WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.091 --> 00:00:03.852
Because of Jesus' righteousness, he forever accepts me.

2
00:00:04.152 --> 00:00:05.752
He forever approves of me.

3
00:00:06.032 --> 00:00:10.533
When I go and ask him for something, it's like Jesus himself asking him for something.

4
00:00:11.034 --> 00:00:18.535
And when this shift happens, I'm telling you, your whole life starts to click and flow, and your relationship with the Lord becomes fiery.

5
00:00:18.935 --> 00:00:20.816
He starts visiting you in the night hours.

6
00:00:21.036 --> 00:00:22.916
You start feeling his Holy Ghost.

7
00:00:23.676 --> 00:00:25.717
Miracles start popping like popcorn.

8
00:00:26.337 --> 00:00:28.459
Welcome to the City Light Church podcast.

9
00:00:28.679 --> 00:00:35.025
Thanks for joining us today as we look into God's Word and discover the hope and truth that He has for us.

10
00:00:35.725 --> 00:00:41.190
If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at CityLightNYC.com.

11
00:00:41.510 --> 00:00:43.412
That's CityLightNYC.com.

12
00:00:44.833 --> 00:00:51.937
Pastor Boyan Jancic and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds.

13
00:00:52.658 --> 00:01:02.544
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.

14
00:01:05.926 --> 00:01:10.829
Today I want to minister to you one of the most important messages that I can give.

15
00:01:11.581 --> 00:01:16.842
If you were wondering if I should come today or not, you chose a good Sunday to come.

16
00:01:22.604 --> 00:01:24.544
I want to see you living victoriously.

17
00:01:25.684 --> 00:01:27.105
I want to see you well equipped.

18
00:01:28.445 --> 00:01:32.506
I want your relationship with the Lord to be fiery and working.

19
00:01:33.686 --> 00:01:39.768
And a working relationship with the Lord means there is the smell of heaven on your life.

20
00:01:41.115 --> 00:01:41.575
Yeah.

21
00:01:42.616 --> 00:01:45.397
You know, Christians emit a fragrance.

22
00:01:47.298 --> 00:01:49.539
Nice smelling people you want to be near.

23
00:01:50.579 --> 00:01:53.781
You know, Jesus, what do you think he in the spirit smelled like?

24
00:01:55.782 --> 00:01:57.403
People followed him everywhere.

25
00:01:57.443 --> 00:01:59.564
He was just to gaze upon him.

26
00:01:59.844 --> 00:02:01.064
You know, in the spirit he smelled.

27
00:02:03.866 --> 00:02:05.406
There is a fragrance in the spirit.

28
00:02:06.147 --> 00:02:08.648
And you also know people.

29
00:02:09.550 --> 00:02:16.273
They don't even have to say a word, but they come into your space, and you're like, like I'm feeling choked out.

30
00:02:18.294 --> 00:02:25.897
You are, something is wrong with you, like I love you, but I'm gonna love you from all the way over here, because you smell funky.

31
00:02:27.297 --> 00:02:33.480
You smell like condemnation, you smell like defeat, like nothing is working for you.

32
00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:38.102
And so I'm not rejecting you, but I just don't want that thing to get on me.

33
00:02:39.040 --> 00:02:40.361
Okay, fine, I'm rejecting you.

34
00:02:42.503 --> 00:02:45.165
I'm going to find some sweet-smelling Christians.

35
00:02:46.927 --> 00:02:49.809
And a sweet-smelling Christian is living a life of victory.

36
00:02:50.770 --> 00:02:52.451
They know who they are in Christ.

37
00:02:52.512 --> 00:02:53.132
How about this?

38
00:02:53.492 --> 00:02:54.633
Their prayers work.

39
00:02:55.594 --> 00:02:56.255
Isn't that amazing?

40
00:02:56.275 --> 00:02:57.516
Your prayers actually work.

41
00:02:59.897 --> 00:03:04.341
Jesus said that the Father is glorified when your prayers are answered.

42
00:03:04.401 --> 00:03:08.024
He called that good fruit in John chapter 15.

43
00:03:08.425 --> 00:03:11.588
Good fruit is when you ask what you desire and it's done for you.

44
00:03:12.649 --> 00:03:15.711
Too many Christians don't even believe their prayers should be answered.

45
00:03:15.751 --> 00:03:16.372
This is true.

46
00:03:16.412 --> 00:03:17.213
This is reality.

47
00:03:17.593 --> 00:03:21.597
You even see it in the book of Acts when they were praying for Peter's release.

48
00:03:22.777 --> 00:03:24.840
And wouldn't you know it, their prayers are answered.

49
00:03:24.900 --> 00:03:25.781
Peter's released.

50
00:03:26.502 --> 00:03:29.907
Peter goes knocking on the door, and they're like, it can't be him.

51
00:03:30.748 --> 00:03:31.789
It must be his angel.

52
00:03:32.911 --> 00:03:33.772
How could it be him?

53
00:03:33.812 --> 00:03:34.854
This is a prayer meeting.

54
00:03:35.475 --> 00:03:37.297
Prayers don't get answered at a prayer meeting.

55
00:03:37.898 --> 00:03:39.039
This is just what we do.

56
00:03:40.664 --> 00:03:43.706
We kumbaya, we rock back and forth.

57
00:03:44.387 --> 00:03:47.249
Somebody says the phrase, you know, 50 times in a row.

58
00:03:47.589 --> 00:03:49.030
You know, Lord, you know, Lord.

59
00:03:49.271 --> 00:03:51.292
Someone else says the word just 100 times.

60
00:03:51.572 --> 00:03:56.716
I just, Lord, I just want to tell you, just, Lord, just, Lord, you're going to bring Peter out.

61
00:03:56.996 --> 00:03:59.438
Just do what you're going to do, Lord, if it be thy will, Lord.

62
00:03:59.478 --> 00:04:07.224
Just, just, you know, you know, just, you know, you know, you know, just, just, just, just, just.

63
00:04:12.389 --> 00:04:13.210
Hallelujah.

64
00:04:16.291 --> 00:04:18.073
So how to live a life of victory.

65
00:04:19.693 --> 00:04:21.014
Enjoy your Christianity.

66
00:04:21.535 --> 00:04:22.915
And really, what is the problem?

67
00:04:23.376 --> 00:04:25.137
The problem is condemnation.

68
00:04:25.917 --> 00:04:28.639
Your average Christian is under severe condemnation.

69
00:04:30.340 --> 00:04:31.241
They're not happy.

70
00:04:32.561 --> 00:04:35.903
They don't feel good about themselves, so they think God doesn't feel good about them.

71
00:04:37.004 --> 00:04:38.865
They don't have confidence when they go to pray.

72
00:04:39.626 --> 00:04:41.367
They're like a walking civil war.

73
00:04:42.706 --> 00:04:44.167
Up one day, down the next.

74
00:04:44.628 --> 00:04:49.151
When they do everything right in their own mind, they do everything right, cross every T, dot every I.

75
00:04:49.432 --> 00:04:51.774
Then they feel that God accepts them and God approves in them.

76
00:04:52.174 --> 00:04:55.317
When they stumble and when they fall, they feel that God has rejected them.

77
00:04:55.617 --> 00:04:56.758
Then they blame themselves.

78
00:04:57.518 --> 00:05:00.501
When you go to pray, I know this sounds creepy, but it's the truth.

79
00:05:00.581 --> 00:05:03.283
When you go to pray, Satan goes with you.

80
00:05:04.524 --> 00:05:04.985
He's there.

81
00:05:06.166 --> 00:05:07.006
You don't want to think that.

82
00:05:07.767 --> 00:05:10.129
But that's why sometimes you stop after 30 seconds.

83
00:05:10.149 --> 00:05:11.030
Who do you think did that?

84
00:05:12.619 --> 00:05:19.821
Every time to this day, you go to pray, you start praying, and Satan's just a few feet behind, right?

85
00:05:20.221 --> 00:05:22.241
And he starts doing what he does.

86
00:05:22.281 --> 00:05:28.543
He's the father of lies, and he chucks lies, accusatory, into your mind.

87
00:05:29.123 --> 00:05:32.044
So you go to pray, and he says, who do you think you are?

88
00:05:33.639 --> 00:05:35.039
Yesterday you thought this.

89
00:05:35.540 --> 00:05:37.220
Two days ago you did that.

90
00:05:37.940 --> 00:05:39.161
You're not worthy.

91
00:05:40.021 --> 00:05:41.881
You're a sinner.

92
00:05:42.082 --> 00:05:43.002
You failed God.

93
00:05:43.222 --> 00:05:44.222
God is mad at you.

94
00:05:44.422 --> 00:05:45.383
God is upset with you.

95
00:05:45.603 --> 00:05:47.043
God's not going to answer this prayer.

96
00:05:47.363 --> 00:05:50.704
And if you believe it and internalize it, it interrupts your faith.

97
00:05:52.005 --> 00:05:56.706
And you get enough days like that, you're now living a defeated Christian life.

98
00:05:57.466 --> 00:05:59.707
You start to smell funky in the spirit.

99
00:06:00.795 --> 00:06:04.138
That bad smelling Christian, they're under condemnation.

100
00:06:04.158 --> 00:06:06.079
I mean, what is a bad smelling Christian?

101
00:06:06.119 --> 00:06:09.582
It's somebody who's listening to the lies of Satan too much.

102
00:06:10.142 --> 00:06:12.044
And then they go to talk to you and guess what comes out?

103
00:06:12.104 --> 00:06:13.005
The lies of Satan.

104
00:06:13.485 --> 00:06:17.128
And of course you're going to move where you're like, hey, I got enough of that on my own.

105
00:06:17.168 --> 00:06:17.748
I don't need you.

106
00:06:19.310 --> 00:06:21.171
He's lying to me enough directly to me.

107
00:06:21.211 --> 00:06:23.033
I don't need you as a mouthpiece of his lies.

108
00:06:24.494 --> 00:06:25.715
So this must be broken.

109
00:06:25.735 --> 00:06:25.835
Amen.

110
00:06:26.798 --> 00:06:30.420
And the only thing that can break it is the word of God.

111
00:06:31.101 --> 00:06:31.501
Why?

112
00:06:32.062 --> 00:06:35.164
Because we must know who we are in Christ.

113
00:06:35.804 --> 00:06:38.166
And we also must know scripturally who God is.

114
00:06:40.147 --> 00:06:44.510
The problem is that most people don't want to know scripturally who God is.

115
00:06:45.611 --> 00:06:48.112
They want to go by feelings.

116
00:06:48.833 --> 00:06:49.613
How do they feel?

117
00:06:49.633 --> 00:06:51.915
This is true.

118
00:06:53.430 --> 00:07:05.893
Most people, and that's where they always start the sentence, I feel that, well, I feel 8 billion people in the world, 8.3 to be precise, and all of them have feelings about God.

119
00:07:07.994 --> 00:07:15.216
Well, I feel that God, I feel, you know, there's 73 genders, and you know, I just feel that God just is okay with that.

120
00:07:15.276 --> 00:07:18.437
I feel, well, your feelings are all over the place.

121
00:07:20.377 --> 00:07:22.558
The word of God doesn't change, your feelings do.

122
00:07:24.305 --> 00:07:27.167
So what you have is potentially 8.3 billion people.

123
00:07:27.187 --> 00:07:28.907
You know how you were made in the image of God?

