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Aug. 20, 2024
Imagination and Divine Purpose in Christian Living
Have you ever wondered how your imagination shapes your reality as a Christian? Today, we explore the profound impact of what we choose to focus on, starting with the story of Eve in Genesis 3:6 and moving through to Abraham’s starry vision in Genesis 15:5. By aligning our thoughts with God's vision, we can navigate life with divine purpose and intention. Journey with us as we discuss the significance of staying close to Jesus and embracing the unique plans God has for each of us.
Next, we delve into the power of positive visualization and how it differs fundamentally from New Age beliefs. Using the fascinating example of Jacob and Laban, we illustrate how what you focus on truly manifests in your life. We also touch on the spiritual battle for our minds, highlighting personal experiences that underscore the importance of faith and virtuous thoughts. Learn how to guard your mind against negativity and align your focus with God's promises, thereby ushering His plans into fruition. Let this episode inspire you to rise above societal challenges and remain anchored in God's unwavering love.
For more information and resources, visit www.citylightnyc.com
(00:00) The Power of Imagination and Vision
(14:49) The Power of Positive Visualization
(26:53) Embrace Divine Guidance and Reject Negativity
(33:50) Flying Above the Weather
Chapters
00:00 - The Power of Imagination and Vision
14:49:00 - The Power of Positive Visualization
26:53:00 - Embrace Divine Guidance and Reject Negativity
33:50:00 - Flying Above the Weather
Transcript
00:00 - Speaker 1
God, I believe with all of my heart, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you've been walking with the Lord for any length of time, has attempted to impregnate you with his vision of your life, and it all begins in your imagination. So is it any wonder why the enemy, the one who wants nothing but death and destruction for you, is trying to fill your mind with death, fill your mind with negativity?
00:26 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightNYCcom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you, that he has a real hope and a future for you.
01:09 - Speaker 1
Aren't you glad your sins are forgiven. I want to go to Genesis, the beginning. You don't get much more in the beginning than Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 6. I want to talk to you today about your life, about where you're going, and maybe help you identify the creative process in your life and how God takes you from A to B, how things actually materialize in your life, and hopefully you'll be able to identify a way that he's been trying to talk to you and get you on board with his plan. When you're a Christian, you don't come up with your own plan and ask God to come in on that. Our job is to keep close to Jesus, submit to him, find out what his plan and he has a great one for your life find out what his plan is and get on board with that. Amen, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Can I get Genesis 3.6? I'm imagining Genesis 3-6 right now. I'm seeing it. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Well, I'll begin reading it. Look at that.
02:54
So when the woman saw, this is Eve in the Garden of Eden, satan's coming to tempt mankind. He knows that if he can get man to rebel against God's commandment, mankind would be lost. And so he approaches Eve first and he shows her the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the one tree that they were both forbidden to eat of, and he gets her to look at it. The Bible says that when the woman saw, she saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes. Something activated when she saw it and the image of what she was seeing now went in through her eye gate. Now her imagination was stirred that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate.
03:57
Let's fast forward a few chapters in Genesis to Genesis 15, 5. This is how it worked in the negative. I just want to let you know this morning that whatever you behold, that's what you're soon going to hold and what you think about you will bring about. He had to get her to look at it first. Your life is going to go in the direction of your most dominant thoughts, is going to go in the direction of your most dominant thoughts. The Bible says as a man thinks in his heart, so is he Some positive affirmation. Guy in the 40s didn't say that first. The Bible said it over 3,000 years ago Amen.
04:47
And so when I begin preaching along these lines, if you've come out of the New Age movement and you say, wow, there's some things that sound familiar, it's not that I'm in the New Age, I'm actually very, very old age, very, very thousands of years, holy Scripture age. But it's that Satan will come and he will tap into certain principles that just work for everyone. Just like gravity, it works for everyone, whether you're a believer or not. And this, what I'm going to be speaking about today, is a principle that'll work for you, whether you're saved or not, whether you you're a follower of Jesus or not. I mean, one, of course, will lead to blessings and the other one to a life of more pain and darkness, but it'll work, and that's that.
05:35
The imagination is the language of heaven. And, once again, what you behold, you will hold and what you think about, you'll bring about. When God took Abraham and was impregnating him with the promise that he was going to be the father of many nations, he actually took Abraham outside and said look now towards the heaven and count the stars, if you are able to number them. So he takes Abraham outside and shows him the whole cosmos, shows him the stars, shows him the innumerable stars. So something would take root inside of Abraham. Abraham is now in a desert place looking at all the stars and his imagination is getting stirred. And God says your descendants are going to be like the stars of heaven and he and his spirit conceives like the stars of heaven. And he in his spirit conceives God. I believe with all of my heart, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you've been walking with the Lord for any length of time, has attempted to impregnate you with his vision of your life, and it all begins in your imagination. So is it any wonder why the enemy, the one who wants nothing but death and destruction for you, is trying to fill your mind with death, fill your mind with negativity? Why, when one thing happens that's off immediately he says it's over for you. How many of us go down just a dark spiral when a couple of things happen on a Monday, then a Tuesday, and we think, oh, spiral. When a couple of things happen on a Monday, then a Tuesday and we think, oh, what'll happen next? Or something bad happens and we say I knew it. I just knew it. I knew this would happen because you imagined it, because you thought of something bad happening to you over and over again. Do you know?
