Staying Fresh in your Faith

If you've received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Bible says you are now changed,

your old spirit, the old you on the inside has been taken away. A brand new spirit has been put

inside of you. All of your sins past, present and yes, future have been taken out of the way.

You have been made a new creature. Then if that wasn't enough on top of that, the Bible says you

are justified. 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 Bible says in Psalms 92 10, the Psalmist, he says, my horn, the horn is the symbol of strength.

He said, my horn will be exalted. My strength will be brought up.

Like the horn of a wild ox, I will be anointed with fresh oil, fresh oil.

I don't want to stay a loyal. I want fresh oil. And when God comes, He comes and He's always

the freshest. That's why we're not chasing the coolest new thing. The coolest new thing today

changes in a month's time. But whenever the Lord shows up, He's the coolest new thing. His presence

is the freshest thing. And I want to walk in the freshness of the Lord. I'm going to

if you've heard that saying that Christians are leaky vessels. Stay full because we're leaky vessels.

There goes some, you know, it sounds cute, but it's not really scriptural. We're not Sibs

that walk around just dripping. But what we are is lamps that are burning. And in order to be

burning brightly, you use up oil. So you need more oil. You don't want any kind of oil. You want

God's fresh oil. Just the other day, I'm not bragging or anything. But my wife, she made me a

neck breakfast. I know some of you could need eggs this week. And I may be, but when I tell you

my cup run it over, I ate eggs for. And I was like, Lord, for my kids too. And my wife,

everybody's getting eggs. I think that cost us $600. But we did it. And with, she doesn't normally do

this. She served these great sauteed potatoes. And as I said, because she normally doesn't do it,

just psychologically, I braced for impact. Because usually if I'm having potatoes and eggs,

it's in some greasy spoon diner. And that old oil, immediately, it not just hits your nose,

it hits the back of your head right away. And you're doing the calculations. Was this 12 hours

since they changed the last or 24 hours? In fact, this is smelling like last week's oil. You know

what I'm talking about. But hers, you could taste the little garlic nuances and the little peppers.

And because she used fresh oil, I don't want to say you're anointed with fresh oil. And we should,

because we're in this for the long haul, right? I don't want to be a musty, crusty, dusty old

Christian. But there's no freshness. I remember when I first year in Bible school, I had a job

at Franklin Templeton. I was straight out of college and went to Bible school. And the

Bible school was in Tampa, Florida, but my job was in St. Petersburg. And first day on the job,

one of the co-workers asked me, hey, you know, about my life, and I go, well, I'm in Bible school

also at night. And I'm studying to be a pastor. Oh, I studied to be a pastor also. I think I have

a brother. First question, he asked me in this doneness. So in Genesis, when Melchizedek appeared

to Abraham, do you believe that was a personage or theopphony? I didn't even know,

I mean, I can answer that now. I'm like, what? And I'm looking at, I mean, like the very definition

of an egghead dead religious crypt keeper. You remember the crypt keeper from back in the day?

Any of you, what was the name of the show? Tales from the crypt and the crypt, and when he talks,

like bone dust comes out, there's some Christians like that. I don't want to be that way.

I want to be fresh. 2013, I was at a conference walking through the hotel,

lobby, and there was Reinhard Bunke already advanced in his 70s. Reinhard Bunke, if you don't know,

one of if not the greatest crusade evangelists in the history of the world. Do you guys know him?

Africa, shall be saved. I see a bloodwashed Africa. Spoke to hundreds of thousands of people's

later in his ministry to over a million people at one time. And I'm walking by in the lobby,

and I see him coming, and I know that he was also already advanced in years. I know he had a

liver condition, and I see him coming. And as I walk past him, I'm not kidding you. It was like

walking past a whirlwind. And I briefly glanced at his face, and it's like his face was shimmering.

What is that? The freshness of God. He didn't allow himself to get old and still.

I will not allow myself to get old and still, because I know what that leads to. And again,

I plan on living a very long time. And I have word for that. The Bible says, with long life,

he will satisfy you and show you his salvation. Amen. Kenneth Hagen, he would keep living,

and then he would just say, Lord, I'm not satisfied yet. A few more years. And he went on to his

late 80s. Hallelujah. I plan on living a long time, but in order to have true quality of life,

I got to stay fresh. So I want to teach you how to stay fresh, because most of the American church

is not designed or conducive to Christian staying fresh. You're not really taught how to be in the

deep abiding presence of God in daily communion with the Lord. What you're really taught,

not staying in every place, but in too many places. What you're taught is how to chase the next

shiny thing. And you're just kind of kept distracted from service to service. Next week,

we got X, NFL star, and then we have a drama production. And we got the fog. We got the lasers.

We got the LED. And then you have that. And then next, you know how I know this? I know

kids who were raised in these kind of churches who were now adults, living in Manhattan, and they've

come here and they'll confess to me they did not know how to walk out their Christianity at all,

apart from that system of being distracted from service to service and just chasing the next shiny

thing. It will not be so with us. Amen. We're going to walk in the freshness of God. Hallelujah.

