Possessing Our Destiny – Part 1 Lawson and Barbara Perdue

Praise the Lord, friends. I’m so glad that you tuned into the broadcast today. Do you know that God has divine appointments for your life, but they’re not automatic? It takes faith to enter into the grace of God so that you can fulfill the divine appointments of God and get to His intended plan in your life. Stay tuned and we’ll share about that. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us and so glad to have Barbara here today. We’re actually sharing on possessing your destiny. And you know what? God wants us to possess our destiny. And there is a destiny that He prepared for us before the foundation of the world. And so there’s a grace of God on our life individually, but it takes faith to enter into the grace of God on your life. So we’re gonna share some about this. We’re gonna begin today in 2 Timothy 1. We’re gonna start in verse five, where Paul is speaking actually to his spiritual son. He’s speaking to Timothy, who’s a son in the faith. And he’s talking about this very thing. So Barbara, if you wanna go and start right here in verse five through verse seven, and you can just share what you feel led to share there.

Yeah, this is awesome. I love this scripture. It says, “When I call to remembrance, “the genuine faith that is in you, “which dwelt first in your grandmother, Lois, “and your mother, Eunice, I am persuaded is in you also.” Isn’t that awesome that faith can be caught and taught?

Amen.

And I know my mother was a huge influence in my life and not even so much what she said, but it was demonstrated.

Praise God.

You know, she walked in forgiveness and in grace and unconditional love. We went to church. She volunteered as a musician and she just worshiped God at home all the time. And I just watched her read her Bible, underline scriptures and believe God.

Amen.

And what I’ve noticed when we believe God, when we set our faith into motion, amazing things happen when you think about God and how he’s the creator of everything.

Yes.

And it’s just amazing. Too many times, I believe in our minds, we limit God. We think he’s little, but I like this. He’s like, you know, that genuine faith that’s in you, it dwelt first in, you know, your grandmother, in your mother.

Hallelujah.

And like I said, my mother was a really imparted just the passion to follow after God.

Amen.

And then it goes on and I love this. Therefore, I remind you to stir up the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of hands. Isn’t it interesting that uses that word remind and stir. You know, sometimes people get to fill in a little tired or weary or a little bit burnt out. And when you ask them, well, have you been spending time with God in prayer? And have you been spending time in your word? And then have you been stirring up that gift of speaking in tongues? And I’ve used this illustration a lot, but when we were first married, we lived out in the country and I, you know, we hadn’t been married very long and I wanted to make a really nice dinner. And then I thought, man, I need to make some dessert. And, you know, I didn’t really have time to run to the store because we lived out in the country. So I checked out what was in the pantry and I had one of those boxes of chocolate pudding, you know, cook and serve or something like that. You know, you can buy it already made, but that’s just what we had in the pantry. So I looked at the back of the box and I thought, oh good. I’ve got, you know, you need milk, you need that powder and you need a certain kind of, you know, pot or pan. I thought, well, I have all the ingredients. And so I got it, you know, put it all together, you know, turn the stove top on. And like I said, got it bubbling. And then I got distracted and before too long I started smelling something that smelt like it was burning. And when I went over there, I noticed that this cook and serve pudding started burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan. And when you read the instructions a little more thoroughly, it says to stir continually or stir constantly. And you know, if we don’t wanna get burned out, it’s important that we remind ourselves to stay stirred up.

And in this case, you know, Timothy is seeing what’s happened to Paul. Paul’s his mentor, his father in the faith. Paul’s been in prison for preaching the gospel. So Timothy is kind of rethinking it, maybe wanting to back away from that calling and staying hot on fire for God, so on and so forth, thinking, well, maybe it isn’t worth it. And Paul’s encouraging him, you stay stirred up in the Holy Ghost, keep moving forward, praise God, in your faith so that you can enter into what God has planned for you, praise God. So go ahead, Barbara, in verse seven and share that.

Yeah, I love verse seven. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. I like that. We don’t have to walk in fear and that we can believe God that we do have a sound mind.

Right.

And we know what to do. And I know you have spoken this over, we’ve had different parents over the course of years come to us even like with little five-year-olds and mentioned, you know, we need prayer because our children or our child has anxiety, has fear.

