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The Greater Knowledge Of God, Part Two | Morgan Dufresne | World Harvest Church | Murrieta, CA
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. Last week I had started talking about knowledge and getting the knowledge that knowledge is really, you could say in any profession. And anything you're going to do in life, you don't want to go into, into even fixing dinner without some knowledge, right? Knowledge gives us confidence. When you have knowledge, you have the confidence to face maybe something that you've never faced before. But I know this. My, my husband is one of these types of people and he does lots and lots and lots and lots of research before he does anything, because he wants to have the knowledge. He wants to have answers before he faces the question. And we'll look here in the Scriptures that we can have answers before we ever face the question that is made available to us. God is not asking us to answer questions with questions or answer questions in the natural. He has provided every answer you will ever need before the question even arises. And so. But it has to do with us knowledge. God's already provided all the knowledge of himself right here. But what he hasn't yet provided and what comes through pursuing knowledge is revelation. So there's a progression. We're going to talk about. The knowledge of God is right here in His Word. But the knowledge of God and reading knowledge helps us. It's going to help us answer questions, it's going to help us answer feelings. But revelation is what helps get us into the further things of God, get us into exercising our faith. When you have revelation going beyond knowledge and you get revelation, nothing is impossible at that moment. And so it's like, you could say it this way. You can have knowledge of how something works, but after you've already used it and when you understand why it works that way, don't you know, you act a little bit more confidently with that. You can know how a car, you can know how to drive a car, but when you understand the engine and how it works, you're a lot more confident to take it on a road trip because you know if you hear something off, if something's not right, you have the knowledge of how that works. That's what revelation is. Revelation is a step further, further than knowledge. And it's understanding how and why God operates, why he does what he does, why he's given the instruction, why it is that it's not okay. You know, maybe within your household to operate in a certain way, you can know what the word says. But when you understand why God said it, amen you know the scripture, and we won't take time to turn there this morning it says that we understand the height, the breadth, and you know the depth of his love. What is that? That's revelation of why God provided Jesus for us. You can know that Jesus became your sacrifice, that he was made sin for you. But when you know why, when you get the revelation of why he did that, it gives you the confidence, the faith begins to flow out of the understanding, the revelation of who he is. So we want to look at that. But look at Matthew, chapter seven. It says, Keep on asking. Matthew 7:7. Keep on asking and it will be given you. Keep on seeking and you will find. Keep on knocking reverently and the door will be open to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives. And he who keeps on seeking finds. And to him who keeps on knocking, the door will be open. Or what man is there of you? If his son, ask him for a loaf of bread, will hand him a stone, or. Or if he asks for a fish, will hand him a serpent. If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good and advantageous gifts to your children, how much more will your Father, who is in heaven, perfect as he is, give him advantageously the things to those who keep on asking Him? We run into an issue in our lives when we stop asking God for more revelation. This oftentimes we associate with asking him for things, for stuff. We're persistent were, and we should be. We should not let go of the things that we're believing for. We should be consistent in asking God, bold and asking God. But what about seeking and asking regarding revelation for our lives, regarding more knowledge that we're not satisfied today with where we're at in knowing Him. You know, this hearing is not even knowledge. Just because you hear something doesn't. Just because you come to church doesn't mean you have revelation of who God is. You can gain knowledge. I can what? What? One of the words that stems from knowledge is know to know. I can know who somebody is, I can know about somebody, but it doesn't mean I know them. Revelation goes beyond just knowing about God and goes into knowing who he is, having fellowship with him. That's our goal. Our goal is not to stop at knowledge, but knowledge is the first place we want to be. The way the Holy Ghost showed it to me is this. You've got this dividing line here. And this is how we can face every situation. You can assess every situation you're in right now. How are you responding to it? There's going to be four positions that we can be in regarding any situation we're facing. And the dividing line, of course is the word of God. It divides the spirit and the soul. We can have step over and we can have knowledge. We can know God's Word. We can be able to even speak God's Word. And knowledge is good. Knowledge is right. Knowledge is the start. You, you set your foundation on the knowledge of God's Word. I need