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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Making Our Way Prosperous | Stephen Dufresne | Campmeeting 2019 | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Grant Dufresne, and welcome to Dufresne Ministries podcast channel. We believe that as you listen to this message, your faith will be stirred and you will be encouraged in whatever you are believing God for today. Stay tuned at the end of this message to find out more information about our ministry. Joe, come ready to hear the word of God. You didn't go to sleep yet? You guys are still here. Okay. Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. I want to thank all the ministry of helps, the time and effort they put into this stuff. I just want to thank them for everything they've done. They are a tremendous help to the ministers to be refreshed. They don't have to go out and eat after service, and it's just a great. So let's give them all a hand. They're just a blessing. There's so much that goes on here before you see it. There's. I mean, we clean the gutters out, we're cleaning the planters out, we're getting the air conditioner, getting the roof straight, we're painting stuff. There's just a lot of work involved, and I commend them for it because they love God and they want to serve God, and they'll be rewarded for it. Amen. Amen. I want to thank the ministers. I want to thank Pastor Debbie for her. Her sermon on Tuesday. And then Pastor Chris Craig, he's gone. All right, well, never mind. I take that back. He's out of here. And of course, Pastor Joel. Thank you, sir. Yesterday, when he was preaching, ministering, he was talking about waiting. And when he did that, it went off in my spirit. He's a tremendous man of God, and I can't imagine my life without him. He's a blessing to this church. We don't talk much, but I get it. I get it. He's a phenomenal, I guess you would say, author. He has wonderful books. You know, there's one about Christmas crumbs falling off the dog's lips. You know, I heard that one's good. And then I've. There's another one with a smiley face emoji. And I hear their wonderful restroom reading material. I did that for you. I knew you'd get a kick out of it. But truthfully, he is a blessing in my life. And he says one statement like, just joy. Just joy. And then we make coffee cups about it and all that. We want some more. And I thank you, sir, for helping me. And he makes it so simple, and his imagination is so vivid. Is the word I never saw children throwing stones in the pond of Bethesda. But he saw it. And I appreciate that type of diagnosing the Bible. And all those people that were in the front lost their place because of some 10 year olds. I was in church last night laughing about it when mom was preaching. I got to think about that. I said that is so funny. That's fantastic. It. Because it's probably true. It's probably true. They lost their place and the next tier of people came up. I got so blessed by it. Amen. And he knows how to flow in the anointing. Praise God. And he helps me. Praise God. But when he was talking about waiting, it went off in my spirit because I've been seeking God about finances, about building myself to be able to receive financial prosperity. Many people go to churches and many ministers. We can have a lot of needs in our life. There's people that aren't here today because they didn't have the money to come. And there's people here today that can't give an offering because they don't have anything to give. And that's not right. It's not right that they shouldn't be able to come because. Morgan, you got your phone? Will you pull up the word lack for me and the definition? Because they lack. They lack. And that word waiting was very real to me because people, many Christians are waiting for what? They're waiting for the harvest. Do you find it the state of being without or not having enough of something? Can most of us put ourselves in that place? Do you remember that dad used to say that God talked to him about that level of. I think it was the level of prosperity. And he would say that you should be able to take a whole year off without having to take any financial and still be able to do everything that you were going to do and still have enough over. And most of us, including myself, can't go without the next paycheck. Isn't it true? And that's a problem. It's a problem. And we're waiting. Including myself. I've been a victim of that same Jill. And we're just waiting. And it kind of goes along with what brother Joel was talking about. And people, many Christians because we get so word minded and there's not a perfect word that puts you into the next dimension of prosperity. And when I first started believing I thought confession just brings possession. So I'm just going to confess and confess and confess. But there's. That's. That, that's a key on the keyboard of Many keys to make things happen. And so we can't just take a key and just press that key and expect to get the desired wording that we need. And so we can't just. I mean, I. I used to just sit and say, thank you, Jesus for this, thank you, Jesus for this, thank you, Jesus for this. And nothing else is going on because I thought the words, doing all the work, and here I am sitting on the couch and believing. Yeah, it's one part, but it's one of many that we're missing. And that goes in line with waiting. Because people say, and it is part of it, that there is a harvest time and there's times, you know, that you need to believe God for things and there's a time for learning. But if something isn't working, why isn't it working? I mean, if a car is going only 25 miles an hour down the road and everyone's passing you, I mean, it'll get you there. But that's how we're living. We're living where it's not going enough. And it makes things difficult. I mean, and then we tell people, you need to come to our church and be born again and come over in the flock and God will prosper. And they look out in the thing and you got some busted up old Kia and they go, I don't want to join your flock. No, it's a good flock. It's a good flock. And they look like they all got herpes in the flock. They all got the mange, right? No, right. They're poverty stricken lambs. They look withered up and they're telling, harvest is on the way and they're dying. That's a little dramatic, like Brother Joel, you know, we kind of put our tune on it, our twang on it. But isn't it true though, that most of us there is. We're literally one check away from not making it. And I don't like it. I don't like it. And I think at some point you have to say, why isn't it working? What's going on in my life? What can I change? Let's go to Joshua 1:8. And I started doing a study because I've always known prosperity was for me at a young age. I knew I'd have