Exposing the Enemy's Playbook

When I'm 85 years old, I want to be more fiery than I am today.

You cannot have a lukewarm Christianity.

Jesus said, I will spit you out of my mouth.

You're neither cold nor hot, but a lukewarm.

I will vomit you out of my mouth.

Lord, keep your fire in us.

Keep your zeal in us.

God baptizes us a fresh and holy fire for all of City Light Church in Jesus' name.

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.

The title of my sermon is notes from the other side exposing the enemy's playbook.

How many of you have read The Screwtaped Letters by C.S. Lewis?

Oh, just a handful.

A lot more in the first service.

If you haven't, you should read it.

It's an easy read.

It's a short read.

It's a fun read.

It's a light read.

I feel like I'm doing an ad for a book of the month club.

Reading is fundamental.

And he, C.S. Lewis, who is a Christian writer, very prolific,

very profound, very insightful.

It was written in 1941.

And you know something is insightful and profound when it was written nearly a century ago,

and it still matters today and it's still relevant today.

And the Screwtaped Letters are that way.

And really the premise of the Screwtaped Letters are two demons talking,

one, a senior demon known as Screwtap,

giving advice to young Wormwood, a junior demon.

And so it's all from the perspective of these demons revealing their strategy

and how they entice and tempt man to fall away from Christ,

how they attempt to blind them so that they should either never serve the Lord or stop serving

the Lord. And I don't know about you, but I want to be on fire now

until I get there. Amen.

I don't want my fire to grow dimmer and dimmer by the year.

I want it as the Bible promises for it to be brighter and brighter and brighter each and every

successive year.

And we're not to be ignorant of the devil's devices.

You know, I find in church people always tend to go to one extreme or another.

Either they focus completely on Satan and they become like a PhD in demonology and get all weird

and flaky, or they don't even really believe that Satan exists, that there is in a person that

he's just kind of like an abstract force, like a negative energy. No, there is the demonic

and there is a Satan. And he has been defeated for the born again, believe in Christian.

And he's under our feet to the degree that we believe he's been defeated. Amen.

But he's always trying to deceive and trying to get us to fall.

Slowly, get us to get colder and colder until we forsake the faith if we're in the faith.

And Paul says, don't be ignorant of his devices, of his wiles, of his strategies.

So I want to just, because it's a fun weekend, 4th of July weekend, let's go through

attendees from the screw tape letters, from the senior demon affectionately referred to as Uncle

Screw Tape. And how he advises that demons should come to humans and how they should entice them

and cause them to grow cold and forsake the faith. Number one, noise and distraction.

It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds.

In reality, our best work is done by keeping things out.

So as humans, we're very aware of invasive thoughts. You are, right? Sometimes you're just

minding your own business, all of a sudden a thought that you realize is an ungodly thought.

It just comes out of nowhere. It's really like a demon just through a projectile, a dart,

right at you and then by the way, you can't overcome thoughts with other thoughts.

You can only overcome thoughts with words. And so we realize he does come from the outside in

and we pay attention to that. But we may not realize that also a part of their strategy is to keep

God's thoughts out. So how do they do that with noise and distraction? Again, written in 1941,

how noisy could it have been when I think of my childhood in the 80s, even if you're watching old

80s movie or you watch an 80s movie that takes place in the 50s like stand by me. One of the first

things, one of the first things that's so strange to me is when I think about my childhood,

it was so quiet. But there were distractions then. But how much more so now?

And so how does God speak to us in the stillness, in the silence? I would venture to say that

over half of my prayer is quiet prayer. What's known as soaking prayer? That a really, really I noticed

West Coast former Christian hippies love soaking prayers. It's like I'm soaking.

And anybody with a Catholic background loves the term contemplative prayer, meditative prayer,

listening prayer, old-school Pentecostal, waiting on the Lord, waiting. It's all means the same

thing. It means you're not talking. And it's very difficult to do from a human perspective. Why?

Because we like to work. We like to be busy. We like to do something. If I'm not talking,

God's going to get bored and distracted by somebody in China who is. So I got a yell and talk

and keep going to keep his attention and you don't have to do any of that.

