Pastor Tim Dunn "Stirred" Part 1 (8-4-23)

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 hurding,

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. We all have things in our life that create some type of reaction

from us. Amen. Right. My family and I yesterday as we were

on our way home from a short little getaway. We got away for a

few days, and we stopped at our favorite little barbecue joint down in Spicewood,

Texas. When we're down that way toward the hill country, we always

make sure we go by this little barbecue joint that we love so much.

And so we were there yesterday eating lunch, and as we were enjoying our

meal, this elderly man goes and he goes and he picks up this guitar.

It's in the middle. It's got a little microphone, a little speaker

where it's in there enjoying this wonderful, wonderful barbecue, eating way too much

and just having a just a great time just sitting there relaxing. Okay,

and so he picks up the guitar and he begins to just pick it a

little bit. There's nothing like somebody that can pick a guitar just a thinking.

I mean it just there's something that causes a reaction in me. I'm

like, yeah, my legs starts moving, my feet starts shuffling. So

he starts singing He's and he starts singing these old country songs. Well,

if you know anything about your pastor that moves me. And after a few

songs, this elderly lady gets up with the help of another lady, and

she shuffles over there, and obviously she was making a request, and so

he's talking to her, and she gets done talking and he starts fiddling adjusting

guitar, and he starts singing, You are my sonshine my only sunshine.

You make me happy when skies are great. Anybody know that song? Okay,

right, well, let me tell you a little something about that song.

That song's got history with my family. We're sitting there eating. We'd

already been talking about how my dad would have loved that place. It's just

it's just good old country folks sitting down eating some good barbecue, you know.

Grayson had barbecue on her mouth. You know your hands are It's just

good, that good kind of barbecue. And so and we're talking about the

ambiance of this place and and then this old man starts singing these songs and

we're like, man, he would just and then he busted out with you

are My Sunshine. Well, that song touched some memories because my dad is

for as long as I've can remember, has been singing that song to not

only my family when we were young, but to my babies, London and

Grayson, ever since they were very very little. He would sing it to

him over the phone, and he would sing it to him, you know,

when he held them and when he played with them. He was constantly

singing that song to him. So this man starts singing a song, and

that song caused a reaction from my family to the point where my wife just

lost control and starts crying. My wife is not a public crier, Okay,

I will give her that. She she can pretty much handle her cool.

She stays stoic, and she can be tough. But something about that

song just touched the nerve and she and she just lost her cool and just

started crying. Well, the girls loved it. They were like, because

you if you have utters, if mama cries, the girls are gonna cry.

It doesn't matter. It can be about anything. They're gonna cry.

And I'm sitting like, okay, we need to kind of pull our stuff

together here. People were kind of make it a scene and so but neil

reaction from our table. Because things move us, right. Something can touch

a memory, can touch an emotion, can touch a tender place in your

life, and it causes a reaction. Some of you are moved by different

things. I know people that are moved by movies. Politics. Politics move

me just in a very poor direction, so I tend to stay away from

it. Sports moves people. Money moves and motivates people. Fame, pursuit

of fame moves people, family success. The list goes on and on and

on about what moves us. I realize this that what you allow to move

you, what you allow to grab your emotions, what you allow to stir

you, you give power to. You give power to Many years ago from

there, when I was a young boy up until just several years ago,

I was a very adamant sports fan. I liked my sports team and I

growing up, we were Cowboy fans, and don't hold that against us.

And we liked baseball, and we watched college basketball, and we were very

enthusiastic about it, let me say the least. And so it was.

It was something we were passionate about. But I realized as I got older

that some of these things that grip us, that that move us, can

grip us in a negative way. I realized that it wasn't just following my

team and and and the ebbs and flows of wins and losses and all of

the things that go with the sports and all of those things, but it

was impacting my daily life. If if the Cowboys lost, which as I

got older, they did more than they won. But I was in high

school they won everything and so that was great. But after that they haven't

won nothing, and so it would it would trouble me. I would be

it would put me in a bad mood. And I realized, this is

a problem. It would put me. I was, I'd have a foul

disposition all day, you know. And if they if they got beat,

especially by the Eagles, and so it was just I realized that what grips

you can hold you, what you allow to grab a hold of you can

impact you man. And so if several years ago I disengaged from that.

