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The Seven Companions of Faith, Part Eight | Nancy Dufresne | Jesus the Healer Broadcast
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Hi, I'm Nancy Dufresne. Welcome to our podcast channel. We know you'll be blessed by today's message, so we're reading in Second Peter, chapter one, verses five through seven, because this is a divine checklist that God gives us, that if we're going to have strong faith, we have to have these things in place. So let's read again at verse five, giving all diligence. Add to your faith. Add to your faith. Add to your faith. Faith. Faith doesn't live alone, and faith can't do it alone. Thank God for faith. Faith pleases God, but there's something that has to fortify faith. If we could say that faith is a bridge, and there are seven supports under the bridge of faith, these are the seven things that Peter lists for us by the Holy Ghost. So he says, add to your faith virtue or moral excellence. Because God is a moral God. If you mock morality, you'll suffer. You will suffer. Amen. And we live in a society that has blurred the line of morality. But the Word hasn't lost clarity of what morality looks like. The Bible says that Jesus was anointed with the oil of gladness above his brethren because he loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Why? There was no blurred line. He knew what. He knew what to love and he knew what to hate. If it's not clean, if it's not pure, if it's not right, we don't say we enjoy it. Amen. The way to get free from bad addictions. The way to get free from things that are bad habits. Decide to hate them. Amen. Don't enjoy them anymore. Decide not to enjoy drinking or alcohol or drugs. Decide I hate that and tell it. I hate that. I hate that. I will not have in my life what I hate. Amen. Make it very clear what you love and what you hate. Amen. That's how Jesus lived. He lived a life of morality. Amen. So it says, add to your faith virtue or moral excellence. And to virtue add knowledge. Or we could say this. Have a renewed mind. Gain knowledge of the Word. And to knowledge, temperance. And to temperance, patience. And we've looked at these things in past episodes, but we want to start with this one now. And add to patience godliness. Well, isn't that something? This word, godliness. If we could say this is godlikeness, that's the way I define it. Because it's what makes us in this life choose to live most like what God would have us to live. Amen. The Bible says godliness is profitable. Why it brings benefit. It brings increase to the areas of our life. People may mock you for your standard of the word, but they'll never have your profit. They'll never share in your increase. There is increase when you live clean. There's increase when you live in a way that pleases God. Can I tell you this? It needs to matter to you. Is God pleased with the way I live? It needs to matter. Amen. If it matters to you that God is pleased, and it'll matter to you that those that are a voice in your life are pleased, whether it's your parents, whether it's a boss, whether it's a pastor, those who have an authority, a voice of authority in your life, it needs to matter to you. You can't say it matters to me that God is pleased, but I don't care what anybody else thinks. No, no, no. It needs to matter that those who know God, that they're pleased with you. Amen. Not that you're trying to earn something, but listen, if they're not pleased and they know God, listen, there are people that know God better than you. And someone who knows God better than you is saying you're going the wrong direction. That needs to matter to you. Why? Because they're not trying to control your life. They're trying to bring you into increase. And they know that increase is in God being pleased. Amen. My husband used to make this statement. He said he would say this. He would say, blessing is in the pleasing. The more I'm mindful that I want God pleased, the more I'm able to receive of his blessings. You know, it's the wrong attitude and the wrong heart that says, I don't care what God thinks. That's not the heart that can receive of the wealth of blessings that he has. Amen. So he says, add to our. Add to patience, godliness. If I could say it this way, the way to live a life that would be pleasing to God, if you wouldn't say it to God, don't say it. If you wouldn't think it about God, don't think it. If you wouldn't do it to God, don't do it. Amen. That's just really quick. Just real quick. I remember when God showed me, because years ago, probably about, I don't know, 20, maybe over 25 years ago now, God corrected me in my marriage. Anybody ever been corrected in your marriage? I don't know how it always worked out. Even when I knew I was right, God corrected me. How does that work? Because God's not concerned about you being right in your stance. He's concerned about your heart being right. No matter what side of the issue you stand on, you say, well, I know I'm right. Yeah. But if you're proud about being right, you're not right. And if you'll tear up your marriage to be right, you're not right. Praise the Lord. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. And one of the things that I used in my marriage. Now, I'm not saying that this is wrong. Don't misunderstand me. And God wasn't saying that this certain thing is wrong. But I grew up with wit w I t vit. And that was prized in my home because I was the youngest of four children. I couldn't beat them up physically, so I beat them up verbally. And I got really good at it. And I do appreciate this about my mother because my brother said, mother, she's got such a mouth on her. They were nine and 10 years older than me. And mother said, well, she can't win against beating you up. She has to use her mouth. So I so appreciate that. My mother let me. But when you bring that to a marriage and to a covenant, that doesn't work. And so I knew how to say just the right thing to gain the advantage. And because Ed's mind was not one that went that direction, it was like I trumped him every time. If I just used that, I knew I won. Well, see, God showed me in a dream, dying prematurely. And he said, that was one of the reasons I had to correct that. And I said, and can I tell you this? I was stunned when God said, do something about your wit. I go, boy. I thought I was doing something about my wit. I thought everyone enjoyed it as much as me. But listen, if everybody's not winning, it's not right. And so seriously, when God corrected me, I had no idea that I had gotten onto dangerous territory. Wrong territory. Don't misunderstand me. I didn't belittle him in front of people. I just knew how to drop the right statement. That just put me right on top. Peep, peep. And we didn't argue. We never argued because I just dropped a statement. And he would say to me, he said, you got a mind like a lawyer. Now, he might have been complimenting me, but God didn't take that as a compliment from me. Yeah. So when God said to me, I was seriously, I was stunned. I thought, I'm just shocked. And I said, I had no idea. So I said, God, you're going to have to give me time to get rid of this because I've been doing it my whole life. And I got good. My dad was so quick. I mean, he was so quick. I honored to be like him, you know, you don't understand how many times I cast down thoughts to not enter back into that flow. I'm not saying you can't have fun and be witty. I'm saying you can't use it to belittle someone else to your advantage. And especially in a marriage. So I said to God, I said, God, you're going to have give me time to correct this because I've been this way a long time. And I love what he said. I'm not giving you time to correct this. I thought, oh no, we in trouble now. And I said, then you're going to have to help me. He says, I'll tell you how, I'll give you the help. And this is what he said. If you wouldn't say it to Jesus, don't say it to your husband. If you wouldn't do it to Jesus, don't do it to your husband. If you wouldn't think it about Jesus, don't think it about your husband. Done. And do you know in one day that that changed for me. I became a different by implementing that. You know what that is? Godliness, God, likeness. Amen. If you'll think, ladies, gentlemen. Well, you know, there's very specific roles. She does this, I do that. Well, listen, if Jesus were in your house and you went to get yourself some tea out of the, out of the coffee or tea out of the kitchen, men, would you not offer Jesus some tea or coffee, then offer it to your wife? Amen. Ladies, if Jesus dropped his coat on the floor, would you go chew him out? Probably not. Just pick it up and put it away and put the argument away. Praise the Lord. God. Likeness will even affect your clothes. Men. You can't say, well, I'm just going to keep dropping it because she'll keep picking it up. Because let me tell you, if you're at Jesus house, would you keep dropping it? Oh, see, if you wouldn't do it to Jesus, don't do it to your wife, to your house, do it to your husband. See how that cures everything, this godly likeness, it just cures everything right across the board. Amen. Hallelujah. Turn to your spouse and say, yeah, I'm going to be like God and you going to be like God. Godlikeness to be godlike is going to call for this consecration. God does not Consecrate us, we consecrate ourselves. To consecrate means to separate yourself from that which is not pleasing to Him. And why? So that you can separate yourself unto that which is pleasing to Him. Consecration is not just about getting rid of something or coming away from something. It's about coming into something, something more. Amen. So consecration is not a negative. It is a positive. The more we drop of that which is not pleasing or like God, the more we can pick up that which is like God and which is pleasing to Him. Amen. If we could say this, of course. The verse says, many are called, but few chosen. See, God calls many. Why? Because he wants many to succeed. He wants many to be chosen. But only few are chosen. Why are many called, but few are chosen? Because few will separate themselves unto what he's called them to. And it's not that God called many and only chose a few. It's that God called many, and only a few would qualify themselves. And God could only choose those who consecrated themselves to what he called them to. Amen. It does matter that you're interested in what you're born for. Amen. Because you want God to be able to use you in the way you were born, to be used by him to fulfill what you're born for. That's where fulfillment comes from. This is why people reach a midlife crisis and need a red car now or a. Or a different marriage or a different job or a different home, because their insides are unsatisfied. The only thing that satisfies your insides is what you're born for. And you have to get what you're born for for the One who gives you and authored that plan. The first step to knowing what you're born for. You have to be born again. You have to be born again. You can't live out what you were born for till you're born again. And then when you're born again, you come into the knowledge of what you're born for and you live that life. And that life is fulfilling. And that way, you don't. You don't mind. I don't mind getting up, saying, I'm 58 years old. I don't have to lie and say, you know, I'm 41 and I don't look a bit over, you know, 63, but I'm still 41, you know. No, you don't