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Jan. 15, 2025
Embracing the Joshua Anointing: Faith and Triumphs on the Path to 2025
Driving back from the Poconos, a seemingly ordinary trip turned into a spiritual experience for Pastor Bo and his wife Emily. The conversation about 2025 took an unexpected turn as they felt God’s presence, leading them to embrace what we now call the "Joshua anointing" for the coming year. This episode invites you on a spiritual journey where personal stories of triumphs and divine guidance reveal the extraordinary wins and breakthroughs awaiting us in 2025. We draw inspiration from the Book of Joshua, urging listeners to step forward with faith and confidence, knowing that God's grace is leading us to our promised land.
(00:00) Entering the Year of Victories
(07:55) Crossing the Jordan River to Victory
(14:56) Walking by Faith, Trusting in Miracles
(19:00) Covenant Renewal in Victory
(31:59) Faith, Encounter, Submission
(44:22) Rejoicing Before Victory
Chapters
00:00 - Entering the Year of Victories
07:55:00 - Crossing the Jordan River to Victory
14:56:00 - Walking by Faith, Trusting in Miracles
19:00:00 - Covenant Renewal in Victory
31:59:00 - Faith, Encounter, Submission
44:22:00 - Rejoicing Before Victory
Transcript
00:00 - Speaker 1
If you have guilt in your life, that's your problem, not God's. You say, but I have things I'm struggling with. You don't know, thank you, I don't need to know, I don't want to know. But God knows. And if you're looking at Jesus, god in the Spirit still cannot find sin in you. You are forgiven, you are made right, but sometimes I don't act like it. When you start believing right, you'll start acting right.
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. That he has a real hope and a future for you, hallelujah.
01:08 - Speaker 1
So my wife and I were driving back from the Poconos on Friday. We spent Christmas up there and New Year's up there, and it's amazing about kids how they can never, ever nap during the day. I mean they can when they're very little, but after the age of six they can't nap during the day. But you put them in a car car and the insomnia is cured instantly. The moment they're in a car they're asleep. And so I'm having this nice three-hour ride with my wife and we just begin talking about the new year, talking about 2025. And I notice, as soon as we start talking about it, the anointing begins to fill the car. There's a wind, there's a freshness, there's the divine, the touch of God. We're just I don't know how else to explain it there's just life. It's not like we're just talking. The car is pulsating now with the life of God and we can tell God is getting in on the conversation About 30 seconds in. I just say these words. I say as I'm trying to describe to Emily what I'm seeing. I say we're entering into the book of Joshua. There's a Joshua anointing coming upon us, and by us I mean our church. I really believe it's for the whole body of Christ. It's a unique season that the body of Christ all over the world is entering into. I don't have authority as a local pastor to prophesy over the entirety of the body of Christ, but I do have authority over the local church that God has entrusted to me, and it is the book of Joshua.
02:30
The book of Joshua is a good book. It's a fun book. I used to always love reading that book, still do. But in the beginning, when I was like on my third read through, I'm like Lord, why do I love this book so much? And then it just crystallized for me oh, because it's a book of victories, nonstop victories. There's a couple of times they slip up, but for the most part they're going from glory to glory. They're taking land, they're receiving the promises and it's a book of victory. And if you read the first five books, god reveals his love, he reveals his character.
03:12
But it can get a little bit discouraging. Have you ever thought that I'm only sharing this because I want to set you free? If you've thought that If you've ever been in a particular set of chapters, say in Exodus or in Deuteronomy, and the people keep messing things up for themselves, they keep resisting God's goodness. They're rebellious, they're stiff-necked, they won't do what they're told, so, consequently, they're always reaping the results of their own cursed behavior. It gets a little discouraging. You're like, ah, these poor people, and why can't they get their act together? And it can be kind of emotionally, even trying. Is that just me? Am I just from the Balkans? And very emotional? You're looking at me kind of stoically and cold today. Woo, will you close this? If you get chilly, I just need a little freshness. Pastor Mo just looked at me so funny in his short sleeve shirt while I have triple layers. I'm like an 80s villain from the ski lodge wearing this.
04:08
Joshua, on the other hand, is a book of victories, and that's what I sense is coming upon us a grace and an anointing where we will come into our own promised land, where things we've been praying about for too long are going to come and be made manifest. It is going to be a year of winning. This is what I told my wife. It is not going to be defeat, it is going to be a year of victory. Winning so much, winning. God is going to make you win, you win. You're gonna get tired of winning. You're gonna say, oh Lord, it's too much winning. Can you just like ease up on the winning and God's gonna say, no, just like in the book of Joshua, I'm gonna make you super win. You're gonna be having so much winning, thank you, lord. So I want to take you through the book of Joshua not the entire book, but through several key things that happened. There's dozens of amazing stories where you can learn about how God operates and how he works with his people. I want to take you through several main ones, but let's begin in Joshua, chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus After the death of Moses.
05:28
So, as you remember, moses was God's leader and he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and he led them through the wilderness. That journey should have taken about 11 days. It took 40 years. See what I mean by discouraging and depressing something. I mean that's depressing. You look at them, you go 40 years. Like what I mean by discouraging and depressing something. I mean that's depressing. You look at them, you go 40 years. Like if I was blindfolded, I would have made it faster than 40 years if it only took 11 days. But God had confounded them and God kept them from entering in because their attitude was terrible and their heart wasn't right, but finally they make it through. Moses is dead, that whole generation is dead, and this is how this amazing book of victory starts off. Very unceremoniously, here's this amazing figure, moses, and here's what's said about him. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of none, moses' assistant, saying Moses, my servant, is dead.
06:30
Now, that's how you begin a book by saying bye to the past, amen, what we? To enter into? This flow state. There is a flow state for 2025. I'm telling you, I saw it in the spirit, I can taste it, I've partaken of it already A flow state of victory after victory after victory after victory.
06:54
There are years. Listen, there are years, there are days, there are weeks, there are months. There are some days where nothing happens. There are some months where it seems like days happen, but it's months. And then I'm telling you, there'll be some days where years happen. In the days, all of a sudden, it's like 10 years worth of work, 10 years worth of believing, 10 years worth of progress. The Lord condenses it boom and puts it in one year. That's what's up ahead for us in 2025.
07:27
But in order to receive that number one, you got to realize Moses is dead, which for us means 2024 is dead. The past is the past. At last, it's in our rear view mirror, church. So say goodbye to the things you've received in 2024 and the things you didn't receive, the successes and the failures. Say goodbye to 2024 and set your sights on the promised land that God is giving you in 2025.
07:55
Amen, moses, my servant is dead Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan. Servant is dead Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, so they need to cross the Jordan River to enter in this land that God had promised them. This land is a land of plenty, a land flowing in milk and honey. It's a land of rest. It's a physical land that's pointing to a spiritual land, a spiritual place. Under the new covenant, we have a promised land. It's in Christ.
08:30
Can I describe for you some of the characteristics of the promised land? The promised land is a place of peace, peace with your maker through the shed blood of Jesus. It's a place of rest. You're no longer striving to try to please him. You know that you can rest in the finished work of the cross. You're already pleasing to him again because of the blood of Jesus. And it's also a place of shalom. Shalom, where we just translate as peace in the English, oh, it just means peace and we throw around the word peace, peace, peace, peace. Give me a piece of cookie. But shalom is deeper than that. It means nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. That is the promised land that God wants every Christian to live in.
09:18
Our life is not supposed to look like hell. For some Christians, that's a revelation. Really, I thought it was supposed to be miserable and then one day, in the sweet by and by no, it's supposed to reflect heaven. Right now, it shouldn't resemble hell. It should resemble heaven. There should be nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. Your cup should be overflowing. When you're fed, you'll take up 12 basketfuls of leftovers. Amen, oh, 2025 is going to be awesome.
09:50
Hallelujah Verse three he's given him instructions. He's got to face his first obstacle. It's the Jordan River Verse three every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses I just want you to see the heart of God and you can appropriate this for yourself. Look, you can look at 2025. One of two ways. You're at a fork in the road. You could look at it with terror, daunting, nervous, maybe with a case or attitude or whatever you know. Whatever the Lord wills, no, but hear the heart of God.
