believing that 2024 is going to be our best year ever. Amen, hallelujah. So Pastor Mo and Pastor James are going to be helping me today, but I want to kick it off with some of our victories, some of our memorial stones for 2023 and how good the Lord has been to us as a church Number one.

4:59 We were able to partner with Yovit Sobaczmanski, a missionary whom we've supported for nearly ten years in Montenegro, to plant an entirely different church in the country of Serbia and under reached nation. There's plenty of beautiful buildings, church buildings there. There's plenty of people who will say that they're Christian, but very few Bible believing churches, and if you would interview people on the street, you'd realize that the people who name Jesus as their Lord and Savior is less than 0.01% those who actually would say I'm saved because I put my faith in Christ. So a lot of religion, very little relationship. So, thanks to you, $15,000 plus dollars, which goes very far in Serbia, helped launch that church.

5:44 Let's put our hands together for that victory and watch this video clip Pastor Yovit sent us from his first service just a few weeks ago when he launched out. Greetings and blessings from Mavisar Serbia, from Christ Gospel Church. In a few moments we are going to start our new church meetings. I just wanted to share this special moment with you, much, much more than Mavisar. Yeah, put your hands together. He's an awesome man of God. He reminds me a lot of the Apostle Paul. He's tough as nails and in these countries where I'm from, you start preaching the Gospel.

6:26 It reminds me of the first century, where the religious people it says they gnashed at the Apostles with their teeth. We think people are angry in America when you preach the true gospel, when you start irritating that religious spirit Del Del, there's just such a violence that comes out. But he will not quit, he will not back down and we're trusting for big fruit, great fruit, to come from that ministry. Number two, as a highlight from 2023, we were able to give $25,000 plus dollars that you raised for Bonnie Andrews and Live Jam, the ministry that he has in reaching college campuses and people who haven't heard the gospel all across the country in college campuses.

7:06 Let's put our hand together for that and let's look at this video Bonnie Andrews, I'm here Come on, People that are having any sort of mental health issues. They don't need drugs, but they need hugs. Would you hand together for Dr? Needy. But even though I focus on the brain, I know that the brain doesn't operate in isolation. So we still have to think about how we navigate through our lives, all the experiences that we have, how those impact our lives, how those impact our brains, and how our spiritual practices can also impact our brains as well. Give a warm round of applause for Sheena Quater Paul. We're painting from up there. I don't know of any job that films your mistakes, and so a lot of people.

7:52 We had to talk about the pressure of making mistakes, because if you make a mistake it's gonna cost you A lot of people run from God, but I'm telling you tonight you need to run too. God, the only thing that's gonna heal and help their brokenness is Jesus Christ. Tell me how it won't show, not uncomfortably enough. This felt like really adjuvantated and inspired and it was really effective in getting the message across of like heading Jesus to be part of your life, god's part of your life. I'm telling you it's gonna change your life. So we have the Bible right outside the gospel done for every person in this group, but if you start, we need this book. I'm telling you, the mental health is gonna shoot.

8:33 I like that. The content was direct and it was responsive. You wanted to engage in it. They didn't avoid the gospel, they didn't avoid Jesus. They looked at real problems. It was easy to get saved in this meeting. Amen, amen. The only thing that we can take to heaven with us is souls, and the most important thing on Jesus' heart is the salvation of new people. So I want that to be the most important thing on my heart. I don't wanna tell you. I'm privileged. I'm blessed that we have a church that can sow seed and bless ministries in other nations.

9:14 Bless ministries here. Bless a man of God like Bonnie Andrews, who can go around now on college campuses and bring the uncompromised word of God and the gospel of power. And when I say I'm blessed and I'm privileged is because without you it wouldn't be possible. I mean, $25,000 is no chump change and we just had him preach here once and we raised nearly 90% of it that first week. Didn't even, you know, when we raised money. We don't make a big push. We just said here's the need, do what the Lord says do. And it came up right like 90% that first week. And then I phoned him. I said it's awesome. 23,000 came in and we were all rejoicing and then somebody said, no, it's gonna be more than 25,000.

