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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Prosperity: How To Succeed In Reaching | Chris Cody | Offering Message | Campmeeting 2019 | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Grant Dufresne and welcome to Dufresne Ministries podcast channel. We believe that as you listen to this message, your faith will be stirred and you will be encouraged in whatever you are believing God for today. Stay tuned at the end of this message to find out more information about our ministry.
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Open up your Bible tonight if you have one to three John. I don't know if you've got anything you like in three John. There's something I like there in three John a lot. That little letter that John wrote to Gaius. Thank you, Father. You know, I so appreciate being divinely connected. You know, it's been said by several of the ministers and Pastor Nancy too, that, you know, oftentimes God's movement in our life is a rescue. You know, salvation is a rescue. You look up the Greek word for salvation, it means rescue. We're rescued spiritually. Come on. Tonight, many people are going to be rescued physically. Praise God. Have you ever needed to be rescued financially? So three of you, praise God. Alright, well, but you know, part of the rescue that God has for us is our pastor and our spiritual parents. And in late 2003, early 2004, right in the midst of one of the most difficult situations that Amber and I had ever and still today, many years later, had ever faced in our ministry, God divinely put us together with Dr. Dufresne and Pastor Nancy. And we not only were rescued in that season, but we've just continued to be rescued and elevated and blessed since then. I never regret anything I've ever done, any money I've ever spent to be around them. And there happens to be a church in Clarksville, Tennessee, wonderful church there. That's just about an hour and a half from where my wife and I pastor in Paducah. And Pastor Nancy was there in 2018. And it just, I've got my book here where I keep all my prophetic words, prophecies, things that God has spoken to me and there's just a pattern there. When I go there, God speaks to me, I get answers there. And I wanted to share both this scripture and then a portion of prophecy that came through Pastor Nancy to my life and just extract something out of there that I think would bless you, that'd be okay. Will not take long, of course. 3 John 2 says, Beloved, I. Well, I don't know why I'm not there. Praise God. But isn't it good? He said, you know, I pray. That's it. You know, one scripture says I desire. I wish, you know, something like that. But it's really a poor translation. This is like a beseeching. It's a real heartfelt, earnest thing. And that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy soul prospers. And I've been meditating on this, like many of you have for a long time. The word bien in the Greek means to. There's a definitive time where you enter into. And the Greek says, then enjoy ongoingly. So God, through this wonderful apostle, his greatest desire is that we enter into and then enjoy ongoingly prosperity and divine health. So one of the things that tells me is that we're not supposed to have seasons of prosperity. You're not supposed to have a season of health and three years of trial with sickness, disease, poverty and lack. God wants us to enter into and then enjoy ongoingly financial, material prosperity in every way and divine healing and health. You know, Isaac. It says in Genesis 26 that Isaac began to prosper. And then he continued prospering until he became very prosperous. Notice that once it began, he got into a flow and things did change, but he went up from that moment until he got so prosperous that the enemies of God and the Philistines envied him. Come on, brother. Stephen was talking to us, reminding us about the standard of what God has for us. You know, about being able to take a whole year off. That's when you'll know that you've reached God's plan for. Come on. Well, another little indicator is, you know, are the sinners envying you yet and the life you're living? Anyway, I wanted to point out to you this word prosperity. If you look up the word prosper here in this verse In Strong's dictionary, Dr. Strong gives you a fourfold meaning of what this word prosper means. And I just love. I'm gonna give them to you real quick. Number one is it means help on the road. So the word prosper in God's mind means help on the road. Notice it did not say help on the couch. Come on. If you're gonna prosper God's way. Help on the road. God is going to help you on the road. Notice it's the road, not just any road. If you really want to prosper, you're going to have to get on the road of his choosing. Okay. Praise God. Moving on. Another one means to prosper in. To succeed in business affairs. That's practical prosperity, right? It means, I love this one. To have a prosperous journey. To have a prosperous journey. But the one I wanted to spend just a moment on the Fourth one means to succeed in reaching. The word prosper means to succeed in reaching. And again, brother Steve, you just helped me and just fed me so much this morning, you know, because we think if I plunk some money in a bucket, make some confessions, I've got it made. Listen, we need to give. We're going to give, we need to confess, right? But if you want to come up, if you want to prosper, really prosper, come on, how many of you want to prosper? I'm going to come out there and tickle you. I'm not sure why you don't have your hand raised up. You should want to prosper. Well, are you willing to reach? You know, standing here, I really don't have to. The word reach, the way I see it and understand it, this really isn't a reach. But come on. What God means is there's just. There's something. Let me see. Something that you don't. It's not comfortable. You can. It's not in another galaxy. It's there, the next step, the next level. He's going to lead you in line with your measure of faith. But God's going to put a stretch on you to succeed in reaching. Here's why a lot of people don't prosper ongoingly. They press up to a certain level and then they're comfortable and they don't like the feeling of the reach. They don't like to stretch. They don't like to get on their tiptoes where they might fall. They don't want to be there. So they sentence themselves to that level. You know, in the first half of 2018, you know, I'd been meditating, learning, just like you, growing in prosperity for a long time. My wife and I, and I mean, we hit 2018, and I mean, we hit a stride and it was constant manifestation. And for the first, first time in my pastoral life, I could look, I could just do a 360 and survey all my territory, business, my family life, my personal, my business. And I mean, it was massive increase in every arena until June. And something happened in June. The economy didn't. But just something happened. And then all of a sudden in every one of those arenas, it got real uncomfortable really fast. And so by September, I've been in this for a short season in a stretched place. And the spirit of God comes on Pastor Nancy. And she grabbed my hand and she began to speak by the Holy Ghost. She had no idea what kind of season we were in. And this is what came out of her mouth. Is this okay to share? By the Holy Ghost, she says. She said it is light and easy when there comes the temptation that