Power of Partnership – Part 5 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Welcome, friends of the broadcast. I am so glad that you’re here today. We’re actually talking about the power of partnership and we’re sharing today on the miracle of the loaves. I believe that God takes situations where many times we as His disciples feel like there’s not enough, and turns it around to where there’s more than enough. And I believe that God can do that for you. Stay tuned in blessings. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us today. We’ve been sharing all week on the power of partnership, and we’ve talked about a number of scriptures. We’ve talked about in Philippians chapter four, where Paul says, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus,” he’s actually talking to a group of givers. And he says, “It’s not really that I desire a gift,” in verse 17, “But I desire that fruit may abound to your account.” And we talked about how in Luke chapter five, when Jesus, you know, asked Peter to take his boat after Peter had fished all night and put Him out on the sea so He could teach. When Jesus got done teaching, He looked at Peter and said, “Launch out into the deep for a harvest.” And Peter’s like, “Lord, we have, we have toiled all night and caught nothing.” Man, they were done, they were tired, but he said, “Nevertheless, at your word.” And he said, “We’ll do this.” And they, Peter sowed a physical seed, Jesus, for a spiritual need for Jesus to minister to these multitudes. But then Peter received a net-breaking, boat-sinking load of fish, so many that he couldn’t contain them all.

 

  I love what happened in Peter’s life too. You know, he met a physical need of Jesus, which was just giving him a boat so he could go out on the water and preach to these multitudes, and that water helped with the amplification. Sometimes just partnering with a minister in a physical way just has a, you know, just a great impact, a great harvest, you know, not just financially, but spiritually as well. You know, years ago when we were building our first building, at the time, we were meeting at Andrew Wommack Ministries, and there’s a building right across the parking lot in Carter Springs that was available for sale. It was just two old warehouses that are kind of run down. But you knew that God kind of put on your heart to buy those and you did and renovated them to a church, but the problem was you needed a parking lot and there’s just a big mountain behind the church. And it was gonna be a huge expense to move that mountain.

 

  Yeah.

 

  And you preached about it, and there was a man who was just brand new to the church, who had an excavation company who you just said, “I’m believing God to move that mountain.”

 

  I prayed to, and I commanded, I went over on Saturday, and I prayed and I said, “God, I need a man to help me.” And Sunday I got up and, you know, I said, we need, it was like a thousand semi-loads of dirt and rock we had to move to make this parking lot. And Sunday I got up in the service on the first service, and I commanded that mountain to move in the name of Jesus. And this man had just come to our church, and he met me on the front steps and handed me his card. And he said, “Pastor, I’ll move that mountain for you.” Praise God, John Baldwin, Great brother in the Lord.

 

  Did he donate it?

 

  Well, he actually did it, but it was very reasonable what he did it for us, like $30 a load. It was amazing. And he was very efficient with his equipment. But then he sold his company later and gave me all the money back. But, you know, God saved John, God healed John of cancer, and later John had two sons. He actually played basketball for Missouri University years before, and he was married to a wife and he had two sons, and she took those sons and had all the records changed and ran off, and he never had relationship with them. And God restored those sons. They came and found him, and at the end of his life. So he was restored in his spirit, restored, you know, physically. God, you know, he had cancer and was about to die. And God blessed him financially. And when he sold his business, he gave all the money back. And he’s been a great blessing, and his family’s been a great blessing.

 

  And his wife still comes here, and his son and grandchildren.

 

  Yeah.

 

  And they’re just major, major partners.

 

  Yeah.

 

  Major givers. And man, whatever mountain you’re facing right now, just speak to the mountain.

 

  Yeah, command it to move.

 

  Have faith in God, command it to move. And man, I just thought of that story of John, ’cause he is just a great, great, great man of God, but I know he just ministered in a just very practical way, partnered with you as you were building the very first building for Charis Christian Center, helping us get that parking lot, which is required, you know?

 

  Yeah.

 

  With the city ordinances. You’re required to have so many parking spaces if you’re gonna have so much capacity.

