← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Say & See | Nancy Dufresne | Holy Ghost Meetings 2021 | 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. Turn with me, if you would, tonight to the book of Jude. Jude. And of course, there's just chapter one, chapter in Jude, but we're going to look at verse three. So grateful, of course, to hear Brother Copeland preach on faith, because as I said, as I quoted when introducing him in one of the services, that when Jesus comes back, he said, when I come back, will I find in the amplified says persistence in faith. So there's a certain kind of faith, he's looking for a certain kind of faith. And that kind of faith is the faith that doesn't quit. It's the God kind of faith. If we are believers, God, so to speak, if we say we're believing God and we're in faith and answers aren't coming, then something's wrong with our version of faith. We've got the wrong version that we're trying to function with. But we have to have the God kind of faith. There's a reason he called it the God kind, because there's other versions out there that are counterfeits to his version. And by sitting under Brother Copeland's ministry, the teaching that he gave, as I said, he's helping us to be ready to have, helping us to have what Jesus is going to be looking for. Amen. And helps us to be in position for the kind of faith that doesn't quit, the kind of faith that knows it's the right version and it's the functioning version. So Jude and chapter one of that in verse three, and just part way through that verse, he's writing, and he said, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. So he's testifying and instructing, what version of faith, the version that was once delivered to the saints. And notice that kind of faith has to be earnestly contended for. So these, this word, when we look at this word earnestly, if you're earnest about something, it's because you're interested in it. So when there, it has to show great interest. Having this kind of faith and having it functioning, not just having it, but it functioning. And it takes. And we have to be interested because this version of faith, the God version of faith, doesn't function without you being interested, Passive, half hearted, you're not going to float into this kind of flow. The flow of this faith calls for earnestness. Because you have to be interested enough to get past what's going to oppose it. You have to be interested. And if we're not sometimes in our believing and nothing, we're not seemingly making progress. Sometimes people are checking their measure of faith, but sometimes we need to check our level of our interest. How interested are you? How interested? Because when you're real interested, it's not too hard to get your faith really moving. And sometimes people just need to renew and stir their interest level up. That's why Paul told Timothy, stir up the gift. Why would you need to stir it up? Because you lost interest in that flowing and you're going to have to stir it back up. And so we have to be interested in our faith bearing fruit, not just saying, not be content that we have faith, but we have to be interested enough and we don't receive something just because we show up in a service. It's how we show up. So many times I went to school not interested. My interest level was real low present I was there, I might have even done my homework, but I wasn't interested in the work I did. Right. Just showing up is not an interest level. Amen. If we're not careful, we can be good at showing up but not being good at being interested in what we're showing up for. We have to stir ourselves up that our interest level doesn't wean. Amen. When dad Hagin makes statements like he stated, he said, since I learned how to pray, I've never had one prayer unanswered. That's not just a faith issue, that's an interest level issue that he's interested that if I'm praying it, I'm getting an answer because so many times we just pray because spiritual habit and it's a good spiritual habit. But you can have a spiritual habit that you've lost interest, the interest level has diminished and we can just be praying because, well, you know, I need to pray about that. But we have to be so interested that my interest level and my earnestness about this doesn't wane until I, until I see the manifestation of what I prayed about. So it's very important that we have the right version of faith and the God version of faith is earnest. It's interested. Don't you want, when you have a need show up, don't you want God to be interested? He has faith. He's a faith God, but we want him to be interested in regards to our need. Amen. Well, he wants the same thing out of us about his business. He wants us not just to have faith. He wants our faith to be interested, earnest that we cooperate with him. And we, we are the, we are of the. We are of the kind that we don't stop until manifestation. We don't stop till manifestation and then we don't even stop. We hold fast then. So he said it was needful for me to write unto you. You need this. You need this. It's needful for me to write unto you. They needed this. Listen, we need to be reminded. We need to be reminded because we're always, we're always needing to have our faith acceptance extended onto something. So we need to be reminded. It's not just any version of faith. It's an earnest faith that's going to receive earnestly contend because it takes. You have to be interested enough to press past everything that's going to oppose that faith that's in you that you're exercising. People that aren't interested don't show up. And there's many that just. They have faith but they don't show up with their faith. And it's not because of the lack of faith. It's a lack of interest in their faith bearing fruit. But herein is my father glorified that you bear much fruit. He didn't say herein is my father glorified that you have great faith because you have faith. And it not bear fruit because we're not interested enough to take our faith and demand that it dominate that situation. And then we see. So it's important these words around this word faith, earnestly contend. So contend shows there's going to be opposition. There will be opposition. Doubt's opposition, Fear is an opposition. Mental reasonings is a great opposition to the God version of faith. The God kind of faith, faith, the deeper things. Faith has to be contended for, bearing fruit with your faith has to be contended for because we won't float into fruit bearing. You can't live your life. We cannot live our lives on autopilot and think that we arrive at great fruit bearing. The deeper things of God don't come to the casual observer. They have to be contended for, believed for, pressed into their active words. Faith, the God kind of faith is active, very active. Contenders cannot be slothful or casual toward their victory. And we have to earnestly contend. We're contenders for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. Not the version that was deluded through the age of doubt and unbelief, but the original version, the spirit of faith, a soldier that's Slothful dies, he's going to get killed. He'll be picked off. A soldier that's in hand to hand combat, he has to contend to live. When someone is on the front lines, they don't come home without