Destined To Win Part 1 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue

Destined to Win Part 1

Destined to Win Part 1 with Pastors Lawson and Aaron Perdue. Begin a study from the book of Ephesians. Begin to see yourself the way that God sees you. When you understand who God made you to be, you will walk in the victory He made you for!

Destined to Win Part 1 Transcript

Welcome friends, to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. You don’t wanna miss what we’re talking about. We’re beginning a series on “Destined To Win,” from the book of Ephesians, and we’re gonna talk about seven things that you have in Christ, who you are in Christ. And you need to begin to see yourself the way that God sees you, so you can walk in the victory that Jesus has already won for you. Open your heart and receive the Word today. Praise the Lord, friends. I’m so glad that you’re with us today, and I’ve got my son Aaron. We’re teaching one of my favorite books, the book of Ephesians, and we’re gonna be talking about “Destined To Win.” God has a plan of victory and we’re in it. And you know what? You were born to win, the moment that you were born again. We’ll be talking about some of those things today. Paul has some great things to say about the Church of Ephesus.

Yeah, so Paul, this letter to the Church of Ephesus, it’s a great letter, it was actually sent to several churches. It’s a circular letter, but I believe it’s very valid, very important for the church today. You know, Jesus is our cornerstone. He’s the foundation of the church. He’s the head of the church. He is the chief Shepherd over the church. So, and because He’s our chief Shepherd, we have victory. He loves the church, He loves the body of Christ, He loves believers, and we have victory. Jesus wants, you know, the bride of Christ, the church to be victorious.

Yeah, you know, a lot of churches, a lot of ministries teach that we’re fighting to gain a place of victory. But the fact is, our victory has already been given to us in Christ. And Paul begins this letter that we are positioned in victory. And the first three chapters of Ephesians are written from this perspective, that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So we begin from a position of victory. We’re not fighting to gain a position of victory. Then, as we understand that we’re seated in heavenly places with Christ. He says in chapter four and chapter five, how we walk this out in this world. And finally, in chapter six, he says, “We stand against the devil.” So a lot of people think we’re standing against the devil, so we can walk out the Christian life and gain a position of victory. However, the gospel is this, that you were given a position of victory the moment that you believed on Jesus. And you’re seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus by grace. He raised us up and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. So, we’re given a position of victory, we walk it out in this world, and finally, we stand against the devil. So we’re gonna begin here, right, in Ephesians 1, with this in mind, that we begin from a position of victory. We have a new position and a new condition. He says in verse one, “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.” And so, Paul wasn’t an apostle. He wasn’t sent by his own will, but he says, “He’s an apostle, a sent one of Jesus by the will of God.” And so, you know what? We don’t make ourselves apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers, which we’ll see again in Ephesians chapter four. But God is the one who sets the ministry gifts into the body, the public, preaching and teaching offices as it pleases Him. He says, “It’s written to the saints which are at Ephesus.” This is one of the leading churches, if not the leading church of all of Asia. “And to the faithful in Christ Jesus.” He says, “Grace be to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” And then he gets right into the heart of this message, that we have a new position and a new position in Christ. He said, “Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” So when we look at that, it says, “We’re blessed,” and it’s past tense. We’ve already been blessed. We’re not trying to be blessed. “He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” When did we receive the blessing, Aaron?

When we received Jesus.

Praise God.

Yeah.

Amen. You know, I like something my good friend, Ashley Terradez says, he says, “There’s only two kinds of believers, those who are blessed and know it, and those who are blessed and don’t know it.” And if you’re born again, you’re blessed.

I like that he calls ’em saints who are in Ephesus too. You know, he’s writing this letter to the saints. A lot of people confess that they’re sinners, confess that they’re defeated. Confess, you know, that’s a wrong confession. You know, there’s a lot of believers with a defeatist mentality, a victim mentality, just feel like they’re always trying to strive for victory, but we’ve already been placed in victory.

