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Fervency: Burning With The Spirit, Part One | Nancy Dufresne | Jesus the Healer Broadcast
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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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I don't know if you have been in any businesses during this COVID pandemic that they. They take your temperature before you. Have you walked into a business, maybe, and they take your temperature before you walk in. Why do they take your temperature? It's so interesting. You know, the reason is because your temperature is an indication of your health. It's a health indicator. Have you ever gone to the doctor and you're just having a regular physical exam? It's just a routine checkup. And they walk you before you get into the office and they put you. They stop you at the scales. No, no, no, wait. You don't understand. I just don't know. No. Or if you remember that you dressed lightly that day, things that don't weigh as much, and you're wanting to start peeling off stuff before you get on that scale. Let me put my purse down. Cause that's like £94 right there. Or you want to take off your heavy shoes, you want to pull off jackets, right? And then they put you on that scale and you go, I don't. I'm not here for my weight. But why do they weigh you? It's an indicator of your health. Then they take you in and they'll do your blood pressure, even just a routine exam. They take your blood pressure because it's an indicator of health, and they also take your temperature because it's an indicator of health. Right. Well, when it comes to your health, if your temperature is supposed to be, what, 98.6. If it's very far off of that, if it's too low, it's called hypothermia. Right? And if your temperature drops too low, you can start having. It'll affect the heart, it will affect the nervous system, it will affect the organs and how they function. So that's one thing people monitor when someone is being tended to for their health. They monitor their temperature because they can know what's going to happen to their organs, their heart and all that, based on what's happening with their temperature. And if it's left untreated, a low body temperature that's too low, you can go into respiratory failure, you can go into heart failure just because your temperature dropped. Then if someone's temperature is too high, it's called hyperthermia. And at 104, the mind starts not functioning right. It starts cooking, and so the brain doesn't function right. Then you can have heat exhaustion, you can have heat stroke, and what happens is you can die from those things. When, when the body temperature is too high or too low, things shut down and it can lead to death. So that's why when you go into a place of business, they want to check your temperature because it's an indicator of your health. Well, we protect our body temperature because we want to protect our health. Right. If you go outside, I mean, you want to keep your body covered if it's cold, if it's too hot, you don't want to. You want to make sure you're not wearing something too heavy because you're trying to monitor that body temperature. Because it's going to. It's tied to other things. It's connected to other things. I remember dad Hagin talking about the time when he was on his deathbed as a young man, and he said it was in the month of August there in Texas, and it gets hot there. It was over 100 degrees. And he said, but he's dying. And they have him covered up with blankets. They have heated bricks. There's no air conditioning in the homes back then, so the homes were much hotter. They had, you know, minimal airflow. So you can imagine how hot it was 100 degrees outside. So you can imagine it was hot in that home. But he's freezing. So what are they trying to do? They're trying to keep his body temperature up. Why? To protect his organs, protect his heart. So they've covered him with blankets, they've heated up bricks. They wrapped hot bricks around his body. Why? Because if they monitor his body temperature, then it's an indication of what's going on with his health. And so of course, he was ultimately raised up. But that goes to show. And an example of how important body temperature is. Well, we pay attention to our body temperature to determine our physical health. How much more our spiritual temperature to pay attention to our spiritual health. Because our spiritual temperature is an indication of our spiritual health. Now go with me, if you would, to Revelations chapter three, and we're going to see this Revelations chapter three. You know that so much of spiritual truths can be paralleled by natural truths, isn't that right? And so we're going to see a parallel of this because your. Your physical temperature is. A stranger can walk up and take your temperature and know whether you have a physical issue or not. They don't have to know you because that's how prevalent your physical temperature, how clearly it indicates your physical health. Well, even so, strangers, if they know anything about spiritual things can observe your spiritual temperature and know where you're at. Spiritual, spiritually. Amen. Revelations, chapter 3, verses 15 and 