The Power Of A Positive Imagination Part 3 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue
The Power Of A Positive Imagination Part 3 – Lawson and Aaron Perdue
The Power Of A Positive Imagination Part 3 with Pastors Lawson and Aaron Perdue. In this episode of Grace For Today, learn how your positive imagination can be used to bring about the dreams and purposes in your life.
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The Power Of A Positive Imagination Part 3 – Transcript
Friends, it’s great to have you with us today. I’m so glad that you tuned into the broadcast. I have my son, Aaron, with us. We’re talking about the power of a positive imagination, and today we’re talking about how we can move from a negative to a positive imagination. Most of the time in the scripture, when the word imagination’s used, it’s used negatively. But I believe you can turn that thing around, begin to use your imagination in a positive way, and move into the purposes and plans of God for your life.
Friends, I’m so glad that you’re connected with us today. We’re talking today about the power of a positive imagination. And we begin to talk about how we can move from a negative to a positive imagination. Inevitably, when we read the scriptures, most of the time when the word imagination’s used, it is used in a negative context. But I believe we can turn that thing around, and we can begin to use it in a very powerful and positive way in our life.
Mm hm.
And we looked at yesterday in the broadcast, Romans 1:21, where Paul was really addressing the gentile problem, the unchurched, the unsaved person’s problem, the world’s problem of unrighteousness. And he says, “Even though the invisible attributes of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen by being understood,” this is Romans 1:20, “By the things that are created, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,” because that when they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were they thankful, but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Darkness flooded their soul, darkness flooded their imagination, darkness overcame them. And, so, I believe we can just turn that around. When we know God, we glorify Him for being God, we become thankful, we become positive in our imaginations, and light understanding fills our soul. So, we begin to talk about yesterday, just glorifying God, you know, that recognize God for who He is.
One thing I was kind of thinking too about, just, I believe a lot of Christian leaders today are almost trying to glorify themselves, build their own kingdom, and when there’s, kind of, a shaking or maybe just, you know, they mess up. A lot of their followers will just leave the church altogether or leave their faith. But really their faith wasn’t in God, it wasn’t in Jesus, it was in that person. That celebrity person who’s, kind of, trying to build their own kingdom, really, as pastors, as leaders, as worship leaders, we should always be glorifying God, not glorifying ourselves.
We want to build the kingdom of God, ultimately.
Yeah.
And not, you know.
But when we see so many people just turn away, and quit, you realize that they weren’t really following Jesus, they were following that person. That person’s persona.
That’s important for us as Christian leaders, to live godly, to live pure. I mean, Dr. Sumrall said this, Dr. Lester Sumrall, “That every man of God, every person has clay feet.” In other words, we all have human weakness, and we need to recognize that. “Man at his best is altogether vanity,” David said. And, so, but at the same point in time, Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” And, so, we need to live diligently. We need to live as a good example. Paul said, “I don’t fight as one who beats the air, but I keep my body.” First Corinthians 9:27, “And I bring it under subjection, lest at any time when I have preached to others, I myself should become a castaway.” And, you know, we need to keep our body in subjection to our spirit. And this is one way we can do it. We can begin to glorify God. Let God be God. You make a poor God. And, so-
[Aaron] That’s true.
let God be God in your life. And you know, Aaron, you studied a very high level for music. You’ve performed all over the world in very high venues and done different things. You were on a major good track, and then, you know, God opened the door for you to come into the ministry, and you prayed about it for several months. And when you made the decision, you were actually playing in Washington, DC in a very large venue with five of… You know, you were one of five of the top flute players in the world that were hand picked to be there. You had played on national public radio, you had done all these different things. But when you called me after praying for several months, I think about three months, you said, “Dad, I’m gonna come, and I’m gonna do that. It’s not about a position, it’s not about a paycheck, it’s about, this is what God has called me to do.” And I think we all need to understand that we have a purpose that comes from God, and it’s a very high calling of God for our life. And when we understand that, you know, I think we’re less, you know, distracted by all these things in the world. I don’t wanna be distracted. I don’t wanna leave what God’s called me, to go do some other thing. I wanna stay focused on what God’s called me to do. And, so, recognize God for who He is, one, true God, creator, savior, that He’s good. We need to magnify and praise Him. Go to Psalm 27, we can read in Psalm 27.
