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Dufresne Ministries Podcast
The Goodness & Mercy Of God | Nancy Dufresne | Georgetown, TX | Thursday PM | Miracle Crusade 2023
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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. First Chronicles, chapter 16. First Chronicles, chapter 16. And let's go to verse 34. First Chronicles chapter 16, verse 34. It reads, oh, give thanks unto the Lord. And then that thanks is specific. It's directed toward a certain flow. Not just general thanks, but a targeted expectation. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord. Why? For he is good. It doesn't just say that he does good. He does do good. But he does good for one reason, because he is good. He can't do anything but good, because good is what he is, and he is good. And the next phrase tells us why he is good. For his mercy. It endures forever. So it's his mercy that is an outflow express expressing his goodness. His goodness takes on the form of mercy. You understand that? His goodness takes on a form. And when you're partaking of his mercy, that's goodness working. Amen. We know this John 10:10, and we won't take time to turn there. The thief Jesus said, the thief cometh not, but for to steal, kill and destroy. But I am come. That you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. Jesus made it so clear. Anything that steals, kills and destroys where its source is. So we're not confused. Anything that's not good, God had nothing to do with that means anyone who treated you wrongly, God had nothing to do with that. Don't accuse him with their actions. How many times people have taken offense with God because of how somebody mishandled them, mistreated them, he had nothing to do with that. So we cannot contribute and attribute rather people's actions to God and say, well, he let it happen. Well, he's not. He's not turned anyone into a puppet, including you. So anyone who did something that was their own doings, that was against your life, that was their own doings. See, Satan is the accuser of the brethren, but he was first the accuser of God. Accusing God of all kinds of things and he wants you to pick up his song and sing accusations that why did God let this happen? God lets happen what people let happen. Why? Because we are in authority on this earth. We have to get that straight. Because a lot of people have difficulty receiving because they're trying to receive from someone they have falsely accused and their thinking is messed up and it affects what how they believe. Praise the Lord. So we just sang that one right up front. Get that out of the way. Psalm, chapter 118. Psalm, chapter 118, Verse 1. O give thanks unto the Lord, for. For he is good. Then it says, because he qualifies as good, because his mercy endures forever. Amen. We are to become skillful at receiving of his goodness. How do we do that? Be skillful at receiving of his mercies. His mercy. His mercies alleviate every kind of suffering. What will his mercy do? What suffering have you encountered? His mercy will alleviate every kind of suffering. That's why the Bible doesn't just talk of mercy singular, but mercies, those needing healing. We know this. Under Jesus earthly ministry, they would come up and they would say, have mercy on me. They're asking for healing mercies. How did they know to connect their healing to mercy? Because something they heard from him, that it is a flow of his mercy. Amen. Turn with me, if you would. Let's look at Nehemiah. I just want to look at a couple of these. Nehemiah, chapter nine. Nehemiah, chapter nine. In this chapter, we certainly won't take the whole time to read it because there's so much in it. But prior to this, Nehemiah is rehearsing how God has delivered his people out of Egypt, the miracles that were worked, and how he accompanied them all through the way provided for them. In their years of wandering, they still had. They still had provision. And brought them into the promised land. And then enemies would arise against them. They would go into disobedience and start worshiping what they ought not worship and would go into captivity. Nehemiah in this chapter is recounting the whole history in verse 27. Nehemiah, chapter 9, verse 27, he says this. Therefore thou didst deliver them into the hand of their enemies who vex them. And in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest them from heaven. And according to thy manifold mercies, thou gavest them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their enemies. What did God do? God would call someone, anoint someone, appoint someone to stand up and take the lead into their victory and lead the people into their victories. So it's interesting. He's calling manifold mercies, great mercies, multiple mercies. He includes a flow of his mercy. When God raises up someone and sends to you for your deliverance, that the mercies take on form your pastor is God's mercy to your life. To receive from your pastor. You're receiving of the mercies of God that flow because he puts someone in front of you. You can see and Hear and help accelerate you. But you can become a mercy to someone else. You're a mercy to your co worker. He says these saviors, so to speak, God used them to rescue people. So notice this. The mercies of God just are not just an inanimate thing, but takes on the form of someone who knows him and will yield to him. And the mercies of God can flow through them to the one who's suffering in need. Amen. I think about