Following the Good Shepherd

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel,

I am the Lord your God who teaches you to profit.

He leads you. He will give you a word.

He will whisper into your spirit.

He's leading you to a place of plenty, a place of prosperity.

In the Psalms, they said, Lord, you have brought us into a wealthy place.

He didn't say I'm the God of non-profit.

He said, I'm the God that will cause you to profit, to increase.

That's where he's leading you to.

Welcome to the CityLight Church podcast.

Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's word and discover the hope and truth that he has for us.

If you want to connect with CityLight Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com

that's citylightnyc.com.

Pastor Boyan 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.

Oh, welcome to those of you joining us online.

Nice to have you with us.

I hope you're in another state.

As many of you are.

For some reason, you couldn't come.

You made it home from work at 10 a.m. or something.

But I know those of you joining us online, it wasn't the rain that kept you away.

Luke chapter one.

Starting in verse 26, typically a Christmas passage.

But it has nothing to do with Christmas for our purposes here this morning.

Now in the six month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David,

and the virgin's name was Mary.

And having come in, the angel said to her, rejoice,

highly favored one.

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 the sun, and shall 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 said to the angel, how can this be since I do not know a man?

How am I going to have a divine child when I can't even have a natural child?

I've never been physically intimate.

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 that holy one who is to be born

will be called the son of God.

Now indeed Elizabeth, your relative, that's John the Baptist, mom,

has also conceived the son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month for her who was called

Baron. For with God, nothing will be impossible. Say that with me, for with God,

nothing will be impossible. There are a few core passages in the Bible that have forever marked me

and shaped the way I relate to the Lord, the way I go about living life, really the way I go about

pastoring, and this would be one of those passages, specifically this verse right here.

For with God, nothing will be impossible.

In the Greek, that word for nothing is Rayma, which means word or spoken word.

And let me also just say this, whenever you hear something and it sounds like it's a departure

from a traditional way of it being taught, or it's the first time you're hearing or you wonder,

you're skeptical. It's good to be skeptical. Just don't be cynical, and there is a difference.

God doesn't mind skeptics. That just means you've been deceived a few times, you've learned some

lessons and now you want to make sure that you're following the truth. There's a group called the

Bereans in the book of Acts, and they listen to the apostles, and then it says they went home and

searched the scriptures themselves to make sure that those things, the apostles preached were in

there, whether these things were so, the Bible says. So it's okay to be skeptical, cynical, you've

gone too far, the Pharisees were cynical, those religious leaders were cynical, and Jesus didn't even

try to help or teach into or convert cynics. Skeptics good, cynics bad. So everybody should be

somewhat skeptical. And what I'm about to share with you right now, I encourage you to go and ask,

chat, ask, rock, dive into the Greek yourself. I don't know if any of you still Google. I certainly

don't. What's Google? You know, I took my son to a movie. Fantastic four. And right before the

movie, Google had a commercial before the movie, and I'm like, ah, you know, your time is up.

That's why for the first time, all these years, you never advertised. Now remember that? I was like,

look, they're on their way out. They have to, they have to go and now advertise their services,

because no one's Googling. But put it in, and you'll find this. You'll find that that word for

thing is reima, which means spoken word, because the Greeks had such an understanding of the power

of words. And they believed words become things, that the word for thing is the word word. Here's

a better rendition of that verse, a paraphrase, or really a more accurate translation.

For no word, reima. Get familiar with that word, reima. It means spoken word. For no spoken word,

no reima from God shall be without power. That's what this means. I know we love this verse in

English. It's a good verse in English. There have been a whole songs. Oh, things are possible.

Based off this verse, dozens of songs based off of this were verse. But it'll really bless you

when you understand that what the Holy Scriptures are communicating here, what Gabriel,

Gabriel, the messenger of God himself is saying is no spoken word from God, no word of the Lord

will be impossible for him to perform. In other words, God's word is so pregnant. And as soon as he

speaks it, it contains the power to fulfill that thing that he's promising to you. Mary has a

legitimate question. Wow. Gabriel comes in. He doesn't like, you know, butter her up or anything.

He doesn't do any small talk. He just goes right for it. You're blessed, you're highly favored.

And you've heard about the Messiah. He's coming through you. How are these things going to be?

This is hard to bear for with God. I know it's hard for you to bear, but no word of his will be

impossible to perform. I'll read it one more time exactly as it comes. For no word from God,

she'll be without power. This means that whenever God speaks, his word is self-fulfilling.

He himself supplies the power to perform it. Why is it so important? This is so important because

it means that one of the most important things we as believers can do is get a word from God.