16. Jesus was speaking to the church in Laodicea. And he made this statement in verse 15, I know your works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. What's he talking about? He's not talking about their physical temperature, he's talking about their spiritual temperature. Not only is he referring to them personally, he's referring to the congregation. Do you know that a congregation has a spiritual temperature as a body? That it matters that a local body be hot and not cold? Amen. The way you. The temperature, your spiritual temperature that you bring affects every other person in the body, this local church. Because it will either add to or subtract from the spiritual hotness of that congregation. Because he's talking to the church, he's not talking to an individual. He said that thou art neither cold, you're not cold, but you're not hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. So notice this. He doesn't like warm. You say, well, to me, warm is better than cold. Well, anything that got warm once had heat applied to it. And so warm is a telling story sign. Warm is telling you you once were hot and you cooled down cold, never had heat applied to it. He's saying, I would rather you never had heat applied to you than you had heat and turned it off. That you had light and you stepped back from it. That you knew the Word but you drew back. Amen. So Jesus preferred cold over hot. But for those who are saved, hot is the only temperature he's pleased with. Our spiritual temperature matters. I said our spiritual temperature matters. Now go with me to Romans, chapter 12, Romans, chapter 12. And we'll start in verse 10. Romans 12, verse 10. And the king James says in verses 10 and 11, Be kindly affectioned, one to another with brotherly love, in honor, preferring one another. Not so slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. This word fervent is a temperature because the word fervent, the definition of it, means to be hot and to boil. So he's saying, be hot and boiling in spirit, serving the Lord. Notice the Lord wants to be served by people who are hot. The way we serve will be affected by our spiritual temperature. And hot people serve him differently than warm people. And he's saying, be fervent in spirit, be hot in spirit, be spiritually full he's really talking about a spirit, spiritual fullness. When you're full of the Word and the Spirit, you will be fervent. You will be hot. Amen. And people can get around you and warm their lives off of the hotness that flows out of you. It will affect those around you. Amen. So this word fervent is a measurement of spiritual temperature. And it is the measure for those who are spiritually healthy. If we're not fervent, if we're not hot, we have spiritual health problems. You understand that we're going to be lacking something. The amplified of verse 11 says this. Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor. Be aglow and burning with the Spirit. Serving the Lord, so he can't be served as he ought to be served. Unless we're burning with the Spirit. Full of the Spirit. Hot, spiritually hot, stirred up. Amen. When someone is full of the Word and the Spirit, they are full, fervent about the things of God. I mean, you don't have to talk them into coming to church. Their hotness gets them up and going. They are so stirred, they are so full that you can't talk them out of not serving in their local church. People that wish they weren't serving this Sunday, that wish they weren't on the child's calendar or on this, the greeters, you know, schedule for this Sunday, it is an indication of their poor spiritual temperature. Amen. Amen. And it's a way for us to check ourselves. If I am dreading, wishing I could not have to serve, I could just go and sit if I didn't have to serve. It's an indication to me that I am not as hot as I ought to be.
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Be.
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Because when you're hot, you are ready to serve the Lord. Remember what it says here. It says, be aglow and burning with the Spirit. Serving the Lord. Couldn't we say it this way? Be aglow and burning with the Spirit. Serving. Burning with the Spirit. Serving. Burning with. Those who are burning with the Spirit are serving. I'm not just talking about serving in their local church. I'm talking about available to him to serve all throughout the week. What's serving? Obeying. Obeying. Anything he tells us to do, we're obeying it because we're hot with the Spirit. We're full of the Spirit. We can't help but put our hand to something of his kingdom. Amen. When someone is full of the Word and the Spirit, they are not apathetic, they are not indifferent, they are not Half hearted. They are not just, well, you know, if I can be there, I'll be there. If I can't, I won't. That's not full people. Full of the Word and full of the Spirit. They're like, they can't wait to get there. On the inside of them, they are expecting, they are stirred because why they're boiling. When you have water, that's it is not still on top, it is bubbling, right? I mean, you're bubbling. You can't. What, what? Bubbling with expectation, bubbling with. With right words, bubbling with interest in one another.
