Walking in Love, Living in Power

00:00 - Speaker 1 Faith is connected to love and faith works through love. That means that if I have tons of faith in my heart and I'm speaking it out, but I'm not walking in love, my faith won't be working. This is essential to me, receiving from the Lord in prayer, in my love walk, because when you don't have love, your faith, it's like two wires that sometimes connect, but the rest of the time there's no life, there's no current flowing. 00:26 - Speaker 2 Welcome to the CityLight Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us. If you want to connect with CityLight Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. As you listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded by His grace and that he has a real hope and a future for you. That he has a real hope and a future for you. 01:06 - Speaker 1 It's so good to have you with us. Good to have those of you joining us online with us as well. We're going to start off this morning with an ordination. I'm really excited to have Brian Anderson here. His wife Heidi, his kids are here. You came to support dad so good, and so Brian has been with us since 2019. 01:41 Many of you have heard his testimony of how he was horrendously backslidden, not looking for God, ended up in one of our services. The Lord touched him, brought him back to himself, and we've been meeting for a while now and actually it's got to be over two years where you said you know I love the Lord and he's done such a work in my heart and you know I really feel ministry on my heart as well. If there's anything you know, and if anybody comes and says that to me, I have the same thing. I tell them because we don't have like a plug-and-play operation. The counsel you get from me is going to be well, start ministering right where you are, wherever you are now. Let those gifts flow out of you. Start loving people. Start receiving. Let those gifts flow out of you. Start loving people, start receiving from the Lord and giving what you receive to the people. And Brian did exactly that, and many of you know him because his house is always open, hosting life groups, going to life groups, and he never asked to be ordained. But I felt, strongly, strongly over the course of multiple months, that he needs to be ordained, he needs to be in ministry and he's going to serve along with the CityLight elders in the governance of this church, and so we're excited about that. 03:09 I want to just go to Acts, chapter 13. Hallelujah, he is an attorney full time and owns his own legal practice, runs it, and so when we say, go into ministry, he's not. If you still have a legal problem, he's your guy. We say, go into ministry, he's not. If you still have a legal problem, he's your guy. He's going to be bivocational. But one thing that impressed me about him, that I noticed, is that although the law is a love of his, it's not his first love. He's fallen madly in love with Jesus and wants to see Jesus's kingdom come, and so in Acts 13, 1, we have the early apostles and it says now, in the church that was at Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers Barnabas Simeon, who was called Niger, lucius of Cyrene Manan, who had been brought up, with Herod, the Tetrarch and Saul, verse 2. 04:07 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted. By the way, ministering to the Lord is something that activates the voice of the Holy Spirit. You say what's ministering to the Lord? Well, what we just did, we're serving him with our praise and worship. We just had praise and worship. That's ministering to the Lord. You're serving him with our praise and worship. We just had praise and worship. That's ministering to the Lord. You're serving him, whispering to him, talking to him, waiting on him, praising him, singing him. 04:35 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, why don't you combine fasting when ministering to the Lord? Is it any wonder the Holy Spirit said on the heels of them, ministering to the Lord and fasting? And I wonder. The Holy Spirit said on the heels of them ministering to the Lord and fasting. And I love. The Holy Spirit said If you heard my message last week, I can do anything if I had a Holy Spirit said on the topic. The Holy Spirit said now separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So what's happening here is separation. There is calling. 05:15 Brian was called before he was in his mother's womb. But there's separation, and so he's being separated for the work of the ministry and I'm going to ask Pastor Rob and Pastor Mo to come and join me. And Brian, won't you come, stand, and you can stand right there and, congregation, I'd like you, you can face me and congregation, won't you stretch your hands towards him and go ahead, lay your hands upon him? Hallelujah, hallelujah, father, we thank you for the holiness of this moment. Thank you, Lord, that your hand comes upon Brian mightily. Lord, he's being separated you've ordained it so separated to your work. Now, Lord, father, we ask that you put a mighty mantle upon him that he would move in the gifts of. We ask that you put a mighty mantle upon him that he would move in the gifts of the spirit, that he would be mighty in the scriptures and fully your word. Lord, that he would love fiercely and vigorously all who are around him. Lord that you would work miracles by his hands. Lord that many people would come into the kingdom as a result of him and