Embracing Immanuel — God With Us

(0:00 - 1:03) Because we're professional hiders, we hide from the Lord. And this is a man problem. You see it right in the third chapter of Genesis. As soon as man fell, what did man do? Hit. Where are they going to hide? But yet that's you. That's me, hiding. Like we can hide from him. So the Lord is calling us to step into the light, into transparency, because that's where the healing takes place. Welcome to the CityLight 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 CityLight Church, feel free to visit us at CityLightNYC.com. That's CityLightNYC.com. Pastor Boyan Jancic 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. (1:05 - 2:37) I got prayers like that. And the Lord actually said, do the same thing. I flashed back to, and then I'd be reading Matthew. And before, you know, I'd read the same passage, still don't know what it means, still confused. My mind zones out for five minutes as I'm reading. And then I read it, and it's like, I get teleported into the book. And you start, you know, you're reading the miracles of Jesus, and you get glimpses, and you start feeling the same anointing that was there in the Gospels. Hallelujah. See, there's levels to this thing. And a lot of people, they're not hungry for the next level, because they never, ever progressed in Him. So they don't even know what's available. And the hungriest people you'll ever meet is someone who's gotten a few touches from the Lord. Then they realize, oh, I've been eating this soup called Christianity. It has no salt in it. It has no pepper in it. Not even a dash of hot sauce. But I'm eating it. It's better than water. And everybody tells me it's so good. But then the Lord comes up and goes, you have a little dash of Frank's Red Hot. It'll make the whole thing better. And you're like, wow, I didn't know soup could taste so good. He comes by and crackles a little pepper on there. You go, oh, there's levels to this thing called soup. Amen. I don't have to eat bland stuff. Praise God. I forgot I had a thing I was going to preach, but the interruption, the Lord highlighted them. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. (2:37 - 3:51) Yes. You know, God, this is an important foundation to lay. God is good. That should go without saying. But if you actually listen to most Christians, they don't in their core believe that because they've been beaten up a few times in life and they misattribute the beatings to God as though God is a great puppet master in the sky who controls every facet of their life. Sometimes stuff just happens. Sometimes bad stuff just happens because we're living still in a fallen world, reaping the consequences of a fallen world. Now, ideally, you're sticking close to the Lord. You're listening to his every leading, his every word. If you do that, you'll be protected from a lot. But even then, sometimes stuff just happens. It doesn't mean God is bad because if you yield to him in those moments and go with faith and not doubt and belief and complaining, he'll come into that mess, into that trash heap that the world and that Satan created, and he'll recycle that thing. It'll be a pile of gold instead of trash. But God is good. And too many believe that some of the time, but he's actually good all of the time. (3:51 - 4:09) And he's good to you. And we have to be on this foundational, fundamental, same page that God wants to bless you. Not just God is a blesser. No, he wants to bless you. David didn't say the Lord is a shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. (4:10 - 5:07) Now, I'm so glad so many of you are nodding, but I want to tell you, honestly, when I really talk to believers, whether it's in CityLight or outside of CityLight, in their heart of hearts, they're not really convinced. They wonder. And some, some will actually adopt the mentality of, I know God is good and he's really good to some, but you know, he has his chosen and his favorites and to others, you know, you might get the short end of the stick or whatever. And life might be really hard and cruel, but eventually you get to heaven and it all pays off. No, resist that mindset. What you're, you're going to relegate yourself and partner with that thought that you're a stepchild in the family of God and you get second best. The real kids eat at the table and you get the crumbs that fall from the table. No God, he wants to bless all of his children. He wants to prosper all of his children, wants his children healthy, wants his children with peace. (5:07 - 5:35) And so there are promotions from the Lord. The only way I can actually, it's not the only way, but it's the way I, because that's the way the Lord communicated to me when I was still in my late teens. And it really is like that in your walk with him. It's really, all of you have played video games of one type or another. What, what was your first video game console? Nintendo. Cause you're 10 plus years younger than me. (5:37 - 6:08) What was yours? Nintendo. Now mine, the Atari 2600 in 1983. We got it. It has nothing to do with what I'm preaching. I'm just reminiscing here in the presence of the Lord. No, but in a video game, you know, there's levels and then, you know, once you beat the boss and you get the key, you can unlock the level, you know, it gets you closer to saving the princess or whatever. (6:10 - 7:08) And, and the Lord really does, I've found, function that way. And that's why messages that talk about promotion from the Lord are so popular because he can appear that we're stuck in a certain domain in a certain level. And then somebody just gets a breakthrough and he takes you to the next level. Now I know that I know from the word, from the character of God revealed in his word, that God wants to consistently bless and exalt and promote his people. I believe that for myself, personally, for my family, I