Right.

And, you know, we’ve taught a lot of children this scripture and it’s a huge change in speaking this and having them, whether you’re a child or an adult, speak this over yourself.

Right. God has not given us a spirit of fear. In this case, Timothy was being intimidated by the devil because he saw what was happening to Paul because Paul was going forward, you know, boldly proclaiming the gospel, now he’s in prison for it. So he said, God hasn’t given us a spirit of intimidation. You don’t wanna be intimidated by the devil, you don’t wanna be terrorized by the devil. You know, the devil is kind of the original terrorist, but he said, God’s given us a spirit of power and love and a sound mind. So we have a spirit of power, we have the power of the Holy Spirit, we have a spirit of love, we’re loved by God, we’re covered by the grace of God and we have a sound mind, we have a mind that is self-controlled, it’s a moderation, a discipline mind, a mind that’s renewed in the word of God. And so we have a clean, pure mind and we have a mind that’s been renewed in the word of God. So Paul’s telling Timothy, God didn’t give you that. So if you’re operating in fear or intimidation or letting the devil terrorize you, don’t let the devil terrorize you, praise God. Keep moving forward in God’s plan and God’s purpose for your life.

That’s good. Praise the Lord.

That’s right.

Now he goes on in verse eight and says, be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. Paul’s talking to Timothy, but be a partaker of the affliction of the gospel according to the power of God. The Bible says many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all. He says in verse nine, who has saved us and called us with the holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began. God had a purpose, God had a plan, God had a grace for our life before the world began. This is one of those amazing scriptures.

I like how, again, how it brings out in verse nine, called us with a holy calling. Isn’t that awesome?

Yes, that we’re called and what God called you to do is much more important than what anybody else has called you to do. So you need to keep your eyes on God and keep moving forward in the purpose and the plan of God. And it takes faith to do that. You can’t be intimidated by the devil, you can’t be terrorized by the devil, but you gotta keep moving forward by faith to enter into the grace of God. You know, if there wasn’t a devil, if there wasn’t a challenge out there, then it might be easy to fulfill the grace of God. But it’s like, you know what? There is a devil, there are challenges. It’s like on a football field, you know what? You know, you have these amazing running backs and you know, if they run over 100 yards in a game, that’s fantastic. And you say, well, you know, I could go out in an hour’s time and I could, you know, I could run five, six miles in an hour. Well, but they got, you know, they got 11 people on the other side of the ball that are trying to kill them. It’s like, there’s a devil that’s against you. There’s a world that’s against you. There’s different problems. Now you’ve got some people working with you. You got the blood of Jesus for you. You got the Holy Ghost for you. Amen, you got the word of God, but it takes faith to enter into the grace of God. So you’ve gotta keep moving forward in your faith.

I think you really need to guard yourself too from allowing others to talk you out of who you are, to talk you out of your destiny. And to, you know, there’s seems to be always plenty of people who tell you it can’t be done or you aren’t the one or you can’t do it. There might not always be too many people celebrating the gifts and callings in your life, but you have to get in the picture in your mind and in your heart and soul that there is a God and you’re made in his image and he created you for a divine destiny.

Amen.

And it usually what I have noticed throughout the Bible in many, many stories and examples, which you’ll probably share throughout the week, but usually when God calls us to something, it always involves other people. It’s a domino effect of how it affects others.

Amen.

Whether in your family or in the workplace or in your neighborhood or in the world, it always has a domino effect of when we run and, you know, chase after the things of God, not chase, but when we-

Pursue.

Pursue and have that fellowship with him.

Yeah, and I think faith is that pursuit of the grace of God, pursuing, moving into what God has for you by grace. And so that’s what Paul’s telling Timothy, “Hey, you know that God saved you, God called you, “God saved me, God called me by his grace “before the foundation of the world, “but if you’re gonna get where God wants you to go, “you gotta keep operating in faith.” He said, “This thing’s been revealed,” he says in verse 10, “by the appearing of our savior, Jesus Christ, “who abolished death and brought light and immortality “to light through the gospel.” So it’s been revealed to us in Christ. You know, Paul said, “Hey, what I’m preaching “is the mystery that’s been hidden “from ages and generations, but it’s now revealed.” And he says, “Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” You know, later this week, we’ll first of all talk, you know, in the broadcast coming up this week that, you know, our destiny is found in our relationship with God, our creator. But secondly, our destiny is found in our relationship with Christ. And Paul says, “This mystery has been hidden,” in Colossians 1, 26 and 27, “from ages and generations, “but it’s now revealed to us in Christ.” And then he goes on and he says in verse 29, “I labor according to his working that works in me mightily.” So you gotta get a picture of what God wants you to do and then realize the Holy Spirit is working in you to perform that that God has called you to do, amen. So we’ll talk more about this in the last half of this broadcast. But Barbara, right before the break here, share just a word with the people.

