The Prize

Satan's job is to keep you from experiencing the presence of God and Satan lied to you and said

you're hard to receive and you said yeah I am and the moment you said yes I am this is how it

works with all of Satan's lies by the way you that partnered with that lie it's like you covenanted

with a lie and now you received it now you're bound by it and you need to say Lord I'm sorry

wash me a fresh in your blood welcome to the city light church podcast thanks for joining us

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 citylightnyc.com

that city light nyc.com faster boy on janskik 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 you know I had to make a decision when I was saved at 16 and called to the

ministry at 16 I had to make a decision very quickly about what kind of pastor I was going to be

because there's a fork in the road for every minister on the one side you can go to cemetery I

mean seminary and you could become highly educated and you can wear a quarter zip with authority

and when you've gone to seminary see I didn't earn this quarter zip but if I went to seminary this

is what I would live in I'd be very smart and I'd be a Christian egghead so that's on the one

side and on the other side you can become a minister who actually meets God and who experiences

his presence and then invites others to come and partake of what they themselves have first

hand experience of and I'm so glad the Lord invaded my life at 18 so that I believe I made

absolutely the right decision and that I didn't go to seminary but I went to a place that

focused on the presence of God because that is the ultimate prize that is what it's all about

we're celebrating Christmas it's the incarnation of the living God who came from heaven earth

the word of God made flesh that is the celebration of his presence it's not just about presence underneath

the tree it's of the presence and isn't it amazing that you can go about Christianity and lose

sight of that that's why you see Jesus in Revelation chapter three he's actually standing outside

of the golden lamp stands that means he's been pushed out by the church the lamp stands are the

church he's been pushed out and then he pleads with the church he says behold I stand at the door

and knock if any man open the door I will come into him and we'll die in with him I'll eat with him

it's a picture of intimacy I will die in with him and he with me

so it's possible to be in the church but over time you push the presence of God out you know you

can come to church every Sunday and keep the Holy Spirit at arm's length and Jesus is pleading saying

you've forgotten the first thing the principal thing my presence and my love so he pleads he's saying

I'm not beneath pursuing you I'm pursuing he's pursuing you right now he's pursuing by standing

at the door knocking if any man hear my voice and open the door open up that door those gates

I'll come into him and we'll stop with him and he with me I was saved in a church

it was not on a pretty street the whole neighborhood wasn't pretty back in 92

and the heart of Bedstuy Brooklyn and I'll just sum it up this way the church had a neon sign

it said Jesus saves this was 92 now I remember that neon sign

because all the people I would try to bring to church and many of them got saved but they would

all comment on the neon sign my parent my mother first church had a neon sign you see my mother

usually worshiping the front row first thing says they got a neon sign I mean because in the natural

like one of the tachiest cheapest things you can do is hang a neon sign anywhere especially in front

of a church I don't know at times of change we have LED everywhere but a neon sign only like massage

parlors and psychics had neon signs and it didn't look pretty inside at all I mean everything was

worn crackly staticky sound system that sounded like you are on the other side of the Burger King

drive-through but I walked in and I was hit by the presence and the presence did in me in the

space of half an hour what any man trying to reason with me and use logic with me couldn't accomplish

in a lifetime I got radically saved in fact just talking about it I call them Holy Ghost flashbacks some

of you know what I'm talking about you talk about a time that got touched you and it's a holy

ghost flat and you relive the same anointing that touched you this is how 30 plus years ago 33

years ago I can feel that anointing I still love that church I would love to have it smelled a

particular way I thought it was heaven and I called up the guy who lit him into the Lord and I

said listen that church every time I smell it but it was really the presence I was feeling

but I'm a very old factory kind of guy really I I can smell something and I'm like three years old

again you you bust out copper tone for me and I'm three years old at the beach I flash back

so I said I associated with the presence I said what what are they burning it just smell

he said it's airwick and he told me the scent it's like you can get it in any supermarket I was so

disappointed it's like it's just airwick we use airwick I have it above my toilet but I guess

it smells different when when it's in a place with the anointing hallelujah so year after I got saved

