Steps to Victory – Part 5 Lawson and Barbara Perdue

  Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in. I have my wife Barbara with me, and we are talking today about what the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus has done for us. You don’t want to miss this broadcast. When you begin to understand what Jesus Christ has already done for you, it will revolutionize your life for good. Thanks and stay tuned. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us today. I’m so honored to have Barbara. I’ve had her all this week. Barbara, I appreciate you coming and being on the broadcast. I know you’re so busy with all the different responsibilities we have here at the church and ministry and family, so on and so forth. But you know, God is so good to us and we’ve been really talking about that and we’ve been sharing about what God did for us in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. And many people understand the facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but they don’t understand what that really means to us. So we’ve been sharing about what that means to us. And so you’re gonna begin reading today in a scripture in Romans, and I love it, so just go ahead.

 

  We’ve had a lot of fun this week sharing powerful scriptures, and I know it has really ministered to all of us. But again, we’re gonna start off today in Romans 5:17 and it says, “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ.” And I’m gonna read it in another translation. It says, “If one man, by his sin, made death a king, we on whom God has poured His love and His gift of righteousness and all the more certain, the one Jesus Christ, makes us live and be kings.”

 

  Amen. So when you begin to understand what Jesus did in his death and resurrection, what begins to happen is you begin to move out of darkness. You begin to move out of sin, you begin to move into the light and move into righteousness. And if I understand that scripture in Romans 5:17 correctly, I understand it means this: When we believed on Jesus Christ, we left the reign of sin and death and we came into the reign of grace and righteousness. The Amplified translation actually says that He made us reign in life as kings. Praise God. When you begin to understand this glorious gospel of Christ and what God did for us in the death, burial, and resurrection, that Jesus literally became a sin offering for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God in Him. That’s what 2 Corinthians 5:17 says. It says, “For God made Him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin, who never experienced sin.” You see, the only sin that Jesus ever had was ours. That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. And the only righteousness we’ll ever really have is the righteousness of Jesus. It’s a gift of God’s grace. It’s received by faith. Amen. When you understand that, that we left the reign of sin and death, we came into the reign of grace and righteousness by faith in Jesus, it changes the way that you live your life. In fact, I wrote a book on it. I’ve taught this for years at Charis Bible College for Andrew Wommack, the book of “Romans: The Revelation of Righteousness.” And I consider it one of my best books, but I’ve taught this for years. I actually had a man in Phoenix, and he’s a Jewish man, but he read my book on Romans and loved it. And he plays tennis at a club, so one of his good friends was an Episcopalian believer, right? And so he goes to the Episcopalian church. So he gave this book, my book, “Romans: The Revelation of Righteousness” to his episcopalian friend who read it and loved it. So he took it to his pastor, his Episcopalian, and his pastor reads Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. And he said, this book that I’ve written on “Romans: The Revelation of Righteousness,” he said it’s correct in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

 

  That’s exciting.

 

  And so he did a study in his Episcopalian church on my book, “Romans: The Revelation of Righteousness.” My son Peter, actually studied Romans at Princeton University where he graduated. He was in a Bible study at Princeton University. He was one of the leaders. When he was a freshman, they had about 25 kids involved in this evangelical Bible study on campus where they would do, you know, Bible studies with students. By the time he graduated, he became a leader, they had over 500 students, praise God. But anyway, the person that taught Romans got my Romans book because he wanted to see what I was teaching on righteousness from Romans. And that’s the subject. And Peter asked me this question. He said they were asking us this when they’re teaching it at Princeton University. Many people don’t realize that a lot of these top universities, they were started as schools for ministers of the gospel, and yet they’ve completely went the other direction. But this instructor asked for my teaching on the book of Romans when he found out that I teach it in a Bible school. And Peter said, “Is this for the Gentiles or for the Jews?” Well, really, when you understand it, it’s for Jews and Gentiles. It’s right standing with God, righteousness by faith in Jesus.

 

  Amen.

 

  And the Jews get it the same way Gentiles get it, by faith in Jesus.

 

  Hallelujah.

 

  Amen. So that’s what Romans 5:17 is talking about. This is what Jesus made available in His death and resurrection.

 

  That’s right.

 

  Standing with God. And that makes us reign in life as kings.

 

  I like that. You know, we’ve been talking for my series on “Steps to Victory” and how Jesus has already paved the road to victory for us. And I was gonna go ahead and read in Romans 8:37. Just each scripture just is so exciting. I like what you just shared. Did you wanna elaborate a little more on something else?

 

  Before you read Romans 8:37, and you can read all these verses on your own, but read Romans 8:31 and 32.

 

  Oh, great. Sure. “So what then shall we say to these things, if God is for us, who can be against us?” I like that. I’ve had that written down since I was a teenager in high school. “He who did not spare His own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” That is awesome.

