Guarding Gratitude

00:00 - Speaker 1 Our God has the power to raise the dead. Have you forgotten that as you go through your life and circumstances are rising and bills are piling up and circumstance, these things that you wouldn't pick for yourself they're coming and they're strangling life out of you? You need to remember that we serve a God who heals, a God who delivers, a God who resurrects. 00:26 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. 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 that he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:11 - Speaker 1 I specifically want to talk to you guys today about protection. This is not going to turn into a PBS special, so I hope your mind didn't go there. Some people got nervous like wait what? No, I want to protect some things that need to be protected and it's not the usual fare. What we need to protect today is gratitude. We have to specifically the Lord has given me a mission today that we have to arm the people so that they can protect their gratitude, because their gratitude is actually going to protect them. Amen, amen, all right, and there's a reason for this, because I've noticed that sometimes, when we become familiar with something, we don't value it the same way that we once used to. 01:59 There's something about the familiar that just makes it lose a bit of its luster. So the treatment that we give it I mean you can look no more than to I remember the when I bought these shoes, which actually that's a lie now that I'm thinking I look down, these were a gift, praise god. But there's something about when you first get something new that you treat it with a certain way, like you open the box ever so gingerly, rustle with your paper and you just look at them. My sneaker heads know it's like you almost don't want to walk with a crease. So you get that funny duck walk in the beginning Because you treat it a certain way. How about this? I can show you the distinction between the familiar and the unfamiliar. When you bump somebody on the street and, let's say, you step on a sneaker head, sneak, oh I'm so sorry, just, I didn't mean to Just whoo, whoo, whoo. Let you bump somebody in your house, you give them a quick forearm shiver, you stop, you give them the look and then you keep it moving and the look says everything. Don't let it happen again. And you don't articulate that with your words, but there's something about it that's just like You've been warned. 03:23 How is that possible that we would give more reverence to a stranger than somebody in our own home? It's the familiarity. I know this to be true because I look at it even within my own marriage. I remember when I first started getting to know Tiffany as friends, we were just friends, or so. She thought I was scheming for a long time. Gentlemen, yes, yes, yes. 03:51 Jehovah Sneaky was at play, he was on my side and I remember I would craft these text messages to her, and I used that word intentionally. They were crafted messages. These were intentional devices meant to put on full display the awesome, holy anointing that the Lord had put within the man of God in her presence. They had to be funny, they had to be cute, they had to be smart, they had to be all of that Because I was trying to win her affection. And now it's like, yeah, you doing a chicken tonight, thumbs up. 04:33 It's just a difference, that is, it's bred through the familiarity. Right, we all go through that. We all go through that. But my task today is calling people back to the awe and the reverence and the wonderful God of heaven, because it cannot be that we have such an interaction with something so powerful, someone so loving, someone so beautiful that we would treat him the way that we treat him because we've known him too long. Oh, it's not going to be a lot of amens tonight, I feel it. We got to go back to thankfulness and gratitude and show how our gratitude is actually a shield of defense against the enemy's plans for us. It's so funny. 05:19 I remember one time I was in an office setting and somebody brought their entire family to work. They didn't plan to stay the whole day, it was just a one-time thing. They were coming in to get something done and then go on vacation. So their whole family was with them Wife, kids, everything. They only had one at the time and their kid was there and they were like, just watch him for a second, I just want to run and I'm like I got stuff to do. Jack, what are you talking about? Just leave their kid. The kid is about one years old and he's like I'm just going to leave him. He doesn't move, he's good. You know, it's like such unfair things. I'm at my desk like don't die, and lo and behold, this one-year-old gets up and starts walking around. Now, mind you, I don't have my phone on me because I'm like, oh, I'm like, oh, what do I do? I had never seen a kid walk before. So I'm like top of my lungs calling the parent, like come and look at this. 06:19 - Speaker 2 You're going to miss it. 06:20 - Speaker 1 Because I think I'm witnessing the first steps ever. I will forever hold it. I taught you how to walk. That was me. The anointing leeched out of me and just grabbed you and got you up on your feet. That was me. I taught this kid how to walk. His dad leans in from a doorway and goes, oh yeah, he does that now. So what used to be a monumental celebration because it becomes a mundane acknowledgement of, oh yeah, that thing. We can't ever let our relationship with the Lord become that, because we would be in danger of missing the true benefit of interacting with who we love the king of glory. 07:09 Tolerance is not always a good thing. When we encounter something, too often our senses are dull to it, regardless of how amazing and life-altering that thing is. Humans develop a natural tolerance that is gradually built up by exposure with everything. How many coffee drinkers we got in the house? Look at you, look at you. Sick of all of you. Here's the thing. 