10:03 Hallelujah, number three a memorial stone I wanna put on that pillar of victories. This year is our baptisms. We've baptized over 80 people in 2023. Amen and baptisms are important. I personally feel like there's been an intentional diluting of the power of baptism and the doctrine of baptism. It's now treated kind of as an afterthought, like if you get around to it, get water baptized. But to Jesus it was so important. Number one, he modeled it as our example. Number two, when he gave us the great commission, he mentioned baptism in there Go, preach the gospel, baptizing Amen, and he said those that believe and are baptized.

10:47 Baptized when you truly believe in Jesus. It's the next step. When you truly give your life to Jesus, you want to do what his word says to do and what his word says to do next, immediately after you believe, is show your faith with a work that you have faith in your heart and demonstrate and be baptized. So let's take a look at this video. Congratulations on making it here. How many of you you felt like something was resisting you to get you just from showing up today? Yeah, that usually is the case. The enemy hates baptism. He does not want you getting baptized. It's solidifying your relationship with Jesus. It's solidifying the decision that you've made. I just want to encourage you to prepare your heart for what's going to happen.

11:29 I want you to forget about. This is key. Forget about every other person who want to immortalize this moment. Just be thinking of one thing on your way to getting baptized, there's going to be people praying for you. I'll meet with you and ask you five questions. Do you believe that Jesus Christ was born in the Virgin Mary? I want you to just be thinking about Jesus. Do you believe that he walked this earth in every skin? Do you believe that he died of a claw and what he accomplished for you? And you just surrender your whole life. And that he's coming back in power, and glory for you. You wonder, what should I be thinking about? To render trust and let go, heal and surrender. In Jesus' name. We welcome your presence. In Jesus as your own personal Lord and thank you.

12:11 Go and take back a lunch and give baptized to Jesus' name. Something that universal man has always understood, and that's this that there has to be a bloodshed for the forgiveness of sins, and the scripture says that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. I thank you, father, in Jesus' name, amen, hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, lord, for such a victory. Praise God, I'm sorry. I just saw that video for the first time last service and I still can't get past it.

12:55 Can I believe you let me out of the house like that? Emily, I'm looking like Tony Soprano, just missing the gold watch and gold chain. Good Lord, you were thinking it right. I said out loud what you were thinking. They're cracking up in the front row. I wasn't feeling well. I almost couldn't make it to baptism and I said I'm going to dress comfortable, pastor Mo and Pastor James. And then you see that, and it's just, my wife is too supportive, too encouraging. Whenever I say, hey, you know every husband, how do I look? And she's like oh you look great, babe, you've got to stop doing that. You've got to tell me the truth. This is not honesty. Before the Lord, hallelujah Number four.

13:43 We preached through three series the book of Ephesians, romans, chapter six, seven and eight and the book of Galatians. Took us eight plus weeks to get through Galatians and I count that as a victory, because it was all expository preaching. Expository preaching is when you go line upon line and you go through entire verses of the Bible. It's actually how the majority of the preaching was done, historically speaking, at least in America. From what I've studied, topical preaching also powerful. We do it all the time the Lord lays a subject or a topic on your heart and then you find various scriptures to open up and unpack that particular topic. But it just seems that topical preaching has way surpassed expository preaching because it is so much easier and simpler on the people, which is also unfortunately facilitated a lot of Biblically literacy in the body of Christ, because sometimes you really gotta dig deep there.

14:40 There's nobody juggling for you, the lasers are not, nobody's entertaining you. You gotta get in there and absorb the Word of God and I hope that, as we went through these various series and went through entire books of the Bible, that you're not only benefited from the subject matter that was preached, but that you also learned how to study the Bible and read the Bible for you, that you can see that every single verse is pregnant with truth and revelation. There's no filler material in the Bible. Nothing is there by accident. But if the Word of God gives us life, amen. So we celebrate these victories as we build a memorial to the Lord. I wanna ask Pastor Moe, our volunteer and community pastor, to come and share some of the victories that he's seen this year.

