Embracing Life's Journey: From Pulpit Chronicles to the Power of Faith

0:00 You don't want to be going into 2024 self-reliance, thinking you're something you don't. You want to be extra dependent on Him. You want to be looking to Him, the author and the finisher of your faith. Jesus said if your eye be single, what's a single eye? A focused eye, a steady eye? If your eye be single, your whole body will be full of light. 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. Praise is the language of heaven. God, no, speak complainee, god, speak praise. And if you don't know how to praise, the.

1:21 Lord, my heart goes out to you. I don't know. I don't know how to help. You have to be able to praise the Lord. It is a superpower in the spirit. You look at the Psalms. Everybody loves the Psalms. You know why, whenever you're down or sad or going through it, you always gravitate towards the Psalms, because they're very relatable and it shows man in his condition, up and down and all around, looking for God, sometimes feeling abandoned by God, going through lifetraps.

2:03 But you'll notice praise is in every single one of the Psalms. You take a glimpse in Revelation and you take a glimpse into heaven and you realize the language that's spoken. There is praise. And when that evil day comes and maybe you're right now in that evil day, what's the evil day? It's the day you don't want to be having, but it comes Praise is what's going to get you out. And so you pardon me if I don't get a little concerned. I'm your pastor, I'm in bonds of love to the Lord to look out for you, to cover you, to protect you. I get concerned when if, after worship, with me encouraging you to praise, you still stand there with gorilla glue in between your lips.

2:53 What's going to happen when it hits you on a Wednesday afternoon, what are you going to do then? You've got to be able to praise them, and right now you're in a safe space. If you can't praise them here, how will you praise them out there? Amen, right, when I say safe space, usher's go ahead and bolt the doors, lock everything down.

3:44 No one's leaving until we're done. I do repeat myself a lot, I feel, I feel. But then I see some people that'll ask me a question that I've already answered 10 times. And then I realized, just right, like way after I'm so tired of hearing myself, some people are just starting to hear me. That's actually why Paul addressed this in the Bible. He said for me to repeat myself isn't burdensome to me, but for you it's necessary. What a relief for me and a conviction, because sometimes it is burdensome for me to repeat myself, but because I've repeated this for many, many years.

4:30 This is what I'm about to say, which I've already kind of said God has given you power and put it in your mouth. He created this earth, he created the universe with His words. It says in the scriptures that all things consist and are held together by the word of His power, and it says you were made in the similitude of God. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those that love it will eat the fruit thereof. You have a power in your mouth. Your words that you speak, especially under the anointing, found it on the word of God. They go forth and they create and they carve a path into your future.

5:11 So is it any wonder that there is that devil with a bottle of gorilla glue that likes to come and paste your lips together so that when you're going through it, or whatever mood you're in, you just hmm, hmm. You will not silence your way out of a problem, you will not. You read the Psalms and you see, the exhortation is always to speak. I will, you know. And many of the Psalms start out pretty depressing. You got to make it to the end. The first eight verses, the guy's just complaining, and some of the Psalms sound like a country song.

5:52 You know, I got my, my house is in foreclosure, my car got repo, the wife left me, then my dog left me, but, but I will yet praise the Lord, amen. And it says to shout, shout unto the Lord with a voice of triumph Amen, hallelujah. So I know people like to relegate this kind of teaching into a particular type of Christianity. Oh, that's just not my style. You can have your style or you can have Bible style. I'm going to have Bible style.

6:34 I don't want dead religious style and then I identify with that. No, there's God's style, the biblical style. Well, god, god made me shy. No, you might be quiet, but shyness. That's that scripture that says God has not given you a spirit of fear. That word for fear is actually timidity, shyness. God has not given you a spirit of shyness, of timidity, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

7:23 Certain thoughts. You can't stop with other thoughts. Somebody would say well, I'm having these thoughts, and the answer is think positively. How many of you know that doesn't work. You cannot interrupt thoughts with thoughts. You can only interrupt thoughts with words. And so my kids thankfully they've witnessed me from the little crib so they're not freaked out when randomly in the house, they'll just hear me shout. There's some Sunday mornings, and then just just look, the enemy's always pushing on you.

