Finding True Self: Overcoming Illusions and Deceptions

For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but a power, love, and self-discipline.

So if you're trapped by fear, you know your enemies trying to keep you down.

He wants to destroy you, but remember your God has given you what? Power. Power. Not just a little power.

A lot of power. God-sized power. The power that'll electrify a train. A locomotive speeding down the tracks.

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.

I'm James Chavez. I get to hang out with you today. We've been in the middle of an incredible

message series called The Clash of the Covenants, and it's been incredible, but we're going to take

a pause right at the halfway point if that's okay. Pastor Boyan is going to be right with us

next week, and he's going to pick up with part five, and he's going to take us over the finish line,

okay? But today, he's asked me to share with you a little bit, so if you would please indulge me

just a little. Don't all rush for the exit. It's going to be okay. I told a few of you that our

daughter who's in college down in Alabama got in a car accident a couple weeks ago. Yes, scary.

I was on my way to Friday night service. I'm driving, so it's the long drive. I'm on the LIE

enduring that misery, and I get the phone call, and I say, I ain't at all. It's just,

Dad, I think I just got in a car accident. Well, you think or you know? Well, I think I know

that I got in a car accident because I hit another car. Yeah, okay. I think you know. Are you okay?

Yeah, I'm okay. I mean, I bang at my knee like how bad. I mean, I'm fine. I'm fine. Okay. How's

the other car? The other person fine? Yeah, they're fine. Okay. What do I do? So I stayed the whole

the next 55 minutes on the phone walking her through the police came, you get the registration,

you get your license, give your statement, is it drivable? She's breaking pieces off,

putting them in her trunk so she can drive back to her. So wow, what an ordeal. So for the next

couple weeks, I'm dealing with insurance. Are we going to fix it? Are we going to total it?

They finally total it. I go into the motor vehicle department a few times because that's a good

time because the license plates are in Alabama, but it's registered in New York. So I got to go,

I don't have the place. Where do you go to police? Did you get this form? Did you get that form?

Can I speak to your supervisor? Mr. Chavez, can I speak to your supervisor?

I tell you what, it's a good time. Anybody like the motor vehicle department?

I scheduled the route canal after that just so I can get some rest from the motor vehicle department.

I tell you, that's a hard time. But while I'm sitting there waiting for my number, they're like,

why 7217? What happened to just like 53? It's like seven digit numbers. I'm like, how many people

are ahead of me? My god. And then I'm like in the G's, well they start coming up with C's and

then Z's. They do it just to throw you off. It's mind games. I tell you, it's mind games.

Somebody's got to do the job, but I just, so I'm sitting there waiting for them to call my number.

And I'm watching people get their picture taken for the driver's license. You guys remember that?

Then your picture taken for the driver's license? Who likes getting their picture taken for the

driver's license? It's kind of cringy having a show and someone says, let me see your driver's license.

We have to pull it out for some reason and the person next to you goes like this.

And you're like, no, you find yourself kind of explaining, right? This was a bad day. The wind was

really blowing. I was on antibiotics and was bloated. Whatever reason, I've been on a diet since

that, and what's worse, and I've seen this, you pull it out and they look at it and they're like,

look at you, you're wearing the same shirt. How weird is that, right? Or if you're completely

unrecognizable, that's another weird one. But no one likes showing the driver's license picture.

I think they train you on how to actually take a really bad picture if you're the

photographers for the motor vehicle department. It's either bad lighting. It's too much light

and it kind of washes you out, right? Or it's not enough and it's kind of shady and you've got

those kind of shades on your eyes and you look real sketchy or they just kind of blow you out or

they say, okay, I'm going to take it on three. One, two, like what? You need to go on three or

after three. You don't even let me get to three. And they just laugh. Have a nice day.

Number 472,989 million. What? I hate the driver's license picture. And now they give it to you

for like a hundred years. I'm like, why couldn't I got it when I was like 18 and I kept that one

when I was all like, when I had one chin, you know what I'm saying? What is going on? But then

there's the other thing. There's portrait pictures. That's a good time, right? Anybody remember

glamour shots? That was a thing. That was like, that's the way Hollywood would do it. I mean,

they get just the right lighting to compliment your skin tone. They get the backdrop just right.

