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Nov. 1, 2023

Finding True Self: Overcoming Illusions and Deceptions

Finding True Self: Overcoming Illusions and Deceptions
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CityLight NYC Church
Finding True Self: Overcoming Illusions and Deceptions
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Season 1
Navigating through the aftermath of a family member’s recent car accident, Pastor James Chavez shares a profound realization. The ordeal of dealing with insurance companies and visits to the motor vehicle departments opened his eyes to an almost mundane yet significant aspect of life: self-perception and authenticity. The driver's license photo experience, often full of cringe and discomfort, reflected a deeper question: are we courageous enough to bare our true selves and confront the person in the mirror?
 
Building on this theme of authenticity, we delve into the riveting saga of John Beal, an ex-official at the Environmental Protection Agency who masterfully deceived his colleagues and lived a double life. His journey into falsehood, while seemingly far from our own lives, can serve as a mirror reflecting our own internal struggles. It's a tale about the lies we tell ourselves, how they can warp our sense of reality and obscure our true identity.
 
Lastly, we step into the enchanting and meticulously crafted world of Disney Parks. This well-oiled mask of magic has its own lessons to teach us about the pretenses we adopt in our lives. We also introduce you to the City Light Church Podcast, our vibrant community that fosters grace, love, and acceptance. Subscribe today, and be a part of our global family as we navigate the complexities of life together.
Transcript
00:00.140 --> 00:04.932 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but a power, love and self-discipline. 00:05.321 --> 00:08.590 So if you're trapped by fear, you know your enemy is trying to keep you down. 00:09.021 --> 00:14.113 He wants to destroy you, but remember your God has given you what Power? 00:15.216 --> 00:25.123 Power Not just a little power, a lot of power, god-sized power, the power that'll electrify a train, a locomotive, speeding down the tracks. 00:26.306 --> 00:28.433 Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. 00:28.674 --> 00:34.974 Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. 00:35.717 --> 00:41.129 If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. 00:41.449 --> 00:43.333 That's citylightnyccom. 00:44.780 --> 00:51.903 Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. 00:52.644 --> 01:02.433 As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by his grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:05.681 --> 01:06.685 I'm James Chavez. 01:06.926 --> 01:08.492 I get to hang out with you today. 01:08.572 --> 01:18.248 We've been in the middle of an incredible message series called the Clash of the Covenants and it's been incredible, but we're going to take a pause right at the halfway point, if that's okay. 01:18.610 --> 01:33.028 Pastor Boyan is going to be right with us next week and he's going to pick up with part five and he's just going to take us over the finish line, okay, but today he's asked me to share with you a little bit, so if you would please indulge me just a little, don't all rush for the exit. 01:33.450 --> 01:34.212 It's going to be okay. 01:35.677 --> 01:40.688 I told a few of you that our daughter, who's in college down in Alabama, got in a car accident a couple weeks ago. 01:41.891 --> 01:45.926 Yes, scary, I was on my way to Friday night service. 01:46.026 --> 01:48.072 I'm driving, so it's the long drive. 01:48.112 --> 01:54.643 I'm on the LIE, enduring that misery, and I get the phone call and I say hi, doll, it's just dad, I think I just got in a car accident. 01:56.128 --> 01:56.690 What do you think? 01:56.770 --> 01:57.292 Or you know? 01:58.215 --> 02:00.923 Well, I think I know that I got in a car accident because I hit another car. 02:01.484 --> 02:02.868 Yeah, okay, I think you know. 02:03.148 --> 02:03.710 Are you okay? 02:04.091 --> 02:04.692 Yeah, I'm okay. 02:04.712 --> 02:06.729 I mean, I banged at my knee Like how bad. 02:06.950 --> 02:08.839 I mean I'm fine, I'm fine, okay, how's the other? 02:08.859 --> 02:10.446 car the other person fine, yeah, they're fine. 02:10.466 --> 02:11.892 Okay, what do I do? 02:11.932 --> 02:15.266 So I stayed the next 55 minutes on the phone walking her through. 02:15.306 --> 02:15.728 The police. 02:15.788 --> 02:19.104 Came you get the registration, get your license, give your statement. 02:19.486 --> 02:20.229 Is it drivable? 02:20.269 --> 02:23.522 She's breaking pieces off, putting them in her trunk so she can drive back to her. 02:24.604 --> 02:25.607 Wow, what an ordeal. 02:26.008 --> 02:28.433 So for the next couple of weeks I'm dealing with insurance. 02:29.061 --> 02:29.865 Are we going to fix it? 02:29.905 --> 02:30.750 Are we going to total it? 02:30.770 --> 02:31.695 They finally totaled it. 02:31.755 --> 02:37.507 I go into the motor vehicle department a few times because that's a good time, because the license plates are in Alabama but it's registered in New York. 02:37.768 --> 02:38.392 So I got to go. 02:38.452 --> 02:40.281 I don't have the plates, whether you go to the police. 02:40.301 --> 02:40.923 Did you get this form? 02:40.943 --> 02:41.545 Did you get that form? 02:41.806 --> 02:42.889 Can I speak to your supervisor? 02:43.190 --> 02:44.484 Mr Chavez, we don't have. 02:44.665 --> 02:45.969 Can I speak to your supervisor? 02:47.435 --> 02:48.679 I tell you what it's a good time. 02:48.699 --> 02:50.124 Anybody like the motor vehicle department? 02:50.847 --> 02:56.587 Woo, I scheduled a root canal after that just so I can get some rest from the motor vehicle department. 02:57.531 --> 03:02.309 I tell you that's a hard time, but while I'm sitting there waiting for my number, they're like why 7217? 03:02.530 --> 03:03.895 What happened to just like 53? 03:04.437 --> 03:05.883 It's like seven digit numbers. 03:05.903 --> 03:08.132 I'm like how many people are ahead of me, my gosh. 03:08.714 --> 03:09.858 And then I'm like in the Gs. 03:09.898 --> 03:14.316 Well, they start coming up with Cs and then Zs and they do it just to throw you off. 03:14.396 --> 03:15.601 It's, it's, it's mind games. 03:15.701 --> 03:19.655 I tell you it's mind games, somebody's got to do the job, but I just have. 03:20.939 --> 03:25.823 So I'm sitting, they're waiting for them to call my number and I'm watching people get their picture taken for their driver's license. 03:26.084 --> 03:26.826 You guys remember that? 03:26.866 --> 03:28.551 Getting your picture taken for the driver's license? 