Bulldog Faith Part 2 – Lawson and Barbara Perdue

Praise the Lord Jesus, friends. It’s so good to have you with us today. I believe that God wants you to win in life, I believe that He wants you to win every time, but how can you accomplish that? We’re gonna share on that today. I believe that grace has made it available, but it takes faith to make it a reality, so stay tuned as we talk about Bulldog Faith. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us. God is so good, we have a great message today. We’re actually sharing from one of Barbara’s teachings on Bulldog Faith, and we shared yesterday. If you happened to miss that message, you can go to our website at CharisChristianCenter.com, later, and you can watch it, download it. We got actually hundreds and hundreds of hours of downloadable audio, downloadable video that you can just get to on our website. We’ve got lots of people coming to our website and using these resources. We have a free children’s curriculum. You know, we used a subpar, we hadn’t had a good children’s, a really good children’s curriculum, for 20 years, so I decided we would do one, and so we’ve made it available, and it’s been used, it’s actually in over 50 countries around the world. We got numbers of ministers groups now that are tapping in, we got the first two years of children’s information up there. We’re gonna do another special children’s curriculum, then we’re gonna add a youth curriculum. But praise God, we wanna get the Word in these children. And, you know, we’re sharing on this message, Bulldog Faith, we shared on it yesterday, but we’re gonna be in 2 Timothy 2. But really, Paul is writing to his son Timothy in the faith, and he says, here, “Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.” We’re in 2 Timothy 2:1. And you know what? We want our children to be strong in the grace that is in Jesus. We wanna get this faith from generation to generation as well as from nation to nation.

Amen! That’s a good word. And so, again, like you mentioned, I had a lot of fun teaching this at a special meeting we did in North Carolina, and I was thinking of it, you know, bulldog faith, and we’re talking about reading in the Bible, the scriptures, and getting that, you know, I’m gonna hang on, I’m gonna believe God’s Word no matter what, no matter what the challenging circumstances are, and so today, we’re gonna be looking in 2 Timothy 2, and really, I have it as my, for one of my topics here, I have it in my notes, as, you know, don’t be distracted. The Bible says to endure, but I also have it, you know, don’t be distracted. A lot of times, things can get derailed in our lives because we’re so easily distracted, and sometimes you can even be distracted with good things, just getting busy and forgetting some of the basic things, to spend time in the Word, spend time in prayer and worship, and minister, and worship the Lord. You know, both of us like to get up early, and part of what I like to do is I spend some time in the Word at home, but I like to go walk for several miles, and I’m really just worshiping Him and praising Him. It’s really my time to talk with Him. You can, of course, do that in the home. I just love doing it outside, I’m an outside person, but I just love to worship Him. And even today, we’re talking about how we both got up, and it was dark, and I was actually, like, praying in tongues, and speaking out loud, and praying for specific things, and then all of a sudden, in the dark, I heard someone’s steps, and it was another woman who’s always out there, running, but I was like, she probably cut me in on my worshiping God moment, ’cause I thought, “Oh, it’s dark and no one’s out here,” but there was a few of us out there, and so I thought, “Well, some other people cut in on my time with the Lord.” I was just worshiping Him

Amen.

that the sky was so pretty, or the stars were shining, and, you know-

Well, you know, we got a camera system here at the church, talking about that, and one of my people that works here at the church told me the other day, “Hey, pastor, we saw you out there the other day, just praising God and glorifying God. There was nobody around, and you were just singing, and worshiping, and glorifying God, and shouting, and you know what? I do that.

You do.

I keep myself built up in the Lord.

Amen, amen.

And that’s happened to me at the gym. I was at my gym one time, at 6:00 AM in the morning, and I had already worked out. It opens at 4:45, it was a Sunday morning, and I was in the shower, and I was singing, and I thought nobody was there, you know, it was in the winter, and speaking in tongues , glorifying God, this guy that said, “Hey, that sure sounds good.” Well, anyway, he’s another spirit-filled believer. We’ve become great friends since then, and praise the Lord, he goes to a different church than mine, but he’s a very successful businessman, as we are very successful, not only in ministry but also in business, and I just thought, praise God, you know, you’ve worshiped God and you keep a good attitude, it’ll help you get connected to the right people.

Amen. Why don’t you go ahead and read 2 Timothy 2:1-2. I like what this starts off saying.