They even told you to turn right. They just kind of tilt your shoulders and turn your head back

and stick your chin out so you don't look. So I had to see the chiropractor after that because I'm

all contorted. So I don't look weird. But boy, they can airbrush out wrinkles and blemishes and

that thing just looks like you just stepped right out of heaven. It is amazing. But what's really

interesting about those two different kinds of pictures, what they have in common is that neither

one is real. Right? You're not as bad as the motor vehicle says you are. I promise.

And I know those cameras add 10 pounds. But you're not as good as glamour shots says you are either.

Right? I tell you what, neither one is the real thing. In the end, only God sees our real selves.

He knows the real deal. Yet it's imperative. And that's what I want to drive home today,

that we are authentic in who we are and how we live in our relationships. If you truly want to

make an impact and have influence in our world, it's got to be real. Jesus said it this way in Luke 12

2. The time is coming when everything that is covered up will be revealed and all that is in secret

will be made known to all. That's scary. Yeah. All that's in secret. All, you mean all? Or just the

things that I present? No, all? I need to work on a bigger mask. Well, this is October.

And this is when we have little kids dressing up and they trick or treating and masks, right?

So I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about masks. The masks that we put on,

why we put them on, why do we choose to wear a mask? And I thought we would peel back the layers

and first talk about the mask that we put on for ourselves when we look in the mirror.

Is that all right if we start there? That's not convicting at all. You're like, talk about

their mask. Why are you going to talk about my mask? So let's look at the one that we put on for

ourselves. But here's the deal. When we put on a mask and we lie to ourselves about who we are,

yes, you lie to other people and that's a bad thing. But most often who gets duped and deceived

is us, right? And that's far worse. Some social scientists, they've been studying this for a

long, long time and studies dating back to the 1950s. They dubbed this cognitive dissidence,

right? Where this is the theory that explains how people can fully come to believe something that they

know completely is a lie. That's interesting, right? As humans, we'll go to great legs from admitting.

We don't want to admit it that we're believing something is a lie that it's wrong that we would tell

a lie. So it brings us to the point where I don't want to admit I'm a liar. I don't want to say I'm

a liar. I don't want to be called a liar. Therefore everything I say must be true.

And then we start to believe that. There were some studies again dating back to the 1950s that were

pretty interesting as I was reading through them. And there were a couple of psychologists, sociologists,

and they decided they were going to infiltrate a cult. Now cults are known for what? They're

honesty and transparency? No, not usually. So this was a perfect opportunity to understand this

phenomenon. So they infiltrated pretended to be converts and this particular cult believed that

the world was going to end and they predicted the date by none other than an imminent alien invasion.

Because that's a good one, right? Independence Day, who doesn't look, Will Smith just taken out some

aliens on the 4th of July. I mean, it's not going to be plagues or pestilence or World War 3. No,

alien invasion. So they talk it up and they predict the date but as the date starts to get closer,

they notice that these converts in the cult, they start withdrawing from their family and from their

friends. They kind of close ranks. They stop doing interviews and they stop talking to the media.

And they thought that was kind of interesting. So they're only listening in their echo chamber

to the other people who believe what they believe. But then as the date that this imminent alien

invasion approached and came and went with no alien invasion, a really interesting happen.

Really interesting thing happened. A really interesting happening. Something went down.

They were really excited to talk to the media again. Why do you think that was?

Well, because they didn't want to act like they had been duped and they were fools.

Almost it's stupid. That's weird. Nicole right on the cheek. They didn't want to admit they were

fools. So they had to come out and say they actually saved the world from the alien invasion.

How about that? They didn't want to believe and face the truth that they were deceived so they

wanted to convince themselves and the world that they had actually done some good. Well, these same

sociologists, they did another experiment where they actually took two groups of people and they

separated them and they asked the first group to tell a lie. And when they would tell this lie,

they would pay them $20. And they took the other group and they said, tell the same lie.

When you tell the lie, we'll pay you $1. Okay? And let me just, this was in the 1950s. That $20 is

equivalent to about $255 today. Okay? So here's what was interesting. The people that told the lie.

Both groups told the lie. They got their money. The people that got paid the $1 for telling the lie

started speaking as if that wasn't a lie. They were acting as if it was true.

Believing as it was true. And they were really confounded and they really dug deeper and did

the study and found out that what it really boiled down to is we didn't want to believe that we

would sell out for such a measly sum of money. Now, the people that got the $20 also known as $255.