one day I'd have a lot of money. I never thought of myself as being broke. I never saw myself being poor. I never saw myself with not enough. It's under the curse. Not having enough is the devil's territory. It doesn't Belong to me when I read the word of God, the way my life looks sometimes doesn't line up with the word of God. And I want to help you guys today to examine your life. Amen. Joshua 1 8, are you there? It says here, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That means you're never going to leave the word of God from leaving your mouth. Any decision you make, you run it through the word of God. But thou shalt meditate day in, day out, night. That thou mayest observe, that you will observe to do according to all that is written therein. For then shall make thy way that thy is you. For then you shall make your way prosperous. Sometimes we can read that and say, oh, God's going to make my way prosperous. He. He is making a path. But it says here, you need. You need to make your way prosperous. And then thou. You shall have good success. So it's coming back on us. Amen. Hosea 4, 6 says, My people are destroyed. For what? Their lack of knowledge. They don't have the revelation because you have rejected knowledge. Because we're in waiting. We're waiting because it's easier to wait than it is to go work. You can't go through proverbs without feeling like you should go outside and clean up the yard. Isn't it true? And to have transformation, we have to first transform our minds. People are practicing poverty, thinking poverty thoughts, saying poverty words, acting on poverty acts, and then expecting to have this great harvest. God cannot give over your ability to receive. He can't. He can't give over your ability to receive. So therefore you ever, when you first got a credit card or a bank account or a loan, they give you a certain amount of what you're capable of handling. They're not going to give you more. They're not going to give a teenager a credit line of half a million dollars. It's not going to happen because they don't know how to do it. They don't know. And most teenagers will. They'll get a credit line of maybe 1,500 and within the weekend. It's tapped out. Isn't it true? It's tapped out. And this is the way that we're waiting for our spiritual lottery to happen, when really it comes back to us and preparation. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. So we need to get knowledge. How do you get knowledge? By getting in the word of God, renewing your mind. And it's very important that we don't take poverty acts and we have to be very careful about what poverty acts are. What are poverty acts? Amen. So we have to be very careful. Amen. People like. And we can read Mark 11:23, and we can read Matthew 7, which says, don't worry about all these things. Don't worry, don't worry. But then it says, pursue righteousness. But people don't. They kind of leave that out because God's going to supply my needs. So we'll leave the righteousness out. And then we go on to the next part. And it says, how much more does God love us? Oh, he loves us so much. But obviously it's not working. Why isn't it working? And so I set out probably, and I've been ministering in this church.
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About.
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Seeking God, about why aren't things working. And we went through wisdom. You need wisdom to get prosperity. You can't stay at the level you're at and prosper. You can't have the same level of knowledge of a $500 credit score and expect to have a half a million dollar credit score. You can't. They have to see, what are you going to do with your money? What are you gonna do with your money? Amen. What are you gonna do with your money? God asked me one day, he said, why would I make you rich? Why? Why would I make you rich? We were praying and the next thing came up. It says that you can be a vessel, therefore, that I can give from. Okay, why else? Because people believe, boy, when my harvest comes in, I go buy me a new house and buy me new cars. God's not against those things. But we have to remember what is our ultimate goal here. Is it to get cars and to get stuff and to get new stuff, or is it to fund the kingdom of God? When I first decided I was going to serve God in the ministry, I made a very aggressive agreement with the Father that because I knew I was capable of physically making money, I could go out and get a job and be very successful. I know I can. But I told God, I said, if you won't pay my bills, then I'm not going to serve you. Because I'm just real like that. And I said, I don't mean anything by it, Lord. I'm just being serious. I'm being honest. Because at some point you have to be real with God and you have to be real with him and what you mean versus what he does and all that. But I said, if you won't find me, I'm going to go get a job and you know, forget it. But so far he has supplied my needs. But there's more. Amen. And I don't believe that God fails us. If we fail, it's on our own terms. Amen. So our lives have to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And so every Christian in here has that capability. I don't care. Pastor Had a ball is gone as well. But he talked about how he lived on. On that level of basically financial disaster. And we can become so accustomed to living on that level of finance, of financial collapse, that we kind of get used to it. But that's not what God called us to do. He didn't call us to live on the edge of financial collapse. Amen. And so God. I started talking to God towards the end of last year. I said, father, show me what I'm not seeing. Show me. There's more than confession. There's more than just saying, what is it that I'm missing? And I'm not saying I know everything, but I'll tell you what I do know. Okay? I'll tell you what I do know. The number one thing that he emphasized to me was a love for God. He said this to me. He said, most people don't love me. They like me. They don't love me. They like me. They like coming to church on Sunday. They like those things, but they don't truly love them. So they're confessing because the Bible talks a lot about loving him, that the people that love him are greatly rewarded. Amen. And so this was one area that I really saw that I had to ask myself. And I asked him, I said, father, do I love you? Do I love you? And I think I was walking out to the garage one day, and he said, I just heard it in my spirit. That's how I hear. He doesn't appear to me like some people, but whatever. And he said, will you give all for me? Will you give, you know? And I knew what that meant. From your house to your car, would you sell it all? Then do you love me? When you decide and you'll give all, even your life. Amen. Most people, they'll give God some