Freedom of a Surrendered Life

Where the message of the gospel really isn't come to Jesus is a means to an end.

It's come to Jesus. He is the end. He is everything. He becomes your life. Paul said that.

He said, when Christ who is our life appears, not Christ who is part of our life. And people say

that I've made Jesus a part of my life. He's either Lord of all or He's not Lord at all.

Welcome to the City Light Church podcast. Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's word

and discover the hope and truth that He has for us. If you want to connect with City Light Church,

feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com that's citylightnyc.com.

Pastor Boyan Jansik 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.

Welcome to those joining us online.

And thank you worship team. Thank you Jordan for playing the saxophone.

I find that everything in life is better with some saxophone.

You could be buttering a piece of toast and you put saxophone behind it, it's better.

You could be looking out of a rainy window, but you put saxophone in the background, it's better.

So praise God, the more saxophone the better.

Do you still have that saxophone I gave you?

Good, it's a good one, so take care of it. Praise God.

Oh, she had actually given me her prize saxophone. I didn't even know these instruments

what they can go for. She said it's worth over $10,000 here, I want to bless you with it.

And it was the only time in my life where I, as I took the gift, I knew I was going to give it back to

the person giving it to me. Because the thought of going on eBay, right? I mean, because I opened it

up and then like this history came off the sax, like you could feel it, you know, and the intricacy

of every button and you call those things buttons? Okay, I do. I felt the felt the inside of the case,

I picked it up, double check to make sure it was over $10,000. It was, it was a French company,

right? Was it? Yeah. And then a couple of months later I said, hey, you got a gift for you.

That's not it, is it? That's another one. So true, true musician doesn't have a saxophone,

they have saxi, they have multiples. And so, hallelujah. Man, I feel the anointing.

There's some messages the Lord just likes. And I feel like this morning's message he liked.

And it's good to feel the anointing. I've not felt the anointing, that's not good.

I'm feeling the anointing is always good. The anointing is what gets the job done.

Hallelujah. I mean, tell them I'm busy, please.

I'm feeling the anointing. I used to have a Harley and it was in his garage where they didn't

want you to turn it on, which was weird because it was a motorcycle garage, but they didn't want you to,

well, you know, they wanted you to like duck walk it out, 50 feet and then turn it on in the street.

And so you got this 1,200 pound machine you're sitting on and you're duck walking it out,

you can't turn it on, kind of trying to glide, glide off. That's what it's like doing anything

in life, especially ministering without the anointing. And then you turn it on. And that was easy

to go 50 feet. It's easy to go 5,000 feet. The anointing, him putting his super over your natural

makes everything better. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. You know, the anointing comes when you invite

the anointing in your life. If you don't think about the anointing, you won't have much anointing.

If you don't reverence the Holy Spirit in your life, sing a song to the Lord, read a few

scriptures out loud, talk to the Lord, there'll be a desert, a dearth of the anointing.

But when you're in that sweet place of communion and you welcome the anointing, especially in

difficult times, makes all the difference in the world. I got into a really strange conversation

with a friend in the ministry, a pastor colleague a while ago. And he was having a tough time in

ministry. I thought he was doing really well, you know, but he didn't think so. And can I just

tell you, the Bible says the love of money, the love of money is the root of all evil.

But I would say for the number two spot, envy is the root of all evil. And we live in an envy

amplifying culture more so than ever before. Let me just put a pause on my story. I went down this

rabbit hole last night of how kids are growing up. Because we have a 90% no devices policy.

Get them for a couple of days of the week for a small little window. But no devices. And if that's

not you as a parent, I strongly urge you to read up on what is actually happening. And it's more

than what's on the screen. So I noticed a complete shift in behavior when we made these changes a few

years back. Because of course, when Victor was born in 2014, people weren't even talking about it. It

was normal to take the iPad and fling it at your kid and not have to pay a babysitter here. Keep

yourself a little timmy. Keep yourself busy with this for a couple hours while I go do that thing.

They won't even warn you. And then the first articles to come out was around 2016 where it came

out that top Silicon Valley executives don't let their kids use the apps and use the devices that

they're creating. Why am I talking about this? Oh, envy. So I went down this rabbit hole of what

is actually happening. I didn't know. Because the internet isn't not influential in my life. It is.

I use it every single day. But if you're a young person, say between 15 and 25 now,

there's actually a parallel civilization that's come up alongside the real world. And they're more

in touch with this digital parallel civilization and the umpteen subcultures. And one common thing

that's arising is that kids are incredibly, incredibly depressed because they can't find

contentment. They can't find peace because their favorite influencers and the people

forming their minds and forming their ideologies are always dangling a carrot in front of them.

