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Get The Right Image, Part Two | Morgan Dufresne | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message in numbers, chapter 13. Last week we were talking about, what image are you looking at? What is the image that you're focused on? And oftentimes to get into a new place, we have to get a new image to move forward with the plan of God. We have to get a new image about where we're at right now. And we want to put the responsibility on somebody else to give us a new image. But it's our responsibility to adapt what we see to what God sees. It's not God's job to change what I see, so I believe him. It's my job to believe him so he can change what I see. I'm going to say that again. It's not God's job to change what you see so that you can believe him. It's not his job to do that. It's your job to change what you see so that you believe what he's already done for you. And this is what people want God to do. They want a fleece. Do you know what a fleece is? God? If you put three hummingbirds out in my front yard this morning, if my pastor says these five things on Sunday morning, then I know this is what you want me to do. And I know that you're gonna come through for me. God's already come through for you, and he brought you all the way through. And that's where people get stuck. They think that they're only partial way through, and they don't realize God brought them all the way through. Salvation was a completed work, a finished work. You came all the way through the cross were dead and buried with Christ, raised with him and seated at the right hand of the Father. If that's not the image of yourself you have, you have the wrong image. This is your responsibility as a child of God. And part of the body of Christ is to bring that new image to somebody else. That they see a different image in you than what they see in themselves. That's why carnality should never be permitted in the life of a believer, because it presents the same image to the unsaved that they have of themselves. They're seeing the same image reflected in you. My job is to give people a new image. They cannot see Jesus physically himself, but they can see me. And if my image is wrong, my presentation will be wrong. What's your presentation? What is. How do you present yourselves if you talk the same as Everybody else, if you look the same as everybody else, if you worry the same as everybody else, if you're fearful the way you the same, then you've got the wrong image in front of you. And it's not God's job. If I can say it this way, it's not God's job to make Covid completely go away before you believe that Psalms 91 is real in your life. I didn't, I didn't stutter on that. It's not God's job to come up with a vaccine. Bless those hands that are working. Bless those nurses. You know, if a fire starts, we live up against this hill. If a fire starts at my house, by my house, which we have been on evacuation order before, it's not the firefighter's job to come to my door and comfort me and get that fire put out before I believe that, that the angels keep my house. I'm a tither. I'm kept by the power of God. It's not there. People oftentimes are waiting for something to be done before they believe the word of God. Psalms 91. Read it, declare it, get that image in front of you. Because it is not the government's job to put something out before you believe the word of God is true. God told you, start a business and you've got the image and you know the vision has been placed in your heart. It is not somebody else's responsibility to do for you, you understand? To do for you, to make the effort to put in the work. If God gave you that image in your heart, then you follow that with the word of God and you don't need anybody else, you know, to. Well, if I just had this education and if I just had this. There's nothing wrong with education. But if God and you need to gain information and gain knowledge, but I'm telling you this, if you're waiting on somebody else to change the image in front of you to believe that what God said about your life is true, you'll be waiting the rest of your life. And Here, numbers chapter 13. Let's look at it. And they return from searching of the land after 40 days. And they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to all the congregation. Listen, don't fall a church that is preaching, healing and the word of God and is allowing people to gather and have their minds because you don't know what people are going through. And some people cannot do, some people can. Some people cannot do livestream. And we've seen that here, we've had enough visitors here saying, my church doesn't meet anymore. I have to go somewhere because alcohol is talking to them, suicide's talking to them. Sexual promise, he's talking to them. And they have got to get where another voice is louder than what's talking to them. And if you fault a church for meeting, if you fault, because the image of God's divine power and word being preached and delivered is not big in your life and it's big here, you can't fault people who have an image in front of them of preaching the word of God if that's their image, if that's what God has assigned them to do. Amen. I'm just saying, because this is what happened. An entire nation faulted two men of faith. How dare you. Really. They were indignant that they would bring back fruit to show that God's word is true. How dare we meet to prove that God's word is true, that we are people of faith, that you can come here and have hands laid on you and be delivered from the power of Satan unto the power of God's great mercy and goodness. That needs will be met. But they were indignant at what two