time, but they won't give them their lives. And I had to evaluate myself. I believe we need to put ourselves under evaluation and say, and ask yourself, would I give everything to God? Would I do that? Because to get this God, like prosperity, I mean, when you read the Bible, there is such an abundance. And I'm going, I'm going, I don't see it. I don't see it. So I need to get myself in line with the word of God to see that prosperity in my life. Amen. But most people, and we've seen it, is they're believing, and then they kind of get distracted and the job takes over, and then they get pulled off, and before you know it, they're out. Or they just come when they can because their job is there, is their level. And you know what? Bless their hearts. I feel for them, but it takes getting in the word of God and a renewed mind and to get rid of all the junk off your life. The Bible says, gird up the lowings of your mind. That means all the loose ends. All the loose ends. And they would pull it up. They used to wear these drapes, and they'd pull it up and strap it around their thighs because it was a hindrance. They would trip on it if they. If. If it wasn't pulled up. So that. What's the word? Gird means to pull up and tie up. So you're getting rid of all that. Amen. Romans 8:20, You know, and it. It breaks my heart to know that there's people that said to their wives, you know, I would love to come to those meetings, but we don't have the money. We don't have the money. We don't have the money. And it shouldn't be so. I don't like to see people. I go to churches, and a good part of the churches that I've seen, in some way, they're lacking. And it shouldn't be so. It shouldn't be so. And I check myself. You know, there's been times in this church we've lacked what's. What's going on? Let's find out. Amen. Amen. Are you there? And we know that all things work together for good. Is that what your Bible says? Romans 8, 28. Is that where you all at? Are you guys there now or am I off? Okay. And we know that all things work together for good. For what? Love him that. Love God. Are all things working good for everybody? No, they're not working. They're not working. They're not working for people in the world. Things aren't working for good. They're getting worse every day. But those that love God, things work for them. Amen. Amen. One thing that God was showing me in his Word of God, in the Word of God is that I have a saying around here that it's. We have to be more like God. We have to be more like God, less like Us, because God is a giver. And I always say, who's God hanging out with? But do you know who's God hanging, hanging out with the people most like him. That's who God is hanging out with. God is hanging out. He's not hanging out with the carnal buckets. It wouldn't be right if he was hanging out with the carnal people, but he's hanging out with the people that are most like him. Most like him is who God is giving his wealth to. So we got to be more like God. What does God love? What does God love? Does he love homes? Does he love cars? What does he love? People. People. Sometimes as ministers and all this stuff, we can get so wrapped up in the everyday garbage and bills and all the junk that we forget. Not truly forget, but we can kind of veer off of what we're really supposed to be loving and what we're really supposed to be doing. And that's why God said, why would I give to you? Why would I give to you? So I can be a vessel to pour out to get other people this message. Just like Brother Canada was saying, it's about the message. Amen. It's about the message. We got to get this message out, but we got to be living the message. Got to be living the message in our lives. I believe our lives should be a representation. I didn't say that.
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Right.
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But of what God is, of what God loves. Amen. That we always have a heart for people. I always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, you know, I always try to see the good in things. And there's times as pastors, I know you need to have a bowel movement and knock all that junk out. I get it. But I come from a place that I used to not like people at all. I didn't. I didn't really care about you. It wasn't personal. I just really didn't care. So I had to have God change my heart because I could care less. Make it or not. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I'm doing my own thing. You do your thing. Leave me alone. You know? And so, yeah. And I've had to have God help me. I said, father, you're going to have to put that love of God in me for these people. You're going to have to put the love of God for me because that's what he cares about. When Jesus came, by the time he was 30, what was he doing? He was giving. He was giving and giving. And giving and giving to the point that he was sweating blood and giving. And they mocked him, made fun of him, run him out of town, and giving until there was nothing left to give. He gave all. He gave all. He gave all. And so we have to make that line of what we're willing to give. Every time I give, I tell myself, not just giving, to be giving. I'm becoming more like God. I'm becoming more like God. And it helps my. It helps because you know how you sometimes have that attachment, like, we're gonna get that, ooh, whoo, whoo. We can almost have a disconnect, like, Lord Jesus, you know, like, that's a lot of monies. But if money has you, God can't. If money has you, God can't. But when you say, I want to be more like God, I want to be more like him. I want to be more like him. And when you write that thing, you say, praise God, I'm becoming more like God. What does God do every day for us? He gives. He gives. He's putting healing out. He's putting financial prosperity. He's putting pastors in our lives. He's giving, giving, giving, giving. He gave to the first man, Adam. What did he give? I'm giving you. I'm giving you. I'm giving you. I'm giving you. I'm giving. And then we expect to have a financial prosperity, but we won't give. We won't give. And this is. It's not about. And I thank God for that revelation in my life, and I hope you see it too. But I need to become more like God. And to do that, I've got to be willing to give all. It's not about a number, because I'm willing to give it all at that point. $400, $500, 1000, don't matter. Because I know that God will never leave me nor forsake me, because money is nothing but a tool. And there's always more. There's always more. There's always more. I've got to get my thoughts straight. By the renewing of your mind. By the renewing of your mind. Amen. I'm going to jump here a little bit. I was at Long beach, and God was talking to me. I preached for Pastor Juan here and his beautiful wife. They've been so precious. And, oh, I think you came to the church, what, about four or five years ago that you truly started coming and your life has been transformed. Amen. He got in here, and they're actually living in town. Now. And he's getting the word of God put into him. Amen. I love this man. He's a precious man. He loves God. And he said, I got to get under Pastor Nancy and get what she has. Amen. And I honor that, sir. Thank you. But we were talking about your thought life. Proverbs. I'm just going to read it. Proverbs 23:7 says, for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So is he. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. That's who you are. What you think in your heart is who you are. Not what you say, but what you think. And if you think poorly of yourself, what do you need? Renewing. You need renewing of the mind. Renewing. And there's many people that they confess, but they really don't believe what they're confessing. They don't. And you say, brother Stephen, but I have a hard time. How do I do that? By getting in the word of God to drive out all the garbage that has been put into you from maybe a young age or something. The word of God drives out poverty. It drives out lack. It drives out bad thinking. Amen. I've never been a poverty person because I was never taught to be poverty minded and I'm grateful for that. I know everyone doesn't have that jump on life and I understand that. But if you continue to take poverty acts, all you have is poverty. If you're always conservative with money and try to save a buck, how can God ever get your credit score up? Because you won't give. Because you're so conservative that you live in a poverty. But the simple what's or what's the level? We should be able to take a whole year off without completely working and still give to every good work and still have enough to go down and buy a burrito every day and a Starbucks in the morning.
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Amen.
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That's the level we should be at. That's what you should first start with. And after that you can go from there. You can take 10 years off if you wanted. You may not have the work of the in your life. The money just flow in because you did the word of God. That's what Abraham did. He have to get out and work. He had 300 workers, all the money he needed. Why? Because he loved God. He loved God. He loved God. And we can't forget to have a love for God. That's the main purpose we're here, is to help people. Amen. To have a hunger for people, to help people. It's not about giving. It's about becoming more like God. To get this message out, to help other people, to get the revelation that you're getting. Amen. Amen. Don't let your job be your only source of financial prosperity. I don't make enough to pay the bills at my house. I don't. But we believe God that the money comes and he pays my bills. Amen. I trust God. If you trust God, he'll never let you down. I look back at my own life and say, has God ever failed me in my life? I'm very serious when I say that. I don't code it, but I say, God, I'm looking for a place that you failed me. And I can't find one. I can't find one. I can't find one. There's been times where it looked like they moved upside down, but it didn't. And I thank God for it. I learned something. I learned something. But we shouldn't stay at the level we're at. Don't get comfortable in waiting. Don't get comfortable in waiting. There is a seed time. I get it. There's a seed time and harvest. And I am in line for a great harvest. I am. How about you? Are you in line? Then you need to sharpen your spiritual tools and get ready to reap the harvest. You get your spiritual insides ready by renewing of your mind. Renewing of your mind that you can obtain the harvest. You have to be able to obtain it. God can't give it to you if you're not ready. Amen. He can't do it. And I said, lord, teach me how to have the faith for an airplane. Because every trip is a $25,000 trip. Every trip. Every trip, when you pass that Texas line is $25,000, just straight. And beyond that, it goes up, right? But how can I barely be able to buy a burrito and believe for all this money? You know what I mean? Poverty, thoughts, renewing of my mind. Can I make the finances happen? No. But I can align myself that God can say, you're ready. You got it. You got it. Amen. There is. You know, when Jesus, he went to that lady's house and she got the. The oil, you remember, the expensive oils, very high quality. And he put it. She put it in his hair. And the disciples saying, we could have sold this. They said within themselves, we could have sold this and made money, but instead you wasted it. Is it waste if you enjoy it? No, it's not waste if you enjoy it. I Want to be comfortable? Do you want to be comfortable? I could be comfortable. I'm more comfortable in a nice house with some property. And I'm more comfortable in a new car than an old car. I'm more comfortable in those times. And God wants us to live at the top. At the top, at the top. And sometimes we can get so bogged down in what we see that we lose focus and it becomes not even visible anymore to where we're even going. Because all the circumstances around us try to pull us down. Because when you truly love God and you say, father, I'll do whatever I need to do for you, the devil knows that. And he gonna show up and try to rob you. But you got to tell the devil, you get your hands off my money. Don't touch my money. In Jesus name. You can't have it. You can't have it. You cannot think failure and arrive at success. You can't do it. For as he thinks in his heart, so is he, so is he, so is he. Don't be okay with living. And I've already said this from paycheck to paycheck. Find out. Get in the word of God for yourself. Ask God, say, father, what can I do? Because if you won't give in the little, you're never going to give in the big. You won't do it. When me and Morgan have been under great financial pressure, I said, honey, we'll give. Let us give. Because I need to prove myself. I need to prove myself that I am ready to take the next level of wealth. Amen. Are y' all being helped today? It's failure thoughts that make failure. Yeah, failure thoughts that make failure. Amen. I'm just gonna read it. You don't have to go there. Do not be conformed to this world. That's what happens when we conform to salary. You conform to your job. You're conformed to what your parents told you. But be transformed by what? The renewing of your mind. The renewing. You have to build your mind anew. The word of God. Get rid of the poverty that used to be that you were grown with, and renew your mind that you may prove that what is good and acceptable. My dad grew up in abject poverty, real poverty. You know, he talked about