And so envy has taken my message as nothing to do on envy. I'm just this is for this is for

somebody here this morning. Envy has come up and it's causing so much the pressure, so much

just self hatred of even cutting and body hurting and horrible things that young people are

dealing with. But when you dig in what's actually happening, their envy has been amped up.

It's good to recognize that. And this fellow minister who I thought was happy and was doing well,

he said, no, he wasn't really that happy. Things wasn't growing the way he wanted it to grow.

And then he in this conversation was very excited and he said, I, I, I felt like a slave. I don't

like I feel like a slave and I felt like a slave just working for the Lord and I love the Lord,

you know, you got to say all the right things before you say that one wrong thing. I love the Lord

and God is so good, but I'm really frustrated and I just got back and he had met with a very

influential famous minister in another part of the country and got back and said, you know, I,

he, I can do whatever I want. I mean, the Lord is not that prohibitive. I can do whatever.

And I'm immediately, well, hello, because when somebody says I can do whatever,

that's never been the start of any great statement by a Christian. I can do whatever I want.

I said, what did this person tell you? And he told me what the person said. The person never

said you can do whatever you want. But you know, when you're bent on something, people do that to

me. They'll just terrifies me. People come and say, you know, last month, that thing you said,

I said, what thing? And they tell me that thing you said really encouraged me to do and what they're

going to do is crazy. I go, how did you get that? Dude, I never said that. I wasn't even in the

neighborhood of that. You went home, took 20% of what I said, I added your own 80% then put it

in the bag, mixed it up even more and came up with Satan's will for your life. And now you're

pointing to me going, thanks for that. I had nothing to do with that. So he said, I can do whatever

I want. I can start another business. I can go out and have other things. And by the way,

whenever a pastor starts doing side hustles, that's never a good sign.

The ministry is very, very consuming and it's made that way. It's your relationship with the Lord

and then your relationship with God's people. And I had already known, I'd been warned thankfully

by why is there men of God that there is a big trap ministers fall into somewhere around their 50s.

You're going to laugh when I tell you what it is. Most ministers never get there because the

reality is, most pastors contrary to what the world believes. Now that I'm meeting so many

unbelief, you know, Long Island is a lot more conducive towards like relating and talking and

having conversations. And now it's occurred to me that every person who's not saved believes

that pastors fly in jets and live in mega mansions. And because, you know, they read the one article

about some guy where that's what they see on TV. And I have to explain to them that's actually

0.0001% of all pastors. Unfortunately, the majority of pastors have lived their whole lives

financially choked and constrained and they're not doing well. And that is not God's will and

that shouldn't be. But some that actually yield to the Holy Spirit and can flow with the Lord and

allow God to build a church where it's sustaining him on salary and other staff on salary and it's

a growing thing. Then they get bored in their 50s and they start, this is the joke inside of

them is they start restaurants. Why restaurants? Why go into a business with like the highest failure

rate of any business? But that's the thing. So any time a pastor starts talking about getting

involved with something else, I immediately. And he starts saying how he can do whatever he wants

and he can do this and do that and how he's no longer a slave but he felt like a slave. And I

had the audacity to say but but literally the Bible calls us bond servants. Little different

than a slave. A bond servant is a servant who who does it out of love realizing I mean it's not

just altruistic. It's not I'm just doing it out of love. He's realizing wow it's a lot better

tied to you than it is out there. And that's how it is with the Lord. We're servants but in chains

of love and bonds of love. And then I quoted this scripture to him in Philippians 219 through 22.

Hallelujah. Paul says I trust in Lord Jesus to send Timothy to shortly that I also may be encouraged

when I know your state. Now Paul was a big fan of Timothy. This was young pastor Timothy

and Paul saw his heart that it was a yielded heart. It was a surrendered heart. He says he's like

minded. Paul knew he was surrendered. He only wanted what the Lord wanted for him. He said I have

no one like minded who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own

not the things which are of Christ Jesus. And I said to him that's what you're telling me right now

you want to do whatever you want to do. You don't get to do whatever you want to do. You're called by

the Lord and it's a holy calling you're in the past. You have to do what he says to do. And if

you're going to swerve deviate off that path you better have 19 confirmations. God appeared to

you in bodily forms spoke audibly to you to hear it. I mean that's what I would need to get me off

the track that the Lord has me on. And that really must have rattled him up because he called me

demonic and said I was a slave which typically whenever somebody calls you demonic that's the ultimate

what's that psychological term where you're deflecting or usually you're wrestling with a bunch of

demons and someone tells you how to get free and then they call you demonic. Jesus.

