Good Things Happen to Covenant People

(0:00 - 0:16) You can have a terrible 26, a mediocre 26. You can have a full overflowing 26. And a lot of that boils down to how we are thinking about ourselves and the upcoming weeks and months and how we see ourselves in Christ. (0:17 - 0:35) For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. What are you in your heart of hearts believing about your future? 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. (0:36 - 1:07) 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. Welcome to those of you joining us online. (1:10 - 1:26) I want to make a couple of announcements before I bring today's Word for you, which I'm very excited about. One, Growth Track begins tonight. So everybody you hear clapping, they've gone through Growth Track. (1:28 - 1:51) I will admit, I will confess my sin. I have slacked with regard to stating the importance of Growth Track. So what is Growth Track? Growth Track is four sessions, about 45 minutes to an hour in length, and they're for everybody who wants to learn more about CityLight and learn more about how they fit into the body of Christ. (1:51 - 2:00) It's really our membership class. Now when I first became a Christian, I didn't want to be a member of any church. That was just my default state. (2:01 - 2:14) Not because I understood membership, but because I thought, well, I don't want to be controlled. I don't want to go to a place. What does that even mean? Like am I a member for life? Is it like the mob? You can check in, but you can't check out. (2:15 - 2:30) How does membership work? Why membership? What's the importance of membership? Here's what the Bible says. It says those that are rooted and grounded in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God. So you got two Christians. (2:30 - 2:38) One is a leapfrog Christian, ribbit, ribbit. They bounce from church to church. Study that Christian. (2:38 - 3:01) You'll soon find out that there's nothing about their life that you want to emulate. You'll soon discover that they're not living in God's best, and the moment God starts to deal with them, they just switch churches. See that's why in the Old Testament, in the good old days, first century, you know, if you got out of line, Paul's like, hey, we're going to kick you out of church. (3:02 - 3:14) That was bad news in the first century because you're in Ephesus. You're like, oh, Corinth is a long ways off. But now someone just takes a subway stop, went over and they're in another church. (3:15 - 3:20) And they just begin the whole thing all over again. No, but God wants you plugged in. God wants you rooted. (3:21 - 3:31) God wants you receiving and giving somewhere. And so it's frustrating not to be in a place where you're rooted and grounded. It's frustrating for you, not for us who are rooted and grounded. (3:31 - 3:38) We're having the time of our lives. So it begins with the growth track. You'll also discover more about yourself. (3:38 - 3:55) There's a spiritual gifts assessment. So you learn how God designed you, how God made you, and how you can fit into the body of Christ. Tonight it starts at 7 if you don't know what I'm talking about, but you want to get involved. (3:55 - 3:59) And it couldn't be any easier. It's via Zoom. Like everything is so easy now. (3:59 - 4:09) You could be in your pajamas from the waist down. So comfy. And go through the growth track. (4:09 - 4:26) So email info at citylightnyc.com. You could also fill out a connection card and do all that, but this is the quickest way. And that email, remember that email, it's the number one way to get a hold of CityLight Church. There is an actual human, not an algorithm or AI behind that email. (4:27 - 4:41) And they will respond to you. Amen. And number two, how many of you, you watched Mike Winger's video? So a whopping four people in the first service. (4:42 - 4:48) Wow. Mike Winger came out nothing. Wow, you guys are so blessed. (4:49 - 4:59) It's so awesome. All right, let me chitchat about that a little bit. This fellow Mike Winger is running an expose on the crazymatic, I mean the charismatic church. (5:02 - 5:12) And it got over a million views within just a few days. And it's kind of nice. In the first service, only four people raised their hands. (5:12 - 5:23) And in this service, I don't even know because some of them were in the first service raising their hand again. So let me start in the beginning. In the beginning, there was the word. (5:23 - 5:41) No, in the beginning, just so you know, we're a non-denominational church. And most churches, most church plans of the last 20, 25 years are non-denominational. That just means they don't fall neatly into a particular denomination. (5:42 - 5:52) But if you come for longer than five minutes, you'll realize, oh, at CityLight, they believe in the whole Bible. Nothing added, nothing taken away. And they believe in the whole Bible. (5:52 - 6:06) They also believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the baptism in the Holy Spirit. The baptism in the Holy Spirit with the manifestation and evidence of speaking in tongues. They believe in all nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. (6:07 - 6:24) And so we're, in that sense, Spirit-filled, although that's not a denomination. In that sense, we're Pentecostal, but that's not really a denomination either. There's no, like, Pentecostal world headquarters, you know what I mean? And also, we're charismatic. (6:26 - 6:37) We're charismatic because we believe in the charis. That's the Greek word, the charis, the grace or the giftings of the Lord. Especially with regard to the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit. (6:43 - 6:55) But in this video, did you watch it? You didn't even hear of it? A million. So a million views in a few days, it's not to you guys. Or should I say, it's for you guys. (6:59 - 7:14) Well, that's because, although I love the Holy Spirit, and I love the gifts of the Holy Spirit, I'm not so in love at all with the crazy-matic world. It can get very weird. It can get goofy. (7:15 - 7:47) And when things get weird and goofy in church, people get hurt. So, have you ever noticed that we don't have that many guest speakers at CityLight? Like, you might think we do, but there's churches, like, once a month, they'll do a three-day mini-conference or full-on conference, and they're having constant guest speakers. There's actually a reason why, from that charismatic world, the only guest speakers I have come in are David Wagner and the Arnotts, who will be with us in April, by the way. (7:49 - 8:09) I got involved deeply in that world. So I'm not talking about doctrine here, I'm talking about the machine, the world of charismania. And I just noticed it wasn't conducive to spiritual health. (8:10 - 8:32) It got very, very weird, very bizarre. And then when I got to know, the ministers associated with that, not all, but a disproportionate amount, are, what's the psychological term for it? Crazy. They're nuts. (8:33 - 8:55) They're crazy. It's a great place to hide if you got, like, borderline personality disorder, narcissistic disorder, your ego's all out of control. It's a great place to hide, and then if anybody ever says anything boo to you, you immediately bust out, touch not God's anointed, and do his prophets no harm. (8:57 - 9:49) You're telling me about me? What, you want God to curse you? Don't you talk about me. I mean, what a weird, manipulative thing, right? So what came out in this video, which I'm so proud of David Wagner, who actually is a prophet of God, who told me all this in 2019, that's seven years ago, that one of the supposed prophets was actually data mining on Facebook. So if there's a conference, you know, people register for the conference on Facebook and things too, so he would find that list, go into their Facebook, and find out your dog's name, your goldfish's name, find out your birthday and your address, because you put all that stuff out on Facebook, and then come to the meeting and go, is there a Lucy? Is there a Lucy here? God's going to make you a fisher of men, because I know your fish that you love so much is named Abigail, and there's Lucy. (9:53 - 10:05) Six ushers catching Lucy as she crumbles to the ground. And David Wagner told me, he said, listen, something's up with that guy. Now he's a real prophet, but he said, there's something's up with that. (10:05 - 10:19) I said, why would you say that? He said, you know when the words are just a little too specific over and over and over again? He's like, I operate in the prophetic all the time. It could just be me. Maybe I need to go to a higher level. (10:19 - 10:22) He's so humble. That's how he words it. Because it could just be me. (10:23 - 10:36) But I have never known anyone to do that consistently. Like, that can happen sometimes. But all the time, I think he's going on people's social media and finding out what they're about and giving them words. (10:37 - 11:00) So why would somebody do that? There are a lot of reasons. I mean, when I got around that movement in 2008, this is going to blow your mind, but when I got around that movement, would you believe that some people are still a slave to fame and money, money and fame, fame and money, money and fame. And it becomes like a drug, and then they just got to, they got to also perform. (11:01 - 11:25) They got to pull not a rabbit out of a hat, they got to pull a hat out of a rabbit. See, I love when the Holy Spirit moves, and He moves in varying degrees from service to service. But I know when I wanted Him to move in great ways in every single service, there were times where I distinctly felt I was pushing on another realm that was not of God. (11:26 - 11:37) And I would be exhausted physically after the service. I'd feel very agitated and irritated after. And I went to the Lord about it, and the Lord said, quit forcing the Holy Ghost. (11:38 - 11:54) You cannot make a show. See, if my whole reputation is Pastor Bo the Miracle Man, right, then you're going to come here expecting miracles. But maybe I show up on a Sunday and the Lord wants me just to teach. (11:55 - 12:08) Maybe He wants me to teach on the tithe, someone's least favorite subject. He wants me to go for two hours straight on the tithe, really get in there. Ninety percent of the people are like, where are the miracles? They walk out. (12:08 - 12:19) So now I have to perform. I have to keep the show going and you open yourself up to all sorts of different spirits. Why am I talking about this? Just because I want you to be discerning. (12:20 - 12:37) Most of you really, really are. Be discerning and know if someone gets elevated to a prominent position in quote, the body of Christ, that does not mean that God is endorsing this person. That is not God's stamp of approval on the person. (12:37 - 12:52) The gifts and the callings of God are irrevocable. That means He won't take them back. That's why there's some charlatan ministers, they still minister with authority, effectiveness, even the gifts of the Holy Spirit and their life is a mess. (12:52 - 13:00) And you don't want to get entangled with that. Hallelujah. There was another guy that got exposed. (13:01 - 13:08) He would say things like, I have not lied since I got saved. Never ever lied. And people would cheer. (13:09 - 13:19) If I was in that meeting, I would have said, you just did now. There's your first one then. You just did. (13:21 - 13:27) And then he doubled down. By the way, it wasn't just once. Throughout the years, they would show clip after clip after clip. (13:28 - 13:37) And then he would take it even further. I have not sinned since I got saved. What a horrible thing to then put on others. (13:37 - 13:51) Because you're making yourself the standard, an impossible standard for other people to meet. And it would just bring shame and guilt and condemnation on all the listeners. And then also it would serve him because now he is God's untouchable. (13:51 - 14:04) Like the holy man. He must really, really be special. So, how do we process this? One, we don't want to become overly suspicious. (14:05 - 14:10) Anybody can be suspicious and cynical. You don't want to be suspicious and cynical. You want to believe the best and have an open heart. (14:11 - 14:20) And God uses lots of different people in lots of different ways. But also, you don't want to be silly and naive. And I'm not in love with the movement. (14:21 - 14:31) That's the only thing I can say. I don't like the weird stuff that happens. God can be weird. (14:31 - 14:37) God is the good kind of weird. I love God's weird. Because it really exposes that I'm the one who's weird. (14:37 - 14:55) He's normal. He's good. I'm talking about weird stuff like, can I just see your Bible for a second? I remember at one meeting, you didn't tell me I needed a personal trainer to lift up your Bible. (14:55 - 15:05) What the? I thought I needed an object lesson. I do not. I need Tiger Balm for my bicep now after holding up your Bible. (15:08 - 15:19) I'm talking about weird. There's a guy at a conference. He comes up to me and he goes, God's putting gold glitter all over my hands. (15:19 - 15:28) He's got the wild look in his eye and everything. Which you can't use that to judge a person because a lot of Christians have that look. Especially the conference Christians. (15:30 - 15:37) See there's church going Christians like yourselves and there's conference junkies. They're like heroin addicts. They never go to church. (15:38 - 15:57) They rarely have Christian friends. They're just like, you got