Finding True Self: Overcoming Illusions and Deceptions

0:00 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but a power, love and self-discipline. So if you're trapped by fear, you know your enemy is trying to keep you down. He wants to destroy you, but remember your God has given you what Power? 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. 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.

0:41 That's citylightnyccom. Pastor Boyan Jansik 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. I'm James Chavez. I get to hang out with you today. 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. 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.

1:33 It's going to be okay. 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. Yes, scary, I was on my way to Friday night service. I'm driving, so it's the long drive. 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. What do you think? Or you know? Well, I think I know that I got in a car accident because I hit another car. Yeah, okay, I think you know. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm okay. I mean, I banged at my knee Like how bad. I mean I'm fine, I'm fine, okay, how's the other? car the other person fine, yeah, they're fine. Okay, what do I do? So I stayed the next 55 minutes on the phone walking her through.

2:15 The police. Came you get the registration, get your license, give your statement. Is it drivable? She's breaking pieces off, putting them in her trunk so she can drive back to her. Wow, what an ordeal. So for the next couple of weeks I'm dealing with insurance. Are we going to fix it? Are we going to total it? They finally totaled it. 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. So I got to go. I don't have the plates, whether you go to the police. Did you get this form? Did you get that form? Can I speak to your supervisor? Mr Chavez, we don't have. Can I speak to your supervisor? I tell you what it's a good time. Anybody like the motor vehicle department? Woo, I scheduled a root canal after that just so I can get some rest from the motor vehicle department.

2:57 I tell you that's a hard time, but while I'm sitting there waiting for my number, they're like why 7217? What happened to just like 53? It's like seven digit numbers. I'm like how many people are ahead of me, my gosh. And then I'm like in the Gs. Well, they start coming up with Cs and then Zs and they do it just to throw you off. It's, it's, it's mind games. I tell you it's mind games, somebody's got to do the job, but I just have. 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. You guys remember that? Getting your picture taken for the driver's license? Who likes getting their picture taken for the driver's license? 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.

3:48 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. How weird is that? Right? Or if you're completely unrecognizable, that's another weird one. But no one likes showing the driver's license picture. I think they train you on how to actually take a really bad picture. 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. Or they say, okay, I'm going to take it on three, one, two, like what. You didn't go on three. Or after three, you didn't even let me get to three and they just laugh have a nice day.

4:29 Number 472,989 million what I hate the driver's license picture. And now they give it to you for like 100 years. I'm like, why couldn't? I got it when I was like 18 and I kept that one when I was all like when I had one chin. You know what I'm saying, what is going on. But then there's the other thing. There's portrait pictures. That's a good time, right? Anybody remember Glamour Shots? That was a thing that was like that's the way Hollywood would do it. I mean, they get just the right lighting to compliment your skin tone. They get the backdrop just right. They even told you to turn right. They kind of tilt your shoulders and turn your head back and stick your chin out so you don't look.

5:13 So I had to see the chiropractor after that because I'm all contorted so I don't look weird. But boy, they can airbrush out wrinkles and blemishes and that thing. It just looks like you just stepped right out of heaven. It is amazing. But what's really interesting about those two different kinds of pictures? What they have in common is that neither one is real right. You're not as bad as the motor vehicle says you are, I promise, and I know those cameras add 10 pounds. But you're not as good as Glamour Shots says you are either, right. I tell you what neither one is the real thing. In the end, only God sees our real selves.

5:56 He knows the real deal. 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. If you truly want to make an impact and have influence in our world, you've got to be real. Jesus said it this way in Luke 12, too. 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. That's scary. Yeah, dun, dun, dun, all that's in secret? All you mean all, or just the things that I present? No, all I need to work on a bigger mask.

6:39 Well, this is October and this is when we have little kids dressing up and they're trick-or-treating and masks, right. So I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about masks, the masks that we put on. Why do we choose to wear a mask? 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. Is that right? If we start there, that's not convicting at all. You're like, talk about their mask. Why are you going to talk about my mask? So let's look at the one that we put on for ourselves. 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.

7:21 Right, and that's far worse. Some social scientists they've been studying this for a long, long time, and studies dating back to the 1950s. They dubbed this cognitive dissidence. Right, where this is the theory that explains how people can fully come to believe something that they know completely is a lie. That's interesting. 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. 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. Therefore, everything I say must be true.

