Pastor Tim Dunn "Worthy to Worship" (7-30-23)

Welcome to Life City. This podcast was created to celebrate what God is doing

and what protects us. Our vision is to reach the hungry, the hurting,

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 worthy to worship. And I let me get that or we

will be here all day. I opened my Bible last week and out fell

a folded piece of paper, and as I turned it over, it said

today said I love you from Grayson. I've got a lot of these,

and I opened it up there it is said, I love you, Daddy.

You are amazing, got hurt, fooled. I love you so much.

And in that moment it struck me such simple words to an earthly father

that makes more mistake then gets it right. Such simple words have the power

to move and touch every single emotion in me. And I thought, Oh,

what must our words of worship due to our heavenly Father. This can

move me because you read something like this, There's nothing I'd fight this entire

room for that girl. I'd probably lose, no doubt, but it wouldn't

I would fight every single one of you you know why because of a few

words written down on a folded up piece of notebook paper. It's not the

paper, it's not even the lead. She put them in the heart.

You know why, because that's where they came from. That's all Jesus wants,

that's all he's asking. And I, as we were up here,

and that's why I just allowed it to go. And I was looking at

and I was watching, and you know what I saw. I saw hearts

writing letters to their heavenly father. I saw I saw words flowing out of

hearts. And they may not have been super elaborate, and they may not

have been something that you would have to go to Addictionary, Nary or a

thesaurus to find the meaning. It may have been simple as I love you

so much. And it may have been as simple as you are so amazing,

Lord, you are so good, and I love you, And it

may have been as simple as that. But I want to tell you we

feel what we feel in this place, not because the right note was played.

You catch where I'm going, Not because the right note was sung.

We feel what we feel in this place. We feel the chicay of glory

of the hand of our heavenly Father coming down and touching us in this place,

people bowed on their knee, people tears streaming down their face, people

speaking in English and speaking in heavenly languages. We feel that we experience that

why because of a heart poured out, Because of a heart poured out,

your worship. Your worship does not have to be pretty. Your worship does

not have to be calculated. Your worship does not have to be theological.

It just needs to be from your heart. That's what touches his heart.

Hallu jah, that's my message right there, just in five minutes. Yeah,

John's head for the door. Right here. I wonder if you would

just lay your hand upon your heart and close your eyes, and I wonder

if you can muster some words for Jesus right now. Oh I'm not worthy,

but you have deemed me worthy. I thank you. I thank you

for moving. I think you're coming from the youngest to the oldest. I

wonder if you can muster hob But I've done this, and I've done it

doesn't matter what you've done, it matter, It doesn't matter, it matters

what you do right here, right now, in this moment, in his

presence, hallelujah, hallelujah, in your mighty name, from the heart.

Let your heart speak right now, Let your heart speak right now. Ah.

I love you, I love you. I love you. You're so

amazing. Lord, You're so good. Lord. Hallelujah, hallelujah, Thank

you, Jesus, thank you, Jesus, hallelujah. You know what's the

thing is is this piece of paper to somebody else doesn't really mean a whole

lot. And that's okay, because it means something to me and Grayson.

And I'm sure you've whether you're a parent, you're a grandparent, and uncle

over their cases. I'm sure there's things that you have. My Bible's littered

with stuff from my kids, books that I read, my bookmarkers or notes,

or things they bring home from school or projects. All I've got them

in my closet, I've got them. I'll put on a shirt that I

haven't worn in a while and something will be in the pocket most almost all

the time, it's from my kids. Amen. Those are valuable to me

and their mom. They're valuable. We hold onto those things and they may

not mean a whole lot they're value to somebody else, but they hold value

because I know where they came from. I know what generated the thought somewhere,

and this has been in my Bible for many years. So she was

several years younger when she did this. Somewhere in that little heart of hers

there was a desire to express her love to her Daddy, and her heart

fluenced her mind, and her mind began to put it to paper. When

we begin to lift up worship, when we begin to praise Jesus, if

it starts in the heart, and the heart triggers the mind to open the

mouth and begin to speak words of adoration, words of exaltation, don't silence

that. That that why all he's doing is exercising the gift that's in you

to him up. That's all he's doing, and it's powerful. It has

the ability to change the atmosphere, as it did here in this place today.

