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Feb. 6, 2024

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

Embracing Life's Journey: From Pulpit Chronicles to the Power of Faith
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CityLight NYC Church
Embracing Life's Journey: From Pulpit Chronicles to the Power of Faith
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Season 1
Life throws its share of curves, from learning to drive stick shift without formal lessons to navigating the trials of college life. Just like gripping the wheel of my old plush car, this episode steers you through embracing the simplicity and sufficiency of Jesus' teachings. Reflecting on biblical figures like Martha and Mary, we uncover the profound impact of maintaining our focus on Jesus, finding strength in the midst of life's challenges, and growing deeper in faith through every bump in the road.
 
But the journey doesn't end there; it's a constant battle, a spiritual warfare that we must actively engage in with the armor of God's word. In a candid recount of my own skirmishes—from moving to a new city in search of employment to trusting unwaveringly in God's provisions—I share how acknowledging the reality of the devil and the power of our confessions can shield us and our loved ones. The episode wraps up with a heartfelt invitation to confess and affirm our faith, offering a moment of reflection and closeness with God's encompassing love and grace.
Chapters

00:00 - Power of Praise and Speaking Faith

14:52:00 - Journey to Becoming a Pastor

30:49:00 - The Power of Seeking Jesus

40:49:00 - The Spiritual Battle and God's Provision

55:02:00 - The Power of Confession and Faith

Transcript
00:00.180 --> 00:06.421 You don't want to be going into 2024 self-reliance, thinking you're something you don't. 00:07.183 --> 00:09.828 You want to be extra dependent on Him. 00:11.231 --> 00:14.884 You want to be looking to Him, the author and the finisher of your faith. 00:15.465 --> 00:18.713 Jesus said if your eye be single, what's a single eye? 00:19.240 --> 00:21.728 A focused eye, a steady eye? 00:21.869 --> 00:25.440 If your eye be single, your whole body will be full of light. 00:26.302 --> 00:28.426 Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. 00:28.667 --> 00:34.967 Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. 00:35.709 --> 00:41.127 If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at CityLightNYCcom. 00:41.448 --> 00:43.392 That's CityLightNYCcom. 00:44.780 --> 00:51.902 Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. 00:52.644 --> 01:02.433 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. 01:06.060 --> 01:08.529 Praise is the language of heaven. 01:12.041 --> 01:16.640 God, no, speak complainee, god, speak praise. 01:19.885 --> 01:21.688 And if you don't know how to praise, the. 01:21.728 --> 01:25.334 Lord, my heart goes out to you. 01:25.855 --> 01:26.335 I don't know. 01:28.621 --> 01:29.584 I don't know how to help. 01:30.306 --> 01:34.440 You have to be able to praise the Lord. 01:37.304 --> 01:40.588 It is a superpower in the spirit. 01:43.432 --> 01:44.574 You look at the Psalms. 01:45.294 --> 01:46.476 Everybody loves the Psalms. 01:47.780 --> 02:02.662 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. 02:03.946 --> 02:06.673 But you'll notice praise is in every single one of the Psalms. 02:09.321 --> 02:15.281 You take a glimpse in Revelation and you take a glimpse into heaven and you realize the language that's spoken. 02:15.321 --> 02:16.063 There is praise. 02:18.848 --> 02:24.786 And when that evil day comes and maybe you're right now in that evil day, what's the evil day? 02:24.826 --> 02:30.631 It's the day you don't want to be having, but it comes Praise is what's going to get you out. 02:31.934 --> 02:34.741 And so you pardon me if I don't get a little concerned. 02:35.042 --> 02:41.982 I'm your pastor, I'm in bonds of love to the Lord to look out for you, to cover you, to protect you. 02:42.082 --> 02:51.880 I get concerned when if, after worship, with me encouraging you to praise, you still stand there with gorilla glue in between your lips. 02:53.484 --> 03:02.783 What's going to happen when it hits you on a Wednesday afternoon, what are you going to do then? 03:04.427 --> 03:09.640 You've got to be able to praise them, and right now you're in a safe space. 03:12.203 --> 03:15.907 If you can't praise them here, how will you praise them out there? 03:18.109 --> 03:41.215 Amen, right, when I say safe space, usher's go ahead and bolt the doors, lock everything down. 03:44.379 --> 03:45.500 No one's leaving until we're done. 03:53.492 --> 03:55.755 I do repeat myself a lot, I feel, I feel. 03:56.936 --> 04:00.945 But then I see some people that'll ask me a question that I've already answered 10 times. 04:01.667 --> 04:08.090 And then I realized, just right, like way after I'm so tired of hearing myself, some people are just starting to hear me. 04:09.295 --> 04:11.363 That's actually why Paul addressed this in the Bible. 04:11.844 --> 04:16.922 He said for me to repeat myself isn't burdensome to me, but for you it's necessary. 04:18.246 --> 04:28.730 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. 04:30.453 --> 04:39.329 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. 04:41.092 --> 04:45.563 He created this earth, he created the universe with His words. 04:46.967 --> 04:54.695 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. 04:55.096 --> 04:59.553 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those that love it will eat the fruit thereof. 04:59.915 --> 05:01.721 You have a power in your mouth. 05:02.163 --> 05:07.100 Your words that you speak, especially under the anointing, found it on the word of God. 05:07.120 --> 05:11.387 They go forth and they create and they carve a path into your future. 05:11.969 --> 05:27.180 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. 05:28.844 --> 05:35.177 You will not silence your way out of a problem, you will not. 05:35.978 --> 05:39.889 You read the Psalms and you see, the exhortation is always to speak. 05:40.531 --> 05:41.996 I will, you know. 05:42.076 --> 05:45.408 And many of the Psalms start out pretty depressing. 