I love that you said we need to magnify and praise Him. You know, one of my roles here at the church is to actually oversee the worship ministry. And one of my, just, kind of, philosophies with worship is everything that we do needs to bring glory to Jesus. It needs to bring attention to Jesus, so…
Right.
How someone sings, how they play their instrument, even how they dress. Is it done in a way that’s trying to draw attention to yourself as an individual, or is it being done as something that’s adding to that incense, that atmosphere of worship that’s going up to Jesus, so…
Actually, there’s a few people you haven’t allowed on the stage, because they think it’s more about them than Jesus. And it’s not about us, it’s about Jesus. And, so, Psalm 27:1, it says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life. Whom shall I be afraid?” Man, let the Lord be your light, let the Lord be your salvation. Then he says this in the very end of the chapter, Psalm 27:13 and 14, he said, “I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” You know, we talked about this in this series, talking about imagination. We need to know that God is a good God, at the end of the day. And we need to believe to see His goodness in our lives, the land of the living, those of us who believe. He says, “Wait on the Lord and be of good courage, and he will strengthen your heart. Wait, I say I’m the Lord.” So, you know, we need to glorify God. We need to recognize Him for who He is, that He’s one true God, He’s the creator, He’s the Savior, He’s good. We need to magnify Him. If we go just a little bit later in Psalm 34. Aaron read Psalm 34:1 through 8.
It says, “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear of it, and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. The poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them. Oh, taste, and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.”
I love what the Psalmist says, “Oh, magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt Him.” We need to be continually magnifying, praising, glorifying God. He goes on and says, you know, he says “They looked unto Him, and they were light, and their faces were not ashamed.” You know, you need to let Jesus’ life radiate through your life. You know, I’ve literally been in ministries where I could see the light of God shining through people. I remember as a young child going to a meeting with Bobbie Jean Merck, and she’s no longer traveling, but you know, we had her travel to our church. She’d traveled in very… You know, she’d preached for some of the largest ministries and churches in the nation. And yet, when I met her years later, after I’d earlier seen her at Dr. Lester Sumrall’s , you know, she came to Kit Carson, it’s out in the wilderness. She came in the middle of the winter, you know. And, you know, I remember driving her out there, and how, you know, she was, kind of, appalled and shocked at some of the different conditions, you know, that were there in the hotel, so on and so forth. But man, she ministered the power of God. But I remember seeing her as a young child when I was just 17 years old, and how she would minister, and you could literally see the light and the glory of God radiating through her. I remember we were in a church, and it probably held 120 people. This is like in 1981 when I was a senior in high school. And this baby was just screaming. And she said, “Bring that baby to me.” And when she helped that baby, that baby just immediately quieted down. And I remember people being healed from incurable diseases. You know, when you magnify God, when you glorify God, when you make it about Him and not you, and let the power of God, you know, it’s not our power, but it’s His power that flows through us. He says, “Oh, taste, and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusted Him.” We need to, you know, taste the goodness of God. And then we need to share the goodness of God with other people. You know, the second thing is, not only do we need to glorify God, but we need to become thankful. You know, thankfulness is one way to move into the good things of God, to move into the plans and the purposes of God for our lives. And in Psalm 103 through 107, David talks about a lot of different things. And I’m gonna have you read these verses, but I believe that when we really begin to glorify God, praise comes forth from that. When you’re glorifying God, you’re constantly praising God. You’re constantly magnifying God. And even sometimes when we go through different difficulties, you know, the Lord, if you just magnify Him and glorify Him… I’ve told your mama that the Lord has taken care of us in grand style. Even though there’s different challenges and difficulties that we face, the Lord takes care of us in grand style. Amen, Aaron, go ahead and read Psalm 103:1 through 5.
Says, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.”
