Flourishing Like a Palm Tree

00:00 - Speaker 1 Everybody wants to talk about how in the book of Acts they all shared and nobody held anything in common, like that was supposed to be every single day, every single month, forever. We're not a commune. That happened once in church history as an example of what the power and love of God can do. But after that people lived lives and they were able to accumulate wealth. Because the Bible says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. 00:26 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the CityLight 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 CityLight Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:02 - Speaker 1 Hallelujah that he has a real hope and a future for you. Hallelujah, you got to be hungry, amen. You have to be hungry when you come into the presence of God, because God is moved by hunger. Hunger is the expression of faith. In action there's a passion, and it may not sound scriptural because it sounds emotional, but yes, God is moved by passion. That's why in James it says the fervent prayer. Fervent that means red, hot, fiery. The fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, has tremendous power, it's dynamic and it's working. Not the cold, soulless prayer, not the little script that we read, but something from the heart. That's why King Hezekiah he was told he was gonna die. He then passionately petitions the Lord for help and the Lord changes his mind. He says fine, you get 15 more years. What made the difference? A fervent prayer. I'm saying this to provoke you, because God forbid you wake up early on a Sunday morning and just show up and expect nothing. Because, according to your faith, be it unto you. If you come into church and don't expect to get something, you're going to get exactly what you're expecting nothing. You've got to come in hungry. Every time we're together, God has something in mind for you. There is a divine deposit he wants to give you Amen, amen. And it's activated with hunger, with passion. Yet you personalize it for yourself. David didn't say the Lord is a shepherd. He said the Lord is my shepherd. He personalized it for himself. The Lord is my shepherd Some people don't want. No, I shall not want. He takes some people, puts them in green pastures. No, he leads me. He made it his own. He appropriated the truth about God for himself. That's what you got to do. And when. The truths that are going to be presented to you this morning, they're for you, they're not generalizations, and they only work when you make them your own. In fact, that's how you get saved, and they only work when you make them your own. In fact, that's how you get saved. Jesus is the savior of the world. Yes, but he's my savior. Amen. 03:33 Songs in Spanish. I'm going to sing it passionately. I wouldn't even know what I was singing if it didn't have the English in the next line, but you listen to me and I'm trying to pronounce it. My name isn't Bo, it's Bo Chacho, jens Rieges. When I sing those songs, I turn extra Spanish. I'm not going to just mess with it a little bit, I'm going to sing it with my whole corazon Amen, gloria a Dios, hallelujah, amen. 04:13 And I expect do you know? I expect to receive something every time I minister yeah, and I do. He fills me up as I'm pouring out. So this is a time where we get together. In Galatians, paul says the Holy Spirit who works miracles among you, this is a time where you can get exactly what you need. God will fill up your tank, he'll put a divine deposit inside of you. Amen, all right. 04:39 A couple announcements, then I want to bring you the word this morning. Number one life groups are beginning tomorrow. All these people are getting excited because life groups are vital. They just are. We see it in the early church. They met all together, but they also met from house to house. They did both. They met in a big, giant corporate setting in the temple, and then they met in smaller settings, because in smaller settings you can ask questions, you can give answers, you yourself can pour out. 05:10 I've noticed now we've been doing life groups for over 20 years the people who I see mature the fastest and the best. They're part of life groups Everyone we've ever had in leadership. They've gone through life groups and still enjoy life groups and the commitment isn't that great. It's. They've gone through life groups and still enjoy life groups and the commitment isn't that great. It's for 12 weeks and it's for 75 minutes. So make a decision to be a part of a life group, amen. 05:34 I had to look again. I saw I can tell people check out. You just get that glassy eyed, look and oh, they're playing the video. As you can see, all of our life groups are 90% women and 10% men. It was just that day. It's just that day. Just kidding, do not be turned off by anything. I'm saying All right, next thing that's happening. Next thing that's happening Baptisms. 06:03 November the 1st. We do baptisms twice a year, in the fall and in the spring. Baptisms are for those people who have come along throughout the year and you've given your lives to Jesus. It's the next step for you. Or maybe you came back to the Lord, but you were never biblically baptized. What's biblical baptism? Well, it's baptism that you actually see in the Bible. 06:32 Hint, infant baptism or baby baptism. It's not in the Bible. You just won't find one verse of a baby getting baptized. You say, why then do some places baptize babies? That's a rabbit hole for you to go down yourself. And now you got chat, just ask a question and find out, but it's not in the scriptures. 06:52 So you have to get baptized when you're of age, when you understand what you're doing, because the prerequisites for baptism are repentance and faith. You got to repent and you got to believe. A baby can't do that. Someone else has to do that for them. So if you were christened, really as a baby, you need to get biblically baptized when you're of age, when it's your choice, not your parents, and you need to go completely under the water. A little dab won't do you. A little sprinkle is not enough. We're burying you. Baptism, as you can see, is a big celebration service. It's also a glorious funeral service. We're burying your old self. You're going all the way underneath the water. We play the video. So you know that I don't keep you under for too long. Just a second and then you come up in the newness of life. 07:39 I've been criticized for my baptism technique that people need a chiropractic adjustment afterwards. I'm going to be much gentler next time. Nobody in the church but other pastors who've seen our videos have teased me, said wow, you really do. You instruct the people. It does look violent on video. It looks, ah, water splashing, I'm like, but it's actually quite lovely and quite beautiful. If you see the videos, it does look like I'm performing an exorcism slash baptism. I'll be very, very gentle, I'm going to lower you into the water. You'll come up and it will do something in your life. What will it do? What did it do in Jesus' life At his baptism is when the Holy Spirit alighted upon him, something happened. 08:21 God wouldn't ask you, really tell you, to get baptized if there was no blessing attached to it. At the very least, the blessings of obedience come upon you for doing what he said in his word to do. Amen. Are you ready for the word this morning? Let's begin in Psalm 92, in verse 12. Psalm 92, in verse 12. Psalm 92 and verse 12. The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. 