Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Endurance for a time like this. That's the name of our current series here on Power Walk, taught by Reverend Paul Cannings. How do we handle life when we've surrendered all to God and still feel beaten down by life? Why don't things turn around for the better when I've surrendered all to God, prayed about it, and did everything right before God? Through examples from Paul's life, Reverend Cannings provides comfort and encourages us to pursue God relentlessly. Here he is now with the message, God's Plan for Endurance.

Dr. Paul Cannings: One of the things life has taught me over the years is that life is not going to be fair. And I think a lot of times we're looking for things to be fair. For us living in this world and functioning in this world from day to day, constantly expecting things to be fair is not a good thought. It's not going to be every day. It's going to be sometimes some really bad days. I mean, you see this throughout the New Testament, that the apostles constantly struggled. You see this in the Old Testament, people going through stuff and losing stuff and nations attacking Israel because they choose not to walk with God. I mean, it's all over the place. The Bible is full of trials. The minute man sins, that's the issue. It's sin, and God redeeming man. I always think that the theme in the Bible could be redemption.

So when we come to these times, you ask yourself, "God, what is your plan in this?" And I want to end these two weeks we've been working on this. I want to end this section before we pick up the last section we're going to work through next week, Lord willing, to look at what does God get out of this? Why would God just keep letting this mess continue? What is God's plan in this? I'd like for us to take a look at this because it's not going to get any better, folks. This is going to get worse. That's what the Bible says. It's going to get worse. And we could end up not wanting to obey God anymore. This whole thing we started out on on faith and walking with God and what faith means and all this other stuff goes through the door because the Bible is saying our love for God can grow cold. Because even when you come to church, he's saying that can get bad.

That can get bad. You're saying, "Wait a minute. It's the world. More people are unsaved. What are you talking about?" There's going to be a lot of trials and difficulties as the last days continue to extend. What are you talking about? This is what Paul describes for Timothy and how his church life is going to be. He says in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 2 through 5, he says, "For men will be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. From such, turn away."

This is how he's describing when Timothy wants to quit in 2 Timothy and walk away from the ministry. Paul tells him, "Timothy, you have to stay in and fight this fight." But in the midst of doing that, let me tell you what it's going to get like. It's not getting any better, Timothy. And he goes on to explain it wasn't any better for Moses. Moses went through this. And he goes on to tell him, "You will be persecuted." This is verse 11, "Persecution and afflictions which came unto me in Antioch and Iconium and Lystra, what persecutions I endured. But out of them all, the Lord delivered me." We're back to those words we've studied. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." This sounds like the end of Psalm 34. "But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned."

We're back to what we talked about yesterday. "And hast been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them." This situation in Timothy's life is not going away. So what does God get out of this? First thing we learn is what we have mentioned before that I want us to turn to and just kind of look at quickly and then we move on to the next thing. In chapter 1 of the book of James, verse 4, he says this, "But let patience have her perfect work." Endurance. Stay the course. Persevering through issues. It's got to finish. That's what the word "perfect work" means. "That we may be perfect and entire, complete, wanting nothing." "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack nothing." That's where David came in his life when he saw the arrow hit his shield. The Lord is my shield. When he saw himself able to defend his nation with the bulwark. The Lord is my bulwark. See, he starts to realize that the Lord is my rock and my shield.

So whenever I was able to function in war, I watched that arrow do things that I never expected it to. So what it did was it brought me closer to Christ. It caused my life to become one where I fall in love with God and I became someone whose heart was to love God and God loved me. And God attached His legacy to my name. See, all of that took place because I didn't mind running from Saul. I stayed the course in being a king that God wanted me to be and God perfected me. It doesn't mean David got to the point where complacency set in and he sinned. Things were going great, everything was wonderful and he got complacent and he sinned because sin is not something that always comes because of what somebody makes us do. Sin is a willful decision to go against God. So his walk with God was complacent and that's what led to that.

So one of the things that God gets out of this is perfecting us. Walking with us to get to this point where we are stronger and complete because He's supposed to present us before God complete. He's doing His job. Here's the next thing that happens. He refines us. We find this in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 5 through 8. He refines us. Let me read it, but I want to just make one key point out of it. This part of it is a purification part. In other words, there's a whole lot of things that we may present ourselves to be to other people. But God knows our very thoughts. God knows what our intent of our heart is. He knows that. So not only is He trying to perfect our commitment to His word, perfect our ability to stay in His word no matter the pressures of life, we're going to keep doing what God says.

