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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. Well, turn with me, if you would. Let's go back to our primary text that we've been in. I was thinking I'd teach something different today, but that didn't happen. God just keeps taking me back here. Isaiah, chapter 26. We've been here for the last, I think, gosh, I don't know if through four or three or four weeks now, trying to catch up with my past. Pastor Anderson, it will take me a while because his is usually four or five months to do a series, but I, I keep coming back to this and, and keep meditating on this. God keeps talking to me about this passage and I'm going to do a little bit of a review here over some things just so we're not moving too quickly. We're not forgetting what was said, what the Spirit of God said, and we're staying together in our way of thinking and how God is trying to convey this message to us. We, we see here in Isaiah chapter 26, in verse 1, in that day shall this song be sung. In the land of Judah we have a strong city. The Lord set up salvation as walls and bulwarks open the gates that the uncompromisingly righteous nation which keeps her faith and her troth with God may enter in. You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace, whose mind, both its inclination and its character is stayed on you because he commits himself to you, leans on you, and hopes confidently in you. So trust in the Lord, commit yourself to him, lean on him, hope confidently in him forever. For the Lord God is an everlasting rock, the rock of ages. There are. If we're going to keep our mind on him and, and be kept in perfect peace, isn't that what is oftentimes the most distinguishing factor that we see between people? You can see pieces evident on somebody. That's what the world is really looking for. This is why people are doing substances to alter their mind or they're looking at the wrong, trying to be in wrong relationships or pursuing a particular career because they think maybe relationships or money or substance can provide them some sort of peace and relief in their life that they don't have. Can we agree that, you know, and that's why we have compassion on people for the decisions that they make that don't know the peace of God is because that's what they're looking for and we have that and to love them so much into God's goodness and into his presence. Because they're looking the presence of the wrong fellowship and someone's bed and drugs and wrong things to fill their time and fill that emptiness and that void in their life is not going to be that peace that keeps them. They're missing, obviously, the Prince of peace. They're missing peace himself, which is Jesus. And even believers struggle with this. They have maybe expectations that they put on themselves or have had religion to put on them. And they're endeavoring to pursue and to find this place of peace and happiness by following rules and by following, you know, I have to do this and light these things and do these things and don't do this. As my pastor said, growing up in their denomination, they knew all the things they couldn't do, but they didn't know anything they could do, you know, and peace with God was found in what you cannot do and what you cannot have and what he may or may not do for you if it's his will. But in his will is the fullness of joy, peace that keeps us and guards us and guides us into every plan that he has for our lives. So we see that this is, yes, it's talking about a people, but this is really talking also about us specifically. So we looked at number one, Thou will keep him, you will guard him and keep him in perfect, constant peace, whose mind, both its inclination and character is stayed on you. We looked at this character and we referenced back to the. The. The second verse, which talks about uncompromisingly righteous nation. We know that we were created righteous when we got born again. Our insides, we were made new, washed clean. We are righteous before him. We were made right before God. We're no longer separated. You're no longer separated when you receive Jesus, you're no longer separated. You're no longer dark. There was a darkness on the inside you lived in, separated from light, from life. And there was the weight of that darkness that rested upon you. When you get born again, light comes, you become right with God and before God. And suddenly you realize, I no longer have to live with this weight on me. I'm free. I'm free from sin, I'm free from death. And so you walk in that well. In being created that way, we also know that we were created to live a certain way. And it's not just enough to say, I'm on the inside, I'm righteous. I was made right. If our presentation. And we looked at Romans, chapter 12, where it says, present your bodies a living sacrifice Our assignment, whether you know all of what God has for you or not, I'm here to tell you today, your assignment is to take the righteousness on the inside of you and put it on the outside. You're always under the assignment of walking out, being right. That's how Dr. Used to say, righteousness is simply doing and being right. So you may not know the specifics of your life, but today it says In Romans chapter 1 or chapter 12, verse 1, present your bodies, the living sacrifice. Presentation matters. And we talked about this at the very beginning, presentation matters to God. You cannot get born again and present yourself any way you choose and then expect God to use you how you choose instead of you choosing how he wishes to present you. We run everything by the righteousness on the inside. Is that being seen on the outside? Not. Well, I am righteous on the inside, so it doesn't matter what is seen on the outside. And these are two different mindsets. One has really kind of come into the church, but I'm right before God. So therefore, because I'm right with him and he loves me, I will