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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Sharing In Jesus' Success, Part One | Nancy Dufresne | Jesus the Healer Broadcast
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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 this morning, if you would, to Joshua, chapter one and verse eight. God's been showing me some things about this passage, and we're going to take some time and dig in it a little bit. Amen. And while you're finding that, I want to relay something that had happened to me on one occasion, I. I was disappointed in myself over not necessarily things that I had done wrong, but things I had failed to do. Anybody ever missed it by. They call it the sin of omission. It's called the sin of omission. You omit doing the right thing. It's not that you're out living a sinful, wrong life, but just omitting to do what ought to be done, what should be done, what you know to be done. And so I had spent some time, I was talking to God about it, and I was repenting over, oh, I should have done this or I should have done that. I could have done this better. I should have done more of that. And while I was doing, then I, you know, then I got up after that, and I was sitting down and reading a book. And while I was reading a book, I was prompted to get on my knees. And so I did that. And when I got on my knees, the moment my knees hit the floor, Jesus stood in front of me and he said to me, he said, you have failed many, many times. And I thought, I am so grateful. I'm the one that brought it up first. If God brings it up first, you're probably pretty close to getting in trouble, because God can help those who will recognize, acknowledge. He'll show up with help for you. But if you want to act like I'm okay, everything's all right with me. I go to church. People don't know any different. What I'm doing Friday night, you know, that's the kind of thing you want to stay away from. You always want to be up front with God. And I'm not talking about picking yourself apart and getting under condemnation. I'm talking about being sober, about where you're at in your spiritual life and spiritual walk, right? So he said to me, he said, you have failed many, many times. But I'm so grateful. He didn't stop with that. He said, you have failed many, many times. But then he said, but I never have. So what was he doing? He was immediately bringing my focus off of me onto him. Meaning this, that if we keep looking at us, we're gonna keep looking at failure. I'm talking about us in our own ability, us in our natural ability, us in our energy to fulfill some things. But he gave me a better place to look. He said, but I never have. So in other words, he's showing us we don't become more effective or more successful by looking at what we're doing wrong. We become successful by looking at the one who succeeded. So he says, you have failed many, many times. But I never have. So he was following it up with, don't focus on the first part of my phrase. Focus on the last part of my phrase that he never has. And then he made another statement after that. And he said, so I share my success with you. Amen. Meaning this. You don't have to keep missing it. You don't have to keep falling behind in any way. Meaning there is a path of success that he offers. And how many of you know God's never failed at anything? Do you know? We're created in his image. So that means not only has he succeeded at everything, but we're to share in his success. And that's what Jesus was saying. It's not about you going out and creating your own success. Step into my success. Well, how do we step into his success? Well, one thing is, do what he did. Follow the example of success that he left for us. Remember what Jesus. He made the statement. He said, learn of me. He said, my yoke is light. My burden is easy. Remember what he said. But he said, learn of me. In other words, learn how I did it. Learn how I walked. Do what I did. So how do we share in his success? Learn what he did. Do what he did. Amen. And you say, how can I do that? Because we are created in Him. We're one with Him. It's by him, his ability in us. It's not by human natural abilities. Human natural ability will always end you up at failure when it comes to spiritual things, because natural abilities are not enough to achieve spiritual possibilities. Amen. So I so appreciate, he said, so I share my success with you. If someone says, here's my dinner plate, I want to share some of it with you, that means you can have as much as you'll take, right when Jesus. And I don't have time to turn over there right now to look at it. But remember when Jesus multiplied the bread and the fish, the loaves of bread and the fish, and it said that the disciples passed it out. And one of the writers of the gospel said, this they took as much as they wanted, meaning this. The supply that was multiplied, it didn't run out at the taking. The more they took, the more it just multiplied. So it wasn't like somebody saying, hey, you're taking too much. They're not gonna be left over. It multiplied the more you took. And they only got as much as they took. And Jesus is saying to us, I offer you my success. What's that mean? It's up to us to take it. We will have as much success as we'll take. Amen. He won't run out of success because someone took your portion. There's never an end to the measure that he offers us. Amen. So take your portion and just keep