← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Believe The Love | Nancy Dufresne | Sunday's Online Service | 4.19.2020
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. I want to say welcome to World Harvest Church Online. We're so glad that the church family that you're joining us today and that friends and partners of the ministry that have joined us, we're so glad to have you with us. Let's pray before we go any further. Father, we're so grateful for the privilege and the opportunity to feed upon your word and to be, to be fed together as a church family, that our faith is moving together and reaching together. And we're so grateful for this avenue that we have during this time to still be in touch with our people. Father, they're so precious to us. I thank you that you're meeting every single need, supplying every single need, and we believe you today for help, for answers and for the light of the word. And we purpose to be doers of it. In Jesus name, amen. And we're just, as we said, we're glad that you joined us. We have a few quick announcements that we want to let you know about. Of course, we have on the calendar for our annual camp meeting, which is June 8th through the 12th this year. And we're kind of like you, we're just listening to what any kind of government instructions may hold. But right now we're still planning on going ahead with that. And, and we'll let you know of any updates as we get updates from our own, our own county, our own state, and let you know how the layout of that is going to happen. But keep it on your calendar because we would love to have you join us for that. Also next Sunday, which is going to be April 26, we'll be receiving our vacation Bible school offering every month until vacation Bible school school, we will be receiving a special offering for that. And those kids absolutely love vacation Bible school. And actually our staff loves it and the different congregation members that come and help at it. And we have generally around 100 children or so that show up and so many children get saved. And it's a, it's a real time for our children to bring people that they know, bring neighborhood kids and friends, friends of theirs. And so we want to remind you Again, next Sunday, April 26th, we'll be receiving a special offering for vacation Bible school. Right now we want to go ahead and get ready to receive our offering, our regular tithes and offerings for the church. In the, in, in John, chapter two. It. It is the passage when Jesus, along with his Disciples are invited to a wedding. And of course, Jesus's mother is there. And. And I think it's quite a great dynamic that you see in this passage between mother and son. And the mother comes to Jesus and says, you know, they've run out of wine to serve for the. The wedding guests. And so Jesus basically says, well, that doesn't have anything to do with me. And so she turns around to the servants that are there serving, and she says such a key phrase. She said, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And I want you to see that really, anytime you're going to have a miracle, anytime you're going to receive an answer from God for something, this is exactly the same process that is put in place for any miracle. Whatever he says to you, do it. And she was really putting a demand on Jesus to do something. And his response to her was, it's not time for me to do this. Doesn't apply to me. And he left us with the impression that he wasn't going to do anything. But I so love it when he replied to her. And she didn't really agree with the reply he gave. She just quit talking to him. She turned around to the servants and says, whatever he says to you, do it. So what she did was put a demand on him to say something. And of course he did. There were some heavy clay water pots there, and he told him, go fill them. Tradition or whatever says that these are where they would. The. The visitors of the wedding, the guests of the wedding would have washed their feet. And so to take these pots that people would have done a washing of their feet in. And he says, change out the water in it. Put different water in it. And so this is a big job for these servants. And even the servants didn't argue. So we see this, that he. They did exactly what he said. Now when he told them, fill those water pots with water, the servants could have thought, well, what's that got to do with them needing wine for the wedding? This isn't going to. This isn't going to work. This isn't what she's asking for. This isn't what's needed. And I want you to see something that whenever you need a miracle, whenever you need God to do something for you, many times he'll instruct you to do something that makes absolutely no sense. And, you know, we walk by good sense, we walk by common sense. But if God says something that is different than what common sense tells us, we set aside common sense. We set aside what, what good human judgment would do. And we just do what he says. And thankfully, those servants did that that day. They just did what he said and they filled those water pots up. And of course he did. He didn't taste it. Did you notice this? Jesus didn't taste it yet. To see if it worked. You know, he just. He just gave the command and the servants did it. And he told the servants, go serve it to the one who's over this. This wedding feast. And they did. And of course, they were impressed with. This is the best wine they had ever been served. And so this is what I want you to see, that when. When you need a miracle, when you're believing God for something, the key to having a miracle is whatsoever he says to you, just do it. Don't analyze it, don't calculate it, don't try to figure it out. Don't try to reason it out. Just do what he says. Because on the other end of what God says, on the other end of what His Word says, on the other end of what His Spirit says to us is the answer we need is the miracle we need, is the healing we need, is the help we need. So just whatsoever he says to you, do it. The mind wants to analyze it. The mental side of human nature wants to try to figure it out. But anytime we