10:30
He's this isn't just for Joshua. He's showing how he works with his people. He's saying every place you go, I've given it to you now have that mind and have that confidence. Listen, this is going to take a boldness in God's people. The things of God must be seized and Satan doesn't just lay over and say come right in and take whatever you'd like. Remember, to possess the land means to dispossess it of its current occupants. He gave them the land, but there were giants in that land. There were different enemy groups in that land, and so, even though he gave it to them, they had to boldly go and appropriate his promises by faith.
11:11
Hallelujah, boldness is coming in here. Some people are waking up. If you only knew I got a taste of it. Just like in that moment, god wants you in 2025 to almost be embarrassed of his goodness. He overdid it in the most embarrassing way in my life. Somebody come and slap me on the cheek just so that I know that I'm not dreaming.
11:36
Hallelujah, joshua, chapter 3. The first obstacle is this Jordan River. The first obstacle is this Jordan River. It's not a babbling brook, it's not a stream. It's a mighty river that floods several times a year, and this was the time of flooding, and there were several million Jews marching, and at the front of this parade were priests carrying the most precious object that the Hebrews had the Ark of the Covenant, where the presence of God was, and they were carrying it on the poles. And they got specific instructions to send the Ark of the Covenant first across the Jordan River.
12:19
I want you to pay attention to this story because I found more often than not, this is how God will work miracles in your life. Joshua 3 and verse 9. So Joshua said to the children of Israel come here and hear the words of the Lord, your God. And Joshua said the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. Now, therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe, and it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off. So when will the waters of the Jordan be cut off? When the priests who are holding the Ark of the Covenant when their feet touch the water? I don't like that. I like my water to be cut off a good mile out, and so do you. Can you imagine the most sacred thing they're carrying, the thing that wars were fought over? The Ark of the Covenant, and there's millions of them walking, but at the front are the priests and the water is overflowing. You can almost hear the priest going, so we're just supposed to keep walking. Yeah, what did Joshua say? The Lord told him. Well, he said that when we touch the water holding the ark, that that's when the water will be stopped up. Well, can't the Lord do it? Like 10 yards out, five yards, and it specifically says when their feet landed in the water, that's when the water will be cut off. This is how I'm telling you. Nine out of ten times, the Lord does it. You have to step out by faith. 2025 is going to be a year where our radical obedience and listening to what even seems like the strange instructions of the Lord will be monumental, vital, very important. This is how I've seen him do everything that he's done in my life. That's worth noting when I think about how we ended up here. This, which we only use once or twice a year now.
14:56
This Queens church started in 2009, but City Lights started in Manhattan in 2002. And in 2009, I just started feeling a stirring. You need to start a second location in Queens, in Queens. Did I have it planned out? No, some pastors this is how I don't want to go to pastor's luncheons anymore. They like to talk about the one-year plan and the five-year plan. I'm like.
15:20
At first I felt guilty. Should I have a five-year plan? I mean, I have it generally, but they have it all written out. Not one of them do I know where their five-year plan worked out. Their five-year plan was all six months in. They had to redo it over and over again. No, I don't have a five-year plan. My five-year plan is I'm holding on tightly to his hand. I have a vision and I'm holding tightly to his hand. He's going to work it out. Well, how will you pay for this? How will you do this? How will you do that? I don't know. I'm going to take one step when my foot lands in the water, the miracle will happen and then he will provide. Amen. You, you got to take a step of faith, a major victory, my wife and I.
15:57
A year and a half ago I shared. We bought a house in Long Island. I don't think I really shared. I shared the victories, but I didn't confide in you because you're not my therapist.
16:07
Those first couple of months, after I signed all the papers, they were terrifying. They were terrifying. I took out a huge mortgage which we were debt-free. I kept saying for our whole marriage we've been debt-free. Now I have this huge mortgage and I was supposed to rent out my Brooklyn place. It flooded again. I couldn't rent it out and then what I thought was going to be my taxes, which were already high, they adjusted because I just bought the house for more money.
16:37
So my taxes I'll just give you real numbers because I know you like that my taxes for the house is $34,000 a year. In fact, my taxes for the house is how much my salary, my annual salary, was by year five at City Light after I'd gotten a raise. It was $36,000 a year. So I was a little raise. It was $36,000 a year. So I was a little nervous. It was daunting. I had the thoughts of Lord, did you really lead me out? Or was it just my own pride and my own lust and I would scribble? You know I was serious, because unserious math I do on the phone, but serious math I get the pad out and I want to see the writings I want to do and I would just swallow hard and go how is this going to happen? And all I would sense from the Lord was I'll make it happen. Your job is not to worry. Don't worry, I'll see you through.
17:33
So this nervousness was really September, september of not this September of 24, but September of 23. In the next six months he worked it out, that mortgage. He paid it off, the tax, in fact, with the taxes. He gave me a word. He said this you will not even ever consider it. And I just he said the level I'm taking you. This shouldn't be even. This should be like an afterthought, like you buy some eggs and milk at the grocery store. And he spoke and I thought, huh, but you believe and you take a step, and when he meets you there, you take another step. And he meets you again, take another step, and that's where the miracle happens. Amen. So 2025,. We're entering into our promised land. We're crossing the Jordan, we're taking steps of faith Verse 14.
18:25
So it was when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people, and as those who bore the Ark came to the Jordan and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water. You gotta dip your feet. You gotta dip your feet. Some people are stuck. They never dip their feet. Your feet stink. You didn't dip them. There's so many people that are waiting for all the conditions to be met.
19:00
Secretly. I would like that. Hey, let me just say that Secretly, because walking by faith is lovely. It's the best time you'll ever have, it's invigorating, it's when I feel most alive and also it's terrifying. And I've been walking by faith really since I got saved, but really since the church.
19:21
Church is a work of faith. So you're walking by faith and it kind of feels, if you take your eyes off of jesus even for a second, it kind of feels like you're hydroplaning. You ever hydroplane in a car down florida. You get that a lot where you're actually not touching the road, but you're kind of a millimeter off the road on water and you've got no control. That's how it feels sometimes and, and secretly, I've just wished the lord can. Can you, can we, can you make it easy sometime? It'd just be nice to not always feel like I'm bungee jumping every day after day after day.
19:55
And so I thought this I'm just confessing my sin to you right now. So I said so. I said, lord, it would be really nice, you know, with our investments and all, if everything could come in. We don't have to have a building campaign. There's no really. You know, I'm using all the words other than to say I just like not to believe you, and the Lord's increasing us. But I know how he is, I know Jehovah sneaky by this time he's gonna still make it so that we have to take a step of faith, no matter how he does it. It's not gonna be. There's no such thing. The Bible in fact says whatever is not a faith is sin. Who wants that thing? Who wants some kind of work in the natural that anybody could have done in the natural? No, it's gonna be with the waft of the supernatural goodness of God all over it, all right, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan and the feet of the priest who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest that the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the sea of the Arabah, the salt sea, failed and were cut off and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan and all Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the people a couple of million of them had crossed completely over the Jordan.
21:37
You're gonna be in prayer. You're gonna commit yourselves to 21 days of prayer and fasting. You're gonna stop tripping your own self up with cheap little scarcity-minded things in your mind. You're gonna let the Lord blow the lid off. Okay, you with me so far. You're gonna cry out to him. You're gonna take his hand and you're gonna say Lord, I see your heart, I see your will. You're the god of more than enough, you're the god of plenty. Take me by the hand and get me across the jordan. In jesus name, I'm going into the promised land. Hallelujah, 2025, hallelujah.
22:16
And if you know, listen, I, I know there's some ministries, the year, the new year is like half their ministry. In September already, they got you know 2019, and they find a scripture, something verse 19, and every you know what I mean. I've never been like that. I've always actually kind of scoffed at that. It's horoscopy to me. It's like, you know, like what the Lord is doing in China is not the same as what he's doing in America, and the word you just gave seems uniquely American to me. Yet you're declaring it over the whole body of Christ Like it sounds nonsensical.
22:49
Never felt it this year. It's not that I feel it, I can taste it. I, I feel it, I can taste it, I can smell it. Something has changed. It's a new day, it's a new dawn. Things have shifted. I hear the gears and the spirit turning. It's going to be awesome.
