Pastor Tim Dunn "Renewal" (Sunday 4-16-23)

When I was living with my mom Dad's not I thought I knew what,

you know, what all was good for me, And so I started behaving

foolishly. Remember we talked about foolishly. I started living foolishly, making dumb

choices, doing dumb things, being destructive in my own life. And this

is the thing. My dad set me down and we had this conversation and

he says, I want to tell you something. He said, So,

you're free to live here, he says, but if you're gonna live here,

you're gonna live by my standards of living. He says, Now,

you're free to choose not to do that, but that means you got to

go. And he says, so if you want to make those choices,

you're free to make them. You're a grown man. You're nineteen years old.

I was a grown man in physical not mental. Okay, there's a

big difference. Emotionally, I was not a grown man. I was still

a child. And so he said, but you're not going to live that

way here. This is the deal. We understand that with parents, right,

you can live here and and but you're not going to do this under

my roof. Right, I pay the bills, you know you're eating my

food. If you eat my food, you got to obey my rules,

right, that's Urns. But we don't expect that from our heavenly Father.

We think we can live any old way we want to in the heavenly Father's

Oh, let me give you a hug. No. See, this is

the process of sanctification. The closer I get to Him, the more stuff

in my life I have to let go. Why because sanctification is becoming more

like Him, Amen, and so stuff is going to have to be let

go of. That's why Pauls is forgetting what lies behind. I reach for,

I press towards. I pursue what God has for me. And because

I'm pursuing it, there are some things that are going to be old in

my life, and those things are gonna have to die. I've got to

kill those things though, that fear, I've got to kill it, that

doubt, all of those emotional and mental things that I have in my mind

of this is that. And your perception of God has to change. And

that's I think that's the greatest thing that the Holy Ghost does. It changes

our perception of God because so many of us have this picture of God in

our mind, and it's not based on scripture. It's based on what man

has told you. Amen. And there's this picture of what God is and

what God isn't. There's this picture of what the Church is and what the

Church isn't. And none of it's from here. Some of it's from horrible

situation eations that you went through, some of us, from what has been

told to you, what has been taught to you, and what has been

lied to you. And you've developed this image what is what, what his

mercy is, what his grace is, and what the Church is. But

I'm here to tell you, if it's not in here, you need to

let it die. Amen. You need to let it die. Amen.

There comes a point where we have to want this so much that it's not

what I've been told. It's about what I know in here. What allowing

the Holy Ghost to bring a renewing in my mind and in your mind so

that I can have a fresh new understanding of who God is? For you,

amen, Do we believe that is that He's a personal God? All

right? Good, there's six of you that believe that. Do we believe

that He's a personal God? I like? I like reaction Okay. If

you're not, if you ain't caught onto that, you're working a little slow

today. I like reaction. Okay. The process of sanctification is dying to

send more and more, living in righteousness, more and more and more.

This is the carrying on. This is the continuation of His renewed work.

When does it stop when we get to heaven, Until we are perfected,

till it is perfected, till His righteousness is perfected in us in glory.

It doesn't happen just once. It doesn't stop with just one step. It's

a continual process. Amen. Philippians four. And I'm about to close.

My wife can come. Philippians four. Verse six. Be careful for nothing,

but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving. Let your request

be may known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all

understanding, shall keep your hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus Finally, brethren,

Verse eight. And this is the deal. Whatsoever things are pure,

ever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,

whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. If there be

any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things, an

true, honest, just, pure, lovely good report, virtuous, praiseworthy.

Think on these things, and in verse nine, those things which you

have both learned and received and heard and seen in me. Say it together.

Do these things that you've learned, these things that you have heard,

these things that you have received, what you've seen me, do, do,

and the God of Peace shall be with you. Man. I've had

come with so many of you about what God's doing in your life, where

you're, where you're, where He've brought you from, where He's taking you,

all of these things. And the one thing across the board that I

see more than anything else is the struggle of the mind getting past some things

that are stuck here. You believe that God is loved, but can God

really love me? You believe that God forgives, but can you forgive you?

You believe a lot of things about God that I'm not questioning that.

I believe you believe that. But what happens is when it starts relating to

us, we get locked in here because of what we know about us.

And the only way to get out of that is to allow the Holy Ghost

to renew your mind. I want you to stand with me hallelujah. I

can't. I'd love to just grab you and drag it out of you,

but I can't. But I know there's some of you in here, many

of you in here, that there is a war going on in your mind.

There's this battle, there's this struggle that's happening within you internally, and

you're fighting what, what you're feeling, what you're thinking with what God is

wanting to do. Some days God wins, and some days those thoughts win,

man. And so that's why I felt to preach this. I felt

this all week. I felt the Lord just kind of ministering to me that

somebody needs to allow the baptism of a spirit to fall upon your mind so

that the mind can unlock the door to the rest of the life, the

rest of your being, your soul, your heart. Yeah, that fear

needs to be gone, that memory needs to die. There are some things

in you that he's trying to remove. If you'll just allow him, quit

holding onto him, let him take those things. Man, did you close

your eyes? I don't pretend to be a mind rear in here the thoughts

and the intense of the heart, and he knows what's going through your mind

right now, and so I want to open this altar to anyone that wants

to come and allow the Lord to renew their mind this morning. It may

be for one reason or another, It doesn't matter what reason it is.

There may be some things that you've been holding onto that the Lord's been trying

to remove from your life. Man, would you just let him? Would

you just let him do that? She begins to sing, Oh, this

altar is open for anyone and everyone that wants to come and allow him to

renew him by the power of his spirit, to bring to bring a renewal

of your mind, to bring a renewal of your heart. 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.