Grace Life Part 5 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue

Grace Life Part 5 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue

The Grace Life Part 5 with Pastors Lawson and Aaron Perdue. In this episode of Grace For Today you’ll learn practical steps to walk into God’s plans and purposes for your life.

Grace Life Part 5 – Transcript

Friends, we’re gonna be talking today about finding the divine appointment for your life. Proverbs 18:16 says, “A man’s gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.” And we’re gonna talk about some very practical ways that you can find and fulfill God’s purpose and God’s plan for your life, so stay tuned. You don’t want to miss this broadcast blessing.

I am so glad that you’re here with us today. We’re sharing on the Grace Life, and we’re talking specifically today about moving into your divine appointment by faith. It takes faith to enter into what grace has provided for us. And you know, Paul said in Second Timothy chapter one, that God saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the world began. That is an amazing statement, that before the world began, God had a purpose and a plan for our life. He saw us, he handpicked us. You know, Jesus said this in John 15:16. He said, you haven’t chosen me, but I’ve chosen you, ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. And that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he would give it to you. And you know, it takes faith in the name of Jesus to move into the things that God has chosen for you, that God has planned for you. You can’t accomplish this in your own strength, in your own ability. And it’s good to know that. But before you can really move into the divine appointment for your life, you have to figure out what it is, praise God. And then it takes faith to move into the grace of God in your life. You know, my father and I used to say this a lot, if it was easy, everybody be doing it. And you know, not only there’s some things that you’re just not gonna do. If God doesn’t call you, if God doesn’t appoint you and anoint you, you can’t really accomplish things. It takes the grace of God. And I know when Mom and I started our first church in Kit Carson, we planted a church with a group of believers from Kit Carson, Colorado. It’s a very rural community. About 300 people live there. It’s in a county of about 2,000 or 2,200 that covers 2,400 square miles. And so I had this in my mind, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do this, you know, God blessed us and helped us and we did really well there. And we were there 13 years and then we moved here to Colorado Springs. And at the point, we’re talking here, we’ve been here, going on 22 years and it’s really amazing what God has done for us in 22 years. But when we moved to Colorado Springs and started after we’d been full-time pastors for over 13 years, I told Mom, “Listen baby, if Jesus don’t show up, we’re toast. It’s over, it’s done.” And I had this in my mind, John 15, verse five, without him, I can do nothing. Now, both scriptures, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, are focused on Christ. And without him I can do nothing. But I believe I was stronger the second, after being there and realizing, “Hey, without Jesus I can’t do this, man, I absolutely need him.” And so Paul makes that statement that God called us and then he begins to talk about, I’m appointed a preacher and an apostle, a teacher of the Gentiles. We don’t wanna miss our divine appointment. So how can we really begin to enter into that? Well, he makes a statement then in second Timothy chapter one, verse 12. And he says, for the things, these things, I suffer these things. Nevertheless, I’m not ashamed. He’s talking to Timothy, don’t be ashamed of the gospel, don’t be ashamed of me, his prisoners. God hasn’t given you a spirit of fear. Right? You keep moving into what God called you. Don’t let this attack that I’ve had on my life. He’s in prison for preaching the gospel dissuade you from preaching. But he says, nevertheless, I’m not ashamed for I know who I have believed in. And I am persuaded that he’s able to keep that which I’ve committed to him against that day. We’ve got to know him. We’ve got to know Jesus. It is Jesus who called us. It is Jesus who’s appointed us. It is Jesus who empowers us. It is Jesus who keeps us.

I like a scripture that you often quote from Job where it says He performs the things appointed for me. And many such things are with Him.

