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May 14, 2024
Embracing Our Role as Stewards
Unlock the secret to living a life of purpose and discover how to transform into a vessel of honor for the ultimate craftsman—God Himself. Journey with us at CityLight Church as we delve into the profound realization that all we have is not ours, but entrusted to us by the Creator. We navigate the empowering paths of prayer, obedience, and service, which guide us toward reaping heavenly blessings. Our conversation is anchored in scripture, from the humble acknowledgment of Psalm 115:16 to the compelling charge of 2 Timothy 2:20, underscoring our role as stewards and the choices we make to either honor or dishonor our spiritual house.
Join us for a heartening exploration that promises to reignite your spiritual fervor and embolden your witness to the world.
Chapters
00:00 - Vessel of Honor for the Master
12:24:00 - The Power of Prayer and Faith
20:27:00 - The Power of Prayer and Evangelism
Transcript
00:00 - Speaker 1
Increase, comes to you when you realize that nothing you own it's not the 10% or the 15%, it's the 100%. It all belongs to God and you're a vessel and he owns it all and Jesus needs your boat. And when you give Jesus your boat, whatever that may be for the amplification of the ministry of the kingdom, you can expect to harvest back. Are you telling me this is a coincidence?
00:26 - Speaker 2
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. That's citylightnyccom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you.
01:05 - Speaker 1
Well, welcome. Let's jump into the word this morning, shall we? The word is what gets us through. The word is our food. The word is what keeps us from going off kilter and becoming flaky and then listening to an internet preacher and just jumping from conference to conference. Amen. Second Timothy 220. We'll begin here.
01:33
The title of my message is A Vessel of Honor. Paul's writing young Pastor Timothy, and he says but in a great house. The great house he's referring to is the church, the church of Jesus Christ, the people of God, the body of Christ. That's the great house. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, now a tool, an item of use, so a spoon, a fork, a pot, a pan, a vase, a plunger, they're all vessels that she used. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some vessels are for honor and some for dishonor. They're still in the great house. But as soon as I read that I think well, I want to be the vase. I want to be the fine china, not the paper plates. I want to be the vase, not the plunger. It's nice to be in the great house, but here I get to decide what kind of a vessel I'll be.
02:49
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter and if you read before that he doesn't actually list what the latter is, he's just talking about the things of dishonor he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work. Now, if you're here and you've given your lives to Jesus, which is the vast majority of you, there should be a cry on the inside of you where you're not just sitting still, but you want to be useful to the master, you wanna give something back to him, you wanna serve him. Paul always identified himself as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. You wanna help contribute, help build up the kingdom, because you're so grateful for what he's done in your life. And Jesus? He came to serve, but he still serves to this day. He serves us in taking away all of our sin. One of the best scriptures to see how Jesus serves you is reading Psalm 23. He's the good shepherd that serves you with his providential care, by providing for you, by refreshing you, by feeding you, leading you, guiding you. He's constantly serving us and so it should be a natural response to want to serve him back. Hallelujah, I want to give you three ways that you can be a vessel of honor fit for the master's use, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. What better honor is that? Are you ready? Number one our prayers. Our prayers actually serve Jesus.
04:44
I want to give you this quote by John Wesley. Pay attention now, because this segment of my preaching for a lot of you, your entire view of the universe, of this world, of how this whole thing works, is about to get redone and you need this. John Wesley said it seems God is limited by our prayer life. The founder of the Methodist denomination. They started off strong. If you read the accounts of, I mean, it was just the power of God blanketing entire fields, and John Wesley would come and preach. That's another sermon.
05:27
Anyway, now it's gone slightly astray. It seems God is limited by our prayer life, that he can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks him. No, it can't be. God is sovereign, right, god is almighty. God can do whatever he wants. Yet when you actually take the Bible in its entirety, you'll see that although he is almighty, there are some things that he won't do. You can even say that he can't do because God cannot violate his own word. So, the way it is right now, there are some restrictions, some confines placed even on God Almighty, because he himself put them there. He's not restricted by another entity. He himself put them there. Did the gravity of that quote hit you? But that's just a human quote. Who cares about that? At the end of the day? That's just a guy saying. It seems to me. Well, it seems to me too.
06:31
Psalm 115, verse 16. People love to talk about the sovereignty of God. Any view of the sovereignty of God that makes us irresponsible should force us to go back to the scriptures and review our understanding of the nature of God. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth he has given to the children of men. Please just get that in you. The heavens belong to the Lord, but planet Earth he's given to people. And it didn't take very long for people to mess it up. We don't know how long it took, but by chapter four there they were. And so God hands over the lease to earth to Adam and Eve. He's still the owner of earth, he's the landlord. But the lease he gives to Adam and Eve Through their rebellion, they hand over that lease to Satan and Satan becomes the God of this world. Go to that scripture in Luke, please. Luke, chapter four.
07:58
I believe this is the temptation of Jesus. Then the devil, taking him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world. This is amazing. What a spiritual experience. I mean you think you get tempted by the devil. He doesn't appear to you in bodily form. The devil appears to Jesus in bodily form and actually whisks Jesus away. That means he had some power here on earth and actually gives Jesus a vision. He shows all the kingdoms of this world in a moment of time to Jesus, verse six. And the devil said to him all this authority I will give you and their glory, for this has been delivered to me. All these kingdoms, all the gold, the silver, the power, the authority he says to Jesus, I'll give it to you, for this was delivered to me. Jesus never says you're lying. I mean if Satan was lying, that wouldn't have been a legitimate temptation. So here's a question for you when was all that delivered to Satan? In the garden, when man fell? When man rebelled. The lease to earth was now handed over to Satan and Paul calls him.
