Have Faith, Doubt Not Part 4 – Lawson Perdue
Have Faith Doubt Not Part 4
Have Faith Doubt Not part 4 from Pastor Lawson Perdue. On this episode of Grace For Today, Pastor Lawson concludes his series on faith. To operate in great faith you need to understand your God-given authority.
Destined to Win
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. Pastor Lawson goes through the book of Ephesians in detail and shows us exactly why we are destined to win. We are no longer fighting to be overcomers, we are made victorious through Jesus and any weapon formed against us will not prosper! Jesus came to give us life and have that life more abundantly! Because of God and his great love, we are destined to win!
Have Faith Doubt Not Part 4 Transcript
Praise the Lord, friends. I am so glad that you are tuned in today. This is my last day to be sharing on Have Faith and Doubt Not, and we’ll be actually talking about keys to great faith. And if you’re gonna operate in great faith, you’ve got to begin to understand your God-given authority. I am convinced that a majority of the body of Christ, those people who are born again, do not understand their God-given authority. So open your heart and receive God’s good Word today. Blessings. Praise the Lord, friends. I am so glad that you’re here today. We are talking about Have Faith Doubt Not, and this is actually our last program in four weeks of programs where we’ve been talking about faith. We talked about the Spirit of Faith. We talked about World Changing Faith. We talked about Four Keys to Faith, and then we’re talking all of this week about Have Faith and Doubt Not. Did you know, as a believer, you do not have a faith problem? You have all the faith that you need. The challenge is operating in that faith, using the faith that you have. You know, the disciples came to Jesus in Luke 17, and the disciples said, “Lord, increase our faith.” And this is in Luke chapter 17, verse five. “And Jesus said, ‘If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed.'” It is not a aspect of you having more faith. Well, you say, “Pastor, the Word of God talks about great faith. It also talks about little faith.” Yes, and I may get to one of those instances where it talks about, but a person of a great faith is a person who’s learned to use the faith that they have. And a person of little faith is a person that doesn’t know how to use the faith that you have. You know, as a believer, when you’re born again, you have the exact same spirit as Jesus Christ. According to Romans chapter eight, verse 11, “The spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwells in you and quickens your mortal body.” So you have the spirit of Jesus. According to Galatians five, verse 22 and verse 23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.” You know, when the scripture says faith there, that is the great word. It’s talking about faith. You have the faith of Jesus. You have the spirit of Christ in you. And the fruit of the Spirit is faith. So you have the faith of Jesus in you. But the challenge is many people have not learned, as born again believers, how to use their faith. And so there’s a challenge with using their faith. And so when the disciples came to Jesus, the apostles here in Luke 17:5, and said, “Lord, increase our faith,” the Lord said, “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this sycamine tree.” Do you know, this is how faith is released. Faith is released through our words, “Be thou plucked up by the root and be planted in the sea, and it should obey you.” But he says, “Which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle,” and Jesus likens faith to having a servant, to having someone work for you, “will say unto him by and by, when he’s come from the field, go and sit down at meat? And would not rather say to him, ‘Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird yourself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunk; and afterwards you will eat and drink?'” In other words, Jesus said, man, when you have a servant, your servant does what you tell him. Praise God it wasn’t like in this world, where the servants of the past in this modern crazy world. I mean, if you had a servant in those days, your servant did what you told them, or they were let go. And Jesus said, when you have a servant and you come in, your servant comes in from doing whatever you told him to do last, if you tell your servant, you go prepare me a meal and feed me, and then you take care of yourself, your servant will obey you. And he says faith essentially is your servant. And your faith will obey you. Faith is like your servant. And so he says, “Does he thank the servant?” in verse nine, “because he did the things that were commanded.” I think not. You know what? If you have somebody that’s working for you, and they do what they’re told, you don’t thank him. You don’t have to thank him. Now, many times I tell people who work for me, “Thanks, and I appreciate you,” but you don’t have to. Why? Because that’s what they’re expected. They’re getting paid to do a job. And he says, “So likewise, when you have done all those things which are commanded you, say we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which is our duty to do.” Faith will do what you use your faith for, what you tell it to do. And many times people in the, born again