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June 11, 2024
Navigating Faith and Freedom: From Biblical Truths to Modern Challenges
What happens when faith meets the modern world? Join us as we continue our series, "In God We Trust?" where we explore the boundless love of Jesus Christ and the essential practice of repentance. Drawing on 1 Timothy 2:1-4 and 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2, we stress the importance of praying for political leaders to cultivate peace and ensure the gospel can spread unimpeded.
Travel with us through personal memories of growing up in America and the former Yugoslavia, contrasting the freedoms we often take for granted with life under dictatorship. We reflect on the changing public perception of Donald Trump from 2013 to his presidency, urging a critical eye towards media narratives and the influential forces at play. Our stories serve as a reminder of the preciousness of liberty and the importance of safeguarding it for future generations.
We also examine the rise of 'wokeism' and its clash with biblical truth. Drawing from John 17:17 and Orwell's "1984," we discuss the immutable nature of truth and the dangers of subjective realities. The conversation extends to contrasting Christianity with the so-called LGBT religion, highlighting the importance of biblical teachings and spiritual discipline. Connect with CityLight Church as we remind you of God's immense love and the significance of standing firm in your faith. Listen in and feel encouraged as we navigate these complex cultural and spiritual landscapes together.
For more information and resources visit https://citylightnyc.com
(00:00) In God We Trust
(09:27) Awakening to Deception and Truth
(17:26) Uncovering the Truth About America
(31:12) Political Corruption and Woke Religion
(38:16) Deception and Truth in Wokeism
(50:12) Contrasting Christianity and LGBT Religions
(55:49) City Light Church Podcast Promotion
Chapters
00:00 - In God We Trust
09:27:00 - Awakening to Deception and Truth
17:26:00 - Uncovering the Truth About America
31:12:00 - Political Corruption and Woke Religion
38:16:00 - Deception and Truth in Wokeism
50:12:00 - Contrasting Christianity and LGBT Religions
55:49:00 - City Light Church Podcast Promotion
Transcript
00:00 - Speaker 1
Nobody here can be more loving than Jesus. Jesus is the express image, the Bible says, of the invisible God. And God is love. But in love you must warn people. In love there is a call to repentance and a turning away from sin. In love there is the new birth experience. In love there is the blood of Jesus Christ which will cleanse you, and the power of the Holy Spirit which will, from the inside out, transform you.
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.
01:06 - Speaker 1
Well, how many of you are ready for part two of our series? We began a series last week. Pastor James preached In God we Trust, but with a question mark, so my inflection was a bit off. In God, we Trust. In God, we Trust. And this is all in preparation for the book that we're going to be doing together in our summer life groups. We have regular life groups all throughout the year where the different groups all read a different book, but in summer we all read the same book. We get on one page and I really take time to ask the Lord because we're all going to be reading the same book and it's important what we should be doing this year and I was seeking the Lord very clearly, very strongly. I sensed this book by Eric Metaxas letter to the American church, and it's a different kind of book than we're used to reading in groups, and so I felt it would be wise that if we just did a two-part series and hopefully gave you some insight on why I would choose a book like that and why I believe the Lord wants to communicate some truths to you through that book and get us all on the same page. Amen, are you ready for the Word this morning. By the way, life groups begin June the 24th, but sign-ups begin today, so sign up. They're only six weeks long. In the summer they're six weeks long and each group meets for a total of 75 minutes. And I've seen just such a distinct difference over the years in the believers who are plugged into life groups and those who aren't. The ones who are plugged into life groups, there's just an acceleration in their spiritual development and growth. There just is Because you bring something, others bring something and you're rubbing off on each other and there's this cross-pollination taking place of the anointing and of the wisdom of God, and it's just conducive to spiritual growth.
02:59
Let's begin in 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. Therefore, the Apostle Paul writing to Pastor Timothy, teaching Timothy how we should pray. Therefore, I exhort first of all. First of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority. Why? Why pray for kings and presidents and governors and mayors and all those who are in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
03:49
Now verse three seems disconnected from this thought, but it's not. It's completely connected to what the Apostle Paul is saying here, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. Why? Why is that good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior? Because God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Listen to this.
04:11
Paul is teaching young Pastor Timothy that, first of all, that means before you get to your own grocery list of prayers, keep your country in mind, keep political leaders in mind and pray for them and have something vested in that. Why? Well, so that you could live a peaceable life and so that the gospel can go forth. In verse 3, he says when you're doing this kind of praying, not only will you have a peaceable life, but then it'll clear the air so that there aren't laws and rules and restrictions and regulations that would come in and thwart the furtherance of the gospel, amen.
04:51
Let's look at that other verse, two verses in Thessalonians 2, thessalonians, chapter 3, verses 1 through 2. Oh man, some of us who were born in this country… I say this with love in my heart, but you're spoiled a little bit. You don't know what you've got. I don't want to sing that old Cinderella song, but you don't know what you've got until it's gone. Pastor James, after service at lunch with the pastor, can you break that out? Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord… Everyone over 50 laughing really loud at that. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified In the King James. It says that the word of God may have free course, just as it is with you, have free course just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all have faith. So in another place the apostle Paul is saying pray for us, pray for what? See?
06:00
The enemy is always against the word of God. The word of God is a seed. The word of God is power. The enemy wants to thwart and stop the word of God. The word of God is a seed. The word of God is power. The enemy wants to thwart and stop the word of God, because the word of God never returns to the Lord void, but it accomplishes what he sends it out to do. And so Satan hates the word of God and Satan's always trying to stop the word of God. You look at the book of Acts Specifically, they kept coming at the apostles, forbidding them to preach and teach in the name of Jesus Christ. The enemy always wants to stop the proliferation of the gospel. Many times he will come, and he will do that through politicians, through government, through laws.
06:40
Some of you don't even know what I'm talking about, but I had the benefit of being born. Well, benefit, at least the experience of being born outside of America. Yeah, scratch, benefit. I had the experience of being born in the Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Excuse me, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and it was a communist socialist nation. And I know this, that I never heard the gospel there. None of my cousins heard the gospel there. None of my family members heard the gospel there. There was no gospel there. Why? Because churches were just suppressed and really, although the churches were allowed to exist, most people didn't even go to church once a year. Many of my family members have never been to church in their lives. Church was seen as a place for very old widows to attend. You'd see like six women coming to church, all dressed in black, lighting candles and crying, and that was what wasn't even attractive. It's like what am I going to get out of there? I'm not even going to go to that.
07:47
And communism, socialism, became the unofficial state religion, and that's also why I love America. I feel like the beginning scene to the Godfather you know the first scene and he goes. I believe in America. The guy approaching Don Corleone as he's stroking the cat I believe in America. I believe in America. The guy approaching Don Corleone as he's stroking the cat I believe in America. I believe in America. I love the America. I love the America because in America I heard the gospel.
08:16
Yeah, I remember as a kid, when I came to America, the first thing I noticed was there was a lot of talk about God. I didn't understand it, but I was immediately greeted in New York City with subway preachers and people on corners. Remember, in the 80s, nyc was a battlefield. I mean, you can see a mugging on this side of the street and someone on the corner shouting about Jesus and handing out tracts. And even though I didn't get saved until I was 16, I saw that there was something different here. There was a freedom and a liberty and the word of God had free course. In my home nation it did not.
08:52
When I was 11, we were on Wall Street. Not because my parents worked on Wall Street, because we were still kind of tourists at heart, we were still settling in, we were living in Forest Hills, queens, and then on a Saturday, for fun, let's go look at Manhattan, wow. And we go down to Wall Street check out the bull. And I was bored. I remember I was leaning on a phone booth. See, some of you are so young you don't know why I was bored, because I didn't have a device to zone me out. I was an 11-year-old kid who just wasn't. You know, I saw it already. I I was just as my parents were looking at something. I was just leaning in a phone booth, and also kids.
09:27
There used to be these things called phone booths. You know two things you need to know. It's not everybody had a phone in their pocket so you'd actually put money in and make a call. I was leaning in the phone booth. It were, they were a dime, it was ten cents back then. And I'm leaning in the phone booth and I noticed like a piece of paper crumbled up in the slot where your change is supposed to come out of, and I pulled out that piece of paper and it was a track. Someone handed it to someone and that person didn't want it, crumbled it up and put it in the phone and I opened it up and you know those tracks, they really Christians are so bad at marketing, you know, and so bad like notoriously bad at graphic design and all that. I mean it was like two point font. You needed a magnifying glass to read it. So I was immediately intimidated by that. But then I turned to see the cover and it was a man surrounded in flames, like falling into the pits of hell. All right, not exactly a message, artistically speaking, of mercy and love and grace, but when I saw that at 11 years old, something hit my spirit. My spirit recognized there was something, there's something true here and there was something deeply important and significant that you don't know. I was aware that there was something and a seed was planted there. Then, when I was 16, I heard the gospel and I responded and I got saved.
11:03
For a lot of Americans, especially those who don't travel outside of America, you don't know how wonderful of a country this is and you think that what we have here, the freedom and the liberty, is like the default state of the world and it's not. This is not the norm, this is the exception. The majority, this is statistically accurate. The majority of the world lives under some kind of oppression. And guess what? The freedom and the liberty that we enjoy and I'm telling you, we enjoy it. See, there is this attack on America. You can point to anything and look at all the negatives, look at the dark spots. There's this attack on America which is very dangerous, which is causing Americans to not prize where they live, but go and do a little bit of traveling. And I'm not talking about go to see Paris and go to London, although even I have friends in France that are saying now, upward mobility is absolutely dead in France. You just can't out. If you're born in a certain place, that's just where you're going to stay. You can't break out where in America you still can. That is not the default state of the world. We really enjoy it.
