Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Power Walk Ministries broadcast with author and speaker Dr. Paul Cannings. Reestablish or rebuild, that's the name of our new series on marriage. Taking us back to the very beginning when God instituted marriage in the book of Genesis, Pastor Cannings challenges us to consider God's purpose in marriage.

He provides a close look into what a covenant is and the importance of keeping a covenant in God's eyes. Unraveling all this for us, here's Pastor Cannings with today's message titled Blueprint.

Dr. Paul Cannings: We're going to jump into the scriptures today in Genesis chapter 2. I want to begin a series of messages about marriage and singleness and how God views that. I pray that you would join us. Before we get started, why don't we just get to the throne of grace and pray?

God, we thank You so much for all that You're doing. God, we thank You for the fact that we're able to serve You in this manner. Thank You for those who faithfully support Power Walk, and Lord, we pray that those who consider it, You would place it as a serious effort on their hearts so that we could effectively do what You've called us to do and continue to provide a way forward.

We pray, God, that You would bless this message to bless Your people's hearts. God, we find Your mind, because God, once we do that, You will transform us to find the strength to be able to serve You faithfully. We pray this, God, in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Let's turn to Genesis chapter 2 and let us walk our way into verse 15. Obviously, it's chapter 2, not chapter 1, so we're going to back up for just a minute as we work our way through this particular passage. As for those of you who may be listening to us for the first time, we don't jump right in and go through all the verses right away. We walk our way through so we could grow through each passage and learn it effectively in the short time that we have.

Let's jump right into verse 15. When we get into verse 15, this is what we find in Genesis chapter 2: "And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it." And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest, thou shalt surely die." And the Lord said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him."

I want you to note something here, that in chapter 1 of Genesis verse 26 on and in chapter 2 of Genesis, as you work your way especially from verse 15 on to chapter 3, you could learn everything about single life and marriage right here. Everything you want to know about what God's purpose is for a person that is single and God's purpose for a person that's married is mapped out here. All the writers in the Bible build off of here.

We learn everything about marriage here, everything about a single life here, everything about family here, and we also learn what destroys it. You also learn what gets in the way of God being able to effectively serve in it for the transforming work of each person that's involved, whether it's a single-parent home with children, whether it's a married couple having not just a marriage that's held together by a vow, but a marriage that is held together by the Spirit of God.

So let's jump into verse 15. "And the Lord God took the man." Watch that carefully. He could have said God, because in Genesis chapter 1, he says, "In the beginning God." He doesn't say, "In the beginning Lord God." What the Bible is doing is setting up the course of how, even though God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are all one, there is a structure in heaven where God is the key leader. That's just how it is.

Jesus Christ would constantly on earth show the structure. He would say in Philippians chapter 2, "I do not count it robbery to be equal with God," but he would say, "I must be about my Father's business." So he saw that God, in this redemptive process especially, is going to lead this system and that he is willing, even though he's equal to God, to come under God. That's huge when we start talking about marriage.

In Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, he says that the man and woman are made in the image of God. The woman is not less than the man. I'm always shocked when people are saying, "Wow, the woman could drive a race car like a man." What are you saying that for? A woman is made in the image of God. First Peter chapter 3 verse 7, he says they're joint heirs. In other words, if a man treats his wife as if she doesn't have the same abilities and capabilities, God will block his prayers. Not Satan; Jesus will block his prayers.

When we come to this system, we have to recognize that even though he says Lord God, he is providing to us how heaven works and how heaven works is exactly how earth would work. So when we look at this and we see Genesis chapter 1 verse 26, "And Lord God said, let us make man in our image." When we see Lord God, what he is literally saying is because of what we see in Colossians chapter 1 verse 15 through verse 18, that all things are through him, for him, and by him, speaking of Jesus the Christ.

God has the plan; Jesus Christ executes the plan. Jesus Christ is the one who when God says that there's going to be a tree, there's going to be light, there's going to be earth and the firmament of the earth and all these different things, the person who is speaking that into being is Jesus Christ. John would grasp that and John would say, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word is God." He shows the structure and he also shows the unity. He also shows that they're equal, but yet they are functionally operating with one another with God leading the process.

When we look at this system that God has put in place, we see right away that when he says Lord God, he is speaking a key phrase there as to how singleness and marriage works. Because when we come to the marriage, we first have to solidify singleness. Marriage wouldn't work unless it begins with a good person. The Bible is saying Lord God. So he says Lord, meaning that this person sees that Jesus Christ reigns.

Paul would work from that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 3. He says God is the head of Christ and Christ is the head of the man, and the man is head of the woman. It works down that way. That's why a woman submits to her husband—didn't say obey—submits to her husband as she did to God. Singleness is key before we could ever talk about marriage in this passage of scripture. A lot of times people want to run the marriage, but they're not even good singles.