08:53 Let me just ask the same question I asked last week. How many righteous people do we have here? Lift your hands Much better this week. Praise God, and if you're a guest and you're thinking, I just came into the most arrogant, proud church, wow, these people really need to humble themselves. So many people lifted their hands that they're righteous. Let me assure you that they understand that they are righteous because of Jesus and not in and of themselves. But there are so many blessings associated with the righteous person. How do you go about appropriating them for your own life, anytime associated with the righteous person, how do you go about appropriating them for your own life? Anytime you see the righteous person, you need to be able to say that's me, not because of what I do, but because of what Jesus has done for me. 09:35 He who knew no sin this is what the scripture says he who knew no sin, the perfectly innocent, the perfectly guiltless, the perfectly innocent, the perfectly guiltless became sin for me on the cross, and that sin was dealt with, it was judged, it was punished. How beautiful is that? Your sin in Jesus, so the punishment doesn't land on you. The wrath of God, the holy and just deserved wrath of God, doesn't fall on you. It fell upon Jesus. He took that in your place so that the perfectly innocent who was made sin. Now, because of that, you have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. So I asked you a question how many righteous people we had? A lot of good hands went up because you understand that Jesus has given you his righteousness, amen. 10:25 Let me ask the follow-up question that really gets people going who's more righteous, you or Jesus? Any takers? Amen to the third row. How about that cluster over there? Who's more righteous, you or Jesus? Take a. The answer is yes, I'll take that. The answer is yes, any takers? Who's more righteous, you or Jesus? What? Both the same, the same is the answer. 11:08 It sounds almost heretical, doesn't it? It sounds almost blasphemous, because you immediately oh no, Jesus is more righteousness. You think he, Jesus, has more right standing with the father than you? Then you don't understand that he's given you his righteousness. He gave you his. He doesn't have a higher degree. He gave you what he has. 11:28 If you had a lower degree of righteousness, how could you make it into heaven? Because you don't get into heaven with an A minus. You know that right. You get into heaven, you gotta be perfect, a plus with the extra credit on top. And the only one who ever got that grade was Jesus, and then he gave his grade over to you. You have to be perfect to enter into heaven. You come in because he's given you his righteousness. That's why in Hebrews it says that Jesus is also your brother. He's lifted you up. People think he lifted them up just a little bit just out of the pit, but they still have slime covering them. No, he lifted them up just a little bit just out of the pit, but they still have slime covering them. No, he lifted you up to himself, to the degree that the Bible says you're now seated in heavenly places in Christ, so that when you speak to God the Father, it's like Jesus speaking to God the Father, you bringing a request to God the Father, it's like Jesus bringing a request to God the Father. That's what happened. He gave you his right, standing with God. So now you know you qualify. Amen. 12:32 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. A palm tree is a rare tree that can grow and that can flourish in the desert, in the wilderness, in harsh, arid environments. And he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon, a cedar in Lebanon. That's a tall and majestic tree, it's regal, it's kingly. There's a duality here. The Bible is saying you will flourish and you will grow. You've been taken and exalted. God has given you his righteousness. You're also like a cedar of Lebanon majestic, regal and tall. But also because we still live on this side of heaven, the Bible is saying because of its extensive root system, the palm tree can flourish anywhere, in the sand on the beach, far away from water sources, but that extensive root system, which is in Christ, goes deep and you still flourish. 13:31 I want to talk to you about flourishing this morning. I want you to flourish. I'm after you flourishing and thank God that we serve a God of abundance, a God who causes our cup to overflow. I feel this in my spirit this morning because we're going to need it. We need to be rooted and grounded in the abundance and the blessing and the prosperity. If you haven't caught on, I'm talking about finances this morning. Amen, amen. I want to. How do you not? 14:08 I took my kids four of us Friday night. They're done with school. I got to do the dad thing. I'm going to take them to yogurt and we go five minutes away, the old town of Roslyn, get yogurt $35. When did that happen? We're not a family of 19. We're a family of four. The other day, five minutes ago, that would have been $12 to $15. Now it's $35. People, does anybody ever stop and go? What is happening here? You really want to get freaked out. 14:43 Check out your Amazon cart from 2019. You know how you can go into orders and look at past orders and you can click one more time and actually see the receipt and what you paid. Do that and compare what you paid for toothpaste, for your Lysol or Fabuloso Maybe I am bro-chacho Because in my house, house, right, it's only fabuloso. I want to know that the house is clean and fabuloso slaps you, it's clean, it just lets you know you're in a clean house. Fabuloso, there's no doubt. Mr Clean, you wonder, but fabuloso? You know all the bacteria are dead Because they're printing money. 15:34 You guys, many of you know my story. I fell in love with Bitcoin and Bitcoin changed my life. Because it is anti-inflationary, it's deflationary, there's a set limited supply. Because it is anti-inflationary, it's deflationary. There's a set limited supply. There will always be only 21 million. That's a program that can't be changed. So there's a cap. You can't create or make more Bitcoin. What gives something value? Scarcity. So it's a scarce hard asset the dollar. However, they just keep printing it. And you know what? If you're a liberal, you're kind of in the wrong church, but I'm going to frustrate you. It's the truth. But you know who's printing it the conservatives. 16:17 - Speaker 2 And if you're a conservative? 16:18 - Speaker 1 you know who's printing it the liberals. You know who's printing it. Everybody's printing it. It doesn't matter who's in office, what administration you look, from Biden to Trump before, to Obama to Bush they all just turn on the money printer and they print it. And what they're doing is it's like an invisible tax that's deflating, that's robbing you and stealing the purchasing power of your dollar. 16:44 When I was growing up in the 80s, I had a certain confidence, not even saved. I had a confidence in me that I just picked up from my environment, my atmosphere, my teachers, other adults, the kids I hung out with. I had a confidence that I was gonna do better than my parents. Everybody did back then. Today, you see people. They don't have that same confidence because the middle class is just getting erased. You're going to have a bunch of elites on one side and a bunch of serfs on the other and the middle class is getting erased. Guess where I want you to be? On the elite side, amen, yeah, I want to write like Paul did to Timothy and said now, concerning the rich people in your church, tell them. That means Timothy had rich people in his church, because Paul is giving instructions on what to tell the rich people in the church. 