Steps to Victory – Part 4 Lawson and Barbara Perdue

  Praise the Lord. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. I have my wife Barbara, and we’re talking about who you are in Christ. We’re talking about what God did in Christ when He died and rose again, is what God wanted to do in every man. And when you begin to understand that, I’m telling you, your life is gonna be turned right side up. So stay tuned and be blessed. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us and so happy to have Barbara teaching with me this week. It’s been such a privilege and I thank you, Barbara, for making time to come and do this. And we’re talking this week, all this week, about what the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus has done for us. And when you understand it’s not only do we understand the facts of the death, burial and resurrection, but what has it done for us? And when you understand that it changes the way that you live your life. You know, Mark Hankins says this, I think it’s in his book, “Revolutionary revelation,” but he says that the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record the acts of Jesus when He walked on the earth and the physical things that He did and, like, His death, burial and resurrection. But the epistles carry the thoughts that Jesus took with Him to the throne. Praise God. And the Holy Spirit makes them Revelation. And so Paul actually received most of his understanding by Revelation. So we’re gonna be sharing on that. Barbara, you had this in your teaching Steps to Victory. But we’re gonna start in Romans chapter eight, and I’m gonna share really quickly, Romans 8:9 before we get into verse 11-16 where the heart of this is. But in Romans 8:9 it says, “You are not in the flesh or outside Christ, but in the Spirit, if so be the spirit of God dwells in you. If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His.” So spiritually speaking, you are either a child of God or you’re a child of the devil. There’s no in between. In your spirit, you either have Jesus living in you and you are righteous, you’re in right standing with God or you don’t. There’s no in between. Verse 10 says, “If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Then he says, and this is my favorite scripture-

 

  You touched on it briefly just yesterday.

 

  In all the world. It says this. “If the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall quick and shall bring life to your mortal body by His spirit that dwells in you.”

 

  That’s exciting

 

  Man, Jesus lives in us. And when you understand that, it transforms how we live our lives.

 

  Amen.

 

  Amen.

 

  And so I’m gonna go on and just read a few more verses through 16. Then you might have one more you wanna share, but it says, “Therefore,” this is verse 12. So Romans 8:12 tells us, “Therefore brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death your deeds of the body, you will live.” I like how verse 14 tells us, “For as many, or as led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear that you receive this spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba Father. The spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.” We have a DNA that tells us that we are the children of God, and we are heirs with Jesus.

 

  Amen. So you begin to look at this specifically in verse 14-17. The Spirit of Christ in us leads us into the things that we have as the children of God. And what are those? Number one, He says, if you’re led by the Spirit of God, then you’re the sons of God. So He leads us into this reality that we are the children of God right now. John writes in 1 John 3, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of God.” He says, “It does not appear what we shall be,” but He says, “We are presently the children of God.” Now we are the sons of God. And if everyone who has this understanding purifies himself, even as he’s pure, so the Spirit of Christ in me, which every born again believer has, everyone who’s received Jesus as their Lord and Savior has the Spirit of Christ in them, it leads us into the fact that we are the children of God. How do I know that I’m a child of God? By the Spirit of Christ in me. It bears witness with my spirit. Then He says in verse 15, “He leads us into freedom.”

 

  That’s awesome.

 

  Praise God. We are free to live, love, serve, give, we’re free. We can do what we wanna do, because the Spirit of Christ, I’m talking not about your physical flesh. I’m not talking about your outside man. I’m not talking about those things that are outside of Christ. I’m talking about your spiritual man. Christ in you. When you understand Christ is living in you and you get in tune with the Spirit of Christ in you, you can do what you wanna do, because the Spirit lives to please Jesus. I don’t wanna do anything that violates my personal relationship with Jesus. So I’m free. It’s not these religious rules that are leading me, but it’s through my relationship with God, through my knowledge of God, through my understanding of God. Hallelujah. Barbara, go ahead and share some things here.

 

  Yeah, that’s good. I’m gonna go ahead and read onto verse 17. And I love this, and I know you’re gonna wanna elaborate on this too, but it goes on again in verse 17, and it says, “If children then heirs, heirs of God and join heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified together.” That’s amazing.

 

  So the Spirit of Christ in me leads me into the knowledge of this fact that I am presently a child of God, and when I understand that, it changes how I live my life. Secondly, it leads me into the true freedom of the gospel. And when you understand Galatians, I’m free to live, I’m free to love, I’m free to serve. I’m free to give. It’s Christ in me living His life through me. He leads me into this understanding that I’m a child of God. But not only that, in verse 17, that we’re heirs of God. He leads me into the fact of my divine rights and privileges in Christ, right? My understanding of who I am and what I have. And we’ll talk about that, you know, as we move forward in this broadcast, and He says that we’re heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ. That means we’re equal heirs together with Jesus. Everything that Jesus had, we have. Talking about the spiritual realm.