contending. Amen. And this is showing us we're called in. The Word, the Word calls us. God calls us. We're soldiers. He's wanting us to approach this with that mindset of a soldier. He loves us. But you won't win facing the opposition, saying, I love the Lord. Send a soldier on the battlefield and let him tell his enemy how much he loves his children. I love my children. I love my spouse. And it's true. Love is important to the life of that man. But without contending, and many times people listen, you learn this about God. What you send his way is what comes your way. You send him love, Father, I love you, I worship you, I value you. That's right to send it that way. But you know what he sends back? Love. I mean, you can sense the love of God when you send love words. He loves you back, but that doesn't mean you're going to get healed. That doesn't mean your bills are going to get paid. You have to contend for him as healer, as victor, as provider. What you call him is what comes back to you. So you can't just face crisis and say, I just love the Lord. You better call him healer. When sickness shows up, you have to love him as healer. You have to contend for who he has made himself to be in your life. And that's why people that are untaught, that dearly love the Lord, still die prematurely or still go broke. That's good. Amen. Because you have to contend. You have to contend to see the manifestation of who he is in every arena. Praise the Lord. So just when you sin, when you express words of love and you sense his love for you wash over you, well up in you, that doesn't mean you're going to be healed. You understand that? Amen. I remember hearing years ago, decades ago really, when you first heard about the aids, you know, disease, and there was a woman who, she had had some kind of medical treatment and they had given her blood or something that was contaminated because this was early on in that. And so she was not living a wrong lifestyle and contracted that. It was just through a medical procedure and she was one of the first people that was diagnosed with it. And I don't know if she was born again or not when she contracted it. But at the time that they had sent people to speak with her and she had given some kind of an interview and it was really big in the news. And she said she was laying in bed because she had a dissonance over her head. And she was laying in her bed at home and she said, the presence of God came in my room. And she said I literally felt Jesus as I was laying in bed, crawl in bed and wrap his arms around me and laid there with me. Well, that sounds like him. That sounds like him. She could tangibly feel it. But you know what? She still died. Was that his fault? No. She didn't know what to contend for with him there when he didn't just come. Thank God it was a comfort. Thank God he expressed his love for her and she felt it tangibly. But because she didn't know how to contend for all he was and brought with him in that room, he see, not knowing how to contend can cost us something. Even though it all belongs to us. You have to know how to contend. Amen. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. So we are called soldiers, which should dictate our mindset and our posture toward opposition. Like we don't put up with it. Amen. You know, we have to contend. What about this? Absolutely. In our private personal lives. But what about contending along with the fellow believers in our local church? We're contending for some things. The church vision will not be fulfilled by living in neutral. We have to contend earnestly. We have to be interested in what God has called that church to do and interested in contending for the fulfillment of the vision of that church. Because a vision that God has for the church will not come to pass automatically. That's right. It has to be contended for. The vision of it has to be contended for. And so we have to have the mindset that I'm here to contend with the fellow believers. I'm here, I'm interested. It matters to me. If a pastor has some kind of a program or an outreach and people aren't interested in getting involved, they are part of the problem then now everybody has to contend against their disinterest. A dish interested soldier gets others killed. Right. If he's not interested in the military, I don't know if it's still the same way. But in military, if you're assigned to a post and you abandon your post or you fall asleep on post, it is. You can be court martialed and put to death for it because you jeopardized many, because you weren't interested enough to Stay alert. Why? Because our version of faith affects the others that we are fitly joined to. So we owe it to the will of God, the plan of God and the vision of God to be interested. But so much of the time, if we're not careful, all we're interested in is, and this is just so true to just humanity, is my house, my bills getting paid and just show up at church. And that's to help me in my life. We're showing up and being trained by the word of God that's put into us through our pastor so that we can be a part of something bigger than us. And that's what Pastor Anderson was teaching yesterday morning. That when you hook in rightly to a local church, your life has a bigger impact on this earth than it would have had without being part of a local body. Praise the Lord. And we bring our faith and we earnestly contend. We're interested in the vision that God's given that church. We're interested in playing our role. And we're not just showing up and clocking it off and checking it off our to do list. We are interested in contending for the fullness of what God has offered us as a body. Amen. Now, Romans, chapter four in verse 17, I am so thrilled of this passage because listen, this end time era that we're in, it calls for a skill in faith, not just faith, skill in faith. Right. Romans chapter 4 and verse 17. This passage speaks of Abraham and it reads as it is written, God was speaking to Abraham, says, I have made thee a father of many nations. So God made him something before he ever saw fulfillment of something. I have made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed. Even God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were, who against hope, believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations. Notice that he might become. He's been made to be it, but now it's his privilege to become it that he might become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken. The key to a faith that earnestly contends, you got to know what Satan. You got to know what is spoken. That's why it's so important to me Before I take on different endeavors, I've got to hear what God's direction on that is. Because contending is easy when you know what has been spoken. Contending can be a risk to those who are moving ahead without knowing what God said to them about that situation. You need the leading of the Spirit. For your faith to work right. And he believed according to what was spoken. Your faith works when you know what God has said to you. Who against hope, believed in hope that he might become the father of many nations. According to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body, now dead, when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Notice his body is dead in its