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Cooperating With God's Power, Part One | Nancy Dufresne | Jesus The Healer Broadcast
00:27:25
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Hi, I'm Grant Dufresne, and welcome to Dufresne Ministries podcast channel. We believe that as you listen to this message, your faith will be stirred and you will be encouraged in whatever you are believing God for today. Stay tuned at the end of this message to find out more information about our ministry.
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Turn with me this morning, if you would, to Colossians chapter one. And we're going to start in verse 12, Colossians chapter one. When Richard Roberts was with us in a previous service, he quoted his dad, Oral Roberts, and he made this statement repeating his dad, he said, every day miracles are coming to you or going past you. I don't know about you, but when I need something, I don't want it to slip past me. What's the difference of whether that miracle stops with you or goes past you? It's faith that stops it. It's faith that says, stop here. I receive it, I lay hold of it. And you say, well, do you have scripture for that? Remember the story of blind Bartimaeus? Jesus was just passing that way. He was not calling out for blind Bartimaeus. He did not go up to him, but. But blind Bartimaeus recognized, someone is coming. There's power passing my way. And what did he do? He started calling out, jesus, have mercy on me. And so he started calling out. And in calling out, Jesus heard him in calling out. The crowd was annoyed by him. And they said, be quiet, be quiet. They told him literally to shut up. But blind Bartimaeus recognize there's something coming my way that I need. And if I'm silent, it will keep going. If I'm silent, what I need will pass me by. I can't be silent when there's something available to me. Amen. And those who were not crying out were the ones telling blind Bartimaeus to be silent. And maybe they thought it was rude. But power needs your call to know where to stop. And you can say, well, doesn't God know that I need power? Yes, but power only stops for faith. It doesn't stop for need. Amen. And so when blind Bartimaeus gave the call that day, Jesus saw stopped. Power stopped. Miracle power stopped. Healing power stopped right in front of blind Bartimaeus. Amen. I don't want my miracle passing by when all I had to do was call to stop it. I don't have to work the power. I don't have to author the power. All I have to do is call. And when Oral Roberts made this statement, every day miracles are going past you, or they're coming to you. That means everyday power is present to meet your need. It's waiting for your call. It stops for the one with faith enough to call it. I recognize there's power available to me and you can say I don't feel it. There's power that is unfelt all the time. That's available to you. Amen. How do you know that power is available to us every day? Because the Holy Ghost is here. The Holy Ghost is in the earth. When did he arrive? Acts 2 talks about his arrival called the Day of Pentecost. That's the day the Holy Ghost changed addresses from heaven to earth. That's what the Day of Pentecost is about. To empower the church. And his presence is everywhere in the earth. It arrived in the upper room, but it didn't stay there. The Holy Ghost went out from that place where the people were unitedly joined together in faith. Because power can only enter where faith is present. Amen. And from that upper room the Holy Ghost went out through all the earth. Therefore, power is present everywhere. Because the Holy Ghost is the power of God. Praise the Lord. That ought to thrill you. Do you know there's power in your kitchen right now? There's power in your car right now. There's power at your office right now. So anything you're going to need, you can be standing in the kitchen and receive power for it. Don't let your miracle pass you by. You remember something else? That brother Richard Roberts. He would sing a song on his dad's broadcast every week. So something good is going to happen to you. But not if you're silent. You have to call. What are they saying? There's goodness always flowing. Don't let it go by you. Power is always flowing. Don't let it go by you. Call. Stop it. Stop it at your need. Amen. And that's what blind Bartimaeus did. And then Jesus stopped on his journey. He was going somewhere else. Power can be headed. If I could say this, God can have some else than mine. But I tell you, you can reach out. That's why in a service we'll have a service. And by the word of knowledge we'll call out somebody who needs healing in their back. And there can be 20 people who say, I need that. Why does God? Doesn't God know who needs healing in their back? Doesn't he know that Bob or Sally needs healing in their back? Sure he does. But if he puts a name on it, he limits it. So he just gives the call. Because you can have Bob and Sally, who may need healing in their back, and they won't receive it. So God doesn't limit what's available. It's not just for certain ones. It's for anybody that will call. Amen. Isn't that thrilling? So that if something is spoken in a service that you say, well, I don't know. They didn't tag my name on that statement. Is that for me? Anybody who calls it can have it. Amen. It's not just. What about not just healing power? Miracle power. What about revelation power? Power is connected to revelation. Amen. So you can hear a sermon and you say, that statement's mine. That one's mine. I take that. Don't let it pass you by. And so then when Jesus speaks, stopped on his travels because one man called. He stopped right there and said, come to me. And then notice this. All the people that told him to shut up goes, oh, lucky fellow, he's calling for you. That's what one translation says. Lucky fellow. No, wasn't lucky. It was calling. It was the call of faith. And they just thought it was Jesus was just showing favoritism. No, he heard a call. He recognized faith. And when he heard faith, he showed up. Amen. Hallelujah. So God's power is always flowing, but we're the ones who have to cooperate with that power to receive it. If we don't cooperate with it, it will pass us by. You'll say, well, God, doesn't God love us enough that he wants us to be helped?