men of faith brought back and said, we can do this. We can do this. Yes, they're telling us those nations that are in there are telling us don't come in just simply by their presence. You know, something doesn't have to physically talk to you. Just the presence of it will speak. How many of you know that just. Just the presence of a need will speak? Just the presence of you looking like you don't have enough will speak. Right. Looking like there's no way out that talks. Nobody even has to tell you, you can't do this. You know, nobody really verbally told. When my husband and I were endeavoring to buy our home, nobody verbally told us, you can't do this. I never heard somebody say in my ears, and you can't do. Just the situation spoke loud enough itself. And so what do we have to do? Make the voices that said, you are overcomers in every victorious. This was God's divine plan. The giants have to go. The giants have to get out of the way. You have to put that image in front of you and trust and hold on to God's word. I don't need God to change what I see for me to believe him. Amen. This is what they wanted. They wanted all the giants, they wanted what they saw to be removed. They wanted to no longer look like grasshoppers to somebody before they Believed they could go in and take it. If you don't look like a grasshopper in your situation, you don't need God. If you don't look like a grasshopper. There should have been a bigger amen, but instead, no. People want to walk into a situation with all the money they want to have, all the answer, all the medication, everything, everything laid out. Human beings want a plan. See, God said, go in. He never gave them a plan. That was part of their issue. God did not lay out for them. He. He just said, you followed the cloud by day and the fire by night. Why? Why would I leave you now? Why would I leave you now? And so oftentimes we want to take a step back and reevaluate our plan of faith, because we have no plan. If you don't look like a grasshopper in the sight of what you're facing, you might not need God. It's all right if it's too big. It's all right if you look too small, as Pastor Nancy always says. Then why would we even need a savior? Why do you need a savior? And look here in chapter 13 and Caleb, verse 30, Caleb stilled the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, we be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel. Listen, they weren't saying. They weren't there. Joshua and Caleb weren't lying. They were speaking the truth. And also so were the 10. Both were speaking truth, weren't they? Well, let's put it this way. One was speaking truth, the other was speaking facts. Both are very real. Did you know the facts in your life? Faith doesn't say this isn't true. Faith says this is a fact. But the truth of God's word is greater than the fact that I'm facing. You see that? So don't ever act like. Faith does not act like. La la la la la la. This isn't true. These symptoms aren't true. You know this need is not real. That's Christian Science you're trying to ignore. You can't ignore. You speak. Faith doesn't ignore. Faith speaks. Faith is not afraid. They weren't afraid to go in. And we see this 40 years later. They weren't afraid to go in and praise in front of the enemy. That's your key. Faith does not shut its ears. Shut its Eyes fold its hands and ignore everything around it. Faith lifts its hands, lifts its eyes, lifts its voice, and begins to praise right in front of of the enemy. Amen. Facts. Don't let facts decide your actions. Don't let facts decide. Both of these parties spoke a form of truth. Both of them. Yes, there were giants, that's true. Yes, there were. There were many more than just the giants. There were many parties they were going to have to overcome. That's true. You. You will have things that you will have to overcome. When someone gets born again, you know it's wrong to tell them everything is roses from here on out. No, everything may not be roses, but I tell you what, you're going to have the seeds to plant some roses along the way. You're going to have the tools to cut down those weeds that try to choke out your garden and choke out that fruit. God's given you all the tools to prune that garden and grow some fruit in your life. This was the thing Joshua and Caleb knew. We've got the tools that it takes. We've got the ability to go, and God has given us. Now we have more than they do. We don't just have God's word from a prophet or from somebody that has heard from God. We. We have God's actual word. We have the written word, the spoken word. We have prophecy. And more than that, we have the keys. We have every key that you need to unlock, every promise, every victory. Amen. So he had to steal the people before Moses and said, let's go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. Sometimes you have to start declaring over yourself, I'm well able. I'm well able. I am well able. I'm well able. You get up in the morning believing for this, this and this. I'm well able. Not because of me, but because Christ in me, the hope of glory has enabled me to be well able. I'm well able through the word, I'm well able through praise and the presence of God coming into my home. This family is well able. I declare we're well able. This was a declaration that they could have used. They could have crossed that Jordan. And if all they said is, we're well able, it would have been enough. This man of faith gave them enough words with we're well able. But then he didn't stop there. He said, we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, be not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than We. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched into the children of Israel, saying, the land through which we have gone to search, it is a land that eateth up with inhabitants thereof. And all the people that that we saw in it are men of great stature. And there we saw the giants, the son of Anak, which came, which come of the giants. And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers. So we were in their sight. And all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried. And the people wept that night. But Joshua and Caleb, they spoke something different. The people wept. They went on an image. Instead of rejoicing in the truth. Joshua and Caleb went, the people of Israel went off of an image presented to them by the ten. The devil will always make sure you have an image of failure, disaster, not fulfilling the will of God, not ever getting healed. He will paint for you a vivid image of your defeat. But how do we get past that? Image number one, God's word. God. What God said? God, Listen. God is not a philosophy or a concept. He is a being that lives on the inside of you. And his words are life and when spoken, and they bring life. So if God's word is not in your mouth, no new images can be painted in your life. And you can't twist the scripture. You can't take the scripture and turn it for your benefit. You have to take it for what God said. This is the truth. I don't have to alter it. It's the truth and no lie. Amen. You can adapt your entire life to an image, good or bad. You can adapt your entire life to an image, good or bad. What image are you adapting your life to right now? What image? You have to ask yourself. Mentally, physically, spiritually, financially, relationally. Do you handle people according to your bad self image? You got to get a new image. Who you are, who you really are, not who you see yourself to be, who God sees you to be. Amen. They got tired of the manna, then passed the blame on the one who provided it. They got tired of the manna and then turned on the one who had cared for them, guided them and led them. God didn't ask, listen. God didn't ask them to adapt. He made a covenant with them to overcome. God is never asking you to adapt to your situation. He is asking you to be an overcomer. These people adapted. How did they adapt? They stopped putting the word of God in the their mouth. How do we know that? Because the first thing that God told Joshua was get back in the scripture. Get out of the funeral and get back in the scripture. We've had enough of the grief. We've had enough of that old era. Get back in the scripture because you've got to get that new image back in front of you. If you're the image that you once had, the image, the stirring in your heart is full, fading. Get back in the word of God. There's life here that when spoken, will develop a new image before your spiritual eye. Amen. You have to have a new spiritual image to get a new natural image. God cannot alter the natural image in front of you before things are changed on the inside of you. This is where people miss it. They want to confess out of their head without having a change of heart. God's looking at the heart, believes the mouth speaks. Oftentimes people get it in their mind. They hear the word and it's in their mind and they want to speak out of their mind. And they're hoping things change. But the heart doesn't need to hope things change. The heart believes it's changed. This is turned to the glory of God, to my favor. Amen. So he didn't ask them, God didn't ask them to adapt. He made a covenant with them to be overcomers. You're in covenant, God. You're in covenant with God as an overcomer, not a hopeful overcomer. You know what I mean? People think I'm in covenant with God, so hopefully that will work in my favor. Wrong way of thinking, wrong image. I'm in covenant with God as an overcomer. We're in fellowship together as an overcomer and the one who put me over. Amen. And so they didn't see themselves anymore, that they were free. They forgot to see themselves. We just left the greatest empire on the face of the earth. Supernaturally, we didn't do anything. We didn't lift a finger and we got completely delivered. That's the same for you. You didn't do anything. You didn't lift a finger. You didn't have to say 500 prayers, make a sacrifice. These people didn't have to do a thing to get delivered. That was a sign for what our salvation's going to look like. We didn't have to do anything. So all God is asking them to do is believe his word, put it in their mouth and praise at the first sign of opposition. The same thing is true for us. Believe the word of God, put the word of God in your mouth because you have a new image and praise at the first sign of opposition. He's not asking you to. To lift a finger in your own effort. He's asking you to believe. We don't want to trip up and stumble over the simplest of truths. And that is the truth of believing. When you have a wrong image, it's because you're believing the wrong thing. He will bless you as far as he can out of his goodness, but not out of his greatness. The people, the children of Israel, were blessed out of God's goodness. He gave them victories while in the desert. He provided manna, he provided water. When they complained, he gave him a snake on a pole as a way out. That's not divine healing. The same way as when you're walking in healing. They had to go and get it today. You don't have to get it. We've received it. That's the healing we walk in. We receive it by faith. We believe that we are the healed. But they had to go get healing. So with God, he was able to bless them out of his goodness, but not out of his greatness. I want to be so in step with the right images in front of me, physically, mentally, financially, in