what his family say and do and proclaim. We bless the Andersons and Brian right now and welcome him, Lord, into the eldership of CityLight Church. In Jesus' name, shout a big amen, amen, hey, and thank you for the anointing upon him, hallelujah, thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord. 07:02 I said this at the end of the second service. I'm going to say it in the beginning of this one. How many of you remember when Trump was called, called them all fine people on both sides. Remember that? That was all over the media, fine people on both sides. There was a big white supremacist rally. I don't even remember what was happening. A lot of rednecks, a lot of red supremacists, a lot of anger torches. He said find people on both sides. And I've heard it as recently as just six months ago and people believe this with all of their hearts. Okay, you listen to that clip, not a half an hour later, not an hour later, right after he says find people on both sides. Five seconds later, five seconds later, he says I'm not talking about the white supremacists. Okay, yet people to this day will argue with you and say he said find people. 08:04 The information is out there. People don't want to hear it. Your algorithm knows you. Its job is to keep you engaged and its job is to keep you angry, pacified, happy people don't doom scroll 12 hours a day. Angry, anxious people do, and that's how the machine wants you. You're more profitable that way. 08:27 Why am I talking about this this morning? Because I'm seeing the same nonsense with Charlie Kirk. If you're getting your worldview from memes, I love you, but you're going to have a difficult 2020s. You're going to have a difficult time finding reality and prospering in reality. If you're getting your information and your worldview from memes, from sound bites that are cut off at just the right time sentences taken out of context it won't be well for you. So, whatever you see online about Charlie Kirk, whatever you hear, do yourself a favor and don't just go off on that 20 second snippet that you heard. That gets you enraged. But actually listen to what he's saying, find the original, listen to the whole thing in context and you'll find a man who loved Jesus, who loved his family, who loved America, who wanted to see people rise up, who wanted to see men rise up and become fathers and women rise up and become mothers. And if you're even upset at me for saying this, ask yourself why when you, you can't, you can't refute me Not with a meme, you can't. But one guy reposted another guy's repost and it had the big bold block lettering. It was really 72.5, so it must be true. This is how we ended up all masked up, getting booster after booster, because people just you know right now, when people behave that way, I just want to say, you know, your programming is showing Ooh, careful there. Your programming is showing your programming is sticking out a bit Hallelujah. Your programming is sticking out a bit hallelujah. 10:31 But what happened was very, very significant. I still don't know to what degree it was significant, but it was obviously a tragic event. But what people, no matter what side of the political spectrum they're on, when you see so many people moved, so many people engaging, when people are having vigils overseas, something's up. I know exactly where I was, I know exactly who I was talking to when I found out he died. I can only say that about one other event in my life, and that's 9, 9, 11. And I'm not comparing the death of one man to 9, 11, but these are things that shift the zeitgeist, these are things that that ripple and you, you realize things will be different after this 9, 11, covid. So my prayer for you is and what your prayer for you should be, that you be positioned under the Lord's banner, that you not be moved by what your phone screen tells you, but this can only mean that there's going to be shifts happening. Something is up and I want to be right underneath the Lord's wing, under his pinions and his feathers. Amen, amen, hallelujah. 11:50 Well, on that note, I want to talk to you about love this morning, because when I first got saved, I was saved because of a lot, a lot of loving people in my life. I didn't know a lot of loving people prior, except my immediate family, because I was a teenager. I was 16 when I came to the Lord. Your average teenager, I wouldn't describe him as exactly loving. Or was that just in Queens, where I was a teenager? I don't know. Such silence, yeah, you're rough and you don't care who you hurt. And all of a sudden I I end up in church and the people leading me to the Lord are teenagers. They're actually very kind, loving people. 12:31 And then the adults are loving people, and then I met Bishop Wilbur Jones and he walked into the room and you know what the first thing I felt was Love. His face radiated with love. I was mesmerized. I would look at him and go like where's the flash of anger of the checked out, look of just kind of just PO'd at the whole world. Something's bothering him, like most adults Not on him. And recently the Lord's been reminding me of that. And I remember when I first became a Christian, the badge of authority that you could have was very closely linked to your love walk. In other words, the one who had authority was really loving people and had a strong love walk. In fact, that term love walk, you don't even hear it in modern times so much. Back in the 90s it was a constant thing. How's your love walk? How's your love walk Right now? You can have a large ministry and be influential but have zero love walk for some reason. 