The Power and Blessing of a Surrendered Life

What do I have to do now to earn my way back into God's presence?

And a lot of people think this way.

Man, maybe now I got to fast.

I'll volunteer at church.

You know, I got those clothes.

I should put them in the bag, bring them to goodwill.

When you're trying, what, you're trying to earn forgiveness of sins?

You've already been forgiven of all your sins.

And he didn't leave you.

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 Jancic 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.

Are you ready for the Word of God this morning?

Amen.

Last week, we had a good time.

The Lord was here, and we talked about some Christian essentials, some Christian basics.

Knowing that you have right standing with God because of the blood of Jesus.

Knowing that you are holy and without blame before him in love.

This is vital because way too many Christians actually don't have a confidence before the Lord.

They're walking contradiction.

They feel that God only approves of them when they are doing everything right.

But as you know, to do everything right all of the time is impossible.

That doesn't mean you should welcome sin.

It doesn't mean you should welcome failure.

But if you're going to look at God's holy and righteous standard, whoo!

I mean, it's like scoring a 1600 on the SAT times a thousand.

That's why you need a savior to save you.

That's why you need the blood, because the blood cleanses you and makes you accepted.

And makes you approved.

And it actually makes you completely like Jesus.

So that when God the Father looks at you, he sees the very righteousness of Jesus on you and in you.

And so you, as a born-again child of God, know that you are forgiven of all your sins.

Even when you fall, you're still forgiven.

You're still loved.

And there's no shame and guilt and condemnation on you.

So you always have boldness to come to the Lord.

See, Satan hates you being bold.

He does not like boldness.

And boldness can only come from understanding that you are righteous.

The Bible says the righteous are as bold as a lion.

In prayer, you get to see who's bold and who's not.

And it has nothing to do with decibel level.

How loud you pray.

But there's people, you're going to think I'm talking about that.

I'm not talking about you.

I don't know how you pray.

I'm not there.

But I witnessed it enough.

Like where we minister in Guatemala.

They've been religiously beaten down so much.

They always come to God like...

It sounds like somebody's choking out a cat.

Oh, glory a Dios.

They'll actually be laughing and joking and they say, let's pray.

And then they all get miserable.

They're all laughing.

Normal person, let's pray.

Oh, take the head off.

Quivering and shaking and...

It's just weird behavior.

He's your father.

He loves you.

He was there, by the way, when you were cracking jokes at lunch.

He didn't get scared.

What do you think?

He's, oh, this is not for me.

He was right there.

And now you can pray to him in the same voice.

And you can know that you can say, in Jesus' name, you're right there.

And he accepts you and approves of you.

And this is an essential foundation.

Do you know when Satan caused man to sin...

Let me rephrase that.

When Satan tempted man to sin, and man fell into sin, the very first fruit of that first rebellion of Adam and Eve was fear.

God said, where are you, Adam?

Adam said, I was afraid and I hid myself.

He robbed him of confidence.

He robbed him of boldness.

But the Bible says, because of the blood of Jesus, this is a direct quote, you now have access with confidence.

So if you don't have confidence when you pray, boldness is a direct quote.

You're being deceived.

Satan's lying to you.

You might say, well, I just don't feel like I can.

Well, that's the problem.

You're going by your feelings.

Your feelings don't change the word of God.

The word of God changes your feelings.

Hallelujah.

There have been times when I've fallen.

You want to hear the details?

Too bad.

Tom's fault.

Blood coming out the side.

That's what it looked like in the spirit, you know.

But probably in the spirit it looked more like me falling down into a port-a-potty.

And you have a decision to make.

When do I pray?

When do I go back to God?

How do I talk to him next?

He warned me not to go in the porta potty.

I went in there anyway.

He warned me the floor was loose.

Next thing you know, I come out like a smurf.

I'm covered in the blue chemicals.

People can smell me a quarter of a mile down the road.

What do I have to do now to earn my way back into God's presence?

And a lot of people think this way.

Man, maybe now, I got to fast.

I'll volunteer at church.

You know, I got those clothes.

I should put them in the bag, bring them to goodwill.

Well, you're trying to earn forgiveness of sins.

You've already been forgiven of all your sins.

And he didn't leave you.

Can you believe that God himself, as you emerge out of that port-a-potty?

I'm going to stick with this analogy.

God is right there saying, come back home, daughter.

Come back home, son.

I'm right here.

Yeah, you smell bad, but you're not bad enough that you put me off.