taking and taking and taking and taking and taking. Amen. So when Jesus said, my success I share with you, how many of you know he's talking about God's definition of success, not humanity's definition of success? Because what man calls success is so much, has nothing to do with the divine, divine definition of success. Amen. So he said, he shares our success. He said, I share my success. So that's the highest flow of success any man can ever partake of. And it's ours for the taking. Amen. So you say, well, how in the world do we take it? Well, one way, as I said, learn what Jesus did, do what he did. Amen. But another thing that I want to take this morning and start looking at is referring to something that happened over in Joshua, chapter one. God is talking to Joshua about the departure of Moses. Moses has just left. Now think about this. Joshua was a second man. For well over 40 years. He served the man of God. He served his leader faithfully. No doubt. He loved that position. He loved that man. You don't serve someone faithfully without loving the man. Don't just love your company. Love the boss. Be interested in the man, not just the company he represents. Don't just love the church, love the pastor. You know what I'm saying? Don't just love your family. Love the head of the family. Amen. Love those in the family. And so, you know, Joshua loved this man of God. He served him faithfully for over 40 years. And because of Moses relationship, Joshua came to know God in a way he never did know him. Without Moses in his life, there were times that Moses would go up into the presence of God and stay there. And on one occasion, when Moses had left and the glory was still there, it says, Joshua didn't leave. Joshua stayed even after the man of God left. Why? Because the man of God brought him into a place of fellowship. And he says, I'm not leaving this. Amen. And it didn't come for Joshua. It came because God was talking to Moses. But Joshua got to step into it because he loved the man and he honored the man. And God didn't run him out because he treated the man right. And so this. This wonderful man who had served for over 40 years, he had been second. There's a mentality that you carry when you serve someone. You have to have the right mentality that. What is that mentality? That. That you're not it. If you're there to promote you, you won't be good at serving anybody. Your total interest and total everything that you do has to be with that one in mind. Now this describes Joshua. He wasn't there trying to jockey for position. He wasn't trying to strategically put himself and create a networking, a spiritual networking. There's no such thing as a spiritual networking. It's all carnal. Amen. God will put you around people, but not with your motive, with his intent in mind. And so Joshua had this mentality of a second man. And the second man is your success is my success. To see you succeed means I succeed. Succeed. It's not about me being first. And if you listen to much leadership teaching, leadership teaching means this, that you're faithful. Leadership teaching is not. I get my own and have everybody follow me around. Amen. Leadership is learning how to serve. And so Joshua had served this man faithfully for 40 years. And you can imagine, now he's gone. Moses has left the scene. And he's left at a great transition in his life. Because now the man he had been faithful to for so long is no longer here. And then he is left with the capacity that Moses once walked in. Now think of this. He no doubt admired this man. He served this man. And he's acquainted with. Joshua is acquainted with his own failures, his own human faults, his own human frailties. And there's got to be a little bit in his thinking of, I could never equal him. I could never equal Moses. If Moses could not get the people in, what makes me think that I can lead the people in? Right? He's no doubt got to have this way of thinking that he's got to address. So when God begins to deal with him as the new leader, taking in the position where Moses left off, he's got to address any changes, not just in the people, but in Joshua. Because Joshua is no longer second man. And you can't lead with A second man mentality. Amen. And so he's got to come up in his thinking and come up in his responsibilities are different now. Amen. And so he's got to make a transition. And you don't always make that Overnight you go, I don't quite know. Your life is full of transitions. Our lives are full of transitions. You were a son, you were a daughter, then you became, you know, you became a teenager. Oh, that transition was bumpy for some, wasn't it? Then you became a young adult. You were single all that time and you had the mentality of a single person. But then those who got married, and then they struggled for the first several years of their marriage. Why? Because they didn't make the transition to a married mentality. They were still trying to bring their single mentality. It's about me, it's about what I want, it's about what serves me. It's about you're not noticing me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me. And that's where marital problems come from, people not transitioning in their thought life, that you're not a single person anymore. Now it's not about you. Now it's about the other one. First. Amen. And then you transition on to another stage of life, of parenthood. And now you've got someone who doesn't pay your bills, someone who brings