15:21 He's seen this year. Happy New Year church. So I wanna give you guys a number to start off with. That number is 58. That was the number of life groups that we had this year alone at City Light Church. Oh yeah, so these are the home groups that meet from house to house. We had those in three different boroughs in Brooklyn, manhattan and Queens and also meeting digitally on Zoom. We had over 700 signups and attendees that attended these groups.

16:05 No, you can clap and praise God for that. What you don't understand is there are two City Light churches. There's a City Light church that meets on Sunday morning and a guest might casually come and say, oh, this is a nice place, but then you miss out on the second City Light and the second City Light. If you attend Life Group, you know exactly what I'm talking about. That's the place where you meet your friends, that's the place where you get prayer, that's the place where you get accountability and growth and it's the kingdom of God and it truly is the family of God. I've seen so many breakthroughs happen just this past semester alone People walking in distraught, broken and hurting and leaving out buoyant, joyful and happy, eating fried chicken.

16:52 Because, listen, if your Life Group ain't got food. What are we really doing? No, literally. It's a place where there is fellowship. It's true friendship, it's true accountability. Have you ever gone through trouble and made the wrong decision because you were isolated in your own thoughts? I've learned this Christianity is not meant to be done in isolation. Christianity is meant to be done in community, with accountability, with friends that'll tell you don't wear that, don't do that. See this red flag over here Beaming. I need you to see that, because sometimes we don't see that. All right, let me read you a verse from the Bible Acts 2.46 says so.

17:37 Continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. This is Life Groups. This is meeting together, growing together and making sure that we're bearing fruit, because on a Sunday morning you don't really get to minister. You get ministered too, but at a Life Group you get to minister, you get to pray for people, you get to grow in your gifting. It's a beautiful thing, because we've seen our Life Groups explode and grow and we give God the glory for that. We've seen people heal at Life Groups. We had a couple. They actually went on a honeymoon trip and they left early to make sure that they were back in time for their Life Group.

18:25 That should tell you the level of diligence, because they understood. I don't want to miss out nothing. If God is showing up, I want to be there. And again, it's a beautiful thing when you can have somebody walk into a room that is despondent, hurting and broken, and they sit down, they don't say a word and their Life Group members come alongside them and go hey, what's going on? And then they can share and they can open up, and then people can pray with them and build them up. That is such a powerful thing In a city of isolation and loneliness. We celebrate that God has given us community and Life Groups. Amen, praise God.

19:11 Another thing that we're going to thank God for is the healing rooms. Yeah, see those sounds, those whoops that you hear. These are the people that have gone to healing rooms and they've received the ministry, basically the healing rooms. What we do is we endeavor to live out the Scriptures. It says that we would lay our hands upon the sick as believers and they would recover. So on the second Saturday of every month, we pray for the sick at 4609 31st Avenue, right around the corner where we'll be having church next Sunday. We've seen some amazing things church. We've seen people. Matter of fact, just this year one of our members was diagnosed with cancer, so they received prayer.

19:55 They also received their treatment and now they're cancer free. Can we give God glory for that? I mean we've seen blood diseases healed. We've literally seen people that, excuse me, one of their legs is shorter than the other and we've seen actively seen with our own eyes, their leg grow out. They've had to get new orthopedic shoes and their doctor was like where you been, what are you doing? So the God that we serve, the Bible says that he's the same yesterday, today and forever. The same power and miracles that you see in the Bible, that you have access to that today.

