Possessing Our Destiny – Part 5 Lawson and Barbara Perdue

Praise the Lord, friends. I’m so glad that you’re with us today. I am here with my wife Barbara today, and we are sharing on possessing our destiny. Did you know a new identity is required to possess your destiny? And you get a new identity through faith. And so we’re gonna talk about faith and how that changes our identity to possess our destiny. Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us today, and it’s great to have Barbara with us. We’re sharing today on possessing our destiny, and we’ve been sharing all week on how our destiny is in our relationship with God and through our identity with Christ. But one thing, and Barbara, you taught one of the messages in possessing our destiny, and the first thing that you really brought up in your teaching is it takes faith. And this is what a lot of people don’t realize sometimes is that, you know, God has a divine appointment for us. God has a plan for our life. That’s the grace of God. But it’s not automatic. It takes faith to enter that. So we’re gonna share a little bit today about faith. And then you had Hebrews Chapter 11 in your notes. So let’s just jump in the word. Barbara, why don’t you just start right there in Hebrews chapter 11, verse one?

Well, I like what it says it on that, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, “the evidence of things not seen.”

Amen.

Interesting.

So you know, a lot of times people use that as a definition for faith, but really when you define faith, faith is trust. Faith is confidence. Faith is assurance. But this is really talking about what faith looks like. When you read through Hebrews Chapter 11 and read this in context, you know, I believe that because we have faith, our lives have substance, and all of these people of faith, the elders, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, all these people of faith, their lives had substance. So he says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” Their lives have substance because they had hope in God. And he says it’s the evidence of things not seen. Their lives were evidence to people around them of a God that you could not see.

That’s right. That’s awesome. Do you want me to go ahead and read verse three?

Yeah.

It says, “By faith “we understand that the worlds were framed “by the word of God.” That’s powerful.

Amen.

By the word of God they were framed.

Amen.

So the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

Praise God. So we can look at that. And when you begin to understand how faith works, in the beginning, for instance, God, the scripture says in Genesis one, one created the heaven and earth, but it says in verse two, the Earth was without form and void, but the Holy Spirit moved. And if you studied that out in the Hebrew, brooded or hovered like a hen would brood over her eggs till they hatched, praise God, over the face of the deep. And then I believe the Holy Spirit was creating a plan, right? And then God began to speak, and he began to call those things into existence. So it says, by faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. So I believe the Holy Spirit created a picture, and then God called it into existence. And I believe that we can, we could get the picture right from our relationship with God, our relationship with Christ, our relationship with the Holy Spirit, but we by faith begin to call those things into existence.

Well, like what I like to bring out is we are created in God’s image.

Right.

And you look at what he did, and you just explained that very, very well and spoke things into being. And I think it’s very important for us, if we’re made in his image, we have as intellect, we have things that he has. And you know, we believe it’s always very important to get that picture on the inside of us and then begin to speak it.

Right.

And find scriptures that apply to what you are believing for or what you are building. But isn’t it awesome? You know, we raised three children. So at one time our house was full of three little boys, and I didn’t like them spending too much time, at that time, you know, tv, those game, you know, electronic games started coming out, and I felt like a lot of that, you know, I know people enjoy it, and, you know, have time. We always had a time limit. I felt like a lot of that really robbed their imagination and creativity.

Right.

I liked to have our children, again, when they were young, do things that really encouraged.

Creativity.

Creativity and used their imagination. So we had things that, a lot of things that we had in our home are things they would need to build. You know, toys that took them getting a picture and building. And we had, you know, things like play clay and, you know, we just had a lot of things and we had, you know, a fenced yard so they could go out and play in a sandbox, and they would build roadways. But they were, a lot of the things that we had in our home for our kids when they were children were things that took them to use their imagination and build something. And it was our youngest son who really liked building.

Right.

We talked about how he built his own tree house, which was interesting, but then he also liked to build legos and without even instructions, he built Lego creations that would look like his brothers,

Right.

And it was, you know, amazing what even young people can do if they’re given that opportunity,

Right.

And encouraged to use their imagination and be creative. And I really believe as we grow, and as adults, I believe as we are in the workplace, we are to use that creativity and imagination to bring really good things to life.