09:18
The God lowercase g, the God of this world. Now he's not my God. If he received Jesus, he's not my God. If you receive Jesus, he's not your God. But when you were outside of Jesus, satan was your God. That's why Jesus can turn to people and say you are of your father, the devil.
09:37
Now, why is this so important to really get? And I'm convinced even here, about half of you don't really get this. So if you're just nodding, going, where are you going with this? I'm going for you. I'm going for what's happening up here, because I hear this all the time. Why would God allow for X, y, z to happen? And you can't comprehend that maybe God had nothing to do with it? Because your view of God is that he's a giant puppet master in the sky pulling all the strings of everything that happens. A fly lands on your nose and God brought it. Everything. God is behind and it's just not true. There is another God and this is his domain earth he's given to the sons of men. The heavens belong to the Lord. So this, when you don't understand this, it causes great bitterness.
10:33
Just this week I was talking to a man I just met him. He was in his 60s. No, he said he was 73. But he was sprightly, he was active. He asked me what I do. I told him and I noticed his countenance immediately changed and he said I was studying to be a priest once. Not that I'm a priest, but he's telling me his story. I was studying to be a priest and then my brother was killed in a car accident. He said I left and never went back to church. And I said really, he said well, how. He said I just told God, if you'll allow this to happen, what's the point of serving you? And I reasoned with him from the scriptures, as much as he had a capacity for, because I can tell a couple of scriptures just blew his mind. Capacity for, as I can tell, a couple of scriptures just blew his mind. He spent his whole life now avoiding God because he was convinced God did this.
11:38
One of the biggest attacks if not in my experience, maybe the greatest that Satan has against God's people is to tempt them to be bitter against God Because something bad happens and he whispers in your ear God and God had nothing to do with it. Jesus said Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, so pick which one does that. They don't both do that. God good, devil bad. Let's simplify it Yet. Yet let me just say this you know, I talked about going through the fire.
12:24
Even though I believe this always, I know this to be true. When I'm going through the fire Even though I believe this always, I know this to be true when I'm going through the fire, I'll think I'll have a thought oh God, why is God doing this? And then I have to shake myself out Because you're convinced just because he's with you in the fire doesn't mean he made the fire. He's with you in the fire and you think, well, he made the fire. He's with you in the fire. And you think, well, and there are some people that will argue with you forever to make God bad. No, no, well, in the book of Job, ho ho, ho.
12:55
The book of Job, how about? In the book of Job? They live a miserable life. And if you're going to relate to someone, make it Paul, make it John. Why is your hero in the Bible Job? Some of you are believing God for gainful employment. You're like I'm going to the book of Job, I'm believing for Lord. I confess this book.
13:27
Let me just say this about the book of Job. It's the oldest book in the Bible, it's the most misunderstood book in the Bible and you see early on that Job is not exactly a hero of the faith, because every day he's a nervous parent. I'm tempted to be like Job. You don't realize this until you become a parent, but you know they go away and you're like Lord. Protect them from falling pianos, protect them from random lightning strikes, protect them from you know what I'm talking about. But then I got to reel that in and just go, lord, I give them into your care and I stand in faith that they're going to be taken care of Early on, like the first, second chapter of Job, it says that Job, every day he sacrificed to God.
14:11
Maybe one of his children sinned against God, rather than, in faith standing once and for all, he kept sacrificing. You know there is such a thing as nervous prayers that have the opposite effect of what you're praying for. They're not backed by faith, they're your own anxiety. And then, when it all happened to him, he said the thing that I greatly feared has come upon me and that which I was afraid of has occurred. So he visualized all this. It wasn't his first rodeo, he just experienced it. It was manifested, hallelujah. So prayer. We're talking about becoming a vessel of honor. I just had to fix some things, hopefully.
14:53
Yet I still hear in counseling, I still hear people who are going through it and then what comes out is why would God allow this? Stop blaming God for what either Satan is doing or for what is the fruit of your own consequences, of your own bad decision making. I was always the first one to say that thing I went through. That wasn't some great test we left. Oh, god is testing. He can use it as a test, but he didn't initiate the test. It's just consequences of your bad decisions. I get a little because this is our father and he's lovely and he's wonderful. And then the way some denominations, christians, the way they paint him. He should be arrested for child abuse and locked away.
15:49
Oh, god is in control. You ever hear that one? I hear God is in control. If he's in control, he's doing a terrible job, but it sounds so spiritual right With somebody. Well, god is in control. I'll show you villages that got burnt down yesterday. God is in control. He's got a great plan behind that. Little children burning. God is in control is a half-truth. He's in control of my life because I gave him control. He's in control of your life. If you've given him control To someone else, there's a lot of forces at work. God is one of them. There's others pulling in the other direction. So you can say God is in control, if he's truly your Lord, but if you're not walking with him, he's influencing, he's loving you, he's pulling on your hearts, he's trying to get you into the good place, but you're also prone to other forces, hallelujah.
16:51
So do you know the stuff that happens in the Old Testament, like with the prophets? I might not get to the other two points, but this is the prophets in the Old Testament. I'd say about 15% of the time they actually prophesied in the conventional sense that we think prophecies, which is foretelling the future. The rest of the time, 85% of the time, they weren't foretelling the future. They were foretelling the future. They were forth telling the future. God would command them, prophesy so that it would be. In other words, if you don't speak it and pray it, it's not going to take place.