07:17
When Job, he had a really bad day. He lost everything. He lost his kids, he lost his land, he lost his bank accounts, his livestock. But you know, and oftentimes we'll say, oh, god was testing Job and God was doing this. Whatever God was doing, put that aside. Job said what I feared has happened to me. That aside, job said what I feared has happened to me, the thing that I was afraid of has come upon me. In other words, all those calamities Job already imagined, job already envisioned. I wonder what the enemy has been trying to get you to imagine. He saw death come upon him and then he witnessed it.
08:06
Because what you think about, you bring about and what you behold, you will soon hold.
08:10
And it works in the negative and, yes, it works in the positive. And it's not new age, it's biblical. Jesus said to people be it unto you as you have believed. Well, how do you even believe without your imagination being stirred up? Whenever I believe God for something, I saw it first. When you contend in prayer for something, when you ask God for something. You got to see it and I'm just encouraging you to see it even more in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Lean into it, incubate that thing. Presence of the Holy Spirit. Lean into it, incubate that thing. All right, god wants to get you pregnant with a holy vision for your life.
08:56
And that is why, where you know, the Bible says in the last days there will come a spirit of stupor. You say, what is a spirit of stupor? I read the big theological textbooks and it says it means a spirit of stupid. But no, close enough. A spirit of stupor is like a drunkenness, a haze, where you're cold to the things of God. That's why weed is now legalized everywhere. That's why you have five different social media accounts, so that you can be gummied up and TikTok'd up and just be like a fish floating downstream with no vision.
09:33
And the Bible says without a vision, my people perish. Why? Because without your imagination, without the vision, there is no creative process. For any time there to be a creative process in your life, your imagination needs to be stirred. I feel like I'm losing some people because I'm using the word imagination Like the word imagination belongs in children's church or something? How did the children's church go? Did they take you to imagination land? Imagination is the language of heaven. You are a thought in the heart of God and he spoke it and this universe was.
10:12
Whenever people, even if people who've encountered the Lord today, people who've been taken up into heaven… I told you I saw the Lord once when I was 17 years old, once in my entire life, and it was in a vision. But you know what I remember? His mouth and his lips not moving, but he communicated to me, and people who've been to heaven and come back, they always say the same thing, like I'll be downloaded An entire conversation, but it's and they use an earthly term it's telepathic. Oh man, this is what other cultures will agree on. Right, this is what other people we all know, scientists, we use anywhere from whatever the number is three to six percent of our brain and then, as a christian born again, spirit filled, you say something that the bible shows, from genesis to revelation. It's like people lock up Hallelujah when God wants you to start dreaming with him so you can begin creating with him. Hallelujah, this is how he communicated my calling to me.
11:25
Have you ever had invasive thoughts? Of course you have. When we talk about invasive thoughts, that means it's not just thoughts that are your own. It seems like they come from the outside in and usually when we talk about it they tend to be negative. Like you're in the subway, someone steps on your foot and you have an invasive thought of murder. That's a demonic, invasive thought. That's something you need to plead the blood on and renounce Satan. Two weeks after I became a Christian, I didn't even know what a pastor was. I was saved outside of a Sunday service. They were taking me to church, but it was never when service was happening. I didn't know what a pastor was, but I started getting these delightfully invasive thoughts of me ministering, god's word, me preaching. I'm 16 years old, I don't even know what a pastor is, but whenever they would come upon me I would just start to feel happy. I would start to feel life. Sometimes I'd begin to weep and wonder what is going on here, have you ever had that happen to you?
12:29
Not with preaching, but with something that concerns your life. That is God telling you. This is my heart for you, this is my will for you. And then you have a choice. You can go oh, no, I can't, that can't be for me, that's too wonderful or that's too great. Or you can say yes, lord, be it unto me, according to your word. God is stirring us up to imagine with him and your life will just tick, totock, march right in line with your most dominant thoughts. My favorite time to do this with the Lord is at night. You can do this with the Lord as you're going to sleep. I don't only do it at night, but at night, before I go to sleep, I receive the Lord's love for me. Make like a sponge and just receive his love for you and pour out your love on him. And like a sponge and just receive his love for you and pour out your love on him, and then let him fill you with his vision for the coming year, for 10 years from now, for where he wants to take you.
13:26
Single people, begin to imagine yourselves blissfully and happily married. You're like but I can't see her face, I can't see his face. I know it's faceless. And happily married You're like, but I can't see her face. I can't see his face. I know it's faceless. Imagine it, though. See what you and the Lord can cook up together. You know, sometimes you don't want it too, too specific. Those of you who are married imagine yourselves in a flourishing marriage, a Christ-honoring marriage, christ-honoring kids. Your cup is overflowing. You're prospering in every way. Hallelujah, genesis, chapter 30,.
14:02
I want to show you this very bizarre and mystical passage in the Bible. Lest you think that I've kind of gone off the rails, let me take you to the word Now. Nothing is in the bible for no reason. It's always there for a reason, and we have this very, very I say bizarre, just mystical encounter here, and we have to remember christianity is not a western faith. If you're coming at christianity in a frontal lobe in way, with the paralysis of analysis, you're gonna. You're coming at Christianity in a frontalobian way, with the paralysis of analysis, you're going to hit your head against the wall very, very quickly. You have to expand your horizons, never go outside of the word, never move away from Christ, and I have to keep hitting this new age thing, because so many books have been released about it.
14:49
But a big thing that separates us from anything having to do with the New Age is that a New Ager is unsubmitted. They're told. Whatever you think about, you can manifest and you can have it come to pass. I'm not in any way suggesting that. I'm saying that we are submitted to the Lord. We are submitted to the Lord and we're getting the vision from him.