13:38 And here's what Jesus said in John, chapter 13, verse 35. By this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. So Jesus said, the proof of you belonging to me, the proof that you're my disciple, is that you have love, heavenly love, fierce love, that you have it first for one another. That means within the church, your brothers and sisters who are Christian, and then to those who are outside of the church. But love should be the definition of a Christian. The measure of maturity in Christ is not how much you know, how well you preach or how successful you appear. It's how well you love Amen. Knowledge. Paul said knowledge puffs up Because he's talking to Greeks who are used to great debate. And the smarter you are, the more well-read you are, the higher person you are. And Paul said knowledge that just makes you arrogant and puffs you up. He said knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. 14:53 Now go to Galatians. I want to show you why this is so important to you. Do you know that everything you'll ever receive from the Lord you'll receive by faith? It doesn't just drop on you like ripe cherries off a tree. Faith is a force. 15:11 Jesus talked and taught about faith all the time. Why? Because faith is the unseen hand that goes into the invisible realm and brings down that thing that you need. Jesus said according to your faith. I love. That excited me. That means I get to decide. I'm not just a pre-programmed robot and everything's been written out. Everything I'll ever do, everything I'll ever be, everything I'll ever have It'll come in proportion to my faith, to your faith. Hallelujah, you were saved by grace. Through faith, you're healed. By faith, doors of opportunity will open up to you when you're depressed and lollygagging about nothing good ever happens to me. No, by faith. When you get up in the morning and say, God, today's a great day, this is the day you've made, I'll rejoice and be glad in it and although I don't feel like it, I'm gonna say hallelujah, and I believe you're moving in the invisible realm. You're orchestrating my day, your favors all around me. In fact, I decree good things happen to me today, amen. Now you're utilizing your faith, hallelujah. 16:25 I shared about my breakthrough and my testimony, financially with Bitcoin and all that, but I didn't emphasize so much as how my wife and the kids we had a saying we'd say dozens of times a day, all the time high five each other throughout the house, just a faith proclamation of what God's going to do. And he did it. He did it. He did it. Jesus in Mark 11. 16:50 This is very different from the first service, Jesus in Mark 11. He said you can have what you say. You can't take that out of the Bible. You can have what you say. You can have what you say. You know how you got saved by saying If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart. So faith is one half in your heart, one half in your mouth. If it's one half or totally in your heart, that's nice or that's sweet, but it needs to come out of your heart through the words that you speak Amen, and you'll always know what you're believing by what you're saying. 17:26 So faith is powerful and faith is like a tool that should be used. And in Galatians it says when it's not on screensaver, it says For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you're a Gentile or Jew, but faith working through love this is a major key in how our faith operates. Faith is connected to love and faith works through love. 18:09 Faith works through love. That means that if I have tons of faith in my heart and I'm speaking it out, but I'm not walking in love, my faith won't be working. This is essential to me receiving from the Lord in prayer in my love walk. That's why this is so important. I mean really. It's important because Jesus commanded us and it's important because it's the very nature of God. God said I am love. 18:31 But if you're scratching your head and wondering, I don't feel like I'm getting all the benefits from the claims of Christ. Like I see, christianity shows this glorious life of victory, but I'm not living it. I would examine your love walk, because when you don't have love, your faith, it's like two wires that sometimes connect, but the rest of the time there's no life, there's no current flowing. Why do you think the enemy is working overtime? To get you bitter, to get you angry, to get you easy to be offended. In fact, as I'm talking about love and loving others, if you thought of someone, if you saw their face flash in your mind, that's the person you need to release, forgive and love. So may the Lord just do a little inspection. Sometimes we just need to just do an inspection. Just look at the man in the mirror and make a change. Hee, hee. Look at the man in the mirror and go. You know, I haven't been that loving. 19:39 How are you with that co-worker that really annoys you? Yeah, worker, that really annoys you. Can we not lock eyes next time? I say that that was so awkward I feel like we should hug it out now. Everybody knows we're talking about Sarah, right? Of course it's Sean. We were talking about how. About with immediate family? There's people who are very, very loving. They put on their best face for those on the outside, but your immediate family. 