Well, praise the Lord. I’m just so glad that you’re with us today. I know this word is gonna change your life, but you have a special calling. Guess what? Amen.

There’s only one you on the entire planet. So, you know, God loves you and you have a destiny and we’re so excited. Stay with us because we’re gonna be right back.

And if you need prayer, feel free to call in during the break or at the end of the broadcast and we’ll be back after this short break. Thanks so much for being with us today. Blessings, we’ll be right back. Friends, I’m so glad that you’ve been watching today. We’ve been sharing on Possessing Our Destiny. We have a lot more of this teaching available. It’s on our website. It’s free of charge, downloadable audio, downloadable video. So go there to our website at CharisChristianCenter.com and take advantage of this and many other teachings, blessings.

Wednesday afternoon, my knee started hurting. My right knee went out. So I went forward for prayer. The change didn’t come immediately. And my husband Mitch encouraged me, just keep laughing, ha, ha, ha. Devil, you think my knee is not healed, but ha, ha, ha, I believe I’m healed. Just continued getting better and better. And so I was able, by the time we got home, I was able to kneel down on the carpet.

Friends, it’s great to have you with us and I’m glad you stayed with us through the break. Paul is talking here and encouraging Timothy, his son in the faith, don’t be intimidated by the devil. Don’t be terrorized by the devil. You keep moving forward in the plan and the purpose of God for your life. And it takes faith to do that.

What I noticed too, like you brought out, you know, there was things going on that he saw. And I believe what he was as a father in the faith, trying to tell him too, no matter what your negative circumstances look like, no matter what it looks like, don’t look at that. You know, run with the vision of faith that God has put in your heart and don’t stop. Like you said, don’t be intimidated. And for sure, do not allow the devil to intimidate you.

Right. Or deceive you or derail you or distract you from the call on your life.

Yeah. And so Paul goes on and he says this in verse 11, we’re in 2 Timothy chapter one, but he says in verse 11, where unto I’m appointed a preacher and apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles. You know, we don’t wanna miss our divine appointment. I believe that God has divine appointments for us. And you know, some of them are just daily things. And some of them are, you know, on the major focus and purpose of God. Sometimes it’s a major, you know, change of direction, so on and so forth that God will place in our life. But I wanna, I don’t wanna miss my divine appointments.

Yes, that’s a good point. And I’ve talked about this before, as far as giving this an example, this was a period of time or, you know, a number of years ago, but I was at the grocery store and you’ve been with me when I grocery shop and I make the list. So I go in order of each row because I wanna get in and get out quickly. And so my lists are efficient. It’s like, how can I get in very, you know, quickly?

I just tell you this, it’s really hard to keep up with Barbara in the grocery store. She’s like, she doesn’t wanna waste too much time there.

