← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
God Has A Plan For Your Life | Angela Anderson | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
01:14:46
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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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Hallelujah. Are you glad to be here this morning? Aren't you glad to just be alive to this day? Aren't you glad that Jesus is the Lord of your life and that he's put you over time and time again? That he knows you inside and out. He knows how you think, he knows how you react, he knows what your thoughts are and he knows how to use you to the best of his ability and your ability to get out what God wants out. He knows you. And you will know me better before this is over. But I'm just so grateful that I serve such a wonderful Savior. I'm so grateful that I serve such a wonderful God. I'm so grateful that I found out that God is good all the time and that he's always got my best interest in mind. Because I did not, was not raised knowing that. Excuse me if I get a little froggy. Hallelujah. That's what happens when you start the day off like this. But I wasn't raised to know that God was good all the time. I was raised that whatever happens in your life, well, it's God's will. It's part of his plan. But I'm telling you what I found out and it was a life changing moment the day I realized that God is good and that all this stuff that people said, that's just God was not him, it was never him. So today I just lift my hands and say, thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. That you're always good, you're always faithful, you're always true. Hallelujah. You're so good to me. Hallelujah. Well, you can be seated. Thank you so much. Well, you've had a long and exciting week. It's been a good week, been a life changing week. You know, there's a, you come into a set of meetings with an expectation and yet I don't know about you, but as the week started, I really felt like there's going to be something really different about this week. It's going to be, it's going to not be the usual thing. Although we never should come to church expecting the usual except that we're going to get blessed. That's the usual. But you know, it was a very different kind of a week and it was just awesome. And so this morning, I know you've had a long week. So many of you have been involved in the ministry of helps and thank God for you. And you had a couple of days to try to catch up at home and get some things done. So when you. I don't know about you, but I know my church. And if you're watching, I'm coming home. Be careful. So, you know, in my church, we get through the set of meetings, and sometimes people have a tendency to want to come in on that Sunday morning and kind of go, don't do that. Don't do that. You stay with me this morning, okay? You know, just stay with me. Let's just kind of keep it. Keep it going here. And I will. I'll try to keep you on the edge of your seats, and we'll just see about that, you know, but don't. Just don't let down. I mean, I know your body has been tired, but I believe you'll still be refreshed when you leave here this morning, that there'll be a change in you. So now, most of you know my husband. If you've seen Anderson in the pulpit, it's him. But I'm here to tell you I'm the short, sweet one. Short in stature, not necessarily short in length, because I've lived with this man too long that I can go toe to toe with him on how long we can go now on a sermon. And what was that? Bubby and Bear, how long are you going to preach? Got money with you this morning, boys? No? Okay. They'd pay me like they wanted to pay their mama when she was at our church. Make it short. But we're just going to. I'm just going to just, you know, really kind of talk to you about my testimony in line with the fact that God's got a plan for your life. Now, I know that around here, you know, there's a lot said very often about following the plan of God for your life, but it's something that really needs to be said over and over again to keep us on the right path. Because God's plan is not just one little. Okay, you gotta stay right exactly online. It's kind of what I found in my life is it's one of those things that it ebbs and flows in different ways in different directions. If you're flying and you're going across country and you look down and you see a river. You know, the river is never just a straight line. It's always kind of doing this, you know, and when tides have changed and maybe silt has come down in the river, the river will just kind of make a little, you know, a little path around it and keep on going. It just. That's just what happens. And I think sometimes, at least for me, the plan of God has been that way. I know God started out with a plan for me. I know he did. I know that before I was ever born, before I was ever created, before the foundations of the world, he knew me and he knew that there was something that he had for me to do. There was a plan that was set in motion. And I know that God's plans are best. We go back to always. You have to go back to Jeremiah 29, verse 11, where it says, I know the plans I have for you. And what I have come to realize, even just recently, just kind of put it into words a little bit better, was that God has a plan for my life. But just because he has a plan for my life doesn't mean that's what's going to happen. What it means is, well, you know, if you want to turn over there, you can. Jeremiah 29:11. Let's just take a quick look at it. Hallelujah. For I know the thoughts I think towards you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. That's the regular King James. We're also very familiar with the NIV version of that. It says, a future and a hope. And then the Jerusalem translation says, a future full of hope for you. And, you know, I wasn't like. I wasn't raised in an environment where it talked about God had a plan for your life. You know, I was raised in a classical Pentecostal church, and my family. My father was a minister and my uncle was a minister. And, you know, people understood that there are times when God calls people into the ministry, but they never. It never really got equated to that. God has a plan. And his plan isn't just for ministers. It's for every person who's ever been born. There is a plan for your life. And for me, excuse me, I mean, I started out, you know, very young. My father went into the ministry when I was just a baby. And I remember the different churches he pastored, you know, our denomination, they moved you around a lot. And so for that reason, you know, I just have memories in different places. So that's kind of how I remember how old I was at different times. It's just what church that I can remember. And there are vivid memories. And even when you're like three years old, there are just certain things that'll stand out, you know, and that's okay. That's when my dad was pastoring this. So that had to be this year's. And that's how I was that old and that kind of stuff. And I've just seen over the years, you know, just different things. And probably the first place they ever took me was to church. My grandparents were in church, my parents were in church, you know, and I'm sure that's the first place I went. In fact is my mother tells me that I'm an August baby. So it was very hot. And back in those days, obviously there was no air conditioning. I was born at home in my grandmother's