Stay The Course – Part 1 Lawson and Barbara Perdue (Updated)

  Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in to be with us today. I have my wife, Barbara with me, and I’m excited about what we’re sharing. We’re actually sharing her teaching on staying the course. And if we’re gonna stay the course, first of all, we gotta know what the course is. And did you know what? We’ve gotta have a foundation for the truth, and the foundation that we have today for the truth is God’s holy Word. So stay tuned and be blessed. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us, and I’m glad Barbara’s here. We’re actually sharing one of her teachings this week on staying the course. And in today’s broadcast we’re gonna be talking about what really lays the foundation for that course, and it’s the Word of God.

 

  Amen.

 

  And you know, the Scripture talks about that you know, by the Word of God, heaven and earth were created, and we have the unchangeable Word of a unchangeable God. And we live in a world that’s changeable and we need something that keeps us on course, and the Word of God is where we get the truth.

 

  I like something that our son, our executive Pastor Aaron, our oldest son, is here helping us, and he said something really important, that there’s really just an attack on really God’s creation, on how God created things to be. And so, when I ministered this message at our church, “Stay the Course,” I was just thinking about that how again, there’s an attack on just the basic simple truths that we find in the Bible, trying to really distract and derail people from living out their plans and purposes that God has for their life. He has amazing plans and purposes for all of us. And I was just gonna back up what you said. You know, the world says there is no absolute, God’s Word is absolute. It is absolute truth. Where do we go for our source of truth. When we were raising our three sons, where did we go for our source of truth as parents to impart to our children so they wouldn’t be deceived or buy into any lies of the enemy or this liberal cultural world? You know, even someone on our Supreme Court justice will not define the word woman. And it’s, to me, it’s just so sad that we have people who won’t even define just what was such basic knowledge when we were growing up, and again, when we were raising our children. And I like what it says in Genesis 1:26 and in Genesis 1:28. I remember being young, like just in elementary school, you know, between the ages of six and eight and deciding, I’m gonna read the Bible for myself. And beginning, you know, in Genesis and couldn’t, I just thought it was amazing when I got to the part that I’m made in His image. You know, there’s a lot of times people told me that I was dumb. And as I read in the Bible, it said, “I’m made in the image of God.” I had that aha moment that just told me, I’m not dumb. I am made in the image of God, I have His intellect, His abilities. And not only that, when He created me, the Word of God says, “He spoke a blessing over me.” How many times have we heard people minister on how there’s this generational curse that you’re cursed because of this or you’re cursed because of that? God made us in His image, He created us male and female and then spoke His blessing over us and said, “Be fruitful and multiply.” In other words, He gave us this creative imagination and all these abilities to be a blessing, not only in our own homes, but for other people, that what we do is supposed to multiply and be blessed and be productive and fruitful.

 

  Well, if it’s gonna be blessed, it’s gonna have to have a foundation that’s based in truth. And you said just a number of things, but the thing that really stands out to me, if something’s really gonna be blessed, that, you know, for us as believers, we have to have that foundation in the Word of God. And you know, Jesus actually prayed in John 17 for Himself, and then He prayed for His disciples, and then He prayed for those who would believe on Him through His disciples’ word. And He said in John 17:17, during that prayer, “Sanctify them through Thy truth. Thy Word is truth.” And what He was actually saying in verse 15, prior to that, He said, “I pray that You don’t take them out of the world, but I pray that You keep them from the evil.” So we live in a world where truth is not clearly defined, but truth is very clearly defined in the Scriptures. And the Word of God is the truth. And Jesus said, we could be set apart from the world through the truth of the Word of God. And He actually, in that same context of Scriptures in John 17, where He’s praying for His disciples and praying for those of us who would believe on Him through His disciples’ word, is basically saying it’s the Word of God that’s gonna separate you from the world, and keep you from the evil that’s in the world. So, we have to come to a place where we have a very solid foundation for truth. And to me that solid foundation is the Word of God.

 

  Amen. I love this. I’m gonna have you help me read some too. But if you have your Bible, if you have a pen and a notebook, I want to encourage you to write this down. Psalm 119:162, and it says, “I rejoice at Your Word, as one who finds great treasure. Another translation says, “I’m ecstatic!” And you know, every day that I get up and take the time to read my Bible, I’m ecstatic at what I read about and what it means to me, how we can apply this to our life right now today.