to. We come here because we want to gain knowledge of God's Word. We, we read books, we have a book of the month because we want to have knowledge of God's Word. But there's a step further than knowledge and that's revelation. And so we have to assess in the situation that we're facing, are we speaking just out of knowledge or are we answering out of revelation? I'm going to say that again. Are you just speaking by his stripes? I am healed. Because you have knowledge that that's what his Word says. That's good and that's right. Or are you responding? See, a response is different than just talking. Response has faith attached to it. A Bible response. And we're going to look at a great example this morning of a Bible response. One of the greatest responses Jesus ever heard. So knowledge knows and has read that. And that's a good. That's our foundation. Knowledge is our foundation. But we want to go further than that because there's even believers suffering and dying and struggling every day. And they have knowledge, they know the scripture. But because they haven't kept, they stopped pursuing revelation. Or maybe the church that they're in stopped teaching. Revelation lacks in revelation because somebody stopped going after. Maybe there was a life experience. I'm reminded of Dr. When he would talk about his pastor that he had and his very first pastor, the church he got born again and the church he got saved. That Billy Frazier invited him on a Sunday morning and that Filipino couple stood and had a tongues and interpretation. And in that moment he said the hair on the back of his neck stood up and he was coming to get Billy Frazier off his back to stop inviting him to church because he was a Catholic. And he came and all of a sudden the power of God fell. When that Filipino couple had a tongues and interpretation and said now is the time of salvation. He couldn't wait to get down to that altar and that pastor he got born again sitting under that denominational pastor. Then he got filled with the Holy Ghost and he served faithfully in that church. But at some point, Dr. Began to discover there was knowledge in the Word regarding healing. And he went to his pastor and he began to talk to him about healing. And he said, well, healing is if it's thy will. Well, we know that this particular church, in this particular denomination at one point believed in the fullness of healing. And healing was God's will, and that it was for every believer and that it was made available at the cross and that you could receive it by faith. But because of this pastor's experience, he had had a young child to die. He based his knowledge off of his experience. And he said, well, don't get into that healing business, because it's up to God, really. What he was telling doctor. But that's not what doctor Was seeing. Because of one man's revelation, he had gotten a hold of T.L. osborne's book, Healing the Sick. And because of the revelation, not just knowledge, but the revelation that Brother Osborne had, that revelation began to minister. He began getting revelation. What's revealed to you by the spirit of God, what's revelation to your heart cannot be taken away. The devil's gonna combat the knowledge that you have. But when it's revelation, no force can take it away. That revelation is what makes us overcomers. Amen. That's what makes any relationship rich. You know, the marriage relationship, if you just know your spouse, but you don't get to know them. You know, you can look up on Wikipedia, anybody, you can Google anybody and become an expert in knowing about that person. But it doesn't mean you know them. Knowledge knows God. Knowledge knows. I know who God is. I know about him. I know what his Word says. Again, this is what we build our doctrine, our foundation on, that we have to know the Word. Because again, some people, they don't want to get in the Word. They just want to. You know, I'm a believer. I'm filled with the Holy Ghost. And then they live trying to hear and feel God way out. No, you got to have knowledge of him. So what we want to recognize is we've got knowledge and then we've got revelation. And where our pursuit needs to always be. I don't want to just hear the Word and be able to quote it. I want to have revelation. Why is it that he delivered? Revelation is the very essence of creation. It's God revealing himself in this natural world. God revealed himself. Revelation and reveal is to simply take something that was a mystery and make it known. And so he was known in the realm of the spirit. But creation is God revealing himself in another realm. Revelation is the Very reason why we're here. It's the very essence of why we're here. So if we're just seeing, sitting back and going, I came to church, I heard the word, I've got some knowledge. Thank you, Father. I'm seeking my new job. I'm seeking the money, I'm seeking this. And we're only seeking the things, the stuff, the what he's provided. But we're not seeking him. What is the job? What is the business? What is that? What is that even about? It's about knowing him. We've got to go a step further. I want the revelation now on the other side of this. And again, we want to assess ourselves. Where are we? Think about what you're believing for today. What are you facing? What's the issue today that, you know, needs to be addressed on this side? What we see, Let me open up here, let me open up my notes so I don't get off. Because we're, we're again, we're building on this. And in these next couple of weeks, on the other side of the spectrum, I