one of those conferences? I was doing the meme. Nobody needs the meme? You got any more of those conferences? Thank you two of you who appreciate the meme. (16:00 - 16:11) He comes up to me and he goes, I got gold dust. God is putting gold dust on his people and he's got gold. I'm looking at it and I go, it is gold dust. (16:13 - 16:26) Then he's got his Bible in his hand. He's got gold dust on it too. I go on the edge of the Bible. I'm like, bro, your gold edge Bible pages are all glitter. You rub that thing. Pretend like you're a DJ. (16:27 - 16:40) Then you're going to get a little gold flakes on. Can God? Can God do it? Yeah, of course he can. But I'm not going to build a ministry around that. (16:41 - 17:06) And also, I get to ask questions like, all right, give me some of that dust. Let's take it to a jeweler for analysis. How come nobody does that? Find out it's dollar general glitter. (17:10 - 17:13) Hallelujah. I can go off on that. I better preach the sermon now. (17:14 - 17:42) But I thought I might have to comfort some of you and encourage some of you, but none of you even watch the video. You're one of the four. Pay attention when there's a ministry. Pay attention to the mood of the minister's staff. That's always... You know, never ask the pastor how you're doing. They're going to lie to you. (17:44 - 17:51) Never ask me how are things. I'm not going to tell you. Ask the wife. (17:54 - 17:59) Don't pay attention to what she says. Pay attention to her countenance. That'll never lie. (18:01 - 18:47) After you ask the wife how she's doing, what? I got to wear sunglasses. She's glowing so much. Ask the staff how are things. You go to a ministry and the staff looks like, because one of these ministries that got exposed, the guy's whole entire staff was turned around twice. I think in a year, was it? Or in two years, the whole staff... Could you imagine if my whole staff left and I hired a whole new staff, and then a year later that whole staff left? You should ask Pastor Bo. Some of your jokes off the pulpit, I thought they were just jokes. Turns out you're serious. You're chasing everybody away. Something's wrong with you. (18:48 - 18:52) Amen. So look at those things. Hallelujah. (18:53 - 19:00) But this is all good and healthy. The Lord is shaking the tree, pruning branches. This has happened before it happens. (19:01 - 19:12) You ever watch The Godfather? He's like, these things happen every 5-10 years. Talking about the families going to war. I remember at first, these things happen every 5-10 years. (19:12 - 19:17) I thought, that's how the Lord does it. These things happen every 5-10 years. He shakes the tree. (19:18 - 19:24) Bad rotten fruit falls off. He purges his body, and then we go higher after that. Amen. (19:24 - 19:31) Amen. Well let's go to Hebrews. Chapter 8, verses 6-13. (19:34 - 19:57) Oh, speaking of which, before I begin ministering, by joke, I've been ministering this whole time. Some of you know it, and others are waiting for me to start a minute, but I've been ministering to you this whole time. I have determined not to bow down to any pressure to do anything other than what God tells me to do. (19:57 - 20:14) So I've been talking to other ministers saying, what is wrong with this movement? Why does it produce so much of this nonsense? They're like, there's so many good things. And maybe I didn't do a fair enough job to say how many good things I've gotten from charismatic, whatever you want to call them, spirit-filled believers. There's so much good. (20:16 - 20:48) But there's also a lot of yucky stuff. And I'm wondering, how do we eliminate, what's wrong here? And one of the frequent answers I would get is these leaders, they don't stay in their lane. Now if you read the book God's Generals, Volume 1, you will find over and over again that that is reiterated as the theme of the book, and the number one reason why some of these great men of God in the latter years went off the deep end. (20:49 - 21:03) They don't stay in their God-ordained lane. You get so successful, you get so big, it seems like God has given you the mightest touch, everything you put your hand for to do, he makes it to prosper. So you just start doing all these other things until you find yourself in trouble. (21:04 - 21:15) So like, let me give you an example. Last Sunday, we had to cancel service because of the snowstorm. Now, did you notice, we did not have a live stream. (21:15 - 21:22) That was intentional. That wasn't because, you know, we forgot. We could have easily had one. (21:24 - 21:32) I could have recorded one from my office in my home. You know why we didn't have one? I didn't want to. That's it. (21:34 - 21:40) I didn't want to. But everybody had one, not me. I didn't want one. (21:40 - 21:49) You know why? Because the word that God gave me, he gave me for my church. And he gave me for the people that would come. It's a specific word. (21:49 - 22:03) I don't want to have a live stream where only, frankly, 20% of you are going to show up. And now, I don't want to waste that word, which is designed for the whole church on 20% of y'all, so I'd rather save it for now. But we needed something. (22:03 - 22:07) You got 2,000-somethings. Podcasts, YouTube, it's all there. Watch a rerun. (22:11 - 22:24) Also, do you notice, we don't have any conferences. Now, when I first started, I wanted to have conferences, but we had no money to have conferences. Conferences are very expensive. (22:24 - 22:56) But if you want to get the church's name out there, they're the fastest way to get your church name out there. So, when we were a broke church, I wanted conferences. Couldn't have conferences because we're broke. Now we're a prosperous church, and I said, no conferences. You know what we could do? If I was a schemer, it was very easy to blow up in ministry. It's actually not hard. (22:57 - 23:32) Some of you think, I wonder if Pastor Bo knows. Yes, I know! I've been around this way. I know all the little tricks. I could do them. I could hire now a social media director. I could hire people. We could do conferences once a month and get the who's who in the crazy matic zoo, the top names, so now my stock value goes up because I'm being associated with them. They'll be the biggest names, and then also, you know how there's the posters and there's like a flying soaring dove with missiles coming out of his wings and flames of fire, and then they'll be my picture. And I get a new title. (23:32 - 24:37) Pastor Bo sounds too local. I like Senior Global Leader Dr. Apostle Bo Jancic. Oh, that's hot! That's hot! Senior Global Leader Dr. Apostle Bo Jancic, and it would cost me 50 grand a pop. Who cares? And I'd do conference after conference. We would become the charismatic hub of the northeast. And you, can I tell you