 

  Well, you know, I had to go to the dentist today for a cleaning. And when I went in there, two men came in to the waiting room and they were both talking about their studies. And this isn’t a Christian dentist by any means, but there are Christians that work in his office, and these two men were talking about their daily Bible study. One said it was in Psalm 23 and the other one said he was in Luke 1, and you know, comments that had been made about that. And I said, “Well, mine was the end of Judges.” And so, we talked about that a little bit. But you know, what I see is that there is this foundation of the Word of God, and there are people that really adhere to that. And when we let the Word of God determine what is truth for us, and that it is without error. You know, I’ve told people for years, if you’ll agree with me, that Jesus Christ is God’s Son, number one, and if you’ll agree with me, number two, that the Bible is the Word of God, we have common ground, you know, we have somewhere that we can go together. But if you will not agree with me that Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh and that the Word of God is truth, we really don’t have anywhere, you know, that we can walk together. You know, the Bible says, “How can two walk together accept they agree.” But when we accept the fact of the deity of Jesus and the truth of the Scripture, I believe that we can walk together, praise God, and I believe we’ll spend eternity together. Now we might, there’s gonna be a lot of different types of people in heaven. Probably gonna be some people in heaven that we thought might not be there. Probably gonna be a few people that we thought would be there that wouldn’t be there. But anyway, the Word of God is what defines the truth, and we need to identify it as the truth. And it’s what separates us from the world. And it also keeps us from the evil that’s in the world.

 

  Mm-hmm, that’s good.

 

  So, you know, earlier in Psalm 119, and I know you put this in your notes on staying the course, but we got to have that foundation for what the course really is. But David says this in Psalm 119:9-11, “Wherewithal, how shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heeded according to Your Word. With my whole heart, I’ve sought You. O let me not wander from Your commandments. Your Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” So, you know, the way we cleanse our way is we take heeded to the Word of God. And he says, “With my whole heart,” you know, “I’ve sought You.” When we seek God, we’re gonna want to go, you know, the way of the Word. And I’ve hid the Word in my heart. How many times have you know, you and I been at a major, you know, question in life, and then God has given us a Scripture and spoken. We’ve had that happen with financial things, we’ve had that happen with marriage things, we’ve had that happen when we’re making a major decision about where to go or what to do with our family, that the Word of God has come to us and God has really spoken to us through His Word. And His Word defines what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s truth and what’s error. We need to let the Word of God direct us.

 

  And I like what it goes on. We’re gonna skip on down to verses 15 through 16. And it said, “I will meditate on Your precepts and contemplate Your ways. I will delight myself in Your statues. I will not forget Your Word.” I like that, we’re gonna meditate on it. We’re not gonna forget it. That means we’re gonna be thinking about it on a continual basis.

 

  Yes. You know, when we think about meditating in the Word of God, meditating on the precepts of God, I like the King James in verse 15. He says, “I will have respect to Your ways.”

 

  Oh, I like that.

 

  When we meditate the Word, when we let the Word of God and when we honor the Word of God, you know, as really being first place, then we come to a place well, the word says this, so I’m gonna do what it says. You know, James 1:18 says, “Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that we would be a kind of first fruit of His creation.” We were born of the Word when we were born again. But then he goes on in James 1:21 and says, “Receive with meekness the engrafted Word, which is able to save your souls.” And we need to let the Word of God really call the shots for us.

 

  You know, there’s something that you’ve said more than once, and I really like the point you’re bringing out, that when we were raising our sons, you didn’t tell ’em about all the darkness and all the sin. You talked to them about the light and the truth of God’s Word, knowing that light always overpowers darkness.

 

  If we didn’t have the Word of God to really show us the truth, I mean, anything’s game. Yeah, you can go anywhere, but when you know. You know, the Scripture says, “Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven.” You know, and like letting the Word of God direct your paths. You know, the entrance of the Word gives light and gives understanding to the simple, you know, and the Word shines light on our path. Your Word is a light unto my path and a lamp unto my feet. Like Psalm, I think, it’s 119:105 says, when you know that and you’ve subconsciously made this decision, whatever the Scripture says, that’s the direction that I’m gonna take, then that keeps you out of error.