When you get a word from God, you can take it to the bank. When you get a word from God,

you're unstoppable. When you have a word, not just from the scriptures, but a spoken word directly

from you, which is always backed up and supported by the scriptures, in other words, a spoken word

from the Lord can never contradict what's already in his written word. Amen. Somebody said,

God spoke to me and they say something completely unbiblical. Rest assured God didn't speak to them,

but this should make us value the word of God, prize the word of God, spoken to us, and hungry

to hear from God. I can do anything if I just have a word from the Lord about it. I can go through

anything as long as I'm hearing from heaven. The loneliest feeling as a Christian is going through

something and you feel like there's silence. In fact, if you read the scriptures in the Old Testament,

thank God this isn't in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, when it describes Israel in a

cast-off or depressed state, it says, and the word of the Lord was scarce in those days. So,

scarce word of the Lord equals depression, equals a right. Rich word of the Lord equals a prosperous

life. So, 2021, for example, was a very, very rough year for me personally because it was a rough

year for the church. We had just gone through 2020 and if you're not from New York City, you know,

when I share with other friends from around the country, they really don't know what I'm talking

about. They didn't know how bad it was here, but if you were in California or New York in 2020,

some of you are looking at me like you still don't remember how bad it was. It's really funny

about 2020 and COVID. It's like people have PTSD and they don't even want to think about it. They

don't want to talk about it. Maybe they debated so much back then, they don't even want to bring it up.

Maybe they're embarrassed at how they behaved. And they just, they wish you would go away. Yo,

2020 was crazy. People lost their minds. Do you remember people walking around with purple gloves

up to their elbows and N95 masks and, you know, if you're six feet away, you're okay, but if you're

five feet away, I respect my boundaries. Step, it was nuts. We went from living a normal life to

all of a sudden you can't come into church. That's when I realized we have to own our own building

so that nobody could ever block us from having church again. And so the first thing that happened

in 2020, we used to have four locations. Manhattan, East Village, Manhattan, Midtown,

Brooklyn Williamsburg, and the Astoria here, location, six weekend services.

COVID comes the first location to immediately get hit was the Manhattan location. You know why?

Because the average lifespan, this is a fact, the average lifespan of a man hat night is three to

five years. And don't think of your friend who lives on Avenue C or your grandma and somewhere where

she's been, your average lifespan of a man hat night is they graduate college, they come to Manhattan,

they get a job, three to five years they stay, make good money, then go buy a house in Texas.

And so our phones start ringing off the hook, emails start coming in, all of our leaders,

all of these precious people, they say, look, this was already by April and May. The moment they

realized it wasn't going to be quote unquote two weeks to slow the spread. Remember that March 13th,

March 13th, two weeks to slow the spread. After two weeks, it wasn't two weeks. We realized this

is going on, they'll break a dawn, this is indefinitely. We start getting phone calls and emails saying,

look, we're leaving, especially anybody with kids or those who were married, we're leaving and

guess where they were going to, four main states, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Texas.

So we lost a lot of people and we're realizing, wow, our church may never ever look the same.

Then right around May, I started to kind of wake up a little bit going, huh,

this really seems like a lot of government overreach and there really seems to be a lot,

a lot to do about a virus that has a less than 1% mortality rate. I feel like it's 2020 the way

people are quiet and looking at it. All right. First service I had doctors here nodding right at me

agreeing with me. Now we had a internet scientist still looking at me sideways. All right, let me put it

another way. If we did nothing, this is nothing to do with my message, but I like it if you're

perturbed maybe because you can't be so deceived in one area of your life and then be honest in

another area. Like if you're still in the matrix, if you're still believing everything you hear on

the TV and you're trusting big daddy government and you're in a dangerous spot. You got to wake up.

If we did nothing back in 2020, we would have still had the same exact mortality rate. If we did

nothing, how can you remember? Well, good thing we have a control group and the control group is

called the country of Sweden and they did nothing and they lost less than 1%. We did everything.

Business is destroyed. Church is decimated. People lost their jobs. People went nuts. We had people

in our church who lost their mind, single people who didn't couldn't leave their house. They could,

but in their minds, they couldn't leave their house for I would call them in September and there

was still Chlorox wiping their groceries. They lost their minds. They did all that and what do we

get? Still less than 1% mortality. It's the same thing, but people don't want to admit, wow, I live

like a fool all those months for nothing. They can't do that. Well, no, you know, we all had to do

our part and love our neighbor and sorry, you did nothing. You know how I know? How any doctor

who's honest, you say, well, I have my, you have your doctors. Let me tell you what my doctors say.