20:24 You might say how can I love? Because there are annoyances out there, aren't there? Yeah, thank you, one honest person. Let's go to Romans 5.5. I mean, and I'll tell you what, can I tell you something? 20:44 I used to make a lot of New York jokes, lived in New York City for 43 years. Then I moved to Long Island and, can I be honest with you, I found out the nice people are actually in the five boroughs. No, it's true. It's true. The Long Islanders are always, like always, ready to fight to me, always, always. What are you looking at? Oh, you're going. It's my coffee. Give me my coffee. Whenever I go to the dinner and I live in the fancy neighborhood, they come out of a Bentley. What did that have to do? Where was I going with that? I guess, talking about unlovable people, if I had a greater point, it's gone. 21:35 Now, how to love the unlovable Now? Hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So the question is how do I love someone who's really annoying me? How do I love someone who's just a jerk? How do I love someone who's hurt me? How do I love the unlovable? The answer is not oh God, give me more love. But acknowledging that the love of God has already, past tense, been poured out. 22:10 The King James Version says shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. When I've been confronted with bitterness, unforgiveness, I'm wrestling with just liking someone and their face is in the back of my mind. I close my eyes, I see a flash of that face. My confession is Lord, the love of God has been shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit and I feel like I'll go from 98 level offense to 96. And then inhale real deep again. Lord, I thank you that the love of God has been shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Oh, it dropped down to 91,. All right, Lord, I just receive your love. And then, listen, you begin meditating on the love of God for you. 23:02 The only reason Christians may not be loving is because they forgot who they are in Christ. Peter talks about this. He lists all these bad characteristics and he says it's because you forgot. You were cleansed from your former lifestyle and it's easy to forget. You go about your life, you just go to church, but then it's pretty carnal in between and you're just running on steam and then months go by and you actually forget what happened to you. So I like to remind myself. 23:34 I remember where I was when I was 16 years old Lost, lost, lost, and, I think, God. Back then I was not looking for you. You came looking for me and, Lord, you opened my eyes. I was blind, I couldn't see my need for a savior. You opened my eyes. I was blind, I couldn't see my need for a savior. But you opened my eyes, Lord. 23:53 My heart was hard. It didn't want the things of God. I was dabbling in the new age and witchcraft. I wanted the spiritual, but I didn't want to go to the cross and receive you as my Lord. I didn't want to surrender my life, but you still. You moved past all that and still brought me to yourself, Lord. You went to the cross and suffered so that I could be forgiven. 24:16 The penalty for my sin was paid by you with your own blood, Lord, and I've been adopted into the family of God with all the same privileges of a natural born son. I can call you brother Jesus, because we have the same heavenly father. Wow, hallelujah. And the Bible says I have access with confidence. I don't have to be sheepish and shy, but I have access with confidence into the very throne room of God. Hallelujah, Lord, it says. I have a covenant with you that can't be broke. And now hallelujah, and I'm reminded of God's great love for me and that helps me and allows me to be a lot more loving to you. Amen, how many of you want to increase in your love walk? Oh, thank you for participating in that survey. Really, that was very loving of you to participate. Very considerate and kind. That was very loving of you to participate. Very considerate and kind. 25:12 We used to have these things. Now there's a lot of love in our church, wouldn't you say so, those of you who have been coming for a while but we shouldn't get I would. There's some churches it's like the chosen frozen. You can come in hobbling, bleeding out and I'd be like be warmed and be filled. I'm going to pray for you. It's brunch time, but we can always increase the love, increase the love in our home groups, increase the love when we meet each other, increase the love. We used to have this thing. This was like over 15 years ago where people I encourage people to just give each other angel gifts, which are just gifts that are anonymous. But you know, we were a lot smaller. This was kind of easier to do because everybody knew what everybody liked. You know, when you had a group of 50 people but people would just get gifts for each other, you get them off Amazon and just leave it in anonymous boxes with the person's name on it. 26:06 Love when love spread through the church like that, with generosity and giving and care, do you know? The anointing flowed like a river. The services were alive, people were getting saved. The foundation of everything the Lord does is love. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. 1 Corinthians 13, 8. 26:33 I'm preaching this because faith works by love. I'm preaching this because love never fails. That means if you're walking in God's love, you'll never fail. Can I get a hug? Hallelujah, thank you, Lord. You know what? Just for fun, can we see the rest of that verse? No, not the next verse, but the rest of that one. I'm sorry. 