be able to do and say and walk the way I would like to walk. And he can still use that because I'm His. That's false, that's wrong. When it says present your bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, and then it talks about the renewing of the mind, then we still have a work after salvation. His work was at salvation. Our work comes after. And that's not religion either. That's part of our relationship. He already did everything to fulfill his part of the relationship. Now it's our job to fulfill our side and our commitment and our consecration in that relationship we talked about righteousness was purchased with a high price. When there's a high price item purchased by somebody, the one who makes the purchase expects a certain level of quality in the good. Am I right? When you go for a high price meal, you are expecting more than an in and out quality in your goods. When you purchase a high price, a high quality form of technology, you're wanting the quality to match the price that you paid. So are you saying I'm not good quality? I'm saying your life needs to be to the quality that it's was purchased for. Can we go a step further and say your thought life needs to be to the quality that it was purchased for? What's the quality of your thought life today, right now? What's the quality of your thought life? What's the quality? Is it to the level of that it's been paid. The price that it's been paid. Are you thinking, Are you thinking to the price? Are you thinking high? In every arena? You know, any thought outside of love is well beneath the quality that was paid. Christ didn't purchase us for our good, but for his good on the earth. He purchased us because God wanted a family. But it wasn't just for that. It's for his good here on this earth that we may fulfill that which is good and perfect and acceptable in his side on this earth. So what did we come to the conclusion? That presentation matters, right? Present. Well, what does this have to do with peace? It says first that the uncompromisingly righteousness will come into the gates. So we won't even be able to enter in. If you don't want to live righteous, it will be difficult to be kept in perfect peace. It will be difficult. So we've been giving you and I had three things that we've gone over and I've got one more today of what keeps us and what we can examine when we're not walking in peace and there isn't peace flowing in our lives, you know, to the fullest, or we can tell we're lacking in peace. These are areas to examine instead of just saying, thou will keep him in perfect peace. Whose mind is stay on thee. My mind is on you. Sometimes we need to do something with our mind, with our actions because it's affecting our level of peace. And these are the things that this scripture outlines. Number one is righteousness. And that's what we see. The uncompromisingly righteous nation which keeps her faith and her trough with God may enter in. You will guard him and keep him. So number one is righteousness. Living right, being right, it will hurt your peace. You will struggle to live at peace with God if you're not living righteous. We looked at Proverbs 18:10. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and are safe. You've been made righteous on the inside. But if you're not living righteous and living who you are on the outside, you'll struggle. Proverbs 12:5. The thought of the righteous are right. The thoughts of the righteous are right. That's what that scripture says. Examine your thoughts. That means you can have be righteous and not have right thoughts. It's saying the thoughts of the righteous man are right. Are your thoughts right so we can examine our thought life today? Are they pure? Are we meditating on what is pure? Lovely, holy, clean. It'll affect your peace you won't be able to come into the gates. It'll be hard to come boldly to the throne if you've been avoiding the throne five days out of the week and you want to come in on Sunday, or you have a need that comes up and you've lived just any old way you've wanted to live and let your flesh, the unrighteous man on the outside, have its way. It says, the uncompromisingly righteous come into the gates. The righteous man runs into the tower. It matters how you live. In order for you to receive and be kept in perfect peace, it matters. What you listen to is what you're listening to righteous. And I'm not just talking about doubt and unbelief. You know, there's. My goodness, there's everything under the sun these days that you can listen. I told my husband today there's a commercial that came on for another speaker, like a little speaker that go. You take with you and you. You take it. Can take it to the beach and it shows it getting sand and getting all. I said, my God, can people not go to the beach anymore and, like, sit. Are they so unsettled and so tormented that you got to have music playing all the time? You got to have something going that's because of a lack of peace. I mean, it showed people in the woods. It showed people at the beach. I go. I go there to have it. Be quiet. If you have to have something going all the time you're struggling with peace. Young people, I'm talking to you. If you got to have those headphones and I'm not talking about you have your headphones in. You're listening to Teach. I'm talking about if you constantly have to have the latest technology so you can have the latest music going, you do not have peace. I'm telling you. If you cannot sit alone with God in times of refreshing or enjoy the moments of renewing your mind, and there has to be something going constantly in your ear. Amen. When do you have time for God to talk to you? Let me know when he can get a word in over your speaker that you gotta take with you everywhere. I mean, that bugs me to no end. You go to the beach and people got music playing. I'm like, I can't hear the waves, people. I cannot hear the waves. You know, you can't. You can't