In fact, Jesus cautioned against talking too much. I actually believe that some of our prayers are

too long. Jesus, I don't think you'll be heard for your much speaking. When I need something from

the Lord, like the prayer of petition, short and sweet under 30 seconds. How many different ways

can you word? Mark 1124. This is what I need, Lord. This is what your word promises me. I believe

you that I receive this. Amen. Now, if I add more to that, I'm just kind of trying with my

verbosity to twist his arm and to doing what I want him to do. No, I want him to do what he already

said he would do in his word. So that leaves a whole lot of room for us to be still before the Lord.

And it's uncomfortable. But if you can press past that discomfort, you will strike

oil. I'm telling you, you will hit a gusher. Every time I've had a major breakthrough in my life,

I mean, every time like clockwork, it was always prefaced with another time of dedicated,

still prayer, contemplated prayer, being quiet. You said, well, what do you think about? I think

about Jesus. Well, what happens when your mind wanders? Oh, it does. I wonder it back.

In the beginning, when you try this, you'll notice your mind is very indisciplined. After 15 seconds,

you're thinking about your to-do list. The dog hasn't been walked. I wonder what I should make for

dinner tonight. It'd be like, there's my phone across the room calling out to me. I should just

check it just once. You say no to that. You focus on Jesus. Now, next time you make it a full minute.

Then you'll make it a minute and 10 seconds. Next thing you know, you can go 20 minutes and

you're comfortable being still. There is such a preciousness to that. Because the Bible says he

will come to you with a still small voice. There's a reason. Do you know the majority of miracles in

the Bible took place in the morning? Jesus sought the Father early in the morning. In the old

testimonial, you'll see that phrase early. Will I seek you, Lord, when it's quiet? In fact,

the Bible says to seek him while the dew is still on the grass. When there's a stillness,

when there's a quietness, when the world hasn't woken up yet, you can be still before the Lord. He

has no problem with you. Sometimes not saying a word. Good morning, Lord. Hallelujah. And then just

be with him. Jesus said this to Martha. He rebuked her. He said, you're so busy. Martha is indicative

of your typical church goer. Busy, busy, busy, busy. And he said, Martha, you're so

encumbered about. Look at Mary just sitting at my feet, hearing my word. Just to sit at his feet

and hear his word. Sometimes his word is simple like I'm with you and I love you.

But when I've done that part of being still before the Lord, then I can be somewhere where I'm not

even seeking him. I can be driving my car. And because I've done the work of being still before

him earlier, I'll just get a word from the Lord. Amen. Hallelujah. So this applied back in 1941,

how much now when we have phones and we're really missing ourselves up with the distraction of phones?

I took my wife to Vegas a few months ago because we needed to double or maybe even triple our

building fund. And we just thought, Jesus, let it ride. See the people, the people who like me

sit close. So they know to laugh. I noticed nobody in the back laughed. It's almost like if I

didn't clear you out last Sunday with my talk on Israel, I will today. So praise God.

I know the joy of the Lord is my strength. No, she's never been. I've never been. I went once,

but it was through a church conference. So I never saw Vegas. So I wanted to take her to Vegas. We saw

like the cheesy classic tourist stuff. Went to Red Rock Canyon, went to Hoover Dam,

went to Cirque du Soleil. And then of course, I had to because he was one of the first people I saw

when I first immigrated here in 1981. A little five year old kid. He made the statue of Liberty

disappear. David Copperfield. I went to David Copperfield and he did something. It was very offensive.

He took my phone away. He took all of our phones away. And they was on a lock box at our table.

Nobody could have a phone. And I'm not telling you those first 10 minutes without, because I always

have it with me. Those first 10 minutes, I felt like that that Dave Chappelle meme, you know,

anybody got a phone? I mean my phone. Like a drug addict.

But you know what I noticed after 10 minutes, I was fine. After 15 minutes, I was better. It didn't

take that long to detox. My wife is free. She'll go on whole entire walks and leave her phone at

home. I'm like, no babe, I need mine because it counts my steps. But one day I'm going to be like

you hopefully sooner than later. I'm encouraging you to resist these distractions. There are people

really. There are people that are terrified to be alone. You see it all the time. People who

their minds now are so gooey, like a lava lamp, just like a crack addict. If they can't have it

in front of their face, they're so terrified of being alone with their own thoughts for even five

minutes. If this is you, there is help. Now 1-800-no, there is help. It's not a number. His name is Jesus.