Job 23 verse 14, for he performs. In fact, it was hard for us to get outta Kit Carson in a way. And it took us a couple years of just praying and seeking God and getting real clarity. ‘Cause I don’t wanna just be doing my own thing. I wanna be doing what God wants me to do. I was in another place and a man was preaching about that scripture for he performs the things appointed for me in many such things are with him. And Job 23, verse 14. And I just started praying that scripture, the Lord performs. And in fact, it’s a great scripture to pray. I’ve prayed it a number of times when I’ve seen sometimes different people will try to keep you out of that, that you know, that God has for you and you just pray. He performs the things appointed me. I know I say this, I told the Lord, but I was in a certain situation where I knew that the Lord wanted be me to be involved in something, but there were certain people trying to keep me out of it and playing religious political games, so on and so forth. And so I just went home, prayed. Lord Jesus, you want me in the game? You put me in the game, you wanna take me out? Sit me on the bench, that’s fine. But I want what you want to be done. You are performing the thing that is appointed for me. And I saw God supernaturally work and just override what those people–

You let God take care. You didn’t start back biting and gossiping. Oh, that is a start.

Try to manipulate

Tragic. I see people do this.

Yeah.

I see people, I mean, you get somebody that’s got a lot of grace on their life and they’ve done really well, and they’ve moved into these things and it’s like they’re swarms of people around me. And it is.

It says, beware, unless you bite and devour one.

Oh, it’s just awful. And you know, the Bible says, he that sits in the heavens will laugh. He will have them in derision. And I literally see God just laughing about all these people that think they’re gonna go do this and get on the right side of somebody. And it’s not them. It’s God.

I like what Jesse Duplantis says.

I just choose to fly above Christian turbulence.

Amen. It’s awesome. I need to do that myself.

Yeah, you don’t have to turn around and fight in every little scuffle.

No, I’m not gonna get involved in it.

Yeah.

Listen, I’ve seen people, in fact, I see people trying to do things and move around, flip, you know, in,

That could be, that’s not just in, that could be taking place maybe

In your job,

In your neighborhood, in your job at the, at the PTA, politically, you don’t have to, you can just let God take care of things.

You can just pray and seek God and let God promote you. You know, Psalm 75 says, promotion does not come from the east or the west or the south, but promotion comes from the Lord. He lifts one up and sets one down. And you know, that was David. He didn’t say the north, you know why he didn’t say the north?

Because he, the

Temple was right on the north side of his house.

The tabernacle wasn’t it?

Yeah. The tabernacle. And so he knew that my power, my strength is in him. And we need to know that, that our power, our strength is in him. And so he has a divine appointment for our life. But it takes a relationship with him. He says, I know who I have believed in. I know him, I know him. And I’m persuaded that he’s able to keep that which I’ve committed to him against that day. Man, there’s things I know that God wants me to do. And I know he’s the one that, he puts me in certain.

Even in Paul’s life in ministry, he would go set up churches and other people would come in behind him and try to discredit Paul and discredit his doctrine in the things he was teaching to people, they would come and try to undo.

And I’m sure they fell flat on their face. I’ve seen that happen. People go and they don’t respect, right. The anointing on the person before them. We need to respect the anointing on the people before us that have went before us. Know them who labor among you and the Lord, and respect the anointing on their life and realize that, this great ministry they’ve built or whatever. It’s not by their great knowledge or their great power, their great, it’s by the grace of God on their life. But we need to recognize the grace of God on their life. And we also need to recognize their aspect of faith, you know, in that. And, you know, we need to see God’s hand in people and recognize what God does through the body of Christ.

And don’t get too caught up in yourself either. Like maybe you do have some clout or some influence or some position, but it’s not that difficult for God to move things around, move people around.

Nebuchadnezzar It’s a great example.

I mean, I’m really glad to be here at this ministry, but I know like God could use someone else,

Right.

So

Hey, I heard one of my good friends say this in the Bible school. He’s a great leader, pastored for years, and now he’s a leader in the Bible school. And he said, listen, if you fall over dead this week, somebody will be in your pulpit preaching next Sunday. You know? And that’s just how it is. You can be replaced and we need to, I don’t want to think about that a lot. But at the same point in time, we need to recognize that, other people can do this. And you know, we’re not in this principle,

God used the spirit of humility,

I guess if God used a donkey, he could use me. Paul goes on, he says, I’m appointed this preacher and teacher of the Gentiles of this apostle. He said, I know who I have believed in. I’m persuaded that he’s able to keep that, which I commit to him against it. He’s the one that’s bringing me into this. He’s the one who’s fulfilling this calling on my life. But then he makes some other statements, says, “If you’re gonna move into it, hold fast to the form of sound words, which you have heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.” It takes faith. Amen. It takes love. Praise God. Recognize these people that moved into these things, these people that accomplished these things. They were people of faith and they were also people of love.