 

  That’s powerful. But just what I have seen throughout this week as we’ve been ministering on Steps to Victory, which people can go to our website and listen to this in its entirety. There’s so many more scriptures. But it’s just been powerful. Each day, what I keep seeing in the scripture over and over is that this is free. This is free thanks to Jesus.

 

  Amen.

 

  We’ve been redeemed. The price has been paid. Alls we have to do is simply receive salvation, receive everything that Jesus has already done for us.

 

  And all you need to do to receive it is believe it. It’s not by our works, it’s by His grace and our faith. And He not only says that we’re heirs of God and joined heirs with Christ, so equal heirs together with Jesus. He says, if so be that we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together. What He’s actually talking about there, He’s actually saying if we identify with Christ on the cross, if we identify with His death, and this is what we’ve been talking about all week, then we can identify with His resurrection. Now a lot of people in the church have identified with His death. I died of His sin, I died of His way of living. But you don’t need to end there. Now you live to God and you let Jesus live His life through you. And it’s the gospel, the true gospel is about empowerment, and you begin to walk like you have authority. And that’s what Jesus talked about when He walked here on the earth.

 

  That’s right.

 

  You know, Jesus actually said, and you’ve got it in your notes, in John 14:12, “The same works that I do and greater works than these shall you do, because I go unto my Father.” That’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about what redemption made available to us. And whatever you ask in my name, when you understand this, you begin to use the power of attorney that’s given to you in the name of Jesus.

 

  That’s good. Why don’t you explain a little bit more what it means, power of attorney.

 

  Well, power of attorney means, like, I give you full right to use my name. So whatever is mine is yours. Cathy Duplantis was just recently here at the church teaching in our women’s conference, right, Rejoice. And she talked about the power of attorney, and she said, if Pastor Lawson, I’m the president of Charis Ministries, right? The senior pastor of Charis Christian Center. But if he gives me the power of attorney to use his name, I can take this building, this property, and I can sell it because he’s given me the power of attorney to use his name. And when you understand the power of attorney to use someone’s name… One time years ago when we pastored in Eastern Colorado at Kit Carson, I went to Finland on a mission trip in December, ’cause nobody wants to go to Finland in December. And I was buying cattle and I gave you the power of attorney to use my name, and you actually bought hundreds of thousands of dollars of cattle, signed the checks, put ’em in the mail, took care of the bill because you had the power of attorney.

 

  That’s right.

 

  To use my name. In fact, when we got married, hallelujah. You took my name. And so whatever is mine is yours. Whatever is yours is mine. I said, “With all my worldly goods, I do thee endow.” What a lot of people don’t realize, those marriage vows come out of principles in the scripture. We’re going to something called the marriage supper of the lamb, brothers and sisters. And we have the power of attorney to use the name of Jesus.

 

  Amen.

 

  And when you understand that it’ll change your life. You don’t have to be sick, poor and defeated by the devil, but you can live in the victory that Jesus won. All the promises of God in Him are yes, amen, to the glory of God by us. Hallelujah.

 

  You can tell the scriptures excite us. But there’s power in truth and understanding the truth. And you can’t help but get excited. And I think as more scriptures we share, we just keep getting more and more excited.

 

  Amen. We’re gonna come back, you know, in the last half of this broadcast and we’re gonna talk more about what Jesus did for us in His death, burial and resurrection. And listen, just like this transformed my life, I got a hold of this 45 years ago, and my life keeps getting better and better and better. It’ll transform yours, because God is no respect of persons. He’s only a respecter of faith and blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today, and I’ve been sharing with my wife Barbara, and you can’t get everything that we’re actually sharing about in these broadcasts, but you can go to our website, and you can receive the teaching we’re sharing about in Barbara’s teaching, Steps to Victory, and my teaching, Complete in Christ, plus hundreds of other teachings. Blessings.

 

  My foot surgery was five or six months ago, and it started hurting so bad. And then it was, like, I’ll pray with God. And I said, “Lord, I’m gonna pray for my foot to get better.” Well, He says like this, “Stop the pain pills.” I said, “Yes, Lord, I’m gonna stop.” And now I’m healed. And now I started walking and I’m really happy.