15:09
There's a big difference than some guy who comes at 3 am on some infomercial and tells you to imagine a car and a house and taps into the lusts of your heart. No, we're asking the Lord. Lord, what do you want my life to look like? And I heard the scripture say that he knows the plans that he has for you, and they're good plans. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Am I ministering to anyone? Yeah, few people will grab it. Amen. My wife's gone so I can share what I was going to say in the print. I know it's good for me teasing, teasing. I know what's good for me Teasing, teasing.
15:58
Here's so my righteousness, this is Jacob, and he's got a very, very conn uncle Laban always looking to rip him off. So this is with regard to Jacob's payment or his wages. He says so. My righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you talking about goats. Everyone that is not a speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the lambs will be considered stolen if it is with me. In other words, he's telling his uncle Laban when it comes time for my payment, I'll only have the speckled and spotted ones. You keep any ones that are fully brown. And Laban said you know, oh, that it would, oh, that it were according to your word. So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, leaving Jacob with just the brown ones. And Jacob said if they're all brown, then I'll give them to you. So sneaky Laban is saying well, there's no way, there's no way a brown mommy and a brown daddy are going to produce speckled kids, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and just go back once and gave them into the hand of his sons. Then he put three days' journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
17:46
Now this is where it gets interesting. Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees. He peeled white strips in them. He's taking poplar branches, chestnut branches, and he's peeling them and exposed the white which was in the rods. And the rods which he had peeled he set before the flocks in the gutters. So he peels these branches. So he's got bundles and bundles of spotted and speckled branches. Are you all with me? And then he puts this in the gutters where the goats will come and procreate. He set them before the flocks in the gutters and the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. They're all brown right. So the flocks conceived before these spotted and speckled branches and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled and spotted.
18:49
What in the world is happening here? You can read past this so quickly and just go. You know ancient hebrew stuff next. But there's something very profound happening here. You're like what were these old mesopotamian shepherds up to some kind of weird recipe? No, he got all of the brown goats, since he could only keep the speckled ones. He got them to look at because what you behold, you will hold. What you think, you will hold. What you think about, you bring about.
19:16
You say why goats, though? Because the Lord is saying if it'll work for goats, it'll certainly work for you. Amen, and it does work for goats. We're sheep, amen. Goats are the unbelievers. It works actually for unbelievers. It works for God's sheep. And they came and they procreated, and what they saw, day in, day out, he produced spotted and speckled goats, hallelujah.
19:45
This is why the enemy is after your thought life. This is why he tries to come upon you with despair. This is why he tries to get you to imagine your own demise. If we were very honest, we would know that we are our own worst enemy with what's happening on upstairs. This is why the Bible says whatever things are pure, whatever things are good, whatever things are virtuous, think on these things. On these things. You remember, a few months ago, in May, I hurt my back, and to say I hurt my back, that's an understatement. I mean, I've never done anything like what I did in May to my back. I've had quote-unquote slipped discs before, but this one slipped just right to where I couldn't even roll over in bed without screaming, let alone walk. I mean, I couldn't walk. I'd never known that kind of pain or immobility.
20:45
And the enemy, like he loves to do right away. You know he comes with a question, just like he came to Eve with a question. Really, has God said the question what if you don't get better Because he's engaging you? You don't know what, you just think it's your own thoughts. You know you pray and he says what if you don't get better Because he's engaging you? You don't know what, you just think it's your own thoughts. You pray and he says what if it doesn't work? He comes, and what if you don't get better? What are you going to do? How will you play with your kids? How will you raise your kids? How will you be a husband? How will you be the pastor that God has called? And then, before I knew it, 10, 15 seconds went by and I'm imagining myself as a paraplegic. Everybody just disappointed in me. Like you, never let your mind go for 10 to 15 seconds. 10 to 15 seconds is good. You don't want to know. There's other times where he's had me for a while. 10 to 15 seconds is great.
21:42
Back in the early days of City Light, I would spend days thinking about the church's demise. I'd just be like, yeah, lord, it's all just going to crumble and fold and nobody's going to get saved. And then, oh Lord forgive me, I'm sorry Satan had me in his grasp. 15 seconds was good. I don't know if I'm picking. Everybody like Satan doesn't spend but a couple of seconds in my head and then I not today, satan and I walk away.
22:11
The battle is in the mind. It took me 15 seconds. I went oh no, in Jesus' name. So I immediately connected with the Lord. Thank God that we can just connect with him anytime, anywhere, and pain is a very loud speaker. So pain when you have it, when it's excruciating, when something's wrong with your body. The lie is that God is not with you, that God has forsaken you. But the blood of Jesus has brought us, according to the scriptures, near, near to God. We're right where you can't get any closer than inside. We're in Christ. So I just let go, thought of Jesus and then imagined myself running. Imagine myself swimming. Imagine myself bicycling. I said thank you, lord, as opposed to what Satan was trying to get me to conceive, get, get, get me to to fall pregnant with you. First, get pregnant and in the spirit, listen, let me give you. Okay, you're not catching me here. Let me give you this example.
23:17
In Genesis, lot set up his tent, overlooking Sodom. He said I'm not going there, I'm just going to have me a look-see, Guess where he was living. In the next chapter, what you behold, you will soon hold. He was beholding Sodom, and that's also a whole other message of how it is with sin. It doesn't, it doesn't just happen, you don't just. You know, I was minding my own business and arms of another woman.
23:49
No, you imagine that thing. You imagine that thing, you incubated that thing. It goes the same for every sin. You imagine it, you kind of like it, and your mind is now. Satan knows your mind is carving a path into your future, hallelujah.