I follow a few things, but I disengaged from that because whether my teams

win or lose, whether you know, I vote, but whether the right

guy, the guy will be there, gets there or not, or whether

you know, an ending happens or whatever the case is, those things are

out of my control. And so I decided to disengage from those temporary things,

and I decided to be more intentional about what stirred me. And so

over the next several weeks, we're gonna talk about being stirred. We're gonna

start at the very beginning of our Bible, Genesis, chapter one, verse

two, talk about the earth was without form, it was formless, it

was void, There was nothing, and darkness was on the face of the

deep, and the spirit of God was hovering. Everyone say, hovering over

the face of the waters. The spirit of God was hovering over formless.

The spirit of God was hovering over the darkness, It was hovering over the

emptiness. It was hovering over the chaos. Because God had yet to speak

order into the atmosphere, and so there was chaos, there was darkness,

and that's what darkness brings. It brings chaos, and it brings a formlessness

into our life when we allowed darkness to creep in. And that's why darkness

breeds depression and oppression and all of these emotional things are attached to this dark

connotation. Seeing the very beginning that God, the Spirit of God was hovering,

well, I want to tell you today that the Holy Spirit is still

hovering over your darkness. He's hovering over your emptiness, over your chaos in

your life. Amen. But he's also he's also hovering over our hopes and

our hurts and our hearts and our lives. Amen. That's that's how he

works. And then we skip down to Genesis chapter two, verse seven,

and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground. So invert

in chapter one we have earth without form. In chapter two, we have

a man that has been formed. Okay, Spirit of God invert in chapter

one, is hovering over something with no form. In chapter two tells us

and he breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a

living being. So we go from hovering over darkness and formlessness in chapter one

to giving animation and life to hum humanity in chapter two, hovering to breathing,

breathing life. That's why when the breath of God is removed from your

body, you return to dust. That's how that order of creation happens.

Man. And that word breath, many of you know, this is ruoc

in in the Hebrew and it means spirit or breath. David said, I

would fearfully and wonderfully made in him acts I think thirteen says in Him we

live and we have our being. And then we jumped down to Exodus chapter

thirty one. Exodus chapter thirty one, verse two, there's a different thing.

So we see that the spirit of God is hovering, breath has been

breathed into mankind. And then in Exodus thirty one two and three says,

see, I have called by name Bezilil, the son of Uri, the

son of her of the tribe of Judah, verse three, and it says

I have filled him with the Spirit of God in wisdom, in understanding,

in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship. Filled him with the Spirit

of God in wisdom, understanding, knowledge, in all kinds of craftsmanship.

What was the purpose of this filling? Just that purpose? You see what

God was doing. God was preparing for the Tabernacle to be built, and

in order for the Tabernacle to be built in the right way, there needed

to be people that had the right abilities. And so what happened. Anointed

this man with creativity, with craftsmanship, with an imagination to be able to

use his hands to do what God had called him to do. So he's

anointing, he's hovering, he's breathing, he's moving. And then we go

from all of that in the Old Testament, and we jump all the way

into the New Testament, and we go from hovering to giving life, to

anointing for a purpose, to empowering in Acts Chapter one, verse eight.

But you will receive, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has

come up on you. Why why are we going to receive power? For

what purpose? Are we receiving this power to be my witnesses, both in

Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria, even to the uttermost part, the

remote part of the earth. And so over the next several weekends, we're

gonna talk about stirred. Being stirred because there is a need for the Church

of the Living God to get back to being stirred by the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Amen, because we cannot become enamored or satisfied with this subtitle of

being spirit filled. I'm gonna say that again. I want you to listen.

