Embracing a Life of Faith and Obedience

You have been declared not guilty,

all those who placed their faith in Jesus.

You're forever declared justified and not guilty.

God calls you His Son, His Child.

You are heirs of God.

He's actually made you equal with Himself.

He's caused you to sit together in heavenly places in Christ.

How did all this happen?

You were bought.

You needed perfect holy blood and that's the high price.

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.

Sometimes you have to remind yourself that you're saved

in case you forgot.

And how wonderful it is that the Lord brought you to Him,

that He softened your heart and opened your eyes.

The Bible says that there's none that seek after God.

That means we didn't seek Him out of some innate, holy curiosity

that we had deep within ourselves.

There's none that seeks after God.

We're all by nature, turning our backs on Him

and rebelling against Him.

But He came to you.

He thought of you.

And He's the one who softened your heart,

opened your eyes to His Word,

opened your eyes that you understand that you have a need

for a Savior that you're in need of saving.

He's the one who opened your mind to understand

that salvation comes through the blood of Jesus,

faith in His substitutionary death for you.

Isn't that good news?

When you remind yourself of these things,

you realize just how special you are.

I think about that.

Jesus said some just really frightening things.

Like straight an arrow is the way that leads to life everlasting.

It's an arrow's little street.

And broad is the highway.

Broad is the way.

It's a Broadway that leads to destruction.

And many there be the go down that Broadway.

But He put you on this straight an arrow.

And for that, I'm eternally grateful.

Amen.

Well, are you ready for the word this morning?

It's not Christmas,

but let's begin in Luke chapter 1 verses 26 through 38.

Luke 1:26–38

I say it's not Christmas just because when I was preparing

this message,

I felt like I had read this verse just a few months ago,

and probably I have at least to myself maybe right here

from this pulpit.

Usually we take it out during the Christmas season.

It's when the angel visits Mary.

Now, if you were just that hand, that's thank you.

Now in the sixth month,

the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee,

named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man

whose name was Joseph of the house of David.

The Virgin's name was Mary.

And having come in the angel set to her rejoice highly favored

one, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women.

And just note that that's the longest and most detailed description

of Mary that we have in the Bible.

She was highly favored and blessed among women.

Just saying.

A lot more was added later,

but she's highly favored because she was chosen to be the vessel

through whom God and the flesh would come through.

And that qualifies her to be blessed among women.

Doesn't say anything about worshiping her or a.k.a.

venerating her or praying to her,

but she's most blessed among women because Messiah came through her.

And when she saw this angel,

she was troubled at his saying and considered what manner of greeting

this was.

Then the angels said to her,

do not be afraid, Mary,

for you have found favor with God and behold,

you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son

and shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great and will be called the son of the highest

and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.

And of his kingdom,

there will be no end.

How many of you can agree?

This is a lot right now for teenage Mary.

She's having an angelic visitation.

Not like from a hallmark card.

This is Gabriel.

So we imagine he had some stature to him.

The glory of the Lord radiating off of him.

She wasn't expecting this.

She just thought it was another night as usual.

And she gets this news that she's the one chosen

to supernaturally give birth to the savior of man.

My verse is a bouncing here.

Did I read the one before that?

Okay, verse 34 then.

Thank you.

Then Mary said to the angel,

how can this be since I do not know a man?

How can this happen since I haven't been physically intimate with anyone?

And the angel answered and said to her,

the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the highest will overshadow you.

Therefore also the Holy One who is to be born will be called the son of God.

Now indeed Elizabeth,

your relative has also conceived the son in her old age.

And this is now the sixth month for her who was called Baron.

For with God nothing will be impossible.

I love that verse.

That's not a part of my message.

That's a whole separate message.

But for God with nothing will be impossible.

When you really look at that verse, the Hebrews excuse me.

Their word for thing was word.

Because they believed words would become things.

Word?

Word.

Word.

I said their word for thing was word.

Because they believed that life and death are in the power of the tongue.

And then your words become things.

So you can paraphrase that verse to say for with God,

no thing, no spoken word of God will be impossible for him to perform.

That means if you have a promise from God, you can take it to the bank.