Billy Frazier, who for a year and a half invited Ed to church. And Ed rejected his mercies, colorfully declining him, calling him names, everything. He was forsaking his own mercies by declining the offer. But the mercy of God is not. Is not delicate, touchy, and will keep just coming back around and coming back around and coming back around, giving us the opportunity to receive of the mercies of God. So for a year and a half, at the end of a year and a half, one day, Ed said yes. And that man was, if we could say this, a savior, little S, because that's the way it lists it, a little savior. Because he brought Ed to the place where help could be received and suffering alleviated. Amen. So it's interesting, I like this, that when you're going to church, I'm going to go partake of my mercies. When I go to a service and I hear the word preach, I'm partaking of my mercies through the giftings that Jesus has given to the church in the five fold offices. That's one flow of his mercy to my life. Think of it. A pastor sent to live with you and your family in your community, and all you have to do is show up. If people don't show up, they're not skillful at receiving of the mercies. Interesting. Yeah. Praise the Lord. Psalm 34. You're okay going to a few of these passages, right? Psalm34, Verse 8. O Taste and see that the Lord is so yummy, so yummy. Haven't you ever sat over a dish of yumminess? Really, it's more like stood by it. Right At Thanksgiving, it's coming Thanksgiving, and you go and that favorite dish is laid out. You don't get a plate, you just get a fork or a spoon and you just stand by the dish and do a dance and make sounds. People say, you want me to get you a plate? Oh, no, I'm just taking a taste. Just taking a taste. My mother would make this certain dessert and Grant and I liked it especially, and she put it out and it was in A glass Pyrex, you know, rectangular dish. He started at one end and I started at the other, and we met in the middle. It's just a taste. Because if I don't sit down and put it on a plate, it's not a portion, it's a taste. As long as you stand by it. You got any scripture for that? Absolutely none. But you know what I mean. Taste and see. Why? Because it's so good. And you keep coming back. You keep coming back. And how you act around that which tastes so good. I mean, seriously, you make sounds, you make movements. And if you're sitting in a chair, that limits and hinders you. Right? You know what I'm talking about. When we go to Fireball, California, it's not Fireball. It's Fireball. And we now have a bad habit. Every meal, we go to three restaurants. Every one meal, three restaurants, we go one place to eat, we go to the second place for dessert and the third place for coffee. We're just tasting. But because we like the taste, we keep showing up. And if we don't have three stops, it's like, What's the matter with your hospitality? Your hospitality's broke. Psalm 34, verse 8. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts in him. Now, see, he's saying the Lord is good, so he's telling us what flow of the Lord. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. So where we see him referred to, let's put his definition in there. What's the definition? Good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in goodness, his goodness, because he's talking about the goodness of God. So it's up to us to release our faith in his goodness. Amen. And when we partake of that goodness, release our faith in his goodness, we'll be blessed for it. Amen. So it has to be trusted in. Can I tell you when it's most important that we are trusting in his goodness is when the accuser is breathing hard against our thought life. Amen. Very good. Because if we don't set ourselves to trust in his goodness, we will believe the accusations against us. Why would we believe the accusations against us? Because we were there when we did those things that were wrong. The devil will not accuse you with something that's not significant to you, pertinent to you, because then he knows it wouldn't land, it wouldn't. It wouldn't grab hold. There's potential there. Because, you know, I did do that. So the devil will try to bring your Faults, failures, sins, mistakes, misses back up. Why he wants you so mindful of where you missed it that you falter in receiving of God's goodness when you miss it. It's called sin consciousness, it's called condemnation. All of these things that the devil piles on, tries to pile on so that we draw back from the goodness and we step into the accusation and we start getting swallowed up by the thoughts of that and it weakens our faith. Why does he tell us, let me read it to you again. Taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts hold to your faith in his goodness when your performance failed because he's not good to me because I performed well. He's good to me because he, he is good. This is not a performance based goodness. This is a God based goodness. And the devil is constantly trying to bring you back to you to determine what measure of goodness you'll partake of. And if you have you in view, you will draw back from receiving. So we put our trust in God's goodness. It's easy to trust in his goodness when we've done everything right, which is not often. You're saying it should become more often as we grow, but I'm just saying the devil's always trying to load his gun against you and we're the ones that hand him stuff. Here, put this in. No, that's not big enough. Do this one. So it takes faith in the face of where we know we've missed it and trust in his goodness. Amen. It's not permission to keep doing something wrong. But even when we do miss it, God's goodness is not withdrawn from us. That's huge to know when you miss it. God's goodness is not withdrawn. He calls for you put your faith on my goodness. Because you can't put your faith on your performance. Your performance will not support this need, but his goodness will. Amen. Psalm 109. 