But it will help you tremendously to be. It's excruciating. Before for our phones where you

bickwit, it was excruciating then. When I first started to study meditative prayer, contemplative

prayer, listening prayer, it was so lonely. Because during that prayer you're not talking. You're just

being. You're being a human being and not a human doing. And then Satan comes and attacks you and

says, oh, you're doing this wrong. Or you're doing nothing. But you're doing everything. You're

sitting at his feet and just waiting to hear his word. And if you're going to go and attempt this

and you never have, be ready for the first five, six times for nothing to happen. And you're going

to feel like you wasted your time in Satan. We'll tell you that you wasted your time. But do it

again the seventh time anyway. Then do it again the eighth and you will hit a gusher in the Holy

Spirit. It will be such a joy and a delight to you as you go to just meet with the Lord and just

be with him. Be amazing. Hallelujah. Number two. Anxiety. From the screw tape letters, there is

nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human's mind against God. How many of you have

ever felt anxiety getting everybody? In fact, just yesterday, right? And the day before,

nobody, what a bold bunch of lions you are. And by lions, I don't mean the animal. I mean,

you're a lion. This is the thing people have anxiety. I had quite a moment yesterday. That was

just yesterday, Saturday morning, because Friday, we left for Manhattan because I've lived in

New York City for 44 plus years. And then two years ago, we sold out and moved to Long Island.

I have to say that way because that's what I always thought about people who left New York City.

What a sell out. You need to suffer in New York City and live in a shoebox.

Stick one of the kids in a broom closet. Now, we moved to Long Island. And the funny thing is,

while I live for those 44 plus years in New York City, my greatest goal on Fourth of July was to

get out of the city. And then we get out of the city and we're like, hey, let's go into the fourth

of July into the city. So it's a wonderful day. We're walking everywhere because in New York City,

there's this thing called walking, which Long Island doesn't have. And we're walking everywhere.

And we got a hotel for the night in the East Village. And actually had a view of the East River.

We saw the fireworks popping off. And then we woke up early Sunday morning and we were just a few

blocks from Tomkin Square Park, which is just half a block away from City Light Church in the East

Village, where we had a location for 17 years. So I said, let's grab breakfast and go eat it in

Tomkin Square Park. So now it's, it's guys, do you know what July 5th looks like in Manhattan?

It was like less dense than COVID than the height of, I mean, it was like the trumpet had sounded

everybody went up. And I'm, nobody there. And I'm sitting now, but this is what I want to,

when I want to tell you, I'm sitting on the bench. So I was 26 year old, 26 years old when I

founded City Light, with no denominational support, with no sponsorship alone, and nearly died in

the process. It was such time, my mid-20s riddled with anxiety. So now I'm here with my wife.

I'm in the most blessed season I've been in up until now, experiencing his goodness, that song,

his faithfulness. And I'm sitting there and I'm looking at a park where I used to walk and pray

in that park full of anxiety. I mean, I had every dark season of my 20s and my 30s, I experienced

in Tomkin Square Park. And now I'm 49, I'll be 50 and half a year. We're having a party, you're all

invited. Can't wait to see you there. You know, by the way, you know what we rented,

terrorists on the park. We rented that. I've never had a party, never talked about my birthday,

we're usually fasting right in the middle of my birthday. Before my 50th, we're gonna have a time.

But anyway, my mid-20s, oh my early 30s full of anxiety, and I had to learn how to handle that

stuff, because it was like a broken record in my head. You're gonna lose. You're gonna fail. You've

wasted your future. You're nothing. This will turn to nothing. Quit. Quit. Just quit. Why aren't you

quitting it? Quit, because you're such a loser. You're such a failure. Quit. I don't know none of you

have ever heard these thoughts before. Now, how do you overcome anxiety? One thing in particular,

I can tell you 20 things that will work, but one thing that I've just found helpful to me,

maybe it'll be helpful to you, is found in 1 Peter chapter 5, I believe verse 7.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

