Divine Imagination Part 2 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue

Hey, everyone. get ready for a great teaching on the divine imagination. Today we’re gonna be sharing from my son Aaron’s teaching on the divine imagination leads you into victory. Don’t forget to tell your friends about the broadcast because they need this teaching, and it will help them and you walk in the victory that God has for you. Blessings. I’m so glad that you’re with us today, and I’m so happy to have Aaron, and we’re teaching on his series on divine imagination. Did you know what, your imagination can work for you or against you. And if you use it the way God wants you to use it, it’ll begin to work for you and not against you.

Amen. And when you tap into the imagination, the way that God wants you to use it, it’s gonna lead you to victory.

Amen.

I love just reading these great stories of victory throughout the Bible, and one of my favorites is the story of

David and Goliath.

I love David.

And David and Goliath, he never fought in a battle up until that moment, but I know his imagination was working the way that God wanted it to work. In the account here in 1 Samuel 17, this is after David had been anointed to be king by the prophet, by Samuel. And it kind of surprised Samuel. God told Samuel, “Don’t just look on the outward appearance, for I look at the heart.” So there’s something different about God’s heart, about David’s heart. The heart, again, that’s where the imagination is. That’s your soul, that’s your mind, your will, your emotions, your dreams, the inner part of you. And so he was anointed to be king, but no one really believed it. I don’t even know if Samuel necessarily believed it, ’cause he thought all the other brothers, the first seven should have been the ones. And then they were all kind of surprised when David, who was the runt of the family, was anointed. They left him out taking care of the sheep in the back forty.

But there is something different about his heart, and your imagination is part of your heart. It’s part of your soul. So there’s this battle going on with the Philistines, and Jesse, this is 1 Samuel 17:7, Told his son David to go to his brothers to take them some supplies, take this ephah of dried grain, these 10 loaves. “Run to your brothers at the camp. Carry these 10 cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers fare, and bring back news of them.” Now, Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah fighting with the Philistines. So David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with the keeper, and took the things, went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the camp as the army was going out to fight and shouting for the battle. For Israel and the Philistines had drawn up in battle array, army against army. It says David left his supplies in the hand of the supply keeper, ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers. Then as he talked with them, there was the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, coming up from the armies of the Philistines, and he spoke according to the same words. So David heard them. Words are really powerful. Words are a weapon, and words can actually cut to the soul.

Your words come outta your heart. Jesus said out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

And death and life are in the power of the tongue. They that love it will eat the fruit thereof. So all the men of Israel heard Goliath talking. It said when they saw him, they fled from him and were dreadfully afraid. So their imaginations were working in a negative direction.

Right.

They heard these words. They just saw Goliath and they became afraid. They were just imagining themselves dying, and they were fearful. So the man of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel. And it shall be that the man who kills him, the king will enrich with great riches, will give him his daughter and give his father’s house exemption from taxes in Israel.” So there’s something really positive to imagine, not having to pay taxes, being filthy rich, and just having this princess gifted to you. So David, his imagination started working in a positive direction. A pessimist… Well, this is actually a quote from Winston Churchill. A pessimist is gonna see the difficulty in every opportunity, but an optimist is gonna see the opportunity in every difficulty.

Amen.

So there are a lot of pessimists. There are thousands of pessimists there, but David saw this great opportunity. Hey, I’m not just gonna be the runt anymore. I’m not just gonna be keeping the sheep. I’m not just gonna be looked down upon. I could be rich. I can have this princess to marry, and I can be exempt from taxes. And only that, he probably imagined people paying him taxes. That’s a good end to be on. So David spoke to the man who stood by him saying, “What shall be done?” He couldn’t believe it. Say that again? And they answered him again. This is what’s gonna happen. Now, verse 28. Eliab. When you’re tapping into the divine imagination, it’s gonna offend people. When you’re thinking positive. When you’re thinking, man, sometimes the devil can actually talk through people that yield to him. that wanna be stuck in their pessimistic attitude, that wanna be stuck in their fear, that wanna be stuck where they’re at. The devil can speak through people who kinda yielded their thoughts to the way he wants them to think. So verse 28, Eliab, his oldest brother, heard when he spoke to the man. It said Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here and with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness?” So he’s saying, “You don’t even have that many sheep. You just have a few.”

David is actually operating in the anointing of God on his life. The anointing will cause you to see things differently.

To think differently.

The anointing will cause you to believe differently, to speak differently, but it’s offensive to his brother. The same exact thing happened with Joseph and his brothers. Here comes this dreamer. When you’re dreaming the dreams of God, when you’re seeing from the perspective of God, when you’re really believing God, that can be offensive to religious people.