21. Psalm 109. Condemnation is the strategy of the enemy that works against those who are not mindful of who they are in Christ. Okay, that's a huge statement. If there's a sense of condemnation pushing us down, conviction and condemnation are different. Conviction points to what needs to be changed, but shows you how to come out. Condemnation shows where you missed it and how you can never come out. It takes the hope out of you. It takes the hope out of you. God has nothing to do with condemnation. When people fall under or live under a sense of condemnation, they have to feed themselves, feed their faith on the Truths of God's goodness and mercy. Amen. In the face of sin consciousness. So Psalm 109, verse 21 says, but do thou for me, O God the Lord, for Thy name's sake, because Thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. We don't get delivered because we did everything right. We get delivered because his mercy. And this is why many people don't receive their healing or receive their miracle or receive their financial need met. Because they keep thinking of where they missed it that put them in that situation. So they're magnifying their miss more than they're magnifying his goodness and mercy. Then we wonder why we're struggling. Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Now, I appreciate the direction they took in the praise and worship. Because now go to second Chronicles. You know this passage? You've read it before. Notice this because we just read it. Because Thy mercy is good, deliver thou me. There's nothing you can't be delivered out of. Because there's nothing his mercy can't accomplish. Amen. That's right. Thank you, Father. Amen. Don't let the devil tell you this has gone too far. It hasn't gone too far for his mercy. This sickness has advanced too far. It's not too advanced for his mercy. This business has gone down too far. Not too far for his mercy. My children are too far away from the plan of God. Not outside the reach of his mercy. We have to have faith, use our faith. Exercise our faith in his goodness and mercy and that it will work when we've got our faith off of our performance. Your performance is a poor place to land your faith because it can't support in the time of need. 2 Chronicles, chapter 5, verse 12. It came even to pass as the trumpeters and singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord. And when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music and praised the Lord saying, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. That then the house was filled with a cloud. And even the house of the Lord. So that the priest could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud. For the glory of the Lord had filled the house. When we come unitedly united faith and we magnify, magnify his goodness and his mercy. Glory was the result. Do you need glory in the face of one of your needs? What about a financial problem? A physical problem? A problem with your family? A problem with your business? How did they get a manifestation? They unitedly talked about the same Thing magnified the same thing. What was it? The goodness of God. The mercy of God. If your family needs a miracle, get your family together and all of you magnify God's goodness and mercy in the face of your need. You can't go there. Ones though, talking about, oh, I've messed up so bad, I just fell into it. Yeah, well, so have we all. Yeah, come on. I've learned to answer this when I miss it and the devil accuses me. First of all, as soon as you miss it, repent quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick, quick. Don't take long to repent. Repent the moment you miss it. Repent the moment you miss it. Repent the moment you miss it. Praise God, because the moment you miss it, the accuser is going to try to find entrance. When you repent first. John 1:9. If we confess. Confess what? I missed it. I missed it. If we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Unrighteousness turns you sin conscious. Start thinking of where I missed it, how I messed up. I mean, I just should have done better. We all should have done better. We don't get delivered because we all should have done better. And when the devil points to me about with the accusations of where I missed it, you know how I've learned to answer him. And devil, all that shows is I qualify for a savior and I've got one. If I did it right all the time, I wouldn't need a savior, but I need a savior and I qualify for a savior. Now, devil, let's just talk about how you don't qualify. You got no savior. So let's talk about accusations. Let's talk about start. Let's start. Amen. You have to answer. Answer the accusations, even things you did. But you can't answer it correctly till you confess it. You can't tuck it away and hope nobody finds out because the devil already found out. God already knows. And so when you miss it, you need mercy and goodness more than ever before. And he is so quick to. It's there. You don't have to ask him to send it down. Surely, goodness, surely mercy, they're there. Ah, I take it. Ah, I win. As