No, you know, economy, right? It's easy to say, why did you tell the lie? I did it for the money.

255 bucks. I can do a lot with that. I can be a new pair of shoes. I can have a nice dinner.

A dollar? What do I do with the dollar? What does that say about me, myself, worth an integrity

if I'll sell out for a dollar? They didn't want to believe it. They couldn't accept it. So they

started to believe, well, it couldn't have been a lie. Really, it's true. It has to be true on some

level. A partial truth has to be truth, right? If there's any truth, then it's true. Isn't that interesting?

We see this all the time, even in the media today.

We're as fed as steady stream of lies, right? The steady diet just coming through. There's even a name

for it. Gaslighting. You heard that? Gaslighting. I use that phrase the other day and our kids now

are in their 20s and they look to me like, where'd you learn that word? Look, you don't have a

cool words just because you're in your 20s. I know what gaslighting is. Do it to you all the time.

Just kidding, kids. I love you. But they lie to us and they lie over and over and over until we

start to believe that maybe we're the weird ones for doubting it was a lie in the first place,

right? Think to everyone, okay, if NBC and ABC and CNN and MSNBC and Washington

posed in a New York, I'm the weird one. It's all true. It's not. Don't believe the hype.

They're gaslighting you. Why do they do it? We can't distinguish after a while lies from truth.

And after a while, we don't really even know if the people feeding us the steady stream of lies

are just irredeemably deceived or just so diabolical that they just want to destroy us.

But it's one or the other. There's nothing in the middle. So be careful. We don't want to be

liars, right? Sometimes the truth of who we are or what we've done in the past is too painful

to face. So what do we do? Put on a mask for ourselves. Because guess what? Other people aren't

thinking about you as much as you think about you. They're going about their day,

living their life, dealing with their own problems. But you're obsessing about you and what they

think about you. Maybe I'm not good enough. Maybe they know what I've done. Maybe I need to put

on a mask. So I feel better about what they see. And so we listen to the lies. There was a guy

named John Beale. He was a former high level official with the Environmental Protection Agency,

the EPA. He pled guilty to stealing over $900,000 from the government. When I read the case,

I was intrigued as to how he swindled that much money out of the government. Because I thought,

maybe I can learn something. But I was just curious, okay? In 1994, Beale, he convinced

top officials at the EPA where he worked that he was a CIA operative. Get that? And he was dealing

with matters so top secret and confidential that they couldn't dig in or ask questions. So his

supervisors believed this elaborate story and they allowed him to take long stretches of time to

disappear and have unaccounted time where he just went off and spent time with his family,

fishing, playing golf, hobbies, learning languages, origami, whatever he decided to do,

all while getting paid by the government. Because he's doing top secret work for the CIA.

That's crazy. No one knows for sure how much money he actually swindled out of the government.

Because this scheme went on for 19 years. Could you imagine living a double life for 19 years?

How difficult must that be? It was probably kind of fun for the first couple of times he got away

with it and he's like, look at me. Out on the golf course, just swinging around, I'm getting paid.

But then, hey, where were you? I can't talk about it. Stop secret. Who did I tell what to?

What mask was I wearing when I talked to this person? That gets rough after a while. It's hard to

know what's real. But here's what I thought. When I thought about that guy, I said, I'll bet

if I'm being honest and you are too, there's probably some inconsistencies in who we say we are

and who we really are. Maybe not to the extent of all Mr. Biel swindling almost a million dollars

from the government. Any fake CIA operatives in the audience today? Don't tell me if you are.

It's supposed to be covert. But I'm sure there's inconsistencies when you're being honest.

When we pretend to be more than we are, here's what it does. We skip the process that God wants to

do in your life to make you who he's created you to be. They're like, I want the shortcut.

God says, I'm taking you on a process of sanctification. I'm making you more like my son Jesus

if you'll let me. You say, that's rough. Let me just put on a mask so I'll look like Jesus.

I feel good now. I look good, but I skipped all the work that God wanted to take me on to take

me to where he wanted me to be. Pretending avoids the discipline and the accountability that are

essential ingredients to the productive Christian authentic life that God calls us to. Paul writes

this in 2 Corinthians 217. You see, we're not like the many hucksters who preach for personal

profit. We preach the word of God with sincerity and with Christ's authority knowing that God watches us.