Of often said, I can go through any challenge, any obstacle.

I can do anything as long as I have God's word on the subject.

As long as I can see it in the scripture and he's reiterated to me in my spirit.

And he's commanded me to do something in the very word of God is the power to fulfill the obligation

that comes along with that word.

Amen.

For with God, no spoken thing, nothing he tells you will be impossible for him to perform.

Verse 38, then Mary said, behold the maid servant of the Lord.

And here's a frightened teenage Mary who just got the text of all texts.

What a bombshell of an use event.

And here's what she says, let it be to me according to your word.

God's will be done. His word is his will.

And this must have pleased the angel so much that he had nothing else to say,

but it was on that note that he departed.

The same angel Gabriel visited her cousin, Elizabeth, who gave birth to John the Baptist.

He actually visited Zachariah, her husband, and he just started mounting off and kind of arguing with the angel

and was filled with so much doubt and unbelief that the angel actually struck him to be mute.

Like you're just spewing so much gibberish and you're going to mess this whole thing up.

I got to cause you supernaturally to be quiet.

But Mary had the right response, be it unto me according to your word.

And so I have a question to ask you, whatever happened to the will of God.

Here you have a submitted Mary, a Mary who prizes the will of God.

And this is, when I think of Mary, this is the statement I most closely associate with her life.

Let it be to me according to your word.

When I was waiting on the Lord, asking him for word for you this Sunday.

I actually had the thought, if this was my last Sunday, if I could leave the church with just one last sermon, what would it be?

And it's this, to bend the knee to Jesus, to surrender to his will, to fully receive the Lordship of Christ in your life.

Not 50%, not 80%, but 100%.

Because if he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all.

And he's asking us for everything.

It's a fair request since the Bible says that we've been purchased with a very high price, with the precious blood of Jesus.

And he's given us his all.

And just the time, the time for games, it was never a good time for games with the Lord.

But now more than ever.

I'm sorry, I just got PTSD, COVID flashback.

When COVID started, everything was now more than ever.

Right now, more than ever.

I understand, I get it.

But really, now more than ever.

Let me just go to Philippians 317 through 19, because it shows,

the whole warns of a people that are the exact opposite of this.

Brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern.

Paul says, note those, note those who walk in the faith.

And it's good to always have people in the body of Christ that you look up to.

It doesn't just have to be in leadership.

There's always a time when I have a group of people that I'm just like, I love how that person walks in love and how kind they are.

I want to note them. I want to emulate them.

I like how that person prays.

They have obviously very passion and fiery prayer life.

I note them. That person seems to always be walking in faith.

They're taking risks.

Their faith is an active faith. It's not a dormant faith. I note them.

He says, you have us for a pattern.

Verse 18.

For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.

And then he describes what an enemy of the cross of Christ is, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly.

This doesn't mean that they're gluttonous and they eat a lot.

This means that they have traded the authority of God's word, traded, submitting to the Lordship of Christ to whatever their own personal appetites are.

And the warning here is dire.

And once again, I know this is eternal scripture.

This was written 2,000 years ago. It was true back then.

But I dare say that it's even true here today.

More than ever. Now, more than ever.

In a time where people are telling you that 2 plus 2 equals 5.

Now when a culture is being so corrupted and that which is evil is being passed by as that which is good and that which is good is being passed for that which is evil.

It is a time to submit to the Lord, to really truly surrender to his Lordship and say, Lord, I just want you.

I just want your will. I'll do whatever you want me to do.

Knowing that whatever he asks you to do, there will be a grace on you to do what he's asking you to do. Amen.

He's not unfair that way where he'll require something of you and then hold back the power to fulfill the need and the obligation. Amen.

He says that God is their belly whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things.

May our church be a church that's fully surrendered to Jesus. Hallelujah.

May the Holy Spirit come now and do a deep work in our hearts and make any adjustments that are necessary.

And may you be soft-hearted so that you can say yes to Jesus. Hallelujah.

Mary learned such a powerful lesson when that angel visited her, John 2 verses 1 through 5, it shows what her life attitude was.

