Touched by the Glory

00:00 - Speaker 1 It was hilarious, like how secure I was, how protected, how he had me in His hand. It was like funny, just like how we allow so many worries and cares and things to come into our hearts when we have the omnipotent, omniscient Creator of the universe that says that he will never leave us or forsake us. It was like I was experiencing them, like the reality of those statements You've got me, I'm your child, I'm your daughter, you care got me. 00:26 - Speaker 2 I'm your child. I'm your daughter. You care about me. 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. 01:03 - Speaker 3 Okay, I got to stop doing these impromptu surveys Because, well, 50% of the people don't participate, at least 65% of the time. So, but I just wanted to see who was here last week, because I was talking about the anointing and the ministry of Jesus and how we can encounter the anointing today and how we should encounter the anointing today. You know, when you read the Bible, you should pay attention to what the Bible emphasizes and that's the emphasis we should have in our modern day life when you read the letters to the first century church. That's actually God's heart for the first century church, through the apostle Paul, through John, through Peter. So if they're putting great emphasis on it, that must mean it's very important and we should put great emphasis on it. But I find that often we put a whole lot of emphasis on it. That must mean it's very important and we should put great emphasis on it, but I find that often we put a whole lot of emphasis on things that you notice the apostles hardly even mention at all, or we ignore a topic that they were very passionate about, and the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is very passionate about the power and the presence of God and the anointing Jesus, as his custom was. The Bible says. He went into the synagogue and he asked for the scroll of the prophet Isaiah and he read from Isaiah 61. And Isaiah 61 begins with the spirit of the Lord, God is upon me because he has anointed me. So Jesus' number one message was on the anointing. 02:46 Yet you can be a Christian for decades in America and never, ever, hear a sermon on the anointing. When I first started out pastoring, I would just talk about the anointing and people would come up to me after service and say well, what is the anointing? I just took for granted, I was young and inexperienced. I just took for granted, I was young and inexperienced. I just took for granted that everybody already knew. The anointing, by the way, is the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit. It's the good stuff. When Jesus ministered, he ministered by the anointing, and when that good stuff got on the people, they became whole, they got freed up, they started to look more like Jesus, and so one of the things that you see, that's emphasized in the New Testament, particularly in the prayers that the Apostle Paul prayed, known as the Pauline prayers you can find two great ones in Ephesians. If you ever don't know what to pray. Go in Ephesians, see what Paul prayed for the first century church, and prayed in the first person over your own life. 03:50 And one of the things he prays for is for people to know the love of God that can't be known. You know, for years I've read that and I would just kind of skip over it because I just thought it was one of those things where the guy in the Bible is wax. You know, for years I've read that and I would just kind of skip over it because I just thought it was one of those things where the guy in the Bible is waxing poetic and being deep, because that sounds deep. Doesn't it Know the love of God that can't be known. But okay, well, I don't like deep if I can't apply it to my life. So what does that mean? How do I know the love of God that can't be known? If it can't be known, I should just give up. But one day I dug into it and I saw that there were two different Greek words used there. The second know is nosti, which means to know intellectually, to know with your mind. But the first one isn't that kind of know. Just bear with me here, track with me. The first one is experience. So what Paul is praying, he's saying I pray that you would experience the love of God, which cannot be known with the mind. You cannot know the love of God by reading about it, by being rational, by processing it mentally. It's something that must be experienced and a lot of things of the Spirit are that way. They're caught, not taught. And so to have an experience with the power and the presence of God, with the Holy Spirit, is something Paul prayed over the first century church. It's something that I pray for you. It's something that's a major emphasis on this church because it's a major emphasis in the Bible. 05:39 Right off in Genesis we see that Abraham had an encounter with God and his life was forever changed. Jacob, he went to go beddy-by, put his head upon a rock, a ladder, came down from heaven. He wrestled with God all night long. He had an experience with God and he was forever changed. After that. You keep on reading. You see Moses in the wilderness with the bush. That burned but wasn't consumed. He had an experience, and an experience is important because a man with a theory a lot of theories out there, but a man with a theory is never at the mercy of a man with an experience. 