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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Choosing To Walk In The Spirit | Grant Dufresne | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
00:34:50
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by Today's message.
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So First Corinthians 2:12. It says, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God. How many of you are spirit filled? Filled with the Holy Ghost. We're born again, new creatures. So this applies to you. But the spirit of God, which is of God. That we might know the things that are freely given to us. Of God. We have a wealth of knowledge that is freely given to us. So underline that word freely. It belongs to you. He paid the price. So now for us, because of the price he paid, we get to inherit this information. Hallelujah. That we might know the things that are freely given to us from God. It is so important that to access what is freely given of God, we need to make sure that we are not living a lifestyle or a life in the flesh. Do you hear what I'm saying? Not the spirit of the world. Very important here. This. It's not freely given to people or accessible to people who are of the world, who live in the world, who live a lifestyle that. That is not godly. It's offered. A lot of people turn down that offer. Or some people turn away from the lifestyle of living in the spirit. And then they wonder, why isn't God leading me? Why is God? Where is God right now? Well, it's so important. Teaching, teaching, teaching. Being in a place where you can be taught, a place where your answer is available. Because the answer is but the Spirit, which is of God. It's in the spirit that we have this life available to us, where answers are available to us. Hallelujah. It's so important that our life, our life looks significantly different than the world's. Do you understand what I'm saying when I say that we have to be set apart? We have to be set apart in the world because the help the world needs, it's through God. It's the price Jesus paid. It's what he did on Calvary. But what example are we putting out to the ones in our life? Do we look like this world? Do we act like this world? Are we set apart? We need to make sure we're dipping down, dipping down, dipping down in our spirit. Man. We're spirit filled. I'm sure most of us here are spirit filled. We're. We have the spirit of God on the inside of us. And it's so important that that is what's driving us. That is what's leading us. You know, when you act out in the flesh, I'm telling all myself I've experienced this. When I've acted out in the flesh, when I've acted out my carnal nature, things don't work out, things hit the fan. Have you experienced that? That when you acted out a certain way, it didn't play out right because there's no order in the flesh. There's no structure in the flesh. There's no order. So when we act out of the flesh, we get the results of it. No order, trouble, problems. That carnal nature has nothing to offer us. That's why there's a hurting world out there. They're living in that flesh. They're living in that life. We're free from that. If we. If those people just call on the name of Jesus, that thing that's been binding them, that thing that's been holding them in that same place their whole life, if they just call on that name, I'm telling you, and I know we can all testify our life looks different than it used to. Hallelujah. Let's open up to Romans 8. 8. Romans 8. 8. It says. So then those who are living the life of the flesh, catering to the appetites and the impulses of their carnal nature cannot please or satisfy God or be acceptable to him. I want to be acceptable. I want his will for. For my life. So right here, if we are living, we're feeding that carnal nature. We cannot at the same time fulfill what God has called us to do. That life he has for us. We are setting ourselves, we're separating ourselves in that moment when we decide to walk out what the flesh wants, what the carnal nature wants. It's so important because that one decision can lead to another. And you're gonna look at your life one day and go, where? What happened? Where did I go wrong? And the devil's very sneaky. He will try to get a little habit of carnal responses, carnal flare ups, and next thing you know, it's a habit. You start talking to your kids a certain way, you start talking to your family a certain way. You start talking to the boss a certain way. People stop liking you. You start becoming something you're not. Because the real you is the spirit on the inside of you. That's the real you. That's the born again you. That's the new creation in Christ. You. Hallelujah. But I don't want to look back any time in my life and say, what have I become? What has the flesh Turned me into. Hallelujah. We need to protect ourselves. We need to make sure we're not in the flesh. And how do we keep ourselves in the spirit? Well, let's talk about that. How do I keep myself in the spirit? Let's go to Galatians 5:16. How do we live in the spirit? How do we make sure our flesh is put down? Galatians 5:16. I'm going to read the English Standard Version. It says, but I say, walk by the spirit, and you will not gratify the spirit, the desires of the flesh. Let me say that again. Walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. We need to make sure that our spirit man is fed and fed and fed all the time by the word of God. That is to be the dominant thing you feed on. If you're feeding your flesh more than your spirit man, don't be surprised when you react in what you're feeding the most. You will react out of what you fed the most on that day. What you woke up to and what you submitted to yesterday, the day before, or today. That's going to be the outcome of your day. What am I waking up to? What am I responding to? What am I giving my attention to? This is an everyday process. Every single day, we have to stay on top of this thing called our flesh. As long as we're on this world, we are going to have to be renewing our