The Holy Spirit Part 1 – Lawson Perdue and Bobby Crow

The Holy Spirit Part 1 – Lawson Perdue and Bobby Crow

The Holy Spirit Part 1 from Pastor Lawson & Pastor Bobby Crow. In the first part of this series on Grace For Today, learn how to be led of the Holy Spirit and hear His voice.

The Holy Spirit Part 1 Transcript

Friends, I’m so glad that you are with us today. I have my good friend, Pastor Bobby Crow from Victoria, Mexico with me. He’s been in the full-time ministry nearly 60 years, has a world of experience, and he’s really raised up young men and women and seen them go all over Mexico and even all over the world preaching the gospel. And we’re gonna be talking about how to be led by the Holy Spirit and hear God’s voice. You don’t want to miss today’s broadcast. Blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today. I’ve got my good friend Bobby Crow here from Victoria, Mexico. He’s been a pastor down there for years and years and years, and raised up people all over Mexico, really, all over the world, taking the gospel of Jesus. And I just appreciate you. I don’t know how many years you’ve been coming to my church.

I don’t know. It’s quite a few years.

Maybe the last 15 years or so.

Probably.

I heard you speaking at Andrew Wommack’s and just really loved you. Praise God.

Thank you, I appreciate that.

And then you had me come down to Mexico and speak in your church.

You gotta come back soon.

Years and years ago. We’ll figure that out. We gotta get it set up. Last time you asked me, I would’ve come, but I was already scheduled to go somewhere else, and I didn’t wanna upset the calendar.

I understand.

But anyway, went down there and spoke on a Thursday night and took another good friend from the church. And then I came back a few years ago, and it was supernatural. You invited me to come, and I didn’t even know what was gonna happen. We’re talking about the Holy Spirit, but this is one of those Holy Spirit encounters. And it was in September, you were gonna be coming about the 1st of October or the end of September, and speaking for me about three weeks before you came.

[Bobby] Yeah.

The Holy Spirit said, in my spirit, he said, “If Bobby Crow invites you to go to Mexico, you go.” Now, you’d invited me a few times.

[Bobby] Yeah.

I had only went one time, but you didn’t invite me every time, but the Holy Spirit knew what was gonna happen. And so when you were here, you said, “Hey, I want you to come down and hold healing meetings for me on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.” I said, “Okay, I’m coming, because the Lord had already told me.” Well, little did I know, this was in September, but in January, my youth director at the church here stepped down, just a sudden resignation. And then I was coming in February, so I came to see you in February. And when I came to minister for you, Javier Macias.

Yeah.

Who was assisting you. He grew up in your church and had come here to Charis Bible College for three years. And had been in my church during those three years and volunteering. He was in every meeting. And I just thought, “Boy, Javier’s nice.” And while we were out one night, we had a friend with us and he asked Javier a question about something that I’d asked him. And Javier answered that question so perfectly. I thought he remembers exactly what I said. So I didn’t say anything to Javier while I was there, but I came back. And when I came back, my son Aaron, who pastors here with me, I said, “Aaron, Javier was in every meeting. And he just really responded well. He answered this question so well.” And Aaron’s like, “Daddy, he is your youth pastor.” And he said, “You said you wanted somebody that connects with youth.” Aaron said he’s very evangelistic, and we really need somebody on our team that balance out our team that’s evangelistic. He is our new youth pastor. And he said he’s engaged to Alicia Clingen from up in Seattle. And she was at her church working, and you know they obeyed you. The Bible says to obey those who have the rule over you, but Javier was in Mexico. He was in his home church for a year after he left Bible school. She was in her home church for a little over a year. But they were planning on getting married. So on and so forth. But you said, “Don’t get married yet.” And anyway, when I came down, then I called you. And I said-

Yeah, you did.

“Bobby, I think maybe God’s calling Javier to come and help us do the youth.” You said, “Well, that might be happening. Let me talk to Javier and call you back.”

Yeah.

And you called me back in a couple hours. You said, “That is God.” And so you said, “Go ahead and call Javier.” And I called Javier and he came and then the pandemic hit.

Yeah.