06:20 God is a God that can be known. I wouldn't be a Christian still if I was just reading about him. I want to know him, you get to know him. I definitely wouldn't be here today, I wouldn't have even planted CityLight Church all those years ago, if I hadn't had multiple, not just one, multiple God encounters where I experienced him. Hallelujah, elisha had an encounter. Elisha had an encounter. Jesus had an encounter and an experience. That's why you don't read much about him before his baptism Little snippet there, when he was 12, 13 years old. But it was at his baptism that the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit came upon him and he had an encounter. And Jesus is our example, and Jesus, everything you see, Jesus experience. The whisper to you is you can too. He's your example, he's your role model and his ministry began after an encounter and an experience. And I so desperately want you to have multiple, multiple God encounters. 07:43 Christians seem to well. It's easy for them to fall into two camps. One is just all frontal, lobe-y and egg-heady. Everything has to make sense. Some people even wear it as a badge of honor. You know well I'm very illogical. That's great. That means you pay your bills on time, you don't jaywalk, definitely file your taxes every year, be logical, be responsible, but don't think that your mind can now apply to an infinite God. You're going to pigeonhole him. You're going to try to put him in a box. He's going to blow your mind away. So he's not the holy brain, he's the Holy Spirit, and you cannot understand the Holy Spirit and you cannot understand the Holy Spirit with your holy brain. Your spirit is gonna engage the Holy Spirit. 08:32 I want to show you something from Corinthians. That's 2nd Corinthians, I believe. Yeah, chapter 12, verses 2 through 4. Paul is talking about himself. Let me let the cat out of the bag right away. In the third person, I know a man in Christ who, 14 years ago whether in the body, I do not know, or whether out of the body, I do not know Paul is talking about an encounter he had with the Lord. Here he says it was so intense that I didn't even know if I myself was in my own physical body or if I was taken out of my physical body. It doesn't even seem like that's important. What's important is that I met God, but it was to such a degree where I don't even know if I I mean, I've never had that. I've had incredible encounters with the Lord, but I still knew I was in this old temple. That's something where you go, you're looking around. Am I still in my physical form or not? God knows. 09:37 Such a one was caught up to the third heaven. The Hebrews believed in three heavens. One was the sky, the heavens, the clouds. Like in Genesis, it says, God created the heavens and the earth. It's talking about the atmosphere. The second heavens is the spiritual realm. The third heaven is the heaven that we normally think of when we say the word heaven, the abode of God, where God dwells, where his throne is. He said I was caught up into the third heaven, the very abode of God, where God dwells, where his throne is. He said I was caught up into the third heaven, the very abode of God. And I know such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know. God knows how. 10:16 He was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Can you imagine the apostle Paul? We don't know what he was singing. He could have been praying, maybe he was just walking and he had a God encounter where he didn't even know if it was in his own body or not. He was caught up into heaven and he heard the language of heaven. What did he see? Could be? He got the whole gospel that way because, he said, he got the gospel by revelation, the gospel of grace. He heard a language, he heard words which were beyond human comprehension, but his spirit understood them. He said, but it's not even lawful, it would be inappropriate to even say them. And I know a little bit what he's talking about because in one of the encounters with the Lord probably top three most profound encounters I ever had was when I was 17 years old. 11:15 When I had this encounter, I wasn't allowed to even talk about it for 10 years. You say, how were you not allowed? I went to tell a few friends and the moment I even thought about telling them, I felt like the Lord just shh, don't talk about this. This is between you and me, this is special, this is holy, this is private. After 10 years it was like he said now you can share. For 10 years I kept that to myself. No other human knew. This makes all the difference in the world. 11:52 You want to have staying power with the Lord. You want to experience abundant life, you're going to need two things the Word of God and the Spirit of God, as some people are just Word Christians. All Word, you dry up. Some people are just Holy Spirit Christians. But if you don't have the word as your barometer of truth and as your foundation, you become flaky and weird. All word you dry up. All spirit you blow up. You put the two together, you grow up. Amen. And when the trumpet sounds, sounds, you'll go up church. On Sunday, you'll show up. The QR code comes up, you pay up. Hey, hallelujah makes you solid. 