get into the mental arena, we will talk ourselves out of a miracle, because no. A miracle, no miracle agrees with the mental arena. Every miracle will go against the mental arena. And so we want to encourage you. Whatever he's put in your heart, do it. We have asked those of you who are watching, some have sent in prayer requests, but we've also asked you to send in praise reports. And we have had some of the most phenomenal praise reports that we have seen in a long time of how God has supernaturally provided for the different congregation members. Some of y' all have gotten jobs that needed jobs even before this quarantine situation happened. And during the quarantine situation, you got jobs. God. God did things for you supernaturally. And we're so glad to hear it. God is going against really what natural man can figure out. So anytime we're going to move with God, we have to make sure that we are just doing whatsoever he says. And really, prosperity is just doing what God tells you to do. He'll tell you where to sow. He'll tell you about your giving. He'll talk to you about all these things. You know, my husband talked about that when he first got born again, and this was in the 1960s, the mid-60s he was raised in a home of alcoholism, a home of mental illness. And his life was going the exact same way. And he got born again. But when he got born again, there were things in his life he needed to get rid of, things that weren't pleasing, lifestyles that he was engaging in. I mean, he drank, you know, he ran around, he did everything else that the rest of the world did. And when he got born again, he said one of the first things that God started dealing with him about was his giving. Isn't that interesting? He said God didn't deal with him about his tobacco chew and he didn't deal with him about his drinking first. He didn't deal with anything about his running around first. The first thing he dealt with was his giving. And the reason is because the Word says that where your treasure is, your heart is there. And so we see this, that if God can, if you'll obey God with your treasure, if you'll obey God with your finances, that he's going to have an access to your heart, that your, your heart will get involved in this situation. And what happened is these people did exactly, these servants did exactly what Jesus said. And when they did, a miracle was the result. So no matter what it is, you need just follow what he tells you to do in your heart. If he tells you to sow. So if he tells you to invest something, invest something. If he tells you to start a business, start a business. Whatever he tells you to do, just do it. And so I want to pray with you right now. Take your offering, take your tithe that you have, and let's pray over that together. Father, we're so grateful that you're interested in every single arena and every single aspect of our lives. And being that you are, you're also interested in our financial well being. It matters to you that we have more than enough. It matters to you that every bill is paid. It matters to you that we not do without that no one of your people, that none of us struggle financially. And so, Father, we know that to not struggle to stay in the flow of faith, we have to refuse to worry. So Father, we refuse to worry. We refuse to think about circumstances, we refuse to think about things that try to push on us mentally. But we're listening with our hearts that whatsoever you tell us to do, we're just going to do it. We're not going to analyze it, we're not going to try to calculate it, we're not going to try to figure it out. We're just going to do what you say, and as we do, it gives you an open door to move. So we thank you for your word today. And we release our faith together as a church family. We release our faith together as the body of Christ. And we say that my God shall supply all my need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. And everybody said, amen. Hallelujah. I want to remind you that while you're giving, you can give online, you can give by text to give. And you will use the code WHC on that text to give. And then, of course, you can mail in any offerings that you may have. And I want to give you the good report. I am just so blessed that the giving of our congregation has just been so steady and so consistent. And it blesses me. I mean, financially, we. The church is doing every bit as good as it did before all these restrictions showed up. And I want you to know I appreciate that you're doers of the Word. It shows that the Word has taken root in you and has anchored your life and directing your life. And it blesses me to be able to give that report and let you know that. And so we appreciate your obedience to God. Hallelujah. I want to go today, in ministering the Word to you, something that is really just picking up from where we left off on Easter Sunday. Last Sunday, I began ministering to you about the fullness of God, that God's plan and God's desire for his people is that we be wholly filled and flooded with God himself. You know, when you're wholly filled and flooded with God himself, you absolutely have no room for anything else in you. You have no room for doubt. You have no room for worry. You have no room for fear, because God wants to so feel you that anything of the world can't find a place in you. I want to read to you out of First John, chapter four and verse 15. And we'll go back to this again in a minute, but right now I want to start with reading this passage. First John, chapter four and verse 15. It says this. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him. Now think of that. God's in you. God lives. God has set up residency in you, and he is in God. And verse 16 goes on and says, and we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. Now, I want you to look at this phrase, believe the love that we have known and believed the love now, when did we know the love? Well, when you got born again, the love of God came on the inside of you. The reason is, is because the nature of God, the life of God, eternal life, came into you at the new birth. And at that new birth, because God is love, love also came into you. Now it says here in verse 16 that God is love. God doesn't just have love. God isn't just governed by love. God is love. And if I could say it this way to you, God is nothing as much as he is love. When you understand that, that every action of God is a love act, every thought of God is a love thought, every movement of God is a love movement, because he is love. When he makes a movement, love moves. You know, actually you could go through your Bible and anywhere you see God, anywhere you see the name of Jesus, you could absolutely insert the word love. Because God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son is what John 3:16 says. We could say this. Love so loved the world. See, love isn't just for him and his kingdom. God loved the world. His love is a love movement toward the world. And John said here, he said, we have known and believed the love. Now, as I said, we've known the love of God because it came into us. The love of God is on the inside of us. That's because that's how we know it. We're recipients of that love. And now we're channels of that love. We're habitations of that love. We are where love resides. God resides on the inside of us. So love resides on the inside of us. So I want you to see this, that we are love children of a love God. And God wants us to believe the love. When we say believe the love, what does that mean? Well, to me it means this. Number one, believe the love he has toward you. Number two, believe what love provided for you. So that means this. If love didn't provide it, don't have anything to do with it. Because God isn't moving in any way in your life except through the flow of love, the expression of love, the action of love, the movement of love. So if something is not of love, don't you allow it into your life? I want to read, if you would go with me to Colossians, chapter 1. In verse 13 it says this, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. Or we could say from the authority of darkness, or from the kingdom of darkness, and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. So he's letting Us know we've changed kingdoms. At the new birth, you change kingdoms. So anything that is of the kingdom of darkness has no authority over us anymore. It has no place in our lives. And we're not to give it a place in our lives. But he has translated us into the. Into the kingdom of his dear Son. So how many of you know that? His son is an expression of his love. It was love that sent Jesus. And it is a love kingdom that we have been translated into. Verse 14 goes on and says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. So now, because we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness, from the authority of darkness, we're now under new Lord, and it's a Lord of love. We're under the lordship of love. We are citizens of a love kingdom. We are subjects of a love realm. You know, every king, just an earthly king, they have a domain, they have a jurisdiction that their authority reaches to. And that jurisdiction that, that. That place in the earth that their authority reigns over is called their realm. Well, the realm of God is a love realm. And everything within his realm is under the flow of love. It's governed by love. It is everything. Every movement is that of love. So we could say this. The realm of God is a love realm. And we have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the love realm. And so we need to believe that we are in a different realm than we were when we were unsaved. Now that we're born again, we are in a whole new realm. And the. The law of that realm. Now. See, every kingdom just. I'm talking about even an earthly natural kingdom, they have laws that their kingdom is governed by. Well, John 13, in verse 34, I want you to. I want you to turn with me, if you would. John chapter 13 and verse 34, Jesus is speaking to. To the people listening to him. And he says, a new commandment I give unto you. That you love one another as I have loved you, and you also love one another. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. If you have love. One to another. Now, I want you to see something here. Before Jesus was born into the earth, the only love that was moving in the earth was human love. Human love, natural love is flawed. It's full of weaknesses. Human love is a quitter. It will start, but when pressure comes, it will quit and it will run. Human love will quit on somebody. Human love will love you as long as you treat it right. But if you start doing something that human love doesn't like it will dump you. Because human love is a quitter. It's not a finisher. It's good at looking like it starts, but it can't endure till the end. Now think of this. This was the only kind of love that humanity had ever seen expressed. When Jesus came, a new love came. What was it? It was the love of God in flesh form that came into the earth and began to express and move itself, move among men, expressing God's love for humanity through Jesus, who was his love son. And so we see this, that Jesus let us know that he's not operating under human love. He's not operating under natural love. He is operating under the love of God, which I assure you, it's the life of God, it's eternal life. They had never seen love expressed like this because all they had ever seen was human love that was flawed, that was a quitter, that would run out, that would change its mind. But divine love, the love of God, never changes its mind. It never quits. It's not subject to any circumstances because it operates independent. God is love. He doesn't change the way he operates based on earthly circumstances. He is true to himself. To be true to himself. He is constantly moving and operating in love. Because love is not just what he has, it's who he is. He can't deny himself. For God to step outside of love, he would have to step outside of. Of himself. That's not possible. He is love. Now Jesus came and he said, a new commandment I give unto you. Now see if you can only fulfill that new commandment once the love of God comes in you, once you're born again. A