soon as you take it, you win. As soon as you take it, you win. It can be right there. Don't. Every. Every person who worried, worried with goodness and mercy right there. Every person who feared, feared, with goodness and mercy standing by, ready to meet the need. Every person who went into panic attack did that in the presence of goodness and mercy. With. Unable. Unable to manifest because of what they magnified. Amen. Yeah, we know this. If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us. How does he cleanse us? The blood. The blood. The blood of Jesus Puts it back as though you never missed it. That's what the blood does. It puts it back as though you never missed it. That's why you can have faith now in the goodness and mercy. Because under the blood, there's no miss. You can be bold. You can be bold. Amen. Hallelujah. I want us to see this. Psalm 23, verse 6. Psalm 23, verse 6. And I'm going to read out of the Amplified. Psalm 23, verse 6. Surely or only goodness, mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days. All the days. All the days. I did it wrong. Still there. All the days I could have done better. These things don't leave. They're still there. They're still there. Shall follow me all the days of my life and through the length of my days. Look at this. And through the length of my days, the house of the Lord shall be my dwelling place. Through the length of my days, the house of the Lord and His presence shall be my dwelling place. How I never have to be drawn out of his presence because I missed it. Because goodness, mercy, and unfailing love did not leave me when I missed it. So I can still acknowledge, Father, I missed it. And I thank you that your goodness and mercy and love, they still hold me in your presence. You did not cast me out of your presence just because I missed it. Your mercy, love and your goodness, mercy and unfailing love are there holding me in your presence. And I will not let wrong thinking take me away from it. We can only live in his presence because of his goodness, because of his mercy and because of his unfailing love. Your performance never earned you his presence. So don't let your performance disqualify you from abiding in his presence. I'm not making light of missing it. Please understand that. But I'm saying too many times, the accuser, the brethren, has so twisted how we think about God's attitude toward us when we miss it. Amen. Now we know this, and I'll quote it for time's sake. Proverbs 3, verse 12. The Amplified Classic says, for whom the Lord loves, he corrects, even as a Father corrects the Son in whom he delights. Correction is a flow of the love of God. And when we miss it. Here we read this. That when we miss it, his goodness, mercy and unfailing love don't leave us. They're with us all the days and through the length of our days. So when he corrects us, he's correcting us out of the flow of that goodness, mercy and love. It's not out of a flow of he's upset. He's angry at you, mad at you. Amen. Correction is a flow of his love that is to press you into him, not. Not away from him. If you think wrong, you'll draw back when he starts correcting you instead of pressing into him. When you miss it, it'll do one of two things to you, and you choose. You choose based on how you think. It will either close you up or it'll open you up. Decide that when you miss it, I open up to that goodness, that love, that mercy. I open up to it. Instead of closing down and backing up and start stepping out of your place in him. Stop using your authority. This is what the accuser, the Brethren, wants us to think, that if we miss it, then we have to accept a measure of defeat. That's what the accuser is trying to build in the mindset through his accusations, that if you miss it, you have to accept a measure of defeat. You cannot be defeated if you will put your faith on his goodness, his mercy and his unfailing love that's right there in you, around you, never leaves you because you missed it. Amen. Because whom the Lord loves, he corrects. And I don't know, maybe I'm the only one in the room singing the solo, but I've gone through seasons of correction. Seasons? Seasons. Not just a day. Seasons of correction. Why? Because as God just so totally miffed at me that it's just one thing after another. He's pointing. No, it's because he knows how near I am to promotion and he doesn't. He knows that. He wants to deal with something that would hinder our stepping up in faith, because it takes faith to be promoted. He can offer promotion, but we have to have faith to take the promotion. And if we are mindful of where we missed it, it's going to hinder our faith. And we will not stop fully into what he's endeavoring to promote us into. So he deals with things. He deals with things that would hinder our faith, hold back our faith. It's not because he's upset. Anybody know what I'm talking about? It seems like a season of correction. It's like one Thing after another. You better not get hard hearted, because that's the goodness of God. That's the goodness of God. You better keep it tender. You better not take offense. Because if you hadn't missed it, he'd have nothing to deal with. He wouldn't have to deal with something. So why you gonna get mad at him? People think wrong. It's his goodness that corrects you. Every time he corrects you, he's being good to you every time he corrects you, he's being merciful to spare you from what a repeated offense of that would mean to you in the future. Amen. So God doesn't deal with