12:46 Jesus he I'm going to call it Jesus he rebuked the Pharisees. He said you know not the scriptures nor the power of God. You're just caught up in your religion and your tradition. What we're doing is raising up a people here who know both the scriptures and the power of God, and the two go hand in hand. Eat just a bunch of bread, which is the word. You're going to get crusty and dry If you only drink wine. No bueno, eat some bread, a little bit of wine, muah, amen. 13:24 So I've shared my encounters. I believe it's important that you hear from people who've had encounters with the Lord because that'll help open you up to receive from the Lord. He wants to visit you. Prayer is not supposed to be dry. Prayer is not supposed to be one way. It's supposed to be a two-way street. He wants to minister to you, meet you in those times, touch your spirit, show you what's to come. Some of you have questions that are circulating inside of your souls. You may be confused when he shows up. All that is just cleaned right out, it's wiped away, and I feel this really in my spirit as we close out, because we're now in September. Got what? One or two more days? Is it tomorrow? September the 1st? That's it. 14:22 Sometimes I wonder about those scriptures where it talks about the days getting faster and the Lord would need to lengthen the days, and because I know time goes faster as you get older, but everybody's saying it my own son is like 2025, he's 11. He sounds like he's 65. He's like Dad, how's it? September already? But it really feels like everything is in fifth gear now. Time is moving faster and now we're closing out 2025 in just a few months. We need the Lord, we need his presence. So I 2025 in just a few months. We need the Lord, we need his presence. So I want to ask a few people to just share an encounter they had with the Lord. I'm going to ask my wife to come up first. Just come on up and share. Pastor Mo, where's that mic? 15:09 - Speaker 5 Oh, he has a mic for you, thank you. So I shared this in first service that just a Sunday, about eight or nine months ago, we were here worshiping and I guess it was just a season where I felt distracted and worried and my mind was more full of those things than the reality of the Lord and I sort of just in my mind saw Jesus right in front of me here and with his hand out to me and I just felt him saying it's great to see you and I guess what I took away from it was just being overwhelmed by his nature. I cried and cried that Sunday because I was coming in feeling guilty and there was things I hadn't done that I meant to do and I was just overwhelmed by there was nothing else I needed to do, but just that the Lord was happy to see me. 16:08 - Speaker 3 Awesome, yeah, I'll take that. Chris, will you come up and share Now? She cried and cried, and cried, you said, for several hours. I remember that Sunday I gotta get my wife to test my to find out what's going on, because I didn't hear any of this until the first service. I didn't know any of that. We just got back home. She asked me what I wanted for lunch, but I remember you were like Gonzo for a couple of hours and that's all it takes sometimes to realign us. That's why we you know the old timers sang those songs like just one glimpse of your glory, Just one touch of your hand. 16:49 And that moment, as you're pressing in and your expector is out, and then you see a glimpse of his glory, and then it's in those moments you realize how messed up you got, Because you think everybody thinks you're kind of doing fine. And then you see him and he quickly straightens you out and you're overwhelmed with his love and then you go whoa, I was in a bad spot and all it took was one look from your eyes to get me in the right spot. Amen, I think it's on. Yes. 17:17 - Speaker 6 So I grew up, obviously, here in New York, grew up in an imperfect family, grew up going to a religious church. So by the time I came to CityLight I had a lot of stuff on me pain, hurt, religion. I remember having one encounter at our Friday nights in 7th Street. I remember having one encounter at our Friday nights in 7th Street and I remember just being just experiencing the presence of the Father, experiencing his love, literally feeling like fear and pain and hurt fall off of me and chains being broken? 17:44 - Speaker 3 Was this during worship or during worship During? 17:46 - Speaker 6 worship, during worship, just literally feeling the Spirit, just break stuff off of me, feeling love, and for me, I grew up hearing about God and I grew up hearing the God of the Bible and growing up in churches like that. But to have a moment where I can actually experience his love and experience his presence and experience the love he had for me, because in reality you can always hear about somebody but you don't know what they're like until you actually experience them and encounter them. And I was able to encounter him and then I understood his love for me because I literally could experience it for myself. And like my testimonies are like I've been transformed by his love, because all the religion left, all the frontal lobe that you would say stuff left for me because, like, obviously I had all these thoughts or preconceived notions what I thought God was like, but it was like, upon meeting him and actually encountering him, I got to know who he really was and then he like showed me who he, who I was too. 18:41 And a big part of our walk is because, growing up in religious circles, you can think life is all about service and ministry and even doing things for the Lord, when really it's about knowing him, and the Lord gave me this revelation that, like, we can do all these things and not know him and miss it, and the Lord was showing me how important it is to actually know him for myself. So the thing I want to share with everybody here today is that God wants to know you and wants to encounter you, and when I was praying for these encounters, I had a hungry desire and I didn't know if the Lord was going to meet it, but he did and, like the Lord, I feel like to say this the Lord will meet people if you're hungry for it, and his desire is to reveal himself deeper. If that makes sense, I think that's my testimony Awesome. 