house, and she said it was just so hot, and she was so miserable. And she'd cry and I'd cry and I'd cry and she'd cry and all this kind of stuff. But there was a lady evangelist at their church during this time who came over to see my mom and this new baby. And she asked my mother, can I name her? And I went, you let a stranger name me. Really? And she told my mother, she said, one day, I'll tell you why. So she named me Angela. Now, if you remember, when Dr. Ed was still here, he used to call me Pastor Angel. So one of the Bible school students asked me, is your name really Pastor Angel? I went, no, but he can call me whatever he wanted to call me. That's all right. I don't care. But she said, she told my mother my name, and she said, I'll tell you one day what it is. And I said, well, mom, did you never go find out why she wanted to name me that? And she said, no. And then I couldn't locate her. I tried several years later, couldn't locate her. So I don't know. So I'm just. I don't know. Maybe when I get to heaven, I'm going to look this lady up and say, why did you name me that? But it turned out to be a pretty decent name. It's okay. But, you know, I was brought up in the church, you know, and I just remember just little snippets of different things. And being in a pastor's home, I saw good things and I saw not so good things. I had a younger sister that was born when I was six that was very ill with cystic fibrosis. And she lived for four years, and she was a constant round of doctors, hospitals, different things. And I remember during that four years, I really became aware of the fact that my father's congregation put a big demand on my family, in spite of the Things that our family was going through. And even as a child, I thought, how unfair is that? You know, why? You know, it didn't really register on me at the time, but it just. Something just didn't seem right that there was so much expectation. You have to understand that where I came from, I mean, the pastor's wife was basically the church workhorse. She did everything, anything anybody didn't want to do. Guess who got to do it? The pastor's wife got to do it. The pastor's kids got to do it. And so there was a lot of demand, you know, put on our family when we were experiencing this major issue in our home, you know, with this child. And my father was always bi. Vocational. He did not ever have a church that was supporting enough that he could not work a regular job. And so he was working a job, and my mother's taking care of this child, and there was doctors, and like I said, she was in and out of hospitals. And my father was trying to build a church. You know, I remember this particular church we went to. When we got there, it was just a frame building, Just a rectangular, square, rectangular framed building that if you patted your foot on the front of the church, you could feel it in the back of the church. That's how stable it was. But over the years, he decided, okay, we'll build a new church. And so we basically. He basically built a concrete block building around the wooden structure, and they eventually took the wooden structure out from the inside. But I would see my dad come home from working all day. He was a painter and a carpenter, and he would come home from working all day, come in, eat supper, and go over there, because we live next door to the church. And that's when I found out I will never live next door to the church. But he would come home. He would go next door and he would lay blocks. He would do different things. And it took about three years to build that church. And he did so much of it almost by himself. And all this registering on me about where were the people? Where was the people's care for the things we were going through? Where was the help, where was all that? And so as time went by, you know, my sister passed away, and we left that church because my mom needed to get away from the environment. You know, that's just too many memories. So we wound up in the big city of Jacksonville. And up till then, we had been in small places. I'm a country girl, you know. And so we wound up. We wound up leaving. But those few first Years. I mean, we lived in a town that was so small we had a stop sign, but that was all in a school that housed everybody in one school. And my husband, because he was a city boy, he doesn't understand when I say I went to school and shoes were optional in the warm months. They didn't care if you wore shoes or not, you know. And so, you know, we'd go out to play at recess and different things and come. And of course your feet are filthy. We just prop them up in the sink in the bathroom and wash them off and go back to class. And he just thinks that's hilarious, you know, but I'm going, well, you know, country folks are a lot more. We function a little differently than city slickers do, you know. And so, and so, you know, I'm putting all this stuff together over the years, you know. And we went to this next church in the big city of Jacksonville and it was a small church still. And just things happened, you know, my father built this church up to a place that it was just about to be self supporting. He was about to be able to quit his daytime job. Hallelujah. And then something happened and he was so frustrated that he just got out of the ministry. And I was, went, yes, it was a thrill to my heart to think we don't have to do this anymore. And so we went to a, we became members of a church there in Jacksonville, a large Pentecostal church, which is where I first laid eyes on this man. And was not a favorable first impression. No, it wasn't. And so anyway, we went up this church and I thought this was just fantastic. But let me tell you, that was the worst mistake my father ever made. Worst mistake he ever made. You know, he dropped the ball where God's plan for his life was concerned. But, you know, what it brought me back to was we've gotten out of this and I will never experience that again. And I determined in my heart I would never marry a preacher. And I did not. I married a hippie. Married a hippie. His hair wasn't. Now this was in the late 60s when we first got to know each other. And you know, it was just, I was fine. I mean, I had goals in mind. I mean, I, I was like, you know, I was in a large high school of about. My class was about 600 and something people in my senior class and I would have been about third in my class. You know, I didn't really particularly care for school, but I didn't like somebody to outdo me. Either. So, I mean, I was in school and I just was determined, you know, I don't know exactly what course I'm going to take in life of me. I could be a teacher, I could do this, I could do that. I don't know, I'll just go to college and kind of figure it out as I go. But I knew this. I will never marry a preacher. And so, you know, as you're growing up, you know, you don't stay close to the things of God sometimes when you're a teenager. And my parents just, I don't know, they just, they didn't know that the Holy Ghost can help you raise your kids. And you should pray some things out for them and keep them safe while they're in those kind of years. And so, you know, backslidden teenager, you know, I really wasn't all that backslidden until I started hanging around him. And see, this is the deal. When I have the pulpit, I can say what I want. You know, it's every man for himself here. You know, all's fair, all's fair, all's fair. But, you know, we were backslidden. And