 

  You know, I’m just thinking about it. There’s really no new game plan that the enemy, the deceiver, the devil, the one who hates God and hates people, God’s creation, his game is the same. He’s a liar, he’s a deceiver. When you think about Adam and Eve, how he came and tempted them and tried to talk them into feeling like they were missing out on something. And it’s the same game plan that I see going on right now. You know, trying to get people distracted again from their plans and purposes and making them feel like they’re missing something. Like if you’re a man, you’re missing something ’cause you’re not a woman. Or if you’re a woman, you’re missing something because you’re not a man.

 

  Well, let’s just look at, you know, Genesis 3, when Eve sinned and Adam actually followed, and Adam was the one who was responsible. The Bible actually tells us that in Timothy, because he had the responsibility for his wife. So, you know, he blamed, you know, but first of all, what was the sin? Satan came and Satan said, “You’re gonna be like God.” Adam and Eve were already created in the image of God. They already had a phenomenal mind, a phenomenal intellect. Adam had named all of the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, all of the creation. And yet, Satan tried to lie and say, “You’re gonna miss out.” And it’s like, the world would try to tell you that you’re gonna miss out. You know, if you’re not having illicit sex, and you know that, and the Bible calls it adultery and fornication. The world calls it an affair. It tries to put a nice name on sin. But you know, if we let the Word of God define what’s truth and error, then we’re gonna go the way of the Word. And you know what? We’re not gonna miss out on anything. Ultimately, you know, we’re gonna be protected. The Word of God is good for us. There was this rich young ruler that came to Jesus and he said, “How can I find eternal life?” And Jesus said, “Well, what did Moses say in the law?” He said, “Well, I’ve done all this.” Well, Jesus said, “You really haven’t even done number one.” But what Jesus was ultimately, you know, I mean when you think about it, he had done his best to live by the Word, and the Word of God was bringing him in to victory. So, we’re gonna come back and we’re gonna talk more about laying a foundation, so that we can stay the course of time. So stay tuned, we’ll be right back. Thank you so much for your time. God bless you. Friends, we’ve been teaching from Barbara’s teaching on “Stay the Course.” And you know what, if you don’t quit, you’ll win in the realm of faith. So you can go to our website at CharisChristianCenter.com. You can get this downloadable audio, downloadable video, and hundreds of other teachings absolutely free of charge. Blessings. Ministry shouldn’t just be at church. Ministry should start at the church, but we should be equipping you to do ministry, amen. James said, “I dare you to pray,” he said this yesterday, “in the Holy Spirit for about three hours a day for a period of time, and then go to Walmart and see if you don’t have something to tell somebody.” Amen. Friends, I’m so glad you stayed with us. We’ve been talking about laying a foundation, and Barbara, I love the next Scriptures that you have, that we’re talking about having a foundation in life so we can stay the course. You know, the Bible actually says this in the book of Psalms. It says, “If the foundation be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?” And we need to have that foundation of the Scripture. But Jesus told a parable about a foundation in Matthew 7, and we’re gonna go there and read. And I wanna share a little bit about this, but you go ahead, read Matthew 7:24, I think you have through verse 27. And then let’s, you know, visit about this for a little bit.

 

  Sure. I love this here. It says, “Therefore, whoever hears.” So in my Bible, I have that word hear circled. “So therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them,” I also have the word does circled. We need to hear and then do something with it. “I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” In verse 25 it said, “The rain just descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be liken a foolish man who built his house on the sand.” These are interesting illustrations. Verse 27. “And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house and it fell and great was its fall.”

 

  Yeah, and I wanna read, just to add onto that verse 28 and verse 29.

 

  Sure.