something? None of you would correct me. I shouldn't say none, but, because here's the trap. I didn't mean to antagonize you by saying it that way, but here's the trap though. I start getting famous. Now you also, because you were here from the early days, and you know me. You don't correct me. You don't pray for me. You like it too. All of a sudden, everybody's talking about CityLight. And do you go to CityLight? You, you just came to CityLight. I've been coming to CityLight. I remember when Pastor Bo was in my life group. You, you're new. (24:37 - 24:52) That's how these things happen. I have never been, and by the way, do you know how I got this way? Because I have such a pure heart. No! It seems like it's so holy up here. (24:53 - 25:13) I got this way, because I went down some of these roads myself. Thankfully, by God's mercy, I fell on my face so hard, so quickly before I got along too far, that I realized, whoa, this is not the way to do it. This is dirty, this is unholy, this is nasty, and I, that's it. (25:15 - 25:45) Amen. I feel like I need to clarify some things, but I'm going to leave it at that. I'm going to leave it at that. Amen. All that to say is, here we are. I have embraced my calling as a local church pastor who sometimes travels, sometimes, like I'll be visiting Pastor Jovitsa in late spring, checking up on the work there, but I'm contented. (25:46 - 25:59) Whereas for years, there was always like a worm in me that wouldn't give me rest. I don't need other people to know me. I love you. God knows me. He knows my name. My family knows me. (25:59 - 26:14) And I just encourage you, get to that place. The moment you get to that place where you're contented and God's allotment for you, you will have peace. Now, you want to be robbed of peace? Go a lot on Instagram. (26:15 - 26:40) Go a lot on YouTube. Go a lot and see what God is doing in other people's lives and have Satan whisper to you, how come your life is boring and theirs is so exciting? And your peace will get robbed. Because social media is an envy amplification device. Thank you, Jesus. Well, look at you. Look at you two. (26:41 - 27:01) I can't even see your faces because the light is, but I see the silhouette. Aren't you all snug as bugs in a rug, huh? Look at how snugly, wugly you are. Let me see here. (27:06 - 27:44) Mm-hmm. Okay. I thought I missed out on something. You were so snugly. Lord, let not my behavior keep other people from forming relationships and dating within the church. I'm just actually very, very excited for the both of you. (27:44 - 27:51) Very, very blessed. You stay good and snugly. Hallelujah. (27:51 - 28:12) Hebrews chapter 8, verse 6. Going to the chapel, baby. Gonna get mad. Hebrews 8, 6. So I'm thinking about your 2026. (28:16 - 28:41) I've been with the Lord and going, Lord, what one thing, one thing for them to be positioned and postured for 2026 to be awesome. It all has to do with thinking and how you think and what you believe about God and what you believe about yourself and what you believe about how God functions in your life. In fact, before Hebrews 6, just go to that verse in Proverbs because this is how important this is. (28:41 - 29:02) You can have a terrible 26, a mediocre 26. You can have a full overflowing 26 and a lot of that boils down to how we are thinking about ourselves and the upcoming weeks and months and how we see ourselves in Christ. For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. (29:04 - 30:24) So what are you thinking? What are you in your heart of hearts believing about your future? Notice that Satan is constantly trying to infiltrate your mind and get you to be down about your future, down about who you are in the Lord and the new covenant and what Jesus' finished work affords us is the solution to that. Hebrews chapter 8, it's talking about the new covenant starting in verse 6. The thing is, way too many Christians don't know the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant. Did you know that? I know that. 8 out of 10, maybe 9 out of 10 can't tell you the difference. They'll just say, well the old covenant was before Jesus, the new covenant was with Jesus. That's it. And it is absolutely essential. This passage we're about to read is one of the most essential passages in the entire Bible. Once you get it, a lot of things fall into place. Like before I got this, secretly, I wondered, how come it seems like God had one personality in the Old Testament and a totally different personality in the New Testament? Did you ever wonder that? He didn't have a... He didn't go to therapy and get nicer. He didn't have a personality. He's the same God. (30:25 - 31:05) But the covenant is different so the way in which he relates to man is different. Under the old covenant, you did good, you got good. You did bad, you got cursed. You got bad. It was based on your behavior. The new covenant is not based on your behavior, it's based on your believing. And once you have right believing, then you will have right doing or right behavior and then you'll have right receiving. And a lot of people aren't receiving from the Lord because they don't have right believing. But now Jesus, he has obtained a more excellent ministry in as much as he is also mediator of a better covenant. (31:06 - 31:17) The new covenant is a better covenant. A good question to ask is why? Why is it better? We'll get to that in one or two more verses. But for now, let's just agree that the new covenant is better. (31:17 - 31:27) It was established on better promises. I used to also think that the old covenant just meant older. And the new covenant, it's the newer covenant. (31:28 - 31:48) But you know what really confused me besides the fact that no preacher ever taught on this? None of my pastors ever taught on the difference? What confused me was we still read the old covenant. We read the Old Testament. So if the old covenant is no more, why do we read it? And why should we read it? Well we do, and we should. (31:50 - 32:15) Because in the new covenant it says, read the old covenant, these things were written for our examples. And the new covenant is actually in the old, just concealed. And then it becomes revealed. But this is what was in God's heart from the very beginning. So we should read the old covenant but with the understanding that we are not living under the old covenant, we're living under the freedom of the new. Hallelujah. (32:16 - 32:28) For if the first covenant had been faultless, aha, there was a problem, a fault, a bug. How many of you got the last iPhone update? I never get those things. I always wait 30 days. (32:31 - 32:41) And so with this last one, last big one, there was a bug. Some people's phones were freaking out. There was a bug, there was a fault in the first covenant. (32:42 - 