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Yes.
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That's why he makes power available. But he cannot do for you what only your faith can do. His part is power. Your part is faith. You can't do his part, and you can't. And he can't do yours. He can't do your calling for you. Amen. And it won't come just because you have a need. It won't come just because you're crying. Because God doesn't answer crying. God answers faith. Now, don't misunderstand me. Sometimes people can have a cry of faith, so to speak, that they can be releasing their faith. But God doesn't answer emotions. God answers faith. God doesn't answer needs. If he did, every need in the earth would already be met. It's not because you have a need. He shows up. Power is already available to you. It's because faith caused that power to say, stop here. Amen. Hallelujah. So we have to become skillful at cooperating with the power that is available to us. And if we're not Skillful. Our lives will show the lack of skill. When someone is on a sports team and they haven't been to the practices, they haven't been warming up, they haven't learned the basics as well, it's going to show up on the field. Who's been practicing? Well, I want you to know, on the field of life, it will show up. Whether or not we're skillful with the power of God that is present everywhere, it's our job to learn how God. How God works. It's our job to learn how his power works. Just look at the laws that govern electrical power. The ability to have electricity has always been here, ever since man was on the earth. But yet it didn't. Men didn't learn how to cooperate with it until around the time of Thomas Edison and even other inventors around his time. Somebody started saying, wait, there's power they recognize. And we know this. It was Benjamin Franklin who put up a kite, put a key on the string in a lightning storm and said, can we make. Can we initiate contact with that power that's in the sky? They saw that. They realized that lightning was simply power in nature. And so they thought, does it just. Do we just wait for it or can we initiate? And that's what Benjamin Franklin was doing. He was initiating contact with power. And men started wondering about this power that was present on the earth. Can we do something? Can we make contact with it? Then can we store it? And then can we conduct it or send it somewhere on purpose? And because they learned those laws that govern that. We're sitting in a building with, thank God, air conditioning. We're sitting in a building that's not dark, but it has lights. Why? Because someone was interested enough to learn how to cooperate with the power that was in nature. Why do people that are born again and people in the church, why are they not skillful with power? It's a lack of interest. Lack of interest because when you're interested, you start searching. When you're interested, you start seeking to learn something. And so if people aren't learning, they're not interested. Well, I don't know about you. I'm interested to learn about the power of God that is present, the power of God that's available. I want to cooperate with it because every day my life needs power. Can I tell you, life is better with power. Years ago, our family went over to Maui to preach for Jesus. We were suffering there. I say that teasingly. Yes. And we went over. So the whole family went. And we were preaching at a Church. We were there a couple of days and we were so looking forward to this paradise environment, you know. And we were there a couple of days and a storm hits. We hadn't been in too many storms like that. Southern California doesn't see that that often. And the power where we were at on the island, on our side of the island went out. And so the kids really felt the power when no device could be charged, no phone, no iPad. And I mean, I don't remember how old Grant was. He was a teenager. Steven and Morgan were married by then. But still, when you realize, oh my gosh, nothing I rely on works. And so then they couldn't cook for us at the hotel, so they would just lay out cold cuts. This person does not like cold cut sandwiches. But I was fine to have it because all of a sudden I like it because that's all that's there. And so we went to church that night. And thankfully I. I had short hair then because used to in the 1980s, I would have had the big hair. Anybody else have the big ladies? Did you have the big hair? You know, and it was permed to the hilt. And you had to have