8:03 You know that. He's all you got to push back. How do you push back? Put on some worship music in the background and let them do the work for you. It doesn't work. It just creates a nice ambience. But there are times when you have to. Jesus, your Lord, you're with me, your favor surrounds me. Hallelujah, and say it at the top of your lungs, say it with your whole chest, get to the flow of the anointing the manifest presence of God, get it from your toenails, oh, hallelujah. I'll do that randomly and then I'll check to make sure I didn't freak the kids out. They're playing somewhere.

8:43 Oh look, and they just didn't even notice. Because he grew up like that. Amen, Hallelujah. When I go to help someone to pray, that is in that. That's stupor spot, not the stupid spot, but the stupor that, just in a rut, just you. It's like they're in molasses. Often I I won't pray for them, I'll pray with them. I'll have them repeat after me Because at the end of the day, no matter how anointed you are, the person you're praying for, they always have more authority over themselves than you do, and some of them haven't opened their mouth in ages to the Lord.

9:30 They've opened their mouth to complain, but they haven't opened their mouths to the Lord. I know this because I know I go through it. I know what I have to push back against. The devil loves me when I'm quiet. If you're not speaking, you're not creating, you're not exerting back, the devil has no problem with you coming into church. And then you're sitting and you tell yourself, well, I'll just, you know, I'll receive quietly, or I'll just observe, but you're only getting 5, 10% then of what you could receive. You could get a breakthrough, so I'll pray with somebody in that state and I'll say, just say hallelujah.

10:11 You know, hallelujah, that one word, it's the highest form of praise, that one word. And and you could see the tension and the frustration and the slowness as they finally open up their mouth to the Lord, which they haven't in weeks or even months it's like you can hear the crypt opening, a couple of bats fly out, the cloud of dust emanates. All right, now repeat after me hallelujah, and then thank you. But I meant to the person I'm saying now. But I appreciate any opportunity you take it. You could let a random one out at any point. By the way, in church it's legal, it's fine.

10:57 Well, they, they, they. I'll say hallelujah, hallelujah. And it's like this little voice in the back of their throat, it's like the real them is trapped inside. Help me, rescue me. Yeah, you waited too long. You gotta speak. The enemy's speaking to you. He's lying to you, trying to fill your head with confusion, trying to belittle you. Put you down, put fear into your heart and your mind. Say it again, hallelujah. This time a little bit bolder, and they'll go. Hallelujah. The enemy's telling you God's gonna forsake you. You say God, you're good, god is good.

11:37 You get them to say 10 positive statements from the scriptures out loud and the brightness is back in their eyes. But you get to decide. If I could praise him for you, I would. Sometimes I'm tempted to walk around the aisles and just jiggle jaws a little bit, just hallelujah, hallelujah, keep us in your prayers. We have a missions team. Is it 25 or 26 people? Now 26 with the latest edition, huh, who happens to be Victor, my son. That was the latest edition.

12:20 I didn't plan on him coming, but Emily pushed me and said now she's been on so many missions trips and credits them with helping solidify her faith in Christ. So we have a team of 26 going to Guatemala. I'll be here next Sunday, but then next Wednesday, February 7th through the 14th, a team of 26 city lighters will be going to Guatemala to minister to the word of God. We've helped put up and pay for over 40 churches in the Yashil area around Neba, and so pray for us. We'll be doing children's evangelism as well during the day, handing out tons of school supplies, seeing the Lord come and bring his power.

13:05 I want to read to you from Isaiah 55. This is known as the Great Invitation Ho, but today Isaiah was living in New York. That would probably be a yo or an Ayo is getting people's attention. Ayo, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come buy and eat. Yes, come buy wine and milk, without money and without price.

13:50 Why do you spend money for what is not bread? What an eternal question. Why do you spend your money on those things that don't feed you where it really matters, where it really counts, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David.

14:30 The Lord has prepared a table before us in the presence of my enemies. I'm making a decision. I invite you to also to partake of that table. My wife and I spent the last week in Tampa, day and night revival meetings. Tampa is where I went to Bible school and we showed up a day early, and so I took her around town and just showed her what my first year in Tampa was like, and I guess I thought I told you the whole story.

15:15 But then when you're down there, more of the story comes out. And I was just reminiscing about the goodness of the Lord. He's so good and he has this ability to. When you give your life to him and when you trust him, and when you trust in him and lean not on your own understanding. Yes, he takes you and he directs your paths and he connects the dots for you, many of you. You're aware of where you are. You have a glimmer of where you want to be, with no idea how to get there. He's the one who takes you from point A to 8.1, 8.2. And then eventually to B. So often it's not a leap from A to B, but there's 10 mini steps in between A and B.