 

  So how do we know that God’s for us, we know that God’s for us because of the cross. Jesus demonstrated God’s love for us when He died in rose again. And then he says in verse 32, that’s what he’s explaining. He, God the Father, He says… What’s it say? Romans 8:32. Read it again.

 

  Okay. So Romans 8:32 says this: “He who did not spare His own son.”

 

  So God didn’t spare Jesus,

 

  “He’d give us anything.”

 

  But if he gave you Jesus when you were in sin, if Jesus went to the cross for your sins, and He did, how shall He, the Father, not with Him, the Son, freely give us all things? That means if God forgave your sins, why wouldn’t God heal your body? Why wouldn’t God give you peace? Why wouldn’t God prosper you if he forgave your sins? How shall he not with him freely give us all things? 2 Corinthians 1:20 says all the promises of God, in Him, in Christ, are yes and amen to the glory of God by us. God gets glory when we walk in the promises.

 

  That’s right. That’s right. And so now I’m gonna skip on to Romans 8:37 and I love this. “Yet in all things,” and say that, “in all things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” More than conquerors. Super victorious.

 

  Amen. Hyper victorious. Aaron talks about that in Greek. And we’re super victorious, hyper victorious. And if you begin to understand what “more than conquers” means, it’s like, you know, a world-champion boxer went home and you know, went to the ring and man, they went 10 rounds or more and he wins the battle and they lift his hands and then they give him this big check and he goes home and his wife says, thank you. She takes it. She’s more than a conqueror. And this is what the gospel actually talks about. See, the victory’s already been won. We’re not trying to go back and re-fight the battle because Jesus already won the victory in His death and resurrection. So we’re coming to a place of rest where we rest in the victory that He’s won.

 

  Amen.

 

  We’re more than conquerors. Praise God. That wife of that world-champion boxer that received that check, she didn’t go get her brains beat out. She just received the check by faith. She just said, “Thank you, praise God.” And Jesus already went, and we read the verses earlier this week in Colossians 2, how He spoiled prince of powers and made a show of openly triumphing over them in it. And Jesus already did that work and we just believe it so we can receive it.

 

  Amen. God is so good to us by not sparing anything and sending His son Jesus, who paid the price, who did it all for us. All we simply have to do by faith is receive it.

 

  Amen.

 

  And understand that God is good, that God loves you, He is not mad at you, He is trying to get good things to you through His son, Jesus Christ, who again, has already accomplished these things for us.

 

  Amen. And you know, early, when I begin to really understand the gospel, that faith without works is dead, the full gospel, I’d try to get people move and do things. And that’s okay, right? You don’t wanna stay in bed, people die in bed. Someone said that years ago. But as I really got more revelation of grace, when I would try to get people healed in certain areas, I’d say, “Now just receive it. Just receive it.” And many times I just pray for them and say, “Now, just…” And they’ll just receive it. And then I’ll say, “Okay, now, how’s that feel?” “Oh wow, that’s amazing.” Many times, God gives you words of knowledge when people come here. We had one time, years ago, a person came and you said, “You couldn’t walk upstairs, but God’s healing you now and you’re going to be able to walk upstairs.” And this person walked out of the, got in their car, realize when they got in the car, “Hey, I’m healed.” Came back in and testified and said, “Hey, you gave that word, that was me. I couldn’t walk up the stairs this morning. I couldn’t walk up the stairs last night.” They were visiting from out of town. But I know when I got in my car, “Hey, I couldn’t move again! Glory to God.”

 

  Yes, that’s exciting.

 

  Man, if you get a chance, come to Charis Christian Center on a Sunday morning, come to Charis Christian Center on a Wednesday night. We’re always having people saved, healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, set free by the power of God. If you can’t come in person, watch online. Praise God. We got great things happening. Amen. Praise the Lord. Barbara, go ahead. I guess we don’t have time. We’re gonna have to take a break, but we’re gonna come back after this break and we’re gonna share some more of our divine rights and privileges in Christ and what God has done for us in his death, burial, and resurrection. You don’t wanna miss this last half of the broadcast. So stay tuned. We’re gonna be right back. 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 hit 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. This is a problem with many people. They’re identifying with the problem rather than identifying with the promise. And if you identify with the problem rather than the promise, it’s gonna be hard for you to receive the promise. Now, what would you act like if you really believed that God had already answered your prayer? Praise God. Hallelujah. There you go. You’d start shouting. Friends, I’m so glad that you stayed with us. We’re continuing to share on really what happened for us when Jesus died and rose again. We’ve been talking about it all week. We got lots of resources that you can go to on the website. A lot of them are free of charge. We’ve got great books. The books, because of tax laws, are administrated through Amazon. But you can go to our website, CharisChristianCenter.com and get them. We’ve got a free children’s curriculum where we teach these very things and we’re adding to it. So right now, we’ve got the first year, but soon, we’ll have the second year of kids curriculum. Later this year, we’ll have the junior high curriculum up and then we’ll have special kids, special junior high. We’re just constantly. And you know, thank God for my partners, because of my partners, this is costing me hundreds of thousands of dollars to make available and we’re making it available free of charge to you.

