← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Are You Fully Persuaded? | Pastor Debra Simons | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
01:03:51
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. That was a treat this morning to see Dr. Dufresne. You know, the touch of God comes in many forms. And when Dr. Dufresne came into our life, it was another touch from heaven for us and for our church. It was a real rescue. And when God cares about you so much to send people into your life, you should never forget that. Amen. And so, boy, I tell you what, we were shouting over there, shouting with him. Amen. You know, I appreciate. I thank Tiffany for ministering in song. Because when I got saved, it was a touch of God and it was real. It was so real that it lasted. You know, let me just pull back here. You know, when you have an encounter with God and it's real, it affects every area of your life. And I'm going to tell you something. I woke up one morning and I was oppressed. I was confused, I was hurting, I was disillusioned. But there was something inside me that said, I'm not supposed to live this way. And I cried out to God. And that very day, God met me. And I'm going to tell you something. I have never been the same. And when I said, God, I need you. I'm not made for this type of life, Immediately, God responded that, you know, my cry of hunger for him and the oppression that I was feeling lifted. When Jesus comes in, honey, he floods you with joy. He floods you with peace. He floods you with an expecting hope of the future. That day, I knew that my future was going to be different. It was going to be bright. I was still in the same mess that I was in situationally around in the natural. But something happened on the inside. And I knew I'm coming out of this and I'm never going back to this. Amen. That's what the touch of God will do. And I'm gonna tell you something. It's not just about being born again and getting that touch. I mean, I'm not saying. What I'm saying is that's not the only touch. That's the most important touch. But I tell you what, you can have times and seasons with God that continually, you know, cause you to rise up in the midst of circumstances. Amen. I am so delighted to be here. I have been with Pastor Nancy now for seven days. And I'm gonna tell you something that has been a joy and a treat for us. You know, God has rewards, and I'll Tell you what, I believe that was one of them. We've just had such a wonderful time. This is a wonderful church. You are a strong church. You are a church with a place in the spirit. And I'm not gonna come here and tell that you don't know. But one thing that I do know when I look at the world and what's going on out there is that what we do know, we need to be saying it more. We need to be saying it more. What we know, we need to keep saying it and saying it, because there are things that are pressing against what we know, and that's what we have to understand. You know, sometimes I forget that my congregation doesn't know everything that I know. You know, I forget that for all the years that I've been ministering to them, sometimes I think, well, they should know that. And then, you know, really, it's like God will remind me, when's the last time you preached on that? When's the last time that you shared about that? And, you know, really, it just reminds me that, you know, and then, you know, new people come in or people grow up, you know, and they gotta hear what, you know, what God's revealed to you. So, like I said this morning, I'm not gonna tell you something that you don't know, but it's important that we say it again and again and again. Amen. I'm so thankful for Dr. Dufresne's counsel. He said, you know, when you're gonna preach or teach, you gotta wait on. Wait on that gift. And he said, when you get in the presence of God. And this is what I love about Dr. Frain. He was just so down to earth, and he gave us such good instructions. He says, you know, when I go back to my room, he says, the main thing that I go back there is to get quiet so I can listen. He said, now, you know, sometimes I open up my Bible and I go over some scriptures, or. Or I'll turn Brother Hagin on. Or, he says, or I'll just start praying in the spirit. You know, maybe even, you know, maybe take a little nap just praying in the spirit. He says, but the main thing is to hear from God. You got to be where it's quiet. But he said, but the first thing that comes up, that's what you go with. And I appreciate that, because sometimes your mind can try to tell you, well, no, you shouldn't do this. You shouldn't do that. But he taught us the first thing that comes up, that's what you go with when you get quiet with God. And boy, I tell you what, you might not think that that's very valuable. It's very valuable. That's how we learn how to extract from the spirit realm and follow God's directions and not the directions that come, the suggestions to our mind. So when I got along with God, really, this is what came up. And then God just began to deal with me about it. So let me ask you a couple questions. And you know what? I might not really even be talking to anybody here. I'm just gonna give a disclaimer. Maybe I'm not talking to anybody here, but for sure I know I'm talking to some of my congregation members and they're gonna be watching. So if none of these areas apply to you, they know who they are. Let me ask you a couple questions. Have you ever had to wait longer than you wanted to, to see something come to pass that God told you it was going to come to pass? Have you ever had to wait longer than you wanted to? Have things not worked out like you thought they were? Like you thought they would? As in the sequence, you know, God tells you, you know, you're supposed to do something. And so you just figure it's going to happen like this, 1, 2, 3. And it doesn't happen like that. Does that ever happen to you? When my husband and I got born again and we got to our local church because we were saved for a year before we got to a local church, we were so excited about the preaching of the word and the anointing and the gifts of the spirit flowing. We just thought, we want to get behind this. And, you know, church always has needs and my husband always could make money. And you know, really it was almost as if, you know, it came naturally to him. He could just make money. And he thought, I want to support the local church. So he thought that God was going to allow him to get into business and fund the gospel. And that's not where