Sorry, my doctors weren't given the whole backing of the media empire. They paraded around their

doctors. An airborne respiratory virus, a corona, airborne respiratory, there's been others.

You cannot mitigate it. You cannot manage it. The only way you could have mitigated is you put

every single person in a bubble, hermetically sealed for a month. We couldn't do that. Like in space,

you know, just cry gently, freeze everybody until the virus dies and then bring them back.

So you could not manage it. You'd remember all of the fuss in trying to manage it.

I didn't do this in the first service, but you asked for it. I love you. You asked for it.

So,

watch this. I'm talking about how bad it was in 21. I'm going to lose 50 people.

So I start challenging the COVID narrative. You know, we opened up. We were the first church

and you're excited to open up and they let us open. But with 25, we could only be a 25% capacity.

And I said, look, we're not, I'm preaching. I'm not doing math every Sunday morning.

25 could just open it up and whoever wants to come come. And then people came.

Some people came. We haven't seen each other for months. I said, hey, how are you doing?

Given them the pastoral side hug, you know, hey, how are you doing?

Ah, people, you remember the people that we know for years, recoil. Like the pastures lava.

The pastures lava. Ah, don't come near me.

So, fine, you don't want to be side hugged. That's cool.

But then they started pushing the vaccines. The vaccine. You got to get a Vax.

If you were a big pro-vaxxer, like really big, I hope you got all eight boosters and stand by your

convictions. I'm kidding. Relax. It's touchy still. See? See how sensitive it is still?

I thought we could laugh about it. Now it's 2025. No, still not funny, huh?

Well, imagine how unfunny it was back in 2020.

And I, my wife and I, we just made a decision. We just, look, this new vaccine has been around

all of 15 minutes. We just, we just don't want it. I don't feel like it. My body, my choice.

Also, I had COVID. So now I'm full, full of antibodies, so I don't need a Vax.

Especially your Vax that doesn't work.

The only vaccine you got to get every year and you can still get the disease you're vaccinated for.

So, we just said, and we, I just said, look, if anybody else doesn't want to get, because there

was a bunch of people, they didn't want to be the guinea pig. I said, we'll provide a religious

exemption. And if you're a place of employment, it receives a great, not every place did,

but some colleges and some places did. And when I announced that, people went nuts.

You know, that's how crazy it was. Like, if that's what I want to do, and you don't like it,

then don't do it. But why get mad at me then? I know why, because the media brainwashed you and

told you I was a grandma killer. That's why. I was the enemy. I was in loving my neighbor,

the way they used the language, even pastors manipulating people into the Blasio up there.

You all remember the Blasio with the burger and fries? He goes, going to give you a free burger

and fries from Shake Shack, I think it was, if you got vaccinated. Sell your soul. I mean,

for, you know, and then you wonder, what it would be like under the beast system and an anti-Christ

number and Christian, I'll never take the mark of the beast. Wait, fries and a burger? Whoa,

sounds good. So, I had people sitting right here in the second row glaring at me.

And then we lost even more people. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you. I'm just having a thought here. Why, why even though, you know, I could have said this

so much more diplomatically and not to potentially hurt others. And I don't, I don't do it because I

don't like you. I just think it's actually healthy if I do hurt you a little. Because I'm going to

work you one way or another sooner or later. That's just how it goes. I've learned, been doing this

quite a while. And the ones who scare me the most, I'm not even preaching them, sharing random thoughts.

But over 23 years, the ones who scare me the most are the ones who be lying towards me after

service and tell me how much they love me. Great as sermon. I love how you preach. I love, where's

this church been all my life? Because usually within 30 days they're gone. They love me, but then

they instantly, I'll say one thing they don't agree with. And then if if you want someone who's

always going to agree with you, you don't want me to be your pastor. You want you to be your pastor.

Amen, Victor. But it came with pain. COVID did a number on most churches. Even two years after COVID,

only had 50% of the people back that they lost. There were 50% 2019 levels. So we were hit.

And we were hit emotionally. Remember Pastor Moses a rough time. It was just we're looking around and

it feels like we went to war and it was just like pockets of empty seats, people left. And I needed

a word from the Lord. And this is what he gave me. It was either in service or during a staff meeting.

I forget now which one, but I just heard in my spirit, I'm going to prepare a ram in the thicket.

