Embracing the Joshua Anointing: Faith and Triumphs on the Path to 2025

If you have guilt in your life, that's your problem, my God.

But I have things I'm struggling with. You don't know. Thank you. I don't need to know.

I don't want to know. But God knows. And if you're looking at Jesus,

God in the Spirit still cannot find sin in you. You are forgiven. You are made right.

But sometimes I don't act like it. When you start believing right, you'll start acting right.

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 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.

After the age of six, they can't nap during the day, but you put them in a car,

and the insomnia is cured instantly. The moment they're in a car, they're asleep,

and so I'm having this nice three hour ride with my wife, and we just begin talking about the

New Year, talking about 2025, and I notice as soon as we start talking about it,

the anointing begins to fill the car. There's a wind, there's a freshness,

there's the divine, the touch of God, we're just, I don't know how else to explain it, there's

just life. It's not like we're just talking, the car is pulsating now with the life of God,

and we can tell God is getting in on the conversation. About 30 seconds in, I just say these words,

I say as I'm trying to describe to Emily what I'm seeing, I say, we're entering into the book of

Joshua. There's a Joshua anointing coming upon us, and by us, I mean our church, I really

believe it's for the whole body of Christ. It's a unique season that the body of Christ all over

the world is entering into. I don't have authority as a local pastor to prophesy over the entirety of

the body of Christ, but I do have authority over the local church that God has entrusted to me,

and it is the book of Joshua. The book of Joshua is a good book. It's a fun book.

I used to always love reading that book, still do, but in the beginning, when I was like

on my third read, I'm like, Lord, why do I love this book so much? And then it just crystallized

for me. Oh, because it's a book of victories, non-stop victories. There's a couple of times they

slip up, but for the most part, they're going from glory to glory, they're taking land,

they're receiving the promises, and it's a book of victory. And if you read the first five books,

God reveals His love, He reveals His character, but He can't get a little bit discouraging.

Have you ever thought that? I'm only sharing this because I want to set you free if you've

thought that. If you've ever been in a particular set of chapters, say an Exodus or in Deuteronomy,

and the people keep messing things up for themselves, they keep resisting God's goodness,

they're rebellious, they're stiff-necked, they won't do what they're told, so consequently,

they're always reaping the results of their own cursed behavior. It gets a little discouraging.

You're like, oh, these poor people, and why can't they get their act together? And it can be

kind of emotionally even trying. Is that just me? Am I just from the Balkans and very emotional?

You're looking at me kind of stoically and cold today.

Closest if you get chilly. I just need a little freshness.

Pastor Moe just looked at me. It's so funny. In his short sleeve shirt,

well, I have triple layers. I'm like an 80s villain from the ski lodge wearing this.

Joshua, on the other hand, is a book of victories.

And that's what I sense is coming upon us, a grace and an anointing where we will come into our own

promised land where things we've been praying about for too long are going to come and be made

manifest. It is going to be a year of winning. This is what I tell my wife. It is not going to be

defeat. It is going to be a year of victory. Winning so much winning. God is going to make you win.

You're going to get tired of winning. You're going to say, oh, Lord, it's too much winning.

Can you just like ease up on the winning? And God's going to say, no, just like in the book of

Joshua, I'm going to make you super win. You're going to be having so much winning.

Thank you, Lord. So I want to take you through the book of Joshua, not the entire book, but through

several key things that happen. There's dozens of amazing stories where you can learn about how God

operates and how he works with his people. I want to take you through several main ones, but let's

begin in Joshua chapter 1 verses 1 through 3. Thank you, Jesus. After the death of Moses,

Joshua 1:1–3

so as you remember, Moses was God's leader and he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt

and he led them through the wilderness. That journey should have taken about 11 days.

It took 40 years. See what I mean by discouraging and depressing. I mean, that's depressing.

Look at him, 40 years. Like if I was blindfolded, I would have made it faster than 40 years if it

only took 11 days. But God had confounded them and God kept them from entering in because their

attitude was terrible and their heart wasn't right. But finally, they make it through Moses is dead.

That whole generation is dead. And this is how this amazing book of victory starts off. Very

unceremoniously. Here's this amazing figure, Moses, and here's what's said about him. After the

death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, he came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of

none. Moses' assistant saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now that's how you begin a book by saying

by to the past, amen. Would we enter into this flow state? There is a flow state for 2025.