12:21
I remember back in former Yugoslavia, because then we had in the 90s, we had a bloody civil war and it split up into a bunch of different nations Slovenia, macedonia, croatia, montenegro, bosnia and Herzegovina. I probably missed one or two there. When a little nation gets chopped up into eight different nations. I remember what a dearth of the word of God there was, and I remember going back every summer. I spent my summers, the whole summer, there, so I had this experience. Even though I spent the bulk of my time in America and I went to school in America, my culture at home was Yugoslavian, and I would spend my whole summers in Yugoslavia, and so I felt like I had my foot in each country as a child growing up, and I was able to see one way and another way, and I was able to see the difference.
13:13
In former Yugoslavia, we had a dictator president for four decades. He killed 500,000 people, his own countrymen, to maintain power. That's what he and his regime did. What's interesting, though, is I was living in Yugoslavia when he died, and I remember the whole country crying and mourning for three days. That's a distinct memory that I have. Why, why would they weep and cry? Distinct memory that I have why, why would they weep and cry? Well, that's what mass formation psychosis does.
13:52
In private, my grandparents, my parents, would speak against the regime very, very quietly. Your neighbor couldn't even hear, because there was this car called the Black Maria. I don't know why it was called Black Maria, tsarna Maritsa. I don't know why it was called Black Maria, but it was Black Maria and it would show up and if you saw that car, someone was not coming back again. That car would come at 4 or 5 am. They would knock on the doors, they'll pull you away, put you in the car and you were gone, never to be heard from again. Somebody ratted on you because you spoke against the regime, but when he died everybody wept Because over time we as humans, if we're not careful, we're so easily programmed and we're so easily deceived, like, for example you know how in America we can take pictures of our politicians and catch them in awkward and goofy moments where they're making a weird face.
14:42
You don't even notice. You see that all the time Growing up with President Tito, you don't even notice. You see that all the time Growing up with President Tito, every store had his photo and it was always him as a general, in just totally mint uniform with his hat on. Perfectly, he looked like somebody who would aspire to be in here Not even be like you couldn't even do that, but be in here and people's minds were changed. Oh Lord, hallelujah.
15:11
Anyway, I came to America and, as I'm growing up, I asked my dad it was because they were watching on TV Reagan against Mondale and I said, hey, dad, so who are we rooting for? Who's going to win? And my dad said, hey, dad, so like, who are we rooting for who's going to win? And my dad said stay away from this, it's all nothing but lies and nothing but propaganda. Politics is dirty. And that was just my dad's stance.
15:39
So I adopted that stance and then, when I got saved at 16, I just stayed away from politics and buried myself in the word. I just stayed away from politics and buried myself in the word and actually thought that I was being noble, that it was the right, right posture to have. I was so obsessed with the Lord. Let me not even know I mean, I was a complete ignoramus Let me not even know what's happening in a major arena of life, as though the gospel doesn't touch every point and every arena of our life. So I, with this false sense of nobility, I pulled away for years and years and years, even as a Christian, even as a pastor, all up until around the last few years.
16:26
Because in the last few years, saying the last seven, eight, ten years, there are two events that happened for all of us to see, which should have. I say this with love, but if you have more than a room temperature IQ, it should have woken you up, and when you get woken up it is a lot like coming out of the Matrix. You come out and you realize I've been lied to my whole life. Some of you can sense that, that there is this veneer that's being presented to us and there is all sorts of ugly happening underneath the surface, and too often a lie is being presented to us as the truth. One of the things that should have woken every person up was 2015, when Trump began to run for president. That should have been a wake-up call. Why? Because Trump prior to 2015,. I like, when I say the T word, the whole place. Immediately you see what they've done to us.
17:26
Just the name Trump, spoken in New York city, where he's from right. He's like everybody's like oh God, where's he going to go with this? What is he going to say, pastor, I really liked him. I've been coming for four weeks. I liked him, but now he said Trump and he didn't immediately bash him, and I don't know how I feel about that. Where's he going to go? Just listen, just hang on for the ride. Just listen Right, 2013, 2014. I'm I'm completely just unaware of anything that's happening. And when he announced he was going to run, remember when he came down the golden escalator, you know where I was? I was. I was in Montenegro taking over for pastor Yovitz while he was on sabbatical and pastoring his church. I saw and I literally laughed. I laughed out loud because I thought it was some publicity stunt. Just remember that before 2015,.
18:18
Everybody in Hollywood loved Trump. The media loved Trump. He was the media darling. You know who else loved Trump? Rappers loved Trump. They did. I'm in the Trump International. Ask for me had to Pastor Mo. I had to just slip it in there. He was in a bunch of other rap songs. He was just a darling Nobody. And if you had anything against him it was just because he was, you know, the rich, sharrig and goofy guy.
18:52
But then in 2015, now I'm a complete political ignoramus, but I'm looking and I'm noticing that immediately there was this coordinated effort with every major institution that previously loved him immediately coming against him. All of Hollywood immediately comes against him. All of academia immediately comes against him and all of government listen now, both Republican and Democrat immediately come against him. It's like overnight everybody hates him and I'm scratching my head going why? So he then gets elected and everything I just said is true. But now, once he gets elected, it's all taken up to the nth degree and there's this coordinated effort and he can do no right. And it doesn't help that you know he has some foot and mouth disease thing going there so that he would word some things so clumsily. And he it wasn't hard to spin things that he said until later.
19:58
As I'm just observing and if you were part of City Light Church, you know I never said anything, I was just observing and learning. I mean, honestly, what I should have been doing in my late teens and early 20s. Now I'm doing in my late teens and early 20s. Now I'm doing in my late 30s because I just stayed away from that and I'm observing and I'm piecing it together. I'm going here is this guy who's a political outsider, he's not a part of the regime, he's not a part of the system's not a part of the system and he's threatening to come in and uncover things and shake things up, and now everybody hates him. Pay attention to who the enemies of god don't like. Also, by the way, just pay attention to that. How many of you know hollywood is not a friend of god? It's just not.
20:51
And when I say that, I don't say that because some Christians, when they talk about Trump, it's like their faces light up Trump, like they've been praying so long for their Christian prince to come riding in on a white horse. He's not that. He's not that. His character very I don't want to say dark, but iffy dark. You know his personality. I never liked him, even before he was president, just as a New Yorker. Just his personality.
21:25
But guess what? I'm not voting for a marriage partner. I'm not voting for my pastor. I'm voting for somebody who's going to kick butt and do what's best for the nation. Amen, that should have been. I'm just telling you how I woke up and I'm hoping that some of you had similar experiences that woke you up as well. If you didn't have a similar experience, pay attention to what memes you were reading, what media was going in your ears, that you stayed blind to what was actually happening right in front of us. Because there are some people it's unbelievable still in 2024, they're still just la-la-la-la-la-la, they're deaf and blind and don't want to pay attention to what's going on. Why am I talking about this? Why should you pay attention to what's going on? Because, with all of its problems, there is a reason why over 50% of all global immigrants are coming to America. Over 50, of all global immigrants are coming to America. We're still the number one immigrant destination. Why? Because it's a blessed country, it's a country of great opportunity, it's a great country, and the freedoms and liberties we enjoy are only one generation away from being lost.
22:46
Some of you think this is not viable, that this is just. Are you kidding me? You don't believe that satan would love to squash america, to shove a sock in america's mouth? The nation that was, at its height, responsible for 93 percent of all missionaries being sent out globally. A place where the Word of God has resounded, where churches are raised up, churches are planted, millions of people come to Jesus Christ and receive him as their Lord and Savior every year. Where I got saved, where, then, I was able to lead my parents who, if they stayed in Yugoslavia, never would have heard the gospel. I was able to lead my parents to the Lord. The enemy would love to snuff this nation out. That's why this is important. So 2015, 16, and all those years should have been somewhat of a wake-up call.
23:35
When you see all of media, I mean it was just incessant 24-7, bashing, bashing, bashing. Just take a step back and go, huh, because there's some people. This isn't about me telling you who to vote for. Just notice some things, because there are people who absolutely despise Trump. You say Trump and their head spins around 360.
24:03
And then just quietly ask them I know, right, orange man bad. Tell me. You go first. Tell me what policy of his did you most disagree with? Really, his tweets were so inappropriate, I know, and he's got orange skin. I know you said that and he doesn't seem like someone I'd want to hang with. I know, but his policies, what policy did you feel? Uh, can't name one over and over again. May I suggest that maybe you have been programmed and you didn't even know it, but he's a racist. I know he's terrible. Tell me what racist policy did he push? I'm. I can say a lot more after that, but I'm just…. Oh Lord, so that should have woken you up. If that didn't wake you up, because that didn't fully wake me up, that just caught my attention.
25:04
But the big wake-up call was in the spring of 2020, tension. But the big wake-up call was in the spring of 2020, when COVID came in on the scene. All of a sudden, we went under lockdowns. This church was declared non-essential. All churches were declared non-essential. Small businesses shut down. Home Depot was still open. Walmart was still open. We were told not to go to the gym.
25:27
And here's the greatest mistake. If you don't know, this is a mistake by now. I don't know. We do have a ministry team. At the end of the service they will lay hands on you and pray for you.