before you know it, you know, then I'm pregnant and we get married. And of course, nobody gave us a 10% shot of making it very long, but here I am. Okay? Now my life, the course of my life has radically changed. Radically. Pastor Nancy and I were talking about this a couple of nights ago and she said, what did you think? I said I was scared. I mean, what 16 year old wouldn't be? You know, it's 1970. I mean, this is a time in a day where this is a horrendous black mark, you know, in your life, you know, but we were determined, you know, to try to make it on our own. And we did that pretty successfully. But you know, as time went on, once we were out on our own, which was very shortly, you know, we were on our own taking care of ourselves, taking care of a child. Suddenly I have a husband who's not interested in the things about it. It really wasn't, wasn't for a long time anyway. But now he doesn't have to go to church because his mom is not there to tell him what to do. And I am not his mama. And so, you know, there was no getting around that. And so we didn't, we really didn't stay in church those first couple of three years. We didn't. And it was tough because now, you know, he was really being able to do what he wanted to do. That's what his flesh wanted to do. And as this time went on, you know, I'm looking at going, we need to be in church. We've got this child, and he does not have any interest in this. And, you know, you just kind of go with the flow of life, and you just get used to it. And this is what we do. And, okay, well, we'll show up at church every once in a while just to please his mother and, you know, that kind of stuff. And then one day he was in. I mean, you've heard his testimony. I think if you've been around here before. He was working out of town, and he got. He pulled up Billy Graham on the tv, and God got ahold of him. And when he came back, because he would leave on Monday, he'd be back on Friday afternoon. When he came back, something was different about him. But the problem was Ms. Stubborn here had developed an attitude while he was backslidden that, okay, fine, that's what you want to do. You've done what you've wanted to do for the last few years anyway. Just do what you want to do now. Now you're just going a different direction. But, you know, just count me out. And so here I am. I don't care about any of this stuff. We got back in church, he got ahold of a Brother Hagin book, and suddenly that's all he wants to do, is just read and study and all this kind of stuff. And, you know, all right, so we're back in church. But, you know, I'm going. It's more of a social event. It's more than anything else. And just because I know everybody misses the church. I was, you know, I'm familiar with. And we're all. And people are getting married and having babies. We've got lots to talk about, lots to do, people to hang around with. And his hippie buddies that drove me crazy are no longer in the picture. And this is good. This is the good part. And so, you know, we're in church, and then somebody gives him a Kenneth Copeland book. And now he's reading the Laws of Prosperity, and he's trying to give away all of our money. And I'm going, what are you doing? What is all this? Yeah, but this book. And I've been. And I'm telling you, if we'll just give, God will bless us. I'm going. Tithing. I got you. I got you on tithing. I was raised with tithing. But now there's other stuff. This is pretty radical. Pretty extreme. I don't want anything to do with. He turned my life upside down. I mean, we were constantly arguing and fighting about different things. And he was pushing me to really go after the things of God. And the more he pushed, the more I pulled back. And there'd be times when God would be talking to me, God would be dealing with me and my heart was softening up. And then he'd start nagging me again. And then, okay, we're back there. Listen, if you've got a backslidden spouse, leave them alone. Leave them alone. Let God send somebody else to talk to them because God knows who will get through to them. Because you as the spouse are only going to turn them off. You're only. If they're as stubborn as I was, then all it's going to do is you're going to take one step forward and two steps back, you know, and that's frustrating for. I mean, we were at a point. But by this time, I had gone to X ray school because of two things. His mom had been made a widow at a fairly young age with four children, and she had very little income and a very little education. So she just eked by. So my thought in going to X ray school was that, number two, if something ever happened to him, then I'd have something to fall back on. But number two, if I got fed up enough to leave him, I could support myself. So there was dual purpose here. As it turned out, this is where you see God's ebb and flow. Having that X ray training is what is what kept us when we got to Bible school. That's the job that kept our household going. So, see, I see how God works in different. You know, what I found out is that God is just so good to lead and to guide in times when you're not following him at all. It's just kind of. He just kind of nudges you this way. And even though my purpose in going to school, school was something totally different, God knew that a few years down the line, I'm going to use that training to help my family while we're at Bible school. So here we are. We're just kind of going along, you know, and I'm along for the ride and I begin to see the changes and I begin to see this. And he's. And he's going from our church, our Pentecostal church, and he's going over to visit this Word of Faith church, you know, the only Rhema church in the whole of Jacksonville. And the more he's doing that. I'm going, what's going on? What's going on here? And he's hanging around these people at one point in this, and I was thinking, I'd rather you had your hippie friends back than these spiritual friends, because they're going to take you in a direction I sure don't want to go. And I began to see God working on him, working in him. And I'm going, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not going there. See, the first part of my thing was, I'll never marry a preacher. We had worked that out. I didn't. I didn't want this to come true as a delayed reaction either. And so. And so here we are. And then. And then one day, somebody started talking about going to Rhema. One of the spiritual guys we were hanging out with started talking about going to Rhema. And I'm going, no, no, you don't. No, you don't. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Don't even think it. I keep telling Pastor Hansie, no, there's no dogs at my house. And so I'm having that same. I was having that same kind of a thing, you know, back then about Rhema. But, you know, he got an application and he filled it all out. And those were in those days. They had this one question on their. On their application that said, is your spouse in agreement with this? Now? He knew he needed to go. I knew we didn't need to go. He talked to Doc Horton one time, and he said something about he wanted to go into ministry, but his wife was just not for that. And he goes, ah, you just do what God called you to do, and God will take care of that. He says, you don't know my wife. And that's true. So, anyway, there's this one question on there that says, is your wife in agreement with this? Listen, I was barely. I was barely back in fellowship with God at this point. Is your wife. Is your spouse in agreement with this? And he handed me. Everything was filled out. He handed me the application. He said, you have to do this. You have to check this box, yes or no. And once you do, just put it in the envelope and be like, don't even tell me what you wrote on it. Just mail it. And so here I am. Okay. You know, there's a time when you find out you just can't fight city hall. And so. And so I checked. Yes. And I mailed it. And I'm thinking, okay, I have. I will have Several months to wrap my head around this, kind of get used to the idea. That application was back approved two weeks later. I was just floored. I'm going, okay, this is reality. But I said, okay, you just tell me one thing. Okay, we'll do this, but promise me we will never pastor. He said, no problem. I'm not called to be a pastor. I said, great, all right, then we can do this. So we moved out to Oklahoma, went to Rhema. It was tough for me to leave my family behind. I never lived away from my parents. But I'm telling you what, God did a work once. He got me 1100 miles away. Suddenly I lost my dependence on my parents and began to put my dependence on, number one, on God and number two, where it ought to have been all along. In my husband, not my dad, not my dad, to always come up with the answers, but now my husband to come up with the answers. And there were times it was a great learning experience. And Bible school should be a time of great challenge for anybody because that's where you learn a lot of things. And so, you know, we were out there and it was a great learning experience. I'm telling you. I mean there's things I could tell you more times than one. We had nothing left in the house to eat and no money. My job was. I was paid every, well twice a month, which is a weird way to get paid. But you know, we had nothing. I mean, what can you make out of ketchup and flour? I mean it really, that's really what there all there was. But I learned to trust God. And it's like he would say, he would say now, Lord, you sent me out here and I have a wife and two kids to take care of. If you can't take care of us, I'll call my father in law, he'll send us the money and we'll go home. So you have to. And God miraculously came through time and time again. How we were sustained out there was incredible. The favor I had on the job that I had was incredible. Back in those days, 1980, I mean, a job paying about three or four dollars an hour was a good job. Not great, but a good job. And I started out making $5 an hour at my, at my job. But it was one of those things where. It was one of those areas where I had really learned to trust God. God, I need a job that does, that has this, this, this and this components in it. And I got that job. But it wasn't without standing. It didn't just. I just didn't walk and go, oh, they have a job for you. Oh, here you go. It was standing. We were getting down to the very end of all of our money when that job came. But it was the right job for me. Even when other people were saying, oh, you should just take this job and believe God for the increase. No, no, no, no. That's not what I asked for. This is what I asked for, and it's what I got. And so before I left that job, I was making $7 an hour, which that was unheard of in 1980 in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Loved my job. My people on the job said, you're going home. See, now, God had had to. He'd had to believe God to get me to Oklahoma. Now he's got to believe God to get me back from Oklahoma because I was prepared to stay. In the spring of 1980, he says, we have to go home. And I said, why? Why do we want to go home? And he goes, because God said to him, well, what are we going to do? I don't know. But he said, go home. Well, how are we going to live? I don't know. He said, go home. And I'm going. Okay. You know, I'm reluctant still, but I've seen God work. And so we go back home. Within one week, less than a week of being home, God had connected us with the people that turned into the church that we have today. But I'm telling you what, God has been so good all along the way, and though he's had to pull me along at times, I appreciate the fact that in the middle of all this, I had a husband who knew the spirit of God and who knew what we needed to do, knew what we needed to do for our families. When we moved from our classical Pentecostal church, before we went to Rhema and we went to a Word of Faith church, it's because I had a husband who said, you do what you want to do. My children and I are leaving and going to this church over here. That's where God wants us. Can I say to every spouse in here, every husband, you are the head of your home. You are the spiritual head of your home, and you need to follow the leading of the Lord no matter what your spouse wants to kick against. It's the best thing he ever did for me, was get me into that church. Best thing ever. Because there was a pastor there who was a rough guy. He'd come out of a rough background, and he said, the first time I ever walked in he said, if looks could kill, she would have put me in the grave because I didn't want to be there. But I'm only going because, listen, for my husband to take my two kids and go to another church and leave me here, it doesn't look good, you know, And I was concerned about how it looked to people, so I went with him. But I'm telling you what, God used that pastor over there to soften me up. He was just the sweetest thing. He loved on me. He would minister to me at different times, you know, and I could just. I could just. The love of God just is what finally just broke down the walls of saying, I won't, I won't do this, I won't do this, I won't do this, I won't do this. Isn't it funny how some of the very times that we say we won't is the thing God's got planned for us? Why are we so adamant about what we won't do? It's because somehow on the inside of me, I knew where I was going to eventually wind up. And the devil didn't want that. And so he had me convinced that this is not what you want. You stand your ground. You put. I mean, there's a little plaque that says, this marriage was made in heaven. So was thunder and lightning. And so we experienced a lot of thunder and lightning. Can't tell you which one was which. But, you know, it was not easy. And yet, and yet God just moved me along little by little. Step by step, you say. Well, maybe you can. I can take giant leaps of faith. Well, Fonny, honey, you go for it. You just go for it. But I'm slow, you know, I'm cautious. I need just a little bit of extra time, Lord, to let that sink in before I do that. But you know what? Even when we got to High Springs and we started this church, he assured me that, you know, this was a short term thing because he's not called a pastor. And here we are. So I'm going, that's fine. You know, you do your thing and I'll take care of my children. Because where I came from, the pastor's wife was just the pastor's wife back here in the background. Just, it helps took care of the ladies things, you know. But as far as connected to ministry, there was none of that. There was no concept of that. And so for years I just let him do everything. And it's taken God a little bit of time to get me where I needed to Go and to get me to a place where I would get up in front of anybody because I was a shy kid, shy person, shy to the point of throwing up if you had to put me in front of people and that kind of thing. And so, you know, just the concept of being in front of people in general is just, no, I can't do that. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. And, you know, time has changed. Life has changed. I was listening to Brother Hagin just recently, one of the camp meetings, and he had somebody pull him up a chair, and he began to pray and to prophesy. And there was this. There was this thing that went on. I mean, it went on for probably 45 minutes. And you just, you know, if you've been around Bro Hagin very long, I mean, you just, you just. You just. You can listen to him pray and him just have conversations with God and you be a party to it, and you're just awestruck at the relationship he had with the father. But during this time, he's praying some things out, and he's going. He said, yeah, Lord, you want me to do that? Well, that's just not me, Lord. No, no, that's just not me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I should say I have to change. I have to change. If that's what you want me to do, I have to change. And so for me, for all these last few years especially, I have come to realization that though I'm a shy introvert, that I have to change. I have to change the plan of God is bigger than my personality and what I'd rather do, you know, I can go home and hibernate, you know, and just be there and just recharge. But when I get out with people now, it's a totally different thing than it ever was before. God's been so good and so kind and so faithful, and he's had me do little steps, just one thing at a time, to get me to a place where I could. Even though I have to take a big gulp, like this morning, you know, I go, okay, okay, I'll do that. Hallelujah. But really, when I go back to it, when God's got a plan, he's got an expectation for your life, it's not going to come to pass without your cooperation. Your expectation has to come in line with his expectation. Now, I believe he realizes that for some of us, it'll take us a little longer to get to a place where we're in line with that. And all along the way was God in the fact that two teenagers had to get married so young and. And was. Were we destined to be together from the very beginning? I have no clue. But I do know this. God made something out of something that shouldn't have ever been a success. He took it and he changed it. He knew he was. He had an understanding when he was very small that God had a call in his life and he ran from it as well, you know. So whether we were supposed to be together, I don't know. But we are now 50 years later. I think we managed all right only by the help and the grace of God, let me tell you, you know, and a stubborn determination to stick together. But I know that I have to get to a place, and I'm still working on it, where I believe God's got more expectations for me that I haven't come into line with yet because I haven't been willing to hear those kind of things yet. No, I'm comfortable where I am. You've got me this far. Just let me enjoy the comfort zone for a while longer, please. But there's more to it than that. God's got more for you and more for me. And if we're going to really fulfill the plan of God, which. It's the only place to be happy. It's the only place. It's the only place. But what I wanted to let you know is that it doesn't matter how old you are. The plan of God is still in force. Though there have been some detours along the way, God's ultimate plan is still the same. He's got a way to get you where you need to go. I have a lady in our church who is my age. And as a teenager she felt she was called to missions and her pastor, she was in a Baptist church, her pastor, she went to talk to him and he talked her out of it. And so she went on to nursing school. She got married, she had two children. She found herself one day as a single parent. And so she spent the next few years working, raising her children. And then her parents were older and they needed someone to take care of them. And so she became responsible for her two parents. One, her father went home to be with the Lord before her mom did. And so she did all this. And yet God still had a plan for her life. The day came, she was always interested in missions. She would take the occasional short term missions trip just to satisfy that longing of her heart. But there came a day her mom had gone home, that she retired from nursing. And what did she do? She put herself on a plane and went to Tajikistan. She's 65 years old when she went. Listen, God's plan is still valid no matter what age you find yourself at. Life may have taken on a different look, a different path, but God knows how to get you back to the place that he intended for you to be to start with. And she's been a blessing now during all this time that she waited, you know, I'm not sure at what point she decided that when I retire, when all my responsibilities to other people are finished, I am going to the mission field. I'm not sure she did, but I'm telling you what she did do. She made herself valuable in the local church. She was our primary department director for 25 years. Marvelous woman. There's, I mean, you came through there. I mean the numbers of kids who have come through that department and Ms. Jackie was, I'm telling you what, she was a major influence in their life because her, her whole thing when she get ahold of a three year old was number one. I mean our nursery department, even the two year olds, they're looking at them to get born again. And if they come to her as a three year old, I mean she was looking to make sure they got born again, got born again early and got filled with the spirit. And I mean she made a tremendous impact in the lives of so many of our kids around that she sowed into these people. She sowed into them. And some of the kids she sowed into have wound up in the ministry. Some of them have wound up doing wonderful things for God, but she sowed into them. Don't you think God counted that faithful on her part? He counted her faithful. The things that she was doing, she may not for just the time of life that she was in and the circumstances she was in may not be able to do exactly what God intended for her to do, but she was doing all that she could. If you realize that your life hasn't taken the course that, that you know, that God really wanted for you, don't sit back and do nothing. Don't sit there and say, well, I'll just wait until my time arrives. No, you get busy doing all that you can do for the kingdom of God. You keep sowing seed everywhere you can sow. You keep being faithful to what God has got in front of you and you do that and it will then pay off when you finally get around to what God has intended for you to Have. You can't go out and do what God intended for you to have without having some seeds sown somewhere else to help the path be smoother. You can't do that. And so just realize that God's plans for you, you have to choose them. He does not impose them on you. They're chosen, not imposed. You have to choose those. Don't live like my father did after he got out of the ministry with the rest of his lifetime of regret. Don't go to heaven with regret. Just say, lord, I'm sorry I didn't get to it sooner, but I did get to it. And that's what God's after. Just get to it, you know. And I know my dad's enjoying heaven today, but if he could redo things, I'm sure he would look back and say that's really, that was a bad choice. It influenced people, it made a difference in people's lives. And see whether or not you