Missions Ministry And Miracles – Part 1 Lawson Perdue and Mario Venzor

  Friends, I’m so excited to be here with you today. We’re gonna be talking about miracles, missions, and ministry. I have my good friend Mario Venzor, who’s a missionary, who attends our church and takes trips to different places in the world, sharing the gospel of Jesus, getting lots of people saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. And you don’t want to miss this broadcast today. So stay tuned. Blessings. Friends, it’s so good to have you with us today, and I’m here with my good friend Mario Venzor. Him and his wife, Sharon, come to our church, have come to the church for a number of years, and they are graduates of Charis Bible College here, now in Woodland Park, Colorado, just next to Colorado Springs. And my good friend, Andrew Wommack runs that. But they are missionaries and they reach out, and we’re gonna be talking all this week about “Missions, Miracles, And Ministry,” and praise God, you’re gonna get some good things. And so we’re gonna open today from Mark 16, the Great Commission. And Jesus commissions His disciples in verse 15 and says, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Then He says, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, and he who believes not shall be damned, and these signs shall follow them who believe.” So this is not a commission just to apostles or prophets, or evangelists, or pastors, or teachers. This is not just a commission to those who are in the fivefold public preaching and teaching ministry. This is a commission to all believers. He says, “These signs will follow them that believe.” So we have a commanded mission to go into all the world and preach the gospel. And then He says, “These signs follow those who believe.” And He says, “In My name, they’ll cast out devils.” Usually people leave that one out, or they save it to last. “And they will speak with new tongues. They will take up serpents.” You know, to me that’s, you know, deadly doctrine, so on and so forth. Now, Paul was out and he was preaching the gospel, and a snake came out of the fire and bit him. And you know, these people said, “Well, he missed the shipwreck, but it’s gonna kill him now.” But then he shook it off and saw no harm, and then he said that he’s a God. No, he said, “Let me tell you about the one true God.” So there’s supernatural protection. He said, “If they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them, and they shall lay hands on the sick,” believers shall lay hands on the sick, “and they shall recover.” So miracles, missions, ministry. “Then after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into Heaven, sat on the right hand of God, and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them.” It’s actually working with the Word.

 

  Amen.

 

  You know, them is in parentheses here in the King James version, or italics, which means it wasn’t in the original language. The Lord works with the Word that we teach, we preach, we share, and He confirms the Word with signs following. Amen. So we’re gonna be talking a little bit about this. Mario, you’ve been going out doing different missions, and you’re always leading people to Jesus, whether you’re here in Colorado Springs or, you know, going into another country. So.

 

  I love the Great Commission. The Great Commander sat down and said, “Now you go get ’em, boys.” So I love that.

 

  Yeah.

 

  Ever since I got born again, 1987, April 1987, Garden City, Kansas.

 

  Wow.

 

  I got born again, and praise the Lord. I thought, “This is the greatest deal.” You like to make deals. This is the best deal I ever had, and I started.

 

  Amen.

 

  And this is one of the first scriptures I got to know. I was laying hands on everything that moved and praise the Lord, people were getting hot. You know, the anointing.

 

  That’s the Holy Ghost.

 

  So I love that, I love that. And they had regular healings all over the place. And then I started learning a little bit more about the authority as a believer. But all I did, without knowing that I had a call or anything, I knew these verses.

 

  Right.

 

  And I thought, “Oh my goodness.” And so seeing so many healings throughout the years, just by simple faith on the Word that I could do something because I experienced it that first day.

 

  Amen.

 

  So it’s a great deal, pastor, it’s a good deal for every believer.

 

  Now, I like something you said, you can do something because you’ve experienced it.

 

  Hmm.

 

  See, some people have never experienced salvation or the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or, you know, miracles themselves, right?

 

  Yes.

 

  And so it’s hard for you to share something that you haven’t received. Paul said, “That which I’ve received of the Lord, have I delivered to you,” so. So when we receive it, then we can share what we’ve received. I like something Mark Hankins says, he said, “We are in possession with intent to deliver.

 

  Among other sayings that he says, it’s, you know, another thing that he said is, “If you get addicted to something good, the Lord will provide.”

 

  Yeah.