25:37
Listen the whole, the masks and all the stuff. People were just terrorized. You were terrorized night and day. You turn on CNN and they have the deathometer going. This is how many died. Remember how terrified you all were. Some people in this neighborhood you see them. They're still wearing the mask sideways, one nostril sticking out Mask is dirty. It's like a week old, filled with mucus. They're still walking around like the walking dead. I want to just gently tap them on the shoulder and go. Hey, april of 2020 called it wants its mask back.
26:13
The greatest arrogance and greatest pride was believing that we could mitigate, that we could manage an airborne virus which doctors in the beginning were saying there is no mitigating this, and those doctors were quickly shut up and shut down. And then you were just presented with one side and one voice. Yeah, that happened to us, that happened to me for a bit, and we were presented with all these arbitrary rules. Do you remember the silliness? If you come within five feet, you're going to get COVID. Six feet, you're okay. When you walk through the restaurant, if you're standing up, you have to wear a mask. But when you sit down to eat, you're okay, because COVID hovers at a height of around five feet. When you sit down below that, it doesn't dip. On an airplane, you had to be masked up. But I found out if you ask for water, you can put your mask down. And now COVID says okay, because COVID knows the rules of engagement, it plays fair. All right, now I'm okay. I quickly found out when I was on an airplane I can ask for water, put my mask down and sip that water for the three-hour flight. It was craziness.
27:31
Why is this important? You go. Why is this important? It's important because we were fed a lie. If you think they didn't know it was a lie, oh, they were just figuring it out. Now, today, we know a lot more than we did back then. Listen, go on our church Instagram or church Facebook.
27:50
In March, we researched what had happened in Italy. Remember it was hitting Italy right before it came here. We researched what it hit. In March of 2020, excuse me, late February of 2020, we posted about COVID. We posted that it was an airborne respiratory virus, that it afflicts the elderly and those who are autoimmune compromised the most, and we listed all the facts, none of which have changed and nothing has been added. We don't know anything more about COVID now than we knew back in February of 2020. So it's not like they didn't know and we're just this benevolent government that was trying to figure it out. Why is this important? Because it was a lie.
28:32
I will not live my life by lies. I didn't wear a mask, not because I wanted to be a grandma killer, not because I'm jerky, not because I'm arrogant, but because it's a lie. It's a lie that this little piece of cloth or surgical mask is going to prevent a COVID virus from coming through or in. It's a lie and I don't want to live my life a lie that this little piece of cloth or surgical mask is going to prevent a COVID virus from coming through or in. It's a lie and I don't want to live my life a lie in any way. Amen.
28:58
So what am I saying? I'm just saying do you know, if we did nothing at all, if we didn't lock down, if we kept meeting, if we did nothing at all, the results would have been the same. That's proven now. We prevented people from dying. No, people still died. The only thing that could have made a difference is each of us was hermetically sealed for a two week period in a bubble like suspended animation, cryogenic freezing for two weeks. Every single person. That could have done the trick, but we couldn't do that. Even if we're locked down, we couldn't do that. We still had to go out and get stuff. We're out there exhaling and inhaling and so nothing would have changed. 2020 should have been.
29:43
It should have been a wake up, but I'm concerned that for too many of you, it wasn't because you were born in this country. I noticed with immigrants, they were hip to it right away. People born in this country, you just can't do the mental somersaults and gymnastics to realize. Huh, there are actually evil and nefarious powers at work that want to program me and get me thinking one way, and one of the easiest ways to program people is via fear. Hallelujah, I'm having a good time. How about you? Some of you are thinking I should have brought my friend next week Because it looks like he's just getting warmed up. I should have invited him.
30:39
There is a third thing that, if you haven't been woken up, that should have woken you up, and it just happened last week, this week, and that's that he's been arrested and now he's been convicted. Now hang on, if your gut response is what's the saying everyone is using Nobody's above the law. Nobody's above the law. Why is George Bush above the law? He should have been tried for war crimes, for what happened in Iraq. He's above the law. No arrests.
31:12
Why is Bill Clinton above the law? Do you know what happened under him? I know what happened under him. Nato bombed the tar out of where I'm from. Most Americans don't even know that happened. I still see where the missiles fell, where Pastor Jovice is right now. You go to Novi Sad. You still see the giant craters and buildings because they don't have the money to repair it Hospitals. Why is he above the law? What about Hillary Clinton? With a private server in the basement smashing up hard drives and pouring bleach on blackberries. Those were the blackberry days.
31:57
So, just coming from where I come from, when a political rival is imprisoned in an election year, it should cause you to pause and go huh, because that's some banana republic level stuff right there. Hallelujah. Do you even know what he was convicted for? What he was arrested for? Because other people started wars, killed millions of people. He messed with some money and Stormy Daniels and I couldn't even keep track of it. My wife knows. She'll explain it to me later. I mean, she did and I know, but I just in one ear out the other, because we know what's really happening, hallelujah. And, by the way, trump, as far as I'm concerned, I have a big question mark about him Because he's still the father of the vaccine and he handed the country over to Fauci. I just want to say that. But at the same time you know I didn't say this in the first service, I got to say it in a second. At the same time, I know that he would be the best for the church. He just would be.
33:21
I know that there's another side that is completely anti-God and anti-Christ and that abortion is not of God and that abortion is murder and it's demonic. I cannot put somebody in power who's going to keep that going. I cannot put somebody in power who's going to keep these lies and these myths where two plus two equals five going. That's why we still have to pray. Christians are hoping that this Christian delivering prince is going to come in, quoting scripture. It's not going to happen. Jesus was that prince. He's the prince of God. He's the prince of peace. You're going to get a fallen, mistake-laden human being and you've got to pray for them. We're just trying to select the one that is going to need the least amount of prayer and deliverance and demons expulsed. Amen, hallelujah. I could see summer attendance in the life groups just ramping right up.
34:28
So there is, by the way, a new religion in America spreading like wildfire, and this is what's coming against us. It is the religion of wokeism. You don't know. Wokeism is a religion that's catching America by storm. What is wokeism? Woke, once upon a time, about eight, nine years ago, was a term that meant being alert to racism and racial prejudice. You know how long that lasted? For About a minute, and it was quickly co-opted and it was co-opted and it was co-opted. And what's at the heart of woke ism is making people just hang on with me. This is gonna be, this is gonna be key for you to understand. It's making people believe and see the entire world through one lens, and that's oppressor versus oppressed. By way, critical theory is not a new thing, whether it's critical race theory or there's several other critical theories, it goes back over 150 years. What is critical theory? It's an entire system where you see the whole world through only one lens oppressor versus oppressed. Why? Because this is how communism took root in Russia. This is what happened during the Bolshevik Revolution.
35:52
You cannot have a united country if you're going to flip it around and change its government. Some of you don't even think this is happening. It's happening, it's real. You have a front row seat to it. It's happening before your eyes. You have to have class warfare. You have to have a country that's divided and fighting amongst. See, you don't think this is real to you. You know who the oppressor is. Well, if you're white, you're the oppressor. If you're male, you're the oppressor. There's one more kind of oppressor, though If you're Christian, you're the oppressor. Yeah, oh yes, you are, you're the oppressor. You can see that. You can see that by the strong anti-Christian sentiment. You know what I'm talking about.
36:42
I used to be able to say, not thinking anything would hit me. Hey, I'm a Christian pastor. Oh, okay, that was 25 years ago, 20 years ago. Okay, now I say I'm a Christian pastor and I'm waiting for what's next, and it's really never, very rarely a neutral response. It's oh, very rarely a neutral response. It's oh, awesome. I didn't used to get that, oh, awesome. Or, like I said, I work for the IRS or something. Lord, hallelujah, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Lord, in order to subvert a nation. In case you're wondering where this is all going, am I connecting this morning? You get it. Have you been looking around lately and are you? Have you noticed that, like, this is a completely different time. This is totally different than when I've grown up.
37:47
I meet these older fellas out in Long Island. They're in their 70s. One is in his 80s and I've asked them have you ever experienced what we're experiencing now Ever in your life? I said no way and nowhere in our dreams. In fact, one of those guys he's younger. He said his father is an ultra-liberal judge in New York State and even he said that what they were doing to Trump was just out of line.
38:16
In an election year, in order to subvert a nation, you have to make truth relative. Can we go to that scripture? I believe it's John 17, 17. Let me just see this. Yes, john 17, 17. Because in wokeism there cannot be objective truth. That's why pay attention to what's introduced into the vernacular, that phrase this is my truth, or I'm going to speak my truth. You notice, about 10 years ago, I mean, it was around a little bit before that, but that was really injected into the vernacular. Anybody, you pay attention to this stuff. Now it's yeah, nobody blinks. I'm going to speak my truth.
39:09
You don't get your truth. There's a lot of stuff you don't get. Hey, guess what you know what else you don't get? You don't get to pick your pronouns. You don't get. Hey, guess what you know what else you don't get? You don't get to pick your pronouns. You don't get to.
39:21
You were born a certain way. You were born with either two X chromosomes or an XY chromosome. I can find a skeleton that's a thousand years old and scientists can tell you whether it was male or female, because it goes down to the bone, to the molecular level. You don't get your own pronouns, just like I don't get my own adjectives like what? What if you say? What if I say look, you need to respect my adjectives. They are brilliant and highly anointed. And every time you refer to pastor Bo, please don't offend me. Use the proper adjectives. Please refer to me as brilliant and highly anointed, or else I'm going to call you a pastor-phobe.
