Set A Date To Celebrate – Part 3 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. We’re talking from my son Aaron’s message, “Set a Date to Celebrate.” We’re gonna be talking about don’t forget about the good things that God has given you. You know, sometimes people are complaining about what they have, and they’ve forgotten where God brought them from. So don’t get trapped in that trap, and keep rejoicing in what Jesus has done for you. Friends, it’s so good to have you here today. We’re talking about, “Set a Date to Celebrate.” And yesterday, Aaron was talking about how God has surprises for us, and he’s gonna give us some more good stuff today.

 

  Yeah, and because God is full of surprises, I think it’s important that we, as believers, always look ahead, keep looking ahead. And you know, it’s really important to be able to look into the realm of the Spirit, and to look ahead at what God’s doing in the realm of the Spirit. A lot of people don’t really understand God’s, you know, sense of time, you know, and also just various seasons. You know, some people might be in a great season, and God is doing something in the realm of the Spirit that’s gonna burst forth in the natural. But some people are just very blind to the realm of the Spirit. I’ve even seen people who think themselves to be very prophetic, very spiritual, who just like aren’t aware of what God’s doing in this current season. And you know, my son, he’s nine years old, but he goes to a school where there’s an elementary school attached to a middle school and a high school. And one time I was dropping him off, you know, extra early, and so we were there when the high schoolers were coming in, usually come earlier. So we were there when the high schoolers were coming into school. And it was in the middle of winter. In Colorado here, there’s always one week in the winter that’s just brutally cold, where it’s like zero degrees, a high of five degrees. It was that week, and I saw a couple high schoolers just wearing shorts, and short sleeves, and sandals. And I was just thinking, “Man, they just don’t even know what season they’re in.” They’re dressed like it’s summer, like they’re wishing for summer and they think, “Hey, if I just wear summer clothes, it’ll make it summer somehow.” But they’re just completely unaware of what season they’re in. They don’t even look like they know what’s going on. And I think, you know, there’s a lot of believers like that, they aren’t really aware of what God’s doing. They aren’t aware of the season that they’re in, and they aren’t really looking ahead. They’re kind of craving past seasons, or just things that really, you know, that they’re just very oblivious to what’s going on in the realm of the Spirit. And even as a young married man, you know, with children, I have a nine year old and two year old, I know other young married men who don’t really realize what season they’re in. You know, my, you know, when I was a bachelor, my day-to-day lifestyle was very different than it is now. You know, when I was single, when I first moved here to be a pastor, I was single for three or four years. But, you know, I would wake up at 8:30, I’d be at the office by nine. I’d, you know, work ’til four, come home, I’d lay on the, you know, the sheep rug in front of my fireplace, with my dog and read my Bible for half an hour, an hour. So I’d fall asleep, take a nap for an hour, get up at six, go to the gym, come home, eat at eight, I’d watch a movie, you know, be up ’til midnight or 1:00 a.m., and you know, sleep in ’til 8:30, and do it all over again. And, you know, my lifestyle now is not like that at all. I remember recently my wife and kids were gone, and I was home alone for like an hour, and it felt so strange, ’cause I don’t think I’ve had an hour at my house, you know, to myself like in years, and it just felt so strange. I didn’t know what to do with myself, but before that’s all I did. I just, you know, I was just on my own. And, but some people like that, they’re married, but they want, they like crave, you know, that-

 

  They’re still acting like-

 