I'm the God who prepares a ram in the thicket. And instantly I knew that it was calling back to

Abraham and how he went up into the mountain to sacrifice Isaac, but then he didn't sacrifice Isaac,

but he still needed a sacrifice. He looked in the thicket and the bush and there was a ram called

there. And he was so grateful. And that's when we, that's where we get the name where he said,

the Lord will provide Jehovah Jairah. The Lord will provide. That's what Jehovah Jairah means. The Lord

will provide. He's the provider. And so in that mess, it was very difficult for me. We had healthy

people who just sat there all day watching CNN. Remember that death counter? Just imagine what

that does to the human psyche. If I showed you automobile deaths and a constant counter, you'd never

step foot in a car. Well, that's what they did with COVID. They just show how many people are dying.

I know it's terrible. I know we had amnesia. At the end of the day, it was still less than 1%.

What kind of pandemic? People still call it the pandemic. Look at any historical pandemic. Look

at a real pandemic like the bubonic plague. Took out 35% of Europe. And I'd be littering people who

passed from COVID. But was it worth to destruction? Was it worth, there's, there's kids still who

their math and reading comprehension skills are not up to par because of those devastating couple of

years? Was it worth it when we would have most likely, I believe completely likely, gotten the same

result? So the Lord says, I will provide. In other words, don't worry. Don't worry. By the way,

when you lose that many people, you know, I have seven people on full-time staff.

Many of them have children. These are thoughts that I get. Lord, are we going to have to downsize

everything or what's going to happen? What is our future? He said, I will provide. When he said

that to me, I knew that within that word was the power to fulfill that word. All of a sudden other

people start coming to take their place. More people start coming from here, from there. Hey,

how did you hear about this? Hear the craziest stories of how they heard about us. But the Lord

just came and brought and brought and fulfilled his word. You can do anything that the word of the

Lord tells you you can. You can go through anything as long as you have the word of the Lord.

I watch. I'm hungry for you to get a real now word from God. Are you hungry for that? Amen.

Lord, what will the end of 2025 look like for me? Lord, what is my best 2026 look like?

And to get a word, a real word from the Lord. I say real word because I know there are people

I'll get to that in a little bit. Usually they're the most vocal ones. Does anybody have the God

told me, friend? Yes. You got them, right? Everything is God told me. God told me, God told me,

I was crossing the street before that I was opening my sock drawer up. There were blue socks, yellow socks,

God told me where the yellow socks today. Listen, if your life's a mess but you're constantly

quoting God speaking to you, maybe sit down. Polish, polish your satellite dish because it's not

receiving the right frequency. You got to do some internal adjustments. Christians are afraid of

saying it like that, but they need to say it like that. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

I want to show you something from Isaiah.

Isaiah 48, 17.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord your God who teaches you

to profit, who leads you, who leads you. He's the good shepherd. He leads you. He will give you a

word. He will whisper into your spirit. Where is he leading to? You too. He's leading you to a

place of plenty, a place of prosperity. In the Psalms, they said, Lord, you have brought us into a

wealthy place. He didn't say I'm the God of non-profit. He said, I'm the God that'll cause you to profit

to increase. That's where he's leading you to. It's just our responsibility to get hungry and

desperate enough to get a word from the Lord for our lives because that word you can take to the

bank. Mary could and that by natural standards was an impossible word to see fulfilled. John 1027.

My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. If you're hearing right now,

you don't hear from God. If you're hearing a voice in your head saying you don't hear from God,

that is not of God. Many Christians, especially those who are just starting out, they feel intimidated,

they feel spiritually insecure, they feel like, oh, God talks to the select for you to the

special. He won't talk to me. You need to stop that thought right now and combat it with the word

of God. The word of God says that God will speak to me. Jesus said, you're my sheep, my sheep,

hear my voice. He is your father and he delights in speaking to you. He delights in leading you and

guiding you. And I'll tell you what I don't believe the Lord delights in at all is Christians running

around all over the country from conference to conference seeking out profits and prophetic people

asking them, give me a word. What should I do? What's, no, the best words don't come at a conference.

The best words, I've had good encouraging words. I love it when someone with a prophetic edge speaks

into my life, but the real life-changing words, they were always in a quiet time. They were

always the Lord directly to me. Those are the ones that matter. Why should somebody else know more

about your life and where you're going than you? Under the new covenant, under the old covenant

that was so, under the new no, because you have the Holy Spirit inside of you. John 1613.

However, when he, the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak,

please shout, speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears, he will shout it. He will speak,

he will speak. Does God still speak today? He will speak. He will speak and he will tell you things to

come, so you don't have to be in the dark. So you, yes, you can get a word from the Lord. He

actually has an idea of where he wants to take you. You may be confused, but he's not. I know where

he wants to take you into a wealthy place, into a place that will bring you profit and increase

and success. Yes. Hallelujah. Hebrews 116. I want to give you just some random practicals here.