05:45.810 --> 05:46.854 You got to make it to the end. 05:46.974 --> 05:52.433 The first eight verses, the guy's just complaining, and some of the Psalms sound like a country song. 05:52.533 --> 06:05.521 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. 06:07.284 --> 06:17.496 And it says to shout, shout unto the Lord with a voice of triumph Amen, hallelujah. 06:19.161 --> 06:23.760 So I know people like to relegate this kind of teaching into a particular type of Christianity. 06:23.921 --> 06:25.245 Oh, that's just not my style. 06:26.368 --> 06:29.037 You can have your style or you can have Bible style. 06:29.459 --> 06:31.042 I'm going to have Bible style. 06:34.968 --> 06:39.696 I don't want dead religious style and then I identify with that. 06:40.697 --> 06:45.724 No, there's God's style, the biblical style. 06:47.747 --> 06:49.789 Well, god, god made me shy. 06:50.831 --> 06:55.116 No, you might be quiet, but shyness. 07:01.641 --> 07:04.516 That's that scripture that says God has not given you a spirit of fear. 07:04.616 --> 07:08.125 That word for fear is actually timidity, shyness. 07:09.106 --> 07:16.303 God has not given you a spirit of shyness, of timidity, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 07:23.111 --> 07:23.732 Certain thoughts. 07:23.852 --> 07:27.196 You can't stop with other thoughts. 07:29.462 --> 07:33.406 Somebody would say well, I'm having these thoughts, and the answer is think positively. 07:33.559 --> 07:35.689 How many of you know that doesn't work. 07:35.841 --> 07:39.052 You cannot interrupt thoughts with thoughts. 07:39.453 --> 07:41.336 You can only interrupt thoughts with words. 07:42.578 --> 07:53.586 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. 07:56.132 --> 08:03.272 There's some Sunday mornings, and then just just look, the enemy's always pushing on you. 08:03.413 --> 08:03.774 You know that. 08:03.794 --> 08:05.219 He's all you got to push back. 08:05.239 --> 08:07.310 How do you push back? 08:07.370 --> 08:09.360 Put on some worship music in the background and let them do the work for you. 08:10.203 --> 08:10.744 It doesn't work. 08:12.028 --> 08:13.373 It just creates a nice ambience. 08:14.817 --> 08:15.640 But there are times when you have to. 08:15.660 --> 08:21.312 Jesus, your Lord, you're with me, your favor surrounds me. 08:21.813 --> 08:36.512 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. 08:36.533 --> 08:42.472 I'll do that randomly and then I'll check to make sure I didn't freak the kids out. 08:42.492 --> 08:43.214 They're playing somewhere. 08:43.655 --> 08:45.200 Oh look, and they just didn't even notice. 08:48.113 --> 08:49.540 Because he grew up like that. 08:49.860 --> 08:54.647 Amen, Hallelujah. 08:56.449 --> 08:59.193 When I go to help someone to pray, that is in that. 09:00.014 --> 09:08.091 That's stupor spot, not the stupid spot, but the stupor that, just in a rut, just you. 09:08.392 --> 09:09.434 It's like they're in molasses. 09:12.241 --> 09:15.755 Often I I won't pray for them, I'll pray with them. 09:15.775 --> 09:29.528 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. 09:30.250 --> 09:35.404 They've opened their mouth to complain, but they haven't opened their mouths to the Lord. 09:36.427 --> 09:39.415 I know this because I know I go through it. 09:39.435 --> 09:42.643 I know what I have to push back against. 09:43.465 --> 09:44.908 The devil loves me when I'm quiet. 09:46.351 --> 09:53.659 If you're not speaking, you're not creating, you're not exerting back, the devil has no problem with you coming into church. 09:53.679 --> 10:04.316 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. 10:04.336 --> 10:11.758 You could get a breakthrough, so I'll pray with somebody in that state and I'll say, just say hallelujah. 10:11.778 --> 10:15.666 You know, hallelujah, that one word, it's the highest form of praise, that one word. 10:16.848 --> 10:35.831 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. 10:38.013 --> 10:41.783 All right, now repeat after me hallelujah, and then thank you. 10:42.104 --> 10:43.650 But I meant to the person I'm saying now. 10:43.991 --> 10:47.042 But I appreciate any opportunity you take it. 10:48.366 --> 10:50.452 You could let a random one out at any point. 10:50.513 --> 10:52.800 By the way, in church it's legal, it's fine. 10:57.028 --> 10:57.950 Well, they, they, they. 10:58.030 --> 11:00.114 I'll say hallelujah, hallelujah. 11:01.618 --> 11:06.083 And it's like this little voice in the back of their throat, it's like the real them is trapped inside. 11:06.235 --> 11:08.383 Help me, rescue me. 11:10.355 --> 11:11.319 Yeah, you waited too long. 11:11.339 --> 11:11.961 You gotta speak. 11:14.395 --> 11:15.439 The enemy's speaking to you. 11:15.560 --> 11:19.118 He's lying to you, trying to fill your head with confusion, trying to belittle you. 11:19.218 --> 11:22.381 Put you down, put fear into your heart and your mind. 11:24.615 --> 11:25.660 Say it again, hallelujah. 11:25.715 --> 11:27.720 This time a little bit bolder, and they'll go. 11:27.800 --> 11:28.462 Hallelujah. 11:30.695 --> 11:32.382 The enemy's telling you God's gonna forsake you. 11:32.475 --> 11:34.979 You say God, you're good, god is good. 11:37.415 --> 11:44.463 You get them to say 10 positive statements from the scriptures out loud and the brightness is back in their eyes. 11:46.575 --> 11:47.560 But you get to decide. 11:49.235 --> 11:51.082 If I could praise him for you, I would. 11:51.635 --> 12:05.640 Sometimes I'm tempted to walk around the aisles and just jiggle jaws a little bit, just hallelujah, hallelujah, keep us in your prayers. 12:05.835 --> 12:07.019 We have a missions team. 12:07.079 --> 12:08.684 Is it 25 or 26 people? 12:08.724 --> 12:16.140 Now 26 with the latest edition, huh, who happens to be Victor, my son. 12:17.235 --> 12:18.280 That was the latest edition. 12:20.715 --> 12:28.983 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. 12:29.075 --> 12:32.003 So we have a team of 26 going to Guatemala. 12:32.024 --> 12:41.361 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. 12:41.495 --> 12:52.402 We've helped put up and pay for over 40 churches in the Yashil area around Neba, and so pray for us. 12:53.364 --> 13:02.742 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. 13:05.035 --> 13:06.921 I want to read to you from Isaiah 55. 