So let me give you five things. Let me first tell you what I'm not going to talk about is like the

basics, the very basics to staying fresh. Of course, it's praying to God. Just your prayer life,

your word life, studying the word, worship, which I mentioned when I opened the service. Very

important to staying fresh. I want to give you maybe some nuance things you haven't thought about

that when you do, you'll stay in the fresh place. Let's begin in second Peter, number one.

Second Peter chapter one versus five through nine.

Hallelujah. John Arnott, fresh, 84 years old, fresh. When you're with him, it's like

sipping from a cool refreshing pitcher water or nice gentle cool breeze. He lives in that

fresh place. Second Peter one five. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence,

add to your faith virtue, to virtue, knowledge, to knowledge, self-control, to self-control,

perseverance, to perseverance, godliness, to godliness. He's listening these virtues,

these wonderful Christian virtues, and to brotherly kindness, add love for these things are yours,

and abound you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he who lacks these things is short-sighted even to blindness. Why? Somebody is not experiencing

holiness in their life. They're not experiencing the virtues of the Holy Spirit,

which he produces inside of us when we're in communion with him. He produces from the inside out.

Religion tells you be good, change your behavior, and you struggle real hard and never can.

The Holy Spirit does it from the inside out, but he's saying for some of you that's not happening.

Why? You know why? He says it. You forgot. What did you forget? You forgot the essence of the gospel.

You forgot the finished work of the cross. You forgot grace. You forgot that you were cleansed from

your old sins. This may seem like a funny or strange thing to say, especially on a Sunday morning

where the majority of you are Christians and you are saved, but I am always amazed at how many

Christians aren't actually living in light of their own forgiveness. It's something that they

remember. It's something that may be intellectually they can maybe explain to you, but they're not living

in light of the finished work of the cross. So let me remind some of you if you've received

Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Bible says you are now changed. Your old spirit, the old

you on the inside has been taken away. A brand new spirit has been put inside of you. All of your sins

past, present and yes, future have been taken out of the way. You have been made a new creature.

Then if that was enough on top of that, the Bible says you are justified. That means the heavenly

gavel has come down and you've been declared not guilty. Then on top of that, you've been made

to sit in heavenly places in Christ and the Bible says you're now the very offspring of God.

You've been adopted into the family of God, but it's no different as the natural born. You have

all the rights of a natural born heir. That's the gospel. In fact, I felt freshness once again.

As soon as you start recounting gospel truths, you talk about the blood of Jesus, the Holy

Spirit loves that. He comes right away to see who you're talking about.

And if what I'm saying, because there's always people, Christians forget this too. They forget.

There's always people. Every single Sunday who aren't saved, you don't know the Lord.

You're curious. I welcome you. I'm so glad you're here. In fact, city light exists, yes,

to build up Christians, but for you, we want to see you experience all that Jesus died for you to

have. Hallelujah. In fact, before we close the service today, you'll have an opportunity to

receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. It's by faith. It's a free gift that you appropriate

with your faith. We'll help you along in the things of God. Hallelujah. Let me just show you

Romans. We didn't do this in the first service, but I want you to see Romans 6.14.

You know, I got to remember and I do almost every day. This is how I stay fresh. I remember every day

that God owes me nothing. He owes me nothing. And that apart from Jesus, I am an absolute hellbound

wretch. I don't deserve him. I don't deserve heaven. I deserve the eternal wrath of God in hell.

That's what I deserve. That's what mankind deserves. But in Jesus, I've now been taken in.

The Bible says, you who once wore a far off have been brought close and been brought near by the

blood of Jesus. The wrath of God that used to abide on me. That's how we were before Jesus.

Like you can tell anyone, Jesus loves you. You can go through the subways. Jesus loves you.

That's good. It's true. But there's another truth. At the same time, the wrath of God is on you.

And if you don't receive Jesus as love, you're going to die in your sins and experience His wrath

forever. I feel the anointing saying that. You know why? Because people are stopping to say it.

People have become so, they think they're more sensitive than Jesus. Jesus didn't shy away

from saying this. They think they're more kind than Jesus. So when wokeism came along and political

correctness came along, people backed off of an essential gospel truth. Now I have a lot of

unsafe friends. Now that I live in Long Island. And one of the first things, but not I'm not saying

friends, but I'm meeting a lot more people. And one of the first things I asked me, do you believe in

hell? And I go, we believe in Jesus, who is our Lord and Savior. What do you think He saved us

from? Like you have this whole faith of over a billion people. It's actually two billion.

And you were asking me if I believe, well, what did he, he's my Savior. He didn't save me from

a just a bad time on earth. He saved me from hell. He suffered an experience hell on the cross

so that I wouldn't have to. Amen. Roman 614, just to remind you to remember grace every day as a

side benefit, grace is an empowerment against sin. Isn't that crazy? What a flippity flip.

Because religion tells you in order to be a good person, you got to try really hard and wags

its religious index finger at you. Don't do this. Don't do that. I'm so glad our kids weren't

raised in that nonsense. That's how you grow up presenting God. Grace isn't don't do. It's not a

giant sign that says keep off the grass. It comes from the inside out and gives you a love for the

sidewalk. And so when you are meditating on grace every day, you'll stay fresh, but also look

at that verse for sin shall not have dominion over you. If you're struggling with addictions,

and when I say addictions, I'm not just talking about drugs or alcohol. Sometimes we're just addicted

to misery. We're addicted to self-sabotage and we keep tripping ourselves up. The blood of Jesus

and God's grace will break that right off of your life. Sin shall not have dominion over you. Why?

Because you're trying really hard to be a good person. No, because you are under grace. Hallelujah.

So number one to stay fresh. Remember the gospel. Remember it every day. Think about where you would

be without him. Think where your eternal destiny would be without him and be grateful and recount

what he's done for you and what the cross means to you. It'll keep that fresh oil on you. Number two,

pray in the spirit. I'm going to give you a lot of synonyms now because people use a lot of

different phrases. They all mean the same thing. Pray in the spirit. Pray in the Holy Spirit.

Pray in the Holy Ghost. Pray in your heavenly language. Pray in tongues. It all means the same

thing. And that's what I'm talking about. It's when you speak in your heavenly language in tongues

and you pray, you allow God to pray through you to him. Isn't that crazy? God the Father

and His Holy Spirit is inside of you and your

I just prayed in tongues. Hallelujah. I didn't know what I was going to say. He just spoke

you right through me. How many of you here baptized the Holy Spirit? Wave your hand so I see

you. A lot of hands around. All right. And I always add another 20% for those of you who just

now realize to ask you to raise your hands. We make it very easy to get baptized in the Holy

Spirit at city light. You can meet the ministry team after service. You can ask for pastor. I pray

for hundreds of people one on one. You can email the office and request an appointment. I'll give

you the white glove concierge service. You can get baptized in the Holy Spirit at a life group.

My wife, she, you know, my wife used to be a member of city light and I was preaching on faith

and faith's confession and she looked at me and she said, I believe I received. That was all a joke.

My gosh, the silence. That landed. That went over like a lead balloon. Anyway, she heard a message

on the Holy Spirit went to her home, her room and got baptized in the Holy Spirit. We make it easy.

I have those books out there. You know, they're there. I'll meet people at city light. They walk

by those they never want. It's a mini book. It's like a 20 minute, 20, 10 minute read.

Grab it. Study it. Read everybody needs to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Why would you not be?

In fact, this was so important to Jesus that the last thing he said before he was taken up was

you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.

It's like flying in coach and you don't know first class is available.

And then you find out first class is available and you're like, no, I like coach. Trust me,

first class is better. They bring out the salt and pepper shakers and little glass vials

back in coach. They got the little paper packets get everywhere. Makes a difference.

Fly first class when it's available. But also there's Christians, a disproportionate amount

who are baptized in the Holy Spirit, but they don't pray in tongues. They don't do it on the daily.

And praying in tongues is like a life hack from the Lord. And some people, too many people,

are utilizing it. So I investigated this. In fact, I've been investigating it for about 20 years

because when I got filled with the Holy Spirit, I spoke in tongues all the time every day.

So I would ask people, hey, when was the last time you spoke in tongues? And then I know right

away it's been too long on the go, oh, let me see. Yeah, there was that revival service two years ago.

And well, you know, you can be doing it every day. And it helps you to do it every day.

So why aren't you doing it? I find several things. One of those things is the person never

progressed in their prayer language. Before the full prayer language comes, there is a stuttering

and stammering face. That's scriptural. The Old Testament says, with stammering lips and another

tongue, will he speak to this people? And they never progressed that. And somebody slapped them on

the back and said, congratulations, you're filled with the Holy Spirit. Meanwhile, all they can say

is Ricky Tickie tacky. So they go and they're like, oh, Lord, Ricky Tickie tacky, Ricky Tickie tacky,

Ricky Tickie tacky, Abdu, Abdu, Abdu, Abdu, Abdu, Abdu, Abdu, Abdu, Abdu. And then they feel foolish.

And they know that's not the fullest. And so they don't pray in tongues. You got to get past

Ricky Tickie tacky. And what's keeping you at Ricky Tickie tacky is that you're bound up. I love

you, but you're bound. You're not releasing. You got to get unbound. You're still playing it

safe. You got to actually let go and let the Lord pull you up and fill you where your mouth is

loose and released and it's a whole language and it actually will shift and change and become

other languages. It's a heavenly language and it's very, very diverse. Amen. If you've only prayed

in tongues for like up to five minutes and that's it, you've only scratching the surface.