I brought my parents to church now my mom had already gotten saved I was praying with her every

night one of the ways I got my mom to accept the Lord was I didn't ask her to get saved right

away I just said will you pray with me and then I just prayed with her every night and then after

a couple of months of that I shared the gospel with and she was a lot more receptive if that way

because she was already warmed up if I just tried to get her saved ice cold she probably would have

been that not probably I know she would have been very resistant and very hesitant but the presence

had its way the Bible says somebody like that has fallow ground that's that hard unbroken ground

you can't plant any seed in it but the spirit of God it breaks up the hard heart and you got to be

careful bitterness is a trap I feel like the temptation to be bitter is is higher than ever

simply because you carry around a device in your pocket that knows that the most engagement

you're going to get is if you're upset do you know that if you don't know now you know

I'm not going to do it I'm just going to say if you don't know now you know

imagine that that they figured out that if you're happy and if the algorithm provokes you

to happiness and joy you'll stay somewhat engaged but nothing like if you're upset

so your algo including everything moment the moment you stop phoning or texting and go on

into any app trying to get you what's it trying to do I thought all of it is free let me tell you

something if anything is free you're the product it's not free you're paying you're paying with

your attention and it knows that if you can get you riled up and angry you'll stay engaged longer

so in that way there's a greater temptation to be angry and bitter and when you're icy

you lock God out the Holy Spirit will make a supple heart so you can receive hallelujah

so anyway I couldn't get my father to church but then it was Easter of 93 I was 17 years old

and Easter morning I asked him will you I'm going to church will you come with me

and that Greek Orthodox mind kicked in and he just thought well I guess I should go to church

after all it is Easter and he came when a place was packed and it was packed which means that we

were all squished in so he was already uncomfortable and the preacher glorious glorious man of God

Bishop Wilbur Jones he just went home to be with the Lord a couple of weeks ago at the age of 83

serve the Lord these guys don't retire they refire he just finished preaching preaching every Sunday

until he was caught up in glory that's a role model but he was an old school aha preacher how many

of you know what that means one woman knows what enough are go watch coming to America

and then multiply it by 20 you all don't know what an aha preacher is I'm not gonna I cannot imitate it

so don't you just have to know you have to know you gotta know for yourself

he was six foot five he wore the robe and then his face glowed he's towering there

but I guess because he was easter it was packed though already bad sound system was extra crackly

so I could only understand like half of what he was saying my father right very hard man cynical man

ex-communist so what does that mean that means in your mind you just believe everyone is out to

get you and everybody's trying to trick you and you're perpetually trying to read between the

lines and figure out how do I not get duped because you come from a country that's been duping your

your whole life that's how he's sitting in church and now he would normally not understand anything but

now it's a crackly sound system and I'm thinking oh Lord I'm just gonna receive for myself please

just do what you can with my dad but I'm already thinking on the car ride back I'm gonna hear

about everything that was fake and phony with the church and everything he didn't like

and Bishop Jones I'll never I still hear his voice I remember him preaching saying they spread him wide

and hung him high it's preaching about there he said then they spit upon him and they said

prophesized on the man which one of us was he that hits you and I still hear his voice

my father just sitting there and then Bishop Jones gave the altar call and my father started shaking

and tears rushing down his eyes and I said dad do you want to go up and he looked you know he always

made sure that he was your authority and I was the son and he looked at me like a five year old boy

he went and he just stood up and went to the front and this wasn't the front where you said a 10

second prayer and they said now we're gonna give you a tract and hope you make it they then take

it take take everybody went through the altar call upstairs the change the clothes put on white

robes on them get baptized right then and there then you take them back upstairs put on the dry

clothes then sit explain the baptism in the Holy Spirit lay hands on them they don't leave until

they're filled with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues now

that church did not obsess so much about their decor

that flashing neon sign but they got the presence right and that presence made all the difference

in me and my mother and my father hallelujah the presence fixes everything everything hallelujah

may we increase more and more as a church that prioritizes his presence that cultivates his presence

it's about cultivating it in our Monday through Saturday you know what I preach about 9 out of 10

times can fall under the umbrella of cultivating the presence of God I have to come up with a different

sermon title every week Pastor Mo make sure that if I don't have it by Wednesday 1 p.m now it's

become a joke among us

I'd had nothing to do with what I said he's getting he's getting so touched here and I