ability to produce a child. Sarah's body is dead and ability to produce a child. Miracles are for dead things. Things when it looks like it's beyond. That's what a miracle is for. It's for dead marriages, dead finances, health. That has seemingly been lost. Amen. And I'm just saying, in the case of Lazarus, miracles was for dead and buried things. It's already been buried. Rocks in front of it, stones in front of it. Miracles are for dead, buried things. So this passage speaking of Abraham, and look at the wonderful things it says about his faith. He didn't consider his body. He didn't consider his wife's body. He staggered not at the promise of God. He was strong in faith. He was giving glory to God. Listen to all these embellished words that just describe the kind of faith that he had. And we stand back and go, that's what I'm headed for. That's what I'm reaching for. That's my example to follow. Listen, we're called children of Abraham. Our faith should look like Father Abraham's faith. Right? Faith hero, this father of faith. But let me tell you what Romans chapter four is. It's a picture of where he ended up, not where he started out. And we can take heart when we look here and say, oh, not quite there yet. That's okay. He wasn't either all his life. This is where he ended up in skill and with his faith. But this is not the process he went through. It's true. Come on. Amen. He had to go through the process of learning to contend for the faith, just like you and I have, too. But if we will earnestly contend, this is the kind of faith we will end up possessing. Amen. And I'm not talking about by the time you die, if you. Every day, we can live this way now. We don't have to put it off into the future when you know when I'm 80, 85, 90, you know, then I, you know. No, no. Earnestly contending for the first faith will put us in this same type of description of faith that's in Romans chapter 4. Now, since this is where he ended up, but not where he started out, let's go back to where he started so we can feel real good about ourselves. Genesis chapter 12. I love this. This just does not get old to me because it helps me. It helps me in having the kind of. Kind of faith that pleases God. It helps us, doesn't it? Genesis chapter 12. Genesis chapter 12. And verse one, it reads, now, the Lord had said unto Abram. Genesis chapter 12, verse 1. Now, the Lord had said unto Abram, so now he's just speaking to him, right? Get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred and from thy father's house unto a land that I will show thee. Now, if he does verse one, this is what will happen in verse two. And I will make thee a great nation. He couldn't have stayed home and become a great nation. Why, this is conditional up on verse one, that you get out of your country, away from your kindred, away from your father's house, and you go to the place I tell you to be. God is not against families. God is not dividing families. But sometimes for you to have the fullness, you have to sometimes put distance between people who aren't going to, between you and those who will not go. This is a big deal. This is a huge instruction for Abram. Because in that day, that culture, you didn't pick up and leave family. You passed on. You grew as a family. You achieved more, you gained more profit, you gained homes, and you sat and you grew together from generation to generation. You're passing this on, and God says, I'm gonna give you a new heritage. I'm gonna give you a different ancestry than what you've been plugged into. And this is a big deal. The family's not gonna congratulate him when he picks up and leaves the tribe. Yeah, this is a big deal. We read over this. But for what this would have meant to this man and meant to his family and how he would have lost favor in the eyes of his family. He has now reached the age to where he is critical to the success of a family. So this is a big deal. Instruction to obey God. You will have to go against your flesh to obey God. And if people won't go past their flesh, God can only take them so far. He had to go against culture he had to go against his. His. The honor of his family's household. He had to go against everything. So verse one is really big instruction for his life. But God says in verse two, if you do this, I will make thee a great nation. Why? You know, their mindset is, I become a great nation by staying with my family, not by leaving my family. I will make thee a great nation. And I will bless thee and make thy name great. And thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee. So it matters how you treat people that God has assignment on. I will bless them that bless thee and curse them that curseth thee. And in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. That is precious. And Lot went with him. And Abram was 75 years old when he departed out of Haran. 75. Don't ever decide. It's too late. For 75 years he has been growing roots deep where he was in God. At 75, all those roots get dug up. And now you're going to plant them somewhere else. That's a big deal. Verse 7. So God said all of this to Abram. Verse 7. And the Lord appeared unto Abram. After he's obeyed, he gets another level of God's manifested presence here. And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him. So he makes it very clear, you've got seed coming. This is. He's told him this. Now notice he told him in the previous verses when he spoke to him. He said, I will bless them that bless you. And then he lets him know that I'm going to make you a great nation. You can't do that childless. But he spells it out in verse seven. I'm going to give you a seed. So God's will and promise is given to Abram in this passage. Genesis chapter 13. Let's go there. Genesis. Just flip over a page or so. Genesis chapter 13 and verse 14. And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward, eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. So God is talking to him every time about his seed. Right? He's making it clear you have a seed. Verse 16. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth. So that if a man can number the dust of of the earth. Then shall thy seed also be numbered. So God again declares what the promise is, but he's giving him more detail each time he's giving him a little more detail of his seed and how far reaching it'll be. Now look at chapter 15, Genesis, chapter 15 and verse 1. So God spoke, has spoken to him twice, and has appeared to him once. And in Genesis 15, verse one, after these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision. So now he has some very spectacular dealings, right? And he's saying, fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, now this is the first time we have record of his response to things that what God is saying to him. God has already spoken to him several times. Your seed, your seed, your seed. But now notice Abram's words back to God. And Abram said unto said Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, behold, to me, thou hast given no seed. So now he's saying, I'm childless. He's not talking about his seed in the context God is talking about his seed. God says, God's referring to his seed multiple times. And Abram's response is, I'm childless. Seeing I go childless, walking by what you see. This ain't working. I don't