Barbara, you have a lot of revelation on children and raising children. I’ve seen God speak through you by the Holy Spirit to many people with kids, two, three years old, kids, 18, 19 years old. And so I’ve seen him speak through you to adults too, but you actually wrote a book on this, “Imparting Success to the Next Generation.” And I believe it’s a fantastic book. And I believe that our three boys are a testimony really to the grace that you had in raising them and imparting wisdom to them. And that book is available, you can get it on our website at charischristiancenter.com. You could also search for it on Amazon and find it there or so, you know, but that book, I believe, lays out a biblical perspective of what faith looks like and imparting faith. You know, earlier this week in the broadcast you and I were teaching, and we were talking about imparting faith. The spirit of faith can be caught, but it also can be taught. And I believe you imparted faith to our children, and there’s just a lot of practical application. And one thing is you don’t want them to live in fear. But another thing, you’re just talking about it. We got our kids outside, we got ’em involved in sports, we got ’em involved in music, we had ’em involved in church and reading their Bible, but they’re a spirit, soul and body. And we just didn’t focus on one area. Praise God. We helped develop the whole person. And I know you had a personal time limit for our kids. We never bought ’em these games, but friends gave them some of these games, but, you know, electronic games, but you had a personal limit of like 15 minutes, and you didn’t let ’em waste a lot of time. And they have become very creative and very productive people. And they’re very blessed in life.

Yeah, I think it’s really important. And not only for children, but I’m surprised how many adults spend hours on those games. You know, we met someone, I’m just gonna, this is kind of interesting. We met someone at the airport, and she seemed like a delightful person, and she was working and traveling for her job.

Right.

She said that her husband was a professional gamer, and you know, she basically provided enough income to make it possible for him to be a gamer, not, I don’t know, I’m sorry, but I just thought that was interesting.

Yeah.

I’ll just, I’ll just leave it there.

Yeah, well, and some things are interesting, and we don’t wanna minister condemnation, but you need to have some sense about life. And so, you know, we’re right here in the scripture through faith, we understand the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which were seen were not made of things that which do appear. So we’re made in the image of God. God spoke the creation into existence. And I believe the Holy Spirit created a picture. I believe that like us, made in the image of God, we can by words of faith speak into existence, right, those things that God wants us to accomplish, so on and so forth. So the Bible actually says in second Corinthians chapter four, verse 13, we then having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed in, therefore I have spoken, we also believe, and therefore we speak. And Paul is quoting, and he’s actually quoting David from the Psalms, but I believe that David got it from God. Amen? And God spoke the creation into existence, and we can speak things into existence.

That’s amazing, isn’t it?

Right.

When you think about that. I believed and therefore I spoke.

Amen. Praise God. And so let’s just go on down here and talk about some of these people of faith. In verse four it says, “By faith, Able offered unto God “a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, “which he obtained witness that he was righteous God “testifying of gifts. “And by it he being dead yet speaks.” You know, faith is actually, giving is an act of faith. And why did God have respect to Abel’s gift over Cain’s gift?

Because he gave by faith, and he gave again, with the right heart and attitude.

Right, he gave the first. He was prompt in his giving. He gave the best. And actually, when you read Genesis, one thing it says about Cain, after a period of time, he wasn’t prompt to do it. He wasn’t giving really his first. He wasn’t giving his best. He wasn’t prompt. But Abel had a spirit. He was excited about giving. You know, the Bible says in second Corinthians nine that God loves a cheerful giver. And I know we wouldn’t be where we’re at today unless we got involved in the grace of giving. I was talking to a missionary, and actually with this missionary, we have built now 20, let’s see, 24 churches in India, and they’re spirit filled, Jesus preaching churches. And I was talking to him today because we’d sent support to buy two more churches. And we were just talking about how, you know, when you get involved in the grace of giving, how God will bring in grace to you. And we’ve had that happen in our life. He has that happen in his life. He hasn’t ever taken a salary for doing this missions work. And he’s built hundreds of churches in India. And we’ve personally, our church and people connected with us, have partnered to build 24 of these churches. And I believe we’re gonna build a lot more of ’em. But when you get involved in what God wants you to do in the realm of giving, you can’t beat God given.

That’s right. That’s right. And it’s just like a harvest, planting a seed and.

Right.

Knowing that a harvest will come.

And so if we’re gonna possess our destiny, there’s some things we gotta do. Number one, you’re gonna have to live by faith. It takes faith to enter the grace of God. And then faith is expressed in different ways. One of the ways that faith is expressed is in our generosity. And I would encourage you, if you’re not partnering with this ministry to pray about becoming a partner. I believe it’s good ground. And we have lots of people who have great testimonies who’ve become partners with us, of the increase that’s come to them after their partnership. So we’re gonna be back right after this break. Blessings. 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.

My foot surgery like five or six months ago, and it started hurting so bad. And then it was like, I pray with God. He says, Lord, I’m gonna pray for my foot to get better. Well he says it like this. “Stop the pain pills.” And I said, “Yes, Lord, I’m gonna stop.” And now I’m healed, and now I started working, and I’m really happy.