17:38
You're here right now because somebody prayed for you. Nobody just walked in here. Somebody prayed for you. Nobody just walked in here. Somebody prayed for you. Listen, jesus, the Messiah, couldn't come to earth until the prayers went up, a cry for the Messiah. And the Bible says it was Anna Anna, daily fasting and praying. And in Luke it says she served God, and this is why prayer is one of the ways you can serve God and be a vessel of honor. She served God with her prayers and her fasting. Can you believe that? Can you believe that God could want something to happen on earth? But he needs prayer to open the doorway.
18:25
Otherwise, if he just did whatever he wanted, satan could accuse him of being unjust and violating his own word. How many of you have landlords? Don't raise your hand. Some of you have landlords, right? Yeah, can he walk into your apartment at any time? No, but he's the owner, he owns it, but you got the lease and he can't walk in and barge in anytime he wants. I know some of you got that guy. I know you set up the nanny cam and you found out what was going on when you were at work. I've seen those videos from people. I know that's another story for another time. See, that's an unjust landlord. God is a just landlord and he won't violate his own word.
19:13
Even the return of jesus isn't until the spirit and the bride say come and with their prayer, would they cry, they invite the will of the Lord in. So I'll just say it another way Some things just won't happen until you pray them. This is why we have a prayer team at City Light Church that, in case you didn't know, meets every Sunday at 8.45 am and you're invited to be a part of it because we're called to shake New York. You're invited to be a part of it Because we're called to shake New York City, not to be a nice church, and never before in my life have I felt and sensed and been convinced of the will of the Lord and he can do it. He can do it. And we got a bunch of yielded and willing vessels here to shake New York City, really shake it. We got a bunch of yielded and willing vessels here to shake New York City, really shake it. Yesterday was awesome, but I'm talking about Olympic sized swimming pool where there's 50 baptisms going on every minute, where we got to recruit everybody. Okay, you're baptizing and these are the baptizees, amen.
20:27
But it's got to happen through prayer first and those things in your life that you think about and you go oh, that would be nice. And then you're even too afraid to put them in prayer. You've got to start praying. Pray, it invites the will of God in Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I have a few other things, but Hallelujah. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 5.17.
21:03
Another way, an important way, a vital way, to be a vessel of honor, to be a servant of the Lord, and that should be our prayer. And this happens right. You're really not contributing to Christianity. I'm sorry, I locked eyes with you, pastor James, when I said that it was my safe way. I was like I can't look at anyone when I say that, so I fall on someone who's greatly contributing to Christianity. But there is something. If you're a bump on a log and you're saying, well, I'm just waiting, look, there is a time where you're waiting to get repaired. But I found the greatest healing, the greatest repair comes when you actively start giving and you say what I have is so little. I mean, that's what the whole Bible shows is people with a little and then God multiplies it, hallelujah. You just begin where you're at. Mm-hmm. Now here's one of my little. And then God multiplies it. Hallelujah. You just begin where you're at. Now.
22:14
Here's one of my favorite passages in the scriptures. It's so dense this probably one of the greatest verses on being born again. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new, verse 18.
22:27
And then, probably in my opinion, one of the greatest verses on being a witness Evangelism, soul winning. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. That means we have peace with God and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And when he says us he's not talking about the apostles, he means every Christian. You have a ministry.
22:48
You may not be called into the five-fold ministry or the four-fold ministry, depending on what you believe, because some believe pastor and teacher. I'm kind of leaning that way myself lately. But anyway, five-fold is nice because it's a nice fist. But anyhow, if you're not called into full-time ministry in the conventional sense of it's your job. But you're called to ministry. What kind of ministry? The ministry of reconciliation. It's when you take the hand of one person and the hand of another person and you bring them together. He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Let's keep reading Verse 19. That is that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Let me just go for bullseye right now.
23:58
We all need to be soul winners. We need to actually be people who win other people to Jesus, and you don't become that until you do it a lot. He that winneth souls is wise. The Bible says so. First you got to do some unwise things and you learn. You know the kind of creature I meet all the time. There is this creature in Christianity. They want to be in full-time ministry. They're everywhere they want to be in full-time ministry. They're everywhere they want to be in full-time ministry. They've never won a soul to Christ, never, ever won anyone to Jesus. They're everywhere, by the way, usually anybody who's just on Facebook, and they're there posting all the time and they want a ministry. But you know their whole audience is Christian. It's all their friends and cousins and they're liking it and they don't know what it means to reach somebody outside. The quickest way into full-time ministry is to start winning souls.
24:55
First thing, when I wanted to be a pastor, god put me on the streets. I actually sense I won't say he said, but I sense I will be unfit to hold a microphone and preach the word, if I haven't won people everywhere, not just on the streets, on the streets in prisons, in inner city, friends, family members, because you're the only Jesus they may ever see. When I got saved, I told everybody, everybody and several of the people I told they were saved. I didn't know it, though they never told me. I remember thinking you, dog, you, I've known you for years and you just smiled at me while I'm going to hell. You never once thought to tell me I should repent and Jesus took the punishment for me. I mean the ministry of reconciliation. You know what that actually means. Is you saying, hey, god's not mad at you? The wrath of God has been fully exhausted on Jesus. So won't you come back to God, who loves you? Come back, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
26:05
You know what I think prevents some people from ministering After you get past all the excuses? But it's because they haven't lived an exemplary life in front of their unsafe friends. So you messed up. You said those things you shouldn't have. You drank that drink you shouldn't have. In their company, everyone's super quiet. They're like first one to laugh, did it? You lost your temper and now you're afraid to tell them oh, you go to church. You're a Christian and I go. You hypocrite you.
