Vision – Part 9 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

Vision Part 9 with Pastors Aaron and Lawson Perdue! In this session we’ll talk about building relationships and living with purpose.

Vision Part 9 Transcript

Welcome friends, I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today. I’m gonna be sharing today with my son, Aaron, we’re gonna be talking about building relationships and living with purpose. In fact, the relationships that you keep will effect how much you’re able to fulfill your God given purpose in this life. So stay tuned, keep your ears open. You’re gonna receive great revelation that will help you move into God’s purpose and plan. Blessings. Friends, it’s so good to have you today on the broadcast. We’ve been sharing all this week about vision. And we really talked about, last week about what vision is and we talked about how vision works. This week we’ve been talking specifically about our ministry vision, our church vision, which is to know Jesus, experience grace, build relationships and live with purpose. And we really talked about you know, salvation, healing, right.

Freedom.

We talked about freedom and we talked about provision. And it really comes through these four things, through knowing Jesus, experience grace, building relationships, and living with purpose. And we’re gonna continue. We were talking yesterday about building relationships and how important that is. You know, building relationships is part of basic Christianity. You know, Acts 2:42 says, speaking of the early church, they continued in the apostle’s doctrine and in fellowship and in the breaking of bread and prayers. When you look at that, they continued in the word. They continued in church. They continued in relationships. And they continued in prayer. And I talked about a little bit yesterday about how when I first started in ministry I told people, “you need to be in the word, “you need to be in church, you need to be in prayer.” But, after a few years of ministering in the same church, seein’ the same people week after week, some people really growing and prospering, other people not growing and not prospering, I kinda looked and said, you know, the difference between the people that are growing and prospering and the people that aren’t many times is their relationships. So, you need to build relationships with strong people of like faith. And that will help you get where God wants you to go and do what God wants you to do. I thank God for the relationships that God has given me. God gives us relationships, doesn’t he?

He really does.

So, talk about some of the relationships that God gives us.

God, God actually works through relationships. He, you can’t accomplish everything he’s called you to do on your own, right. Some people have that mentality like, I’m the only one, like I have to do this on my own, I have to do everything God’s called me to do on my own. I have to do this, you know, kinda this Lone Ranger type mentality, you know, kinda like Elijah. “I’m the only one, I’m the only prophet “in all of Israel. “I’m the only one who hasn’t bowed to Baal.” And God said, there’s 50,000 more.

He said there’s 7000 more.

7000 more. There might have been even more, you know.

That haven’t bowed their knee to Baal. That was a large number at that.

A very large number and there are probably other people you know. So, you’re not the only one.

No, you know, it’s been said, if you wanna go far go with a team, if you wanna go fast go alone. And so, we need a team of people. I couldn’t do what I’m doin’ without a team of people. We got so many people that volunteer, that help, that serve, and really we just do better in relationships, and I thank God for God given relationships. You know, God is the one who gives us relationships. Some people struggle, say, well I have no friends. Well, ask God to give you a friend. God will give you a friend, God will give you people. Now, there’s different aspects of relationships. There’s relationships in the home and in the family. There’s relationships in your place of employment, in your work. There’s relationships in the church. There’s all kinds of different relationships. And we need to honor Godly relationships. I’ve tried to honor the relationships that God’s given me. You know, the Bible says your own friend and your father’s friend do not forsake. So, my dad died when I was just 17, but if I knew someone was my dad’s friend, I come from a rural community, southeast Colorado, if I knew someone who was my dad’s friend, I’d try to still be a friend to them, right. If they’re my friend, I try to keep my friendships, right. I’ve had people that have put me out. Dr. Lester Sumrall said if somebody draws a circle and puts you on the outside, draw a bigger one and put them on the inside. I’ve recently done that with some people that put me on the outside.

It’s good to just have a heart that’s quick to forgive.

Right. I wanna move forward. I’m not tryin’ to cut off relationships. And some people just, boy, as soon as they think they’re not gonna gain somethin’ from somebody, as soon as it’s not lucrative for them, they cut it off.

Yeah, and just this kinda people just hold a grudge forever. I know some people, it’s just like the, it’s a religious spirit really, when you just have this grudge against someone and it just consumes you. It’s a very, it’s like a, it’s a spiritual thing, yeah.