17:29 Everybody wants to talk about how, in the book of Acts, they all shared and nobody held anything in common, like that was supposed to be every single day, every single month, forever. They were not a commune. That happened once in church history as an example of what the power and love of God can do. That happened once in church history as an example of what the power and love of God can do. But after that, people lived lives and they were able to accumulate wealth, generational wealth. Not a bad thing, because the Bible says a good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. Remember that a few weeks weeks back I preached a message on how Pentecostals are the poorest denomination, only beat by Jehovah's Witnesses. Why? Because Pentecostals can be goofy and weird and don't plan for tomorrow and don't trust God for increase right now on this side of heaven. Do you know how much good you can do with wealth, multiplying wealth? How much suffering you can relieve, how much of the gospel you can spread? So I'm preaching this number one. I'm not preaching this because we need anything. You have to know that when I preach this. Maybe you're used to a church that whenever the topic of money is brought up, it's secretly because the pastor can't make budget. So he starts talking about money. We can make budget. We can make budget a hundred times over and that shouldn't motivate you. 19:02 Some people just want to give where there's a huge need. If I get up here and go you know I'm traveling by the way, I'm going to Poland in a few hours to minister right after service. So but imagine, imagine if I got up here and I said guys, you know they don't serve snacks on the planes like they used to, and Hudson News is so expensive and could you please just like give a little extra this afternoon and the light bill is due. Even got a gas bill too. Somebody help. You should never give because of a need. Paul said in Corinthians don't give out of necessity. It's not because there's a need, it's because I have a need to give. I make a living by my giving. 19:48 Amen, here's what I believe, because God did this right. God did this. This is a rare thing. I don't want to again. My family, we just recently gave $2 million to the church. 20:05 I dreamt of the day and remember what our goal was A year and a half ago. I said I said no, I wanted to give a million, but out loud I said half a million. That was like the leap. But when we dreamed, when I said, I said, babe, imagine if we can give a million. And her eyes, you know, like that would be awesome. But how could that, I don't know. But imagine we talked about it and then to be able to give two million, hallelujah. So why would God? Yeah, all glory goes to God. I believe with all of my heart, because that is a unique thing, a peculiar thing, a strange thing. I believe with all of my heart God wants to fill our church up with unusual testimonies. Say that's me. Unusual miracles. All it takes is for God to just unlock one thing and it set off a ripple effect, chain events and your whole life is transformed, hallelujah. That's what I want to see here People who are blessed to be a blessing walking around, their cup is overflowing and they're just relieving suffering everywhere they go. Amen. And money is not an issue. Come on church, amen. Let's just read this out of Matthew 6, 21. 21:23 I want to just show you some things that Jesus said about finances and money. You have to be at peace with the topic of money, because Jesus was at peace with that topic and he spoke about it often. How often did he talk about money, somebody tell me More than heaven and hell combined. He talked about offerings, lands, stewardship, talents. Not like you got talent, you can sing. Talent is a unit of measurement for gold. When he says to the one he gave five talents, it doesn't mean he gave him an ability to sing and dance and sculpt. No, he gave him money. My microphone is on this morning, right, okay, it's like a 1980s comedian. Hello is this thing on? 22:16 Jesus said, for where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. So there's a connection between the heart and treasure. There's a connection between money and your heart. Jesus said so when your treasure is there, your heart will be also. Luke 16, 11 says stewardship is a matter of the heart, it's a matter of discipleship and a matter of building trust so that God can entrust you with more. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? So again, Jesus is establishing a connection between the heart and money. He's saying if you're not a good steward of unrighteous mammon, money, how will you get the true? What are the true riches? The anointing, the gifts of the spirit, the power of God, the glory he said. There's actually a connection between the anointing you walk in, the glory, the power of God, the glory, he said. There's actually a connection between the anointing you walk in, the glory you enjoy and how you handle money. 23:30 Yeah, you want to know the quickest way to have a revival in a church. Have a bunch of generous people. You have a bunch of generous people. It brings the move of God. I've never seen the power of God poured out when a group is white, knuckling every nickel and every dime. And because a heart that's close to give is also gonna be a heart that's close to receive. You know some people they put walls up because they don't wanna get hurt. They put walls up to keep some people out, but those walls keep everybody out, including God. You can't decide what walls are gonna keep who out. You put walls up, everybody's locked out. That's how it is. With a heart that's close to give, it's also close to receive. You ever try to give something to a stingy person? I have. They don't know what to do with it. They can't handle it. No, it's on me. Are you sure? Are you really sure they freak out, because they'd never do that. They don't even know how to handle that. Amen. Jesus Hallelujah. 24:20 Hallelujah, Jesus, hallelujah. Let me go to Matthew 26, 6 through 13. I want to show you Jesus. Show you Jesus and the connection between worship and giving. You guys know that it normally takes me about a minute, maximum two, to receive the tithes and giving. You guys know that it normally takes me about a minute, maximum two, to receive the tithes and offerings Usually a minute. If I had it, my ideal way, I would spend about 15 to 20 minutes, because it's actually a holy time, it's a precious time. It's a precious time. It's a time where we worship the Lord with our giving. 25:11 But because we have multiple services and you can't fit everything into multiple services that have to meet in the morning, and we've tried for so many years different services. We had a 1.6 weekend services. Do we do a 5 pm, a 6 pm? You know we have a 10 am and an 11.30. You know why it's 11.30? Because the moment you put 12 noon, all of a sudden people treat it as a late afternoon. You might as well put 4 pm if it's 12 pm, and so if we went to just one service, one-third of the people would stop coming. How do I know? We actually done that years ago. Why do one-third of the people stop coming? I don't know. You tell me why do we just stop coming? But it just seems like the moment you take variety away, people bounce out. You know why, like when there's a product launch, like Apple just came out with a new phone, they got like. Now they got like a dozen different versions. Who even gets those weird little ones? The thin air and whatever? It cracks like a saltine cracker in your hands. But it's a proven fact that when you go down the supermarket aisle and there's only two cereal types of cereals, you don't buy any cereal. But you go down an American supermarket aisle and there's 50 different cereals, then all of a sudden you're buying cereal. Because people love variety, people love the choice. That's all my long way of saying why I have to have multiple services because people love choice and variety. But if I had it my way, maybe that'll happen in the future. 