Lifestyle of Faith – Part 7 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Friends, I’m so glad that you tuned in, that you’re a part of the broadcast today. I have my son, Aaron, with me. We’re gonna be talking about some principles from the scriptures today concerning giving and receiving, but also we’re gonna talk about some principles from the scripture concerning investing. You know what? God’s word has the answer for your life, and when you do what he says, you will be blessed. So stay tuned. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re here today and with us, and I’ve got Aaron here. We’re talking about a lifestyle of faith, and we begin by talking about having a lifestyle, having a bold confession of Jesus. Then we talked about not only having a bold confession of Jesus, bold confession of faith, bold confession of the word of God. And then we continued talking about just having a consistent lifestyle of faith. When the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 36, you have need of patience, that after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. That word for consistence in the Greek actually is talking… Being patient is actually talking about being consistent. And even in facing the worst circumstances, having perseverance, endurance, and being consistent in your lifestyle of faith, you have need of patience, after you’ve done the will of God, you might receive the promise. And then we began yesterday talking about this, we need to be consistent not only in our confession of Jesus, not only our confession of faith, our confession of the Word of God, not only in our lifestyle of faith, but we also need to be consistent in giving and receiving. And you know, we talked about how the Lord has long patience and waits for the precious fruit of the earth in James chapter five, verse seven and verse eight, God’s been waiting nearly 2000 years on a seed that he sowed when Jesus went to the grave, went to the cross, God raised him from the dead for a harvest off that. And the harvest is humanity. And it talks about that in James chapter five, verse seven and verse eight. I believe God’s receiving a huge harvest off the seed that he sowed in Jesus. He gave all that he had, he gave his only begotten son. And I believe he’s gonna receive a huge harvest of billions of people coming to spend eternity with him. Praise God. And he actually talks about that. Unless a seed falls to the ground and died, Jesus said in John 12:24, it remains alone, but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit. And he’s actually talking about his own death. You know, the Bible actually says this in Galatians chapter six, verse six through 10, it says, be not weary in well doing for in due season you shall reap if you don’t faint. And I’m convinced that a lot of people in the realm of faith just faint before their harvest and they give up too quick. And you know what? Lester Sumrall, he was one of my mentors, and I actually worked for Dr. Lester Sumrall for a year while I was finishing up Bible school. And I worked in audio, video, made tapes, made videos back in those days, and he had this message and I listened to this message bunches of times, and we would run like a dozen videos at once and copy these VHS tapes. And I’d turn that on but he preached like I did not quit. And he talked about all the times between… And he preached this when he was about 75 or 80 years old, that he had between when he started out preaching as a young man and when he was then 75 or 80 that he had the opportunity to quit. And his denomination told him, Lester, you are 50 and you are finished. And he cried out to God and God said, you haven’t even got started yet. When he started out preaching, and his uncle was a kind of big person in that Pentecostal denomination, he said, Lester wouldn’t make it in 1000 years. And he heard his uncle and God said, no, it’s not up to him. And he talked about how all the people that started out with him, they had quit, but he just kept going for God. And you know, you need to keep going for God. And you know, his denomination kicked him out and they kicked Gordon Lindsey out on the same day, that wasn’t one of their best days. Gordon Lindsay became the head of Christ for the Nation. It’s a great Bible school just south of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and Waxahachie, Texas. And we know a lot of people that have been involved in Christ For The Nations, it’s a great school, great missionary. I’ve preached there at Christ For The Nations, met with the son of Gordon Lindsey, and praise God, it’s a powerful school. And they’ve sent a lot of people around the world preaching the gospel.

 

  There’s kind of two aspects of faith that I like to emphasize. One is hearing God’s voice, knowing his will, knowing what he’s called you to do, and the second one is doing it. Some people, they might hear God and step out and go in the direction that he’s called them, that he’s anointed them for, that He’s led them. But then, some people don’t last that long doing what God’s actually called them to do. And you have to hear God’s voice, know his will, know what he’s calling you to do, be led by his voice, and God can tell you what to do, but the second aspect is doing it and being consistent with it. I like that word that you’ve really emphasized too on being consistent.

 

  Amen.

 

  So you need to hear God’s voice, know his will, know his call for your life and secondly, just do it.

 

  Amen. Aaron, read Galatians Six, we’ll read verse six through verse 10, Galatians Six.

 

  It says, him who has taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are the household of faith.

