Ephesians: Destined to Win In Christ! Part 2 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue – 12/02/2024

Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast. I am so glad that you have tuned in today. We are here and we’re gonna be sharing from the Book of Ephesians, the fact that we are destined to win in Christ Jesus. And today we’re gonna be specifically talking about that we have a brand new purpose in Christ, and we have a brand new way of praying. So open your heart and receive God’s Word. Friends, it’s so good to have you today. I am so glad that you tuned in to be with us. I’m glad to have Aaron with me. We’re teaching from the Book of Ephesians, talking about destined to win. This is actually one of my favorite books in all of the scriptures. I’ve recently written a book about the subject, and I think it’s one of the best books that I’ve written.

I love hearing the first chapter of Ephesians, just so powerful. There’s so much right there, you know? Here in a minute, or maybe in later this week, we’ll get to the Ephesians 1 prayer. You know, I have a minister I like to listen to, and she’s actually spent 30 different broadcasts just talking about the Ephesians 1 prayer.

Wow.

Nancy Dufresne. So it’s pretty powerful. You know, there’s so much just packed in those prayers. Mark Hankins is another friend of ours. He said something that Kenneth Hagen taught him to do when he was, I think he was just 17 and kind of struggling. But he said, “You need to write down the Ephesians 1 prayer, the Ephesians 3 prayer, and pray it every day. Pray those prayers every day out loud, at least once a day, maybe more than once a day, twice a day if you can, even more than that, pray it every day for six months.”

Right. And you know, one thing we talked about before was, we have a new position and we have a new possession in Christ. And Paul prays from a position of victory. And really, if you wanna know a good New Testament way to pray, look at Paul’s prayers. Ephesians 1, Ephesians 3, Colossians 1, and Philippians 1. And Paul never prays out of a sense of lack, out of a sense of need or a sense of defeat. But he prays, first of all, talking about who God is, who Christ is, what God has called us to do and what God has invested in us, in Christ, so we can get the job done. Now, we talked about earlier that we’re blessed, we’re chosen, we’re holy and blameless. We’re predestinated to succeed. We’re accepted in the beloved. We’re redeemed from every curse and forgiven for every sin.

I like that word, predestinated. There’s actually different doctrines on predestination. You know, there’s actually some groups of believers that think that certain people are just predestined to damnation.

Lawson Right.

But really, when you see that word in scripture, it’s talking about being predestined. Really, it’s God’s will, His initial will for us. And He predestines everyone to salvation. But we also have a will as well. Every individual has a will.

Lawson Right.

So, the initial choice is God’s, but we have a secondary choice. God has chosen us. He’s provided His only begotten Son for us to, He’s provided the blood of Jesus for us. That’s His will.

Right.

That all might be saved, but we also have to will it as well. God can’t force His will on us.

He’s not gonna override our personal will. So, God has a general will for every person, right? The way I read the scriptures and it says this actually, that God will have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. That’s in 1st Timothy 2. It says that God is not willing in 2nd Peter 3, that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. So, we know it’s God’s will for all to be saved according to the scripture. So, that is God’s predestined, general will for everyone. But then He has a personal will for us. And we get to find that out as we walk in a relationship with God through Christ. Now we’re moving in, and that fits really with what we’re gonna be talking about. We’re talking about, not only do we have a new position, a new possession, but we have a new purpose in Jesus Christ. And he goes on and says this in Ephesians 1, beginning in verse eight, he says, “Wherein he abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, “having made known to us the mystery of his will.” He says, “The good pleasure, “which he purposed in himself.” God had a good pleasure for us in Christ, that he purpose for us. In fact, Paul talks about this in 2nd Timothy 1, and said that he chose us and called us in him, before the foundation of the world. That’s kind of an amazing scripture. But God has a good plan for every person that’s ever been born. But the way that we find out about it is, first of all, we get to know God through Jesus.

I love just that God’s will for us. That He’s predestined things for us. Another term that’s used in scriptures is sometimes the elect, God has elected us. He’s chosen us. But even if you’re elected, you still have to show up and be inaugurated.

Lawson Right?

If someone’s elected as president, before they are inaugurated, they’re called the President elect. They’re still not the President yet. They’re the president elect. If they don’t show up, if they’re not inaugurated, then they aren’t the president yet. So, we’ve been elected, but you still have to show up. You still have to choose it. You still have to choose God say yes to Him. Make Jesus your Lord and Savior.