124
00:07:29.408 --> 00:07:31.549
They're remaking God in their own image.

125
00:07:33.710 --> 00:07:34.410
How do you do that?

126
00:07:35.591 --> 00:07:38.652
By feeling, unscriptural feelings.

127
00:07:42.554 --> 00:07:46.577
See right now, I just, I feel like this sermon isn't going so well.

128
00:07:50.058 --> 00:07:52.700
Like I feel I like what the Lord is doing here.

129
00:07:53.968 --> 00:07:57.169
But I feel like some of you aren't really quite getting what I'm pitching.

130
00:07:58.010 --> 00:07:58.830
That's how I feel.

131
00:08:00.371 --> 00:08:05.093
You know, there's been times where I felt like just leaving mid-sermon, just going in my car and driving off.

132
00:08:05.673 --> 00:08:08.394
Really, I'm just like, I've had that feeling.

133
00:08:10.415 --> 00:08:11.515
Not for a little bit.

134
00:08:11.795 --> 00:08:13.176
I'm not talking about a passing thought.

135
00:08:13.216 --> 00:08:16.177
I've actually looked around and thought, I'm outta here.

136
00:08:19.218 --> 00:08:23.020
But I didn't, I didn't act on my feelings.

137
00:08:24.779 --> 00:08:25.660
The Lord is so good.

138
00:08:25.680 --> 00:08:28.602
I didn't act at my feelings.

139
00:08:32.385 --> 00:08:33.647
There's a higher way.

140
00:08:38.571 --> 00:08:41.733
There are times when I didn't even do anything.

141
00:08:43.015 --> 00:08:44.476
Like a random Tuesday.

142
00:08:45.056 --> 00:08:47.338
And I feel condemned.

143
00:08:48.099 --> 00:08:49.040
Like, what for?

144
00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:51.422
Lord, I'm in my kitchen making a sandwich.

145
00:08:53.523 --> 00:09:08.666
And it's like a demon came with a blowgun and just, and all of a sudden, I'm like, man, anxiety, worry, salt and pepper with some depression.

146
00:09:10.747 --> 00:09:12.827
And I hear the thought, nothing's going to work out.

147
00:09:12.867 --> 00:09:16.448
And I go, Lord, I just feel like nothing's going to work out.

148
00:09:23.437 --> 00:09:24.098
Hallelujah.

149
00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:30.422
Well, let's look at one of the most important verses in the Bible.

150
00:09:31.383 --> 00:09:35.306
Because we cannot understand ourselves by our feelings.

151
00:09:36.327 --> 00:09:37.608
You comfortable with that statement?

152
00:09:38.469 --> 00:09:42.472
You can only understand who you are by what the word of God says about you.

153
00:09:44.313 --> 00:09:48.436
Even more importantly, you cannot understand God by your feelings.

154
00:09:49.537 --> 00:09:51.098
Me, I'm from the Balkans.

155
00:09:51.118 --> 00:09:52.379
I'm emotional.

156
00:09:52.419 --> 00:09:53.020
I'm emotional.

157
00:09:57.108 --> 00:09:58.828
My daughter's my little balkanista.

158
00:10:02.209 --> 00:10:05.290
So, right, babe, would you say I'm a little emotional?

159
00:10:06.830 --> 00:10:07.130
A little.

160
00:10:08.530 --> 00:10:09.891
Should have seen the smile she flashed.

161
00:10:10.511 --> 00:10:13.511
No, but really, like, my feelings change.

162
00:10:14.972 --> 00:10:21.613
If the thermostat's on 72, and then it goes to 75, like, my feelings change.

163
00:10:23.934 --> 00:10:25.554
Do you know, if I eat McDonald's,

164
00:10:27.551 --> 00:10:29.913
And by the way, when I eat McDonald's, I don't like nibble.

165
00:10:30.994 --> 00:10:32.115
It's two Big Macs.

166
00:10:33.276 --> 00:10:33.776
It was like that.

167
00:10:33.796 --> 00:10:41.863
Yeah, two big... And they go, no, one value meal, the fries and the big soda, and throw another Big Mac on top.

168
00:10:41.923 --> 00:10:42.503
One isn't going to...

169
00:10:42.563 --> 00:10:43.584
It's like four bites for me.

170
00:10:43.684 --> 00:10:44.525
What's one Big Mac?

171
00:10:47.167 --> 00:10:48.868
Well, guess how I feel afterwards.

172
00:10:50.910 --> 00:10:52.031
I feel like hell.

173
00:10:52.051 --> 00:10:52.151
Yeah.

174
00:10:53.201 --> 00:10:55.302
I feel like the Holy Ghost has left me forever.

175
00:10:55.322 --> 00:11:01.405
I do, that's how I feel like God has come and written to Ichabod the glory has departed over my life.

176
00:11:02.506 --> 00:11:07.148
But that has nothing to do with my actual standing before God.

177
00:11:07.328 --> 00:11:09.229
But that's exactly how I feel.

178
00:11:09.249 --> 00:11:14.112
Like if you came to me and eating a miracle and said, pastor pray for me and I'm just like taking that last sip of Coke.

179
00:11:14.212 --> 00:11:15.433
Of course it's Diet Coke, right?

180
00:11:16.733 --> 00:11:19.835
I'll be like, find someone else.

181
00:11:22.263 --> 00:11:24.045
God's not even listening to me right now.

182
00:11:26.087 --> 00:11:27.108
But it's not true.

183
00:11:27.888 --> 00:11:29.690
It's just a feeling.

184
00:11:31.792 --> 00:11:36.176
So let's put our feelings aside and look at what the word of God says.

185
00:11:36.316 --> 00:11:36.736
Amen?

186
00:11:37.857 --> 00:11:38.838
Amen.

187
00:11:38.938 --> 00:11:40.660
2 Corinthians 5.21.

188
00:11:42.342 --> 00:11:43.763
Very important verse.

189
00:11:44.383 --> 00:11:47.727
If you were to ask me, like your top verse...

190
00:11:48.764 --> 00:11:55.749
that really encapsulates not just the gospel or the New Testament, really the entire Bible leads us here.

191
00:11:57.310 --> 00:12:06.516
For he, talking about God the Father, made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

192
00:12:07.096 --> 00:12:07.877
Very important.

193
00:12:09.238 --> 00:12:12.160
He made Jesus, who is God also.

194
00:12:13.941 --> 00:12:15.062
Jesus didn't know sin.

195
00:12:15.082 --> 00:12:15.382
He made him.

196
00:12:16.634 --> 00:12:20.175
Never one wrong thought, never one ill deed.

197
00:12:20.795 --> 00:12:21.456
Never sinned.

198
00:12:22.296 --> 00:12:27.238
He made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

199
00:12:28.878 --> 00:12:39.862
So Jesus on the cross, someone who had never ever sinned, 100% God, 100% man, on the cross, he became sin.

200
00:12:40.402 --> 00:12:43.563
It's been said he absorbed the sin of the world, yes, correct.

201
00:12:44.083 --> 00:12:46.144
He took on our sin, also correct.

202
00:12:47.040 --> 00:12:50.042
But the scripture said he was turned into sin.

203
00:12:50.722 --> 00:12:52.143
He was made into sin.

204
00:12:53.044 --> 00:12:56.806
I once said this back in college when God was giving me this revelation.

205
00:12:56.826 --> 00:12:59.827
I actually read it in an old time book and then I just quoted what I read.

206
00:13:00.448 --> 00:13:02.849
I'll tell you what I said first, but I still hear a reaction.

207
00:13:02.869 --> 00:13:06.051
This woman, she was very religious.

208
00:13:07.312 --> 00:13:08.272
She was way older than me.

209
00:13:08.312 --> 00:13:11.074
Way, you know, I'm 22 years old at the time.

210
00:13:11.915 --> 00:13:15.817
And when I said this, she, I'll just never, it sounded like a hen that was disturbed.

211
00:13:15.917 --> 00:13:16.117
She went,

212
00:13:17.839 --> 00:13:19.500
how could you say that?

213
00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:24.823
That my beautiful Lord and Savior and you're saying that.

214
00:13:25.383 --> 00:13:26.824
And she was actually a real Christian.

215
00:13:29.286 --> 00:13:30.546
You say, why does he do that?

216
00:13:31.427 --> 00:13:38.471
Just because you'll never forget it now.

217
00:13:39.992 --> 00:13:43.394
Also, I think older women who sound like chickens are funny.

218
00:13:48.083 --> 00:13:48.423
Right?

219
00:13:52.647 --> 00:13:54.529
Hallelujah.

220
00:13:55.349 --> 00:14:01.475
And here's what I said that got her all, all hot and bothered.

221
00:14:03.657 --> 00:14:09.442
I said that Jesus became like Satan on the cross.

222
00:14:09.462 --> 00:14:09.822
Right?

223
00:14:11.280 --> 00:14:15.962
And she, you know, but my beautiful, beautiful Lord and Savior.

224
00:14:17.123 --> 00:14:19.724
Yeah, but on the cross, lady, he wasn't beautiful.

225
00:14:21.085 --> 00:14:22.465
You're calling sin beautiful?

226
00:14:22.525 --> 00:14:23.866
That offends me now.

227
00:14:24.426 --> 00:14:25.627
Sin isn't beautiful.

228
00:14:29.709 --> 00:14:31.029
He was made into sin.

229
00:14:31.069 --> 00:14:34.871
I said, oh, you're taking it a little far, saying he was turned into like a Satan type creature.

230
00:14:35.492 --> 00:14:35.952
All right.

231
00:14:37.232 --> 00:14:38.693
Please don't go by your feelings.

232
00:14:39.453 --> 00:14:40.234
Go by the word.

233
00:14:41.526 --> 00:14:50.968
And Jesus said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

234
00:14:51.529 --> 00:14:56.990
He was calling back to Moses when the children of Israel were dying, being bitten by vipers.

235
00:14:57.690 --> 00:15:02.411
God gave instructions to Moses to put a bronzen serpent on a pole and lift it up.

236
00:15:02.791 --> 00:15:06.812
And when the Hebrews looked at that serpent on the pole, they were instantly healed.

237
00:15:07.213 --> 00:15:08.433
And Jesus said...

238
00:15:09.274 --> 00:15:13.147
As Moses lifted up the serpent, not a dove.

239
00:15:15.233 --> 00:15:20.296
The serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.

240
00:15:20.696 --> 00:15:24.738
In other words, I will be lifted up on the cross.

241
00:15:25.278 --> 00:15:26.759
I will be made sin.

242
00:15:27.179 --> 00:15:29.101
I will be made into the serpent.

243
00:15:29.361 --> 00:15:33.103
And all who look to me, put their trust in me.

244
00:15:33.363 --> 00:15:34.183
They will be whole.

245
00:15:34.403 --> 00:15:35.164
They will be healed.

246
00:15:35.424 --> 00:15:37.405
They will be sozoed, delivered.

247
00:15:38.105 --> 00:15:39.026
Hallelujah.

248
00:15:40.656 --> 00:15:43.098
So this is the essence of the gospel.

249
00:15:43.458 --> 00:15:45.640
This is the power of the gospel.

250
00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:48.762
This is the glory and the beauty of the gospel.

251
00:15:50.003 --> 00:15:55.046
That he who was perfectly holy was made perfectly sinful.

