Goodness of God Part 3 – Lawson Perdue – 11/18/2024

Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today and tuned in. I’m gonna be sharing on the goodness of God. We’ve talked about the goodness of God in creation, and we’re gonna talk about the goodness of God revealed in the promises of God. You know, the scripture says, all the promises of God in him or in Christ are yes and amen to the glory of God by us. God gets glory when we walk in his promises. We can do that when we understand his goodness. I want to continue to share about the goodness of God. We talked about, you know, how God, you know, said that he is good. He revealed, that’s what he spoke about himself. And we talked about His goodness is revealed, we’re gonna talk a little bit more about that tonight, in his covenant, through his promises, and his goodness is revealed to us in the person of Jesus. Amen? Barry Bennett recently made this statement about, he said, “I studied faith for years,” but you know, he had a near death experience. The doctor said he was within 24 hours of dying. And basically God raised him up from that and spared his life. But Barry said since then, he has been studying more on the goodness of God. And he said, “Studying the goodness of God has done more for building my faith, amen, than anything I’ve ever done.” So when you get a revelation of the goodness of God, I believe it changes your life. And we’re gonna start tonight, just one scripture from 1 Chronicles 16 verse 34. And this is David, and they were recovering the Ark of the Covenant. And he said, he began to praise God and said, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his mercy endures forever.” Praise God. You know, when they were bringing that Ark back, it was coming back. They were preparing a place for it. It was coming back into Jerusalem, amen? And it’s the Ark of the Covenant. You know, a lot of times when we talk about the dedication of the temple, remember when they dedicated the temple and everybody talks about how they were praising God and the glory came in? You know, when the glory came in, the glory came in when they put the Ark of the Covenant where it belonged. That’s what they were celebrating. And if you look at this a little bit, scientists have this theory that at one time all the continents were connected and there’s this floating continent theory. I believe it because the Bible says in Genesis 10, verse 25, that, “In the days of Peleg, the Earth was divided.” So if you put the continents back together, at the center of the continents is Israel. And at the center of Israel is Jerusalem. And at the center of Jerusalem is the Temple Mount. And at the center of the temple Mount is the holy place. And at the center of the holy place is the most holy place. And at the center of the most holy place is the Ark of the Covenant. And at the center of the Ark of the Covenant is the covenant. The covenant is the center of the universe, spiritually speaking. God created everything by his Word. He spoke it into existence. He created heaven and earth by his Word. He spoke it into existence. And if God’s Word were to fail, everything that we see would dissolve. Everything is held in store by the Word of God. So the Word of God is the center of the universe, spiritually speaking. And what caused the glory to come in really when they were dedicating the temple was that the Ark of the Covenant was placed in its proper place. And that was central to their worship. It was central to Israel. And when you get the Word of God in its proper place, did you know what? It’s central to our worship. And it’s central to the covenant. You begin to think about this, our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And the Bible says this in 1 Peter 1, verse 23, “That we’re born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that is living and abiding forever.” And just like that temple in the old covenant, outer court was like the flesh, the holy place was like the soul. Had three parts in it which represent the mind, the will, and the emotions. The table of showbread. We had three things, had the candlesticks and the altar. And that represents, when you study out, the mind and the will and the emotions, and the most holy place represents the spirit. God dwelt in the temple. You know, when Israel traveled, they took the Ark and they carried it before ’em and they were led. A fire by day, God is