So, let’s talk about this for a minute. There’s an election of grace, but it must be received by faith. And Peter talks about this that we must be diligent to make our calling and election sure. So, God’s calling is a grace calling, right? And God’s election is a grace election. He’s got a good calling, he’s got a good election for every person that’s ever been born. But if you don’t believe it and receive it by faith and then if you’re gonna really walk in faith, you’ve gotta be diligent with that. So, there is God’s grace and our faith. It works together. Now, as we go down here, he says he has a good purpose, his good pleasure, that he purposed in himself. He says in verse 10, here in Ephesians 1:10, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him, right? So, before we go to heaven, we’re already seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, spiritually speaking. So, we’re not trying just to get to heaven, we’re citizens of heaven on loan to the earth from God. But as we begin to understand that we’re on a journey, faith is a journey, right? I was praying one time about when God was gonna give us a physical church building here in Colorado Springs. And it was during the first year when we were here in Colorado Springs, and God’s like, “Lawson, faith is a journey, enjoy the trip.” And it actually was a number of years. We were here for eight years before we bought the property that had a building, and then here for nine years, before we `actually built that out and moved into it. And so it took a period of time. So faith’s a journey, enjoy the trip. And sometimes we try to get the cart ahead of the horse, but God has a plan and we’re in it and it’s a good plan. And as we walk with Him, we get to walk out His plan and His purpose. And he says, he goes on to say again, again using this term, which he used several times here in the first part of the chapter, in whom, in Him, “In Christ, in whom we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the council of His own will.” So, we’ve received an inheritance so that we might fulfill the purpose of God. And really it’s a grace inheritance. I’ve received an inheritance in my life, but I didn’t do anything. I didn’t work for that. I didn’t save for that. I didn’t toil for that. Somebody else worked and saved and toil. But what I have to do? I had to show up, believe it and receive it.

Yeah and people need to understand their inheritance in Christ Jesus as well. You know, several years ago I actually paid someone to research the Purdue ancestry, the Purdue lineage. And they found different government documents, different things with our ancestors. And I remember they found a will of Purdue that fought in the American Revolution, Malachi Purdue. And he had, I think, 13 children, quite a few children. But in his will, they found his will. There were three children that he kinda left outta the will, but he gave them each a dollar. And I’ve heard this is actually a legal thing because if you don’t mention them in your will, they might be able to contest that will. And said, you know, I’m actually his offspring, I deserve an equal cut. But if you give them and specify that they get $1, and he said it’s for reasons known to myself only in the will, then you don’t have a right to get anything else. So there are different levels of inheritance. Some of the children got a greater inheritance and a few got a lesser inheritance. But the Bible says that we’re actually co-heirs with Jesus.

Amen, so we have a great inheritance in Christ. That actually means, it talks about that in Galatians 3. And the scripture also talks about it in Romans 8. And that term means that we are equal heirs together with Christ. And so when you read this, he says, we’ve obtained this inheritance being predestined according to His purpose. So it’s a good inheritance who works all things after the counsel of His will, that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. And again, this term, the praise of His glory, means that when God looks at you, He sees you in your full potential in Christ. And He deals with you through grace. He deals with you. He uses that term in Ephesians 1:6, he says, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He made us accepted in the beloved. So God sees you in your full potential in Christ through the grace of God. And when you come to rest in that grace, he says, you are accepted. And he says again, that same thing, that He wants us to not only see that through grace, but He wants us to walk in that full potential of grace that He has for us in Christ Jesus. So thank God for all the good things of God that He has for us in Christ Jesus.

That’s awesome. Well, we’re gonna take a break here in just a moment. But if you’d like to call to receive prayer, or maybe you’d like to call and become a partner, and this is a great ministry, I believe it’s good ground, if you’d like to call us, just give us a call right now. We’d be happy to pray with you or just connect with you. So stay tuned, we’ll be back right after this break.