26:38 As we get bigger and we have a larger sanctuary, there should be a time set aside for our giving. Now we have just a few minutes, but you can have that time in your heart where you're worshiping the Lord with your giving, and it's important If you want to be a good receiver. It's important that you understand what giving is. I don't want people who are just givers only. I want people who are givers and receivers, because the Bible says that what you give comes back to you a hundredfold. Yeah, not everybody receives a hundredfold. It actually doesn't say a hundredfold, it says 30, 60, and 100. I want to be the 100 guy. I don't want to be the 10 guy, 20 guy or 30 guy. I want to do what I need to do, biblically speaking, to get maximum harvest and maximum return off of what I give, and Maximum harvest and maximum return off of what I give. 27:29 And when Jesus was in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. How much was this perfume oil? Say it louder, somebody from the back too. How much was this perfume oil? Say it louder, somebody from the back too. How much A year's worth, a year's salary. And the Bible is specific to let us know that in other Gospels Maybe it does in Matthew 2, and it came before or after this passage. A woman came to him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when his disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying why this waste? And other Gospels emphasize that it was Judas who was the most upset. A Judas spirit always wants to tell you what to do with your money and where you should give and where you shouldn't. 28:35 Years ago, someone gave me a BMW. I ended up giving it away. But there was this atheist who was trying to make a name for himself. He came into one of our services and he wasn't even happy that I gave it away. He said how long did you have it before you gave it away? I said for a few years. Oh, so you kept it for a few years. I want to say what color was the BMW that you gave away? How many BMWs have you given away? But he had something to say. Judas always wants to tell you what you saw. Someone gave a BMW to me, but you're not happy that it took me two years. Why did it take me two years? Because I wanted to enjoy it for a couple of years. How about that? I thought you were telling me I'm drunk In the front. He's going like this, but it's because my bottle was about to fall off. We've got to come up with different codes, all right. 29:43 Next verse oh, this is the kicker, for this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor, but when Jesus was aware of it, he said to them why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for me, for you have the poor with you always, but me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on my body, she did it for my burial. This was an act of worship. Why was it such a particularly special act of worship? Because the spirit of sacrifice was introduced to her worship. Because what she broke was an alabaster box that contained perfume and oil worth a year's salary. The Bible noted that. That means it's important to God. And on top of that, Jesus noted it. In the next verse he says Assuredly I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her. I'm fulfilling that prophetic word this morning, and that word has been fulfilled millions of times since Jesus said it. Because we still talk about that woman, we still mention her. Why? What else has she done? Nothing. She gave one gift, but with the spirit of sacrifice introduced into it and God received it as worship. Spirit of sacrifice introduced into it and God received it as worship. 31:11 When you give, understand that it's worship unto the Lord and give from a place of worship. You're not giving to man, you're not giving to an organization. You take your friend out to lunch. Even. You bless them, see Christ in them and know that you're giving it to the Lord. I'm trying to give you keys on how to get a harvest off of your giving. 31:27 There's people that don't understand these basic things. That's either why they don't give or, when they give, they're just bucket plunkers. You know a bucket plunker? My mom used to scold my dad. My dad would come in and like the bucket. We don't even pass buckets anymore. You don't even know what a bucket plunker is because we haven't had buckets since 2020. Now it's all in the air, but the bucket would come by and my dad would, literally. You know how people prepare their gifts. My dad is awesome, but I do tease him about this. I know I mention my dad whenever it's offering time Because my dad he really got hung up with the idea of money being talked about in church. 32:09 He had no problem with money in his own life, did really well for himself, works in finance. He's a market analyst. But in church it's like no, you can't talk about that, and his body would seize up in service when the preacher would be preaching about it. I'd be a teenager, brought my parents, trying to win them to the Lord. Get them saved. The preacher would start talking about money and he would. It was like he would have you know, stuff would get stirred up. He had his own issues with that. And then the bucket would come up and he would like move like this and he would take out a five and flick it in the butt like literally a bucket plunker. Wow, abraham Lincoln, the last of the big time givers. Abraham Lincoln got a tear coming down his face because he was just being held onto so tight. Don't be a bucket plunker. Give with worship in your heart. Know that the Lord receives it as worship. Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 9. Hallelujah In 2009,. 33:16 Listen to me, church. The Great Recession hit full force. Oh wait, we had the market crash. This wasn't that long ago. Every crane I moved into Williamsburg in 08. There were 30 cranes in Williamsburg. 33:30 Back then, in 08, it was, the New York Times says, the biggest urban renaissance ever Skyscrapers, buildings, condos going up all over. They all stopped in 09. No new buildings. Everything stopped midway. People were scared. I was scared. What is going to happen? 33:48 I went to the Lord. The Lord gave me a word and the word was do not participate in this recession. That sounds great. How do I not participate in what's happening all around me? He said do not participate in this recession. You are not subject to this earth's economy. You're a citizen of heaven. You're an ambassador of Christ. You know what an ambassador is. When an ambassador leaves the sending nation, he goes with the full force and authority and privilege of the sending nation. So if you're an American ambassador to the poorest country in the world, you're not living that way. You're living like you would be in America. You're an ambassador of Christ. You may be here on earth, they might be saying whatever they're saying about the economy, but you're representing heaven and you should have and believe God for heaven on earth. And in 09, he said don't participate in the recession. You don't have to be subject to what's happening. Let me lift you higher. 