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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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So we've been talking about that God has given us people in our life called namely the five fold ministry gifts. The apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor, and the teacher. Because God intends their gifts from Jesus. Because they will help bring us into the stature of the fullness of Christ. Till our life matures and looks like Him. Till our faith matures and looks like Jesus, Jesus is our measurement. Amen. God wants to bring us into a life that is like Jesus life that we're walking like him, believing like him, producing like he produced. Amen. That's the kind of life God has for us. But because of that, God is going to put a demand on us to develop our faith. He wants our faith life looking like Jesus. Faith life. Amen. So to do that, he's going to put a demand on it. Now let's talk about our faith looking like Jesus. Concerning healing, you want to do that in that arena because faith works the same in every arena, but you still have to develop your faith in every arena. So it's one thing to have faith that God's going to meet your financial needs, but it's another thing that you have to develop faith that he'll meet your physical needs. So, for example, Jesus was always putting a demand on the faith of the people around him. Remember what he said to his disciples? He'd been out preaching to a multitude of people and he said, they've been out here with me for three days. They've run out of food. Let's have a dinner party before they go home. They're out in the wilderness. So he turns to his. He turns to his staff, the disciples, and he says, what do you have? He's bringing them in on the table. We don't have enough. We don't have enough. He's trying to develop and put a demand on their faith. And Andrew speaks up and he says, well, there is a little boy here. He has some loaves and he has some fish. And then he dismissed it because it didn't mentally make sense, it didn't mentally calculate. And he dismissed it and said, oh, but what is that among so many? You know what that is? That's the miracle. That's your miracle beginning right there. Jesus was bringing the Disciples in teaching them and training them in their faith. And he said, bring me those loaves. Bring me those fish. And it said he looked up to heaven. When you're developing your faith, you have to make sure you're looking the right direction. If you look at men, you'll never develop. You won't develop right. And it says he looked up to heaven and then he blessed what he had. He didn't complain about what he had. He didn't gripe about what he had, saying, this isn't enough. Why did you bring me something that's not enough? When he looked the right direction and blessed what he had, what wasn't enough became more than enough. Amen. Now, the disciples would have missed out on that dinner party if it were just left up to their faith, right? But his faith was set, setting the example. And he did that more than once in his ministry. That's what God wants our faith doing. Every time we have a need, our faith producing. That's what Jesus life depicted for us. Every time he faced a need, he's faith produced. And that's a mature, growing, developing faith. Amen. When it came to healing, how many times? There were 19 individual cases of healing recorded in the four Gospels. Now, some of the Gospels record the same healing more than once. So that's why it looks like there's more. But there's only 19 individual cases of healing in the four Gospels, but 12 of them, Jesus said it was their faith that received it. So 12 out of 19, it was their faith involved. What's that tell you? The majority of the time, you're going to receive something from God. It's going to be your faith. And as you grow and mature, it'll all be your faith. Amen. But notice he would come up to the blind man who needed healing, and Jesus, he'd spit on the ground, on the dirt, and made clay of the spittle and he put it in the blind man's eyes. And he. And then what did he say to the blind man? Now go wash in the pool of siloam. He gave him somewhere to go. He gave him something to do. Why did he give a blind man? Now, see, you would think the natural man would say, he's blind, Just bring a bowl of water here and let him wash out his eyes. Jesus wasn't trying to make it easy. Jesus was trying to get the man's faith going. Jesus is not gonna do what's easiest, or God's not gonna do what's easiest for your faith. He's gonna do what's best for your faith that is so big for you to realize in your faith life? If you're only looking for the easiest, you'll never grow. But if you're looking for the best that your faith should have to do, it'll grow. So he puts a demand on this man's faith. He says, go wash in the pool of Siloam. We don't know how far this was, but we know this. It was a bit of a distance and he had to find somebody. I don't know if somebody led him there or what, but God put a demand on him. Why? Is he being unkind? No. Because he's not even turning a blind man into a cripple spiritually. He's not going to let him lean on someone else's faith. This man needs faith. Amen. And so he put a demand on it. And then what? Think about it. Jesus said, go wash in the pool of Siloam and thou shalt come again seeing. So the whole time he's walking, when I get to that water and I wash my eyes out, I'm going to see. When I get to that water and I wash my eyes out, I'm going to be seeing. What was Jesus doing? He was getting his faith going. Notice this? He gave the man something to obey. That's what gets your faith going. You can have faith and it not be going. God will put a demand. He gives you something to obey. Obedience is required for you to have strong faith. People who don't obey don't have strong faith because God gives you something to obey. Not to trip people up, but to get their faith going. Because he is in for doing what's best for your faith. Then think