23:08
All we have to do is like what they did in the book of Joshua, which is just get with the program and not get in their own way. If you're freezing by now, because I felt that you can close that at any time. Thank you, that's the name of the game. Get out of your way. Get out of God's way and do whatever he tells you to do. It's going to be a good year. Hallelujah, all right. We're in Joshua, chapter 5. These are lessons from the book of Joshua on how to get into a flow state of victory. I've had victories, great victories from the Lord.
23:45
I remember once talking to him about it Like Lord, you send a wave, awesome, and then six months kind of like nothing's happening. Then you send another wave. Lord, what are you teaching me? And I remember one time he said I'm teaching you not to make your own waves in between my waves. Learn how to be content in between my waves. But 2025 is not going to be like that. Remember when you were a kid. I remember being a kid at Jones Beach. That is a cruel beach to send kids to. I remember because I'm used to the Balkans, the Adriatic. It's basically a giant lake. There's no waves. As a kid I was like I can swim already. And you run out there. Boom, a wave comes. And right when you go, another one comes. And as soon as you boom, another one comes. Next thing you know, after 10 waves you're like crumb mommy. That's what 2025 is going to be like Wave upon wave, upon wave upon wave. Hallelujah.
24:41
Joshua 5 and verse 2. At the same time, excuse me, at that time the Lord said to Joshua make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. It's not that the same men were getting circumcised for the second time that would be very strange and impossible. It's just that this is the second. Call it mass circumcision. I have to chuckle because this is really awkward to read and we haven't even begun to get to the awkward part. So I've learned just, if there's a pool of awkwardness, just jump right in there. Just cannonball right in. So Joshua made flint knives, not surgical scalpels, sharp stones. Flint knives, not surgical scalpels, sharp stones. So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the son of Israel at the hill of the four skins. Could you imagine living there back then? Where's your house? I can't find it on Google Maps. It's right across the street from the hill of the four skins. You just got to look for the giant hill. I'm right over Giant Hill. I'm right over.
26:00
This is why people don't read the Old Testament and this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way, and they had come out of Egypt, for all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, in other words, all the men that were to Joshua, they, they never got circumcised. Now, circumcision is important because that's the sign of your covenant with God. Back in the old testament, when David ran at Goliath, he pointed out hey, you're uncircumcised. Who is this non-covenant? Who is this uncircumcised? Who is this non-covenant? Who is this uncircumcised? Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
26:43
Under the new covenant, paul talks about circumcision. The whole gospel is contained in circumcision. There's blood that's shed and there's a casting off of the flesh, and back then it was physical. Today it's that sin nature that's been cast off of us, the flesh, and we're, according to the New Testament, how Paul teaches, we have an inward circumcision of the heart, but either way, it represents our covenant with God. All right, so right now, they weren't circumcised, they had no covenant.
27:13
Verse six, for the children of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord swore that he would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers, that he would give us a land flowing with milk and honey. With milk and honey. Then Joshua circumcised their sons, whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. So it was when they had finished circumcising if I have to say circumcised one more time, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Jesus, I just imagine what that camp sounded like. Just where's Wailing Camp? Oh, it's right over there, like holed up for three days mending.
28:17
Then the Lord said and this is hey, you're wondering what's all this about? This is what it's about, all right. Then the Lord said to Joshua today, this day, I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Why is this so important? Because they're about to possess the land, they're about to get into that flow state of victory after victory after victory, and what is imperative to happen before you can actually realize that is shame. Guilt condemnation has to be rolled away. You see, these Hebrews, they had shame. They had shame from Egypt, they had shame from all their mistakes and blunderings in the wilderness and they weren't in covenant with God. Because they didn't have physical circumcision, they had to get circumcised. Picture a giant boulder that prevents them from moving into their destiny, called shame. And because the covenant was evoked, god said ah, because of the covenant, I'm rolling this boulder away. I'm rolling away the reproach evoked. God said ah, because of the covenant, I'm rolling this boulder away. I'm rolling away the reproach of Israel. How much more under the glorious new covenant, where physical circumcision matters not, but saying yes to Jesus and having a circumcision of the heart being born again.
29:35
Now guilt is gone. Are you listening, christian? Hey, if you have guilt in your life, that's your problem, not God's. You say, but I have things I'm struggling with. You don't know, thank you. I don't need to know, I don't want to know. But God knows.
29:50
And if you're looking at Jesus, if your eyes are on Jesus, god in the spirit still cannot find sin in you. You are forgiven, you are made right, but sometimes I don't act like it. When you start believing right, you'll start acting right. The reason you're not acting right is because you're not believing right. You keep believing God's against you, god's mad at you, god's angry with you. You feel wild. You keep wallowing in condemnation, in guilt. You go to sleep hearing negative, your self-talk stinks. It's really Satan and it's masquerading as your own voice and you can't stand your own self because you've been listening to that voice so often. Listen to what the word says about you. It says you are holy and without blame before him, in love. It says you are accepted in the beloved. Hey, eventually.
30:42
Yeah, when we get rolling in 2025 and things start popping for you, eventually you're gonna have to answer this question why do you deserve this? Satan will ask it. Some of your friends may ask it. You may even ask it. When the Lord outdid himself in 2024 for us, I actually drive around why did he Like he's giving me stuff, I didn't really, frankly, even believe him, for he just outdid himself. And you can get insecure, lord, why are you doing this and why do I deserve this? And then you listen for the divine response. It goes it's really not about you, it's about me. For the divine response he goes it's really not about you, it's about me, and this is just how good I am and how big I am. And you deserve this because you're worthy, because the blood of Jesus has made you worthy Not worthy in and of yourself, but thanks to the blood, the shame is rolled away and you're now a good target, a good bullseye that God can shoot his arrow of blessings into Hallelujah. Let's go forward just a couple of verses to Joshua 5.13. Number one, 2025, is a year of stepping out in faith. When your feet touch the water, hallelujah, hallelujah.
31:59
You know I I shared about this new car that I ordered. You know how that happened? It happened spontaneously on our anniversary day, on the way to the restaurant. I wasn't planning on that and I said, hey, I'm just going to pull in here, let's look at these cars. And we pulled in there. It was quiet, there was nobody there. I said do you like this? She went, yeah, and I said I kind of like it too. I said let's just sit down, and one thing turned into another and then, just by faith, I said, yeah, order that thing. How much do you need down? It's not altogether how it's going to come through.
32:49
I mean it'll be able to. It's not. I don't want to present it as this generous, but it's not. It's not set, it's not convenient. It's when you take a step of faith that it comes through. Now, listen, I have to say this don't go doing stupid stuff and saying it's God, please. I had to work up. You know how I worked up to this level, by getting a lot of things wrong too, and then you learn from your mistakes. Amen. Believe God for a soda first? Yeah. Then I want to believe for a car. Do you have skateboard faith? Believe God for a skateboard. Work your way up to a 12 speed, then believe God for a jalopy. Your way up to a 12-speed, then believe God for a jalopy. Then, from that, expound your faith, expand it and work up to a place so you don't, you know, kamikaze your life and go. No, I was trying to walk by faith. That's maybe a whole separate message. Amen, and it came to pass.
33:52
Lesson number one was walking out in faith over the Jordan. Two was shame and guilt and condemnation have to be rolled away. That happens when you remember the covenant. They had to remember it in a very impractical way. You remember it just by looking at the cross and going thank you, jesus, the blood is upon my life. Three is you got to have a God encounter. God encounters are available to every believer. You are not supposed to have a cerebral relationship with the Lord If our relationship with the Lord was just purely intellectual. Some people, they're wired that way, not a lot of people, but some they're wired that way and that's fine for them. I can't do that. I want to know him, I want to experience him, especially when the Bible says I can know him. I want to experience him, especially when the Bible says I can know him and I can experience him. I want to feel his touch, I want to experience his power, and that's available to you.
35:03
Joshua, before he entered the promised land, he had to have an encounter with God, and that's what you see happening here in Joshua, chapter 5. Jesus appeared to him in a pre-incarnate fashion, what's known as a theophany. Jesus appeared to him as the commander of the armies of the Lord, and it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.