 

  So I got addicted to leading people into the Lord because the day that I got born again, I thought, “My goodness, this is a whole new world. He said, “Behold, I make everything brand new. I did not know the Bible, but I heard this.” There’s an impression in my heart that says, “Behold, I make everything brand new.” And I thought to myself, “Oh my goodness, who’s talking?” But you know, it was the Holy Spirit confirming that I was… And then I thought, “Well, I’m gonna tell people what happened to me.” So when I got born again, I start just sharing about Christ wherever I went, and I noticed there’s joy that would just rise on the inside of me. And I thought to myself, “This is better than being an astronaut, than being an alcoholic.” So that’s what.

 

  Glory to God. And that’s what motivates me, you know. Whenever you get something good, you go tell other people. And I think the new birth, to me, is the greatest miracle that ever happened to me.

 

  Amen. Now, there’s a couple of things you said. You know, the new birth is the greatest miracle. Jesus actually talked about this, and we’re gonna talk later in the week probably about miracles in John 14:12, He said, “These signs shall follow them that believe,” here in Mark 16, but in John 14:12, He said, “The same works that I do and greater works than these shall you do, because I go to my Father,” and I actually believe the greater work is getting people born again. Because until Jesus was raised from the dead, nobody could be born again. Jesus actually said this about John the Baptist, He said, “Among those born of women, there’s none greater than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.” So when we believe on Jesus, we’re born of God and we’re a new creation. Now, the other thing you talked about is this is a ministry of every believer.

 

  There you go.

 

  And let’s talk about that because He says, “These signs will follow them that believe.” And you talked about how you got saved, there was so much joy, and you wanted to share that joy with other people. And in 2 Corinthians 5 is the scripture you’re talking about. And you said nobody really taught you this, but you just knew everything was new. He says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if any person being Christ, he is a new creation, old things are passed away, behold all things are become new.” That’s talking about the spiritual condition of every believer. That’s what happened to you, you were born again. Jesus said, “You must be born again.” And when you were born again, then you begin to share that with other people. And that’s exactly what the scripture talks about.

 

  And I’ve been beholding those things that the Lord says behold. In other words, pay attention to people in the church that the Lord has put over me and me sometimes sharing with other people. You know, whenever people preach, like you, pastor, you’re very strong on grace, on finances, so I start beholding, I start seeing those things.

 

  Paying attention.

 

  Then my-

 

  It doesn’t cost a thing to pay attention, it costs you not to pay attention.

 

  There you go. And you know, my eye has become, you know, full of light.

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  Therefore, my body has become healthy. My mind, I don’t have those stinking thinking patterns that I used to have.

 

  The Word of God.

 

  But it just becomes because of the behold that-

 

  You’re beholding the Word of God, you’re beholding the truth. You’re renewing your mind in the Word of God.

 

  Yes.

 

  And if you never renew your mind, you’re not gonna really see… You know, when it says here in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Behold all things are become new and all things are of God,” that’s not talking about the outward man, that’s talking about your spiritual man. That’s talking about the inward man. I like something Pastor Aaron said Sunday, he said, “I am a spirit, I possess a soul and I live in a body.” And he said, “We need to possess our soul, not let our soul possess us.”

 

  Yes.

 

  But when we stop and realize what God has deposited in our spirit, what God has placed in our spirit, everything… You know, 2 Peter, 1:3 says, “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge, through our relationship with Jesus who called us to glory and virtue.” So we have everything pertaining to life and godliness. In our spirit, we really lack nothing. And when we begin to renew our mind to that, that God has placed on the inside of us, you’ll begin to see the light, the life, the victory, the love, the good things that God has placed in you, in your spirit. You’ll begin to see those manifested on the outside. But he doesn’t stop here. In 2 Corinthians 15 or 5:17-18, where he says, “All things have become new and all things are of God,” he says, “All things are of God who has reconciled us, restored us.” The reason you had so much joy is because you’ve been restored to a right relationship with God who has reconciled us to Himself. And he says this and he says, “By Jesus and has given to us.” I believe every person who’s born again, every person who has received Jesus needs to be sharing with other people their testimony.

 

  Yes.

 

  He says, “Who has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” And so we’re to minister to people, we’re to tell ’em, “God’s not mad at you, God loves you. Jesus is already paid for your sin,” which is what the next verse talks about. And, you know, this is the good news. You’re just talking about how this brings so much joy. This is so exciting. This is the best deal-

 

  Amen.