13:08.035 --> 13:18.706 This is known as the Great Invitation Ho, but today Isaiah was living in New York. 13:19.015 --> 13:26.365 That would probably be a yo or an Ayo is getting people's attention. 13:27.975 --> 13:34.492 Ayo, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. 13:37.755 --> 13:41.264 And you who have no money, come buy and eat. 13:42.215 --> 13:47.946 Yes, come buy wine and milk, without money and without price. 13:50.035 --> 13:53.404 Why do you spend money for what is not bread? 13:54.455 --> 13:55.580 What an eternal question. 13:57.855 --> 14:07.323 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? 14:09.023 --> 14:14.855 Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. 14:16.142 --> 14:24.574 Incline your ear and come to me here and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you. 14:26.301 --> 14:27.827 The sure mercies of David. 14:30.282 --> 14:35.081 The Lord has prepared a table before us in the presence of my enemies. 14:40.699 --> 14:41.683 I'm making a decision. 14:44.678 --> 14:47.927 I invite you to also to partake of that table. 14:52.661 --> 14:56.695 My wife and I spent the last week in Tampa, day and night revival meetings. 14:57.523 --> 15:15.110 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. 15:15.130 --> 15:16.695 But then when you're down there, more of the story comes out. 15:16.715 --> 15:18.326 And I was just reminiscing about the goodness of the Lord. 15:20.402 --> 15:23.170 He's so good and he has this ability to. 15:24.099 --> 15:31.442 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. 15:33.715 --> 15:39.378 Yes, he takes you and he directs your paths and he connects the dots for you, many of you. 15:39.398 --> 15:40.643 You're aware of where you are. 15:41.237 --> 15:44.522 You have a glimmer of where you want to be, with no idea how to get there. 15:44.815 --> 15:49.968 He's the one who takes you from point A to 8.1, 8.2. 15:50.876 --> 15:51.659 And then eventually to B. 15:53.180 --> 15:58.285 So often it's not a leap from A to B, but there's 10 mini steps in between A and B. 15:59.119 --> 16:02.623 You're not even aware until you get to B that the Lord was leading you the entire way. 16:04.457 --> 16:09.182 See, I got saved when I was 16 years old and called to the pastorate. 16:09.884 --> 16:17.304 About two weeks later I just knew in my spirit, went off to school, right there in Forest Hills High School. 16:18.685 --> 16:23.641 About two weeks saved and I'm in class and all I can see is myself ministering and preaching. 16:26.321 --> 16:27.695 I'm 16, I'd never, ever considered it. 16:28.442 --> 16:32.424 I didn't really even know what a pastor did, other than that guy up there who preaches. 16:35.160 --> 16:38.608 Shared it with the people who led me to the Lord, shared it with my pastor. 16:38.628 --> 16:42.966 Then they confirmed it, but I had no clear path on how to become a pastor. 16:46.958 --> 16:54.063 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. 16:56.458 --> 16:56.960 So I didn't know. 16:58.357 --> 17:02.046 But I didn't want to go now to regular university. 17:03.442 --> 17:06.240 I wanted to go to something to train me, but my parents were not. 17:06.762 --> 17:16.045 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. 17:17.518 --> 17:21.655 So I said please go to college so that you would have something to fall back on. 17:22.137 --> 17:24.927 Oh, I felt like that was such a compromise. 17:26.874 --> 17:30.444 So I went to my pastor and said what do you think I should do Because my parents want me to go to college? 17:30.464 --> 17:31.110 I'll never believe it. 17:31.170 --> 17:32.155 I thought he was going to agree with me. 17:32.210 --> 17:35.680 He just looked at me over his desk and he said listen to your parents. 17:36.061 --> 17:39.891 Ah, all right. 17:42.650 --> 17:48.898 So I went off to university and I was an ignorant ignoramus. 17:50.590 --> 17:53.533 I was doubly ignorant Because I didn't know what I didn't know. 17:57.430 --> 17:58.834 The Lord protected me so much. 18:00.970 --> 18:02.937 I didn't even know the questions I should be asking. 18:03.830 --> 18:11.118 One thing I knew was God had called me to pastor, but I didn't know how to move forward into the ministry. 18:11.870 --> 18:13.415 I didn't even know what training I would need. 18:14.990 --> 18:17.573 I would talk to some pastors, but everyone would have a different story. 18:19.350 --> 18:20.233 So that didn't help much. 18:23.010 --> 18:34.693 But the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, drew me into prayer and drew me into the person of Jesus, because Jesus is enough. 18:37.090 --> 18:37.893 He's more than enough. 18:40.310 --> 19:01.934 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. 19:03.870 --> 19:05.817 And then came the final semester of senior year. 19:06.610 --> 19:17.719 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. 19:17.830 --> 19:22.336 The other half was I didn't even know how lost I really was in the plan of God. 19:22.990 --> 19:24.474 I don't know if you ever felt that way or not. 19:26.791 --> 19:27.895 Lord, what are you doing here? 19:28.670 --> 19:34.918 Because on paper it looks like I'm going to graduate college and end up working at McDonald's or something. 19:35.720 --> 19:36.322 What's going on? 19:39.230 --> 19:52.056 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. 19:54.150 --> 19:54.632 So I went. 19:56.510 --> 20:01.956 Couldn't drive yet, didn't have a car, so I took a Greyhound bus, my first time taking a Greyhound bus. 20:02.070 --> 20:03.516 You ever take those Greyhound buses. 20:03.590 --> 20:07.275 It was a shock to me because Baltimore should have been like a four and a half hour trip. 20:07.810 --> 20:09.637 I arrived eight and a half plus hours later. 20:10.050 --> 20:22.562 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. 20:23.310 --> 20:40.140 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. 20:41.271 --> 20:48.497 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. 20:49.270 --> 20:54.116 And there was another lady that I ended up just sitting next to and eventually we struck up a conversation. 20:55.459 --> 21:05.617 She was on fire, jesus, and at one point we exchanged phone numbers and I actually forgot all about it. 21:08.615 --> 21:12.321 Well then went back, finished up college. 