believe it for you, but you have to believe it for you. But it then begs the question, how come some people get stuck at the same level? Most of you have played Super Mario Brothers. It's a great first level, but imagine playing that your whole life. I mean, that's gonna, that's gonna get old pretty quick. You got to advance in levels. (7:08 - 7:40) Why are some people stuck at the same level? I am convinced this is the kind of stuff as a pastor, I really look into, I study this, I monitor it. I want to know because it's my heart and I'm submitted to God's heart, my heart to see you increase and move and be promoted. Why do some people get stuck at the same level? I'm convinced it's because they never spend enough time in the presence of God and allow the Lord to do a deep healing work in them. (7:41 - 8:05) So God can't promote them to the next level because they would get blown up at that level. And what would blow you up? The blessing would blow you up. So we want to invite the presence of God to, to minister to us, to be with us, learn, become really good at cultivating the presence of God for the sake of him. (8:06 - 11:07) But a great byproduct is you begin to look more like Jesus and then he can promote you. He can trust you enough to promote you. I remember I was in Toronto, I was only saved then, I don't know, I was 20, so I was saved four years. And a big phrase there was becoming more Christ-like and becoming more like Jesus. And really as a 20-year-old, I mean, I didn't get the appeal of that. It seems like I should have, but it was like something nice to say, but like what's the benefit? And I understand why Jesus was Christ-like, but I'm 20 and I'm trying to figure life out. And how does that apply to me? And this old man, I mean, wearing like baggy clothes and had the wild beard, looked like a mountain man. He just turned to me and he goes, Ooh, that's it. Because to be Christ-like is a pleasure. And then it hit me and I went, Oh, that, that is the benefit. It's not just, and then what I can give to the world, if I'm more Christ-like, but actually to be Christ-like is a pleasure. Then I won't have to deal with all of this stuff I'm normally dealing with because Christ doesn't deal with that. Amen. To be Christ-like is a joy. You're set free from bondage. You're set free from ticks. Hallelujah. It's a pleasure. It's a joy. So it is important to cultivate the presence of God. That's why, by the way, you know, we had an amazing service last week. We just tweaked a few things and the Holy Spirit came and it was like billows washing over us. And the staff was so blessed and we were blessed. And I said, we got to, I just want to pursue this. And maybe we adjust some things in our service order or whatever, but it is of the utmost importance that people be familiar with the presence of God because of We used to have Friday night revival nights for nearly 20 years, but then we left Manhattan and then we tried it here in Astoria, but it doesn't work as well in Astoria because it's a weird train that goes here. Whereas in Manhattan, we were near central hub. And it just, so my concern is that there's people who could come to CityLight for a year and never have an encounter with God, which is what a travesty that is. What a loss to come and you can get blessed and you enjoy the worship and you learn something from the preaching of the word, but without a God encounter, you're just, you're not experiencing him for yourself. You're learning about somebody that I've experienced that may be your neighbor sitting next to you as experience, but you're still taking my word for it. You have to have an encounter you. That's why you read through the Bible, everybody that God used, starting with Noah, moving on to Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, Moses. They all have one thing in common. They had an encounter with God. (11:08 - 12:44) A man with an encounter is never at the mercy of a man with a philosophy or a theory or a thought. We actually talked about this just on the way to church. We were singing in the car and one of my daughter's favorite songs is that song by Brian Lake, Brandon Lake. I've seen real life resurrections. I've seen miracles. I've seen cancer healed. She asked this morning, what does it mean I saw a woman receive arches in her feet? He sings that in the song and we started talking about that and I said to her, Vivi, you know, the whole song is basically the songwriter saying, I have firsthand knowledge of these things. I have experienced these things either personally or saw them with my own eyes. So because I've had these firsthand experiences, he's too good to not believe. Someone else might have a theory about how he's not good, but I've experienced him and he's good. So that doesn't even have an impact on me because I have a firsthand encounter. She kind of looked, I'm looking in the rear view mirror and then I said, hey, like now the kids are all eating Dubai chocolate apparently. How this stuff infiltrates their, like they're banned from iPads. She doesn't have, but yet it still comes in. She came to me the other night with a hand full of Dubai chocolate, like a giant clump. It's coming like Play-Doh out of her fingers. Dad, would you like some? Get that away. You're the one who shared it with her. (12:47 - 14:01) And I said to her, you know, did you like that Dubai chocolate? Oh, her face. She takes after me. So you mentioned it. No, really, it's true. Victor takes a lot after his mom and she takes after me. So you mentioned a good dessert. She's like, yeah, I like that Dubai chocolate. I said, can anyone tell you it's bad? No, because you've tasted and seen that Dubai chocolate is good. So when you've experienced the Lord, you taste and see that he is good. No one can take that from you. That's why encounters with the Lord are vital and you qualify for