07:33 I'm not anti-coffee in any way. I drink coffee all the time, but I'm not like a connoisseur of any sort. I drink coffee the way some people unfortunately drink alcohol. I'm only there for the effect, I'm not here for. Oh, the beans straight from Arabica. I can tell that this was roasted on the mountains of Algeria. Like I couldn't care less. Like when people get like, sometimes the saints are super gracious. They're like hey, pastor Mo, I saw you working hard, here's the coffee. And I literally this has been my reaction, and sometimes it throws people off because they're like oh, thank you. And people are looking at me like, what type of monster are you? I'm like you got me coffee. I wanted to get it. There's caffeine in it. The caffeine's going to do something to my body. I got it, thanks. What do you want? Because they're not used to people consuming coffee, because I'm not consuming it for the flavor, I don't care. I drink a lot of water. I'm good Not to say that I don't mind you bringing me coffee. I don't. I like bangs and all sorts. Yes, well, putting too much out there, praise God. But it's about the effect. If I use it more and I have used a substantial amount of coffee in my life not that I'm a fan of it in any sort, but I've used it it doesn't mean anything to me anymore, is all that I'm saying. 08:51 That happens in the spirit. Your senses are dulled by how much you use something, even with human nature. They tell you with children Back in the days, they didn't notice and they would tell you keep your kid away from everything. Now they tell you give your kid everything as early as possible so that we know what they're allergic to and what they need to be protected from. Amen, they're like you know, we don't know whether your kid has a peanut allergy. Just smear some peanut butter all over their face. I'm like whoa bro, relax. But it's something like we're from the beginning and I apologize for that. I definitely went right across her face like yep, but no, they tell you. They want you, the kid, to gain a tolerance to certain things early, not so in the spirit. I want you to have a tolerance, but I also want you to have an appreciation that lasts. Amen, and you guys will see where we're going with this. They nervous oh my God, it's gratitude. I just want to make sure All right, all right, we're good, you're good, you're good. I promise Sort of let's go to Mark 6, because we see this in scriptures and we see how dangerous it can be if you don't put Jesus on the right bookshelf. 10:11 So often with people and I tell people this in counseling. You need to determine who people are in your life. This will allow you to avoid a massive amount of conflict if you would understand who people are and put them on the appropriate shelf. I'm talking about boundary work here. I'm giving you this one for free. It's not even part of sermon. This is just something that's going to bless your life. Learn how to put people on the right shelf. The reason that you keep finding so much conflict in some of your relationships is you are putting people on the wrong shelf. You keep thinking that these people are highbrow people and you need to lower the standard a little bit. 10:50 Not everybody can I call on as my friend, and it's not that I don't love you, it's not that we don't associate well, but that's just it. You are my associate, you are not my friend. My friend I can count on and listen. I could go on vacation with associates. I could go to basketball games with it. Like certain people, I know what to do with them and what not to do with them. Certain friends, I know I'm not going to count on you to watch over my kids, because my kids will end up in Guatemala somewhere, but that doesn't mean that they can't walk my dog. It's just, you just got to know where to place people, because the disappointment comes from the mis-expectation. I thought you could handle this. You clearly can't and now I'm disappointed. Oh, they're not saints. It's too real. This morning Gee willikers I've already used it's a kicker and gee willikers in two sermons. My wife is keeping count Mark 6. 11:51 Then he went out from there and came to his own country and his disciples followed him and when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue and many hearing him were astonished, saying where did this man get these things and what wisdom is this which given to him that such mighty works are performed by his hands? Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, joseph, judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? So they were offended at him and some of you are like Jesus had that many siblings. Listen, joseph was backed up for a little bit. He got to work immediately, once the sun. All right, that was too much. I felt it from the Lord. It's too much. But Jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, in his own country, among his own relatives and in his own house. Now he could do no mighty works there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them and he marveled because of their unbelief. Then he went about the villages in a circuit teaching they had too much exposure to Jesus. Boy, I didn't watch you, snot-nosed kid, I know you. There were some people their first interaction with Jesus all they saw him was as the miracle worker, the Messiah, the man. And it was harder for the people who watched him grow up because they had had contact with him. 13:27 And I know immediately some of you thinking that could never be me. I only know him as the savior of the world. Yeah, but do you? For some of us we know him too well and it has started to dull our senses to who he is and what he's capable of. And what I'm talking about is actually super scary, because when you don't give the proper place and reverence, you don't know what to get. 14:04 I'll give you a fun example, and I'm not one where I'm held up on prestige and title. Many of you know me, you talk with me. I'm the most down-to-earth pastor you've ever experienced in your life. I can say that humbly as Moses did. Moses listed in the scripture in the book that he wrote that Moses was the most humble man on earth. I