In fact, if you'll just look to my son Jesus, the blood will instantly cleanse you, and that nasty blue will be right off you.

Hallelujah.

So that's kind of what we talked about last week.

Sons the port-a-potty.

And this week, which is the natural progression of the message of right standing with God.

And total forgiveness of sins.

I have to emphasize, total.

Because a lot of Christians believe it's 98%.

Yeah, they will never say that, but the way they behave, that's actually, they reveal what they believe.

The next message is the Lordship of Christ.

Because when you realize how much he loves you and how much he's forgiven you, and Jesus' words come to mind, he who is forgiven much also loves much, then Jesus says, I've given you everything.

I've given you heaven.

I've given you forgiveness of sins.

I've given you access with confidence into my presence.

I've given you relationship with me.

I've given you truckloads of mercy.

Now, what I ask of you is you give me everything.

Since I gave you everything, I want you to give me your life just like I gave my life for you.

It's called surrendering to his lordship.

But when you understand how good he is...

That's not so hard.

But when you haven't tasted and seen that the Lord is good, I mean, when I first read the Bible, I'm like, this guy's asking for too much.

One of the first things people leading me to the Lord read was Matthew 5, 6, and 7, the Beatitudes.

I'm like, what?

He's asking for too much.

Who can do this?

Who lives such a surrendered life?

Maybe some weird, radical, religious zealot.

Who does this?

Well, Christians do it.

You say, but that's so hard.

No, it's not hard.

It's impossible.

It's impossible when you're fully yourself.

But when you die to self and receive his life, and you can say, I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

New life springs up from within you and it becomes possible.

Not because of your discipline or your self-effort or your spectacular character.

Because of the power of the Holy Ghost working within.

Hallelujah.

So let's talk about Lordship.

Luke chapter 6 verse 46.

Luke 6:46

Start off a little bit different in this service.

Ooh, start off very combatively.

Aggressively.

Because this is an important question.

Jesus said, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say?

You know religious people?

I know a lot of religious people.

Now that I've moved to Long Island, after 45 plus years in New York City, moved to Long Island, religious people everywhere.

Talk about going to church, completely reprobate life, completely unsubmitted life.

What would the Lord say to them?

Why do you call me Lord and you don't actually do anything I say?

You haven't surrendered to my Lordship.

His title is Lord and Savior.

A lot of people want to receive him as Savior because that's the fun part.

You save me from my sins and you save me from hell.

But the Lord part, because I do what I want.

My daughter, she likes to joke around and say, you're not the boss of me.

And she does it because she knows I'm just going to get a funny response.

But she goes, I do what I want.

You're not the boss of me.

You do what you want.

I did what I wanted.

It never resulted in anything good.

It always resulted in pain.

When I controlled my life, oh, I always made a royal mess of things.

Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like.

So Jesus is saying, you hear my sayings.

There's two kinds of people.

One who hears my sayings and goes, wow, that's nice, powerful.

but doesn't do them.

They're a hearer of the word, not a doer of the word.

And then there's someone who hears and goes, I'm going to do what you're telling me to do.

And I'm not going to do what you're telling me not to do.

It's actually me yielding my life to your lordship.

This was, by the way, when I got saved, because Christianity doesn't change, biblically speaking, but it gets influenced, unfortunately, by outside culture.

So when I got saved, August 14, 1992, the message of the lordship of Jesus was already packed into the way the gospel was presented to me.

They said, you need to get saved.

You need to repent of your sins, receive Jesus as your lord and savior, and kiss your old life goodbye.

But now the message has become more like, hey, you know, because it's been repackaged into more of like this TED Talk Life Coach Success Now package.

Where you get to still be the boss of you, do whatever you want, and God kind of comes along as your coach on the ride.

And sugar daddy, because he's got all the good stuff, and he'll give you stuff and sprinkle blessings on you, but essentially you get to still do whatever you want, whenever you want it.

And that's not the gospel.

And if you live that way, you're going to end up at best frustrated, at worst completely devastated.

And that's not God's will for you.

His lordship is vital.

It's a part of the gospel.

Go back one verse.

Whoever comes to me and hears my sayings and actually does them, I will show you who he is like.

He is like a man building a house.

That house is your life.

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.

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.

So before every Christian is a fork in the road.

One is I surrender to Jesus.

I give him the entirety of my life.

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

There's that.

Or there's, well, I'll still kind of keep a little bit of Jesus.

