← Dufresne Ministries Podcast
Dufresne Ministries Podcast
The Proving Of Our Faith | Morgan Dufresne | Tuesday Night's Online Service | 3.24.2020
00:35:31
Loading summary
Transcript1 lines
- [00:00]
A
Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message. Hello, church family and ministry, friends and partners, everybody watching online. I know you've been home, feeding on the word, keeping up with your church, where you're at, and of course, our church family. This is how we've been staying connected. I love seeing all of you comment on our Facebook Live saying that you're joining us and you're with us. You can see us, but we can't see you. It's so hard not being able to see your face and hug your neck and see how you're doing and just catch up and fellowship with one another. But it won't be long. So for right now, we are so blessed to live in the day and age that we live, to have this opportunity to be able to be together online with this kind of technology and stay connected. So important that we stay connected. It's going to strengthen your faith. It's going to help you with running your race, help you with what you're facing every day. If you're staying connected with the body that God has connected you with, that the place he's brought you to and blessed your life and helped you and your family. And so tonight, first we want to go. You don't want me to sing, so. So we're not going to do worship tonight, but write in, send us a letter if you'd like me to lead worship next time and I'll do it. I'm just kidding. I won't do it. Tony. Brother Tony's probably cringing right now, so I would like for us to go ahead and receive the tithes and offerings first because it's so important that we stay faithful to God. Tithes and offerings is our part of the covenant that God has asked us to bring and to be a part of. If I'm saying that correctly, his part of the covenant was completed when Jesus paid the price, died on the cross, shed his blood. Now we have the authority through the blood of Jesus. We have our rights through the name of Jesus. But our part of the covenant is to love, obey his commandments, and show God that we trust him no matter what, that we are children of his. We are a child of God. I'm a child of God. And if I'm a child of God, then I've got to do my part in his household. If he's my father, then my part in his home, in this household, is to bring my tithes and offerings. The tenth belongs to God. It is his. It's not an act of generosity to bring your tithe. It is God's. It is me showing God that I believe we are in covenant together and I trust you. And then the offering is over. And above that is seed sown into the kingdom, displaying our gratitude, our heart of thanksgiving, our rejoicing. It's a way that we worship God, but in keeping with tithes and offerings. I want us to see that when we bring offerings, because we know that the tithe is God's. I don't have to struggle with the tithe. If you struggle with the tithe, then you want to get into the Word, and we'll do that on a later day. But you'll want to get into the Word because I don't want the enemy having any place in your life because of a lack of obedience regarding the tithe and it being God's. But as far as offerings, God has given us an opportunity with a local church to have a place to bring our offerings. Offerings are over and above the tithe. And this week, if you have children or you keep up with our YouTube page, you would have seen that we have posted some special videos for your kids. And I want us to go to the passage that we went to with those videos, with our first video. And that is John chapter six. So, kids, you know this lesson. You know this story. The boy that saw Jesus work a miracle because of his willingness to give. And so in John chapter six, we see this, that when Jesus, he received the loaves, he received the crackers and the fish from this boy. God is not demanding anything from you. But when we give tithes and we give offerings, he receives those from us. It's so important to remember he cannot take any from anything from us. He's given us a free will. But when we willingly give and with joy, give and are generous to him, this little boy took and gave all that he had. He didn't have two lunch sacks, one for a friend and one for him. Jesus didn't take that second lunch sack and multiply that. And he, the little boy went and sat and ate his own lunch sack. He gave all that he had, what seemed so small, the crackers and the fish. What seemed like it was not enough was more than enough, because Jesus understood that it's the Father who receives what we give to him. And then he multiplies it. And so we see in verse 11 of John chapter 6, Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples and the disciples to the people. And also so also he did with the fish as much as they wanted. Jesus began to thank God. He blessed it. In another another account of this story, it talks about how he began to thank God. He began to express thanksgiving over what he had. When you give tonight, you can give online, you can give by text to give. You can come by church family and give at our mail it in. You can give at our mailbox. We wanted to let you know you can bring it. The church office is an open right now, but you can drop it in the mailbox. And when you do that, thank God, express thanksgiving. Don't just do it out of habit. Don't just send that text or get online and forget to lift your hands and thank him and worship him and praise him that you have money to give into the kingdom to further the gospel and that you're so grateful for what he's done for you. And when you do that, God was the one who worked the miracle. God was the one who multiplied. God will take what you give. He receives it. And it's our job, as Jesus demonstrated, to thank him, to worship him, and he will multiply it. Now this is where our faith comes in. We