It's something you gotta do. Casting all your care upon him for he cares for you. There's hundreds

of scriptures that tell you don't be afraid, don't worry, don't be anxious. But this one, especially

in the amplified Bible, it says, casting the whole of your care once and for all on him,

once and for all, because what happens when you cast your care on the Lord? Somehow, you sneak

it back 30 seconds later. I miss it. Where did that giant trash bag full of my cares go? I'm so used

to carrying it around like an anxious Santa Claus. So, picture yourself with that bag of cares. You're

hurling it at his feet. Now, tell you why I didn't want to do this, because the way I was brought up,

I was taught to be very, very responsible. And if I just cast my care upon the Lord that seemed

irresponsible to me, because I had people in my life who were like Akuna Matata Christians,

like, I don't have a worry, and I'm thinking, you kind of should. Like, you haven't even filed

your taxes in three years, and you're just like, Christians will do crazy stuff and go,

Bible says, don't worry. No, for that. Maybe don't worry, but be concerned in a godly way,

like, handle your business, do what's right. So, to me, not worrying was the same as not having

responsibility, but I'm not talking about Akuna Matata, just don't worry, because, you know, it all

will all work out. No, you're, you're existing with God saving your behind, all you're living for

miracle to miracle. What's wrong with it? I don't want to live for miracle to miracle.

There's actually a better way, even higher, where you don't need a miracle every two weeks.

Amen. You're just living in his peace and his provision, his abundance, and he's like,

oh, they're asking me how he came through again. You know, I prefer not drowning, but walking

on the water. Hallelujah. So, take your trash bag full of anxieties, right? You're getting

overwhelmed. You're getting overcome and put it at the Lord's feet. And if you're just new to

this, you'll notice after about 30 seconds, you stole it back. So, then out loud stop again.

I said, Lord, these anxieties, these worries, these cares. I put them at your feet. I cast them

on you. You're big enough to handle them. I'm not. You're not intimidated of that bag. I am.

I'm not doing this in a way where I'm being irresponsible, but it is an act of faith. I'm

inviting you into this problem. And that's the key difference. I'm not just saying, oh, I don't

want to think about this. I'm saying, Lord, I can't handle this. You can. Every single time you do

that, you'll notice you get more rest in between the next batch of anxiety until you can live an

anxiety-free life. Hallelujah. And when problems come and they will, they don't cause anxiety, but

you face them from a place of peace, calmness, hallelujah. Knowing the Lord will give you the

victory. Amen. Number three. Is this blessing you? All right. Self-hatred.

Which, you know, if you've been coming to city light, I'm big on this.

And some people, I haven't been criticized for it, but I've seen the nature of some people online

where they would say, oh, you're, you know, are you pastoring one of those feel-good churches?

Were you just tell the people over and over again that God's a God of grace and that He loves them

no matter what? Yeah, yeah, because that's what I see in the Bible. And what they're really saying

is, but you need to belt them over the head here and there. I mean, don't let them feel too good

about themselves and what Jesus has done just occasionally, just to remind them after all, this is

church. And you should feel miserable about your existence from time to time. But that's not God's

way. Jesus said to Peter, feed my sheep, not beat my sheep. But it turns out, self-hatred was a

thing in 1941 too. And in 1841, and in 1741, and you'll find that man, universal man, since the dawn

of man and every continent has struggled with these demons that come, these demons of self-deprecation,

where you're told you're not enough, you're not good enough, and one of the key things people

struggle with is self-hatred. That's why we lift up Jesus because He wipes that away, because

there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. Amen. We lift up the blood of

Jesus because it's via the blood of Jesus that you are wiped squeaky clean. God doesn't just love

you. Do you know He likes you? With all your stuff, with all your brokenness, He loves you through

into holiness. Maybe you don't enjoy you, but God actually enjoys you. I'm speaking of Christians

here. If you're not a Christian, become one. I highly recommend it. We don't have a six-week

class fort. Confess your sins to God. Tell Him you are a sinner. And say, Jesus, I trust in you

for my righteousness. I trust in you. I look to the cross. I want a relationship with you.

Congratulations. Now you're a Christian. And now God the Father looks at you through a filter of

the blood of Jesus and cannot find one thing wrong with you. Now you're approved and you're accepted.