252
00:15:55.506 --> 00:15:59.950
He who was perfectly beautiful was made into ugliness.

253
00:16:01.260 --> 00:16:05.701
So that we, the perfectly sinful, might be made perfectly righteous.

254
00:16:06.061 --> 00:16:11.863
We who were forever ugly might be transformed and be made beautiful in the eyes of God.

255
00:16:12.423 --> 00:16:19.584
That we who are unrighteous might be given the gift of right standing righteousness with God.

256
00:16:19.984 --> 00:16:23.445
For he made him who knew no sin to be sin for us.

257
00:16:23.745 --> 00:16:28.326
That we might become the righteousness of God in him.

258
00:16:29.487 --> 00:16:30.427
Hallelujah.

259
00:16:32.263 --> 00:16:42.428
So through his substitutionary death on the cross, because of the great exchange, he took on all of our, you know what?

260
00:16:43.909 --> 00:16:46.890
Let me, let's first define who we actually wore apart from God.

261
00:16:47.610 --> 00:16:48.611
Because it's not pretty.

262
00:16:50.903 --> 00:16:54.607
And you got saved, and you can't get saved without this.

263
00:16:54.647 --> 00:16:59.211
You got saved because you got a revelation of who you are apart from Jesus.

264
00:16:59.292 --> 00:17:02.655
Otherwise, you wouldn't have a need for a savior.

265
00:17:03.596 --> 00:17:04.937
Who am I apart from Jesus?

266
00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:07.840
I am an enemy of God.

267
00:17:08.761 --> 00:17:12.265
Everything about me is a very affront to God.

268
00:17:14.178 --> 00:17:15.879
I am absolutely apart from Christ.

269
00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:19.340
I am offensive to God, and I am hell-bound.

270
00:17:19.860 --> 00:17:22.420
I'm not hell-bound because God is just miffed at me.

271
00:17:22.881 --> 00:17:32.043
I am hell-bound because I was conceived in sin, I lived my life in sin, and every one of my thoughts is evil continually.

272
00:17:32.303 --> 00:17:34.764
That's what the Word says, and that is truth.

273
00:17:36.304 --> 00:17:37.705
People say, well, I'm a good person.

274
00:17:38.105 --> 00:17:38.965
Liar!

275
00:17:39.805 --> 00:17:40.045
Why?

276
00:17:40.065 --> 00:17:41.746
Because you compare yourself to Hitler?

277
00:17:42.958 --> 00:17:43.759
I'm no Hitler.

278
00:17:43.879 --> 00:17:46.100
Now compare yourself to God.

279
00:17:46.440 --> 00:17:48.521
Because that's who he's going to compare you to.

280
00:17:48.862 --> 00:17:52.204
And you're going to fall short every single time.

281
00:17:53.805 --> 00:17:55.186
So we need a savior.

282
00:17:55.546 --> 00:17:56.927
Thankfully we have one.

283
00:17:57.127 --> 00:17:58.808
Who loved you so much.

284
00:17:59.228 --> 00:18:00.209
Went to the cross.

285
00:18:00.529 --> 00:18:02.150
And became your substitute.

286
00:18:03.685 --> 00:18:11.729
And he who was perfectly righteous became sin, so that we, totally unrighteous, might be given by faith the gift of righteousness.

287
00:18:11.969 --> 00:18:15.711
Now righteousness, you cannot grow in righteousness.

288
00:18:16.071 --> 00:18:18.093
You either is or you isn't.

289
00:18:18.733 --> 00:18:20.674
If you is, you're a friend of God.

290
00:18:21.374 --> 00:18:23.135
If you isn't, you're an enemy of God.

291
00:18:23.595 --> 00:18:25.516
If you is, you're approved by God.

292
00:18:25.837 --> 00:18:27.778
If you isn't, you're rejected by God.

293
00:18:28.118 --> 00:18:29.759
If you is, you're heaven bound.

294
00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:31.820
If you isn't, you're hell bound.

295
00:18:32.677 --> 00:18:34.080
This should not be complicated.

296
00:18:34.701 --> 00:18:38.369
Right now, if you isn't, you should be asking, how do I is?

297
00:18:41.525 --> 00:18:46.148
You do not get righteousness through self-effort.

298
00:18:46.728 --> 00:18:54.133
The whole world, every unbeliever I meet, they all believe, oh, I'll get righteousness by being a good person.

299
00:18:54.553 --> 00:18:56.514
I'll get righteousness, okay, so I got to go to church.

300
00:18:56.794 --> 00:18:57.455
I got to pray.

301
00:18:57.655 --> 00:18:58.655
I got to light a candle.

302
00:18:58.875 --> 00:18:59.696
Remember the saints.

303
00:19:00.056 --> 00:19:02.618
Do, do, do, do, do, and your whole life is a bunch of doo-doo.

304
00:19:03.398 --> 00:19:05.740
You cannot do enough to become righteous.

305
00:19:06.441 --> 00:19:07.442
There is not a mountain.

306
00:19:07.922 --> 00:19:23.697
If I sold everything I had, moved to the most impoverished nation on earth, spent my whole life feeding the sick, caring for the elderly, blessing the poor, but I didn't have Jesus, I'd go straight to hell and split it wide open.

307
00:19:23.717 --> 00:19:23.818
Amen.

308
00:19:24.418 --> 00:19:25.258
Doesn't matter.

309
00:19:25.798 --> 00:19:29.899
There's no amount of good that I can do to undo all of the evil I've done.

310
00:19:30.219 --> 00:19:35.361
Not just the evil I've done, but my very nature is an affront to God.

311
00:19:37.021 --> 00:19:40.342
But Jesus, but Jesus.

312
00:19:41.262 --> 00:19:43.443
Because of him, we're born anew, we're born again.

313
00:19:43.763 --> 00:19:45.903
And he puts a new nature in us.

314
00:19:46.543 --> 00:19:53.205
And he gives us for free, by faith, the gift of righteousness, which means right standing with him.

315
00:19:55.404 --> 00:20:01.368
See, I was going to say I have a towel, but let's just call it what it is, a sweat rag.

316
00:20:04.810 --> 00:20:09.453
For years, we had these bright white ones, and then one day I saw the video, and it looked like I was at a car wash.

317
00:20:09.853 --> 00:20:14.496
I'm like, can we get one that's not triple bright something?

318
00:20:15.156 --> 00:20:20.840
That's just a little more muted, that absorbs some light and doesn't just reflect it.

319
00:20:20.860 --> 00:20:22.081
It looked like I was landing a plane.

320
00:20:22.101 --> 00:20:22.201
Okay.

321
00:20:24.777 --> 00:20:27.218
See, I'm holding it in my hand, right?

322
00:20:27.978 --> 00:20:30.239
There's no doubt whether I'm, I know I have it.

323
00:20:30.879 --> 00:20:33.600
Just like I know I have the righteousness of God.

324
00:20:34.020 --> 00:20:35.100
Oh, how are you so arrogant?

325
00:20:35.120 --> 00:20:35.841
How do you know you have it?

326
00:20:36.401 --> 00:20:39.402
Because the word says I have it because I placed my faith in Christ.

327
00:20:40.102 --> 00:20:41.502
That's how I know I have it.

328
00:20:43.623 --> 00:20:45.924
Nobody should be wondering, am I heaven bound?

329
00:20:46.776 --> 00:20:55.003
Which, by the way, when you ask religious Christians, are you going to heaven or hell, they'll always say, well, heaven, and kind of laugh awkwardly.

330
00:20:55.024 --> 00:20:56.024
And then you ask them why.

331
00:20:57.005 --> 00:20:59.347
And they'll go, well, I mean, I hope so.

332
00:21:00.348 --> 00:21:01.069
I hope so.

333
00:21:01.209 --> 00:21:01.569
Whoa.

334
00:21:03.191 --> 00:21:05.173
I mean, do I hope I have a towel in my hand?

335
00:21:05.193 --> 00:21:05.253
No.

336
00:21:06.371 --> 00:21:07.112
No, I know so.

337
00:21:07.792 --> 00:21:13.916
And that's why in 1 John, he said, these things I write to you that you may know that you have eternal.

338
00:21:13.976 --> 00:21:15.037
It's something you can know.

339
00:21:15.517 --> 00:21:17.379
And he said that you can kind of hope so.

340
00:21:18.339 --> 00:21:19.720
What a scary place to be in.

341
00:21:21.121 --> 00:21:21.782
Hoping so?

342
00:21:23.283 --> 00:21:24.104
No, you know so.

343
00:21:24.705 --> 00:21:35.336
So if you have made Jesus your Lord and Savior, and you're trusting in him for his righteousness, if 2 Corinthians 5, 21 is alive in your life, that means you're born again.

344
00:21:35.616 --> 00:21:36.417
It means you're saved.

345
00:21:36.697 --> 00:21:39.380
It means that you have Jesus's righteousness.

346
00:21:39.400 --> 00:21:40.101
Do you know what that means?

347
00:21:40.121 --> 00:21:40.942
Do you know what that means?

348
00:21:41.646 --> 00:21:44.647
It breaks the back of condemnation off your life.

349
00:21:45.087 --> 00:21:47.288
Now those feelings, we're going back to that now.

350
00:21:47.628 --> 00:21:55.450
Those feelings, because when you go to pray, Satan's there, chucking lies into your head, lying to you to get you feelings.

351
00:21:57.931 --> 00:21:59.912
No, I don't feel like God heard me.

352
00:22:00.172 --> 00:22:05.393
I don't feel, I feel, I feel dis, you know, there's my fear, I feel far from God.

353
00:22:06.054 --> 00:22:06.334
What?

354
00:22:08.134 --> 00:22:09.935
You know how often I feel far from God?

355
00:22:11.148 --> 00:22:13.350
Do you know how many times that changes an hour later?

356
00:22:15.031 --> 00:22:17.012
There's random moments I feel.

357
00:22:17.052 --> 00:22:20.335
You think I just walk all the time under a deluge of the anointing?

358
00:22:24.318 --> 00:22:28.040
And by the way, that may be true, but I don't feel that all the time.

359
00:22:28.060 --> 00:22:29.722
I get busy.

360
00:22:29.842 --> 00:22:32.524
I get, you know, whatever.

361
00:22:32.724 --> 00:22:33.745
I eat McDonald's.

362
00:22:35.266 --> 00:22:36.427
Never felt the anointing once.

363
00:22:36.447 --> 00:22:37.207
He ate McDonald's.

364
00:22:37.327 --> 00:22:38.248
Lesson in there somewhere.

365
00:22:41.563 --> 00:22:42.644
So now my feelings.

366
00:22:45.506 --> 00:22:46.646
I can't go by my feelings.

367
00:22:46.666 --> 00:22:48.327
I have to go by what the word says.

368
00:22:50.409 --> 00:22:54.051
So when you have righteousness, it's actually something you wear.

369
00:22:54.111 --> 00:22:54.912
He puts it on you.

370
00:22:56.753 --> 00:23:02.036
You now stand before God and God doesn't see any difference between you and Jesus.

371
00:23:02.537 --> 00:23:02.817
Right.

372
00:23:02.857 --> 00:23:04.598
If you wonder, what is righteousness?

373
00:23:05.218 --> 00:23:07.200
It's right standing with God.

374
00:23:07.800 --> 00:23:10.322
You either have right standing with God or you don't.

375
00:23:11.783 --> 00:23:17.749
Look, you come into God's presence, he's so holy, he dwells in inapproachable light.

