Power of Partnership – Part 4 Lawson and Aaron Perdue

  Praise the Lord, friends, and welcome to the broadcast. We are sharing today on power of partnership. And we’re gonna talk about an example from the life of David, where he encountered great difficulty. I’m gonna share something with you. Even though you may go through a great difficulty, you’d never want to quit sowing and you never want to quit believing. You wanna keep your hope in God. Stay tuned. Friends, it’s so good to have you today. We’ve been talking about the power of partnership. And we’ve been really talking about the number one thing about partnering is when you partner with life-giving ministries, it becomes a blessing to you. You know what, an amazing promise in Philippians 4:19 is, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory.” But Paul’s actually writing the Philippians as a church, as a group of people that have been partnering with him for years and years. And he’s thanking them. And he says in verse 15, “No church communicated with me in giving and receiving but you alone.” And then he says in verse 17, and this is what we’re really focusing on this week, he says, “Not that I desire a gift, but I desire that fruit may abound to your account.” And when you get involved with life-giving ministries and God has really told you to do that, I believe that you are the one ultimately that gets blessed. And I’ve had that happen in my own life. And we’ve had that happen in this church. I mean, this church is a really blessed church, but a lot of it is due to, you know, we’ve been sowing. We came to Colorado Springs, you know, 23 years ago with almost no money and no people. And today we have a building that’s over 120,000 square foot, worth millions of dollars, completely paid for. But we have given every year. And we generally give to about 60 or 70 ministries a year between 10 and 27% of our income away. And there is no way that you can explain what’s happened in this church naturally. It’s supernatural. My life is the same. There’s no way you can explain what’s happened in my life naturally. It’s supernatural.

 

  Yeah, and to do ministry in a big way, it takes a team of people. You can’t do it on your own, you know? And, man, the devil tries to isolate people, but God brings people together for a big purpose. And I’m just very thankful for this ministry. We have a great team of people. We have a great team of staff here at the church. We have a great team of volunteers. We have a great team of partners who I believe that God has blessed for a purpose, you know, blessed people to be a blessing for the kingdom.

 

  Amen.

 

  You know, I was recently watching Joseph Prince minister. And he was saying, you know, God wants to bless you so you can tithe and be a blessing to your church.

 

  Amen, I agree.

 

  I agreed with that.

 

  And we’ve seen that happen to people. You know, we have about a thousand physically attend the church a week, but there’s a couple thousand people actually consider the church home right now. But we minister to millions and millions of people around the world. And now we’re on this one venue where it goes to over, 5.5 billion people can get the signal, so praise God. But you know what, it takes partners to do things like that. And we shared also from Luke chapter five earlier in the week, and we talked about, in Luke chapter five, how Peter sowed a physical seed. He allowed Jesus to use his boat to teach from the side of the lake. But after he did, you know, Jesus said, launch out in the deep for a harvest. And Peter kind of had a problem with it. He’s just like, we’ve worked all night, toiled, and caught nothing. But then, you know, he obeyed Jesus, nevertheless, at your word. And he went out. And when they threw their nets out, they got a net-breaking, boat-sinking load of fish. They had to call their partners. They not only filled their boat, they filled their partner’s boat. This harvest was probably more than a hundred times what he physically sowed the value of that into the ministry, and he had that harvest. But it changed his life. He sowed a physical seed into a spiritual need. He received a physical harvest, but he also received a spiritual harvest. And that his life was changed for eternity and his destiny.

 

  And Jesus would talk about this. You know, he would say, “Give and it will come back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, shall men give into your bosom.” And that happened in Simon Peter’s life. He gave, and it came back to him, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. Those fish were running over the side of the boat.

