Holding Firm to Beliefs in Tumultuous Times

00:00 - Speaker 1 I've been preaching the gospel since I was in my early 20s, but I'm not going to take confidence in that and go. Lord, I've always served you, I will forever serve you. No, I say Lord, keep me, keep my wife, keep my children, keep the people of the church. We could do the convenient thing and compromise just a little, then a little bit more. Then, all of a sudden, we don't even recognize our own selves. We're now castrated and powerless and quivering and afraid of what man says, when we should only be afraid of what God says. 00:26 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the CityLight Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with CityLight Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:06 - Speaker 1 Aren't you so glad you're saved. And if you're not saved and you're here, you're about to be. What is salvation? It's you being born again, being born anew, professing your faith in Jesus, trusting in him for his righteousness, understanding that when he was on the cross, your sins, your mistakes, your iniquities, they were actually nailed to Jesus and your sins were punished, because sin deserves punishment, but they were thoroughly punished in the person of Jesus, so that now you can be free, you can be clean, you can be made perfect and you can be counted not guilty, justified. You've been made innocent by the cross. Woo, hallelujah. 01:57 And I'm especially glad when I think that Jesus said that broad is the highway that leads to hell and destruction, but straight and narrow is the way that leads to life eternal. It's sad I've cried my tears boo-hoo-hoo, but the implication throughout the scripture seems to be that the majority of humanity goes to hell and there's a remnant. There wasn't originally God's heart, but that's where we ended up, and so I'm glad that I'm a part of the remnant. Amen. And so I prize my salvation. I hang on to it like the pearl of great price. It's precious, and you should too. It's everything and we can't treat it like some light little thing. It's sad that if you were to give an altar, call, a hundred people maybe get saved, and then of those hundred, fifty get water baptized. And then of those 150 get water baptized and of those 50 that got water baptized a year later there's 30. It's sad, but it seems to be how it goes. I don't just mean like in our church, I just mean even when Jesus, he said the sower sows the word and he gives four different kinds of grounds that the word can go into. Three out of four of those grounds are no good. And then even with the fourth ground that is good ground, the fruit is not all the same. Some 30, some 60, some 100-fold is the fruit that they bear, hallelujah. 03:45 There is a tension that's been around, theologically speaking, for hundreds of years. There are Calvinists who believe that you have no choice in whether you get saved or not. You're dead in your sins. There's no part of you that desires God, that people don't desire God. You are awakened by God. He gets all the glory. He called you to himself. It wasn't your choice, it was God's choice and he knows the ones he's going to choose Me. 04:15 I was saved in a Pentecostal church. And now we're. I don't know what we are. We're Pentecostal, non-denominational, charismatic, and I guess traditionally we're Arminius, because we believe that Jesus didn't just die for the elect, he died for the whole world right, and that anyone who calls upon the name of the Lord can be saved. And it's not willing from the scriptures, God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come and receive eternal life. And I believe that. But can I tell you, the older I get, the more I feel the tension of these different groups that have argued for hundreds of years. And you know there's a reason that they've argued for hundreds of years, not because they're argumentative some are but because there is a scriptural tension. And now I'm more at the place where I go. No, I believe the gospel is to go out aggressively to everyone and it's available to all. 05:09 But personally, when I think of my salvation story, it seems like I didn't have a chance, excuse me, a choice. Maybe I kind of did, but he was so irresistible when I was 16 years old, all of a sudden I started thinking about God. Why? Because I'm like pure and innocent and we just no, he was doing that in me, he drew me and on August 14th 1992, I sat there. I felt even before I got saved, sitting in the subway going into Brooklyn. I thought this is the most in God's will I've ever felt, as he was. How many of you you feel you can say something similar God bringing you to him. It wasn't you, you didn't find God, he found you, amen. And so a lot of times, with these debates that have raged for centuries, there is a tension for a reason, and the answer isn't so simple. I'm not here to talk about that this morning, but I just want to say that, whether it's all his choice or my job, was saying yes, I'm not going to get bogged down with those details, I'm just so glad I'm saved. I'm glad he saved me. He said Broadway goes to hell. Can you believe it? Be careful when you go outside those doors. I'm glad he saved me. He said Broadway goes to hell. Can you believe it? Be careful when you go outside those doors. Broad is the way that leads to hell and destruction. It's a broad way, but straight and narrow is the path that leads to salvation. 