no work to the family and they demand every moment of your day. That's called parenting. Right. And that's another transition that you have to make in your, in your understanding and in your thought life so that you succeed at that. Life is full of transitions. Joshua was at one of these transitions in his life. At a time of transition is when the enemy loves to come in because that's the most susceptible, acceptable time, because you're stepping from one to the next. And in that step it can be missed if you're not careful. So God was catching Joshua at this critical time when he's in a transition time stepping from serving to leading, and he's got to do it right, he's got to think right so that he can lead and have success in his leading. Amen. Now think about this. The congregation that Joshua is left with, he's left with a second generation of those delivered out of Egypt. The first generation is. This is. They were gripers, they were complainers, they were murmurers. Every time something didn't play out the way they wanted, they turned on their leader. They bad mouthed their leader. They. This was the first generation. They were a disappointed people. This was the first generation was a generation who never arrived. They were brought out, but never arrived. God did not bring them out to never arrive. God brought them out to bring them in. What was it he wanted to turn them from slaves who owned nothing into landowners. They were now a nation of themselves. They were not renting, they weren't being slaves, they were owning. But what happened? They would not go. They would not comply with the instructions. They let their old thinking stop them. They had a huge transition to make, that first generation, what was it? The transition from a slave slave mentality to a landowner mentality to the mentality of a free man, to setting up their own nation. And this was a transition that they never made in their thought life. And because they didn't change their thinking, their faith never equaled the task. Amen. And so because they did, they carried their slave mentality into their freedom free land. They're free now, but they still carry the slave mentality. Go, wow, that's too bad for them. Can I tell you, you are a new creature in Christ. So many Christians are allowing what they used to live in, what they used to have as a standard. What they used to. The limits they used to have is limiting them from going in and living the abundant life. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. You better bring that mentality into that. We have to think in terms of where we're headed and quit thinking about where we have been and what we've been brought out of and letting that govern our future steps. And this is what they did. They carried slave talk their free land. What do slaves do? They complain. They gripe, no doubt. They're mistreated, they're mishandled, they're not treated properly. So it's so easy to have a complaint in the mouth, right? But now they're in the free land. But they didn't leave that complaining behind. Now they just redirected it to Moses, they redirected it to God. They accused God and Moses of not taking care of them when God was offering them. There's land I have prepared. Just show up, just show up. But you can't journey into what God has with a complaint, with murmuring and with fault finding in your mouth. You can't get there. If our life hasn't transitioned, has our thinking. Amen. Their bodies transitioned out, but their thinking stayed back. They kept going. When a time of crisis came, they said, wish we were back in Egypt. They forgot what it was like in Egypt. I tell you what, God offers us so much, but we have to bring our thinking into what he offers us. So this first generation, they were delivered out of Egypt. And being delivered out of Egypt, they journeyed. And they ended up for 40 years in the wrong place. Now think how disappointing life is when you're in the wrong place for 40 years. I mean, it doesn't fit you. Have you ever been in a home and you go, I enjoy the home. Maybe it's a rental home or something. I enjoy it. But it's not mine. You can tell it's not yours. It doesn't fit you. They lived for 40 years in a place that did not fit them. Why not? Because there wasn't something waiting for them. But because they would not leave behind where they used to be in their thought life. Now think of how they walked out. They walked out of Egypt. And Morgan was referring to it with the health of God. They put the blood over the doorpost. They ate the lamb before the Passover night. Remember that? And the Bible says that when they left Egypt, not one feeble one was among them. Now you think about that. These are slave bodies. Mishandled bodies, abused bodies, neglected bodies, not receiving proper attention. They don't care if you're sick. They don't care if a joint is out of place. They don't care. And so whenever God delivered them, he fixed all of that. Fixed it. Healed them. Why? So they wouldn't even have any mark of the past in their bodies. Then another. Another thing that marked their slavery. Not only broken bodies, but God got rid of that and gave them hope. Whole bodies. Nobody's being drawn in a wagon, laid them up in a wagon, pushed in a chair with their legs stuck out because they're crippled. No, no, no. Everybody's walking out whole. Every young person, every middle age, every old person walking out whole. But not only did he fix their bodies in delivering