Really to find your divine appointment, to find your divine purpose. That unique purpose that God has for you. I think probably the majority of believers don’t really know what that is, or.

Yeah, you walk in your relationship with God, he goes on, listen to what he says. This next verse answers some of that. He says, that good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Ghost, which is given to us. You know, the Bible says this in Jude verse 20, building up your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.

One thing that’s very tragic is when someone really, they are in the center of God’s will, and then they step out of it.

Right.

Or they just.

I’ve seen some people who they just, “Oh, God does it. I don’t believe God does this and has a specific calling for every person.” And they usually run outta gas.

Or maybe, maybe it’s a divine appointment like relational, really it takes relationship to accomplish what God has for you. And some people violate those relationships. Maybe it’s a marriage relationship or a pastoral relationship, or a relationship with someone in your field of business.

I seek to keep good, good long-term relationships.

Purpose. You find purpose oftentimes through relationship and God brings you into your purpose through relationships. So, I think here in America, we have a very individualistic culture and mindset. But that can sometimes be very dangerous. I know that’s a big difference between like being in a small town versus in a big city. And in a small town people are very relational.

Right. They hold you accountable.

Yeah.

Yeah. I was just,

If you screw up, everyone’s gonna know the whole town will. That’s right. In a day.

You might be saying something that you’re not, but everybody knows who you are because you’re life had broadcasted, we were in Kit Carson for 13 years. It’s a town of 300 or less than 300 people.

It’s one gas station, one

Bank, one little tiny grocery store. Now there’s one little tiny restaurant that has part-time hours and sometimes, I mean, and everybody knows, I recently went there and preached a funeral and we started ministering there over 30 years ago and 34 years ago. And those people knew when I talked about this person, they knew that person. They knew what I said was true. Right? They knew when I told these stories from their life of faith and of grace, different things, they knew that that was real. They knew me. They knew you, they knew your brothers.

I mean, that sounds like a big city. It’s, if you don’t wanna be accountable, you can find another church or find another school, find another job, find another house, find another.

And it’s not very healthy sometimes.

Yeah.

People just run off. Sometimes they run off from the grace that God has for ’em and they miss out on the blessing that God has for ’em. But there in Kit Carson, those people hold you accountable because if you say one thing and do another, everybody knows it. And it’s so obvious to me sometimes I see that happening. And that is not the way to be.

Your testimony. You know, the Bible talks about your name, how that’s more valuable than great treasures, great wealth. Just your name. So, how do we move into this thing? He says, keep good words, keep faith, keep praying in the Holy Ghost. And we’re gonna come back after this break and we’re gonna talk about some really practical ways that you can find the will of God, the calling of God on your life, and see the calling of God. And so you wanna stay tuned. We’ll be back in just a few seconds. Thanks so much for being with us today. Friends, I’m gonna be talking about in this series about how grace has revolutionized my life. And you want to get this because I’m telling you, it changed my home, changed my marriage, changed my children, changed my church, changed my business. Grace has changed about everything about me. And not in a negative way, in a super positive way. My wife Barbara says, “I’m not even like living with the same person” and not negatively, positively. She said, I don’t know how I would’ve went on if you would’ve continued on the way that you were going, but thank God, grace changed me. And do you know what? God is not a respecter of persons. He’s a respecter of faith. But I believe that the grace that’s changed me will change you as you believe the gospel. And I’ve got two things that we’re making available as a package during these teachings. One is my series. It’s a 10 part series on the grace life. It’s the most in depth that I’ve done. The other one is the Revelation of Grace with Andrew Wommack. Blessing. Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us and we’ve been talking about fulfilling the calling of God by the grace of God on our life. And we talked about, we’re called by His grace. We don’t wanna miss our divine appointment, but we’ve gotta live by faith to move into the grace of God on our life. The divine appointment, the divine purpose of our life. And I wanna talk about Aaron, some practical application in finding our calling. And I know you’ll have some great things to say about this. I believe one way that we find the calling of God is through Godly desire. What is the desire of our spirit? You know, the Bible says this in Job 32 verse 8. There is a spirit in man. The inspiration of the Almighty gives him understanding. And I think we need to learn to listen to the voice of our spirit. You often talk about how deep calls to deep, things of the Spirit, God speaking to your spirit, the spirit of God in the spirit of man. Proverbs says this, I think Proverbs 20,

[Aaron] Verse 4.