Hi friends, we’ve been teaching from the Book of Ephesians, and I’ve just written a new book from the Book of Ephesians that I’ve wanted to do for years: “Destined To Win Breakthrough Revelation From the Book of Ephesians. You’ll wanna get this book, and we’re gonna offer this book actually free to anyone who calls in and becomes a new partner this week. Blessings. Listen, storms come to everyone. The man that built his house on the rock and the man that built his house on the sand and the storms came and the wise men’s house stood strong and the foolish man’s house fell flat. You know what the difference was, what they did with the work. Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. We’ve been sharing on our eternal purpose in Christ Jesus. God has a good plan for us. And do you know what? God’s plan for us is better than our plan for us any day of the week. Now Paul’s talking about that purpose, that eternal purpose that God has for us in Christ. And really, if you understand your new position and your new possession, it will help you walk out that purpose. So he talks about in the first seven verses our new position. Then he talks about our purpose. Now, we left off in verse 13, and he says this in Ephesians 1:13, “In whom or in Christ you also trusted after you heard the word of truth of the gospel.” You had to hear the gospel right before you really believed on Jesus. He says, the gospel of your salvation, in whom in Christ, also after you believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. When you are born again, when you believe on Jesus, you are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Your spirit is perfect, your spirit is righteous. You have been given as a grace gift, the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It’s something that you could not earn. So it was given to you. So if you have been made the very righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, which is what 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, when you believed on Jesus, your spirit is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. It’s the guarantee of your inheritance until the time Jesus comes again.

It sealed denotes ownership. I like that you were talking about that we’re given to God, you know, right through what Jesus does. And we’re sealed with the Holy Spirit. But that seal that, that’s talking about ownership, that’s talking about belonging. You know, when I receive my degrees, I got a diploma with a seal on it. That means that that belongs to me, that level of education, that title, the privileges, whatever comes with it. You own it. And they can’t take it away. It’s yours, it’s got your name on it, they’ve signed it, signed, sealed, delivered. It’s a ownership thing.

Amen.

So we don’t need a struggle trying to connect with God because it’s a ownership thing.

Amen.

It’s already done.

It’s what we already have in Christ that’s powerful.

And if something’s owned, it doesn’t mean you have to do anything else to try to get it.

Right.

You know, when I got my diploma, when I got my doctorate from Rice University, that meant everything, all the requirements, all the classes, all the tests, all the recitals, everything was done.

It was complete.

I remember when I was getting close to finishing it, the head over my program was trying to kind of change the rules on me and said, you actually have to do one more recital that you forgot about. But I found the initial handbook that set all the requirements. And I sent it to him and to my flute professor and said, I’ve met all the requirements. You know, you’re adding this on after the fact. You know, you might just be mistaken. I was very kind about how I approached it, but this is right before, I was almost done. And once I got that diploma, it doesn’t matter what that guy thinks, I might still have to do. I own that degree.

Paid about a half a million for it. So, praise God, thank God, God helped you with different scholarships and different things, and you got all those different degrees.

But it’s owned, and God, he’s already paid in full for you to be one with him through the blood of Jesus.

Amen.

There’s nothing lacking. There’s no additional requirements. There’s no additional. So whenever someone or your own thoughts or the enemy says, well, you’re lacking in this area, you need to do this to be right with God.

No, it’s already.

You’re already sealed.

It’s already yours.

There’s nothing more that we need to do. Jesus finished the work on the cross. I like something that you said, it’s complete. The Bible says in Colossians 2:9, 10 that we are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and authority. Also, the scripture coming to me when you were sharing was 1 Peter 1 that says, we’ve been born again to an inheritance that is incorruptible, that is undefiled, that is reserved in heaven waiting for us. Praise God. It’s already there and nobody can take it away from us. God gave it to us when we believed on Jesus. And nobody can take that away from us. We may be able to reject it, right? Which is a personal decision, but I don’t feel like there’s very many people, if any, that even would do that. But at the same point in time, you know what it’s paid for, it’s signed, sealed, and delivered by the blood of Jesus Christ. He goes on and says this, that we were sealed with the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchase, possession until the redemption of our body. Paul talks about that in Romans chapter eight, “Unto the praise of his glory.” Until we get our glorified, eternal, immortal body, we’ve been given the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is present resident on the inside of us. So we’re not, looking for the coming Holy Spirit today. We have received the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit lives on the inside of us as believers. Praise God. We’re looking for Jesus, right? Coming as the king, as Lord of lords and king of kings. Now, this changes when we understand we have a new position, we have a new possession, right? We have a brand new purpose in Christ Jesus. It completely changes how we pray.

Yeah and I love that the Holy Spirit is the guarantee of that inheritance. You know, if someone’s a guarantor, that means like it, like on a loan, if there’s a guarantor, that means if the payments aren’t made, the guarantor is gonna step in and make sure it’s right.

Amen.

So God himself has made his own spirit, the guarantor.

Right?

For our inheritance, for everything that we have in Him. It’s not us. We’re not the ones that guarantee it.

Amen.

His spirit’s the one that guarantees it.