all the rollers and everything to get it back in control, get it big and all of that. I am so thankful that when the power went out, I was not in that setting so that I had short hair. And so I was able, you know, we could still shower and bathe and get ready and stuff. And then I would go sit outside under the balcony. Of course it was raining, but not under that balcony. And just let the air kind of air dry my hair. You could tell something's a little off. Something is a little off. And then it was gloomy outside, it was dark outside. So you had to make sure and put your makeup on early enough. Don't wait till dark before the storage service time, because it's going to look real off. And I tell you, I don't want to frighten people, you know, so it's like walk in love and put something on. So I would make sure my hair was, you know, at least as good as I could get it. And you had to plan ahead. With no power, you had to plan ahead. And so when we got to the church, we found out that the other side of the island had power. So you could tell by looking at people in the service what side of the island they were on. The side with power or the side without power. Brother Grant, were you there during. Y' all were there during that. You were on our side no power side, Right? And so you could tell who just by the way they looked. You didn't have to talk to them. You didn't have to interview them to say, what side do you live on? Oh, I know what side you live on because I can tell that you have not had access to power. You look like you did not have access to power. Your clothes were wrinkled. You know, like I said, even though if you didn't need much power, there was still something a little off. Well, even so, you can look at the life of believers and know who's cooperating with power and who's not, who is skillful with this power. Now every morning I get up and I turn on a hairdryer to dry my hair. I never say hair dryer. You ought to know by now to come on when I pick you up. But that doesn't work that way. I have the device, I have the hairdryer, but I still have to push the button. And you know what I do? I've never just sat there and held that and say, why don't you just come on. Why don't you just work automatically? I know with a device that there's certain steps you have to take to get it to work. So we will faithfully. And you do the same thing. You will faithfully. Every time you need power from a device, you will take the necessary steps. But yet with God, people say, why don't you just heal me? Why don't you just meet my needs? They will expect something out of God that they don't even expect out of a hair dryer. And then they'll get offended with God because, why didn't you heal this person? Why didn't you pay my bills? Because somebody did not know the steps to take. And they're offended with God because they didn't know. That's like being offended with your hair dryer because you didn't know it needed plugging in. You understand? But people do. What is that? Lack of knowledge? So if you're really interested in power flowing, if I want a hairdryer to work, I have to make sure that every step that is required for it to work is done. I have to make sure it's plugged in. I have to make sure that it has the proper power. Because when we go over overseas to different countries, their voltage is different. It won't work right if I plug it into something that's not properly wired for it. So even so, with God's power, it's our job to learn how his power operates. Well, he ought to just dump that on me. Nobody else does that. We don't expect that out of your boss. You don't expect that out of your devices. You don't expect your car to just start working just because you stepped in it. You take the steps. But yet when it comes to God, people get offended if God doesn't automatically do something for them because they have a need. Power is present. If you're interested in having his power, learn his ways. Learn his ways. The will of God is healing, but you have to learn the ways of healing. You have to learn how does healing power flow? How is it received? How do I cooperate with it? Well, I just don't know that. Well, then get interested so that you can learn it. Because God has put people in the earth to teach it. Amen. There's a lot of previous generations that would have loved to have had access to electrical power, but no one of their generation knew it. No one of their generation had taken the time to learn it or had the know how.
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And.