And it’s interesting what Eliab says when he’s offended here. He says, “I know your pride and the insolence of your heart.” He’s questioning the heart of David, but God said about David to Samuel, “Don’t look at the out outward appearance. I’m gonna see his heart.” And David is called a person who’s a man after God’s own heart. But this is where the enemy was kinda speaking through someone. “I know your pride. I know the insolence of your heart for you’ve come down to see the battle.” He’s just saying, “You just came down here to be entertained.” And it really wasn’t that entertaining. There wasn’t anything going on. If you wanna see a good battle, if you wanna watch a good war movie, there’s gonna be some action. This was the most inaction of any battle ever at this point. And David just said, “What have I done now? Is there not a cause?” He says, “We have a cause, we have a purpose.”

Lawson Amen.

“What are you a bunch of chickens doing?” There were thousands upon thousands of Israeli soldiers that they might address the part, they might have looked like the part, but they were… In the inner man, they weren’t warriors, and David didn’t look like a warrior. He was ruddy. He was young. He never fought before. He was inexperienced and didn’t have any armor, but he went up and told Saul, “I wanna go fight this guy. Let me do it. If no one else will do it, I’ll do it.” And Saul actually tried to put his own armor on David. Well, maybe he can fake it till he makes it. He doesn’t look like a warrior, but maybe if we put this really top of the line gear on him, maybe he’ll stand a chance.

You know what, if you don’t deal with the inward man, if you don’t deal with the soul, it don’t matter what you do to the outward man. It’s not gonna change the condition of your heart, and that’s what you’re really talking about, the condition of your heart. And you know what, you’ve gotta get your spirit dealt with in your relationship with God. And you’ve gotta begin to renew your mind and begin to see things from God’s perspective so you can begin to move into God’s plans and purposes. I know locally we got some people that, they have good intentions, they’re believers, we’ve elected some of them to school boards, and yet they get nothing done because they’ve got a lot of fear in their heart. And really what was paralyzing the rest of Israel was they were afraid, but David was not afraid because the anointing of God was on him, and the anointing of God caused him to see things in a different way, caused him to talk differently, to act differently, to think differently. The anointing of God will change you.

God is gonna use whoever He can.

Right.

And sometimes… You’re talking about politics. We’ve elected lots of Christian leaders to the federal government. Planned Parenthood is still funded by the federal government, but now you know that Trump’s been elected. He’s appointed two nonbelievers, Elon Musk and Vivek to run the Department of Governmental Efficiency. And one of their first things on their chop list is Planned Parenthood.

Glory to God. Amen.

So, God, He needs to use some people who just aren’t a bunch of chickens.

Amen.

And David. David, he speaks up to Saul in verse 32, here in 1 Samuel 17:32. He said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him.” He’s saying this is a heart thing. This is an imagination thing. He said, “your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him for you or a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.” David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep. And when a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, delivered the lamb from its mouth. And when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard and struck and killed it.”

What are you doing when no one’s watching? I pastored in the wilderness, I pastored in Kit Carson, Colorado. It’s a town of about 300 people, a little bit less than that, in a county of just over 2,000 people that covers 2,400 square miles. There’s less than one person per square mile in that county. But when nobody was watching, I was spending time in the word, I was spending time with God, I was spending time working and serving the people of God. And God saw my heart. And you know what, God promoted me. And that’s what happened with David. He was out in the back forty when nobody was watching, when nobody knew what he was doing, when you would think that nobody cared. And there came a lion and there came a bear, and he went after him. You know what, because he cared about the situation.

Well, he could have said “Hey, this lamb, it’s not even my lamb. It’s my dad’s and my dad doesn’t even care about me. I’m just gonna let it. I’m not gonna do anything about this.” But he said, “I killed these things.” And he said, “Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear.” And he said, “This Philistine is gonna be the same way.” He was imagining-

Amen.

What I did to this lion, what I did to the bear. he’s now imagining what he’s gonna do to Goliath.

Amen.

I’m gonna grab him by the beard and rip his head off, that’s what he was imagining.

Amen, praise God.

So we’re gonna take a brief break right now. You wanna stay tuned. Your imagination leads you to victory. If you need prayer during this break, you’re welcome to call us. If you wanna call and even make a donation, you’re welcome to give us a call as well, but we’ll see right after this brief break.