And I noticed one of these days at the grocery store, as I was going up and down an aisle, there was a young mom, a young woman there with her three little kids. I think one or two of them were in the cart and one was following her along and they were getting their groceries and I didn’t notice anything in particular. I just noticed she happened to go in and out of the same rows of the aisle in the grocery store that I did. And I kept getting this nudge from the Holy Spirit, you know, talk to her. And I thought, this person doesn’t know me. What am I gonna talk? They’re gonna think I’m an interesting person that we don’t even know each other. And just, it went row by row. I kept feeling that gentle nudge from the Holy Spirit. You need to talk to this person. And then anyway, I ended up going, you know, to check out and that person wasn’t there. So I thought, I kind of lost track of them. I thought, oh, that must’ve been, you know, nothing. And then sure enough, when I was out in the parking lot now putting my groceries away, guess who came just like a car down? This mother with her children. And now it was like, talk to her. And it was a little bit louder. And I just thought, I’m gonna scare her if I go up behind her. She put one child in the car seat and she was doing the second child and they dropped their toy and it went under the car. And it was almost like the Holy Spirit like pushed me ’cause I thought, oh, I’ve gotta get that toy because that toy might be important. And I, you know, kind of dove underneath the car and said, excuse me, but I think, you know, one of your children dropped this and I handed it to her. And it was just the Holy Spirit because it was, you know, it was just like I say, a push, a shove, like this is your moment. You know what I mean? And so as I, you know, got underneath the car, you know, in this dirty parking lot and then handed her this toy, I just looked at her and I said, you are a really good mom. And she just broke down and started crying. And, you know, there’s just a little bit of a period of time. She just began to talk to me and pour her heart out. She just needed, I believe, adult conversation. I think people who have young children, whether you’re the mom or the grandparent and you’re at home a lot with the young children, you know, God knew, God saw her heart, even though I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, God saw her heart and she just needed some reassurance and some encouragement. And so, you know, that was an appointment, you know, by the Lord.

Amen. So there are divine appointments and some of them are just like this, to witness to somebody, to pray for somebody. Other divine appointments are about a major turner of direction in our life. We need to be, have our heart open to the Holy Spirit to speak to us and be open, like, to the Lord. What does he want us to do on a day-to-day basis to help, you know, share Jesus with the people around us? And Paul says, “I’ve been appointed apostle, “teacher of the Gentiles,” so on and so forth, “a preacher,” but then he says this in verse 12, “For the witch cause I suffered these things.” He’s in prison, not because he did something wrong, he’s in prison because he did something right, because he’s preaching the gospel. And so he says this, he says, “Nevertheless, I’m not ashamed “for I know who I have believed in, “and I’m persuaded that he’s able to keep that “that I’ve committed to him against that day.” You know, we need to have a relationship with God and know God, you know, the goal of the gospel really is to know God. Paul says in another place, Philippians chapter three about verse 10, “That I may know him and the power “of his resurrection being made conformable to his death.” You know, I know some great people of faith, and those people of faith, they are people that know God. And Paul says, “I know who I have believed in, “and I’m persuaded that he’s able to keep that “that I’ve committed.” And do you know God? And are you persuaded that he’s able to keep those things that you’ve committed to him under the day when Jesus comes again?

Yeah, we talked about earlier in this chapter how faith can be taught and caught. And I believe you’ve mentioned it, I’ve heard other ministers that we’ve had mention it that faith can be seen. You don’t have to go around saying you’re a person that I’m a Christian or you’re a person of faith. People can just see it, it’s evident. I would say people who have faith are visionaries. They see things that no one else sees. I remember the first, when we moved here and planted the church or pioneered the church here in Colorado Springs, we bought some buildings and we were gonna renovate them for a church. It just looked like two blue buildings.

Yeah, like with a rundown parking lot, weeds growing all over, chain link fence around it. And it was right next to Andrew Wommack Ministries where we were actually meeting at that time. Andrew had given us the grace and actually asked us to come put our church in his building. And so we went there just on Sundays and we set up for church. And then after church, we tore it down and set it back up for the Bible school. But this was right across the parking lot and God had opened the door for us to buy this property. And people would come out and stand on the church steps and they’re like, “What?” ‘Cause it looked like a bombshell but it made a beautiful church. And ultimately Andrew Wommack ended up needing more parking and we were able to build out this parking lot. We actually took about a thousand semi loads of dirt out of this mountain behind the property. And Andrew used our parking lot for the Bible school because it was growing on Monday to Friday. And then we used his parking lot and our parking lot for the church on Sunday. So it was a great relationship and God opened that door. But the people would come out and they would look and then we showed them pictures. And what became our sanctuary was this 100 by 100, it became a thousand seat sanctuary. But it was just full of junk that these people had. And we showed people it’s that clear to the roof and the people like, “Oh, I’m sure some of them thought, “my God, what have they done?” But then after we began to build it out, right? And we got the frame up, we did like a barbecue deal there and let everybody walk through and they walked in and they’re like, “Wow.” Because then they could see it. But faith sees the invisible, right? And faith does the impossible. And so we got faith in God and people of faith sees it. When we’re gonna talk later in the week, you and I will be sharing on the broadcast and we’ll be talking about how it takes faith to enter into the grace of God. And when you see people of destiny, you see people of faith and we’ll be sharing about how that works. But he shares it and he says, “Hold fast to the form of sound words “which you have heard of me in faith and love.” It takes faith to enter into the grace of God. Praise God, so you gotta keep speaking words of faith, keep speaking words of grace. And then Barbara, read verse 14 and share a little bit about that just before we go off the air. This is a good word too.

