WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:16.000 You can have a friend, but really the Lord has designed it so that, instead of you having to call outward for help and then waiting for it to come, you're supposed to reach out to that which is already available that he provided which is family. 2 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:26.000 So your brother was literally born for adversity. He was born to be with you in the struggle. He was born to be there to be your support. Your sister was there. 3 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:35.000 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. 4 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:44.000 If you want to connect with City Light Church, feel free to visit us at citylightnyc.com, that's citylightnyc.com. 5 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Pastor Boyan Jansik and his team believe that the power of the Holy Spirit is already working in our hearts and minds. 6 00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:03.000 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. 7 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:07.000 All right, who's ready for the Word? 8 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:15.000 So again, my name is Muhammad. I'm one of the pastors here. I'm privileged to deliver the Word of God today. 9 00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:23.000 Why thank you for that? This one person is super excited about. Amen. 10 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:35.000 Today, we're going to preach about family matters, and if your mind immediately went to an old sitcom, and your heart is on, 11 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:43.000 you're going to be a little bit more powerful than guess what? You've come to the right place. That is exactly why the Lord gave me that title. 12 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:49.000 I was thinking about it too. Showing my age a little bit, but I don't care. 13 00:01:49.000 --> 00:01:59.000 So in most of my sermons, there comes a point when we insert what we call pasture time or story time with pasture mo. 14 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:04.000 It's just a requirement, so I figured let's just get it out of the way quick and early. Amen. All right. 15 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:11.000 My brother and sister are eight and nine years older than me respectively. They're a year apart from each other. 16 00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:19.000 And you would think like with such close proximity that they would have the best relationship, and I quickly learned that that wasn't the case. 17 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:26.000 Now, we have a weird family dynamic because I actually didn't meet my brother and sister till I was three. 18 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:35.000 So I am what you call an African American. And I don't just mean that from like demographic forms and okay, where do you fit your box? 19 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:42.000 No, no, I'm literally an African American. I'm the first person in my immediate family born in this country. 20 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:50.000 My parents are from Sierra Leone, West Africa. And you wouldn't tell it by looking at me, no, hear me, but understand. 21 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:57.000 I know where my roots are from. My people, they are African people. 22 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:03.000 And I know you don't see it every time, but trust me, it's there. Amen. 23 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:14.000 So I'm a true African American. And my parents emigrated over, they went to college, they did the whole immigrant life, made a good life for themselves. 24 00:03:15.000 --> 00:03:19.000 And then when they had the resources, they brought my brother and my sister over. 25 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:24.000 And it's a very hilarious story because my parents told me this and my brother and sister corroborated the story. 26 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:31.000 They said, when I first met them, I smiled. I was like, hey, great to meet you because understand I'm living as an only child for three years. 27 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:39.000 All I know is having all of the attention, all of everything, all the toys, all the chalkboard, all the drawing, everything is mine. 28 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:49.000 And then now I'm introduced to these people. And my mom tells me that I said, hey, it's nice to meet you. And I leaned over to her. 29 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:56.000 And I said, hey, when are we going to send them back? 30 00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:02.000 So that should just tell you about where our dynamic started. Praise God. 31 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:12.000 But unbeknownst to me at the time, they had a rough history together. Although they were only one year apart, they couldn't stand each other. 32 00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:28.000 And I'm not talking about regular like sibling rivalry or sibling conflict. I mean like, they would come to blows so much so that they sent my brother to go live in another village where she couldn't get him. 33 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:36.000 Do you hear what I'm saying? And I'm not throwing shade on them because this is part of their past. This is what happened. This is the truth. 34 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:51.000 And then one time I, you know, as a little kid, you fight about stupid things. And I remember I was arguing with my sister. And my brother leaned them very slowly to me and said, hey, be careful. 35 00:04:51.000 --> 00:05:03.000 What does that mean? Cryptic much. And then my mom informed me like, you know, of their true history. And like, when I had like questioned him and interviewed him, interviewed him about this later. 