a consuming fire, or a fire by night, God is a consuming fire and a cloud by day, that was the glory of God that was leading them. Well, when you’re born again, you are born of the spirit of God. And you’re born again by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that’s living and abiding. And what happened when you got born again is you believed the Word and the Word came into your spirit and you became a absolutely new creation in Christ. Amen? So every one of you, when you begin to understand what happened when you got born again, amen? You know what? You don’t lack anything in the realm of the spirit. If you could just get ahold of it and begin to release what’s already been given to you, it’ll literally change your life. 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 3 says this, it says, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” You have everything that pertains to life and godliness through the knowledge of him. And that word knowledge in the Greek is not talking about a head knowledge, it’s talking about a personal relationship. It’s talking about a relationship with Jesus through the knowledge of him who called you to glory and virtuous. Then says in verse four, “Whereby or through this relationship with Jesus are given to us exceeding great and precious promises.” When you’re born again, you’ve got everything you need in your spirit. The grace of God has already provided everything, but through your relationship with Jesus are given to you exceeding great and precious promises. What is your attitude toward the Word of God? “That by these you might partake of the divine nature.” When you start believing the Word and acting on the Word and speak in the Word, it’s like you partake of the divine nature, amen? He says that, “By these you might partake of the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in this world through lust or through Adam’s sin.” There is a principle of death that entered the world when Adam sinned, and it’s still going on. But when you get born again, you’ve got a principle of life that’s working in you until the day Jesus comes again. And if you’ll just let the Word of God work, amen, and believe it, praise God, you’ve got the life of God. You just turned that situation around from death to life. Amen. So the Word of God is the center of the universe, spiritually speaking. But when you got born again in your spirit, the Word of God is alive. And the Word of God is powerful. And if you’ll start believing it and realizing what’s in you, it’ll turn your life around. Amen? Now, when we begin to think about this, and as they were bringing that ark back to Jerusalem and putting it in its proper place, to prepare a place, did you know what? David said, “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good and his mercy endures forever.” In other words he was saying, “Praise the Lord for his goodness.” How many of you have praised the Lord for his goodness? Did you know I love praising God for his goodness? Just something happens, you know, when you start praising God for his goodness. And so he says, “Praise the Lord, for he is good, and his mercy endures forever.” He says these same things again in Psalm 106:1. He says, “Praise the Lord, O give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.” And then in Psalm 107, he says that same thing in verse one, but he goes through some of these covenant blessings that we have in redemption. And so in Psalm 107, if you want to turn there, David says this in verse one. “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.” Then in verse two, he says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, who he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” You know, you can’t really give thanks to the Lord and, you know, say that he’s good and his mercy endures forever if you don’t start saying some things. Praise God. Recently, I was talking to a couple that come here and they just love this church, but they say, “We know these people that criticize you and they criticize you because you’re always talking about what God’s done.” And they said, “It seems like you’re boasting.” And I’m gonna show you this in the scripture if I have time tonight. But you know what, if you’re not doing that and if you’re criticizing someone that is glorifying God and praising God and magnifying God, you know what? You are in pride and you need to repent. You know, I’m