Pastor Tim Dunn "Bring Me a Worshipper" (7-23-23)

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. My question this morning is what are you bringing this morning?

What have you brought to the Lord today? So I'm gonna give you a

second, and I'm gonna be silent and make it very very awkward in here,

and I want you to think about what you've brought to the Lord today.

There was an Old Testament prophet. There was an Old Testament prophet named

Elisha, and he understood the importance of praise. Second Kings, Chapter three,

verse fifteen. It says, now bring me a minstrel, which is

a musician. And it came about when the musician played that the hand of

the Lord came upon him. And in verse sixteen he said, thus says

the Lord, make this valley full of trenches. For thus says the Lord,

you shall not see wind, nor shall you see rain. Yet the

valley shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink. Both you

and your cattle and your beast. Ways that God can move in your life

that you won't even realize or recognize it's him. A man. He says,

I'm about to send a blessing into your life and you're not even gonna

realize where it came from. I'm about to do something in you. I'm

about to provide for you. I'm about to do a miracle in your life.

And you're gonna be looking for all the old normal ways that I move

and you're not gonna see it in the wind, and you're not gonna see

the rain fall from the heavens. But you're gonna look and all your trenches

are gonna be full, and there's gonna be water for you to drink in,

and there's gonna be water for your cattle to drink in. A man

and he's telling somebody today, and I've come to tell somebody today. There's

something that God wants to do in your life. But you've got your head

stuck in the sand because it's not coming like it's always came, and it's

not happening like it's always happened. But he says, if you'll just trust

me, I'll do it in a brand new way. I'll do something and

it's not gonna happen like you normally see it. But I'm gonna move in

your life. I'm gonna bring a miracle in your life. Amen. And

then in verse eighteen, he says, for this is this is a small

thing. What I'm about to do is small in the sight of the Lord.

I know it's big to you, and I know it's powerful to you,

and I know it's mighty to you, he says, but this is

just a small thing when it comes to my power. Amen. And see,

you've been praying, and you've been seek God, and you've been asking

him for something that seems so big. And he's telling you, just put

your trust in me. Just put your faith in me, because what seems

big to you is just a small thing to me. He says. I

measure the waters in the hollow of my hand. I measure the heavens by

the span of my hand. Don't you think that that big thing in your

life is just a speck in my eyes. I can move in your in

your life in ways weren't even possible. Amen. And so of Lysia started

this. He said, bring me a musician, bring me a worshiper Amen.

As I walked and have walked around homes, in pastures and fields,

There's one thing that is for certain. This land, the actual soil that

we live on here in Texas is dry, very very dry. I've seen

large cracks open up due to the lack of water and moisture in the soil.

No doubt you probably have it around your house. Yet no rain.

Why is there no rain? Well, the reason it becomes difficult to get

rain is because there is no moisture that comes out of the soil. Amen,

and because the soil has a lot to do with creating an atmosphere for

rain. I'm gonna say that again the soil, and I say this both

talking about physically and spiritually. The soil has a lot to do with creating

an atmosphere forrain. Scientists have discovered the effect of soil moisture and its effect

on precipitation, and although there are a lot of differing views depending on certain

research, it's commonly accepted that the amount of moisture in the soil, or

the lack thereof, has a direct impact on the atmosphere. The more moisture

in the soil, the more evaporation. Right. Greater evaporation equals higher water

droplets, leading to heavier clouds, leading to rainfall. The drier the soil,

the lower amount of evaporation. Lower levels of evaporation equal low number of

droplets, which allows the solar radiation of the sun to heat up the soil,

causing the atmosphere temperatures to rise. That's why it's so stinking hot in

North Texas is because our land is dry as a bone, but the sun

is still hot. And when there's no moisture to rise, man, it

just begins to heat everything up. And so it matters how much moisture is

in the soil. So I hope you caught that little science less. There

will be a test tomorrow about it. So, when the soil is dry,

an atmosphere that is conducive for precipitation, right, What comes out of

the soil impacts and effects the atmosphere. What comes out of the soil impacts

and affects the atmosphere. I started this with a question, what have you

brought to the Lord today? In order for there to be an atmosphere that

is conducive for regular rainfall, the soil needs to have a high level of

moisture. Now when you think about that spiritually, Amen, and you think

about your day to day relationship, what condition is the soil of your heart?