When we look at this process, he's saying Jesus Christ must be Lord of the person's life. You don't want to marry somebody that's unequally yoked; that's what the Bible would say. What fellowship does light have with darkness? Why? Because it begins here. Everything about singleness, everything about marriage, we could learn it right here in Genesis. The reason why he's saying Lord is a person must accept the covenant that God has established with man.

Lord is attached to a covenant relationship with man. It's a focus on maintaining a relationship with man, but that man must respect that God is Lord, meaning he has all authority, all power, and he's not asking for our suggestions. In 1 Corinthians chapter 2, our wisdom is foolishness to him. In the New Testament structure, that's why the man is Christ in the home; the man must accept that Jesus Christ is Lord.

In other words, he cannot lead his family when Christ is not leading him and the relationship that's established on the cross for us. He has to accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, accept that covenant, and be committed to the fact that that's attached to the development of a relationship. What kind of man is this that would lay down his life for a friend? He's into a relationship. He's into producing life through us because of we accepting life from him.

What is the fruit of that life? Joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, love, patience, all these things that are attached to this life. When we begin with that being the dominant focus in order for a man to be a good single, the woman to be a good single, in order for all of these things to take place like you see in the case of Ruth. Ruth chose to be a good single. She wasn't planning to get married.

She was willing to submit to Naomi's God and do whatever Naomi's God tell her to do. She was willing to adjust her life to this Lord God. So that's why it begins with a deep commitment to him being Lord. And then the second thing here is God, meaning God is going to make decisions; he's sovereign. He's not interested in how we think. He's not interested in the fact that we may be the brightest persons, the best educated.

We may have the best church experiences, but God is sovereign. He allows a tough situation—right here I'm going to say—because I've seen it as a pastor. A woman may want to have a child or a man and a woman may want to have a child, but in sovereign nature, he decides no. When he decides no, there's a reason for that, and we search it out. Even though we struggle to accept it, like Abraham and Sarah, there's a point to it that we have to learn, because he's sovereign.

He's in control of everything. Therefore, even though we may not like some of the things that are taking place, we have to still remember he is in control. I must keep trusting him, obeying him. That's what it leads to, doing what he says because I keep believing he is in control. Since I trust him, I'll keep doing what he called me to do because I trust him at his word.

It's like you go from one example to the next: Joseph, 12 years in a prison because he's God. I'm going to be faithful as a prisoner. I'm not going to touch Potiphar's wife because he's God. I don't like how long it takes for him to do what he's going to do. I still will continue to obey him. I still will continue to do what he says. I still will continue to act in a way that is pleasing to him because I know he's in control, I know he's going to do what he says, and I trust him. As a result of that, I walk by faith and not by sight.

He's Lord and he's God. When I come to this man that he's going to take and put into the garden, that was established before he ever entered the garden, before he could ever be exposed to what God is doing for him through that garden. He first must be in that context in order for him to experience God productively for the future.

Before we jet in deeper into this, I pray that you will continue to pray for our missions. It's our heartbeat as Power Walk to empower churches. We have a team of pastors and leaders that will come and train, equip, and serve churches for God's glory. By doing that, we impact families, communities, etc., for the glory of God.

We do that in America and around the world. Your support is critical. Thank you so much. We'll jump into this some more. I pray that you join us so we grow together for God's glory. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. How about you? If you're married, are you allowing the Holy Spirit to hold your marriage together? This series is so timely for us, so I hope you'll obtain a copy to review or to pass on to a friend. You can do so by calling us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, P.O. Box 920517, Houston, Texas 772092. Or if you're online, log on to powerwalkministries.org.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I am so excited about the pastor's conference coming up April 23rd through the 25th. You cannot miss it. There's going to be such a great group of teachers teaching; well-trained, well-prepared, practice what they're teaching in their local church. Here's some examples, folks: pastor and deacons functioning under the lordship of Christ, the biblical approach to resolving conflict in the church, traits of successful leaders, effective teaching methods for children.

How do you have a great contemporary worship service that is biblically based, succession planning, social media—how could you make it very positive for your children? How you overcome stagnation in the local church, developing a counseling ministry, dealing with mental health issues in the local church, marketing, moving from traditional ministry to bibliocentric ministry, how do you grow the church through evangelism for God's glory and God's honor?

You cannot miss this conference April the 23rd through the 25th, 2026, at 7350 TC Jester Boulevard right here at Living Word Fellowship Church. I pray you'll go to powerwalkministries.org and find out more. Get into that early bird special where you can bring 10 or more people and get a discount so that you can be a part of an effective, productive conference that will bless your life. Come on, be a part of this; you will not be disappointed. April the 23rd through the 25th. Look forward to seeing you.

Guest (Male): And now remember, even in a marriage, our first priority must be to remain submitted to God in covenantal relationship, and as a result, love and respect our mates as he commands us to.