← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Praying From A Place Of Fullness | Joel & Amy Siegel | Mississauga, Canada | JTH Crusades 2024 | Monday AM
01:17:25
Loading summary
Transcript43 lines
- [00:01]
A
Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message.
- [00:09]
B
Good morning, everybody. Well, I am, as Pastor Morgan just said, an honored guest here in these meetings. And you're in the morning edition of the Miracle Crusades, Jesus the Healer Crusades. Glory to God. And I like to just say miracles in the morning and a couple things to say before we. We've already gotten started, you know, but a couple things to say about. About what goes on here. First of all, you know, miracles occur in a lot of different ways. And you have to. You have to be aware that the packaging might be different than what you thought. How many? Remember Naaman, the Syrian, who thought. He said, I thought that the prophet would come out and dramatically have a ceremony and, you know, smoke and lights and poof, and I'd be healed. But it was dip, dip, dip. Right. Was what he had to do to get, well, seven dips, not three, but to get his miracle. Well, what was the issue? He thought. He thought it had to be this way. And I'm telling you, God is a God of such immense variety. And glory to God. His plan is so varied. And it's his plan, and it's his plan. And did you know that miracles can flow when you're given? Thanks, thanks, thanks, praise, praise, praise. And as we did that, we entered into a place where you can receive and much we could say about that. I got to be careful to not, you know, because I have, like 50 directions. I really have to land on one. Right. So. So there's that. I just want to say that. Just be be aware in every part of these. Matter of fact. Matter of fact, it would not surprise us. As a matter of fact, we just expect it to be so that many people will receive answers to their needs prior to maybe somebody laying hands on them or prior to, you might, you might come here and you might not even need to get in the ministry line. And it can happen. It can happen when you're standing in line to get in the service. Yes, yes. Wouldn't. We're not. We wouldn't be shocked. Matter of fact, we're expecting that to happen. And then just while the word is being ministered in every part of the service, while the, While the worship is going on in every part, we're expecting the movement of God. And so don't. Just don't be surprised. Don't be disappointed. Don't be disappointed if you didn't get to have hands laid on you because you found Wait a second. Well, and this applies not to just minor things that you might be believing for, but even. And I don't say this to be sensational. You know what I mean? You know, it's sensationalism when people try. We'd say hype. We're not trying to hype. No, none of that. None of that. But even to the point of things that were missing in your life or in your body being restored. And we go even before, even while the Word's being ministered. Now, I say that in obedience to the Lord, because the Lord dealt with me that while I was ministering. I don't mean today, I mean just in general, that when I'm ministering and standing in my ministry office, that that exact thing would occur. As a matter of fact, Pastor Nancy prophesied that over me less than a year ago. So I'm faithful to. I have to be faithful to say that and tell that. Just to let you know, expect. Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. Don't be surprised. You go down to itch something. Wait a second. I didn't. I didn't have a. I didn't have a toe there. Well, well. So just so you know, these. These meetings don't come if you're not sure you want. If you're not sure you want something, don't come. I mean, because things happen. Things are happening. And we're excited for your testimony. Praise the Lord. Our specific assignment here in the mornings is the subject of prayer. That's an amazing subject. And it's not just a subject. And it's not just an activity. It's not just an activity. It's not something we just do on whatever night. Do you all have a prayer meeting here? Probably at some point Tuesday morning. It's not something just you do on Tuesday mornings. You might say, well, I don't do it on Tuesday mornings. Well, you should. You should come on Tuesday mornings. But it's not just something that you do on Tuesday mornings. Really. It's so much of your lifestyle. And when speaking about prayer, there's just. You have to give some qualifications because you get five Christians together, they'll have five very different concepts of really what is prayer? And how do we do this? And really, even what's the purpose of it? Because for most Christians, and you understand, I'm not fussing at you, not mad at anybody here in Mississauga, but, you know, I'm talking about the people in Hamilton. Hamilton, Brampton. Yeah, right. Quebec. So, you know, it's just for you to help other people. I know you don't need any help. But people's concept, you know, because. So most people, their concept of prayer is, well, if I pray enough, God will do something, right? If I. If I pray enough, God will do something for me. Well, we find that that's not entirely untrue, but it's not entirely accurate either. Right. And so these things need qualification, they need clarification and just some understanding of really to get us all on the same page. Because we're going to find out in something we look at here today that being on the same page, oh, that gets some things done. And so there's all kinds of. How do you say it? Well, I love the illustration. If you were here last night, remember Pastor Nancy used the illustration of the car with no engine, Right. How many know you can wax on and you can wax off, but you ain't going nowhere, right? Well, you know, you can have a car and you can have an engine in that car, but those