Is your heart producing anything that can change your atmosphere? Amen? Elisha

stands in the midst of three earthly kings. Then he calls for a musician.

He's standing there and there's three kings standing around him, and they've actually

called for him. They bring Elishah And he's standing there in the midst of

three kings who have authority and have earthly power. And what does Elisha do,

the prophet of God in the midst of earthly authority and earthly power and

earthly reign and earthly position. He calls for a musician. He says,

come on, and then we see as the earthly musician begins to play,

the Lord begins to settle on Elisha. So this is the deal. It's

not an earthly throne, status, title, or position that moves the hand

of God. I'm gonna say that again. It's not your earthly throne,

your earthly status, a title, or a position that moves the hand of

God. It is the heart of the worshiper that moves his hand. It

is the heart of the worshiper that moves the hand of God. You want

your environment to change from dry to a downpour. Begin to worship him,

begin to praise him, begin to lift him up, Begin to exercise that

gift of a voice and those vocal vocal chords in honor of Jesus Christ.

And watch as Heaven responds. Because it matters what comes out of the heart.

Amen. The Bible talks about the heart, talks about what comes out

of the heart. Amen. And careful what we're producing. Amen. You

know why, because what we produce may very well lead to a drought in

our life and in other people's life. Amen. But when your heart is

set on praising Him, not just on Sunday, not just as small groups,

but every single day, no matter the place, no matter your position,

no matter the circumstances you're going through, it doesn't matter victory or in

defeat. If you will learn to produce praise, the atmosphere of your entire

life will begin to change. And as your praise goes up, his glory

will begin to fall. Hey man, because there's something that happens when the

people of God begin to worship Him out of a free will. You see,

it's different for the angels than it is us. The angels are created

beings, made to worship him. They have no choice, they have no

free will. But when it comes from a heart that has a free will

to choose, and your worship begins to go up. And I would say

this that worship in the midst of a storm is even more powerful than worship

while standing on top of the mountain. Amen. Because when you choose in

the face of an adversary to magnify the King of kings, there is something

that begins to moisten the heavens, and it begins to create droplets of his

sport out in your life. Amen. That's why we must praise him.

That's why we must worship him. That's why here at Life City Church you

will see us with our hands raised. Why because all through this book it

talks about lifting up hands, It talks about raising your hands. They're all

through this book. It talks about getting on your knees, it talks about

clapping of the hands, it talks about lifting up the voice. Amen.

I don't believe that the church ought to be silent. Amen. And I

mean we don't need to be silent in the church house and outside the church

house. Amen. Our society should never be louder than the voice of the

church. Amen. As long as the voice of the church is singing the

praise of God Almighty. Amen. And I've heard it, I've heard it

all. Well, that's just not my style. Amen. Well Amen,

before he died for you, that really wasn't his style either. Amen.

Amen. Amen, hallelujah, David dance before the Lord. He took his

robe off. People. Oh my Lord, look at that imbecile. He's

worshiping, he's praising, he's dancing around like a blooming idiot. Amen.

Who cares what they think. I'm not doing it to please you. I'm

doing it to please him. And so you can think of me as an

idiot. Amen. That's okay. I may be an idiot, very very

likely that I am partially an idiot. It doesn't matter. My heart does

not beat after you, It beats after him. Amen, my heart.

I love you, my heads, Amen. And that's what the church.