In Christ, and when we came into Christ, when we were born into Christ, we were born into victory. So he says, “We’re blessed, and that we’re blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” So, we’re not trying to gain the blessing, we’ve already been blessed. I love what 1 Peter 1:3-4, it says, “His divine power has given to us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to glory and virtue.” In other words, God has given us everything pertaining to life, everything pertaining to godliness, through our relationship with Jesus, who’s called us to glory and virtue. So, we’re not trying to gain these things, we’ve already been given them. I like to say, “I have everything I need to do everything God called me to do. I have no lack in any area of my life. I’m blessed and highly favored of the Lord.” You know, I’ve said that all the time since we’ve come to Colorado Springs. And Aaron, you remember when we started here in Colorado Springs, it was pretty bleak. I remember our first Sunday after I had handed out 10,000 flyers. You know, we had 19 or 20 people, and that included our family of five. And a few weeks after we started, some of our neighbors where we bought a house in the southwest part of the city came to our service, and they bet that we wouldn’t make it. Well, they were wrong.

Yeah, God’s plan’s always prosper, so.

Praise God!

You don’t wanna bet against God.

Amen! Hallelujah! So, God is so good. So, “We have everything we need to do everything God called us to do. We have no lack in any area of our life. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. His divine power has given us all things pertaining to life and godliness, through our relationship with Jesus.” Now, the next thing it says, in verse four, it says, “According as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” So the second thing it says here, not only are we blessed, but we’re chosen. Now, we didn’t choose ourselves, you know, God chose us. And I like to say this, that His choosing was foundational. So, He made a primary choice in Christ, you know, on the cross to save all of humanity, and He chose us. And the Scripture, I love the scripture in John 15:16. Jesus said this to His disciples, He said, “You haven’t chosen Me, but I’ve chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, that your fruit should remain. That whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.” But Jesus said, “You haven’t chosen me.” So, we make a choice, you know, but it’s a secondary choice. God made a foundational choice to save all men in Christ on the cross, and then we have to choose to believe it. He’s not gonna make us accept it.

I like too, that His choice wasn’t just a spontaneous thing. It said that since before the foundation of the world–

Yes!

He had chosen us. So God had a plan for redemption ever since Adam and Eve sinned, you know, God even reveals His plan there at the garden when He’s speaking to the serpent. He said, you know, “The seed of the woman, she’s gonna crush the serpent’s head.”

Right.

So God has, you know, He has a plan of redemption, a plan to choose you, a plan to save you. That plan’s been in existence for a long time. It wasn’t just a spontaneous afterthought, it was something that God had on his heart for a long time. So, when you read through the Old Testament, you can see that God has planned out redemption. All the Old Testament points to Jesus, it points to His sacrifice on the cross.

Amen. I love that. And, where you said, “He chose us before the foundation of the world.” So, before He ever created the world, God had a plan for our salvation, before we ever sinned. A scripture that goes along with that, Aaron, I believe is Revelation 13:8. And it says this, that “Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Paul says, I think this is in 2 Timothy 1:8-10, right down through there. He says that “God saved us and called us with a holy calling before the foundation of the world.” So that’s an amazing thing. And I love that you brought that out, it’s before the foundation of the world.

And I love too that he said, “We’re blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” So he’s talking about a spiritual reality. Some people say, “Well, salvation is just in heaven. That’s just in the sweet, by and by. That’s just in the future.” But really, he’s talking about in heavenly places right now, present tense, in the Spirit. You are blessed.

Amen!

And what is happening in the Spirit is a very, very important reality that a lot of believers need to be aware of.

Right, if you can be aware of the Spirit, I believe that your spiritual condition determines your natural condition. So when you receive this blessing in the spirit, if you’ll renew your mind to the fact of who God says you are in Christ, you’ll begin to walk that out in this life.

Amen.