constantly talking about the goodness of God. I am constantly blessing and praising God. You know, a couple years ago I was in my gym, and I was there Sunday morning. I go there at 4:45, they unlock the doors. And I go there a lot of days at 4:45, between then and 6:00. But anyway, that Sunday morning, I’d usually get there Sunday morning at 4:45 and I work out. But after I got done working out, I went and I was in the shower. And I was in the shower and I was just, nobody is in that place Sunday morning at 5:36 AM, you know? And I was there since 4:45 when the doors opened. And I was just speaking in tongues and worshiping God and glorifying God and praising Jesus. And then I heard this voice and this guy said, “Man, that sounds good to me!” Hallelujah. Well, we became friends. And did you know, I found out he goes to another church. It’s Assembly God Church. But he is a good man and he loves God and he is blessed. And you know, I’m good. I’m just constantly praising God and thanking God. And you know, he was gone over the winter to Arizona. He has a place there and he’s a super blessed guy. But he told me the other day, he said, “You know what? I’m a lot like you.” And he said, “I’m always praising God and thanking God like you are.” And I’d told him some of the things that God had done for us. And I heard that he had heart trouble. So I asked him the other day and he said, “Yeah, I have.” I said, “Well, can I pray for you?” And he said yeah. And I just reached around him and I just prayed for him and I spoke to his heart and I commanded his blood to flow and his heart to be strong in the name of Jesus. And man, he’s receiving it. So every day I’ve been seeing him since then, I’m like, “Your heart is strong and your blood is flowing well and you are healthy.” He’s about 78 or something. “And you are healthy and strong.” He said, “Yes, I am!” He’s agreeing with me. But he said, “You know what, I’m a lot like you. And I’m praising God and glorifying God.” And I was telling him something the other day, and he said, you know, he owns some buildings downtown, office buildings downtown Colorado Springs. And he said, “One of my renters moved out so I decided I need to put new LED lighting in there.” And he said the day that they were supposed to put it in, the one guy came and he said, “I hadn’t even given him the bid or anything and he showed up to install.” He said, “Oh no, the other guy’s supposed to put these in. He’s got the bid.” And at the same time, the other guy showed up. So the other guy said, “No, just let him install ’em.” And he said, “Okay, you can install ’em.” He said, “This guy charged me about just a little over half of what the other guy was gonna charge me to install all those LEDs in my office building.” And he said it was a significant savings. And he said, “You know, I’m just like you. God blesses me all the time.” And he tells me how he’s blessed. He told me the other day how he got saved. He went to visit his girlfriend after he had made a bunch of money building some huge feedlots up by Greeley. He’s a concrete guy. And he went to visit her in California. He said, “She prayed for me to receive Jesus and then laid hands on me and I got filled with the Holy Ghost.” And he said, “I was coming back with my friend in his pickup truck, and I was just speaking in tongues and glorifying God.” My friend said, “Man, I wish you’d stop that!” But he said, “I’ve been speaking in tongues ever since that.” He was about 20 some years old. Praise God, this man is blessed. But he says, “I’m a lot like you, you know, and I’m always talking about the blessing of God and the goodness of God.” You know, if it offends you, if somebody is saying how they’re blessed of the Lord and how God is good, you are proud and you need to get over it! And you need to start rejoicing with those who rejoice and start glorifying God. And if you start doing that, did you know what? You’ll start getting some of that blessing coming your way. It says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so! You need to say some things, praise God. Hi friends, we’ve been sharing on the goodness of God. And we’ve got these teachings and many others like them absolutely free of charge on our website at charischristiancenter.com. They’re downloadable audio, downloadable video. And we also have a great kids curriculum free of charge. Thanks so much. We’re back to the Word, blessings.