But you know, God understands.

And there's different levels.

And I'm going to just take my time.

And that's your choice.

But you're going to end up hurting.

This message of Lordship isn't because Jesus, God Almighty, is really insecure and has a problem with control.

You get that, right?

Just know I'm not a TV screen like you can actually make sounds at me.

Nod your head and... Say it again.

I'll say it again.

When I want to, not when you tell me to.

No, I'll say it again.

I do what I want.

No, I'll say it again with a different angle.

All right.

Like some people think that God is just really, really uptight.

And he's got these rules.

And that's why he has these commandments.

So he says, do not just cause arbitrarily.

And wants to see if you will or if you will not.

That's not it.

When God says do not steal.

He's saying hey.

I'm the God of prosperity.

I'm the God of abundance.

I have such a better way for you.

I can actually bring you things.

Without you having to hurt your neighbor.

Fellow human.

Amen.

Hallelujah.

When he says, I'll go there.

When he says, don't have sex outside of the marriage covenant, that's not because God is approved.

That's because he says, hey, listen, this thing that I created called sex is actually holy and very, very powerful covenant.

You actually touch on great power.

It unites people.

It binds people together.

And so the only way that's actually blessed, this thing that I created, is within the confounds of marriage.

So what I want is good for you.

I'm not trying to rob your fun.

I'm not some cosmic killjoy.

It's because I want your quality of life to be better.

So this message of surrendering to the Lordship of Christ isn't because God is insecure and controlling and tyrannical and just wants everybody to bend the knee.

The message is when you do bend the knee and surrender to his Lordship, your quality of life will skyrocket.

When the storm comes, when the hurricane winds blow, your house, the house of your life, will remain standing.

And those who don't surrender to his lordship, at the first signs of rain, the thing collapses.

Hallelujah.

You know when you're tempted to not surrender to his lordship, or to go back to being the God of your life?

Because that's really what it is.

Either you're submitted to God Almighty, or you then become the God of your own life.

When things aren't happening as quickly as you'd like...

Because pastors just said, man, your quality of life will be great when you surrender to his lordship.

But the truth is, very often, the exact opposite will happen.

You will be frustrated.

That's what a lot of the psalms are about.

The psalmist is like, hey, how come all these evil people are prospering?

And the righteous people seems like they're not.

How come these evil people, they're doing well, and I'm doing everything.

I'm doing everything God asked of me, and I'm still just down here and praying.

There'll always be that test.

I was, listen, when I first launched City Light Church, I was in a windowless basement at 121 East 7th Street in the East Village of Manhattan.

And in my mind, you know, we always have a great view of ourselves.

In my mind, I had sacrificed everything.

I mean, I wasn't like the Apostle Paul, but the Apostle Paul was here, I was like right below him.

You know, in just dedication and sacrifice.

And I was like, Lord...

Why am I preaching to more empty seats than full seats?

And there's no financial flow and every week is a struggle and I've given you so much.

And then the enemy, you know, maybe you just take this into your own hands and look what you get for serving the Lord.

And then, whoa, I recognize that as an ungodly thought.

Lord, what are you saying?

Continue.

Do not be moved.

Stay steadfast.

Stay with me, son.

Grab my hand even tighter.

I'll hold yours tighter.

I love you.

I'm with you.

Persevere.

That means have endurance.

Lord, I will still keep you, not just as Savior, but as Lord and Savior.

You know what it will feel like?

It's glorious.

How many of you have seen Shawshank Redemption?

Seriously, I want to see your hands.

I want to see who has taste in movies.

Good job.

You know, at the end, you know, what's the name of the great narrator?

I'm just blanking out.

Morgan Freeman.

He says the miles of crap.

That old Stanley, his name was Stanley, right?

Do you remember?

Stanley, right?

He had to crawl through.

And you see him breathe heavy.

That's what it'll be like.

You're going to have to go at some point through the tunnel of...

Andy, that's the Andy.

You know, I should pray for Andy Stanley because his name is, never mind, I'm just joking.

Sometimes the charismatic part of me flares up and the Pentecostal part has to beat it down.

You're going to go through a test of his lordship and it'll probably be when you're midway through the tunnel.

If you watch the movie, I mean, it's all toilet water.

And he's having to crawl through it.

He's sloshing on his face.

He's throwing up.

But he's crawling out of a prison.

He dug a tunnel over 20 years.

And he's coming out of that.

You're going to hear that voice.