40:04
In order for wokeism to take root, truth has to be subverted. Jesus said sanctify them by your truth. Your word, your word, the word of God is truth. Let me tell you something Nobody here can be kinder than Jesus. Nobody here can be more loving than Jesus. Jesus is the express image, the Bible says, of the invisible God. And God is love. But in love you must warn people. In love there is a call to repentance and a turning away from sin. In love there is the new birth experience. In love there is the blood of Jesus Christ, which will cleanse you, and the power of the Holy Spirit which will, from the inside out, transform you. Amen. But under wokeism, truth has to be subverted.
40:54
You gotta read George Orwell's 1984. I read that back in high school, I bought it. I rewrite it again and we are reliving so much of it today. That's why we're living in an age now where a man can be a woman and a woman can be a man. And I just refuse. It doesn't mean I don't love you. I love you. Don't call me hateful. I actually love you. But I also love God and I love his word. And when I'm looking at a 50-year-old man with a 5 o'clock shadow who's telling me that he's a woman, I'm not going to go along with the lie you may think. But I know who you are and it's not loving to pretend with you to enter into that fantasy realm with you.
41:36
So under wokeism, a man can be a woman, a woman can be a man. Men can menstruate, men can be pregnant. Look at your emojis right now. A few years ago I got an emoji of a pregnant man. I sent it to all my bros. I was just like congratulations. The moment it came, I just sent it out. I was like bro, I heard the good news Congratulations.
41:57
And two plus two can equal five. Why? Because under wokeism there is no objective truth, there is only subjective truth. Subjective truth is something that's subject to your own unique experiences. How many of you know that's not truth. Objective truth is just truth. That always is, always was and always will be, and it is the word of God. It is what God says. But in order to subvert a nation and lower the IQ of the people, lower the critical thinking of the people, you make truth blurry. And two plus two can be five, and men can get pregnant. And everybody's too afraid to say otherwise lest they be labeled a phobic, racist, bigot. Oh, the silence is just going to get me louder. Hallelujah, you know, I got a little bit more time. Let me just say this Matthew 7, 1 through 3. I want to say this Under wokeism, wokeism has one main sin and one main virtue, the number one sin.
43:13
Listen, this is a religion taking the country and the world by storm. You better know its tenets. The main sin of wokeism is judging. You cannot judge, and this is the key scripture, matthew 7.1 Judge, not that you be not judged. Now let's just look at Okay, let's read the rest. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Now let's go to John 7, 24.
43:49
By the way, there's several I believe up to seven different Greek words for the word judge. All of you have made judge. How many of you locked your house when you left today? You made a judgment. Those of you who drove to churches, you stop at the red lights. You made a judgment, didn't you?
44:06
That's not the kind of judging Jesus is talking about. He's saying don't hatefully condemn when you're struggling with something. Don't hatefully condemn a person who's struggling with the same thing as you with something. Don't hatefully condemn a person who's struggling with the same thing as you. But in another place, jesus said do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. What is righteous judgment? What's the standard? Well, his word, his word, is the standard.
44:36
And so did you know that you can judge and not be a jerk? Did you know? And this is where Christians have blown it. They judge and they get into the flesh. It's almost like their flesh comes alive and they love. They want to feel superior to somebody else. No, that's wrong. But did you know that you can judge and say hey, I love you, but this is wrong, I don't endorse your behavior, but you want to do that? Knock yourself out.
45:02
I recommend highly that you repent and come to Jesus. He loves you, His arms are open, wide towards you, but this is a line in the sand and I won't cross it. Every single one of you need to be able to make that decision, because the heat is only going to get cranked up. Do not bow, Do not do it. It's just the pronouns bro. Just use the pronouns bro. No, I don't think I will. I don't get to use, I don't get to call you something that you're not. God decided that long before. I don't think of myself so highly to be the arbiter of that. Oh, hallelujah.
45:56
And I just want to say this that the foot soldiers, the leaders and the foot, the army of the new religion of wokeism is the LGBT movement. And as I'm saying this, do you know that we have people at City Light Church who are struggling with same-sex attraction? And even though they know my stance, they've come to me. They know I love them. Listen, I had a gay worship leader for over a decade. I pastored in the East Village. I'm the gayest straight pastor, you know. I pastored for 17 years in the East Village. I've said listen, I've had a parade. I've heard every story, every confession, all the deep stuff. And I've had a parade. I've heard every story, every confession, all the deep stuff, and I've learned and I've heard and I've wept and I've rejoiced and I've spoken. I just thought that was somebody who I would have wanted him to come up and say a few words. I can't see from the lights, but we've had people who've come out of homosexuality Genuinely set free, genuinely delivered.
47:01
But the leaders of woke ism the army, the foot soldiers is LGBT and it's the most celebrated people group on the planet. You do know that. Right, it's gay Christmas. Someone said they have a whole month for themselves. It's gay Christmas right now, june, in fact, when we were at the pool.
47:25
I took my kids to the pool yesterday after the volunteer party and there was a fella standing in the pool knee-deep in the water, and I'm not kidding. He had the rainbow tight Speedos, rainbow sunglasses and a rainbow hat. He was standing with both hands on his hips, like Superman, just standing there. I'm like, bro, I get it, You're very gay, I get it. But a whole month of celebration, right, you don't want to talk? Did I already say that there's 13 Christians that die every day? Did I give that stat out oh, that was first service. That's the number. An average of 13 Christians are killed for their faith every day. Christians are the most persecuted people group on planet Earth. The most celebrated people group on planet Earth right now are people of the LGBTgbt movement, and I'm only using the first four letters because I've lost track of all the other ones that come afterward.
48:26
Hollywood, all the whole hollywood entertainment complex, celebrates. All the corporate, all the corporations are now super gay all of a sudden. All government officials there was a picture of Kamala Harris with the rainbow flag all of them celebrating. But do you know why it's still not enough? A month, I mean you're going to see flags and banners and parades and globally happening. Do you know why it's still not enough? Because 30 days of clapping and celebrating is still not enough when deep down on the inside, you know something's off kilter. You know that this is, that you can come up higher, that there is a better way, that there is god's way, that there is the kingdom of god and that you can be set free from this darkness. So all the celebrating, all the, it'll never be enough while somebody is not right with the Lord on the inside.
49:25
And, by the way, if you are here and you're just straight up gay or you're a Christian and you're strong, just know this. I know I can come across jokey, but I'm dead, very, very serious about this and you may not believe it after some things I said. But I love you, I love you, I really do. I love you. Our whole staff loves you and we're here to pray with you, work with you, plead with you, share with you, hear you. But we're also here to not compromise and not back off of the truth of God. It's something we won't bend on. We're not going to do it. It's a slippery slope and we've seen in the last few years just how slippery. I'll close with this Worship team. Come on up.
50:12
Let me just give you some ways that we are actually, if you look at it, the Christian church and the LGBT church. I'm calling it a church because it's like a religion. Now you know, if you actually look at a Nazi takeover, which you'll see if you look at a Nazi street, you'll see all the flags, the swastika. Come on. You're going to walk down some streets in New York this month. You're going to see some streets that look like it's been a foreign takeover. We are total opposite. This is why the greatest tension exists between the church. Listen, if you see a gay pride parade, you know what you're going to see. I've seen it Gay Jesus, somebody dressed up all flamboyantly as Jesus. Have you ever noticed that they don't have a gay Mohammed or a gay Buddha or a gay Buddha or gay Confucius? Because we? Christianity is what's at odds? Because we're polar opposites.
51:11
The LGBT religion believes in self-expression. We believe in self-denial. The LGBT religion believes in self-expression. We believe in self-denial. The LGBT religion believes man can be like God. We believe God became man. The LGBT religion celebrates pride.
51:28
We, as Christ followers, celebrate humility. They say you're born this way. We say you must be born again. The religion says I'm perfect, just the way I am. The gospel is I'm a sinner, every single person fallen short of the grace of God, and I need a loving savior. One worships sex, the other worships God.
51:55
Lgbt says love is love. Listen, that sounds so nice, right, by the way, a lot of wokeism comes under the cover of love and tolerance and compassion. But I cannot be more tolerant than Jesus. I can't be more compassionate than Jesus. Sometimes I've scolded my son right, like once or twice in your life. Do you know? Come here, I just want everybody to see how good looking my 10-year-old is.
52:27
He just turned 10. For his birthday he got a smartwatch and he leaned over during worship and said Mom. It says my heart rate went up when I began to worship Jesus. But do you know what the Bible says? It says that a man who doesn't discipline his children hates his children. And so, in my love, I've had to draw lines right, and you're so grateful for that. I know I wasn't either at 10, but later I went on. Mom and dad, you should have, you should have used the belt more, and so saying what the word says is an expression of love. We're gonna receive communion right now. I'd like every head bowed, every eye closed first. You know Jesus, he's been touching your heart.
53:22
The Bible says that sin, in order for it to be removed, it must be punished. That's why God came in the form of man, as the person of Jesus, to live the life we should have lived. He lived perfectly and never sinned, and then he went to the cross in our place and received the wrath that we should receive for our sin. He received it in himself. He was punished for our crimes, and the Bible says if you believe that it's a faith thing, if you believe that he did that for you, you can receive him as your Lord and Savior and you'll be born again. You'll be forgiven. You'll be made a new creature.
54:05
If you want to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I want you to lift your hand up right now. I'm not going to ask you to get up out of your seat, but I will say a prayer together with you. Lift your hand right now. Thank you, I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. Who else Lift your hand up? Lift your hand. Who else? Thank you, I see those hands, and God sees them. Even more importantly, who else? And God sees them? Even more importantly, who else? Thank you, jesus. Okay, you can put your hands down. We're all going to pray this together.