He came for two weeks for an interview and to do some things here, and then was gonna go back to Mexico. But because of the pandemic, he couldn’t go back to Mexico. And Alicia came, and we were gonna hire her later, but something happened with my staff, and so we needed her. So I called her up and said, “Hey, can you come to work April 1st?” And she came to work first as a secretary, and Javier had to come here and get his green card and all that. But they’ve done a wonderful job with our youth. They expect Javier this year to be in front of over 2000 youth in our city and some of the outreaches that we’re doing in the schools.

Wow.

So on and so forth. And a lot of these places he goes, 50% of these students will give their lives to Christ.

Amazing.

We’re reaching our city.

Yeah.

We thank God for godly relationships and how God puts us together with different people. But the Holy Spirit knew before I did. And he told me, “Hey, if Bobby asked you to come, you come.” The Holy Spirit knew what was gonna happen. I came, and then God set that up. We had wonderful meetings there. Lot of people healed.

Very good.

Lot of people ministered to. And then Javier ended up coming here and being our youth pastor. And his fiance Alicia, they got married, and they’re doing a great job taking care of our youth and helping us reach this city with the gospel of Jesus. But thank God for the Holy Spirit.

Yeah, amen. One of the things lost, and I wanna just comment to you in that you call and ask me for permission to talk to Javier. See, that’s what it should always be. I’ve seen pastors see somebody at another church and just go and contact the person and never talk to the pastor. But what you did was a right thing, and I really appreciate that. And it worked out for the best. And so Javier’s a super nice guy. He’s a little calm. He doesn’t know what calm means, but he and his wife both are super nice people, and I’m glad that they’re here with you. And I understand that they’re doing a super, super good job with the youth, and he has an anointing on his life, which is really good.

During the year of the pandemic, most churches were closed down.

Oh, yeah.

And we were the last big church in Colorado Springs to close down, the first one to open up. And it was a while before we opened youth, but we had over 60 kids born again, youth born again during that year. Andrew Wammock had a youth conference going and they canceled them the day before because the health department was fighting them. And so we moved it over here. They called me and asked me last minute. And during that youth conference, we had kids delivered from alcohol saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, set free. Of course, I got attacked by the Health Department, but that gave me some free advertisement.

Yeah.

And God’s helped us and helped us move forward. But Javier’s very evangelistic. Alicia, his wife, on the other hand, is very pastoral. And she does a great job just taking care of the people. We can just see that gift in her, and they work together well. God, a lot of times, puts opposites together. And he knows our gifts and our callings, but thank God for our relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Yeah. Well, God has a plan for every one of us. We may not all understand what it is or when it is, but in time, it all comes and falls into place. And just like with Javier coming here and working, I believe it was God, it was God’s timing. And we had finished three years of school here at Charis and Bible College. And he came back home and he was there in a church. And so he was praying as to what was the next step for his life. And then you showed up. And that brought the next step for his life. And I thank God for Javier, and I thank God for you that you heard from God and you knew that this was the next guy to handle the youth for you. That’s really good.

I like what you said about how I ask you. I’ve had people hire staff from me. And they haven’t ever talked to me.

Yeah, you see, that’s what’s-

And I’ve had people actually try to hire Javier. And when he first came, they were trying to get, I said, “No, you could stay here.” But then by the next year, some different people want him. I said, “You can go.” And so they called Javier and he said, “Well, you have to talk to my pastor.” So they called me. I called him right back, I said he could come. And then when they were there, they were saying, he said, “I’m very happy where I’m at. God’s put me where I’m at.” That just helps when we all work together.

Javier did the right thing in that people call and ask him and he says, “No, you talk to my pastor.”

Yeah.

That was the right decision. That was the right thing. And I really appreciate that. And I’ve had things happen in my church. I’ve had a church for 43 years in Mexico, and I’ve had people try to get some of my members or some of my leaders out, and they never called me to asked me if it was all right, if they had a call. There may be pastors that’s watching the program right now, every one of us, we need to understand, if God is directing us to try to find somebody that we could put on staff or whatever, we always go in the right direction. We go to the pastor to get the pastor’s permission to talk to the person. And then it all works out. When you don’t do it in the right way, there’s always problems come up. And so pastors, whatever you do, you remember this. That always do the right thing, and you’ll always see God’s blessings on your decisions.

Amen. And we try to do the right thing, even when other people do the wrong thing.

Well, I mean, it’s never wrong to do right.