I'm telling you, I saw it in the spirit. I can taste it. I've partaken of it already. A flow

state of victory after victory after victory after victory after victory. There are years. Listen,

there are years. There are days. There are weeks, there are months. There are some days where

nothing happens. There are some months where it seems like days happen, but it's months. And then

I'm telling you, there'll be some days where years happen in the days. World of sediments like 10

years worth of work, 10 years worth of believing, 10 years worth of progress. The Lord condenses it,

boom, and puts it in one year. That's what's up ahead for us in 2025. But in order to receive that

number one, you got to realize Moses is dead, which for us means 2024 is dead. The past is the past

that lasts. It's in our rearview mirror church. So say goodbye to the things you've received in 2024

and the things you didn't receive, the successes and the failures. Say goodbye to 2024 and set your

sights on the promised land that God is giving you in 2025. Amen. Moses, my servant, is dead. Now

therefore arise, go over this Jordan. So they need to cross the Jordan River to enter in this land

that God had promised them. This land is a land of plenty, a land flowing in milk and honey.

It's a land of rest. It's a physical land that's pointing to a spiritual land, a spiritual place

under the new covenant. We have a promised land. It's in Christ. Can I describe for you some of the

characteristics of the promised land? The promised land is a place of peace, peace with your maker

through the shed blood of Jesus. It's a place of rest. You're no longer striving to try to

please him. You know that you can rest in the finished work of the cross. You're already

pleasing to him again because of the blood of Jesus. And it's also a place of Shalom. Shalom.

Where we just translate as peace in the English, oh, it just means peace. And we throw around the

word peace, peace, peace. Give me a piece of cookie. But Shalom is deeper than that. It means

nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. That is the promised land that God wants every

Christian to live in. Our life is not supposed to look like hell. For some Christians, that's a

revelation. Really? I thought it was supposed to be miserable and then one day in the sweet

by and by. No. It's supposed to reflect heaven right now. It shouldn't resemble hell. It should

resemble heaven. There should be nothing missing, nothing lacking, nothing broken. Your cup should

be overflowing. When you're fed, you'll take up 12 basket fulls of leftovers. Amen. Oh, 2025 is

going to be awesome. Hallelujah. Verse three. He's given him instructions. He's got a face

as first obstacle. It's the Jordan River. Verse three. Every place that the soul of your foot will

tread upon. I have given you as I said to Moses. I just want you to see the heart of God. And you

can appropriate this for yourself. Look, you can look at 2025 one or two ways. You're at a fork in

the road. You could look at it with terror, daunting, nervous, maybe with a case variety. You know

whatever, you know, whatever the Lord wills. No, but hear the heart of God. He's, this isn't just for

Joshua. He's showing how he works with his people. He's saying, every place you go, I've given it to

you now. Have that mind and have that confidence. Listen, this is going to take a boldness in God's

people. The things of God must be seized. And Satan doesn't just lay over and say come right in

and take whatever you'd like. Remember to possess the land means to dispossess it of its current

occupants. He gave him the land, but there were giants in that land. There were different enemy

groups in that land. And so even though he gave it to them, they had to boldly go and appropriate

his promises by faith. Hallelujah. Boldness is coming in here. Some people are waking up. If you

only knew, I got a taste of it. Just like in that moment, God wants you in 2025 to almost be

embarrassed of his goodness. Well, he overdid it in the most embarrassing way in my life.

Somebody come and slap me on the cheek just so that I know that I'm not dreaming.

Hallelujah. Joshua chapter 3. The first obstacle is this Jordan river. It's not a babbling brook.

Joshua 3 · chapter mention

It's not a stream. It's a mighty river that floods several times a year. And this was the time of

flooding. And there was several million Jews marching. And at the front of this parade,

were priests carrying the most precious object that the Hebrews had, the Ark of the Covenant,

where the presence of God was. And they were carrying it on the poles and they got specific

instructions to send the Ark of the Covenant first across the Jordan River. Now I want you to pay

attention to this story because I found more often than not. This is how God will work miracles

in your life. Joshua 3 and verse 9. So Joshua said to the children of Israel, come here and hear

the words of the Lord your God. And Joshua said, by this, you shall know that the living God is

among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites

and the Hivites and the Parasites and the Gurgishites and the Amorites and the Mosquito bites.

