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April 23, 2024
Guided by the Divine in Life's Spontaneous Moments
As my wife and I reveled in an unplanned escapade through the vibrant streets of New York City, celebrating life and love with spontaneous zest, it struck me how these moments of joy align with the deeper journey of spiritual guidance we all seek. In this episode, we open up about finding divine direction in the everyday, from the laughter-filled chaos of Times Square to the quiet whispers of reflection in our hearts. Join us as we weave through tales of birthdays, city adventures, and the serendipitous touch of God in our decision-making, inviting you to embrace the beauty of life's unexpected turns and the assurance that comes with being led by the Spirit.
Reflecting on biblical wisdom, we draw inspiration from King David's humble approach to seeking God's guidance, a path marked by an unshakeable reliance on the Lord's wisdom over human strength or achievement. We discuss the transformative impact of Jesus' sacrifice and the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit within each believer, moving beyond the uncertainty of 'Bible roulette' to a more intimate communion with our Creator. Whether it's the decision to laugh the night away at a comedy club or responding to life's alarms with faith, we examine how the practice of inviting the Holy Spirit into our choices can illuminate our steps with clarity and peace.
Let's gather around the table of fellowship, opening our hearts to the rich lessons and laughter that await.
Chapters
00:00 - Led by the Spirit
03:40:00 - King David's Secret Victory
12:45:00 - Seeking God's Guidance in Life
27:05:00 - Guidance From Within, Not Roulette
36:47:00 - Training Your Spirit to Hear God
Transcript
00:00 - Speaker 1
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God. Christians, where's the Spirit of God? Where does it live? Where does it dwell Inside? For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, not as many as are led by the prophets of God, not as many as are led by external signs, but the Spirit of God who lives inside of you, those are the real children of God, Hallelujah.
00:27 - 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.
01:06 - Speaker 1
We have a birthday here today. Kate the Great turns 18 today. Happy birthday, kate the Great. And we have another birthday here today. Where are you? Who else has their birthday here today? Today, not yesterday? Another person, my wife, it's her birthday. It's her birthday also, happy birthday. We celebrated on Friday, though, because we wanted the full day, so I took off, we started bright and early. I told everybody in the house wake up half an hour early, and so we met at early in the morning, presented some gifts and then by 730 am we were in the car, took off to drop the kids off, then grandma's gonna pick them up and we were gonna have a whole day in the city. Amen, like we used to.
02:10
43 years I lived in the boroughs and then moved away, told myself I'd be in three, four times a week. Never did that. I'm only half an hour away, but never did that. Long Island has a way of just sucking you in, like the mafia Sucks you in. I keep trying to get out, but Long Island keep pulling me back in, and we had a day Went to the movies, walked around, stomped Like we used to, all around the Upper West Side, then, when it was lunch time, the Long Island in me kicked in and I was like let's go to Tavern on the Green.
02:47
Baby, when was the last time you were? It's like New Yorkers never go to Tavern on the Green. But the Long Island now is calling out, and you know who was all around us, the Long Islanders. Who here has ever gone to Tavern on the Green? You know, in Central Park West, right like once, right here there, just because you saw Ghostbusters and then you wanted to go, the original Ghostbusters kids has this great scene at Tavern on the Green and then it was so delightful. I'm like, baby, let's just stay. This is awesome. I don't want to go back because now would be rush hour and I didn't quite plan the date. I just wanted to be. You know, let it, let it take its own shape.
03:32
So I looked up a hotel app hotel for the night. You ever, you ever do hotel for the night because you get six $800 hotel rooms for a couple of hundred bucks, sometimes 160 and I look it up and they have this great room in the heart of Times Square. I'm a real tourist now Like 65% off and we're able to get a hotel room and now Manhattan's our oyster right. No, kids, you got your hub right there and we just start walking all over the place and enjoying and, like a tourist, I get hit up by the comedy club guy hey, do you want to laugh tonight? Well, I was like golly gosh, who doesn't, sir? What do I got to do to laugh tonight? And we got the comedy club tickets.
04:12
And now it's getting into the evening and I'm slapping my knees and right as the comedy show is ending I hear whoo and my phone which I had silenced because you have to have it silenced because you're in the comedy club it starts blaring a siren and I think what could this be? I pull out my phone, it's ADT security and it says front door open. And now we're stuck in the city, front door open, and luckily we were just leaving the club. Now I'm coming out and I'm thinking this can't be good. Maybe the sensor fell off. I'm trying to think positively. Maybe the little sensor fell off, but I access my home's outside video surveillance from my phone. And good old Nassau County police. Within minutes, four cop cars. I've had my ADT alarm go off in Brooklyn. Like two and a half hours later the cop comes like is there an alarm here.
05:15
Within minutes, four squad cars, eight guys come out. Now I'm looking on the camera. Of course I don't have cameras inside the house, but I have on the outside of the house and I'm seeing on the camera. Of course I don't have cameras inside the house, but I have on the outside of the house and I'm seeing this train of cops and I can see they're going in through my front door. So it was open and they're going in. You can see flashlights. Two of them are going all around the perimeter and I'm bracing. Now I don't want to see on my video surveillance a little flash. You know that's the gunshot flash and they're in there for 10-15 minutes. I'm glued to the screen and then I just see them all converge, leave and drive away.
05:54
So I call up. And what? What happened? Now I gotta call up. I can't reach the cops, but I call up my village public safety, whatever they're called the rent-a-cops that the village has and they're like they searched the whole house. Nothing was rifled through, everything is fine. Just the front door was wide open and I'm going that's a bad criminal tactic. What happened there? To just open your front door and then not go for the gold. You know that's. This is broadcast. There is no gold inside my house. I Mean go for what you think is the gold. There is nothing. Amen.
06:33
People don't realize you're one. Google away from people knowing your home address, phone number, everything. There is just a legal shotgun and other artillery. Where's the camera Waiting for you if you have ulterior? And I have a big scripture that says quotes Jesus where he says take up a sword also. And another one by David that says blessed be the Lord, my God, who teaches my hands to war. Amen. I think I lost them with that. People are no, really there is. I think I lost them with that. People are no, really. There is a shotgun, good one. Combat Beretta I was gonna go for the Benelli, but the Beretta, anything that ends in a vowel is gonna be good. When it comes to firearms, 1301 Tactical seven plus one just in case I feel the need to say all that. Is there that one person that's watching anyway? I just noticed the whole time.
07:32
My wife is not as nervous as me and I go what do you think this? And she turns to me we had the best day. It still was the best day. She goes in the excitement of the birthday morning. I may have forgotten to lock the door and a gust of wind came right as we were leaving the common and blew the door open. I then checked the ADT security. It tells you everything. And I noticed it says front door open, but none of the motion detectors were going off. Amen, so it was that.
08:05
And that night I mean forget now in NYC. We came home that night. It was all good. I had her wait in the car, searched every room, every closet, in every room, underneath the sink, everywhere. It was all clear. Hallelujah, we just have more time. So I thought I'd share that story with you. Hallelujah, we just have more time. So I thought I'd share that story with you. I didn't share that with the first service. You know why she forgot to close the door? Because God has recently overdone it in my life. He just really overdid it. So I overdid it for her on her birthday. And God is good. Hallelujah. I'm feeling a little provoked by the Lord right now.
09:00
You know a lot of preachers and I can relate to this. They keep any blessing of the Lord secretive because they're afraid of what people might think or what people might assume, and so there's pastors who get financially blessed outside of the church, but they keep it all so quiet so as not to inspire envy. But if you have a church of people who would be envious of you, those aren't sheep, those are goats and wolves. There's something. They're not sheep, amen. Or if you, if, if, if you're ever afraid to wear the coat of many colors that your father got you, then there's a problem. You know, joseph was given a coat of many colors. He didn't leave it in the closet because he was afraid of what his brothers might think. He proudly wore that coat of many colors, hallelujah.
09:56
So she's been driving, I'm just going to say it. She's been driving this, my old car, this 2011. And she's so amazing. She never complains. The air conditioner doesn't work, so she just rolls the windows down and just drives with the wind blowing, you know old school, like how we used to do in former Yugoslavia all through the 80s and 90s. And the Lord, I'll say'll say that that that it matters that it's outside the church. I believe pastors should be blessed, but outside of the church, through it, through investments. He just overdid it, so I got her a brand new Porsche Cayenne. Amen.