one. The Lord will not hold one back from you. You need frequent encounters with the Lord to be refreshed, to remember who he is, to not just believe, oh, he's the God of love and God is somewhere you get the Bette Midler doctrine of God is watching us from a distance. No, not from a distance, up close and personal. He's in love with you, wants to bless you. And if you allow a work of the Holy Spirit to take place inside of you, then he'll promote you. Amen. Like I want my son to get promoted. (14:02 - 14:17) I have rifles. I'd love for him to go to the range with me, but he can't, at least not in Long Island. He can't. So he has Nerf guns. You know why dad doesn't give him a rifle? Because he'll blow himself up with it. Amen. (14:18 - 15:30) That may be me, but this is why you might be saying, Lord, promote me, promote me. And he can't even promote you the way he actually wants to, which is more than you're even asking for, because he'll do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think, but he won't do it because he loves you so much because the blessing will blow you out of the water. So you ask him to do a deep work and you open up so that then he can promote you. Amen. There's way too many people in the church. If they actually got what they're praying for, they wouldn't even come back to church. Hallelujah. See, one thing you can know about me right now, and this was a, this was, I wouldn't say a big test, but it was something I had to like look at and confront, that this is the first year that I don't have to work for CityLight Church. I don't need the salary. So I had to, it's not like it was a big temp, it wasn't a temptation, but I thought, wow, you know, before I'd say it's to call a guy, but really, where else am I going to go? What am I going to do now? Submit a resume somewhere to a company and be like, I'm going to start at the mail room and work my way up. Well, what have you been doing your whole life? Well, since I was in my twenties, I've been in full-time ministry. Can you use me? No. (15:31 - 17:08) Besides, AI is going to take these jobs in three years anyway. So we really can use you. Nobody likes AI jokes here. Okay. I guess the touchy subject. You stay close to Jesus. You are secure. Amen. AI is not coming for you. You stay close to Jesus and staying close to Jesus doesn't mean being ignorant and praying a lot either. It means stay close to Jesus in your prayer life and allow him to flood your mind with creativity in case he says, turn left, pivot, right. You flow with him. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. So yeah, I wouldn't give my son that because he would hurt himself. I'm also convinced that a reason, maybe a primary reason of why people don't allow a deep work of God's holy presence to take place inside of them is because they hide. You know, we, as people, are professional hiders. We hide all the time. You guys have a friend that everyone has one friend like this. They'll complain about someone else. They'll be like, I don't like Sally. Sally is in the list, all the things they don't like about Sally, but all of those things apply to them. You know what I'm talking about? It's not you. It's that friend of yours. It can't be you. (17:12 - 19:50) And you go, how come? Wow. They got like zero self-awareness. They don't even know that they just described themselves. All the faults they don't like about Sally. That's more them than Sally. What, what mean is this? What's happening in that cranium of theirs? What's happening is that we all have these egos and your ego is not your amigo. Your ego is always wanting to protect itself. Always wanting to show its best face and is extremely defensive. And, you know, spiritual maturity can be measured in tandem with how defensive you are. The less defensive you are, the more spiritually mature you are. Amen. So because we're professional hiders, we hide from the Lord. And this is a man problem. You see it right in the third chapter of Genesis. As soon as man fell, what did man do? Hid. Where are they going to hide? This is God. But they hid themselves. I mean, it's, it's comical and preposterous for us because we're reading them silly, Adam hiding. But yet that's you. That's me hiding like we can hide from him. So the Lord is calling us to step into the light and to transparency because that's where the healing takes place. You know, Jesus, did you notice he doesn't, what happened? Guys, this is a party. I'm trying to preach. There's like 15 Altoids on a chair. Mops are being taken out. Okay, son, you make me proud. You have the freshest breath in the church. And I want you to know that when I prayed for a son, I specifically said, not one with stank breath. And he gave me you. He's got two handfuls of Altoids. You know, those are the church's Altoids. I want you to see you make that up in the offering. Where was I? Adam and Eve. Do you notice Jesus doesn't like fig trees? Like he curses the fig tree. There's all these reasons why, but I got a better one. And then he says, if you'd say to this sycamore tree, a sycamore is a type of fig tree. (19:51 - 22:21) If you say to the sycamore, be plucked up by the roots, be cast into the sea. It's like, Jesus, you don't like fig trees. What's your beef with fig trees? Fig leaves is what man uses to hide. A great part of the Bible from beginning to end is the Lord calling out, come out of hiding, come into the light. That's where the healing takes place. Healing can take place in the darkness. Demons dwell in darkness. Healing takes place in the light. And most people, now don't think of your roommate, your spouse, your best friend. Think of yourself. Most people are terrified of stepping into the light. Usually they're tricked by God lovingly into stepping into the light. They're like, oh, that's why they break out crying. Oh Lord, I'm so exposed yet I