Destined To Win Part 8 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue

Destined to Win Part 8

Destined to Win part 8 from Pastors Lawson and Aaron Perdue. In this episode of Grace for Today, learn how you can fulfill your God-given calling! When we receive the gifts God has given to us and the church we are empowered to fulfill God’s plan.

Destined to Win Part 8 Transcript

Welcome friends to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in. Don’t forget to tell your friends about this broadcast. Today, we’re gonna be talking about how you can fulfill your God-given calling. In Ephesians chapter four, we’re gonna talk about walking in unity and we’re gonna talk about the God-given gifts that have been given to the church. And, when we receive these gifts, we can fulfill God’s purpose and plan for our life. Open your heart and receive the word today. Blessings.

Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. I have my son, Aaron, and we’re sharing from Ephesians chapter four. And Paul kind of changes directions here in Ephesians chapter four. The first three chapters, he talks about who we are and what we have in Christ and he talks about this victory that we’ve been given in Jesus. Now, in Ephesians four and Ephesians five, he begins to talk about how we walk it out in this world. In fact, he says this in Ephesians 4:1; He says, “Walk worthy of the vocation werewith you’re called.” He says in Ephesians 4 verse 17, “Don’t walk as other gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind.” In Ephesians chapter five verse two, he says, “Walk in love in.” In Ephesians chapter five and verse eight, he says, “Walk in the light.” And then finally, he says in Ephesians chapter five and verse 15, “Walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” So he tells us how we walk it out and then he says we walk it out in relationships. So, we’re gonna begin here in Ephesians chapter four and he says this in verse one, “I therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you’re called.” Now, it’s important that we understand what we’re called to do. And this word “vocation,” comes from the Greek word “klesis,” and it means calling or invitation to the party. Calling to the feast. Praise God. So there’s a great, you know, party waiting for us. Amen. The marriage, the supper, the lamb. And when you begin to understand about where you’re going, you know when you understand that you have a destiny in Christ, it changes how you live in this world.

You’re just kind of reminding me of that book that you’ve mentioned to me before by Watchman Nee called “Sit, Walk, Stand, which is based off Ephesians. So we’ve been talking about how you’re seated with Christ. You’re you’re what- the realm of the Spirit that you are in a place of rest with Jesus, really, in a place of victory with Jesus, but because we are in a position of victory, we’re seated with him in victory, that’s gonna affect what we do here on this earth. That doesn’t mean you just, you’re gonna go sit in your LazyBoy, not do anything ever, ever again for the rest of your life.

Amen. So we get some people to get ahold of this message of grace and then they don’t wanna- they wanna preach the first three chapters, right? But they don’t wanna preach the last three chapters of Ephesians. And-

Paul Paul is not someone who was just camped out on a LazyBoy chair. He was very motivated. He was he was walking all around the world.

Yeah.

Going somewhere and-

Then unknown world. He preached from the eastern end of the western end of the of the Roman Empire.

Yeah.

And he did it through much persecution, much difficulty and-

And the the driving factor, the motivating factor for him was because he knew who he was in Christ and his purpose in Christ.

Yeah. He knew the love of God. The love of God transformed his life.

And that’s why he was unstoppable.

So how can we walk worthy of the vocation, the calling that we’re called with, you know, this ultimate purpose in Christ. And first of all, we do it through unity and he really begins to talk about that in verse two through verse six. And I know you, Aaron, in talking this week and the last week in the broadcast, you really brought some of these things out about unity.

[Aaron] Mhm.

But he says, “We walk with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering.” You know we got people, they they are just fickle and you say anything and they fall off.

Well, that’s what causes disunity oftentimes is pride.

[Pastor Lawson Perdue] Yeah.

You know people just being lifted up in pride, lifting up in the vanity of their mind thinking, “Well, you know, I can do this better than they,” or “I’m better than this person.” You know it’s pride that causes disunity. So I like that he’s just giving some very practical advice to local churches, to the body bodies of believers that, “Hey, this is important that we walk in unity. This is how you do it. You’re gonna be submitted to one another. You’re gonna have a spirit of gentleness and lowliness. You’re not gonna be just walking around, you know, kind of puffed up.

Yeah. I mean read first Corinthians 13, an amplified translation verse four through verse eight, “Walk in love.” And that’s part of unity. You know another person’s head is the wrong place to have your happiness. And I’ve had some of my mentors, that I think the world of, say in the past very negative things about me. But I didn’t let that affect me. I didn’t even let it affect my relationship with them, whatsoever. I thought, you know what, my mentality has changed and they’ll see it. And those same people don’t say those things about me anymore.