he's at. He's pastoring. So when we took steps to go out and do what we thought God wanted us to do, we had a lesson to learn because that was not where God wanted us. And so really we struggled in that place. Now, God honored our faith and we learned some things, but it would have been better to find out what God wanted us to do instead of deciding what we wanted to do ourselves. Because it came naturally, because it was easy, because it was fun. What's not fun about making a lot of money and being generous? But that's not what God had planned. And you know, in the years until my husband found out exactly what God had planned for him to do, it was a struggle and it was hard. So I know something about thinking something's going to happen. We thought, man, we got out in the business overnight. We're going to be a success. We're going to be able to just funnel thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars into the kingdom of God. This is going to be great. And we didn't have our faith developed for that. And it wasn't even the will of God. So you know what we did? For six years, we struggled with no money. And we had never struggled with money in our entire lives, separate from each other or together. Never had struggled like this. You get to the place, I just wanted to do something for you. God. And I don't have any money. I can't feed my children. I'm afraid they're going to repossess everything I have ever been there. I got the T shirt, I got the patent. Have you ever started in one direction only to find out that you had to change directions to follow the plan of God? If you could say yes to any one of those, then I'm talking to you. And these things need to be repeated. Go with Me to Romans 4:20. 4:20 says, he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief. Sometimes we. We know God said something and it is valid. But when it doesn't turn out the way that we think it should, or in the time frame that we think it should turn out, then you have to ask yourself, am I staggering at that promise? Am I wavering or doubting just because it hasn't happened in the time frame? Amen. And let's look at verse 19 and being not weak in faith. It's talking about Abraham being not weak in faith. He considered not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb being not weak in faith, which tells us that weak faith considers the circumstances. And if you're not weak in faith, then you don't consider the circumstances. Now, it doesn't mean that you don't see them and it doesn't mean that they don't try to press on your feelings. You know, they try to press on that. But it's the decisions that you make when that's happening that determines if you have weak faith. Or not. But it said he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And verse 21, I love this. And being fully persuaded that what God had promised he was able also to perform. He was fully persuaded. This is what we have to remember. Are we fully persuaded? Are you fully persuaded that God is able to accomplish what he said he would do in your life if you cooperate with him correctly? If you do the word correctly, Are you fully persuaded? You know, I've been listening in this, in this, what is it called? Social distancing. I know all the lingo in this social distancing time. I spent a lot of time listening to Dr. Sumrall, Brother Hagin, the ones that have been, that were pioneers of the faith as we know it. And I hear something in what they're saying and see something in what they accomplished. Dr. Sumrall, I think they said 60, over 60 years of ministry and had pioneered churches in over a hundred nations. He was fully persuaded in the truth, in this word, fully persuaded that he never let anything cause him to hesitate when he knew God was in it. Have to ask myself, am I fully persuaded? Am I really fully persuaded? Because, you know, if I'm not, I can get fully persuaded. You know, it's really not just pass or fail. You know what I mean? Really, with God, it's not pass or fail. It's if you're not there, well, then get there. Start doing something to get there. Don't just say, well, I'm not there. I'm not going to make it. It's not going to happen. No, if you realize you're not there, the words here to help you get there, you hear them, they're fully persuaded. And that's why I love to listen to the stories and the accounts of the things that they faced in their life. And when I compare them to what I'm facing, it's really not much because they've made ways for us. You have to ask yourself, am I fully persuaded that this word is the truth? Am I fully persuaded that the direction that God has placed mine, that, you know, is God? Am I fully persuaded that God is able to do his part if I do my part? Sometimes we find that we're not as persuaded as we think. Sometimes we find that we're not as persuaded as we are confessing? Confession is the beginning of it, but there has to be meditation in the Word and make it real to you for you to be fully persuaded. Confession is the beginning, but I Know people in my church, remember, I'm not talking about about you. I know people in my church that they make all the confessions but they're not fully persuaded. So when some hiccup comes, they cower back because they weren't fully persuaded. I know we have several businesses that are so generous to the church, but I've seen them have to go through many tests and trials where finances were concerned. Why? Because of what they were anointed to do, what God had laid on their heart. I mean, you're talking about the people that go above and beyond all the time. And yet when they knew in their heart that's what they wanted to do, that many attacks came in the financial arena. And I'd have to tell them it's because what you're determined to do, what you know God's told you to do in funding the work of God. That's why these attacks come. And you have to know that you have to be fully persuaded that what you're doing is the will of God. Amen. Said he staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform. We thought many years ago was in the 80s, the pastor was a visionary and he had a vision to build a building for the congregation. And we had actually even acquired a piece of land and we had a lease on a big building. And because he believed it was the timing, that lease ran out. And so we didn't re up our lease, we didn't continue it on because we thought it was just going to be a short amount of time because we already had the land and we had architects working on the building and we were going after finances and