can look at my life and I can see that there will be times that instead of responding according to knowledge, I start responding according to my feelings. The direct opposite of knowledge is going to be feeling. It's going to be feeling. You face every situation and you look at it and you assess it and you go, am I going to choose the side of knowledge or am I going to go the direction of feeling? The issue with feeling, well, I just feel like this is the right decision. I just feel like this is going to go well. I just feel like things are going to be all right. I just feel. Feel like this is the right decision. Feeling doesn't ever carry the weight of knowledge with it, but knowledge. Once you get into knowledge and you begin to act in knowledge and pursue revelation, God will bring the anointing on his revelation and you begin to have a feeling. God can provide a feeling when you step out in faith, a reassurance. But what people want to do is they want to come on this side and they want to have a feeling first. Feelings first. That's what the carnal mind is after they wake up. Feelings first, they go to bed. Feelings first, they have a conversation. Feelings first, they face a need. Feelings first. Do I feel like God's going to answer my prayer or do I feel like he's not? Did I get a good feeling today about going to work or did I not have a good feeling? So we have, on this side, we have Feelings. Feelings directly are direct opposite of knowledge, the knowledge of God, the knowledge of His Word. I cannot promise you a good feeling with it. I can't promise you that you're going to have warm and fuzzies when the Word of God brings correction. I can't promise you that you're going to feel like you're provided for when the Word says you are. Now we take it one step further. What is the opposite of revelation? Once you step into knowledge, you're on the road to revelation. And I'll show you in the Scripture where we can find that. But here we are at feelings. What comes after a feeling, acting on a feeling, stepping out in a feeling, responding to a feeling. Where do we get? We come now and we're one step over. If we stay in the realm of feelings, the senses, now we'll get into anxiety and fear. What is the direct opposite of revelation? Fear and anxiety. What directly? How, when, when you get revelation and fear and anxiety come, what can you do? Immediately respond. Because what was once a mystery, once what once, what brought you anxiety and worry and you and concern and you didn't know about has now been revealed through God's Word, His Word. You've got. You don't just have knowledge. I got revelation. That's mine. Revelation is perfect. Personal knowledge is for all. But God delivers revelation personally based off of your situation. So when anxiety comes and fear comes, if you've been acting so, assess. Right now, let's assess where we're at. According to feelings. One step over is going to be fear and anxiety. I'm one step away from fear and anxiety and fear and anxiety. Feelings suggest fear and anxiety drives, pushes, consumes. On the opposite end of the spectrum, revelation stirs you. Amen. It's something on the inside, that force of faith on the inside. When the Scripture says the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence and the violent, take that violence on the inside, that revelation on the inside. Because. Because it's the very essence of God, God revealing himself. It burns on the inside of you and it starts consuming everything that you face based off of your words, based off of your actions. So where are we at? Can we ask ourselves, where are we at in the spectrum of our knowledge of God? Do we. Are we operating just in knowledge or revelation? That's what you know. Even lukewarm Christians, just your regular church attenders, will be right here in knowledge. They know. They know. They know what the Word says. I've seen it growing up in the church. Young people, they know what the Word says and that's dangerous. To know what he says and not. And not pursue him, revealing himself. Knowledge of God is knowing about him. Revelation is knowing him. Amen. Go with me, if you would, to First Corinthians. No, excuse me. Go with me to Ephesians. Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you. May give unto you the Spirit of. Look at this. Wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, in the knowledge of him, the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God. So number one is knowledge. Number. But we. This is a prayer that Paul was praying for the church here at Ephesus, that in the knowledge, they had knowledge. But he wants them to go further in the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that the knowledge that they have, that more is revealed. So it's right that we hear the Word, it's right that we meditate on the Word. It's right that we come and are in church. It's right that we're reading books about the Word. But have you asked God for revelation for your situation? Have you reached out and said, father, I have been. I mean, we can catch ourselves in a moment. You can catch yourself. Did I just respond out of feeling? Did I respond out of knowledge? Or do I need more revelation? Am I consuming with God's Word? Now look here. Go back, if you would, to Matthew. Matthew, chapter seven. I want us to see something here. Knowledge. Knowledge is knowing you have the tool. Revelation is knowing how to use it. Okay? Knowledge is knowing you've got sugar, eggs, flour, water, oil. And revelation, though, is knowing how to use