Yeah.

Because my heart has changed.

Pride because my heart causes disunity, but also striving for acceptance. That’s one thing that causes-

Yeah.

Problems within communities of believers is this this striving to be accepted.

And you need to know that you’re accepted by God. And you know, there’s this investor and you’ll know who he is. He’s from Nebraska, but he’s one of the greatest investors of all times. He runs the-

Oh, Warren Buffett.

Warren Buffett. The Goldman Sachs corporation. He’s a value investor. One of the greatest investors of all times. And Warren Buffet said two things have helped me succeed in life. Number one, he said, “I knew that my father loved me.” You know, it gives you great security when you know that your father loved you. Now, I don’t know if your earthly father loved you, but I know that God loves you. And if you can get secure in the love of God, it doesn’t matter what anybody else says about you because you know what Jesus thinks of you. And number two, he said, “My ability to take risks.” Praise God. So he said those two things have helped me succeed. And I think when you know your father loves you, it actually helps your ability to take risks. But not all people have that same tolerance for risk. But he said those things have really helped him succeed. And so, you know, talk about “get established in the love of God.” And you know, with all lowliness and meekness, don’t get lifted up in pride. With long suffering being, you know, means to be sufferin’ long. And for “bear one another in love,” keep loving one another. Just because somebody said something that you disagree with or doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t- You know Andrew Wommack is one of my best friends. He’s, you know, my probably ultimate mentor in the gospel. Fathering me, really, in the gospel. And Andrew sometimes, you know, looks at things differently than me. That doesn’t make me fall off my horse and act crazy. You know, it’s fine. You know, Andrew lot of times has different people teach for him that look at things totally different than he does. And, you know, that’s maturity in the gospel. I saw this in Lester Sumrall and I see it in Andrew Wommack and I really believe it’s a mark of great men in the ministry. And I believe both of them were apostles. I believe Dr. Sumrall was an apostle with really an evangelistic focus. And Andrew Wommack is an apostle, the message of grace, with really a teaching focus. But when I see these, you know, really great men of God. One person that ministered for Dr. Sumrall, worked with him and had worked with some other you know Larry Lee and great you know leaders in the body of Christ, said this, not Larry Lee, but the person that does Feeding the Children. You might know who that is. Andrew Wommack has ministered with him, but this person worked for them. And then he worked for Dr. Sumrall and he said, “You know, I would see Dr. Sumrall and he’d be with a pastor over here and this pastor might have this viewpoint. And then and he’d be really good friends with him, and then there’d be a pastor over here that he had a completely different viewpoint.” He said, “To the point of if you got those pastors together, they might choke each other. And Dr. Sumrall would have a great relationship with both of them. And he said, “How could this be?” And then he said, “I realized this. That Dr. Sumrall built relationships with people based on their strengths.” Now this is a key to building strong relationships. This is a key to building the body of Christ. This is a key to walking out the gospel. You build relationships with people based on their strengths. You know what, there’s nobody that knows my weaknesses more on this earth than my wife, Barbara. But Barbara chooses to focus on the good as a whole. Amen. And you know what, we have a strong relationship because we don’t focus on weaknesses as a whole. We focus on strengths. And when you when you build relationships based on strengths, it will cause them to grow. It’ll cause those relationships to prosper. But if you focus on the little things that you disagree on, you know, you’ll you’ll destroy about any relationship.

[Aaron] A lot of churches, actually, not not ours I believe, but a lot of churches are very homogenous. You know they’re either all one race, or all one age group, or all, you know. Really, the church should be very diverse. You know when we get to heaven, there’s gonna be, you know, multiple languages, multiple ethnicities, multiple backgrounds, you know. And someone actually spoke to me, a Dr. Henderson here at church, spoke to me after service this past Sunday. And he really loved worship. And he said one thing that he really loves is that we- It’s just not a beauty pageant up on the stage. He said he was, you know, watching some you know, worship videos of big, big places. And everyone, they’re all the exact same age, the exact same look, the exact same-

Right.

You know. And they all have to fit a certain criteria to be up on that stage. He just said, “I love that you have, you know, different ages, different, you know, people, have different strengths, different backgrounds. He just said that- That’s what heaven’s gonna be like.