 

  Amen, and, you know, Jesus went on to say, “With the same measure that you meet, it will be measured back to you again.” Aaron, one of my financial mentors, he’s went on to be with the Lord now, but when we moved to Kit Carson, he had been in a divorce situation. It was very challenging. But he had come to the Lord, he’d never been baptized in the Holy Spirit. But shortly after we went to Kit Carson, he got baptized in the Holy Spirit. And Lester Sumrall came and dedicated the church that we built there. We built that church. And it took us just a little bit over a year for us to build that church, and we paid cash. But Dr. Lester Sumrall had started to feed the hungry. And that man came and said, “Every time this ship goes out of the harbor, I wanna send a semi-load of wheat.” And we’d have that wheat ground into 5 pound and 20 pound bags of flour and send it to third world nations. And pastors would give it out, and then they would preach the gospel. So this was a tool, you know, for a physical financial, you know, seed sowed for a spiritual harvest again. But this man, when we moved there to town, basically because he had been in a divorce, had given all of his property to his sons. And he owned four sections, four square miles, but he owed about everything they were worth to the bank. And so he started giving a semi-load of wheat every time, which was a huge harvest, like a thousand bushels of wheat. And we’d send it to McPherson, Kansas, have it ground into flour, take it to the gulf, put it on a ship. But that man, at the end of his life, he said, “Lawson, I’m having a hard time keeping my net worth under 10 million.” And if it gets over 10 million, the government takes a lot of it away. He owned over 20,000 acres, completely paid for. It was a complete miracle of God. And you know what, I believe God will do the same to people when you get involved in giving and receiving.

 

  Well, that’s awesome. I wanna get into the word here. Let’s go to 1 Samuel 30. This is just a powerful account in scripture here. 1 Samuel 30, speaking about the life of David. It said, “It happened when David and his man came to Ziklag on the third day.” So for years, they had been running away from Saul, just trying to keep David alive. And they came back, finally came back home after, you know, just dealing with battles and running for their lives. “So they came back to Ziklag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag, and attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great, they did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way. So David and his men came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep.” So this is just a very devastating situation. But we see what happened. You know, it talks about, the people were so upset that they actually wanted to stone David. So this is just a very just stressful situation.

 

  David, it says his wives were taken. And it says in verse six, “David was greatly distressed for the people spoke of stoning him because the soul of the people,” this is grieving, when you’ve been robbed, and they’ve taken everything you have basically, and every man for his sons and daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord. There may be somebody watching me, I believe there is right now, and you feel like you’ve been robbed, you’ve been taken advantage of, and, you know, you’re discouraged, but you can encourage yourself in the Lord. Praise God. And so David went and began to pray. And he asked the Lord what to do. And he said in verse eight, “Shall I pursue after this troop and overtake them?” And he answered, “Pursue for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail, recover all.” You know, there was a time when we pastored in Kit Carson. And I think this was in 1997. And there was a blizzard. That blizzard hit on October 24th. And I not only pastored, I had a bunch of cattle at that point in time, and I had a bunch of money borrowed. And actually, because of that blizzard, I lost about a hundred thousand dollars. But when that blizzard hit in Kit Carson, it was a Friday night, it was actually your brother Andrew’s birthday, and we had a bunch of friends over from school. I threatened them with their life and said, “Whatever you do, don’t leave this house. Don’t go out in the backyard. Don’t go in the garage.” And it blew, and it snowed about three foot in a night and blew 60 miles an hour. It put drifts everywhere. And, anyway, I had a man, he was actually a banker that was a minister of the gospel that was gonna fly in from Kentucky. And I called him, he was gonna fly into DIA. And there wasn’t, you couldn’t even get to DIA. People couldn’t even get out of Denver International Airport. I said, “Stay home. You’d have to stay at the airport if you got there.” So I said, “Stay home and we’ll have you come back another time.” Well, two weeks later, he was able to fly in. And he came. And I had, it turned out, that summer, 207, had a cattle southwest of Lamar, Colorado, out in the middle of nowhere. And those cattle had not been gathered back up before that blizzard. And in that area, people were losing about 50% of their cattle. And this preacher came. And, you know, two weeks later, we didn’t even know how many cattle we had, yet they still hadn’t been able to gather ’em. And he gave me a word, and he gave me this word, and he said, “Without fail, you shall recover all.” And, man, that word just got in my heart. But within another two weeks, they were able to gather my cattle. And I got 203 out of 207 that we turned out that spring, in April or the beginning of May back. And it was a complete miracle to me, where people were losing 50%. And, you know, four could have died over the summer with sickness or something. So it was a complete miracle. And it took me, I lost about a hundred thousand, but it took me a year to get that hundred thousand back. But I believe God and got that back. And, you know, what was so amazing to me was God gave me this word. And the devil may have robbed some of you, you may feel like you’ve had this devastating loss, that there’s no way you can recover, but if you’ll believe God, I’m telling you, you can recover.