about it. The 10 lepers that called out to Jesus from afar and he said, go show yourself unto the priest. So they go. And it says, as they went to show themselves to the priest. And as they went, they were healed. How come? As they went, they were healed. He gave them something to obey. And as they were obeying, it got their faith going. And then their miracle met their faith. Amen. What about the man with the withered hand? He said, stretch forth your hand. He gave him something to do. He's not trying to withhold their miracle. He's giving them something of their faith to work so that their faith can grow and be robust and they can receive what God has for them. Amen. What about the lame man? He told him, rise up and walk. He didn't say, somebody come and help him up for a minute. You Boys, one get on one side, one get on the other. No, he's doing what's best for this man. So get up. He gives him something to obey every day. Listen for what God would do, what he would tell you to do so, so that your faith can get going. Amen. Well, some. You know, God told me to give $100, but I don't have $100. If he told you to give someone $100, it's cause he wants you to believe him for it. He wants you to get your faith going. He gives you something to obey to get your faith going. Don't say I don't have it, so I won't give it. Say, Father, if you told me to give, if you told me to give that, I believe you for that supply. He's doing that because he's trying to get your faith going for your own need. Amen. What about the rich young ruler? He came to Jesus, he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, one thing you lack. Remember, he says, you lack one thing. Now people will read that and think that because Jesus said, take all your money, take all you have, sell it and give your money to the poor and come follow me. People will think the one thing he lacked was being poor. No, that's not what he lacked. Jesus, the one thing he was missing was not that he wouldn't obey in getting rid of his money and getting rid of his wealth. The one thing he was missing, he didn't have anyone to follow. He said, go sell all you have, give it to the poor. Come, follow me. That's the same instruction that the other 12 disciples received. Follow me. But this man, he was trusting in his money and wouldn't get rid of it. Therefore he wouldn't follow him. Jesus was giving him something to obey to get his faith going. Because see, his faith was in his money. And Jesus was trying to get his faith off his money. Get rid of the wrong thing your faith is on. Come follow me and I'll get your faith on the right thing. And I tell you what, if he would have done what Jesus said, he'd ended up much more wealthier than he was when he met Jesus. Because his faith would have gotten him gotten it. He would have gotten it by faith. Jesus wasn't trying to make him poor. Jesus was giving him something to obey. And notice this, he wouldn't do it. There are a lot of people who God offers them the opportunity to have strong faith and they won't do it. Well, praise the Lord. Amen it's true. Anyway, when God can get your faith going, then he can get into your life the answer you need. So he will give you something to obey, even if it looks like something little. It doesn't have to be something great big to get your faith going. Just do whatever he says to get your faith going. There was this one minister years ago. He was a denominational preacher. He had never taught on healing. He had never understood or sat under the teaching of healing. But he. He was walking across the street one day and got hit by a car, and it left him crippled. And the doctors even feared that they'd have to cut his leg off. And they had basically given him no hope. They said, you're going to be a cripple for the rest of your life. But he began as he lay in that hospital bed reading the Word, and he began to find healing scriptures, and he began to search it out. And he found over there in James, where it says, call for the elders and let them lay hands on you. Pray for you know, the prayer of faith will save the sick and God will raise him up. So he had heard word of a certain church that believed in praying for the sick. And so he called for some leaders out of that church to come and pray for him. And when they came into his hospital room, God spoke to him and said, now if you want them to lay hands on you, I'll heal you. And he said in confirmation to my word. But he said, but if you want a healing ministry, believe for your own healing. And God says, I leave it up to you. Do you want a healing ministry or not? If you don't want a healing ministry, I'll heal you on someone else's faith. But if you want a healing ministry, then I'll help you develop your own faith. Now see, now it's not just about him getting healed. Now it's about him helping get others healed. And he said, I'll take it on my own faith. Now see, God was leading him into what was best for his faith. Now, do you think that God caused the car accident? No, no, no. God didn't do that. But God will take what the devil meant to do, ruin and. And bring you into more of what God has. Amen. So he said, I will take it on my own faith. You know what that meant? That meant his healing was a little bit delayed while his faith was growing and his faith was developing. But as it grew, then he was raised up and healed on his own faith. It took more time, but he had something worth giving to somebody now. Amen. You'll put a demand on your faith based on what you want your faith to look like. He wanted his faith to look like a healing ministry, this minister. And so because of that, he put a greater demand and God offered him something to put a demand on his faith about. Amen. Now let's talk about faith for finances. Because how many of you know you not just have to have faith for healing, you have to have faith for finances. And really, this is one of the areas that people get tripped up the most, because every day they're dealing with money. Every day they're dealing with