From Religion to Relationship

Guys, leaders, when you are popular, people will follow. But when you come into position that other people attack you, an enemy is attacking you, and he wants to crush you down, when you are in the dust of the ground, when everybody else wants to come to you and kick you in the stomach, there are few men around you who would come and help you stand up. But the Lord is always here. 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 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. Pastor Joe, won't you come on and bless the people? Thank you so much, Pastor Bo. Good morning, City Lights. It's always an honor to be with you and minister to you. Oh, thank you so much for the kind words to me. It warms up my heart, actually. It is so nice when you receive any kind of other words towards yourself. Sometimes very rough. And you don't hear in your ministry and in your life so much kind words. Unfortunately, to be honest with you. And in one moment, I just realized how much I would like to speak your language like Pastor Bo. It's very hard in my language and my understanding to express myself in English. And I got myself like a Tarzan English, you know. Yeah. Younger generations don't have a clue what I'm talking about. Who is this guy, Tarzan? Jane. Tarzan. Johnny Weiss. Guys, thank you so much. I feel a great gratitude in my heart towards you. Thank you for all of these years that you are standing behind us, supporting us. Practically. And praying for us. For my family and for my church. My church is sending warm greetings to you. We were so blessed to have your pastor. And brother Luke. I don't know if he is here somewhere. They were a great blessing to our church. Now I see you. So thank you so much. Just one word about the worship. It's never enough to say a little more about the worship. For me, I used to be a worship leader. I used to be a lot of things. Actually, my first ministry was street preacher. The guy who would stand on the street and, you know, with a loud voice, Repent and believe! And to be honest with you, before the war in former Yugoslavia, hundreds of people would gather. When you stand on the street, start to sing a song and start preaching, they would come like flies on the light. You know? They were hungry. But then, after the war, you know, people somehow are more hungry for material things. Building new houses, buying new cars. Traveling the world, which is, all of this is good. But you know, I don't see any more, you know, wish in the heart to serve the Lord. The people are not hungry to hear the word of the Lord anymore. I try to do that in Montenegro. You know, our church in Montenegro was the first ever established church. It was 1996, end of 20th century. Can you believe that? End of 20th century, no church, no believers. And our church was very, very first church. And we felt very much isolated, attacked from every corner. They were throwing the stones on the church. On my boy, who was a little boy, two, three years. They would throw the stones, other kids, you know. Just because we are different. But we were blessing them. We were walking around our church like Joshua. And all the fear that they want to bring to us, it came to them. But then we received a truck full of food from England. And the first people that received the food from us was our enemies. And I will tell you, it still works. Gospel still works. They throw the stones, we give them bread. Bread. I would come and knock on the door with a package of food. And I would say, we are your neighbors. We are from the church. We received it freely and we want to share it with you because you are our neighbors. And since that time, they didn't call us sect. They called us church that helps. Church, it's powerful. When we don't respond the same way they expect, we respond with love. Love of the Father. I enjoy the worship. And what was happening here. It was more important. Than what is going to happen now. It is not less important. But this was important more. Why? Because it goes to him. Our worship goes to him. My preaching goes to you. But it's also good. You will be encouraged. To worship Him more. That's why it's good. Hallelujah. Let's jump to the message. To be honest with you, I was preparing all week another one. And it was about, it would be a good message. We preach as we can preach any subject. Uh, and I was preparing, I was doing my best to prepare that message. And I thought, I thought I'm a smart enough. So they need this. I will tell them about identity. But this morning, five something, I was awakened with the eyes like, like this. And the Lord said, you are not going to preach that message. I'm going to give you another one now. It's five o'clock, Lord. Let me sleep more. And I could already hear him on the floor. He was awakened. And I jumped from my bed, sat at the table. And I was writing. My hand was writing. And when I finished, I had another message. And this message is from John chapter 3. All of you who read the Bible, you know. It's about Nicodemus. Funny guy with a funny name. You don't expect this name, it's a Greek name. From the Hebrew guy. Obviously he's a Hebrew. He's Jew. Israeli. Circumcised the eighth day. Proud Hebrew. And he's got a Greek name, Nicodemus. Two words, Nike or Nika, Greek goddess of victory. Anybody has Nikes here? Victory man. Nike and Demos. Demos is people. Victory of the people. So we are going to talk about him. But what is most important that this Bible and this writer called him a man. But this message is for a man. Ladies, please forgive me. But even if this message is for men, I am so sure that women at the end will say amen. Which means it will be good. Yeah. You know that Bible usually say brethren. Even