so. And this man wanted to tie us in into a longer lease. And so we knew that, you know, we, the pastor felt time wise it would be better to just go ahead and let them do what they wanted to do with the building. So we went. But you know, we didn't build that church. There were things that happened and we didn't build that church. But you know, when you're fully persuaded that God's got something, doesn't matter how long it takes, you don't give up on was in God's heart to build a building. And here we are now, generations, you know, later, and we're still believing to build that building, we're moving after it. So we've been in a congregation where we thought we were going to do something and it just didn't turn out. But you know what? We didn't pick up our marbles and leave. We didn't say the game's over. You said it was going to happen this time, and it didn't. So I'm done. You know, sometimes we do that with God. Well, you said, you said, it's going to happen in this time and I'm done. If it didn't happen in that time, well, then you're not fully persuaded, because when you're fully persuaded, you'll stand against all opposition. Dr. Fran I believe was in 1999. He came to a meeting, he did a meeting for us. And we then were having meetings in a hotel in a City about 30 miles, 35 miles from the city of our church. And in fact, to be honest with you, the first time we started having meetings in our church was when Pastor Nancy came and she said, why are you all not having meetings in your building? Well, I don't know. That's a good question. She says, you all have a building. Why don't you have meetings there? I mean, we would pick up our whole congregation and we'd go 35 miles away and we would rent hotel rooms and we would hit rent the banquet rooms in the hotel, and we do all of that. And one of the times when she came down, she says, how come you don't have church in your own building? I thought, well, I don't know, why don't we have church in our own building? Hey, let's have church in our own building. And so we started having church in our own building. I mean, you know, and you know, it took us so much to get the use permit and to get it all, you know, renovated and all that. And so, you know, the hotel is all nice and all that, but, you know, it didn't dawn on me, like, yeah, come on, we have, you know, we don't have hotels in our city, but we've got rooms. It's a small city. It's good to have people around you that just ask some questions, help ya. But we were in this meeting and so what we would do is we would rent a suite. It was like, it was a big suite. And so the guest ministers, they would come up and we would have, for freshmen, we'd have food for them there. So we had Dr. Frank and Pastor Nancy, and we were there sitting around the table. We were fellowshipping and you know, we had only really just been in contact with Dr. Dufresne, getting connected to him in 98. So this is 99. So we're really not that familiar with them. We know we knew who Dr. Dufresne was. He came to our church when our pastor was pastoring, and then the pastor left us. And so now we're sort of getting acquainted with Dr. Dufresne on a different level. So Dr. Dufresne, the spirit of God comes on him, and he hits my husband. He said, hey, I just had a vision. And he said, you did, Doctor, what did you see? He said, I saw God giving you a big building, and you and I were walking around in it. And then he said. He said, Dr. Rain said, when you get it, call me. He said, will you come down and walk around with me in it? He said, that's what I saw in the vision. That's what we'll do. He said, all right, doctor. Thank you. But he said, God's gonna give you a big building. That's all. He said, God's gonna give you a big building. That's important. So a week later, there's a man in our church, and he's a city official. And so his wife was out of town visiting her parents. And so we invited him to eat at a restaurant. And so he came to, and so we're just sitting at the table, and he said, hey. He said, did you all know that, you know, the bowling alley was empty and they've got it up for sale? And he goes, in fact, actually, they've got somebody in escrow with it, but it doesn't look like they're going to get the financing. And probably in about two weeks, it's going to fall through. Yeah. And this was a big parcel and a big building because it was not only a bowling alley, but it was a bowling alley and a bar and a restaurant. It was a big building. My husband said, you know, Dr. Frank said gospel was going to give us a building. I said, that's right. So when we got done with dinner, we drove over there. We knew the property. We walked around. My husband said, what are you getting? I said, well, I feel the anointing. I sense the anointing. That's all I'm not getting. You know, I don't have an impression of what God's saying to me. And he said, you know, I heard pursue. So we went after that building, and sure enough, it got out of escrow with the first buyer. And it was just supernaturally that the company that was funding our building said they would fund the other one. And really, on paper, it just didn't. You didn't think it was going to work out, but we got that building. And the first thing we thought is, boy, we're going to start working on this building and we're going to move into this building. But you know, we didn't move in that building because things just didn't come together. But you know, in 2007, when we had the housing market crash here in California and a lot of people lost their jobs and a lot of people were making a lot less income, we were able to sell that building. And that building held us until things began to come back. We didn't miss a beat. We thought that was the building we were supposed to be in. But Dr. Dufresne didn't say, I saw myself preaching here. He just said, I just saw myself walking around with you. And he did come down and walk around with us in it. But, you know, you have this idea of what you believe. You know, we know in part we probably somebody you have an idea of what you believe and when it doesn't turn out, then there's many times people get discouraged. You know, when you're walking with God, you can't afford to do that. You gotta just stay with his flow. When it all just didn't come together, we didn't try to force just isn't working out. Well, then let's sell it. Let's sell it. And I'll tell you what, our realtors today, it's a mark to them that we sold the building for way over what it was worth in a housing market recession. They just kept