my family, with this church. I want to have all the right images through the word of God in front of me so that I don't misstep and only live out of a portion of his goodness. I want to live out of his greatness. The greatness of God's plan was in the promised Land. Does that make sense? If you are taking a step back, and you ever take a step back, God will be good to you. He's not a hard taskmaster. He will look to bless you if you step away from his plan. He will look to bless you in every way he could. He. He looked to bless his children every way he possibly could. But this is the sad thing. Many people are living out of his goodness, thinking that it's his greatness. They don't realize there's more obedience, there's more faith to be developed. There's more new images that need to be replaced. And God is blessing them and ministering to them and providing for them and as far as he can. But until we ask God, God, am I looking at everything correctly? Am I looking at this right? Or am I doing what these are doing? And really because of the wrong visual, the wrong image, the image of my past, the image of the way how I was raised financially, the image of the way my family took care of their bodies, these, all these images that I've developed in my life, am I looking at these Things and God. Do I need to change some images? Show me in your word. You have to be hungry to get a new vision. You have to be hungry to get a new vision. God doesn't give new vision. An entire generation was not hungry, so he wouldn't give them a new vision. He did not provide the vision to go in the promised land. Could he have? Sure. But he wouldn't do it because they weren't hungry for it. They were satisfied in the goodness and they didn't seek out the greatness. Amen. When you get an image, really and truly of who you are in Christ, you will not settle for less than the greatness of God's plan, the greatness for your family. Greatness. What about this greatness in your marriage? No marriage is perfect. But I'm telling you what you can have. The greatness of God's presence, His blessing. Amen on your marriage. If you ever decide to change the image of how you see you because you are affecting your spouse because you don't see yourself right. What about the image of the way you see them? Well, I'm right. Pastor. Notice this. God didn't come down and tell Joshua and Caleb, oh, you're right. Oh, you are so right. He didn't pet them in their rightness. They may have been right, but God didn't exalt them because they were right. God exalted them because of faith. If you can't see your spouse and people around you by faith, and God cannot exalt you. If you can't see your boss by faith, he cannot promote you. If you can't see the people you work with and the people you go to church with by faith. Come on. If you can't see the person sitting next to you by faith, you're not getting promoted. It's the truth. Y' all are awfully quiet. Is it because it's getting dark? It is. Good word. It's a good word. You know, there. I can tell you all. You can go get. You get your. This is a best year yet. We're all getting a million dollars. But you'll lose it because you don't treat people. You'll lose it because you don't know how to give by faith, you'll lose it because you say, well, it's me and my house. We serve the Lord. Well, where you serving? Where you serving? You hear? I'm just asking. So if you want the greatness of God, you got to have the discipline in his great word. Get discipline in the greatness of his Word first. This is how you know how great he is, and this is how you know how great he's made you to be. Amen. And those people could not be promoted. They could not go any further with God because they were not hungry to go any further. It wasn't because God wouldn't let them. I guarantee you if that entire nation after 10 years said, well, we're done with this. Listen, you can be done with mediocrity anytime you want. I can't tell you it's going to happen, turn around overnight, but you can be done with it and be like Joshua and have a turnaround in three days. You know what I'm talking about, if you want. But Joshua was willing to do the time in the Word. He didn't listen to a sermon here and there. He didn't read a half a chapter here and there. He day and night meditated and changed the image of an entire nation because he changed the entire image that he was looking at. Amen. Well, it's getting dark. Let's wrap up. I can't even see your eyeballs anymore. I don't even know if they can see me on the live stream. So we're going to keep going with this. We're not done. I only got through about a quarter of my page of notes. Praise the Lord. So you have to hunger for a new image. You have to hunger to see things differently. I never want to tire of asking God to change what I see. I'm not talking about in the natural. I'm talking about spiritual. You understand that? I never want to tire of asking God to change how I see me, how. How I see situations. Am I seeing this right? Am I hearing this right? Am I believing this right? Help me, Holy Ghost. Help me change me. Amen. And he is an ever present help in your time. You don't realize you're in trouble, but he does. So it may not be trouble like you're thinking, but if you keep thinking that way, you're going to be in trouble. If you keep acting that way, you're going to be in trouble. He's an ever present help in the time of trouble. He's an ever present help when you're ready to get your thinking right, when you're ready to change the image that you see in your spirit. Amen. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us@DefrainMinistries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries.