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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Prepare For Your Purpose | Nancy Dufresne | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. How many of you know that campmeeting there were things said for us specifically that we need. Right. So we want to go back and revisit some of the things that God said to us at campmeeting because it's important to the plan of God and it's important to our lives that we get it then. Also in keeping with that, Morgan preaching last week was preaching on running the race. And so I want to pick up on that and just keep going that same direction. Amen. It's a little bit basy up here. Give me a little bit of brightness. Thank you. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. So turn with me this morning. Let's go to Ephesians chapter two. Ephesians, chapter two. Before we read that passage, I want to quote something that Pastor Chris Cody said in his morning meeting during camp meeting. And I'm paraphrasing probably because it came off my notes, so. But basically he said this, and I'll try to take credit for it. No, I'm just kidding. He made this statement, what kind of end do you want? We should want one that is peaceful and glorifying what we do every day is going to determine what kind of end we will have. And he's talking about our finish. What's our finish look like? Think about it and pay attention to what you do every day. When with the end in mind. What's that mean? With your purpose in mind, are you going to be able to say, I finished or I just fell or I got knocked out of the race. We want to finish. Right. We can't live our life out of order and have the kind of results God has for us. Part of order is preparing for what's ahead. Now listen to that phrase. Part of order is preparing for what's ahead. Even if we are being faithful at the place we are today, we still have to save time to prepare every day for what is ahead or we won't qualify for where we are headed. Lack of preparation will disqualify us. Now listen to that phrase. Lack of preparation will disqualify us. He didn't say sin. He didn't say missing God. Just not being prepared. Lack of preparation will disqualify us. We shouldn't just be trying to get to the end of the day without preparing for where we are headed. You can't just let life happen. You have to make life happen. What's that mean design your life, don't just float through life. Amen. And so when this statement has stuck out so large to me, part of order is preparing for what's ahead. What's that mean? Living mindful for where you're headed now. Don't misunderstand me. You need to be all in in today. Because there are some people who all they do, they think about where they're headed and they don't even give their all for where they're at because they're thinking about what they want of their own and they're not giving the man that's paying them today all. You should be giving your all today to the man who's paying you today. But be mindful, have it in the forefront of your mind. I'm headed somewhere. What am I doing today about where I'm headed? Amen. And I made this statement, and I refer to this in the monthly defrain Ministries letter that I wrote and I made this statement. It's so easy for us to get to the place where we're just dealing with the things that arise today. Instead of designing our life and designing our day with our God given purpose in mind. Are we making certain that we are giving ourselves to every. Are giving ourselves to something every day that's going to help us arrive at God's best? Are we prepared to go where God wants to take us? No matter where we are in the plan of God, God always wants to take us further. And before he can do that, we must be prepared to go further. With that in mind, we have to order our days so that we make time to Prepare. So Ephesians 2:10 the amplified translation reads. For we are God's own handiwork, his workmanship recreated in Christ Jesus born anew. Born anew. That's the recreation in Christ Jesus we are born anew. Why? So that we may do those good works which God predestined planned beforehand for us. How are we going to do those good works? Then he tells us how. Taking paths which he prepared ahead of time that we should walk in them living the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live. So he prepared it. But it's up to us to take the paths. Just because he prepared it doesn't mean we're living it. And this is where people just so many times float. They think because they come to church they're taking the paths. No, you have to on purpose, every day take and stay on the path that God has. Listen, the only thing that will make your life great is the plan of God. Your profession will not make your life great. You being a business owner will not make your life great. There are so many sinners doing that. The thing that makes life great is the plan of God for your life. Amen. So that means this. We have to live. We have to live with the thought in the forefront that we have a plan to accomplish. There's a plan to be fulfilled. Amen. But that plan has to be prepared. For if we're not prepared, the plan won't get finished and our end will be disappointing. How? Part of accomplishing the plan of God is taking the paths. And on the paths that we're to take is preparation. So many people think it's just reward. Well, on the path is preparation too. And if people miss their preparation, they're missing the path. And don't diminish the preparation because the preparation is not the finish. But many people dismiss and devalue the value of preparation because it's not the jackpot, so to speak. But I want you to know there is no jackpot without preparation. And I'm talking about the fulfillment, the finish of the race. Amen. Don't treat the paths of God lightly. For the Bible school students that God sent here, that is a path that cannot be treated lightly. What about this? Those who are serving in the ministry of helps. That's a path of preparation. And let me just say this, I know not everyone is called to fivefold, but everyone has a plan. God has a heaven birthed plan for your life. And just because he has it doesn't mean we'll be on, doesn't mean we'll finish it. It doesn't mean we'll accomplish it. We have to prepare. So never diminish, dishonor or devalue your time of preparation and your place of preparation. Amen. You need to recognize, no, you may not be in the job you're born for, you may not be doing the job of your dreams. But I guarantee you there's some preparation that can happen at that place. And you need to value that. Take advantage of that and don't treat