54:46
Those of you who lifted your hands I want you to say this extra loud, it's important you say it out loud and those of you who have lifted your hands, I want you to go to the hospitality table afterwards and tell people there that you made this decision, so we can just follow up with you. We're here, where you go now, after. This is up to you. We're here and we want to take you and lead you in the things of God, but we're all going to say this prayer together. Everybody, especially those of you who lifted up your hands, say this Lord Jesus, I believe, I believe in you. I believe you went to the cross. I believe you died in my place. I believe my sin was punished in you. You did that for me. Because you love me. I receive you as my Lord and my Savior In the name of Jesus. I'm a new creation, I'm heaven bound and I'm a friend of God In Jesus' name, amen.
55:49 - Speaker 2
This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
Nobody here can be more loving than Jesus. Jesus is the express image, the Bible says, of the invisible God. And God is love. But in love you must warn people. In love there is a call to repentance and a turning away from sin. In love there is the new birth experience. In love there is the blood of Jesus Christ which will cleanse you, and the power of the Holy Spirit which will, from the inside out, transform you.
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.
01:06 - Speaker 1
Well, how many of you are ready for part two of our series? We began a series last week. Pastor James preached In God we Trust, but with a question mark, so my inflection was a bit off. In God, we Trust. In God, we Trust. And this is all in preparation for the book that we're going to be doing together in our summer life groups. We have regular life groups all throughout the year where the different groups all read a different book, but in summer we all read the same book. We get on one page and I really take time to ask the Lord because we're all going to be reading the same book and it's important what we should be doing this year and I was seeking the Lord very clearly, very strongly. I sensed this book by Eric Metaxas letter to the American church, and it's a different kind of book than we're used to reading in groups, and so I felt it would be wise that if we just did a two-part series and hopefully gave you some insight on why I would choose a book like that and why I believe the Lord wants to communicate some truths to you through that book and get us all on the same page. Amen, are you ready for the Word this morning. By the way, life groups begin June the 24th, but sign-ups begin today, so sign up. They're only six weeks long. In the summer they're six weeks long and each group meets for a total of 75 minutes. And I've seen just such a distinct difference over the years in the believers who are plugged into life groups and those who aren't. The ones who are plugged into life groups, there's just an acceleration in their spiritual development and growth. There just is Because you bring something, others bring something and you're rubbing off on each other and there's this cross-pollination taking place of the anointing and of the wisdom of God, and it's just conducive to spiritual growth.
02:59
Let's begin in 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 1 through 4. Therefore, the Apostle Paul writing to Pastor Timothy, teaching Timothy how we should pray. Therefore, I exhort first of all. First of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority. Why? Why pray for kings and presidents and governors and mayors and all those who are in authority, that we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
03:49
Now verse three seems disconnected from this thought, but it's not. It's completely connected to what the Apostle Paul is saying here, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior. Why? Why is that good and acceptable in the sight of God, our Savior? Because God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Listen to this.
04:11
Paul is teaching young Pastor Timothy that, first of all, that means before you get to your own grocery list of prayers, keep your country in mind, keep political leaders in mind and pray for them and have something vested in that. Why? Well, so that you could live a peaceable life and so that the gospel can go forth. In verse 3, he says when you're doing this kind of praying, not only will you have a peaceable life, but then it'll clear the air so that there aren't laws and rules and restrictions and regulations that would come in and thwart the furtherance of the gospel, amen.
04:51
Let's look at that other verse, two verses in Thessalonians 2, thessalonians, chapter 3, verses 1 through 2. Oh man, some of us who were born in this country… I say this with love in my heart, but you're spoiled a little bit. You don't know what you've got. I don't want to sing that old Cinderella song, but you don't know what you've got until it's gone. Pastor James, after service at lunch with the pastor, can you break that out? Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord… Everyone over 50 laughing really loud at that. Finally, brethren, pray for us that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified In the King James. It says that the word of God may have free course, just as it is with you, have free course just as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all have faith. So in another place the apostle Paul is saying pray for us, pray for what? See?
06:00
The enemy is always against the word of God. The word of God is a seed. The word of God is power. The enemy wants to thwart and stop the word of God. The word of God is a seed. The word of God is power. The enemy wants to thwart and stop the word of God, because the word of God never returns to the Lord void, but it accomplishes what he sends it out to do. And so Satan hates the word of God and Satan's always trying to stop the word of God. You look at the book of Acts Specifically, they kept coming at the apostles, forbidding them to preach and teach in the name of Jesus Christ. The enemy always wants to stop the proliferation of the gospel. Many times he will come, and he will do that through politicians, through government, through laws.
06:40
Some of you don't even know what I'm talking about, but I had the benefit of being born. Well, benefit, at least the experience of being born outside of America. Yeah, scratch, benefit. I had the experience of being born in the Social Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Excuse me, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and it was a communist socialist nation. And I know this, that I never heard the gospel there. None of my cousins heard the gospel there. None of my family members heard the gospel there. There was no gospel there. Why? Because churches were just suppressed and really, although the churches were allowed to exist, most people didn't even go to church once a year. Many of my family members have never been to church in their lives. Church was seen as a place for very old widows to attend. You'd see like six women coming to church, all dressed in black, lighting candles and crying, and that was what wasn't even attractive. It's like what am I going to get out of there? I'm not even going to go to that.
07:47
And communism, socialism, became the unofficial state religion, and that's also why I love America. I feel like the beginning scene to the Godfather you know the first scene and he goes. I believe in America. The guy approaching Don Corleone as he's stroking the cat I believe in America. I believe in America. The guy approaching Don Corleone as he's stroking the cat I believe in America. I believe in America. I love the America. I love the America because in America I heard the gospel.
08:16
Yeah, I remember as a kid, when I came to America, the first thing I noticed was there was a lot of talk about God. I didn't understand it, but I was immediately greeted in New York City with subway preachers and people on corners. Remember, in the 80s, nyc was a battlefield. I mean, you can see a mugging on this side of the street and someone on the corner shouting about Jesus and handing out tracts. And even though I didn't get saved until I was 16, I saw that there was something different here. There was a freedom and a liberty and the word of God had free course. In my home nation it did not.
08:52
When I was 11, we were on Wall Street. Not because my parents worked on Wall Street, because we were still kind of tourists at heart, we were still settling in, we were living in Forest Hills, queens, and then on a Saturday, for fun, let's go look at Manhattan, wow. And we go down to Wall Street check out the bull. And I was bored. I remember I was leaning on a phone booth. See, some of you are so young you don't know why I was bored, because I didn't have a device to zone me out. I was an 11-year-old kid who just wasn't. You know, I saw it already. I I was just as my parents were looking at something. I was just leaning in a phone booth, and also kids.
09:27
There used to be these things called phone booths. You know two things you need to know. It's not everybody had a phone in their pocket so you'd actually put money in and make a call. I was leaning in the phone booth. It were, they were a dime, it was ten cents back then. And I'm leaning in the phone booth and I noticed like a piece of paper crumbled up in the slot where your change is supposed to come out of, and I pulled out that piece of paper and it was a track. Someone handed it to someone and that person didn't want it, crumbled it up and put it in the phone and I opened it up and you know those tracks, they really Christians are so bad at marketing, you know, and so bad like notoriously bad at graphic design and all that. I mean it was like two point font. You needed a magnifying glass to read it. So I was immediately intimidated by that. But then I turned to see the cover and it was a man surrounded in flames, like falling into the pits of hell. All right, not exactly a message, artistically speaking, of mercy and love and grace, but when I saw that at 11 years old, something hit my spirit. My spirit recognized there was something, there's something true here and there was something deeply important and significant that you don't know. I was aware that there was something and a seed was planted there. Then, when I was 16, I heard the gospel and I responded and I got saved.
11:03
For a lot of Americans, especially those who don't travel outside of America, you don't know how wonderful of a country this is and you think that what we have here, the freedom and the liberty, is like the default state of the world and it's not. This is not the norm, this is the exception. The majority, this is statistically accurate. The majority of the world lives under some kind of oppression. And guess what? The freedom and the liberty that we enjoy and I'm telling you, we enjoy it. See, there is this attack on America. You can point to anything and look at all the negatives, look at the dark spots. There's this attack on America which is very dangerous, which is causing Americans to not prize where they live, but go and do a little bit of traveling. And I'm not talking about go to see Paris and go to London, although even I have friends in France that are saying now, upward mobility is absolutely dead in France. You just can't out. If you're born in a certain place, that's just where you're going to stay. You can't break out where in America you still can. That is not the default state of the world. We really enjoy it.
12:21
I remember back in former Yugoslavia, because then we had in the 90s, we had a bloody civil war and it split up into a bunch of different nations Slovenia, macedonia, croatia, montenegro, bosnia and Herzegovina. I probably missed one or two there. When a little nation gets chopped up into eight different nations. I remember what a dearth of the word of God there was, and I remember going back every summer. I spent my summers, the whole summer, there, so I had this experience. Even though I spent the bulk of my time in America and I went to school in America, my culture at home was Yugoslavian, and I would spend my whole summers in Yugoslavia, and so I felt like I had my foot in each country as a child growing up, and I was able to see one way and another way, and I was able to see the difference.