8:04 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. Now, cults are known for what their honesty and transparency. No, not usually. So this was a perfect opportunity to understand this phenomenon. 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. Because that's a good one, right? Independence Day. Who doesn't look? 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.

8:50 So they talk it up and they predict the date. 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. They kind of close ranks. They stop doing interviews and they stop talking to the media. And they thought that was kind of interesting. So they're only listening in their echo chamber to the other people who believe what they believe. 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. Something went down. They were really excited to talk to the media again. Why do you think that was?

9:30 Well, because they didn't want to act like they had been duped and they were fools. I almost said stupid. That's where Nicole right on the hook, she's like. They didn't want to admit they were fools. So they had to come out and say they actually saved the world from the alien invasion. How about that? They didn't want to believe and face the truth that they were deceived. So they wanted to convince themselves and the world that they had actually done some good. Well, these same sociologists. 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. And they took the other group and they said tell the same lie.

10:11 When you tell the lie, we'll pay you $1. And let me just this was in the 1950s. That $20 is equivalent to about $255 today. So here's what was interesting the people that told the lie both groups told the lie. They got their money. The people that got paid the $1 for telling the lie started speaking as if that wasn't a lie. 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. 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 I did it for the money $255,. I could do a lot with that. I can pay a new pair of shoes, I can have a nice dinner $1,. What do I do with $1? What does that say about me myself worth an integrity if I'll sell out for $1? They didn't want to believe it. They couldn't accept it. So they started to believe. Well, it couldn't have been a lie. Really, it's true. It has to be true on some level. A partial truth has to be truth. If there's any truth, then it's truth. Isn't that interesting? We see this all the time, even in the media today. Worst bet a steady stream of lies. Right, this steady diet just coming through. There's even a name for it gaslighting. You heard that Gaslighting.

11:38 I used that phrase the other day. And our kids. Now they're in their 20s and they looked at me like where'd you learn that word? Look, you don't have a monopoly on cool words. Just because you're in your 20s, I know what gaslighting is. Do it to you all the time. I don't care, I don't care, just kidding kids. 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. It was a lie in the first place. Right, think, does everyone believe? Ok, if NBC and ABC and CNN and MSNBC and Washington Post and New York Times, I'm the weird one.

12:18 It's all true. It's not. Don't believe the hype. They're gaslighting you. Why do they do it? 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. But it's one or the other. There's nothing in the middle. So be careful. We don't want to be liars, right? Sometimes the truth of who we are or what we've done in the past is too painful to face.

12:59 So what do we do? Put on a mask for ourselves, because, guess what? Other people aren't thinking about you as much as you think about you. 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. Maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe they know what I've done. Maybe I need to put on a mask so I feel better about what they see. And so we listen to the lies. There was a guy named John Beal. He was a former high-level official with the Environmental Protection Agency, the EPA.

13:39 He pled guilty to stealing over $900,000 from the government. 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. Ok, in 1994, beal he convinced top officials at the EPA, where he worked, that he was a CIA operative Get that. And he was dealing with matters so top secret and confidential that they couldn't dig in or ask questions. 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 That's crazy. No one knows for sure how much money he actually swindled out of the government because this scheme went on for 19 years. Could you imagine living a double life for 19 years? How difficult must that be? It was probably kind of fun for the first couple of times. He got away with it and he's like look at me Out on the golf course just swinging around. I'm like I'm getting paid. But then, hey, where were you? I can't talk about it. Stop secret. Who did I tell what to? What mask was I wearing when I talked to this person? That gets rough after a while it's hard to know what's real.

15:23 But here's what I thought when I thought about that guy. I said I'll bet if I'm being honest and you are too. There's probably some inconsistencies in who we say we are and who we really are. Maybe not to the extent of old Mr Beal swindling almost a million dollars from the government. Any fake CIA operatives in the audience today Don't tell me if you are. Put your hand it's supposed to be covert. But I'm sure there's inconsistencies when you're being honest, when we pretend to be more than we are.

16:04 Here's what it does. We skip the process that God wants to do in your life to make you who he's created you to be. They're like I want the shortcut God says. I'm taking you on a process of sanctification. I'm making you more like my son Jesus. If you'll let me, you say, ooh, that's rough. Let me just put on a mask so I'll look like Jesus. I feel good now. 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. Pretending avoids the discipline and the accountability that are essential ingredients to the productive Christian, authentic life that God calls us to.