36 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:10.000 He was just like, listen, she has tried to kill me on multiple fronts. And I don't mean like we had a little tussle. No, she's tried to kill me. 37 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:16.000 I said, oh, you know, step accordingly after that. Praise God. 38 00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:27.000 But here's the thing. You don't get to choose your family. Amen? 39 00:05:27.000 --> 00:05:41.000 Proverbs 17, 17 says this, a friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity. I remember I read that as early Christian. I was like, see? 40 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:50.000 I know it. These joke is. But really, I didn't have the revelation that the Lord wanted me to have because that's not at all what that verse is speaking about. 41 00:05:50.000 --> 00:06:01.000 So the Bible says that a friend loves at all times. There's a difference between a friend and family. What's cool about a friend is you choose that relationship. 42 00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:14.000 It's based on similar interests, ideals, and general likes. So when you like something, and I like something, we like that thing together. And the minute you don't like that thing, well, I'm leaving. 43 00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:24.000 Out here talking nonsense, like as if Air Jordan's don't be all right, which is going to leave it alone. We don't leave it alone. But there's something to that camaraderie. 44 00:06:24.000 --> 00:06:31.000 But there's also something to the fact that friendships can easily just be cut off. 45 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:38.000 Because when you come to the limit and you come to the point to recognize that our ideals are no longer the same, you just cut it off and you go. 46 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:46.000 The difference between family is because sometimes you can cut off family, but it doesn't change the fact that you're still. 47 00:06:46.000 --> 00:07:15.000 So this verse really means that you can have a friend, but really the Lord has designed it so that instead of you having to call outward for help and then waiting for it to come, you're supposed to reach out to that which is already available that he provided which is family. 48 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:29.000 So your brother was literally born for adversity. He was born to be with you in the struggle. He was born to be there to be your support. Your sister was there, may developed by God to be your support system. 49 00:07:29.000 --> 00:07:38.000 And I know immediately right now you're thinking to that sibling and family member that you can't stand. Focus, focus. 50 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Try to tell you that God is doing good in your life by creating them. 51 00:07:44.000 --> 00:08:00.000 Because it's just a natural thing. We think about that one relationship that you don't have a real way to articulate it, but whenever you think about them, 52 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:22.000 there is power in the blood, because we often say blood is thicker than water, but did you know that the people that go to this church with you are not just people who go to church, not just people who share the same faith that God by the blood has actually made us family. 53 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:29.000 That's a very real thing that I don't think we put enough weight and gravity to. 54 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:40.000 But, conversely, in the same way where you don't choose your natural family, you don't choose your spiritual family. 55 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:58.000 Now listen, this is April. This is the year 2024. You know what that means? It's election year. Do you know what else that means? The crazies are on their way out. 56 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:10.000 Right now, the crazies are at home in their closet, in their mirror going, all right, we're going to show ourselves this year. I've been waiting for years for this. 57 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:19.000 Because there's something about an election year that always brings out circumstance, situation, craziness in people. 58 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:33.000 So, specifically, when it comes to politics and things like that, because we're talking about family right now, I know that there are some of you that think to yourself that person can't possibly be a Christian. They're racist. 59 00:09:33.000 --> 00:09:59.000 Oh, them. They're on the left. Well, that guy, I mean, he's a right-wing pundit. Yeah, you giggle because you know. Oh, no, his pastimo going, yup. Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. You want to know why I'm going there? 60 00:09:59.000 --> 00:10:09.000 I'm so funny. I had a conversation with Pastor Boy yesterday and we were just talking about, he reminded me of what's happening at Columbia University. Think about that. 61 00:10:09.000 --> 00:10:19.000 So, here you have people picketing. I don't want to call it rioting because there's nothing that's nowhere near there. 62 00:10:19.000 --> 00:10:29.000 But, they're parading themselves around in such a way to cause a confusion about the latest thing that they've been told to be angry about. 63 00:10:29.000 --> 00:10:36.000 So much so that schools, that school is no longer offering in-person classes. 64 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:47.000 Now, it's a big hula-bula because some people are like, I want my money back, babe. I'm going to have me paying all these thousands of dollars to be on a Zoom. I could have done that at home, literally. 