03:28.701 --> 03:31.453 Who likes getting their picture taken for the driver's license? 03:32.036 --> 03:48.322 It's kind of cringey having a show and someone says let me see your driver's license where you have to pull it out for some reason, and the person next to you goes like this You're like, nope, you find yourself kind of explaining right, this was a bad day, the wind was really blowing, I was on antibiotics and was bloated, whatever reason. 03:48.703 --> 03:57.292 I've been on a diet since then and, what's worse, and I've seen this, you pull it out and they look at it and they're like look at you, you're wearing the same shirt. 03:58.300 --> 03:58.982 How weird is that? 03:59.042 --> 03:59.243 Right? 03:59.624 --> 04:01.871 Or if you're completely unrecognizable, that's another weird one. 04:02.221 --> 04:04.490 But no one likes showing the driver's license picture. 04:04.711 --> 04:07.843 I think they train you on how to actually take a really bad picture. 04:07.903 --> 04:19.404 If you're the photographers for the motor vehicle department, it's either bad lighting, it's too much light and it kind of washes you out right, or it's not enough and it's kind of shady and you got those kind of shades in your eyes and you look real sketchy, or they just kind of blow you out. 04:19.605 --> 04:22.723 Or they say, okay, I'm going to take it on three, one, two, like what. 04:22.963 --> 04:23.847 You didn't go on three. 04:23.907 --> 04:28.607 Or after three, you didn't even let me get to three and they just laugh have a nice day. 04:29.408 --> 04:36.767 Number 472,989 million what I hate the driver's license picture. 04:37.589 --> 04:39.553 And now they give it to you for like 100 years. 04:40.160 --> 04:41.464 I'm like, why couldn't? 04:41.504 --> 04:45.705 I got it when I was like 18 and I kept that one when I was all like when I had one chin. 04:45.785 --> 04:48.094 You know what I'm saying, what is going on. 04:48.496 --> 04:49.440 But then there's the other thing. 04:49.540 --> 04:52.007 There's portrait pictures. 04:52.950 --> 04:53.812 That's a good time, right? 04:54.073 --> 04:55.377 Anybody remember Glamour Shots? 04:56.119 --> 04:59.608 That was a thing that was like that's the way Hollywood would do it. 04:59.908 --> 05:03.284 I mean, they get just the right lighting to compliment your skin tone. 05:03.585 --> 05:04.968 They get the backdrop just right. 05:05.148 --> 05:06.472 They even told you to turn right. 05:06.492 --> 05:11.212 They kind of tilt your shoulders and turn your head back and stick your chin out so you don't look. 05:13.220 --> 05:17.171 So I had to see the chiropractor after that because I'm all contorted so I don't look weird. 05:17.500 --> 05:21.737 But boy, they can airbrush out wrinkles and blemishes and that thing. 05:21.757 --> 05:23.745 It just looks like you just stepped right out of heaven. 05:24.127 --> 05:24.990 It is amazing. 05:25.733 --> 05:28.663 But what's really interesting about those two different kinds of pictures? 05:29.224 --> 05:34.054 What they have in common is that neither one is real right. 05:35.221 --> 05:40.281 You're not as bad as the motor vehicle says you are, I promise, and I know those cameras add 10 pounds. 05:41.603 --> 05:45.329 But you're not as good as Glamour Shots says you are either, right. 05:47.633 --> 05:51.084 I tell you what neither one is the real thing. 05:52.287 --> 05:55.712 In the end, only God sees our real selves. 05:56.213 --> 05:57.155 He knows the real deal. 05:59.720 --> 06:09.192 Yet it's imperative and that's what I want to drive home today that we are authentic in who we are and how we live in our relationships. 06:09.252 --> 06:12.744 If you truly want to make an impact and have influence in our world, you've got to be real. 06:13.728 --> 06:15.273 Jesus said it this way in Luke 12, too. 06:15.875 --> 06:22.653 The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed and all that is in secret will be made known to all. 06:25.120 --> 06:25.702 That's scary. 06:25.742 --> 06:29.311 Yeah, dun, dun, dun, all that's in secret? 06:30.594 --> 06:34.322 All you mean all, or just the things that I present? 06:35.264 --> 06:38.749 No, all I need to work on a bigger mask. 06:39.711 --> 06:46.270 Well, this is October and this is when we have little kids dressing up and they're trick-or-treating and masks, right. 06:46.391 --> 06:50.708 So I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about masks, the masks that we put on. 06:50.848 --> 06:52.772 Why do we choose to wear a mask? 06:53.481 --> 06:58.543 And I thought we would peel back the layers and first talk about the mask that we put on for ourselves when we look in the mirror. 06:59.185 --> 06:59.525 Is that right? 06:59.545 --> 07:02.031 If we start there, that's not convicting at all. 07:03.501 --> 07:04.767 You're like, talk about their mask. 07:04.787 --> 07:06.133 Why are you going to talk about my mask? 07:07.017 --> 07:09.266 So let's look at the one that we put on for ourselves. 07:10.129 --> 07:20.564 But here's the deal when we put on a mask and we lie to ourselves about who we are, yes, you lie to other people and that's a bad thing, but most often, who gets duped and deceived is us. 07:21.126 --> 07:22.710 Right, and that's far worse. 07:24.775 --> 07:29.708 Some social scientists they've been studying this for a long, long time, and studies dating back to the 1950s. 07:29.728 --> 07:31.693 They dubbed this cognitive dissidence. 07:32.520 --> 07:40.045 Right, where this is the theory that explains how people can fully come to believe something that they know completely is a lie. 07:41.448 --> 07:42.069 That's interesting. 07:42.149 --> 07:51.442 Right, as humans, we'll go to great lengths from admitting we don't want to admit it that we're believing something is a lie, that it's wrong that we would tell a lie. 07:52.644 --> 08:00.515 So it brings us to the point where I don't want to admit I'm a liar, I don't want to say I'm a liar, I don't want to be called a liar. 08:01.110 --> 08:02.314 Therefore, everything I say must be true. 08:04.510 --> 08:16.957 And then we start to believe that there were some studies, again dating back to the 1950s, that were pretty interesting as I was reading through them, and there were a couple of psychologists, sociologists, and they decided they were going to infiltrate a cult. 08:17.990 --> 08:20.594 Now, cults are known for what their honesty and transparency. 08:21.938 --> 08:22.640 No, not usually. 08:22.810 --> 08:26.240 So this was a perfect opportunity to understand this phenomenon. 08:26.710 --> 08:36.396 So they infiltrated, pretended to be converts, and this particular cult believed that the world was going to end and they predicted the date by none other than an imminent alien invasion. 