it, and you guys can get tapes, and I'm not going to go on all of it, but at some point in his life, he was able to get rid of that poverty coat that draped over his family. He got rid of it. And my dad would. He was a stickler for the way things looked. He was a stickler. I believe God cares the way things look in your life. I believe he cares what your house looks like. This church is a representation of this ministry. The front door, when it's not clean, is a representation of what's going on in this mission. When the planters are full of garbage and there's junk in the gutters. Amen. It's showing where we're at. And if your house looks like it has poverty in it, I'm sorry, you have to get your life cleaned up. The renewing of your mind comes with some physical work. Amen. It comes with some physical work. I'm believing for a new car. Well, what does your car look like now? You won't even take care of the car you got. You won't do it. I got blessed. When Brother Canada was talking about that, he was talking about that microphone and he was taking steps of faith. Amen. I used to put. When me and Morgan first began, we put a picture of refrigerator where the refrigerator went. We didn't have a refrigerator. I was believing God for a computer. I put a picture of a computer and I was believing God and believing God. And we believe God. And within 15 years or less, I don't know the time frame, we've been able to believe God and now we're in a million dollar home. But it came from just what he was saying about putting faith. Acts like Brother Joel said, you got to step out, you got to pursue God, pursue the things of God. And I've been very blessed by my father because he didn't teach me to think small. If we were gonna go buy something, he'd say, well, what's the best one cost? Well, what's the best one cost? You know, somebody's driving around in brand new cars. Somebody's buying these cars. You say, boy, you don't believe how much they cost? Someone's buying them. Someone's buying them because that's why the price that high. Why not us? Why not you and me? I'm not okay with not having new stuff. I'm not okay. And that thing tries to get on, on top of me, well, what if it breaks? What if it doesn't work out? What if it breaks? What if it breaks and it costs, you know, $10,000? Stop it. You got to tell yourself, stop, that's enough. It's enough. You have to gird up the lowings of your mind. Those thoughts, they got to go. Until your mind is renewed, your life cannot be transformed. But we're waiting for the harvest, for our lives to be transformed. Amen. But first, we have to be ready. I tell this story, my two sons, he had a fake gun and a sword. You know, I'll just tell real quick. But he said, dad, I'm responsible. I'm responsible enough to have a real gun, one in your safe. I want one of those real ones. I said, you want one of those real guns? Yeah. I promise I won't shoot my brother. I promise. Promise. I want you, my brother. And Barry wanted a ninja sword, and, you know, sharp, you know where it's cutting. He wants a real ninja sword. I promise I won't hit my brother with it. I promise. I promise. But I can look at him and say, you gonna shoot your brother? And you will chop your brother's hand off if I gave you a real knife. You can't even qualify for a pocket knife. You can't. But in their mind, what are they? They're ready. They're ready for it. They're ready in their own minds, they're ready. But why don't they have it? Because they're not ready. They're not physically ready. Because I know they're not ready. And if it hasn't showed up yet, it's because you're not ready. But if my kids would renew their mind, I'll give you a gun. Okay? I'll give you a pistol. All right? But it comes with the renewing of our mind. That shows God, I am seeking your righteousness. I am seeking the things of God in my life. What do you want me to do? I started. The Lord really impressed on me. And anytime someone gives me money of any sort, first thing I do is, I say, lord, what do you want me to do with it? If I preach someone, they give me a check. I say, father, what do you want me to do with it first? Because if I don't do that, I'm relying on that money. I'm relying on the amount. Amen. Amen. So I told God, I said, father, I want to show you I'm serious. And if you tell me to give it, I will. And he's given it, and he's done it before, where he said, I want you to give to so and so. Whatever you get, give it. Okay, I'll do it. And when the thing rises up, man, you really need that money. I said, no, it's not about that. Because it's like giving someone a glass of water when they're thirsty, but they don't. How long is that glass of water going to save them a couple hours. I need to be planted by a river. I don't need a cup of water. I don't need just one check. I need a flow of money in my life. I need a flow of financial prosperity in my life. I don't need just a drink or a paycheck. This is bigger than that. It's not about one deal or one transaction. It's a lifestyle of transformation. Amen. Amen. Are y' all being helped today? Do you love God with your finances? Do you love God with your finances? And you say, yes, Brother Stephen, ask God first. Say, father, do I love you with my finances? And listen in your spirit Say, father, what can I do for you? What can I do? And he's going to say, I want you to do this. Oh, Sheeta, Maya. I don't think I heard that right, Father. I always want to be sensitive to what God is telling me to do. Have you ever had a name that just came to you for a while? Just someone's name, and you thought about him? You like, you had a. You thought about in the shower, you thought about them in the yard, you thought about them. And those are the things that I take. And I say, if I'm thinking about them like that, then I probably need to do something. And that's how it comes to me. And I say, father, I don't want to kill that. Because sometimes you can override that so much that God won't speak to you no more. You know, And God is looking for people that he don't have to sucker punch to get him to do something. Right? I mean, does God have to manhandle you by the neck and pull the money out of your wallet and throw it to the next person? Or are you saying, you know what? You don't have to do all that? I give it willingly. Thank you. Thank you. And then God's going to say, boy, you're able to hold more, you're able to get more, you're able to get more. Praise God. So I need to align myself. Get in the word of God, brother and sister, get in the word of God. Look at it. You know, look, this is what God said to me. He said, people want to act like the prodigal son, but have the riches of the father. We want to go out and have a good time, party how we want, do the things we want, but then come and expect God to fully pay our bills.