21:14.690 --> 21:20.197 I knew I needed to get to a Bible school at this point, but I had no path on how to get there. 21:20.217 --> 21:22.397 Even my parents were not going to support me. 21:22.790 --> 21:27.458 They were very supportive throughout my life, but they didn't want me going into full time ministry. 21:29.313 --> 21:31.459 So I understood that back then. 21:31.870 --> 21:33.496 And it also put all the pressure on God. 21:33.870 --> 21:34.935 You know he's never afraid of that. 21:35.150 --> 21:35.753 He doesn't mind that. 21:36.610 --> 21:37.535 So they weren't going to help me. 21:37.690 --> 21:38.112 Secretly. 21:38.172 --> 21:45.397 I knew they really wanted me to fall on my face so I could come to my senses and not go in that direction. 21:50.605 --> 21:51.406 So I graduate. 21:51.570 --> 21:53.575 It's now the summer of 1998. 21:56.490 --> 22:01.180 And I'm just waiting on the Lord. 22:02.970 --> 22:04.973 As I'm waiting, I realize you know when you're waiting on the Lord. 22:04.993 --> 22:11.497 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. 22:12.610 --> 22:16.736 And I did start going on job interviews, which was quite a wake-up call to me. 22:17.610 --> 22:22.978 I lived right in Forest Hills, queens, and made my resume all purdy. 22:25.373 --> 22:28.441 And I remember going on one in particular in Pain Webber. 22:28.530 --> 22:29.816 I don't think it even exists anymore. 22:29.910 --> 22:32.219 It was on 6th Avenue in the 50s Big Pain Webber. 22:32.250 --> 22:36.299 Some of you old New Yorkers remember that old, it's something. 22:36.359 --> 22:39.935 Now we got engaged a few blocks from there, the Big Pain Webber building. 22:40.450 --> 22:49.259 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. 22:49.330 --> 22:56.156 I didn't want to just wing college and then just go off to Bible college. 22:56.750 --> 23:06.275 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. 23:07.191 --> 23:11.197 And I remember there were nights where I would cry out to the Lord Lord, help me on this exam. 23:11.710 --> 23:13.396 I want to graduate more than a 3.5. 23:14.170 --> 23:15.816 I want to graduate at least come loud day. 23:16.117 --> 23:25.377 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. 23:26.706 --> 23:27.270 Nobody cared. 23:27.350 --> 23:31.451 Nobody cared where I went to school, what my GPA I'm thinking about. 23:31.492 --> 23:35.295 I remember essays I would write with so much do you remember this, guys? 23:35.910 --> 23:38.077 You think, oh, my whole future depends on this. 23:38.137 --> 23:39.020 Nobody cared. 23:39.070 --> 23:41.439 I could have put Harvard and Yale on my resume. 23:41.510 --> 23:42.754 I don't think anybody would have checked. 23:44.490 --> 23:45.434 Maybe that they would have checked. 23:45.474 --> 23:46.056 But you get what I'm? 23:51.579 --> 23:52.420 I just remember going. 23:53.502 --> 23:59.032 I worked so hard and then all the jobs I was getting offered were starting to get paid. 23:59.052 --> 24:01.298 I was getting paid for my salary $24,000 a year. 24:01.398 --> 24:09.310 I'm going great, I can go back and live with my parents and maybe pay off my student loan debt. 24:09.310 --> 24:14.177 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. 24:15.830 --> 24:20.362 I need to get down to Bible school, but I have no way of getting down there. 24:20.890 --> 24:22.620 I have about $1,800, just less. 24:23.310 --> 24:24.577 I remember that amount less than $2,000. 24:26.131 --> 24:27.557 My whole life savings. 24:27.590 --> 24:44.037 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. 24:44.077 --> 24:46.596 I actually know a family down there in Tampa, florida. 24:46.750 --> 24:48.296 They just completed their first year. 24:49.070 --> 24:50.375 They're now going to do their second year. 24:50.930 --> 24:52.918 Would you like me to put you in touch with them? 24:53.270 --> 24:54.554 I said yes, I really would. 24:56.390 --> 24:58.838 They gave me the gentleman's phone number. 24:59.350 --> 25:15.411 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. 25:15.471 --> 25:17.819 Women who are close to the Lord. 25:18.531 --> 25:20.098 I mean she actually said. 25:20.118 --> 25:24.477 She said I was in prayer and your face flashed before my eyes and I thought I'd give you this number. 25:25.070 --> 25:26.557 I don't know what the Lord would have done. 25:26.630 --> 25:31.332 He would have done something, but I can't imagine my life if she had disobeyed that just one little thing. 25:33.470 --> 25:37.180 We don't know the rewards that will come to us from our little obedience. 25:37.950 --> 25:39.816 I never even spoke to her after that. 25:41.910 --> 25:53.994 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. 25:55.910 --> 26:08.377 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. 26:08.470 --> 26:09.414 It was the same reward. 26:10.190 --> 26:17.299 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. 26:17.870 --> 26:23.200 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? 26:23.490 --> 26:26.057 You don't know until he plays the video tape in heaven. 26:27.750 --> 26:36.333 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. 26:37.470 --> 26:46.111 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. 26:46.211 --> 26:47.917 And he said ground rules right away. 26:48.430 --> 26:53.560 You didn't want me being some just some by faith guy hanging around his family for months. 26:54.162 --> 26:55.284 Come by for a week. 26:55.731 --> 26:56.453 Those are the ground. 26:56.834 --> 26:57.075 Come. 26:57.155 --> 27:10.824 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. 27:14.778 --> 27:16.542 So the first night I crash on their couch. 27:18.135 --> 27:19.379 He had a wife and two daughters. 27:20.532 --> 27:23.941 Next day they're all saying my name perfectly, which is rare for people. 27:25.232 --> 27:34.308 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. 27:34.348 --> 27:35.836 Somehow, somehow that happens. 27:35.937 --> 27:42.361 But the next morning I was like hey, boyan, and I'm like you know just how are you saying my name? 27:42.690 --> 27:44.216 And he's like oh, because Dad said you're the. 27:44.610 --> 27:47.078 We couldn't say it, but Dad said it's easy, boyan the couch. 27:47.610 --> 27:48.273 You see him sleeping over there. 27:48.313 --> 27:49.258 He's the Boyan the couch. 