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Amen.
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And notice this and not distracted. People that are hot for God are not distracted. In the church service. If you find yourself counting how many light fixtures there are on the ceiling, you have a spiritual temperature problem. Because when you're hot for God, you're not distracted by who's getting up and walking around. You're not doodling on your thing and not paying attention. When you're hot for God, you respond to the Word wholeheartedly. There is something different about the way you are. And people that are aware of this can look at somebody, just look at their countenance and know and be able to really know some spiritual temperature about somebody. One minister, years and years ago, he went to pick up another minister. They had been close friends in fellowship and they were leaders in the body of Christ. And he hadn't seen his friend for a long time. And he went to the train station and picked him up and they had just gotten in the car and he was driving him to his home. And he turned to him and he said, what's the matter with you? He said, well, what are you talking about? He said, you're not hot anymore. And he said, well, struggling with something. He said, well, what is it? And he said, well, another preacher moved into town and started a church on the other side of town. And he said, well, what's the problem? He said, well, that's my town, you know. And he got offended. And he said, well, he said, let me ask you this. Do you have many people from that part of town that come over to your church? Well, no. And he says, well, you ought to rejoice that God sent someone to that side of town. But see, he got offended and it lowered his spiritual temperature. Why? He's not hot for God anymore. He's offended. Offense, unforgiveness, resentment, ill will will lower your spiritual temperature. You won't bubble anymore. It'll turn you lukewarm. And what happens to lukewarm? Jesus isn't pleased. So to take offense or to be unforgiving towards somebody is a jeopardy to your spiritual health because it's going to lower your hotness for God. And he wants to be served in hotness. Amen. Let me ask you this. If you were a business owner and someone was thrilled to come and put in an application, they were thrilled about your company. They had seen, studied that company. They knew what your product was, they had done their homework and they were thrilled at the prospect of being able to represent you in your company. And then somebody else who comes in and walks in off the street, doesn't know anything about you. They haven't taken really much of interest. They just need a job. Which one you going to hire? See, one's going to be hotter toward your vision, hotter toward your purpose. And you want to associate yourself with someone who's interested. Hot people are interested. Lukewarm people are not interested. Can I tell you? Can I tell you? And I'll point to myself as well, not just you. Can I tell you? I'll throw myself in there. Why we are not as prosperous as we should be. Why we're not as healed as we should be. Want to know why? Lack of interest. Lack of interest because when you're interested, you're hot and you're bubbling over and you get absorbed with that truth. People are not as interested as they should be. Why they're not as fervent. They're not boiling over yet. Well, praise the Lord. Did you wish that you were on a different week of attendance? Fervency matters. Fervency matters. It affects, just like your physical temperature matters to what you'll do that day. If your fever is high and it drains you of your energy, it will affect what you'll put your hand to that day. Isn't that right? Well, the same thing. Spiritual temperature matters. If we're not hot for God, it will affect what God can assign to our lives. Praise the Lord. So it says, be aglow and burning with the spirit, serving the Lord. This is how he wants to be served. And anything less is not worthy of him. He deserves hotness. He deserves people interested in his kingdom work. Right. He doesn't want half hearted people. He doesn't want us half heartedly serving him. Just like no employer wants an employee that's half hearted toward their job. Because when it comes layoff time, I know who I'm laying off. Half heart people you gotta prod to get there. People you gotta check up on constantly. Hot people are people that don't need monitoring by others because the hotness keeps them moving and toward their. Toward their purpose and toward their vision. Amen. That means when we're aglow and burning with the spirit, we're not complaining, rejoicing. Amen. We're not complaining about something. A duty that's assigned to us, wishing we didn't have to do it. And then we're not doing it simply out of a sense of duty. So many, so much of the time, we know that it's right. And so we can. We'll just do it out of a sense of duty. Well, there should be a sense of duty about it. But the thing is, that shouldn't be what's most motivating us. What motivates us is our