10:44
After let me just say this After I had given tithes and offerings and blessed other ministries, blessed other people directly, after the giving tank was full. Then I went to town. Amen Spun her head around and the cops had to come in because she forgot to lock the door. Hallelujah, hallelujah, yeah, let's. She forgot to lock the door, hallelujah, yeah, let's. Not back off of the blessing of God In destruction and famine. You shall laugh. I'm feeling more bold. Let me just say this because I just preached on no debt last week. Cash Outright, no fine, not a lease, done, done and done. Zero debt, amen, praise God so that when you know that when I preach don't get into debt, I didn't just get into debt. Hallelujah, hallelujah, he'll do it.
11:47
Let's begin in 2 Samuel 2.1. Thank you, jesus. The title of this message is King David's Secret. King David, I think we can all agree. When you look at his whole life, though it was filled with many mistakes, it was a life of great victory, and it was a life of great success, so much so that, even after all of his mistakes, god still thought it good that Messiah should come through David's line. And you read 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, and once again, though, david committed sin and made huge blunders and mistakes. They're stories of victory. There's something special about David. It's like he had a secret, like he had a key. I want to discuss the secret key of David today.
12:45
2 Samuel 2.1. It happened after that David inquired of the Lord. Shout that David inquired of the Lord. David inquired of the Lord, saying shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him go up. David said where shall I go up? And he said to Hebron. 2 Samuel 5, 19.
13:07
There's close to a dozen of these kinds of verses. I want to just show you three. So, david, what does it say? Shout it loud. He asked the Lord a question. He sought the Lord question. He sought the Lord. He submitted to the lordship of Yahweh God. He showed his humility by showing his dependence on God. He wasn't saying well, I killed a lion, I killed a bear, then I killed Goliath, then I outran Saul, I'm all that, I got this king thing down. No, he always saw God and he inquired of the Lord. Let's look at that next verse, also in 2 Samuel 21. Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David did what he inquired of the Lord. In fact, he inquired of the Lord.
14:05
In fact, david inquired of the Lord is the phrase that's most associated with the life of David, nearly a dozen times more so than any other character in the Bible, any of the ancient patriarchs. David was a man who sought after the Lord. In fact, the Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart. What does that really mean? Besides that he loved God's presence, it means that he was after what was important to God. He was after the will of God. God has a heart to do something in the world, and David was after God's heart. He was a man whose will was surrendered to the will of his Lord, and that's the secret of David and that's what the Lord is inviting us to. Any success you have in life that's lasting, that's real success, will be because of the Lord's leading, because of the Lord's guidance, because his will was accomplished in your life.
15:06
But an old man of God back in Bible school changed my life forever when he said this phrase, because I knew it to be true. I just couldn't. You know, sometimes you got a truth brewing on the inside of you, but when someone articulates it, the lights go on and you take that truth home with you. And he said this ask the Lord a lot of questions, because it seems to me that the Lord seldom offers up information. And I went. You know that's true.
15:33
It seems that whenever he would come with something directional in my life, it's after I asked him, after I sought him. Very rarely did he just come in out of the blue. He's a God that must be sought. Let's look at that scripture in Hebrews, please. He's a God that must be sought and I don't want to go left if he doesn't tell me go left. I don't want to go in a particular direction in my life, life just making directional choices that will impact months or years of my life, impact my wife, impact my kids, impact the church, just because I think it's a good idea or because I think I really got it, going on upstairs and I go in a direction and then all of a sudden, uh oh, I find myself naked and alone and I don't feel that favor and that presence and that weight of glory, that hand sustaining me and pushing me along. And then I go Lord, won't you come this way? And he's like no, I'm over there where you used to be. That's the blessed place. You chose to leave it and do your own thing. Hebrews 11, six.
16:40
But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder. It's good to get comfortable with God being a rewarder. There's this religious thing that goes around where people are like oh I just do it, you know Like I just pray to pray. No, god said. Jesus said when you pray, you do it privately. The father will reward you openly. Hallelujah. When you give and don't blast the trumpet and tell everybody that you gave, then God will reward, reward, reward you publicly.
17:21
And here the scripture says he is a rewarder, an increaser of an adder, untoer, not a subtractor of A particular kind of person, the person who diligently seeks him. In the Greek that phrase diligently seeks means inquires of, inquires of, and requires his presence as their vital and necessary need. It's talking about the person who takes their will and submits it to the Lord and asks God questions. I'm encouraging you this morning because God is a living God and he's alive and well and he speaks to his people now and I want you to be open to his voice. But if you're not talking to him and asking him and inviting him to speak into your life and we'll get into how he speaks. But the first step is inviting him To speak into your life. It's almost like you got to give him a legal right him to speak into your life. It's almost like you got to give him a legal right to speak into your life.
18:32
You notice, jesus wasn't very nosy in his earthly ministry. He didn't like invade people's houses and go. So what do you got going on here? You know, I think I can help you out. No, he just went preaching the word and then those who proactively, even aggressively, sought him, then he would bless them, hallelujah, that. So that means the impetus is on me to be proactive and aggressive in seeking god's. Will you say, with what? With everything, everything and the primary way that he will direct us.
19:06
There's over like 20 different ways that God speaks in the Bible and charismatics have a real problem here. We're officially a non-denominational church. You say what does that mean? Nothing. That's why we say non-denominational. It just means these days it means absolutely nothing. You know, you got to clarify. Well, we're a Bible-believing, bible-believing, non-denominational. But still, what does that say? You still could. But you look at our statement of faith, it's very Pentecostal. We believe in the Holy Spirit's baptism, with evidence of speaking in tongues, and then you have the.
19:50
I am in that movement in a way and I have many colleagues and minister friends who are in that movement. But when we speak we all agree on one thing there are weird excesses now that have really hurt the body of Christ and really in the leadership I still see a commitment to the Lord, a biblical balance, but somehow the disciples, or the disciples of the disciples, or maybe there's just too much YouTube content, maybe some people just need to stop podcasting and stop with their Facebook ministry. But there's like this error that's being propagated and people have like lost their minds. That's being propagated and people have like lost their minds and they're always looking outward, outward for God to speak to them. If you're at a place where you collect prophetic words, I see this. This is why we don't have so many guest speakers. Have you ever wondered why we don't have any more? We used to. I got a lot of friends. We could have the who's who in the charismatic zoo. We can line them all up and we've done that and the church is packed out and you know who. It's packed out with people who collect prophecies, people who collect words of knowledge. They're conference junkies. They hop from conference to conference. They're really like heroin addicts they come in.
21:05
Let me get another hit. I need to know what God is doing in my life. You should not be running around looking on the outside for God to speak to you. You're his sheep. You hear his voice, amen. I've never seen anyone like that, with a fruitful life where I'm like you know what I'd like to emulate that their life is always a mess. They can't hold a job, they can't pay rent and it's always. Why is your life like this? You know I'm led by the Spirit. No, you look like a train wreck. The Holy Spirit did not lead you into looking like a train wreck. If you claim to hear from God on a regular basis, your life should be somewhat aspirational, somewhat of an advertisement for the goodness of God. Not, oh Lord, dear help, I can't. Even they collect prophecies.
21:56
You know a prophetic word is like a key. Now you're New Yorkers. You know your super's key set. We used to have a guy like this. You know your super right. You have a super Right. You could a super. Right, you could hear him coming down the hallway because he's got that big keychain.
22:12
We used to have a fella in the church. He was a super and his keychain, his keyring, had keyrings and it really we could hear him before he would enter the church on 7th Street it sounded like Santa's reindeer. The sleigh had come down. You hear tss, tss, tss, tss, tss, tss, like the intro to Christmastime in Hollis Queens Tss, tss, tss, tss, tss, tss, and he'd be coming with 800 keys around that ring. That's how some charismatics are in the spirit From collecting prophetic words.