aren't the only two components. And connected to that engine are just a variety of things like, oh, for example, a battery, right. And a starter. Right. And you can keep on going with this and that and this and that connected. So before you ever get to, okay, let's pray there's all these things connected. And if one of those items, for example, I think last year we were here. Well, I know we were here last year, but I think last year when we were here. Stop messing with me. I'll get it right. How would you do last year when we were here, I know we ministered some on this. If you don't know who you are as a new creature in Christ, if you don't know that you're right with God, right. You're not going to approach him with the boldness that's necessary and the confidence that you need, Right? Right. How many know the Bible doesn't say, this is the unworthiness we have in him, that if we ask. No, no. It says, this is the confidence. This is the confidence. This is the confidence. This is the confidence. All right, stop for a second. Okay, here's the. Here's the rules. I didn't tell you the rules. The rules of this game is if I say something two or three times, you better get your mouth in motion and say the same thing I say. Don't you make me come back there. I'll come if I come back there. How many remember watching when I was a kid, we watched the Hulk. Remember what they said? They said, don't make me angry. You won't like me when I'm angry. Amen. Well, I ain't gonna turn green. Glory to God. And if I do start praying, glory to God, you must say how. Well, I'm trying to teach you how. I'm trying to teach you how. Bless the Lord. Now, I don't remember what I'm saying because I saw you sitting there going like this. Confidence, confidence, confidence, confidence. This is the confidence. This is the confidence we have in him. So as an example of. See that your understanding of righteousness, not what we're going to talk about today, but your understanding of righteousness is connected to your prayer life. And if that's off, you're just going to pray differently. So really, those five Christians that we lined up, we could have each of them pray and just based on each of their individual prayers, really, if you're skillful, you could diagnose, if you want to use that word, what they believe. What's your level of revelation in your prayer life? Right. What are you praying from? Well, I want to look at another one of these things that are so connected to our prayer life. And if you. If you pray without this, you're going to pray real different. So I want to look at a passage on the sub on prayer. We see people praying in Acts chapter four. Could you go there? Praise the Lord. How many know. This is good already. This is good. I mean, just listen to me. If y' all come this whole week, you're going to be in a different place by the end of this week, morning and night. I'm just saying, you come this whole week, watch out, Watch out. You're going to be in a different place. Yeah, yeah. Believe it. Guarantee. Guarantee it. If. If you'll be an edge of your seat. Kind of Christian, you know what I mean? If you'll be. If you'll be all in, all in, fully engaged. So did you. Did I even tell you what I did tell you? Acts 4 better than I usually do. All right, so the setting of Acts 4 is this. Okay, you remember Acts 3. This might shock you. Comes right before Acts chapter 4 is Acts 3. Remember Acts 3? What happened in Acts 3? Somebody tell me. The big event, the big thing. Peter and John at the gate. They were going there at the hour of prayer. They had a regular time to go pray. Oh, it was prayer time. So they're going to the temple and they pass by the Beautiful. The gate called Beautiful. And there is the beggar. Crippled man. Yeah. Been crippled since birth. And he was. And he would be laid there daily and he would ask alms from those who walk by. So seeing Peter and John, he asked, alms, can you help me out? He had a little cardboard sign. I live in Colorado and we were the first in the United States. We were the first state to legalize marijuana. And seemed like after we did that, our population of people begging on the street went really up, up really quick. And so some of the signs are really funny, that they'll hold. And one of them, just one of the guys said, I'm not going to lie, I want weed. Some of them are just like, you know, God bless you. You know, just anything helps. And you know, five kids, five kids need to pay for my wife's surgery. And maybe they do. I, you know, I'm not judging, but anyhow, why did I say that? Beggar. Yeah. So he, of course. No, he didn't, he didn't have that sign. He just asking, he' to get some food. So Peter and John looked on them and he said, silver and gold, have I none. You might say, so how can you preach prosperity? Well, if you go by that guy every day, you eventually start leaving your wallet at home. It's just common sense. Just common sense. What, Do I need to give it a microphone? No. Okay, you just start leaving it at home. Come on. It's okay to use some common sense once in a while. So he says, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, such as I have, give I unto thee. Now, what did he have? Now this is the guy that was there daily. Peter and John probably came daily or often. So they might be on a first name basis, you know, and we know two of the names, Peter, John. So they're coming by there. And the day before, they didn't say this. Two days before, they didn't say this. They might have said the silver and gold have I none part. But today they had something. Well, what is that? What is that? They're walking by and they know what to do. Listen, I know how to do it. You put your AirPods in and when the guy starts to talk to you, you look at him, you say, Right, I'm on a. I mean, I wouldn't do that because it's not right to lie. But you know, other people do. So