Rooted and Grounded

00:00 - Speaker 1 All I wanted was for one of the many guest speakers to point their finger at me and say I see that you're called to the pastorate. I never got it. The investments into Bitcoin never got a prophetic word about them Changed my life. Looking for supernatural direction from outside of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you tends to lead to error and tends to lead to flakiness and tends to lead to people making shipwreck of their faith. 00:26 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the CityLight Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with CityLight Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightNYC.com. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you that he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:08 - Speaker 1 It is wonderful to be here with you. It's wonderful to be here with you in strength Because last Sunday I made it through the first service. My back had whatever you want to call it gone out. Yeah, I blew my back out. That's not a real technical term. I've known my chiropractor for a long time. He said of all terms he hates that one the most. It doesn't exist Anyway, pickleball's up Satan. 01:45 So a lot of senior citizens right now in the pickleball courts that need intercessory prayer. They don't know it yet, they will tonight. But I'm doing great now. Today is August the 10th. I got saved on August the 14th. I got saved on August the 14th in 1992. 02:12 So I'm coming up on 33 years of walking with the Lord and knowing him. Amen, best years of my life. Don't regret any decision I've made for the Lord of my life. Don't regret any decision I've made for the Lord. And I'm particularly glad that he led me, as I was getting saved, to a spirit-filled church. Call it spirit-filled, pentecostal, charismatic. The point is, I was able to encounter the Holy Spirit and be filled with the Holy Spirit. It wasn't only a frontal Lobian church appealing to my intellect, but the power of God was there and I encountered the power of God and, frankly, I needed to encounter the power of God and I'm not sure I would have gotten saved if it was through another means. Just the way I'm designed. Some people can find the Holy Spirit later, but they enter in through the intellectual door. I needed to experience him and I did, because at the church where I got saved, I got baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues that same night and then I got water baptized that same night. And because of coming into Christianity in a spirit-filled, pentecostal, charismatic way, I was able to encounter the Lord and he did a deep life work in me. I was able to attune my spirit to hear his voice and it's just so awesome, which is why I was especially bothered when around 2010,. 03:43 And I've seen the same graph. I was especially bothered when around 2010 and I've seen the same graph. I was gonna have the graph for you. You can look it up. The statistics haven't changed. 03:51 It shows different Christian denominations by household income. So it shows like 30 Christian denominations all organized by total household income. At the very top you got the Presbyterians Smart bunch of folk. And then I'm looking down the list and there's Lutheran, there's Methodist, there's. I'm going down the list and guess who's at the very bottom of the list? That's right, pentecostals, not at the very bottom. We were only beat out by two cults the Jehovah's Witnesses were third from the bottom, so the JW's are broker than Pentecostals on the Seventh Day Adventists. 04:44 And I would be an irresponsible pastor if that didn't bother me and do some soul-searching. And I was already bothered to begin with, because when you're in a Spirit-filled church, you're given the keys to life, you're baptized in the Holy Spirit and in Jesus' words, endued with power from on high, you're taught that the cross of Jesus Christ and his victory are made your victory and you're taught victorious living and you're taught the miracle working power of God. And then how in the world do you end up, at least in the financial realm, at the very bottom? And someone who's skeptical, probably broke, will say well, why about the finances? Maybe we're higher in others Because finances are important. Some broke person will always say that, well, what does it matter? Well, you can't make next month's rent, so it matters, doesn't it? I'm glad that tickled one person. It matters. We should get to the bottom of that right. We shouldn't be afraid to not poke and pry and ask ourselves why in the world are Pentecostals at the bottom of that list? 05:58 And so I really kind of obsessed over that, and with my staff too, and I remember Pastor Mike and I obsessing over that and I shared with him my findings and my wrestlings with the Lord, and out of that came his book, the intelligent, charismatic, because the conclusion I had come to of why Pentecostals end up at the bottom, this is going to blow your minds. It's because they're a bunch of weirdo flakes Really, really just too heavenly minded that they're no earthly good. But they're not even heavenly minded. They're just oftentimes weird and bizarre and belong on the Jerry Springer show. So we're going to put an end to flakiness. This morning, hallelujah. I feel like I'm going to write a book towards the end of my ministry maybe, where I'm like Pastor Emeritus and someone else is the senior pastor of CityLight. The title of the book will be that'll be the cover, but instead of rooted and grounded, it'll say the flakes I've known. Not even the make it cleaner, no, the just flakes I've known. 07:17 Let me define to you what a flake is. Now you should find yourself somewhere here. If you don't, I failed Because we all, we all we got to be honest. We all have a little bit of flakiness and it's the Holy Spirit's job to get rid of the flakiness and make us rooted and grounded in the Word and the Spirit. So nobody here is flake-free, just some people are so flaky they're constantly self-sabotaging their own lives. They're constantly self-sabotaging their own lives. See God. He's an overflowing waterfall of blessings, of goodness, of abundance and prosperity. But we have to stop self-sabotaging and get out of our own way. There's a bunch of Christians tap dancing around the waterfall, around the spout from where the glory comes out, and he's like, won't you please just get under the waterfall so I can bless you? But the flakiness in him won't let him. So here's what flakiness is. A flake is an ungrounded, insubstantial piece of cornmeal. You remember Cereal? They can get blown. A flake can get just blown away in the wind. 08:27 A flaky Christian is a Christian who claims spiritual depth but operates outside the clear, balanced teaching of scripture, building