34:52 I announced this to the whole church and in 09, which was one of the toughest years financially we had it was beautiful, the most people we've ever had getting married, starting businesses and buying co-ops, condos and making moves throughout the city. Because we just chose not to participate. And what I'm setting you up for is we're ending 2025. We're going into 2026. I don't want you to participate in the nonsense. The sound of the Lord is him saying come up here, come up now. You don't have to live the low life. Come up and live the high life in a protected place, as my precious people. The blood of Jesus is on you. Favor is all around you. You're different. You're marked. You're sealed by the Holy Spirit. Look, a thousand may fall at your right hand, ten thousand at your side. Death and destruction all around you Psalms 91. But it shall not come near you. Why You're different? Hallelujah. So all we're talking about right now? I'm just trying to recalibrate us and get us using maximum faith and giving correctly. 36:09 One of the essences of giving in a biblical way is with worship in your heart. For example, here it says note honor the Lord with your possessions. So who are you giving to? You don't honor an organization. You don't honor a church. You don't honor a person. I might make a physical checkout and in the two field it's an organization, but in my heart I'm giving to Jesus. It's like I'm going right up to heaven and putting it on his lap, just like when he was sitting and watching what people gave into the offering. You know he was sitting right close. The Bible says he was sitting right by the offering. That's how I picture myself giving to him. I love you, Lord. This is for you. It's the least I can do for everything you've given me and no matter where I was. 36:56 Even in the early days, there were times I gave a piece of gum in the offering. That's real In Bible school. Had nothing to give, had a pack of Wrigley's. Give one piece, like I'm not gonna give nothing. I wonder what they did with that piece of gum. Always wondered, but it was in there. 37:20 Somebody gave me an envelope stuffed with cash this morning for the church in Poland. They'd never been to Poland. I said what church? Because it's a conference of several churches. Well then, just give it to whoever needs it most there. Why do they do that? They've never been to Poland, not going to Poland, don't even know. Mr Wyskwysk, a lot of Zs and Cs in Poland Going to be using Google Translate for that. Why do they do that? Who are they honoring? Not somebody they never met. They're giving to Jesus. They're honoring the Lord, and with the first fruits of all your increase. 37:59 Why Next verse? So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine. There is always a blessing attached. When the Bible tells you to do something. That sounds like it hurts, that sounds like a sacrifice yes, it is, but there's always a greater benefit and blessing attached to it. Jesus never talked about giving without also talking about receiving. So your barns will be filled with plenty. Does that sound like poverty? Does that sound like a broke God? Barns filled with plenty vats I like the Amplified. It says they'll burst forth with new wine. They'll overflow with new wine. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. 38:59 So when you give, whether it's a tithe or an offering or a gift to a friend or a sandwich to a homeless man, don't see the homeless man, see Jesus. Even if you pick up a friend's lunch, see Christ in them. You give someone a happy birthday card with a gift card in it. Do it for the Lord, do it unto the Lord and you're worshiping him with it. One more, all right, since you're so hungry that one person who said, yes, matthew 2.11. Matthew 2.11. Hallelujah. 39:40 You know, I got one job and then under that one job of being pastor is little mini jobs, and one of the mini jobs that's under the umbrella of being a pastor is to provoke you to a place of faith, because, left to our own devices, we all become like driftwood floating down a river. The world just has a way of just hypnotizing us and then really lulling us to sleep with this demonic stupor. We become sleepy and then we just drift along wherever the current takes us. I got to provoke you to a place of faith, so you go. I get to decide. I get to receive from heaven. My faith makes a difference. I'm going to choose to trust God. I'm going to take him at his word. I'm going to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Hallelujah, hallelujah, oh Lord, fill us with people of faith. 40:56 This is talking about the magi, the wise men, and when they had come into the house, they saw the young child. That's Jesus. By the way, notice it says young child in the in the hallmark. We have to talk hallmark in the hallmark card. It's always a baby, right, but they saw the star when he was a baby. By the time they reached him, he was probably two or three years old. He was a small child. Why? That's how long it takes to get from India, or wherever they were coming from, to Israel. 41:19 And how many of men were there. No, there were three gifts. There was many wise men. How do we know there was many and why do I always make a big deal out of this? Because there's some stuff we just believe that's not in the bible and I want us to be good students of the bible so that we can call out the nonsense whenever we see big deal out of this. Because there's some stuff we just believe that's not in the Bible and I want us to be good students of the Bible so that we can call out the nonsense whenever we see it. 41:53 Hallmark cards lots of nonsense. They show three. You hear that. All the three wise men. It's not three. 42:00 Show me a group of three that traveled from the far east, india, china, maybe even Three. You're dead overnight. You have to travel in large caravans just to survive. They brought three gifts. There was more. How do we know there was more than three? Because the Bible says when the wise men came into town, the whole town was in an uproar. You don't get a whole town in an uproar when three dudes stroll in, that's just three guys. But when a whole caravan from a far off, exotic place comes in, then the whole town notices. Has nothing to do with my message, I'm just provoking you. Ah, thank you Lord. 42:44 They saw the young child, not a baby, the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshipped him. And when they had opened their treasures, they presented gifts to him gold, frankincense and myrrh, one version says, and they opening up their treasure bags, they worshipped him. Do you see how it's connected? They're giving of gifts to Jesus and their worship. It's connected. They worshiped him with their giving. When you give, if you will make it so in your heart, you worship him with it. Hallelujah, just lift up your hand and say Lord Jesus, you are moving in my life, you are positioning me. I believe that a harvest is inevitable. You are moving in my life, you are positioning me. I believe that a harvest is inevitable. In Jesus' name, amen. Philippians, chapter 4, verses 14 through 19. Hallelujah, hallelujah. 