22:45
This one blow the dust off. This one blow the dust off. This one's from 2006, when the speaker said I was going to go to the nations. This key is from when that one guy said I'm called to marketplace ministry. If anybody ever says to you you're called to marketplace ministry, just tell them please leave me alone, say why that's not a prophetic word. You're all called to marketplace ministry. Yeah, if you're not in full-time ministry, you're in the marketplace, you're doing a job and you should be ministering there. There you go, hallelujah. You say how do I get into that full-time ministry? You're in the marketplace, you're doing a job and you should be ministering there. There you go, hallelujah. You say how do I get into that full-time ministry? You get really really good at marketplace ministry and you minister yourself out of a job. That's actually how you get into full-time ministry. That's a whole nother sermon on its own.
23:44
But the looking outside. Let me get you this scripture just because I'm kind of jumping around here. But we're onto something here. We're cooking Proverbs 20, 27. How God leads the spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, not the spirit of God, the spirit of a man. See, you have a spirit, you have a human spirit. It's actually inaccurate to say you have a spirit. To be fully accurate, you are a spirit. That's the real you. You live in this jar of clay, the human body. You have a soul, but you are a spirit and the Bible says your human spirit is the lamp or the candle of the Lord. What does that mean? That means he will guide you and illuminate you through your human spirit. It's on the inside, it's not on the outside. Why am I saying this? I'm not saying this. I'm not answering a question. No one's asking.
24:48
I promise you, I hear a lot of things. I hear people who say you know I saw a license plate. I keep seeing license plate with the numbers three, seven, four. I feel like God is trying to communicate to me three, seven, four. No, you're just seeing a random license plate. To me 374 no, you're just seeing a random license plate. It's that simple. Look how quiet it is.
25:16
People love to think you're like the main character in your own movie where god puts cars in front of you because he's trying to communicate a message to you. Do you think he's limited? He's got to send morse code out. Do you think he just enjoys making you suffer by sending you really hard to decipher coded messages? Nobody, nobody heard in the bible from the lord that was a child of god and then didn't know what to do, had to get a book on dream interpretation, had to call the 1-800 number for reveal a prophecy. They immediately knew Holy cow, where are we going with this? There are Christians love Jesus, but they're trying to decipher the will of God from the external. I really, really feel like God is calling me to Kurdistan and I told the Lord. I told the Lord he needs to give me a sign and then you won't believe it. I was in an Uber and I noticed my driver had nine syllables in his name and I asked him where are you from? And he said Kurdistan, and I knew I should sell everything I own and become a missionary to Kurdistan. Hallelujah, you're now alone in Kurdistan and you're wondering what went wrong with hearing the voice of God and deciphering the will of God. You're looking at the external. The Holy Spirit lives within you Now. Everybody who loves to look at the external and there's a lot of them probably in the service right now, because it's a lot quieter here right now than it was in the first service A lot of uh, you're gonna, I'm telling you, you're gonna mess your life up if you keep doing that.
27:05
I've been around the block a few times. Quit playing Bible roulette. You know the roulette table. People play Bible roulette. They want to know what the will of God is, and they just randomly this is the real thing they open up the Bible and, boom, they put their finger. And what does it say? And whatever it says, god is speaking to me. And your finger lands on Judas hung himself. What then? Then you try again, and it lands on that which thou doest. Doest thou quickly. There's a better way. Amen, oh, hallelujah, listen, people who love this stuff. They can't give you any new covenant scriptural support for living like this. You will never see anybody in the new covenant living like this. When you go to the old covenant you'll see it. But you know there's a big thing that happened between the old and the new. It's called the cross of Jesus Christ, and when Jesus died he cleansed us of all of our sin and made it possible for the Holy Spirit to live in us. And now the Holy Spirit can live in our human spirit and be our internal guide.
28:28
So you have Gideon in the old covenant and Gideon, when he wanted to decipher the mysterious will of God, he put out a fleece before the Lord, a sheep's fleece, and the word was so challenging to him he said well, here I'll put this fleece out on the grass. And if there's dew on the fleece, you know the morning dew, the wetness dew on the fleece, on the grass. And if there's dew on the fleece, you know the morning dew, the wetness dew on the fleece, but the grass is all dry, I'll take it as a sign from you. And God did that. But he wasn't to be satisfied. So he said the next day Lord, now make it to where the dew is all on the grass but the fleece is dry. First time the fleece had to be wet with dew and God did it just because that's what Gideon needed.
29:10
But under the new covenant you don't ever see God doing stuff like that. Why? Because now we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. Under the old covenant they never did. They never did. They could be anointed by the Holy Spirit but he never came and lived in them because Jesus hadn't taken away all their sins yet.
29:32
In fact, the last time you see nonsense like that is in Acts, chapter 1, right before the Holy Spirit is given and you see the first century apostles. Because Judas hung himself, as we already quoted from the Holy Scriptures a few minutes ago, they needed to replace him. So the Bible says they cast lots You're all with me, right? They gambled, they went to Vegas, woo, they let the dice roll on who would be the 12th apostle now that Judas was out, and you never heard from that guy or of that guy ever again. So it tells you how successful they were, because that's how they try to decipher the will of God External, external. But then in Acts, chapter 2, the Holy Spirit comes and he fills everyone, and now he's filled all of us and now he wants to guide you from the inside out Hallelujah From within. You don't have to look in the external, external, external. You're looking for somebody to come and ring your doorbell and do a certain song and dance. Satan can send that person to you and take you out of the will of God, but what Satan can't do is enter my spirit and talk to me from within. Romans 8 14.
30:51
I feel like I'm touching on some emotional topics this morning. See this kind of message. It requires humility, because maybe you're here and you're going. Who is this guy and why is he messing with the last 20 years of my life? It's very hard for people to say maybe I was doing it wrong for several years, but we have to have that level of humility. I've had to go back to the drawing board many, many times. They'll point to the one time their way of hearing God worked out. They have survivor's bias. They'll point to the one time it worked and forget about the 20 other times that they completely missed it. That they forget, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God.
31:39
Christians. Where's the Spirit of God? Where does it live? Where does it dwell Inside? For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, not as many as are led by the Spirit of God, not as many as are led by the prophets of God, not as many as are led by external signs, but the Spirit of God who lives inside of you, those are the real children of God, hallelujah. And it requires humility, which is dependence.
32:05
This is where success comes from, because now you're in the perfect center of His perfect will and you say when should I do this? All the time? Well, let me rephrase that because some people get carried away and then they get frozen, obsessed with the will of God, and they can't even get off their bed because they're still looking at their dresser, asking God should I wear the yellow socks or the blue socks? And you think this is a weird, exaggerated example, but I've known people. They now become like religious OCD and can't even go left or right, literally. When I say left or right, I mean metaphorically in my life, directionally, like don't be that. But for example, you know we go on our annual trip to Montenegro and you always, you know there's no direct flights, you always have to stop some European city, and this time, for whatever reason, they had us for the first time ever going through Dublin and my wife has Irish ancestry and I knew she's always wanted to see Ireland. So I wanted to surprise her Cuz I came, since we're passing through Ireland, anyway, you can stay a few days in Dublin.
33:05
But I didn't just immediately book that ticket, cuz this is, I mean, I, it's important what country I'm in, how long I stay, with my wife and kids with me. So I just took a moment and I submitted it to the Lord. I said, lord, can I do this? Will you be with me if I go? I want to make sure this is you. And then I sensed that peace, let peace be your empire. I didn't say Lord, if this is you, make the lights flash three times on and off in the house. Lord, if this is you I know an Irish person is going to text me by the end of the day if it's you, that is not the way to discern the will of God. He's in you, lives in your spirit. He will whisper in your spirit. He'll give you the still small voice of the inward witness. I didn't even need the still small, it was just the inward witness. It was like a green light that came on, a smooth, velvety feeling of release and I knew I could book those tickets and we'd be safe and sound and no ADT alarms would be going off. After we finished kissing the Blarney Stone that's a real thing, I didn't know it was she was like we're going to kiss the Blarney Stone. I was like we'll kiss whatever stone you want. This is your trip, baby. It's two years ago. Two years ago now, spring of 22.
34:37
Pastor James and I went on a trip and we were chit-chatting about everything and he had just casually mentioned how, in Long Island, I didn't want to live in Long Island, never thought of living in Long Island. Really, the taxes I keep hearing about those taxes. Now I know it gets you four squad cars within three minutes, eight guys. But he just casually mentioned in spring of 22,. He said you know there's a clergy exemption tax in Long Island. I said really, you know how much for? He said I don't know how much for, but there is one. And I go oh, you know how much for. He said I don't know how much for, but there is one. And I go oh, let me look into that, let me look into Trulia. What do you use, trulia, zillow, when you're depressed and you want escapism, what app do you open up? You know you do it. So my default is Trulia.