  They’re still acting like that, or they’re very unaware and unappreciative of the season that they’re in. You know, there’s people who are single maybe, who are very unappreciative of maybe some of the pros of the season they’re in. And I was thinking about the Israelites, as they were coming out of Egypt, going towards the Promised Land, they were very oblivious to what God was doing, what season they were in. You know, they could only look on the surface. And sometimes when you’re looking back at a past season, you only remember, you know, the good things. You don’t remember any of the bad things. And there’s something about our memory that’s actually good. You know, sometimes we block out some bad memories, you know, like, you know, I was single for a while. I remember, you know, I really wanting to be married, really, but sometimes you block out those. You know, the Devil will do that sometimes too. You’re like, “Oh, don’t you just wish you were single again? You had all this freedom, all this free time. You could do whatever you wanted, and you could just sleep whenever you want, and nap whenever you want, and you’ll sleep the entire night without kids waking you up.” And you forget like some of the cons. And you know, the Israelites were forgetting a lot. You know, they weren’t that far into the wilderness, and they completely forgot what it was like in Egypt. They were just thinking, “Man, you know, our diet was so good there.” They actually talk about it, we can read about it. Once you read about it in numbers 11-

 

  Well, I wanna read, you got some other Scriptures here in numbers 11, but verse 1 it says, “When the people complained, it displeased the Lord.” You know, they weren’t looking at what they had.

 

  Really they could have been celebrating that God, you know, they saw the-

 

  Just delivered ’em.

 

  Yeah, and they were in bondage for 400 years. They couldn’t worship God. You know, the Pharaoh made them kill their baby sons, like what an oppressive, atrocious, ungodly, filthy, ludicrous place to live. God brought you out miraculously.

 

  And now you’re complaining.

 

  And now you’re complaining.

 

  Yeah, whenever you quit looking at what you have, and start looking at what you don’t have, or start looking at what you missed out on, you know, a lack mentality, that’s what happened in Genesis 3. Eve started looking at what she didn’t have. She was created, Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, “Male and female created he them.” And not only that, they were eating from the tree of life. They have this relationship with God. They were clothed with the glory of God. They were living in paradise, they had amazing things. But Satan came and sold her a bill of goods. And when you start complaining, and looking at what you don’t have, and you just stay there no matter what, you are not gonna have good things, that just doesn’t produce good. So God is not your problem.

 

  Yeah, and sometimes people come and complain, like, “Well, my last church did this,” or, “my last thing did this,” and you need to look at what God’s doing. Like look, like, open your eyes to what, you know, what God’s doing in the realm of Spirit, and be able to see, so you can keep reading there from Numbers 11.

 

  Okay, where do you want me, to what verses?

 

  I wanna do verses 4 through 6 especially.

 

  So it says: Then the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting, and the children of Israel wept again, and said, “Who will give us flesh to eat?” We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, the garlic. But now our soul is dried away, and there is nothing at all besides this manna before you.

 

  Yeah, and I’m gonna read this from the New King James, ’cause I like something that it kind of phrases here in the New King James. It says, “The mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving.”

 

  Yeah.

 

  So, like you said-

 

  That’s what lust is,

 

  Yeah, an intense craving.

 

  Is a very strong desire.

 

  So they weren’t even like lusting for, you know, fornication and adult, they were lusting for Egypt. They were lusting for slavery, lusting for their former lifestyle, they were lusting-

 

  Well, they forgot about the slavery, they forgot about the bad things. They forgot about the taskmaster.

 

  Yeah, and it was really, but they yielded to it. You know, you gotta be careful what you yield to, and what kind of, sometimes people think they’re being led by their spirit, but they’re really just being led by their intense cravings. They’re being led by just emotions, just being led by pride. I know a lot of people just, they’re just yielding to wanting a position, and wanting to feel important, and wanting to, rather than doing what God’s called them to do, be where God’s called them to be, they’re just yielding for things that don’t really matter at the end of the day. And it said, “They yielded to intense crave,” so they’re actually yielded to it. You can either yield to God, or you can yield to the Devil. You can yield to yourself. It said, “They yielded to intense craving,” said, “they wept again and said, ‘Who will give us meat to eat?'” Then it said, “We remember the fish.” You know, I wouldn’t even consider fish to be meat. You know, I wouldn’t wanna go back to Egypt just for fish. You know, we live here in Colorado, there’s not an ocean here, so we can’t get much good seafood here. You know, some of you live in places where there’s a lot of great seafood, but to me, fish really isn’t at the top of the food chain. You know, I like other meats much better than fish. You know, fish, I have a hard time even considering it to be meat, to be quite frank. It’s kinda like, it’s about on par with, you know, everything else listed here. It’s all vegetables, you know. They were yielding to just wanna eat cucumbers. Who would wanna go back to Egypt for cucumbers-

 

  Pickles,

 

  And melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic. And they just said, “Our whole being, our whole soul is dried up.” Well they were right, their soul really was dried up.