Friends, I’m so glad that you’re with us and so glad you stayed with us through the break. We’ve been talking about how it takes faith to possess our destiny. It takes faith to have a relationship with God. Our destiny is in our creator. It takes faith to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. You know, and through our relationship with Jesus, we get to know God. But it takes faith to enter into the grace of God and possess what God wants us to promise. You know, we were ended here in Hebrews 11, we were talking about faith, but it says, “By faith, Abel offered it unto God “a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” We talked about how that was because it was the first, it was the best, “by which he obtained the witness “that he was a righteous God, testifying of his gifts.” You know, I want God to testify of my gift. Hallelujah. “And by it, he being dead yet speaks.” You know, I believe that our giving can go beyond our life and affect people, you know, in eternity.

That’s right.

And that’s really amazing.

That’s exciting.

In verse five, it says, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death “and was not found because God translated him. “Before he had this translation, he had this testimony “that he pleased God.” And there’s some very special things about Enoch. He was the seventh from Adam. The Bible says in the book of Jude, that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, seventh generation from Adam, you know, the first man that God created. And he prophesied that the Lord comes with 10,000 of his saints. So he saw the end of time. He also named his son Methuselah. And Methuselah was the oldest man that ever lived in the history of the world. He lived for 969 years. But Methuselah, and you study out those genealogies in Genesis, the year Methuselah died, Noah’s flood came. And you study that out and begin to understand it, Methuselah, Enoch named his son Methuselah. And it means at his death the deluge comes.

That’s interesting.

So it’s amazing. So Enoch was an amazing person of faith. And I think Enoch really heard Adam talking. You studied, this is another thing you see in that genealogy. Heard Adam talking about, hey, how he walked with God and how he missed it when he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and how he desired that. And I believe that Enoch desired to have a walk with God. And it says right here, “By faith Enoch was translated.” He walked with God.

Yes.

And he was not, they could not find him.

That’s amazing.

Praise God. Okay, Barbara, jump into verse six and share what you wanna share.

Yeah, I love verse six. It says, “But without faith, it is impossible to please him. “For he who comes to God must believe that he is, “and that he is a rewarder “of those who diligently seek him.” In other words, believe that not only both that God exists, but also that he cares enough to respond.

Amen.

To us.

Praise God. Amen. So we believe both, you gotta believe both by faith, both that God is and that he rewards those who diligently seek him. So we believe that God is, and we believe that God is good.

That’s right.

Amen. Now, in verse seven, Barbara, go ahead and read verse seven and comment. I know you have a lot to say about Noah and his relationship with God and his faith in God.

Well, it says, “By faith, Noah being divinely warned “of things not yet seen moved with godly fear, “prepared an ark for the saving of his household “by which he condemned the world “and became heir of righteousness, “which is according to faith.” But I like what it says, being divinely warned. You know, I believe that obedience is doing something with the information God gives you.

Yes.

Not just talking about it or, you know, just thinking about it. But you know, he took the information from God seriously.

Right.

And you know, he built an ark inland. He didn’t build this huge ark by a body of water.

Right.

He built it inland. And it didn’t make any sense, I’m sure to people who watched him and witnessed it. And it was a project that took, you know, what, a 100 years?

100 years. Noah was 500 years old when God spoke to him. And you’ve brought this out that God told him exactly the dimensions of the ark. God told him exactly, you know, make it three stories. He told him all these very amazing details.

Well, he was very, when God divinely, as it says here, warned Noah about things to come.

Right.

It was very precise. But you know what I find interesting, that conversation that God had with Noah, Noah listened.

Right.

And then at the end, it will say after going through everything, what God told him to do, what to use and how to do it, and how many cubits and how all this was gonna happen, you know, then it says at the very end, and then Noah did all that the Lord, according to the Lord, according to what God spoke to him.

Yeah.

He didn’t say, well where will all this wood come from? Where, you know, where will the supplies come from? The supplies for all of us, what God has called us to do are here on this earth.

Amen.

And another thing that I’ve noticed too as we read about these people, read about Noah, a lot of times what God calls us to do is a lifelong journey.

Amen.

It isn’t a microwave moment. It is a lifelong journey.