06:35 And if you've named the name of Jesus, you're heaven bound, you're saved, and life is not a video game. You don't get to lose a life and another life put in another quarter and keep playing. You have one soul. It's precious, and I've seen people fall away. I want to finish strong, amen. I want you to finish strong, I want you to live. 06:57 How long are you believing to live Well, in Psalm 91, he says with long life he will satisfy me and show me his salvation. So what can you believe for what's long life? Into your 80s, into your 90s? Emily's gonna. She's gonna live to 100 plus. Make sure she doesn't remarry. She'll never find anyone like me. It'll just break her heart. The poor guy will constantly be getting compared to me. It'll be no good for him. We need to get you like old Montenegro, serbian style, wearing black. You know to show the whole world. You're not available. You're a grieving widow. 07:38 But picture yourself in your ripe old age serving the Lord, not being shaken out of your faith. Listen, there is a shaking and Satan, now that he's lost you, he wants to shake you and get you to forsake the faith. He hates you. Satan has been turned into more of a concept, a metaphor for something evil, something dark. No, he's a being. He's a being created by God whose original purpose was to bear light, lucifer, light bearer. Now that image of God has been taken away, the light of God has been taken away and what you get is utter darkness. Do you know why he hates you so much? Because you now have his job. Jesus said you are the light of the world. You are the light bearer. Right now, you are the image bearer of God. You have the fingerprints of God on your life and he doesn't have boundaries. He doesn't play nice, he has no boundaries. He's utterly messed up and perverted. He will kill a child. He will steal, kill and destroy. He will go out of his way to trip you up. And I've had, unfortunately, I've had a front row seat and there's nothing sadder than Christians who get excited about the Lord and they're like a flash in the pan and then they just fizzle out. No, in Jesus' name, no matter what happens, it will not be so here, amen. 09:08 We saw during kovat that the American church for the most part has gotten really, really fat and spoiled and comfortable and doesn't know how to fight the good fight of faith. And all across the board, throughout denominations, kovat hit. Church attendance went down by 50% and took years to recover, and some churches still aren't fully recovered Because people just got so frazzled, their worldview got so topsy-turvy and they fizzled out, and COVID is going to look like nothing compared to the disruptions that are coming. So we need a strong people, a grounded people, a people who know how to endure Amen, who are willing to endure, fight, the good fight of faith. Why do I say that there's gonna be a disruption? Because I'm a preacher and I have to talk a little fear just to get people's attention. 10:00 No, I haven't talked that way in years, but I'm noticing something now. It started happening a few months ago where something unprecedented where this actually is unprecedented you have the Dow at an all-time high Huh, we must be doing really well. You have the S&P at an all-time high Ooh, you got the NASDAQ at an all-time high. You got Bitcoin at an all-time high. You got silver at an all-time high. You got the Nasdaq at an all-time high. You got Bitcoin at an all-time high. You got silver at an all-time high. You got gold at an all-time high and you got real estate housing all-time high. 10:34 Just by talking about all that, you would think we're all showing up in Lambos and Bentleys every day. Yet people are stressed about the price of eggs. People are getting squashed. So every hard asset is at its all-time high, yet the common person is feeling the crunch. What is happening? All of those hard assets being at their all-time highs show something that people do not have confidence in the US dollar. So they're fleeing the dollar and putting it into hard assets. 11:04 We don't talk enough. People don't understand enough that the country is broke. It's 38, almost 39 trillion dollars in debt. You know how I know people don't understand that, because if people understood that, they didn't want to clap like seals when a guy like Mamdani comes around and says you get a car, and you get a car, and you get a car, and it's promising free things. They still live in La La Land where they believe there's something free. Awfully quiet in here. There isn't anything free. It costs someone something. Who's it cost? Well, you. Usually typically the way America's run for the last 60 years is borrowing against our children's future and passing the debt along, passing the debt along, but eventually the music stops playing and somebody is going to be left without a chair. So there's going to be a disruption. 11:55 Christian, don't be scared of a disruption. Disruptions are good. That's the time where God can come in. And if you're solid and rooted and grounded in the Lord, God will come in and while the disruptions are happening, he'll make you the head and not the tail, amen. He'll cause you to come up, but you can't get shaken out. You got to have perseverance, you got to have roots. Let your boots grow roots, because the Bible says those that are rooted in the house of the Lord will flourish in the courts of our God. Amen. So many people are leapfrog Christians, bouncing from church to church, doctrine to doctrine, youtuber to YouTuber. You gotta let your boots grow roots and stay in one place and be stable. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Some of you. 12:51 I felt to go quiet when I mentioned Mamdani. I don't know what I'm in Long Island now. I've been 43 years in New York City, then moved to Long Island, so I can't vote. But if you're here and you want to vote for, you need to travel. Hold on. I don't think you heard me. If you want to vote for, you need to travel and see what fruit that's brought in other countries. 13:24 What are you saying? You sound so intolerant? Well, thank you very much. Somehow, somehow you thought Jesus was a hippie who bounces through the tulips and just tolerates everything. Jesus rebuked the Laodicean church that they're too tolerant. You're the one. You're the one who's too intolerant. Do you lock your door at night? You're intolerant. Let anyone who wants come in. You protect your wife from shady characters. You're so tolerant, intolerant. Be more tolerant. 14:00 Yeah, no, we have boundaries and things that are conducive to life, to the gospel, that we tolerate things that are in our front and attack to it. We don't tolerate that. And Christians have been shamed into quietness, into a little corner, because the greatest sin, of course, is to be intolerant and to be judgmental. No, it's not. That's how a nation gets conquered. That's how Christianity gets extinguished. That's how Christianity has lost the culture war, because we were so obsessed with being nice, being winsome. 14:40 Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise God. You might not hear anything after that. I feel like some heads are steaming right now. I went off on that so long that my screensaver came on Matthew, chapter 24, verse 10. Hallelujah, let me just say to you so some of you didn't hear me because you get so emotional when I say things that don't gel with how you've been being programmed and I'm such an aff say to you, so some of you didn't hear me because you get so emotional when I say things that don't gel with how you've been being programmed and I'm such an affront to you you'll mishear what I'm saying. Here's what I'm saying, just so you don't mishear me. 15:35 The very tenets, the core foundations of Islam are completely incompatible with Western civilization, with a Christian civilization, incompatible with Western civilization, with a Christian civilization. Christian nations have been very, very nice and opened their doors and said come on in Something I can't do. I can't go to Oman, I can't go to Jordan, I can't go to Saudi Arabia, I can't go there and start a church. They'll throw me off a roof. Here you got the woke crowd, the LGBTQ plus alphabet crowd. Yeah, yeah, they'll get thrown off a roof. This morning before church sorry I saw a bunch of a series of videos where people getting thrown off roofs by Muslims. I'm not just saying they'll get thrown, they'll literally take you, and so it's incompatible. 16:30 But Zorani seems like such a nice guy right, I know, he's got that smile. That's how it happened in Britain. Nice guy, no accent. Seems nice who cares that he eats soup with his hands? He's nice. Who cares that he eats soup with his hands? He's nice. Who cares? He's a nice guy. And? But now you got a parallel, because now first that's how it starts then your kids start getting little notes Don't bring that BLT to school. It's offending some students, some students I'm describing what happened in Britain oh, don't eat, don't bring the pork products. Now can we have Sharia courts? No, pretty, please, fine. And now they're allowing a parallel judicial system, a parallel court system of Sharia law and normal British law and judicial system. You want that? If you want that, you need to travel more. 17:36 Matthew 24, verses 10 through 13. We don't want to get shaken. We want to be Christians that remain and we should not be proud if we are solid. Now. The Apostle Paul said those of you who think you stand, take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall. So even now, I've been preaching the gospel since I was in my early 20s, but I'm not going to take confidence in that and go. Lord, I've always served you. I will forever serve you. No, with fear and trembling, I say Lord, keep me, keep my wife, keep my children, keep the people of the church. Because we could get afraid, we could get compromised. We could do the convenient thing and compromise just a little, then a little bit more. Then all of a sudden, we don't even recognize our own selves. We're now castrated and powerless and quivering and afraid of what man says, when we should only be afraid of what God says, hallelujah. Jesus gave these warnings about the last days here in Matthew 24,. He's specifically talking about the judgment that's about to come on Jerusalem in 70 AD, but the spirit of what he's saying extends to any time there is a disruption, any time there is a shaking and I'll go on record again there is a shaking coming. In case you're studying my life, you don't got to study, just pay attention, watch it. 19:09 I had a theory a good number of years ago that the problem all these different is the dollar. The dollar is not good money, the dollar is being devalued. So I bet everything we had against the dollar. You say why are you always talking about Bitcoin? Because a Bitcoin is a bet against the US dollar, and I don't have faith in the US dollar. A Bitcoin is a great short position and a bet against central banking, and I think central banking is a satanic terror. And guess what? That bet paid off? So much that I was able to give two plus million dollars to the church, Hallelujah. And now I'm betting again, and I'm betting that that's going to continue and the dollar will get further devalued, and that people are usually trying to hack away at the fruit while leaving the root untouched. 