 

  Because it really brings some things out. And it says, “It came to pass when Jesus ended these sayings, the people were astonished at His doctrine for He taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” Jesus was very secure in what He taught and who He was. He was very secure in the truth. He said, “I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.” But He was also very secure in His teachings, and His teaching in this area is about the Word. And notice, there’s two people here, they both heard the Word, but the difference between the wise man and the foolish man was what they did with the Word. And so, the wise man heard the Word and he took time and he dug deep and he built his house on the rock. And you know what, the rock, the house stood strong. The foolish man, did you know what? He didn’t do the Word, and the house fell flat. The rain descended, the flood came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell, and great was the fall of it. You know, the reason that, the difference between the wise man and the foolish man, they both heard the Word, they both had the truth, but the foolish man did not act on the truth that he had. And we talked earlier about James 1, and it goes on, it says, “Be doers of the Word and not hears only, deceiving your own self.” And this foolish man heard the word only, he wasn’t a doer of the Word. But when Jesus spoke this, it’s says, “The people were astonished.” You know, if you come and speak with authority today, it astonishes people, because there’s a lot of people that just, you know, want to just go along with society, however it is, and it’s actually caused a lot of problems. This victim mentality, you know, and this mentality of thinking, you know, that I’m missing out. Well, you’re missing out on a world of sadness and sorrow and deception, you know. But we, again, we need to let the Word of God be the foundation, and we need to be bold in the Word and not make apologies for the Word.

 

  You know, I like what you said, because that’s another thing that’s really, to me is very disturbing in the culture that we have today. Especially I would say here in America where it’s just broadcasted through TV, through social media, that you’re a victim and you know, you can’t do anything, because if you’re a certain gender or a certain race or a certain color that you know, all the odds are stacked up against you. You know, Jesus came as the Savior of the world. Jesus came for everyone, and He has given us back the authority. Not only that, hallelujah, He has given us the victory. The Bible says, “We are victorious.”

 

  Amen. Praise God. And we’re victorious through Jesus. So, you know, even though the world says there is no absolutes, God’s Word is an absolute. Right and wrong or still laid down by the Scripture. You know, we had a political thing. We had actually a school board thing for candidates to come, a forum in our church. And we had not only conservative people that came to that, but we had some liberal people that came to that. But one of the people that came and was kind of, you know, directed towards the liberal side was a Jewish person. And this woman had her daughter, and her daughter, you know, asked a question because she had been disrespected in the school. And both of the candidates that were conservative that were running for the school board who ultimately got elected in this election. And thank God, you know, there’s been a difference. And we’ve seen a number of school boards in the area. And in fact, I think in the Colorado Springs area in the last election that every conservative school board member got elected. So, thank God, you know. And there was a guy who’s a satanist, who’s a head in the liberal political party in the area, and he actually walked out the door cussing and swearing, and I was gonna go over there and talk to him and be kind to him. My daughter-in-law actually saw that his dog had died recently and felt, but anyway, he left cussing and swearing before I could. But when this woman’s Jewish daughter got up and complained, because these people, she said, “What do you think?” And both, of course we are very strong pro Israel in our church, and both of these candidates that were conservative apologized to her for the actions of those people. And I went over and later and talked to this Jewish mother who was liberal politically. And I said, “Well, I think we’re on the same side. I think we call the Bible the Judeo-Christian ethic.” And she kind of, I know I took her by surprise. But thank God we have, you know, the basis for right and wrong. We have the 10 Commandments, we have God’s law. And you know what? God’s law is not a negative thing. Now, we can’t please God through our own strength, but the law showed us that we needed Jesus. And ultimately, Jesus is the truth that leads us into the truth, so we can walk in the right way, so on and so forth. And without Jesus, we can’t do it. But at the same point in time, we need the truth of the Word of God, and we need to make no apologies, you know, for, you know, for instance, loving one another and being gracious. All these are attributes of the Word of God. You know, God’s accepting, being accept, you know, we accept people. God loves people, He loves sinners, all kind of sinners. No matter what bad choices they’re making, He still loves them.

 

  Well, I think what we see-

 

  God stopped for him in that state.

 

  What we see that’s so clear right now, is the counties or cities or states that have turned away from the values. You know, I think of, isn’t it even on our money, “In God we trust,” but these different governors or mayors who have turned away from the truth of the Word of God, their states are in just disarray, absolute chaos, because there’s no truth being proclaimed. And like you said, there’s no absolutes.