 

  Listen, complaining, they started by complaining. Complaining is taking you nowhere good fast. It’s not taking you anywhere good at all. It will take you in reverse. And if you’ve been complaining, I remember when you kids were kids, we had these “Gospel Bill” videos, and Willie George, you know, Gospel Bill. And we had one and we played it over and over, for you over and over, and it said, “You complain too much. You complain too much.” The children of Israel complained when they were in the Egypt. And you can see just a few chapters after this, their bones were strewn in the desert. And my wife’s mom, she was an awesome saint. Her name was Anne, Barbara’s mom, she told Barbara and her other children when she raised them, “If you complain, your bones are gonna be strewn in the desert.” So if you don’t wanna go in reverse, if you don’t want to have bad things, stop the complaining right now.

 

  And one way to do that is to look ahead, you know, to realize that God has good things in store ahead of you. And if some people don’t realize, again, what season they’re in, and what season is coming, they’re just kind of craving part of the thing. And you gotta be careful too about just kind of living in the past. And some people, like, they kind of submit to craving their past, you know, successes. And you know, I’ve had successful moments in my life, but God has moved me and called me to do different things. But some people get kind of just stuck in the, you know, with their past successes. And that’s kinda what happened to the Israelites, they were, you know, thinking about their diet, “Like it was a really great diet, We had this, you know, fish and salad, and onions every day.”

 

  That ain’t nothing like filet mignon.

 

  And, but part of the issue is too, they said, “We have nothing except this manna before.” They’re actually cursing God’s provision during that season. You know, so that season, that wilderness season that they were going through, it was a temporary season. It was a season going from point A to point B. It was like that, you know, connection, that bridge between A to B, you know, the house of bondage to the, you know, the house of freedom, the Promised Land. You know, they were going through the wilderness to get there. Sometimes you’re going through somewhere, you know, something, to get to something. So they kept looking back, and then while they were going on this bridge, on this wilderness journey, God still was taking care of them miraculously. You know, he was giving them manna, he was providing for them.

 

  Quail.

 

  But they were cursing God’s provision.

 

  Yeah, you know, they got manna and quail. Now I’ve eaten quail, I’ve never shot ’em, ’cause my dad liked ’em.

 

  I think quail’s better than fish.

 

  Quail’s amazing, it’s really good.

 

  Yeah, quail’s actually a delicacy. If go to a restaurant and order quail, it’s pretty expensive.

 

  It’s really, really nice. So my cousins would shoot ’em, so my dad didn’t let us shoot quail, ’cause he liked ’em. And we had a few covies around. But actually, it does ’em good, because they tend to inbreed and die out if they’re not hunted, and you know, different things. But quail is very, very good. Much better than any kind of fish I’ve ever eaten. I’m sorry, I’m from the country, and we’re a long ways from good, fresh fish.

 

  Yeah, I’ve been at some, you know, nice restaurants, and quail is kind of a delicacy. It’s very expensive. You know, they were just wanting their fish sticks, and, you know, cucumbers and celery, and just kind of like a little toddler diet or something. And you know, God was giving ’em something good, and he was taking them to a place that was gonna be a lot better. But then he didn’t get there, you know, except for just a few. But I think we’re gonna have to take a break here pretty quick, but you don’t wanna miss, you know, stay tuned, the rest of this is gonna be really good.

 

  Amen.

 

  And I believe that God has great things in store for you, so keep looking ahead. We’re gonna take a break, and we’ll be right back, stay tuned.