 

  And God is such a restorer. He loves to restore people. He loves to restore things that were lost. And when he restores things, he puts things back oftentimes in a different way, oftentimes in a better way. So if you’ve dealt with a lot of loss, just keep trusting God. And I believe that he’s gonna restore you, you’re gonna recover all, and that your life is gonna be more beautiful, more powerful, and you’ll just radiate the glory of God, and just have a great testimony to share. You know, if you can make it through the famine, you’ll make it to the feast.

 

  Amen. God actually gave me that word, Aaron, if you can make it through the famine, you’ll make it to the feast, during that time that we experienced that great loss. But God brought us into a great time of harvest and restored everything that the devil stole, and eventually, more. If you need prayer, during this break, just give us a call. We’re waiting to receive your calls. Blessings. Friends, thank you so much for watching today. We appreciate your participation with us in the gospel. Our special offer this week, to everyone who becomes a new partner within the United States of America, we will mail you my book, “Provision: Releasing Supernatural Increase in Your Life,” absolutely free of charge. Blessings.

 

  Hi, everyone. We have a special announcement for you.

 

  We’re having a camp meeting, and it’s for the whole family. We have special kids’ teaching, special youth teaching, special adult teaching, special guests, and special worship. It’s a great event, and you don’t wanna miss it. I believe it will be a blessing to you and your family. So come see us. Friends, we’ve been sharing from 1 Samuel 30, where David, you know, had what seemed to be a devastating loss. But after he had this terrible loss, the Lord spoke to him and said, “Pursue for you shall overtake them. And without fail, you shall recover all.” Man, God wants you to recover. God wants to restore you. God wants to bless you. God wants to help you. So go ahead, Aaron, and continue taking us through the word here.

 

  Yes, so I love what happens here in verse nine. It said, “David went, and he and the 600 men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. But David pursued, he and 400 men.” So 200 stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the brook Besor. And this is actually really important to remember here, that even though 200 were so wearied they couldn’t even get across a brook, they were still part of that team, you know? And we really see this principle, this promise of partnering. And even though you might not be doing everything that everyone else is doing, if you’re a partner with somebody, the blessing and the restoration, it’s gonna be available to everyone who’s part of that team.

 

  Amen. Aaron, you know, we’re ministering to people all around the world. And we see people saved, and healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, set free by the power of God. Not only that, we’re helping build churches in other places and you know, we’re building a lot of churches overseas. I’ve built houses for pastors. You know, we’ve done all these things. We’ve helped some churches actually here in the United States that we’ve helped plant. And we have special ministry going on. We’re preaching the word, you know, five days a week on five different networks.

 

  It’s exciting for everyone. It’s exciting for the kingdom of God. It’s exciting for everyone who’s partnered with this ministry as well.

 

  We’ve got children’s materials, you know, teaching materials that we’ve made available free of charge, where we’re paying over $900 a year prior to this just to download this stuff. We’ve made it free on the internet. We’re hearing from one or two nations a week. I mean, this stuff is exploding. We’re making teaching available in audio and video downloads just absolutely free of charge. We’re doing this, and actually, it costs us millions of dollars when you consider our staff and just our television costs. And yet, I believe the people that are partnering with us, I believe those people, whether they partner at $5 a month or $5,000 a month, I believe that they’re gonna share in the reward.