I looked at his face and then I got touched he's in heaven right now he's gone

he's Jesus I don't even know what I was saying oh sermon titles

yeah I mean if I didn't want to be creative really I could just have

cultivating the presence of God part one cultivating the presence of God part two

what do you preach on that next week yeah you guessed it part three because that's really

what it's about staying in that place of intimacy whispering to him in the mornings talking throughout

the day say a scripture out your mouth for goodness sake and let it not be John 3 16

memorize another and say and see how that cultivates and builds the anointing the reason why some

Christians never seem to progress is they get hit by the anointing on Sunday and then Monday you

know it's the whole one step forward two steps back thing but imagine if you took a couple of steps

forward every single day now the anointing can compound and build and God can take you where he

wants to get you amen hallelujah you show me a church that has a group of people that have become

good at cultivating the presence of God I will show you a church that's unstoppable where God's

prosperity is everywhere miracles pop like popcorn the supernatural is in every day event hallelujah

yeah thank you Jesus let's read Genesis chapter three and verse eight

and they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day now you know

why they heard that sound because that's what God did every single day if you read a little bit

before that see God didn't and I used to think this before I was saved because I had heard

the story of creation and it seemed to me when I heard it and it wasn't explained correctly and

specifically it seemed like God created Adam and Eve said don't touch that fruit and then

pieced out and like didn't come back to the messed up but that's not the reality he walked with

them amen the God of the universe would walk with them every day in the garden what was he doing

fellowshiping with his creation loving them Adam probably had a lot of questions God disclosing

the secrets of the universe to him they had sweet fellowship and now it was broken and they

hid themselves by the way that's what people still do all the time even when you feel like you've

messed up rather than go and be cleansed and realize you're now completely forgiven made perfect it's

like you would never ever send once in your life the moment you look to Jesus and his blood people

don't tend to go there first they hide and and they punish themselves by withdrawing from the

presence of God even though he's still I don't care if your eyebrow deep in sin right now he loves

you he's pursuing you he's already forgiving you for Christ sake you need to receive that forgiveness

fall on your knees and kiss the king he is not forsaking you you know who that was for

your spirit lived within you when I said it it's for you quit withholding

so just pride you want to come back to God on your own terms when it's what when it's cinematic

cinematic right now it's lovely right now do it now hallelujah

so the real tragedy isn't the loss of authority which they lost authority they lost dominion

authority they've been given dominion you know man he could say to a lion here kitty kitty

little lion would come up to Adam here dominion over the sea the land there that's a tragedy but

the greatest tragedy is that they were locked out of the presence of God that's the lost and then

Jesus came God in the flesh to restore what intimacy you know people have sometimes asked that I'm

glad they're at least thinking they ask people who don't know anything about the gospel they hear

the term salvation and savior and they've asked me say from what they don't even know and there's

a lot of answers I can give say from hell's good starting point say from eternal destruction say

from separation from God but it's not just that you were saved it's the you were restored will

restore to what restored to that prefall intimacy and fellowship that's available to us and

presence fixes everything hallelujah when when I graduated bible school

the focus was on the presence I'll tell you what the focus wasn't on anything administrative

anything that had to do with any kind of planning forward thinking I mean you asked anybody

leadership for advice like what should I do the answer was always follow the Holy Ghost follow

the Holy Ghost yeah but how what do I follow the Holy Ghost so I planted city light church at 26

years old and I didn't even know what I didn't even know so it was doubly ignorant

it like there's a lot to it by the way sometimes people just show up and they go look church you

know how much has to happen talk to some of our staff what has to happen behind the scenes

every day week after week they don't get Sundays off you can take a Sunday off they don't take