08:37.690 --> 08:38.755 Because that's a good one, right? 08:39.210 --> 08:39.913 Independence Day. 08:39.954 --> 08:40.416 Who doesn't look? 08:40.510 --> 08:49.256 Will Smith just taken out some aliens on the 4th of July, I mean, it's not going to be plagues or pestilence or World War III, no alien invasion. 08:50.050 --> 08:52.138 So they talk it up and they predict the date. 08:52.330 --> 08:58.999 But as the date starts to get closer they notice that these converts in the cult they start withdrawing from their family and from their friends. 08:59.290 --> 09:00.576 They kind of close ranks. 09:00.830 --> 09:03.018 They stop doing interviews and they stop talking to the media. 09:03.370 --> 09:04.415 And they thought that was kind of interesting. 09:04.470 --> 09:07.956 So they're only listening in their echo chamber to the other people who believe what they believe. 09:08.510 --> 09:23.114 But then, as the date that this imminent alien invasion approached and came and went with no alien invasion, a really interesting thing happened, a really interesting happening. 09:24.110 --> 09:24.853 Something went down. 09:26.170 --> 09:27.977 They were really excited to talk to the media again. 09:28.850 --> 09:29.714 Why do you think that was? 09:30.531 --> 09:33.554 Well, because they didn't want to act like they had been duped and they were fools. 09:33.574 --> 09:35.139 I almost said stupid. 09:35.290 --> 09:37.556 That's where Nicole right on the hook, she's like. 09:39.670 --> 09:41.176 They didn't want to admit they were fools. 09:41.810 --> 09:46.375 So they had to come out and say they actually saved the world from the alien invasion. 09:47.570 --> 09:48.092 How about that? 09:48.930 --> 09:52.174 They didn't want to believe and face the truth that they were deceived. 09:52.455 --> 09:55.896 So they wanted to convince themselves and the world that they had actually done some good. 09:56.950 --> 09:58.356 Well, these same sociologists. 09:58.436 --> 10:07.639 They did another experiment where they actually took two groups of people and they separated them and they asked the first group to tell a lie and when they would tell this lie they would pay them $20. 10:08.252 --> 10:10.875 And they took the other group and they said tell the same lie. 10:11.090 --> 10:13.096 When you tell the lie, we'll pay you $1. 10:14.490 --> 10:16.348 And let me just this was in the 1950s. 10:16.570 --> 10:19.539 That $20 is equivalent to about $255 today. 10:20.370 --> 10:24.298 So here's what was interesting the people that told the lie both groups told the lie. 10:24.830 --> 10:25.453 They got their money. 10:26.090 --> 10:31.939 The people that got paid the $1 for telling the lie started speaking as if that wasn't a lie. 10:32.030 --> 10:47.274 They were acting as if it was true, believing as it was true, and they were really confounded and they really dug deeper and did the study and found out that what it really boiled down to is we didn't want to believe that we would sell out for such a measly sum of money. 10:48.750 --> 10:56.241 Now the people that got the $20, also known as $255, in our economy it's easy to say why'd you tell the lie? 10:56.470 --> 10:58.734 I did it for the money $255,. 10:58.854 --> 10:59.637 I could do a lot with that. 10:59.710 --> 11:02.652 I can pay a new pair of shoes, I can have a nice dinner $1,. 11:02.953 --> 11:03.816 What do I do with $1? 11:05.230 --> 11:09.095 What does that say about me myself worth an integrity if I'll sell out for $1? 11:09.550 --> 11:10.374 They didn't want to believe it. 11:10.570 --> 11:11.202 They couldn't accept it. 11:11.650 --> 11:12.653 So they started to believe. 11:12.693 --> 11:13.857 Well, it couldn't have been a lie. 11:14.459 --> 11:14.980 Really, it's true. 11:15.210 --> 11:16.114 It has to be true on some level. 11:16.670 --> 11:17.955 A partial truth has to be truth. 11:18.430 --> 11:19.594 If there's any truth, then it's truth. 11:21.178 --> 11:21.840 Isn't that interesting? 11:25.150 --> 11:27.075 We see this all the time, even in the media today. 11:29.270 --> 11:31.318 Worst bet a steady stream of lies. 11:31.438 --> 11:33.076 Right, this steady diet just coming through. 11:33.490 --> 11:35.617 There's even a name for it gaslighting. 11:36.370 --> 11:38.250 You heard that Gaslighting. 11:38.250 --> 11:39.394 I used that phrase the other day. 11:39.435 --> 11:40.197 And our kids. 11:40.238 --> 11:43.012 Now they're in their 20s and they looked at me like where'd you learn that word? 11:44.870 --> 11:46.597 Look, you don't have a monopoly on cool words. 11:46.690 --> 11:50.114 Just because you're in your 20s, I know what gaslighting is. 11:51.230 --> 11:52.142 Do it to you all the time. 11:52.162 --> 11:56.301 I don't care, I don't care, just kidding kids. 11:56.390 --> 12:04.831 I love you, but they lie to us and they lie over and over and over until we start to believe that maybe we're the weird ones for doubting. 12:04.872 --> 12:06.397 It was a lie in the first place. 12:06.477 --> 12:08.510 Right, think, does everyone believe? 12:08.530 --> 12:18.218 Ok, if NBC and ABC and CNN and MSNBC and Washington Post and New York Times, I'm the weird one. 12:18.730 --> 12:19.594 It's all true. 12:20.830 --> 12:21.272 It's not. 12:22.370 --> 12:23.193 Don't believe the hype. 12:24.290 --> 12:25.335 They're gaslighting you. 12:28.950 --> 12:29.512 Why do they do it? 12:30.990 --> 12:43.895 We can't distinguish, after a while, lies from truth, and after a while we don't really even know if the people feeding us the steady stream of lies are just irredeemably deceived or just so diabolical that they just want to destroy us. 12:44.490 --> 12:45.193 But it's one or the other. 12:45.850 --> 12:46.573 There's nothing in the middle. 12:48.450 --> 12:48.972 So be careful. 12:49.890 --> 12:51.876 We don't want to be liars, right? 12:53.570 --> 12:58.414 Sometimes the truth of who we are or what we've done in the past is too painful to face. 12:59.170 --> 12:59.652 So what do we do? 13:00.870 --> 13:08.284 Put on a mask for ourselves, because, guess what? 13:08.530 --> 13:10.734 Other people aren't thinking about you as much as you think about you. 13:12.170 --> 13:21.018 They're going about their day, living their life, dealing with their own problems, but you're obsessing about you and what they think about you. 13:21.730 --> 13:22.534 Maybe I'm not good enough. 13:22.810 --> 13:23.834 Maybe they know what I've done. 13:25.190 --> 13:28.313 Maybe I need to put on a mask so I feel better about what they see. 13:29.910 --> 13:31.195 And so we listen to the lies. 13:31.850 --> 13:33.275 There was a guy named John Beal. 13:34.230 --> 13:38.277 He was a former high-level official with the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA. 13:39.670 --> 13:44.700 He pled guilty to stealing over $900,000 from the government. 