telling my husband, you'll never get that for that building. He said, oh yes, I will. He actually got more than what he put on the market. But you know, if we would have gotten discouraged because it just wasn't coming together. See, sometimes you think something, you. You add things into what God has said and you just don't stay right on what God said. If we would have gotten discouraged when we didn't get in there, and to be honest with you, we would have been in really a landlocked. God knew what he was doing for us with that building. When we bought that building in 1999, God knew what was going to happen in 07 and what we would need, and he prepared for us. But if you waver because things don't just come together the way you think they should, you're going to miss some. You're going to miss how wonderfully more intelligent God is than you. If we would have forced it to try to build that building, we'd have been suffering because it would not have met our needs. And yet when we got it, we did not know it was an investment. So we've been moving in one direction and then found out that we had to change our plan to really get in the flow of God. That's why you got to be fully persuaded that God's able to make come to pass what he said he would do. And we had to understand this. We couldn't add anything to it supernaturally. We acquired that building from the time that Dr. Frank told us about it to the time that it was ours was 45 days. The Prophet of God released a word out of heaven and we grabbed hold of it. And we supernaturally had another building in 45 days that we were able to maintain financially until the time that we had to sell it. And we wouldn't have put it together like that, but God did. Amen. Go with me to Luke. Luke, chapter eight. He's talking about the seed being sown on good ground on different grounds. But this is Luke 18 and 15. It's about it being sown on good ground. But that on the good ground are they. This is a seed on good ground are they. Which in. Watch this. An honest and good heart, having heard the word. Watch this. Keep it. And bring forth fruit with what? Patience. If we would have gotten impatient about that building, we would have never seen what God really had intended for it. If we wouldn't have not. If we wouldn't have been patient, if we hadn't recognized, you know what, this thing is just not coming together. We just better let it alone for a while. Let's just see what happens. And sure enough, at the right time, my husband said, I'm gonna sell the building. I said, okay. He was prompted by the spirit, I'm gonna sell the building. Okay, you bought the building. You sell the building. And we had really. We had it for sale for a while, and it didn't sell. But you know what? That didn't make us nervous. Because at the right time, it sold. And there was that provision for what we needed. And it was an outstanding miracle. So when the word is sown on good ground, notice what it says. He says, but that on the good ground are they. Which in an honest. I love this. And good heart, having heard the word. An honest and a good heart, they hear the word and they keep it. They keep to it. See, if we don't train people to be steadfast in the midst of pressure or things that are, you know, just don't seem suitable if we don't teach this next generation to stand and keep standing. The devil will bring plenty of opportunity to hesitate. The will of God. Amen. Are you with me? They brought it, notice it, and they bring forth fruit. With what? Patience. You can't bring forth fruit if you don't have patience. You know what I've learned? God's timeline is never mine. Oh, I tell you, I go into something, I go, oh, yeah, okay. I just learned I might think it's going to get done in a certain time. And, you know, it doesn't. But it doesn't mean that it's not going to come to pass. I've learned to stop being frustrated. Why? Because I've learned to get fully persuaded. When you get fully persuaded, you will stand against all opposition that says it's not going to happen. And if you're not standing against the opposition, let me just tell you right now, you're not fully persuaded. Get fully persuaded. How do I do that? Get in the word. Get in the presence of God and talk to him. You know, when something starts to press on me, I just. I just get in the presence of God and I go, okay, I need some help here. I need you to say something to me. I just need. I just need you to say something. And when he says something, when he gives me a portion of a scripture, I know that's my answer. I don't let my head. I don't give my head that opportunity to run around like a squirrel. Yeah, we got a lot of squirrels on our property. A lot of squirrels. My God, you just watch them dancing and doing flips, and now we got bales of. I think it's oat or. It all looks like hay. But, you know, there's different qualities. People that do that know. Know what they're. I'm talking about. You know, some is hay, some is oats. It all looks the same to me. It's in a. In a bale. We just got some delivered, so there's just squirrels all over the place. I mean, they're just jumping and doing flips. And sometimes that's what your mind tries to do when opposition comes. You know, it tries to just do flips like, oh, my God, I thought this was going to happen by this time. What am I going to do? What am I going to do? What's God going to do? That's why you have need of patience, because with patience, you bring forth fruit. I tell my church I've been waiting for a building for a long time, and I'm not Going to be impatient. Whatever God has to do to get the congregation to the place where they need to be, whatever has to be worked out in me. All the people that God has to deal with, you know, to do their part, all that takes time. So I'm just going to be patient. And I don't care if the people around me, they get nervous. I'm not gonna take their nervousness on. I'm not gonna. I don't care if you're nervous in your head. I'm patient. I've been around here a long time. I've seen God do a lot of miracles. And I'm certainly not gonna start doubting him now just because you're immature, Just cause you're immaturity and you're like, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? No, I'm not getting into what you're gonna do. I'm gonna be patient. Because with patience, I bring forth fruit. I remember Dr. LaFresne used to say, you know what? He goes, I'm telling you what he says, just nobody would touch us. Nobody would touch us for a building. Nobody, no financially would touch us. And I am so