Amen. Amen, So I wanna read you a real quick story,

Luke. Chapter seven, verse thirty six says in one of the Pharisees desired

him talking about Jesus that he would eat with him. And he went into

the pharisees house, and he set down to meet in verse thirty seven,

and behold a woman in the city which was a sinner. I love how

they kind of just call her out like that, this woman in the city

who was a sinner. When she knew that Jesus set at meet in the

pharisees house, she brought an alabaster box of ointment and stood at his feet

behind him, weeping. She didn't even walk around in front of him.

She stood behind him as he was there, and began to wash his feet

with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head. She

began to kiss his feet and anointed them with the ointment. And now when

the Pharisee, which had bidden Jesus, saw what was happening, he saw

all of this, he thought and spake within himself, saying, this man,

you see, this is the problem. When we start looking at people's

worship and start judging it is it begins to see what happens here is this

Pharisee saw what this woman was doing and then began to doubt Jesus if this

were a prophet, If he were really a prophet, he would have known

who and what manner of woman this is that touches him, for she is

a sinner. Amen. When you start looking at other people's worship and start

condemning it, or start judging it too, and start diminishing it as not

necessary or this or that. What you're really doing is your doubting Jesus.

And he says, and Jesus answered said, unto him, Simon, I

have something to say unto you, because Jesus knew his thoughts, and he

says, Master. And I wonder how strong he said that, Master,

because I imagine he thought that in Jesus said, hey, I want to

talk to you, and he's like, oh, shoot, say on,

you can be seated. So what we have here, as we have this

act of honor that was on full display at the feet of Jesus, but

it was also in front of this pharisee, and as you're sitting here today.

I don't want you to lose the spirit of worship that is in this

place. Don't just sit back and disconnect. I want you to stay engaged.

Amen. Amen. All right, So your worship, your praise,

cannot be determined by what others think of you or your past. Amen.

They are not the subject of your praise, so they should not have the

power to stop it. I'm gonna say that again. They are not the

subject of your praise, so they should not have the power to stop it.

Amen. And so in this setting, it was because of her sin,

her sin, she was deemed unworthy to worship. Yet she never stopped

worshiping him. She never stopped honoring him, she never stopped serving him.

And then I love what happens in a few verses down in verse forty four,

Jesus turns to the woman and he's facing the woman, and he says

he's talking to Simon whilst looking at the woman. He says, Simon,

do you see this woman. I want you to catch what Jesus saying here,

Simon, I want you to see this woman. I want you to

look at her. He says. I entered into your house and you didn't

give me any water from my feet. Yet she has washed my feet with

her tears. You want to judge her worship, and yet you invited me

into your house and you didn't need give wolf feet, and she's washing my

feet in your house with her tears. Amen. Talk about convicted, and

he says, and has wiped them with the hairs of her head. Jesus

has more verse forty five. He says, you gave me no kiss.

When I walked in, you didn't give me the customary kiss on the cheek.

This woman, since the time I walked in here has not stopped kissing

my feet. And you judge her my head with oil, thou didst not

anoint. But this woman has anointed my feet with precious ointment from her own

alabaster box. Wherefore I say unto you, her sins, which are many,

are forgiven. What I thought we were talking about worship. We are

the power of worship. You don't have to get it right to worship him.

Your worship can get you right. You don't have to have it all

together to worship him. If that was the case, none of us would

be deemed worthy to praise him, none of us would be deemed worthy to

lift up hands of worship. Amen. But in her sin, not even

in her out. In her sin, she pours out her tears upon his

feet. She kisses his feet. Now, I want to tell you something.