376
00:23:18.630 --> 00:23:22.334
You could not even stand in his presence if you didn't have right standing with him.

377
00:23:23.035 --> 00:23:24.056
Get smoked.

378
00:23:25.477 --> 00:23:28.140
So that's why we pray, Father, in the name of Jesus.

379
00:23:28.180 --> 00:23:30.682
That means I'm not sashaying up into your presence all alone.

380
00:23:31.583 --> 00:23:40.530
I'm coming to you in the name of Jesus, the one who changed places with me, the one who gave me his right standing, which is perfect, right?

381
00:23:40.831 --> 00:23:41.551
He gave it to me.

382
00:23:41.871 --> 00:23:46.195
Now I come to you and you treat me, Father, just the same way you treat Jesus.

383
00:23:46.455 --> 00:23:49.037
You hear my prayers just the way you would hear his.

384
00:23:49.558 --> 00:23:52.780
You approve of me and accept me just the same way you do him.

385
00:23:53.521 --> 00:23:54.682
Does anybody believe this here?

386
00:23:54.702 --> 00:23:58.365
Because this is the essence and the core of the gospel.

387
00:23:58.765 --> 00:24:01.348
This will set your prayer life on fire.

388
00:24:01.668 --> 00:24:03.750
This will cause your faith to soar.

389
00:24:04.350 --> 00:24:06.712
Faith, the Bible says, works by love.

390
00:24:07.012 --> 00:24:11.796
But if you're under guilt and shame and condemnation, you're not receiving God's love.

391
00:24:12.017 --> 00:24:15.640
You're too busy feeling guilty, feeling intimidated.

392
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:17.922
Too many Christians, they're walking...

393
00:24:18.983 --> 00:24:24.328
Civil war, and they suffer from this spiritual inferiority complex.

394
00:24:25.029 --> 00:24:26.251
Always beat down.

395
00:24:26.531 --> 00:24:26.831
Beat it.

396
00:24:27.132 --> 00:24:27.993
I'm not good enough.

397
00:24:28.333 --> 00:24:29.274
I'm not holy enough.

398
00:24:29.494 --> 00:24:30.315
I don't pray enough.

399
00:24:30.555 --> 00:24:31.076
I'm not enough.

400
00:24:31.296 --> 00:24:31.897
I'm not enough.

401
00:24:32.057 --> 00:24:32.678
I'm not.

402
00:24:32.698 --> 00:24:39.605
That's why most people backslide and quit Christianity because they can't take the I'm not enough voice anymore.

403
00:24:40.446 --> 00:24:44.547
And they hear that voice mainly in church because preachers tell them you're not enough.

404
00:24:44.987 --> 00:24:46.567
Every Sunday there's another to-do list.

405
00:24:46.728 --> 00:24:47.468
You got to do more.

406
00:24:47.628 --> 00:24:48.308
You got to do more.

407
00:24:48.428 --> 00:24:52.569
You got to, you know, for religion to function, you got to keep the gerbil on the wheel.

408
00:24:59.130 --> 00:25:01.491
Few Christians open up about their own weaknesses.

409
00:25:01.551 --> 00:25:03.031
Everybody puts their best face on.

410
00:25:04.112 --> 00:25:09.433
So suddenly they all psych each other out so then you feel even more not enough.

411
00:25:10.414 --> 00:25:13.856
You know, you pray for 15 minutes, man, I just had an afternoon of prayer.

412
00:25:15.777 --> 00:25:18.278
Then somebody else is like, oh, I'm not praying enough.

413
00:25:19.499 --> 00:25:20.460
Hey, do you read the words?

414
00:25:20.600 --> 00:25:22.641
You go all the time, but people don't know.

415
00:25:22.821 --> 00:25:23.661
It's one verse a day.

416
00:25:25.322 --> 00:25:26.803
Oh, he reads it all the time.

417
00:25:27.383 --> 00:25:28.504
Oh, I'm not enough.

418
00:25:29.985 --> 00:25:32.926
And that's why, that's why they quit.

419
00:25:35.148 --> 00:25:37.269
So let me just ask you a question to see if you're getting it.

420
00:25:38.815 --> 00:25:41.337
And those of you who've heard me ask this question before, resist.

421
00:25:45.501 --> 00:25:47.363
What's the purpose of these tags anyway?

422
00:25:47.383 --> 00:25:48.164
They're just itchy.

423
00:25:53.429 --> 00:25:54.730
Anybody else do that with new clothes?

424
00:25:54.770 --> 00:25:57.353
First thing, I bust out the scissors.

425
00:25:58.674 --> 00:26:00.315
And the tags are getting longer and longer.

426
00:26:01.136 --> 00:26:02.678
Anybody ever shop at Viore?

427
00:26:05.629 --> 00:26:06.509
You know what I'm talking about?

428
00:26:06.809 --> 00:26:10.571
The Viori tag is like a CVS receipt.

429
00:26:10.712 --> 00:26:11.572
It's not that long.

430
00:26:13.253 --> 00:26:16.735
I don't need to have your whole company's manifesto on my tag inside the shirt.

431
00:26:17.436 --> 00:26:18.336
Cut this off.

432
00:26:18.876 --> 00:26:19.997
All right, this is righteousness.

433
00:26:21.578 --> 00:26:23.879
Jesus has given you his righteousness.

434
00:26:24.840 --> 00:26:28.802
So Jesus and you are standing before the Father.

435
00:26:31.484 --> 00:26:32.404
Who's more righteous?

436
00:26:32.444 --> 00:26:33.085
You or Jesus?

437
00:26:38.669 --> 00:26:39.870
We are.

438
00:26:39.890 --> 00:26:40.130
Say it.

439
00:26:43.171 --> 00:26:43.311
We are.

440
00:26:43.331 --> 00:26:44.812
We have Jesus is more righteous.

441
00:26:45.652 --> 00:26:46.832
We have we are more righteous.

442
00:26:48.193 --> 00:26:49.253
Have you ever said this before?

443
00:26:49.273 --> 00:26:50.274
No.

444
00:26:50.294 --> 00:26:50.414
No.

445
00:26:50.814 --> 00:26:50.994
Hold on.

446
00:26:51.014 --> 00:26:51.914
This is very bold of you.

447
00:26:51.994 --> 00:26:52.775
You said the same thing.

448
00:26:52.795 --> 00:26:54.175
All right.

449
00:26:54.195 --> 00:26:56.016
This is, you understand, ma'am.

450
00:26:56.396 --> 00:26:57.076
Say what you said.

451
00:26:57.657 --> 00:26:58.197
We're the same.

452
00:26:59.868 --> 00:27:04.090
Now listen, I'm going to call the theological police on you.

453
00:27:04.750 --> 00:27:08.992
Because what you're saying, you understand, religious people get very upset at what you're saying.

454
00:27:09.872 --> 00:27:11.193
It's very, very brazen.

455
00:27:12.293 --> 00:27:14.414
Very, very, very, very bold.

456
00:27:14.454 --> 00:27:17.095
You're putting yourself on equal footing with Jesus.

457
00:27:17.995 --> 00:27:19.676
You're saying you're the same as him.

458
00:27:20.396 --> 00:27:21.617
Woo, woo, woo.

459
00:27:22.097 --> 00:27:23.278
Religion doesn't like that.

460
00:27:23.298 --> 00:27:26.479
A lot of preachers don't like that because now I can't control you.

461
00:27:29.110 --> 00:27:30.671
And this is the first time you've ever said that.

462
00:27:31.451 --> 00:27:33.052
Is this the first time you ever realized that?

463
00:27:35.534 --> 00:27:36.655
This is what I live for.

464
00:27:37.115 --> 00:27:37.775
How do you feel?

465
00:27:38.136 --> 00:27:39.276
Because you're accurate.

466
00:27:39.577 --> 00:27:40.177
You're right.

467
00:27:41.238 --> 00:27:43.679
When this clicked for me, I first had to check.

468
00:27:43.699 --> 00:27:46.101
I'm like, I don't want to, because I was very afraid of error.

469
00:27:46.981 --> 00:27:50.423
And most, nine out of ten people immediately will say, Jesus is more righteous.

470
00:27:50.783 --> 00:27:51.584
Because they've so been intimidated.

471
00:27:51.624 --> 00:27:52.745
They're so used to being low like a worm.

472
00:27:53.345 --> 00:27:55.506
They're so used to being low like a worm.

473
00:27:56.602 --> 00:28:06.413
But if Jesus has given you his righteousness, now you have the same right standing before God the Father as Jesus.

474
00:28:06.833 --> 00:28:09.356
And by the way, there are no degrees of righteousness.

475
00:28:10.077 --> 00:28:13.280
There is either, it's binary, you is or you ain't.

476
00:28:14.041 --> 00:28:16.384
You can't be more righteous than someone else.

477
00:28:16.724 --> 00:28:18.246
You don't have more right standing.

478
00:28:22.205 --> 00:28:24.586
If you have that, this is righteousness, I have it.

479
00:28:25.247 --> 00:28:26.107
Jesus gave it to me.

480
00:28:26.247 --> 00:28:27.088
You're the same.

481
00:28:27.728 --> 00:28:28.369
You're the same.

482
00:28:28.409 --> 00:28:31.150
And thank you for helping me with that example.

483
00:28:31.791 --> 00:28:32.851
And I'm so proud of you.

484
00:28:33.772 --> 00:28:36.273
And grateful to the Holy Ghost who showed you that.

485
00:28:36.914 --> 00:28:41.777
Because some people can hear the same message 10 times and they still go back home beaten down.

486
00:28:42.337 --> 00:28:44.718
And I ask him the question, they'll go, well, Jesus is more righteous.

487
00:28:45.139 --> 00:28:47.140
Why when he's given you his righteousness?

488
00:28:51.480 --> 00:28:54.901
This changes everything in the way you relate to God.

489
00:28:54.921 --> 00:28:57.542
And you say, oh, it makes you proud, it makes you arrogant.

490
00:28:57.602 --> 00:28:59.543
No, it does the exact opposite.

491
00:29:00.543 --> 00:29:04.625
Because then you realize only then that you have nothing to contribute.

492
00:29:05.305 --> 00:29:07.846
You have nothing to give to God that's going to impress him.

493
00:29:09.067 --> 00:29:11.928
You're just completely dependent on him.

494
00:29:12.168 --> 00:29:15.349
You're completely on the receiving end of his grace.

495
00:29:16.785 --> 00:29:20.106
Religious people, on the other hand, they get very proud.

496
00:29:20.666 --> 00:29:24.227
They get very arrogant because they think they can help a savior out.

497
00:29:25.588 --> 00:29:34.290
They think that because they lit a candle, read the Bible X number of hours, maybe gave some alms, gave to the church, now they're more righteous.

498
00:29:34.810 --> 00:29:35.991
And then they wanna tell you about it.

499
00:29:36.951 --> 00:29:44.253
They wanna boast, they wanna share, they think they're growing, but... You know, my unbelieving friends,

500
00:29:45.513 --> 00:29:51.901
They think that, because this is how the world believes, they think that, like, I have special access to God because of what I do.

501
00:29:53.182 --> 00:30:01.432
And they'll be, like, doing something like playing a game of poker, and they'll be like, hey, can you, like, send a blessing my way?

502
00:30:01.452 --> 00:30:02.013
I need some help.