 

  When we bought this building, Aaron, we had to haul off like probably at least 200 loads of debris. And John Baldwin and another man in this church, Bob and Ronnie Hosteller, him and his wife, they donated all the haul off. It was thousands and thousands of dollars worth of haul off that they donated and helped us. And praise God, you know, for partners, for friends that God gives you and helps you. And you know, you may be partner with us and I may not even know who you are and what you’ve done, but God knows. And man, God does not forget your labor of love. Maybe you’ve just, you know, God does not forget the seed that you’ve sowed. Praise God. You know, years ago, Mom and I were pastoring in Kit Carson and there was a minister that we knew, and he pastored a big church in a large city, and he was going on a trip, you know, to Hawaii. And Mom said, “I wanna sow a seed in that.” And so we sowed, you know, a seed, maybe it was $100 or $200 that we personally gave him to go on this trip to Hawaii. But later, you know, there was a man in our church and he said, “Listen, I want to pay for you and Barbara.” And he paid for us to have, it was a short trip, but a trip to Hawaii. And you know, it’s amazing what God will do when you sow seeds. Sometimes that comes back to you years later. Sometimes it comes back in a short time.

 

  And I wanna share something too right now, that Jesus is a provider. You know, I love looking at the miracles of Jesus, miracles of healings, miracles of salvation, miracles of, you know, raising the dead to life. But Jesus performed miracles of provision, and sometime in your life, you might need some sort of provision. Maybe it’s financial provision, maybe it’s for a house, maybe it’s for your kids, maybe it’s a relationship. But God is a provider. Jesus is a provider. That’s part of His redemptive nature-

 

  Amen.

 

  Is to provide, you know, the very first redemptive name of God is Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord shall provide.

 

  Amen.

 

  Which was revealed to Abraham. Abraham knew that God was a provider. He also knew that He was a supplier. He is El Shaddai, the God of more than enough.

 

  Amen.

 

  And Jesus was a provider. So in John six, we’re gonna look at the miracle of the loaves and fishes. It says, “After these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberius. Then a great multitude followed Him because they saw His signs, which He performed on those who were diseased. And Jesus went up on the mountain. And there He sat with His disciples. Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews was near. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes, and seeing a great multitude coming toward Him. He said to Philip. I think it’s really interesting that he speaks to Philip first. “Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?” And it says, He actually knew. Jesus knew what was gonna happen. He knew this wasn’t a big deal. Sometimes you think, “What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?” And Jesus already knows the answer.

 

  Yeah.

 

  Some of you might be facing a problem and you’re thinking, “What am I gonna do?” There’s no, you know, but Jesus has the answer. So verse six said, “He said this to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do. And Philip answered Him and said, ‘200 denarii worth of bread.'” So a denarii is a day’s wage. So he’s basically saying, like, 200 days of working.

 

  20 or $40,000, if you work for $200 a day, that’s like $40,000.

 

  Yeah, $40,000 is not sufficient. Philip kind of struggled with this in his mentality. You know, later on when Jesus is speaking at the last supper, Jesus is talking about the Father. “I’m going to the Father’s house, I’m gonna prepare a place for you.” And then Philip says, “Show us the Father, and that will suffice us.” He really, you know, kind of didn’t see things clearly. He didn’t see Jesus as a provider, that He is all sufficient. Jesus is all sufficient. He’s just said, “Hey, even if we had $40,000, that wouldn’t be sufficient. That every one of them would have just a little.”

 

  There’s 5,000 men plus women and children. Most Bible scholars, when you read, it’s actually in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, this instance, but it says plus women and children. Most Bible scholars believe there were at least 20,000 people there. That’s just like two bucks a person. So that’s consistent with buying food for people. If you can get it for two bucks a person and feed ’em today, you’re doing pretty good.

 

  So he was testing him, and Philip kind of failed the test. Verse eight, another disciple piped up and did a little bit better with this test. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. I have two younger brothers. I have a brother named Andrew and a brother named Peter.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  So Andrew piped up and said to Him, “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish.” So if he would’ve just stopped right there, he would’ve been okay, ’cause he was looking at what they had. But he said, but what are the, he put his but in the wrong place. You say, “But God.” But he actually spoke some unbelief. He said, “But what are they among so many?” He was looking at the lack rather than looking at the provider.

 

  Yeah.

 

  And Jesus just kind of moves on, ’cause everyone’s just failing the test here, and he just gives ’em the answer. He makes ’em all sit down, and this is just so awesome. It says they sat down in number about 5,000, and Jesus took the loaves, and it says, “When He had given thanks.” Notice He didn’t say, “This is so lacking, this is not enough.” He took what He had in His hands, and He gave thanks for it. You know, look at what God has given you. Thank God for what He’s done in your life. The enemy wants you to focus on lack. A lack mentality will kill you. A lack mentality is not, it is not a grace mentality. It’s not a godly mentality. We need to have an abundance mentality, a thankful mentality. That is a faith mentality. So He blessed it, He gave thanks for it, and then as He distributed them to His disciples, and the disciples to those who were sitting down. And notice this is blessing of provision. It’s coming from the top down to the bottom.