20:35 So we celebrate. We prayed for over 75 people this year. We've seen so many testimonies of people walking in one way, leaving out the other. I love when I see sometimes people walk in with canes and then you got to chase them down the block when the appointment is over, like you forgot your cane and they're like I don't want it. We've seen that at the healing room. So we celebrate God, we celebrate his healing power, his anointing the blood of Jesus that gives us access to supernatural healing, we praise God. And another thing that we praise God for our volunteers, oh yeah. So everything that you see here, from the lights to the beautiful decorations, even my clothes no, not my clothes, but everything that you see.

21:24 You see, because we have a team of people behind us. It is not just Pastor Bo, pastor James and I that makes this church run. We are the leadership, but we have a team of people and really they are the answer to prayer. We praise that. God Help us to build your kingdom and he sent us amazing men and women that love Jesus and are willing to pour out of their time, their effort, their energy, their money to make sure that the kingdom of God and the gospel is going forth with power. Now, knowing that that is the case, that they give so selflessly to build up the kingdom, we always want to celebrate, acknowledge and just declare that God is doing a wonderful work.

22:08 Now I'm the community pastor. If you don't know me, one thing you will know or get to know about me very quickly I like to party. It's within my nature. More like if it has to do with food, we're going to do it, and every year I'm responsible for making sure that we celebrate our volunteers. So basically this is what it looks like. I call up Pastor Bo and I say Pastor Bo, I want to have a party. And the first thing Pastor Bo says is what's the number? And I say Pastor Bo, I want to have a party. He said what's the number. I said I want to have a party on a boat and he said what's the number? I said it's a boat, but he did say yes.

23:12 Let's take a look at this video. Her stylist thought she was going to the Oscars instead of the city-like volunteer party. Hey, all right. We're celebrating today. Awesome. The face goes through the ages. The word goes to.

23:55 And Father, thank you for what's about to take place, as Rob and Yari Martino come on up, because we're going to ordain them into the ministry today. So this isn't just a ceremony for the sake of a ceremony. Something special is happening here. The sweet psalmist award goes to Katherine Binner. The kids MVP award goes to Master Masi. The rookie of the year goes to none other than K-Chun.

24:41 Rookie of the year. The dynamic duo goes to this is an amazing.

25:32 The first service. Everyone is laughing. It's you, my friends. It's you. So again, we celebrate our volunteers. We give awards, we give thanks and appreciation for all that they do. We give thanks for them. Aka, you should join the volunteer team so we can give thanks for you. One of the last things that I do want to celebrate that the Lord has given us the privilege to do is we get to have church, and when I say that we get to have church, we get to have church in a way where church is actually church. Did you know that the four walls of this building is not what makes up the church?

26:13 What makes up the church is every believer within this room, and so often we have in our personal lives and in our worlds people that if we invite them to church, they're not necessarily going to attend. So what we like to do is we like to put the church in an accessible place where people have access to it, because, although someone might not say yes to an invitation to church, they're probably not going to say no to a barbecue and a picnic. So what we like to do annually is we go to the streets, really, and we have this huge blowout of a party with one aim that we might bring the church and make it accessible to people who might not necessarily come to a service.

26:57 You might say, well, what does that look like? It looks like we have a prayer table. It looks like we have different elements for the community, just letting people know what city-like church is about. And we have, yes, free food that we spend a great deal on because we want people to know that they are loved, they are welcomed. Matter of fact, just show the video, let the people see what we're working with. It's just so amazing to be around people who also believe in the same things you believe, who know that Jesus died and rose, and we get to sharing that belief with one another. It doesn't feel strange to talk about the love of somebody who's giving their all. Felicidades a la Iglesia porque es un evento muy bonito.

27:40 Ojalá todas las Iglesias copiaran de esta manera Games and prizes. This is exciting for them. Go, go, go, go, go, go go. I am enjoying today. It's a beautiful day. I didn't expect there was going to be so much, so many things for the children to do. This is my first time here and I was very surprised at how much unity there is and how everyone comes in partake you need to eat all of the red, all of the red, okay. All of this. It's really been a miracle, god's grace, and just finding this beautiful community that loves God, that is so passionate about reaching out to other people this is exactly what.