24:09
So, once again, imagine yourself. Imagine yourself healthy, whole, the glory of God emanating out of you, the word of God pouring out of you, your family whole, you so blessed that you are now a blessing to everyone whom you come into contact with. Hallelujah, don't let the world have all the fun with this. I remember, like 10 years ago, vision boards were really popular With the world. You can have one as a Christian. You know that you can set up. As a Christian, you know that you can set up some poplar branches in your life and set up some images that you would like to see the Lord work out in your life, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus.
25:00
Let me read a few more scriptures with you. Then we're going to receive communion and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Isaiah 26, 3. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, whose mind, whose imagination is stayed on you. You will be in perfect peace, perfect wholeness, no brokenness near you when your imagination is stayed on the Lord and on the things of the Lord. The things of the Lord are blessed, the things of the Lord are whole. Hallelujah. The things of the Lord are blessed, the things of the Lord are whole. Hallelujah, isaiah, excuse me.
25:58
Proverbs 23, 7. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. And let's read Philippians 4.8. You can bring communion out. You know, a question I got after service is a very good question. Just keep Philippians 4.8 up there, and I guess it is an essential question.
26:23
Someone said well, how do I know when I'm imagining how do I know? And you can just hang on, don't give out communion. Yet I just want to make this point. This is important for some people to get. I know, guys, it's not Come up, come down, come, forgive me. He said. How do I know? It's the Lord and it's not just me. Very important question.
26:53
And my answer to that is Proverbs 16, 3, which says roll your works, your hopes, your dreams, your ambitions onto the Lord, and he will cause your thoughts, your plans to become agreeable to his will. That means you must be emptied out of yourself. You can't have your own agenda, you can't have your own carnal desires. Come to the Lord with an attitude Lord, whatever you have for me in life, I trust you, and then he will give you a vision of what he wants for you that will blow away anything you could come up with. Hallelujah, hallelujah. And you walk closely with him and trust him to straighten you out as you walk ahead. Closely with him and trust him to straighten you out as you walk ahead, spending time with him, allowing him to correct you.
27:51
You know, sometimes the picture gets fine-tuned that he's been giving you. It gets clearer. You know everything I'm talking about if you don't have a relationship with the Lord. It doesn't make zero sense. You're very confused right now. I don't anticipate that that's a lot of you, but I feel to say that and if that is you, we'd really like to help you in that, because God wants to come in and breathe, breathe, breathe on you, breathe his promise into you. Hallelujah, ushers, won't you pass out communion? Worship team, you can come on up. Thank you, philippians 4.8,.
28:39
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Lord, I ask that during communion, as we partake of the body of Jesus that was broken for us so we could be whole, the blood of Jesus that was shed for us so we can be forgiven, that you would speak to your people. Hallelujah, I shared with you before when I was, years ago, going through a very difficult time. I mean now it's like two decades ago. The Lord is funny this way. I mean City Light was like eight people. I say like because you never.
30:00
You know that small of a size you don't even really know, when 50% of your church is new, different people each week. The toughest thing when you're an ultra small church is, no matter how good you preach or how anointed the service is, everyone's wondering well, if it was really good, why are there so few people here? So no one wants to be a part of it. And I'm thinking the whole thing is just going to go down and I'm praying and I get a God thought, and you know what it is. It's me dancing, like, with my face, just so happy, the exact opposite of how I felt, and probably if I looked in the mirror I'd be all droopy, all downcast. And it's me dancing on a mountaintop and I'm just like I won't demonstrate, but like it was some Hebrew Davidic dance, like hey, you know, and I'm just ecstatic, I'm so happy and my heart is breaking. I'm like Lord and he's like. This is how I see you, this is what's going to happen, and I knew that. I have a choice. I can go, forget that. I'm going to stay morose, I'm going to stay depressed, I'm going to continue to entertain Satan's thoughts of my demise, or I can say yes to what Jesus is filling me with Amen.
31:28
There is an assignment right now to dishearten the people of God, to really just depress the people of God. There's so much weird negativity. I think it was is it a week now? There was this whole debate about that boxer from Algeria and at that point I was like I'm not even weighing in on anything. And at that point I was like I'm not even weighing in on anything and I believe you said what do you think about that pastor?
32:01
Well, I think that whole thing is happening to dissuade and discourage the people of God. And here's why because it's such an anomaly. This isn't a normal thing. She is a woman, she has all the female body parts, but yet she has XY chromosomes, so it's a genetic mutation. These are not common, these are not frequent Less than 0.01% of the population.
32:32
20 years ago, if someone like that tried to enter the Olympics, they'd say okay, we understand, you're a woman, but you're also a man, so you're not allowed to compete because you'd be knocking out other women. But that's all allowed now, so that we would have a week's long debate. And you know what we get out of it? Feeling like we live in an insane, sad world and we're fighting and we're arguing. One group sounds intolerant, the other group sounds crazy, and it's all just to stir up negativity and to rob you of your hope. That's just one example. Just recently that happened.
33:10
So unplug from the nonsense and the craziness, and the Bible says in destruction and famine, you shall laugh, but you don't have to go down the way. The world is going down and it's going to get even crazier as we head on into elections and finish up 2024. But let your testimony be I'm going to thrive. You know, when I experienced one of the greatest lifts in my life and for our family, financially and in other areas as well, was 2020, a year that was just horrible for most people, I dove deep into the lord. I said this is in my portion and that was one of the most amazing years, hallelujah.
33:50
So god is going to cause you to fly above the weather, above 40 000 feet, above feet, above 50,000 feet. There might be thunderstorms beneath you, but because he is high and lifted up and he's the most high and you're in him, trust that you're going to fly above the weather. You're all so patiently and blissfully hanging on to the elements, aren't you? Let's partake of the body of Jesus and the blood of Jesus. Now, father, I pray the life of God into your people. Fill them with vision, your vision. Fill some with hope that have only seen death and destruction before their eyes. Fill them with hope. Right now, the Lord is moving to show you his plans, his desire.
35:12 - Speaker 2
It is always victory. This is the City Light Church Podcast desire it is always victory. 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.
God, I believe with all of my heart, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you've been walking with the Lord for any length of time, has attempted to impregnate you with his vision of your life, and it all begins in your imagination. So is it any wonder why the enemy, the one who wants nothing but death and destruction for you, is trying to fill your mind with death, fill your mind with negativity?
00:26 - Speaker 2
Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightNYCcom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you, that he has a real hope and a future for you.
01:09 - Speaker 1
Aren't you glad your sins are forgiven. I want to go to Genesis, the beginning. You don't get much more in the beginning than Genesis, chapter 3 and verse 6. I want to talk to you today about your life, about where you're going, and maybe help you identify the creative process in your life and how God takes you from A to B, how things actually materialize in your life, and hopefully you'll be able to identify a way that he's been trying to talk to you and get you on board with his plan. When you're a Christian, you don't come up with your own plan and ask God to come in on that. Our job is to keep close to Jesus, submit to him, find out what his plan and he has a great one for your life find out what his plan is and get on board with that. Amen, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Can I get Genesis 3.6? I'm imagining Genesis 3-6 right now. I'm seeing it. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus. Well, I'll begin reading it. Look at that.
02:54
So when the woman saw, this is Eve in the Garden of Eden, satan's coming to tempt mankind. He knows that if he can get man to rebel against God's commandment, mankind would be lost. And so he approaches Eve first and he shows her the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the one tree that they were both forbidden to eat of, and he gets her to look at it. The Bible says that when the woman saw, she saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes. Something activated when she saw it and the image of what she was seeing now went in through her eye gate. Now her imagination was stirred that it was pleasant to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise. She took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her and he ate.
03:57
Let's fast forward a few chapters in Genesis to Genesis 15, 5. This is how it worked in the negative. I just want to let you know this morning that whatever you behold, that's what you're soon going to hold and what you think about you will bring about. He had to get her to look at it first. Your life is going to go in the direction of your most dominant thoughts, is going to go in the direction of your most dominant thoughts. The Bible says as a man thinks in his heart, so is he Some positive affirmation. Guy in the 40s didn't say that first. The Bible said it over 3,000 years ago Amen.
04:47
And so when I begin preaching along these lines, if you've come out of the New Age movement and you say, wow, there's some things that sound familiar, it's not that I'm in the New Age, I'm actually very, very old age, very, very thousands of years, holy Scripture age. But it's that Satan will come and he will tap into certain principles that just work for everyone. Just like gravity, it works for everyone, whether you're a believer or not. And this, what I'm going to be speaking about today, is a principle that'll work for you, whether you're saved or not, whether you you're a follower of Jesus or not. I mean, one, of course, will lead to blessings and the other one to a life of more pain and darkness, but it'll work, and that's that.
05:35
The imagination is the language of heaven. And, once again, what you behold, you will hold and what you think about, you'll bring about. When God took Abraham and was impregnating him with the promise that he was going to be the father of many nations, he actually took Abraham outside and said look now towards the heaven and count the stars, if you are able to number them. So he takes Abraham outside and shows him the whole cosmos, shows him the stars, shows him the innumerable stars. So something would take root inside of Abraham. Abraham is now in a desert place looking at all the stars and his imagination is getting stirred. And God says your descendants are going to be like the stars of heaven and he and his spirit conceives like the stars of heaven. And he in his spirit conceives God. I believe with all of my heart, if you have received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you've been walking with the Lord for any length of time, has attempted to impregnate you with his vision of your life, and it all begins in your imagination. So is it any wonder why the enemy, the one who wants nothing but death and destruction for you, is trying to fill your mind with death, fill your mind with negativity? Why, when one thing happens that's off immediately he says it's over for you. How many of us go down just a dark spiral when a couple of things happen on a Monday, then a Tuesday, and we think, oh, spiral. When a couple of things happen on a Monday, then a Tuesday and we think, oh, what'll happen next? Or something bad happens and we say I knew it. I just knew it. I knew this would happen because you imagined it, because you thought of something bad happening to you over and over again. Do you know?
07:17
When Job, he had a really bad day. He lost everything. He lost his kids, he lost his land, he lost his bank accounts, his livestock. But you know, and oftentimes we'll say, oh, god was testing Job and God was doing this. Whatever God was doing, put that aside. Job said what I feared has happened to me. That aside, job said what I feared has happened to me, the thing that I was afraid of has come upon me. In other words, all those calamities Job already imagined, job already envisioned. I wonder what the enemy has been trying to get you to imagine. He saw death come upon him and then he witnessed it.
08:06
Because what you think about, you bring about and what you behold, you will soon hold.
08:10
And it works in the negative and, yes, it works in the positive. And it's not new age, it's biblical. Jesus said to people be it unto you as you have believed. Well, how do you even believe without your imagination being stirred up? Whenever I believe God for something, I saw it first. When you contend in prayer for something, when you ask God for something. You got to see it and I'm just encouraging you to see it even more in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Lean into it, incubate that thing. Presence of the Holy Spirit. Lean into it, incubate that thing. All right, god wants to get you pregnant with a holy vision for your life.