people, believing people, saved people, are not using their faith, and they’re not getting a lot accomplished. And it’s because they just haven’t believed. You know what? I am believing God today for more than I’ve ever believed him before. Now, I have believed. I have received a lot of things, and you know what? I constantly believe God. I constantly put myself in a place where I believe God. I have to believe God many times to pay the payroll the next week. And I’ll, you know what? It’s not like I would have to put myself there, but I’ll give away money. I’ll invest money. I’ll do different things like I’ve gotta believe God, and if it doesn’t come, you know what, I’m stuck, but you know what? God, I’ve seen God come through for me over and over and over again. Do you know what? Faith in God works. And you know what? When we moved to Colorado Springs, Barbara and I moved here to start a church in 2001. We had almost no people and almost no money, but we had faith, and you know what? We started believing God. And today, I am sitting in a property. The tax valuation on this property that we’re in is over $22 million. And it’s completely paid for. And you know what? Not only that, we have investments, and we are looking forward to the next great thing that God gives, great opportunity that God gives Charis Christian Center, and even that, we are giving all the time. We never quit giving. Every year that we’ve been here, we’ve been here for 21 years as I’m recording this broadcast, pastoring this church that we started, and did you know what? When we started, we only had two families. We had one blind man, Mike Peterson, and his wife, Mary, and we had Greg Trapp, who was a bachelor, he grew up in my church, and Kit Carson, and Greg married Kim. Barbara said the church doubled. And thank God they’ve been with us for 21 years. But the church has grown, and we have over a thousand families call this church home. But you know what? It has been supernatural how God has blessed us and helped us. And there are other pastors and people I know who say, “We wish we were like Pastor Lawson.” Well, use your faith. Praise God, put it out there. But the whole time that we’ve been here, we’ve given between 10 and 27% of our income away. And you know what? God has blessed us. God has helped us. And you know what? If you’ll use your faith, you know, God is not a respecter of persons. He’s only a respecter of faith. And you know what? If it’ll work for me, it’ll work for you. And it may not work it in the same specific area, if God hasn’t called you. I believe in the call of God, and I believe there’s certain things that God has called certain people to do, and he maybe hasn’t called other people to do. So, you know, you have to be obedient to God. You have to follow God and walk in that that he’s given you. But at the same point in time, you know what? You need to use your faith and operate in these things that God gives us. Now, we’re gonna look at another instance of how faith works. And this is in Matthew chapter eight, beginning in verse five, and we’ll read on down through verse 13 eventually. “When Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came to him a centurion,” this was a Roman ruler. He was a ruler of over 50 or 100 people. And he said, “‘Lord, my servant lies at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormenting. My servant’s sick.’ Jesus said, ‘I will come and heal him.'” So Jesus is really stepping forth. “And the centurion answered him and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that you would come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.'” Now, most people would’ve just said, “Jesus, come.” But this man, this shows true humility. He says, “I’m not worthy that you come under my roof.” But see, this man understood authority. He said, “Speak the word only.” If you want your faith to work, you gotta speak the word only. “Keep speaking the word, keep saying what God says, for I am a man under authority.” In other words, this man understood authority. See, he was under authority. He had either 50 or 100 soldiers under him as a centurion. And he says, “And I have soldiers under me. Not only am I under authority, but I have people under my authority.” And I say to this man, “Go,” and he goes. Do you know what? When you understand authority, your faith will work. Praise God. It’s pretty hard to operate in faith without an understanding of authority. And I would like to say that there is a majority of the body of Christ of people who are born again, who have received Jesus Christ as their Savior, who have very little understanding of their God-given authority. And so he says, “I’m a man under authority, and I say to soldiers under me, I say to this man, ‘Go,’ and he goes. I give the command and they obey to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this’, and he does it.” This man understood authority. Do you know what? If you’re gonna operate in great faith, you’re gonna have to understand authority. “And when Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to them who followed, ‘Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith known not in Israel.'” Now we looked at an instance in Matthew chapter 14, where Jesus told his disciples, “Oh, ye of little faith.” And he said, “Oh, ye of little faith, why did you doubt?” But here he says, this