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Thank you to Kenneth Copeland Ministries for sowing the airtime for this broadcast.
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There's enough power in every sick room and in every hospital room to raise up that sick one that may be describing you. You may be in a sick room, you may be in a hospital room. And I want to remind you, power is present. That power is there to do a work, believe in what's not. Try to get something, but notice that he's already made it yours. It's present right where you're at. Say, I receive that power. I receive that power. I receive it right now. I receive it right now from the top of my head. From the top of my head. The soles of my feet. The soles of my feet. Welcome. We're so glad you're joining us today for Jesus the Healer. And we are finishing up a series that we've been on and it's talking about who we are in Christ. And so I think this is what our 40th episode may be on this. We didn't when we started out, I didn't know how long it would go. But we're just so glad that God has just been leading us in this direction by His Spirit, because it's who we are is in Christ. Amen. And who he is in us. And so we have, we have filmed these 40 episodes, but we invite you that if you have missed any of the previous ones, go back and watch them. And we say today, get hold of something to take notes on because we're expecting God to give you answers for your life. Amen. And we certainly are only scratching the surface and we're just following the Holy Ghost in what aspects of what being in Christ means to our daily life. And that's what's so important, you know, every day that we are, we are. If I could say this, acknowledging, drawing on and responding to who's in us. And when we say we're in Christ, what that means is God never intended for us to fulfill any part of his plan apart from Him. He intended to fill our actions with Himself. Where we really started on this series was something that Brother Copeland testified about years ago in the 1970s. God spoke to him in the early days of his ministry when he was just learning the truths of prosperity. He didn't really, he wasn't out of debt at the time. He was just learning that a debt free life belonged to us. Why? Because in Christ every needs met. And so in the, in the 1970s, God spoke to Brother Copeland and gave him something to obey. He said, I want you to sow $50,000 from your ministry to Kenneth Hagin's ministry. Now, because of the place he was at in his early years of ministry, he stated himself, I didn't have $50,000 in my account. And in fact, he had debt. He needed $50,000. You know, and to think of what the amount of $50,000 would have meant in the 1970s is. I mean, that that was a large command. And you can imagine how the mind would start reasoning, calculating, wondering, where am I going to get that from? How do you answer that command? You know? And Brother Copeland's response was such an example that we have been pointing back to because it shows us something of the skill of who we are in Christ. And Brother Copeland obeyed that. He. He would save up his coins, and at the end of the day, he would take any change he had in his pockets and he would put it in a certain place and save it up and then send it. Send it out to Brother Hagin's ministry. Periodically. And after a period of time, he called Kenneth Hagin's ministry and said, I don't know how much I've given. Can you tell me how much I've given? And they said, you've given well over $50,000. And Brother Copeland said, There's no way 50,000 dol in change came through my hands during that period of time. But when he obeyed, God made up the difference. And what I've been pointing back to, that testimony is especially Brother Copeland's skilled answer when God gave him that command, when he said, I want you to give $50,000. Brother Copeland's response was this. In Christ, I have it, and in Christ I can give it. Now listen to that. He recognized that in his own resources, he didn't have it. In his own ability to earn that he didn't have it. But God was not asking Brother Copeland to give it. God was asking brother Copeland to allow God to give it through him. Now, this is key. That as one in Christ is anything God commands of our life, any plan he has authored for our life, he never intends that we fulfill it in our ability. He is our ability. What's the word say? That I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, outside of Christ, I can't do all things, but in Christ, I can do all things. And this is the skillful answer that Brother Copeland gave when he said, in Christ, I have it outside. And I saw this so clearly. When Brother Copeland gave that answer outside of Christ, he didn't have it. Outside of Christ, he Couldn't give it, but in Christ he had it. And in Christ he could give it. What's that mean? He's going to let Christ do it through him. He's going to allow God to provide and bring the resources so that he could sow that seed. Now think of it. When God said, I want you to give $50,000, God was not offering Brother Copeland a hardship. He was offering him a supply. Amen. A supply of $50,000. God intended to cause those resources to come into Brother Copeland's hands. But he had to have Brother Copeland's agreement. If Brother Copeland would have thought of himself as outside of Christ, he would have never given the answer. He g we can many times we don't agree with God and his plan as we ought because we're not answering or thinking as one who is in Christ. This is what we have to give ourselves Right Mental thoughts. We have to take the thoughts of the word. We have to. If I could say this, retrain the place we draw from. That's good because naturally we go to our. When we're going to give something, we go straight to our financial account. No, we have to go to the account of who we are in Christ. What can Christ provide through my hands? Now I've seen this time and time again. Let's think of this in terms of a local church. God commanded Brother Copeland to give himself personally out of his own, out of the resources that would come to him. Sow that personally to Brother Hagin's ministry. But let's talk a minute about the local church. Every believer needs a pastor. Every believer needs a pastor. Why is that? Because In Matthew, chapter 9, verses 35 and 36 tells about the multitudes