35:30
And I think to myself let me see what's happening out in Long Island, just to know. And as I think about it, oh, I just feel so uneasy Uneasy isn't the right word Almost like sick in my spirit, not physically, but just on the inside. I sense that red light, that, oh, like I was going to be really grieving the Lord. From what? From just going on Trulia. But maybe he knows me and if I go in one direction I'm hard to stop. So he said don't even look, don't even turn this engine on, forbid me to look. So I went, okay, I would have never thought a year later, because we actually we didn't want to leave Brooklyn. We made an offer on the condo above us and they said no. So I thought what are we going to do now? And I thought maybe Long Island, lord, is it okay if I open Trulia now? And it was a complete immediately. It was like open up the gates of Trulia, son, do I have a surprise for you? That's the sense I had on the inside. And do you know you can get better at this. So of course I opened up the gates of Trulia and here we are.
36:47
He's worked a wonderful thing. Some things we miss, but our closets have closets, amen, and that's always a plus. Miss the corner bodega, miss the walkable city, but now I can buy 12 Windexes instead of just one at a time. I mean, you should see my garage, we're never running out of anything. See my garage, we're never running out of anything. 409s bounty. You know some things you just hate to run out of right, like toilet paper. Listen, if Jesus really, really tarries, we're good with TP at the Jancic house.
37:32
I'm telling you Hebrews 5.14. What the Lord is doing here is just making us better at hearing his voice so that we could be like David and inquire of the Lord and hear correctly. Now here's the truth. Nobody hears from the Lord accurately, 100%, right on all of the time. Why? Why is that? Well, it's not because the Lord stuttered, it's because we mishear him. We mishear him because our spirit is the candle of the Lord and he speaks to us in our spirit. But we have this thing called a soul and our soul is our mind, will and emotions, and our emotions are volatile and prone to the external, so that's why we miss it. Sometimes we get excited in our emotions.
38:36
That's a good time to have two or three people who also love the Lord, who are submitted to his will, who have a good track record of hearing from the Lord, and if it's a big decision, invite them in on it, pray with them. You get the inward witness but you're like, hmm, it could be because it's just me in the natural. I really really want it so bad. What do you guys think it's healthy? Oh, you Christian cowboy who just wants to do it alone. It's healthy.
39:02
There's no big decision that I don't make without consulting the elders, talking it through, hearing feedback, because there's this scripture, you know. It says in the multitude of counselors there is safety and there's too many charismatic wackadoos living very unsafe lives, wrecking their lives all in the name of being spiritual and hearing from God, and they got no fruit, never led anyone to the Lord, broke, hurting people as they go along, as they bounce from church to church. If I didn't finish my thought. That's why we stopped with the guest speakers, because it really created more of a mess than a blessing, because people would come in and they would just infuse us with that circus.
39:55
Come up all wide-eyed to me after service trying to prophesy to me. I don't want a prophetic word from you. So how do you know, pastor? God could use anyone. He can and he does, but I'm telling you, not that person. I knew it in my spirit. Amen, right, mauricio, god could use Balaam's donkey. I would listen to Balaam's donkey. Not that person, though. So, because we can't miss it, we need to get better. Now.
40:31
This is a key verse. Listen, solid food belongs to those who are full age, that is, to those who, by reason of use, by reason of use, have their senses, their spiritual senses, exercised to discern good from evil. So, just newsflash, you can exercise your spiritual senses so they get better, so you can hear better, but that requires admitting it to yourself and to God. When you misheard him which for some reason I found in the church is almost impossible for some people to do they won't admit it. They can mishear the voice of God 10 times in a row and say you know, god told me to move, god told me to. It's always God told me. You won't hear me often say God told me. I'll say I believe, I sense in my spirit. I believe the Lord is leading me right now because I'm still always working it out and keeping in touch with the Lord. But God told me to and it's miss after miss after miss and they never stop and say let me go back to the drawing board and find out why I missed him. You have to go back and admit okay, this one thing I thought was God. That wasn't Now. God didn't make a mistake. I did why? And you will begin to learn about yourself and learn how God relates to you, learn how God speaks to you. You will learn when you're prone to missing it. I'm prone you're prone, whether you know it or not to miss it when your emotions are involved. If you're very emotional about something, you're not going to hear the voice of the Lord.
42:17
I made my first trade when I was 18. I still remember the ticker INTC, intel, back in the mid-90s. You know, tech boom, so it was impossible not to make money, so I thought I was a genius. And then I heard these stories about investors who heard from the Lord that would make millions and I thought I knew it. I knew it. How do you go wrong when you know the God who knows the end from the beginning. So now I start praying, I'm seeking God. I lost so much money. I lost so much money. I'm sorry if you were waiting for that story to end with God's whispering to me ticker symbols and whether they're short or long. He's not, can he? Sure has he for some, probably. But I'm too emotional when you start seeing those numbers go up and down.
43:25
I'm going to invent all sorts of things up in my head that God is saying that he didn't say. I mean, I would have dreams, I would see the chart, I would see it spike up. I would wake up like, yeah, I'm going to pay off all my student loans early. He's the God of abundance, baby, I lost so much money being a fool, but it was a good lesson learned. And so know this you will mishear the voice of God to the degree that your emotions are involved. That's why, when you're in love, he quotes in love, don't trust that. You're hearing from God. You're not, you're not, you're not. I'm telling you, god told me she's the one. You're so emotional and you want that smooth, velvety, good, green light feeling. You have it all the time You're in love. So you're going to go. God, should I be with this person? I don't know, but I feel so good and I feel energized and it almost feels like my feet aren't touching the ground. I believe God's saying yes, no, you're just drunk on the silly juice of love.
44:44
The reason why this is so awesome is because I never heard God tell me to marry Emily. He never said do it. And so many preachers mess people up because they give their testimonies and they, I guess they want to feel like moses, so they give these testimonies of the moment I saw her. I knew that she was sounds romantic, but it messes a lot of people up and the moment I saw her, I knew she was fine, that's all knew. I didn't know anything beyond that. I wanted to get to know more, that's all. I didn't hear God see her in a white robe. You know the bridal, but what I had was I had peace.
45:27
And then he also gives you wisdom and he gives you a brain, and then, as you consult with him over time, amen. I just feel like I also need to issue a warning to somebody. If you're taking forever to make a decision and saying I'm waiting on the Lord, chances are he's waiting on you and you're not waiting on the Lord. Amen, got to make a move. Huh, amen, hallelujah, hallelujah, huh, amen, hallelujah. Oh, wow, I could close right now.
46:02
Time wise, it goes quick in the little house on the prairie church, church Alright, worship team. Are you here? Hey, praise God, the falafel place will be here. Still have to worship. Praise God. Did this help you this morning? God speaks to you through your human spirit. He will lead you and guide you and he will lead you to success. Spirit, he will lead you and guide you and he will lead you to success.
47:08
But we have to get better at hearing or training our human spirit. The number one way to align your human spirit to the voice of God is to read the written word of God, and that also eliminates that terrible flakiness where you start hearing something that contradicts the written word of God. Throw any voice like that right out the window. And the more of his word that you put in you, the more than he can withdraw and speak to your spirit. Your spirit actually starts to eat and get healthy and comes on the same vibration as the Holy Spirit. So you can hear. But that starts with the word of God. So eat the word of God. Praying in heavenly tongues, praying in your other language. That aligns your spirit. It trains your human spirit.