19:29 - Speaker 3 Awesome. Thank you, Chris Yari. Will you come on up and share here you go? Hi you, Chris Yari. Will you come on up and share here you go? 19:37 - Speaker 7 Hi CityLight. So when Pastor Bo asked me to share about my encounters with God, he brought me back to my first encounters with him. I was raised and born in Puerto Rico and I was Catholic and, interestingly, even though my life was like a checklist right, I do all my sacraments. I did all my sacraments, went to church every Sunday. My relationship with God was really distant. You know, I never had an encounter with him and when I came here in 2015, and you know, I came with my walls, you know, full of fear and really not understanding God's love, because the relationship I had with him was a very distant one and my focus was more of me. The focus was on me. What can I do? You know, um, instead of who God is and his love for me and how much I he wants to give me the access, all the access that I have so I just want to make sure I'm understanding you right. 20:48 - Speaker 3 You're, when you say your focus was on you and what I could do, you mean from a religious perspective, my works, your works, my works, her focus. I think this is important. Her focus was on what she needed to correct and what she needed to do to earn more of his favor. And it resonates with me because one of my earliest encounters the one that I wasn't allowed to talk about for 10 years I was in God's palm. I mean, I was 17 years old. I was in a hotel room with like six teenagers around me and a youth leader strumming a guitar, but I went to the carpet, closed my eyes, I was in his palm and it was a profound experience. I felt immediately his anointing. I started bawling and it was a profound experience. 21:32 I felt immediately his anointing. His guy started bawling and he was lifting me up towards his face and I braced for impact. I thought here comes the rebuke he's going to now tell me everything that I'm doing wrong, because that's what was in my mind. You know, we're very religious creatures, even though I came from an agnostic, atheist family with zero religion, but we always have a predisposition towards religion and towards trying to work on ourselves and do something for God. So I'm thinking, now is going to come the big correction, the big rebuke of everything I needed to do. And instead he just smiled at me and I never saw such love emanating from a face. And then I was already crying like a little baby, shaking like a leaf. And then he smiles at me with like pleasure, like ah, so what do you? You mean, you don't want anything from me, you just want me. 22:29 - Speaker 7 It was incredible, but go on, yeah, so I felt that I had to earn his love. So it was very distant. And, yes, I remember when I started coming to CityLight and really understanding, you know, God grace and his love for me and really grasping and understanding my identity in Christ. You know that I was a daughter of the Most High God. You know walls started to, you know, fall and I remember my experiences with God. You know a few of them were literally. 23:04 - Speaker 3 Give me the top one. 23:06 - Speaker 7 It was like at home. 23:08 I was at home and I just got good news and I just started laughing. 23:13 You know, the Holy Spirit took over and I just got good news and I just started laughing. 23:15 You know, the Holy Spirit took over and I was laughing and it was funny because my roommate's cat was in my room at that moment and I was just like like laughing non-stop and my, my core was like hurting him and the cat really was looking at me like, and you know, it was so simple, like I felt that in that moment that God was just smiling at me, like what you said. 23:42 He was just smiling at me and he was just letting me know I was just experiencing that joy and that peace Like I got you, you know, I love you and there's more that I want to give you and and it's it's, it's it's always laughter. I remember, I know the time this is a short one I was in a lot of pain, physical pain, and I just surrendered to him and I started sharing with him and again I just like started feeling that joy and and and laugh that I couldn't contain. So it's about experiencing the love of God and I think that's just a reminder of knowing who you are, who God is, and he will just reveal to you his love. 24:27 - Speaker 3 That is awesome, thank you, and some of you need to know that God will touch you to the point where you laugh. I don't think all of you know that. Some of you hear people laughing and you're thinking that's so rude. They must be scrolling and saw a funny TikTok and now they're laughing in church. Or they got a funny text no, psalm 126, when the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, we were like men who dream. Then our mouths were filled with laughter. The scripture says it doesn't just say we laughed, our mouths were filled with laughter. It seems to denote a higher level of laughing. It seems to denote a higher level of laughing. 25:19 Imagine what could happen if you took the brakes off in your relationship with the Lord and quit playing it safe. And you didn't view prayer as just coming in quickly and giving him your grocery list, but you wanted to engage the Holy Spirit. You'll be safe. The Lord goes with you. Some unholy spirit is going to come in instead of the Holy Spirit not when you're calling on the name of Jesus, and a God encounter will change you forever. Mauricio, let's hear from you. It's starting to feel like those old Pentecostal churches, because he was sitting all the way in the back. So it's like is Brother Mauricio here and he's like I'm here, and then a slow walk all the way. People don't like the silence and they clap. All right, brother Mauricio, I want you to bless the people with your testimony. Oh my God. 26:23 - Speaker 10 Get the towel out. Well, good morning CityLight. My name is Mauricio. As you know, I used to ride thoroughbreds for a living. I used to be a jockey. I