thankful that he said that. I wish I could say I was thankful that he went through it, but that would be not. That would not be a good statement. But if he wouldn't have ever gone through that and taught me that when every door says no, you still stick with God's yes. When every door says no, he didn't take no for an answer. And we're rejoicing in a building that he saw in the realm of the spirit. Because he knock on door and knock on door and knock on door, and nobody take me, nobody take me. Nobody take me. And I'm glad that he didn't keep that to himself. I'm glad that in private setting he would say, I just tell you, nobody would take me. And finally I found a way. I don't care. I don't care what the way is. You know, some people go, well, why doesn't God just drop a, you know, a dump truck of money on us? Because that's just not the way it works. We have all these immature ideas of how God has to do things. Maturity knows God's got to work on people as well as he's working on you. Because while God's working things out for you, he's working things in you. That's why we need patience to be full to say, I'm fully persuaded. You have to be developed in patience to say, I'm fully persuaded. I have to be developed in patience. I'm not going to get nervous when things don't work out the way my mind thinks that they should go, or the way someone else thinks they should go. Amen. They brought forth with patience. Now, let me tell you what one of the definitions is for patience. Cheerful or hopeful Endurance. If you're not cheerful in your endurance, you're not patient. If you're not hopeful in that waiting period, you're not in patience. And patience doesn't mean you being inactive. You're active with your faith. But patience, Bible patience is hopeful, cheerful or hopeful. Endurance, constancy, patient continuance or waiting. I'm. I am cheerful and hopeful in my waiting. I have an expectancy in me even though I'm waiting. And without that, you cannot say that you're fully persuaded. Amen. Now let's go to Luke 21:19. Notice this verse. In patience possess ye your souls when you're in patience. And the word souls here is one of them, the definitions is your mental disposition. In patience you possess your mental disposition, which means you don't let your mind go squirrely. In your patience. It will help you hold your frame of thinking, your patience. You can keep your thinking on the way word and on the promise of God in that patience. Amen. Now let's go to. It's a little bit different last year, December. I was going into the office with my daughter, and I was just looking out. You know, it's just. It's a beautiful valley. When you see all the orchards and everything, I'm just looking out. And I said, God, what is 2020 hold? And I just ride up out of my spirit. It was just so soft. It's like almost like you could ignore it. I heard change, and then, you know, my mind thought, you know, could presume a lot of things to happen that would bring change. And really I thought it was more about me. Of course, it has been changed for me. But, boy, when we got into this, you know, having to, you know, stay at home, order and all of that, and I had to go down and I had to start preaching to a camera, to my congregation, which that's not what I'm used to. And I mean, it was a big change. And, you know, at first I was telling my congregation, you know, at first it was like I would dread it, you know. Cause it's just. It's just not the same when you don't, you know, the dynamics of, you know, talking to people, you know what I mean? And so at first, you know, I was like, oh, God, you know, this is what we got to do, you know? And then finally I just said, stop it. Stop it. Stop making what you need to do hard. You're doing it in your attitude. Stop it. And so, like I said, it was probably about maybe two or three services. And I thought, no, I'm not doing this, because I'm not going to go down dreading, you know, and get up with the camera. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Okay, here we are. I'm going to relax. You know, I'm gonna enjoy what I have to do. And then it's like I remembered. No, wait a minute. He said, change. Well, now I'm having to change the way I minister to my congregation. Amen. And so it's been. And, you know, really, it's been a wonderful experience. I mean, I'm not. I'm not trying to minimize the suffering that's gone on in people's lives. I'm not minimizing that at all. I know that that's tragic, you know, but the way that we've had to adapt, to continue to do the things of God, really, it's been an experience that's been good for us. We've had to adapt the way that we do things. And like I told my congregation, I am so proud of you, because when a test and a trial came, you just stepped up to the plate. I mean, I'm just telling you, our money increased. I mean, it just increased. I said, well, praise God. And I mean, listen, our people were so careful for, you know, we didn't do much of this. Like, you have text to give, and we do. What is it? Online giving, you know, and so we didn't do much of that. We had just kind of started it, you know, it wasn't, you know, kind of a normal way to give. Of course. Of course. When you did the social distancing, that's primarily how people gave, you know. And I mean, you know, people would even give, you know, electronically to my husband and I, you know, like this. They put a little note here, this for the pastors. I go, oh, my God. Praise God. And I was just so thankful that the word in them came up and they just stood up in that circumstance. And I mean, really, I can't say that it's been, you know, a hardship in the flesh now. There was a point when I just told my congregation, enough is enough. You know, church was meant to be had together. The saints are supposed to be together. So now, you know, let's just put some pressure on the word and believe God that, you know, that they'll open things up for us, because that's what we do. But I'll tell you what, it's been an experience, but it's been change. And that's what God has said, it's been change. But, you know, when God says something, you can count on it. Now, you might put your idea, you might put your definition on it, but don't. That's very dangerous. But also, all of a sudden, I realized, oh, my God, we're changing in the way we're taking up our offerings. We're changing in the way that we are having to, you know, minister to our congregation. Everything has changed. We had to do some parking lot services and listen. And I'm glad now that everything's