47:52
Asking him questions Note this, by the way Almost never does he answer right when you ask. I've asked him important questions and then, two weeks later, when I'm doing something silly like opening a door, he speaks and it's just like. I know that. I know, but I invited him in two weeks before then and what he's looking for is that you invite him in. So, inquire of the Lord and use this key of David to have the success and prosperity that David enjoyed. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
48:31
Let's pray, father, in Jesus' name. Thank you, lord, that you align our spirits to hear from you. Thank you, lord, that we become good hearers. We are your sheep. We hear your voice. May you eliminate all unbiblical, flaky, strange ways of trying to discern your will. Lord, that's what the pagans used to do. Pagans would put chicken in herds and things like that to try to discern your will. Lords, that's what the pagans used to do. Pagans would put chicken in herds and things like that to try to discern your will. We're not pagans, we're your children, and you will speak to your people and you will lead them into a place of plenty. Psalm 23 says he will lead you to still water. You know what still water is A place of no drama and green pastures, green pastures. It's a place of abundance and provision. Raise your faith right now. Some of you listen, I'm not doing this for my health. Some of you. You're locked up. God's going to unlock you. Be awakened in Jesus' name.
49:42 - Speaker 2
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.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God. Christians, where's the Spirit of God? Where does it live? Where does it dwell Inside? For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, not as many as are led by the prophets of God, not as many as are led by external signs, but the Spirit of God who lives inside of you, those are the real children of God, Hallelujah.
00:27 - 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.
01:06 - Speaker 1
We have a birthday here today. Kate the Great turns 18 today. Happy birthday, kate the Great. And we have another birthday here today. Where are you? Who else has their birthday here today? Today, not yesterday? Another person, my wife, it's her birthday. It's her birthday also, happy birthday. We celebrated on Friday, though, because we wanted the full day, so I took off, we started bright and early. I told everybody in the house wake up half an hour early, and so we met at early in the morning, presented some gifts and then by 730 am we were in the car, took off to drop the kids off, then grandma's gonna pick them up and we were gonna have a whole day in the city. Amen, like we used to.
02:10
43 years I lived in the boroughs and then moved away, told myself I'd be in three, four times a week. Never did that. I'm only half an hour away, but never did that. Long Island has a way of just sucking you in, like the mafia Sucks you in. I keep trying to get out, but Long Island keep pulling me back in, and we had a day Went to the movies, walked around, stomped Like we used to, all around the Upper West Side, then, when it was lunch time, the Long Island in me kicked in and I was like let's go to Tavern on the Green.
02:47
Baby, when was the last time you were? It's like New Yorkers never go to Tavern on the Green. But the Long Island now is calling out, and you know who was all around us, the Long Islanders. Who here has ever gone to Tavern on the Green? You know, in Central Park West, right like once, right here there, just because you saw Ghostbusters and then you wanted to go, the original Ghostbusters kids has this great scene at Tavern on the Green and then it was so delightful. I'm like, baby, let's just stay. This is awesome. I don't want to go back because now would be rush hour and I didn't quite plan the date. I just wanted to be. You know, let it, let it take its own shape.
03:32
So I looked up a hotel app hotel for the night. You ever, you ever do hotel for the night because you get six $800 hotel rooms for a couple of hundred bucks, sometimes 160 and I look it up and they have this great room in the heart of Times Square. I'm a real tourist now Like 65% off and we're able to get a hotel room and now Manhattan's our oyster right. No, kids, you got your hub right there and we just start walking all over the place and enjoying and, like a tourist, I get hit up by the comedy club guy hey, do you want to laugh tonight? Well, I was like golly gosh, who doesn't, sir? What do I got to do to laugh tonight? And we got the comedy club tickets.
04:12
And now it's getting into the evening and I'm slapping my knees and right as the comedy show is ending I hear whoo and my phone which I had silenced because you have to have it silenced because you're in the comedy club it starts blaring a siren and I think what could this be? I pull out my phone, it's ADT security and it says front door open. And now we're stuck in the city, front door open, and luckily we were just leaving the club. Now I'm coming out and I'm thinking this can't be good. Maybe the sensor fell off. I'm trying to think positively. Maybe the little sensor fell off, but I access my home's outside video surveillance from my phone. And good old Nassau County police. Within minutes, four cop cars. I've had my ADT alarm go off in Brooklyn. Like two and a half hours later the cop comes like is there an alarm here.
05:15
Within minutes, four squad cars, eight guys come out. Now I'm looking on the camera. Of course I don't have cameras inside the house, but I have on the outside of the house and I'm seeing on the camera. Of course I don't have cameras inside the house, but I have on the outside of the house and I'm seeing this train of cops and I can see they're going in through my front door. So it was open and they're going in. You can see flashlights. Two of them are going all around the perimeter and I'm bracing. Now I don't want to see on my video surveillance a little flash. You know that's the gunshot flash and they're in there for 10-15 minutes. I'm glued to the screen and then I just see them all converge, leave and drive away.
05:54
So I call up. And what? What happened? Now I gotta call up. I can't reach the cops, but I call up my village public safety, whatever they're called the rent-a-cops that the village has and they're like they searched the whole house. Nothing was rifled through, everything is fine. Just the front door was wide open and I'm going that's a bad criminal tactic. What happened there? To just open your front door and then not go for the gold. You know that's. This is broadcast. There is no gold inside my house. I Mean go for what you think is the gold. There is nothing. Amen.
06:33
People don't realize you're one. Google away from people knowing your home address, phone number, everything. There is just a legal shotgun and other artillery. Where's the camera Waiting for you if you have ulterior? And I have a big scripture that says quotes Jesus where he says take up a sword also. And another one by David that says blessed be the Lord, my God, who teaches my hands to war. Amen. I think I lost them with that. People are no, really there is. I think I lost them with that. People are no, really. There is a shotgun, good one. Combat Beretta I was gonna go for the Benelli, but the Beretta, anything that ends in a vowel is gonna be good. When it comes to firearms, 1301 Tactical seven plus one just in case I feel the need to say all that. Is there that one person that's watching anyway? I just noticed the whole time.
07:32
My wife is not as nervous as me and I go what do you think this? And she turns to me we had the best day. It still was the best day. She goes in the excitement of the birthday morning. I may have forgotten to lock the door and a gust of wind came right as we were leaving the common and blew the door open. I then checked the ADT security. It tells you everything. And I noticed it says front door open, but none of the motion detectors were going off. Amen, so it was that.
08:05
And that night I mean forget now in NYC. We came home that night. It was all good. I had her wait in the car, searched every room, every closet, in every room, underneath the sink, everywhere. It was all clear. Hallelujah, we just have more time. So I thought I'd share that story with you. Hallelujah, we just have more time. So I thought I'd share that story with you. I didn't share that with the first service. You know why she forgot to close the door? Because God has recently overdone it in my life. He just really overdid it. So I overdid it for her on her birthday. And God is good. Hallelujah. I'm feeling a little provoked by the Lord right now.
09:00
You know a lot of preachers and I can relate to this. They keep any blessing of the Lord secretive because they're afraid of what people might think or what people might assume, and so there's pastors who get financially blessed outside of the church, but they keep it all so quiet so as not to inspire envy. But if you have a church of people who would be envious of you, those aren't sheep, those are goats and wolves. There's something. They're not sheep, amen. Or if you, if, if, if you're ever afraid to wear the coat of many colors that your father got you, then there's a problem. You know, joseph was given a coat of many colors. He didn't leave it in the closet because he was afraid of what his brothers might think. He proudly wore that coat of many colors, hallelujah.
09:56
So she's been driving, I'm just going to say it. She's been driving this, my old car, this 2011. And she's so amazing. She never complains. The air conditioner doesn't work, so she just rolls the windows down and just drives with the wind blowing, you know old school, like how we used to do in former Yugoslavia all through the 80s and 90s. And the Lord, I'll say'll say that that that it matters that it's outside the church. I believe pastors should be blessed, but outside of the church, through it, through investments. He just overdid it, so I got her a brand new Porsche Cayenne. Amen.
10:44
After let me just say this After I had given tithes and offerings and blessed other ministries, blessed other people directly, after the giving tank was full. Then I went to town. Amen Spun her head around and the cops had to come in because she forgot to lock the door. Hallelujah, hallelujah, yeah, let's. She forgot to lock the door, hallelujah, yeah, let's. Not back off of the blessing of God In destruction and famine. You shall laugh. I'm feeling more bold. Let me just say this because I just preached on no debt last week. Cash Outright, no fine, not a lease, done, done and done. Zero debt, amen, praise God so that when you know that when I preach don't get into debt, I didn't just get into debt. Hallelujah, hallelujah, he'll do it.