We're going to know which verse to look at, which passage of scripture to reflect on. All of these things make us complete soldiers. We know how to work the armor. We know how to rely on God's Spirit that works within us. All of those things make us complete as we go through and stay focused. He gets that out of it. But what's going on inside of us that nobody knows about? He wants to get to to purify us. Why is that? Because the Spirit of God lives inside of us. And when the Spirit of God has a temple to live in, find in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, that He can keep working through and developing, Ephesians chapter 5, verse 15 through 18 means we become drunk with Him. And when we become drunk with the Holy Spirit, the Bible says, man, there is nothing we can't do, nothing we can't accomplish because He who is in us is greater than He who is in the world. We no longer live; it is Christ that lives in us.

So in verse 5 through verse 8 he says this, "Kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein we greatly rejoice that the trial of your faith, being more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory to the appearing of Jesus Christ. Whom having not seen, we love; in whom though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." The point I want to make in that verse is that when He chooses to see it's necessary to take us through this trial of refinement, God says when He purifies us from the inside we become more precious to Him because our intent before God is pure.

And even if we get off track we're committed to come right back to them to do what God wants us to do. So we become a man after God's own heart, a woman after God's own heart, and that's why He's saying that leads us to give praise and glory to God from the inside out. So God experiences a true worshipper when He's able to refine us from the inside out, so that we're not coming to worship pretentiously, we're not coming to worship because it's Sunday. The man after God's own heart could not wait to be able to go into the temple of God and to worship God because he loved God from his heart. He loved God. I'm like a deer that panteth after water. He worshipped God. Okay, God says you can't build a temple. He got the blueprints, he got the wood, he got all the materials. All Solomon needed to do was put it up.

I can't build it, but I can sure put everything together. That's his heart. I can't stand seeing God in a tent while I live in a palace. We've got to fix this. That's the heart. God gets a worshipper out of it that is sincere, that is true, that is pure. And when He comes to them, the Holy Spirit living inside of us, our commitment to holiness is causing that union of the Holy Spirit with our spirit to be great, fresh, exciting, and that comes out in worship. God gets that out of it. A brand new creation with old things passing away, a person who now lives in the Spirit of God, lives in the image of God, 2 Corinthians 3:18, and this person now walks like I intended for Adam and Eve to walk throughout the centuries.

Here is the last thing we see in this. There's several different things, but these are the key crucial ones, is Romans chapter 8, verse 18. In verse 18, he says this, he says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." The glory that shall be revealed in us. Oh folks, when you see a run in the Olympics or a person swimming and they stand on the podium and the people are waving the flag, we share in their hard work, the sacrifice they have made. The accomplishment came from a whole lot of restructuring of their lives. But what was inside of them became a reality when the best competitors from around the world competed and they came out on top.

We found out what was inside of them. We find out their ability when they're competing against the world and they come out with that gold medal, that silver medal, that bronze. There are people lined up wanting to put them on the Wheaties box. Oh, see folks, that came because they endured the race and they won the victory. The person inside of us is guaranteeing the victory if we're willing to stay in the race. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): That's Dr. Paul Cannings. God does promise that He will work all things out for good when we love Him. And friend, if you're going through a tough time right now and you're trying to understand God's role in all this, and what does it mean to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, won't you give us a call and let's talk about it? Our number is 281-260-7402. Again, that's area 281-260-7402. And you can visit us online at powerwalkministries.org. And now, Pastor Cannings would like to share a brief word with you.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I am so excited about April the 23rd through the 25th because it is a conference with lots of notes, great teachers, well-educated, well-prepared, do what they're teaching in their churches. You cannot miss this conference. Come April the 23rd through the 25th at Living Word Fellowship Church. Come and be blessed. The conference is the way forward. How can we be productive despite the challenges ministries can experience? You go to powerwalkministries.org and you will get all the information you need. Powerwalkministries.org, look forward to seeing you.

Guest (Male): If you live in the Houston area or you're planning a visit, please join Reverend Cannings at Living Word Fellowship Church this Sunday. For church location and service times, visit lwfellowshipchurch.org. As we leave you, remember, even though some situations in our lives are painful, as we just heard, these are trials of refinement. And God will bring about the very best in our lives as we walk with Him.