I want you to catch what I'm saying. Cannot be enamored. We

cannot be satisfied for just having the subtitle under what type of church do you

are? You? We I go to Life Cities church? What type of

church we are? A spirit filled church? Spirit filled has become a subtitle

for churches. Amen. That is not what it was meant to be.

A man, we must be Holy Spirit stirred. The Holy Ghost must move

us, The Holy Ghost must cause a reaction within us. Amen. That's

what being stirred is all about. Being stirred is rising above the rhetoric and

living according to biblical convictions. Amen. Anybody have personal convictions that you live

by. Raise your hand. I want to see you have things that God

has spoken to you about and the Holy Spirit has moved in your life,

and you have felt this pricking in your heart to add this to your life

or remove this from your life? A man, that's what a conviction is.

And if you don't have any personal convictions. You need to allow the

Holy Ghost to stir you, to trouble you in order to speak, so

that you hear the voice of the Spirit as it speaks what the Word of

God will confirm. Because the Spirit will always confirm the Word, and the

Word will always confirm the Spirit. They will never work in contraction to each

other. They will always work together. Being stirred is giving the voice of

the Holy Ghost the freedom to convict you. That's what being stirred is.

Amen, Lord, speak blessings. Lord. We want healings, Lord,

we want revival. But when the Lord begins to speak convictions, we turn

the heron aids off. Why because that goes against the flesh. Amen.

That's kind of the point. Because the flesh, as Scripture says, works

in enmity, is an enemy against God, not my words, his words.

That's why we must walk after the Spirit and not after the flesh.

Because if I walk after the flesh, the things that are gonna stir me

are gonna be fleshly, and they're gonna be temporary, and they're gonna be

things that profit me nothing in eternity, ay Man. But if I walk

after the Spirit and I allow the Holy Ghost to stir me within, allow

the Holy Ghost access to begin to touch your emotions and touch every part and

fiber of your life. The voice of the Spirit can begin to speak and

will begin to speak if you'll listen. Being stirred is taking our cues and

our standard of living from Scripture. He want to say, Amen, stirred.

Amen, stirred. We've got to be stirred. This is the thing.

Being stirred is giving God veto power. Being stirred is operating in the

power of the Holy Ghost while obeying the prompting of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Why Because the Holy Spirit is not static, It's always working in us

and always working through us on a regular daily basis. Amen. And if

you're not allowing yourself to be moved, then you're not allowing the Holy Ghost

to perform its perfect work in your life. Amen. It's not about just

feeling the spirit. It's not just about being full of the spirit. It's

about being led of the spirit. Amen. We've got to be led of

the spirit. Amen. We've got to allow the Holy Spirit to move us.

How how does this happen? And stirring us? It stirs us at

the very core of our being. Something. Sometimes the stirring is a small

little nudge. Anybody ever felt that, or maybe it's a gentle prompting to

do something, to step into action. Ever anybody ever felt that? Anybody

ever, anybody ever felt crummy after ignoring it? Why because there's something in

your soul that desires to obey the prompting and the unction of the spirit.

It goes back to our very creation. It goes back to the breath that

was breathed into Adam as he was formed from the dust of the ground.

There's something the very breath that you breathe every single day ignites something and desires

the voice and the moving and the stirring of the spirit. That's why you

talk to people that go from drugs to alcohol, to this to that,

to every vice and every device and all of these things, and they're like,

what's going on? And in many many of them, and some of

you may have felt this, they're trying. There's they'll they'll explain it as

a void in their life. There's something, there's a whole they're trying to

fill. And why can't drugs do it? And why can't alcohol do it?