Get over it. And that’s not easy sometimes, but you still can do it by the grace of God. You know, I’ve had people really hurt me and God’s, I’ve told said, “God I forgive ’em, “help me forgive ’em.” And God will help you forgive people.

Amen.

Praise the Lord. So, we talked about part of basic Christianity, the danger of separation. You know, the Bible says, and we read this scripture in yesterday’s broadcast, but Proverbs 18:1, “that he who separates himself “seeks his own way and he comes into contingent “with all wisdom.” We wanna walk in wisdom. We don’t need to separate ourself. We need other people. We need relationships. And Ecclesiastes Four, verse 10, talks about woe to him that’s alone when he falls. It’s really talking about the strength of Godly relationships. Let’s turn to that scripture, Ephesians Four. We’ll start reading in verse eight and we’ll read through verse 12, in Ephesians, Chapter Four. Excuse me, not Ephesians, Ecclesiastes, Ecclesiastes. So Psalm, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Chapter Four, verse eight through verse 10. Aaron, you wanna read that?

Yes, “If there is one alone without companion “he is neither son nor brother, yet there is no end “to all his labors, nor is his eye satisfied with riches. “But he never asks for whom do I toil and deprive “myself of good. “This is also vanity and a grave misfortune.”

What scripture are you in?

Ecclesiastes 4:8, then I’m going to nine.

Okay, I needed to be in nine, okay, go ahead.

“Two are better than one because they have “a good reward for their labor, for if they fall “one will lift up his companion. “But, woe to him who is alone when he falls, “for he has no one to help him up. “Again, if two lie down together they will keep warm, “but how can one be warm alone? “The one may be overpowered by another, “two can withstand him and a three fold cord I”s not quickly broken.”

So, we talked about four things here that are positive aspects of good relationships. Productivity, strength, energy, and protection.

Yeah, I feel like verse eight, ’cause that kinda contrasts you know, being isolated versus companionship versus these divine connections, these divine relationships. So, he’s just saying when you’re off on your own you’re gonna just work and toil and that’s really part of the curse, you know, to just work and have nothing to show for it.

It’d be sad to have all this money or whatever and have nobody to share it with, you know, no friendships, no relationships.

That’s what I told my wife before. I got married later you know, a little later than some people. I got married when I was 31, but I was very frugal as a single person. I wouldn’t spend money on anything. I didn’t you know, I had a nice, big house, but I didn’t have a single piece of new furniture ’cause everything I bought was super cheap and used. You know, but when I married my wife I said, well, God blessed me, so you can spend it all and get what you want. But, it’s actually a blessing to be, for God to work through your relationships. It might be your marriage, might be friendships maybe, people that you’re helping at work in your neighborhood, your community, at church. Serving is a great way to connect and make friends, too.

Right, and that’s what I wanted to talk about, so you stepped right into it. How can I get connected? And we have found at our church that if people work, if they serve, if they get involved with a group of people, whether it’s ushers, greeters, children’s workers, youth workers, you know, somewhere serving, if they get involved, security, whatever area that they get involved in, worship, there’s all kinds of different, or prayer team. There’s so many ways to get involved. If people just get in a good Bible study sometimes, and we have a number of Bible studies that just go on. It’s not that we’re promoting them, but people get in church, get to know people, you know.

They make friends, you know. My wife gets together with other moms and they have dinner once a month.

So yeah, you start serving others, right, and it ministers to you. So, in fact, I have this as part of my message, but through relationships we help others, but ultimately, God’s helping us. You know, the Bible says, “He who waters others “will be watered himself.” And mom says you know, to me I’m prayin’ that you’ve helped a lotta people so I’m prayin’ that the back part of that comes back to you.

When I, as a pastor, if I see someone who’s very gone through a great challenge or a difficulty that maybe, like there’s a gentleman who lost his wife a couple years ago, I met with him and I really encouraged him to be involved, to serve, not that, you know, I wasn’t trying to use him, but I knew it would benefit him greatly to stay connected and be a part and to be giving. Even though he had a lotta needs you know, and things that he needed to receive from God and from people, I know that when you’re giving of yourself at the same time, that’s when.

It helps you.

Yeah, and he stayed very connected. He’s helped with the sound team and with the men’s ministry and.

Yeah, he’s doin’ really, really well.

I think he has two you know, young adult children and they’ve stayed connected and.

