The Force of Faith: Understanding Heaven's Power

00:00 - Speaker 1 All God wants you to do is win, win, win, win, win, win, win. He wants you to win so much that he came in the form of man, in flesh and blood, and he purchased your victory with His own blood. That's how much he wants you to win, win, win. God Himself wants you to get tired of winning that you'll be winning so much. 00:26 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at CityLightNYCcom. That's CityLightNYCcom. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you that he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:10 - Speaker 1 We started this year 2025, with a word from the Lord that it was going to be an uncommon year, a year of breakthrough, a year of moving forward, a year of Holy Spirit surprises, a year of advancement. And we're locked in amen. It's not some New Year's resolution because it's April. Can we all say that it's April? Don't repeat. After me. In the first service, I was quite blessed by the encouragement Everybody said together we're in April, but I mean, technically it's the last day of March, but it's April already Tomorrow. Is it no Tuesday? Can we just say that it's April? You know, people have forgotten their new year's resolutions already or what they were hoping would happen in the new year. But we're locked in. The Lord is going to increase us, the Lord is advancing us, and so I want to feed you in accordance with the word of the Lord. We're moving forward. I want to give you the food from the word that's going to help you receive and actually experience what he promised us Amen. 02:12 For some Christians, it's enough to just talk about it and never receive it. I'm not like that. I hope you're not like that and I hope you've realized there are Christians who are content to just talk about it and it's always in the future. But that's silliness. If we're going to talk about it and it's real, it should be manifested Amen. And that's why faith is so important I mentioned last week. Hope is important too. On earth there's those three things Faith, hope and love. Hope is important and to have a heart of hope. But hope is always in the future and in a way, hope will come in and support faith and hope can spark faith, but hope is always in the future. That's why so many Christians they believe that life is only going to get good when they die. Can you imagine that Life is something to endure, to struggle through? It's kind of a hell, and then you die and eventually you inherit heaven in the sweet by and by. But we're not putting our eyes just on the future. Otherwise it's always in the future. But faith says I have it now, amen, amen. Now. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and so I want to get you strong in your faith and my role model is Jesus Christ himself, who was the ultimate faith preacher and teacher Amen. 03:39 There was a while there where the term faith preacher had a dirty name. Oh, is that one of those faith preachers, one of those faith teachers? What other kind is there? In order to realize how the New Testament church should flow, how New Testament ministry should flow, you know who's a good person? To study Jesus Really read the gospel, see what he focused on, see what he emphasized. Really read the gospels, see what he focused on, see what he emphasized, and we should do the same thing in the same proportions that he did. And one thing you'll find when you study the gospels and the ministry and life of Jesus is that he talked about faith a lot. He taught on faith. 04:20 He constantly was provoking people to have more faith. He would comment on people's level of faith. If they really weren't with it, he would say oh, you of little faith. To those who really shine, he would say great is your faith. To the unfortunate few he would say where is your faith? It was like he had a faithometer and he can detect the substance of faith. Some didn't even register and yes, indeed, faith is a substance. You know why? I think we got messed up Because in modern English, in the vernacular, that word faith is really misused. 05:07 Like people will ask you what faith are you? Are you of the Christian faith? Are you of the Muslim faith? Are you of the Buddhist faith? Are you of the Jewish faith? And that's not at all how the Bible uses the word faith. 05:20 Faith is a force, faith is stuff. It's stuff. Hebrews says faith is the substance. We're robbed when we think it's just something ethereal, like pixie dust. It's just faith. You know, even George Michael said you gotta have faith, faith, faith. You know, you just gotta have faith. No, faith is stuff. Light is stuff. My mind was blown. Whether it was ninth or tenth grade physics class I learned light was stuff Particles, photons. You don't think it's stuff, but you concentrate enough of that stuff and put the photons together and it's concentrated into a laser beam. It'll burn through steel, amen. Air is stuff. You don't believe air is stuff, but if 50 pounds of air fell on your head it would hurt. You'd feel that Sound waves. They're stuff. And faith is stuff. It's a substance. And it's a substance that can increase. And it's important for us to increase because everything we'll ever receive from the Lord we will receive by faith. It always comes by faith. Salvation is by faith. Technically it's by grace, through faith, but the channel it'll always come through is faith. Amen. 06:55 I'm looking in that part of the sanctuary because I didn't share this in the first service, but I'm just reminded how, in 2009, city Light was seven years old and we struggled our first five or six years I mean it was tough and all of a sudden got the breakthrough in late 06, early 07. And by 2009, we were packed out in the Gramercy Theater and things were really popping and I felt the Lord. You remember, mom, those days, the Gramercy Anybody here from the Gramercy Theater days? You remember Helen, who else you were there? You remember Gramercy Theater? 