it lightly. Doing as little as you can to get as much as you can. Every day of your life. Treat it like I'm preparing today for the greatness of God's plan for my life. Amen. Hallelujah. Dad Hagin would state to us, preparation time is never lost time. God can only use us and take us as far as we're prepared to go. He can't take us as Far as he wants to take us, he can only take us as far as we're prepared to go. Preparation is everything to the plan of God. Whenever I was in college I was a piano performance major. And of course when I was in the Miss America and stuff, my talent portion was piano. I played for about 3 minutes and 50 seconds. But I spent 14 years practicing for 3 minutes and 50 seconds. And because of that I got the scholarship and everything. For all my schooling paid for, for all the practice and preparation I did. As I played the organ every Sunday in that Methodist church, everyone could tell whether or not I was prepared every Sunday. They would have never asked me to do that if I'd have never practiced. There are some things that God can't ask of you if you don't practice. There are some places that God has for you to go if you're not pract if that you can't go if you're not practiced. Amen. Praise the Lord. Preparation is everything to the plan of God. So many people are just interested in the plan. Then you must be interested in the preparation and value the place of preparation. You want to know why self taught people are unsafe to promote. You don't need your spiritual life to be self taught. Who wants to ride in a car on the California freeways with a self taught driver? Who wants to. Not me baby. Who wants to fly in an airplane with a self taught pilot? No, you want somebody who went to the best school, paid attention, passed the test, listened to the instructor, was not ditching class, was not bypassing reading the manual, right? You want top of the class pilot, the one who finishes top of the class, that's the one you want, then that's the one God wants to promote. We can't give bottom of the class attitude, mindset and then want top of the class plan of God to come to pass. Praise the Lord. Part of the preparation and part of the plan of God for your life, a huge part is who's training you. And God knows who you need to be trained by because he knows where the plan for his life, for your life is taking you. And you don't, you don't know all the scope of what his plan holds, but he knows the whole thing. So he will put puts people in your life, places in your life, employers in your life that are going to help prepare you for where you're headed. And if you devalue that, if you treat it lightly, like I don't have to be there, you're not safe. You're not safe. It matters where God puts you and who God puts you with. There's a certain restaurant that I like going to my family and I go to often. And Bubby got him a life education at that restaurant. The other day, it was just me and the kids, and we went and we were sitting outside, and it was not because of any restrictions, but because it was nice outside. And we were sitting outside, and Bubby needed to go into the restroom. And so he went into the restaurant, and then he came back out. And it's a smaller restaurant. It's not like a big chain restaurant. And he came out and he said, so you think the owner is a nice guy, huh? And I go, yes, he's a very nice guy. And he said, he's got all of his employees back in the kitchen and he's yelling at them. You think he's a nice guy? I said, I think he's an owner. And I said, bubby, let me tell you something. This man came from another country, moved his family, put everything on the line for a restaurant, and some dope head in there is in there messing it up. Screwing it up and putting everyone's job at jeopardy. Putting the business at jeopardy. And putting the future of that business owner at jeopardy. Good for him. Take them in the back and whip them because he's trying to protect their job. If they treat their job lightly, they're not fit to work for the owner. So I said, part of growing up and part of being a man is take your hits and keep going. I said, not everyone's your mama, Bubby. Why? That's part of preparation. And when somebody calls you out for messing up, you need to say thank you instead of taking the offense of the nation that is so prevalent today. You can't talk a certain way to me. You can't handle me a certain way. You're not fit to go anywhere in the plan of God with that mentality. Buck up and be a man, not a lily, as Ed would say. So Bubby thought he was going to come out and tell out on somebody. And Bubby got his ear chewed off. Because not everybody is your nanny, Bubby. Not everyone's going to treat you nice and pet you nice, and they shouldn't. Somebody needs to care enough about you not to let you go around as a failure and then get paid to be a failure. These people today just want to be paid to be a failure. I said, God's not raising failures. It doesn't matter what goes on in society. God's system and God's Standard doesn't lower. God is training you. God is preparing you. And he doesn't always have to use coddling words. Sometimes he'll get in your face. Like when Jesus stood in Peter's face and Peter said, this will never happen to you. Get behind me, Satan. Whoa. That was Jesus? Yeah. Took a whip and started whipping out wrong things out of the temple. Why? Because he was there to accomplish the plan. The plan of God will quickly require a hardness on your flesh, on your mind, on your emotions, on your feelings, on your want to. Amen. And if all you'll handle is if somebody appreciates me, then I'll work for them. You go get another job somewhere else. That man didn't hire you to appreciate you. That man hired you so you'd fulfill a task. And I and Bubby got an earful that day. Because what he was doing was he was accusing someone who is training their training, his people, of being mean. Training is not being mean when you care enough about somebody to train them. Amen. Praise the Lord. We just got a bunch. We got a society of touchy people. I hope it ain't you. Amen. Well, he shouldn't talk that way. Listen, this man, it's his livelihood. He has taken everything and put it in there. And somebody who doesn't care is doing something wrong. And he's got a right to protect his livelihood. You better learn to protect the plan of God. You better learn to protect the place where God has put you to be prepared. Praise the Lord. Yes. Amen. It matters where God puts you to train you. Well, these other people, they're going to another church. I thought I would go over there. Is that where God sent you to be prepared? Because