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Nov. 12, 2024
Enduring Faith: Embracing Hope and Transformation Through Life's Trials
Holding onto faith amidst life's storms is a challenge many of us face. Today, we explore how enduring faith in Christianity is not just about holding steady but also about recognizing the misconceptions around the nature of suffering. Together, we unravel the truth that while God is inherently good, many of our struggles stem from personal actions or external forces beyond divine control.
Our journey takes inspiration from the early Christians, as recounted in the book of Hebrews, who faced immense trials yet grew stronger in their faith. The path to spiritual fulfillment, much like the journey of Abraham, is paved with patience and transformation. These stories, along with personal anecdotes, illustrate the profound growth that occurs when we endure hardships with faith. This episode sheds light on the necessity of perseverance, showing how God is constantly preparing us, molding us to receive His promises no matter the adversities we face.
Finally, we witness the power of divine intervention through the miraculous story of the Syrian army's retreat. This powerful narrative exemplifies how faith and perseverance can lead to miraculous transformations, offering a beacon of hope. We celebrate these acts of divine turnaround with gratitude and invite you to connect with the City Light Church community. Whether you're seeking encouragement or looking to deepen your faith, the support and love available through our community are boundless. Embrace the strength of enduring faith, and may this episode inspire you to hold onto hope and trust in the transformative power of God's grace.
For more information and resources, visit www.citylightnyc.com
(00:00) Enduring Faith in Christianity
(13:47) Endurance in the Promise of God
(29:44) The Power of Waiting on God
(42:59) The God of the Turnaround
(50:49) Divine Turnaround and Grace
Chapters
00:00 - Enduring Faith in Christianity
13:47:00 - Endurance in the Promise of God
29:44:00 - The Power of Waiting on God
42:59:00 - The God of the Turnaround
50:49:00 - Divine Turnaround and Grace
Transcript
00:00 - Speaker 1
This is the painful part of Christianity is that you have a promise from God and it's invisible, but you got it and you're gonna not pay attention to the natural and you're gonna pay attention to this invisible promise that he gave you. It's awesome, it's wonderful, it's thrilling and it'll make you feel like sometimes you wanna die All at the same time. Hallelujah.
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.
01:08 - Speaker 1
I want to start right now in Timothy 2. Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. Hallelujah, we're going to have a little graph soon. You know the famous church thermometer and I'll be able to show you. But you can designate end of year offerings. Is that up there? It's up now, right, the end of the year tab? Yeah, and so you can specifically give towards the end of the year offering. It would be especially encouraging if we could just smash past that. If every Christian hears from the Lord and does what the Lord tells them to do, we can smash past that and celebrate come December.
01:53
All right, paul is encouraging Timothy, and really this is for all of us. He says you therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses. Commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Then he says you therefore must endure hardship, shout hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now, most people, when they first get saved, or especially when they're out in the world and they don't know the scriptures and they don't know God, view God kind of as a puppet master up in the sky who controls everything. And so if you're in a car wreck, god did that to you. If you lose your job, god did that to you. If you lose your job, god did that to you. If you get sick and all sorts of it's always that God is the source behind that. And I just want to tell you that God is good and the devil is bad, amen. And Jesus did not come to earth, and when he was healing the sick and delivering people and setting people free, he was not undoing the works of the Father, he was undoing the works of the devil. He said that the devil comes to steal, kill and to destroy. Amen. So a lot of suffering that goes on in life, god is not the source of it, the devil is, and sometimes it's not even the devil.
03:31
I venture to say that nine out of ten times when I'm suffering, it is a direct consequence of something that I did. One faint amen from the back. Everybody's a victim Well, not me, just the circumstances of life. No, I look in the mirror and I go. You did that, you did X, y, and then that equals Z. You're the culprit. I'm not going to blame God, and it's not even that Satan had to get involved. I was fine enough tripping my own self up, and then Satan comes in and he pushes on it and he steps on the wound that you created. Can we agree on that? We have to be able to just. This is like the 101 class of advanced theology God, good, devil, bad, all right.
04:20
Nevertheless, though, in our Christian walk, there will be hardships. This isn't talking about biblical suffering. Biblical suffering is suffering in the ways that Jesus suffered. So that speaks to persecution, being misunderstood, people being envious of you and persecuting you and calling your good intentions evil, or persecuting you for your faith in Jesus and your Christianity. That's all suffering that you're promised, not sickness, not poverty, and those things are not from God. Amen.
04:55
But nevertheless, there will be hardships, and I want to speak to people this morning who are going through a hardship. Because the hardship people this morning who are going through a hardship because the hardship it's in the emotional realm, it's in the soul area. It is a pressing and a squeezing that will come upon you if you've been a christian longer than five minutes. Amen, that's it. That's the revelation. When you leave, someone asks you what great revelation did you get in church. I heard that it can be hard sometimes and there's hardships. No, but this is why in Peter, in Peter, he says to the people, he says don't think it's strange, for the fiery trial that is trying you. You know why he says don't think it's strange. Because so many Christians think it's strange Like, oh Lord, I know you're good. It is absolutely possible to know that you're loved by him, to be free from condemnation and shame and guilt, to know you've been forgiven. It is even possible to be doing everything right as best as you can, but you're still feeling crushed, you're still feeling squeezed. What's the word of the Lord? Don't stop, don't quit and have some endurance and endure hardship. You know why? Because it will come to pass. It'll come to pass. It's just passing through.
06:24
How many of you, like me, can look at at least a dozen times in your life where you thought it was over, yeah, like that's it. Tomorrow's not even going to come. And then tomorrow came and then, like three months later, I had to pinch myself. I thought I was dreaming, things were so good. And then, of course, my wife will remind me. But remember how you felt? Just, I'm like, yeah, that was weird, right? Yeah, that was odd.
06:56
You just gotta hang on. That's what fruit does? He said I'm the vine. What does fruit do? It hangs on. So't quit. Some people drop off. Imagine you just eat grapes just dropping off. I can't take it, the agony Falling off the branch. Just hang on, because quitting is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
07:24
Amen. God is building in you something called endurance, which is what he wants, hallelujah, to be able to contain the magnitude of the blessing he wants to put on the believer's life. There's going to be times of growing pains and anguish and feeling uncomfortable, so that he can mold you and reshape you to contain what he wants to give you. I didn't say that because it sounds cute. That's the biblical recipe. All right, hallelujah, hallelujah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna listen to my wife and interpret the silence not as lack of enthusiasm but as an oh me. I appreciate it. Thank you, hebrews 10, 36 through 39.
08:22
When I was on 7th street. For those of you who are new, our church has a long history. We're going to be celebrating 23 years in March Wow, and we had multiple locations and before we were in Queens we were all over Manhattan and the place we were longest at was 7th Street, where I lived in the church with no windows and it was a very difficult time like that for five and a half years and there was an altar and behind the altar was a kitchen that I cooked in and just used kind of as a makeshift kitchen in an apartment. Anyway, I was feeling crushed, I was feeling in anguish because what I feel like the Lord had promised me I wasn't seeing, realized we had like a fledgling church and I'm in a windowless basement and they're staying away by the thousands.
09:24
And as I'm going into the kitchen, the door was right by the drum set and every time I'd go by I'd always accidentally hit the cymbal on one of the drums. So it was like this comical farce where I'm going into the house, ding. It was just like the sonic reminder of my own mediocrity and failure. You know, just ding, where are you at? You know just bing. Where are you at? Oh, you're living in a basement with no windows, with mice, and you're living in the church because you can't do better for yourself. And I'm feeling bad for myself.
09:50
And as I'm binging into the kitchen for a glass of water, I hear in my spirit clear as day you need enduring faith because I was mastering faith and using faith and I hear you. But you need enduring faith Because in my mind I had been believing for so long but I quickly realized what's long to me is really not long to God and it really wasn't long to other humans looking in from there. But you know, when you're believing God for something, one hour is too long. Let me just read to you you can keep Hebrew, please keep Hebrews up there. But let me just read to you this from in reference to 2 Timothy, about enduring hardship.