11:47
Let's begin in 2 Samuel 2.1. Thank you, jesus. The title of this message is King David's Secret. King David, I think we can all agree. When you look at his whole life, though it was filled with many mistakes, it was a life of great victory, and it was a life of great success, so much so that, even after all of his mistakes, god still thought it good that Messiah should come through David's line. And you read 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, and once again, though, david committed sin and made huge blunders and mistakes. They're stories of victory. There's something special about David. It's like he had a secret, like he had a key. I want to discuss the secret key of David today.
12:45
2 Samuel 2.1. It happened after that David inquired of the Lord. Shout that David inquired of the Lord. David inquired of the Lord, saying shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah? And the Lord said to him go up. David said where shall I go up? And he said to Hebron. 2 Samuel 5, 19.
13:07
There's close to a dozen of these kinds of verses. I want to just show you three. So, david, what does it say? Shout it loud. He asked the Lord a question. He sought the Lord question. He sought the Lord. He submitted to the lordship of Yahweh God. He showed his humility by showing his dependence on God. He wasn't saying well, I killed a lion, I killed a bear, then I killed Goliath, then I outran Saul, I'm all that, I got this king thing down. No, he always saw God and he inquired of the Lord. Let's look at that next verse, also in 2 Samuel 21. Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David did what he inquired of the Lord. In fact, he inquired of the Lord.
14:05
In fact, david inquired of the Lord is the phrase that's most associated with the life of David, nearly a dozen times more so than any other character in the Bible, any of the ancient patriarchs. David was a man who sought after the Lord. In fact, the Bible says that David was a man after God's own heart. What does that really mean? Besides that he loved God's presence, it means that he was after what was important to God. He was after the will of God. God has a heart to do something in the world, and David was after God's heart. He was a man whose will was surrendered to the will of his Lord, and that's the secret of David and that's what the Lord is inviting us to. Any success you have in life that's lasting, that's real success, will be because of the Lord's leading, because of the Lord's guidance, because his will was accomplished in your life.
15:06
But an old man of God back in Bible school changed my life forever when he said this phrase, because I knew it to be true. I just couldn't. You know, sometimes you got a truth brewing on the inside of you, but when someone articulates it, the lights go on and you take that truth home with you. And he said this ask the Lord a lot of questions, because it seems to me that the Lord seldom offers up information. And I went. You know that's true.
15:33
It seems that whenever he would come with something directional in my life, it's after I asked him, after I sought him. Very rarely did he just come in out of the blue. He's a God that must be sought. Let's look at that scripture in Hebrews, please. He's a God that must be sought and I don't want to go left if he doesn't tell me go left. I don't want to go in a particular direction in my life, life just making directional choices that will impact months or years of my life, impact my wife, impact my kids, impact the church, just because I think it's a good idea or because I think I really got it, going on upstairs and I go in a direction and then all of a sudden, uh oh, I find myself naked and alone and I don't feel that favor and that presence and that weight of glory, that hand sustaining me and pushing me along. And then I go Lord, won't you come this way? And he's like no, I'm over there where you used to be. That's the blessed place. You chose to leave it and do your own thing. Hebrews 11, six.
16:40
But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder. It's good to get comfortable with God being a rewarder. There's this religious thing that goes around where people are like oh I just do it, you know Like I just pray to pray. No, god said. Jesus said when you pray, you do it privately. The father will reward you openly. Hallelujah. When you give and don't blast the trumpet and tell everybody that you gave, then God will reward, reward, reward you publicly.
17:21
And here the scripture says he is a rewarder, an increaser of an adder, untoer, not a subtractor of A particular kind of person, the person who diligently seeks him. In the Greek that phrase diligently seeks means inquires of, inquires of, and requires his presence as their vital and necessary need. It's talking about the person who takes their will and submits it to the Lord and asks God questions. I'm encouraging you this morning because God is a living God and he's alive and well and he speaks to his people now and I want you to be open to his voice. But if you're not talking to him and asking him and inviting him to speak into your life and we'll get into how he speaks. But the first step is inviting him To speak into your life. It's almost like you got to give him a legal right him to speak into your life. It's almost like you got to give him a legal right to speak into your life.
18:32
You notice, jesus wasn't very nosy in his earthly ministry. He didn't like invade people's houses and go. So what do you got going on here? You know, I think I can help you out. No, he just went preaching the word and then those who proactively, even aggressively, sought him, then he would bless them, hallelujah, that. So that means the impetus is on me to be proactive and aggressive in seeking god's. Will you say, with what? With everything, everything and the primary way that he will direct us.
19:06
There's over like 20 different ways that God speaks in the Bible and charismatics have a real problem here. We're officially a non-denominational church. You say what does that mean? Nothing. That's why we say non-denominational. It just means these days it means absolutely nothing. You know, you got to clarify. Well, we're a Bible-believing, bible-believing, non-denominational. But still, what does that say? You still could. But you look at our statement of faith, it's very Pentecostal. We believe in the Holy Spirit's baptism, with evidence of speaking in tongues, and then you have the.
19:50
I am in that movement in a way and I have many colleagues and minister friends who are in that movement. But when we speak we all agree on one thing there are weird excesses now that have really hurt the body of Christ and really in the leadership I still see a commitment to the Lord, a biblical balance, but somehow the disciples, or the disciples of the disciples, or maybe there's just too much YouTube content, maybe some people just need to stop podcasting and stop with their Facebook ministry. But there's like this error that's being propagated and people have like lost their minds. That's being propagated and people have like lost their minds and they're always looking outward, outward for God to speak to them. If you're at a place where you collect prophetic words, I see this. This is why we don't have so many guest speakers. Have you ever wondered why we don't have any more? We used to. I got a lot of friends. We could have the who's who in the charismatic zoo. We can line them all up and we've done that and the church is packed out and you know who. It's packed out with people who collect prophecies, people who collect words of knowledge. They're conference junkies. They hop from conference to conference. They're really like heroin addicts they come in.
21:05
Let me get another hit. I need to know what God is doing in my life. You should not be running around looking on the outside for God to speak to you. You're his sheep. You hear his voice, amen. I've never seen anyone like that, with a fruitful life where I'm like you know what I'd like to emulate that their life is always a mess. They can't hold a job, they can't pay rent and it's always. Why is your life like this? You know I'm led by the Spirit. No, you look like a train wreck. The Holy Spirit did not lead you into looking like a train wreck. If you claim to hear from God on a regular basis, your life should be somewhat aspirational, somewhat of an advertisement for the goodness of God. Not, oh Lord, dear help, I can't. Even they collect prophecies.
21:56
You know a prophetic word is like a key. Now you're New Yorkers. You know your super's key set. We used to have a guy like this. You know your super right. You have a super Right. You could a super. Right, you could hear him coming down the hallway because he's got that big keychain.
22:12
We used to have a fella in the church. He was a super and his keychain, his keyring, had keyrings and it really we could hear him before he would enter the church on 7th Street it sounded like Santa's reindeer. The sleigh had come down. You hear tss, tss, tss, tss, tss, tss, like the intro to Christmastime in Hollis Queens Tss, tss, tss, tss, tss, tss, and he'd be coming with 800 keys around that ring. That's how some charismatics are in the spirit From collecting prophetic words.
22:45
This one blow the dust off. This one blow the dust off. This one's from 2006, when the speaker said I was going to go to the nations. This key is from when that one guy said I'm called to marketplace ministry. If anybody ever says to you you're called to marketplace ministry, just tell them please leave me alone, say why that's not a prophetic word. You're all called to marketplace ministry. Yeah, if you're not in full-time ministry, you're in the marketplace, you're doing a job and you should be ministering there. There you go, hallelujah. You say how do I get into that full-time ministry? You're in the marketplace, you're doing a job and you should be ministering there. There you go, hallelujah. You say how do I get into that full-time ministry? You get really really good at marketplace ministry and you minister yourself out of a job. That's actually how you get into full-time ministry. That's a whole nother sermon on its own.