Sundays off well I didn't know any of that stuff like for example one of the things was the

concept of a first impressions team this is just one of a thousand examples old school churches

like where I went there was no first impressions team you put like the meanest snagley toothy

a stasher in the front with the church bulletin with a scout and you told him to make sure everybody

gets a bulletin he stood there nobody even taught him to pop an out to it and then I learned wow

you can actually have joyous enthusiastic people that make a first impression because the

unbelievers are already terrified to come into church well what if they weren't greeted by the

angry snagley tooth usher what if they were greeted by a group of charming and lovely people who

were welcoming you know that was like mind-blowing to me there's a thousand such examples

so there was a church that started right around the same time as us don't try to figure it out

who was or what it is or and they were really really good at the administrative part

now very big unpleasant see it's attention that's constant if you get too administrative

too in the natural then you push the presence of God out it's the same way for our life

I try to stay planning you can't you know Christians either they plan too much and push the

presence of God out or don't plan at all and then their life is a mess there is attention there

and the Holy Spirit will help you navigate both so you can use both your brain and your spirit

amen well this church was really really good at administrative things I mean the best so much so

that within a year they had over a thousand people someone said close to two thousand it was an

early two thousand and I study them and everything I learned it was mind-blowing to me

because all we were good at was experiencing the presence of God but yet there was 15 of us

clapping our hands in a basement in the East Village and that church at least could have staff

when I went there I wasn't even on staff no one was on staff back in the early days we had one

projector projectors are cheap now that projector was thirty five hundred dollars it was our first

you know how we have the graphs and the bars and this week we raised I had a six month long capital

campaign to buy our first thirty five hundred dollar projector this is just how small and

broke we were you know we usually have a capital campaign for like a church building for twenty

million we did it for a projector for thirty five hundred before that was the staples overhead

thing for a hundred forty nine dollars some of you you're so young you don't even know what that is

you have to have somebody in the front turning and that was Nova turning the slides

I even once visited because our service wasn't until noon on Sundays you could tell I was in

my twenties when I started it right I was like well people are gonna want to have brunch and

that doesn't get cooked until two so we'll start to have a noon service and I went to their

service first to scope them out it was the only time I went to church not to receive but to see

and I was I mean they had it down to a science it was like a franchise they had it wasn't just

a first impressions team I looked at their manual they had what they could say long list of what

they couldn't say how to approach I mean everything and it was it was working I'll never forget

coming from that service which was excellent I'm not gonna say anointed but it was excellent

not a not a little piece of litter on the carpets not every everything was according to the plan

but I then was running late to my own service I was with Sean Martin him and I went and did

and we had to take a cab all the way from far away and then I come 20 minutes late to my own service

so worship was already going and I come into our own service worship is already going and the whole

time I'm thinking about I got a long way to go I got it gross so I got to change so much I got

to like relearns I'm now I'm 27 years old at this point I spent the last nearly decade training

but so much I haven't so I'm feeling like heavy and condemned and inferior and now we're late and I

rush in down those steps in seventh turn coming to our own service and they're already in the middle

of worship and I come in and and I just start weeping because I walked into a thick wall of the

presence and all that weight and inferiority and it just came and all of a sudden I was standing in

the midst of what I was created to be a part of which was fellowshiping and enjoying the living

God hallelujah and I wouldn't trade our weird journey for anything and now today and I don't

see this with delight I say this with with the reverence and a holy fear but they actually kept

shrinking after that peak shrinking and shrinking and shrinking even though they're so excellent

and we're larger than them now what did that not my administrative skills

not past your most cleverness not not sure on study of music theory the presence

the anointing hallelujah hallelujah the anointing does what no man can do

that's why the word blessed you know it actually means we've lost sight of what it means

because we just say bless you bless you how true bless you but it means empowered to prosper

and it means to be envied you be envied because people can't figure out how you live the life

that you live considering your past amen hallelujah hallelujah

so a lot of my neighbors I get the feeling more and more they don't like me

because they see what God has done in my life yeah and they're thinking man I've been working

60 hour weeks all through my thirties all through my forties all through my fifties

the ones who know my story you know they're I can tell they're like oh I'm so happy for you