came to Jesus to be healed. It says he was moved with compassion and healed their sick. Now then, after healing them, there was this observation recorded. It said because they were as sheep having no shepherd. And what was their condition? It says they fainted and were scattered as sheep having no shepherd. Not only this, because they had no shepherd, they were fainting. They were scattered. But notice they were also sick. When they came, they were in sick condition. Notice Jesus said it's because they lack a shepherd. He didn't say because they lack a prophet or because they lack an apostle or they lack a teacher, they lack an evangelist. There is within that pastoral office the anointing and the equipment to keep the sheep so that they aren't fainting, so that they aren't scattered. What do I mean by fainting? Well, think about a runner and we would Especially think of a marathon runner because it's such a great distance. The plan of God is not a sprint. The plan of God extends over our entire life. It's a marathon in the sense of. It is a lengthy flow. It's a lengthy assignment. It's a lifelong assignment. Paul said this. He said, I have finished my course. What's he mean? I didn't faint along the way. A marathon runner who faints doesn't finish. A marathon runner who faints goes off course. Without a shepherd, the life of the believer will not arrive at all it should have arrived at. People will make this statement, jesus is all I need. Well, we have to qualify that statement. Jesus is all we need for our salvation, for our redemption. But we also need a pastor. We also need the apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher. We need them all. But we especially need a shepherd. Why? Because we're sheep. And shepherds are the protective authority over the life of a sheep. And there's an anointing within that pastoral office to keep the sheep safe. So know this. No believer is safe, as safe as they would be, as if they had a pastor. You understand that it's important when people don't get that right. They'll struggle unnecessarily in life. To faint means we don't lay hold of everything we could have laid hold of. To be scattered. What's that mean, Jesus? The Word says in that passage, when Jesus ministered to the multitudes, they fainted. They were scattered. What's scattering? Sickness is the scattering of health. Divorce is the scattering of a home, of peace. There are different ways. What about this? The loss of a business or a home is a scattering of prosperity. Now, that doesn't mean we have to stay in a scattered condition, but we do have to have a pastor that speaks into our life because they have an anointing that the other offices don't carry that will keep the sheep from fainting and from being scattered. And look at this. It will also minister to their health. Because when they came to Jesus, the great shepherd, healing was the result. So the pastoral anointing is the most important anointing in the life of the sheep. It's not maybe the greatest anointing in the sense of power, but is the most important anointing, because that is the anointing that safeguards the life of a sheep. Now, when we have a shepherd, then we are. We are in a setting and in a situation to where our spiritual life will develop at a safe rate if we become good students. To not have a shepherd to not have a pastor is like a child not having an academic teacher. When a child is deprived of education, not sent, they don't have a teacher. They can learn some things in life. But my. They would have learned more if they would have been under a. What's this? A scheduled schedule of training. Kids who show up every day for school are an advantage of children who only get to go once a week or once, just periodically. A pastor is to the sheep what a schoolteacher is to a child. It's a place of education. We're spiritually educated in the local church. Now, I didn't intend to talk about this in this episode, but the Holy Ghost is wanting us to recognize that to be in Christ, we have to be moving with the body of Christ because we are not independent of the body. We're with one another. And people will say, well, I just want to serve God. Then you need to be a part of a local church, because how are you going to serve God apart from a local church? You can. You can serve God in a sense, you can serve God in some aspects, just being a blessing to people that you meet throughout the day. But you're going to get into a whole nother level of bringing blessing to the body when you're part of a local church, part of a local body. You know, the thing is, is that every Christian has two ministries. One in the church and one outside the church. One in the local church serving that local church family and one outside the church bringing the gospel to people that are unsaved, that they meet in their daily life. We can't just be skillful at one of those. We had to be fulfilling both sides of our ministry, ministering to the body and ministering to the lost. Amen. So in that to be in Christ, we need to be in our place in the body of Christ. We need to be taking our place part of a local church. We need a pastor. Why? There's somebody who knows God better than us. And we need to be led of the Spirit to that person who is feeding our life. Now, when you hook up with a local church, when you hook up with a vision, and I would say this, God will always lead you to the local church. The pastor you are to be receiving from, he knows who is anointed to nourish the mantle on your life. That's good. To nourish the call on your life. He knows who is going to help you fulfill one. There's so many wonderful pastors in this earth, but not every one of them is anointed for your life like the one that God leads you to. Amen. That means I can't just decide, I don't want to be where God told me to be, in part of a local church and decide I'm just going to the church of my choice. There's not going to be the same utterance for your life in a place you chose as in a place where he leads you to. And you go, well, you know, I don't like what I heard there. They hurt my feelings. Well, maybe that's what we need to grow up. We need to grow up. God is not trying to hurt our feelings. But sometimes spiritual development is a process that we have to step past our flesh and past our feelings and not let our feelings, if we could say this, stunt our spiritual growth.