I never recommend timing your prayers, but go ahead. In this case, set your timer on your phone

to half an hour and yield to the Holy Spirit and this is so scriptural. We get a lot of people

who come and visit and I'm smelling this in the air right now. Solid Christians, your Christian,

but you're not heard much about this. And if you have, it was in a very, very negative light.

Yet it's all throughout the scriptures. Jesus in Mark 16 as part of the signs of believers. He

said they will speak in new tongues. He said all believers will speak in new tongues. Look at Romans

Romans 8:26–28

8 verses 26 through 28. Likewise, the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses and then it identifies

that we all have this common weakness. What's the weakness? For we do not know what we should pray for

as we ought. Can't you agree with that? Like I got a big week coming up, I'm praying into it,

but I'm limited with my understanding on how I can pray into it. So then sometimes it has to be more

generic or general. Got a big week, Lord. I thank you. You're going to be with me. I thank you.

Give me good success. All that's good and right and appropriate and legal. But the Lord knows much more.

The Lord knows the end from the beginning. He knows exactly where I should be. He knows who I

should be talking to, what I should be doing. So look what happens when you speak in tongues.

We don't know. Our weakness is we don't know what we should pray for as we ought,

but the Spirit Himself, the Holy Spirit inside of me, the Spirit Himself makes intercession for me,

for you with groanings which cannot be uttered. It's talking about speaking in tongues. And then by

the way, the next verse, which is like the most quoted verse in the book of Romans, and we know,

say it with me, and we know, oh, that messed me up. It's the verse after that. Hold on.

Now he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is. That's the Holy Spirit

inside of you searching the mind of God because he makes intercession for the saints according to

the will of God, the perfect will of God. So when you're praying in tongues, you're praying the perfect

will of God. Why would you not want to do that every day? I don't know what this whole week

holds. Sometimes they're surprises. But when every day, I'm just talking to him in my heavenly

language, I'm praying God's perfect will over my life, over my day, over the future.

Hallelujah. I don't think it's an exaggeration to call this first class compared to somebody

just stabbing in the dark. And then by the way is verse 28, which we all quote, but notice it's

after those first two verses. In other words, when you've yielded to the Holy Spirit and you're

allowing him to pray in tongues through you, and that's how we know that all things work together

for good to those who love God, to those who are the call according to his purpose.

Now, when I teach this, usually there's several people who come up to me after service,

and this is what they'll say, yeah, but I'm skittish. They don't say I'm skittish, but I see

they're skittish. Just what they say, yeah, but I don't know what I'm saying. Great. First Corinthians

14, 14, you don't know what you're saying.

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. You're not supposed

to know. You're not supposed to know. God knows. If you knew who blew your mind, it might even

scare you. You'd cover your own mouth as you're praying the bold things that God wants to do in your

life in a heavenly language. So don't let that keep you waiting. That's why, by the way,

why faith comes in. I have no clue what I just said. But here's something. I see fruit in my life.

That's one thing. Also, you have to, here's the thing. You know, I just asked how many of your

baptized in Holy speaking tongues and all these people weigh their hands. I speak in tongues.

If it's not of God, then we are all mentally insane, which is an option. I'm not discounting that.

But you just, but then just call it that. You can't tip, you can't say, oh, that's not for me.

No, if we're all mentally insane, you need to like find another church.

I never heard anyone say like this before, but I've always thought like, you know, you can't

be middle of the road with this. Either this is God. If I'm going into my office and for an hour

speaking in another language, I'm either demonically possessed, insane, or it's God. Hang around a

little bit longer than you tell me which one of those I am. Amen. Corinthians 14 verses 2

through 4. What a blessing and a benefit it is to pray in tongues. You should see how, like,

I have three pages of notes, but you know how much I preach outside of my notes? You know why that

is? Because I pray in tongues. And so while I'm praying in tongues, I'm praying for the service,

I'm praying for you, I'm strengthening, I'm edifying myself, and then the Lord can pull things out

of me that maybe just one person needs, but he'll pull it out of me. By the way, that's why wherever

Christianity is now, there's some people pulling stuff out of me. First service, you know, everybody's

like, yeah, second service. If you look, just look where Christianity is spreading. Look at Africa.

Look at Latin America. It's all spirit-filled tongue-talking preachers that are leading the charge

over and over and over again. The biggest crusade, spirit-filled. The biggest church is spirit-filled,

speaking in tongues. Because people want the real and they want power. You think somewhere in Africa

where it's actually your life depends on it. People are going to church for somebody.

Dominion. No, I need healing. I need breakthrough. I need God's power. Amen.

That's some guy in a toga walking around, sending smoke signals.

Jude, oh, did we even do this? No, we didn't. Verse two of Corinthians 14, for he who speaks in a

tongue does not speak to men, but to God. By the way, another problem people have, they're cessationists.

There might be a few here. I love you. I love you enough to tell you you're wrong.