have what you're saying because I'm walking by what I see. This sounds Nothing like Romans 4:17, right? Seeing I go childless. And then in verse three, he again states something contrary to what God's already said, Thou hast given no seed. If God says you got seed, you don't say you haven't given it to me. He's very bold to state what he does not have. Why he thinks wrong, he thinks wrong. And because he thinks wrong, he talks wrong. The word of the Lord has not renewed his mind to to where he's now talking in harmony with God. He's still speaking against what God has said to him. So verse three. And Abram said, behold, to me, thou hast given no seed. He's challenging him. And lo, one born in mine house is mine heir. So Abram is offering God an option. Since seeing I go childless, you give me no seed. I've got a plan. The plan is, I have Eliezer from Damascus. He's had a child born into my tribe, so to speak, under my care. Do you have in mind that he's the one that you're talking To. He's missed the whole thing. He's missed the miracle side. He. He's in the natural side. Abram is so thoughtful to give God an option because, you know, we need to offer God options. And the best he could come up with. There's a man that's in my employment. He's got a child. That's the best he could come up with, an offering it to God. That plan, Abram's plan would have robbed him of the future that God had for him. Our plans always rob us. Our own plan. When God offers us something more, something different, will rob from us. Not the devil, our plan. The devil robbed from you too, but so will your own plan. Verse 4. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto Abram saying, this shall not be thine heir. You've got to know that. There had to be a point of like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Knock a knock. Anybody home? I've already been talking to you about your seed. Your seed, your seed, your seed. And you're offering me a staff member's child. He is. That's what he's offering. A servant's child. I like him. You know, Abraham is saying eliezer has some kind of regard. He has a regard for Eliezer. But you're still a servant. You're not what God's word is about. God says, I just love the directness of God. And God had to get very graphic to point out to Abraham. You missed the whole point of what I'm saying to you, Abram. Haven't you ever felt that way? Like, where was I? What is that. What is that movie? McFly. McFly. Back to the Future. McFly. McFly. McAbram. McAbram. Verse 4. And the Lord came unto him saying, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, this shall not be thine heir. I have a feeling he just kind of spoke slowly. This shall not be thine heir. But now it's comical to make it clear that you don't misunderstand. He that shall come forth out of thine own own bows. This is comical to me. I think this is funny because God said, seed, seed, seed. Abraham comes up with servant, child, and God has to bring it back. What I mean by seed is something that comes out of your own bowels. We would say, he was slow to get it, so we should comfort ourselves when we're slow to get it. Abram started out being slow to get it. He was slow to get it. Thank you, Abram, for these moments. And to me, just comical. God said, this is going to come out of thine own graphic, explicit. You know, He that shall come forth of thine own bow shall be thine heir. Not Eleazar, because you like him, not his son. Verse 5. And so God brought him forth abroad and said, look now toward the heaven and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them. And he said to them, so shall thy. Thy seed be. Look at verse six. And he believed. He believed. He believed in the Lord. And God counted it to him for righteousness. Does Abram believe at this point? He believes so. When Abram said, seeing I go childless, he made this statement, seeing thou has given me no seed. He is saying, there's nothing in those statements that God can fulfill. He has not responded with his words in anything that God can fulfill. God can't fulfill. Seeing I go childless, he can't fulfill that. Seeing I have no seed, he can't fulfill that. Our words have to give God something to fulfill. The next thing we see in that passage, Abram believed a thing, but it still wasn't coming to pass. Believing alone. Believing alone is not going to bring fulfillment. Believing alone is not going to bring fulfillment. Genesis, chapter 16, verse 1. Genesis 16, verse 1. Don't you love this little trip we're taking with Abram's faith? Now, Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children. And she had an handmaid boy. They're stuck on these servants. I tell you they are. They've relied on his them for lot. Now they're relying on them for fulfillment of prophecy. And she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, behold, now the Lord has restrained me from bearing. Now she's got the same problem. Nothing she is saying allows God to fulfill. So we see, they don't think right. See, you can have a word from the Lord, but if you don't think right, no matter what you believe won't come to pass. You got to think right. She's calling. She's accusing the Lord that he's restrained her from bearing. How can it be when he has spoken all this stuff to Abraham? He's not or Abram at that time. He's not the one restraining the seed. He's the one talking about the seed. So you know, Abram has shared with her what God has said. Because she's referring to it in this passage. Behold, now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. Verse 2. Then she says, I pray thee, go in unto my maid. They're still stuck on the servant level. I mean, it may be. Let's guess. Let's guess how God's going to get me that home. Let's guess. How's he going to get that business started? Let's guess about this. Can you guess better than me? Let's bring our guesses to the table and let's challenge each other with our guesses. This is what they're guessing. Back and forth, back and forth. Mental. Mental. Mental reasonings. Mental reasonings. It may be that I may obtain children by her. Well, Eleazar wasn't it? But maybe Hagar's got something going on here. And Abram Harkin, he listened to her. He thought, that's a good idea. Now he believes, but he still thought that was a good idea. Isn't this kind of like, really, I feel better about myself the longer I sit in this chair, Right? God has spoken to him, appeared to him, given him a vision. That lets you know fulfillment doesn't come by supernatural, spiritual, spectacular events. You can have all the spectacular in your life, but until you know how faith functions, nothing happens. So Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. Now, I guarantee you this shows us a pattern. He listens to her. The problem with this is that God wasn't speaking to Sarai. God was speaking to Abram. Since when did he reach redirect his listening from God giving the instruction and the plan to getting his leading from his wife? Praise the Lord. Sarai loved him. Sarai wanted success for them. But she still was not the one God was leading Abram through. You can love your spouse, but that doesn't mean you have the mind of the Lord. That doesn't mean you know the mind of the Lord for a situation. And let me just say this and recognize, yes, I am a woman, so