Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for joining us today for this broadcast of Power Walk with Reverend Paul Cannings. A recurring series is titled Steps to Spiritual Growth, and Pastor Cannings zeros in on the importance of true understanding of scripture so that we're not carried away by every doctrine that we encounter. One way to be sure of this is to know God and to trust and obey him. Based on John chapter 14, here's Pastor Cannings now with the message, Knowing God.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Why in the Bible is truth a major issue? Look to John in chapter 14 verse 16 through 17 and it will tell you truth is not words on a page, truth is a person, the Holy Spirit. Truth is the person. I am the way, the truth, and the life because if I don't have truth, the Holy Spirit working in me, I will not arrive at what God is talking about: life and life abundantly.

In verse 16 of chapter 14 he says, "I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever." This whole issue of losing your salvation is out the door. The Holy Spirit permanently comes inside of a person forever. We have eternal life as a result. He quickens our spirit, Holy Spirit with us, eternal life.

Satan has an entire system that has become even more robust with all the technology that is out there to trick us. God has his word that he provides to us, but if all I do is just listen to his word and I don't connect to the Holy Spirit, Satan could still trick me.

I have to connect to the Holy Spirit and I'm going to prove that now because the Holy Spirit is who's going to anchor me from ever following his trickery. I can never ex-out the word of God in this. He's literally going to say, when I show it to you in the scriptures, "I only guide you to what you choose to study." If you choose not to study anything, I don't work with you the same way.

So knowledge is important, but we have to connect to the Holy Spirit for that knowledge to become a reality. Give you an example. Peter and them had all the knowledge. He's walking on water, dead people coming back to life, man born blind being able to see, but they still couldn't see who Jesus is until the Holy Spirit says, "You're the Christ."

Couldn't see it. Pharisees, Sadducees, high priests, studying all day. Still look at Christ and say, "Yep, everything lines up. You're the Christ, but you know what? We're going to kill you." So knowledge left by itself leads to arrogance, puff up, don't do nothing.

And the Spirit of God is saying, "I will not connect until you have knowledge." So you can't say knowledge is out the door, it's just not the only thing you have to have. In verse 16 he says, "I will ask the Father and he will give you another helper that he may be with you forever."

That is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it does not see him or know him, but you know him because he abides with you and will be in you. So the question becomes, how do I get to know him so that I can say when false doctrine happens, that's false? Because I've got to get to know him before I can identify things that are false.

And that's why the Bible says, in order for not to be tricked, the person who is the truth has to become somebody you know. How do you know him? Let me take you to one of the things that he leads you to, since you're right here in the book of John, is chapter 16.

In chapter 16, there's two ways we come to know. The first way we come to know is that he convicts us. Look at verse eight. When we sin, he convicts us. He says, "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment, concerning sin because we do not believe in him, and concerning righteousness." He's now speaking to the world that is sinful in verse nine, and to those who are saved in verse 10.

Concerning righteousness because I go to the Father and you no longer see me. So while you're living on this earth, the Spirit of God convicts you because you can't physically see me no more. He convicts you. So anytime I'm convicted of a sin, no excuses. God forgive me, I was wrong, I need to fix that. I'm going to confess it and I'm going back. Why? Because the person who made me even get to that point is the Holy Spirit and that's why I'm convicted.

He says, that's how you get to know the conviction of the Holy Spirit. When I sin, I don't make excuses, I adjust. Because the only reason I know I sinned is because to know what to do and not to do it is sin. So I've got to know. I violated what I know and I got the conviction. When I got the conviction, I go back to knowing. The only reason I can go back that way is the Holy Spirit and the more I do that, the more I get sensitized to the Spirit.

David? Nathan said, if a man was to take another man's wife when he had- David says, "He should be executed." Nathan said, "You're the man." David said, "You got me." And God still restored him in spite of all the evil that he did because he was willing to accept the conviction.

So let's go to the next one. How do you know him? So that I can be driven by the Spirit that will then take me to the true understanding of the scriptures so I'm not tricked. In chapter 16 look at verse 13. Now we go to First John. Verse 12 wouldn't hurt you. "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them."

In verse 13 he says, "And when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth for he will not speak on his own initiative." That's why you've got to get the knowledge. "For whatever he hears," because you took the time to go to church, to learn the scriptures, to apply it to your life, "he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come."

Who's disclosing to you what is to come? The PhD in the Bible? The smart person who knows the scriptures? The Spirit will expose to you what is to come. That's it. So the same thing that is happening with the disciples is the same thing that is required of us.

Now let's go to First John. How do we know him? How do we come to know him so that we walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh, and as a result of that, we cannot be misled? Let's go to chapter two first. I'm going to go forward and then back up. Look at verse 18 of chapter two. "Children, it is the last hour and just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour."