- [43:45]
B
That true?
- [43:45]
A
We want to act every way we want to act and expect God because that's what Matthew 11 says. Matthew 7 says, he's going to spy on my knees. Yeah, but you're not doing righteousness. You out living like hell on the weekends and then come to church and expect God to pay your bills. Amen. You can't just say whatever you want to say. You can't act just because you have a bad day. I'm gonna do whatever I want. It's not becoming more like God. Do you love God in your thought life? Do your thoughts line up with what the word of God says? Get your thoughts straightened with the word of God. God is not trying to rob you. He's trying to give to you. God has never robbed anybody of anything. Anytime. He's. He. He's trying to get more to us. He's trying to get more to us. He's not trying to rob us. And we can kind of get that mentality. He's trying to rob me, try to rob me. But it comes from an unrenewed mind because you're unrenewed. Amen. So next time you give, say, father, I'm becoming more like you. I'm becoming more like you. Every time I give, I open up my spirit to you. Tell me what you want to do, because it's not even my money. Because when you gave your life to God, what did you do? You gave your life and everything in it. Amen. Your life is his. But most people, and God's not a dictator, he doesn't say, no, you gave your life. I'm a manhandle. No, you're doing it. No, he says, if you don't want to do it, someone else will. And he's. What's the word say? He's going to and fro, looking for those people that will do what he wants. Amen. So it's important, isn't it? Important that we do what God told us to do, that we seek God first. I encourage every one of you in here, every paycheck you get, hold it up and say, father, what do you want me to do? Is there anything in here that I need to do? And you may have someone come up to you consistently. What do you do? You say, okay, I'm a blessing. There's been times I've given to people that aren't even born again because God impressed it on me. I don't care who he tells me to give to. I don't care. And I know this person's drinking all the time. If he tells me do it, I'm doing it. I'm Going to do it. It's not about the money. It's not about who that person is. I don't care if God tells me to do it, I'm doing it. Amen. Amen. I believe that all of our churches should be the nicest and cleanest and best places in the city. I do. I do. And I encourage all the ministers to get before God. If your building looks like garbage, that you get before God. There was a time when this building looked pretty rough. We believed God and got the money and got everything straightened out. But get before God and say, father, show me some things that I need to see about this church and about your prosperity. Amen. It's time to start living prosperous. Amen. Love what God loves. He's not taking cars to heaven. He's not taking houses. He's not taking properties. What's he taking? People. People. He's taking people. When you put his things first, he'll take care of you. Amen. Are y' all being helped? I'm trying to see where I want to go. I'll probably close down here real quick because I know you all would appreciate it. Amen. Amen. In John. I'll just read it. In John 14:21, he says, he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who what loves me. It's he who loves me. It's he who loves me and people that love him. I are getting the wealth of the Father. They're tapping into the flow of abundance. They're tapping in to the wealth of the abundance. That $25,000 for an airplane ride, Some people say that's crazy. But if you don't pay that, then you get the lady, the drunk lady, like brother Canada said. And you get all these crazy people on the. On the planes. The planes are getting worse, I promise. I mean, it's getting pretty sketchy. It's pretty wild. And I believe when you have nice things, it refreshes you. Because with old things, they're always breaking down. You always have to fix them with brand new things. It's nice. It's nice. And we should be refreshed. We should be in air conditioning units. We should have all that. We should be comfortable because God loves us. He don't want us to always sweat it out. There may be a time in your life where, you know what, when you're learning the word of God, you. You're learning the things of God and you're missing it there, here and there, but you're learning. You learn from your mistake. People Think they got to be perfect. The Bible doesn't say, thou shalt be perfect before thou get thou reward. No, it says, pursue. When you're pursuing, you're moving forward towards righteousness. If you're pursuing, you know in your spirit when you're doing wrong and you're going backwards, as long as you're going forward, you're pursuing. You're pursuing righteousness. Therefore, it aligns you with the word of God to manifest in your life. Amen. I believe this is the year that I'm going to get into that next realm of financial prosperity. Amen. Amen. You should claim that for yourself. Say, you know what? I need to see those things in my life. Father, I ask you to show me those things in my life. Show me when I'm thinking bad. Show me. Show me the Holy Ghost. What is. He's helping. He's helping. You got to tap into that. But most people think, well, that's not the way I do things. It doesn't matter the way you do things. How does he do things? How does he do things? Amen. Would y' all help this morning? Proverbs says, I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently, they seek me diligently. That means they are seeking God. Father, I'm looking through your word of God. I am looking diligently, and it says, then they will find me. Amen. It's very real inside of me that I don't like seeing Christians poor. I don't like seeing them struggle. It's not biblically. It's not. It's not biblical that we don't have enough. So I encourage you and yourself, quit waiting. Quit waiting around for this harvest. We need to align ourselves. Be ready to gather the harvest. Anytime there's a harvest, people are getting ready. They are getting, you know, now we have combines, and