Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Welcome to today's broadcast of Power Walk Ministries. We're excited that you've joined us today as Pastor Paul Cannings brings us part eight in this series, Broken Not Defeated. There are many things in life that can leave us broken-hearted. This was the case with Joseph in scripture. He did not forget the sorrow his brothers caused him, but how did he resolve this? Answering this question, here is Pastor Paul Cannings with the message, In Grief Remember.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I remember being a young boy in middle school and having a really good friend. We were both not very tall and some of the kids in our classroom were tall and they liked to bully us. We were going to the playground and we would deal with all the stuff with bullies. We would do tricky things sometimes like saying, "Okay, he's coming to you. Pass the money to me." He's going to open up his pockets and he has no money. The guy is bullying him while I'm walking away. He knows that the guy is not going to hit him because we would stick around by the teachers and the principal to make sure that nobody could hit us or push us around because we were not too far out of their sight. That's how we would manage.

If they came to me, that group of guys would come to me and I would pass him the lunch money. We found a way and we would work together to get through school, to get things done, and to help each other. We were just good friends. We grew up this way and one day I came to school and his desk was empty. I was thinking he might be sick. I'm assuming he's going to come the next day because I've seen him sick before, but the next day came by and he wasn't there. Then the next day, he wasn't there. A week went by and then the teacher called me to her desk. I'm going to the desk wondering where Love is and what happened to him. She said to me, "Love is dead."

I asked how that could happen. He fell off his bike and when he fell off his bike, a car came and crushed him. It's funny, I am way down the road from being in middle school and I can still feel the emotions coming back as I speak. He was there that day. We talked and laughed. Friday, we talked about seeing each other on Monday. We said goodbye. We always had to turn around and say goodbye, but he wasn't there and he wasn't going to come back.

It's like that in mourning. It's like that in grief and pain. Sometimes, even though time has come and gone, it's still there. It doesn't go away. That's why nowhere in the Bible does it say you don't mourn and it stops. It doesn't say that mourning is gone because it talks about in heaven, in Revelation 21, there's no more crying and no more pain. He tells us that. In other words, missing this person, these emotions popping up from time to time, and this pain arriving in your heart may come up even when you've gone back to singing or have a smile on your face. There are times when birthdays come, anniversaries come, Thanksgiving meals come and this table doesn't have this matriarch or patriarch. It doesn't have this pie. It doesn't have this dad or this mom.

When those times come, the Bible says that pain is still there. How do you come to that and not be like Jacob, who believed he was going down to depression and he was going to die? I literally believe, though I have no confirmation of it biblically, that he stayed alive because of his wife and Benjamin. This is 22 years later. I'm still bereaved. You're not taking Benjamin. This is out of the question.

Joseph is moving on. He's built a family and has come out of prison. He is no longer hopelessly there every day with no date when he's coming out. Nobody fights for him. There's no lawyer, no nobody. He's just going from day to day. Joseph comes out of his affliction, gets married, starts having children, and lives with hope. He wants to finish it all, but God says it's not finished. When you feel you are strong, I'm going to bring back your brothers. I'm going to have them when you think, in chapter 41, when you name your kids and have your family and say you've got it going on. Right when you feel that way, I'm bringing this right back.

I'm bringing up that empty chair and that empty desk. I want to talk to you about the pain you feel. I'm going to confront it with all your brothers right before you. This leads to the healing process that Joseph thought was over. In Genesis chapter 41 verse 51, Joseph says it's done. I'm naming Manasseh and Ephraim. I'm moving on. No, God says now that you think that way, now that I have you established, now that my agenda can get accomplished, let's start moving forward my way.

Joseph is faced with his brothers and his brothers are saying, "We are honest men. We are not spies. You keep calling us spies. We come from a father. We are buying food for our tribe. We're not coming here from a king, so we're not spying." Joseph, in chapter 42 of the book of Genesis in verse 8, says this, "And Joseph knew his brethren." They don't know him. He was 16. They were grown already, but they knew him not. Joseph recognized them. You have to understand that Joseph has all of these places where he stored all the food, but at this particular testing site is when the brothers come. At that particular testing site when Joseph is over all of them, you have to see God's hand in this.

God, way ahead of time, has Ishmaelites, descendants of Abraham through Hagar, come along. God has already arranged it. Where are they going? Egypt. God has already said, in Genesis chapter 15, a nation will be born. Out of where? Egypt. A nation. Guess where Joseph is going? To the most powerful nation in the known world that has the greatest resources, with rivers and streams running all the way through it. That's why it was hard to conquer. A powerful nation in the known world. He puts Joseph in that and prepares him to lead the nation so his people, in a nation of dreamers, will meet a dreamer. The people will also have exposure to a young man who had 22 years to train to become second in command. He ran a house, he ran a jail system, and now he is here to run a nation.