 

  Friends, I’m glad you stayed with us, and we’re sharing on what Jesus did for us in His death, burial and resurrection. You know, Paul said something in Colossians 1:27. He said before that, “I’m preaching the mystery that’s been hidden from ages and generations.” That is Christ in you, the hope of glory. When you understand what that means, the hope of glory, Christ in you, is the hope of the manifested presence, power and purpose of God in your life. And Paul said, this has been hidden. Amen. From ages and generations. Praise God. You know, I’m gonna teach a series here soon in the church, but I’m gonna talk about surrender. And if you knew how good life would be if you completely surrendered to the lordship and dominion of Jesus, if you would surrender those decisions to Jesus, if you knew how good life was on the other side, you’d never resist it for a minute.

 

  I know God’s been good to me and He has been so faithful, and we’ve been talking about Jesus, and how He’s made us alive and how we are heirs with Him. We’ve been talking about steps to victory, how Jesus has already paved the way for us to have a victorious life. It’s amazing what Jesus went through and what Jesus did walking to be crucified, carrying that heavy cross to be beaten.

 

  Amen.

 

  And we’re talking about how He was raised from the dead in three days, just as He said, and nothing could stop that from happening. And so this has been a very exciting week bringing these scriptures out, and I know you have a few more powerful things to share in this session today.

 

  Amen. You know, we were just in Romans chapter eight in the first half of the broadcast, and we were talking about verse 11-17, that we have the life of Christ in us. The Spirit leads us into that. We’re sons, we’re children of God, leads us into freedom in Christ, leads us into our divine rights and privileges in Christ. And also, if we identify with His death, then we identify with His resurrection. But now we’re gonna move into Colossians. We’re just gonna read three verses. I’m gonna have you, Barbara, read Colossians 1:12-14.

 

  I like this. It says, “Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us.” Boy, I like that.

 

  Amen.

 

  The word says, “He has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

 

  Amen.

 

  “He has delivered us from the power of darkness.” That is good news. And conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

 

  When you understand what Jesus has done, you can’t help but give thanks. You know, there’s so many Christians walking around. Oh, it’s so bad. I just don’t know why I’m gonna do. Everything’s… Listen. Start believing what God said about you in Christ. When you understand that Jesus Christ, the resurrected Lord of eternity has taken up residence on the inside of you, you just can’t help but get happy. Praise God.

 

  That’s right.

 

  Amen. You just can’t help but begin to rejoice. Hallelujah. So He says, “We give thanks to the Father who made us sufficient to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and life.” I love your translation, Barbara. It says He qualified us. One translation says it this way. He qualified us for God’s best blessing. You know, you’re qualified. If you’re born of God, if you’ve believed on Jesus, if you’ve received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are qualified for God’s best blessings. And it’s not about what you did. It’s about what Jesus did for you when He died and rose again. When you understand that, man, what a great life that we’ve been given in Christ.

 

  That’s awesome.

 

  Then it says this. Go ahead and read verse 13.

 

  It says, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed unto us the kingdom of the Son of His love.”

 

  So He delivered us from the dominion of Satan, from the authority, from the dominion, from the power of darkness and translated us. It’s like He picked us up and set us free. Hallelujah.

 

  You know, a lot of times people spend, a lot of times Christians, spend a lot of time talking about how the devil has so much power and he doesn’t. We already read in Colossians how he has been disarmed. He has no power over us, he has no power over Jesus. And I like what we’re bringing out. He has qualified us. You know, these are a lot of exciting scriptures that we’ve been sharing, but the devil does not have power over us.

 

  Amen. The only power the devil really has over the believer is deception. And it says He delivered us, He set us free from Satan’s dominion, from Satan’s power, and He translated us. It’s, like, we left the kingdom of darkness.

 

  That’s right.

 

  And we got translated into the kingdom of the Sons of God’s love. Man, He loves us. Oh, how He loves us, like the songwriter wrote.

 

  Right.

 

  Man, when you begin to understand that you can’t help but begin to live differently because we are free. You know, Jesus said this in John chapter eight, “If you continue in My word, you will become My disciples indeed, and you will know the truth.” Now listen to this, “And the truth will make you free.”

 

  I like that scripture,

 

  John 8:31-32. The truth will not set you, it’ll pick you up out of the darkness and it’ll bring you into the kingdom of the Sons of God’s love.

 

  Amen. You know, the Bible says, “My people perish for a lack of knowledge.”