they get all this stuff going before harvest. And they have a window, therefore, to harvest. And if they don't have enough machinery and they don't have the right equipment to get the job done, what happens? The rest is void. They can't gather it. They can't gather it because they're unprepared. They don't have the ability to receive at all. So that's. So check your ability to receive. Make numbers. Don't ever go buy a house and say, I can never afford that. Don't ever see something and say that I had someone come to my house and say, boy, I could never have this. And I go, I guess you won't. You Know, because why? Therefore, as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. So is he. Don't ever see something and say, I can't have it. Don't ever look at something, a house, or whatever God told you to do, and say, I can never do that. Amen. From a young age, my dad taught me to always take care of things. And I think I was 14, I got my first motorcycle, and it changed my life because I became a perfectionist at that time. And I like things looking a certain way, and my dad refined that to a greater way, and I learned how to pursue perfection. You know, make it right, do it right, do it good. Don't just wing it. Don't just wing it, because when you start doing those things, it. It starts going into your spiritual life. I'll. I'll just wing it. You know, just wing it and it'll be all right. No, we have to be perfectionists because God is requiring us to be more like him. Amen. Amen. Are you helped this morning? Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. God said, excuse me. Jesus said, feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. And we have to remember, we're here to feed sheep. We're here to get people born again. And whatever it takes to fund it, you and me need to be vessels. Therefore, we can fund. Amen. Go ahead and stand with me. You know, there's that scripture that says, there was a man that went. I think Jesus was telling this, and he said, there was a man that went to a field and he found a very precious jewel. And when he saw it, and it was of great value. And when he saw it, what did he do? He sold everything he had to get that because he saw the value in it. And that's what the word of God is. It's that precious jewel. And when you see the value in it, you see the transformation in it. And you can see through what the devil tries to disguise and say, you'll never. It'll never work for you. There's times where the devil says that what are you doing is never gonna work. Never gonna work, never gonna work. It's never gonna work. It's never gonna work. It's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. It's not gonna work. Not gonna work, not gonna work. And I have to say, no, no, no. You have to put down those thoughts. Don't let those financial situations get you down and say, well, this is it. Because most people just waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. We have to be getting ready. There's a scripture it says, get your field in order and then build your house. So what does that mean for me? That means I need to get my spiritual life ready. And those. Then God will bring me all those things. Amen. Were you blessed this morning? Father, we thank you. We worship you, Father. Father, I thank you for the revelation. Father, I thank you for showing me that line of prosperity to keep my thought life, Father, and to keep my spirit turned to you. Father, I thank you for keeping me sensible to what you have. And Father, I pray everybody here has been touched this morning in a great way that they are seeing things like they've never seen before. And I thank you, Father, for these wonderful people. They are your people. And we are desiring to be more like you. We love you, Father. In Jesus name, Amen.
- [56:28]
B
Yeah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Do you know when we're ready for prosperity? When we quit thinking about money? It's when you're ready. Amen. When you quit asking money for permission to do what God told you to do. What I mean by quit thinking about money is that. For example, when I take my family or we go to a meeting, we go to a Brother Copeland meeting or go somewhere, I don't go in and check if I have enough money to make the trip. I put it on the schedule and say, buy me the tickets. I never go. Ask the financial department why. Because my thought is, I'm going to do what's in my heart to do. And money must shift up to do it. And money doesn't show up until you're doing what God said. Amen. As long as we're thinking about money, we're not ready. What we're thinking about is the will of God. What did God say? What did God say? That's what I'm doing. Amen. Never take your counsel from money. Whatever God said, that's what we're going to do. Amen. And then know this. God doesn't want you to cheat yourself in life to save money. That's not prosperity. I'm not talking about being wasteful. I'm not talking about being neglectful. I'm not talking about not walking in wisdom. But know this. God loves you more than he loves money. In fact, God doesn't love money. Amen. My family. You can be seated. My family. The FOF board. So good to me. The FOF board. When I celebrated 25 years of ministry, they themselves got together, just that group, and they gave me a gift of $25,000. And they said, this is for a trip. They said, if you want, we'll go with you on a trip, or you can take your family on a trip, or you can put it toward the renovation of your castle. You can do it what you. Whatever you want. And I sat on that money for about, I don't know, about two years or so. And then one day, God said to me, take your family. And not my children, but my mother, my brothers, my sister and their spouses on a trip. And we just took it right before this conference. And because my mother, she's 86 years old and she wanted to go, go back to Williamsburg, Virginia. She loves history. And so we went to Monticello, and we went to Williamsburg and we went, you know, to the Biltmore, my home away from home. And I love going to places that stretch me and make me not okay with what I've been okay