And so he says, “He chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame.” So, not only are we blessed and we’re chosen by God, but we’re holy. And he says, “Blameless before Him in love.” Now, that’s powerful, that God made us holy. And how were we made holy? We were made holy by the blood of Jesus Christ. We were separated unto God, you know, by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so, you know, he says this in Peter, it also says this in the Old Testament, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” And you know, the only way we could be holy is if He made us holy. That’s why Christ came. We couldn’t be holy in our own works. And that’s why God sent Jesus to die for us and shed His blood, to make us holy, to separate us unto God. So we’ve been separated unto God. So he says, “We’re holy and blameless before Him in love.” So, we’re blameless. Now, I want to go to this verse in Colossians 1. And a lot of people really fail to understand this, but this is this Scripture again, that really talks about these things. And he says, in Colossians 1, we’ll read verse 21 through verse 23. He says, “You, who were sometimes alienated or separated in enemies in your mind by wicked works, has He now reconciled or restored to right relationship, in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy.” This fits right along with Ephesians 1:4, where it says that “We’re holy and blameless.” He says, “Jesus, in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight.” That’s how God sees us in Christ.

There’s some people too, that I think they kind of mix a little bit of grace with the law when they teach on holiness. You know, I’ve heard some teachings where they say, “Well, you’re given righteousness, but holiness is up to you. You gotta now work to become holy or work to sanctify yourselves.”

Yes, sanctification, you know, and I talked about this last Sunday, but there’s really three aspects of sanctification, right? There’s your spirit, soul, and body. And Paul says, in 1 Thessalonians 23. And sanctification and holiness are a lot alike. Sanctification means to be set apart, but in 1 Corinthians 1:30, the Scripture says that “God made Christ, unto His Christ of God, is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” So, Jesus is made unto us those four things. All of those four things happened immediately in your spirit, but they’re a process of walking that out in your body, and sanctification begins in your spirit. So, when you’re born again, your spirit is as sanctified as it ever will be. And Paul says, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “The very God of peace sanctify you holy. And I pray, God, that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now, when you look at that word for sanctification, which is a lot like holiness, and sometimes people say, “Well, you got sanctification in your spirit, but you gotta, get it. You know, holiness working your body.” Like you’re saying. They say you’re righteous in your spirit, but you gotta hold back. Here, it says in this verse in Colossians 1:22, that “In the bond of His flesh, He presented us holy.” The way Jesus sees us is holy, unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. So, our spirit was sanctified by the blood of Jesus the moment that we believed. And you can read scriptures in Hebrew 9, that talk about the work of the blood of Christ, verse 12 through verse 14. And Hebrew 10:10-14, and really see that your spirit was perfect, your spirit was holy, your spirit was sanctified the moment that you believed. But you’re not only 100% spirit, we have a soul. So he says, “I pray to God,” in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, “that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless,” right? And when we look at that, our spirit was sanctified when we believed. But our soul, in John 17:17, Jesus said, “Sanctify them or set them apart through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth.” So, your soul is being sanctified by the Word of God. But Paul says this in 1 Thessalonians 4, he says, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that every one of you know how to possess your body in sanctification and honor.” So, as our spirit is sanctified, the moment we believe, when we renew our mind in the Word of God, then I believe we learn how to take authority in the realm of our body and possess our body in sanctification and in honor. But at the same point in time, if you were not made holy in the Spirit, you could not do that in your own strength. Otherwise, it’s our performance and not Christ’s. And we’re not saved by our works, we’re saved by His grace. And so, the moment we believed, he says, “In the body of His flesh through death,” Colossians 1:22, “to present you holy and unblameable.” He says there in Ephesians 1:4 that “We’re chosen in Him and that we’re holy and blameless.” He says, “And unreprovable in His sight.” So, He sees you perfect, you know. And it says, “By one offering, He has perfected them forever that are sanctified.” It says that in Hebrews 10:14. If you don’t like that, you can talk to Jesus about it when you get to heaven. I didn’t put that in the Scripture. Praise God! You can talk to the writer about it. Then He says this, okay? He says, “If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled, then be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.” So don’t move away from Jesus. Continue to believe Jesus. So we’re made holy by believing on Jesus, but he says, “We need to continue to believe on Jesus.” Well, we’re gonna have to come back after a short break, but we’ll continue to share on who we are. We are blessed, we’re chosen, we’re holy, we’re blameless. That’s what the gospel says. And you receive that the moment you believe. We’ll be back in just a few seconds. Friends, I’m Pastor Lawson Purdue, and I’ve been teaching “Destined To Win” from the book of Ephesians. This is one of the greatest teachings that I’ve ever done. I’ve had more requests for this teaching than almost any teaching we’ve done. I’ve got it in eight parts, as I’ve taught it in church, in CD form, also in a USB. And then, I also have the teaching in 16 parts, as we’ve taught it on television with my son, Dr. Aaron Purdue. And in this 16 part teaching, I am just thrilled with all the different things that was brought in. So you can get the eight part CDs or the USB that has all the video and audio, or you can get the 16 part as taught on television. Call us and let us know what you’d like to have. We have a special offer today, and we’re so blessed to have you. Check out our website, CharisChristianCenter.com. We have this and many other materials, and we have all of these things online for free. Blessings! Praise the Lord, friends. We’re back here, and we’re in Ephesians 1. We’re talking about, we have a new position and a new condition in Christ, hallelujah! And we’re blessed, we’re chosen, we’re holy, we’re blameless. Then Paul says this in verse five, that “We’re predestined unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” Now here, we look at predestination in the Scripture. Some people don’t even like us to talk about that word, but we see it in the Scripture. Now, I will tell you this, I do not believe that anyone is predestinated to damnation. I cannot see that in the Scripture. You know, the Bible says, however, that “God will have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth,” in 1 Timothy 1. It says in 2 Peter 3:9, that “God wants all men to be saved and come to repentance.” Praise God. So, when we look at that, predestined, notice what he says, “Predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.” I believe it was God’s will to save everyone in Christ, but we have to make the choice to believe Jesus and to accept the gospel. And he says, “To the adoption of children by Jesus to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” In the Greek, when you see this word, the good pleasure of His will, there’s two words that are used eudokia thelema. And when you begin to study it out in the Greek, it means something like this. God has an overall will, right? And His overall will for every person is to save them and bring them into a knowledge of the truth. Just like we talked about in 1 Timothy 1, it talks about that verse, four through six, or something like that. Or 1 Timothy 2:4-6. But then, not only does He have this will to save all men, bring them to a knowledge of the truth, when he talks about eudokia thelema, there’s a very specific will and purpose of God for your life. And I believe the way that we enter in to the overall will of God is we’re born again, right, and believe on Jesus. But once we believe on Jesus, God has a very specific will, and He wants to lead us by His plan into that very specific will and plan for His life. And so, I like to say this, we’re predestined to succeed, amen!