 

  You talked about. This is the best deal in the world. What is the best deal in the world? God has already paid for all your sins and all you have to do to receive it is believe it. And when you believe it, it changes your life.

 

  Yes, yes. I used to… I never heard the good news, I always heard that God was mad at me or in a bad mood.

 

  Yeah.

 

  And I thought to myself, “Well, you know, I know I’m going to Hell.”

 

  Yeah.

 

  Everybody’s telling me I’m going to Hell, but when somebody said God loves you, that kind of killed the beast.

 

  Yeah. When you really understand it. Because there’s a lot of people that kind of have a philosophy about an angry God.

 

  Yes, yes.

 

  And God’s really not… He got over His wrath and anger, and He poured all of His wrath and anger out on Jesus on the cross, and Jesus took the sin of the whole world. Now, we’re gonna take a short break and we’re gonna come back after this break and we’re gonna talk about this in 2 Corinthians 5, how he talks about what this ministry of reconciliation really is. So stay tuned. We’re gonna be back right after this break and we’ll have more good things to share. You don’t wanna miss, this is really some amazing good news. So stay tuned and we’ll be right back. Bless you. I want to tell you about something great coming up at Charis Christian Center. It’s our 22nd anniversary.

 

  God can work all kinds of miracles, but you and I have to believe that God can.

 

  You’re the one that has authority, not the devil. And you gotta get mad and come against that thing.

 

  We want you to come, we want you to be here. For more information, go to our website at charischristiancenter.com.

 

  You can have nothing better than the Word of God. Your ways are not better than His ways. Your thoughts are not better than His thoughts. Your morals are not better than His morals. Your righteousness is not better than His righteousness. I don’t care how many people vote a certain way or think a certain way about a certain issue, if God says it, that settles it. You don’t get a vote on truth.

 

  Friends, we’re so glad that you stayed with us and we’re right here and we’ve been sharing, talking about, you know, Jesus said, “Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, he that believes and is baptized shall be saved. These signs will follow them that believe.” This is a sign that follows all believers. And we talked about John 14:12. Jesus said, “The same works that I do and greater works than these shall you do, because I go to my Father and He who believes on me.” This is for believers. So a ministry of believers, and we believe that primary ministry is leading other people to Jesus Christ.

 

  Yes, sir.

 

  And, you know, you’re not gonna lead very many people to Jesus Christ if you go around and act like God’s mad at you, and He’s out to get you. You know, I was riding home from Nashville yesterday. I was preaching down in Tennessee over the weekend. And when I was riding down from Nashville, riding back, you know, this girl, she was the last one on the plane, and they had every seat filled. Well, she went to the back to put her stuff in and it was on Southwest. And then she came up and they sent her, I was by the window seat and another person was sitting there on the aisle seat, they put her right beside me. Well, in visiting with her, I found out she was a pastor’s daughter. And, you know, she had grown up very protected from different things. But then she went to Christian college and kind of went crazy, and she said about half of the kids. And, you know, I kind of told her, you know, I used to tell people, because my sister went to a very large Pentecostal full gospel Bible school, and I said about half of the people, and I knew later when people were going to these Bible schools like this, I’d tell ’em if they’re leaving my church to go to this, and I don’t want to use the name ’cause I don’t wanna be negative, but I’d say, “Now you gotta realize about half those kids there are saved, they love Jesus just like you, and about half of ’em are going to Hell.” And their parents sent ’em there to get ’em saved. But anyway, she sowed her wild oats, it was a pretty short time, and then she got right with God. And I was telling her, “I’m so glad that you love Jesus and I’m so glad you’re serving Jesus, and…” You know? But anyway, you know, I told her, you know, I told my kids, she was raised in a very protected environment, I said, “You know, I put my kids in a public school and I told ’em all they’re all going to Hell. That’s why they act like that.” But we don’t act like that ’cause we’re not going to Hell, we’re going to Heaven.

 

  Yeah.

 

  But since Jesus lives in us, since we’re a new creation, He’s given us this ministry, why? To tell the world that, it says this in 2 Corinthians 5:19, “God was in Christ reconciling or restoring the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them.” Man, the good news is.