Practical thoughts. And I say random because there are no particular order of importance.

But this is important to get. But without faith, it is impossible to please him. For he who comes

to God must believe that he is and that he has a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.

Dilligently, seek him means inquire of. Ask him questions. Notice it says he's a rewarder,

not a subtractor. He's an adder untur. He blesses you when you do what? Ask him questions.

This is important because I found that the vast, vast majority of times, God will not offer up

information. You have to ask him. Why? Because asking takes faith. Asking takes humility and asking

shows submission. So you won't just be going around your own life and doing whatever and God's

going to interrupt you and speak to you. Does it happen sometimes? Yes. Happen to Moses.

Happen to Mary. But unless you've got like an international level call on your life that's

going to shape the calendar for the next 2,000 years, probably he's not going to do that to you.

You got to go to him because he's a God that must be sought. You have to do the uncomfortable

thing and actually in prayer, ask God questions. Why do so few people ask God questions? I know

because you feel silly because you don't get the answer right away. You usually don't get the answer

right away. So you have to do it by faith. Then later that night ask again. Don't ask in the state

of anxiousness but ask from just a posture of searching him. Every time you ask what you're saying

is, Lord, you're my Lord. I'm not carrying my own life in my hands. I don't want what I want. I want

what you want for me. What should I do? Should I take that job? Look, my wife and I are going to

Poland. We're ministering in Poland. I wanted to, normally every, in a few weeks, but normally every

summer I get to go away. Maybe if we had gone away, I wouldn't have wanted to minister in Poland.

Maybe I was like enough traveling. Usually by the time I get back, if I see one more suitcase,

you know. But now I could do that. But every time, so every summer we go away to Europe,

this time when I would just go on kayak to look for flights, I'd just be like, no, no.

And then again, I'd go, I feel like maybe it's just me. No, the Lord doesn't, Lord doesn't want us

traveling. And I'm not going to go by myself. I forbid I go to another nation without the Lord. I only

want to go where he wants me to go. That's the sweet spot. That's the blessed spot. Hallelujah.

So ask those burning questions that you text people about that torment you. There's people who can

be tormented, but they'll never actually vocalize the question to God. Ask him, will you hear the answer

right away? No. Maybe, probably not. But keep asking. And maybe you'll hear an answer. This is how

he works with me two days later, three days later, sometimes a week later, sometimes six months later.

And I'll be doing something absolutely silly and unrelated, like going for a walk, driving my car,

bending over to pick up a paper towel I dropped. And when I do, the Lord just, and I know it, and

it's within a second, I got the complete answer, and I know it's the Lord speaking. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. So in learning how to hear from God, it is imperative that you know that you are a

tri-partite being. This will help you so much. I don't know if you want to get better at hearing from

God. Yeah, that's awesome. And he loves you. And as we just read, he delights in talking to you.

Delights in speaking to his people. The most essential thing to know is that you are a tri-partite being.

Paul and Thessalonians says, I pray your whole spirit, soul, and body would be preserved

blameless until the day of Jesus Christ. So know this, that the real you is a spiritual being.

That's the spirit. You are a spirit. You have a soul. That's not the same as the spirit. The terms

aren't interchangeable. That's completely different. The soul is from the Greek suke, where we get

psyche from. It means your mind, your will, and your emotions. So you have a soul and you live in a

body. So God is the Holy Spirit. Where does he speak? Into your spirit. You know how I joked

last several weeks. He's not the Holy Brain. He's the Holy Spirit. You could only engage him with your

human spirit. You have a spirit. That's where you hear from God. I'm kind of without even realizing

I'm pointing at my belly. That's where Jesus said it is, out of your belly, out of your spirit.

Even other faiths, even other religions that believe in a life force and energy, they've been

able, they don't call it a spirit, but even people talk about the Chi and even demonic stuff.

But they always know it's at the center of man. It's at the core of man. This is where your spirit,

this is where God will speak to you. I never known someone who hears from God to say,

you know, I heard this voice in my head. I've known a lot of troubled individuals say,

you know, I heard this voice in my head. Get away. I don't want to know what the voice in your head

is saying. We have a deliverance team over by the blue lights. Help you get rid of the voice in

your head. No voices in your head. It's in your spirit. Deep down on the inside.

And if you ever get deceived, if you ever get troubled, you hear something that can lead you

astray. The devil really isn't the problem when it comes to mishearing God's voice. You know what

the problem is? Your own soul. Because the Bible says your own soul, it's not fully regenerated yet.