hotness to serve the Lord. Amen. God led me to this. There is a woman that was. She lived in Switzerland, and I want to say the 1700s. Her name is Dorothea Trudel. Not Dorothy Dorothea Trudel. And she never married. She was one of, I believe, maybe there was a large family. And her mother was so full of God and her children, she trained them so mightily in the Word. And Dorothea, for some reason, I don't really remember the history of it, but she began praying for different people who were sick in the community, and they began getting healed. And people started turning up at her door. And she was the first one we have record of who had a healing home. She ended up purchasing three homes, and they were full of bedridden, dying people. And she was only, I believe, in her 30s when this started. In her 40s. She never married. She ended up dying really quite early. I believe maybe in her late 40s. She ended up dying. But John G. Lake said about her, he said she was an apostle of healing, and he likened her to Luther and the changes that came to the church because of her healing ministry. And he patterned his healing rooms after her. And she. I had read, read a book on her now. And, you know, light grows, light increases. So she didn't have all the light we had been exposed to and privileged to hear, but she took all the light she had. And, I mean, she was making a difference. The government came and shut her down because of healing without a license. She did great court battles and won time after time after time after time. And there were scores and scores of people that were healed and raised up off deathbeds through her ministry. And I'd read her book just a few months ago, and just recently, God, I was prompted to go back and pick up that book again. And When I did early on in the reading of it was this word. The thing that was outstanding about her life that everyone noticed was her fervency in ministry. And God said, that's what I wanted you to see. It was her fervency that produced the fruit. She had to, because there was no one, there were few in her day that encouraged her. If you're not fervent, you're going to have to depend upon the encouragement of others. But if you're fervent, you get other people who are not fervent stirred up devils and good people. And her fervency stirred demons against her. But your fervency is what gets you past demons. So fervency is such a weapon and fuel to keep you going. So this is what God pointed out, that everyone noticed her great fervency for what she did for God. We must pay attention to our spiritual temperature. How fervent are we? Wouldn't that be something? If God gave us mechanism that when you walked in, we could go, boop, boop. You know how they take your temperature? Lukewarm, hot, cold. Oh, offended cold, you know, have all these different readings on the spiritual thermostat. When we measure ourself and we should measure ourselves, we should measure ourselves. How do you know if you're hot? You know if you're bubbling or not. You know if you're bubbling or not. You know if there's a thrill and an expectancy on the inside of you. And if you're not bubbling, turn on the heat, up the heat. Amen. There are things that. Well, before I. Before I go any further, let me, before we go to that, don't rely on someone else to be your temperature. Husbands, wives, don't expect, well, somebody else in the house. They bring the spiritual hotness to this household. You be your own. Your own spirit needs to be stirred and boiling up. And if we're not, this is why we are not living the fullness. This is why we're not living the fullness of supply, the fullness of health. Because when you're fervent, you're interested, and many people are interested in healing as long as it comes to them and drops on them and is ministered to them. But what if there's no one around to draw on? You better bubble up, stir yourself up, get interested for your own benefit without having to depend on someone else. When someone is not spiritually hot, they are leaners. They're leaning on other people to do their believing. And thankfully, people will let you lean. And we, you know, we all help one another at different times, but we should not practice a life of leaning. There may be seasons or times when we lean on someone else, and God allows that, and God blesses us in that, but he will not endorse a life of leaning. And the thing that's going to keep you from being a leaner in life is for you to stir yourself up and you decide. I'm not okay with not being interested. I'm not okay with not being hot. I'm not okay with my bills always unpaid or my bills always. It's always tight. Year after year after year, something's wrong. Hotness gets it all. You can't be lukewarm and get it all. You can't be distracted and half hearted and get it all. It takes hotness to get it all. And God offers us all. But it takes a real stirring up on our behalf. And if we're not fervent, then we know that we have some stoking to do. We have to stoke that fire on the inside of us. Amen. Hallelujah.
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