13:46.350 --> 13:57.453 When I read the case, I was intrigued as to how he swindled that much money out of the government, because I thought maybe I can learn something, but I was just curious. 13:57.573 --> 14:09.832 Ok, in 1994, beal he convinced top officials at the EPA, where he worked, that he was a CIA operative Get that. 14:10.770 --> 14:16.378 And he was dealing with matters so top secret and confidential that they couldn't dig in or ask questions. 14:16.770 --> 14:39.336 So his supervisors believed this elaborate story and they allowed him to take long stretches of time to disappear and have unaccounted time where he just went off and spent time with his family fishing, playing golf, hobbies, learning languages, origami, whatever he decided to do all while getting paid by the government Because he's doing top secret work for the CIA. 14:40.730 --> 14:41.192 That's crazy. 14:42.030 --> 14:49.157 No one knows for sure how much money he actually swindled out of the government because this scheme went on for 19 years. 14:52.370 --> 14:55.318 Could you imagine living a double life for 19 years? 14:56.550 --> 14:57.754 How difficult must that be? 14:59.470 --> 15:02.480 It was probably kind of fun for the first couple of times. 15:02.570 --> 15:06.738 He got away with it and he's like look at me Out on the golf course just swinging around. 15:06.890 --> 15:08.094 I'm like I'm getting paid. 15:09.570 --> 15:10.475 But then, hey, where were you? 15:10.616 --> 15:11.159 I can't talk about it. 15:11.370 --> 15:11.651 Stop secret. 15:13.010 --> 15:13.974 Who did I tell what to? 15:15.290 --> 15:17.357 What mask was I wearing when I talked to this person? 15:18.430 --> 15:22.376 That gets rough after a while it's hard to know what's real. 15:23.890 --> 15:25.997 But here's what I thought when I thought about that guy. 15:26.730 --> 15:30.280 I said I'll bet if I'm being honest and you are too. 15:30.710 --> 15:36.535 There's probably some inconsistencies in who we say we are and who we really are. 15:38.510 --> 15:44.677 Maybe not to the extent of old Mr Beal swindling almost a million dollars from the government. 15:45.710 --> 15:49.174 Any fake CIA operatives in the audience today Don't tell me if you are. 15:49.690 --> 15:52.580 Put your hand it's supposed to be covert. 15:55.290 --> 16:02.556 But I'm sure there's inconsistencies when you're being honest, when we pretend to be more than we are. 16:04.010 --> 16:04.653 Here's what it does. 16:06.110 --> 16:12.555 We skip the process that God wants to do in your life to make you who he's created you to be. 16:14.682 --> 16:18.182 They're like I want the shortcut God says. 16:18.222 --> 16:21.151 I'm taking you on a process of sanctification. 16:21.260 --> 16:22.886 I'm making you more like my son Jesus. 16:23.166 --> 16:25.185 If you'll let me, you say, ooh, that's rough. 16:25.340 --> 16:27.166 Let me just put on a mask so I'll look like Jesus. 16:28.400 --> 16:29.184 I feel good now. 16:29.500 --> 16:36.046 I look good, but I skipped all the work that God wanted to take me on, to take me to where he wanted me to be. 16:37.900 --> 16:46.384 Pretending avoids the discipline and the accountability that are essential ingredients to the productive Christian, authentic life that God calls us to. 16:46.660 --> 16:48.828 Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 2, 17. 16:49.220 --> 16:52.866 You see, we're not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. 16:53.220 --> 16:59.006 We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ's authority, knowing that God watches us. 17:00.230 --> 17:00.711 Paul got it. 17:02.080 --> 17:05.406 He knew it was more than what was just on the outside, that God saw all. 17:05.700 --> 17:06.724 He knew it was going on. 17:07.620 --> 17:08.945 But why do we keep putting on the mask? 17:08.985 --> 17:11.607 Then, if we say we're Christians, oh, god sees all. 17:12.041 --> 17:12.633 Well, why do we do it? 17:13.040 --> 17:17.348 Why do we continue to sell ourselves short and to tell us, tell ourselves that we're not good enough? 17:19.120 --> 17:20.485 Why do we continue to believe the lie? 17:21.780 --> 17:22.784 That's the million dollar question. 17:24.600 --> 17:29.025 I wanna remind you of one thing that I think contributes to that is that we have an enemy. 17:29.940 --> 17:34.750 You remember that right, this is the time of year when I think our enemy Satan. 17:34.820 --> 17:40.106 He just laughs and laughs and laughs because there are so many little double costumes and we just water this thing down. 17:40.400 --> 17:46.445 We think he's just a little pyro walking around in his onesie pajamas with his little plastic bitch fork, and it takes all the power out of it. 17:47.400 --> 17:50.690 But he's an enemy, like a roaring lion looking to devour you. 17:51.040 --> 17:55.688 He wants to chew you up and spit you out and he'll use anything he can to accomplish that. 17:57.260 --> 18:04.143 And lies are one of his main weapons, because he can't really touch you without God's protection if you're one of God's kids. 18:04.203 --> 18:05.387 But he can tell you lies. 18:07.600 --> 18:08.022 And what do we do? 18:09.040 --> 18:09.482 We listen. 18:12.160 --> 18:15.907 He whispers you're not good enough, you have to lie about who you are to be accepted. 18:16.440 --> 18:19.561 We say, yeah, that's true, I'm a mess, that's true. 18:20.244 --> 18:20.846 But here's the deal. 18:21.720 --> 18:27.743 It's not about who you are, and I want you to hear that today, because the important thing is not who you are, but who's. 18:28.084 --> 18:29.449 You are right. 18:29.640 --> 18:33.869 If you're a Christ follower, you're a child of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. 18:34.120 --> 18:35.145 That makes you somebody. 18:35.760 --> 18:36.724 That's impressive. 18:37.445 --> 18:38.260 That's good. 18:38.280 --> 18:39.786 Why would you hide that behind a mask? 18:40.420 --> 18:43.802 But we belittle that and we look at our accomplishments in our flesh. 18:43.882 --> 18:46.021 We listen to the lies and we say, mm. 18:46.061 --> 18:46.784 I'm not good enough. 18:47.760 --> 18:51.002 I'm not good enough, don't believe it. 18:52.240 --> 18:53.826 God created you to be so much more. 18:54.400 --> 18:56.006 I love this reminder in Ephesians 2.10. 18:56.500 --> 18:58.287 Says for we are God's masterpiece. 18:58.640 --> 19:04.289 He has created us a new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. 19:05.160 --> 19:10.087 So stop believing the lie that the enemy is telling you and start believing the truth from your heavenly father. 19:10.880 --> 19:11.884 He said you're a masterpiece. 