someone else is not being prepared for the same thing you're being prepared for? And just because their spirit prayers permits them to go, doesn't mean the spirit of God permits you the same locations. It won't do you any good if you're going to be a pilot to go to an electrician vocation school. Well, my gosh. They're teaching students. Students are getting, you know, an education. They're getting a degree. Yeah, but is that what you want your degree in? It matters where it doesn't matter so much. Well, they're teaching the Word. Yes, but is it emphasizing what God is emphasizing in the plan of God for your life? It matters where. You can't just follow people. You have to follow the plan. You can't follow a profession. You have to follow the plan. Praise the Lord. God can only take you further based on are you prepared? Praise the Lord. So many times people are just trying to pay their bills. When you need to be thinking about am I prepared to go further? Listen, the devil will offer you a place in a different ministry than where God leads you. He'll use arguments like, well, they preach the word there too. You have friends that go there. They have good outreaches. It's closer to my house. We're purpose minded, we're plan minded. This is not about what's convenient. It's not about what's going to help me. Is it gonna make it easier on my daily schedule? It's not about does my family go there, do my friends go there? It's where God is putting me for what I'm trained for. Listen, I remember when I married Ed. Of course I knew so little when I married him. I never even heard of the fivefold ministry. I was saved and filled with the holy Ghost. Just a couple of years and as God started working, preparing me, training me, I'd sit around the dinner table and I would hear certain things said. And I'm not talking about sinful things, but I'm just saying certain things said. And I thought I would get in so much trouble with God if I said what they just said. How do they not get in trouble with God? And a lot of times they weren't getting in trouble with God. Why? Because God was preparing them for where he was taking them. But he was preparing me for a different place and putting different demands on me. You can't look at how God handles someone else and think it fits you. That's right. God wasn't preparing them to head up a ministry. And the more God is preparing you for, the more strict, the more stringent, the more specific the guidelines and the demands that he will place on you. Dr. Sumrall made a statement that I have held to others may, but I may not. Meaning God may allow somebody else to do something, but that's not my permission. You have to value the preparation time. You have to value the preparation place. Fight for it. Fight to stay at the place where you're being prepared. Don't look for a reason to leave it because there's millions of reasons to leave the place. You're being prepared. Prepared. Every one of you could find a reason to get out of your marriage. Not a good one, but you could find a reason. But it's covenant minded people who are looking to protect their covenant. They're not looking for exit doors. Amen. Hallelujah. Although I pastored for 25 years. There's a reason. And my husband pastored for eight and a half years in Torrance. He pastored in Tulsa for several years. But there's a reason God had us hooked up with dad Hagin. The prophet's office fed the calls on our life and the plan of God. We couldn't just hook up with whoever was popular to hook up with. We had to hook up with who was assigned and anointed to train us to speak into our lives. When God calls you to a church, it's because that pastor is anointed to speak into your life. And no matter how good other churches are, they will never have the same anointing on them for your life that the place has where God puts you. Don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that I am the only or this church is the only place anointed, but I am saying we're the most anointed for you. If God put you here, you need to look and fight for the reason to stay instead of for the door to leave. Why? Because your preparation means more than your profession. Your preparation is everything to the plan of God. Praise the Lord. Psalm 84. Turn with me if you would. Psalm 84 and verse 10. In 25 years of pastoring, how many times I have seen people lightly walk away from their local church, lightly walk away from their ministry of help's post. Lightly. Well, anybody could do it other than if God put you here to do it. It's not about who else could do it. It's about you need that place where he has put you so that you can be prepared. That is not just a ministry of helps, position and post. That is your preparation place. Amen. You say Pastor Nancy, who you mad at? Nobody. It's just yet you've got to say these things because the devil has strategies and people have to hear these things so that the strategies don't diffuse the greatness of God's presence, their eyes. Psalm 84, verse 10. And I'm going to read out of the amplified. If you haven't amplified, you may just want to pull that translation up. Psalms 84, verse 10. And of course this is King David. Now understand King David. He's had the best. He's seen the best. He has seen everything. He has seen the highs, he has seen the lows. He has seen every station of man. And he makes this statement for a day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else. Listen to that anywhere else. I would rather be a doorkeeper and stand at the threshold in the house of God than to dwell at ease in the tents of wickedness. I would rather be a doorkeeper for one day in the house of God than be my own business owner out of the will of God. I would rather serve one day in the nursery department in the will of God than be pulled out of the place of preparation to sit with my family in a wrong location. That's what he's saying. Nothing compares to what God invites you to do and permits you and calls you to do for him and for us. To treat that lightly is dangerous. I cannot tell you the far reaching danger of treating lightly where God has put you, where God has planted you, where God has given the privilege of putting your hand to what heaven is doing. You say, but it's no big deal to be a door greeter. Tell God when you see him face to face that it's no big deal to be where he put you. You know why people devalue the different positions is because they think themselves above it. They think things are beneath them. Nothing is beneath us that comes out of the mouth of God. It is an honor. Years ago, someone who had been faithful for a long time, but I noticed they