Episode Summary: “Don’t Let Sickness Rename You”

Podcast: Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Speaker: Stephen Dufresne
Event: JTH Crusades 2025, Collinsville, OK
Date: October 14, 2025

Main Theme

Stephen Dufresne delivers a bold, humorous, and practical sermon urging believers not to let sickness, circumstance, or the opinions of others redefine their identity. He draws parallels between biblical truths and modern attitudes towards illness and personal struggle, emphasizing grit, faith, and unwavering alignment with what God calls you—even in the face of adverse reports or persistent symptoms.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Importance of Identity (13:25)

• Stephen highlights how people let sickness or circumstances become their identity.
• Cites Genesis 17:5, where God changes Abram’s name to Abraham:
  “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but you shall be called Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.” (14:10)
• Challenges the audience: When the doctor diagnoses you (“you have cancer”), don’t internalize it as your new identity.
• Quote:

  “If you go to the doctor and they say you have cancer, you walk out of there saying, ‘I have cancer.’ And what you’ve done is you have renamed yourself sickness and disease and didn’t realize you did that.” (14:45)

• Instead, healing must be as integrated with your sense of self as your birth name.

Refuse to Accept Sickness as Your Identity (16:50)

• Practical illustration: If someone called Stephen “Ryan,” he wouldn’t accept it, even if everyone else did.
• Points out how easy it is to accept negative, worldly labels, especially about health, compared to the stubbornness with which people hold on to their actual names.
• Quote:

  “Just because you call me that doesn’t mean I accept that and go, ‘Oh, my name must be Ryan.’ Not all of you could convince me my name is Ryan. But it’s so easy to be something of sickness.” (17:36)

Faith over Feelings and Grit in Belief (19:20)

• Faith requires consistency regardless of how you feel:
  “Healing has to be part of your life. It has to be part of what you’re doing, of how you see yourself.” (20:48)
• Dismisses the relevance of current symptoms or “doctor’s reports” to your true spiritual identity.
• Advises to confess, “I am healing,” even when you don’t feel it.

The Pitfall of Comforting Sickness (22:25)

• Tackles cultural and personal tendencies to coddle or accommodate long-term illness.
• Warns against making sickness a badge of honor (“front row parking, pushed to the ride at the theme park, get my medicine, all these things”).
• Quote:

  “People love sickness. They love it… we’ve made great lengths to accommodate sickness and levels that comfort of sickness you have to be careful of.” (23:08)

Taking Responsibility—Stop Renaming Yourself (25:10)

• Emphasizes that taking medication isn’t the issue—identifying as the sick person is.
• “Don’t accept them as part of who you are… My body doesn’t need those things. I curse those things. I curse the sickness in my body. It’s not who I am.” (25:45)
• Adopts a straightforward tone:

  “You are healing. Say, I am healing. I am healing. You say, well, that’s goofy. Well, do me a favor and shut up. Because it takes some grit and some tenacity to get through these things.” (26:17)

Grit, “Old School” Faith, and Overcoming Weakness (28:35)

• Intertwines nostalgic stories of older generations “toughing it out”—not to promote recklessness, but to illustrate the power of grit.
• Calls out the tendency to wallow:

  “Just blow through it. Quit your whining and get it done. My God.” (05:45)

• Repeated encouragement to “quit being a baby” when facing symptoms or setbacks.

The “Miracle Door” & Continuous Faith (38:10)

• Matthew 7:7 — “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened.”
• Spiritual doors are only locked to doubt and unbelief.

  “The miracle door is never locked, but it is only opened with continuous faith.” (38:42)

Biblical Examples of Renaming Situations (40:36)

• John 11:5-14 (Lazarus): Jesus intentionally reframed Lazarus’ death as “sleeping,” as a statement of faith and authority.
• In Luke 8:49-55 (Jairus’ daughter), Jesus says, “She’s not dead, but sleeping,” again reframing the circumstance.
• Quote:

  “He is making a new identity for the situation. He’s renaming the situation ‘sleep’ because I can wake him. He’s not dead.” (42:00)

Breaking Out of the “Sickness Routine” (49:05)

• Many sufferers shape their life and expectations around illness, declining opportunities, trips, or activities “until they feel better.”
• Encourages believers to start making plans and acting as if healed as an act of faith.
• Quote:

  “You don’t have to feel healed to be healed… make plans to break out of the sickness routine.” (50:23)

Challenging Comfort and Excuses Around Health (Weight, Lifestyles) (54:37)

• Direct talk about the prevalence of weight-related illness and the tendency to identify with it.
• Not a guilt trip, but a personal challenge:

  “It was not hard to gain [weight], you can get it off… You want me to talk nicer. I don’t really care. Quit being a baby.” (56:15)

Action, Not Just Confession (59:25)

• Faith must be worked out with practical steps—not passively waiting for “feeling” to line up with the biblical truth.
• Example: Schedule a walk, plan to do things you would do if you were already healed.
• Quote:

  “If I am healed, then I can do healed things. And I step into it by faith and I grit my teeth and don’t give up with it. I get it done.” (1:01:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Do me a favor and shut up. Because sometimes in life, you just gotta tell them to shut up.” (03:54)
• “There’s a place for love and there’s a place for getting over things.” (06:05)
• “Healing cannot be separated from you… Even in death, your name is you.” (16:15)
• “Don’t ever separate healing from yourself. If I can separate it from you, I can take you out of the healing flow, no problem.” (1:02:10)
• “If every one of you told me my name was not Steven, I would call you all crazy… Because I know who I am.” (1:03:05)
• “Don’t give up on healing… It doesn’t matter what you feel. I didn’t feel anything either when I’m laying hands on people. But that doesn’t have nothing to do with it.” (1:03:48)

Structural Highlights & Practical Takeaways

• Change your internal narrative: Don’t allow diagnoses, symptoms, or setbacks to become your identity.
• Act as who God calls you: Faith is shown in action, not just feeling or words.
• Resist comfort in illness: Don’t build your life around accommodation of sickness—refuse perks and pity attached to chronic conditions.
• Be honest with yourself: Take responsibility for your health, habits, and confession.
• Keep knocking in faith: Miracles come with persistent, active faith—not doubt or resignation.

Timestamps

| Segment | Topic | Timestamp | |---------|-------|-----------| | Humor, Old School Grit | 00:20 - 13:00 | | The Importance of Name & Identity | 13:25 - 20:00 | | How Sickness Renames Us | 14:45 - 19:50 | | Faith over Feelings | 20:00 - 23:00 | | Comforting Illness & Culture | 22:25 - 25:00 | | Taking Authority, Grit | 25:10 - 28:50 | | “Miracle Door” & Continuous Faith | 38:10 - 40:55 | | Jesus Renaming Death | 40:36 - 48:00 | | Breaking Sickness Routines | 49:05 - 53:00 | | Health, Weight, and Excuses | 54:37 - 58:00 | | Action Steps & Closing Challenge | 59:25 - 1:03:48 |

Final Encouragement

• “Don’t ever let those things get inside of you… Don’t ever separate healing from yourself.” (1:02:13)
• Practical tip: Make plans and commitments as if you are already healed; let the reality of God’s promise direct your actions today.

Stephen Dufresne’s message is a rousing call to spiritual toughness, unwavering faith, and uncompromising identity in God’s promises—leaving listeners both challenged, amused, and equipped to stand strong against the temptation to let circumstances rewrite their story.