Jesus wasn't walking around wearing loafers. They wore open toes sandals on dirt

roads, walking through the desert. His feet were dirty, and she washed

the dirt with her tears. It's a lot of tears. Obviously she had

a lot of sin. We're told that, right. She poured out her

soul at the feet of the Master. She began to dry his feet with

her hair, and then she opened disappointment box, this alabaster box, and

she began to anoint his feet. This is the deal. This is what

hit me. Those that want to stand back and judge your worship are missing

an opportunity that those that are worshiping are seizing. And man, the Pharisee

was so worried about what this woman was due was doing. He didn't seize

the opportunity to honor Jesus that was standing in his own house. He missed

the opportunity because he was so worried about what this woman was doing. I

can't believe she's on her knees. I can't believe she's wiping his feet.

I can't believe that. That's too much. Oh, she's going so over

the top. You don't have to do all of that. You don't have

to. And he stood there scoffing at what this woman was pouring out,

and the whole time he was missing an opportunity to honor Jesus. And so

we better be careful while we scoff at. We better be careful when somebody

is lost in worship, when somebody is lost in what they're pouring out to

Jesus, that we don't get lost in the trance of judgment and we miss

our own opportunity to honor Jesus. Amen. And so he says, for

she loved much, but to whom little is given the same loveth little.

I love what Jesus says. She has not ceased in the midst of your

scoffing, because you know the body language will tell you everything. He didn't

have to open his mouth. The woman knew what he thought of her.

That Pharisee stood with his fairacetical glance at her like you have lost your mind.

You're in my house acting like a fool. I cannot believe you are

a sinner in my house. And Jesus is a whole time standing there waiting.

I know you're focused on her, but I'm trying to wonder why are

you still standing there and you have yet to make one move to honor me

while I stand and sit at your house. Remember, dude, you inviting

me to come into your house, and while I'm sitting here you're allowing this

other woman to steal the opportunity to worship me. You won't kiss my cheek.

She hasn't ceased kissing my feet. You won't even kiss me on the

cheek, and my cheek is clean. She's been kissing my feet since the

moment I got here. Worship, worship, hey man. That's why David

danced. He didn't care what Michael Saul's daughter thought. He didn't care what

Saul thought. He didn't care what the priest thought, he didn't care what

anybody. It was this outward flow of praise to the Lord man. And

I saw that here in this place today. I saw people responding, people

responding to what they felt, and their heart was being poured out. Don't

ever miss an opportunity to pour out your heart to Jesus. Don't waste coming

into the house of the Lord. Don't waste an opportunity. Don't come in

here and just sit here. Especially, don't scoff and don't look down your

nose at somebody because of what they do. You don't know their story,

you've never walked in their shoes. You don't know their history, you don't

know their pain, you don't know their well, what they've been delivered from.

You don't know what they dealt with this morning, So don't stand there

and look down at them like what they're doing is too much. They are

pouring their hearts out to Jesus. Man, don't let the accuser of the

brethren make you feel unworthy to worship because of your past. It's in your

worship of Jesus that you can find forgive any boy, say amen to that.

Amen, your worship unlocks avenues of your heart to where He can work.

Amen, do we believe the thing flows through the avenue of worship?

Anybody ever been healed in the midst of your worship? An, You don't

need a healing line to get healed. You can just throw your hands up

and lift your voice, and lift your heart and worship, and He can

heal you in the moment in that time. Amen, I've seen it done.

I've been healed in the midst of my worship. I don't tell you

by third account. Second account is the first account occurrence. Amen, Baptism

of the Holy Ghost flows through the avenue of worship? Why why does it

take worship for one? For many many reasons that I don't have time to

unravel here today, because I'm already at twenty two minutes. But the baptism

of the Holy Ghost flows through the avenue of worship, because worship is not

about me, it's about him. And when it becomes about him, I

step out of the way, and he is free to move through those avenues

that have been opened by my worship. And that's why the Holy Ghost can

fall in the midst of your worship. Man, there's no equation for the

baptism of his spirit. It's worship. It's the heart that's open to him,

poured out before him. Deliverance flows through the avenue of worship. Forgiveness

flows through the avenue of worship. There will always be those that want to

stand around and judge everyone else's worthiness. Don't let that hinder your praise.