their faith life on personal feelings, superstitions. Some Christians are just weird like pagan mystics, full of superstitions in the way they try to decipher the will of God. They might as well be throwing chicken bones and splattering blood trying to figure out what is it that God wants them to do. There's so much weirdness out there, like when Arcando flooded. Arcando flooded Did over six figures of damage and a pastor friend of mine, who's normally not flaky, he said probably thought it sounded deep too God is going to flood your life. 09:21 God is going to flood your life with blessings and I thought can he do that without destroying six figures of property that he blessed me with? How do you get that? He destroyed my condo. God had already whispered to me he was going to bless my life. Like. I really believe God wants to talk to you. Jesus said my sheep hear my voice and flakes are always obsessed with the external, what's happening on the outside? And is God showing me a sign? If my hamster doesn't tread the wheel this week, I'll know, god, what your will is. It's not going to be from the outside. It's not going to be him flooding your apartment. What your will is, it's not going to be from the outside. It's not going to be him flooding your apartment. 10:06 Some people use Satan to gauge how active God is in their life. They'll say you know I almost got killed on the way to church this morning and it's going to be a great service. What I don't want to use the devil as a barometer to how great the service is. Amen, amen. 10:32 A flake is ungrounded in the word, comes across as spiritual, they're usually full of pride and they're very, very self-important. And the reason why there's so many flakes in Pentecostal charismatic, spirit filled land is because in that land you'll hear this more often than in any other place, and that's that you are special, which is true, and you are unique, which is true, and you are empowered by God and you can hear his voice and you can go forth and have victory. All true, but they lose sight of that. You need to have great humility and submit yourself also, so their heads get really big. Next thing, you know they think they're Moses on the mountaintop. They don't need a pastor, they don't need a church, they're just off on their own and they make shipwreck of their faith. And I don't say this like with delight, I'm actually preaching this because of 23 years of pain, of weeping, of going Lord, how can I help them? Because I see which way they're going. It's going to end in pain. 11:35 Jesus, a frequent thing that a flake will say is the Lord said Do we believe? The Lord says Absolutely. If you're beginning every other sentence with the Lord said I want to caution you. You may be on flake territory. I don't have to tell my wife. The Lord said I don't have to tell the staff. The Lord said I don't have to tell the staff. The Lord said Flakes come up all the time and they'll say something like this to me. I'll just make it up off the top of my head. I'm starting a new business. They'll say the Lord told me to start a new business. I'm moving to Florida. 12:17 What do you think? Well, I mean, I think that I shouldn't argue with the Lord If you're saying the Lord said you've now locked me out of my opinion because I don't like to fight with the Lord. I lose every time. So you're already coming completely unteachable. The Lord told you can I get your advice? Well, my advice is to follow the Lord, but I wish you would have come wondering if you actually heard from the Lord, like before I make any major decision I go. But I wish you would have come wondering if you actually heard from the Lord, like before I make any major decision. I go to people that I trust, that have the wisdom of God, that are people of prayer, and I don't say the Lord told me, what do you think? I say I believe that this is what the Lord is telling me, but because I also recognize that I'm a man also prone to emotions and other desires that may not be of God, maybe it's not of God. 13:07 I got to come in low, I got to be open to correction and instruction, but when you begin with, the Lord said there's nothing more to say because you went to the mountaintop, apparently, and got the word of the Lord. There was a fellow in here a while ago. He got radically saved. I was rooting for him big time and very quickly he swerved off and he said the Lord showed him that Pastor Mo was a witch. Where's Pastor? I wish Pastor? There he is in the back. He said I wish. He said the Lord showed him that Pastor Mo was a witch. I thought what in the world is happening here? I know Pastor Mo so well. He doesn't have a cauldron, not a tarot card in sight. Man of God loves Jesus, loves his family, loves people. And then in the life groups when he would, I guess not jive with someone. That person was a witch, but you couldn't convince him that the Lord didn't tell him and eventually he left. 14:13 You know it's not a demon always. Sometimes it's just a personality conflict. Amen, can I just relieve you? Did you know that you're not supposed to like, really, really like every christian? Isn't that a relief? You're supposed to love them but you don't really have to like them. In other words, not every christian is going to be your bestie. Sometimes there will be personality clashes, there will be these differences, but it's not a demon. And what does that say about my ability as a pastor to detect and discern what's happening in the church? Pastor mo's been flying under the radar as a witch for years. I couldn't tell, the other elders couldn't tell, my wife couldn't tell, but this guy saved all of five minutes. He could tell Whoa, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Just lift your hands and say Lord Jesus, align me and stabilize me. 15:23 I've had some major, major wins in my life and when I look back on major wins that are connected to big, major decisions, you know, not every decision is important. What business you start is important. What you put your entire, not every decision is important. What business you start is important. What you put your entire net worth into is important. What you're going to have for lunch that day not that important. All of the really important decisions that led to big success. 