07:32 And in 09, the Lord spoke to my heart and said I want a church in Queens. So I didn't know any better. I just came out the next time. They said we're starting a church in Queens. That Queens. What the Lord put on my heart and it was the spring of 09 and also I mean church planters would want to just pull their hair at the way I did. Church planting was like no planning, no strategy. The Lord said it, let's do it. So it was spring of 09 and I just announced. I looked at the calendar and I said, hey, september 20th 2009, that's a good, because fall is always a good time and you don't want to have it too close to Labor Day. So third week of September and we put on all our printed material. 08:13 I get up every Sunday and say we're starting a church, the launch date is September 20th 2009. We didn't have a place though. We didn't have a place to meet and because you're not in the biz, you might not realize there's no hotline, no 800 number. Pastors call and say you know, I'm in the market for a place to rent. Give me a list of 10 buildings in Astoria, queens. I mean, if you had to get a church building, how would you do it? The same way I do it. I don't have any other special way of doing it. You drive around and look for a building. So I did that for weeks, just driving around, and if you see a good building, you take a number, you try to call, you knock on the door. I did that for weeks. Nothing was coming up. I'd still get up the next Sunday and go. September 20th we're launching City Light Queens. 09:02 And then one day, when I really really didn't want to go out and just drive around Astoria, I really felt from the Lord, go out and I was driving down 31st Avenue here and I saw this church with a bunch of really tall grass and I got excited because the church with tall grass means no one's meeting in it. And I got excited Because a church with tall grass means no one's meeting in it. So I parked my car, came knocked, banged on the door, and a priest opened it up. Later he told me he'd come in two or three times out of the year and I ran into him one of those two or three times and this sanctuary was full of statues and icons and what it actually was was a big storehouse for the Anglican church and I quickly talked to him. And I'm at this point so I'm 33 years old but I'm wet behind the ears, really young looking, and you know, when you're talking to somebody from high church you always wonder are they even going to take you seriously or are they going to dismiss you? Because the Anglicans you know they've been here for centuries. King George he bequeathed acres and acres to the Anglican church in New York. When, how many centuries is City Light old? Oh, we're. 10:17 You know, we started in 02, but we're here to wheel and deal with you, baby, and I noticed he's taking me seriously and so I had in my mind a budget. What we could afford was $1,500 a Sunday. So right there, right, right, where you're sitting, right there we're talking, surrounded by statues, and and I said, hey, uh, about price, what we can do is $1,500. And he goes $1,500 a month. You got yourself a deal Because I thought $1,500 a Sunday. He said $1,500 a month and I just you know, that's when you try not to crack yes, sir, that's right. What you just said is right $1,500. And do you know how much we pay? To this day? It was $1,500 for years and years, and I think it's up to $1,900. Just because in the last few years they said, all right, we got to put in like a 3% to 5% cost of living increase attached, okay, so now it's not Find a space like this for $1,900 a month, with 24-7 accent, anywhere. How was that? 11:26 It was by faith, because faith is always released by your speaking. You show me what you're saying. I'll show you what you're believing. Faith cannot be contained. The Bible says if you confess with your mouth, if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart. So faith is one half in your heart, but if it's just in your heart, it's staying locked up, it's released through your words. 11:53 And we kept on saying we're starting a church in Queens, we're starting a church in Queens. Well, do you have the money to do it? No, do you even have the space? No. What do you have other than graphics saying that you're doing it? That's it. And God said that's enough. Amen, and keep saying it, hallelujah. So I want your faith to grow, because big faith means big promises received. Amen. Little faith means little promises received. I don't want you skinny with faith, no, scrawny faith. I want you swole with faith. I want you diesel, I want you to be so pumped up with faith you got to turn sideways to get inside a room, to fit through the doorway. Big faith, big receiving, big promises manifested, amen, hallelujah. 12:50 Let me show you this awesome scripture from Mark, chapter 4, verse 30, because Christians, christians for I'm still studying this I mean I have some theories, but Christians seem to be addicted to littleness. Everything is little, like we're growing as a church and we don't really get persecuted much, but watch when we break a thousand. Then all of a sudden, the persecution comes. Only Christians are against mega churches. You hear that. Oh, is that a mega church? Like it's a. Oh that, oh, my man. Like the Christian church was started as a mega church. Yeah, in Acts, when the church was birthed, peter preached and 3,000 people got saved and started the first megachurch. The first church was a megachurch. Amen, oh, you can be prosperous, just not too prosperous, just so your needs are met, Don't have any spillover. 13:59 And then they obsess over scriptures, like with the mustard seed. Like little faith is prize, like little faith is prized, like little faith is what our aim and goal should be. And I heard this when I first got saved. All the time, you know, you always know it's full of doubt and unbelief when they start with the sing-songy voice. You know, jesus said all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed. And I was like uh-huh, uh-huh. I even I say this as a confession of sin, I, and this was 1992. I just got saved. 