Here's what cessation is believed. They believe all that miracle, holy spirit stuff was for the

first century. But then, after the last apostle, it all stopped. Can you imagine? Like John was

like the last apostle. Could you imagine he's getting old, he's dying, and people are like, we got

a few more sick folk just hang on there. Lay hands on them. Because if you die, the gift of

healings goes with you. And here's what they say about speaking in tongues. They go, well, no,

it's not for today. If you notice in the book of Pentecost, a book of Acts, on Pentecost, Acts

chapter two, when they spoke in tongues, other people heard them and understood them. So what you're

saying can't be that, and they're right, it's not that. It's something different.

In Acts chapter two, it was a known tongue. It was a sign. People in Jerusalem understood them.

You don't see that happening again. So don't be surprised when you start speaking in tongues,

you're not speaking in Japanese, and a Japanese tourist on Steinway hears you and goes, you just

told me the gospel. You're not speaking to men. That's why I'm just read the verse. You are not

speaking to men. You are speaking to God. You're not speaking to men. You're speaking to God.

In his language, in a heavenly language, for no one understands him, see some people are like,

you just spoke in tongues. I didn't understand you. I know. You're not supposed to. No one understands

him. However, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. But he who prophesies speaks edification.

Verse three, edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who speaks in a tongue

strengthens himself. This is why to stay fresh. And that's still, and that'd be a Christian

crypt keeper. You speak in tongues. You edify yourself. You strengthen yourself. You build yourself up.

And you stay fresh. But he who prophesies edifies the church. And by the way, he's not picking

sides here. And I'm going to, you're going to dress some stuff out of me. I didn't talk about in

the first service where people get all bent out of shape in Corinthians 14. Like Paul is saying,

don't speak in tongues. In fact, he ends the very chapter saying, don't forbid the speaking in

tongues. What he's saying here is, in the context of a church service, people need to understand

what you're saying. Like, if I got up here and my message was all in tongues, could you imagine?

If I just kept going, and I went for 45 minutes, or Ambrose, Tocque, Sarampa, and then I went,

amen, blessed you see you next Sunday. You'd walk out of here going, huh? I didn't really get

edified. So he's saying, when you're prophesying, by the way, another translation for that word

prophesied, it means to bubble forth, tumble forth, or to teach. To teach under the anointing.

You think prophesying is always telling the future. It's speaking under the anointing. I'm speaking

the common tongue, English, so you can be edified. That's why we actually don't have much speaking

in tongues in the service. I mean, people are free to do it. Like the Bible says in Corinthians 14,

do it to yourself. People do it under their breath. But you're not going to see hundreds of people

speaking in tongues at the same time. That's for a believer's meeting. Do that at home.

Because someone else is going to come in and go, they're all crazy. And I'm not making that

a Paul said, don't all be speaking in tongues, because the unlearned from the outside will come in

and will he not say you have all gotten mad? And yes, he would. And yes, they have.

I've been in services where I brought unsafe people. One lady wants it from work. I brought her

while I was in Bible school. She ran out of the church, ran out. I don't blame her. She didn't

know a thing about it. I was just working on Jesus died on the cross. I didn't get to that part

yet. Literally, no one's ran out of the church. I chased her into the parking lot that didn't help.

I was like, where are you going? It's like I can't. I just can't really.

Jew 20. Somebody says, it's a fair question to say, well, then how come you just spoke in tongues

faster as an example? I also wanted you to know that you can speak in tongues and it'd be

under control. And you get to control how you speak in tongues. You can whisper in tongues.

You can sing in tongues. You can rap in tongues.

But a lot of people think the only way you can speak in tongues is at the top of your lungs,

decibel level like a runaway freight train. And you're turned off. I'm turned off too by that.

Doesn't have to come out that way. You get to decide. But do you know what it is? Some people,

they wait for God. They don't speak in tongues every day. You can always tell who doesn't.

Because they only speak in tongues when quote unquote God attacks them. When he overwhelms them.

So they're there and the presence of God is all over them and they're like,

and they're working, they're resisting. We're working them. And finally, they yield. And it's

like a shaken Coca-Cola bottle, you know. Maybe if you yielded better,

chilled out and just flowed, it wouldn't come out that way. Amen.

But you beloved building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

speaking and praying in tongues is an ingredient, a major ingredient into walking into the

freshness of God. Amen. Number three, whisper to God, specifically there, whisper to him.

whispering it denotes intimacy, denotes friendship. These things that Jesus has called you to.

Psalm 91 talks about the secret place of the most high. That word for secret, very interesting word

in the Hebrew. It's where the term Masad comes from, the Israeli.