used to ride in Aqueduct Belmont in Saratoga and I had my life set where I wanted it to go. I was riding races. I had what the world wanted. I was set. But yet inside my heart there was a hole, but I didn't know it. I knew there was something missing, but I really didn't know. I had a background from Catholic Catholic background. When I was young, in church the Catholic priest would go around shaking his hands because me and my brother would laugh and he came and smacked me because you're not supposed to laugh in church. I said to myself if that's God, I don't want anything to do with him, you know. So I was just done with religion. Let me just say this. 27:21 - Speaker 3 Now that I've moved to Long Island, I can't tell you how many stories like this I've heard. Long Island, you know a lot of Italians, a lot of, but like, if you're like and used to be catholic, you're like, wow, that's weird I'm talking to like anybody who's catholic over 60 in long island. They have a story of a priest hitting them. Yeah, it's just wild, is it true? I just like to say that that for 23 years now 23 and a half I've never hit any one of you, never, ever struck anyone there's freedom here. 27:52 - Speaker 10 So. So my heart was like I don't want nothing to do with that. God you know, absolutely not. So I was in my own lane going, doing what I wanted to do in my heart riding races, having fun. But yet, like I said, I had a hole in my heart. And then I was going out with this girl and her brother kept inviting me to this bible study and I'm like yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, one day I'll go. And he kept inviting me to this Bible study and I'm like yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, one day I'll go. And he kept inviting me like five, six times. All right. The sixth time I was like all right, I'll go. 28:26 So I walk into this basement place and they got guitars and it was all strange to me. I'm like wow, what is this? I've never experienced anything like this, because you know, you got the bells in the Catholic church, you got the incense and all that. But this was like so weird. I said okay, I'll just chill, check it out. And then I just felt this liquid love come into my heart. I was like wow. And I just started sweating Like what is going on? 28:49 And I asked the pastor was there, what's happening? And he goes this is Jesus and he goes, is he's real. You know, and I was like that was like the, the, the turning point in my life to to understand that the loving God is waiting for us to be open, to be loved, because we're objects of his love and every single one of us here today he wants to love on us because he, he, he put this specific touch of his love that he only you can understand as you're touched by the master, by the king, by his love that you can render your heart because the religion I got to tell you religion sucks okay, but with relationship with Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit, you can walk with them in such a manner that it makes you whole. It makes you whole. So that was my testimony that changed my life. Awesome, thank you. So that was my testimony that changed my life. 29:57 - Speaker 3 Awesome, yeah, thank you. I'm going to be praying for you this week. I'm going to be praying for you this week. I'm going to be trusting the Lord and asking him to visit you while you're praying. And it begins with you just expressing to the Lord that you want more. You want more of him. You want your relationship with him to deepen. Open your mouth and just whisper to him Lord, fill me with your Holy Spirit, fill me afresh, Lord, I want more of you. And then get out of your head. Don't get bound with the paralysis of analysis. You cannot be a controlling person and experience God's presence. You've got to relinquish control to him. Take the brakes off and just say Lord, whatever you want to do, do in me this week. Are you ready? How many of you are ready? Can you put another mic in the amazon cart for next week, Kate? Won't you come on up? We got a broken mic for you hi guys, I'm Kate. 31:22 - Speaker 9 Um, I want to talk to you guys about freedom in worship and how I first experienced it. So, growing up grew up in a Presbyterian church, so what I saw from the worship leaders was that the posture of worship is reverence to God, and physically it looked like this. And so growing up with just that idea that I couldn't really fully express or dance in front of the Lord, even though David did. But we don't do that anymore. It was so confusing to me and I remember growing up hearing that you know, if you had any hidden sin, then you couldn't take communion. Children weren't allowed to take communion. So I knew that God was holy, I knew that he was good, I knew that he. 31:59 - Speaker 3 Can I just interrupt you. What's hidden sin? 32:01 - Speaker 9 I don't know. 32:06 - Speaker 3 They didn't tell me. I don't know either. I've heard that too. If you have any hidden sin, like don't we all hide our sin? Yes, I don't broadcast mine. I mean, I show it to the Lord. But see, you hear all these things. If you have hidden sin in your life, don't take communion. Well, it confuses everybody. Then you got like half the church wondering if they should take communion or not, lest the lightning bolt hits them. And communion is God's medicine, communion is how you get better. And now half the people aren't taking God's medicine because they have, quote unquote, hidden sin. Anyway, that was just my commercial break, Kate. 32:36 - Speaker 9 Thank you, all right, yeah, so, and what's so funny is that people would just flood up. I was like, oh, they don't got hidden sin, but I have hidden sin. I was like I didn't understand. Anyway, but the Lord plucked me out of the world at a really young age. I grew up Christian my whole life and then, as quarantine hit, I lost all my friends from school and the Lord really just I feel like he still is putting me in a season of hiddenness. 