Pastor Tim Dunn "Disciples" (Sunday 3-23-25)

Welcome to Life City. This podcast was created to celebrate

what God is doing and what Protexas our vision is

to reach the hungry, the hurdy, and the hopeless. God

has given us our heading. Join us today as we

listen to the Word and we pray that God speaks

to you in this message.

Ephesians chapter three, verse fourteen, for this season, for this reason, Amen,

for this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father

of our Lord, Jesus Christ, verse fifteen, of whom the

whole family in heaven and Earth is named, verse sixteen.

That He would grant you, according to the riches of

His glory, to be strengthened with might by His spirit

in the inner man. Amen, you can just keep strolling,

do You don't have to wait on me to call

the number out. That Christ may dwell in your hearts

by faith, everyone say by faith that you, being rooted

and grounded in love, Amen, may be able to comprehend

understand with all saints, what is the breadth and the length,

and the depth and the height, And to know the

love of Christ, which passes knowledge. Scared me too, that

you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen. Amen, Amen,

I want to say that it is an honor and

a privilege to have Beckian all Stags with us today. Amen.

This is Becky Stags is a principal at TCA where

my girls go to school. And so it's not every day,

London you get to worship with your principal on a weekend. Amen.

They have chapel together. But Amen, so good to have

them here with us today and all of you. Amen,

So good to have you with us and worshiping the Lord. Amen.

We began a new Focus series last week titled Disciples,

and we talked about being rooted, grounded and established in

our faith in Jesus Christ. Man. Faith in Christ is

an essential attribute of a disciple. Amen, it's you you.

You don't have one without the other, Okay, it's it's

an essentiality. And not. When I say faith, I'm not

just talking about a believing faith that you believe in Him.

I'm not I'm not just talking about mountain moving faith

or parting sees faith. I'm not talking about just that

kind of faith. I'm talking about an unrelenting faith while

you're in a storm. I'm talking about a fervent faith

while you're in a fiery trial. Amen. I'm talking about

faith when everything is stacked against you, faith when nothing

is going your way. That kind of faith is what

it means to be rooted, grounded and established. Amen. In

the faith, Amen, when everything stacked against you, I know

that God is able. Amen. Paul said in Second Corinthians,

chapter four, verse eight, he says, we are hard pressed

on every side, yet not crushed. You ever feel squeezed

by life? You ever feel pressure by life? That's what

Paul's saying. He says, we are hard pressed, we are squeezed.

We get pressure from every side sometimes in life, he says,

But no, you may feel squeezed, you will not be crushed. Amen.

We are perplexed, but not in persecuted, but not forsaken.

Come on, I want to repeat that for somebody here today,

persecuted but not forsaken. Somebody needs to know that Jesus

will never forsake you. Amen. Somebody needs to get it

in their mind, set it in their heart and in

their spirit that I am not forsaken. No matter what

I feel emotionally, I am not forsaken. He is faithful,

He is omnipresent. There is no place I can go

the darkest hole I can find in this world. I

cannot escape the love of Jesus Christ. I cannot escape

the hand of my God. Amen. He is always there.

We are struck down but not destroyed. Paul had this resolve,

He had some grit. Amen. Sometimes grit is developed, not

necessarily innate, Amen. Some people are just born with grit,

but grit can be developed. Amen. And I believe the

Church of the Living God needs to develop some grit. Amen. Amen.

We need to develop some resolve. Amen, that we're not

tossed to fro by every whim of life, every storm

and every trial, and every time the waves splash upon us.

We're not doom and despair and we're going under and

we're sinking. No, but we have the word of God

hid in our heart. That's why David wrote, I have

hid the Word of God in my heart. Why David understood,

if all I have it is in my mind, then

there may be times where I can be deceived. But

my heart, when it's written on the tables of my heart,

I could bend them. God is still the peace speaker

in my life. Amen. And if we are disciples, Amen.

This world needs to see a discipled church that is

willing to stand in the storm and still declare that

God is faithful. Amen, Still stand in the fiery furnace

and know that God will show up. Amen. A resolve,

a fervor, a passion, Amen, or say it this way,

Just be plain old, hard headed. I'm not wrong. Sometimes

we just need to be hard headed about God. We

love to be hard headed about other things. Don't look

at your spouse right now, Amen. How quickly are we tossed?