Don't let that hinder you. What other people think cannot stop you if you

let it. If you don't, let it be told in their condemnation,

they are doing nothing to honor Jesus. Because you will find the value of

your worship in the face of the one you worship. You will find the

value of your worship in the face of the one you worship, because the

power of this woman's worship was realized as Jesus turned to her. See this

whole time, she's crying and weeping and washing his feet and drying it within

her hair and pouring this ointment out on his feet. And the whole time,

he's looking at the Pharisee. The whole time he's sitting there, he

say, I'm looking at you. He's not looking at her the whole time

she's doing her thing. He's looking at the Pharisee, reading his thoughts.

That's scary. The whole time you've been in here, Jesus has been reading

your thoughts. He knows what's distracting you. He knows what kind of distraction

to come into your life. Amen, write this very moment, some of

you are fighting in your mind to stay focused. I mean, Jesus knows

your thoughts. A man, he knows what's going on this very moment.

He doesn't tell me, I Lord, have mercy. I don't want to

know. Keep those to yourself. I got my own problems. So he's

he's looking at this Pharisee while this woman pours her worship out at his feet.

And then in verse forty four, he turns and faces the woman,

and then directs the pharisee to face the woman. He said, Okay,

Pharisee, if you're so focused on her instead of me, let's both look

at her, and I'm going to show you what she's doing and you're not.

Your worship matters to Jesus. You let him worry about the pharisees.

You let him worry about the scoffers. You let him worry about the people

that want to be naysayers and the people that want to say what you're doing

is this, is to this, and is to that. And you let

Jesus worry about them. Told as much as he has his eyes on you,

he's looking right at them, wondering why aren't you focused on me instead

of them? Amen? And so see that that's the thing that's to think.

Jesus has you covered. So you don't have to worry about the pharisee,

because Jesus does. He's got his eye on them just as much as

he's got his eye on you, because he's about to drop the hammer on

them. He's about to honor you. Because that's the difference between worship and

condemnation. Worship brings honor because where honor is given, honor becomes bestowed.

Where condemnation is given, judgment falls a man. And so when you stand

in condemnation over somebody else's relationship, over somebody's else's worship, or somebody else's

convictions, you better be careful of where you place yourself, because you now

place yourself in between that person and Jesus, and that's a very dangerous place

to stand. Amen. What's interesting is this, It wasn't just the Pharisee

that had a problem with a woman's worship. John chapter twelve, John after

twelve. Then Jesus, six days before the Passover, came to bethany where

Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he had raised from the dead.

There they made him a supper, and Martha served, But Lazarus was

one of them that sat at the table with him. That'd have been a

fun table to sit at. So what you've been doing last four days lying

around Verse three? Married a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,

very expensive, And she anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with

her hair, and the house was filled with the odor. Amen, very

costly, very costly, very expensive. You see This is why you can't

let anybody determine what you do in worship, because they don't know what your

worship has cost you. Amen. Amen, they don't know the cost of

your worship. They don't know the cost of your walk, they don't know

the cost of your relationship. I mean, they haven't walked your shoes.

If somebody hasn't walked in my shoes, why am I gonna let them determine

the path that I take. Amen. And the same goes for your worship.

If they can't, if they if they're gonna judge me, Okay,

I gotta keep moving on. But I'm about to lose my mind, all

right. I gotta stay focused. And the house was filled with the odor

of the ointment. Then Saith one of his disciples. So what we have

here is in Luke, you have a pharisee that has an issue with what

this what that woman did, and John, you have a follower that has

an issue with what this woman does. Just because someone's a follower don't mean

they're in line with your kind of worship. Jesus sat next to Judas set

next to Jesus at the table and dined with him, then betrayed him.