The Bible says that we have been bought with a price and there is this thing in especially I

feel like an old guy because I'm saying modern Christianity that's like what the old people said

when I was a kid and I would judge him I go that's that old time he talked but it is you reach

a certain age and now you have some history and you can see patterns and you can see cycles and

then you realize wow we really are a selfish people and you don't hear much preaching on the

Lordship of Christ see the church had a really bad rap in the 70s not very good at public relations

at all 70s 80s 90s even before I became a Christian 1992 I was 16 years old I didn't even know what

kind of Christianity I was getting involved with but when somebody mentioned the term born again

Christian I immediately required even though I was one but I was so trained because to me a Christian

or born again Christian meant a really angry finger pointing protester I never knew what they were

angry about something about abortion or something but they were you know that's because I grew up

with the media and if they were the ones who bombed abortion but they weren't but that's what I

thought so the church realized they had a really bad PR problem and these other churches started coming

up called seekers sensitive churches they weren't going to tell you right away the hard truths of

the Bible that might scare you off you'll get to the hard stuff eventually when you pass through the

membership program and we got in your signature and you're ready to commit it and socially entrenched

then we got you you can't leave then we'll then like a good old bait and switch then we'll tell you

what discipleship will really cost you and it started working and Christianity became softer

and more politically correct and there's a term that was being floated everywhere wins them

you know you don't want to abrade people you don't want to tell them any hard truth Jesus had no

problem telling hard truths right off the bat you know what I found there's two kinds of people

no matter what their lifestyle looks like I found people who have horrible horrible lifestyles they

find themselves in a sinful mess yet still they're aching for truth and they want and they're able

to analyze their situation honestly and they still want truth that person is a lot better candidate

to experience life transformation the second kind of person which is just somebody who doesn't want

truth and they really are two kinds of people someone who gravitate towards truth with even if it

hurts even if it's uncomfortable even if it's unpopular in a false world they just want truth

and then there's another kind of person and it's it's almost like they they are repulsed by the truth

and they want to they want to live with their eyes smeared they want to live in a creamy lie of

just deception and where two plus two often is four but sometimes five depends how you feel you know

huh huh bro

so the message then has for a while been just like come to Jesus and he's a means to an end

come to Jesus he'll make your life better no matter how you live it come to Jesus and

he'll bless you where the message of the gospel really isn't come to Jesus he's a means to an

end it's come to Jesus he is the end he is everything he becomes your life Paul said that he said

when Christ who is our life appears not Christ who is part of our life and people say that I've made

Jesus a part of my life whoo dangerous territory you don't get them you know take him and put him

in a little cubby hole of your life and go this I want you to be the one who pays the bills make

sure I don't get into any accidents it gets hurt and gives me a nice happy ending that's where you

belong I'm gonna stick you right there you're a part of my life no he becomes your life he's either

Lord of all or he's not Lord at all and this is gospel truth and if you haven't come to that

place of maturity where that's a reality to you I'm pleading with you in love that you submit

to the lordship of Christ you cannot have it both ways he cannot just be your savior he has

to be your lord and savior where every area of your life is submitted to him

he's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all and typically people who have a hard time with

this message really because I had a hard time with it in the beginning it's because you haven't

met God yet you haven't really tasted of his goodness so you're still trusting in yourself

I've lost all trust in myself the Lord was merciful and letting me get out there on my own

and I get slapped up slapped down and then I realize oh I want to how we I want to do things God's

way I don't want to just do what whatever's right in my own eyes that's the phrase throughout the

Old Testament whenever the Lord through his prophets rebuked that rebellious people when the

children of Israel would grow rebellious this is how the Bible would describe them doing whatever

is right in their own eyes in other words they're their own God they do whatever they want

which in a big sense is really the number one cultural message right now

and if you've explored Satanism at all that actually is the message of Satanism

in the satanic Bible with Anton Levay and what the key doctrine of Thalema is is do what

thou wilt do what you want no submission no bowing of the knee

some parts you like do those things if you don't like it cut that part of the Bible out that

irritates you get a real holy Bible cut out all these passages fill it with holes

and God becomes kind of like Burger King your way right away you do it high

and now you're not made in his image now you're creating a new God in your own image

it's so dangerous and the reason why I'm preaching this is because it only leads to pain

it leads to pain it leads to frustration and I've known people who've rebelled

early in life like in their 20s and then that rebellion like let's say you want to move

somewhere start in your life and you know in your heart God is saying no God how do you know

because in prayer you just now you stop praying because every time you go to pray you got that

irritation and the Lord is on you now you're avoiding God because of what he might say

so now you go and you want to get fulfilled with your friends but your spiritual friends who

actually hear from the Holy Spirit are telling you the same thing that the Lord is telling you in

prayer now you get angry at them and call them demonic so you go to do what you're going to do

anyway but now you've taken your whole life trajectory you're in another you know what moving to

another part of the country everything changes who you're going to meet who you're going to marry

how your kids will grow up what what jobs they might have in that part of the kind of they're

either limited or everything's changed but you made that decision apart from the Lord and then