27:51.252 --> 28:01.118 So I was the Boyan the couch and he said you need an apartment, let's look at some apartments. 28:01.610 --> 28:03.697 So we're driving around and I'm looking at these. 28:04.670 --> 28:05.514 What I could afford? 28:06.610 --> 28:14.449 Just these dusty, gray, rough apartments, and even they were like 650, 670. 28:14.710 --> 28:20.822 Now remember when $25 made all the difference in rent that you could afford and not afford $675 a month. 28:20.862 --> 28:21.610 I would need a roommate. 28:21.791 --> 28:22.192 I'm going. 28:22.232 --> 28:23.176 I don't feel peace here. 28:23.610 --> 28:26.278 Plus, I don't really want to live there, but in my spirit I don't feel peace. 28:27.630 --> 28:34.610 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. 28:35.253 --> 28:38.610 Somebody had what they call in Florida Do they call it this in other parts of the country? 28:39.192 --> 28:40.095 The mother-in-law setup? 28:40.135 --> 28:40.416 They do. 28:40.877 --> 28:42.736 Okay, which is the garage? 28:42.836 --> 28:45.590 That's been seems so disrespectful to mother-in-laws everywhere. 28:46.332 --> 28:50.021 But it's where the garage is converted, you know, to a bed, to one bedroom. 28:53.513 --> 28:58.610 And this was a smart, smart guy because he knew I should get a Bible school student in here. 28:59.593 --> 29:03.397 He won't be coming in drunk, he won't be parting, he won't be tearing up my mother-in-law setup. 29:03.771 --> 29:05.257 So he found the local Bible school. 29:06.814 --> 29:07.978 Is there anybody who will rent this? 29:09.600 --> 29:10.590 And it was $4.50 a month. 29:11.312 --> 29:13.158 I remember walking in and I could do that. 29:14.534 --> 29:15.578 It was still a stretch. 29:16.232 --> 29:17.257 Sounds funny now, right? 29:20.013 --> 29:29.590 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. 29:29.610 --> 29:31.347 But it was clean. 29:32.154 --> 29:35.315 And then I didn't have to have to have a roommate and I said thank you, jesus. 29:37.597 --> 29:43.268 And the guy who's showing me around now, who cleverly called me boy on the couch for months. 29:43.288 --> 29:48.610 After that he said wow, the Lord is really with you. 29:48.650 --> 29:50.901 You got you know. 29:51.283 --> 29:52.530 I don't know how he's working this out so fast. 29:53.113 --> 29:55.590 He said tomorrow let's see if we can't get you a car. 29:56.634 --> 30:02.509 So we go around these used car dealerships and I couldn't afford anything. 30:02.650 --> 30:05.529 I remember there was this cutlass Sierra that I really wanted. 30:05.913 --> 30:07.610 It was like $36, $3700. 30:07.610 --> 30:08.694 I just couldn't afford any of that. 30:10.660 --> 30:17.590 I'm down now and then this one lot we go to the guy shows me this Flintstone Mobile that was $1,000. 30:18.737 --> 30:25.590 It was a 1986 Chevy Spectrum and I remember that I was like it was a 1986 Chevy Spectrum. 30:25.893 --> 30:26.903 I say Flintstone Mobile. 30:26.943 --> 30:27.610 I still have a picture of it. 30:28.332 --> 30:33.841 It just looked so square, like zero aerodynamics whatsoever, but it went. 30:34.203 --> 30:35.409 It went from point A to B. 30:35.469 --> 30:37.297 Amen, sometimes it wouldn't break. 30:37.690 --> 30:47.176 I'm not exaggerating, but it always went, the Lord provided. 30:49.556 --> 31:01.590 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. 31:02.253 --> 31:03.337 I tried to learn how to drive. 31:03.610 --> 31:05.196 My parents couldn't afford the driver's ed. 31:05.952 --> 31:06.476 I remember this. 31:06.516 --> 31:08.590 It was $350 for the driver's ed course. 31:08.931 --> 31:12.580 And they looked oh, that'll teach you. 31:14.152 --> 31:19.518 You do not want to be taught how to drive by a Serbian father, especially on a stick shift. 31:20.436 --> 31:22.590 I still get PTSD just thinking about it. 31:23.617 --> 31:25.610 You're driving, you're driving, all right, now put it into second. 31:26.554 --> 31:27.236 Not like that. 31:34.701 --> 31:35.610 The Lord worked it out somehow. 31:37.623 --> 31:38.610 I got my driver's license. 31:39.552 --> 32:03.839 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. 32:05.357 --> 32:08.255 Sometimes I'd try to put it in third, accidentally end up in fifth. 32:10.192 --> 32:11.777 I had to like relearn everything. 32:13.031 --> 32:30.610 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. 32:31.192 --> 32:33.259 I got very comfortable with it, seeking Jesus. 32:34.593 --> 32:44.259 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. 32:44.670 --> 32:53.610 He taught me that he has the answer to everything and that if we would put our eyes upon him and seek him. 32:54.479 --> 32:55.590 He is enough. 32:56.499 --> 32:57.610 Jesus is enough. 32:57.670 --> 33:01.080 I'm telling you right now, jesus is enough for you. 33:02.254 --> 33:04.610 Whatever you may need, the answer is in Jesus. 33:05.474 --> 33:08.570 You're really not going to find it out there, it's in him. 33:09.315 --> 33:11.610 Some of you, you're in a hard place right now. 33:11.730 --> 33:17.520 You need to be thankful for the hard place because it puts you in an opportunity to reset yourself. 33:19.554 --> 33:23.610 You don't want to be going into 2024 overly confident in yourself. 33:24.573 --> 33:30.815 You don't want to be going into 2024 self-reliant, thinking you're something you don't. 33:31.630 --> 33:34.197 You want to be extra dependent on him. 33:35.610 --> 33:39.260 You want to be looking to him, the author and the finisher of your faith. 33:39.851 --> 33:43.100 Jesus said if your eye be single, what's a single eye? 33:43.650 --> 33:49.918 A focused eye, a steady eye, if your eye be single, your whole body will be full of light. 33:51.610 --> 33:56.614 This is the time to have a single and steady gaze on Jesus, and I know this by the Spirit. 33:57.750 --> 34:02.610 This last year, the last several years, the Lord has done a rattling in our lives to get our attention back. 34:03.051 --> 34:10.401 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. 34:11.830 --> 34:17.480 Let me read this to you please, from John, chapter 6. 34:20.830 --> 34:24.817 Actually, luke 10, excuse me, luke 1038. 34:30.513 --> 34:51.100 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. 