opening back up. I mean, I'm just rejoicing. Amen. Because this is the way that it's supposed to be. But you know what? I cannot say that we suffered having to adapt ourselves to the other way. You know, people just took the word that was on the inside of them and just rose up to the occasion. And I appreciate that. You know, sometimes we don't know what's in us until it's put to the test. Amen. Romans 5, and starting in verse 3, and I'm going to read this out of the amplified translation. It says, moreover, let us also be full of joy now. Let us exalt and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. Sometimes when the circumstance is pressing against you, it's the opportunity for your patience to be developed. And if you let that process happen and stop getting frustrated and stop trying to draw back when there's pressure, it's gonna work for you. Now, we don't believe to live in pressure. We know that. We know it's about getting through. So you understand what I'm saying? But, you know, this younger generation has to understand some things, that there are gonna be things that God said that are part of God's mandate for us, that are gonna have to, number one, take our faith and number two, take our patience in believing. Once we have done what God said to do. And if we don't tell them that there are going to be times, and it's not a shame, you know, it's not a time of shame when you got to stand against some things. In fact, it works something good in you, it works something out in you. Amen. Now we know we've already got the victory. You understand? I'm not saying anything different than what we know. We know we've got the victory. But I'm going to tell you something. You're going to have to learn how to be fully persuaded that you can rejoice even when it looks like in the natural. There's no way. Because in Romans where we were, you know, just a few verses ahead and said, you know, Abraham, you know, didn't consider his body, he didn't consider his wife's body, he looked past all those things, natural things, and trusted that God was able to do what he said he would do. And you and I need to develop our faith and understand that in developing our faith, we're going to have to walk in some patience. Let patience, and we'll get to it. Let patience have her perfect work in you. Amen. But it says, moreover, let us be full of joy now. Let us exalt and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings. No, that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance. That's what they produce. It produces endurance. You know, everybody is okay with endurance except when it comes to things of God. I mean, I know people that go to the gym and they're okay to press weights, right? How many of you know that you. There's some pressure there you got to do. Why? Because you want to build that. You want to build that lump, you know, I'm done. You want to go, hey, what do my grandkids go? They go, you know, grandma were, you know, they flex their chest and put their arms out, how muscle they are. But they didn't get that just laying around. There had to be some pressure that came. And so in different times and seasons, there will be things that will put pressure on us. But that's not a time of shame. And don't get me wrong, we're not caving into it. We just understand I'm going to have joy in this time because endurance is being worked out in me. Why? Because I'm going to keep my eye on what God said. And I'm going to continue to believe that what he said is going to come to pass no matter what the. The circumstances say. That's the iron that I'm pumping, You know, I'm talking about. That's the iron that you got to pump in the life of faith. You got to be patient while there's pressure because it produces Verse four and endurance. Fortitude. And endurance. Fortitude develops maturity of Character. Your character is being developed when things don't happen when you want them to happen the way you want them to happen. My husband and I, we had stepped out, we were going to do these glorious things for God. And now our ranch payment is like, behind. And so my husband had this cherried out Mustang. It was probably a 65 or a 66. It was cherried out. He had just gotten it done. And of course, you know, we're believing God for finances, and our faith wasn't developed. So the money for the ranch payment, which is about $2,000, 21, we used to pay it, what is it, quarterly, every three months. And so now the payment's due, it's past due, and, you know, it doesn't look like there's any money around. And, you know, we're confessing out of our head because we haven't developed our patience yet or our endurance. And it's amazing to be around someone that hasn't developed their endurance. They just say all kinds of things. So he's got to sell this baby, his baby, and he's washing up. I just don't understand this. I don't know why I gotta sell my car to pay my rent. Because you're not developed. But I didn't say that. He had bought me a really pretty golden diamond bracelet. And I said, because I didn't fully understand what was going on either. I go, honey, I'll sell my bracelet. I don't know why we gotta sell anything. But we weren't developed. So he does sell this car to this sweet little girl that her daddy was buying it. You know, she's getting her driver's license. Of course, that made him feel good that, you know, this girl was gonna like this car and stuff. And so, you know, but it was like, what happened? Our maturity was being developed. Our character was being developed. When my husband counsels people that are in those situations, he just starts laughing. He says, I know exactly where you're at. And they're looking at him all brokenhearted, like, oh, my God. And he's like, going, why? He's developed. There's character, there's maturity. He can laugh at their situation because he knows God's gonna come through. He laughs because he says, this is good for you. They come crying. He goes, this is good for you. Pastor, do you think I should do this? You think I should buy this house? Yeah, buy that house. I go, honey, he goes, honey, when they get in that, he goes, listen, it's only a house. It'll be good for Them, they're gonna find out what using their faith really is. I go, okay, I might have told him no, but he just starts laughing. Why? Cause he remembers what he had to go through and what he had to learn in that. And it wasn't until we got fully persuaded on the Word, and it wasn't until we changed what we were doing to qualify how the Word to be enjoy, to not be upset, to