20:02 So media will present you all these problems that are the fruit, but the root of it is wicked and corrupt money. Not that money is wicked and corrupt. My money is wonderful because I tithe on my money. My money has been made holy, but the dollar as fiat currency is wicked and corrupt and out of that come forth. That's why we have the global wars. That's why America does what it does, because the money is evil and it's being devalued. It wasn't so when we were on the gold standard, yeah. So because of that, there will be a shaking, there will be a disruption and in 2020, I'll just confess, I didn't know how to handle it because I wasn't equipped and I wasn't trained and I didn't think that anything like that would ever happen to us. But I've been doing my homework ever since then. 20:56 Those of you who have been with me for a while, you know I've changed a lot since I got radicalized in the summer of 2020. And I couldn't believe that. Normal, good-hearted, sweet Christians were just dropping like flies left and right, bowing down to the golden calf of CNN and the death-o-meter and whatever that tube told them, it was gospel for them. They just believed it. They were willing to phone in and rat on their friends. They were the ones who, even if you looked at them and waved across the room, they had the mask. All they needed was an oxygen tank. They're scared if you just look at them. Don't come over, you're a vector for disease. No, I'm your brother in Christ. Look how quiet it gets. Some of you have so much PTSD from the summer of 2020, you don't even like it to be mentioned again. All right, and many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. Sin will be rampant everywhere and the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures, shout, endures. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 22:13 When I first planted CityLight Church, I lived in the church. Don't get excited. It was 20 feet wide by 80 feet long and I had a six by nine little cot set up for me. I showered in the church bathroom and the church kitchen was behind the altar. I lived there for five and a half years, no windows. I'll save you the whole story, but suffice it to say that's not how I dreamed my life was gonna turn out. I'm now in my late 20s College graduate. 22:48 My dad, he immigrated here so that I would do well in America. It was his worst nightmare that I was going to become a pastor. I was grooming my whole life to be a doctor. I'm an immigrant. What else right? You a doctor? Yet no, not yet. Dad, what's that? Does anyone else want to say whatever's on their mind? Where was I? Sorry, man, it's all right, you can wear it. I just, it was just unexpected. I had to do a double take. He had a pumpkin on his head which makes me want to take out a bow and arrow. I'm in the basement. I'm pressed, I'm crushed, I'm down, I'm on the verge of quitting. 23:52 It's hard for me to go into all the details because that'll derail the service, but imagine everything you think is going to happen. The opposite happens and I'm telling you, every single Christian will go through a time of testing. Now we have this beautiful house. We moved out of Brooklyn into Long Island and I was shocked when I first saw the house. Every single bathroom has a window and we have more bathrooms than I can visit. Every single bathroom has a window. I'm going. My whole place for five and a half years didn't have a window. I didn't know the rapture could happen outside. If I wasn't up, I would be shocked when I came out To know whether it was raining or snowing. I'd have to open the front door, and the 7th Street door between First Avenue and Avenue A led right into the street. Usually in the mornings there was a gift there deposited by one of the unhoused individuals that I then had to clean up with newspapers. That was what AM New York was good for back in the day for cleaning this free newspaper. New York was good for back in the day for cleaning this free newspaper. 24:57 So I'm discouraged, I'm heartbroken, and as I'm going to get a cup of water, I have to pass, walk over the altar by the drum set to get into the kitchen and as I open up the kitchen door oh, thank God for his word I hear him speaking to my spirit and he just says this in my spirit, like a whisper but distinct. He said you need enduring faith. You need enduring faith, and I knew what he meant by that? He was saying it's good that you can have faith in the moment, good that you can, when you pray, believe me and release your faith to receive what you're believing me for. But when the going gets tough and none of what you're believing for is happening and even the opposite of what you're believing for is happening you need the faith that won't shrink back then but will continue and endure. Hallelujah, hallelujah. And now, every time I look out one of those windows, I think I appreciate this window, looking at the leaves color changing out of any bathroom. I appreciate it so much more because I had the five and a half years of no windows out of any room. Hallelujah. 