15:59 You're not even aware until you get to B that the Lord was leading you the entire way. See, I got saved when I was 16 years old and called to the pastorate. About two weeks later I just knew in my spirit, went off to school, right there in Forest Hills High School. About two weeks saved and I'm in class and all I can see is myself ministering and preaching. I'm 16, I'd never, ever considered it. I didn't really even know what a pastor did, other than that guy up there who preaches. Shared it with the people who led me to the Lord, shared it with my pastor. Then they confirmed it, but I had no clear path on how to become a pastor.

16:46 It's not like a coding course you take for nine months and you come out with a license and you're you know they have a funnel for you to go through. So I didn't know. But I didn't want to go now to regular university. I wanted to go to something to train me, but my parents were not. I mean, they were finally okay with me being a Christian, but they were not okay with me quote unquote throwing my whole life away and becoming a pastor. So I said please go to college so that you would have something to fall back on. Oh, I felt like that was such a compromise. So I went to my pastor and said what do you think I should do Because my parents want me to go to college?

17:30 I'll never believe it. I thought he was going to agree with me. He just looked at me over his desk and he said listen to your parents. Ah, all right. So I went off to university and I was an ignorant ignoramus. I was doubly ignorant Because I didn't know what I didn't know. The Lord protected me so much. I didn't even know the questions I should be asking. One thing I knew was God had called me to pastor, but I didn't know how to move forward into the ministry.

18:11 I didn't even know what training I would need. I would talk to some pastors, but everyone would have a different story. So that didn't help much. But the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, drew me into prayer and drew me into the person of Jesus, because Jesus is enough. He's more than enough. And so, finally, my senior year came about, and I had spent four years seeking Him, loving Him, getting into the Word, developing my spirit man, so I could hear His direction, hear His instruction.

19:03 And then came the final semester of senior year. I still didn't have any idea what I was going to do with my life, and I said I was doubly ignorant, because I think I should have been more nervous, but half of it was the Lord gave me His peace. The other half was I didn't even know how lost I really was in the plan of God. I don't know if you ever felt that way or not. Lord, what are you doing here? Because on paper it looks like I'm going to graduate college and end up working at McDonald's or something. What's going on? So the final semester, seven days of revival meetings were being held in Baltimore, maryland, and I just sensed in my spirit go to these meetings.

19:54 So I went. Couldn't drive yet, didn't have a car, so I took a Greyhound bus, my first time taking a Greyhound bus. You ever take those Greyhound buses. It was a shock to me because Baltimore should have been like a four and a half hour trip. I arrived eight and a half plus hours later. Like stops everywhere along the way, it was like an Indiana Jones movie, practically with the chicken cages up on top, and it was just like not an experience that I ever copied. That was my one time doing the Greyhound bus in an interstate and ended up in some fleabag motel and got there an hour early for the revival meetings that I spent, I remember now but three, four days saturating in.

20:41 And I get there an hour early and immediately make a dash for the second or third row, because that's how early you had to get there to get those prime seats. And there was another lady that I ended up just sitting next to and eventually we struck up a conversation. She was on fire, jesus, and at one point we exchanged phone numbers and I actually forgot all about it. Well then went back, finished up college. I knew I needed to get to a Bible school at this point, but I had no path on how to get there. Even my parents were not going to support me.

21:22 They were very supportive throughout my life, but they didn't want me going into full time ministry. So I understood that back then. And it also put all the pressure on God. You know he's never afraid of that. He doesn't mind that. So they weren't going to help me. Secretly. I knew they really wanted me to fall on my face so I could come to my senses and not go in that direction. So I graduate. It's now the summer of 1998. And I'm just waiting on the Lord.

22:02 As I'm waiting, I realize you know when you're waiting on the Lord. That doesn't mean you're sitting and doing nothing, that means you're pushing into Him and you're in the Word and you're in prayer. And I did start going on job interviews, which was quite a wake-up call to me. I lived right in Forest Hills, queens, and made my resume all purdy. And I remember going on one in particular in Pain Webber. I don't think it even exists anymore. It was on 6th Avenue in the 50s Big Pain Webber. Some of you old New Yorkers remember that old, it's something. Now we got engaged a few blocks from there, the Big Pain Webber building. That's what my first realization of the scam that college can be and often is hit me Because I really wanted to honor my God.