us in seasons of correction to push us down, but to promote us, Right? You say, how do you know? Well, I'm fixing to tell you. I lived with Ed too long. We tell everything. There was some time. You say, how did you learn these things? By thinking wrong. One of the things that bothered me the most is if I missed. You know, it talks in Mark, chapter 11, verse 25. It talks about if you. When you stand praying, if you have unforgiveness toward anyone. Right. Deal with that. Why? Because he's saying, this is what will keep verses 22, 23, and 24 from working for you. There's other things that will. But this is a primary. This is a thing that Jesus knew was to be spotlighted because this is a primary strategy. Get people in unforgiveness, and then their faith won't work. Why? Because unforgiveness is a step out of love. You step out of love, you step into sin. And faith doesn't work when you're standing on sin's territory. So that's true with other people. You have to forgive people if you want your faith to work. You need your faith to work more than you need to look correct to them. I need my faith more than I need you thinking I'm right. So I'm not gonna step out of love trying to convince you I'm right and you're wrong. Anybody ever been there? Ow. So I've never been one too much to. If people didn't. If they had a problem with me. Oh, yeah. Oh, well. Because I am so nice. Y' all did not respond very well to God. But I will not take offense. I am so likable. All right, now you're. That's the renewed mind sound. But I'm just one. Things have just rolled off my back pretty easy. That's just my makeup, my temperament. So I never really had problems forgiving Somebody else. My thing was forgiving myself when I missed it. Because when you. When you love God and you want to be right toward him, the devil will put pressure on that sincerity and he will push that button. He will try to take that sincerity and twist it against you. Yeah. And so when I would go through seasons, don't misunderstand me, I'm not like going through seasons every month. You know, it's like, My gosh, what's the matter with her? But when I would go through these seasons and it's one after another, it's almost like multiple things piled on. Deal with this, deal with this, deal with this, deal with this, deal with this. And you're going, oh, my gosh, I'm trying to keep one nostril out of the water. You know what I'm talking about? Okay. And so in that season, the devil is also going to try to twist that season to a negative instead of let it stay because it is positive. It's a positive. Why? Because God's being good. He's being good and God is fortifying help you address things because he can't address what you won't address. He will not reach into you and change something against your will. He has to have our agreement to help us. So the devil will pile on here when the Holy Ghost and God are spotlighting here. Because the devil wants to always draw you up in the middle arena. Because every time he can get you in the mental arena. You are now outside your faith. And you can only make these corrections with faith employed. Because you're not left to your flesh to make these corrections. You're not left to your willpower to make these corrections. They're made by faith. I employ my faith. It is God who is working in me both to will and to do of his good pleasure. It is not my willpower. It is God working in me. And I have faith that he's working in me. And he loves me enough to keep working in me. So your motto should not be hands off to God. Your motto should be, God, I need your workings in me. I'm not hiding anything. I'm not trying to guard something from you. Some people live so guarded against somebody else that that carries over with God and they take a guarded posture with him, like, don't touch that. How do you. Well, I'm not guarded with God. Oh, yeah. When the pastor starts preaching on something and it nailed something and they go out, I just don't receive any more from this church. I don't receive. What is that? People Are just not fed here anymore. If you would have been quiet out in the lobby, no one would have known it was you. Oh, my. Come on. That's right. But you went out there grinding and squeaking, and people go, oh, got a winner. Ringy, dingy, we found the winner. So what am I saying to you? If the preacher preaches something that hits a sore spot, go out, don't let people know you say, praise God. Wasn't that good today. Then everybody thinks you're completely fixed. But if you go out and say, I don't get fed here anymore, that word doesn't. Oh, we found which way the wind's blowing. I pastored for 25 years. Can you tell? So I know people can get guarded and it'll show up sometimes very prevalently like that. But sometimes people have cloaked their guardedness. So God, during a particular season. Not just during a particular season, it was a season of testing, but also a season of correction. Because the devil wants to. He wants to get in on God's movement and distort it. When God starts correcting you, the devil wants to pile in on that and distort that season so that you start getting agitated, aggravated, guarded, hard. He wants to harden your heart, and he can't, but you can. So it was just that season, and it was like one thing after another. And it was like when I would sense the presence of God, come on me. It's almost like, when's the other shoe going to fall? Y' all went quiet. Do you know what I'm talking about? That. Is that too colloquial of a term? When's the other