26:49
You know what I found? That if you're honest with the people in your life, they'll appreciate and respect that a lot more. That if you just you know hey, I'm not an example of perfection. I may not be an example of complete holiness. I'm not perfect, but I tell you what I am I'm forgiven and I'm still holding his hand and he's leading and he's still my Lord. And let them know they could probably relate to that a whole lot more than if you were just levitating off the ground and gliding in your holiness around them, were just levitating off the ground and gliding in your holiness around them.
27:25
Hallelujah and number three. Do we have time for number three? All right, we'll do it. Then Luke, chapter five, becoming a vessel of honor. Our prayers serve God and, can I just add, they really serve you too. Let me just go back to number one. I'll give you the best example I know of it.
27:55
You see God in Genesis, chapter one, creating. Let there be right, let there be, let there be like from a distance. Then you see him come and get close and personal, not like the rest of creation, but he makes man with his own hands, forms him out of the dust, the mud, the dirt of the ground and breathes life into him. Then he calls Adam to name all the animals. What's going on there?
28:22
Most of us have like a city kid's understanding of naming the animals. The giraffe's name is Bob. The gorilla's name is Joe. The lizard lizard is Louie. The lizard's name is Louie. A lizard is a wacky character. No, that's not what that means. The name. The name is your destiny, your character, your nature, who you are, biblically speaking. So when Adam named the lion, we don't know what that lion was like. Before Adam named him, it was purposeless, it was destiny-less. And when Adam named him lion, the lion received the nature and the character of the king of the jungle. Nature and the character of the king of the jungle, same with every animal. So what was God doing? God was inviting Adam to co-create with him.
29:12
You guys are ready for this. See, just when you think you're on borderline heresy, that's when you're getting to the meat of the word of God. That's where the truth is. It flirts with heresy. I can't say this on the second service, because they'll take just that clip, not now, but as we grow and get bigger. I'll say this is what he really believes the heretic out of Queens. No, but what I mean is obvious. Look, jesus empowered people so much. Religion called him a heretic and wanted to kill him. And it's when you receive such an empowerment from the Word of God that you're oh, could he have really given me that much? Yes, yeah, the angels don't co-create with God, but he made man in his own image.
30:02
And prayer, in a sense, in that way, is co-creating with God. And, by the way, you know who used that term frequently the apostle Paul Co. We're doing it together. He says about God, we are co-workers with him. He doesn't say I work for him. He's not the dad that says to his son get out there and mow the lawn. He goes out there with a lawnmower and says, hey, son, come along with me, I'll help you. And he co-labors with you.
30:33
And when you pray, you're co-creating with God. It starts with him birthing something inside of you, a vision, a desire. He tells you what he wants to do and then you start laboring with him in prayer. And the reason why most people don't engage in this is because prayer is painful. There is a tension. There is a tension If you're in a cobwebby attic and he's showing you somewhere in the future. Now you're praying out of your cobweb attic, there's a tension, but you're agreeing with God's word where he's telling you you're going to be Hallelujah. All right, number three. Oh, we have no see. We have communion too. All right, number three. Luke 5, 1-7. This I can't go through quickly to do it justice.
31:23
So it was as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God. We're going to rework the service schedule soon. I feel the Lord priming me. You all agree. Good, because that would mean the first service is at 930. And that would give us that. All right, see, the early risers. This I hate. I've spent years not talking about the time and now I'm like oh, it's 1106. I feel like a Methodist.
31:53
So it was as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God that he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. You know why Jesus spoke always by the lake Not always, but a good deal of the time Because he didn't have one of these. He didn't have a microphone, so he would stand with the Sea of Galilee, that's the Lake Gennesaret, behind him, and it would be a natural amplification device, as that wind would carry the sound of his words to the multitudes. So he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. And when he had stopped speaking he said to Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. By the way, do you know what he was preaching? It doesn't say in Luke, it just says he was preaching. But if you go to Mark, it tells you what he was preaching and it was the sermon on the seed, the sowers of the word.
33:05
So what Jesus is teaching here is the power of seed. And you know what Simon sowed into Jesus' ministry A boat, even temporarily. You know you cannot give to Jesus without getting a harvest in return. It's impossible and you never see any example of it in Scripture. But Simon answered and said to him Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing and nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking.
33:45
The third way that you can serve the Lord is with your stuff. Increase comes to you when you realize that nothing you own it's not the 10% or the 15%, it's the 100%. It all belongs to God and you're a vessel and he owns it all. Jesus needs your boat. When you give Jesus your boat, whatever that may be for the amplification of the ministry of the kingdom, you can expect a harvest back. Are you telling me this is a coincidence that Jesus is teaching on the power of seed? He's in Simon's boat and immediately when he's done he tells Simon hey, you've caught nothing all night long, but do me a favor, get back in the water, try it out now, after you have sowed the seed of your boat into me. Now look at the return and they caught a net-breaking, boat-sinking load of fish.
34:40
Hallelujah, we're going to receive communion right now. Please pass out the elements. And I want you to just say this right now, out loud, and hold on to the elements. We'll take it together, thank you, thank you. Just say this. All right now, lord Jesus, I want to be a vessel of honor fit for the master's use. Help me in my prayer life. Help me in my prayer life, help me in my evangelism, help me in my giving Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. And whatever you need, know that it's covered. Whatever you need is covered by the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. And don't receive communion thinking nothing will happen. That's taking communion in an unworthy fashion. Don't be a biscuit eater and a stale grape juice drinker. Be a communion taker. So I really believe, as I partake of communion now, I'm partaking of Jesus. I believe this is medicine. This is God's medicine. Sickness and disease is far from you, depression even further. The joy of the Lord is your strength, and victory courses through every area of your life. Go ahead and partake of Jesus.