I like that He talks about the adoption of children, or adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself. You know, there are no accidental adoptions. You know, maybe you feel like you were an accident, but you’re not. You know, God, if you are here breathing right now watching this, you are not here by accident, God has a purpose for you. You know, my wife Heather, was watching someone minister just recently on Christine Caine, and her and her brother discovered that they were adopted, when they were adults. Their parents kind of kept it hidden from them. But when they were born, her mother, her birth mother didn’t even name her. So her legal name is like, number 5273.

Oh.

So, but she preaches that story and says, “You know, I had to realize that I have purpose from God.” My God willed me to be here, even though, you know, my birth mother didn’t really care enough to name me. You know, God has a plan. You know, I’m a daughter of God, first and foremost. So, there are no accidental adoptions, you know.

Amen. There are no unwanted adoptions.

Yeah.

And you know, we’re adopted into God’s family. I know another person like that was Andrew Wommack’s mother. She lived clear up into her 90’s, you know, very strong, powerful woman of God, Lavelle Wommack. And she was adopted. And you know, when she was older, you know, different people asked her, “Don’t you wanna meet your birth parents?” She said, “No, my parents raised me. They wanted me, they adopted me. I don’t care about that. Praise God.” And so, you know, so many people struggle with identity, but she didn’t struggle with her identity.

That’s awesome!