32:51) Terrible fault. So why would God put a fault in there? Well, he just gave the people what they wanted. It's what they asked for. (32:51 - 33:14) They said, we're well able to keep all your commandments. We're well able to keep all your statutes, all your rules. The problem with the old covenant is that we are involved in the agreement. And as long as humans are involved, they will always fail, they will always fall. And we were the covenant breakers. So when we do good, cross every T, dot every I, you get good things. (33:15 - 33:27) When you fail to go perfectly, you get a curse. That's why the Old Testament is so depressing at times. And you see people getting their butts kicked and getting cursed all the time. (33:27 - 33:46) You don't see that with the Christians in the new covenant, do you? No, you don't. If the first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Verse 8. Because finding fault with them, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord. (33:47 - 34:56) So he begins to prophesy about the new covenant. He's able, under the old covenant, your sins were still not taken away. God was able to find fault with them in a faulty covenant. Now, what's the new covenant? What's the difference? You've got to get this, man. It'll change the way you think of you, the way you see you, and it'll change your receiving, and you'll be a magnet for the blessings of God, and your 2026 will be different. Under the new covenant, it's not me, it's not you holding the covenant together with Father God, and the moment you slip, oh, the covenant is disturbed, the covenant is broken, I've got to reconnect. No, it's Jesus on your behalf, forever, forever, perfectly holding the covenant in place in spite of you. Wow, what greater grace, what manner of love is this? You say, what about when I sin? Especially when you sin. That's when you need him, holding your end of the covenant in place more than ever. (34:57 - 35:12) Hallelujah. Well then, if you preach that, people will just go off and sin. No, because I preach to mainly saved people, and grace is an empowerment and a solution to sin. (35:13 - 35:22) Not what some preachers call, oh, you're just greasy grace and hyper grace. What's hyper grace? I'm pretty hyped up about it. I don't know what hyper grace is. (35:24 - 35:31) It actually cleanses you from the inside out. Hallelujah. Religion is always seeking from the outside in. (35:31 - 35:42) Behavior modification. The new covenant deals with heart transformation. Finding fault with them, he says, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. (35:43 - 35:58) Verse 9. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not continue in my covenant. See, the problem is, they didn't continue. They slipped. (36:01 - 36:11) Have you ever not continued in God's covenant? One humble person. I don't know who that was from over there. People are afraid to answer this. (36:12 - 36:28) Yeah. You know what some Christians do? They slip up, slip up, and they get so frustrated with themselves and so frustrated with, they'll just stop going to church. Or, how many of you after getting saved, and you know Satan tricked you like this, you sinned a little bit, and Satan said, oh, you're really blown it now. (36:28 - 37:06) So then you go, well, I might as well sin a lot of it and just totally fall off the deep end. No. No. You sin, he's with you, and he loves you and still calls you made perfect. You stumble and fall, the covenant is held in place. The culprit here have been preachers who are afraid to empower you. Afraid to tell you biblical truth, thinking like you're gonna lose your mind. I'd rather trust the Holy Spirit and the gospel that even when you're set free, you do the right thing. So years ago, I declared to the whole church, if you don't tithe, God is not gonna smite you. (37:07 - 37:24) You're not cursed. But you should tithe, because it's scriptural and it's the right thing to do, but I'm not gonna threaten you with some divine curse if you don't. Guess what happened to our tithing numbers? Did they go up or down? Most preachers think, oh, you told them that? No, don't ever let them know. (37:24 - 37:32) Hold them by the neck. Threaten them. Tell them if they don't, God's coming for his collection money, his protection money. (37:33 - 37:43) He's got two angels, Vinnie and Tony. They're gonna come, they got heavenly baseball bats, they're gonna break your kneecaps if you don't pay your protection money. No. (37:44 - 38:10) We set the people free, and this is the greatest test, and people are like, oh, so God won't cause a grand piano to fall on my head if I don't tithe? He loves me anyway, but tithing is the right thing to do? I'm gonna tithe anyway. I'll increase the financial blessing with my tithe, but it's just the right thing to do. And tithing numbers went up. (38:11 - 38:23) Hallelujah. It's the same way with all behavior. When you realize how precious you are to him, how loved you are, how you already made perfect, your behavior rises. (38:24 - 38:51) Maybe not instantly, but over time. Hallelujah. But this message is more about you knowing you have an unbreakable covenant because good things happen to God's covenant people. And I'm expecting good things in 2026. Do you know God will, God, it'll seem like God is bending over backwards to see you get blessed, that you'll be just at the right place at the right time. Oh, hallelujah. (38:55 - 39:09) Next verse. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their mind and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (39:10 - 39:32) It's a prophetic word from Ezekiel about the new covenant. He's saying no longer will there be this external pressure to behave, but I will put my Holy Spirit in them. And I will, from the inside out, I will touch their heart. You know, the commandments are all, you shall not, you shall not. Now God is saying, I will. If you actually look at the prophecy in Ezekiel 37, he says, I will. (39:32 - 39:40) You shall, but you did anyway. And you cannot do good. It's impossible for you to do good consistently. (39:40 - 40:28) So I will on your behalf. So how great is it that God is holding together in Christ your end of the covenant for you. So what do I got to do? Surely I got to do something. No, you got to believe something. And you got to believe this every single day. It's easy to agree right now. You got to believe this every single day. You know how Satan loves to hound God's people. His very name is Hasatan, which means the accuser of the brethren. So he hounds God's people, and he whispers to them. For some, it's like a 24-7 broken record. You're not good enough. You're not clean enough. You're wicked. You're not holy enough. You don't study enough. You don't go to church enough. You don't evangelize