don't see that multiplication. We can't see what God is doing. We can't see how he's working. It's our job to take and thank him that the angels are working on our behalf, that his power is working on our behalf to bring increase, to bring all that we need to supply back to us to the fullest, to supply back to us an abundant harvest. And so I want us to go ahead and pray together. And if you have your tithes and offerings with you, or if you've at some point given this week already, just lift your hands with me and let's thank him for this opportunity that we have to give. Father, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your blessing already on our lives. Father, we're not asking you to bless us. We know that you have blessed us with everything that heaven itself enjoys. And we give out of a heart of gratitude. Father, we know that you receive our giving, you receive our offerings, and we thank you, Father, as you receive them, we rejoice over them. We thank you, Lord, for this opportunity. We thank you for what we have. Father. It's not about the amount. It's obeying the spirit and our willingness to sow. And so we give with a willing heart. We give with a cheerful heart. And we worship you and we praise you and we will Continue to praise you, watching over what we have sown with our voice of thanksgiving, which is our voice of faith in Jesus name and say this with me, my God in he shall supply all my needs according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. And we can all say amen because we know it's done. Amen. Well, don't forget text to give. You can get on our website. If you're on our website, you will see the the link there and you can bring it by, put it in the mailbox or if you need envelopes, call the church office. I know that we're closed, but we're still getting phone calls. If you leave a message at the receptionist, they will go to the church secretary. You can talk to them. If you need envelopes, we will get you some envelopes if you want to be able to mail in. Since we aren't quite sure how long we're going to be meeting like this. So if it works for you to mail in and you want to put your hands on your offering that way, then we will receive that via mail. So you can just let us know. But don't hesitate to call the church office if you have any questions, leave a message and we will get back with you. Now I want us this evening to take a look at the subject of faith. I love faith. Faith is how we live. Faith is how we please God. God has given us the key to a successful life and that is through faith. That is how we receive all that he's provided. We're not waiting for him to do anything else for, for us. Even though he's the one who performs our promise, performs his promises to us, he's already said yes to them. We're not trying to coerce anything. We're not trying to get anything from him but God. I want us to look here tonight because God in, in today's society, everything that we see is because of social media and the news. Everything is giving us an opportunity. We want somebody to prove something to us. We want. Many people are so skeptical. There is scam artists, there's all kinds of things that anybody can put on television, on the Internet and you never know what's true. But there's one thing that we can rest sure is true and that is God's word. We don't have to prove God. God has given us faith and he's going to prove our faith. Life is going to prove whether or not you stand by faith, whether or not I stand by faith. And so we want to not look at God's word. The way we look at every telemarketer that calls our phone, the way we look at every email that comes through, the way we look at everything that comes on the news or on television with that eye of skepticism. But we want to look at God's Word as the undeniable truth that what it says is what it is. And so our God doesn't need to be proven, but our faith will be proven and be tested. If we go back to the passage in John chapter six, it says that Jesus, he asked his disciples to prove their faith. It it says he said this to prove them. When he was asking, what shall we do to feed the multitude. He knew. It also says he knew what he was to do. Jesus already knew. Did you know? God already knows what he is going to do for you, what he wants to do for you. But whether he can or not is not up to Him. It's up to us. And isn't that comforting to know that God is has thoughts. We know this there in Jeremiah. He says, I know the thoughts I have for you. I know the plans. My God knows all the thoughts and the plans he has. It is a wonderful life that he has provided for me. It's not a questionable life. I don't have to wonder. I don't have to think about and figure out how am I going to make my life saved, successful. How is it going to be to. To live and have longevity here on this earth and be prosperous? He's planned that. He's thought that out. He knows the thoughts he has towards me. And God is faithful. He is good. He is just to perform His Word. But I know this, that it's up to my faith whether or not I lay hold of that. It's not up to God. And so in James, if you'll turn with me to the book of James and we want to see what the Bible says here about our faith. James 1, verse 3, the Amplified says, Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith. So there it is again. Jesus said he was going to prove their faith and test their faith. And now we see in James that the trial and proving of your faith, of my faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience. So we know this, that our faith is going to be proven, our faith, if we say yes to God, that it's only right that our faith be tested. Faith comes, we know this by hearing God's word. But faith is developed and grown by being used. So faith doesn't get developed by you hearing more of the word faith. Faith comes, but faith can come and be inactive. Just like you