So Paul is writing to his son, Timothy, his spiritual son, his son in the faith, and he says, “You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that you have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” You know what, we need some faithful men, we need some faithful women, we need some faithful people. Faithful people can take what they’ve received from the Lord Jesus, take what they’ve received from their mentors in the faith and strong people of faith, and they can impart that to others.

Amen.

And notice what he says, “Be strong in grace.” It takes grace. If you understand grace, that enables you to be strong in faith.

That’s a good word.

Amen.

I like that. I like that. And it goes on in verse 3 and tells us this: “You, therefore, must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Again, I see that “You must endure hardship,” and as we go on, there’s some scriptures here that give some really interesting illustrations, and that’s how I came up with, really, what it’s showing me is don’t be distracted.

Yeah.

It starts comparing these things and these illustrations, which is really saying, don’t be distracted by things in the world.

Yeah, but one thing here also, he says endure hardship. Some people have a false image that when you’re following God and doing what God tells you to do, that you’re never gonna have any hardship, and that is just not true. Paul, after he made a decision to follow Jesus and serve Jesus Christ, there were some difficulties, there were some challenges. And Jesus said this: In John 16:33, he said, “In the world, there shall be tribulation.” There’s gonna be trouble, because we’re in a world that’s been affected by sin and by Satan. Now, this trouble doesn’t come from God, it’s from the world, but at the same point in time, we can overcome the world. He says, “Be of good cheer,

Amen.

for I have overcome the world.”

I also like-

So he says endure hardness.

I also like what the Bible says, “If God be be for us, who can be against us?”

Amen!

You know, that’s a scripture I wrote out and hung up in my locker as a teenager going, you know, to public school, and I just thought, you know, “I’m not alone here, God is with me. God is walking up and down the halls with me, He is with me.” But I have always liked that: If God be for us, who can be against us? But like you said, we’re living in a world that has been affected by sin, not everybody loves the Lord, and Jesus said, “If they hated me, they’re probably gonna hate you if you try this.” Tell us, and you know, we all like to have lots of friends and like to be liked, but sometimes, people are full of the devil, and we can pray for them that they get saved, but, and I do have to tell this story really quick, and we’re gonna get on with the Word

It’s all good.

We have a neighbor, and it’s, you know, every time we’ve moved to somewhere here in Colorado Springs, we’ve only lived in two different homes, but each time, God had a purpose for us to lead our neighbor to Jesus Christ and,

Amen.

and when we moved in this home, we’ve been living there for 13 years now, and we love all of our neighbors, but as we were moving in, one of our next door neighbors asked people, “What’s going on?” and they said, “Well, we’re moving our pastor,” and then this neighbor said, “Well, I hate pastors,” and you know, for 13 years, you know, you just ministered, and he had been hurt, you know, he had really been hurt, and for 13 years, you just ministered the grace and unconditional love of Jesus Christ, and of course, as neighbors, we all loved each other, but he was a little rough around the edges, but recently, he has received Jesus Christ,

Amen.

as his Lord and Savior.

He’s like a different person.

Praise God!

You know, you used to say, “Well, he says three swear words a sentence, and now he’s down to one swear word every two or three paragraphs, praise God, so,

There’s been a-

But there’s a change, and you know that he loved Jesus.

Amen.

Praise God, and so, you know, it takes time to renew your mind, but we love it when the Lord, you know, and some of you may be witnessing to people, and it doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of fruit, but just don’t give up, keep sharing. When you get a opportunity, when God gives you opportunity, keep sharing with them, keep being kind, keep sharing the grace of Jesus.

Amen! Well, I like what you just shared, endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and so it goes on in verse 4, and again, this is 2 Timothy 2:4, and it says, “No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” Boy, we know when you’re talking about going to war or as a soldier, you’re focused on the orders that have been given to you each day,

Right.

and you’re not even thinking about everything else going on in the world.

Right; you know, one of the things, if you study the parable of the sower in Mark 4, one of the things, the seed that was sown on the weedy soil, Jesus said the cares of this life and less of other things “choke the word so it becomes unfruitful.” And you know what, I’m a very busy person, I’m a very productive person, but you have to guard your heart that cares of this life and lust of other things don’t come in, really, and choke the word so the word becomes unproductive or unfruitful in your life.

That’s right, that’s a good word.