Behold the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the

Jordan. Now therefore take for yourselves 12 men from the tribes of Israel one man from every tribe

and it shall come to pass as soon as the souls of the feet of the priests who bear the Ark of the Lord.

The Lord of all the earth shall rest in the waters of the Jordan that the waters of the Jordan

shall be cut off. So when will the waters of the Jordan be cut off? When the priests who are holding

the Ark of the Covenant when their feet touch the water? I don't like that. I like my water to be cut

off a good mile out. And so do you. Can you imagine the most sacred thing they're carrying? The

thing that wars were fought over. The Ark of the Covenant and there's millions of them walking

but at the front are the priests and the waters overflowing. You can almost hear the priest going

so we're just supposed to keep walking. Yeah. What did Joshua say? The Lord told him when he said

that when we touch the water holding the Ark that that's when the water will be stopped up.

Okay if the Lord do it like 10 yards out? Five yards? And it specifically says when their feet

landed in the water that's when the water will be cut off. This is how I'm telling you nine out of

10 times the Lord does it. You have to step out by faith. 2025 is going to be a year where our

radical obedience and listening to what even seems like the strange instructions of the Lord

will be monumental. Vital, very important. This is how I've seen him do everything that he's done

in my life that's worth noting. When I think about how we ended up here. This, which we only use

once or twice a year now, this Queens church started in 2009 but city lights started in Manhattan

in 2002. And in 2009, I just started feeling a stirring. You need to start a second location

in Queens. In Queens. Did I have it planned out? No. Some pastors. This is how I want to go to

pastors lunchens anymore. They like to talk about the one-year plan and the five-year plan. I'm like

at first I felt guilty. Should I have a five? I mean I have it generally but they have it all

written out and not one of them do I know where their five-year plan worked out. Their five-year plan

six months in that had to redo it over and over again. No, I don't have a five-year plan.

My five-year plan is I'm holding on tightly to his hand. I have a vision and I'm holding tightly

to his hand. He's going to work it out. Well, how will you pay for this? How will you do this? How

will you do that? I don't know. I'm going to take one step. When my foot lands in the water,

the miracle will happen and then he will provide. Amen. You got to take a step of faith.

A major victory. My wife and I, a year and a half ago, I shared. We bought a house in Long Island.

I don't think I really shared. I shared it at the victories but I didn't confide in you because

you're not my therapist. Those first couple of months after I signed all the papers, they were

terrifying. They were terrifying. I took out a huge mortgage and we were debt-free. I kept

saying for our whole marriage we've been debt-free. Now I have this huge mortgage and I was supposed

to rent out my Brooklyn place. It flooded again. I couldn't rent it out. Then what I thought was

going to be my taxes which were already high, they adjusted because I just bought the house for more

money. My taxes, I'll just give you real numbers because I know you like that. My taxes for the house

is 34,000 a year. In fact, my taxes for the house is how much my salary, my annual salary was

by year five at city light after I'd gotten a raise. It was 36,000 a year. So I was a little nervous.

It was daunting. I had the thoughts of, Lord, did you really lead me out or was it just my own pride

and my own lust and my own? I would scribble. You know I was serious because I'm serious math I do

on the phone, but serious math I get the pad out and I want to see the writings, I want to do

and I would just swallow hard and go, how is this going to happen? And all I would sense when the

Lord was, I'll make it happen. Your job is not to worry. Don't worry. I'll see you through. So this

nervousness was really September, September of, not this September of 24, but September of 23.

In the next six months, he worked it out. That mortgage, he paid it off.

The tax, in fact, with the taxes, he gave me a word. He said this, you will not even ever consider it.

And I just, he said, the level I'm taking, this shouldn't be even, this should be like an afterthought,

like you buy some eggs and milk at the grocery store. And he spoke and I thought, but you believe

and you take a step. And when he meets you there, you take another step and he meets you again,

take another step. And that's what the miracle happens. Amen. So 2025, we're entering into our

Promised Land. We're crossing the Jordan. We're taking steps of faith, verse 14. So it was when the

people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan with the priests bearing the arc of

the covenant before the people. And as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan and the feet

of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water, you got to dip your feet.

