← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Honoring The Local Church | Debra Simons | Ladies Conference 2023 | Wednesday AM | Murrieta, CA
00:47:03
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. You know, I am gonna just follow the Holy Ghost. Pastor Nancy, do you know what you're gonna preach on? Of course. Everybody goes, well, she's gonna preach on honor. Sure I am. But, you know, there's honor, you know, there's honoring so many different things that God has brought into your life, but what I cannot get past. And God has been having me minister this. You know, I did it in the Bible college. You know, I was at the Precious in Canada with the fields. And God told me to teach on the local church. Honoring the local church. And let me say this, you know, I raised my daughters in the church. They were like, you know, 7 and 9 when I got saved, so they didn't really know much of anything else. They were young enough to be brought in. My grandchildren have been raised in the church. And so sometimes I think that when we have been generationally in the church, we forget what it's like. And sometimes these generations don't even know what it's like out in the world and how much they need the church and how much they need what we have. And because we have it and we have it in full supply, it's too easy to take for granted what is somebody's lifeline. When I got saved, you know, I was rebellious and I did whatever I wanted. And it got me to a place, you know, I realized that my life now to try to raise two girls was not going to be the example that I had been taught when I was little. Cause I was raised Catholic. And even though we didn't have relationship, we didn't know about being born again, but we were taught about God and to love Jesus. And, you know, we should live right. You know, of course, as Catholics, we had venial sins and we had mortal sins. And I knew, listen, I went way past mortal already. There wasn't no good turning back, baby, from what you've done. So, you know, you live under condemnation, you live hopeless. And of course, you know, many of you that know my testimony, you know, I was going through a divorce and I'm folding clothes and the TV is on, and all of a sudden I hear a man say something that just took my attention. And it was a preacher. And he said, listen, if God was sitting in heaven with a baseball bat ready to knock you upside the head the first time you did something wrong, he would already got you. I thought, well, that makes sense. Maybe God's not mad at me. Maybe God, you know, doesn't not like me because I've violated all these things. But I never did anything with it. It just was a thought there, like, whoa. I've never heard anything like that before. Two years later, I'm already. I'm depressed, oppressed. I cannot bear the life that I'm in because I violated my conscience. I violated what my parents taught me was right. I just thought, you know, society is doing it. I can do it, and I'll be okay. And I wasn't okay. I began to realize that I've got children that are gonna follow me. And if they follow me, they're gonna have a life of heartache. Because that's all sin brings, is heartache. I mean, it's just from one bad thing to another. And so I cried out to God. I just knew, you know, I was in a relationship. I wasn't married. We were not married. I'm in a relationship. And I always tell people, you know, the Holy Spirit, he is not afraid of the bed of adultery. Because he just slips right in there. I woke up one morning and my children were with their father. Cause every other weekend they had to go. And my heart was so hurting and empty. I thought I wasn't made for this. I wasn't made for a divorce life. I wasn't. And I'm the one that did it. And so I'm sitting here with this guy, you know, that's an alcoholic. Well, I'm not sitting there, you know, I'm waking up, so I'm in bed, you know. And, you know, he was an alcoholic. And I didn't even know it. He was so good at it. You know what I'm telling you? Cause he was functioning alcoholic. And he was really, you know, really. He had alcohol in his system 24 7. Sometimes it was worse than others. But all the time that I knew him before we moved in, I did not know. I thought he was just a partier. And, you know, really, when you are bound by alcohol, you are a very inconsistent person. And it's funny, because his responsibilities with his job, he was. He ran a plant, you know, a shift on a plant. And he could do all of that functioning. But an alcoholic, if they deal with a thought, they will be so unreliable. And so I wake up and I'm empty. And I knew, man, you've done this to yourself. You wouldn't listen to anybody. You don't have anybody to blame but yourself. And look at you. And my life was so hopeless. And I had Already started to get depressed. Months before, I was almost non functional. So really, I didn't know. But I'm oppressed. And I wake up this morning, in the morning, and I thought, man, I've got to have God. I've got to. I can't go on like this. My heart was broken and I felt alone. Even though I wasn't. There was somebody else in the room, but I felt alone. And then the thought came to me, wait a minute. I heard somebody. I heard somebody one time say something about God that I had never heard before. And I thought, I know. I recognize his voice. So I got up on Sunday morning. Cause, you