have to lie or be struggling about your age because your insides are satisfied about what your life looks like. Not because you're perfect, but because you Know that I know. I'm hungry for his plan. I'm reaching for his plan. And what I'm born for is the only thing that interests me. And there is such fulfillment in that that I don't have to find a different spouse or have a different job or get a different house or get a faster car so that I can be fulfilled in life with things that will never fulfill me. Amen. Depressed people don't know what they're born for. Amen. So many people being self medicated because they're harassed in their mind, because they're living something different than what they're born for, and their insides aren't satisfied. Amen. Praise the Lord. All you have to do is say, jesus, I want you and I want your plan. Just that easy. Amen. It's just that easy for you. Amen. When you're consecrated to God, you get as far away from wrong as you can. When you're consecrated, you don't live on the edge of ruin. You don't live on the edge. You don't live as close to the world as you can. Close to carnality as you can. When you're consecrated, you want to get as far away from it as you can. I've heard people saying, it's sad to say. Christians say, well, I can drink, you know, drink alcohol. And it doesn't bother me. The thing is, is why do you want to even get that close to wrong? Because that alcohol will take you places you never dreamed you would arrive at. My husband was born in a home of alcoholism. I know what alcoholism does. Amen. And when you. When you're consecrated, you don't want to get close to anything that could offer ruin. Amen. You don't want to get close to it at all. Because I so love what's clean. And I so love the plan of God. And I so want the plan of God. I'm not playing around that which could. Which could catch me. Yeah. Praise the Lord. And then it says, what did Paul say? He said, was it. Demas has left me. Listen to this. Paul, one of the most powerful men that ever walked with God on this earth. And Demas, I believe it was, he said, demas has left me. He left the man of Paul's caliber, those that we would have been delighted right, to serve alongside a man like that, and says, he's left me for love of this present world. He left the plan of God. He left the man of God. Why? Because he loved what was in the world. How. How did. How was the world able to pull him. He kept a hand in it. Nothing can pull you when you don't get near it. You don't go near. The proverb says in the Amplified, don't go near the scene of temptation. Whatever it is that tempts you, get away from it. Don't get around it to prove you're greater. Come on. The Bible said, when you're greater, you get away from what tempts you. You don't get near it to see how to show your strength over it. You get away from it. And that's what consecration is. You don't hang out with people who don't live consecrated because it'll pull you back into the situation you need to walk free from. Amen. Praise the Lord. Now we add to this flow of godliness. It says the last two things to add is brotherly kindness and then charity. We could say this, it's brotherly love and love. Isn't that interesting that he separated the two, that he made a distinction that it wasn't just love. He listed brotherly love and then love. Why is it because how you treat the brethren is most important. We are to walk in love with all men, but especially those who are our family in Christ. Amen. Our affection and our dedication is to be stronger toward the brethren than it is toward the unsaved world. Now, don't misunderstand me. We love the unsaved world, but I mean, we give to our church, family and the body of Christ an affection and an attention. We give our strength and our energy. Why? Because this is where we fit. We are fitly joined together and we have to cloak that fit with love. I love people. I love the brethren. I don't have to know them to decide to love them. They love the one I love. They love the one who saved me. That makes them worthy, that we all fit together. Amen. And I love them and I'm not going to do anything to injure them. Amen. Don't do. Before you say something, how's this going to affect the body of Christ? Think about that before you do something. Think, how will this affect the brethren? Dad Hagin used to talk to us about people who would go down the street and start a church from their own church and do things in the middle ministry that would pull other congregation members. He said, you're not discerning the body of Christ. You have to think, how is this going to affect that? Pastor, I'm not going to do anything to injure another pastor. I'm not going to do anything to injure another believer. I'm not going to do anything to injure a brethren. Amen. And it's no wonder that the Holy Ghost had Peter to make a distinction between brotherly love and love. You say, well, aren't they the same? Well, let me ask you this, parents, don't you love your children more than you love the neighbor's children? Sure you do. Yeah. You love your own more than you love the neighbor's kids. You love the neighbor's kids. You'll be good to the neighbor's kids. You'll treat them right. But first, my love goes to mine. Right? And that's the way God is. Your best. Love goes to his, and the body of Christ is his. Amen. And how we treat one another. Hallelujah. So those who are closest to our lives, which is the body of Christ, you say, well, you know, I work with a lot of unsaved people. That may be true, but you're not fitly joined with them in the body of Christ. The Word says, he has fitly joined us together. We are not fitly joined with the unsaved. Now, once they get born again, now they fit. But