you backslide and 30 years later you come back to church and oh Lord forgive me and clean up my life

well he'll forgive you instantly the cleaning up your life part may take time because you've

entrenched yourself in 30 years of rebellion the Bible says this Jesus himself said fall on the

rock and be broken or the rock will fall on you and grinds you to a powder now I've made a

decision multiple times to fall on the rock who is Jesus and be broken the good kind of breaking

there's a good kind of breaking you know a Middle Eastern shepherd when he had a

particularly mischievous and rebellious sheep typically a lamb young in age you know the whole

herd is going to the right and that naughty lamb keeps going off in the bramble bushes on the left

he would take the little lamb and break his two front legs

and put him over his shoulders now those legs would start to mend and heal but that shepherd

would carry that lamb for a long time weeks and weeks as those limbs mended the sheep would begin

to smell like the shepherd and not the other way around and catch the rhythm of the shepherd

hear the voice of the shepherd hear the heartbeat of the shepherd eat with the shepherd sleep with

the shepherd when those legs were fully mended and the shepherd would let that little lamb go on

now we can walk and run around it wasn't going to the left anymore he just wanted to be near the

shepherd and hear his voice follow his heart and when the shepherd and the herd went to the right

that little lamb who had been so gloriously broken is now first in line that's the good kind of

breaking the bad kind of breaking is when you don't do the good kind of breaking and fall on

Jesus and come to the end of yourself see and but the breaking I'm talking about I'm not talking

about before I was saved that is everything is broken then I'm talking about after I got saved

and as you're learning the will of God and as you're learning how to tap into the wisdom of God

and then you remember oh yeah that was that thing I knew was the wisdom of God and trusted

Christians in my life agree that was the wisdom of God but then I crept up all alone into my own

head I started living that monkey brain working and I started rationalizing and talking my way out

of what I knew was the wisdom of God and the will of God because I just wanted what I wanted

and now a little bit after that I need to deconstruct I got hurt at church

who hurt you was it the pastor the honest answer is no I hurt me because I knew what I should do

I did the opposite you can't just do whatever you want to do when asked God to get in on it I mean

you can but pain comes I'd rather fall on the rock and be broken then the rock fall on me and

grind me to a powder that's the bad kind of breaking there's no coming back from that good breaking

you don't get to just say Lord I'm gonna do xyz come on along and bless what I'm doing many

Christians live their lives that way no you pray and you figure out what is the Lord doing

and get in on that you find out where the oil where the peace where the presence of God is

hallelujah James the book of James he he scolds the wealthy businessmen in the church

he's not scolded Bible doesn't scold unbelievers you know what unbelievers do they sin

sin or sin you don't scold why do well that's because that's what they're born to do literally

that's their nature they have a sin nature they're gonna sin he's scolding the Christian

businessman we're a little proud and arrogant and lofty because they had money said come now you

who say you'll go to such and such city and buy and trade and do you're you're wheeling and

dealing and doing your own things he scolds and says you're nothing he calls them

is it what you ought to say if the Lord wills we will go and do xyz hallelujah the will of God is

important it should be prized and I just have to say this when you arrive at that beautiful

understanding and you accept it in your heart that the will of God is number one and you don't

want to go outside the will of God because that's where it's dangerous then it's important also I'm

talking to people on the other side of the spectrum don't get hamstrung and get the paralysis

of analysis where you don't do anything because you're waiting for God to speak to you about it

in an audible voice because there's Christians like that too they pray over what color socks they

should put on in the morning Lord I'm just waiting for your peace should it be the black ones or

the crimson ones or the good old white tube socks that have been with me all these years

hallelujah well it's a good time to read a Christmas passage Luke chapter 1 and verse 26

Luke 1 · chapter mention

we decorated for Christmas just this week which we'd always waited for things giving first

that's it I'm just letting you know since I'm reading a Christmas passage but it doesn't feel

off you know Alexa played Bing Crosby Christmas put the lights up everything's wonderful hallelujah

I don't want to I don't want to get less than a month yeah some people who are hostile

anti God get a whole month I don't want 27 days 25 days or 23 now I'm taking a month and a half

I've determined I'm gonna have a good time at church this morning I encourage you to join me

now in the six months the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a

virgin betroth to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David the virgin's name was Mary

and having come in the angel said to her imagine what this is like historically speaking she

must have been 15 years old 16 years old max and now and not just any angel because there are

rankings of angels at the top are the arch angels then the seraphim then the chair of him

goes down this was an arch angel coming and glory and power on behalf of Yahweh God and he says

rejoice highly favored when the Lord is with you blessed are you among women

but when she saw him she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting this was

then the angel said to her do not be afraid Mary for you have found favor with God

and behold you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and she'll call his name Jesus

he will be great and will be called the son of the highest and the Lord God will give him the throne

of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there

will be no end and then Mary asks a fair and logical question how can this be since I've never had

sex that was the SV the street version and the angel answered and said to her the holy spirit will

come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you therefore also the holy one who

is to be born will be called the son of God now indeed Elizabeth your relative seeds getting