with. And we would. We would be out. And I just told my family, I'm paying for everything. Don't try to pay a bill. I'm not going to have a dog fight right here in the restaurant in front of everybody. I'm paying for everything, you know, and we're not dog piling into one hotel room. And. So my mom, when she would be out, and my dad left my mother in very good financial setting when he went home to be with the Lord, but we would be out and I'd say, mom, you need this. She goes, oh, I do need that. Yeah, I need that. What's the price? I said, no matter what the price is, you need it. Doesn't matter what price. And she looks and said, oh, no, no, I'm not paying that much. I go, oh, yeah, you are. Oh, yeah, you are. Because once you get home next year, you'll never remember that you saved that money, but you'll always know that you have this thing you enjoyed. I tell you, it's an overhauling of the mentality. God gives us richly all things to enjoy. I refuse to live my life with necessities. I want to live my life with enjoyments. Amen. I have the most expensive pieces in my home, have no other function than just my enjoyment. I got it. I get to look at it. And that keeps me stretched. You know, the worst thing I could do for my children is dismiss them from the need for faith. And we give very fair salaries to our staff. And in fact, we've been increasing that even more. We're generous compared to what we used to be able to do. And I know that when Stephen and Morgan, God put them on a fast track to Faith development. Because when Ed went home to be with the Lord, somebody had to step up and keep pace with me because Ed and I were keeping pace together. And God needs more than one up front. Keeping pace because one will put a thousand a flight, but two will put ten thousand. You have multiplied results if you have people around you that can keep pace. And God needed my children to be able to keep pace. So he put them on a fast track of faith development and put a big demand on them that at the age of 30, I don't know, how old were y' all when y' all got the house? 31, 30. And not too many 30 year olds had that kind of responsibility. God put that on them. And Stephen would say, I don't know, how long was it you hadn't had a raise in what, 10, 12, 15 years? What was it? Something like that. And he would get up and say, I haven't had a raise in 10 or 12 years, in 15 years or whatever. You think that mattered to me? No. And you know what God would say? Don't give them a raise because if you step in and you try to be their provider, they'll never learn what they need to learn to keep pace with you. I don't let my parental heart override what their faith needs. Yet I don't use the faith thing that I'm developing in my faith to be cheap on people. Well, I'm giving you an opportunity to develop your faith when you're really just not generous toward them. And see, that's wrong too. And so I asked God when they were going a couple of years through the process of the home they now have. It's a fabulous home sitting on four and a half acres. I mean, in California, Fabulous house and pool and cave on that pool and slides. I mean, it's an amazing piece of property. I told him, I said, you better be glad your daddy's not alive. He'd take the house, free you, because that's just the style his daddy would have liked, you know. And so I would ask God, when they're going through that process, should I increase their pay? He said, don't you do it. I said, all right, I won't do it. And it wasn't just until they finished the process, about a two and a half year process. God said, now you can increase them. Why? Because now they've learned through the process what they needed. We need our faith. We need our faith. We need our faith. We need our faith. People think they need money. No, you need your faith. You need your faith. You need your faith because money runs out, faith doesn't. Avenues can shut down, avenues of increase can shut down. But faith never shuts down. Faith will always work. Amen. Hallelujah.
- [65:08]
A
Hallelujah.
- [65:10]
B
And just know this. Money is nothing but a servant. It's not a Lord. And when you don't, when we don't obey God because of money, it's still our Lord. It's lording over us. It's to serve me. That means I take an action. Then money has to come in and step in and serve, serve. But if I don't make a decision or make a move until the money is there, then it's Lord. You understand? What moves first, money or me? Me. I make the move, then the money comes. Amen. Hallelujah. Jesus appeared on one occasion when he had appeared to dad Hagin, he said the church being building ought to be the nicest building in the city. Now if that's true for the church building, isn't that true for the buildings that house your lives and your homes? Amen. When are we ready for that level of abundance and prosperity? When we quit thinking about money. Amen. Praise the Lord. Some people are so entrenched and everything is based on money. Based on money, based on money. In fact, when I talked to the contractor to renovate the castle that I have, and well, we call it Amy's Castle, it wasn't me who started calling it that. That's what the community calls it. And when I brought the contractor, I said, I'm just telling you this. When you get bids from sub subcontractors, I said, don't you dare take the lowest bid for me. I don't want the man with the lowest bid because I want to pay once. You pay cheap, you pay twice. It's cheaper to pay more. It's cheaper to pay more. It's cheaper to pay more and I'm going to do it. And I want people to have in the renovating, I want people to have an example. I want people to walk into my home and be challenged. Not because I got something more than them, but because I want to show them what God has in mind for them. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. That was good, Steven. Excellent, excellent. Hallelujah. He made some statements that'll just poke at you and jab at you. Won't. Yeah, yeah. If we're money minded, God's not being given the proper seat in our life.
- [67:57]
A
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