32:59 I came to CityLight in 2021, when I was just turning 16, and the Lord just really spoke to me clearly about a calling and worship ministry I have, and so I started leading worship here and it was amazing. But I just had all of these like old ideas, these old mentalities about how I needed to approach worship and, as a type a person, it got even worse because I was like, well, now I gotta lead people. Well, and now, if God's not pleased with me, then how do I do it? I don't want to let down other people, and there was just a constant dialogue of the fear of man. And I remember, in 2023, I went to a worship conference and I will never forget what the worship leader said. It was just a small group of us who came after service and he said the presence of God is here. This is your home. Lie down, cry, laugh. This is where you meet your father and you have permission to worship here. 33:48 And I remember that being such a new concept to me that I could worship God freely, because I've heard it, but I never experienced it before and I will never forget. The guy next to me was full on doing the running man and me a couple of years ago would have been like devil, but it was just the most healing experience, watching somebody do the running man in the presence of the Lord, and it just broke something in me. It broke the mental walls that I had. It broke the hard, hardness that I had and I realized that the Father wants me to come as I am, that even though he's placed an assignment on my life, all he wanted all this time was just me, and that was the most freeing thing ever. 34:38 And I remember that, as I also joined in the running band, that the words that I was singing started to actually mean something to me, that I was actually becoming an object of worship unto the Lord, and it broke down all those barriers, that I had to perform, that I had to do good, that I had to earn his love, even though I knew that I didn't have to. 35:00 I just it was just all head knowledge before and it finally sank into my spirit and all the shame left me and I realized that when you do have distractions in worship as I know we've all experienced those intrusive thoughts the purpose of coming into the presence of the Lord reveals all the darkness that we've been hiding, and so it's his mechanism of healing us, of restoring us, and music has such a special way of uniting heart, mind, spirit, body all to be aligned in the presence of God. So I experienced true freedom in so many ways that night, and whenever I do have those thoughts of performance, I can think back to that moment and just thank the Lord that his freedom was given to me and that he's never going to take it back. 35:42 - Speaker 3 Amen. Thank you, Kate. Awesome Natalie, why don't you come on up? Is this blessing you? A plethora, an abundance, a cornucopia of different experiences? I'm trying to find you. Each person has a different story. I want you to see that maybe you're not that unique in the struggles you may have, in the obstacles you think are ahead of you. Sometimes, the way it's presented from the pulpit, you can believe the lie that God just visits a special few, but he longs for all of his children. Amen, amen. 36:30 - Speaker 1 Awesome. Hello everyone. For me, one of the most powerful encounters that I had with the Lord was different how I'd always experienced him before. I was very comfortable with crying in the presence of the Lord, like weeping. I was like, okay, I got that that's, that's comfortable to me. And what Pastor Bourne was sharing really resonated because I didn't realize, like how much control that I had, that I was like, okay, Lord, you can touch me this way, you can touch me in these kinds of confines, in this kind of environment. But I don't think I even realized I was saying not in these, but really like my heart was. 37:04 And when people would especially like laugh in the presence of the Lord, it would really bother me. I know for those that you, for those that know me, I know that that's funny, but it really would. It would just like yeah, and I and again, I don't think I ever said verbally like don't do that to me, Lord, but I in my heart I was like yeah, not like that, that's ridiculous, they look, they look ridiculous. And um, and it was in this. I went to this meeting and I remember sitting there before and I was really the Lord had definitely brought me to a place where I was hungering from. I wanted more. It felt like there was just I don't know that there was just so much more that he wanted to do in my heart. I felt like just things that were going on in my life that I wanted freedom from, and so I was very like I was coming with an expectation. But I remember like Holy Spirit led me to kind of say you can touch me however you want to. And I remember like even saying that I was like, oh, do I really like? Do I really mean that? Like you know, like cause, again in your head you're thinking like I don't know where I got these like ideas, but like people would just be like swinging off their shit, just doing these wild things, and and I'm very prim and proper, and I was like that just does not go along with my personality. But anyway, long story short, um, and and even in that, like the Lord actually ended up calling me out through the minister, and that was something that I was not comfortable with. I was like, oh gosh, no, I'm gonna be in front of everyone. But I kind of just surrendered. 