Praise God, He’s a merciful God, isn’t he? He’s our savior. He says that we need to bless Him. That word bless in the Hebrew is the word barak. And it means to kneel before Him and, you know, really adore Him. And I believe as we do that, He just pours His blessing on us just talking about humbling ourselves before Him. You know, James says, humble yourselves before the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due time. You know, sometimes people are clawing and they’re striving, they’re doing all these things in their own power, trying to get these things, but I believe there’s a… You know, the way down is the way up. Humility leads to grace and exaltation. And when you see this, you know, bless the Lord, forget not all of His benefits. There’s benefits of serving Jesus. He forgives how many of our sins?
All.
How many of our diseases-
All. He heals them all. Jesus, 14 times in the scriptures, in the Gospels, and in the Book of Acts that’s written, He healed them all. They brought on Him every sick person with every kind of disease, and He healed them. Everyone, praise God. And you know, Acts 10:38, how God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed of the devil. Man, we need to magnify God. We need to glorify God for forgiving our sin, for healing our disease. Mama asked me last night when we laid down in bed, she’s like, “What do you thank God?” I said, “I thank God I’m saved.” Hallelujah, man, we need to thank God for our salvation. I thank God that we’re blessed. God’s taken care of us in grand style. You know, I thank I… One person told me about mama. They said, well, what’s Barbara have to be, you know, upset about, everything’s good. They don’t know some of the challenges we face. They don’t know some of the difficulties. But then there’s been times when we went through great difficulties, and we magnified and praised and glorified God. Later people found out about, and they said, “How could you be so happy? How could you,” you know, “be in such a state?” Well, praise God. You know, God told me one time, you look at what you have and not what you lost. Praise God. There’s always a way to praise and glorify God. He goes on in Psalm 103, and he says, “Who redeems your life from destruction?” He is presently, actively redeeming our life from destruction. “Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercy.” He crowns us with his grace and glory, right? “Who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.” So, you know, we can look at the salvation of God, we can look at the healing, the redemption, the favor of God in our lives, the provision of God in our lives, and we can glorify God. Amen, so many things to glorify God for. We’re gonna be back right after a short break. Thank you for staying with us. We’ve got some great things to continue to share on glorifying God, and see the amazing grace of God manifest in your life.
Friends, I wanna share with you about our special product that we’re offering. I’m teaching, and with my son, Aaron, also with Jesse Duplantis on a couple of different things. Number one, Insights to Faith. Jesse Duplantis made a statement years ago in my church as he was ministering, and I just haven’t been able to let go of it. He said, “Most of the time, in the realm of faith, I made a decision, and God backed it.” We’re gonna talk about that. We’re also talking about this. My son, Aaron’s, one of his newest series, the Divine Imagination. Tremendous, tremendous revelation that I believe will help you move into the plans and the purposes of God. And also my series, the Power of a Positive Imagination, one of my most requested series. You want to get this product. If you can’t call in and get it physically, you can watch it online for free, or you can pay a small fee, and download this information on our website at charischristiancenter.com. Friends, thanks so much for staying with us. We are right here. We’re talking about how we can turn from a negative imagination to a positive imagination. And we said, number one, we need to glorify God. But number two, we need to thank God, and how thanks giving can praise work together. I want you, Aaron, to go to Psalm 104, and let’s read Psalm 104:1 through 5, and you know, see how we can be thankful. Psalm 104:1 through 5.
So, it says, “Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh Lord, my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, who cover yourself with light as with a garment, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain. He lays the beams of his upper chambers in the waters, who makes the clouds his chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind, who makes his angels spirits, his ministers of flame of fire.”