know, every sinner knows you don't get up and watch TV until, you know, the afternoon. Because every church service is on. There used to be something called afternoon movies or afternoon theater, I think it was called. We didn't even turn the TV on until then because we're not gonna hear anything else. So I got up, and I got up about 7:30. And I flipped through the channels and I couldn't find this voice that I had heard two years previous. I went back to bed and I remember saying, joni, I've got to find God. I'm not gonna make it. And of course he could tell, you know. And of course we could. You know, the relationship was just rocky all the time. Cause we're just two sinners, you know, we're independent, headstrong, we're butting heads. You know, we don't even know why we're doing this. We knew why we were doing it before, but we won't go there. That won't take you into a solid relationship. Listen, let me tell you that. So I said, I gotta find God. He goes, you know, of course he's hungover. He goes, you know, just wait a little bit. I'll take you to the little Catholic church downtown. And, you know, I'll drop you off or I'll sit out and wait outside for you to do your thing, you know. And I said, I can't go to the Catholic Church. Cause I need somebody to talk to me. I need somebody to tell me about God. Because I need God. I'm not gonna make it without him. And so I got back up and I turned the television on and I heard that voice that I had heard two years ago. And it was Brother Kenneth Copeland. When I sat down to listen to his program, you know, I probably didn't understand everything that he was saying. In a sense that I was not raised in, you know, the word of faith. Message and whatever. But the anointing that came over the television began to just calm me. And I knew this is what I need for the rest of my life. That day, I gave my heart to the Lord in the bathroom. And this is the way it equated God. I don't ever live. I don't ever want to make another decision for myself again. If you will help me and send somebody to teach me how to let you make every decision, I want you to make every decision for me for the rest of my life. And that was equal to saying, jesus, come into my heart. Because immediately I felt the darkness, God. Immediately I felt a love on the inside. And the most thing that I felt was hope. I've got hope now. Listen, I'm still in the same situation, but something on the inside is different. I know somehow that God from today is going to help me get out of this, because I'm in a mess. And, you know, there were things that instantly. Because, you know, I've got Christ in my life, but I'm untaught. So there were instantly. There were some things that I recognized, but there were so many other things that I didn't recognize that had to be changed in my life two weeks later. This is after I've given my heart to the Lord. And we start watching, you know, Brother Copeland. And of course, you know, my husband, you know, he's like. I go, johnny, come in here and listen to this preacher with me. Just sit in the same room. And he goes, I don't want to hear any preacher. He says, they all say the same thing. You know, they're preaching hell fire and damnation. And I already know that. I already know I'm going to hell. I don't need anybody to tell me. I said, okay, but just come in the room. Just sit in the room, you know. And so he got up. Of course, you know, it didn't take him long. He's laughing, you know, Brother Copeland, he just starts telling you testimonies and stories of his life. And, I mean, my God, my husband, they were funny. And he began to listen. So, you know, two weeks go by, my kids are gone again, and this was our routine. When they were gone, we'd go out and have dinner, and then we'd go to some bar and dance, you know, Western music. And so, you know, we did. We went to. But all of a sudden, while we're there dancing, it dawned on me now I had been there two weeks before. Dawned on me this place is dark. Same place. And I don't belong here anymore. I said, johnny, take me home. He goes, why? I go, johnny, I don't belong here anymore. This place is dark. And I wanted to go home and read my Bible. And so immediately I knew I've got to go somewhere where I can be taught. And so I told an aunt what had happened. And of course she had already been saved, but she didn't tell me. And. We've been praying for you. I go, well, why didn't you tell me something? So she said, let's go to church. I said, let's go to church. Opened up the yellow pages and found the biggest ad for a non denominational church. And we went and it was a community church and it was a precious church. And they talked about the love of Jesus and they did all that. But let me tell you, what they didn't do is they didn't teach us the word, what we had, what we could do with what we had, who we were. Now you understand, I'm getting doses every Sunday. I'm ordering tapes, I'm going to conventions. But, you know, all of that is far between. I don't have a steady diet of a church that's teaching me that I can be different on the inside. I knew something happened. And there were some things that automatically came off. But then there were other things. Like, you know, we were two headstrong people and we made a commitment. You know, listen, we're gonna endeavor to serve God. But I didn't realize that, you