We can be so fickle, Amen. But if we're a disciple, Amen,

there's something set within us that nothing can move me.

Why because I'm founded, I'm built upon the rock that

is Jesus Christ. Amen. Nothing can move me, nothing can

sway me, nothing can can can can blow my life

off kilter or off path. Why because I have set

my feet upon the rock that is Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen,

I will not build my life on the sand. Amen.

And though I may walk through the valley of the

shadow of death, I will not fear. Why because I

know His Rod and his staff are with me. They

guide me, they cut hurt me. He anoints my head. Amen,

he leaves me beside still waters. Amen. It doesn't matter

what I go through I know he's there in my fear,

he's there in my doubt, he's there in my darkness.

He's there. He's always there. Amen. Amen, Hallelujah, resolve God

is able. Look at somebody and tell him God is able. Amen.

So he wrote, let's go back to verse seventeen of

Ephesians three, Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith

that you say me being rooted and grounded in love.

Now we know words from Romans eight. Nothing can separate

us from the love of God in Christ Jesus right.

We know that, and then there's a long list of

things that we know and we quote that. But what

about your love of God? We know God's love for us.

We know his love for us. This is why he came,

why he died. What about your love? My love for him? Amen?

Is it established? Is your love established? Is it rooted

and grounded? Is it the source of your walk with him? Amen?

Are you built upon the rock that is Jesus Christ,

out of love, rooted and grounded in love? Is your

love conditional circumstantial? Amen? Or is it unconditional? A love

that lasts over time, through storms and trials. Do you

love him when he doesn't show up on your timing.

Do you love him, truly love him when he doesn't

answer your prayer? Amen? Amen, hallelujah. It's about being a disciple.

Being a disciple isn't a convenient love or a conditional love.

It's a sacrificial love. Amen. It's a love that drives

us to obedience to his word, to his will and

to his way. That's what this is. This isn't Jesus

loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.

This is a love that is born deep within our soul. Amen.

A disciple, a disciple, Amen, is somebody that has developed

a love. The life of a disciple is birth from

a place of prayer while in his presence. That's where

we become a disciple. We become a disciple, not on

a Sunday morning with our hands lifted. We become a

disciple when it's just you and God and you're in

his presence and you're pouring your heart out to him

and he's speaking to you and you're hearing him. Amen.

That's where the life of a disciple is born, because

that's where you fall in love with Jesus. That's where

it goes from just a feeling. Oh, I love him

because he blessed me. I love him because he died

for me. No, I love him and I want to

live my life for him, and I love my life

for him. It's in his presence in that place of

prayer that it becomes sacrificial, not conditional. Amen. You see

children of Israel. We see this in the children of Israel.

How quick they were to turn. He rolls back the

red sea. Woo. We walk her along dry ground. We

turn around. Pharaoh in his armies following us. The sea returns. Amen.

The chariots are floating in the sea, and we're rejoicing.

We're singing songs. We're clapping our hands. How great is

our God? How great is our God. Just a few

days later, Oh, he's forsaken us. We're gonna die of thirst. Amen.

A disciple. To be a disciple is to have a

resolve and a love and a faith that pushes past

what we see, what we go through, and is buried

deep within the word of God, that he is a

God that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all

that we ask or think. Amen. That's right. Here is

where a disciple is born. Being a disciple happens in

his presence. It's where the heart is molded, the mind

is renewed, and the soul is connected. Amen. It's in

his presence is where the brand vine and that life

giving source that flows through the vine begins to flow

through the branches. Then and only then can we as

disciples be fruitful, Amen, when we're connected to the vine.

Jesus responds to a question about what is the greatest

commandment Matthew twenty two, verse thirty six. He says, teacher,

what is the great commandment in the law? And Jesus

said to him, you shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart, with all your soul, and with

all your mind. Love the Lord your God with all

your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. Hallelujah.

This is the first in great commandment. Do you love

Him with all your heart, with all your soul, with

all your mind. Discipleship is not a job description. It's

not a church program. It's a calling that is answered

from the depth of a heart that truly loves Jesus. Amen.