Oh, you're forsaken.

Turn back.

Keep going.

Hallelujah.

Let's pretend it's Christmas and read Luke chapter 1, verse 26 and on.

Luke 1:26

By the way, the way in the Old Testament is a phrase.

Pay attention to phrases that are repeated often in the Bible.

There's a phrase repeated often throughout the Bible to describe a rebellious people, a people that are displeasing to God, a people that God will not bless.

And this is the phrase.

They did whatever was right in their own eyes.

So the question to you is what kind of life are you living?

Are you your own God?

Do you do whatever's right in your own eyes?

Or do you go to the word?

Do you go to him in prayer and say, Lord I surrender, I yield.

All I want is what you want for me.

One leads to blessing, fulfillment, a quality of life.

The other one leads to, again, at best, at best you'll just be really, really frustrated.

At worst, it's devastating.

Hallelujah.

I mean, for me, it's simple.

I just take a look at whenever I do something for any period of time.

When I say I do, I, apart from God, times of rebellion, times of moving away from him, it always ended up with me getting really, really hurt in the porta potty.

So mama didn't raise no fool.

I'm going to stop doing whatever's right in my own eyes and I'm going to submit to the Lord.

If the Lord says don't do it in his written word, I'm not going to do it.

If he says in my spirit don't do it, then I'm not going to do it.

And this should pervade every area of your life.

When I have to book tickets and travel, I always check in with the Lord.

Are you okay with this?

Do you know whenever I buy something, I check with the Lord?

He actually wants to be Lord of your finances.

You want your finances to be blessed?

There's not really a threshold, but I would guess anything like over 40, 50 bucks.

I'm like, Lord, is this okay with you?

Just for a second.

Lord, is this okay?

It's okay?

Okay, good.

Because I remember a time when I was broke, spending most of my money on eating out because nothing will make you broke or faster than eating out.

I would go to eat.

I wouldn't check in with the Lord

And then I would end up paying $21 for a hamburger.

And I realized, oh, you know, I'm going to pray later that God bless my finances.

Meanwhile, I came into the store and they hung up six Edison bulbs and used chalk to write out the price of the burger.

And all of a sudden it's $21.

Did you know that?

That's a rule in New York City.

If you have Edison bulbs and an exposed brick wall and use chalk to write out the price of the food, you get to raise it 300%.

I'm looking forward to next Sunday.

Just kidding.

I'm having the time of my life.

I wish you'd join me.

All right, let's pretend it's Christmas because this is when we normally read this passage.

That example was just inviting you to check in with the Lord.

When you go to buy something, when you go to switch jobs.

There's some people, they're just like, Hey, I'm leaving New York City.

Yeah?

Where are you going?

Timbuktu, wherever.

What did the Lord have to say about it?

They look at you like you just discovered fire for them.

The Lord?

Oh yeah, I should probably, I mean I booked my tickets and already, but I should probably check in with him.

He might be a little late right now.

Like what you're essentially doing is saying, I'm going this way.

Come along God.

Make sure you protect me, provide for me, and always be with me.

Come on.

Is that how it works?

You find out where he's going and you follow after him.

By the way, a religious mind has a hard time with this because it actually requires a relationship with the Lord.

And religion and relationship don't mix.

An actual relationship is two-way.

So you're praying, you're hearing, you're leaning into him, he's leaning into you.

It's a relationship.

Like, I think I'm kind of a creative person.

I got a lot of ideas, so many ideas.

99% of them are never executed because they're my ideas.

I get ideas all the time, Pop.

Right, babe?

You hear some of them and you're just, Emily's so awesome.

She's just learning to smile and go, oh, okay, all right.

And that, as I just speak out, random ideas that pop in.

I'm like, well, that's a good idea.

Yeah, you know how many times I've failed miserably with good ideas?

Good ideas versus God ideas.

God ideas are already blessed.

Good ideas abound.

I'm not going to run my life with good ideas.

You know, the little light bulb comes on.

I think I'll quit my job.

I think I'll go to such and such city.

I think I'm tired of this person I'm dating.

Whatever it is.

Worst of those is I think I'll sell Bitcoin because we're in a bear market.

No, that's from the pit of hell.

Double down.

Stack even harder.

Hallelujah.

All right, 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.

Mary, anywhere from 14 to 17 years old, a young Hebrew woman.

And having come in, the angel said to her, Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.

Blessed are you among women.

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.

Then the angel said to her, Do not be afraid.