503
00:30:03.252 --> 00:30:06.513
And I'll joke, I'll be like, why do you think I can do that and you can't?

504
00:30:06.653 --> 00:30:09.715
You know, I want to get into God's not going to bless your poker game or anything like that.

505
00:30:09.735 --> 00:30:11.456
Yeah, that'll be the next time.

506
00:30:11.496 --> 00:30:15.557
But, well, you know, you're closer to God because, you know, you're a pastor.

507
00:30:15.577 --> 00:30:16.418
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

508
00:30:17.978 --> 00:30:20.339
Do you, how do you think I approach God?

509
00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:23.161
Do you think I bring him my resume?

510
00:30:24.021 --> 00:30:27.703
Like, we've done, we've done in the natural some mildly impressive things.

511
00:30:28.143 --> 00:30:30.024
Like, we've built close to 50 people.

512
00:30:31.150 --> 00:30:33.392
churches slash community centers in Guatemala.

513
00:30:33.932 --> 00:30:42.938
Do you think I come to God and go, hey, God, in case you forgot, since 2009, I mean, man, we've really ripped it up in Guatemala.

514
00:30:43.679 --> 00:30:44.539
I mean, I'm your boy.

515
00:30:46.581 --> 00:30:50.384
Whatever I tell God, that's my own work, my own effort.

516
00:30:51.064 --> 00:30:52.765
Not only is it unimpressive to him.

517
00:30:54.006 --> 00:30:54.446
Okay, great.

518
00:30:54.466 --> 00:30:55.187
We'll do this visual.

519
00:30:55.207 --> 00:30:55.307
Okay.

520
00:30:56.946 --> 00:30:58.267
You can dislike me later for it.

521
00:30:58.728 --> 00:31:07.175
The Bible says, in Isaiah, it says, all your works, all your good stuff is like a filthy rag to me.

522
00:31:08.836 --> 00:31:10.157
And the Bible pulls no punches.

523
00:31:10.838 --> 00:31:12.479
Look up in Hebrew what filthy rag is.

524
00:31:13.040 --> 00:31:13.960
It's a menstrual rag.

525
00:31:15.101 --> 00:31:17.223
God says, that's what that's like to me.

526
00:31:19.605 --> 00:31:22.668
When you come and you try to impress me with your good works.

527
00:31:22.968 --> 00:31:24.910
Because me, without Jesus,

528
00:31:26.417 --> 00:31:27.598
I am an enemy of God.

529
00:31:29.380 --> 00:31:31.382
I am a complete affront to him.

530
00:31:32.447 --> 00:31:36.389
But because of Jesus' righteousness, he forever accepts me.

531
00:31:36.689 --> 00:31:38.290
He forever approves of me.

532
00:31:38.590 --> 00:31:43.533
When I go and ask him for something, it's like Jesus himself asking him for something.

533
00:31:43.593 --> 00:31:47.575
And when this shift happens, I'm telling you, your whole life starts to click and flow.

534
00:31:47.795 --> 00:31:49.076
And prayers start getting answered.

535
00:31:49.296 --> 00:31:51.077
And Christianity becomes enjoyable.

536
00:31:51.297 --> 00:31:54.539
And your relationship with the Lord becomes fiery.

537
00:31:54.919 --> 00:31:56.800
He starts visiting you in the night hours.

538
00:31:57.020 --> 00:31:58.941
You start feeling his Holy Ghost.

539
00:31:59.642 --> 00:32:01.322
Miracles start popping like popcorn.

540
00:32:01.342 --> 00:32:01.643
Popcorn.

541
00:32:02.483 --> 00:32:16.891
When you get up from under feelings and guilt and shame and condemnation and get a revelation of the finished work of the cross, the power of the blood of Jesus, and total forgiveness of sins.

542
00:32:17.392 --> 00:32:22.875
I want to just submit to you that too many Christians actually don't believe that all of their sins are forgiven.

543
00:32:24.716 --> 00:32:25.896
I meet them all the time.

544
00:32:26.397 --> 00:32:27.497
Well, you don't know what I've done.

545
00:32:27.517 --> 00:32:28.078
Uh-oh.

546
00:32:29.350 --> 00:32:31.391
Ooh, last of the big time sinners here.

547
00:32:31.772 --> 00:32:33.573
Tell me, shock me, what have you done?

548
00:32:35.174 --> 00:32:38.536
And then they tell me and I go, man, that is bad.

549
00:32:40.397 --> 00:32:43.358
I mean, your sin is so big and so bad.

550
00:32:43.999 --> 00:32:48.601
I think even the blood of Jesus is intimidated by the severity of your sin.

551
00:32:53.624 --> 00:32:57.647
You don't even get why so many of our biblical heroes were murderers.

552
00:32:59.249 --> 00:33:00.829
like multiple homicides.

553
00:33:02.750 --> 00:33:11.933
Why the guy who wrote over half the New Testament, his track record is multiple homicides of Christians, by the way.

554
00:33:14.474 --> 00:33:20.496
You think you're so big and so bad that the blood of Jesus can't undo what you've done?

555
00:33:22.696 --> 00:33:24.677
And some people think that's like a holy thought.

556
00:33:25.611 --> 00:33:27.711
That's false humility to the nth degree.

557
00:33:28.432 --> 00:33:33.173
And what you're actually saying is that you're somehow tougher and stronger than Jesus' finished work.

558
00:33:34.433 --> 00:33:35.513
You need to repent of that.

559
00:33:38.674 --> 00:33:39.334
Hallelujah.

560
00:33:40.914 --> 00:33:42.555
So let's see who you really are.

561
00:33:42.775 --> 00:33:43.255
You ready?

562
00:33:45.115 --> 00:33:46.655
Can't be based on your feelings.

563
00:33:47.376 --> 00:33:48.636
Got to be based on the word.

564
00:33:49.176 --> 00:33:50.116
What does the word say?

565
00:33:50.496 --> 00:33:51.516
Let's go to Colossians.

566
00:33:52.677 --> 00:33:53.877
Man, I'll drink to that.

567
00:33:58.698 --> 00:34:13.403
This is a great verse because it not only paints an accurate picture of who you are post-Christ, it paints an accurate picture, which is important to know, who you and I were pre-Christ, B.C., before Christ.

568
00:34:14.323 --> 00:34:19.565
And you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.

569
00:34:20.045 --> 00:34:21.326
That is rich right there.

570
00:34:21.866 --> 00:34:23.166
We were alienated.

571
00:34:23.206 --> 00:34:25.147
That means we were not in the nation of God.

572
00:34:26.333 --> 00:34:27.934
We were not a part of the family of God.

573
00:34:28.294 --> 00:34:29.575
We were outcasts.

574
00:34:29.975 --> 00:34:30.996
We were rejected.

575
00:34:31.676 --> 00:34:36.279
The wrath of God in Ephesians says was abiding on us.

576
00:34:37.639 --> 00:34:43.723
I remember at 16, that Friday night, which just I celebrated my birthday a couple of weeks ago.

577
00:34:43.743 --> 00:34:47.325
It was August 14th, 1992, that I gave my life to Jesus.

578
00:34:48.205 --> 00:34:55.169
I remember as I was getting saved, I remember that distinct knowing of I am an enemy of God.

579
00:34:56.465 --> 00:34:58.325
At the same time, I know he loves me.

580
00:34:59.006 --> 00:35:00.686
I know that he's drawing me close to him.

581
00:35:01.246 --> 00:35:04.307
But I also know that I'm worthy of hell.

582
00:35:04.527 --> 00:35:06.727
That's where I'm going and I'm deserving of hell.

583
00:35:07.427 --> 00:35:10.088
Unless I receive what Jesus did for me.

584
00:35:10.768 --> 00:35:15.949
You who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.

585
00:35:16.569 --> 00:35:21.810
Yet now, because of the cross, because of the blood, he has reconciled.

586
00:35:22.930 --> 00:35:32.213
in the body of his flesh through death, and now to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight.

587
00:35:32.533 --> 00:35:33.754
That is who you are now.

588
00:35:34.954 --> 00:35:36.355
So you are holy.

589
00:35:37.315 --> 00:35:38.335
That's how you're presented.

590
00:35:38.355 --> 00:35:39.636
Well, I don't feel that way.

591
00:35:39.956 --> 00:35:44.397
Well, biblical truth doesn't care about your feelings.

592
00:35:45.638 --> 00:35:45.998
Amen.

593
00:35:51.150 --> 00:35:52.851
You are blameless.

594
00:35:52.951 --> 00:35:54.071
Say that, I am holy.

595
00:35:55.311 --> 00:35:56.212
I am blameless.

596
00:35:56.232 --> 00:36:00.133
The devil loves to heap shame on God's people.

597
00:36:00.453 --> 00:36:02.454
Remember when you go and pray, he's there with the blowgun?

598
00:36:03.954 --> 00:36:08.616
He could get you with some insecurities.

599
00:36:12.077 --> 00:36:13.638
You're above reproach.

600
00:36:18.193 --> 00:36:20.855
Someone says, but pastor, there's this sin addiction I have.

601
00:36:22.196 --> 00:36:24.758
And, you know, I live like in this shame cycle.

602
00:36:25.619 --> 00:36:28.521
I mean, what you're telling me is nice, but how do I break out of the cycle?

603
00:36:31.583 --> 00:36:35.226
Focus on what Jesus did and it'll break you out of the cycle.

604
00:36:36.690 --> 00:36:43.012
That means you may go through a period of feeling ashamed, but receive the antidote.

605
00:36:43.612 --> 00:36:46.592
The antidote is the finished work.

606
00:36:46.612 --> 00:36:47.353
Let me rephrase it.

607
00:36:47.433 --> 00:36:52.854
The antidote is you reiterating over and over again who you are in Christ.

608
00:36:53.894 --> 00:36:56.115
This message could simply be titled, Who You Are in Christ.

609
00:36:57.555 --> 00:37:01.216
I basically have about 10 sermons, each with 50 different titles.

610
00:37:04.955 --> 00:37:09.297
Maybe we should open up a staff position where they just come up with sermon titles for me.

611
00:37:10.037 --> 00:37:11.478
It's like, what's he preaching on next Sunday?

612
00:37:11.498 --> 00:37:12.558
The finished work of Christ.

613
00:37:13.338 --> 00:37:14.139
Find another title.

614
00:37:14.199 --> 00:37:15.139
What about the Sunday after that?

615
00:37:15.399 --> 00:37:18.140
Grace, the blood, the finished work of Christ.

616
00:37:18.160 --> 00:37:19.621
We're going to have another title for that.

617
00:37:22.402 --> 00:37:24.543
That was a lot funnier than you let on, but okay.

618
00:37:24.803 --> 00:37:25.283
Moving on.

619
00:37:26.024 --> 00:37:29.185
I feel my feelings a little hurt, but I'm going to shake it off.

620
00:37:33.295 --> 00:37:34.095
Hallelujah.

621
00:37:34.715 --> 00:37:35.736
Let's look at Ephesians.

622
00:37:37.096 --> 00:37:38.436
Is this ministering to anybody?

623
00:37:39.156 --> 00:37:41.117
This is the message that changed my life.

624
00:37:42.457 --> 00:37:43.217
Listen, can I tell you?

625
00:37:44.857 --> 00:37:52.579
When you guys, how many of you want things to change, right?

