Pastor Nancy Dufresne

Sunday Outline – July 9, 2023

Pastor Nancy Dufresne ministered to the congregation of EMIC this past Sunday evening.

Pastor Nancy began by thanking Pastor George for opening the Women’s Conference this past Friday night. She shared it was as a parent kicking thing off, as the office of the pastor is a parenting office. A pastor can share with people with such an intimacy and warm, much like a parent. Pastor Nancy shared how she loves watching our pastors here at EMIC as they operate in such skill and grace due to their intimate walk with God. 

Pastor Nancy shared there are things in life that sometimes we just don’t plan out, but we see it is inspired and directed by Holy Spirit. 

Pastor Nancy and her husband, Ed were ministering in Brazil, and as a joke her husband said she was 64, yet at that time she was 50.  Pastor Nancy shared how her husband was 20 years older than she, and even though she didn’t look 64, people believed it because it was said.  She shared she hadn’t planned to marry a much older man, but she shared it worked out well as she was comfortable with older people as she was raised in a home where each person walked in maturity. More importantly this marriage worked because this was directed by Holy Spirit.

Pastor Nancy shared when she married Ed, she had been born again for only 2½ years and knew basically nothing about the moving and operations of Holy Spirit. Ed had been in ministry for over 15 years, and was already a leading voice in full gospel circles.

Background: Pastor Nancy met Ed, then two weeks later they began to date. In the span of three weeks Nancy saw Ed 5-6 times and at the end of five weeks they eloped.  She said this is not the norm, so don’t copy your life after this pattern for those who are not married.

Pastor Nancy reflected that when she was ministering this past Saturday, it was a continuation where Pastor Terri had ‘set the stage’ for ministry. Pastor Terri ministered reflecting on her grandmother, which was an impartation for her life, which helped put her steps accurately on the right path.

We honor, and never forget those who have proceeded us, and who helped us; as none of us get on the right path alone. Somebody helped us there.

Pastor Nancy shared that she would be ministering much like Pastor Terri, sharing about some of the things that were placed in her by her husband.

“During our marriage, my husband became my Bible school and the honor I had of living with my Bible school. It was days of heaven on Earth. To live with someone who is renewing their mind is one of the greatest treasures in earth.”

Have you ever had to work on your marriage?  Pastor Nancy shared she doesn’t remember working on her marriage. She remembers working on renewing her mind, because “if I renew my mind, I bring my renewed mind to my marriage, to my place of employment, to my relationship.” If we just renew our mind, then everything falls into place when we think right.

You're only responsible for renewing your mind. You're not anointed to renew someone else's mind. You're only anointed to encourage them in their process.

“There was a time early in our marriage where Ed looked at me and asked; ‘Do I sense the anointing in the room?’ I didn't know what that was. I didn't know what he was talking about as I was ignorant. I wasn't raised in a church where you sensed anything except that the bench was hard.”

My husband used to say; “Get around someone who knows God better than you, than shut up.” Don't do all the talking. Listen, pay attention as you sit around a dinner table, sit in a car with those who know God better than you do. That was a setting that accelerated me spiritually. As I just stayed around it, I began to catch on.

With the local church, the more you're around it, the more you catch; the less you're around it, the more gaps there will be. That's true in your spiritual understanding of things. Even with toddlers, they're beginning to learn to talk. They don't know words, but they imitate others.

The movement of the Spirit is not just something that can be taught. You must place yourself in the atmosphere. You must be around Him (Holy Spirits moving). You have to observe Him and catch Him. And if we're not around Him, we become dull in our perception and in our skill of responding to Him.

I caught something by being around this man [Ed] who was so skillful in the flow of the Spirit and the anointing. Before ‘Dad Hagen’ left the earth, who was our spiritual father, one of the things he prophesied is; “We are Word people, but we must remember we're also spirit people.”

Genesis 1:1;

We see a precedent set. In our court of law, if there comes a case that hasn't been tried before, maybe in that county, or that state, they go back and they look for precedent. What was the ruling the first time this showed up?

Scriptures the same way — Go back to precedent.

Genesis 1:1

“In the beginning, look at this, God created the heaven and the earth, and the earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light.”

I want us to look at the three phrases. 

• God created.
• The Spirit of God moved. 
• God said.

For God to create involved the Spirit of God moving with what God said. So, it wasn't just the Word, it was the Spirit and the Word. It was both moving together that the Word He spoke was performed. 

What's He doing? Precedent. This is a divine pattern that He's going to carry out His plan – Word, and the Spirit performing it. 

So, God speaks, and the Spirit performs it. The more we speak the Word, the more we're giving the Spirit to perform.

Many times, people are waiting for God to do something, and God is waiting for us to speak so that the Spirit has something to perform. 

The day we speak is the day the Spirit performs. 