 

  That’s awesome. So they’re pursuing, and something interesting happens in verse 11. It says they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David. And they gave him bread, and he ate. And they let him drink water. So it’s really phenomenal. Actually, they were going through a difficult time themselves, but they still ministered to someone, who’s actually a foreigner. They ministered to this person, restored him, and as a result, this Egyptian told them what had happened and where to go pursue the enemy. So God used that, just kind of unexpected person, to lead them to the next step, where they’d ultimately get the victory,

 

  You know, and their enemies had kind of just left this guy behind to die. And I’ve had people do that to me. You know what, you better be careful who you leave behind to die in the dust. They might rise up.

 

  So in verse 17, let’s skip ahead to verse 17, it says, “David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man escaped except 400 young men who rode on camels and fled. So David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing of theirs was lacking.” I love that. Nothing was lacking, either small or great. God cares about the small things. He cares about the big things, sons or daughters, spoiler, anything which they had taken from them all, David recovered all.

 

  Amen. This word that God spoke to him came to pass. I believe he not only got what he lost, but he got more because these Amalekites weren’t just robbing their city. They’re probably traveling around, robbing multiple cities. And so David got it all, and he rescued his wives. And it says in verse 19, “There was nothing lacking to them.” God is not a God of lack. And I believe, when we get involved in giving and receiving, we don’t have to be involved with lack. You know, I read this scripture as one of the first scriptures I memorized as a child when I first got saved, and it’s Psalm 23:1. And it says, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” And I thought, no, the Lord is my shepherd, I want him. But I figured out that means I’m not gonna lack. Praise God. You know, the Bible says in Psalm 34:10, “The young lions lack and suffer hunger, but those who trust the Lord shall not lack any good thing.” And then we talked about this promise earlier in the week, Philippians 4:19, that says, “My God shall supply all your needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” That’s an amazing promise when you read about his riches and glory, that we’re going to heaven, where the streets are graveled with the purest gold, where the walls are made of fine gold, and the foundations of the city are made of fine jewels. And, you know, it’s just amazing, you know, the wealth of heaven. And the Bible says that God supplies our need. But he’s not just talking to everybody. He’s talking to, Paul is talking to a group of believers in Philippians who’ve communicated with him in giving and receiving, from the beginning of his ministry, you know, and a church of people that’s communicated with him through his ministry. And so he says, “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory.” And it’s ultimately by Christ Jesus. You know, Jesus is the same. He met people’s needs when he walked on the earth. We’re gonna talk about that, you know, in a later broadcast, about how, you know, Jesus, when the multitudes needed fed, Jesus told his disciples, feed them.

 

  I have a word for someone watching right now, and it’s this word, that you shall not lack any good thing. And I know some people, you know, just face different pressures and are lacking things, but I believe that God wants you to not lack any good thing. I’m actually thinking of a person we have on staff here, Wilma. She actually receives a lot of of calls. If you call for prayer or call to become a partner, there’s a good chance you might talk to Wilma. But Wilma had been coming to the church for a long time. And her car just puttered out and she didn’t have a vehicle for a long time, but she really wanted to keep staying involved and giving what she could here at the church. She was part of the choir. She would get rides to come to choir practice Thursday nights, be here Sunday mornings at seven.

 

  She’s a faithful woman.

 

  Just very faithful. But eventually, you know, she really believed and needed a car. That was a good thing that she needed. And she was believing for it. And eventually, someone just blessed her with a car. She was able to drive herself, get more involved. I know she helped, you know, serving on the hospitality team, but God just kept growing her. Now she’s one of our main, you know, ministers on the phone, sits at the front desk here at church, and, you know, just does a phenomenal job doing this. She’s actually one of my favorite employees on staff here. She’s always just rejoicing, always just thanking God, and just a living, walking testimony. So you shall not lack any good thing.

 

  And I wanna say something about Wilma. And you know what, she didn’t ask me to say this. She doesn’t know anything about it. But she is a very, very generous person. And you know what, when you get involved in generosity, you cannot beat God giving it. That’s just how the scripture works. And, you know, the Bible talks about generosity and people who are generous. And when you’re generous, it comes back to you. Praise God.

 

  Yeah, and I wanna skip down to verse 24 here, 1 Samuel 24. And this is really important, seeing how that we’re talking about the power of partnership. So we know in this story that David had 600 men with him, and they were attacked, just devastated. The Amalekites kidnapped their families, robbed all their goods, set their homes on fire.