man who is unsaved cannot walk under the new commandment of love. Because the new commandment of love is the love of God being expressed. It's not human love being expressed. And only someone who's been born again can. Has the flow of. Has the love of God on the inside of them flowing out and can flow with that love. So now that we're born again, there's a commandment that is to govern our lives. And he said, this new commandment, it's a commandment of love. And he said basically this. I was your example of what that love look, look like the way you see me treat people. That's the way you treat people, because that's the way God treats people. So that is the love commandment. And he gave that as a commandment because that is the ruling commandment of God's realm. The kingdom of God is A love as it's a love kingdom. We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of love, the kingdom of God's dear son. And so we need to realize something that dad Hagin used to say that he said this to us so often and when he had say it, it was so sobering, but it's so broad in understanding. He would say this one step outside of love is a step into sin. Well, we go, oh, nailed us. Because every time we stepped out of love, he's telling you you stepped into sin. What does he mean? The realm of God? The kingdom of God is a love kingdom. If you take a step outside of love, you just stepped outside of his kingdom. You just stepped outside of his love and you step outside of God's kingdom. And now you've gotten onto the devil's territory. That's why brother Hagin said, one step outside of love is a step into sin. And then he would say to us, that's how come the devil can attack people. If you're on his territory, he has a right to attack you. If we step outside of love, then we no longer are protected by the flow of the love kingdom. Do you know love will protect you? When you operate in love, then the devil has no entrance into your life. He has no access into your life. Now he may come up to the door of your life, but he can't get in. And so to stay in love is to stay in. If I could put it this way, it makes you untouchable to the devil. And that's why dad Hagin said one step outside of love is a step onto the devil's territory. And then the devil can attack you. And so we need to. We need to believe that we are children of love. We need to believe that, that the God kind of love is in us. Why? Because the nature of God is in us and he is love. So that love is in you. Now. Now that we've been delivered out of the kingdom of darkness and translated into the kingdom of love, we have to learn to let this love nature dominate us. Let this love nature be the part we draw on. We could draw on our flesh if we wanted, but if we do, we're going to end up on the devil's territory. But if we'll draw on the love of God, the love nature that's on the inside of us, then that love will protect us and it will keep us safe within God's love realm. And so Jesus, when he showed up on the earth, he was an introduction into the earth of the love of God. For the first time they are seeing love in human form expressed. And it's amazing thing that Jesus was the introduction of that love. And that same love is on the inside, inside of you. Now, as I said, to believe the love is a couple of things. Believe the believe that God loves you and because he loves you, he's not out to harm you. He's not the one attacking you, he's not the one putting you down because love doesn't do that. Love is not the one making you fearful. God is not using fear to teach you something. God is not. If I this is what human nature thinks, I missed it. Therefore I deserve a measure of defeat. That's not the way God treats us. When we miss it, all we have to do is repent and the blood of Jesus cleanses us. And then we don't have to accept a measure of defeat because we missed it. Love covers for us. You know, I know as parent, when my kids were young, if they broke something, I mean, if we were in a store and they broke something, the parent has to step up and cover for that child. We had to pay for it. If the child spilled something in the house, I mean, when they were little, they spilled something that they weren't capable of cleaning up, the parent would step in and we would have to cover for our children because they that's the parental responsibility. You know that God in his love carries that same parental responsibility. When we miss it, he'll cover for us. He'll clean up the, he'll help. He'll clean up the mess. Help us clean up the mess. When we acknowledge, hey, we missed it. That's what First John 1:9. If we confess our sin, if we say I did that, then God will help us, cleanse us from all of that. And then we, then we don't have to bear the fruit, so to speak, of our wrongdoing. God doesn't want you to suffer any measure of defeat, even something you might have put yourself in the way of defeat of. God doesn't want you to have to pay for it. Jesus paid for it. And that's what love did for us. And this is what John is telling us in First John, chapter four. Believe the love. To believe the love is to believe what the love provided. God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. God so loved the world that he sent Jesus. God so loved the world that he sent the healer, he sent the provider, he sent the redeemer, he sent the victor. That's what he loved us so much that Jesus was all of these things. We needed him to be. So to believe the love means that we refuse to believe anything that is not love. How many times fear comes, Fear talks to us. Fear says something to us. If we believe what fear suggests to us, we have to stop believing what love did for us. And what love says to us to believe what fear says to us to have anxiety and panic attacks and depression and oppression comes because we're believing something that is being suggested to our minds or our minds may be being bombarded to believe that bombardment, we have to stop believing the love. Now, John, of course, who wrote in First John, chapter, chapter four, he said, believe the love. To tell you a little bit about John, of course, he was one of the 