 

  Right.

 

  I love going to this church because I know that our, and this ministry, ’cause I know that my dad, he’s the head of this ministry. He has a blessed mentality. He has an abundance mentality. He has a thankful mentality, and that trickles down.

 

  Amen. Praise God. You know, Psalm 1:33 talks about there’s an anointing, and it comes down from the head like Aaron, it went down his beard and it went down to his garments. And he said, where this anointing flows, he said, “There the Lord commands his blessing, even life forevermore.” And I believe there’s a commanded blessing actually on this ministry, and I’ve received the results of that. But I believe that people who connect with this ministry in giving and receiving receive the results of it too, if they’ll believe God. Anyway, we’re gonna take a short break, but we’re gonna come after this break and we’re gonna continue sharing from this miracle of the loaves and see how you can see increase in your life blessings. Friends, thank you so much for watching today. We appreciate your participation with us in the gospel. Our special offer this week to everyone who becomes a new partner within the United States of America, we will mail you my book, “Provision, Releasing Supernatural Increase in Your Life,” absolutely free of charge. Blessings. And when Barbara and I are in a tight spot, we don’t call 10 or 15 or 20 or 30 people and say, “Would you pray for us?” We don’t do that. Do you know what we call? We call one or two good friends. People of faith are people who know God, and we get them to agree with us and believe God with us. It’s not because you pray many prayers, it’s because you pray in faith. Friends, we’ve been sharing from John chapter six, we’ve been talking about the miracle of the loaves. And actually this miracle, where Jesus takes the five little barley, you know, kind of what we would understand is maybe a bun and two small fish, a little boy’s lunch. And Jesus multitudes it, multiplies it, and feeds 5,000 men plus women and children. It’s recorded in all four gospels. And one thing, you know, after they said, you know, how’s this a among so many, Aaron, where you were reading in John 6:9. Verse 10 says, “Jesus said, make the men sit down. There was much grass in the place. So the men sat down in number about 5,000.” So 5,000 men plus women and children. Most Bible scholars believe this is about 20,000 people. And actually I believe it’s in Mark chapter six, where the scripture said they had them sit down in ranks of 50 and 100. So that’s how they could probably easily count. One thing to operate in blessing and consistent blessing is to get order operating in your life. And so Jesus brought order to a situation that might have been a little wild at the time, but then Aaron, you can go ahead and just continue reading here wherever you want to, verse 10 or 11.

 

  Yeah, so in 11, you know, Jesus takes these loves and the fish and it said, “He had given thanks,” which is just so powerful, man. And also when you really understand partnership and just dedicating your finances, dedicating your provisions to God.

 

  Amen.

 

  Man, when you place it in the hands of Jesus, when you say, “God, here’s my life. Here’s my possessions, here’s my talent, here’s my just everything. I’m gonna place it in your hands.” Man, when you place what you possess in the hands of Jesus, there is great blessing that occurs. So He blessed it. He gives thanks. He distributes them to His disciples and disciples to those sitting down. “Likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.”

 

  Yeah.

 

  So there was no lack. Everyone got to eat as much as they wanted.

 

  You know, the other gospels say in some places they ate till they were filled. Man, you get 20,000 people that just ate till they were filled.

 

  A lot of people are like, “Well, God will only provide for you if it’s a need, not these wants. Is it a need or is it a want?” And that’s actually kind of a lack mentality type statement.

 

  It’s unscriptural.

 

  It’s unscriptural, as much as they wanted.

 

  The scripture says in Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” Psalm 34:10. It said, “The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who trust the Lord shall not want, shall not lack any good thing.” The scripture we’ve been quoting all weekend, in Philippians 4:19, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His reaches in glory.” Man, when you read the end of the book and read about heaven, it is not a poor place. I’m telling you, some people are gonna struggle with heaven. Man, they’re gonna have to have a major mind renewal.