live in peace and drown out the dealings of God and try to drown it out with fun and music and, you know, podcasts and whatever. Make the time thou will Keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. If everything. Your mind is always on something going, your mind's not on him. Thoughts don't automatically change from unrighteous to righteous. The ability to recognize. It's dependent on our ability to recognize and receive righteous thoughts. We have to develop ourselves in our ability to hear righteous thoughts and receive righteous thoughts. What is righteous thoughts? It sounds complicated. It's right thinking. Proverbs 12:5. The thoughts of the righteous are right. I have to make my thoughts right. I don't wake up. Remember what doctors said? I was a squirrel before I got saved and I felt like a squirrel and I was a squirrel after I got saved. Why? Because he recognized his thoughts were not righteous yet. Remember the story he tells of getting a fist fight with the deacon out in front of the church? Could you talk about the pastor? We all love that story. We. You know what I mean? We all are like, yeah, Those were still on. Whether we all like to believe it or not. Those were still. I mean, you know, who doesn't want to get in a fist fight with somebody in the church over, you know, defending your church and your pastor? Come on, now. That's a good time. But it's still an unrighteous way to handle the situation. His heart was right. His heart was right. Amen. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then the slogan of his church, where he's building, the building is where people love people, and he's getting in a fist fight, you know, out in front. So, you know, and he would tell that story with that smirk on his face. You know, he's still. He's still hanging on to that. But righteous thinking, and I don't know what time I started, so I'm just saying righteous thinking is not automatic. It's not automatic. Can we do this together? Can we develop ourselves in our ability to hear right thinking? You know, we talked with young people in the Bible school this week, and Brother Tony was talking about the story when he jumped in the lake. And he went back later and heard on the video, we were doing a funny video, and we were actually pushing one another into the lake in New York. And at least I don't know how many people kept saying to him, do you need to take off your glasses? And he didn't take off his glasses. You know, we've all been there. We've all been there, and we heard wisdom, but we didn't hear the wisdom. You know what I mean? But we didn't listen to it. And he said, I heard it. And he was talking to the students. We were addressing to the students. Learn to hear wisdom. Learn to hear from God through. Through other people. Amen. But Josh, it is still cold. I don't know what you turned it down, but I don't think it budged. And everybody is all wrapped up. Number two. Because my hands are like icicles. I don't know if anybody else is cold. Oh, keep it going, keep it going. I feel like my lip is about to start shaking. Just keep it on, brother. Keep it on. Number before we. I don't want to say too long. Before we. Before we keep going. Number. Remember what? Number two. Let's look at number two. It says here which keep her faith and her troth with God may enter in. So number one is righteousness. Number two is by faith. You keep your faith in God. Miracles manifest when your attention cannot be moved off the miracle worker. If your mind cannot be moved and swayed and your attention cannot be swayed off the miracle worker. That's when you're in position for a miracle. The back and forth, you know, got your mind stayed on him and then you got your mind stayed on the situation. And I'm back over here on him now. I'm back over here on my situation. It says the righteous man. And then he keeps his faith in God. My faith does not go onto and off of, onto something else, off to another plan, off to another solution. Your whole trust is placed in his word, his ability, his power and his love for you. This is what faith is. All of your trust is placed in his word, his ability, his power and his love for you. He cannot keep you in perfect peace if you're only dependent and trusting on him in the supplied situation. That's when people want to say that they're believing, is when the situation has already been provided for or everything happens, everything is done. And you say, I'm trusting God. His peace keeps us in a place of receiving and our faith puts us in a place of manifesting. When you lose your peace, you're out of a place of receiving. When you're not in peace, you're out of position to receive from God. Not only are you out of position to receive a manifestation, but you're out of position to even receive an answer when you're out of peace. So the Holy Ghost said, his peace keeps us in a place of receiving and our faith puts us in the place of manifesting. Some people are looking to get into faith and they haven't yet gotten into a place of peace. Their mind is not being kept oh, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. Thank you. I'm good. You cannot, God cannot keep you in perfect peace if you're only dependent and trusting on him in supplied situations. And then you switch over, you know, you switch the lever back to self dependency when things get difficult. We talked about last week faith to receive number and faith to release to. We have to know in each situation when it's time to cast in faith and when it's time to confess in faith. And I've. I've worked with people and seen even in my own self cares will try to push you to confession. When is it time for faith to receive and then faith to release. What is faith to release? Let it go. Cast it over on him. Have you been confessing over the situation when you haven't handed it over to him yet? First it's faith to release. I have to have the faith to stop thinking about it. The faith