You got to dip your feet. Some people are stuck. They never dip their feet. Your feet stink.

You didn't dip them. There's so many people that are waiting for all the conditions to be met.

Secretly, I would like that. Hey, let me just say that secretly because walking, walking by faith

is lovely. It's the best time you'll ever have. It's invigorating. It's when I feel most alive.

And also it's terrifying. And I've been walking by faith. Really, since I got saved, but really,

since the church, church is a work of faith. So you're walking by faith. And it kind of feels,

if you take your eyes off of Jesus even for a second, it kind of feels like you're hydroplaning.

You ever hydroplane in a car down Florida, you get that a lot. We're actually not touching the road,

but you're kind of a millimeter off the road on water and you've got no control. That's how it

feels sometimes. And secretly, I just wish the Lord, can you make it easy sometime? We've just

been nice to not always feel like I'm bungee jumping every day, after day, after day.

And so I thought, I'm just confessing my sin to you right now. So I said,

so I said, Lord, it would be really nice to know where their investments and all. If everything

could come in, we don't have to have a building campaign. There's no really, you know, I'm using

all the words other than to say, I just like not to believe you. And the Lord's increasing us,

but I know how he is. I know Jehovah Sneaky by this time, he's going to still make it so that we

have to take a step of faith. No matter how he does it, it's not going to, there's no such thing.

The Bible in fact says, whatever is not a faith is sin. Who wants that thing? Who wants some kind of

work in the natural that anybody could have done in the natural? No, it's going to be with the

waft of the supernatural goodness of God all over it. All right. And as those who bore the ark

came to the Jordan and the feet of the priest who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water,

for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest,

that the waters which came down from upstream stood still and rose in a heap very far away at Adam,

the city that is besides Zaretin. So the waters that went down into the sea of the Arabah,

the salt sea failed and were cut off and the people crossed over opposite Jericho,

then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the

midst of the Jordan and all Israel crossed over on dry ground until all the people, a couple of

a million of them had crossed completely over the Jordan. You're going to be in prayer. You're

going to commit yourselves to 21 days of prayer and fasting. You're going to stop tripping your

own self up with cheap little scarcity minded things in your mind. You're going to let the Lord

blow the lid off. Okay. You're with me so far. You're going to cry out to him. You're going to take

his hand and you can say, Lord, I see your heart. I see your will. You're the God of more than enough.

You're the God of plenty. Take me by the hand and get me across the Jordan in Jesus name. I'm

going into the promised land. Hallelujah. 2025. Hallelujah. And if you know, listen, I know there's

some ministries the year and the new year is like half their ministry in September already. They

got, you know, 2019 and they find a scripture or something verse 19 and every, you know what I

mean? I've never been like that. I've always actually kind of scoffed at that. It's horoscopy

to me. It's like, you know, like what the Lord is doing in China is not the same as what he's

doing in America. And the word you just gave seems uniquely American to me yet you're declaring

it over the whole body of Christ. Like, it sounds nonsensical. Never felt it this year. It's not

that I feel it. I can taste it. I can smell it. Something has changed. It's a new day. It's a new

dawn. Things have shifted. I hear the gears and the spirit turning. It's going to be awesome.

All we have to do is like what they did in the book of Joshua, which is just get with the program

and not get in their own way. If you're freezing by now, because I felt that you can close that

at any time. Thank you. That's the name of the game. Get out of your way. Get out of God's way

and do whatever he tells you to do. It's going to be a good year. Hallelujah. All right, we're in Joshua

Joshua 5 · chapter mention

chapter 5. These are lessons from the book of Joshua on how to get into a flow state of victory.

I've had victories, great victories from the Lord. I remember once talking to him about it,

like Lord, you send a wave. Awesome. And then six months. Kind of like nothing's happening.

Then you send another wave. Lord, what are you teaching me? And I remember one time. He said,

I'm teaching you not to make your own waves in between my waves. Learn how to be content in between

my waves. But 2025 is not going to be like that. Remember when you were a kid? I remember being

a kid at Jones Beach. That is a cruel beach to send kids to. I remember because I'm used to the

Balkans, the Adriatic. It's basically a giant lake. There's no waves. As a kid, I was like, I can swim

already and you run out and boom, a wave comes. All right, when you go, another one comes,

and as soon as you boom, another one comes, next thing you don't have to 10 waves, you're like,

that's what 2025 is going to be like wave upon wave upon wave upon wave. Hallelujah.