Paul got it. He knew it was more than what was just on the outside. That God saw all. He knew it was

going on. But why do we keep putting on the mask then? We say, we're Christians. Oh, God sees all.

Well, why do we do it? Why do we continue to sell ourselves short and to tell us, tell ourselves

that we're not good enough? Why do we continue to believe the lie? That's the million dollar question.

I want to remind you of one thing that I think contributes to that is that we have an enemy.

You remember that, right? This is the time of year when I think our enemy Satan, he just laughs and

laughs and laughs because there are so many little devil costumes and we just water this thing down.

We think he's just a little pyro walking around in his onesy pajamas with his little plastic

bitch fork and it takes all the power out of it. But he's an enemy like a roaring lion looking

to devour you. He wants to chew you up and spit you out and he'll use anything he can to accomplish

that. And lies are one of his main weapons because he can't really touch you without God's protection

if you're one of God's kids but he can just tell you lies. And what do we do? We listen.

He whispers, you're not good enough. You have to lie about who you are to be accepted. We say,

yeah, that's true. I'm a mess. That's true. But here's the deal. It's not about who you are. I want

you to hear that today because the important thing is not who you are but who's you are, right?

If you're a Christ follower, you're a child of the king of kings and the Lord of lords.

That makes you somebody. That's impressive. Why would you hide that behind a mask?

But we belittle that and we look at our accomplishments in our flesh. We listen to the lies and we

say, I'm not good enough. I'm not good enough. Don't believe it. God created you to be so much more.

I love this reminder in Ephesians 210 says, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us a new

in Christ Jesus so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. So stop believing the lie

that the enemy is telling you and start believing the truth from your heavenly Father. He said,

you're a masterpiece. You know what a masterpiece is? We call our kids second grade artwork masterpiece.

But that's not what this is talking about. This isn't just an affectionate pad on the head.

You're a mess, but I love you anyway. He looks at you and he sees a Picasso, a Rembrandt.

You are a masterpiece. Poema. Don't cover it up.

But if you're anything like me, you can be pretty good at hiding who you really are, right?

Pride, insecurity. They can cause us to do things we swore we would never do. I would never do that.

And then you're faced with it and one of these things will cause you to do something bizarre.

Put on a mask. Because then you have to rationalize.

Did I really compromise? Did I really do that? No, I see the mask. I didn't do it. That's all I see when

I look at them here. But fear keeps us hiding, right? Fear keeps us hiding behind the mask.

So why do you stay back there? What are you hiding? What are you afraid of? Is there an inappropriate

relationship? Maybe you're afraid to face? Is there some secrets in? Maybe some sin in your

thought life and you think, oh, I'm doing all the right things. But when I'm alone, just me in my

thoughts. How could I get a hold of that $900,000 from the government? How can I think my glamour shots

into the motor vehicle department? Or maybe it's just when you come into this place,

you put on the mask because you think you believe the lie and you feel the fear that you're the only

one that doesn't have it figured out. You look around and you say, gosh, everyone around me,

we're singing, they got their hands up, they're praising, screaming, hallelujah, praise the Lord.

Am I the only one that doesn't have a super deep, super intimate relationship with God?

And you feel alone and isolated. So you put on the mask and then you take a few steps back

so they don't see you have a mask. But while you're withdrawing so they don't see your mask,

you know what's funny? The person that you were admiring that you thought had it all together is

doing the exact same thing. Their mask is coming in here and being loud and putting the focus on

something else other than God, but their holiness, the things that are off the check box, I went to

life group, I gave, I sang, I sit on the front row, I served, and we think busyness somehow equates

to holiness. But we're still hiding fearful. I just want to let you out a little secret.

None of us have figured it out. So if you were one of those and you're like, yeah, that was great

James, thank you for pointing out and singling me out that I'm the only one that doesn't know Greek,

I'm not the only one and I'm just preaching a whole sermon in tongues and I'm not just, you know,

slain in the spirit swinging from that chandelier. Okay, thank you. We're all fellow travelers.

We all have our journey. You don't have to wear the mask.

So why does spear keep us hiding? Fear is powerful. So I think it's appropriate that I remind you what

Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1-7, for God has not given us a spear to fear and humidity, but a power

love and self discipline. So if you're trapped by fear, you know, your enemies trying to keep you

down. He wants to destroy you, but remember your God has given you what? Power. Power. Not just

little power. Lot of power. God size power. The power that electrify a train, a locomotive speeding

down the tracks. Power that will light up a city. In you, changing you from the inside out,

blasting that mask right off your face. You don't need it. You have power. Therefore you don't

need to be afraid. Don't be afraid of what's under the mask. If you want that Hollywood ending

in your life, you want to stand victorious against the junk that's holding you back.