26:12 This message is about enduring faith. Jesus said he who endures. It's about not being a flash in the pan, about having a root system, about not getting shaken out, having zero of the fear of man. Right now there's still free course for the gospel in America. What if that starts getting shaken? And, by the way, it'll get shaken in New York first? We're worse even than California. 26:38 Do you know most churches, most churches, are really untouchable, practically practically untouchable entities throughout the country Because of, thank God, because of separation of church and state which everyone uses wrongly. Oh, the church shouldn't mess with the state. No, separation of church and state means the state doesn't mess with the church. I'm allowed to preach and mess with the state in that way, and so most churches, the government, very, very. I mean you have to really be a crazy, lunatic church, and usually it's in the area of finances and misappropriation that government will step in. But for the most part and the reason why so many charlatans do exist in America is the government, just they're the church. Don't mess with them, except in New York. We're dealing with that now in a small way, but the Attorney General wants to know details. Once the Attorney General now knows how much Bitcoin the church owns, you know. And our lawyer? We hired a lawyer. What if you know? They might ask you to sell. I might ask her to water ski in Central Park. She might. We don't want to. No, what are they going to do? Confiscate it. You can't Ban it. You can't ban it, you can't. Oh, we'll take away your non-for-profit 501c3 status. We'll see you up to the supreme court. Do not encroach on the church of God. So, because new y York, is this, this weird place? It really is, I mean, that's why a guy like Mamdani exists, because New York is strange and it's gotten so bizarre and some of us in the church have fallen hook line and sinker. 28:32 Critical theory do you know what any kind of critical theory is? Some people get so excited because they think it'll help them. It's not going to help you. Any kind of critical theory gives you a world lens and this is how you see everything. It's oppressor and victim. You're either an oppressor or a victim. So which one are you? If you're an oppressor, raise your hand. Nobody. If you're a victim, raise your hand. No victims either. Thanks, I took a gamble with that survey. I thought somebody in the back would be like where are the benevolence forms? You're not an oppressor, you're not a victim. But why is that so important? Because when a nation is invaded, when a nation is disrupted, when communism or Marxism, so all those, this is the same dirty snake. When it begins to invade a country, it cannot get in a unified, cohesive country. So Marxism always comes with critical theory to cause class warfare, to cause one group to fight with another and that group to fight with another, and while they're all disjointed and fighting each other, you get Mamdani. That's how it happens. That's how it happens. 29:57 1 Timothy 4.1. 1 Timothy 4.1. Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times, some will turn away from the true faith. They will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. 2 Thessalonians 2, 1-3,. I'm just showing you how many warnings there are concerning the age that we're living in. 30:37 Even in Matthew 24, Jesus, four times in that one chapter, says take heed that no one deceive you. Take heed that you be not deceived, don't be deceived. Over and over again he's saying don't be deceived. The New Testament, pauline letters. He keeps saying don't be deceived, don't be deceived you. The New Testament, pauline letters. He keeps saying don't be deceived, don't be deceived. 30:56 You know what the terrible thing about deception is? It's so deceiving. I've never met a deceived person who knew it. They usually think they're right. It's kind of like somebody with bad breath. They never know they got it. It's kind of like somebody with bad breath. They never know they got it. They need a friend to tell them. See, faithful are the wounds of a friend. You come up, go. I love you. I just want to sow into your life and bless you this box of Altoids. 31:39 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet him. Don't be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don't believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation or a letter supposedly from us. Don't be fooled, don't be deceived by what they say, for that day will not come unless there is a great rebellion against God. So the apostle here is talking about the day of the Lord and he's saying but the day of the Lord won't come until there's first a shaking and a great apostasy, a falling away, a rebellion against God. That means that a chunk of Christians are going to get shaken and they're going to lose their grip because they never worked on their root system, they never surrendered all. 32:31 You know, everybody's happy to receive Jesus as their Savior. Very few want to receive him as their Lord, but he's Lord and Savior and he's either Lord of all or not Lord at all. You don't get to pick, you don't get to well, you can be Lord of this Lord, you're Lord of my problems, but that's those other parts of my life that I don't want to surrender to you. No, no, no, I'm Lord of