 

  Yeah, I wanna talk about something too. The world, and really, the enemy tries to push a lack mentality, and a lack mentality will stop you from giving. It’ll stop you from growing. It’ll stop you from multiplying. A lack mentality is actually a deadly thing. I have this story I like to share about a lack mentality and how it actually kill you. You know, before I was married, it’s just me and my dog, Winston. I have a Scottish terrier. I’ve had him about eight years now. But when I first got him, it was just me and him. And he had an abundance mentality. If I fed him, he would just eat, kind of graze, and just, you know, there’s more than enough. I have no nothing to worry about. But when I got married, my wife, she had a little dog. And when he came into the picture, my dog, Winston, his eating habits shifted. He would just try to scarf down his food and try to take the other’s dog food because there’s competitor here, and you know, there’s overpopulation here in the house, and if I don’t eat, I’m gonna starve and I’m gonna die. And that’s this type of mentality that the world really pushes this lack mentality. This, man, if there’s someone else here, then, you know, there’s not gonna be enough. And you know, Winston, his whole behavior shifted. A lack mentality will shift your behavior. He started eating, you know, chewing on toys. If the other dog took a toy, he’d try to take it. And, you know, Winston became very sick at one point. He couldn’t eat. He was throwing up. And then we took him to the vet and it took a little while to figure out what had happened. But what had happened was he actually took one of the other dog’s rubber toys and ate a foot off of it. It was like this rubber squeaky rhinoceros. And he ate a foot off of it, and it got stuck in his intestines. And thankfully we have a good vet that goes to our church and he did an exploratory surgery, ’cause he kinda had a hunch that there was something, you know, blocking his digestive tract, and it almost killed Winston. And it was because he had a lack mentality. But man, an abundance mentality will actually help you grow. It’ll help you live longer. It’ll help you be blessed and do what God has called you to do. But the world really pushes a lack mentality, and a lack mentality is dangerous because it stops you from giving, it stops you from sowing. You know, recently, I saw this article that had come out several years ago. It was from a presidential race several years ago, but the DNC, the Democratic National Party, decided to post all their front runners’, you know, financial, like tax records. And they all agreed to it. But I saw, this was years ago when Obama first ran, but Joe Biden was running, and I looked at his giving and he had given like less than 1/10 of a percent, you know, into non-profits. And I just thought that’s really pathetic, that someone says they wanna change the world, but they don’t even, they give less than-

 

  That’s terrible.

 

  Man, you need to put your money where your mouth is, you know?

 

  You know, they wanna give other people’s money away, but they don’t want to share their own.

 

  Yeah, true generosity isn’t giving away other people’s money.

 

  Yeah.

 

  True generosity is giving what you have. And man, Jesus, I mean, we just see this, and he’s trying to get people to break free from a lack of mentality big time. So they ate as much as they wanted. Verse 12, I love what happens here. It says, “So when they were filled, they were filled.”

 

  Yeah, hallelujah.

 

  They were filled. “He said to His disciples, gather up the fragments that remain so that nothing is lost. Therefore, they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten.”

 

  Let’s stop right there for a minute. You know, the Bible actually says that if you have a faithful man, you know that he is diligent with that which he takes in hunting, so on and so forth. So, you know, it’s not a sin to be a manager. It’s not a lack mentality to manage well what God’s given you. And while we believe for abundance, at the same time, I believe that we should be good managers of what God gives us. And it would’ve been easy for the disciples to look at this after Jesus took, you know, this little boy’s lunch, you know, maybe five barley rolls and two small fish and multiplied ’em and fed, you know, these 5,000 men plus women and children, like I said, probably about 20,000 people, just to say, “Well, what’s that matter?” Just, you know, there’s always gonna be an, but no, what’d they do? They took that. Jesus said, “Gather it up. Don’t let anything be lost.” You know, there’s a old saying that we used to have, waste not, want not. And I believe that if we manage well what God’s given us, then that leads to us having more, ultimately. And if you study Proverbs, it kind of fills that out. So, you know, they gathered this up and you know, it said it remained over and above. There was not only enough, there was more than enough. Just like God who’s more than enough.

 

  Man, just one thing I wanna say too about our ministry here is we are not wasteful. You know, my dad is very diligent. I remember, you know, just every dollar that comes in, we try to be good stewards of it and try not to waste anything. And this is probably one of the most tightly managed ministries.

 

  Well, I don’t want to say that we’re tight, but we manage well what we’ve-

 

  And we’re not wasteful.