Joshua 5 and verse 2. At the same time, excuse me at that time, the Lord said to Joshua,

make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.

It's not that the same men were getting circumcised for the second time. That would be very strange

and impossible. It's just that this is the second call it mass circumcision.

I have to chuckle because this is really awkward to read. And we haven't even begun to get to the

awkward part. So I've learned just if there's a pool of awkwardness, just jump right in there,

just cannonball right in there. So Joshua made flint knives, not surgical scalples, sharp stones.

So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the son of Israel at the hill of the four

skins. Can you imagine living there back then? Where's your house? I can't find it on Google Maps.

It's right across the street from the hill of the four skins. You just got to look for the giant hill.

I'm right over. This is why people don't read the Old Testament.

And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them. All the people who came out of Egypt who were

males, all the men of war had died in the wilderness on the way, and they had come out of Egypt.

For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness,

in other words, all the men that were with Joshua, they never got circumcised. Now circumcision

is important because that's the sign of your covenant with God back in the Old Testament.

When David ran at Goliath, he pointed out, hey, you're on circumcised. Who is this non-covenant?

Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?

Under the new covenant Paul talks about circumcision. The whole gospel is contained in circumcision.

There's blood that's shed and there's a casting off of the flesh. And back then it was physical

today. It's that sin nature that's been cast off of us, the flesh. And we're according to the

New Testament how Paul teaches, we have an inward circumcision of the heart. But either way,

it represents our covenant with God. All right, so right now they weren't circumcised. They had no

covenant. Verse 6, for the children of Israel walked 40 years in the wilderness till all the people

who were men of war who came out of Egypt were consumed because they did not obey the voice of

the Lord to whom the Lord swore that he would not show them the land which the Lord had sworn to

their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Then Joshua circumcised

their sons whom he raised up in their place for they were uncircumcised because they had not

been circumcised on the way. So it was when they had finished circumcised, if I have to say circumcised

one more time. When they had finished circumcising all the people that they stayed in their places in

the camp till they were healed. I just imagine what that camp sounded like. Where's whaling camp?

Oh, it's right over there. Hold up for three days mending.

Then the Lord said, and this is this, hey, you wondering what's all this about? This is what it's

about, all right? Then the Lord said to Joshua, today, this day, I have rolled away the reproach of

Egypt from you. Why is this so important? Because they're about to possess the land. They're about to

get into that flow state of victory after victory after victory. And what is imperative to happen

before you can actually realize that is shame, guilt, condemnation has to be rolled away.

You see these Hebrews, they had shame. They had shame from Egypt. They had shame from older

mistakes and blundering in the wilderness. And they weren't in covenant with God because they

didn't have physical circumcision. They had to get circumcised. Picture giant boulder that prevents

them from moving into their destiny called shame. And because the covenant was evoked,

God said, ah, because of the covenant, I'm rolling this boulder away. I'm rolling away the

reproach of Israel. How much more under the glorious new covenant where physical circumcision

matters not. But saying yes to Jesus and having a circumcision of the heart being born again,

now guilt is gone. Are you listening, Christian? Hey, if you have guilt in your life that's your

problem, that God is there. But I have things I'm struggling with. You don't know. Thank you. I don't

need to know. I don't want to know. But God knows. And if you're looking at Jesus,

if your eyes are on Jesus, God in the spirit still cannot find sin in you. You are forgiven. You are

made right. But sometimes I don't act like it. When you start believing right, you'll start acting

right. The reason you're not acting right is because you're not believing right. You keep believing

God's against you. God's mad at you. God's angry with you. You feel wild. You keep wallowing

in condemnation in guilt. You go to sleep hearing negative. Your self-talk stinks.

It's really Satan and it's masquerading as your own voice. And you can't stand your own self

because you've been listening to that voice so often. Listen to what the word says about you.