can say that I'm one of the most down to earth pastors ever. 14:32 But I am, and I find specifically and I've seen this in real time when people come up to me and they're like yo, what's cracking Mo, what's good bro, they only get a bro anointing. They only get a Mo anointing because that's what they've come for, high five, bro. And I'm with it, high five. But then there are those who go hey, pastor Mo, you got a second. I kind of need to pick your brain. I was hoping that the Lord would be in the midst of us as we had this conversation and then there are moments when I'm going through it. I don't want to talk to nobody. Listen, I know that shook some of you Like wait, what that happens to you too? Yes, I'm a human, so this word that I'm ministering to you today, this is not out of nowhere. I've learned that I have to live in a place of gratitude because circumstances and life I don't get to pick every one of them. 15:35 This past Friday I woke up with the most insane cold Felt like I had a full-blown flu, congestion, coughing, body ache and then my wife tells me hey, you know, that house that they're working on for us to live in the door is being delivered today and the window for delivery is 6 am to 8 pm and somebody needs to be there, aka it's not going to be me. So I get up and go and I go, I drag myself to the house and now I'm waiting at the house and I think maybe around 11, the people from Home Depot show up with the door and I noticed that they're moving with an expediency and at first I appreciated it until, like, they left too fast because I went in the house and I looked to inspect the door and by the time I found scratches all over the door that had just been ordered. The smoke from the truck was going. So I get on the phone and I'm now on the phone for two hours straight getting hung up on, getting put on hold and getting hung up on with Home Depot. Yes, home Depot, I'm calling you out. So eventually this is what they tell me we can come pick up the door and you'll just have to reorder it again. I don't think you understand about houses. They kind of need doors on them. I can't afford to send you back with the door. Either bring me a new door or don't. So two hours, get that sorted out. 17:10 Go back to my car, because now I can go back home and lay down in my own bed and I hit the start button on my car and the wildest thing that I've never seen happen before all of the gauges in my car from the gas gauge, temperature gauge, all of them started doing this. All of the gauges in my car, from the gas gauge, temperature gauge, all of them started doing this. Like it was like a carnival show and I was like what is happening? Car wouldn't start, car wouldn't react to anything. And I'm like, oh, this is fun. Because, again, I'm talking to you about gratitude and learning how, in the midst of things, not to be shaken by these things. Amen, I'm not talking to you from an ivory penthouse, I'm talking to you from real life in Astoria, queens. 17:50 So I give Mazda a call. I said, hey, I have a 2023 Mazda CX-9. I'm going to need you to come get it and take it to the dealership because for some reason, my gauges think it's a carnival. The lady goes okay, fine, what's your license plate number. Give her the license plate number. What's your VIN number? Give her the VIN number. How many miles on the car? I say 39,000. She goes, ooh. I said, excuse me, what is? Ooh? She goes. Ah well, you know it's a little bit of a problem. I was like, what's that she goes? Well, you know, you have on warranty either three years or the first 36,000 miles and unfortunately you're at 39,000. So the toe will be coming out of your pocket and not mine. Oh, she didn't understand who she was on the phone with. 18:40 It wasn't the anointing that rose up in that moment. Oh, the spirit of Karen came upon me and I begin to instruct her in the ways of Karen and letting her know that this is a mechanical malfunction, an electric malfunction, if you will. I was preaching to this woman out of the spirit of Karen and I made her to understand. I said this vehicle is under warranty for any of these types of mishaps up to 60,000 miles and, if you don't mind, I'll speak to your supervisor, please. So, needless to say, she goes. Oh, you know what? My bad, we can definitely get that tow out and we'll get it done. They'll be there in 90 minutes. 19:22 Three hours later I get a call from the tow people hey, we got your information from AAA, we'll be there in 90 minutes. Two hours later they show up at four o'clock. They take the car to Mazda. They get there at 4.30. Mazda closes at 5. I call Mazda. I say, hey, is there any chance somebody's going to look at my car? The lady said truthfully and respectfully, sir, kick rocks. It's not going to happen. I said, okay, I spent all day yesterday sick in bed calling Mazda. Hey, what's the deal with my car? They say, uh, what's the deal? Respectfully, sir, saturday is our busiest day, so you should probably kick rocks. I was like oh okay. 20:14 Well, so I'm without a card today, but that's all to say, I still thank God. See, one of the things that I loved, actually, about the message that Pastor Bo preached last weekend is because I don't ever want you to see somebody from this pulpit preaching the word to you that is not living it and putting it into full practice in their own life. He gave you testimony and that was just one, one testimony of the things that has transpired in his life that, despite these things, he's still able to say God, you are wonderful, you are magnificent, you are the way maker, you are my God. I know in whom I have believed. Amen, magnificent, you are the way maker, you are my God. I know in whom I have believed, amen. 20:57 We need to get to that place where we're not dulled because we've been in relationship with him and we just feel like, ah, it's whatever. I don't need to praise him as hard as I did in the beginning, because there's something about a new believer praise that is a real, distinct type of praise. I remember the first day that I got saved and I