08:56
And that is why, where you know, the Bible says in the last days there will come a spirit of stupor. You say, what is a spirit of stupor? I read the big theological textbooks and it says it means a spirit of stupid. But no, close enough. A spirit of stupor is like a drunkenness, a haze, where you're cold to the things of God. That's why weed is now legalized everywhere. That's why you have five different social media accounts, so that you can be gummied up and TikTok'd up and just be like a fish floating downstream with no vision.
09:33
And the Bible says without a vision, my people perish. Why? Because without your imagination, without the vision, there is no creative process. For any time there to be a creative process in your life, your imagination needs to be stirred. I feel like I'm losing some people because I'm using the word imagination Like the word imagination belongs in children's church or something? How did the children's church go? Did they take you to imagination land? Imagination is the language of heaven. You are a thought in the heart of God and he spoke it and this universe was.
10:12
Whenever people, even if people who've encountered the Lord today, people who've been taken up into heaven… I told you I saw the Lord once when I was 17 years old, once in my entire life, and it was in a vision. But you know what I remember? His mouth and his lips not moving, but he communicated to me, and people who've been to heaven and come back, they always say the same thing, like I'll be downloaded An entire conversation, but it's and they use an earthly term it's telepathic. Oh man, this is what other cultures will agree on. Right, this is what other people we all know, scientists, we use anywhere from whatever the number is three to six percent of our brain and then, as a christian born again, spirit filled, you say something that the bible shows, from genesis to revelation. It's like people lock up Hallelujah when God wants you to start dreaming with him so you can begin creating with him. Hallelujah, this is how he communicated my calling to me.
11:25
Have you ever had invasive thoughts? Of course you have. When we talk about invasive thoughts, that means it's not just thoughts that are your own. It seems like they come from the outside in and usually when we talk about it they tend to be negative. Like you're in the subway, someone steps on your foot and you have an invasive thought of murder. That's a demonic, invasive thought. That's something you need to plead the blood on and renounce Satan. Two weeks after I became a Christian, I didn't even know what a pastor was. I was saved outside of a Sunday service. They were taking me to church, but it was never when service was happening. I didn't know what a pastor was, but I started getting these delightfully invasive thoughts of me ministering, god's word, me preaching. I'm 16 years old, I don't even know what a pastor is, but whenever they would come upon me I would just start to feel happy. I would start to feel life. Sometimes I'd begin to weep and wonder what is going on here, have you ever had that happen to you?
12:29
Not with preaching, but with something that concerns your life. That is God telling you. This is my heart for you, this is my will for you. And then you have a choice. You can go oh, no, I can't, that can't be for me, that's too wonderful or that's too great. Or you can say yes, lord, be it unto me, according to your word. God is stirring us up to imagine with him and your life will just tick, totock, march right in line with your most dominant thoughts. My favorite time to do this with the Lord is at night. You can do this with the Lord as you're going to sleep. I don't only do it at night, but at night, before I go to sleep, I receive the Lord's love for me. Make like a sponge and just receive his love for you and pour out your love on him. And like a sponge and just receive his love for you and pour out your love on him, and then let him fill you with his vision for the coming year, for 10 years from now, for where he wants to take you.
13:26
Single people, begin to imagine yourselves blissfully and happily married. You're like but I can't see her face, I can't see his face. I know it's faceless. And happily married You're like, but I can't see her face. I can't see his face. I know it's faceless. Imagine it, though. See what you and the Lord can cook up together. You know, sometimes you don't want it too, too specific. Those of you who are married imagine yourselves in a flourishing marriage, a Christ-honoring marriage, christ-honoring kids. Your cup is overflowing. You're prospering in every way. Hallelujah, genesis, chapter 30,.
14:02
I want to show you this very bizarre and mystical passage in the Bible. Lest you think that I've kind of gone off the rails, let me take you to the word Now. Nothing is in the bible for no reason. It's always there for a reason, and we have this very, very I say bizarre, just mystical encounter here, and we have to remember christianity is not a western faith. If you're coming at christianity in a frontal lobe in way, with the paralysis of analysis, you're gonna. You're coming at Christianity in a frontalobian way, with the paralysis of analysis, you're going to hit your head against the wall very, very quickly. You have to expand your horizons, never go outside of the word, never move away from Christ, and I have to keep hitting this new age thing, because so many books have been released about it.
14:49
But a big thing that separates us from anything having to do with the New Age is that a New Ager is unsubmitted. They're told. Whatever you think about, you can manifest and you can have it come to pass. I'm not in any way suggesting that. I'm saying that we are submitted to the Lord. We are submitted to the Lord and we're getting the vision from him.
15:09
There's a big difference than some guy who comes at 3 am on some infomercial and tells you to imagine a car and a house and taps into the lusts of your heart. No, we're asking the Lord. Lord, what do you want my life to look like? And I heard the scripture say that he knows the plans that he has for you, and they're good plans. Plans to prosper you, not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Am I ministering to anyone? Yeah, few people will grab it. Amen. My wife's gone so I can share what I was going to say in the print. I know it's good for me teasing, teasing. I know what's good for me Teasing, teasing.