35:42
What an answer so many people in a politically divided time. They want to know are you on this team or on that team? And here's what the Lord says I'm on my own team. You come on my team. I don't come on your team with your silly little minutia that's going on down there. I have a purpose, I have a plan and it's in your best interest to come along with me. Amen, have a plan and it's in your best interest to come along with me, amen. So he said no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.
36:15
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worship and said to him what does my Lord say to his servant? So he's having a God encounter. And he has a good question what is the word for me? What would you say to me? And here's the divine response. Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. That's it. That's his God encounter.
36:46
What was the lesson learned? Submission, instant obedience and submission. That's his God encounter. What was the lesson learned? Submission, instant obedience and submission. Here God revealed himself when he came. He came in Joshua 5 as the commander of the armies of heaven Adonai Tzvaot in the Hebrew, the Lord of Sabaoth, the heavenly host. And if you saw a heavenly host, your brain would explode. They talk about the heavenly host coming when Jesus was born, and then you see the paintings and it's a bunch of fat babies in diapers playing harps. That's not the heavenly host, sabaoth, the armies of heaven A terrible thing to see. And Jesus appears as the commander of these armies and this is all he wants. Submission it's a word that many of us are allergic to today. Don't want to submit to anybody, submit to anything, but Joshua had to submit.
37:50
And in 2025, if you want to experience the best year of your life, you got to take your shoes off your feet, get on your knees and submit and have a heart attitude that says Lord. I know that if you're not Lord of all, you're not Lord at all. This is not a year to be messing around. You're not Lord at all. This is not a year to be messing around Surrender you can't just receive him as Savior and not as Lord. It's Lord and Savior. That means your life now belongs to him and you'll follow him. You won't do things contrary to his word. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
38:26
And then, finally, joshua 6. There's about 50 great stories in the book of Joshua, some really great ones. I chose these three, but I encourage you to dig in the book of Josh Joshie yourself. The Lord will speak to you through it. Joshua 6, verses 1 through 5. Now, jericho was securely shut up, so he made it past Jordan River. The people were circumcised, the shame was away. He got his God encounter and now he has to possess the land, which means dispossess the current occupants. He, the nations that were unwilling to repent and turn to the living God Can.
39:32
I pause on that for a second. I feel like this might minister to a couple of people. In the Old Testament you see a lot of death, you see a lot of destruction, you see a lot of people and people groups dying and now that we've been so woke-ified you might read that. I mean, it bothered me before, but now that the culture is so woke-ified, you can just be absolutely horrified by what appears to be God's will in the Old Testament, like the destruction of other nations, and it's fair and legitimate that we bring that up, that we discuss that. I didn't plan on it, but I just felt it right now and it's part of what God's answer was to Joshua. He said I'm not on your side and I'm not on their side. I'm on my own side. And God had only one desire, one desire To protect that seed that was spoken of in Genesis. To protect that seed throughout the generations so that Messiah can come in and rescue this fallen world. That was his only desire. Everything you see him doing is to allow for that to happen, and it's in the context of a fallen, corrupt world. So God now has to use fallen man, in the context of a fallen and corrupt post-Garden of Eden world to bring his holy purposes in, and that can be very messy and very ugly. Are you getting it? So it's not necessarily that that's god's will. I mean, god could have sent them to jericho and if it worked he would have said listen, I want you to go pick flowers, make sure that the brightest flowers and the freshest flowers and present them with these flowers. They'll be happy to move out and allow you in. But that wouldn't have worked. So he has to work in the context of a fallen world to bring about his very holy and eternal purposes. Amen, all right. I. I didn't see anything, but there could have been several people. This could be a major hang-up for people. I, in the spirit. I saw a woman clutch her pearls, so I had to address that. Where are we? Oh we're. We're seeing Jericho get demolished.
41:51
You shall march around the city. Verse 3, I've given Jericho into your hand. You shall march around the city, all you, men of war. You shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days and seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horn. They were charismatics with shofars and when you hear the sound of the trumpet and all the people shall shout with a great shout, then the wall of the city will fall down flat and the people shall go up, every man straight before him.
42:38
Now fast forward just a couple of verses to verse 10. Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying you shall not shout or make any noise with your voice. Imagine that they had to walk around Jericho for six days. No one was allowed to say a word. It had to be total silence.
42:57
I believe God did that so that they wouldn't jeopardize the mission and curse the mission with the words of their own mouth. Words are very important. The Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it will eat the fruit thereof. You just know there would have been four or five complainers in that group going oh, I really miss moses. I don't like joshua. Moses was better, right, right, you know, when someone's like that, when they're rebellious, they're oh, they're, the ultimate evangelist they want. They got to recruit and add more to team rebellion, Right, don't you feel like Moses was better and Joshua was saying walk around. And why do we got to walk around what? They're going to blow ram's horns and the walls will fall down. That's never going to work and they would have cursed the whole thing with the words of their mouth. So the divine instruction was shh, can't say a word. Can't say a word for six days.
43:50
By the way, these walls when I first heard about the walls of jericho coming down, maybe it's because I was a teenager, maybe I was influenced by something I saw, but I picture them in cartoon form like a wall. You too, right now, you picture like one brick deep, just wall, and then it comes down. But the walls of in city walls. We've been to Dubrovnik and Croatia. City walls are very, very wide. You look at the Great Wall of China. Archaeologists will tell you that the Jericho walls were so wide that you can run multiple chariots around them at the same time.
44:22
This is the kind of walls we're talking about, and God gives very strange instructions Walk around once a day for the first six days. Then on the seventh day, walk around seven times, then blow a trumpet and shout with the shout of triumph, and then the walls will come down. Now in life we're usually saying God, make the walls come down, then I'll shout come into church. They come in upset, they come in sad, they cross their arms. They don't even care that they're not entering into worship, because their heart attitude is Lord, when you do something in my life where I feel like it's enough that I should worship you, then I'll worship you. That's really what they're conveying to the Lord and the whole Bible is upside down in this way. It's saying you rejoice first, you shout with the voice of triumph first, then the wall will come down. You can't be hiding in a corner saying make the wall come down, why don't you? Then I'll shout Amen. Or oh, me Both, hallelujah, hallelujah. 16 through 17 worship team. You can come on up.
45:33
And the seventh time it happened when the priests blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people shout, for the Lord has given you the city. Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that were sent. God is doing a Joshua thing in 2025. Can you say amen? I hope these lessons blessed you Know this, that no battle is wasted by God. And even in this battle, when the walls came down, some archaeologists say that the fashion in which they came down was to act as a rampart, as a bridge, basically giving even easier access for the children of Israel now to run in and take Jericho. So what used to be your hindrance, what used to be your problem, when the Lord deals with it, it falls down, and now it acts as your express route into the place you wanted to get to all along hallelujah.
46:42
A couple of other things. Note this. Two more things. One the community was united. That's the only reason this worked. We as a church have never before been as united as we are now. I feel it like never before.
46:55
There is love in this place. In fact, we should get even sterner that if somebody disturbs that peace, disturbs that love, usually have a three strike minimum. We might have to bring that down to two strikes, because I am jealous for this sweetness, though. There is so much love and camaraderie and we're in one accord. This is where miracles happen.
47:14
And another thing I want you to see is there's Rahab. The harlot Seems like such a harsh word right, she let some spies in. Previously, when destruction came upon Jericho, look who was spared Rahab the harlot. In fact, jesus has a connection to her in his lineage and she's mentioned in Hebrews 11 in the great hall of faith. But I just want you to know that when destruction came upon this city, look at God's heart, he preserved Rahab the harlot. In fact, she said, hey, what should I do when you come destroying this whole city? How will you know not to destroy my house? And they said just tie a little scarlet cord outside your window. We'll know not to hit that home. What do you think that scarlet cord represents? The blood of Jesus. So just know this and you see this. This is just one example. You see this throughout the scriptures.