shoe gonna fall? Because I know I've got to make some. I know I've got to implement this or fortify this or address this. Now, I'm not talking about some deep, dark sin. So don't just go out and say, pastor Nancy's got some real problems. I'm talking about maturing issues. We're all being. Growing up, right? So it was like one thing after another God was dealing with. But then there was this pressure on my mind at the same time, trying to get me to not benefit as I ought. And so it's like, you're fighting this off and you're keeping this tender. But I realized I was doing something that every time I'd sense the presence of God, it's like, oh, yeah, okay, what next? Yeah. Not in a disrespectful way, but I know. I know I've been hearing up here where I've been Missing it. So it's almost like you're just waiting. Okay, what next? Anybody ever had that? Are you just. Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. So basically, before I could receive, I would kind of wait for him to reassure me he loved me, that he wasn't mad at me unconsciously. You're doing that, and you're waiting for him to disarm. Wrong thinking that's what you're doing or what I was doing. You would never. I was waiting for him to reassure me that he wasn't upset with me before. I would lean into what he was saying to me. Is that the way to say it? Otherwise, I didn't lean in. I just stood back a little bit. You know when you're in the car, moms and the kids are fighting in the back, and you're at the stoplight and it's. And the kids are ditching and dodging you? All they have to do is just sway a little bit. That's what I was doing. I was swaying a little bit. God wasn't trying to strike at me, but he was bringing stuff up, and I was until he assured me that I'm not mad. Oh, okay. Okay. Well, then we'll talk. I don't know how to articulate these things, so I hope it comes across right. Okay. But I kept doing this. Even in my spiritual growth process, when I probably should have grown out of some things, I kept doing this. I kept waiting for him to disarm that mindset of, I've displeased you. I don't want to keep displeasing you and waiting for that other shoe to fall. So he did deal with it, and this is what he did. Even when he corrected me on just my receptivity to him, to his correction, I didn't get offended. I did not get offended. I just. I would get so disappointed in myself when he would have to deal with me. That's what it was. I wasn't offended that he was correcting me, but I was so disappointed in myself, and I'd have to dig myself out of that hole of disappointment. But you have to forgive yourself or your faith won't work. And he can't take you further till your faith works. So God began dealing with me. And he said, you have been unkind and unfair in your mindset and approach toward me. He said, when have I ever been unkind to you? And I said, never. He said, when have I ever been unfair to you? Never. He said, then why do you draw back from me as though you're going to be met with unkindness and unfairness. I didn't intend to draw back an accusation of him, but that's really what it was playing out as. And he said that guarded approach to him was wrong. Because when had he ever done anything that I needed to guard myself against regarding him? I was guarding wrong thinking. So he said to me, he said, you're doing the exact same thing Adam and Eve did in the garden. Where's the fruit tree? That's not what he meant. You remember this. Before they sinned, God would come down and have fellowship with them in the cool of the day. He came to them and he would impart his wisdom so that they could rule and reign over this earth with his mindset. He would impart to them in that fellowship time when they sinned. And God came down in the cool of the day again to fellowship, and they couldn't be found. They had hid themselves. He knew where they were, of course, but he was wanting them to come out, not him to go find them. So he said, why have you hid yourself? Have you eaten of the fruit? Well, of course he knew it, right? And they hid themselves. And God said to me they had never known me to be anything but kind. He said I had never been anything but good to them. I had never been anything but fair to them. He said they had no basis and no right to hide from me because I had never struck at them in any way that would warrant them hiding, fearing any unkindness toward their sin. Listen to that. He said, they only assumed and learned. They only assumed and feared me as being unkind and hiding from me. After they came in contact with the serpent who affected the way they thought about me. When they came into contact with the serpent, who was the unkind one, they accused me of unkindness because that's who they had been fellowshipping with in the serpent. And he said, when you accuse me that I'm going to do something needing to draw back from. I know who you've been listening to. Did you get that? What we've been listening to is going to determine how we approach him. What we've been listening to is going to determine how we respond to him. Because God said they had no basis for hiding from me, but they hid based on who they had been fellowshipping with. And they accused me of the one they had been fellowshipping with. Their contact with the serpent, he said, distorted their view of me. I am the kind one. Amen. They should have drawn back from the one they didn't know. But Instead, they drew back from the one they knew. That's what. How the devil so distorts through accusations that