And Noah, again, it took 100 years for him to do this. Most Bible scholars believe that it hadn’t even rained on the earth at that point in time. And so people mocked him, people scorned him. The Bible calls him a preacher of righteousness in the book of Peter. And when you think about this, all of these different things, but it involved him, his three sons, their families. And it took ’em 100 years to do this. But after it was done, you know what? God, you know, had Noah get the animals, and they put them on the ark. And then once they got the animals on the ark, this was a tremendous task. And it took 100 years of his whole family. But he believes such in this word from God that he obeyed God, and then Noah and his family got on the ark, and then God shut the door, and it began to rain, and it flooded the whole planet. Amazing, but there was provision. There was grace for Noah and his family. Think if they hadn’t heard, you know. We’d had to have a whole nother creation. You know, and so this is amazing what God does, but it’s amazing that people can hear God and obey God by faith.

And another thing that I get from this story too, that no matter what happens, and, you know, things, this was a very huge, at that time, you could say a huge storm. I believe that God gives us peace no matter when we live and what’s going on in the times.

Yes.

Or you know, that we can have peace. Because when we have that relationship and that faith, relationship with the Father and have faith in Him, and we use this as an example, our middle son, when a, you know, we had a birthday party for him. We lived out in rural America. We had, I don’t know, 10 or more little boys that showed up for this birthday party. And it was a sunny day, and an unexpected blizzard hit. And this went on, we had these children in our home sheltering them, you know, for three days. And what was so interesting is they had no fear. They weren’t, they had no fear of the storm. They had no fear of separation from their families. They had, you know, they had peace. They knew that they would be taken care of. And so a lot of them, and even our son said that was the best birthday he ever had. Isn’t that something that no matter when we live and what’s going on in the times and that we can have that peace that, you know, God is with me. And you know, I like to say these are the most exciting times to live.

Yes.

We get the front row seat of watching, you know, Bible prophecy come to pass before our eyes.

Yeah, and then it goes on and talks about another person, which is, you know, called the father of our faith in verse eight. And it talks a lot here in the next few verses in Hebrews 11, verse eight, clear through verse 19. He was, or, and he was talking about Abraham and Sarah’s faith. But in verse eight he says, “By faith Abraham “when he was called to go out into a place “which he should after receive for an inheritance “obeyed and went out.” You were just talking about how Noah obeyed God by faith. Here Abraham obeyed God by faith, not knowing where he was going. And, you know, when you think about Abraham, this is one thing when we talk about, you know, a change of identity is necessary for a change of destiny. And one of the major aspects of faith when, you know, Abraham accomplishes these things just before he receives Isaac in Genesis chapter 17, God came and spoke to him and said, “I am the Almighty God. “I am the many breasted God. “I’m the God who’s more than enough. “Walk before me and be thou perfect, “and I will multiply you exceedingly.” And then he begins to tell him, as for your name, Abram, it shall no longer be Abram, fatherly, but Abraham for a father of many nations have I made you. So Abraham means fatherly. Abraham means father of many nations. So a change of identity is necessary for a change of destiny. We’re talking about, you know, possessing our destiny. We possess our destiny by faith. But one thing that faith will do, faith will bring you into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And you receive a brand new identity in Christ. And when you receive that identity, you and I both had this happen in our early teenage years, and it transformed our life.

That’s right.

Totally changed our life. And so share a little bit about that.

It’s just powerful. Like you mentioned, I believe that. When we were teenagers, we both loved the Lord, and receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, it just really opened up the scriptures. And really, like you mentioned, you understand your identity, your true identity in the Lord. Because in this world there’s plenty of messaging, and it’s wrong messaging. It’s wrong information.

Yes.

You have people confused about their gender or even confused that they’re even a person.

Right.

And it’s so, you know, there’s a lot of things that the enemy or the deceiver is trying to really derail and distract people from their God-given, you know, just an amazing destiny that the Lord had planned for them.

Right, and you can’t fulfill your God-given destiny without having a new identity. And you’ve gotta get your identity from who God says you are, who Christ says you are. And the Holy Spirit will really make that real and the word of God. So I’m so glad that you’ve been watching today. And you know, if you are not in the Colorado Springs area, I want to invite you, if you’re going to be in the Colorado Springs area to come to a service on a Sunday or a Wednesday evening. We have amazing services. We have people here nearly every week from different nations. We have people from different states. We see a lot of people healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, set free by the power of God. So I wanna invite you to come and be at church with us and also let you know if you’re not here physically and can’t be here, but you can live stream our services on YouTube or on CharisChristianCenter.com and just encourage you to go there and get encouraged. Praise God. And remember, you can go to our website, you can download hundreds of hours of teaching, audio and video downloads absolutely free of charge and a brand new children’s curriculum is available free of charges. Just go there and get those 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 Purdue 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 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, and I believe that you raised him from the dead and made him Lord on the third day. Right now, I surrender my life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In Jesus’s name I pray. Amen. Thanks so much for being with us today. 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.”