I'm not against women. So you can't throw no tomatoes or nothing at me. God's not leading a man through his wife. Now, don't misunderstand me. When God has a chain of command, he has set up an authority in the earth, and that is that the family unit is led by the man. And God will lead that family unit through the man. Come on. Being the head of the family does not mean everything is your way. Being the head of the family means you hear from God in behalf of the family. So people take this. You know, they're the head of the family. Bless God. I'm the head of the family. You do what I say. That's not the intent of that position. To get that the head only gets his way. No, you're the one. You're the lead man responsible to hear from God for the family. That's what that means. And if the family fails, it goes back to the lead who didn't hear. Now, don't misunderstand me. When God leads through a man, it will bear witness with the wife because they're one, not one spirit, but they are one. There will be an agreement, and it is as the help meet. The woman is the help meet. It is a help to agree when God speaks to the man. That's a help. And she is to bring her agreement. Now, God may give some measure of leading to the wife to assist what God already said to the man. Now, let me clarify that statement. Ed said to me one day, he said, God told me to start a Bible school, okay? There's the leading, there's the instruction. It came to him, not me, as the head of the family, as the head of the ministry, it came. New direction came to him. Then Ed turned to me and said, God told me to start a Bible school. We're starting a Bible school. He said, now you get with God and get the implementation of it. So he put, now I'm the one. I developed the curriculum. I developed how the arms and legs of it. But the vision of it came to him. But yet God led on the backside of that vision the doings of it. He spoke to me about it. But see, it's in agreement with what he already told my husband. God's not leading my husband through me. I. I'm a help through him. I'm a help to him, rather through me, hearing my part. And if women practice trying to lead their husbands, you're not anointed for it, no matter how much you pray. God doesn't lead a man because he prays more than the wife and reads his Bible more than the wife. Because some have said, well, I pray and read my Bible more than him. God doesn't lead him because he earned it. He doesn't earn the leading. God's leading the position. Amen. So as a help meet, the way you pray and the way you study is not so you can tell the husband what he ought to be doing all the time, but so that he, as you pray for him, it helps him hear his hearing. It drives things off of his hearing. It pushes back things so that he can easily hear and discern what God is saying to him without all the confusion of a voice from other people or even from the wife. Amen. We'll praise the Lord. I am a woman saying this. So if you get mad at me because a man being up here saying this stuff, you may go, huh, you know, bow up. Because this is not about gender. This is about divine authority. And let me tell you, women, when you understand that you're safe. It's all about safety for the family. Sarah has stepped out of her place, and Abraham is listening to a woman who has stepped out of her place. And the rest of everybody paid for it too. He listened to her here because he's obviously listened to her at other times. Yeah. Praise the Lord. So they kept offering God plan and they kept trying to implement their plans. But let me just say this. Our plans delay God's plans. They will delay God's plans until we have run through our plans. His plan can't be fulfilled. So let's just say this. I don't have any plans. My plan is his plan. Instead of us going through the checklist of what we can reason out and figure out and then try to make what God said fit into that, we just say. We just learn up front. My plan never works. And God's the one that has directed us to start this business. He will tell us how to do it. I don't have to go the way everybody else goes. God will tell me how to do it. If God told me to start this church, he will tell me and direct me. I don't have to go through all the steps everybody else takes. Amen. Our plans delay his plans. Amen. Praise the Lord. By allowing Sarai to lead him, Abraham delayed God's plan, but also caused unnecessary hardship that could have been avoided. Genesis, chapter 16, verse 16. Now, when this word first comes to Abram, how old is he that we have record of? I so appreciate that God tells his age all along the way. God doesn't lie and take us, you know, skim down. Well, you know, I know people think he's 75, but he's really 69. No, God's telling us the truth. He's really that old. Genesis 16, verse 16. And Abram was four score and six years old. So how old is he now? 86. So 75 to 86. It's 11 years of believing. 11 years of believing, but no manifestation. Believing alone is not what brings manifestation or fulfillment. It's an imperative ingredient. But alone it lacks something. And Abram was fourscore and six years old when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram. So 11 years after God first told Abraham he would have a son, Ishmael is born. Now, before God says another word to Abram after Ishmael is born. God is silent 13 years after Ishmael is born. He's not talking to him. Why talk to people who don't listen? That's right. It doesn't nurture our fellowship with God to implement our plan. It hinders our fellowship with God. You may try to have rich fellowship, but if you're just going to keep living your plan, living your plan, it hinders fellowship. Abram heard nothing from God for 13 years after Ishmael's born. Genesis, chapter 17, verse 1. And when Abram was 90 years old and 9, so he was 75, 86, 99. That's 24 years of believing and no fulfilling. So the first time we have record that God again speaks TO Abram is 13 years after Ishmael is born. The Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, I am the almighty God. Walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly. Listen. It's almost like he's restating everything again. Why he lost clarity through those years of walking out his own plan, doing his own thing. Clarity was lost. If we know that God said something and we don't, do stops becoming clear to us what we once heard. So he again restates it in verse two. And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face. This is the first time we see a real act. Now he had made a sacrifice, but this is the first time we see a humility. 