 

  Friends, I hope you’re enjoying the teaching today. This came from a message that my son Aaron taught on Sunday morning, “Set a Date to Celebrate.” I have heard so many compliments, so many people have told me how much this encouraged them, how much this helped them. So I want you to go to our website, and you can download either the audio or the video of that single message. I believe it will bless you.

 

  I had become a Christian, and a believer in college. There was so much I didn’t know. So got plugged in, got some good foundation, but I wanted more. The first time we’d come to this church, we just were so blown away with what we saw, people being healed, people, a woman in a wheelchair

 

  Linda.

 

  Stands up, and starts walking-

 

  Running!

 

  And she was in braces, and we’re going.

 

  Whoa.

 

  Friends, I’m so glad that you’re still with us. And Aaron was just talking about how the children of Israel had come out of Egypt, but they complained about God’s provision. And you don’t wanna be complaining, because it will take you in the wrong direction. The end will not be good. And so you need to look at what you have, and thank God for it.

 

  And part, you know, and what you have right now might not be permanent either. You know, but you can still thank God for what you have right now. And really, you know, covetousness, you know, we’re we’re told not to covet. It’s actually, you know, a sin scripturally to covet, and to covet is to want something else. And it’s okay to want something else, but to be unthankful for what you currently have. You know, it’s kinda that emotion of I really want that, but I’m unthankful for what I have. I’m mad that that person has it. I’m not rejoicing that God gave them that. And to covet that means to like be mad at the blessing on someone else’s life, and to curse, you know, the blessing that’s on your life. And so it’s okay to, you know, it’s okay, you know, I think the children of Israel going through the wilderness, it would’ve been okay for them to have a desire to eat steak or eat, you know, these giant grapes that they’re gonna get in the next season. But they, you know, they were just really complaining, cursing what God had given them,

 

  Yeah, you don’t wanna curse-

 

  This miraculous provision.

 

  God’s provision, you wanna look at what God’s given you. You know, your mom and I really left a nice place on the ranch, and your mom had studied horse training and management, and we had horses that we took care of for my grandfather, over 80 head of Arabians. And mom really loved that. And you know, we went to Bible school, and we lived in Mr. Gilmer’s house, on Gilmer Street, in Gilmer Park, where Mr. Gilmer lived with the Indian bride, back in the 1800s. This is in, you know, in Gilmer Park, Indiana, right south of South Bend, where Dr. Lester Sumrall had his church. It wasn’t that far from the church. But this was like a 600-square foot shack. It had like a, you know, one heater. It didn’t even have a fan on it in the middle of the house. It had a little bitty oven that wouldn’t light unless we lit it with the match. And wind would blow through in the winter, through the windows. It was cold, it did have a washer, it didn’t have a dryer. You were in diapers, and we’d hang your diapers out, you know, in the trees, and the ice would be on ’em. Sometimes we’d string a thing across this dinky living room, and you know, it could have been really, really negative. But, you know, that’s where God put us. And I worked for Dr. Lester Sumrall, went to Bible school, and then we moved, not to a big city, we moved to Kit Carson. It’s a, you know, a town of 300, and it’s not by a big town. It’s out in Cheyenne County, Eastern Colorado. And there it’s not, you know, there’s 2,200 people in Cheyenne County, the last I checked, in 2,400 square miles. So there was less than one person a square mile. And we lived in low income housing. But, you know, God, you know, that was our training place. That’s where God called us to be. And you know what, God blessed us and helped us there, because we didn’t look at what we didn’t have, we looked at what we had. And God helped us, but then we moved here, and when we started, it wasn’t a big start. There weren’t a lot of people, there wasn’t a lot of money. You know, it was rather difficult and challenging. But we thank God for what we had. And when you look at what you have, and not what you don’t have, then God can bring you into more. And now God has blessed us. You know, it’s a tremendous life. But I don’t think we would’ve ever been here if we hadn’t made the first step, right? And so the way God leaves you, it’s kinda like Joseph. You know, he got a dream from God, and then he became a slave, and then he went to prison. But then, you know, after he became a slave, and went to prison, well, he became a slave for Potiphar, then went to prison, but then he became the prime minister of Egypt. But after his dream, he had basically, you know, 13 years of pain and difficulty. And then leading Egypt, he had seven years of great prosperity there, but it wasn’t another two years ’til it came pass. So it took like 22 years after he had his dream before it came to pass. And he never blamed God, he never got mad at God. He saw the purpose of God, he didn’t blame his brothers. And you know what? We need to get out of the blame game, get out of the complaining game, get out of the problematic area, and we need to start rejoicing in what God has for us where we’re at.