He just went on with life. You know, you gotta look at what God’s given you and not look at what you’ve lost. And so many people tend to look at what they don’t have or what they’ve lost. And if you do that, that’s really grief. Grief is an overwhelming sense of loss. You look at what you’ve lost instead of what you have. It’s the devil’s trick and the devil will actually work a lotta destruction in your life if you don’t get that trick stopped. So, get it stopped. I had a time in my life when I lost a lotta money, and I was prayin’ to God. He said, “Don’t look at what you lost, “you look at what you have.”

And sometimes with a loss the devil tries to attach shame to it. You know, you can feel shame for having made a bad business decision or you felt shame through like a loss of a relationship.

The devil’s always tryin’ to condemn.

Yeah.

But, you gotta beat him at his game. Don’t let him. Praise God. So, there’s ways we can get connected. We can serve, we can be a friend. You know, if you want a friend be a friend and be a good friend.

I like something that you mentioned in the previous broadcast about the order of relationships, the priority of relationships, and that showed me somethin’. So, you said your relationship with God is first, then with your spouse, then with your children, then like with your job, with others. And really also, that’s, that order of relationships, that’s where you get your sense of value. Your sense of value first needs to come from your relationship with God. A lotta people are tryin’ to get their sense of meaning, their purpose, like men sometimes try to get their sense of value through their job, through their work relationships. My boss demoted me or fired me, so I’m worth nothing now and they have, you know, will have a big crisis. But really, your value.

Jesus Christ.

Yeah, it comes from your highest relationship.

Right.

You know, and sometimes you know, men often times, sometimes get their sense of value through their job, through their earnings. Women tend to get their sense of value through relationships maybe with their spouse, through you know, their children, and if there’s a shift there, or close friends, and then they can feel their sense of value and purpose is.

You don’t have that right. If you don’t have God first, right, then your spouse, then your children. Traditional marriage, right, then your work and then others. If you don’t have those things right you can create all kinds of havoc.

It’s gonna effect your purpose. You’re not gonna.

Mom has seen like women who are not prepared for their kids to go on to college, right, and they don’t quite have their relationship with God right and then their spouse.

Right, yeah.

And so, when their kids go off to college, their whole world breaks down. Yeah, and that’s what we wanna move into in the last part of the broadcast today is living with purpose. There is a purpose for your life. God has a purpose for your life and you need to find out what that is, figure that out, and walk in the purpose of God. So, stay with us, we’re gonna come back and begin to talk about living with purpose. Stay tuned. We love you, bless you. Friends, I wanna tell you about a product that we have available with this teaching, and we have a special offer. First of all, we have the “Vision” series and I have five messages that I taught on vision. You can get them on CD or digital download on our website. You can get them immediately. And then, my “Uncommon Favor” book. This is my life story from just a few years back. It’s a lot of different stories. A lotta people tell me when they read my “Uncommon Favor” book, “It encouraged me “because it gave me hope that if God “did this for you he would do it for me “and he would help me.” And there’s so many ways that God has blessed me and helped me, but it’s not unattainable. You see, God is no respecter of persons. He is a respecter of faith. So, when you get a hold of the word of God and begin to believe God, you can move into the vision and the plan that God has for your life through the favor and grace of God on your life. Thanks and blessings. Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. We’re gonna be talking about living with purpose. You know, Jesus had a purpose, Aaron. The scripture says in John, I John 3:8, “For this purpose “was the Son of God manifest, that he might destroy “the works of the devil.” Jesus was made known. He was revealed to destroy the works of the devil, and if we read the scriptures around that from I John, Chapter Three, verse five through verse 10, we can see how Jesus destroyed the works of the devil. He came to put the devil outta business, praise God. And he’ll do that, and the last time the devil will be cast into the lake of fire and Jesus will reign for eternity. So, in I John, Chapter Three, we’re gonna begin reading verse eight says this, but we’ll begin reading in verse five. Verse eight says, “For this purpose was the Son of God “manifest that he might destroy the works of the devil.” But, if we go back to verse five we begin to see how he did that. He says, “You know that he, Jesus, was manifested “to take away our sins and in him is no sin.” So, the number one way that Jesus fulfilled his purpose of destroying the works of the devil is taking our sins. Then it says, in verse six, “Whoever abides in him “sins not, whoever sins has not seen him, “neither known him.” So, your practice of sin is directly connected, right, to your lack or of relationship with God.