enough. (40:28 - 40:31) There's always something where you're not enough. You're not enough. You're not enough. (40:32 - 40:57) Why does he do that to you? To shake you out of your solid, rooted position where God says, My work is complete. It is finished. Debt paid in full. You have been made holy and righteous and blameless before me in love. You are mine. The Father looks at you the same way he looks at Jesus, with a smile, with approval. (40:58 - 41:20) In fact, the Bible says you have been approved. You have been justified, declared not guilty. Who are we then to be waddling around, rolling around in shame and guilt and condemnation? Who are you? Are you bigger and badder than the precious blood of Jesus that has thoroughly cleansed you? Hallelujah. (41:21 - 41:39) So when you get this right mindset, you will become like a magnet for good things. You will expect good. You will be excited about your tomorrow. And you will draw those things in. People who aren't excited about their tomorrow, they don't draw anything in. It's just the same old, same old. (41:40 - 41:48) And if you just let that go, it'll you know, entropy. Things tend to just go in a state of disorder. Hallelujah. (41:50 - 42:07) Next verse, please. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Some of you have a bad habit of reminding your own self of the things you used to do. (42:07 - 42:23) And reminding God, God, could you ever forgive me? He already has. You keep reminding him of stuff he's forgiven and forgotten. For I will be yeah, verse 13, in that he says, a new covenant he has made the first obsolete. (42:24 - 42:42) The first is obsolete. You know how many people have a transactional relationship with God? If I do this, you'll do that. God, if I change my life, God, I'm going to stop drinking. (42:43 - 42:55) But then I want you to give me that promotion. I want a new car. I tell you what, Lord, I watch some questionable shows. You know what? I'll throw that out too. But you've got to up your game now. I want the new job, the car, I want a new house. (42:55 - 43:07) They have this weird transaction. God's not going to give you anything based on what you do. He will give you everything based on who he is. (43:07 - 43:23) Good, generous, loving. And when you fall in line and go, and I qualify, see because your average Christian doesn't believe that they qualify. They're constantly disqualifying themselves in their mind. (43:24 - 43:45) Because they don't know they've been forgiven thoroughly. They still think God's holding a grudge. A lot of people are so disgusted with themselves, they transfer that feeling of disgust onto God and think God is disgusted with them. No, for whatever reason, you're disgusted with you. But he loves you. But you're wallowing around in self-disgust, which is pretty disgusting, if you ask me. (43:46 - 44:21) Stop wallowing around in self-disgust and start seeing yourself with 20-20 vision from heaven's viewpoint. Hallelujah. In that he says in your covenant he has made the first obsolete, now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. I was talking to a pastor about this. Some people get excited when they want to deflect victory. I'm telling them, man, we're under the new covenant now. The old is no more. He's like, no, no. But look, look at that verse. (44:22 - 44:41) What are you doing? Where are we going here? Don't make me get old covenant on you, whoever's back there. He's like, it's getting. He goes, you're messing with my punchline, Pastor Mark. (44:46 - 44:54) He goes, and it's growing old and it's ready to vanish away. Aha, you see, it hasn't vanished away yet. It's getting ready to vanish away. (44:54 - 45:16) Like he got me in a theological four-figure leg lock. In other words, he wants to be bound so much to the old covenant saying it's getting ready to vanish away. You should have seen his face when I just said, well, it says it's vanishing away, not fully vanished away because the temple was still a few years away from getting destroyed and that was the end of Judaism. (45:17 - 45:33) Yeah, that was the end of the whole, you cannot have an old covenant system without the Levitical priesthood and the temple sacrifices. Hallelujah. So the old covenant is over and it's an inferior covenant. (45:34 - 45:44) I mean, none of you are crying that the iPhone 6 is no longer around. Oh, I missed it. It was so good. No, you're like, I got the better version. Amen. You got the new version. (45:44 - 45:55) You got the new covenant and there's not going to be any need for a third because this one's complete and perfect. Hallelujah. Let me give you some scriptures you should get tattoos of on your body. (46:00 - 46:46) Colossians 1 verse 21. Whoever's over there in the media team, I love you. Please don't contact Mike Wenger and tell him you were spiritually abused by me. Please. Hallelujah. And you who were once alienated and enemies in your mind, that's all of us. Enemy. We were all. Do you know we were all enemies of God and no amount of good that we did or could do would ever change God's mind about us. (46:47 - 47:05) Everything in us on a cellular level was the antithesis of God. It was in direct opposition to God. It was in direct opposition to yet now he has reconciled. He's made peace. He's reconciled. Wait for it. (47:07 - 47:42) In the body of his flesh through death to present you. This is you. This is you. Holy. Blameless. Oh, you don't know what I did. I don't want to know. You forget what you did. I'm not talking about five years ago. I'm talking about just last week. Focus on you and what Jesus has done in you. You are holy and blameless and whatever sin struggles you've got, the Holy Spirit will cleanse you of and work them out. I tell you what's not going to make you better. You focusing on your sin. Some Christians, and it's so exhausting, I don't even know how they're Christians for years. (47:43 - 48:00) I wouldn't be. I would have back slid, lost my mind. But they've got years long relationship with the Lord where every prayer session is, Oh God, cleanse me. Lord, I keep sinning and yet you love me. Oh Lord, I'm so dirty. Oh Lord, when will you set me free? How do you do that for years? Yet some people do. (48:01 - 48:05) That's not a life of victory. That's not the Christian. That's hell on earth. (48:06 - 49:12) And Jesus saved you to have heaven on earth. So yes, acknowledge your sin. Glance at it, but stare at Jesus. You're not turning a blind eye. You're not being quote soft on sin. You're actually looking at the solution. Who is Christ? You keep talking about your sin, looking at your sin, getting repulsed by your sin, you're going to have, guess what? More sin. And sin will multiply in your life. That's why some of the weirdest, nastiest sinful people you'll ever meet