weren't protecting their attitude in their serving. They showed up, but it was not joyful. And they had some unique skills and abilities in their profession. That was a great help to different people in the church. I'm not talking they weren't on staff. I'm just saying just their own skills in their profession. So people would come often and ask them questions, questions. And they would complain to me, everybody wants me to do something for free. Everybody wants me to do this, do that, do this. Well, you know, people do need to have a common courtesy that you don't. You don't try to get something for nothing all the time because that's a poverty mentality. But when you have a skill and somebody just asks you a question that would help them, you would answer Pharaoh, why don't you answer God's people? You'd use your job, you're using that skill to earn money under Pharaoh. But you won't use it in the house of God just to be a blessing to your brother or sister. Just give them the answer that they need. And he wouldn't even answer their questions when they just ask a question. I get asked questions all the time. What if I said, forget it, I'm not answering none of your questions. I'm here for people. And I noticed that he lost the honor. He didn't see it as an honor to be able to be a blessing to his church family. And he carried that lightness. That's a light attitude, carried that dishonorable attitude to the position of the ministry of helps. After a number of years, they came to me one day and I worked closely with them. And they said, I've worked in this. I've been in this position of ministry of helps for such and such number of years, which was about a quarter of the number of years I'd been pastoring. And I said, what's your point? Are you telling me that because of the passing of time you're dismissed from obedience? I said, I've been pastoring 25 years and you don't hear me getting up and saying it's time for me to do something different because I've done it long enough. The reason things are treated in your mind as long enough is because you don't honor it. Anything God calls me to do, I'll do for the rest of my life and be glad to do it. And grateful. Grateful some people think things are beneath them to do if it cost Jesus, since it cost Jesus everything. You mean something small is too much for him to ask of me. Lightness toward the privilege of getting to do anything. All this is preparation. Your attitude of how you respond to your position of serving is showing your preparation. How prepared are you? Not a big deal. Not prepared. When you treat God's things as though they're not important or that they're less than professional things, things of your profession, you're missing the whole point. Anything connected with God is great. Nothing of small value flows from a great Father. No work is beneath the one who loves God. No work beneath the one who loves the plan of God and wants to be prepared for all the places God wants to take that man. So this man came to me and said, I'm not going to serve in that position. I've done it long enough. Well, see, when you have the attitude I've done it long enough, you've lost the honor of what it is you get to do. When that likeness toward the ministry of helps, let me tell you, where it first showed up, is lightness toward fellowship with the Father. I guarantee you that's a revealing of something lacking in fellowship with the Father. But lightness toward God did not stay in that one arena because it was a short amount. It was just a short amount of time they were treating their marriage lightly. Then they treated being a parent lightly. And they ended up not just leaving their position. They left the ministry of helps. Position first. Then they left the church. Then they left their wife and they left their child. And completely out of the plan of God. Why? Because they treated lightly. The place of preparation, that's where it began. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. My husband got saved and started serving in a place called the toilet ministry. He did not see that as beneath him. And the whole time he was at that church, God moved him on because that church did not believe in divine healing and in the places God was taking. My husband, my husband wanted to stay there. You have to. God needs to tear you away from the place that he has you at, with your fingernails, scratch, scratching grooves in the concrete in the front. That's how hard you need to hold. But God had further places to take him. But the whole time God was preparing and training him, he was cleaning the toilets in that local church. Then he was promoted to door greeter, but he kept cleaning the toilets. Then he was promoted to deacon, but he kept cleaning the toilets. He never thought some position was beneath him because Jesus took the lowest position for us. So many people have this idea, they have grand ideas of where they think they ought to be, what they think they ought to be, head of what they think they ought to be, owners of what they think they ought to be accomplishing. And they do that to the diminishing of where God puts them. Praise the Lord. I'm just telling you strategies that the enemy uses so that you won't be prepared so you can't move forward. Praise the Lord. It's an honorable thing to do anything for God because my attitude, how I approach that is part of my preparation. How you treat your spouse at home is part of your preparation. It's showing you use everyday things for God to prepare you on. And when you make the wrong choice, the choice of the flesh, the choice of selfishness, the choice of my profession over the choice of God's plan, those little everyday things. You don't have to be in great places to be prepared for great things. Now you need to know that you do not have to be in great places to be prepared for great things. God was training a man. His name was Joseph. He was mistreated by family, devalued by family. They sold him, sold him as a slave, Carried into slavery. You think, well, how can you get lower? Well, just wait a minute, Joseph, it's going lower. He gave his all to Potiphar and Potiphar had a dirty wife and she accused him of her own filth. When people wrongly accuse you now, you know what they're thinking. And she accused him of her own filth and had him thrown into prison and slept fined for the next 12 years knowing that she had falsely accused somebody. And he didn't just stay. You think being slave was low? How about being a prisoner? All your freedom's taken. And for 12 years he was in a wrong place, in a hard place. But he was tending to his preparation. He kept his attitude