 

  You know, I was kinda remembering when Jesus was talking to his disciples, they were asking him about, you know, what it’s gonna be like in the end times. And he said, “It’s gonna be like, you know, it’ll be as the days of Noah, it’ll be like the days of Sodom and Gomorrah.” And really, you know, if you look around, it doesn’t take a whole lot of, you know, eschatology to figure out we’re in the end times. You know, there’s a lot of junk going on in the world, it is very similar to the days of Noah, the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. And Jesus preached a very profound message in three words. He said, “Remember Lot’s wife.” You know, when the world looks like this, you need to remember Lot’s wife, and Jesus was talking about, you need to look ahead at what God’s gonna do. You need to be aware of the times, be aware of the seasons, be aware, yeah, this is a season of, you know, end times, you know. And also to when you look ahead, even when you read Revelation, it should excite you that Jesus is coming again.

 

  And so we should be excited, we should be looking ahead. You know, Lot’s wife, she was told not to look back. And I think she yielded to intense craving, just like the Israelites in Numbers 11. She yielded, she remembered her lifestyle in Sodom and Gomorrah, and was craving that lifestyle, craving, you know-

 

  Wickedness.

 

  Craving wickedness, probably craving, you know, her house party she threw with these ungodly people, and just, and you know, she turned to salt. You know, salt is, you know, I think just something in her, that craving, it just made her where God couldn’t save her, where God couldn’t deliver her, where God couldn’t-

 

  Well, God could’ve saved her, but she made a choice.

 

  To keep-

 

  To keep going. I wanna talk about something really quickly. I have seen believers that talk about the good old days, when they were drinking and partying, and living like the Devil, and living in lust, and that is not the good old days. There is not anything good about it, if you’ll be honest with yourself.

 

  If you’re craving that, you’ll-

 

  Like, oh, I don’t wanna go back, you know.

 

  You don’t wanna be turned into a salt lick.

 

  Hebrew 11 says if they would’ve thought, talking about Abraham, about the country they came out of, they coulda went back. And I don’t wanna go back. Man, there is nothing in me whatsoever that wants to go back. You know, I wanna keep going forward. You know, Dr. Sumrall actually lived on a corner of the property, where he actually owned most of the block. He bought this 20 acres, and had a church in the center of it. And then he bought the houses as they came for sale. And he lived right on the corner. But he actually put a garage door in the front of his house, there was a garage door when he bought it, but he had a garage door installed in the back, because he said, “I never wanna go backwards.” And he said, “I never,” so he could just drive in the back, and drive out the front, or drive in the front, and drive out the back, either way. And he could just, and it was the church property behind, so he could just, you know, he never had to go backwards. Praise God, and we don’t wanna go back.

 

  And one thing that helps people move forward, that’s helped me move forward, help I know you move forward, it’s like realizing you don’t have it all figured out.

 

  No.

 

  Some people think, “Man, I just have it all figured out. I don’t need to go to church anymore. I don’t need to, you know-“

 

  Listen, I haven’t even got today figured out.

 

  Yeah, and that’s actually-

 

  But God’s got it figured out.

 

  A mark of maturity. I love what Paul says in Philippians 3, maybe my dad could read this, Philippians 3:12-15.

 

  Yeah, you know, I was thinking about that when you were preaching, Paul talks about, you know, forgetting those things. I’ll go over there and read this, and in Philippians.