anyhow, they just walk right by normally, right? And all of a sudden now they're walking by and Pete and Peter's like, just look at me, talk to me, talk to me. So he won't. And so they might be talking to each Other. And some one of them said, wait a second, wait a second. Because when they walked by, something in them, something in them jumped. What was that? What was that? That's the anointing. That's the anointing. Something in them jumped and arrested them and stopped them. And they stopped. And he said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give, I thee, in the name of Jesus, rise and walk. And like Brother Hagin used to say, they did. God did. He did. Remember, Brother Hagin's always saying that. And it happened just like that. Well, that created a major stir, and it caused the government officials and the Jewish leaders to just freak out because they're always concerned about losing power and losing control. Religion, especially, wants control. Wants control. But Christianity brings freedom. Amen. And so they're threatening. They call Peter and John in and they said, don't you say anything else in the name of that Jesus of Nazareth. And I wasn't there. You weren't there. But how many know? We can imagine. You know, we can imagine what that was like. And I can just imagine them saying that. And Peter going, you know what I mean? Trying not to laugh, but it comes out your nose because you got it. You're like, right, yes, sir. Yes, yes, your honor. And they did say, listen, listen, listen. Whether we're going to obey God or obey you, you know, okay, we'll weigh it, okay, God won. We're going to obey God. Going to obey God. And so they said, don't you do it. Don't you do it. Don't you do it. You listen to me. Don't you do it. And so they threaten them. They let them go. That's the setting. You wanted to know the setting of Acts, chapter four. And so verse 23 is where we pick up. You doing okay today? All right? Verse 23 is where we pick up. And in verse 23, it says, and being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. What was that? I just told you. That's what I just told you. I told you all that. The chief priests and elders said, I might have embellished a little bit, but that's what they did. So they went back and they rehearsed it. And then he said this, and then he said this. And Peter laughed under his breath when he said that. And so when they heard that, they're telling all of the other followers that were gathered together what was said. And verse 24, if you look at me, it says, when they look with me. When they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is who by the mouth of your servant David has said, why did the heathen rage? And the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom you have anointed. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever your hand and your counsel determined before to be done. And we'll talk about this in a little more detail in a minute, but we get to verse 29, and they stop reciting some things that have happened. And now they're talking to the Lord. And they said, and now, Lord, behold their threatenings and grant unto your servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching forth your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of your holy child, Jesus. Lastly is verse 31. It says, and when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Wow. This is. This is something, y'. All. This is. This is something. So we see really. This is really one of our lone examples of the early church in prayer, where it kind of spells out some things, right? There's other places where it might have said they prayed, like when Peter was taken prisoner. Well, they were all locked up together, praying. They were all praying. It doesn't say what they prayed there, but here it says what they prayed and show some things. And just in this last verse. And there's some other things we could talk about in here a ton we could talk about, really. But in the last verse where it says when they had prayed. And actually that the way it says it when it says and when they had prayed makes you think that after they prayed this happened. The word when isn't there in the original language. I looked it up. You can look it up. Because I wanted to see that word when does it really give you a past tense thing? And it's just not. The word's not even there. So really it says, and they prayed and the place was shaken. So this gives me the picture of their prayer leads into this other occurrence. Yeah, they prayed and the place was shaken. What was pastor talking about? The earthquake? Do you want to get an earthquake inspection. Well, the place was shaken. Notice it says they were all filled. They were all filled. Their prayer brought them to a place of spiritual fullness. And what I want to minister, what's on my heart, to minister to you on, is prayer and fullness or praying from a place of fullness. Well, what would the opposite of fullness? What's the opposite of full? Empty. Can a Christian be full? Oh, yes, yes. Spiritual fullness. Can a Christian be empty? Listen, as a believer, you have a fuel tank. Right Back to our car illustration. You know, there's a saying in the art community. Great. I think it's attributed to Picasso. I don't know if he said it or didn't say it, but they said, you know, great artists don't. And the music community has. Uses this as well. It says great artists don't borrow, they steal. And I always heard that great musicians don't borrow, they steal. And as preachers. Yes. We steal each other's illustrations and make them our own. So my car illustration, That car's got another thing connected to it. It's called the fuel tank. Huh. And if you got nothing in that tank, you can wax on, you can wax off, you could get in, but it ain't going to fire and it ain't going to go. Ain't going to go. And so there's a necessity for the believer who enters into this practice in this life of prayer to. You want to get to where you don't just come empty all the time. Listen, listen. Again, not talking about the believers in Mississauga. You understand? We'll go all the way to Quebec, right? We'll talk about that. Most Christians live empty. Spiritually empty. Most. Okay, listen, really, most Christians in Ontario. No. Yes, yes, yes. They live spiritually empty. No. Okay, Mississauga. No, really? Really? Yeah. I mean, north of Erin Mills. Come on. Yeah. They live spiritually empty. Okay, listen, promise of. No, seriously, promise of life. Church. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you had a fuel gauge. If every Christian had a fuel gauge on their forehead or on their chest or whatever it was, and there's an F on one end and an E on the other. F and E. We all need to go there. All right? It would be, it would be. Well, you know that red part? Uh huh huh. Yeah, yeah. Most folk would be right there in the red. In the red. Living in the red. I didn't make up living in the red where I'm almost dead. Don't have battery left, don't know what to do no more. Yeah. Living empty. Living Empty. But God wants us to. And the thing is, you do have a meter. You do have a gauge. You do have a gauge. It's called your eyes, your mouth, your tongue. And we can listen to you and see what you say or what you fail to say and know how full you are. You can't fool anyone about fullness. You can't fake full. I said you can't fake full. Do we have those T shirts yet? Come on. You can't fake full. You are what you are. But fortunately, just like you can go up to the filling station and put that in. Put that nozzle in there, Your levels can change. Matter of fact, you can. Like I said, you'll leave here this week different, but you can leave here today different. But there needs to be, like, Pastor Nancy was talking last night about some, she called them faith disciplines, or we could say really spiritual disciplines. There's some disciplines that can really help you get to the place where you live more on the F side than the E side. And if you'll pray from that place of fullness, things will happen quicker. You'll experience more, and you'll be amazed. You will be amazed at what can happen. Now here's the great news. To pray from a place of fullness, you can start it empty and actually pray yourself there, because prayer is a spiritual exercise or activity. And I hope I'm not boring you. Too bad. But the way you get full. Do you want to know how to. How to get full? Do you want to know the way you get full of the Word? Now, there's two things you want to be full of. In particular the Word, and then full of the spirit and the way you get full of the Word. I'm not sure if anybody could figure this out without me saying it. How do you. How do you think. How do you get full of the Word? How do you think you do it? By hearing. What is hearing? Hearing is taking in the word. Genius. I came up with this. The way you get full of the word is you take in the Word. It's the same way you get full of pizza. How do you get full of pizza? By praying God, fill me with that pizza. I just confess. Fullness of pizza. If you want to get full of pizza, you got to make the call, don't you? You got to order the pizza, you got to pick up the pizza, and you got to take in pizza. You start your slice ministry taking in that pizza. And you'll get full. Yes, you will. You'll get full of pizza. And if you get Full of pizza and stay full of pizza. You won't have to tell people that I've been living full of pizza. Will you have a pizza meter? It's right here. It's the reason my jacket's not buttoned. Currently, the pizza meter lets everybody know how much pizza you've been eating. You can't hide it. Sorry, same thing. Just look straight ahead. I ain't getting in anybody's face about this. You know, the same thing is true where spiritual fullness is concerned. So how do you get full of the word? You do what you do with all those slices of pizza. You take in chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter after chapter. Thy words were found and help me. I did eat them. Eat them. Take it in, Take it in. And it's helpful if somebody doesn't have to shove it down your throat, you know, like a parent. You're going to eat this, you're going to eat this. That always backfired. As a parent. Does it always backfire. Is there any parent that's ever worked for? Huh? No. You can't force feed somebody faith either, but you can season it real good. You can season it real good. Amen. And so you get full of the word by taking in the word Amen. If you're not used to that, if you're not used to taking in chapters, try it. Try it. You might say, I don't know that I can fit all that in. Well, take one and then the next day, take in two and then take in three. I had, I don't know, a week or so, maybe a couple weeks ago. I knew I had to take a day off. And, you know, if you don't learn to rest the easy way, you'll learn to rest the hard way. I recommend the easy way. And so you learn to rest. And on my day off. Oh, I know what it was. It was July 4th. It was the July 4th because the Lord dealt with me. When holidays come out, you take those holidays and don't work. It's not time to write a book. Not time to do that stuff. Have a holiday. I'm sorry. Okay, so in America, July 4th is. I forgot where we were. Our Independence Day, we celebrate. It's our country's big holiday where we celebrate our country. So July 4th, and we're going to go for a motorcycle ride, which we did. And we were going to grill up some stuff, which we did. But I read half of Hebrews to start the day. Well, Hebrews is 13 chapters, so I just read the first seven chapters. Of Hebrews. Why? Because I like to eat on my holidays. And I mean. Oh, it was. Mmm, mmm, good, baby. Good, right? Come on, turn to somebody say