Possessing Our Destiny – Part 7 Lawson Perdue

I’m believing, right? I’m not only wishing, but I’m believing for some things to come to pass, right? Now how many of you wished for some good things in your life that have not come to pass? All right, so you haven’t got everything you wished for, you haven’t got everything you believe. I believe the same way with God. He has a good plan. He has a good will. It’s all good, it’s wonderful. He has a good plan for your life, but not everybody is believing to enter into that that God has for them. Amen, so we gotta believe it so we can enter into it. Hi, friend, I am so glad that you’re with us today. We’re gonna be sharing today how God had a plan for us from the foundation of the world. It’s really an amazing plan of grace, but it takes faith in our relationship with God, in our relationship with Jesus Christ, to begin to move into this God-given plan. So I want you to open your heart today, prepare to receive the word of God. We’re going into this live teaching. I know that you’re gonna be encouraged, and I know that you’re gonna see some things from the scripture that will help you move into the plan and purpose that God has for you from the foundation of the world. Thanks so much, open your heart, receive the good word of God today, blessings. So there is a purpose, there’s a destiny for us, both physically and spiritually. Secondly, as far as our destiny, there is a past aspect, there’s a present aspect, and there’s a future aspect. I want you to turn with me to 2 Timothy 1, some of the most amazing verses that we read in the entirety of the scriptures. These literally amaze me. Now, I’m gonna actually begin reading in verse seven. Paul is actually writing to Timothy, his spiritual son in the faith. And he’s writing from prison. I don’t think we’d have a lot of the New Testament that we have unless Paul was in the prison so much. But while he was in prison, he was busy, amen, writing letters that are still encouraging us today. He says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and of a sound mind.” He was encouraging Timothy. Timothy was actually intimidated because Paul, his mentor, was thrown in jail for preaching the gospel. He said, “God hasn’t given us a spirit of fear, a spirit of intimidation. You don’t wanna be terrorized by the devil, and you don’t wanna be intimidated by the devil or by people in this world. But He’s given us a spirit of power, and love, and a sound mind, a well instructed, corrected mind, a mind that is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created him, a mind mind that is renewed in the word of God. A clean mind, a mind that is self-controlled, a disciplined mind. God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but a power of love and soundness of mind.” Paul says, “Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, His prisoner, but be a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.” The “Bible” says in Psalm, I believe it’s 34 verse 19, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” Amen, keep believing God. Now, verse nine, look at this really closely. “He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works.” The call of God is not about your works. The call of God is about the grace of Jesus. Amen, “But according to His own purpose, God’s purpose and grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began.” There was a purpose for your life, there was a grace for your life before the world began. How many of you ever heard of Robert Trent Jones? I got a few hands, okay. Robert Trent Jones was a great golfer. I recently watched a thing about him. But before he won either three or four world championships in one year, he said, “I just can’t get away from this thing about predestination.” He actually believed that he was predestined by God to be the greatest golfer in the world and to do something that had never been done. Amen, God has a plan for our life. It’s a good one. He’s got a plan for us physically. He’s got a plan for us spiritually. And I believe when you identify with Jesus, number one, you find it in your Creator. But when you identify with Jesus, you begin to move into it. I’m kind of getting ahead of myself. But notice this, so before the foundation of the world, God had this plan, God had this purpose for our lives, right? You see that in verse nine. Verse 10 says, “But now it’s made known, it’s manifest, it’s revealed, by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” So God had this plan from the foundation of the world for our life. It was His purpose and grace. It was in Christ, amen. Secondly, it’s revealed to us today, now in this present time through the gospel of Christ. Now, let’s read a little farther. “Whereunto I’m appointed a preacher, and apostle, and a teacher of the gospel. For which cause I suffer these things, nevertheless, I’m not ashamed,” verse 12, “for I know who I have believed in, and I’m persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed to Him against that day.” That’s the future tense, of the purpose and plan of God for our life. Number one, he said, “God had this plan for us before creation.” “Jesus was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” I believe that’s Revelation 13:8. God had a plan to save you. God had a plan to bless you. God had a plan to help you. God had a plan to make you a blessing before the foundation of the world. He says that, “It’s revealed to us through the gospel,” right? That’s in the present time. But he says, “I’m persuaded He’s able to