my mind renewed to where I let it go on him. I stopped thinking about it because what the devil do. And I've been there and your face maybe even it's time sensitive. And you see this situation and so you begin to. I gotta confess. I gotta confess. I gotta confess. I gotta confess. I gotta praise. I gotta praise. I gotta praise. I need the power. I need the power. I need the power. Is it just me? No, you just. You feel the press of the circumstance so you just press on into faith. Bless God. I'm gonna get what I need instead of everybody. Remember faith to let it go. Faith to release and faith to receive. Know which one it's time. Your peace depends on your skillfulness in knowing when to let it go and knowing when to start confessing and praying. There's certain things God's not even going to ask you to pray about. I'm reminded of the time where I broke our garage door and we had no money and my husband was gone and it was 120 degrees outside and a lot of things had happened that day. I'm not even gonna kid. Went missing at my house and it was a mess. The pizza was burned. I mean the last supper was ruined. I mean we're talking. There's no money until my husband gets home in four days and we're believing God just for everything under the sun. And I run into my garage door and I bend it outside. I mean it was so bad. It was so bad. And Dean Graves comes over my husband. You know, I'm sobbing and she's saying, well, at least it wasn't the dog. And it was so bad, I had wished it would been a dog because that would have cost us no money to bury the dog. In fact, we would have been saving money at this point. That's terrible. I have three dogs, so don't judge me. Don't even. Yeah, yeah, we had extra, we got extra. And you know, and I mean, here just comes one thing after another after another and you just going, I'm just trying to believe you, God, for everything in my life. And, you know, the temptation came when all this is transpiring and thank God for people you're fitly connected with and joined with because him and brother Josh in 100 degree weather came over, got the garage door fixed. By the knowledge that they had and the grace of God, we found the child, the kids, the kids ate food. And Grant took my kids home with him for the evening for me to regroup. And the immediately, you need to start confessing in the money. You need to start doing this. You need to start doing this. You need to praise. You need to, you know. And I had a couple hours before Sammy had gotten home to the house and I said, forget it. I'm jumping in my pool. I'm so hot. I'm fully clothed. I'm getting in and I'm going to go sit. You know what comes back to you is paint the nails. I don't paint nails. I don't do that. I don't do that. I eat. I eat. So I made a whole pizza. I had one whole pizza and I sat and ate and watched my favorite show and did absolutely nothing. Because at that point it was time for faith to release it to God. It was not time to be forced into a confession, forced into praise, pressed into doing something. Faith, yes, is an act, but it's an act for from a place of peace and rest in God. If you're acting from a place of a push and a press, you're acting from the wrong place. Amen. Care shouldn't drive us to confession. Remember we talked about last week? But casting them unclogs the mind for the flow of faith. This is what happens is people are trying to get the flow of faith and confess the word and release faith and say, I'm drawing on the power, I've got the power flowing. When all the while they're speaking, still thinking about and confessing at their situation. Instead of confessing with their mind stayed on him, they're confessing with their mind on the problem. You cannot confess with your mind on the situation. You confess with Your mind stayed on him. Amen. Casting the care unclogs that thought life and unclogs the flow so the faith can flow from your heart and flow right up. Amen. When we cast a care and a concern and situation over on God, we can now move forward with him. Remember we said this. When you release a care, there is a space. Listen, there is a space. Maybe you've held on to something for a while. You find out one day and you realize one day I have been thinking. If you're thinking about it, dad, Hagen said, then you're worried about it. So when we talk to talk about casting our care, it's just something simply that you keep. You keep thinking over and over. I don't care how small it is. I mean, it could be, you know, minuscule. What you would think is significant in the world, it matters to God. And you realize I am thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking about this and there is no solution coming to my mind, which means I have no solution. And it says, we had talked about that. When you cast that care, it's important to remember. And you say, you know, I have faith to let this go and give it to God. When you have faith to release, you understand that there was all that time that you would fill your day thinking about that problem, you know, thinking about a solution, thinking about, what am I going to do? Thinking about, how is this going to work out? Not now. You need to go back and you need to fill your mind with staying on him. You cannot expect to empty your mind of a care and that it's going to stay in a place of carefree. The care will come back to fill you back up the situations, the facts of life. You know what I'm saying? The circumstance will always. The enemy will provide thoughts. You have to fill your mind up with healing his word to fill that space and that time with which that care was. Sometimes it's just simply spending time praising him, worshiping him. And this is what happened. We get faith to release, faith to let it go, faith to give it over to God and go, oh, I can tell. We, we in a service member, we nailed it to the cross, we put it on the ball, we gave it to Henry. Whatever we did what, Remember, whatever we