19:13.580 --> 19:14.524 You know what a masterpiece is? 19:16.100 --> 19:18.248 We call our kids second grade artwork masterpiece. 19:20.060 --> 19:21.365 But that's not what this is talking about. 19:22.540 --> 19:25.289 This isn't just an affectionate pat on the head. 19:25.900 --> 19:27.586 Yeah, you're a mess, but I love you anyway. 19:28.900 --> 19:32.570 He looks at you and he sees a Picasso, a Rembrandt. 19:35.026 --> 19:37.011 You are a masterpiece, poema. 19:38.500 --> 19:39.282 Don't cover it up. 19:42.290 --> 19:45.307 But if you're anything like me, you can be pretty good at hiding who you really are. 19:45.427 --> 19:51.223 Right, pride, insecurity they can cause us to do things we swore we would never do. 19:52.460 --> 19:53.164 I would never do that. 19:53.560 --> 20:01.865 And then you're faced with it and one of these things will cause you to do something bizarre Put on a mask Cause. 20:01.885 --> 20:05.127 Then you have to rationalize oh, did I really compromise? 20:05.600 --> 20:06.323 Did I really do that? 20:07.280 --> 20:08.244 Nope, I see the mask. 20:08.284 --> 20:08.746 I didn't do it. 20:09.180 --> 20:10.164 That's all I see when I look in the mirror. 20:16.140 --> 20:21.127 But fear keeps us hiding, right, fear keeps us hiding behind the mask. 20:22.651 --> 20:23.473 So why do you stay back there? 20:23.540 --> 20:24.183 What are you hiding? 20:25.320 --> 20:26.189 What are you afraid of? 20:27.581 --> 20:29.046 Is there an inappropriate relationship? 20:30.100 --> 20:31.525 Maybe you're afraid to face? 20:33.740 --> 20:34.666 Is there some secret sin? 20:35.100 --> 20:36.466 Maybe some sin in your thought life? 20:36.660 --> 20:43.502 And you think, oh, I'm doing all the right things, but when I'm alone just me and my thoughts how could I get a? 20:43.522 --> 20:45.549 hold of that $900,000 from the government. 20:48.227 --> 20:53.959 How can I sneak my glamour shots into the motor vehicle department? 20:54.900 --> 21:02.463 Or maybe it's just when you come into this place, you put on the mask because you think you believe the lie and you feel the fear that you're the only one that doesn't have it figured out. 21:04.140 --> 21:10.047 You look around and you say, gosh, everyone around me we're singing, they got their hands up, they're praising, screaming hallelujah, praise the Lord. 21:11.380 --> 21:15.287 Am I the only one that doesn't have a super deep, super intimate relationship with God? 21:16.800 --> 21:18.186 And you feel alone and isolated. 21:18.400 --> 21:29.068 So you put on the mask and then you take a few steps back so they don't see you have a mask, but while you're withdrawing so they don't see your mask. 21:29.460 --> 21:30.022 You know what's funny? 21:31.380 --> 21:34.724 The person that you were admiring, that you thought had it all together, is doing the exact same thing. 21:36.260 --> 21:45.987 Their mask is coming in here and being loud and putting the focus on something else other than God, but their holiness, the things that are off the check box. 21:46.100 --> 21:58.207 I went to Lifegroup, I gave, I sang, I sit on the front row, I served, and we think busyness somehow equates to holiness, but we're still hiding fearful. 22:00.668 --> 22:01.793 I just want to let you know a little secret. 22:03.902 --> 22:04.966 None of us had figured it out. 22:06.082 --> 22:12.580 So if you were one of those and you're like, yeah, that was great, james, thank you for pointing out and singling me out that I'm the only one that doesn't know Greek. 22:13.101 --> 22:19.907 I'm not the only one, and I'm just preaching a whole sermon in tongues and I'm not just, you know, slaying the spirits swinging from Nash and Alir. 22:20.088 --> 22:21.211 Okay, thank you. 22:22.741 --> 22:25.370 We're all fellow travelers, we all have our journey. 22:28.802 --> 22:29.765 You don't have to wear the mask. 22:33.348 --> 22:34.652 So why does fear keep us hiding? 22:37.781 --> 22:38.444 Fear is powerful. 22:39.721 --> 22:48.390 So I think it's appropriate that I remind you what Paul tells us in 2nd Timothy 1, 7, for God has not given us a spirit of fear, intimidity, but a power, love and self discipline. 22:48.751 --> 22:53.564 So if you're trapped by fear, you know your enemy is trying to keep you down, he wants to destroy you. 22:53.665 --> 22:58.010 But remember your God has given you what power? 22:59.141 --> 23:04.945 Power, not just a little power, lot of power, god-sized power. 23:06.201 --> 23:10.312 The power that'll electrify a train, a locomotive, speeding down the tracks. 23:11.322 --> 23:18.053 Power that'll light up a city In you, changing you from the inside out, blasting that mask right off your face. 23:19.082 --> 23:21.304 You don't need it, you have power. 23:22.480 --> 23:24.267 Therefore, you don't need to be afraid. 23:25.704 --> 23:27.250 Don't be afraid of what's under the mask. 23:27.751 --> 23:38.609 If you want that Hollywood ending in your life, you want to stand victorious against the junk that's holding you back, god's power promises to do that for you. 23:39.942 --> 23:47.205 If you're a Christ follower, you have the power to overcome the fear, overcome the insecurity, overcome the pride. 23:47.285 --> 23:48.969 Whatever keeps you hiding in the shadows. 23:49.590 --> 23:56.127 It's time to come out, for behind the mask, we Want to see how beautiful you are. 23:59.201 --> 24:00.082 It's time to take it off. 24:00.644 --> 24:05.934 Show the world the masterpiece God has created you to be, be confident in it. 24:06.981 --> 24:12.958 Anything less is selling you and God short, and don't forget that we take him out of the equation a lot. 24:12.978 --> 24:13.179 You think? 24:13.199 --> 24:16.230 ah, it's just me, you know it's no big deal. 24:17.421 --> 24:20.511 What you're doing is you're saying God, you didn't do a good enough job. 24:21.763 --> 24:22.851 You call me a masterpiece. 24:22.992 --> 24:23.878 I call you a liar. 24:23.898 --> 24:25.822 I Can do better. 24:26.684 --> 24:27.627 I can put on a mask. 24:27.707 --> 24:30.233 It's gonna be way prettier than what you created me to be. 24:32.182 --> 24:40.427 We wouldn't say it out loud, afraid of a lightning bolt coming and striking me down, but that's what our actions are equated to. 24:44.294 --> 24:47.869 But You're fearfully and wonderfully made, made in the image of your creator. 24:47.929 --> 24:48.992 Don't cover it up with a mask. 24:49.401 --> 24:51.008 Don't hide who God created you to be. 24:51.800 --> 24:54.365 Authenticity is what the world needs to see from you. 24:54.926 --> 24:56.770 We talk about it all the time as Christ followers. 24:56.790 --> 24:57.412 That's our privilege. 24:57.692 --> 24:58.434 We're ambassadors. 24:58.480 --> 24:59.243 We're little Christ. 