36:35 - Speaker 2
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 Jancic 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 City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
Increase, comes to you when you realize that nothing you own it's not the 10% or the 15%, it's the 100%. It all belongs to God and you're a vessel and he owns it all and Jesus needs your boat. And when you give Jesus your boat, whatever that may be for the amplification of the ministry of the kingdom, you can expect to harvest back. Are you telling me this is a coincidence?
00:26 - Speaker 2
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. That's citylightnyccom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you.
01:05 - Speaker 1
Well, welcome. Let's jump into the word this morning, shall we? The word is what gets us through. The word is our food. The word is what keeps us from going off kilter and becoming flaky and then listening to an internet preacher and just jumping from conference to conference. Amen. Second Timothy 220. We'll begin here.
01:33
The title of my message is A Vessel of Honor. Paul's writing young Pastor Timothy, and he says but in a great house. The great house he's referring to is the church, the church of Jesus Christ, the people of God, the body of Christ. That's the great house. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, now a tool, an item of use, so a spoon, a fork, a pot, a pan, a vase, a plunger, they're all vessels that she used. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay. Some vessels are for honor and some for dishonor. They're still in the great house. But as soon as I read that I think well, I want to be the vase. I want to be the fine china, not the paper plates. I want to be the vase, not the plunger. It's nice to be in the great house, but here I get to decide what kind of a vessel I'll be.
02:49
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter and if you read before that he doesn't actually list what the latter is, he's just talking about the things of dishonor he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, for honor, sanctified and useful for the master, prepared for every good work. Now, if you're here and you've given your lives to Jesus, which is the vast majority of you, there should be a cry on the inside of you where you're not just sitting still, but you want to be useful to the master, you wanna give something back to him, you wanna serve him. Paul always identified himself as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. You wanna help contribute, help build up the kingdom, because you're so grateful for what he's done in your life. And Jesus? He came to serve, but he still serves to this day. He serves us in taking away all of our sin. One of the best scriptures to see how Jesus serves you is reading Psalm 23. He's the good shepherd that serves you with his providential care, by providing for you, by refreshing you, by feeding you, leading you, guiding you. He's constantly serving us and so it should be a natural response to want to serve him back. Hallelujah, I want to give you three ways that you can be a vessel of honor fit for the master's use, a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. What better honor is that? Are you ready? Number one our prayers. Our prayers actually serve Jesus.
04:44
I want to give you this quote by John Wesley. Pay attention now, because this segment of my preaching for a lot of you, your entire view of the universe, of this world, of how this whole thing works, is about to get redone and you need this. John Wesley said it seems God is limited by our prayer life. The founder of the Methodist denomination. They started off strong. If you read the accounts of, I mean, it was just the power of God blanketing entire fields, and John Wesley would come and preach. That's another sermon.
05:27
Anyway, now it's gone slightly astray. It seems God is limited by our prayer life, that he can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks him. No, it can't be. God is sovereign, right, god is almighty. God can do whatever he wants. Yet when you actually take the Bible in its entirety, you'll see that although he is almighty, there are some things that he won't do. You can even say that he can't do because God cannot violate his own word. So, the way it is right now, there are some restrictions, some confines placed even on God Almighty, because he himself put them there. He's not restricted by another entity. He himself put them there. Did the gravity of that quote hit you? But that's just a human quote. Who cares about that? At the end of the day? That's just a guy saying. It seems to me. Well, it seems to me too.
06:31
Psalm 115, verse 16. People love to talk about the sovereignty of God. Any view of the sovereignty of God that makes us irresponsible should force us to go back to the scriptures and review our understanding of the nature of God. The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's, but the earth he has given to the children of men. Please just get that in you. The heavens belong to the Lord, but planet Earth he's given to people. And it didn't take very long for people to mess it up. We don't know how long it took, but by chapter four there they were. And so God hands over the lease to earth to Adam and Eve. He's still the owner of earth, he's the landlord. But the lease he gives to Adam and Eve Through their rebellion, they hand over that lease to Satan and Satan becomes the God of this world. Go to that scripture in Luke, please. Luke, chapter four.
07:58
I believe this is the temptation of Jesus. Then the devil, taking him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world. This is amazing. What a spiritual experience. I mean you think you get tempted by the devil. He doesn't appear to you in bodily form. The devil appears to Jesus in bodily form and actually whisks Jesus away. That means he had some power here on earth and actually gives Jesus a vision. He shows all the kingdoms of this world in a moment of time to Jesus, verse six. And the devil said to him all this authority I will give you and their glory, for this has been delivered to me. All these kingdoms, all the gold, the silver, the power, the authority he says to Jesus, I'll give it to you, for this was delivered to me. Jesus never says you're lying. I mean if Satan was lying, that wouldn't have been a legitimate temptation. So here's a question for you when was all that delivered to Satan? In the garden, when man fell? When man rebelled. The lease to earth was now handed over to Satan and Paul calls him.
09:18
The God lowercase g, the God of this world. Now he's not my God. If he received Jesus, he's not my God. If you receive Jesus, he's not your God. But when you were outside of Jesus, satan was your God. That's why Jesus can turn to people and say you are of your father, the devil.