John 2:1–5

I was reminiscing last night with Emily as we were discussing the Lordship of Christ.

And we just talked about all the times where it wasn't easy to say yes to the Lord, but we said yes anyhow, and how that always worked out.

And she just reminded me of how I went to Liberia in the summer of 2014 when Victor was just a couple of months old and Liberia was in the middle of the Ebola epidemic.

I couldn't even get into Liberia. Only two flights a week were going to Liberia.

And one of them was from Casablanca. I remember getting excited about that. I thought, when would I ever go to Casablanca?

So romantic.

Except when you land in Casablanca and you realize it's not the movie. And all the buildings are brown and gray.

And everything you eat is weird. And you're just waiting for that one flight to take you to where you're supposed to be, which is Manrovia Liberia. Amen.

You can cross Casablanca. It's just side note. You can cross Casablanca off your bucket list. It wasn't all that.

No Sam's bar. No nothing. Just people doing their laundry in place like this in a bucket. Really?

I'm like, I can see that back in my own home country. I don't need to come to go up a little bit into the mountains. It's the whirlpool.

But I landed there and he had arranged the ministry were supporting had arranged for somebody from the military to pick me up so I can't get in. I remember asking, how much should I give them?

How do you know? What's a good bribe? I mean gift for somebody. You never know. He said, brother, $100 is plenty. I'm like, cool. Great. This count rate.

And that spent 10 days there, ministering in the largest churches in Manrovia Liberia, being able to meet government officials, thousands of people came out to here.

Who's the one crazy American who would come to minister and encourage us in the middle of Ebola? And because of city light church, we were able to purchase a Toyota truck.

I have to say Toyota because that's like a G wagon here. A Toyota. Toyota is indestructible. We purchased a Toyota truck for the ministry there, gave away laptops to the ministry there and had an incredibly fruitful week.

But it happened because I said, yes, amen. And really, you reminded me of that, but I never thought of that as a difficult decision.

It wasn't like I was struggling with the Lord because when you're in the Lord's will, you realize that's the safest place for you to be.

We had to go and wash our hands everywhere we went in a mixture of bleach and water and everybody was terrified.

But the whole time, I'm just happy. I'm smiling. I feel like I'm in a bubble of his goodness and grace. I feel untouchable. The safest place for us, for any of you, is knowing that you're not outside of the will of God.

Not rebelling against them. Not doing things as it seems right to you. The Bible when describing a rebellious people, it talks about those who do whatever is right in their own eyes.

I don't want to be that person.

And when you read the Old Testament, which is written as an example to us, there's a phrase that's often used with the rebellious people.

And that's stiff-necked. You ever have that inflexible friend?

They always, I hope I don't get husbands and wives in trouble this morning. We came to church, we walked out fighting.

They always got to meet at the same place and you suggest the place and I know we're going to this place.

And it's got to be the time that's good for them, the day that's good for them, and it's like that every single time.

That's what God said, the people who rebel against them are like, they're not flexible.

They don't mold them and conform themselves to Him, but they expect God to mold and conform Himself to them.

And that's one of the biggest problems right now in the culture of the countries that people are making God and turning Him into their own image.

Changing the scriptures, twisting the truth of God's word to suit their own belly.

Their God is their belly, their own appetites, no matter how wild they are, changing the goodness and the truth and the glory of God to really do whatever is right in their own eyes.

And the Bible says their way and their end is a destruction.

I have one soul. I'm frankly, I'm jealous for it.

It's not a video game where you get to do over. I have one soul. I want to finish well.

Amen. I'm saved. I'm saved by grace, not because of anything good that I do, and I stay saved by continually staying in the faith and looking to Jesus and His righteousness to be imparted to me.

And I have a job and I have to see every single one of you of the same mind, firmly rooted and grounded in Him, and not playing that hoki-poki with the Lord with one foot in and one foot out and playing games, but saying, Lord, I am yours.

You are mine. Whatever you tell me to do, I'll do it. I'll have instant obedience. Amen.

That is maturity in Christ.

John at the wedding feast.

Now, both Jesus, chapter 2, verse 1, and the third day that was the wedding in Canaan of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there.