15:46 I'll tell you something I never, ever, received a prophetic word about any single one of them, any single one of them. Yeah, and I love the prophetic, I believe in the prophetic. In fact, when I was called to ministry at the age of 16, 17, 18, all I wanted was for one of the many guest speakers to point their finger at me and say I see that you're called to the pastorate. I never got it. That's all I wanted, because it was burning inside of me and I didn't want to be the loon flake who was just maybe getting information from the wrong source. I never got it. The investments into Bitcoin Never got a prophetic word about them Changed my life. 16:30 What am I telling you? That looking for supernatural direction from outside of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you tends to lead to error and tends to lead to flakiness and tends to lead to people making shipwreck of their faith. And again, if you were to survey people which they have surveyed, the Barna Group has surveyed what the number one question people have about their lives. The number one question is how can I know the will of God for my life? So that's why prophetic conferences are so popular, because a prophet will come in and, hopefully maybe you got to roll the dice, maybe they'll pick you and they're going to tell you what you need to do tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. It's not gonna happen. Why is it not gonna happen? Because we don't live in the old covenant anymore. In the old covenant, people didn't actually have the Holy Spirit inside of them, just the prophet, king and high priest had the Holy Spirit upon them and they had to get directional words. A directional word having to do with where you're going to go, what you're going to do, your destiny, what makes you you. They had to get that from the outside in. Under the new covenant, the precious Holy Spirit is inside of you and he will illuminate you through your human spirit. He will guide you through your human spirit. 17:53 If I wanted to pack out every single Sunday, I would flow in the prophetic, I would get prophetic ministers in and I would it's evil, actually I would tap into people's insecurities and in their desires and their fears about the future? Yeah, and I would offer that to them as a product. And there was a time when I flowed a lot more in the prophetic. I've actually backed down a little bit. We don't have Friday nights anymore. Every Friday night I'd flow in the prophetic and people would show phones in my face to record. You know, as soon as the iPhones came out, they would record prophetic words and I'm like you've recorded me already five times. This is your sixth word you're recording. 18:28 Are you like an archivist? Do you collect prophetic words about yourself? Not a lot of amens, some laughter, some uncomfortable laughter. Collecting prophetic words stacked. You don't have to be that insecure is what I'm trying to get you to understand. He won't leave you out in the cold. He has promised to lead you, to guide you, to hold your hand, to take you in a land flowing in milk and honey. 18:58 So what is the prophetic for? It's for confirmation, not information. Prophetic words are wonderful when they confirm what God himself has already spoken to you Hallelujah, you don't have to be a flake. Amen. You don't have to be wondering. What does God have in store for you? No, what is the will of God? It's actually, if you just look at the scriptures, which is his word to you. It's very, very simple Love him with all your heart. Love others so that you witness and minister to them. Work with your hands that which is good. Don't be idle and go have fun. Enjoy your your hands that which is good. Don't be idle and go have fun. Enjoy your salvation. Amen, hallelujah, it does over, and that's flakes always over complicate stuff. 19:49 Spiritual warfare, very, very complicated for flakes. They're binding, they're loosing, they're rebuking, then they're fasting. I shared with you a few months ago about that woman who took communion. This is the stuff I'm talking about. She took communion, grape juice, probably Welch's, and she poured it all along the edge of her property, you know, to ward off evil spirits. This is something you would get at some like pagan tribe, somewhere in another continent, yet Christians are doing it, typically Pentecostal, charismatic cornflakes. 20:27 Spiritual warfare. I mean, how complex does it have to be? Jesus defeated Satan. Now stand in your victory. I mean, how complex does it have to be? Jesus defeated Satan. Now stand in your victory. If spiritual warfare, doing battle with the kingdom of darkness, is more complicated than what you see the apostles doing, then you're not doing it right. How come all that stuff. You can go to a Christian bookstore, go online and type in spiritual warfare. You won't believe the titles you'll see. And then, if you read it, you will come under so much bondage, all the stuff you have to do, and the reality is you don't have to do any of that stuff. 21:08 Look at what the apostles did. They abided in him, he abided in them. They didn't go in binding and loosing and rebuking. They didn't go and prepare the terrain for two weeks by shouting at the devil in tongues and warring tongues and waving banners and blowing ram's horns. And they came and they preached the word and the word was enough. And then, as a result of the word, signs and wonders and miracles and salvations took place. And that's spiritual warfare. Hallelujah. If you result of the word, signs and wonders and miracles and salvations took place. And that spiritual warfare, hallelujah. If you're doing something the apostles never did, what are you doing? You got some new revelation. 21:42 There's people, I know, that wake up at three in the morning and they go and talk to the devil for three hours. They don't really talk to him, they're yelling at him. Devil, you can't have new york city, devil, we're going to win. Devil. I hate you? Devil souls are coming in. Devil, devil, devil. Who are you talking to? Even Is he your best friend? You have a nice new personal relationship with Satan. Spend your time talking to Jesus. 22:14 People see numbers in weird places. There was a person once here. They said you know, three is a holy number. You know what people try to set me up. I know three is a holy number, isn't it? Um, I guess I don't know if it's better than one or seven or 40, but if you like it, I like it too. Why, what's up? Well, I just see threes everywhere. And sometimes I see three, threes. Like I'll wake up and it's 333. And then that day I'll look at a license plate and I'll see three, threes. And so I look at, you know, timothy 3, verse 33. And there was this ministry I gave them $333. And I think, what are you doing? And there was this ministry I gave them $333 and I, what are you doing? Unbiblical, weird, strange. And then people scratch their heads. Why are we at the bottom of the list when it comes to household financial income? Because we have a bunch of flakes and nuts running around making major life decisions on fruitiness Also, by the way, 99.999% of all your dreams are. 23:28 Guess what dreams. So, like Aerosmith said, just dream on Dream on, dream on dream on. If you have to wake up with a secret magic decoder ring to figure out what God is trying to communicate with you because you had a wild dream, you're doing it wrong. Kenneth Hagin he said look in the Bible, whoever had a dream. They immediately knew what was being communicated in the dream. People will come to me this is what I dream. Then I got to hear the whole 10-minute long dream and I'm like my dreams are exhausting. Now I got to hear your 10-minute dream and they go do you know what it means? How am I going to? It sounds like you had a lot of pizza and Dr Pepper right before you went to bed. That's what it sounds like. I can't decode your dream. 