22:49 I didn't want to just wing college and then just go off to Bible college. So I studied hard and I took I was a double major in business management and English literature and I graduated with 150 credits in four years, which should have taken exactly five years. And I remember there were nights where I would cry out to the Lord Lord, help me on this exam. I want to graduate more than a 3.5. I want to graduate at least come loud day. And then I finally did and I put it real big on top of the resume GPA it was like 3.56, come loud day, nobody cared. Nobody cared. Nobody cared where I went to school, what my GPA I'm thinking about.

23:31 I remember essays I would write with so much do you remember this, guys? You think, oh, my whole future depends on this. Nobody cared. I could have put Harvard and Yale on my resume. I don't think anybody would have checked. Maybe that they would have checked. But you get what I'm? I just remember going. I worked so hard and then all the jobs I was getting offered were starting to get paid. I was getting paid for my salary $24,000 a year. I'm going great, I can go back and live with my parents and maybe pay off my student loan debt. But the whole time as I'm going on these interviews, I just feel like, oh, this isn't what I need to be doing.

24:15 I need to get down to Bible school, but I have no way of getting down there. I have about $1,800, just less. I remember that amount less than $2,000. My whole life savings. It happened and I'm looking unto the Lord when my phone rings and it's the woman that I met in the second row of those revival meetings just a few months before and she says you know that Bible school you want to go to. I actually know a family down there in Tampa, florida. They just completed their first year. They're now going to do their second year. Would you like me to put you in touch with them? I said yes, I really would.

24:56 They gave me the gentleman's phone number. I immediately called him and when he picked up that phone you know when you hear the anointing on someone's voice thank God for Christian family, thank God for women in the second row, amen On fire. Women who are close to the Lord. I mean she actually said. She said I was in prayer and your face flashed before my eyes and I thought I'd give you this number. I don't know what the Lord would have done. He would have done something, but I can't imagine my life if she had disobeyed that just one little thing. We don't know the rewards that will come to us from our little obedience.

25:37 I never even spoke to her after that. But the way the Lord views things, and if you look at the economics of how the Lord views things like when they were in Ziklag, david's army and some had to stay by the weapons and others went out to war. When the ones who had actually did all the fighting came back, david said this is a statue and an ordinance forever in Israel that the same reward goes out to those who fought in battle as the ones who stayed by just making sure that the weapons were safe and the supplies were safe. It was the same reward. So it could be that every soul that I've won, everything that I've done for the Lord, she gets the same reward from that one act of obedience. Just remember that so many Christians are like oh, I don't know if I've done enough for the Lord, what have I really done?

26:23 You don't know until he plays the video tape in heaven. That person you encourage, the person you texted, the person you invited, the encouraging and loving you've done throughout your life groups, it all matters, it all counts. So because of her, I'm on the phone now with this guy and he says the best way to see what the Lord wants is come on down here, you can. And he said ground rules right away. You didn't want me being some just some by faith guy hanging around his family for months. Come by for a week. Those are the ground. Come. Okay, I got one week, so I come and I know I need three things I need a place to live, I need a car and I need a job.

27:14 So the first night I crash on their couch. He had a wife and two daughters. Next day they're all saying my name perfectly, which is rare for people. My name, obviously, full name, is Boyan, but six months ago I To bow To make it easier on folk, which seems to have made it harder on a lot of folks. Somehow, somehow that happens. But the next morning I was like hey, boyan, and I'm like you know just how are you saying my name? And he's like oh, because Dad said you're the. We couldn't say it, but Dad said it's easy, boyan the couch. You see him sleeping over there. He's the Boyan the couch. So I was the Boyan the couch and he said you need an apartment, let's look at some apartments.

28:01 So we're driving around and I'm looking at these. What I could afford? Just these dusty, gray, rough apartments, and even they were like 650, 670. Now remember when $25 made all the difference in rent that you could afford and not afford $675 a month. I would need a roommate. I'm going. I don't feel peace here. Plus, I don't really want to live there, but in my spirit I don't feel peace. We come back to the house and the wife had just gotten a call from the dean and not the dean, the office of the Bible school, but somebody had contacted the dean. Somebody had what they call in Florida Do they call it this in other parts of the country? The mother-in-law setup? They do. Okay, which is the garage?