48:14
Though we live in New York City, and just when I get to, like my, when I'm in my family planning multi-generational state of mind, I wonder about you know, living in New York City and there's 40 drones going up and down the Hudson River and they're saying it could be nuclear material. And then I'm just reminded that whenever destruction comes upon a place, god's people are spared. When I see the blood, I will pass over you when I see that scarlet cord. That's why it mentions Rahab the harlot. To be a prostitute was considered to be the bottom rung of society, and God is saying even the bottom rung. When that scarlet cord is applied, destruction will pass over. Let's all stand, hallelujah, lift your hands In the name of Jesus. Say this with me, lord 2025 is my year. I will live in a constant state of victorious flow. It's going to be my best year yet you are with me and you are my way. Maker, I believe and I receive. Amen.
49:34 - 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. 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.
If you have guilt in your life, that's your problem, not God's. You say, but I have things I'm struggling with. You don't know, thank you, I don't need to know, I don't want to know. But God knows. And if you're looking at Jesus, god in the Spirit still cannot find sin in you. You are forgiven, you are made right, but sometimes I don't act like it. When you start believing right, you'll start acting right.
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. That he has a real hope and a future for you, hallelujah.
01:08 - Speaker 1
So my wife and I were driving back from the Poconos on Friday. We spent Christmas up there and New Year's up there, and it's amazing about kids how they can never, ever nap during the day. I mean they can when they're very little, but after the age of six they can't nap during the day. But you put them in a car car and the insomnia is cured instantly. The moment they're in a car they're asleep. And so I'm having this nice three-hour ride with my wife and we just begin talking about the new year, talking about 2025. And I notice, as soon as we start talking about it, the anointing begins to fill the car. There's a wind, there's a freshness, there's the divine, the touch of God. We're just I don't know how else to explain it there's just life. It's not like we're just talking. The car is pulsating now with the life of God and we can tell God is getting in on the conversation About 30 seconds in. I just say these words. I say as I'm trying to describe to Emily what I'm seeing. I say we're entering into the book of Joshua. There's a Joshua anointing coming upon us, and by us I mean our church. I really believe it's for the whole body of Christ. It's a unique season that the body of Christ all over the world is entering into. I don't have authority as a local pastor to prophesy over the entirety of the body of Christ, but I do have authority over the local church that God has entrusted to me, and it is the book of Joshua.
02:30
The book of Joshua is a good book. It's a fun book. I used to always love reading that book, still do. But in the beginning, when I was like on my third read through, I'm like Lord, why do I love this book so much? And then it just crystallized for me oh, because it's a book of victories, nonstop victories. There's a couple of times they slip up, but for the most part they're going from glory to glory. They're taking land, they're receiving the promises and it's a book of victory. And if you read the first five books, god reveals his love, he reveals his character.
03:12
But it can get a little bit discouraging. Have you ever thought that I'm only sharing this because I want to set you free? If you've thought that If you've ever been in a particular set of chapters, say in Exodus or in Deuteronomy, and the people keep messing things up for themselves, they keep resisting God's goodness. They're rebellious, they're stiff-necked, they won't do what they're told, so, consequently, they're always reaping the results of their own cursed behavior. It gets a little discouraging. You're like, ah, these poor people, and why can't they get their act together? And it can be kind of emotionally, even trying. Is that just me? Am I just from the Balkans? And very emotional? You're looking at me kind of stoically and cold today. Woo, will you close this? If you get chilly, I just need a little freshness. Pastor Mo just looked at me so funny in his short sleeve shirt while I have triple layers. I'm like an 80s villain from the ski lodge wearing this.
04:08
Joshua, on the other hand, is a book of victories, and that's what I sense is coming upon us a grace and an anointing where we will come into our own promised land, where things we've been praying about for too long are going to come and be made manifest. It is going to be a year of winning. This is what I told my wife. It is not going to be defeat, it is going to be a year of victory. Winning so much, winning. God is going to make you win, you win. You're gonna get tired of winning. You're gonna say, oh Lord, it's too much winning. Can you just like ease up on the winning and God's gonna say, no, just like in the book of Joshua, I'm gonna make you super win. You're gonna be having so much winning, thank you, lord. So I want to take you through the book of Joshua not the entire book, but through several key things that happened. There's dozens of amazing stories where you can learn about how God operates and how he works with his people. I want to take you through several main ones, but let's begin in Joshua, chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus After the death of Moses.
05:28
So, as you remember, moses was God's leader and he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and he led them through the wilderness. That journey should have taken about 11 days. It took 40 years. See what I mean by discouraging and depressing something. I mean that's depressing. You look at them, you go 40 years. Like what I mean by discouraging and depressing something. I mean that's depressing. You look at them, you go 40 years. Like if I was blindfolded, I would have made it faster than 40 years if it only took 11 days. But God had confounded them and God kept them from entering in because their attitude was terrible and their heart wasn't right, but finally they make it through. Moses is dead, that whole generation is dead, and this is how this amazing book of victory starts off. Very unceremoniously, here's this amazing figure, moses, and here's what's said about him. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of none, moses' assistant, saying Moses, my servant, is dead.
06:30
Now, that's how you begin a book by saying bye to the past, amen, what we? To enter into? This flow state. There is a flow state for 2025. I'm telling you, I saw it in the spirit, I can taste it, I've partaken of it already A flow state of victory after victory after victory after victory.
06:54
There are years. Listen, there are years, there are days, there are weeks, there are months. There are some days where nothing happens. There are some months where it seems like days happen, but it's months. And then I'm telling you, there'll be some days where years happen. In the days, all of a sudden, it's like 10 years worth of work, 10 years worth of believing, 10 years worth of progress. The Lord condenses it boom and puts it in one year. That's what's up ahead for us in 2025.
07:27
But in order to receive that number one, you got to realize Moses is dead, which for us means 2024 is dead. The past is the past. At last, it's in our rear view mirror, church. So say goodbye to the things you've received in 2024 and the things you didn't receive, the successes and the failures. Say goodbye to 2024 and set your sights on the promised land that God is giving you in 2025.
07:55
Amen, moses, my servant is dead Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan. Servant is dead Now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, so they need to cross the Jordan River to enter in this land that God had promised them. This land is a land of plenty, a land flowing in milk and honey. It's a land of rest. It's a physical land that's pointing to a spiritual land, a spiritual place. Under the new covenant, we have a promised land. It's in Christ.
08:30
Can I describe for you some of the characteristics of the promised land? The promised land is a place of peace, peace with your maker through the shed blood of Jesus. It's a place of rest. You're no longer striving to try to please him. You know that you can rest in the finished work of the cross. You're already pleasing to him again because of the blood of Jesus. And it's also a place of shalom. Shalom, where we just translate as peace in the English, oh, it just means peace and we throw around the word peace, peace, peace, peace. Give me a piece of cookie. But shalom is deeper than that. It means nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. That is the promised land that God wants every Christian to live in.
09:18
Our life is not supposed to look like hell. For some Christians, that's a revelation. Really, I thought it was supposed to be miserable and then one day, in the sweet by and by no, it's supposed to reflect heaven. Right now, it shouldn't resemble hell. It should resemble heaven. There should be nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. Your cup should be overflowing. When you're fed, you'll take up 12 basketfuls of leftovers. Amen, oh, 2025 is going to be awesome.
09:50
Hallelujah Verse three he's given him instructions. He's got to face his first obstacle. It's the Jordan River Verse three every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses I just want you to see the heart of God and you can appropriate this for yourself. Look, you can look at 2025. One of two ways. You're at a fork in the road. You could look at it with terror, daunting, nervous, maybe with a case or attitude or whatever you know. Whatever the Lord wills, no, but hear the heart of God.
10:30
He's this isn't just for Joshua. He's showing how he works with his people. He's saying every place you go, I've given it to you now have that mind and have that confidence. Listen, this is going to take a boldness in God's people. The things of God must be seized and Satan doesn't just lay over and say come right in and take whatever you'd like. Remember, to possess the land means to dispossess it of its current occupants. He gave them the land, but there were giants in that land. There were different enemy groups in that land, and so, even though he gave it to them, they had to boldly go and appropriate his promises by faith.
11:11
Hallelujah, boldness is coming in here. Some people are waking up. If you only knew I got a taste of it. Just like in that moment, god wants you in 2025 to almost be embarrassed of his goodness. He overdid it in the most embarrassing way in my life. Somebody come and slap me on the cheek just so that I know that I'm not dreaming.