38:26 I went up and he spoke over me. He said no more sorrow, only joy and I fell out under the power of God and it changed my life and it was so amazing because I didn't know that joy could actually heal you. But, like, as I was laughing I'm just laughing Like these sounds are coming out of my mouth I was like, are these human sounds? Like they were just ridiculous sounds, and I'm laughing and laughing and laughing on the floor, like rolling around and I'm like what is going on? But I literally just felt like I had experienced a lot of pain, a lot of grief, a lot of sorrow from different people in my life very close to me passing away, and just the hurts of life as we go on our journey, and I literally felt like, as I'm laughing, just like these things are being broken off of me. 39:13 I saw Jesus, like removing shackles from my wrists and from my ankles and it was just so profound that I was like I knew that, like when I got up off that ground, I'm like I'm not going to be the same anymore. Like this was something that, like when I got up off that ground, I'm like I'm not going to be the same anymore. Like this was something that like marked me for life and one of the most beautiful things that Jesus did, in that encounter as well, is that I had lost my best friend and I had so much guilt because I didn't really share with her the love of God. I didn't really talk about my relationship with him, even though I wasn't following him that closely, and I was just like I just had these like dread, this dread that she was in hell and that I'd never see her again, and it tormented me and in that moment the Lord showed me that that she was in heaven, with him in it, and it blessed my heart so much. 40:02 And I just feel like in that encounter it proved that like, like in that laughter, it wasn't just joy, it was like this like sense of security, that it was like hilarious how much he loved me. It was hilarious. It was hilarious like how secure I was, how protected, how he had me in his hand. It was like funny, just like how we allow so many worries and cares and things to come into our hearts when we have the omnipotent, omniscient creator of the universe that says that he will never leave us or forsake us, that we are in the palm of his hand. And so it's like, as those, like those verses and those affirmations that are again like people say, that were in my head. It was like I was experiencing them, like the reality of those statements, by just the laughter being like oh my gosh, yeah, you've got me, I'm your child, I'm your daughter, you care about me and even in the simple little thing like my friend, you're in that and it matters to you. Because it matters to me. 41:02 - Speaker 3 Thank you. Thank you, I'm getting a distinct impression in my spirit. There are some people here. You really think you're on the mothership right now. These testimonies are not making much sense to you and you might have even had the thought. I've never heard of things like this, which is, when people say it in the wrong spirit, a really arrogant statement, because what they're saying is I've heard of every way that God moves, but not this way. Therefore, it can't be real, because I have never heard of anything like this. I want to ask you a question. 41:42 Acts, chapter 2,. It's when the Holy Spirit was first given to the church. It's the day the church was birthed. There was a hundred and twenty people in the upper room. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was one of those people. Eleven of the disciples, judas had gone away, 120 of them in an upper room. The Holy Spirit is poured out on them. They're filled with the Holy Spirit. 42:08 The Bible says they speak in other tongues. When they step out, the people on the streets of Jerusalem think they're drunk. Why did they think they were drunk? Some people might say well, because they were all speaking in other languages. But that's really weird, because here we are in Astoria. Queens. You go walk down Steinway. You'll hear a lot of different languages, but you don't ever think look at that alcoholic, look at that drunkard. Sunday noon sounds like they're speaking Lebanese, but they're probably probably just a drunk. Maybe they're high on crack. No, you never think that. So there must be something else they were doing to warrant all of Jerusalem thinking they were drunk. What could it be? Well, how do drunk people act? They're free, they're not self-conscious. They laugh, some cry, and the drunkenness that the Holy Spirit gives it gives life and not death, which is what natural alcohol does. Anika, why don't you share your testimony? 43:39 - Speaker 4 Hi everyone. So this encounter happened a few years ago. I was a sophomore in college, fall semester, and I just was having the worst time ever. I was miserable, I was sad, I was unhappy and I just didn't know what to do. It felt like there was a big black hole in my heart and it was getting bigger and bigger and taking over and I did everything that I knew I could. I was just following the trends. I was going out with my friends, partying, whatever, but just it just kept getting bigger and blacker and was just taking over and I just didn't know what to do. 44:16 At the time I was friends with some people. They were Pentecostal and they would tell me about Jesus and they would say you know, God loves me and he wants to have a personal relationship with me. Coming from the background of being Catholic, I was like what? This is news to me and I just didn't know what to do with it. So I just kind of put it away, tucked it away. I was very curious, but at the same time I didn't know how to tackle that because of my background. So I just okay, interesting, all right, just keep moving. 