28:42 That's been seems so disrespectful to mother-in-laws everywhere. But it's where the garage is converted, you know, to a bed, to one bedroom. And this was a smart, smart guy because he knew I should get a Bible school student in here. He won't be coming in drunk, he won't be parting, he won't be tearing up my mother-in-law setup. So he found the local Bible school. Is there anybody who will rent this? And it was $4.50 a month. I remember walking in and I could do that. It was still a stretch. Sounds funny now, right? I remember walking in and it was like a Florida apartment this bright, blue, aqua, aqua, blue carpet and a couch with pink flamingos all on it.

29:29 But it was clean. And then I didn't have to have to have a roommate and I said thank you, jesus. And the guy who's showing me around now, who cleverly called me boy on the couch for months. After that he said wow, the Lord is really with you. You got you know. I don't know how he's working this out so fast. He said tomorrow let's see if we can't get you a car. So we go around these used car dealerships and I couldn't afford anything. I remember there was this cutlass Sierra that I really wanted. It was like $36, $3700. I just couldn't afford any of that.

30:10 I'm down now and then this one lot we go to the guy shows me this Flintstone Mobile that was $1,000. It was a 1986 Chevy Spectrum and I remember that I was like it was a 1986 Chevy Spectrum. I say Flintstone Mobile. I still have a picture of it. It just looked so square, like zero aerodynamics whatsoever, but it went. It went from point A to B. Amen, sometimes it wouldn't break. I'm not exaggerating, but it always went, the Lord provided. You know, I didn't even know how to drive until my senior year of college Because I'm a Queens boy, so I was taking the subways everywhere.

31:02 I tried to learn how to drive. My parents couldn't afford the driver's ed. I remember this. It was $350 for the driver's ed course. And they looked oh, that'll teach you. You do not want to be taught how to drive by a Serbian father, especially on a stick shift. I still get PTSD just thinking about it. You're driving, you're driving, all right, now put it into second. Not like that. The Lord worked it out somehow. I got my driver's license. My sweet mate in college actually taught me how to drive and I took the exam by the grace of God, got my driver's license and now this, this Flintstone Mobile, $4,000 was also a stick shift, but I kind of only knew how to drive a stick shift so I had to learn while driving this thing.

32:05 Sometimes I'd try to put it in third, accidentally end up in fifth. I had to like relearn everything. But I just think back to the Lord's goodness, the Lord's faithfulness, and I got very comfortable with that blue carpet that aqua teal blue is so it's like from the 70s, just extra plush and bright. I got very comfortable with it, seeking Jesus. And there was something in college that he taught me and I knew even back then that I was to take what he was teaching me and apply it for the rest of my life. He taught me that he has the answer to everything and that if we would put our eyes upon him and seek him.

32:54 He is enough. Jesus is enough. I'm telling you right now, jesus is enough for you. Whatever you may need, the answer is in Jesus. You're really not going to find it out there, it's in him. Some of you, you're in a hard place right now. You need to be thankful for the hard place because it puts you in an opportunity to reset yourself. You don't want to be going into 2024 overly confident in yourself. You don't want to be going into 2024 self-reliant, thinking you're something you don't. You want to be extra dependent on him.

33:35 You want to be looking to him, the author and the finisher of your faith. Jesus said if your eye be single, what's a single eye? A focused eye, a steady eye, if your eye be single, your whole body will be full of light. This is the time to have a single and steady gaze on Jesus, and I know this by the Spirit. This last year, the last several years, the Lord has done a rattling in our lives to get our attention back. That's how much he loves you and cares for you, that he'll rattle your life so that you could get back to that time with him. Let me read this to you please, from John, chapter 6.

34:20 Actually, luke 10, excuse me, luke 1038. When I didn't know how he would connect the dots at all, and this is what you're being invited to Now it happened as they went that he entered a certain village and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house and she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word.

35:07 Please Know that. This is the key, however, it is that you do it. And may I invite you to do it in different ways, cause what worked yesterday may not work today. But isn't it wonderful that the Lord gives you liberty and how you approach him. As long as you're coming to him not in your own righteousness which we have none, you have none but in the name of Jesus. You can come singing one day, speaking the next day. You can mix it up, you can come with his word. When I don't know what to do at all, then at least I'll read the Psalms out loud and approach him if the battle's really raging, but by all means come and take a little time out to just be still before the Lord and hear his word for you, when some days you may not hear anything.