be waiting hopefully and confidently that God was going to do his part once we had done our part. And it didn't matter how long it took God to do his part. We just needed to make sure that we had done our part. And see, these things have to be taught. Because if not, there's going to be a whole nother generation that are going to be very discouraged when things don't work out the way they think they're supposed to work out. Because they've listened to people that have gone through some things and they think, well, if I just do exactly what God says, it's all gonna be rosy. No, there's gonna be opposition. Why? Because there's a devil that doesn't want you to have the promise and he's gonna be working against you. Plus, you gotta get in you what needs to be in you. You need to be fully persuaded. And it takes this. And don't get me wrong, I'm not glorifying trouble, not glorifying hard things. We don't stay there. But I'm going to tell you something. If you don't get fully persuaded, you're going to be in a hard place longer than God wants you to. You should have got out of that a long time ago, but you wouldn't knuckle down and say, this is the truth. And I'm going to get this truth on the inside of me and I'm going to get this flesh dealt with and I'm going to stop letting them squirrels do somersaults in my head. Why hasn't this happened? Why didn't this happen? I should be. You know, my husband found himself without any money, over 50. You should have heard that conversation. When this man was working two jobs, probably at about 13 or 16, he always had money because he was working all the time. And now he got into this God stuff. And I'm 50 years old and nobody will hire me because I'm overqualified. Oh, you should have heard that conversation. That was a beautiful. Except if you heard it, there might have been some bleeps. Not because my husband wasn't a cursor. You know what I mean? There was just so much doubt and unbelief in there. His eyes was never. He never really cussed, you know, but there was just so much doubt and unbelief. You're gonna have to go, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop. You know how sometimes on TV they kind of like mask the mouth or something? Is he just. Sometimes he just gets diarrhea of the mouth. Now he was not like that often. But I tell you, when he had had his. Feels like I'm 50 and I mean, I can't find a job anywhere. And I just did. We have our moments. That's why when someone else is going through it, he just go, He's gonna be 81. And he's not concerned about finding finances. But when he thought he should be retiring, he had this whole plan before he was saved. Oh man, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, I'm going to buy apartments, I'm going to do this and that. I'm going to be retired by the time I'm such and such. I'm going to go out fishing, go out in the river fishing. This was his plan before he was saved. So by the time he's 50, the devil's saying, remember before you were saved and you said you were going to do this and you were going to do that. And now look at you now, you're 50 years old and you can't even get a job at 7:11. You can't even get a job, you know, flipping hamburgers at McDonald's. And you know, listen, he comes from a different era, a man's man. And now listen, I had two jobs and he just said I had one day. He said to me, I have never allowed a woman to support me. I'm never gonna start now. I go, where did that come from? The two little measly checks that I was getting would never ever, ever come near what this man could do if he just took a side job because he was so skilled. You're like supporting you. Where did that come from? We had some fun, but what was it? The devil was just playing, oh, you're 50 something and you had a skill, you ran a plant, you had 300 people under you. You could have stayed there and you'd had a great retirement. And you know all that. Now you're 50 and you can't find a job. Nobody will hire you. But you know what was happening? Patience was being worked out, character was being developed, spiritual character. And I tell you what, we never want to go back there again. But we're glad that we got through those places. And if we don't say these things, there's a generation behind us that's not going to know that they can withstand pressure with joy. Why? Because it's a badge of honor to stand up when your mind is trying to grate you and your flesh feels like the blood is rolling down your feet when you open up a bill. But you can still go, God, I trust you. And I know it won't always be this way because I've got your promise that I'm getting out of this. I listen, I'm not camping out here. I'm getting through. But in all that, we learn patience, he says, an endurance, fortitude, develops maturity of character, approved faith and tried integrity and character of this sort produces the habit of joyful and confident hope, of eternal salvation. Now, you know, salvation is everything, but it produces what joyful and confident hope. Being fully persuaded. Being fully persuaded. He staggered not at the promise of God. God through unbelief. Staggering is to draw back in doubt. Staggering is. Is in that definition also is hesitate. To hesitate. See, when there's opposition, you have to. You have to be fully persuaded so that you don't hesitate. You know? Well, they said this. Well, what's our other option? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. We're going to keep going with what God said, see, because it is about hesitating or drawing back. And when people are not fully persuaded in the natural, they start drawing back. Drawing back. I don't want to be around anybody. Well, you need to be around somebody because you know what? You're only alone with your thoughts. No, listen, I'm telling you. What, Listen, how do I want to be around anybody? I don't want to be around anybody. Why? I just don't want to be. Why? Because the enemy is trying to get you to draw back so that he can just flood your mind with this outcome that you have been dreading. And you got to learn. No, I'm not doing that. I'm not drawing back from people. I'm not drawing back from the situation. I'm not drawing back from. From God. I'm not drawn back from the word. I'm going to get in here and I'm going to continue to look at God's promises and I'm going to get fully persuaded that God is able to do what he said he would do. If I will do what I'm doing. What I'm supposed to do. And sometimes I might have to change directions. Sometimes I have to realize maybe I added something