So we don’t try to repay evil with evil. But what you’re saying is actually true. I had another situation where a person I had helped a lot, and they were on part-time staff with me. And another pastor came in at one of Andrew’s conferences, and they just went right to them and talked to them. They didn’t talk to me at all. But this person that worked for me had so much honor. They came and talked to me. I said, “That’s the right thing. That’s the anointing on your life. That’s what you’re supposed to do. You go do that” And bless it. Of course, most of the time when somebody wants to go, I wanna bless them.

Yeah. I realize, as a pastor, I’ve had people over all these years, I’ve had people come and say, “Well, God wants us to leave and we’re gonna go over here somewhere else.” And I thought, “I really don’t want you to leave.” But you know what? If a person ever says, “Well, I wanna leave,” just say, just give ’em a little hug and a kiss and say, “God bless you” and let ’em be on their way. Otherwise, there’ll be problems later on in the future. And so, it’s just like, I’ve had people come and say, “Well, I believe God wants us to start a church.” And I said, “Well, I’m not gonna fight God. If this is God, if this is what God wants, you go for it.”

Amen. You know Gamaliel stood up. He was the one who taught Paul.

Oh, yeah.

And when there came a question of the Jewish leadership, and we talked about this in our program last week, Aaron and I were talking about grace. But in the Jewish leadership, what do we do about this sect of believers, really? The new church, because the church was exploding and the Jewish congregations were losing a lot of people to the church. And Gamaliel stood up and said, “Listen, if this thing is of God, you can’t stop it.”

That’s it.

And I really think that he, even though he was in the leadership among the Jews, he had somewhat of an attitude of grace. And I think that he taught Paul before his name was Saul of Tarus, before he became Paul. But I think some of that mentality that Gamaliel had even flowed over to Saul who became Paul, and who became one of the major teachers in the new covenant of the grace of God.

Well, I mean, this is one of the things that as pastors, we want to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will guide us in the right direction, in making the right decisions. If we don’t follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, we’re probably gonna make some major mistakes.

[Lawson] Right.

And so I thank God for the Holy Spirit that’s inside of us. And if we’ll take time to pray and listen, he’ll give us direction of what to do. When the Holy Spirit is guiding us in making decisions, the confirmation, I’ve discovered in all of these years, and I’ve been preaching, and this coming February, we’ll be 60 years that I’ve been preaching the gospel. One of the things I have learned that when it is the Holy Spirit guiding us, the confirmation is peace.

[Lawson] Right.

It’s not what somebody else says or does. The greatest confirmation and the leading of the Holy Spirit is you’re gonna gonna have peace in your heart. This is the right thing. This is the right direction.

[Lawson] Amen.

And so I thank God for the Holy Spirit and for the peace of the Holy Spirit.

Amen. Well, we’re gonna take a very short break, and we’re gonna come back right after this break. And we’re gonna continue to share on how to be led by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8: 14 says, “For as many as are led by the Spirit, they are the sons of God.” So we’re gonna be talking more about being led by the Holy Spirit. So stay tuned, we’ll be back in just a few seconds. Friends, I wanna share about the special offer that we have today. We’ve been teaching about spiritual gifts and not to be ignorant. And we have some great teaching available on this. I have a series on understanding spiritual gifts, which is on the nine manifestations of the Holy Spirit. I have a teaching on “Gifts, Gifts, And More Gifts,” which is talking about the nine manifestations of the Holy Spirit. It’s talking about the five ministry gifts given by Jesus, and also the seven motivational gifts, which I believe are given by God the Father. And so there’s a lot of instruction in teaching to help you move forth in the anointing that is on your life. And finally, with this package, I’ve included this book, “Absolute Victory in Christ,” where we talk about receiving Jesus as your savior, being baptized in the Holy Spirit, which is like a doorway into all these gifts, and believing the word of God. You don’t have to be ignorant concerning spiritual gifts. Well, friends, I’m so glad to that you’ve stayed with us, and I’ve got Pastor Bobby Crow here from Victoria, Mexico. Pastor’s Word of Life Church in Victoria, Mexico, Palabra de Vida.

Yes.

And my kids make fun of my Spanish. They all speak Spanish better than I do. I grew up in southeastern Colorado.

Oh, yeah.

On the Arkansas River. And Lamar, Colorado, at that point in time when I grew up was 49% Hispanic, 51% white.

Yeah.