We love people. Amen, we love to see people, We love to

worship with people we love. But our heart must beat after him. And

so the kings in this story, they out of desperation, they call for

this prophet. Let's pick up verse nine verse nine of Second Kings, Chapter

three. So the King of Israel went with the King of Judah and the

King of Edom, and they made a circuit of seven days journey. So

they went in a circle, and there was no water for the army or

for the cattle that followed them. And then the King of Israel said,

alas, hey, guys, I've got an idea. For the Lord has

called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab. Jehoshaphat said,

is there not a prophet of the Lord here that we may inquire of

the Lord by him? And one of the kings of Israel servants answered and

said, Elijah, the son of Shafat, is here, and he used

to pour water on the hands of Elijah. And so they're out of their

desperation. They call for the prophet to make something happen. Surely the prophet

can come and speak the word of God to us, and so maybe the

prophet can bring about a change environment. I mean, this is the guy

that poured water on the hands of Elijah. Surely he can call on God

for us. And so the prophet shows up, and he says, bring

me a worshiper. The prophet shows up and these guys, these kings are

asking, they're asking for a word of the Lord. And before the word

of the Lord goes forth, Elisha, the prophet says, no, no,

no, no, we need to spend a moment praising him. Amen.

You see, because that's what praise us, That's what worship does.

It begins to make mallible the matters of the heart, so that the word

of the Lord, when it is spoken, find soil that is receptive to

the things that have just been spoken. That's why we don't start out with

the word, the preach's word of God. Amen. That's why we start

out here at Life City Church, and a lot of churches do they start

out with worship. What are we trying to do. We're not filling time,

we're not We're not following a script that says three songs and a sermon.

We're not. We're not in any of that. What we're trying to

do is we're trying to give you an opportunity to turn your attention to Him

and begin to praise Him and begin to magnify Him so the heart can be

softened, so that when the word of God goes forth, there's receptive soil.

Amen. And it's not dry, and it's not hard, and it's

not dead, but there's something that can receive. And when the seed is

soil that has been softened by the moisture of the Holy Ghost, it begins

to take root, and it begins to bury down deep and the hard David

said, the High High word in my heart that I might not sin against

thee you gotta send problem. Start to soften your heart by lifting your voice

and worship and praise to the King of Kings. That's the quickest way,

O man. I just read the word of God, and nothing happens because

your heart has grown hard to the word of God. Amen. And the

only thing that changes the environment is worship. That's why Jesus told the woman

at the at the well at Jacob's well. She said, oh, but

we worship at this well, and we worship at this mountain. Jesus says,

lady, you don't know what you're talking about, because there's gonna come

a time where you don't worship just at this well. We don't just worship

at the mountain or in Jerusalem. He says, But there they that worship

him must worship him in spirit and in truth. For the father seats such

to what say it to worship? To worship? Why is it so important

to lift my voice and priss to him? Why must we lift our hands?

Or should we lift our hands? You don't have to do anything,

but you should. Why should we lift our hands? Why should we clap

our hands? Why is the dance necessary? Why it's all in an effort

to change the environment of the heart. Because this word tells me that no

man knows his own heart. It's deceitful above all things. So what might

an environment that is dry? I must moisten the heavens with my praise.

I must send up water droplets into the heavens with my spoken word of adoration

and magnification, and lifting him up and glorifying him. Oh God, You're

so good. There's no script. Elijah called fire from heaven with sixty three

words. Moses had an entire chapter dedicated to his song. There's no script

to David said, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want to

It can be short, it can be long. It's not whether you feel

time or you feel quota it's what flows from the avenues of the heart that

have the power to change your atmosphere. Hallelujah, Bring me a worshiper.

Amen. You want ray, you want rain, start some praise. Amen.

Man. That was me and my wife before we moved here. He

was part of a church in which stall falls. You want to talk about

dry, that joint is dry. They had this lake. The deepest part

of the lake was probably when it was full maybe maybe I think it was

two thousand twelve. Thirteen thirteen had a major drought in this area, not

a spit of rain for months and months and months. That lake was bone

dry. So the pastor he said, Hey, that's what we're gonna do.

He said, Wednesday night, we're gonna meet out at the lake and

bring your umbrella. Literally, we had not had like one drop, had

not fallen from the sky in like six months. Everything was bone dry.

You couldn't water, you couldn't spit on your yard or they'd find you.