those that are unsaved, we're not joined to the same way we are to one another. So those we're connected to deserve our strongest flow of love. Amen. Well, praise the Lord. If we don't treat the brethren right, you'll open the door to the devil on your life. Remember what I said. Connect the dots. If you don't treat the local church right, if you don't treat the pastor right, if you don't, you don't treat fellow congregation members right. If you say anything you want at home, there's going to be things down the road that are going to break apart in your life. And if you don't connect the dots, you'll think you're okay. Because, see, when you damage the body of Christ, the penalty of that, the harvest of that doesn't show up tomorrow. Sometimes it'll show up a year down the road or two years down the road. Why? Because God's given you time to correct, corrected. Not because he didn't notice it, not because he didn't see it, and not because it didn't bring harm, but because he's given us time to make corrections. Thank God for that grace period, that mercy period. Amen. You know, when you go to pay a bill and you don't pay it on time, they call it a grace time, grace period. God gives us grace to get Things right? Not because he. He's approving. And there's no penalty from God. It's from sin. Amen. You start injuring the body of Christ and sickness will show up in your home. You understand that your children can become sick when you use your mouth against the believers. You don't understand that when you get out of the will of God. Dad Hagin used to teach us that the only way is Christian can sin is get out of love, to step out of love. How you treat one another. Listen, none of us are perfect. We're not looking for perfection. You know something? I can overlook imperfections in the natural when I see someone's heart loves God because their heart can be perfect toward God even though there may be some imperfections in the flesh and in the natural side. Amen. Can I tell you that about your marriage? You can overlook the things that are natural, maybe tedious to you or off putting to you in the natural, when you know their heart's right. Isn't that right? And in the body of Christ, I love. I love every single one of you. Why? Because you're his and you're fit. You fit with me and I fit with you. And I'm not going to go home and say something about you because then I'm injuring my own body. If you sow. If you sow harm to the body of Christ, you'll reap harm not from God, but because of being off of the territory of love and onto the devil's territory. Amen. So he said that we have to make sure that brotherly love's in place. Let me read to Ephesians, chapter 6 and verse 10. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men. So he's talking about all men. Do good to everyone. Then he says this, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. So now he makes a distinction between all men and between those who are of the household of faith. Now can I tell you this? Your family, you're born. If your family is born again, you live under the same roof. Your husband, your wife, your children, they are the household of faith, too. Amen. You need to be generous with them, just like you should be generous to your local church, because they are the. It's not just the body of Christ, that's the household of faith. Your family is the household of faith. Amen. Don't be cheap and tight with your family. Don't tell them what they can't say. Honey, if that's important, let's believe God together. You might not have the money to buy it, but don't cheat them from it and withhold something. That's not how to treat the household of faith. Just say, honey, I'll believe with you. If that's important, let's believe together. Amen. Praise the Lord. So could I say this? Your giftings should be spent on the church family, on the body of Christ, not just to earn you money. Amen. If you have administrative abilities and you make a living by something to do with those administrative abilities, your local church may need those benefits. Your local church may need your ability. Bring that. Because then you're putting the body of Christ first before you put the world first. Amen. Praise the Lord. Now, it's good and it's right to serve. Maybe on the your child's on a sports team. Maybe you're a coach or you help with that or in some other function. It's good and it's right. But it's inappropriate to serve in that capacity and not serve in your local church. See, things are out of balance because you're showing more love for a secular entity than you are for the body of Christ. That means that every single one of us were family members. We should be doing something in our local church. The local church is a family. Let me ask you this. After dinner, do you just let one or two people get up and do all the work and everybody else sits and watches? Somebody needs to say something if that's going on. You all ate. Everybody needs to help. This is one thing I love about dad Hagin. He was so developed in his love walk. He was so developed in his faith life that he said, my wife said she cooks. I do the dishes. Because he said, she helps me in the ministry, I'm going to help her in the home. Why? Because this is not about. Well, that's hers and that's mine. It's about, listen, we're a family together and we're going to help each other. Amen. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Do good to all men. Walk in love with everyone, but especially those that are the household of faith. Strangers should not get a better version of you than your family gets. Your kindness belongs to your family first. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. 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.