that. You can have my problems, and when you've performed like a good pup for a while, then maybe I'll invite you to the other areas of my life. Lord, help us. You bend the knee. I feel a cry in my spirit this morning. I don't want to run into you 10 years from now. 33:12 And you were one of the used to be's. I remember you. You used to raise your hands, you used to go to life group, you used to be on fire and now you're just on the broad way to hell. You need to respect yourself enough. Love your own soul. 33:28 I love my wife so much. I love my daughter so much, but you know what. I love my wife so much. I love my daughter so much, but you know what I love Jesus and the salvation he's given me more, and she would say the same thing, and that's good and that's healthy and that's in the order of God and that's scriptural, because when we have that order right now, we can purely love each other and then love our children Also. By the way, we love one another more than our kids. That's the order of God, amen. Often when, yeah, because when couples have it rough, then they, you know they find their companionship with the child. They love their child more than that stinky old oaf or the old ball and chain, and then that's an open door to Satan. Amen. I'm sure you've been tempted to love the kids more than me many a time, babe, but thank you for standing strong and resisting temptation. Let's not. That's very, very amplified. Amplified. Hebrews 10.36. 34:52 Patient endurance is what you need now so that you will continue to do God's will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. If you're not in a place of receiving right now, you're in a place of waiting. I know what you're asking. You're asking when, Lord, and I found the answer is always soon. Soon can be excruciating. You know I got a lot of my heart's desires met right now, but I'm trusting God for a building that we own when Lord Soon Soon. Trust in God for a building that we own when Lord Soon Soon. In the meantime, persevere, stay strong, stand in faith. Let's put up that Greek word for endurance Hupomone. It means steadfastness, constancy In the New Testament, the characteristic of a person who is unswerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings, the greatest trials and sufferings, Lord, fill us with hupomone, that kind of endurance that causes us to last. 36:25 I see myself in my late 80s on fire serving the Lord. How about you, my children on fire serving the Lord? My children's children on fire serving the Lord? How about you, my children on fire serving the Lord? My children's children on fire serving the Lord? The church, CityLight multiplied, strong, unshaken, in New York City, preaching the gospel. All right, I want to give you five things that could swerve you, and then we're going to say a prayer. Allow the Holy Spirit to come here in some of you. He's just going to bless and slap a pair of engines on the side of you, some rocket boosters. Yeah, we need help. We got to get stronger, all right. 37:11 Number one Revelation 12, 9 through 11. These are things, pitfalls to endurance, things Satan likes to use to get us to swerve off God's path. Be a flash in the pan. Number one is loving this life. Loving this life. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him. 37:46 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven Now salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren. Notice what his name is. He's the accuser. You say I always feel condemned, I always feel guilty, I always feel like I'm not enough. That's him. That's Hasatan. Hasatan actually means the accuser of our brethren and he accuses you before God and he accuses you to you. This is why the therapy business is a booming cuz. Business is booming cuz most people can't stand themselves. So they go to therapy and they never learned that the reason they can't stand themselves is their own inward voice is at war with them. They're walking civil war. 38:32 Because how Satan is? You're not enough, you're not beautiful enough, you're not handsome enough, you're not wealthy enough, you're not strong enough, you're not smart enough, you're not talented enough, you're not Christian enough, you're not righteous enough. And you cry I'm not enough. And then, in steps, Jesus and says I give you peace. And then, in steps, Jesus and says I give you peace, I make you whole, I give you my righteousness. Now there's nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. You have been made enough. Hallelujah and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God, day and night has been cast down and they overcame him. So this is how you overcome Satan by the blood of the lamb. 39:17 And that's preached a lot. And that should be preached a lot, because when you say the blood of Jesus, I believe in dealing with the devil. But I believe in dealing with the devil quickly, because a lot of what goes for spiritual warfare is really weird, charismatic nonsense. They talk to Satan more than they talk to God. Hooping and hollering, I bind, I loose, I, oh my God, worrying, tongues, shofars being blown when you decree the blood of Jesus. By the way, you don't see anybody in the Bible doing that. What I just described. It's nowhere in the New Testament. But go into the spiritual warfare section at any Christian bookstore. 