By the way, note that this is the first thing angels tell everyone that they meet.

Fear not.

Don't be afraid.

You know why?

Because they're terrifying.

They're not from this place.

They're from the very presence of God.

They're from the abode of God, the third heaven.

Amen.

He's radiating.

He's explosive.

He's probably 10 feet tall.

This is Gabriel, by the way, not even just one of the lesser angels.

This is an archangel who stands in the very presence of God.

He brings the fragrance of God.

He brings the glory of God.

He's standing before Mary.

She must be totally blown away.

She's not some sophisticated person.

This is a common girl, age 14 to 17.

The mighty Gabriel stands and he says, "'Do not be afraid.'"

For you have found favor with God.

And behold.

Now listen to the message to really appreciate.

What Mary must have been thinking.

You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son.

And she'll 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.

So Mary minding her own business one moment.

Next moment, archangel standing, glory of God filling that room.

What must the atmosphere have been like in that room?

And he announces to her, God Almighty, El Shaddai, El Elyon, El Gibor, Yahweh God is actually coming.

And he's going to place his spirit inside of you.

And you're the chosen vessel to bring forth Messiah, God in the flesh into this world.

He will be great and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom.

There will be no end.

And then Mary says, how can this be since I have never been physically intimate with another man?

Which, by the way, you talk about rules of engagement.

Back then, you're pregnant and not married.

Ostracized, shamed, and oftentimes stoned.

I feel like I need to clarify what stoned means these days.

Not gummies.

Hard rocks.

Pummeled.

I actually felt that.

I said stoned.

And some people are like, that doesn't sound so bad.

But...

Next verse.

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 that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.

Now indeed, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.

For with God nothing will be impossible.

So this is not an easy message to receive.

You get that, right?

Some of you get a text message, a phone call, and it rattles you.

Archangel Gabriel, you're married.

You're not even married.

You've never had sex.

You're going to be pregnant.

Don't worry about it, though.

It's God Almighty himself growing inside of you.

What should the response be?

I mean, she's terrified.

Joseph might not believe her.

The village most definitely won't believe her.

Look at her gut response.

Look at the heart of Mary.

And this is why I believe of all the women, God chose Mary.

Because she had a heart that was submitted.

A heart that welcomed the lordship of God.

A heart that said, yes.

She wasn't resistant.

She didn't try to rationalize things in her head.

Then Mary said, behold the maidservant of the Lord.

Let it be to me according to your word.

And immediately that's when the angel departed because that's all he needed to hear.

She said, not my will, but yours be done.

I submit, I surrender to the will of God.

So I want to ask you a question.

Is the will of God a priority in your life?

Or do you do what you want to do and hope God comes along?

One will lead to a house that stands in times of hurricanes.

The other will lead to a house that gets leveled.

One will lead to a fulfilled life.

The other one will lead to, at best, a frustrated life.

At worst, a devastated life.

Which one will you be?

By the way, only one of those is actually a Christian.

The other one is a phony.

The other one is a faker.

The other one is a goat.

I want to be a sheep, amen?

Not a goat.

So may the Lord do a deep work in our hearts that we surrender to his will.

In the beginning, when the whole message of God's lordship was presented to me, before I even got saved,

I mean, you know, people were that stricter.

They communicated the cost of Christianity better without fear.

Now we're so afraid to communicate that there is a cost to discipleship.

We just want to, like, talk about all the benefits, and then later, slowly, we'll spring the cost on them.

You know, kind of like a bait and switch.

They didn't do that just 35 years ago.

They said, now, you know, when you come to Jesus, you're going to have to stop, and they listed all my sins.

And I went, huh?

These guys aren't playing.

And you're going to have to really serve him and really follow him.

And I went, and here was my response.

I thought, look, I'm going to tell them yes.

But really, I'm not ready to do that.

That was my heart.

I'm not ready.

Like, surrender everything?

I don't even know him.

That was the truth.

So I received him as my Savior, not as my Lord.

But in the coming days, thankfully, it took days and weeks.

I mean, when I got saved, I got baptized in the Holy Spirit, spoke in tongues, baptized in water, all in the same day.

That's just how it worked out for me.

So I had an encounter with God.

So what happened?

I tasted and saw that the Lord was good.

All of a sudden, my trust level went up.

I got to see his goodness.

Then I realized, oh, I can trust him with my life.

And little by little, until I went down the slippery slope, woo, all the way, I surrendered to his lordship in a matter of weeks where I went, this is incredible.