God's power promises to do that for you. If you're a Christ follower, you have the power to

overcome the fear, overcome the insecurity, overcome the pride, whatever keeps you hiding in the

shadows, it's time to come out for behind the mask. We want to see how beautiful you are.

It's time to take it off. Show the world the masterpiece God has created you to be. Be confident

in it. Anything less is selling you and God short. Don't forget that. We take him out of the

equation a lot. It's just me. What you're doing is you're saying, God, you didn't do a good

enough job. You call me a masterpiece. I call you a liar. I can do better. I can put on a mask

that's going to be way prettier than what you created me to be. We wouldn't say it out loud.

I'm afraid of a lightning bolt coming and dragging me down, but that's what our actions are

equated to. You're fearfully and wonderfully made. Made in the image of your creator. Don't cover

it up with a mask. Don't hide who God created you to be. Authenticity is what the world needs to see

from you. We talk about it all the time. As Christ followers, that's our privilege. We're ambassadors.

We're a little Christ. That's what Christian means. So what good does it do to say, yes, I'm a

Christian, but then you have a different mask on. How confusing is that to people? Be confusing to

me. It's probably confusing to you. You look in the mirror. You see one thing, but then your mouth

says another. The world doesn't need perfection. That's why we create the masks because we're afraid

they're going to see how imperfect we are. They just need to see authenticity. They care to see

that if what you say you believe matches up with what you actually do. And one of those actions

is to take off the mask and be real. And what you say, what you do, how you spend, where you go.

The anti-drug organization, dare, remember that? Dare to keep kids off drugs. I'm old enough that I

remember they would send this mascot with a team to your school and you'd get a big old assembly

and they'd tell you, stay off drugs kids. And then there was McGruff, the crime dog, and he would

come with his trench coat. You had these cool mascots. They'd tell you, call crime stoppers,

McGruff. Stay off drugs with Darren, the drug dog, anti-drug dog, dare, drug, bear, lion, he's a lion.

He was something. He was not human. Well, there was something interesting a few years back.

An old Darren, the dare lion found himself in some trouble. Well, I should probably clarify. He

wasn't as much trouble as the 22-year-old man who was carrying him at a bus station full of narcotics.

He had stuffed the drug-free mascot lion full of marijuana, cocaine, and LSD.

I don't know how the police found him. Maybe they used McGruff, the crime dog to sniff it out,

but they were onto him and they found this young man at a bus station in Plattsburg and they

apprehended him. I thought that was pretty interesting. So this guy, Darren, he comes dressed in the

black t-shirt bearing the motto, dare to resist drugs and violence. Gregory comes charged with

possession of marijuana and control substance. I'm thinking about that and I giggled, but then I

thought more of us probably look like old Greg than Darren were hiding behind the pretence of

righteousness. Who would think to look inside a lion that says, stay off drugs and assume that it

would be full of drugs? So if I say, I'm holy and I have a holiness mask and I go to church,

who would dare believe I have any sin in my life, any imperfection in my life, anything I'm

hiding in my life. And I felt really convicted. Thank you, Darren, the lion. But you got to come

out from hiding. Did I say, Darren? It's Darren, Darren. I just remember he says they have drugs.

But come out. Look what it says in Psalm 139, 23 and 24. Search me, oh God, and know my heart,

test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you and lead me along

the path of everlasting life. For some of us, we've been marrying a mask for so long. We don't even

see it anymore. It's just become such a part of who we are. We don't separate it from us anymore.

We've bought in hook line and sinker. But the way you can be free from a fake life is to ask

God to do the changing. Just like David did, search me, oh God, what is in me that I need to change?

What do I not see? What are my blind spots? Because let's think about it. Why would someone put

on a mask? Probably everyone who's put on a mask tried to fix themselves at one point and couldn't.