I've been diligently putting away my 401k you know I got my triple A

everything is you know by the book every tea and then I come in hey guys

well what do you do I'm a pastor and then look at my cars look at my house

if you're a guest I can't get into the details I the Lord blessed me

I don't know when a preacher usually says that it they mean I got a big raise from the church

no he blessed me outside the church and then I blessed the church with over two million dollars

and paid it back for every single salary check that it gave me over the last 23 years amen

but yeah what what they don't like then is that you cheated the system you didn't suffer

like me but you have way more than me that's what the anointing will do the anointing will do

that for you he'll take you and put you on the accelerator path hallelujah yeah he delights in doing

the whole picture of the children of Israel

slaves for hundreds of years in Egypt and then taken out and thrust upward and promoted and

blessed and exalted that is the picture of what he wants to do with every person that's in him

today under the new covenant in Christ in the church hallelujah hallelujah Exodus 33

if you've never spoken in tongues start there you haven't spoken in tongues I don't know how

well to say it you're missing that's something you're missing someone so many times preachers

of just because I don't want to hurt people's feelings well I don't want to make them feel like

they're missing something they are missing something you I take you to to per se for three star

Michelin 10 course meal you're gonna bounce after three courses oh stay for all 10 courses

so why in the world was someone come and just receive salvation when there's more

so the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues is more and you're

not being humble you're not being queued by putting it off and going on one day well if God wants

that for me he'll do that I mean what do you want him to do come down and tackle you and force

himself on you you do the pursuing you press through the you show some hunger for him he's a god

that must be sought amen so how to get baptized in the Holy Spirit you can come right after service

talk to me we have a ministry team if they can't help you I'll personally help you we have everybody

who's been trained and I know that lead you in the baptism of the Holy Spirit I've had books

a little mini books there in the front we give them away for free for 20 plus years now we start

with reading one of those books so you can be filled with the Holy Spirit it's the doorway to

the supernatural you can't go into the deep things of God until he's filled you with his Holy Ghost

and that's available to you I know it doesn't make you weird or strange she makes you more like

Jesus which in turn is kind of weird and strange from the perspective of a hell bound sinner amen

why are you going to live the low life when he's calling you up higher hallelujah hallelujah

25 is about to get wrapped up 26 is starting we're going to start the year off with 21 days of

prayer and fasting amen we have John and Carol are not coming in April experts in the presence of

God professors but my heart for you is to just begin now to recalibrate and cultivate the

presence of God get to that place where you're drop away from drunk at all times there's so many

people here they don't even know what I mean they're like oh this pastor's cool he's really I like

this guy I'm talking about being intoxicated and he breathed in the Holy Ghost you see somebody

here during worship and you're like wow they're acting foolish yes that's how drunk and people act

they're inebriated you want to be a drop away right from like what we experienced this morning

we're having a normal conversation I said what's her name I said does she have a name

I'll get to it later but you said yes and when I asked that question I feel it again

does she have a name he both said yes I got hit with the Holy Ghost I look at Rob that second

his eyes you know when you get that thousand yard heavenly look and I look and I go I have to turn

around and I think I couldn't look at him any longer we both got hit you want to always stay in that

place where you're just a millimeter away from stepping into the supernatural hallelujah

and that's not hard by the way maybe you make it hard in your head

God's not cheap he's not stingy you just cultivate a little more every single day

some of you just need to do stuff you've never done before you ever sing a worship song in the

shower let me blow your mind you can do that yeah you ever just wake up first thing in the

morning and then just spend five minutes whispering to God pouring out your whole heart to him

talking to him you can do that some people are like well you know I don't feel the I'm not a

feely person you have swallowed a lie Satan came to you and said you're you're just different

you're not susceptible to the Holy Spirit besides those people they just foolish anyway

you're a dignified Christian don't be a dignified Christian there's a reason David said

when he was dancing and his pajamas he said I'll behave even more and dignified than this

fact you see the pattern in the holy scriptures author at the gospels no one could stay dignified

and receive from Jesus they tell me why I will give a thousand dollar reward if you can show me

to someone who still kept dignified and received from Jesus Zacchaeus who the Bible says was wealthy

he had to dangle from a tree upside dangling from a branch you know what a ridiculous site that was

especially since the Bible says he was short and stature in the Greek that meant what we

called today a little person midget what it says in the Greek Greeks weren't politically correct it's