14:34 I don't know you guys were in the city in 92? Were you? Do you people forget this? Do you remember? And you may not, but I was 18 then and there were waves of rollerbladers everywhere, like up and down 50. That just disappeared, but there would be. Like you know how, everybody right now has a $200 bike from Timu and is bringing you your Uber Eats delivery. It was like that, except all rollerblades. And I rollerbladed from Forest Hills down Queens Boulevard to New Life Christian Center, and not New Life. New Life, what's it called? New Life, the Christian bookstore in Jamaica? Yeah, and you know why? I got myself a mustard seed necklace. I'm sorry, father, forgive me, it was, as only Christians can make. This cheap plastic but spray painted gold with a little little plastic case and inside was the mustard seed. As though that's the goal to have little it. 15:36 It's a complete twisting of the scriptures. Jesus never and I'll show it to you Jesus never prized little faith. He just said this is the baseline, this is your starting point. Even if your faith is little, don't stay there, for goodness sake. But even if it's as small as a mustard seed, you can get stuff done, but faith should be growing, Amen. Let's look at that scripture. 16:00 Then Jesus said to what shall we liken the kingdom of God scripture? Then Jesus said to what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable should we picture it? The kingdom of God? And this is the second time he's using the mustard seed example. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It's ridiculous looking the size of a pinhead, doesn't look like it, looks like a piece of dust, but when you plant it it grows into one of the largest trees. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth. Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs and shoots out large branches so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade. Mustard seed. 16:44 Faith is ever-increasing faith, growing faith, expanding faith. This is basically one long intro to my sermon, which I'm about to begin in a few minutes. But I am here to pump you up, to fill you like a Thanksgiving turkey stuff you with the word of God and the word of God, because faith is vital. You receive everything via faith, so you should have big faith. How does one get faith? Faith is a substance, it's a force. It's a force that goes and brings the promises of God out of the spiritual realm into this physical, earthly realm. It makes the invisible visible. It's like spiritual currency and, by the way, you get to decide. Isn't that good news? 17:38 Some people are scared and, again, christians love to put all the blame on God and they think it's like giving all the glory to God, but they put all the blame on God. Put all the blame on God and they think it's like giving all the glory to God, but they put all the blame on God and all the emphasis on God. Oh, whatever God wills, you know whatever? No, jesus would go up to people and say according to your faith, be it unto you. You get to decide in accordance with your faith or in proportion to your faith. So how much faith do you got? You can't go into Best Buy, get a 75-inch OLED TV with 20 bucks. You don't got enough currency. I want you to have big faith, overflowing spiritual currency. Amen, hallelujah. 18:25 I'm aware, as I preach this, I tell you who I'm preaching to Everyone. I always preach to everyone, but I'm really preaching and ministering to those who are under the gun right now. Feeling it, the Lord, about 36 hours ago, I felt some people's weight. I felt there's people. You did a good job just to show up today, but you're suffering. Life's not fun right now. Life sucks. Right now You're waking up, no energy. You feel beat up. Hope for the future is gone. You're barely putting one foot in front of the other. Every second on earth is pain. There's people like that right now. God sees you. He knows what's not gonna help. You is a there there hug. No, you need an injection of the God kind of faith. That faith is going to move mountains, faith is going to turn it around. Hallelujah, hallelujah. 19:23 I just said the God kind of faith. You know where that term comes from Mark 11, where Jesus curses the fig tree and then turns to the disciples and says in many English translations he says have faith in God. But I dare you to Google it or talk to chat or grok or whoever you're talking to right now and ask it what to unpack the original Greek and it's more accurately, more closely translated to have the faith of God or have the God kind of faith, which is very controversial to those same people who love defeat. They love smallness, they want you to suffer a hellacious life, to just die, and then you get rewarded. They don't believe in victory on earth. If you have victory on earth, they have faith that it's gonna end soon so you can go to what's, to them, normal Christianity of misery and suffering. They get very upset at that. Oh, god is God. He doesn't need faith, he just is. What do you know about what God is? I'm gonna take Jesus' words over yours. 20:44 Jesus said have the God kind of faith. Do you know when he said it? Right after he cursed the fig tree? When I was 16 years old, newly saved, I read Jesus cursed the fig tree. I thought, oh Like, what did he tell it to do? Where did he? I thought Jesus cursed out the fig tree. No, it says he cursed the fig tree and it doesn't. Yeah, like you know you stinging fig tree. I went to get a fig and there was no fig. So I was, like Jesus, pretty emotional for the son of God, you know, fly off the handle. He, god, you know, fly off the handle. No, listen. He calmly, look at the scriptures. He came up to the fig tree. This is how he cursed it. He spoke Let no more fruit grow on you from this day and after and says the fig tree withered away. So what's the God kind of faith? It's faith that is released when you speak. 