Roman centurion, this was not a man who traveled with Jesus. He probably hadn’t heard very many of the teachings of Jesus. And yet, this man understood authority, and Jesus said, “‘I have not seen so great of faith, no, not in all of Israel. And I say unto you, that many will come from the east and west.'” This is Matthew eight, verse 11. “‘And sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ And Jesus said to the centurion, ‘Go your way as you believe. So be it done unto you,’ and his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. His servant was cured, was made well the selfsame hour. This man was believing God. And you know what? He got exactly what he believed. You know, I believe that your faith will work for you. I believe that your faith will bring to you what you’re believing God for. But a lot of people really aren’t believing God, and they’re being challenged in the realm of faith. So if you’ll start learning how faith works and using your faith, I believe your faith will bring you into the good things of God. Ultimately, when Jesus said in verse 11, “‘I say unto you, many will come from the east and the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness, where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth,'” what Jesus was saying is outsiders become insiders when they believe God. Praise God. When you believe Jesus, it doesn’t matter whether you’re Gentile. It doesn’t matter whether you’re Black, or white, or red, or yellow, praise God, or brown. Did you know what? Faith is color blind. God only hears the voice of faith. Amen. My son Aaron uses this example when he teaches on faith, and he talks about how God hears the sound of faith. But my son Aaron is a trained musician, and he’s been trained at a very high level in classical music. He has a doctorate degree in music. And did you know what? He has actually done very well in a number of auditions, some of the largest symphonies in the United States, He’s been in the top, runners up, so on and so forth. He never ultimately won a position. I ultimately believe that’s because what God called him to do, and he chose to obey the call of God. If he wouldn’t obey the call of God, he probably would’ve won a position eventually. But you know what? I believe that God had a higher calling on his life, and Aaron answered that call, praise God. But Aaron uses this example about how he has a friend, and this friend is in one of the highest paid professional positions in the world. And when he auditioned, they never saw him until after he won the audition. It was a completely blind audition. In other words, he auditioned, and they tried all these different people, and they probably start, they usually start with about 200 people from all these resumes and recordings, and then they whittle it down. So they probably started with about 200, and he won this position, and they did, even the finalists when they had the final three behind this black curtain, but the only thing those judges could hear is the sound that came through that black curtain, and Aaron said, that’s how faith is. All God can hear it is the sound, amen. He doesn’t know whether you’re a man, whether you’re a woman, whether you’re a boy, whether you’re a girl, whether you’re Black, whether you’re white, whether you’re brown, whether you’re red, whether you’re yellow. God only hears the sound of faith. Amen. And you know what? God is no respecter of people, but he is a respecter of faith, because he’s a faith God. And he set principles up in the kingdom, and all the kingdom works on these principles of faith. Stay tuned, and I will be back right after this short break, and we’ll be sharing more on how you can get from God what you believe for. Praise the Lord. Friends, this week, we’ve been sharing on faith in God will change your world, and I am so happy to be sharing with you this faith package. I have this book from my good friends, Mark Hankins, Mark and Trina Hankins, on “The Spirit of Faith.” We have “World Changing Faith,” one of my best series. We have “Four Keys to Faith.” And then finally, we have “Have Faith and Doubt Not.” These are some of my very, very best teachings on the realm of faith. And if you begin to understand faith, I believe it will literally change your life. It’s changed mine. Praise God. It’s changed my financial position. It’s changed my spiritual condition. It’s changed my physical condition, and it’s all good. God wants to do good things in your life, and he does it through grace and faith. So if you want to get this teaching, just gives us a call today, or check us out online. Thanks so much, and blessings. Praise the Lord, friends. I’m so glad that you’re stayed with us here. We’re talking about how you can operate in great faith. We talked about in Matthew 14, Jesus called his disciples people of little faith. He said, “Why did you doubt?” And yet here in Matthew chapter eight, he calls this Roman centurion a great man of faith. And so we’re gonna talk about some of the keys to faith. The first thing is we need to know the will of God. Did you know what? Faith begins where the will of God is known, and the nature of the promise of God, the life of Jesus Christ, the Atonement, in other words, you can know the will of God, first of all, because of who God says that he is. For instance, in the area of healing, we can