Now, both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding, and when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, they have no wine.

Jesus said to her, woman, which some preachers read, woman, and really make Jesus sound so harsh, right? Woman, to his own mother.

Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? Keep that verse up. Let me just talk about this for a second. My hour has not yet come.

I just want to talk about what a sexist Jesus was. No, actually the exact opposite. He was the one who broke social norms all the time, and invited woman to participate in the spreading of the gospel.

But this is actually Jesus being playful and doing a twist on words. She's saying, hey, they have no wine. Now, what's wine a symbol of? The Holy Spirit.

And he's playing where there's no sheets that they don't have the Holy Spirit. And he says, hey, what does this have to do with me? My time, my hour has not yet come.

Every single time Jesus talks about his hour, what is he talking about? The crucifixion and the resurrection. It was only after the crucifixion and the resurrection that the Holy Spirit was able to come then on the day of Pentecost and be given as a gift to the entire world to whoever would call upon the name of Jesus and receive, amen.

This is a beautiful Jesus. She's saying they have no wine. And essentially saying, the wine is coming. But my hour has not yet come. But just hang around my ministry for a few more years and you'll see when I get crucified and I'm raised from the dead. It's going to be new wine for everybody, amen.

Verse 5, his mother said, but she got the joke, by the way, because she didn't go, boy, you talked that way to me at a wedding in public. She got the wink. And then she turns to the servants and says, she's essentially imparting her own heart of submission.

And her bending the knee to the Lordship of Christ, to the servants, they're saying, whatever he says to you, do it. Whatever he says to you, do it.

If you were to hear Mary talk today, you know what she would say? She would point to Jesus and say, whatever he says to you, do it. Hallelujah.

And by the way, what he said was, gather some stone pots. Six to be exact. Now, you just read that. You think stone pitcher, like our gallon jug of milk, but the Bible is clear. Each pot held 20 to 30 gallons.

And he said, gather the stone pots, fill them with water. You know the servants were like, why are we doing this? Because you didn't just turn on the garden hose and fill them up. You had to now go fetch the water. 20 to 30 gallons. Let's lose the, use the low and 20 gallons.

This was a lot of work. And it didn't make sense in the natural mind, why are we doing this? I don't know. She just said whatever he says, do it. And he didn't even have a reputation then because this is the very first miracle that he worked.

Which please note also that of all the miracles Jesus could have chosen to be his first. It was a miracle of provision that he chose. Just winking at us, just letting us know that I, first of all, I'm the God of parties.

And I'm the God of provision and abundance. And with me, they will never be lack. Amen. But they had a decision to make. Do we stop? Because why are we just fetching water? Something about wine? And is he, what's he trying to do? But they just have to obey whatever he says to you to do it. Hallelujah. This is why, by the way, city light church exists.

Because people gathered around me who were willing to say, okay, whatever he says to us will do. Because it made no sense in the natural at all. I could barely time my own shoes at age 26 when I decided to launch and plant city light church yet now 22 plus 22 years. Can you believe it in a couple of weeks? Amen.

Hallelujah. And it made no sense. But there is a reward to obedience. A great reward. Amen.

I want to read 1 Samuel chapter 15 verses 20 through 26. Going back into the Old Testament, King Saul, he was given some explicit instructions by the Lord through the Prophet Samuel. And he was about 85% obedient.

1 Samuel 15:20–26

And Saul said to Samuel, but I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me and brought back a gag king of Amalek. I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder. Now he wasn't supposed to do that.

They took of the sheep and oxen. Some things were just too luxury and too good to burn down. The best things, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God and Gilgal. He said, we didn't want to destroy these things.

But you know, we took these great things so we could sacrifice. Now there's a problem here. He wasn't supposed to do that. He's anointed as king. He has a mandate to be a king, not a priest. He stepped outside of his boundaries. He stepped outside of his mantle. The mantle was on the priest to offer sacrifices, not the king.

Verse 22. So Samuel said, has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord, behold to obey is better than sacrifice. Many of you have heard this verse.

