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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 this morning, if you would. I want to start in Proverbs and chapter five. Proverbs chapter five. And I'm going to minister along the lines of something this morning that your healing is connected to it, your prosperity is connected to it, your future is connected to it, the fulfilling of God's plan, your home, your life is connected to it. Your victory's connected to it. And so Proverbs chapter 5. And I'm going to read out of the amplified, in verse 7, it says this, Proverbs 5, 7. Now, therefore, my sons, look at this next word, Listen to me. Listen to me and. And depart not from the words of my mouth. The way to not depart from what God says is listen to him. Then Proverbs 22:17, Again, out of the Amplified, I want to read there, Proverbs 22:17, in the Amplified translation, it says this, Listen, consent, and submit. So now it's telling us what listeners do. They can. To listen means that you consent and you submit. Just to hear it with your ear is not listening. Listening in Bible definition is you consent to what is said and you submit to it. Amen. Listen, consent, and submit to the words of the wise. So notice this. Don't just listen to anybody. Listen to the words of the wise and apply your mind to my knowledge. So what the wise know, you need to come into that knowledge. Verse 18, for it will be pleasant if you keep them. What? These words of the wise, if you keep them in your mind, believing them, your lips will be accustomed to confessing them. So if you listen, you're going to end up believing and you're going to end up confessing the right thing. Verse 19. So that your trust, your belief, reliance, support, and confidence may be in the Lord. So really, verse 19 is about that. Our trust would be in the Lord. But where does our trust begin? With verse 17. Listen. Our faith is connected to how well we listen. Why? Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. If we're not going to listen to the Word, we can't have strong faith. If we're not going to listen to those who have the wisdom of the Word in their lives and in their mouths, we're not going to have strong faith. We need to be listeners. Amen. And not coming. And it says here in verse 17, it says that someone who listens is someone who consents and submits to what is said to them. That's not. That doesn't mean to come under the control of other people that you have to do what I say. That's not what it's talking about. It's consenting to wisdom, not to the rulership of other people lording it over you. You understand? So, because there were people who will take this and say, you don't listen to me. You don't do what I say. No, it's not about doing what someone says. It's about doing what wisdom says. Amen. Because if we listen to wisdom and we listen to what God says to us, then we come under the blessing. The blessing of God can operate and come into play. We're blessed, but we have to move under that blessing by listening to what God says. Amen. Then Proverbs, chapter 4. In verse 10, it says this. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings. So notice you can't receive what he says if you're not going to listen. We have to listen to receive. People say, I have a hard time receiving from God. Then be a better listener. Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings. And notice this to those who hear and those who receive what he says, the years of your life shall be many. Amen. So this is what I want you to see, that listening is one of the greatest safeguards of your life. The better you listen, the safer you are. If we are going to cast aside what God says to us, what people that God would speak through, what they would say to us. If we're going to act like we already know, we're going to remove ourselves from safety to be safe, Be a listener, but don't be a listener to everything that comes to your ears. Be a listener to the words of the wise is what Proverbs says. Amen. The only people that I can help as a pastor, that Morgan can help as a pastor, that God can help our listeners, People say, I want help. Then your help begins with your listening. Your help doesn't begin with God's power. Your help begins with the listening. Because people want God to move by his power to change their situations. And help doesn't begin with power. It begins with listening. Amen. The only way. Now listen. The only way anyone ever got saved, that you ever got saved. You want to know how you listened? Somebody told you about Jesus and you listened. And your listening led you to believing. And when you believed, then you received the greatest thing you could receive. If salvation comes to you because you listened and then you believed what you heard, everything else is Going to come the same way. Your health, your provision, your joy, everything else is that you listen. Amen. Dad Hagin was with us in the back room. Of course, he came and preached in 2003. Ours was the last church in the United States he preached in before he went home to be with the Lord. And he was in the back room. And my husband had asked him a question, and he made this statement that's very sobering. And he said this. He said, most people don't listen. Now, think of that. Most people don't listen. He was talking about people. My husband had asked him about ministers fulfilling the. The extent of the plan of God for their life. He was asking him about living long on the earth. And dad Hagin, the first thing he didn't talk about healing power. He didn't talk about miracle power. The. The first thing he talked about was listening. And he said, most people don't listen. I decided I'm not going to be in that category. I refuse to be known as someone who doesn't listen. Amen. Can I