“Who has laid the foundation of the earth that it should not be removed forever.” Amen, thank God. You know, we serve a great God, and he is the creator. I mean, I think it’s hard to look at creation and not understand that there’s a magnificent God. You know, I wake up every day, you know, we live in a beautiful place. God has been so good to us and so kind to us. But, you know, we look out and we see the mountains, and we see the beauty of creation. And to me, it screams to me there is a God. You know, we look at the beauty of that. He says, “He’s very great. He’s clothed with honor and majesty. He covers Himself with light as a garment, who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.” You know, when you think about the greatness of God, you know, He says that, you know, He holds the earth in the palm of His hand. He stretched out, you know, the heavens like a curtain. He’s one day gonna fold this thing up like a garment, and we’re gonna go into a new heaven and new earth, wherein, dwells righteousness. You know, He’s light. It talks about this in James 1:17, “Every good and every perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of light, with whom there’s no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Again, when you begin to see the goodness of God, and that God is only good and He only does good things. You know, some people are, you know, they have this idea that God’s a schizophrenic. I don’t believe it’s scriptural. I don’t believe it’s New Testament. I don’t believe it’s good. I believe that’s a lot of reason there’s a lot of people are mad at God, because they think God is the author of death and destruction, and he is not the author of death and destruction. He’s a God of light. He’s a God of good. “Who lays the beams of his chambers in the waters.” Man, God’s laid the foundations of the earth. You know, He’s the creator. Heaven and earth will pass away, but the word of God will abide forever. But God is God, amen. “He’s our creator. He walks,” I love this, “He walks on the wings of the wind.” You know, God is all around us. David said, “If I go into the highest heaven, if he’s there.” Praise God, He’s all around us. We can see God if we are looking for Him. You know, people that don’t believe in God, they’re not looking for Him. You know, you can’t harden your heart. I’ve had people who claimed, “Well, I don’t know if there’s a God,” they may claim to be agnostic or atheist. I had one man in our church in Kit Carson, he actually didn’t come to church much, his wife came to church, very strong believer. But he went through a really hard time where, you know, he was, you know, a drug addict. And he worked in the oil field. And, you know, I prayed with Him, and I said, “Will you pray to God with me that God will reveal Himself.” And he prayed that. And you know, he went through this really hard time, and he was trying to get free, not getting free. And you know, when his company should have fired him, they didn’t. They sent him to a place to get, you know, delivered really from drugs. It was a Christian place, and he got set free, and he came to faith in Jesus. It was a marvelous thing. But if people would give God a chance, He is there. He wants to reveal Himself to them. And I love verse four here, Psalm 104:4, “He makes His angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire. His angels are sent to be servants of those who are salvation of salvation. Praise God? His ministers of flame of fire, praise God. You know, I remember Billy Joe Daugherty used to talk about how to, you know, build a good church and have people come. He says, “Get on fire with God. People come watch the fire burn.” You know? Hallelujah, now, let’s read on down. Let’s, Aaron, read this in Psalm 105, read verse 1 through verse 10, talking about glorifying God, and magnifying God and thanking God, becoming thankful. We have so much to be thankful for.
Yes, Psalm 105:1, It says, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Call upon His name, make known His deeds among the peoples.” I love that. We’re supposed to make known his deeds among the peoples. We’re supposed to have a testimony to share.
Amen, we’re supposed to constantly thank Him. You know, go ahead and read verse 2 through verse 10.
“Sing to Him, sing Psalms to Him. Talk of all His wondrous works. Glory in His holy name. Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord, seek the Lord and His strength, seek His faith forevermore. Remember His marvelous works, which He has done. His wonders and the judgments of His mouth, oh seed of Abraham, His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones. He is the Lord our God. His judgements are in all the earth. He remembers His covenant forever. The word which He commanded for a thousand generations. The covenant which He made with Abraham and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute to Israel as an everlasting covenant.”
Praise God. So, David constantly talks about praising the Lord. Giving thanks to Him, calling on Him, making His deeds known. He says, “He’s a wonderful God. He’s a marvelous God, and He makes covenant.” Thank God we have a Bible full of promises that we can believe. We have so much to be thankful for. You know, I grew up in a church, we didn’t believe in hardly anything, but we did believe that the Bible was the word of God. So, when I found out, what’s the word of God, and got filled with the Holy Ghost, I got so excited. You know, because I thought, we don’t have to just exist. God’s got a covenant. He’s a wonderful God, does marvelous works, and He’s given us a covenant that we can believe. We can believe the promises of God. And, so, Psalm 106, he says this in verse one, “Praise the Lord, oh give thanks to the Lord for His good, for His mercy endures forever. Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord, who can show forth his praise.” You know, the mercy of God endures forever. He’s a good God, He’s a merciful God. You know, the Bible, when you read it, says one thing, God is a good God. He’s a merciful God. I’m glad he’s merciful to me.