The day we fail to speak, that day the Spirit has little to perform.

At creation. It took the Word and the Spirit. 

At the entrance of Jesus, we see something else.

Luke 1:30;

“And the angel said unto Mary, fear not Mary, for thou has found favor with God. And behold, thou shall conceive and thy womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom. There shall be no end.”

What is happening here? The Word is being brought to her.

Verse 34, Then said Mary unto the angel, how shall this be seeing that I know not a man. And the angel answered and said it to her, the Holy Ghost, how will the word be performed in your life? The Holy Ghost shall come up upon thee.

Jesus came into the earth by the same pattern, the Word and the Spirit. The Word spoken; the Holy Ghost performed it.

Verse 37, The angel is still speaking to Mary. 

“For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, behold, the handmade of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”

Notice this that when Mary accepted the Word and agreed with it, she opened the door for the power of God to work. If this was the plan of God, to get Jesus in the earth, why didn't He do it? Because God's plan needs our agreement. Just because He planned it, it will not automatically come to pass. We have to agree with His plan because what is that? It's called faith. Permission. Giving God permission to perform what He planned. I give Him permission to fulfill it.

God doesn't force His Word upon anyone. We must receive it.

She conceived because she received.

Acts 2:1

Now we're going to see the church brought on the scene.

“And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. It filled all the house where they were sitting and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire. And it set up on each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

Here, we see Holy Ghost in manifestation.

Verse 14,

“And Peter standing up with the 11, lifted up his voice and said unto them, because these men came and heard it right you men of Judea and all you that dwell at Jerusalem be this known unto you and hearken to my words for these are not drunken, as you suppose seeing it is, but the third hour, look at this, but this is that which was spoken.”

We see the Word and the Spirit moving together.

1 Thessalonians 1:5. Paul says this, for our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power. And in the Holy Ghost.

The important thing is that you minister in the power of the Spirit.

The best way to learn to minister in the power of the Spirit is live in the power of the Spirit every day of your life. Practice living in the power of the Spirit. What's that mean? Being full of the Holy Ghost, lead of the Spirit, giving Him His rightful place as the divine genius in us. Since we have this divine genius, the Holy Ghost on the inside of us, why would we settle for our minds leading us?

John 16:13;

Jesus is speaking and He's telling those listening to Him, what's going to be available to them. “He says, how be it when He, the spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth.” 

We cannot even understand God’s truth without “the guide” guiding us into it. We need the tutor, the teacher, the Holy Spirit, to unveil and reveal the meaning, the revelation of the Word to us. 

Then He says, for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear that shall He speak? Look at this, and He will show you things to come.

Verse 14,

“And He will show them unto you.”

Verse 15, 

“All that the Father has is mine, therefore I said that He will take what is mine and declare [show] it unto you.”

Can you see the last phrase of these three verses?

The Holy Spirit will show us. He will show us. He will show us. Why? Because when you're shown, you walk into nothing as a victim. You walk in knowing what direction to take, knowing what words to say, knowing where to go and where not to go, because you were shown. What is this? Life in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit means drawing on everything that's in your spirit. Learn to draw on the greater one within you. When we come to services, make a draw. 

Those who draw best are people who have been drawing every day out of their own spirit.

There are three parts to every service. God's part, the minister's part, and the congregation's part. And that's how to reach the highest flow. God will always do His part. The other two variables are us.

1 John 2:27;

Paul is speaking. He says, “But the anointing which you have received of him abideth in you. And you need, not that any man teach you, but is the same anointing, teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie. And even as it has been taught, you shall abide in him.”

The anointed one, the Holy Ghost on the inside of you unfolds the Word to you. No one can make the Word a revelation to you, but the Holy Ghost. Your pastor can only share the revelation he has, but it’s not yours until the Holy Ghost reveals it.

Romans 8:14;

“For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they're the sons of God.”

The sons of God are led by the spirit of God. He has committed Himself to leading us. 

Verse 15,

“For you have not received the spirit of fear. But you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, father, the spirit itself or himself, beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” 

How does the Spirit lead us? Primarily by Him bearing witness. We need to become skillful at recognizing that inward witness.

This is one of the things that my husband was always pointing out, what's going on in here? What do you sense in your spirit? Too many  times we flip into our minds and we start reasoning which causes us to miss the moving of Holy Spirit.

Jesus said to His disciples, it's expedient for you that I go away. 

Expedient means advantageous. It's to your advantage that I go away because if I go not away, the Comforter will not come. But if I go, I'll ask Father, He will send the Comforter. I'll send you another. He called Him another. Another means just like what you've had.

If I say to this gentleman; I'm really hungry and want to go up the street to one of the fast-food restaurants. I don't have any money on me. Would you give me some money? He gives me $20. 