10:47
The war we face is a battle in our souls, because the enemy is seeking to dishearten the army of God. The strategy is to wear out the saints, wear you out, with constant barrages of fear, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness and disillusionment. I believe that there's a warfare that's been unleashed on the body of Christ such as we have not yet seen, at least in our time. That's been unleashed on the body of Christ such as we have not yet seen, at least in our time. I believe this warfare has to do with the realm of the heart, the emotions, the soul. If we are not an emotionally strong people, we will fall. Even the elect will be worn down and overcome with a sense of utter hopelessness and the seeming futility of their efforts if we do not understand how to gird up our minds in the Lord. Does this resonate with anybody?
11:51
I was almost going to preach another message. I felt the Lord put a pause on it, called perhaps because there's several instances in the Old Testament where God uses that phrase perhaps when speaking about the whole nation of Israel and the future of Israel, and he says perhaps they will repent, perhaps. Three separate occasions, three separate instances, perhaps. And it always has to do with them repenting and returning to the Lord and then receiving his promises. But he doesn't say they will and he doesn't say they won't. He says perhaps. I'm kind of making a rabbit trail here. This isn't actually my original message.
12:29
I just want to say this that I feel that what we're all experiencing to one degree or another is we're feeling the tension of living in the perhaps, because we right now, as Christians in America, are living in a major perhaps moment. Can you feel that? I feel like that's what's happening in the collective consciousness? There's people, you have anxiety on you. You feel like you don't even have your stepping and you don't even know why you feel like you're not standing on solid ground, but a lot of it has to do with the day and age that we're living in. Do you understand what's on the line here and that there is something hanging in the balance? And I hear the word of the Lord saying perhaps my people will really seek me, perhaps they'll repent wholeheartedly, perhaps the Christians will cry out to me and perhaps I'll move my mighty arm and give America more time. But it's right there, we're on the cusp. Perhaps I'll come in and I'll bring righteousness in the government. Perhaps I'll come and I'll bring deliverance. Perhaps America will rise up as the glorious Christian nation that it is Hallelujah, hallelujah. And you can sometimes feel that tension that we're mm.
13:47
We're living in a, perhaps, moment, but whatever it is that we're feeling, the word of the Lord for us is that we have need of endurance, staying power. Whatever age you got saved in, you got to cross the finish line, you know. And and it's this it's kind of strange to say it this way, but salvation is free. It is salvation is free, the baptism in the holy spirit free. It's all from the lord, but as you hold his hand and walk through the decades of life. There's going to be times where you feel like your liver is coming out of your nose, your small intestine bleeding out of your left ear. You're hobbling in and you're going. Lord, I love you, I know you love me. What meaneth this? And it's just just hang on and just endure. Don't quit. That's forever if you quit. Just hang on. Well, it's messy, I don't even know if I'm hanging on right, just hang on. You have need of endurance so that, after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and not wait Now. The just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
15:24
This was written to the Hebrews. The the best way which I might, I might just go and do the whole book of hebrews. We haven't done a whole book together in a while. Hebrews is rich, hebrews is chock full of god's goodness and and it's written the best way to understand that. It's written to a group of very, very discouraged christians, hebrew christians, who were cut off from society. They were ostracized economically. They were ostracized socially. They were I mean, imagine what that was like back in the day we don't experience that kind of persecution. They were really being tempted to quit and the word for them was endure, just hang on and don't draw back.
16:09
Verse 39. No moonwalking, no backwards walking. But we are not of those who draw back, we're not quitters. We're not of those who draw back, we're not quitters. We're not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Hallelujah, hebrews 6, verses 13 through 15.
16:42
Thank you, lord, for when God made a promise to Abraham because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying surely, blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you. And so, after he had what Patiently endured, he obtained the promise. How many of you have a promise from God? That endurance part, I understand, can be excruciating, but you're changing in the midst of it and he's filling you with the capacity to be able to withstand that. If I had and my wife will quickly agree if I got some of the stuff that he's given me now, if I got that 10, 15, 20 years ago, it would have been like a three-year-old playing with a bazooka. I would have blown myself up. What I deserved back then was a squirt gun, because that's all I could handle and that's what he gave me. Then, as he changed me and and molded me.
17:50
And the change it can come various ways. It can come when you're having the time of your life, just by the anointing. That's my favorite way of change. I love that way of change. My favorite way is me on my back, with my feet in the air, the holy spirit all over me and I'm feeling his presence and I'm like Lord, what are you doing? And I just feel his love. He goes I'm changing you. I love that, that's my favorite. And then there's times where I feel like I'm a grape in the hand of a giant. And, by the way, nothing in my life, a lot of these times, nothing in my life is wrong, like everything is right in my life, but I feel like a grape in the hand of a giant that's about to get squashed. It's just. But, and I go lord, what are you doing? And you know you still get the same smile from heaven back, the same. Oh, I'm changing you, but this way I like the other way. This way is changing me too.
18:36
Yes, endure hardships as a good soldier of jesus christ. I'm working in you. Patient endurance. I'm like, ah, working in you. Patient endurance. That's what some fuddy-duddy old preacher says when he doesn't know what to say Next. Don't, no, it is. It's the word of God. You just don't want to hear it at the time. Hallelujah, thank you, lord.
19:09
Romans 14, 16 through 21.'re talking about abraham here. He had this promise that he was going to be the father of many nations. God even changed his name. We don't really immerse ourselves in that whole scenario enough to know how difficult that would have been for abraham being the father of exactly zero people and getting your name changed the father of many nations. You ever think what that was like for Abe? Imagine you're broke as a joke and God says I'm going to make you the wealthiest person on the planet. In fact, I'm going to change your name and you have to tell everybody this is your name richest man alive. And then you go to a party and you're like hey, what's your name? Richest man alive. Really Like, that's your name. Yeah, what's your net worth? Well, I still got some student loans, so it's minus $47,238. You just said you're the richest man alive. That's what God changed my name to and that's what the promise is over my life. That's what it was like for Abraham, everywhere he'd go. What's your name, abraham? They understood it to mean father of many nations, you know. The next question was how many kids do you have? Zero. This went on for decades. Don't tell me.
20:24
God doesn't have a sense of humor. Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him, whom he believed. God who gives life to the dead. God who gives life to the dead.
21:04
There is a theme for our church right now, in this hour, that God is touching dead things in your life and bringing them up again, bringing them to life again. Who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did? And you know, we're invited on that journey to call those things that don't exist as though they did. Abraham, he was not the father of many nations, but God called him that. That didn't really exist, but God called him that and it was so. What you say about yourself, what you speak about your life, you are actually prophesying your future. Your words are coming out of your mouth and carving a path into your destiny. You better agree with what the word of God is saying about you and stop agreeing with what the devil is saying about you and what the world what stress and anxiety are saying about you, and parakeeting that. Who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he in fact did become the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be, and not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead Since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not wa his own body, already dead since he was about 100 years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb, he did not waver at the seat.
22:33
What gets in the way to receiving the promises of God is looking at the natural. If you have your eyes on the natural, you're going to quickly get discouraged. In the natural, there could be no hope. You're looking at a particular problem, a particular obstacle. You can even work out on paper the 10 ways that this can be solved and God's not going to come through in any one of those 10 ways. I'm telling you he's not. How do I know? I have a little bit of experience with him. He's going to mess you up and come the 11th way and it'll be way more glorious than all of those other 10 ways put together.
23:08
He doesn't like to be pigeonholed, doesn't like to be put in a box. Abraham actually had to become good at ignoring the circumstances. Hallelujah, listen, he's the God of the turnaround. But to activate that turnaround you got. This is why every great thing we've received and we've received some things, but really right before that we kind of thought we were Because you don't fit in and you're not acting normal, you're not talking normal and you don't really confide a lot of these things. Because people are going to think, okay, they're kind of really gone off now. They're not even paying attention to the stuff in the natural. They're coping. They're severely coping right now. But it's actually a manifestation of faith.