would do to give that care, we put it in the offering, but we made an act of faith to give it to God. But then what are you doing with that time that you spend all that time, you have to make sure that that is being filled with the renewing of the mind. Fellowship with God, Worship times of refreshing with him. Once the. Once the care is absent, make sure faith is taking up residence. Amen. Remember we said last week, what God can do with you is determined by how much you do with your mind. It's not about your abilities. God can take somebody with almost no ability, no skill, no education, no way of talk. They have no. What society would say would make them a success. They have nothing. What God can do with you is determined by. Determined by what and how much we do with our mind. That's a very sobering. Yeah. What God can do with me is determined by what and how much I do with my mind. Where I let it go, what I let it dwell on. What are we talking about that will keep him in perfect peace. You shall go out with joy and be led with peace. I can't even be led with him if I'm not staying in this place, if I'm not living righteous, what was it? Number one, we live righteous. Number two, live by faith. And then number three, our minds and what we're doing with them. God is trying to lead us based on his plan and his view. Not where you've been and not what you need and not what you haven't done and not where you know you failed and not even where you succeeded, not where you've gotten it right. He's not leading you based on that. You know what gets people worried and gets their mind off of God? Number one, their past. Number two, their present, and number three, their future. Worry can be put into one of three things. Well, how do you know what people get worried about? Either it's something from their past, it's something that they need right now, or something that they're concerned about in their future. The past. The present or the future is what causes man to worry. Their past, their past mistakes. Where they've missed it, where they fell short. Remember the story we talked about last week of doctor Getting done preaching, as he would say in front of all the heavies? And he goes in and he looks in the mirror and he begins to beat himself up over this message that he had preached and how he, in his own eyes, had fallen short with his skill and with his ability and how he had, you know, stumbled around and it was no good. And in comparison, he was looking at himself and comparing himself to others. And he's standing there and he has a vision and he sees a bust of himself, like a metal bust. And he looks at it and he. And he sees all these cracks and he says, yeah, that's me so flawed, you know. And he's just lamenting over all of his flaws and all of the difficulties and all of his shortcomings. And then he begins to see the blood come through the cracks in that bustle. It was the blood of Jesus. And that day, and you remember he caught wind of miracle that had happened and ministers who had been so blessed by his message and it set him free. I mean just people were so blessed by what he had preached. And the devil was trying to rob him based off of his past, based off of where he was right then and trying to derail his face. Future that was looking in the mirror was simply worry. Simply worry about what he wasn't, what he thought he wasn't and God was showing him through the blood, you're everything. You are everything through my blood and with my blood you can do anything. Amen. We said this. God wants your mind stayed on him. The enemy is banking that it is on anything else. It didn't even have to be on worry. It didn't have. Remember what I said. If you're just constantly occupying your mind with noise and activity and information and music. He's just hoping your mind will stay busy doing something other than meditating on His Word. We have to ask ourselves how much of our day is our mind stayed on Him. Well, I've got work to do. Of course you do. I've got children to take care. Of course you do. You can do all that in the fullness of God. You can do all of that mindful so full of his word that it even reaches into the most menial and seemingly carnal acts of your day, natural acts of your day. You can be so full of God that it reaches in and begins. You stir up yourself, cutting your toenails over your bathtub. You know, whatever I mean, the word of God just begins to bubble up. You're free of care and you filled that space, face of care with God's word and his thoughts. For you, you're only meditating on his thoughts. You're meditating on the blood that washed you, the blood that keeps you, the blood that has a future for you, provided a future for you. Amen. Matthew 14:29 and we won't take time to turn there. Peter walking on the water. What did he do? He set his. His mind. Took his mind off the storm and set his mind on Jesus by looking at him. Do we look at Jesus physically these days? No, we look at His Word. We follow his word. Peter set his mind on Jesus at The invitation at the leading of Jesus. The invitation. Listen, this is what Holy Ghost said. The invitation. Your advancement will be extended at the determination to keep your attention on Him. The invitation you want to advance in God. The invitation of your advancement. Because God invites us to advance in Him. But we don't want to advance beyond him at our own doing. Listen up, business people. This is for you. You don't want to get out beyond God. Students, you don't want to get out beyond God. Let God invite you into advancement, be led. That will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on. You remember we said last week, a lot of people, the plan, they've got the right idea in the plan. You know, they've gotten in the driver's seat and they know what God has assigned for their life and they get in there. But money is stepping on that gas pedal. Opportunity is stepping on that gas pedal. Vision