12 disciples. But when he wrote in the Gospel of John, the way he would describe himself as the one whom Jesus loved. Now do you remember that? So many times, all throughout his writings, he would refer to himself, himself as the one whom Jesus loved. What does that mean? It means that he kept his focus on this, that Jesus loved him. And so because when he would refer to himself in his writings, he referred to himself as one who was mindful of the love that Jesus had for him. Now, you'll remember this. At the Last Supper, when they were in the upper room, Jesus was talking about all the things that he was getting ready to endure, the price he was getting ready to pay for humanity. And when he's talking about that, the setting is this. John is leaning upon Jesus's bosom is what the word says. So he's reclining upon Jesus. Notice this. That's what love does. It reclines upon the answer. It reclines up on the help. And I want you to see something about Jesus's mindset. Jesus's, if I could say this, what he exuded in that upper room, he knew he was within moments of getting ready to be arrested, to be betrayed. And he was so at peace and so untroubled and so undisturbed by what he was getting ready to face that he exuded such a peace that John wanted to recline himself on that. If Jesus would have been anxious, if Jesus would have been troubled, if Jesus would have been harassed and tormented at that moment, I guarantee you John would not have gone up to recline on him. Haven't you seen someone that. They're, they're, they're. They're worked up. I mean, they're upset. And the last thing you think of doing is reclining yourself on that person when they're in that mindset and when they're in that wave experience expressing themselves. But Jesus was so at peace that John took this position. And notice, I guarantee we have no, no implication that Jesus invited John to recline upon him. John just took that place, noting this, that the other disciples could have taken the same place, but they didn't. John was so mindful. He was so aware that love, I mean that this love that Jesus expressed, these healings that John saw Jesus work was love in action. The miracles was love in action. And John was so aware that this was love flowing out, that he made that his focus. And so when he was around Jesus, he would recline upon that. What was that? He wanted to get as close to love as he could, so much so that he rested on him. Well, then we also see this about, about John is that if you'll remember, Jesus was warning Peter at one time, at one point, and said, peter, Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you like wheat. Think of those words. The devil just didn't want to attack him. He wanted to grind him down to nothing but powder. He wanted nothing left of him so that just the winds of adversity could blow him away. And Jesus said, satan has desired to have you that he may sift you like wheat. He said, but I have prayed for you that your faith won't fail. Notice Jesus could not keep him from being attacked by the enemy, but he could pray for his faith that would deliver him in the face of that attack. So I want you to see this. When Jesus said to Peter, satan has desired to have you that he may sift you like wheat. But I prayed for you. We could also say this. Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you like wheat. But love prayed for you. Listen to that. Love prayed for you. And then he went on and he told him what Peter's end would be. He told Peter, he said, when you were young, you went wherever you wanted and you lived your life as you wanted. But he said, but when you're old. So now he's letting Peter know, hey, you're going to get old. You're going to be, you're going to, you're going to reach old age. He said, but when you're old, someone else is going to bind you and carry you where you don't want to go. So he tells you him a bit of his end. He shows him the future. And it's something that Peter turns around immediately and points to. John says, well, what about John, how's he going to end up? And Jesus basically said, that's none of your business how John ends up. He said, if. If I wanted him to live till I return, what's that to you? So notice of all the disciples that Peter pointed to, he didn't point to Andrew, he didn't point to Luke, he didn't point to any of the other disciples. He turned around and said, what about John? Why? Because there was such an obvious. There was such an obvious reliance that John carried toward Jesus that there was something special with these two. And it wasn't initiated by Jesus, it was initiated by John. What was it John believed? The love. John rested and reclined himself upon the love that Jesus expressed. John made the focus of Jesus's love for him the focus of his life. And this is what John writes to us. He says, believe the love he was telling us what set his walk with Jesus apart from all the other disciples is John believed the love. John focused on the love that Jesus had for him and what that love did for him, what that love performed for him. I'm not talking about a love that you're trying to. If I can say this, focus on fuzzy feelings. You know, it's good to feel love. But I guarantee you, if you don't feel love, it's time that you have to believe love by faith. You have to believe that God loves you. When you can't see, see any of God's help seemingly around your situation, because I guarantee you his help is available for your situation whether you see it or not. And so John here is telling us and giving us insight to what his fellowship and earthly walk with Jesus, when Jesus was on the earth, what his earthly walk with Jesus was like. He believed the love. And now that Jesus wasn't there, he's telling us, believe the love. Now you can go back through church history and different writings, and they record how the different, the, the, the 12 disciples, how each one of them died. All of them were martyred, except we don't see that John was martyred. They tried to martyr him, but it never worked. I mean, at one time they put him in a pot of boiling oil and it didn't work. So they ended up exiling him