11:36
Hallelujah, joshua, chapter 3. The first obstacle is this Jordan River. The first obstacle is this Jordan River. It's not a babbling brook, it's not a stream. It's a mighty river that floods several times a year, and this was the time of flooding, and there were several million Jews marching, and at the front of this parade were priests carrying the most precious object that the Hebrews had the Ark of the Covenant, where the presence of God was, and they were carrying it on the poles. And they got specific instructions to send the Ark of the Covenant first across the Jordan River.
12:19
I want you to pay attention to this story because I found more often than not, this is how God will work miracles in your life. Joshua 3 and verse 9. So Joshua said to the children of Israel come here and hear the words of the Lord, your God. And Joshua said the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. Now, therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe, and it shall come to pass as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off. So when will the waters of the Jordan be cut off? When the priests who are holding the Ark of the Covenant when their feet touch the water? I don't like that. I like my water to be cut off a good mile out, and so do you. Can you imagine the most sacred thing they're carrying, the thing that wars were fought over? The Ark of the Covenant, and there's millions of them walking, but at the front are the priests and the water is overflowing. You can almost hear the priest going, so we're just supposed to keep walking. Yeah, what did Joshua say? The Lord told him. Well, he said that when we touch the water holding the ark, that that's when the water will be stopped up. Well, can't the Lord do it? Like 10 yards out, five yards, and it specifically says when their feet landed in the water, that's when the water will be cut off. This is how I'm telling you. Nine out of ten times, the Lord does it. You have to step out by faith. 2025 is going to be a year where our radical obedience and listening to what even seems like the strange instructions of the Lord will be monumental, vital, very important. This is how I've seen him do everything that he's done in my life. That's worth noting when I think about how we ended up here. This, which we only use once or twice a year now.
14:56
This Queens church started in 2009, but City Lights started in Manhattan in 2002. And in 2009, I just started feeling a stirring. You need to start a second location in Queens, in Queens. Did I have it planned out? No, some pastors this is how I don't want to go to pastor's luncheons anymore. They like to talk about the one-year plan and the five-year plan. I'm like.
15:20
At first I felt guilty. Should I have a five-year plan? I mean, I have it generally, but they have it all written out. Not one of them do I know where their five-year plan worked out. Their five-year plan was all six months in. They had to redo it over and over again. No, I don't have a five-year plan. My five-year plan is I'm holding on tightly to his hand. I have a vision and I'm holding tightly to his hand. He's going to work it out. Well, how will you pay for this? How will you do this? How will you do that? I don't know. I'm going to take one step when my foot lands in the water, the miracle will happen and then he will provide. Amen. You, you got to take a step of faith, a major victory, my wife and I.
15:57
A year and a half ago I shared. We bought a house in Long Island. I don't think I really shared. I shared the victories, but I didn't confide in you because you're not my therapist.
16:07
Those first couple of months, after I signed all the papers, they were terrifying. They were terrifying. I took out a huge mortgage which we were debt-free. I kept saying for our whole marriage we've been debt-free. Now I have this huge mortgage and I was supposed to rent out my Brooklyn place. It flooded again. I couldn't rent it out and then what I thought was going to be my taxes, which were already high, they adjusted because I just bought the house for more money.
16:37
So my taxes I'll just give you real numbers because I know you like that my taxes for the house is $34,000 a year. In fact, my taxes for the house is how much my salary, my annual salary, was by year five at City Light after I'd gotten a raise. It was $36,000 a year. So I was a little raise. It was $36,000 a year. So I was a little nervous. It was daunting. I had the thoughts of Lord, did you really lead me out? Or was it just my own pride and my own lust and I would scribble? You know I was serious, because unserious math I do on the phone, but serious math I get the pad out and I want to see the writings I want to do and I would just swallow hard and go how is this going to happen? And all I would sense from the Lord was I'll make it happen. Your job is not to worry. Don't worry, I'll see you through.
17:33
So this nervousness was really September, september of not this September of 24, but September of 23. In the next six months he worked it out, that mortgage. He paid it off, the tax, in fact, with the taxes. He gave me a word. He said this you will not even ever consider it. And I just he said the level I'm taking you. This shouldn't be even. This should be like an afterthought, like you buy some eggs and milk at the grocery store. And he spoke and I thought, huh, but you believe and you take a step, and when he meets you there, you take another step. And he meets you again, take another step, and that's where the miracle happens. Amen. So 2025,. We're entering into our promised land. We're crossing the Jordan, we're taking steps of faith Verse 14.
18:25
So it was when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant before the people, and as those who bore the Ark came to the Jordan and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water. You gotta dip your feet. You gotta dip your feet. Some people are stuck. They never dip their feet. Your feet stink. You didn't dip them. There's so many people that are waiting for all the conditions to be met.
19:00
Secretly. I would like that. Hey, let me just say that Secretly, because walking by faith is lovely. It's the best time you'll ever have, it's invigorating, it's when I feel most alive and also it's terrifying. And I've been walking by faith really since I got saved, but really since the church.
19:21
Church is a work of faith. So you're walking by faith and it kind of feels, if you take your eyes off of jesus even for a second, it kind of feels like you're hydroplaning. You ever hydroplane in a car down florida. You get that a lot where you're actually not touching the road, but you're kind of a millimeter off the road on water and you've got no control. That's how it feels sometimes and, and secretly, I've just wished the lord can. Can you, can we, can you make it easy sometime? It'd just be nice to not always feel like I'm bungee jumping every day after day after day.
19:55
And so I thought this I'm just confessing my sin to you right now. So I said so. I said, lord, it would be really nice, you know, with our investments and all, if everything could come in. We don't have to have a building campaign. There's no really. You know, I'm using all the words other than to say I just like not to believe you, and the Lord's increasing us. But I know how he is, I know Jehovah sneaky by this time he's gonna still make it so that we have to take a step of faith, no matter how he does it. It's not gonna be. There's no such thing. The Bible in fact says whatever is not a faith is sin. Who wants that thing? Who wants some kind of work in the natural that anybody could have done in the natural? No, it's gonna be with the waft of the supernatural goodness of God all over it, all right, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan and the feet of the priest who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest that the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the sea of the Arabah, the salt sea, failed and were cut off and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan and all Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the people a couple of million of them had crossed completely over the Jordan.
21:37
You're gonna be in prayer. You're gonna commit yourselves to 21 days of prayer and fasting. You're gonna stop tripping your own self up with cheap little scarcity-minded things in your mind. You're gonna let the Lord blow the lid off. Okay, you with me so far. You're gonna cry out to him. You're gonna take his hand and you're gonna say Lord, I see your heart, I see your will. You're the god of more than enough, you're the god of plenty. Take me by the hand and get me across the jordan. In jesus name, I'm going into the promised land. Hallelujah, 2025, hallelujah.
22:16
And if you know, listen, I, I know there's some ministries, the year, the new year is like half their ministry. In September already, they got you know 2019, and they find a scripture, something verse 19, and every you know what I mean. I've never been like that. I've always actually kind of scoffed at that. It's horoscopy to me. It's like, you know, like what the Lord is doing in China is not the same as what he's doing in America, and the word you just gave seems uniquely American to me. Yet you're declaring it over the whole body of Christ Like it sounds nonsensical.
22:49
Never felt it this year. It's not that I feel it, I can taste it. I, I feel it, I can taste it, I can smell it. Something has changed. It's a new day, it's a new dawn. Things have shifted. I hear the gears and the spirit turning. It's going to be awesome.
23:08
All we have to do is like what they did in the book of Joshua, which is just get with the program and not get in their own way. If you're freezing by now, because I felt that you can close that at any time. Thank you, that's the name of the game. Get out of your way. Get out of God's way and do whatever he tells you to do. It's going to be a good year. Hallelujah, all right. We're in Joshua, chapter 5. These are lessons from the book of Joshua on how to get into a flow state of victory. I've had victories, great victories from the Lord.