24:59.263 --> 25:00.346 That's what Christian means. 25:00.788 --> 25:04.500 So what good does it do to say, yes, I'm a Christian, but then you have a different mask on? 25:05.784 --> 25:07.049 How confusing is that to people? 25:09.041 --> 25:09.905 Be confusing to me. 25:10.226 --> 25:11.350 It's probably confusing to you. 25:12.781 --> 25:13.463 You look in the mirror. 25:13.503 --> 25:15.528 You see one thing, but then your mouth says another. 25:15.808 --> 25:21.872 The world doesn't need perfection, and that's why we create the masks, because we're afraid they're gonna see how imperfect we are. 25:23.262 --> 25:24.667 They just need to see authenticity. 25:25.322 --> 25:37.710 They care to see that if what you say you believe matches up with what you actually do and One of those actions is to take off the mask and be real in what you say, what you do, how you spend, where you go. 25:42.181 --> 25:44.788 The anti-drug organization dare you remember that? 25:45.609 --> 25:47.013 Dare to keep kids off drugs. 25:47.722 --> 25:53.800 I'm old enough that I remember they would send this mascot with a team to your school and you'd get a big old assembly and they tell you stay off drugs, kids. 25:54.262 --> 25:57.320 And then there was McGruff the crime dog and he would come with his trench coat. 25:57.721 --> 25:58.904 You had these cool mascots. 25:58.924 --> 26:00.328 They take cold crime stoppers. 26:00.368 --> 26:09.031 Mcgruff, stay off drugs with Darren the Drug dog, anti drug dog, dare drug bear lion. 26:09.111 --> 26:11.165 He's a lion, he was something. 26:12.302 --> 26:13.025 He was not human. 26:15.381 --> 26:20.873 Well, there was something interesting a few years back and old Darren the dare lion found himself in some trouble. 26:21.344 --> 26:30.794 Well, I should probably clarify he wasn't as much trouble as the 22 year old man who was carrying him at a bus station full of narcotics. 26:31.241 --> 26:38.157 He had stuffed the drug-free mascot lion full of marijuana, cocaine and LSD. 26:38.177 --> 26:50.120 I Don't know how the police found him Maybe they use McGruff the crime dog to sniff it out but they were on to him and they found this young man at a bus station in Plattsburg and they apprehended him. 26:51.023 --> 26:52.086 I thought that was pretty interesting. 26:53.681 --> 27:00.173 So this guy, darren, he comes dressed in the black t-shirt bearing the motto dare to resist drugs and violence. 27:00.700 --> 27:03.730 Gregory comes charged with possession of marijuana and control substance. 27:05.962 --> 27:07.607 I'm thinking about that and I giggled. 27:07.928 --> 27:12.771 But then I thought More of us probably look like old Greg than Darren. 27:14.102 --> 27:16.880 We're hiding behind the pretense of righteousness. 27:18.503 --> 27:24.194 Who would think to look inside a lion that says stay off drugs and assume that it would be full of drugs? 27:25.882 --> 27:34.933 So if I say I'm holy and I have a holiness mask and I go to church, who would dare believe I have any sin in my life, any imperfection in my life, anything I'm hiding in my life? 27:37.465 --> 27:38.489 And I felt really convicted. 27:39.843 --> 27:51.363 Thank you, darren the lion, but you got to come out from hiding, did I say Darren Derek, it's Darren Darren, I Just remember. 27:51.383 --> 27:52.287 He says they have drugs. 27:54.061 --> 27:54.583 But come out. 27:54.924 --> 27:57.411 Look what it says in Psalm 139, 23 and 24. 27:57.761 --> 28:06.500 Search me, oh God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts, point out anything in me that offends you and Lead me along the path of everlasting life. 28:08.124 --> 28:10.409 For some of us we've been wearing a mask for so long. 28:10.690 --> 28:12.294 We don't even see it anymore. 28:13.021 --> 28:19.134 It's just become such a part of who we are we don't separate it from us anymore. 28:21.582 --> 28:23.088 We've bought in hook, line and sinker. 28:25.061 --> 28:32.965 But the way you can be free from a fake life is to ask God to do the changing, just like David did. 28:34.221 --> 28:38.096 Search me, oh God, what is in me that I need to change? 28:38.236 --> 28:39.120 What do I not see? 28:39.481 --> 28:41.185 What are my blind spots? 28:41.606 --> 28:42.789 Because let's think about it. 28:42.849 --> 28:44.173 Why would someone put on a mask? 28:44.700 --> 28:50.353 Probably everyone who's put on a mask tried to fix themselves at one point and couldn't right. 28:52.582 --> 28:54.011 Otherwise, why would you want to put on a mask? 28:55.099 --> 28:58.051 I Want, I see something, I want to be different, I want to be better. 28:58.292 --> 29:00.240 I try, I fail, so I put on a mask. 29:01.963 --> 29:04.929 But if you could change yourself, you would have, hence the mask. 29:05.410 --> 29:07.114 You see how we're stuck in this little cycle. 29:07.581 --> 29:11.108 So the only way you can change is to let God do the changing. 29:11.289 --> 29:13.754 You got to invite him in, and that's my point. 29:15.141 --> 29:17.610 Don't keep trying to beat your head up against the same wall. 29:18.361 --> 29:19.885 You know you're Pastor Bosay all the time. 29:19.945 --> 29:22.332 Don't wait till you get your life together to get baptized, right? 29:22.542 --> 29:24.720 It's like saying I'll start going to the gym once I get in shape. 29:26.845 --> 29:27.286 Wait what? 29:27.767 --> 29:30.393 Yeah, I'm embarrassed, I don't want to go there and kind of be all weak and flabby. 29:31.201 --> 29:32.364 Why do you go to the gym? 29:32.585 --> 29:35.112 Or I'm gonna wait till I get better to go to the doctor and see how things are. 29:37.361 --> 29:38.586 You've tried to change yourself. 29:38.686 --> 29:39.990 Don't rely on your own power. 29:40.821 --> 29:43.288 Don't trust in your own understanding, in your own ways. 29:43.408 --> 29:44.692 His ways are higher, they're better. 29:45.760 --> 29:47.506 Acknowledge him, submit to him. 29:47.566 --> 29:48.690 Let him guide your steps. 29:48.991 --> 29:49.813 Let him change you. 29:50.034 --> 29:51.057 Ask him to make the change. 29:51.358 --> 29:51.820 What's in me? 29:52.141 --> 29:53.365 What do you see that I don't see? 29:53.626 --> 29:54.590 And let's get this done. 29:59.761 --> 30:03.171 Funny thing is we put on the mask because it's instant gratification. 30:03.231 --> 30:05.143 Right, there's an instant change. 30:05.163 --> 30:06.145 That's the thing about a mask. 30:06.807 --> 30:07.328 I'm a mess. 30:07.489 --> 30:11.625 I put on the mask, I look amazing, but what really changed? 30:13.623 --> 30:16.752 Nothing, nothing. 30:17.093 --> 30:17.915 What really changed? 30:18.677 --> 30:20.241 I'm still the same person behind the mask. 30:22.671 --> 30:27.983 A lot of you know that our family over the years before Disney went completely woke full disclaimer. 