good. It was good, baby. Just. And I felt. I felt full. Now, you can read more than that if you want, but I mean, just. It didn't take me that long, you know, just to. Just to read through and I mean. Oh, I was. I was good. And it made the rest of the day all better. So you can get full of the word by taking in the word. Well, how do you get full of the Spirit? This is what Acts chapter four says. What does it matter? Acts chapter four was talking about being full of the spirit. How do you get full of the Spirit? We know how you get full of the word. How do you do it? You take it. Your words were found. You can eat spiritually just like you eat naturally. I mean, if two or three of you, more of you would smile, just help me. It would help me. So how do you get full of the spirit? You take in. You take in. Now, let me explain, sum up. When you yield to the expressions of the spirit you're taking in now, Jesus made this statement. John 7:37. On that last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, as the scripture says. That's what we want. That's what we want. That's what we want. As the scripture says. As the scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Right. Let him come unto me and drink. But then he said, out of him shall flow. Well, why out of him shall flow? Because him took in to the point it started flowing out. And the next verse says this spoke he of the Spirit, which they who believed on him were to receive. But the Spirit had been. Hadn't yet been given because Jesus hadn't yet been glorified. You remember all that? John 7. So we eat God's words, we drink God's spirit. How do you do it? You start yielding to spiritual expressions. That's how you do it. So when we praised and worshiped God earlier with the team, you noticed that something in you started to rise. Yep. Something in the room started to rise. Things. Right. Things went higher and higher. And then when we just started. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. What were you doing? We were hitting the keg, sweetheart. We were. Those spiritual expressions were causing things within our tank to go from E all the way over to F. The only thing is, as the believer you don't want to stop at F. You want an F plus. How many know that's in school that's better than an F? Anybody. I don't know if I've ever heard of anybody getting an F plus on an. There ain't a teacher in the world that would give you an F plus, as opposed to a D minus, right? Anyhow, the only class I ever. I did get one F on a report card in high school. Can you believe it? Folk like, yeah, we're faith people. We'll believe anything you tell us. Physical education. It's like, I can look at you and tell that it's because the gym was right past the band hall and I was music and I would go and something would just grab hold of me and make me turn in. And so I didn't show up enough to pass. Anyhow. Praise the Lord. Friends, we're talking about living in a place of fullness. So your meter wants to F. F you want to be. See, God's definition of full, you understand, is different than our definition of full. You want to pray from the place of fullness. Now, when they did in Acts, chapter four, what happened? Because they weren't empty when they came. How do you know the prayer they prayed. The prayer they prayed wasn't an empty Christian's prayer. What was their prayer? It started like this. God, creator of everything. They put. They immediately put. The first thing that came out when they started to pray was, okay, let's just. Let's just talk about. Let's remind ourselves just how unfathomably big the one within us is. So God, who has made heaven and earth and the sea and everything that's in them. And then they went right to the Word, who, by the mouth of your servant David, said, why are the heathen raging? They're heathen. They're heathen. That's why they're raging. They got devils. That's why they're so upset, right? And they're like reminding themselves it's not us, it's them, it's them. And they get. They're talking about how big God is. God, God, you're so big. And you said this, and it came to pass, and you said. And you prophesied this. And that happened when Herod got all upset and Pontius Pilate, and then the Gentiles and the Jews together all got together against the Christians. That. That was you. You knew that was going to happen. You said that was going to happen. That's their prayer. That's a full person's prayer. So they came to prayer from a place of fullness. What's it sound like in contrast when an empty person comes and prays? I mean, I can't illustrate it, but maybe some of you could. No, I'm just kidding. I'm just praying. I'm just praying. I'm just praying. I'm just playing. I'm just playing. Sorry, not sorry. Nobody here. I understand nobody here. But you've heard people pray empty prayers. I don't know if it was the last one of the Crusades ago. I talked about my friend Steve. Some of you remember Steve. I needed help. And I asked this guy Steve, who was a believer. He was born again. I asked Steve could pray for me. I feel like I might die. I was having like this major anxiety and my heart was doing symptoms and stuff. This is not last week. This is many, many years ago. But anyhow, I'm saying, Steve, you got to pray. And he starts blessing the food. No, that's the only prayer. Only prayer. It's the only prayer. He knew we were in a vehicle together. He's driving. Our most gracious heavenly Father, you know, it was that we bring our brother to you. No faith. No faith, no expectation. I could have died. I could have. If it was up to that. That's an empty prayer from an empty person. Come on, you want to get that meter to go that way. Come on, do it with me. Come on, everybody, get that meter up. You want to. You can pray yourself to a place of fullness, but then you want to live full so that you can pray from a place of fullness.