was in a church service, I clapped so hard that my watch broke. When was the last time you clapped that hard and there's something that dulls our senses, despite how amazing he is, where it goes from. Oh Jesus, thank you for saving my life. To Like we become real too cool. Matter of fact, we time it just right. Yeah, sean, going to be up there for about 18 minutes. I got another 16. Like I never missed a beat. Come on y'all. Jeez, hey, jesus, jesus, can I put you on notice? The opportunity that we have here is not just a musical portion to warm up the preacher when you are late for worship. You have missed your opportunity to worship through song. That's not on me. You missed your part. I stole your part because I noticed you wasn't here. I said I'm going to take all of Jesus for myself and I'm going to lift up his name and I'm going to magnify him because I know how good he's been to me. So if you notice that you came in a couple of minutes late and your worship felt a little flat, it's because I stole your portion. But the honest truth is nobody can steal your portion if you came with a heart to experience him. Amen. Don't get so familiar that you miss out on who he is and who you're actually dealing with. 22:54 We need to stay in a place of gratitude. Why? What does gratitude do? Gratitude resurrects what's dead in your life. I'm not going to lie. That was the point where you probably should have yelled and screamed and clapped. And here's the reason why because I know some of you and I know that you got some dead things in your life that need resurrecting. There's some relationships in your life that have been killed because of pride, because of conflict, because of disorder. There's some sicknesses in your body, manifestations of dis-ease that need to be. You need to be resurrected. You need the resurrection power of Christ in your body, manifestations of dis-ease that need to. You need to be resurrected. You need the resurrection power of christ in your life, that same spirit that raised jesus from the dead. You needed to come and quicken your mortal body. So it's kind of not my fault that you missed your opportunity to shout. Hopefully another one comes for you. 23:51 John 11, 41 says this and Jesus lifted up his eyes and said Father, I thank you that you have heard me and I know that you always hear me. After Jesus had said these words, he cried with a loud voice Lazarus, come forth Now. This is super important because I don't know if you missed the context of this. He had to specify Lazarus because it would have been Holy Zombie Day on earth, had he not. It was very much a velvet rope situation Like no, no, no, not you, not you, not you, you, yep, yep, you, yep, you. We're going to let in the club. Only Lazarus, only Lazarus. Sit down, sit down, sir Lazarus, come forth the resurrection see, because these are the things that you forget and you miss. Our God has the power to raise the dead. Have you forgotten that as you go through your life and circumstances are rising and bills are piling up and circumstance, these things that you wouldn't pick for yourself, they're coming and they're strangling life out of you? You need to remember that we serve a God who heals, a God who delivers, a God who resurrects. So he says Lazarus, come forth. And the man who was dead for four days came out of his tomb. This is one of the greatest miracles that Jesus performed. Lazarus has been dead for four days when Jesus raised him to life. 25:25 Wouldn't you agree that death is indeed an extreme problem? We in agreement. Having no money in the bank, it's a problem. Being sick, it's a problem. Losing your job problem. Bad as they are, though being dead is a bigger one. We can all agree on this. Okay, just checking, but what I want you to see is this If Jesus, in the most extreme of problems, shows us that the solution is still Father, I thank you, come on. He says, father, I thank you. How much more should we thank God in the midst of the less serious problems we face? If thanksgiving, aka the humble acknowledgement and recognition, can raise the dead, then let us give thanks in spite of the negative circumstances, so that we can see victory. Come on church. 26:31 Unfortunately, we tend to do the opposite. The minute we face circumstance, we call somebody and we don't call somebody so that they would join their faith with ours, that we might lock arms, believing that two of us shall make a thousand go to flight. No, no, no, I need to complain at somebody. You free. I got some murmuring to do about my circumstances. Can you put me on the schedule? Oh, that's only me. Okay, okay, so that's nobody. So you and your invisible finger you get up on out of here because you don't need it Lies. We call and we complain. You don't know what they they doing to me at work. They don't appreciate my talents. It's like they, lebron James, I'm taking my talents to South Beach. 27:21 People always want to move whenever things get hard. Be on Zillow like you, just watch. Oh, look what they got in Utah. They got a whole house in Utah for what I pay for rent. You just watch, I'm out. I don't know why the devil tells us that our geographical location is going to make everything better. Did you realize that when you move to this new place, you still have to go with you? Oh, that's too uncomfortable a topic. Got it, got it, got it, jesus, jesus. 28:05 Murmuring and complaining only magnify the problem, whereas thanksgiving is the language of faith. Did you know that thanksgiving is the language of faith? Did you know that thanksgiving is the language of faith? So when you are exercising, you don't even know this, but you've engaged in faith because some people think that you know this is only for ministers and evangelists and pastors and preachers. No, no, no. This is for you as the believer. You exercise your faith every time. You thank God for what hasn't happened yet. That is, you moving in a very great deal and a great level of faith when you pray for God to do something in your life and you don't have it yet, and you have the audacity to say God, I thank you. Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen. So if I can't see it, but I'm thanking God like it's here already, I'm exercising my faith. Hallelujah, my God. 29:11 I'm not saying that we have to give thanks for the problem, because some people hear that and they immediately think like, why do you want me to thank God for this ungrateful person in my life? Why do you want me to thank God for this mean boss, this mean spouse? I'm not asking you to thank God for them. I'm asking you to thank God in spite of them. We thank God that he is our answer and that he has already given us every blessing in spiritual places and the things that pertain to life and godliness. But, pastor Mo, what I have is so little. How can I honestly be expected to thank God for it? My friend, thanking God for the little you have will multiply what you have. 29:58 We see this all over the scriptures. Jesus thanked his father for five barley loaves and two small fish a little boy's lunch and they were multiplied to feed more than 5,000 people with 12 baskets full of leftovers. But, but, but, but. This is. This is the more important part, and I love this because you have to notice that when the Holy Spirit, who ultimately is the author of the scriptures, despite the men that he used and breathed upon, when he brings remembrance of this event, he highlights something specific. It's not just the miracle, but it's the giving of thanks that he remembers. John 6.22 says On the following day, when the people who were standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there except the one which his disciples had entered, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had gone away alone. However, other boats came from Tiberias, near the place where they ate bread, and the Lord had given thanks. So there's something about this thanksgiving that God really delights in, because thanksgiving is an acknowledgement of the things that he's done. 31:07 You don't realize it, but every time you hold your mouth shut because of the enemy's influence, because of your flesh, because you don't feel it in the moment, what you're doing is not giving God the credit that is due him. Is that really the place that you want to put yourselves in as a believer? The place that you want to be always is to give credit, glory, honor, worship, awe and reverence to the one who does everything for you, the more you thank God, the little that you have is going to exponentially multiply. What happens when gratitude is absent? You miss out on certain benefits. So I actually read a study that was done by a group of psychologists and they said that there were actual benefits to people who tended more towards gratitude than criticism, because ungratefulness always leads to criticism. 32:13 When you are not grateful for what you have, you tend to look down on what you do have and then begin to mock, and corresponding language comes out as ill or not enough. You tend to look at other people's marriages and go hmm, must be nice. Oh, he said it. You look at somebody else's bank account. What Passed? The boat got a Maybach. Hmm, praise God. 32:47 Listen, I have learned in my life that God is not a respect of persons, and if he did it for somebody else, that just means that I become capable on the list. The first time. See, I'm putting somebody else's business out there. The first time he told me he's like I'm a millionaire. Now, the way that I rejoiced you would have thought that I was, and he wasn't Like to the point that it kind of shocked him a little bit Like, oh God, is he about to get me? Like, no, no, no, no. It's just like. Like this is Trent, this is fantastic. Look at what our God is capable of. That should be your heart when you see the good happen in the lives of other people. Amen. 33:27 Don't be stuffy like Listen, now's not the time to be baptized in lemon juice. That's not it. You better have a joy in your heart. Listen when you and your homegirl who been praying for a man, when she get her man, you better be nice to him. You better learn how to appreciate. He got friends. You don't want to be that one friend now. You bitter because she got the blessing. You don't realize he got a whole harem of friends for you and now he got to tell his friends, listen, her eye twitch a little bit, but don't you even, don't you even worry about that. Like she, she from a good stock. You know what I'm saying. Just try to overlook the Well, I don't know man. Just pray to God, you know, touch her, just so. 34:26 Again back to these benefits that belong to you through Thanksgiving and gratitude. You have a stronger immune system, system less bothered by aches and pains, lower blood pressure, exercise more and take better care of their health. You sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking. Psychological benefits higher levels of positive emotions, more alert, alive and awake. More joy and pleasure, more optimism and happiness. Socially, you are more helpful, generous, compassionate, more, more outgoing, feel less lonely and isolated. 34:53 Spiritual, miraculous things open up. See, these are the benefits. This is not like the commercials where I tell you the ill side effects at the end, like may cause diarrhea. Gratitude is not going to give you diarrhea. It's going to make you a better person. It's going to make you more happier, pleasurable to be around. Amen, to be around. Amen, jeez, hallelujah, my King, actively stay aware of what the Lord has and is currently doing in your life and stay grateful for it. Let that gratitude usher in the miraculous into your life. 35:31 Think about this. Luke 9, 16 says taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to distribute to the people. We don't know the anatomy of this miracle. All we have is what the scripture notes he has a little bit and he thanks God, and then he has enough to feed 5,000 people. The anatomy here is we don't know how this works, but we know that something that was involved was gratitude. I would take that to bank in my own life and go hmm enough to feed 5,000. I could use some of that in my life. I could use enough kindness to feed 5,000. I could use enough finances to feed 5,000. I could use enough bread to feed 5,000. Them eggs man, they're fluctuating here today down, tomorrow back up again. See, you gotta be grateful. 