24:14 If you think the dream is from God, within that dream is the revelation. Joseph got a dream, both Josephs the original Joseph and then Mary's husband Joseph. They got, but they knew immediately what the Lord was talking to them about. People will do things like Lord. If I encounter five people on the way to work and they have AirPods in their ears, I'll know. I'll know that you want me to go on that missions trip with CityLight to Guatemala next February, and then it's not going to be on the outside and then in no other area will you see weirdo Pentecostal flakiness more than in the area of you, ready for it. 25:00 Romance and marriage Flakiness doth abound. It was a pastor I knew. He had a deeply spirit-filled church where the anointing was strong. People had God encounters all the time, and when they would come into his office, in that first initial, you know, they just met and they're kind of falling in love and they're going to the pastor for premarital counseling, the first thing he would say to them is I don't want to hear anything that God told you. I don't want to hear about one dream, one vision or one prophetic word, not a one. Why? Because marriage is a very, very natural thing and God has given you intelligence and God has given you wisdom and so, partnering with him, you can make the best decision. 25:56 But the moment people start getting into words and revelations and it always ends up weird, and a big culprit is preachers, because they like to super spiritualize how they met their wife. So you know, they tell stories in hindsight, and hindsight is weird. Either you're outright lying or you don't remember how it really was. I know, when talking to older preachers, one of the jokes is the older they are, the greater they were. They'll tell you. It's like there was this crusade back in Liberia 20 years ago. The field had 100,000. I was there. There was like 600 people in the field. How'd it grow to 100,000? You added 10,000. Every year They'll be on their deathbed. That was a million people in that open air crusade. So they recount how they met their wife and they super spiritualize it. 26:42 They say things like the moment I looked at her, I heard God's voice and I knew she was the one. Maybe for a few, maybe that happened. For the vast majority, that was not going to happen. I met Emily. Maybe that happened. For the vast majority, that was not going to happen. I met Emily. I saw her. I did not hear God's voice. I heard my own voice going wow, and so I shot my shot and made my move. I went. 27:10 That was back when we actually had CDs in the back of my sermons. Now everything's out on the cloud. Did you know? The cloud isn't the cloud, it's a bunch of servers somewhere in Oklahoma and Texas, but that's another story. Underground I came up and gave her a bunch of CDs for free. You know, as the guest said, I just, I just want you to have these, she said. Right then she knew I had my eye on her, but I actually never, ever heard the Lord tell me anything. I just had a great peace. 27:43 I asked close friends. I asked close pastor friends, what do you think? You know us, you know a person. How do you think this will go down? Because, believe it or not, marriage isn't you holding hands and having visions of Jesus and angels. Marriage is a lot of love, a lot of forgiveness, piles of dirty laundry and heaps of dirty dishes and you need to be naturally able to get along and make that work. Amen. I think there'd be a lot more healthy marriages and more marriages in general happening if young men and young women just got to it. But you know what happens. I understand this. They got to it in the world and it caused them nothing but pain and they made a mess. So they think it's like super, super different in Christianity and it is very different. But it's not that different. 28:29 Like some people act like you're attracted to them. That's good, that's important. You shouldn't be unattracted to the person you're going to spend the rest of your days with. Attraction is important. Now go ahead and get to know them, check them out, let them check you out. Do you have a list? Everybody has a list Maybe not on paper, but you have a list. See how they measure up. And make sure you're using your head before you get drunk on the silly juice of love, because nothing is more intoxicating and nothing will make you more stupid than falling in love. Before she let herself fall in love with me, she was checking me out. She was like what's this guy really about? I asked her questions. One of the first questions I asked her was are you a tither? Because every pastor wants to know. No, because she said yes and I go. That's important, because where Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart is also. It's a sign of submission to the Lord and maturity in the Lord. There your heart is also. It's a sign of submission to the Lord and maturity in the Lord. 29:39 What's on your list? You know, men, women, woman top of your list should be not a joker, not a clown. Somebody who has vision, somebody who's gainfully employed. That's a good start, and so right. If they're's gainfully employed, that's a good start. It's alright if they're not gainfully employed. Do they have ambition in their eyes? Maybe they're mopping floors. Next week it's the fries. Do they at least know where they want to go? Gentlemen, top of your list should be not a feminazi. If I ask for breakfast, is she going to hurl a frying pan at my head? I'm preaching to six people today, but that's okay. Hallelujah, hallelujah. 30:28 Another thing Pastor Mo shared this one with me. I texted him last night. He shared this one with something he encounters a lot as people come up to him and say I want to grow in the Lord and so I'm going to leave church to grow in the Lord and I'll be back. I'm going to work. See, god designed this thing called church where you're supposed to be matured and where you grow and where your gifts are utilized. It's designed to grow me, but not me. I'm going to go outside of the church and grow and I'll be back. And I've never seen a one of them come back. Have you ever seen a one of them come back, pastor Moe? Not a one. 31:19 But see, if they weren't flaky, they would know the word and they would prize the word. Flakiness leads to misalignment. God actually is a God of order. He's a God of structure. See, we're a very free church. I'm a very free person, but at the same time I fear the Lord. I reverence him and I understand that he is a hierarchical God. People don't like that term hierarchy these days, but you look at even how he organizes the very angels. He organizes them hierarchically From archangels at the top, to seraphim, to cherubim, to then just angels. You look at how he laid out the leadership structure for Moses at the tent of meeting. And God is a God of order. 