them, he said, go demand of your neighbor the silver and the gold. So God gave them favor and they turned over all the silver and gold. They walked out whole and they walked out rich. You understand? Everything's changed now. Everything's changed now. But notice this. God sent them to a place where they couldn't spend a dime of it. They were to journey through the wilderness, not camp. Journey through the wilderness. Why? He was going to teach them. You're going to go on a route that your money can't deliver you. You've got all the money. But you need to learn. Your money will not get you in. I want you to know. So many people think if they had the money, their Life would be different. Money will never get you in to what God's authored for you. Money will never get you in. Amen. Leave that old mentality. Money accompanies those who move ahead in the plan of God. Amen. So here they are. This is the congregation. Moses got to pastor those. They were walked out healed, they walked out rich. But their thinking stayed the same and their words stayed the same. So the first thing that God deals with is he's talking to Joshua. And Joshua, no doubt he's got to get Joshua's mentality. Not to say he had a wrong mentality, but he had a second man mentality which he should have had, but now it calls for another mentality. And so this generation that he's pastoring, that Joshua is pastoring, they're raised by the first generation. Think of it. They're raised by complainers. They've heard complaining, they've heard griping. They've heard talking against leadership. Right? They've heard, they've seen. They've been raised by parents who never arrived. They were raised by parents who didn't have faith to do what God told them to do. Now Joshua's left with a congregation, raised by the disobedient, raised by the rebellious, and he's got to get them in. Praise the Lord. Now this looks huge. What a huge task for this man to assume the leadership of. This looks huge. But I want you to know, even in this, God made his success so simple. What he did is in one verse, he told him how to change 40 years of failure, 40 years of rebellion, 40 years of complaining, 40 years of griping, 40 years of never arriving. Amen. He tells him how in one verse, do you know, he. Your situation might look complicated, it might look involved. But I want you to know it only takes one verse. One verse. One verse. One verse. We see each sides of our situations and circumstances. And sometimes to our eyes it can look tangled, sometimes to our eyes it looks involved. Like, how do you ever resolve this? What is difficult for us is so simple. Simple. In God's plan, He's always got a plan. It's a simple plan. Amen. And so we see this, that God in one verse can turn 40 years of doubt, 40 years of rebellion, 40 years of backbiting, 40 years of unbelief and never arriving. He says, and you know, you would think it would take volumes that Joshua would say, it's going to take you giving me volumes of what I need to do to fix this. And God gives him one verse. One verse. How about we read it Joshua, chapter one, verse eight. And it says, this book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. That's the amplified translation. Notice this. The last phrase says, then you will deal wisely. Then you make your way prosperous. Notice this God's not mentioned in your prosperity. Notice the devil's not mentioned as the withholding your prosperity. In this verse, if you were to count, the word is referred to three times. In this account, the individual is referred to five times. What's that mean? Our success is hinging on what the individual's going to do with the word. Amen. Our success is connected to what we do with. With the word. Now I want you to see the first two words of this verse. This book. This book. Not your iq, not your education. Now, I'm not devaluing education. Education is right. But it will never lead you into God's success. What's going to arrive us at God's plan of success for our life? It's his book. This book. This word. What's that mean? We're going to have to have a respect and a regard for the book. If we don't value his word, we can't have the success that's connected to it. We must value the word. Know this, that before Moses left, before he went home to be with the Lord, he laid hands on Joshua and the spirit of wisdom was imparted into him. Know this. When God was talking to Joshua, he didn't even refer to that. Is it important? Sure. That's good that he had the spirit of wisdom on him. But the spirit of wisdom doesn't take the place of the word. I don't care who's laid hands on you. Some people run around and try to get that person to lay hands on them. And that person that will never make a subs that will never substitute for the success you can only find in the word. If people would like to run around and get in all different kinds of meetings, that's fine to attend meetings. It's fine to get around someone whose ministry may be on the forefront. That's fine. But I want you to know your success is not connected to that. Your success is connected to the word. This verse begins with the book. And the last phrase of it is, your success. The book. Your success. The book. Your success. Amen. So what we do with the Word determines whether or not we arrive into God's fullness for us. Amen. Hallelujah. I said hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner, or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of defrain Ministries.