tell you what? You can't be spiritual if you're not a listener. I don't care how much you pray in other tongues. I don't care how long you read your Bible. Those things are good and those things are right, but they will not take the place of listening. Amen. Well, I'm an American. I'm free. Yeah, you're free to listen because people get this idea of being in America. Well, we have freedoms. Yes, you do. But you need to use your freedom to worship God, to listen to the right people, listen to what God would have. And the danger about when dad Hagin said most people don't listen, the danger about it is this people who don't listen don't know they don't listen. They think they listen. And that's why it's so difficult to help people who don't listen, because they think they listen. If you're never going to have. If I say to people, I want to just have a show of hands of healing this morning. How many of you have been healed by the power of God? All these hands will go up. All right. How many people in here don't listen? Hands are not going to go up because most people who don't listen think they listen. And that's why it's so difficult to help them, because they're always listening for somebody else because the other guy needs it more than them. Well, praise the Lord. So can I tell you this? If you want to have strong faith, and you want your life to be blessed, ask yourself this question, do I listen? Well, let me tell you, if you don't listen, how to recognize yourself. If you give excuses when you're confronted, if you give an excuse, if you argue, if you give a rebuttal, you don't listen. Amen. Why was this left like this? Well, you know, somebody else was over there, and they. You don't listen. If your first reaction and responses find a reason why this wasn't done right and give that reason, you're not a listener. Well, praise the Lord. You want. You want to. You want to shout and dance and run about. He did it, right, what we did earlier in this service. You like that part? The running and the dancing? Oh, yes, he did it. Yes, he did it. Yes, he did it. See, you like that part. But you know, how come he can do it? Because you listen. Because you listen. Because he can't do it for you until you listen. See, y' all went mighty quiet after all the praise and worship went over, huh? But now we're going to give you something that you can. Singing will really work for you now, and your dancing will really work for you when you're a listener. My mother used to say, when all the grandkids were around, she'd say, say, you got your ears on, because you know how kids listen. You know, Stephen was world famous with this when he was growing up. His mind was going so fast, and his feet were trying to keep up with his mind, you know, and it was. He was moving my oldest son so quick all the time. And I would. I would tell him to do something, and you could tell he's not listening. You want to know why his head's just going like this? I said, stephen, I want you to go into your room, and I want you to get that blue pair of shoes and then come back, all right? And he just takes off all different directions, and then, you know, you can tell when people aren't listening. So then I would grab his face because he just couldn't look at you, and he just couldn't stand still long enough to look at you. So I'd hold his face, and then you know what he'd do? His eyes were going. And I go, oh, I got a listening issue here. And that's why my mother used to say to all the grandkids, do you have your ears on? So maybe when you come to church as a family, who's got their ears on this morning? Amen. Because it doesn't matter if power is there. If you're not listening, it doesn't matter if answers are coming from the pulpit. If we're not listening, we're going to miss what God has for us. We have to this bad mental habit that we always have a reason why something went wrong. We always have an excuse. Just take responsibility and say, that didn't work because I didn't listen. I just didn't listen. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. Can I just say this? Young people don't learn the hard way because young people many times don't want to be listeners just because they've already come into the fullness of knowledge. But just humor the adults around you and just sit even though you know it all. Just, you know, just act like I'm gonna listen to you. Just know this if you don't listen. Life was hard. Marriage is hard. Business is hard. Everything is hard in life for people who don't listen. And I can just tell you, young people, middle aged people, older people, listen so you don't have to learn the hard way. Because if we don't listen, the only way we learn is the hard way. Amen. People don't listen because they think they know better than what is being said or they think they already know what's being said. And can I tell you what that is? It's called pride. Pride is the number one destroyer of people's hearing. They think they already know. They just, I know better than what you're saying. And so they don't listen. I mean, I've said things over the pulpit. Every pastor has said things over the pulpit. Every pastor has said things in counseling. And, and you can tell the people aren't listening. They've already decided what they're going to do. They're not listening and they're not listening. It makes it hard for them. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. Pride is the path of ruin. You will end up. Something in your life will be ruined. Some arena of your life will be ruined through the pride of not listening. Amen. Prideful people have the same problem as people who don't listen. They don't know they're prideful. Well, praise the Lord. Listening and hearing are in the same category. And you know what it says in Luke 5:15 when it says this, that great multitudes came together to hear and be healed. To hear and be healed of their infirmities. Notice this. Their healing, their help, their rescue was connected to their hearing. It wasn't connected just to the power of God. It was connected to them hearing. It didn't say they came to. It didn't say that they came to be healed. It says they came to hear and be healed. Amen. So we notice this. We don't just come to church to be present. We come to hear. We come to hear. Amen. We don't want to fall into the category that we just came because it's church time and I have to show up because I'm assigned to work. No, I'm coming to church to hear because in my hearing is my future. In my hearing is my rescue. In my hearing is my answer for what I'm doing wrong now. Amen. God will speak to us through his word. He'll speak to us by his spirit. He'll speak to you through your pastor, and he'll speak to you through people he's put around your life. Not everybody that's around your life, but people he has put around your life. So let me ask you this. What has God said to you? What has he been dealing with you about? What's he been dealing with you? Has he said something to you about your health? Has he said something to you about your finances? Has he said something to you about how you're handling your marriage? Has he said something about what you're called to or what you're born for or a supply that you're to bring to the body of Christ? Let me tell you, the reason he talks to us is because he knows something serious is connected to it. And if he doesn't talk to us, we're going to miss something. And if we don't listen to what he says, it's going to have an effect somewhere in our lives. And the effect doesn't always show up the day he's talking. Amen. If he's saying something to us, it's because he's trying to rescue us from what is ahead or he's trying to bring us into something more that he has ahead for us. Amen. So learn to recognize when God is speaking to you, no matter who's talking, because God will say something to you through people that are around your life. I remember there have been. There have been several times especially. It stands out to me since my husband's homegoing is. I remember there was one. One thing that I was considering doing and I was in the car with Steven and he said, mom, don't do such and such. And when he did that, I didn't just hear on the inside of me, I recognized that my spirit, recognized the Holy Spirit in those words. It wasn't just my mind hearing what he said in me, deciding whether that was the Holy Spirit from in here, I knew that's the Spirit speaking to me. That's the spirit giving direction. Too many times people want God to talk to them, but they're not listening to the people God's speaking to them through. And I recognized because I had my spiritual antenna up about before God, about this one thing that I was considering doing. And Stephen said, don't do such and such. When he said that, my spirit recognized that's God speaking to me. See, listen to that. Pay attention. It's not just your mind. Whether your mind likes what is being said or not, that's not the issue. Because your mind can like something or not something, but that doesn't mean it's God or not God. You have to recognize. Did your spirit recognize that? Was God answering that for me the other day I was, as I said, I came back from a five and a half week tour and I was driving to the church to bring some things over. And that was the first time I had been back to the offices after the tour. And on the way over I was considering a new direction or a new thing regarding the traveling ministry. And all the way over I was thinking about this. And as soon as I drove up, Grant, who is my youngest son, he came out to the car and met me. And the first thing he said to me is, you need to start doing such and such. And it was the exact thing that I was thinking of. And I recognized from my spirit God was answering me about what I was just thinking about driving over. See, I learned to recognize what God was saying and listen no matter who it came through. You understand that that's what I'm saying. Learn to recognize when God is saying something to you. Now let me ask you this. Do my sons always have the answer God in their mouth? No, but I recognize that too. I'm talking about recognizing from your spirit that your spirit goes, that's my answer. And you grab it. I remember I was going through one particular test years and years ago, and I knew I did not have the answer to that test. I didn't know how to answer that test. I didn't know what the right answer for that test was. And a person came over to my house and just to visit and they said to me, nancy, have you read such and such a book? I said, you know what? I have that book. I know I have that. I've read it in the past, but I haven't read it in a long time. And she goes, oh, I was just reading that book. And she said, I was just thinking about that, you know, and just asked if you had read it. But when she said that, I recognized the spirit's assigning me to that. See, I paid attention in here. Listen with the ears of your spirit, not just with what somebody's saying to your outer ear. Listen to the ears of your spirit with those ears. Your spirit has ears. And so when she said, have you read that book? Something on the inside of me, I recognized God's assigning me that. My answer's in there. So I was getting ready to leave on a trip the next day. So I went in my library, I pulled out that book, I threw it in my. My bag. And while I was on the airplane, I pulled out that book and read it. It was probably maybe only about 40 pages long. It wasn't a big book. But I got to the very last page, and there was the exact description of the test I was facing with the exact