24 years in my own way. 24 years of trying to figure it out. 24 years of believing, but never being satisfied with seeing the fulfillment of it. Being disappointed for 24 years. In verse three. And Abram fell on his face. And God talked with him, saying, as for me, behold, my covenant is with thee. And thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham. For a father of many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee exceeding fruitful. And I will make nations of thee. And kings shall come out of thee. And God said unto Abraham, as for Sarai, thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but saith Sarah shall be her name. Notice this. He's believed for 24 years. But God sees something he's still not putting in his mouth. God's waiting on him to say it. He's waiting on him to say it and he's not saying it. So he assists his faith by changing his name to help him to put what he believes in his mouth. He's helping his faith because he gave him opportunity to put what he believed in his mouth. And for 24 years he believed something and never said it. So God is not forcing him. God's assisting him in his faith. Abram means exalted from father. Abraham means father of a multitude. Sarah means princess, P R I N C E S S. Sarah means queen of princes. P R I N C E S meaning multiples coming out of you now. Genesis 21 in verse one. Genesis 21, verse one. So Abram, Abraham now is 99 years old when God tells him how to put it in his mouth. Verse 1. And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said. And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken, not as she had spoken. He didn't do it the way she said. God didn't do it the way he didn't fulfill it through her plan or Abraham's plan. He fulfilled it the way he spoke it. This is the key. Don't change what he said. Don't embellish it, don't add to it, don't subtract it. Don't put your own interpretation. How often dad Hagin warned us, don't put your own interpretation on what God says. And that's what Abraham, Abram did and Sarai did. All those years they kept putting their own interpretation. For Sarah conceived and bare Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old as God had commanded him. And Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born unto him at 99. He puts it in his mouth at 100. It's fulfillment only took one year after 24 years of believing, it only took one year for fulfillment. Once he got what he believed in his mouth. Once he got what he believed in his mouth. And yes, we know it's nine months of pregnancy. So I at three months after saying it, she conceives three months of saying. But it's not enough to conceive because the devil can still try to interrupt and abort and miscarry. So you have to keep saying it even when it looks like it's done. I'm going to tell you, I have seen so many people that they put their faith on something. They got in their house, they bought the house, but. But it's not enough to buy the house. You have to hold fast and get payments. There needs to be an ongoing supply. It's not enough for conception. You have to have things fulfilled and don't step back with your faith when it looks like, oh, it's already happening. Keep your faith on it. Keep your faith on it. Keep your faith on it. Amen. And so with them changing their name within one year, what they believed was completely fulfilled. It's fulfilled if it's taking long. It's missing out of our mouth if we believe and remember what Jesus told Brother Hagin. My people primarily are not missing it in their believing, they're missing it in their saying. This is where Abraham was missing it. He believed and God counted it to him for righteous. He was righteous in the eyes of God, but it was still unfulfilled until he put it in his mouth. God, when he put it in his mouth. This is why the saying doesn't work for a lot of people, is they're putting in there, putting it in their mouth periodically, randomly. Abraham's name change was a lifestyle of saying a lifestyle. Every time Sarah says, abraham, can you take this, can you take this trash out? Every time he heard his. Every time he heard his name, they're calling. Every time he said his name, they're calling. Every time someone else uses their name, they hear it's the calling. It's a lifestyle change. Faith is a lifestyle. Faith is not just moments. It's a lifestyle. And to have a lifestyle of faith calls for a lifestyle of saying, lifestyle of saying, a lifestyle of saying, a lifestyle of saying. Amen. Amen. Amen. And notice this, that even after Isaac was born, they didn't go back to their old names. They had to keep calling themselves. What they had to say to arrive at fulfillment is what you have to say to maintain and move further. You can't go back and relax. It's a lifestyle. It's a lifestyle. A lifestyle. A lifestyle. Because now they're not just calling in a seed, now they're calling in nations out of that seed. Once Isaac is born, they're calling themselves Father of Many Nations, Queen of Princes. Now they're dealing with generations and their names being spoken. Amen. It wasn't just enough to see Isaac born and we're done. Because God didn't just promise him a seed, he promised him generations. Yes, it's not just about you getting your house. It's about a lifestyle of saying that produces something in generations beyond your house. But we practice on these visible things. Amen Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Mark 11. Let's go there. We can't dishonor the verse by not going there. Mark 1122. Mark 11, verse 22. After Jesus had spoken to the tree, the disciples saw that what Jesus said to the tree was fulfilled. Jesus told them how he did it. Verse 22. And Jesus answering, saith unto them, have faith in God. So notice having faith is spoken of before verse 23. For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass. He shall. Whatsoever he saith. This is. Listen, the last phrase, he shall have whatsoever he saith doesn't pertain to you, pertains to what God will do. He's the one that sees to it that you have what you say, that's his part. So you can put a piece of paper over that part in your Bible because so many people are always getting their eyes on his part. They're always looking. He shall have whatsoever he saith. Well, God, when's it going to come? That's God's part. Stay off of God's part. How are you going to do it? No, that's God's part. Stay off of God's part. That's God's part. Our part is that you speak unto the mountain. I was listening to one preacher and he said people were always coming to him and telling what they were facing. And God said to him, yeah, they tell me that all the time too. They're always talking to me about their mountains. And I never said to them to talk to me about their mountains. I said, you speak unto your mountain people, go talk to God about their mountain. That's not what this verse says. See, we got to get it right. Now you can talk to God about maybe how you talk to the mountain. And sometimes you need. He'll direct you specifically on a certain verse. Holy Spirit, what's the verse for me? Or whatever. But he's telling us we are the ones that talk to our mountain. That's what our part is. And then notice this. But shall believe that those things which he saith, shall believe that those things that he saith. You can't believe. Right. If you're not saying. Right. If you're not saying something, you're. You're not believing fully. Bible believing always contains the action of saying without saying, you're not doing Bible believing. Amen. Bible believing is incomplete until something is said, it's not enough to have a good warm, fuzzy feeling of faith in your spirit, you know, to where that said, yes, I agree. For me, I agree. Yeah. But until you say, till you say, till you say, believe those things which he saith, it doesn't say. Jesus said. Jesus didn't say, you'll have what you believe. He said, you believe the things you say. Believe the things you say, Believe the things you say, Believe the things you say, Believe