keep that which I have committed to Him, that aspect of God’s hand, God’s purpose, God’s plan of mind until that day.” So that’s the future aspect of it. Now, let’s look at it, it’s not only that God has a plan, guess what? If you’re gonna walk in the plan of God for your life, if you’re gonna walk in the things of God for your life, you’ve got to believe them. You’re not even gonna get saved if you don’t believe it. “God’s not willing that any perish, but all come to repentance,” 2 Peter 3:9. But if you’re gonna get saved, you gotta believe Jesus. You gotta believe the gospel. Look at verse 13. He says, “Hold fast to the form of sound words, which you have heard of me in faith and in love, which is in Christ Jesus.” In other words, it takes two things for sure to fulfill that. Number one, it takes the grace of God, the love of God. Number two, it takes faith in Jesus. Recently, I had Andrew Wommack, we planned on it for six months, he came here. We recorded six TV broadcasts together. The first three, we talked about the grace of God for our life, for fulfilling God’s plan for our life. The second three, we talked about faith, right? And it takes faith to enter into that that God has planned for you from the foundation of the world. And Andrew Wommack said something, he said, “It’s not automatic.” I said, “That’s fantastic,” because I say that all the time about the will of God. The will of God is not automatic. Entering into God’s plans, God’s purposes, God’s things for your life is not automatic. You’ve got to believe it to receive it. So it takes the grace of God, but it also takes faith. He says, “Hold fast to the form of sound words in faith, and in grace, which is in Christ Jesus.” He says, in verse 14, “That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Ghost that dwells in us.” Not only does it take the grace of God, God’s call, and faith, you’ve gotta believe it, right? But it takes the Holy Ghost. If you’re gonna move into what God has for you, you move into it by the Holy Ghost. Did you know what? If I had never been filled with the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues, most of you in this room wouldn’t even know who I am. But when I was 14 years old, I went to Andrew Wommack’s “Bible” study when almost nobody knew him, praise God. His whole ministry was six “Bible” studies, six nights a week in Southeast Colorado, hallelujah. While I was going to those “Bible” studies, he started on radio. I remember, when I first went, he had one little Marantz cassette deck with a single cassette. He led his own worship with a 12-string guitar. When he got done leading worship, he plugged a mic in to this little Marantz cassette deck. And then, he held the “Bible” like this and started teaching, hallelujah. He was his own worship leader. He was his own sound man. And did you know, they started making tapes because some people wanted these tapes? So they started recording them at one to one time, real time, from one cassette deck to another cassette deck, hallelujah. But praise God, it grew, amen. And it’s grown, and grown, and grown. But thank God. And did you know when I got filled with the Holy Ghost in Andrew’s meetings as a 14-year-old child, I knew immediately that I was called to gospel work? I knew immediately that I was called to preach. I couldn’t tell you the pastor of church, I couldn’t even tell you all the different ministry gifts. But I knew that’s what I was gonna spend my life doing, and God showed me certain aspects of my life in ministry, some that I never even entered into for 25 years. Hallelujah, that was 45, 46 years ago this year actually. Hallelujah, amen. But got filled with the Holy Ghost, and he says, “That good thing, which God has given you, keep.” Did you know I’ve prayed in tongues nearly every day the last 46 years since I got baptized in the Holy Spirit? If I haven’t prayed in tongues every day, it’s nearly every day, amen, praise God. Now I love what the Modern English Version says here. It says this, in the Modern English of verse 14, “Guard the treasure that was committed to you by the Holy Ghost.” There is a treasure that has been committed to you by the Holy Ghost, and you need to guard it. You get it by the Holy Ghost, and you keep it by the Holy Ghost, and you need to guard it. You need to protect it. You know, if it was just all God out here, it wouldn’t be a lot of problems. But it’s not all God. Do you know what? There’s a God who loves you. There’s a God who wants to bless you. There’s a God who wants to help you. But there’s a devil who wants to destroy you. Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve been watching today. We’ve been sharing on “Possessing Our Destiny.” We have a lot more of this teaching available. It’s on our website. It’s free of charge. Downloadable audio, downloadable video. So go there to our website at CharisChristianCenter.com and take advantage of this and many other teachings, blessings. It says some brought forth 30, some 60, some a hundred fold, I believe a hundred fold ground, the ground is talking about our heart. The word is talking about the seed. How many of you know the seed is consistent? The word is consistent, but our heart is what changes. In fact, your heart is producing a harvest. If you don’t like the harvest you’re getting, you gotta change the seed you’re allowing to remain in your heart. Guard the treasure that was committed to you by the Holy Ghost. There is a treasure that has been committed to you by the Holy Ghost, and you need to guard it. You get it