We know what it means under an old covenant. He's literally talking about obeying is better than sacrificing when it's not your job to sacrifice. But today that could mean it is better to obey obey the voice of the Lord than any other external religious work that you can present to him.

Even if it seems like a good external religious work, like coming to church every Sunday, he would much rather have your heart, the fullness of your heart, then you will not only come to church each Sunday, but he'll have your entire heart.

There are some people, they make a decision to tie. It's like pay off money for God. They give them a tenth of all their income and they feel that then they can do whatever they want because they send protection money up to heaven. They're going to be okay.

People who pray, but God is after your obedience first, your whole heart, you to say yes to whatever he asks of you.

And why am I preaching all this today? Because I do, I believe that the challenge to say yes to him is only going to increase.

We're going to watch old shows and go, wow, we thought it was tough to be a Christian back then. It was actually so easy.

I mean, everyone thought I was crazy 30 years ago for being a Christian, but today they think I'm utterly insane.

They don't even know they're constantly being programmed with an anti-Christian sentiment.

Being a pastor in New York City was never popular. They're one of the worst questions, I hate when someone asks me what do you do?

Because I know, I've done it already, hundreds of times, so what do you do?

I give away life insurance for free. No, I tell them, I'm a pastor.

Tell them, and then you can just see though, because they don't really know what they're trying to find what compartment to put you in.

The head is spinning, and it's never, ever good, and it's never, ever.

Do you meet someone who I'm a pastor?

And now there's such an anti-Christian sentiment, an temptation to hide your Christianity, don't do it.

An attempt to change the truth of God's Word in order to fit in. Don't do it.

I mean, it would seem crazy just a few years ago to suggest this, but now it's not crazy, that one day what you believe will be labeled intolerant hate speech.

Because Jesus said something not very tolerant. He said, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one can come to the Father except through me. That's not very tolerant.

Jesus said, there is no other way to heaven except through me, because I am the only one who's going to give his life in exchange for yours.

My clean and perfect life will be punished as though you were me, and your sin will be punished in me, and I will with my own holy blood purchase your salvation.

That's why, look, if there was another way or other ways, then Jesus died in vain.

Jesus would have stayed in heaven and said, look, if being a nice person and playing with crystals could get the job done,

he'd be still with the Father going, let him have added. But he did what he had to do because he had to do it. Amen.

So can you imagine, and I can, the way culture is going, where it's just labeled that to believe in John 3.16 or to believe in John 14.6 where Jesus says, I am the way, that really just is too triggering for too many people.

It really hurts their feelings and makes them feel like they're on the outside, and that's not nice when people don't feel great about themselves all the time, 24-7.

And so therefore, John 14.6 is hate speech.

Nah, not here, not in America.

But I'm preaching to city lighters though that they may come, because I don't want that data to surprise us, and we have a bunch of weak Christians who are terrified of the world and terrified about taking a stand.

And let God be true, the Bible says, and every man a liar. Hallelujah.

And the people in your life you would compromise the word of God for, you have yet to learn, they don't care about you at all anyway.

It's true. Jesus will always be there for you, but to care what people think, I mean people.

These are the people in the Bible. On Sunday, they said, Hosanna, and they greeted Jesus with palm leaves and king of kings and Lord of lords.

By Friday, they were shouting, crucify him. That's people. And the book of Acts, it didn't even take five days, took one day.

Paul and Barnabas were preaching so good that they said the gods have come to us in the forms of men.

That's a superfan right there. The next day, they picked up stones and stone them. That's how quickly human emotions will turn from loving you to hating you.

And some of us live an absolute fear of what people will say, what people will think. They really don't think.

They're too busy thinking of themselves to think anything about you. You think they're thinking about you, but that's only because you're the main character in your own movie.

But they're not thinking about you. They're wondering what you're thinking about them.

To obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.

And stubbornness is as an equity and idolatry. Now listen to this. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, because you were an obedient to King Saul,

he also has rejected you from being King. And this is where the anointing, the mantle of the King was stripped from Saul.

This happened to be an example unto us. Thankfully, we can fall and the blood of Jesus is still on us.

And we can get right back up again, but this should still serve as a warning.