39:59 Some of you don't know what I'm talking about and consider yourselves blessed that you don't know what I'm talking about. When you say the blood of Jesus, my daughter, come here, sweetie, real quick. Remember when you had that nightmare the other day. Stand up here so they can see you Stand up on the chair. You're not tall enough. There you go. There you go. Remember when you had the nightmare the other day? And what did I tell you to do? Plead the blood. Plead the blood, the blood of who? 40:31 - Speaker 2 Jesus. 40:32 - Speaker 1 Yeah, because when you plead the blood of Jesus, you are declaring to the entire spirit realm I have been bought for, I have been paid for, I don't belong to anyone but I am redeemed. It is spiritually, not metaphorically, where it counts. Spiritually illegal for Satan to touch you because you're under the blood. He can't get under the blood. If he could get under the blood he'd get saved, but he can't get under the blood and you're under the blood, you're off limits. So when you say the blood of Jesus, the devil has to back off. Amen. So every day, thank you Lord. The blood is on me, the blood is on my home, the blood is on my house, hallelujah. So we got the blood of the lamb. That's how they overcame him and the word of their testimony. 41:20 We talk about that, but very few people talk about that third part. They love not their lives to the death, and that's a key to not love this life. You can't love this world and the things that are in this world, hallelujah. I don't want to be in love with what I think my life will look like on earth 20 years from now. Some vacation I'm dreaming to take some other natural thing that I'm going to. You know, nobody ever went to heaven and said I want to come back, ever went to heaven and said I want to come back. Everything we see on earth will actually look like a weird, cruel joke when you're actually in glory. Some people don't get this because they think the spiritual world is unreal. But the spiritual world is more real than this world. The spiritual world created more real than this world. The spiritual world created the tangible physical world. It's not that it's less real, it's infinitely times more real. You will be you for the first time. You will know Jesus, not just right now, we're still beholding through a glass, dimly, but the promise in the scriptures is that you will know him even as you are known. Well, how does he know me? He knows me completely, thoroughly, intimately. On that day when these blinders are ripped off and this casing comes off, I'll know him even as I am known. You will know him even as he knows you now. Do you think then you're going to wonder about? I wonder what I would have looked like in a top-down Porsche. I wonder I always wanted to go to Cannes, you know, for the film festival and then the French Riviera. You'll be like, yeah, I'm where I belong Because the Bible says we're just sojourners here, we're pilgrims, we're passing by. Amen, live with that in mind. Number two as far as pitfalls to endurance, that's what we're talking about. It's found in 2 Corinthians 6.14. This will go. This is the cherry on top after me preaching what I preached last week 2 Corinthians 6.14. 43:34 Unfortunately, over 25 years I've had a fun row seat to a lot of people backsliding. That's not a lot of people. To me, one person is a lot of people. It hurts. I don't want to see anybody fall away. 43:50 Jesus, you know, he healed the 10 lepers. Nine of them kept going. One came back to say thank you and Jesus said what about the nine? And I always, even when I'm enjoying I'm enjoying preaching here, the anointing, I see your beautiful faces, but I'm thinking what about that? Really, it's always in the back of my mind what about that one person? 44:12 I used to see them. Now I don't see them anymore. Where are they? What happened? 44:20 And so when I see this happen, you know, I notice some things. Never has somebody like, say, had a gambling problem. And I'm like I call them up and go. Hey, I haven't noticed. You're in church, what's happening? Well, pastor Vegas keeps calling. I just feel the call of Vegas. I got to hit the tables man. That's never happened. 44:45 Even people who have substance abuse issues. They'll quickly say what it is and they can still be coming to church and it'll be getting worked out while they're coming in church. You're not going to get better out there. That's why people here have soft eyes and you won't be judged and condemned because you're still a work in progress. We understand people have different issues. The Holy Spirit's working them out. 45:11 But either the number one reason or top three, top three of why people forsake the faith, it's because of that verse that's been up there for the last two minutes because they get involved romantically with someone who is not a real Christian. And over and over again I see that. You know where else you'll see that. Over and over again In the Old Testament. Over and over again God said you are a special people and the Hebrews were a peculiar and special people set aside. Why? Because Messiah was going to come out from them and he said you cannot intermix. You cannot. The seed is holy and the genealogical record has to be kept pure. And you can't. And they would continually intermarry. And the moment they would intermarry, they would start worshiping foreign gods, bowing down to other gods. And then in the New Testament we have the Apostle Paul say in no unclear or uncertain terms do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Put it