65 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:58.000 And you think to yourself, well, how does this even happen? Because if you stand and you interview one of these folks, hey, why are you here? 66 00:10:58.000 --> 00:11:07.000 Like, you know, what side of the issue do you stand on? And sometimes it's one of those oblivious things like, hey, Jim, why are we here again? 67 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:15.000 And that's just the norm. It's the latest thing that you've been told to think and be angry about. Is it Ukraine today? 68 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:21.000 Is it Palestine tomorrow? Which thing are they now telling you to feel about it thing? 69 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:30.000 So all that to say, we're living in an age of mania and craziness and an election year is only going to make it worse. 70 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:36.000 And we need to prepare ourselves by getting our family matters in order. 71 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:44.000 Because again, you can't look at your family and go, huh, look at these lame jokers on the left. 72 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:54.000 They're so liberal, they just believe in whatever it is they want to believe. They out here siding with the folks that saying what's wrong is right and what's right is wrong. 73 00:11:54.000 --> 00:11:58.000 They too, Lucy, do see over there. 74 00:11:58.000 --> 00:12:01.000 Oh, don't think you say for the right. 75 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:05.000 Oh, because you know we have the moral upstanding because we are conservative. 76 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:13.000 Well, here's the thing. You might be conservative, but I'm not going to stand up under any umbrella that doesn't declare that Jesus Christ is Lord. 77 00:12:13.000 --> 00:12:20.000 And we have these two and sometimes people get to this place where they're like, I'm to the left and I represent this and I'm to the right and I represent that. 78 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:30.000 As a Christian, let me just inform you, you don't have a political position of left and right. Your political position is up. 79 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:36.000 You are not left or right because those are things of this world. You are of another place. 80 00:12:36.000 --> 00:12:46.000 A kingdom mindset on any one of these beliefs is that you would trust that Jesus Christ is Lord and ultimately the one in control of you. 81 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:53.000 People don't like to hear that because it's like, my people, they're not your people. 82 00:12:53.000 --> 00:12:58.000 The ones that have been washed in the blood, Dems is your people. 83 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.000 And guess what? Dems is crazy. 84 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:08.000 See, that's the part they're like, you know, I wish I could comfort and console you like, man, just come into the body of faith is going to be so good. 85 00:13:08.000 --> 00:13:13.000 No, we got some crazy folk. 86 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:16.000 I'm not joking. 87 00:13:16.000 --> 00:13:19.000 You're one of the... 88 00:13:27.000 --> 00:13:30.000 Listen to what Ephesians 117 says. 89 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:39.000 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. 90 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:51.000 Second Peter 1, 2 says, may God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. 91 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:59.000 So here we have two very specific instances and Peter and Paul are admonishing and exhorting and encouraging the people. 92 00:13:59.000 --> 00:14:02.000 I need you to know Jesus more and more every day. 93 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:08.000 I need you to experience and know how to utilize grace and mercy. 94 00:14:08.000 --> 00:14:11.000 Understand that he was talking to known believers. 95 00:14:11.000 --> 00:14:20.000 Why were they both talking this way to known believers because they understood that known believers are around other believers and some of them believers is nuts. 96 00:14:20.000 --> 00:14:28.000 Wacadoos, immature, hurt people that can hurt others. 97 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:31.000 Let's get into it, church. 98 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:34.000 I'm the community pastor. 99 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:39.000 My whole aim and my heart is that every one of us would truly be the kingdom of God. 100 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:41.000 We would truly be community. 101 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.000 We would truly be family. 102 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:54.000 I would be remiss if I didn't let you know that there is room for heartache in the midst of family and community. 103 00:14:54.000 --> 00:15:02.000 See, there's a whole section of the population of believers today and they call them D-churched. 104 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:09.000 They call them D-church because somewhere along the line they have experienced church hurt. 105 00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:27.000 A lot of them are angry at God but really what they're angry at is they've gone through circumstances with other people that have been imperfect and hurt them and they've now projected their anger instead of correctly on lack of accountability, lack of boundaries and ill decision making that lack to wisdom. 106 00:15:27.000 --> 00:15:30.000 But they're now putting that on God and saying, that's your church. 107 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:35.000 You know what? I'm spiritual and I'm not religious, bull. 108 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:40.000 And really what they should be doing because I'm not religious either. 109 00:15:40.000 --> 00:15:44.000 And I don't mean by just making a joke or two at the pulpit and some would call that a reference. 110 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:46.000 No, no, no, it's not at all what I'm talking about. 111 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:47.000 The Bible says to be religious. 112 00:15:47.000 --> 00:15:54.000 If you're going to be religious about anything, something that you religiously practice, it is to help the poor and the needy and the widow. 113 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:57.000 So if you want to practice anything and do it religiously, do that. 114 00:15:57.000 --> 00:16:05.000 Everything else that we do in this place as believers, as Christians, this is relationship that is growing out of love. 115 00:16:05.000 --> 00:16:12.000 So my every interaction with you needs to be an interaction where I remember what's happening above. 116 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:13.000 Amen? 117 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:27.000 Don't be disenchanted by the church, universal or other believers missing the mark. 118 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:35.000 If you are one of those de-churched hurting people, please give the church of Jesus Christ another chance. 119 00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:39.000 Understand that there is no perfect place. 120 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:45.000 Even if you're an unbeliever today and somebody dragged you along and you just had that, you know what I'm going to go today. 121 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:48.000 I know you've been pestering me for the last four months, but I'm here. 122 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:52.000 Give Christianity and give the Lord Jesus a try. 123 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.000 Now understand this. 124 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.000 Again, there is no perfect place. 125 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:04.000 And I know that because the minute you showed up, you messed up the metrics. 126 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:09.000 Don't feel bad because the minute I showed up, City Light Church had no chance. 127 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:12.000 Perfection was just off the table after that. 128 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:15.000 I mean, I was going to make a joke about what Pastor Bo started the church. 129 00:17:15.000 --> 00:17:17.000 It was all downhill from there, but all right. 130 00:17:17.000 --> 00:17:18.000 I love you, brother. 131 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.000 I love you. 132 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:20.000 I love you. 133 00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:29.000 No, but seriously, every one of us carries a fallibility and an imperfectness that the minute we're there, it is no longer a place for perfect people. 134 00:17:30.000 --> 00:17:39.000 So you have to go in with that mindset, with that understanding that I'm going to be dealing with people that miss the mark. 135 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:49.000 The reason I say that is because we don't think enough about how God treats us and how it directly correlates to how we should be treating other people. 136 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:56.000 If you went in with a mindset of the cross, and I'm not talking about spiritually, I mean, think about a cross. 137 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:59.000 It has a vertical and it has a horizontal. 138 00:17:59.000 --> 00:18:05.000 If you get the vertical right and you get your cues from the vertical, you can then know how to do the horizontal right. 139 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:17.000 Because we're talking about a God who lacked nothing, completely self-sufficient in and of himself. 140 00:18:17.000 --> 00:18:23.000 He didn't even lack communion and fellowship because he's three persons, all at once. 141 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:28.000 He literally had the perfect relationship of love in and of himself and had of an abundance of love. 142 00:18:28.000 --> 00:18:31.000 He tortures himself by making humans. 143 00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:39.000 You might say to yourself, tortures, what do you mean, person? Well, here's the thing. He makes us humans, but he also gives us free will. 144 00:18:39.000 --> 00:18:43.000 He gives us the choice on whether we should worship him or not. 145 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:53.000 And we often choose every day, every one of us to go astray because the Bible is very clear. There is none righteous, none that seeks after God. 146 00:18:53.000 --> 00:19:03.000 So he makes us knowing that we have the ability to hurt him, but he does it anyway out of the superfluousness of his love. 147 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:07.000 He tortures us, but he loves us despite these things. 148 00:19:07.000 --> 00:19:15.000 So now, like the man of God that I am who married up, I see you both. 149 00:19:15.000 --> 00:19:21.000 You know, my wife has to deal with imperfection. 150 00:19:21.000 --> 00:19:30.000 One person. A kid in a second, I was like, amen. Dang. 151 00:19:31.000 --> 00:19:46.000 He deals with the imperfection, but he does expect that you would have such an understanding, such a sense of self that as you dealt with other people, you remembered what it is for him to have to deal with you. 152 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:50.000 Oh, you ain't saying nothing. 153 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:58.000 Proverbs 1911 says this. 154 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:08.000 The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression. 155 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:29.000 As we are entering this wild season of the election season, where people are losing their minds led by the media controlled by their flesh, I need you to be extra gracious as we deal with these family matters. 