Friends, we’ve been sharing today on the divine imagination, and we have this entire teaching online downloadable audio, downloadable video, absolutely free of charge. We actually have hundreds of hours of this, plus syllabuses, plus children’s curriculum, all of this free of charge. Go to our website, Charis Christian Center, and get it. The world has tried to change the value of what is truth. So what is truth? Jesus is the embodiment of truth. Jesus said in John 14:6. “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by me.” Friend, I’m so glad that you stayed with us, and I’ve got Aaron here. We’re talking about how our imagination leads us into victory. I’ve had a lot of victory, but God works with my imagination. I’ve had a lot of victory in the, you know what, in the financial realm, but you gotta begin to dream something. You gotta begin to think something. We used that scripture earlier this week, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” And if God can get to work in the air of your soul, and you can begin to dream His dreams and see what He wants you to see, you can begin to move by faith into what grace has provided for you. You can begin to move into the victory of God. You need to begin to see yourself healed, see yourself blessed, see yourself prospering like never before. See yourself walking in the good things of God. And if you can see it, I believe you can possess it.

And David, when he fought Goliath, before he fought him, he was imagining that victory. He was imagining what it would be like to have that victory, to have the spoils of that war. It was promised that whoever killed Goliath would, be exempt from taxes, would get great riches, would be able to marry the princess, Saul’s daughter. So he was imagining these things. And when he was talking to Saul, saying, “I wanna go out and fight Goliath,” he told Saul, “I fought a lion, I fought a bear when they came to attack these sheep. I would grab ’em by the beard. I’m not afraid.” And he was imagining what it would be like to fight Goliath. “I’m gonna grab him by the beard. I’m gonna kill him.” He said in 1 Samuel 17:36, “Your servant has killed both lion and bear, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them.” So he was imagining what it would be like.

Why, because he has defied the armies of the living God.

It all went back to purpose. When his brother Eliab was saying, “Your heart is wrong. You’re full of pride. You’re insolent.” He said, “Is there not a cause?” If you don’t have purpose, if you don’t have cause, if you don’t know who you are, who God has made you to be, your imagination isn’t gonna work the right way.

And where was David’s trust? Read verse 37. David said, “Moreover, the Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion.” He knew God delivered him. He knew this wasn’t by his strength, his power, his ability, naturally. “And out of the paw of the bear, he’s gonna deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine.” And Saul said, “David, go, and the Lord be with you.”

Yeah, and it says in verse 38 that Saul clothed David with his own armor. David had never fought before. He didn’t have armor. He didn’t have any formal training in war. So it says that Saul clothed him. “He’s probably trying to fake it. Well, at least make him look like he’s a warrior.” Clothed him with his armor, put on his bronze helmet on his head. He also clothed him with the coat of mail. Bronze, at the time, was cutting edge technology. There’s the Iron Age. There’s the Bronze Age. He’s putting on him the cutting edge technology. I actually went to Israel, and the historian that that led us on a tour kinda talked about the Philistines, that they were ahead in terms of technology. The Israelites were still kinda stuck back in the Iron Age. And the Philistines, they thought they came from Greece, came across the sea, the Mesopotamia, or the Mediterranean Sea, and were more in advanced technology. They were in the Bronze Age. So Saul had this advanced technology. But verse 39 said David fastened that sword to his arm and tried to walk, for he not tested them, and David just said to him, “I cannot walk with these. I’ve not tested them.” So David took them off. You just need to use what God gave you. You might see someone else maybe in your field, in your career, in your neighborhood, and say, “Well, I need to have that to be successful.” To do what God has called you to do, He’s given you everything that you have need of to do what he’s called you to do.

You need to be who you are and do what God’s called you to do, and use the tools that God’s given you. We’re anointed in different ways. And David couldn’t be Saul. So David, he’s like, “I haven’t proved this.” What are you doing again? What are you doing in the back forty? What are you doing when nobody’s watching? And if you’ll spend time with God… Years ago, one of my mentors very close to me came to me while we pastored and Kit Carson. And he said, “You need to spend a lot of time in the word and in different things because,” he’s like, “there’s gonna come a day that’s so busy you’re not gonna have time like you have now.” And I can tell you, that day’s here. I’ve been here for about 15 years in that day. And you know what, I have a lot of demands on my time, and I still get up every day, and I go to the gym, and I work out, and then I come back. I go generally 4:35 o’clock to the gym. I come back and I sit down before I do anything else. And I drink a cup of coffee, and I read the scripture, and I spend time with God. I spend time in fellowship with God. You gotta let your relationship with God. You were talking about how important it is to take a dated dream and think. One of my mentors used to take one day a week and he would walk around the mountain and talk to God. He’s kinda non-religious about prayer and things, but I call that praying. But he would just dream and imagine, and now he’s doing these amazing things. It’s because he’s got this divine imagination. He’s got it working at a very high level, and we can get the divine imagination working in our life in a very high level.