13:13
In former Yugoslavia, we had a dictator president for four decades. He killed 500,000 people, his own countrymen, to maintain power. That's what he and his regime did. What's interesting, though, is I was living in Yugoslavia when he died, and I remember the whole country crying and mourning for three days. That's a distinct memory that I have. Why, why would they weep and cry? Distinct memory that I have why, why would they weep and cry? Well, that's what mass formation psychosis does.
13:52
In private, my grandparents, my parents, would speak against the regime very, very quietly. Your neighbor couldn't even hear, because there was this car called the Black Maria. I don't know why it was called Black Maria, tsarna Maritsa. I don't know why it was called Black Maria, but it was Black Maria and it would show up and if you saw that car, someone was not coming back again. That car would come at 4 or 5 am. They would knock on the doors, they'll pull you away, put you in the car and you were gone, never to be heard from again. Somebody ratted on you because you spoke against the regime, but when he died everybody wept Because over time we as humans, if we're not careful, we're so easily programmed and we're so easily deceived, like, for example you know how in America we can take pictures of our politicians and catch them in awkward and goofy moments where they're making a weird face.
14:42
You don't even notice. You see that all the time Growing up with President Tito, you don't even notice. You see that all the time Growing up with President Tito, every store had his photo and it was always him as a general, in just totally mint uniform with his hat on. Perfectly, he looked like somebody who would aspire to be in here Not even be like you couldn't even do that, but be in here and people's minds were changed. Oh Lord, hallelujah.
15:11
Anyway, I came to America and, as I'm growing up, I asked my dad it was because they were watching on TV Reagan against Mondale and I said, hey, dad, so who are we rooting for? Who's going to win? And my dad said, hey, dad, so like, who are we rooting for who's going to win? And my dad said stay away from this, it's all nothing but lies and nothing but propaganda. Politics is dirty. And that was just my dad's stance.
15:39
So I adopted that stance and then, when I got saved at 16, I just stayed away from politics and buried myself in the word. I just stayed away from politics and buried myself in the word and actually thought that I was being noble, that it was the right, right posture to have. I was so obsessed with the Lord. Let me not even know I mean, I was a complete ignoramus Let me not even know what's happening in a major arena of life, as though the gospel doesn't touch every point and every arena of our life. So I, with this false sense of nobility, I pulled away for years and years and years, even as a Christian, even as a pastor, all up until around the last few years.
16:26
Because in the last few years, saying the last seven, eight, ten years, there are two events that happened for all of us to see, which should have. I say this with love, but if you have more than a room temperature IQ, it should have woken you up, and when you get woken up it is a lot like coming out of the Matrix. You come out and you realize I've been lied to my whole life. Some of you can sense that, that there is this veneer that's being presented to us and there is all sorts of ugly happening underneath the surface, and too often a lie is being presented to us as the truth. One of the things that should have woken every person up was 2015, when Trump began to run for president. That should have been a wake-up call. Why? Because Trump prior to 2015,. I like, when I say the T word, the whole place. Immediately you see what they've done to us.
17:26
Just the name Trump, spoken in New York city, where he's from right. He's like everybody's like oh God, where's he going to go with this? What is he going to say, pastor, I really liked him. I've been coming for four weeks. I liked him, but now he said Trump and he didn't immediately bash him, and I don't know how I feel about that. Where's he going to go? Just listen, just hang on for the ride. Just listen Right, 2013, 2014. I'm I'm completely just unaware of anything that's happening. And when he announced he was going to run, remember when he came down the golden escalator, you know where I was? I was. I was in Montenegro taking over for pastor Yovitz while he was on sabbatical and pastoring his church. I saw and I literally laughed. I laughed out loud because I thought it was some publicity stunt. Just remember that before 2015,.
18:18
Everybody in Hollywood loved Trump. The media loved Trump. He was the media darling. You know who else loved Trump? Rappers loved Trump. They did. I'm in the Trump International. Ask for me had to Pastor Mo. I had to just slip it in there. He was in a bunch of other rap songs. He was just a darling Nobody. And if you had anything against him it was just because he was, you know, the rich, sharrig and goofy guy.
18:52
But then in 2015, now I'm a complete political ignoramus, but I'm looking and I'm noticing that immediately there was this coordinated effort with every major institution that previously loved him immediately coming against him. All of Hollywood immediately comes against him. All of academia immediately comes against him and all of government listen now, both Republican and Democrat immediately come against him. It's like overnight everybody hates him and I'm scratching my head going why? So he then gets elected and everything I just said is true. But now, once he gets elected, it's all taken up to the nth degree and there's this coordinated effort and he can do no right. And it doesn't help that you know he has some foot and mouth disease thing going there so that he would word some things so clumsily. And he it wasn't hard to spin things that he said until later.
19:58
As I'm just observing and if you were part of City Light Church, you know I never said anything, I was just observing and learning. I mean, honestly, what I should have been doing in my late teens and early 20s. Now I'm doing in my late teens and early 20s. Now I'm doing in my late 30s because I just stayed away from that and I'm observing and I'm piecing it together. I'm going here is this guy who's a political outsider, he's not a part of the regime, he's not a part of the system's not a part of the system and he's threatening to come in and uncover things and shake things up, and now everybody hates him. Pay attention to who the enemies of god don't like. Also, by the way, just pay attention to that. How many of you know hollywood is not a friend of god? It's just not.
20:51
And when I say that, I don't say that because some Christians, when they talk about Trump, it's like their faces light up Trump, like they've been praying so long for their Christian prince to come riding in on a white horse. He's not that. He's not that. His character very I don't want to say dark, but iffy dark. You know his personality. I never liked him, even before he was president, just as a New Yorker. Just his personality.
21:25
But guess what? I'm not voting for a marriage partner. I'm not voting for my pastor. I'm voting for somebody who's going to kick butt and do what's best for the nation. Amen, that should have been. I'm just telling you how I woke up and I'm hoping that some of you had similar experiences that woke you up as well. If you didn't have a similar experience, pay attention to what memes you were reading, what media was going in your ears, that you stayed blind to what was actually happening right in front of us. Because there are some people it's unbelievable still in 2024, they're still just la-la-la-la-la-la, they're deaf and blind and don't want to pay attention to what's going on. Why am I talking about this? Why should you pay attention to what's going on? Because, with all of its problems, there is a reason why over 50% of all global immigrants are coming to America. Over 50, of all global immigrants are coming to America. We're still the number one immigrant destination. Why? Because it's a blessed country, it's a country of great opportunity, it's a great country, and the freedoms and liberties we enjoy are only one generation away from being lost.
22:46
Some of you think this is not viable, that this is just. Are you kidding me? You don't believe that satan would love to squash america, to shove a sock in america's mouth? The nation that was, at its height, responsible for 93 percent of all missionaries being sent out globally. A place where the Word of God has resounded, where churches are raised up, churches are planted, millions of people come to Jesus Christ and receive him as their Lord and Savior every year. Where I got saved, where, then, I was able to lead my parents who, if they stayed in Yugoslavia, never would have heard the gospel. I was able to lead my parents to the Lord. The enemy would love to snuff this nation out. That's why this is important. So 2015, 16, and all those years should have been somewhat of a wake-up call.
23:35
When you see all of media, I mean it was just incessant 24-7, bashing, bashing, bashing. Just take a step back and go, huh, because there's some people. This isn't about me telling you who to vote for. Just notice some things, because there are people who absolutely despise Trump. You say Trump and their head spins around 360.
24:03
And then just quietly ask them I know, right, orange man bad. Tell me. You go first. Tell me what policy of his did you most disagree with? Really, his tweets were so inappropriate, I know, and he's got orange skin. I know you said that and he doesn't seem like someone I'd want to hang with. I know, but his policies, what policy did you feel? Uh, can't name one over and over again. May I suggest that maybe you have been programmed and you didn't even know it, but he's a racist. I know he's terrible. Tell me what racist policy did he push? I'm. I can say a lot more after that, but I'm just…. Oh Lord, so that should have woken you up. If that didn't wake you up, because that didn't fully wake me up, that just caught my attention.
25:04
But the big wake-up call was in the spring of 2020, tension. But the big wake-up call was in the spring of 2020, when COVID came in on the scene. All of a sudden, we went under lockdowns. This church was declared non-essential. All churches were declared non-essential. Small businesses shut down. Home Depot was still open. Walmart was still open. We were told not to go to the gym.
25:27
And here's the greatest mistake. If you don't know, this is a mistake by now. I don't know. We do have a ministry team. At the end of the service they will lay hands on you and pray for you.
25:37
Listen the whole, the masks and all the stuff. People were just terrorized. You were terrorized night and day. You turn on CNN and they have the deathometer going. This is how many died. Remember how terrified you all were. Some people in this neighborhood you see them. They're still wearing the mask sideways, one nostril sticking out Mask is dirty. It's like a week old, filled with mucus. They're still walking around like the walking dead. I want to just gently tap them on the shoulder and go. Hey, april of 2020 called it wants its mask back.
26:13
The greatest arrogance and greatest pride was believing that we could mitigate, that we could manage an airborne virus which doctors in the beginning were saying there is no mitigating this, and those doctors were quickly shut up and shut down. And then you were just presented with one side and one voice. Yeah, that happened to us, that happened to me for a bit, and we were presented with all these arbitrary rules. Do you remember the silliness? If you come within five feet, you're going to get COVID. Six feet, you're okay. When you walk through the restaurant, if you're standing up, you have to wear a mask. But when you sit down to eat, you're okay, because COVID hovers at a height of around five feet. When you sit down below that, it doesn't dip. On an airplane, you had to be masked up. But I found out if you ask for water, you can put your mask down. And now COVID says okay, because COVID knows the rules of engagement, it plays fair. All right, now I'm okay. I quickly found out when I was on an airplane I can ask for water, put my mask down and sip that water for the three-hour flight. It was craziness.