are church people. And the more religious the church, yeah, the more religious where you have to come in and have a straight face and you can't show any chink in the armor, can't show any weakness, that is where you will find the weirdest perversions ever. I know from first hand experience to present you holy and blameless and above reproach, above shame. You know one thing we have never ever told our kids ever, ever, ever, ever. (49:12 - 49:18) I've said a lot of things to them. One thing I've never said is shame on you. Never. (49:20 - 49:31) Some of you need to start telling your kids shame off of you. Shame off. We're in the shame removal business because that's the business that Jesus is in and cousin business is a booming. (49:32 - 49:43) He's removed shame so we're holy. Say this for yourself. I am holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight. (49:43 - 50:03) I'm under the new covenant which is forever intact so I qualify to receive good things from the Lord and this will be the best year of my life. Amen. Hallelujah. (50:05 - 50:24) Ephesians 1.4 Hallelujah. There's just a little bit of a frustration in me I gotta admit because I don't believe that everybody is getting it. I believe some people think they're getting it but they're not getting it but this will change your life once you get it. (50:26 - 50:37) A lot of Christians walk around, they're walking civil war, have no peace because they don't get it. They're in opposition to themselves. They can't rest in God but when you get it you'll find true rest in God. (50:38 - 1:08:25) When you get it no matter what's happening in your life you'll actually like the person in the mirror and realize yeah in the natural you may be broken in the natural you may be hurting in the natural you may be prone to failure and stupid mistakes in the natural I'm prone to retardation but God hallelujah just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world did we already read Ephesians 1.4? It's such an echo of Colossians that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Those two verses you're holy and without blame and the other one from Colossians internalize that so when Hasatan and he will when Satan comes accusing you belittling you, you have a response because the attack is going to come in that fashion you're not enough, you're not measuring up you don't deserve, you don't qualify for God's blessings and you will disqualify yourself instead of looking to the cross and going I may not qualify but he did that for me that has qualified me hallelujah thank God for the finished work so let's read a few of the benefits then we're going to receive communion in just a few minutes. Psalms 37.25 there are a lot of benefits to having been declared righteous a lot how many righteous people do we have here? If you're righteous raise your hand alright we're doing good in here did you I didn't see, did you raise your hand? are you righteous? do you have righteousness? oh yes hallelujah just trying to see where you're at got my eye on you, I see great things on you I'm keeping an eye, we're going to make sure this foundation is strong if you don't know why every hand went up it's not because they're dying of pride and think they're all that it's because they understand that righteousness is a gift and it's been given to them the bible says you have the righteousness of Christ, you've been given the righteousness of Christ you might want to sit down I was exaggerating when I said it was a preacher talk, I mean like 40 minutes from now you don't end when you tell them you're going to end, you string them along slowly you hear that winger? so you have been given this precious gift called righteousness hey there's a big group of us 20 plus, 25 of us going to Guatemala this Wednesday, pray for us and I try to get this message in Guatemala we're making headway but it takes a lot of work because culturally they're under a system because they're the yeshiel people the direct descendants of the Maya so they were under this pagan system where you had to try to appease a vengeful, wrathful set of Gods that you could never appease so that doesn't really produce spiritual confidence does it then they traded that for Catholicism which is like a lighter version of the other thing a God that's always angry, I mean he's so angry you've got to go to his mother unless he gets upset you've got to go to mom so again doesn't really you've got to go to the whole team go to the 58 saints go to the mother, go to anyone but God because if you go to God he's got the lightning bolt in his hand at the cigar lounge I tell this to all the Catholics they love me they laugh their heads off they're like you're exactly right the men will laugh their heads off the ladies don't like when I do that though clutch their pearls and you know it's not sensitive of you to say that so I'll do this thing in Guatemala and I'll say who's more righteous you or Jesus after preaching on it all week and giving them the answer all week and I'll be like now to wrap it off who's more righteous you or Jesus and the whole place Jesus and the correct answer is not Jesus somebody shout out the correct answer the same if Jesus has given you his righteousness then who's more righteous it's the same and then I would do that and you could see the gears in their heads and like they're confused basically the look is could this really be true is this so great a salvation did God really pull us out of the mud and bring us to his level could something so grand be so true and the answer is yes yes that's why the angels appeared at Jesus birth and said the savior of the world glory in the high there was such a proclamation everything was about to change and he was going to do for us what we could never do for ourselves that's why the gospel is good news that's why this is the greatest love story that's ever been told he took us we couldn't do anything for it we're utter failures and he came and did the work for us and lifted us up and put us on the same status as Jesus when it comes to righteousness hallelujah so here's some if you read the old testament there's a lot of promises made to righteous people if you're looking at yourself and your own behavior you're going to get depressed because you don't qualify for any of them for example maybe you're struggling financially and your best friend texts you this I have been young and now I'm old yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken nor his descendants begging bread good verse right but there's a qualifier you got to be righteous so guess what that person was already getting attacked by the enemy is going to think well I'm not righteous I'm prone to human error I've made mistakes in fact I've missed two Sundays already well this doesn't work for me when