So He’s saying the same thing: Don’t get so entangled with other extracurricular things that you don’t keep the basics and you’re not able to please the one that called you as a soldier. And so, you know, there’s different things. And there’s some other scriptures that talk about this. In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul mentions this, and he’s comparing our walk with the Lord as like an athlete, and he says this in 1 Corinthians 9, he says in verse 24 to verse 27, he says, “Know you not, those who run in a race are all running, but only one receives the prize, so run that you may obtain, and every man that strives for excellence is temperate, is controlled in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. I therefore run not as uncertainly I fight not as one who beats the air.” In other words, he says there is a real enemy. “But I keep my body and I bring it under subjection lest by any means, when I’ve preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” So we gotta keep our flesh, we gotta keep ourself under the control of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen. Amen.

Praise God. So Barbara, go ahead and share briefly, and you know, you can feel free to call in during the break for prayer. We have prayer ministers that are here, that are ready to receive your call. If you need prayer, if you wanna become a partner, or anything like that, be sure that you give us a call today.

Amen, well, again, we’re really excited to share this word. We’re gonna take a break here in a little bit, but we have more scriptures to share. If you are wanting prayer, any prayer for anything, please call that number on the screen. And we’re gonna continue after this very short break, we’re gonna continue. I have another scripture I’m excited to share as we come back.

Amen, it’s good, so thanks so much for staying with us. We’ll be back right after this short break. We appreciate you. Blessings! Praise the Lord, friends, I am so glad that you’ve been watching today. We’ve been sharing on Bulldog Faith, and we actually have a lot more to share on this. This is my wife Barbara’s message. I believe it’s one of the best messages that I have ever heard, so go to our website and download these other messages, plus many more, free of charge at CharisChristianCenter.com. Learn to listen to the Holy Ghost and listen to the, I love what Barbara said when she came up today: Turn up the Word and turn down the news. Start believing what the Word says about you, and if you start believing it, you might start, and you better watch what you’re believing, you better watch what you’re saying. You might get it. Friends, it’s great to have you with us, and we’re gonna get right back in the Word, but we’ve been talking about 2 Corinthians, or 2 Timothy, excuse me, 2:1-7, where Paul is telling his son Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Jesus, and take the things that Paul, his spiritual father, imparted to him, and commit those, right, to faithful men who would be able to teach others, and he says if you’re gonna do that, you’ve gotta endure hardness.

And so we shared a couple of scriptures, and I like what you shared in another book and chapter of the Bible, but I’m gonna go on here in verse 5, where it says, “And also, if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules,” and this particular illustration really speaks loud to me. We’re here where a lot of people come train for the Olympics it’s, you know, high altitude, and basically, if you can train and compete here at a very high altitude, low oxygen in the air, you can go anywhere, and so we know a little bit, I mean, I have not trained at an Olympian level, but we know a little bit what this is talking about, what it takes to train at that level, the discipline, and again, it’s, you know, we’re talking about enduring and not being distracted. People who train at these levels are not, you know, maybe distracted. Can I just be funny and kind of make a little joke, not be distracted by that Twinkie.

Yeah.

and you know, it’s-

Well, these high level athletes, you know, these Olympic athletes, they discipline theirselves in the way they eat, the way they sleep, the way they exercise, and you know what, it affects their whole life. You know, 365, 24/7, they are very focused, and I read that scripture from 1 Corinthians 9 before the break, verse 24 to verse 27, where Paul is talking about, you know, there’s many running the race, but only one receives the prize, and if you’re going for the gold, I’m telling you, everyone’s dream, you know, as far as these Olympic athletes, is to obtain the gold. They don’t want silver, they don’t want bronze, they don’t want last place, they want first place, right? So that affects their eating, their sleep, their exercise, nearly every aspect of their life.

And you know, we know the Bible tells us that he who wins souls is wise. You know, we all have giftings and anointings, and we all have this amazing message in us, this light and fire to share with others, to impart to them the good news, we have so much good news, but I like, again, what it’s saying is, you know, stay focused on godly things.

Amen.

Not what’s trending in the culture. I’ve never seen, I’m just gonna be honest, I am not into that reality TV with, like, one, someone else on our staff said, “Well even that’s not reality TV, they’re just all acting,” but I’ve never just seen so much nonsense, and a lot of nonsense that’s really promoting fear, because ultimately, if you study things out, they’re just trying to sell you something.