36:30 When you're grateful, it actually changes the paradigm for the lens, for how you see things. The last thing you want to do is see God like this, because, number one, it's a lie and you're lying on his name because he's so much bigger than that. But if you can only see God this big, then he can only operate this big in your life. I don't ever want to see God as little in anything because I need a big God. I'm a big man, I need big stuff. Only one person in the back was like yeah, praise God. No, I want a big picture of Jesus. I want the God who sits high and looks low, not the God who's stuck in traffic. 37:16 I tell my daughter all the time my daughter's really smart, she's nine now and it's a funny thing about kids when they start to learn certain things and feel like they got it. Well, dad. It's actually well, dad, did you know? Yeah, I knew it. And I tell her all the time I'm taller than you, I can see further than you. Only the parents are laughing. There's something about that understanding. It's not that she can't teach me anything I'm clearly teachable, humble. She teaches me things all the time that I have to google to make sure that she's not lying. But there is something to knowing that our God is taller than anything else and he can see all of what's coming and I can trust him. And again, when I thank him, it makes the perspective of who he actually is bigger. You never read in the scriptures when it says magnify the Lord with me. That scripture excites me because what it really means is we're going to put God in his proper perspective and then we're going to see him move in our life in a way that we never thought possible. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, yeah, woo, okay. 38:46 You take approximately 23,000 breaths every day. When was the last time you thanked God for one of them? I'll wait, it would be a show off in the front row. It would be. Praise God for that one. This is the problem, because we get these 23,000 every day on recycle and what we're really doing is we're waiting for the one who takes our breath away. I've hiked to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and the view is so breathtaking I am without breath. It's magnificent, it's glorious, but yet every day, 23,000 breaths he has given you and you let it skip. Matter of fact, some of those breaths look like this you wake up. What's with breakfast today? Instead of ooh God, you'd have. Hey, just me, even taking a breath is pronouncing your name and giving glory to all that you are. Hallelujah, thank you for waking me up another day. Did you know that it's a very complex system for you to exhale carbon monoxide and pull in oxygen to maintain the stratosphere of the environment that you live in in and of itself, but we don't thank God for that. We just go Monday Kind of hate it. 40:50 I dare you to just try the perspective shift that when Monday comes tomorrow, instead of you worrying about how much you hate Mondays and if any of you are from Boston, I'm going to think differently about you, because that means a different thing in Boston. Look at the people Googling right now. Hate Mondays? No, don't do it. It's a racist joke, by the way. They hate Mondays. They compare Mondays to black people. I don't do it. It's a racist joke, by the way. They hate Mondays. They compare Mondays to black people. I don't like it Got real serious. 41:21 Instead of you hating a Monday, I wish some of you would roll over and make the devil sick by praising God. I wish you would roll out of bed and just declare I am blessed and highly favored. I am kept by the God of heaven, the God who redeems, the God who works everything together for my good because I am called and I love the Lord. Come on, did you think about how much different your day would be when you are empowered in that way? And, yes, that empowers you? Your day would be when you are empowered in that way, and yes, that empowers you. 41:59 You know, sometimes, occasionally, I make my way to the gym. Why are you laughing? Occasionally I enter the place and I'm not going to lie to you Whether I lift up 5, 15, or 75, I definitely walk out like I'm swole and it gives me a certain confidence where I feel like, don't you test me? I done lifted them weights, when people ask me for directions, I'll be like like bro, you worked on legs today. What time is it Calf muscle straining? Because I did it wrong. But there's something about when you do this thing that it empowers you and it strengthens you and it changes the way that you walk. 43:04 I feel like gratitude is no different, because gratitude allows you to face the resistances of life with a different level of strength. Gratitude literally protects you from the plan of the enemy for your life. His plan is to steal, kill and destroy with shame, guilt and condemnation. You offset these things when you properly are grateful to God for all of who he is and what he's done. I like illustrations. As you can tell, I'm a very picturesque type of preacher. If you will, I want to read you something that the Lord gave me. 43:38 So imagine for a moment that your city is surrounded by enemy forces who aim to destroy you and you're aware that enemy sympathizers or insurrectionists what was the word I used for service insurgents? Insurgents are living is a very hot topic word. You say that it's like oh, what side are you on? I'm not talking about that, but there are insurgents living in your city. These are people that work directly for the enemy and they are hidden in plain sight. These are enemy sympathizers. They live and they work in the city with a view to undermine the city's defenses. 