It's being renewed. It's in the process of being renewed. In the book of James, it says,

to receive with meekness the ingrafted word of God, which is able to save our souls. Psalm 23,

the Lord is my shepherd. He restores my soul. In other words, we need to have a brainwashing.

The battlefield is in the mind and we have to undo a lot of old stinking thinking. But if we have

an unrenewed mind, then we're going to mishear God if we're trying to engage him with our mind.

You can have somebody who's been traumatized and when they go and pray and say, Lord, what should

I do? They're never going to hear correctly because if he challenges them or tells them to take

a risk, they'll just want to keep sitting and playing it safe. So what are they doing? They're

trying to interpret the will of God but through their own broken soul. You can have somebody just,

you can have a play come into the church, save five minutes, and all of a sudden God is telling

him to date every girl in the church. No, that's not the Lord, that's your own broken soul from how

you were raised and grew up, whatever you endured. That's not God's way, amen. I can go on with this

list, shall I? There's a lot of weird ways we say, God is leading me, God told me, and it's really

coming from a fragmented, broken, unrenewed mind. That's why it's so important to feast on the word

of God. The word of God renews our soul and then we'll be able to hear more accurately and clearly

in our spirit, man. Is this a very quiet this morning? I'm not going to be moved by quietness,

but it's just helping you. At least let a pastor know, all right, it's helping someone, okay?

Hallelujah. Honey, why am I so insecure? I just need to hear that validation and affirmation,

it's my broken soul. In Proverbs it says, the spirit of man, the spirit of man is the candle of the

Lord. He will guide you and illuminate you through your spirit, man. Hallelujah.

And if you haven't heard from the Lord in a while, if you don't even know what I'm talking about,

which I don't believe you don't know what I'm talking about, you all have heard from the Lord.

If you're saved, if you've received him as your Lord and Savior, you've heard him calling you,

you've sensed that nudge deep down in your spirit, him calling you to himself,

him calling you to repentance, him revealing his face to you. Yeah. If you haven't heard from

him in a while, you may need to repent because he doesn't offer up new information if you've

disobeyed previous information. Some people treat God like a giant, not a roulette, but what's the

the one on bandit, the slot machine? Yeah. They blew. Oh, I don't like that result. Let me just go

again. You can't inquire of the Lord, him speak to you and you go, how about again? You can't. You

got to instantly obey the voice of your spirit because if you don't instantly obey what the Lord

is telling you to do, you will get what the Bible calls a seared conscience.

You ever see a stake that's been too seared? It's all rough and tough and like your conscience

needs to be tender before the Lord. But when you disobey and disobey and disobey,

you can't hear the Lord anymore. My pastor tells us, my old pastor, he used to be a co-cat,

then he got radically saved. And he tells the story of how, when he fell back into the sin,

and he said, after he got saved, somebody offered him some cocaine and he heard his spirit went,

no, don't take that. Like shook him. But somehow he said, nah, maybe a little bit.

He rebelled. He said the next time he went for the cocaine, he heard, no, don't take that.

He said a little bit more. He said the third time he heard, no, don't take that.

And the fourth time he said he didn't hear a thing because he seared his conscience.

And that's why you can get Christians who are totally in sin going, nothing's wrong with this.

God doesn't even tell me it's wrong. Well, his word tells you it's wrong, that doesn't change.

Here's what changes. Your conscience got speared. Now you don't even hear him talking to you about it.

Dangerous place to be in. Hallelujah. So I want to tell you to make it easy,

the number one way to hear from the Lord. This will help you because there's over 20 plus ways

people hear from the Lord in the Bible. But the most, the most consistent way that he speaks

is something called inward witness. The man by the name of Kenneth Hagen who's a prophet of God,

we have some of his books in the front. He was caught up in visions and experienced the Lord and

he even said, he said, the vast majority of the way the Lord speaks to me, the way he gives me

instruction is the inward witness. Go to that verse in Romans. I believe it's Romans 9.

I'll get the whole verse for you. Romans 9 1, I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience

also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit. How many of you know you're saved? Look at that.

The rest of you, boy, do I got a message for you when I'm done preaching.

You know you're saved because the word of God declares you're saved, right? But also you have a

witness in the Spirit, don't you? Just when you check on the inside, now you're not led by your

feelings. The word of God says you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, believe in your heart,

you shall be saved, you've done that, you know you're saved. But also your spirit, it bears witness.

I remember what it felt like in here before I got saved. It was lonely, it was empty, it was like a

big giant void like in the cosmos in space. Any of you know what I'm talking about? You checking

in, it's just like it would be like a bottomless swell but never ended. That's how felt. Now it's

not like that. It's full. I know I'm saved. My spirit bears witness to it.

The voice of your spirit is what the world would call conscience or the voice of your conscience.

Even unbelievers can hear their spirit. How much more someone with a newly created born

against spirit? This is where nine out of ten times I dare say the Lord will lead you and guide

you through the inward witness. What is the inward witness? I don't like to say feeling because

it sounds so fleshly and carnal. A better word would be sense. Sometimes I use the word I feel,

I don't feel that from the Lord but really what I'm saying I spiritually I don't sense that's

from the Lord. It's like I have a decision to make for example like going away this summer.

Whenever I would think about traveling the summer I would sense like like sandpaper on the inside.

When the Lord wants me to do something it's like a free velvety feeling like silk. Have you ever

inquired of the Lord and you get a red light? Like an internal red light? Anybody? Yeah that's

him saying no. You get a green light? That's him saying yes. And the more you do this and the more

you inquire the better you'll get at discerning, at figuring it out. What's just your own soul?

What's the Lord? You have to be willing to make some mistakes. That's why it's good to start

practicing small. Don't start with Lord should I go into the bush of Africa? I think the Lord

is sending me to the bush in Africa. I'm going to one way ticket. Start with small decisions.

Get good and practice hearing him.

Everybody wants to hear from an angel. Once the sky opens up and get a vision and they'll

miss the supernatural because they're searching for the spectacular. Don't miss the supernatural

because you're searching for the spectacular. One of the most life changing things was

summer of 23 in my kitchen. 2020 was a great year minus COVID because I got into Bitcoin in 2019

and it exploded in 2020. And then 21 was really good and then whoa I round tripped the majority

of my profits. That's sad. When you start off with a few thousand dollars and watch you go to

hundreds of thousands dollars and you watch you go to millions then you watch you go back down to

hundreds of thousands and tens of thousands out. That's what happened to me. That's not fun.

So it's the summer of 23. I'm in my kitchen and I'm talking to the Lord about let's do this again

except now I'm not doing it in the middle of hype and euphoria and mania and now it's the middle

of the bear market. Nobody wants to even talk about Bitcoin. That's when you buy. When there's

blood in the streets. JP Morgan said that by the way. That's his quote. Buffett said be

fearful when others are greedy and be greedy when others are fearful. Everybody was afraid in the

summer of 23. I went to my kitchen and I just started playing around with some numbers on my phone

and literally on an Appkin. And I got an idea. I said I'm going to get microstrategy.

This is an investment that netted me more than 5,000 percent. It's a little better than a 5.5

percent typical financial advisor will get you. I sat in the kitchen. I said Lord should I do this

and in my spirit. I didn't hear him say a whole bunch of words. I didn't see a vision. Just in my

spirit it was like a bell started ringing. That's a bingo. But more than normal it was like

oh I knew I was on to something. Lord you really like this don't you. And then I did the math

on if this trade worked out what it would bring me. And I thought this is in the millions. Lord

is this. And I sensed. That's exactly what you're going to get. Please if you're just

alert getting you getting started with hearing from the Lord don't start off with options trading.

Please don't. Start out with should I get my coworker that sandwich.

You're telling me or no you're saying Lord he likes sushi. Try that out and say if you like

sushi. Okay I'm learning how to hear from the Lord. Hallelujah.

Guys I got to say you're very quiet. I have a few more points that I'm actually debating on

whether going through them or not. Yeah okay I'm just going to blame it on the ring.

All right the three main ways to hear from the Lord number one inward witness. How many of

you know what I'm talking about. Yeah go home this will change your life. The number one question

Christians have statistically Barney Research Center the number one question is how can I

learn to be led by the Lord. How can I interpret the will of God. I'm giving you the answer.

How to hear him for yourself. How to be empowered because when you get that word.

You know my wife said to me that blessed me so much she said it multiple times.

She said I've learned to trust when you say God said I can trust I have peace I can relax.

That was the greatest compliment she ever gave me because God forbid she would say

and when you say God said who knows what that means you're always saying God said and sometimes

you're a flake sometimes you're spot on and everything in between. Get good at hearing his voice

and you're only going to get but making some mistakes but spending time in stillness and asking

questions also what's really important is getting the word of God in you because the Bible says

council and the heart of man is like deep water and a man of understanding will draw it out.

The council of God the word of God is also known as the council of God when you put it inside

of your well when you need it you will be able to draw it out. Sometimes we don't hear from the Lord

because we don't have a written word deposit so he has nothing to draw from. The more written word

you get inside of you the more spoken Ramag word he'll be able to deliver to you. Is this

making sense? So number one is Romans 9-1 it's the inward witness. Number two is

can you go to Romans 8-16 please. What the heck was Romans 9-1 then? How did I let that slip?

Go to Romans 9-1. All right go to Romans 8-16 this is the verse for the inward witness the spirit

himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. We have the witness of the spirit.

Romans 9-1 that's the inward that's the still small voice so the number one way the Lord speaks to

us is a sense he's not even speaking words yet have you ever heard somebody say God told me I

hear this all the time especially in prophetic circles I was praying and God said son that's not

what I want you to do what and they're like it's a paragraph long like wow you hear God so accurately

you can write a whole paragraph they're not they're not hey I know real prophetic men of God they never

claim to hear God that way when he speaks oftentimes it's like five words but in that five words

it's like several books of inference just downloaded into you but you can't write whole paragraphs

quoting him he's not people like like they're having this back and forth conversation they can

quote with God doesn't happen that way there's a still small voice that's not the voice of God

that's the voice of your own spirit that's the secondary way that God speaks the voice of your own

human spirit worship team coming up let's get communion ready and number three is the voice of

the Holy Spirit Acts 1019 while Peter thought about the vision the spirit said

that is much stronger that is much louder that is much more authoritative than just the still small

voice or the inward witness the only time I think I ever heard that was when I was deciding what

Bible school to go to I was obsessing over it and second-guessing and doubting the whole time

and finally I got this package and a brochure slipped out of it and it was for the River Bible

Institute and I picked it up and I heard and this is where you will go and it was the voice of the

Holy Spirit he had to tell me that loudly because I was being such a baby about it and second-guessing

and doubting the whole time we're going to receive communion and I'm going to lead you in an exercise

in hearing from the Lord in fact hold your communion elements please thank you thank you Jesus

if you're happy and alive notify your face

thank you Jesus that third week of September can't come soon enough

I never worked so hard in my life listen the Lord's about to speak to you this is like

hold the communion elements

thank you Jesus

I love you

you

jester you never get communion service anywhere like a city like personal service leave us a five-star review

see how they all come up to you personally serve you I want you to close your eyes don't eat the

communion yet I want you to say this with me and get ready to hear from God are you ready get

ready for him to speak to you say this Lord Jesus I am your sheep I hear your voice

I'm asking you to speak to me now please show me what is the biggest lie I'm believing about my life

right now now listen in your spirit

one more time for Jesus what's the biggest lie I'm believing about my life right now

now I'm not I'm not going to give you like minutes and minutes of silence because usually the Lord

answers that question within a few seconds how many of you look up at me how many of you you heard

something in your spirit you saw something in your spirit or you sensed something and you know

exactly what he's talking about let me see your hand I'm not going to ask you to share it let me

see your hand yeah he's very quick to answer this question oftentimes we hear right away then

we get tripped up in our mind it is very quick I already got texts from the first service people

saying they immediately heard now let's ask him for the truth that'll dismantle that lie are you

ready say Lord Jesus give me your truth what is the truth that will replace this lie

how many of you heard the truth yeah and that's the truth by the way that's the word of the Lord

and no word of God spoken will be impossible for him to perform

go ahead and partake of the body of Jesus

go ahead and partake of his blood

so

thank you Jesus

thank you Lord

most powerful thing you can have is a word from the Lord you can take it to the bank

if you don't have one about your life in the short term get one ask him for one

hunger for him to speak to you seek him with all of your heart he won't leave you high and dry

he won't do it you're his sheep and you hear his voice well hallelujah let's give the Lord a praise

hallelujah are you ready to honor the Lord with your tides and offerings let's worship him with our

giving the giving information is on the screens to either side of me give with faith give with a

glad heart give and expect him to multiply it back to you knowing that he's a God of abundance and

a God of prosperity

Lord I thank you that you multiply the gift back to every giver thank you for every seed in

the ground that's been sewn that it comes back a mighty harvest Lord overwhelm your people

with the goodness of God

cause every cup to overflow hey Lord let holy spirit surprises reign on your people in Jesus name

I just disrupts unbelief

shake up doubt swampiness I break your power in Jesus name

Lord I thank you for a soaking stopping wet end to 2025 I thank you Lord for adventures and God

in Jesus name and thank you for your goodness let's all stand if you need to go go with great

blessing if you need prayer make your way to my left you're right if you're new here and maybe

you want prayer go to that blue lit area there'll be a ministry team there to pray with you and

for you don't be shy don't be scared they won't hurt you they'll love on you that's Christian

speak for you won't get hurt they're gonna love on you let's sing to the Lord one more song

be blessed 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 jansic 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

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