Christmassy already here this morning Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old

age and this is now the six months for her who was called Baron for with God nothing will be

impossible no spoken word of God is impossible for him to perform now how many of you would agree

this is a lot to take in I mean she must be thinking where I'm not even married I'm just

be trod and my belly is going to start start showing and the village is going to want to take me out

and stone me also there's an archangel talking to me telling me that God is going to become incarnate

within me it's a lot her response and this is why I believe God chose Mary because of her heart

because of her obedience because she's and this is how we must be like a drop of water in the Lord's

hand flexible malleable he goes to the left she goes to the left he goes to the right she goes to the

right her words her her knee jerk responses behold the mates there to the Lord let it be to me

according to your word in other words may gods will be done and so I'm pleading with you this

morning I'm asking you a question whatever happened to the will of God what happened to the will of

God the will of God is to be sought he's a God who must be sought and the will of God is to be

instantly embraced will it hurt sometimes yes there's always the pain of a crucifixion before

a resurrection but there's always the glory of her you know I just last night

it hits me so often I know I talk about it a lot but this is real to me I lived for five and a half

years in a windowless basement where the church met at one two one east seven street in the east

village of Manhattan that's where city lights started it was not fun living in those quarters I

had a little cot smaller than a prison cell and at the shower in the church bathroom we built the

showers and the kitchen was behind the worship but then the worship said but there was no heat in

the kitchen so where I'd be living I could get it up to 75 degrees but you're going to kitchen you

could see your breath because that was the part of the building sticking out it was an add-on

mice everywhere scampering about every morning in the kitchen you leave those little black

rice pellets everywhere I'm like oh you can't just like scoop that up bust out the 409 get out the

chemicals the antibacterial the and I complain to the Lord about that Lord this I don't come from this

be even back in Yugoslavia wouldn't live like this and now my parents immigrate here I get a great

education I surrender it all to you to go into the ministry and now look at me I'm living like

what is it like and that's okay the Lord's not intimidated by that Lord and I followed you I did what

you said and I sensed in my spirit don't worry I'll get you don't worry so last night I'm just

walking my wife and kids there in Pennsylvania had a family thing there so I'm alone so what is a

guy alone do I walk through my house I'm worshiping God and then it just hit me I got my

Lord you really did do what you said you do you did do that hallelujah and the way you did it

you know I couldn't have if you told me 100 ways right down 100 ways the Lord is gonna come

and give you a break three if I wrote down a hundred I wouldn't he did it a hundred and first way

he's not man that he should lie and the Bible says those who put their trust in him will never

be ashamed they'll never have their hope in him that the point is hallelujah

so there is pain when you surrender to the will of God initially but over time a harvest a

hundredfold harvest fruit will be born and I'm just encouraging you here this morning to receive

the full Lordship if you want the full glory of God displayed in your life you gotta receive the

full Lordship of Jesus into your life you can't do half and half you can't

some people seems like it can but you don't know what's going on in their inner world

just concerning wealth the Bible says that God will make you rich and add no sorrow to it

your favorite influencer might be rich dying on the inside if he doesn't have Jesus

full of sorrow hallelujah John chapter 2

John 2 · chapter mention

Mary became a great fan of the will of God the first message she preached if you can call

it a message it was an encouragement to surrender to the will of God

I've been outside of his will what an ugly feeling it's like taking a shower with your socks on

you're still getting wet but it just feels way off just doesn't feel right

and I know how I ended up there by oh let's read that one from Philippians first then we'll

get to John too because I'm thinking how I got there this tells you how you get there Philippians

Philippians 3:17–19

chapter 3 verses 17 through 19 Paul says brethren join in following my example and note those

who so walk as you have us for a pattern for many walk of whom I have told you often

and now I tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ who are these people

whose end is destruction whose God is their belly that means their own appetites what they want it's

like Samson when he saw Delilah the exact first words out of his mouth were she looks good to me

famous last words she looks good to me when the Bible says God is your belly it means you're

a slave to your own appetites to your own self to what you want doing in your own way and you think

you're the smartest person in the room and you know best and it's gonna end with you flat on your

face and sand in your mouth God's way is always better it's always more fruitful

and to get to that place it won't be easy it'll require you to yield

Catherine Coolman said I have died a thousand deaths

how many deaths have you died every time you say notice notice self note of the world

and you remember that your life is hid with God in Christ and you've been crucified with him

and your your heart's Christ Lord I want to do your will you know that's a prophecy about the Messiah