24:02
He did not waver. Can you go back one verse? This is what I wanted you to see. He did not waver. Can you go back one verse. This is what I wanted you to see. He did not consider. Where is that? Oh yeah, he did not consider his own body. That means he ignored his own 100-year-old body. Hallelujah, you need to ignore that thing. That thing, that it's just a natural thing. It's nothing for God. It will not. That cannot hold back his promises becoming realized in your life. It cannot, it will not. He did not consider his own body, already dead since he was about 100 years old, in the deadness of Sarah's womb. So you say but, pastor, I have this problem and that. Consider it not.
24:48
What is the word of God in your spirit? What is he whispering to you? Shut the world off, shut the phone off, shut all those other voices and just get together with Jesus. And what is he whispering to you inside your spirit? That's the truth, that's the word of the Lord. That's what you can take to the bank every single time, over and over and over again. That's the word of the Lord. That's what you can take to the bank every single time, over and over and over again. Next verse, please.
25:13
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord, hallelujah, hallelujah. I'm just, I feel something in my spirit and just waiting on the Lord. Because it could come out clumsy, I'll just say it how I know how to say it the Lord, the Lord, has kept his word to me. He's kept his promises to me.
26:37
He's been so good and there's things in life that I wanted outside of him that were good to want. Like a wife. I gave me the best wife. I wanted kids and he gave me wonderful kids. I wanted good friends and he gave me wonderful brothers and sisters. I wanted a home. He gave me that. I wanted to be rich. I that I wanted to be rich, I did. I wanted to be able to be in a place where I could give bigly.
27:15
And this is the part again, I don't say this, I just want you to know. I want to live my life transparently and this is a big deal to me for a kid who grew up dirt poor in Queens in a one-bedroom apartment with his kids. He's given me millions, millions that just changed my life. Again, this is where it gets awkward. I don't want to, because when I can say that and there's a guest and they think, wow, the church is paying you, well, no, he's given me millions of other avenues, you well, no, he's given me millions of other avenues, other avenues that don't take up any time either. I don't have like three jobs on the side. This is all I do.
27:57
Fell in love with Bitcoin, bought MSTR, but here's the point. Here's the point. Here's the point that he's given no, no, but here's the point that that really I didn't. I could come to a place where I go, wow, lord in the natural, there's nothing that I even crave or want, there's not like you've given, and then you know where I come back to. I come back to and I'm. This is what I want to communicate to you. I come back to that. The only thing I'm telling you, the only thing that matters, it just it doesn't even matter. The only thing that matters is your relationship with Jesus. It's the only thing which, which? Only when you get some stuff, do you realize that you didn't need that anyway for your relationship with Jesus. You didn't. Then the Lord is just like this, is just like here Do what you know, here's that stuff. Do well with it, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is what you have with him, the satisfaction which, by the way, you can get with one garment of clothes on a desert island. You know what I mean. Yeah, hallelujah, jesus, did that come out? All right? I don't know how else to say it. I just, you know, we've been on these journeys and then we landed somewhere so wonderful and we exhaled, and then we go well, it just all comes back to Jesus. And then we go, oh well, it just all comes back to Jesus and the joy, the pleasure, none of that stuff. It really it doesn't.
29:44
You know I celebrated how we were able to buy Emily a new car. You know, we haven't even washed that car once. You should see it. Well, I wanted to take it for her to wash it. This is going nowhere, isn't it? I just, I think we should do second Kings. I'd always wanted to be able to get my wife a car. She had this clunker, this old, beat up 2011 clunker, and then, when the money came in, I said I'm going to get her a brand new Porsche, paid in cash, and I did. And do you know how long the high from that lasted Like a couple of weeks, and then pfft, now it's just, I don't even see it. It's just another car in the driveway.
30:43
In the beginning, though, and as you're buying it, ooh God, you're good, ooh Lord, your word is true. Ooh, and it feels good and it boosts your ego, and it's not in debt. So you got all the good. But then you quickly come to it's just, it's nothing, it's nothing. All you have is him. Hallelujah, it's the only thing worth having too. Hallelujah, thank you, jesus.
31:18
And it happened after this. Let's go to 2 Kings. And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. So when a city is besieged, nothing can get in or out, and it's a military tactic to starve the city, and it prevents too many physical casualties and you just stop traffic in and out of the city. And there was a great famine in Samaria, and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver. I haven't done the conversion rate to know whether that's a lot or a little, but I'd venture to say if you're eating donkey's head for any amount of shekels, you're in a bad place. And 1, one-fourth of a cab. I don't know how much a cab weighs, but when you're using units of measurement for dove droppings, you're in a bad place. Amen. So this is the biblical way of saying Samaria was in a very, very bad place.
32:23
Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying help my lord, oh king. And he said if the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press? He's basically saying I cannot help you and the king is as lost as her. Then the king said to her what is troubling you? And she answered this woman said to me give your son, that we may eat him today and we will eat my son tomorrow.
32:52
You know, when I started reading the Bible with my kids, I quickly realized that it was an R-rated book Not for the faint of heart. So we boiled my son and ate him. I mean, when you read the Bible with the kids, you quickly get up to the flood. You know, like five chapters in, six chapters in, and there's no way to sugarcoat that. Yeah, sweetie, people did wickedness in all the world, so God was mad that he even made them, so he just killed them all off. That's what happened. That's what happened. It's funny. Only adults later have a hard time with that, like yeah. But then he said he was good, you know. But a kid is like Vivian's. Like, yeah, that sounds about right. Kids agree with it. Like I would do the same thing. That sounds right, you know. It's amazing. He spared us and he sent Jesus to forgive us. Terrible for them. Good for me, though. I was born AD, so we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day give your son that we may eat him, but she has hidden her son. Now it happened.
34:04
When the king heard the words of the woman, he realized how bad it had become. This is for the people who are quietly suffering. This is for the people who feel like they're like a besieged city and you feel like there's a soul agony. And it's not for everybody here. If it's not for you, I'm so happy for you. Take good notes, though, because at least in the next year you'll have to reference this once.
34:24
He does an Old Testament thing of rending his garment, showing that he's all torn up on the inside, but you tear the external garment. He tore his clothes and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. Then he said God, do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, remains on him today, he needs a scapegoat. And Elisha, the prophet, was it. But Elisha was sitting in his house and the elders were sitting with him and the king sent a man ahead of him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders it's pretty hard to sneak up on a prophet, right, that's what he's trying to sneak up on the prophet. And he's going hey, do you see how this son of a murderer talking about the king, do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? Look when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? And while he was still talking with them, there was the messenger coming down to him.
35:37
And then the king said surely this calamity is from the Lord? Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? This is what the king is saying. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer. This is what the king is saying. Why should I wait?
35:49
That word wait in the Hebrew is a precious word. You know how many promises there are for those of us who will wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, he'll renew your strength. Wait, I say, on the Lord, over. I used to always wonder for years what does that mean to To wait on the Lord? I mean it's not the kind of like how you wait for the F train.
36:11
The word wait in the Hebrew is actually the same word for a tassel. Have you seen Jewish people with tassels? Tassels from their hips, tassels and their strings intertwined. That's what the word wait means. It means to intertwine yourself with God. You know it when you've experienced it. When you're waiting on the Lord, you may not even be speaking, but your hope is in him. You're reaching out to him, you sense him reaching out to you. He's in you, you're in him. You're like a tassel wound together. That's waiting on the Lord, and the promises are great for those who will intertwine themselves like a tassel with the Lord. He like what many of us are tempted to do when things aren't going right, when we've had a delay in receiving the promise for too long.
36:58
It's why should I even wait on the Lord any longer? I've lost my hope. I'm upset. Look what's happening in Samaria. And here's the word of the Lord. Then Elisha said hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord tomorrow. Tomorrow, tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year, but tomorrow, about this time, within 24 hours, a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. He's prophesying a total turnaround within 24 hours that this wrecked, besieged city where people are devouring each other, is going to experience such an upturn and all of a sudden, prosperity is going to flood the place.