needs, financial needs. And everybody was raised hearing their parents say something. Some of us heard parents say, I can't afford that. You can't have that. You can never have that. You've heard that all your life. We don't have enough money for that. And that gets in you. And out of a bad habit, you just start repeating. But now that you're in God's family, who says you don't have enough? Now, if you're not. If your faith isn't going to grow and develop, you will struggle financially. But if you will cause your faith to grow and feed your faith and put a demand on your faith, you'll move into the blessing that God intended for you to have. I'm talking about financially. For example, God's going to do what's best for your faith regarding finances, not what's easiest for your conscience or not what's easiest for your peace of mind, so to speak. He's going to lead you to the front edge of your faith, not the back edge of your faith. When God is developing you, it will put a stretch on you and on the resources. But how many of you know it's not a negative stretch. It's not the stretch of worry. It's not the stretch of pressure. It's not the stretch of fear. It's the stretch put on your faith. Amen. So when God is putting a demand on your faith and developing your faith, you do not have to get under pressure. You do not have to get under fear and worry because God's not participating in that. But you do have to be at a place where you're okay to having a stretch put on you and a demand put on you. Amen. I was talking to one pastor, and he's a precious man. And he was saying something. He said, pastor Nancy, we need a new church building and our church needs a new building. The building we're in is not sufficient. And he said, I want you to pray with me. He said, there is a man who owns a building here in town. He let his former church just use it rent free for over 20 years. And so he let his church use that. I mean, he was a blessing to his church. But he said, but now the pastor has moved and so that building is now available. He says, I met with the owner and he said to me, he says, I'm not sure what I want to do with the building. He says, I need to pray about it. He was a Christian man and he says, I could sell it to you, I could rent it to you, I could lease it with an option to buy it, or I could just give it to you. I have several different directions. But he says, I'm just going to pray and see what God will have me to do. So the pastor said, pastor, would you pray with us about that building? And I said, I certainly will. But I said, I will tell you this, I'm not going to pray that God would give it to you. If that's not best for your faith, that may be easiest for you, but not best for your faith. Because then what happens? You just expect to sit back and let God just hand you everything. And you have to develop your faith so that you can lay hold, so that you can lay hold and not sit back and wait for people to hand things to you. That's not faith, is you sitting home inactive and just making confessions. And you not doing anything. You not putting a demand on your own faith, just waiting for somebody to come and give you things. Faith will get up and have an act. Amen. If there's something in your heart about another home, go look. You say, well, I don't have the money, but you got the faith to act. Get up and just walk out and look at houses. Well, you know, I need another car. Well, go sit in cars. I'm talking about cars on a car lot. Not just a car anywhere, But go down to a car dealership, look at them, sit in them, and you say, I don't have the money. It's free to look. It's. It's free to look. But it will get your faith going. It will get you stirred up to reach and to believe for something. Amen. Let me just tell you what God is not building in you. He's going to do what's best for your faith and not what's cheapest for your wallet. So many people live their life with a I'm looking for the cheapest. I won't buy it unless it's on sale mentality. Is that what's best for your faith? Let me tell you something. God will put a demand on your money just to develop your faith. Now I'm not, don't misunderstand me, I'm not talking about being wasteful. I'm not talking about throwing away money. But so many people in the body of Christ are saving money instead of, of developing faith. And there's a difference. They're trying to do what's cheapest and it's hurting their mentality of faith. You have to have faith thoughts if you're going to have strong faith. And most people have cheap thoughts, broke thoughts, I don't have enough money thoughts. Instead of developing in you, I have a provider. My father will take care of me. I know that I have a need that's showing up. But my father loves me, he will take care of me. He will provide for me. Or people run to other family members to bail them out instead of running to their faith. Why? It's easiest to go to people and ask for money. But if you want to be really blessed, go to the Word and get some faith. God is going to lead you based on what's best, best for your faith, not what's cheapest for your wallet. And sometimes you have to get out and pay something more than you would have chosen to pay just to break that choke point on you, just to break that lack mentality. Let me tell you why Christians are poor. They think wrong. They think wrong about money. Amen. You know, you know, let me tell you what I do. If I want it, I, I buy it. Because some of the things I want. Those companies never put anything on sale. And if I waited for a sale, I'd never get it. If I want it, my father wants me to have it. Brother Hagin was our spiritual father. Years and years ago he had always had, he was a traveling minister. So he drove in his car everywhere. And years and years ago he only had just, you know, used cars and they were always breaking down. And he finally got to the point of developing his faith to where he got him a brand new car. It was the kind of car, it was a top of the line car in those days. It was a