626
00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:54.699
I want things to change, a dynamic life.

627
00:37:55.659 --> 00:37:58.700
Your number one enemy to change is your own mentality.

628
00:38:00.376 --> 00:38:02.278
People are afraid of change.

629
00:38:02.338 --> 00:38:04.019
They're actually afraid of promotion.

630
00:38:04.620 --> 00:38:11.126
When the Lord started rapidly promoting us, if you're new, I'll make it real quick.

631
00:38:11.866 --> 00:38:22.235
My wife and I married in 2012, been in ministry, me, since the year 2000, started City Light in 2002.

632
00:38:23.817 --> 00:38:27.400
Things had been good, things had been wonderful, but financially things were always good.

633
00:38:28.598 --> 00:38:29.499
they were okay.

634
00:38:29.899 --> 00:38:32.622
They just weren't prosperous.

635
00:38:32.843 --> 00:38:34.024
We were debt free.

636
00:38:34.064 --> 00:38:42.113
Somehow we kind of ate where we want, we vacationed, but at any given time, we had about $1,000 to $1,500 in our bank account.

637
00:38:43.014 --> 00:38:43.715
That's not fun.

638
00:38:45.223 --> 00:38:45.983
That's how we lived.

639
00:38:46.183 --> 00:38:54.666
And by the way, and I was very cognizant that that's actually better than most people because most people live like that, but they also have $30,000 in credit card debt.

640
00:38:55.126 --> 00:38:58.127
But we just made a decision we're not going to be in credit card debt.

641
00:38:58.627 --> 00:38:59.628
But there's this one thing, see...

642
00:39:00.548 --> 00:39:02.150
I opted out of Social Security.

643
00:39:02.230 --> 00:39:03.251
Ministers get to do that.

644
00:39:03.411 --> 00:39:05.173
People think ministers get all these tax breaks.

645
00:39:05.193 --> 00:39:05.493
We don't.

646
00:39:05.513 --> 00:39:10.478
We pay the same taxes as everyone else, except we can opt out of Social Security once.

647
00:39:10.858 --> 00:39:13.340
You only get to make that decision once, and then you don't pay.

648
00:39:13.921 --> 00:39:23.010
That's 8.5%, by the way, that you're paying because the government's robbing you and borrowing from you now so they can pay people that haven't been born yet.

649
00:39:24.031 --> 00:39:25.352
That's another story for another time.

650
00:39:26.894 --> 00:39:29.056
So I'm 24 years old and I opt out.

651
00:39:29.096 --> 00:39:31.097
That means I don't get any social security.

652
00:39:31.117 --> 00:39:33.059
I have zero save for retirement.

653
00:39:33.559 --> 00:39:35.020
And I start approaching the Lord.

654
00:39:35.140 --> 00:39:36.021
Now it's my 40s.

655
00:39:36.881 --> 00:39:37.602
Lord, help me.

656
00:39:37.762 --> 00:39:38.522
Give me a solution.

657
00:39:38.563 --> 00:39:39.543
This is no bueno.

658
00:39:41.064 --> 00:39:43.506
And in 2019, I discovered Bitcoin.

659
00:39:44.847 --> 00:39:48.049
Bought one whole Bitcoin, but didn't even know what it was.

660
00:39:48.129 --> 00:39:48.730
Didn't care.

661
00:39:50.155 --> 00:39:52.837
It was kind of illiterate in that regard completely.

662
00:39:52.857 --> 00:39:56.359
It was just like, you know, when you don't have money, you kind of just go to the casino.

663
00:39:56.519 --> 00:39:57.240
Yay, Lord.

664
00:39:57.280 --> 00:40:00.722
But I felt a little, but in 2020, COVID comes, shuts everything down.

665
00:40:00.742 --> 00:40:02.783
Now I have time to study this thing out.

666
00:40:03.564 --> 00:40:07.026
And the more I learn, it takes about 200 man hours to actually get it.

667
00:40:10.408 --> 00:40:11.529
I discover what it is.

668
00:40:12.150 --> 00:40:15.392
And I realized this is what I've been looking for.

669
00:40:16.146 --> 00:40:18.529
I've been looking for a store of value.

670
00:40:19.369 --> 00:40:26.397
As unsophisticated as I am, I get that the government printing trillions of dollars cannot lead to anyplace good.

671
00:40:26.437 --> 00:40:29.060
We're now officially, by the way, $40 trillion in the hole.

672
00:40:29.961 --> 00:40:31.422
It's unsustainable.

673
00:40:31.663 --> 00:40:33.585
That means the dollar is going to be devalued.

674
00:40:33.865 --> 00:40:34.886
Inflation is going to rise.

675
00:40:34.906 --> 00:40:35.927
They just keep printing more.

676
00:40:35.947 --> 00:40:38.470
But Bitcoin, there's only ever 21 million of.

677
00:40:38.750 --> 00:40:40.111
you can make more.

678
00:40:40.511 --> 00:40:43.513
So it's actually programmed digital scarcity.

679
00:40:43.993 --> 00:40:45.374
It is true scarcity.

680
00:40:45.694 --> 00:40:48.416
It's the most truest, scarcest thing on the planet.

681
00:40:48.436 --> 00:40:49.537
You say, well, gold is scarce.

682
00:40:49.837 --> 00:40:51.218
Yeah, but we don't know what's out there.

683
00:40:52.178 --> 00:40:55.740
The Mariana Trench could bust wide open and 5,000 tons of gold come up.

684
00:40:56.120 --> 00:40:57.041
A meteor can come.

685
00:40:57.301 --> 00:41:01.484
You know, they just discovered a vein of gold in Uganda worth 12 trillion.

686
00:41:02.884 --> 00:41:06.006
Bitcoin, though, there's always... Oh, I'm sorry, the gold bugs.

687
00:41:06.046 --> 00:41:07.127
You know, I love gold, but...

688
00:41:10.365 --> 00:41:12.467
But Bitcoin, there's only ever 21 million of.

689
00:41:14.528 --> 00:41:15.329
Why am I sharing this?

690
00:41:15.349 --> 00:41:16.410
This is for somebody to hear.

691
00:41:16.870 --> 00:41:17.470
Oh, I know why.

692
00:41:17.490 --> 00:41:20.052
I was talking about your mind and how this helps.

693
00:41:20.673 --> 00:41:24.576
So anyway, summer 23, I'm buying Bitcoin.

694
00:41:24.596 --> 00:41:33.963
Summer 23, I put everything we have in long call options in a company called MicroStrategy, which is the single biggest corporate holder of Bitcoin.

695
00:41:34.464 --> 00:41:36.405
And these things go up by over 5,000%.

696
00:41:39.740 --> 00:41:41.801
financially changes our lives forever.

697
00:41:41.882 --> 00:41:43.042
But let me backtrack.

698
00:41:43.182 --> 00:41:47.105
It didn't go up to 5,000% in a straight line.

699
00:41:48.206 --> 00:41:51.368
It was up, down, all over the place.

700
00:41:51.388 --> 00:41:52.249
And I'm watching this.

701
00:41:52.349 --> 00:42:00.795
I'm watching life-changing money, generational wealth one week, and this went on for months, gets sliced and diced the next.

702
00:42:01.375 --> 00:42:04.017
So what's happening in my mind now?

703
00:42:05.851 --> 00:42:21.839
I got very acquainted with how much Satan wants to keep God's people down, how he uses guilt and shame and condemnation, how he comes against your identity in Christ to hit your self-worth.

704
00:42:22.959 --> 00:42:29.983
Because when everything is stripped, when it really stripped away and the battle of life comes, the question is, do you believe you're worthy?

705
00:42:31.658 --> 00:42:44.861
And I realized, wow, even with all that word in me, I have to double down on understanding that God wants me promoted, God wants me successful, and God says I'm worthy, not because I'm good, I'm not good at all, but the blood of Jesus has made me worthy.

706
00:42:45.821 --> 00:42:55.204
That's why you'll notice Madison Avenue, all their marketing campaigns in one way or another are really trying to get you to feel worthy.

707
00:42:55.884 --> 00:43:01.005
You know all those commercials where they show you like a $5,000 silk top, and it's like the voice comes on?

708
00:43:01.765 --> 00:43:02.726
Aren't you worth it?

709
00:43:04.367 --> 00:43:06.409
This car, aren't you worth it?

710
00:43:06.429 --> 00:43:10.092
Because they know, deep down inside, you don't think you're worth it.

711
00:43:10.993 --> 00:43:12.874
But if I can convince you, aren't you worth it?

712
00:43:13.655 --> 00:43:15.877
For men, sir, you work hard.

713
00:43:16.137 --> 00:43:17.699
You provide for your family.

714
00:43:17.999 --> 00:43:20.961
That new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is just waiting for you.

715
00:43:21.262 --> 00:43:22.763
After all, aren't you worth it?

716
00:43:30.083 --> 00:43:34.326
So if you were to ever ask me, what keeps Christians stuck?

717
00:43:35.127 --> 00:43:38.009
Being little livers, nothing ever changing.

718
00:43:40.390 --> 00:43:42.312
They don't feel worthy of promotion.

719
00:43:42.792 --> 00:43:44.193
They don't feel worthy of change.

720
00:43:44.453 --> 00:43:46.775
They don't feel worthy of a God invasion in their life.

721
00:43:48.059 --> 00:43:54.828
They're stuck in a cycle of guilt and shame and condemnation because they never, ever basted in this long.

722
00:43:54.848 --> 00:43:57.051
You can't just get this in this one Sunday sermon.

723
00:43:57.652 --> 00:44:01.277
You know how Uncle Scrooge jumps in the money bin and he's like doing the backstroke?

724
00:44:02.098 --> 00:44:04.341
You got to marinate in this stuff.

725
00:44:04.882 --> 00:44:10.186
You've got to be like Uncle Scrooge and do the backstroke and belly flop cannibal in this word.

726
00:44:10.986 --> 00:44:17.290
Let your mind be renewed to where when I poke you, this truth comes out.

727
00:44:17.571 --> 00:44:19.172
And you know you have been made righteous.

728
00:44:19.232 --> 00:44:20.373
You know you're blameless.

729
00:44:20.393 --> 00:44:24.415
You know you're without blame and made holy before him in love.

730
00:44:26.717 --> 00:44:29.699
That we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

731
00:44:31.540 --> 00:44:32.121
Oh, hallelujah.

732
00:44:32.141 --> 00:44:32.561
Hallelujah.

733
00:44:36.271 --> 00:44:40.313
There's a lot of benefits the Bible promises to righteous people.

734
00:44:41.073 --> 00:44:44.715
Do we have any righteous people at City Light today?

735
00:44:51.357 --> 00:44:52.958
Psalm 3725.

736
00:44:52.998 --> 00:44:56.360
I'll go through these quicker than in the first service because I didn't finish in the first service.

737
00:45:01.462 --> 00:45:03.263
So you'll read these promises in the Bible.

738
00:45:03.283 --> 00:45:03.983
They're conditional.

739
00:45:05.002 --> 00:45:10.926
If you're looking at you and your own behavior and never taking confidence in something you did, you're on the wrong track, buddy.

740
00:45:12.767 --> 00:45:13.908
In fact, I say this with love.

741
00:45:13.928 --> 00:45:14.628
You're messed up.

742
00:45:16.669 --> 00:45:17.650
There's people like that.