I love this. Again, verse 14 says, “That good thing which was committed to you, “keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.” That’s awesome.

Amen. So, you know, the Bible actually says this in Jude verse 20 that we build up our most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost. So it takes faith to enter the purpose of God, the plan of God, the grace of God on your life. It’s not automatic. But one aspect of faith is you keep praying in the Holy Ghost. And as I teach, you know, later this week, we’re talking about and next week, possessing our destiny. I talk about how it’s found, our destiny is found in our creator, in our relationship with God. Our destiny is found in Christ. And it takes faith to have a relationship with God. It takes faith, you know, to come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And then we’ll talk later next week on how it takes the Holy Ghost. And thank God we have the Holy Spirit. You wouldn’t know anything about me or Barbara, probably most of you watching, if it hadn’t been that we received the Holy Ghost.

I like what you said. When you receive the Holy Ghost, it takes the chicken right out of you. You know, the Bible does tell us when we are filled with the Spirit that it gives us boldness to witness.

Amen.

And I like what you were sharing, how important it is to spend time in praying in the Holy Ghost. You know, in the morning, you like to go work out at the gym. When I get up, I like to go walk. I said, that is not only my workout, but that is my time with God that I can talk to him. I’m sure we can all talk to him at home or in our backyard or in our kitchen. But I do like to go out and walk and talk to God. It’s just so evident to see all the beautiful mountains here or the flowers or the trees or the animals. It’s so evident that God has definitely created something beautiful for all of us. And it’s always interesting who I bump into on these walks and just sharing with them. But I just like how you brought out how important it is to spend time with God, talking to him and spend time in praying in the Holy Spirit. It empowers us. It just comforts us. There’s so much that happens when we take that time to pray in the Spirit.

Amen, you know what happens when you pray in the Holy Spirit is you’re praying in a language. The Bible says you speak in tongues of men and angels. And it says when we pray in the Spirit, our personal prayer language, no man understands us. How be it in the Spirit, we’re speaking mysteries and we’re being edified, we’re being built up in the Spirit. And if you wanna possess your God-given destiny, you need to be filled with the Holy Ghost. If you haven’t been filled with the Holy Ghost, I wanna invite you to call in today if you’ve not been filled with the Holy Ghost. We’ve been having a lot of people baptized in the Holy Spirit and praying in tongues and amazing things happen and people getting healed. If you need healing, if you need the baptism of the Holy Spirit, if you need salvation, if you need a promise, you know, call in. We have prayer ministers that will pray and minister to you and share with you, you know, these good things. Praise the Lord. So I wanna say a big thank you for watching the broadcast today. We’re gonna be back tomorrow at this same time. So tune in, tell your friends about the broadcast. God bless you. We appreciate you. Blessings.

To understand your destiny, you must first know your creator. In order to step into the good plans that God has for you, it is essential to have a relationship with Jesus. You’re not here by accident. We’d like to bless you with a digital copy of Possessing Our Destiny, a $20 value free of charge. You can download your copy today by going to CharisChristianCenter.com.

Friends, I’m Pastor Lawson Perdue from Charis Christian Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. And we are celebrating 23 years of the grace of God, the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God at our anniversary service. My friend and mentor, Andrew Wommack will be teaching here at the church. We’d love to have you at Charis Christian Center for our 23rd anniversary celebration. Blessings. Friend, I want to invite you to pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your son. I believe that he died for my sins. I believe that you raised him from the dead on the third day and made him Lord. And right now I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus, I pray, amen. Thanks so much, friends, for being with us today. Blessings.

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