Lord, you're trustworthy.

So if this message is making you recoil, like, ah, the lord asked too much, and that pastor preaching about it, he's asking too much, that's because you haven't met the lord yet.

You think you have, you haven't.

If you actually met him, you'd run to him, kiss his every toe, and say, I give you everything, lord.

Take it, take it, take it.

As long as you're holding on to your own life, you need to get to know him better.

Those of you who've surrendered to his lordship, am I right or am I right?

All right, did you take notes of everyone who didn't say amen, ushers?

Quickly, because we need to email them five times a day.

That's why I asked for that contact info.

Jehovah's Witnesses and two elders to your house, we're going to email you five times a day.

Philippians 3, 17.

No, Philippians chapter 2, verse 19.

Philippians 2:19

Hallelujah.

I even would venture to say, scripturally speaking, that a Christian who's trying to live a life unsubmitted to the Lord with one foot in the world and one foot in the Lord is more miserable than a totally unsaved person.

actually more conflicted, more contradicted than someone who's totally unsaved.

Because they know better, so they're conscious of that.

He loves you.

He loves you and he's beckoning you to let go.

Let go.

You say, let go of what?

Let go of your own life.

How do I do that?

Start by saying, Lord, I let go.

Actually, you have to say it out loud.

The things of God are voice activated.

You get saved by confessing with your mouth that Jesus is Lord.

Say, Lord, I yield.

Even if you don't fully mean it, say it first.

Lord, I yield.

Help me to yield.

Lord, I surrender.

Help me to surrender.

Lord, I know deep down in my heart I need you to take the reins.

Jesus, take the wheel.

I'm going to drive this car into a wall.

But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, Paul is writing the Philippians, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state.

For I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state.

Now, I had a pastor friend who,

who was experiencing the middle of the tunnel, with the toilet water going over his face.

Fairly new church plant.

It was very frustrating in the beginning.

And the Lord says, stay put.

And that can start to feel confining.

Confining.

Sometimes the Lord sets you and puts limitations on you and it feels like, you know, Satan will say, don't you want your freedom?

Don't you want to just be free?

And you forget that it was actually Christ who set you free and you're temporarily confined so you can get even more freedom.

Satan promises you freedom.

You end up in bondage.

He's going through the tunnel with the toilet water in his face.

He's getting frustrated and breakthrough is taking too long.

And this is a pastor.

This is what he says to me.

He says, you know, I've just felt like a... Tell him I'm not available right now, will you?

He says, I'm getting...

It's taking too long.

And he said, I visited another pastor.

Oh, okay.

If there's another one involved, you must all be true.

And he says, I realize I can do what I want.

Christ has set me free.

I can do what I want.

And he starts talking about how I'm not even going to say it.

And I go, have you lost your mind?

What do you mean you can do what you want?

Like, I know I can't do what I want.

I'm on a short leash from the Lord.

He says, oh, that sounds terrible.

It's actually wonderful.

Because if I got from under that leash, I would mess things up.

Maybe one day I'll tell you actually what me and the natural would do.

And you wouldn't like me after.

Got them wondering now, but anyway.

And this is the verse I quoted to him.

I said, you just want to do what you want to do.

In your frustration.

Which is going to just lead to more frustration and probably devastation of your life.

Paul said, the thing I like about Timothy.

Hey, Philippians, I'm sending Timothy.

And this is how he endorsed Timothy.

The thing I like about Timothy is the others, they all seek their own.

They just do what they want.

They seek their own.

That's not good.

Timothy, however, he seeks those things which are of Christ Jesus.

That's why I endorse him.

That's why I endorse him.

One is a goat, the other is a sheep.

Hallelujah.

Lord Jesus, help us to yield.

To yield.

Hallelujah.

1 Corinthians 6.20 and then we'll receive communion.

He's either Lord of all or not Lord at all.

And you probably won't surrender all overnight.

But I encourage you to go down that gradient until you slip all the way in and you're in the river of God upside down with your feet sticking out.

There is nothing as joyful and reassuring as a completely yielded and surrendered life to the Lord.

It's liberating.

Even to yield and surrender to his sovereignty.

Hallelujah.

Hallelujah.

And why does God feel he has the right to ask this of us?

Because God bought us with a high price.

Yes.

You have been purchased.

You were lost in sin.

You were an enemy of God, completely alienated from God.