So my dad had a real love for the Mexican people, especially the Mexicans that come from Old Mexico. He said, “They’re good, hardworking people.” And so I grew up kind of with that culture, so I wanted all of my children to learn Spanish. So I had them all take Spanish when they were in junior high and high school, and they actually speak fairly good Spanish. Peter, my youngest, ended up going to Miami. He went to Princeton, graduated from Princeton, and got a job for the 3G Capital Corporation and Burger King. And they start everybody out. He started in Burger King corporate, and he said, “Daddy.” It was in the middle of the downturn when he graduated from college. Great economic downturn in the U.S. And so he only had two offers. One at a small financial firm in New York City, and one for 3G Capital to work at Burger King in corporate management. But they sent him to a Burger King, and it was actually a Cuban Spanish speaking area. So they didn’t know at first that he spoke perfect Spanish, but in a little bit, they found out in just a few days. So they put him on deal with the drive up, and people get up and they’d be shocked when they got there and there was a white redheaded kid. And they said, “Well, you speak perfect Spanish and you even speak our dialect.” He caught onto that real well. And then they put him at the front register. They said, “It’s amazing. We could have a mess and everybody’s mad. We put you up there and the whole place has peace.” And you were talking about the peace of the Holy Spirit. And I tell people, a lot of times, people talk about different ways that we hear the voice of God. And I say, “Well, first of all, you never go against the scripture.” The word is the truth. In the Bible, Jesus said, “Sanctify them through that truth. Thy word is truth.” So we always go by the word of God, and we’ll never disobey the word of God, the written word of God. But secondly, I say we have the Holy Spirit. And then you talked about how we have the peace of God, and I believe the Holy Spirit, being led by the Holy Spirit and having peace work hand in hand. Oftentimes, I will tell a married couple, if they’re both born again, filled with the Holy Spirit, they’re making a major decision. You don’t make this decision unless you’re both in agreement.

[Bobby] Yeah.

And you’re both in peace. And I believe that that’s over 90% accurate.

Yeah.

When you’re both born again, right? And you’re both filled with the Holy Spirit, and you’ve received the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, if you’re both in agreement now, one can override the other one if they don’t learn to listen. But when you both listen, and you honor one another, I’ve had to learn this. When I was young, I thought, “Man, I’m the leader and I know what I’m doing.” And Barbara said, “I don’t know about that.” And so I remember one time, I made this decision to buy some cattle. I asked her three times, she said, “I just don’t feel good about it.” And I’d been dealing with these people in Nebraska for five years buying cattle there. And we’d buy ’em and put ’em together in Nebraska, ship ’em over to Northern Kansas, Jewell County, Kansas, and feed them. Had a great friend, still friends with him, fed cattle with him for years and years. Godly people there, Randy and Becky Dean in Jewell County, Kansas. But anyway, Barbara said, “I just don’t feel good about.” And I showed her on paper two or three times. Finally, she said, “Listen, I’m gonna let you do this, but I’m gonna go on record saying I don’t feel good about it.”

Yeah.

So I went ahead and did it. And I was partnering with the feed lot manager. Well, the deal was so good. I only lost $15,000. But what happened, this man, he’d been buying cattle for us, both this feed lot manager and me for five years. He stole a semi-load of cattle. I mean, he stole cattle from his uncles, from his nephews, from his family. He stole cattle from us. He shipped them all to Kansas where there’s no brand law. And sold them and went and sat on the beach in Mexico and drank tequila for a couple years. We never got our money back. When he came back to the U.S., he went to the pen. But the Holy Spirit was right. And boy, I learned from that example. You listen to the Holy Spirit, it is so important.

Well, see, that’s one of the things, like this week, we’ve been teaching up at Charis Bible College to people that’s interested in becoming missionaries. And one of the things I’ve taught ’em, I said, “Look, if you are married, you both need to be in agreement. If you’re not in agreement, then you don’t go to any country. I don’t care how strong you feel about it. I believe when people get married, you become one.” And if you have a calling on your life, I believe your spouse will have the same calling. And you need to be in agreement in making decisions. If your spouse is not in agreement, if you’re not careful, if you wanna go ahead with your direction, you’re probably gonna miss God. And I could tell you a story. I don’t know how much more time we have with this program.

[Lawson] We have four minutes.