to the Isle of Patmos. Why? Because they, they saw they put this man in a death situation and the man wouldn't die. Why? Because he believed the love more than he believed the persecution and believed what was coming against him. They. They did not know how to kill the man. So they just took him and put him on an island all by himself. And when he did, then Jesus appeared to him and he ended up writing the book called the Revelation. So we see that John's life is so set apart and different, and the outcome was so different. And I believe he's giving us the key. When he writes to us in First John, chapter 4 and verse 16, when he says, believe the love. He believed the love that God had for him, he didn't. And again, I'm not just talking about. He felt loved by fuzzy feeling. He believed what God said to him. He believed what the word said. He believed what Jesus said. He believed what Jesus did. He believed what love provided, and that is believing the love. So anytime we're tempted to be worried, be fearful, be anxious, be frustrated with ourselves, believe something against ourselves, put ourselves down, we have to forget the love to believe the wrong thing. Anytime we forget what God's provided for us, we're going to have difficulties. So the way he helps us is he provided for us. And then he says, now believe what love provided, needed for you. Now, I want to read something to you. Isaiah, if you would. Well, actually, before we go to Isaiah, let's go to First Corinthians, chapter 1 and verse 30. First Corinthians, chapter 1, and verse 30 says this. It says, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So we have. We're not trying to be these things. This is who he made us to be. You know, I don't have to try to be a woman. I am. I don't get up in the morning and try to be that. I was born a female. Therefore, throughout the day, I am that without any, any effort. Well, even so, when you were born again, you were born righteous. You were born with the mind of Christ, the wisdom of Christ. You were born into redemption, sanctification. All of these things belong to you at the new birth. But I want you to see something here. Is that because we are made this, we're not made these things. Because. Because we've done everything right. The devil would love to try to make you think that these things don't belong to you because you've messed up too much. You don't possess these things or these things are not who you are in Christ because you've done everything right. It's because Jesus did everything right. You're righteous because of what Jesus did, not because of what you've done. So you are righteous. Believe that that's what love provided for you believe what love provided for for you. Believe that you are made righteous now because you're righteous. Righteous means right standing with God. Righteous means that it is as though you never sinned, that you have a right to the Father's presence as one who had never sinned. That's what the blood of Jesus did. It cleansed you so that you are in that righteous standing before God. Now go with me, if you would, in your Bibles, I want you to see it. Isaiah, chapter 54 and verse 14. And it reads this. Isaiah, chapter 54 and verse fourteen. In righteousness thou shalt be established. What's that mean, established? If I could say it this way. You have to renew your mind. An established mind is a renewed mind to someone who's established themselves in the Word, they have renewed their minds. They have found out what the Word says about them and believed it. They have found out who they are in Christ and they believe it. So he's saying, in righteousness thou shalt be established. So Jesus made you righteous. You have to remember, renew your mind that I am righteous. I am the righteousness of God. I'm right with God, I'm right with love, I'm right with the love kingdom. Therefore everything the love kingdom provided for me, I have access to because I'm right with that kingdom. So it says, in righteousness thou shalt be established. Then it goes on and says, thou shalt be far from oppression. Notice this phrase, far from oppression. Not with oppression nipping your heels. Not with oppression living close to you. You know, there are some people that they know how they've kept oppression off of them. But it's still, if I could say this, present in the room with them. No, far from oppression. The more you renew your mind and establish yourself in the truth that you are the righteousness of God. You don't put up with things that oppress you. Fear, anxiety, a bad self image, condemnation, guilt, all these things that put you down. You don't put up with that because when you're established in righteousness, you forbid anything that is not of righteousness in your thought life and in your way of thinking and in your way of believing. So the Word says, thou shalt be fulfilled, far from oppression. So can I say this to you? Get far from it. If you're too near these things, keep renewing your mind. Keep feeding yourselves on who you are in Christ. Find those in him scriptures and feed on those. And when you do that, it will, it will put greater distance between you and oppression in the way you Think and in the way you believe. Then it says again, it says, in righteousness shalt thou be established. Thou shalt be far from oppression. And it says something else. For thou shalt not fear and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. If we are troubled by anything of Satan's kingdom that we've been delivered out of, it's because we're believing the wrong thing. It's because we're not believing the love that God has for us as we should. We're not believing what. What love provided for us. We're not believing that love healed us, that love provided, that love gave us victory, that love overcame fear and defeat. And then I want to read to you something else here that it talks about in the Word that it says that. Well, let me go back in. It's going to be in First John, chapter four again, where we were reading. Let me read that whole passage. First John, chapter 4, verse 15 through 19. John was writing and he said, whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him. Now remember, if God dwells in you, love dwells in you, and he dwells in God. Verse 16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us in our direction. For us, God is love. And he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him. Verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Because as he is, as Jesus is, so are we in this world. Verse 18. There is no fear in love. Now listen to that. God is love. There's no fear in him. God's kingdom is a love kingdom. There's no fear in that kingdom. You've been translated into to that kingdom where there's no fear. So if there's the taint or the hint or the shadow of fear that seems to loom around you, go back and recognize and renew your mind that what love provided for you, what love did for you. It says again in verse 18. There is no fear in love. For perfect love casteth out fear. Because fear hath torment. We know that anyone that has dealt with fear, fear has torment with it. I mean, it troubles the mind, it torments a marriage, it torments children, it torments someone's health, it torments them financially. Fear has torment with it. If these things are troubling our lives, go back and not, yes, say God loves me absolutely. But you're going to have to know what love provided for you, what love purchased for you, the price love Paid for you. And it goes on in verse 18. Let me read it again in verse 18. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not not made perfect in love. Listen to that. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. What does that mean? That he that fears has not renewed himself, has not renewed his mind to the truth of what love provided for him and the authority love gave him. You know, when Jesus said, behold, I give you power or authority to tread on serpents and scorpions over all the power of the enemy. Do you know that that is a love act that Jesus in love gave us the authority over the devil? Love made Satan our subject. Love made us Satan's master. When we understand that, and this is what John is saying, that people that are fearful, they don't understand what love provided for them. They're not made perfect in love. They've not developed their understanding, their knowledge. They've not developed and walked in the light of what love did for them. If I could say this, who we are in Christ, go back through those scriptures. In fact, I did that again recently. I went through and there's 100 and something of them. And I went and made a list of all of those for meditation purposes. I'll see about downloading those onto our website so that you can download them. The only thing I did, I messed up on them. I did part of them in the Amplified and part of them in the King James. I didn't mean to do that. But anyway, if you will feed on who you are in Christ, when fear comes, don't try to. Don't try to get rid of fear. Talk to fear about what love provided for you. When fear of finances, fear that you're not going to have enough financially, tries to torment you and harass you, talk to it. What love provided for you, say, no, you don't. No, you don't fear. Love already provided my supply. I have a full supply. When fear tries to make you afraid of something physically, say, no, you don't fear. Love already provided healing and health and wholeness for me. When fear talks to you that your children are going to go the wrong direction, say, no, you don't. No, you don't. The power of God is keeping my children. My children are kept by the power of God. Love is keeping my children. You have to answer fear with what love provided. And again, I'm not talking about the fuzzy feeling of love that people want to feel naturally. Even if you don't feel love necessarily. See, you know this. Faith is for what you don't see. Faith is for what you don't feel. And you know what John said, believe the love. If they could say this, have faith in the love. When you don't feel, the love, when you don't see, when circumstances don't appear to be love. You have to believe by faith what love provided for you and talk about that. Amen. I tell you what, there's so much to this and it's so difficult, if I could say this naturally sometimes to articulate some of these things and to get them to you, but I would say this, look to the Holy Ghost to make it revelation to your heart. You have a love, Father. You're part of a love kingdom with love provision with all the things that love has provided. And God wants you to draw on that flow of love to be the way you live your life. And don't step out of that flow of love because then you step out of the love realm into Satan's realm and then Satan can attack. So now we can see why the Word tells us faith worketh by love. We have to be in the love kingdom, in the love realm for our faith to work. Our faith won't work outside, outside the love realm. Our faith won't work outside the love kingdom. It won't work outside of actions of love. So if I could say this, encourage you, you might need to listen to this, this teaching more than once. Pray in the Holy Ghost, listen to these things. Let them dawn on your spirit, not just your mind, but let it dawn on your spirit. And then we can can say, like John said, I believe the love. I believe the love God has for me. I believe all that love provided for me. Father, I want to pray with these people right now. I'm so grateful that we call each other family. I'm so grateful that they're my family. I'm their family. And you're the great father of this great love family. We're so grateful for that, this love family. And Father, I look to you that as we meditate further on these truths, as we listen to this teaching over and over, that the revelation, the light of it dawns on us more and more and more. And as it does, we're established more and more in our righteousness. And we thank you for what that will mean to us. It'll mean a life that's full of God, that we're filled and flooded with God himself, filled and flooded with love himself. And we're so thankful for what that means, you know, I want to again read to you what I read to you on Easter last