there are some sisters. So, if I can be a bride. Sisters. You can be a brother. Okay. It's very, very, very tough to say that these days. But you know. All right. Let's talk. Let's talk about Nicodemus. A Hebrew guy. But first, let me just say a little bit about the writer. It's John. Yohanan, Hebrew, means God is merciful. My name is Yohanan. I gave that name to my son, to the elder son. Why? Because God was so merciful to me. And he was known as an apostle of love. If you read his epistles, he would usually say, brethren, love one another. He experienced great love of Jesus. He was known after that love. He loved Jesus and he was loved by Jesus. You know? And he was the only man beside other women at the cross. While Jesus was popular in the country, thousands were following him. Guys, leaders, when you are popular, people will follow. But when you come into position that other people attack you, when enemy is attacking you, when he wants to crush you down, when you are in the dust of the ground, when everybody else wants to come to you and kick you in the stomach, There are few rare men around you who would come and help you stand up. But the Lord is always here. But when crosses approaches, when you are approaching to the cross, to the different situations in your life, friends are just disappearing from you. Do you have that experience? I know you have. Everybody disappeared but one man. John was at the cross. That's why Jesus entrusted him, his mother. If you ever ask, why to him? Why not to Peter or somebody else? Because Peter wasn't there. John was there. And Jesus was able to entrust him, his mother. And some beautiful words he received as well. But one important thing is about this message that I am presenting. He was the only man. What happened with other men? They got scared to death. They didn't want to be seen with Jesus anymore. If you remember Peter around the fire, Gentile fire. When he was around the fire of Jesus, he got revelation that he is the son of God. Be aware who are you spending time with. where you warm up around whose fire. And then he was around the fire of Gentiles around him. Somebody recognized him and he denied Jesus. It's easy to be scared when enemy comes closer. And men were hidden behind the dresses of women. Women were brave. They stood up at the cross. The first witnesses were women. But I said I will not talk about the women. I will talk about the men. Just a little bit for you. John was the disciple. If you remember the last supper. That Jesus had with his loved ones. He was leaning his head on Jesus' chest. But if you read the revelation of John. In the first chapter. When he saw Jesus. He fell to the ground like a dead man. Because he was scared to death. When he saw what Daniel saw in his book. The same person. And he was aware who lived in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth. The almighty God. And the almighty God is standing in front of him. And I wish... You and me, we have a new revelation of Jesus today. It will bring us into a greater position in the spiritual realm. We need new revelation of Jesus. We can't live on the old revelations. We need a new one. And Jesus wants to reveal himself every day. He said, I don't do anything until I see what my father is doing in the heavenlies. And then I do that. That's why he was so successful. We will be so successful if we are able to see him, what he is doing. And when we are speaking what he is speaking in the heavenlies, it will touch the hearts of men and women. Our words are not strong enough. Amen. But when God is in those words, it is able to touch the hearts of people and to change their lives. Hallelujah. So this is the writer. And let's go into the message. Third chapter. And I will read the first verse. Among the Pharisees, there was a man. And this is the main message. And main revelation today. Among the Pharisees, there was a man. And it starts like a fairy tale. Once upon a time, among the Pharisees, there was a man. It looks like a fairy tale. He had two sons and 15 daughters. It doesn't say that. But among the Pharisees, there was a man. For me, that is fairy tale. You don't expect a man among the Pharisees. You know who Pharisees are. Enemies of the good. Enemies of the godly things. Enemies of God's people. Enemies of the church. Very strict religious people who are so easy to take up the stones and lift them against the godly people. Once they lift up the stone, they're going to throw it to you. And when stone is coming to your forehead, it will come on the place. It's the same when we are talking bad about each other. Don't do that. So among the Pharisees, we know who Pharisees are. We don't want to spend time with them. We don't expect a man among them. As far as better from them. Don't spend time. Don't look for the friends among the Pharisees. But we will be surprised today that if you pay attention and we look into people and try to find the men, we will find them among the groupations that we don't expect. Even among the so-called enemies. So you don't look for the friends among the enemies. Who are the enemies? You can find them anywhere. Go just to the street and you will find the enemies. And we don't spend time with such a people, church. Or we think we're supposed not to do that. So, we have biblical examples. There was a man called Cornelius. You heard of him? He had strange uniform. Enemy uniform. He came to our country to possess our land. To put our people in the slavery. We had to pay taxes to Caesar. And he is representative of Caesar. So he is the enemy. He's got a funny name. He's got maybe strange race. Strange nationality. You don't look for the friends among those. But. He was praying to the Lord God of Israel. He was a hidden