I have to say approved and accepted because those are the words that the Bible uses. Because the

big thing today in PC culture is, well, you're accepted. Everybody should be accepted. So,

God, yeah, great. You're accepted. Fine. But are you approved? But through the blood of Jesus,

you're also approved. The Bible says you're justified, which means that you're pronounced not guilty,

hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. I'm having the time of my life. I really am. Because the Lord has

done a work in my heart recently that I didn't even know needed to be done. It really, really began

in 2020 during COVID, where some of those other remaining elements of performance were taken away.

And even for pastors, any pastor worth their weight in salt, they want to be the best pastor they

can be. The best pastor, the God has called them to be. But our wires can get crossed because when

you see other successful pastors, you might want to be like them. But I can only be who God has

called me to be. And when I made my peace with that, I became an even healthier version of who

God called me to be. And I'm saying, oh, this for you. Because your job is not to be somebody else.

It's not to fulfill somebody else's calling. It's to find out what the Lord has for you and then

just do that. No more, no less. And there is such a peace and a rest in that. Hallelujah. Number four,

lukewarm faith. Here's what uncle screw tape said to Wormwood, a moderated religion is as good for

us as no religion at all and more amusing. I find that hilarious and more because demons are even more

amused with the lukewarm Christian than the total non-Christian. I just made a decision when I was

16 years old and those kids, those other teenagers were witnessing to me. I made a decision. I'm going

to go all in or I'm not going in at all. If you're at city light, I'm pretty confident that you made

that same decision. Well, are you a fundamentalist? No, I just kind of decide what I like the Bible to say

and then the parts I don't like, I just cut those out. Yeah, I'm a fundamentalist.

You see how other Christians treat you, you know, cultural Christians,

treating parts of the Bible like their suggestions. No, no, he gave his life for me and he wants me

to give my life for him and his life is worth a lot more so I'm getting a good deal here. What's

my life worth? Nothing. He gave his life for me. All he wants is my life in return. But I want to

fire. For the sake of my children, I want to fire. For the sake of my children's children, I want to

fire. When I'm 85 years old, I want to be more fiery than I am today. You cannot have a lukewarm

Christianity. Jesus said, I will spit you out of my mouth. You're neither cold nor hot, but a lukewarm.

I will vomit you out of my mouth. Lord, keep your fire in us. Keep your zeal in us.

God baptize us a fresh and holy fire for all of city like church in Jesus name.

Hallelujah. You can always test your fire. You know what a good measure of your fire is?

Your generosity with people in your giving. You show me a stingy person. I'll show you somebody who's

got a cold heart. Hallelujah. Also the Lordship of Christ. When your whole heart attitude is Lord

all I want is what you want for me. That's a good measure that your fire is at a good temperature.

Cold lukewarm Christians. They act like they can do anything. I can't do anything. I'm

hopefully one of the freest people you'll ever meet. He sent me free. But I can't go anywhere I want to.

I can't do anything I want to. I'm on a short leash and I wouldn't have any other way. Paul said,

I'm a bond servant. He said, I'm a slave, but in chains of love. In other words, a bond servant

was someone who actually wanted to be attached to a better house and was willing to serve there

but so that they could be in the master's household. Hallelujah. Number five, wasting time.

You must therefore zealously guard in his mind the curious assumption my time is my own.

I found that on average Christians are praying less but they have more free time than ever before.

Does anybody really believe there was busy as we pretend to be? We're really not.

It used to take 90 plus hours a week to keep a regular normal household going.

And I'm going to talk about 500 years ago. I'm talking about the turn of the 20th century in the early

1900s. I had a glimpse into that growing up in former Yugoslavia as a kid and going back there

every summer because my grandparents were constantly moving and working just to keep a small household

going. They had to go to the market every day because their food doesn't have preservatives

like ours does. So they had to get milk every day. Can you believe that? The next week the milk

would stink. They had to get a loaf of bread every single morning. You wait two days. It was like

hard as a brick. Our bread you can drop a slice behind your couch, find it five years later.

Still soft and fluffy. You ever drop a McDonald's French fry in your car?

My kids drop one back in 2016. I found it the other day was still gold and perfect. Tasted the same

too. No, just kidding. Today your dishwasher can be connected to your phone via Wi-Fi.

But because we don't even... I don't know. I used to spend my Saturdays waiting in line.