28:27 I've been looking for when I say church community. I've been looking for a church community, I've been looking for a church family and I'm so glad to have come to City Life. Me encanta. Es la primera vez en este barbecue y hicieron un buen trabajo. Me encanta el servicio, la gente muy amable, una maravilla, gracias, city Life. So, but your first time I'm talking about, come here Sundays. The whole life group is all great. Let's give a round of applause to the Lord. So again we celebrate that God has privileged us and allowed us to take the gospel to the streets.

29:11 Stand with me and join me as we worship through song. As we look back and celebrate 2023,. Do you know that was one of our most favorite songs of City Life. That's a good time, isn't it? Singing and celebrating the faithfulness of our God. What a great way to look back at 2023. And one of the things we got to start the year doing is with an anniversary celebration. You guys remember that in January, we kicked off the year with a 21-year anniversary. We rented out the Melrose Ballroom and we packed it out and had a party. You remember that? Who got to join us for that? That was an incredible celebration of 21 years of God's faithfulness. Let's look at some of the highlights from that incredible experience.

30:02 Man, I am so excited to be celebrating 21 years of City Light Church and this is the ultimate party. People said yes, passion point said yes, the church said yes, and God keeps showing up. I am so excited to be celebrating 21 years of City Light Church. I am so excited to be celebrating 21 years of City Light Church.

30:58 I am so glad that Pastor Boyant said yes 21 years ago and we are reaping the benefits, as is our community. I hope you are getting as much out of it. God is good and he is not done yet. The best is still yet to come. Hallelujah. Stand to your feet right now, lift up your hands. Hallelujah, father, in Jesus' name. You have been so good to us, and in the name of Jesus we pray A relief of the power of God upon everybody right now. Thank you for divine assistance from the throne of Jesus.

31:51 Do you like that song that was playing behind that video? Do you know that's an original City Light song. That's good stuff. God has given us so many talented individuals. Hasn't our worship team done an incredible job? Let's give them some thanks. You guys have done a great job. Thank you for leading us. We got a lot of talent that God has blessed us with and we get to celebrate and you take it for granted to visit another church and you realize they don't have the talent. But it's a good time coming together and celebrating our God and Sneak Peek. Next year we're going to be able to celebrate a little bit more of those original songs. They've got a City Light LP coming out with a good handful of five original songs that are going to bless you.

32:32 It's going to be good. They've been sneaking them in and you guys don't even know. You're like, wow, that's a great new Hillsong. They're really burning it up. The City Light is good stuff, isn't it been good? Now let me tell you. Let me look at a passage here that I was thinking of in Psalm 118, verse 24 and 25. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Please, lord, please save us, please, lord, please give us success, success. God's given us so many successes. We rejoice and celebrate those successes, and that's the point of what we're doing today. Look at this in Proverbs 16.3. Commit your actions to the Lord and your plans will succeed, and that's what we've done here at City Light.

33:15 We commit all that we do to the Lord, and he is bringing us success. Let's put our hands together and let's thank Him one more time, because all the credit belongs to Jesus for all he has done. Earlier in the year, we created a brand new City Light logo and a new website so that it was easier for people to figure out what's going on around here. The website's kind of a taste and see, that's the front door. You guys know that, right, you're going to check something out A new place, a new store, a restaurant, a church. What do you do? First you go to their website, and so we wanted to have a fresh look that was easy to navigate, that represented who we are, that helps people get in through that front door, and so that was a labor of love. Right, that was tough.