21:55 Is it so preposterous to imagine that faith is a substance? It's not to me, because the scripture says faith is a substance, that faith is a spiritual force. When we get to heaven, it'll make sense. You know, electricity wasn't invented right. Electricity was discovered. It's been around that whole time, just discovered a little over 100 years ago. But try to explain it and describe it to somebody just in the early 19th century. Faith is a force. Faith is a force. Faith is a substance and you see God using it in Genesis 1. How, when he spoke Right in Genesis 1.1, god looking over God and he says let there be light. 22:48 And each of the creation commands was indeed a vocal command Let there be, let there be, let there be. And creation happened. Jesus speaks to the fig tree and then, right after he speaks to the fig tree, curses it. He says have the God kind of faith, in other words, have the faith, real biblical faith, that believes that when you speak and it's aligned with the word of God, it will happen here on earth. Some of your minds are getting blown away. You never heard anything like this before. You need to rediscover the Jesus of the Bible and the principles that he taught the Jesus of the Bible and the principles that he taught Some of you. 23:30 You have been using faith just in reverse. You've been cursing your own lives, speaking doubt, speaking unbelief, speaking death. The Bible says death and life are in the power of the tongue, and some of you it's the same. Some of you get happy when something bad happens. You've had faith for something bad to happen. Then something terrible happens and you go. I knew it. I knew it. This always happens. I just knew it. I've been believing. I've been believing for my landlord to throw me out for like six months. I knew that was coming and he called me. I just knew it. Imagine if you actually apply the God kind of. You've been flowing in it. You've just been cursing and know what the scripture says death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they that love it will eat the fruit thereof. They that love what, they that love this truth, that you have creative ability and power in your mouth. By the way, it all begins with salvation. You did not get saved with duct tape across your mouth. You opened that mouth and you said Jesus, I believe you are Lord, hallelujah. Thank you, jesus. What is all that? We've got media preaching. Good try, though. Whoever that is back there. That's good stuff. I'm not preaching out of Mark 11, 23, but a very good verse Nonetheless. Very good one. I can't see who's on the media, but don't mind me messing with you. If you didn't. There's a contract. We're going to get it's finalized now. You sign up for that. If you're on media, it's a relationship that we develop. Let me show you Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 4.13. 25:44 Big faith comes from the word of God. It's when you're convinced of God's will, and His Word is His will. See, there is nothing in the Word of God that says you're going to begin a church plant in Manhattan and then, when that church plant groweth, then thou shalt surely set thine sights upon Queens. I've searched it's not in the 66 books of the Bible. It's not in there. But what is in there is that he'll give you victory, that he'll be with you, that he's commanded you to go and preach the gospel to every nation. And then he came and gave me a now word, fresh from the oven of heaven, spoke something to me. Now I have his written word, but I also have his spoken word. What has he been saying to you In the midst of regular, mundane life, in the midst of drudgery, even if you're going through it? This is why we get with God to hear his sweet whisperings, because he's giving you a better word, a better word for it. And if you will get a hold of that word and believe that word, it's that word that will manifest in your life. Amen. And since we have the same spirit of faith, paul teaching in Corinthians according to what is written, I believed and therefore I spoke. Can it get any more plain than this? Don't tell me you're believing and not speaking. Now, you're always saying something, even when you're depressed, busted and disgusted, you're just not speaking anything positive. But many people end up going to the phone instead of the throne, calling up their friend, and then they vent. You won't believe what happened. And then you know, one goes for 45 minutes and just douses their buddy with slime and then it's the buddy's turn. All right, I endured your nonsense for 45 minutes and you think that's bad? Wait till I tell you how my week's been going. And you're prophesying your future and you're releasing faith, just in reverse, oh reverse, luke 17. Oh no, we got to read Romans. I couldn't in the first service, but we got Romans because we're talking about big faith, strong faith Romans 4, 17,. That flexing faith, romans 4, 17. That flexing faith. 28:10 You say it's very hard for me to speak positively, and I know it's hard. I've struggled with that Because this is how I've likened it. You know I used to say crazy glue. I guess that doesn't exist anymore Now. It's all about that gorilla glue. But back in my day that was crazy glue Glue and the working class man right, he put it on his hard hat and the Krazy Glue kept him on the steel beam. When you're really going through it, have you noticed? It's like the devil himself comes and applies if you're older, krazy Glue. If you're younger, gorilla Glue to your lips and seals them tight when you're going crazy glue. If you're younger, gorilla glue to your lips and seals them tight when you're going through it. Why? Why does the devil want you not speaking? Because if you're not speaking, you're not releasing faith and you're not creating with God. Yeah, you think you got it bad. You say you think you got it bad. You say I, I, my circumstances don't match what the word of God says. How can I, how can I speak? 