16:46 Paul writes this in 2 Corinthians 2, 17. You see, we're not like the many hucksters who preach for personal profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ's authority, knowing that God watches us. Paul got it. He knew it was more than what was just on the outside, that God saw all. He knew it was going on. But why do we keep putting on the mask? Then, if we say we're Christians, oh, god sees all. Well, why do we do it? Why do we continue to sell ourselves short and to tell us, tell ourselves that we're not good enough? Why do we continue to believe the lie? That's the million dollar question. I wanna remind you of one thing that I think contributes to that is that we have an enemy.

17:29 You remember that right, this is the time of year when I think our enemy Satan. He just laughs and laughs and laughs because there are so many little double costumes and we just water this thing down. 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. But he's an enemy, like a roaring lion looking to devour you. He wants to chew you up and spit you out and he'll use anything he can to accomplish that. 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. But he can tell you lies. And what do we do? We listen.

18:12 He whispers you're not good enough, you have to lie about who you are to be accepted. We say, yeah, that's true, I'm a mess, that's true. But here's the deal. 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. You are right. If you're a Christ follower, you're a child of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. That makes you somebody. That's impressive. That's good. Why would you hide that behind a mask? But we belittle that and we look at our accomplishments in our flesh. We listen to the lies and we say, mm. I'm not good enough. I'm not good enough, don't believe it.

18:52 God created you to be so much more. I love this reminder in Ephesians 2.10. Says for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. So stop believing the lie that the enemy is telling you and start believing the truth from your heavenly father. He said you're a masterpiece. You know what a masterpiece is? We call our kids second grade artwork masterpiece. But that's not what this is talking about. This isn't just an affectionate pat on the head. Yeah, you're a mess, but I love you anyway. He looks at you and he sees a Picasso, a Rembrandt.

19:35 You are a masterpiece, poema. Don't cover it up. But if you're anything like me, you can be pretty good at hiding who you really are. Right, pride, insecurity they can cause us to do things we swore we would never do. I would never do that. And then you're faced with it and one of these things will cause you to do something bizarre Put on a mask Cause. Then you have to rationalize oh, did I really compromise? Did I really do that? Nope, I see the mask. I didn't do it. That's all I see when I look in the mirror.

20:16 But fear keeps us hiding, right, fear keeps us hiding behind the mask. So why do you stay back there? What are you hiding? What are you afraid of? Is there an inappropriate relationship? Maybe you're afraid to face? Is there some secret sin? Maybe some sin in your thought life? 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? hold of that $900,000 from the government. How can I sneak my glamour shots into the motor vehicle department? 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 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. Am I the only one that doesn't have a super deep, super intimate relationship with God? And you feel alone and isolated. 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. You know what's funny? The person that you were admiring, that you thought had it all together, is doing the exact same thing. 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 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. I just want to let you know a little secret. None of us had figured it out. 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. 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. Okay, thank you. We're all fellow travelers, we all have our journey.

22:28 You don't have to wear the mask. So why does fear keep us hiding? Fear is powerful. 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. So if you're trapped by fear, you know your enemy is trying to keep you down, he wants to destroy you. But remember your God has given you what power? Power, not just a little power, lot of power, god-sized power. The power that'll electrify a train, a locomotive, speeding down the tracks.

23:11 Power that'll light up a city In you, changing you from the inside out, blasting that mask right off your face. You don't need it, you have power. Therefore, you don't need to be afraid. Don't be afraid of what's under the mask. 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. If you're a Christ follower, you have the power to overcome the fear, overcome the insecurity, overcome the pride. Whatever keeps you hiding in the shadows. It's time to come out, for behind the mask, we Want to see how beautiful you are.

23:59 It's time to take it off. Show the world the masterpiece God has created you to be, be confident in it. Anything less is selling you and God short, and don't forget that we take him out of the equation a lot. You think? ah, it's just me, you know it's no big deal. What you're doing is you're saying God, you didn't do a good enough job. You call me a masterpiece. I call you a liar. I Can do better. I can put on a mask. It's gonna be way prettier than what you created me to be. 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 But You're fearfully and wonderfully made, made in the image of your creator. Don't cover it up with a mask. Don't hide who God created you to be. Authenticity is what the world needs to see from you. We talk about it all the time as Christ followers. That's our privilege. We're ambassadors. We're little Christ. That's what Christian means. So what good does it do to say, yes, I'm a Christian, but then you have a different mask on? How confusing is that to people? Be confusing to me. It's probably confusing to you. You look in the mirror. You see one thing, but then your mouth says another. 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. They just need to see authenticity.