Four minutes. Well, I will tell you this. When Lynn and I, when we got married, we were living in the Dallas area, and she was from Brownsville, Texas. She had an uncle that was pastoring a church there. And every time we’d go there to visit her family, her uncle would have me come over and preach. Well, one day, he called me up and he said, “Look, I’m having health problems. I’m gonna retire. I wanna give you the church.” And I thought, “Well, wow. Hey, why don’t we do that? We can move to Brownsville and pastor the church.” And I talked with Lynn about it. She said, “Well, I don’t wanna go there.” And I said, “Well, why?” She said, “I just don’t have peace about it.” And I had enough wisdom at that time to say, “Well,” I said, “God, if this is you, you’re gonna talk to Lynn about it.” And so two or three months passed by and the uncle called or something, said, “Hey, I’ve already given the church to somebody else.” And about a week or two later, Lynn said, “Well, if you really wanna move, feel we oughta move to Brownsville, I’m in agreement with you.” And I thought, “My God, you’re about three weeks too late. Well, we ended up moving to Brownsville, and the people that took over the church, we went to church, we helped them. They were adding on to their building. And we helped them. I, as a carpenter, I helped build this new section on the church and everything. And then, but we slowly began to get involved in ministry in Mexico. We got to the point that we felt if we’re gonna continue in Mexico, we need to live there. And so we ended up moving to Mexico. The point is this. If we had have gone and taken that church in Brownsville, we probably still would’ve been in Brownsville today.

Right, and that was not the ultimate-

Yeah.

That was not God’s final plan for us. And God used Lynn to help us make the right decision at the right time.

And timing is very important. See, it was the right thing for you to move to Brownsville, but that was the wrong thing for you to do. And then there was a certain time element. And I know when Barbara and I came to Colorado Springs, she knew for two years. She was two years ahead of me, but she started planning and I was traveling and doing different things. We were pastoring and Kit Carson and I, I’d travel out once a month and I’d have somebody else speak for me or Barbara helped at the church. But boy, when God spoke to me, then we moved that summer. But God had to prepare her heart ahead of mine. It took time. And we actually knew there was a transition coming for three years. But it took time for that to come. And sometimes, people get ahead of God. You can be doing the right thing at the wrong time, and you can have a train wreck. I’ve learned that from business. I’ve watched other people. in ministry, in church get ahead of God. I like something Kenneth E. Hagin said, he said, “I’ve found that in the realm of spiritual things, it’s better to be behind God than ahead of God, because if you’re a little bit behind God, you can see him out there in front of you working. But if you get ahead of God, you don’t know what he’s at.”

Yeah, you don’t know what’s gonna happen.

I see people sometimes, they run off at the drop of a hat and make a major decision for their family. And a lot of times, they make the wrong decision. And it’s very negative, the fruit of it. And so I think it’s good to take time and listen and learn. And we’re gonna be talking more this week about being led by the Holy Spirit and how that works. There’s different aspects. First of all, the word of God, the leading of the Holy Spirit, the peace of God that we talked about a little bit. We’ll talk more about that. The gifts of the Holy Spirit and Godly counsel. That’s five ways I believe that we can hear the Holy Spirit and be directed into God’s perfect will and plan for our life. Praise the Lord. Well, I’m gonna have Bobby Crow with me all week, so you don’t wanna miss these broadcasts. And he’s got a world of experience and a great leader in the body of Christ. He’s seen many, many people saved, healed, filled with the Holy Spirit and set free by the power of God. If you need prayer today to receive healing, to receive the Holy Spirit, just give us a call. My assistants are waiting to receive your call. Thank you and God bless you today.

[Narrator] Understanding how the gifts of the Holy Spirit operate is an essential part of a believer’s arsenal against the works of the enemy. In this Holy Spirit package, which includes the CD series, “Understanding Spiritual Gifts,” “Gifts, Gifts, And More Gifts,” and the book “Absolute Victory in Christ,” you’ll learn what the gifts of the Spirit are and how to use them. Get the package today for $49 when you call 719-418-4000, or visit CharisChristianCenter.com.

Friends, I certainly hope that you’ve enjoyed the program today, and it’s ministering to you to move into that which God has for you. And I wanna say a great big thank you to all of our partners for helping us share this gospel across the United States and across the world. It’s because of our partners that we can take this message of grace and faith around the world. If you would like to join our partners and receive that blessing, give us a call today. Blessings.

[Narrator] 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 could write us at P.O. Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80962. See you next time on Grace For Today.