- [42:11]
A
Right?
- [42:12]
B
You want to pray from that place of fullness. Like they did. Like they did. And so what they did is they went from full to over full to over full. And not only were they refilled and topped off, they were so full that the place, that which they were gathered together, the place shook. What was that? What was that? Anybody ever read in Hebrews chapter 12 where it says having then a kingdom which cannot be moved or cannot be shaken. Kingdom which cannot be shaken. Well, if the kingdom can't be shaken, then anything it comes in contact with can be shaken. When the God realm manifested in the earth realm, what could be shaken, shook. Glory to God. And so we want to get to this place where we live and pray, pray, pray from a place of fullness. But the good news is, if you're not there now as we pray, what is prayer? Spiritual activity. What does spiritual activity constitute? Drinking. And as you continue in spiritual activity, your meter rises. And you get full. And you don't have to stop when it hits F. You don't have to stop when it hits F. You can keep. You can keep going. You can keep going. And, well, we're going to do this. Going to do some of this today. Praise the Lord. You know, when we were thanking God earlier, praise, worship, thanksgiving, all of that is spiritual activity. And as you continue in it, your level of fullness rises. Praying in other tongues, that's spiritual activity. It's a spiritual expression. Your spirit yielding to the Holy Spirit. And as you engage in that, you can get more full. The only thing is, if you stop after two minutes, you're only. You're not going to get very full because if you just. If you try to fill a gallon container with an eyedropper, you'd have to go for a while. You could get it there. You could get it there, but you have to go for a while. And so full Christians have no problem just jumping in to prayer. And it's easy. It's an easy flow for them, and they jump right in and we start going places. Empty Christians, it's a struggle. Ask me how I know. No, really, thank you. I know because I've lived more towards empty for quite a long time. Part of my Christian life. I mean, not today, but I mean, in times past, I lived there. Way more towards empty. How can you tell? I got a meter on me, just like you got a meter on you. What's coming out of my mouth? What does my face even look like? Huh? You know, when you're empty spiritually, everything kind of wears heavier on you. You know what I mean? Just wears heavier on you. You just look like you're about two steps from being done, but the full person's lit. You know what I'm saying? You lit up. You just. Full person. Well, you know, here's my favorite illustration. You got time for just one more illustration? Okay, we are going to pray. But we're good. We're good. We're good. I mean, you obviously don't have to be at work right now because you're here. So we're good. Now, if you ever wash a car by hand, Wax on, wax off. But that's the waxing. But if you get one of those big sponges, you know what I mean? The big sponges for washing the car, you get that big old sponge and you get yourself a bucket of soapy water and you put that sponge in there and. And you wash the car and then you put that sponge. Let's just Say you set that sponge on the pavement in the sun, and you're finishing up drying the car, making it look all pretty and stuff. And then you go take care of some other business, do some other things, get you a glass of iced tea or whatever. And then later you come out and you realize you left your stuff out. So you pick up that sponge. Been sitting in the sun for couple hours now. What's that sponge like? Could you get a drop of water out of it? Maybe if you squeezed hard enough, right? I mean, if you really strained right, and you squeezed, you might get a plop. And I've been around. Let me look in the center here. So I'm not looking at anybody, but there's a whole lot of Christians. You squeeze. Squeeze them hard enough to go, amen, Just squeeze. But now let's say you get done washing the car, and instead of setting the sponge down on the driveway, you put it back in the bucket. I didn't know you was. I'd be standing here the whole time if I knew you was here. You put it back in the bucket and then you dry off and you pretty things up and you get all ready and you go in and get your iced tea and you do your other stuff, same stuff you did before, and you go out there to clean your stuff up and you pick that sponge up, huh? What is that sponge? Now that sponge is full. And all you have to do is look at the sponge and go, wah, wah. Yeah, that's good, brother. I like being around full Christians. You know why I like being around full Christians? Cause all you gotta do is look over at them. They're like, wow, glory. Maybe you know what I mean? Maybe just not as they're going about their business. But I mean, it doesn't take anything to. Doesn't take anything. Just a little woo. Just a little poke. Just a little poke will get it there. Amen. Well, like I said in closing, means nothing. Like I said, one of the ways to move into greater fullness is by praying in other tongues. Amen. Which is what I'd like us to do today here. And I'll just tell you this. Going to pray like they prayed. And I want you to notice one of the things that. Or call your attention to one of the things we read is it said they lifted up their voice in one accord. They lifted up their voice. Now it says the essence of what they prayed doesn't mean