Right?

But, you know, I like how this is staying focused, stay focused on what the Word of God says,

Yeah.

stay focused on what God has called us to.

Amen. I wanna talk about that, since you brought it up. We shared yesterday in the broadcast about God has not given us a spirit of fear, but there are a lot of people, even in the church and in the body of Christ, that they use fear to sell, and they’re always talking about, you know, the next financial crash, so on and so forth, and I believe that we can use wisdom, and I believe the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom, but I’ve seen some Christians so afraid that while the world is making 10 to 20% on their investments, these Christians are locked in at 1 or 2%, making almost nothing, because they’ve let fear become the motivation rather than faith in God, and I just don’t like it, praise God , and you know, I wanna talk, you’ve been talking about not being distracted If you’re gonna strive for excellence being a athlete, you can’t be distracted as a soldier, you can’t be distracted. So you have a definition that you wrote down in your notes, and it says this: “Having one’s thoughts or attention drawn away. Secondly, harassed, confused, disturbed, especially by strong feelings. You know what? Feelings and faith can be totally different.

That’s true.

Feelings, many times, are emotionally driven while faith is scripturally driven or spiritually driven. Distracted may suggest an inability to concentrate, caused by worry or anxiety. And I’ve seen that happen with people.

And that’s totally the opposite of faith,

Yes, you gotta-

and so you’re not gonna make faith-filled decisions

No, so you gotta stay at faith. You know, I like something that Kenneth E. Hagin, we understand him as Papa Hagin, taught years ago. He had a message on keep the switch of faith turned on,

Amen.

amen.

Don’t be distracted, keep believing God.

Amen.

And you know what? Faith is a long-term, there are things that God spoke to Abraham it took over 25 years. There are things that God showed me when I was first baptized in the Holy Spirit when I was 14 years old that I didn’t even begin to enter into for over 20 years, and so praise God, you know, but we’ve stayed at it, and we haven’t quit, and good things, we have more good things happening in our life than we’ve ever had. It’s faith is an amazing journey. You know, the Lord told me one time, when we started our first church in Kit Carson, Colorado, pioneered it with a group of believers there in a small town, Kit Carson, in Eastern Colorado, you know, we built a church and paid for it in a year. We came here, it was eight years, over eight years, before we bought a piece of property, or just about eight years, and then it was another two before we’d moved into it, so just over nine years before we moved into this property, and so, you know what? And I was praying. After about a year I was walking in Bear Creek Park in the southwest side of Colorado Springs one Saturday afternoon, I was praying to God and praying in the Spirit, and I was asking Him where my church was gonna be, and He’s like, “That’s for Me to know and you not to,” and He is like, “Loss in faith is a journey. Enjoy the trip.” And so sometimes there’s some things that they’ll come, you know, and sometimes we pray for people and we have immediate manifestations. I remember, we have a boy that came here, his parents brought him from another state, and we prayed for this boy, and he was two years old, he had never walked, and we laid hands on him and prayed for him that day, and he went out of here walking,

Praise God.

praise God, supernaturally healed by the power of God. God connected these things in his brain and changed him immediately. So we’ve seen things that happen immediately, and yet we’ve seen things that take years, that we’ve believed God for years and years, but you know what? We just keep believing what God said.

Amen. That’s good.

Hallelujah.

That’s really good. We have time to, I wanna share another scripture and get your perspective to this. It says, “The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops,”

Yeah.

and so I think of, you know, farming is definitely by faith.

Yeah.

You get the ground ready, you put the seeds in there, and sometimes things happen that, you know, you weren’t planning on regarding weather-related instances, but, you know, the hardworking farmer, I like what it says, hardworking farmer

Right.

must be first to partake of the crops

Right.

“Consider what I say and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.”

So we’re in 2 Timothy 2, and Barbara just read verse 6 and 7, and Paul’s talking about don’t be distracted, right? Continue, you know, taking the things I’ve taught you, sharing them, and he’s saying you gotta be like a soldier, like an athlete, like a farmer. Now, I was raised in Southeast Colorado, I was raised in agriculture, so I was raised, you know, growing things, right, and we had livestock, cattle, horses, you know, chickens, hogs, sheep.