It says you are holy and without blame before him in love. It says you are accepted in the

beloved. Hey, eventually. Yeah. When we get rolling in 2025 and things start popping for you,

eventually you're going to have to answer this question. Why do you deserve this? Satan will ask

some of your friends may ask it. You may even ask it. When the Lord outdid himself in 2024 for us,

I had actually driving her. Why? Why did he? He's given me stuff. I didn't really frankly even

believe him for. He just outdid himself. And you can get insecure. Lord, why are you doing this?

Why do I deserve this? And then you listen for the divine response. It's really not about you.

It's about me. And this is just how good I am and how big I am. And you deserve this because

you're worthy because the blood of Jesus has made you worthy. Not worthy in and of yourself,

but thanks to the blood, the shame is rolled away and you're now a good target. A good bullseye

that God can shoot his arrow of blessings into. Hallelujah. Let's go forward just a couple of verses

to Joshua 513. Number one, 2025 is a year of stepping out in faith. When your feet touch the water.

Hallelujah. You know, I shared about this new car that I ordered. You know how that happened?

It happened spontaneously on our anniversary day, on the way to the restaurant. I wasn't planning on that.

And I said, hey, I'm just going to pull in here. Let's look at these cars.

And we pulled in there. It was quiet. There was nobody there. I said, do you like this? I'm showing you.

I said, I kind of like it too. I said, let's just sit down. One thing turned into another.

And then just by faith, I said, yeah, order that thing. How much do you need down?

It's not all together how it's going to come through. I mean, it'll be able to. It's not,

I don't want to present it as this generous, but it's not, it's not set. It's not convenient.

It's when you take a step of faith that it comes through. Now listen, I have to say this. Don't go

doing stupid stuff and saying it's God. Please. I had to work up, you know how I worked up to this

level by getting a lot of things wrong too. And then you learn from your mistakes. Amen.

Believe God for a soda first. Yeah. Then you know, I want to believe for a car. Do you have

skateboard faith? Believe God for a skateboard. Work your way up to a 12 speed. Then believe God

for a jalopy. Then from that, expound your faith, expand it, and work up to a place. So you don't,

you know, come and cause your life and go, no, I was trying to walk by faith and

that's maybe a whole separate message. Amen.

And it came to pass. Less than number one was walking out of faith over the Jordan.

Two was shame and guilt and condemnation have to be rolled away. That happens when you remember the

covenant there to remember it in a very impractical way. You remember just by looking at the cross

of going, thank you Jesus, the blood is upon my life. Three is you got to have a God encounter.

God encounters are available to every believer. You are not supposed to have a cerebral

relationship with the Lord. If our relationship with the Lord was just purely intellectual,

some people, they're wired that way, not a lot of people, but some, they're wired that way,

and that's fine for them. I can't do that.

I want to know him. I want to experience him, especially when the Bible says I can know him,

and I can experience him. I want to feel his touch, I want to experience his power. And that's

available to you. Joshua before he entered the Promised Land, he had to have an encounter with

God. And that's what you see happening here in Joshua chapter five. Jesus appeared to him

in a pre-incarnate fashion, what's known as a theophanie. Jesus appeared to him as the commander

of the armies of the Lord. And it came to pass when Joshua was by Jericho that he lifted his eyes

and looked and behold, a man stood opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua

went to him and said to him, are you for us or for our adversaries? So he said no, but as commander

of the army of the Lord, I have now come. What an answer. So many people in a politically divided

time. They want to know, are you on this team or on that team? And here's what the Lord says,

I'm on my own team. You come on my team. I don't come on your team with your silly little minutia

that's going on down there. I have a purpose. I have a plan and it's in your best interest to come

along with me. Amen. So he said no, but as commander of the army of the Lord, I have now come

and Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, what does my Lord say to

his servant? So he's having a God encounter and he has a good question, what is the word for me?

What would you say to me? And here's the divine response. Then the commander of the Lord's army

said to Joshua, take your standal off your foot for the place where you stand as holy and Joshua

did so. That's it. That's his God encounter. What was the lesson learned? Submission.