743
00:45:17.770 --> 00:45:18.771
I meet them now all the time.

744
00:45:19.031 --> 00:45:29.937
Your default, especially, I say this respectfully, but especially coming out of Catholicism, which my whole unsaved crew, pretty much, they're ex-Catholics.

745
00:45:30.038 --> 00:45:30.598
You say, why are they?

746
00:45:30.618 --> 00:45:31.579
Because they're not anything now.

747
00:45:31.599 --> 00:45:32.039
They're mad.

748
00:45:32.139 --> 00:45:32.619
They're bitter.

749
00:45:32.779 --> 00:45:33.660
They've forsaken the church.

750
00:45:33.680 --> 00:45:34.000
They're bitter.

751
00:45:34.563 --> 00:45:41.145
But that Catholic working for God, trying to please God, trying to do something.

752
00:45:41.485 --> 00:45:42.806
You can't do anything.

753
00:45:42.826 --> 00:45:44.326
He's God all by himself.

754
00:45:45.486 --> 00:45:47.007
You're going to help a savior out?

755
00:45:48.587 --> 00:45:49.588
You're going to contribute?

756
00:45:52.129 --> 00:45:56.550
That's like a billionaire's wife.

757
00:45:56.570 --> 00:45:58.010
You're like, you know, honey, I'm going out.

758
00:45:58.510 --> 00:45:59.551
I think I'm going to get a job.

759
00:46:00.851 --> 00:46:02.872
I'm going to work at that boutique on Saturdays.

760
00:46:04.443 --> 00:46:08.344
And comes back home with $150 and says, here, honey, put it with the rest.

761
00:46:10.465 --> 00:46:14.946
Thank you so much for contributing to the pile.

762
00:46:16.327 --> 00:46:20.988
And that's how people are in their relationship with the Lord.

763
00:46:21.968 --> 00:46:23.229
Let me contribute, Lord.

764
00:46:24.329 --> 00:46:29.131
No, he doesn't need your 150 bucks.

765
00:46:29.151 --> 00:46:30.011
There's a metaphor here.

766
00:46:31.604 --> 00:46:34.313
Somebody's going to cheap out on the offering because I use that as the metaphor.

767
00:46:34.353 --> 00:46:35.357
I don't want that to happen.

768
00:46:39.104 --> 00:46:41.084
All right, I have been young and now I'm old.

769
00:46:41.604 --> 00:46:43.824
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken.

770
00:46:43.844 --> 00:46:44.925
The righteous.

771
00:46:45.165 --> 00:46:46.685
So it's a promise for the righteous.

772
00:46:47.125 --> 00:46:48.525
Do we have any righteous people?

773
00:46:49.025 --> 00:46:50.726
Made righteous by the blood of Jesus.

774
00:46:51.086 --> 00:46:53.526
So you can take confidence you'll never be forsaken.

775
00:46:53.746 --> 00:46:56.347
Your descendants will never be begging bread.

776
00:46:56.747 --> 00:46:58.467
Next verse, Psalm 512.

777
00:46:59.107 --> 00:47:01.928
For thou, Lord, will bless the righteous.

778
00:47:02.964 --> 00:47:06.526
With favor will thou compass him about as with a shield.

779
00:47:07.026 --> 00:47:08.887
This verse you should memorize.

780
00:47:09.228 --> 00:47:11.769
Because the favor of God isn't fair.

781
00:47:12.830 --> 00:47:13.850
Favor ain't fair.

782
00:47:14.951 --> 00:47:16.632
Favor is his favoritism.

783
00:47:19.113 --> 00:47:21.895
People, you know, there's this whole thing with equality now.

784
00:47:23.047 --> 00:47:25.729
There's a liberal doctrine of equality.

785
00:47:25.749 --> 00:47:26.850
We're all equal.

786
00:47:27.410 --> 00:47:28.411
Everything's the same.

787
00:47:28.451 --> 00:47:30.032
It's so unbiblical.

788
00:47:30.052 --> 00:47:30.813
We're all the same.

789
00:47:30.873 --> 00:47:31.793
Everything's the same.

790
00:47:31.873 --> 00:47:32.754
You're all messed up.

791
00:47:33.855 --> 00:47:34.835
We're not all the same.

792
00:47:36.196 --> 00:47:38.198
God didn't make angels all the same.

793
00:47:38.218 --> 00:47:39.319
There's hierarchies.

794
00:47:40.099 --> 00:47:43.682
This might blow your commie mind, but God is a hierarchical God.

795
00:47:45.383 --> 00:47:47.304
And Christians, we want to say, oh, they're all the same.

796
00:47:47.484 --> 00:47:49.326
God loves us all the same.

797
00:47:50.778 --> 00:47:51.539
All right, whatever.

798
00:47:51.859 --> 00:47:54.141
But his favor is not all the same on people.

799
00:47:54.542 --> 00:47:56.283
According to your faith, be it unto you.

800
00:47:57.366 --> 00:47:59.648
You see somebody and they're getting blessed left and right.

801
00:47:59.668 --> 00:48:01.990
That's why you're depressed because you're like, well, God, you love me the same.

802
00:48:02.010 --> 00:48:03.711
Why isn't it working for me like it's working for them?

803
00:48:04.212 --> 00:48:07.194
That guy's under the spout from where the glory's coming out.

804
00:48:07.635 --> 00:48:14.941
That guy's learned how to tap into favor and you're there harrumphing going, well, it's not fair because don't you love us all the... Get his favor.

805
00:48:15.562 --> 00:48:16.803
His favor is awesome.

806
00:48:17.203 --> 00:48:19.445
His favor makes you stick out like a sore thumb.

807
00:48:20.125 --> 00:48:24.910
His favor is like you could be in a room with 20 people and 19 are hungry and you have a full belly.

808
00:48:25.922 --> 00:48:32.408
His favor is a thousand will fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

809
00:48:34.190 --> 00:48:36.893
His favor is in destruction and famine.

810
00:48:36.913 --> 00:48:38.274
You shall laugh.

811
00:48:39.415 --> 00:48:40.116
There.

812
00:48:41.377 --> 00:48:43.900
And with favor, not just in front of you.

813
00:48:45.007 --> 00:48:51.711
All around you, in front of you, to your left, to your right, behind you, over you like a canopy, and undergirding you.

814
00:48:52.031 --> 00:48:58.174
With favor, he'll compass you round about, but only, that's a promise only, to the righteous.

815
00:48:59.775 --> 00:49:00.296
Come on, man.

816
00:49:00.416 --> 00:49:01.316
Five people shout.

817
00:49:02.877 --> 00:49:09.541
See, when I first got saved, I read this, and if I was having a bad week with the Lord, I'd read that and go, well, I guess I don't qualify.

818
00:49:11.390 --> 00:49:11.670
Wow.

819
00:49:12.971 --> 00:49:16.293
Or I would think, what do I have to do to qualify for this?

820
00:49:16.353 --> 00:49:16.894
Psalm 512.

821
00:49:17.714 --> 00:49:19.816
I really want to be encompassed with your favor.

822
00:49:20.176 --> 00:49:22.157
What do I have to do for you, God?

823
00:49:22.177 --> 00:49:23.498
Just name it, I'll do anything.

824
00:49:24.499 --> 00:49:27.060
See, our religious mind wants to do, do, do.

825
00:49:27.621 --> 00:49:29.002
That's why we smell like doo-doo.

826
00:49:31.053 --> 00:49:34.475
When the finished work of the cross is done, are you hearing this church?

827
00:49:34.955 --> 00:49:36.676
It's done, done, done.

828
00:49:36.937 --> 00:49:38.097
You don't have to do-do.

829
00:49:38.317 --> 00:49:42.180
You have to believe in the one and trust in the one who did it all for you.

830
00:49:43.979 --> 00:49:44.840
Hallelujah.

831
00:49:45.781 --> 00:49:51.205
So I read this and I don't think, wow, what good things have I done for you, Lord, that now you should put your favor on me.

832
00:49:51.585 --> 00:49:55.348
I think, Lord, I receive Jesus and his righteousness.

833
00:49:55.629 --> 00:49:59.372
And when you look at me, you don't see one speckle or spot of sin in me.

834
00:49:59.692 --> 00:50:05.137
Not because my behavior is flawless, but because Jesus's work on the cross is flawless.

835
00:50:05.497 --> 00:50:06.558
And he transferred me.

836
00:50:06.958 --> 00:50:10.881
His A grade, like I took an exam before God, you took an exam, you know what we got?

837
00:50:11.181 --> 00:50:14.383
Not a C, not a D, an F minus.

838
00:50:15.905 --> 00:50:18.326
And Jesus got an A, a perfect A.

839
00:50:18.587 --> 00:50:24.851
And then Jesus erased his name off the top of the exam and put your name there and presented it to the Father.

840
00:50:25.291 --> 00:50:29.394
So now you have an A plus, plus, plus, plus with extra credit, gold star happy face on it.

841
00:50:31.576 --> 00:50:32.337
Hallelujah.

842
00:50:34.118 --> 00:50:34.798
Psalm 84, 11 says,

843
00:50:42.291 --> 00:50:47.475
I feel happy because I feel like I've preached myself happy.

844
00:50:48.295 --> 00:50:54.079
And I feel like a good number of people are finally, finally breaking through.

845
00:50:54.099 --> 00:50:58.182
And somebody is going to have fun in prayer and actually get results this week.

846
00:50:59.283 --> 00:51:00.243
Hallelujah.

847
00:51:02.245 --> 00:51:04.126
For the Lord God is a sun and shield.

848
00:51:04.246 --> 00:51:06.588
The Lord will give grace and glory.

849
00:51:06.628 --> 00:51:06.828
Glory.

850
00:51:08.219 --> 00:51:10.181
Oh, by the way, I didn't say this in the first service.

851
00:51:12.143 --> 00:51:13.625
The Lord will give grace and glory.

852
00:51:15.567 --> 00:51:16.167
What does that mean?

853
00:51:16.187 --> 00:51:25.237
I mean, what does glory in that context mean?

854
00:51:26.598 --> 00:51:30.022
See, I've secretly been trying to offend people.

855
00:51:31.864 --> 00:51:33.065
Offense is a beautiful thing.

856
00:51:33.105 --> 00:51:34.105
Jesus used it often.

857
00:51:34.665 --> 00:51:41.868
It exposes not how offensive I can be, but how sensitive and easily offendable you are.

858
00:51:43.629 --> 00:51:44.929
So here's what glory means.

859
00:51:46.030 --> 00:51:46.910
That's why I'm standing up.

860
00:51:48.411 --> 00:51:48.711
Money.

861
00:51:50.492 --> 00:51:50.772
Money.

862
00:51:51.872 --> 00:51:52.453
Money.

863
00:51:53.473 --> 00:51:55.294
Money, money, money, money, money.

864
00:51:56.683 --> 00:51:57.063
Money.

865
00:51:57.304 --> 00:51:57.944
You don't like it?

866
00:51:57.984 --> 00:51:58.424
Too bad.

867
00:51:58.444 --> 00:51:59.005
It means money.

868
00:51:59.025 --> 00:52:00.786
You're going to check AI?

869
00:52:00.846 --> 00:52:01.066
Good.

870
00:52:01.127 --> 00:52:01.467
Check it.

871
00:52:01.507 --> 00:52:02.067
It means money.

872
00:52:03.208 --> 00:52:05.590
You're going to harumph it.