mind, meditating day and night on the Word. And it's not a. It's not a chore. You know, I don't like that approach of. It's a burden. It's not, don't let the devil talk you into. Oh, that's something that's going to take away from your life. It's going to waste your time. It is not a waste of time. It is your safe ground. It is your safety. It is your life vest. It is your rescue from a life of torment, from a life of struggle, from a life of heartbreak. It may not show up today. It may not show up a year from now or five years from now, but a life in the flesh will never produce fruit. It'll never produce joy. It will never produce peace. Do you hear what I'm saying this morning? Hallelujah. But it's so important that we stay in the spirit by fellowshipping with our Father. Don't see it as, oh, the Word, the Word, the Word. It is getting to know your Father when you're. When you're in the Word, you're Getting to know your father, you need to see it as I want to know him, I want to know him. He is not a flesh being. He is a spirit being. And we are who we hang out with. I guess you could say it like that. The more you spend time with your father, the more you become like your father. And I'm not saying, you know, I've missed it. I've reacted out in the flesh and I got the repercussions of it. I've almost got, I've gotten in arguments with people. I've almost wrecked my car because of it. I almost, I got, I put myself in danger because of a way I reacted, a way I reacted. I saw the outcome of it. You may not see what that response, what the repercussions of your responses are right away, but there is a reaction. When you make that action, there will be a reaction. I don't want to know what it is. When it comes to the things of the flesh, I don't want to know. I'm protecting myself. Just see it as that when I step out in the flesh, what am I putting on the line now? What if I just forfeited? What have I just put at risk? My family's life? It's not. And listen, it is not to put fear or. It's not about that. It's wisdom. We need to have knowledge of these things. You know, the Bible says my people perish for lack of knowledge. We need to know the strategies of the enemy and not be ignorant towards them. And I'm telling you, the more you meditate and fellowship with your father, the more keen you'll be into your spirit. I mean, he teaches me all the time, you know, sometimes I'll decide something and I won't know that that decision was a spirit led one until I see why that didn't play out the way it did. I go, wow, I recognize that lack of desire I had to do that was his leading. Thank God I wasn't fleshed out that day, but I've been on the other side of that. I've acted in the flesh and I've seen the repercussions of that. Same way with the spirit. You act in the spirit, you follow your spirit. You put it first place. You put his word first place. You will see the things you avoided. You act out in the flesh. You feed on the flesh. You give the flesh what it wants. You will see the outcome of that also. What are you going to act out of today? What are you going to decide to walk in today? Walk in the spirit. Meditate. Day, night, day and night. Amen. Hallelujah. Let's go to. Let's see here. Let's go to Romans 8:5. Romans 8:5. It says, for those who are according to the flesh are controlled by its unholy desires. Set their minds and pursue those things which gratify the flesh. When you see people living a lifestyle of sin, they are controlled. They're controlled by. Takes the power of God. It takes the power of God to break those chains. They are controlled by unholy desires. And when I'm saying set apart from the world, we shouldn't fall in that category. We need to decide when he became the Lord of my life. Those unholy desires are not a priority to me. No more. I need to recognize what trips me up, what trips another person up. Might not trip you up. But what does my flesh trip over. I need to be sober and know what that is, Recognize what that is. But those who are according to the spirit are controlled by the desires of the spirit. Set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the Holy Spirit. Let me read that again. But those who are according to the spirit and are controlled by the desires of the spirit. Set their minds on. And set their minds on. Set their minds on. Set your mind on the word that is your father talking to you. Set your mind on what he said to you. It is a letter to you. It is. It is words spoken directly to you. Say me. Say me. The word is your father talking to you. Set your mind on and seek those things. You're gonna have to wake up every morning and say, I seek my father first. I put him first. What does his word say about me today? What is he talking to me about? Meditate. Day and night, Day and night. Get in the habit of it. People that live in the flesh have a habit of living in the flesh. People who live in the spirit have made a habit of living in the spirit. And you'll find yourself. When you're living in the spirit, you'll find yourself making decisions. And you didn't even sometimes realize that that spirit that's within you is leading you. It's so important. Those times are so important. I've said it many times before. I had a lack of a desire to go with my dad on that last trip. And I didn't even know I was being led. And I credit the Bible school to developing my spirit enough to. In that moment, I didn't make the wrong decision. I didn't go against the grain. I Had lack of a desire to go. But that lack of the desire was the Spirit's leading. And I remembered that, and I go, you know what? I need to remember that. I need to remember that feeling I had my whole life. Because that small feeling will be a rescue for you. It'll be a rescue to your family. And I know I've heard several testimonies of this congregation of decisions that were made prior to all this stuff happening that really set you up for success, even in the middle of it. But it's so important. I mean, our Father knew about this year, and he still said it was our best year yet. He still said that. Best year yet. People that live in the flesh won't believe that, though. I'm convinced it is my best year yet. My year doesn't have to look like others. My life doesn't have to look like others. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Let's go to Galatians 5:16. Galatians 5:16. I'm going to go down to verse. I believe it's the way I copied and pasted. I didn't put the verses in right, but I believe it's verse 20. So Galatians 5:20. It says, but if you are guided, led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now, the doings and practices of the flesh are clear. So I want to show you how you know you're in the flesh. So I'm going to read this. They are immorality, impurity, indecency, strife, jealousy, anger, ill temper, selfishness, division, and the list goes on and on. Envy, all this stuff. If you react out of any of those, you know, in that moment, I'm in the flesh. These are all characteristics of our fleshly nature. It says. And then if you go down further, it says, but the fruit of the Holy Spirit, the work which his presence within accomplishes, is love, joy, gladness, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control. If people don't know what version of you they're going to get that day at work or in the home, you don't have self control. If you really walk in love, you won't act like that. It's selfishness. I look through this and I go, man, what do I need to adjust? What was my heart behind that reaction or that decision? This is a very sobering thing. It's important that we know the difference from a spiritual person to in a fleshly person. I don't want any of these characteristics of the flesh, but we need to make sure we're Making it a point and a note that we are this person, a person of peace, a person of patience. Spiritual people aren't flying off the handle all the time. Spiritual people aren't always upset at the drop of a hat, at an instant change of a circumstance. They're not all over the place emotionally. Hallelujah. And it's so important that we hate that person. Not ourself, but the person of the flesh, that carnal, natural man. It needs to be dead to us. Our future depends on it. And I'm gonna tell you this right now. You can decide right now to live in the spirit. You don't have to become that person anytime in your life anymore. Oh, well, this is gonna be a long journey. This is gonna be something. I don't know if I'll ever become this person. Don't ever look at it like that. Don't ever look at it as. It's a hard thing to become this person that God wants me to be. Through him, all things are possible. All things are easy. Do you understand what I'm saying? Well, I've. You know, maybe you've just become born again. You go, man, there's so many things that I need to change. It's okay. Through the power of God. I'm telling you, if you sit under his teeth, under sound teaching, if you sit under His Word, if you meditate in His Word, it will change your heart. It'll catch you up. A lot of people that go to Bible school, they sit under the word so much every day for such long periods of time that it almost catches them up. And only something like that is something the word of God can do. Amen. The word of God will catch you up. You know, that carnal nature, what took years and years for some people to develop, they became a monster. They became somebody that. That nobody likes, or maybe, you know, somebody that is just unpleasant. They're all over the place, or they're, you know, they have potential, but their flesh gets in the way of who they really are. What took years for a person to develop those bad characteristics, the power of God so quickly can turn a life around. The touch, just a touch of God's power can change somebody's heart. But you know what? We're gonna have to maintain it. We're gonna have to maintain that walk in the spirit. We're gonna have to maintain it. And like I said, when you're in the flesh, things don't work out. I've come to learn that, you know, I look at something that happened in my Life I go, you know what? That's because I act in the flesh. That's because I made a decision out of the flesh and that was the repercussion of it. That wasn't God. That wasn't God. That was not him. That was my decision to act out of my flesh that he has set me free from. Hallelujah. You know, Jonah and the whale, he disobeyed God. He decided he was going to do his own thing. That's a carnal nature. That's selfishness said right here in Galatians. Selfishness. Selfishness. That was a selfish decision to react out of fear and run away from the plan of God. And look where ended up in the belly of a great big fish. That's where the flesh got him. That was the repercussion, that of making the wrong decision. But if he just followed and listened to what God told him to do, he was always with him. He told him that. He said, john, I'm with you always. You can't run from me, can't hide from me. And he's with us always because he's there to help us. Wherever you're at in your life right now, your father's with you. He longs to help you. He longs to a relationship with you. Take that seriously today. You know, there's so much going on in the world right now. There's so much static. There's so much distraction. There's so much carnality. There's so much perversion in the world right now. It's so ungodly. It's not God's nature at all. That's why it's so important in times like this that if we want to be somebody to make a difference, to make an impact as the body of Christ, it starts first with a relationship with God. A relationship with God can change the world. Great generals of faith, Brother Hagin, Dr. Dufresne, Lester Sumrall, the list goes on. Even men today. Richard Roberts. Because these people developed a relationship with God, put their own fleshly desires aside and put God's plan first. And put the spirit walking in the spirit. A lifestyle in the spirit first. We are all now partakers of that relationship. Do you see the real impact a relationship with God is how it's so important to live a life dedicated to the Spirit. The Bible says the flesh has