Knowing Jesus.

Right, so knowing him. If you know him you don’t sin. If you really understand who he is and build a relationship with him you walk outta sin, right. “Little children, let no man deceive you,” in verse seven, “he that does righteousness “is righteous even as he is righteous.” So, the number one way that Jesus destroyed the works of the devil was he took our sin. The number two way is he made us righteous. You see, righteous living is a result of the righteous life. So, we were given the righteous life of Jesus as a gift. God made him, Jesus, to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He says, “He who commits sin is of the devil “for the devil sins from the beginning “and for this purpose for this reason “was the Son of God manifested, made known and revealed, “that he might destroy the works of the devil.” He said, “Whoever is born of God does not commit sin.” We’re not in the practice of sin. For his seat, now this is, now this does not commit, and when we read the rest of it you actually see he’s talking about your spirit. “For his seed remains in him and he cannot sin “because he’s born of God.” So, your spirit, I am a spirit, I possess a soul, and I live in a body. You know, the New Testament, I believe 90% of the New Testament is written from a perspective of who we are in the spirit, and if you don’t get it, it’s why so many people are so spiritually ignorant, ’cause they’re trying to you know, approach a very spiritual aspect through natural understanding. So you’ve gotta begin to understand the realm of the spirit. When you begin to understand I am a spirit, I possess a soul, I live in a body, then you begin to really understand what, you know, what’s taking place. So, what he says in I John Three, verse nine, “Whoever is born of God does not commit sin,” he’s talking about your spiritual condition. “For his seed remains in him and he cannot sin “because he’s born of God.” My spirit is born of God. Now, I can sin in my body. I can sin in my soul, right, without my spirit being involved in that.

If you’re looking at that in a natural performance base type thinking, you could say, well, I said a bad word and that’s sin, so I’m not a child of God.

Right.

‘Cause you’re makin’ it about.

It’s a performance based mentality rather than a grace based mentality. So, you’ve gotta get away from the performance aspect from the physical and begin to really understand who you are in the spirit. When you understand that you’re, you can change in the spirit changes how you live your life. Here’s a scripture that goes with that. Ephesians, Chapter Five, verse eight says, “For you were darkness, but now you “are light in the Lord, walk as children of the light.” The way that we walk is directly connected to our understanding of who we are, so we’ve gotta understand who we are in Christ. Now, he goes, in this, I John 3:10, “Are the children of God made known, manifest, revealed, “and the children of the devil. “Whoever does not righteousness is not of God, “neither is he who loves not his brother.” So, you know, we love our brother because we got the love of God in us. But, Jesus was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. And the number one way he did it is taking our sins. The number two way he did it is making us righteous. And the number three way he did it was imparting his divine righteous life on the inside of us. His seed is in us. When you begin to understand that it changes the way that you live your life and it’s not gonna cause you to sin more when you understand it, cause you to sin less. But, a lot of people use grace as license to sin. That’s not what it’s made for. When you really understand grace it’s empowerment. It empowers you to live a victorious life. Now, the number two way, I believe that Jesus destroyed the works of the devil is through the power of the Holy Spirit. In fact, in Luke, Chapter Four, Jesus was went out in the wilderness, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, was tempted by the devil, and he overcame the devil and every temptation. And when he did that he came back, it says in verse 14 that he returned in the power of the Spirit. And then, when he went to Nazareth, his home town, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day as his manner was and he opened, he found the place in Isaiah where this is written and he opened it and he began to read from Isaiah, Chapter 61, what we know as Isaiah 61, verse one and two. And this is what he said. It’s recorded in Luke, Chapter Four, verse 18. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he “has anointed me to preach the gospel “to the poor, he has sent me to heal “the broken hearted, to preach deliverance “to the captives and the recovering “of sight to the blind, to set at liberty “those who are bruised, to preach “the acceptable year of the Lord.” And right there, he closed the book and sat down and the eyes of all of them in the synagogue were fixed on him and he said, “Today is the scripture “fulfilled in your ears.”

