Ephesians: Destined to Win In Christ! Part 8 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue – 12/09/24

Praise the Lord friends, welcome to the broadcast. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in. We’re gonna be talking about living like God wants you to live in this world. You know what? We’ve not only received Jesus, we don’t only have Jesus living in us. We need to let Jesus live his life through us. And when you do that, friends, you’re gonna be able to make a difference with those around you, blessings. Friends, it’s great to have you with us today. We’ve been sharing on the book of Ephesians, and we began in the first three chapters of Ephesians talking about that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that we’re blessed with all spiritual blessings, that we are forgiven for every sin, that we’re holy, that we’re blameless, that we’re accepted in the beloved, that we’re predestined to succeed, that we’re redeemed from every curse. That is powerful and that’s what Paul talks about. But when you get an understanding of that, it changes how you walk. And so the last few programs we’ve been talking about the way that we walk, and he says in Ephesians 4:1, “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith your call,” when you understand that you have a God-given purpose, it gives you a reason to walk differently. Then he says, don’t walk as other unbelievers walk in the vanity of your mind, but renew your mind in the word. There are a lot of Christians that even though they’ve been born again, and Jesus is living in them, they really don’t know what the word says. And if you never renew your mind in the Word, you’re gonna be severely limited in accomplishing what God wants you to accomplish here on the earth. And then he goes on and talks about walking in love. There’s really only two New Testament commandments for believers. Number one is believe on Jesus. And number two is love one another as Christ has loved you. 1 John 3 talks about that at the end of the chapter, but Romans 8 or 10, excuse me, verse, Romans 13, I’m gonna get it right. Romans 13:10 says this, that, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” And so we need to, number one, believe on Jesus. But number two, walk in love. And you can’t love your neighbor and lie about him. You can’t love your neighbor and commit adultery with his wife. You can’t love your neighbor and steal from him. You can’t love your neighbor and bear false witness. You’ve got to, and so he says, number one, we need to walk like we have a purpose. Number two, we need to walk as believers walk, renew our mind. Number three, we need to walk in love. But then he moves into this in Ephesians 5:8 and I love this verse. He says, “You were sometimes darkness,” that’s who you were. But now you are light in the Lord, walk as children of the light. When you understand who you are, it changes how you walk.

Yeah, and it’s as different as darkness to light.

Amen.

And I like that earlier in Ephesians, he was talking about going from darkness to light but now it actually also affects how we walk. We walked in darkness, now we walk in light.

Amen.

Were brought from darkness and brought to light, but now we walk in the light.

1 John, John the Apostle talked about this in 1 John 1 he says this, I’m gonna turn over there and just read several verses of this, 1 John 1:5-7, but he say, “This then is the message that we heard of him of Jesus. And we declare to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Jesus and walk in darkness, we are lying and not telling the truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus Christ, his son, cleanses us from all sin.” Man, if we walk in the light as Jesus is the light, we have fellowship. It promotes unity in the body, and we’re being cleansed from all sin.

And really just to walk in the light, you need to be doing what the word of God says.

Amen.

I was talking to, I have a 10-year-old son, and we’re talking just on the way to school this morning about hearing from God.

Right.

And I actually asked a lot of our youth here, “Who has a hard time hearing from God?” And a lot of ’em raised their hands. But I asked them like, “Well, who reads their Bible every day?” Not many of ’em read their Bible every day. If you wanna hear from God, you gotta spend time in his word. And I was telling my, my son this the Bible says that God’s word is a lamp unto our feet. And it’s hard to walk in the light if you don’t have that lamp of the word of God. So if you really want want to walk the way that God wants you to walk, go where he’s calling you to go, hear from him, you need to spend time on a regular basis in the word of God.