33:55 Pastor Bo was looking at all these new logos that the designers were giving. He's like nope, not that one. Nope, not that one, that's not right, that's not right. And we finally had one that felt like City Light and we can use that to continue to show people who we are and what we're about, and that was incredible. Then we had an incredible revival weekend. You remember Nathaniel St Eloi came and ministered over the course of three days, four services, blessed and encouraged. Were you blessed by that? That was good stuff. He spoke prophetic words over so many people, laid hands on just about everyone, prayed for everyone. That was a powerful weekend we got to celebrate. If you remember, a couple of months ago we actually shared that one of our partnerships with the Grace Center in Ethiopia, through our mission initiatives, was able to acquire more property in a neighboring community where they're going to be able to expand and create a whole other school, orphanage center, resource center to be more impactful in a neighboring community and expand their influence.

34:48 Let's give God some praise for that, because that's a big accomplishment. So why did Pastor Bo start City Light all those years ago, almost 22 years ago, there were other churches in NYC. When you started right, it wasn't like, oh, my goodness, it's a waste line, there's no churches here. There's a lot of churches here. Why one more? Because he, just like then and us, now, want to see a church alive with the power of the Holy Spirit. Right, that's what he wanted to see. That's what we want to see today. So many churches. They pale in comparison to what we read about in scripture. Right, we read powerful stories of healing Jesus, touching people. We see the Holy Spirit alive and active.

35:29 He was befriending the sinners and the prostitutes and he was frustrating the Pharisees. I like that. But then you see these kind of anemic, sad. It looks like maybe you're at a funeral or a wake. They're just very reverent, they're dead. We want a church that's alive, where everyone is welcomed, everyone can come in and experience the transformative power of Jesus and be changed. That's what we want at City Light Church, where you can see power, you can see healing, you can find love and you can find grace and his mercy. We want a church that everyone is welcomed to Everyone is needed, as Pastor Mo mentioned and a church where everyone is changed.

36:13 You want to be changed or you want to stay the same? The right answer is to be changed. A lot of you are murmuring it and I appreciate it. I want to be changed because I'm a hot mess and I need to be better. And that's good, and this is a place where we can experience Christ and be changed. Let's look at what we find in Acts, chapter two, beginning in verse 42. All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and to sharing in meals, including the Lord's Supper, and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and their possessions and they shared the money with those in need.

36:54 They worshiped together at the temple each day, they met in homes for the Lord's Supper and they shared their meals with great joy and generosity, all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. That sounds incredible. That's the kind of church I want to be a part of, not some of these churches that are just kind of playing church, going through the motions and really worshiping ritual, but a church where we can come together and be fully devoted. I don't want a church that kind of seems consumeristic and just kind of going through the motions politically correct. I don't want to be a part of a church like that. What I just read sounds like a church full of people that were sold out and fully devoted to Christ.

37:39 They were devoted to themselves, they were devoted to each other and everyone was filled with awe. You filled with awe when you come into this place, when you hang around other city lighters. That's our hope for you. They weren't just going to church, they were the church. That's what we want to be a part of. They weren't just spiritual consumers, they were spiritual contributors and, just like us here at City Light, we give, we worship, we study, we pray, we evangelize, we meet needs. We want to be a radically generous church, full of generosity, just like the passage and acts where everyone gave together and no one had need.

38:20 They had everything in common and they gave. You've heard all the recaps shared, all of the wins and successes and the radical generosity here at City Light, the amazing things that we've been able to be a part of here in New York City and around the world, sharing the truth, the love, the life change of Jesus. Just like the church in the first century. I want us to be part of a radical movement of God, devoted to each other and Jesus as we continue to grow bigger on Sundays. Look to your left and your right. Here's a couple of empty seats. Let's fill them. You want to commit in 2024 to have no empty seats in our services. That'd be awesome.

39:01 The solution is right here. It's you Invite people, invite them to come, let's fill this place. But we'll continue to grow smaller in our life groups. That's how a big church stays small. You have community in life groups. There's Pastor Moe explain. That's where you have relationship, accountability, food I wish we had pizza and service on Sunday, but we don't. You've got to go to Life Group. The semester starts again in February. Make sure you're in one. We'll continue to launch new churches all around the world as we partner with other ministries through our initiatives and relationships, as we continue to see God's good news spread.