we. When we miss it. You know what a lot of Christians do, especially baby Christians. They stay out of church. They quit coming to church because they feel so bad. They know they've missed it. What should Adam and Eve have done? Brother Copeland made a statement I had never thought about. He said God gave them the opportunity to repent and they would not. That's why they were run out of the garden. Therefore, the nature of the devil. But he said God gave them opportunity to repent and they would not. What's this mean? We only know God is good. We only know him as merciful. We only know him as kind. We. When you miss it, don't go this direction. Run. This direction. Open. Open. Run. I missed it. Thank you. For you've already. You've already supplied me with what I need in the face of what I've missed. The blood is still there. Thank you. I received the blood. Your goodness is still there. Your kindness is still there. Your mercy is still there. So I part partake of it. Amen. Is this helping when we fail? When we sin, expect the right thing from him. Expect the right response from him. Which is what? Kindness. Don't expect hardness and displeasure and meanness. Because he's never demonstrated that to you. Listen, if he ever got mean with you, you wouldn't have been in the chair. If God ever treated any of us mean, we wouldn't have been here tonight. Amen. Not his place to disarm me, being guarded in his presence. It's my place to believe him, Trust his goodness, trust his mercy, trust his blood that cleanses. Amen. If God ever corrects me or you, he will always and only do it from a place of goodness. Because that's all he is. And the devil wants to take anything that the. Because sometimes your spirit can get grieved. Right? Your spirit gets grieved when you miss it. So the devil takes that grieving and starts accusing you. Brings it up here in this realm so that you start turning in on yourself and accusing, drawing back from God, who is your help and your goodness at that place where you missed it. Amen. He should not have to convince us of his goodness. We believe him. We've partaken, we've tasted and we have seen for ourselves. He should not have to defend himself to us. And when we draw back from him, that's what we're expecting him to after us. Has he done that? Yes. Just like the prodigal son's father ran toward him. He ran a direction he didn't have to. And God will do it, but he won't keep doing that. As you grow. He expects you, as you mature, to take your place instead of drawback. And him. Come now, honey, it's okay. I still love you. This, that works for baby Christians. But we have to grow to the place where we just come up boldly and say, I believe in your blood more than I believe in where I missed it. I believe in your goodness more than I believe in my performance. Because this is not a performance based salvation. That doesn't mean we should not perform have good works. Good works will not save you. But once you're saved, good works are everything. Why it's bearing the fruit. You know them by their fruit. So we should bear good works. But we're not saved. And God doesn't love us or fellowship with us on the basis of works. Amen. Praise the Lord. Let me see if I. If I typed out this passage. I don't know that I did, but I'll tell it to you. The religious leaders brought the woman caught in adultery. I've just always wondered, how did one person commit this? How come there's only one standing here? I'm just wondering. So they bring her to Jesus and they throw her down in front of Jesus and they said, Moses said she ought to be stoned, ought to die. What do you say? What are they expecting out of Jesus? Judgment. That's what they're expecting. To take a mean view of God is you're looking for judgment for people. God get them, but if he gets them, he's going to get. They're going to end up with goodness. You know why? Because he reigns on the just and the unjust. He doesn't change based on who's standing in front of him. Just or unjust. He cannot violate himself. Praise the Lord. Religious thinking, not thinking in line with the Word can turn people mean in their. In their expectation. But he disappointed her accusers. What did he say? That him who's without sin. You go ahead and throw that stone first. And of course we know the story. They all walked away. So she did not get judgment. She got goodness. She got kindness. She got mercy. She got love. That was not permission. Don't misread goodness as permission. The devil will trap you in that wrong thinking. Thinking you got by with something because God was good. God was good not because he approved of what we did, but because he was good because of who he is. So don't misunderstand his goodness as permission to continue the wrong way. Don't misunderstand his kindness as he's winking at what needs to be dealt with. So after they've all gone, he said, where are your accusers? She said, they've left. And he said, I don't accuse you either. No accusation. Did heaven get involved in any accusing that happens, anything that comes against your head, accusing you with your past, your faults, your failure, your Mrs. Once you've confessed of it, none of that came from heaven and heaven's not going to protect participate. So now you know what to do with accusations. You resist them, you answer them. If you don't, they'll rob you of your faith working. Then when you need a miracle, your faith will be affected and you'll think you've got to dig yourself out of a hole of all this sin consciousness and all the