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Amen.
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But when we hook up with a pastor that God told us to be under with that vision, can I tell you that when you do that and your pastor says, we're starting a building program and you say, I want to be part of that, why? Because I should be part of every part of the vision of my local church and what God's put in my pastor's heart, I want to be a part of that. When you agree to move with Christ in the vision that's in your pastor, God will bring resources into your hands that you would have never had come through your hands if you hadn't agreed to fund that vision. Can I say that to when and I tell pastors this, always have a faith project for your congregation. Something always needs to be moving. Something needs to always be taking ground. We need to move together as a local church family with our faith. That means why? Because we never arrive at the end of the vision that God's given us. There's always more to do. And if we will hook up with that pastor's vision, we're hooking up with what came out of Christ because Jesus gave these gifts. Apostles, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher. As I said, people will say, all I need is Jesus. And as I said, you have to qualify that statement, have clear understanding of that. All you need to be saved, all you need for your redemption, all you need to be one with the Father is Jesus. But to grow up spiritually, you need these five ministry offices because they are gifts that Jesus gave the church. And if all we needed was Jesus to grow up spiritually, why would he give them? Why would he give these five fold offices? Because they are. They assist him in the great work of bringing us into the knowledge of who we are in Christ. And so when you hook up with where God told you to be, it's going to move you into a place of functioning as one in Christ. And when you're there, part of that local church, you need to be serving. Why? Because the local church is a family. And to not be in our serving place is to put a greater workload on others. Now, in a family, there are responsibilities and chores that each person in that family is assigned. It's not appropriate in a family to sit down and watch one person do all the work, right? That's not right in a family. Why is it? Because the Word says, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. You wouldn't want that done to you, so don't do it to someone else in the family, right? Don't just sit back and let others pull your workload, right? That's just. That's what we would say. Don't do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And so we recognize this in the local church. We're not just going to let someone else carry the workload that we should be bringing to the local church. Can I tell you this? This is about being in Christ Jesus. He did his part. And in doing his part, he brought many sons to glory, right? To be in Christ. We're doing our part. We're not leaving our part undone. And our part is not just loving God. Our part is bringing our supply to the body of Christ. Whenever we bring our supply to the body of Christ, the entire body is built up. Think of that. The entire body is enhanced. The entire body is strengthened. But if I'm not in my place in the local body, in the local church, what happens? I affect the health of that local family. Now you say, how can you say that, Pastor Nancy? Well, the body. The Word says that the body is fitly joined together. What's that mean? I'm not a separate entity from other believers. We are a family, aren't we? In the body of Christ, we're a family. In the local church, we're a family. And notice this. We're not joined like this. It says we're fitly joined together. What's that mean? There's a link there. You can't tell where one ends and another begins. There is an entwining there. And so look at this. If I'm. Let's say this. This arm is one person in the local church, this arm is another person. We're linked together. What if I decide my part's not important so I quit bringing my Part what happens to the one I'm linked to? They're affected right here. They're not anymore walking at full momentum of faith. They're not walking at full momentum because I have slowed down and hindered the vision of that place by me not taking my place. I'm pulling and I'm. If I could say this, it's almost. Have you ever driven a car and the emergency brake was on. Ah, sluggish, right. It's still moving ahead, but something's not right. I don't want to be the emergency brake on the plan of God hindering what he wants to do. If I'm in Christ, I'm concerned about how my life is affecting the body. When I choose to step out of the will of God and choose to say no to the plan of God, I've just affected, not just me, but somebody else is going to be affected. My family's affected, my local church is affected. So I don't just think of me, I think of the whole. Now when we look back at Genesis and we see the process of creation, notice what God didn't do. God didn't just step up and say everything be he took. He was very specific. Day one, he did this. Day two, he spoke this. Day three, this happened. Day four, this happened. Five, six. And on day seven, he rested. So God was very specific with each day. But at the end of each day it says, and it was good. At the end of day one, he observed what had taken place on day one and it says, and it was good. He stepped back