back up there, please. You're not going to win them to the Lord like you think you are. 46:22 My favorite one is the ladies. I can go off on the men a lot, but my favorite one is the ladies. When I go, is he a Christian? First they say, oh yeah, he goes to church. And what they mean is he goes on Easter and on Christmas to some other church where the gospel isn't even preached. Or they mean he's Christian, yeah, he's not Jewish, he's not Muslim, he's not Hindu, so he's Christian. No, I mean a Christian Like he bows the knee to the Lord, he has a prayer life, he has a God above that he actually submits his life to. Because guess what, honey, if he's not submitting to the God above he, above that, he actually submits his life to. Because guess what, honey, if he's not submitting to the God above, he's not submitting to anyone and he's going to do you wrong eventually. And the same way it goes for men. Men, I could go off on men all day long. 47:06 Samson went for Delilah. Do you know what Samson's reason is? It's in the Scriptures. His first words were, quote get this. She looks good to me. It's in the word Samson. 47:19 Why did you forsake the anointing betray, your whole nation and end up having to die between two pillars? What was the root of all that? She looks good to me. You can't make it up. It's so quiet you would think I was making it up, but I'm not making it up. It's so quiet you would think I was making it up, but I'm not making it up. Proverbs 29, 25. Worship team, you can come on up. 47:53 I'll close with this one the fear of man. Just know this. And why I'm so free now? Because in 2020, I wasn't ready. I wasn't aware of what was happening behind the scenes, in our country, in our culture, and so as I started to speak, it broke my heart. People started leaving and I had a choice to make whether I would be quiet or keep on speaking God's truth. And I made a decision, knowing that whatever you compromise to keep, you will lose anyway. Note that in your life, Whatever you compromise to keep, you will lose anyway. The fear of man it brings a snare. But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe. Say no to the fear of man. Don't care what others say about you Most are too busy thinking about themselves anyhow. But a Christian who's unencumbered and unhindered by the opinions of men and women that man is a threat to the kingdom of darkness, that man will expand the kingdom of God, that woman will go far in the things of God. 49:07 Hallelujah, luke 12, four through five, got some strong scriptures this morning. This is Jesus, by the way. I picked these scriptures on purpose, also because they're not the popular ones, they're not the warm and fuzzy ones, but this is still gentle Jesus, meek and mild. We've held him up and glorified him as the lamb, yes, but we need to equally hold him up and glorified him as the lamb, yes, but we need to equally hold him up and glorify him as the lion who said my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more than they can do, but I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who, after he is killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him. So there is a healthy, healthy, reverential fear of the Lord. Do we have an unshakable intimacy with him? Yes. Does he call us friend? Yes, and at the same time, he's God Almighty. He's not my bro, he's my creator, he's my master, he is everything, and we want to be prostrate before him, saying Lord, thank you for saving my soul, and whatever you say in my life goes Amen. 50:28 Let's all stand to our feet. We're going to make a declaration, church. I'm thinking of your future right now. I'm thinking of 2035, 2045, 2055. This is like a dedication of prayer and consecration, a prayer of dedication and consecration. Lift your hands to the Lord and say this and let the Holy Spirit come upon you. May you be marked with the oil of God, a fresh fire that it will come upon you in Jesus' name. Say this as a declaration of faith. Lord Jesus, I surrender my life to you. I believe you died on the cross and bore my sin. I am trusting you, Jesus, for salvation and for you to keep me. Let me never be afraid, let me never compromise, let me never back off. Help me and my whole family to endure until that day. I put my trust in you. I love you, Lord Jesus. Amen. Shout a big hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, amen, amen. How do you want to worship the Lord next? Amen, how do you want to worship the Lord next? That's a great idea. 52:01 Let's worship the Lord with our tithes and offerings. The giving information is on both sides of the screens. Give with a glad heart, give in faith, give expecting a harvest. Let the Lord be magnified. Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servants? Oh, Jesus, who fed the 5,000, which is really the 15,000, 20,000. And then they were well fed. It says they were all well fed and you took up 12 baskets of leftovers. You're the overflow God, the too much God, the more than enough God. Thank you, Jesus, for every person who's a seed sower, for every tither, every person who gives beyond themselves. Lord, I pray a mighty harvest. Holy ghost surprises. Doors of opportunity Increase in Jesus' name. 53:20 - Speaker 2 This is the CityLight Church Podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and CityLight Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to CityLight Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.