She knew that she was wanted by the parents who raised her. And so, praise God! That’s good. That’s very good teaching. And so, you know, we’re adopted into the family. So, we’re blessed, we’re chosen, we’re holy, we’re blameless. I like to say we’re predestined to succeed. Now, verse six. Oh, how I love this verse. He says this in Ephesians 1:6, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He made us accepted in the beloved.” Now, when you study this term, “To the praise of the glory of His grace,” and Paul uses this term in a couple of places here in Ephesians. It means, when God, in the Greek, when you look at this, when God sees you, He sees you in your absolute, you know, full purpose destiny in Christ. He sees you the best that you can be. And then this word wherein, means to come to a fixed position of rest. When you come to a fixed position of rest, in the grace of God, He makes you accepted in the beloved. In the Greek, it’s caritow. It’s a derivative of Charis, accepted in the beloved. And in mine, when I studied in the Strongs, it says, caritow caritow, you are accepted by the grace of God. So, you know, so many people struggle with this. My parents didn’t love me, my teacher didn’t love me. My preacher rejected me, my boss rejected me. All these different things, but God has accepted you. So if God has accepted you, who cares what anybody else has to say. Man, that oughta set your course in right to understand that God sees you in your full potential.

Yeah.

Through the grace of God.

That word, beloved, it kind of reminds me of the Song of Solomon, the Song of Songs. You know, “I’m my beloved and He is mine.” It’s a picture of a husband and wife relationship that really relates to a picture. You know, the Song of Songs really is prophetic of Jesus and the church, you know, Jesus being the groom and the church being the bride. You know, if you could just think about how much a groom loves his bride on their wedding day.

Yes.

You know, the bride is her best looking. She’s wearing all white. You know, when I got married, my wife, she hired a professional makeup artist to fly out here from her home state of Tennessee to do her hair and makeup. You know, she hired, you know, photographer flew out from Tennessee. Heather wanted to look her very best. And you know, this is how Jesus sees us. He sees us, God sees us in Jesus. God sees us at our very, very best. We are the beloved. We are accepted in the beloved.

So God sees, that’s great. He sees us in our full potential, through the grace of God. We come to rest trough the grace of God, and we’re made acceptable in the beloved, through the grace of God. caritow, that word made acceptable. Hallelujah! Isn’t this gospel good? So he says, “We’re blessed, we’re chosen. We’re holy, we’re blameless. We’re predestined to succeed. We’re accepted in the beloved.” And finally, he says this in verse seven, “In whom are in Christ.” Now, this is a statement that Paul used about 130 times in his letters. In him, in whom, through Him, by Him, in whom. You see, when we came into Christ, when God was working in Christ, He was working on us. And God did in Christ, what He wanted to do in every man. “In Christ, we have redemption. We have been purchased by His blood, the absolute forgiveness of his sins.” When you study this word for forgiveness, I think it’s the word , it means this, that your sins have been forgiven. They’ve been remitted. They’ve been pardoned as if they were never committed. “According to the ultimate wealth of His grace.” So, we have all of these things in Christ. “In Him we’re a brand new creation. We are blessed. We’re chosen. We’re holy. We’re blameless. We’re predestined to succeed. We’re accepted in the beloved. We’re redeemed from every curse, and we’re forgiven for every sin.” And when you begin to see yourself that way, you need to see yourself the way that God sees you, and it will literally transform the way that you live your life. Well, if you need prayer today, I have trained prayer ministers that are waiting to receive your call. Thanks so much for tuning in. Thanks so much for being a part of the broadcast. God bless you. We love you and we appreciate you. Thanks for watching.

[Announcer] Do you know your true position in Christ Jesus? You have been saved, raised up and seated in heavenly places with Him. You can stand against any attack of the enemy, from a position of victory, you are destined to win. You can get the eight part live teaching on CD for $48 or on USB for $35. Or get the 16 part “As Seen On TV” USB for $59, when you call 719-418-4000, or visit CharisChristianCenter.com.

Hi friends, I’m Pastor Lawson Purdue, and I’m gonna have my good friend Jesse Duplantis ministering here at Charis Christian Center. He’s ministered for us every year for the last 11 years. One thing he said that really has helped me, he said, “In the realm of faith, most of the time I made a decision and God honored it.” So, you don’t wanna miss these meetings with Jesse Duplantis. Come and receive the good Word of God. Blessings.

[Announcer] Thanks for watching “Grace For Today.” This broadcast has been made possible by our faithful partners. If you would like to become a partner, need prayer or have a question, please call us at 719-418-4000. Or to partner online, go to CharisChristianCenter.com/give. You can write us at P.O. Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80962. See you next time on “Grace For Today.”