at the end of his creation time because seventh day, he's resting. At the end of day six, he looked and it said, and it was all good. Not just that day was good, but how those days, what was created in each of those days fit together. It was all good. What's that mean? He handled each day based on the whole. Live your life not just based on you as an individual, but you're in Christ. How do you affect the whole. If you decide to get into strife before you get to church that day, how's that going to affect the flow of that service? See, I'm going to think of this. I don't come to church just any old way I want. I don't come to church just with any old attitude. I want any old behavior. Because I'm one with a body. I'm in Christ. He's in me. And this is not an independent thing. I am linked for eternity to the entirety of his body. So I'm going to make Decisions in my life, thinking about how is this going to affect my local church if I decide to take this job? And yes, it looks like a pay increase, but it's going to keep me from attending and serving in my local church. I'm going to think of that. If I'm going to move to another city, is there a local church there? Am I taking and removing my family from a local church and putting them in a place where there is not a local church that's going to feed the spiritual life of my family? Money can't substitute for lack of a shepherd in your life. Amen. When we say in Christ, we're saying the whole body in Christ, not just me in Christ. We can't just think of ourselves as a separate unit, as separate entity. We are a unit. We are one body, many members, but one body. So in Christ, when I make a decision, when I go a certain direction, when I choose a certain lifestyle, when I choose to make a certain step in my life, if I'm in Christ, I can't just think of me. I've got to think, not only how does this affect him, but how does this affect his body? It says over there in First Corinthians, chapter 11, when Paul talks about the elements of communion, it says, for this cause, many are weak, sickly and many die prematurely. Why not discerning the Lord's body? They didn't discern the physical body that he took. He took upon him sickness and disease. If they don't discern him as healer, that's why many are weak, sickly and many die prematurely. But the spiritual side of that is they don't discern the whole body of Christ. How does my life and my decisions affect the whole body? When I decide I'm not going to bring my part, I'm not going to bring my supply. They're not discerning how their actions and lives are affecting the entire body. And for this cause. That's why some are weak, sickly and some die prematurely because they're just thinking about them as in Christ and not about the whole body as one in Christ. These are growing up things. This puts a responsibility, but also a privilege. It is a privilege to be part of the body of Christ, but it's also a responsibility to the whole body is how I live my life. Because how I live, decisions I make, and my obedience to the plan of God does not just affect me, it affects the body because I am fitly joined together. You are fitly joined together. And aren't we privileged that we belong in his body. Amen. What an honor. So I'm going to think of the whole body when I make choices in my life. I'm not just going to think of me because I'm in Christ and that matters to me, how I feel him in his body. Well, we don't want you to miss next time because we're receiving answers in our life. Amen. And until next time, remember this Jesus is the Healer. God bless you.
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To watch or listen to today's message and other messages by Nancy Dufresne, visit dufresneministries.org.
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When God increases you, every single arena of your life will increase. In this book that I've written called I have a Supply, you will learn how rich and unending your supply is from heaven, how to receive of that supply and make it a reality in your everyday life. You can order your copy@jesusthehealer.org God bless you. This is Nancy Dufresne inviting you to join us for our annual ladies conference right here in Murrieta, California at World Harvest Church. The dates are September 9th through the 11th, Tuesday through Thursday. To register for your attendance, go to dufresneministries.org.
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We trust you've enjoyed this message. Visit us at defrainministries.org to learn of our upcoming meetings, share your testimony, submit a prayer request or visit our online store. Thank you to the friends and partners of dufresne Ministries for making this production possible. We invite you to join us at World Harvest church, home of Dufresne Ministries in Marietta, California, located at 23109 Palomar Street Marietta, California. This is a Word and Spirit church. Join us in person or online Sunday mornings at 10am and Tuesday nights at 7pm Pacific Time. For more information, go to defrainministries.org.
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We'Re excited to announce a new worship album called in youn glory by Grant DeFresne. For more ways to listen to in youn Glory, scan the QR code on your screen.
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Shop Nancy Dufresne's books and other products as well as Jesus the Healer merchandise on our website@jesusthehealer.org or call us at 951-696-9258 to place your order today.