that's what they prayed word for word, and that was it. And I mean, I don't know how like Luke was the one who wrote Acts. I don't know if that's the Holy Spirit just impressed upon him. Hey, this is what. The essence of what it was. And they were praying in tongues. I don't know the particulars. Neither do you. It's just not in there. But we know that they. They. All of them. All of who? All of who. It actually says they went to their own company. They went to their own company, their own people. You got to have your. You got to have your company. You got to have your people. You got to have your place that you go. You got to have it. You got to have it. Some folks might say, well, I just don't have. You know, I just don't feel like I feel fit. No, you have to have God. Jesus said, I will not leave you orphans. There is no believer that God does not have a place of feeding for now. Unless there's just nothing in your area. Then you start praying, am I in the right area? Do I need to change area? Or do we need to pray that pastor in. You know, because God has. God has a company. God has a company. God has a company for every person. So they went to their own company. And then they all who were gathered mumbled with one accord. I closed my Bible just a little too quick. Forgive me. I'm not under pressure. Back in Acts 4. Here, let me just make sure I get it right, okay? When they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God. They lifted up their voice. They lifted up their voice. What's it mean to lift up your voice, Josh? Has anybody ever lifted up their voice to you? Huh? Yeah. Don't lie in church. Has anybody ever lifted up their voice to you? You don't want to answer. Is it true? Is that your middle? Drew, you're looking at me like, I don't know who this is. I don't know who this is. And how do they know my name and it's not my name? Is your name Drew? Yes. Yes, sir. Okay. Has anybody ever lifted up their voice to you?
- [53:58]
A
Yeah.
- [53:59]
B
Yeah. Who? Your brother. Your brother. All right, you free? You're free. Your brother, when he lifted up his voice to you, was it a whisper? No. What was. What's lifted up their voice mean? He sh. Put your head up. Give me. Don't you leave me hanging here. Don't you leave me hanging here. I know where you live. Lifted up their voice. Lifted up their voice. When his brother lifted up his voice to him, And his parents are like, oh, thank you, Jesus. When his brother lifted up his Voice to him. It was audible. It was a strong voice. I watched, Brother. They had. What's the conference in Texas you were just at? Believers Southwest. I wasn't privileged to attend, but I watched some of it online and I watched brother Bill Winston, who always. He has the audience to read the scriptures, and he stopped everybody and he said, no, use your best voice. Oh, I like that. I like that. Use your best voice. You're reading God's word. Use your best voice. Because what were they doing? And they lifted up their voice to God. They lifted up their voice. They lifted up their voice to God. You're talking to God. And so they lifted up their voice in one accord. In one accord. That means they didn't let two people carry it. And everyone else just sat there. Come on, sis. Come on, bail me out. Help me out. They didn't. Come on. They didn't just let everybody else. Sorry. They didn't give me a microphone today. We doing okay? Okay. No, no, no. Okay. Lift it up there, boy. You ready to pray? Because Lord knows I could keep going. And I don't need to just keep going. Share something. Share with us. I didn't even hear it. I didn't. You can hear what they say. What? You got to correct. ADD help, help, help.
- [56:30]
A
We're not just talking about being loud. To be loud.
- [56:33]
B
No, no, no, no.
- [56:34]
A
We're just talking about praying to pray. Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and you know they're not listening?
- [56:43]
B
Yes.
- [56:53]
A
What was their day? Or has someone ever been talking to you and you walk away and think, I have no idea what they just said. We're going to be kind today. I am. Praise the Lord. Why was that? Because you didn't engage your mind with what was happening in the room. Just because we're praying in other tongues doesn't mean our mind is not involved. Our mind is not involved in natural things. We are not making a grocery list while we are praying. We are not thinking about everything else that needs to be done today while we're praying. We're not thinking about how big the problem is while we're praying to God and talking about the problem. We are in one accord, mind and spirit, as well as one accord in the room we are all in. We are engaged. My mind is connected to my heart. And even though I might be saying something in a language I don't understand, my mind is set on him and his things. And I'm expanding, expecting him to hear an answer. I'm expecting to walk out of this place knowing and having the boldness I need to fulfill what he's called me to do. It doesn't matter. That's what they were doing. Acts 4. God, that's what they say. But we know who you are. And therefore we're coming in boldness because of who you are and what you've called us to. And we're yielding to your spirit, to faith. Fill up to the point where we go out and get this job done, where we go out and get this thing accomplished. And that's why we're saying our voice is engaged. We're lifting up our voice. We're, we're interested in this time because it's accomplishing God's purpose.