And why because the void was put there by the breath of God,

and only the spirit of God will feel what God has put there. I

believe when when when that breath was breathed into Adam, there was a type

of magnet that was placed within him that always was gonna draw mankind back to

God. And as much as we would resist, there would always be this

internal soul reaching for the things of God. Amen steal small voice of the

spirit can awaken, It can animate powerful action within us because it's always and

it always begins with a stirring w Tozer and author made the statement, he

said, God is above. He's not pushed up, he's been He's outside,

but he's not excluded. He's inside, but he's not confined. God

is above all things, presiding beneath all things, sustaining, outside all things,

embracing, and inside all things feeling. He is God most High,

and God is wanting to stir up his people. Revival doesn't need to come,

It should already be here. And as the Church, we must get

our eyes off of the temporal and onto the eternal. As the Church of

the Living God, we've got to start looking and being stirred by the things

that truly matter, or we will not change our world. Let me ask

you a question and be honest with yourself. There's no sense lying to yourself.

What percentage of your thoughts, your words, and your actions are a

regurgitation of the news you're watching and the social media you're following. Don't you

think about that? What percentage of your thoughts, word, actions are a

regurgitation of the news watching and the social media that you're following. Probably too

high. I would imagine another question, what percentage of your words, your

thoughts, and your actions are a revelation that you're getting from God's word?

Probably too low? If I was to guess, I'm talking about the church,

not necessary you personally. I want you to think about that question,

though. What is your life producing? Is it producing the fruit of our

society or is it producing the fruit of the spirit. Man. This world

doesn't need a church that is worried about what society thinks. This world needs

a church that is worried about what Jesus thinks. Amen, what is gripping

you? What is stirring you? We have not been filled just to be

full. I want that to sink in. We have not been filled just

to be full. We have not been anointed to just be enamored with our

own anointing. Paul said in Corinthians first Corinthians, I speech and my preaching

was not with enticing words of man's wisdom. Why because, he says,

but it's in the demonstration of the spirit and of power. Why because your

faith cannot stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

That's why you're filled and baptized with the power of the Holy Ghost,

so that through your life he can demonstrate his spirit and his power. Not

to give you a subtitle of being spirit filled. And for far too long

the church has developed preacher religion where the only thing that moves people is a

personality instead of the power of the Holy Ghost. Well, let me clarify

something, whether it's mine or some other pastor's personality out there, a personality

cannot get your behind an inch off of the ground when the trumpet sounds.

Amen, It is only by the power, he says, unless you were

born of water and of spirit. Has nothing to do with your pastor or

your preacher's personality. It has to do with your personal relationship with Jesus Christ

and your ability to allow the Holy Ghost to begin to stir you and begin

to move you, and begin to change you, and begin to convict you.

That's what will move you, because the baptism of the Holy Ghost being

filled, being full, is all to put you into action. The Holy

Ghost is not static, so we cannot be static. We are not church

goers, We are not church sitters. We are the Church of the Living

God, empowered and full of the Holy Ghost, seeing us, empowering us,

overshadowing us. Come on, amen, you believe this. It's a

river of life, always moving, always operating. And if you'll allow the

Holy Spirit to stir you, the Spirit will also lead you, teach you

and direct you. Amen, all through the Book of Acts. You know

what acts stands for? You know what? You know what acts? The

Book of Action or it's called acts because it's the actions of the Apostles.

Okay, that's what it stands for. Action. Everyone say action like action

movies? How fun would a movie be of somebody just sitting there looking back

at the camera. Man, this is riveting. I won't even go there.

Acts, Chapter thirteen, verse four. I want you to catch this

Acts chapter thirteen, verse four. So they being what being sent forth by?

Yeah, being sent by the Holy Ghost. They departed into Solutia,

and from thence they sell to Cyprus. So they were being sent by the

Holy Ghost. Now Act sixteen, verse six. Now when they had gone

through Fireja and the region of Galicia, and were what by what forbidden of

the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia. If the Spirit can send

you, it better be able to stop you as well. That's veto power.

If the spirit can send you into action, it better be able to

stop you in your tracks. Well, they were going to preach the Word

and Asia. That don't make sense. The spirit makes intercession. The spirit

sees what you cannot. It knew everything you see. This is how it

works. The spirit leads according to the will of God. The spirit will

never this is this is your barometer. The scripture talks about tests the spirit.