 

  I think truth is being proclaimed. You know, the Bible actually talks about this in the book of Amos, that there will be a famine of hearing the Word of God. I think the truth is being proclaimed. I think the truth is there, but people aren’t really hearing the truth. They aren’t listening. And for instance, in our own state, we have a very liberal governor. It’s really tragic at the point that we’re teaching this broadcast. But there’s a lot of positive things that are happening not only in El Paso County, which is a very conservative county as a whole, but even in our own city, there have been some very negative things, because people haven’t held really to their strong conservative values. And we have a person in politics now in this area who claims to have been a pastor, but his stands politically are horrible, and he doesn’t really stand up for the truth of what the Word of God is. And we need to, you know what, we need to guard our own heart. But you know, I don’t accept that somebody is a believer or a Christian just because they say they are.

 

  There should be some fruit.

 

  You know, they have to have fruit. And I don’t think we have to judge everybody. In fact, I wanna be, you know, there’s people that have been mad at me because I wouldn’t make a judgment against certain people. I’m like, listen, I’m not the judge. I don’t even want to be. But at the same point in time, Jesus said, “You will know them by their fruit.” And we have to discern truth and lies, and we have to stand up at times. And I’ve been one that’s bold to stand up for the truth, and I’m not ashamed of that. And I’m gonna continue to stand up for the truth of the Word of God the way that I see it. I’m not trying to run everybody off. I’m not trying to condemn everybody. Jesus loves sinners, He accepts sinners, He died for sinners. God loves all people, every gender, every, you know, race, every, you know, every class. I mean, He hasn’t left anybody out, and Jesus died for everyone. But you know, we have this foundation of the Word of God. Barbara, we’re not gonna have time to go and share, you know, really any more Scriptures as we go. But give us some closing comments as we’re talking about having the Word of God, you know, to lay this foundation so that we can stay the course and be really, stay on the right path and accomplish what God wants us to accomplish.

 

  Praise the Lord! Honey, I’m still just thinking about your personal testimony. When you heard the Word of God preached, something inside you said, “I don’t have to be sick, I don’t have to be poor, I don’t have to be defeated.” And it’s because the Word of God, it was a revelation to you that God had so much more for you, and it was the foundation of His Word, that you allowed to be spoken into your life and it changed the course of your life-

 

  Amen.

 

  And got you on track where God wanted you to be.

 

  Amen. And it’s completely changed my life in a good way. In fact, I was preaching a message Sunday that upset some of my people. Actually, I’ve been on a series and it, you know, it upset this one person the week before and it upset the same person again. But I said, you know what? They’re not even looking at the Scripture. And it’s amazing how many people will read notes about the Bible, but not really read what the Scripture says and accept the Scripture for face value. You know, it’s not somebody’s notes about the Bible that are inspired, it’s the Word of God. It’s the actual Scripture that is given by the inspiration of God. So friends, I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in. I’m glad that you’ve taken the time to be with us. I wanna say a great thank you. We’re gonna be sharing all this week about staying the course. And I’m telling you, if you stay the course, I’ve been on this course for 45 years, since I was baptized in the Holy Spirit in Andrew Wommack’s Bible study in Lamar, Colorado and called to preach. And did you know what? My life gets better and better. The Bible says that “The path of the justice, is like the dawning of the day, that gets brighter and brighter, clearer and clearer.” And you know what? We’ve got hundreds of hours of teaching that are free on our website at CarisChristianCenter.com. I want you to know that if you need prayer today, that we have trained prayer ministers that are here that can pray for you and minister to you the grace of Jesus. Thanks so much and blessings today. Friends, we don’t want to leave this broadcast without giving you the opportunity to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord. Pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son. I believe that He died for my sins, and I believe that You raised Him from the dead and made Him Lord. I surrender my life to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

  God’s calling on your life is a lifelong journey. It will take both faith and patience for you to do what God has called you to do. The first step is to get up and go. Just remember, it’s not by might, nor by power, but by His spirit. He will be with you every step of the way. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of the teaching, “Stay the Course,” a $15 value free of charge. Download it today at 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.”