- [59:10]
B
The thing about it is what circumstances were they dealing with? This was serious stuff. This was basically, it looked in the natural, like, okay, this is the end of. We have. We're like a couple years away from Jesus, having ascended, gave us this great commission. And here's the end right here. This is the end. And sometimes we don't have enough pressure on us, but I'll just put it on you today. Praise the Lord. We're going to pray.
- [59:37]
A
Jesus.
- [59:38]
B
We're going to pray and we're going to. We're going to, you know, we'll start out. I'll just lead in English. We'll start out lifting our voice together and we're going to pray in other tongues. I want to invite you to participate. And we also understand there may be, there may be people here, maybe a number of people here. You've never spoken in tongues before. You've never prayed in other tongues. And time doesn't permit this morning or right now for us to take you maybe through all the scriptures. But I'm telling you, if you just believe God and start one thing I would have you do, get find somebody who is praying out loud, get next to them, and by faith you can jump in. Don't need to pray a certain prayer. I mean, that is one way to receive. But just for today. And then if you want some help, then I would tell you that the leaders here in this church can help you get filled, because this is for every believer. Amen. You ready to pray together? Hey, let's start out. Just to change your position. Let's start out standing up, and then once we start praying in other tongues. You want to sit back down? You can sit back down. You do you. Father, today we're so grateful to be your children. Thank you for who you are, for your greatness, for the largeness of you. Thank you Father, that you do exceeding abundantly. Above all we could ask or think according to the power at work within us. Glory to God. So we thank you, Father, for your great plan that what you're doing in our day, particularly, Father, the healings, the miracles, the signs, the wonders, that which would draw the world to you. We thank you for it. We praise you for it. And we thank you for causing us to speak your word with boldness, causing us to be the hands you use to heal. We thank you that it comes to pass now in our day, in our hour, in Jesus name. And we yield to the utterances of the Spirit to help us in this regard. Let's say. Conference. Yes. Oh, my. The rivers. The rivers. The rivers. The rivers rise. The rivers rise. And ralot. And legand. And lancet. And star. And star. And star. And star. The ratist. And star. The rataling. And the fruit. And the fruit. And the fruit expands. And the fruit expands beyond the area. And the fruit expands to the surrounding areas. And the fruit expands beyond, beyond, beyond. Beyond what we've experienced, expected. Beyond what we may have thought, beyond what we originally planned. Oh, my. Oh, my. God. Yeah.
- [66:57]
A
Canada.
- [67:22]
B
Sabrina. Oh, my. Train them. Train them to Rakesh. Train them to train them for the rakali. Oh, my, my.
- [68:13]
A
Yes.
- [68:18]
B
More of the castanet to be trained. The. Fullness, the fullness.
- [69:44]
A
The fullness of the plan.
- [69:47]
B
The fullness of the plan. The fullness of the plan doesn't come without. In the mindset.
- [71:38]
A
Praying.
- [71:42]
B
Lagado. Darn. For the day, sam. Okay. Canada.
- [74:05]
A
Canada. Rivers flowing in. Canada. Rivers flowing in.
- [74:37]
B
Thank you, Thank you for the laborers in Canada.
- [75:02]
A
Thank you for the laborers in Canada. Thank you for the laborers in Canada. Oh, thank you, thank you.
- [75:08]
B
That they raise up.
- [75:09]
A
They're rising up. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh, thank you.
- [75:13]
B
Ah.
- [75:14]
A
Not just rising up, but filling up, filling up, filling up, filling up. Thank you, Father, for the full laborers. Thank you for the fullness of the laborers.
- [75:24]
B
Oh, my.
- [75:25]
A
Oh, thank you. That their eyes will see yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That the eyes of their heart would be enlightened to see and to know all the purpose the purpose of the flow. The purpose of the flow.
- [75:38]
B
Yes, yes, yes, yes. Sending the laborers.
- [75:47]
A
Sending the laborers.
- [75:49]
B
Sending the laborers.
- [75:59]
A
The utterance would flow. Go into the world. Go into the world.
- [76:08]
B
Yes, yes.
- [76:09]
A
Go into the world with the fullness of God.
- [76:13]
B
Yes, yes.
- [76:13]
A
With the fullness of him. That's where healings begin.
- [76:22]
B
Yes.
- [76:26]
A
Canada.
- [76:27]
B
Yes. Yes.
- [76:59]
A
Thank you for the laborers. Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you. 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.