right. He kept his heart right. Because when he was brought out and put second in command in the greatest nation on earth and his brother showed up, he had compassion on him. He wept for him. How could he do that? Because during a hard place, he kept himself right. It not great places that train you for great things. It's hard places that train you for great things. How you respond. If you're going to blow up at every customer, if you're going to blow up at every clerk in the store and act like a fool, you're disqualifying yourself for where God's preparing you for. Know this. Every action, every response is either qualification or disqualification. In your home, in your place of business, in your attitude, everything. It's all where they're being qualified or disqualified. Well, nobody sees. God sees. Your employer might not have seen you do what you did, but God did. And he uses the everyday things to find out how far he can take you. Praise the Lord. I don't think that being a carpenter would be the most greatest qualifying position in the world to train a messiah in. But Jesus, born to be the Messiah, did not think it beneath him to be a carpenter. For 30 years, God was using an ordinary place, an ordinary profession to train an extraordinary plan. Just know this. You're not trained for great things. Most of the times in great positions. It's in. How good did you push that broom? What attitude did you use? How did you show up? Did you show up on time? Did you show up late? How did you show up? How did you talk about the boss when everybody else was downing the boss? What did you say? Well, he's unstable. Saved. He treats people bad. That's not what I said. How did you treat the boss? Because God. Listen, when God wants to find someone to promote, he doesn't go to the church, he goes to the home. He goes to the place of business and he finds. He watches. How are they? How are they responding to a man that doesn't treat them right? Because I guarantee you, when you're in the plan of God, not everyone's going to treat you right in that plan. How are you Going to respond. He wants to know before you get there. There was a woman named Lillian Thrasher. She was who they called the Mother of the Nile. She was from the south in the United States. And one day when she was about 19 years old, for the first time she saw a Bible and she heard the gospel message preached and got born again. She was engaged to be married, but there came something into her heart to be a missionary. And because the man she was engaged to had nothing, no interest in being a missionary, she said, I choose missionary over the man. What was she doing? She chose the plan over her plan. She never married her. And her sister went and for several months her sister accompanied her. At the first that she went to Egypt, and she knew, I'm going to go there and start an orphanage. And she was in her early 20s, and her sister accompanied her for the first few months. Then her sister traveled back home and she was left in Egypt by herself. And for the first several years, all she had was sick. Six babies. And she said to God, she said, God, I did not come all this way and lay down my life for only six people. And he said this to her, I've got to find out if you're a quitter or not before I associate many lives with your life. Your attitude, your serving shows whether or not you're a quitter. How you treat and value where God let you put your hand to shows whether or not you're a quitter. You might show up to do the job, but if your attitude isn't there, you're a quitter. Because a quitter doesn't bring everything. A winner brings it all because that's the only way he wins. You can't just bring your body and leave your attitude in the toilet. Excuse me? You can't just show up and then think people ought to reward you when you're there mishandling the people you're serving with, disrespecting them. Amen. The schools aren't going to teach you this nowadays. Somebody's got to tell us. Somebody's got to tell us. Because God's standard is different than what man calls acceptable. Jesus, the first miracle after he was anointed. 30 years old, he's anointed. When he's baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, God sends him into the wilderness to be tested 40 days and 40 nights. Why? If you're going to break, let's break now. This is going to show your preparation, right? It wasn't questionable. Is he going to fail or is he going to succeed. That wilderness experience was not to satisfy if Jesus was going to make it or not. It was to demonstrate mastery. Why? Because when he came out of that wilderness, every day demons were showing up. Every day religious devils were showing up. There was opposition every day. He had to get in the flow of mastery of his authority, mastery of the office, mastery of the anointing. Mastery of what? Of being the Messiah. Right. He was demonstrating that every time you show up. And how you show up is showing your level of mastery. Amen. Jesus did not think being a carpenter was beneath him for 30 years because he was using every day life to train and prepare for the divine vision, the divine call. Divine things aren't trained on divine. They're trained on every day. So it does matter how you act every day. It does matter that you put a demand on yourself every day it matters. So Jesus comes out of that wilderness temptation, that season. He's at a wedding feast. His mother comes up and says, they've run out of wine. He basically says, what's that got to do with me? I'm not the caterer. She's helping him step in to a flow he's not yet been in. She doesn't care for his response because she just totally did not acknowledge it. What's that got to do with me? She's done talking to him. Talk to the hand. She turns around and she says to the servants, whatsoever he says to you, do it. She's never seen him work a miracle. He's never worked a miracle. How did she know? Whatever he says to you, do it. How did she know that he would say the right thing? How did she know? Because when Jesus stood up and said, I only do what I see my father do. I only say what I hear my father say. The first time that happened was not in his earthly ministry. He was doing that as a carpenter. He was only doing what he saw his father do. He was only saying what he heard his father say. So that when he stepped into his ministry, he already knew he had prepared and trained to only do and to only say back then the training might not have the training in carpentry. Carpenter was not as God was training for Messiah to be. Messiah was not spit in the man's eye that's blind. It was, go see Mrs. Smith down the road. She needs