God prepared him. It's the same thing you see with David. He's running all over the countryside, but when the time comes for him to be king, 400 strong men will fight to the death for him. The nation would see that Joseph is a man called by God and they would bring him there. You see, Joseph says in verse 9, "And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, 'Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.'" Joseph says, "I now get it. God established this moment."

Folks, you come to somebody passing like my friend did. What moment? I wish God would take that one. I don't want that moment. I've seen people lose their child. It is the most painful thing I've ever guided a family through as a pastor. There's just nothing to say. You can't say anything. Why would God allow that moment? Jesus Christ came, died on the cross, and rose from the dead to overcome the effects of sin, which is death. God did not design us for death. God is life. Nobody dies in God.

That's why he says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 13, "Do not remain ignorant. Do not remain uninformed." That's what they were doing that caused them to be totally just unable to make it. He's saying, "Hold on a minute. Get back informed. Stay sober. Stay focused. I never promised you that everybody would live to 90 or 80 or 70. I didn't promise that." You say, "Yeah, but three score ten." Wait a minute. You have to look at that and take careful examination of that passage of scripture. The Bible is saying to us that there's a time to live and a time to die, but we don't die. We don't die when we're saved.

To die is to be separated from life. That's hell, not heaven. God is life. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 teaches us to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So we never die because we're never separated from God. To die is to be separated from God because God is life. So if you separate from life, what happens? We're dead. Anybody that dies that is not saved is separated from God, so they're dead, but they're still alive in hell. But the persons who die that are saved, they're asleep.

Joseph remembered. He sought to forget. I'm building a new life now. Peace. Done. But God says, "Thank you. I've got you strong again because you wouldn't sin. You wouldn't turn your back on me. In prison, you kept your hope alive and kept living for me and doing what I tell you to do. Because you did that, I'm bringing you to this particular time and this particular moment because you will remember and you will function accordingly." God was ready to establish him in his pain. It doesn't mean that Joseph didn't have moments of pain. No. A few verses down the road, the Bible will tell us that when Joseph's brothers said, "You saw our brother in anguish," in verse 21, and they are talking among themselves not knowing Joseph knew their language, Joseph went off and wept. The pain came back, but Joseph remembered God.

In the midst of our pain, we must remember God and what he's saying so we come to these times and don't lose our faith and commitment. We don't live by sight; we live by the word of God. So we're not ignorant to what is happening. We can stay focused on what God is saying as we work out our salvation in fear and trembling both to will and to do for his good purpose. Now, Joseph, you remember, I will work out my purposes for my eternal focus for mankind. Grief can be the turning point to a great experience of the powerful movement of God in your life to restore you and make you more than you could ever dream because you remember. Stay focused.

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. A tendency for many of us may be to stuff our pain and remain stoic under it, but we will not find healing in that or a resolution in our relationships. Rather, let's submit to God and allow the Holy Spirit to transform and renew us through our trials. Friends, if you should have any questions about spiritual matters and would like to speak to someone about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, then please call us at 281-260-7402. Again, that's 281-260-7402. To learn more about Power Walk Ministries or to obtain our resources, log on to powerwalkministries.org.

Otis L. Cunningham: My name is Pastor Otis L. Cunningham. I'm the Senior Pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church in Huntsville, Texas. I tell you, this conference has been dynamic. I'm so energized and so encouraged by all the classes that we've taken. I just hate I couldn't take them all. It is outstanding.

Herman Figueroa: My name is Herman Figueroa. Ocean Avenue Baptist Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. It's been an amazing experience here, far beyond my expectations. I learned so much here, very useful material to go back to our church and not just to grow, but to find strategic ways of bringing other lost souls to Christ.

Dr. Paul Cannings: I am so excited about the conference coming up April 23rd through the 25th. I really am ecstatic about it. Pastors have come together on a committee and helped with the process moving forward. I'm excited about our first conference last year, but this conference this year is going to be greater. There are about 40 classes here. Let me give you a taste: the pastor and deacon's functioning under the leadership of Christ, a biblical approach to resolving conflict in the church, traits of successful biblical leaders, cultivating a healthy and productive team environment, overcoming the stagnation in the church, discipling leaders, dealing with how we grow people and do evangelism at the same time. Despite all the difficulties churches are facing, we can find a powerful, effective way forward. A lot of teachers are coming to teach. They're well-trained, well-educated, and practicing these principles within their church. Come be a part of it, April 23rd through the 25th. Go to powerwalkministries.org, powerwalkministries.org, so that we could move forward together for God's glory. Look forward to seeing you at this conference.

Guest (Male): That's powerwalkministries.org. And as we leave you, as Pastor Cannings so succinctly put it, in the midst of affliction, remember God.