when Messiah came into the world it was quote to do your will oh God every single one of us

as little Christ Christians little Christ our hearts cry throughout the day should be to do your

will oh God to do not to do my own thing not to figure out how much I can get away with and

doing my own thing with you somehow still still still being with me and me making heaven

the breakthrough comes with a totally surrendered and yielded heart

all right now let's go to John chapter two first is one through five

and I sympathize because it is harder than ever because the brainwashing is stronger than ever

and the ideology forming is stronger than ever all thanks to the internet

I

went down a weird rabbit hole last night did we talk about envy in this service

in the beginning okay so it happens when you have services back to back so close

did everybody talk about Victor

but I talked about envy okay well it was just last night I did I talk about the parallel

civilization in the service that was in the service thank you all

as I didn't plan on sharing any of that so it came out off the cuff in the first

service then I don't know in fact 80% of this isn't in my notes hallelujah but I was just making

the point once again that that we're being programmed I mean so much more than a couple of

generations ago it's nonstop to somebody in tech you're just a product and there's an algorithm

designed to keep you engaged and keep milking you there's nothing for free something's for free

you're the product on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus

was there now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding and when they ran out of

wine the mother of Jesus said to them they have no wine and Jesus said to her woman

what does your concern have to do with me what a sexist huh the way the way he spoke to her

and he probably said it like that too not woman woman what does your concern have to do with me

my hour hasn't I'm gonna if you ever read that I went oh Jesus being rough with his mom

you know what I learned early on whenever you have that feeling when you read something in

this scriptures and something seems off immediately understand that you're the one who's off and

not Jesus just go oh I must not be seeing this and and let's start with God is right and I'm wrong

and now let me read that now with understanding that God is right because people have gotten so bent

out of shape I mean about this there was a woman back in high school in the senior year of high

school I worked in the mail room at Credit Suisse over at Tower 49 at 49th Street on Madison Avenue

in the early 90s and there was a woman who had just gotten saved

and she said she then like weeks later she was very upset because she saw in the Bible that God

created the woman to be a help me for the man and she went I'm not a piece of me

and she was all like forthin right now she went on the whole thing I'm like I'm just here to

bring the mail but you know I was a Christian I'm not a piece of me call me a help me

and I said I thought I didn't say anything I was two I didn't know I was only 18 and I'm like I wish

I said something but I thought to myself I think you might be confusing MEAT

with MWT which means a companion of equal value and associate called alongside to help

so people have you know when somebody when somebody wants to be offended they'll find something

to get offended about but whether that's speak to our current culture

you want to find and be offended you want to feel that dopamine rush of being offended clutching

your pearls oh well I never there's plenty plenty of opportunities by the way Jesus here's not

being rude to his wife he's actually engaging in some clever word play because she comes him and

says hey we have no wine what is wine a symbol of what is wine represent the Holy Spirit so it's

like she's saying hey Jesus we have no Holy Spirit and he goes hey woman what does your concern

have to do with me my hour has not yet come whenever Jesus talks about his hour what is he talking

about his crucifixion over and over again he says my when he goes it was my hour has finally come

his hour is the crucifixion what happened after the crucifixion now that the sin problem has

been cleared and taken out of the way the Holy Spirit God's new wine could come so here she is

talking about physical wine and as a wink wink Jesus says hey I can't give him the Holy Spirit

because my hour has not yet come amen and just calling her woman was a common thing in Aramaic

hallelujah next verse his mother said to the servants now this is what Mary's message is

and she actually has no message of her own other than to say whatever he says to you do it

so after having submitted to the will of God she becomes a champion of the will of God

and by the way what she's saying didn't make sense in the natural because Jesus is asking them to

fill up six water pots full of water you don't just get the garden hose and fill them up the

Bible is specific it actually says how much they contained and it was 20 to 30 gallons per water pot

that's a lot it's a lot if you got to use a garden hose it's even more when you got to draw all that

up from well and then and then do it for six pots so that means 150 gallons to 180 gallons

that's a lot because the servants who does hey why are we doing this after like the 50th time they

go to fetch water why are we feeling these well he's just wanted to he didn't even say what he was

going to do he just said do that I mean what an opportunity to say forget this he can do it

himself if that's what he wants but she said you got to submit to the will of God do what he's saying

and then did I give you extra verses that I stopped here we know what happened Jesus turned

the water into wine and this it was the best tasting wine they ever had

which I shared in the first service and wondered if I'd share in the second I will share in the

second what's so beautiful about this is that that wine was the best tasting properly aged wine

how old was that wine well five seconds old right yet it tasted like it's been perfectly

restored for a hundred years chateau that whatever kept in the cellar at the right temperature

and the right humidity and why six water pots god here is speaking to creation you know there's