15:58
Here's so my righteousness, this is Jacob, and he's got a very, very conn uncle Laban always looking to rip him off. So this is with regard to Jacob's payment or his wages. He says so. My righteousness will answer for me in time to come, when the subject of my wages comes before you talking about goats. Everyone that is not a speckled and spotted among the goats and brown among the lambs will be considered stolen if it is with me. In other words, he's telling his uncle Laban when it comes time for my payment, I'll only have the speckled and spotted ones. You keep any ones that are fully brown. And Laban said you know, oh, that it would, oh, that it were according to your word. So he removed that day the male goats that were speckled and spotted, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, leaving Jacob with just the brown ones. And Jacob said if they're all brown, then I'll give them to you. So sneaky Laban is saying well, there's no way, there's no way a brown mommy and a brown daddy are going to produce speckled kids, all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had some white in it, and all the brown ones among the lambs, and just go back once and gave them into the hand of his sons. Then he put three days' journey between himself and Jacob and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks.
17:46
Now this is where it gets interesting. Now Jacob took for himself rods of green poplar and of the almond and chestnut trees. He peeled white strips in them. He's taking poplar branches, chestnut branches, and he's peeling them and exposed the white which was in the rods. And the rods which he had peeled he set before the flocks in the gutters. So he peels these branches. So he's got bundles and bundles of spotted and speckled branches. Are you all with me? And then he puts this in the gutters where the goats will come and procreate. He set them before the flocks in the gutters and the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink, so that they should conceive when they came to drink. They're all brown right. So the flocks conceived before these spotted and speckled branches and the flocks brought forth streaked, speckled and spotted.
18:49
What in the world is happening here? You can read past this so quickly and just go. You know ancient hebrew stuff next. But there's something very profound happening here. You're like what were these old mesopotamian shepherds up to some kind of weird recipe? No, he got all of the brown goats, since he could only keep the speckled ones. He got them to look at because what you behold, you will hold. What you think, you will hold. What you think about, you bring about.
19:16
You say why goats, though? Because the Lord is saying if it'll work for goats, it'll certainly work for you. Amen, and it does work for goats. We're sheep, amen. Goats are the unbelievers. It works actually for unbelievers. It works for God's sheep. And they came and they procreated, and what they saw, day in, day out, he produced spotted and speckled goats, hallelujah.
19:45
This is why the enemy is after your thought life. This is why he tries to come upon you with despair. This is why he tries to get you to imagine your own demise. If we were very honest, we would know that we are our own worst enemy with what's happening on upstairs. This is why the Bible says whatever things are pure, whatever things are good, whatever things are virtuous, think on these things. On these things. You remember, a few months ago, in May, I hurt my back, and to say I hurt my back, that's an understatement. I mean, I've never done anything like what I did in May to my back. I've had quote-unquote slipped discs before, but this one slipped just right to where I couldn't even roll over in bed without screaming, let alone walk. I mean, I couldn't walk. I'd never known that kind of pain or immobility.
20:45
And the enemy, like he loves to do right away. You know he comes with a question, just like he came to Eve with a question. Really, has God said the question what if you don't get better Because he's engaging you? You don't know what, you just think it's your own thoughts. You know you pray and he says what if you don't get better Because he's engaging you? You don't know what, you just think it's your own thoughts. You pray and he says what if it doesn't work? He comes, and what if you don't get better? What are you going to do? How will you play with your kids? How will you raise your kids? How will you be a husband? How will you be the pastor that God has called? And then, before I knew it, 10, 15 seconds went by and I'm imagining myself as a paraplegic. Everybody just disappointed in me. Like you, never let your mind go for 10 to 15 seconds. 10 to 15 seconds is good. You don't want to know. There's other times where he's had me for a while. 10 to 15 seconds is great.
21:42
Back in the early days of City Light, I would spend days thinking about the church's demise. I'd just be like, yeah, lord, it's all just going to crumble and fold and nobody's going to get saved. And then, oh Lord forgive me, I'm sorry Satan had me in his grasp. 15 seconds was good. I don't know if I'm picking. Everybody like Satan doesn't spend but a couple of seconds in my head and then I not today, satan and I walk away.
22:11
The battle is in the mind. It took me 15 seconds. I went oh no, in Jesus' name. So I immediately connected with the Lord. Thank God that we can just connect with him anytime, anywhere, and pain is a very loud speaker. So pain when you have it, when it's excruciating, when something's wrong with your body. The lie is that God is not with you, that God has forsaken you. But the blood of Jesus has brought us, according to the scriptures, near, near to God. We're right where you can't get any closer than inside. We're in Christ. So I just let go, thought of Jesus and then imagined myself running. Imagine myself swimming. Imagine myself bicycling. I said thank you, lord, as opposed to what Satan was trying to get me to conceive, get, get, get me to to fall pregnant with you. First, get pregnant and in the spirit, listen, let me give you. Okay, you're not catching me here. Let me give you this example.
23:17
In Genesis, lot set up his tent, overlooking Sodom. He said I'm not going there, I'm just going to have me a look-see, Guess where he was living. In the next chapter, what you behold, you will soon hold. He was beholding Sodom, and that's also a whole other message of how it is with sin. It doesn't, it doesn't just happen, you don't just. You know, I was minding my own business and arms of another woman.
23:49
No, you imagine that thing. You imagine that thing, you incubated that thing. It goes the same for every sin. You imagine it, you kind of like it, and your mind is now. Satan knows your mind is carving a path into your future, hallelujah.
24:09
So, once again, imagine yourself. Imagine yourself healthy, whole, the glory of God emanating out of you, the word of God pouring out of you, your family whole, you so blessed that you are now a blessing to everyone whom you come into contact with. Hallelujah, don't let the world have all the fun with this. I remember, like 10 years ago, vision boards were really popular With the world. You can have one as a Christian. You know that you can set up. As a Christian, you know that you can set up some poplar branches in your life and set up some images that you would like to see the Lord work out in your life, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus.