43:46 Is this helping anyone? This morning? I feel like somebody should just ask a question. I never do that, but right now, before I get to my next point, somebody got a question about what I'm talking about. Imagine preaching on finances and giving and then just opening up the mic. You never, I mean, am I a glutton for punishment. But I feel like somebody has like, yes, shout it out. Can somebody run and give him a mic real quick? This is going to be a good one. And then we want to catch it on. Yeah, stand and sit. 44:42 Whatever you like. 44:45 - Speaker 3 Yeah, so for me, in my experience, whenever I'm going to the next level, specifically financially, there's always a temptation, a tripwire for me not to be obedient, right, and you know, if I break through that, then I see the promises of God, specifically, you know, in their finances. So I'm wondering if the pattern holds true for you, if you've had something similar where there was a temptation for you not to say yes in this area that could have dethroned the whole thing. 45:17 - Speaker 1 Yeah, that's a good question. And what is that? If you're comfortable sharing. 45:20 Well, it really mainly happened just recently, when the Lord told us to give $2 million plus that's for the look. I made a decision when I was 16, I'm gonna tithe and I just made a decision. I never looked back but frankly the tithe was never that much, you know. And then I also made a decision to give offerings on top, but frankly, that was never like some earth-shattering money, you know. And then the Lord made a decision to give offerings on top, but frankly, that was never like some earth shattering money, you know. And then the Lord blesses us and then he asks for this amount and I mean we didn't just like peel it off the top and go. 45:57 Yeah, it was like we gulped real hard and we sat on that for a couple of days and it wasn't easy, but as as we, you know, you got to focus on the benefit and I had to realize, well, the Lord is always going to do what he's done. He's asking me to do something, not to get something from me, but to get something to me. So it is going to result in increase. Yeah, does that answer the question? Does anyone have another one? I like this One more. Yeah, right in the back, see how we get this started. 46:31 - Speaker 4 How you doing. I want to start off by saying that I really love how you, you know, incorporate financial gain and stuff like that through Scripture and you know, and tie those both together. I think you do it really beautifully and tie those both together. I think you'd do it really beautifully. But I want to know what event happened for you that made you able to, because you know it's a touchy topic. It's like what event made you decipher from the negativity and the positivity when it intertwines with scripture, if that makes sense. 47:07 - Speaker 1 You mean whether to become a giver. 47:09 - Speaker 4 Like financial, like speaking about finances in regards to religion and stuff like that? 47:14 - Speaker 1 Oh yeah, no, that's great, great question. Why talk? It's not an event, it's just seeing that the scriptures themselves talk so much about it. Yeah, and so you have Jesus, who, who talked about money, lands, giving finances stewardship, more than he did about heaven and hell combined. There's a verse in proverbs where it says money answers everything. Because we live on this side of heaven, on earth, we're going to need money. Mankind has always had to be, whether it was seashells, at one point mankind has had something called money, and so, because it's a very real need for people, I would be doing everybody a disservice if I didn't preach on it when you see that the Bible has so much to say about it, and it has so much to say about it because you need it. The funniest people are people who come into church and you're talking about money. They go. Well, why does he got to talk about money or something? Why does it always got to be about money? Because you're the one thinking about money all the time. Don't tell me you're not. Every decision you make, the limitation is money, every plan you have. 48:27 When God did this in our life, one of the greatest things was the limits came flying off, and that's what I was pressing in for to have a life of no limits. You know, you go into a supermarket and you're looking at the grapes at $6.99 a pound and you're like, do I get one bunch or two? I used to live that way and then he just blows the liminal. You know little things. Like she said, she had a crick in her back, I bought a 12 000 massage chair, no limits. Here's what I like. Put it in a corner, have a daily massage. Honey kids, you want some yogurt 35 yogurt let's do it. Hallelujah, and as long as I can keep giving, the Lord will keep on. He wants to blow the limits off of this stuff. Amen. A life of no limitations only. But he will give you no limitations to the degree that you are subject to him. So on the one side you're free, but on the other side you're a slave to Christ and you can only do what he tells you to him. So on the one side you're free, but on the other side you're a slave to Christ and you can only do what he tells you to do. And God forbid he bless you financially and then you start erring with that. I mean that fountain will dry up like that and I've been humbled enough times to know I don't want to be humbled again. Amen, I'm going to get my orders from headquarters. 49:47 Good question, should we do one more? All right, let's read one verse. Then I'm going to ask for one more question. Philippians, chapter 4, verses 14 through 19. I feel faith stirring. 49:59 With those couple of questions here I break that spirit of lack. It starts in the head. What we're doing here is we're just doing a mind cleansing, break the spirit of lack, limiting scarcity, thinking. See, the thing with giving is, especially when it comes to first fruits. It means you're giving the first. What you're actually saying to God is I trust you to bring second, third, fourth and fifth fruits, since I'm giving the first. Every time I give. Every time you give, what you're saying is Lord, I'm not moving in fear, but I'm trusting that you're going to make it up to me. People who are afraid and that's the number one emotion with money is fear. They're afraid, then they're afraid to give. But I'm releasing my faith through my giving. I'm demonstrating that I believe that even though I'm giving which seems like I should end with less, but yet I'll end with more, paul writes nevertheless, you have done well that you shared in my distress. 51:12 He's writing the Philippians Now. You Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving. But you only Notice what he said concerning giving and receiving. These are the reciprocals that always go together. Concerning giving and receiving, these are the reciprocals that always go together giving and receiving. He wasn't saying you're giving, I'm receiving. He's saying these are the two things that always go together, Jesus. He never talked about giving without also talking about receiving. I've offered up a reward. You know's funny, it was a $100 reward. Back when $100 meant something, I said $100 reward to anyone who can find. Now it's like I'll do a $10,000 reward. You won't find it, though I can make it. 51:57 Any number of where Jesus talked about any kind of giving or sacrifice, without talking immediately about the benefit give and it shall be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together. He didn't tell people hey, you should just be last, Just get them back of the line. No, he said the first will be last, but the last will be first. He didn't just say go on off and die. He said those of you who lose your life will find it. He always connected the benefit, the giving and the receiving. They go together and I think people who haven't gotten a hold of biblical giving it's because they don't understand that God is not even after their gift, he's after their receiving. But in order to activate the receiving, they got to get within with the giving. They're waiting for