29:17 Imagine you're Abraham and your name means father of many nations. That's what Abraham means. And you got zero kids and every party you go to you know he wore that little tag Say hello, my name is Abraham. You know, when At the socials the leasing agents open house, you have to put on the tag People come and go Abraham. That means father of many nations. Wow, how many kids do you? 29:51 have Zero. Yet God had him keep saying Abraham, abraham, abraham, and decreeing that thing out of his mouth, because that is how faith is released. You don't think he got discouraged. We have scriptural proof that he did. But he kept calling himself by his new name, abraham. As it is written I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of him, whom he believed. 30:18 God, yes, who gives life to the dead? Who gives life to the dead? Everything he touches shall live, oh hallelujah. There've been times in recent history. I was dead. It felt like I was just busted up on the inside. Sometimes life just happens, things happen, and life just happens. Things happen. And then Satan comes in and he's just pushing in on that and leaning in on that wound. Next thing, you know, it's like the whole world is spinning and you're just oh Lord, help me make it through the day. But God gives life to the dead. He'll turn that thing around so quick. If you're feeling dead today, look to Jesus. He specializes in resurrections. Look to Jesus. He specializes in resurrections. 31:13 God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist. It's describing the God kind of faith. See, city, like Queens, didn't exist, but we talked about it like it did. And then what are the chances? I just wanted to have a normal day and the Lord's saying get out. Get out, go in the car, and you need to go, look for a location. But I did that. The laundry won't have us, and that day we ended up here. 31:47 God calls those things which do not exist as though they did. Maybe your prosperity doesn't exist. Call it as though it did. Maybe your spouse in your life right now doesn't exist. Call them as though they did. The breakthrough doesn't exist. The promotion, the increase, call it as though it did. Hallelujah who, contrary to hope, in hope, believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, so shall your descendants be, verse 19,. 32:25 This is pumping now and not being weak in faith. You see, the Bible has categories for different kinds of faith. When heaven looks at me, I want it to say he's not being weak in faith, and I've been there. Would man be pamby, weak, scrawny Mickey Mouse faith, and you know what God would even work with that, and that's what Jesus meant. You need faith as a mustard seed. Don't be happy with mustard seed-sized faith, but I'll work even with that, not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body. He was about 100 years old. They hadn't invented the little blue pill. He needed real resurrection power. If you catch my drift, you guys are kind of young. You took health ed, all right, just making sure that joke landed. Since he was about 100 years old and the deadness of Sarah's womb, I got to throw it in. That's how we get the religious people out. 33:26 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith. That's what we're talking about this morning getting strong in faith. See, when you're walking in faith, the world comes alive. It's like going from black and white to color. Your very cells are crackling with the life of God. You can't wait to get up because you're like I wonder what he's going to do today. That's God's best for you, hallelujah. 33:56 He was strengthened in faith. And how was he strengthened in faith? He gave glory to God in verse 21, being fully convinced that what he had promised he was also able to perform. What has he promised you, hallelujah? I know what he promised me. I know that for years, the opposite of what he promised me seemed to be happening. 34:23 That's painful, but that's where you develop endurance. The book of Hebrews talks about that. It says, oh, you have faith, but you develop endurance. The book of Hebrews talks about that. You have faith, but you need endurance, you need endurance. Anybody can have faith by the end of this sermon. But endurance comes on a Wednesday morning, on a Thursday afternoon, when you see Jenny by the water cooler again not Jenny. We all know about Jenny. When you see Jenny by the water cooler again Not Jenny. We all know about Jenny. It's been a rough morning, train's delayed, and now there's Jenny, but you still. To any Jennys in here, I speak healing over your soul for the damage that might have caused you. I speak healing over your soul for the damage that might have caused you. All right, jesus teaching on faith. Luke 17, verses 5 through 8. Yeah, enduring faith is during the bad times, when you don't see it happening. 35:33 The whole Bible is a collection of stories of men and women of God who didn't give up and endured. And the apostles, see, they got the idea. They realized hey, this man, capital M. No man ever spoke like him before. He speaks with authority to signs and wonders. He's definitely got our attention. He keeps teaching and preaching about faith. So it connected for them. You know how many Christians never even realized I need more faith, I need to grow stronger in faith, I need big faith. At least the disciples got it and they realized okay, we're lacking in this department. So, lord, increase our faith. 