midget you pictures you pictures gold chains and stuff dangling and there's the kiss and Jesus

stops is today I must have lunch with you you caught my attention because you were willing to

get undignified so some of you you you heard the lie from Satan see Satan's job is to keep you

from experiencing the presence of God and Satan lied to you and said you're hard to receive and you

said yeah I am and the moment you said yes I am this is how it works with all of Satan's lies by

the way you then partnered with that lie it's like you covenanted with a lie and now you received it

now you're bound by it and you need to say Lord I'm sorry wash me a fresh in your blood

and open I'd refuse to believe I'm hard to receive that I'm not susceptible to the holy spirit

and open yourself up it doesn't matter what culture you come from

doesn't hallelujah doesn't matter how you were born I was born shy

shyness by the ways from the devil that's how I'm going to say

we like to make everything hope you know people think they got a they got like this trump card or

something well I'm shy that just excuses me from everything and all in for the rest of my life

I'm shy the Bible says God has not given you a spirit of timidity timidity we like to quote it as fear

timidity shyness that oh not me God has like God has given you the lion of the tribe of Judah

has given you a spirit of power and of love and a sound mind hallelujah like my wife

she's not here today but she's not shy she actually is just quiet big difference

amen coming hang with me for a couple days in my house you'll see no shyness

no shyness hallelujah man it's nice I can make jokes about her marriage she's not here and I don't

have to get the look I don't actually ever get any look I get no look which is even more terrifying

for me so that's the look is the no look she never talks to me about it after so yes just hallelujah

they're in Pennsylvania this weekend

Exodus 33 did we even read this no okay

I just I don't know how else to say it I'm now I turned 50 in a couple of weeks

and I think about my life how my parents immigrated here English was my second language

growing up in Queens getting saved through just insurmountable odds from four still queens ended up

in 1992 in Bedstuy Brooklyn in an old school holiness apostolic church where the woman were head

coverings and skirts got baptized filled with got disciple there for the first couple of years

of my Christianity on paper went to the wrong school other other places when they plan to church

they start with whole denominational backing or network of churches they start with six figures

and in seed money I started with exactly zero dollars and zero team members started preaching in

the subways and the Lord he kept adding and adding and then I just had one request of the Lord

I said Lord I poured everything into the church I got no so you know as a minister you can opt out

of social security many of you don't know you can you don't you don't have to pay so you don't

get any social security so now in my early 40s and I'm going you know I wonder if I made a mistake

about that thing because I have no money I'm debt free so I would teach my kids that's a they

would always say Lord thank you that we're rich I at for the last my most of my adult life I had

usually around fifteen hundred dollars in my account but even then you remember I'm actually

believed that was so rich because I had no debt now if my hot water heater went out it was over

that's all I ever had for so long and then in my early 40s I didn't pay attention to it before

then but in my early 40s I thought this might be a little irresponsible God can you like catch me

up Lord what's happening here help me and I started pressing into that and the Lord said hey

here you go I'm going to take eight figures and just on you

so if you ever want to be discipled by me I'm going to tell you right now I got nothing really

smart to tell you other than what I'm preaching this morning which is make his presence your great

quest the prize of your life and he will add all the other things unto you amen

so that's what I was saying as when I'm approaching for if I'm looking back and if I was to

summarize what has the Lord done how has he done it I fall to my knees and I go Jesus Jesus Jesus

because back when I was obsessing over things that seemed smart he would he would tell me like things

like I just want you to roll around on the carpet and enjoy my presence it sounded like

it sounded irresponsible sound of nonsensical but yet I knew it was him because that's the kind of

stuff he tells you amen

you know what I think the Lord has gotten to reading scripture it's never unannoyed to read the

Word but I feel like if you're hard to receive our ministry team will double team you they'll

triple team you they will keep their hands on you and soak you and a little dash won't do some of

you only not because the Lord but because you got it in your head there's going to take a while

and they will soak you in his presence and some of you picture all this crusty stuff from the

world it's encrusted itself to you and they're going to come with a chisel and and a hammer and

they're going to get get those cement chips off of you I pray you have the wettest

soppiest drunkiest in the Holy Ghost Christmas you ever had hallelujah and I'm kind of liking this

theme for Christmas maybe you just worship team get ready you did it and like a spectacular job

this morning spectacular it's their reverence for the Holy Spirit and their pricing of the presence

that makes it spectacular one day we'll have our own building and we won't have dollar tree lights

up in the front no poo on you no come on past your mother wasn't so personally you know what I mean