09:37
Now, why is this so important to really get? And I'm convinced even here, about half of you don't really get this. So if you're just nodding, going, where are you going with this? I'm going for you. I'm going for what's happening up here, because I hear this all the time. Why would God allow for X, y, z to happen? And you can't comprehend that maybe God had nothing to do with it? Because your view of God is that he's a giant puppet master in the sky pulling all the strings of everything that happens. A fly lands on your nose and God brought it. Everything. God is behind and it's just not true. There is another God and this is his domain earth he's given to the sons of men. The heavens belong to the Lord. So this, when you don't understand this, it causes great bitterness.
10:33
Just this week I was talking to a man I just met him. He was in his 60s. No, he said he was 73. But he was sprightly, he was active. He asked me what I do. I told him and I noticed his countenance immediately changed and he said I was studying to be a priest once. Not that I'm a priest, but he's telling me his story. I was studying to be a priest and then my brother was killed in a car accident. He said I left and never went back to church. And I said really, he said well, how. He said I just told God, if you'll allow this to happen, what's the point of serving you? And I reasoned with him from the scriptures, as much as he had a capacity for, because I can tell a couple of scriptures just blew his mind. Capacity for, as I can tell, a couple of scriptures just blew his mind. He spent his whole life now avoiding God because he was convinced God did this.
11:38
One of the biggest attacks if not in my experience, maybe the greatest that Satan has against God's people is to tempt them to be bitter against God Because something bad happens and he whispers in your ear God and God had nothing to do with it. Jesus said Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy, so pick which one does that. They don't both do that. God good, devil bad. Let's simplify it Yet. Yet let me just say this you know, I talked about going through the fire.
12:24
Even though I believe this always, I know this to be true. When I'm going through the fire Even though I believe this always, I know this to be true when I'm going through the fire, I'll think I'll have a thought oh God, why is God doing this? And then I have to shake myself out Because you're convinced just because he's with you in the fire doesn't mean he made the fire. He's with you in the fire and you think, well, he made the fire. He's with you in the fire. And you think, well, and there are some people that will argue with you forever to make God bad. No, no, well, in the book of Job, ho ho, ho.
12:55
The book of Job, how about? In the book of Job? They live a miserable life. And if you're going to relate to someone, make it Paul, make it John. Why is your hero in the Bible Job? Some of you are believing God for gainful employment. You're like I'm going to the book of Job, I'm believing for Lord. I confess this book.
13:27
Let me just say this about the book of Job. It's the oldest book in the Bible, it's the most misunderstood book in the Bible and you see early on that Job is not exactly a hero of the faith, because every day he's a nervous parent. I'm tempted to be like Job. You don't realize this until you become a parent, but you know they go away and you're like Lord. Protect them from falling pianos, protect them from random lightning strikes, protect them from you know what I'm talking about. But then I got to reel that in and just go, lord, I give them into your care and I stand in faith that they're going to be taken care of Early on, like the first, second chapter of Job, it says that Job, every day he sacrificed to God.
14:11
Maybe one of his children sinned against God, rather than, in faith standing once and for all, he kept sacrificing. You know there is such a thing as nervous prayers that have the opposite effect of what you're praying for. They're not backed by faith, they're your own anxiety. And then, when it all happened to him, he said the thing that I greatly feared has come upon me and that which I was afraid of has occurred. So he visualized all this. It wasn't his first rodeo, he just experienced it. It was manifested, hallelujah. So prayer. We're talking about becoming a vessel of honor. I just had to fix some things, hopefully.
14:53
Yet I still hear in counseling, I still hear people who are going through it and then what comes out is why would God allow this? Stop blaming God for what either Satan is doing or for what is the fruit of your own consequences, of your own bad decision making. I was always the first one to say that thing I went through. That wasn't some great test we left. Oh, god is testing. He can use it as a test, but he didn't initiate the test. It's just consequences of your bad decisions. I get a little because this is our father and he's lovely and he's wonderful. And then the way some denominations, christians, the way they paint him. He should be arrested for child abuse and locked away.
15:49
Oh, god is in control. You ever hear that one? I hear God is in control. If he's in control, he's doing a terrible job, but it sounds so spiritual right With somebody. Well, god is in control. I'll show you villages that got burnt down yesterday. God is in control. He's got a great plan behind that. Little children burning. God is in control is a half-truth. He's in control of my life because I gave him control. He's in control of your life. If you've given him control To someone else, there's a lot of forces at work. God is one of them. There's others pulling in the other direction. So you can say God is in control, if he's truly your Lord, but if you're not walking with him, he's influencing, he's loving you, he's pulling on your hearts, he's trying to get you into the good place, but you're also prone to other forces, hallelujah.
16:51
So do you know the stuff that happens in the Old Testament, like with the prophets? I might not get to the other two points, but this is the prophets in the Old Testament. I'd say about 15% of the time they actually prophesied in the conventional sense that we think prophecies, which is foretelling the future. The rest of the time, 85% of the time, they weren't foretelling the future. They were foretelling the future. They were forth telling the future. God would command them, prophesy so that it would be. In other words, if you don't speak it and pray it, it's not going to take place.
17:38
You're here right now because somebody prayed for you. Nobody just walked in here. Somebody prayed for you. Nobody just walked in here. Somebody prayed for you. Listen, jesus, the Messiah, couldn't come to earth until the prayers went up, a cry for the Messiah. And the Bible says it was Anna Anna, daily fasting and praying. And in Luke it says she served God, and this is why prayer is one of the ways you can serve God and be a vessel of honor. She served God with her prayers and her fasting. Can you believe that? Can you believe that God could want something to happen on earth? But he needs prayer to open the doorway.