27:25 I had mentioned that in the first service. Oh, so it might be a while. Can I? Do you have that in the? At least I can read it, kind of losing the flow here. It was just going to be an aside. I thought maybe an important aside, but If you're trying to find it. Ah, because I just wanted you to see this because some people don't. It's a funny little thing. We had this first service Because I just wanted to focus on love never fails, but accidentally they included the rest of the verse. 28:08 But then I took the time to go into the rest of the verse because it'll help you understand the Bible. It'll help you learn how to interpret the Bible. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled, they will be silenced. See, anybody who doesn't believe in speaking in tongues, this is their favorite verse. They have it on a bronze plaque right over their mantle. Where there are tongues, they will be stilled. Where there is knowledge, it will pass away. What's happening here? 28:42 Paul is contrasting heaven to earth and he's saying once you're in heaven, there won't be a need for a prophetic word. You won't need to be edified, encouraged and exhorted in heaven. You're going to be just fine. When you're in heaven, you won't need the gift of tongues or the interpretation. And he ends his passage, his teaching on love, by saying saying there are three things faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these is love. Why? Because in heaven, as awesome as faith is in heaven, you're not gonna need any. He's right there, amen. You're not gonna need hope in heaven, are you? You're gonna have a bad day in heaven. I hope tomorrow's better. My back is, oh, where's that angelic chiropractor? Hope tomorrow's better. My back is killing. Where's that angelic chiropractor? Maybe tomorrow will be better. No, you're always operating at 100%. So faith will go bye-bye, hope will go bye-bye. What will remain? Love, because God is love and even in heaven, everything will be love. Amen. And love never fails, hallelujah. 29:49 Now I just want to read this in Matthew 539, because, with my tough, tough Long Island crew, a lot of pontificators in my crew, street philosophers I should call them golf course philosophers and we were talking about one of them got robbed. We got on the topic of home security and one of them had a break-in and just got burglarized during the day and I just you know we talked about break-ins in the middle of the night, which there have been some. Now that's a home invasion I just mentioned. Hey, I have legal. This is online too legal licensed. Hey, I have legal this is online too legal licensed. Everything firearms in my home, in fact, no matter what floor of the house I am, and I'm never less than 1.5 seconds away from clack and one of them, one of them, oh, oh, but you're a pastor, but you're, how are you but, but, but, and I said, I said what I mean. If somebody comes into my home at 3 am, what would you like me to do? Make them a sandwich? Come on in my wife's in the master bedroom. Kids across the hall, I'm going to defend myself. 31:18 And he's not even Christian, he's Jewish. But he knew the one verse he said blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. What about blah, blah, blah? What about turning the other cheek? Aren't you supposed to tart? 31:30 And this is the kind of sissified version of love that has kept some men away from Christianity, because a man just with the genetic fingerprint God put in man, it's to provide and protect. I mean, like, take our elder team, all right, you don't want to mess with their kids or their wives. They're very, very loving, sweet people. But you have not seen a T-1000, indestructible robot like you would if you met, and that's good. That's who I want. I feel like I need to preach this. I want dangerous men, I want strong men. 32:08 This whole sissification that Christians ought to be harmless. Satan drools over that. Satan loves quiet. Go in the corner and just roll over when anyone demands anything of you, sissified Ugh. And some men will be like hey, so am I just supposed to take abuse? Lie down whenever somebody wants to stomp all over me. 32:33 Hey, Jesus said turn the other cheek. Here's what Jesus is saying. But I tell you not to resist an evil person, but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. Most people are right-handed. That means this side is the right side. How do I slap someone On the right side of the cheek? He specifically says on the right cheek. Because that kind of slap is not a modern invention. Some of you know what that's called in today's vernacular. It actually goes back thousands of years and in Jewish custom it was an insult. One of the worst insults you can give was to backslap someone. It was actually reserved for slaves and servants. And Jesus, if someone insults you, if someone insults you, turn the other cheek over an insult. 33:31 You don't go to war with them, you don't fight them. In other words, take an insult, you don't have to defend, you don't have to defend. Let God be your defense in those kinds of things, and God is a great judge and he's just. And he said vengeance is mine, I will repay and I'm going to give it over into the hands of God. But it has nothing to do with self-defense. Protecting you and your loved ones. If somebody wants to rob you out of a contract and it's costing you life-changing money, then you do go to battle. Amen, listen. The Lord also said David of the Psalms said blessed be the Lord, my God, who teaches my hands to battle. Amen. Listen. The Lord also said David the Psalm said blessed be the Lord, my God, who teaches my hands to war. Hallelujah. He said you're contradicting yourself. No, I'm flowing perfectly. 