I mean at the end of the day I was going to say we have tinsel but there's no tinsel this year

all right you know what I mean I mean we got frosted but even frosty looks dope he does he looks

but what I'm saying is with all those things and the worship team puts Jesus first I thought yeah

you guys can come on up um sorry I didn't say that explicitly I was just raving about you but

that you put put his presence first now we have Rob and Yari Martino here this morning

past a rob he first started coming to city light in 2011 so he's been with us nearly 15 years

Yari came in 2015 I did their wedding in 2017 on a rooftop hotel in Williamsburg overlooking Manhattan

they've been faithful members since day one committed always serving she's in city kids and wherever

else is needed he's ushering and wherever else is needed it was serving so much I get gotten to know

them well then I asked them to become care pastors in our church and pastor Rob is on our elder team

and I was so excited to see their love blossom and to officiate their wedding and then soon after

that just started hearing from them to pray for them because they were having a difficult time

conceiving and they continued having a difficult time conceiving for years and then about a year

ago they made a decision to adopt they never asked for any help with adoption

but I know because we have adoption in our family through Emily how much these things can cost

if you don't know it's actually quite shocking you would think that they would rush to pay for

everything since it appears the government just loves giving billions away if you commit fraud

right but if you want to adopt legitimately it'll cost you 70,000 plus now pastor Rob is a sergeant in

the NYPD and while he's amazing at what he does knowing that he works for the NYPD also tells me that

he's underpaid so they just share these things with me so I could pray with them and just so as

their pastor I could know what's happening but I immediately felt in my spirit that we as a

church should bless them so in case you're new I made a lot of money in Bitcoin if you haven't caught

up and then five six years ago now I took a chunk of the church's reserves took me nearly half a

year to convince the board and put that in Bitcoin and made 10x for the church so that's not

money we can use however but it gave us some wiggle room which we've left untouched except I said

because I know how much expenses are we can cover half so the church you know there's nothing

like when the Lord prospers you and blesses you then you can just start relieving suffering

everywhere you look the only thing is he won't do people are great I can't wait for him to do that

great start relieving suffering right where you're at because if you're waiting for your ship to come

in and you haven't sent the ship out no ship is coming in amen everybody claims oh when God

blesses me I'll be the most generous person you've ever seen yeah sure you will it will be at the

golf course missing Sundays that's the first thing that happens now you prove it when you have

nothing and then he'll lift you up so we pledge 35,000 but then I also said this and because

they also never asked and they've been so faithful I said when it comes time I want to be able to

receive a special offering that'll go directly towards paying the legal bills and all the bills

of the adoption and here's why I believe the Lord put that on my heart one because we're generous

church too is because as any Bible-believing church we are not for abortion amen that shouldn't

be something that's even debatable if you're a Bible-believing Christian if you've committed and

I realize you have an open church people have committed abortions you come to Jesus God has

forgotten about it he's forgiven you and your child is waiting for you in heaven amen

probably not an infant amen so you skip the messy part the diphtunk I'm preaching so bad because

I'm feeling so good I'm totally liberated right now I really am I'm in heaven

so a lot of times churches will be anti-abortion but they're not with their money very pro-family

that's what I'm trying to say is they yak they love to protest with picket signs and all that

but it's like all right that's nice but what are you doing to show your love of life and family

you know I had to make a decision no church is give paid paternity leave city light does why

because I thought hey if we're really pro-family which we are then we should be amongst the first

to give paternity leave we should communicate that we prize and love family at all times so now with

adoption let's communicate that we prize and love family and life amen so rabbin yari won't

you come on up and just share briefly hello everyone we just want to thank city light because

it's vital the obstacles that we have faced we have truly believed that the desires in our

hearts of you know wanting kids and having a family are aligned we've got to will and you know