Right? Otherwise, why would you want to put on a mask? I want, I see something, I want to be

different. I want to be better. I try. I fail. So I put on a mask. But if you could change yourself,

you would have, hence the mask. You see how we're stuck in this little cycle. So the only way you can

change is to let God do the changing. You got to invite him in. And that's my point. Don't keep

trying to beat your head up against the same wall. You know, you hear Pastor Bo say all the time,

don't wait till you get your life together to get baptized, right? It's like saying, I'll start

going to the gym once I get in shape. Wait, what? Yeah, I'm embarrassed. I don't want to go there and

kind of be all we can fly me. Why do you go to the gym? Or I'm going to wait till I get better to go

to the doctor and see how things are. You've tried to change yourself. Don't rely on your own

power. Don't trust in your own understanding in your own ways. His ways are higher. They're better.

acknowledge him. Submit to him. Let him guide your steps. Let him change you. Ask him to make

the change. What's in me? What do you see that I don't see? And let's get this done.

Funny thing is we put on the mask because it's instant gratification, right? There's an

instant change. That's the thing about a mask. I'm a mess. I put on the mask. I look amazing.

But what really changed? Nothing. Nothing. What really changed? I'm still the same person behind

the mask. A lot of you know that our family over the years before Disney went completely woke,

full disclaimer. We were big Disney park fans, okay? Nicole and I on Wednesday celebrated our 27-year

wedding anniversary. Thank you very much. That is a big accomplishment for you. It has been a

breeze and a blessing for me. Thank you. But we actually honeymooned in Disney land all

those years ago and we just kept going back year after year after year. We love the Disney parks.

You go there. All the cast members are so kind and they have their smiles. They don't even call

them employees, right? They're cast members. They're there to help and serve and make your day magical.

Hello, princess. Hello, prince. Have a magical day. They tell you it's the happiest place on earth

and I believed it. The place was so manicured and perfect. I mean Walt Disney himself. He was alive.

He used to go through and he would he would watch and see how often people would just kind of look

for a trash can. So that's how he determined how far apart to put trash cans across the Disney

parks. He said, oh, every 30 feet or so, somebody's kind of looking for one. Let's put it that far.

Every night they scraped the gum off the sidewalk. You know what, Universal Studios? They got gum everywhere.

Not a Disney. They scraped that junk off every single night. They repaint every night. They

reply flowers every single night. They transform the castle overnight. It's amazing.

I didn't realize Pixie Dust was that powerful but they make this incredible experience, right?

And then they have cast members, characters that you'll see throughout the park. These kind of

exciting random sightings, right? And there are tears to the characters. So if you've ever been to

a Disney park, I mean, we've been probably hundreds of times over the years. If you've never been

every now and then I run into someone and say, you're been a Disney park? No, like, okay, let me just

stop and pray for you right now. I wish I could just lend you one of my visits from the reservoir

of our very many because you're missing out. But you see these tears of characters. So you might see a

Buzz Light ear and you're like, oh, that's kind of cooler, Buzz Light. You're like, what are you over there?

It's chip and nail and the rescue ranger. But if you see someone from the Fab Five,

that's like winning the lottery. That's Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy Pluto.

That's rich. That is gold right there, okay? So you're going through and you see all these different

characters, but out of nowhere, you see one of the Fab Five. It just makes your day. I'm going to show

you some pictures of some of the trips from so many years ago. Back when our kids were still very

little and we ran into, look at Donald Duck. Yes. Wow. And my good-looking kids. Oh, they were so

precious back then and when they were asleep. And then you see, then you should be any mouse with

that good-looking lady right there holding that little girl. I tell you what, that's another good one

from the Fab Five. And then you've got to keep going and I'm sure Mickey Mouse made an appearance.

He's even in his tuxedo, Nicole. Isn't that good? And then you've got to see the whole crew with Pluto.

That was a good day. That's a good time right there. He's man's best friend or a mouse's best friend.

It's really weird how a mouse can have a pet dog and it's actually smaller than the mouse.

But you believe it. You believe it. And those were good times right there. And you see all that.

And even with all that magical experience in my grown-up mind, I still understand that it's not

all unicorn and rainbows. Did you know that they have an elaborate tunnel system underneath all

the parks so that the cast members and the employees can all move around freely without the guests

seeing them? You don't see trash cans and big supplies and big stocks of frozen funky hot dogs you

would never want to eat? No, they hide that from you. So you just see the magical food. It's like,

oh, I want to pay $25 for that hot dog. That's magical. And you're never going to see Mickey Mouse and

Goofy having a smoke break behind the castle with their heads off just on winding after a long shift.