34:19 You can love because, listen, real love protects. Real love actually takes a stand. Real love doesn't just allow and tolerate anything. Hallelujah, that's real love actually takes a stand. Real love doesn't just allow and tolerate anything. Hallelujah, that's real love. 34:34 But the world seems to have defined love for christians and, if you notice, the kind of love the world would like us to love with always results in our demise. I want to just strip you of everything, put you in handcuffs, tell you to be quiet. Now you're a nice kumbaya-loving Christian that I can abuse and take rights away from. I mean, if this was the definition of love, christianity wouldn't have even made it past the 9th century. The Ottoman Empire would have come in right through the Balkans. Where they came in and taken up, all of Europe would have been under Islam. Oh, you're coming in. 30,000 of you with your curved swords will come right in. Would you like a cathedral to turn into a mosque? They didn't do that. Amen Is my microphone on? Amen, amen. 35:30 Jesus was addressing personal pride and retaliation, not life-threatening violence. Revelation 2.20. Worship team, you'll be coming up soon. I want to encourage you to love, I want to encourage you to forgive, I want to encourage you to release your faith to have an even greater love walk, while at the same time and there is a tension in this, because I said it, I said it before Satan loves harmless men. The disciples were not harmless men. They were very, very dangerous men. They looked at Paul and they said these men who've turned the whole world upside down have come here also. You know, people seem like tend to think Mr Rogers was how a typical Christian should be. Ned Flanders, oakley-dokeley neighbor. 36:29 Nevertheless, this is Jesus speaking to a church. In the book of Revelation. He says I have this against you. You tolerate that woman, jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. So here, Jesus problem isn't just with Jezebel, it's with this church, who tolerated Jezebel. 36:51 And what have we been hearing for 10 years now? You should be more tolerant. The greatest sin is to be intolerant Right in a tie. For the greatest sin is that you judge people. That is like the unpardonable sin for the world that you're judgmental. Yet Jesus said judge with righteous judgment. What's righteous judgment? The standard of his word. Yet Jesus said judge with righteous judgment. What's righteous judgment? The standard of his word. 37:21 So we've been told as a church to roll over, allow whatever the world has cooked up, whatever the devil has cooked up, to come into the church. Why do my kids, when watching the Disney channel in the month of June, there's a whole separate section for children, lgbtq plus why? Because we were taught oh, you gotta be more tolerant, don't worry, hey, 10 years ago just bake a cake. And now look where we ended up. It is not loving to tolerate somebody who's hell-bent on heading straight to hell. And if you try to bring that hell into my life, that is not loving. If I don't protect my wife, my kids, for me as a pastor, it wouldn't be loving if I didn't protect you in the spirit. In fact, we just had an elders meeting right before Pastor Brian's ordination, and the one thing we just reiterated that one of the primary roles of the elders is to make sure the gospel is never compromised, that there's doctrinal purity, that no deception has come in, that we're not tossed around by every wind of doctrine, by how the world wants us to think right now. No, how does the Bible want us thinking? How does the Bible want us acting? What is God's desire? Not what's the world's desire us to think right now? No, how does the Bible want us thinking? How does the Bible want us acting? What is God's desire? Not what's the world's desire. 38:55 Hallelujah, 1 Corinthians 13, 6. Cultural tolerance rejoices in anything that feels inclusive. Biblical love rejoices when people walk in truth and holiness. So here's what the Bible says to rejoice in Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Hallelujah, hallelujah. If someone ever calls you intolerant, say no, I just love God, I love myself too, I love you too, I love this country, and so I have a stand. And if you have a problem with my stand, might I suggest that you're the intolerant one. Hallelujah, hallelujah. 