 

  That is terrible.

 

  And, you know, 200 men were too weak to go, you know, fight back, so they stayed behind. And when the 400 conquered the enemy, brought everything back, the 400, so, well, the 200 shouldn’t get anything. Like, we’re gonna keep their stuff and we’re gonna keep their kids. They’re gonna be our servants. Like, it was actually kind of an ugly situation. But the word of the Lord was spoken, and we see this here in verse 24. “For who will heed you in this matter? But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies, that they shall share alike.” So it was, from that day forward, he made a statute and an ordinance for Israel. To this day, I believe this is a continuing statute and ordinance. This is a godly principle, that when you’re partnering with a ministry, when you’re partnering with a man of God, when you’re partnering with people who are going out, you might not be able to do everything that they’re doing, but you can back them financially, you can help them out. Man, whatever they accomplish, the rewards are there for you as well.

 

  Amen. And you know what, I wanna encourage you, if you’re partnering, I believe that the reward that we receive in preaching the gospel and seeing people saved, healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, set free, blessed in the gospel, I believe part of that reward belongs to you. And I believe those who give will be rewarded, you know, with us who are here sharing the gospel. And, you know, this is something, you know, that I do myself. It’s not something that I have dismissed myself. I am a giver, praise God. And I love to give. In fact, one of my good friends and mentors told me, and he’s up in years, but he’s given now three times what his income is. And his income is tremendous. But he’s super blessed, and he’s given. And you know what, I believe that if you partner with this ministry, you’re gonna get a reward. And I would like to ask people to pray and consider becoming a partner. I believe that just like this has worked in my life, and worked in Aaron’s life, it’s worked in our church ministry, it’s worked for other people that we know, you know, I believe it’ll work for you. Aaron, I have a man that’s come here for about three years to the church, maybe four, now going on four. But he told me, he calls me man of God. He said, “Man of God, hear me.” And, you know, I prayed for his son. God healed his son. I prayed for his wife. God healed his wife. But he told me a while back, “Pastor Lawson, I made more money last month than I’ve ever made in my life.” And it was amazing. He tithed on that. And I believe when you get involved sowing seed in a ministry like this, that there is a harvest. Not only natural, I believe there’s a natural harvest, and you receive increase on the seeds that you sow. But I also believe there’s a spiritual harvest that comes back to you.

 

  And something really neat happens at the very end of this story. In verse 26, it said, “David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, here’s a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.” So he was just supernaturally blessed, but he wanted to keep giving. And I believe that as God blesses you and you just have that heart to give, God’s gonna keep blessing you and keep increasing.

 

  Amen. I wanna encourage you, if you wanna become a partner, pray about it. And if you feel like God’s wanting you to do that, give us a call and become a partner, or if you need prayer, give us a call. We have tremendous prayer ministers waiting to receive your call. Thank you and God bless you.

 

  On today’s program, Pastor Lawson and Aaron talked about the blessing that gets released towards you when you partner with spreading the gospel. We invite you to join us as we share this message of grace, faith, and righteousness with countless others by becoming a regular monthly partner with Grace For Today. When you do so, we will send you a copy of Pastor Lawson’s book entitled “Provision” free of Charge. To become a monthly partner, go to our website, CharisChristianCenter.com, and click on the give icon at the top of the screen. Once you’re there, click on the give button. Then choose what level of partnership you’d like. Then select whether or not you’d like your copy of “Provision.” You can also start your partnership by calling us at 719-418-4000. We are receiving an overwhelming number of calls at times, so if the phones are busy, please leave a message and we’ll call you back as soon as possible. We wanna say thank you for your generous gifts, and we look forward to hearing from you today.

 

  Friend, we don’t want to leave this broadcast today without giving you the opportunity to pray and surrender your life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Pray with me right now. Heavenly Father, I believe that Jesus Christ is your Son. I believe that Jesus died for my sins. I believe that you raised Him from the dead on the third day and made him Lord. And I surrender my life to you in Jesus’ name.

 

  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.