30:28.451 --> 30:29.814 We were big Disney Park fans. 30:29.994 --> 30:34.464 Okay, nicole and I on Wednesday celebrated our 27-year wedding anniversary. 30:35.731 --> 30:36.494 Thank you very much. 30:38.111 --> 30:39.617 That is a big accomplishment for you. 30:40.862 --> 30:42.910 It has been a breeze and a blessing for me. 30:42.950 --> 30:43.980 Thank you. 30:47.194 --> 30:52.244 But we actually honeymooned in Disneyland all those years ago and we just kept going back year after year after year. 30:52.751 --> 30:53.954 We love the Disney parks. 30:54.295 --> 30:54.956 You go there. 30:55.237 --> 30:58.164 All the cast members are so kind and they have their smiles. 30:58.631 --> 30:59.714 They don't even call them employees, right. 30:59.734 --> 31:00.656 They're cast members. 31:01.037 --> 31:03.603 They're there to help and serve and make your day magical. 31:04.071 --> 31:07.080 Hello Princess, hello Prince, have a magical day. 31:07.722 --> 31:08.223 They tell you. 31:08.263 --> 31:10.370 It's the happiest place on earth and I believed it. 31:12.600 --> 31:14.610 The place was so manicured and perfect. 31:15.593 --> 31:22.050 Walt Disney himself, while he was alive, used to go through and he would watch and see how often people would just kind of look for a trash can. 31:22.331 --> 31:27.370 So that's how he determined how far apart to put trash cans across the Disney parks. 31:27.691 --> 31:30.359 He said, oh, every 30 feet or so, somebody's kind of looking for one. 31:30.399 --> 31:31.101 Let's put it that far. 31:31.951 --> 31:33.956 Every night they scraped the gum off the sidewalk. 31:34.176 --> 31:35.159 You know what Universal Studios? 31:35.179 --> 31:35.941 They got gum everywhere. 31:35.981 --> 31:37.734 It's a middle, not at Disney. 31:38.591 --> 31:40.034 They scraped that junk off every single night. 31:40.835 --> 31:41.697 They repaint every night. 31:41.717 --> 31:42.439 They replant flowers. 31:42.459 --> 31:44.844 Every single night they transform the castle overnight. 31:46.651 --> 31:47.212 It's amazing. 31:48.837 --> 31:54.398 I didn't realize Pixie Dust was that powerful, but they make this incredible experience right. 31:54.799 --> 32:05.356 And then they have cast members, characters that you'll see throughout the park, these kind of exciting, random sightings, right, and there are tears to the characters. 32:05.837 --> 32:15.102 So if you've ever been to a Disney park I mean we've been, probably hundreds of times over the years If you've never been, every now and then I run into someone and say you've been to Disney park, then you know, like, okay, let me just stop and pray for you right now. 32:15.592 --> 32:20.130 I wish I could just lend you one of my visits from the reservoir of our very many, because you're missing out. 32:20.552 --> 32:22.280 But you see these tears of characters. 32:22.300 --> 32:23.425 So you might see a Buzz Lightyear. 32:23.445 --> 32:25.192 You're like, oh, that's kind of cooler, buzz Lightyear. 32:25.212 --> 32:27.680 Woody, over there it's Chip and Dale and the Rescue Ranger. 32:28.012 --> 32:31.630 But if you see someone from the Fab Five, that's like winning the lottery. 32:32.211 --> 32:38.403 That's Mickey Mouse, minnie Mouse, donald Duck, goofy Pluto that's rich, that is gold right there. 32:38.444 --> 32:45.670 Okay, so you're going through and you see all these different characters, but out of nowhere you see one of the Fab Five. 32:46.593 --> 32:47.295 It just makes your day. 32:47.315 --> 32:52.734 I'm going to show you some pictures of some of the trips from so many years ago, back when our kids were still very little and we ran into. 32:52.915 --> 33:00.697 Look at Donald Duck, yes, wow, and my good looking kids, oh, they were so precious back then and when they were asleep. 33:01.418 --> 33:05.645 And then you see, then you see Minnie Mouse with that good looking lady right there holding that little girl. 33:05.690 --> 33:06.333 I tell you what? 33:06.413 --> 33:08.080 That's another good one from the Fab Five. 33:08.321 --> 33:10.650 And then you got to keep going and I'm sure Mickey Mouse made an appearance. 33:11.592 --> 33:13.455 Woo, he's even in his tuxedo. 33:13.495 --> 33:14.497 Nicole, isn't that good. 33:15.479 --> 33:17.222 And then you got to see the whole crew with Pluto. 33:17.583 --> 33:20.214 That was a good day, that's a good time right there. 33:20.295 --> 33:22.541 He's man's best friend or a mouse's best friend. 33:22.991 --> 33:27.019 It's really weird how a mouse can have a pet dog, and it's actually smaller than the mouse. 33:27.279 --> 33:29.644 But you believe it, you believe it. 33:30.411 --> 33:31.833 And those were good times right there. 33:32.153 --> 33:33.075 And you see all that. 33:33.275 --> 33:40.245 And even with all that magical experience in my grown up mind, I still understand that it's not all unicorn and rainbows. 33:41.151 --> 33:51.185 Did you know that they have an elaborate tunnel system underneath all the parks so that the cast members and the employees can all move around freely without the guests seeing them? 33:51.690 --> 33:58.021 You don't see trash cans and big supplies and big stalks of frozen funky hot dogs you would never want to eat. 33:58.262 --> 33:59.664 No, they hide that from you. 33:59.710 --> 34:04.000 So you just see the magical food that's like oh, I want to pay $25 for that hot dog. 34:04.020 --> 34:04.942 That's magical. 34:06.371 --> 34:12.343 And you're never going to see Mickey Mouse and Goofy having a smoke break behind the castle with their heads off, just unwinding after a long shift. 34:13.631 --> 34:14.332 Because why? 34:15.033 --> 34:17.315 That would take away all the magic. 34:19.338 --> 34:22.802 Disney understands that you can never see behind the mask. 34:27.051 --> 34:31.298 You don't want to spoil the illusion and I think so many of us have taken inspiration from Disney's success. 34:35.351 --> 34:38.237 If I take off, the mask loses all the magic. 34:41.884 --> 34:57.960 But I've talked to some of those people that wear the character masks and I've talked to mascots for, like sports teams and you know what happens when you wear that mask too long it starts to smell funky, it starts to get a little rancid. 34:57.980 --> 35:00.023 There's no circulation in there, there's no AC. 35:00.770 --> 35:04.558 You start to get a rash, ooh yeah, starts to get real funky. 35:05.079 --> 35:07.043 And imagine that you're sharing masks. 