873
00:52:05.630 --> 00:52:05.970
Sorry.

874
00:52:05.990 --> 00:52:06.551
It means money.

875
00:52:08.312 --> 00:52:09.113
That's what it means.

876
00:52:11.414 --> 00:52:18.680
The first time the word glory was used, and there is the first use principle in theological interpretation, the first use principle.

877
00:52:20.357 --> 00:52:26.860
The first time the word glory was used was that Abraham's beasts of burden were so kabod.

878
00:52:27.500 --> 00:52:32.723
The word for glory, kabod, it means heavy laden with treasure.

879
00:52:33.563 --> 00:52:37.605
See, your American 2026 mind, this doesn't mean anything.

880
00:52:37.625 --> 00:52:39.125
For the Lord will give grace and glory.

881
00:52:39.145 --> 00:52:39.826
What do you think glory is?

882
00:52:39.886 --> 00:52:40.486
Pixie dust?

883
00:52:41.927 --> 00:52:42.727
Oh, give me glory.

884
00:52:42.747 --> 00:52:43.267
Oh yeah.

885
00:52:43.327 --> 00:52:44.148
What, good vibes?

886
00:52:44.188 --> 00:52:45.188
Hashtag good vibes?

887
00:52:47.169 --> 00:52:48.930
That's why you read that and didn't get excited.

888
00:52:50.792 --> 00:52:59.180
Somebody, a Hebrew living back then, that's saying, God Almighty, El Elyon, El Shaddai.

889
00:53:01.422 --> 00:53:07.848
Jesus will give you grace and prosperity, abundance.

890
00:53:08.668 --> 00:53:12.252
Word glory, material wealth and possessions.

891
00:53:15.568 --> 00:53:16.409
And people read glory.

892
00:53:16.429 --> 00:53:16.949
What does that mean?

893
00:53:17.109 --> 00:53:18.751
A wave of fog in the air?

894
00:53:19.812 --> 00:53:21.153
No good things.

895
00:53:21.193 --> 00:53:22.654
We're still talking about things.

896
00:53:23.034 --> 00:53:24.536
I don't like that city light pastor.

897
00:53:24.556 --> 00:53:26.537
He's so materialistic talking about things.

898
00:53:27.578 --> 00:53:28.699
Take it up with the Bible.

899
00:53:31.762 --> 00:53:32.102
Amen.

900
00:53:33.003 --> 00:53:34.003
He wants you to have things.

901
00:53:34.144 --> 00:53:34.944
Lots and lots of things.

902
00:53:35.244 --> 00:53:38.187
He'll get the things to you if he knows he can get them through you.

903
00:53:39.548 --> 00:53:40.409
Hallelujah.

904
00:53:42.118 --> 00:53:46.801
No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly.

905
00:53:47.361 --> 00:53:49.323
That's why I walk so uprightly.

906
00:53:49.703 --> 00:53:51.964
And I remind God of how upright I am.

907
00:53:51.984 --> 00:53:56.367
And when I pray, I tell him, Lord, you know, we feed the homeless.

908
00:53:57.228 --> 00:53:58.969
And Lord, I'm such a good Christian.

909
00:53:59.849 --> 00:54:00.290
I'm kidding.

910
00:54:00.330 --> 00:54:01.030
I never do that.

911
00:54:02.331 --> 00:54:03.392
A lightning bolt would strike me.

912
00:54:03.472 --> 00:54:06.053
I hope to knock the nonsense out of my head.

913
00:54:08.675 --> 00:54:11.037
For those who walk, I don't walk uprightly.

914
00:54:11.948 --> 00:54:14.209
But Jesus walked perfectly uprightly.

915
00:54:14.810 --> 00:54:17.471
And so I don't take my confidence in my own walk.

916
00:54:18.431 --> 00:54:19.492
That embarrasses me.

917
00:54:23.914 --> 00:54:27.416
You ever meet the religious person who wants to boast to you about how great their walk is?

918
00:54:28.237 --> 00:54:31.338
What would be awesome is if Jesus showed up and actually exposed them.

919
00:54:32.959 --> 00:54:34.520
Which, by the way, he does do that.

920
00:54:34.880 --> 00:54:36.861
He did that to the rich young ruler.

921
00:54:37.362 --> 00:54:39.603
The rich young ruler probably...

922
00:54:41.410 --> 00:54:45.432
externally had like his own great walk, right?

923
00:54:45.472 --> 00:54:49.734
And he said, I do this, I do that, I do everything correctly.

924
00:54:50.094 --> 00:54:51.875
And Jesus is like, uh-huh, tough guy.

925
00:54:52.795 --> 00:54:53.635
I know who your God is.

926
00:54:53.655 --> 00:54:54.376
Your God is money.

927
00:54:54.736 --> 00:54:57.917
So I'm gonna put my finger right on that thing that's captivating your heart.

928
00:54:57.937 --> 00:55:00.298
And he says to him, go and sell everything you have.

929
00:55:00.338 --> 00:55:04.820
By the way, it's not a commandment to every Christian to go and sell everything they have and give to the poor.

930
00:55:05.480 --> 00:55:06.961
Commies love to quote that today.

931
00:55:07.741 --> 00:55:08.522
If that was true...

932
00:55:10.736 --> 00:55:18.120
If every Christian is supposed to sell and give it all away, Paul wouldn't have written Timothy and said, hey, to the wealthy people in your church, teach them this.

933
00:55:18.420 --> 00:55:19.081
There'd be no wealth.

934
00:55:20.161 --> 00:55:26.184
Commies, they want, what they really hate is that there be generational wealth within the church.

935
00:55:26.725 --> 00:55:33.488
They love Christians with a poverty mindset who think they should just give everything away so that every generation is starting from scratch.

936
00:55:35.489 --> 00:55:37.951
Because commies actually hate powerful people.

937
00:55:38.451 --> 00:55:40.132
And in this world, money is power.

938
00:55:41.310 --> 00:55:42.950
And communists want to take that from you.

939
00:55:44.551 --> 00:55:46.551
So, say no to communism.

940
00:55:47.672 --> 00:55:47.952
Amen.

941
00:55:48.132 --> 00:55:49.372
I was born in communism.

942
00:55:49.932 --> 00:55:53.313
I have memories of singing songs to my dictator, pledging my...

943
00:55:54.374 --> 00:55:55.894
I'd wear the little hat with the ribbon.

944
00:55:56.354 --> 00:55:57.615
There's a picture with me with the ribbon.

945
00:55:58.235 --> 00:56:02.236
Druze Tito, mi ti secune.

946
00:56:02.736 --> 00:56:05.377
It's comrade Tito, to you I pledge my allegiance.

947
00:56:06.397 --> 00:56:06.777
Yeah.

948
00:56:07.837 --> 00:56:09.218
I'm not 150 years old.

949
00:56:09.238 --> 00:56:09.698
This was like...

950
00:56:11.017 --> 00:56:11.718
45 years ago.

951
00:56:11.738 --> 00:56:12.678
It's not that long ago.

952
00:56:14.680 --> 00:56:15.580
Hallelujah.

953
00:56:17.041 --> 00:56:18.382
Man, do you want to hear more scriptures?

954
00:56:18.482 --> 00:56:19.503
Or I think you're full.

955
00:56:20.584 --> 00:56:21.224
All right, one more.

956
00:56:21.685 --> 00:56:23.086
I got a list here.

957
00:56:23.146 --> 00:56:26.288
Let me pick the best of the bunch.

958
00:56:28.629 --> 00:56:28.770
Oh.

959
00:56:33.513 --> 00:56:34.814
Oh, 15.6.

960
00:56:34.874 --> 00:56:37.095
Just because I offended, I fell some people with money.

961
00:56:37.936 --> 00:56:39.257
So I want to offend you more.

962
00:56:57.681 --> 00:57:07.023
In the house of the righteous, in the house of the righteous, there is much treasure.

963
00:57:09.992 --> 00:57:11.194
because there's these people.

964
00:57:11.594 --> 00:57:14.879
They think there's something inherently holy about being poor.

965
00:57:16.021 --> 00:57:17.302
They love poverty.

966
00:57:18.564 --> 00:57:21.628
And now I'm messing with their whole life's mindset.

967
00:57:22.469 --> 00:57:25.414
I pray for them they don't have a mental collapse when they leave here.

968
00:57:26.665 --> 00:57:29.147
Because they ascribe a virtue to poverty.

969
00:57:29.967 --> 00:57:33.149
I spent my life ministering of impoverished nations.

970
00:57:33.770 --> 00:57:35.331
There's nothing holy about them.

971
00:57:36.011 --> 00:57:41.815
Impoverished nations you'll find all manner of wickedness and horror and sin.

972
00:57:44.377 --> 00:57:47.439
Religious poverty minded people want to reverse this scripture.

973
00:57:47.700 --> 00:57:49.201
I really forgot this was on the list.

974
00:57:49.641 --> 00:57:51.782
I went through the list like let me pick the funnest one.

975
00:57:52.203 --> 00:57:53.864
Then I saw this that really tickled me.

976
00:57:54.913 --> 00:57:59.277
In the house of the righteous, there is much treasure.

977
00:58:02.520 --> 00:58:06.343
But in the revenue of the wicked is trouble.

978
00:58:07.884 --> 00:58:08.625
Hallelujah.

979
00:58:11.047 --> 00:58:11.788
Hallelujah.

980
00:58:13.869 --> 00:58:18.774
So now you might, you might now go back to your home and go, doesn't look like much treasure here.

981
00:58:23.263 --> 00:58:28.086
So either God's wrong or you're wrong.

982
00:58:29.728 --> 00:58:35.552
So if you're wrong, which you are, then you can invite God to come and make it right.

983
00:58:36.352 --> 00:58:40.315
See, what I would do then is go, in the house of the righteous, there is much treasure.

984
00:58:40.895 --> 00:58:43.697
Lord Jesus, I know according to your word, I have been made righteous.

985
00:58:44.178 --> 00:58:46.079
But right now in my house, it's kind of crickets.

986
00:58:47.320 --> 00:58:50.222
All this Ikea furniture, I don't think qualifies as much treasure.

987
00:58:50.963 --> 00:58:52.604
So I am trusting you.

988
00:58:54.638 --> 00:58:55.419
to promote me.

989
00:58:56.179 --> 00:59:02.225
I am trusting you to make this Bible verse come alive in my life.

990
00:59:03.085 --> 00:59:03.866
Hallelujah.

991
00:59:04.607 --> 00:59:09.952
Just because I'm not living it right now doesn't make it not true.

992
00:59:10.632 --> 00:59:13.895
But let God be true and every man a liar.

993
00:59:14.796 --> 00:59:15.576
Hallelujah.

994
00:59:15.617 --> 00:59:16.898
Worship team, come on up.

995
00:59:17.458 --> 00:59:19.640
This is the City Light Church podcast.

996
00:59:20.040 --> 00:59:29.367
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.

997
00:59:29.667 --> 00:59:32.389
That's CityLightNYC.com.

998
00:59:32.850 --> 00:59:35.892
Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime.

999
00:59:36.352 --> 00:59:37.893
We would love to connect with you.

1000
00:59:38.794 --> 00:59:46.401
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.

1001
00:59:47.182 --> 00:59:48.122
Thank you for listening.

1002
00:59:48.603 --> 00:59:54.088
Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church Podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.