 

  You know, we’re so excited just to share all this week on what Jesus has already done for us. And I know you’ve shared it before, and I’m just gonna share it briefly before we get into the scripture today. We definitely wanna continue to read scriptures on this second half. But I do love the story. When you heard the word, something inside you, and this is what we’ve been teaching all week, but something inside you said, “I don’t have to be sick, I don’t have to be poor, and I don’t have to be defeated.” We’re not talking about religion, we’re talking about Jesus and having a personal relationship with Him and understanding what He did when He went to the cross for us. And He has made us amen more than conquerors. And when you get this word in you and get stirred up and begin to walk in the amazing plans that God has for you, it is exciting.

 

  Amen. It’ll revolution your life. Revolutionize your life. You know, I got a hold of that, you’re talking about that. I got saved when I was eight years old in a traditional church and then went to a traditional church. But when I was 14 years old, I got baptized in the Holy Spirit and called to preach Andrew Wommack’s meeting. And immediately, when I went to those meetings, begin to get this understanding of who I am in Christ that we’ve really been talking about. You know, we’re talking about what the gospel will do for you and through you. A lot of times people talk about the facts of the gospel. Christ died for our sin. He was buried, He was resurrected. But they don’t understand what the gospel does in you and through you and what it does for you. Man, the gospel, God is for you. If God be for you, we just read it in the first part of the broadcast, who can be against you? What you do is read that scripture that you are gonna read. Revelation 1:6

 

  Okay, so again, if you have your Bibles, turn with us to Revelation 1:6 and it said, “And has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and forever, amen.” That’s exciting.

 

  So He made us kings and priests. One translation says He made us a kingdom of priests. But let’s talk about this. We just read the scripture in the first half of the broadcast, Romans 5:17. We started out with that today. That says, in the Amplified translation, that we would reign in life as kings when we receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness.

 

  You know, I like what you’re teaching. It’s talking about what we can have right now. Why we are alive. We’re not talking about in the sweet by and by in Heaven. We’re talking about what we can actually experience and walk in right now.

 

  And when you understand what’s been given to you right now, it helps you right on your way to Heaven.

 

  Amen. That’s right.

 

  And praise God. It’s good. I thank God for Heaven. But I heard about this years ago. There was one boy and the Baptist pastor was preaching. And I thank God for Baptists, I love the Baptists. My granddad was a Baptist. My great-great-grandfather was a Baptist preacher and I love it. He’s a circuit writer, praise God. But he said, “You want to go to Heaven?” And this little boy ask him, he said, “Well, that depends,” and he said, “On what?” He says, “Well, are you getting a load up right now?” In other words, I wanna go to Heaven, but I want to stay here and experience some things before I go. Amen. Praise God.

 

  Yeah, there’s some other things we’ve been talking about and we’ve shared this once before, but I’m gonna share 2 Corinthians 5:17, that you don’t have to stay in bondage to shame and regret and guilt, and you know, when we receive Jesus Christ, we become a new creation and old things are passed away. So again, this is 2 Corinthians 5:17. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new.” That’s exciting to me.

 

  Amen. We’re a brand new creation in Christ. One that was never in existence before. When you really understand what happens, right? And you know, and it talks about this in 1 Peter 1:23. The scripture talks about also in James 1:18. It says we were born again by the incorruptible seed of the word of God that’s living and abiding or that lives forever, right? 1 Peter 1:23. James 1:18 says, “Of His own will, He begat us with the word of truth, that we would be a kind of first fruit of His creation.” When you really understand that, when you hear the Word of God, the Word is like a seed. That’s what Jesus said in Mark 4 in the parable of sower. And when that seed is sown into your heart, that seed, really, it’s like when a natural person is born, a seed from a male goes into a woman and joins with a egg, and there is a new person born. The seed of the Word goes into your spirit and joins with your spirit and you become a brand new creation. One that was never in existence before. That’s what that’s talking about. And when you understand that, it changes the way that you live your life.

 

  That’s right.

 

  And Paul says, “All things have passed away, old things have passed away, all things have become new, all things.” And then he, he says we’re made ambassadors for Christ. We’re given a new ministry, not a ministry of condemnation, but a ministry of reconciliation.

 

  I like that. A ministry of-

 

  Reconciliation.

 

  And not condemnation.

 

  Amen.