34:53.690 --> 35:05.374 She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word. 35:07.052 --> 35:09.982 Please Know that. 35:10.022 --> 35:14.361 This is the key, however, it is that you do it. 35:15.695 --> 35:20.122 And may I invite you to do it in different ways, cause what worked yesterday may not work today. 35:20.535 --> 35:23.479 But isn't it wonderful that the Lord gives you liberty and how you approach him. 35:26.095 --> 35:33.040 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. 35:33.895 --> 35:36.724 You can come singing one day, speaking the next day. 35:37.095 --> 35:39.183 You can mix it up, you can come with his word. 35:39.535 --> 35:57.082 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. 35:57.275 --> 35:59.723 There were times when I really needed him to speak to me. 36:00.595 --> 36:04.525 All I would hear is I love you, lord. 36:04.565 --> 36:05.167 What should I do? 36:05.315 --> 36:06.199 I'm about to die. 36:06.675 --> 36:08.302 I'm with you, don't be afraid. 36:10.115 --> 36:12.897 I've learned to trust those words since In the beginning. 36:12.938 --> 36:18.481 Back then it was like Lord, could you give me a little few more details please, a little bit more of an action plan? 36:20.295 --> 36:21.420 I'm with you, you'll be okay. 36:22.195 --> 36:24.063 But never yet has he let me down. 36:24.155 --> 36:27.837 Never yet did he say something like that and I fall and he goes psych. 36:29.062 --> 36:29.684 Just kidding. 36:30.096 --> 36:30.638 Oh, look at you. 36:31.115 --> 36:31.397 Never. 36:32.175 --> 36:35.201 He always comes through Every time. 36:37.179 --> 36:38.163 He's so faithful. 36:41.175 --> 36:44.397 But Martha was distracted Next verse. 36:45.435 --> 36:53.044 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? 36:53.535 --> 36:54.880 Therefore, tell her to help me. 36:55.815 --> 37:08.760 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. 37:09.775 --> 37:11.843 I love how Jesus simplifies it every time. 37:14.001 --> 37:16.159 One thing, one thing. 37:17.076 --> 37:20.440 One thing is necessary, one thing is needed. 37:20.515 --> 37:20.917 What was that? 37:21.017 --> 37:23.802 One thing To sit at my feet and hear my word. 37:25.195 --> 37:37.763 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. 37:38.675 --> 37:54.420 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. 37:54.835 --> 37:56.762 I want you to know that Jesus is enough. 37:57.395 --> 38:07.281 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. 38:07.855 --> 38:12.140 Dive into him like he's the deep end of a swimming pool, just cannonball in. 38:12.562 --> 38:13.364 You are welcome. 38:13.615 --> 38:15.903 He won't hold your sins and mistakes against you. 38:16.355 --> 38:18.543 You just bury yourself in Jesus. 38:18.655 --> 38:20.181 Your solution, your answer is in him. 38:22.016 --> 38:28.180 One thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part which will not be taken away from her. 38:30.955 --> 38:32.722 Second, corinthians 11, two through three. 38:36.475 --> 38:37.761 Paul is writing the Corinthians. 38:37.915 --> 38:49.863 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. 38:51.015 --> 39:03.666 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. 39:06.695 --> 39:20.560 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. 39:21.675 --> 39:25.341 And Paul said I'm actually worried about you, you're gonna overcomplicate it. 39:26.775 --> 39:33.143 The verse before that he says I've betrothed you, you're engaged to Jesus. 39:34.066 --> 39:36.199 You know what that denotes Engagement, intimacy. 39:37.075 --> 39:40.743 And that's what he's referring to when he talks about the simplicity that is in Christ. 39:41.235 --> 39:45.403 The simplicity that is in Christ is your sweet, intimate relationship with the Lord. 39:47.615 --> 39:48.740 Men, don't shy away from this. 39:49.536 --> 39:59.635 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. 39:59.675 --> 40:11.453 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. 40:11.533 --> 40:18.035 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. 40:18.237 --> 40:20.075 I'm giving you all I can give you this morning. 40:20.957 --> 40:26.863 This actually isn't what I prepared to preach, but it's in the first service during worship. 40:28.798 --> 40:49.080 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. 40:49.435 --> 40:50.299 There's a lot of people. 40:50.399 --> 40:52.258 They don't understand there's a devil. 40:54.515 --> 40:55.559 I understand there's some groups. 40:55.580 --> 40:59.261 They overdo it and it's devil, this devil, that devil with the Wiffleball bat. 40:59.355 --> 41:00.360 Everything's about the devil. 41:00.955 --> 41:08.443 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. 41:08.615 --> 41:10.182 No, he is a person. 41:11.655 --> 41:12.720 Yes, god is a person. 41:12.915 --> 41:13.999 The devil is a being. 41:14.100 --> 41:16.359 He is a person and he hates you. 41:17.082 --> 41:17.664 He hates you. 41:18.015 --> 41:19.060 He knows a lot about you. 41:19.175 --> 41:22.922 His minions know a lot about you and they don't play fair, they don't play nice. 41:23.295 --> 41:26.205 They want to destroy you and they don't have a limit. 41:26.315 --> 41:27.500 They don't hear you cry for mercy. 41:27.655 --> 41:29.015 He says, okay, I'm gonna tap out Now. 41:29.055 --> 41:33.486 No, jesus said he's come to steal, kill and destroy. 41:34.955 --> 41:37.262 We're here, we're pastoring a church, we're leading a church. 41:37.302 --> 41:39.701 You think the devil just says, oh, come right into New York City. 41:39.835 --> 41:41.822 Oh, I don't really care about the center of the world. 41:41.882 --> 41:49.658 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. 41:49.738 --> 41:50.240 I don't mind. 41:50.715 --> 41:53.022 There's a constant war, constant pushing. 41:53.975 --> 41:54.960 That's in your life too. 41:55.375 --> 41:59.560 You have to remember, you have to be cognizant of that so you can push back. 42:01.695 --> 42:06.663 You got to take a stand, devil, you are not coming near me. 42:06.995 --> 42:07.980 You're not coming near me. 42:08.315 --> 42:11.236 You have to say the words Amen. 42:14.484 --> 42:19.264 If you're uncomfortable saying the word, that's the alarm that you're in danger. 