can go to the gym but still be inactive. You went there, you showed up, you were present, but you were inactive. Faith can come, it can show up, it can even be in our hearts, but it can be inactive. And we want to make sure our faith is active. You know, it's like not using. If I. We've got two hands here, I've got two arms. And so if I take one arm and I decide I'm just not going to use my right arm, it's there. But if I decide I'm just using my left arm for some crazy reason, what's going to happen when my right arm doesn't get any use, it becomes undeveloped, the muscles become undeveloped. I would find that my left arm would begin to grow bigger and stronger because it's got to carry the weight for my right arm. I would find that my right arm would begin to kind of become weak, immobile. It'll be harder to do things as time goes on. If I continue with that and it'll even look different than my left arm. It'll begin to wither. It's still alive. It's still attached to my body. It still has blood flowing to it. But, you know, with our faith, if we sit and hear preaching, if we attend church and faith is coming, but we're not developing our faith by acting on the word of God, by getting up and declaring what we believe, by following the Holy Spirit and giving God opportunity to prove and to test our faith. If we're not giving place for that, what happens is faith is present, faith comes, faith is there, but it's just hanging there. It's immovable, it's not being exercised. When you don't use a part of your body, it's not being exercised. So what happens? It becomes undeveloped and it ends up. You end up becoming almost a cripple. You know, there's often times where we find ourselves in situations, situations that only God's word is going to be able to deliver you. Only what God said is going to be able to set you free out of that situation. But if you hear faith and you never act on those words that are freedom, that are life, that are deliverance, you will become crippled, you will become. You've got faith in your heart, but you're not going anywhere. You're not able to make progress, and you stop being able to be a blessing to those around you. And you stop being able to make movement in the kingdom of God. And we don't want to be those people. We want to be active. We want to be speaking the word of God. We want every part of us to be usable for the kingdom of God. And so we don't want to make life more difficult. If I just decided not to use my arm, life would become so difficult. If you decided, decide not to use your faith. Instead of going the way of the mind, of reasonings, of worry, of fear, life gets difficult. And God did not ask us to live a difficult life. God is a God of blessing. He's a God of goodness. He's a God of faithfulness. He's the God who's more than enough, the God of abundance. But the only way we lay hold of is in this natural world, his promises is through being able to exercise our faith. So the first thing is faith comes, we hear and we receive and we trust. We don't have to prove God. We don't have to prove that his word is true. We know it's true. I'm not exercising my faith to prove anything of God. I'm going to prove that my faith is here to endure. Endurance is longevity. That's why it says the proving of your faith produces patience. Endurance. What is endurance? It's for longevity. When we have long distance runners, we call them endurance runners, they're going to the very end. Because the end when you have a sprinter and somebody who runs and they, they sprint, do races as a sprint, they can see the end, they see the finish line. That's not what this race that we're running is. We run and we don't want to grow weary because we can't see the finish. Does that make sense? I want to be able. It's only by faith that we are able to keep running our race with endurance. Because the endurance runner can always see the finish. We don't always know when the completion on the things that we're believing for is. But we don't need to know because we know that God is the author and the finisher of our faith. And when we say yes to his word, we say yes to his promises. His answer has been Amen. That means it's done. And so I want my faith to be proven and, and tested so that I have the endurance to run. When I cannot see the finish with my natural eye, when my mind doesn't understand how the finish and the answer is going to come, I have the endurance. I've developed my faith. I am developing my faith. I am working the faith on the inside of me. And as I Do that. I'm developing in God's word, I'm developing in his strength, I'm developing in his plan. And so life, we can say this life gets difficult when we're not moving with God's plan. God's plan is that his people, the just, the righteous, as it says, live by faith, the righteous live by faith. So my job is to live by faith, not live with faith in me, but live with faith flowing out of me. So life is difficult when we hear the Word and choose to go the way of our minds, go the way of our circumstances, and go the way of our emotions, not acting on and strengthening the faith in our heart. When we choose to not strengthen the inner man and act on God's word and act on the faith that we've heard, we're acting on strength, something, and we're acting on either our minds, we're acting according to the circumstance, according to this natural world, we're acting according to reasonings and. Or we could be acting according to our emotions and our feelings. Those are very real. In the presence of a big decision, in the presence of danger, in the presence of symptoms and the presence of a need, we can really feel some things. But we have to decide. Faith is a decision that we draw out of our spirits instead of drawing out of our mind. You know, the Holy Spirit, he's going to lead you in line with the faith that's in your heart. But we're going to have to decide