still feel your love. How could it be? Does not compute. Does not compute. And they break out crying and they think they'd be rejected if God actually saw who they were. Yet he knows you. Knows every cell in your being. Knows you every which way. He's not put off by you. It's still sin. It's still wrong. It still may be broken, but he loves you. God loves ugly. He's not put off by it. And one of the greatest examples of that in the gospels, although there's many, because Jesus never went, oh, you're so broken. You're so messed up. Once you work on yourself, then come to me. I was just witnessing to somebody and they use that the classic, I'm going to come to the Lord because he was raised religiously. I'm going to come to the Lord. I just need to work on myself first. You're going to work on yourself and you're going to fix yourself up till you're presented. Wow. You have a magic power. You are so strong. You can actually do the work of the cross apart from the cross. And then you'll come to the cross. So Jesus is ministering in a synagogue. And the Bible says there's this man with a withered hand and it's illegal for him under Levitical law to have this deformity of a withered hand and be in the synagogue. So he's hiding and the Bible, the way it phrases, it's very apparent that he's hiding because he's also out on the outskirts in the back of the synagogue and Jesus is preaching. And then after preaching, what time is it? Miracle time, because the spirit should always come and confirm the word. (22:21 - 22:30) Hallelujah. In fact, when I preach, it's not just so that you can take good notes, get a Christian education. It's that the seed of the word of God has to go into your heart. (22:30 - 22:47) And then God's spirit will come and demonstrate what was preached. That is a healthy church. There has to be a demonstration. It may not take place up here all the time, but there should be a demonstration in your life. The Holy Spirit confirming the word with signs following. That's Mark 16. (22:47 - 24:13) He'll confirm the word with signs following. That's why Jesus, whenever you look at a crusade he had, it always says he went preaching and teaching and then performing miracles. First is the preaching and then teaching. The word has to go forth first, then the miracles. And that's why Paul said my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. You ever watch the History Channel? The History Channel is doing something on like Samson and they're talking about the Philistines and then they show the egghead theologian scholars with the suede patches with the library behind them. And Paul was saying I'm not like one of these guys. I'm not an egghead theologian who's just going to talk to you about God. He said my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power. There has to be a demonstration. Amen. So Jesus finishes preaching and now it's time to demonstrate. And who do you think is the first one Jesus calls out? The man with the withered hand who's in the back hiding that grotesque part of himself. And Jesus being Jesus, I mean, can you believe any preacher would do this? He says, you stand forth in the midst. He calls them out to stand in the middle in front of everybody. (24:14 - 24:39) The guy's hiding. Jesus knows what he's hiding. And he goes, stand forth in the midst. The guy's going, they're going to see my hand. They're going to stone me. You didn't get a fine back then, you got stoned. And if you're unsaved and you think that's the good kind of stone to you good, it's not that kind of stone. Then when the man, he comes in the midst, no one says anything. So he must be hiding his hand. (24:39 - 25:04) Then Jesus says, stretch forth your hand. So show that ugly grotesque part to everybody. Why? Why is Jesus being cruel? No, healing cannot happen in the darkness. That's where the devil dwells. Healing happens in the light. And then the Bible very specifically with this language, and I don't have the passage up here, but read it when you get home for yourselves. (25:04 - 25:31) It says, as he stretched forth his hands, probably coming out all deformed as he stretched it forth, it was made whole as the other. That is a picture of how God will deal with us. When we're honest with him, when we're not hiding, when we're not, we're so used to putting our best face forward to all of our friends, our acquaintances, that then we take that same thing with the Lord, like he doesn't know. (25:31 - 25:53) So it's so much better to be honest, to relax in his presence and to say, Lord, I come to you just as I am. No pretense. I can't trick you. I can't pump myself up in front of you, exactly what a wretch I am. And you love me anyway. Hallelujah. (25:55 - 26:29) See, there's this thought also in the church that like, if you sin, if you mess up, God takes his Holy Spirit away. And that usually causes nine out of 10 times that causes the person to backslide fully. And you know, if you sin, God won't take his Holy Spirit away. He's with you. But people feel like, because one of the symbols for the Holy Spirit is a dove, that the Holy Spirit is as skittish as a pigeon. I was taught that when I first became a Christian, don't sin. That's good advice. Don't sin. You've been empowered not to sin, but sometimes you don't have to mess up, but sometimes you still mess up. (26:30 - 26:52) Then what do you do? Now I was taught the Holy Spirit, you know how a dove gets startled? If you mess up, he just flies away. Well, how do you get him back? Well, now you got to fast. Now you got to beg, roll around on the altar, maybe. Oh God. Pray Psalm 51, but only with an old covenant mindset. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me. (26:57 - 27:32) And you don't have to do any of those things. He didn't go anywhere. He's not some fair weather friend. He sticks with you through the ugly. And God loves ugly. Which should excite us because we're kind of ugly apart from him. Hallelujah. Oh, the ones who really agreed with that, they're getting the breakthrough first. The ones who can go through the low path of humility and say, yeah, Lord, I'm really, really ugly without you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Well, I want to read Psalm 63 to you this morning. (27:38 - 27:48) We're focusing on the presence of the Lord. I think this is a good theme. For Christmas, because the very name Emmanuel means God with us. (27:49 - 27:57) And that's what we're celebrating. The presence of God with us. Experiencing his presence. (27:59 - 30:26) And David, he's very unique. Have you ever heard that term key of David? It's in revelation. You just said, I'll give you the key of David. What is the key of David? Theologians have speculated on what the key of David is. I personally believe it's intimacy with God because that's the one thing that causes David to stick out like a sore thumb compared to other Old Testament heroes and patriarchs. He had a friendship with the Lord and a yearning and an intimacy that I feel like you don't even see with Moses. You don't see with Elijah. You just love the Lord, not for what the Lord could do for him, but just because he's the Lord and he's awesome. And it's wonderful to be with him and spend time with him. And that's really bizarre because he was under the old covenant. You know, you're different under the new covenant. Jesus said something that really shows you how different you are. He said, John the Baptist of all the prophets, there's no one greater than John the Baptist. So Jesus actually said, wow, John the Baptist is greater than Moses. He's greater than Elijah, greater than Elisha, greater than Habakkuk. Why is he greater? Well, because he announced the way of the Lord and prepared the way of the Lord. He heralded the way of the Messiah. But then he said something even more bizarre. He said, the least in the kingdom of heaven under the new covenant, the least. So think of myself, the least. He said, the least in the kingdom of heaven under the new covenant is greater than the greatest under the old. Aren't you glad you were born AD? Now, why? Why is the least under the new covenant greater than the greatest under the old? Because they didn't have the new creation reality. Under the new covenant, you have a brand new spirit. You've been born again. There was no new birth. There was no born again experience in the old covenant. Also, you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They didn't have that in the old covenant. Under the old covenant, only three people, the king, the prophet and the high priest would be anointed and be covered by the Holy Spirit, but still no indwelling presence. So you're special. You've been separated. Hallelujah. But David, even living under the old covenant with all the things I just described, he still was like an old testament saint with a new testament heart. (30:27 - 30:55) Because even though he didn't have the new creation, there was an intimacy that he had tapped into and a yearning for the presence of God. And the reason why all of us love David and can so often relate to David is because you realize his flaws. Even though he's such a great man, a true poet warrior. Hallelujah. That's what the world needs more of, by the way, poet warriors. I've told my son, we're raising you to be a poet warrior. (30:59 - 32:39) Is it just warriors? They're great. They'll get the job done, but then they're a meathead. Can't think. A philosopher poet is wonderful. Developed mind, you can think, but when the going gets tough, you hide behind a stack of books. But a poet warrior, like David, gets the job done. Hallelujah. Well, he had tapped into something beautiful. I invite you. Psalm 63. Oh God, you are my God. Listen to his heart's cry. Early will I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you. There's segments of Christianity where if you say I want to feel the presence of God, they go, oh, that's terrible. They only believe in walk by faith, not by sight. Is it legal? Is it okay with the Lord for you to say, Lord, I really want to feel your presence? Yes, it is. David said, I miss the presence of God. I want to feel the presence of God. I understand why there's some staunch people who say, well, no, I just want to be a frontal lobe in Christian. Just relegated to my frontal lobe and everything has to make sense and everything has to be logical. Maybe they ran into a few flaky Pentecostals who always had to feel God and when they didn't feel God that one day they spiraled into a depression. That happens and they think, oh, what's wrong? What did I do to upset him? What a fickle friend. (32:40 - 33:39) I made one mistake and so there's a truth right there in the middle. We do walk by faith and not by sight and we're not moved by whether we feel him or not, but thank God that we can feel him. Thank God for when we do and it's totally fine to press into feeling him because look how David is praying. He's saying, my soul, it thirsts for you and my body, my flesh longs for you. We're in this world, which is a dry and thirsty land. If you don't have daily drinks from the Lord, you're going to wither up and dry up. Hallelujah. I hear this. Jesus saying, knock and keep knocking and the door will be open to you. Seek and keep seeking and I will be found of you. There has to be a tenacity. There has to be a persistence. (33:40 - 34:16) Lots of people will say I was persistent, but then when I actually peek under the hood and interview them, what they mean is, well, I tried praying a few times and God just doesn't work me like that. That's not persistence. Keep knocking. Wait in his presence. I did for 20 minutes. I didn't feel anything. Awesome. Wait another 20. Then do something you haven't done before. Sing a song