I say; no, you don't understand. I'm really hungry. And I say; give me another. If he gives me $5., he didn't give me another right? He has to give me what I had – $20.

Jesus said, I'll send another. Everything Jesus was, the Holy Spirit is to us. The Holy Ghost gives us the advantage.

The emphasis for the first year after my husband's home going that God had me on was just simply to following the Holy Ghost. Every single day I would get up and I would recognize the anointing drop on me like a blanket. Not because I was a minister, but because I was drawing on the anointing. And that anointing would come over me like a blanket. 

1 Corinthians 12:8;

“But the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all.”

It goes on and lists the nine ways the Spirit manifests Himself. I want us to look at that verse that the manifestation of the spirit is given to every man to profit with all. I want you to see what's connected to the Spirit. Profit. When you follow the Spirit, you'll profit.

Holy Spirit is never involved in loss. He's only ever involved in profit. And I've recognized if I went a direction that subtracted from me, it was because I wasn't following the Spirit.

Sometimes I knew that the Spirit directed me a certain way. But then it didn’t turn out right? Holy Spirit said; you veered, you followed a measure of what I said and then either added your own your own reasonings and calculations onto it, or you stepped into fear.

When we drag Holy Spirits leading up into our mind and mingle our reasonings in with it, it becomes unclear, and we won’t know what to do. It muddied what was once clear in your spirit because you mingled. The word helps you divide between spirit and soul (Hebrews 4:12).

When we go against what we have in our spirit, we'll lose clarity. It's dangerous to override what you have in your spirit.

Pastor Nancy shared there were times she would be in services and there would be a minister that we [Ed and Nancy] knew. And this minister, I'm thinking of one, one situation from years ago in particular, and he was having physical issues. I'm sitting in the service and Ed said; “You see that anointing come on him to minister healing.” He said, “There it just came, it just came in the room.” I had that tutoring to help me recognize. And he said; “But look, he keeps teaching. He's teaching the healing anointing away.”

He just can't keep teaching. Ed turned to me and said; “That's why he has physical problems.” People need the moving of the Spirit and he's grieving the Spirit. When we grieve the Spirit, we're disobeying, and we open the door to the devil.

Dad Hagen said, you get in a service, and you don't know what to do. He said, teach the Word because the Word's is always anointed. Also remember just because it's always anointed doesn't mean it's always the highest flow for that service.

• Sometimes the absolute highest flow is teaching.
• Sometimes it's preaching, 
• But for another service, sometimes it's ministering. 
• Sometimes it's praying.

Ed recognized the moving of Holy Spirit. He could interpret what the Spirit wanted in a service. That's so key. That's one of my most favorite things to do, interpret the flow of the service. Because usually it's not me doing the whole service, it's me calling on different ministers that have their varied parts. I love interpreting the flow of the service by the Spirit. To learn it, you have to get around it.

Remember, Holy Ghost will not leave you bored – services are not dull. That doesn't mean that every service is a wild demonstration. 

You go to the pulpit, and it seems like your sermon left you. It doesn't seem to fit anymore. It doesn't seem right. Don't keep going that way. When you get up to the pulpit and you don't have anything, and you have properly prepared yourself; you go with the first thing that comes to you when you hit the pulpit.

What's the first thing that comes? Recognize the first thing that comes out of you before your mind has a chance to handle it.

How do you know if you should go a certain direction? You have peace about it in your spirit, not necessarily in your mind. Pay attention to that. You can have peace in your spirit and be completely unsettled in your mind about it. But if you will ignore your mind and say, what is in my spirit about it? Do I have peace? Does it seem to fit? Does it seem right? That is the spirit's leading? Do it.

If you have a red light on the inside of you, it's like it just doesn't seem to fit. You may hear a voice, you may have a dream, you may see a vision. Those are not the safest leadings. Why is that? 

Can God give those? Yes. But if you have a voice that comes from a dream, a vision, a prophecy given to you, and if that inward witness isn't there, I don't care how dramatic it was, it's not God. 

Every leading of God, the highest, the safest way to be led is that inward witness. It's not the most dramatic way, but it's the safest way. Why is that? Because the devil can imitate a voice. He can imitate a vision, a dream, give a prophecy through someone's mouth, someone that is even admired. But one thing he cannot replicate, or duplicate is the inward witness, because he's not in you.

Once I have it clear in my spirit, I'm going to boldly do it. I said, God, if I miss it, I expect you to bail me out. I would rather miss it being bold than miss it being fearful. (I'd rather not miss it at all.)

One of the best ways to become sensitive to Holy Spirit is praying much in other tongues. But also of course, feeding on the Word.  Remember the Word and the direction of Holy Spirit always agree.

If you wish to find out more about Dufresne Ministries and the ministry partnership, go to:

dmpartner.org