Sunday. It's Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 17 and 19. Ephesians, chapter 3, Verse 17 through 19. Paul said that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love. What's he mean by that? That you be so established in the understanding of what love did for you and what love provided for you. And you realize that you are a love subject, that you are a love child of a love God and of a love kingdom. And Paul said that you be rooted and grounded. You know, when you're rooted and grounded, that means that fear can't blow you out of it. Fear can't blow you out of that revelation of love. That means that adversities can't blow you out. The winds of adversity can't blow you out of that flow of love because you're rooted and grounded. You know, behind me you see some trees here, when winds blow, they don't move, those trees because they're rooted and grounded. And Paul said, you have to be rooted and grounded. Your mind has to be renewed. It has to be embedded in your spirit, engrafted into your spirit, the truth of what love provided for you. So you don't give up anything that love brought for you, that you don't yield to anything outside of love. So Paul said that you be rooted in and grounded in love, that you may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, the length, the depth and height. But what does that mean? It means love goes in every direction. No matter how low you go, love goes lower. No matter how far to the left you go, love went further. No matter how far to the right you went, love went further. No matter how far you think you've climbed in social standing, love went higher. That love will exceed when you think you've hit rock bottom, there's only more love down there to meet you. That Paul said that you would understand how far reaching God's love is. And verse 19 says, and to know the love of Christ, now know it means to experience it, that you have evidence of that love in your life. Well, what is evidence of his love? A healed body, finances that are blessed, a marriage that is blessed, children that are blessed. That the evidence of what God provided for you is becoming visible to others in your life. So Paul says in verse 19. And to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all the fullness of God, so know notice this, the fullness of God, whether or not you're filled with the fullness of God is connected to what you know about love. The more you're rooted and grounded in love, the more you have a revelation of love, the more you're going to be full and filled with God himself. Why you're filled and flooded with God with love himself. It's amazing scriptures and so I'm so thankful God is helping us to dive into. Into them a little bit. But can you see? We. It seems like we don't even scratch the surface of this, but we're so great. We're so grateful for what we do. See, again, listen to this over and over. It'll be a blessing to you and a help to you. Right now, we want to go ahead and receive. As our congregation knows, we receive two offerings every Sunday because we're always abounding in the work of the Lord. We've always got projects, we've always got something going on. And so we want to take time and receive that second offering. So if you would prepare that right now again, you can give that online, you can mail that in, you can do text to give. And when you do that, then it will go towards different projects. As we have vacation Bible school going on that we're saving for. We also have camp meeting coming up. We want to be prepared for that. Brother Keith Moore is. Is scheduled to be with us on Thursday and Friday night of camp meeting, meeting, which I believe is the 11th and 12th of June. And we want to be. We want to. We want to have things prepared and in order. There's always other projects of things that we need to do around the ministry, around the church to keep things functioning and to their peak. We have actually a big one that's Stephen, who's my oldest son. He was talking to me about, because he's responsible for, for all the buildings, the properties and all of the construction of those, the maintenance, the upkeep, the development of all these. And one thing that he told me, he said, mom, this year we have to get a new roof. So these are things that come up. You know, in a church family, we're just like we are a family. And in your family home, there are things around your home that have to be tended to so that they're maintained properly. What's the same thing thing with the church family? So these are some of the things that this second offering goes to help fund toward. And so we look forward to. We look forward again seeing your face. But we're just so grateful we get to do this together. Take that offering, if you would, and hold it up before the Lord and let's pray over it. Father, we're so grateful for the privilege to come together as church family. We're so grateful for the light you're bringing us into. We appreciate. Appreciate it more than we can say. And we're so grateful for all that that love provided for us. The healing, the provision, the financial care, the wisdom, the righteousness, the victory. Everything that love has provided for us. We believe it. We refuse to believe what worry says. We refuse to believe what fear says. We refuse to believe anything against that love. And we thank you, Father, that as we walk in that we draw on that every day. We choose to draw on love every day now. We sow this seed in love. We so thank you, Father, and appreciate our church family. And we're so glad to do our part. And as we do our part, we are taking our place in love. And as we give today, we release our faith together. And we declare together that my God shall supply all my need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. And everybody said, Amen. We want you to know we love you. We look forward to again seeing you face to face real soon. But until then, we're so glad we get to be with you this way and know that we're praying for you. We love you. God bless you. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. 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