Amen. Yeah, it’s true. And so he says, “We get along with one another.” He goes on and look at this in verse three. He says this, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

[Aaron] Mhm. You know what, if you’re gonna have unity in the Spirit, you gotta work at keeping it.

It’s an- It’s an endeavor.

It doesn’t just come, it’s not just automatic. You know we pastored in Kit Carson, Colorado. Mom and I helped pioneer the church with a group of families from Kit Carson. We still have a lot of very positive relationships there. Really love those people. We were there from 1988 to 2001. But the last message I preached, I preached to them about this endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And we need to work at keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. He says this, “There’s one body,” it’s talking about the body of Christ. You’re either part of the body of Christ or you’re not part of the body of Christ. There’s one Spirit. I believe that’s talking about the Spirit of Christ, right? There’s “even as you’re called in one hope of your calling.” We’re all called to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate goal. Your goal isn’t to be like Pastor Lawson or Andrew Wommack or, you know, Joseph prince or whoever your person is. Your goal is to be like Jesus. There’s one hope of your calling. “Where be called to be conformed to the image of Jesus.” It talks about that in Romans chapter eight. He says, “There’s one Lord, Jesus, one faith, the faith of Jesus Christ.” Either you have faith in him or you don’t. Either you believed on Jesus or you haven’t. He says, “there’s one baptism.” Now when it says one baptism, Hebrews six, the first few verses-

Doctrine of baptisms.

Talks about the doctrine of baptisms. And there are actually three baptisms of believers. When you’re born again, you’re baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ according to First Corinthians 12 verse 13. There’s also a secondary baptism when you’re baptized in water. And that’s- When you’re baptized in water, that’s saying, ” You know what? I’ve died to sin.” It’s talking about identification. The first one’s talking about salvation. I identify with Jesus. I died to sin, but now I live to God. When you’re raised up, you live with God. Roman six talks about that. But then there’s also the baptism of the Holy Spirit. John said, “He that comes after me is minor than me. And when he comes, he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.” I think that’s in Matthew chapter three. And so there’s three baptisms of believers, but when he says there’s one baptism, then that must be a baptism that’s common to all believers. So if you’re born again, you have been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ. So that’s talking about salvation. He says, “There’s one God and Father of all, the Creator, who is above all and through you all, and in you all.” So we work better when we understand what we agree on. And you know, so many of the body of Christ wanna split hairs and argue about these little things that don’t even matter. And you know, there was one preacher the other day preaching, “if you’re a Democrat, you’re going to hell.” And you know, I don’t agree with most of the Democratic platform. But there is a Democrat from West Virginia, right now, as we’re teaching this, his name is Joe Manchin and that guy is born again and he has voted on the right side on a number of occasions. He has saved major difficulty with-

Yeah. And a political party doesn’t save you or damn you.

No.

Jesus saves you.

And there’s some Republicans that stand for the wrong things.

Oh, there’s plenty of Republicans that

You know, that-

That aren’t gonna make it to heaven.

That aren’t standing for the right things. And so, you know what? I agree with the Republican platform much more than the Democrat platform, but that’s not what savior does. It’s the blood.

A political party of politician. You know, any- The thing with politics is a lot of politicians, they’re trying to present their way to redeem certain situations or-

And you know what? The government will never save you. That’s okay.

Redemption only comes through Jesus. Justice only comes through Jesus. You know, equity only comes through Jesus. It doesn’t come through through any type of philosophical or government programs.

We’re gonna have to have a break right now. And so whether you agree with us or don’t agree with us, stay with us. We’re gonna talk about how you can fulfill your God-given calling through your God-given gifts. 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 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 would 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 are right here in Ephesians chapter 4:1, where Paul says, “Walk worthy of the vocation where with you’re called.” The calling, the invitation, the calling to the feast. You’ve been called to something in eternity. How do we walk worthy? We talked about unity. Through unity in the Spirit, through unity in the body of Christ, through agreeing on Jesus, agreeing on- What, you know- if you agree with me that the Bible is the word of God and that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh, we’ll probably spend eternity together. And so there’s some other things that probably don’t matter. But then he goes on after he talks about these things we agree on, these major tenets of the faith or whatever. He goes on in verse seven and he begins to talk about the grace or the giftings that have been given to us. So, we can fulfill our calling through the gifting that God has given to us. So Aaron, why don’t you read in verse seven through verse n- Verse eight.