it. A lot of people have knowledge. They know. They've got tools. They've. They know they've got answers. They know they've got scripture, they know they've got a good God. They know. But revelation is knowing how to use it. What to say, when to draw, when to pull out that sword, when to rejoice, when to speak the Scripture, when to get on your knees and pray in the Holy Ghost and draw on the answers from God that you don't have. Revelation knows what to do when the mind doesn't know what to do. Because revelation is in the heart. Revelation comes by the Spirit. For many are led. The Romans Chat says, for many are led by the Spirit of God. These are the sons of God. Well, how can we equate that to the natural? My children know me. They know what I don't. They don't just know me, you know, as this woman that lives in our house. And tells us to clean our room and, and, you know, go get a shower and brush your teeth. They know me, they know what makes me laugh. They know how to bring the right amount of affection in every situation to try to get themselves, you know, a different response because they know how I'm going to respond. They know me as children. They know their parents. They know what we like, they know what we don't like. You know, they know how we oftentimes how we'll respond when they do something wrong. They know how they should know how we respond when they do something right. There should always be a good response. And so likewise, as children of God, if we're led by the Spirit, we can be assured we know how God's going to respond to our situation. We know how his power is going to respond. We know what his power is going to do. We know what's not acceptable in the kingdom of God. We're not looking to push the line, to push the limit, because I know him, I know my Father, and I love him too much. People who want to push the line and sin, they don't really know God. They don't know him. They know about him, but they don't know him. If you know somebody, if you truly know somebody and you truly love somebody, you know, love doesn't come out of knowledge. Like I said, I can Google anybody and gain some knowledge, but doesn't mean I love them. But when I get to know somebody, we're having conversations, we're in fellowship. What's important to them is important to me. That's where revelation, that's where the Spirit of God begins to bear witness with our spirit. That's how true children should operate. But look here, Matthew, chapter eight, in verse five, as Jesus went into Capernaum, a centurion came up to him, begging him, saying, lord, my servant boy is lying at the house paralyzed and distressed with intense pains. And Jesus said to him, I will come and restore him. But the centurion replied to him, lord, I am not worthy or fit to have you come under my roof, but only speak the word and my servant boy will be cured. Well, right here we see he came to Jesus a because he had knowledge that Jesus was a healer, that Jesus had something no one had ever demonstrated to him, healing power. He had heard and had knowledge of Jesus, as I believe he understood and believed him as the Son of God as well. But he knew and had knowledge. Okay, other people have been healed, maybe family members. Maybe he had been in the Crusades. Maybe he had Seen the healing lines. Maybe he had seen him reach out and minister to those. Maybe he just heard about it. He didn't see anything. He just heard. He just gained knowledge. Here he is walking in knowledge. But as soon as he gets to Jesus, Jesus says, all right, I'll come and I'll be in your household. And I'm assuming he would have come, laid hands on him, and that person would have been raised up, his servant would have been raised up. But because of revelation, if this centurion can have revelation, if this centurion can say, wait a second, I've got some understanding of some things because I'm in power too, and I know this. You're operating in power. And if my. My power operates anything like your power, what happened to him? Suddenly something was revealed. What did it take? He had to first go to Jesus, act, have somebody go, act on the knowledge. If you want to get into revelation, you've got to first act on the knowledge that you have. You cannot go, I want revelation. I want more of God. Keep on asking, keep on seeking, but you're not also acting on the knowledge. Right now you have knowledge of God's word right now. What are you doing with it? He took the knowledge that he had. And I believe this. When he got there and stood, his servant got there and stood before me, said, wait a second, I've got power. I'm looking for your power. I expect that when you speak the way I speak, your power is going to flow. You don't even have to come. Right? Then it was revealed to him. And Jesus answered in verse 10. Well, verse nine says, for I'm a man subject to authority, with soldiers subject to me. And I say to one, go. And he goes, and he goes to another, come. And he comes and do my slave, do this. And he does it right. Then he understood that sickness is a slave to man's faith. If he trusts in God. Notice he brought up, I've got slaves, not just servants. I've got slaves that do what I say do. And in his what's being revealed to us right here is sickness is a slave. It has to bow down, it has to go. It has to do what we tell it to do. He said, I've got slaves under me, and when I give the command, they do what I say. This sickness that is terrorizing my servant is a slave to the words that you speak. Jesus, just say the word. He, he went to Jesus