37:57
And an officer on whose hand the king leans, so somebody very important and high ranking, next to the king. He says and this is who you don't want to be like and this is who we sound like many times in our head as a knee-jerk response. But then we better get out of our head and into our spirit and agree with God. He says look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And then Elijah says you hear how that's just dripping with doubt and unbelief. If the lord can make windows in heaven, there's always that guy in your life too. That's why sometimes, when you're going through it, don't only share it with people of faith, because you share it with that doubting thomas in your life and they're going to say something like well, how is the lord going to do that? And they want to always focus on the natural. You don't get the breakthrough promises of God focusing on the natural. You consider not like Abraham, you consider not your body already dead, you ignore what's happening in the natural and you trust Hallelujah. This is the painful part of Christianity is that you have a promise from God and it's invisible, but you got it and you're gonna not pay attention to the natural and you're gonna pay attention to this invisible promise that he gave you. It's awesome, it's wonderful, it's thrilling and it'll make you feel like sometimes you wanna die All at the same time. Hallelujah, hallelujah, all at the same time, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, lord.
39:34
Next verse by the way, I got this this whole. I was shocked, actually to find it in the bible when city light was about five months old whatever March to August is five, six months old. We had three people in our service and it had started with 105, and we saw wonderful negative growth for the next few months until it landed on three people in the service. And just think about what that was like for me, because I got saved at 16. 16 was called to ministry two weeks later and every decision I made I fasted often, I prayed, I went to bible school. Every decision I made was to pioneer and found a church. So I've been waiting for this for 10 years and prepping and making decisions and finally after a decade.
40:24
And then I launched city light and nobody cares and they stay away by the thousands and I'm stuck there like big sounds. I mean I could have a conversation with three people. We might as well go to the deli and get a coffee and talk about. I have a whole sound system, all the whole setup. I'm still preaching, I'm waving my arms around if anybody was looking and they'd be like this guy has lost it. I'm preaching like there's a thousand people and there's three people in the service and afterwards I think it's safe if I confess that I was a little discouraged afterwards.
40:56
So I went for a jog and as I'm jogging, crying out to the lord, in between exhalation puffs, I I hear in my spirit I'm the God of the turnaround. I'm the God of the turnaround and the whole time I'm going, he's the God of the. I come back home, I go in my concordance and I'm trying to find, and I realized where he had spoken that phrase to me from. It was out of this whole thing that he will come in. He said about this time tomorrow he will come in. He said about this time tomorrow he will turn it around. And he did exactly that. He in the natural. How, lord, are you going to turn it around? We have no money, we can't advertise, we can't. There's nothing. I've exhausted everything that I could do. I was preaching on the subways. I've exhausted every. Lord, if you open up windows in heaven, what are you going to rain down people? How are you? Yet he did it.
41:44
Next week wasn't three people, next week was eight. Then he did speak to me. He said get out of. What are you doing in midtown, manhattan? I would you know where the church was located on 53rd street and third avenue, where nobody lives exactly nobody, where anybody who's a manhattanite wants they want to stay from that region as much as possible. I said go, go into an actual neighborhood, go into the East Village, which, back in 2002, the East Village had just morphed into becoming the East Village, from being Alphabet City and I know it as Alphabet City. If you're on Avenue A, you're alright. If you go to B, you're bold. If you're on C, you're crazy. You go to Avenue D, you're dead. That's what I knew, but it had changed now and the Lord said go. And that's how we landed there. And next thing you know, we start moving and the God of the turnaround shows himself Hallelujah.
42:33
Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another why are we sitting here until we die? This is all in the same one day span. If we say we will enter the city, the famine is in the city and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now, therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall only die.
42:59
And they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there, for the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses. By the way, there was no army in the natural, but the Lord had allowed the Syrian army, who had besieged Samaria, to hear a noise. What did they hear? Was it Jehovah sneaky, just messing with their heads, making them hear sounds? No, he's too good for that. No, he just opened up their spiritual ears and they heard the chariots of heaven and the angelic host and there are horses in it. But those of you who are wondering are there animals in heaven? Yes, jesus comes in on a white horse. There's horses and the Lord wouldn't leave those horses all lonely, just with horses. Hallelujah, some of you are going to be so blown away when you get to heaven, asking questions like are there animals in heaven? And you get there and you're going to see creation in its fullest and realize what earth should have been all along. Hallelujah, thank you jesus. The noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army. So they said to one another look, the king of israel has hired us, has hired against us the kings of the hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. They still can't believe what's happening.
44:31
Therefore, they arose and fled at twilight and left the camp intact, their tents, their horses and their donkeys Ooh, donkeys, that's going to cause the price of donkey heads to crash in Samaria Flood the market with those donkey heads and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and carried from it silver and gold and clothing this is all happening outside of Samaria and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried some for there also and went and hit it. Then they said to one another they got a heavy revy here we are not doing right. This day is a day of good news and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us now. Therefore, come, let us go and tell the king's household. So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying we went to the syrian camp and surprisingly, no one was there, not a human sound, only horses and donkeys and the tents intact. And the gatekeepers called out and they told it to the king's household inside.
45:46
So the king arose in the night and said to his servants he doesn't believe what's happening. So he says I know what happened. The Syrians, they're playing a trick on us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying when they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city. And one of his servants answered and said please, let several men take five of the remaining horses. There's only five horses left in Samaria.
46:14
The title of this message is Five Horses Left. This sermon goes out to those who only have five horses left. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it or indeed I say they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed. So let us send them and see. Therefore, they took two chariots with horses and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying Go and see. And they went after them to the Jordan, and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. He's the god of the turnaround. So the messengers returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So, starving, destitute people. They got a prophetic word Everything's going to change within a day. Within a day it changes. And now they're plundering the Syrians who had heard a noise and abandoned all their stuff. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, and two seers of barley for a shekel.
47:26
According to the word of the Lord, he's the God of the turnaround. He loves, he delights in coming into your unique situation and turning it around. But if you quit, he can't turn it around. So you gotta hang on and have enduring faith and have perseverance. You say, say, but it hurts, pastor. Ah, you talk to me about it hurts. I know it hurts. I wish I could make it go away like this, but it's something you've got to work out with Jesus and sometimes there are agonizing times, sometimes you endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The oil of joy is still available, his love is still available, but there are seasons where of joy is still available, his love is still available, but there are seasons where it's not fun. But you hold his hand anyhow and you go. Life sucks. Right now You're good, but right now, for whatever reason, I feel like that grape that's getting, but I'm going to put one foot in front of the other and do what you say. Do and do what I know is right, and I'm not going to draw back, because we are not of those who draw back, we are those who keep going forward. Hallelujah.
48:36
If I can prevent one person from forsaking, from giving up, I would feel satisfied that it's a job well done, because you don't know what's on the other side of that. You want to give up that I would. I would feel satisfied that it's a job well done, because you don't know what's on the other side of that. You want to give up. I want to end the pain First of all. You don't end the pain by giving up anything. You just switch pains. But if you just continue with the Lord, you let him do what he wants to do, which is make something beautiful out of ashes. You let him do what he wants to do, which is make something beautiful out of ashes, hallelujah.
49:09
Just the next verse is really important because remember that that officer on whose hand the king leaned, that high ranking official Now, the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. Remember the guy who had the report of doubt and unbelief, who said even if the Lord opened up windows in heaven, how could Elisha's word be true? But the people trampled him in the gate. They were like free stuff, running for the. And here's this guy, probably in his fancy clothes, but he gets trampled in the gate and he died just as the man of God had said who spoke when the king came to him. The moral of that story is be believing, be not unbelieving. Amen, hallelujah.