 

  Amen. So he’s talking about giving. Let us who are taught in the word of God communicate to him. You know, Andrew Wommack is the one that brought me into the full gospel. And I’ve been partnering with Andrew for over 40 years. Praise God. And you know what? I’ve received a lot of blessing from doing that. And I don’t believe in just receiving from people and not giving back. Praise God. I like to share. I sow into different ministries. This church gives to over 60 different ministries every year. And we give seed to the nations of the world. Do you know what? I like to give more than I take in. Praise God. You just can’t beat God given. And we used to have a lady in our church here, and you probably remember her from Kit Carson, her name was Betty Shotton. But she was a great woman of faith, and her husband, Aubrey, and Aubrey was a mentor to me in the cattle business. Went home to be with Jesus kind of young, I think he was 67 years old, but Betty, she would just talk about God and say, you can’t beat the Lord giving. And you know, a couple times, Aubrey and Betty, they got involved with Andrew Wommack about the same time I did and they started believing in God. And one time we were having a grasshopper plague. We had so many grasshoppers, if you’d pick up a wood handle pitchfork, they’d eat it, and it would be rough from the grasshoppers. They were just eating everything down. And these people were spraying their fields. And Aubrey decided that he was gonna curse the grasshoppers, and he wasn’t gonna spray his field. And he had a farm that he did sharecropping on right next to his, and he had like a section and this section right next to it, and that guy that he sharecropped, he said, you’re gonna spray mine, so Aubrey sprayed his and the other person’s, but he cursed the grasshoppers on his side. But on Aubrey’s side where he cursed it, he actually got a greater yield where it was all his than where he sharecropped and sprayed… And that cost a lot of money for those chemicals and different things. And you know what? Aubrey was so blessed. People accused him of stealing cattle. One time, he would buy cattle at La Junta, Colorado and ship them up there. He was kind of by Haswell, between Haswell and Eads south of there, 10 miles, they call it Galatia. I remember one time I was riding with Aubrey down there, we were going to the cow sale, we went to the cow sale, we’d go to the cow sale on every Tuesday and Wednesday, and I was going with him on a Tuesday because we were building a church at Kit Carson, and there were people down south of La Junta that had this white rock, white stone, and we bought some white stone. If you drive by that church on the east side of Kick Carson, you can see it. It’s got an inlaid cross and it’s inlaid with brick and brick all around it. This is a complete brick church, except for the two crosses. We put a cross on the south end that’s just a plain simple cross. And another one we inlaid bricks in between it and laid them this way and that way, three bricks this way, and then three bricks all the way. It’s beautiful. But we were going to pick up that stone. And when we were going, I asked Aubrey how many acres it took out there to take care of a cow, kind of southwest of where he lived, and he said, well, it takes 40 acres to run a cow and calf here, and you’ve got to feed him every . In other words, he said, didn’t produce nothing. But Aubrey was a great person of faith. I remember Betty talking about him, and they’d been over in China and they went in and they were giving away bibles in China, and as they were doing it, it was under the iron curtain or the bamboo curtain, they call it, I guess, and Aubrey, when they were doing it, he was over in China talking about, well, the cow sale’s starting in La Junta right now. He loved to buy cows. And Aubrey, he would buy and sell these cows, and he bought every kind and every color, he was taught and make money, and I talked to Joe Spitz, who was one of my good friends. Joe Spitz’s wife was my Sunday school teacher when I got involved in a full gospel church in the Lamar, Colorado. Her name’s Carla. And anyway, talked to Joe. Joe was maybe the largest cattle feeder in the United States of America for a period of time and owned a number of feedlots, South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and then also, not only Joe HAD all those feedlots, but he had big ranches, and I ran a lot of cattle on his ranches for years, and they would take care of them and then put them… I’d buy them in the winter when we were in Kit Carson, we had a little feedlot. But anyway, Joe talked about Aubrey. He said, yeah… Because he’d buy one eyed cattle. And Aubrey said, man, they’re all the same color when you cut the hide off of them. And Aubrey just loved to make money and loved to give, but Aubrey was talking about, or talking to Joe about Aubrey and I said, yeah, sometimes he buys them one eyed ones. He said, sometimes they can’t see out of either eye. And he said, you’ve got to go knock them out of the they walk around the circle trying to find the feed and water. But Aubrey tails froze off, ears froze off, all these ugly kind, but he said, man, they’re all the same color when you cut the hide off. But Aubrey was a big giver and he was a believer, and God blessed him so much. His neighbors accused him of stealing cattle, and they stopped his truck coming from the sale barn and unloaded all the cattle and brand inspected them, he wasn’t stealing cattle, then they accused him of cheating on his taxes and they checked his taxes and audited him. They said, no, he’s not cheating on his taxes, and he’s not stealing cattle, it was the blessing of the Lord. Praise God. The blessing of the Lord will make you wealthy. The Bible says, the blessing of the Lord makes you rich, in Proverbs 10:22. And you know, you can’t out give the Lord and you get involved in giving and praise God, God will not be held in holding you up. Praise God. God will bless you and help you. And God blessed Aubrey, God blessed Betty, God blessed their children, God blessed their family. And you know what? You start believing in God and believe in these promises and they’ll work for you and it’ll make people envious of you. Praise God. I’ve got people that are envious of me. And you know, the word of God just works. When you believe the word, God will bless you. The Bible says he’ll bless whatever you set your hand to. Well, I know, Aaron, I took too much of the time talking. We’re gonna come back and I’m gonna let Aaron share more of this time when we come back. But thank you for being with us today. We’re gonna continue to share when we come back after this short break about the blessing on giving. Man, there’s a blessing on giving. Praise God. You can’t beat Jesus’ giving. Bless you. Friends, I’ve been teaching with two of my greatest friends, Andrew Wommack and Jesse . And we taught with Andrew on the revelation of grace, and then with Jesse on insights to faith. You don’t want to miss this great teaching, that is the heart of the gospel, grace, what Jesus has done and faith, our positive response to it. Blessings.