know, when you're an alcoholic, I mean, you're gonna need some help not to give in to that, you know, that devil. And so we were fighting about what we shouldn't be doing. You know, it's like, you know, he. I mean, the man is 17 years older than I am. You know, he's been doing this, he's been doing wrong a lot longer than me. He's really good at it. And so, you know, we're gonna try to live right, you know, we're gonna try to live right without revelation knowledge. So, you know, you tell alcoholic he can go a couple weeks without a drink, but then after a while, baby, he gonna have that big, you know, jug of wine in the refrigerator, you know, and it wasn't the new wine. Now I come home and I'd find that in there and I'd go, oh, no, you don't like, oh, no, you didn't. You didn't bring the devil into my house. And I'm telling you what, listen, I popped the top of that thing off and I threw it down the sink. And he's like, oh, my God, I can't believe you just did that, girl. So you know what he did? He got bottles. And he would hide them in the ranch. He'd dig a hole. Bury him. Now, let me just tell you, in his heart, he wanted to live right in his heart of hearts. But he did not have the Revelation knowledge. When I started going to church, he didn't go to church at first with me, but he'd stay home and he'd be watching Brother Copeland. And he told me later on, he's there on the recliner. And Brother Copeland, one of the messages, at the end of the messages, he said, why don't we just raise our hands and confess? And those of you out here, if you don't know Christ, I want you to repeat after me. And he takes them through the sinner's prayer. My husband said, debbie, I'm on the recliner, and all of a sudden, it's almost as if somebody catapulted me off that recliner. And I'm standing there in my bathrobe and my hands are raised up and I repeating the sinner's prayer. So he wanted. He wanted. But here's the thing about the local church. Without the local church and the instruction of how to use what belongs to us, we will live like everyone else that doesn't have power. Amen. Turn with me to Galatians, chapter six. I'm sorry, Galatians 4. Galatians 4 and 1. It says now, I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from the servant, though he be lord of all, but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the Father. Even so, we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. Now I understand what he's talking about. He was saying that the word. I mean, that the law was the schoolteacher. But then, now that we have Christ, really, now we have it all. But here's the thing that. Let me take a parallel here. When you are born again, you are a child, and you are an heir of everything. But I'm telling you, until you come to maturity, you're gonna live like every other servant that are. Living without what belongs to them. See, a child, when they're immature, they don't have access to everything that's theirs, even though it's theirs. You know what we do for children? We put things in trust for them so that someone else can help them. But they don't have that full Free access. When we don't have the maturity and the renewing of the mind. Though everything is ours, we are free, we are delivered, we are healed. We are, but without the Revelation knowledge, we're going to live like the unsaved, without rights and privileges. And so what happened is when I began to cry out to God because I was so hungry for the Word. And I'm in this community church, and, you know, I mean, I'm loving it because I don't know anything else. But of course I'm getting, you know, meet with Brother Copeland on Sunday. But, you know, any other time, I'm getting just, you know, this sweet. And it was sweet. And so I'm not trying to criticize, but I began to think we should be changing. This shouldn't be hard. And so my aunt invited me to a church, and she told me it was a Bible study. And I was hungry. And so when we went and we went to the church, it was a Word and Spirit church. It was a Word of Faith church. In the bookstore, they had Brother Copen and Brother Hagin and all that. And all of a sudden we realize, oh, my gosh, this is what we've been looking for, and this is where we belong. Because after every message, we couldn't wait to order the cassette to hear it over and over and over and over. Why? Because we needed these truths so we wouldn't be acting out with the habits that we came into the kingdom with. Because we didn't know we had the power to not be like that. My husband used to say to the pastor, he'd say, pastor, I want what you've got. Because the pastor had this supernatural experience, like, overnight. You know, it was like, you know, living for the devil and crying out to God. And the next day, I mean, it's like, you know, all he wanted was everything of God and all of the hangups. He didn't have to deal with them. So my husband's like, going, man, maybe I didn't get what he got. Because, man, I'm struggling. I'm struggling with a lot of things. And he's a private man, so he's not, you know, this is not dialogue that he tells anybody. He said, the pastor, I want what you've got. He said, johnny, you got what I got? He said, no, I want what you've got. And he said, johnny, you've got what I've got. And then finally one time, just this brief moment, he said, pastor, I struggle with drinking. And he said, johnny, you just don't know who you are. You don't know who you are. He said, johnny, you're a man of God. You're a man. And he began to say, you're a man of God. You're a man of God. And of course, you know, you have all the thoughts of regret, of all the things that your sin is so fresh. And the devil loves to play that on you, you know, you dirty dog. Remember all the things you did. Now you know how bad they were. You knew they were bad, but now that you're in the light, you know how really bad they were. Like, man, we were scum. And if someone isn't there to teach you on a consistent basis that you are a new creature in Christ. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. If someone isn't there, constantly reinforced, forcing that you live with less than. And I think that we have a tendency, because we have so much of it, we forget that there are people out in the world that need what we have. And we can't take for granted what we have. Because when we came out of the world, this was our lifeline. One thing we knew is that we would not last in a relationship. And only God knows where our lives would have ended up. Continuing to serve the devil and be under all that mess, none of it brings you joy. None of it brings you the satisfaction of knowing who you belong to and what God's given you and the fact that he wanted to use you. When we got to the church and they asked us to serve, you know, sometimes people think, you know, serving is like a bad toothache or something. But to us, because we were. We had this reality serving still in our minds of what dirt balls we were. We thought, oh, my God, we're saved and God wants to use us. That was the highest honor we honored that they invited us to serve, to be a part of what God was doing. Our lives now had purpose because the plan of God is always so much bigger than you. But if we're not careful. Cause one generation, two generations, they're growing up in the church and thank God for that. I'm not trying to glorify, not trying to make it glamorous that you came out of the world. But there are a lot of people that are gonna need the church. And if we don't understand how important the local church plays in the role of the developing, we're gonna take it for granted. And if we treat it casual, what about the people that need to come in? Do you know? In this society today, folks, there's Gonna be so much more messed up people that the church is gonna have to demonstrate in power to get them free from what they're being indoctrinated with. I mean, you just have. All you have to do is look at it. There are going to be so many more people that are twisted and they're hurting and they need power and they need relief and they need an out. And you know what? The church has it. But here, you know, Christ came so that we could grow up. So that we could grow up. And that's why he gave us gifts. Turn with me to Ephesians 4. 8. One of the things in the 80s when you begin to see a lot of the disrespect going on in the body of Christ. You would hear people say, you know, the generals are beginning to die off. And all of us Davids on the backside, you know, are gonna come up and they're saying it about prominent generals. And, you know, I would hear some of these conversations. And just as, you know, where I was at, I thought, man, we didn't even do that in the Catholic Church. We never talk bad about the priest. Oh, listen, mama, listen. You do not talk about what belongs to God. That's just not even in your league, you, Honor, you regard, you respect. But you know, my parents were the type that. Let me tell you something. If the teacher calls us and tells us that you're acting up, listen, we give them permission, you know, to take care of business there. And then we gonna take care of business again when you get home, you know, as a, you know, like preteen, you know. Cause I got married when I was young. Cause I was rebellious. But listen, 12, 13, I always thought there were some of my friends were doing things, you know. Cause they could talk their parents out of, you know. But I just thought to myself, listen, if I ever get caught, take me to jail, but don't take me home. I'll take my chances in jail, but don't take me to my mom and dad, because it's over. It's over. And I don't care what anybody says. I think that was healthy. I respected the authority that my parents brought into my life. And even when I rebelled, let me tell you something. Once I got out on my own, I realized how wonderful my parents were. You know, when you start getting. When you have to start taking care of your own stuff, you go, whoa, they were pretty good people. They fed me, they put a roof over my head. Why did I ever want to get out of the house? I didn't want anybody telling me what to do. And I didn't want to take out the trash. But now I got to figure out how I'm going to pay rent and buy groceries and put clothes on. Didn't take me long. I said, God, what is going on here? What is going on? And here's what God said to me. He said, how do you treat a gift that someone special gave you? You know, your co worker may buy you a gift, but it's different than your husband buying you a gift or your boyfriend, someone that you have a more connected, a deeper relationship. You treat it special. You know, your husband buys you a ring or a little, you know, necklace or whatever. You treat it special. This is my husband or this was my boyfriend. You know, back in the day, we all had those little prom. They were like, little speck, like, what is it, 10 karat gold? Wasn't even 14. I don't know if anybody remembered that. But, you know, your boyfriend bought it for you. So it's like. God said, what about the gifts I've given you? I've given you gifts and you should treat them a certain way. And I always tell people when I preach this. I'm not talking like this from the pastor's standpoint, this is what God said to me as a congregation member. How do you entreat the gifts that I gave you? And in Ephesians 4. 