 

  Philippians 3:12-15.

 

  Yeah, I was thinking about it when you were preaching it. Philippians 3:12 says, “Not though I already attained, either already were perfect, but I follow after that I may apprehend that which I’ve been apprehended of Jesus.” What he’s saying is, “I’m trying to get ahold of what Jesus got ahold of me for.” And he goes on and says, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, or to have arrived, but this one thing I do, I forget those things which are behind.” Sometimes we gotta forget our past success. Sometimes we gotta forget our past failure. But he says, “I forget those things which are behind, and reach forth to those things which are before me. I press toward the mark for the high call of God in Christ Jesus.” We need to keep pressing, amen?

 

  And I love that, you know, this is actually a mark of maturity. You know, verse 15, Philippines 3:15, “Therefore let us as many as are mature, have this mind,” so having that mind that I can still learn, you know, I don’t have it all figured out yet, I can still grow, I can still move forward, God’s not done with me yet. God’s not done with the people around me yet either.

 

  Amen.

 

  Like, they’re still growing,

 

  Yeah, give ’em some grace.

 

  They’re still learning. That’s actually a mark of maturity. Now I found that people who kind lose that sense of maturity, they think they’re very, it’s kinda like a puffed up pride type thing, where, you know, they think they know more than everyone else around them. That’s actually gonna really hinder them from moving forward, and God wants you to move ahead, move forward, and I’ve seen people who have gotten puffed up in pride. And it’s actually very immature. They they stop growing.

 

  Yeah, you know.

 

  They stop moving ahead.

 

  We had a person here, and Andrew Wommack ordained him, and when Andrew Wommack, he gave him a word and said, “Beware of pride.” And you know, the Bible says, “Only by pride comes contention.” The Bible says, “Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” And you’ve gotta guard your attitude, and keep a humble attitude. And you know what? You need to have people that can speak into your life that know, and you’re not just telling ’em, “God said this,” but you’re really listening for their heart. You know, about 20 years ago, I went to Andrew Wommack and I said, “Andrew, anytime you wanna speak into my life, I want you to know I’m here, and I’m ready to listen.” And he said, “Lawson, I already know that.” And I said, “Well Andrew, how do you know that?” And he said, “I know that because of the attitude in which you conduct yourself.” You know, we need to guard our attitude, and we need to stay humble before God, and realize, “Hey, I don’t know it all.” And just like I said, I don’t even have it figured out for today sometimes. But I do know how to rely on the Holy Spirit.

 

  Awesome, well we’re really glad that you were able to join us today. If you’d like to connect more with our ministry here, you’re welcome to go to our website, charischristiancenter.com. We actually, thanks to our partners, we made all of our teaching, we have hundreds of hours of teachings on many different very important subjects, if you’d like to get these teachings, keep growing in the Word, keep growing with Jesus, you can go to our website, download these things for free. If you’d like to become a partner with us, we believe that you are sowing into good ground, that God will cause it to be given back to you, “Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.” If you’d like to partner, you can do that on our website, or also give us a call here. Thanks so much for joining us today.

 

  We’re just so glad that you’re here. And I wanna remind you, you should watch this message that Aaron taught. I got so many compliments on it. “Set a Date to Celebrate,” blessings.

 

  God is not mad at you. He’s not a joy stealer, he’s a joy giver. Now is the time to taste and see that the Lord is good. Because of Jesus, you have a reason to set a date to celebrate. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of the teaching, “Set a Date to Celebrate,” a $5 value, free of charge. Download it today at charischristiancenter.com.

 

  Friends, I’m Pastor Lawson Perdue, and I love church. And I’m excited about church. You know, Jesus said, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” And I wanna invite you to come to church, whether you’re in Colorado Springs, or wherever you are in the world, you can connect with us online, Sundays at 8:30, and 10:30 a.m., or you can just get on our website and watch us at charischristiancenter.com, blessings.

 

  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.”