25:25 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. The anti-drug organization dare you remember that? Dare to keep kids off drugs. 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. And then there was McGruff the crime dog and he would come with his trench coat. You had these cool mascots. They take cold crime stoppers. Mcgruff, stay off drugs with Darren the Drug dog, anti drug dog, dare drug bear lion.

26:09 He's a lion, he was something. He was not human. Well, there was something interesting a few years back and old Darren the dare lion found himself in some trouble. 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. He had stuffed the drug-free mascot lion full of marijuana, cocaine and LSD. 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 I thought that was pretty interesting. So this guy, darren, he comes dressed in the black t-shirt bearing the motto dare to resist drugs and violence. Gregory comes charged with possession of marijuana and control substance. I'm thinking about that and I giggled. But then I thought More of us probably look like old Greg than Darren. We're hiding behind the pretense of righteousness. Who would think to look inside a lion that says stay off drugs and assume that it would be full of drugs? 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 And I felt really convicted. 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. He says they have drugs. But come out. Look what it says in Psalm 139, 23 and 24. 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. For some of us we've been wearing a mask for so long. We don't even see it anymore. It's just become such a part of who we are we don't separate it from us anymore.

28:21 We've bought in hook, line and sinker. But the way you can be free from a fake life is to ask God to do the changing, just like David did. Search me, oh God, what is in me that I need to change? What do I not see? What are my blind spots? Because let's think about it. Why would someone put on a mask? Probably everyone who's put on a mask tried to fix themselves at one point and couldn't right. Otherwise, why would you want to put on a mask? I Want, I see something, I want to be different, I want to be better. I try, I fail, so I put on a mask.

29:01 But if you could change yourself, you would have, hence the mask. You see how we're stuck in this little cycle. So the only way you can change is to let God do the changing. You got to invite him in, and that's my point. Don't keep trying to beat your head up against the same wall. You know you're Pastor Bosay all the time. Don't wait till you get your life together to get baptized, right? It's like saying I'll start going to the gym once I get in shape. Wait what? Yeah, I'm embarrassed, I don't want to go there and kind of be all weak and flabby. Why do you go to the gym? Or I'm gonna wait till I get better to go to the doctor and see how things are. You've tried to change yourself. Don't rely on your own power. Don't trust in your own understanding, in your own ways.

29:43 His ways are higher, they're better. Acknowledge him, submit to him. Let him guide your steps. Let him change you. Ask him to make the change. What's in me? What do you see that I don't see? And let's get this done. Funny thing is we put on the mask because it's instant gratification. Right, there's an instant change. That's the thing about a mask. I'm a mess. I put on the mask, I look amazing, but what really changed? Nothing, nothing. What really changed? I'm still the same person behind the mask. A lot of you know that our family over the years before Disney went completely woke full disclaimer.

30:28 We were big Disney Park fans. Okay, nicole and I on Wednesday celebrated our 27-year wedding anniversary. Thank you very much. That is a big accomplishment for you. It has been a breeze and a blessing for me. Thank you. But we actually honeymooned in Disneyland all those years ago and we just kept going back year after year after year. We love the Disney parks. You go there. All the cast members are so kind and they have their smiles. They don't even call them employees, right. They're cast members. They're there to help and serve and make your day magical. Hello Princess, hello Prince, have a magical day. They tell you. It's the happiest place on earth and I believed it.

31:12 The place was so manicured and perfect. 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. So that's how he determined how far apart to put trash cans across the Disney parks. He said, oh, every 30 feet or so, somebody's kind of looking for one. Let's put it that far. Every night they scraped the gum off the sidewalk. You know what Universal Studios? They got gum everywhere. It's a middle, not at Disney. They scraped that junk off every single night. They repaint every night. They replant flowers. Every single night they transform the castle overnight. It's amazing. I didn't realize Pixie Dust was that powerful, but they make this incredible experience right.