That's how dry it was. Amen. And so we all showed up and

there was this bike trail and this walking trail right by the lake, and

us bunch of idiots are standing out there with umbrellas, people looking at us

like, okay, them folks wearing purple tennis shoes and they're passing out grape

juice or kool aid. We weren't, though, I promise we weren't.

So we stood out there by this dead dry lake. The ground, the

soil of the lake was all cracked open because there was zero moisture in it.

And the pastor began to talk about God and his faithfulness, and he

started talking about the rain of his spirits at a downpour, and he says,

I believe God's gonna send the rain. And so he opened his umbrella

and he held it above his head, and we all followed suit. It's

almost like a Simon says game. Simon says, open your umbrella, okay,

And we all opened our umbrella. And we stood there with our umbrellas

open, nothing but the sun beaten down. And we begin to thank God

for something that hadn't happened in six months. We begin to thank God for

something that could change the atmosphere but we hadn't seen yet. And we begin

to lift up when we begin to sing songs of praise and we begin to

worship Him. And I don't remember the exact timeline, but within the next

two weeks we got four straight days of rain. Rain was that the only

reason. I don't know. It doesn't matter to me. I just know

praise changes your environment, hallelujah. And what you may be going through maybe

hard, hey man, but there is power in your worship. Okay.

So I want you to look at this verse twenty. Go to verse twenty.

It happened in the morning, about the time of the offering of sacrifice

that behold. Water came by the way of Eden, and the country was

filled with water, dry, no water, everybody thirsty. It didn't fall

from the sky. It came from Edom. When our praise and our worship

begin to moisten the heavens, there is a downpour of the spirit that is

not far behind, and it's an effect atmosphere around us. You want to

know how I know that. There's this little story about a guy named Paul

in Acts chapter sixteen. Pull that up Acts chapter sixteen, Verse twenty two.

So the crowd rose up together against them, and the chief magistrates tore

their robes off them and proceeded to order them to be beaten with rods.

And when they had struck them, with many blows, and they threw them

into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. And he, talking

about the jailer having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison.

He said, the prison is not good enough, general, pop is

not good enough for you. You need to be in isolation. You need

to be where they put the really bad guys. And so they threw them

in there with the really bad guys, and they fastened their feet in the

stocks. And so this situation went from bad to worse. Amen, just

a few verses before that, Paul and Silas had rebuked the devil out of

a woman, and now they find themselves in the basement of the prison with

all the real bad characters, with stocks on their feet, chains on their

feet. But about midnight, verse twenty five. This is what happens.

And this is a mindset. I can't give it to you. I can

preach it, I can scream it, I can pound my fist, I

can stomp my feet, I could throw a tantrum. And it's up to

you. You have to get this mentality, this mindset that no matter my

situation, I'm gonna praise him, no matter what's going on. I'm gonna

lift him up. So about midnight, Paul and Silas we're praying. I

don't know. I don't think that was a God, Why did you do

this to me? I don't think it was that kind of prayer. I

don't think it was God, poor, poor, pitiful me. I did

this for you, and this is how you repay me. I don't think

it was that kind of prayer. I think it was a prayer of praise

that broke out into singing. I believe they started praying and their prayer was

more praise, and it turned into a song. And then they just started

singing their prayer and it turned into a hymn of praise. And so Paul

and Silas, I don't know if they could sing. They may they may

had voices of angels, or they may couldn't hold a tune in a bucket.

It doesn't matter. Paul and Silas were praying and they begin to sing

hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. They're

like, what are these yahoo's doing? These guys have lost their ever.

Don't they know where they're at? We hadn't seen sunlight in six months,

and well what are they doing? And then suddenly verse twenty six, the

ground begins to quake, and the great earthquake, so that the foundation of

the prison house were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened, and

everyone's change were unfastened. Your environment and your atmosphere will constantly change. They

went from casting out devils to the prison. You can go from being on

the mountain to being in the valley in a matter of twelve hours. Anybody

testified to that, Okay, you can get up in the morning and have

a song in your heart and everything going good. You walk into the office

and there's that one idiot. I'm sorry, I gotta quit using no rad

idiot. I've said it like a hundred times today. There's that one person

that just is a downer, and your praise goes from here to be like

a sucker fish. They just suck all the life out of you. Amen.