Well, Proverbs 20, 21, 27 says, the spirit of man is the candles. The lamp is the light of the Lord, lighting all the inward parts of the belly. You have a desire on the inside in your spirit.

Yeah. I love what Psalm 20 verse 4 says. It says, may he grant you according to your heart’s desire and fulfill all your purpose.

Amen.

So God, yeah, he’ll speak to you through that desire. Deep within your heart, deep within your spirit.

Amen. Praise God. You know, you wrote that scripture down. You had it before your eyes. For years and years.

So I believe that God can give you a verse to really just to stand on. I call it, I like to call it an anchor verse. This is just like a verse that’s just foundational in your heart, foundational in your spirit. And yeah, that, that was one of my anchor verses for several years. I wrote that verse down on a postcard and taped it to my flute case. So every time I practiced, I would see that. ‘Cause I knew that music was a part of my calling, a part of my thing that I’m appointed to do.

Ultimately, I believe you got a higher calling and God moved you into that as you focused on the word of God. It took you a while to find that. Sometimes we don’t just walk right into the will of God.

Well sometimes God, will train you in a different way. He’ll give you certain, you use different experiences.

I think God used all those things. One of my good friends who was on my board at the time that we invited you, because I talked to my mentors, I talked to my advisory board, I talked to my legal board, all these people, in the ministry before I even made a offer to you. And it wasn’t about money, but just Aaron, you could pray about this. And I gave you several months to make the decision because the person I had here in that position was not leaving for another year. And it was actually Pastor Max Cornell. And we helped him plan a church in Kansas City, Charis Church in the western part of Kansas City. He’s doing a fantastic job with that church. He is a great pastor. But you know, you prayed for several months and then God really spoke to you and put that in your heart.

Yeah. I think when you’re making a very big decision in life, it’s good to take time and really pray about it. I’d tell you another thing too. You know, you let God lead you through your desires. But also have a few people that you can talk to as well. A few close friends. You don’t have to, you don’t have to get everyone’s opinion, everyone’s word on every matter. You know, when I make a big decision, there’s just a few people that I love to speak into my life. Like a decision to go into ministry, a decision to choose a certain career path, maybe a decision to marry someone, make a decision to buy a certain house. I don’t just ask everyone for their opinion.

If you have a few people that you listen to.

Yes.

Right. A few key people. I know when mom and I made the decision to come to Colorado Springs, and Mom actually had been led this way for about two years, but it took me, I was a little longer to really hear God. But then when God spoke to me, we went, but Mom was actually preparing. But when we got that real direction to come here, I spoke with Andrew Wommack and Jamie. And Andrew and Jamie were some of the only people that really encouraged us as far as ministry leaders. Other people said, “Oh, it’s a really hard area. And, we know different people that teach our aspects of the gospel that have really been challenged there. It’s been difficult, it’s been problematic. But you know, there will be, you know, it’s not everyone, but there’s some key people that God has for your life. You know, there’s men I believe that God has appointed for our life and people that God has appointed for us to speak into our life. And it’s very important for us to stay connected to those divine connections. Those relationships that God has given us. So, you know, Psalm 37:4 says, Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. So you have a spiritual desire. Right? You also have godly counsel. Right? In the multitude of counselors, their safety, right. With good advice, make war. He that walks with wise men shall be wise, but a companion of fools will be destroyed. You know, all of these different things. Another area in–

Also don’t isolate yourself too. I just see so much self isolation. And there’s almost this like religious pride.

I’m gonna read, I’m gonna read this scripture. It’s so important. And I had a person actually stand on a platform and say that God had called certain individuals.