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And so because of that, there was no one to teach. The people did without. God will always give someone to teach this generation about his power. Now it's your job to find that person and stick with that until you learn it. Amen. You can't sit at home and learn all God has for you. You have to get in a local church. You need to get under a pastor who teaches the word and ideally a pastor who himself is growing in skill. Because if your pastor isn't skillful, you're not going to come into the skill you're going to need. But there is someone, and thank God. In today's technology, we have access to many places through television, through YouTube and the computer, different things that we can access people who have greater skills. Amen. Well, I want to be healed. Then you better get interested in learning how healing operates. You understand that? Because people just want God to dump things on them and then get offended. Listen, God's power is so great, it's got to have laws that govern it. And there are laws that govern the power of God. And God has put in his body those that have learned and those who have become skillful with that. Be a student of those who know the ways of God. It's not enough to know the will of God. You have to learn his ways. Amen. The Bible said, speaking of when he delivered the Hebrews out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery, it said, it said that the people knew the acts of God, but Moses knew the ways of God. What's the difference? Notice an act. For example, if you had a world renowned artist and they brought a painting into the sanctuary and they put it on an easel right here in front of the congregation, you could see his ax. This is what he produced with his ability. But if that same artist says, come to my studio and I will paint another painting like this in front of you, now you're going to see the steps he took, the ways he took. You're going to see how he did it. And once you see how he did it now you can in a measure produce learning those ways. God doesn't just invite us into his will, he he invites us into his ways. Amen. When you know his ways, then you can cooperate with him and get a result every time you need that to operate. Children do not know the ways of a car, right? I mean, they will stand up in the seat, you know, and they'll get hold of the steering wheel and they'll just sit and jerk it and jerk it and jerk it and go, why isn't it going? But because there's other things you have to know to driving the car other than just steering it, right? You have to know some things you have to know to get in. And it's not just about turning the key. Did you know you got to put your foot on the brake or the key won't function? All kinds of things. You've got to learn to operate something successfully in the natural realm. How much more in God's realm? And the thing is, God's not hiding it from us. He wants us to know his ways. He wants us to be skillful at operating with power because he wants his power to bless humanity. And if we're unskillful, people are robbed from the blessing that his power could be. Amen. Your life needs power. Life is better with power than without power. And don't expect for it to operate automatically. You do not expect that of the natural arena. Don't expect it of God and then get offended when it doesn't operate that way. His Word, it doesn't just show his will, it shows his ways. And the thing is, people aren't interested enough to dig in the Word and find the ways so that they can cooperate. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. It's the truth anyway. We have a responsibility toward the Word of God. We have a responsibility toward the ways of God. We have a responsibility toward the power of God. Because some would teach that it's just all up to God. That's what the devil wants you to think. Because then you will never become skillful with what God has made available to you. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I love something that brother Norville Hayes said. One of the last times he was here, he was telling the story of a pastor that said to him, when Brother Norville came to preach in his church, he said, brother Norville, he said, I have a question. And he said, there is a woman who was a leading figure in our congregation and said she died prematurely of a disease. And he said, I don't understand why. He said, our congregation, we all prayed and said, we don't understand why she was not healed. And they were upset with God because they thought, well, she's a leader. It's almost like God owed her something. Listen, God wants His best available to everyone. We don't earn his blessings, but we do have to become skillful to cooperate with his blessings. There's a difference. We're not earning power. Power is already available, but it flows for those who become skillful with it and who are hungry to have it. And so brother Norville said, pastor, I don't want to hurt your feelings, and I don't want to hurt the feelings of your congregation, but that woman died for one reason. Y' all didn't know enough. You were ignorant of how God operates. God cannot and will not bypass his laws because you have a need. His Word. He so wants you to know his ways. He so wants you to to cooperate with his power that he put it in a book called the Word of God. And then he gives us teachers, pastors, all the fivefold offices to teach us about how this works. Amen. Power will work for you the same if you'll be interested enough to learn God's ways, learn His Word, learn how it operates. Amen. Hallelujah. God wants his power blessing every one of our lives, and he hungers for us to learn his ways, but he cannot do our learning for us. You want your children to succeed, but you cannot go to school in their behalf and learn and have an education on their behalf. They have to be educated. You have to be educated in the Word. You have to be educated regarding power. You have to learn his ways. It's not enough to know that God wants it for you. It's not enough to know God wants you healed. You have to learn. How can I cooperate with God? Amen. Well, there's so much to learn, isn't there? But we're hungry. Are you hungry this morning? I'm hungry. That means I'm going to hear the Word. I'm going to take every opportunity to hear the Word, and then I'm going to do the Word. Because when the word is done, it always works. The word always works. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
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