23:44
But the looking outside. Let me get you this scripture just because I'm kind of jumping around here. But we're onto something here. We're cooking Proverbs 20, 27. How God leads the spirit of a man is the lamp of the Lord, not the spirit of God, the spirit of a man. See, you have a spirit, you have a human spirit. It's actually inaccurate to say you have a spirit. To be fully accurate, you are a spirit. That's the real you. You live in this jar of clay, the human body. You have a soul, but you are a spirit and the Bible says your human spirit is the lamp or the candle of the Lord. What does that mean? That means he will guide you and illuminate you through your human spirit. It's on the inside, it's not on the outside. Why am I saying this? I'm not saying this. I'm not answering a question. No one's asking.
24:48
I promise you, I hear a lot of things. I hear people who say you know I saw a license plate. I keep seeing license plate with the numbers three, seven, four. I feel like God is trying to communicate to me three, seven, four. No, you're just seeing a random license plate. To me 374 no, you're just seeing a random license plate. It's that simple. Look how quiet it is.
25:16
People love to think you're like the main character in your own movie where god puts cars in front of you because he's trying to communicate a message to you. Do you think he's limited? He's got to send morse code out. Do you think he just enjoys making you suffer by sending you really hard to decipher coded messages? Nobody, nobody heard in the bible from the lord that was a child of god and then didn't know what to do, had to get a book on dream interpretation, had to call the 1-800 number for reveal a prophecy. They immediately knew Holy cow, where are we going with this? There are Christians love Jesus, but they're trying to decipher the will of God from the external. I really, really feel like God is calling me to Kurdistan and I told the Lord. I told the Lord he needs to give me a sign and then you won't believe it. I was in an Uber and I noticed my driver had nine syllables in his name and I asked him where are you from? And he said Kurdistan, and I knew I should sell everything I own and become a missionary to Kurdistan. Hallelujah, you're now alone in Kurdistan and you're wondering what went wrong with hearing the voice of God and deciphering the will of God. You're looking at the external. The Holy Spirit lives within you Now. Everybody who loves to look at the external and there's a lot of them probably in the service right now, because it's a lot quieter here right now than it was in the first service A lot of uh, you're gonna, I'm telling you, you're gonna mess your life up if you keep doing that.
27:05
I've been around the block a few times. Quit playing Bible roulette. You know the roulette table. People play Bible roulette. They want to know what the will of God is, and they just randomly this is the real thing they open up the Bible and, boom, they put their finger. And what does it say? And whatever it says, god is speaking to me. And your finger lands on Judas hung himself. What then? Then you try again, and it lands on that which thou doest. Doest thou quickly. There's a better way. Amen, oh, hallelujah, listen, people who love this stuff. They can't give you any new covenant scriptural support for living like this. You will never see anybody in the new covenant living like this. When you go to the old covenant you'll see it. But you know there's a big thing that happened between the old and the new. It's called the cross of Jesus Christ, and when Jesus died he cleansed us of all of our sin and made it possible for the Holy Spirit to live in us. And now the Holy Spirit can live in our human spirit and be our internal guide.
28:28
So you have Gideon in the old covenant and Gideon, when he wanted to decipher the mysterious will of God, he put out a fleece before the Lord, a sheep's fleece, and the word was so challenging to him he said well, here I'll put this fleece out on the grass. And if there's dew on the fleece, you know the morning dew, the wetness dew on the fleece, on the grass. And if there's dew on the fleece, you know the morning dew, the wetness dew on the fleece, but the grass is all dry, I'll take it as a sign from you. And God did that. But he wasn't to be satisfied. So he said the next day Lord, now make it to where the dew is all on the grass but the fleece is dry. First time the fleece had to be wet with dew and God did it just because that's what Gideon needed.
29:10
But under the new covenant you don't ever see God doing stuff like that. Why? Because now we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. Under the old covenant they never did. They never did. They could be anointed by the Holy Spirit but he never came and lived in them because Jesus hadn't taken away all their sins yet.
29:32
In fact, the last time you see nonsense like that is in Acts, chapter 1, right before the Holy Spirit is given and you see the first century apostles. Because Judas hung himself, as we already quoted from the Holy Scriptures a few minutes ago, they needed to replace him. So the Bible says they cast lots You're all with me, right? They gambled, they went to Vegas, woo, they let the dice roll on who would be the 12th apostle now that Judas was out, and you never heard from that guy or of that guy ever again. So it tells you how successful they were, because that's how they try to decipher the will of God External, external. But then in Acts, chapter 2, the Holy Spirit comes and he fills everyone, and now he's filled all of us and now he wants to guide you from the inside out Hallelujah From within. You don't have to look in the external, external, external. You're looking for somebody to come and ring your doorbell and do a certain song and dance. Satan can send that person to you and take you out of the will of God, but what Satan can't do is enter my spirit and talk to me from within. Romans 8 14.
30:51
I feel like I'm touching on some emotional topics this morning. See this kind of message. It requires humility, because maybe you're here and you're going. Who is this guy and why is he messing with the last 20 years of my life? It's very hard for people to say maybe I was doing it wrong for several years, but we have to have that level of humility. I've had to go back to the drawing board many, many times. They'll point to the one time their way of hearing God worked out. They have survivor's bias. They'll point to the one time it worked and forget about the 20 other times that they completely missed it. That they forget, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God.
31:39
Christians. Where's the Spirit of God? Where does it live? Where does it dwell Inside? For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, not as many as are led by the Spirit of God, not as many as are led by the prophets of God, not as many as are led by external signs, but the Spirit of God who lives inside of you, those are the real children of God, hallelujah. And it requires humility, which is dependence.
32:05
This is where success comes from, because now you're in the perfect center of His perfect will and you say when should I do this? All the time? Well, let me rephrase that because some people get carried away and then they get frozen, obsessed with the will of God, and they can't even get off their bed because they're still looking at their dresser, asking God should I wear the yellow socks or the blue socks? And you think this is a weird, exaggerated example, but I've known people. They now become like religious OCD and can't even go left or right, literally. When I say left or right, I mean metaphorically in my life, directionally, like don't be that. But for example, you know we go on our annual trip to Montenegro and you always, you know there's no direct flights, you always have to stop some European city, and this time, for whatever reason, they had us for the first time ever going through Dublin and my wife has Irish ancestry and I knew she's always wanted to see Ireland. So I wanted to surprise her Cuz I came, since we're passing through Ireland, anyway, you can stay a few days in Dublin.
33:05
But I didn't just immediately book that ticket, cuz this is, I mean, I, it's important what country I'm in, how long I stay, with my wife and kids with me. So I just took a moment and I submitted it to the Lord. I said, lord, can I do this? Will you be with me if I go? I want to make sure this is you. And then I sensed that peace, let peace be your empire. I didn't say Lord, if this is you, make the lights flash three times on and off in the house. Lord, if this is you I know an Irish person is going to text me by the end of the day if it's you, that is not the way to discern the will of God. He's in you, lives in your spirit. He will whisper in your spirit. He'll give you the still small voice of the inward witness. I didn't even need the still small, it was just the inward witness. It was like a green light that came on, a smooth, velvety feeling of release and I knew I could book those tickets and we'd be safe and sound and no ADT alarms would be going off. After we finished kissing the Blarney Stone that's a real thing, I didn't know it was she was like we're going to kiss the Blarney Stone. I was like we'll kiss whatever stone you want. This is your trip, baby. It's two years ago. Two years ago now, spring of 22.
34:37
Pastor James and I went on a trip and we were chit-chatting about everything and he had just casually mentioned how, in Long Island, I didn't want to live in Long Island, never thought of living in Long Island. Really, the taxes I keep hearing about those taxes. Now I know it gets you four squad cars within three minutes, eight guys. But he just casually mentioned in spring of 22,. He said you know there's a clergy exemption tax in Long Island. I said really, you know how much for? He said I don't know how much for, but there is one. And I go oh, you know how much for. He said I don't know how much for, but there is one. And I go oh, let me look into that, let me look into Trulia. What do you use, trulia, zillow, when you're depressed and you want escapism, what app do you open up? You know you do it. So my default is Trulia.