Mom and I taught all of you boys, you and your two brothers when you were children, we had you reading a chapter of the Bible every day. If you read one chapter of the New Testament every day, like five days a week, you’ll read through the New Testament in a year. And we would we just, and you not only did that, but you saw us do that. Your mother is always spending time worshiping God, always spending time in the word. And the word will minister to you. I was thinking about these scriptures, Aaron, you’re talking about talking to the youth and children about reading the word. And I know you have your son, Fisher, he is just 10 right now as we’re recording this broadcast. And you have Fisher and Fisher, you have him reading the word and taking notes and learning from what he reads. You took it up a step from where we were. But the scripture says this in Psalm 119:9-11, “How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed to the word. With my whole heart, I sought you, let me not wander from your commands. Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.” If you don’t wanna live in sin, you need to get in the word of God. If you wanna walk in the light, you need to get in the word of God. And the word gives us direction for life. I like that you brought out the word’s a lamp to our feet and a light in our pathway. Ephesians 5:9 says, “For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness, righteousness and truth.” He says in verse 10, “Proving what is acceptable to the Lord.” If it’s not good, right, and true, you don’t need to be involved in it as a believer. There’s a lot of darkness in the world, but we don’t have to be overtaken by darkness. The light that is in us is stronger than the darkness in the world. The Bible talks about Jesus, it says, “In him was life,” in John 1, “And the life was the light of men. And the light shined in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” A lot of people talk about how thick the darkness, how powerful the darkness. But you know what? The light of God in you, the light of Christ in you is greater than the darkness of the world, but you gotta let your light shine. And he says, “Walk in the light. Prove out what is acceptable, walk out what is acceptable.” He goes on and says this in Ephesians 5:11, or 11, “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them or expose them for it’s a shame even to speak of those things that are done by them in secret. But all things that are approved are manifest, are revealed by the light for whatever does make manifest as light. Wherefore,” he says, “Awake you who sleep and arise from the dead and Christ shall give you light.”

A lot of people are trying to make things right, find the truth, set things right. They’re looking for justice. But if you’re doing that apart from Christ, apart from the light of Christ, there’s still gonna be a lot of confusion, a lot of darkness and not real truth happening.

Amen.

There, and a lot of the world wants to make things right in their own eyes. But if you’re doing it apart from Christ, it’s not true justice. It’s not true righteousness. So a lot of people do really need to wake up.

Amen, I was thinking of another scripture. Psalm 119:130 says, “The entrance of the word gives life and gives understanding to the simple.” I’m telling you the word is the truth, the word is the light. Jesus said this in John 17:17 and what he was praying, he was praying for his disciples. And then he was praying for those who would believe on him through his disciples’ word. And he said, “I’m not praying that you’d take them out of the world, but you’d keep them from the evil.” And then he says this in John 17:17, “Sanctify them, set them apart through thy truth. Thy word is truth.” So the way that we’re set apart from the world is through the word of God. Man, the word of God will make you stand out from the world. The word of God will make you set apart from the world. The word of God is what makes the difference. We need the word of God in our life.

So I like going on here, I believe we’re in verse 15. “See then that you walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.” So he’s talking about you need to, every day you’re alive, it’s important. Time is really an important resource that we have,

Right.

It’s very limited, and it’s just very central that we take every day we’re alive very seriously.

Right. And so he says, “Walk circumspectly.” When you walk circumspectly, and we’ll have to come back in the last part of the broadcast and talk about this a little bit. But when you walk circumspectly, when a Jewish person saw their circumcision, it said a couple of things. Number one, it said, “Now I am marked out by God. Number two, it said, “I’m favored by God.” Number three, it said, “I am a covenant child of God.” And so we need to walk like those who are marked out by God. We need to walk like those who are favored by God. And we need to walk like those who are covenant children of the most high God. And so we shouldn’t be walking like the rest of the world. We shouldn’t be walking around just stumbling through the darkness, hoping to God we make it. But we ought to be walking as the children of God. We ought to be walking in the light, walking in love, walking in the truth. We ought to be demonstrating, demonstrating Jesus the living word to this world.

And he goes on and says, “Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” So we’re to understand what the will of the Lord is. Where do we find what the will of the Lord is?

In the Word.

In the Word of God. A lot of people are wondering, what’s God’s will? What’s his desire? And we are to understand it. That’s actually an instruction in scripture, we are to understand what the will of the Lord is.

Again, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to thy word. Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. With my whole heart have I sought thee, oh my God,” David says, “Let me not wander from your commands.” Man, we need the word of God to give this instruction. We need the word of God to shine light on the situation and the spirit of God that brings revelation to the word of God. So if you’re watching this broadcast, if you need prayer, feel free to call in during the break. We would love to hear from you. And we’re gonna be back in just a few seconds to continue teaching here in Ephesians 5 on how to walk this out.

Hi friends, we’ve been teaching from the book of Ephesians, and I’ve just written a new book from the book of Ephesians that I’ve wanted to do for years, “Destined to Win”, breakthrough revelation from the book of Ephesians. You’ll wanna get this book, and we’re gonna offer this book actually free to anyone who calls in and becomes a new partner this week, blessings.

I got a word from God. A lot of believers want Shazam, and a lot of times the things of the kingdom of God aren’t Shazam. Jesus said, everything operates according to the parable of the sower, the kingdom. How many of you know the devil is the enemy of the word? Because he knows if you get ahold of the word of God, the word of God is literally gonna change your life.

Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us and stayed with us. We’re talking about living out the gospel. Jesus lives in you, let him live through you. And really in the first three chapters of Ephesians, Paul’s talking about who we are, what we have in Christ, that we’re forgiven, that we’re redeemed, that we’re blessed, that we’re chosen, that we’re sanctified, that we’re holy, that we’re blameless, all these wonderful things, that we’re accepted in God’s family, that we’re seated in heavenly places in Christ. But here in Ephesians 4 and 5, he begins to talk us, talk to us about now that you have these things, now that you know who you are and what you have, here’s how you walk, walk worthy of your vocation that you’re called with as a believer. Ephesians 4:1, walk like you have a purpose from God. Then he says, secondly, “Walk,” he says, “Not like the world walks, not as other gentiles walk and the futility and the emptiness of their mind.” But he says, “Renew your mind in the word of God and live like a believer, put on Jesus.” Then he says, “Walk in love as God loved us.” Finally, he says, “Walk in the light as he is in the light.” And then he says this, the fifth thing, five aspects about our walk. “See that you walk circumspectly,” walk like a covenant person. Walk like I have a covenant with God. Walk like I am favored with God, amen. Walk like I am marked out by God. Here in Colorado Springs, we have something that, and the people there walk very differently. It affects their whole life. It’s the US Olympic Training Center, and you know what? People who are training to be an Olympic athlete, they sleep differently, they eat differently, they exercise differently. It affects their whole life. And Paul talks about that with us as believers in 1 Corinthians 6. And he says, “Listen, don’t fight like one who’s beating the air, but run, fight to win. Run that you might obtain the gold.” And I might have quoted the wrong chapter there, 1 Corinthians, it might be 1 Corinthians 9, but Paul makes those statements, and we should not be living like those in the world. In fact, Aaron, once you go to 1 Corinthians 9, and read this in verse 24 through verse 27, Paul’s talking about how he walked. We walk in a different way.

He says, “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run, thus not with uncertainty, thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

It’s a long time since I heard somebody preach on that. That’s really the truth. We shouldn’t be just wandering around, meandering around aimlessly without goals, without a purpose, without a focus. We need to be focused, praise God. And that’s what he said, since this is who you are in Ephesians 1, 2, and 3, since you’re seated in heavenly places in Christ, since you are blessed, since you are forgiven forever, since you are accepted in the beloved, it changes how you live. Walk with purpose. Walk as believers, renewing your mind in the word, walk in love, walk in the light, and then walk like those that are marked out by God.

I like too, just that competitive aspect here 1 Corinthians 9, like wanting to get the prize, he said that.

Amen.

There’s one that receives the prize. I was reading through Genesis recently and I was reading through the genealogies and just everyone’s different ages, and I saw everyone kind of knows who the oldest person on earth was and that was,

Methuselah.

And he lived to be,

969 years old.

Do you know who was the second oldest person?

No,

It was Jared who lived to be 962.

Wow.

So that’s quite a long time, he almost beat Methuselah. But no one, even Pastor Lawson, who has the Bible memorized, knows who came in second place for living the longest. It was Jared, he lived 962. Everyone, there’s that one prize. So we need to live like you want that first place. No one cares about second, no one remembers second. And with Jesus, you will win that prize. You’ll be number one.

Amen, so the last thing he says is not only walk in love, but he says, “Walk circumspectly not as fools, but as wise.” Walk like those who are want obtain the prize. He says, “If you’re gonna do that, you’ve gotta redeem, you’ve gotta buy up the time for the days of evil.” That word redeem means purchase or buy up. We’ve been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. We’ve been bought by the blood of Jesus. We’ve been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. I like to think when it’s like a mega sale, man, mama wants to go and she wants to be there, and she wants to get some stuff. She wants to buy it up, you need to buy up the time. You need to be wise with your time. You need to use your time for productive things.

So many people, you know what they, they think, “Well, I don’t have enough money, and I don’t know,” but they’re wasting their time. They’re playing video games. They’re messing around on their phones, doing all kinds of social media junk, going places they don’t need to be and they wonder why their life’s a mess. Well, turn it around, you have the power, praise God. Jesus is living in you as a believer. He said, “Because the days are evil.” You know what, if you don’t get involved in good, you’ll get involved in evil. So you need to be involved, actively employed, doing the right thing. Unemployed people tend to do that that is illicit, immoral, and illegal. Get employed in the kingdom of God. Apply yourself to the things of God. Apply yourself to being who God wants you to be, doing what God wants you to do. Praise God, apply yourself. I just can’t stand this attitude just sloughing through life. Just not in me, not a bit.