35:57 There were times when I really needed him to speak to me. All I would hear is I love you, lord. What should I do? I'm about to die. I'm with you, don't be afraid. I've learned to trust those words since In the beginning. Back then it was like Lord, could you give me a little few more details please, a little bit more of an action plan? I'm with you, you'll be okay. But never yet has he let me down. Never yet did he say something like that and I fall and he goes psych. Just kidding. Oh, look at you. Never. He always comes through Every time. He's so faithful.

36:41 But Martha was distracted Next verse. Martha was distracted with much serving and she approached him and said Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me. And Jesus answered and said to her Martha, martha, you were worried and troubled about many things, but 16 things are needed, and I'm gonna give you my 16 point sermon right now on the things that are necessary. I love how Jesus simplifies it every time. One thing, one thing. One thing is necessary, one thing is needed. What was that? One thing To sit at my feet and hear my word.

37:25 Everything that I was experiencing that summer of 98, as the Lord took me from an ignorant, negative ramus who didn't even know what he didn't know, just knowing that I wanted to fulfill the mandate and call on my life, had no clue how to connect the dots. I saw Jesus come and connect those dots, but what I believe opened the door for him to do that was, for months, really years before that, just having the daily discipline of sitting at his feet and hearing his word. I want you to know that Jesus is enough. And if you're at a place where you don't know what to do, if you're at a place that evil day things are hard, come to Jesus like you've never come.

38:07 Dive into him like he's the deep end of a swimming pool, just cannonball in. You are welcome. He won't hold your sins and mistakes against you. You just bury yourself in Jesus. Your solution, your answer is in him. One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. Second, corinthians 11, two through three. Paul is writing the Corinthians. He says for I am jealous for you, with godly jealousy, for I have betrothed you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

38:51 But I fear less somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. Simplicity Pastors run out of things to say, so you get the 16 point message in eight parts, but Jesus kept it very, very simple. And Paul said I'm actually worried about you, you're gonna overcomplicate it. The verse before that he says I've betrothed you, you're engaged to Jesus.

39:34 You know what that denotes Engagement, intimacy. And that's what he's referring to when he talks about the simplicity that is in Christ. The simplicity that is in Christ is your sweet, intimate relationship with the Lord. Men, don't shy away from this. Determine to know your maker and your God and your creator, and you can only know him through Jesus and what he did for you on the cross. Any success you'll have in life, the success that really matters, it'll come out of the relationship that you have with your covenant friend, the Lord. Jesus Christ, I'm giving you all I can give you and I'm gonna give you all I can give you so you can know what you're doing.

40:18 I'm giving you all I can give you this morning. This actually isn't what I prepared to preach, but it's in the first service during worship. I can give you the stories, what he did, what I've seen work, what he's taught me now, nearly 30 years, that that time with him it's never wasted time, that everything you need is in him, that there is a devil. There's a lot of people. They don't understand there's a devil. I understand there's some groups. They overdo it and it's devil, this devil, that devil with the Wiffleball bat.

40:59 Everything's about the devil. But then there's entire segments of Christianity they treat the devil like he's a concept, like, oh, the devil, that just means bad things. No, he is a person. Yes, god is a person. The devil is a being. He is a person and he hates you. He hates you. He knows a lot about you. His minions know a lot about you and they don't play fair, they don't play nice. They want to destroy you and they don't have a limit. They don't hear you cry for mercy. He says, okay, I'm gonna tap out Now. No, jesus said he's come to steal, kill and destroy. We're here, we're pastoring a church, we're leading a church. You think the devil just says, oh, come right into New York City.

41:39 Oh, I don't really care about the center of the world. New York City, come preach the gospel freely, in fact, see people get baptized with the Holy Spirit, speak in tongues, lay hands on people, see them get healed. I don't mind. There's a constant war, constant pushing. That's in your life too. You have to remember, you have to be cognizant of that so you can push back. You got to take a stand, devil, you are not coming near me. You're not coming near me. You have to say the words Amen. If you're uncomfortable saying the word, that's the alarm that you're in danger.