pressure tries to bring. You say, no, you don't. Come on. I'm gonna get. God's going to give you an answer. He was giving me an answer. No, you don't. His yoke talking about Jesus. Yoke is light and easy. There's no pressure. The yoke he places on us, lifts us. It does not bear down upon us. It lifts us. So pick up the pace. We thank you for it, Father. Thank you for the next phase. Some things to me personally. Then she said, I just wanted to fall over. It's okay. That resources have been stretched. How did she know? Well, she knew it. By the Holy Ghost, here's something you have to be okay with. Notice what God said to me. It's okay. Come on. In the first half of 2018, I thought got this prosperity thing down because it looked like I did and it felt like I did. But after a few months in that season, I thought, this is not okay. I thought I was prosperous. And this is one of the things that the Lord has taught me not to look. My prosperity isn't to be defined externally by my circumstances, whether I'm in a season of increase or whether I'm in a stretch season. So remember, prosperity is to succeed in reaching. And, you know, how did I get to this straightened place? Now, I could miss it. I could miss it. But my best answer is, how did I get where I am today? I got there being led by the Holy Ghost, and he's okay in this season with me being in a stretched place. Now, listen, don't get me wrong. Every bill I have is paid. Every single need I have is met. But I'm at that place where every day, every day, he's got to do something for me. Every day he's got to do something. And he is. Let me finish this. So he says, so the stretch, when God is developing your faith, it's okay that there's a stretch on your faith, that there is a stretch on your resources, because then, then you will know how to move ahead when there's nothing. Come on, Reverend Joel, Brother Stephen, talking to us about the danger of waiting. Here's one of the things is we have a business transaction we've been waiting to be completed. And in my mind, I got into a waiting mode. All these other things God's dealt with me about, all these other things that we want to do for our family and expanding our business and different things I'M waiting for this. God said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You keep moving. And I said, how? With what? Well, with faith, with the leading of the Lord. Amen. And so many people want to move ahead as long as they can see something they're moving into. Then the Spirit said, it's not always going to be this kind of stretch. But get this phrase, learn the lesson, the stretch. Learn the lesson of the stretch. Because if you will, it'll make the handling of abundance without fault and without error. And this is one of the things that I am learning. And see, had I not been willing to follow the Spirit into the stretched place, I would never learn the lesson. You can only learn certain lessons in certain right. And you're never going to become skillful in listening to Pastor Nancy alone about how she succeeded in the stretch. You learn the principle, but you have to follow God into the stretch yourself. Come on, every one of us, we're going to have to get on the battlefield with Goliath and win, or we're not going to move forward. You're going to be stuck. One of the things I've had to learn is prosperity is not about my condition right now. Okay? See, I got all these manifestations. My conditions line up now. I'm prosperous. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. When it looks like there's nothing tapping into the leading of the Lord, moving forward with him in pace, seeing those miraculous manifestations keep me sustained and going. That is the flow of abundance. Come on. Jesus didn't have a chick fil, a gift card to feed all those people. He didn't. But he was able to take something that wasn't even his. He did not even have five loaves and two fish. He borrowed somebody else's lunch. But notice in his person, he didn't have it. But he was skillful with the flow of abundance by making what looked insignificant, mixing it with what we heard, right? The miraculous multiplying power of God. Not only did he eat, but everyone there with him that day. I just wanted to encourage you today. Don't because of fear, because your goal in life is to have no pressure. You're not going to be able to move with God if that's your goal in life. I don't want to have any pressure placed on me. Because it's prospering in God's mind is help on the road out there while you're moving, you're going to have success in your business affairs. You're going to have a prosperous journey. So you're Going somewhere. And you're reaching. When was the last time because you. You decided or the Holy Ghost assigned a reach on your giving. Come on. If $100 has gotten easy for you, you need to put yourself in a reach place. Put 150 on there. If a thousand is easy for you, you need to reach because your foot's on the gas pedal, not God. Amen. Well, I don't want that. Well, that's your choice. But I want all God has. And I'm willing. I'm willing to stay in the stretched place as long as I have to, as long as I need to, to learn the lesson. Now, listen, I want out, but I want to learn the lesson. Because once I learned the lesson, I'm going to leave this stretched place, at least for a season. But what I will carry out of that, I will have forever. I will have forever. Come on. I will have forever. And God has. This is the pattern he wants us all to follow. It's just. It's specific. You got to follow God. But come on, don't get comfortable tonight. Reach, press. God will help you. God will lead you. And when you do, you're in the flow of God's definition of prosperity. Stop waiting. Amen. Get to reaching. Praise God. Ushers, if you'd come. Thank you, Pastor, for the opportunity to share. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Well, if you're writing out a check tonight, make it out to DM or to Defrain Ministries. Don't forget, we have the convenience of the text to give options will be back to the regular DM code to that number. And you could give electronically. Praise God. I think if you have your credit card with you, that could is on the inside of the offering envelope. You could give by credit card, so you could do it like that, too. And if you're giving cash, please avail yourself the cash offering envelope. They'll be able to receipt you at the end of the year. Amen. You got your offering there. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we come. God, we understand that we cannot separate prosperity from being led by the spirit. And so, Father, I thank you for quickening your people in this season. God, I thank you that you're helping them get on the road and to stay there and to keep pace with you and God when you lead them into stretched places. That God, like me and so many others, that you'll teach us how to win. You'll teach us how to become skillful with the true flow of abundance. And then we'll come out and we'll have a new measure of faith and a new measure of skillfulness that we'll have for the rest of our lives. Father, thank you for the heart of the people, their desire, their mindset to be a blessing. They love you. I know they're giving out of their resources and as they do, Father God, I thank you that you are meeting all of our needs according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus and everyone said Amen.
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