choose to follow the plan of God for your life isn't just about you. There are people that God is going to bring into your life, that you are their answer, you are their help, you are the one to influence them. You know, over 40 years we've had people come and we've had people go. But I think of one lady that, you know, we went to High Springs and I went to work in a doctor's office and she was there and she was a backslidden Methodist and she didn't know I was a pastor's wife. That's all I called myself at the time. And she didn't like me. Number one, she said, laid eyes on me. She thought I was there to take her job. So she went home and she said some bad things about me to her husband that he said I won't even repeat them to this day. But you know, I began working with her and she'd tell me all kinds of things about what she'd done over the weekend and all this stuff. And I'm going, well, she's just a sinner, I'm not going to judge her because she's just doing what sinners do. And yet, you know, just loved on her, just was a friend, you know, just kind to her. And after a few months she showed up at church one day and that one day she got rededicated, baptized in the Holy Ghost and got set free from cigarettes. And one day. They are the pillars, one of the pillars of our church today have raised their kids. They had a three month old. When I first started working with her And I look at the course of their lives and how it's affected their families, you know, brothers, sisters, and how it's affected their children and now their grandchildren. What would have happened had I said no to God? There are people who need what you have, that God will put you in their path, that you will make an eternal difference in their lives. Could he have used somebody else? I'm not saying he can't. But you have a unique responsibility and a unique place to be there when those people come across your path. So it's not just about you. It's about. About the people that he's connecting you to. And he connects all of us to one another. And for us being in a small town, it's like, well, why didn't God call us to a big place? I don't know. Maybe because there was somebody praying. Maybe because somebody prayed about a church in a little town called High Springs. Maybe because God said, people in small towns need a pastor. They need the Word as much as anybody in a big city. They deserve no less than somebody in a big city and somebody who's willing and able to stay and is willing to be in a small town. God can take all over the world. Listen. Born in the country, raised in the country. I'm a little country girl. Never really expected my life to do much beyond just raise my kids, you know, and just going about life and what God has done in my life and the people he has brought me into fellowship with and the places I've gone and the people I've known and the experiences we've had. Only God could have orchestrated that. You need to get to the end of your life and go, Lord, what a ride this has been, what an adventure this has been, how grateful I am for it. I can't. Even though I said I'd never marry a preacher, though I said I'd never be a pastor's wife, though I made him promise me and he was honest with me when he promised me we wouldn't. But I can't imagine doing anything else. Can't imagine. I love my people. I love you. Whichever camera, I love you. I love them. They're my heart. And my heart breaks when some of them go somewhere else for one reason or another. It breaks when they move away because they've had a job offer somewhere else. It breaks my heart when they choose to leave. You know, And I don't know. I can only speak for myself, but as a pastor's wife, as a lady pastor, I'm the mama, and I've got a mama's heart toward them, you know, and I love them and I ask a lot of questions and I'm nosy, but I remember things and I try to remember things that are important to them and go back and touch base with them on that. And somehow God groomed me for that from the day I was born. I don't know how, but I see little glimmers all through the years of all the ways he was leading and guiding me and pointing me in the direction to get me where I'm at today. When I was unaware, when I was uninvolved, when I was not really in cooperation with him, he was still leading, he was still guiding, he was still directing. You know, he was doing it in such a way that he would bring me to where I'm at today. So my church folks, they know me, they love me. When they say, you'll be gone for two weeks, we're going to miss you. Yay. When I get home, they're going to say, we've missed you and you're going, yay. When you stop saying you've missed me, I begin to worry, you know. But you know, they know me well. You know, they have this eyebrow that goes up when I'm not happy with them. They have even said that if I go home to be with the Lord before Jesus returns, we're going to have a tombstone with just an eyebrow on it and everybody will know who it is because the eyebrow does go up. Now, Pastor Nancy, I remember raised my eyebrow at her many times and she has taken on my husband's theory about that. That eyebrow don't mean nothing to me. But I'm here to tell you God's got a plan. You can fight it or you can go with it, but you're never going to be fulfilled, you're never going to be content, you're never going to be just of yourself, at ease until you follow what God wants you to do. And it doesn't matter what your personality is. God knows your personality, he knows mine. And God can still use you the way he wants to use you. We have a friend of ours that is a very mild mannered guy, but when he gets in the pulpit, he's like Clark Kent, you know, turns into Superman. And yet outside the pulpit, he's just as mild and mannered and just as easygoing as you could imagine. But see, God knows you. And whatever your personality is, just when God starts talking to you about something down the road, don't shut him down. Don't say no, that's not me. I couldn't do that. You just say, God, with your help, I will do that. I will do that. I can overcome those parts of my personality. He gave me my personality. And part of the time I think that, you know, maybe because I understand that I am an introvert, I can relate to introverts a whole lot more, you know, But I can also relate to an introvert in a way that says you can do it in spite of the fact that you're an introvert. If I can, you can. There's nothing about you that God doesn't know. There's nothing about you that God doesn't have an appreciation for. He made you. He formed you. And wherever God takes you in life, it's because he knows you can go. He knows that you're well able, capable of fulfilling the plan that he's got laid out to the max. Is there anything else I want to say? I didn't have many notes on here. I really didn't. Hallelujah. But can I just say this for all of you who are younger, well, anybody who's single, make sure you marry right. If there's a decision in your life that is critical, it's who you marry. It's who you marry. The lady who went off to the mission field, if she had married right, she might have wound up in the mission field a lot sooner. But she didn't marry right. And so it took her another 40 years for her to get back around to what God wanted for her. Don't do that. You know, even when somebody is a born again believer, make sure it's the right one. You know, I have an example at church right now. Young lady who just. She's got a new baby. Actually, it's. Lizzie