That's where it's answered, That's where it's felt, a heart

completely given and open to him. Paul gives us a clue.

In Second Corinthians, chapter four, Verse five, he says, we

don't preach ourselves, but Christ, Jesus our Lord, and ourselves

as your bond servants for his sake. Verse six. But God,

who said let light shall shine out of darkness, is

the one who the light of the knowledge of the

glory of God in the face of Christ. Amen. And

then in verse seven, but we have this treasure in

earthen vessels. Man, do you know that you are that

earthen vessel? Amen? What he's talking about. He's saying, light

shall shine out of darkness, the one who has shone

in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge

of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

You remember the story of Gideon, won't you think about

the story of Gideon. He goes and he stands there

and he tells him, all right, now, I want you

to go up against this army. But I don't need

your sword and I don't need your shield. All I

want you to carry is a picture and a trumpet.

That's all I want you to carry. And I want

you to encamp around the the the enemy. And when

the time comes, I want you to smash and break

that picture so that the light that's in it will

be exposed into the darkness. Amen. And then I want

you to blow the trumpet. It's a pretty interesting way

to fight a battle, is it not. So think of that.

And then when we read what we just read from Paul,

he says, for God, who said light shall shine out

of darkness, is the one who has shown in your

hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the

glory of God in Christ in the face of Jesus.

He says, But we have this treasure in earthen vessels,

that the excellence of the power may be of God

and not of us. Amen. Jesus told us that we

are the light of the world. Amen. That's our purpose,

that's our calling. To be a disciple means to be

filled with His light. Amen. But how this is the

How do we rever that light? David wrote and gave

us the answer in Psalms chapter fifty one. He said,

behold you desire in the inward parts, and in the

hidden part, you will make me to know wisdom. Purge

me with hissop, and I shall be clean. Wash me

and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear

joy in gladness that the bones you have broken may rejoice.

Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all

my iniquities. We know this one verse ten. Create in

me a clean heart, O God, and renew a stead

fast spirit within me. Verse sixteen. You do not desire sacrifice,

or else I would give it, but you do. You

do not delight in burnt offerings Verse seventeen. The sacrifices

of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a

contrite heart. These, Oh God, you will not despise. Amen. Amen,

let me tell you how this works. To be a disciple.

It takes brokenness. You're like, well, that's easy, I'm all

broke up a man. No, what I mean is it

takes a heart that is broken before God. You see,

something that is broken can't hold on to anything. Amen.

You see, when you're completely broken before him, you can't

hold on to anything. If you have a clay pot

full of water and you break it, all the water

spills out. Man. That's what he wants from us, Amen.

He wants us to come before him and break a

hard thing that's inside of us is spilled out before him.

Why because he wants to put something in us that

will impact the people around us, that will impact the

world around us. And he takes the broken pieces and

he begins to mold and reshape, because he is the

potter and we are the clay. And he begins to

put his hands on us, and he begins to reshape us. Amen.

And it's in that place of brokenness where we can

be filled with something so powerful and it impacts our world. Amen,

something so powerful that when all of the forces are

stacked against against us, we know that God is still faithful. Amen.

It's about becoming a disciple, a true disciple. Amen. This

whole idea of a Christian has for years and years

and years now has become just a fad, a trend,

a thing to be. Everybody is a Christian. Amen. And

so to say you're a Christian, that doesn't that doesn't

separate you. But to be a disciple, but to be

a true disciple of Jesus, Amen, Nothing, nothing can steer

me away. Amen. I am firmly planted. I come before

him with a broken and a contrite heart. Amen. That's

what he wants. God asks for your heart that so

he can fill it with light. And in this earth

and vessel that he can reveal himself to the hurting,

to the hungry, and to the hopeless through you and I.

But it begins with being rooted and grounded in love.

Bible commentator Matthew Henry said this I like the way

he wrote it. He said, there is an excellency of

power in the Gospel of Christ to enlighten the mind,

to convince the conscience, to convert the soul, and to

rejoice the heart. But all this power is from God

the Author, and not from men, who are but instruments.

So that God and all things must be glorified. The

disciple is the instrument used to accomplish the work. Amen.