to stay in our heart and not switch over to our minds. You can start out in your heart and end up in the midst of walking by faith and stepping out in faith, facing some obstacles, facing some circumstances that showed up to try to prove and test your faith. And when that happens, you've got to decide. I decide. I will not be moved by these circumstances. I will not let my mind get me off. The devil would love to control your thoughts. He wants to get you to turn to the mind, so he brings bombarding thoughts. If we turn to our mind, if we go there in our mind, that is the arena where he is ruling and reigning and has free access into our lives. The devil doesn't have access into your finances, into your body, into your family, unless you think he does. And he's going to try to convince you in your thought, life and in your mind to take and believe that what you're seeing is true. Believe that what you're feeling must be real, believe that what others are saying must be real. It must be facts. This is where faith rises up. And says, no, God's word is true. My faith is being proven. God doesn't have to be proved. He is true, he is righteous, he is just. He is my all in all. He is the one who has already delivered, already set me free. He is the one who loves me unconditionally. And when I know that he loves me, I can get rid of all fear. I can cast out all doubt because I have no doubt that the one who loves, loves me is going to take care of me. Now, God didn't ask the children, we can see this. God didn't ask the children of Israel to try and figure out how to possess the promised land. God's not asking you to figure anything out on your own. God's not asking you to understand, he's just asking you to stand. And so when we know and recognize that God is not asking me to understand anything about my situation that my mind doesn't, it wants to, but it doesn't need to. It doesn't need to wrap around how am I going to receive? How am I going to get rid of these symptoms? How am I going to make these changes and have these changes in my life that I'm believing for? How am I going to get rid of these symptoms? How and when are these going to go away? God's not asking, asking you to figure out how and understand how he's going to work. He's just asking you to stand in him and in his word. And so this is how the devil gets us. He tries to get us into a mental arena to understand some things. He wants you to try to figure out, well, how's God going to do this? Well, how is this going to happen? Well how can you make that happen? Well, how is this going to change when it's not changed for the last 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 years? How is this going to be improved? How is this going to come to pass? God doesn't want you to understand how it's going to come to pass. He just wants you to keep standing on his promises and let him take care of how it's going to happen. This is where faith comes in. Faith is for what we can't see. See, faith is not for what we can see, what we can comprehend. Then we wouldn't need faith. Now is the time when we can't see some things, when we're hearing things left and right, when fear is at an all time high among on the news media and among man in in this hour we have to stay solid and sure footed on God's word, that it doesn't change and that we don't have to understand how this is going to change in our country, how this is going to change in the world. But we know this. We trust that God's word is moving. We trust that our faith is active. We're moving it. We're not letting it lay dormant. We're not becoming cripples and susceptible to all that the world has to offer. We don't. We're not taking those thoughts and wondering, how are we going to get through this. We are exercising our faith, strengthening ourselves in the word of God. And so remember this well. We can see too in Ephesians, don't forget Ephesians 6:13, when we've done all to stand, stand. Not when we've done all to understand. When we've done all to stand according to the Word. What if is a suggestion made on the basis of fear. This is the first thought the devil will bring to your mind when you decide you're going to act in faith, when you decide you're going to stand in faith. What if is the first suggestion? You know, when I give my children a suggestion or a recommendation, it's very different than when I give them a command. And so when I give my kids a command, I expect it to be done what the instruction that I've given, given. But if I make a suggestion, what is the suggestion? It's optional. It's an opinion. Do you know that every what if that comes to your mind is the devil's opinion? That's his. His option. You can choose not to take his option. You can choose to say no. I'm going to command with the voice of faith into my situation. I'm going to lay the command of the Word. In my life, I am a so soldier in the army of God. And God has given me commands that I can speak out with the authority according to my rights in Christ Jesus. And so the devil, he brings suggestions and he brings strong suggestions. The body gives strong suggestions. Your checkbook may give strong suggestions, but I'm here to tell you we don't live by suggestions. We live by commands. So what if is going to be that first suggestion? You know, the devil, even sometimes he lets us stand for a time. He'll let us confess for a time. But then as time goes by, he'll say, what if it doesn't happen now? Time has gone by. What if it doesn't come to pass? That's his suggestion. Don't take it. Don't receive that Suggestion, you immediately answer back with a command. I'm authorized to answer back with to every one of the devil's suggestions with a command of faith. That is how we act. That is how we strengthen our faith. We're called to command situations according to God's word. And you can ignore the enemy's suggestions to your mind. Renewing your