23:45
I remember once talking to him about it Like Lord, you send a wave, awesome, and then six months kind of like nothing's happening. Then you send another wave. Lord, what are you teaching me? And I remember one time he said I'm teaching you not to make your own waves in between my waves. Learn how to be content in between my waves. But 2025 is not going to be like that. Remember when you were a kid. I remember being a kid at Jones Beach. That is a cruel beach to send kids to. I remember because I'm used to the Balkans, the Adriatic. It's basically a giant lake. There's no waves. As a kid I was like I can swim already. And you run out there. Boom, a wave comes. And right when you go, another one comes. And as soon as you boom, another one comes. Next thing you know, after 10 waves you're like crumb mommy. That's what 2025 is going to be like Wave upon wave, upon wave upon wave. Hallelujah.
24:41
Joshua 5 and verse 2. At the same time, excuse me, at that time the Lord said to Joshua make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time. It's not that the same men were getting circumcised for the second time that would be very strange and impossible. It's just that this is the second. Call it mass circumcision. I have to chuckle because this is really awkward to read and we haven't even begun to get to the awkward part. So I've learned just, if there's a pool of awkwardness, just jump right in there. Just cannonball right in. So Joshua made flint knives, not surgical scalpels, sharp stones. Flint knives, not surgical scalpels, sharp stones. So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the son of Israel at the hill of the four skins. Could you imagine living there back then? Where's your house? I can't find it on Google Maps. It's right across the street from the hill of the four skins. You just got to look for the giant hill. I'm right over Giant Hill. I'm right over.
26:00
This is why people don't read the Old Testament and this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way, and they had come out of Egypt, for all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, in other words, all the men that were to Joshua, they, they never got circumcised. Now, circumcision is important because that's the sign of your covenant with God. Back in the old testament, when David ran at Goliath, he pointed out hey, you're uncircumcised. Who is this non-covenant? Who is this uncircumcised? Who is this non-covenant? Who is this uncircumcised? Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?
26:43
Under the new covenant, paul talks about circumcision. The whole gospel is contained in circumcision. There's blood that's shed and there's a casting off of the flesh, and back then it was physical. Today it's that sin nature that's been cast off of us, the flesh, and we're, according to the New Testament, how Paul teaches, we have an inward circumcision of the heart, but either way, it represents our covenant with God. All right, so right now, they weren't circumcised, they had no covenant.
27:13
Verse six, for the children of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey the voice of the Lord, to whom the Lord swore that he would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to their fathers, that he would give us a land flowing with milk and honey. With milk and honey. Then Joshua circumcised their sons, whom he raised up in their place, for they were uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. So it was when they had finished circumcising if I have to say circumcised one more time, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Jesus, I just imagine what that camp sounded like. Just where's Wailing Camp? Oh, it's right over there, like holed up for three days mending.
28:17
Then the Lord said and this is hey, you're wondering what's all this about? This is what it's about, all right. Then the Lord said to Joshua today, this day, I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you. Why is this so important? Because they're about to possess the land, they're about to get into that flow state of victory after victory after victory, and what is imperative to happen before you can actually realize that is shame. Guilt condemnation has to be rolled away. You see, these Hebrews, they had shame. They had shame from Egypt, they had shame from all their mistakes and blunderings in the wilderness and they weren't in covenant with God. Because they didn't have physical circumcision, they had to get circumcised. Picture a giant boulder that prevents them from moving into their destiny, called shame. And because the covenant was evoked, god said ah, because of the covenant, I'm rolling this boulder away. I'm rolling away the reproach evoked. God said ah, because of the covenant, I'm rolling this boulder away. I'm rolling away the reproach of Israel. How much more under the glorious new covenant, where physical circumcision matters not, but saying yes to Jesus and having a circumcision of the heart being born again.
29:35
Now guilt is gone. Are you listening, christian? Hey, if you have guilt in your life, that's your problem, not God's. You say, but I have things I'm struggling with. You don't know, thank you. I don't need to know, I don't want to know. But God knows.
29:50
And if you're looking at Jesus, if your eyes are on Jesus, god in the spirit still cannot find sin in you. You are forgiven, you are made right, but sometimes I don't act like it. When you start believing right, you'll start acting right. The reason you're not acting right is because you're not believing right. You keep believing God's against you, god's mad at you, god's angry with you. You feel wild. You keep wallowing in condemnation, in guilt. You go to sleep hearing negative, your self-talk stinks. It's really Satan and it's masquerading as your own voice and you can't stand your own self because you've been listening to that voice so often. Listen to what the word says about you. It says you are holy and without blame before him, in love. It says you are accepted in the beloved. Hey, eventually.
30:42
Yeah, when we get rolling in 2025 and things start popping for you, eventually you're gonna have to answer this question why do you deserve this? Satan will ask it. Some of your friends may ask it. You may even ask it. When the Lord outdid himself in 2024 for us, I actually drive around why did he Like he's giving me stuff, I didn't really, frankly, even believe him, for he just outdid himself. And you can get insecure, lord, why are you doing this and why do I deserve this? And then you listen for the divine response. It goes it's really not about you, it's about me. For the divine response he goes it's really not about you, it's about me, and this is just how good I am and how big I am. And you deserve this because you're worthy, because the blood of Jesus has made you worthy Not worthy in and of yourself, but thanks to the blood, the shame is rolled away and you're now a good target, a good bullseye that God can shoot his arrow of blessings into Hallelujah. Let's go forward just a couple of verses to Joshua 5.13. Number one, 2025, is a year of stepping out in faith. When your feet touch the water, hallelujah, hallelujah.
31:59
You know I I shared about this new car that I ordered. You know how that happened? It happened spontaneously on our anniversary day, on the way to the restaurant. I wasn't planning on that and I said, hey, I'm just going to pull in here, let's look at these cars. And we pulled in there. It was quiet, there was nobody there. I said do you like this? She went, yeah, and I said I kind of like it too. I said let's just sit down, and one thing turned into another and then, just by faith, I said, yeah, order that thing. How much do you need down? It's not altogether how it's going to come through.
32:49
I mean it'll be able to. It's not. I don't want to present it as this generous, but it's not. It's not set, it's not convenient. It's when you take a step of faith that it comes through. Now, listen, I have to say this don't go doing stupid stuff and saying it's God, please. I had to work up. You know how I worked up to this level, by getting a lot of things wrong too, and then you learn from your mistakes. Amen. Believe God for a soda first? Yeah. Then I want to believe for a car. Do you have skateboard faith? Believe God for a skateboard. Work your way up to a 12 speed, then believe God for a jalopy. Your way up to a 12-speed, then believe God for a jalopy. Then, from that, expound your faith, expand it and work up to a place so you don't, you know, kamikaze your life and go. No, I was trying to walk by faith. That's maybe a whole separate message. Amen, and it came to pass.
33:52
Lesson number one was walking out in faith over the Jordan. Two was shame and guilt and condemnation have to be rolled away. That happens when you remember the covenant. They had to remember it in a very impractical way. You remember it just by looking at the cross and going thank you, jesus, the blood is upon my life. Three is you got to have a God encounter. God encounters are available to every believer. You are not supposed to have a cerebral relationship with the Lord If our relationship with the Lord was just purely intellectual. Some people, they're wired that way, not a lot of people, but some they're wired that way and that's fine for them. I can't do that. I want to know him, I want to experience him, especially when the Bible says I can know him. I want to experience him, especially when the Bible says I can know him and I can experience him. I want to feel his touch, I want to experience his power, and that's available to you.
35:03
Joshua, before he entered the promised land, he had to have an encounter with God, and that's what you see happening here in Joshua, chapter 5. Jesus appeared to him in a pre-incarnate fashion, what's known as a theophany. Jesus appeared to him as the commander of the armies of the Lord, and it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.
35:42
What an answer so many people in a politically divided time. They want to know are you on this team or on that team? And here's what the Lord says I'm on my own team. You come on my team. I don't come on your team with your silly little minutia that's going on down there. I have a purpose, I have a plan and it's in your best interest to come along with me. Amen, have a plan and it's in your best interest to come along with me, amen. So he said no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come.
36:15
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worship and said to him what does my Lord say to his servant? So he's having a God encounter. And he has a good question what is the word for me? What would you say to me? And here's the divine response. Then the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy. And Joshua did so. That's it. That's his God encounter.