36:14 Next verse I'll tell you what the Bible doesn't say to their request, what Jesus didn't do after their request to increase their faith. He didn't wave his hand over them and go more faith. Hand over them and go more faith. He didn't give them a book, 11 principles to greater faith. What he gave them was the word of God. He begins preaching to them because faith comes from the word of God. And this is what Jesus says when they say increase our faith. If you have faith as a mustard seed now, that's misquoted all the the time if you have faith as small as I'm like, it's glorious to have mustard sized faith. No, this is the baseline. If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea and it would obey you. Next verse and which of you? Now let me just pause right here. 37:08 I used to get confused by things like this because I was only 16, had no biblical training, and to me it seemed like Jesus would teach, sometimes like he had ADD. He would just bounce from topic to topic, like they say increase our faith. He talks about a mustard seed, then he starts talking about servants performing tasks and duties. What does that have to do with the price of eggs, which has come down, by the way? It's connected. Actually, whenever it seems like Jesus is going off topic, he's not. He's very good at what he does the best. He's not going off topic. He's teaching on faith here. And which of you having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, come at once and sit down to eat? But will he not rather say to this servant prepare something for my supper and gird yourself and serve me. Serve me till I have eaten. And Is there a next verse? I think that's it. That's it right, that's it. 38:24 What is Jesus talking about? He's saying faith is a servant. Faith is a servant for you, designed to work for you. So get your servant to work, amen. Maybe today we can't relate to this. Back then people had servants. Today we don't have servants. It's like hope, you know, maybe Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few hours just to tidy up. 38:49 The Bible says faith is a servant, your servant. The problem is your servant's asleep. Your servant's in the basement. He's been sleeping for a week. He's underutilized and actually this servant isn't a begrudging servant. This servant lives to serve this servant. It does him good to serve. But some people, because they're not releasing faith, they're not speaking faith, they're not agreeing with the word of God, some people's servant's been asleep for a week, some people's for a month. There's Christians. They smell musty and dusty. You can tell that they're asleep, just like their faith servant is asleep like Rip Van Winkle for over 100 years. Go get your servant, wake him up. 39:44 That faith servant brought salvation to you when you said yes to Jesus. That faith servant brought the baptism of the Holy Ghost to you when you said yes to the Holy Spirit. That faith servant will bring healing to you, blessing to you, the goodness of God to you. But you've got to release in that same spirit of faith, believe and speak as Paul taught, hallelujah. I feel something shifting in the air. Some of you are getting it. Some of you got it enough to say, oh, I better, I better check the words that I'm speaking, I better check on the words that I'm saying. But then you're gonna take it to another level where it's not just now, you're not saying the cursed things you've been saying over your life. Now you're going to replace the saying of negative things with actually co-creating with God and agreeing with his word. Hallelujah, hallelujah. 40:46 Zachariah, that's John the Baptist's dad. Zachariah, that's John the Baptist's dad. An angel showed up to tell him that Elizabeth was going to supernaturally conceive John the Baptist and he had all these questions for the angel and he was in ministry, a position of authority. Now I don't know about you. I'd like to think if a 15-foot angel showed up before me telling me stuff, I would go. Yeah, I agree, I mean Mary had that sense. Gabriel showed up to Mary and she said let it be unto me. According to your word, zachariah's got all these questions he wants to. He's too frontalobian, too logical. I mean, mary was a virgin. She should have had more doubt and unbelief. Zacharias just couldn't conceive with his wife. So you know what the angel did. 41:39 This is in the Bible. By the way, some of you are looking at me like I'm making this up as I go along. I can't show you all the scriptures. Go read the first few chapters of Luke. I can't show you all the scriptures. Go read the first few chapters of Luke. 41:56 The angel strikes him dumb, mute, so he couldn't speak. Yeah, mom, thank you for that. You were always there for me with amens and wows, always. Why? Because he was exhibiting such doubt and unbelief. The heard from god himself, I believe, and said this guy needs to. We got to put the mute button on, lower that volume because the way this guy started he's not going to end well and he's going to end up undoing. You can abort the promise of god. There are spiritual abortions. God says I want to bless you, I'm with you, I'm going to multiply you and you end up going well. That'll never happen. And you know the boomers took all the wealth. You know all the boomers. They didn't leave. It's so hard for Gen Z and millennials now to get a home. You know, and you're committing an abortion in the spirit. Agree with God's word or agree with man. Pick a side, amen. 42:52 Abraham considered not his own body, already dead. That means he ignored it. He wouldn't think about it. I'm sure he had a nagging voice. Bro, you're old Bro, you're really old, you're 100. You're not going to have kids. But he ignored that voice. He considered not his body, whatever voices you're hearing, that's saying you can't you look at God. You hear his voice, the word of God that says you can, hallelujah. Oh, thank you, lord. 43:33 Worship team, I'm going to call you up in about five minutes just letting you know 1 Corinthians 15 57, because we we see the importance of faith and we know faith comes from the word and I'm excited to preach this message. I believe it's. Faith comes from the Word and I'm excited to preach this message. I believe it's a reinforcing to mature believers. But the Lord has been doing something so precious in our midst so many new people, especially people that are completely new to Christianity, like I was when I got saved and that's who we're seeing. The Lord bring more and more of. So. What you're hearing this morning you probably never heard in your life before nothing remotely close. 