a table built. And he's doing what he hears his father. He's doing what he hears his father say. He's. He's following. That he's following. Don't do that. Don't use that tool. Use that tool. He's following just in the everyday carpentry life, doing what he sees his father do, saying what he hears his father say. So that when it came time for the supernatural, Mary already knew. He only does what he hears, what his father shows him. He only says what he hears his father say. That's why I'm safe in telling you. Whatever he says to you, do it. He'd been doing that his whole life, preparing and training. If you're used to following your flesh when there's an argument in the home, God knows what you'll do. When you're presented with the divine flesh flow. You'll flip back to your flesh when a devil shows up. See, he knows you don't end up. God can't promote you to where you want to be. Everybody wants to be successful, but God can only promote us to where we're prepared to be. Don't misunderstand. You may say, I just. I love the Lord. I want to obey him. Okay? But God can't promote you based on that. He can only promote you based on what you're prepared for. Praise the Lord. Your love for the Lord is not a substitute for the lack of preparation. Everyday life and how you're treating one another and how you're handling your purpose, how you're handling the plan of God, how you're handling the place God has put you to be prepared is going to allow you to go further or not in the plan of God. Amen. Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 1. Go with me. You're mighty quiet today. But that's okay, right? I hope it is helpful. Listen, we all need our corkscrews straightened. Sometimes. You're in the restaurant kitchen with the owner, But you see this all time. The got started at camp meeting. Why? Because there's places God wants to take this congregation. And let me tell you, there's places God wants to take your life. But God's more interested in us moving together as a congregation. One of the things that we've been praying for is unity. And when people won't come into unity, when their motive is all about their business and not about the plan, when their intent is they're more interested in them getting something than in the plan of God being fulfilled in the church. Sometimes people get separated because they won't come into unity. Hebrews, chapter 12, verse 1. The Amplified. Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Listen, there are people watching. There's another world watching who have borne testimony to the truth. Let Us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance. Can I tell you, one big encumbrance for your race is ambition. Ambition is not a scriptural word. It's not a faith word. It is a self promoting word. Your desires should be toward the plan of God, not ambition towards something in this earth. Because I guarantee you get in the plan of God and everything you could have ever had ambition for will be surpassed. God will give you more than you could have ever dreamed of and scraped together for yourself. If you'll get in his plan and stay with his plan. Fight for his plan. Fight to stay on the path that's preparing you for the plan. Don't look for exit routes off that path. Fight to stay on the path. I'm not leaving. I so appreciate one young man who was on staff years ago and I knew he was called to be pastor. And one day God spoke to me and said, it's time for him to go, pastor. And I went to him and I said, brother, God spoke to me, it's time for you to go, pastor. He said, no, Pastor Nancy, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving. I'm going to hold onto your car bumper. I said, no, you're going, brother. You're going to. That's the only person safe to leave is the one who doesn't want to leave. Because they so value the place of preparation that they want to stay there as long as they can. When you're hurrying up to get out of the place of preparation, it's a sign you haven't even planted yourself there yet. People who understand and honor and value the place of preparation. I mean, you can't get them off. It takes God to get them off. Because they won't let devils get them off. They won't let mental arguments, they won't let money and funds and raises and promotions and professions and relatives get them off. They are so planted that they won't compromise. And that's what it takes to be prepared for the plan. Amen. So he said here again in Hebrews, throw aside every encumbrance, unnecessary weight, and that sin which so readily, deftly and cleverly clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence. Listen to this. The appointed course of the race. It's not enough to run. Are you on the right course? There are a lot of people running, but they're not on the right course. The appointed course of the race that is set before us. Looking away. Look at this from all that will distract. What's this saying? The Word is promising you. Distractions are coming, trying to get you off of the appointed course. The devil will offer you another course. He'll bid high for you. He'll go after your money. He'll offer you big money. He'll offer you something that gratifies your ambition. That's why you better get rid of ambition. Have godly desires, only want the plan of God. Amen. Verse 2. Looking away from all that will distract to Jesus. Listen. Because everything that isn't with Jesus in focus will distract you. Who is the leader and the source of our faith, Giving the first incentive for our belief and is also itself finisher, bringing it to maturity and perfection. We can't bring it to finish maturity and perfection if we leave the leader. Well, I haven't left Jesus. Well, what about the path he put you on? Did you leave that? To leave the path is to leave what the leader said. And that is to leave the leader. Amen. I love something that. The man named by the name of Andrew Murray said this. He said, before I take on anything, I ask myself, is this going to aid me in running my race? Listen to that. Is this going to aid me in running my race? In other words, he knew what life offered him, but he knew that God offered him a plan and he had to run that race to fulfill that plan. And he weighed every opportunity in light of the race. He weighed every opportunity in light of the plan. What's this mean? Choose the plan over the profession. If you go, I don't know whether God is leading me to do this or not. Let me ask you, is it furthering your profession or furthering his plan? Now, don't misunderstand me. Your profession can be included in the plan. Absolutely. But many times people make choices and decisions based