8, it says, Wherefore he saith, when he ascended on high, he led captivity, captive, and gave gifts unto men. Who's he talking about? He's talking about Jesus, verse 11. He said, and he gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers. Watch this. For the perfecting of the saints. That word perfecting means for maturing, that we need to grow up. And these gifts are given to us to assist us in growing up. Because when we grow up, then we can take advantage of what belongs to us. We don't have to stay saved and living carnal, which doesn't produce any good fruit in our lives. You know, like when we were first saved. I tell you what, listen, we fought. And you know, my husband is not a violent man. You can tell who was violent. But I'll tell you what, even after we got saved, you know, if there would be a disagreement and, you know, we need to come to a solution. I'm a communicator. And when he didn't like the dialogue anymore, he'd leave. He'd walk out, get in his truck, and he might not come back till 2 or 4 in the morning. Cause he found himself a bar or someplace where he could drink. And I'm there all night, you know, and at first you're ticked. I'm saved. I'm thinking, you know, buddy, you ain't doing this to me. I'll put those kids in that car, I'll take off. You won't see me for days. You won't even know where I was. That's what my mind said. But something on the inside said, don't do that. Don't throw your kids in a car just to, you know, prove a point to someone. I realize this is third generation church people. I'm giving you a new revelation of how people think out in the world. I don't get mad, baby, I get even. And I could ice you out. So first of all, you know, you go, you did that to me. You did that. You did that to me. And then after a while, you're going, oh, I'm mad, But what if the guy's in a ditch somewhere dead? I mean, he was probably went drinking somewhere. Then you kind of feel bad. And then, you know, 4 o' clock in the morning comes, and then 6 o' clock in the morning comes and he calls and he goes, hey, I'm at the plant. You took off all night long. I was here. First I'm mad, then I'm worried, then it's just agonizing not knowing what's going on. Oh, you did not do that to me. So the next time we get into a disagreement and he doesn't want to talk, he'd say, lady, my husband's not Mexican. Lady, he's a cowboy. You say one more word and I'm walking out. I go, oh, no, you're not doing that again to me. No, no, no, you're not doing that again to me. He turned around and I thought, no, I'm not staying here till 4 o' clock in the morning agonizing and trying not to give in to my flesh. So I ran and I jumped on his back. I put my arm around his neck, I put my legs around his waist, and I'm giving him the choco hold. Cause see, my grandmother raised us watching Big time Wrestling. I don't know if you guys remember Kenji Shibuya, Ray Stevens, Pepper Gomez. So I jumped and I give him the chokehold. I go, you are not leaving. We are gonna stop, settle this issue. What he did was he went into the doorway and he pressed as hard as he could until, of course, I was forced to let my hands go. He Takes off, gets in his truck, starts the truck up. And we live out in the country, so it's a ways before you get to the road. He got in, he started to drive. But the mistake he made is he left the window open. I took off running. I jumped in that cab and I grabbed him by the neck, and my legs are hanging out. I'm going. You are not going to a bar all night and leaving me here. By this time, he got so tickled, he turned the truck around, came back in. We started laughing. We forgot what we were fighting about. My point. Cause we were born again. We loved God, but we had some flesh issues that needed to be dealt with. And when we finally got to the local church and we got to the place where we knew, this is our man of God, this is our pastor. And the Word began to wash our minds. And we begin to realize we don't have to live like this anymore. We can live like decent human beings. Not human beings. Human beings. Mexican, not beans. For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry. We've got work to do. We got work to do. And when we got to the place where we know this is where God has planted us. And we got to a church where a man had been given a vision by God, and we knew this is our purpose, to help him fulfill the plan of God that God has put in his heart that is going to affect other people's lives. But it took that continual washing of the water of the Word. It took the pastor, you know, preaching a message that, how did he know? How did he know that that's what we needed? How did he know? Cause, you know, once we got into a church and, you know, things start to drop