27:31
Why is this important? You go. Why is this important? It's important because we were fed a lie. If you think they didn't know it was a lie, oh, they were just figuring it out. Now, today, we know a lot more than we did back then. Listen, go on our church Instagram or church Facebook.
27:50
In March, we researched what had happened in Italy. Remember it was hitting Italy right before it came here. We researched what it hit. In March of 2020, excuse me, late February of 2020, we posted about COVID. We posted that it was an airborne respiratory virus, that it afflicts the elderly and those who are autoimmune compromised the most, and we listed all the facts, none of which have changed and nothing has been added. We don't know anything more about COVID now than we knew back in February of 2020. So it's not like they didn't know and we're just this benevolent government that was trying to figure it out. Why is this important? Because it was a lie.
28:32
I will not live my life by lies. I didn't wear a mask, not because I wanted to be a grandma killer, not because I'm jerky, not because I'm arrogant, but because it's a lie. It's a lie that this little piece of cloth or surgical mask is going to prevent a COVID virus from coming through or in. It's a lie and I don't want to live my life a lie that this little piece of cloth or surgical mask is going to prevent a COVID virus from coming through or in. It's a lie and I don't want to live my life a lie in any way. Amen.
28:58
So what am I saying? I'm just saying do you know, if we did nothing at all, if we didn't lock down, if we kept meeting, if we did nothing at all, the results would have been the same. That's proven now. We prevented people from dying. No, people still died. The only thing that could have made a difference is each of us was hermetically sealed for a two week period in a bubble like suspended animation, cryogenic freezing for two weeks. Every single person. That could have done the trick, but we couldn't do that. Even if we're locked down, we couldn't do that. We still had to go out and get stuff. We're out there exhaling and inhaling and so nothing would have changed. 2020 should have been.
29:43
It should have been a wake up, but I'm concerned that for too many of you, it wasn't because you were born in this country. I noticed with immigrants, they were hip to it right away. People born in this country, you just can't do the mental somersaults and gymnastics to realize. Huh, there are actually evil and nefarious powers at work that want to program me and get me thinking one way, and one of the easiest ways to program people is via fear. Hallelujah, I'm having a good time. How about you? Some of you are thinking I should have brought my friend next week Because it looks like he's just getting warmed up. I should have invited him.
30:39
There is a third thing that, if you haven't been woken up, that should have woken you up, and it just happened last week, this week, and that's that he's been arrested and now he's been convicted. Now hang on, if your gut response is what's the saying everyone is using Nobody's above the law. Nobody's above the law. Why is George Bush above the law? He should have been tried for war crimes, for what happened in Iraq. He's above the law. No arrests.
31:12
Why is Bill Clinton above the law? Do you know what happened under him? I know what happened under him. Nato bombed the tar out of where I'm from. Most Americans don't even know that happened. I still see where the missiles fell, where Pastor Jovice is right now. You go to Novi Sad. You still see the giant craters and buildings because they don't have the money to repair it Hospitals. Why is he above the law? What about Hillary Clinton? With a private server in the basement smashing up hard drives and pouring bleach on blackberries. Those were the blackberry days.
31:57
So, just coming from where I come from, when a political rival is imprisoned in an election year, it should cause you to pause and go huh, because that's some banana republic level stuff right there. Hallelujah. Do you even know what he was convicted for? What he was arrested for? Because other people started wars, killed millions of people. He messed with some money and Stormy Daniels and I couldn't even keep track of it. My wife knows. She'll explain it to me later. I mean, she did and I know, but I just in one ear out the other, because we know what's really happening, hallelujah. And, by the way, trump, as far as I'm concerned, I have a big question mark about him Because he's still the father of the vaccine and he handed the country over to Fauci. I just want to say that. But at the same time you know I didn't say this in the first service, I got to say it in a second. At the same time, I know that he would be the best for the church. He just would be.
33:21
I know that there's another side that is completely anti-God and anti-Christ and that abortion is not of God and that abortion is murder and it's demonic. I cannot put somebody in power who's going to keep that going. I cannot put somebody in power who's going to keep these lies and these myths where two plus two equals five going. That's why we still have to pray. Christians are hoping that this Christian delivering prince is going to come in, quoting scripture. It's not going to happen. Jesus was that prince. He's the prince of God. He's the prince of peace. You're going to get a fallen, mistake-laden human being and you've got to pray for them. We're just trying to select the one that is going to need the least amount of prayer and deliverance and demons expulsed. Amen, hallelujah. I could see summer attendance in the life groups just ramping right up.
34:28
So there is, by the way, a new religion in America spreading like wildfire, and this is what's coming against us. It is the religion of wokeism. You don't know. Wokeism is a religion that's catching America by storm. What is wokeism? Woke, once upon a time, about eight, nine years ago, was a term that meant being alert to racism and racial prejudice. You know how long that lasted? For About a minute, and it was quickly co-opted and it was co-opted and it was co-opted. And what's at the heart of woke ism is making people just hang on with me. This is gonna be, this is gonna be key for you to understand. It's making people believe and see the entire world through one lens, and that's oppressor versus oppressed. By way, critical theory is not a new thing, whether it's critical race theory or there's several other critical theories, it goes back over 150 years. What is critical theory? It's an entire system where you see the whole world through only one lens oppressor versus oppressed. Why? Because this is how communism took root in Russia. This is what happened during the Bolshevik Revolution.
35:52
You cannot have a united country if you're going to flip it around and change its government. Some of you don't even think this is happening. It's happening, it's real. You have a front row seat to it. It's happening before your eyes. You have to have class warfare. You have to have a country that's divided and fighting amongst. See, you don't think this is real to you. You know who the oppressor is. Well, if you're white, you're the oppressor. If you're male, you're the oppressor. There's one more kind of oppressor, though If you're Christian, you're the oppressor. Yeah, oh yes, you are, you're the oppressor. You can see that. You can see that by the strong anti-Christian sentiment. You know what I'm talking about.
36:42
I used to be able to say, not thinking anything would hit me. Hey, I'm a Christian pastor. Oh, okay, that was 25 years ago, 20 years ago. Okay, now I say I'm a Christian pastor and I'm waiting for what's next, and it's really never, very rarely a neutral response. It's oh, very rarely a neutral response. It's oh, awesome. I didn't used to get that, oh, awesome. Or, like I said, I work for the IRS or something. Lord, hallelujah, hallelujah, thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus, thank you Lord, in order to subvert a nation. In case you're wondering where this is all going, am I connecting this morning? You get it. Have you been looking around lately and are you? Have you noticed that, like, this is a completely different time. This is totally different than when I've grown up.
37:47
I meet these older fellas out in Long Island. They're in their 70s. One is in his 80s and I've asked them have you ever experienced what we're experiencing now Ever in your life? I said no way and nowhere in our dreams. In fact, one of those guys he's younger. He said his father is an ultra-liberal judge in New York State and even he said that what they were doing to Trump was just out of line.
38:16
In an election year, in order to subvert a nation, you have to make truth relative. Can we go to that scripture? I believe it's John 17, 17. Let me just see this. Yes, john 17, 17. Because in wokeism there cannot be objective truth. That's why pay attention to what's introduced into the vernacular, that phrase this is my truth, or I'm going to speak my truth. You notice, about 10 years ago, I mean, it was around a little bit before that, but that was really injected into the vernacular. Anybody, you pay attention to this stuff. Now it's yeah, nobody blinks. I'm going to speak my truth.
39:09
You don't get your truth. There's a lot of stuff you don't get. Hey, guess what you know what else you don't get? You don't get to pick your pronouns. You don't get. Hey, guess what you know what else you don't get? You don't get to pick your pronouns. You don't get to.
39:21
You were born a certain way. You were born with either two X chromosomes or an XY chromosome. I can find a skeleton that's a thousand years old and scientists can tell you whether it was male or female, because it goes down to the bone, to the molecular level. You don't get your own pronouns, just like I don't get my own adjectives like what? What if you say? What if I say look, you need to respect my adjectives. They are brilliant and highly anointed. And every time you refer to pastor Bo, please don't offend me. Use the proper adjectives. Please refer to me as brilliant and highly anointed, or else I'm going to call you a pastor-phobe.
40:04
In order for wokeism to take root, truth has to be subverted. Jesus said sanctify them by your truth. Your word, your word, the word of God is truth. Let me tell you something Nobody here can be kinder than Jesus. Nobody here can be more loving than Jesus. Jesus is the express image, the Bible says, of the invisible God. And God is love. But in love you must warn people. In love there is a call to repentance and a turning away from sin. In love there is the new birth experience. In love there is the blood of Jesus Christ, which will cleanse you, and the power of the Holy Spirit which will, from the inside out, transform you. Amen. But under wokeism, truth has to be subverted.
40:54
You gotta read George Orwell's 1984. I read that back in high school, I bought it. I rewrite it again and we are reliving so much of it today. That's why we're living in an age now where a man can be a woman and a woman can be a man. And I just refuse. It doesn't mean I don't love you. I love you. Don't call me hateful. I actually love you. But I also love God and I love his word. And when I'm looking at a 50-year-old man with a 5 o'clock shadow who's telling me that he's a woman, I'm not going to go along with the lie you may think. But I know who you are and it's not loving to pretend with you to enter into that fantasy realm with you.