to what he said. I got to go down, you know, and strip everything down to. What did he say? You know what, Dr. Frayne? He said, God's going to give you a big building. We're going to walk through it. He didn't say, you're going to put a church there. God knew what he was doing even if we didn't. But we couldn't get discouraged just because we couldn't put a church there. I mean, we see it now, and it's a gas station and there's a Kentucky Fried Chicken there. And on part of it, there's. What is it? The one that's behind. Is it Hampton Inn or something that faces Childs. There's all kinds of things there. But we would have been in a landlocked. But it was a great investment when everything went sideways. God kept us through that season. See, you have to not let these distractions, these hiccups, these, you know, unforeseen things, keep you from being fully persuaded. You got to be fully persuaded because the man or the woman that's fully persuaded, they are in a hopeful expectancy. They are joyful. My husband had to have quite a few talks with God before he got fully persuaded. But, I mean, I thank God because he went to God, and I mean, God is what was the strength of his life through that. And he realized, I gotta do things different. We both realized it in our own way. We were having the same battle. We were just having, you know, dealing with it differently. But both of us were under that pressure. And many times we try to take it out on each other. Why'd you look at me like that? What? I didn't look at you anyway. Well, why didn't you look at me? Immaturity. You know what? We had to grow up. We had to grow up in that. Under that pressure and just say, you know what? This isn't getting us anywhere. Do we want our bills paid, or do we just want to fuss with each other? Do we want to be in faith and see the promise, or do we just want to fuss with each other? Well, let's just. Let's just get all this taken care of. And then, you know, we learned how to get into agreement. We learned how to get into agreement. We had a need. Boy, I'll tell you what. We grab hands, honey. The rent is due Friday. This is Wednesday. We don't have a dime in the bank. All right. Let's get into agreement that we get. We get some business in, all right? We just grab hands. We get into an agreement. Father, we thank you that. That money's going to be there when we need it. And it is amazing how when you start doing what the word says, how it started turning around and we begin to learn. But you have to understand that to see the promise of God fulfilled, we have to be fully persuaded. We can't ignore those verses in the Scripture. And being fully persuaded isn't just a confession. Confession is a part of it. And for some people, they're not confessing enough because they're not fully persuaded. I mean, when you're fully persuaded, that's what's coming out of your mouth all the time. But I'm talking about people that will mimic what they hear, but they don't have it in their heart. So then they get disillusioned when things don't go the way that they expected them to go. And then, of course, you know, they start blaming God and then blaming God, they start blaming people, then they blame the church. Matthew Henry says about verse 20, Romans 4, 20, about being fully persuaded. It says, where he said he staggered. Not, he said, unbelief is at the bottom of all our staggerings at God's promises. Unbelief is at the bottom of all staggerings. So when I hear a report and it tries to shake me a little bit, it tries to get me to take just a step back, I go, that's unbelief, baby. That's unbelief. No, no, no, no, no, no. And I just begin to declare more, and I begin to rehearse what God has said, because I got to get that out. But it's your unbelief that causes you to stagger at the promise of God. That's why I'm so thankful for these generals. Dr. Dufresne was a man that just did not take no for an answer. He made things happen. And, you know, for us, it was so. We were so grateful to be with a man that stood against opposition. And we saw the fruit that he produced. We're in a building. I mean, when we first had mentoring class, we were in one of the side rooms. We were so excited. We were excited as if this was our own building. Why? Because we saw the testimonies of when the enemy would try to tell him he's on a piece of ground and there's tumbleweeds. And he said the wind was blowing and the tumbleweeds. It sounded like they were saying, stupid, stupid, stupid. And he said, you know, and then, you know, he's going to defy that. He said, you know, I called somebody, get the bush hog over here and cut, you know, cut these things down. And I can't tell you how many times when something is going to try to. To defy the promise of God to me that I remember. No, I'm gonna get a bush hog and I'm gonna cut this thing down. I'm gonna cut it down with my believing. I'm gonna cut it down with my aggressiveness to keep going forward. See those testimonies? They're gold to me because this is what God reminds me of when some opposition comes and I thought that I didn't expect or it slows something slowed down. I hear what Dr. Dufresne would say in my ear. I hear that testimony and I go, oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was around him too long to, you know, act like a lily. Remember, I say bunch of lilies. I'm not going to be a lily. I'm just going to keep moving forward. These things need to be said. So many verses I have here, and I don't think I'm going to have time for all of them. I'm trying to. Can I just. See, there's my alarm here. I'm just. Let me just give you. Where was I? Romans 5, 3, and 4. Let me just give you these. Romans 8:25. Hebrews 6:12. All of these are about patience, having patience in the promise. Hebrews 10:36. And I will end with this verse right here. Hebrews 10:36. For you have need of steadfast patience and endurance so that you may perform and fully accomplish the will of God and thus receive and carry away and enjoy to the full what is promised. Amen. Being fully persuaded. It's important in this day and hour when we know that we're in the season of revival, that it. That when the world is looking like, you know, like this, we've got to, you know, choose how many members can come to church. It does not negate that this is the season of revival. We have to be fully persuaded that what God said, that this is the season for it, no matter what's going on in the world. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. 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.