44:49 And so that night, that particular night, I was in my dorm. I was in a uh, you know, in a dorm room with four other people. Um well, I had my own room, but the other three had their own rooms as well. I was in my bedroom, the door was closed, and then there were people around, like outside, but I, I just felt that night it was just the worst. I don't know what happened. I just felt, you know, just the whole blackness, darkness was just worst. I don't know what happened. I just felt, you know, just the whole blackness, darkness was just all over me, all around me, and I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know what, how to get out of it. 45:13 So I was laying in my bed and I just started crying and weeping and I was just like. I felt like something was missing in my life and I didn't know what to do. And I was just weeping and I put my head on my pillow because the walls were thin. I didn't want people to hear me. So I was just like weeping and crying. I'm like, oh my gosh, like what am I doing? What should I do? I have no one to reach out to. 45:34 And then I remembered, in that moment, I remembered what my friend said that you know, God loves me and he, they told me a bunch of other things. And then in that moment I think that was the Lord kind of reminding me and I was like, well, God, if what they said it's real, if it's true, then I really need you right now because I don't know what to do and I don't think I'm gonna survive this. And um, and I was crying and weeping. And then, as soon I said this and I cried for a little bit more, and then I felt like somebody was in the room with me and took this big, heavy blanket of comfort and put it and it just like covered me with it. And as soon as that fell over me, I just felt perfect peace. And then immediately, just like, I stopped crying, I stopped weeping and I just I felt so good. 46:20 And then I fell asleep right after and um, so the following morning, um, I am waking up and I'm like usually when I have those types of episodes, I know that I have to fight to get out of bed. I can't stay in bed, I have to go out, I have to talk to people, I can't stay in the funk. But as I'm waking up, I realize, oh, I don't feel heavy. I don't feel that gross heavy thing upon me, I feel light. I am happy right now. I feel so happy. I felt light as a feather and I was like, whoa, this is crazy. 46:50 You know, I knew that something had happened, I just didn't know what happened. I knew it was the Lord, but I just I didn't have the terminology, I wasn't walking with the Lord, but I knew that God did something. So I got up, went to have breakfast and started hanging out with you, out with my friends, the ones who were telling me about Jesus, and then finally I decided to go to church with them, because I was Catholic. I was like, I'm not going to your church, I'm Catholic. So I finally decided to go and that's how I received the Lord. But the Lord, really, you know, when you hear the word of God, when people share those words with you even though you have not experienced it, but if you bring it to him, be like, hey, they said this, confirm your word and he will. And he did that night. He really removed that darkness out of me, that funk, and I've never felt it again since that night, and I wasn't even saved yet. So Thank you, Lord. 47:36 - Speaker 3 So awesome you can give a good pass. Worship team, come on up. Hallelujah, thank you, hallelujah. Thank you all of you who shared. I want to do this. I want to get services nowhere near over, but I just, for administrative reasons, right now kind of in the middle, I want to receive our tithes and offerings. So be really silent and act depressed and we'll put the giving information on the screens to either side of me. Give with a glad heart, give in faith. Can we just? Let's try that again. That felt a little not revival-y. We're going to worship and honor the Lord with our tithes and offerings, amen, amen. Do you want to say anything, pastor Moe? When it comes at the end, I'm no good at it. I got one thing on my mind right now I want to see them touched. Anything you want to. 48:39 - Speaker 8 Just know that we do have three different ways to give. If you point your smartphone at the QR code, it'll take you to our safe and secure landing page where you can give by faith and trust the Lord Amen. 48:52 And the connection card too Do that Well, that's a whole separate thing. Praise God On your chair was a connection card and, as the name implies, we do want to connect with you, not just to get a record of your visit, but here's the thing to honestly give you an opportunity to be a part of something. CityLight Church literally has something happening every day of the week, because it's not just a Sunday morning gig. Amen, being a Christian is not an individual sport if you will, but it's family. 49:24 It's connection, it's accountability, it's friendship. So we invite you, fill out the connection card. If you're a first-time guest, take that connection card to the VIP table in the front. We actually have a gift for you. Also, too, if you're not a first-time guest, the connection card is still for you If you ever want to meet with a pastor, you ever want to get prayer put in one of your petitions, to have somebody pray with you, believe with you for something big that's happening in your life. You want to sign up for a volunteer team, sign up for a coming life group? In the fall, the connection card is for you. Amen, alright, stand to your feet. 49:59 - 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 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 CityLight Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.