the things you say. Dad Hagin made this statement, and he said, not many people believe when they pray. Not many people believe when they say the two go together. And Abraham proved that for us, didn't he? Well, praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. If Abraham hadn't called himself what God called him, it would not have come to pass even though God said said it. Things don't come to pass because God said it. Things come to pass in our life because we say it. We have to agree. We have to agree. So God said to me, the word for 2021 is say and see. Say and see. In one year, he said and saw. Abraham said and saw. And God began dealing with me. And this is a year you'll see if you'll say, yes, it can come to pass in a year. Yes, things for decades that you've had in your heart, they can come to pass this year. If you will make a lifestyle of saying into this year, if you will build it into your saying. And not just saying it because, oh, I'm checking that off, but saying it because it became as dear to you as your name. How personal is a name? How personal is a name? Room full of people. But no one responds when I say Pastor Debbie Simons, none of you respond like her. Why? Because it's personal to her in a way it's not to you. Even though you know her name, you can know the right things to say, but until it's as personal to you as your name, it'll always elude you. Your saying has to be as personal as that. Amen. So this year, say and see things that we've been waiting on. God's been waiting on us. And know this. It doesn't. It's. It's not that it took God long. It takes us long to get wrong thinking, get past all of implementing our ways. Try this, try that, do this to get past the mental reasonings is what takes long. It doesn't take God long. It doesn't take God long. And if we'll make saying so intimate in the way we Live saying on purpose. It will accelerate things. Because believing will never bring the fulfillment until we say it. Praise the Lord. I said praise the Lord. Now saying spiritually, mentally, physically, financially, about all those arenas, the spiritual arena, mental arena, physical arena, material arena. What are you going to be saying in 2020? Amen. And if I would. If I would instruct this also. Say specifically. Don't say generally. Say specifically. Because what you say, if you speak generally, you get generally nothing. Generally, you get nothing. If you speak special specifically, you know exactly how to calculate whether something's. Whether something's coming to pass or not. Because when you say generally, you. You don't know how. How much, how much, how much. What is it specifically? Amen. What do you need? What do you need? What do you need to walk in your victory about? In your life? Say specifically. Well, praise the Lord. The more specific you are, the better you'll be able to measure your fruit, the fruit of your faith. Amen. So I'd give you homework. Amen. But let me just. Let me. Let me remind you of this saying. Without doing doesn't work. What if they would have called themselves Father of Emanations, and he called himself Abraham? She called herself Sarah, but they never had any intimate relationships. Without the doing, the calling doesn't work. It's the same thing. You can call yourself healed, but if you don't act like it, if you don't think like it. Amen. You can call yourself prosperous, but if you think broke and then you act in line with that, it doesn't matter that you called yourself that. Amen. Are you helped tonight? Stand with me to your feet. Father, we thank you for your word. It's a lamp to our feet. It's a light to our path. This year of say and see, you're offering us the fulfillment of things that you put in our hearts. And remember, we're not just randomly. We're not just randomly wanting something. Abraham believed according to what was spoken. Know what God has said to you. Faith is easy when you know what he said. Because then you know what to say. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. How interested are you earnestly contending for what he has said to us about our families, about our church, our lives, our future, what you were born for, you will not float into. You'll arrive there on purpose. Hallelujah. Just lift up your hands. Let's worship him. Father, we thank you. Tonight, we glorify you. We magnify you. You. We thank you. Father, we thank you. We thank you. We praise you. We praise you. This afternoon, that tangible healing anointing came into my hand. And when that happens, I know he wants to minister that to people. So whoever it is that you've had problems in your knees, just raise up your hands right where you're at, raise up your hands and receive that. Receive that healing power. Father, we thank you. We thank you for your great plan. And in that great plan contains health for your people, healing health and wholeness. So we thank you, Father. We receive that healing power. We receive that healing power. And somebody else in the lower back. Pain in the lower back. Power of God is moving right now in that area of your body. Just receive it. Just receive it. How do you receive it? With words. Perform the act of receiving by saying, I believe I receive. I believe I receive. Many times people believe, but you have to perform the act of receiving. And you. The words I believe I receive is performing that act. Amen. Then someone, some lady, your female, in the. Your female organs. The power of God is working right now. The power of God is working right now in that area of your body. Just receive that. Say, I believe I receive that power. And amen. We praise the Lord. We praise the Lord. Someone's ears are being healed right now. Someone's ears being healed right now. Your ears. It could be an infection. It could be hearing loss. He didn't just. He didn't tell me which. He said, your ears. So he invites you to release your faith and. And anything with your ears that power will work to deal with that difficulty, whether it be deafness or something else with your ears. Hallelujah. Perform the act of receiving. I believe I receive it, Father. I believe I receive it. Praise the Lord. We worship you. I don't really care what. What the need is, but there's power here to address that need. So whether it's called out or not, release your faith. Release your faith. It's the release of faith. That power will flow. Hallelujah. So don't just wait for singling out. There are times he may single out, thank God for that. But you don't have to wait for that. Hallelujah. Once anything he has made ours, we're authorized to initiate. We don't have to wait for him to initiate it. Anything he's provided for us, we initiated it at our own choosing. Amen. Because he's made it ours. Somebody gives you a piece of jewelry, you can put it on anytime you want. You don't have to wait for them to give you permission on a certain day to wear it. Someone gives you clothing you don't have to call and ask them, can I wear it? No, I gave it to you. Healing is out. He gave it to us. It's ours to put on. Amen. Put on that new man. That's a healed man. That's a whole man. That's a new man. Put it on. Amen. And you initiate it. Religion teaches you it's all on God's side, but that's not bible. Amen. Have the bible version of faith, the God version version of faith, not man's version of what they thought faith was. Have God's version. Amen. And God's version authorizes you to take and initiate, put a demand on and put on anything he's made yours. Amen. We thank you, father. Somebody at the base of your neck, you're receiving healing. Move that head around. Just move it around right now. Give action. Give action to that part of the body. Not checking to see if it worked, but giving action to that anointing that is at work. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Somebody's had a condition with their scalp, some kind of scalp condition. Receive your healing for that. Just receive your healing for that. Hallelujah. Someone's throat's being healed. There's a growth that's in the inside the nasal passage that's being healed right now. And it could be someone through livestream as well. So if you're watching by livestream, you're not removed from these things that are being called out, you can also receive. Release your faith right where you're at. There's no distance. There's no distance. Distance in God's power. The power God's present everywhere you can receive. Hallelujah. Praise the lord. Praise the lord. Father, we thank you, Jesus. We thank you. We thank you, Jesus, for what you have made ours. We glorify you. We praise you. We praise you. We praise you. We praise you. Hallelujah. Someone's foot's being healed down the back of your leg, that area that's being healed. Just receive that. Just receive that. Move on that. Act on that. Faith is an act. Saying is one way of acting, but there are other ways of acting. Hallelujah. Praise the lord. We thank you for, father, we thank you. Somebody's had some kind of problems, like right in the area where your waistband would fall. Something around in that area. God's healing right now. God's healing something in that area of your body. Just receive that. We thank you, father. We receive that. We thank you. Somebody's shoulders being Adjusted something been out of place with the shoulders. God is adjusting that. That condition right now. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I believe in the power of God. I believe in the power of God. And one expression of the power of God is angels can be adjusting things and working things. You may feel it, you may not. It's not. Not about what we feel. It's about our believing, giving him permission to work. Hallelujah. We thank you, Father. We thank you, Father. We thank you, Father. Something, the straightening of the spine. Something going right up and down that spine. That power of God going right up and down that spine. Dealing with the straightening of that spine. We thank you for, Father. We thank you, Father. We thank you, Father. Praise the Lord. We praise you, Father. Hallelujah. I'm reminded of the book by. I believe it was in the book by Richard Sigmund called My Time in Heaven. And he talked about. And I'm trying to remember the actual details around it, but being in a service and angels would come and bring body parts, and he watched that those angels at times would carry those body parts back to heaven. And he said, because they wouldn't receive them when they came with them. God has things for us, but he won't. He's not able, although he wants to, he's not able to do anything. Apart from our agreement. Faith is just us agreeing, us agreeing with what God said. So if you have a heart condition, need agreement that his power is dealing with that right now. Hallelujah. I don't want anything that heaven dispatches into these services to be returned back to heaven unaccessed. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We have to be skillful with the word, but we also have to be skillful with our receiving. And being skillful with our receiving is putting down mental reasonings, putting down, checking with our. Our senses to see if it works. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Right where you're at, right? Anyone that's in here that you can already tell, or there's something that I called out, give action to that. I called out shoulders. I called out knees. I called out some feet. I called out backs. I called out necks, spines. Do something, move around, do something. Not to check it, but give that power. Action. Faith is an act. Faith is an act. Amen. The devil comes immediately to steal. But if we employed it by acting on it, go. He can't take what we're already using. Amen. Now raise your hand and show us. Tell us. Testify. I can already tell a difference. I can Already Raise your hand high, real high. Keep it up. Don't do this. Raise it real high. Everybody turn around and look. Turn around and look at the hands up. Turn around and look. Look what Jesus has done. I said look what Jesus has done. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I believe in the power of God. I believe in the power of God. I believe in the power of God. And it's working in me now. And it's working in me now. Let me tell you what, There's a lot in the Christian world who believe in the power of God, but they don't believe it's working in them. Faith is not believing. God can. Faith is believing. He does it now. He does it now. I believe in the power of God and it's working in me now. Say that with me. I believe in the power of God and it's working in me now. This is a lifestyle of saying these things. Amen. We are to give ourselves the spiritual habits that when we're in their car, say it. When we're running errands, say it. When we're around the house getting dressed, say things. Say things. Listen, you can't be double minded saying one thing out loud and another thing to yourself. That's being double minded. Amen. So to have faith words, you also have to have faith thoughts. Amen. So catch those. If you're having thoughts that are different than what you know you're to say, catch that, deal with that. Praise the Lord. Let's thank the Lord for all that he's worked. Jesus, thank you for those healings. Those thank you for that power that's working. We thank you. We thank you. Listen, we can also arrive at Abraham, Romans 4, Abraham faith, not Genesis 12, Abraham's faith. Romans 4, faith. Amen. But what I wanted you to see, that it was process. For Abraham to get there, he had to learn things. Let's not. Let's not short ourselves on learning the process or let's not become so familiar with it that we're not employing it. Become so familiar with something that you don't employ it because you know it, but knowing it is not the employing of it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Jesus, thank you. Thank you, wonderful healer. Hallelujah. Say this with me. It's so good to be healed. It is so good to be healed and it is so good to be free. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. These things are our life saying them, our lifestyle of saying not. How long do we have to say it? We get to say it the rest of our lives. We know what to say the rest of our lives. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Well, we want to remind you of service times in the morning, 10am and then all the way through Thursday night at 7pm Turn to somebody before you're dismissed tonight and and say it is so good to be healed and you can be dismissed. God bless you. We trust you've enjoyed this message. 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