44:16 And suppose that you discover that there is a song which the enemy and the sympathizers cannot tolerate or approach. Whenever they hear it, they pull back and they run in the other direction. Isn't it certain that you would want to learn that song? And after you learned it, you would sing it when you went to bed at night, you would sing it when you got up in the morning, you would sing it on the way to work and whenever you were among strangers. As your confidence grew, you would even venture outside the city and you would sing it as you walked boldly through the enemy lines on your way to another town. The more deeply embedded in your mind the song became, the more steady and deep and serene and fearless your life would become. Others would see and hear and learn the song from you and in the end you would conquer the enemy and there would be no threat at all. It's a beautiful picture, right? 45:08 Well, we are surrounded by an enemy, namely Satan and his forces. He is the father of lies, according to John 8, 44. His weapons are guilt, shame, condemnation, deceit and delusion. His aim is the destruction of your faith and your love. And there are enemy sympathizers, these insurgents in the city of our own soul, namely the desires of the old man, your flesh. These things are warring against your spirit, and they don't want the things that God wants, they want the things that the flesh wants. So not only do you have to battle the enemy, but you got to battle the enemy within. So not only do you have to battle the enemy, but you got to battle the enemy within. And there is a song that Satan and his sympathizers cannot tolerate or approach, namely the song of thanks to God. We're not talking hypotheticals. We're talking about something that you have at your disposal every day that puts the enemy on notice. 46:08 Here's the thing. I need you to understand something, because sometimes we give the enemy too much credit. Did you know that every time the enemy comes to harass you, he has to roll the dice, because he knows something that most Christians don't know? You have access to the name of Jesus. The Bible says that all things under heaven and earth are subject to that name, and you've been given access to that name. Even further, let me break it down for you. The Bible says that all authority under heaven and earth has been given unto Christ Jesus, the head of the church. 46:44 And again you miss your moment to shout. See, because if you would get this, it would change how you see yourself. Forget going to the gym. This is like taking steroids in the spirit. All authority under heaven and earth has been given to the head. Who is Christ Jesus, the head of the church? Amen, that should get you excited, because, think about it. All authority under heaven and earth has been given to the head. Okay, they're still not getting it. 47:15 Let me break it down. Who in here raise your hand? If you had breakfast this morning, don't be shy. Ain't nobody going to fat shame you If you ate breakfast, you ate breakfast. Praise God. All right for all the people who raised their hands. Well, the rest of you? You're probably lying. You ain't fasting. It's not 21 days of praying and fasting. There's no need to Nobody fat shaming you, least of all, not me. So you ate something today. What happened? You put food in your head. Where did it go? Oh, we got a smart church. You put food in your head and it went to your. Say it loud with conviction. You put food in your head and it went to your Body. Now you see where I'm going. 48:01 The Bible says that all authority under heaven and earth has been given unto the head of the church Christ Jesus. 48:07 All authority under heaven and earth has been given to the head of the church Christ Jesus. All authority under heaven and earth has been given to your head. Whatever goes to your head goes to his body. Who is his body? That's me. If you don't want to take it, I'll take it. That's me. I'm the body of Christ. All authority under heaven and earth has been given to me. If you would be willing to appropriate that and take it for yourself, understand the position and the power that belongs to you. 48:35 Now you have access to the name of Jesus. That means when the enemy comes into your marriage for destruction, you can say not today, devil, you can't abide here. You must go in the name of Jesus. I told you, every time he messes with you he's rolling the dice because he doesn't know if you know that there's power in the name of Jesus and you have access to the name of Jesus. So he's real shaky, like I hope they don't understand. 49:02 I hope that word that they read last week. It doesn't stick. All right, okay, sickness, read last week, it doesn't stick. All right, okay, sickness. And here we have man of God going. Oh no, oh no, it is by his stripes that I'm healed. Oh no, oh no. 49:23 And you start praising the Lord and declaring the scripture of God. You get a bill. Oh God, oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Devil, you have no place here. He meets all my needs according to his riches and glory. The gold and the silver is his. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Yeah, we got to get gregarious in our old schools. It's like all these things belong to me. I am the head and not the tail, so you have authority through his word. You have power. You have gratitude that puts you on notice. 49:58 I pray that one of you would walk out of here encouraged to go. I'm going to magnify the Lord by giving praise and glory and honor. I'm going to be grateful for the things that he has done. I'm going to manage the things that he's done and not let them slip to the side as a regular thing. It is not a regular thing that you have been saved from hell and given eternal life. If you didn't know everybody in this room, myself included, we deserve hell. 50:22 The Bible says that the wage of sin is death and all have fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is death and all have fallen short of the glory of God, but yet we have eternal life. We know the one true God and the one whom he sent, christ Jesus. We put our faith in him. If you count yourself a Christian, if you don't count yourself a Christian, I have an invitation for you. I want to read one last scripture before I get out of your way and worship team, you can come on up. Actually, I'm going to read you two scriptures. Listen, I'm a non-denominational Christian preacher, but I've got Pentecostal roots, so that just means when I tell you one, I probably got five more in my back pocket. 