out loud to Jesus alone in your room for goodness sake. Then sing another one. Then open your mouth and begin to sing in other tongues and as he fills you with his Holy Spirit afresh. (34:18 - 34:29) Then step out of your head and just begin to pray out of your spirit. Whatever he deposits in you, he'll give you the words to pray in English. Now you're moving into the realms of God. (34:30 - 35:16) That's knocking. That's seeking and there's a principle in the Bible. You cannot keep knocking without the door being opened. Hallelujah. I've never, ever met someone who was consistently hungry for the Lord who said, you know, I've been hungry for 17 years. I still never had that God encounter. Have you met? I've never met that. I would love to meet that person. I've never met him. I mean, maybe they say that and I go, tell me how you were hungry. Oh, that's why. See what you call hunger. I call that a mild tummy ache. That's not hunger. You got to be famished. Hallelujah. Some of you, I'm provoking you this morning. You got to do something crazy. (35:18 - 35:30) I shaved off all my hair once. I was 21, 2021. And I read in the book of Acts that Paul shaved off all his hair and took an oath. (35:31 - 36:22) Now I didn't bother to study what Jewish tradition that was, why he did that. Does it apply to me today? I was like, man. So I took, I went full on prison. I'm talking. That's when I discovered I do not genetically have a dome that needs to be displayed to the world. Some people got nice domes, mine looks like you're going slalom skiing on it. I don't know where all the bumps came from. Maybe my mother dropped me. Now that was bad theology on my part. I might've been a little overzealous in my youth, but you know, the Lord honored that. He said, look at this crazy kid. I'm not even doing that head shaving thing anymore, but he thought I was. So I'm going to get down with that. Do something you've never done before. Hallelujah. (36:25 - 36:41) I was inspired by men of God. There's a man of God used tremendously in signs, wonders, and miracles. He took a water jug into the closet, locked himself in the closet and said, do not to his wife, do not let me out of here until you know that God has visited me. (36:41 - 37:20) And he stayed in there for over two days with the one jug of water. Sometimes you got to, it's not that you got to get God's attention, but you got to step out of the norm and provoke yourself into a place of the miraculous doing something you've never done before. Be a wild woman, be a wild man. What's the downside. There is no downside. Well, what someone's going to say or think don't tell them. (37:22 - 37:51) Keep your pursuit of the Lord private. That stuff shouldn't even be shared until years later, I believe. So when there's a work that's done and you can talk about it as something with a period at the end, not mid process. You can subvert the process if you talk about it mid process. So my soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. So I have looked for you in the sanctuary to see your power and your glory. (37:51 - 38:10) My prayer for you is that you would experience daily the presence and the power of God and that you would grow in the glory and the presence and the power of God. Hallelujah. Because you're loving kindness, this is the same word for tender mercies, loving kindness. (38:11 - 38:49) This is the word that David used when he was now king of it all. He stopped running around through bramble bushes and hiding out in caves. He had now become king. He had the palace and you know what he's doing? He's pacing the palace going, is there anyone of the house of Saul that I could show kisseth, that I could show covenant kindness to? Tender mercies or loving kindness. It's also translated that way. And the servants said, oh, there is one Mephibosheth, but he's lame in his feet. (38:49 - 39:07) And David said, bring him. And he treated him like a son and made him sit at the king's table, restored all the lands that he had lost. And it says every day, then Mephibosheth ate at the king's table. Who's Mephibosheth? I'm Mephibosheth. You're Mephibosheth. Lame in our ankles. (39:09 - 39:23) Yet God, in this case, David representing God is going, who is there that I can show covenant kindness to in spite of them? That's what he's talking about. He's saying, I'm Mephibosheth. I've tasted of your covenant kindness, your tender mercies, your loving kindness. (39:23 - 40:23) It's better than life. Hallelujah. Do a little check. I really wish God would do us a big favor. I pray that all of you have a vision, not just of God, but of what your life would look like apart from God. Kind of like the Christmas carol, except not the three ghosts, but just an angel that comes and says, let me show you what your life would be like if God hadn't intervened invisibly in your life a million times. It starts when you were two years old and mom was crossing the street with a baby stroller and that Mack truck should have hit you, but I prevented it. And then six months later, you were going to eat that thing. It was poisonous, but I caused it to fall out of your hand and take you through your whole life. And how many times he saved our hide that we would go, oh, your loving kindness is better than life. My lips will praise you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thus, I will bless you while I live as a Pentecostal verse. I will lift up my hands in your name. (40:24 - 41:22) Hallelujah. I was delighted when I read that for the first time, because I was searching for scriptures about the lifting up of hands, because I noticed there's this unspoken thing to lift or not to lift. And people, people tend to see lifting hands as, that's a little radical, bordering on fanatical. I can be a Christian. I could definitely be the hands in my pocket swaying to worship Christian. I can