So David, he wouldn’t wear Saul’s armor, even though he was the best armor available to him. He wouldn’t wear it. He was gonna be who he’s gonna be. Years ago, I did my master’s and doctorate in classical music at Rice University. And when I went to church there, God led me to go to Lakewood Church where Joel Osteen was the pastor. And he told a story when he first started pastoring, he’d actually only preached one time in his entire life before his dad had passed away, and he ended up preaching every Sunday and eventually became the head pastor. But until that time, which is really wild, to step into being the head pastor of a church of 10,000 people, he’d only preached one time. But when he first started pastoring, he was very nervous, and he wanted to be like his father, John Osteen. So he said, for several months, he would actually wear his dad’s shoes every Sunday morning when he preached. And he said he’d try to preach and try to do it just like his dad, but eventually God told him, “You need to wear your own shoes and you need to be who you are. You need to preach how you’re comfortable.” There’s kind of a shift in how he tried to minister, and the church grew a lot, and he was just very nervous about just trying to maintain ’cause his parents spent-

He did a fantastic job. I remember when John Osteen first died. And John Osteen, great man of faith, very bold, very outspoken. I’ve had a couple people tell me I’m like Pastor John. I’m like, wow, what a compliment. And people tell me, I’m like Lester Sumrall. Your mom said that. Andrew’s mama told me that. What a compliment. But we ultimately need to be who we are. And sometimes Joel’s got some criticism because he is who he is. But I had Frank Summerall, Dr. Lester Summerall’s oldest son tell me years ago. He said Joel is a lot like his mama. And if he’d try to be like his dad, he wouldn’t be being who he is, so that’s who he is. So don’t criticize somebody for being who they are. We need to realize God anoints different people in different ways, and they get things accomplished in different ways. And so David went out there and he said, “Listen, I haven’t proved this stuff, Saul, you keep it.” If he would’ve went out there with Saul’s armor, Goliath would’ve ate his lunch. David couldn’t have moved fast enough in that stuff to do anything. But he didn’t He left it there. Now you can go ahead with the story.

Yeah, so here in a verse 42, he comes out to battle here, and all he had was a sling and five stones. Verse 42, it said, when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him for he was only a youth, ruddy, and good-looking. So he didn’t have any battle scars yet, maybe just a couple scars from zits or something. He was just a teenager. Verse 43, it said the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And I’m sure David got excited when he was hearing this ’cause he knows there is one true God.

Yeah.

And this isn’t just a battle between flesh and blood, but there’s something spiritual going on here. And David was able to see beyond what he was just looking at-

He talked back to his enemy.

In the natural. And he talked back. You should never run at your giant with your mouth closed.

Amen. And you need to learn how to talk back to the devil. When the devil tries to intimidate you, trash talk you, you trash talk him. When the devil tries to tell you about your past failures, you tell him about his future, Buddy, you’re gonna spend your future in the lake of fire while I’m worshiping Jesus.

So on verse 45, David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with the sword and with the spear With the javelin, but,” he said, “I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts.” That’s the name for the God of angel armies. “The God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied.” So David knew this wasn’t just a battle between flesh and blood, but this is a battle between the one true God and false gods. Verse 46, “This day, the Lord will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you and take your head from you. This day, I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.”

Lawson Praise God.

And he said, all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.

Amen.

So he imagined this. He imagined this great shift, this great victory, this great testimony to all those cowards that were there.

Amen. And here it says David, he did exactly what he said, he prevailed over the Philistine with the sling in a stone. After he did that, he took Saul’s sword out of Saul’s hand, and he chopped off his head. And then David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put Saul’s armor in his tent. And after that, you know what, he went from victory to victory to victory. He got a picture. He was dreaming about victory. He got a picture on the inside of him so big of victory that it was hard to defeat David. And David brought Israel into great victory and great success. And if you begin to use your imagination the way God wants you to use it, and you begin to see things from God’s perspective, you can move into the victory that God has for you. There truly is victory in Jesus. There is victory through faith. The Bible says this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith, in 1 John 5:4-5. And if you’re born again, you were made victorious when you’re born again, and you need to believe it so you can receive it.

Yeah, and this teaching on the divine imagination, it’s actually a very important teaching, a very big teaching. If you’re just joining us today, I’d encourage you to watch other days, watch yesterday, watch other episodes of this, because this is a big struggle for a lot of people in their imagination, and God wants to affect you there. So I’d encourage you to go to our website to watch the entire series. It’ll change your life. God wants to affect your imagination. He wants to give you his divine imagination. So thank you so much for joining us today. If you need prayer, give us a call. If you’d like to become a partner, just thank you to all of our partners, but just give us a call if you’d like to make a gift or become a partner today. God loves you. See you again soon.

Announcer God’s plan for you is greater than you can imagine, and God wants to bring peace and purpose to every part of your life. In Pastor Aaron’s series, “The Divine Imagination,” he reveals how understanding your divine imagination can unlock the incredible destiny God has for you. Get your copy of this audio and video download free of charge when you go to charischristiancenter.com today.

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