And so Paul and Silas beaten stripped in prison and chained their response singing

songs of praise, hungry, hurting, hopeless. That's what's on the sign

out there, hungry, hurting, hopeless response, praise worship, singing,

praying, praise worship, singing, praying, worship, singing, praising.

Check this out. How the Word hit me with this late last night.

This wasn't in my nose till late, lest chance bring it up. He

said, I'm gonna give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. And

he says, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whoo

hoo ya like that part, that's great, But I love this last part.

And this is what the Lord hit me with. Whatever you loose on

earth shall be loosed in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed

on Heaven. And so Paul and Silas took Jesus at his word, and

even in the midst of their deepest prison, having their chains around their hands

and their feet, they let loose with songs of praise and worship. And

when they loose their tongue to magnify Jesus, when they let the praise that

was in their heart to begin to send droplets of praise into the atmosphere,

you know what else was loosened. The prison doors began to be loose,

the chains around their hands and the chains around their feet began to be loosed

to Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. I wonder if

it's time for somebody to let loose of their tongue and lung. Instead of

speaking all the things that are wrong, begin to speak praise and worship and

honor and glory to the King of Kings. This morning, a man stand

with me, hallelujah. I'm gonna be like Elishah. Bring me a musician

like how I did that. So I'm gonna invite her up every time.

Now, bring me a musician. Why Because I want the hand of the

Lord to reach down and grab a hold of somebody right now. That's what

I want. That's what I want. I want the hand of the Lord

to reach into your life right now, in the midst of all of your

chaosa in the midst of your doubt, in the midst of everything, in

the midst of your dry season, in the midst of your heartache and your

pain, and your brokenness and your hunger and your hurts and your hopelessness.

I want the hand of God to reach into your life and begin to touch

you and begin to embrace you right now, hallelujah. And so I ask

you, what are you willing to lose this morning? Hallelujah, in order

to change your atmosphere, in order to change your environment. And I know

this, I don't know. I don't know what you're used to in church.

And I'm not normally a screamer, But is something so powerful when our

praises go up. I read about altars all through the Word of God,

calling on the name of the Lord. Noah after the flood, he stands

there and he builds an altar, and he offers all kinds of things to

the Lord. And the Lord began to smell what the Bible calls a sweet

smelling savor. There was an aroma of praise that filled the nostrils of God.

And he said, oh, I like that. I like the way

that smells. And you know what happened When Noah built that altar and begin

to praise and begin to call on the name of the Lord. The Lord

said, from this day forward, I will never send rain to destroy the

earth. I will never destroy all mankind with any one act of the hand

of God. Again, what happened. It was a moment of praise at

an altar that changed all of history. Those rainbows in the sky, they

took place because Noah began to call on the name of the Lord. Hey,

man, you know, because there's still sin, and God didn't change

the way he thinks about sin. He still hates sin. Just so we're

clear, he still hates sin. I'm gonna choose a different route to deal

with sin. Instead of just destroying everything, he said, I'm going to

bring about a redemption. And so Noah's offer of praise at an altar changed

our environment. That's how powerful it is when the people of God begin to

call upon the name of the Lord. I wonder what you're willing to loose

this morning. Jesus said it. Jesus said it. Whatever you loose on

earth shall be loosed in heaven. And I wonder if there's some people that

are ready to have a change of environment, ready to have in the atmosphere

around your house, the atmosphere around your life, the atmosphere around your your

place of work, and your family and your business. I wonder if you're

willing and you're ready to have a change of atmosphere right now, hallelujah.

I wonder if you're willing enough to begin to lose your tongue to magnify Jesus

Christ. This morning, you don't have to wait on me. Why don't

you build an altar of praise right where you stand here today, hallelujah.

Why don't you begin to lose your mouth and your heart to begin to lift

him up, to begin to and begin to praise him, and watch what

happens? Has he received? 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.