be the Christian that claps. That's easy because we clap to all kinds of songs, but to lift up your hands, that's next level. That's, that's the doctoral program. I'm not ready for that. Yeah, you are. It's how God designed the whole thing. In fact, the word, the word Yada, which means praise comes from the root word Yud in Hebrew, which means hand. (41:24 - 41:40) They actually say with this to praise him, there's a lifting up of the hand. There's something spiritual about it. I, I wonder why it's been suggested, I think because, Phil, the anointing on, you know, the Bible calls Satan, the prince of the power of the air. (41:40 - 43:26) And there's something about when you lift up your hand, you're, you're declaring to the heavens, to the air, to the atmosphere, God has dominion even here. Hallelujah. Next verse, please. My soul worship team, you can come up my soul. And this is why the presence of the Lord is such a delight because we're less nasty when we're full of the presence of God, you ever have your own nasties come up. You need carpet time. You need to rest in the presence of the Lord. Allow him to touch you, heal you of the pain that's making you nasty. You feel restless, irritable. Your soul isn't satisfied. The presence of God comes to satisfy your soul. My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow. See, that didn't even make sense 10 years ago. But now because of these health memes, trends and all that, everybody knows how good bone marrow soup is for you, right? Yes. No. Is that just my wife everywhere? She was making bone marrow before bone marrow was cool. Now everybody I talk to, have you tried bone marrow? Yeah. And I'm from the Balkans. We're raised on the stuff. It's the choicest part. It's where all the nutrition is. And he says, my soul will be satisfied as with marrow and fatness. The, the choicest part, the presence of God, the best. That's what will satisfy you. Like it's marrow and fatness. And my mouth shall praise you. Hey, another Pentecostal verse, because it actually talks about mouth and lips. (43:27 - 45:06) I'm talking about expressive demonstrative when I jokingly say Pentecostal, because some part people, they won't lift their hands. They won't even sing out loud. They don't know it's CityLight. They think it's the first church of the chosen frozen. And so they stand and that's fine in the beginning, but worship God the way he prescribed to be worshiped in his word. My mouth shall praise you with joyful lips. When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches. How many of you, you go to sleep, you, you, you thinking to the Lord? Oh, if you're not doing that, you're missing out. I know you do. And that was such a beautiful habit you developed son early in your life to, as you drift off, you know, it's not even that you're praying to him, but you're just kind of thinking to him as you drift off in his presence. And there's a power there. It's if anybody suffers from night terrors or nightmares or any kind of assault while they sleep, or even a lack of good, healthy sleep, you know, how much the Bible talks about sleep where God promises you sleep. And it says he gives his beloved that's you sleep. And it all begins when you're communing with him. As you drift off into that place, that place called sleep, where the enemy loves to attack. Why? Because you're at your most vulnerable there. You're unconscious. And you know what the Bible says, he gives his beloved gifts in sleep talks about him giving you sweet sleep and gifts in sleep literally. (45:06 - 46:29) And I know this has happened to me multiple times while you're sleeping in that state of openness and unconsciousness. So your monkey mind can't get in the way with the paralysis of analysis and the overthinking and the reasoning and the rationalizing your way out of a blessing. When you're in that receptive state, he gives you gifts. He gives you graces. He actually makes heavenly deposits into you while you're sleeping. I know I'd be falling asleep and then I'd wake up as a deposit was going and I'd wake up like 20% wake up in the Holy Ghost. Oh, I feel like if I could see in the spirit to be shivers of golden waves over there. I'll go Oh, Lord, that's you. And then I'll go back to sleep, wake up eight hours later be like, Oh, I got something. I got something I'm different than how I went to bed. He Jehovah sneaky. He came in and snuck something good that I needed in there. When I remember you on my bed, I meditate on you in the night watches, because you have been my help. Therefore, in the shadow of your wings, I will rejoice. My soul follows close behind you. Your right hand upholds me. But those who seek my life to destroy it, man, I got a flash of you, Pastor Brian when I read that. That's but those who seek my life to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth. (46:31 - 46:40) They shall fall by the sword. They shall be a portion for jackals. But the king, that's you. (46:42 - 47:50) Male, female, you're the king. God has made it so. The king shall rejoice in God. Everyone who swears by him shall glory. But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. Hallelujah. These are the blessings and benefits of a person with a hunger for the presence who's experiencing the presence. The first half of the psalm is him describing his hunger for the Lord. You can taste his hunger. And then the second half of the psalm is describing all the benefits of a person who engages in the presence of God. And I pray that the Lord mold us and shape us where every single person here is radically head over heels in love with Jesus. There's just no other way to live. There's no other way to do Christianity. If there was another way, I'd be bored of it. I'd never be a pastor. It's either an adventure or it's nothing at all. And with God, it's an adventure because the things of God