based on knowledge, and then he responded to Jesus based on revelation. Jesus said, when Jesus heard him, he Marveled and said to those who followed him, who adhered steadfastly to him, conforming to the example in living and if need be, and dying also, I tell you truly, I have not found so much faith. And as is with you, even in Israel, he began to marvel at this centurion's faith. Why? Because he had revelation. He responded to Jesus based on revelation. How many of the multitudes flooded because they had knowledge that Jesus would heal them? How many came? So many came and responded based off knowledge. They came and wanted to sit and hear his teaching to gain more knowledge. But only a handful got revelation. And in that revelation, the woman with the issue of blood, she got revelation. If I can just touch the hem of his garment, I don't even need to be in front of him. I just need to be behind him and I'll draw out the power. She had been behind for so many years. The woman with issue blood had been behind. She had been behind every medical procedure. She had been. She was the tail, she was not above, she was beneath. But see, revelation, when it rose up on the inside of her, when she gained knowledge, right when she gained knowledge of who Jesus really was and who he had come to be to her, when she gained knowledge, revelation on the inside rose up. I'll just touch his garment. I can touch his garment. I can touch his garment. That came by the direction of the Spirit. But she had to first gain knowledge. Your pursuit. Don't get bogged down in the lack of revelation that you think you don't have. Just go wholehearted with the knowledge that you do have. Feed. When God told Joshua that meditate day and night, all he was looking for Joshua to do was gain the knowledge, get into the knowledge of the Scripture. That way, when he faced the first wall, revelation came. Okay, now I want you to walk away. See, that was revelation. That was instruction that came based off of revelation. But what did he had to do? He had to day and night be in the knowledge of the word of God. If you're not in knowledge every day, what's the alternative? Feelings. Living in feelings, being moved by feelings, making decisions by feelings. And when you start making decisions by feelings, guess who second guesses themselves? We do. We never question. We never question. It's amazing how much confidence we'll have when we hear from God and how little confidence we'll have. We can be so sure that we feel like this is the right decision, this is the right move to make. And the moment you make it, what happens? Our faith comes from an assurance that of who God is and what he's done. And when you make a move and you make a decision based off feeling, you speak based off feeling, you make a decision and an action based on feeling, the next thing that's going to happen is you're going to step into anxiety, fear, and worry over that decision. As believers, we're called to live. Over here in revelation, there's things I have knowledge of, but I know this. I'm not responding yet out of revelation. So I stay with the knowledge I have. I keep seeking, I keep asking, I keep knocking, and I still answer. I'm coming on the other side. We're getting on the other side. Father, you're revealing to me. I'm led by the Spirit of God. I'm your child. I'm pursuing you. You are Revelation. That's what creation was all about, was you revealing yourself to mankind. Amen. So, like I said, knowledge knows you have the tool. Revelation is using it confidently. Many people, many believers, many, many. I don't want to be a saint, you know, that knows so much word, but have never acted or taken and pursued and knocked and seeked and sought after more of him. I know about him, but I don't know fellowship with him. Amen. And there's this fine line that the Word divides between feeling and knowing, feeling and knowing. What have you been knowing lately? And what have you been feeling lately? Couldn't we ask ourselves that? The centurion didn't just know about healing. He had revelation of the healer. He had revelation of the healer. Many came to Jesus because they knew about him, but they didn't have that same revelation about the healer that so many that Jesus said, oh, great, is your faith. Marveled at their faith. Why? Because they were pursuing him. They understood some things by the Spirit, and that's what we've been born into. They're wonderful examples, but we've been born into that type of fellowship. Amen. Amen. Well, I think we'll go ahead and stop there today. I don't want to go any further. What we'll do is we'll just start chipping away and talking about getting knowledge and revelation regarding certain situations. Hey, husbands, doesn't it say to dwell with your wife based on knowledge? Right. You don't have to have any special revelation to start acting on some of the knowledge that you have. You know, oftentimes we're looking for a feeling to confirm we have revelation. Revelation comes when we've acted on the knowledge of the truth, of the Word, of God. Amen Knowledge is so important to gain knowledge of God, God's Word, who He is. That's how we get in with, as Ephesians says, that we have the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge. But if we're not pursuing knowledge, he's got nothing to take. And take that knowledge and bring us into the next level of revealing himself through that knowledge. Amen. We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings. 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