city light has been in our corner believing with us and and praying you know for us believing for

the Martinez children and so much love and support that we have received from city light

and you know something that that we have really valued is like our connection to all of you

you know city light that being in community has been so important to us in a key in in our walk

in faith and we just want to share the the news with excitement that we have been matched with a

baby girl that she's gonna be here in February 14 yes and um we just can't wait to to have

our baby girl in our arms and to bring her home and to stand here in this altar and

dedicate our child come on come on everyone um as we went through this journey together seven seven

long years um trying we would fill our home with scriptures thanks to remind us of God's promises

and his goodness is faithfulness and something that Yadi had written was delayed does not equal denial

and uh for our walk that was that was vital to be able to see every single day you know the timing

and the terms weren't ours but they meant to that they were they were the lords like it says in

Isaiah 62 when the timing is right the Lord will make it happen and so um our testimony is

pushing through even when in a natural it doesn't make sense and especially with all of you it's

our brothers and sisters and Christ being there you know having our backs at our sides praying for us

supporting us blessing us with meals and we're going through difficult times during a baby shower

for us when we didn't have a baby in the natural it meant so much to us so um we just want to

share thank you you know as much as we are so uh already in love with our our daughter and we know

that she'll be loved by so many of you as well and the name that we chose her is Anaya which means

God has heard or God has answered me that name be a testimony for everyone here God has heard

so awesome thank you both

Anaya Anaya Anaya God has heard

Lord keep your hand on Anaya from this moment forward all to up until they end up in their

parents arms keep your hand upon Anaya hallelujah through the birthing process every step of the way

no complications Lord butter there steps all the way amen so again I am very inebriated in the

holy ghost you say what is this all about I don't know how else I'm gonna just say very plainly

I love Pastor Abinyari they're very easy to love Jesus said if you love those who love you what

reward have you so I get no reward for loving them they're very very easy to love they reward

only comes when you love those who are hard to love but they are the most enough unoffensive

if you know them kindest consistently sweetest always looking to see where they can help always

looking to see really ideal Christians who aren't called into full-time ministry like I am five

old ministry but then said okay I do this I'm a sergeant in NYPD but the rest of my time I'm

building the kingdom in whatever way God presents himself amen I love them I love the work of the

Lord in their lives and so I want to get behind them so we're gonna allow you to if you want with

no pressure but it's an opportunity to bless a young family we have our regular tides and offerings

we have the end of the year giving campaign which we're doing very well by the way it's at like

64 67 percent 64 thank you I love it when a member knows better than me 64 then if you want

I was just told in the first service I wasn't so clear so I want to be super clear in this if

you want to give specifically towards Pastor Abinyari and then paying the legal bills and helping

with all that because I want them to have zero stress they never asked for this in fact when

at first brought it up they were like I don't know you know they weren't like yeah they were like

uh you sure like we don't know like a special offering for us because we don't we've never done

this I don't have we when would we know so if you want to give to bless them you hit other when

you put on the QR code it goes to a giving website hit other and do they have to designate anything

they have to write just write write baby right baby so you do business with the Lord right now

detive in the offering you don't detive you don't have to pray about but the offering then

how much you want to give towards the first fruits and then towards and if you have to decide

between first fruits and baby pick baby God I got to handle the hundred K goal we have

hallelujah you know there's some things you just feel like the Lord is cool with and then

there's other things you feel like he really really likes and delights in and I feel like this he

really really delights in and this precious girl is gonna grow up in our midst in the presence of

God we're gonna see her like a plant grow and be nurtured and be blessed hallelujah

yeah yeah hallelujah I just when I said that I flashed into that scripture where Jesus warns not

to offend one of these little ones because their angels always do behold the face of their father

in heaven there's an angel assigned to an ear beholding the father's face still the Lord is

fashioning her and her inward parts and will carry her safely to you hallelujah hallelujah

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 Jansik in city light church visit us at citylightnyc.com

that's citylightnyc.com feel free to visit us online or in person anytime we would love to connect

with you we pray that you have been encouraged today that you have been reminded how much God

loves you and that you are surrounded by grace thank you for listening make sure that you subscribe

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