nothing but destruction attached to it. I'm so glad these people that have made an impact on my life put God first in their life. Because they did that. We're now partaking of that decision, Our lives have been changed because of that decision. Because World Harvest Church was here. A lot of us got born again because of a person's dedication to the Father, that they decided, I'm gonna put his plan first and put my fleshly carnal desires aside and put him first. And it's an everyday commitment. You know, living with Pastor Nancy and my dad, Dr. Dufresne, they every day had to decide things would come up, opportunities come up to take the easy route for them. And I seen them growing up be an example to me that they had an opportunity to walk away from things. They had a great excuse to, especially my mom when my dad passed away, she had a really great excuse to put things aside and just take the easy route. But what good does that do for the people attached to the plan? What are you forfeiting putting yourself first? What other lives are you putting at risk, putting yourself first? Don't be selfish. Don't be selfish. God wants to use you. God wants you to be a vessel for his use. And people who are so full and controlled, like it said here, by the flesh, cannot be used by God. They're too full of themselves. And I know I can say right here, I have been full of myself before. I put myself first before, and it doesn't work out. It doesn't work out. Hallelujah. It doesn't work out. But aren't you glad that when we live a life committed to the Father, things work out? And they work out a lot better. We need to be an example to this hurting world. We need to set a standard that is set apart, that when they look at the body of Christ, they go, what a light that is. We are to be a light to the world. And if we're acting like the world, acting like the world, if we're responding like everyone in the world, what help can we be to this hurting world? As the body of Christ, we are to be a witness. We need to stand up and take our place in the body of Christ, put ourself aside, put our own agendas aside and say, what does God have for me in what is attached to what he has for me? Hallelujah. You know, I don't care how long you've been saved. I don't care if it was just yesterday. God has something great for you right now. If you just put your own agenda aside and just put your focus on him. I'm telling you, your life will look so different in such a short amount of time. If you just put Yourself aside, Amen. Let's go to one more scripture. You know, have you ever looked in the fridge and you look and you go, okay, no, no. You're like ketchup mustard, like a few butt ends of, like, bread. The ones no one wants to eat. Jelly. I'm talking about my fridge. This is like me. I'm telling you what my fridge looks like. I'm like, I only buy food for me. So I don't buy a lot, you know, at one time. So I always look like there's going to be more there than when the last time I looked. Then I close it and I look again. I go. I try to get creative, and I go, what? Is there anything that I could benefit from in here? No. There's so many things missing. I need ingredients that are missing. And I think if I look again and look harder, maybe I'll find something that next time. And there's still nothing there. Nothing to offer, nothing to feed you. That's what the flesh is like. We look to the flesh, we react out of the flesh, hoping a different thing will come out of it. Hoping something better will come out of it. Maybe if I act out of selfishness, I'll get my way. Maybe if I fly off the handle and everyone just submits to me, maybe I'll get my way this time. Or maybe if I just disobey God again with what he told me to do, maybe he'll leave me alone. It doesn't work like that. If you look to the flesh, if you react out of the flesh, you're going to get the same answer every time. Has nothing to offer you, has nothing. You may find a little bit of crumbs here and there. Maybe something. It's not good. You can try. I've tried making things out of what I had in my fridge. And I go, that is nothing. Good. I made it. But it didn't turn out good, because I need this. I need this. I'm missing so many ingredients. But when you live a life in the spirit, when you go to access the wealth that the spirit has to offer, all that the spirit has to offer, it's a full supply. It looks so different than what a skimpy fridge with half ingredients looks like. And I know what you know. I know you've been there, where you keep looking, you think something different is going to show up. But that's what the spirit looks like. It's a full supply. There's so many. There's so many opportunities, there's so many possibilities. There's so much potential. That's what the life in the spirit looks like. It's full. It's full. It's a full life. It's a satisfying life. Food makes me joyful. I'm a foodie, so I like this analogy because I can understand it because food brings me joy. And we need to see the spirit living a life in the spirit like that. It's to bring us joy. It has so much potential. It has so much more to offer than a life lived in the flesh. Hallelujah. Are you helped this morning? I'm getting sweaty. Is it showing? I don't know. Oh, yeah, a little. Hallelujah. I just want to encourage you this morning that don't forfeit anything for anyone. If you have to make a change in your life to put a focus on on his plan and what he has for you. If you have to just cut some things off, it's worth it. It's worth it. It'll pay off. Payday doesn't come every day, but it will come. It will come. Those decisions will pay off in the long run. Amen. And a life lived in the spirit is to protect us. It's protection for us. It's not a sacrifice in the wrong way. We're letting go of things. We're not sacrifice. We're letting go of that flesh. And we don't have to be that person anymore. We don't have to have rebounds where we go back and up backing up. We need to decide. We need to endeavor to let that person die and go. Amen.
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