156 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:36.000 Now, here's the thing. We know that the church can miss it, because again, the church is filled with imperfect people. 157 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:41.000 Look no further than to the book of Acts when it was first started. 158 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:53.000 I love the message that we got from Pastor Beau for the last two weeks on hearing from God, because it's direct opposition to what the apostles did when they first became the church. 159 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:06.000 They followed Jesus for three and a half years, and the minute he left out of their purview, they said we're going to backslide and go fishing. 160 00:21:06.000 --> 00:21:13.000 I know you called us to change the world, but you're not here, so I'm a go fishing. 161 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:19.000 Okay, they get back on track. Jesus has to make an appearance, because that's the direct direction was. 162 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:23.000 He makes a secondary appearance and goes, okay, let's do this again. 163 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.000 You're going to change the world, not just go fishing, got it. 164 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:32.000 They immediately start casting lots of the Old Testament. 165 00:21:32.000 --> 00:21:34.000 No, no, no, no. Okay, guys. 166 00:21:34.000 --> 00:21:38.000 I'm sending the Holy Spirit to you. He's going to guide you. He's going to lead you. 167 00:21:38.000 --> 00:21:40.000 First thing they do when they roll in dice. 168 00:21:41.000 --> 00:21:46.000 You're casting lots to see who's going to be the 13th member of the band. 169 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:49.000 Holy Spirit, I ain't never told you to do that. 170 00:21:49.000 --> 00:21:55.000 And I'm saying all of this so that you can find consolation, because that was an imperfect church with imperfect people. 171 00:21:55.000 --> 00:21:58.000 Their leader had a foot-shaped mouth. 172 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:04.000 So now they cast lots and they picked this joke of Matthias. 173 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.000 You want to hear something pretty awesome and hysterical about Matthias? 174 00:22:08.000 --> 00:22:10.000 13th disciple, right? 175 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.000 He's to replace Judas. 176 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:16.000 History tells us that of all of the 13 disciples. 177 00:22:16.000 --> 00:22:19.000 Nobody remembers anything that he ever did. 178 00:22:19.000 --> 00:22:24.000 We don't have any historical fact about where he went, what he did. 179 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:30.000 Because he was picked, I mean, if we're really going to mince words, 180 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:34.000 Paul was meant to replace Judas, but that's neither here nor there. 181 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:39.000 So they picked this guy in error, in their flesh, as human. 182 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:41.000 Again, let this console you. 183 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:47.000 Because when you look to your left and you look to your right, I don't want you to think that, 184 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:51.000 oh, we've done so much better than they, no, no. 185 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:54.000 They made mistakes, you make mistakes. 186 00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:56.000 We cool on that. 187 00:22:57.000 --> 00:23:01.000 Because sometimes you got to break down the self-righteous pride that we have 188 00:23:01.000 --> 00:23:04.000 that everybody else is the problem except me. 189 00:23:06.000 --> 00:23:09.000 Because I've had conversations with people and they tell me, you know what? 190 00:23:09.000 --> 00:23:11.000 I'm leaving this friend group. 191 00:23:11.000 --> 00:23:13.000 I'm leaving this church. 192 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:16.000 I'm leaving this family because they did A, B, and C. 193 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.000 And then I come up, you know, I catch up with them a few weeks later. 194 00:23:19.000 --> 00:23:20.000 I'm like, hey, man, how's it going? 195 00:23:20.000 --> 00:23:22.000 Well, you know, I said that new place that you found. 196 00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:23.000 How's it going? 197 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:26.000 Well, I'm leaving that place because A, B, and C. 198 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:30.000 And I'm like, man, that sounds super similar to the last situation 199 00:23:30.000 --> 00:23:32.000 you had with those people over there. 200 00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:34.000 And now you're experiencing these same things over here, 201 00:23:34.000 --> 00:23:37.000 and then a couple months go by, and you're checking and you go, hey, 202 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:40.000 I know you found this new place that I recommended, place number three. 203 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:42.000 Because remember, I've placed number two in place number one. 204 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.000 You have any issues, how's it going now? 205 00:23:44.000 --> 00:23:48.000 Well, you know, I'm looking for, I'm in between places right now just because, you know, 206 00:23:48.000 --> 00:23:50.000 what happened was. 207 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:56.000 And I go, man, that sounds super eerily similar to the last thing that you were experiencing. 208 00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:58.000 I wonder what's the common denominator? 209 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:10.000 The nasty truth is we don't like to admit that out of all the problems that we keep seeing in the church, 210 00:24:10.000 --> 00:24:12.000 we are it. 211 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:18.000 Go back to your notes, preacher, got it? 212 00:24:18.000 --> 00:24:28.000 We need to come to grips with the fact that everyone who calls on the name of Christ isn't at the same place 213 00:24:28.000 --> 00:24:33.000 and get comfortable reconciling that tension that not everybody's perfect. 214 00:24:33.000 --> 00:24:39.000 You know, a mark of the mature is their ability to carry and interact with tension. 215 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:44.000 And what do I mean by that? 216 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:51.000 There is a low revelation and a high revelation of Jesus, I mean. 217 00:24:51.000 --> 00:25:00.000 How you see Jesus and what He did and what He does for you will define and determine how you see and how you treat people. 218 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.000 The cross isn't just a symbol of what He died on, it's the symbol of how we grow and how we die. 219 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:09.000 The vertical and the horizontal relationships are inextricably tied together. 220 00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:10.000 Listen to this. 221 00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:12.000 Second, Peter 1.8. 222 00:25:12.000 --> 00:25:19.000 It says, the more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 223 00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:29.000 But those who fail to develop in this way are shortsighted or blind for getting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. 224 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:45.000 Peter is literally trying to say, all of the stuff and all of the issues that you keep having with other people is because you have forgotten that you have been dealt with the way that you need to deal with them. 225 00:25:45.000 --> 00:25:50.000 Galatians 3.13, bearing with one another, forgiving one another. 226 00:25:50.000 --> 00:25:57.000 If anyone has a complaint against another, even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. 227 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.000 So we got to get the family matters right. 228 00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:12.000 And there's a reason for that. 229 00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:24.000 You know, as the church, our job is not to congregate on a Sunday morning and giggle and have goosebumps and a great experience. 230 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:26.000 Ooh! 231 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:29.000 Ooh, she got it. 232 00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:40.000 I'm not against any one of those things because if you've been here before in the Sunday morning and you see me sitting in this front row, you know exactly what I do. 233 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:46.000 I'll be in a front where I should like. 234 00:26:47.000 --> 00:26:53.000 Because these are all good and healthy things because we are connecting with the God of Heaven, amen? 235 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:54.000 By faith. 236 00:26:54.000 --> 00:26:56.000 Loving Him and being loved by Him. 237 00:26:57.000 --> 00:27:00.000 But that's not the ultimate aim of being a Christian. 238 00:27:01.000 --> 00:27:15.000 The ultimate aim of you being a Christian, being a part of this church, being a part of this community, and by extension being a part of the Kingdom of God here on Earth, you are an emissary with a mission to get God's lost kids saved. 239 00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:22.000 It cannot be this selfish thing where now every week we come and just feast and... 240 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:30.000 drink from the teeth of God's good graces and then leave the rest of the world to go to hell. 241 00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:39.000 You know, I have an example and I don't even really like using the example because every time I do it puts a pit in my stomach. 242 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:46.000 But it's a poignant thing because it makes me remember what God is experiencing on a daily basis. 243 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:58.000 So I have three beautiful children and this is going to sound funny to you but sometimes I lose my son. 244 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:03.000 So what I mean by that is I'm a large human. 245 00:28:03.000 --> 00:28:05.000 I don't know if you've noticed. 246 00:28:06.000 --> 00:28:08.000 And he's small, he's only three. 247 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:12.000 Now here's the thing, I say he's small but I keep telling him you're going to have to pay rent, bro. 248 00:28:13.000 --> 00:28:16.000 Because he's three but you look at him, he looks like he's five. 249 00:28:18.000 --> 00:28:23.000 I just feel like I'm a little nervous because eventually he will be bigger than me. 250 00:28:24.000 --> 00:28:31.000 And I don't know how much I'll be able to tell him then without getting yoked up so I'm trying to do it now, trying to establish some boundary lines. 251 00:28:31.000 --> 00:28:36.000 But he told me that I said today before I left the house, I try to reason with him. 252 00:28:36.000 --> 00:28:39.000 He told me to my face, I don't care. 253 00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:45.000 My wife giggled like you are right now. 254 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:50.000 He told you, I don't care. 255 00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.000 I'm going to go to church and preach that word. 256 00:28:56.000 --> 00:29:03.000 But I lose him sometimes because I am a large human and he just gets in the blind spot sometimes. 257 00:29:04.000 --> 00:29:08.000 We'll be walking and we'll, hey, come here, don't do that. 258 00:29:10.000 --> 00:29:18.000 It could be something simple, sometimes we're in a store and I watch him walk down a corner and then turn the corner. 