 

  Amen. Then it says in verse 14, “In whom we have redemption, we have been purchased by His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” You know, we’ve been talking a lot, and we’re really sharing from two of our teaching, you’re teaching Steps to Victory, and my teaching Complete in Christ. And I also have a teaching on redemption. You know, on the website you can get these actually hundreds of hours of teach… We can’t share nearly everything even that Barbara taught in her series, let alone what I taught in my series. But we wanted to just take some time this week and talk about what the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus did for us. But I have teachings on both Complete in Christ, and I taught a class for years at Charis Bible College on in Christ realities. When God was working in Christ, He was working on us, and God did in Christ what He wanted to do in every man. That’s what we’re talking about right now. And I have this teaching on redemption, and you can get the audio and video downloadable teachings on our website, plus hundreds of others, absolutely free of charge. We got a brand new children’s curriculum. We got the first year up there. Now, soon we’re gonna have the second year. But the first year is who is God? Who is Christ, who is the Holy Spirit, and who are you? Exactly what we’re teaching. And man, we’re teaching the kids these things, and they’re beginning to walk in victory. You know, you don’t have to wait ’til you’re 45 before you start walking in victory. You can start walking in victory when you’re 8, 9, 10 years old. You start believing the gospel.

 

  Amen.

 

  Man. It’s amazing. And so He says, “We have redemption. We’ve been purchased by His blood.” And part of that redemption is forgiveness of sins.

 

  So we wanna make sure you know that whether you are a pastor, pastor in your church or you are parents or grandparents, our children’s curriculum is free of charge to whomever wants to download it free. You just go to our website and again, you can download that for free. And we’re so excited because people need to know that there is a God, that He loves you. He’s not mad. He loves you so much. He gave His best. He gave Jesus Christ who freely and willingly gave up His life for you, died on that cross, became a curse, took stripes on His back for healing. You know, honey, we gotta just take a little bit of time and share one or two miracles, because just this goes along with what we’re talking about, Jesus. Recently in one of our women’s conferences, we had this powerful testimony of two friends and one friend said, “I am taking you to the women’s conference at my church and you are going to be healed.” Her friend had told her that she had a very aggressive, I believe she said triple cancer, but a very aggressive breast cancer. And her friend said before they even showed up for this conference, she started telling her friend, “You’re going with me to these special meetings at my church and you are going to receive your healing.”

 

  Amen.

 

  And so they came back a year later, and they said that her friend had been to the doctor. So her friend came with her and her friend had been to the doctor and had been told that she is cancer free. And so we’ve had a lot of exciting testimonies of people who are experiencing what Jesus has already purchased for you.

 

  Amen. We have miracles like this all the time. Amen. And Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. And when you begin to understand what He did for you at the cross, it changes how you live your life.

 

  Amen.

 

  You know, I have one more set of scriptures that I wanted to share before we go off the air today, but there are in Ephesians chapter one, and this is a whole teaching in itself, verse 3-7.

 

  Awesome.

 

  But if you wanna read down through there, and then I’ll just comment on about seven things that God did for us in Christ.

 

  Okay, so again, this is Ephesians 1:3-7. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us. I have that underlined in my Bible. With every spiritual blessing. I have that underlined. In the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us, chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him to love.

 

  Wow.

 

  Heaven predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ Himself according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace by which he made us accepted in the beloved. In Him, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.

 

  Again, this is Ephesians 1:3-7. Number one, we’re blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Number two, we’re chosen. We’re chosen by God, the creator of the universe. Number three, we’re holy and we’re blameless. Colossians 1 says, He made us holy by His blood. Romans 8:1 says there’s no condemnation. So we’re blessed with every spiritual blessing, we’re chosen, we’re holy, we’re blameless. I like to say in verse number five, we’re predestined to succeed. Hallelujah. Isn’t that marvelous? He says, “We’re predestined to the adoption of children by Jesus according to the good pleasure of His will.” Then verse six says, “To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He made us accepted in the beloved.” We are accepted today by God. We’re accepted in the beloved. When you begin to understand what that means, it means God sees you in your full potential through the grace of God. And when you come to rest in the grace of God, He says accepted.

 

  Amen.

 

  He says approved. So it don’t matter what anybody else says. Finally He says this in verse seven, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, we are redeemed from every curse and we are forgiven for every sin.” Friends, if you need prayer, call us today, and I’ll be back at the end to pray for you. Blessings. Friends, the scripture says, “If you will continue in the word of God, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” If you go to our website at charischristiancenter.com, you can get all of our materials there on the website as you watch ’em, as you listen, absolutely free of charge. And we’ve done that just to be a blessing to you. And I believe that the word that has freed me will free you. Blessings.

 

  Jesus has already paved the road to victory for us. The Bible gives us clear direction on how to walk down this road and live a super victorious, abundant life. Now is the time to take the steps to victory. We’d like to bless you with the digital copy of Pastor Barbara’s three part teaching Steps to Victory and Pastor Lawson’s three part teaching Complete in Christ, a $27 value free charge. Download your copy today at charischristiancenter.com.

 

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

 

  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 PO Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on Grace for Today.