44:16 Study the person of Jesus in the gospels. You'll fall in love with him when you see him as he really is. And then you'll get a little bit mad because you'll realize religion lied to you your whole life. Renaissance paintings lied to you. Established mainline churches lied to you. He's different, he's unique, he's irresistible, he's amazing. You cannot read about him without falling head over heels in love with him, bowing the knee in utter respect and worship to him. Jesus, study the person of Jesus and then study one of his primary teachings faith and watch what happens in your life. Watch what happens as your faith grows. 45:00 The Bible in Hebrews it says that there was in them found an evil heart. When you hear evil heart, what do you think of Like in the natural? I think of a pedophile an evil heart. I think of Hitler. An evil heart. Right, you know what it says An evil heart of unbelief. That's what's evil. The 10 spies, it says. They brought back an evil report. And what was their? Their report? That there were giants in the land and we can't take the land because they're too big for us and we were like grasshoppers in their eyes. By the way, the giants never even said hey, you guys are like grasshoppers in our eyes. They had this inferiority complex. They put words in the giant's mouth and said oh, we're like grasshoppers. It was an evil report. 45:48 And when God, when God is saying I'm going to bless you, I'm with you, I'm for you, even if you're so down and out you can't hear him. You can't hear him telling you directly. You can read it in his word. He's speaking to you directly and an evil heart will then go oh, that's for everyone else, not me. Nothing good ever happens to me. I break it off for you in Jesus' name. I break it off for you. May the good things of God overwhelm you. He's a good God, a loving God, and he leads you in victory in Jesus' name. 46:23 So I want to give you three scriptures, the three most common areas people struggle in. Number one is the very concept of victory. I just had like a DJ Khaled flashback. I mean, he sings it and everybody gets excited. All I do is win, win. All God wants you to do is win, win, win, win, win, win, win. He wants you to win so much that he came in the form of man, in flesh and blood and he purchased your victory with his own blood. That's how much he wants you to win, win, win. God himself wants you to get tired of winning that you'll be winning so much. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord, jesus Christ. Now let's all say it together, but you say it in the first person. Thanks be to God who gives me the victory through our Lord Jesus, christ. Amen. Just ask Pastor. 47:36 Pastor Mnemo knows about my bad days. Just don't go into the details with him. They don't need to know that kind of ugly. Just ask him if it's true. Is Pastor Bo exaggerating? He'll tell you. I'm not exaggerating. There are, and I wish more passages would be open. You know there's a buffeting that can take place sometimes and there have been times where I felt like my spleen was coming out of my nostrils and my lungs out my ears. I mean just like the old cartoons when they get hit over the head with a mallet and all you see is the birdies flying, and I felt like a loser incarnate. Yet nevertheless, in those times, even when you struggle to believe it, say it, I would say it with a groan. But thanks be to God who gives me the victory in Christ Jesus. 48:37 - Speaker 2 That's when it counts. 48:40 - Speaker 1 Anybody can actually say it in service. Anybody can say it during the good times, but when it counts and when it reverses your environment is when you don't feel like it. Number two people struggle in the area of finances. The Bible has a lot to say about your finances and prosperity, but this is my favorite verse about it. There's dozens of them, but this is my favorite verse because I never heard it preached. I never even heard anybody talk about it. It's very explicit. You can't argue with it. It's not like some obscure verse and you're like let me read between the lines. It's pretty direct and when I discovered it in the Bible it leapt up and I thought why? How come no one ever preaches this? 49:29 Christians are very, very famous for telling people they should be poor, for celebrating poverty, but they're not famous for celebrating God and his prosperity. In fact, the media has done a wonderful job of just putting prosperity and gospel together and slandering that whole thing. Oh, is he with the prosperity gospel? No, no, he's a good preacher. He's with the poverty gospel. He's okay, don't be concerned. He really, really likes poverty. So he's one of the good guys. 50:03 Let's put that verse up Psalm 35, 27. I liked it so much I had him put it on all the offering envelopes and this is the word. If you're struggling in your finances, you need to know this verse. Like you know your own name, find others as well. But what a powerful verse that reveals the character of God. That reveals his will. See, maybe you don't believe God for abundance and prosperity because you're not sure whether he wants that for you. And that's where most people fall. They don't doubt God's ability, but they think, like God has his favorites and then God has his, like kids that he just tolerates, but they're the bad kids. Yet this is for all of his children. Let them shout for joy and be glad. All of his children. Let them shout for joy and be glad. Shout, shout. Who favor my righteous cause, and let them say continually let the Lord be magnified. Who takes pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. Oh, religion hates that. In