42:21.535 --> 42:23.001 Some people now talk to him too much. 42:23.755 --> 42:25.442 They start off talking to Jesus and it's all. 42:25.835 --> 42:26.857 The rest is all to the devil. 42:27.875 --> 42:29.582 But make a couple of statements to the enemy. 42:30.786 --> 42:35.635 Here's one devil your power is broken by the blood of Jesus. 42:37.965 --> 42:42.327 Or just say the blood of Jesus, wake up in the morning. 42:43.109 --> 42:46.006 The blood of Jesus, and you're now. 42:46.046 --> 42:48.975 You're now not just waiting, you're now on the offense. 42:49.625 --> 42:52.071 You're pushing back against the powers of darkness. 42:53.154 --> 42:58.192 Hallelujah as your kids go by. 42:58.593 --> 43:05.733 The blood of Jesus, dads, cover your home. 43:08.305 --> 43:12.375 Thank you, lord Jesus, that in this home only your Holy Spirit and His angels reside. 43:13.266 --> 43:16.990 Hallelujah, hallelujah. 43:19.985 --> 43:20.808 So now I need a job. 43:22.865 --> 43:24.932 I got the apartment day one. 43:26.045 --> 43:28.550 I got the car day two. 43:29.672 --> 43:35.338 Car it was supposed to be a golden color but it really. 43:35.358 --> 43:36.444 It was so old by that time. 43:36.504 --> 43:38.009 It really just looked dirty all the time. 43:40.865 --> 43:49.689 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. 43:51.774 --> 43:53.478 I was mailing resumes. 43:53.866 --> 43:56.125 This is 1998. 43:56.487 --> 43:57.230 People were emailing resumes. 43:57.325 --> 43:58.791 I, fresh out of college, wasn't one of them. 43:59.406 --> 44:00.250 It really wasn't a thing. 44:00.525 --> 44:00.766 Most people. 44:00.786 --> 44:02.633 It was just the beginning of the whole internet age. 44:02.725 --> 44:03.266 So I was faxed. 44:03.347 --> 44:20.831 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. 44:22.209 --> 44:22.711 And then I went. 44:23.514 --> 44:25.380 I forget if it was the second or third day. 44:25.681 --> 44:28.027 Do you know sometimes when you're praying, but you're actually? 44:30.912 --> 44:32.736 You're actually more in anxiety than prayer. 44:33.838 --> 44:34.479 That's where I was. 44:35.366 --> 44:38.234 I felt like the Lord came to me and said go to the beach. 44:40.688 --> 44:47.411 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. 44:48.365 --> 44:49.390 Now it's no longer faith. 44:49.785 --> 44:55.687 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. 44:55.707 --> 44:59.886 Everything the car's done, the apartment's done, the mother-in-law set up. 45:02.325 --> 45:04.356 And then I remember every sermon when he said go to the beach. 45:04.497 --> 45:14.596 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. 45:15.065 --> 45:17.594 So how does a person who just got a job act? 45:18.025 --> 45:19.089 Yeah, they go to the beach. 45:19.912 --> 45:20.774 So I went to the beach. 45:20.945 --> 45:23.298 I went over to Clearwater Beach. 45:23.318 --> 45:24.465 Never forget the drive there. 45:24.505 --> 45:28.575 It was the longest drive I did thus far in that car. 45:29.425 --> 45:32.555 Everything else was just like two miles back and three miles and come back. 45:32.725 --> 45:35.935 Now I had to go 45 minutes and I'm still learning to drive. 45:36.445 --> 45:38.293 I remember going down to 275. 45:38.987 --> 45:45.130 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. 45:45.385 --> 45:47.312 Remember, they say every two seconds you should check them out. 45:47.965 --> 45:50.434 I realized in like five minutes I didn't even look at the rear view mirror. 45:50.805 --> 45:53.214 I then look and I can still see that man's face. 45:53.666 --> 46:02.715 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. 46:03.545 --> 46:12.673 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. 46:12.765 --> 46:18.351 I could see like a colonnade of cars behind him and I realized let me quickly get to the right. 46:20.065 --> 46:21.390 My hands were ice cold. 46:24.271 --> 46:25.714 Remember how cold my hands were? 46:27.345 --> 46:31.856 I say these things because they remind me of how good he is. 46:32.945 --> 46:34.592 I should you have these stories too. 46:34.785 --> 46:36.391 You shouldn't even be sitting here. 46:37.385 --> 46:39.272 But he took you by the hand, he led you. 46:40.006 --> 46:40.870 You think he's going to quit. 46:41.465 --> 46:41.746 You know that. 46:41.766 --> 46:44.354 He says he won't forsake the work of his own hands. 46:44.865 --> 46:45.970 You are his project. 46:47.629 --> 46:48.893 I make it to Clearwater Beach. 46:48.933 --> 47:08.395 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. 47:08.455 --> 47:15.252 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. 47:17.065 --> 47:21.297 And right there they said you need to come on in final interview or whatever interview. 47:21.365 --> 47:23.553 I didn't go on any interviews except over the phone. 47:24.085 --> 47:30.411 Franklin Templeton is going to hire you as a temp and I've gotten a job. 47:30.625 --> 47:32.171 This was all in the space of five days. 47:32.705 --> 47:34.290 The Lord, he connects the dots. 47:35.785 --> 47:38.113 Jesus is enough for everything you need. 47:38.525 --> 47:42.716 That's, then, how he established this church and the things he's done in our lives. 47:44.550 --> 47:45.934 I shared this in the first service. 47:46.487 --> 47:47.450 I feel to share it again. 47:48.465 --> 47:53.476 He worked this amazing thing out to where my wife and I moved into. 47:53.516 --> 48:01.213 Really, what's a dream house in Long Island, and I love that house. 48:01.313 --> 48:03.017 Present tense, but I really love that house. 48:03.145 --> 48:04.149 We just moved in in August. 48:07.610 --> 48:17.156 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. 48:17.225 --> 48:25.551 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. 48:27.825 --> 48:29.091 This just shows how I was brought up. 48:29.365 --> 48:33.256 But every bathroom I've ever been to was either all drywall or the cheap little tile. 48:33.425 --> 48:37.396 This was all like exotic stones and marble floors. 48:37.605 --> 48:51.333 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. 48:51.433 --> 48:54.650 You know Like really loving the house. 48:55.808 --> 49:03.912 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. 49:08.211 --> 49:11.772 I'm going, do you know? 49:12.505 --> 49:21.219 I say this I feel like sometimes I need to confess my sin, my lust, my voracious appetite. 