35:08.451 --> 35:09.331 Just keep your own mask. 35:10.392 --> 35:11.554 But you wear a mask too long. 35:11.614 --> 35:13.415 It starts to get really foul. 35:27.411 --> 35:48.602 The point I'm trying to make today is that, even though we've convinced ourselves of the lies that causes to put on a mask, that we're more loved, more accepted, more appropriate with the mask, I'm just trying to give you evidence upon evidence upon evidence to the contrary that the mask is detrimental, it's damaging and it's not going to bring the joy. 35:50.211 --> 35:53.981 Whatever you thought it was going to accomplish, it's literally doing the opposite. 35:55.191 --> 36:04.670 Our son in the third grade he was in one of those pictures you saw he created a little mask at school and it was paper mache and then they painted it and they glued feathers and sequins and all these fancy things on it. 36:05.172 --> 36:08.650 He's very like, analytical and disciplined, so it was perfectly symmetrical. 36:09.011 --> 36:12.058 I don't know if your kids bring home artwork, but mine was always better than your kids. 36:12.099 --> 36:12.740 I guarantee it. 36:13.730 --> 36:14.794 This was a masterpiece. 36:15.335 --> 36:16.018 I mean, it was perfect. 36:16.339 --> 36:19.670 It could be in like the Louvre or something Good, good stuff. 36:19.990 --> 36:21.212 But as I'm looking at the mask. 36:21.292 --> 36:30.604 I think, man, so often we can look at a mask like that and we can become master mask makers instead of being master Christ followers. 36:32.850 --> 36:37.141 You only have so much energy to invest in things in your life. 36:37.730 --> 36:39.515 Are you investing it in doing the work? 36:39.916 --> 36:48.101 God created for you to do the good works in advance, to being more like his son Jesus, or are you investing it in becoming a great mask maker? 36:49.787 --> 36:50.630 Time to reinvent myself. 36:51.673 --> 36:53.498 Maybe I'll move to another burrow with a brand new mask. 36:58.810 --> 37:01.859 What if we decided to take off our masks and take a good hard look in the mirror? 37:05.710 --> 37:06.311 What would we see? 37:07.714 --> 37:08.636 How would our lives be better? 37:08.796 --> 37:11.281 What would our communities in our church look like if we did that? 37:14.073 --> 37:15.000 Better or worse, you think? 37:22.161 --> 37:23.804 Look at what 1 Samuel says. 37:23.910 --> 37:26.799 We're reminded of how God looks at us in chapter 16, verse 7. 37:27.611 --> 37:30.720 Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. 37:31.270 --> 37:33.037 The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. 37:33.550 --> 37:36.839 People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord, he, looks at the heart. 37:38.150 --> 37:51.596 Samuel's looking at the outward appearance to anoint a new king, but God shines a light on the situation and he reveals that, no matter how pretty we look on the outside, how accomplished we are, how put together we are, how good your resume looks. 37:53.580 --> 37:54.422 He's looking at the heart. 37:55.630 --> 38:00.099 God's looking at our thoughts, our motives, what's behind the mask? 38:02.030 --> 38:07.373 I think it's funny that sometimes we believe the mask hypes, so much so that we think we're even fooling God. 38:09.790 --> 38:19.197 That's why some people stop doing the work not the work of earning salvation, but there is work to being a Christ follower. 38:19.890 --> 38:22.758 Jesus said die to yourself, take up your cross and follow me. 38:23.710 --> 38:24.875 That doesn't happen on autopilot. 38:25.710 --> 38:26.694 No one's doing that for you. 38:27.150 --> 38:32.013 You're picking up the cross and you're walking, but we want to skip that. 38:32.775 --> 38:32.996 God. 38:33.016 --> 38:36.207 Look at my mask, Look how good I look. 38:36.610 --> 38:37.654 I made a mask of a cross. 38:37.694 --> 38:39.532 I picked it up Meanwhile. 38:39.573 --> 38:40.535 The real stuff's over there. 38:42.410 --> 38:43.233 We're not fooling anyone. 38:45.390 --> 38:53.375 God wants us to lay it down, the pretenses, the illusion, and just be real, because he created us to be masterpieces. 38:56.090 --> 38:56.753 You don't cover it up. 38:58.452 --> 39:01.761 If you're a Christ follower, you're fully loved and you're fully accepted. 39:02.271 --> 39:09.240 And so I just want to encourage you today and tell you you don't have to believe the lies of the enemy that say you're not good enough and you won't be accepted without the mask. 39:09.930 --> 39:13.239 God says you are approved and loved just how you are. 39:14.430 --> 39:17.715 So let's thank him with a big round of applause for that, because that is good news. 39:23.770 --> 39:27.081 If you're here today and that's not you and you say, well, that's great. 39:28.245 --> 39:31.056 But I don't know if I feel approved and loved. 39:31.870 --> 39:32.874 I'm still believing the lie. 39:33.730 --> 39:35.116 I don't know if I've surrendered my life. 39:35.190 --> 39:36.355 I don't know if I've made that decision. 39:36.750 --> 39:38.175 I'm still trying to fix myself. 39:40.070 --> 39:41.054 We have a solution for that too. 39:41.910 --> 39:43.890 I want to make available to you the opportunity. 39:44.011 --> 40:00.420 I'm going to ask the worship team to come and I'm going to ask everyone just to bow their head and close their eyes and let's give everyone an opportunity that hasn't to surrender their life to Christ, to be accepted, to feel the unconditional love and to squash the lies that say you're not good enough because you have a savior who said you are Right where you are. 40:00.950 --> 40:01.572 I'm a heavenly Father. 40:02.275 --> 40:02.776 I need you. 40:03.870 --> 40:06.318 I've tried to fix myself and I can't. 40:07.311 --> 40:08.395 I lay down the mask. 40:09.090 --> 40:12.879 I acknowledge I'm a sinner in desperate need of a savior. 40:14.870 --> 40:20.371 You died on the cross, becoming my sin, taking the punishment and paying the price I couldn't pay. 40:21.630 --> 40:22.815 You're offering me a free gift. 40:23.410 --> 40:24.515 Now I accept it. 40:25.190 --> 40:35.932 Come into my life, change me, transform me, make me brand new, make me accepted, make me loved. 40:37.910 --> 40:41.394 I'm yours, father. 40:41.454 --> 40:42.437 Thank you for new life. 40:43.470 --> 40:44.394 Now I'm giving you mine. 40:45.410 --> 40:48.420 In Jesus' name I pray Amen. 40:49.473 --> 40:51.639 This is the City Light Church podcast. 40:52.150 --> 41:01.322 If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansic and City Light Church, visit us at CityLightNYCcom. 41:01.890 --> 41:03.556 That's CityLightNYCcom. 41:04.990 --> 41:07.899 Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. 41:08.430 --> 41:09.875 We would love to connect with you. 41:10.890 --> 41:18.378 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. 41:19.390 --> 41:20.093 Thank you for listening. 41:20.750 --> 41:26.116 Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.