No, not Messiah, Masad, the Israeli intelligence agency. It means something clandestine,

something secretive. In another place in the Bible, it says, the secret of the Lord is with those

who fear him. What does that word secret mean? It means friendship. In Psalm 91, the secret place

is the friendship place, the intimacy place, and whispering denotes intimacy. That's why I never see

another man whispering with my wife. Thank God for that man. My wife won't see me whispering with

another woman, but we can whisper to each other because in intimacy, there's something powerful

and special about whispering to God throughout the day. In fact, pouring out your complaints before

him. There's a scripture in the Psalms. It says to pour out your complaints before him.

It's good. It's healthy. And you'll also notice, I do that a lot, but I notice that when I start,

and I'll start, very, Lord, here's what's overwhelming me, slashing, stressing me,

slashing, concerning me. Here's how I'm seeing the battlefield of life right now. Here's what's

overwhelming me, and I'll let him have it. He can take it. But I'll find usually after around 90

seconds, I feel absolutely ridiculous and foolish because his presence has come, and I realize how

trivial those things are, and how he is already boots on the ground in those areas. He's already

at work in those areas. That's why so many of the Psalms they begin with complaining. You read a

lot of the Psalms. That's why so many people like Psalms, by the way. You're like, what's it?

I've been reading the Psalms this week. Yeah, they're emotional. And you're emotional. We're all

emotional creatures. And they usually begin with like this whiny, complaining. But do you ever notice

there's like a complete turnaround, usually a third of the way in. He's like, oh, what was me? I'm

nothing. I'm broke. I'm hungry. My tears are my food day and night. And then whoo, all of this is

like, oh, I will praise the Lord. Because the mommies are talking to the Lord. His anointing comes

upon you. And he shows you the reality of the situation. Hallelujah. So whisper to the Lord.

Share your life with him. Pour out your complaints to him. This is especially pertinent to people

who only pray one way. I'm also trying to get you out of a rut because too many people pray

in only one way. And by the way, Paul said praying with all manner of prayer, all kinds of prayer.

Like some people, their favorite verse in the Bible is shout to the Lord with the voice of triumph.

Love that. And if you only pray quiet prayers, you need to shout. And if all you do is shout,

you need to learn how to pray quiet prayers. You need to pray medium prayers. You need to pray

on your knees, pray laying down on the floor, pray when you walk your dog, pray when you drive

your car, pray all different ways. But whispering to God, I find when I'm talking to him,

Lord Jesus, I know that you're with me. Lord, I ask that you continue to be with me. Go

before me as the good shepherd. Oh, yeah, good shepherd. That reminds me of Psalm 23. Lord,

I thank you. You're taking me to fresh tender green pastures. Lord, you bring me to still water.

Hallelujah. You're the greatest. You're the best. You're my God. Lord, I can't fail with you.

In fact, in the word you said, I will not fail. You promised me good success. Hallelujah.

And whisper to the Lord and his freshness will be upon you. Hallelujah. So what's number one?

Remember grace. Remember the finished work of the cross. Number two, pray in the spirit.

Number three, whisper to God. Here's number four. Don't go to church.

Be the church. What's the difference? In order to stay fresh, you have to pick a side.

And in every church, city light included, there's two kinds of Christians. There's consumers,

and there's producers. And the consumer just takes. By the way, we all come in as consumers.

I did not get saved and think, I can't wait. What can I do for you, Lord? I was like, what are you going

to do for me? I need help. I messed up. And you've asked me to like forsake my whole past life.

WIFM radio. What's in it for me radio? All of us want to know. But eventually you got to come to that

place where you have now been patched up, made whole. You know who you are in Christ. Your cup is

overflowing. You can continue to be a giant leech that's just like feed me. And in this consumer

driven society, more and more people act like consumers in a church. And as soon as there's another

product, a shinier product, a more popular product, they switch. Just like they change

phone plans. They just change churches and then change it again and change it again.

You don't just go to church. You be the church. What does that mean? It means that you have actually

really received Jesus's commission in Matthew 28 where he says go into all the world and preach

the gospel to every creature that wasn't just for the 12 disciples. That's for all of us.

We're all called to be pouring out. I'm speaking about evangelism.

Winning souls. You show me somebody who's a soul winner. I'll show you somebody who's fresh.

I've never met a dry musty soul winner ever. But those who are engaging, engaging people and

winning them to the Lord, they're always. Their face is like the new and day sun.

And the frightening statistic, I think there's a lot of dead religious churches making this

statistic extra low. But here's the statistic that only 2% of church goers are actively involved

in any kind of evangelism. So is it any wonder why they're lukewarm,

backslidden, dry, complaining? When you have been brought by Jesus to Him and there's people in

your life, you're the only Jesus they may ever see. You're not responsible for the whole world.

Get that burden off your shoulders. But you are responsible for your circle of influence

and the people that God has placed around you. And you can begin sharing,

begin talking and you'll get better at it. And better. And better. And remember,

inviting someone to church is an evangelism. It's good. Invite people to church.

But they may not hear the gospel from me. In fact, if they do, they can't ask questions,

they can't interrupt a service. You've got to have a lot of coffees. Have a lot of branches.