Sure. It says, “But to each one of us, grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore, he says, when He ascended on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men.”

Okay. So when we look at that, he says, “Grace is given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.” So we’re all gifted with different gifts, but together we make up the body of Christ. You know, the Bible actually says this in John three. I think it’s first 30, but well John- John said in John 3:30, he said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” But also he says, right in that group of scriptures there, he says, “He gave the Spirit without measure to Jesus.” Jesus had all of the seven manifestations of the Spirit that were in operation at that time working in his life. Jesus operated in all of the gifts of healing. Every person he prayed for, he healed. Now, I don’t know anybody that has that track record. You know what I’m- There’s people that get more healed or less healed, but nobody’s got everybody that prayed for him. You know, that’s just- People make a God out of you. But Jesus operated in all of those different things, but we all have different gifts of the Spirit, so on and so forth. And he says- And and there’s different- What that’s talking about the manifestations of the Spirit. There’s also motivational gifts that are given by God in Romans chapter 12, verse three to verse six. And it says, “To one is given the gift of prophecy, to another, you know, teaching, to another serving,” He talks about all these different gifts to another exhortation, to another giving. There’s a gift of giving. And there’s actually seven of those to another mercy and to another exhortation. So there’s all of these different motivations. And I believe that’s kind of like your personality and makeup and God’s given you different gifts. And I think if you have different gifts, you succeed in different areas. I believe part of the way that we succeed, as individual believers, is through the gifts that God’s given to us. So there’s these motivational gifts that are given by God, the Father. This is my opinion, right? I have a very strong, you know, I’m not gonna disagree with you if you look at this different than me, but if you look at first Corinthians 12:4, it says the manifestation of the Spirit- Actually, I’m gonna go read first Corinthians 12 verse 4 through verse six. And I think this will give you some revelation on what I’m saying here. But in first Corinthians chapter 12:4 it says, “There are differences of gifts, but the same Spirit.” So that’s talking about the nine manifestations of the Spirit listed in verse eight through ten. And there are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. Now we’ll talk about this in verse five, it talks about that in Ephesians 4:11.

I like hearing, you know, first Corinthians 12, Paul is writing this to also to appeal to unity. The same thing that he is doing here in Ephesians four. He’s really trying to get the Corinthians church to be in unity.

Right. And then he says there are differences of operations. I believe when he talks about diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit in verse four, he is talking about the nine manifestations of the Spirit that are listed right here in First Corinthians chapter 12. That are, you know, the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the discerning of Spirits, the gift of faith, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles, then the gift of prophecy, the gift of tongues, and the gift of interpretation of tongues. So the power gifts, right? The revelation gifts, the power gifts, and finally the speaking gifts, right? But then he says, “their difference of ministries or administrations, but the same Lord.” He talks about the five full ministry gifts in Ephesians 4:11 which will be in, in just a minute. And then he says, “There are diversities of operations, but it’s the same God, I believe those are given by the Father. The Holy Spirit, in my opinion, gives these nine manifestations of Spirit. Jesus gives the five ministries.” That’s definite because that’s what it says there in Ephesians 4:11. “And there are diversities of operations. I believe that’s the motivational gifts, those seven gifts that we’re talking about in Romans chapter 12 verse six through verse eight. It’s the same God that works all in all.” So I believe, now this is what I think, I may be wrong, it’s kind of my opinion. It’s like your nose. Everybody has one, yours just has a couple holes in it. Okay, so when we think about this, I believe these motivational gifts came from the Father and they’re inborn, and God gave you those gifts so you can succeed in life. I believe then, you know what, if you’re baptized in the Holy Spirit, you begin to move into these nine manifestations of the Spirit. And first-

So these are given by the Holy Spirit.