on the profession. Neglecting. What's it going to do to the plan? Well, I can go to a church, anywhere else. But are they anointed to train you and prepare you for the plan that you're to be running? Not everyone has the anointing for your life. Although they preach an anointed word, they're not anointed for your life. Well, who's anointed for my life? Well, where'd God tell you to be? Run with patience. Run with patience. You know what impatience is? They don't know how to stick it out over time. Stay with it. Quit living by the clock. Quit living by the income. Quit living by the calendar. Live by faithfulness to the plan. I'm faithful to the plan. I don't care how long I'm in that position. This one man ended up leaving the church, leaving his position, leaving his wife, leaving his children. Why? Because he lived by the clock and not by faithfulness to the plan. And he started measuring. I've done this long enough. I remember one time, years ago, this will help you because it slapped me right in the head. I hope it slaps you in the head. I was in my 20s and I said, oh, God, use me, use me. Anybody ever prayed that you should, you should, you should let God know, available. And one day he said to me, I use everyone I can. So if we're not being promoted, it's not because God's not looking to promote us. It's because he takes us as far as he can based on how far we're prepared. If I can put anything into you today, it's value what God permits you to do. Value the local church. Value the church family that you get to sit with. Well, somebody hurt my feelings. Go out in the world and see how they'll hurt your feelings. They don't care about you, so quit being touchy in the body. Love one another. People have overlooked you for a long time. It's not time for you to overlook others. Right. You have no idea how many times you've gotten on somebody's nerve and they overlooked it. Well, they never told me. I know. Because they overlooked it. Just because you tell everybody doesn't mean everybody tells everybody. Some people walk in love and overlook it. Amen. These are mama talks, right? If I could say this. Be race minded, running your race. Be plan minded. Then you won't have to really pray about should I do this or not. If it's going to hinder the plan of God or pull you away from the place where God's preparing you. It's not God. The Holy Spirit's not leading you against the plan. He's leading you in line with the plan for your life. Make every decision with the race you're to run in mind. Yeah, but I could, you know, I could get a nicer home if I moved over here. Or I could get a better paying job. Or I could start my own business. Is that with the race in mind or is that with ambition in mind? You weren't put on this earth to make house payments. I know that's alarming to some people, but that's not. Your highest purpose in this earth is to make my house payment. So you can't make decisions just based on will my house payment get made because I guarantee you, Ed and I picked up and left everything and set aside everything. And we didn't know where we were going to live. We didn't know how we were going to make it. But we were plan minded and not ambition minded or profession minded or house minded. You were put on this earth for one thing, for his plan. And if you treat his plan as disposable, the devil will offer you everything and bid high for you. And he will make a mockery of you at the end when you realize I missed the plan. The devil hates you because God's plan for you is great. He hates that plan. He wants to separate you from that plan because that's how you live. The good life is in the plan. Remember what we we Read in Ephesians 2:10? This is how you live the good life. There's no good life outside the plan. You think that your profession's going to offer you a good life? Wait until you can't pay your bills till you're so sick you can't enjoy your profession till the house breaks down and all that. Everything else breaks down. Whether or not you fulfill the plan for God's of God's plan for your life doesn't just affect you. Adam did not fulfill the plan and it affected every human. Jesus did fulfill the plan and it's affected every human. Whether or not you fulfill the plan of God doesn't just affect your life. It affects the health of your children. It affects the peace of your marriage. And I'll tell you this, it affects this local church. There are certain people that left the plan of God. And don't misunderstand me. I am not the kind of pastor or leader that believes that everyone who leaves the church is wrong. I don't buy into that. I've never bought into that. Because when God moves somebody away, the last thing I want to do is have them here. Because it doesn't fit for them and it doesn't fit for us. But I guarantee you this is that when somebody leaves when they shouldn't leave, there's a vacancy left. When that one person left their post that ended up leaving their wife and their child. It was several years before that position was adequately filled. Why? Because they abandoned it. Why? God was waiting for them to show up and they wouldn't show up. Praise the Lord. How do you know now in your profession? Because not everyone's going to be called to fivefold, but in your profession, God wants to use you. Ms. Betty Murphy, bless her heart, she loved selling her fruits but you know what she used those fruits for? They were doors to where she could meet with people and talk with them and tell them about Jesus. She used her profession for the plan. She didn't use the plan to try to get her profession further. How do you know if God is leading you to do something? As I said, the Spirit of God is never going to lead you against preparation time. And he's never going to lead you out of the place where you're being prepared until God promotes you to a different place. So you can just say, is this going to further my preparation or hinder my preparation? You don't even have to have a voice. You don't even have to have a dream. You don't have to have a word from the Lord, just go by, what's this going to do to my preparation place? What's this going to do to my race that I'm running? He's never going to lead you in a direction that puts your profession, your family, your spouse, your hobbies, or anything else above your purpose. The Holy Ghost is purpose minded for you. He's God's plan minded for you. And he's not going to lead you to do something that's going to diffuse that plan, diffuse that purpose. You don't even need to pray about it. And when God, when you show God, I don't even entertain leaving the place you put me. You're the only one that can remove me. My