is stepping on that gas pedal. Instead of the Holy Ghost telling you when to go, when to hold up. Amen. The invitation of your advancement will be extended at the determination to keep your attention on Him. Jesus saw Peter and knew his attention is is on me. I will extend an invitation for him to walk on the water. The invitation for your advancement in all things is going to be determined by your decision and dedication to keep your mind on Him. The quicker we dedicate more time to keeping our mind on him in every situation. When we wake up in the morning, when we go to bed at night. I'm not talking about you become, you know, somebody unusable in this life. You're not living in la la land. But when you are determined, you have a determination. My mind will stay on him regarding my family, my marriage, my children, my assignment in the body of Christ, my finances. My mind will stay on him. You will find there will be an invitation for advancement to come much quicker. He will not invite you to advance out beyond your mental, spiritual and mental capabilities. And I'm not talking about natural mental capabilities. I'm talking about your mind staying on him capabilities. The invitation of your advancement will be extended at the determination to keep your attention on Him. I want advance in God. I want to move forward in the things of God. That's fine. Today we keep our mind on Him. This afternoon we keep our mind on Him. If you want to advance in the plan and the things of God, decide today I'm going to do something with my mind. God is trying to lead us based on his plan and his view, not where you've been and not what you need. Amen. And I want to look at a fourth thing here we've talked about. Number one, righteousness. Number two, faith. Number three, the mind. And number four, there's a fourth thing. And this really, this fourth thing kind of. We could say the mind is kind of the coverall to these. But this fourth thing is very, very important and actually connects with these other three and affects these other three. Look here in verse three, you will guard him and keep him imperfect and constant peace, whose mind, both its inclination and its character, stayed on you because he commits himself to you. Look at that word, commit. That's what the amplified says, commits himself to you. Number four. So we can say this. If you're struggling to stay in peace, if you're struggling, you saying that will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on the. I'm struggling with peace. I'm struggling to live in peace and walk in peace. These are the four things that I would ask that maybe you examine. We could examine over our lives and say, do I need to make some adjustments in these? But number four is our level of consecration. Many people struggle with peace because they won't consecrate themselves to the author of that peace. Thou will keep him in perfect peace, being consecrated and committed. This is what it says, committed to him. So number four, in the determination of how well you're kept by peace, is your level of consecration. So number one is living righteous to the extent that you live righteous. Number two is the extent that you live by faith. Number three is to the extent that your mind is always stayed on him. And number four is to the extent that you live consecrated in your life. When I'm at peace with God, I'm at peace with his plan for my life. And I'm not questioning it. I'm not trying to change it. Jesus did nothing for God with himself and his motives. It was God's words and God's instruction. Jesus said, I only say. Well, my Father says, and I only do what I hear him tell me to do. John 5:19 says, the son can do nothing by himself in Luke 4, verse 30. And I'm going through these a little bit quickly, and we may go back and revisit them in detail. Luke 4:30. But he walked, it says, but he walked right through the cloud. In fact, let's go there. Luke 4, Luke 4. You may feel like your circumstances are about to push you off a cliff. Have you ever been there? The situation feels like you. It's more than you can handle. It's more than what you were counting on. It's more than. Than what you have on the inside of you. And you're about to be pushed by circumstances, by thoughts, by situation, by opposition, right off that cliff, as Jesus look at 4, verse 30. And really verse 28 says. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him into the bro of the hill where on their city was built, that they might cast him down. They had a plan. They might cast him down headlong. See, God has a plan, but the devil also has a plan. And the devil will push and push and push. God doesn't push you in his plan. He leads you in his plan. If you feel like you're being pushed to make a decision, that's not God. God, even if there's pressure, you have a time and a deadline. God will never feel like he's pushing you. You will never feel like. God never brings that. That feeling of oppress. There's always a gentle leading to draw on on the inside. It says that they might cast him down headlong, but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way, that is being kept in perfect peace. They lead him up. He let them. You understand that? He let them. He's Jesus. He didn't have to let them lead them up to that place where he could even come close to being pushed off the cliff. So don't get concerned and think you missed it. If you're in a place that looks out beyond you, that looks like you could fall off, that looks like you could could, you know, completely derail in life, even. Jesus allowed himself not only be led in the wilderness, but he allowed them to push him up to a place where they could have taken his life. But what did he do in the midst of that? Because he understood how to keep his mind. I only say what my father says. I do what he tells me to do. Therefore, once we get to the top, I'm going to walk right through the midst of. Of them. He took a time