by the Holy Ghost, and you keep it by the Holy Ghost, and you need to guard it. You need to protect it. You know, if it was just all God out here, it wouldn’t be a lot of problems. But it’s not all God. Do you know what? There’s a God who loves you. There’s a God who wants to bless you. There’s a God who wants to help you. But there’s a devil who wants to destroy you, amen. So there’s things that God wants you to do, but, number one, you find them through your Creator. You find them secondly in Christ. Then you move into ’em through the Holy Ghost. Praise God, the Holy Ghost will help you fulfill that. Now, you gotta realize, if you’re gonna fulfill what God wants you to fulfill, there’s probably gonna be some problems along the way. For instance, most of you in here know that I fed a few cattle in my life. In fact, the first time I bought any cattle, I was 14 years old, and I bought three calves, about four or 500 pound calves. One of ’em ran away, one of them died, and one of them lived. Now, I had a Baptist preacher friend when we were in Kit Carson, he was in Eads. And anytime something would go wrong in the cattle business, he’d tell me, “Well, it must not be God. You better quit. You better get out of the cattle business. You better quit right now.” Listen, if I quit every time something went wrong in the ministry, I would’ve quit a hundred times by now at least. I don’t quit every time. You know what? Sometimes things going wrong is a sign that you’re on the right track. Sometimes problems are a sign that you’re moving in to the purpose and the plan that God has for you, because the devil doesn’t want you to get it. The devil doesn’t want you to keep it. So you gotta stay in grace, stay in faith, and keep praying in the Holy Ghost, and keep moving forward in your God-given purpose, in your God-given destiny. Amen, hallelujah. Now we find that and we move into it through identifying with Jesus. I want you to turn with me to Ephesians 1, and I wanna read a few verses really quickly to you from Ephesians 1:3-7. Paul’s talking about our new identity in Christ. He says in verse three, “Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Everybody say, “I’m blessed.”

“I’m blessed.”

“By the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth.” Say, “I have everything I need to do everything God called me to do. I have no lack in any area of my life.” You see, that’s the gospel truth, and I can give you a lot of scriptures that show you that if God’s called you to do something, then God’s equipped you to do that. The “Bible” says, “Faithful is He who calls you who also will do it.” Number one, you gotta realize that you’re blessed by the most high God. He says in verse four, “According as He has chosen us in Him,” look at this in verse four, “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love.” Now, if you’re religious, that is a mouthful. Because God chose you, guess what? God made the first choice, that’s foundational. That’s primary. But you have to make the second choice to enter in to what God chose you for. In other words, God chose you by His grace, but you enter what God chose you to do by faith. It’s not automatic, He’s not gonna make you do it. But then it says, “He made you holy and blameless.” I’m holy and I’m blameless in Jesus Christ. That’s good news, amen. So I’m blessed, chosen, holy, blameless. Now look at verse five. Verse five says this, “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will.” I like to say I’m predestined to succeed. Now, some people get mad when you talk about predestination. My personal opinion is, and I think I’m right, no one is predestined to damnation. We’re only predestined to salvation. But you’ve gotta believe it, again, in order to receive it. Now this word predestinated in the Greek is the word proorizo. And it means to predetermine, to decide beforehand, God decreeing from eternity to foreordain or appoint beforehand. So it says He predestined us. I believe we’re predestined to salvation. I believe everybody’s predestined to salvation, but not everybody’s getting saved. Not everybody’s going to heaven. Again, you gotta believe it to receive it. So he says, “Having predestinated to the adoption of children, according to the good pleasure of His will.” This word good pleasure in the Greek is the Greek word eudokia. It means will, choice, goodwill, kind intent. Now, how many of you ever had some good intentions, but they didn’t get followed through with? Benevolence, delight, pleasure, satisfaction, or desire? In other words, I believe that God has a good will. God has a good desire. God has a good plan. But it’s not all up to Him. It’s not automatic. You gotta believe it, number one, to receive it, and you gotta keep moving forward. There’ll be a few roadblocks along the way the devil will throw there to try to stop you from moving into what God has for you, because he knows if you move into it, you are a major danger to his territory. Good pleasure, then the word will, eudokia, thelema, will is thelema in the Greek. It means this, will, desire, pleasure, purpose of God to bless humanity through Christ, what God wishes to be done by us. The commands, precepts, the will, the choice, or inclination, the desire or pleasure. Now, I have a question for you. How many of you wished for something to come to pass in your life? How many of you had some wishes? If you don’t have any wishes, something’s wrong with you, okay? I’m believing, right? I’m not only wishing, but I’m believing for some things to come to pass, right? Now