Kind of reminds me of what Elijah separation. I’m the only one. And God said, Hey, there’s.

No, there’s 7,000 more that have about their knee. And this is what Proverbs 18, I talked to this individual after this within a few days. And I said, listen, nobody can stand on the platform and say God has called us to separation. You know, we’re gonna be separate from the world.

He was talking about it. Yeah.

Isolating himself from the body. And that’s not, it says through desire, a man having separated himself. This is Proverbs 18:1. Seeks and inner medals with all wisdom. Read that. Proverbs 18:1. Read that in the new King James version, Aaron. I think people don’t need to make these same mistakes. I listen to Godly counsel and I have people around me that I pay attention to.

A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire. He rages against all wise judgment.

Right. So don’t isolate yourself. And you know what, in the multitude of counselors, there’s safety and you need to have some people with some fruit in their life. And I think everybody needs to have three or four really good friends, really good people that can speak into their life. And that’s not everyone. But you need to have, you know, a good three people that you can bounce things off that you can listen to, that you value what they, some people run around from counselor to counselor to counselor to counselor. Just trying to find one person that will agree with what they say.

Yeah.

And that’s not we, we don’t want people just to blow our horn because, you know, whatever, whatever. There’s a lot of reasons that happens. But, godly desire, godly counsel, gifts and abilities. Here’s something you’ve brought out. What are you good at? Do other people recognize that you have this gift? Do you like to do it? Do you enjoy it?

That’s huge. I know so many people who just go to school for a certain major or whatever, just because they’re gonna make a lot of money at it, but.

Poor reason,

Man, you can, you can work 12 hours a day doing something you hate and have all the money in the world and just be miserable.

What? That is terrible.

Yeah.

Life is too short to do that.

Well, that’s the way the world thinks. Really. Like, I work so hard. I’ve been, so I’m just gonna, I can’t wait till Friday, thank God it’s Friday now I’m gonna drink and be crazy

It’s stupid

‘Cause I’ve just been miserable all week long.

Aaron, I probably most of the time worked 60 hours a week. And you know, your kids are growing up. I mean, I worked a lot when you were growing up too, but I get up, I got up this morning at 2:00 AM and read 10 chapters of the Bible and prayed and was, I don’t think anything about it. I love to do this. I know God’s called me to do it. God’s appointed me. God’s anointed me. And when you have this desire and you’re doing something that God’s placed in your heart, you can succeed at it. Because it’s not like, you don’t dread it. I would hate to be a pastor if God didn’t call me. There’s people, there’s problems, there’s difficulties, there’s challenges, you know. But when you know God’s called you, when you know God’s anointed, you, when you know. I started out pastoring when I was 23. I had 80-year-old people that were filled with the Holy Ghost for twice as long as I was alive. And I gave them God the Council, how’d I do that? By the gift and the anointing of God. And so I wrote down some of these things. Another one could be this, gifts, a man’s gift makes room for him, brings him before great men. The last one that I wrote down was open doors. The Lord gave me the scripture before he brought us to Colorado Springs. But Revelation 3 verse 8, I have set before you an open door. And it’s like, you know what? God closed the doors. And when God closes the door, you need to know God closed it. Don’t try to kick it down. You walk into the doors that God opens and there are good things that will happen.

That’s a great, that’s a great word for someone maybe looking for a spouse too. Like if there’s a door that’s being closed or maybe that person isn’t really valuing you or seeing you for who you are, don’t try to force it.

Amen. That’s a great word. Well, thank you so much for being with us. I trust that you’ve really enjoyed the broadcast this week. You can go back, you can watch ’em all on our website. We literally have hundreds of hours of teaching on our website, CharisChristianCenter.com that are free of charge. You can download different things there. And we would love to have you visit the website. We’d love to have you come to to church if you’re in Colorado Springs. People receive miracles here all the time. And it’s our prayer that God would bless you and help you as you allow Jesus just to be first place in your life. And if you are not a partner, consider partnering with Charis Christian Center. I believe that you’ll be blessed in doing that. Thanks so much and God bless you today.

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