believer. He was doing good things to the Jewish people. And you know what? God sees such things. You know, there is a verse in the Bible that says, When you give to the poor, you borrow to the Lord. You know the verse. You are borrowing to the Lord. And you know, the Lord never owes anything to anyone. He will give you back. And the Lord saw his actions. And the Lord qualified it, my goodness, this guy is candidate for the heaven, for salvation. And because of that, he spoke to one of his disciples, to Peter. Peter would never enter his house. He's Gentile. We don't mix with the Gentiles. We don't look for the friends among the Gentiles. But because the Lord persuaded him, he came to the Gentile and experienced that the Lord loves them as well. What do you think about your neighbors? Does the Lord love them as well? There is a Gentile world around us. We are like a sheep among the wolves. And we don't recognize them. We look for the friends in the church. And sometimes it's very hard even in the church to find a friend. Especially if you describe what the friend is. You know who is friend? What is friend? Do you have them? We have people that we greet on the street. Hello. Who is that? It's my friend. It's not your friend. You just know him on the street. There are friends that you can fish with. But you don't share your depth from your heart with the friend that you're fishing with. Or having coffee with. Or having beer with. Beer with. That's not your friend. Who is your friend? My friend and your friend is a person. A living person who knows everything about you. Especially bad things about you. But in the same time, he still believes the best for you. He doesn't judge you. He's not mad at you. He loves you even when you fell on the ground. He's the person that will not come when you are in the dust to kick you in the stomach. To be accepted by all the others when they are judging you. That's a friend. That's a friend. And we don't look for the friends among Gentiles. Perhaps we will change our opinion after this message. There are hidden people, hidden sympathizers, hidden jewels among them. They are waiting for us, for the church, to rise up to our task given by the Lord. To be a blessing to them. Unfortunately, church, you know what we become to be? Only wishing blessing from God. But we are not feeling to be a blessing to somebody. It costs us. It costs to be a blessing. But dare to be a blessing. And you will be blessed even more. Okay. Let's go back to a man. What to say about the man today? We live in the 21st century. It's very sensitive to speak about this subject, brother. It is very, very sensitive because we know, we are so aware what kind of man we can find on the street today. In every society in the world. Man lost his power, willingly, unfortunately. He's supposed to be a head of the family. He's supposed to be a leader in the society. Pillar of the society. Bread maker. Provider for the family. He's supposed to be a soldier or warrior. Willing to jump into trench and protect the family and the church. And the country. But the man lost its power willingly. And hiding behind the dresses of women today. And by this I want to say and encourage every one of us. Let us allow our father to bring us back into our purpose as a man. Women, do you agree with me? I know that you agree. You know, when man knows where he is going, where he is leading, women will follow willingly. And they will say amen to that. This world is waiting for a man who will stand up and take their position. Let's say something more about the Pharisees. Something I forgot. It happens usually. What would happen if you say to somebody beside you, you are a Pharisee? What is the message behind that? What are you telling him or her? You're telling him or telling her that they are hypocrites. And Jesus said, be aware of the yeast of the Pharisee. What is the yeast of the Pharisee? Hypocrism. What is hypocrite? The Greek word for the hypocrite is the same word for the actor in the theater or in the movie. Who is the actor? Actor is the person who plays the role of somebody else. That's the hypocrite. And Jesus said, be aware of the yeast of the Pharisees. And this guy was a Pharisee. We don't spend time with the Pharisees. And we don't look for the friends among the Pharisees. But we can be surprised. There was another Pharisee. Everybody knows him. There was a Pharisee called Saul. He was on the way to persecute the church. And suddenly, great light from heaven come upon him. He got blind. He fell from the horse. And then he heard a voice. Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? To be honest with you, he wasn't persecuting him. But to Jesus it is too personal. When somebody is touching you, is touching Jesus. He identifies himself with us. You are the pupil of his eye. He loves you. That's him. But he was not ordinary Pharisee. This guy. He was one of the chiefs of the Pharisees. He was a ruler in the country. There was two groupations or two parties, religious parties in Israel in that time. And they were called Sanhedrin. 72 men who were ruling the country. And like in America, you have two great parties. And the greater party gives precedent. So in that time, greater party gave the high priest. So they have saddukes and pharisees. And the saddukes were in majority. So Jesus also said, be aware of the yeast of saddukes. Later, he also said, be aware of the yeast of Herod. Put him away. Herod is not important today. But Saddukes, very dangerous groupations. Apostle Paul had lots of problems with the Saddukes, more than with Pharisees. Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the death. They believed in angels. They believed in spirits, in spiritual things, in godly things. But Saddukes didn't believe at all in those things. Imagine, they didn't believe in the resurrection of death. They believed in the resurrection of the death. It is basics of Jewish religion. The Messiah will come. People will rise again. But they didn't believe that. Do we have a modern saddoches today in the 21st century? If you know some churches, they stop believing that God is able to do things today in the 21st century. They believe that, Lord, stop doing things when apostles died. Amen. So many people like that. But I have a message for them today. From this pulpit. They are very, very wrong. Our God is able. Our God is mighty. He's still saving people. Like you and me. He delivers people. I'm delivered. Are you? And He heals people. And He's doing miracles. Every day he's doing greater miracles. Hallelujah. And this guy, this man, is coming to Jesus by night. Why by night? Because he didn't want to be seen. From the other fellow Pharisees. They would accuse him immediately. They might have got some stone in the forehead. And he started conversation with Jesus like, Rabbi, we know that you came from God. Listen to this. He didn't say, I know. And that's why I am here with you. He said, we know. Who we? We Pharisees. We know that you are from God. Because no one can do the things that you are doing if God is not with him. But there is a good question after that. If you know, why are you doing everything against me? And I will say this, because of the envy in the heart. What is envy? Envy is a pain in the heart when you see your brother or your neighbor advancing. Receiving the blessing from above. And you are not blessed. Just like a kind. Cain was mad when he saw his brother advancing. He received the answer from the Lord and he is not. And because of this little conversation with Jesus. Jesus said, I truly saying to you. You need to be born again. And you know the rest of the conversation. He actually said to him three times you need to be born again. In this conversation. And this guy didn't understand. He was a teacher of Jewish people. He was a great guy. He was a member of the party. Member of Sanhedrin. He's not the ordinary man. He knows Bible in his hand. You know, in his fingers. He memorized the five books of Moses. Torah. He knows everything about the law. But he doesn't know God. Guys, you can be a great guy, great woman of God, great man of God. You can know things. You can be a member of the party, member of the Senate, of Congress, or whatever. But if you don't know him. And at the end, I have something very powerful like a revelation. Guys, don't be like a Pharisee. They pay attention of what they were doing. You know, they memorized the book. They did the things. But it's not the matter of what you are doing. But who you are. You know, when Jesus came to the river Jordan to be baptized by John. John baptized him. And after the baptism, Holy Spirit come to him. And the voice from heaven confirmed something important about Jesus. This is my beloved son. And I am pleased in him. A question. Why? How did Jesus deserve that? Did he heal the sick already? Fed the hungry? Raised the dead? Cast out demons? Nothing of that. Is that right? But how then? How did he deserve these words? I will repeat myself. It's not what you do, but who you are. Brothers, the same writer, John, in his first epistle, chapter 3, he says, children, now we are children of God. What are we going to become? Not revealed yet. But one thing we know for sure, we will be like him. You and I, imagine that. One day, and that day is coming. You and I, we will stand in front of the white throne of God. And we will see the one who is sitting on the throne. And we will see the lamp. And don't be surprised. You will look like him. Because the Holy Spirit right now is building the image of Jesus in our spirit. One of the best things that he is doing right now. Is building the image of Jesus. So when we come to the throne. We will look like him. We belong to him. We are children of God. We don't have our identity. Our old identity. You know what is caterpillar? Do you know the track after it? It's sticky. Ugly. Catastrophic. That was the track after me. I was a drunkard, very bad man. I was lifting my hand against my parents just to grab all the money from them to have for alcohol. I couldn't live without bottle of Rocky or brandy. And they were working very, very hard. The little salary. And I would lift my hands against them. Tomorrow, when I'm sober, I would kill myself. But I couldn't help myself. The track behind me, and everybody was able to see that, was catastrophic, sticky, and ugly. But then, this caterpillar went into cocoon And everybody said, where is he? He's done. We knew what will happen with this guy. He's done. Alcohol killed him. I just went into cocoon. And something was going on in the cocoon. Ha, ha, ha. The Lord was doing greater miracle in my life. He was dealing with the old and making a new. And when they forgot about me, the world forgot about me, the cocoon started moving and breaking. And out of that cocoon came beautiful butterfly. And the track after me, until that day, thank God, is different. Amen. Brethren, we are children of God. We have our own new identity. We belong to him. Hallelujah. We're happy because of that. I love you guys. Thank you so much for listening. It is a privilege and honor every time when I stand in front of you to minister to you. Pastor, both thank you for the opportunity. Love you, bro. Love you, too. This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message, or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and City Light Church, visit us at 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 City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.