off, it's not like we didn't have a difference of opinion. We just weren't, you know, dramatic about it. You know, we learned to be civil with each other. But you get in there and all of a sudden the pastor starts preaching a message, and you're like, going, okay, here's my answer. How did he know? Why? Because the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit divinely directed him to say some things that was exactly what we were going through. And we go, I mean, that was just so amazing. Like, that day, we heard what we needed, and people don't understand. When you have been around the Word and you allow it to become common and you even begin to get indifferent about it, it becomes a duty. It's just a routine. You know, in our Catholic tradition, we had what they called holy days of obligation. You needed to come to these other days of service. You know, we had the Stations of the Cross right before Easter. We had Ash Wednesday. These were holy days of obligation. You know, sometimes, you know, if we're not careful, Pentecostal Charismatic, we can have a mindset that going to church is our holy day of obligation. That just appeases our emotion. But we don't go hungry. We don't go with the attitude that my attitude matters if somebody's gonna get something or not. And we gotta watch that. We've gotta be careful that we don't get in that mindset that it's just a gathering. There is nothing like the church, the services in a church, nothing to compare. This is your life. We don't put church in our schedule. It's our life. Everything else has to make an appointment around what our life is set on. And you learn that when you get plugged into a local church and you know that God's planted you there, and you there is where you begin to be matured. There's where you begin to be equipped. Sometimes people go from church to church to church thinking they're gonna get equipped someplace else. And what they don't understand is the equipping that God had for them was at the church that he had ordained for them to be in, not the one of their choice. You didn't choose your mother and father, and you can't choose your pastor. God ordains someone to speak into your life. And that's why we've got to be careful that we don't treat the local church. And especially right now, more people are getting fed up with a lack of results out in the world. And they're searching now. This is the hour for the church, the real church that has demonstration and power and has the word to shine. You know, we have a lady that delivers our mail at the church. And I didn't really realize this. I'm sure they told me. I probably didn't pay attention. For two years, she's been asking us, do you have open enrollment for your school? Cause we have a school and the building that we're in, and we're endeavoring to move, and we have a piece of land that we spotted out, and we wanna build a building and everything bigger. But where we're at, we really don't have room for any more students. And mainly our students are our church family. But she kept saying, do you have an enrollment? Do you have an enrollment? And she said, well, she goes, can you put me on a waiting list? Can you put me on a waiting list. This is a preschooler, and she doesn't want to send her child to the public school. And we've had a lot of phone calls. And really, what I thought maybe I might never do. I can tell that the Lord is really prompting me to realize that people out there need help. So my niece told me. She said, she came again today, and she said, I woke up this morning, I told my husband, I'm gonna go and beg him one last time. Because this year her child was gonna start school. I'm gonna beg him one last time. And it's a little guy, so you can squeeze a kid in there, you know? So she said, is there any way? So my niece is telling me in passing, I go give her the drill, tell her what kind of church we are. Tell her what we're doing. We're not, you know, not trying to indoctrinate her children, you know, but we do teach. You know, we talk about the Bible and stuff. And if she's willing to do that, have them come and take a look. And so I said, let her in. You let her in? Yeah. Hey, but this mom was, like, desperate. She's desperate. Her and her husband come. You know, our. I mean, we got people crammed all over, so it's not like, you know, this elaborate setup. We've got desks and rooms. And so she came. Her and her husband loved it. And you know what? They really don't care what we believe in the sense that it's not offensive to them. They want a safe place for their child, and it's a safe place. I mean, we know everybody. And it began to dawn on me how many people are out there that need what we have. Yeah, Rapture practice, which, of course, nose like that doesn't bother me. So really, it just began to become more real to me. People are going to need what we have. This is not the time to treat what is valuable to someone else casual. It was a lifeline for me. I couldn't have lived any other way had I not gotten to the local church and been planted where God. Where it pleased God. He places you in the body where it pleases him. And once I got there and I understood that, then I realized that without that, I wouldn't have made it. I wouldn't have made it. I had too many things of the flesh that I wouldn't have known how to not continue in that cycle. My husband