32:00 And if I start doing things that are out of order, for example, what if I just get in my head this is a little boring just preaching to CityLight? I need more stimulation and they've had me for 23 years. I'm going to travel and God doesn't want me to travel. He ordained me a pastor, not an evangelist, or not a hybrid of both. So now I go out and it seems right, right, what could be wrong with him preaching the word more? I start traveling now, in fact, the ministry starts growing. I'm in other churches on Sundays. You're seeing me on their YouTube channels. 32:35 And then, all of a sudden, my marriage falls apart, my life falls apart. CityLight suffers. CityLight falls apart, yet I seem to be doing something good. What happened? I got out of alignment. I got out of God's order. Being in His order brings a blessing and peace. Being outside of His order, it brings a curse. Oh, hallelujah, flakes, I've known We'll have a book signing and everything. 33:00 Do you know there are christians who play bible roulette. You know like in vegas there's a roulette wheel prone to chance and luck. I was taught, in fact, that first year I became a christian, if you want to know god's will close, close your eyes, open the Bible and let it just open. And put your finger on a verse, don't look, and the first verse that your finger touches, that's God's word to you. I just don't see anybody in the scriptures doing it that way. And I tried it and my finger went to Judas hung himself, and I thought this can't be, be it, I'll try something else. And went on something else and it said that which you do, do quickly, just before you go on any weird spiritual side quest. 33:55 Ask yourself am I being more mystical than Jesus himself? Because you can't be more mystical than Jesus himself. Hallelujah, I mean Jesus. He lived in such close proximity to the spirit realm. When Nathaniel was coming to him this is so awesome Jesus said you know, while you were under the fig tree I saw you. Jesus was just in constant communion with the spirit realm. And then he opened Nathaniel's eyes. He said from this day forward, you're going to see angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. So there was a huge amount of angelic activity. What were they doing? I don't know. They were bringing in something and going back home and coming back. Then they were ministering to him, to Jesus himself. But we can't be more mystical than Jesus, hallelujah. 34:44 I want to present to you three scriptures that make flakes squeal, shriek, like in the olden movies, when you shove garlic in a vampire's face, sprayed him with holy water. In this great deflaking, these scriptures will help. We'll begin with the shriekiest one hebrews, chapter 13 and verse 17. Obey, oh, not obey, and that's really, with a flake, what you're up against. Because when you're a full-blown flake, look again. We need to be humble. Do I have some flakiness on me? Probably, yeah, I'm constantly going to the Lord. Oh, that was flaky, right, lord, that was, that was mm-mm. That wasn't really grounded in the word, like. 35:43 I'll tell you something. You know what I did back in college. I was so hungry for the Lord. I read in the book of Acts that Paul made an oath and shaved his head. I didn't know anything about that. I didn't know the history, the tradition. So you know what I did. I got a buzzer and I shaved my head bald. I was so hungry for God. Do you know, I do not have a pretty head like you, you have a. I admire your head. Mine looked like the lunar landing, like it was crater. I don't know what happened. I don't know what the doctor did when he pulled me out. You do not want to see me bald. I think the Lord will always have me nice hairy mane to protect the eyes of the congregants. But I shaved myself completely bald. What was that? Very flaky. The Lord in his mercy still met me, blessed me, touched me because I was showing radical hunger, even though it was a complete flake going about how I showed that hunger. So when you're just a little flake, you don't mind. 36:40 But people who are in full-blown flakehood the very word obey makes them shriek because really they don't want to submit to anyone, including God. They do not like to submit. Oftentimes that comes from a wound. They've been hurt. They've been. This is very important. They've been hurt by an authority figure it could be early on as a father, a teacher, a coach, or later by a pastor, another elder or they feel betrayed by God himself, and so any kind of obedience, any kind of submission, they immediately recoil. But you can't take away what's in the scripture. Obey those who rule over you. Now, pastor Mo and myself and the other elders, do we act like we rule over you? Do I come in here? Yeah, kiss the ring? No, we love you, we serve you. We've pledged our lives to the Lord and we realize the very word. Minister means servant, and I get this. 37:49 A verse like this has been abused by preachers, cult leaders. If you're in a cult, get out. If you're under an abusive pastor, why are you still there? Get out, but find yourself a church with godly leadership and there's a lot out there. There actually is. Most pastors are not crooks. There's a few of them out there, but most pastors that I know, even here in New York City, they're actually wonderful, darling men who love God, love their wives, love their families and love the people God has put in their care. Simple men who love Jesus. 38:23 Since I said simple, I forgot to say did I talk about I'm sorry sometimes the first service? And I talk about my pastor in simplicity. No, oh, my pastor, mr Holy Ghost himself, rodney Howard Brown, powerful, anointing, hears from heaven. Wonderful Charisma Magazine asked him. Wonderful Charisma Magazine asked him what is the secret to your prayer life, what is the secret to your relationship? Because he was having, back in the 90s, meetings like nobody has ever seen before. If I told you what the meetings were like, you wouldn't believe me. The people had to be six-hour meetings and people had to be dragged out. The presence of God would come in and just overwhelm the whole place. And I was 18, 19 at the time. I wanted to know too. I was ready, I had my pen and paper out what is going to be his answer? I'm sure it's going to be very, very deep and profound, lots and lots of notes I can take. And he shrugged his shoulders and he said I can answer that question with one word simple. 