Now, I'm not going to lose my salvation through one act of disobedience, but there are things in the natural that if I just do whatever is right in my own eyes, I will mess up.

I can hurt my relationship with my wife or with people who are close to me or with the church through one act of rebellion, one act of disobedience.

Because disobedience, it could hurt it, cripple it for years, maybe forever, on this side of heaven.

So to walk in wisdom, and there should be a healthy amount of the fear of the Lord.

And it's like we have to be broad enough in our thinking to both understand that he loves us and we're the apple of his eye.

I walk around the things of God with fear and trembling.

Because I know left up to my own devices, I will make a mess so quickly.

So Lord, I walk in the fear of the Lord. Hallelujah.

First Corinthians 620.

Did we finish that out? Okay, let's go to first Corinthians.

We had two more verses. Let's read them.

Now therefore, please pardon my sin, verse 25.

Oh, verse 24, you were right.

I have sins where I've transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because I fear, oh yeah, I fear the people.

Why did he do it? Because of everything we just already talked about.

He didn't submit and fully obey the voice of the Lord.

He did a nice 85% partial obedience, which always comes out to be total disobedience.

And he actually reveals the root of why he did this thing.

He feared the people and obeyed their voice.

What a weird dance. We have to dance as Christians where we are to love people.

And then at the same time, absolutely not care what they think about it says at all.

Seems a little one sided, huh? Only through Christ can we have that kind of grace.

I really love you. Not in a closed way, but I give my heart to you.

And if you slap me in the face, I'm like, I can't take it personally.

How do you do that? You only do it if you're receiving mega doses of the love of God through prayer and worship every single day.

Hallelujah.

Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord.

But Sam, you'll say to Saul, I will not return with you.

For you have rejected the word of the Lord.

And the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.

Everyone say this. Obedience is better than sacrifice.

Obedience is better than external religiosity.

Ha. All right.

First Corinthians 620.

In the NLT, for God bought you with a high price, when this is real to you, when this is real to you,

that you realize you have been bought.

The whole reason you know that you'll be in heaven forever with him.

The whole reason you know that all of your sins are completely forgiven you and that there is therefore now no condemnation for you.

You understand? You have been declared not guilty.

All those who place their faith in Jesus, you're forever declared justified and not guilty.

God calls you his son, his child, you are heirs of God.

He's actually made you equal with himself.

He's caused you to sit together in heavenly places in Christ.

How did all this happen? You were bought.

You needed perfect holy blood and that's the high price that the Bible speaks about.

I'm not my own. That's actually where my confidence comes from to face the future to think of eternity.

You ever have a moment where you think this might be it?

I've had a couple of those on an airplane where you actually think, where you start to think like,

like you're really confronted with eternity.

It was actually a plane ride to Ethiopia.

I mean, it was like a giant took the plane and was just going like this with it.

The plane kept getting hit with lightning.

You see that sometimes on video.

I was like, you don't know it back in the 80s, the original Twilight Zone movie,

where there's the Gremlin on the plane. That's what it felt like.

And I remember someone from our church probably watching right now donated her miles.

She said, since you're going to Ethiopia, you're going to fly first class. I was like, praise the Lord.

The Ethiopian heir or whatever, the first class was not what you might think.

It had these, instead of an actual fur, it was a regular chair with metal stirrups for my feet.

And the whole thing is jingling and jangling. And then the metal stirrups pop out, come on done.

And then I'm being shaken. And in those moments, you're like, Lord, maybe this is the time.

I was single at the time. No children, Emily, and you just go into your hands, Lord.

I commit my spirit.

And here I am. We made it. But I go back to that moment.

And I think, Lord, I'm pretty happy with the lack of panic I had.

There was a confidence there. There was a strength. Why? Because I know I've been bought.

I've been purchased at a high price with a blood of Jesus.

I'm forever his to be absent in the bodies, to be present with the Lord. If anything happened, I was just, whoah!

And anybody who even steps foot in heaven, they never want to go back.

Even the accounts, whether you believe in them or not, of those who made it back, there was like, no!

But your mission is not yet finished. Don't send me back. It's too awesome here.