41:36
So under wokeism, a man can be a woman, a woman can be a man. Men can menstruate, men can be pregnant. Look at your emojis right now. A few years ago I got an emoji of a pregnant man. I sent it to all my bros. I was just like congratulations. The moment it came, I just sent it out. I was like bro, I heard the good news Congratulations.
41:57
And two plus two can equal five. Why? Because under wokeism there is no objective truth, there is only subjective truth. Subjective truth is something that's subject to your own unique experiences. How many of you know that's not truth. Objective truth is just truth. That always is, always was and always will be, and it is the word of God. It is what God says. But in order to subvert a nation and lower the IQ of the people, lower the critical thinking of the people, you make truth blurry. And two plus two can be five, and men can get pregnant. And everybody's too afraid to say otherwise lest they be labeled a phobic, racist, bigot. Oh, the silence is just going to get me louder. Hallelujah, you know, I got a little bit more time. Let me just say this Matthew 7, 1 through 3. I want to say this Under wokeism, wokeism has one main sin and one main virtue, the number one sin.
43:13
Listen, this is a religion taking the country and the world by storm. You better know its tenets. The main sin of wokeism is judging. You cannot judge, and this is the key scripture, matthew 7.1 Judge, not that you be not judged. Now let's just look at Okay, let's read the rest. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Now let's go to John 7, 24.
43:49
By the way, there's several I believe up to seven different Greek words for the word judge. All of you have made judge. How many of you locked your house when you left today? You made a judgment. Those of you who drove to churches, you stop at the red lights. You made a judgment, didn't you?
44:06
That's not the kind of judging Jesus is talking about. He's saying don't hatefully condemn when you're struggling with something. Don't hatefully condemn a person who's struggling with the same thing as you with something. Don't hatefully condemn a person who's struggling with the same thing as you. But in another place, jesus said do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment. What is righteous judgment? What's the standard? Well, his word, his word, is the standard.
44:36
And so did you know that you can judge and not be a jerk? Did you know? And this is where Christians have blown it. They judge and they get into the flesh. It's almost like their flesh comes alive and they love. They want to feel superior to somebody else. No, that's wrong. But did you know that you can judge and say hey, I love you, but this is wrong, I don't endorse your behavior, but you want to do that? Knock yourself out.
45:02
I recommend highly that you repent and come to Jesus. He loves you, His arms are open, wide towards you, but this is a line in the sand and I won't cross it. Every single one of you need to be able to make that decision, because the heat is only going to get cranked up. Do not bow, Do not do it. It's just the pronouns bro. Just use the pronouns bro. No, I don't think I will. I don't get to use, I don't get to call you something that you're not. God decided that long before. I don't think of myself so highly to be the arbiter of that. Oh, hallelujah.
45:56
And I just want to say this that the foot soldiers, the leaders and the foot, the army of the new religion of wokeism is the LGBT movement. And as I'm saying this, do you know that we have people at City Light Church who are struggling with same-sex attraction? And even though they know my stance, they've come to me. They know I love them. Listen, I had a gay worship leader for over a decade. I pastored in the East Village. I'm the gayest straight pastor, you know. I pastored for 17 years in the East Village. I've said listen, I've had a parade. I've heard every story, every confession, all the deep stuff. And I've had a parade. I've heard every story, every confession, all the deep stuff, and I've learned and I've heard and I've wept and I've rejoiced and I've spoken. I just thought that was somebody who I would have wanted him to come up and say a few words. I can't see from the lights, but we've had people who've come out of homosexuality Genuinely set free, genuinely delivered.
47:01
But the leaders of woke ism the army, the foot soldiers is LGBT and it's the most celebrated people group on the planet. You do know that. Right, it's gay Christmas. Someone said they have a whole month for themselves. It's gay Christmas right now, june, in fact, when we were at the pool.
47:25
I took my kids to the pool yesterday after the volunteer party and there was a fella standing in the pool knee-deep in the water, and I'm not kidding. He had the rainbow tight Speedos, rainbow sunglasses and a rainbow hat. He was standing with both hands on his hips, like Superman, just standing there. I'm like, bro, I get it, You're very gay, I get it. But a whole month of celebration, right, you don't want to talk? Did I already say that there's 13 Christians that die every day? Did I give that stat out oh, that was first service. That's the number. An average of 13 Christians are killed for their faith every day. Christians are the most persecuted people group on planet Earth. The most celebrated people group on planet Earth right now are people of the LGBTgbt movement, and I'm only using the first four letters because I've lost track of all the other ones that come afterward.
48:26
Hollywood, all the whole hollywood entertainment complex, celebrates. All the corporate, all the corporations are now super gay all of a sudden. All government officials there was a picture of Kamala Harris with the rainbow flag all of them celebrating. But do you know why it's still not enough? A month, I mean you're going to see flags and banners and parades and globally happening. Do you know why it's still not enough? Because 30 days of clapping and celebrating is still not enough when deep down on the inside, you know something's off kilter. You know that this is, that you can come up higher, that there is a better way, that there is god's way, that there is the kingdom of god and that you can be set free from this darkness. So all the celebrating, all the, it'll never be enough while somebody is not right with the Lord on the inside.
49:25
And, by the way, if you are here and you're just straight up gay or you're a Christian and you're strong, just know this. I know I can come across jokey, but I'm dead, very, very serious about this and you may not believe it after some things I said. But I love you, I love you, I really do. I love you. Our whole staff loves you and we're here to pray with you, work with you, plead with you, share with you, hear you. But we're also here to not compromise and not back off of the truth of God. It's something we won't bend on. We're not going to do it. It's a slippery slope and we've seen in the last few years just how slippery. I'll close with this Worship team. Come on up.
50:12
Let me just give you some ways that we are actually, if you look at it, the Christian church and the LGBT church. I'm calling it a church because it's like a religion. Now you know, if you actually look at a Nazi takeover, which you'll see if you look at a Nazi street, you'll see all the flags, the swastika. Come on. You're going to walk down some streets in New York this month. You're going to see some streets that look like it's been a foreign takeover. We are total opposite. This is why the greatest tension exists between the church. Listen, if you see a gay pride parade, you know what you're going to see. I've seen it Gay Jesus, somebody dressed up all flamboyantly as Jesus. Have you ever noticed that they don't have a gay Mohammed or a gay Buddha or a gay Buddha or gay Confucius? Because we? Christianity is what's at odds? Because we're polar opposites.
51:11
The LGBT religion believes in self-expression. We believe in self-denial. The LGBT religion believes in self-expression. We believe in self-denial. The LGBT religion believes man can be like God. We believe God became man. The LGBT religion celebrates pride.
51:28
We, as Christ followers, celebrate humility. They say you're born this way. We say you must be born again. The religion says I'm perfect, just the way I am. The gospel is I'm a sinner, every single person fallen short of the grace of God, and I need a loving savior. One worships sex, the other worships God.
51:55
Lgbt says love is love. Listen, that sounds so nice, right, by the way, a lot of wokeism comes under the cover of love and tolerance and compassion. But I cannot be more tolerant than Jesus. I can't be more compassionate than Jesus. Sometimes I've scolded my son right, like once or twice in your life. Do you know? Come here, I just want everybody to see how good looking my 10-year-old is.
52:27
He just turned 10. For his birthday he got a smartwatch and he leaned over during worship and said Mom. It says my heart rate went up when I began to worship Jesus. But do you know what the Bible says? It says that a man who doesn't discipline his children hates his children. And so, in my love, I've had to draw lines right, and you're so grateful for that. I know I wasn't either at 10, but later I went on. Mom and dad, you should have, you should have used the belt more, and so saying what the word says is an expression of love. We're gonna receive communion right now. I'd like every head bowed, every eye closed first. You know Jesus, he's been touching your heart.
53:22
The Bible says that sin, in order for it to be removed, it must be punished. That's why God came in the form of man, as the person of Jesus, to live the life we should have lived. He lived perfectly and never sinned, and then he went to the cross in our place and received the wrath that we should receive for our sin. He received it in himself. He was punished for our crimes, and the Bible says if you believe that it's a faith thing, if you believe that he did that for you, you can receive him as your Lord and Savior and you'll be born again. You'll be forgiven. You'll be made a new creature.
54:05
If you want to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, I want you to lift your hand up right now. I'm not going to ask you to get up out of your seat, but I will say a prayer together with you. Lift your hand right now. Thank you, I see that hand. I see that hand. I see that hand. Who else Lift your hand up? Lift your hand. Who else? Thank you, I see those hands, and God sees them. Even more importantly, who else? And God sees them? Even more importantly, who else? Thank you, jesus. Okay, you can put your hands down. We're all going to pray this together.
54:46
Those of you who lifted your hands I want you to say this extra loud, it's important you say it out loud and those of you who have lifted your hands, I want you to go to the hospitality table afterwards and tell people there that you made this decision, so we can just follow up with you. We're here, where you go now, after. This is up to you. We're here and we want to take you and lead you in the things of God, but we're all going to say this prayer together. Everybody, especially those of you who lifted up your hands, say this Lord Jesus, I believe, I believe in you. I believe you went to the cross. I believe you died in my place. I believe my sin was punished in you. You did that for me. Because you love me. I receive you as my Lord and my Savior In the name of Jesus. I'm a new creation, I'm heaven bound and I'm a friend of God In Jesus' name, amen.
55:49 - Speaker 2
This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and City Light Church, visit us at citylightnyccom. That's citylightnyccom. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.
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