Have people over your house? I needed that. When I was first being witnessed to add a

thousand and one question, stupid question. What about the dinosaurs? I really, that was one

that was my big hang up when I was 16. The dinosaurs. Amen. Second Corinthians 5, 17.

You want to stay fresh? Tell some people about Jesus.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away,

behold, all things have become new. And then this verse. Now, all things are of God who has

reconciled us. What a beautiful verse. That previous verse, verse 17, one of my favorite

verses. Because it's only one Bible verse that encapsulates the entirety of the gospel message.

God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

That means, in a sense, we're all called to ministry. We're all already if you're Christian

in ministry. What's the ministry? It's the ministry of reconciliation. What does that mean? It means

that a person who doesn't know Jesus, they don't know it, but they're fundamentally at war with God.

This is the sad truth. It's the truth, though. Before I came to Jesus, my existence was

diametrically opposed to everything that God stands for. I had original sin. People would look

at me and go, what a good boy. No, I wasn't. Not according to God's standards. But Jesus died

on the cross. And the punishment that I deserved fell upon Him. And He was punished in my place.

That's the greatest love story I've ever told. And now, the wrath of God doesn't abide on me,

but I need to realize that and accept that. So, Christian's job is, you know, let's just say,

here's the Christian. I'm the Christian. This is an unbeliever. And over here is God. And I take

them and I link their hands and I go, hey, you unbeliever, come here. God's not mad at you anymore.

For Jesus to say, your sins have already been forgiven. You through Jesus have been reconciled to God.

Come, come back to God. And I lead them in the things of God. That's the ministry of reconciliation.

That's what we've all been called to. And if you practice that and never to practice that,

as the Lord leads you, it can happen every day. Watch the freshness level. And that's when Christianity

becomes real. If you're just a consumer and a taker, I don't know how you're not going to make it.

I don't want to say that over you, but I'm concerned for you because you cannot be just taking

and not pouring out, which leads into my fifth point. Really, they're kind of related.

But four points didn't sound good. So this is a five point message. But there is a difference.

I'm number four. I'm talking about winning souls, sharing the gospel evangelism. Point number five

and how to live in freshness. Not be at old religious, funny, dead, he dead head.

A dusty crypt keeper. Number five, give, say give what? Anything, yourself, your love,

your mercy, your time, your money, something but for the love of God, give poor,

poor into others. The Bible says, the liberal, the generous soul shall be made prosperous and he

that waters shall be watered also himself. Do you know why the Dead Sea is called a Dead Sea?

If you're like me and you went to a Queen's public school, you were told it's because of the

high salt content. I'm going to be heard that. It's so salty, it's dead. But there are living fish

in the Dead Sea, fish that have acclimated to the saltiness. So why is it called a Dead Sea?

Because it has no outlet. And you know what? The Dead Sea is too big to be a swamp.

But if it was smaller, you know what something? A river with no outlet becomes a swamp.

I don't want to be a swamp. In fact, I'm very much in favor of draining the swamp.

Drain the swamp in Jesus name and let the river of God flow. Amen. Hallelujah. Let's all say

together. Drain I'm kidding. Thank you, Jesus. I'm determined to have fun up here no matter what.

Okay. First King's 17, eight through six. And by the way, when you're pouring out

and the kind of giving that may be the most important when it comes to staying fresh is

forgiving. You got to walk in forgiveness. The people that I respect that are always fresh.

My pastor, one of them in 2020, I was privileged to spend several days all day with him in his

office. It was the end of 20. It was right before Christmas of 2020. And he was under tremendous

fire. He's usually under tremendous fire from people criticizing. Look, if you're doing something

for God, people will hate you. People will criticize you. In fact, I feel a little sad right now

that there's not enough people who hate me. I mean, I'm just not. I need more people to hate me

because that's how I know that I'm actually doing something of value for God. Is this thing on? Hey,

Jesus, they crucified him because he was doing something of value for God. So I'm in his office

and I mentioned another pastor because I know the other pastor like, hey, what about him? What's going

on with him? Is he all right? He goes, oh, yeah, he called me a buffoon just yesterday.

Because when he said he just chuckled. In other words, he didn't let that hurtful phrase enter his

spirit. He didn't let it hurt him. He walked in forgiveness. You know, there's people

that latch on to anything you say and claim offense. You got to walk around like you're an

anxious. You can say, I hope you have a nice day and the response is, well, what kind of day should

I have other than a nice day? You know, everything is World War Three for them. And then there's people

who have a soft, impliable heart. And they're almost unoffendable. You know why? Because the Bible says

don't take offense. So you know what? They don't take it. People go, I got offended. No, you didn't get,

if you didn't hate you like an arrow out of the sky. You took offense. I'm sorry for what you

went through. I really am. I feel you've been hurt. You're an agony. Life's been cruel. And now you're

just mean and bitter and you've sharpened your elbows. And you're always looking for who's going

to stab you next. You need the bomb of Gilead. Jesus. The bomb of Gilead will come on your soul

on your heart. Heal the old hurts. Heal the pain of yesterday. So you can actually release people

because if you're not walking in forgiveness, you're not hurting them. You're only hurting you. The

only one who's in bondage is you yourself. Hallelujah. First King 178. But make it a point to give

every day. The more you give, the more he then pours into you to give. Then the word of the Lord

came to him, the prophet Elijah, saying, arise good as Arapath, which belongs to Sidon and

well there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. So he arose and went to

Arapath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed, a widow was there gathering sticks.