If what you're following, did you in contrast to the Word of God,

following the wrong spirit? Man? Because the Holy Ghost will always lead

you to walk in harmony and unison with the Word and the will of God.

Always, every single time, what you allow to stir you, you

give power to being stirred, walking in obedience to the leading of the Holy

Ghost. That's what it means to be stirred. Amen, bring me a

musician. Second Peter, Chapter one. I want you to see this Second

Peter, Chapter one, Verse twenty, knowing this that no prophecy of the

scripture is of any private interpretation. Hmm, no prophecy of the scripture.

Who Lord, that's powerful. That's another whole nother message. Okay, Verse

twenty one. Let's move on. I'll hung up right there, for the

prophecy cannot in old time by the will of man. But holy men of

God spake as they were. What moved stand with me? Moved bird they

spake. The actions of the apostles took place, men and women being full

of the Holy Ghost, but not satisfied with just being full with house to

house preaching, teaching, praying. Everywhere they went. They were talking about

Jesus everywhere they went. They were talking about with the change. They were

testifying. There was something in them. They weren't satisfied with just being spirit

filled. Amen, our church, let me And this is gonna sound well,

I don't care how it sounds. This world doesn't need another spirit filled

church. We need a church that stirred by the Holy Ghost. Our society

needs a church that is moved, that is sent that is propelled by the

hour of His Spirit. Amen. I love what we feel in here.

I love that we come together and we feel the unction of His spirit and

his presence moving like we have today. And that's great, and that's amazing.

And there's this rejuvenation and this is this is like the gas tank or

the gas station. And you get you get filled up, and you get

encouraged, and you get you get rejuvenated and all of these things and and

and and you get this breath of encouragement. And but what does it do

through you when you leave here, when you walk into that office tomorrow,

when you walk onto that job site tomorrow, when you meet those people that

you're gonna meet this week? What is the spirit doing through you? Or

are you just full without being moved? Amen? If we want to carry

on what the first Church started, we must be willing to walk in obedience

to the Holy Ghost. Amen. We must we must be willing to follow

his leading. Amen. With every eye closed. I know this isn't a

necessarily a jumping and shouting type message. We're of a convicting type message.

So as we wrap up here this morning, I want your mind to consider

what has If you've had the wonderful experience of the baptism of His Spirit in

your life, what is it produced, what is it doing? Have you

changed? Have you begun to move or have you grown stagnant while being full?

Have you satisfied or have you grown satisfied with a subtitle of being spirit

filled? Or are you ready to allow the Spirit to stir you and to

move you into action to walk in obedience? Amen? If you're willing to

walk in obedience, if you're ready to be stirred and moved and step into

action, if you felt the Spirit calling you to do something greater than what

you've done, if you feel that anointing moving through you. There's a reason

you're gifted in the giftings you have. There's a reason you have the talents

and the abilities, and it's not necessarily because of your mom and Dad's DNA.

There's things that God has put in you to do and for a purpose

of His kingdom, and you've set on them and you've done nothing with him.

Now is the touch? How is the time to walk in His perfect

will being led by the spirit. Hallelujah. And so if you're ready to

be stirred, if you're ready to be moved. I wonder if you would

throw both hands in the air, only if you're ready. If you're not

ready, then and then the don't put your hands in the air. I

don't want you to do that just because it'll look good. I want if

you're ready to be moved with your hands in the air. As my wife

begins to sing, I wonder all over this building, each and every heart,

each in every life that has your hands raised right now, I wonder

if you would just tell the Lord Lord you lead, I will follow.

I will walk in obedience to your spirit. Right here, right now.

I commend my life to your service. I commend my life to your will.

I am yours. Thank you so much for being this today. We

hope you were blessed in some way by the message. To learn more about

us, check out www dot my Life City Church dot org, or you

can contact us at info at my Life City Church dot org. Thank you

once again for joining us, and we hope you have a great week.