are bottomless. You can never figure him out. (47:52 - 48:02) Amen. Well, we're going to go into a time of worship where you can drink of his presence. But before that, let's honor the Lord with our tithes and offerings, shall we? Amen. (48:04 - 48:49) Now, I want to make an announcement. I got great news. Most of you, I believe, were here last week when we had an impromptu special offering for Pastor Rob and Yari who are adopting to help alleviate some of the burden, the legal burden, because those costs can be over $70,000. I'm very disappointed to say only $216 came in. No, I'm kidding. You won't believe how much came in. I'm so blessed by our church. $18,400. You know, those are like mega church numbers. (48:51 - 49:09) Yet we typically have about 320 people between the two services on Sunday, right around the size of Gideon's army. And so we have a Gideon's army here that gives like an army of 1,000 or 1,500. I'm so blessed. (49:09 - 52:37) And may the Lord, I pray for everyone. I don't know who gave to that special side offering. Oh, also what's good. By the way, let me just say this. I'm going to come back to my prayer. The Lord understands. As I was receiving it, you know, you have to understand as a pastor, I'm also responsible for the finances of the church. When you receive a special offering like that, you can't help but think, man, I hope this doesn't affect the church tithes and offerings, you know, because like everybody will give to one. And I'm just saying that's when the unrenewed mind, so that thought did come. So to combat that thought, what I said was, hey, if you don't know whether to give to first fruits or the adoption, give to the adoption. You remember me saying that that's the combat that thought of, oh, man, I don't want every, because people get excited. They're not thinking about, you know, how we're going to pay the light bill or whatever. They're thinking, give it all to the new couple. But what blessed me so much was that we more than made budget with the regular tithes and offerings. And then we brought in 18,400. Do you know, I could be pastoring some podunk country church that's dead. I could be pastoring in Manhattan in the middle of the greatest city in the world, but also with a church of dead people. But instead, God found it good in his eyes. And I am blessed to be pastoring people who are alive, who love the Lord and who back it up in a practical way with their generosity. So isn't that awesome? Hallelujah. And they're going to make the best couple. And I want to pray something specifically for their child. They're not even here, but in worship that this just came up. You know, when someone is adopted, one of the big things the enemy tries to do to them, I've seen it over and over again, is to work in them with a spirit of rejection because they're little, they're a baby. They could be one minute old, but because in a way they're being rejected in a way, or in a total way, you know, they're being rejected by their birth mother and their father. And that spirit can attach itself to them. And then they can even come into a loving family, but they're always struggling with acceptance. They have a terrible insecurity. They have a huge wound in them. And they're always really fighting with a spirit of rejection. I want to pray that for their future daughter in the name of Jesus, because she has yet to be born. She's on the way. Father, that you see through the whole birth, that you see through it healthy. And Lord, we just bless her and we join with the prayers of Pastor Rob and Yari. That that child be protected. That rather than the rejection by the birth parents, that they feel the acceptance and approval of you and their new parents. Lord, that that child would not have one emotional hiccup or stutter, that she'd be brought up in a house full of the Holy Ghost in wholeness and in blessing in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. We'll give with a glad heart, give worshiping God. And if you want prayer, there's a ministry team that'll in about 10 seconds be by the Christmas lights to my left, your right. And we'll see you next Sunday. How do you like this service with just a little bit of an adjusted flow? Oh yeah. We're just going to continue like this. Amen. Enjoying the presence of God. And the main thing is you can't, you can never try to repeat a service. (52:37 - 53:29) The Lord doesn't like that. No cookie cutter stuff. Oh yeah. First fruits. If you're wondering, now I'm going to do it differently. If you're wondering whether you should give to first fruits, you definitely should. Let's just look at that. This is the best we've ever done. 71%. You've been around for years. We've never, normally this is where we're like at 30% and I'm like, uh, whatever guys give. And then the Lord still does it, but it's like some miracle at the end. It's nice to just front run the thing, you know? No, but this is, listen, it's not about the money, although the money is nice. What it is, is the Lord amongst us, right? Because a church that's not generous there, you will never see a church that's stingy and in revival does not exist. The Bible says people will give willingly gladly in the day of his power. (53:30 - 54:30) So when you see the Lord moving on people's hearts with no guilt, no uh, manipulation, it's a big thing. It's a beautiful thing. You can stay seated. I feel like this is a stay seated. Like you don't want to stand. You want to just based be blessed in your based. We'll see you next Sunday. This is the CityLight Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message, or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Janczyk and CityLight Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. 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 to CityLight Church podcast, wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.