Well, usually when you see the word mercy in the Old Testament, it’s the Hebrew word, hesed, which means grace.
Yes.
So, if you read a Hebrew New Testament, when it’s talking about grace, the word in the Hebrew New Testament would be hesed, the same word here.
Yes.
So, his grace endures forever.
We have so much to be thankful for, the grace of God. Aaron, if it wasn’t for the grace of God, we’d be lost. If it wasn’t for the grace of God. But thank God for the grace of God. You know, if it wasn’t for the grace of God, you probably would’ve died when you were a senior in college, when the devil tried to kill you. But Jesus raised you up by his power and his goodness. Psalm 107, he says this in verse 1 and 2, “Oh, give thanks to the Lord. He is good and His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so who He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy.” Thank God for redemption. Thank God, He bought us out of the devil’s destruction. He saved us, and, you know, He’s an eternal God. He’s our redeemer, He’s so good to us. Amen, one more, let’s look in Psalm 108. He says this, in Psalm 108, “Oh God, my heart is fixed. I will sing and praise even with my glory.” You know, he goes on in verse 3, “I will praise the Lord among the people. I will sing praises to you among the nations, among the heathen, for your mercy is great above the heavens, and it reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, oh God, above the heavens, in your glory, above the earth.” We have so much to be thankful for. God is so good to us.
Yeah, I really love Psalm 108, like that second verse, actually, he says, “Awake, lute and harp. I will awaken the dawn.” You know, a lot of people, you’re just waiting for a certain feeling to start glorifying God, but you actually need to glorify God right now. It’s not, if you’re just basing it upon your own feelings, upon your own circumstances, that’s actually a vanity.
Yeah.
You’re glorifying yourself. You’re glorifying your own emotions. You’re glorifying your own circumstances. You’re glorifying your own experience. Really, you need to glorify God, glorify His word, glorify His truth, glorify Him for who He is. So, I like what the Psalmist here writes, you know, “Awake, lute and harp, I will awaken the dawn.”
Amen, I’m gonna make a decision to praise God. I’m gonna make a decision to be thankful. I’m gonna make a decision to glorify God. And when you make a decision to glorify God, to become thankful, to praise God, I believe you’ll begin to… That’s the one thing that begins to turn you from a negative imagination, to a positive imagination. Begins to turn you where you’re just experiencing these problems into where you can experience the promise of God.
You can actually strengthen yourself in the Lord. You can strengthen yourself by glorifying God. You can strengthen yourself by being thankful.
Amen.
Even when you don’t feel like it.
Amen, praise God. We’re not to let feelings rule us. We’re to let faith in God rule us. And we can let faith in God rule us as we put our confidence in Jesus, as we glorify God and we’re thankful. And I believe when we glorify God, be thankful, that’s key, that begins to turn our imagination to a positive way where we can begin to see from an inward perspective what God wants to do in our life. Creates hope in our life.
Go ahead.
Awesome. Well, just thanks so much for joining us today. If you’d like to call and receive prayer, we have trained prayer partners here ready to pray for you. You can also call to give if you’d like to partner with this ministry, or if you’d like to order any product. Maybe you’ve enjoyed some of the teachings we’ve been sharing, you wanna share it with friends and family, you can call for all those things. Thanks so much for joining us, God bless you, and see you again soon.
[Announcer] Imagination is a very powerful force that works on the inside of everyone. The thoughts of your imagination, create the framework of your life. Get the Imagination package, which includes Insights Into Faith with Jesse Duplantis, Divine Imagination, and Power of a Positive Imagination CD series all for $49 when you call 719-418-4000, or visit charischristiancenter.com.
Friends, I certainly hope that you’ve enjoyed the program today, and it’s ministering to you to move into that which God has for you. And I want to say a great big thank you to all of our partners for helping us share this gospel across the United States and across the world. It’s because of our partners that we can take this message of grace and faith around the world. If you would like to join our partners, and receive that blessing, give us a call today. Blessings.
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