42:21 Some people now talk to him too much. They start off talking to Jesus and it's all. The rest is all to the devil. But make a couple of statements to the enemy. Here's one devil your power is broken by the blood of Jesus. Or just say the blood of Jesus, wake up in the morning. The blood of Jesus, and you're now. You're now not just waiting, you're now on the offense. You're pushing back against the powers of darkness. Hallelujah as your kids go by. The blood of Jesus, dads, cover your home.

43:08 Thank you, lord Jesus, that in this home only your Holy Spirit and His angels reside. Hallelujah, hallelujah. So now I need a job. I got the apartment day one. I got the car day two. Car it was supposed to be a golden color but it really. It was so old by that time. It really just looked dirty all the time. So now I needed a job and I printed out a very pretty cover letter and my resume and I did all I knew to do was I faxed them.

43:51 I was mailing resumes. This is 1998. People were emailing resumes. I, fresh out of college, wasn't one of them. It really wasn't a thing. Most people. It was just the beginning of the whole internet age. So I was faxed. I faxed it to every temp agency in Tampa, florida and then, because I didn't want to feel irresponsible, I would just stay home looking at my phone to ring and praying, looking at my phone to ring and praying. And then I went. I forget if it was the second or third day. Do you know sometimes when you're praying, but you're actually? You're actually more in anxiety than prayer.

44:33 That's where I was. I felt like the Lord came to me and said go to the beach. I was like I just had a sense while I was in prayer go to the beach Like you've done all you can do. Now it's no longer faith. Now you're just worrying here and using it because I'm waiting for I need to get a call back If I don't have a job. Everything the car's done, the apartment's done, the mother-in-law set up. And then I remember every sermon when he said go to the beach. Every sermon that I'd ever heard on being in the rest of God and showing faith come out of me and I was like, yeah, if I believe that you're getting me this job, then I'll act like it.

45:15 So how does a person who just got a job act? Yeah, they go to the beach. So I went to the beach. I went over to Clearwater Beach. Never forget the drive there. It was the longest drive I did thus far in that car. Everything else was just like two miles back and three miles and come back. Now I had to go 45 minutes and I'm still learning to drive. I remember going down to 275. I was a brand new driver so you know you may not even realize it, but you're looking at your rear view mirror and the side mirrors all the time. Remember, they say every two seconds you should check them out. I realized in like five minutes I didn't even look at the rear view mirror. I then look and I can still see that man's face. Really, when I close my eyes, I can still see that face in the rear view because I was in the left lane, didn't even know the difference between the left lane and the right lane, and left is for passing.

46:03 I look in the rear view mirror and I see a truck driver and he's talking and I can see the anger in his face and I also could see I'm doing a turn. I could see like a colonnade of cars behind him and I realized let me quickly get to the right. My hands were ice cold. Remember how cold my hands were? I say these things because they remind me of how good he is. I should you have these stories too. You shouldn't even be sitting here. But he took you by the hand, he led you. You think he's going to quit. You know that. He says he won't forsake the work of his own hands.

46:44 You are his project. I make it to Clearwater Beach. I walk around, I think I grabbed some ice cream, felt the sand between my toes, breathed some fresh air, came back home and I saw the light Not God's light, the light on the answering machine and I thought maybe it's just my friend boy on the couch. You know the guy who had me over and he's the only one who had my number and I turn it on and it was the temp agency. And right there they said you need to come on in final interview or whatever interview. I didn't go on any interviews except over the phone. Franklin Templeton is going to hire you as a temp and I've gotten a job.

47:30 This was all in the space of five days. The Lord, he connects the dots. Jesus is enough for everything you need. That's, then, how he established this church and the things he's done in our lives. I shared this in the first service. I feel to share it again. He worked this amazing thing out to where my wife and I moved into. Really, what's a dream house in Long Island, and I love that house. Present tense, but I really love that house. We just moved in in August. It was something that I wanted to stay in the city, but if I ever wanted a house, it would look like this house, because we're only the second owners.

48:17 It was built in 2009 and the couple that built it one of them is a designer and he's in construction, so all the details are immaculate. This just shows how I was brought up. But every bathroom I've ever been to was either all drywall or the cheap little tile. This was all like exotic stones and marble floors. And I'm going around and I'm caressing the bathrooms and the whole family would go to sleep and I'm walking around the house and I'm giving praise to God and I'm really loving the house. You know Like really loving the house. But here's what's so interesting Three months in it just disappeared like that and all of a sudden I was just living in another box again.