 

  That’s good news.

 

  The bad news is wrong.

 

  God isn’t… You know, my Sunday school teacher told me that God is sitting up in Heaven-

 

  I’ve heard that before.

 

  with a big video camera.

 

  Yeah. When you get there, He’s gonna play it back to you in slow motion. She’s really trying to scare me into being good. And I was a really ordinary child. But you know what? It didn’t really produce life in me. But then I found out my Sunday school teacher lied because this says God is not imputing our trespasses. In fact, if we study Romans 4, it’s about verse 6-8. We can find that God gave us, you know, imputed to us the righteousness of Jesus, right, standing with God. We were given His righteousness as a gift. And then it says, “And He,” this is the good news, this is the gospel, “He will not impute sin to us.”

 

  Wow.

 

  That is the amazing…

 

  Wow.

 

  That is the gospel. And when people realize that, it changes your life. And that’s what gave you so much joy, realizing, “God isn’t mad at me, He loves me.”

 

  You know, that Lord said, “Come unto me, all of you that are weary and heavy laden, and I give you rest.”

 

  Mm-hmm.

 

  And being legalist is as bad as being full of sin.

 

  Right.

 

  And so, I was growing up, and when I was growing up, it’s like, “You broke this, you broke this, you broke this, you broke this.” You know, what does a sinner does? Break everything, right?

 

  Right.

 

  And destroys it. So, anyway, you’re full of sin. You’re full of sin. The men of sin, the beast in us, you know?

 

  Yeah.

 

  But thank God, you know, you can come, He says, “Come unto me all.” All, no exception, all. Doesn’t matter what you’ve done, you come just as you are to Christ. And He’s with open arms saying, “Hey, come, I’ll give you relief of all of that. I make you a new person. That person is gonna be buried and he’s gonna be just erased from the face of the earth. And behold, this is who you are, this is your new identity. You’re gonna cast out devils. Instead of the devils being in you, you’re gonna cast them out. You know, you’re gonna lay hands on the sick and then you’re gonna speak with new tongues, and I’m gonna give you an extra dose of power in the inside of you. I’m gonna pack you full with my Holy Spirit.”

 

  Glory to God. Amen.

 

  And the gifts, and I mean, it’s just this, it’s a win-win situation.

 

  Amen.

 

  I don’t know why people preach, you know, so negative about things. I mean, and oh, you know, sometimes they start talking, “Oh, when I was a sinner, now I’m trivilating.” My goodness, trivilating.

 

  Yeah, now I’m under all this problem. I mean … So thank God for the hope and the joy.

 

  Thank God.

 

  I like something that you said there, that being in legalism is really just as bad, sometimes I think it could be worse than being in sin.

 

  Yes.

 

  And Paul actually talked about that in Romans 6. He said, you know, four reasons we don’t sin as believers since we’ve become a new creation and receive God’s righteousness as a gift. He talks about that in Romans 5:17 and 21. But he says there in Romans 6, the reason we don’t sin is we’re dead to it. We’re free from it. We have authority over it, and it’ll kill you.

 

  Yes, yes. But then he says in Romans 7, just like sin will kill you, legalism will kill you. And that’s what a lot of people, I was raised in a very legalistic, works oriented church. and it was all about the outward man. But when you understand, you talked a little bit about this, when you understand what God has done on the inside of you in the inward man, then that changes what happens on the outside of you. And that’s what Paul really talks about here in 2 Corinthians 5:19. So he’s not imputing sin to us. He’s not totaling up, keeping track, keeping a record.

 

  No.

 

  That’s good news. So He gave you the righteousness of Jesus and He will not impute sin to you. Check me out. Romans 4:6-8. It’s the almost to good to be true news of the gospel.

 

  It is. It is.

 

  That’s what it is. You gotta believe it to receive it. Now He says… Now He says this, He has committed to us as believers the word of reconciliation.

 

  Reconciliation. There you go. You remember that song, pastor? ♪ Something on the inside ♪ ♪ Working on the outside ♪

 

  Yeah.

 

  Oh, what a joy in our lives because we change, but behold in Him. And then we’re just, it’s like if we behold the love of God, if we behold Jesus forgiving us, if we behold Him as the good Shepherd, as the Lamb, then we’re reflecting Him. And the world tries to tell you, “You better shape up, and then…”

 

  Yeah.