31:54 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. 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. I wish I could just lend you one of my visits from the reservoir of our very many, because you're missing out. But you see these tears of characters. So you might see a Buzz Lightyear. You're like, oh, that's kind of cooler, buzz Lightyear. Woody, over there it's Chip and Dale and the Rescue Ranger. But if you see someone from the Fab Five, that's like winning the lottery. That's Mickey Mouse, minnie Mouse, donald Duck, goofy Pluto that's rich, that is gold right there.

32:38 Okay, so you're going through and you see all these different characters, but out of nowhere you see one of the Fab Five. It just makes your day. 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. Look at Donald Duck, yes, wow, and my good looking kids, oh, they were so precious back then and when they were asleep. And then you see, then you see Minnie Mouse with that good looking lady right there holding that little girl. I tell you what? That's another good one from the Fab Five. And then you got to keep going and I'm sure Mickey Mouse made an appearance. Woo, he's even in his tuxedo. Nicole, isn't that good. And then you got to see the whole crew with Pluto. That was a good day, that's a good time right there.

33:20 He's man's best friend or a mouse's best friend. It's really weird how a mouse can have a pet dog, and it's actually smaller than the mouse. But you believe it, you believe it. And those were good times right there. And you see all that. And even with all that magical experience in my grown up mind, I still understand that it's not all unicorn and rainbows. 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? You don't see trash cans and big supplies and big stalks of frozen funky hot dogs you would never want to eat. No, they hide that from you. So you just see the magical food that's like oh, I want to pay $25 for that hot dog.

34:04 That's magical. 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. Because why? That would take away all the magic. Disney understands that you can never see behind the mask. You don't want to spoil the illusion and I think so many of us have taken inspiration from Disney's success. If I take off, the mask loses all the magic. 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 There's no circulation in there, there's no AC. You start to get a rash, ooh yeah, starts to get real funky. And imagine that you're sharing masks. Just keep your own mask. But you wear a mask too long. It starts to get really foul. 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 Whatever you thought it was going to accomplish, it's literally doing the opposite. 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. He's very like, analytical and disciplined, so it was perfectly symmetrical. I don't know if your kids bring home artwork, but mine was always better than your kids. I guarantee it. This was a masterpiece. I mean, it was perfect. It could be in like the Louvre or something Good, good stuff. But as I'm looking at the mask. 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 You only have so much energy to invest in things in your life. Are you investing it in doing the work? 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? Time to reinvent myself. Maybe I'll move to another burrow with a brand new mask. What if we decided to take off our masks and take a good hard look in the mirror? What would we see? How would our lives be better? What would our communities in our church look like if we did that?

37:14 Better or worse, you think? Look at what 1 Samuel says. We're reminded of how God looks at us in chapter 16, verse 7. Don't judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord, he, looks at the heart. 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. He's looking at the heart.

37:55 God's looking at our thoughts, our motives, what's behind the mask? I think it's funny that sometimes we believe the mask hypes, so much so that we think we're even fooling God. That's why some people stop doing the work not the work of earning salvation, but there is work to being a Christ follower. Jesus said die to yourself, take up your cross and follow me. That doesn't happen on autopilot. No one's doing that for you. You're picking up the cross and you're walking, but we want to skip that. God. Look at my mask, Look how good I look.

38:36 I made a mask of a cross. I picked it up Meanwhile. The real stuff's over there. We're not fooling anyone. God wants us to lay it down, the pretenses, the illusion, and just be real, because he created us to be masterpieces. You don't cover it up. If you're a Christ follower, you're fully loved and you're fully accepted. 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. God says you are approved and loved just how you are. So let's thank him with a big round of applause for that, because that is good news.

39:23 If you're here today and that's not you and you say, well, that's great. But I don't know if I feel approved and loved. I'm still believing the lie. I don't know if I've surrendered my life. I don't know if I've made that decision. I'm still trying to fix myself. We have a solution for that too. I want to make available to you the opportunity. 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. I'm a heavenly Father. I need you.

40:03 I've tried to fix myself and I can't. I lay down the mask. I acknowledge I'm a sinner in desperate need of a savior. You died on the cross, becoming my sin, taking the punishment and paying the price I couldn't pay. You're offering me a free gift. Now I accept it. Come into my life, change me, transform me, make me brand new, make me accepted, make me loved. I'm yours, father. Thank you for new life. Now I'm giving you mine.

40:45 In Jesus' name I pray Amen. This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansic and City Light Church, visit us at CityLightNYCcom. That's CityLightNYCcom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.