misses of the past because people let those things get piled on them like a rock pile and they're trying to get them off of them so they. So their faith can work. No, we have to answer them. His kindness was not her permission to live. Wrong, but it was her release from living and getting caught in that lifestyle. Being good to people does not mean you're saying, I agree with you, I love you, but I don't have to agree with you to love you. This is what the world doesn't understand. If you love me, then you have to agree with me. No, no, I don't agree with you. But my love towards you is me releasing you from that lifestyle, from that way of thinking, from that habit, from that addiction. Because God is good to us to help us walk free from that. Now, years ago, there was a teacher that I had, brother, she was rough, I'm telling you, she was rough every time. She was good, but she didn't. Well, she was just rough. And I was. I had never been around someone who dealt harshly, taught harshly. My mother was firm, but she wasn't harsh. I didn't know where to put harshness. I didn't know where to put it. So I mean, my stomach was so upset every time I had to go be taught by this person. There came a time when I changed and was under a different instructor. And he was so kind. Oh, I go, oh my gosh. I don't have to get in trouble every time I come for this training. Oh my gosh. And I flourished under him. His kindness was not a license to do less or to be less. It was a lifting to me, God is not Being kind because he's giving permission. It's how he lifts us. So don't frustrate the grace of God, the goodness of God, the mercy of God, by thinking it's permission to stay where we're at. It's given to lift us to the next place. It's very critical, you understand that? Not misread that. Praise the Lord. Then I'll close with this. Proverbs 16, verse 21. Proverbs 16, 21, The last part of the verse. The sweetness of the lips increases learning in a kind atmosphere, in an encouraging atmosphere. People come up to the level of that goodness. They're promoted up into the level of that goodness because that goodness lifts. We don't. It's a. It's a misrepresentation. Listen, as preachers, sometimes, especially pastors, Pastors are parents. You can't raise a child telling them how wonderful they are every day. If you have to be told, you're telling your kids, oh, you're just. You're just a princess. Well, they're really not. We don't have that set up in this country. You're just so beautiful. Oh. And if they have to have that to feel good about themselves, you weaken them. Because the world is not going to say you're a princess. So we're just going to give you all the money you need. It doesn't work that way. There's an expectation. And when a pastor is being a good pastor, when they put an expectation on their congregation, that is being good, that is being kind. I've taught you well. I expect you to come up to it. I expect that that's not being unkind and that's not being unsweet. But you put an expectation. But it's unfair to expect something when you haven't taught them how to arrive there. Right. Verse 24 says, Pleasant words are as a honeycomb and sweet to the soul and health to the bones. God commands us to deal with people in the flow that he deals with them in good kind, merciful. But one flow of love is correction. So don't think that goodness, kindness, and mercy turns you weak. Amen. Now, and I'll close with this. At the time that God is going to promote you, watch for this strategy. The devil's going to dogpile on your head with all your faults, failures, and misses so that you do not step up boldly. Just recognize that strategy. So know on the other side of a season of opposition, there's promotion. If you'll handle it based on the word amen and One of the greatest acts of faith. I love this. What Pastor Lyketic said, one of the greatest acts of faith, after we've missed it, is to go to First John 1:9. Father, confess my sin. And because I'm confessing it, you're not wrenching it out of me. I'm confessing it. You are faithful and just to forgive me and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. So right now I'm right. Right now I'm clean. That is one of the greatest acts of faith. Because that's his goodness that offers you that cleansing. Amen. Take him up on it. So then when the devil comes and accuses, you got no case, Devil, you got no case. That's thrown out of the courtroom of heaven because it is as though it never existed. The blood made it as though it was never there. The blood puts me back as though I never missed it. You have to be good at receiving of the goodness by answering the accusations of the enemy. Be good at receiving the mercy by answering the accusations of the enemy, magnifying God's goodness and mercy above the accusation that the devil will throw at your head. Because all of this, whether you know it or not, will hinder us from receiving healing, from receiving miracles. If we are not skillful in this flow, well, praise the Lord. Stand with me to your feet. Hallelujah. The Lord is good. I said the Lord is good. And his mercy endures from forever. And I'm good at receiving of his goodness and mercy. I have more faith in his goodness and mercy than in my past. Amen. Hallelujah. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us@DefrainMinistries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, become a partner, or visit our online store. This program has been made possible by the friends and partners of Dufresne Ministries.