49:57
Worship team, come on up. I want you just to put your eyes on Jesus. If you want, lift your hands and say this Lord Jesus. When you want, lift your hands and say this Lord Jesus, when you ask me to endure, that means that you are giving me the power and the strength to endure. By your grace, I will not go back. I will not quit. I will consider not the natural. I will not quit. I will consider not the natural. I'm going to ignore my circumstances. My eyes are on you. My faith is in you. I believe that you're the God of the turnaround. You will turn it around. In Jesus' name, supernaturally, I believe I receive Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. A turnaround in your family, a turnaround in your finances.
50:52 - Speaker 2
Yes, a turnaround in your living situation. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. 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.
This is the painful part of Christianity is that you have a promise from God and it's invisible, but you got it and you're gonna not pay attention to the natural and you're gonna pay attention to this invisible promise that he gave you. It's awesome, it's wonderful, it's thrilling and it'll make you feel like sometimes you wanna die All at the same time. Hallelujah.
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.
01:08 - Speaker 1
I want to start right now in Timothy 2. Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. Hallelujah, we're going to have a little graph soon. You know the famous church thermometer and I'll be able to show you. But you can designate end of year offerings. Is that up there? It's up now, right, the end of the year tab? Yeah, and so you can specifically give towards the end of the year offering. It would be especially encouraging if we could just smash past that. If every Christian hears from the Lord and does what the Lord tells them to do, we can smash past that and celebrate come December.
01:53
All right, paul is encouraging Timothy, and really this is for all of us. He says you therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses. Commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Then he says you therefore must endure hardship, shout hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Now, most people, when they first get saved, or especially when they're out in the world and they don't know the scriptures and they don't know God, view God kind of as a puppet master up in the sky who controls everything. And so if you're in a car wreck, god did that to you. If you lose your job, god did that to you. If you lose your job, god did that to you. If you get sick and all sorts of it's always that God is the source behind that. And I just want to tell you that God is good and the devil is bad, amen. And Jesus did not come to earth, and when he was healing the sick and delivering people and setting people free, he was not undoing the works of the Father, he was undoing the works of the devil. He said that the devil comes to steal, kill and to destroy. Amen. So a lot of suffering that goes on in life, god is not the source of it, the devil is, and sometimes it's not even the devil.
03:31
I venture to say that nine out of ten times when I'm suffering, it is a direct consequence of something that I did. One faint amen from the back. Everybody's a victim Well, not me, just the circumstances of life. No, I look in the mirror and I go. You did that, you did X, y, and then that equals Z. You're the culprit. I'm not going to blame God, and it's not even that Satan had to get involved. I was fine enough tripping my own self up, and then Satan comes in and he pushes on it and he steps on the wound that you created. Can we agree on that? We have to be able to just. This is like the 101 class of advanced theology God, good, devil, bad, all right.
04:20
Nevertheless, though, in our Christian walk, there will be hardships. This isn't talking about biblical suffering. Biblical suffering is suffering in the ways that Jesus suffered. So that speaks to persecution, being misunderstood, people being envious of you and persecuting you and calling your good intentions evil, or persecuting you for your faith in Jesus and your Christianity. That's all suffering that you're promised, not sickness, not poverty, and those things are not from God. Amen.
04:55
But nevertheless, there will be hardships, and I want to speak to people this morning who are going through a hardship. Because the hardship people this morning who are going through a hardship because the hardship it's in the emotional realm, it's in the soul area. It is a pressing and a squeezing that will come upon you if you've been a christian longer than five minutes. Amen, that's it. That's the revelation. When you leave, someone asks you what great revelation did you get in church. I heard that it can be hard sometimes and there's hardships. No, but this is why in Peter, in Peter, he says to the people, he says don't think it's strange, for the fiery trial that is trying you. You know why he says don't think it's strange. Because so many Christians think it's strange Like, oh Lord, I know you're good. It is absolutely possible to know that you're loved by him, to be free from condemnation and shame and guilt, to know you've been forgiven. It is even possible to be doing everything right as best as you can, but you're still feeling crushed, you're still feeling squeezed. What's the word of the Lord? Don't stop, don't quit and have some endurance and endure hardship. You know why? Because it will come to pass. It'll come to pass. It's just passing through.
06:24
How many of you, like me, can look at at least a dozen times in your life where you thought it was over, yeah, like that's it. Tomorrow's not even going to come. And then tomorrow came and then, like three months later, I had to pinch myself. I thought I was dreaming, things were so good. And then, of course, my wife will remind me. But remember how you felt? Just, I'm like, yeah, that was weird, right? Yeah, that was odd.
06:56
You just gotta hang on. That's what fruit does? He said I'm the vine. What does fruit do? It hangs on. So't quit. Some people drop off. Imagine you just eat grapes just dropping off. I can't take it, the agony Falling off the branch. Just hang on, because quitting is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
07:24
Amen. God is building in you something called endurance, which is what he wants, hallelujah, to be able to contain the magnitude of the blessing he wants to put on the believer's life. There's going to be times of growing pains and anguish and feeling uncomfortable, so that he can mold you and reshape you to contain what he wants to give you. I didn't say that because it sounds cute. That's the biblical recipe. All right, hallelujah, hallelujah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna listen to my wife and interpret the silence not as lack of enthusiasm but as an oh me. I appreciate it. Thank you, hebrews 10, 36 through 39.
08:22
When I was on 7th street. For those of you who are new, our church has a long history. We're going to be celebrating 23 years in March Wow, and we had multiple locations and before we were in Queens we were all over Manhattan and the place we were longest at was 7th Street, where I lived in the church with no windows and it was a very difficult time like that for five and a half years and there was an altar and behind the altar was a kitchen that I cooked in and just used kind of as a makeshift kitchen in an apartment. Anyway, I was feeling crushed, I was feeling in anguish because what I feel like the Lord had promised me I wasn't seeing, realized we had like a fledgling church and I'm in a windowless basement and they're staying away by the thousands.
09:24
And as I'm going into the kitchen, the door was right by the drum set and every time I'd go by I'd always accidentally hit the cymbal on one of the drums. So it was like this comical farce where I'm going into the house, ding. It was just like the sonic reminder of my own mediocrity and failure. You know, just ding, where are you at? You know just bing. Where are you at? Oh, you're living in a basement with no windows, with mice, and you're living in the church because you can't do better for yourself. And I'm feeling bad for myself.
09:50
And as I'm binging into the kitchen for a glass of water, I hear in my spirit clear as day you need enduring faith because I was mastering faith and using faith and I hear you. But you need enduring faith Because in my mind I had been believing for so long but I quickly realized what's long to me is really not long to God and it really wasn't long to other humans looking in from there. But you know, when you're believing God for something, one hour is too long. Let me just read to you you can keep Hebrew, please keep Hebrews up there. But let me just read to you this from in reference to 2 Timothy, about enduring hardship.
10:47
The war we face is a battle in our souls, because the enemy is seeking to dishearten the army of God. The strategy is to wear out the saints, wear you out, with constant barrages of fear, anxiety, feelings of hopelessness and disillusionment. I believe that there's a warfare that's been unleashed on the body of Christ such as we have not yet seen, at least in our time. That's been unleashed on the body of Christ such as we have not yet seen, at least in our time. I believe this warfare has to do with the realm of the heart, the emotions, the soul. If we are not an emotionally strong people, we will fall. Even the elect will be worn down and overcome with a sense of utter hopelessness and the seeming futility of their efforts if we do not understand how to gird up our minds in the Lord. Does this resonate with anybody?
11:51
I was almost going to preach another message. I felt the Lord put a pause on it, called perhaps because there's several instances in the Old Testament where God uses that phrase perhaps when speaking about the whole nation of Israel and the future of Israel, and he says perhaps they will repent, perhaps. Three separate occasions, three separate instances, perhaps. And it always has to do with them repenting and returning to the Lord and then receiving his promises. But he doesn't say they will and he doesn't say they won't. He says perhaps. I'm kind of making a rabbit trail here. This isn't actually my original message.