wouldn't have known that he had the authority to resist alcohol. And after a time of renewing his mind. And he would testify to our church. He'd say, listen, I would say, I don't wanna. I'd be drunk and I'd go, lord, I don't wanna do this. I don't wanna live like this. I don't wanna be like this. And then the next time, when the urge hit, he'd drive up to, you know, like a little mini mart or something, you know, somewhere out of the way where someone can't see him. Cause he's ashamed, he's embarrassed. And he'd say, I'm not gonna go in there. I'm not gonna go in there. Oh. And then he'd go in there. But when the word begin to take hold, say, I don't have to live like this. I don't have to do this anymore. And he said. I began to take authority and say, no, no, devil. You're not gonna do this to me anymore. You're not doing this to me anymore. I have the power. I'm not gonna go. And he said he would tell our young man, he said, when I'd see a billboard, you know, an advertisement of the alcohol that I drank, he said I could smell it and I could taste it. That's how much it had a hold of him. But once he got in the Word and he got where there was oversight, you know there is an anointing in the church and anointing on your pastor for you. They know they're anointed. Our pastor knew what he was struggling with. You're not gonna tell me that he didn't pray for him? I mean, Well, I know he prayed for him, but do you understand? To help him receive revelation of who he was. And then things began to just fall off. But we had this understanding. Without the local church, though we were born again. Though we loved God, though we wanted to live different, we couldn't live different. Though all the inheritance belong to us, without the developing, without the maturing that takes place in the local church, we would have had nothing. Though it all belonged to us. It says, for the equipping, for maturing, till we all come into unity. Why? To build one another up, for the edifying. This is what happens in the local church. And like I said, here's the thing. Generations are in the church, and that's wonderful. But if we're not careful, we will take for granted what is a lifeline to someone else. Someone that is tired of how they've been beat up by the devil, Tired of what they continue to go through, what they continue to Give themselves to. And on the inside, they don't want to do it anymore. We've had people that have come out of prison, that have been in prison half their life. And when they got to the local church and their mind got renewed, they realized, I don't have to live like that. We've had people, people that were, like, strung out on drugs and their parents believed God for them. And when they came to church and sat under the word, they realized, I don't have to live like that anymore. May we not forget why we're here. And may we honor what God has called us to do and never take it for granted. Because somebody out there needs what we have, and we have it all the time, and we're enjoying it. I'm gonna tell you something. Living with a clean conscience is so fulfilling. I mean, and others want to live that way, too. But if you and I take for granted of what God has authored in our life, that to help us develop and to fulfill what he's called us to do, if we take that for granted, where will it be for others? You know, there are things that you're not going to hear until you come to the right place. When we got connected with Dr. Frank, Pastor Nancy, Pastor Nancy, she's the first person that I ever heard say this. And then when I reflected on my life, I thought, whoa, that was true. When God wants to bless your life, he brings someone into your life. And when the devil wants to mess with your life, he brings someone into your life. And we need to know. And the pastor that God has set you under is the life that God wants to use so that your life can be a blessing, so that your life can be blessed. And may we never forget that. And you know what? Because we hold that in high regard, we stay away from traps. We stay away from traps of getting offended. We stay away from traps of making them common. They are people like us, but they are anointed and they are set in an office. And the strongest force of that office only works for those that have the highest regard. When people don't regard their man or woman of God, though the power is there. It doesn't flow for them like it should. It's available, but it doesn't flow. Why? Because you have to have a regard. You have to be drawing on what belongs to you. And that's what we learn to do. And that's why we serve for 16 years, never knowing that one day we would be pastoring the very church that God planted us in. And I'm glad that we didn't leave. And I'm glad that we didn't take, you know, the step into. You know, we may have. There may have been a trap there, but we didn't let it deter us. There may be some things that came against us, but it's like, no, no, no, no, no. This is where God's got me. And I gotta get through this. I gotta get through this. Whatever's bothering me, I gotta get through it. Cause I can't leave because this is where God has authored my life to be built up and to be mature and to be strong so I can be a help to someone else. And it is all about being a help to someone else. Amen. Amen. 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.