18:25
Otherwise, if he just did whatever he wanted, satan could accuse him of being unjust and violating his own word. How many of you have landlords? Don't raise your hand. Some of you have landlords, right? Yeah, can he walk into your apartment at any time? No, but he's the owner, he owns it, but you got the lease and he can't walk in and barge in anytime he wants. I know some of you got that guy. I know you set up the nanny cam and you found out what was going on when you were at work. I've seen those videos from people. I know that's another story for another time. See, that's an unjust landlord. God is a just landlord and he won't violate his own word.
19:13
Even the return of jesus isn't until the spirit and the bride say come and with their prayer, would they cry, they invite the will of the Lord in. So I'll just say it another way Some things just won't happen until you pray them. This is why we have a prayer team at City Light Church that, in case you didn't know, meets every Sunday at 8.45 am and you're invited to be a part of it because we're called to shake New York. You're invited to be a part of it Because we're called to shake New York City, not to be a nice church, and never before in my life have I felt and sensed and been convinced of the will of the Lord and he can do it. He can do it. And we got a bunch of yielded and willing vessels here to shake New York City, really shake it. We got a bunch of yielded and willing vessels here to shake New York City, really shake it. Yesterday was awesome, but I'm talking about Olympic sized swimming pool where there's 50 baptisms going on every minute, where we got to recruit everybody. Okay, you're baptizing and these are the baptizees, amen.
20:27
But it's got to happen through prayer first and those things in your life that you think about and you go oh, that would be nice. And then you're even too afraid to put them in prayer. You've got to start praying. Pray, it invites the will of God in Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I have a few other things, but Hallelujah. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 5.17.
21:03
Another way, an important way, a vital way, to be a vessel of honor, to be a servant of the Lord, and that should be our prayer. And this happens right. You're really not contributing to Christianity. I'm sorry, I locked eyes with you, pastor James, when I said that it was my safe way. I was like I can't look at anyone when I say that, so I fall on someone who's greatly contributing to Christianity. But there is something. If you're a bump on a log and you're saying, well, I'm just waiting, look, there is a time where you're waiting to get repaired. But I found the greatest healing, the greatest repair comes when you actively start giving and you say what I have is so little. I mean, that's what the whole Bible shows is people with a little and then God multiplies it, hallelujah. You just begin where you're at. Mm-hmm. Now here's one of my little. And then God multiplies it. Hallelujah. You just begin where you're at. Now.
22:14
Here's one of my favorite passages in the scriptures. It's so dense this probably one of the greatest verses on being born again. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new, verse 18.
22:27
And then, probably in my opinion, one of the greatest verses on being a witness Evangelism, soul winning. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ. That means we have peace with God and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. And when he says us he's not talking about the apostles, he means every Christian. You have a ministry.
22:48
You may not be called into the five-fold ministry or the four-fold ministry, depending on what you believe, because some believe pastor and teacher. I'm kind of leaning that way myself lately. But anyway, five-fold is nice because it's a nice fist. But anyhow, if you're not called into full-time ministry in the conventional sense of it's your job. But you're called to ministry. What kind of ministry? The ministry of reconciliation. It's when you take the hand of one person and the hand of another person and you bring them together. He's given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Let's keep reading Verse 19. That is that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Let me just go for bullseye right now.
23:58
We all need to be soul winners. We need to actually be people who win other people to Jesus, and you don't become that until you do it a lot. He that winneth souls is wise. The Bible says so. First you got to do some unwise things and you learn. You know the kind of creature I meet all the time. There is this creature in Christianity. They want to be in full-time ministry. They're everywhere they want to be in full-time ministry. They're everywhere they want to be in full-time ministry. They've never won a soul to Christ, never, ever won anyone to Jesus. They're everywhere, by the way, usually anybody who's just on Facebook, and they're there posting all the time and they want a ministry. But you know their whole audience is Christian. It's all their friends and cousins and they're liking it and they don't know what it means to reach somebody outside. The quickest way into full-time ministry is to start winning souls.
24:55
First thing, when I wanted to be a pastor, god put me on the streets. I actually sense I won't say he said, but I sense I will be unfit to hold a microphone and preach the word, if I haven't won people everywhere, not just on the streets, on the streets in prisons, in inner city, friends, family members, because you're the only Jesus they may ever see. When I got saved, I told everybody, everybody and several of the people I told they were saved. I didn't know it, though they never told me. I remember thinking you, dog, you, I've known you for years and you just smiled at me while I'm going to hell. You never once thought to tell me I should repent and Jesus took the punishment for me. I mean the ministry of reconciliation. You know what that actually means. Is you saying, hey, god's not mad at you? The wrath of God has been fully exhausted on Jesus. So won't you come back to God, who loves you? Come back, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.
26:05
You know what I think prevents some people from ministering After you get past all the excuses? But it's because they haven't lived an exemplary life in front of their unsafe friends. So you messed up. You said those things you shouldn't have. You drank that drink you shouldn't have. In their company, everyone's super quiet. They're like first one to laugh, did it? You lost your temper and now you're afraid to tell them oh, you go to church. You're a Christian and I go. You hypocrite you.
26:49
You know what I found? That if you're honest with the people in your life, they'll appreciate and respect that a lot more. That if you just you know hey, I'm not an example of perfection. I may not be an example of complete holiness. I'm not perfect, but I tell you what I am I'm forgiven and I'm still holding his hand and he's leading and he's still my Lord. And let them know they could probably relate to that a whole lot more than if you were just levitating off the ground and gliding in your holiness around them, were just levitating off the ground and gliding in your holiness around them.
27:25
Hallelujah and number three. Do we have time for number three? All right, we'll do it. Then Luke, chapter five, becoming a vessel of honor. Our prayers serve God and, can I just add, they really serve you too. Let me just go back to number one. I'll give you the best example I know of it.
27:55
You see God in Genesis, chapter one, creating. Let there be right, let there be, let there be like from a distance. Then you see him come and get close and personal, not like the rest of creation, but he makes man with his own hands, forms him out of the dust, the mud, the dirt of the ground and breathes life into him. Then he calls Adam to name all the animals. What's going on there?
28:22
Most of us have like a city kid's understanding of naming the animals. The giraffe's name is Bob. The gorilla's name is Joe. The lizard lizard is Louie. The lizard's name is Louie. A lizard is a wacky character. No, that's not what that means. The name. The name is your destiny, your character, your nature, who you are, biblically speaking. So when Adam named the lion, we don't know what that lion was like. Before Adam named him, it was purposeless, it was destiny-less. And when Adam named him lion, the lion received the nature and the character of the king of the jungle. Nature and the character of the king of the jungle, same with every animal. So what was God doing? God was inviting Adam to co-create with him.
29:12
You guys are ready for this. See, just when you think you're on borderline heresy, that's when you're getting to the meat of the word of God. That's where the truth is. It flirts with heresy. I can't say this on the second service, because they'll take just that clip, not now, but as we grow and get bigger. I'll say this is what he really believes the heretic out of Queens. No, but what I mean is obvious. Look, jesus empowered people so much. Religion called him a heretic and wanted to kill him. And it's when you receive such an empowerment from the Word of God that you're oh, could he have really given me that much? Yes, yeah, the angels don't co-create with God, but he made man in his own image.
30:02
And prayer, in a sense, in that way, is co-creating with God. And, by the way, you know who used that term frequently the apostle Paul Co. We're doing it together. He says about God, we are co-workers with him. He doesn't say I work for him. He's not the dad that says to his son get out there and mow the lawn. He goes out there with a lawnmower and says, hey, son, come along with me, I'll help you. And he co-labors with you.
30:33
And when you pray, you're co-creating with God. It starts with him birthing something inside of you, a vision, a desire. He tells you what he wants to do and then you start laboring with him in prayer. And the reason why most people don't engage in this is because prayer is painful. There is a tension. There is a tension If you're in a cobwebby attic and he's showing you somewhere in the future. Now you're praying out of your cobweb attic, there's a tension, but you're agreeing with God's word where he's telling you you're going to be Hallelujah. All right, number three. Oh, we have no see. We have communion too. All right, number three. Luke 5, 1-7. This I can't go through quickly to do it justice.
31:23
So it was as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God. We're going to rework the service schedule soon. I feel the Lord priming me. You all agree. Good, because that would mean the first service is at 930. And that would give us that. All right, see, the early risers. This I hate. I've spent years not talking about the time and now I'm like oh, it's 1106. I feel like a Methodist.
31:53
So it was as the multitude pressed about him to hear the word of God that he stood by the lake of Gennesaret and saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. You know why Jesus spoke always by the lake Not always, but a good deal of the time Because he didn't have one of these. He didn't have a microphone, so he would stand with the Sea of Galilee, that's the Lake Gennesaret, behind him, and it would be a natural amplification device, as that wind would carry the sound of his words to the multitudes. So he got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. And when he had stopped speaking he said to Simon launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. By the way, do you know what he was preaching? It doesn't say in Luke, it just says he was preaching. But if you go to Mark, it tells you what he was preaching and it was the sermon on the seed, the sowers of the word.
33:05
So what Jesus is teaching here is the power of seed. And you know what Simon sowed into Jesus' ministry A boat, even temporarily. You know you cannot give to Jesus without getting a harvest in return. It's impossible and you never see any example of it in Scripture. But Simon answered and said to him Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing and nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish and their net was breaking.
33:45
The third way that you can serve the Lord is with your stuff. Increase comes to you when you realize that nothing you own it's not the 10% or the 15%, it's the 100%. It all belongs to God and you're a vessel and he owns it all. Jesus needs your boat. When you give Jesus your boat, whatever that may be for the amplification of the ministry of the kingdom, you can expect a harvest back. Are you telling me this is a coincidence that Jesus is teaching on the power of seed? He's in Simon's boat and immediately when he's done he tells Simon hey, you've caught nothing all night long, but do me a favor, get back in the water, try it out now, after you have sowed the seed of your boat into me. Now look at the return and they caught a net-breaking, boat-sinking load of fish.
34:40
Hallelujah, we're going to receive communion right now. Please pass out the elements. And I want you to just say this right now, out loud, and hold on to the elements. We'll take it together, thank you, thank you. Just say this. All right now, lord Jesus, I want to be a vessel of honor fit for the master's use. Help me in my prayer life. Help me in my prayer life, help me in my evangelism, help me in my giving Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. And whatever you need, know that it's covered. Whatever you need is covered by the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. And don't receive communion thinking nothing will happen. That's taking communion in an unworthy fashion. Don't be a biscuit eater and a stale grape juice drinker. Be a communion taker. So I really believe, as I partake of communion now, I'm partaking of Jesus. I believe this is medicine. This is God's medicine. Sickness and disease is far from you, depression even further. The joy of the Lord is your strength, and victory courses through every area of your life. Go ahead and partake of Jesus.
36:35 - Speaker 2
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 Jancic 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 City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
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