Podcast Summary: The Joy Of Being In Him | Nancy Dufresne

Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Date: May 7, 2025
Speaker: Pastor Nancy Dufresne
Location: High Springs, Florida | JTH Crusades 2025

Episode Overview

In this passionately delivered message, Pastor Nancy Dufresne explores the profound truth and practical reality of living “in Christ.” Drawing from personal testimony, biblical exposition, and prophetic insight, she emphasizes that the core of the Christian experience is not performance or striving but the joy, peace, and righteousness that are the believer’s inheritance because of their union with Jesus. Through vivid examples and exhortations, Nancy teaches how to identify and overcome the devil’s strategies to rob believers of their joy—especially by getting them to focus on their failures or circumstances instead of their identity “in Him.”

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Divine Direction: Teaching "In Christ"

• Background Story – The TV Studio (00:14):
  Nancy planned to teach something else but sensed the Spirit prompt her to focus on the theme of being “in Christ,” despite only having ten pages of notes. She obeyed, filmed 60 episodes without outlines, and found increased revelation and unction:

  “The Spirit of God said, I don’t want you to go that direction. I want you to teach on ‘in Christ’... and revelation came and unction came and utterance came...” (01:49)

2. Romans 14:17 Unpacked: Righteousness, Peace, Joy in the Holy Ghost

• The Kingdom is not about externals (“meat and drink”), but about what we possess “in Christ”: righteousness, peace, and joy (03:15).
• If we are not experiencing peace and joy, it signals we are “outside” of functioning as our true selves in Christ:

  “Who you are is peace. Who you are is joy. Because you can’t be in Christ and not have peace and joy.” (04:24)

3. Practicing Peace Through Trials: Personal Loss & Testimony

• Powerful Testimony (06:13):
  She recalls God’s instruction just before a family tragedy: “All I want you doing is practicing peace.”
  Over years, by casting down thoughts that didn’t lead to peace and joy, she was prepared for the death of her husband, remaining in supernatural peace and resisting grief:

  “In that flow, there’s no grief. In that flow, there’s no sorrow. Why? Because the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (07:52)
  “Death is no match for the force of peace.” (08:18)

• Choosing to remain in the peace and joy that is the believer’s birthright enabled her, her family, and the ministry to move forward without being overcome by sorrow (10:34).

4. The Forces Within: Peace and Joy as Spiritual Resources

• Peace and joy are not emotions to be manufactured but spiritual forces and the fruit of the Spirit—resident in every believer:

  “It’s not your peace and your joy. It’s His.” (11:21)

• Practicing peace and joy is “practicing being who you are in Christ.” (09:53)
• Memorable Example: Dad Goodwin would dance before the Lord in tight financial times, stepping into the flow of joy that comes from being in Christ.

5. Don’t Let the Devil Rob Your Joy

• God spoke to Nancy:

  “Many times, you’re so aware of yourselves in a critical way... that you are robbed of the awareness of Me who’s in you.” (14:13)

• The enemy wants to keep believers focused on faults and failures—stealing awareness of God’s joy and pleasure in His people, His “harvest” through Christ (15:35).

6. Biblical Case Study: John the Baptist’s Joy and Decrease

• Text: John 3:25–30 (18:44)

• John’s disciples attempted to create strife and comparison, but John responds:

  “A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven... He must increase, but I must decrease.” (21:11)

• John the Baptist’s joy was in fulfilling his God-given role, even when it meant apparent decrease. The devil tries to rob ministers of joy by getting them to measure success by numbers or public recognition.

• Quote to Ministers:

  “If you find your identity in your call, you’re going to miss it. Your identity is who you are in Christ.” (24:10)

7. Transitions, Seasons, and Identity in Christ (30:18)

• Nancy shares personal stories of ministry transitions, emphasizing adaptability and being rooted in identity in Christ, not in roles, seasons, or outcomes.
• Her mother’s wisdom:

  “Don’t ruin the next season holding on to the past season. Every season is better than the past one.” (33:14)

8. Scriptural Affirmations: God’s Joy in His People

• Isaiah 62:5: “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.”
• Zephaniah 3:17 (Amp): God is silent about your sins—He rejoices over His people:

  “He will rejoice over you with joy… be silent and make no mention of past sins.” (38:07)

• Philippians 3:1: Rejoice not in accomplishments but in being “in Him.”
• The accuser’s constant tactic: turning attention to past failures to kill joy.