profession can't remove me. My family can't remove me. My children can't remove me. Their sports events can't remove me. Amen. The Holy Spirit will always lead you with the purpose in mind, your purpose in mind. Now to follow the purpose and plan of God, you have to learn to be led of the Spirit. That's part of your preparation time, is learning the spirit's leading. But I'm just saying this, attending church does not make you skillful at following the Spirit. Did you get me? Being a church attender does not mean you're skillful at following the Spirit. And I say this after having pastored 25 years, there are many who don't know the difference between following their minds and following following their spirits. They don't know the difference. They don't know the difference. But if they'll stay here long enough, and let me tell you, it takes time to learn the difference between following your mind and following your spirit. Because some people think a good idea, a good offer, is the leading of the spirit. Did you get that? They think a good idea, they Think a good offer is the leading of the Spirit. And it's not. Many don't know the difference between following their minds and following their spirits. And they call following their mind following the Spirit. And they're confused. What's the problem? They need more preparation. But let me tell you this. You can't say the Spirit's leading you to do something. Something if you hadn't prayed in the Spirit about it. If you're making a decision and you have not taken a big segment of time to pray in the Spirit, you don't know the Spirit's leading. You can only become sensitive and train yourself to follow the Spirit as you take time to pray much in the Spirit. That's how you become sensitive to your spirit and you learn to distinguish, distinguish between your mind leading you and your spirit leading you. So when people make a decision and they have not taken a large segment of time to pray in the Spirit about some decision that they're faced with, they're not following the Spirit, they're following their mind and calling it the Spirit and man. That's confusing. Praise the Lord. They don't know there's a difference between an answer floating up from their spirit to their mind. God has a plan for you, and in that plan there's promotion. In that plan, there's increase. In that plan there's advancement. But that promotion, increase and advancement only happens because we're prepared. Amen. Your instructor in school is not preparing you for the plan of God. Your job is not preparing you for the plan of God. It's how you treat that job. It's how you respond within that job that prepares you. Amen. Any profession who requires great time and training, a doctor, a lawyer, it takes years of training. A surgeon that's a specialist, whether it's with the heart, with the brain, any kind of specialist, they have gone through intense training and it never dawned on them to cut that period short because other people will die if they're not good at it. Well, let me tell you this. Other things are lost out of our life if we're not good at our plan. Remember what this is. I think many times in the body of Christ. We're mindless and vague about this statement. You've heard it. What the word says that what Jesus wants to say to all of us, well done, Thou, what good and faithful servant. And so many people say, well, I'm faithful, but are you good? Are you skillful? Good means skillful. It doesn't mean just sweet. Be good. My mother, every time I get out of the car, she'd say, be sweet. Every time. Every time, my whole life. Be sweet. Be sweet. Well, being sweet doesn't mean you're skillful, right? And when he says that, well down thou good. He's not talking about just being sweet now. Be good. He's talking about be trained, be prepared. Well done, thou skilled and faithful servant. Every one of us are going to have to have skill in our race if we're going to fulfill the plan. God won't. Just that. Those aren't words we'll just hear because he loves us. They're words we will hear because we did what he said. We were where he told us to be and we stayed there because we're training for something greater. Amen. I'm preparing. I'm preparing for something more. And I'm not going to treat the place of preparation lightly. I need the place of preparation more than I need my income. I need the place where God's preparing me for his plan more than I need my business, more than I need my job. I need the place where God's preparation preparing me. Why? Because that's where every blessing flows out of, is his plan. And I cannot overemphasize enough to you the paths which he has for you to take. The majority of those paths are preparation paths. Jesus prepared for 30 years, for three years of fulfilling the race, but it was all part of the path that he was to be on and the plan. Can I say, if you. Some people say I've been saved 10 years, then you're just beginning to find where the start line is. 10 years is not the finish. I guarantee you. This is where many people miss it. They overestimate their spiritual maturity. They overestimate it. Don't look at how long you've been saved and think that that's grounds for promotion. The time you've been saved is not grounds for promotion. The time you showed up at church is not grounds for promotion. It's preparation that's grounds for promot. Amen. Are you helped today? Make every decision with the. With your race in mind. Make every decision with the plan of God in your mind. Make every decision with your place of preparation in mind. Don't leave it. Amen. Your finish depends on it. Hallelujah. Stand with me to your feet. Father, we're so grateful this morning. Morning. For the things that you're putting into us because you have places for us to go. There's things you have in mind for us individually. But Father, even greater than that, as a congregation, as a corporate body moving together. You have a place for us to go. Say this with me, Father, and let your heart agree with it. Thank you for leading me to the places where you're training me, preparing me for the greatness of your plan. Every day I purpose to live, mindful of the race I'm running and the plan you have for my life. I fight to stay on the path. I refuse to be distracted by a different path. Not every path is authored by you. And so I consecrate myself. So I consecrate myself to stay on the paths you have for me. That's where you're leading me. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us@DefrainMinistries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner, or visit our online store. 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