has a new baby. And she was engaged to a young man in our church, Wonderful young man, sweet as he could be. And they were engaged. And she realized that she had made a mistake. Listen, when you've realized you've made a mistake, if it can be undone, undo it. She went home from a meeting out here and said, I have to break this off. And she did. And it was the best thing for her. Best thing for him. See, he's not the right person for you, but you're not the right person for him. You're doing that other person a favor by saying, we can't do this. Anyway, time went along, she got married. And wonderful man that she's married to just had this baby. But here's the difference. The man she married is just Right for her. So in the middle of labor when things were not going well and she was not in a state to say, oh God, I trust you. I mean, when you're having a big contraction, we ain't got time for that kind of stuff. She had to, she was looking to her husband to help. And when they said, if this baby's head doesn't move down a position soon, we're going to have to take this baby, he went over and said, no, no, no, we're not doing this. And he took authority over that situation. Within 10 minutes, that baby's head had engaged. She was able to have him. We were all finished. That's what happens when you marry, right, is you marry somebody who can. When you're not capable right then of taking a stand and taking charge of something, they're there to help you do it. Let me tell you, a lot of people have squandered the plans of God for their life because they married the wrong person. Even though it was a born again, spirit filled believer, it was the wrong person, the wrong person. You've got to make sure you do it, do it right. And if you're already married, then make it the right thing. You do everything you can to make sure it is all that God wants it to be and that you can find that place where the river turns again, you know, and you're back on track with the plan of God in your life. Hallelujah. Amen. I believe that's, that's about all I have got to say today. But you know what? Sometimes it just, it just helps to hear how somebody else has, has come through the places that didn't seem like it could be straightened out, that God could, could get, get it back on track. God can get anything back on track. He can get anything back on track along the way you learn a lot along the way. You should grow a lot along the way. You should learn from the mistakes and not repeat them. But God's got a plan. And God's plans are always bigger than your plans. That's, to me, is what's scary sometimes. You know, just when I naturally I say scary, but because it's like.
- [53:15]
A
No.
- [53:16]
B
No, let's not do that. Let's not do that. But God's plans are. So he wants to constantly stretch you. He wants to get you out of your little comfort zone and put you in a place that becomes your new comfort zone. It's so funny. I look back and I will close with this. I look back, we had come home from Rhema we had moved back into our home in Jacksonville because we rented it out while we were gone. So we come back home and we're only there two and a half months where I packed up and left again. But during that time a good friend of mine came over and we were just catching up, you know, we'd been gone, we were just catching up and I looked at her and I said, can I tell you something? And I haven't told anybody else. And she said, yeah, what? And I said, I see myself standing in front of people preaching. And she looked at me, she knew me. She went, what? She didn't see that at all. But even back then there was something there. Listen, what's God been putting in you since you were on the. A child maybe? What has he been saying to you? What little glimmers of things have you just kind of got a, just a, just a little quick flash of that may not just be you, it may be what God's been grooming you for. It may be where you're headed. But just get your expectations in line with God's expectations. Expectations, get your plans in line with his plans. And when you've not missed it, you've not done it, you've missed the mark, it's okay. God can bring you back, he can make up for lost time. And it's never too late. If a 65 year old lady can go by herself to Tajikistan and be a missionary, missionary over there in a place where she doesn't speak the language, she did go with a team from a group, so she wasn't totally alone. But to leave her family, to leave her church, to leave the life she knew at that age, I'm just impressed, just impressed with how number one, she was willing to follow God even at this age. Not to say, well, maybe, well, it's over, it's too late, I'm done. You know, I never got there. Nope, she's going to go home to heaven fulfilled. Because she fulfilled the plan of God. Amen. Hallelujah, Pastor.
- [56:03]
C
Hallelujah. We want to go ahead this morning and receive an offering for Pastor Angela. So weighty when she, she talks about her testimony. She's one of the Bible school favorites. She doesn't believe me, but she spends a lot of time with the interns while she's here and answers questions, talks to them, whatever. She's pretty open to answer just about anything. And so this week they're going to get time with her to add, ask her anything about her life, about ministry, about their life, about the Word. And she's an open book. She just shares from her heart and her example to my life. There's been so many times that her and Pastor Anderson's example. And I had let Pastor Anderson know this. What I don't say to y' all is there's so many times that there's things that come up in the congregation and with situations and direction with the church, and maybe it's things anything from vacation Bible school to, you know, counseling. And I go back to what they did and what they said and their example. So we. We get not just Pastor Nancy, but we're getting others that. That God raised up in the ministry, and the fruit of their life is ministering to your life. So I'm grateful at how God, as she said, he weaves and his plan moves and. And, you know, with a river. There's offshoots from that river. And so from the river of her life, I'm.
- [57:50]
B
I'm.
- [57:51]
C
I've come off that, that I'm an offshoot from that and being fed other places because she obeyed God and allowed God to direct her life. And so I'm. I'm just so thankful that God would show his plan in such a precious way to me and to my family and that my children can see that and that you can see that. How many of you realize today you're either more grateful for where you're at and the fact that you've obeyed God. And you see, God can move me. God can direct me. I've been yielded to God, and I'm going to continue to be yielded. Or you say, I know that I've missed some things, but I'm going to get back. I'm going to go back. I am going to. Doesn't mean you pick up and uproot yourself. But you say, I've lost that same devotion and fervency and consecration that you hear from her life. I want that same consecration. I want that same commitment. I want that same love back in what I'm doing in the local church. I want to have that same heart. Amen. That's what we can all walk away from. We want the same heart, the same heart of faithfulness that she has. We want that. Amen. We'll go ahead. If you need an offering envelope, I think everybody's prepared. There would have been one under the seat in front of you or in the seat pocket in front of you. Thank you, Pastor Nana.