It's gonna take us being rooted and grounded in faith

and in love. Rooted and grounded in faith and in love,

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,

all your soul, all your mind. Amen. Why Because there's

gonna be persecution, There's gonna be trials, there's gonna be storms.

There's gonna be things that come your way that test you. Amen.

But those things may persecute you, those things may strike you,

but you're not destroyed. Amen. Amen, Grounded, think of your home.

You know why Your home should be electrically grounded so

that if a lightning strikes strike hits your home, your

home doesn't burn to the ground. That's why your home

needs to be electrically grounded, so that when, not if

a strike comes, you're protected. You know why we must

be grounded in faith, grounded in a love of God

that is deep, is because when a strike comes, when

a fight comes, when a battle comes, when a storm comes,

when a hardship comes. Amen, We're not destroyed. Amen, We're protected.

We're protected because I know things are gonna come against me.

I know things are gonna happen to me. But I

am a disciple of Jesus Christ. Amen. I have built

my life upon him. Amen. I have broken myself before

him in his presence. I have renewed my mind by

his spirits. Amen. I have poured my soul out to him. Amen.

I am a disciple. My wife comes, Amen, are you

are you established this morning? Man? Would you close your

eyes all over this place? The great commission is to

go into all the world and preach the gospel. The

gospel the gospel the gospel death, burial, and Resurrection. Amen.

We were baptized with him, and if we are baptized

with him, We too will rise with him, are risen

with him. Amen, new life, born again, endued with power

from on high. All of these things we hear, we know,

we read. This is what the world desires. This is

what they're missing, those that are out there and they've

never felt the embrace of their heavenly Father. Amen. Disciples,

earthen vessels, vessels of flesh and blood meant to carry

the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.

The Gospel was never meant to be contained in temples, tibernacles,

or sanctuaries. The gospel message was meant to be lived

and preached into all the world, every nation, every neighborhood,

every business, every school. Amen, Disciples, Disciples, it's a decision,

it's a calling. Am I just going to be a

church goer? Or am I going to be a disciple

of Jesus Christ? Amen? Does my love for him have

its limits? Or am I willing to pour my heart

out to him and break my life at his feet?

Holding on to nothing, not holding on to any hate,

not holding on to any hurt, not holding on to

any wound, not holding on to any bitterness. Not holding

on to anything at all, but broken before him, poured

out before him, and in his presence, falling in love

with him, Amen, falling in love with him. Why he

loved us? His love wasn't conditional. In fact, in the

face of sin, he loved us while we were yet sinners.

He loved us. Amen, cast aside, spit upon, crucified, nothing

could separate us from his love. How much do you

love them today? How much do you love them? I

know that's an odd question to ask in church because

everybody would raise their hand and say, oh, I love him.

But does your love move you to live the life

of a disciple? Would you stand with me this morning? Hallelujah, hallelujah.

Our society doesn't need a church that is satisfied with

just going to church. Our society needs disciples of Jesus Christ. Amen, Amen.

I felt something this morning as I was praying over

the service. I felt and I told those that were here,

early told them, I feel a healing, but a specific healing,

a healing of people's relationship with the Lord Man, because

you know, life can cause a lot of things to

shift and to change, and I felt like the Lord

was desiring to heal somebody's relationship with him this morning.

And so I know if I ask if your relationship

with the Lord needs healing this morning, step out and come.

I don't know if anybody would because that would be

admitting something. Amen. But honestly, you know what, sometimes we

have to get that spirit of paw and where we

just don't care. I'm not here to please you, I'm

here to please him. Amen. That has to be our

our mindset. Amen. And if there's something in my relationship

with Him that needs healed, Amen, then I'll be the

first one. Lord heal me, do it work in me.

If there's something that I haven't broken before you, Lord,

I'll break it today. Amen. So, as my wife begins

to sing, I want to give that opportunity. Yeah, I

want to give an opportunity to anybody in this building

that has an area of relationship with the Lord be healed.

Maybe there's something that you haven't broken before him. Maybe

there's something that you haven't fully given him. And in

order to be a disciple, is gonna take this. It's

gonna take a process of breaking before him. Man. If

you're here today with every eye close, thank.

You so much for being with us today. We hope

you were blessed in some way by the message. To

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you have a great week