a ship to come in. 52:46 Have you met that person? I've met a lot. They're like they don't give anything. And I'm not even talking about church, I'm just talking about the skinny life they live. They're the ones who order extra and leave before the check comes. They just live that skinny, mangy life where everything is scarce and you know they want to. They always have to come out on top one way or another. It's really a sad, pathetic existence. You had lunch with someone like that, didn't you? You did. What can you do? You just bless them and go enjoy the extra Coke you had. 53:18 I got you. What was I saying? What was I saying, skinny scrawny? What was I saying, skinny scrawny? Lord, help me. That one's going to have to come back to me too. Giving and receiving it's reciprocal. I guess I made that point. Amen, okay. For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities Not that I seek the gift. Now, even Paul here is saying he understands that the Lord is the one who sustains him, but he's saying it's not even I who seek the gift, I seek the benefit that comes to your account when you give. I'm just being reminded of what I was going to say. It was along the lines of people who have a hard time giving it's because they don't understand that there's a receiving part and when you focus on that, it's coming back. Now your faith is active and you'll draw these things into your life. 54:41 Look, when I first met my wife, one of the first questions, by the way, I asked her was are you a tither? Why would I ask you that? Because I wanted to know who I was thinking about dating. What if it came out? What if it came out? I'm going to just pick on what if it came out, tiffany, I'm going to pick on you because you're such a beautiful soul and you're so flawless that if I pick on you it's obvious that I'm exaggerating. Right? But Tiffany's Pastor Mo's wife. What if it just came out that Tiffany doesn't believe in tithing and she actually influenced Pastor Mo and Pastor Mo is not a tither? 55:20 Now would you be able to receive from him when he got up here and preached? Why not? Because it would show something about his heart, right, would you? What if Sean was and it just came out? It came out Sean doesn't tithe, doesn't believe in it. Next time you see him and he's happy, you're going to be like, unable to receive it. I'm going to be like, look at that. Why would you be so angry? Because you would go look at that. God doesn't have his whole heart. He's not really submitting, he's trying to lead me to work. But when you tithe, it's the first step in declaring I am a submitted vessel. Jesus is Lord of all. 56:02 So I asked her if she tithed. She said yes. I was real excited, because if you're gonna date, date to marry, don't date for fun. And then figure out what they're about. One of the quickest ways is Do they tithe? Are they generous? Do they give, because then that communicates that the Lord has their whole heart, because the bank account and the wallet, that's the last area of conversion. People will convert everything about their lives, but hang on to that part. Oh, hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Indeed, I have all and abound, I am full, having received from epaphroditus the thing sent from you. 56:48 Now look at the language he uses. He's talking about the offering they sent to them and he's saying your offering was a sweet, smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. It is Old Testament language for worship and the fragrance. You know, worship creates a fragrance. By the way, even when we worship just with song, if you could look in the spirit, there's a fragrance that goes up into heaven. It's a picture in the Old Testament they would sacrifice the animals and the flesh would be burnt and the fragrance of the offering would go up and and God said that's a well-pleasing sacrifice, a well-pleasing aroma. Paul is saying it's the same thing when we give, it comes up as a fragrance. See, I just believe the word and I believe when I give the Lord, he receives it as worship, as a fragrant offering. Hallelujah, and I want to smell good to God. Amen. 57:45 You know, when people are generous, they're just good people. There's an anointing on them, there's a glow on them. They're good to be near. When somebody is white knuckling and scarcity minded and stingy, well, you guys have had encounters with people like that, because of course none of you are that. You've had encounters with people like that. I mean, how do you feel when you're near them? It's like the life force is draining out of you. You've got to even kind of talk to them with your mouth closed, because if you open your mouth they take the gold is draining out of you. You got to even kind of talk to them with your mouth closed, because if you open your mouth they take the gold tooth right out of your mouth. 58:33 And then in verse 19, that famous verse, everyone quotes this verse but they leave out what was just said when you've worshiped the Lord. I'm just trying to show you that giving is said when you've worshiped the Lord. I'm just trying to show you that giving is worship. The wise men worshiped with their giving. The woman with the alabaster box worshiped with their giving. The Bible says you honor the Lord, honor, worship the Lord with your giving. We read in Proverbs and my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, worship team, come on up. I'll close with this 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, verses 6 through 7. 59:19 While you're sitting here, the Lord is moving. If your heart is open, the Lord is moving. If your heart is open, the Lord is moving in your life. It is amazing how quickly the Lord can move and what he can do. Sometimes it's one connection away, a person he's gonna have you cross paths with. Sometimes it's just something that hasn't been released, that gets released in your life. 59:46 I'm only a little frustrated right now because I feel like I'm more excited about your future than you are. I'm excited. I believe the Lord wants to move at CityLight, do something unique among us, where my testimony is multiplied and miracles pop like popcorn. This isn't something I just invented. I've seen how the Lord moves. I've seen that when he comes in churches, there are flavors he puts on churches. There's certain miracles. It's not just one person that gets it and then becomes like a whole flow. Yeah, yeah, remember this. 01:00:26 This is out of the Amplified. Paul is saying remember this he who sows sparingly and grudgingly will also reap sparingly and grudgingly, and he who sows generously, that blessings may come to someone will also reap generously and with blessings. By the way, you ask what made me preach on this more. You see this. It says from 2 Corinthians, chapter nine All of chapter eight and all of chapter nine is an offering message. That's mind blowing to me. People get upset if the preacher spends more than two minutes on the offering. Yet Paul took out two chapters to talk on the offering. I'm not gonna read all two chapters, I'm reading you a portion of them. 01:01:06 But if in the Holy Bible Paul is talking about the importance of giving the importance of giving concerning your own abundance and your own prosperity took two whole chapters then why would I want to do the opposite of what he did? He got great results. I like Paul's results. I'd like to get a tenth of Paul's results. Let each one give as he has made up in his own mind and purposed in his heart. 