39:44 We're going to leverage technology. We stream the services. We thank the production and tech teams right now. They do a great job. It takes money, time and effort. I know a lot of people think that they're YouTube stars and it's not as easy as it sounds or looks. It takes a lot of work and a lot of preparation and a lot of energy, but it's worth it to us for more people to hear the good news of Jesus. We stream the service. Did you know that hundreds more than sit in the seats on Sunday actually experience our services via the online stream? That's incredible. And we leverage Zoom. We have prayer meetings via Zoom every single week and tomorrow we start 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting via Zoom, and that is an incredible leveraging of technology.

40:30 This year we have a special link just for kids so they can be involved in this process as well. We're going to continue to look for opportunities to redeem and leverage technology to reach more people for Jesus. That's what I want to be a part of. As long as there's breath in our bodies, we're committed to be radically devoted to Jesus and to each other so that his will be done and his kingdom advanced. That's the kind of church we want to be part of in 2024. You excited to do it. Let's do it together Faster. Awesome highlights and memorial stones that were laid down today. You know, in my desire to see city lights really become what God has called it to be, I can actually put my eyes so much into where we need to be that I forget the victories.

41:23 And maybe you're that way with your own life I know I am. You know that there's still a way to go and you can get caught up by where you are and how much further you have to go, but then you forget where you've come from. And so we've just spent this service celebrating what amazing things God has done for us in the last year, and really, as we compile this list, I realized I had forgotten half of these things because I'm too busy thinking about where we still need to be, and I encourage you to not get overwhelmed by where you need to go, but celebrate what God has done for you in 2023. I really hope that as you enter in tonight, that you'll make that list and you'll be reminded, and you will remind the Lord how good he's been, and it'll build up your faith for 2024.

42:11 We're gonna say a confession of faith together in just a minute. I just wanna give you two announcements just to reiterate next Sunday we won't be meeting here. How many of you knew that? We'll be right five minutes away, just down the street, at the St Andrew's location. All of that information is on our website and the emails that have been sent out on our social media, and so we trust to see you there next Sunday. And then number two is 21 days of prayer and fasting Begin tomorrow, and so how long you're going to fast? That's between you and the Lord. I encourage you to get a number from the Lord. It could be the first week, it could be the second week, it could be one day, it can be the full 21 days. You do business with God and find out what he's putting on your heart, but everyone can join us at 7 pm every night on Zoom as we pray together.

42:57 How many of you will be joining us tomorrow? Don't miss out on praying together. It's really one of my favorite times of year. It is just powerful. There is something about praying together in a community, and so can't wait to see you on Zoom. Starting tomorrow for 21 days. Let's all stand. The Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it will eat the fruit thereof. God has put a power and an authority in your mouth and we're going to decree and declare this over 2024. Are you ready? Say this out loud with me, father, in the name of Jesus, as I enter 2024, I know you're already there.

43:44 You've gone before me. I believe your hand is upon me, the Holy Spirit is within me, your grace surrounds me. 2024 is a year of victory. It's my best year yet. My cup runs over. I experience your protection, your prosperity, your favor. Thank you, lord. I go into the new year with faith, optimism, excitement.

44:25 You're gonna outdo yourself, lord, and I thank you for it In Jesus' name. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah and happy new year. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Hallelujah, the ministry team. Won't you come on up? We're gonna worship the Lord with one more song. I encourage you to give him your all as you sing to him and if you want prayer for anything, anything at all, our ministry team would love to lay hands on you and pray with you and for you. You can come on up to the front whoever wants prayer, but we're gonna put our eyes on Jesus and sing.

45:11 Sing him one more song right to his heart from yours Amen. We'll see you in 2024, tomorrow night, as we kick off prayer. Bless you. City Light. 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 Jansik and City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person any time. 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.

45:54 Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.