First Corinthians 12:7 says, “The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all.” So I believe every born again believer who’s baptized in the Holy Spirit, has at least one of these nine manifestations of the Spirit working in their life. And he says, “All these works, this one and self, same Spirit,” verse 11. “Dividing to every man, several.” You can operate in several of those. But then I believe in these five full ministry gifts, that’s for public preaching and teaching. And it says specifically in Ephesians chapter 4:11, that he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangels, and some pastors and teachers. Now let’s go ahead and read verse- In verse eight, “When Jesus ascended, he gave gifts. He took captivity captive and gave gifts to men.” So Jesus ascended to send the Holy Spirit so we can move in our God-given gifts. Now, “He the descended, He the first that descended, first into the Lord, parts of their birth.” Verse nine, “He descended as the same that ascended far above the heavens that he might fulfill all things.” So Jesus died to pay for our sin. He rose again to carry out. He died to enact the covenant, rose to carry it out. “Now he gave some apostles.” That means the sent one, it’s like the thumb of your hand. He ca- And it worked with all the other fingers. A true apostle will work with all the other ministry gifts. He cares for the whole body, right? He gave some prophets. That’s like a pointing finger. A prophet was called a seer in the Old Testament. And they would operate in least two of the three gifts of revelation. The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, which is a specific word of God’s wisdom given by the Holy Spirit, not known naturally. A specific word of God’s knowledge given by the Holy Spirit was a word of knowledge. Discerning of spirits. Not devil’s discerning of spirits. To discern the presence or activity of a spirit, whether it’s good or evil. So prophets operate in at least two of the three of those some evangelists. Now notice my third finger prophets like the pointing finger. My third finger is like an evangelist. It reaches out and goes farther. What’s an evangelist do? Philip, the evangelist, went and preached the good news of Christ and many demons came out and miracles. And when people saw- Heard the demons come out and saw the miracles that he did, that’s in Acts chapter eight. They believed on Jesus and there was great joy in that city. Then he gave some pastors, pastors like the ring finger, He’s married to the church. And noticed what he says, “Some prophets, some evangelists, some some some some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. Notice he doesn’t say some pastors and some teachers. So if you’re a pastor, you must be a teacher. And a teacher is like a little finger. And what’s it do? It goes in an ear, right? And a teacher will take hard things and make them simple, right? And make them easy to understand. A true Bible teacher is not somebody that teaches something that’s so deep and difficult. You say, “Wow, I wonder what they said.” It’s somebody that takes something and makes it so simple it’s hard to misunderstand what they said. And so it says, “For the perfecting or the maturing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” So Jesus gave these five full ministry gifts to the church, so the saints can be mature, so that we can grow up for the work of the ministry. Who is to do the work of the ministry? The body of Christ, right? The ministry gifts are involved in the work of the ministry, but all believers are involved in the work of the ministry. So he gave them for the material the saints, for the work the ministry. So the body of Christ will be built up.” That’s why these gifts are given. Praise God so we can build up the body. Amen. So he says walk worthy of the vocation. You’ve been called to a job. How do you do it? Through unity and through the God-given gifts that he’s given the church. Amen. Aaron, share a few words.

That’s awesome. Well, I just wanna encourage people who have been involved in ministry. You know, maybe Maybe you’re a layperson who helps a ministry at a church. Maybe you’re a minister yourself. Maybe you’re one of these ministry gifts here, but I just saw someone recently post on Facebook who just said they’ve been detoxing from ministry. And I just thought that was really sad. To say, “Well, I have to detox from ministry.” You know, if you get burnt out, it’s because- You said something really good about burnout.

Because you’re not ministering to the Lord first. Our ministry needs to be first to the Lord then to one another. We need to be connected in the body, right? Receive strength from one another and then to the world.

Yeah.

And if you go to the world first, you’re gonna get burned out and you gotta go to Christ. You gotta receive from him. And then you minister to one another and the body. God’s called everybody to be a part of the local church family, the local church body. He set the members in the body. Everyone is appeased to.

And God is called the saints to ministry. And ministry should not be miserable.

No, I-

I actually really enjoy being a pastor. And whatever ministry you’re involved with, God doesn’t want you to be miserable, or hurt, or burnt out, or have to detox from it. He wants you to enjoy what he’s called you to do. And if you are a saint, he’s called you to minister. He has called you to minister Jesus unto other people.

Yeah. Receive the strength of the Holy Spirit today and let the love of God roll your heart and your mind. It’s not about you, it’s about the kingdom. Amen. And keep loving people, letting Jesus live his life big in you. If you need prayer, give us call. God bless you.

[Narrator] 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 scene on TV, USB for $59 when you call 719-418-4000 or visit CharisChristianCenter.com

[Pastor Lawson Perdue] Friends, the scripture says, “if you will continue in the word of God, you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” If you go to our website at CharisChristianCenter.com, you can get all of our materials there on the website. As you watch ’em, as you listen, absolutely free of charge. And we’ve done that just to be a blessing to you. And I believe that the word that has freed me will free you. Blessings.

[Narrator] 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.