 

  So Pastor. Lawson and the Pastor. Aarons are teaching on faith and who we are. So the foundation, it’s been so solid since we are here. So it’s been growing steadily, the foundation in Jesus, and on top of that, skillsets increasing by serving with joy is the best thing you could do.

 

  Yes.

 

  Friends, I’m so glad that you’re here today. We’ve been sharing here from Galatians chapter six. You know, the Bible says here in Galatians six, a lot of people look at this and they think it’s negative, but it talks about giving and it says, God is not , whatever you sow, you’ll reap. It’s actually positive. He that sows to the spirit of the spirit will reap everlasting life. Then it talks about, yeah, you can sow to the flesh, but he comes back in verse nine and says, don’t let us be weary and well-doing. I think a lot of people just faint before their harvest. You know, everything in the kingdom works on this principle of seed, time and harvest and spirit, soul and body. I believe God sowed the seed of the word in our spirit. We’re born again by the incorruptible seed of the word of God. But in our soul is where the gestation, the seed has to go through a process between when it starts out growing and when it’s manifested, right? When you have harvest. There’s a time between germination and harvest or germination and birth. In the physical realm, in the plant realm, germination and harvest, and that’s called gestation. I believe that gestation is the time period it takes from the time that seed germinates till the time it’s harvested. And you know what? They have 90 day corn, they have 110 day corn, they have watermelons take a certain time, it takes a certain time for a cow, for instance, takes nine months for a cow, when a cow, just like a human. A horse takes 11 months. There’s different gestation periods. So different seeds take different harvests, different time. And in the case of God speaking his work, there were seeds that God spoke to. Abraham took 25 years from when God spoke them for them to come to pass. So different seeds are gonna take different harvests. And a lot of people give up before they receive harvest. But you’ve just got to keep believing in God. Don’t be weary .

 

  Yeah, when that seed is sown, some people think it’s buried, maybe what they believed for, maybe what they gave, they feel like it’s just buried, but think of it as planted. Things are happening under the ground. Like you’re not just buried. The enemy wants you to think that you’re just buried, you’re just done, you’re just under a pile of rocks, you’re good for nothing, but you’re not buried. You’re planted.

 

  Amen.

 

  You can be planted and be developing. Like that the Bible says, those who are planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. And there are things that are happening underground. There are things that are happening in the realm of the spirit that you might not be able to see in the natural–

 

  Amen.

 

  -when you’re planted, when you’re planted in the word of God, when you’re planted in strong teaching and in a household of faith, when you’re planted, you’re still growing, and things will spring up.