Anybody over 40 you remember Saturdays were for shopping and for waiting. Everything was waiting.

I'd be like, wow it's 5 p.m. There goes my Saturday. I was just waiting in line the whole Saturday.

I don't remember the last time I waited in line. You have to wait in line in Starbucks. You can

have your drink waiting for you. Everything is delivered. What am I saying? We have plenty of time.

We're not that busy. But we need to store it at that time. And just say, Lord, now you don't

be busy. I know there's a hustle culture. You've got to be... No, you can rest in God. But if you

rest in God, do it intentionally. If you just want to just... Just dawdle around your house,

but do that intentionally. But don't allow time, which is one of the most precious commodities you

can have to just escape you. Amen. Number six, encouraging extremism.

The senior demon training the younger demon says, all extremes except extreme devotion to God

are to be encouraged. Politics, fitness, even religiosity itself become corrupt if devoid of

charity and the love of God. So make sure that you are passionate and extreme in your pursuit of

the Lord. And there's other things that if you become too extreme, they can become an idol in

your life. Amen. Especially politics. Even great noble pursuits like health. All right,

got two amends on that one. So I'll go to number seven. It's just because we're not in that wave

right now. But if we were in a wave, because people are so easily programmed. And when they start

pulling the levers and then you start getting your programming via social media and other sites,

all of a sudden you start caring about stuff that you never thought about before. Then all of a

sudden you become an extremist about something you never even cared about before. And don't realize

that you've been programmed now in just a matter of weeks. Hallelujah. Amen or oh me.

Some of you, you really had the heavy barbecue on Friday, huh? You're still recovering.

Number seven, destroying sexuality or biblical sexuality. Healthy sexuality. From the book,

it is the business of demons to produce in every age a general, they're so poetic.

It is the business of demons to produce in every age a general misdirection of what may be called

sexual taste. So poetic, you almost don't know what in the world he's talking about.

It was so proper in the 40s that the, you know, today I'd say, well, I won't even say what I'd say.

Let's leave it to see as Lewis to do the good talking, amen.

But sexual taste means a monogamous marriage. Amen. Sex is powerful. Sex is a portal into

another realm, literally. Paul said that in Corinthians, who you're joined too sexually,

you're joined too spiritually. Sex is so powerful and so deeply spiritual that God put guardrails

there for our protection. He doesn't punish us when we go outside of those guardrails. We punish

ourselves because we're no longer under his safety and protection. And that's why there is such

an attack on healthy sexuality, monogamy, biblical sexuality, monogamous relationships.

Thank you, Maurice here. Thank you.

I won my son about pornography when he was, when he was finishing up the first grade.

And I didn't, when I said I warned my son, you know, because when I said this in the first

serve as somebody in the congregation, I don't know what they pictured when I said I warned my son.

Maybe they were warned. They're not more, I just said, listen, on this thing called the internet,

you might see pictures of naked people. If you do tell dad right about it, he'll never be upset at you.

And you know why I did that? Because I saw pornography before there wasn't internet when I was six

years old. And I remember what it did to me. I remember very clearly. A bunch of us kids, we got

I lived in parking towers in Forrest Hills at three big red buildings right across the 112th

precinct. And we would all play in the playgrounds around the buildings and then we're the,

the handyman were. We got into one of their closets, just mischievous kids, this is the 80s where

we would, our parents let us roam like cattle. And we just had to come back home before the street

lights came on. And we got into a box filled with magazines. And I remember opening up those

magazines. I remember feeling like like hot lava was pouring through my body. I remember seeing

things. I knew that I shouldn't be seeing these. No one talked to them about those things with me.

I knew that I was being defiled. I knew that those images would stick with me for a long time.

They would burn. You know, if God, God, if God had his way, God's way. He actually designed us to

when we see a naked body for that image to be burned on our mind. So ideally, you're married,

young, you're virgin, you see your wife, you see your husband, they're naked. And that's the image

that's burned into your mind. And that's what stays with you forever. But now we have this perversion.

And the enemy comes in. And so we see these other images. And instead of being the one we love,

that we're going to spend the rest of our life with, another image, another images,

nothing that the blood of Jesus can wipe away, nothing that the Holy Spirit can cleanse,

it just, you may struggle a bit. And I want to give my kids a head start so they don't

need the deep cleansing that I need it. Amen. Shouldn't be a controversial thing to say.