Right, and you know, actually we mentioned Romans eight that’s talking about this, and Romans eight also says this, that we have the Holy Spirit. And when we don’t know how to pray, the Holy Spirit prays through us with groanings that cannot be uttered. When we can’t help ourselves. The Holy Spirit comes alongside of us, and he co-labors with us right, so that we can move into those things that God has for us. Now then Paul begins to move into this aspect of prayer. And he says, “Therefore, because of this, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love to all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers. So he begins to pray. And we’ve been talking about how Paul prays. Paul doesn’t pray from lack, he doesn’t pray from need, but Paul prays a sense of knowing who God is, who Christ is, what God’s called us to do, and what God’s invested in us in Christ so that we can accomplish what he called us to do. So Aaron, go ahead and read Ephesians 1:17-19.

So it says, “That the God of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints? And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his mighty power.”

So there’s three things I want you to really see in this. Number one, in verse 17, he says, I want you to be filled with the spirit of wisdom and revelation. I want you to have revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. In other words, don’t just know about him, but know him intimately and personally. Secondly, he says in verse 18, I want you to know what the hope of his calling. I want you to know what he has called you to do. And thirdly, he says this in verse 19, I want you to know the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe. So know him, know what he called you to do, and know his power that’s been given to us, that’s really been invested in us, in Christ, so that we can accomplish what he called us to do. So when you get to know him, then secondly, you begin to know what he’s called you to do. And thirdly, you begin to understand it’s his power. He’s empowered you to accomplish what he called you to do.

I think a lot of people, there’s a scripture that talks about people who have a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.

Right?

You know, God’s grace and his grace is what he gives us. And it’s not what we’ve earned or what we’ve deserved. It’s just by the blood of Jesus what’s given to us, right? But his grace, it frees us. It transforms us. We’re placed in Christ, but it also empowers us. And I think a lot of believers today leave out the power of God’s grace, the power of the gospel.

Amen, and so when we look at this, he said, “This power he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, all power, all might, all dominion. And every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in the world that is to come.” And it says, “And he put all things under his feet and gave him, Jesus, to be the head over all things to the church, who is his body, the fullness of Him who fulfills all things.” You see, the way that God works on the earth today is through the church. The church is the body of Christ. Jesus is the head, we are the body. So when we know him, know what he called us to do, and then begin to understand the power that was given to us, that was invested us in Christ, when God raised Jesus from the dead, we have all the power that we need to accomplish what God has called us to do in Christ.

What a great prayer. So that’s actually something you can do as a believer, is to write this prayer down, maybe on a note card. Keep it in your pocket and pray it. You know, I love that Mark Hankins mentioned this recently when I was at one of his meetings. He said when he was 17, this changed his life. You know, Kenneth Hankins said, you need to write this prayer down if Ephesians one, and pray it every day.

Amen.

Maybe multiple times a day for several months, for six months. Pray that prayer.

Wow.

And what an awesome prayer. You know, it’s not a prayer of lack. It’s not a prayer of defeat, not a prayer of, but it’s, man what a powerful prayer to pray.

Amen and where is Jesus? Jesus is seated at the right hand of God. His name is above every name. Listen, we’ve seen people healed of cancer. We’ve seen people healed of MS. We’ve seen people healed from heart disease, all kinds of things. And if you need prayer today, I want to invite you to give our team a call. We have trained prayer ministers ready to pray for you right now. So give us a call today. We’d love to hear from you.

Announcer When Jesus saved you, your destiny changed completely. He radically transformed us and brought us from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and from defeat to victory. Discover these life changing truths in Pastor Lawson’s eight part teaching, “Destined To Win” a $40 value yours free today. Download ’em now at charisChristianCenter.com.

Did you know God has good plans for you? I wanna encourage you to save the date for our Rejoice Women’s Conference. We’ll be meeting February 6th through the eighth. We’re gonna have Cathy Duplantis as one of our special speakers. My daughter-in-law, pastor Heather will be here. Pastor Lawson Purdue, bring your daughters, bring your granddaughters, bring your friends. Come hang out with us for a special time of worship and teaching how God has good plans for you. Everyone is welcome. See you there.

Friends, I want to thank you for being with us today. It’s our pleasure to share with you the word of God. We believe it changes lives, and because of that, we’re broadcasting all around the world. It costs me right now around $2 million a year just for my staff and paying for our broadcast costs. But if you wanna become a partner and help us share the message all around the world, we would love to hear from you today.

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