mind, it helps to call out the devil's thoughts or reasonings. Suggestions have a right to be turned down. Faith offers us a place in God's kingdom to take our dominion and to command not what we think will happen, but what we know will happen. And I want to close with this. You've got to decide are you going to act? Am I going to act based off of what I think or what I know? Thinking is in the devil's arena, the mind. He wants us to get turned toward what we think. And oftentimes we think it's what we think when we don't realize it's really what he thinks. He has made suggestions, he has given thoughts. The body's given thoughts, the circumstances given thoughts. But faith offers us. What is faith? Trusting God. We were authored to trust in God and place in God's. Our place in God's kingdom is our place of dominion. And it's taking command not of what we think will happen, but what we know will happen. What you think and what you know must become one that is renewing the mind. And what David knew of God. What David had experienced of God when he was in his father's feet fields keeping those sheep influence what he thought about Goliath. What you know to be true in God's word, what you know of God's word needs to affect what you think, not what you think, affect what you know. I'm so glad I'm authorized to not live by what I think. I'm so glad I'm not author. I am authorized to live above the. The. The thoughts that come to me, above the feelings that come to me, above what I wake up with in the middle of the night. You are authorized to live in dominion, to live as kingdom heirs and to command those thoughts to go and to answer them with the command of the Word. That's what David did when he faced Goliath. Goliath, he commanded him according to who he was as a child of. Of God, as a child of Israel, being with the children of Israel. He commanded from that place. He commanded from the right place. You've got to know your right place in God. David knew and influenced what he thought. David knew and he was influenced what he thought about Goliath. He knew who he was. He knew what God had done for him in the fields. What has God done for you? What have you seen? Even if it was just rescuing your life from your past, even if it was just getting born again and brought into the family of God, that's the greatest miracle you will ever experience. And that is your authorization to believe for another miracle. God brought you into the kingdom with a miracle and he's looking to continue to work miracles for you. We all think at times we're giants in faith until we face a giant. And so remember this, if you're facing a giant, this is your opportunity to prove the faith that's on the inside that prove that I am going to endure. I will not quit. I will not back down. I will not let go of what God has promised. You know, Abraham decided, decided to know more about God's faithfulness than to know about his body. He knew his age, but he chose to know more of who God was. To walk with him, to follow him, to stay close with him, to fellowship with him. This is how we know more of God than more of our situation. We've got to stay in His Word. We've got to know His Word. Let what you know of the Word dictate what you think about the Word, what you think about your world. I'll say that. Let what you know of the Word dictate what you think about your world. Don't think about. You can look around at your world right now in our world, and you can have a lot of thoughts. The news is going to give you a lot of thoughts. Your family members will give you a lot of thoughts. But you've got to know of the Word and let the Word influence your world. Not your world. Influence the Word that's on the inside of you. I'm gonna let the Word on the inside of me. I'm gonna act on it. I'm gonna exercise my faith. I'm gonna endure so that I can finish and complete see God finish and complete some things in my life. I will not quit. David was not, I believe, as he was not going to quit until he saw Goliath under his foot. He knew some things about God and he let that influence his actions. What do you know of God? What do you know of His Word? Start there. You've got faith on the inside of you. If you've heard the Word, faith has come. It's in there. If you say, you know what, I know this. I need More faith. Well, then get in God's word and let God's word influence what you know about your world. Don't let your world influence how you see God. I'm gonna know God because His Word has been proven and it's already been tested and it's already the truth. I know that God's Word is everything that I need in this life. And I want us to agree together, congregation, that in the days to come, we're not falling back and falling behind in faith, but we are pressing ahead. We are moving forward. We are going to know God in a greater way. We're going to trust in His Word and exercise our faith in the midst of every circumstance. We're not going to turn to our thoughts. We're not going to turn to reasonings. We're not going to try to figure out how it's going to come to pass. We're not going to try to understand everything. We're just going to stand. So I want to challenge you with this. This is our homework for the week, for the rest of the week. What do you know of God? Are you letting what the world knows and what the world says influence what you know of God? What do you know? Draw on that. Let's exercise our faith together. Amen. Congregation, we love you. We miss you, Faith. Friends and family that have joined with us, thank you so much. We encourage you to stay plugged into your local church. And look, we look forward to being connected with you as the days come and the weeks come via social media, our website and YouTube. And so we thank you for tuning in with us. We love you and we hope to see you soon. 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 Dufresne Ministries.