The first clue we have that Judas has a problem is found right here where

he says, then say a Judas Simon's son, which should betray him?

Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?

This he said, not that he cared for the poor. I love

how the Bible just outs him like they don't hold they don't, they don't

hold nothing back. This dude's deposer. But because he was a thief and

had the bag. See the problem is Judas was only looking at the value

because he was filled with greed. That's another message for another time. And

bear, and Bear was the one that was responsible for what was placed within.

Verse seven, then said Jesus leave her alone. Back off bub He

says, because against the day of my burying, has she kept this?

What Jesus was saying, her worship has a purpose that you know nothing about.

Be careful what you say, Be careful what you say about what other

people do in their worship to Jesus Christ, because you do not know what

purpose Jesus has for what they are doing. Amen, hallelujah. There is

something greater at work here. That's what Jesus was saying. There's something greater

at work here than what you can see. And this is the truth about

your worship. Your worship is about your purpose. It doesn't matter what other

people say. To them. It might look ridiculous to them, it might

look like a way. To them, it might look like just emotion.

But to Jesus, he sees what they cannot. He knows what they do

not know. Amen. And so what we must do, what you must

do is let broom, let your home, let your marriage, let your

life be filled with the aroma of your praise. Because Jesus has deemed it

worthy. And that's all that matters. In the words of Elisha, bring

me a musician, a follower stand there just because it didn't fit in their

box. They judged it unworthy. Amen. Well, I want to tell

you, every single one of you here today, there is no we see

in scripture talks about lifting up of the hands, clapping of the hands,

lifting up your voice. David danced, people bowed, people laid prostrate.

It's all kinds of positions of prayer, of praise, and of worship.

In scripture. I've paced while praying, I've knelt, I've laid on my

face. Sometimes all in the same process. I'm not here to give you

an equation to get God's answers. Truth be told, your worship should be

different than mine because we're not the same person, and so I'm not I

can't stand here and say, well, Ronnie, because you didn't do exactly

like I did, you're not worshiping. I can't go there or I align

myself with Judas or Simon the Pharisee. But this is what I do know.

When you leave his presence in your heart, have you poured out?

I can't answer that for you. Nobody else can answer that for you.

You and only you can answer that question. Have I given everything to him?

Or did I waste it? Did I waste an opportunity? Did I

stand there like the Pharisee watching what was happening in front of me when I

should have been honoring him, when I should have been bowing at his feet.

I wonder if you'd close your eyes this morning, because that's all that

matters. Because what you brought with you into this service today, whatever heaviness,

whatever unanswered questions, whatever pain, hurts, sickness, whatever is going

on, whatever you brought with you, there is an avenue to receive what

you need, and that avenue is worshiped. That's why I here at Life

City. We give you the opportunity to lift your hands. We don't force

you. We don't have an usher running around forcing your hand up if you

don't put your hands up, but we invite you to do that. Why

put your dependence upon him? To honor him as your king, is your

savior, as your Lord, your master. Amen. So as you stand

with me at the close of this service this morning, hallelujah, what does

your heart say? What does your heart have to say about him? What

does your heart have to be poured out to him this morning? Is there

something that you need to bring to him? Is there something that you need

to lay at his feet this morning? And I want to give you that

opportunity. As my wife begins to sing, I want to give you and

everyone in here an opportunity aiming and lay whatever you have at the feet of

Jesus this morning. Hallelujah. Thissalter is open for anyone that would like,

anyone that would desire to come and to pour out your heart to him,

hallelujah. Whatever that may look like, let it be genuine, Let it

be real. Hallelujah, because he's here and he has his highs on you,

and he's given you every opportunity in this place, in this service,

there's been multiple opportunities, and so from the front to the back, to

the left to the right, I wonder if one more time we could just

create an atmosphere of worship. Hallelujah. Thank you so much for being with

us 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.