 

  You know, the Bible talks about us being trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he may be glorified. And sometimes when a tree’s planted, it takes a while before it grows. My granddad had this pine tree that they planted and it took 10 years and it just didn’t grow very much. It was just four, five, six feet tall after 10 years. But then it just exploded. Well, there was growth that was taking place underneath the soil that was not seen physically and then it exploded. And I think there’s some things in the kingdom of God like that. You know, your brother Peter lives in Miami and they have bamboo in Miami. They live in Coral Gables, Florida. And you know what? This bamboo will just… It’s just little for a long time, but then it just explodes above the ground. And it’s because it has a root system beneath the surface. And you’ve got to have a root system. You’ve got to have roots. So it says, don’t be worrying while doing, in due season you will reap if you don’t think. As we have opportunity, do good to all men, especially those who are of the household of faith. We ought to be good to every… God is good to all. His tender mercies are over all of his works. Man, there are a lot of people that are blessed that don’t even know it. Praise God, and you need to know that God is good. Let’s go. I want to talk about some other principles. And Aaron, why don’t you read this and comment on them, because you’ve got some great comments in ecclesiastic chapter 11, verse one through verse six. We’re gonna go and share some of these scriptures. And it begins with this, cast your bread on the waters and you’ll find it after many days. You know, we need to be sowing in life giving ministries. The waters like places of life. Praise God. And it’ll come back to you.

 

  Yeah. So here in Ecclesiastes 11, verse one, it says, cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a serving to seven and also to eight, for you do not know what evil will be done on the earth. That’s saying that you live in a place where the earth isn’t a perfect place, there is evil on this earth, bad things do happen, so it’s saying when you’re investing, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

 

  Right.

 

  Don’t just think that, man, I’m just gonna put all of my… Just everything.

 

  Don’t put all you’re giving just in one place. You need to spread your seed around.

 

  Yeah, you need to use some wisdom with finances, with stewardship, with investing. I think this applies to other aspects as well. Maybe you have a business. I’ve kind of learned this too. Like when you’re developing a business, you need to have just more than one person you’re selling to, or just one thing that you’re selling through. Because if something happens, like you need to be doing business with multiple people. And also as like a ministry, you need to be developing multiple people as well. I oversee the worship team and I try to develop multiple singers, multiple leaders.

 

  Yeah, then when we sow somebody, somebody goes out, then God’s raising up somebody else.

 

  So it’s not just a constant panic mode if something happens that you weren’t expecting. Verse three, if the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth, and if a tree falls to the south or the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie. He who observes the wind will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap. That’s a really powerful verse right there.

 

  Amen.

 

  That’s just saying, if you’re just looking at the natural situation.

 

  If you’re looking at the wind and the drought and the blowing dirt, you’re not gonna go plant a seed. This spring, and the last couple years have been two of the driest years in Eastern Colorado. In fact, they said it was drier than the 1930s in southeast Colorado and southwest Kansas. But those farmers that continued to plow and those farmers that got ready and planted summer crops this year, like Milo and Millet, man, we got so much, it started raining in the middle of May and we got so much rain, it wouldn’t quit. And man, Colorado, I’ve never seen it this green. We actually went out here and planted at the church. Before this rain, I planted a certain area, three certain areas and then the rain came and it rained here in Colorado Springs, started on a Wednesday night, rained all night Wednesday night, all day Thursday, all night Thursday night till Friday morning.

 

  It was like five inches of rain.

 

  Five inches of rain, just steady. Not a downpour, just steady. And I got out there with that one section here, I got two boys from here at the church to come and help me and we haired all that up and planted all this dry land grass seed. And you know, we had tried to get this grass to grow when we moved in here five years ago, and we couldn’t. I spent $3,000 of water the first month and hardly of got anything to grow. But man, we got grass everywhere. Amen. God has blessed us.

 

  That’s awesome.

 

  You can’t just look at the wind and you can’t just look at, oh, a hail storm’s coming, I can’t reap. Man, you just sow your seed. And Isaac sowed in the land in a time of famine and reaped the same year 100 fold and the Lord blessed him, and he waxed great and became great till he became very great, the bible says. Genesis 26, 12 to 14. I believe that God wants all of his people to be like that. Go ahead.

 

  Verse five says, as you do not know what is the way of the wind or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, so you do not know the works of God who makes everything. in the morning, sow your seed, in the evening, do not withhold your hand, for you do not know which will prosper either this or that, or whether both alike will be good.

