Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): We welcome you to today's broadcast of Power Walk Ministries with Pastor Paul Cannings. This week he brings the series titled Experiencing God's Peace. Today Pastor Cannings takes us through various scripture passages to show us those who trusted God and experienced his peace, even through the most dire situations.

What's the connection between our salvation and experiencing God's peace daily? Helping us understand how we can appropriate this for our lives, here's Pastor Cannings now with today's message: God Fights for Me.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Years ago, when I was attending seminary, I was standing in front of a cell because I had to incarcerate somebody. For me, as a juvenile probation officer, it was hard. It was hard to bring them to that spot because they were kids. And so we did a lot of things to make sure they didn't even need to be there. But this young man just kept getting into fights and he kept stealing and kept being disrespectful to his parents, being out all night—don't know where he is—carrying weapons. So I said, okay, we've got to lock him up.

So I got the police officers to pick him up, bring him in, and put him in prison because he's a danger to himself, to the public, to his family. So we've got to lock him up. There are some issues here; we've got to get him counseling, whatever. So we put him there. This young man looked at me—no more than about 13 years of age—grabs the cell walls and says, "You may be mad at me or the people that I beat up, but I'm at peace with it. They had it coming. I'm at peace."

That rattled me. It's interesting because I could have responded and said, "Young man," or whatever, but for whatever reason, I stood there in shock because what he was saying was that when I got rid of everything inside of me towards everybody that I felt had wronged me, then I know I'm at peace. So peace somehow had to do with retribution. Peace had to do with vengeance. Peace did not have to do with what I was studying and continue to study: what the Scriptures were saying peace is.

And that's why I want us to spend this week just studying, in the midst of especially all that is taking place with all of these complications all around the world that people are managing every day. How do they function in these difficult situations that are taking place, and then God is saying you can have peace? What in the world is he saying? How can you be at peace when everything around you is in chaos?

There's evidence that this is very possible when you look at people like Joseph, 12 years in prison and was at peace. You look at Daniel with lions—it never said the lions slept all night. It never said that, so that means those lions that they starved to death—you know how much they starved them to death when the people who accused Daniel were thrown into that lions' den and they never made it to the ground. You know how aggressive those lions were, how hungry they were, how much they wanted to eat somebody.

And Daniel is on the ground all night. Could you imagine hearing them growl but they can't eat him? It didn't say that they weren't hungry; it showed that they were. They starved them so the person would be dead in seconds. But Daniel is at peace. So you have evidence of this. You've got situations where Paul would say, "be anxious for nothing," and he would talk about "get your mind on whatever is perfect, whatever is right, whatever is lovely," Philippians chapter 4, verses 8 and 9, "so that the God of peace will be with you."

So there's evidence in the Scriptures that things can be chaotic but a person can be at peace. Paul could be on a storm, a raging one all around him, and be at peace. He could be bitten by a snake and be at peace. This is very possible that this can take place. Christ modeled that obviously on Earth—how he can be at peace with people constantly looking for him to kill him. In order for things to take place at the right season and the right time, he has to walk around the countryside towards the end of his ministry so that people don't get this ahead of schedule. But he was at peace.

He could ride on a donkey into Jerusalem knowing this is going to be a brutal death. Well, Jesus Christ, because of what he is modeling, begins to teach them how they can have this same peace in John chapter 14, verse 27. Verse 26, actually, we first addressed the fact yesterday that when we have this peace, it's first that we have a relationship with God where God is not extending to us the kind of anger, the kind of rejection, the kind of punishment that would have been executed to us—like the Canaanites, wipe them all out, or the Ninevites, go preach to them or I'll wipe them all out. You don't have these kind of things happening to us now simply because Jesus Christ has made us at peace with God. We studied that yesterday, and that's why nothing can separate us from the love of God. Nothing, because we're at peace.

Now, here's a second thing about peace that we could find in this text that teaches us peace. Now he says this in chapter 14, this key person in verse 26. He says, "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will bring to remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." Key thing: but the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. Then he goes on in verse 27 to say, "Peace I leave with you."

What he's saying here to us is the fact that, number one, this peace, because it first was established by the blood of Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross removing the anger of God against sin, brings to us a person who's our Comforter. He didn't just say Holy Spirit is coming inside of you and that's it; no, he says the person is a Comforter. Well, what does that mean, that he is a Comforter? Because this is what establishes his work inside of us so we experience peace.

So first thing we have to look at: peace is not a feeling, peace is a person. That's why the fruit of the Holy Spirit is peace. So if the Holy Spirit is not developing in me, there's no fruit that leads to peace. So please remember, it's not a feeling, it's not an emotional thing. It's a stillness, it's a calmness, it's a satisfaction that makes the person say, "I'm at peace. I'm on vacation, so man, the phone isn't ringing, I don't have to deal with emails, I don't have to deal with office drama, I don't have to deal with none of these things." No, no, no, those are feelings, those are emotions. They come and they go. So we could end up losing peace once we get back on the job and the drama starts and all these different things, and the drive time and all these different things—it's gone.