scripture and everything on the very last page. What if I hadn't listened? What if I hadn't recognized that my answer was when the woman asked me, have you read this book? I recognized and listened to that and found the answer for that. Now let me tell you what happened when I read that last page of that book and I saw the exact situation recorded and testified in that book. There was a spirit given. Excuse me, a scripture given there. And when I saw that scripture, I go, that's my answer. Immediately the bombarding thoughts. That's not your answer. That's not your help. That's not the right direction. And from within me, the spirit of God spoke up and said, don't let go of your answer. What's this mean? When God speaks to you through someone else, the devil will try to belittle that. He will try to diminish that and make it look like that's not your help. That's not your answer. Why? Because he wants you to dismiss your answer. Listeners don't dismiss their answer. But I'm talking about listening with the ears of your spirit. Learn to recognize. And the Holy Ghost said, don't let go of your answer because the devil wants you to listen with half an ear. To not even. To not even give credibility to what's being said to you because he wants you walking in the dark. Do you know how I came out of that? It was, yes, I quoted the scripture that was shown in that book. That was the answer for that. But you want to know how come I was able to get my answer? I listened when she said, have you read that book? I recognize that question held something for me. Does this make sense to you? Your listening is so important. None of us know it all. And we better come into a listening setting without acting like we know it. Every church service is a listening setting for you because you're not here to preach. You're not here to give out an answer. You're here to take in. And the only way you can take in is if you listen. Many people are sick today because they don't listen. They're broke because they don't listen. They lose homes and cars and things because they don't listen. They lose marriages because they don't listen. They lose businesses because they don't listen. And they think it's the devil when it really goes back to they don't listen because all along the route of them in the process of losing that God was speaking to them and they didn't hear anything he said. Because I want you to know as a parent, you know, as a parent, you will say things over and over to your children to keep failing. God is a wonderful parent. Over and over he will send answers through the preaching, through books you read, through His Word, through people's testimonies, through somebody around you before you end up at a place of losing out or ruin or losing something. All along the way, he's been trying to insert the answer and people weren't listening. No child of God arrives at faith failure or ruin without God trying to help. That's why if somebody let me, like when my husband went home to be with the Lord, I didn't want people to start getting in fear and going, well, if that can happen to a man of God of his caliber, maybe it could happen. No, maybe it could happen to me. I don't want you to ever go that way. Because I guarantee you, no Christian ever left this earth prematurity without God trying to insert a help into it. I don't care who they are. I don't care who they are. No one who ever ended up at a difficult place at a challenge ever ended up without their answer being offered to them before they arrived at that challenge. But why? Why did they. Why did they end up. They didn't listen. They didn't recognize when the answer for their life was in someone else's mouth. Why? Because they felt they already knew. They had already decided decided what they were going to do, and so they didn't listen. They already thought they knew the answer. They've already figured out their plan, so they didn't listen. The year after my husband went home to be with the Lord. You've heard me talk about the eight different projects that we had to complete, and God enabled us to complete those within a year. You know how I dealt with banks in the city in and attorneys and dealing with all of those arenas I never dealt with. I listened. That was the only way we got through. I would put up my spiritual antenna. Holy Ghost, what do you say? Why? Because I don't know the answer to this. I don't know what to do. When you recognize I don't know everything, it puts you in a listening position. And because I would listen, the Holy Ghost would say, do this, do that, contact that person, write that letter. And I would pick up when he would tell me what to do. And it arrived us at completion and victory and all those things. God does the same thing for every single one of his children. God's not silent about your help in your life. But the thing is, people aren't listening to the help because it doesn't sound like a voice from God or a prophecy or a dream or a vision or something spectacular. Learn to hear your answer. Just when somebody says something that has wisdom. Well, praise the Lord. I said praise the Lord. Learn to recognize when God is speaking to you, no matter who's talking. Learn to put up your spiritual antenna. Be sensitive, because the more sensitive you are in your spirit, the more accurately you're going to live, the more right decisions you're going to make. Pay attention. If things have been going in a wrong direction, you're going to have to start listening. Amen. Praise the Lord. God doesn't want any of us to fail. And he's not just sitting back with his arms folded and saying, hope you make it. He's always inserting our help. We need to listen to and receive that help. Amen. Praise the Lord. I said praise the Lord. 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.