that would have been devastating and made it a testimony and made it. He really made it a demonstration of how you can walk through opposition even at the last minute. Amen. You know, I told the Bible school students this, and it will close here. I told the Bible school students this, this week. God's not just interested in your call. You know, we see young people, we see people coming to church. You know, the call, the call, the call. God's got a call. He's got a call for My life call. God is on my life. Got it? You know, does this help my call? I'm going to read this book because it's going to help my call. You know, I got to rejoice because I got to move into my call. Hold on. I told them, God's not interested in your call. He's interested in you. He's interested in people. And I told him, I said, because the beauty of it is, is it doesn't matter what your age and how long you live for God and whether you miss years of fulfilling the call or not. The day you consecrate yourself to him is the day he meets you with his anointing and his grace. And he says, I still got so something for you to do. We're still talking. And I told them this. I said, we're still talking about the man that got born again filled the Holy Ghost. Remember on his deathbed, dad Hagin would tell the story that his whole. I mean, he rejected God. Rejected God, Rejected God. And on his deathbed, just a couple days before he went to heaven, he gets filled with the Holy Ghost and spends his last days worshiping in other tongues. And he went out in glory. They said the anointing was there. And he went out in so much glory. Why? Because God is interested in people. He didn't go well. He missed the call on his life. So you just come on home. Because if it was only. We're not chess pawns in God's, you know, he just moves us around. And he's interested in you. He's interested in your thought life. He's interested in your peace. He's interested in everything that your life touches. So we help the Bible school students understand. Don't come here just with the call, the call, the call. Because if you're on tomorrow, you're missing today. God's interested in today. Now is the time of salvation today. Now faith is amen. He's interested about you staying in perfect peace today, that you can wake up in peace today and the next day and the next day. So what gets us out of peace is a not being, not being consecrated to his will and his plan, and two, worrying about the plan. Yes, we're good soldiers. That's how we perform and obey. But it's from a place of consecration and submittedness unto him, fellowshipping with him. Don't get caught up in everyday, the needs of everyday life. If we could say it that way. Your meditation and your fellowship with God is not just about your call. We can sometimes go to God and read the Bible and fellowship with him because we have a call. My children has needs. I have a need in my marriage. I have a need in my business. I get a fellowship with God today. I need to meditate on the Word today because I have needs, you know, and we're just worked up into trying to keep our mind stayed on him because we have things to do in the kingdom. I'm not full enough. I gotta get more full. I gotta do more for God. You know, that's being driven by your call and not led in your call. We're to be led in our call, not driven in our call. I'm led into fellowship by his goodness and his grace and his ability and his presence. And you get filled with that. And when you get filled with that, it's easy to stay consecrated to him because you know Him. You know Him. Many times we're trying to meditate on the Word, read the Word, praise Him. And we don't know the one we're praising. You don't just know him just by His Word. You know him by spending time with him and His Word, Word. And so we find ourselves, you know, parents. You can find yourselves trying to confess over your children because they got a call in their life. God's got a plan for their life. And I got to make sure that plan comes to pass. Thank you, Father. That plan has come to pass. I cast. Carry my child over on you, and I believe his plan will come to pass. And I mean, you can just. And you forgot about just getting his presence in your household. You know, just fill in your household with him so that your kids get up in the morning and they walk into his presence, you know, not just your staunch confession over their life. You know, today's the day the Lord has made and you can go out and you can do great things for God. Get up, kids. We're gonna make our confessions today. We're gonna read the Word today. What's God telling you? I don't know. I just want a new PS5. I mean, you know, that's the answer. If you. And then you think you're failing. Cause you don't get a spiritual response that will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on him. And when you're in peace, Jesus said in John 14, I need. He said. He basically was. I got to go. So the other one may come. Well, who's the other one? He talked about the peace that he was going to bring us. The Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost isn't into works. Are Natural, fleshly works. He's into leading you into spiritual faith. Without works is dead. But they need to be spiritual works, not natural mental works. Mental confession. I gotta mentally make this happen. Listen, if you're a mover and a shaker, I'm talking to you. Sometimes the movers and the shakers, they think they can move and shake God right into where they need him to be. And they're missing the rest of faith, the consecration. So these are the arenas that we need to examine. If I'm struggling with peace in any way, if I'm waking up and struggling, tormented. Number one, am I living right? Am I living clean? The devil can't touch me if I'm living clean. He's got no part and no lot in your life if you're living clean. Number two, am I living by faith? Casting the care, filling up on his word. Faith comes