259 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:21.000 I know exactly where he is because I can see where he's going. 260 00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:27.000 And even in that half a second, it fills me with anxiety that my child is not in my direct purview. 261 00:29:28.000 --> 00:29:37.000 Imagine if I turn that corner and he's not there, the level of anxiety and stress that rises up in me. 262 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:44.000 Because I experience that for a micro fraction of a second every time I can't place him within my gravity. 263 00:29:45.000 --> 00:29:51.000 What do you think happens if I'm in a situation where I actually can't find him? 264 00:29:52.000 --> 00:29:54.000 I'm a big fan of the NBA. 265 00:29:55.000 --> 00:29:58.000 I'm a big fan of the NICS, big fan of the Golden State Warriors. 266 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:01.000 One of us is doing well, one of us is not. 267 00:30:01.000 --> 00:30:04.000 It's normally the other way around, but go NICS! 268 00:30:05.000 --> 00:30:11.000 So, I love talking basketball. 269 00:30:11.000 --> 00:30:13.000 If you know me, you know that. 270 00:30:13.000 --> 00:30:21.000 In that moment when my son is out of my sight and I'm filled with his anxiety because my lost child is missing, 271 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:25.000 do you think that that is the most appropriate time to talk to me about the NBA playoffs? 272 00:30:25.000 --> 00:30:28.000 Do you think that I will give you the time of day? 273 00:30:28.000 --> 00:30:33.000 Do you think that I want to talk about going to an unlimited buffet to have some savory meats? 274 00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:37.000 Do you think that I want to talk about anything other than my lost kid? 275 00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:45.000 Now, I need you to understand that daily this is God's heartache because the Bible tells us very clearly 276 00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:50.000 the thoughts that he has for us cannot be numbered up in order. 277 00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:53.000 They are more than the sands of the seashore. 278 00:30:53.000 --> 00:31:00.000 So, every day he is desiring and wanting his lost family to be found. 279 00:31:01.000 --> 00:31:09.000 We have a mission as believers and sometimes we are failing because we don't even care. 280 00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:14.000 We got to get the family matters right because we don't even realize it, 281 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:23.000 but the greatest evangelistic tool that the Lord ever gave us was each other. 282 00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:25.000 Worship team, you can come on up. 283 00:31:31.000 --> 00:31:35.000 John 13, 34 says this. 284 00:31:36.000 --> 00:31:42.000 A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, 285 00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:47.000 as I have loved you that you also love one another. 286 00:31:47.000 --> 00:31:55.000 By this all will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. 287 00:31:56.000 --> 00:32:00.000 He's trying to say the people in this world, 288 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:11.000 when they see all of the various backgrounds and demographics and income levels and how different and how broken and weird we all are, 289 00:32:11.000 --> 00:32:15.000 but yet still getting along, yet still moving in love, 290 00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:18.000 they will know that we belong to Jesus. 291 00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:25.000 His deity will be a firm, his supernatural power will be put on display and they'll be like, 292 00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:28.000 something's happening over there. 293 00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:31.000 It's about to be a civil war out in them streets, 294 00:32:31.000 --> 00:32:35.000 but these people is moving as one unit. 295 00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:39.000 John 12, 32, 296 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:45.000 and I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to myself. 297 00:32:45.000 --> 00:32:51.000 If we would endeavor to do the family matters work, 298 00:32:53.000 --> 00:33:01.000 if we would literally put Jesus first over our ideologies, over our politics, over our religion, 299 00:33:02.000 --> 00:33:05.000 over everybody's in idiosyncrasies. 300 00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:12.000 Because really that thing that makes you specifically you that sometimes can grate on and annoy somebody's soul, 301 00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:19.000 is something that I need to have an understanding that it's a preference, not a moral right or wrong. 302 00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:26.000 Because half of the things that we argue about really what we're doing is we're moralizing our preferences. 303 00:33:27.000 --> 00:33:31.000 Because really what we're saying is I like doing it this way and when we find somebody who doesn't do it this way, 304 00:33:31.000 --> 00:33:34.000 what we're really saying is, well, you're wrong because you don't do it this way. 305 00:33:34.000 --> 00:33:37.000 Well, that's just your preference. 306 00:33:37.000 --> 00:33:40.000 The truth is the word of God. 307 00:33:40.000 --> 00:33:48.000 This is why in an age today, you have to cling to a place like City Light Church that will still declare the truth of God's Word. 308 00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:51.000 And I don't say that just because I'm a pastor here. 309 00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:54.000 I say that because if I wasn't a pastor here, I would come here. 310 00:33:54.000 --> 00:33:59.000 Matter of fact, when I wasn't a pastor here, I did come here. 311 00:33:59.000 --> 00:34:09.000 Because there's something to declaring the truth of God even if it means being canceled and canceled culture. 