And the cost of your redemption was holy spotless blood.

And God couldn't find holy spotless blood in another person or some animal on earth.

He came down in the form of flesh.

He gave his holy spotless blood to purchase you.

He gave his all.

And you were bought with a high price, so you must honor God.

In other words, he gave you his all.

You're invited now to give him your all.

Hallelujah.

All right.

Lord, thank you.

We're going to receive communion, but I'm going to... Yeah, you can pass it out.

I'll share a story.

from college of a young lady that I led to the Lord when we were still in high school and we ended up in the same college.

Thank you.

And you can turn the verse to Luke 22, verses 39 to 42.

Luke 22:39–42

Thank you, Lord.

We had known each other since seventh or eighth grade.

And I led a lot of my high school friends to the Lord.

I got saved in between sophomore and junior year of high school.

I went to Forest Hills High School, by the way.

Right in Peter Parker's old neighborhood is where I was raised.

And her dad left her mom right around that time, like ninth grade.

And she got saved, but she had a huge distrust of men, and really a huge distrust of her father and authority figures and consequently God.

God.

And so she served the Lord with fire for a couple of years.

And actually was very gifted in the things of God.

I mean, she would pray, the Holy Spirit would come into the place.

And she had a vibrant relationship with the Lord.

But when the Lord started to ask for more of her, and she started to come to a head with that issue of lordship...

All she could think about, because she told me this, all she could think about was her father and the betrayal of her father.

And then Satan would whisper, your heavenly father will let you down the same way.

Your heavenly father will let you down the same way.

And she made a decision to take her life into her own hands.

And forsook the Lord and completely backslid and gave up on Jesus.

And that's Satan's plan.

To cause some kind of offense, some kind of old unhealed hurt to rise up.

And that's how you live and then you don't surrender to the Lord.

You know, it's amazing really how much God will bless and put up with a surrendered life.

Like, I just take myself as an example.

Surrendered life doesn't mean you're perfect all the time.

It just means you're surrendered.

You still can be a jack-and-inny.

A shmigilio.

A numbskull.

Which if you ask the Lord, I'm sure he'd tell you, I am all of those things.

But at the same time, I'm surrendered.

So if you're new, just know this, the Lord has over-blessed me.

Like he's ridiculous in every way.

I'm not going to list it now, but it just, it's awesome.

And then maybe you want to study my life and go, this guy must like be perfection.

And then you go, oh, whoa.

He's a jack-in-in-ee.

Why is God so good to him?

Well, first of all, he's good to his people, not based on what they do, but based on what he did.

And he's good just because he's good, not because you're good.

And he can work with a surrendered person.

And he will bless and overbless.

And be merciful and be good to the heart that's yielded.

As opposed to someone who externally seems to have their ducks in a row.

But they're actually not surrendered.

They're keeping themselves for themselves.

Is this making sense?

Hallelujah.

And by the way, I say those things about myself, not in some false humility, but I can say that about every awesome man of God that I've met.

That's the big revelation when you go into full-time ministry, and now you're in the back room with other full-time ministers, and you meet some names, and you get to know them, and you realize, wow, you're just as messed up as me.

Like, if people knew how weird you were.

How flawed you were.

And yet your life is like popping with blessings all the time.

You're like the picture of being blessed.

You're like a magnet for God's goodness.

And then you look a little further and you go, wow, even though they can be so silly and so weird and odd and flawed, yet behind all that is a heart that's going, Jesus, only Jesus, Jesus, I want Jesus.

That's what's doing it.

And with that...

Let's read Luke 22, 39 before your grape juice starts to boil from the heat in your hands.

Jesus, right before the crucifixion 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.

Nevertheless, this is Jesus himself surrendering to the lordship of his Father.

This is Jesus submitting.

This is our example.

Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.'

This right now is a time of dedication for us and consecration.

Consecrate means to be set apart.

If you are ready to truly make Jesus not just your Savior, but the Lord of your life.

Receiving communion right now is going to be your act of faith.

This matzah that's been burnt and pierced and striped, just like Jesus' body, will be your point of contact.

So if you're willing to do that, I want you to say this prayer out loud with me right now.

Lord Jesus, you are Lord of my life.

I yield.

I submit.

Help me to yield.

Help me to submit.

I put my trust in you.

Come and live in me.

I won't do what's right in my own eyes.

But by your help, you will be my shepherd.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Go ahead and partake of the body and the blood of Jesus.

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 Jancic and 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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