by hearing the anointed word. How much time am I actually spending in the word? Number three, taking my mind and doing something with it or just letting it wander off and do whatever and filling it all throughout the day with activity and social media and music. Is my mind constantly being filled with something? And number three, what is the level of my consecration? Jesus was unfazed by those trying to push him off the cliff because he was 100% consecrated to God's plan. It was the will of the Father that he was sold out to. He was here for nothing of himself. When you're here for nothing of you and you're not looking for recognition or attention or. Or promotion, you're just looking to please the Father and to be with Him. He has found somebody he can demonstrate himself through. And just like Peter, the invitation for your advancement comes at the determination that my mind will stay on Jesus. And he's not just interested in your call. That means today, if you have not been living for God, you have not been living anywhere close to any kind of plan for Him. He's interested in you. You've not missed anything. He can fill you up with himself today as if you had always. He knows how to take through his blood, and that's what he was showing Doctor, through my blood, I've taken every speech impediment, every mistake, every misstep, and I have filled you with my power that's in my blood. Amen. So you can examine. If you're struggling in peace, you can examine these four areas right here. These are the tripping points. These are the stumbling places. It's. Listen, a lack of peace is not just a lack of faith. Can I say that you know how pastor talks about the seven things you know, the add to your faith and how you can't add something to make up for something else, right? It's the same with these things. You can't add more confession if you won't keep your mind on him. You know, you confess with your mind on him, not confess with your mind on your problem. If you won't live right, you can't walk by faith and you can't add more faith and try to accumulate more faith if you won't live clean, right? And living clean is going to take a level of consecration to God. So all these things are connected and all these things will help aid you in being kept in perfect peace. No, it is not complicated. These are very four quick arenas we can examine. How consecrated am I, how committed am I? How. How much in faith, how much is my trust in God and how much is it in my job and in my business and in my spouse? How much of it is it, you know, in this local church, you know, just because you come, you know, doesn't mean you're promised, you know, the fulfillment of God's plan on your life. You still have something to do. Amen. So anyway, I wanted to get into that next thing of seeing in that scripture that there's other things besides just keeping your mind on him. There's other factors that are involved and really your mind will affect all these other things. It's the umbrella for all these other things. If you keep your mind renewed, it'll be easy to stay consecrated. If you keep your mind renewed, it'll be easy to stay in faith. If you can keep your mind renewed, it'll be easy to live right? Amen. Amen. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at dufresneministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries.
Speaker: Morgan Dufresne
Location: World Harvest Church, Murrieta, CA
Date: October 4, 2021
Podcast: Dufresne Ministries Podcast
This episode, led by Morgan Dufresne, revolves around the biblical foundation for experiencing and maintaining "perfect and constant peace" in the Christian life, as drawn from Isaiah 26:1-3. The message identifies four critical keys—righteousness, faith, the mind, and consecration—that enable believers to not just seek, but truly live in the peace God provides, regardless of circumstances. Listeners are guided through scriptural insights, practical wisdom, and personal anecdotes, all aimed at examining how daily choices, thought patterns, and spiritual commitments impact their capacity to abide in God’s peace.
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"People are doing substances to alter their mind, or they're looking at wrong relationships... because they're looking for peace and relief in their life that they don't have." – Morgan Dufresne (02:00)
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"If you don't want to live righteous, it will be difficult to be kept in perfect peace." – Morgan Dufresne (14:50)
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"Faith, yes, is an act, but it's an act from a place of peace and rest in God. If you're acting from a place of push and press, you're acting from the wrong place." (36:30)
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"God wants your mind stayed on Him; the enemy is banking that it is on anything else." (51:00)
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"God doesn’t push you in his plan—He leads you. If you feel like you’re being pushed to make a decision, that’s not God." (68:00)
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"God's not interested in your call. He's interested in you. The day you consecrate yourself to Him is the day He meets you with His anointing and His grace." (71:00)
Morgan Dufresne’s message provides believers with a thorough, practical framework for sustaining peace in every season. True peace is the result of living righteously, walking by faith, disciplining the mind, and being wholly consecrated to God’s plan. Each key is interdependent, and neglecting one affects the whole. The podcast encourages intentional daily alignment with these principles and reassures listeners that God’s peace and presence are available right now—regardless of circumstances or history—whenever we choose to turn to Him with sincerity and full commitment.
For more teachings or resources from Dufresne Ministries, visit dufresneministries.org.