312 00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:22.000 I refuse to give into the lies that say what is wrong is right when God has clearly given us the baseline of truth and not preference. 313 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:24.000 Everything else, that's preference. 314 00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:29.000 Listen, we can agree to disagree, but the one thing that we're going to settle on is Jesus Christ's Lord. 315 00:34:29.000 --> 00:34:38.000 One of the early church fathers wrote this is a fellow by the name of Tertullian. 316 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:48.000 He said that many outsiders were attracted to Christianity in its early days because they saw an inexplicable love in the early Christians. 317 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:53.000 They would exclaim, look, look how they love one another. 318 00:34:54.000 --> 00:35:15.000 In today's society, I'm praying that we would have that same aim, that we would understand that family matters, that we would be so into caring for one another, 319 00:35:15.000 --> 00:35:25.000 loving each other, that we would be accused of having divinity in our midst. 320 00:35:25.000 --> 00:35:34.000 That somebody would look at our interactions and go, that has to be supernatural, right? 321 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:38.000 And then we could say, did I do that? 322 00:35:45.000 --> 00:35:55.000 I'm challenging you and I pray that you accept the challenge to love people right where they are for the sake of winning the lost. 323 00:35:55.000 --> 00:36:04.000 Do not just be a Christian that is all about your own stuff and forgetting that we have a job to do. 324 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:09.000 Love those people, those EGR folks. 325 00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:16.000 Oh, you know them, the ones that grate your soul? Listen, I love everybody, I don't like everybody. 326 00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:22.000 Not you, but... 327 00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:30.000 But no, for real, like, I understand whole heart like there are even people in my family like, we get along, I don't like you. 328 00:36:30.000 --> 00:36:36.000 That my choice, I wouldn't keep interacting with you, but I don't have a choice. 329 00:36:36.000 --> 00:36:41.000 I am not allowed to because of my commitment to Jesus who owns me. 330 00:36:41.000 --> 00:36:50.000 As a disciple, he bought me by his blood, he made me his own, so I don't have a particular choice, I need to love you. 331 00:36:50.000 --> 00:36:57.000 I just may not like you. And that's okay, because we can still interact if I don't like you, because I'm going to love you and I say love, 332 00:36:57.000 --> 00:37:02.000 I'm going to sacrifice for you, I'm going to serve you, I'm going to be there for you. 333 00:37:03.000 --> 00:37:09.000 And when we do that, God will be glorified. 334 00:37:09.000 --> 00:37:15.000 So the challenge is set, but here's the thing, I wouldn't challenge you to do something that you have no ability to do. 335 00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:22.000 In and of yourself, you cannot, but you are not by yourself, you have his spirit on the inside of you, you have his word to direct you, 336 00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:27.000 you have Jesus sitting at the right hand of the Father ever living to intercede on your behalf. 337 00:37:27.000 --> 00:37:32.000 Think about this, could you ever really fail if Jesus is the one praying for you? 338 00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:37.000 Why don't you grab hold of that revelation the next time you feel like giving up? 339 00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:45.000 I'm so proud of my daughter. She started running track, and when I thought it was like a kiddie thing they were going to run around the school yard, 340 00:37:45.000 --> 00:37:48.000 they out here doing miles. 341 00:37:49.000 --> 00:38:02.000 I remember after the first practice she came up to me, she was like, Dad, my chest hurts, my feet hurt, I feel like I'm going to die. 342 00:38:02.000 --> 00:38:11.000 And I said, Baby, I'm so proud of you because you feel that and you didn't give up and you ran multiple miles today. 343 00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:15.000 It's been years since Daddy did that. 344 00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:32.000 You've been empowered to do amazing things and most of it starts with you loving the person that's sitting to your left and right. 345 00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:38.000 You do your part in the natural and he will empower you for the supernatural stuff. 346 00:38:41.000 --> 00:38:44.000 Let's sing a song together. 347 00:38:48.000 --> 00:39:11.000 If you need prayer or ministry, our ministry team will lay hands on you and by faith release the presence and the power of God. 348 00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:21.000 If you need the encouragement to love the unlovable, to be reminded of how you have been cared for by God and come up to the altar. 349 00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:30.000 This is the City Light Church podcast. If you've missed any part of today's message or if you would like to find out more about Pastor Boyan Jansik in City Light Church, 350 00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:36.000 visit us at citylightnyc.com that's citylightnyc.com. 351 00:39:36.000 --> 00:39:42.000 Feel free to visit us online or in person anytime. We would love to connect with you. 352 00:39:42.000 --> 00:39:50.000 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. 353 00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:58.000 Thank you for listening. Make sure that you subscribe to City Light Church podcast wherever you find your favorite podcasts worldwide.