know that it’s God’s will, because God said, “I am the Lord who heals you.” Do you know what? God’s promises come from who he is. They come from his character. God works. What God does is consistent with who he is. And so God said in Exodus 15:26, “I am the Lord who heals you,” and that’s who he is. So he gives a promise in Psalm 103, verse three, and says, “I forgive all your iniquities, and I heal all of your diseases.” Praise God. We can also know that will of God, not only from the nature of God, not only from the promise of God, but we could know the will of God through the life of Jesus. Jesus came to put a face on God. The Bible says in John 1:18, “No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is from the bosom of the Father, he has revealed him.” Acts 10, verse 38, Peter preached about Jesus and said, “Haven’t you heard how God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and power, who went about doing good and healing all that were pressed to the devil, for God was with him,” praise God. So you can know the will of God from who God said that he is, from the promises of God, from the life of Jesus, and also from what Jesus did in the Atonement. You know, the scripture says in 1 Peter chapter two, verse 24, “Who his own self bear our sin in his own body, that we, being dead to sin, should live under righteousness, by whose stripes you were healed.” Do you know what? Healing is the will of God, and Jesus paid for our healing in his death and resurrection. In fact, when you study Isaiah 53, verse four and five, 2 Peter, chapter eight, verse nine, 1 Peter, chapter two, verse 24, you can find out that four things were paid for in the Atonement. And so when you understand that these are paid for in the Atonement, you can understand that these are God’s will for your life. Number one is forgiveness, righteousness. Amen. We got forgiveness for our sin. We received the righteousness of God. Isaiah 53, verse four and verse five, verse five says, “But he was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our inequities.” That’s Jesus taking our sin. 1 Peter two, verse 24, says, “Who his own self bear our sin in his body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live under righteousness.” Praise God, that’s talking about Jesus provided forgiveness for our sin and righteousness. Amen. That is God’s will. It’s God’s will for every person to be forgiven and be made righteous when they put their faith in Jesus. The second thing is peace. Jesus gave us peace. It says in Isaiah 53, verse five, “The chastisement of our peace was upon him.” 1 Peter two, verse 25, right after verse 24 that we just quoted, says this: “We were sheep going astray, but we have returned to the shepherd and the bishop of our souls.” You need peace in your soul. You need forgiveness in your spirit, peace in your soul. Praise God. The third thing that we talk about is healing for our body. And we quoted 1 Peter 2:24 that says, “With his stripes, by his stripes, you were already healed.” It’s past tense. Peter was looking back on the cross. Isaiah 53, verse five says, “By his stripes, you are healed.” Verse four says, “Surely he bear our sickness, bear our griefs.” Matthew translates it in Matthew 8:17 as sickness. “He bear our sickness and carried our sorrow,” our pain, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Jesus took our sickness at the same time that he took our sin. Praise God. So that’s why the Bible says, “By Jesus’ stripes, we are healed, and with his stripes, we were healed. Praise God. So that’s provided for. Finally, not only did he provide that, but he also provided physical and financial provision. The Bible says this in 2 Corinthians eight, verse nine, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that even though he was rich, yet for our sakes, he became poor, that we, through his poverty, might be made rich.” So Jesus provided forgiveness for our sin. He provided peace for our mind. He provided healing for our body, and he provided prosperity for our financial and physical needs on the cross in his death and resurrection. Those scriptures say it. If you don’t believe it, you argue with God, amen. Go to the scripture and look at what the scripture says. Now the first thing is you gotta know the will of God. Jesus told this in Turin in Matthew chapter eight, “I will come and heal your servant.” The second thing is we gotta keep speaking the Word of God. The man said, “Listen, I am not worthy.” He was a very humble man. Even though he was a ruler of over 50 or 100 soldiers, he was a very humble man, and told Jesus, “I’m not worthy you would come under the roof. Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” You know, the Bible says this in Psalm 107, verse two. It says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, who he’s redeemed from the hand of the enemy,” praise God. We need to keep saying what God says. Isaiah 45, verse 11 says, “Ask me things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the works of my hands command ye me.” God said, “Ask what I want, and then make a command,” praise God. Proverbs 18, verse 21 says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” Praise God. 2 Corinthians four, verse 13 says, “We then, having this same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe, and there have I spoken, we also believe, and we speak.” Now, we’re talking about this centurion again, and operating in faith, and keys to great faith. He knew the will of God. He spoke the Word of God. He understood his authority. He said, “I am of a man under authority,” He was under the authority of the Roman government, “and I have people under my authority, and I say to one servant ‘Go,’ and he goes, and another one ‘Come,’ and he comes, and another one ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” He understood his authority, and that his authority was released through the spoken word. And if you want to operate in your God-given authority, you gotta understand it, praise God. If you wanna operate in faith, you need to understand authority, praise God. You see, first of all, you gotta understand the authority of Jesus Christ, and then Jesus gave his authority to us, and gave us the power of attorney to use his name. He says in John 12:14, verse 12 to 14, essentially, he says, “Because I go to my Father, whatever you ask in my name will be given to you.” So use my name. It’s the power of redemption. He says in John 15, verse seven, “If you abide in me and my word abides in you, you ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.” But the word of God promises. According to the call of God, John 15:16, Jesus said this. He said, “You have not chosen me, but I’ve chosen you and ordained you that you should go, and bring forth fruit that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask in my name, he will do.” And finally, “What the Holy Spirit gives you the power to get Jesus is, and that day, you shall ask me nothing.” He’s talking about the day he’s raised from the dead, and the Holy Spirit he sent. He says, “Ask that you may receive,” praise God, “and your joy may be full,” that’s in John 16, verse 23 to verse 24. Finally, okay, how can we operate in great faith, know the will of God, speak the word of God, understanding our God-given authority, and finally, it takes faith to possess God’s plan. You know what, Jesus said this. He marveled, because here’s this man, who’s a Roman centurion, and he said, “Man, he’s got more faith. This is the greatest. I haven’t seen this kind of faith in all of Israel.” And he said many are gonna come from the outside, the east and the west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with the children of Israel in the kingdom of God. And he says, “But the children of the kingdom will be cast in the outer darkness, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” You know what he’s saying? He’s saying many people on the outside have believed, and they’re gonna receive. Did you know there they’re only two women in the lineage of Jesus that are named, they’re Rahab and Ruth, and they’re both Gentiles, praise God. And did you know what? Faith in God will give you a great place in life. So Jesus said to this centurion, finally in Matthew 8:13, “Go your way, as you have believed, so be it done unto you.” Praise God. You know what? If you have been struggling in the realm of faith, I have all these. I have many more teachings, actually, than this, but I have all these on faith, and we’ve made it in a package. “Have Faith Doubt Not.” We have “Four Keys to Faith.” We taught on that last week. We have “World Changing Faith.” And then we have “The Spirit of Faith” by Mark Hankins. Man, you talk about a faith giant and a man who understands the realm of faith, great student of Kennedy Hagin. And he understands this. Kennedy Hagin used to go to his dad’s church, but we’re making this available in a package. And we’ve got a great deal going on this. And I’m telling you, if you want, you can get these individually, or you can get the whole package. We wanna bless you with it. We wanna get it to you, because we want you to move into what God has for you, and it takes faith to possess what God planned for you and what God promised you. If you need prayer today, you give us a call. If you wanna partner with us, this is great ground to sow your seed, praise God. It’s very fertile soil. I sow in it myself. I know numbers of people whose lives have been changed financially when they’ve sowed here, praise God. And so if you need prayer, call. If you want a partner, give us a call, or if you want these products, give us a call today. We love you and God bless you.
[Announcer] What is faith? Do I need more of it? And how do I exercise what I have? In this package containing Mark Hankins’ book, “The Spirit of Faith,” and CD series “World Changing Faith,” “Four Keys to Faith,” and “Have Faith Doubt Not,” you’ll learn the answer to these questions and more. You can get this special package for $59 when you call 719-418-4000, or visit CharisChristianCenter.com.
[Announcer] Get ready, Colorado Springs. Charis Christian Center is turning 21, and we’re inviting you to come celebrate with us, with guest ministers for both our 8:30 and 10:30 AM services. We’ll have pastor Bobby Crow from Ciudad Victoria, Mexico, and Andrew Wommack. You won’t wanna miss it, so make plans to join us Sunday morning, October 2nd. Go to CharisChristianCenter.com for more details, or call us at 719-418-4000. 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 CarisChristianCenter.com/give. You can write us at PO Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80962. See you next time on “Grace for Today.”