I’ve been redeemed from the curse. So that means I’m re redeemed from death. I’m redeemed from slavery. I’m redeemed from sickness. And I’m redeemed from poverty. And I just am so thankful to be here, to learn these kind of things, because I’ve never been taught this before.

When you look at this scripture, he says he makes the storm a calm. So the waves, sometimes we go through storms. But he says, “The waves are still, then they’re glad because they’re quiet.” When I got around to Andrew, you know, Andrew was preaching on this at the Summer Family Bible Conference, and I was up there. And I might preach on this coming up. But John chapter 14, verse one, Jesus was telling his disciples how to live between here and there. And the very first thing that he says is, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God.” Believe also, you know what? When we believe in God, we don’t have to let our heart be troubled, Pastor Lawson. Amen? We can chill out, we can get over it. Hallelujah. Amen! So he says, “O, that men would praise the Lord.” He says, “They’re glad because they’re quiet. He brings them to their desired haven. He’s the one who gets us where he wants to go.” He says, “Oh, that we would praise him for his goodness and wonderful works to the children of men.” Let’s jump on down there to verse 38. Says this, “He blesses them also so they’re multiplied greatly and suffers not their cattle to decrease.” Glory to God. You know, one winter I went through a deal when I had a lot of cattle. And I lost a lot of money. I had about over $3 million borrowed between the feedlots and the banks. I had about 3,500 head of cattle all together, growing and on feed. And we had the blizzard of a century in Lamar, Colorado. I had 2,500 cattle in the feedlots in Lamar. And it snowed overnight 36 inches and blew over 60 mile an hour. They had 15 foot drifts in the town of Lamar, Colorado. I thought I was, I didn’t know where I was gonna be for a while. I had some good friends, said, “Lawson, it’s really good that you didn’t go absolutely broke.” And that was the truth. But you know what I did? I found this scripture and I put this scripture up on my mirror in my bathroom. “He blesses them also so they’re multiplied greatly, and he suffers not their cattle to decrease.” Now, did you know what? Everything in the natural looked like I was decreasing. But I put the Word up there and I believed it. I also found the scriptures in Proverbs that says if a thief is found, he’s gotta repay seven times. And I know who the thief is. So I said, “Devil, you gotta give that back. Not one time, you gotta give it back seven times.” And you know, I lost about $1/4 million and I’ve got it back over seven times. It took me a few years, but I never quit believing. I just keep believing. I never quit believing. He says again, “They’re diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He pours contempt on princes,” in verse 40, “And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way.” But then he says this in verse 41, “Yet he sets the poor on high from affliction and makes him families like a flock.” Praise God. You know what? When you believe the Lord, it doesn’t matter where you start out. How many of you are glad, where you end up’s a lot more important than where you start out? “The righteous, they will see it and rejoice. And all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Who is wise and will observe these things, even they will understand the loving kindness of the Lord.” Hallelujah. How many of you thank God for his, that word, in loving kindness, by the way, in the Hebrew is, Mark Hankins preached a whole message on this. Has said, and it’s amazing, it was a fantastic message. But it’s talking about mercy, kindness, loving kindness, goodness and favor. It’s really an Old Testament equivalent to understanding and getting a revelation of the love of God. Amen? And it’s used hundreds of times in the Old Testament. And if you get a revelation of his loving kindness, his mercy, his goodness, his favor, it’ll change your life. And so he says, “Give thanks to the Lord for he’s good and his mercy endures forever. Thank God for the blessings of redemption. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” How many of you’re still saying, “I’m redeemed by the blood. I’m blessed by the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth. Thank God, I’m healed, I’m healthy, I’m strong, I’m well.” Amen? “I have everything I need to do everything God called me to do. I have no lack in any area of my life.” How many of you still saying what God’s done for you? He set me free from all the enemy’s power. He’s delivered me. Hallelujah. Keep saying what God says about you. Now I’m gonna share just a little bit more. Turn to Psalm 34. And I’m gonna end, I’m not gonna finish up what I had, but I’m gonna go just a little bit farther in Psalm 34. He says this in verse one of Psalm 34, “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” We ought to be continually blessing the Lord. Amen. We need to be like my friend at the gym. He said, “Pastor, I’m a lot like you. I’m always talking about the blessing of God. I’m always talking about the goodness of God. I’m always talking about how good God’s been to me.” He said, “My soul will make her boast in the Lord. The humble will hear thereof and be glad.” Yeah, these people got mad at me ’cause they said, “Pastor Lawson, it’s like he’s boasting.” Well, he says right here, we’re gonna boast in the Lord and humble people are gonna hear about it and be glad. When somebody’s talking about the blessing of God and the goodness of God and the good thing, you ought to get happy with ’em!

Amen!

Amen. You ought to go join the party. “Oh, magnify the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together.” You know what? We need to be magnifying God. We need to be exalting God. We need to be making God big. “I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked at him and they were lightened. Their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved him,” out of how many of his troubles?

All.