And he called to her and said, please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink. Now,

it's a time of drought. So water is scarce. And it's a time of famine. So food is scarce.

God sends the prophet Elijah to this widow. Before this, the prophet was getting fed by Ravens.

Ravens were bringing him hamburgers. Meat and bread, the Bible says. Supernatural Uber Eats.

Every day his delivery service came. The Lord could have kept that going. Why did he switch it now?

It wasn't for the benefit of the prophet. It was for the benefit of the widow. This widow

was alone, time of drought, time of famine, and she has no future. How do we know she has no future?

When he asked her to bring him more silver bread, look what she says. As the Lord your God lives,

I do not have bread, only a handful of flour and a bin and a little oil and a jar and sea. I'm

gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat

it and die. So God sends the prophet Elijah to her house to provoke her into breakthrough, to get

her to just put some seed in the ground, to get her to be a giver, a poor outer. I'm not just

obsessed with myself and own problems, but I'm going to look out and I'm going to bless someone else

and that'll activate the miracle power of God. Verse 13, and Elijah said to her, do not fear,

go do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me. See God

once you're first. By the way, he's being really pushy here, time of drought, time of famine, he asked for

water and he asked for bread. Bring me a cake first and afterward make some for yourself and your

son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, this is the miracle, the bin of flour shall not be used

up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth. So she went

away and did according to the word of Elijah and she and her household ate for many days. You

want to eat for many days, live in the freshness of God, be a giver, be a giver. So many different

ways to give. Right now it's March. You know what's going to go on a crazy sale, winter coats,

gloves. Be the kind of wacky person who just says, you know what? I'm going to go online, I'm going

to buy 10 really warm gloves. Now and I'm going to hand them out to people that are needy in the

subways. Something you're not going to get something you never had before until you do something you've

never done before. So get together with God and collaborate with him on some crazy ways that you

can be a giver and then stand back and watch what the Lord does in your life. It's going to be glorious

to behold. Amen. Let's receive communion, worship team, come on up. What was point number one in

staying fresh? Remember grace. What about number two?

Pray in the spirit, speak in tongues, pray in tongues. Number three, whisper, whisper to the Lord.

Hallelujah. Just thought as I said that, I remember that old Jason Upton song, whisper in your

will. Oh, it was whistling your will. But there's a lot of whispering type stuff in his music.

Sorry, Luke, I messed that. There can't all be dimes. Number four.

Be the church. Don't just go to church. Be the church. And number five, just give, just pour.

Don't be a Dead Sea. You can pass out communion at any time. Go for it. Thank you all.

Hallelujah.

Hang on to the communion elements, please. And we'll all receive communion together.

Thank you. If you find your mind drifting as you wait for everybody to be served communion,

I invite you to stare at the matzah. Yeah. Because in the matzah is the gospel message. You know,

this is, this is why I insist on matzah. Somehow the Christian church is eating like, you know,

loaves of bread or what, what is it? The little wafers. Yeah. No, Jesus had unleavened bread. Listen

now. Jesus had unleavened bread. He had matzah. So go to a nice local Jewish daily, get real matzah.

And if you look at this matzah, you'll see three things about it. It's pierced. It's burnt and

it's striped because he was pierced for our transgressions. The fire of God's wrath was upon Jesus

at the cross. He was burnt with the wrath of God pierced on the cross and striped by the Roman

soldiers. I want to pray with everybody before we partake a communion. I want to ask you a question

right now. If you were to die today, do you know for certain that you'd go to heaven? Do you know

for certain? If you can't answer that with certainty, with assurance of salvation, you need to

receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You need to come to Him and give your entire life to Him.

You say, I don't know what will that look like. I can't really tell you. I mean, it worked great

for me. I've seen it worked great for others. What's going to look like for you? I can tell you

this. It's going to be awesome. It's going to be glorious. And you don't have to see the whole

thing from start to finish, but take His hand and begin walking with Him. And I want to begin that

journey with you by having you say this prayer with me. We're all going to say together,

hold the elements in your hand and just say this, Lord Jesus, I believe you died on the cross

in my place. You were burnt, you were pierced, and you were striped. You suffered so I wouldn't

have to. Because of you, my sins are gone. Because of you, I'm a friend of God. Because of you,

I'm heaven bound. In Jesus' name, amen. 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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