Because why? That would take away all the magic.

Disney understands that you can never see behind the basket.

You don't want to spoil the illusion. And I think so many of us have taken inspiration from Disney's success.

Ooh. If I take off the mask, loses all the magic.

But I've talked to some of those people that wear the character masks. And I've talked to

mascots for like sports teams. And you know what happens when you wear that mask too long?

It starts to smell funky. It starts to get a little rancid. There's no circulation in there. There's

no AC. It starts to get a rash. Ooh, yeah, it starts to get real funky. And imagine it.

Ooh, you're sharing masks. Just keep your own mask. But you wear a mask too long. It starts to get

fowl. The point I'm trying to make today is that even though we've convinced ourselves of the

lies that causes to put on a mask that were more loved, more accepted, more appropriate with the

mask, I'm just trying to give you evidence upon evidence upon evidence to the contrary that the

mask is detrimental. It's damaging and it's not going to bring the joy. Whatever you thought it was

going to accomplish, it's literally doing the opposite. Our son in the third grade, he was in one

of those pictures you saw. He created a little mask at school and it was his paper mache and then

they painted it and they glued feathers and sequins and all these fancy things on it. He's very like

analytical and disciplined so it was perfectly symmetrical. I don't know if your kids bring

home artwork but mine was always better than your kids. I guarantee it. This was a masterpiece.

I mean it was perfect. It could be in like the Louvre or something. Good, good stuff. But as I'm

looking at the mask, I think man, so often we can look at a mask like that and we can become master

mask makers instead of being master Christ followers. You only have so much energy to invest in things in

your life. Are you investing it in doing the work? God created for you to do the good works in

advance to being more like his son Jesus or you investing it and becoming a great mask maker.

Time to reinvent myself. Maybe I'll move to another girl with a brand new mask.

What if we decided to take off our masks and take a good hard look in the mirror?

What would we see? How would our lives be better? What would our communities and our church look like

if we did that? Better or worse you think.

Look at what first Samuel says. We're reminded of how God looks at us in chapter 16 verse 7.

Don't judge by his appearance or height for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn't see

things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance but the Lord he looks at the heart.

Samuel is looking at the outward appearance to anoint a new king but God shines a light on the

situation and he reveals that no matter how pretty we look on the outside, how accomplished we are,

how put together we are, how good your resume looks. He's looking at the heart. God's looking at our

thoughts, our motives, what's behind the mask. I think it's funny that sometimes we believe the

mask hype so much so that we think we're even fooling God. That's why some people stop

doing the work. Not the work of earning salvation but there is work to being a Christ follower.

Jesus said, die to yourself, take up your cross and follow me. That doesn't happen on autopilot.

No one's doing that for you. You're picking up the cross and you're walking.

But we want to skip that. God look at my mat. Look how good I look. I made a mask of a cross.

I picked it up. Meanwhile the real stuff's over there. We're not fooling anyone.

God wants us to lay it down. The pretenses, the illusion and just be real because he created us to

be masterpieces. You don't cover it up. If you're a Christ follower, you're fully loved and you're

fully accepted. And so I just want to encourage you today and tell you you don't have to believe the

lies of the enemy that say you're not good enough and you won't be accepted without the mask. God

says you are approved and loved just how you are. So let's thank him with a big round of applause

for that because that is good. If you're here today and that's not you and you say, well,

that's great. But I don't know if I feel approved and loved. I'm still believing the lie. I don't

know if I've surrendered my life. I don't know if I've made that decision. I'm still trying to fix

myself. We have a solution for that too. I want to make available to you the opportunity. I'm

going to ask the worship team to come and I'm going to ask everyone just to bow their head and close

their eyes. And let's give everyone an opportunity that hasn't to surrender their life to Christ to be

accepted, to feel the unconditional love and to squash the lies that say you're not good enough

because you have a savior who said you are right where you are. You say Heavenly Father, I need you.

I've tried to fix myself and I can't. I lay down the mask. I acknowledge I'm a sinner

in desperate need of a savior. You died on the cross becoming my sin, taking the punishment

and paying the price I couldn't pay. You're offering me a free gift. Now I accept it. Come into my

life, change me, transform me, make me brand new, make me accepted, make me loved. I'm yours.

Father, thank you for new life. Now I'm giving you mine in Jesus' name I pray. 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

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