12:29
I just want to say this that I feel that what we're all experiencing to one degree or another is we're feeling the tension of living in the perhaps, because we right now, as Christians in America, are living in a major perhaps moment. Can you feel that? I feel like that's what's happening in the collective consciousness? There's people, you have anxiety on you. You feel like you don't even have your stepping and you don't even know why you feel like you're not standing on solid ground, but a lot of it has to do with the day and age that we're living in. Do you understand what's on the line here and that there is something hanging in the balance? And I hear the word of the Lord saying perhaps my people will really seek me, perhaps they'll repent wholeheartedly, perhaps the Christians will cry out to me and perhaps I'll move my mighty arm and give America more time. But it's right there, we're on the cusp. Perhaps I'll come in and I'll bring righteousness in the government. Perhaps I'll come and I'll bring deliverance. Perhaps America will rise up as the glorious Christian nation that it is Hallelujah, hallelujah. And you can sometimes feel that tension that we're mm.
13:47
We're living in a, perhaps, moment, but whatever it is that we're feeling, the word of the Lord for us is that we have need of endurance, staying power. Whatever age you got saved in, you got to cross the finish line, you know. And and it's this it's kind of strange to say it this way, but salvation is free. It is salvation is free, the baptism in the holy spirit free. It's all from the lord, but as you hold his hand and walk through the decades of life. There's going to be times where you feel like your liver is coming out of your nose, your small intestine bleeding out of your left ear. You're hobbling in and you're going. Lord, I love you, I know you love me. What meaneth this? And it's just just hang on and just endure. Don't quit. That's forever if you quit. Just hang on. Well, it's messy, I don't even know if I'm hanging on right, just hang on. You have need of endurance so that, after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise For yet a little while, and he who is coming will come and not wait Now. The just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
15:24
This was written to the Hebrews. The the best way which I might, I might just go and do the whole book of hebrews. We haven't done a whole book together in a while. Hebrews is rich, hebrews is chock full of god's goodness and and it's written the best way to understand that. It's written to a group of very, very discouraged christians, hebrew christians, who were cut off from society. They were ostracized economically. They were ostracized socially. They were I mean, imagine what that was like back in the day we don't experience that kind of persecution. They were really being tempted to quit and the word for them was endure, just hang on and don't draw back.
16:09
Verse 39. No moonwalking, no backwards walking. But we are not of those who draw back, we're not quitters. We're not of those who draw back, we're not quitters. We're not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul. Hallelujah, hebrews 6, verses 13 through 15.
16:42
Thank you, lord, for when God made a promise to Abraham because he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying surely, blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you. And so, after he had what Patiently endured, he obtained the promise. How many of you have a promise from God? That endurance part, I understand, can be excruciating, but you're changing in the midst of it and he's filling you with the capacity to be able to withstand that. If I had and my wife will quickly agree if I got some of the stuff that he's given me now, if I got that 10, 15, 20 years ago, it would have been like a three-year-old playing with a bazooka. I would have blown myself up. What I deserved back then was a squirt gun, because that's all I could handle and that's what he gave me. Then, as he changed me and and molded me.
17:50
And the change it can come various ways. It can come when you're having the time of your life, just by the anointing. That's my favorite way of change. I love that way of change. My favorite way is me on my back, with my feet in the air, the holy spirit all over me and I'm feeling his presence and I'm like Lord, what are you doing? And I just feel his love. He goes I'm changing you. I love that, that's my favorite. And then there's times where I feel like I'm a grape in the hand of a giant. And, by the way, nothing in my life, a lot of these times, nothing in my life is wrong, like everything is right in my life, but I feel like a grape in the hand of a giant that's about to get squashed. It's just. But, and I go lord, what are you doing? And you know you still get the same smile from heaven back, the same. Oh, I'm changing you, but this way I like the other way. This way is changing me too.
18:36
Yes, endure hardships as a good soldier of jesus christ. I'm working in you. Patient endurance. I'm like, ah, working in you. Patient endurance. That's what some fuddy-duddy old preacher says when he doesn't know what to say Next. Don't, no, it is. It's the word of God. You just don't want to hear it at the time. Hallelujah, thank you, lord.
19:09
Romans 14, 16 through 21.'re talking about abraham here. He had this promise that he was going to be the father of many nations. God even changed his name. We don't really immerse ourselves in that whole scenario enough to know how difficult that would have been for abraham being the father of exactly zero people and getting your name changed the father of many nations. You ever think what that was like for Abe? Imagine you're broke as a joke and God says I'm going to make you the wealthiest person on the planet. In fact, I'm going to change your name and you have to tell everybody this is your name richest man alive. And then you go to a party and you're like hey, what's your name? Richest man alive. Really Like, that's your name. Yeah, what's your net worth? Well, I still got some student loans, so it's minus $47,238. You just said you're the richest man alive. That's what God changed my name to and that's what the promise is over my life. That's what it was like for Abraham, everywhere he'd go. What's your name, abraham? They understood it to mean father of many nations, you know. The next question was how many kids do you have? Zero. This went on for decades. Don't tell me.
20:24
God doesn't have a sense of humor. Therefore, it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him, whom he believed. God who gives life to the dead. God who gives life to the dead.
21:04
There is a theme for our church right now, in this hour, that God is touching dead things in your life and bringing them up again, bringing them to life again. Who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did? And you know, we're invited on that journey to call those things that don't exist as though they did. Abraham, he was not the father of many nations, but God called him that. That didn't really exist, but God called him that and it was so. What you say about yourself, what you speak about your life, you are actually prophesying your future. Your words are coming out of your mouth and carving a path into your destiny. You better agree with what the word of God is saying about you and stop agreeing with what the devil is saying about you and what the world what stress and anxiety are saying about you, and parakeeting that. Who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did, who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he in fact did become the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be, and not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead Since he was about 100 years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not wa his own body, already dead since he was about 100 years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb, he did not waver at the seat.
22:33
What gets in the way to receiving the promises of God is looking at the natural. If you have your eyes on the natural, you're going to quickly get discouraged. In the natural, there could be no hope. You're looking at a particular problem, a particular obstacle. You can even work out on paper the 10 ways that this can be solved and God's not going to come through in any one of those 10 ways. I'm telling you he's not. How do I know? I have a little bit of experience with him. He's going to mess you up and come the 11th way and it'll be way more glorious than all of those other 10 ways put together.
23:08
He doesn't like to be pigeonholed, doesn't like to be put in a box. Abraham actually had to become good at ignoring the circumstances. Hallelujah, listen, he's the God of the turnaround. But to activate that turnaround you got. This is why every great thing we've received and we've received some things, but really right before that we kind of thought we were Because you don't fit in and you're not acting normal, you're not talking normal and you don't really confide a lot of these things. Because people are going to think, okay, they're kind of really gone off now. They're not even paying attention to the stuff in the natural. They're coping. They're severely coping right now. But it's actually a manifestation of faith.
24:02
He did not waver. Can you go back one verse? This is what I wanted you to see. He did not waver. Can you go back one verse. This is what I wanted you to see. He did not consider. Where is that? Oh yeah, he did not consider his own body. That means he ignored his own 100-year-old body. Hallelujah, you need to ignore that thing. That thing, that it's just a natural thing. It's nothing for God. It will not. That cannot hold back his promises becoming realized in your life. It cannot, it will not. He did not consider his own body, already dead since he was about 100 years old, in the deadness of Sarah's womb. So you say but, pastor, I have this problem and that. Consider it not.
24:48
What is the word of God in your spirit? What is he whispering to you? Shut the world off, shut the phone off, shut all those other voices and just get together with Jesus. And what is he whispering to you inside your spirit? That's the truth, that's the word of the Lord. That's what you can take to the bank every single time, over and over and over again. That's the word of the Lord. That's what you can take to the bank every single time, over and over and over again. Next verse, please.
25:13
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God and being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord, hallelujah, hallelujah. I'm just, I feel something in my spirit and just waiting on the Lord. Because it could come out clumsy, I'll just say it how I know how to say it the Lord, the Lord, has kept his word to me. He's kept his promises to me.