instead they can say I have been given righteousness I am holy and without blame is this helping anybody I'm holy holy and without blame before him in love now all of a sudden you went from being disqualified to qualifying amen hallelujah psalm 512 for thou Lord will bless the who shout that's me with favor wilt thou compass him about as with a shield psalm 55 22 cast your burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved shout that's me psalm 84 11 for the Lord God is a sun and shield the Lord will give grace and glory you know what that word I didn't get into it in the first service but I feel there's some I smell religion in this place you know what that word for glory is it's not say it again say it one more time hey people hear glory they immediately oh it's sprinkles from heaven that word glory there's the kabod which was actually the same word used for when Abraham put all his treasures on the beast of Britain it was so heavy laden with treasures God will give you grace and financial provision kabod glory no and then otherwise the next part doesn't make sense no good thing thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly now if I want to analyze the minutia of my behavior I'm not confident that I fulfill the qualifications for this verse uprightly how uprightly perfectly uprightly well and are we talking about sins of commission and omission really try to bring down the sins of commission but there's always sins of omission like I was sharing in the first service if I sinned yesterday I don't know I'm sure I did but I don't know there was no right what a perfect what a good Saturday but what about sins of omission because I didn't spend the whole day reading the Bible I didn't spend the whole day feeding the homeless there's a lot of things that I omitted now I'm guilty again I will always be guilty if I'm looking at myself always you will always be guilty and lacking and disqualified if your eyes are on you get your eyes off of you and put them on Jesus put them on Jesus the author and finisher of your faith whenever you feel you're not enough put your eyes on Jesus he's made you more than enough because he's put you inside of himself hallelujah and then you can say this whole thing applies to me Proverbs 28 1 this is how to avoid being mousy how to avoid being a coward by the way in Guatemala whenever we pray the first thing they start doing within five seconds those of you have gone what do they do cry they cry I love crying when I pray but it's got to be the Lord touching my heart to cry I don't automatically cry every time I pray like we'll be like the men will be happy shoveling the cement joking and then it's like time to pray like bless the foundation of the building and all of them take their hat off oh senora oh Dios and I'm like did somebody die since we finished the last bucket and now like wailing crying why why because of religion because of tradition because they're feeling inferior just to talk to God they can't do it with a smile sounds like someone strangling a bag full of cats the righteous are as bold as a lion when you understand you've been made righteous you don't come to God you go father and just talk to him hallelujah thank you Lord if you're offended here today I apologize for nothing Proverbs 24 16 for a righteous man falls seven times and rises up again but the wicked shall fall into trouble I'll close with that let's receive communion and drink and eat and partake of Jesus and this blessed new covenant hallelujah a better covenant a covenant that qualifies us thank you thank you as you wait it's been a while since I pointed this out you know we don't use the church wafers the little they look like the Captain Crunch you ever see the prepackaged church community it looks like a Captain Crunch puff we use what Jesus ate unleavened bread matzah Mr. Shmuley sold these to me himself and if you look at matzah you'll see three things about it it's burnt it's pierced there's little holes and it's striped burnt pierced and striped do you see it can you see the little holes hold it up to the light and you'll see them and there's burn marks and there's stripes why because this is a picture of Jesus and this is Hebrew matzah the gospel is in there he was pierced for you on the cross he was striped and by his stripes you were healed and the wrath of God burnt on him so it would never burn on you and you're getting off free and clear because of Jesus his death and subsequent resurrection so what's happening when we receive communion why do we do it we're reaffirming the covenant and if you're sick in any way if you're lacking in any way if you're under condemnation in any way as you reaffirm the covenant use it as a point of contact and trust God's supernatural power to go inside of you Amen say this with me out loud in the name of Jesus I have an unbreakable covenant I have the righteousness of Christ I am holy and without blame I partake of communion and I receive all the benefits of Jesus' cross in Jesus' name Amen Go ahead and partake of the body of Jesus and then the blood of Jesus Oh Hallelujah Precious Jesus Hallelujah Yes Lord Yes Lord Yes Yes Lord Thank you Lord May you leave here with your head held high May you know that you are loved even if you don't like you sometimes that's the problem you don't like you but God likes you Amen There are many days I don't like me What do you do then? I go to my wife I'm like babe I don't like me right now She's like I don't like you either right now What do I do? I gotta go to God Amen He's like I like you I've washed you I've cleansed you Hallelujah He's all the affirmation and validation we need Well let's worship and honor the Lord with our tithes and offerings Amen Give with a glad heart Amen The giving information is on the screen right there Give in faith and really listen to the Lord if he tells you to give something extra cause last Sunday's offering was obviously not great since we had no service on Sunday So thank God for people who still remember it and sent it in online and those who have reoccurring giving but we trust the Lord to make it all up Hallelujah The ministry team will be to my left your right If you want prayer for anything, ministry for anything, maybe you're new maybe you're wondering why you stayed this long Your waist deep already why don't you finish it off and go get prayer It won't hurt you and the Holy Spirit will never ever hurt you, he loves you, he's on your side He's more for you than you're for you Go and just say pray for me and watch the Lord do something great in your life We bless you, we love you Life groups are coming soon and if you haven't done growth track tonight at 7pm Be blessed CityLight Church Go in the victory of the Lord 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 you