01:01:31 By the way, this is the apostle Paul who communicated with other churches. He wasn't about to take the tithe from another local church, so he's talking about what you purpose in your heart. You don't have to purpose the tithe in your heart. It's already an amount. It's called a tithe, a tenth, 10% when you give an offering, that's something you purpose in your heart. 01:01:54 Is this making sense? You sure? All right, because there's people who believe that this negates tithing. They love this. This is like the verse. They have this blown up right in their living room. This one verse. This is their reason. They don't tithe. They go see. They're going to ignore the hundred other scriptures on tithing and say see, the scriptures say whatever you purpose in your heart. So if you purpose in your heart a bazooka gum, hey, you purpose that in your heart. This is what you purposed in your heart. First of all, you invite the Lord in your heart. Concerning an offering Tithe you don't need to debate about, do any math. The only math you have to do is move the decimal place over one point to the left. Jesus, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves now watch this. He takes pleasure in prizes above other things and is unwilling to abandon or to do without. 01:02:54 Now, in 2009, as part of me not participating in the recession, when money they were saying the economy was tight that's when we launched in full force our whole missions program and we adopted that grace center, the orphanage in Ethiopia. We started working with the Makums. Back then we supported a church in Croatia. Now we're supporting it in Montenegro and in Serbia, and we did Liberia for nearly half a decade. I launched that whole thing. You know why? Really, quite a selfish reason I wanted to be indispensable to the Lord. 01:03:33 You see how it says that a prompt to do it, cheerful giver, God is not willing to abandon or to do without them. So my mindset is Lord, I want to be such a generous church, such a giving church, that you don't allow us to be taken out. Not that you ever need us, you don't need anyone. But I want you to smile down on us and I want to be so that you're sustaining powers on us, because you not only care for us but you also care about the orphanage in Ethiopia. You care about the makage in Ethiopia, you care about the makums in Guatemala, you care about Liberia and other works overseas. Are you catching this? 01:04:06 When you're a giver, your confession needs to be God is unwilling to do without me. He's unwilling to abandon me. I'm a joyous, prompt-to-do-it giver whose heart is in my giving, and so I reap generously, and God is on my side. Let's say this together the Lord takes pleasure in prizes above other things and is unwilling to abandon or to do without me because I'm a cheerful, joyous, prompt to do it giver whose heart is in my giving, shout a big hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I feel that the only thing, this message, is missing and I can't get into it right now. But I want to encourage some of you are still stuck because for some reason you just equate Jesus with poverty, probably because of the Hallmark cards. But really it's not the Hallmark cards. Hallmark cards just kind of copy Catholic art and it's in the Catholic art that present. You know, in the Catholic church they make them take a vow of poverty. Why? What good does it do? God's not a God of poverty, God a God of prosperity. 01:05:34 Look throughout the scriptures Whenever the presence of the Lord moves away, whenever the blessing lifts, you know what one of the first things to come in is Poverty. Have you ever been to a third world country? Anybody here come from a third world country. You know electricity only on three hours of the day, plumbing that doesn't work, broken roads. I've been to many of those countries. You know what happens when you're there. 01:05:57 You don't think, wow, there's something holy about this place. So much poverty, so much holiness. No, you think the opposite. You think this place is cursed. A fruit of the curse is poverty. Fruit of the blessing is prosperity. This shouldn't be so hard yet. People get so tripped up about it. 01:06:15 But they have a hard time getting it because they think Jesus was poor, they think he walked around in rags and just kind of they. Really, what they think is that Jesus was like a hobo that just traveled around all dirty and hobo-like but happened to teach. You know, he had a good word and he did miracles. But look at the gospels from a fresh lens and see that gold was brought to him when he was an infant and whenever he needed anything, whether it was the upper room or colt on which never man sat, or in John chapter 8, it says how people ministered to him out of their substance. He was a money magnet. He never, ever once, lacked any financial thing. You never see finances as a limiting factor in Jesus's life. In fact, even in his death, there was a prophecy in the Old Testament that he'd be buried in a rich man's tomb. How was that going to happen? He didn't have a rich man's tomb, but, as his body was being carried off after he died on the cross, a man by the name of Joseph of Arimathea stepped in and said he's going to be buried in my family tomb and he was the rich man. 01:07:22 Even in death, Jesus drew prosperity to himself. Do you know why? Ask yourself why they gambled for Jesus's clothing. Why did well-paid Roman soldiers the Bible says they gambled for Jesus's clothing? Why they didn't even believe he was the son of God? You think they wanted like a relic? It's not a deep question, because he had fine clothes. That's why he wasn't wearing the white potato sack they show you in the art. In fact, theologians and historians believe that it could be likely that he was wearing purple with golden thread. 01:07:56 There was some people from the line that Jesus had, from the line of David, that would wear a golden thread to signify that they're coming from a messianic line and were a potential candidate to be the Messiah. Yeah, hallelujah, hallelujah. A broke man would freak out if a year's worth of salary was poured out over his feet. Ah, Jesus was like this is nice. No, leave her alone. She's done a good thing. Hallelujah. 01:08:30 I want to pray for you. Heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, we are your people, your special possession. The Bible says with favor, you will compass us, round about us with a shield. I pray, Lord, raise up your people that their cups overflow a life of no limitations, of abundance, of increase In Jesus' name, amen, amen. Well, let's worship and honor the Lord with our tithes and offerings, shall we? Amen, amen. 01:09:09 Now, most of you have already given. I know some of you. The giving information is on the side You're going to be scanning now. A lot of you have already given this morning or yesterday or two days ago, or automatically, or you give through your phone on the way to church. But just take this moment to worship him, take this moment to say thank you, Lord, receive my giving as worship and I trust you for increase. I believe in giving and receiving. Amen. Hallelujah, yeah, I know, I know, I know the good stuff is up here. Hallelujah. If you want prayer, our ministry team will be right over by that blue light. If you need hands laid on you, you want someone to agree with you in prayer. We love you. Jesus loves you. 01:10:05 - Speaker 2 This is the CityLight Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and CityLight Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. 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 CityLight Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.