- [59:29]
A
I. I want to do this. There are different people that I. It seems like you think something of the plan of God has been lost because of decisions I've made. That's not, that's not so. And I would just like Pastor Angela to just minister specifically to those, just stand in agreement with them for them to set themselves say, you know what, I'm not going to follow that line of thinking anymore. I'm going to reach back out with my faith and hold of it. So if that describes a few people in here because listen, you can be in the plan of God and still leave out components that you think, oh I should have done this more, I should have done that more and the devil will bombard you with. You coulda, you shoulda, you didn't. And I just want her to really just put her hands on him and bless him just to encourage courage and join her faith with them.
- [60:32]
C
If that's you. And, and what came to me was you can be complacent in the will of God, you can be in God's will, but you're. You know what complacency is? It's half heartedness. You just half hearted or you just go through the motions and you realize I've been doing that and I'm like she said, I've, I think I've missed something things in that complacency and I want to get back. She said, strengthen with my. And you know when pastor, Pastor Angela has been ministering the whole time, the that anointing has been in my hands. So I, I know that God's got something for those of you who say I want there's an anointing here to minister to you, to strengthen you with my in your inner man. So if that's you this morning, go ahead and stand with me to your feet and you can get out in the aisle and come up here and she's just going to lay hands on you. But this is a point of contact for your faith. She's not doing the work you're receiving by faith that anointing.
- [62:02]
B
This. You know, this morning Pastor Nancy didn't ask me to do this until last night about six clothes and I went. She said, just sitting at the fireplace, she says, I just kind of have it in my heart that you know, well, you're supposed to minister and learn. I went, no, no, no, no, no, no. And yet I knew that I needed to do that even though I wanted to say no. But what blesses me is to see that there's so many people here who understand what it's like to not be willing or to be afraid to follow what God's got for you. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. He's got the best. He's got your interest in mind. He's got. He's got. He's got everything you need ready for you. And God's going to take you where you need to go. Amen. Hallelujah, Honey. Edwin, come on. Hallelujah. Father, I just thank you. I just thank you for the plan of God that's taking shape again in hearts that have let go of that plan. Hearts that have let go of that. Who've let the vision that what God has put in them get foggy, to get distant, to get to the place where. No, that's just. That never was for me. It never was what God wanted for me. Yes, it is, Father. Quicken them. Stir them again. That it is the plan of God. It is the plan of God. There's more in you, Leslie. There's more in you. Stop seeing yourself the way you see you. Start seeing the way God sees you. Other people in your life will come along to encourage those gifts and those abilities. Let them encourage you. Let them say what needs to be said and take it to heart. And just trust that that's God talking to you. Go with it. Hallelujah. Sombla. A voice full of confidence. A voice full of faith. Because you know what God has said about you. You know what God has been talking to you about. You know that it's God saying those things. And so it's easier. It's easier. It's easier and easier. With every step taken in the right direction, to continue on a path wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly, wholeheartedly. Oh, the plan. The plan, the plan. The plan. The plan. The plan. Hallelujah. It's there. It's there. It's there. It's there. It's there. It's there, it's there. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Oh, Father. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Stir that up. Stir that up. It up. How white hot. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Clarity, clarity, clarity. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, renewed willingness. A renewed willingness to follow what God's got for you. Hallelujah. Nothing is too small. Nothing is too small. Don't look at yourself and think, ah, no, that's just. That's just a little thing. It doesn't really matter much. The little things matter. The Little things are life changing. The little things are where the big things start. Hallelujah. Somebody. Oh, hallelujah. Strengthened with. Might strengthen with my. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The plan. The plan. Come to pass. Comes to pass. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Oh, thank you, Jesus. Hallelujah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Just keep. Keep saying yes to the plan. Just keep saying yes. The next step, whatever the next step is, just keep saying yes. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Detours mean nothing. There are people that you can minister to, people that you can reach that other people have deemed as unreachable. But God's got a way, and you are part of his way. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Oh, a desire and a willingness, Father. To follow your plan from the beginning. Hallelujah. Each step. Each. Each step. Each step. Hallelujah. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Focus. Focus on God's plan for you. Stop trying to figure it out on your own. Stop trying to figure out what to do next. And just do what you know to do. Just keep. Do what you know to do. Those everyday, mundane, seemingly things. Just do what you know to do. And the next step will come. He'll come. He'll come. Hallelujah. Breaking. Something bright, something shining out from you. You are a light. A light. A light. A light. Let that light that's on the inside of you shine brighter than it's ever shown before. Because somebody needs the light. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Lord. For the plan. For the plan. For the plan. Thank you for the plan. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. If there is a plan, there is a plan. Just stay steady. Just stay steady. Don't be concerned about how quick things develop. Don't be concerned about how long it seemingly takes. It's all worth it. It's all worth it. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Great plans. Great, mighty plans. Great, mighty plans. Great and mighty plans. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Glory to God. Hallelujah. Oh, glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Remember, it's God's plans, not other people's plans, but God's plans that matter. No, not doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. It only matters what he thinks, what the father thinks. His ways are higher. Hallelujah. Amen. Glory to God. Amen. Hallelujah.
- [73:27]
C
Pastor Nancy, she just said something. It was so good. She said, you know, it seemed like now, after the conference, God had something for our congregation, something special, something specific for us. When you agree of all the faithfulness and all the sermon, you can be caught up in the duty of God's will and not the love of it and the joy of it and the thrill of it because you've been saved, set free, delivered, healed, you're in your right mind and you're serving because you first love God.
- [74:14]
B
Amen.
- [74:14]
C
And so this morning was something special for us. God had something special just for this congregation. And I am so glad for you, for myself, that we could come and receive something just tailor made for us. He had you in mind at the end of this conference that we. We would have a special gift come to us. Are you ready to give this morning?
- [74:39]
A
We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at 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.