Because if I could stumble upon it in the 80s and most of us kids did, now you carry the whole,

and it's really crazy when you think about it that every kid that's 12 years old in Long Island,

they have a phone. So they're carrying the library of the world smut in their back pocket.

And I want to keep the doorway of communication open. So because I know one of these unsafe

kids is going to go to my son and go, hey, look what I saw. You see it too. And that image will be

burned and I want to be there for him. I want to help him navigate through that because it is

powerful. With point number seven, I just want to tie it together with point number two,

or three, which was self-hatred. Because people who start coming to the Lord and realizing they need

a cleansing in the area of sexuality and how they relate to the topic of sex, there's a lot of

self-hatred that can come in and may that not be you. No, you're not filthy, you're not dirty,

you were born, brought up into a fallen world. You keep your eyes on the Lord.

You reach out to him. Read his word, you know, in the Bible it says, your word is like a

fuller's soap. You know what a fuller is, a launderer. Your word is like a launderer's soap.

You read his word and it acts like a giant cleanser. Read more of his word. It'll cleanse you from

the inside out, hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Number eight, gradualism. The safest road to hell

is the gradual one, says Uncle Screw Tape. The gentle slope soft underfoot without

sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. Be aware of small innocent compromises.

One of the strange things about being a pastor, it's strange because I don't know of other

professions where you can stay with people for years and years and years in a spiritual way.

So I've seen people, I've seen people make it, I've seen some people not make it,

and I'm able to draw some conclusions. And for those that don't make it, I pray they can come back,

but those who are forsaken the Lord, they're forsaken the faith, how do they end up that way?

Oftentimes people will point, look, he did XYZ. He didn't start off doing XYZ.

You're just seeing the straw that broke the camel's back and you want to make a big deal about

that last straw, but there was a thousand other smaller pieces of straw before that final one

broke that camel's back. Little compromises, little compromises. Satan doesn't come at you right

away with a level 10 temptation. He gets you to just compromise a little bit. Say no when you should

say yes, just at one time until he comes knocking on the door again, all he wants is a finger to grab

your hand, to grab your whole arm and sin will always take you further than you want to go and keep

you longer than you want to stay. And by the way, the answer to any sin problem is grace,

is receiving more the love of God. If you're struggling with sin right now, I'm not advocating

for you to toughen up and try, try, try really harder. You won't do it. You're not strong enough.

So what are you saying and I should do? I'll tell you exactly, die. It's die.

And die to self, die to your pride, die to thinking that you can work on yourself and help

you fall into the arms of a loving savior, fall into his grace. But what if I mess up again?

I could almost promise you you will, but keep at it. You may not be sinless, but you'll

sin less and less and less. I received major deliverances in my life. Not everything is a

deliverance. Sometimes it's just over time and that gets cleansed. And sometimes he just does it in

total deliverance. But each time I received a deliverance, it wasn't ever because I was focusing

on the sin. I was focusing on Jesus. And then I was like, wait, that addiction, that thing,

that the thing I couldn't break, the Lord just did that. And I wasn't even thinking about it. I

was consumed with him. And then he just did that, Jehovah Sneaky. He just did that. I was like,

worshiping him and then, wow, what a great God. Nine. Oh, this is a good one. Disordered pleasure.

Man, how do they write this stuff in 1941? Were there pleasurable things back in 1941?

When we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy form, we are in a sense on God's ground.

Listen, this is important. Al just Huxley, the science fiction writer.

I stumbled upon one of his essays several years ago during a time when I was starting to feel

for whatever reason, empty, starting to feel like I had a scratch. I just couldn't,

like something was broken. And here's what he said. Listen to this.

He wrote that the problem with modern society isn't that it seeks pleasure. It's that it settles for

pleasures that anesthetize the heart. So this was basically the premise of his essay.

That you cannot get pleasure without first having struggle. That's the way we're wired as

humans. And I believe this with all of my heart. You cannot have pleasure without the first being

not just suffering, but some kind of struggle. In other words, you know, a farmer who's been working

to feel the whole day now goes inside and has a meal sits down and then goes to sleep. And

that's very pleasurable to him because the reward was prefaced by a price that he paid.

But in modern society, that price has come much cheaper. So we get cheap pleasure, cheap dopamine.

So I found myself in a place where the Lord really, really has blessed us and prospered us.

And my whole life has been nothing but struggle. But then all of a sudden the Lord just turned that off.

Now all I have is pleasure with almost no struggle. Like I don't have to, like Uber Eats comes

and reigns food down on you. I have to explain to my kids that we used to see a trailer for a movie

and have to wait for it. Now you just watch whatever you want at any time. It's a bad pleasure,

pleasure pleasure. Pleasure is raining down on you without any struggle. You know what that's

a recipe for an empty soul and depression for everybody. But I'm going to, I will say especially

for men. I will, for everybody across the board. But men, you need to schmitz, you need to sweat,

you need, there's a, you know, there's a saber too tiger that you need to kill. Hey, men.

So now my struggle is that I have to find that introduce struggle into my life.

Taken the long way back, you know.

Dropping give 20 pounds before you eat that meal. Hey, man. No, I'm saying whatever you need to do.

Someone's like in the past. I got so much struggle. Don't worry. I'm good.

But I find any, any, any pleasure that comes cheaply and anesthetizes the heart. It's not a

pleasure of God and actually leaves you emptier and before. Hallelujah. And I will say this. I've been

gesticulating to my wife a lot, but she is the master at not cheap pleasure. She's like from

another century. I don't know how I'm still at all. It's been 13 years. I still study her. I'm like,

you like, she's a munkette from not a munk, you know, a munkette from another century. She's

happiest. She could not have, I'm trying to coax your phone. She's like, oh, I was a gardening.

My phone. I hadn't seen it in five hours. And number 10, worship team, you can come on up.

Despair. My past, my pastor tells of a vision that he had.

And this is important. I just mentioned this because if, if somebody's having 16 visions today,

I tend to doubt that. When somebody's had three visions in their life and this is one of them,

I'm going to listen up, especially when their life is fruitful and the bearing the fruit of a

surrendered Christian life. And he tells of a vision, a dream, actually, sad, but he said it was so

intense. He didn't know whether to call it a vision or a dream, but he went in, I'm going to have to

give you the quick version. When he went into the devil's domain and he saw Satan with a giant bag

of tools, different tools that he came to use against the people of God. Very similar to the

screw tape letters, but he said, this is my most beloved tool of all, and it was discouragement and

despair. Isn't my number my most beloved tool of all and sitting in Tomkin Square Park yesterday

reminded me of that despair is even like a demon. It'll come in a rip hope out of your bosom if

you let it. And the Bible says hope deferred will make the heart sick. You have to command yourself

like the Psalmist did to yet hope in God. Do not allow, do not even play with despair. How does

it become despair? You start meditating on discouragement and you don't nip discouragement in the

butt of it'll turn into a ugly Medusa monster of despair. I pray for you today. I pray that the

Lord would increase his fire upon you. I pray now, if you're dealing with discouragement and despair

and hopelessness, I put the blood on you and I command it to fall off for you right here in this

place in Jesus name, that heaven's assistance come to you, that the Holy Spirit and His transforming

power would overtake you in Jesus name. I speak and prophesy break through over you,

that the goodness of the Lord would come upon you. I decree and declare that your enemies come

against you one way but they flee before your face seven different ways. It's not over for you.

You're not done. God will be glorified in your life in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Give the Lord a

big shout. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Fall into the arms of a loving Savior. Ministry team won't

you head on over into the ministry area. If you want prayer for anything at all, our team would love

to pray with you and for you. You can go at any time right to that area. Even if you're new,

this is your first time that area that's lit up, blew over there. You're going to find some loving,

gentle people who love Jesus and who love people and they're going to pray for you.

Let's all stand. If you need to go, go have a blast in your summer discipleship groups this week.

And if you want to stay and let's worship the Lord with this one last song, sing it with all your

heart. Be blessed, City Light. This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part

of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansik in City Light

Church, visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com. Feel free to visit us online or in person

anytime. We would love to connect with you. We pray that you have been encouraged today.

That you have been reminded how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace.

Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church podcast wherever you

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