Oh, Hallelujah. Luke 646.

Jesus here asks a good question.

Hey, just know this. It is really weird and intellectually dishonest if you think you're kinder than Jesus.

Like Jesus is God, and He's truth and carnage.

And some of the things He said were pretty divisive. You say, prove it. Well, they crucified Him.

They didn't do that for nothing. They did that because He was a troublemaker.

They didn't like the things He said. And there's a lot of weird teaching going around right now where people, they take this false pride in making themselves out to be more compassionate and kinder than Jesus. They're not.

You can't be kinder than Jesus.

When you speak the truth even in love, it sometimes stings. Those of you who are married, you know what I'm talking about.

My wife, very loving, very gentle. Sometimes she speaks the truth. And it's like, ow! Thank you for that.

He asks a question. Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not do the things which I say?

Why do you call me Lord Lord and do not do the things which I say?

Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like. So he's saying there's two kinds of people.

He's going to present you two kinds of people. One, someone who actually receives Jesus as Lord.

Everybody wants him a Savior, but he's got to be Lord and Savior.

The man who receives Jesus as Lord and actually would submit. And I get it, some things.

I hope I've never ever preached to you from an angle or standpoint where it comes across as, I have arrived. Be like me.

Behold the perfection of the Lord God.

I have shared my struggles with you. Every single season, every single day, I have to give myself a fresh to the Lord.

And I'll present myself a fresh and make sure that his Lordship is in every area of my life.

And there are sometimes where I struggle. There are sometimes where he presents a plan to me, a direction he wants me to go down.

And I'm like, I don't trust him. Even though he's only been good to me.

And there's a few parts where some bad things happen. But every one of those bad parts, you know what I can directly do?

And directly trace those bad seasons to something I did in a stiff-necked way. Every single time.

But still, being human, he'll ask me to step out in faith and do something. And I'm like, secretly, I'm thinking, this is one of those times, right?

Where you ask me to do XYZ, but really, I just end up in the wilderness for 40 years. And it's going to be some great story and some great testimony later.

But I don't want it right now. It's going to hurt.

Lord, I can see the promise land. I'm taking the express train. And you're asking me to, is like, you got to trust me. Go this way. That way.

No, but Lord, just let me.

I do what I want to do. Always pain. Do the Lord's way.

Much better. Try my way. Try his way. His way is better.

But even if you have to wrestle with the Lord, roll around on your carpet.

This is metaphorical, by the way. But there are times where I'm rolling around on the carpet.

I don't start that way. I start very demure, praying on my knees. Next thing, and I'm like, ugh.

Oh, Lord, are you asking me to, because I don't really.

Some of you know what I'm talking about. Next thing you know you're doing cartwheels.

40, you're wrestling with the Lord. You're like, Lord, I want to do your will.

But I'm out of me, doesn't deal with me right now. That's okay. That's good.

That's where we have that whole example of Jacob wrestling with God. And what God was done with him, his hip was a thrown out of alignment.

So Jacob with no longer have to lean on himself and his own cunning craftiness and his own earthly wisdom.

But now he would have to use the Lord, his God, as his crutch. Hallelujah.

Because the Lord is working on some of you right now.

What I'm asking you to do is to submit every area of your life to the Lord.

And for some, that's scary. Because if you were really to give it all to him right now,

you couldn't even go out to where you wanted to go out to tonight. And that's scary.

Your whole week would be different. You're like, it does gummies in my sock drawer. I'd have to throw them out.

I was definitely awarded the Lord in the first service to try to try again in a second to see if it just came out of my spirit in the first service.

And it was like a throughout summer. If the shoe fits, wear it.

No, but for somebody, let's use that. Wave of discomfort. That's where I feel best.

The whole notion of submitting everything to the Lord is daunting,

because you don't even know what you'd look like by Wednesday. Your whole life would be different.

Just chill. Inhale, relax. Take him by the hand and one step at a time. Amen.

God loves ugly. He's not afraid by your ugly. And he's willing to work in the midst of your ugly.