39:29 My relationship with the Lord is very, very simple. And I felt like chains come, explode, break off of me, because my relationship with the Lord at the time was very, very complicated. There was a constant ledger in my head of what did I do? What did I do to mess God's plan for me up? Did I sabotage myself? It was really religious bondage. 39:51 I didn't understand grace and I didn't understand that God has called us to simplicity. In fact, the apostle Paul said. He said I'm concerned for you. He wrote the Corinthians lest you be moved from the simplicity that is in Christ. There's a simplicity, hallelujah. 40:09 The last two years of our lives, god has just over-blessed us. Over-blessed us First the house, then the paying off of the house, then the Bitcoin went through the roof. Then, you know, I shared in the first service. I didn't share in the second service Last week, or it was now two weeks ago my wife and I I don't do this to be tacky again, but to inspire you and to know that we practice what we preach my wife and I gave 2.131 mama million with an M dollars as our tithe and offering to CityLight Church. Yeah, hallelujah, you know how we got to that place. Simplicity. If you looked at our schedule and looked at how we live our lives, you'd actually you might yawn Simple, holding his hand. And, by the way, let me just be clear, I didn't make over $20 million. I know that'd be exciting, that was like multiple tithes and offerings because we just we felt overwhelmed to and also that number that we gave more than makes up for my salary for 23 years at CityLight Church, which essentially has made me now a volunteer pastor at CityLight for the last 23 plus years. So if anybody comes to you and says, hey, you know, church is all about money and I bet your pastor's all about money, yeah, what does he drive? You can say a Maybach, his wife's got a Porsche and also they gave over $2 million to the church. So put that in your religious pipe and smoke it. Amen, amen, hallelujah. 42:00 Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls. As those who must give account, let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Proverbs 11, 14. Be submissive, obey those who rule over you. Be teachable, be correctable Proverbs 11, 14. Where there is counsel, the people fall, excuse me. Where there is counsel, the people fall, excuse me. Where there is no counsel, the people fall. But in the multitude of counselors there is safety. So before you do that big thing with your life. Find two or three people. The Bible says out of the mouth of two or three witnesses let it be established. 42:44 We have an eldership here at CityLight. These are godly men who have given their lives to Jesus. They have a surrendered heart. They're engaging the word of God every day. They're good counselors. I'm happy for any idea for you to bounce off of me. I'm happy, and guess what? I'm also available and reachable and in addition to the ministry here, you should have people in your life who walk in wisdom, who walk close to the Lord that you can. 43:11 If you don't want to submit or discuss your big plan with somebody, there's a reason for that and it's usually not good. You've got something to hide. Anything holy can be shattered from the rooftops Deep down inside. You know you're flaking out. You're flaking out. You're flaking out. You're wild. I've got some random thoughts here. They're in my notes, but a lot of stuff came. It was a big download when I was writing this message, but I had this talk with a fellow friend from Bible school and there were over 300 graduates from my Bible school and it's less than five of us that are actually doing something in ministry today and my friend, now divorced, bless his heart. His wife went off the deeper, deep rails and she really wanted to be like some figure, some I'm not going to say her name, okay, she wanted to be like paula White. That was just the hero she picked. She never ended up being Paula White and horrendously backslidden. 44:13 But listen to this every story of somebody in in ministry at least, but I see it in the congregation also of majorly derailing, they railing. They all have one common theme they wanted to be somebody. They really wanted to be somebody. They wanted to be important. They wanted to have fame. They make it out like no, I really wanted to win souls and I love the Lord. But right underneath there was I really wanted to be somebody. You know, somebody people respect, somebody people talk about. You know, I wanted my name to live on. Even after I go and be with the Lord. It always ends in disaster. What path to take then? Don't want to be somebody, want to be close to Jesus. There's also a lot of people who are somebody, the vast majority of people who are somebody. When I get to know them, when I hear their story, I realize all they ever wanted to do was just love the Lord and help people. And then God made them somebody Hallelujah. I'm watching somebody right now make shipwreck of their life because they really, really want to be somebody. 45:33 And the reason you got me going, the reason why pentecostal, charismatic, spiritual people are prone to losing their minds is because there's a lot of people in that world. Whenever they prophesy, it's always some ridiculous word. There was a period there in the 90s 2000s where, if you were ever ministering to youth, you prophesied to every single one of them. You never prophesied you're going to live a good life, you're going to love the Lord and serve him with gladness. No, that's not sexy. The prophecies are always. I see you standing on a mountain. You're overlooking the nations. You're preaching to the masses. God is going to raise you up. I see private jets in your future. Everybody goes, yeah, and now they're working at Kinko's. You don't have to. You don't have to. You don't have to be somebody. You're already somebody in Jesus, amen. 46:32 Now was that in, for example, that statement in my early 20s, in your early 20s? It's a little weird if you're not very, very ambitious and ambition is good, but vision is better. Vision is about he, ambition is about me. Now, that was always the case with man. You can go back for all of human history. That was the case in man, but how much more now, in the current culture that we live in, with the constant scrolling and the social media, you're always wanting to be something else, somebody else. It's a death trap. 47:03 And when you finally settle and find your peace in Jesus and declare that oh, oh, you are enough, what we've experienced is he will overwhelm you. He will cause your cup to overflow and overflow and overflow. When Jesus is enough, he gives you all that other stuff. And can I just tell you I will never get a luxury car again. I bought that Maybach. That that was wonderful. It's a beautiful car, it's a delight. It's a delight. But after about six weeks it was just like my Toyota. And that's the truth. Yeah, I get a massage and it keeps my lemonade cold, but it really is just like. There's some men that's like their cover photo photo. That's like their main goal in life. I wanted to celebrate a financial victory and I go. You know this is not. It was like that about everything. Actually, there's watches. 