Cadillac. So he got him a Cadillac. That was the nicest car you could get hold of. And so he had had that car about three weeks and there came a financial pressure on his ministry and he's sitting at home lamenting the fact that finally he had stepped out in faith and gotten this brand new car and Then slam, a financial crunch comes. And so he's lamenting that he had bought that car. And he's sitting there in his home on the couch thinking, well, I'll just go in and turn it back into the dealership, you know, and get out of this lease and get out of this purchase or whatever. And so while he's considering backing up, that's what he's doing. He's considering backing up. While he's doing that, Jesus appears to him, stands in front of him and asks him a question and says, do you know what kind of car I want you to have? Brother Hagin says, no, what kind of car do you want me to have? He says, I want you to have the kind of car you want. You say Jesus appeared to him over a car. No, no, no, no. Remember what I said earlier? He uses the unimportant to train you. He was appearing to him over cheap thinking. He was appearing to him over wrong thinking. He was appearing to him over a backup thinking. Because he knew dad Hagin's voice would go into the lives of millions and he wanted him to have the right thoughts into the people he would minister to. It was not about a car. It was about a way of thinking. And if all the. Listen, we are led. Romans 8, it says we are led by the spirit of God. When are Christians going to learn you're not led by the price tag. If God puts something in your heart that you can have, don't let the price tag tell you you can't have what God told you you could have. God wants you to have everything you enjoy. So many people will just reach for their needs being met. But God wants you to have your wants your desires met. Why? He's more than enough. He's got more than enough. And the Word says he has given us richly all things. Not just required things, all things to enjoy. You mean I can buy something for no other reason than I enjoy it? That's what God said. If you would enjoy it, God wants you to have it. I said, if you would enjoy it, God wants you to have it. Now don't misunderstand me. Don't take money that belongs to your house payment and go buy what you would enjoy. You, you, your faith, over and above. Now do you understand that? Don't be ignorant and use money wrongly. But God doesn't want you to limit your faith. Just because if you can't afford it now doesn't mean you can't have it. If you'll get your faith going, praise the Lord God's going to do what's best for your faith, not what's easiest for you. There's one minister that he had a. He had a jet, and it was paid for. I mean, we're talking. It was about over $30 million jet. So we're not talking of an entry level. We're talking top of the line. That's wonderful. And you say, well, a minister shouldn't have that. Well, pastors have buildings. Why can't a traveling minister have their equipment that they need? Said perfectly appropriate. And I mean, political people have them. Hollywood people have them. All these other rock stars have them. See, I'm talking about a mentality. The devil's kids have them. What we do is more important than what anybody else does. When you're spreading the gospel, you're affecting people's eternal future. You're doing something important. But he had a jet that was over $30 million paid for. And he was, you know, flying that around. And one day, God said, I want you to get this other jet. This other jet was like $54 million. He says, I don't need that one. He didn't want that one. He said, that one. I don't have the money for that one. I had the money for this one. But even though he had reached having the jet he currently had paid for, you know what happened? No more demand on your faith. It's paid for. So what's going to. What is God going to do? Is he going to do what's cheapest? No, he's going to do what's best for your faith. So he told this man, I want you to have this other jet. And the man said, father, I'm perfectly happy with this. He said, yes, but I'm not, because your faith needs this. And you would say, people would say, no one should spend that much money on a jet. Listen, if it took $54 million to find his choke point and yours is only at $500, who are you to say that someone has to choke at your level? Their choke point may be so much higher? I want you to know, it took 50. His faith had developed so great that it took $54 million to find his choke point. How do you know what your choke point is when you start choking? God is not. And he now has that. Now, many, many, many people have opposed him. Why? Because many think cheapest. And God's thinking, I'm gonna do what's best for that man's faith. That means that God will never leave you stagnant. He'll never leave you at where you were last year, he'll in fact, tomorrow he'll expect you to believe for more than today. Next year, he'll expect you to believe for more than today. Why? God is going to do what's best for your faith. Why? Because that's the only way your life can look like Jesus life. Jesus faith was always growing, always developing, always reaching. And he is our measurement that we are being developed by. God is going to develop your faith and put a demand on your faith. Let me say this. Excuse me. He's going to put a demand on your faith so you can develop your faith. Amen. And how many of you know the faith life is the best life? The faith life is going to give you the life that looks like Jesus's. We did not get saved so our life could look like it used to. We did not get saved so that we could live with the confines and the restrictions on our finances, on our health, on our thinking. We got saved so we could come into all that God offers us. He offers us higher thoughts. He said, my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. My ways are higher than your ways. Let's go up. Amen. To his thinking. To his ways. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.