25:00
Let me read a few more scriptures with you. Then we're going to receive communion and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to you. Isaiah 26, 3. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, whose mind, whose imagination is stayed on you. You will be in perfect peace, perfect wholeness, no brokenness near you when your imagination is stayed on the Lord and on the things of the Lord. The things of the Lord are blessed, the things of the Lord are whole. Hallelujah. The things of the Lord are blessed, the things of the Lord are whole. Hallelujah, isaiah, excuse me.
25:58
Proverbs 23, 7. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. And let's read Philippians 4.8. You can bring communion out. You know, a question I got after service is a very good question. Just keep Philippians 4.8 up there, and I guess it is an essential question.
26:23
Someone said well, how do I know when I'm imagining how do I know? And you can just hang on, don't give out communion. Yet I just want to make this point. This is important for some people to get. I know, guys, it's not Come up, come down, come, forgive me. He said. How do I know? It's the Lord and it's not just me. Very important question.
26:53
And my answer to that is Proverbs 16, 3, which says roll your works, your hopes, your dreams, your ambitions onto the Lord, and he will cause your thoughts, your plans to become agreeable to his will. That means you must be emptied out of yourself. You can't have your own agenda, you can't have your own carnal desires. Come to the Lord with an attitude Lord, whatever you have for me in life, I trust you, and then he will give you a vision of what he wants for you that will blow away anything you could come up with. Hallelujah, hallelujah. And you walk closely with him and trust him to straighten you out as you walk ahead. Closely with him and trust him to straighten you out as you walk ahead, spending time with him, allowing him to correct you.
27:51
You know, sometimes the picture gets fine-tuned that he's been giving you. It gets clearer. You know everything I'm talking about if you don't have a relationship with the Lord. It doesn't make zero sense. You're very confused right now. I don't anticipate that that's a lot of you, but I feel to say that and if that is you, we'd really like to help you in that, because God wants to come in and breathe, breathe, breathe on you, breathe his promise into you. Hallelujah, ushers, won't you pass out communion? Worship team, you can come on up. Thank you, philippians 4.8,.
28:39
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things. Lord, I ask that during communion, as we partake of the body of Jesus that was broken for us so we could be whole, the blood of Jesus that was shed for us so we can be forgiven, that you would speak to your people. Hallelujah, I shared with you before when I was, years ago, going through a very difficult time. I mean now it's like two decades ago. The Lord is funny this way. I mean City Light was like eight people. I say like because you never.
30:00
You know that small of a size you don't even really know, when 50% of your church is new, different people each week. The toughest thing when you're an ultra small church is, no matter how good you preach or how anointed the service is, everyone's wondering well, if it was really good, why are there so few people here? So no one wants to be a part of it. And I'm thinking the whole thing is just going to go down and I'm praying and I get a God thought, and you know what it is. It's me dancing, like, with my face, just so happy, the exact opposite of how I felt, and probably if I looked in the mirror I'd be all droopy, all downcast. And it's me dancing on a mountaintop and I'm just like I won't demonstrate, but like it was some Hebrew Davidic dance, like hey, you know, and I'm just ecstatic, I'm so happy and my heart is breaking. I'm like Lord and he's like. This is how I see you, this is what's going to happen, and I knew that. I have a choice. I can go, forget that. I'm going to stay morose, I'm going to stay depressed, I'm going to continue to entertain Satan's thoughts of my demise, or I can say yes to what Jesus is filling me with Amen.
31:28
There is an assignment right now to dishearten the people of God, to really just depress the people of God. There's so much weird negativity. I think it was is it a week now? There was this whole debate about that boxer from Algeria and at that point I was like I'm not even weighing in on anything. And at that point I was like I'm not even weighing in on anything and I believe you said what do you think about that pastor?
32:01
Well, I think that whole thing is happening to dissuade and discourage the people of God. And here's why because it's such an anomaly. This isn't a normal thing. She is a woman, she has all the female body parts, but yet she has XY chromosomes, so it's a genetic mutation. These are not common, these are not frequent Less than 0.01% of the population.
32:32
20 years ago, if someone like that tried to enter the Olympics, they'd say okay, we understand, you're a woman, but you're also a man, so you're not allowed to compete because you'd be knocking out other women. But that's all allowed now, so that we would have a week's long debate. And you know what we get out of it? Feeling like we live in an insane, sad world and we're fighting and we're arguing. One group sounds intolerant, the other group sounds crazy, and it's all just to stir up negativity and to rob you of your hope. That's just one example. Just recently that happened.
33:10
So unplug from the nonsense and the craziness, and the Bible says in destruction and famine, you shall laugh, but you don't have to go down the way. The world is going down and it's going to get even crazier as we head on into elections and finish up 2024. But let your testimony be I'm going to thrive. You know, when I experienced one of the greatest lifts in my life and for our family, financially and in other areas as well, was 2020, a year that was just horrible for most people, I dove deep into the lord. I said this is in my portion and that was one of the most amazing years, hallelujah.
33:50
So god is going to cause you to fly above the weather, above 40 000 feet, above feet, above 50,000 feet. There might be thunderstorms beneath you, but because he is high and lifted up and he's the most high and you're in him, trust that you're going to fly above the weather. You're all so patiently and blissfully hanging on to the elements, aren't you? Let's partake of the body of Jesus and the blood of Jesus. Now, father, I pray the life of God into your people. Fill them with vision, your vision. Fill some with hope that have only seen death and destruction before their eyes. Fill them with hope. Right now, the Lord is moving to show you his plans, his desire.
35:12 - Speaker 2
It is always victory. This is the City Light Church Podcast desire it is always victory. 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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