So how can it be that the Bible is saying that this peace never leaves? This peace produced fruit; once it's there, it's not going anywhere. That's why he uses the word in verse 27, he says, "Peace I give you." It's not dependent on me; it's not something I'm doing in terms of my circumstances that makes me have this peace. He says, "No, I give it to you." And the word "give" here literally means it's a permanent experience that is not going anywhere because in chapter 16 he says when the Holy Spirit comes into our life, the Holy Spirit is permanently in us. He's permanently in us; he's not going anywhere.

That's why he would say in John 14:16, he would say, "And I pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." In other words, the minute I accept Jesus Christ into my life, the Holy Spirit (Titus chapter 3, verse 4 through 8) is poured into me. In Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 through 4, the Bible says I have all spiritual blessings, not some, all. Not after a laying on of hands to get some more; all the Holy Spirit. He says, "I am giving him to you and he's there forever because he's permanent."

So understand, that's why the first point was important yesterday, because the wages of sin is death, meaning the Holy Spirit chooses—because I choose to live outside the will of God, I choose to not do what God is saying, I'm saved but I'm a carnal Christian—there was fruit in my life, I showed the fruit, I lived this fruit in my life, it's obvious that I've tasted the Holy Spirit and I'm walking in the Holy Spirit (Hebrews chapter 6), but I've turned from God.

When we turn from God and go our way, no matter what God is doing convicting us—sermons come, Bible studies come, we feel a need to just surrender to God but refuse to do it—the Bible says the Holy Spirit backs up and there's no more movement of life, the Holy Spirit inside of me. So the wages of sin starts to pay me the consequences that was once removed: death. Death, early death. The Bible says a person can die early (1 John chapter 5, verse 16 on). A person could experience this because they choose to walk outside the will of God, but the Holy Spirit stops prompting them, stops pushing them, stops driving them with all the things that he does for them because, don't forget, as we work out our salvation in fear and trembling, it is he who's within us both the will and to do for his good pleasure.

So once I choose not to work in that direction, he's not doing what he normally does for his good pleasure. And when we rejected life, so we experience death; we turned the lights off, so there's darkness. So that's why he's saying to us here that now that we have this peace with God, we now have a person who's a Comforter. He keeps repeating that. Why? The word "Comforter" means he is our negotiator. It means there's a legal commitment. The covenant on Calvary's cross was accepted.

You ever wondered why Jesus Christ would tell Mary Magdalene, "Don't touch me," but he would tell Thomas to touch him? Because Mary Magdalene was touching him before he went to heaven. He says, "Mary Magdalene, I have to go to heaven to present myself before God." Because he has to prove himself to be an acceptable offering, a wave offering before God. And once he's a wave offering and God says "acceptable," Thomas, touch me.

Since Jesus is now been accepted and considered at the right hand of the Father, he has provided to God the full payment for our sin. And since he's provided to God a full payment for our sin, the Holy Spirit now, when he's deposited into us, is a statement that God is legally committed to us, to fight for us through Jesus Christ. So no matter what's going on against us, God is for us. So there's no reason for me to be anxious for anything. I just need to show my submission to God by praying and supplication because God is legally required and chooses to legally require himself to fight for me.

That's why I'm more than a conqueror through Jesus Christ. That's why he who is in me is greater than he who was in the world, because I have a Comforter. I have somebody that would fight for me, have somebody that would stand for me, have somebody that would go before God for me, because he's legally committed by the blood of Jesus Christ to go before God for me. So therefore, since he's fighting for me, why am I fighting for myself?

That's why he would tell them, "I'm giving you a Comforter because now he's legally required to fight for you, to do what I promise in the Word of God I will do for you." He is legally required to remind you of the scriptures you choose to study so he can guide you into the truth. He's legally required to pray for you when the groans of your heart and the circumstances of your life take you into a point of groaning. He's legally responsible. So therefore, I'm at peace with God.

I can look at life and I can know that nothing can separate me from the love of God. And when life has me perplexed, I can think of whatever's good, whatever's right, whatever's lovely, whatever's perfect, whatever's of good report, because all good and perfect gifts come from above and the God of peace will comfort my heart. You see folks, peace is not a feeling, peace is the person of the Holy Spirit. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Amen, Reverend Cannings. Learning to focus on the spirit of God in us, and not the fears and anxieties that so easily drive us, that's the key to his peace. Please visit us online at powerwalkministries.org. And while you're online, also look for Pastor Cannings' book, Give Fear a Knockout Punch. It will further help you to say no to fear and grow in your faith daily. That's powerwalkministries.org, or feel free to call us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402.

We're excited about this book, When You Pray. New book that's coming out, your support of the ministry of $25 or more would make this book a blessing to your life or for those around you that need to hear When You Pray: how to move in our prayers to see and experience the blessings of God and grow closer to God. This is the book. Come to our website at powerwalkministries.org, powerwalkministries.org, and be blessed.

And if you live in the Houston area and you don't have a church home, you're welcome to visit Reverend Cannings and his congregation at Living Word Fellowship Church. It's located at 7350 T.C. Jester Boulevard in Houston. And now remember, he who is in us, that is the Holy Spirit of God, is greater than he who is in the world or any situation or any circumstance that you face today.