 

  Amen.

 

  Just saying keep going at it, keep doing what God’s called you to do, keep sowing, keep being productive, keep working. Good things happen to those people who work.

 

  Amen. That’s a saying of one of my favorite ministers, Pastor. Bob Nichols from Dallas Fort Worth area. He said, good things happen to people who keep going to work. Amen. So if you just keep going to work, good things happen. And you know, that’s been in my life. You look at some of our friends, Mark Hankins, Jesse , Andrew Wommack, they are super, super blessed people, but at the end of the day, they’re hard workers and they stay out. And you know what? Some people will look at them and criticize them, but I will never criticize them. Amen. I never criticize people that God’s blessed, because you never know when you need that blessing in your own life. But I knew Andrew Wommack, when he used to work 20 hours a day, six days a week. And you know what? God’s blessed him. He tells stories about Coke and Fritos. I knew him when he lived in an apartment and gave his car away. And they didn’t have a lot and had two kids. And I’ve seen God bless Andrew and I’ve seen his faithfulness. And you know what? Whatever he gets, it’s good with me. Praise God. I love to see God’s people.

 

  I love that word, faithfulness too. Just be faithful with what God’s called you to do.

 

  Amen. And that’s what we’re really talking about. We’re talking about being consistent, being consistent in your confession of Jesus, of the word of God, of faith, being consistent in your lifestyle of faith, and also being consistent in giving and receiving. If you’re consistent in giving and receiving… Aaron, you’ve been very consistent and God’s blessed you. He’s helped you. Your brothers are consistent. In fact, I taught you your principal when you were just a young man, I taught you guys, give 10%, save at least 10%, give at least 10% and live on the rest, and you can give above 10%. Mom and I give about 30%. But you know what? We’re always investing in different things, and God has increased us to where our giving now is… Man, it’s like as much as we make sometimes. And it’s amazing because we have investments that are making it. And that investment, when you do that a long time, it’ll get ahead of you. Praise God.

 

  That’s awesome.

 

  So we need to stay at it. Praise God. Don’t just give everything, invest some. Praise God. Give a portion to seven or eight. Amen. And I believe there are principles in the Word of God, and they’ll work for you. God is no respecter of persons, he’s only a respecter of faith. And one way you can operate in faith is you can give. The Bible talks about in Second Corinthians, eight and nine, and maybe we’ll get over there, but it talks about seed time, harvest, it talks about sowing and reaping, and it talks about giving and receiving. And sowing is a principle of the scripture. And God is not asking us to do something that he hasn’t done. God has sowed the biggest seed, that’s Jesus. And you know what? We’re reaping off the harvest, off the seed of Jesus. And you know, I’m reaping off harvest that I’ve sowed in. Praise God. I’m reaping off harvest that I’ve sowed into the kingdom of God, that I’ve given and I’m reaping off harvest that I’ve sowed into different businesses and different  God’s called and caused harvest to come.

 

  I know. Concerning hearing God’s voice too, a lot of people ask me, how do you hear God’s voice? Since I’ve been a believer as a child, I’ve been able to hear God’s voice in a general sense, but I remember learning how to hear God’s voice very specifically. And when I first learned how to hear God’s very specific voice, it was actually concerning giving, and what to do with my money. And when I did what God called me to do, what I thought he was calling me to do, specifically with that, I was able to hear his specific voice with other things, like whether I should buy this house, whom I should marry, what I should do with my career. But if you don’t learn how to hear God’s specific voice, ask him to speak to you about money, about where to give, how to give, how much, and he’ll speak to you and he’ll continue speaking to you in other areas as well.

 

  Amen. Thanks for being with us. God bless you.

 

  Faith isn’t just a momentary thought or a burst of emotion. It’s a lifestyle of trusting in God and his unfailing word. Take a step of faith and trust in God’s plan for your life. Faith is a journey, so enjoy the trip. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of the Teaching Lifestyle of Faith, a $20 value free of charge. Download it today at CharisChristiancenter.com.

 

  Praise the Lord, friends, I want to invite you to church this coming Sunday morning, whether you’re in Colorado Springs or wherever you are at. If you’re in Colorado Springs, you can see us Sunday morning at 8:30 AM or 10:30 AM live, but you can also watch us with our livestream congregation at 8:30 AM or 10:30 AM or you can go to our website and get it anytime at CharisChristiancenter.com.

 

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