how many of you wished for some good things in your life that have not come to pass? All right, so you haven’t got everything you wished for. You haven’t got everything you believe. I believe the same way with God. He has a good plan. He has a good will. It’s all good, it’s wonderful. He has a good plan for your life, but not everybody is believing to enter into that that God has for them. Amen, so we gotta believe it so we can enter into it. So we’re blessed, we’re chosen, we’re holy, we’re blameless, we’re predestinated to succeed, amen. And he says this in verse six, “To the praise of the glory of His grace.” That term, if you study out in the Greek, means when God looks at you, He sees you in your full potential through the grace of God. You can put that in a number of places in the scriptures, it says the same thing. God sees you in your full potential. The word wherein means to come to a fixed position of rest in the grace of God. When you rest in the grace of God, amen, He makes you accepted in the beloved, amen. The word for accepted is charitos, it’s a form of care, it’s grace, amen. He makes you accepted in the beloved. So I like to say this, “I’m blessed,” right? “I’m chosen, I’m holy, I’m blameless, I’m predestinated to succeed, and I’m accepted in the beloved.” See if you really understand that, it doesn’t matter whether your mama rejected you, your daddy rejected you, your boss rejected you, your school rejected you, your husband rejected you. You know, I had a woman, she came here to this church over 15 years ago. She was talking to me and she said, “I’ve been married for like 42 years, and my husband just has not really accepted me.” I said, “Well, who cares what he thinks?” Now, the church had only been going a few years at that time. She said, “I wish I’d been in this church for 40 years.” I saw her here recently, praise God, amen. Some people are so worried, do you know what? Don’t let anybody else put limits on you and stop you from what God has called you, God has ordained you, to be, amen. Because it doesn’t really matter what they think. What ultimately matters is what Jesus thinks about you. And God has good thoughts, God has a good plan for you, amen. So you are accepted in the beloved. Hallelujah, you need to get that down on the inside of you. Finally, he says in verse seven, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” We’re redeemed from every curse, amen, and we’re forgiven for every sin. So God has a good plan for our life. It begins with our Creator, but it continues through our relationship with God in Christ. God bless you, I love you. Friend, it’s been great to have you with us on the broadcast today. We’ve been talking about possessing our destiny. First of all, we possess our destiny through knowing God. And, secondly, we possess our destiny through our new identity in Christ. You know what? We have these teachings on who we are in Christ. We have these teachings on possessing our destiny. We have them available on our website at CharisChristianCenter.com. They’re available, downloadable audio, downloadable video, and they’re absolutely free of charge. I want you to take advantage of these resources. It’s taken me thousands and thousands of dollars to make them available, but we’re doing it because we love the body of Christ, we love the church, and we want the church, the body of Christ, to move into the things that God has for them. And so go to our website, find those things out, get ahold of them, use them. And if you need prayer today, we have trained prayer ministers that are here, that are ready to receive your calls. Whether you need to receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior, receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, receive healing, or receive any of God’s promises for your life, we’re here, we’re ready to receive your calls, ready to minister to you. So give us a call, we’re waiting to receive those calls today. And I wanna say a great big thank you to our partners, because it’s our partners that make these programs available that are helping us take this message of grace, take this message of faith in Jesus, take this message of the Holy Spirit around the world today. If you wanna partner with us, if you need prayer, give us a call today. We’re here, we’re waiting to receive your calls. Thanks so much, and blessings.

To understand your destiny, you must first know your Creator. In order to step into the good plans that God has for you, it is essential to have a relationship with Jesus. You’re not here by accident. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of “Possessing our Destiny,” a $20 value, free of charge. You can download your copy today by going to CharisChristianCenter.com.

Friends, I’m Pastor Lawson Perdue, from Charis Christian Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and we are celebrating 23 years of the grace of God, the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God, at our anniversary service. My friend and mentor, Andrew Wommack, will be teaching here at the church. We’d love to have you at Charis Christian Center for our 23rd anniversary celebration, blessings. Friend, I invite you to pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is Your Son. I believe that He died for my sins, and You raised Him from the dead on the third day and made Him Lord. And right now, I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Thank you so much for being with us today, blessings.

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