49:08 I'm going, do you know? I say this I feel like sometimes I need to confess my sin, my lust, my voracious appetite. Three months sin. I actually, lord forgive me. I actually went on Trulia and I thought, let me see some other houses. You know what I went through just to get this one and the miracles and strings got pulled and how he worked it all together. And in this one moment, do you understand what I'm saying? Maybe I need to be more elaborate. I had gotten bored of the house in three months and do you know where I had to land all over again?

49:50 Where I got to land? Jesus, jesus. And I actually said, lord, you know, I was so happy With what you did, but I think I got more caught up with the gift of the Lord than the Lord of the gift. And I don't know if you can relate to this, but when Lord has done a lot in your life, I'm sure I have to look back at the things that I wanted. Every time I got what I wanted, it's wonderful, but the thrill would be quickly gone. Jesus is enough. I had to land back at Jesus and realize, god, I was rejoicing over something that doesn't satisfy.

50:32 I just bought something, but that doesn't hit the spot. Only you do, only you do. Hallelujah. I'm telling you that thing, that thing that you want so bad. Do you really want what you want? You think you do, but you'll see. I have a collection of stories, of things where I just said, lord, in fact, if you could just add this, then I can just relax a little bit, then I don't have to live life on the razor's edge so much I know you do you get to walk this walk of faith forever.

51:12 A lot of the stuff that I had wanted was really just so that I wouldn't have to believe God so intensely. I'm only preaching to myself and my wife this morning. Can anybody relate? Is this blessing you? I want this Lord, but really what's behind it is Lord, most of my life. I really I don't mind, I guess, but it kind of feels like I'm hydroplaning, what Pastor James described. My car's not even touching the asphalt, there's like a couple of millimeters of space and I'm just whoo. Really, it's not the thing that I want so much. I just want to feel more in control of my life.

51:53 That would really help me. And then you get it and you're not more in control because you realize that if you don't have Jesus, then you're just a bag of chemical compounds put together on a spinning planet thrown out in outer space. What a thought. Lord Jesus, hallelujah, he's got you, he said. You're in the palm of His hand and no one can snatch you out, and he's more than enough. Worship Him, come on up, lord Jesus, thank you that you are everything.

52:33 In you we live and move and have our being. I want every head bowed, every eye closed. I want you to know that Jesus Christ died on the cross in your place to take away your sins. The Bible says that our sin is worthy of divine retribution, of divine punishment. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that sin disqualifies us from heaven and from fellowship with God. But Jesus loved you, yes you. He loved you so much that he went to the cross and took the punishment that you deserved. He took it on Himself and he was raised from the dead on the third day.

53:14 And the Bible says that if you put your faith in Him and trust in Him, jesus Christ, for His righteousness, you will be saved. That means you won't go to hell, you'll go to heaven and you'll be born anew, born again, a new spirit he will put within you. Now, if you under the sound of my voice, with every head bowed, every eye closed, if you're not absolutely certain that, if God forbid, you were to die tonight, if you're not absolutely certain that you would go to heaven. I want you to lift your hand right now If there's even a little bit of doubt. Do you really want to be playing with your soul?

53:55 Thank you. Thank you who else? You only have one soul. If you're not absolutely certain, lift your hand. Who else? I see that hand too. Who else Thank you? Who else? He's provided a way. He did it with His own precious blood. Who else? Forever is a really, really long time. I want Jesus. Who else?

54:36 Thank you, lord. Let's all say this together, those of you who raised your hands. I want you to say this out loud. We're all going to say it out loud, but you who raised your hands, I want you to say it extra out loud. Really open up your mouths and say this. There's something about saying it out loud. I'm not making that up, that's not my tip. The Bible says if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That's why I did that whole thing about talking in the beginning, because faith is always one half in your heart and one half in your mouth.

55:17 No quiet faith. There will be an expression of it out of your mouth. Are you ready? Let's all say this Lord Jesus, I believe in you, I trust in you as my Lord and Savior. According to your word, my sins are all gone, I am forgiven of everything, I'm a new creation, I'm a child of God and I have the righteousness of Christ. I'm heaven bound, and God is my Father. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, hallelujah.

55:59 This is the City Light Church Podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansic and City Light Church, visit us at CityLightNYCcom. That's CityLightNYCcom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to CityLight Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.