47:57 I've been given rolexes and brightlings. They're in a safe in darkness. They haven't seen the sunlight in five years. At the end of the day, all you have is Jesus. He's the joy of your heart, and then he'll just get you the stuff. He'll just get it to you so he can get it through you. So, with one of those Breitlings, when John Arnott was over for breakfast, I'm sitting having breakfast with him and I think, huh, oh, you were there, that's right. Yeah, I was like I could give one of those. Let it see the light of day finally and he didn't even want it. He's like I go to Mexico on missions. I can't wear this. What am I going to do? I was like, just wear it, just be blessed. I bet it went in his sock drawer and he'll give it to someone else. 48:46 And you know those scriptures that Jesus talks about riches and how they're rusty. It all starts to make sense when you actually get some. When you're broke, like I was, and Jesus talking about riches, getting moth eaten and filled, you're like I'd like to find out for myself. You know, let me find out, I'll pray back to you and let you know how I feel about it turns out. Lord, you were right all along. Hebrews 10.25,. 49:12 We're talking about the trifecta of verses that make flakes, shriek, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, see, flakes. They don't like church and I realize I'm kind of preaching to the choir here because you're in church. So there shouldn't be any full-blown flakes here unless you're passing through, unless we're one of the 10 churches on your list that you just but flakes. They either don't go to church or they hop from church to church. They're church hoppers. See to church. They're church hoppers. See, when you're a church hopper, you never have to obey those who rule over you. You never have to submit. 49:52 The moment somebody comes and just pushes up against you, you're like, all of a sudden I don't feel led to go to this church. I feel led to go to that other church where they don't know me yet. They don't know how toxic I am. They'll figure it out in six months and call me out on it. And then I'll feel led to go to another church and I'll just ping pong and bounce around all the spirit-filled churches of New York City and then, 20 years later, I'll be scratching my head wondering why I'm at the bottom of household income here on this list. Because I'm unstable Jesus, and they always spiritualize it. 50:26 They see things like I go to where the fire is hot and where the fire burns, I go to where the wind is blowing, I go to you. Go to wherever you want. You flip a coin every Sunday. Don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together, as is the manner. That word for manner in the Hebrew, in the Greek, is habit, he said. Not going to church, not coming together, that's a bad habit. It's the habit of granola bars, flaky people, but exhorting one another and so much more. As you see the day approaching, can we get communion ready? Let me just read Mark 5.15 to you. Thank you, jesus. 51:20 David Wagner stayed with me. We had some good talks about just this kind of stuff. He would agree with everything and he has a prophetic ministry. And he stayed with me. And so we spent 18 hours a day together and woke up early and went to bed late talking about the things of God nonstop. Do you know how many prophetic words I got? One 30-second one, thank you, lord, and I'm grateful for that, and it was wonderful, and I'm grateful for that, and it was wonderful, and I didn't ask him for it. 51:50 I remember when I was in my 20s, newly saved, I would come and I would sit somewhere where the preacher could see me, just hoping they would call me out because I was lonely and lost and insecure in the Lord's love for me. But I don't want it to be that way with you. He loves you. He way with you. He loves you, he cares about you. He sees the end from the beginning. He sees your 40s, your 50s, your 60s, your 70s, your 80s, god willing, your 90s. He will lead you and guide you, but not from the outside, from the Holy Spirit. Within. Now we're going to all receive communion together, so just hang on to the communion elements as we take them together. Hallelujah, thank you, jesus. 52:35 And just so you know, when I shared that amount, what we gave, we didn't just kind of peel that from the top and go well, this is nice. That was an amount that wasn't a normal tithe. It was a tithe and an offering and the offering was, frankly, bigger than the tithe the 10% amount. Am I making sense here for people who are curious? I'm not sharing this to get applause. I'm sharing this because somebody here is going to say, oh, I want to do that and they're going to connect with that. You know who I heard did this 20 years ago, rick Warren. That book he wrote Purpose Driven Life. And he did that. And I watched the video where he said I gave all the money back that the church ever paid me. And I, out loud, I said, lord, please, let me do that. Like CityLight was one years old and I said let me do that one day. That's like the greatest testimony a pastor can have. So I'm just sharing this so you get more insight. We didn't just peel it off the top and go well, that was fun. We were terrified. For 48 hours we went back and forth and then we thought how about this amount? And no amount less than that. Did we feel peace from when we landed on that amount? It was like, ah, the Lord likes that, hallelujah. 53:50 So the madman of Gadara, full of demons, running around the cemetery, cutting himself. Jesus said what's your name? He said we are legion. You know what a legion is? A Roman garrison of three to 5,000 troops. That means that this guy had quite a few passengers aboard his train full of demons. And Jesus commands him to come out. And what is the first fruit of him? Being set free of the demonic. What language does the Bible use to describe how we should know that he was fully delivered. 