 

  They put the cart before the horse.

 

  Right.

 

  But it’s this kind of a, like an automatic change if you have this relationship with Jesus. And I mean, you know, I heard, “Oh, I love Jesus. I love Jesus.” Who is not gonna love Jesus when the Holy Spirit reveals Him in His goodness and majesty and forgiveness. I mean, who’s not gonna love Him?

 

  It takes the Holy Spirit to make the gospel real to us. You know, Jesus said, “No man can come to me except my Father, which is sent me,” draws Him. It takes the Holy Spirit to convict. I’ve tried to convict people in my own power. It doesn’t work very well. But, you know, God, the Holy Spirit convicts us.

 

  Yes, he does.

 

  You know, he convicts the unbeliever of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. We can talk about that later this week. But He convicts the believer of the goodness of God.

 

  Yes.

 

  And how good His plan is for us. And boy, if you see how good God is and how much He loves you, you’re not gonna wanna run from Jesus.

 

  That’s right.

 

  You’re not gonna run. You’re gonna wanna run to Him.

 

  Yes. = Because you know how much He loves you. Now, we’ve talked a little bit here about receiving righteousness and the new creation. I want you to take about a minute or a minute and a half here and I just want you to invite people to receive Jesus and to pray with you before we go off the air today. And I’m gonna share a little bit at the very end.

 

  Well, today, the Lord Jesus is inviting you to come and lay your burden down, maybe a burden of sin. And if you are not sure whether you’ll put your head on the pillow tonight and you don’t know where you’re gonna wake up, because there is a Heaven to gain that Jesus gained for you, and there’s a Hell to shun. And Jesus paid for your sins, past, present, and future. And all He wants you to do is to acknowledge Him as your Lord, as your Lamb, as your way in salvation. So I want you to say this prayer from your heart. Hook up your words to your heart and say, “Dear Lord Jesus, I acknowledge I cannot save my sin. I just can’t do it, Lord, I cannot save myself. So today I hear the good news that You love me and paid for my sins. I receive You today as my Lord and my Savior. I believe You died for me according to the scriptures. And the Father raised You from the dead.” And say it with all your heart and say, “Lord, thank you because you are rich for them that call upon you. Today I’m saved because I receive you in my heart.”

 

  Amen.

 

  Amen.

 

  Amen. Thank God. And you know what? If you receive Jesus, you just give us a call today. We would love to hear from you. I have prayer ministers here that would love to pray with you. And we have lots and lots of materials that are available on the internet. They’re available-

 

  Yes.

 

  free of charge. And, you know, I wanna say a great big thank you to our partners for helping us, you know, share this message around the world, this message of grace and God’s goodness and faith in Jesus, but also who make all these things available and who help us, you know, support missionaries. And you know, we support about, you know, over 30 ministries a month and about 20 of them are missionaries. But, you know, some of ’em we don’t support every month. But we’re building churches in India and sending missionaries to Nepal.

 

  Including myself, pastor.

 

  Yeah, we’ve helped you-

 

  Thank you.

 

  you know, once in a while go on different mission trips and different things and we get to do all this, praise God. And, you know, it’s really because of the help of our partners. So I wanna say a great big thank you to our partners. And you can check us out on the website at charischristiancenter.com. See all the different materials that are available to you free. And if you need prayer, be sure and call in. If you want to partner with us, be sure and call in today. We would love to hear from you. Thank you so much and God bless you.

 

  Bless you.

 

  You know what? When God tells you to do something, you need to do it. And you don’t need to worry about every Tom, Dick and Harry over here and what they’re gonna say, or how they’re gonna try to manipulate you or treat you. You just keep on plugging on and you keep doing what God told you to do and He will work them out. You have to let God be God and you have to do what He tells you to do.

 

  Friends, the scripture says, “If you will continue in the Word of God, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” If you go to our website at charischristiancenter.com, you can get all of our materials there on the website as you watch ’em, as you listen, absolutely free of charge. And we’ve done that just to be a blessing to you. And I believe that the Word that has freed me will free you. Blessings.

 

  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 PO Box 63733, Colorado Springs, Colorado, 80962. See you next time on “Grace for Today.”