26:37
He's been so good and there's things in life that I wanted outside of him that were good to want. Like a wife. I gave me the best wife. I wanted kids and he gave me wonderful kids. I wanted good friends and he gave me wonderful brothers and sisters. I wanted a home. He gave me that. I wanted to be rich. I that I wanted to be rich, I did. I wanted to be able to be in a place where I could give bigly.
27:15
And this is the part again, I don't say this, I just want you to know. I want to live my life transparently and this is a big deal to me for a kid who grew up dirt poor in Queens in a one-bedroom apartment with his kids. He's given me millions, millions that just changed my life. Again, this is where it gets awkward. I don't want to, because when I can say that and there's a guest and they think, wow, the church is paying you, well, no, he's given me millions of other avenues, you well, no, he's given me millions of other avenues, other avenues that don't take up any time either. I don't have like three jobs on the side. This is all I do.
27:57
Fell in love with Bitcoin, bought MSTR, but here's the point. Here's the point. Here's the point that he's given no, no, but here's the point that that really I didn't. I could come to a place where I go, wow, lord in the natural, there's nothing that I even crave or want, there's not like you've given, and then you know where I come back to. I come back to and I'm. This is what I want to communicate to you. I come back to that. The only thing I'm telling you, the only thing that matters, it just it doesn't even matter. The only thing that matters is your relationship with Jesus. It's the only thing which, which? Only when you get some stuff, do you realize that you didn't need that anyway for your relationship with Jesus. You didn't. Then the Lord is just like this, is just like here Do what you know, here's that stuff. Do well with it, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is what you have with him, the satisfaction which, by the way, you can get with one garment of clothes on a desert island. You know what I mean. Yeah, hallelujah, jesus, did that come out? All right? I don't know how else to say it. I just, you know, we've been on these journeys and then we landed somewhere so wonderful and we exhaled, and then we go well, it just all comes back to Jesus. And then we go, oh well, it just all comes back to Jesus and the joy, the pleasure, none of that stuff. It really it doesn't.
29:44
You know I celebrated how we were able to buy Emily a new car. You know, we haven't even washed that car once. You should see it. Well, I wanted to take it for her to wash it. This is going nowhere, isn't it? I just, I think we should do second Kings. I'd always wanted to be able to get my wife a car. She had this clunker, this old, beat up 2011 clunker, and then, when the money came in, I said I'm going to get her a brand new Porsche, paid in cash, and I did. And do you know how long the high from that lasted Like a couple of weeks, and then pfft, now it's just, I don't even see it. It's just another car in the driveway.
30:43
In the beginning, though, and as you're buying it, ooh God, you're good, ooh Lord, your word is true. Ooh, and it feels good and it boosts your ego, and it's not in debt. So you got all the good. But then you quickly come to it's just, it's nothing, it's nothing. All you have is him. Hallelujah, it's the only thing worth having too. Hallelujah, thank you, jesus.
31:18
And it happened after this. Let's go to 2 Kings. And it happened after this that Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. So when a city is besieged, nothing can get in or out, and it's a military tactic to starve the city, and it prevents too many physical casualties and you just stop traffic in and out of the city. And there was a great famine in Samaria, and indeed they besieged it until a donkey's head was sold for 80 shekels of silver. I haven't done the conversion rate to know whether that's a lot or a little, but I'd venture to say if you're eating donkey's head for any amount of shekels, you're in a bad place. And 1, one-fourth of a cab. I don't know how much a cab weighs, but when you're using units of measurement for dove droppings, you're in a bad place. Amen. So this is the biblical way of saying Samaria was in a very, very bad place.
32:23
Then, as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him saying help my lord, oh king. And he said if the Lord does not help you, where can I find help for you? From the threshing floor or from the wine press? He's basically saying I cannot help you and the king is as lost as her. Then the king said to her what is troubling you? And she answered this woman said to me give your son, that we may eat him today and we will eat my son tomorrow.
32:52
You know, when I started reading the Bible with my kids, I quickly realized that it was an R-rated book Not for the faint of heart. So we boiled my son and ate him. I mean, when you read the Bible with the kids, you quickly get up to the flood. You know, like five chapters in, six chapters in, and there's no way to sugarcoat that. Yeah, sweetie, people did wickedness in all the world, so God was mad that he even made them, so he just killed them all off. That's what happened. That's what happened. It's funny. Only adults later have a hard time with that, like yeah. But then he said he was good, you know. But a kid is like Vivian's. Like, yeah, that sounds about right. Kids agree with it. Like I would do the same thing. That sounds right, you know. It's amazing. He spared us and he sent Jesus to forgive us. Terrible for them. Good for me, though. I was born AD, so we boiled my son and ate him. And I said to her on the next day give your son that we may eat him, but she has hidden her son. Now it happened.
34:04
When the king heard the words of the woman, he realized how bad it had become. This is for the people who are quietly suffering. This is for the people who feel like they're like a besieged city and you feel like there's a soul agony. And it's not for everybody here. If it's not for you, I'm so happy for you. Take good notes, though, because at least in the next year you'll have to reference this once.
34:24
He does an Old Testament thing of rending his garment, showing that he's all torn up on the inside, but you tear the external garment. He tore his clothes and as he passed by on the wall, the people looked and there underneath he had sackcloth on his body. Then he said God, do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha, the son of Shaphat, remains on him today, he needs a scapegoat. And Elisha, the prophet, was it. But Elisha was sitting in his house and the elders were sitting with him and the king sent a man ahead of him. But before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders it's pretty hard to sneak up on a prophet, right, that's what he's trying to sneak up on the prophet. And he's going hey, do you see how this son of a murderer talking about the king, do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to take away my head? Look when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him fast at the door. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him? And while he was still talking with them, there was the messenger coming down to him.
35:37
And then the king said surely this calamity is from the Lord? Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? This is what the king is saying. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer. This is what the king is saying. Why should I wait?
35:49
That word wait in the Hebrew is a precious word. You know how many promises there are for those of us who will wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, he'll renew your strength. Wait, I say, on the Lord, over. I used to always wonder for years what does that mean to To wait on the Lord? I mean it's not the kind of like how you wait for the F train.
36:11
The word wait in the Hebrew is actually the same word for a tassel. Have you seen Jewish people with tassels? Tassels from their hips, tassels and their strings intertwined. That's what the word wait means. It means to intertwine yourself with God. You know it when you've experienced it. When you're waiting on the Lord, you may not even be speaking, but your hope is in him. You're reaching out to him, you sense him reaching out to you. He's in you, you're in him. You're like a tassel wound together. That's waiting on the Lord, and the promises are great for those who will intertwine themselves like a tassel with the Lord. He like what many of us are tempted to do when things aren't going right, when we've had a delay in receiving the promise for too long.
36:58
It's why should I even wait on the Lord any longer? I've lost my hope. I'm upset. Look what's happening in Samaria. And here's the word of the Lord. Then Elisha said hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord tomorrow. Tomorrow, tomorrow, not next week, not next month, not next year, but tomorrow, about this time, within 24 hours, a seah of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria. He's prophesying a total turnaround within 24 hours that this wrecked, besieged city where people are devouring each other, is going to experience such an upturn and all of a sudden, prosperity is going to flood the place.
37:57
And an officer on whose hand the king leans, so somebody very important and high ranking, next to the king. He says and this is who you don't want to be like and this is who we sound like many times in our head as a knee-jerk response. But then we better get out of our head and into our spirit and agree with God. He says look, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, could this thing be? And then Elijah says you hear how that's just dripping with doubt and unbelief. If the lord can make windows in heaven, there's always that guy in your life too. That's why sometimes, when you're going through it, don't only share it with people of faith, because you share it with that doubting thomas in your life and they're going to say something like well, how is the lord going to do that? And they want to always focus on the natural. You don't get the breakthrough promises of God focusing on the natural. You consider not like Abraham, you consider not your body already dead, you ignore what's happening in the natural and you trust Hallelujah. This is the painful part of Christianity is that you have a promise from God and it's invisible, but you got it and you're gonna not pay attention to the natural and you're gonna pay attention to this invisible promise that he gave you. It's awesome, it's wonderful, it's thrilling and it'll make you feel like sometimes you wanna die All at the same time. Hallelujah, hallelujah, all at the same time, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, lord.