All of his troubles! How many of you ever got in trouble? Hallelujah. I see some faces out there. Hallelujah. “He saves us out of all of our troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps round about those who fear him and delivers them.” Now, here’s where I wanted to get with this. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusts,” you know what? You need to taste and see that the Lord is good. You need to experience the goodness of God. You know, there’s a lot of people, they’ve never really tasted and seen. They don’t really know who God is. Amen. You know, after I got done at the gym, I went a little bit later than usual yesterday. And then I went out to the pool, still pretty early in the morning. And there was this lady, I know her from the neighborhood and she’s swimming. And I know she’s had some liberal political signs in her yard and different things. And so she was asking me when we were swimming, she says, “What kind of a church do you pastor?” I said, “Well, it’s a charismatic, kind of charismatic Baptist-type church.” I said, “We teach on grace, but we believe in the full Gospel and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” She didn’t know what that is. But just a little bit before that, I’d been in the entryway and they were asking me something like that. And I said, well, this. I said, well, you know, I said, “I got saved in the Fringe Church.” Hallelujah. And I said, “And then I got water baptized at the Church of God outta Anderson, Indiana,” the non-Spirit filled. And my grandparents helped start that church in Lamar, Colorado. And then I got baptized of the Holy Spirit and called to preach in the Bible study. Hallelujah. Then I got licensed to preach in the Assemblies of God. And I said, “And now I pastor church, it’s just non-denominational.” I said, “Then I went to, you know, a different Bible school, just non-denominational.” So I said, “I pastor a non-denominational church.” But I said, “Even when I was a kid, I had a Catholic babysitter for a while in Florence, Colorado for about three years.” And their names were the Lombardis. And they were Catholics, you know? So the Catholic priest came and he sprinkled grandpa. And while he was there, he sprinkled me. I said, “Well, I’ve even been sprinkled by the Catholics.” And they said, “Well, I guess that covers it all.” I said, “Yeah, Jesus covers it all.”

Amen.

Amen. Jesus, everybody say Jesus.

Jesus!

Jesus covers it all. And I had a crowd, they were all listening. Amen? So I shared about the goodness of God, amen? Jesus covers it all. It’s all really about Jesus, isn’t it? But he says taste, we need to taste. But anyway, when I was out in the pool, this lady, she asked me about the church. And I kind of told her that same story. And then she said, “Well, we really need to pray for our country.” And I said, “Oh, I am. We need to pray for our country. I’m praying for our country.” And I knew she’s on the wrong side, but she doesn’t know what side I’m on. And so she said, I tell you, she said, “If Trump gets elected, we’re gonna lose our democracy.” And I thought, how blind can you be? You know, this is what I really thought. But I’ve seen her there and you know, I’m always nice to her. I’m always kind to her. You know what? Because she needs to get to know Jesus. And maybe one day I’m gonna have the opportunity to lead her to know Jesus. Because I just told her that little story. And I said, you know, they were asking me that just in the door just a while ago. And I said, “Jesus covers it all.” I said, “Jesus covers it all.” And I said, yeah, we need to pray for our country. And I said, you know, we’ve had some good Democrat leaders in the past. It’s been way past. I didn’t tell her how long. And I said, “We’ve had some good Republican leaders.” But I said, “We really need somebody that cares for the people of the United States and does what’s best.” And then I said, “And by the way, I’m on the other side than you.” So I did let her know. Amen? But you know, we can be kind. But I told Barbara, I said, “When these people don’t know God, they are just so blind.” But you know what, they need to taste and see. You know, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve been with us today. We’ve been sharing on the goodness of God revealed in his promises. You know what? God gets glory when we walk in his promises, not just sit in the premises. And when you begin to understand the goodness of God, you can receive God’s goodness in your life, receive his healing, receive his promises in every area. If you need prayer, be sure and give us a call today. Thanks so much for watching and tell your friends about the broadcast.

Faith isn’t complicated. It’s simply trusting God by knowing who he truly is. God is absolutely good. Like Daniel did, who stood strong against the odds, you can live in victory no matter the challenge. God’s goodness is running after you. Discover these life-changing truths in Pastor Lawson’s teachings, “Spirit of Excellence, Lessons from Daniel” and “The Goodness of God”, both $20 values, yours free today. Download them now at charischristiancenter.com.

Did you know God has good plans for you? I wanna encourage you to save the date for our Rejoice Women’s Conference. We’ll be meeting February 6th through the 8th. We’re gonna have Cathy Duplantis as one of our special speakers, my daughter-in-Law Pastor Heather will be here, Pastor Lawson Perdue. Bring your daughters, bring your granddaughters, bring your friends. Come hang out with us for a special time of worship and teaching how God has good plans for you. Everyone is welcome. See you there.

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