Yeah, purpose is so important. I think just that aspect to want to win, that aspect to want to live with purpose, to do something that matters, to want to be remembered, that kind of competitive. Everyone likes people who are top in what they do. Whether it be a musician, a singer, an athlete, and believers should have that desire to succeed and to be excellent and to make an impact.

Amen, so he said, “Buy up the time, the days are evil, don’t be unwise,” he says in verse 17, Ephesians 5:17, “But understanding what the will of God is.” Man, find out what God wants you to do and get after it. Focus on it. You know what? Daniel lived in a time when the world was crazy, but Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the things that the king’s servants were eating. Why? Because he had a covenant with God. You have a covenant with God. Live like it, live like who you are. Begin to find out your God-given purpose and press into those things. Paul says, this one thing I do in Philippians 3, “I forget about the things that are behind me.” Man, if you’ve sinned, get over it, forget it. We all have, let it go, go forward. He says, “I forget about the things that are behind me, and I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” And so he says, “Don’t be unwise. Understand the will of God, move into it. Don’t be drunk with wine when there’s excess.” Don’t be getting drunk. Don’t be living like the world. He says, “But be filled with the spirit.” Be constantly filled with the spirit. We need to be constantly. If you study it out in the Greek, that’s what it says. If you don’t like it, it’s not my fault. He says, “Speaking to yourself,” talk to yourself. You might act a little different, amen? I’m constantly speaking to myself. He says, “How do you do it? In Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” We need to be singing to the Lord. We need to be glorifying God. What is a psalm? It’s something that glorifies God. Just something that comes out of our spirit that’s magnifying God. What’s a hymn? It’s talking about redemption. It’s talking about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, the greatness of God, the magnificence of God, the creation, all these different things, spiritual songs. What’s a spirit? When you get a song in the spirit and you’re just being encouraged? Sometimes God will just give you a little song in the spirit. I sing these things, man, I sing to myself. I glorify God, magnify God. He says, “Always singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Man, there ought to be a joy about us as believers. He says, “Giving thanks always for all things to God.” You can give thanks to God for every good thing in your life. So many people just mad all the time, sad all the time. Start giving thanks. Start looking at what you have and not what you don’t have. “And the Father in the name of Jesus, and submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God,” wow.

A lot of people don’t like that word submit.

Oh, they hate it.

Yeah. Yeah and it’s not a very popular word today, but that means to me, that word means you’re not always gonna get it your way. That’s right, a lot of people, here in America, I know this broadcast goes all around the world, but America it’s actually a very amazing country. Like you can get whatever you want for a pretty cheap price and really fast. A lot of people, they expect what they want really quickly and have it done. My youngest brother,

Yeah.

Is the COO of Burger King, the Chief operating Officer of Burger King. So he tries to make sure all these thousands and thousands of stores around the world, people can get what they want really fast for a good deal. And their motto is, have it your way.

Right

But that’s.

You rule.

That is not the motto for the church. That is not the motto for the Kingdom of Christ. And you’re not always gonna have it your way.

Amen.

Sometimes you’re gonna have to submit, sometimes you’re gonna be wrong, sometimes you’re not perfect.

Right.

We talked about that, how he gave some to be apostles and prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers for the perfecting,

For the maturing.

Maturing of the saints. So I’m here, we’re here because people aren’t perfect.

Right.

And we also need pastors and apostles in our lives to help mature us as well.

Right, we need people to speak to us. We need people that we’re submitted to. And I willingly submit myself to certain people. And I once told Andrew Wommack this years and years ago, and he said, I already know that.

And people have a problem submitting, this is the root issue. It says, “Submit to one another in the fear of God.” The root issue is that they don’t trust God.

Right.

They’re trying to take their life in their own control. “I’m always right, no one can, I don’t trust anyone. I’m not in relationship with anyone.” Really, it comes back down to your own personal walk with the Lord.

Yes and I asked this question at staff meeting today, who can tell you no? Man, you need somebody in your life that can tell you no, You probably need more than one. And so we’re gonna talk about where we walk this out in the next two broadcasts. And you know what? We walk it out in relationships. And so if you don’t have an attitude of submission, you’re not gonna be good at relationships. So if you need prayer, if you want a partner, give us a call. We’d love to hear from you, blessings.

Narrator When Jesus saved you, your destiny changed completely. He radically transformed us and brought us from death to life, from sin to righteousness, and from defeat to victory. Discover these life-changing truths in Pastor Lawson’s eight part teaching, “Destined to Win”, a $40 value yours free today. Download ’em 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 eighth. We’re gonna have Cathy Duplantis as one of our special speakers, my daughter-in-Law, Pastor Heather will be here, Pastor Lawson Purdue, 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.

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.

Narrator 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”.