Instant obedience and submission. Here God revealed himself when he came. He came and Joshua

five as the commander of the armies of heaven. I denied SWOT in the Hebrew, the Lord of Suboeth,

the heavenly host. And if you saw heavenly host, your brain would explode. They talk about the

heavenly host coming when Jesus was born and then you see the paintings and it's a bunch of fat

babies and diapers playing harps. That's not the heavenly host. Suboeth, the armies of heaven,

a terrible thing to see. And Jesus appears as the commander of these armies. And this is all he

wants. Submission. It's a word that many of us allergic to today. Don't want to submit to anybody,

submit to anything. But Joshua had to submit. And in 2025, if you want to experience the best year

of your life, you got to take your shoes off your feet. Get on your knees and submit. And have a

heart attitude that says, Lord, I know that if you're not Lord of all, you're not Lord at all.

This is not a year to be messing around. Surrender. You can't just receive him as savior and not as

Lord. It's Lord and savior. That means your life now belongs to him. And you'll follow him.

You won't do things contrary to his word. Hallelujah. And then finally, Joshua 6.

There's about 50 great stories in the Book of Joshua. Some really great ones.

I chose these three. But I encourage you to dig in the Book of Joshua. Joshua yourself.

The Lord will speak to you through it. Joshua 6 verses 1 through 5. Now Jericho was

Joshua 6:1–5

securely shut up. So he made it past. Jordan River. The people were circumcised. The shame

was rolled away. He got his God encounter. And now he has to possess the land, which means

this possess the current occupants. He, the nations that were unwilling to repent and turn to the

living God. I'm going to pause on that for a second. I feel like this might minister to a couple

of people. In the Old Testament, you see a lot of death. You see a lot of destruction. You see a

lot of people and people groups died. And now that we've been so wokified, you might read that,

I mean, it bothered me before. But now that the culture is so wokified, you can just be

absolutely horrified by what appears to be God's will in the Old Testament, like the destruction of

other nations. And it's fair and legitimate that we bring that up, that we discuss that. I didn't

plan on it, but I just felt it right now. And it's part of what God's answer was to Joshua. He said,

I'm not on your side. And I'm not on their side. I'm on my own side. And God had only one desire,

one desire to protect that seed that was spoken of in Genesis, to protect that seed throughout

the generations so that Messiah can come in and rescue this fallen world. That was his only

desire. Everything you see him doing is allowed for that to happen. And it's in the context of a fallen

corrupt world. So God now has to use fallen man in the context of a fallen and corrupt

post-Garden of Eden world to bring his holy purposes in. And that can be very messy and very

ugly. Are you getting it? So it's not necessarily that God's will. I mean, God could have sent

him to Jericho. And if it'll work, he would have said, listen, I want you to go pick flowers,

make sure that the brightest flowers and the freshest flowers and present them with these flowers,

they'll be happy to move out and allow you in. But that wouldn't have worked. So he has to work

in the context of a fallen world to bring about his very holy and eternal purposes. Amen? All right.

I didn't see anything, but there could have been several people. This could be a major hang-up

for people. In the spirit, I saw a woman clutch her pearls, so I had to address that.

Where are we? Oh, we're seeing Jericho get demolished.

You shall march around the city. First three, I've given Jericho into your hand. You shall march

around the city. All you men of war, you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do

six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of ram's horns before the ark. But the

seventh day you shall march around the city seven times. And the priests shall blow the trumpets.

It shall come to pass when they make a long blast with the ram's horn. They were charismatic.

With shofar's. And when you hear the sound of the trumpet and all the people shall shout with a

great shout, then the wall of the city will fall down flat and the people shall go up every man

straight before him. Now fast forward just a couple of verses to verse 10. Now Joshua had

commanded the people saying, you shall not shout or make any noise with your voice. Imagine that.

They had to walk around Jericho for six days. No one was allowed to say a word. It had to be

total silence. I believe God did that so that they wouldn't jeopardize the mission and curse the

mission with the words of their own mouth. Words are very important. The Bible says death and life

are in the power of the tongue. And they that love it will lead the fruit thereof. You just know

there would have been four or five complainers in that group going, oh I really miss Moses. I don't

like Joshua. Moses was better, right? You know when someone's like that, when they're rebellious,

they're the ultimate evangelists. They want they got to recruit and add more team rebellion.