I love he sensed what some of them were saying that like, is this not Joseph’s son? And then he continued his message and used two examples of people of faith from the Old Testament and both examples were actually people who received from God through by faith in his grace. He mentioned the woman from Zarephath. So, she was from Sidon. Sidon is where Jezebel is from. It was the capitol of Baal worship. But, there is a woman there who put her faith in God and God sent Elijah to her and she was saved. This widow woman was saved. And he also mentions Naaman, the Syrian, who had leprosy. And so, there were many lepers in that day, but Naaman was the one who received, you know, through the ministry of Elijah. Naaman was the Syrian general. So, the Syrians were one of the strongest enemies of Israel. So, two very ungodly places where these people came from. And Jesus used them as an example, because he was tryin’ to, tryin’ to show that it’s not based upon works.

It’s based on faith.

It’s based on faith. And these religious people got very mad and they tried to kill him, right then and there, because of the two examples from scripture that he used.

Right. And so, that’s a really great example of faith. And you know, God is no respecter of persons, but he is a respecter of faith. And so, we need to keep believing Jesus. And so, how did Jesus you know, destroy the works of the devil? By taking our sin, by making us righteous, by imparting his life to us, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, right. The Spirit of the Lord’s upon me. Now, how do we receive that? That’s what that goes into, where you’re talkin’ about. And just like Elijah, just like Elisha, just like this widow woman, just like this Syrian general, we receive it by faith. You don’t, you don’t get it by osmosis. You must believe the gospel to receive the promises of the gospel. But, if you believe it you can receive it. You know, so many years ago, 45 years ago, I was 14 years old, I went to a Bible study. I heard Andrew Wommack preaching and something went off in my spirit, that there’s a Bible full of promises that I can believe. And you know, I started believin’ it and my life has gotten better and better and better, and maybe I haven’t arrived, but praise God I’ve left. And you know what? God is no respecter of persons. He’s a respecter of faith. And you know, just like God has blessed me and helped me, God will bless you and help you if you’ll believe it. So, just start believing what the Bible says about you. Praise God, get a vision that comes from the word of God. Get a vision. We talked in the very beginning of this series last week about how do we get vision? We get vision from the word of God. We get vision from the Holy Spirit. We get vision from people, you know, of God. So, get a vision for your life and it will help you move into the eternal destination that God has for you. It’ll help you accomplish your God given purpose. And so many people are living so far less than what God has for ’em. But, you don’t have to stay there, praise God, you can believe God. You can move out of it. In fact, I’ve got this series “Vision,” and I’m offering with it my “Uncommon Favor” book, which is my life story. And it’s just people read my book and they’re like, man, that encouraged me because if it happened for you it can happen for me. And that’s what we’re saying. God’s no respecter of persons. He’s a respecter of faith. But you know, we’ve been sharing here for two weeks you know, 10 you know broadcasts just on what I teach in these five CDs on Vision. I had some people tell me these are some of the most powerful messages that you’ve ever shared. When I talked about you know, what a vision is, where we get a vision, and when I talked about experiencing grace. So, you don’t wanna miss this opportunity to get this and share it with somebody. You could also listen to the broadcast free of charge. I think you can watch free of charge also on the website, charischristiancenter.com. So, give us a call today if you need prayer, if you want product, if you wanna become a partner, give us a call today. If you’ve never received Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, if you’ve never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and you want to receive that, just give us a call today. We have prayer ministers that will pray with you, that will minister to you. We have lots of testimonies of people being healed and filled with the Spirit.

People call in all the time, too. You know, I hear our prayer ministers just ministering to people all the time, powerful prayers that touches people.

Yes, so if you need prayer, if you want product, if you wanna become a partner, we’d love to hear from you. God bless you. Blessings. Hi friends, I’m Pastor Lawson Perdue from Charis Christian Center in Colorado Springs. We wanna invite you to Family Camp Meeting. We’re gonna have special speakers, Mark and Trina Hankins, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, full of the Holy Ghost and fire, Philip Brenner, with special music, special teaching, Max Cornell, Ashley Terradez, myself, Aaron Perdue. We’re gonna have a great time. If you can’t come in person check us out online at charischristiancenter.com.

[Announcer] Too many people live their lives without ever connecting to their God given purpose. Learn the importance of having a vision and some practical steps for walking it out. God has a tremendous plan for your life. Start now and see it come to pass. Get the “Vision” package, which includes the book “Uncommon Favor” and the “Vision” CD series for $24, or digital download for $15 when you call 719-418-4000 or visit charischristiancenter.com. 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.”