But you just mentioned something, too, that really goes along with this particular illustration that there’s things that were spoken over you, but it didn’t come to pass for 20 years. I’m thinking of a lot of times, regarding farming, sometimes those crop, you work really hard, but you might not get a harvest till a year later.

Right, well, this is the deal; the average person in agriculture only makes money about one in every three years, so you’ve gotta learn how to manage very, very well, and you’ve gotta be very disciplined and diligent or, and the expenses are very high. And I had one of my friends in Chicago, he was a preacher in Chicago, and he said, “Well, I just always see these rich farmers driving their new trucks,” and I said, “That’s ’cause all the rest of them went broke.” And I had this mentor while we were in Southeast Colorado while we pastored, and I actually was in the cattle business, and we grew that thing. We were in it in a very large way. I’ve actually personally taken millions of dollars of debt, and, you know, fed over 35,000 head of cattle over time, and did, you know, and we’ve made a lot more money than we lost, but this guy, he had a eighth grade education, and he was a multimillionaire, and he would give me really good advice, but he said, “I remember I’d be out there driving that tractor and it’d be 11 o’clock at night, or 11:30, and I’d see the lights on and all my friends in there playing softball, and I’d think, “What am I doing wrong?” And he said, “Then,” he said, “when things got tough, I bought up all their farms.” And you know what? There’s something about hard work and diligence, just staying at it, that you don’t quit, and you know what? If you’ll just stay at it and not quit, good things come to those who pass the test of time.

That’s a good word.

You know, we call it seed time and harvest, and some seeds take longer than others to grow .

It’s really good,

gestation period. We can see in the, in the Bible, it really encourages us in that in-between time. I think that’s really what we’re really wanting to encourage people today in that in-between time from A to B,

Amen.

you know, don’t become faint-hearted, don’t lose heart, you know, keep yourself stirred up. Praying in the gifts of the Holy Spirit, there’s something powerful.

Just keep believing the Word, keep praying in the Spirit, Stay in the Word of God, stay in fellowship, keep some good godly people around you

Amen

that’ll help encourage you, help you get to the finish line, Amen.

But there’s something powerful when we receive that baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that it encourages us, in a way of exhortation.

Right.

You know, there’s numerous scriptures that talk about that, and I know our daughter-in-law, Heather, Pastor Heather, who’s here helping us, she’s like, she really believes you shouldn’t even live in these times without receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit,

Amen.

that it’s so important to receive that gift. Again, we’re talking about being baptized in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues that we see here in 2 Timothy, and staying stirred up, and understanding, like, what you talked about earlier in this program, we used the word distracted, but the Bible’s saying, endure, you need to endure, but ultimately, we know that God is with us, He sent Jesus Christ His Son, that we could receive Him as our personal Lord and Savior, that He removes our,

Amen,

our sins away from us and he took stripes on His back

Amen.

for our healing so we can live an amazing, strong, powerful, effective life,

Amen.

sharing this amazing news with everyone whose paths we come across, and praise the Lord-

You know, we’re talking about bulldog faith, and this was just, you know, I just had this come into my mind, but the Bible says in the Book of Jude that you build up your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost, and that is a promise to believers. You must be born again to receive the Holy Spirit, but that’s a promise to believers, and when you pray in the Holy Ghost, when you pray in the Spirit, you can build up your most holy faith. And if you haven’t received that gift, we wanna encourage you to call in and receive prayer. Also, if you’d like to become a partner or you’d like to have more information, give us a call today.

Announcer Are you ready to strengthen your faith like never before? Pastor Barbara’s “Bulldog Faith” series teaches you how to hold on to God’s promises, overcome challenges, and live victoriously. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of “Bulldog Faith,” a $25 value, free of charge. Don’t miss this opportunity to grow in your faith and experience God’s power in your life. Visit CharisChristianCenter.com today.

Friends, in the last few months, we have heard from over 50 nations in the world. People from all around the world are downloading our curriculum, our syllabus, our downloadable audio and downloadable video teachings, our confession cards, and all of these great teaching materials, and you can go receive it too at CharisChristianCenter.com. Receive these resources and be blessed. Hey, everyone, I wanna invite you today to subscribe to the Charis Christian Center YouTube channel, where you can get hundreds of hours of teaching and different materials absolutely free. We live-stream all of our services there. And so check it out, Charis Christian Center on the YouTube channel. Thanks so much, and have an awesome day.

Announcer 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.”