Bring up this word know. The word know is the word "oida", the see. Okay? It's like I had a hoopty, right? And therefore I kept a mechanic that became a good friend. If you have a hoopty, you've got to have a mechanic that is not at the dealership. To those who have hoopties, you know what I'm talking about.

So the car broke down and I pull over to the side and the guy in the car with me that I was discipling at the time, he goes, "You're not going to go open up the hood?" No, I'm not going to open up the hood. "You broke down." I said no, I'm calling the mechanic. There is no point to me opening up the hood. Now if you open up the hood, I could tell you: radiator- in those days you could actually see those things- yes, you've got the alternator, you've got the main part of the engine, spark- I could tell you all that stuff but I don't know what I'm looking at outside of that.

Sure enough he says, "Man, you serious?" I said yeah, I'm going to sit here. He said he's going to come. We're going to spend time together anyway. Don't worry about it, we will spend time in the car. So we're sitting in there and the guy comes up and he opens- says, "Oh, it's nothing much Pastor, I'll get this thing fixed for you. I've got some parts in my car." And he fixes it. He saw that in five minutes.

What is the difference? I could tell you the parts, but he had "oida". Because he had the knowledge and he practiced on engines forever, he could hear a noise and know exactly what it is. That's what the Bible is calling "oida". You know. How do you know? Let's go to chapter two verse three. He says you know this. You have come to be able to see the part and know what's going on with the part.

Look at chapter two go down to verse seven. "Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment, which you have heard from the beginning, an old commandment," most of them are Jews, "in the word, which you have heard. On the other hand I'm writing a new commandment to you, which is true to him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining." This is something you've experienced.

So in verse three this is what he says about knowing. So this is the second thing I'm saying. Number one, we have the Holy Spirit that is permanently inside of us and the way he gets us to become connected to him is first addressing sin. The second thing I'm saying is when it comes to this work of the Holy Spirit, that he will guide me into truth but I have to be committed to gain knowledge.

I can have the knowledge, but I've got to get to know how that knowledge works when you open up the hood. And the only person that gets you to know how that knowledge works when you open up the hood is the Holy Spirit, and he tells us the only way you come to know me is verse three. He says, by this you know you have come to know him if you keep his commands.

There is a big argument in the marriage and you feel you're right, she feels she's right, but then the Holy Spirit brings up some verses in your head. Conviction happens and you say, "You know what? I'm not even talking right. I'm going insult for insult. Sinful. Speaking down to the person in an unwholesome way. Wrong." And all these things are starting to come out.

When you're thinking, man, I don't want her to think she's winning, all of these different things, the Bible says the fact that I decide to keep what he is doing to me is what leads me to come to know him. It is when there's fears or anxieties or uncertainties, but I choose to stay with the word of God. I choose to hold on to the word of God. I choose to keep it, believing that God, if I keep this Bible, I am safer than if I leave it alone and go to my emotions.

He says when I do that, he starts to become the conviction. Here's another thing that lets us to know him. John 14:26, he brings verses to our minds. All of a sudden a sermon comes up or a song that is biblically based comes in your head. That's not you. That's him. People say, "How do you remember verses?" A lot of times I am saying, "Holy Spirit, you promised to do this," and he does.

If I study it, he is going to do it. And if I keep his word, he is going to help me come back and it is going to get louder and louder and louder in my head. So the reason why the verses are coming back, the convictions are there, he's now saying what are you going to do? Hold on to how you feel, how mad you are, and what you want to do, or are you going to keep what I just taught you to stay in? The minute you keep keeping what I taught you to stay in is the more you get sensitized to what I do in you.

And that's how you come to know me. So if you're not working it out, it maybe hasn't been worked in. He says in verse four, he says, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness and sin is lawlessness. No one who abides in him sins," keeps sinning and no problem with it. "No one who sins has seen him and knows him." No conviction, no desire to change. He said, ain't no Holy Spirit living in them.

He says, "Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he's righteous. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, or the one who does not love his brother."

Guest (Male): That's Pastor Paul Cannings challenging us to be sensitive to the conviction and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Log on to powerwalkministries.org to browse through all of our ministry resources. That's powerwalkministries.org. And while you're online, ask about Pastor Cannings' latest release, When We Pray, or order a copy for yourself or a family member today.

Would you please take a few minutes to learn more about Power Walk Ministries and prayerfully consider becoming a Power Walk partner? We request your prayerful and financial support. You can also call us at 281-260-7402. That's 281-260-7402. Our mailing address is Power Walk Ministries, PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 772092.

And as we leave you, keep in mind: knowledge is important, but if it's not bringing about a change in your life so others see that transformation through your obedience and application of it, it becomes useless.