a big debate people try to sideline you in your faith when it comes to how old the earth is

and people can have a belief in god in his creation but then some some egghead scientists comes

around it says well actually I carbon dated this rock and it's two billion years old

maybe maybe god made it old when god made Adam how old was Adam Adam was one second old when he

was formed but yet he probably had the body of a 25 30 year old right when god made the oak tree

he didn't make a little seedling he made a fully formed oak tree that looked like it was several

hundred years old but it was just seconds old the six water parts I like the six days of creation

and if god could take water and turn it into finally aged wine Jesus is I believe saying

that in the six days of creation god made that mountain old already hundreds of millions years old

god made everything local so that because people will do the genealogical math and say hey it looks

like we have a young earth the earth is only six thousand years old but how come when we carbon

dated it looks like it's hundreds of millions years old now you know hallelujah

because god could have made it a trillion years old so how old is it then it's a second old

but it's also a trillion years old just like the wine hallelujah first Samuel 15

1 Samuel 15:20

verse 20 there's no sweeter pillow to sleep on than the pillow of a clear conscience

and Saul said to Samuel now just a little bit of background here

Saul was doing his Frankie thing I did it my way

his burger king thing your way right away and he was king

and he had he had I'm sorry I'm chuckling because I'm remembering

being like 19 20 years old and reading through the Old Testament the first time

and god gives these great specifics to how to build the the tabernacle right down to how many

like nails to use like really specific and there's this instance where like god says use four

beams and the guy uses five something like that and as he does that fire comes on from heaven and

consumes him I'm reading this for the first time and I think to myself this is odd I'm on the

floor reading praying drawing into the Lord and I go I go Lord what what are you saying here

and I knew right away he's saying I prefer it my way do it my way if I say four beams used

for beams if I say three nails don't get cute if I tell you go live in a basement and I'll get

you back on the other side do it whatever I tell you to do do it don't be the problem do it my way

I'll make sure your reap a mighty harvest here Saul he was king not a priest he shouldn't have

been making sacrifices so he went out of bounds and that's really what I'm talking about here

staying in bounds there you cannot live your life out of bounds there's no number of prayer lines

you can call no amount of times you can go to the ministry team no amount of times you get me to

pray for you me with you that can help if you're just consistently intentionally out of bounds

Saul said to Samuel I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission on which the Lord

sent me and brought back a gag of king of amalach I've utterly destroyed the amalachites

but the people took of the plunder sheep and oxen they weren't supposed to take any plunder the best

of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God and Gilgau

so Samuel said has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices

as in obeying the voice of the Lord behold to obey is better than exterior or external religious

activity that's what sacrifice means in this context God is after our obedience more than anything

we can do externally that might demonstrate that we're we're loving him we're serving him we're

keeping in touch with him whatever it may be I'm this is not a message where the pastor is now

beating you all you got to submit you got to submit you got to receive his lordship this is me

wanting to end unnecessary pain and suffering this is me inviting those who are still playing

hoki pokey with the Lord would one foot in and one foot out one foot in and one foot out playing

these games and you're frustrated and yeah you love the Lord you tell yourself whatever you got

to tell yourself you love the Lord he knows your heart you know God knows my yes he knows your

heart he loves you but he knows your heart is wicked right now and you're in rebellion and you

need to stop stop doing it your way you've tried that now what has it gotten you and now you're

gonna I mean it's a form of insanity do the same thing over and over again I expect a different

result right and now you're just chronically in rebellion it's not gonna change do you really

want your gravestone to say here lies so and so made it to heaven by the skin of his teeth

it was the mercy and grace of God they still believed and so we believe they're with the Lord

but really their life was riddled with just rebellion and doing things their own way their whole

life so quiet here today Luke 646 worship team come on up

when I had had when I had had my life intertwined in rebellion because one thing to just do

something and then oh repent and immediately come back but if you persist in a rebellious

courts of action relationships develop other things other elements even finances relationships

social structure all those things get intertwined that makes it more difficult to just cut and turn

but God is an expert not unraveler

in Daniel it actually says they had an anointing to unravel knots you ever see a good knot

you have if you had kids take one of their shoes it's like six sailors got nothing and a kid's

knot I've had shoes where I'm like I said I'm throwing these out it's cheaper for me for my mental

health to get a new pair of shoes then sit here for another hour trying to make these two straight

laces that's how I felt like my life was and of course the rebellion but I still are to help me

and you know what he did he helped me and he came in and he disrupted wouldn't either disrupting

with with minimal blowback he got me back to where I needed to get to and he'll do the same for you