other words, god just doesn't begrudgingly give you prosperity. He loves to, he enjoys to, but within limits, right? Well, you get to decide how much he can trust you. I know, I see the character of God. He's willing to do obscene things if he can trust you. Obscene, yeah, hallelujah, worshiped him. Come on up. 51:51 And number three people struggle in the area of physical healing. If you've got a pain, a dis-ease, know that God wants you to be at ease. And once again, they have a hard time believing God for healing because they're unsure of his will. Again, they don't doubt his ability, they just doubt his willingness. That's the one in Matthew, matthew chapter 8, I believe, the first couple of verses where the leper comes up to Jesus. If you're struggling in your faith number one you have to be convinced of god's will. But where do you find god's will? You find it only in the bible. One of the things and it'll always happen, one of the things we're big on in the life group don't start. 52:53 Your sentence was with I feel I have you ever noticed when people talk about God? Well, I feel that God, who cares Like seriously, who cares God's truth, doesn't care about your feelings. You feel. Well, I feel that God, you know, I don't really feel there's a hell. I just feel like God at the end will just. 53:17 I mean, feelings and opinions are a dime a dozen. Everybody's got it. You get 10 people together and say what do you think of God? They'll all share their feelings. Feelings change. The word of God stayed the same. It's the same yesterday, today and forever. The plants wither, the flower fades away, but the word of the Lord will stand forever. So what does the word say? And may the Lord heal you if your feelings were hurt over me saying your feelings don't matter. May he bring his healing balm Because I felt some people you know people are made so sensitive today, isn't that right People? Ooh, he hurt my feelings. 53:58 And behold, a leper came and worshipped him, saying Lord, if you are willing, see, he didn't know. He had feelings and he was wondering I don't know, jesus, how you feel about this. I mean, I'm nasty to look at, I'm a leper. You know they weren't even allowed to hang out with regular people. They had to be over in a leper's colony Off to the side. You get near them. They got to shout unclean, unclean, so you can get away from them. What a way to live. So he didn't know how Jesus felt about him. Oh Lord, if you're willing, you can see him Just trepidatious. You can make me clean. 54:37 And then the next verse Jesus settled the debate once and for all about God's willingness this isn't the only I will with regard to healing, by the way, in the scriptures and he always demonstrated healing. Never did he turn somebody away and go. You know what you? Nah, not you. Everybody else gets a miracle, everybody else gets a healing, but not you. That never happens in the Bible. It was always I am willing. Else gets a healing, but not you. That never happens in the Bible. It was always I am willing, I am willing, I am willing. Jesus put out his hands and touched him, saying I am willing Be cleansed Immediately. His leprosy was cleansed and, by the way, did you notice that Jesus spoke? This will open up your eyes. Look at the miracles of Jesus. They always come with words. So where are your words? 55:23 When I was drowning in debt, I actually spoke to my mailbox. You might say that sounds really weird and goofy and crazy. Yeah, but I'm debt free. It might be. I spoke to my mailbox because I found myself very nervous. I'd always go to my mailbox. What credit card statement at 29% APR is waiting for me now? So I started speaking to my mailbox. I said in you will not come credit card bills, but checks and surprises and money and good things. Hallelujah, hallelujah. 56:00 The reason why religion hates this message is because it's empowering. Religion doesn't want God's people empowered. Everything is about keeping you low, keeping you desperate, barely existing, then dying, and then even their view of heaven. Then you die and graduate and you get to play the harp. I don't want to play the harp. You get to play the harp on clouds. No, jesus empowered you. You know what religion hates. 56:39 When Jesus said to those whom the word of God came, have I not said you are gods, lowercase g? This is a teaching that can get bent. But listen, Jesus said to those that are my offspring, that have received the word of God you are gods. Who's your father? Is he divine? Then? What are you? All right, we needed to lose three more. I mean, religion has done a great job of teaching Christians to think nothing of themselves. Yeah, jesus empowered you and spoke life over you. 57:34 When the Bible says he's king of kings and lord of lords, what kings and lords do you think? It's talking about Some king in some country on another continent that's going to eventually bend the knee? Yeah, that'll happen. It's talking about us. Hallelujah, he's king of kings, lord of lords. The Bible calls you a royal priesthood. 57:50 I know that new thing is in calling one another kings If you're not doing it under the umbrella of Jesus. It's nonsense. Under the umbrella of Jesus, yes, you are royalty. Yes, you are yes, and you should have your identity in that that your father, who made you, who formed your inward parts in your mother's womb, the king of kings and lord of lords has taken you and made you, who formed your inward parts in your mother's womb, the King of kings and Lord of lords has taken you and made you royalty yourself. Therefore, hence hitherto, you qualify for the good things of God, you qualify for his victory, you qualify for a life that's richly blessed in every area Peace in your home, peace in your mind, peace in your finances, the shalom, nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. Peace, amen. If you receive it, shout amen. 58:47 - 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.