Right? Don't you feel like Moses was better and Joshua was saying walk around and why do we

got a walk around? What? They're going to blow ramps horns and the walls will fall down. That's

never going to work. And they would curse the whole thing with the words of them up. So the divine

instruction was, can't say a word. Can't say a word for six days. By the way, these walls,

when I first heard about the walls of Jericho coming down, maybe it's because I was a teenager,

maybe I was influenced by something I saw, but I picture them in cartoon form. Like a wall,

you too, right? No, you picture like one brick deep, just the wall, and then it comes down.

But the walls of it, city walls, we've been to Dubrovnik and Croatia.

City walls are very, very wide. Look at the Great Wall of China. Archaeologists will tell you that

the Jericho walls were so wide that you can run multiple chariots around them at the same time.

This is the kind of walls we're talking about. And God gives very strange instructions.

Walk around. Once a day for the first six days, then on the seven day, walk around seven times,

then blow a trumpet and shout with the shout of triumph. And then the walls will come down.

Now in life, we're usually saying, God, make the walls come down, then I'll shout. People come

in to church. They come in upset. They come in sad. They cross their arms. They don't even care

that they're not entering into worship because their hard attitude is, Lord, when you do something

in my life where I feel like it's enough that I should worship you, then I'll worship you. That's

really what they're conveying to the Lord. And the whole Bible is upside down in this way.

It's saying you rejoice first. You shout with the voice of triumph first. Then the wall will come down.

You can't be hiding in a corner saying, make the wall come down. Why don't you? Then I'll shout.

Amen or owe me. Both. Hallelujah.

16 through 17 worship team, you can come on up. And the seventh time it happens, when the priests

blew the trumpets, the Joshua said to the people, shout, for the Lord has given you the city.

Now the city shall be doomed by the Lord to destruction. It's an all who are in it.

Only Rahab, the harlot shall live. She and all, all who are with her in the house because she

hid the messengers that were sent. God is doing a Joshua thing in 2025. Can you say amen?

I hope these lessons bless you. Know this, that no battle is wasted by God.

And even in this battle, when the walls came down, some archaeologists say that the fashion in

which they came down was to act as a rampart, as a bridge, basically giving even easier access

for the children of Israel now to run in and take Jericho. So what used to be your hindrance,

what used to be your problem when the Lord deals with it, falls down, and now it acts as your

express route into the place you wanted to get to all along. Hallelujah. A couple of other things,

note this, two more things. One, the community was united, that's the only reason this worked.

We as a church have never before been as united as we are now. I feel it. Like never before.

There is love in this place. In fact, we should get even stoner that if somebody disturbs that

piece, disturbs that love. Usually have a three strike minimum. We might have to bring that down

to two strikes because I am jealous for this sweetness that there is so much love and camaraderie

and wearing one accord. This is where miracles happen. And another thing I want you to see is there's

Rahab, the harlot. It seems like such a harsh word, right? She let some spies in previously. When

destruction came upon Jericho, look who was spared. Rahab, the harlot. In fact, Jesus has a

connection to her in his lineage. And she mentioned in Hebrews 11 in the great hall of faith.

But I just want you to know that when destruction came upon this city, look at God's heart.

He preserved Rahab, the harlot. In fact, she said, hey, what should I do? When you come

destroying, when you come destroying this whole city, how will you know not to destroy my house?

And they said, one, just tie a little scarlet cord outside your window. We'll know not to hit

that home. What do you think that scarlet cord represents? Blood of Jesus. So just know this.

And you see this. This is just one example. You see this throughout the scriptures. Though we live

in New York City. And just when I get to like my, when I'm in my family planning multi-generational

state of mind, I wonder about, you know, living in New York City. When there's 40 drones going

up and down to Hudson River, and they're saying could be nuclear material or, and then I'm just

reminding you that whenever destruction comes upon a place, God's people are spared. When I see

the blood, I will pass to over you. When I see that scarlet cord, that's why it mentions Rahab,

the harlot, to be a prostitute was considered to be the bottom rung of society. And God is saying

even the bottom rung. When that scarlet cord is applied, destruction will pass over. Let's all

stand. Hallelujah. Lift your hands. In the name of Jesus, say this with me, Lord, 2025,

is my year. I will live in a constant state of victorious flow. It's going to be my best fear yet.

You are with me and you are my waymaker. I believe and I receive. 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,

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

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