I'm trying to tell you that Satan could be lying to you right now saying oh you know what he's saying

is true you know this is the word of God you know the message is true but if you listen to this

message and if you submit to the Lord oh the pain you're gonna endure oh it'll be like 10

galives coming against you everything in your life will change and then Satan is trying to get

you to quit and just keep on doing it your way no no let the song of your heart this week be Lord

help me you can be still entrenched in your rebellion but with a sincere heart cry out Lord

get me on the right path Lord I realize this is stupid I realize I was stupid help me Jesus

help me clean my life of this unnecessary baggage get me into the perfect center of your perfect

will where I know there is safety there is blessing there's provision there's peace get me there

Lord and he'll do it and the beautiful thing is that he won't he won't I mean I joke about me and I

call myself stupid and I call myself the like how I behave but you know that scripture in James

where he says ask of the Lord he gives off willingly an upgrade if not you know what that means

he means he won't make you feel dumb he won't make you feel bad about yourself you never ever

does he do that I may do that to me if I've done it to you forgive me but the good news is the Lord

is way better than me and he'll never do that to you now these are the words of Jesus but why do

you call me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say that's a mic drop why why call him Lord

if he's just Lord sometimes no you've then recreated God in your own image a God who winked

said rebellion and is okay with doing your you doing your own thing and he's not

whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them I will show you whom he is like he is like a

man building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock and when the flood arose the

stream beat vehemently against that house and could not shake it for it was founded on the rock

so Jesus says two types of people one who just hears what I say doesn't do it and one who hears

what I say and actually does it the one who actually does it he's got a deep foundation he's building

his house the house of his life on a rock but he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a

house on the earth without a foundation against which the stream beat vehemently and immediately

it fell and the ruin of that house was great heavenly father I pray that this church is full of

people who are submitted and yielded and building their house upon a rock who is Christ everybody

stand to your feet right now hallelujah father let all rebellion let all pride let all stiff neckness

doing whatever's right in our own eyes let it all fall by the wayside in Jesus name I want to

invite you to pray a prayer of dedication and consecration like Jesus did when he said not my will

but yours be done if you want to participate surrender your life to the Lord of fresh

say this prayer at the top of your lungs say with your whole chest dear Lord Jesus

you gave me your life I give you mine I surrender to your lordship but I cannot do it alone

I'm powerless help me fill me with the Holy Spirit guide me break chains off of me

cause me to be in your will only in Jesus name a man hallelujah yeah I felt that lift and pop off

hallelujah hallelujah go ahead and be seated we should also have you know we have testimonies

of people celebrating the great things God has done I wonder if anyone's ever tried reverse

testimonies like we should because I'm always sharing but I can't share I feel like I'm more

transparent than most pastors I mean guys if you've been with me for a while you know everything

about my life the good the bad and the ugly I hold nothing back I mean there's stuff if you're

new you're like wonder what he's talking about wild stuff what you have to do is watch 2000 hours

of sermons on YouTube to figure out what I'm talking about so I can be the only one talking about

where I got it wrong we should have reverse testimonies where it's like 10 people who say this is

what I was doing and went off course and this is exactly what happened as a result of my rebellion

that's that's what I'm talking about everybody will leave totally depressed there's no hope there

but but something would have been learned are you all ready to honor the Lord with your tides and

offerings give with joy give with a glad heart given faith that given faith means you're believing

and I just giving away your money you're sewing seed and you're going to reap a harvest in return

if you would let's just well whenever they're giving this yeah the QR code there's three different

ways to give and eventually it's not even worth putting up this week because the graphic came

in too small you can't see it past your third row but we have this end of the year giving campaign

our goal is a hundred thousand dollars first feuds of the future this is for people we're saying I'm

going to sew now into my 2026 I'm going to give whatever the Lord has me to give what am I asking

you to do I'm asking you to simply ask God what would you have me give specifically to this campaign

last year we were like halfway met and then somebody said I'll get the other half that's awesome I

love how God does that that's beautiful for the couple that said they do that lovely but it's

that ideal still it's great for them but it's not ideal ideal is that everybody does their part

everybody asks God I mean if you can hear God and what to give how are you going to hear him about

other parts of your life what to give is like the quickest thing he re-enters the quickest thing you

hear so ask just ask God what would you have me give some people don't ask because they're free

to ask you know like Lord I know you you're generous with my money I'm not going to ask you

and he's like well that's your problem you still think it's your money so aren't you glad that

I'm not getting up you're going some of you can give five hundred dollars some of you there's

ten yes there's ten people in here who can give ten thousand dollars yes no I'm asking you to

go to the Lord ask him what he'd have you give you want prayer go to the ministry area that

bluely lit section need the blues prayed off for you go to the blue area they'll lay hands on you

see the anointing of God come upon you let's all stand hey sing this song don't just jet out

this song is perfect because that's what we're asking for the refiner's fire to burn us out of us

that's what I want I get in my own way refine us so God be blessed city light church

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 boy on jansik and 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

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