36:46
What was the lesson learned? Submission, instant obedience and submission. That's his God encounter. What was the lesson learned? Submission, instant obedience and submission. Here God revealed himself when he came. He came in Joshua 5 as the commander of the armies of heaven Adonai Tzvaot in the Hebrew, the Lord of Sabaoth, the heavenly host. And if you saw a heavenly host, your brain would explode. They talk about the heavenly host coming when Jesus was born, and then you see the paintings and it's a bunch of fat babies in diapers playing harps. That's not the heavenly host, sabaoth, the armies of heaven A terrible thing to see. And Jesus appears as the commander of these armies and this is all he wants. Submission it's a word that many of us are allergic to today. Don't want to submit to anybody, submit to anything, but Joshua had to submit.
37:50
And in 2025, if you want to experience the best year of your life, you got to take your shoes off your feet, get on your knees and submit and have a heart attitude that says Lord. I know that if you're not Lord of all, you're not Lord at all. This is not a year to be messing around. You're not Lord at all. This is not a year to be messing around Surrender you can't just receive him as Savior and not as Lord. It's Lord and Savior. That means your life now belongs to him and you'll follow him. You won't do things contrary to his word. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
38:26
And then, finally, joshua 6. There's about 50 great stories in the book of Joshua, some really great ones. I chose these three, but I encourage you to dig in the book of Josh Joshie yourself. The Lord will speak to you through it. Joshua 6, verses 1 through 5. Now, jericho was securely shut up, so he made it past Jordan River. The people were circumcised, the shame was away. He got his God encounter and now he has to possess the land, which means dispossess the current occupants. He, the nations that were unwilling to repent and turn to the living God Can.
39:32
I pause on that for a second. I feel like this might minister to a couple of people. In the Old Testament you see a lot of death, you see a lot of destruction, you see a lot of people and people groups dying and now that we've been so woke-ified you might read that. I mean, it bothered me before, but now that the culture is so woke-ified, you can just be absolutely horrified by what appears to be God's will in the Old Testament, like the destruction of other nations, and it's fair and legitimate that we bring that up, that we discuss that. I didn't plan on it, but I just felt it right now and it's part of what God's answer was to Joshua. He said I'm not on your side and I'm not on their side. I'm on my own side. And God had only one desire, one desire To protect that seed that was spoken of in Genesis. To protect that seed throughout the generations so that Messiah can come in and rescue this fallen world. That was his only desire. Everything you see him doing is to allow for that to happen, and it's in the context of a fallen, corrupt world. So God now has to use fallen man, in the context of a fallen and corrupt post-Garden of Eden world to bring his holy purposes in, and that can be very messy and very ugly. Are you getting it? So it's not necessarily that that's god's will. I mean, god could have sent them to jericho and if it worked he would have said listen, I want you to go pick flowers, make sure that the brightest flowers and the freshest flowers and present them with these flowers. They'll be happy to move out and allow you in. But that wouldn't have worked. So he has to work in the context of a fallen world to bring about his very holy and eternal purposes. Amen, all right. I. I didn't see anything, but there could have been several people. This could be a major hang-up for people. I, in the spirit. I saw a woman clutch her pearls, so I had to address that. Where are we? Oh we're. We're seeing Jericho get demolished.
41:51
You shall march around the city. Verse 3, I've given Jericho into your hand. You shall march around the city, all you, men of war. You shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days and seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horn. They were charismatics with shofars and when you hear the sound of the trumpet and all the people shall shout with a great shout, then the wall of the city will fall down flat and the people shall go up, every man straight before him.
42:38
Now fast forward just a couple of verses to verse 10. Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying you shall not shout or make any noise with your voice. Imagine that they had to walk around Jericho for six days. No one was allowed to say a word. It had to be total silence.
42:57
I believe God did that so that they wouldn't jeopardize the mission and curse the mission with the words of their own mouth. Words are very important. The Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it will eat the fruit thereof. You just know there would have been four or five complainers in that group going oh, I really miss moses. I don't like joshua. Moses was better, right, right, you know, when someone's like that, when they're rebellious, they're oh, they're, the ultimate evangelist they want. They got to recruit and add more to team rebellion, Right, don't you feel like Moses was better and Joshua was saying walk around. And why do we got to walk around what? They're going to blow ram's horns and the walls will fall down. That's never going to work and they would have cursed the whole thing with the words of their mouth. So the divine instruction was shh, can't say a word. Can't say a word for six days.
43:50
By the way, these walls when I first heard about the walls of jericho coming down, maybe it's because I was a teenager, maybe I was influenced by something I saw, but I picture them in cartoon form like a wall. You too, right now, you picture like one brick deep, just wall, and then it comes down. But the walls of in city walls. We've been to Dubrovnik and Croatia. City walls are very, very wide. You look at the Great Wall of China. Archaeologists will tell you that the Jericho walls were so wide that you can run multiple chariots around them at the same time.
44:22
This is the kind of walls we're talking about, and God gives very strange instructions Walk around once a day for the first six days. Then on the seventh day, walk around seven times, then blow a trumpet and shout with the shout of triumph, and then the walls will come down. Now in life we're usually saying God, make the walls come down, then I'll shout come into church. They come in upset, they come in sad, they cross their arms. They don't even care that they're not entering into worship, because their heart attitude is Lord, when you do something in my life where I feel like it's enough that I should worship you, then I'll worship you. That's really what they're conveying to the Lord and the whole Bible is upside down in this way. It's saying you rejoice first, you shout with the voice of triumph first, then the wall will come down. You can't be hiding in a corner saying make the wall come down, why don't you? Then I'll shout Amen. Or oh, me Both, hallelujah, hallelujah. 16 through 17 worship team. You can come on up.
45:33
And the seventh time it happened when the priests blew the trumpets that Joshua said to the people shout, for the Lord has given you the city. Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that were sent. God is doing a Joshua thing in 2025. Can you say amen? I hope these lessons blessed you Know this, that no battle is wasted by God. And even in this battle, when the walls came down, some archaeologists say that the fashion in which they came down was to act as a rampart, as a bridge, basically giving even easier access for the children of Israel now to run in and take Jericho. So what used to be your hindrance, what used to be your problem, when the Lord deals with it, it falls down, and now it acts as your express route into the place you wanted to get to all along hallelujah.
46:42
A couple of other things. Note this. Two more things. One the community was united. That's the only reason this worked. We as a church have never before been as united as we are now. I feel it like never before.
46:55
There is love in this place. In fact, we should get even sterner that if somebody disturbs that peace, disturbs that love, usually have a three strike minimum. We might have to bring that down to two strikes, because I am jealous for this sweetness, though. There is so much love and camaraderie and we're in one accord. This is where miracles happen.
47:14
And another thing I want you to see is there's Rahab. The harlot Seems like such a harsh word right, she let some spies in. Previously, when destruction came upon Jericho, look who was spared Rahab the harlot. In fact, jesus has a connection to her in his lineage and she's mentioned in Hebrews 11 in the great hall of faith. But I just want you to know that when destruction came upon this city, look at God's heart, he preserved Rahab the harlot. In fact, she said, hey, what should I do when you come destroying this whole city? How will you know not to destroy my house? And they said just tie a little scarlet cord outside your window. We'll know not to hit that home. What do you think that scarlet cord represents? The blood of Jesus. So just know this and you see this. This is just one example. You see this throughout the scriptures.
48:14
Though we live in New York City, and just when I get to, like my, when I'm in my family planning multi-generational state of mind, I wonder about you know, living in New York City and there's 40 drones going up and down the Hudson River and they're saying it could be nuclear material. And then I'm just reminded that whenever destruction comes upon a place, god's people are spared. When I see the blood, I will pass over you when I see that scarlet cord. That's why it mentions Rahab the harlot. To be a prostitute was considered to be the bottom rung of society, and God is saying even the bottom rung. When that scarlet cord is applied, destruction will pass over. Let's all stand, hallelujah, lift your hands In the name of Jesus. Say this with me, lord 2025 is my year. I will live in a constant state of victorious flow. It's going to be my best year yet you are with me and you are my way. Maker, I believe and I receive. Amen.
49:34 - 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. 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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