39:34
Next verse by the way, I got this this whole. I was shocked, actually to find it in the bible when city light was about five months old whatever March to August is five, six months old. We had three people in our service and it had started with 105, and we saw wonderful negative growth for the next few months until it landed on three people in the service. And just think about what that was like for me, because I got saved at 16. 16 was called to ministry two weeks later and every decision I made I fasted often, I prayed, I went to bible school. Every decision I made was to pioneer and found a church. So I've been waiting for this for 10 years and prepping and making decisions and finally after a decade.
40:24
And then I launched city light and nobody cares and they stay away by the thousands and I'm stuck there like big sounds. I mean I could have a conversation with three people. We might as well go to the deli and get a coffee and talk about. I have a whole sound system, all the whole setup. I'm still preaching, I'm waving my arms around if anybody was looking and they'd be like this guy has lost it. I'm preaching like there's a thousand people and there's three people in the service and afterwards I think it's safe if I confess that I was a little discouraged afterwards.
40:56
So I went for a jog and as I'm jogging, crying out to the lord, in between exhalation puffs, I I hear in my spirit I'm the God of the turnaround. I'm the God of the turnaround and the whole time I'm going, he's the God of the. I come back home, I go in my concordance and I'm trying to find, and I realized where he had spoken that phrase to me from. It was out of this whole thing that he will come in. He said about this time tomorrow he will come in. He said about this time tomorrow he will turn it around. And he did exactly that. He in the natural. How, lord, are you going to turn it around? We have no money, we can't advertise, we can't. There's nothing. I've exhausted everything that I could do. I was preaching on the subways. I've exhausted every. Lord, if you open up windows in heaven, what are you going to rain down people? How are you? Yet he did it.
41:44
Next week wasn't three people, next week was eight. Then he did speak to me. He said get out of. What are you doing in midtown, manhattan? I would you know where the church was located on 53rd street and third avenue, where nobody lives exactly nobody, where anybody who's a manhattanite wants they want to stay from that region as much as possible. I said go, go into an actual neighborhood, go into the East Village, which, back in 2002, the East Village had just morphed into becoming the East Village, from being Alphabet City and I know it as Alphabet City. If you're on Avenue A, you're alright. If you go to B, you're bold. If you're on C, you're crazy. You go to Avenue D, you're dead. That's what I knew, but it had changed now and the Lord said go. And that's how we landed there. And next thing you know, we start moving and the God of the turnaround shows himself Hallelujah.
42:33
Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate and they said to one another why are we sitting here until we die? This is all in the same one day span. If we say we will enter the city, the famine is in the city and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now, therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live, and if they kill us, we shall only die.
42:59
And they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. And when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there, for the Lord had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses. By the way, there was no army in the natural, but the Lord had allowed the Syrian army, who had besieged Samaria, to hear a noise. What did they hear? Was it Jehovah sneaky, just messing with their heads, making them hear sounds? No, he's too good for that. No, he just opened up their spiritual ears and they heard the chariots of heaven and the angelic host and there are horses in it. But those of you who are wondering are there animals in heaven? Yes, jesus comes in on a white horse. There's horses and the Lord wouldn't leave those horses all lonely, just with horses. Hallelujah, some of you are going to be so blown away when you get to heaven, asking questions like are there animals in heaven? And you get there and you're going to see creation in its fullest and realize what earth should have been all along. Hallelujah, thank you jesus. The noise of chariots and the noise of horses, the noise of a great army. So they said to one another look, the king of israel has hired us, has hired against us the kings of the hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us. They still can't believe what's happening.
44:31
Therefore, they arose and fled at twilight and left the camp intact, their tents, their horses and their donkeys Ooh, donkeys, that's going to cause the price of donkey heads to crash in Samaria Flood the market with those donkey heads and they fled for their lives. And when these lepers came to the outskirts of the camp, they went into one tent and ate and drank and carried from it silver and gold and clothing this is all happening outside of Samaria and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried some for there also and went and hit it. Then they said to one another they got a heavy revy here we are not doing right. This day is a day of good news and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us now. Therefore, come, let us go and tell the king's household. So they went and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, saying we went to the syrian camp and surprisingly, no one was there, not a human sound, only horses and donkeys and the tents intact. And the gatekeepers called out and they told it to the king's household inside.
45:46
So the king arose in the night and said to his servants he doesn't believe what's happening. So he says I know what happened. The Syrians, they're playing a trick on us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying when they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive and get into the city. And one of his servants answered and said please, let several men take five of the remaining horses. There's only five horses left in Samaria.
46:14
The title of this message is Five Horses Left. This sermon goes out to those who only have five horses left. Look, they may either become like all the multitude of Israel that are left in it or indeed I say they may become like all the multitude of Israel left from those who are consumed. So let us send them and see. Therefore, they took two chariots with horses and the king sent them in the direction of the Syrian army, saying Go and see. And they went after them to the Jordan, and indeed all the road was full of garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. He's the god of the turnaround. So the messengers returned and told the king. Then the people went out and plundered the tents of the Syrians. So, starving, destitute people. They got a prophetic word Everything's going to change within a day. Within a day it changes. And now they're plundering the Syrians who had heard a noise and abandoned all their stuff. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, and two seers of barley for a shekel.
47:26
According to the word of the Lord, he's the God of the turnaround. He loves, he delights in coming into your unique situation and turning it around. But if you quit, he can't turn it around. So you gotta hang on and have enduring faith and have perseverance. You say, say, but it hurts, pastor. Ah, you talk to me about it hurts. I know it hurts. I wish I could make it go away like this, but it's something you've got to work out with Jesus and sometimes there are agonizing times, sometimes you endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. The oil of joy is still available, his love is still available, but there are seasons where of joy is still available, his love is still available, but there are seasons where it's not fun. But you hold his hand anyhow and you go. Life sucks. Right now You're good, but right now, for whatever reason, I feel like that grape that's getting, but I'm going to put one foot in front of the other and do what you say. Do and do what I know is right, and I'm not going to draw back, because we are not of those who draw back, we are those who keep going forward. Hallelujah.
48:36
If I can prevent one person from forsaking, from giving up, I would feel satisfied that it's a job well done, because you don't know what's on the other side of that. You want to give up that I would. I would feel satisfied that it's a job well done, because you don't know what's on the other side of that. You want to give up. I want to end the pain First of all. You don't end the pain by giving up anything. You just switch pains. But if you just continue with the Lord, you let him do what he wants to do, which is make something beautiful out of ashes. You let him do what he wants to do, which is make something beautiful out of ashes, hallelujah.
49:09
Just the next verse is really important because remember that that officer on whose hand the king leaned, that high ranking official Now, the king had appointed the officer on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. Remember the guy who had the report of doubt and unbelief, who said even if the Lord opened up windows in heaven, how could Elisha's word be true? But the people trampled him in the gate. They were like free stuff, running for the. And here's this guy, probably in his fancy clothes, but he gets trampled in the gate and he died just as the man of God had said who spoke when the king came to him. The moral of that story is be believing, be not unbelieving. Amen, hallelujah.
49:57
Worship team, come on up. I want you just to put your eyes on Jesus. If you want, lift your hands and say this Lord Jesus. When you want, lift your hands and say this Lord Jesus, when you ask me to endure, that means that you are giving me the power and the strength to endure. By your grace, I will not go back. I will not quit. I will consider not the natural. I will not quit. I will consider not the natural. I'm going to ignore my circumstances. My eyes are on you. My faith is in you. I believe that you're the God of the turnaround. You will turn it around. In Jesus' name, supernaturally, I believe I receive Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. A turnaround in your family, a turnaround in your finances.
50:52 - Speaker 2
Yes, a turnaround in your living situation. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. 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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