 

  That’s powerful.

 

  We’re restored to the right relationship. If you and I were separated because we had some argument or difference and then we reconciled our relationship, that would mean that we got over our difference and we came back together. So he says that God was, in 2 Corinthians 5:19, in Christ, reconciling, making the world right with himself, not imputing their sins to them, not totaling up, not keeping a record of their sins. And so when you understand that glorious gospel of Christ, he says now then, in verse 20, as ambassadors, He raised us up. Ephesians 2:6 says, “And made us sit together with Him in heavenly places.” He made us, we’re ambassadors in Christ. Hallelujah. And we’re preaching this glorious gospel He’s given us. Really, we’re a new creation. All things have become new. Talking about spiritually speaking. That’s what we’ve been talking about all week. Amen. We got a new ministry. A ministry of reconciliation, not condemnation. We’ve got a brand new position, we’re ambassadors for Christ, and we’ve got brand new righteousness, right standing with God, the righteousness of Jesus. That’s the gospel, friends.

 

  I like what the Bible tells us in Colossians 2:10, that we are complete in Christ.

 

  Amen. You know, so many people think, “I’m so weak, I’m so poor, I’m so sick.” Not according to the gospel. You just don’t understand what Jesus did for you.

 

  That’s right. That’s right.

 

  Colossians 2:10 says we are completely in Him who is the head of all principality and authority. And when you understand what we’re talking about, you start walking in the victory that Jesus already won.

 

  I’m gonna share another powerful scripture. This is Philippians 1:6. We have so many and I just wanted to get a few more in before we end today. But Philippians 1:6 is being confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. He’s begun a good work in us and He is going to complete it. You are a good work.

 

  Amen. I also like Philemon verse 6 and Philemon verse 6 says, “The communication of our faith becomes effective by acknowledging every good thing that is in us in Christ Jesus.” You don’t become effective communicating your faith by acknowledging all the evil and corruption and death and destruction in the world. You become effective at communicating your faith by acknowledging every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus.

 

  That is good. I like that. There’s a lot more scriptures to share, but you know, we’ve been talking about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and how nothing could stop or prevent Jesus from raising from the dead after three days, just as He said. But another thing I wanted to bring out, just how powerful ministry of Jesus Christ was. The ministry here on Earth, He was always lifting people up, lifting people up, and moved with compassion. A lot of times this is not preached. You know, when I was raised, a lot of times the Bible was preached that God is mad at you, gonna zap you with lightning, open the ground and swallow you alive. But what I see, and we have read it over and over, that God loved us so much that He spared nothing. He did not spare His only son.

 

  Amen.

 

  And if He wouldn’t spare His son, He is not gonna spare anything from you. You are so loved, and you know, God, His love is pursuing after us and it was demonstrated by what Jesus did for us at the cross.

 

  Amen. Thank God for the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It changed everything. And when you begin to understand that, it’ll change your life too.

 

  That’s right.

 

  I wanna just share. You know, we’ve been teaching, we’ve been sharing a lot today from the book of Romans. I have this book I’ve written on “Romans: The Revelation of Righteousness.” I also have that teaching in audio and video form, downloadable, free on the website. We’ve been talking a lot this week. We’ve been teaching primarily from your teaching on “Steps to Victory”, which I believe is downloadable audio on the website. But we also have not only that, my teaching on “Complete in Christ” and “Redemption,” downloadable audio and video on the website. And we literally have hundreds of hours of teaching. You know, we haven’t even been able to get to all the scriptures that you had in one series of teaching during this week of broadcast. And we’ve got hundreds of hours on the website free of charge. We’ve got this children’s curriculum where we’re teaching people this, teaching the kids. You know, I just had a family come, they drove over 120 miles to get here on a Sunday. Got five kids, they live way out in the country, they’re homeschoolers. And they told me, “Thanks so much. We are teaching this to our children and it’s liberating them, it’s helping them.” But it’ll help anybody who believes it.

 

  Amen. This is powerful. Again, we have a lot of resources available. I just came out with a brand new book called “Imparting Success to the Next Generation.” If you don’t have that, you may wanna check that out as well.

 

  Amen. And so many good things. And I wanna say a great big thank you to my partners and all of you who support us and help us take this glorious gospel of Christ around the world. Thank you and God bless you today. Praise the Lord, friends. I want to invite you to church this coming Sunday morning, whether you’re in Colorado Springs, or whether you’re wherever you are at. If you’re in Colorado Springs, you can see us Sunday morning at 8:30 or 10:30 AM live, but you can also watch us with our livestream congregation at 8:30 or 10:30 AM or you can go to our website and get it any time at CharisChristianCenter.com.

 

  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 of charge. Download your copy today at CharisChristianCenter.com.

 

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

 

  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.”