 

  And we pay attention. You know, you’re not too poor to pay attention. We used to say that. And you know, but I was trained by my grandmother who went through the 1930s, you know, the Great Depression. And listen, when I grew up on the farm, we didn’t just go to town and buy something, we went out and looked in the grain rear. We had piles of stuff out behind the groves, and we’d go dig through those piles and see if we could find something that we could use. And many times I had people saying, “Well, we need this and we need that.” And I’m like, “Well, look at what we have.” Let’s see if we have something first before we just go make this, you know, expenditure. And actually with where we’re at, I’ve had to change my mentality, because where we’re at in ministry, it actually costs us hundreds of thousands of dollars to operate. And it just takes money to do what we do and reach the lost and preach the gospel-

 

  But if you’re faithful over that which is little, you’ll be ruler over much.

 

  Amen.

 

  Amen.

 

  But I was trained, my mentor in Kit Carson, one of my financial mentors that’s went on to be with the Lord, he told me one time, he said, “Lawson.” He had a eighth grade education, ended up, you know, going home to be with the Lord, having a net worth of right about $10 million. And he said to me one time, he said, “Lawson, I want you to see how many days you can go without spending any money.” And he said, “I mean, I want you to see how many days you can go and not spend 10 cents.” And we used to go to eat with him at lunch and he’d take us on most Sundays out to lunch and we’d drink water. I still drink water. And he’d say, “Water’s to drink and pop’s to sell.” Now we’d buy pop by the case when it’s on sale. We get good deals, I stack it up in my basement, give it to all the grandkids and share it. But most of the time, when your mother and I go out, we got plenty of money, we’ll still drink water. Once in a while we share a meal. And you know, she likes to go to some of these nicer restaurants. And I say, “Well, why don’t we share a meal?” And then I feel good about it and she feels good about it. ’cause she likes to go to a nice place and she doesn’t eat that much. And I feel good about it ’cause I didn’t have to spend too much. But God meets all of our needs when we trust Him.

 

  Amen.

 

  Now, I have a question for you, Aaron. Who do you think got the 12 baskets?

 

  I don’t know.

 

  Well, I think it was probably the little boy. And more than likely, this is just the principle of God. When you give something to the Lord, you don’t come back shortchanged. More than likely, I mean, he probably comes home, and the disciples are carrying these 12 baskets of food and they bring him to his mama. His mama said, “Where you been today?” “I’ve been with Jesus.” She’s like, “Go back and be with Jesus some more.” Praise God. You know what? The Lord is not gonna leave you short when you give to Him. Praise God. So it says, “Therefore they gathered them together and filled the 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above than the eaten. And when the men saw the miracle that Jesus did, they said, ‘This is a truth that a prophet should come into the world.'” And so this was actually a miracle of increase. You know, I believe that God wants to not only lead us in blessings. I believe that God wants to do miracles of supernatural increase in our life.

 

  And God is such a provider. Jesus is a provider. And when He provides, it’s always more than enough. He’s not lacking in whatever need you have in your life. And just keep trusting Him. Keep thanking Him for what He’s given you, and keep giving too. As you keep giving, don’t tap out of giving and receiving. Keep being consistent with your giving.

 

  Amen.

 

  And God will always take care of you.

 

  Amen. Well, I believe, just like Aaron said, the scripture that Jesus said, “Give and it shall be given to you. Good measure, press down, shaken together, and running over shall man give unto your bosom.” Thank you and bless you.

 

  On today’s program, pastor Lawson and Aaron talked about the blessing that gets released towards you when you partner with spreading the gospel. We invite you to join us as we share this message of grace, faith, and righteousness with countless others by becoming a regular monthly partner with “Grace for Today.” When you do so, we will send you a copy of Pastor Lawson’s book entitled “Provision” free of charge. To become a monthly partner, go to our website charischristiancenter.com, and click on the Give icon at the top of the screen. Once you’re there, click on the Give button, then choose what level of partnership you’d like. Then select whether or not you’d like your copy of “Provision.” You can also start your partnership by calling us at 719-418-4000. We are receiving an overwhelming number of calls at times, so if the phones are busy, please leave a message and we’ll call you back as soon as possible. We wanna say thank you for your generous gifts and we look forward to hearing from you today.

 

  Friend, I don’t wanna leave this broadcast without giving you the opportunity to pray with me and surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Pray right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that Jesus died for my sins and you raised Him from the dead and made Him Lord on the third day, and right now I surrender my life to you, in the name of Jesus, Amen.

 

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