35:30
And I think to myself let me see what's happening out in Long Island, just to know. And as I think about it, oh, I just feel so uneasy Uneasy isn't the right word Almost like sick in my spirit, not physically, but just on the inside. I sense that red light, that, oh, like I was going to be really grieving the Lord. From what? From just going on Trulia. But maybe he knows me and if I go in one direction I'm hard to stop. So he said don't even look, don't even turn this engine on, forbid me to look. So I went, okay, I would have never thought a year later, because we actually we didn't want to leave Brooklyn. We made an offer on the condo above us and they said no. So I thought what are we going to do now? And I thought maybe Long Island, lord, is it okay if I open Trulia now? And it was a complete immediately. It was like open up the gates of Trulia, son, do I have a surprise for you? That's the sense I had on the inside. And do you know you can get better at this. So of course I opened up the gates of Trulia and here we are.
36:47
He's worked a wonderful thing. Some things we miss, but our closets have closets, amen, and that's always a plus. Miss the corner bodega, miss the walkable city, but now I can buy 12 Windexes instead of just one at a time. I mean, you should see my garage, we're never running out of anything. See my garage, we're never running out of anything. 409s bounty. You know some things you just hate to run out of right, like toilet paper. Listen, if Jesus really, really tarries, we're good with TP at the Jancic house.
37:32
I'm telling you Hebrews 5.14. What the Lord is doing here is just making us better at hearing his voice so that we could be like David and inquire of the Lord and hear correctly. Now here's the truth. Nobody hears from the Lord accurately, 100%, right on all of the time. Why? Why is that? Well, it's not because the Lord stuttered, it's because we mishear him. We mishear him because our spirit is the candle of the Lord and he speaks to us in our spirit. But we have this thing called a soul and our soul is our mind, will and emotions, and our emotions are volatile and prone to the external, so that's why we miss it. Sometimes we get excited in our emotions.
38:36
That's a good time to have two or three people who also love the Lord, who are submitted to his will, who have a good track record of hearing from the Lord, and if it's a big decision, invite them in on it, pray with them. You get the inward witness but you're like, hmm, it could be because it's just me in the natural. I really really want it so bad. What do you guys think it's healthy? Oh, you Christian cowboy who just wants to do it alone. It's healthy.
39:02
There's no big decision that I don't make without consulting the elders, talking it through, hearing feedback, because there's this scripture, you know. It says in the multitude of counselors there is safety and there's too many charismatic wackadoos living very unsafe lives, wrecking their lives all in the name of being spiritual and hearing from God, and they got no fruit, never led anyone to the Lord, broke, hurting people as they go along, as they bounce from church to church. If I didn't finish my thought. That's why we stopped with the guest speakers, because it really created more of a mess than a blessing, because people would come in and they would just infuse us with that circus.
39:55
Come up all wide-eyed to me after service trying to prophesy to me. I don't want a prophetic word from you. So how do you know, pastor? God could use anyone. He can and he does, but I'm telling you, not that person. I knew it in my spirit. Amen, right, mauricio, god could use Balaam's donkey. I would listen to Balaam's donkey. Not that person, though. So, because we can't miss it, we need to get better. Now.
40:31
This is a key verse. Listen, solid food belongs to those who are full age, that is, to those who, by reason of use, by reason of use, have their senses, their spiritual senses, exercised to discern good from evil. So, just newsflash, you can exercise your spiritual senses so they get better, so you can hear better, but that requires admitting it to yourself and to God. When you misheard him which for some reason I found in the church is almost impossible for some people to do they won't admit it. They can mishear the voice of God 10 times in a row and say you know, god told me to move, god told me to. It's always God told me. You won't hear me often say God told me. I'll say I believe, I sense in my spirit. I believe the Lord is leading me right now because I'm still always working it out and keeping in touch with the Lord. But God told me to and it's miss after miss after miss and they never stop and say let me go back to the drawing board and find out why I missed him. You have to go back and admit okay, this one thing I thought was God. That wasn't Now. God didn't make a mistake. I did why? And you will begin to learn about yourself and learn how God relates to you, learn how God speaks to you. You will learn when you're prone to missing it. I'm prone you're prone, whether you know it or not to miss it when your emotions are involved. If you're very emotional about something, you're not going to hear the voice of the Lord.
42:17
I made my first trade when I was 18. I still remember the ticker INTC, intel, back in the mid-90s. You know, tech boom, so it was impossible not to make money, so I thought I was a genius. And then I heard these stories about investors who heard from the Lord that would make millions and I thought I knew it. I knew it. How do you go wrong when you know the God who knows the end from the beginning. So now I start praying, I'm seeking God. I lost so much money. I lost so much money. I'm sorry if you were waiting for that story to end with God's whispering to me ticker symbols and whether they're short or long. He's not, can he? Sure has he for some, probably. But I'm too emotional when you start seeing those numbers go up and down.
43:25
I'm going to invent all sorts of things up in my head that God is saying that he didn't say. I mean, I would have dreams, I would see the chart, I would see it spike up. I would wake up like, yeah, I'm going to pay off all my student loans early. He's the God of abundance, baby, I lost so much money being a fool, but it was a good lesson learned. And so know this you will mishear the voice of God to the degree that your emotions are involved. That's why, when you're in love, he quotes in love, don't trust that. You're hearing from God. You're not, you're not, you're not. I'm telling you, god told me she's the one. You're so emotional and you want that smooth, velvety, good, green light feeling. You have it all the time You're in love. So you're going to go. God, should I be with this person? I don't know, but I feel so good and I feel energized and it almost feels like my feet aren't touching the ground. I believe God's saying yes, no, you're just drunk on the silly juice of love.
44:44
The reason why this is so awesome is because I never heard God tell me to marry Emily. He never said do it. And so many preachers mess people up because they give their testimonies and they, I guess they want to feel like moses, so they give these testimonies of the moment I saw her. I knew that she was sounds romantic, but it messes a lot of people up and the moment I saw her, I knew she was fine, that's all knew. I didn't know anything beyond that. I wanted to get to know more, that's all. I didn't hear God see her in a white robe. You know the bridal, but what I had was I had peace.
45:27
And then he also gives you wisdom and he gives you a brain, and then, as you consult with him over time, amen. I just feel like I also need to issue a warning to somebody. If you're taking forever to make a decision and saying I'm waiting on the Lord, chances are he's waiting on you and you're not waiting on the Lord. Amen, got to make a move. Huh, amen, hallelujah, hallelujah, huh, amen, hallelujah. Oh, wow, I could close right now.
46:02
Time wise, it goes quick in the little house on the prairie church, church Alright, worship team. Are you here? Hey, praise God, the falafel place will be here. Still have to worship. Praise God. Did this help you this morning? God speaks to you through your human spirit. He will lead you and guide you and he will lead you to success. Spirit, he will lead you and guide you and he will lead you to success.
47:08
But we have to get better at hearing or training our human spirit. The number one way to align your human spirit to the voice of God is to read the written word of God, and that also eliminates that terrible flakiness where you start hearing something that contradicts the written word of God. Throw any voice like that right out the window. And the more of his word that you put in you, the more than he can withdraw and speak to your spirit. Your spirit actually starts to eat and get healthy and comes on the same vibration as the Holy Spirit. So you can hear. But that starts with the word of God. So eat the word of God. Praying in heavenly tongues, praying in your other language. That aligns your spirit. It trains your human spirit.
47:52
Asking him questions Note this, by the way Almost never does he answer right when you ask. I've asked him important questions and then, two weeks later, when I'm doing something silly like opening a door, he speaks and it's just like. I know that. I know, but I invited him in two weeks before then and what he's looking for is that you invite him in. So, inquire of the Lord and use this key of David to have the success and prosperity that David enjoyed. Hallelujah, hallelujah.
48:31
Let's pray, father, in Jesus' name. Thank you, lord, that you align our spirits to hear from you. Thank you, lord, that we become good hearers. We are your sheep. We hear your voice. May you eliminate all unbiblical, flaky, strange ways of trying to discern your will. Lord, that's what the pagans used to do. Pagans would put chicken in herds and things like that to try to discern your will. Lords, that's what the pagans used to do. Pagans would put chicken in herds and things like that to try to discern your will. We're not pagans, we're your children, and you will speak to your people and you will lead them into a place of plenty. Psalm 23 says he will lead you to still water. You know what still water is A place of no drama and green pastures, green pastures. It's a place of abundance and provision. Raise your faith right now. Some of you listen, I'm not doing this for my health. Some of you. You're locked up. God's going to unlock you. Be awakened in Jesus' name.
49:42 - Speaker 2
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.
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