49:21.865 --> 49:22.487 Three months sin. 49:22.587 --> 49:24.070 I actually, lord forgive me. 49:24.090 --> 49:28.429 I actually went on Trulia and I thought, let me see some other houses. 49:31.665 --> 49:38.854 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. 49:39.505 --> 49:41.713 And in this one moment, do you understand what I'm saying? 49:41.825 --> 49:42.909 Maybe I need to be more elaborate. 49:44.186 --> 49:49.350 I had gotten bored of the house in three months and do you know where I had to land all over again? 49:50.433 --> 49:51.275 Where I got to land? 49:51.295 --> 49:51.857 Jesus, jesus. 49:54.270 --> 50:02.417 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. 50:05.111 --> 50:12.171 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. 50:12.785 --> 50:19.589 Every time I got what I wanted, it's wonderful, but the thrill would be quickly gone. 50:21.645 --> 50:22.569 Jesus is enough. 50:23.946 --> 50:31.419 I had to land back at Jesus and realize, god, I was rejoicing over something that doesn't satisfy. 50:32.567 --> 50:34.955 I just bought something, but that doesn't hit the spot. 50:35.346 --> 50:38.369 Only you do, only you do. 50:40.326 --> 50:40.989 Hallelujah. 50:42.045 --> 50:45.074 I'm telling you that thing, that thing that you want so bad. 50:46.187 --> 50:47.432 Do you really want what you want? 50:47.865 --> 50:48.988 You think you do, but you'll see. 50:51.285 --> 51:11.352 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. 51:12.645 --> 51:18.068 A lot of the stuff that I had wanted was really just so that I wouldn't have to believe God so intensely. 51:20.425 --> 51:22.612 I'm only preaching to myself and my wife this morning. 51:22.652 --> 51:23.535 Can anybody relate? 51:24.628 --> 51:25.450 Is this blessing you? 51:27.005 --> 51:32.826 I want this Lord, but really what's behind it is Lord, most of my life. 51:33.147 --> 51:38.951 I really I don't mind, I guess, but it kind of feels like I'm hydroplaning, what Pastor James described. 51:39.425 --> 51:45.572 My car's not even touching the asphalt, there's like a couple of millimeters of space and I'm just whoo. 51:48.285 --> 51:49.772 Really, it's not the thing that I want so much. 51:49.845 --> 51:52.534 I just want to feel more in control of my life. 51:53.286 --> 51:54.771 That would really help me. 51:56.105 --> 52:10.750 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. 52:11.425 --> 52:12.026 What a thought. 52:16.545 --> 52:20.386 Lord Jesus, hallelujah, he's got you, he said. 52:20.406 --> 52:25.569 You're in the palm of His hand and no one can snatch you out, and he's more than enough. 52:26.565 --> 52:31.252 Worship Him, come on up, lord Jesus, thank you that you are everything. 52:33.965 --> 52:36.673 In you we live and move and have our being. 52:37.985 --> 52:40.031 I want every head bowed, every eye closed. 52:41.885 --> 52:47.467 I want you to know that Jesus Christ died on the cross in your place to take away your sins. 52:48.625 --> 52:53.237 The Bible says that our sin is worthy of divine retribution, of divine punishment. 52:53.385 --> 53:00.856 We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and that sin disqualifies us from heaven and from fellowship with God. 53:01.345 --> 53:03.212 But Jesus loved you, yes you. 53:03.765 --> 53:09.998 He loved you so much that he went to the cross and took the punishment that you deserved. 53:10.465 --> 53:14.175 He took it on Himself and he was raised from the dead on the third day. 53:14.825 --> 53:22.654 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. 53:23.105 --> 53:30.757 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. 53:31.745 --> 53:45.750 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. 53:46.973 --> 53:52.348 I want you to lift your hand right now If there's even a little bit of doubt. 53:52.789 --> 53:54.993 Do you really want to be playing with your soul? 53:55.374 --> 53:55.854 Thank you. 53:55.995 --> 53:57.017 Thank you who else? 53:58.665 --> 54:00.385 You only have one soul. 54:00.425 --> 54:04.916 If you're not absolutely certain, lift your hand. 54:05.705 --> 54:06.169 Who else? 54:07.125 --> 54:08.148 I see that hand too. 54:08.209 --> 54:10.034 Who else Thank you? 54:10.385 --> 54:10.666 Who else? 54:13.425 --> 54:14.469 He's provided a way. 54:15.605 --> 54:18.813 He did it with His own precious blood. 54:21.145 --> 54:21.386 Who else? 54:25.425 --> 54:26.768 Forever is a really, really long time. 54:30.925 --> 54:31.687 I want Jesus. 54:33.673 --> 54:34.114 Who else? 54:36.450 --> 54:37.172 Thank you, lord. 54:38.985 --> 54:42.428 Let's all say this together, those of you who raised your hands. 54:43.369 --> 54:46.775 I want you to say this out loud. 54:49.465 --> 54:53.288 We're all going to say it out loud, but you who raised your hands, I want you to say it extra out loud. 54:54.926 --> 54:57.073 Really open up your mouths and say this. 54:57.705 --> 54:59.051 There's something about saying it out loud. 54:59.165 --> 55:01.349 I'm not making that up, that's not my tip. 55:02.225 --> 55:10.352 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. 55:10.945 --> 55:16.111 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. 55:17.425 --> 55:18.128 No quiet faith. 55:18.545 --> 55:20.250 There will be an expression of it out of your mouth. 55:20.270 --> 55:20.671 Are you ready? 55:20.731 --> 55:29.233 Let's all say this Lord Jesus, I believe in you, I trust in you as my Lord and Savior. 55:30.785 --> 55:45.016 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. 55:46.025 --> 55:49.093 I'm heaven bound, and God is my Father. 55:50.425 --> 55:56.365 In Jesus' name, amen, amen, hallelujah. 55:59.632 --> 56:01.797 This is the City Light Church Podcast. 56:02.265 --> 56:11.477 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. 56:11.905 --> 56:13.691 That's CityLightNYCcom. 56:15.145 --> 56:18.034 Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. 56:18.605 --> 56:20.030 We would love to connect with you. 56:21.045 --> 56:28.514 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. 56:29.365 --> 56:30.229 Thank you for listening. 56:30.905 --> 56:36.270 Make sure that you subscribe to CityLight Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.