39:46 I want you to just put your eyes on Jesus, the one who gave himself for you, bled for you, exchanged places with you, the one who is with you and say Lord Jesus, fill me with even more love. It's shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit. Move through me, Lord, and love through me. Teach me how to be strong and unbending when I need to be, and also very flexible and mobile like a drop of water in your hand when I need to be, and also very flexible and mobile like a drop of water in your hand when I need to be. That Help me to never compromise. Lord Jesus, you said, concerning the end times over and over again take heed that no man deceive you. Take heed that no man deceive you. Protect us from deception. Let our eyes be anointed with eyesalve that we may see. We thank you, Lord. 40:47 I want you, during this next song, to sing to Jesus, but also release anyone who's hurt you. You owe it to yourself. Jesus tells the parable of a man who was forgiven a great debt and then he wouldn't forgive someone who owed him money. The king then found out about that and commanded that unforgiving man to be handed over to the torturers. That's a picture of what happens to us. When we don't forgive, we're handed over to the torturers. We're living here on earth Doesn't seem like we're in prison, but the torturers are torturing us. Release, cancel the debts and forgive. Sing to him this song and love the people who have hurt you. Right now, in your spirit, you can love them. 41:35 - Speaker 4 There's no distance in the spirit, just bless them if my heart is overwhelmed and I cannot hear your voice, I hold on to what is true, though I cannot see. If the storms of life, they come and the road ahead gets the, I will lift these hands in faith. I will believe and I remind myself of all that you've done and the life I have because of your son. Love came down and rescued me. Love came down and set me free. I am yours, I am forever yours, mountain high or valley low, I sing out. Remind my soul. I am yours, I am for it, and my heart is filled with hope and every promise comes my way. When I feel your hands of grace rest upon me, staying next before you, God, staying humbled at your feet, I will lift these hands in praise. I will be. I remind myself. I remind myself of all that you've done and the life I have because of your son. 43:45 - Speaker 3 Love came down and rescued me. Love came down and set me free. I am yours, I am forever yours. Mountain high, I am yours, I am forever yours. Mountain high, of valley low, I sing out my soul that I am yours, I am forever yours. Love came down down, came down, you set me free. We receive the father's love. Oh, I see now, but my my oh Remind my soul that I am Yours. I am forever Yours and I am Yours. I am Yours For all my days. Jesus, I am Yours. Yes, I am Yours. God, I am yours. Yes, I am yours. God, I am yours All my days. Jesus, I am yours. 45:11 - Speaker 4 Love came down, rescued me. Love came down, set me free. I am yours. I am forever yours. 45:24 - Speaker 3 Thank you for your love mountain high, that I am Yours. I am forever Yours. Love came down to rescue me. Love came down. You set me free. I am Yours. Oh God, I am forever Yours. Yeah, mountain high or valley low, mountain high, oh, valley low, I sing out. Remind my soul that I am yours. I am forever yours. Yes, I am yours. I am yours For all my days. Jesus, I am yours. I am yours. I am yours For all my days, Jesus, I am yours For all my days, Jesus, I am yours For all my days. Jesus, I am yours. 46:58 - Speaker 1 Just remember, life groups start in a couple of weeks September the 29th, that's in two weeks. It's really important to be a part of them and it's only a 12-week commitment. The life groups themselves are 75 minutes long, and remember that in the early church they met in a corporate setting like this. It says they met in the temple and then daily house to house. So you need both the temple setting, when we're all together in one place, and then the house to house, where the gifts of ministry will actually be activated inside of you and you can help other people. It's where you learn how the Holy Spirit will prompt you and how you can be a blessing to others. Well, are you ready to honor the Lord with your tithes and offerings? Praise God, yes. Give with a glad heart and give in faith, believing that he's going to recompense you back. I make a living by my giving. The giving information is on the screens to either side of me, and the ministry team after that will make their way to the ministry area. Thank you, Lord. 48:20 A lot of weird stuff happening. Call me just a skeptic, but I'm having a hard time believing that kid, that skinny, scrawny kid, is the one who killed Charlie Kirk. How come the Butler shooting this? None of these. Both cases, 20-somethings that have almost zero digital footprint. My son is 11, he's got a digital footprint a mile long. 48:57 All I would ask you to do is just I don't want to say, be on high alert. But if you feel like you're being messed with all of a sudden, like if in a week from now you're thinking completely differently than how you've been thinking, in a more negatively radical way, it could be that you were programmed. It happens. Why is everyone so quiet? Guys? You're acting like five years ago. People were screaming at people not wearing masks, calling cops on them. If they had a party, normal woman were get away from me. 49:31 You, grandma killer. What happened there? Programmed, so don't look at me like I'm the one with the overactive imagination. I just didn't forget, never forget. Amen. All right, if you need prayer for anything going over to that blue lit area, for anything at all, you want prayer. You want hands laid on you. You want to be ministered to. We want to minister to you and pray with you and for you. Let's all stand. May you go in the love of God and in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Be blessed CityLight Church in Jesus name Amen. 50:28 - Speaker 2 This is the CityLight Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message Amen, amen, 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.