51:08 Romans 1 21. Let me read you this before that Thankfulness is an essential guardian of the soul and therefore we should guard ourselves with gratitude. Evidently, we are fair game for the devil when we don't abound with thanksgiving. Unless the song of thanksgiving is being sung in our hearts, the enemy outside will deceive his way into the city of our soul, and the enemy's sympathizers will make his job easy. So, for the sake of your own safety, strive to fill your heart with thanksgiving. Guard yourself with gratitude. 51:44 Romans 1.21 says this. Because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts and their foolish hearts were darkened. So Paul accuses those who have seen the evidence of God's power and deity in nature but have not responded with gratitude. In other words, if your heart does not respond to God with gratitude, your mind will be darkened. You surrender yourself to the blinding work of Satan. Gratitude is the guardian of the lamp of the soul. If the guardian dies, the lamp goes out. Guard yourselves with gratitude. 52:23 Put up a second Peter. Put up a second Peter, but also, for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue To virtue, knowledge To knowledge, self-control To self-control, perseverance To perseverance, godliness To godliness, brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness. Love. These are powerful things that you should aspire to have in your Christian character. Amen. For if these things are yours and abound, you will neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. That sounds good, everything we want. 53:09 But check what he says, because he doesn't end there For he who lacks these things, is short-sighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. It's a funny little connect here, a connecting point between the two scriptures by two different authors. He says the blindness that we're talking about that produces such wicked and evil behavior that keeps you from the holy behavior that we all look at and aspire to happens because there is a forgetfulness, a lack of acknowledgement, a lack of gratitude. How could you be thankful for the blood of Jesus when you forgot what it did? He says all these things you can't have because you've forgotten. So that means that tells me that every day I want to put the gospel at the forefront of my mind. I want to remember who you are and what you've done for me. Jesus, you are my everything, you are my salvation, you are my peace, you are my joy, the joy that you give me no man takes away. You literally died in every way possible so that I could have life. If you would be grateful, you would protect yourself from yourself and from the enemy. I want to make an invitation before we receive the tithes and offerings for this week. If there's anybody under the sound of my voice and you hear what we're talking about today and there's a bit of a disconnect, because you're like I'm not even a Christian. Yet this invitation is to you. 54:52 As I reiterated earlier, everybody is a sinner before the eyes of God. Every one of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The only thing that we can honestly do on this earth is earn a wage of death. The only thing that we can honestly do on this earth is earn a wage of death. But God loved us so much that he sent his son, a perfect son, for a divine exchange. He would live a perfect life in thought, word and deed, never sin against God, and then he would receive the punishment that all of us deserved. And it's a divine exchange because he takes our punishment. So we take his perfection, we take his right standing. But that offer is only for those that are willing to receive it. 55:45 If you can acknowledge that you need that type of savior to save you from yourself, from your sin, then I want you to raise your hand. I'm not going to ask you to come to the front, but right where you sit, you can raise your hand and we want to pray for you and with you, if that's you today, on the count of three, raise your hand. One, two, three. I see that hand in the back. Hallelujah, yeah, you got it right. Christians, I see that hand in the back. Hallelujah, yeah, you got it right. Christians. 56:10 The Bible says that the angels of heaven rejoice at one person who comes to faith, so we rejoice with them. If there's anybody else, I want you to, and not just the one person who raised their hand. Everybody, under the sound of my voice, I want you to repeat after me Say Father, god, father God, thank you, thank you, thank, thank you, thank you for Jesus, for the blood that he shed, for his perfect sacrifice. By faith, I receive him as my, as my savior. Wash me clean, make me yours and draw me close to you, father. In Jesus name. 56:55 Father, those that have accepted you today have eternal life. Show them your goodness, your favor, your mercy, your love, your power. Make yourself bigger in their sight, that we might magnify you together, that we might always be grateful for who you are and what you've done in saving us, in healing us, in providing for us, in protecting us, in maintaining us, lord, in making us cute. We thank you because you have called us to be a royal priesthood and a peculiar people. Truly, we are a blessing in this world, light and salt. Use us now in that capacity to be a blessing to others, to be not just a testimony of this gospel, but also to tell people and witness it that they could come to faith as well. Move in us and use us. Lord in Jesus' name faith as well. 57:49 - Speaker 2 Move in us and use us. Lord in Jesus' name, 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 citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.