9. Practical Steps: Activating In-Christ Realities by Faith

• Rather than struggling to “do better” or escape faults/addictions, the victory lies in recognizing and affirming:

  “In Christ, there’s no addiction/illness/lack. I am in Christ, therefore this cannot stay in me.” (42:00)

• Transformation happens as words and actions align with “in Christ” truths, rather than focusing on lack or symptoms.
• When opposition comes, answer it from the position of being “in Christ.”

10. Resisting the Accuser: Spiritual Aggression

• Believers are to address the enemy as the enemy deserves—not with passivity:

  “You better get bold and ugly about who you are in Christ when you’re talking to the enemy.” (49:40) “Symptoms are nothing but the temptation to come out of who you are in Christ. Lack is nothing but a temptation to come out of who you are in Christ.” (50:40)

11. Living and Finishing Well: In Christ

• Many believers finish weak or “emaciated” because they lack skill at living out their in-Christ identity (57:18).
• Concluding exhortation: “How we finish matters to God. We need to be skillful at living as one in Christ.” (58:18)

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On identity and calling:

  “Your total identity is not pastor, it’s not apostle, it’s not prophet, it’s not evangelist, it’s not teacher, it’s in Christ.” (24:34)

• On resisting comparison:

  “You cannot try to imitate and manufacture in one season what was in a previous season. You must let God’s plan define what each season looks like and greatly rejoice to leave one season, greatly rejoice to enter another one.” (32:22)

• On being the harvest of God:

  “It’s not because we behave well. It’s because we belong to Him... When we’re not joyful, we’re robbing God of the joy of being His harvest.” (14:55)

• On the accuser’s tactics:

  “If the devil can’t steal your joy, he can’t keep your goods.” (17:27, quoting Jerry Savelle) “The accuser of the brethren brings up your past to rob you of the joy of being in Him.” (59:20)

• On practicing truth:

  “If you’ll practice staying in peace, staying in joy, you’re practicing who you are in Christ.” (09:56)

• On aggressive faith:

  “The kingdom of heaven permits violence, and the violent… they take it. You know how you take something? When something gets hold of you, kick it in the face and say, ‘Get off!’” (50:30)

Important Timestamps & Segments

• 00:14 — Introduction, call to Romans 14.
• 03:15 — Key text: “The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
• 06:13–10:50 — Story of loss, establishing in peace before tragedy.
• 14:13 — God’s word: Don’t let self-analysis rob you of Christ-awareness.
• 18:44–27:00 — John the Baptist and joy in decrease.
• 30:18–33:14 — Seasons in life and ministry, not clinging to past seasons.
• 38:07–42:00 — Scriptures about God’s joy and pleasure in us.
• 50:30–54:00 — Spiritual aggression, being wise as serpents.
• 57:18 — “We need to become more skillful at living long and strong in Christ.”
• 61:45–67:51 — Song: “I am in Christ, Christ is in me, all things are new.”
• 67:51–79:36 — Healing ministry, practical application: Affirming “in Christ, I am whole.”
• 79:36–End — Final declarations: “In Christ I’m whole now. In Christ I’m provided for right now.”

Song Highlight (61:45–67:51)

Repeated chorus reinforces the sermon’s central truth:

“No shadow, no darkness, no looking back, all things are new... No separation, I am in Christ, Christ is in me... Nothing is lost, all things are new.”

Closing Exhortation

• Practice: Continually affirm, “I am in Christ,” regardless of symptoms or circumstances.
• Faith: Don’t let this realm (symptoms, lack, feelings) define your status—in Christ is your reality, and circumstances must eventually yield.
• Responsibility: “If you won’t change your confession, everything else must change.”

Conclusion

Pastor Nancy Dufresne powerfully articulates that the Christian’s foundation, victory, and source of joy are found exclusively in the reality of being “in Christ.” By refusing to let circumstances, emotions, or the past dictate identity or expectations, believers can experience unshakeable peace and joy. The sermon is both theological and practical, culminating in a call to make bold, faith-filled confessions and to live out of our true identity—resulting in transformation, freedom, and wholeness.

For further resources or testimonies, visit: dufresneministries.org