As long as you're honest about the ugly, as long as you can call ugly ugly,

as long as you're not bending scripture, rationalizing and presenting a lie instead of the truth,

God will get right in the quagmire with you and help you out of your ugly over time.

Yes, He will. He's that awesome. I know this is how He works. This is how He did it in my life. Amen.

And also the ones I've seen grow up and mature. This is how He does it.

We're works in progress. But don't be overwhelmed by Lord. I can't give you everything.

I'll give you my awe after I just get these things done that I really can't do with you on board.

And then eventually I'll clean myself up enough to where I can present myself to you to make you look.

No, that they will never come. And you'll be in misery waiting for it to come.

The man who does what Jesus says, he is like a man building a house who dug deep

and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against the house

and could not shake it for it was founded on the rock. Amen.

We all love these verses. There's songs we sing that contain these verses.

The fortress, the solid house built on a sure foundation.

What might have skipped our attention is that that's actually talking about the man who's made Jesus Lord of his life.

The one who does what he says. That's the man whose house whose life is built on a rock.

And let me tell you something, the thunderstorms will come. The wind will blow.

The man who does what Jesus says whose surrender to his Lordship, his house will stand.

But he who heard worship him, you can come up. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation.

Against which the stream beat vehemently and immediately it fell.

And the ruin of that house was great.

In my walk with the Lord, I have been both men.

Man one is better. I'll leave it at that. Amen.

Luke 22, 39. We're closing with this.

It's Jesus in the garden, our ultimate example.

Coming out, he went to the Mount of Olives as he was accustomed and his disciples also followed him.

When he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation.

And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw and he knelt down and prayed, saying, Father,

if it is your will, take this cup away from me.

If there's some way, this is Jesus in his humanity, understanding what lies ahead.

Physically speaking, the pain is too much to bear. But that's just physically.

I don't believe, for one second, Jesus was actually this terrified over the lashings or the 10 pegs, the nails, the size of 10 pegs and railroad spikes that were about to go through his flesh.

What really was terrifying Jesus was that this would be the moment where he would take on the sin of the world.

And for the first time in history, be separated from God the Father, where he would cry out, my God, my God, why have you abandoned me?

And that the holy wrath of God would be poured out on him.

Spikes the size of 10 pegs and a crown of thorns and beatings that pills in comparison to the holy wrath of God for billions and billions and billions of people being poured out on you.

That's what he's talking about here, is if there is another way, let me take that other way.

Is there a plan B? He knew there wasn't. It just shows what he was going through.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. This is his prayer of dedication and consecration.

This is something that I pray throughout the years and that I want to invite you to pray.

This is him coming to the end of himself and saying, Lord, I truly receive you as Lord.

You are my God. You are my Lord. All I want to do is what you want me to do.

I won't go my own way. I'll go your way. I won't do my own thing. I'll do your thing.

I trust you, not just a Savior, but as Lord. I'd like every head bowed, every eye closed.

If you sense the Holy Spirit moving on you and you want to dedicate your life afresh, you want to surrender to the Lord's ship of Christ, raise your hand all throughout this building.

You're saying, Lord, I want to pray to you, the prayer of dedication and consecration.

Not what I want to do, but what you want me to do. Not my will, but yours be done.

Lift your hands up high.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord.

Let's all stand. Those of you who have raised your hands come on up to the front right now.

We're just going to worship the Lord to the song.

All the way to the front where God is going to meet you at this altar,

and there'll be an impartation of the Holy Ghost upon you and an anointing and a fresh in feeling.

I know there were times in my life where I said, Lord, can you really just come back and be Lord of my life?

I've just made such a mess with such an irreparable mess like a broken antique vase.

And you go, there is no amount of superglue on the planet where I can restore this thing.

God comes in and restores it better than you. When God fixes, He makes better than you.

Just shout this out loud, Lord Jesus. I surrender. I give you my all, just like you gave me your all.

Realign me. Not my will, but yours be done. 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 Janskik in City Light Church,

visit us at citylightnyc.com. That's citylightnyc.com.

Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you.

We pray that you have been encouraged today, that you have been reminded how much God loves you,

and that you are surrounded by grace. Thank you for listening.

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