54:27 They saw him sitting. What is sitting Sitting is the posture of a student. The rabboni or the rabbi would be standing. The student is now teachable, he's submitted and he's listening to the word of God. This message, basically, is a message to encourage you to submit to the word of God, but you can't submit to the Word of God if you don't know the Word of God. So stay in the Word and don't do extra biblical things, and a lot of Pentecostals are biblically illiterate and that's why they end up doing flaky things and hopping from job to job. 54:59 Do you know there was a great revival that moved in the 70s called the Jesus Movement? It happened on college campuses and a lot of those people because it was a great move of God, they got a sense of eternity. They all believed Jesus was coming back within two years. So do you know what they did? A bunch not all, but a disproportionate amount of them dropped out of college. Yeah, you don't exactly come and fill up the greatest. Yeah, you don't exactly come and fill up the greatest places in society when an entire generation has dropped out of college. You got now Presbyterians at the top. There. They're owning the franchise and the Pentecostal's going. Would you like fries with that? Hallelujah. And by the way, way, speaking of college, hang on to your community elements. There's this. 55:55 There's this movement now about how, like, you don't have to go to college, don't go to college, especially in conservative circles, because colleges have gone completely mad. They're full of woke-ism, woke stuff, and you know they're churning out I mean, you see some of the results. They're churning out men who don't want women and women who don't want men. And then people are scratching their head wondering why is no one getting married? Why can't I even find a normal person to date, when both men and women have been radicalized and made just impossible to get along with each other? So there's this movement of oh, you know, get into the trades and you don't need college. No, you still need college. We don't need a million Pentecostal plumbers, we need other strata of society to be filled up by thinking intellectuals who also hear from heaven. 56:42 Amen, you know what I noticed living out in Long Island, amen, amen. You know what I noticed living out in Long Island who doesn't get brainwashed and who doesn't get woke-ified in college? You know what I know. I pay attention, I notice. Oh, look the Asians. Yeah, why are you laughing? Asian One who finds it the funniest. He's like he's laughing because he knows it's true. Chinese, korean, indian the whole is south asia, east asia. I wonder why that is. 57:12 They just must be stronger than no family, family, strong fathers, family. They have the meeting, have many meetings. Go to college. Take the good stuff, spit out the bad stuff. Here's the list of the good stuff. Spit out the bad stuff. Here's the list of the bad stuff. You are a girl. You will not be a boy. You are a boy, you will not be a girl. Hey, feminism, equal pay for equal work good. All that other stuff they put on top of it later, not good. Amen. You're a man. You will take the hits. You will provide. You will have vision. It's your job to protect and provide for your family. And then they can come with the woke stuff later and they don't budge. Amen, hallelujah, lord, make us more asian. 57:57 In jesus name, I think it's time for communion. What do you think? I think it's time for communion. What do you think? Thank you, lord Jesus. He gave his life and his body. His body was broken for you. His blood was shed for you. 58:23 This is not just an empty religious ritual, as you literally ingest communion as it's going materially into you, believe that Jesus meets all of your needs. Whatever you're missing, think of one thing Come to God with one need right now what do you want him to do for you? What are you missing? What do you lack? Because Jesus is the great need meter and as you partake of him by faith, receive the infilling that will meet that lack. Go ahead, partake of the body and blood of Jesus and worship team, you can come on up, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. Thank you, lord. Thank you Lord. Thank you, jesus. 59:27 Father, I thank you that you show your love to your people this week. You draw them to prayer, you reveal your face to them, you open up the mysteries of the word to them. May all shame, guilt, condemnation go off. You know there is no place for shame and guilt and condemnation here. There's no place for it. Your sin is not bigger and badder and bolder than the blood of Jesus. You have been washed, you have been cleansed, you are accepted in the beloved. The blood of Jesus has made you to be approved. You are justified and pronounced not guilty. Because of that, you can have boldness, hallelujah, hallelujah. 01:00:04 No matter what it feels like some weeks feel ugly. It's nice now standing here and saying what I gave and what the Lord has done. There were weeks when I was rolling around on my carpet like literally physically rolling or trying to pray. Just uh, didn't look nice, but it doesn't matter what you're feeling like Hallelujah anyhow. Hallelujah anyhow. Hallelujah anyhow. 01:00:27 We put one foot in front of the other and we trust the Lord is leading us to a good place. The Psalms call it your wealthy place. It uses that word your wealthy place in God, amen. Well, let's honor the Lord with our tithes and offerings shall we Give him a big hallelujah the giving information is on the screens to either side of me. And offerings shall we Give them a big hallelujah. The giving information is on the screens to either side of me. Give with joy, give with a glad heart and give in faith. And if you want prayer, please move on over to my left, your right, right into that blue-lit area. The ministry team will be there and they will love to lay hands on you and pray with you and for you. 01:01:13 Flakiness is an enemy. It's an enemy to the good things of God. My prayer is this week that we would all be deflaked some. We're more stable, more consistent, more aligned with God's ways and his word. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Thank you Jesus, thank you Lord. You know flakiness. You never taught it. It starts early. Even my son, who's awesome, but in the early days, when he just was learning prayer and learning the things of God, a few times he slipped in. God told me Remember we had that talk. God told me I was like, don't you start that business with me. This is not my first rodeo. If you're going to say, god told me, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he's old he won't be a flake. The Bible says All right, stand to your feet, go with blessing, go in his love and go rejoicing. Let's sing one more song to him Be blessed CityLight. 01:02:24 - Speaker 2 This is the CityLight Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jancic and CityLight Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to CityLight Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.